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24,037 |
<p>So with the job market being as it is, I'm considering the prospect of leaving academia after my PhD. The problem that I have is that the name of one of my Areas of Specialization has been co-opted by some new age mystics and if you search "X" after seeing that I specialized in "X", you're more likely to think I specialized in some arcane form of crystal healing than the work I actually did.</p>
<p>My other AOSs sound fine, even semi-impressive to the layman, and so don't really concern me. This one, however....</p>
<p>So, two quick and related questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Am I right to think that my AOSs at least would still remain when listing my PhD on a non-academic CV/resume? Or just "PhD in field X"? <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17347/cv-for-leaving-academia-after-phd">(The question on CV for leaving academia didn't provide too much specific guidance here.)</a></p></li>
<li><p>Is it ethical to leave one of my AOSs off of the CV, assuming I leave the others untouched? In a sense it is misrepresenting what I did during my PhD, since I really did a lot of work in all three of these areas. On the other hand, listing this troublesome AOS might misrepresent what I did even more--- crystal healing and such.</p></li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24043,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This seems like an obvious opportunity to briefly explain yourself on your CV by listing the formal names but then stating what that actually means in parentheses. As an example:</p>\n\n<pre>\nPhD, Some Named Institution (2007-Present)\nAreas of Concentration:\n - Science thing 1\n - Science thing 2\n - Crystal healing sounding thing (Chemical Engineering)\n</pre>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24223,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are applying for jobs in industry or consulting, your Area of Specialization is much less important than the <em>skills</em> you have developed and your <em>proven record of performance</em> (producing results, completing projects, writing and publishing papers). You could omit your Area of Specialization completely and just list your major and your skills, e.g.:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>PhD in Biochemistry. Skills: Experiment design and analysis, statistical analysis, computational modeling of protean evolution.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/27
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24037",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4458/"
] |
24,038 |
<p>I have had the need to dig deep into the theory of architecture and in doing so I have encountered various authors who make extremely grandiose claims about themselves and their work.</p>
<p>This of course is not a measure for the actual value of their achievements, but sometimes it is hard to find out if an author is just very bad at expressing themselves, want to mask their ideas with jargon in order to make them seem even deeper, or if they really are just fabricating incoherent theories.</p>
<p>I by no mean want to denigrate anyone, but I don't want to learn from authors who are practicing junk science. The problem with architecture are authors who talk not just about architectural theory - but connect various disciplines to it, for example psychology, computer science, mathematics, etc... I have no required knowledge of any of those disciplines - so it is impossible for me to know if they are just using complex constructs from another discipline in a way that is just "sugar coating" for their claims.</p>
<p>A bigger problem is that there are very few people who have studied both architecture and some other discipline in detail and are able to comment both.</p>
<p>In this case I am baffled by two authors: Nikos A. Salingaros and Michael Leyton. Their book make incredible sounding claims, and their homepages and Amazon reviews are full of praise that rings all kinds of alarm bells, but at the same time they have permanent positions in universities which to my knowledge are quite reputable, and they have published a lot...</p>
<p>Regarding Michael Leytons theory of perception and cognition, there is a detailed criticism by Hendrickx and Wageman, but as I said, I am no mathematician... Apparently there is something wrong with the mathematical side of his theory though.</p>
<p>Is there any way to find if I can trust these authors? They seem to gather citations from their students and other people who use their work without any kind of criticism. Do I need to go through the magazines they publish into and find out if they are peer reviewed and of good reputation? How would I go about doing that?</p>
<p>I don't want to pollute my work with bad science, and I am very hesitant to make any claims myself if I don't have good grounds for them. With complex interdisciplinary claims like the ones these two authors do, should I just not use them at all since it seems so hard to find out if they can be taken academically seriously?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24042,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think your definition of academic fraud or pseudoscience is <em>way</em> over the top. I am neither a mathematician nor an architect, but just doing a quick background search on both authors you mention gives me <em>no</em> indication that they are some wackjobs that use terminology from other disciplines to sound smart. If that is the case, they sure have convinced a lot of people that certainly know more about these fields than me (and, maybe, you).</p>\n\n<p>Sure, a lot of people <em>disagree</em> with their theories, but that's completely ok, quite naturally actually. Most theories that go against the mainstream in a field are critiqued strongly. Michael Leyton, for instance, is a professor of theoretical computer science at Rutgers. His theories may or may not be correct, but I would be <em>very</em> hesitant to call it pseudoscience in the absence of further evidence.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24221,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Context: I'm a PhD student in Computational Social Science, so I'm very knowledgable about Complexity Science and related fields and how they are applied to design, architecture, organization science, and economics. Also, my adviser is a leader in the field of Design Science, particularly how Cognitive Science and AI can be applied to understand design and designers. Finally, I have a lot of domain knowledge regarding Pattern Languages and generative models of conception and design.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is there any way to find if I can trust these authors?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I've encountered many authors, researchers, and consultants who I have identified as \"charlatans\" when it comes to applying Complexity Science or other models or theories to social systems. For the most part, they apply Complexity Science only in a metaphorical sense (e.g. \"edge of chaos\" concept), but have no basis or foundation in empirical or theoretical research.</p>\n\n<p>But to determine whether any particular author is a charlatan or not, there is <em>no substitute for <strong>you</strong> understanding the underlying theory or method</em>. There is no reliable method for you to determine whether author <strong><em>A</em></strong> has a valid foundation in theory <strong><em>X</em></strong> unless you do your homework and develop a working understanding of theory <strong><em>X</em></strong>. If, on the other hand, you stay with your position that \"I'm not a mathematician\", then you have no basis for deciding either way. Looking at what other people say or citations will not help you, in an academic sense.</p>\n\n<p>If you don't want to do the work to understand the mathematics, computational science, and formal methods that these author use, then just go another direction. If you must include them in your papers, then just say that you have no opinion on their validity or significance because their methods/theories are beyond your grasp.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, just because you don't understand the mathematical and computational methods these authors use their theories doesn't mean there is any \"junk science\" going on. As Steven Covey (7 Habits) advised: \"Seek first to understand.\"</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><strong>Edit</strong>: Whether or not these authors have tenured positions at important Universities is not very good evidence regarding whether their \"science\" is \"junk\" or not.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/27
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24038",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17950/"
] |
24,049 |
<p>Recently I submitted my first paper to a philosophy journal and got a rejection. This is of course nothing unusual, but as someone with a STEM background, I was surprised by the reason for the rejection: While there were no complaints regarding contents or correctness, it was felt that the paper failed to cite and engage with the recent literature on the topic.</p>
<p>The latter is indeed true: I did ignore the latest papers in the field and only referenced a handful of "classic" papers from the last century. But I also thought this was okay, as it seemed to me that the recent literature didn't add much to what was already covered by the classic papers, and was in any case not essential to the discussion.</p>
<p>Now, I'm not here to complain about having my paper rejected, or to argue about who's wrong or right. I just would like to know whether the requirement to cite the recent literature is a humanities-specific thing, or whether this is a common requirement in most fields. For instance, I imagine that if I had submitted a maths or computer science paper that referenced only a handful of classic and old, but relevant papers, my own paper, if correct and substantial, would have been accepted.</p>
<p><strong>Note</strong>: Since people seem to misunderstand me, a bit of extra clarification: I don't have a problem with citing recent literature, if that's what it takes to get a philosophy paper published. I just want to know if this is more or less the same in most fields, including maths and CS. In the latter, so I believe, it's less of a big deal to cite the latest papers as long as the submitted paper correctly solves some well-known open problem.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24050,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your assumption is wrong: The requirement to cite the recent literature is a valid reason for rejection on many fields as well and is certainly not a humanities thing. Why? You give the answer yourself: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>my own paper, if correct and substantial, would have been accepted</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>But how can the reviewer judge that (the substantial contribution at least) if you do not cite the recent papers? Perhaps what you propose, has already been done before and even in a better way that the one you propose in some recent papers. Science is not rebuilt from scratch every year and reading just a classic textbook is not enough to address the state-of-the-art in any field. </p>\n\n<p>Also, not acknowledging the recent works is not only lazy (since you have not done the necessary \"homework\" regarding your scientific area) but it can also be intentionally misleading (perhaps you hide the recent papers because you know they are much better than yours). At the very best case, it is just ungrateful on those dealing with the same problem as you, since you seem not to consider their work significant enough for citing them on your paper. If you take into account that those reviewing your papers are also moving around the same problem area as you, by ignoring their work, is a sure way to get your paper rejected.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24058,
"author": "Henry",
"author_id": 8,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This question seems to be based on a common misconception about the role of citations (see <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21666/is-it-proper-to-cite-something-when-using-it-just-as-an-example\">this question</a> for a related issue). Citations aren't just there to list content your work builds on; they're also there to provide the reader with context and motivation.</p>\n\n<p>The reason you should be citing recent work is to help the reader. If you were familiar with various unsuccessful solutions, it's likely that some of them motivated the successful one, even if only by identifying things that couldn't work, and that merits a citation. Even if not, many of your readers are likely to be people who've thought a lot about one or more of those unsuccessful approaches; you're in the best position to explain how your approach differs.</p>\n\n<p>(I'm writing from the perspective of mathematics, by the way.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24073,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In applied computer science, not citing recent literature (and in this case, \"recent\" really means \"the last couple of years\") correlates <em>very</em> strongly with rejection. Essentially, when I review a paper where all references are old according to the standards of the field, the reason can be either that:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>there is newer related work, and the author is not aware of it or wilfully ignores it</li>\n<li>there is indeed no recent related work; this is at least an indicator that the problem is either solved or deemed irrelevant by the community</li>\n<li>the paper has been written a long time ago and has been rejected at multiple previous attempts at publication</li>\n<li>the paper author is just a crank, who believes he has redefined (for instance) the concept of object-oriented programming</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Points 1 and 4 warrant rejection on their own. Point 2 and 3 are at least a strong indicator that a paper should be rejected. That being said, I cannot remember ever rejecting a paper <em>only</em> for failing to cite recent literature. In all cases that come to my mind, this was just a minor sidenote and the paper actually got rejected for much more fundamental issues.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24116,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Citing papers is primarily to provide reference to the source of information gained from sources other than yourself in the study you are writing about. There are some instances where reference is made to works that provide background to the topic, in my field often review papers that summarize knowledge up to a point in time or papers that discusses methods and similar cases that can shorten your own description of some aspect of your manuscript</p>\n\n<p>The main question is not so much if the latest material is cited but rather if the right material has been cited. Most research builds on earlier studies and is located at the cutting edge of knowledge so it seems unlikely that references to new or the latest findings within a subject would not have its place in a paper. That said, I would add that there is often a lack of historical knowledge as well. People (again in my field at least) reference papers from within the last five years for findings that were done half a century or more ago. This lack of knowledge about the origins of ideas can sometimes be problematic since one trusts someone else's interpretation of the original work when referencing new material that builds on the original.</p>\n\n<p>So reference the right material, old as well as new, and be aware what the papers you cite actually say and from where they in turn sourced their information.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24119,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's dangerous not to cite works from the present. Most reviewers live in the present and have a \"frame of reference\" there. Your best shot would have been to hope for a bunch of reviewers who are now at least 45-50 years old, who remember \"the good old days\" of the past century. Apparently that didn't happen to you.</p>\n\n<p>It's possible that there are some fields where, for whatever reason, the work done before the turn of the century was better than the work that was done after it. In that case, you might have to rely heavily on the pre-turn of the century work to critique the more recent work. But at least cite the recent work.</p>\n\n<p>A paper or idea, even if meritorious that is not \"modern\" already has one strike against it. The damage is \"double\" or more, if you haven't considered (or at least appeared to have considered) the recent ideas in the field.</p>\n\n<p>I found this out the hard way with my book \"A Modern Approach to Graham and Dodd Investing\" (Wiley, 2004), that preached that a \"modern\" version of the (1930s) ideas of Graham and Dodd would be more useful than the ideas that were then in vogue. But at least I couldn't be accused of \"ignoring\" them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 31463,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You asked about maths and CS in particular. xLeitix wrote about CS; I am going to write about math from my perspective publishing in the field. </p>\n\n<p>In math, there is much less of a need to cite \"recent\" work - although there is still <em>some</em> need, as I will explain below. In many areas of math (perhaps not all), the referee really <em>can</em> verify the arguments by logical reasoning, so references are less important to verify that the argument is correct. (Of course, if you use previous results, they will need to be cited.)</p>\n\n<p>For this reason, citation practices in math are well known to be different than other fields. We publish less and have fewer citations on average than some other fields (so our journals have lower impact factors) and our citations are, on average, to \"older\" papers compared to other fields. </p>\n\n<p>As a perhaps extreme example, I published a paper in 2010 with 14 references, of which 11 were published before the year 2000. The paper is in a respected, selective journal (an \"A\" journal in the <a href=\"http://www.austms.org.au/Rankings/AustMS_final_ranked.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Australian Math Society ranking</a>). This paper is an outlier, though, compared to my other papers. My most recently accepted paper has 8 references: 1 is still a preprint, 2 were published in the last 4 years, 2 are from the 1990s, and 3 are from the 1970s. I don't think that is very far from normal in my area of mathematics. </p>\n\n<p>When I referee papers in math, I look for references that:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Provide appropriate links to background material (these are particularly helpful for non-experts who read the paper).</p></li>\n<li><p>Give appropriate credit for previous work. </p></li>\n<li><p>Motivate the new work by showing how it relates to previous work. The 3 \"newer\" references in the paper from 2010 that I mentioned were exactly for this purpose. They showed how the problem we were studying had been posed by others, and how our work was related to published open questions in another area of mathematics.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>When someone submits a paper to a selective math journal, the referees and editors will look for all these things. A paper that is full of brilliant technical results, but for which the editors can't see any motivation or interest, may end up being rejected because there are other papers that <em>also</em> have brilliant technical results, but which have clear motivation and are likely to be of interest to many others. Because journals have space limitations, correctness on its own is often not sufficient for a paper to be accepted. </p>\n\n<p>At less selective math journals, correctness on its own may be the main criterion, but I would still expect a referee to comment on a under-referenced paper. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>As for the situation in the question, it helps to remember that philosophy is generally focused on the types of problems that <em>cannot</em> be solved by mere logical reasoning. The same holds for many areas of the humanities, as well. In these fields, one cannot simply prove one's argument from commonly held axioms - the problems being studied are not amenable to simple logical analysis like mathematics problems. Each paper is viewed as a contribution to a discussion about the topic. </p>\n\n<p>This leads to another key difference between citations in math and in some other fields. In mathematics, we usually try to cite the <em>original</em> source of an idea, to give credit to the first person to define or prove something. In other fields, the practice is instead to cite the <em>most recent</em> references on the idea, because they give a better representation on the current state of the discussion about the topic. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 31466,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I will try to add another perspective (I hope I don't repeat anybody else, if I do, please alarm me).</p>\n\n<p>One of the measures that can be used in pre-review to see if the article is suitable are the references. For example, if your article cites only low-quality journals, it is presumed that it will be cited only in low-quality journals. Similarly, if it doesn't cite anything newer than X years (where X may vary from field to field), it is presumed that it is not interesting for the community and it will maybe not cited ever.</p>\n\n<p>If the editor sees the article, doesn't find it very interesting, and moreover it has this problem, it may get rejected without review.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/27
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24049",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17964/"
] |
24,055 |
<p>I am a university student, doing a scientific bachelor study. I plagiarised multiple exercises from multiple homework sets for three different classes, all in all about 50% of all the homework for those three classes. I passed the final exams of those three classes. Realizing what I have done, I am considering turning myself in, unless the punishment would be too severe. What do you think?</p>
<p>Edit: I actually got caught once before for plagiarising on a single homework set. </p>
<p>Edit2: I calculated that redoing the courses would cost me <em>at least</em> $7000, this is also a consideration for me personally.</p>
<p>Edit3: I actually copied the homework of a friend who gave it to me because he trusted me. I broke this trust, and now he terminated our friendship. I asked him about it and turning myself in is the only way to earn back his respect.</p>
<p>I'd like to know from more people what kind of punishment I could expect. If I turn myself in, I would find it fair to only have to redo the three classes.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24059,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should talk to an ombudsperson at the university or an academic dean and tell them the whole story. They will likely punish you, but the punishment should be mitigated by the fact that you voluntarily provided the information even after \"getting away with it\".</p>\n\n<p>If you keep this to yourself, it will either haunt your conscience for the rest of your life, or you will learn to be comfortable with wrong behavior. If that's the type of person you want to be, you don't need me to tell you otherwise. However, the fact that you've published this question suggests that you know that this needs to be rectified.</p>\n\n<p>Either way, there is clearly an endemic problem at your university that the administration should know about.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24060,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I am considering turning myself in, unless the punishment would be too severe.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You are describing an <em>extremely</em> serious violation of most university's academic integrity policies. The most likely punishment is that your credit for those classes would be revoked, your grades would be changed to Fs on your transcript, and you would be suspended or expelled. (That would certainly be the most likely result at my university.)</p>\n\n<p>Nevertheless, I believe you should turn yourself in. </p>\n\n<p>Ari gives a good summary of the ethical argument, but there is also a selfish practical argument. Since you mention being caught once, there is good reason to believe that your work will face additional scrutiny. If you get caught before turning yourself in, the result is much more likely to be <em>permanent</em> expulsion. If you admit your plagiarism, the punishment will be slightly less severe; in particular, even if they decide on expulsion, the university will be much more likely to readmit you after 2-3 years.</p>\n\n<p>Even if you decide not to turn yourself in, I recommend taking a short break from university, if you can afford it. The amount of cheating you describe indicates that something is very wrong — maybe you were overwhelmed, maybe you were scared, maybe you were lazy, maybe the homework were insultingly stupid, maybe you just didn't want to be there — but <strong>something</strong> was preventing you from engaging in those classes as a responsible student. You need to figure out what that something is and address it, or you'll just fall into the same pattern again.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24061,
"author": "Neo",
"author_id": 6898,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6898",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a student in the sciences, I see cheating all the time. My undergraduate institution had a strict honor code we had to sign; Many people cheated. I'm not sure how aware or unaware professors really are to the fact; I remember having one very strange conversation with one of the professors I'm closest too:</p>\n\n<p>\"There is good cheating and bad cheating\"</p>\n\n<p>is the exact phrase he said. He wasn't advocating to cheat, but what he said was that as long as the cheating didn't hurt anyone else directly (curved grades) or undermine the point of the class ( doing poorly on tests) then one could say that you cheated not because you weren't capable of doing the material, but moreover you cheated to save time. In undergrad, I think, many people get away this this type of cheating. </p>\n\n<p>I would not turn myself in. I have never cheated, but I don't see why turning yourself in helps the university or yourself as long as you never cheat again. You obviously learned the material; make sure you try your best to be as honest with your work as possible from now on.</p>\n\n<p>Not all lessons learned need to have punishment, having to learn is sometimes consequence enough. </p>\n\n<p>Now, if your courses were curved, and you might have harmed someone else's grade, that is a totally different story. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24064,
"author": "LongtimeAdult",
"author_id": 17968,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17968",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For whatever your reasons may be, you choose to submit someone else's homework as your own and received credit for being able to do so. In the real world that is not any different than benefitting from work given to you by a volunteer or an employee. These things happen thousands of times day in the normal course of life.<br>\nThe important thing here is that you passed your exams on your own demonstrating that you had a mastery of the material, which is the purpose of education, isn't it? Your exams reflect your own ability and since those were done without cheating, you should simply continue on with your life.\nIf you've resolved not to continue this behavior and are done with it, I see no reason to submit yourself the school or any of its representatives. They have your money, You have the knowledge. The transaction is complete.</p>\n\n<p>Einstein was a \"poor student\" yet revolutionized physics. Henry Ford, had no college degree yet revolutionized the fledging auto industry. What matters here is not what school, \"a self appointed authority\" thinks of you, but what you think of yourself.\nIf you can resolve to work harder at your studies, or find something you're actually interested in and can change your behavior so as not to put yourself at risk, I suggest you are done and should quit punishing yourself for the past.</p>\n\n<p>As much as they would like us to think otherwise, schools are a very poor place to learn most of the real knowledge you need to survive and prosper in real life.\nLet it go.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24082,
"author": "JRN",
"author_id": 64,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I suggest you approach a guidance counselor at the school (or a school psychologist, or equivalent). I think they are in the best position to help you in this case. (You might want to check first if your conversations will be treated confidentially.) The punishment you will receive for confessing will greatly depend on what the school policy is and I think the school's guidance counselor would know how cases like yours were handled in the past.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24083,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your university likely has rules about academic misconduct. At my university the rules and penalties about academic misconduct are pretty clear. The minimum penalty we can apply to second offenses is a zero on the piece of work and the maximum penalty is a zero for the year. For third offenses the penalty starts at a zero for the class.</p>\n\n<p>I sit on our academic misconduct committee and in general we try and be forgiving, especially to students who admit guilt. Other committee might simply expel you.</p>\n\n<p>For our committee, you admitting copying 50% of the course work would make it difficult to conclude anything other than that you committed an academic offense. We would then be left with trying to mitigate the damage within the rules. We would likely argue that all the copying is a single offense (i.e., nothing falls into the third offense category) and that all the pieces of work that have copying should get a zero. We might be so lenient as to only penalize the first piece of work. Then again we could be mean and argue for multiple offenses and expulsion.</p>\n\n<p>I think if you turn yourself in, the penalties could range from rather light (a zero on one piece of work) to expulsion. Getting caught without turning yourself in would likely increase the minimal penalty, potentially to a zero on all pieces of affected work. It is not clear if this additional penalty would have an affect on your ability to graduate or make a substantial change to your transcript.</p>\n\n<p>That said, I would talk to a lawyer and figure out your legal responsibilities and weigh those against your moral/ethical responsibilities. It is not clear that a university would be able to retroactively amend a degree for academic misconduct related to homework, especially if, if all the affected pieces of work were given a grade of zero and you would still pass.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24123,
"author": "Dr Lukey",
"author_id": 18016,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18016",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Honestly, no one cares. I plagiarised in all 3 of my degrees and I am a doctor. Do NOT turn yourself in. Everyone does it. The lecturers did it. Your children will do it. Uni is a process to get to where you need to. Your real learning starts in your career. Not on an exam paper or essay that is double spaced, size 12 arial narrow font and referenced in Vancouver style. Seriously, it will not affect any part of your life going forward. To everyone else who is getting cut at this, move on. Assignments are there to reduce the workload of the lecturers. Our thesis was 100,000 words. I copied at least 30% from other people and made up half of the references. My lecturer (after uni and over a couple of beers) told me he reads the intro, picks 10 pages, adds comments and reads the conclusion.\nMove on and enjoy your life.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/27
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24055",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17965/"
] |
24,065 |
<p>I hold a PhD in pure mathematics and am looking for mathematics teaching positions in the UK, preferably at University level.</p>
<ol>
<li>What would be some websites where to find such ads?</li>
<li>What is the standard application procedure/requirements? When are the deadlines for applications? When are the offers typically made?</li>
</ol>
<p><em>A note on question#2:</em></p>
<p>I would be interested in finding out whether there are any general comments one could make regarding the application/selection process by analogy to the US postdoc application system outlined in the next sentences. In the US, in order to apply for a postdoc position [research and teaching] one typically needs to submit 3 research recommendations, 1 teaching recommendation, a research statement, a teaching statement, cv, cover letter. Most deadlines are around November, December, January and I believe most offers are made in January - early February. </p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24075,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Academic jobs in the UK are usually advertised on <a href=\"http://jobs.ac.uk\">jobs.ac.uk</a> website, but there are of course many others. Typically, you will be asked to submit your application online, including application form, cv, supporting documents and details of your references. Answers to other questions are more specific to each position. You may wish to familiarize yourself with the positions currently advertised on the website, to get a sense of the job market at the moment.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24092,
"author": "Fabrice Baudoin",
"author_id": 16088,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16088",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Such jobs are also sometimes posted on the <a href=\"http://www.euro-math-soc.eu/jobs\" rel=\"nofollow\">site of the European Mathematical Society</a> and on the mathematics departments webpages of the universities.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24065",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1104/"
] |
24,081 |
<p>On average do grad schools offer more distinct courses than undergraduate schools?</p>
<p>If that is the case, then it must mean there are more professors teaching in graduate schools. And common sense tells me that there are less students in grad school than undergraduate. </p>
<p>Does that mean there a disparity in the student-teacher ratio in grad and undergrad schools? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24084,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I will limit my answer to American universities.</p>\n\n<p>Do you mean more courses per semester, or more distinct courses that are listed in the course catalog and offered with some regularity? </p>\n\n<p>If you mean the former: in any given semester, most departments offer many more undergraduate courses than graduate courses. This must be the case for the reason you suggest: the number of students taking undergraduate courses in that department is usually far in excess of the number of students taking graduate courses in that department. </p>\n\n<p>But most departments offer largely the same undergraduate courses every year (or sometimes, on a two-year cycle). Many undergraduate courses at a large university have multiple sections running concurrently. The most popular courses -- e.g. freshman level courses for non-majors -- are in some departments run in ten, twenty or more sections each semester.</p>\n\n<p>If you mean the latter: yes, many -- perhaps most? -- departments with large graduate programs offer a larger number of distinct graduate courses over the years than undergraduate courses. Each course is populated by a smaller number of graduate students, but graduate students stick around for at least as long as undergraduates and, unlike undergraduate students -- recall that I am talking about American universities -- take the vast majority or the entirety of their courses in a single department. Sometimes graduate students repeat courses or stop taking courses at a certain point, but in many PhD programs -- including the one at my university -- graduate students are required to take a minimum (positive!) number of courses every semester, some of which are unrepeatable. </p>\n\n<p>In fact, most departments devote much more thought to which graduate courses they are going to offer in the next year or two years, both in order to make sure to offer enough courses for their students to take, and conversely to ensure that enough of their current students will want to take any given proposed course in order for that course \"to make\", i.e., to meet minimum enrollment requirements and be run. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24090,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For the UK and EU universities I am familiar with, your logic is a little off.</p>\n\n<p>That is, I believe you are saying more courses require more teachers. However, graduate course and undergraduate courses are not the same at all.</p>\n\n<p>An undergraduate course would typically include 4 to 6 hours per week for a single subject. This would continue for somewhere between 9 and 16 <strong>weeks</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>A graduate course would typically include 3-4 hours per day, for 5-10 <strong>days</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>So you can see, graduate courses are more compressed as far as contact hours, mainly because the students are expected to do significantly more independent study. Because a graduate module is compressed into 5-10 days, one teacher could teach more of those in the same time as one could teach a single undergraduate module (considering only classroom hours).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24081",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17996/"
] |
24,085 |
<p>I sit on my department's academic misconduct committee. When students are suspected of academic misconduct they are invited to a meeting with the academic misconduct committee. The university polices are pretty clear that students not only can, but should, have an advocate attend the meeting. The policy also states that the advocate cannot be a lawyer providing legal representation, but can be a friend/family member who happens to be a lawyer. The university student services provides an advocates if students request it. At our last meeting we had a case of suspect collusion by two students. Both students had been assigned the same university advocate.</p>
<p>These collusion type meetings tend to be messy and involve bringing one student in and hearing that side of the story, sending that student out and bringing the other student in and hearing the other side of the story, and then often iterating a number of times. We attempt to keep the students isolated so they do not hear each other's side of the story. In the case of the same advocate representing both students there is obviously a confidentiality issue.</p>
<p>Based on the evidence we had it was clear student A had copied/worked with student B and produced a "joint work product" and turned it as her own. This expressly prohibited and constitutes academic misconduct. We did not have evidence that student B had knowingly colluded with student A and therefore were going to let student B off.</p>
<p>We called student B and the advocate in for a final meeting and began explaining to the student that they had not done anything wrong and no penalty would be applied, when the advocate proverbially threw student B under the bus and said that student B had colluded with student A. The end result was that both student A and student B were penalized. It is not clear if we applied a lighter penalty to student A because of admission of wrong doing by student B. I walked away from the incident feeling dirty.</p>
<p>We have not referred the case to the central university committee because of "procedural irregularities" because the central committee is consistently harsher than us and we are confident the central committee would have penalized both students (even without the admission of student B) harsher than we did. Should that matter or should we just report it to the central committee? </p>
<p>This incident has raised a number of related questions for me. Should the advocate be reported? Do we need to convince the university to change its advocacy policies for claims of joint work? Is there a fundamental conflict of interest of the university advocate and should students be encouraged to get their own independent advocate?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24087,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It seems to be that the overall process is working well. The problem is that Student B was denied the opportunity to have an advocate truly being a proper advocate. </p>\n\n<p>In absence of any university regulations which require you to bump it up higher, I would recommend handling it locally if you can. There seems not benefit to engage higher ups if not needed.</p>\n\n<p>I would, however, have someone examine the entire advocacy system used. The fact that two students were given the same advocate on a case where they are basically claimant and defendant comes off as wildly unfair. Of course, the advocate is not a lawyer but still, the system simply should never allow that to happen. When you saw it happened, it would have been better (if it is allowed) to stop the proceeding immediately and sort out the advocacy issue.</p>\n\n<p><strong>In short, the problem is with the advocacy system, perhaps not with the advocate. Someone should dig into and fix that so that such problems never happen in the future.</strong></p>\n\n<p>As for the current two students, if Student B (not the advocate) did admit, then it seems clear that blame should be shared (it was not theft but rather collusion).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24100,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This may be a bit over the top, but I think it's pretty unethical to have one advocate represent two students who may be in opposition to each other. US states, at the very least, have ethical rules for attorneys that are designed to prevent this sort of thing and are taken pretty seriously. The fact that your University has its own procedures for dealing with academic misconduct that attempt to mimic the legal system (a \"trial\", \"advocates\", etc) without some of those ethical safeguards is troubling. </p>\n\n<p>Without discussing the case at hand, I would recommend raising the issue up through the chain of command or committees that sets the rules for these proceedings. The process clearly needs to change. If your school is a state entity in the US, it has left itself open to lawsuits claiming lack of due process. If it is a private school in the US, it may also open itself to legal claims of another nature. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24085",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
] |
24,086 |
<p>Do people ever upload papers exclusively to arXiv, or do authors simply use arXiv to assist in review while they find a journal to publish in? If people sometimes publish exclusively on arXiv, what's the point? What do they get for their work? A paper on their CV? Is it at all prestigious?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24091,
"author": "BSteinhurst",
"author_id": 7561,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7561",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I suppose some senior people may publish exclusively on arXiv but they are a minority and I can't think of any examples right now. Publishing in mathematics takes a long time. Journal backlogs of multiple years are common enough that if you wait for your paper to appear in print it is already old. This is less of a problem in the other subjects that arXiv covers but still...</p>\n\n<p>So what does publishing on arXiv get the author? Primarily it gives the paper a time stamp and makes it publicly available. Putting up a paper is fast, it only takes a few minutes and it gives a reference number so that you can cite it in a talk or in a paper. Normally you would have to wait until you get page numbers from a journal. And if you are giving a talk on your paper when you have just finished the work that might still be years in the future. </p>\n\n<p>One interesting feature of publishing on arXiv is that you can write small notes and put those up. You can write the \"user's guide\" version of a paper. You can post a supplement to a paper that wouldn't be publishable on its own. </p>\n\n<p>Ultimately what it all boils down to is that people post documents to arXiv that they want other people to see and hopefully read. </p>\n\n<p>As for prestige, no. There really isn't any as far as I know. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24093,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A notable example of arXiv-only publication is Grigori Perelman's proof of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometrization_conjecture\">geometrization conjecture</a>, see arXiv:<a href=\"http://arxiv.org/abs/math/0211159\">0211159</a>, <a href=\"http://arxiv.org/abs/math.DG/0303109\">0303109</a>, <a href=\"http://arxiv.org/abs/math.DG/0307245\">0307245</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24103,
"author": "Mark Peletier",
"author_id": 13689,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13689",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>@BSteinhurst mentions the advantages of having a time stamp and making it publicly available; another advantage, one that I have come to value a lot, is that all those people who follow the 'new articles on (...)' announcements will see your paper <em>the next day</em>. It gives your paper instant distribution. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24197,
"author": "Jakub Konieczny",
"author_id": 7328,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7328",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One more way in which arXiv can be used is for distributing papers which are not publishable in their own right, but are still important for some reason. Presumably, if the people consider the paper to be interesting, then this earns the author some reputation (although probably not in any quantifiable form).</p>\n\n<p>I am aware of a case of a somewhat accomplished mathematician, call him S., who came up with a brilliant idea for a new proof of an important theorem. However, carrying out the proof was a big undertaking, and in the end he did not manage produce a paper that was rigorous enough for publication. A version of the paper which was rejected from the journals was posted on arXiv, and sparked a lot of interest, also among the leading experts in the field. As far as I know S. no longer works in this area, but I am aware of others who do. If the proof strategy proves successful, this will surely be very good for S.'s reputation. More importantly, the S.'s ideas were passed on to others, which was beneficial for mathematics.</p>\n\n<p>For a well documented example of a similar situation, look at Mochizuki's proof of the ABC Conjecture. To put it briefly, he built a huge theory that very few people really understand (possibly only he understands it fully) which supposedly is able to prove one of the most important conjectures in number theory. However, given how much effort would be required to verify Mochizuki's work, I am in serious doubt if he would be able to publish it in the sort of journal this result deserves. I don't think he published the papers on arXiv, but if he had, I think it would make sense for the reasons mentioned above.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24213,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Along with the otherwise excellent answers here, there is something to add:</p>\n\n<p><em>It depends on what field you're talking about</em></p>\n\n<p>While in some fields there might be some benefit to publishing primarily on arXiv, especially if you're important enough to have the reasonable belief that even your preprints will be read, there are other fields where the only response you're reasonably going to get is \"...where?\"</p>\n\n<p>This may seem like something of a self-evident point, but I've found many researchers, especially ones working in interdisciplinary research, forget that their field's conventions are not the conventions of all fields. For example, in my own field, the answer is simply \"No.\"</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24086",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17694/"
] |
24,088 |
<p>I know some PhD students have their own business cards, but I don't know if it is a standard practice for PhD students to have their own business cards. I think a business card can be useful for networking in conference or collaborating with some industrial partners. So, is are business cards necessary for a PhD student or other graduate students attending conferences? </p>
<p>PS: in case it is field-specific, I would like to know the different practices in different fields</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24094,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a PhD student, I had business cards and never used them. Now I don't even have cards. I consider them a relict from different times. I would say <em>nobody</em> strictly needs a business card anymore, and I rarely see them being exchanged at conferences either.</p>\n\n<p>Now, a <strong>homepage</strong> is a different story. <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/616/is-web-presence-important-for-researchers/674#674\">You definitely need a homepage</a>, for many of the reasons you think you may need a business card. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24099,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It's probably discipline-specific, but I hand mine out all the time. That being said, I talk to lots of vendors of computer hardware that I want to get back in touch with, so exchanging cards is helpful. As a grad student, it might be worth having some small cards from someone like <a href=\"http://moo.com\">Moo</a> that have your name, email, affiliation, and a link to your website. It might be easier to hand those out than to carry 20 preprints of your article when you're giving a talk. </p>\n\n<p>All that being said, it'd be pretty unusual to push your cards on people you meet at conferences. If someone asks for your information, or a copy of your publication, you might offer the card, but I wouldn't volunteer it unless you've been asked for something. It's just not part of the culture in most of the fields I have experience with for students to do so.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24115,
"author": "Flyto",
"author_id": 8394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If there's any chance that you're going to be interacting with industry at conferences or other events, you need business cards. It's part of that culture. If there's any chance you'll be interacting with anybody from the far East, you need business cards (and ideally, a briefing on the etiquette of giving and receiving them). </p>\n\n<p>Within academia (and not in the far east), it may depend on your field. Coming from a commercial background I was surprised to find that they aren't used in the same \"scattergun\" way in mine; but it can still save time with scribbling details, and a good card, offered appropriately, may make meeting you stand out in the fog of somebody's post-conference memory. </p>\n\n<p>Summary: it's worth having some, but try to judge what is \"normal\" before pressing them on people. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24118,
"author": "keshlam",
"author_id": 10225,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10225",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This probably varies from country to country, but given that business cards can be had for the cost of running off-the-shelf preperforated stock through your computer, I think it's worth having a few. It does make handing your contact info to someone easier, plus giving you and/or them a surface upon which to scribble a note about why they should contact you.</p>\n\n<p>And at least around here, many restaurants collect business cards as tickets for a free-lunch lottery. Trade shows may also use them as lottery entries.</p>\n\n<p>Yes, e-mail addresses are starting to replace business cards as e-mail becomes an acceptable replacement for postal mail and phones, and smartphones can be used to enter contact info into a website.... But it isn't a complete replacement yet, and may never be.</p>\n\n<p>And I find I use them informally as well, when I want someone I've just met to contact me about something.</p>\n\n<p>Recommendation: Spend a small amount to print off a few, see how quickly you're using them, use that to guide how many more you obtain, how often, how many you should bother carrying at once, and how much effort you should put into the card's aesthetics.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24124,
"author": "O. R. Mapper",
"author_id": 14017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14017",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This may depend on the country. In some countries, PhD candidates are employees of the university just like anyone else employed there, and thus get (or can get, upon request) any number of business cards printed from their office supplies department at any time. Thus, in such places, the effort of getting one's hands on business cards is virtually non-existent and hence there, it is a standard practice.</p>\n\n<p>As implied by other answers, handing out business cards greatly simplifies establishing contact with other researchers on conferences, which is one of the main benefits one can draw from attending a conference.</p>\n\n<p>In terms of establishing contact, I have only ever met two kinds of people on CS conferences - those that had their business cards ready and could thus easily provide some contact info at the end of a fruitful conversation and the agreement to keep in touch or exchange some further information, and those that did not, that would instead start a cumbersome search for something to write, use the back of someone else's business card (!) or require the recipient to find some suitable virtual place in whichever electronic device they currently have nearby to store the address, and remark that they \"should really print some business cards for the next conference\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24138,
"author": "user30295",
"author_id": 15478,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15478",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the US, at least in doctoral psychology programs, we're often encouraged to have business cards to hand out at conferences. Conferences are often seen as a way to start building connections for internship, and a business card is a simple way to come across as polished and prepared (it's also less likely to be lost than a slip of paper, as I've seen faculty slip my card into a card holder). Further, my mentor does a great deal of field research in health clinics, and it's helpful for her students to have cards with their contact information readily available when coordinating with site staff. </p>\n\n<p>In my department, our academic mentors typically pay for the cards, which are designed with the school's logo, just like the faculty members' cards. However, most of us wait until we have received our MS as part of our program requirements. We don't attend as many conferences pre-MS anyways, and since they're ordered in bulk (250 minimum) that way you don't have a large number of unused cards. In sum, it's not necessary to have business cards, but it can be helpful. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24160,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In 15 years in academia (theoretical computer science, UK and Greece, plus conferences and workshops in several different countries in Europe and North America), the closest I've come to a business card was when somebody I'd befriended at a conference gave me a card for his hobby photography website. I've never had business cards printed and, to the best of my knowledge, nor have any of my colleagues.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24220,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm in the biomedical and clinical sciences (Epidemiology in particular) and I regularly hand out 5 to 10 business cards at the average conference I've gone to, and often get just as many. I tend <em>not</em> to actually engage with industry that much, but they're an excellent, quick way to give someone your contact information in a way that's about as non-disruptive as possible. They're also harder to lose than scraps of paper, and as someone else mentioned, easier to keep track of - business card holders can not only hold your business card, but the cards of others.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24088",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14682/"
] |
24,095 |
<p>I have written papers on the topic of network security. Now I am trying to find a place to publish one of them. Is there a list of publications by topic, somewhere? If I come across such a list, how can I determine the reputation of the various publications?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24098,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When you want to figure out where to publish something do the following:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Figure out what journals the articles you cite are published in. Try there.</li>\n<li>If that doesn't work, look at the other outlets that the authors of those papers also publish in. Then try there.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24114,
"author": "adipro",
"author_id": 10936,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10936",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Try <a href=\"http://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues\" rel=\"nofollow\">Google Scholar Metrics</a>. I guess the topic you are looking for would fall under <a href=\"http://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en&vq=eng_computersecuritycryptography\" rel=\"nofollow\">Computer Security & Cryptography</a>. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24125,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>On top of the other answers, which are valid, I can add the following.</p>\n\n<p>First, ask your colleagues/supervisor/boss. Senior people know the field better than you.</p>\n\n<p>Then, there are some tools to automatise the process of finding journals.</p>\n\n<p>There is the plain old directory-based search offered by <a href=\"http://journalseek.net/\" rel=\"nofollow\">journalseek</a>. With that tool, you look for your discipline and see what are the journals registered there.</p>\n\n<p>There are also new fascinating tools, where you can input your paper title and/or keywords and/or abtract. The tools will look for similar papers in other journals and return the journal names for you (with a similarity index). </p>\n\n<p>The most famous are the <a href=\"http://www.journalguide.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">JournalGuide</a> and a similar tool offered by <a href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publicliterature.PublicLiteratureSearch.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">ResearchGate</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Some publishers offer similar tools for their journals only. For example, Elsevier offers a <a href=\"http://journalfinder.elsevier.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">journal finder</a>, which works quite well. Springer offers <a href=\"http://www.edanzediting.com/journal_selector\" rel=\"nofollow\">a similar service</a>, although it is hidden in its editing services.</p>\n\n<p>I am by no way saying that those tools are the definitive way to find the perfect journal for your article. However, they enable the discovery of new journals, which is always good. </p>\n\n<p>When you find a journal that seems to be suitable for you, read some of the published articles in order to grasp the quality of the journal.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24095",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17694/"
] |
24,096 |
<p>Sometimes I am in a conference presentation or seminar which there are only a handful of audiences, and after the presentation the atmosphere simply urges the audiences to ask questions or the presenter will be embarrassed. I do want to contribute to a meaningful discussion, but the problem is that I am unfamiliar with the topic, and after listening to the presentation, I can only understand the background briefly. I cannot formulate a good question after the presentation.</p>
<p>You may wonder why I attend a presentation which the topic I am unfamiliar with, and sometimes it is driven by curiosity, and sometimes it is compulsory (like invited speakers from my supervisor etc). I know it may be possible to formulate a good question by reading the publication of the speaker beforehand, I have tried it actually but the efforts to understand an unfamiliar topic seems too much, and it may not worth it especially I cannot come up with a good question afterwards.</p>
<p>I don't want to be looking stupid after a presentation, but also don't want to start a discussion which is not quite meaningful just because nobody raises a question. Is there any way to help one to start a good discussion for a topic which I am unfamiliar with after a presentation? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24105,
"author": "user46345",
"author_id": 18004,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18004",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You don't need to feel pressured to participate in a discussion that you are not familiar with. If it is a subject that you feel strongly about and are familiar with, I am sure a question would come to you; if, OTOH, you are not familiar and were there just because you were invited, and had not time to get acquainted with the subject discussed prior to the presentation, it is best to stay quiet. Do not force it, as it will be obvious and you will end up looking not-very-smart. Leave questions to those who know what to ask, and if they ask nothing, it is not your duty to save the day.</p>\n\n<p>Another thing to keep in mind is that it all depends on the type of presentation/discussion. If it is a less formal one, asking a personal, but interesting question will both engage the speaker and the audience. For instance \"What was the hardest part of the project?\"\nAgain, it helps if you inform yourself prior to the presentation - do not just walk in there without knowing nothing about the subject discussed or the presenter, if you want to participate. Asking a question unprepared can even lead to some awkward situations, e.g. asking an actor how he feels about working with some actress who just happens to be his wife whom he is divorcing right now and she is suing him for millions...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24121,
"author": "The Almighty Bob",
"author_id": 16086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16086",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In general I agree to what @user46345 and the others said: If you do not have a good question (and no good reason to ask one anyway) it is better to be quiet.</p>\n\n<p>However, sometimes it is important to ask a question. Two examples that come to my mind are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You are the discussant of the talk (and you had no opportunity to read the paper before the talk or the speaker already answered all your questions in his talk).</li>\n<li>You have a very shy audience that whats to ask questions but no one wants to be the first one to ask.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>But there are probably others.</p>\n\n<p>The best thing to do would be to read the paper first and think about a question related to it. If that is not possible there are still some other options to use:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>If you haven't understood something during the talk: ask about that.\nIt is not your field of expertise, so no one expects you to know\neverything about it.</li>\n<li>In most fields a very common type of question is about applications. In economics this could be \"What are the policy implications\nof your results?\". @JeffE has the following examples for (theoretical) computer science \"Does your algorithm work well in practice?\" and for non-theoretical computer scientists \"Does your technique have any theoretical guarantees?\".</li>\n<li>\"Sensitivity analysis type questions\": Is the assumption A crucial?\nHow would your result change if you change assumption B? They still\nrequire some knowledge of the subject but not as much.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>These questions can be used as backup as long as you still have some knowledge about the topic of the talk and you have paid attention (asking something the speaker explained 10 minutes earlier makes you look really stupid). However, it is usually better to avoid asking questions than forcing you to ask one.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24096",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14682/"
] |
24,106 |
<p>I am a 19 year old sophomore at a well-regarded state university. I currently have a double major in the arts/humanities and public policy, with a minor in linguistics. I just took the intro to PoliSci course, and I think I've done pretty well in it (practically guaranteed a 4.0).</p>
<p>Anyways, onto the question. So I emailed my professor (as it was an entirely online course), and sent this....</p>
<p>"Professor ----,</p>
<p>[insert some stuff about grades, course]</p>
<p>Lastly, are you aware of any research/volunteer opportunities in the PoliSci department at ---? I am aware of the [insert name of local policy network], but was wondering if you knew about any other interesting things going on. I'm really interested in public policy (my additional major is in it!), but the international relations section in the course also interested me. I'm particularly interested in humanitarian/human rights work. I haven't taken many PoliSci courses yet, but I would be interested in getting involved in the PoliSci Department in any capacity.</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Corjine"</p>
<p>He responded a few days later with this:</p>
<p>"Hi Corjine,</p>
<p>[stuff about courses/grade]</p>
<p>In terms of research work, most professors are happy to work with students as both research assistants (i.e., you help a faculty member on their work) or as research advisors (i.e., you work on your own research project and a faculty member provides oversight). I'd recommend looking at our bios online and directly contacting anyone that who's work look interesting or related to what you're wanting to research on your own. <strong>If you need additional help, you can also ask me and I'll do my best to refer you to the most appropriate person (I can also send an email introduction to that faculty member to help grease the wheels).</strong>" [emphasis mine]</p>
<p>thanks,</p>
<p>Professor ---"</p>
<p>I haven't taken many PoliSci courses yet. The meat of my courses for this upcoming year will be my arts/humanities and linguistics courses, as that is how my degree is designed. The majority of my junior and senior level classes being PoliSci and upper level courses. So for the next year or so, I'm not going to have much formal polisci experience. I'll only be taking public policy analysis and a methods of analysis class (read: statistics for PoliSci students). </p>
<p>What I'm worried about is how I'll go about getting research experience without much of an academic background in it. I've had a passion/enthusiasm for politics for a long time, and the intro class was a breeze for me (barring a few theoretical concepts). I'm just afraid about how it will pan out if I take shots in the dark without having the proper background, so to speak. I'd love to get a jumpstart on research/volunteering/engagement if possible, but would it be more valuable for me to wait until junior year? And would that reduce my chance of a good recommendation from the professor? </p>
<p>I really am at a loss here. I haven't had any formal research experience before, and I'm working my first, true job this summer. I'm winging it the best I can, but I want to make sure I'm not totally shooting myself in the foot at the starting gate. Any suggestions/advice would be helpful!</p>
<p>tl;dr Is enthusiasm/willing to learn a good substitute for formal academic experience, or should I just hang tight for a year and wait to do some research?</p>
<p>Also, if this isn't an appropriate question for SE (I'm still pretty new here), let me know and I'll post elsewhere. Thanks!</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24108,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There is no harm in asking.</p>\n\n<p>To answer your tl;dr question, it depends. \"Research\" is not a monolithic thing. Some professors may be working on projects that would be accessible to someone without a strong background in the subject, or would be willing to work with you to bring you up to speed. Other projects may need someone who already has a strong background in a particular area and can jump right in. </p>\n\n<p>Clearly you would be looking for a project of the first kind, and the only way to know whether anyone has one to suggest is to ask. If you hear of something promising, talk to the professor; try to get a sense of whether it seems like something that would be interesting and accessible to you. Be honest with the professor about what background you do or don't have. (Don't try to present yourself as knowing more than you do; if you end up working on a project that you aren't prepared for, the result will only be frustration for everyone.)</p>\n\n<p>If you find something that seems to be a good fit for you, great; if not, try again next year, with more courses under your belt.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24109,
"author": "keshlam",
"author_id": 10225,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10225",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Many schools have a program specifically to allow professors to list openings for undergraduate assistants. Whether any of those openings will be in your department, and whether any of them will be able to use you before you've gotten some basic grounding in the fields, is an open question... but that's where I'd start looking.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 147877,
"author": "arbitraryusername",
"author_id": 118229,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118229",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's okay if you don't have all the \"prerequisite\" knowledge. I think undergrad research is primarily supposed to be a learning experience. At least, that's what my experience has been.</p>\n\n<p>To give an anecdote, I switched majors to computer science last semester. I expressed interest in AI to a professor, and soon enough I was doing undergrad research on AI. I obviously didn't know anything about it at the time, but I have nonetheless been one of the biggest contributors to the project.</p>\n\n<p>Computer science may be different from your field, but I think the general idea should still stand. If you're willing to put in the effort to learn what you don't yet know, why should anyone else be bothered that you didn't know it in the first place?</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24106",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18003/"
] |
24,111 |
<p>Can the word "subsubsection" be used in a thesis?</p>
<p>For example: </p>
<p>The next subsubsection discusses so and so.</p>
<p>It is not listed in English dictionaries.</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>Thank you</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24112,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's better to avoid it if you can. Rephrase it with something like \"Later we will...\", \"further in the text...\", \"in the following we will...\", etc. You can also refer to it specifically as \"in Sec. X.Y.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24113,
"author": "padawan",
"author_id": 15949,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15949",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>By definition, (although the word is not in the dictionary), <strong>subsection</strong> is a division of a section, hence, does not have a meaning of its own. <strong>Section</strong>, however, if isolated, has a meaning of its own. Each section can be read and understood without reading the other sections. If necessary, other sections can be referred. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In this experiment, we validate the theorem presented in Section 4. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>is a fine sentence. Whereas, a subsection might be entitled <strong>Experiments with Abnormal Data</strong>, such that one cannot understand before reading the definition of <em>abnormal data</em> (which is probably given at the beginning of the section). </p>\n\n<p>Therefore, instead of </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The next subsection discusses the effects of abnormal data to our\n super-duper proposed solution</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I'd prefer </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>We examine the effects of abnormal data to our super-duper proposed\n solution in detail, in Section 4.3</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24126,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>One very important point has yet to be touched on. Indeed, <em>subsubsection</em> is not a dictionary word -- and even if it were, it's awfully cumbersome. Saying <em>\"section 1.2.3\"</em> is neater and more informative, as it tells the reader exactly where to go.</p>\n\n<p>The most important reason to use <em>numbered</em> references is if the order of your text changes. For example, if you move a particular subsection to another section or chapter, any references to it in the form of <em>\"the next subsection\"</em> will now be invalid. By using numbered references and attaching these to either the subsection header or a key sentence (as appropriate), the numbers will automatically update and your referencing will remain correct.</p>\n\n<p>The above is applicable to references to anything. It is <em>very</em> dangerous to write such things as <em>\"in the following...\"</em>, <em>\"in the previous section we introduced...\"</em>, etc. Such phrases do not refer to an exact place, and they can easily became invalid as you add, remove, or change parts of the text. Proof-reading will also be more difficult.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24144,
"author": "Felipe Gavilán",
"author_id": 18024,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18024",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the problem with \"subsubsection\" is that it leads to troublesome situations for the reader.</p>\n\n<p>In your case, if you are in a section, then you will introduce a subsection.</p>\n\n<p>If you are in a subsection, then you will introduce a subsubsection.</p>\n\n<p>If you are in a subsubsection, then you will introduce a subsubsubsection.</p>\n\n<p>And so on.</p>\n\n<p>This is a situation you are going to get into if you want to be consistent in your thesis, and as it is not convenient, I suggest you to avoid it early. Use labels for referencing portions of your work. Just like Dimitry says in his answer.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/28
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24111",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13102/"
] |
24,127 |
<p>ResearchGate is pretty well placed on Google. But it does not have a lot of contents or active users, despite their constant invitation spam.
So they spidered a lot of publications, and provide some metadata on publications <em>and authors</em> on their web page, <strong>even when you do not join</strong>.</p>
<p>Given the amount of spam I receive from them, I'm considering to file a cease-and-desist letter, disallowing them to use my name or work for advertising their service and for encouraging users to join their site, and instead display a clear statement that I am not a member and disable search indexing for these pages.</p>
<p>Currently, ResearchGate has a pretty bad reputation, see e.g.
<a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/16870/researchgate-an-asset-or-a-waste-of-time">ResearchGate: an asset or a waste of time?</a>
as well as the Wikipedia article.</p>
<p>I'm really annoyed by them:</p>
<ul>
<li>They have a fake profile page with my name, affiliation, co-authors, publications, and a big "sign up" button; that <strong>does <em>not</em> state that I am not a member</strong>, as if they could contact me this way.</li>
<li>They publish incomplete numbers of citations and impact, which one may consider to give me a bad reputation on their site. (I don't care, but this may be a legal point to make?)</li>
<li>They have information pages of many of my articles, <strong>with a big "request full-text" button</strong>, which will not work, as I am not a member and do not get contact information.</li>
<li>They use a proxy redirector to have their website show up first in Google search results, even when the actual contents are only available on a different website,</li>
</ul>
<p>Do you think that it is <strong>detrimental for my career</strong> to have such contents removed (by sending a C&D letter to them), or do you think they will ultimately manage to become a useful platform, and then it would be better to not have my data removed? Even with a C&D, I could probably retract it at some point and join. After all, the real contents are available on my homepage and Google Scholar; and these are the locations I want to show up first (fortunately, most of the time, they do).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24139,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the US a cease and desist letter does not do what you think it does. C&Ds are outside the usual legal process and serve as a warning to the recipient that you might sue them. Good ones describe in some level of detail the legal wrongs that the recipient has perpetrated against you and spell out the sender's plan to sue if the recipient does not cease and desist from the wrongful activity. They are a prelude to legal action and have no force of law in themselves. </p>\n\n<p>I'm not sure that everything that ResearchGate is doing is legal. They may be contributing to copyright infringement by encouraging their users to post full-text copies of articles that neither ResearchGate nor the authors have license to post. However, I don't think making a stand-in profile page for a non-member is a crime or a tort. They seem to be trying to post true facts about you and your work to the best of their knowledge, which isn't illegal. It may turn out that their citation counts are wrong, but I bet that many such services (Google Scholar, Web of Science, etc) have errors in their databases. A factual error about you is typically not something you can sue over, especially when they've given you the opportunity to help fix their database by making an account.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, getting litigious about their site is likely to lead to others discovering that you threatened ResearchGate. Due to the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect\">Streisand Effect</a>, sending them a C&D letter or suing them is likely to do your career more harm than if ResearchGate had complied with your wishes.</p>\n\n<p>I think that most people who care about your citation counts and published papers understand that ResearchGate is of low quality on these metrics so far. They will compare their results to other services and use the results that make the most sense to them. I think you're probably much better off either ignoring ResearchGate or joining up. Though, I wouldn't post any articles for which you lack either the copyright directly or the license to post freely from the current copyright holder.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24140,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Do you think that it is detrimental for my career to have such contents removed (by sending a C&D letter to them), or do you think they will ultimately manage to become a useful platform, and then it would be better to not have my data removed?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Clearly, one can only speculate, but given their current track record I would not hold my breath. I think the danger of real career detriments due to not being on RG are currently so small that this factor can probably be ignored in your decision making. And, as you say, opting in later on will likely not be a problem.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, for me personally just sending them a C&D letter and making sure it is enforced would probably not be worth the effort. They are operated out of Berlin, so I am not sure whether US law (I am assuming that you are US-based) applies. Trying to go through international law to make them remove your data seems like a lot of hassle to me. Most importantly, your point:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>they publish incomplete numbers of citations and impact, which one may consider to give me a bad reputation on their site.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>is maybe too paranoid. Many, many places maintain publication and citation indices of authors, and practically none of them actually have all your citations in place. I think nobody who has any impact on your career would stumble over your machine-generated RG profile and assume that it is necessarily the complete truth.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24196,
"author": "Fiona - myaccessible.website",
"author_id": 14745,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14745",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the <a href=\"http://www.researchgate.net/application.TermsAndConditions.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">terms and conditions</a>, they state the following:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>ARTICLE 4: NOTICE AND TAKE DOWN</p>\n<p>If a user feels that any information provided within the Service\ninfringes his/her or any third party's rights, he or she shall notify\nthe Provider before taking any legal action.</p>\n<p>Upon such notification,\nthe Provider will expeditiously check the objectionable information\nand will, where necessary, remove or disable access to this\ninformation ("notice and take down" process).</p>\n<p>The Provider will\nrespond to any such notification within two business days.</p>\n<p>Users shall\nnot take any legal action before the Provider has dismissed the\nnotification or two business days have elapsed without response.</p>\n<p>The\nProvider disclaims liability for expenditures, including court and\nlawyer fees, if legal action is taken earlier, unless the Provider has\ncaused the infringement intentionally, recklessly or negligently.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>There is a <a href=\"http://www.researchgate.net/contact\" rel=\"noreferrer\">contact form</a> with an option for "Legal and Data Protection". You could try that as a first step.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24206,
"author": "user18071",
"author_id": 18071,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18071",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, unless you have a clear and quantifiable rational for explaining a future PI or research associate why you were driven to use legal means rather than negotiate.</p>\n\n<p>In your professional life you have to push your personal research agenda through myriads of (small) political hurdles, in the long run your reputation is a two-sided coin. It does you no good to be a stellar researcher if you cannot work smoothly with others (teamwork is the Hallmark of 21st century research) and just working with others without inventing new paradigms will not make you a stellar reputation.</p>\n\n<p>ResearchGate is free and they by and large try to help people, so I think your question is a red-hearing. I would say go back to work and make a name for yourself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 46604,
"author": "Paul Gowder",
"author_id": 34179,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/34179",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am a law professor, and I am equally pissed with research gate. </p>\n\n<p>It would be unwise and inappropriate to give you specific advice about your own situation: this would likely constitute the unauthorized practice of law; for actual legal advice about the claims and defenses and legal strategies that apply to your situation, <strong><em>consult a competent lawyer admitted to the bar in your jurisdiction</em></strong>. I will recount my own experiences below by way of generally informing the world what one person's approach is to one specific situation (i.e., mine).</p>\n\n<p>That being said, here's how I've dealt with Research Gate. They committed four serious affronts against me:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Fraudulently inducing me to sign up for the site by sending invitations claiming to be from my coauthors, </p></li>\n<li><p>Forging my name on e-mails to other people claiming that I invited them to sign up to the site </p></li>\n<li><p>Posting a draft of a paper of mine without permission, and </p></li>\n<li><p>Maintaining a profile of me on the site without permission. (This one, as others have noted, may not be illegal---I am not sure---though it is certainly offensive in context, and to the extent it involved misleading attributions of endorsement may be illegal.)</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In response, after learning about 1, 2, and 4, I sent their customer service people a nastygram over e-mail demanding the forged emails stop and be unsubscribed. They sent me some useless response claiming I could unsubscribe. I thought nothing more of it, but continued to hear of forged emails.</p>\n\n<p>I then discovered 3 via a google scholar alert and really blew my stack. So I contacted their general counsel, also listed as their contact for <a href=\"http://www.sfwa.org/2013/03/the-dmca-takedown-notice-demystified/\">DMCA takedown notices</a> and send them a DMCA takedown combined with an <a href=\"https://gist.github.com/paultopia/c12187153f0c2c17cafb\">incredibly nasty cease and desist letter</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Their general counsel promptly replied and informed me that he'd taken down the paper referenced in #3 above. I haven't verified that this is true, or checked on any of the other ongoing acts of wrongdoing (the serial email forgery etc). I have some hopes that this will work, however, I am prepared to file suit against them on my own behalf should it not. </p>\n\n<p>What can others learn from my experience? It's not clear yet. I am of the opinion that this company operates by massive fraud and needs to be put down, but if my attempt to menace them into acting a little more law-abiding at least with respect to me succeeds, it may only be because I'm a law professor and they know that it would not be hard for me to drag them to account. </p>\n\n<p>Of the various wrongs they inflict on the world, the posting of unauthorized copies of papers is the easiest to stop---the DMCA is a blunt instrument, and, moreover, the publishers also have an incentive to put a stop to this. The next time I see a paper of mine on their site, I may not even going to bother with doing my own DMCA, instead just turning it over to the publisher. </p>\n\n<p>The rest? As I said, for myself personally, if the forged emails don't stop I may go looking for a class action plaintiff's lawyer, or just file seeking an injunction myself. </p>\n\n<p>But otherwise, the best choice may be prevention. Don't sign up for their site. Tell your friends not to sign up for their site. Let people know if emails inviting them to do things on that site show up under their name. Publicize their practices so that others stay away from them. <em>Starve the beast.</em></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/29
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24127",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17690/"
] |
24,146 |
<p>I am an undergraduate student doing summer research and I am helping a PhD student to write a portion of her PhD thesis and with a bit of editing here and there. I am wondering how would credit be distributed since I don't think a PhD thesis can be co-authored. Also, when I apply to graduate school afterwards, how would I show the admission committee that I have done this work? </p>
<p>To clarify: I had two kinds of contributions to this thesis. There are parts describing research we collaborated on, but it was mainly me in that I collected the data and performed the analysis but she gave me advice. There are also parts that describe her research, that I helped to edit.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24147,
"author": "Neo",
"author_id": 6898,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6898",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For my MSc Thesis, I put the people who proof read and helped edit my thesis in the acknowledgements.</p>\n\n<p>I think the admissions committee would care if you did some of the research, and if the PhD student was your primary advisor for that research, it would be good to get some form of letter of recommendation from him/her. A few people I know submitted 4 letters instead of 3, because a lot of the research they did was a PhD student and they thought a 4 letter from that student would help them. </p>\n\n<p>If you didn't do any research, you basically edited and made suggestions, I'm not really sure an adcomm would be interested. Great, your a friendly dude who helped his friend, now show me what you've done yourself.</p>\n\n<p>But I'm not really sure how the adcomm will look at \"editing\" someone else's PhD thesis. </p>\n\n<p>If you did some of the writing for the PhD thesis, I think thats weird; all of the writing should be done by the PhD student.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24149,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You write that you are \"helping a PhD student to write a portion of her PhD thesis\".</p>\n\n<p>Clearly from your question and comments this isn't a stapler thesis: this isn't a case where you and the PhD candidate have co-authored papers, where your work would be in the thesis and explicitly attributed to you.</p>\n\n<p>In your other comments, you make it clear that you have written passages that are in her thesis. That goes way beyond just doing collaborative research. If it's in the student's PhD thesis as her own writing and her own research, then she is falsely representing that she's done the research, and she's falsely representing that the thesis is all her own writing.</p>\n\n<p>In any university that I knew of up til now, that would result in the thesis being failed.**</p>\n\n<p>I think you need to find out the rules of your university pretty quickly, because although the PhD candidate will get the worst of the enforcement, you could get hurt by this. This is now your responsibility to put right, for your own sake. That's because if it is against the rules, then you have unwittingly been complicit with the PhD student in what, upon submission of the thesis, would be the breaking of those rules. I think ignorance of the rules is unlikely to be taken as innocence in any ensuing disciplinary proceedings. At best you could make a case of being led astray by trusted colleagues, but that's going to damage your relationship with them. It is possible, as things stand, to extricate yourself from this situation without too much damage.</p>\n\n<p>So don't go to the candidate or her supervisors to ask for their interpretation of the rules yet (if at all). Find and read the relevant rule yourself. They are almost certainly on your university intranet, if not the outward-facing website; failing that, ask in the university library.</p>\n\n<p>Here, for example, is the rule for PhDs at University College London (UCL):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The work in the thesis submitted by a student must be their own work and the submission of a thesis for examination will be regarded as a declaration of that fact.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The thesis may include collaborative work, but this should be stated as such, and must be written up by the PhD candidate, not the collaborator(s).</p>\n\n<p>If, as I suspect, co-authorship of a PhD thesis at your university is not allowed, then you need to insist to the PhD student and her supervisors that the passages you've written be removed from the thesis. Do it gently, politely, in a collegiate spirit, but do it unambiguously. As you've done genuinely new research, you'll be submitting the words you've written to a journal, so tell them that - that should be enough for them to be sure to remove it from the thesis. Keep the paper trail of all of this (including the emails or other records of when you've sent your material to the PhD candidate in the past), to protect yourself.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><sub>** though through the comments below, I've learnt that the University of California in San Diego does allow some co-authoring, providing advance permission from the Dean of Graduate Studies has been obtained.</sub></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24151,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In some fields, almost all work is done as a collaboration. In these fields, it is not at all unusual for this collaborative work to end up in a student's thesis. However, the thesis text should clearly state \"This chapter describes joint work with X\" (e.g. in a footnote). </p>\n\n<p>However, to really get credit for this joint research, you should prepare a manuscript and try to get it published, or at least release a preprint you can put online (if there isn't time to get it published before you apply to grad school).</p>\n\n<p>For the editing assistance, the most you can get is a thanks in the acknowledgements, and help with editing is not likely to impress an admissions committee.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24154,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My answer is somewhat of an amalgam of previous answers, with a little softening.</p>\n\n<p>As to the editing, there is no problem. It is fine (and encouraged) for PhD students to ask others to proofread or edit their writing. Out of courtesy, she should acknowledge your assistance in an appropriate part of the thesis (usually a special page near the beginning). But you should be doing this either as a personal favor to her, or in exchange for money; other than that, there is nothing in it for you. It isn't something that would likely interest an admissions committee (though you could certainly list that you did it, as it does give you a little extra exposure to professional writing).</p>\n\n<p>As to the substantive research and writing contributions, there are possible ethical issues. You should talk to the PhD student and make sure that she has told her advisor and her committee about your contributions, and that they are okay with it. You should also ask about any special procedures that the university might have for including collaborative work. (For instance, at my PhD institution, they would need a signed letter from you confirming which parts were yours.) If you get <em>any</em> sense that she might not be following all the rules, or that she may be intending to pass off the work as her own, you should go to her advisor and explain everything. (Ideally, you have already been talking to her advisor, since he or she presumably is the ultimate supervisor of your research work.) The fact that some of the text was actually written by you will invite the most scrutiny, so be sure this is clear to everyone.</p>\n\n<p>She should certainly describe your contributions, very specifically, in the acknowledgements. If the thesis work is going to be published in a paper, depending on the level of your contributions, you might be entitled to coauthorship on that paper. You should discuss these authorship issues with the student now (e.g. who will be first author, etc), but you might also want to talk with some other faculty member, since it sounds like you may not have enough experience to know what is reasonable or customary in your field.</p>\n\n<p>In the short term, the way you would get \"credit\" for your work, for the purposes of graduate admissions, is to get a letter of recommendation from the student, as well as from her advisor or whichever other faculty member is supervising your research. They can tell the admission committee in detail about what you did, and how they think it reflects on your research potential; that's likely to be even more helpful than being able to point to a part of a paper or thesis as yours.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24183,
"author": "dsfgsho",
"author_id": 17804,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17804",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I am helping a PhD student to write a portion of her PhD thesis.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Based on this statement, I assume that the thesis is a monograph. I think it is very weird for an undergrad to write parts of a PhD thesis. Although the work in a thesis can clearly be the result of collaborative work (in the form of co-authored papers or other publications), a thesis in essence must be an individual effort. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>... and with a bit of editing here and there</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The PhD student should describe in the acknowledgement section that you proof-read and/or edited parts of the thesis.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Also, when I apply to graduate school afterwards, how would I show the admission committee that I have done this work?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If there is a scientific or research value to your contribution, some or all of it could end up in a publication, of which you can ask to be a co-author.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I don't think a PhD thesis can be co-authored.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No, and again, I find it very strange that you are actively writing sections in the thesis. Furthermore, most academic institutions will ask PhD students to sign a document stating <em>\"I am the sole author of this thesis\"</em> when submitting their thesis.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/29
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24146",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17724/"
] |
24,156 |
<p>A friend of mine has told me that his Master student (Chemistry) defended his thesis sometimes ago and everything went alright and he graduated.
He recently realized that in the acknowledgements part the student has copied practically (word by word, line by line) the acknowledgements of another thesis available on the Internet by replacing the name of my colleague with the name of the supervisor of that thesis. He added that he was hurt by the fact that the student has not tried to say his 'thank you' words by his own words.</p>
<p>My first question is that can this be considered as a plagiarism?</p>
<p>My second question is that is it necessary to inform the student about this possible (if any) misconduct? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24159,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Formally, the copy-pasting of the Acknowledgements section is stealing the other author's language, expressions and maybe even ideas, that fits into the common understanding of plagiarism. Therefore, it might be a good idea to discuss this with the student.</p>\n\n<p>However, before you do this, you may wish to double-check your internal motivation. Do you do this to help student realize that even if they copy a small piece of text like this (not directly related to the academic content of theses), it still can be considered as a breach of ethics and negatively impact their future career? Or do you do this because you feel for your friend and have some hard feelings about the ungrateful student? </p>\n\n<p>The situation is definitely very delicate, and should be carefully dealt with. It touches the field of academic ethics in two separate points: copypasting the text, and expressing gratitude. It is crucial to separate these two in the discussion with student.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24161,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n<p>He recently realized that in the acknowledgements part the student has copied practically (word by word, line by line) the acknowledgements of another thesis available on the Internet by replacing the name of my colleague with the name of the supervisor of that thesis.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>I'm slightly confused: I assume that in order to discover this, the advisor must have run the entire thesis through some plagiarism-detection software. But the question indicates that this took place <em>after</em> the student's graduation. I don't understand that: two reasonable times to run your student's thesis through plagiarism detection software are (i) at some point before you sign off on it and (ii) never. Would one really do this after the fact out of idle curiosity, or did the advisor have some other reason to suspect that plagiarism took place?</p>\n<p>Is line-by-line copying of someone else's acknowledgments a form of plagiarism?<br />\nWell, plagiarism has a sufficiently precise definition that I don't see how the answer can be "no". The better question is whether this is viewed as unacceptable enough to do <em>anything</em> about.</p>\n<p>I think that part of that question depends upon the writing quality and originality of the purloined acknowledgments. As @Andreas Blass points out, if you've seen 10 different thesis acknowledgments, you've seen 1000 more: such acknowledgements are formally part of the thesis but they are not part of the <em>academic / intellectual content</em> of the thesis. So they are not vetted in any way, and there is no expectation of intellectual originality. There is more than one way to phrase "Thanks so much to my parents, my friends and my thesis advisor", but the number of <em>standard ways to phrase that</em> is so much smaller than the number of theses that the pigeonhole principle applies to show that many people are writing the same sentences in their acknowledgments. If the purloined acknowledgments contained many clever and original turns of phrase, then it looks worse: the fact that what you stole has nothing to do with the intellectual content of the thesis cannot excuse the fact that you are taking credit for someone else's distinctive writing. That's a really icky thing to do in acknowledgments to your own thesis.</p>\n<p>Unless the purloined acknowledgments contained several paragraphs of poetry or something similarly egregious, I would not consider a formal plagiarism inquiry. This runs the risk of getting the degree rescinded, which to me is clearly too harsh. But there <em>is</em> a real problem here:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>He added that he was hurt by the fact that the student has not tried to say his 'thank you' words by his own words.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Ça y est. The student's former advisor has discovered that the student has cut corners and compromised some academic integrity <em>just to get out of thanking him in his own words</em>. What a slap in the face! I think that if something like this happened to me, I would have to bring it up with the student (though it would be painfully awkward) just because I would feel like I have to be honest with them about the change in my opinion of them resulting from this discovery. Without some kind of sincere apology / explanation of this, the future of this professional relationship is at risk. The student, alas, may need to be informed that he should look elsewhere for future recommendation letters and so forth.</p>\n<p><b>Added: </b>A lot of people seem to be suggesting that parts of this answer are an overreaction. I tried to make clear that I don't find the premise of the question completely plausible or understandable, but after discussing that I did what I think is the appropriate thing on Q&A sites like this one: I <em>assumed the premise</em>, in some form which made sense to me. Yes, if the "word-by-word, line-by-line" copied acknowledgments constitute five lines thanking the student's family, friends and advisor, I see no problem at all -- and I don't see it as a reason to run the text of the acknowledgment through an internet search. Nor would such a search turn up a unique antecedent; it would turn up hundreds or thousands of cognate passages, as Andreas Blass pointed out. Thus to assume the premise I had to assume that the purloined text was much more substantial and distinctive. To be more specific, imagine the text was:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I feel greatly honored to be able to add, in some small way, to a subject founded\nby so many [Field Xers] whose work I so deeply admire; among them are\n[My Advisor], [Person A], [Person B] and of course [Person Whose Name Appears in the Thesis Title], the richness of whose ideas seems undilutable by time.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I thank [Professor C] and [Professor D] for suggestions directly relevant to the material appearing in this thesis. I thank [Fellow Student E] for helping me – quite a while ago now – with some results of [Somewhat Technical Theory] that appear in the appendix.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I thank [Postdoc F] for helping me calculate a fistful of [Something] (I regret that none of these calculations appear in this thesis)\nand for generally being so free with his technical and [Field X-ical] insights.\nI am grateful to [Recent PhD G] for making his own as yet unpublished thesis\nwork available to me.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The graduate students in the [University Y Department of X] have been without\nexception intelligent and friendly, and it has been a pleasure to learn from them and with them over the years.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Thanks to [Old Girlfriend H] for providing comfort in the sad days of [a few years ago]. Her kindness will never be forgotten.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I am indebted to my thesis advisor [My Advisor] for more things than I can list\nhere, but most recently for a careful reading of an early, ugly draft of a certain lengthy [Field X-ical] document.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>My father would have been proud of this thesis beyond all moderation. My\nmother has long made and continues to make me proud of her strength in the\nface of all the challenges life has to offer. I thank them both with all of my\nheart.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Imagine that the advisor read this the first time around and was happy to be thanked along with so many other people who made a difference in the student's life. Then later, for whatever reason, he does an internet search on or including this text and discovers that it is lifted word-by-word, line-by-line from <a href=\"http://alpha.math.uga.edu/%7Epete/thesis.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">this 2003 PhD thesis</a>. The specificity of the stolen text would be downright creepy. Is it really an overreaction if the advisor is upset by this??</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24208,
"author": "Bruno",
"author_id": 798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/798",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should really take a step back and put this into context. This is <em>just</em> the acknowledgement section.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My first question is that can this be considered as a plagiarism?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The acknowledgements are not really part of the academic work. In general, it's the only part of a thesis where the writer has a larger degree of freedom regarding style and content. This should certainly not be <em>academic</em> plagiarism per se.</p>\n\n<p>There's also the secondary question of copyright infringement, but in all likelihood, the text is too short for this to be clear cut. I'm not a lawyer, but I suspect this could fall under some sort of fair use (although some form of citation would be good I guess). Nevertheless, the one who could be upset about this should be the initial author of these acknowledgements, if they care. Of course, if a court of law decided this was indeed copyright infringement, this would have an impact with respect to the plagiarism policy of the institution.</p>\n\n<p>I'll just assume that no one felt this issue had to go outside the scope of academia.</p>\n\n<p>It sounds like this is more an issue about causing offence than about actual plagiarism.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My second question is that is it necessary to inform the student about this possible (if any) misconduct?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You can have a quick word with the student, since he or she visibly caused offence, but I wouldn't call this misconduct.</p>\n\n<p>Putting things back into context, the acknowledgement section of a thesis will be ignored by 90% of the 0.00000001% of the world's population who will have read the thesis (I might be generous there).</p>\n\n<p>Acknowledgements are mainly a name-checking exercise:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You thank your parents so they can be proud when they exhibit the precious copy you gave them to their visiting friends shortly after the graduation ceremony, before gathering dust until eternity. You can also thank a few close friends for the bond of common graduation experience. </li>\n<li>From a professional point of view, you also thank your supervisor and possible funding bodies who might have given you grants for the work. The latter are the points that really matter: the supervisor and funding bodies will be able to put the student's thesis as part of the achievements of their own careers and projects.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Besides that, I'm afraid to say no one really cares about the wording in general, as long as it's not offensive or outstanding in the wrong way (one should avoid things like \"<em>[...] Prof X was the catalyst that enabled this exothermic reaction inside me to produce this marvellous piece of work [...]</em>\", simply because it's ridiculous, not because it might be plagiarism). If someone takes interest in the work and want to find out under whom this was conducted, they'll have a quick glance at the acknowledgement section, look at the name of the supervisor, take note and move on.</p>\n\n<p>Perhaps there is some cultural context at play here. You're not saying in which country you are or what your friend's cultural background and seniority are.</p>\n\n<p>The student probably didn't mean to cause offence. Since it sounds like the text is sufficiently distinctive to be identifiable, it sounds like the student actually did make an effort to find something original to say, at least something distinct from the basic \"<em>I would like to thank Prof X for his (in)valuable advice</em>\". If anything, your friend should be flattered, by this attempt (sadly failed). The acknowledgements is probably one of the last sections that was written in a rush before the submission deadline.</p>\n\n<p>As I said earlier, it doesn't sound like a plagiarism issue, but like someone who inadvertently caused offence. It's not so much about informing the student about a possible \"misconduct\", rather it's about defusing the situation, between the two of them. It can be tricky if your friend is seriously offended. In fact, perhaps you should have a word with your friend first to try to calm down this situation. If I was the student, I would feel really awkward having to work later (e.g. in a PhD programme for a number of years) with a supervisor who is likely to hold some sort of grudge for this.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/29
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24156",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18035/"
] |
24,162 |
<p>Around 3 months ago, I submitted a paper to a Math journal for peer-review through an online submission system. The same day I received in my e-mail an acknowledgement saying that the paper had been received.</p>
<p>The problem is that the status of the paper on the online submission system is still "Manuscript submitted".</p>
<p>I think this means that the paper has not even been assigned to an editor yet (once this happens, the editor will probably start looking for reviewers), but as far as I know submissions are assigned to editors within a few weeks (I once submitted a paper to another journal and when an editor had been assigned, the status on the online system changed to "Editor handles" or something like that).</p>
<p>I know that publishing is a long and complicated process and I'm not trying to rush anybody, but sometimes manuscripts are lost in the system. In fact, this has once happened to me, so I just want to make sure that the paper was not lost in the system.</p>
<p>Should I send an e-mail asking for the status of the paper?</p>
<p>PS: I think that, at the time of submitting the paper, I didn't choose any specific editor to submit the paper to.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24171,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Yes, you should send a quick email asking for an update. In my experience, every electronic manuscript submission/tracking system seem to be different. Even different journals from the same publisher who use a unified log in system, seem to have tweaks to what you see. I think that after one month at any one stage, with the exception of \"under review\", it is perfectly reasonable, and probably desirable, to ask for a status update. The time a manuscript spend \"under review\" is often very field, and even journal, specific and can range from days to 12+ months.</p>\n\n<p>When sending an email, be polite and explain that you just want to make sure that you do not need to do anything at the current stage. In all likelihood the status update will be no more informative than \"we are working on it\" (i.e., they haven't lost it), but that is informative.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 58992,
"author": "f.thorpe",
"author_id": 16083,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16083",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When this has happened to me, I was told to look at the journal's list of editors that are in the appropriate subject area, and contact them directly to see if they would accept the task. You may have to do something similar. Ask Nicely! It will also help if you have colleagues in common so that you can strike up some conversation and get them interested. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/29
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24162",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13744/"
] |
24,163 |
<p>Should I use the pronoun 'my' in the title of an appendix of a thesis? </p>
<p>For example: </p>
<p>Appendix A: An Example of My Participation in the Community's Rituals</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24171,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Yes, you should send a quick email asking for an update. In my experience, every electronic manuscript submission/tracking system seem to be different. Even different journals from the same publisher who use a unified log in system, seem to have tweaks to what you see. I think that after one month at any one stage, with the exception of \"under review\", it is perfectly reasonable, and probably desirable, to ask for a status update. The time a manuscript spend \"under review\" is often very field, and even journal, specific and can range from days to 12+ months.</p>\n\n<p>When sending an email, be polite and explain that you just want to make sure that you do not need to do anything at the current stage. In all likelihood the status update will be no more informative than \"we are working on it\" (i.e., they haven't lost it), but that is informative.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 58992,
"author": "f.thorpe",
"author_id": 16083,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16083",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When this has happened to me, I was told to look at the journal's list of editors that are in the appropriate subject area, and contact them directly to see if they would accept the task. You may have to do something similar. Ask Nicely! It will also help if you have colleagues in common so that you can strike up some conversation and get them interested. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/29
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24163",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13102/"
] |
24,168 |
<p>I am an undergraduate and I have no experience in research papers. I have come up with an idea to write a simple research paper on "Emerging fiber optic networks in Africa." To my utter astonishment, I have seen a few papers already published in IEEE forum: one titled "Developing a fiber optic backbone for Africa" and another one I can't remember...</p>
<p>How can I deal with such a thing? Should I go and do my own research on the topic and see what happens? Or should I come up with another idea?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24169,
"author": "stay_frosty",
"author_id": 18052,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18052",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Papers have been written on nearly every topic you can possibly think of. I would be shocked if someone HADN'T written a paper on your potential research area by now. The trick to good research is to <em>position</em> your research in the space alongside other papers. What did 'Emerging fiber optic networks in Africa' conclude? What was their methodology, sample size, literature review or most importantly their conclusion? Each one of these areas can be used as a jumping point for <em>your</em> research to confirm, critique, dispute, refute or supplement theirs. It's good that others have come before you to beat down the path so that you can potentially tread a little further off the beaten trail. To answer your question, I personally think you should continue to pursue your research area, there is always scope to perform more research, especially in your field of interest. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24172,
"author": "J.R.",
"author_id": 780,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/780",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There's a subtle shift in the meaning of research as you transition from high school and lower-level undergraduate work to graduate school. </p>\n\n<p>Early on, a teacher may ask for you to do research, and it means: Look up everything you can find on this matter, and report what you have found. You are essentially writing a \"research report,\" summarizing what is already known about a certain topic.</p>\n\n<p>As you get into more formal academic research, however, <em>research</em> means: Come up with a problem that hasn't been satisfactorily solved, form a hypothesis on how to solve it, then test your hypothesis with a series of carefully crafted scientific experiments, and finally report your results. You are essentially expanding the scope of knowledge in a certain field, and doing so using the scientific method. </p>\n\n<p>It's also worth noting that the first section of most research papers summarize the already-established knowledge in the problem area. So, in a research paper about fiber optic networks in Africa, the author(s) would probably have some novel idea about how best to, say, install or maintain such a network, and they would likely begin by summarizing what has already been done so far, before explaining why their idea would potentially improve the start-of-the-art. Therefore, it's very <strong>normal</strong> to find other related papers when you start doing your research. In fact, that should be your first step: read and study every one of them you can find. </p>\n\n<p>If you are doing a \"research report,\" that's pretty much the end of the line. But if you are doing graduate-level research, that's merely the beginning. Incidentally, it can easily take a year or more to do the rest (even longer if you are doing doctoral research). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24219,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If someone else has done research on the very same theme or idea that you have, then you should rejoice. You are part of a research community, and what counts to society is what the community produces, not just what each individual researcher produces.</p>\n\n<p>Even more significant: if someone else has published research on your idea, then it is evidence that you aren't crazy. It's a good sign, not a bad sign. I'm serious about this. Really great ideas are not the creation of solo researchers operating in isolation. They arise in a community through social interaction, engagement, and rivalry. If there is existing research then it connects you to the community of researchers who are working along similar lines. These are your most valuable allies, even if you vehemently disagree with them on specifics.</p>\n\n<p>Don't be too attached to this one idea. Explore it as far as it goes. But you should pay attention to what ideas might follow, or at least how this develops your intellectual curiosity.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24168",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18044/"
] |
24,170 |
<p>I am in the last months of my MSc and I have done my thesis. I have published some conference papers but most of them were literature reviews. My MSc thesis is about solving wave equations by means of method of potentials and boundary elements. I am interested in pursuing research in another field (differential equations) but I have no idea how to start any topic that may lead to a journal publication. </p>
<p>By asking this question, I want to understand how a research student, whether a recently graduated MSc student or a PhD student, can start searching for a new research topic and develop some researches based on his own interests. Specially, I would like to know:</p>
<ul>
<li>To what extent should a graduate student be dependent on faculty members? How can he be more independent and start his own research activities?</li>
<li>Is it a good idea that the graduate work on another topic with the faculty member or work independently on a more recent research topic?</li>
<li>If the person is in a research group or at the university, is it a good idea or is it ethical that he develop his own research interests, besides to the topics which are being developed in that institute?</li>
<li>How should a graduate student manage this and make some progress in the research fields of his own interest? (In particular, sometimes the faculty members are not interested in the topics you are interested in and the person has to start his own research activity.) </li>
</ul>
<p>And also, if this research is part of his independent research, at the time of publishing what affiliation should be used in the publications. Should it be "Independent Scholar" as mentioned in <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/19710/what-to-put-in-affiliation-field-when-submitting-paper-without-affiliation">this link</a> or something else? This is important in academic publications, because sometimes, the person is in a research group, but he is publishing a paper as part of his own researches not the things he is doing in that institute; in this case, has he mention that institute's affiliation or use his own one? So please make it clear that how the affiliation would be when the person does research independently in the cases like when he is not working in a research group or he is working with a professor or research group but his publication is output of his own research activities? It is a little unclear.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24181,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a graduate student, you are not yet expected to conduct research that is completely independent of an advisor or mentor. The fundamental goal of (doctoral) graduate education is to develop your research ability so that you have the ability work completely independently after you graduate. There is nothing wrong with being \"dependent\" on your advisor, in a certain sense, when you are still in graduate school. Of course, you will have to do your own work to earn the degree. </p>\n\n<p>You should start thinking about your own research interests, but budget your time and prioritize your projects appropriately. If you have the time, energy, and ability to work on independent research while also working on your dissertation, that's fine. </p>\n\n<p>But be careful: it is easy to underestimate the amount of effort required to finish the dissertation. And, in general, you want to have an <em>excellent</em> dissertation if you are planning to continue in academia. So a certain amount of focus and single-mindedness is needed to complete your degree well. Don't spread your effort too thin. </p>\n\n<p>You should also make sure that your advisor is aware if you are making any serious progress on other research - at the least, so that they know you are also still serious about your dissertation. It would be risky to keep your advisor in the dark, if only because they may feel you are not dedicating sufficient time to your dissertation. And be ready to sell your project to your advisor, as <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/10111/16122\">described by Yuichiro Fujiwara</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, if you are a graduate student at a university or research group, then your affiliation is that university or research group. This is no different than for a faculty member at the university. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24216,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Context: I'm an older PhD student (mid-50s) and had a couple of publications before entering the PhD program. I'm in an interdisciplinary field where there are few well-established research programs. It's very common for PhD students to embark on their own research interests that are different from their advisers. Myself, I started submitting papers after my first semester based on class projects and side projects. I even developed a paper that started as my answer to a question on our Candidacy Exam. I was a research assistant for three years with sole responsibility for a very complex Agent-based Modeling simulation.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>To what extent should a graduate student be dependent on faculty members? How can he be more independent and start his own research activities?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Start as soon as possible to develop your own <em>intellectual curiosity</em>. This involves thinking hard about the research in your field relative to the fundamental questions in the field. This is more than \"picking sides\" in intellectual debates. It involves developing <em>mental models</em> of your field, the various research methods, research questions, and research results. What's important? What is not?</p>\n\n<p>You might start with a single important paper. Look at the section of the paper where they describe opportunities for further research, or maybe limitations. Read other papers that critique this important paper. All the time, you should be asking yourself: \"What do <strong>I</strong> think should be done to improve/extend/solidify this research?\"</p>\n\n<p>You could also start with a survey paper, which often include extensive discussions of future research directions.</p>\n\n<p>As soon as possible, you should put your intellectual curiosity into action. I'm fond of class projects and papers for that but not all disciplines have courses that support project work. Either way, \"directed reading\" courses are ideal settings to write conference or journal papers of <em>your choice</em> under the supervision of a professor (not necessarily your adviser).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is it a good idea [to do] the graduate work on another topic with the faculty member or work independently on a more recent research topic?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If your intellectual curiosity leads you to research questions/methods that can be successfully done in collaboration with a faculty member, then approach them and suggest a collaboration. If, like me, your interests and ideas lead elsewhere, then do your research independently.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If the person is in a research group or at the university, is it a good idea or is it ethical that he develop his own research interests, besides to the topics which are being developed in that institute?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It's a good idea to develop and invest in your own research interests if they diverge from your research group. There is no problem with ethics if you are open and forthcoming about what you are doing and why. This might go against the cultural norms of the university or research group, but you should make decisions you feel good about in terms of your ethics and values. If other people aren't happy with them or push back, then my view is that is their problem. If they have power, you may suffer negative consequences. So be it. Don't bow before people in power just because they are in power.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How should a graduate student manage this and make some progress in the research fields of his own interest? (In particular, sometimes the faculty members are not interested in the topics you are interested in and the person has to start his own research activity.)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Make a work plan. What is your output (results, papers, articles)? Where will you submit it? In what sequence? How much time will it take -- daily, weekly, monthly? If you can't make a plan that answers these questions, recruit a mentor. It could be anyone who you respect and who knows your field, maybe faculty at your university or maybe someone far distant.</p>\n\n<p>In general, the more you can weave your independent research into your other activities and projects, the better off you will be. That's why I like class projects. But same goes for research assistant work, industry work, or other work. Look for as much synergy between all these activities as you can.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[...] if this research is part of his independent research, [...] what affiliation should be used in the publications? Should it be \"Independent Scholar\" as mentioned in this link or something else?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No, you shouldn't use \"Independent Scholar\" as affiliation as long as you have an official affiliation as a graduate student, post-doc, or other. You should <em>always</em> use your primary affiliation, even if it is Physics and your paper is in Art History. The exception is if you have multiple official affiliations (e.g. Visiting Researcher) and your research was done at or was supported by these other affiliated institutions.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24170",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
24,176 |
<p>What is the difference among the terms <em>paper</em>, <em>thesis</em> and <em>dissertation</em>? Which one should I use, for instance if I am completing a master's degree? Are they interchangeable ?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24181,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a graduate student, you are not yet expected to conduct research that is completely independent of an advisor or mentor. The fundamental goal of (doctoral) graduate education is to develop your research ability so that you have the ability work completely independently after you graduate. There is nothing wrong with being \"dependent\" on your advisor, in a certain sense, when you are still in graduate school. Of course, you will have to do your own work to earn the degree. </p>\n\n<p>You should start thinking about your own research interests, but budget your time and prioritize your projects appropriately. If you have the time, energy, and ability to work on independent research while also working on your dissertation, that's fine. </p>\n\n<p>But be careful: it is easy to underestimate the amount of effort required to finish the dissertation. And, in general, you want to have an <em>excellent</em> dissertation if you are planning to continue in academia. So a certain amount of focus and single-mindedness is needed to complete your degree well. Don't spread your effort too thin. </p>\n\n<p>You should also make sure that your advisor is aware if you are making any serious progress on other research - at the least, so that they know you are also still serious about your dissertation. It would be risky to keep your advisor in the dark, if only because they may feel you are not dedicating sufficient time to your dissertation. And be ready to sell your project to your advisor, as <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/10111/16122\">described by Yuichiro Fujiwara</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, if you are a graduate student at a university or research group, then your affiliation is that university or research group. This is no different than for a faculty member at the university. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24216,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Context: I'm an older PhD student (mid-50s) and had a couple of publications before entering the PhD program. I'm in an interdisciplinary field where there are few well-established research programs. It's very common for PhD students to embark on their own research interests that are different from their advisers. Myself, I started submitting papers after my first semester based on class projects and side projects. I even developed a paper that started as my answer to a question on our Candidacy Exam. I was a research assistant for three years with sole responsibility for a very complex Agent-based Modeling simulation.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>To what extent should a graduate student be dependent on faculty members? How can he be more independent and start his own research activities?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Start as soon as possible to develop your own <em>intellectual curiosity</em>. This involves thinking hard about the research in your field relative to the fundamental questions in the field. This is more than \"picking sides\" in intellectual debates. It involves developing <em>mental models</em> of your field, the various research methods, research questions, and research results. What's important? What is not?</p>\n\n<p>You might start with a single important paper. Look at the section of the paper where they describe opportunities for further research, or maybe limitations. Read other papers that critique this important paper. All the time, you should be asking yourself: \"What do <strong>I</strong> think should be done to improve/extend/solidify this research?\"</p>\n\n<p>You could also start with a survey paper, which often include extensive discussions of future research directions.</p>\n\n<p>As soon as possible, you should put your intellectual curiosity into action. I'm fond of class projects and papers for that but not all disciplines have courses that support project work. Either way, \"directed reading\" courses are ideal settings to write conference or journal papers of <em>your choice</em> under the supervision of a professor (not necessarily your adviser).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is it a good idea [to do] the graduate work on another topic with the faculty member or work independently on a more recent research topic?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If your intellectual curiosity leads you to research questions/methods that can be successfully done in collaboration with a faculty member, then approach them and suggest a collaboration. If, like me, your interests and ideas lead elsewhere, then do your research independently.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If the person is in a research group or at the university, is it a good idea or is it ethical that he develop his own research interests, besides to the topics which are being developed in that institute?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It's a good idea to develop and invest in your own research interests if they diverge from your research group. There is no problem with ethics if you are open and forthcoming about what you are doing and why. This might go against the cultural norms of the university or research group, but you should make decisions you feel good about in terms of your ethics and values. If other people aren't happy with them or push back, then my view is that is their problem. If they have power, you may suffer negative consequences. So be it. Don't bow before people in power just because they are in power.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How should a graduate student manage this and make some progress in the research fields of his own interest? (In particular, sometimes the faculty members are not interested in the topics you are interested in and the person has to start his own research activity.)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Make a work plan. What is your output (results, papers, articles)? Where will you submit it? In what sequence? How much time will it take -- daily, weekly, monthly? If you can't make a plan that answers these questions, recruit a mentor. It could be anyone who you respect and who knows your field, maybe faculty at your university or maybe someone far distant.</p>\n\n<p>In general, the more you can weave your independent research into your other activities and projects, the better off you will be. That's why I like class projects. But same goes for research assistant work, industry work, or other work. Look for as much synergy between all these activities as you can.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[...] if this research is part of his independent research, [...] what affiliation should be used in the publications? Should it be \"Independent Scholar\" as mentioned in this link or something else?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No, you shouldn't use \"Independent Scholar\" as affiliation as long as you have an official affiliation as a graduate student, post-doc, or other. You should <em>always</em> use your primary affiliation, even if it is Physics and your paper is in Art History. The exception is if you have multiple official affiliations (e.g. Visiting Researcher) and your research was done at or was supported by these other affiliated institutions.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24176",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18057/"
] |
24,180 |
<p>I want to conduct some research and will apply for IRB approval. But, finding money to offer incentives for respondents may be difficult. I do not mind using personal funds as the total amount is very low. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is there any ethical issue with using personal funds for research?</p></li>
<li><p>Do you know of any IRB related regulations that address the above issue?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If it matters I am at a US educational institution.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24185,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I assume you are interested in additional ethical issues with paying subject out of pocket as opposed to paying subjects from a grant.</p>\n\n<p>I have never listed where the subject \"payments\" (today's term is \"inconvenience allowance\") come from on an IRB form and have never been questioned about it in either the US or UK. This is not an issue that I would bring up with the IRB and it is not even clear where you would list this in the IRB applications that I am familiar with.</p>\n\n<p>There may be some tax and liability issues associated with paying out of pocket. While I would not bring this up to the IRB, I would mention it to your research support officer. If/when I over spend on my overhead account I can make up the difference from my pay check. I think it is even possible to divert some of my salary directly into my overhead account, even if I haven't hit zero balance. This way the university is officially paying for the research, they take care of the research liability, and any potential taxes the subjects need to pay. There might even be tax savings for you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24189,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I've sat on an IRB panel and we've never been concerned about the source of funds for participant gift-cards.</p>\n\n<p>p.s. Note I'm an ethnographic fieldworker and I often buy small gifts for the families and individuals who participate in my projects. It's too much of a pain to pay for these out of my research account (why do you want 15 stuffed bears and keychains?) so I buy them out of pocket. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24211,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would like to <strong>supplement</strong> everyone's excellent answers by saying that sometimes, especially in social science experiments, the choice of incentive is very important. Importantly, the choice of funding source has also been explored somewhat in research methodology literature.</p>\n\n<p>An influential paper in this regard is linked <a href=\"http://ssc.sagepub.com/content/22/3/355.short\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a> (paywall) and <a href=\"http://socialmedia.northwestern.edu/files/2013/10/Social-Science-Computer-Review-2004-Birnholtz-355-62.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a> (free!) A brief summary of this paper is that, it takes 3 popular incentive choices (in social science for experiments) and looks at the choice of said incentive versus data collection and sampling. These incentives are cash, gift certificate via snail mail and gift certificate via email. The results indicate the cash might be the most effective incentive structure in similar experiments.</p>\n\n<p>In response to a comment, I would state that does exist a relationship between the funding source and incentive choice. In one of our previous projects, where the funding came from a \"named\" foundation, we had a condition to use funding for participant recruitment in a very specific way.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Disclaimer:</strong> The first author is my previous adviser.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24225,
"author": "Matt",
"author_id": 15762,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15762",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a counterpoint, the last IRB application I filled out (at a US university) had a section asking where the money was coming from (grant, start-up account, departmental funds, industrial partner, etc). </p>\n\n<p>From the questions, I got the impression that the IRB wanted to </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Avoid conflicts of interest, Taking money from industrial sponsors might introduce some potential biases)</p></li>\n<li><p>Be sure that the money would actually be available. It might put the university in a tight spot if you promised subjects money or reimbursement, but could not afford to pay them. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Number one probably isn't an issue for you, and #2 might be solvable by putting the money \"in escrow\" with the department. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24180",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18059/"
] |
24,184 |
<p>I am currently working on my bachelor's thesis in computer science in Germany. I have created a few charts/graphs, making heavy use of icons downloaded from <a href="http://www.thenounproject.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.thenounproject.com/</a>.</p>
<p>Most of the icons I did use are published under a <em>Creative Commons</em> license. I am not sure how to credit the authors of the icons. The website states the following for <em>books</em>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The attribution should be displayed either on the same page as the symbol, with the colophon, in the bibliography or Credits section.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The license text (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/" rel="nofollow">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/</a>) states the following for attribution:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If supplied, you must provide the name of the creator and attribution parties, a copyright notice, a license notice, a disclaimer notice, and a link to the material.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I don't think it makes sense to credit the authors of the icons in the bibliography of the thesis though.</p>
<p>How is the usual procedure to give picture credit in theses? Is it considered appropriate to use these kinds of graphics for illustration in academic contexts?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24186,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would add the information to the figure caption. Something like \"The icons are courtesy of ABC.\" If there are a lot of figures with difficult to attribute icons, I might refer readers to a footnote or even an appendix. I am not sure that the icons being released under creative commons really matters in terms of how you attribute them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24188,
"author": "ipoga",
"author_id": 1549,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1549",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Personally, I would go for the colophon option. This will be a natural place to look for anyone who has ever read a book, and it doesn't \"interfere\" with the scholarly work you are presenting.</p>\n\n<p>Captions of figures are also fine, but if you use the icons in more than one figure, I would definitely prefer to place the credit in the colophon.</p>\n\n<p>In the end it is primarily an aesthetic choice, but I agree with not putting them in the bibliography.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24184",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9659/"
] |
24,191 |
<p>My university requires one to submit a printed copy of the dissertation. The paper has to be 100% cotton, white, and 20- to 24 lb weight.</p>
<p>Since I have a choice in the weight of the paper, my question is if there are any advantages to one weight over the other.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24192,
"author": "Willie Wong",
"author_id": 94,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Lighter paper is usually slightly cheaper. And your finished book would be also lighter (pretty much by definition); this may or may not make a difference for when you carry it to the various offices/libraries as part of the process of finishing your degree. </p>\n\n<p>Heavier paper has a better \"feel\" when you flip pages (think about the difference between a high quality hardcover book versus a cheap paper-back novel). It is a bit more resistant to wear and tear, and if you scan/photocopy pages it will be less likely to have the effect where the \"next\" page shows through. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>If the only publicly available copy of your dissertation would be the copy you submit, I would ask you to do would-be readers a favor and use heavier paper. But if you intend to publish your thesis (take chapters and publish them as journal articles, or just put the entire thesis online for the world to see), then the lighter paper will save you a little money, and perhaps be marginally better on the environment. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24193,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't think the weight of the paper is as important as the material from which it is made. So long as the paper is \"archival quality,\" meaning no acids or other components which will allow it to degrade more easily over time, the choice is somewhat arbitrary. Willie Wong raises some valid points in his answer, though—the slightly thicker paper will help future readers more than the thinner paper, and the relative change in weight is probably not so large as to make the thesis cumbersome as a printed volume.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24191",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12427/"
] |
24,201 |
<p>I think of a thesis as sort of an immature document, by definition. It delineates the university era from the professional era, and is bound to lack some practical elements. Should a student refrain from publishing his or her thesis on the Internet, for this or any other reason?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24203,
"author": "The Almighty Bob",
"author_id": 16086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16086",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Every document is, in the way you define it, immature. With everything you write your writing improves. Your papers will not be better because you have a degree. They will be better, because you learned something (i.e. made mistakes) before. </p>\n\n<p>However, there might be reasons not to publish your thesis, but it is not so different from normal working papers. Maybe your thesis is just bad, you did not get any meaningful results, you have made significant mistakes, etc.</p>\n\n<p>So if your university allows, publish it online if you want to (or if you think it may be worth reading / you can not think of a good reason not to); everyone knows, it is only a master's thesis and will read it in a different way than they would read a published paper (or not at all).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24204,
"author": "tbekolay",
"author_id": 8619,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8619",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Like you say, a thesis is not necessarily as thoroughly peer reviewed as a journal article. In my opinion, that doesn't mean the thesis should not be publicly available, just that a reader should keep in mind that the document is a thesis when reading it and (potentially) citing it. The onus then falls on the reader of a thesis, not on the writer.</p>\n\n<p>In the end, the decision of whether to make your thesis public is more about your university's policy. At the University of Waterloo, for example, all accepted theses are publicly available by default through <a href=\"https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/\">the same web portal</a>. Other university's have IP policies that may not allow you to publish your thesis (though these policies are rarely enforced).</p>\n\n<p>When the policy is ambiguous or left up to you, I would strongly recommend making it publicly available.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24210,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Unless there is a compelling reason not to, <strong>yes, you should put your thesis online.</strong></p>\n\n<p>A thesis is supposed to represent your first foray into academic research. The whole point of academic research is to make a contribution to the body of human knowledge, and share it with the academic community. As such, I would encourage you to make it as convenient as possible for the community to read your thesis, and posting it online is a good way to achieve that.</p>\n\n<p>If your discipline uses <a href=\"http://arxiv.org\">arXiv</a> or a similar preprint or document server, I would encourage you to post it there as well; that way it will remain accessible even if your web site moves.</p>\n\n<p>I would not worry about your thesis containing \"immature\" work. It's a <em>thesis</em>; everyone knows that it's your first research product, and nobody is going to judge you harshly in 20 years because your thesis wasn't a work of staggering genius. But on the other hand, they very well might still find it useful. You spent a lot of time writing that thing; don't you want it to be able to do some good?</p>\n\n<p>Also, there's a good chance that your thesis is already publicly accessible (via interlibrary loan from your university, or a commercial thesis database, or something similar). If so, then posting it just saves (possibly a lot of) time and effort for those who want to read it.</p>\n\n<p>Here is a non-exhaustive list of compelling reasons why you might not want to post the thesis.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Your university's intellectual property policies forbid it. (If so, shame on the university. This seems unlikely to me, but some other answers think it's plausible, so I suppose you should check.)</p></li>\n<li><p>You have submitted parts of your thesis as a paper to a journal / conference / similar outlet, or plan to do so, and the journal's copyright agreement forbids you to post the thesis. (If so, shame on the journal.)</p></li>\n<li><p>Your thesis contains collaborative work (such as jointly authored papers), and your coauthors object to you posting the thesis. (If so, shame on your coauthors.)</p></li>\n<li><p>You have published your thesis as a book, or plan to do so. In that case, posting it might hurt sales of the book, and might also be forbidden by your agreement with your publisher.</p></li>\n<li><p>Your thesis contains ideas of commercial value which are not yet patented, or un-patentable ideas that you plan to exploit commercially. (But as noted above, your thesis may be available to the public already, albeit less conveniently.)</p></li>\n<li><p>Your thesis contains a serious error that invalidates its results. (But you might still want to post it along with an addendum that explains the error; there may be parts of the thesis that people would still find useful.)</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24231,
"author": "Marcel",
"author_id": 5770,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5770",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My school, while doing a <a href=\"http://www.ti.bfh.ch/en/weiterbildung/sws/mas_it.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Master of Advanced Studies (MAS)</a>, <strong>required</strong> a thesis to be publicly available. It only grants exclution to this for commercial reasons, when the thesis is sponsored by a company. However, still, the abstract will be published.</p>\n\n<p>The school provides a search for all Thesis papers, for example here (search is german, but papers are sometimes english):</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.ti.bfh.ch/de/master/msc_engineering/studierende/master_thesis.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.ti.bfh.ch/de/master/msc_engineering/studierende/master_thesis.html</a></p>\n\n<p>I like the idea of publishing my thesis, it's a work I am somewhat proud of. I even have a download link on my personal homepage.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24236,
"author": "TwoThe",
"author_id": 12798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12798",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your thesis contains classified material, you obviously cannot put it online. otherwise do it.</p>\n\n<p>You will get feedback and you will get pointed out about good or bad things. This is a standard scientific process and as well a good opportunity for you to optimize your neural network (aka \"learning\").</p>\n\n<p>If it turns out that your thesis is overly bad, you can still take it offline later. And if someone later still has a copy and asks you why your thesis was so bad, then accept and explain that you know that and learned from it. There is no shame in improving.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24201",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17694/"
] |
24,212 |
<p>I'm applying to a online Bachelor of arts degree at a very well established university in the United States.</p>
<p>However, I'm almost through the application process and at no point did they require an actual print of my high school diploma. They simply asked me to sign (digitally through docusign.net) that I have completed high school. I've been corresponding with an agent of theirs and according to him they are just reviewing what I've sent them (which does not include a diploma) and after that I can enroll. </p>
<p>I do have a high school diploma but how come they don't require proof of this?</p>
<p>EDIT: Continued story:</p>
<p>I recently got accepted into a university and they had me attest to having a high school diploma, which I did. After being accepted without needing to provide any proof of having said diploma, I naturally asked why they didn't ask me to provide proof of graduation.</p>
<p>They replied: "We randomly select 1 out of every 20 students to provide further documentation. You would’ve been selected at this point so it looks like you were not chosen."</p>
<p>Is this normal in the United States? Where I'm from (Iceland) this just sounds plain weird...That potentially 95% of students can get in without a diploma at all?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24591,
"author": "j6m8",
"author_id": 11993,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11993",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This is <em>not</em> normal in the US -- but that doesn't mean it's an illegitimate process. Private institutions can select applications using whatever criteria they deem appropriate; so while it sounds a bit questionable to me, it's perfectly within reason.</p>\n\n<p>It is also perfectly valid to admit students <em>without</em> a high school degree; it happens to be uncommon, but depending on the subject matter of the BA, it may not be (at least in the university's eyes) a strict necessity, provided your other credentials are sound.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 86129,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From a technical standpoint proof is really hard. Anyone can print up a fancy looking diploma on nice paper, so a diploma is not really proof. Similarly a dishonest student could produce fraudulent letters of reference.</p>\n\n<p>Even if the university independently found the contact information for the school, got in touch with someone who could verify if someone was a student they would not be done yet. The university would then need to verify the student was in fact who they said they were. While forging government documents (e.g., a passport) is more extreme than forging a diploma, if the verification of the diploma was only done on the basis of a name, then a dishonest student only needs to find someone who had the same name as them and graduated about the same time as them. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 86135,
"author": "Anonymous Physicist",
"author_id": 13240,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13240",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Contrary to popular belief, in the United States a high school diploma is not required to enrol in a bachelor's degree. Indeed, there are no universal requirements at all. Each university is allowed to set its own admission standards, which might make a high school diploma manditory.</p>\n\n<p>Personally, I obtained a bachelor's degree and a PhD without completing a high school diploma. At Simon's Rock College, nearly all the students are completing bachelor's degrees without completing high school. The practice of blurring the boundaries between high school and college is a trend right now.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24212",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18078/"
] |
24,227 |
<p>Say I discover an “interesting topic” (at least from my perspective), and I do all sort of work necessary to formulate and tackle the problem (it is an optimization problem), nearly a month of work, and now I suddenly come to realize that the close-form analytical solution to this problem is not possible (or that the solution is too complicated).</p>
<p>What should I do? Should I continue to solve the problem using a numerical method (using computer simulation tools from Matlab), or should I give up my topic?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24228,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This depends entirely on the standards in the particular field, previous work on this topic, and the specific topic and problem domain itself.</p>\n\n<p>A closed form solution is not always necessary in order to make a research contribution. Sometimes formulating the problem is itself significant; sometimes numerical methods offer useful insight; sometimes saying \"we tried applying technique X to problem Y and found that it cannot work\" is a contribution.</p>\n\n<p>Another possibility in some cases is to simplify or modify your problem formulation to something that lends itself more easily to a closed form solution.</p>\n\n<p>Reading the literature surrounding the problem is a good way to become familiar with what kinds of contributions are considered useful in this area. Then you can decide whether to proceed with numerical methods or do something else. You should also try and find a faculty mentor (if you don't already have one) to advise you on what your next steps should be.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24229,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My topic is numerical (computational) mathematics. In this area we develop algorithms and apply them to (hopefully) important problems, which typically do not have a pen and paper solution. I am doing this for more than 15 years and see no reason to give up.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24230,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most real world problems don't have closed-form solutions. Somehow, we manage.</p>\n\n<p>You write:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>the close-form analytical solution to this problem is not possible</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If the impossibility of a closed-form analytic solution is in itself a new result, then that may well be a publishable result. If you can also find an efficient method to get a numerical (approximate) solution, that's either a heavier-weight first paper (combined with the proof of the non-existence of closed-form solution), or it's a second paper in its own right.</p>\n\n<p>You then wrote:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>OR the solution is too complicated.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If there may be a closed-form analytical solution, but it's just too complicated for you to find, then that's an entirely different matter. In which case, you've got nothing to publish. Just a very hard problem that you can either persevere with, or you can stop working on it for a while, and go do something more promising. There's no harm in stopping working on it for a while. Just keep the problem in the back of your mind, along with a handful of other unsolved problems: and every time you learn a new heuristic, algorithm, or solution pattern (or an enhancement to an old one), then try to apply it to the unsolved problems you've been storing up (kudos to the late Richard Feynman for this).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24227",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15059/"
] |
24,233 |
<p>I am submitting a publication to IEEE. In the course of the process, they've asked for a cover letter. Is this request typical of journals and other publications? What is expected to be on such a letter?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24234,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, it's reasonably common.</p>\n\n<p>The guidelines for authors typically describe what is expected of the cover letter, as well as of the paper itself.</p>\n\n<p>Follow those guidelines.</p>\n\n<p>If in doubt, ask an editor at the journal; but that should be rare - established journals have had so much experience that the guidelines (in my experience) tend to be pretty clear, and to pre-emptively answer all the frequently-asked question.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24235,
"author": "Christian Clason",
"author_id": 13852,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13852",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The practice of cover letters predates the now common online submission systems by centuries: Before online submission, papers were submitted by sending a hard copy via postal mail to the editor-in-chief (in person, not via a journal). Now it's mostly a formality, but since scholars are a traditional bunch, old habits die hard. \n(<strong>EDIT</strong>: Even so, if the journal demands a cover letter, you <em>must</em> provide one, or risk having your submission rejected for not following the guidelines.)</p>\n\n<p>In principle, any information contained in a cover letter should also be put somewhere into the submission form, so those can be of some guidance. Things usually appearing in the letter include</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>the <strong>title of the work</strong>;</li>\n<li>the <strong>type of manuscript</strong> (if the journal not only publishes standard papers but also short notes, literature review etc.);</li>\n<li>the <strong>name of the journal</strong> you are submitting to (since the editor might manage several journals);</li>\n<li>a <strong>brief summary</strong> (one or two sentences) to give the editor some idea\nwhether the manuscript is within the scope, and which associate\neditor to forward it to;</li>\n<li>a clear <strong>statement that the manuscript has not been submitted elsewhere</strong>;</li>\n<li>the full <strong>contact details of the corresponding author</strong> (presumably the one signing the cover letter);</li>\n<li>a list of <strong>preferred or excluded referees and/or associate editors</strong>, if applicable.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Here's what I usually write (addressed to the editor-in-chief at his department address):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Dear Professor X,</p>\n \n <p>please find attached our manuscript \"A Note on Piffles\", which we\n would like to submit for publication as an original research article\n in your journal <em>Wuffle Review</em>. Our main result is that all universal\n Piffles are strictly ascending, which proves a conjecture of Smith et\n al. This work has not been submitted elsewhere.</p>\n \n <p>The corresponding author is</p>\n \n <p>[...]</p>\n \n <p>We are looking forward to hearing from you.</p>\n \n <p>Sincerely, </p>\n \n <p>Y</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24237,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Note that in journals which have a high pre-review rejection rate, the cover letter is required and critical. In such journals, the editor will decide, based on the cover letter and a brief look at the work, whether to reject the paper or pass it to review. Given that their understanding of the specific field of the paper is often limited, the cover letter has the crucial role of convincing them that the paper is important and a good fit for the journal. Furthermore, it can affect their post-review decision if it is not clear-cut.</p>\n\n<p>On a side note: in life sciences cover letters are the norm - I don't remember hearing of someone submit a manuscript without a cover letter.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24233",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17694/"
] |
24,239 |
<p>Several times my supervisor has asked me for my opinion on papers he is reviewing. I find this helpful as it encourages me to read things I otherwise would not, helps me understand how to review articles, and can lead to interesting discussions. Presumably my supervisor also finds it useful to have a second opinion or sometimes to act as a sanity check.</p>
<p>Recently I was wondering is this entirely appropriate. Not least because all the manuscripts for review have confidential for review only in bold at the top.</p>
<p>So my question is what are the legal/ethical issues with asking a student/colleague/supervisor's (depending on your position) opinion on a paper you are reviewing?</p>
<p>Note I'm not saying that they write the review just that you get them to read the manuscript and ask their opinion on certain points.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24240,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I think that this practice violates the usual \"confidentiality agreement\" that presents (formally, or customary) in a review process. However, I would agree that this is a common practice, and for some people it is just hard to work on their own, although technically you are supposed to give your own opinion on a paper you review.</p>\n\n<p>I would say that if you really need to show the paper you review to someone else, you should check the following boxes:</p>\n\n<ol><li>make sure the person understands that they are looking on a paper under review, and agrees to maintain the confidentiality, i.e.: not to talk about the ideas from the paper with someone else, not to produce own work based on these results until they are made public, etc.\n<li> The actual material paper, and the file, do not change hands: do not send the pdf manuscript to your colleagues, do not leave the printed paper with them for a while.\n<li> Ask specific question(s) about the paper, for which you need second advice, not just a general opinion. Remember, that you should review the manuscript yourself. Definitely do not use the second opinion to shake some work off your shoulders and go.</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24241,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The safest course of action would be to ask the editor: \"My colleague Edna Krabapple has relevant expertise that would help me understand the paper and write a better report. May I share and discuss the manuscript with her?\"</p>\n\n<p>If the editor says no, you'd be justified in replying \"Since I don't have the expertise to fully understand the paper on my own, I must decline the invitation to review.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24243,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Normally \"no\". The issues range from privacy to priority to... If you feel like somebody else would be able to provide some valuable opinion you cannot provide yourself, you can always recommend the editor to consult that person before making the final decision on whatever particular issue you think he can help with.</p>\n\n<p>The only exception I would make is when everybody already knows everything anyway (like when the copy of the same paper is on the arXiv and has been discussed in the relevant expert circles a few times already). Then it becomes a purely \"tricky legal issue\" with all common sense moral considerations removed and I usually just decide what to do on a case by case basis. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24244,
"author": "Aaron",
"author_id": 1228,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This varies by field. In computer science, the members of the \"program committee\" of a conference are each responsible for reviewing some number of the submissions. However, they also have the power to unilaterally select sub-reviewers (sometimes more than one per paper) to provide input. How this is actually handled varies by venue, but sometimes can be as informal as sending an email to a colleague or graduate student asking them to take a look at the paper and provide input to the committee. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24249,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am neather a reviewer of journal nor a professor at the university who has published various papers; but I as the question seemed so interesting, I searched over the net and found some references in which your question is exactly answered. Moreover, our own logic can also judge about the ethics of such question. As it is written in <a href=\"http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/resource-library/editorial-policies/white-paper-on-publication-ethics/2-3-reviewer-roles-and-responsibilities/\" rel=\"nofollow\">this webpage</a>: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong><em>Confidentiality</em></strong>. <em>Material under review should not be shared or discussed with anyone outside the review process unless necessary and approved by the editor.</em> [...] Material submitted for peer-review is a privileged communication that should be treated in confidence, taking care to guard the author’s identity and work. Reviewers should not retain copies of submitted manuscripts and should not use the knowledge of their content for any purpose unrelated to the peer review process.\n Although it is expected that the editor and reviewers will have access to the material submitted, authors have a reasonable expectation that the review process will remain strictly confidential. If a reviewer is unsure about the policies for enlisting the help of others in the review process, he or she should ask the editor. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As it is written in the text, papers under review should <em>never</em> be shared or <em>discussed with anyone</em> unless approved by the editor. When we go to the logic of this, it is obvious that the reviewer should never discuss the paper with anyone. That is because the paper, the methodology, the outputs and the review process should be confidential. This is because it may happen that when the reviewer discusses the paper with a person who is not responsible with the review process, the chance that the innovative idea of the author be stolen and even submitted to another journal. Moreover, when the reviewer has access to the author by any mean and has the chance to ask his questions or ask the author to make some vague parts more clear; there is no need to talk about the paper with anybody else. Even, if there some minor questions exist for the reviewer, he can ask the editor or discuss with him about the topic. </p>\n\n<p>In <a href=\"http://radonc.yale.edu/Images/Ethical_Issues_in_Peer_Review_tcm307-34211.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">this link</a>, the reviewer is also informed about the things he should pay attention to <strong>after reviewing</strong> a paper.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[...] Because most reviewers prefer to read hard copies rather than electronic text, the reviewer will probably have a paper copy of the manuscript. <strong>This should be destroyed immediately in a way that ensures confidentiality.</strong> The reviewer should keep a copy of the review itself until she/he is certain that the review has been received by the journal office and that the editor has no questions. <strong>This review should be kept safe and confidential until it can be destroyed</strong> (the reviewer will not need it; if the journal sends a revised manuscript for re-review, it will also send copies of the initial review). </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>When it goes to after review process, the text says that the reviewer even should destroy any hard copies of the manuscript after he finishes the review process and mentions that in the <em>re-review</em> process, journal will send him copies of the initial review too.<br>\nBy reading this, we understand that the reviewer has not only the right to talk about the paper to a third person who is not responsible for the review of the paper, but also he has to destroy anything that may conflict the right of the author for being the review process confidential. In the next page of that document we read: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[...] Even after the paper is published, information on the review process should remain confidential. The reviewer should not reveal the identities of reviewers to the authors. This is especially important when there were differences of opinion between reviewers or when contentious issues \n were raised during the review process. Some authors remain angry about events that occurred during a review even after the paper is published. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So the reviewer is also responsible for other reviewers of the paper as the high levels of angriness may still exist because of the review process.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If a reviewer anticipates being in a situation where the paper will be discussed, the reviewer should read the final published version of the paper.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The point the review process should always be confidential is that much important that the reviewer even should pay attention to the discussions he has and should never talk about the content of the manuscripts. He is only allowed to talk and discuss about the <strong>published paper's content</strong>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24299,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just to add evidence of a slightly different policy (used by the <a href=\"http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/guidelines/RefereeGuidelines/sect6.asp\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSC</a>):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>6.0 Suggestions of Alternative Referees</p>\n \n <p>The Editor welcomes suggestions of alternative referees competent to deal with particular subject areas. Such suggestions are particularly helpful in cases where referees consider themselves ill-equipped (in terms of specialist knowledge) to deal with a specific paper, and in highly specialized or new areas of research where only a limited number of experts may be available. If, in such a case, the alternative and the original referee work in the same institution, the manuscript may be passed on directly after informing the Editor.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In other words, there's no way around reading the policy of the journal in question. </p>\n\n<p>And, by the way, when my supervisor asks for my opinion about a manuscript (or a part of the manuscript) I assume that he did inform the editor. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 88394,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) provides <a href=\"http://publicationethics.org/files/Peer%20review%20guidelines_0.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers</a> which can be thought of as best practice. These include:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>respect the confidentiality of peer review and not reveal any details of a manuscript or its \nreview, during or after the peer-review process, beyond those that are released by the \njournal</p></li>\n<li><p>not involve anyone else in the review of a manuscript, including junior researchers they are \nmentoring, without first obtaining permission from the journal; the names of any individuals \nwho have helped them with the review should be included with the returned review so that \nthey are associated with the manuscript in the journal’s records and can also receive due \ncredit for their efforts. </p></li>\n<li><p>keep all manuscript and review details confidential. </p></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24239",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14115/"
] |
24,255 |
<p>What does the distribution of wait times for a editor decision look like for a manuscript submitted to Science or Nature?</p>
<p>(You are not allowed to say "Gamma" unless you give a shape and scale parameter)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24274,
"author": "user18118",
"author_id": 18118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Usually they decide in less than a week after the initial submission. Either rejection or sending it out for review.\nSometimes they are more busy. For our last submission the decision took 25 days for which the editor apologized.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25723,
"author": "John salerno",
"author_id": 19458,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19458",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My experiences with these journals have not been this positive. It's true that editorial rejections can be very rapid based on scope and perceived 'gee whiz' factor. I've had Nature hold up papers for months and been forced out by a singe powerful reviewer with advice to publish the paper in another highly ranked (but not glamour mag) journal. These are very political journals. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24255",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17673/"
] |
24,264 |
<p>During the discussion <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24170/how-when-to-become-independent-in-research-as-a-graduate-student">How/when to become independent in research as a graduate student?</a>, there were one or two professors who not only agreed with the idea of independent research, but also said that they encourage their PhD students to conduct independent research as long as this helps the students to be more mature and successful researchers in their future academic career. I decided to bring this question to the main topic that if you are a professor and allow your students to do independent research:</p>
<ul>
<li>What do you mean by independent research?</li>
<li>Should your students conduct independent research and publication in the field of their PhD/MSc research topic or it can be in any other field of their major and interest?</li>
<li>If their independent research is not in the field near to their PhD research, should they inform you about their other research projects or not?</li>
</ul>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24266,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'll answer, not from the perspective of a professor (I'm not one) but as a student who had advisors who were very generous in that regard:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <ul>\n <li>What do you mean by independent research?</li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>When people say this, they usually mean research that is outside a clear plan of action. For example, in the biomedical sciences, it's somewhat common to turn a particular specific aim of an R01 grant into a PhD student's dissertation. That's a plan. But along the way, the student may be interested in a methodological musing, a side project, a short data analysis task on something interesting that's come up, etc. So basically, I'd take it to mean anything that's outside what you've been tasked to do, or come up with tasking yourself to do, as part of your degree program.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <ul>\n <li>Should your students conduct independent research and publication in the field of their PhD/MSc research topic or it can be in any other field of their major and interest? </li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It probably shouldn't <em>detract</em> from their research topic, but I've never seen any reason why more general topics are a problem. Indeed, if the student is restricting it to their research topic, than why isn't this part of their thesis/dissertation in the first place?</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <ul>\n <li>If their independent research is not in the field near to their PhD research, should they inform you about their other research projects or not? </li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It's good for them to inform you of what they're working on regardless. They may be able to provide support, put in a kind word to an editor, etc. And these people will be writing your letters of recommendation - they should be able to talk about the exciting stuff you do even if it's not directly their project. And they should be informed so they can tell if you're potentially overburdening yourself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24271,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm not a professor neither, but a previous grad student who had very loose/inexistent supervision. Here are my thoughts on the subject. I know that loose supervision of PhD students is popular on this site (see the frequently upvoted comment <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/21000/10643\">here</a>), but I think caution is necessary. PhD students start grad school with various degrees of maturity and supervision should be tailored to every individual.</p>\n\n<p>Dear professors, PhD students are your Padawans. That is, they should certainly not have to live in your shadow, but they probably do not fully know how to invest their efforts appropriately. Kindly telling them that, if they wish to pursue an academic career <strong>focusing the efforts</strong> on a subject is the way to go, is going to be valuable. Let them be free to follow your advice or not, but they'll know what to expect.</p>\n\n<p>It also depends on the field I guess, but in mine (metrology/biomechanics), the chances of achieving good research worthy of publication in a good journal on your own are <em>practically nonexistent</em>. Even if they do manage to publish, if it's in several different fields, people will wonder what is their primary field of research, see the discussion on <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21888/is-it-bad-for-ones-future-career-prospects-if-the-phd-thesis-topic-is-broad\">this thread</a>. </p>\n\n<p>Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying students have to be babysat, they should have to show that they can conduct research independently, that is the point (in my opinion) of pursuing a PhD degree. But if they do so with guidance, they will hopefully be independent <em>and</em> attractive for hiring committees.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What do you mean by independent research?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>To me it means being able to do the following without the supervisor having to give instructions: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>see a gap or a boundary in the current knowledge </li>\n<li>come up with a plan to try to answer/expand it</li>\n<li>ask for/marshal the necessary resources</li>\n<li>do the experiments appropriately</li>\n<li>know where and how to publish the results.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24279,
"author": "W. H. Bell",
"author_id": 18121,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18121",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ul>\n<li>At the end of a PhD a student should be able to conduct their own research. To reach this goal it is helpful to reduce the amount of direction given during the course of a PhD. When the student starts, some defined goals and guidance can allow the student to make rapid progress. </li>\n<li>Students should make unique contributions and understand a broad range of concepts. For example, producing a PhD thesis just on one tiny component of an analysis is a bad idea. Students should be allowed to make mistakes, but be prevented from loosing a large amount of time on bad choices. </li>\n<li>Within highly competitive research environments one might have to defend a students work with additional members of staff, since students are typically slower than experienced post-docs.</li>\n<li>All students are different. Therefore, the level of guidance needed should be balanced accordingly.</li>\n<li>The final mark for the PhD should reflect the ability of the student.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<hr>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What do you mean by independent research?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Completely independent research implies that one has to define the project and direction, using knowledge of the field of study. One needs to read journals and join workshops/conferences to determine what has not been studied and can be studied within a reasonable time frame. Given this, one then writes software/develops an experiment to measure the chosen parameter(s). (There are many holes that a student can fall into along the way). It is a lot easier to carry out independent research as a post-doc or professor, since one builds up knowledge.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should your students conduct independent research and publication in the field of their PhD/MSc research topic or it can be in any other field of their major and interest?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Their PhD is typically on one topic e.g. particle physics. The independent research should happen within the discipline that is being assessed.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If their independent research is not in the field near to their PhD research, should they inform you about their other research projects or not?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>PhD theses contain a fraction of a student's work. They do not contain all of the work of a student. <em>For example</em>, one might build a silicon detector for two years and then spend 1.5 years performing a data analysis. The silicon detector work (even if performed independently) may not end up in the thesis. It is very hard for examiners to assess work that is not in the thesis.</p>\n\n<p>(From ~13 yrs of supervising particle physics PhD students.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24308,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>What do you mean by independent research?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In the context of a PhD student, independent research involves formulating, researching, and suggesting preliminary solutions to a problem independently of the advisor.</p>\n\n<p>I expect the crowning component of any PhD thesis to be this type of \"independent research\".</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should your students conduct independent research and publication in the field of their PhD/MSc research topic or it can be in any other field of their major and interest?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The expectation is only within the broadly-interpreted PhD research topic, although I think it's great if students do research outside of their area (in their free time).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If their independent research is not in the field near to their PhD research, should they inform you about their other research projects or not?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If this work is happening while getting paid as a research assistant and during time that should be rightfully devoted to that assistantship, then I expect to know about the project. Otherwise, I would like to know about the project or at least that there <em>is</em> another project (and this is the proper etiquette), insomuch as it can affect or stall the student's progress.</p>\n\n<p>Ultimately, however, it all comes down to <strong>progress</strong>. A student who is progressing normally towards a degree has much more latitude than a student who is not.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24311,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>What do you mean by independent research?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Research that leads to a publication without the advisor's name on it, following the standard rules of co-authorship in the student's field. In other words, precisely the same kind of research they should be doing five years after their PhD.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should your students conduct independent research and publication in the field of their PhD/MSc research topic or it can be in any other field of their major and interest?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As a general rule, <em>every</em> researcher should limit their research to fields where they have sufficient background, experience, intuition, resources, and maturity to make a real contribution. Students are no exception.</p>\n\n<p>Research by PhD students is <em>usually</em> closely related to their thesis topic, if not directly part of their thesis, but I know of several successful exceptions.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If their independent research is not in the field near to their PhD research, should they inform you about their other research projects or not?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, please. My job as an advisor is to help students become mature, successful, independent researchers. That's what a PhD <strong>is</strong>. It is significantly easier to do my job when I have all the data.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26322,
"author": "user19932",
"author_id": 19932,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19932",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not a professor but I would like to offer my views since my PhD was purely research (ie no teaching) and I only attended a 2-day research methodology class during my study. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What do you mean by independent research?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>From my view, it refers to whether the individual has the capacity to make independent contribution to knowledge through original research. The quality of the independent research depends on depth and width of reading and querying relevant publications and experts on a critical level. Although there are times when knowledge is clear, there are also moments of confusion. Both moments should be given equal priority towards developing original research because they teach, unteach and re-teach us. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should your students conduct independent research and publication in the field of their PhD/MSc research topic or it can be in any other field of their major and interest?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>From my view, the choice of field does not matter. <a href=\"http://hbr.org/2011/05/the-power-of-small-wins/ar/1\" rel=\"nofollow\">Amabile and Kramer (2011)</a> suggest that if individuals have interest in their work, they are likely to develop the capacity to persevere. Both choice of field requires the implementation of learning and questioning effort until it makes sense. Though, I find that diving into an outside field will require more time and effort. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If their independent research is not in the field near to their PhD research, should they inform you about their other research projects or not?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes. There should be open communication on student's research load between the student and supervisor so that they can succeed in their jobs. For example, an experienced mentor is able to advise the student on how to better manage the student's research load, if he or she is informed. <a href=\"http://hum.sagepub.com/content/44/1/55.abstract\" rel=\"nofollow\">Louis and Sutton (1991)</a> suggest that attention and cognitive thinking could suffer when individuals engage in switching activities such as in multitasking.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24264",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
24,265 |
<p>My paper was rejected a few hours after submission with the following explanation:</p>
<p>"Regretfully, your manuscript is being Immediate Rejected without review since it is a short correspondence item while we do not publish correspondence. "</p>
<p>What does this mean? Is my manuscript too short?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24268,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Many journals publish correspondence or short reports that are brief research works, usually with a single finding, straightforward methods, and not much more than that. They are intended for quick, \"Hey, we've always wanted to know the value of X, and turns out it's 7\" studies - they belong in the literature, and may be useful, but are not a full research paper.</p>\n\n<p>They are often also referred to as letters, notes, or by other names. Sometimes they're purely defined by concept, sometimes by word count.</p>\n\n<p>For example, consider <em>Ecology</em>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"Notes are short papers that present significant new observations and methodological advances. Notes may contain results that are not sufficiently elaborated or developed as to justify an Article, but which are still of considerable potential significance.\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>vs.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"...an Article tells a more complicated story with distinct components. The greater length of Articles relative to Reports must be justified by their greater complexity</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Or <em>American Journal of Epidemiology</em>, which uses word counts:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The maximum number of words per article, exclusive of tables, figures, references, and abstract, should be as follows: Original Contribution, 3,500; ...Brief Original Contributions, 2,000 (with no more than 2 half-page tables and 40 references)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>or <em>Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology</em>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Original Articles should include a title page, a structured abstract of no more than 250 words (see below), a text of no more than 3,000 words, no more than 7 tables and figures, and no more than 40 references.</p>\n \n <p>Concise Communications should include a title page, a narrative abstract of no more than 50 words, a text of no more than 1,200 words, no more than 2 tables or figures, and no more than 10 references.</p>\n \n <p>Research Briefs should include a title page, a text of no more than 900 words, no more than 1 table or figure, and no more than 10 references. This category of article is intended for the presentation of short, focused, and evidence-based experimental observations: substantial preliminary and novel results of importance to the journal readership but not substantial enough in content to warrant a longer presentation. Research Briefs undergo the same peer review as longer article types.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Your paper is either too short, or only presents a short, focused result that the journal does not consider a \"full\" paper. It's hard to know, as they won't exactly lay out the definitions of papers they don't accept, but you may want to look at similar journals to see if there is a field-based consensus for what a sufficiently large finding <em>is</em>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24284,
"author": "Christian Clason",
"author_id": 13852,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13852",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Fomite already gave an excellent general answer, but I may be able to add some specific information if your submission was to one of the IEEE Transactions (rejection from which would put you in fine company). </p>\n\n<p>Some of the Transactions indeed used to publish \"Correspondence Items\"; from the <a href=\"http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=05410637\"><em>Transactions on Signal Processing</em> Author Guide</a> dated October 2009:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Correspondence items are short disclosures with a reduced scope or\n significance that typically describe a use for or magnify the meaning\n of a single technical point, or provide brief comments on material\n previously published in the TRANSACTIONS.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>However, in the current <a href=\"http://www.signalprocessingsociety.org/publications/periodicals/tsp/tsp-author-info/\">Author Guide</a>, this category is absent and replaced by the \"Comment Correspondence\", which is a different beast:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Comment Correspondences provide brief comments on material previously\n published in the TRANSACTIONS.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Presumably, this is due to the fact that there is now a dedicated journal, the <a href=\"http://www.signalprocessingsociety.org/publications/periodicals/letters/\"><em>IEEE Signal Processing Letters</em></a>. However, this has a different scope:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The IEEE Signal Processing Letters is a monthly, archival publication\n designed to provide rapid dissemination of original, cutting-edge\n ideas and timely, significant contributions in signal, image, speech,\n language and audio processing.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Note that in contrast to a Correspondence Item, a \"significant contribution\" is still required, and that in addition (and in contrast to the Transactions) this needs to be on such a hot topic that by the time the normal reviewing process has finished, there would be significantly less interest in it.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>(If you did not submit to IEEE, this may still be a useful indication how another discipline handles this type of publication, and underline the fact that there are several different categories of short communications.)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24265",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17694/"
] |
24,267 |
<p>I would like to increase my use of formative feedback (feedback showing students whether they understand material correctly without impacting their grades) and would like to integrate it with online quizzes.</p>
<p>I'm wondering if this has been found to be effective.</p>
<p>My goal is to make it simple and automated. While I could write one myself (school generally does not pay for things like this), I would prefer to avoid building it (or paying). What I'm really looking for is something like forms in Google docs but would also somehow automatically <em>and instantly</em> score the answer (limiting student answers to multiple choice) and displaying the results to the student as soon as the submit button is pressed.</p>
<p>So, this is a compound question: <strong>Does using online auto-scoring quizzes help students</strong> (I believe it will) through formative feedback <strong>and is there a way to get Google forms to give immediate results</strong>?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24268,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Many journals publish correspondence or short reports that are brief research works, usually with a single finding, straightforward methods, and not much more than that. They are intended for quick, \"Hey, we've always wanted to know the value of X, and turns out it's 7\" studies - they belong in the literature, and may be useful, but are not a full research paper.</p>\n\n<p>They are often also referred to as letters, notes, or by other names. Sometimes they're purely defined by concept, sometimes by word count.</p>\n\n<p>For example, consider <em>Ecology</em>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"Notes are short papers that present significant new observations and methodological advances. Notes may contain results that are not sufficiently elaborated or developed as to justify an Article, but which are still of considerable potential significance.\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>vs.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"...an Article tells a more complicated story with distinct components. The greater length of Articles relative to Reports must be justified by their greater complexity</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Or <em>American Journal of Epidemiology</em>, which uses word counts:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The maximum number of words per article, exclusive of tables, figures, references, and abstract, should be as follows: Original Contribution, 3,500; ...Brief Original Contributions, 2,000 (with no more than 2 half-page tables and 40 references)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>or <em>Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology</em>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Original Articles should include a title page, a structured abstract of no more than 250 words (see below), a text of no more than 3,000 words, no more than 7 tables and figures, and no more than 40 references.</p>\n \n <p>Concise Communications should include a title page, a narrative abstract of no more than 50 words, a text of no more than 1,200 words, no more than 2 tables or figures, and no more than 10 references.</p>\n \n <p>Research Briefs should include a title page, a text of no more than 900 words, no more than 1 table or figure, and no more than 10 references. This category of article is intended for the presentation of short, focused, and evidence-based experimental observations: substantial preliminary and novel results of importance to the journal readership but not substantial enough in content to warrant a longer presentation. Research Briefs undergo the same peer review as longer article types.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Your paper is either too short, or only presents a short, focused result that the journal does not consider a \"full\" paper. It's hard to know, as they won't exactly lay out the definitions of papers they don't accept, but you may want to look at similar journals to see if there is a field-based consensus for what a sufficiently large finding <em>is</em>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24284,
"author": "Christian Clason",
"author_id": 13852,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13852",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Fomite already gave an excellent general answer, but I may be able to add some specific information if your submission was to one of the IEEE Transactions (rejection from which would put you in fine company). </p>\n\n<p>Some of the Transactions indeed used to publish \"Correspondence Items\"; from the <a href=\"http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=05410637\"><em>Transactions on Signal Processing</em> Author Guide</a> dated October 2009:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Correspondence items are short disclosures with a reduced scope or\n significance that typically describe a use for or magnify the meaning\n of a single technical point, or provide brief comments on material\n previously published in the TRANSACTIONS.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>However, in the current <a href=\"http://www.signalprocessingsociety.org/publications/periodicals/tsp/tsp-author-info/\">Author Guide</a>, this category is absent and replaced by the \"Comment Correspondence\", which is a different beast:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Comment Correspondences provide brief comments on material previously\n published in the TRANSACTIONS.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Presumably, this is due to the fact that there is now a dedicated journal, the <a href=\"http://www.signalprocessingsociety.org/publications/periodicals/letters/\"><em>IEEE Signal Processing Letters</em></a>. However, this has a different scope:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The IEEE Signal Processing Letters is a monthly, archival publication\n designed to provide rapid dissemination of original, cutting-edge\n ideas and timely, significant contributions in signal, image, speech,\n language and audio processing.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Note that in contrast to a Correspondence Item, a \"significant contribution\" is still required, and that in addition (and in contrast to the Transactions) this needs to be on such a hot topic that by the time the normal reviewing process has finished, there would be significantly less interest in it.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>(If you did not submit to IEEE, this may still be a useful indication how another discipline handles this type of publication, and underline the fact that there are several different categories of short communications.)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24267",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692/"
] |
24,273 |
<p>I am an international student(south Asia) who has recently completed his 4th semester in CS. </p>
<p>My current CGPA is 3.2 (social science courses in my freshmen year messed it up) and Major GPA of 3.6.
I am expecting my CGPA to be around 3.5 by the time I graduate.</p>
<p>I do not have any research experience and I am worried that I might not get into any good program.</p>
<p>My question is that How much research experience or publications are required to get into a good PhD program in US? or that How much experience does an average accepted candidate has? Phrased in a different way:</p>
<p>What kind of experience should I aim to get by the time I apply to grad school that I get accepted into a good program.</p>
<p>I am not talking Stanford, MIT etc but may be among the top 30-40.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24412,
"author": "user296844",
"author_id": 18207,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18207",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think you should focus more on the quality and focus of your research than the amount. If you are researching a concrete topic, and have 1-2 solid works dealing with it, then you are golden. Make sure you explain the value of these works in your research statement/essay. That would be more or just as important as the resume, because it is an expression of you as an individual.</p>\n\n<p>Other people will tell to go down the bullshit path and sprout several pieces that milk the same research but add little to the field. Some schools will buy that, but others will not differentiate you from the rest of students. You can also try this approach, but it may be even more time-consuming than the first.</p>\n\n<p>Reading your question again, it is better that you engage in research before applying. Perhaps you can contact a professor and work with him, or a PhD student at your university, or find a research institute in which you can put in some time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 45764,
"author": "jvriesem",
"author_id": 32794,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32794",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am relatively familiar with this for domestic (US) students, but less familiar with the requirements for international students. I'll assume the requirements are the same....</p>\n\n<p>Have you done any research at all, even for a big class project or something on your own? If so, mention these. The admissions committee that reviews your application will want to know that you're interested in doing research and that <em>you know</em> what you're getting yourself in to. </p>\n\n<p>If you have a couple years left before you graduate, I would try hard to get a research experience before you apply, even if you have to volunteer (work for free) for a semester. If I <strong>had</strong> to make a guess, I'd guess that most programs would want to see that you have done at least one or two research experiences, if only so that they know that you know what research is. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Formal research experiences (summer research internships, for example) and publishing a paper or two are great, but they're not the only criteria.</strong> </p>\n\n<p>First, it depends on how competitive the program you are applying to is. More research experience may be needed to help you stand out enough to be accepted. Publications are always great, but research experience (which may not have resulted in a publication) is still well-regarded. </p>\n\n<p>Another factor grad programs consider is how focused you are, and if you have an existing connection with a research group in that program. For example, you may have previously collaborated with a professor in their program, and he/she is familiar with your work. If you show a genuine interest in working with him/her, it will reflect well on you, and who knows -- he/she may be able to help your application get accepted. If you just want to get accepted into their program, but it looks like you have no direction or research interests after that, the committee reviewing your application will look less favorably on you. </p>\n\n<p>Lastly, when you apply, you should apply for a spread of schools. Apply to 1-2 competitive programs which, if they accepted you, would make you feel lucky because you weren't sure you qualified. You should apply to several programs that you think might accept you. Lastly, apply to a few programs which you are <em>certain</em> you would be accepted to, just in case you aren't accepted to any of the others. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24273",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15745/"
] |
24,276 |
<p>I have done 5 different projects in my undergraduate course and all of them are from different areas/fields. My project work during High school is from a different area still. The reason of working in different fields is that I was trying to figure out what exactly interests me.
Having found that, I am interested in doing grad school after I finish my bachelors.
Does the fact that I have done all my research projects in different areas say that I'm not sure what interests me?</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE</strong>:If this is sounding vague, I'll clarify. My major is chemical engineering. I've done projects on Synthesis of nanoparticles, Bionanotechnology-Tissue Engineering, Analysis of a thermodynamic cycle, Microreactors and Reaction Engineering.
I intend to apply for a program in Bioengineering/Bioprocess Engineering</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24315,
"author": "SLx64",
"author_id": 15731,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15731",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Trying out several projects in different areas does not necessarily say that you do not know what interests you. You have to show them that you are interested in several areas and that you wanted to get an insight in order to obtain a wider range of possibilities.</p>\n<p>I think that there are few people who immediately find the right area that fully interests them. It is important that you present it that way. Working on different projects brings more extensive experience in any case.\nIf you have then found the right area, you can deal with it more intensely.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24458,
"author": "jaia",
"author_id": 12861,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12861",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When applying to grad school in ecology, I had research experience in stream restoration, dynamical modeling of HIV infection, and a NASA internship where I worked on bioregenerative life support. I had also done a research project in cultural geography (cosmopolitan thought in Cold War America) and completed two internships in which I had done a number of different projects. While I only got into one program (out of the three I applied to), it was one of the top programs in my field and came with the best fellowship the university could award. Now, I had good GRE scores but a so-so GPA (3.2), so I'm sure the research projects (and the variety of letters of recommendation that came with them) really helped my application. The lab I got accepted into was highly integrative, so my broad background made me a good fit.</p>\n\n<p>Also, as the other commenter said, nobody really expect an undergrad to immediately know what they wanted to specialize in. I'd be concerned if they did!</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24276",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15098/"
] |
24,285 |
<p>I recently joined a research group as a postdoc. I wrote the professor an email to ask quick but important questions including asking him when when he wanted me to start. It's been over a week and I haven't received get an answer. Other emails I've sent previously have also gone unanswered for long periods as well. </p>
<p>With that background, my question is: do professors sometimes (intentionally or otherwise) not respond to emails in a timely manner?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24291,
"author": "ashlinry",
"author_id": 17803,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17803",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since it has been a week, I think it would be acceptable to email them again just saying that you just want to make sure that they did get your email and that you would appreciate their opinion/response/whatever regarding your questions.</p>\n\n<p>Professors receive <em>tons</em> of emails daily, and it isn't uncommon for them to miss important ones that get buried in their email.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24314,
"author": "SLx64",
"author_id": 15731,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15731",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I know the problem very well and had to wait very long for an answer. It should not be understood as an impoliteness. Professors get a lot of emails and answering every email can be a lot of work. If they just do not have time and read the email, then they forget often to respond later. This issue is not specific to academia.</p>\n\n<p>I would first of all not write email, but call him. Another email could also be overlooked.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24316,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I wrote him an email to ask quick but important questions, like, when do you want me to start. I didn't get an answer even after a week. And similar things happened before as well.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Some professors are notoriously bad in answering emails. This does not necessarily mean anything. Don't fret about it.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>So I want to ask that as a professor, sometimes will you (on purpose) to NOT answer emails in time?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I'm not a professor, but, no, this is not how I would expect an adult person (in a management position, none the less) to behave. If the professor is indeed having second thoughts about you and decided to just not answer anymore, I would say you dodged a bullet there.</p>\n\n<p>However, I really think that this is unlikely. Just send a polite reminder, or propose to have a quick chat e.g., over Skype, at a time of the professor's convenience.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24333,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Unlike other professionals, academic faculty have multiple competing tasks of wildly varying natures and deadlines. Broadly divided, we need to balance:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Teaching: Two to four courses a semester with dozens, scores, or hundreds of students; a handful of TFs; and occasional irate deans and parents. One or two or three independent readings with students outside of that. Letters of recommendation. Trying to find internships and grad programs for advisees. Handling postdoc requests. Working with academic review committees. Working with course of study committees. etc. etc.</p></li>\n<li><p>Service: Serving on several unrelated college or university committees. Serving on the steering committees of affiliated programs at the university. Having the provost scout you out for a pet committee. Running a search committee. Doing grad admissions. And this is just university service. If you do service work on your national association, then there is considerable committee work there. Not to mention doing peer reviews of journal articles, book manuscripts, grant proposals, etc. etc.</p></li>\n<li><p>Research: And if you can find time after all that, there is your own research. Trying to keep several articles in the pipeline, tracking down an editor to listen to your book proposal, getting around to writing the conference paper you promised, etc. etc.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The way some faculty handle the multitasking is by singletasking. They only do postdoc intake work on Friday mornings, for example. Others give up and have a mailbox from hell. </p>\n\n<p>In other words, things can easily get lost. While a simple questions such as yours might seem to be simple, it might require the prof to have to e-mail the department chair (who is even more busy than the average prof) for an answer, which then gets lost again.</p>\n\n<p>I'd give it a week and then politely ask again. Use the same e-mail title (or reply-all to your own e-mail) so as to bump the e-mail thread back up to the top of the prof's e-mail queue. It's important to try to keep e-mail threads together as faculty have limited brain resources and we rely on our e-mail as our offline memory extension.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 80876,
"author": "LShaver",
"author_id": 53423,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53423",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Visit or call.</strong> </p>\n\n<p>For a while, I used e-mail as a rough to-do list - if there was something in my inbox, it was a task - once I sent a reply, the task was done (in my mind - acting as though a reply was guaranteed). Psychologically this worked well for me, as it let me off the hook. And, this may work well as a student, if you receive only a few dozen e-mails a week, of which many will be group e-mails. </p>\n\n<p>But, as everybody has said, professors get a lot of e-mail.</p>\n\n<p>So I came up with a new system. As early as I could, send the briefest possible e-mail, with a succinct subject, and add it to a list. Whenever I see my advisor, or whenever the list gets a bit long, or whenever a deadline is approaching, I corner my advisor and go through the list. In most cases I find that he's seen the e-mail(s) and didn't get a chance to respond, <em>because he gets hundreds of important emails each week.</em></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 80944,
"author": "NZKshatriya",
"author_id": 63231,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/63231",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Timely manner differs for everyone. Also, some professors do not regularly check their email, or they may have a specific email address they use aside from their college/university address.</p>\n\n<p>I have found it is usually best to ask a professor which way they prefer to be contacted, than to just send and email and expect to hear back in the same amount of time that, say, my parents would write me back.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24285",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17695/"
] |
24,286 |
<p>I am an undergraduate student who has developed a novel new model which according to my PI (principal investigator) will have a high impact.</p>
<p>My PI assigned a grad student to supervise me. Supervision consisted of meeting once a week to update him on my progress so far. Sometimes he would provide certain helpful suggestions(none that are actual innovations just slight fixes/alterations that would improve the model).</p>
<p>During the course of the year he (the grad student) has become more and more annoying. Unhelpful suggestions/requests, etc.</p>
<p>During our last meeting the grad student made some bold claims on the model developed by me claiming to be an equal author/developer. He made it clear he wanted to get a large amount of credit for the model (co-authorship).</p>
<p>I do not think that he has done enough meaningful work to deserve credit for the model (although he would be listed in acknowledgements). Knowing his intentions I wish to distance myself from him(including not having him review the paper), as to lower his chance of becoming a co-author.</p>
<p>I would like to achieve this in such a way that does not negatively impact my relationship with my PI, as grad schools require reference letters.</p>
<p><strong>EDIT:</strong>
I don't think I have been very clear and for that I apologize. I acknowledge that he has contributed to the work. I also understand that having more authors doesn't reflect badly on me(I didn't even know about the score system). I just have problems with his claims of equal authorship. As we are nearing final results/submissions of paper and he has better relation with the professor he may try to take the first authorship position.</p>
<p><em>Additional:</em> By my university guideline policies about co-authorship he has not done enough to deserve even a co-author position.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24294,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I am an undergraduate student who has developed a novel new model which according to my PI (principal investigator) will have a high impact.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Great!</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My PI assigned a grad student to supervise me. Supervision consisted of meeting once a week to update him on my progress so far. Sometimes he would provide certain helpful suggestions(none that are actual innovations just slight fixes/alterations that would improve the model). (...) Knowing his intentions I wish to distance myself from him(including not having him review the paper), as to lower his chance of becoming a co-author.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Less great. Much less great. Let me make something clear here: this is not <strong>your</strong> project alone, this is the project of you, your advisor, and the PhD student. The guy has invested a serious amount of time into this project (not as much as you, clearly, but still a significant amount), and now you have unilaterally decided that he is to be cut out when the time comes to publish your results? Likely, this is not to be going over well either with him or the advisor, and for good reasons.</p>\n\n<p>Deteriorating professional relationships are never fun, but it is simply not feasible to decide midway through a project that you now would rather not have another researcher on board. If he has already made contributions to the project, and it certainly sounds like he has, it would be unethical to publish without him now.</p>\n\n<p><strong>EDIT:</strong> to make it clear, I am not saying that he should get <em>equal</em> credit to you. But it certainly sounds like he should get <em>some</em> credit.</p>\n\n<p>The very least you need to do is follow user11192's recommendation:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>it is best to meet with your advisor (and possibly the grad student) to discuss an authorship plan.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Finding a \"sneaky\" way to get rid of the grad student before publication time is not particularly ethical, and has a pretty high possibility of backfiring on you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24298,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It looks to me like the coauthorship decision is being clouded by the graduate student supervisor's annoying behavior, including his claims of being \"an equal author/developer\". Whether this graduate student should be a coauthor is not a part of the question -- rather the question is how \"to get rid of\" him. But based on what you've said I think this is wrong: you do need to consider the case for his coauthorship. To my mind it rests on two things:</p>\n\n<p>1) He was assigned at the beginning by your PI, whom you say absolutely did supervise you and was crucial in the creation/implementation of the model, and whom you will be including as a coauthor. Well, part of your PI's supervision was to assign this graduate student to you, whom you met with much more frequently than the PI. Thus the three of you entered into a collaboration. </p>\n\n<p>2) There seems to be no doubt that the graduate student followed through with the process of supervising you. You write: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Supervision consisted of meeting once a week to update him on my progress so far. Sometimes he would provide certain helpful suggestions (none that are actual innovations just slight fixes/alterations that would improve the model).</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So he met with you regularly -- more regularly than your busy PI. Regular weekly meetings are amazingly helpful in keeping people on track (especially at the junior level...but also at the senior level, honestly). He didn't just listen to you but provided helpful suggestions. And not just suggestions that sounded helpful but some which actually <em>improved the model</em>. Thus he made an intellectual contribution to the work.</p>\n\n<p>The confluence of 1) and 2) makes your desire to have the graduate student supervisor not be a coauthor look unreasonable to me. Coauthorship is a convenant that people enter into: it is an agreement that they will do certain work and as a result be part of the final product. There is a certain base level of involvement that various professions and journals require for coauthorship: that seems to be safely met here. Collaborators are also free to impose higher standards, but these standards should be made clear in advance. It is very uncollegial for you to turn around after work has been done of the form that was specified and try to shut someone out of coauthorship. </p>\n\n<p>In general, I would say that if someone does what they were asked to do <em>procedurally</em> for coauthorship but comes up a bit short <em>intellectually</em> -- i.e., it turns out in retrospect that their contributions are not so valuable or essential to the final paper -- then the decision on whether to withdraw from authorship rests with them and not the other collaborators. If you feel that someone else didn't pull their intellectual weight, then the time to bring this up is in a discussion of whether the collaboration should continue. (I should say that most people I know have a very acute sense of \"not pulling their intellectual weight\", and it is rather rare to see a math paper with a coauthor who could not point to a theorem or proof in a paper and say \"I did this part\". But other fields may differ.) This is still a delicate conversation, of course.</p>\n\n<p>I think what you are really trying to say is that you want to be first author. Based on your description of the work, it sounds reasonable that you would be either first author or co-first author with the PI. That is a discussion for the three of you to have. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I would like to achieve this in such a way that does not negatively impact my relationship with my PI, as grad schools require reference letters.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, be careful about this. I am going to guess that the PI will not be pleased at an attempt to cut out his own student from the paper: that is going against the plan for the work that he set up. Finally: \"...as grad schools require reference letters\". Hmm. True gratitude is golden, but knowing which side of your bread is buttered has got to be worth something. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24301,
"author": "Neo",
"author_id": 6898,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6898",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm confused on why you wouldn't want to have him as a coauthor ? Does it some how diminish the work you did? On the contrary, publishing work with coauthors is not only expected, but essential to survive in academia. </p>\n\n<p>My suggestion? Relax. If you publish as an undergraduate you are already golden. You can get letters from both the PhD student and the PI, glowing letters as you published. It certainly seems like both the PI and the graduate student deserve credit, making them 3rd and 2nd authors respectively seems very reasonable.</p>\n\n<p>Before you go on destroying professional relationships, at least build them up first.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24307,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>During the course of the year he (the grad student) has become more and more annoying. Unhelpful suggestions/requests, etc.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Since I don't know you personally, I hope you won't mind a candid question. Is it possible that the graduate student is pointing out correct suggestions based on greater experience that you are stubbornly ignoring? I've seen this happen several times, especially with bright undergraduates.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I do not think that he has done enough meaningful work to deserve credit for the model (although he would be listed in acknowledgements). Knowing his intentions I wish to distance myself from him(including not having him review the paper), as to lower his chance of becoming a co-author.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As far as I can read from the tone of your question, you appear to trust the PI ... why not go directly to him/her with your concern? Let the PI decide how to handle it, or, if you're not comfortable with that, why not approach a neutral third-party professor who could understand the work and give <em>you</em> a candid assessment?</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I would like to achieve this in such a way that does not negatively impact my relationship with my PI, as grad schools require reference letters.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Ultimately, it does not hurt you to have co-authors on a paper, as long as they have actually contributed to the intellectual merit of the work. However, if, even after impartial third-party assessment, you feel that the work is rightfully yours, fight for it wholeheartedly and directly. Tell the graduate student and the PI what you think, and insist that you should be the sole author.</p>\n\n<p>Academia is a place where you have to fight for your ideas, or be trampled by the herd.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24338,
"author": "Murphy",
"author_id": 16078,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16078",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Something to keep in mind, Academia involves politics and some things cost you little.</p>\n\n<p>Your PI wants his grad students to do well too. \nThat means getting their names on research papers. </p>\n\n<p>Even if he's annoying, you said yourself: he's contributed. </p>\n\n<p>If there's 2 other names following yours then that's fine. \n3 or less names on your paper doesn't hurt you in any way. </p>\n\n<p>Getting published as an undergrad is already great.</p>\n\n<p>Your only concern as the person who did the majority of the work is that your name come first. That's it. First name in the list is what you want. That is your one and only goal. </p>\n\n<p>If it makes your PI happy to give a little boost to the career of one of his grad students that is perfectly reasonable (also, other people you'll want him to recommend you to will want to know you're easy to work with and willing to play the game of politics because they're all doing the same). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24341,
"author": "Kiki Mango",
"author_id": 18169,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18169",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If this is copyright infringement, or intellectual theft then get a lawyer. At least call one, consultation is generally free. In fact, the lawyer will know more than the school as to how to proceed here anyway... Good luck. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24388,
"author": "TMOTTM",
"author_id": 6139,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6139",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Start writing the paper now, make a preliminary draft and send it out to all of them. In the draft, put yourself as first author, add the phd guy as second and the PI as senior author. If at one point the phd guy thinks he should be first author, you can ask why he thinks he deserves it (do that in front of the pi). Then tell him that you respectfully disagree. </p>\n\n<p>These kinds of things happen but as long as your, rightfully so, first author, everything is ok. I heard of people being removed from author lists even when they had done the majority of the work.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24286",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
24,287 |
<p>I'm filling out a form with information about my publications, and one of the fields is "Type of Journal." I'm not sure what this means, except that SCI and EI are possible values. I'm guessing the former refers to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Citation_Index">Science Citation Index</a>, but I can't find what EI is. It seems this is something they are expecting me to know so I can only assume it is common knowledge among academics.</p>
<p>What are the possible types for a journal (if a comprehensive list exists), and most importantly, for any given journal how do I find its type?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24559,
"author": "Shahryar",
"author_id": 10773,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10773",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just wondering if those refer to ISI (and/or other organizations) list of journals</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>SCI: Science Citation Index (Thomson Reuters or ISI)</li>\n<li>SCIE: Science Citation Index Extended (Thomson Reuters or ISI)</li>\n<li>SSCI: Social Science Citation Index (Thomson Reuters or ISI)</li>\n<li>A&HCI: Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Thomson Reuters or ISI)</li>\n<li>EI: Engineering Index or Compendex (Elsevier)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>You can find the list of those journals in their perspective sites or just by searching their search engines. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 47566,
"author": "Phil",
"author_id": 21815,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21815",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have set up a webpage (<a href=\"http://www.philippe-fournier-viger.com/links.php\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>click here</strong></a>) which provides links to the list of journals that are SCI, SCIE, ISI and EI and also let you check the impact factor of a journal. You can follow the links on that page to find out if a given journal is EI, SCI, SCIE, etc. Hope that it helps!</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24287",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/236/"
] |
24,288 |
<p>Potentially predatory publishers and journals (as listed on Beall’s list <a href="http://scholarlyoa.com/2012/10/22/science-target-targeting-your-author-fees/" rel="nofollow">here</a>) are springing up more and more often, but they do not always stick to journals and publishing articles. Some host conferences, workshops, or other events with reputable chairs and directors. </p>
<p>If the publishing agency behind a conference is fishy or believed to be predatory, but the conference it hosts is chaired by reputable names, is it still best to avoid the conference?</p>
<p>Has anyone had experience going to a conference or workshop like this?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24542,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Publishing in predatory journals looks bad on your resume. It suggests that your work was not good enough to publish in a respected journal/conference, and, frankly, you're better off <em>not</em> publishing the work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26898,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Why would you spend your time and money to attend one when there is no shortage of good, legitimate conferences? Your time is valuable. Stay away from anything that you even suspect might not be first-rate.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24288",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18130/"
] |
24,295 |
<p>My paper is accepted with minor revisions and now is in proof stage. Unfortunately, I have found computational errors in my calculations which have led to some wrong results. </p>
<p>What should I do? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24303,
"author": "stay_frosty",
"author_id": 18052,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18052",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you really care about the validity of your data and that it may be used for future research by yourself and others, I would say that it is vital to send the errata to the editor and you will feel better for three reasons:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You will have produced and published an honest piece of empirical research, unlike many shady and incomplete papers out there.</li>\n<li>You never want to be accused of fudging your numbers by your colleagues/peers.</li>\n<li>If you were the editor of this journal, would you like to foster a sense of scholarly pride in your published paper's validity, re-testability etc?</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>It will probably have to be re-reviewed, but if you're up front and honest with the editor or copy-editor about the errata, it's unlikely they'll reject the paper. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24304,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your findings and conclusions are unambiguously unaffected, send the results to the editor saying you found an error with the numbers and asking for it be fixed. The editor might be annoyed at the last minute change but they are used to this sort of thing. I don't know what your \"paper value\" refers to.</p>\n\n<p>You seem pretty worried about this. If this is because you think other people might assume that this difference would, in fact, have affected the findings and the way in which your paper was reviewed? If so, that <em>is</em> an issue. If this is a concern, you should email the academic editor and explain the situation. If things are as you think, there won't be an issue. If the editor disagrees, the paper might be need to be re-reviewed. In any case, it certainly seems best to have this all above board.</p>\n\n<p>Changes in language, like changes in numbers, can have an important impact on a paper. As an author, you have a responsibility to not make substantively important changes to either after the paper has been accepted. It's your responsibility to not abuse the editorial system. If you are worried that you might be, you need to talk to your editor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24306,
"author": "Mad Jack",
"author_id": 11192,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11192",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Sometimes mistakes happen. Yes, it's a pain to have to deal with this mistake now after the paper was accepted for publication, but it's a good thing that you caught your mistake <em>before</em> the paper was published. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Note:</strong> If you have coauthors, before doing anything, contact your coauthors and explain to them the changes you need to make. <strong>Do this before doing anything else.</strong></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What should I do? Should I send the errata to editor or copy editor?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><em>As you mentioned that you are dealing with an IEEE journal, my response here is specific to the IEEE:</em></p>\n\n<p>Talk to the senior editor that you are working with currently. Tell them specifically the changes you want to make and that \"the logic of the concluding remarks is still correct and the discrepancies only impact the affected numerical results and the specific conclusions drawn from them,\" and that \"the other numerical results are correct.\" </p>\n\n<p>The senior editor will take it from there. Based on my past experience, you <em>do not</em> need to contact the editor-in-chief about this directly.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Will it affect my paper's value? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No, but I don't really follow why you think correcting a mistake will affect your paper's value. Correcting a mistake prior to publication is a <em>good thing</em>.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Will it need to go through another review cycle?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This will depend on the steps taken by the senior editor.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24295",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18137/"
] |
24,297 |
<p>After a series of discussions about the level of dependency of a research student on his advisor in <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24170/how-when-to-become-independent-in-research-as-a-graduate-student">this link</a> and <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24264/to-what-extent-should-a-professor-give-students-freedom-to-do-independent-resear">this link</a>, a question comes to mind that when the person is graduated and leaves the university; even he is now working independently in a company or he is a faculty member of a university; as far as most of the researches he is going to do may be based on his PhD dissertation; </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Until when should this person contact his supervisor about the researches he is doing? </p></li>
<li><p>Should he ethically acknowledge that his researches is roots of his PhD project under his advisor's supervision? </p></li>
<li><p>If, based on his dissertation, he works on a research project; should he talk about it to his supervisor and he should be aware on every single after-PhD project? Just because the base of the publication and research is the PhD dissertation which is done under his supervision? </p></li>
<li><p>To put in a nutshell, as a matter of academic ethics, what are exact rights of a supervisor in projects done based on his student's supervision (after graduation of the person)? What are the rights of the university from which the student is graduated?</p></li>
</ul>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24302,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am currently returning now to a thread of work that I started as a PhD student many years ago, but have not had opportunity to work on since then. I will not be including my advisors as authors on the new papers that result, because the work goes beyond anything that we worked on or discussed during that project. So there's no direct overlap there, and thus they have no intellectual investment in the project.</p>\n\n<p>I would argue that you would continue to include the advisors if they are actively collaborating with you on the current work that you're publishing—or if the original work that you're publishing was done while you were under their supervision. </p>\n\n<p>Of course, you do need to cite the previous work that you've done on the topic as part of placing the work in its appropriate context within the larger experience. You should also be notifying your advisors of your recent work because it's the smart thing to do—you should always keep mentors apprised of your ongoing research activities!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24305,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>(I think... as a mathematician...) such situations are very field-dependent, and context-dependent. If, on one hand, one's advisor is an eminent master in the field, and one has inherited/acquired/learned some amazing riffs from them, then it would be fair to acknowledge this, although co-authorship is essentially ridiculously not called-for. If, on another hand, one's thesis advisor has been no more than a funded drivers'-training instructor, then, no, do not acknowledge them every time you drive to work and do something worthwhile.</p>\n\n<p>:)</p>\n\n<p>And, yes, there are (at least) two things to be distinguished: formal/practical dependency, and genuine scientific dependency. Money and knowledge are often confused in academe, unfortunately. Yet, yes, money and staying alive by being able to buy groceries at the end of the work-day are real things.</p>\n\n<p>An example resolution of the question: if one's advisor did no more than provide a stipend, and sign papers, then that should be appreciated, and acknowledged, but don't over-interpret it.</p>\n\n<p>If, on the opposite hand, one's advisor has shaped one's outlook on the whole enterprise, this, too, should be admitted whenever relevant. But that does not entail co-authorship. And one should hope that one's advisor will not be in the state of needing to pump their stats... (Not good to have an advisor who's still in that state, in the first place.) </p>\n\n<p>General guideline: be real.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25846,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Until when should this person contact his supervisor about the researches he is doing?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Until this person chooses not to collaborate with their former supervisor. (Which, if the student wants to develop an independent reputation, should be about five minutes after the thesis is signed.)</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should he ethically acknowledge that his researches is roots of his PhD project under his advisor's supervision?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Of course. You should cite all prior work that your research is based on. Whether that prior work is part of your thesis is immaterial; if you build on it, cite it.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>To put in a nutshell, as a matter of academic ethics, what are exact rights of a supervisor in projects done based on his student's supervision (after graduation of the person)?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Exactly the same rights as they have to work done in collaboration with any other colleague; no more and no less. They have the right to authorship on any future paper to which they have contributed (or are contributing) significant intellectual content, and other rights and responsibilities that go with authorship such as approval of the final manuscript,</p>\n\n<p>However, these rights have nothing to do with their former position as an advisor/supervisor. In particular, funding, signatures on theses, and recommendation letters are <strong>not</strong> intellectual contributions.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What are the rights of the university from which the student is graduated?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Exactly the same rights that the university would have to the work of the former supervisor with any other colleague; no more and no less. If you are neither employed nor enrolled, the university has no special rights to your work.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24297",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
24,310 |
<p>I am a PhD student and I am doing a literature review for my dissertation. Despite the fact that I am working on the topic, I am not an expert; but I have enough information because of my previous research during MSc and have a published paper in my CV. </p>
<p>I submitted an abstract of the review paper for oral presentation in the most important conference about the topic and it was accepted. The review is about the developments and contributions from researches in some countries. Then, I told my advisor and he suggested me not to submit the final paper because he thinks that kind of review paper must be done by experts, not by PhD students (it would seem such as teaching to experts); further he thinks I will spend a lot of time which should be spent on my PhD dissertation. I really want to present the review; however, I do not want to contradict my advisor. </p>
<p>Do you think it is convenient to present the paper?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24318,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are two points that can be considered on your question. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>You work under supervision of your advisor and he is, to some extent, responsible for your progress at this stage of your academic life. If he thinks that the review paper should not be sent by <em>you</em>, it means that based on his assessments, you are not prepared enough for submitting a review paper. </p>\n\n<p>Moreover, it is normal that a PhD student think that he knows many things about his field of research; but his advisor has done many more researches and advised many more students and I think that his assessment about your knowledge is far more precise than your assessment about yourself. </p>\n\n<p>As an example, the PhD student is like a driver in a car and the professor is like someone in a helicopter, you have driven far distance in your car and feel like you are far away from the other drivers. But the one in the helicopter sees the way, you and other drivers better from the top and he knows that you are still in the middle of the way, not more progressed than the others. </p></li>\n<li><p>As a comment on the type of your paper, you are trying to write a review paper which I also think, as your professor had mentioned, is normal to be published by some experts in the field. I mean the ones who have worked years in industry, or the professors who have released many publications and supervised few research students. I think that review papers should be written and presented by a more aged person than a research student. </p>\n\n<p>Imagine the conference that people aging fifty and sixty are sitting in audience and a 26 or 27 years old PhD student goes and reviews the topic for those experts. I am not saying that the PhD candidate does not know anything about his field of research; but he needs some more years of research and work to become an expert in his research area. It is a little odd to see a PhD student publish a review paper, as he is not an expert in his field. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>But a PhD student may participate in a review paper which is going to be published in a journal or presented by a professor. But still there needs an expert or a professor to be the main presenter and contributer of the publication. </p>\n\n<p>However, the situation may be a little different from one major to another; and from a research group to another. I think that your supervisor is the best guide for you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24348,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What is the contribution of your paper going to be? It's a review paper, so you're not going to be contributing any new techniques or results. You say you're not an expert so you're not likely to make any deep connections between different areas of the field or between your field and other areas of study or present any great insights about why things are the way they are, where the field has come from, how it got where it is and where it's going to go next. So what <em>is</em> the contribution?</p>\n\n<p>The usual deal with a conference talk is that you stand up and tell people about <em>your</em> work. They want to listen because they don't know about what you did and you understand it better than they do. What you're proposing is that you stand up and tell them about <em>their</em> work. They already know what they did and you're not an expert on it, so they (at least, some of them) understand it better than you. Why do they want to listen?</p>\n\n<p>Your main motivation seems to be to score \"CV points\" by presenting at the conference. That could easily be nullified by giving yourself a reputation for not doing research and giving superficial talks with nothing much new in them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 61273,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Addressing a few points in your question individually:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The review is about the developments and contributions from researches\n in some countries. Then, I told my advisor and he suggested me not to\n submit the final paper because he thinks that kind of review paper\n must be done by experts, not by PhD students (it would seem such as\n teaching to experts)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I strongly disagree with your advisor. Non-systematic reviews are often done by senior people because the papers can get a bit opinionated, touching on what needs to be done, the quality of evidence, etc. in a subjective way, and it's nice to have that come from an authority figure, someone whose seen the field develop, has a broader view, etc.</p>\n\n<p>But that's not to say that <em>all</em> review papers are like that, or that you're not an expert. My most cited, and one of my best received papers, is a review I wrote as an <em>undergrad</em>.</p>\n\n<p>Additionally, unless your abstract was incredibly obfuscated, it's been accepted - which means the reviewers and conference organizers thought it was worth doing. It seems like the relevant determination as to whether or not this abstract \"belongs\" has already been made.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>further he thinks I will spend a lot of time which should be spent on\n my PhD dissertation.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is a more valid concern, imo, and you should work hard on making sure that this doesn't obstruct your PhD research. Ideally, lengthy review paper would be <em>about</em> the topic of your PhD, and thus do double duty.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I really want to present the review; however, I do not want to\n contradict my advisor.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is a decision you have to make - how <em>much</em> do you want to present the review, how much you're willing to risk irritating your advisor, who is paying for you to go, etc.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24310",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18065/"
] |
24,325 |
<p>I am trying to write a review on a published paper for Mathematical Reviews. The paper proposes a generalization of K-theory. Its main definition is fundamentally problematic. So the rest of the results are worthless. Therefore, I cannot write a brief summary of their results, because it means that I did not understand the mistake. On the other hand, the abstract of the paper is very concise and misleading, so I cannot recommend it as the review to MR either. Besides, I do not want to spend too much time to explain all the mistakes and errors in the paper (it is not my duty as a reviewer!). Therefore I was thinking to write to Mathematical Reviews and let them know about the situation and deny writing any review for this paper. But before doing that, I was wondering if there is a better solution for this problem?</p>
<p>P.S. For those who are not familiar with Mathematical Reviews, I should add that MR asks mathematicians to write brief reviews on papers (book, etc) that are already published and these reviews are available at mathscinet. So, these reviews are different than referee reports. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24327,
"author": "Christian Clason",
"author_id": 13852,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13852",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your job as a reviewer is primarily to give a summary of the results to help other researchers find the papers they are interested in; you are <strong>not</strong> expected to evaluate the quality of the manuscript. However, there's the following passage in the <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/mresubs/guide-reviewers.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Guide to reviewers</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Evaluative reviews.</strong> Your review may include a positive or negative\n evaluation of the item. Critical remarks should be objective, precise,\n documented and expressed in good taste. Vague criticism offends\n authors and fails to enlighten the reader. If you conclude that the\n item duplicates earlier work, you must cite specific references. If\n you believe there is in error in the item, please describe it\n precisely in your review and provide evidence validating your claim\n (e.g., a counterexample, an exact reference which supports your\n assertion, or an indication where the error arises in the paper). You\n should bear in mind that the MR Database does not include author\n responses to critical reviews.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This means that a critical review, as opposed to a summary, will likely be more work than you seem to think the manuscript is worth. In this case, there's the \"nuclear option\": </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Two other treatments of items are possible, but should be used sparingly. You may recommend that the item be listed without a published review, or you may recommend that the author's summary be used as the review. If you decide to recommend one of these options, simply put your request in the Review text box (e.g., \"Publish without a review\", or \"Use the summary as my review\"). However, in most cases, the mathematics community would prefer an insightful review to either of these two treatments.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you choose \"Publish without review\", the paper will be listed as \"This item will not be reviewed\". For a regular paper, any seasoned user of MathSciNet will understand this as \"do not bother to read\".</p>\n\n<p><strong>EDIT</strong>: This used to be the case; now there's no such remark anymore, but the icon next to the MR number will say \"Indexed\" instead of \"Reviewed\" -- less strong of a signal, but a signal nonetheless (especially to people who remember the old remark.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24363,
"author": "Andreas Blass",
"author_id": 14506,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14506",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Your review should do three things (not necessarily in this order). It should tell the reader what the topic of the paper is, perhaps including the authors' main \"theorem\". (This presupposes that the paper is clear enough to have a topic; I've reviewed garbage that didn't have a discernible topic, but I gather from your question that this is not the case here.) It should make it clear that you think it's wrong. And it should give enough information about the error to allow people in the same area to understand why you think it's wrong. (Once you've explained the essential error, it's not necessary to list a lot of other errors, unless you think that doing so would help the reader or make it clearer that the paper is wrong.)</p>\n\n<p>It is especially important to indicate accurately just how bad the paper is. For example, is it nonsense, or is it just wrong, or does it give a possibly correct theorem but with inadequate or erroneous proof? You can save potential readers of the paper a lot of trouble by making the situation clear.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24325",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
24,332 |
<p>One of the interview excerpt I want to quote include "haha."</p>
<p>Is it permitted to quote an interview excerpt with 'haha' in a thesis?</p>
<p>I asked because it seems like it is too informal.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24336,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You should consult with your advisor about conventions in your field. I think generally, people lightly edit interviews such as these, so if the laughter isn't revelant to what the subject is saying, you can leave it out. If it is important, you don't have to onomatopoetically transcribe it as \"haha.\" You can write \n\"[laughter]\" or \"[interviewee laughs].\" </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24367,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is permitted to do whatever is necessary to get the information across.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24332",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13102/"
] |
24,340 |
<p>I have to hand in the thesis to my supervisor, but I could neither find him in the faculty nor contact him, but I know his house.</p>
<p>Is it advisable to hand in a thesis by visiting my supervisor's house?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24342,
"author": "SLx64",
"author_id": 15731,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15731",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I wouldn't find it okay if someone would come to my house because of that. Work and personal life should be separate and it would be inappropriate to visit the supervisor there. </p>\n\n<p>Does he not have an office? If nobody can tell you where to find him, then you should call him or write an email and ask for an appointment. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24350,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a faculty member, I value my privacy. Home is home and work is work. Unless I suggest this myself, I would be displeased by a student coming to my house unannounced.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24359,
"author": "user13107",
"author_id": 2643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have myself handed in a thesis by visiting a professor's house. But I had contacted him beforehand.</p>\n\n<p>You need to answer -</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Is it really urgent to hand in thesis now? </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If the answer is <code>no</code>, don't bother with going to house. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24360,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>How do you know your advisor is at home? What if he is on vacation? What if he is out of country?</p>\n\n<p>The purpose to hand in your thesis is to let him read it and review it? right? If he is not home, how do you know he will get your thesis and read/review it?</p>\n\n<p>You need to find his whereabout first. Then contact him and ask him how and where to deliver your thesis. If he tells you to hand in the thesis to his house, do so. If he wants to get it at his office, do so. It's your responsibility to make sure he gets the thesis and read it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24366,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Following on from a comment by the OP that this supervisor has refused to give his supervisees his personal contact details, I think it's important to say very strongly that <strong>no, in this case it is entirely inappropriate to go to the supervisor's house</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>To even ask it is creepy and weird. If a student actually did this, after I'd refused to give out my personal contact details, I'd be talking to the university administration office; and, depending on their advice and whether or not this had happened before with this student, the police might get involved too. Based on previous experiences, when a student with this sort of serious boundary problem starts creating these sorts of issues, it's important to act decisively and quickly to close things down before they escalate into really serious problems.</p>\n\n<p><strong>So no, don't go round to your supervisor's house, given that they've already refused to give you their personal contact details. To do so would be creepy and weird.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Ask the department administrator how you should hand in your thesis to your supervisor: they will either take it on their behalf, or point you at a suitable location to leave it, or provide other guidance.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24370,
"author": "Carel",
"author_id": 4294,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4294",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As mentioned previously in comments, this answer really depends on the culture of where in the world you are. Within my country, South Africa, I am positive that none of my professors would mind in the slightest if I tracked him down at his home for any query at all. I'd say he would invite me in for coffee while we discussed the issue at hand.</p>\n\n<p>Of course there are exceptions to any rule. There are probably some professors in my institution that would indeed take offence. It could also depend to some small degree on the professor's specific attitude towards the student in question.</p>\n\n<p>I'm talking about an environment where the amount of students any single professor would supervise is small enough that he would know each student personally at least to some degree.</p>\n\n<p>To recap, in my institution I would and have tracked professors down at their homes if I have any queries, even if the reason is not considered particularly urgent.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24340",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
24,346 |
<p>Even after having proofread my thesis many times, I think asking another person to proofread it before submission is necessary.</p>
<p>Is it considered cheating to ask a friend or tutor to proofread your thesis before submission?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24347,
"author": "Matthew G.",
"author_id": 1165,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1165",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I can't imagine why it would be cheating: So long as you're producing the majority of the content, it wouldn't be cheating to have someone check for the problems that are now invisible to you!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24349,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Definitely not. In fact, I wish more students in my department would do this!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24352,
"author": "adam.r",
"author_id": 9669,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9669",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No. The purpose of your thesis review is not to test your ability to use a word processor or to compose text in a social vacuum. It is a test of your ability to conduct research and communicate those findings to others. Treat it like you would treat any publication, and get feedback from your peers in order to make it as good as possible.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24353,
"author": "Jack Aidley",
"author_id": 5614,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5614",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is normal practice in the UK to have your thesis read by your supervisor and, probably, others. However, you should check the rules for your own institute as they may vary on what exactly is permitted.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24354,
"author": "J. Zimmerman",
"author_id": 7921,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>No, not at all!</strong> Every writer needs readers, and the purpose of those readers is, as already mentioned, to find the errors, typos, and unclear sections that are now invisible to the writer who has seen the manuscript a thousand times. </p>\n\n<p>Obviously, if your friend or tutor is actually providing content for you, and you are not acknowledging their contribution, then that <strong>IS</strong> cheating. When you ask someone to read for you, be sure to tell them exactly why you need another set of eyes on the manuscript. I usually ask my friend (or supervisor, if willing) to simply flag all typos and mark the margin where a paragraph is less than clear to them. I can usually figure out what is wrong without having them actually give me any content. </p>\n\n<p>I find that writing--at least good writing!-- is usually not a solo effort, and I am always indebted to at least one person for taking the time to read my manuscript and flag the problem spots for me. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24407,
"author": "richard1941",
"author_id": 18126,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18126",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your thesis is in math, by all means have others proofread it. Once it is released, it will no longer be possible to correct an error!</p>\n\n<p>However, if your proofreader finds something more substantial than a typing or simple mistake, you must not only credit him with his ideas on the acknowledgement page, but also in a footnote. No harm in this. It is better to get it right and give credit than to get it wrong and take the credit for that for yourself! The quality of your work also reflects on the reputation of your project director and your committee members, you have to respect them by turning out a high quality product.</p>\n\n<p>However, I have found that the probability of a totally error-free thesis is equal to or less than the smallest positive number.</p>\n\n<p>I cannot advise those whose who are English majors; that is a foreign language to an engineer!</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24346",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13102/"
] |
24,351 |
<p>I'm a 2nd year student writing a request to volunteer as a research assistant to a professor. From what I've read, attaching a transcript to the introductory email is a good idea. <a href="http://ugr.ue.ucsc.edu/email_examples" rel="nofollow">[1]</a><a href="http://www.virginia.edu/cue/urn/how-to-successfully-e-mail-professors.html" rel="nofollow">[2]</a></p>
<p>I'm considering not including it as my 1st year marks were pretty terrible. My 2nd year went well, but I suspect my 1st year might give a bad impression and disqualify me for many professors. </p>
<p>In such a case, which (if any) are a good idea:</p>
<ol>
<li>Include the transcript, don't mention anything in the email</li>
<li>Include the transcript, explain reason for bad marks in the email.</li>
<li>Don't include the transcript. Mention good GPA received this semester. </li>
<li>Don't mention the transcript.</li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24357,
"author": "stay_frosty",
"author_id": 18052,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18052",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'd say a mixture of points 2 and 3. It's always good to be honest with your colleagues and especially a potential supervisor. We've all messed up some grades along the line. </p>\n\n<p>If you include the transcript, mention your relatively good GPA this semester and outline very briefly the reasons how you've improved dramatically compared to last semester I think you'll sound professional as well as eager. Professor's love students who surprise them with their performance and growth, so play up your adaptability, resourcefulness and hunger for results.</p>\n\n<p>Also as a previous commenter said, send the email and then seek them out in person, put a face to the name and start a good impression from the outset.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24364,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are two reasons I want to see a transcript when I take on research assistants:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>I want to know what relevant classes they have taken, and how they did in those classes. This (hopefully) tells me something about what kind of basic knowledge I can expect them to have in my subject area, which in turn helps me evaluate whether I have a project that is well-suited for them.</li>\n<li>I don't want to hire a student that is struggling with their coursework, because a research position is very demanding in terms of time and attention. A student who is currently barely passing classes should be focusing on that, not taking on a new major responsibilities. (My university has a minimum GPA requirement for student research assistants for this reason.)</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Definitely include your transcript with your email. Don't explain the reason for the bad grades straight off - why draw attention to the negative? But ideally, you should be able to say something like \"I took 'Highly Relevant Course' this spring and it made me really interested in pursuing research in this area\", where 'Highly Relevant Course' is something you've done well in, that is directly related to the professor's research. The idea is to show that you have basic knowledge in the relevant area, and you're also not currently struggling to pass your courses.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24351",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15756/"
] |
24,356 |
<p>I know that college mathematics typically start at Calculus I (Differential Calculus) and then Calculus II (Integral Calculus). Then after Calc II, it starts to branch off a little. One option after the first two semesters of Calculus is Calculus III (Vector/Multivariable Calculus). Another option is Linear Algebra, and then the next course is Differential Equations. I know that other, more advanced math topics exist like Number Theory/Abstract Algebra, Discrete Mathematics, Partial Differential Equations, Geometry Topics and Topology. I was wondering what order the above mentioned math topics go in and what their prerequisites typically are. If anyone can provide me with a flow chart, then that would be great.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24358,
"author": "Olorun",
"author_id": 15339,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15339",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Heavily depends on the university. For Germany, Calculus is already covered in high school.</p>\n\n<p>However, since you are probably not going to study in Germany, your mileage might vary. I would suggest looking for specific programs at universities you are interested in - there you will be able to see the exact courses offered (as well as the different concentration, e.g. pure mathematics).</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/daa_home/cosm_home/math_home/math_undergraduate/under_degrees\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">This would be a good example.</a></p>\n\n<p>On there, you can find road maps for the general undergraduate degree in Mathematics (for many different concentrations). Hope this helps!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24365,
"author": "T K",
"author_id": 12656,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12656",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This depends heavily on the student and his/her interests. You will need almost all of these courses, but it's a bit murky after linear algebra, multivariable calculus, and differential equations. Did you learn proofs in any of those courses? If not, then maybe a proofs course. This all depends on the department that you're in and how they arrange how they teach mathematical maturity and theory.</p>\n\n<p>Since you asked for a flow chart, I can give you an example of one department's flow chart for their courses. Hopefully this can give you an idea: <a href=\"http://www.math.uga.edu/~curr/prereqs.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.math.uga.edu/~curr/prereqs.html</a></p>\n\n<p>What the numbers all mean can be found here: <a href=\"http://www.bulletin.uga.edu/CoursesHome.aspx?Prefix=MATH\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.bulletin.uga.edu/CoursesHome.aspx?Prefix=MATH</a></p>\n\n<p>Hopefully this gives an example of what one department's \"flow chart\" looks like. You can clearly see there's a lot of choices to take and a huge 'choose-your-own-adventure' part to it.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24356",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18174/"
] |
24,372 |
<p>After joining a research group, I discovered my colleagues are always lowly motivated. They play card games and online games, and they listen to songs with the loudspeakers on all the time. They never discuss research-related things, and the only time they open a spreadsheet is to calculate some kinds of points in online games. This all happens in office hours in the laboratory.</p>
<p>I expected my colleagues would be happy to discuss with me about research problems, but it turns out nobody is willing to do this except my supervisor and some of the post-docs. They just focus on their entertainment. I do not know why they want to do a PhD; maybe they just want to delay their entry into the job market. However I really want to be trained as a good researcher and I am serious about my PhD. I cannot stay motivated all the time because their attitudes seem to gradually be affecting me, and the atmosphere is simply full of laziness. I can notice myself sometimes lowering my standard in research work now.</p>
<p>My supervisor seems ok with it and does not get angry at their slow and boring progress. My research interest matches quite well with my supervisor's, and I do not want to change my supervisor just because of those lowly motivated students. How can I still be motivated in a lowly motivated environment? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24358,
"author": "Olorun",
"author_id": 15339,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15339",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Heavily depends on the university. For Germany, Calculus is already covered in high school.</p>\n\n<p>However, since you are probably not going to study in Germany, your mileage might vary. I would suggest looking for specific programs at universities you are interested in - there you will be able to see the exact courses offered (as well as the different concentration, e.g. pure mathematics).</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/daa_home/cosm_home/math_home/math_undergraduate/under_degrees\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">This would be a good example.</a></p>\n\n<p>On there, you can find road maps for the general undergraduate degree in Mathematics (for many different concentrations). Hope this helps!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24365,
"author": "T K",
"author_id": 12656,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12656",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This depends heavily on the student and his/her interests. You will need almost all of these courses, but it's a bit murky after linear algebra, multivariable calculus, and differential equations. Did you learn proofs in any of those courses? If not, then maybe a proofs course. This all depends on the department that you're in and how they arrange how they teach mathematical maturity and theory.</p>\n\n<p>Since you asked for a flow chart, I can give you an example of one department's flow chart for their courses. Hopefully this can give you an idea: <a href=\"http://www.math.uga.edu/~curr/prereqs.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.math.uga.edu/~curr/prereqs.html</a></p>\n\n<p>What the numbers all mean can be found here: <a href=\"http://www.bulletin.uga.edu/CoursesHome.aspx?Prefix=MATH\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.bulletin.uga.edu/CoursesHome.aspx?Prefix=MATH</a></p>\n\n<p>Hopefully this gives an example of what one department's \"flow chart\" looks like. You can clearly see there's a lot of choices to take and a huge 'choose-your-own-adventure' part to it.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24372",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14682/"
] |
24,377 |
<p>In my thesis, I have five chapters, each of which includes sections and subsections. Each of the five chapters has an introduction and conclusion.</p>
<p>Should chapter introductions and conclusions be included in the table of contents?</p>
<p>If yes, should they be formatted as a first heading, like that of the APA style?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24379,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, <em>Introduction</em> and <em>Conclusions</em> are core parts that need to be included in a ToC. Note that it is not necessary that the chapters have these titles although in the vast majority of cases they do.</p>\n\n<p>The <em>Introduction</em> sets the perspective for the chapter and the <em>Conclusions</em> summarizes the important conclusions reached in the discussion. Hopefully the <em>Conclusions</em> tie in with the perspective(s) set in the <em>Introduction</em> since they constitute the head and tail of the chapter and the partial conclusions reached therein.</p>\n\n<p>In cap off, if you have a heading within the main part of the thesis it should be in the ToC and this includes <em>Introduction</em> and <em>Conclusions</em>. In the case of a chapter, it may be worth providing a more meaty, descriptive title for the introduction that ties in with the theme of the chapter. This is in my opinion less so concerning conclusions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24380,
"author": "Flyto",
"author_id": 8394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The overriding response here has to be \"consult your supervisor, or any documentation that you university says on how they want things to be formatted\".</p>\n\n<p>However, if neither of those gives useful information, I would simply include them if you are including other headings at the same level. So if each chapter has multiple sections of which the introduction and conclusions are examples, I would format them the same as other sections and include all of the sections in the ToC.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24377",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18186/"
] |
24,381 |
<p>Should the table of contents of a thesis include beyond heading level 3?</p>
<p>I would like to know if there is a rule specifying this issue either in MLA or APA?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24386,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In general, tables of content shouldn't span more than two pages, otherwise they lose their utility of being a quick guide to the structure of the content.</p>\n\n<p>A good keyword index at the rear of the document can handle many of the issues in their stead. That is, if you want people to be able to quickly see where you described the laser engraving process, then \"laser engraving\" can have a keyword in the index. Or if you make an argument against Talcott Parson's sick role, similarly you can note both \"Talcott Parsons\" and \"sick role\" at the back.</p>\n\n<p>(note: I do encourage my grad students to CREATE extremely detailed tables of contents that lay out their entire argument. This helps them write their dissertations as it gives a roadmap and structure. But when it comes time to submit their thesis to the university, or revise for publication, they should strip their table of contents back down to a minimum of one or two levels).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 90818,
"author": "ebosi",
"author_id": 50010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/50010",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A ToC (Table of Contents) serves two purposes:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Giving readers an overview of your document (hence chapter/sections titles), and</li>\n<li>Guiding them towards the content they are looking for (hence page numbers).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In order to be efficient, your ToC must thus delivers enough information (one hierarchical level might not be enough if you have three chapters only), but not too much (hence the \"two-pages limit\" <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/24386/50010\">RoboKaren</a> refers to). In the , the ToC is not very useful; in the other, readers are overwhelmed with information and thus perceive even less of the intended message.</p>\n\n<p>It is based on these rules that you should define how much is enough. My advice would be to even strive for a one-page long ToC, with a clear contrast between hierarchical levels (I'd say indenting is not enough). I would also suggest you to use only two hierarchical levels.</p>\n\n<p>Calling the first hierarchical level \"Chapter\" and the second \"Section\", here is the \"official\" answer from the \"<em>Chicago Manual of Style</em>\" (§1.37 in the 16th ed.):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[Sections] are usually omitted from the table of contents, but\n if they provide valuable signposts for readers, they may be included.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Note that in some cases, chapters are clustered into parts - where chapter numbering is not reset after a new part.\nIn this case, parts are not a hierarchical level strictly speaking; and ToC would thus be divided in Parts/Chapter/Sections.</p>\n\n<p><strong>TL;DR:</strong> Two hierarchical levels in the ToC. If necessary (long thesis), you can include \"sub-ToC\" at the beginning of each chapter (again, with two hierarchical levels). Parts doesn't count.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24381",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18186/"
] |
24,387 |
<p>I have my Bachelor's degree in Business and Marketing and my Master's degree in Computer and information Science.</p>
<p>This year I have applied to 3 different universities in Germany for taking another Master degree in Computer Science and have been told that my bachelor's degree does not correspond to the one I am applying and have been rejected for those 3 universities with the same reason</p>
<p>Next year I am planning to apply for PHD program and would like to have advise from experts, some people say there are specific PHD programs which require both Business and Computer Science degrees. I was wondering if anyone could give some resources where I could find best matching universities for my case.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance :)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24386,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In general, tables of content shouldn't span more than two pages, otherwise they lose their utility of being a quick guide to the structure of the content.</p>\n\n<p>A good keyword index at the rear of the document can handle many of the issues in their stead. That is, if you want people to be able to quickly see where you described the laser engraving process, then \"laser engraving\" can have a keyword in the index. Or if you make an argument against Talcott Parson's sick role, similarly you can note both \"Talcott Parsons\" and \"sick role\" at the back.</p>\n\n<p>(note: I do encourage my grad students to CREATE extremely detailed tables of contents that lay out their entire argument. This helps them write their dissertations as it gives a roadmap and structure. But when it comes time to submit their thesis to the university, or revise for publication, they should strip their table of contents back down to a minimum of one or two levels).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 90818,
"author": "ebosi",
"author_id": 50010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/50010",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A ToC (Table of Contents) serves two purposes:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Giving readers an overview of your document (hence chapter/sections titles), and</li>\n<li>Guiding them towards the content they are looking for (hence page numbers).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In order to be efficient, your ToC must thus delivers enough information (one hierarchical level might not be enough if you have three chapters only), but not too much (hence the \"two-pages limit\" <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/24386/50010\">RoboKaren</a> refers to). In the , the ToC is not very useful; in the other, readers are overwhelmed with information and thus perceive even less of the intended message.</p>\n\n<p>It is based on these rules that you should define how much is enough. My advice would be to even strive for a one-page long ToC, with a clear contrast between hierarchical levels (I'd say indenting is not enough). I would also suggest you to use only two hierarchical levels.</p>\n\n<p>Calling the first hierarchical level \"Chapter\" and the second \"Section\", here is the \"official\" answer from the \"<em>Chicago Manual of Style</em>\" (§1.37 in the 16th ed.):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[Sections] are usually omitted from the table of contents, but\n if they provide valuable signposts for readers, they may be included.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Note that in some cases, chapters are clustered into parts - where chapter numbering is not reset after a new part.\nIn this case, parts are not a hierarchical level strictly speaking; and ToC would thus be divided in Parts/Chapter/Sections.</p>\n\n<p><strong>TL;DR:</strong> Two hierarchical levels in the ToC. If necessary (long thesis), you can include \"sub-ToC\" at the beginning of each chapter (again, with two hierarchical levels). Parts doesn't count.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24387",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18192/"
] |
24,390 |
<p>I really enjoyed my research but it happens that whenever I tell somebody about it, I have the impression I'm making it sound boring, unimportant and not exciting.</p>
<p>Americans have a way of telling a story, I know this kind of "performance" does not suit my habit. I'm more the continental European, a bit reserved, a bit technical. Not everything I did immediately is about curing cancer, I admit it.</p>
<p>I started by adapting a kind of top-down approach, first I say "Simulations", usually people feel they can relate to that. And if they wish to know more, then I can start going into some details.</p>
<p>I think this approach makes sense, but still, I find others can induce interest by the other person immediately from the start of their explanations.</p>
<p>Question: <strong>How can I communicate my research to a general audience in a way that is more exciting and interesting?</strong></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24391,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Try lots of different things. You've tried one thing, and it hasn't worked.</p>\n\n<p>Treat it like any other kind of experimental research. Try new things, monitor the results, adjust your approach accordingly.</p>\n\n<p>Some things that can work:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>use specific examples</strong>: identify a very specific problem that they can understand, and show how you're trying to address that problem</li>\n<li><strong>use analogy and metaphor</strong>: find out something about what interests them, and draw parallels between that and what you're doing</li>\n<li><strong>be passionate</strong>: talk about the aspects of your work that you really care about, and why you are passionate about them; even if they don't understand the words, they'll understand your emotions.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24395,
"author": "mhwombat",
"author_id": 10529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10529",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Perhaps the real problem is that you're not describing your research <em>clearly</em>, and at the <em>appropriate level</em> for the person you're talking to. This is a skill that definitely takes practice to get good at. You'll know you're doing it right when the other person asks good questions; that's proof that they are engaged. So I suspect if you focus on being clear and getting the level of explanation right, you'll end up making the research sound more interesting without even trying!</p>\n\n<p>I take advantage of every opportunity I can to explain it to adults and children, academics and non-academics, and so on. I've definitely improved with this practice. The number one mistake I (and probably most people) tend to make is to explain at too high a level. I always have this fear that I'm going to insult the other person's intelligence by explaining things too simply. But that doesn't happen. If the other person does want more detail, they'll ask.</p>\n\n<p>Another possibility is that you're trying to sound professional when you explain your research, and that's inhibiting your natural style. But it's perfectly OK to sound like an excited kid in this situation, if that's how you feel. A lot of well-respected academics sound like kids when they start talking about something they're interested in, because they do feel passionate about it, and that makes the audience more interested too.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24408,
"author": "Robert Jørgensgaard Engdahl",
"author_id": 18204,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18204",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Switch focus from the hows and whats to the whys and do a top-down break-down from there. Your peers will be able to follow your break-down for longer than laymen, but all will be more interested in what you do.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24390",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6139/"
] |
24,396 |
<p>It's been mentioned before on this site <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/616/is-web-presence-important-for-researchers">how important it is to have a webpage</a>.</p>
<p>Most academics don't have a lot of experience with web development, and do not realistically have time to learn it <em>and keep the knowledge up to date</em>.</p>
<p>What are some good ways/tools to create and <em>maintain</em> a professional website when the priority is <em>minimizing long term maintenance burden</em>?</p>
<p>My experience is that it's not uncommon that people will put in the effort to build a very nice website once, but they simply won't be able to maintain it long term. Either it's too much effort to add new content (too busy to do it), or they change institutions and it's too much effort to migrate the site (because e.g. the new institution's hosting doesn't support some of the necessary tools, such as PHP, etc.) Even if I put in the effort to learn a bit about web development today, I won't be using this knowledge contiually, so I'll forget how to do it. At that point it might become too much of a burden to keep a website up to date, so eventually I'll neglect it.</p>
<p>This question is about how to avoid this situation, and what tools or hosting methods to use to minimize maintenance burden so a home page can realistically be kept up to date.</p>
<p>The simplest solution seems to be to only use basic (static) hand-written HTML and maybe a simple CSS stylesheet. Many (most) academics are doing this. The result will probably not be very beautiful and will look like webpages 15 years ago, but it can serve the purpose. Are there any better ways? (Typing all that <code><p></code> and <code><em></code> and <code><pre></code> and <code><ul></code> <em>is</em> in fact still rather tedious and error prone compared e.g. to writing MarkDown here.)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24397,
"author": "mhwombat",
"author_id": 10529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10529",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The main thing that needs frequent updating is your bibliography. Some people don't try to maintain a bibliography list; instead they put a link to their DBLP search results. For example:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://dblp.uni-trier.de/pers/hd/h/Holland:John_H=.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://dblp.uni-trier.de/pers/hd/h/Holland:John_H=.html</a></p>\n\n<p>This may not show extremely recent publications, but it may be more accurate than one you maintain manually and forget to update!</p>\n\n<p>Another option is to link to a Google Scholar search. For example:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wfAPzPQAAAAJ&hl=en\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wfAPzPQAAAAJ&hl=en</a></p>\n\n<p>Aside from the bibliography, I don't think there are any requirements that are specific to academia. There are so many options for creating and maintaining websites. Which one is right for you depends on how computer-literate you are, among other things, and would really be a <a href=\"https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1016/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-boat-or-not\">boat programming question</a>.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>EDIT: To avoid dealing with the HTML directly, there are the usual suspects: Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal.</p>\n\n<p>A \"hand-built\" website doesn't have to look old-fashioned. If you decide to go this route, you can find some attractive, free templates here: <a href=\"http://www.oswd.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.oswd.org/</a></p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>EDIT: If you have a GitHub account, you can create a website for it using <a href=\"https://pages.github.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">GitHub Pages</a>. You can write your pages using markdown (there are other options as well), and you can have your own custom domain.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24399,
"author": "Trylks",
"author_id": 7571,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's really not that hard to analyse the options.</p>\n\n<p><strong>1. Self-managed page</strong></p>\n\n<p>You certainly don't want PHP or anything server-side here, probably your university (institute or whatever) will provide you some web space that you <em>\"should\"</em> use and it's not going to run anything as fancy as PHP (let alone Python or Java). Which means that you have either:</p>\n\n<p>a. some HTML with Javascript, possibly parsing BibTex files, should be feasible.</p>\n\n<p>b. some script/program that generates the static web pages (and possibly updates them via FTP) and here you can program in whatever you want and do really cool things like updating your CV in PDF using LaTeX at the same time. But it's going to take a while to program it, unless you find it already done or you find someone else to do it (paying helps in finding, usually).</p>\n\n<p>Everything is client-side, nothing on the server, no different reasonable options in this regard...</p>\n\n<p><strong>2. Linked page</strong></p>\n\n<p>If you are really worried about maintenance time then you can link to another page from the static HTML page, it may be updated automatically, which is great. Options are dblp and google scholar, among others. (e.g. <a href=\"http://academic.research.microsoft.com/Author/18581060/walter-c-willett\" rel=\"nofollow\">Microsoft Academic Search</a>)</p>\n\n<p>The maintenance is zero, so there isn't anything more to reduce. This option works with static HTML with no Javascript, as opposed to the previous one.</p>\n\n<p><strong>3. Third party managed page</strong></p>\n\n<p>If you don't want to use that webspace provided by your organization, if you don't ever want to see any of the ugly HTML code, make design decisions with CSS, etc. and you don't want to do anything that even slightly resembles to programming but still have a nice webpage with your personal information, publications, etc. then let the professionals do the job.</p>\n\n<p>There are several portals that can offer such a thing. Research Gate is the first one that comes to my mind, but I think LinkedIn provides a reasonably good page for academics and sure more people will be able to provide more examples.</p>\n\n<p><strong>And that's pretty much it.</strong></p>\n\n<p>We all would like to have robots that do everything for us, but the closest to that is option 2, with the robots that crawl the web and index the publications for their authors. Beware, though, that they may fail at finding some of the publications (specially when moving between institutions, and publishing with disjoint sets of authors).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24406,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>tl;dr</strong>: Wordpress (installing a Markdown plugin), if you are a techie, Jekyll. </p>\n\n<p>(My website is in Wikidot, I created for my group with Wordpress.</p>\n\n<p><strong>EDIT</strong>: <a href=\"http://p.migdal.pl/2015/12/02/first-post.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Now I use Jekyll; here's why</a>)</p>\n\n<p>See <a href=\"https://gist.github.com/stared/9130888#website-tools\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Software for Scientists: Website tools</a>:</p>\n\n<p>For personal homepages, lab notebooks and conference websites.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <ul>\n <li><a href=\"http://wordpress.org\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">WordPress - code</a> and <a href=\"http://wordpress.com\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">WordPress - hosting</a>\n \n <ul>\n <li>Examples:\n \n <ul>\n <li><a href=\"https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/</a></li>\n <li><a href=\"https://gowers.wordpress.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://gowers.wordpress.com/</a></li>\n <li><a href=\"http://netsci2013.net/wordpress/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://netsci2013.net/wordpress/</a></li>\n </ul></li>\n </ul></li>\n <li><a href=\"http://jekyllrb.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Jekyll</a>\n \n <ul>\n <li>For writing blogs in Markdown and easily putting them on GitHub </li>\n <li>Tutorial for using LaTeX in it: <a href=\"http://cwoebker.com/posts/latex-math-magic\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://cwoebker.com/posts/latex-math-magic</a></li>\n <li>Examples:\n \n <ul>\n <li><a href=\"http://carlboettiger.info/2012/09/28/Welcome-to-my-lab-notebook.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Open Lab Notebook in Jekyll</a></li>\n <li><a href=\"http://ivanzuzak.info/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">A homepage</a></li>\n </ul></li>\n </ul></li>\n <li><a href=\"http://www.wikidot.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Wikidot</a>\n \n <ul>\n <li>e.g <a href=\"http://offtopicarium.wikidot.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://offtopicarium.wikidot.com/</a></li>\n </ul></li>\n <li><a href=\"http://www.wikispaces.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Wikispaces</a>\n \n <ul>\n <li>Simple wikis, very easy to create and manage</li>\n <li>Used as open science notebooks, for instance <a href=\"http://usefulchem.wikispaces.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://usefulchem.wikispaces.com/</a></li>\n </ul></li>\n <li><a href=\"http://www.site44.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Site44</a>\n \n <ul>\n <li>Showing small site by putting files into a <a href=\"https://www.dropbox.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Dropbox</a> folder</li>\n </ul></li>\n <li><a href=\"http://pages.github.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">GitHub Pages</a>\n \n <ul>\n <li>Static websites with Git </li>\n </ul></li>\n <li><a href=\"http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/wiki/instiki/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Instiki</a>\n \n <ul>\n <li>Wiki especially for mathematical collaboration</li>\n <li>Examples:\n \n <ul>\n <li><a href=\"http://www.azimuthproject.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.azimuthproject.org/</a></li>\n <li><a href=\"http://ncatlab.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://ncatlab.org/</a></li>\n </ul></li>\n </ul></li>\n <li><a href=\"http://lalashan.mcmaster.ca/theobio/projects/index.php/WorkingWiki\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">WorkingWiki</a>\n \n <ul>\n <li>Wiki especially for mathematical collaboration</li>\n </ul></li>\n <li><a href=\"http://sphinx-doc.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Sphinx</a>\n \n <ul>\n <li>Great for writing documentation</li>\n <li>Example (in Polish): <a href=\"http://django.carrots.pl/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://django.carrots.pl/</a></li>\n </ul></li>\n <li><a href=\"http://zohooo.github.io/jekyde/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Jekade</a>\n \n <ul>\n <li>Jekyll-like static pages with built-in LaTe support, in Node.JS </li>\n </ul></li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24411,
"author": "Raphael",
"author_id": 1419,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1419",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From my experience, I can recommend to stay away from both hand-made sites and general-purpose CMS.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://theopenscholar.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">OpenScholar</a> seems to be a good fit. It is open source (based on Drupal), allegedly \"easy to create and maintain\" and certainly designed exactly for your/our use-case.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24415,
"author": "jb.",
"author_id": 117,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/117",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'd discourage you from using any CMS backed by database --- keeping software stack up to date, coping with backup and migrations might be very cumbersome. Of course you can leave outdated CMS version or don't do backups... but this will bite someday, as someone break in. So really you need to keep the software up do date whether you change content or not. </p>\n\n<p>I had some success with using a tools like <a href=\"http://docs.getpelican.com/en/3.4.0/\" rel=\"nofollow\">pelican</a> or <a href=\"http://sphinx-doc.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">sphinx</a> (this documentation generator for python projects but works well for course materials, etc.). Both tools take input in <a href=\"http://sphinx-doc.org/rest.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">reStructuredText</a> and produce static HTML from it. You might code something similar from scrath using for example <a href=\"http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/\" rel=\"nofollow\">pandoc</a> or <a href=\"http://docutils.sourceforge.net/\" rel=\"nofollow\">docutils</a>, that will take care for conversion between input format and HTML. </p>\n\n<p>I like these tools because: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Input format is user readable, text based and easy to learn </li>\n<li>I backup wepbage using tools I know (like <a href=\"http://git-scm.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">git</a>), or really just zip everything and store on some disk. </li>\n<li>I don't need anything from website administrator --- just a plain webserwer. </li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>It specifically decreases maintenance because: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Zero maintenance costs if you don't change the webpage, no need to update CMS and so on. </li>\n<li>Very low maintenance costs when you just add some content to the webpage --- just regenerate HTML and you're done. </li>\n<li>You can safely use outdated (but working) version of generator --- since there are no security bugs whatsoever. </li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24396",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11907/"
] |
24,400 |
<p>There has been general discussion of <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1897/can-i-reuse-part-of-a-paper-for-my-thesis">whether one can use a published work in their dissertation</a>, with the consensus being 'of course'! The first two chapters of my thesis will be published works. I'm interested in the reverse now; I intend to write the third chapter of my thesis as a draft of sorts for a publication. Now I'm wondering whether including text and figures from my dissertation in a [future] manuscript constitutes 'self-plagarism'.</p>
<p>A fellow graduate student advised me that it's only 'self-plagarism' if I formally copyright my thesis, however, I'm skeptical of that being the important distinction.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24402,
"author": "The Almighty Bob",
"author_id": 16086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16086",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general this is OK or, in some fields, even recommended. It does not make any difference if the dissertation comes first and then the publication or vice versa.</p>\n\n<p>However, I would reference the thesis/paper(something along the line: this paper was part of my dissertation ... or this chapter was published as ...) and you should talk to someone (your supervisor? the postgrad coordinator?) in your department about that. There might be some rules regarding that practice (I never heard of anything like that but just to be on the safe side).</p>\n\n<p>Btw: Self-plagarism has nothing to do with copyright violations.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24405,
"author": "Cugel",
"author_id": 17712,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17712",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In the context of a university, self-plagiarism (or auto-plagiarism, as it tends to be known) generally only refers to submitting the same work for two or more different credit-bearing assignments within the institution, or submitting work which has been awarded credits at another institution. </p>\n\n<p>There's generally no restriction on using work submitted for a university degree in a publication, unless the university specifically expresses its ownership of that work (which sometimes happens if the work was involved in a commercial or collaborative project).</p>\n\n<p>You can get into trouble for publishing the same work in more than one publication, but because the contract you sign with the publishers will specifically prohibit you from doing this (or will specifically allow it) this is not plagiarism as much as it is fraud. Even then, providing they know in advance, most publishers will allow authors to include chapters in monographs that are based around previously published articles, providing the initial copyright holder gives their consent (which in academic work they usually will, as long as the original publication is cited).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24400",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14719/"
] |
24,403 |
<p>I am a math major who will be a senior next year and hope to graduate a semester early for financial reasons. During my semester off, I plan to continue my (mostly trivial) research in algebra and independently work through three graduate level texts. However, I am going to apply to grad schools for pure mathematics in the fall and worry this may ultimately hurt my graduate school applications.</p>
<p>Will this have a negative effect on my math grad school applications? How can I best communicate that I will not slack off in the spring semester, but will continue working?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24409,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Volunteer to do a research project with a professor in the department. This will demonstrate a continued effort in the field. Ultimately, however, what matters most is your grades and recommendations. If they say you're good, a semester off won't hurt.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24410,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your application will be essentially complete by the end of fall term, but it should <em>very pointedly</em> mention what <em>further</em> work you will be doing in the spring term, whether or not you are paying tuition for the privilege of studying and thinking about mathematics.</p>\n\n<p>There really needn't be a formal structure imposed on your work/study/research, and it needn't have any official label \"research\" versus \"study\". But <em>do</em> write what you plan to do, and <em>do</em> mention the guidance you hope/expect to have from more-experienced mathematicians (as opposed to just doing whatever strikes your fancy off in some closet). That is, do be sure to make the point that you will be <em>engaged</em> with actual contemporary mathematics, arguably more intensely, and at a more serious level, than the usual homework-exam model would encourage or allow.</p>\n\n<p>If you can describe your plans for \"spring term\" in vivid and enthusiastic detail, you can make it sound far better than \"taking classes\". I'd not worry about hype-ing \"research\" too much, although, yes, it would be intellectually dishonest to not follow one's curiosity. But, of course, one's personal discoveries, however novel to oneself, may be old news to experienced professionals, so one should not presume.</p>\n\n<p>Just tell your plans!</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24403",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18200/"
] |
24,418 |
<p>I am now working as a postdoctoral researcher in Japan. I came to work at this institute when it received a big grant from government more than 2 years ago. My research budget is paid from a small part of that grant. I am affiliated with a lab run by my current advisor, but I do my own research topics and build my own experimental setup without support from the advisor.</p>
<p>This year I applied for my own funding and was lucky enough to get a small grant for young researchers. My advisor applied to the same grant (more senior category) but failed, and later I learned that he has not succeeded to get any grant up to now. Last week he asked me to use my budget for his projects, because "in this lab, we share the budget together", as he said.</p>
<p>I feel awkward because I don't want to share my budget with him, but if I deny the request, our relationship will be damaged.
Has any of you experienced the same problem? Is my advisor a bad one? How should I deal with this?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24419,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would suggest looking at the terms of your grant. You could get in a lot of trouble with the granting agency if you use the money for something other than what you wrote in your grant application. There's a little slop in the exact percentages of work that you do, but most agencies have rules requiring that you certify your effort on the project.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24423,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is delicate issue, and I would advise you to proceed with utmost care. There are a number of ethical, legal, and practical issues to take into account.</p>\n\n<p>First, the <strong>legal side</strong> - as Bill Barth already mentioned, it is not a given that you even <em>can</em> (easily and legally) move money from your grant to somebody else in your lab. In a nutshell, only the funding agency or the respective support department from your university can help you with this.</p>\n\n<p>Second, in terms of <strong>ethical issues</strong>, the question arises whether you do in fact \"share budget in this lab\". In other terms, did the lab head also share his budget with you when you did not yet have a grant? Do think about this critically. In my experience, young independent researchers (myself included) tend to take the support we get from senior researchers for granted sometimes, while being rather protective about our own funding. From your description, it does sound like you yourself are being funded from money acquired by the lab head. In that sense, asking you to give back a small part of your grant to support his research is not necessarily unethical. Further, has he helped you with your grant application? If he has, sharing a bit of your grant with him may be the right thing to do (if even possible, see above).</p>\n\n<p>Thirdly, in <strong>practical terms</strong>, the question arises whether it is worth for you to fight over this issue. This largely depends on how bad it can end for you if the lab head is <em>really</em> mad at you (in Japan I would assume the answer to this is \"very\", unfortunately) and how much funding money is concerned. This is another issue that you can really only decide for yourself, but (again), do proceed with caution. You should consider that you not only need to work with this guy day to day, but you may also need his support for your next career step. I have unfortunately seen a few young researchers taking a stand with their mentors \"on principle\" over relatively minor issues. This kind of thing tends to not go as well as people hope.</p>\n\n<p>All things considered, you would do well to not let your successful grant application go to your head. It is certainly a very important milestone in you career, but don't get into a lone wolf mentality (<em>\"I'm so good, I don't need anybody to succeed!\"</em>).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24428,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Excellent answers from the other respondents.</p>\n\n<p>One solution may be that some grants allow for administrative overhead or indirect costs. At some universities, this can be over 50% and literally keeps the lights on and the trash bins emptied.</p>\n\n<p>You may want to see if you, the senior scholar, the university, and the grantor agree to divert some of the indirect costs to him.</p>\n\n<p>(And yes, his behavior is inimical, at least as you describe it. Promise to yourself that you won't be that type of jerk to your own students and junior colleagues.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24431,
"author": "user296844",
"author_id": 18207,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18207",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Do the right thing and ignore/stop the recursive career considerations of the other answerers. If he helped you, now you help him. If he was not helping you, then explain you cannot. If he was miserly, then be miserly. You are ultimately beholden to your own self.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 108236,
"author": "Adam Davis",
"author_id": 11901,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11901",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you do decide to share, consider working with him to identify equipment, services, and resources that you could purchase with your grant that would benefit your work that you could share with others.</p>\n\n<p>Turn the conversation from \"You must share your money with me for my purchases\" into, \"We both are doing research in this direction, let's buy equipment/services/resources that will help everyone rather than just support one grant.\"</p>\n\n<p>Further, involve everyone in the department in this discussion. That way even if he does complain you can point out the discussions you've had, the purchases you've made, and show how you shared the grant and how it's benefited him.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24418",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18220/"
] |
24,421 |
<p>I am writing my thesis in computer science and I am looking to include some references. I need to include though the researchers who first wrote about a specific subject and not others who expanded the original ideas.</p>
<p>I use Google Scholar for searches but there isn't an option to search for this criteria.</p>
<p>How can I find the first researcher who wrote about a specific subject?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24422,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'm a little unclear about why you might want the very first, but at least in CS you have a limited history to work with. </p>\n\n<p>The most detailed way to find this is to start with current papers (maybe a good review article) on the subject and to track back the references until you find the first one, paper-by-paper. If you already have a few early papers, obviously looking at their references is a better place to start. You haven't given us the topic area, but you might just ask for the earliest papers on the <a href=\"https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/\">CS Theory Stackexchange</a>. You might also try searching on Google by year if you are certain that you know the right keywords--binary searching the years back to 1900 or so will probably be most efficient.</p>\n\n<p>Finding the right paper might be a little challenging, especially if the topic has changed names a few times since it started.</p>\n\n<p>Edited to add: If you are at a university with a good library system, you might find a research librarian who does this kind of thing for a living and ask them for help.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24442,
"author": "example",
"author_id": 17515,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17515",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While your question was already anwered by Bill Barth, I want to try and answer the question that you should have asked:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How to find the right paper to cite for well established facts / problems / theorems / etc.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If this is what you actually intended, than the first paper ever published on the topic is only one possibility. Often a better option is to look for a good review paper on the topic and cite that. A reader is much more likely to gain knowledge from a good review than a (probably decades old) first publication.</p>\n\n<p>Have a look around, how others cite this specific subject and immitate them if you want to make sure not to violate unwritten etiquette. There are basically three possibilities</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>No citation: The subject is assumed common knowledge and can probably be found in any standard textbook.</li>\n<li>citing the original paper: this is what you intended. Even if the first publication on the subject will likely not include all of the knowledge on the subject that you have and the reader might thus need to look at other publications as well, this is often done to acknowledge the work that the original author put into this. Make sure that you reference any further work that is needed to understand your work, e.g. during your own summary of the subject. </li>\n<li>citing a recent paper or review article: a) The subject is likely already well established and almost assumed common knowledge. The citation helps the reader to either catch up on some recent developments (paper) or to get a general overview (review). b) The subject has a long and active history. The subject in the formulation that you use probably has no clear first author. Due to numerous modifications / the natural evolution of notation etc. the original publication on the topic is probably of no use to the reader. In this case either a paper with a good introduction or a review can be cited.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Of course combinations of the above are possible as well. E.g. citing the original paper to acknowledge the first author as well as a review article such that the reader might catch up on any results that are already available prior to your work.</p>\n\n<p>Unless you are currently writing a review though, you are not required to dig through generations of publications to find the first paper on a subject. If nobody in your field cites it, you can safely stick with one of the other two options.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24421",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18224/"
] |
24,433 |
<p>I am currently a Senior undergrad at a small school in the US. I have pretty good grades and have yet to take the GRE. I am a double major in Accounting and Business Management. I love economics (all parts I have encountered) but I am not sure if economics programs are for me.</p>
<p>I have heard that PhD/Masters Economics programs are very math intense, and without the proper courses you will be lost. I am not that great at math maybe because I never was that interested in it (I do like numbers if that makes sense). I did take Econometrics this past semester and really loved it and understood it. I do like behavioral economics; I find the psychology side very interesting. </p>
<p><strong>Summary:</strong> I am not great at math. I love how economists think. I love being able to explain things with data. And I like how psychology can explain irrational acts. I want to further my education.</p>
<p><strong>Questions:</strong>
What program(s) should I be looking into based on my interests and capabilities?
How math heavy are economics programs (PhD & Masters)?
Is it mostly econometric math?
Is there a similar field without the crazy math but with econometrics?
Is the US the best place for me (where I am now)?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24422,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'm a little unclear about why you might want the very first, but at least in CS you have a limited history to work with. </p>\n\n<p>The most detailed way to find this is to start with current papers (maybe a good review article) on the subject and to track back the references until you find the first one, paper-by-paper. If you already have a few early papers, obviously looking at their references is a better place to start. You haven't given us the topic area, but you might just ask for the earliest papers on the <a href=\"https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/\">CS Theory Stackexchange</a>. You might also try searching on Google by year if you are certain that you know the right keywords--binary searching the years back to 1900 or so will probably be most efficient.</p>\n\n<p>Finding the right paper might be a little challenging, especially if the topic has changed names a few times since it started.</p>\n\n<p>Edited to add: If you are at a university with a good library system, you might find a research librarian who does this kind of thing for a living and ask them for help.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24442,
"author": "example",
"author_id": 17515,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17515",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While your question was already anwered by Bill Barth, I want to try and answer the question that you should have asked:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How to find the right paper to cite for well established facts / problems / theorems / etc.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If this is what you actually intended, than the first paper ever published on the topic is only one possibility. Often a better option is to look for a good review paper on the topic and cite that. A reader is much more likely to gain knowledge from a good review than a (probably decades old) first publication.</p>\n\n<p>Have a look around, how others cite this specific subject and immitate them if you want to make sure not to violate unwritten etiquette. There are basically three possibilities</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>No citation: The subject is assumed common knowledge and can probably be found in any standard textbook.</li>\n<li>citing the original paper: this is what you intended. Even if the first publication on the subject will likely not include all of the knowledge on the subject that you have and the reader might thus need to look at other publications as well, this is often done to acknowledge the work that the original author put into this. Make sure that you reference any further work that is needed to understand your work, e.g. during your own summary of the subject. </li>\n<li>citing a recent paper or review article: a) The subject is likely already well established and almost assumed common knowledge. The citation helps the reader to either catch up on some recent developments (paper) or to get a general overview (review). b) The subject has a long and active history. The subject in the formulation that you use probably has no clear first author. Due to numerous modifications / the natural evolution of notation etc. the original publication on the topic is probably of no use to the reader. In this case either a paper with a good introduction or a review can be cited.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Of course combinations of the above are possible as well. E.g. citing the original paper to acknowledge the first author as well as a review article such that the reader might catch up on any results that are already available prior to your work.</p>\n\n<p>Unless you are currently writing a review though, you are not required to dig through generations of publications to find the first paper on a subject. If nobody in your field cites it, you can safely stick with one of the other two options.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24433",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18101/"
] |
24,439 |
<p>I plan to apply for PhD in Finance/Statistics next semester, and hence searched for potential supervisors.</p>
<p>An issue I have is that many interesting candidates are above age 60, and in Germany Professors retire at 65, such that a subsequent post-doc/habilitation would most likely require a different supervisor after PhD. One Professor just started his position at age 40, but so he has not many notable publications and I am unsure whether he might change university soon (he just changed it from another 4 years position).</p>
<p>Could someone advise me on the importance of age for selecting a PhD supervisor in context of a long-term future academic career?</p>
<p>The time for PhD would be 4-5 years, and PostDoc/Habilitation/AssociateProf usually again 4-6 years, with goal of potentially becoming Full Professor in Finance/Statistics.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24470,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First: a few people commented that thinking about your postdoc/Habilitation before even starting your Ph.D. is premature. I disagree. I have seen too many people coast along during their Ph.D. time without ever knowing what they are going to do afterwards, and certainly not preparing for their post-Ph.D. time, whether in academia or in industry. So I would say you demonstrate good long-term thinking. Already thinking about your academic career will help you prepare to work out a research program, network (more on this below) etc.</p>\n\n<p>Second: there is no problem whatsoever with changing advisors between the Ph.D. and the postdoc period. To the contrary! If you stay at the same place for almost ten years, you will need to explain why you never moved, never checked out other places to work, other approaches to research. Many, many (most?) people will switch advisors at least once, or possibly even do postdocs in two different places.</p>\n\n<p>Incidentally, this is why I think it is a good thing you are already thinking about your long-term future <em>now</em>, because it is never too early to start meeting people at conferences with your future in mind. You may just meet someone at your first conference who you could collaborate with or spend your postdoc time with.</p>\n\n<p>So I would definitely recommend that you consider the older potential advisor. He sounds like he could introduce you to lots of people, and you will likely not need to pack up and move somewhere else <em>during</em> your Ph.D. period, which seems possible with the younger professor and which could somewhat mess up your personal life.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, these considerations are all not the highest priority. You should definitely keep other aspects in mind in choosing where to do your Ph.D., like the kind of project you would be doing for either of the two professors, or whether the two of you \"click\" on a personal level, or what financing there is, or <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23130/what-should-i-ask-my-potential-ph-d-advisor-in-advance-before-actually-signing\">lots of other things you should discuss with your potential advisor ahead of time</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, there is no Habilitation in Germany any more. Nowadays, Germany has moved to a more American style in academic careers. You will do a Ph.D., then a postdoc, then usually a <em>Juniorprofessur</em> (roughly, assistant professorship - not tenured and limited to six years), then get your <em>Ruf</em> to a tenured position. It's quite possible to skip the <em>Juniorprofessur</em>, though.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24506,
"author": "Christian Clason",
"author_id": 13852,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13852",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As others have mentioned, planning the trajectory of your academic career past your PhD is very premature at this point. (After all, one of the jobs of your PhD advisor is precisely to help you with this.)</p>\n\n<p>Something that -- surprisingly -- has not been mentioned so far: <em>Talk to the professors</em>. Taking on a PhD student is a serious commitment no advisor will make lightly, so if they have any doubts whether you can complete the thesis with them (either because they plan on retiring completely from academic life, or moving next year to a different continent), they will tell you so. We can only guess at the likelihood, but they will (hopefully) have a much clearer idea.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24439",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18228/"
] |
24,445 |
<p>I am being considered for a job in Germany (W1 junior-professorship) and I was hoping to get some insights regarding the process as I come from the US system and am unfamiliar with how things work in Germany. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>I notice that the application packages do not require inclusion of recommendation letters. In the US, the typical requirement is that the application package includes at least 3 letters. Will the schools require recommendation letters once selected for an interview or the job? Do letters or references play any significant role at all?</p></li>
<li><p>Selection: I know this should vary by case, but how many people do they tend to put on their short list? </p></li>
<li><p>Interviews: I get a feeling that the interview process is brief and a lot less tiring than the American system (for a R1: Typically a 3-day campus visit, job talk, endless meetings with professors, deans, grad students, teaching demonstration, etc, etc). What do they focus on in Germany? (I am asking this as I was invited for an interview, but I was not even asked to do a job talk or teaching demonstration) Are there typically multiple rounds of interviews? </p></li>
<li><p>Selection committee: That some European departments practically have a one-person decision making body came as a surprise when I first came to Europe. How is the case in Germany? How many people in the department are typically involved in the decision making process? </p></li>
<li><p>Final decision: How fast do they move with their final decisions? For example, the job I am considering only has about a four month gap between application deadline and position start date. This is significantly shorter than a typical US-Search where many schools begin examining applications a year before the position start date, and tells me that they should be moving fairly fast with the decision. Any inputs? </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I know these might be a lot of questions. As someone unfamiliar with the system, I am hoping to gain as much insight as possible.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24450,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have some hearsay knowledge about the hiring process for W1 positions. I will do my best to answer correctly, but maybe aeismail can chime in later - I think he is currently on such a position.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>1) I notice that the application packages do not require inclusion of recommendation letters. In the US, the typical requirement is that the application package includes at least 3 letters. Will the schools require recommendation letters once selected for an interview or the job? Do letters or references play any significant role at all?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If they did not ask, they probably don't need / want them. In central Europe, letters of recommendation are not traditionally asked for. Many institutions are now starting to ask for LoRs as they adapt more of an US system, but it is certainly not <em>that</em> uncommon that they did not want to see letters.</p>\n\n<p>As Dirk points out in the comments: instead of letters, the committee will often ask experts in your field for \"comparing reports\", however, this is not under your influence. You cannot select said experts, and you will never see the result.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>2) Selection: I know this should vary by case, but how many people do they tend to put on their short list?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As you say, it varies by case, but traditionally at least 3. Dirk states that his experience is rather \"at most 3\", often less. Let's agree on three-ish.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>3) Interviews: I get a feeling that the interview process is brief and a lot less tiring than the American system (for a R1: Typically a 3-day campus visit, job talk, endless meetings with professors, deans, grad students, teaching demonstration, etc, etc). What do they focus on in Germany? (I am asking this as I was invited for an interview, but I was not even asked to do a job talk or teaching demonstration) Are there typically multiple rounds of interviews?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This varies a lot. I have once applied for a job where they invited people for an entire week. However, a one-day campus visit with a talk, dinner, and some meetings with core faculty seems usual. Again, Dirk says: <em>\"Always a research talk, always a job interview, often a teaching demonstration, seldomly further meetings or campus tours, never a dinner.\"</em>.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>4) Selection committee: That some European departments practically have a one-person decision making body came as a surprise when I first came to Europe. How is the case in Germany? How many people in the department are typically involved in the decision making process?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Again, varies a lot. Formally, the decision is usually a committee decision, but in reality the actual power often lies with a single person (either the dean or the head of the institute / lab that the W1 professor would be assigned to).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>5) Final decision: How fast do they move with their final decisions? For example, the job I am considering only has about a four month gap between application deadline and position start date. This is significantly shorter than a typical US-Search where many schools begin examining applications a year before the position start date, and tells me that they should be moving fairly fast with the decision. Any inputs?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I have no idea. My impression was so far that the process does often not move very fast, but I am sure there are exceptions. Dirk says that one should be prepared to wait at least a few months, but I guess that is true for every committee decision.</p>\n\n<p>All that being said, I should warn you that the actual job of a W1-Professor in Germany is not very well-defined. Some are actual independent professors with their own group, own money, and own research agenda, but some are little more than glorified postdocs with very little factual independence. My instinct is that if they do not make a lot of fuss about \"your\" job during the application phase, the position you applied to may fall into the latter category. You would be well served to ask very concretely what your actual working conditions would be.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24457,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As xLeitix mentioned in his answer, I do indeed hold such a position, and have also sat in on a search committee (as a non-voting \"interested bystander\"). </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>1) I notice that the application packages do not require inclusion of recommendation letters. In the US, the typical requirement is that the application package includes at least 3 letters. Will the schools require recommendation letters once selected for an interview or the job? Do letters or references play any significant role at all?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It could go either way, depending on the preferences of the chair of the committee. In my process, my references <em>were</em> asked for recommendations; for the committee I observed, they asked \"neutral parties\" who could comment on all of the finalists.</p>\n\n<p>However, one thing is absolutely certain: your PhD advisor (or <em>Doktorvater</em> in German parlance) will <strong>never</strong> be asked to submit a letter of reference on your behalf.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>2) Selection: I know this should vary by case, but how many people do they tend to put on their short list?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Typically four to six people are put on the list of interviews, while two or three usually make the final \"ranked\" list to be asked if they are interested in the position.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>3) Interviews: I get a feeling that the interview process is brief and a lot less tiring than the American system (for a R1: Typically a 3-day campus visit, job talk, endless meetings with professors, deans, grad students, teaching demonstration, etc, etc). What do they focus on in Germany? (I am asking this as I was invited for an interview, but I was not even asked to do a job talk or teaching demonstration) Are there typically multiple rounds of interviews?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Typically, there is only a single interview, and it is indeed far briefer than a US-based job or faculty search interview. None of the interviews I've had have been longer than two hours in duration, including any teaching presentations. </p>\n\n<p>The focus in such junior positions is almost always on research, with very limited emphasis on teaching. You should plan to talk about what you've already done, and what proposed work you'd want to start. You'd also want to give some thought as to how you would recruit students (always a challenge for junior faculty in Germany).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>4) Selection committee: That some European departments practically have a one-person decision making body came as a surprise when I first came to Europe. How is the case in Germany? How many people in the department are typically involved in the decision making process?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It's not a one-person decision making process, but it's also not a very large group, either. Typically, there will be between five to nine voting members of the selection committee, including the chair, other professors, and possibly students and equal opportunity staff from the university (who can refuse to give permission for the hiring process to go forward if viable underrepresented candidates were not given due consideration). </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>5) Final decision: How fast do they move with their final decisions? For example, the job I am considering only has about a four-month gap between application deadline and position start date. This is significantly shorter than a typical US-Search where many schools begin examining applications a year before the position start date, and tells me that they should be moving fairly fast with the decision. Any inputs? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It took about six months after my interview to receive an \"offer\" from the university, which I found rather slow, but having had more experience with German academic bureaucracy, I no longer find that surprising. (I find the four-month timetable frankly overly aggressive, and would expect that the actual start date would be substantially later than their target date.) However, every university and faculty within a university has its own way of doing things, so what might take six months in one faculty might take two months in another.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 62796,
"author": "guest110011",
"author_id": 48730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/48730",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I applied for a similar position, coming from the UK. Here's my experiences to add:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>They didn't require letters of reference</li>\n<li>Interview: 1 day: presentation / teaching / research </li>\n<li>Timeline: \napplication deadline</li>\n<li>2 weeks: invitation for interview</li>\n<li>2 weeks: interview</li>\n<li>8 weeks: received offer letter</li>\n<li>8 weeks: start of employment</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24445",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11154/"
] |
24,461 |
<p>A model lesson is a usual element in interviews for the faculty level positions. Normally this is not a full lesson but a 15-minute version which is performed in absence of actual students for just a few professors from a hiring committee. It is supposed to demonstrate "your teaching style", but by design this is clearly a different enterprise: you should "act normal" doing "the same" things </p>
<ol>
<li>in a different time-frame, </li>
<li>for a different audience, </li>
<li>with completely different motivation and </li>
<li>under exorbitant cost of failure.</li>
</ol>
<p>Having said this, I also acknowledge the model lesson as indeed a much needed element of the interview, which helps to assess a candidate's set of relevant skills.</p>
<p>The question is how one can ideally prepare to give such a model lesson. Putting aside obvious things like "structure of the talk," "clear slides," "projection of the voice," and "body language", which normally should be already trained by experience, are there specific things that should be taken into account for the model lesson only? What about techniques like jokes, questions to the audience (e.g. <em>how many of you are familiar with the definition of the derivative</em>), work in pairs, which you probably use in a real classroom — is it a good idea to demonstrate them in a room full of senior professors? I am a little confused.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24462,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Having done this, I'd advise:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Take it really seriously. In places where candidates are judged equally on teaching and research, the model lesson could really make the difference. Strong researchers may neglect it, relying on their publication/citation record.</li>\n<li>Make sure you prepare for the expected audience (in my case, 1st year students), not the actual audience (academics).</li>\n<li>Feel free to use techniques you would use in a classroom, but then use \"time jumps\" to indicate that the activity has taken place. The problem with this is that if you have follow up questions, there may be no answers and the lecture may fall flat.</li>\n<li>Don't forget \"learning objectives\" and \"lecture structure\" up front, and other guidelines for students throughout (though you probably can only show one such thing).</li>\n<li>Practice more than you would practice for an actual lecture.</li>\n<li>No corny jokes. If you cannot tell whether a joke is corny, then assume it is. In fact, beware of jokes. Relying on natural humour is probably better.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25649,
"author": "Taladris",
"author_id": 15528,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15528",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I participated to this kind of interviews, as an applicant as well as a committe member. For the exemple, I will assume that you are applying to a position as a maths teacher.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>As Dave Clarke mentioned, prepare for the expected audience. If your are expected to teach to maths major in a very good institution, it is not a big problem to show off your skills by lecturing at a level <em>a little bit</em> above the expected audience's level. But avoid this if your expected audience is notoriously weak or non maths majors. I got rejected once because I was \"too good\" for the position. </li>\n<li>To prepare the lecture, you should study the curriculum of the institution you will be teaching. You usually can find it on the institution's website. It is important since it helps you to do the lecture at right level, but also helps you to connect your lecture to other topics (especially when your expected students are not maths major) studied by your future students. It will make you more comfortable for the questions that usually follow the interview.</li>\n<li>Only do things you usually do in class. An interview is definitely not the place to experiment a new teaching method. Last month, a candidate with an impressive CV failed an interview in my institution by trying to use a computer and videoprojector, thing he obviously never did before. The result was pityful. </li>\n<li>Make sure your connect the lecture to the lectures sequence of a real course. So, take time to tell what students should have studied in the previous lectures, and which problems (related to the current lecture) they will solve in future lectures. This is something you probably already do in a normal lecture, but it is especially important here since the committee wants to know if you can organize a complete course. </li>\n<li>But putting your lecture in context does not mean reviewing the (expected) previous lecture, you have no time for being off-topic. </li>\n<li>I would not prepare a joke, as if it was a stand-up comedy. But, if an opportunity to make a joke, I would take it in order to make a more decontracted atmosphere. Beside hiring the best teacher, the committee wants to hire someone who they feel comfortable to work with. To sum up, your goal is to appear as a reliable, professional, open-minded and with team spirit person. </li>\n<li>Even if I do it in class, I would not prepare any activity where the audience participates -or only a very short one-, since it takes too much time (except for a foreign language teacher interview). But I would try to interact as much as I can with the audience through questions. </li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24461",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418/"
] |
24,466 |
<p>Recently, someone analyzed <a href="http://jeffhuang.com/computer_science_professors.html" rel="noreferrer">computer science professors at top universities</a> and found that over half of the professors at the top 51 universities graduated from a top 10 university. <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/What-Are-Low-Ranked-Graduate/136823/" rel="noreferrer">Others</a> have also brought this up. From my personal observations, most schools do hire graduates from better ranked schools.</p>
<ol>
<li>Is this because of the competitive job market? <em>We have so many good applicants, we have to narrow it down some how!</em></li>
<li>Or is it simply that these schools produce the most PhDs?</li>
<li>Has this always been the case?</li>
<li>How rare are exceptions to this? I know of a few people who graduated from a top 75 school and got hired at a top 50 school. But what about bigger gaps? The top 10 schools seem to just swap graduates, do they ever hire from a 50+ ranked school?</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Update 2018:</strong> I have accepted a tenure-track position at a top 75 department at an R1 university immediately after graduating from an unranked department at an R2 university. It does happen!</p>
<p><sub>This may or may not generalize to other fields and countries.</sub></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24467,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The top ranked doctoral programs get the cream of each year's incoming graduate application pool because they can offer access to the top professors, top research libraries, and have tons of money to spend on tuition waivers, stipends, summer research money, etc. They can effectively outbid other programs and choose the people who seem to have the most promise (or are advantaged in having Famous People write for them, etc. etc.).</p>\n\n<p>Graduate students at top ranked programs don't have to spend as much time doing non-research activities such as teaching and waitressing to pay the bills as they're getting most of their living expenses covered. They instead can focus on their research and publications, resulting in a flush CV by the time they graduate.</p>\n\n<p>This leads grant agencies and hiring departments to assume that the graduating students at the top ranked programs are indeed the best of the best. They certainly have the imprimatur of the Best Programs® and Famous People® are writing them letters of support. </p>\n\n<p>This is almost certainly a flawed assumption, but when faced with 200 grant or job applications, it's a shortcut many search committees make. Ideally they should just look at the candidate's qualifications without considering the school or the Famous People® who wrote for them. </p>\n\n<p>But even if we redacted program names in applications, the very fact that having gone to a top-ranked place gives people a huge material difference/advantage in resources available while they are in the program, and this is evident in their CVs which are long with lots of publications and talks in the Right Places®.</p>\n\n<p>In a totally fair world, we'd do what google does and throw away (or at the very least redact) CVs and letters and instead interview people one by one. But try to convince a provost and a search committee to go along with that. It would take too long and cost too much.</p>\n\n<p>Interestingly, as fewer and fewer people get jobs straight out of graduate school and everyone now has to have a post-doc or visiting position, this has served as a slightly equalizing factor as hiring schools can look at performance there as a better indication of inherent ability.</p>\n\n<p><sub>Note 1: People can and do move from lower ranked to higher ranked schools, but usually they don't do it in their first job. Rather, from a low-ranked they get hired at a mid-ranked school, then through publishing and publishing and publishing, they get hired away into a top-ranked (perhaps going through one or two job hops along the way). </sub></p>\n\n<p><sub>Note 2: Top ranked universities (as well as everyone else) have overproduced so many PhDs in pretty much every field that there is market saturation. Even graduates at top-ranked programs are having trouble finding jobs -- even as adjuncts and NTT faculty. In a true market economy, the suppliers would be forced to lower production in the face of oversupply, but academia is not a market economy and having doctoral students is seen as a source of prestige for both faculty and institutions alike. Unless we can increase demand (by forcing schools to hire TT faculty instead of contingents, or other means) or reduce supply, we're all screwed but the folks graduating from mid- and lower-tier schools are screwed the most.</sub></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24468,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>People are occasionally hired by far more prestigious universities than the ones they studied at. For example, there's a tenured professor in the Princeton math department (unambiguously among the top 5 departments in the U.S.) who received his Ph.D. in 1999 from Kansas State (which wouldn't necessarily make the top 75). Where your degree is from is a negligible factor in hiring decisions compared with how outstanding your research is.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, research excellence is highly correlated with which doctoral program you attend. The top programs tend to get the students with the most talent, determination, and preparation, and they usually provide the most support for these students to succeed. Of course this is just a statistical assertion, not an absolute law. However, in mathematics in the U.S., the number of students graduating each year from rank 50-75 universities whose job applications are as impressive in research as those of the average top-5 graduate is tiny. If you're hiring based on research promise, then even the most unbiased search should lead to hiring mainly people from higher-end schools. Of course there's presumably some prejudice as well, but I don't think it's a substantial factor at research universities. (I have no first-hand experience with hiring at teaching-oriented schools. In particular, I don't know how overrepresented graduates of prestigious universities are or which factors are responsible for it.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24472,
"author": "socialsciencedoc",
"author_id": 11154,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11154",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Val Burris addressed this issue for sociology back in 2004 in the American Sociological Review and the article has now became quite a well-known piece of scholarly work within the discipline. </p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://asr.sagepub.com/content/69/2/239.short\">http://asr.sagepub.com/content/69/2/239.short</a></p>\n\n<p>He basically argues that while departmental prestige is quite loosely correlated with the scholarly productivity of its graduates, being high-prestige school graduate gives one the necessary social and network capital to be placed within the institutionalised system of prestige sustained through the accumulated and \"closed\" interlinkages between top departments. Although the bulk of his analysis examines sociology placement records, he also provides some comparative data on the hiring of history and political science faculty, and finds that the relationship is quite robust while those latter disciplines tend to reinforce status hierarchies more so than sociology. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24483,
"author": "Ryan Reich",
"author_id": 9633,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9633",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here's a numerical perspective on this. Let's take the position that students graduating from highly-ranked schools have competitive advantage against other students (i.e. they are \"better\", and will generally be hired when their applications are compared with students of less prestigious schools). Now, consider how many positions are available at each level:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Undergraduate: Typically, a college will have hundreds if not thousands of students in each year, of varying majors. In my major (math), let's say 5% of the class has it. At my school there were 1000 students graduating, so let's say 50 math majors (actually, it was more like 80).</p></li>\n<li><p>Graduate: Typically, a graduate school department will have tens of students per year. A small number of tens; at my undergraduate institution (Chicago), the corresponding graduate school has about 100 <em>total</em> students, for about 20 per year. So, with similar figures at other schools, only 0.4 of math majors can go to graduate school. Fortunately, not everyone wants to.</p></li>\n<li><p>Post-doctoral: Most math departments only have a handful of postdoc positions; let's say 10 (which is actually on the high end). So only 0.5 of graduating students can get postdocs. Of course, there are teaching jobs available at schools that don't produce PhDs, but those are \"lesser universities\".</p></li>\n<li><p>Tenure-track: In any year, any department might have three of these. Or one, or none. That means that 0.3 of postdocs will go on to a more permanent position.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>At each stage the number of people accepted to the next level is a small fraction of the total number of applicants, and so the schools can pick and choose whom they take; of course, they will take the \"best\" applicants, which (according to my conventions) will generally come from the highly-ranked universities. The alumni of just the top 10 universities are sufficient to fill all positions at all universities that are at all desirable (to researchers, that is).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24492,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Universities typically hire the best people they can. And sometimes they can be found as graduates of lesser universities.</p>\n\n<p>One of my favorite professors, who went from Yale to Ohio State, indicated how this could happen. His opinion was that a top 10 percent student at Ohio State was just as good as a top 10 percent student at Yale. So a top 10 percent student from Ohio State who applied to a high level university could be very competitive with a top 10 percent student from Yale, provided that research, letters of recommendation, and other aspects of the application were competitive. </p>\n\n<p>Where the professor saw value in a Yale degree was that an average Yale graduate would be accepted in many places that an average Ohio State graduate would not be. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24509,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Look at:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Pierre Deville et al., <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep0477\">Career on the Move: Geography, Stratification, and Scientific Impact</a>, Scientific Reports 4, Article number: 4770 (2014)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>From its abstract:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>We find that career movements are not only temporally and spatially localized, but also characterized by a high degree of stratification in institutional ranking. When cross-group movement occurs, we find that while going from elite to lower-rank institutions on average associates with modest decrease in scientific performance, transitioning into elite institutions does not result in subsequent performance gain.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Inside, there are plots quantifying transition from institutions of different rank.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26327,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another statistic: according to Wikipedia the 62 institutions of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_American_Universities\" rel=\"nofollow\">Association of American Universities</a> (AAU) issue 52% of doctoral degrees in the U.S. So, in the U.S. system, even if we discount any effect of institutional ranking, these schools should still account for half of the hiring of doctoral recipients. Of course, there is also an effect of university quality, so the AAU schools should account for more than half of hires. On the other hand, of course there are exceptional faculty who did not attend top-ranked schools. But the statistics suggest we shouldn't be surprised to find many faculty from a relatively small number of schools.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24466",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/746/"
] |
24,474 |
<p>I earned my bachelors in Computer Engineering from my home country. I am now enrolled in a Physics masters program in the same university. Next year I plan to find a different university in Europe in which to enroll in a Computer Engineering PhD program.</p>
<p>However I doubt that I'll receive any scholarships from my homeland's government when studying abroad. Can I survive if I start to live out of my own my pocket? Is that enough to live in Europe just for a half year. Are there any available funds that can supplement my income such as a TA/RA's salary?</p>
<p>My main question is:</p>
<ol>
<li>How to survive if I want to study PhD in Europe without any scholarship from my home country?</li>
<li>Which country might provide sufficient support for a foreigner to study at graduate level?</li>
</ol>
<p><em>I am interested to Germany and Finland but any European country would be acceptable!</em></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24475,
"author": "fkraiem",
"author_id": 12864,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12864",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a Ph.D. student in (continental) Europe, you are an employee of the university (or other institution), and so you earn a salary. \"Scholarships\" are only for undergraduate and Master's students. Normally, the salary will be mentioned in the job postings you apply to (<a href=\"http://lists.seas.upenn.edu/pipermail/types-announce/2014/004695.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>'s a typical one), this answers your question 1.</p>\n\n<p>As for 2, the level of funding varies between positions, depending on available funding at the insitution, etc. This is not country-dependent.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24476,
"author": "adipro",
"author_id": 10936,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10936",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In Norway, and I believe in other Scandinavian countries, a PhD student is considered as a university employee. The salary is more than enough for you to support yourself, and even your family if you have one. In the UK, a PhD studentship is usually restricted only to UK and EU nationals.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24477,
"author": "gefei",
"author_id": 9829,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9829",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I only know the situation in Germany:</p>\n\n<p>In order to get a visa, you are required to show that you can fund your PhD study. Either by scholarship, salary, or your personal means.</p>\n\n<p>Usually, at least in CS, PhD students are employees of the university. You don't sign a contract that you are going to do a PhD, instead, you sign a contract that you will work for the university, \"and you will be supported for doing a PhD\". Your salary will be more than enough to support yourself (and thus for visa regulations).</p>\n\n<p>However, it is also possible to do an external PhD. In this case you will not be an employee, rather a PhD student. What you need would be to find a professor who is willing to advise your work. In this case, you might get some scholarship from institutions like DAAD.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24478,
"author": "finitud",
"author_id": 9338,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9338",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In Spain, enrolling in the PhD programme and getting funding are two independent processes (then there might be visa issues which I do not know about). I am going to tell you about my experience a few years ago (roughly 2005-2010).</p>\n\n<p>Tuition fees for PhD are usually low, and any kind of financial support you can find will usually cover them.</p>\n\n<p>In order to receive funding, you usually need to be enrolled, or at least admitted, in a PhD program, with an advisor and a strong research proposal. The typical PhD fellowship/contract used to be around 1000 euros per month, during a maximum of 4 years. This was just enough to live in Madrid, and a decent salary in many small towns. Both salaries and flat rents have gone down in the last few years, although other costs of living have been going up, but it's a good first estimate of how much money you will need. Sadly, with the crisis, the research budgets have been slashed and it's even more difficult to find financial support than it already was.</p>\n\n<p>Cost of living can vary wildly even between Spanish cities, with Madrid and Barcelona among the most expensive, and smaller towns such as Oviedo or Granada much more affordable.</p>\n\n<p>All in all, while Spain is probably not the best bet in terms of receiving financial support for research at the moment, it does have lower costs of living than other European countries. Since I don't know where you're at the moment, I can't compare how much your money will stretch in comparison.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26626,
"author": "Kristof Tak",
"author_id": 9401,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First of all it would be extremely helpful if you could provide some information about your homeland. </p>\n\n<p>I'll give a general case of steps that you could do, and then a more specific case for Germany.</p>\n\n<p>In general there are different possibilities to get funding for studies in EU.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Your government provides scholarships for studies in certain countries</li>\n<li>The embassy/government of the country which you want to do your studies provides scholarships for foreign students</li>\n<li>Some 3rd party organization (European Union, European Council, NGO etc)</li>\n<li>The university itself has a scholarship program for foreign students</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>So basically what you will have to do, is visit the websites of the entities which I have listed above, and try to find the scholarships.</p>\n\n<p>In the case of Germany that would be</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>(This is related to your government)</li>\n<li>German Embassy in your country / DAAD</li>\n<li>Erasmus plus / Erasmus mundus / programme</li>\n<li>International office of your target univerisity</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In general, <strong>do not hesitate to contact all the stakeholders</strong> (people etc.), that could provide you useful information; Also contact the Professor of the group that you would like to work your Phd at. They always have something in their hand.</p>\n\n<p>The last and most obvious solution is getting a job. In the case of Germany as a student you are allowed to work up to 20 hours per week. If the living costs are not very expensive you can survive easily with that money. If you assume that you will be payed at least 9,5 euros per hour (this is really low), so you have the chance to go up to 13 euros per hour.</p>\n\n<p>If you earn up to 450 euros per month, you don't have to pay taxes in Germany, anything more than that is subject to taxing.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, in order to get the student visa in Germany you need to have 8000 eu in Bank upfront, or a documentation which confirms that you have the required funding to have at least 650 eu per month for living costs. 650 is the living cost calculated by the German government.</p>\n\n<p>Have a look at this sites as well:\n<a href=\"http://www.phdportal.eu/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.phdportal.eu/</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 45185,
"author": "TeleOne",
"author_id": 34332,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/34332",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Cost of living in european countries is extremely variable. E.g. being a student in Kiel, Germany, I was able to live for 500€ per month, living in comfortable single room in 2-3 rooms flat, and eating/drinking outside quite often. A friend of mine is doing her phd in Oulu, Finland. A salary is about 4 times higher, but it is all wasted for living costs. Every country has their own rules for medical insurance and taxes and so on, in some countries it can be very expensive.<br><br>\nMy way would be seeking for a funded position, and based on contract decide whether you can live there for such money or not. \nI would not recommend Spain for finding a position because you will get into troubles for getting work permit as you are not EU citizen. \nAlso, according to my own experience, EU countries usually give very limited work permits for PhD students, so funding your studies from other work in EU might be really an issue. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24474",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18263/"
] |
24,487 |
<p>I am writing a master thesis. When must I cite a resource I used ? Most of the time, I read a definition in a given book and express it in my own words: must I mention the book in question for this particular case ?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24488,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If you recall a definition which may be unknown to your users, it is always a good idea to refer to a book/article from which the notion originates. Do this even (actually, especially) if you choose to rephrase the definition in your own words. Remember, references are important to navigate your readers and put your work in a context. Definitions are no exception.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25909,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This requires judgment. You do not generally need to cite things which are considered common or general knowledge.</p>\n\n<p>Example 1: If you are mentioning Brownian motion that you observed in particles on a petri dish, you might not have to cite Brown's original 1828 paper, but if you are discussing the motion of black holes due to macro scale Brownian forces you might want to cite the relevant recent literature.</p>\n\n<p>Example 2: In the social sciences, there are various lineages of even basic concepts such as \"resistance.\" In these cases, it's good to note which intellectual thread you're following.</p>\n\n<p>TL;DR: If you are writing your thesis, you generally want to err on the side of having too many citations rather than too few. It prevents faculty from scribbling \"where the hell did you get this from\" in the margins.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24487",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
24,490 |
<p>Quite too many times I have read in a research article claiming that the source code will be made available, and, when I look for it, it turns out that the source code still hasn't been released.</p>
<p>Are there any journals or conferences that take into account the availability of the source code when selecting the papers to publish? By availability I mean present availability, not some vague promise of code release sometime in the future somewhere on Internet.</p>
<p>Now code availability is one thing, clarity is another. I have seen a lot of emphasis on the papers' clarity in the paper selection criteria, do some publication venues pay attention to code clarity during the paper selection process?</p>
<p>Obviously, I have the same issue with datasets, so I am wondering the same for them, i.e. are there any journals or conferences that take into account the availability of the <em>dataset(s)</em> when selecting the papers to publish?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24491,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can confirm the answer given by <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15151/amlrg\">amlrg</a> in comments. I have recently published a paper in <a href=\"http://www.journals.elsevier.com/computer-physics-communications/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Computer Physics Communications</a> and the referees pay significant attention to the code. There was no requirement, however, to upload the code as Supplementary Material with the paper — the referees were happy to consider our public github repository. It was probably the first time in my practice when referees have actually bother themselves to reproduce the results claimed. We had a number of comments regarding the clarity of the run files in the code (but not in the rest of it), and even a suggestion on design. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24513,
"author": "Benoît Kloeckner",
"author_id": 946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There exist at least one journal, <a href=\"http://www.ipol.im/\">Ipol</a>, where it is mandatory to provide the source-code related to the paper. In fact, they raise the bar much higher: the authors must implement the code in a given language, so that the algorithm is available for experimentation on line. You can actually test and try the algorithms of all published papers right now, in a few clicks.</p>\n\n<p>It is a specialized journal in image processing, but it could (should) inspire other fields to do the same.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24490",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452/"
] |
24,493 |
<p>In the My Library of Google Scholar, is there a way to export all of the citations, whether to BibTex or something similar?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24497,
"author": "Michael",
"author_id": 18224,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18224",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As far as I know Google does not offer a user interface to do that. Actually they still do not offer an API to interact with your results. </p>\n\n<p>However, if you can handle code a little or you know someone who does, I found <a href=\"http://www.icir.org/christian/scholar.html\">this</a>. </p>\n\n<p>As they say, you: Can extract publication title, main online URL, number of citations, number of online versions, link to Google Scholar's main cluster for the work, and Google Scholar's cluster of all works referencing the publication.</p>\n\n<p>Since you have this information you can write another script that puts what you need into BibTex.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34975,
"author": "Aubrey",
"author_id": 26682,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26682",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can only add that you can download citations <em>one by one</em>:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>in <strong>Settings > Bibliography Manager</strong>, check <em>Show link to import citation into BibTex</em>. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>With that, you can probably write a script (maybe using Scholar.py) that downloads all your citations. \nAn example URL is:</p>\n\n<pre><code>http://scholar.google.com/scholar.bib?scila=u_35RYKgDlwC&output=citation&hl=en&ct=citation&cd=1\n</code></pre>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 76184,
"author": "Adam_G",
"author_id": 14370,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14370",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As of August 31, 2016, this functionality has been added! See this blog post: <a href=\"https://googlescholar.blogspot.com/2016/08/organizing-your-scholar-library.html\">https://googlescholar.blogspot.com/2016/08/organizing-your-scholar-library.html</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 94599,
"author": "Fuhrmanator",
"author_id": 3859,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3859",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I couldn't find a way to export <em>all</em> citations from <strong>My Library</strong> (it seems to only work one page at a time), but it's possible to save all citations from the edit mode of <strong>My Citations</strong>:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Log in to <a href=\"https://scholar.google.ca\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://scholar.google.ca</a> </li>\n<li>Click <a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/0tUZT.png\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/0tUZT.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></a>My Citations</li>\n<li>Click the leftmost checkbox on the bar at the top of the list of citations:\n<a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/nIwUK.png\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/nIwUK.png\" alt=\"Google Scholar citations menu bar\"></a></li>\n<li>Click <strong>Export > BibTeX</strong> and choose <strong>Export all my articles</strong> then <strong>Export</strong>\n<a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/tYroR.png\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/tYroR.png\" alt=\"Google Scholar export pop-up window\"></a></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>You should get a browser window with the BibTeX file of your citations that you can \"Save as...\" or copy/paste to a text editor and save.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 110254,
"author": "flashton",
"author_id": 82945,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82945",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can use the <a href=\"https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/scholar/index.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">scholar</a> R package. I copied this answer from this <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Protohedgehog/status/999023873235537920?s=09\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">tweet</a>, in R</p>\n<pre><code>install.packages("scholar")\nlibrary(scholar)\n\nID <- "Put your id from pic below in here"\npubs <- get_publications(ID)\nwrite.csv(pubs, file="citations.csv")\n</code></pre>\n<p>There may be another package which allows you to write out bibtex.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/OmZag.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/OmZag.jpg\" alt=\"enter image description here\" /></a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 132173,
"author": "Levent Sagun",
"author_id": 110039,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/110039",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><a href=\"https://github.com/leventsagun/scholar-bib-scraper\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Here</a> is a little python script that emulates the copy paste of bib entries of all references in <strong>My Library</strong> and appends them to a file. </p>\n\n<p>It utilizes <a href=\"https://selenium-python.readthedocs.io/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Selenium</a> and <a href=\"http://chromedriver.chromium.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">chromedriver</a> to open and navigate the browser. Initial run requires manual login. Then it goes to <strong>My Library</strong>, selects all, clicks on bibtex export, copies and appends the bibtex entries to a file, and goes to the next page until it crashes. </p>\n\n<p>This way, I was able to automatically export all bibtex entries of the starred articles in my account on Google Scholar. Note that the code is far from being clean, many things are hard coded. But it got the job done for me when I needed a solution rather quickly, but there is huge room for improvement!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 147115,
"author": "Illia",
"author_id": 10624,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10624",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Disclosure: I work at SerpApi.</strong></p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>You can use <a href=\"https://pypi.org/project/google-search-results\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><code>google-search-results</code></a> package to extract data from Google Scholar citations. <a href=\"https://repl.it/@ilyazub/MinorBelovedApplication\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Check a demo at Repl.it</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<pre><code>from serpapi.google_search_results import GoogleSearchResults\nfrom more_itertools import first_true\n\nclient = GoogleSearchResults({\n \"engine\": \"google_scholar\",\n \"q\": \"coffee\",\n})\n\ndata = client.get_dict()\n\nprint(\"Links\")\n\nfor result in data['organic_results']:\n client = GoogleSearchResults({\n \"api_key\":\n \"demo\",\n \"engine\":\n \"google_scholar_cite\",\n \"q\":\n result[\"result_id\"],\n })\n\n data = client.get_dict()\n\n link = first_true(data['links'], lambda link: link['name'] == 'BibTex',\n None)\n\n print(f\"\"\"\n Name: {link['name']}\n Link: {link['link']}\"\"\")\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Output</p>\n\n<pre><code>Links\n\n Name: BibTeX\n Link: https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.bib?q=info:re9ssrU-exUJ:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgUgMydbGAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSezaQALOlFVjCLJgcTVUPBVLhAC4P_&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSezSdi7qdJVVpppb0Qjy9URFYAVvDb&scisf=4&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\n\n Name: BibTeX\n Link: https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.bib?q=info:9WouRiFbIK4J:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgXJdXzTGAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSe_tPBybZ8u8VTSEOl_bwnW6MesS32&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSe_q2vGhtlDC1qD-MUihajS43pIwqJ&scisf=4&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\n\n Name: BibTeX\n Link: https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.bib?q=info:xY3q9qnkN54J:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgXhmeGHGAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSe_zIPHELNrzNBJx7LANjv2IOpiu0c&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSe_98jnDbvzh1pjf3N-yQyeXjJ2Ymt&scisf=4&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\n\n Name: BibTeX\n Link: https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.bib?q=info:fGeQlvu-2_IJ:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgXtSK1OGAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfAWesoBxkblC33sy6Mwvap1ZhRO4s&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfAZCH98TGUSWB69hUOtQPECUPTBby&scisf=4&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\n\n Name: BibTeX\n Link: https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.bib?q=info:Zu7aKNjvAUwJ:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgXIa_eGGAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfArPmBDyaM3SUXrjLBzYMWDMRXpUv&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfAsZ2ayvj7ugoRdygul9ot981uovl&scisf=4&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\n\n Name: BibTeX\n Link: https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.bib?q=info:pIjQPO7__AYJ:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgVPosX6GAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfAzmhcfCJHuCELZ7mYASR3OXkOtGR&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfA1gD689aqgRLYIrefzXFAp-b3ohf&scisf=4&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\n\n Name: BibTeX\n Link: https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.bib?q=info:UwtLySK5iawJ:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgXEOW-BGAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfBUlA7r5lA5aL2yNPviXWq9UMobDz&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfBU6nawZyrVvngRnT_fg9jVsm9aZi&scisf=4&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\n\n Name: BibTeX\n Link: https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.bib?q=info:fSVlrXX7dIUJ:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgVO0I1QGAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfDLa1ZyBpvtn9R7iHWhtZPp1_5Rdq&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfDEISqsJV_AFPyBcG5RtNOL1rBZsC&scisf=4&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\n\n Name: BibTeX\n Link: https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.bib?q=info:_3o-xhuGyg0J:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgUsJS1HGAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfDlzXSDxT7NaRePw8LQN5H6FAKj2l&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfDoaKmhM3yJGzMycKG9po8hpOwgQh&scisf=4&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\n\n Name: BibTeX\n Link: https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.bib?q=info:VJySkcFsQ1EJ:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgVZmmy9GAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfD1o5xq89bx4YdTidC0oBncMAiLHs&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSfD0LnTMh68lgySxXBcmf0hrJp8bTz&scisf=4&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>JSON Response</p>\n\n\n\n<pre><code>{\n \"citations\": [\n {\n \"title\": \"MLA\",\n \"snippet\": \"Farah, Adriana, and Carmen Marino Donangelo. \\\"Phenolic compounds in coffee.\\\" Brazilian journal of plant physiology 18.1 (2006): 23-36.\"\n },\n {\n \"title\": \"APA\",\n \"snippet\": \"Farah, A., & Donangelo, C. M. (2006). Phenolic compounds in coffee. Brazilian journal of plant physiology, 18(1), 23-36.\"\n },\n {\n \"title\": \"Chicago\",\n \"snippet\": \"Farah, Adriana, and Carmen Marino Donangelo. \\\"Phenolic compounds in coffee.\\\" Brazilian journal of plant physiology 18, no. 1 (2006): 23-36.\"\n },\n {\n \"title\": \"Harvard\",\n \"snippet\": \"Farah, A. and Donangelo, C.M., 2006. Phenolic compounds in coffee. Brazilian journal of plant physiology, 18(1), pp.23-36.\"\n },\n {\n \"title\": \"Vancouver\",\n \"snippet\": \"Farah A, Donangelo CM. Phenolic compounds in coffee. Brazilian journal of plant physiology. 2006 Mar;18(1):23-36.\"\n }\n ],\n \"links\": [\n {\n \"name\": \"BibTeX\",\n \"link\": \"https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.bib?q=info:re9ssrU-exUJ:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgUgMydbGAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSezaQALOlFVjCLJgcTVUPBVLhAC4P_&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSezSdi7qdJVVpppb0Qjy9URFYAVvDb&scisf=4&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\"\n },\n {\n \"name\": \"EndNote\",\n \"link\": \"https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.enw?q=info:re9ssrU-exUJ:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgUgMydbGAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSezaQALOlFVjCLJgcTVUPBVLhAC4P_&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSezSdi7qdJVVpppb0Qjy9URFYAVvDb&scisf=3&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\"\n },\n {\n \"name\": \"RefMan\",\n \"link\": \"https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.ris?q=info:re9ssrU-exUJ:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgUgMydbGAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSezaQALOlFVjCLJgcTVUPBVLhAC4P_&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSezSdi7qdJVVpppb0Qjy9URFYAVvDb&scisf=2&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\"\n },\n {\n \"name\": \"RefWorks\",\n \"link\": \"https://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar.rfw?q=info:re9ssrU-exUJ:scholar.google.com/&output=citation&scisdr=CgUgMydbGAA:AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSezaQALOlFVjCLJgcTVUPBVLhAC4P_&scisig=AAGBfm0AAAAAXoSezSdi7qdJVVpppb0Qjy9URFYAVvDb&scisf=1&ct=citation&cd=-1&hl=en\"\n }\n ]\n}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>If you want more information, check out <a href=\"https://serpapi.com/google-scholar-cite-api\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">SerpApi documentation</a> or <a href=\"https://serpapi.com/playground?engine=google_scholar_cite&q=FDc6HiktlqEJ\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">live playground</a>.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/809Q2.png\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/809Q2.png\" alt=\"SerpApi playground\"></a></p>\n\n<hr>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24493",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14370/"
] |
24,495 |
<p>For a paper with coauthors, what should I do if one coauthor, who I feel has contributed the most among my coauthors, declined to be listed as a coauthor and wished only to be acknowledged in the acknowledgements? The reason he gave for declining was that he did not think he has contributed significantly. The other coauthors knew this, but didn't say anything.</p>
<p>This happened once in the past, and at that time I did as requested by the coauthor, i.e. I removed his name from the list of authors and acknowledged him instead. The other coauthors still had their names as authors of the paper. I felt uneasy about it because I didn't think that it was right. I mean, if my second author did not think that he had contributed enough, why should the third and fourth authors stay? Of course the reader wouldn't know this, but I knew, and my third and fourth authors knew.</p>
<p>Now I am facing the same situation again. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24496,
"author": "Peteris",
"author_id": 10730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10730",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>Publish without him or not at all</h2>\n\n<p>Regardless of reasons, you don't have much of a choice - you can publish it as you did the previous time, simply acknowledging him, or not publish the paper at all.</p>\n\n<p>If you can't get his permission, then you can't sign his name under this paper.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24504,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have previously asserted that a co-author has the right not to be recognized as a co-author, if that is her preference. If she is amenable to publication (as would appear to be the case here), then you may proceed with publication. (If not, then you would need to remove her contributions entirely, and then see if the paper is still salvageable in that form.)</p>\n\n<p>However, you should make sure you have a <em>written</em> documentation of the coauthor's declining of credit. You should also make sure that you have explained <em>clearly</em> why you feel she should be co-author; perhaps you can include a list of the contributions of the other co-authors.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24524,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>That happened with me, and my father (the retired civil engineering professor), when I published this <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0471584150\" rel=\"nofollow\">book.</a></p>\n\n<p>He actually did a lot of technical work and editing, but disagreed with its views. So I published \"solo\" and listed him in the acknowledgements.</p>\n\n<p>Someone once said that \"consideration\" is really doing what the other person wants you to do. So if the second author declines you be listed, that's what you must do, legally and morally.</p>\n\n<p>The fact that there were third and fourth authors involved in your case has \"nothing\" to do with it.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24495",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10936/"
] |
24,498 |
<p>I intend to include my computational model code(s) in its entirety as an appendix in my dissertation. I've gone through my university's formatting guidelines and haven't seen anything on the proper way to format the code in terms of size of font, text-wrapping, spacing, and so forth. What's the best way to do this?</p>
<p>When I read code, while I'd want it to be a typical font size (12 pt), I'd also want the text-wrapping to be minimal, but given the traditional margin requirements, it can be pretty tough to accomplish this. Having code trail off one line and onto the next is generally distracting.</p>
<p>Also, although comments in code are prevented from execution by using a character sequence like %or // or (* many compilers color-code this text to make it more easily distinguishable from executable portions of the code. Is there any way to easily make comments distinguishable when putting the code into the text of your thesis/dissertation?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24578,
"author": "rfulop",
"author_id": 18362,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18362",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would suggest a monospaced font, because that is the traditional method of displaying code. As a matter of putting all of your code into the appendix, I don't see why. Snippets of the relevant parts would be all you need. If you still feel the urge to include the full code, I would suggest referencing a link to the code through a Github repository instead of all of your code.</p>\n\n<p>In addition, ask your advisor who the audience is. Do they have a background in programming? That would be the question to ask. If not, summarize the code, and walk the reader through the logical process of the code. Perhaps a flowchart would be useful.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25902,
"author": "mmdanziger",
"author_id": 6074,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6074",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you aren't required to do it in a particular format, I'd recommend publishing the code online and using a nice LaTeX code formatting package for the parts you want to share in the print version. My personal favorite is <code>minted</code> . Very easy to use, beautiful formatting and coloring and no need to copy and paste anything, just use the <code>\\inputminted</code> command.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25904,
"author": "robert bristow-johnson",
"author_id": 13651,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13651",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>the best way to <em>display</em> the salient code of the key points of your algorithm is to <em>write</em> good code.</p>\n\n<p><strong>“Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.”</strong> -<a href=\"http://martinfowler.com/books/refactoring.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Martin Fowler, <em>Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code</em></a> </p>\n\n<p>the code itself should be readable with meaningful choice for variable names, sufficiently divided into meaningful functions or subroutines, and with a minimum of arguments passed around. this means writing decent object-oriented or structured code and <strong>making</strong> objects or structures and using them.</p>\n\n<p>i would split the code up into modules with a good comment on the top of the file describing what the callable functions do and who calls them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25933,
"author": "Jerric Lyns John",
"author_id": 19576,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19576",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The standard is to use <strong>10 point courier</strong> font for computer code, <strong><a href=\"http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Source_Code_Listings\" rel=\"nofollow\">monospaced, single column</a></strong>.</p>\n\n<p>You do not have to turn in all code used in your experiment; use your best judgement. You may want to include only relevant sections of code.</p>\n\n<p><strong>EDIT</strong>\nUsage of Courier is of my personal choice from the <a href=\"http://engineering.cmu.edu/files/documents/graduate_students/policies/UMI_PreparingYourManuscriptGuide.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">list of standard 10pt</a> fonts usable for codes.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25940,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Monospaced with syntax coloring and an appropriate description, see e.g.</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/sNrp5.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p>from Appendix B of <a href=\"http://arxiv.org/abs/1407.2432\" rel=\"noreferrer\">arXiv:1407.2432</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 37713,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are a number of excellent LaTeX packages for typesetting code, made for just such occasions. The <a href=\"http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Source_Code_Listings\">listings package</a> is one good example, which includes standardized formatting for a number of languages. </p>\n\n<p>It does not provide a \"definitive\" way to typeset code (there is no such, since there are a number of competing conventions) but its defaults provide a standard and well-recognized formatting that is entirely appropriate for academic publications. Furthermore, it can be customized to follow any unusual requirements of your institutions thesis format.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 38014,
"author": "Cimbali",
"author_id": 24456,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24456",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would argue that there are no real style guidelines, except maybe (the only one I've ever been given) not to drown your audience in lines of code, thus use excerpts and pseudo-code whenever possible.</p>\n<p>However, to still put your code full-length on paper, you pretty much should have it readable on-screen already. You might have a little refactoring to do, if you expect people to actually read it.</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fixed font size are traditional in source code, which is due <a href=\"http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/fog0000000249.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">according to Joel Spolsky</a> to it being easier to edit (say click on a specific letter) and to distinguish typos (e.g. rn/m vs <code>rn</code>/<code>m</code>) than when using a variable spaced fonts</li>\n<li>A fixed width so you never scroll horizontally while your code is on screen. This, with a correct font size, will take care of line wrapping when on paper.</li>\n<li>Modular code, so people know where (in which file, for example) they are : similarly to opening the interesting file, you want readers to be able to skip the pages of configuration, I/O and whatnot, to find wherever the core of your code is.</li>\n<li>Be consistent, as you already noted, in all conventions: naming, indentation, comments...</li>\n<li>include syntax Highlighting (maybe even colouring ?)</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Your main options (most popular on a subjective scale of googleability) to achieve the latter are</p>\n<ul>\n<li>in LaTeX, use a listing (with a <a href=\"http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Source_Code_Listings#Supported_languages\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">language that it understands</a>, hopefully). You can even input code from a file directly <code> \\includecode[asm]{sched.s}</code></li>\n<li>in LaTeX, use the <a href=\"https://github.com/gpoore/minted\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">minted</a> package, an alternative whose code highlighting is done with <a href=\"http://pygments.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Pygments</a></li>\n<li>in MS Word, insert code in an embedded document as <a href=\"https://stackoverflow.com/a/2653406/1387346\">an "openDocument Text" object</a>, copying your code from your usual IDE</li>\n<li>in any WYSIWYG on Windows, <a href=\"https://stackoverflow.com/a/4513646/1387346\">use the NppExport plugin of Notepad++</a> to export your code, and then copy it into your document as RTF or HTML.</li>\n<li>With any python interpreter, use <a href=\"http://pygments.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Pygments</a>, e.g. :<br />\n<code>pygmentize -f html main.c > main.c.html</code></li>\n</ul>\n<hr />\n<p>The only guidelines I could find in the wild were on <a href=\"http://carmaux.cs.gsu.edu/%7Emweeks/project.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">this random project report page</a>, of rather small scale (4-6 pages), and they are rather succinct :</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Format: Use [...] 11 point times font for the main text, and use 10 point courier font for computer code. [...]</p>\n<p>Yes, your code should be in the appendix, monospaced, single column. You do not have to turn in all code used in your experiment; use your best judgement. You may want to include only relevent sections of code. For example, you should not include code that someone else wrote, unless you made major modifications. If your code is 100 pages, you should not print all of it. If your code is 6 pages, then you should print all of it.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24498",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15399/"
] |
24,499 |
<p>The <a href="http://www.i-society.eu/Important%20Dates.html" rel="nofollow">i-Society conference</a> calls for Research Papers, Student Papers, and Case Studies.</p>
<p>What is the difference between a "research paper" and a "student paper"?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24502,
"author": "stay_frosty",
"author_id": 18052,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18052",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I believe that the difference would be in the scope, length and research significance of the paper, basically significant pieces of research compared to smaller pieces of research.\nAlso research in progress could be submitted as a student paper in some circumstances.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25878,
"author": "Dennis",
"author_id": 17284,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17284",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A research paper is original work and could be written by anyone with the background. A student paper is a research paper written exclusively by student(s). The reality is that faculty will be involved in some way, even if it is only running the research program which made the work possible. In reality, the faculty will be more involved than that: discussing, reading and suggesting. But that's part of the job, in my opinion. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24499",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14688/"
] |
24,514 |
<p>When reviewing a manuscript describing a new software tool, reviewers are often asked to assess its utility, quality, novelty, ... </p>
<p>I was wondering if, in addition to the classic comments on the manuscript, it was appropriate to make suggestion to improve the software functionality in itself (if the code is provided with the manuscript)? </p>
<p>This would be in the case of a software that is not good enough for publication (basically it does not do enough), and for which small additions will make it better. The comment on the code would therefore not be related to the coding "grammar" but ratter to improve the software tool usability for the final user. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24518,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would suggest <strong>not</strong> to comment on code, unless:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The code is broken in some way, such that it does not perform what it is supposed to do (e.g., a bug in code changes a critical algorithm)</li>\n<li>The program itself is unstable due to deep-rooted code smell</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Commenting on code in a review seems to me akin to commenting on someone's mastery of a given language in a review. If their usage of the language is so poor as to make the paper unreadable, then you can suggest they use a proofreader or translator. However, in most cases, it doesn't affect the paper, it just makes it harder to understand. With code, it may not get them past a <code><insert hi-tech company here></code> interview, but if it works as advertised, it's good enough.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24519,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my opinion, if the authors emphasise the developed code as one of their research outputs, and make it public, the reviewers not only can, but should consider it as a material for review, and comment on it. There is a delicate balance, though, to strike.</p>\n\n<p>It is important to check that the code does what is promised in a paper (<i>sanity check</i>). More importantly, it is essential to check if a typical reader of the journal can do the same, and can benefit from the code made public. This includes basic documentation, compile instructions (if any), well-written run-files for each of the examples from the paper, and clear guidelines how to adjust them for other problems.</p>\n\n<p>On the other side, remember that not all academic researchers are necessarily as brilliant in code-dev, as the guys who read Stack Overflow. It may be not appropriate to request that the code is developed and maintained to the highest standards of the modern IT community.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24514",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/481/"
] |
24,522 |
<p>After finishing my PhD in Computer Science (machine learning) and after several years as a university lecturer, I decided to transition from academia to industry. As a result of that, I have been working one year for a company, doing applied research.</p>
<p>In my latest performance review, my supervisor pointed out that my only negative point was that I still had an academic mindset towards research, and that I should be able to get better at what he called "risk analysis". He defined risk analysis as the skill of assessing in advance the potential benefits/drawbacks for the company of a given method/technique/algorithm. The aim of that is to be able to rapidly discard methods that are supposed to not solve the company's problems without having to waste too much time on implementing them.</p>
<p>I was wondering whether any learning resource exists (book, online course/resources) that may help me to acquire such a skill. More generally, any recommended reading about computer science research in industry would be much appreciated. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24525,
"author": "greenfingers",
"author_id": 15184,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15184",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here are some links for you</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2009/12/23/academia-vs-industry-an-update/\" rel=\"nofollow\">this blog</a></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=risk%20analysis%20-marketing%20-market&rh=n%3A266239%2Ck%3Arisk%20analysis%20-marketing%20-market\" rel=\"nofollow\">books from Amazon</a></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_nr_n_4?rh=n%3A266239%2Cn%3A71%2Ck%3Arisk%20assessment%20-marketing%20-market%20-fire&keywords=risk%20assessment%20-marketing%20-market%20-fire&ie=UTF8&qid=1404830490&rnid=1025612\" rel=\"nofollow\">more books from Amazon</a></p>\n\n<p>I am not interested in risk assessment but if I was, would sort the books by customer review, would see what the people who read them think, if possible would look inside the book.</p>\n\n<p>Have to say though that I find strange you didn't do it yourself before posting the question.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 133635,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a researcher in industry, let me first emphasize to you that \"industry\" is a much broader set of organizations and varies a lot more than most people realize. Thus, the answer to your question may depend quite a bit on the specifics of the company that you are at.</p>\n\n<p>That said, however, in most cases a key animating idea for researchers in industry is a notion that often goes by a name like \"customer focus\": i.e., who will care about the results of this investigation?</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes this is pretty straightforward (e.g., \"if widget-making is 5% more efficient, then profit margins on widgets go up), but in other cases the relation is much more abstract or indirect (e.g., some prior work I did on potential programming languages for quantum computers that don't currently exist, but where the funder wanted to see how thinking about this might affect their goals for other research projects). </p>\n\n<p>In all cases, however, you always have to be aware that somebody is paying the funds to support your salary and the salaries of your team, and they are giving you that money because they want some benefit to come from your research. This is true in academia as well, but professors are typically more insulated from it because their salaries are generally mostly supported by teaching---and even graduate students can be supported by TAships. If you're being paid to teach and expected to do research on the side, then it doesn't really matter what you're researching in the short term---but you will have more impact if you work on more important problems.</p>\n\n<p>So, to the heart your question: how do you actually go about doing that?</p>\n\n<p>I recommend starting by trying to be aware that at all times there is a \"frontier\" of research problems that you could be working on. Whenever you do a piece of work, you are choosing to prioritize one piece of that frontier over others. Notice this fact and ask yourself questions like:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Why did I choose this problem over those other ones?</li>\n<li>How will solving this problem affect the other problems on my frontier?</li>\n<li>Who else cares about the solution to this problem?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>There can be lots of reasonable answers to these questions, but starting to ask them can be extremely helping in moving to a more conscious evaluation of your research choices and whether they're actually moving you in the direction that you want to go in your career.</p>\n\n<p>For more thoughts and suggestions along these lines, I would recommend the following resources:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">\"You and Your Research\" by Richard Hamming</a>, a long-time industrial researcher at Bell Labs.</li>\n<li>My own talk on <a href=\"https://jakebeal.blogspot.com/2016/10/surviving-life-as-researcher-video.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">\"Surviving Life as a Researcher\"</a></li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24522",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18305/"
] |
24,526 |
<p>My professor of Computer Science has a company (both based in Germany) that promotes an open-source software. Of course the software is free and open-source, but his company generates profits through support, training, etc. and they have a server-version of the software which is commercial and very expensive. The software is very modular, and the area of the software's specialty is growing quickly. So the company needs to implement a lot of modules for it. Each module is a separate algorithm. So what my professor is doing is basically the following:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Master students come to him asking for master thesis. </p></li>
<li><p>He assigns them to build algorithmic modules for the open-source software.</p></li>
<li><p>The student gets well trained in the software because of that.</p></li>
<li><p>The professor later offers the student to work in his company since he is now highly proficient in the software.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Of course the student gains substantial knowledge, so there is no problem in that aspect. <em>However,<br>
is it ethical that he is growing his commercial business using his professorship position?</em></p>
<p><strong>Addendum:</strong></p>
<hr>
<p>My problem is that I believe he is assigning the thesis topics based on what his company needs, not based on what is good for research. I personally believe that professors are given those chairs to advance research. If they are concerned about money, then there is a place called "industry" to make money. I'm not saying that it's wrong to get money by working in academia, rather, what I'm saying that working in academia means doing everything for the sake of improving academia and research, not for other agendas. </p>
<p>In response to the argument "He didn't force it, so just pick a different advisor". Well my problem is that he is the professor that does the research in the field that I like. Other professors all work on different fields. So I might be interested in working on state of the art research or so in his area, but rather he would offer me a topic suitable for his company, then he says I only have these thesis topics. If I didn't like them because I don't like the area of topics that his company needs, then I would be left without any interesting topics. That would be unfair to me, since all other professors work on different fields. So if his focus wasn't promoting the software of his company, then he might find better topics that promote research and science. This is one of my problems with him.</p>
<p>Masters students fund themselves during their studies in Germany, so we get no funding at all. The problem is that when you do your master project and master thesis in our university, there is no predefined deadline for it. This is because it is assumed that you don't know what you want to do for your thesis. You go to the professor and he gives you a topic to work on. But he never tells you what your contribution is or anything else. So basically you have to do "research" to find contributions, i.e. you need to contribute to the state-of-the-art in this topic somehow. Basically you spend almost 5 months just reading papers to find out finally what you want to do. Now because of this, then you can't put a deadline for the thesis, since you don't know what to do! Once you know what to do, then you go and register your thesis and you then get a 6-month deadline, which you use 2 months to write the thesis and then submit. But you never register until you know what you want to do, otherwise it is very risky because you might fail the thesis defense! I don't want to make this much longer, but because of this procedure then professors are taking advantage of the students. So suppose that you go to this professor, then he will keep you working by saying (this is not enough yet for the thesis, we want to program algorithm X and Y as well). In this case the student is working on building this professor's company modules AND <em>personally</em> funding himself. Of course if the professor never says that this is enough, you will keep working... and working... and spending money on rent and so on...</p>
<p>I'm not doing my thesis at this professor's chair. Actually one of my friends did his thesis there and he finished much faster than me. I personally believe he was given a detailed plan to what to do so that is why he finished faster. He even did his master project there and I think it is the same topic/project. I spent nine months in another chair just for doing my master project, then switched to another chair for doing my thesis. It has been eleven months just working on my thesis and will soon finish the writing portion. So it took me almost two years just for working on my project and thesis and I didn't include the time for courses! Actually one of my friends because of this problem finished his masters in almost four years! I personally feel that I completed a PhD program not a masters! I actually can think about original research contributions because of the way I did my masters, but I doubt the students who do their thesis/projects at that professors will learn the same <em>research mentality</em> that I have now. But at the same time, it is good that they finished earlier than I did, because I'm from a poor country and I have been funding myself the entire time in a very expensive city. Sometimes I regret doing this master, because it really drained me. Every time I meet people and tell them that it is taking me this long to finish my master, I get very embarrassed. I also fear that because of taking this long, my chances will be lower when trying to find a job, because they will see that it took me so much time to finish the masters program. They will never understand that the system in our university for the masters is somehow different from others! So I probably think that doing a thesis at that professor's chair is a good idea to at least escape the misery that I went through!</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24528,
"author": "emcor",
"author_id": 18228,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18228",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the thesis is on an academic topic, and the student later agrees to work at a company, there is nothing wrong with that.</p>\n\n<p>But the professor must not exert pressure on the student for example that the thesis grade would depend on accepting a work contract, and if some of the work is not directly related to the thesis it should be compensated like normal work. It appears that here the student works out a thesis based on an industry-topic, and later decides where to work. The fact that the professor who assigns the topic also owns a company has no direct ethical consequences as such, because the student is free to choose from any possible company or supervisor out there.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24531,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In many countries, universities are allowed to have spin-off companies. Many of them are run by successful professors. In contrast to the universities, all companies' purpose is to make money and not work simply to promote knowledge and science. In that regard, your professor has done nothing wrong or (most importantly) illegal. He is using his unquestionable know-how to make a successful company and more money for himself. But along with him, several good students get the opportunity to be hired on a promising job, once they finish their studies. And this is not only good for the professor, but it is also good for the university, the students and the country's economy in general. In that sense, you should stop seeing the whole thing as a corporate conspiracy. </p>\n\n<p>The fact that science sometimes provides exceptionally good consumer products (from TVs to mobile phones and electric lamps) should not be considered evil in itself. Yes, many times companies use technological advances for evil purposes but providing support and extending open-source CS projects, is surely not one of those cases. The only questionable thing your professor might have done, is if he has used his students as free workforce (without any compensation), during the master's thesis when they were working on extending his product. But even then, this is sometimes how internships work on many companies. </p>\n\n<p>So, I would not worry too much. Having a spin-off is not really an ethical issue, nor does it make your professor a horrible person. Of course you have the right to disagree with this practice and avoid participating in his business endeavors. So, finish your studies, minimizing contact with this professor and do things differently the way you see ethical and fit when you enter the job market.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24532,
"author": "avgvstvs",
"author_id": 13822,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13822",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm with Marc. There's no issue at all here... In fact, under this arrangement, he needs not worry about securing public grant funding which means he's more free to do <strong><em>any kind of research work he wants...</em></strong> which can certainly filter back to you.</p>\n\n<p>You might even be able to strike up an arrangement where you'll do work for him and you can use his lab for whatever research topic you want... There are multiple ways to look at this, and to me, all of them are positive. The community gets source, the public doesn't have to fund his research (though he probably still has students write grants for new ideas), for-profit businesses pay for top-tier service.</p>\n\n<p>Let's not also forget, that in the non-academic world, practical experience is valued more than your education (especially in the USA). Your time working in the professor's company while at the same time getting BOTH thesis research AND \"real-world\" experience puts you in a much better position come graduation than peers who go the traditional route.</p>\n\n<p>I'd be more inclined to hire someone who has dealt with source-code management + a good thesis ahead of someone who only had a superb thesis topic. (The more things you can be measured with, the better for you.) </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24533,
"author": "h22",
"author_id": 10920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10920",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Spin-offs normally are not allowed to stay inside the university forever, they move away and become independent companies. Staying permanently in a state-owned building, with free access to the laboratory equipment, Internet, library, etc, probably would not be very fair. However the \"spinning-off\" process usually lasts for several years.</p>\n\n<p>Creating a successful commercial product on the base of research is an important process that is usually allowed, supported and encouraged. Spin-offs receive support from the parent institution in the early stages when they are not yet capable of self-sustaining.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24534,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Contradictory to the other posters here, I fully understand OP's ethical concerns. Although I'm all in favor of commercialization of research output, I witnessed the same behavior in my previous university and I'm not comfortable about it.</p>\n\n<p>Although the difference between the study systems in Germany and the Anglo-Saxon countries have been discussed many times on this site, it's important to note that the Master degree in Germany is the 'undergraduate' degree, that students pay almost no tuition but are expected to fund their expenses by themselves (they rarely if ever get a stipend). Professors positions and laboratories are typically state-funded, that is with taxpayer money.</p>\n\n<p>What bothers me most in OP's description is the <em>systematic</em> aspect of it. The main purpose of a Master project is for the student to develop a rather general set of skills (problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, thoroughness, etc.), and to be tested on the ability to achieve a research project, although modest in scope. It is <em>not</em> to write commercial-grade software in a state-sponsored trainee program for a Professor's spinoff company. Professors have a teaching and mentoring responsibility towards the Master students they supervise, and it's not waived by offering them a job when they graduate.</p>\n\n<p>The other issue I see is the unsound hierarchical relationship. Master students are at the mercy of not getting their degrees if they do not perform according to the Professor's commercial requirements. This very often results in students being exploited.</p>\n\n<p>I have seen professors use (state/university-funded) PhD students as free R&D, technical support and sales employees for their spinoff company, and I think it's dishonest towards the students, the funding agencies and the taxpayers. I even think it borderlines embezzlement of public funds, as the sole person really benefiting from the scheme is the owner of the spinoff.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24544,
"author": "RemcoGerlich",
"author_id": 11262,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11262",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I see two issues:</p>\n\n<p>One, it <em>sounds</em> like the students just get a programming assignment -- \"here, make this\". That alone wouldn't make it Master level research fit for a thesis.</p>\n\n<p>Second, the student is the author of the software he writes and holds copyright over it, so he should decide under which license he wants to release it, if he wants to release it at all. Forcing him to release it under a specific license that happens to work well for the company is a clear conflict of interest.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24548,
"author": "user1264176",
"author_id": 18339,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18339",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am going to back a bit Jigg's point of view. </p>\n\n<p>I believe it is not ethical to pressure students into master thesis which is a module of some software for which the student will not be able to set license and more of that which is used for profits of the professor. </p>\n\n<p>I also should say that it fine if student signs some kind of contract if he chooses to go this way and if not he still has a choice to do masters thesis with this professor that is not anyhow connected to the professor's company or that software. </p>\n\n<p>I was myself in the similar situation (German style education system, but not in Germany) however it wasn't a masters thesis but just a semester final thesis for one of the subjects. </p>\n\n<p>In my case professor was taking the best of the software students developed as a thesis in whole or as a part to the product of his profit making company (no attribution to student at all). I don't claim that the OP's professor does the same but I believe OP can still have the issues I had:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>I couldn't determine the actual theme of thesis. </li>\n<li>The subject final mark was decided not by the standards of university thesis but rather by the commercial standards which are obviously higher. </li>\n<li>I was under pressure to agree with everything professor wishes for the product even if it was out of the thesis scope.</li>\n<li>I was under extreme pressure to deliver commercial quality product in restricted time having other subjects to study.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Because of this situation I ended up almost failing this and another subject and with a very bad relationship with that professor since I wasn't able to deliver what he wanted(although it was perfectly fine for the scope of the semester thesis). I could get a very bad reputation but fortunately for me quite a lot of other professors/stuff knew how he does things so the damage was not that big.</p>\n\n<p>What I am trying to say is that by dealing with such people OP puts himself in the situation when he is totally dependent of them and people tend to be quite cruel.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24551,
"author": "Peteris",
"author_id": 10730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10730",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>Yes, it's ethical to have students work on your research interests</h2>\n\n<p>The core idea of research mentorship is that it's useful for people to collaborate, and for professors to 'split off' interesting, manageable chunks of research directions for others to handle - either as part of study projects or research grants. Pretty much always it will be related to topics that interest the professor personally, and it's okay.</p>\n\n<p>I believe that most researchers have a list of subproblems that they aren't going to do themselves, but for which they'd like a solution and a student research project could [attempt to] to solve it. I have such a list myself, students are happy that it exists, but most of them do have some use case where the thesis outcome (data/tool/method/etc) would be directly useful to me personally in my research.</p>\n\n<p>If the student wants to work on X, and the professor says \"you must do topic Y\", then that would be unethical unless there's funding/employment agreement for the student to do Y. However, if student \"needs\" a thesis topic and is okay with doing Y, then it's ethical to recommend topics that aren't \"neutral\"(which would that be?) but are of personal interest to you.</p>\n\n<h2>Yes, it's ethical for your research interests to benefit you commercially</h2>\n\n<p>Turning academic research into commercial spinoffs isn't an unwanted exploitation - in fact, it generally is the explicit wish of the universities, funding agencies and government research policies to facilitate commercialization and implementation of research.</p>\n\n<p>If a professor has ideas on how particular research topics can be applied commercially, then it's a good thing - it estabilishes that the topic is meaningful and provides a real world context to otherwise abstract notions.</p>\n\n<p>Having the research benefit your business <em>as such</em> is okay, given the university approval for that spinoff, but there may be ethical concerns with <strong><em>how</em></strong> it's done.</p>\n\n<h2>Is he coercing students to work in that direction?</h2>\n\n<p>Are there signs of coercion - i.e., do students feel threatened that if they choose an unrelated topic then they'd be treated differently, get different grading, etc?</p>\n\n<h2>Is he recommending students to work on bad / non-research topics?</h2>\n\n<p>Are the recommended projects (\"algorithmic modules for the open-source software\") a good fit for the master thesis requirements of your university?</p>\n\n<p>If software engineering and algorithmic implementation are valid and recommended goals for thesis in your particular master's program (it often is), then it's ethical.</p>\n\n<p>If that study program expects students to focus on academic research during the thesis, but in those projects students spend 90% time on software engineering and thus either produce poor thesis or have to spend huge work that's not beneficial to the thesis, then that would be giving misleading and hurtful advice and it's not ethical.</p>\n\n<h2>Is he stealing intellectual property?</h2>\n\n<p>If copyrighted or patentable items are created by the students (such as software) as part of their academic work, are they either (a) freely available to the public; (b) clearly owned by the student; or (c) purchased as a separate agreement or through an employment contract for the time of developing it?</p>\n\n<p>Publishing work results on an open source project would be ethical; a company using <em>public and published</em> results of student's work is also clearly okay.</p>\n\n<p>Publishing work results on a dual-licenced project where the student's code is available, say, as GPL to the public and also the same student's code as a closed source licence for a fee from the company raises the question on how does the student licenced the code to that company. A scenario where work is done on \"university time\", and the company simply takes the <em>not-public</em> work without compensating the author would be unethical.</p>\n\n<h2>Is he hiding his vested interest in that particular project?</h2>\n\n<p>Is he disclosing that he has a commercial interest in this open source project to the students? If he's not telling them it when offering the topics, then it would be unethical.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24552,
"author": "Pavel",
"author_id": 17596,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17596",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Bottom line:</strong></p>\n\n<p>Studying a university is more about how you use opportunities available to you than about how much do you learn from the baseline 'forced upon' everyone. I presume there is a free choice available to you and other students whether to take the master thesis assignment from the professor in question or from other. That means, that 'working for free for a commercial company' (this is how I understand your concern) is not the only possibility to finish your studies. Every student, you included, have the choice to do what they find right and beneficial. That means, that you can do whatever you can with the opportunity - get some hands on experience, or, for example, train your inner sense for what <em>you</em> find right and what wrong. Which is equally as important!</p>\n\n<p><strong>The professor is giving you opportunity, not forcing something on you.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Personally, I would rather work on a demanding task from a high flying professor with a prospect of a nice job in the open-source world than do some mundane task that has been repeated over and over just because the latter may seem more fit for academia. </p>\n\n<p>If you plan to get a job in a commercial company (rather than staying in academic field for your PhD and further career), having done your thesis in the described setting may very well give you a noticeable advantage over competing job-seekers.</p>\n\n<p>(The first paragraph edited to reflect on Jigg's comment)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24563,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>IANAL, and I guess that the question cannot be completely answered as some details are missing, but: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Doing a thesis in a company or on a subject that is suggested by a company is perfectly fine. This is called \"Externe Abschlussarbeit\" (external thesis). There can also be contracts between the student and the company. But in oder to be legally valid, the contracts <strong>must not abuse the fact that the student has to do the exam and is therefore not an equal party to the contract but dependent</strong>.</p></li>\n<li><p>Many universities actually have rules (and/or even a contact person) for related questions. Here are some examples</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.eecs.tu-berlin.de/fileadmin/f4/fkIVdokumente/studium/externe_diplomarbeiten.pdf\">TU Berlin/ dt. Hochschulverband</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.study.ce.tu-darmstadt.de/media/study_ce/sandra/Info_externeAbschlussarbeiten-1.pdf\">TU Darmstadt</a></li>\n</ul></li>\n<li><p>However, the usual setup is that the supervisor from the company and the professor are two different persons, and it is the professor's task to ensure that the thesis consists of the proper amount of research.<br>\nWith this I do see a <strong>conflict of interest in the OP's scenario.</strong></p></li>\n<li><p>In Germany, a master's thesis is a \"Prüfungsleistung\" (part of the final exam). The <strong>Prüfungsleistung must be produced <em>solely</em> by the candidate</strong>. \nThis implies that the master's thesis (not only the written thesis, but all ideas, software etc) <strong>is IP of the student</strong>. </p></li>\n<li><p>Highly relevant lecture: <a href=\"https://www.tu-braunschweig.de/Medien-DB/datenschutz/messer-helmut-rechtsgrundsaetze-zu-diplomarbeiten-vortrag-2005-11-10.pdf\">Helmut Messer: Rechtsgrundsätze zu Diplomarbeiten</a><br>\nrough translation of a scenario on page 7:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Professor tells student that he has 2 kinds of thesis subjects: nothing-special subjects and highly interesting very innovative external thesis subjects which will practically lead to immedate job offers. For the external theses, however, the transferrable IP rights need to be tranfered in advance (either to the prof. or to the company). </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The text then goes on explaining that this constitutes at least Vorteilsannahme (acceptance of benefits by a public official) by the professor, and that depending on the pressure and the exact situation also blackmailing is close by. Basically, the professor <em>must not</em> ask any more than the exam regulations say.</p>\n\n<p>So <strong>the ethic problems in question are not only of the \"does not behave well\"-kind but can actually constitute criminal offenses.</strong> And IIRC, public officials already have to avoid the <em>appearance</em> of Vorteilsannahme (and of course blackmailing). </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>However, <strong><em>after</em> the thesis is finished (and the mark is given) the company (or university) can negotiate to buy the transferrable rights</strong>, because then both parties of the contract are in an equal position, and the student can say no, or ask for compensation. Obviously, the student can decide on his own to release the product Open Source.<br>\nSomehow I doubt that \"we will hire you if you give us your previously written code\" is a legal contract, but again IANAL. </p></li>\n<li><p>The lecture explains that the professor has a certain responsibility also concerning abusive contracts between student and company (in general, not only in the OP's scenario) because the student depends on the professor. </p></li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>I commented to @Steffen Winkler that software copyright is somewhat special and different from other copyrighted works. According to <a href=\"http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/urhg/__69b.html\">Urhg §69b</a> the (transferrable economic) rights are automatically assigned to the employer. Court cases apply this automatism to a rather wide range of software (i.e. as soon as it is related / useful for the employer, e.g. regardless of whether the development took place in free time at home), and state that the wages are already the proper compensation. </p>\n\n<p>However, AFAIK it is non-trivial to formulate a legal contract that has the student employed for the subject of the thesis. The linked lecture gives scenarios that work and scenarios that do not work. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25751,
"author": "Thorsten S.",
"author_id": 13452,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13452",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My first impulse is crying out loud, but I see that it must be explained.</p>\n\n<h2>What is the goal of academic instituitions / science / humanities ?</h2>\n\n<p>The goal is to collect and reserve the current knowledge, give it to the\nnext generations and gain further knowledge. We want to find good\nexplanations for phenomena and refine them further und further until\nideally we can explain them fully (The explanation need not to be\nidentical with the \"real\" cause, it should only give the correct\npredictions).</p>\n\n<p>What we <em>do not want</em> is to consolidate our prejudices or fall victim\nto wishful thinking. The key is <em>honesty</em>: Do not fool yourself to believe\nyou know something which you are not absolutely sure of. You are able\nto give convincing reasons to other people.</p>\n\n<p>You are completely convinced that astrology is truthful because an astrologer\ndescribed you correctly and you pay a study which confirms your impression ?\n<em>This is not science</em>.</p>\n\n<p>You are completely convinced that astrology is baloney because it seems to\nbe old and it violates what you think is correct knowledge ? <em>This is not science either</em> !</p>\n\n<p>You write down the logical inconsistencies of astrology, put up a study to test the conclusions and the tests repeatedly and consistently failed ? <em>This is science</em>.</p>\n\n<h2>What is the goal of businesses ?</h2>\n\n<p>A key concept of a business is to gain revenue by fulfilling a demand. Because in private\nenterprise you have competitors you must also apply strategy to\nkeep your business and use that to increase your influence. That means</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Having unique or better knowledge. If your competitors do not know how you achieved your desired results, it would be stupid to tell them. Or you protect your invention with patents.</p></li>\n<li><p>Propagate your influence by using your revenue to spread out. Gain power from important persons (friendships, franchises and working together). </p></li>\n<li><p>Protect yourself and hold your competitors down. You can do that defensively (lawsuits, patents) or offensively (buying them off, spread bad rumors, outpace them in quality and quantity).</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Both goals are perfectly ok.<br>\nIf you leave university and begin a startup, no problem. If a firm buys your invention, no problem. It starts to be trouble if you have a <em>conflict of interest</em> and the professor has a <em>severe conflict of interest</em>.</p>\n\n<p>If you did not see it, <em>honesty</em> is not a business goal.\nLet's say the professor gives you a task to improve a specific software module. You are starting to analyze the module...and you find that it has a flaw. It does not work or even <em>causes harm</em>, you can scientifically prove it. You have found out that the prospering company your professor leads has sold a defective software. Revelation of this could harm the reputation of the university, the software company and even your economy of your country. Or, on the other hand, it does nothing, but the professor wants to improve the user experience so that the customers are happy even if sold junk.</p>\n\n<p>Do you feel still perfectly ok with <em>that</em> scenario ?</p>\n\n<p>Because for this reason research and business should have distinct areas because you cannot honestly find a scientific answer if you are under constant pressure to modify your findings in a specific direction (or to be punished if you insist on honesty). The law of reciprocity always kicks in, I have supported you, why don't you support me.</p>\n\n<p>I mean, we see the problem everywhere. \"Think tanks\" are buying old academics to support \"research\" in environmental issues. Politicians and companies are buying supportive studies. Consumer products are called back and almost always the problem was known long before. Academic fraud for research grants is a known problem. etc.</p>\n\n<p>The problem is not that the professor is a horrible person or that business is evil or science must be pure and idealistic. The problem is that many universities are dependent on private funding and try to give students the impression that it is absolutely no problem to mix business and scientific research. Guess what: It is a <em>lie</em>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26616,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would say that the best advice is to make sure that there is a clear partition between the open source parts of the software vs. the business parts and that the students are informed of this.</p>\n\n<p>Many professors get students to work on research that is (or becomes) commercial in nature (e.g. biology). The key ethical issue is that the students are informed and are educated to make proper decisions about it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 52198,
"author": "Phil",
"author_id": 21815,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21815",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that it depends on several factors. If the supervisor is offering you some grants from the company to do your research work than he may expect something back that he may commercializes. But in any case, it would be better to have a discussion about that before the project starts. It is always important to makes things clear before starting a project. If things are not made clear than it may cause some conflicts afterwards. If things are made clear and a student is not satisfied, he may also just work with another professor.</p>\n\n<p>Besides, I think that the job of a master degree student should be to do research, not to do unrelated software development tasks (unless he is getting paid or if he wants to). But participating in a company project can also have several benefits. Besides, from what I understand, you are also publishing your research as open-source. I believe that publishing research as open-source is very beneficial. Personally, I do research in the field of data mining and publish all my research as open-source (data mining algorithms and datasets) as part of a data mining library/software, and I don't earn any money from that. But this has increased the visibility of my research. Thus, perhaps that you should see it from this perspective. If your new algorithms is included in a commercial software or large open-source project, it will probably gives a lot of visibility to your algorithms, and your research will be probably used and cited by more researchers. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 187952,
"author": "Marko Kosunen",
"author_id": 125017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/125017",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>We can split this problem to two:</p>\n<p>From Professors perspective it would be unethical to assign students a project that does not support the objectives (ie. research or education) of the academic organization by which he is currently employed. If this condition is met, the project can as well be open sourced. He can not, in general, force the student to open the source, but this may vary from one country to another and depends on who holds the copyright of the original work, student or the organization.</p>\n<p>From student perspective, only question is (if you really hold the copyright) whether you allow the source to be opened. Either you allow, or you do not.</p>\n<p>If these conditions are met, and the work is released as open source under a proper license, <em>anyone</em> may try to make legally money with it as long as the license terms are not violated. Including the professor. It is inherent nature of open source: someone may benefit from it also financially, and you can try to do that too.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24526",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10497/"
] |
24,545 |
<p>I am Performance and Automation Testing engineer who recently moved into IT Security in Singapore. I hold a BSc in software system (full-time) and MSc in IT (distance learning program). I have 9+ years experience working in Testing projects where major contribution was into Performance and Automaton testing. </p>
<p>I wish to get into research jobs (specifically, academic research). I am looking for opportunities any place however my preference will be Germany, Singapore and USA. However whenever I have approached universities they aren't willing to consider me, stating that I don't have any research experience. </p>
<p>Can anyone help me with path to get into IT Security Research. I guess attending a part-time/full-time masters program (IT/INFOSEC) followed by PhD (INFOSEC) program should help. Is this an appropriate path? Will this suffice to give me a chance at getting hired into an academic research job?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24528,
"author": "emcor",
"author_id": 18228,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18228",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the thesis is on an academic topic, and the student later agrees to work at a company, there is nothing wrong with that.</p>\n\n<p>But the professor must not exert pressure on the student for example that the thesis grade would depend on accepting a work contract, and if some of the work is not directly related to the thesis it should be compensated like normal work. It appears that here the student works out a thesis based on an industry-topic, and later decides where to work. The fact that the professor who assigns the topic also owns a company has no direct ethical consequences as such, because the student is free to choose from any possible company or supervisor out there.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24531,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In many countries, universities are allowed to have spin-off companies. Many of them are run by successful professors. In contrast to the universities, all companies' purpose is to make money and not work simply to promote knowledge and science. In that regard, your professor has done nothing wrong or (most importantly) illegal. He is using his unquestionable know-how to make a successful company and more money for himself. But along with him, several good students get the opportunity to be hired on a promising job, once they finish their studies. And this is not only good for the professor, but it is also good for the university, the students and the country's economy in general. In that sense, you should stop seeing the whole thing as a corporate conspiracy. </p>\n\n<p>The fact that science sometimes provides exceptionally good consumer products (from TVs to mobile phones and electric lamps) should not be considered evil in itself. Yes, many times companies use technological advances for evil purposes but providing support and extending open-source CS projects, is surely not one of those cases. The only questionable thing your professor might have done, is if he has used his students as free workforce (without any compensation), during the master's thesis when they were working on extending his product. But even then, this is sometimes how internships work on many companies. </p>\n\n<p>So, I would not worry too much. Having a spin-off is not really an ethical issue, nor does it make your professor a horrible person. Of course you have the right to disagree with this practice and avoid participating in his business endeavors. So, finish your studies, minimizing contact with this professor and do things differently the way you see ethical and fit when you enter the job market.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24532,
"author": "avgvstvs",
"author_id": 13822,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13822",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm with Marc. There's no issue at all here... In fact, under this arrangement, he needs not worry about securing public grant funding which means he's more free to do <strong><em>any kind of research work he wants...</em></strong> which can certainly filter back to you.</p>\n\n<p>You might even be able to strike up an arrangement where you'll do work for him and you can use his lab for whatever research topic you want... There are multiple ways to look at this, and to me, all of them are positive. The community gets source, the public doesn't have to fund his research (though he probably still has students write grants for new ideas), for-profit businesses pay for top-tier service.</p>\n\n<p>Let's not also forget, that in the non-academic world, practical experience is valued more than your education (especially in the USA). Your time working in the professor's company while at the same time getting BOTH thesis research AND \"real-world\" experience puts you in a much better position come graduation than peers who go the traditional route.</p>\n\n<p>I'd be more inclined to hire someone who has dealt with source-code management + a good thesis ahead of someone who only had a superb thesis topic. (The more things you can be measured with, the better for you.) </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24533,
"author": "h22",
"author_id": 10920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10920",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Spin-offs normally are not allowed to stay inside the university forever, they move away and become independent companies. Staying permanently in a state-owned building, with free access to the laboratory equipment, Internet, library, etc, probably would not be very fair. However the \"spinning-off\" process usually lasts for several years.</p>\n\n<p>Creating a successful commercial product on the base of research is an important process that is usually allowed, supported and encouraged. Spin-offs receive support from the parent institution in the early stages when they are not yet capable of self-sustaining.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24534,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Contradictory to the other posters here, I fully understand OP's ethical concerns. Although I'm all in favor of commercialization of research output, I witnessed the same behavior in my previous university and I'm not comfortable about it.</p>\n\n<p>Although the difference between the study systems in Germany and the Anglo-Saxon countries have been discussed many times on this site, it's important to note that the Master degree in Germany is the 'undergraduate' degree, that students pay almost no tuition but are expected to fund their expenses by themselves (they rarely if ever get a stipend). Professors positions and laboratories are typically state-funded, that is with taxpayer money.</p>\n\n<p>What bothers me most in OP's description is the <em>systematic</em> aspect of it. The main purpose of a Master project is for the student to develop a rather general set of skills (problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, thoroughness, etc.), and to be tested on the ability to achieve a research project, although modest in scope. It is <em>not</em> to write commercial-grade software in a state-sponsored trainee program for a Professor's spinoff company. Professors have a teaching and mentoring responsibility towards the Master students they supervise, and it's not waived by offering them a job when they graduate.</p>\n\n<p>The other issue I see is the unsound hierarchical relationship. Master students are at the mercy of not getting their degrees if they do not perform according to the Professor's commercial requirements. This very often results in students being exploited.</p>\n\n<p>I have seen professors use (state/university-funded) PhD students as free R&D, technical support and sales employees for their spinoff company, and I think it's dishonest towards the students, the funding agencies and the taxpayers. I even think it borderlines embezzlement of public funds, as the sole person really benefiting from the scheme is the owner of the spinoff.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24544,
"author": "RemcoGerlich",
"author_id": 11262,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11262",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I see two issues:</p>\n\n<p>One, it <em>sounds</em> like the students just get a programming assignment -- \"here, make this\". That alone wouldn't make it Master level research fit for a thesis.</p>\n\n<p>Second, the student is the author of the software he writes and holds copyright over it, so he should decide under which license he wants to release it, if he wants to release it at all. Forcing him to release it under a specific license that happens to work well for the company is a clear conflict of interest.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24548,
"author": "user1264176",
"author_id": 18339,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18339",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am going to back a bit Jigg's point of view. </p>\n\n<p>I believe it is not ethical to pressure students into master thesis which is a module of some software for which the student will not be able to set license and more of that which is used for profits of the professor. </p>\n\n<p>I also should say that it fine if student signs some kind of contract if he chooses to go this way and if not he still has a choice to do masters thesis with this professor that is not anyhow connected to the professor's company or that software. </p>\n\n<p>I was myself in the similar situation (German style education system, but not in Germany) however it wasn't a masters thesis but just a semester final thesis for one of the subjects. </p>\n\n<p>In my case professor was taking the best of the software students developed as a thesis in whole or as a part to the product of his profit making company (no attribution to student at all). I don't claim that the OP's professor does the same but I believe OP can still have the issues I had:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>I couldn't determine the actual theme of thesis. </li>\n<li>The subject final mark was decided not by the standards of university thesis but rather by the commercial standards which are obviously higher. </li>\n<li>I was under pressure to agree with everything professor wishes for the product even if it was out of the thesis scope.</li>\n<li>I was under extreme pressure to deliver commercial quality product in restricted time having other subjects to study.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Because of this situation I ended up almost failing this and another subject and with a very bad relationship with that professor since I wasn't able to deliver what he wanted(although it was perfectly fine for the scope of the semester thesis). I could get a very bad reputation but fortunately for me quite a lot of other professors/stuff knew how he does things so the damage was not that big.</p>\n\n<p>What I am trying to say is that by dealing with such people OP puts himself in the situation when he is totally dependent of them and people tend to be quite cruel.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24551,
"author": "Peteris",
"author_id": 10730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10730",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>Yes, it's ethical to have students work on your research interests</h2>\n\n<p>The core idea of research mentorship is that it's useful for people to collaborate, and for professors to 'split off' interesting, manageable chunks of research directions for others to handle - either as part of study projects or research grants. Pretty much always it will be related to topics that interest the professor personally, and it's okay.</p>\n\n<p>I believe that most researchers have a list of subproblems that they aren't going to do themselves, but for which they'd like a solution and a student research project could [attempt to] to solve it. I have such a list myself, students are happy that it exists, but most of them do have some use case where the thesis outcome (data/tool/method/etc) would be directly useful to me personally in my research.</p>\n\n<p>If the student wants to work on X, and the professor says \"you must do topic Y\", then that would be unethical unless there's funding/employment agreement for the student to do Y. However, if student \"needs\" a thesis topic and is okay with doing Y, then it's ethical to recommend topics that aren't \"neutral\"(which would that be?) but are of personal interest to you.</p>\n\n<h2>Yes, it's ethical for your research interests to benefit you commercially</h2>\n\n<p>Turning academic research into commercial spinoffs isn't an unwanted exploitation - in fact, it generally is the explicit wish of the universities, funding agencies and government research policies to facilitate commercialization and implementation of research.</p>\n\n<p>If a professor has ideas on how particular research topics can be applied commercially, then it's a good thing - it estabilishes that the topic is meaningful and provides a real world context to otherwise abstract notions.</p>\n\n<p>Having the research benefit your business <em>as such</em> is okay, given the university approval for that spinoff, but there may be ethical concerns with <strong><em>how</em></strong> it's done.</p>\n\n<h2>Is he coercing students to work in that direction?</h2>\n\n<p>Are there signs of coercion - i.e., do students feel threatened that if they choose an unrelated topic then they'd be treated differently, get different grading, etc?</p>\n\n<h2>Is he recommending students to work on bad / non-research topics?</h2>\n\n<p>Are the recommended projects (\"algorithmic modules for the open-source software\") a good fit for the master thesis requirements of your university?</p>\n\n<p>If software engineering and algorithmic implementation are valid and recommended goals for thesis in your particular master's program (it often is), then it's ethical.</p>\n\n<p>If that study program expects students to focus on academic research during the thesis, but in those projects students spend 90% time on software engineering and thus either produce poor thesis or have to spend huge work that's not beneficial to the thesis, then that would be giving misleading and hurtful advice and it's not ethical.</p>\n\n<h2>Is he stealing intellectual property?</h2>\n\n<p>If copyrighted or patentable items are created by the students (such as software) as part of their academic work, are they either (a) freely available to the public; (b) clearly owned by the student; or (c) purchased as a separate agreement or through an employment contract for the time of developing it?</p>\n\n<p>Publishing work results on an open source project would be ethical; a company using <em>public and published</em> results of student's work is also clearly okay.</p>\n\n<p>Publishing work results on a dual-licenced project where the student's code is available, say, as GPL to the public and also the same student's code as a closed source licence for a fee from the company raises the question on how does the student licenced the code to that company. A scenario where work is done on \"university time\", and the company simply takes the <em>not-public</em> work without compensating the author would be unethical.</p>\n\n<h2>Is he hiding his vested interest in that particular project?</h2>\n\n<p>Is he disclosing that he has a commercial interest in this open source project to the students? If he's not telling them it when offering the topics, then it would be unethical.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24552,
"author": "Pavel",
"author_id": 17596,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17596",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Bottom line:</strong></p>\n\n<p>Studying a university is more about how you use opportunities available to you than about how much do you learn from the baseline 'forced upon' everyone. I presume there is a free choice available to you and other students whether to take the master thesis assignment from the professor in question or from other. That means, that 'working for free for a commercial company' (this is how I understand your concern) is not the only possibility to finish your studies. Every student, you included, have the choice to do what they find right and beneficial. That means, that you can do whatever you can with the opportunity - get some hands on experience, or, for example, train your inner sense for what <em>you</em> find right and what wrong. Which is equally as important!</p>\n\n<p><strong>The professor is giving you opportunity, not forcing something on you.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Personally, I would rather work on a demanding task from a high flying professor with a prospect of a nice job in the open-source world than do some mundane task that has been repeated over and over just because the latter may seem more fit for academia. </p>\n\n<p>If you plan to get a job in a commercial company (rather than staying in academic field for your PhD and further career), having done your thesis in the described setting may very well give you a noticeable advantage over competing job-seekers.</p>\n\n<p>(The first paragraph edited to reflect on Jigg's comment)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24563,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>IANAL, and I guess that the question cannot be completely answered as some details are missing, but: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Doing a thesis in a company or on a subject that is suggested by a company is perfectly fine. This is called \"Externe Abschlussarbeit\" (external thesis). There can also be contracts between the student and the company. But in oder to be legally valid, the contracts <strong>must not abuse the fact that the student has to do the exam and is therefore not an equal party to the contract but dependent</strong>.</p></li>\n<li><p>Many universities actually have rules (and/or even a contact person) for related questions. Here are some examples</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.eecs.tu-berlin.de/fileadmin/f4/fkIVdokumente/studium/externe_diplomarbeiten.pdf\">TU Berlin/ dt. Hochschulverband</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.study.ce.tu-darmstadt.de/media/study_ce/sandra/Info_externeAbschlussarbeiten-1.pdf\">TU Darmstadt</a></li>\n</ul></li>\n<li><p>However, the usual setup is that the supervisor from the company and the professor are two different persons, and it is the professor's task to ensure that the thesis consists of the proper amount of research.<br>\nWith this I do see a <strong>conflict of interest in the OP's scenario.</strong></p></li>\n<li><p>In Germany, a master's thesis is a \"Prüfungsleistung\" (part of the final exam). The <strong>Prüfungsleistung must be produced <em>solely</em> by the candidate</strong>. \nThis implies that the master's thesis (not only the written thesis, but all ideas, software etc) <strong>is IP of the student</strong>. </p></li>\n<li><p>Highly relevant lecture: <a href=\"https://www.tu-braunschweig.de/Medien-DB/datenschutz/messer-helmut-rechtsgrundsaetze-zu-diplomarbeiten-vortrag-2005-11-10.pdf\">Helmut Messer: Rechtsgrundsätze zu Diplomarbeiten</a><br>\nrough translation of a scenario on page 7:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Professor tells student that he has 2 kinds of thesis subjects: nothing-special subjects and highly interesting very innovative external thesis subjects which will practically lead to immedate job offers. For the external theses, however, the transferrable IP rights need to be tranfered in advance (either to the prof. or to the company). </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The text then goes on explaining that this constitutes at least Vorteilsannahme (acceptance of benefits by a public official) by the professor, and that depending on the pressure and the exact situation also blackmailing is close by. Basically, the professor <em>must not</em> ask any more than the exam regulations say.</p>\n\n<p>So <strong>the ethic problems in question are not only of the \"does not behave well\"-kind but can actually constitute criminal offenses.</strong> And IIRC, public officials already have to avoid the <em>appearance</em> of Vorteilsannahme (and of course blackmailing). </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>However, <strong><em>after</em> the thesis is finished (and the mark is given) the company (or university) can negotiate to buy the transferrable rights</strong>, because then both parties of the contract are in an equal position, and the student can say no, or ask for compensation. Obviously, the student can decide on his own to release the product Open Source.<br>\nSomehow I doubt that \"we will hire you if you give us your previously written code\" is a legal contract, but again IANAL. </p></li>\n<li><p>The lecture explains that the professor has a certain responsibility also concerning abusive contracts between student and company (in general, not only in the OP's scenario) because the student depends on the professor. </p></li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>I commented to @Steffen Winkler that software copyright is somewhat special and different from other copyrighted works. According to <a href=\"http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/urhg/__69b.html\">Urhg §69b</a> the (transferrable economic) rights are automatically assigned to the employer. Court cases apply this automatism to a rather wide range of software (i.e. as soon as it is related / useful for the employer, e.g. regardless of whether the development took place in free time at home), and state that the wages are already the proper compensation. </p>\n\n<p>However, AFAIK it is non-trivial to formulate a legal contract that has the student employed for the subject of the thesis. The linked lecture gives scenarios that work and scenarios that do not work. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25751,
"author": "Thorsten S.",
"author_id": 13452,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13452",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My first impulse is crying out loud, but I see that it must be explained.</p>\n\n<h2>What is the goal of academic instituitions / science / humanities ?</h2>\n\n<p>The goal is to collect and reserve the current knowledge, give it to the\nnext generations and gain further knowledge. We want to find good\nexplanations for phenomena and refine them further und further until\nideally we can explain them fully (The explanation need not to be\nidentical with the \"real\" cause, it should only give the correct\npredictions).</p>\n\n<p>What we <em>do not want</em> is to consolidate our prejudices or fall victim\nto wishful thinking. The key is <em>honesty</em>: Do not fool yourself to believe\nyou know something which you are not absolutely sure of. You are able\nto give convincing reasons to other people.</p>\n\n<p>You are completely convinced that astrology is truthful because an astrologer\ndescribed you correctly and you pay a study which confirms your impression ?\n<em>This is not science</em>.</p>\n\n<p>You are completely convinced that astrology is baloney because it seems to\nbe old and it violates what you think is correct knowledge ? <em>This is not science either</em> !</p>\n\n<p>You write down the logical inconsistencies of astrology, put up a study to test the conclusions and the tests repeatedly and consistently failed ? <em>This is science</em>.</p>\n\n<h2>What is the goal of businesses ?</h2>\n\n<p>A key concept of a business is to gain revenue by fulfilling a demand. Because in private\nenterprise you have competitors you must also apply strategy to\nkeep your business and use that to increase your influence. That means</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Having unique or better knowledge. If your competitors do not know how you achieved your desired results, it would be stupid to tell them. Or you protect your invention with patents.</p></li>\n<li><p>Propagate your influence by using your revenue to spread out. Gain power from important persons (friendships, franchises and working together). </p></li>\n<li><p>Protect yourself and hold your competitors down. You can do that defensively (lawsuits, patents) or offensively (buying them off, spread bad rumors, outpace them in quality and quantity).</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Both goals are perfectly ok.<br>\nIf you leave university and begin a startup, no problem. If a firm buys your invention, no problem. It starts to be trouble if you have a <em>conflict of interest</em> and the professor has a <em>severe conflict of interest</em>.</p>\n\n<p>If you did not see it, <em>honesty</em> is not a business goal.\nLet's say the professor gives you a task to improve a specific software module. You are starting to analyze the module...and you find that it has a flaw. It does not work or even <em>causes harm</em>, you can scientifically prove it. You have found out that the prospering company your professor leads has sold a defective software. Revelation of this could harm the reputation of the university, the software company and even your economy of your country. Or, on the other hand, it does nothing, but the professor wants to improve the user experience so that the customers are happy even if sold junk.</p>\n\n<p>Do you feel still perfectly ok with <em>that</em> scenario ?</p>\n\n<p>Because for this reason research and business should have distinct areas because you cannot honestly find a scientific answer if you are under constant pressure to modify your findings in a specific direction (or to be punished if you insist on honesty). The law of reciprocity always kicks in, I have supported you, why don't you support me.</p>\n\n<p>I mean, we see the problem everywhere. \"Think tanks\" are buying old academics to support \"research\" in environmental issues. Politicians and companies are buying supportive studies. Consumer products are called back and almost always the problem was known long before. Academic fraud for research grants is a known problem. etc.</p>\n\n<p>The problem is not that the professor is a horrible person or that business is evil or science must be pure and idealistic. The problem is that many universities are dependent on private funding and try to give students the impression that it is absolutely no problem to mix business and scientific research. Guess what: It is a <em>lie</em>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26616,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would say that the best advice is to make sure that there is a clear partition between the open source parts of the software vs. the business parts and that the students are informed of this.</p>\n\n<p>Many professors get students to work on research that is (or becomes) commercial in nature (e.g. biology). The key ethical issue is that the students are informed and are educated to make proper decisions about it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 52198,
"author": "Phil",
"author_id": 21815,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21815",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that it depends on several factors. If the supervisor is offering you some grants from the company to do your research work than he may expect something back that he may commercializes. But in any case, it would be better to have a discussion about that before the project starts. It is always important to makes things clear before starting a project. If things are not made clear than it may cause some conflicts afterwards. If things are made clear and a student is not satisfied, he may also just work with another professor.</p>\n\n<p>Besides, I think that the job of a master degree student should be to do research, not to do unrelated software development tasks (unless he is getting paid or if he wants to). But participating in a company project can also have several benefits. Besides, from what I understand, you are also publishing your research as open-source. I believe that publishing research as open-source is very beneficial. Personally, I do research in the field of data mining and publish all my research as open-source (data mining algorithms and datasets) as part of a data mining library/software, and I don't earn any money from that. But this has increased the visibility of my research. Thus, perhaps that you should see it from this perspective. If your new algorithms is included in a commercial software or large open-source project, it will probably gives a lot of visibility to your algorithms, and your research will be probably used and cited by more researchers. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 187952,
"author": "Marko Kosunen",
"author_id": 125017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/125017",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>We can split this problem to two:</p>\n<p>From Professors perspective it would be unethical to assign students a project that does not support the objectives (ie. research or education) of the academic organization by which he is currently employed. If this condition is met, the project can as well be open sourced. He can not, in general, force the student to open the source, but this may vary from one country to another and depends on who holds the copyright of the original work, student or the organization.</p>\n<p>From student perspective, only question is (if you really hold the copyright) whether you allow the source to be opened. Either you allow, or you do not.</p>\n<p>If these conditions are met, and the work is released as open source under a proper license, <em>anyone</em> may try to make legally money with it as long as the license terms are not violated. Including the professor. It is inherent nature of open source: someone may benefit from it also financially, and you can try to do that too.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24545",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18335/"
] |
24,550 |
<p>I am a prospective phd student. I wish to know if it is fine to contact the phd students of my target schools?</p>
<p>If answering this question requires more information, please feel free to state that.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24553,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It is absolutely fine to contact current PhD students of programs and departments that you are interested in. On an average, I get about 1 email of this sort everyday and I make my best effort to reply intelligently.</p>\n\n<p>Keep in mind though that many PhD students will simply not reply to your email. Sometimes folks are inundated by too many emails and commitments to respond to any additional emails and sometimes people just have bad emailing tendencies in general.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24560,
"author": "greenfingers",
"author_id": 15184,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15184",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>We had great success when we extensively supported a PhD student who asked for a contact:</p>\n\n<p>While doing my PhD we had a last year undergraduate student, who contacted my supervisor and asked if he can meet some of the PhD students. We decided to organize some shadowing for him, so he spent several days with me in the university.</p>\n\n<p>I told him all I could think of in relation to my PhD experience, answered all his questions, and he did some real work - helped finding research publications in a specific area. At the end we asked him to write a short report about his shadowing experience - was it useful, pros and cons from his point of view, etc.</p>\n\n<p>The experiment was so successful that the department decided to extend it and provide similar opportunities for other prospective PhD students. </p>\n\n<p>So, by all means, do it - contact the supervisor or the PhD student. The worst thing that could happen is that they will say 'no'</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24590,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I never ever got this kind of email during my Ph.D. program, but when we had some prospective students visiting the campus, I was eager to answer any questions they might have. Nobody asked me, though.</p>\n\n<p>We are all in this life together. If you want to know something, just ask. If you are sincere, it is fine to ask. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25603,
"author": "Franck Dernoncourt",
"author_id": 452,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have received tens of such e-mails so far in the first two years of the PhD program. 70% from India, 20% from other parts of Asia, 10% other.</p>\n\n<p>Since I hate when people ignore my emails, or even reply unnecessarily late, I was trying at first to give some customized advice. After the first dozen of e-mails, I realized that I was being asked almost the same type of questions over and over, so I now simply reply with a template e-mails pointing to the main resources.</p>\n\n<p>To answer your question, I would say it is totally fine but:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>The more specific questions, the more likely you are to receive an interesting answer.</li>\n<li>It is hard to be 100% frank with people we don't know. As a result, the answers you get are likely to be biased (typically \"how good is the advisor?\" kind of questions). As Pierre Beaumarchais said, where there is no freedom of blaming, there can be no genuine praise. The only solution is to know people personally or be referred by some common friend. Talking face-to-face can help reducing the bias.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25611,
"author": "emmalgale",
"author_id": 12089,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12089",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am a PhD student in a really small department, and the only student in my particular research group. When we have students interviewing for a PhD in my group, I always spend some time with them answering questions about what it is like in the department and group, and what it is like working with my supervisor (very important!). I always give them my email address so they can ask me any other questions they may not have thought of at the time.</p>\n\n<p>If anyone was to email me directly before applying, I would take time to answer their questions, but only if they genuinely seem interested in the specific PhD topic on offer. If it seemed like a really generic email that had been sent out to loads of people (obvious give away is if it isn't actually addressed to me!), then I wouldn't take time out of my busy schedule to respond.</p>\n\n<p>In my research group, PhDs are offered based on a specific topic that we have got funding for. I know other big departments in the UK interview for PhD students generically and then they get to choose their topic from scratch, pick one from a list, or they are matched with a specific topic after their interview depending on their skills. I don't know how it works in other countries or other fields (I am in the climate/meteorology field).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24550",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
24,554 |
<p><em>Disclaimer - I'm neither in favor of, nor endorsing plagiarism with the following question. I'm only hitting on the fact that sometimes, the interpretation of self-plagiarism can be quite stupid</em>.</p>
<p>Given the well-deserved emphasis on controlling the menace of plagiarism these days, various journals and even academic institutions have insisted on various cross-check measures. Mostly, this amounts to necessitating a clean chit from some anti-plagiarism software, which (I imagine) works by comparing string lengths of some x-words in the article, with its existing database. So, if some dumb guy didn't rephrase himself, there would be common sentences, which earns him disrepute and he gets tagged as a self-plagiarist. </p>
<p>Now, as a ''responsible'' author, I would try to minimize such overlaps, ideally to zero. But sometimes, you can't help it. Take this context for example. (<em>Sidenote - I'm <a href="https://physics.stackexchange.com/users/46399/new-new-newbie">basically a Physics.SE user</a>.</em>) We have used one model in two different contexts, so there is no question of overlapping content between two articles. But, since it is the same model, when I describe it, in one place I write - </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The free parameters of the <em>wawa</em> model, p1, p2 and p3 are fitted to baryon masses and vacuum characteristics in the <em>wawa</em> limit. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>(<em>''wawa'' = whatever</em>) </p>
<p>Now, I don't see any self-plagiarism in repeating this one sentence in the second article, but if I don't, maybe I'm being the ''dumb guy'' in the previous paragraph. So, I'll try to work around this, finding synonyms, trying alternative descriptions, but even with all my maneuvering, that sentence was the best way to describe it. </p>
<p>My opinion is that, even though I'm not plagiarizing anywhere in the above context, this process is turning out to be a nuisance for me. Am I supposed to sit down and waste so much time rephrasing my sentences, when I have some meaningful information to communicate to the scientific world? (Worst still, I could've been investigating some hot problem in my discipline, where urgently communicating is invaluable.)</p>
<p>Also, as @mhwombat hit on in a comment, am I not compromising on the best way of putting it across, when I deliberately rephrase it, just because there is a ''plagiarism'' checker in place? That's surely not what the purpose of plagiarism check was?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24557,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just because two sentences are identical does not mean that the person who wrote the sentence second plagiarized the person who wrote it first. For your example sentence:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The free parameters of the wawa model, p1, p2 and p3 are fitted to baryon masses and vacuum characteristics in the wawa limit. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you copy and paste that sentence from a previous publication (it doesn't matter who wrote it originally), that is a clear case of plagiarism. If you thought about the model and how the parameters were fitted and you happen to come up with the identical wording, it is not plagiarism. If you don't want to think about the best way of saying something and you want to use the words/ideas of someone else, then you need to provide proper credit (i.e., quote them).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24566,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I think the focus on self-plagiarism here is overwrought when it comes to describing a methodology that may be reused from paper to paper. You are going to cite the first place you wrote that sentence, and you shouldn't need to worry about changing the wording in the series of papers that use the same methodology. </p>\n\n<p>Methodology descriptions should be clear and exactly the same when the underlying methodology is exactly the same from work to work. Any editor who used software to flag your words should see your self-reference/citation and give you a pass. \"Self-plagiarism\" of this sort is a bad label and no crime. </p>\n\n<p>Edited to add: <em>At most,</em> you may need an prefatory clause to the effect \"Following our prior methodology described in [1], the free parameters of the wawa model, p1, p2 and p3 are fitted to baryon masses and vacuum characteristics in the wawa limit.\" Or something similar. But that won't fool the detector software. You need to trust that an editor will understand this for what it is.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24567,
"author": "David Z",
"author_id": 236,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/236",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What StrongBad says about it not being plagiarism if you come up with the same wording independently is technically right, I suppose, but what you really have to worry about is whether certain other people (e.g. editors) <em>think</em> you've plagiarized, and those people are probably not going to be receptive to the argument that you came up with the same sentence twice. At least in theory, a sentence which is long enough to count as plagiarism is long enough that you can find a different way to phrase it. So I would say yes, you have to rephrase the sentence.</p>\n\n<p>At least, this is standard practise in my field, theoretical particle physics, and I've been told that expectations are the same in other branches of physics and other hard sciences.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24554",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17534/"
] |
24,556 |
<p>I am a new PhD student, almost one year into the program. I was in theoretical research in my Master's program and switched to experimental research for my PhD. During my studies I have used a programming language but I do not have any expertise with it. I immediately started to working with this language, but still have great difficulty working efficiently it. I don't have any positive contribution and my supervisor doesn't seem to be happy. </p>
<p>I don't want to just quit and go back to theory. I really want to continue with experimental study, but not in my current university. When I talked to my supervisor about this he just told me to quit and find something else but I don't believe this is the proper way to motivate a student. </p>
<p>I've applied for other positions which are of a different topic but also experimental. The people who I contacted were very interested in my studies I have done before. But at the end, these people will contact with my supervisor about my progress and I think he will not say good things about me.</p>
<p>I think I behaved very honest for my new application. One of them knew my supervisor and he wanted me to ask about my current performance and I told him to ask if he wants, but I also explained that this talk wouldn't be a glowing recommendation since I have been unable to meet objectives in my current program. Now I think being honest didn't work for me since I didn't get any response back...</p>
<p><em>What should I say to those people to get accepted into a different program, since I really want to continue in this experimental field?</em></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24586,
"author": "user_1177868",
"author_id": 18368,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18368",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Honesty is always the best choice.</p>\n\n<p>Supervisors are genuinely interested in your background and in what you did. They have lots of experience and they know well enough that the success of a PhD candidate doesn't depend exclusively on him/her.</p>\n\n<p>Supervisors' opinion about you won't be affected as much as you expect by the recommendation letter or by a chat with your current supervisor. Be honest with them, talk openly about what went wrong during your previous experience (don't hide it from your CV). Be confident. :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27219,
"author": "Oneira",
"author_id": 20371,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20371",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your relation with your current advisor is not good, you probably don't want to cite him/her as reference or ask them for recommendation. Usually one ask recommendation only from people we are sure they have a good opinion. Maybe someone else from your Master can give a better opinion of you. Or colleagues/postdoc/teaching assistant in your current position.</p>\n\n<p>This does not mean you need to hide the current situation. It is better to introduce the problem when you say why you want to change position. And be super clear with the situation, if they ask you what was the problem, be open with it. If you are hesitant to speak, they will feel there is something shady and might become suspicious. Also you should not try to discredit your current supervisor, but you can try to explain why his/her expectations were not met.</p>\n\n<p>If they still insist on contacting your current advisor, then let it be, there is not much more you can do. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 37353,
"author": "sevensevens",
"author_id": 14754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14754",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Have you considered finding another advisor at your current university? It sounds like your current advisor is not a good fit for you. You'd be surprised the number of PhD students who decide to switch concentrations after one year in the program.</p>\n\n<p>I would arrange a 1-one-1 meeting with your current advisor and explain what you've said here - you don't feel you are able to make him happy with your work. In my experience, these meetings are generally a relief for both the student and the prof. as the problem is in the open, and both parties can work towards a resolution.</p>\n\n<p>There may be another experimental prof that needs your background in theory, and will be willing to work with you to improve your skills in more applied fields. Just because one prof. didn't work well with you doesn't mean none of them will. If you cannot find another prof at your current university, then consider applying elsewhere.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24556",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18312/"
] |
24,568 |
<p>During my leisure time, I used to prepare some pamphlets in the topic of courses I always wanted to teach. Each, full of examples and solved problems which I designed and solved myself, not photocopying from books and papers; that are so helpful to the engineering students.</p>
<p>If one day, I have the chance to teach in a TA class, is it ethical to ask the students to read my prepared materials too? Or the teaching assistant should only solve the problems of the reference book which is told by the professor of the course?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24569,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Your role as a teaching assistant is to further the educational goals of the course (as determined by the instructor and/or the department). </p>\n\n<p>If encouraging your students to read these materials furthers the educational goals of the course, then you should do so. If not, then you shouldn't.</p>\n\n<p>Since the instructor and/or the department determines what the educational goals of the class <em>are</em>, you should check with them first, and use your extra material only with their approval. (Besides for the issue of making sure your material is consistent with the goals of the course, it also makes sense for them to be aware of what is going on.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24584,
"author": "Dylan Stephano-Shachter",
"author_id": 18365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18365",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The above answer is good but I would like to add one thing. If you are a TA in one section of a larger class make sure that you are being fair. Your students should not be receiving significantly more work than students in other sections, especially when one curve is applied to all sections. That being said, optional material is also helpful (although not as much as required meterial).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24568",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
24,576 |
<p>Recently, our group is trying to reproduce the result reported by a paper whose authors are from an Ivy league university. We are unable to reproduce the results because there are several implementation details are not mentioned in the paper. Hence, we decide to write the first author, who is now already a faculty member in another university, an email.</p>
<p>At first, we asked for the code, which we consider is perfectly fine, as the paper has been published. We feel the code in a published paper is no longer a secret in this transparent research era where reproducibility is highly valued. However, he simply ignored our email (3+ weeks, no response).</p>
<p>Then, we thought, OK, seems that he is reluctant to share the code, so let's just ask him to clarify several implementation details so that we can implement the thing ourselves and hopefully, we can reproduce the result. So, we sent a second email which very clearly asks for clarifications. Again, he ignored the email (1.5 weeks+, no response).</p>
<p>We now feel angry and start suspecting the authenticity of their reported results. However, we cannot accuse them of anything, since we are not able to prove that they cheated, which would be a felony if they really did.</p>
<p>We always feel that upon the publication of a paper, its authors, or at least the correspondence author, hold responsible for any inquiries regarding the paper, especially when the authenticity is being doubted. What they chose to do - ignoring our email - is really irresponsible.</p>
<p>What can we do?</p>
<h1>Disclaimer</h1>
<p>Thanks for the answers and comments! It is interesting that many start besieging me on my "bad" attitude in the email. </p>
<p>Just to clarify, </p>
<ol>
<li>I wrote perfectly polite emails to the correspondence author;</li>
<li>I have <strong>NOT</strong> questioned his results or whatsoever.</li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24579,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>We always feel that upon the publication of a paper, its authors, or\n at least the correspondence author, hold responsible for any inquiries\n regarding the paper, especially when the authenticity is being\n doubted.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Did you actually state that you do not believe in the results of the paper? If yes, this is disrespectful and plain rude. And most people ignore rude remarks from strangers in the internet. When requesting the help of any other human being, you should be polite and cautious. Also, in Academia you must be very careful when you refer to someone's work. Especially his PUBLISHED work. Because that means that the scientific community has already accepted his claims and you are the one who must prove that his results are wrong and not the other way around (if you ever get published on this subject which be hard to do without his help). So, acknowledge the fact that he has nothing to prove and he will be doing you a favor if he accepts to share his code.</p>\n\n<p>Also, think of the possibility that he does not want to share his code. It is his code after all (and not public domain) and he still has the right to keep it for his personal use. He may also plan to expand on his work and sharing the code prematurely deprives him of the 3 months - 1 year time-advantage over you, since you still have to implement it yourself before expanding on the current state-of-the-art, i.e., his work. In this case, provide him with an alternative. Say that you are willing to send him your datasets and if he agrees to do the experiments for you and report to you his results, it should be good enough for 90% of the cases and everyone is happy. You have the necessary data to compare against your method and he did not have to share his code, which is a logical compromise.</p>\n\n<p>Also, academia is a place that you need to use your social skills. You need collaborators and not enemies / antagonists. In that sense, ask for help politely and expect that NO is a very possible answer on the other party. Also, if he is an established researcher and you are not (perhaps you are famous too - I do not know) there is the case that he ignored the email, because he simply does not even know who you are, what you do and how you will use his code. Usually, telling little things about yourself in the introductory email, sending a link to your personal homepage and google scholar profile, suffices not to consider you a crank and reply to you.</p>\n\n<p>Also, sometimes the first author is a graduate student and the student might not want to share his code because he feels threatened. So, check all the authors profiles. See who is the most senior in the paper and CC him as well in your emails. In that case, the senior professor might encourage the student to share his code despite his objections. Either way, it cannot do you any harm. </p>\n\n<p>As you see, there are multiple reasons why he did not reply to your email. Also a little flattery works on most of the cases. Note that in a sense you find this work fascinating because otherwise you would not struggle to improve it. It is not bad to say so and usually this kind of politeness opens more doors and is more useful in the long term. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24594,
"author": "brian d foy",
"author_id": 18375,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18375",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>How do you know he ignored the email?</p>\n\n<p>Maybe he never received it because it was filtered before he had a chance to see it. Maybe he hasn't read his email this month because he's on vacation. Maybe that email address was good when the paper is published but not good now, but it's also not bouncing. </p>\n\n<p>If one channel of communication doesn't work, try a different one. Call his office phone or send a letter to him. Write to a different author saying you've been trying to reach the corresponding author without success and you want to check the email address. Don't assume anything when you have no information.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25673,
"author": "Dr Pangloss",
"author_id": 6556,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6556",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I just want to address one minor point:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>At first, we asked for the code, which we consider is perfectly fine, as the paper has been published. We feel the code in a published paper is no longer a secret in this transparent research era where reproducibility is highly valued.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It does not matter what your feelings are but rather what is the policy of the journal the article was published. Some journals require disclosure of data or source code but others do not. Also if the research was funded by the NSF there maybe mandatory disclosures policy. I suggest you to see if this is the case.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24576",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8079/"
] |
24,577 |
<p>I really love research. I started a research project in graduate school for my M.A. in English. My research topic is a very viable and interesting topic for a dissertation. I'll be 60 on my next birthday and I know that many Ph.D programs are traditionally geared toward younger students.I was wondering are there any programs that I can continue this research in without facing the issues of ageism in academia?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24580,
"author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten",
"author_id": 440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My father got his Ph.D. (from a highly respected department at a major university) in his late fifties. I brought my regalia to his graduation. There were also two grad students in their fifties in the same program I was in. One was puttering along at his own pace and on his own funds, but the other had a funded position and was working under the same time pressure as the rest of us.</p>\n\n<p>Some departments may effectively limit funded positions to younger applicants, but there is no magic number after which people won't accept you.</p>\n\n<p>If that is what you want to do, then do it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24582,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my opinion, there is no age limit for doing academic research. As far as it seems you have sufficient academic background, so prepare your resume and send your request to the universities. Do not prejudge your application. </p>\n\n<p>By searching the admissions pages of the universities' websites, I found that the only age limit may be that some applicants under a specific age are not accepted, for instance, students younger that 16; but there also some exceptions exist. </p>\n\n<p>Further more, in the application pages, the applicants with disabilities (because of age, accidents, born with disabilities, etc.) still have the chance to apply for their desired programs and their disability does not prevent them from doing his research. In our university, I have seen two or three blind students doing MSc research. So, you see even that these rare problems do not affect applicant chance as they have strong education and research background.</p>\n\n<p>Examine your chance and let the admission committee decide to accept you or not. But first work a little on your research topic which you are interested to work on and prepare a proposal or something expressing the things in your mind. Then prepare your resume and gather all your work and research background in. After all, be realistic and choose the university program which suits you more. If you can provide financial support for your PhD, this may boost your chance up. Furthermore, based on your research proposal; choose the university in which the professors are working in your field. That is why I am saying be realistic. Choose the programs wisely that are not far from your research interest.</p>\n\n<p>There are good answers in this question <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17430/will-my-age-affect-my-chances-of-finding-a-funded-phd-position\">Will my age affect my chances of finding a funded PhD position?</a>, but I do not think that your question is a duplicate of that one. </p>\n\n<p>Also, <a href=\"http://chrisblattman.com/2013/06/12/when-are-you-too-old-for-a-phd/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">in this post</a>, you see that the age may not be the first concern of the admission committee. This is part of the writer's answer to a question which is almost near your concern.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[...] Frankly, though, I don’t think this is a first-order concern for an admissions committee, who are mostly concerned with your raw intellectual potential and ability to produce distinguished research.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In the other part, the writer says:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[...] If someone is 28 <strong>or older</strong>, with a previous career, an admission committee will probably reflect on whether that experience is going to contribute to or detract from the person’s research potential, and what the career switch says about a person’s focus. <strong>So a lot will depend on your specific story and experience.</strong></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Also, in the page <a href=\"http://gradschool.about.com/cs/shouldyougo/a/now.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Should You Take Time Off Before Applying to Graduate School?</a> you can find good advices on your question.</p>\n\n<p>The only problem you may face because of the age may be the chance of applying for a fund may decrease but I have no citation for this and because of your high level of academic background, you may face no problem for fund or scholarship.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><strong>I am writing this part after a while:</strong></p>\n\n<p>I was searching the Academia website and found many questions in which users have talked about the similar questions to yours. I am not saying that yours is a duplicate of them, but I think that reading those questions and answers may help you to better shape an answer for your own question.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/902/age-and-graduate-school\">Age and Graduate school</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10396/am-i-too-old-for-academia-after-a-phd?lq=1\">Am I too old for academia after a PhD?</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3426/how-old-is-too-old-for-a-phd?lq=1\">How old is too old for a PhD?</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5082/how-important-is-age-in-cs-phd-admissions?lq=1\">How important is age in CS phd admissions?</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17430/will-my-age-affect-my-chances-of-finding-a-funded-phd-position?lq=1\">Will my age affect my chances of finding a funded PhD position?</a></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24583,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A guy at my old department had just started his PhD when I left. He retired from his old job, travelled from the USA to New Zealand with his wife, and started his PhD. He is about your age.</p>\n\n<p>Granted, I don't think he intends to try an academic career. That would be difficult. But there's no such thing as <em>too old</em> to start your PhD.</p>\n\n<p>A professor who judges you solely on your age <em>is one you don't want to work for.</em> If you're in the Arts, funding is always tough so don't be disheartened too quickly. If you are able to fund yourself, you'll probably have the luxury of being able to study for your PhD almost anywhere and under whichever professor you want.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24595,
"author": "user18374",
"author_id": 18374,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18374",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I received my PhD last year at 54 years old. It took me eight years part time while I worked full time. I had taken classes in the 1980s at Drexel in Philadelphia and remembered a 60 yr old PhD candidate. So Drexel seemed 100% friendly. I also did not want to be favored and they did that well also. I was in engineering and the main focus was to publish. I suspect various schools will gladly meet with you in info meetings and in person (as they did with me).\nYou are basically offering free hard labor for them. There will be some who will be happy to work with you if you focus on the work and publishing (co-author). If you publish, then you are probably \"in\" and the work counts. I know little about English and similar majors but I think this applies. BTW: it was very hard.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25669,
"author": "Patricia Shanahan",
"author_id": 10220,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10220",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I completed my Ph.D. in computer science at UCSD in 2009, when I was 60 years old. I don't think being a few years older than that would have made any difference.</p>\n\n<p>The only problem I had in the application process was a limited space for the statement of purpose that was also required to contain a list of every job I had held since getting my bachelor's degree - in 1970. I was able to use my industry contact network to get to talk with three of the faculty before my application went in. I don't know whether that helped.</p>\n\n<p>I felt a little bit disconnected from the social life of my fellow students, not just directly because of the age difference. Many of them had recently moved to San Diego, and so only knew other students. I had been living in the area since 1975, and had an established network of friends who share my non-technical interests. Most of them were living in dorm rooms or shared apartments, on or near campus. I had a home about 10 miles from campus. I went to a few parties, but mainly continued my pre-student social life.</p>\n\n<p>===============================================</p>\n\n<p>I think I included above most of the information about my experiences that applies to this question.</p>\n\n<p>I had entirely different reasons for doing a Ph.D. I was already doing work of comparable difficulty and creativity to a doctoral dissertation project, but in an environment where the result was patents and products, rather than papers. I had had to choose between an academic and an industry career when I was about 25, and had picked industry. After selling some stock options in 2000, I realized I had the option of trying out the other path.</p>\n\n<p>After completing my doctorate, I took a year off to celebrate, and enjoyed it so much that I decided to retire permanently. I did not seriously consider continuing an academic career. If I had looked for work, it would have been a pure technical job. My industry employers, at least since I moved to California in 1975, had each had a technical promotion track, parallel to but separate from the management track. As far as I can tell, universities require professors to do teaching and administration, as well as research.</p>\n\n<p>Although I picked an entirely different subject for my dissertation, my long term field of interest is the logical design of multiprocessor interconnects. Critical technical work for a large server design cannot be done half-heartedly - it requires an intense commitment to spending whatever time and effort it takes to get the product working and into customers' hands. I'm enjoying luxuries like time for travel, horseback riding a couple of days a week, crafts and hobbies...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25698,
"author": "Ruslan",
"author_id": 19443,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19443",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that is absurd! Age is nothing but a number.</p>\n<p>Who is to say that you are too old? The other students? The faculty? Who are they to make that distinction? You are the only one who lives your own life and who makes it out to what you want it to be. If you want to pursue a Ph.D. at 60, that is nothing but honorable and it will only make your life better by allowing you to do what you want.</p>\n<p>Hey, maybe you are at just the perfect age, and all the other kids in your program are too young?</p>\n<p>Personally, it just pains me very deeply when people limit themselves because of some imaginary "social norms". Some routine self-destructive lifestyle justifications that people love to give, such as</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>"I am going to stay in this terrible marriage, because divorce is frowned upon"</p>\n<p>"I hate medicine, but I am going to become a doctor anyway, because that will allow me to become a respectable member of this society as well as appease my parents"</p>\n<p>"I want to buy a dog, but am unsure how will my neighbors react"</p>\n<p>etc.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>have no effects on peoples' lives other than wreckage, with the sole purpose of appeasing the opinions of others (with (note!) absolutely no benefit whatsoever for themselves). No one out there will live your life for you (I am sure you understand that by your age). "Social norms" were established to maintain order and create imaginary boundaries; for example, the core historical purpose of politeness (in the form of respect for a person who is of a higher social rank than you) is simply to make sure that the peasantry "knows their place"; self-deprivation measures, such as the all-glorified "self-control" and "moderation" among the wealthy, were also put in place to keep the upper classes on a pedestal (and thus prevent the possibility of them, for example, appearing drunk in public, etc., so that the lower classes would look at them as betters instead of equals). It's nothing but social engineering at its finest (perfected over millennia).</p>\n<p>Now, where do you fit into this whole picture? Are you really going to sacrifice your own happiness because someone out there said that you are too old to do what you want? Because you are "too old" to be happy? Who are they to have the authoritative word? Maybe you feel that they are too young to be happy... Why does their word weigh more?</p>\n<p>I once read a beautiful story about an 80-something-year-old woman who realized that throughout her entire life, she despised the career that she had. At 80, she decided to forget all social stereotypes, and enrolled into a university to get her bachelor's degree in something that she always wanted to do. She succeeded, and spent a few years doing something she dreamt of since her childhood (I forget what the exact field was, and I forget the name of the woman; I'd be happy to look it up if you are interested, though).</p>\n<p>As a matter of fact, there are plenty of 70-year-old hippies and 50-year-old clubbers out there, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that if that is what makes them happy. Society can judge all they want... People will always judge. Because that is what people with too much time on their hands do. They sit, and judge. Because they are so unhappy with their own lives. And frankly, if everyone listened to them, no one would ever be happy and no one would ever achieve anything.</p>\n<p>It is absolutely never too late to do anything! Don't let some crowd's musings, let alone something as superficial as some imaginary "social norms", dictate whether you have a right to be happy. You have a right to be happy and pursue any purpose you wish. It is your inalienable right.</p>\n<p>You are only given one life. And its yours, no one else's. We all write our own book. Make yours out what you want it to be. After all, it's only the best that any of us can really do. At life's end, all social norms, material wealth, and others' opinions and judgements, will not matter. The only thing that will matter are the memories that you created and the moments of happiness that you enjoyed; that's really the only thing we can take with us to whatever is next (and if there is nothing next, than at least it is something we can cherish it and bask in on our death beds). It's the only thing in this world that is truly ours. Don't ever let anyone take that away from you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25735,
"author": "Gremlin Brenneman",
"author_id": 9176,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9176",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Platitudes and hope are nice, but the reality is that the outcome of your situation depends on many variables: your field, your experience, your financial situation (can you support yourself?), the institutions to which you are applying, and your current set of skills (which go to your preparedness for a PhD level program). Any one of these factors can significantly impact your chances for admission. Unfortunately, in your case, you have to add to that mix, age discrimination, which does exist. Given the glut of very qualified international students in the sciences and budget cutbacks in this arts, this is something to be aware of going into the admissions process. Because there are not that many +50 yr old adults going back for their PhD, there is not as much data to go on, just a lot of anecdotal evidence (that doesn't contain most of the people who <em>didn't</em> make it). But age can be an advantage if you can show that it has translated into maturity, seriousness of purpose, and a true love of your discipline. Proper preparation demonstrates this to the admissions committee. </p>\n\n<p>First, research those schools of interest to you. I'd look at whether they have older grad students and if there is a concentration of profs in your area of interest.</p>\n\n<p>Second, contact the professors personally and talk to them. Making a personal connection can be an important in your application process: you are not just candidate X, but that nice person from so and so who drove all the way out here to get more information and see if they were suitable for our program. Professors higher up on the food chain improve your chances. Are they currently interested in taking on students at this time? Are they still doing research in this field? Do they seem to like you and have an interest in potentially having you as a student?</p>\n\n<p>Third, prepare as much as you can. If you need to get a good GRE score, make sure you put in the time and money you need to prepare sufficiently. Take upper level courses at a local university: you can get references from those profs and this provides evidence that you can endure a PhD program. If you can squeeze in some teaching experience, consider doing so. Volunteering to help tutor or participating in English related activities (like debate team) at a local high school broadens your network,shows you enjoy helping students, and gives you experience on your resume. Even being an online tutor for 5 hrs/week may help. </p>\n\n<p>Fourth, be persistent.If you don't get in this year, do more to prepare yourself better and apply next year. Persistence is a key attribute of a true researcher and does not go unnoticed. </p>\n\n<p>That being said, I'm starting my MS at 52 and will probably go on for a PhD, but I think it takes some planning on your part to insure you will get into a decent program. </p>\n\n<p>Good Luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25769,
"author": "Franck Dernoncourt",
"author_id": 452,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here are some statistics on Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities in 2009:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/8pP01.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p>from <a href=\"http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/doctorates/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2009</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Data presented in <em>Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2009</em>\n were collected by the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). The survey is\n sponsored by six federal agencies: the National Science Foundation\n (NSF), U.S. Department of Education (USED), National Aeronautics and\n Space Administration (NASA), National Endowment for the Humanities\n (NEH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and U.S. Department of\n Agriculture (USDA). This year's edition of the report presents the\n summary of these survey data in new online and print formats, and the\n report title has changed slightly. Previous reports were titled in the\n series <em>Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: Summary Report</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf11306/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">./SED_2009/data/tab24.xls</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Since the NSF often blow their links, data back up as CSV:</p>\n\n<pre><code>\"TABLE 24. Median age of doctorate recipients, by broad field of study, sex, citizenship, and race/ethnicity: 2009\",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n\"Field of study and \ndemographic characteristics\",\"Median age\nat doctoratea (years)\",,% distribution (in age),,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n,,,All,25 and under,26–30,31–35,36–40,41–45,Over 45,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nAll fieldsb,32.2, ,100.0,0.6,38.9,30.4,13.5,6.0,10.5,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nLife sciencesc,31.3, ,100.0,0.4,45.9,32.0,11.1,3.9,6.7,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nPhysical sciencesd,30.2, ,100.0,1.3,56.7,29.0,8.2,2.6,2.2,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nSocial sciencese,32.4, ,100.0,0.4,37.5,32.6,15.1,6.0,8.4,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nEngineering,30.5, ,100.0,1.2,54.0,30.3,9.1,2.6,2.7,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nEducation,40.5, ,100.0,0.1,10.1,21.4,20.2,13.6,34.6,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nHumanities,34.5, ,100.0,D,21.0,37.7,19.1,9.0,13.0,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nOther non-S&E fields,36.1, ,100.0,D,18.0,31.2,20.7,11.6,18.1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nSex,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nMale,32.0, ,100.0,0.7,40.5,31.9,13.8,5.7,7.4,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nFemale,32.6, ,100.0,0.5,37.2,28.7,13.1,6.4,14.1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nCitizenship,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nU.S. citizen or permanent resident,32.7, ,100.0,0.6,38.0,26.3,13.6,7.1,14.4,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nTemporary visa holder,31.7, ,100.0,0.7,41.0,39.7,13.2,3.6,1.8,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n\"Race/ethnicity (U.S. citizens and \n permanent residents)\",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nAmerican Indian/Alaska Native,38.0, ,100.0,D,23.6,20.8,17.4,8.3,29.2,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nAsian,31.8, ,100.0,1.1,40.6,32.0,14.0,5.9,6.4,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nBlack,36.7, ,100.0,D,24.3,22.6,18.5,10.7,23.7,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nHispanicf,34.1, ,100.0,0.3,29.3,30.9,15.2,7.7,16.6,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nWhite,32.3, ,100.0,0.5,39.7,25.6,12.9,6.8,14.3,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nTwo or more races,32.3, ,100.0,0.8,40.8,27.9,13.3,6.2,11.0,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nD = suppressed to avoid disclosure of confidential information. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\na Includes only doctorate recipients with a valid year of birth.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n\"b Includes those of unknown citizenship, unknown race/ethnicity, and Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders not shown separately.\",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n\"c Includes agricultural sciences/natural resources, biological/biomedical sciences, and health sciences.\",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\nd Includes mathematics and computer and information sciences.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\ne Includes psychology.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n\"f Persons reporting Hispanic ethnicity, whether singly or in combination with one or more races, are included in the respondent-selected Hispanic ethnicity \ncategory.\",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n\"NOTE: Due to rounding, the sum of percentages may not equal to 100. \",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n\"SOURCE: NSF/NIH/USED/USDA/NEH/NASA, 2009 Survey of Earned Doctorates.\",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\n</code></pre>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27458,
"author": "Jonathon Cowley-Thom",
"author_id": 20892,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20892",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't believe that 60 is too old to study for a doctorate - or anything else for that matter. While I don't know your situation personally, I'd suggest that most 60 year olds are better placed in life to commit to a PhD than younger people are because generally a 60 year old is more likely to have the necessary financial wherewithal to do it.</p>\n\n<p>You are unlikely to face ageism in most programs of study in my experience.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24577",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18359/"
] |
24,592 |
<p>I did my bachelor at university A in which Prof. X supervised my graduation project. I asked him for a recommendation when I was applying to university B for masters and he wrote me a great one. That was a year and a half ago, and now I am applying for PhD at university C. I need his recommendation again but I feel bad for not emailing him for a long time. I don't know how to write my email. I don't want to jump directly for the recommendation. Could you share your suggestions on what to write ?? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24598,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>After a decade of teaching, I get these quite often. While people use a variety of styles, the one that I am most responsive to is:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Initial formal e-mail asking me if I remember them (with hints such as \"I was the student who wrote the thesis on faster-than-light dog walking\"), then telling me what they've been doing for the past X years (with a recent CV or resume as an attachment), and transitioning to their desire to move on to a new career or grad school and asking me if I could write a letter of recc for them. Close with an offer to talk on the phone (or come up to campus) to help refresh their memory of them.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Once you get the ok, make it as easy as possible for me to write the letter. If there are things you want me to emphasize, be blunt about saying it (\"Please don't mention the folly of FTL dog-walking\" or \"Please emphasize my familiarity with temporal dilation and astrophysics\"). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24599,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If someone has already written you a recommendation letter in the past and you want them to write another one, the key question is: has the old letter become obsolete, or can it (in essential content, anyway) still be used?</p>\n\n<p>If the answer to the above question is <em>yes</em>, I think you're golden: just thank the professor for writing the recommendation before and ask them if they are willing to write an updated copy. They will have the same question as above, so be clear to them that you are not looking for them to say anything they haven't already said. </p>\n\n<p>If the answer is <em>no</em> -- significant updating is required -- then it becomes a \"bigger ask\". If the additional information is something that you feel like you can faithfully supply to them in the form of written documents -- e.g. updated CV, new papers -- then you should enclose them along with your email request. If you really need a qualitatively different letter, then an in-person visit is probably in order, and if that seems impractical and/or doesn't go well, then perhaps you should really be looking for someone more <em>au courant</em> to be writing your letter.</p>\n\n<p>In your case, I suspect that the affirmative is more likely to apply: at least in my field and location (mathematics in the United States) applying for a master's program is essentially identical to applying for a PhD program. Even assuming you did a master's degree, getting a letter from someone who only interacted with you as an undergrad and who only addresses your undergraduate career would be totally appropriate. (You should however try to get at least one letter from your most recent program or job, if at all possible.) In this case, the letter is likely to begin by mentioning that the professor's interactions with you were limited to the undergraduate program at his university and mention that he can't speak to your master's program but that someone else will. After that he can really cut and paste the former letter, if he likes. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I don't know how to write my email. I don't want to jump directly for the recommendation. Could you share your suggestions on what to write ?? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If I have learned one thing in my time on this site, it is that the world is a big place and there are relatively few universal tenets of academic culture. But in the part of academia I am familiar with (again, mathematics in the United States), your request for an additional letter is absolutely standard. I would not view a year and a half as a \"long time\" -- as I mentioned above, the determining factor is not the number of years that have passed but to what extent the letter needs / is desired to be updated: that's what takes up the professor's time and effort -- nor do I see lack of contact in the interim as anything to be embarrassed about in the slightest. By not jumping directly to the recommendation request you risk taking up a busy person's valuable time by giving them more text to read. I would begin with a short paragraph of the \"Hello there? Remember me? I hope you are well\" variety -- two or three sentences would be sufficient. And then yes -- jump to the recommendation request. Writing these letters -- and rewriting them in the intervening years -- is part of our job, after all.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25671,
"author": "user296844",
"author_id": 18207,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18207",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>How about (drum roll) the truth?</p>\n\n<p>Paraphrasing you:\n\"Thanks for the recommendation letter you wrote me when I was applying to university B for masters. [Tell him how it went and what you did.]\nNow I am applying for PhD at university C, and I want to ask your recommendation again, but I feel bad for not emailing you for a long time.\"</p>\n\n<p>Continue from then on. He may be good people and help you out. What's the big deal? Piece of advice: stop thinking of (lowercase) professors as the aristocrats of knowledge. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24592",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18244/"
] |
24,601 |
<p>How does one address a doctoral candidate who completed all his/here requirements except the dissertation? Would they be referred to as Doctor? Or is there another title?</p>
<p>In the past, I believe I've seen "ABD" added as a postnominal in a signature. For example, "John Doe, ABD". But I don't believe I recall reading how to address such an individual.</p>
<p>Related discussions (thanks Nate (or is it Doctor?)):</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9925/when-can-you-call-yourself-doctor">When can you call yourself doctor?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8291/proper-way-to-address-yourself">Proper way to address yourself</a></li>
</ul>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 24602,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Address them the same way you would address any other person without a doctorate: e.g. in many English-speaking cultures, "Mr. Smith", "Ms. Jones", "Mx. Brown", or if you are on friendly terms, by their first name.</p>\n<p>If they have <em>successfully defended</em> their dissertation but not actually received the degree, this is a bit of a gray area (see <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9925/when-can-you-call-yourself-doctor\">When can you call yourself doctor?</a>) but I think "Dr. Brown" is reasonable.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25599,
"author": "Ben Voigt",
"author_id": 8705,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8705",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/10972/8705\">Such a person is entitled to be recognized as a \"PhD Candidate\"</a>, which would follow the name and probably mention the department or emphasis (\"PhD Candidate in Electrical Engineering\" in my case). This might be used in a signature block or a biographical sketch.</p>\n\n<p>There is no special honorific to use antecedent to the name, as Nate has already told you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34758,
"author": "user26987",
"author_id": 26987,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26987",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Before I post my comment I strongly caution one to review the institutional policy regarding this topic. In some program and student code of conduct policies credentialing and use of titles prior to the awarding of the full degree is grounds for dismissal from the program.</p>\n\n<p>Having been ABD for longer than I should have been I can tell you it is not something I wanted to advertise. It was more like an albatross when I was required to report annually on my progress.</p>\n\n<p>In an earlier post the term “candidate” was discussed. This would be appropriate when presented in a vitae or resume in the educational section for degree not yet completed along with the anticipated completion date. </p>\n\n<p>Example: </p>\n\n<p>XYZ University City, State\nPh.D. Management (Candidate, 2016)</p>\n\n<p>My advice is to finish the dissertation and earn the degree. The satisfaction of being called Dr. or adding the letters in your signature is far less important than the actual work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 52307,
"author": "Scott Seidman",
"author_id": 20457,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20457",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>\"ABD\" is just silly, IMO, and I'd avoid using it like the plague. To me, it carries nothing but negative connotation. </p>\n\n<p>First, defending a dissertation is too big to be an \"all but\". It's the culmination of a serious academic experience. I've seen plenty of students get to that point only to have the degree disappear.</p>\n\n<p>Next, the dissertation and the defense is a big step. Not being able to get your act together to write and defend when you're at the \"all but\" stage is a sign to academics that something is not quite right.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, even if everything is going perfectly, and you've completed the research and writing it up will take the normal amount of time, then using an artificial title makes it look like you're anxious to have a title.</p>\n\n<p>Long story short, when you start, use \"Ph.D. student\". When you've been advanced to candidacy, use \"Ph.D. candidate\", because that's what you are. I'll stick my neck out and say that when you've successfully defended and dealt with any corrections and revisions your committee wants handled, but you're just waiting for a ceremony, it might be OK to use Ph.D., but I'd leave it out, and on my CV I'd list Ph.D., with the date defended and the date the degree will be conferred.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 59341,
"author": "dwoz",
"author_id": 38642,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38642",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>in \"real life\" you'd refer to that person with an honorarium of \"ABD\" as \"hey, you over there!\" \"yeah...you with the funny hair.\"</p>\n\n<p>i.e. almost really really is only valid in horse shoes and hand-grenades.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24601",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
25,607 |
<p>Is it better to wear formal clothes for a PhD or MSc thesis defense or can we wear something as simple as a T-shirt?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25612,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Almost anything will be fine, provided you feel comfortable on them. The clothes you are wearing will influence the first impression, but you are going to be talking about your project for at least 20 min, and the confidence and clarity will wipe whatever the first idea was. Make sure they are you feel good on them, and don't use them for the first time this day in case they itch or something (specially important for underwear!).</p>\n\n<p>The <em>right</em> level of formalism is very dependent on the culture and setting, but it is probably not so important. It will also depend on whether the event is public or not: if the audience are going to be the people that have been seeing you in normal clothes all year round, or if the public is going to attend and the University wants to shine.\n Of course, a frock and a top hat or just a swimming suit will look ridiculous, but anywhere in the middle would work.</p>\n\n<p>For reference, \nI have been present to two PhD defences in Sweden (where they are quite lax in formalities). In one, the doctorand was wearing plain business-like clothes, slightly more formal than a normal day; in the other, he was wearing a normal shirt, quite <em>less</em> formal than his normal attire. And, for the record, both passed.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Edit:</strong>\nJigg is right in pointing that some universities do require a certain dress code. In this case, it will probably be clearly stated by the centre. Being rejected is possible, but extremely unlikely, as it can get the university in all sorts of legal troubles. Also, these regulations can get to <a href=\"http://www.toytowngermany.com/lofi/index.php/t98957.html\">absurd levels</a> (the story seems to be a legend, but the third comment may be legit).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34499,
"author": "Des",
"author_id": 26783,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26783",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Think of it as a job interview, but actually much more important than that. There is such a thing as unconscious bias - first impressions count and you should therefore aim to make a good one. If you look professional, then they will think you are professional, and are more likely to trust and believe in you. It may not be fair, but that is how it is. I recommend being smartly dressed.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34516,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You <em>can</em> wear something as informal as a t-shirt and, as others have said, it probably won't swing the decision one way or another. I've seen very informal defense dress from passing students. That said, <strong>most people dress up <em>at least</em> slightly more formally than normal and many wear business attire.</strong> If you're extremely uncomfortable or resistant to dressing up, don't worry too much. Otherwise: Why not?</p>\n\n<p>Showing up wearing a suit and tie or similarly formal business attire is a strong signal that you are taking the defense seriously. Although they're not everything, first impressions matter and formal dress can also help you look (and feel) authoritative, knowledgeable, and a way you can show that you've taken the time to be prepared.</p>\n\n<p>I am extremely casual on a day-to-day basis but I wore a suit for my defense. Although my own advisor teased me that my defense was the first time he'd seen me dressed up, the fact that he knew that I rarely dressed that way made it very clear how seriously I took the process. Would I have passed anyway? Sure. But even if the effect is one person challenges you a little bit less in the Q&A, that could be worth it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34519,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In job interviews it's actually a mistake to dress up fully formally for jobs (like software) that don't require it. Your grad student culture has a range probably from t-shirts to business casual.</p>\n\n<p>I do think it's important to say, \"Hey, I'm taking this seriously, this is a serious occasion, and I'm prepared.\" Comfort is the other important thing.</p>\n\n<p>In one sentence, wear something in the top third of your wardrobe, but not in the top tenth. Smarter/sharper is good, fancy pants dinner or gala attire is bad.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, here's my attempt at male fashion advice (sorry, I can't really help the women here too much) if you really do feel like a more detailed breakdown will help you.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Street shoes (c.f. sneakers)</li>\n<li>dark wash jeans or slacks</li>\n<li>collared shirt tucked in, or similar such as nice sweater</li>\n<li>belt</li>\n<li>neatly shaven to your level of grooming (beard or clean okay, just whatever\nyou wear)</li>\n<li>not looking like you \"need a haircut\" but don't get a fancy or special haircut. Wear your normal accessories, whether it be watch or necklace. </li>\n<li>If tattoos are part of your look they've got you this far, don't worry about covering them or not (\"within reason\").</li>\n<li>Try not to look like a sloppy student who <em>never</em> dresses up: wear clothes straight from the cleaner.</li>\n<li>A tie if you like, in my mind I picture that as a nice addition but not necessary.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I think a jacket is too much: it will make you look too \"other\" compared to the professors. If you over-dress you will make yourself look \"on the spot\" more than you already are, and who wants that?</p>\n\n<p>This might sound too analytical for fashion (unless you're really into fashion in which case it sounds fun!), but this shouldn't sound daunting. Just dress normal, normal, normal, nice. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25607",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
25,608 |
<p>I'm looking for PhD positions and I just recently came across an option in Germany. This team is working on a subject that is very really truly interesting for me. I want to write to the head of the team to express my interest and ask if there is a chance for me to do my PhD in their team.</p>
<p>Now here is the issue: Should I mention the fact that what they are doing is my dream? In all honesty, I like my current field and what they are doing is where my field and my dream intersect. But should I express this fact?</p>
<p>I'm afraid if I mention that this program is my <em>dream PhD</em> it will be interpreted as a gesture of hypocrisy, while at the same time I think it is important to emphasis on my passion for the subject.</p>
<p>If adding my feelings regarding the field of research is <em>not</em> a bad practice, how far should go with it? It would be great if you support your answers with some examples.</p>
<hr>
<p>P.S. To add to the dilemma, they have just won a very big grant and this increases the fear of wrong interpretation of my statements.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25609,
"author": "Maarten Buis",
"author_id": 14471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14471",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>To express that you are motivated is a good thing. The difficulty is getting the \"tone\" right. This is in part a cultural problem. If you are not German and you happen to know someone who is, then you could ask her or him to read your letter and see if you get the right message across. It would be even better if that person is also from the same discipline, as cultures also tend to differ between disciplines.</p>\n\n<p>In general I would keep this part short and to the point. If you have a specific reason why this is your dream (and it is not too personal) than it might help to mention that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25610,
"author": "choener",
"author_id": 8826,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8826",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Keep it short and to the point (following advice in similar questions on this site). In particular, since you want to move into a different (sub-)field, state the work you did in your current field (especially published work, if any), and point toward key courses you have taken that would be advantageous.</p>\n\n<p>Say you did computer vision with a published paper, state that, but also state that you have taken courses in biology if you want to do a PhD in bioinformatics.</p>\n\n<p>I wouldn't care that it is your 'dream', I suppose that every potential student is strongly motivated to do their PhD. So don't 'waste' precious space stating it.</p>\n\n<p>(The last line is my personal opinion, obviously, but at least I'm german ;-) )</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25628,
"author": "Admiral",
"author_id": 19399,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19399",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just having strong interest in a specific topic wouldn't justify your application in Germany. It is a norm in Germany that one's interest in a specific field is judged by his/her previous achievements in that particular field.<br>\nMy sincere suggestion is that don't waste your precious space in the application letter/email, by boasting about the interest. Rather, try to sell your previous achievements.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25797,
"author": "h22",
"author_id": 10920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10920",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It may be good to express positive personal feelings, just keep it short and do not make the main argument why would they need you in their team. </p>\n\n<p>It is better to avoid negative feelings of any kind in applications (about your current position, etc).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25608",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12666/"
] |
25,613 |
<p>Is it advisable to do a short (2-3months) visit to a different lab at a different university while doing a PhD? I would think that it would be good for setting up collaborations, but would a PhD supervisor be against this due to the time that would be lost doing so? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25614,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I did several months over summer and winter breaks at a US Department of Energy national lab during my PhD. It was my advisor's idea. I worked on things of mutual interest to us and the lab. It certainly didn't slow me down. I didn't end up working for the lab, but I keep those connections to this day.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25624,
"author": "penelope",
"author_id": 4249,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4249",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I am actually currently just preparing for such a collaboration/internship/exchange (leaving after summer). From day 1 of my PhD (both) my supervisors said that we should definitely look for such an opportunity during my second year.</p>\n<p>Both of my supervisor think it is not a bad idea, moreover, they both think it is something <strong>very important given several restrictions</strong>:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p>that you do it around the middle of your PhD.</p>\n<p>This is important because in the beginning, you're still new to the topic and trying to get a grip on everything important. You can not "give" almost anything back to the lab you are visiting, so it is not a fair exchange.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>the project (3 months in my case), is something directly related to my PhD</p>\n<p>Not just "has similarities", but maybe a sub-problem of the research direction I am currently on anyway due to my PhD. It is also important (mostly, for the grants), that it is something that the target laboratory is better suited for/equipped/has more experts than your own institution.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>that it is around 3-4 months</p>\n<p>The point is, much shorter than that, and it becomes a purely social / networking visit where you can possibly present your research in person and have other people present theirs, but not much more. On the other hand, more than 4 months will indeed be too long, as I am not expected to spend much more than that on a single idea even when I am working in my lab.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p>So, these were the restrictions. The <strong>benefits</strong>, however, are much more numerous:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>obviously, <strong>networking</strong>. Especially if you plan to stay in academia, developing your own network of contacts as soon as possible is very important.</li>\n<li><strong>exchanging ideas</strong>. In addition to papers, presenting your own (and your labs) work in person is another way to disseminate ideas. Also, being exposed to different people, different approaches and different ideas might just jog some clogs that would otherwise take much longer to click in place.</li>\n<li>strengthening the <strong>collaboration (between the participating laboratories)</strong>: in a sense, you became an "ambassador" from your own institution to the host institution. A successful internship will be good for you, but it can also hold a lot of benefits for both institutions (that includes your supervisors) as if it goes well, they will be more likely to collaborate (more) in the future.</li>\n<li><strong>international experience</strong>. Where I am (France), people who plan to stay in academia and reach a permanent position are <em>more than strongly encouraged</em> to have an international experience. Basically, at least a few months internship abroad is a must for a permanent position, a year-long post-doc position or two abroad are much better. It is not a requirement, but always a person with international experience will get picked over the person with none.</li>\n<li>both of these boil down to: <strong>post-doc</strong>. If is not unheard of that such an internship might actually be "vetting" the place for a post-doc. And this goes both ways: your host institution/professor sees if he likes working with you, and you see if you like it there.</li>\n<li><strong>specific benefit of the hosting lab</strong>. I have mentioned that there is many benefits of generally working in a different research environment and with different people for a while. But, specifically, there might be equipment, or test data, or an expert in the hosting lab that you just do not have in your institution.</li>\n<li><strong>diversity experience</strong>. If you have decided to stay in academia only on the basis of your PhD environment (as I have), you might not see the whole picture yet. Seeing different research labs, different environments, can only be a benefit.</li>\n<li><strong>publication</strong> While 3 months is not always enough to make a publication, you do want to get the most of the internship. Thus, most people get a publication out of it because they put a little bit extra effort (maybe not even consciously). And, your new publication will have a name of somebody other than your supervisor on it, which speaks to your ability to be able to work with different people successfully.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Now, of course, funding might be one obstacle. But other than that, if adequate funding is found, I see no reason for supervisors to object to such an idea.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25651,
"author": "Tobias Kildetoft",
"author_id": 12592,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12592",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The purpose of a PhD is to prepare you for doing independent research, and this will usually not be at the same place you did your PhD.</p>\n\n<p>As such, having seen how they do things other places will better prepare you for how they might do things where ever you end up, so visiting another lab (or just another university if you are in a subject that does not use labs) will likely have a very positive effect on your PhD.</p>\n\n<p>In fact, in Denmark, it is not just encouraged to visit another university as part of your PhD, it is mandatory (I am not quite sure what the minimum duration is, but 6 months is the most common).</p>\n\n<p>At a recent study of the quality of the PhD programs at Aarhus University (<a href=\"http://www.au.dk/fileadmin/www.au.dk/kvalitetiphd/KVALITET_I_PHD__UK_.pdf\">http://www.au.dk/fileadmin/www.au.dk/kvalitetiphd/KVALITET_I_PHD__UK_.pdf</a>), 60% answered that their stay abroad had strengthened their research project to a high degree, and 24% answered that it had to some degree. Essentially the same percentages answered that it had been worth the effort compared to their professional benefits (the part about the stay abroad starts at page 45).</p>\n\n<p>Personally, I spend 6 months at UGA as part of my PhD (I do mathematics), and that stay has netted me a collaborator with whom I have recently submitted a paper, and with whom I will certainly do a lot more research in the future.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25692,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The other answers are already very good. I'll add just one aspect that I haven't seen. I agree that visiting other labs for a couple of months is <em>very</em> useful... <em>for people who plan on staying in academia</em>. If you already plan on leaving academia after your Ph.D., the benefits that, e.g., <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/25624/4140\">Penelope lists</a> are much less convincing compared to losing time - after all, what will you do with your improved academic network you will likely never use again?</p>\n\n<p>Of course, that doesn't mean that such an external stay can't be productive even for people who leave for industry after their Ph.D. I'd just say that they might be better advised to either finish their Ph.D. quicker, or even try to spend some time in industry instead.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25613",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8072/"
] |
25,631 |
<p>Coming from a different schooling/grading system, I have very little feeling about what actually is considered a good grade for studies in Germany.</p>
<p>Here the passing grades are given in the range of 1.0 to 4.0 and there are non-passing (failing) grades, which basically tell how hard you failed.
Needless to say, 1.0 is the best possible and tells that the student performed perfectly, but what about the other grades. What does 2.0 mean? It is translated as "good" but is that average actually. How does the teacher/professor "see" that grade.</p>
<p>Moreover, what is the typical GPA average which gives a student a chance to be considered for a Phd position? Of course, the higher the better, but what gpa (in the german grading system) would be considered OK-ish for a phd application?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25645,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Given that \"grade inflation\" is often much less rampant in Germany than in other nations (it is not unusual, for instance, for the <em>majority</em> of students to fail an exam in a core subject), the standards inside of Germany tend not to be as stringent as in other places I've seen. For instance, anything better than 2.0 (on a 5.0 scale, not a 4.0 scale!) would generally be considered \"competitive.\"</p>\n\n<p>Obviously, there are limitations—if you get a 2.0 because you've gotten 1.0's in the general courses and 3.0 in the courses in your subdiscipline, you're not likely going to be an attractive candidate to an outside group.</p>\n\n<p>However, I think much more important than the exact GPA is the quality of the master's thesis. If you have a very strong master's thesis, you will likely get some interest from the group in which you did the thesis work to continue on for a PhD, if there is an open position available. A weak grade on the thesis (anything below a 1.3) usually is a sign of substandard performance, which is likely to result in <em>not</em> being considered for a position, even if your GPA is a 1.1 or 1.2 (it's unlikely to be a 1.0 under such circumstances).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25648,
"author": "Caroline",
"author_id": 19413,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19413",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am doing a PhD in a graduate school funded by the German Research Foundation and I was graded 2.0 in my master's thesis (mainly because it was written in English and my grammer was not 100% perfect). What I am trying to say, is, that beyond just the grade of your master's, it can be important to have some kind of experience in the respetive field of your desired PhD. In my case, I was holding several positions as a student assistant in my former university. Also first publication experience might come handy (even though I would not like to support this ongoing trend). It would likely not help you, to score very high on your GPA but having no (work/research) experience beyond studying.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25631",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401/"
] |
25,650 |
<p>I'm writing up a paper for an upcoming CS conference. The problem is my paper is 1 page shorter than the conference's page limit. This conference doesn't have any workshop to accept a short paper.</p>
<p>Someone told me that submitting the paper shorter than the page limit was a very bad idea as it guaranteed rejection. Is it true?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25660,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First I should mention that good conferences and journals logically do not pay much attention the the amount of pages of the papers. The <strong>quality</strong> of the paper and subject of it besides to the discussions and how much the topic is new seems to be <strong>more important than the quantity</strong> of the papers.</p>\n\n<p>Check the conference's website to see if they policies on this issue or not. You may also ask your question from their office by email or phone.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The problem is my paper is 1 page shorter than the conference's page limit.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It is unclear that their page limit is a maximum number of pages or is a minimum number of pages. In the first case, I have seen some conferences which had a maximum limit of eight pages but some papers were accepted which were organized in nine pages. If there is a maximum limitation, then you have no problem as you are not passing the limit on maximum number of pages, your paper is in the safe side.</p>\n\n<p>But if they \"accept papers with no less than a number of pages\", you should check this with the conference management. But still I think that there is no problem with shorter papers, specially your case which is inly one page.</p>\n\n<p>By the way, you should also talk to the co-authors of your paper as they may have suggestion on your paper and may help you to extend your academic paper.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25661,
"author": "Memming",
"author_id": 386,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/386",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I have seen papers rejected because it was shorter than the maximum allowed pages. But this was not the only reason for rejection; rather it was supporting that the paper didn't have enough contribution/content. If you don't want to give the reviewers any excuses to reject, then you might want to fill up the pages, but I think that's silly.</p>\n\n<p>The answer would depend on the field and the page limit. If the page limit is 4, you probably want to fill all 4 pages, because 4 pages is usually not enough. But if the page limit is 12 pages, I see no problem for accepting a <strong>high-quality</strong> 11-page paper.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 76197,
"author": "gatorback",
"author_id": 61258,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/61258",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you can anticipate what the readers expectations, then you should be OK. If your audience is busy and looking for a concise communication, then you may be better off with a shorter paper. On the hand if it is an student academic exercise, then the instructor probably has an expectation to conform to the pre-defined standard length. The OP is in the best position to understand and decide, with the possible exception he/she publishes the paper here for everyone and defines the context. Best of luck with the good paper.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25650",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12635/"
] |
25,659 |
<p>How should I address a knighted academic in a letter or in an email? The person in question is a chancellor of a university, so the odds are that he has at least a PhD. He is a CEO of a multinational company, too, so it is difficult to guess whether he has been a professor at any given time (at least there's no search results for "prof. [name]").</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25662,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In Britain, the usual form is \"Professor Sir {calling name} {family name}\", e.g. \"Professor Sir Peter Hall\".</p>\n\n<p>So to start a letter or email use:</p>\n\n<p>Dear Professor Sir Peter Hall</p>\n\n<p>or, alternately,</p>\n\n<p>Dear Professor Sir Peter </p>\n\n<p>if you're already acquainted.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25663,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the UK, for Knighted Professors, it seems the professor title is often dropped. For example, the <a href=\"http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/magres/index.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow\">Sir Peter Mansfield Centre</a> drops the professor title. Both the knightly title and the professor title can be used, for example <a href=\"https://www.gov.uk/government/people/sally-davies\" rel=\"nofollow\">Professor Dame Sally Davies</a>, but it can also be omitted (<a href=\"http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Davies_(doctor)\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Davies_(doctor)</a>)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25672,
"author": "zelanix",
"author_id": 19434,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19434",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Within my university, knighted professors tend to use the Professor Sir {calling name} {family name} form as given by EnergyNumbers but I think that it is down to personal preference.</p>\n\n<p>Just to add that the Sir / Dame is associated with the first name while Professor / Dr is associated with the surname. As you asked about a letter, if you would normally put 'Dear Professor {surname}' then that would still be correct. In order to use Sir / Dame you would need to also include the first name, or only use the first name.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25695,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The canonical reference for this subject is <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20160528222528/http://www.debretts.com/forms-address/titles/knight\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Debrett's</a> (via the Wayback Machine). They recommend that a letter to a knight should begin \"Dear Sir [given name],\" regardless of whether they have other titles such as \"professor\".</p>\n\n<p>In fact, they advise against mixing titles granted by the sovereign (such as knighthoods and ranks in the armed forces) with titles not granted by the sovereign (such as professor) but, as others have observed, \"Professor Sir [Given name] [Surname]\" is common usage.</p>\n\n<p>In an academic context, your alternative option for a salutation is \"Dear Professor [Surname]\". However, as I noted in a comment to the question, it's unlikely that somebody who's the CEO of a multinational company would, in fact, be a professor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25724,
"author": "BlueSkyDevs",
"author_id": 19459,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19459",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Personally, I would always address business communications to persons based on context. If I were writing to 'Sir Professor Richard Hall' on a personal level, I would address my email 'Dear Sir Richard'. If however, the learned gentleman was a professor at my University, I would switch to his academic title, and write 'Dear Professor Hall'.</p>\n\n<p>Context is key here folks.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 135431,
"author": "JeremyC",
"author_id": 67068,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/67068",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some of the answers and comments above are just plain wrong. In my professional career in the UK I have written hundreds of official letters from the highest branches of the UK government to academics who have been knighted. The correct form of salutation to a knighted professor, with the sole exception of a letter to one who is also a personal friend, is: 'Dear Sir [given name]'.</p>\n\n<p>It is a quite separate question as to how such a person should be described, for example on the address of the letter. Whatever Debrett's might say, the predominant practice is \"Professor Sir [given name][family name]\". </p>\n\n<p>There are various types of knighthood and it would be discourteous in a formal letter to omit such post-nominals as apply. So, for example, a letter to the late Peter Swinnerton-Dyer would have been addressed to \"Professor Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer Bart.\" after he inherited the baronetcy in 1975, but after he was knighted for his own services in 1987 you would need to add 'KBE' after the 'Bart.'</p>\n\n<p>If anyone reading this thinks that the previous paragraph is ridiculously pedantic, I can only say that experience has taught me that some of the recipients of knighthoods are very proud of their honours and take offence if they are not properly recognised. If you are writing to a knighted professor you do not know, it is wiser to err on the side of formality until you are told clearly that he does not care about such things.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25659",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10421/"
] |
25,667 |
<p>I'm currently attending an accredited university which provides an online BSc CIS program. Is an online degree considered lowly in compared to a traditional education, and can it affect admissions into masters programs offered abroad?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25662,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In Britain, the usual form is \"Professor Sir {calling name} {family name}\", e.g. \"Professor Sir Peter Hall\".</p>\n\n<p>So to start a letter or email use:</p>\n\n<p>Dear Professor Sir Peter Hall</p>\n\n<p>or, alternately,</p>\n\n<p>Dear Professor Sir Peter </p>\n\n<p>if you're already acquainted.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25663,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the UK, for Knighted Professors, it seems the professor title is often dropped. For example, the <a href=\"http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/magres/index.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow\">Sir Peter Mansfield Centre</a> drops the professor title. Both the knightly title and the professor title can be used, for example <a href=\"https://www.gov.uk/government/people/sally-davies\" rel=\"nofollow\">Professor Dame Sally Davies</a>, but it can also be omitted (<a href=\"http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Davies_(doctor)\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Davies_(doctor)</a>)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25672,
"author": "zelanix",
"author_id": 19434,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19434",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Within my university, knighted professors tend to use the Professor Sir {calling name} {family name} form as given by EnergyNumbers but I think that it is down to personal preference.</p>\n\n<p>Just to add that the Sir / Dame is associated with the first name while Professor / Dr is associated with the surname. As you asked about a letter, if you would normally put 'Dear Professor {surname}' then that would still be correct. In order to use Sir / Dame you would need to also include the first name, or only use the first name.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25695,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The canonical reference for this subject is <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20160528222528/http://www.debretts.com/forms-address/titles/knight\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Debrett's</a> (via the Wayback Machine). They recommend that a letter to a knight should begin \"Dear Sir [given name],\" regardless of whether they have other titles such as \"professor\".</p>\n\n<p>In fact, they advise against mixing titles granted by the sovereign (such as knighthoods and ranks in the armed forces) with titles not granted by the sovereign (such as professor) but, as others have observed, \"Professor Sir [Given name] [Surname]\" is common usage.</p>\n\n<p>In an academic context, your alternative option for a salutation is \"Dear Professor [Surname]\". However, as I noted in a comment to the question, it's unlikely that somebody who's the CEO of a multinational company would, in fact, be a professor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25724,
"author": "BlueSkyDevs",
"author_id": 19459,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19459",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Personally, I would always address business communications to persons based on context. If I were writing to 'Sir Professor Richard Hall' on a personal level, I would address my email 'Dear Sir Richard'. If however, the learned gentleman was a professor at my University, I would switch to his academic title, and write 'Dear Professor Hall'.</p>\n\n<p>Context is key here folks.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 135431,
"author": "JeremyC",
"author_id": 67068,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/67068",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some of the answers and comments above are just plain wrong. In my professional career in the UK I have written hundreds of official letters from the highest branches of the UK government to academics who have been knighted. The correct form of salutation to a knighted professor, with the sole exception of a letter to one who is also a personal friend, is: 'Dear Sir [given name]'.</p>\n\n<p>It is a quite separate question as to how such a person should be described, for example on the address of the letter. Whatever Debrett's might say, the predominant practice is \"Professor Sir [given name][family name]\". </p>\n\n<p>There are various types of knighthood and it would be discourteous in a formal letter to omit such post-nominals as apply. So, for example, a letter to the late Peter Swinnerton-Dyer would have been addressed to \"Professor Sir Peter Swinnerton-Dyer Bart.\" after he inherited the baronetcy in 1975, but after he was knighted for his own services in 1987 you would need to add 'KBE' after the 'Bart.'</p>\n\n<p>If anyone reading this thinks that the previous paragraph is ridiculously pedantic, I can only say that experience has taught me that some of the recipients of knighthoods are very proud of their honours and take offence if they are not properly recognised. If you are writing to a knighted professor you do not know, it is wiser to err on the side of formality until you are told clearly that he does not care about such things.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25667",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19426/"
] |
25,703 |
<p>Some publishers like Springer appear variously with different addresses. Sometimes (in the case of Springer) it's "Berlin, Heidelberg", sometimes it's "Heidelberg, New York", or even <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bimj.4710300514/abstract" rel="noreferrer">"Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo"</a>.</p>
<p>Should I, eg. in a thesis, just settle for one address per publisher and stick to it, or is there a different correct address for each publication?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25725,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It's better to put what is on the copyright page of the book in question. If you don't have it, then you may have to punt, but wherever you can use the full reference, you should.</p>\n\n<p>Edited to add: The goal in a citation is to allow your reader to find the <em>exact</em> work that you used, so you need to be as precise as you can. If there are different editions, etc, they may have different publication locations, so make sure you described the physical volume you have precisely. If you don't have the physical version, then be sure to give your reader 50 years from now the ability, as best you can, to track it down.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25824,
"author": "pcsnyder",
"author_id": 19522,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19522",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends on what style guide you are working with. In MLA, for example, you use only the first city listed on the title page. If no city is listed there, then you look at the copyright page. Other style guides may vary, so check with a handbook for your specific style guide.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 149912,
"author": "linguisticturn",
"author_id": 124822,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/124822",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As pcsnyder noted, this depends on which style guide you are using. True, in the case of a thesis or a dissertation, the style manual of the institution<sup>1</sup> is rarely detailed enough to specify a particular citation style, so candidates normally default to the standards of their field.<sup>2</sup> </p>\n\n<p><sup><sup>1</sup>The University or whatever is the relevant subdivision of it. In the US, the relevant authority within a university is often something called the 'Graduate School' or the 'School of Graduate Studies'.</sup><br>\n<sup><sup>2</sup>In fact, at least in the US, the style guides of many graduate schools explicitly say that this is what should be done. Just make sure your Thesis/Dissertation Committee, in particular the Chair of it (who is probably also your thesis/dissertation advisor), is OK with your choice.</sup></p>\n\n<p>The MLA style was covered by pcsnyder, above. </p>\n\n<p>Another major style is the <a href=\"https://www-chicagomanualofstyle-org.ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/home.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><em>Chicago Manual of Style</em></a> (CMOS). Students and researchers often use the Turabian style, which is nowadays identical to CMOS (see <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20200601185130/https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/turabian/citation-guide.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">here</a> and <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20200601185304/https://www.bibme.org/blog/updates/turabian-or-chicago/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">here</a>). In its 17th edition (which is the most recent, as of 2020), CMOS says this:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>14: Notes and Bibliography</strong></p>\n \n <p><strong>14.129: Place of publication—city</strong></p>\n \n <p>The place to be included is the one that usually appears on the title page but sometimes on the copyright page of the book cited—the city where the publisher’s main editorial offices are located. Where two or more cities are given (“Chicago and London,” for example, appears on the title page of the print edition of this manual), only the first is normally included in the citation.</p>\n\n<pre><code>Oakland: University of California Press\nLos Angeles: Getty Publications\nNew York: Macmillan\nNew York: Oxford University Press\nOxford: Clarendon Press\n</code></pre>\n \n <p><strong>14.130: When to specify state, province, or country of publication</strong></p>\n \n <p>If the city of publication may be unknown to readers or may be confused with another city of the same name, the abbreviation of the state, province, or (sometimes) country is usually added. Washington is traditionally followed by DC, but other major cities, such as Los Angeles and Baltimore, need no state abbreviation. (For countries not easily abbreviated, spell out the name.) Chicago’s preference is for the two-letter postal codes (IL, MA, etc.), but some publishers prefer the conventional state abbreviations (Ill., Mass., etc.). See 10.4, 10.27. For Canadian provinces and territories, see 10.28.</p>\n\n<pre><code>Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press\nCambridge, MA: MIT Press\nCheshire, CT: Graphics Press\nEnglewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall\nHarmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books\nIthaca, NY: Cornell University Press\nNew Haven, CT: Yale University Press\nPrinceton, NJ: Princeton University Press\nReading, MA: Perseus Books\nWashington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press\nWaterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press\n*but*\nCambridge: Cambridge University Press\n</code></pre>\n \n <p>When the publisher’s name includes the state name, the abbreviation is not needed.</p>\n\n<pre><code>Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press\n</code></pre>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25703",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10633/"
] |
25,755 |
<p>Many of the journal references in the bibliography of my thesis contain bird names. Journals use birds names in the titles of papers in at least four different ways:</p>
<ol>
<li>Titlecase, eg Teal</li>
<li>Titlecase plus scientific name, eg Teal Anas crecca</li>
<li>Lowercase, eg teal</li>
<li>Lowercase plus scientific name, eg teal Anas crecca</li>
</ol>
<p>These different ways of using bird names makes my bibliography look untidy and inconsistent.</p>
<p>Should I adjust the titles of the papers in my bibliography so all bird names are used in a consistent way? Or should I use paper titles exactly as how they are given? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25756,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a general academic principle you should <em>not</em> adjust the titles -- or other essential bibliographic data*, e.g. the form and ordering of the authors' names -- of papers that you reference in any way, with the possible exception of necessary typographical concessions for \"exotic\" characters. </p>\n\n<p>(For instance, in my branch of mathematics is it common to use the cyrillic letter <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sha\">Sha</a> for something named after a Russian mathematician whose name begins with this character. If you simply don't have cyrllic characters available, you have to do something else. But even in this case it would be better to try to take a little trouble to \"get cyrillic characters\".) </p>\n\n<p>So my answer to your question is <strong>no</strong>: it is obviously not your fault that different papers you cite refer to teals in different ways. So if there is any untidiness and/or inconsistency, you are simply faithfully replicating it, as you are obliged to do.</p>\n\n<p>This answer comes from someone with precisely zero avian-specific academic knowledge. So it couldn't hurt to get a second opinion from someone in your field. </p>\n\n<p>*: I confess that I sometimes mess with \"inessential\" bibliographic data. For instance, most journals come with a volume number followed by a number of the issue within that volume, and I usually omit the second number: you simply don't need it to access the paper. I don't specifically endorse this practice and mention it only for \"professional honesty\", but in my defense I just checked around and I am far from the only one who does this. </p>\n\n<p>Moreover in some fields there are different formats for referencing. In my field (mathematics), on the one hand we are not too picky about the format, and on the other hand we have standard repositories of all papers: MathReviews/MathSciNet and Zentralblatt, from which I assume that most contemporary authors simply copy the bibliographic data (and then the philistines among us delete the number of the journal within the volume). It <em>is</em> a good idea to choose a consistent format throughout all your bibliographic references: e.g. put last names first always or never, and so forth. But still: the title is not yours to monkey with, as far as I know.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25759,
"author": "Mangara",
"author_id": 8185,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8185",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should never add or remove words from the title of papers you cite. The reason you add citations is so that your readers can find these papers, and the title is one of the most important pieces of information. While it might be obvious to you that \"Teal\" and \"Teal Anas crecca\" mean the same thing, this might not be the case for others, e.g. scientists outside your field.</p>\n\n<p>The issue of capitalization is a little less cut and dry. Different citation styles treat titles in different ways (title case, sentence case, or even all-caps), so you have more freedom here to be internally consistent. In addition, some automated reference systems mess up capitalization, so in my experience this is frequently something you have to fix by hand. If there is no semantic difference between \"Teal\" and \"teal\", I would pick one and apply it consistently.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25755",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7159/"
] |
25,757 |
<p>I have submitted a paper to a conference with a scientific error in it.</p>
<p>Essentially I have a concept and I have claimed it works in two conditions. Actually it only works in one of them. Technically, my experimental results are correct, but its only a small test and when extrapolated to full scale the error can be found and also actually predicted theoretically. The overall concept is still correct however for the other condition and I am still working on it in future research.</p>
<p>Should I ask for the paper to be changed? The conference isn't until 25th August but the submission deadline has passed.</p>
<p>I don't want a public document where people will repeat my experiments and find that some of what I have claimed is incorrect.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25763,
"author": "Devashish Das",
"author_id": 19474,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19474",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my opinion you have enough days, to change your paper. </p>\n\n<p>But, before contacting read about the policy the conference have on erratum. If not, available, you should just write directly ask the organizing committee about it.</p>\n\n<p>International conferences are very respected (and mostly filled with critics), this kind of error can hamper your credibility in future endeavors. It's better left unsaid.</p>\n\n<p>Best of Luck. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25767,
"author": "user1798812",
"author_id": 19476,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19476",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes!</p>\n\n<p>Better to get it corrected than to be questioned/rejected later.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25757",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19473/"
] |
25,758 |
<p>I'm a second-year undergrad, and I've always been on a first-name basis with anyone in academia or in a research setting. I first worked in a laboratory in high school, and since everyone was on a first-name basis with everyone else there, I sort of just applied that logic to other labs and to my college professors. </p>
<p>But when I was talking to a researcher (my "supervisor", if that's relevant) at the lab I'm currently interning at this summer, one of my fellow interns told me afterwards she thought it was "odd" and "unprofessional" to call him by his first name. I understand where she's coming from, but if this were any other type of environment (say a business office), I think it would be awkward to call my boss anything but his first name (Mr. X seems a bit too formal for the boss-employee relationship). </p>
<p>For what it's worth, my boss doesn't seem put off by the way I address him, and I don't think my professors are, either. Maybe my perspective's a bit skewed because of how I was introduced to the scientific/academic culture. Am I out of line here? What did you call your professors/advisors/bosses as an undergrad? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25760,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This question is very hard to answer in a general way because it heavily depends on the country, culture and specific persons involved. For example:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>During my PhD and postdoc I was on the first name basis with my professor and supervisor.</li>\n<li>A postdoc from Austria I worked with could use his professors first name, but only when no other staff members of their institute where present.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>It is important to get a feel for the general atmosphere of your institute, do other people use first names for example. And you can simply ask your supervisor/professor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25761,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In all the years at the university, I only called the professors and lecturers by their last name and a doctor prefix. I also used to call them <strong><code>Professor + Last Name</code></strong>.</p>\n\n<p>But never by their first names as far as they were older than me, they were professors and more important, it was not a custom in the universities I studied to call professors by their first names only (it was somehow impolite to call a professor by his first name only, even by other professors or colleagues).</p>\n\n<p>It usually goes back to the custom. Sometimes the professors themselves prefer to be called by their first names. See how others call professors and see if it is polite or not. But my prefer is always <strong><code>Doctor + Last Name</code></strong>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25794,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends on the institution and departmental/lab culture. At my current university, most undergraduates refer to faculty as Prof. Lastname. </p>\n\n<p>I dislike formalities, but it had been very difficult to break the students of this habit. Furthermore, I wonder if I am doing them a disservice as most faculty are VERY adamant that undergrads use their titles, even the point of telling TAs to use title and last name when talking to or about them in front of students.</p>\n\n<p>Doctoral students are generally on a first name basis with faculty. Master students seem to be split.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25796,
"author": "Dennis",
"author_id": 17284,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17284",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is the intersection of the professor's preference and what you are comfortable with. My dissertation advisor asked me to call him by his first name long before <strong>I</strong> was comfortable with that. But he asked me to call him George, so I did. On the other hand, when one of my former students joined our faculty a couple of years ago, she kept referring to me as \"Dr Clason\". I told her, \"I'm Dennis.\"</p>\n\n<p>I'm comfortable with whatever my students are comfortable with. Like RoboKaren, I don't like to stand on formalities, and just like everyone else, I have preferences. I'm old enough now that my undergrad students (especially) are not my peers and are not usually trying to become a peer. I prefer that they use my surname, but I don't require it. One thing that does grate (on me, and I am not sure why) is students referring to me as \"Mr Clason\". I earned that doctorate, and in academia the title is relevant. In academia, if you are using the surname, please use the title. Truthfully, though, I cherish the title \"Professor\" more than \"Doctor\".</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25758",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
25,770 |
<p>I am going into the fourth year of a PhD program and my research, which is in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEM_fields">STEM field</a>, has clear applications in the tech industry.</p>
<p>I have my Master's degree, but have decided not to finish the PhD.</p>
<p><strong>Is it important to be enrolled while applying for jobs rather than be unemployed?</strong> Will the people hiring view me differently?</p>
<p>Note: being enrolled brings some significant demands on my time.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25771,
"author": "rfulop",
"author_id": 18362,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18362",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would apply for jobs now, while you are enrolled in the PhD program. Talk to your professors and develop a network. Ask for contact information of any of the individuals they know in industry. Send an cover letter with your CV and application, and be sure to mention your research's specific application to the job in the cover letter. Through this, companies sense that you are very meticulous and detail-oriented, and see how your skill in research could carry over to its products. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25964,
"author": "bfoste01",
"author_id": 19610,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19610",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It probably will depend on where you interview in terms of how your status will be received, and what that would mean for a job offer. My fiancé works in a STEM startup that has been taking off, and I've had the luxury of chatting with many of the senior scientists about hiring whenever they are looking for people (it's a fun work culture where everyone and their SOs go out for drinks after work and chat). Anyways, in two instances a Ph.D. student working at the company on their internship was so talented that they tried to make each a job offer before they left. In one instance the conversation turned to what it would take to get that individual to leave their program and come work. In the other instance, and before the internship started, the University made the student and company sign a legal document that essentially said, \"whatever said student works on in the lab during internship period becomes is owned by the University\" (this was one of the top 5 schools in the US, you can imagine what one). Therefore, the company backed off because of patents. </p>\n\n<p>In other instances students have applied for open positions at the company and if their resume garnered a look they then got an interview. However, if they weren't rock stars the company was not willing to lure them away from being a grad student by giving them a higher salary. Therefore, there was the perception by the company that they needed someone who could work now, and a student didn't seem to cut it. </p>\n\n<p>Do you have an internship period at all? That's when I plan to explore offers to see what my skills are worth. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26009,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is it important to be enrolled while applying for jobs rather than be unemployed?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I'll answer this question from different point of views: your potential employers and yourself.</p>\n\n<p>From your potential employers’ point of view, it does not matter. What matters is your <strong>immediate availability</strong>. Most companies prefer their new hires to start to work immediately. Once they make a job offer, they would like to see you in the office like today so that they can start to train you. They don't like to hear excuses like: I have some unfinished project, I am in the middle of writing a paper, I need to go to a conference next month, etc.</p>\n\n<p>So, you need to indicate on somewhere such as your resume, cover letter or during the interview that you'll be immediately available. This will increase your chances to be hired. If you cannot be immediately available for some reason, you need to provide a definite time frame when you'll be able to start.</p>\n\n<p>From your own point of view, you'd better keep enrolled. Job hunting can be a long shot. It can be only a few weeks if you are lucky. It can be a year or even longer if you are not lucky. Waiting for job interview and job offer can drive you crazy. You'll have things to do while you are waiting. You also can change your mind on finishing PhD if you still have some uncertainty about going to industry.</p>\n\n<p>If you are <strong>absolutely</strong> sure you want to go to industry, then you should take bfoste01's idea, do internship. You can get into industry faster this way.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck on job hunting. Academia will miss you!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26010,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think Scaahu has given a very nice overview of the situation, but to easy your mind: job search takes time, but you have to eat every day. Thus, no company can expect you to be unemployed to be eligible for hiring.</p>\n\n<p>The only reason I can think of why not having a job would make you more desirable is your full availability; but if you have decided to leave, you can just do it (please, talk with your advisor well in advance, so they are ready, though).</p>\n\n<p>And lastly, if you have a job, you have a leverage point. For a starter, you can ask for a salary that is, at least, as much as you are getting now. Another disadvantage of quitting is that you will have to live on your savings or benefits, and they are limited; thus you will have pressure to accept whatever job you can find in that time. If you keep your present job, you can wait longer until you find something you really want to work with.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26016,
"author": "bfoste01",
"author_id": 19610,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19610",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>@Zephyrus: This answer will be too long to comment. A lot will depend on your history. </p>\n\n<p>Some context for you to make sure I'm not just blowing wind: My fiancés company: Biotech, fast growing, successful rounds of funding have brought a product to market, turned down offers to sell. My fiancé: Decade of experience in STEM industry. </p>\n\n<p>Here's what I've seen matter in all my conversations with he Senior Scientist there, as well as my fiancé:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>It's about the match of your skills with the needs of the company. I've seen them let 4 people go in the last year who were super competent, but had very specific skill-sets that were no longer needed by the company. If there is a clear match between your skills and the company's needs then +1. However, if you have very specific skills that can be a detriment in your marketability.</li>\n<li>Advanced degrees aren't always an asset. In startups a really smart person with a B.S. and years of industry experience can become a staff scientist. It's better for the company. Same can be said for and M.S. In fact, most of the senior scientist have advised junior staff who are looking at grad school to just get their M.S. and get back into industry. If you're the highest paid person at a startup you better be value added on all fronts. So, depending on your degree this could all matter. </li>\n<li>Length of unemployment matters. If you are living in an area where there is a vibrant STE community and you've been unemployed a long time people will wonder. It's always a necessity to make sure people can vouch for you within the community, and this might help. Hopefully you aren't jumping ship from grad school without contacts in industry. </li>\n<li>If you were competent but not a rock-star, skills that fit, unemployed for a short period, had some people that could vouch for you then they'd contract you for 6 months. Show your worth and you'll get a salaried position and options (but stock options aren't alway what they are cracked up to be). You'd be in a good position to negotiate that offer if you have shown value added. However, point also depends on the phase of the startup. Now that this startup has grown and has a product shipping they contract everyone first. My fiancé came in after series B and had the perfect experience that fit with the job requirements, some heavies that vouched for her, and passed the interview with flying colors. She was contracted shorter than 6 months, and I think offered a full-time position after a month. So, get ready for the potential that you are working a contract, which obviously lacks security. </li>\n<li>Now if you took the same situation outlined above, were still a student but had demonstrated that you would be a real rockstar with the perfect match of skills to the job then they might make you a better offer to try and lure you out, but the offer would never be as good as what a scientist with proven industry would receive. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>This might all be different for a massive industry conglomerate. </p>\n\n<p>I hope that helps. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26018,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/long-term-unemployed-struggle-to-find--and-keep--jobs/2014/04/18/134c48f6-c4ad-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Being unemployed can <strong>significantly</strong> decrease your likelihood of successfully landing a job</a>. The preceeding link is one of many stories covering that angle. The best graph describing how bad it is comes from <a href=\"http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-terrifying-reality-of-long-term-unemployment/274957/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">this Atlantic article</a>:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-terrifying-reality-of-long-term-unemployment/274957/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/business/LongTermUnemploymentScary.png\" alt=\"unemployment sucks\"></a></p>\n\n<p>The upshot of most of these is that employers have a psychological bias towards employed people. Whether this is \"fair\" or \"appropriate\" or even \"smart\" not is really not the question, the finding is pretty difficult to refute: you are far more likely to land a job if you are currently gainfully employed.</p>\n\n<p>To bring this back to your original question, I would strongly recommend you begin your job search before you leave the program.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26093,
"author": "user1798812",
"author_id": 19476,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19476",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Well, to address the part where you want a comparison on enrolled vs. unemployed. It is always better to not to have to answer the questions about being unemployed. You don't want to look like you were doing nothing for quite some time. Interviewers usually aren't impressed enough by candidates that have a few years that weren't mentioned on the resume anywhere, be prepared to reason that effectively. And you don't know how soon you are going to find a job. If you continue your PhD and look for a job in the meantime, you have an excuse \"I got a good job and hence left the PhD\", which brings us to yet another point to ponder upon...</p>\n\n<p>Let's say you quit your PhD(which you could actually officially finish in a year or two), apply for some jobs, interview and finally land into one. You work there for some time, but your progress starts plateauing. Now you realize that for a higher position they require a PhD(which you quit, remember?). At that stage, you might wish that you hadn't quit but you did, and now it might be the bane of your professional progress.</p>\n\n<p>Think of these things in the long run... no one knows what the future holds...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26114,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here's what you do. You request a \"leave of absence\" from the University for personal reasons. That way you can say you're still a student, but not obligated to take classes during that period. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26232,
"author": "hadaytullah",
"author_id": 19855,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19855",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was in a similar situation. In my case, I wanted to have some/full break from academia. My ph.d is almost done, only public defence is pending. I had to decide whether to stay in the academia or move to the industry?</p>\n\n<p>Here is my approach; I personally like building stuff and therefore biased towards the industry. I have enjoyed the time in academia but might not be able to keep myself motivated for long. Thus, I thought, either I move now or otherwise it will be too late. I am already 31 and its now or never kind of situation for me. So, I decided to move out as I found a job. The search still in progress for like 4 months now, had few interviews and perhaps land on a job in a month. </p>\n\n<p>First rule, be honest to your university and supervisor. I informed my supervisor right away that I am looking for opportunities outside the university and will leave as I get one. He was very supportive and also offered to help me in making CV etc. It is quite normal to take this path, academia to industry, for a ph.d student. </p>\n\n<p>You should ask yourself, \"Do I like industry?\" if Yes then go for it, in a reasonable fashion. Stay at the university, find a job and then move out :)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25770",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19478/"
] |
25,772 |
<p>By a <em>scientific work</em> I mean any work of mine that either belongs to my field or belongs to some related fields of my field. A work that is not a scientific work is called <em>off-topic</em>.</p>
<p>Since I occasionally (but seriously) compose poems and popular songs, I am wondering whether it is suitable to integrate these off-topic works into the collection of my scientific works that is prepared for application to phd programs. </p>
<p>My principal concern is that I am unsure about how this act would look like from the reviewers' angle? Would it be deemed an affectation? Indeed, my wish is merely to present more of me.</p>
<p>Hope ladies and gentlemen (preferably with experience as a reviewer for phd admission) would share me your thoughts, much appreciated. </p>
<p>If answering this question requires more information, please feel free to state that. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25774,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Being a mathematician, I must address a logical loophole: I will assume that your field is a STEM field and thus poetry and songs are <em>actually</em> off-topic (and not just <em>called</em> off-topic).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.\n -- Abraham Lincoln</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Assuming this: no, I would not submit such creative materials as part of an application to a STEM PhD program. I wouldn't go so far as to say that submitting such things would be deemed an \"affectation\": however, unless you make a clear connection to your chosen field, they are simply not relevant. Including irrelevant things is not a disaster, but it does indicate that you don't have a clear understanding of what is relevant information in the consideration of your own prospects in that program, which is not great.</p>\n\n<p>Most such applications have a personal statement. <em>Mentioning</em> somewhere in the personal statement that you write poetry and songs sounds about right to me: from one human being to another, that is interesting, and personal statements are often not so interesting. But be careful here: a \"personal statement\" is not a statement about you <em>as a person</em>! It is really an essay explaining why you would be a strong candidate for the program, so things which are not relevant to that should not be dwelled upon. </p>\n\n<p>Many programs do look at the personal statement as a writing sample -- and good writing skills are very relevant in any PhD program, probably more so than any other single quality -- so if you are an unusually good writer the personal statement would be a good opportunity to show your superior skills. However, trying to do that <em>in the genre of either poetry or song</em> would be so risky and open to negative reactions based on personal taste that I wouldn't recommend it: after all, in most STEM programs you need to be able to write prose, not poetry, and you are not really permitted to burst into song. This is probably a \"color between the lines\" situation.</p>\n\n<p><b>Added</b>: I spent four (recent) years on the committee in charge of graduate admissions in the UGA mathematics department, and I still read some PhD applications every year.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42619,
"author": "aparente001",
"author_id": 32436,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32436",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Admissions people are looking for deep thinkers, hard workers, well-rounded individuals, who can collaborate well and communicate effectively. You can send them a CV that has a section containing secondary things that you're proud of, but which aren't directly relevant to the studies you propose to do.</p>\n\n<p>My experience going to grad school as a returning student leads me to believe that good graduate programs look at the whole person.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25772",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
25,775 |
<p>I am an undergraduate working on a research project that is going to be published. My research adviser wasn't completely able to help with a certain portion of the research, so I contacted another professor (in a completely different department) at my university who was more than willing to help.</p>
<p>It seems that this other professor is going to be providing a huge amount of help. Should I offer inclusion in the paper? Should I bring this up with my main adviser and/or should I be upfront with the secondary adviser?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25776,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should discuss the issue with both faculty members. I would bring it up with your primary advisor first...if only for linguistic reasons (i.e., the meaning of the word \"primary\").</p>\n\n<p>When you say that the project is \"going to be published\", do you mean that it has already been written and accepted for publication? (If not, how do you know?) In general it is a good idea to discuss issues of coauthorship as early as possible. If you are already writing the paper it is on the later side, and if you have already submitted it then it is very late (but maybe not too late).</p>\n\n<p>That's all I can think to say on general principles. It depends a lot on the field and what kind of work has been done. </p>\n\n<p><strong>tl;dr</strong>: As an undergraduate, you can't know the subtle expectations regarding coauthorship in your discipline. So err on the side of graciousness and inclusivity. The worst that can happen is that you get a \"Aw, how cute: he thinks I want to publish with him\" type of reaction. If so, you will definitely <em>not</em> have offended the faculty member and you'll probably engender a lesson about how publication culture works in your field: no problem there.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25780,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A good starting point is to consider the points set up in the Vancouver protocol and augmented by, for example the <a href=\"http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal editors)</a> stated as</p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work;</li>\n</ul>\n<p>AND</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;</li>\n</ul>\n<p>AND</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Final approval of the version to be published;</li>\n</ul>\n<p>AND</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Agreement 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.</li>\n</ul>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Note the <em>AND</em> in this list. It is well worth noting that these points indicate how things <em>should be</em> but some field-related traditions and, more commonly, personal opinions differ.</p>\n<p>I think the above should make for a good basis for assessing whether or not anyone, the professor you have solicited included, should be on the paper. A gut feeling from your explanation says he should be asked. Not to discourage you, but authorship questions can be among the hardest questions you encounter in academia since authorship is such an important aspect for assessing <em>excellence</em>, <em>success</em>, or whatever you want to call it. This is also why the list quoted above has been assembled so that inflation in authorship can be combated. Please look at other posts under the <a href=\"/questions/tagged/authorship\" class=\"post-tag\" title=\"show questions tagged 'authorship'\" rel=\"tag\">authorship</a> tag to get more aspects of this issue.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25775",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19483/"
] |
25,804 |
<p>I've just defended my PhD in mathematics and started a postdoc. While working on an improvement of one of the results of my thesis, I realized that there are several minor mistakes and a big bug in a proof that invalids a minor result in the thesis (about 3-4 pages out of 110). Unfortunately neither I nor my advisor or referees figured it out the mistake. Though the result is minor, it is announced in the introduction and the manuscript is on-line on an ArXiv-like server, so that I could publish a new version but not cancel the one on-line. </p>
<p>What is the best thing to do? Upload an errata? Upload a "revised" version of the thesis? Publish a "revised version" of the thesis on my web-page?</p>
<p>Can this damage my future career, making me look not "reliable" as a researcher?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25809,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This question actually reminded me that I had made some (minor) addenda/errata notes on my own thesis but somehow forgot to ever post them. I should get to that!</p>\n\n<p>Anyway, you definitely should correct the error; it's bad for mathematics if serious errors propagate. It's a little embarrassing, yes, but it's not at all uncommon. It will be more embarrassing if someone else finds the error first, and extremely embarrassing (and maybe starting to be career-damaging) if you have to say \"Oh yeah, I knew about that, but never corrected it because I was embarrassed.\" </p>\n\n<p>Before doing anything, I would suggest you spend a few days seeing if you can fix the error. Maybe you can find a way to work around the gap in the proof. Maybe you can adjust the hypotheses so that you still have a theorem, though a weaker one. (Or maybe you can find a counterexample.) Figure out what other parts of the thesis are affected by this error, and if they need fixing as well.</p>\n\n<p>It can get confusing if there are multiple versions of your thesis floating around, so rather than trying to revise it, I would write up a short erratum note, explaining whatever you have learned about the error and its fix (if any). You might as well also list any other typos or errata that you have found, references to relevant work that's been published (or discovered by you) since your thesis was written, and anything else you would like to add. </p>\n\n<p>Post the addendum on arXiv. Then, wherever your thesis is posted (your web site, the alternative preprint server you mention, the university's official site if possible), post a note saying \"Addendum posted at arXiv:1234.5678\". If you can't add notes or comments on the site itself, but can upload a revised version of the thesis, just add a page at the beginning with a reference to the addendum.</p>\n\n<p>(And I'll echo JeffE's suggestion: it would be nice to post your thesis on arXiv itself as well. The \"Comments\" field would be a good place to reference the addendum.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25827,
"author": "Tyler J. W. Dickinson",
"author_id": 19526,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19526",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Though I am not in mathematics (I'm a philosopher), I would only add that generally speaking, the PhD dissertation should be one of the worst papers you ever publish. That doesn't mean it should be terrible...it only means that it's the start of your career, and your writing--and your research--will get better with experience.</p>\n\n<p>You could still go ahead and submit a correction, but at the same time, don't stress yourself out over it. So many doctorandi today think the dissertation has to be flawless, and that they have to make some ground-breaking, Nobel-prize-worthy advancement in their field for the thesis to be any good. This is simply not true. Look--you have a postdoc, the results of which will no doubt be more influential on your future than your dissertation.</p>\n\n<p>Again, I'm not saying to <em>not</em> submit the errata. Rather, I just don't want you to lose sleep over the mistake. Don't be too hard on yourself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25920,
"author": "Richie Cotton",
"author_id": 19549,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19549",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Mathematics has a great tradition of <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0821803670\">making mistakes and then fixing them yourself</a>. Having other people find your mistake is a little embarrassing, but fixing them yourself shows that you are dilligent, so stop worrying.</p>\n\n<p>Whether you upload an erratum or a revised thesis doesn't really matter, as long as both the old and new versions are available. (It's useful to see how things have been corrected, since mistakes are a good source of learning.)</p>\n\n<p>Before you upload the new content, please double check that you really got it right this time. If it is wrong a second time (or was right and now you made it wrong), you can start to look a little foolish.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25921,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If anyone would care, there would be a mechanism for erratas...\nEven now, majority of the thesises is not available for the public. It is true for most science and most (even prestigious) universities. In short: no one reads them and no one cares.</p>\n\n<p>If the mistake is something you published, I would care more about fixing the actual paper. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26658,
"author": "Chris Leary",
"author_id": 11905,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11905",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I had at least one error in my thesis (that I know of). As with yours, it was minor and affected even less of the paper. I found it when I was preparing a paper for publication. Fortunately, I was able to correct it, and the correct version was actually more interesting than the original erroneous one. I never corrected my thesis because the correct result was actually put in a journal article.</p>\n\n<p>I've also had errors in print, a much more embarrassing affair. The mathematician who corrected it was very kind about it. I have not yet issued a correction, but it will appear in a forthcoming article, and quite a while after the initial error.</p>\n\n<p>In my opinion, shared by some other responders, your publication record is more important than your thesis (unless you're a stratospheric talent). So don't sweat it too much. And, don't be reluctant to ask your advisor for advice (that's one of the reasons why he's called an advisor).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25804",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19501/"
] |
25,808 |
<p>I am a young academic in a scientific field and, in the process of updating my CV, I've realized I'm unsure exactly what is appropriate to list with regard to grant applications/funded grants. Specifically, a few types of ambiguities have arisen: </p>
<p>1) If you receive funding from a grant but were not part of the project until after the application was funded (say your role is "Consultant" or "Statistician"), can you list this on your CV? </p>
<p>2) If you are listing non-funded grants that you had at least some hand in writing (say, an NIH grant that received an impact score but was not funded), but you were not the PI (say you're a co-Investigator), can you list it? Is the answer different if you had a non-investigator role such as "Statistician"? </p>
<p>3) Closely related to #2-- if you help with a grant that ultimately does get funded but you are not the PI or a co-I (again, suppose you're a consultant or statistician), can this be listed on your CV? Does it depend on how great of a hand you had in writing the grant? </p>
<p>Thanks for any input. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25811,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My philosophy about such issues is that you <em>can</em> list everything on a CV, as long as you make clear what your actual role was, i.e., you may list any project or grant that officially recognizes you in some function, but of course you cannot imply that you were the PI in all of these projects if this was not the case.</p>\n\n<p>Further, make sure that you list only \"official\" responsibilities on the CV - it may be true that you are doing <em>all</em> the work for a project, but that does not make you the official PI. Saying or implying otherwise is not good.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, note that different roles in a project can be used to illustrate different things for you as a researcher. Personally, I have two different sections for projetcs on my CV:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Projects</strong>, which lists all funded projects I was ever involved with, plus my official role. This shows that I am experienced in working in different roles in different national and international research teams.</li>\n<li><strong>Successful grant proposals</strong>, which lists all successful project proposals that I was officially recognized as an author, i.e., either coordinator, PI, or co-investigator. This shows that I am able to get funding for my research.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25819,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I like your approach, more or less.</p>\n\n<p>As someone who looks at lots of CVs in a non-academic research unit at a university, I don't really care to see grants listed on which you only worked. I want to see grants that you were a PI or co-PI on, mostly, and perhaps any that you were a significant part of the writing team on. The purpose of listing these grants is to show that you can be part of the writing and winning team for funded work.</p>\n\n<p>In another section, I might be interested in short summaries of your participation in projects (funded or otherwise). What I don't want to have to do is spend a lot of time figuring out whether you were instrumental in thew writing of a proposal or just did the work after the money was won.</p>\n\n<p>The key here is whether your qualifications and background were considered by the funding agency when approving the proposal. If not, then it's not worth implying that you had any role in winning the money.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25808",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13252/"
] |
25,817 |
<p>When I was doing my PhD project, I got an idea to solve a different but related problem. However, my supervisor said neither the motivation nor the initial result were interesting, and so he refused to offer me help on this topic. Then, I did a paper on my own with a lot of work afterwards, and submitted it to a high standard journal, and it was accepted. </p>
<p>My supervisor knew this, and he commanded me to add his name to the paper, otherwise he would write to the editor. I asked him what his contribution was. He had nothing to say, but insisted he had spent time to discuss the result with me. </p>
<p>So, if he writes to the editor, what would happen? Or if the paper has been published, then he has nothing to do with it? I am pretty much sure he can almost show nothing about the evidence of the contribution. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25818,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The short answer is that the editor will likely ask for more information from you and the adviser in response to a letter such as your adviser apparently plan to write. I doubt any action will be taken immediately and without some research if the editor is taking the task seriously.</p>\n\n<p>As an editor, I would find this sort of case very difficult since I would (most likely) receive two conflicting pictures of the story. Editors have the power to take whatever action they find appropriate. Their decisions may of course be disputed and the story could go on. In a case that is relatively similar in parts (<a href=\"http://publicationethics.org/case/authorship-issue\">case link</a>), an editor has turned to the <a href=\"http://publicationethics.org/\">Committee on Publication ethics</a> to get support in a decision. Their case portfolio can also be of help to editors.</p>\n\n<p>Obviously, following the linked case, an editor will try to have you and your adviser fix the problem yourself, it is after all primarily your problem. Hopefully the editor will come up with a plan for further actions, perhaps, as in the case, bring in a mediator and finally, if all fails, make a decision based on the existing facts that will be final. Some similar line of action seems appropriate and was also deemed appropriate by COPE. What route an editor will take may of course differ depending on the case but the aim will be to try to resolve what is right or wrong will be the aim and if all fails a suggestion on how the journal will proceed will follow.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25845,
"author": "Dennis",
"author_id": 17284,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17284",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Further to Ben's comment: I'd say that your advisor has burned bridges with you, which is unfortunate. There is a lesson in this for doctoral students. Choosing an advisor is a life-altering decision. Personal compatibility and reputation are as important as professional reputation.</p>\n\n<p>The filial obligations run in both directions: whatever you do in your field will reflect in some degree on your advisor. It's in your advisor's interest to help you along professionally. It is unfortunate that your advisor has chosen to take this sort of action. He (She?) apparently wants the hit in an \"A\" journal.</p>\n\n<p>What can the editor do? Anything she wants to do, actually. You don't say if the paper is in print yet. The best case for you is that it is not in print yet. Adding your advisor as co-author is still possible, and this whole mess can remain relatively closely held to you, your advisor and the editor. If the paper has appeared already, the editor could do anything from withdrawing the paper (very bad, as that action reeks of plagiarism or other academic dishonesty) to issuing a corrigendum note (not as bad as withdrawing the paper, but bad). In the short run, the best case for you would be for the editor to do nothing. I'm not sure that is in your long-run best interest, however.</p>\n\n<p>What should you do? Someone has to be the bigger, better person. Your advisor has already (to the extent that your version of the story reflects the actual history) revealed him(her?)self to be a rather petty person. I'd say to add your advisor as co-author. The power dynamics are pretty asymmetric here and you are on the weak side. Unless you care to go to your University's research ethics system with a complaint (and you'd better have irrefutable proof the situation is precisely as you say if you choose this route) and ruin your advisor's career, there isn't much you can do. Whistleblowers often do not fare well.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25817",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17682/"
] |
25,822 |
<p>From the perspective of a Ph.D. student, how much of an added value is it to have your own presentation slides layout, that is used consistently throughout your Ph.D. conference presentations and other talks (and possibly throughout your academic career afterwards)?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/dgleich/presentations">Here</a> is one such example from the Computer Science community.</p>
<p>This as as opposed to using existing Beamer templates with LaTeX, or built-in PowerPoint templates, or simply preparing each presentation on its own (without a specific layout).</p>
<p>A couple of axes I can think along:</p>
<ol>
<li>Creating a signature layout that distinguishes one in their community</li>
<li>Ease of preparation of presentations (especially over time), maybe overcoming constraints with existing templates.</li>
</ol>
<p>Note that I am not concerned with the question of <strong>content</strong>, but just <strong>design</strong> and layout.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 25829,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't think there's any inherent value in having your own \"signature\" presentation layout.</p>\n\n<p>Generally, you want to keep the focus on the content of your talk. If people are noticing your layout, they are paying less attention to your science. Would you rather stick in their minds as \"the speaker with the cool result\" or \"the speaker with all those weird colors on their slides\"?</p>\n\n<p>If you really dislike the usual templates, or you can make your own workflow more efficient by creating your own, then go ahead and do it. But I would suggest keeping your (visible) changes conservative; if your layout is radically different from what people are used to seeing, it may become distracting.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25835,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><code>If you are presenting in a classroom</code> it is an advantage to have same templates because students do not prefer to see a new template each session. <code>But in the conferences</code> the audience is not aware you are always using the same template. The only thing he sees is the <code>content</code> you are presenting. Moreover, some conferences have their own template and all the speakers have to use the conference template not their own.</p>\n\n<p>P.S. If you have the best designed slides and you have nothing to talk about, your audience will get bored soon.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25843,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First of all, I do not think that having a signature layout is any good for its own sake. In most fields, few people (apart from your workgroup) will attend more than one of your talks and even those who will, will likely not notice the consistency of your layout¹ – unless it’s particularly memorable, which is almost certainly not a good thing². And even if somebody notices, they will likely (and hopefully) value the quality of your design more, let alone the quality of your content.</p>\n\n<p>Considering the required work, there are two aspects: (1) Creating (or choosing) a layout and (2) Using the layout throughout your presentations.</p>\n\n<p>Aspect 1 takes a few hours, if you are sufficiently apt with your presentation program (and it does not suck) and know some basics of graphic design (which I suppose you do, if you are asking such a question).\nMostly it’s selecting a colour scheme, one or two fonts and a default arrangement of your slides as well as realising them in your presentation program and in the programs you use to generate your figures.\nRegarding the constraints of existing templates, remember that (unless your problems are very individual) if no templates are the way you want them, it is very likely that you should be careful what you are wishing for.\nAlso beware that the fact that you have to rely on (usually unknown) projectors imposes some constraints on your font and colour selections.</p>\n\n<p>Aspect 2 will usually save you some time, whether you are using a prebuilt design or your own: For example, you are very likely to reuse some material – in particular figures. And if you care about your slides being consistent (which I suppose you do), you avoid spending some time in adapting colour schemes, for example. In particular, there is usually no benefit in switching designs.</p>\n\n<p>From personal experience, I have spent some time in working out a design and have not regretted it yet.</p>\n\n<p><sup>¹ Just think about, how few people give horribly designed presentations and thus can be assumed not even to notice the flaws in their own presentations, let alone the qualities of yours.<br>\n² As you should not notice good design that much.</sup></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25848,
"author": "Will Robertson",
"author_id": 7754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7754",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes. If you're like me you'll never like everything about a standard layout, and you want your tools to disappear as quickly as possible when creating content.\nNoticing something in your slides that you want to change (bullet type, or title colour, or whatever) is the easiest way to get distracted from doing so.</p>\n\n<p>Having a standard layout for your own work means you have to spend the least amount of time worrying about the formatting.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25873,
"author": "Richie Cotton",
"author_id": 19549,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19549",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Standardising layouts have three advantages:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>You can reuse slides across presentation without changing the styling. </p></li>\n<li><p>When you create presentations, you don't need to think about styling; the templates are already set up for you.</p></li>\n<li><p>Creating templates and styling can be delegated to someone with design skills, and everyone else gets to use them.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The first two points are applicable whether you have your own signature style, or you follow a team or corporate style.</p>\n\n<p>The last point is different. In theory, having a corporate style is a really good idea because everyone gets the benefit of using templates created by the design genius in the marketing department. In practice, corporate templates are almost universally awful.</p>\n\n<p>So, if a corporate template exists, and you are lucky enough to like it, then use that. There's no point in reinventing the wheel.</p>\n\n<p>If there is no template, or it is dreadful, then create one for yourself and stick to that. </p>\n\n<p>Either way, you don't want to have to keep deciding on new fonts to use for every presentation that you make.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25876,
"author": "Floris",
"author_id": 15062,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15062",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I see pros and cons; which ends up winning out depends on your skill mix.</p>\n\n<p>First - designing a good layout takes effort and expertise. Graphics designers study many years to get good at it. Just because tools are provided to make it easy doesn't mean everyone is suddenly a graphical designer. The right blend of colors, fonts, space etc is not an easy thing to achieve. 99% of \"I can do better\" layouts look horrid.</p>\n\n<p>Having said that, I have at times come across layouts that made me go \"wow\". This is where the layout really supported the flow of the presentation, and while I was not getting distracted by the details, I came away more impressed. This was mostly because the presentation itself was very good - the contents were impressive, the speaker was very clear, and the layout of the presentation supported the spoken words.</p>\n\n<p>In those cases, the personal layout was the icing on the cake - not a substitute for good work. There is a lot you can do to improve your presentation without spending any time on the layout. Fiddling with layouts (like fiddling with LaTex) can become an easy distraction from the real issues with your presentation. I urge you to consider whether your interest in the \"look\" is coming at the right time: in other words, is every other aspect of your presentation skills (content, pacing, connecting with the audience) so good that layout is the only thing left to play with?</p>\n\n<p>If the answer is \"yes\", then my answer to your question is \"yes\". Otherwise, I think it's a bit early to work on creating your brand through a custom layout. Many people in the scientific community - especially at the PhD level - could do with honing their presentation skills. They could learn not to confuse slides with notes. They could learn to connect with their audience. They could learn to speak at an appropriate pace, and project their voice. They could learn to focus on the essentials and not bombard the audience with details. They could learn to use slides as visual aids - not \"the main course\" of the presentation. </p>\n\n<p>While I don't know you or your skills, I would say that I have statistics (based on 25+ years of empirical evidence) on my side when I answer \"probably not\" to your original title question.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25913,
"author": "zzzzBov",
"author_id": 466,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/466",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What you're describing in your question is called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand\" rel=\"nofollow\">good branding</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Branding is a major part of marketing, as it allows companies to craft a particular image for consumers. It's important for brands to be distinguished from one another, and focus on a target audience, which is why you've probably heard of brands such as \"Arm & Hammer\" and \"Oxi Clean\", but probably don't know \"Church & Dwight\" which owns both of those brands.</p>\n\n<p>Establishing a brand takes a lot of time and effort, and is difficult to measure. How can you objectively tell whether a sponsor chose to give you money because they liked your science or because they trusted your brand? It's always a mix, but it's important to remember that good branding will help open doors that otherwise would have been closed to you.</p>\n\n<p>If you approach your presentations as part of your brand (which they are) then any marketer will tell you how important it is to have a clear consistent message. Simply using a consistent theme for presentation material, business cards, and any and all academic communication is one way to develop your brand. That way, when someone watches your presentation it might remind them of the friendly email that you sent.</p>\n\n<p>The contents of your presentations is certainly important, and I think the other answers speak to that a great deal, so I'm going to <strong>explicitly ignore</strong> the contents of your presentation beyond a reminder that if your presentation is good, it will help your brand, and if your presentation is bad, it will harm your brand.</p>\n\n<p>I highly recommend discussing your brand with a marketer or designer and investing in yourself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25962,
"author": "bfoste01",
"author_id": 19610,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19610",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I always appreciate when someone cares about their presentation. There are some things that are just inexcusable (e.g., tables that are left aligned on one slide and centered on another), and make you look lazy, so to the extent a consistent template would mitigate those then it can't hurt. </p>\n\n<p>My presentations tend to look the same and stand out against my peers. I do all of my writing in Markdown, analyses in R, and create dynamic presentations with some available R packages. Therefore, all of my graphs tend to have a style (ggplot2), tables look the same in HTML, fonts (and related consistencies between headings and body text) work together nicely. It's not just about the style of the presentation, as I know a few people who give presentations and have a very distinctive voice in their text, and a welcomed minimalism in slide content. </p>\n\n<p>I never thought too much about it, but I do have a \"style\" or \"brand\" in my presentations that most people who have met me and seen me present a few times recognize as clearly a presentation I crafted. However, this \"brand\" is really just me using a specific set of tools that most people don't use. What's the standard for most fields? Unfortunately Powerpoint, and some use the Mac Office Suite, while a few others use Prezi (and most use that tool poorly). </p>\n\n<p>There's a range of tools out there that you can utilize that might help develop a consistent \"style\" for you, but also will help to vastly improve your workflow, and also make your scholarship better (i.e., tools with an emphasis on reproducibility).</p>\n\n<p>Whatever you do just do it well and make sure it works for you and our audiences. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/25822",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15902/"
] |
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