qid
int64 1
194k
| question
stringlengths 46
29.5k
| answers
listlengths 2
32
| date
stringlengths 10
10
| metadata
listlengths 3
3
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
26,531 |
<p><strong>Main Question:</strong></p>
<p>Three semesters into a PhD program, I am still unhappy with my project. I am currently in a summer internship where I was offered a job, and as I have enjoyed it so far and they pay well, I am considering finishing a Masters degree and leaving after that. I emailed my advisor to let him know about the offer, asking his advice about that and about the logistics of switching tracks. He has now asked me to let him know what I decide so he can give my TA position this coming semester to a different student (only PhD students at my university are guaranteed funding). I don't want to be misleading and take funding away from students who are committed to a PhD, but I honestly don't know what I want to do yet. I wonder if there might still be a chance that everything gets better and I do finish a PhD. But since I am not committed, is it better to officially switch? I don't know if it is possible to switch back, because my grades have not been the best and my university is very selective. (But I worry that the department does not look highly upon me at this point anyways - my first year was rough, and I ended up taking leave last fall for personal/health reasons.)</p>
<p>How should I handle this situation?</p>
<p><strong>Possibly relevant background information:</strong></p>
<p>almost 23, US, computer science. Finishing the requirements for a masters degree will take 2-3 more semesters (five classes and a paper). I majored in physics in undergrad but added a computer science major my junior year, and then decided to apply to graduate school for that because there were many things I hadn't gotten to learn about yet and found interesting. So I am now in a highly ranked program doing a project related to AI / NLP, which I had very little experience with prior to grad school. The project is old, in a language I hate and struggle with, has mostly been bug fixes and reimplementing things that have already been done before. With the exception of last semester, when another student joined (she has left already) it was just me working on it and three professors giving out tasks. Entering my third year, I am starting to feel pressure to figure out a topic, but I still feel as if I don't know enough to decide and have no clue what would be acceptable or even what I would want to do.</p>
<p>I miss the excitement of undergrad days when I would write simple AIs or algorithms for my own amusement and edification - I thought grad school would be like that, but I haven't done anything of the sort since. I've enjoyed my industry internships and class projects far more than any 'research' tasks because I got to build something that <em>actually works</em>. This is why I am considering not going through with the PhD and just getting a job, although not ruling out the possibility of going back later when I have a more clear idea of what I want to do, after narrowing my interests on my own time. I am not interested in a job in academia at all but rather I just want to have a high-tech job where I can make something novel and useful - which in some cases might be more accessible with a PhD, but I think is also possible with just a Masters.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26527,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<h2>You need legal advice. Talk to an attorney.</h2>\n\n<p>Perhaps your institution has one that you can take advantage of. Everything from here on out is rank speculation, and even your attorney's advice may not protect your from suit.</p>\n\n<p>If you can, get permission from each source you want to take a screen capture of. There may be copyright protectable elements in those screen shots. There may also be trademarked elements. </p>\n\n<p>If you cannot get permission for whatever reason, you may have to rely on fair use. Fair use is a defense to an infringement suit not a get out of jail free card. By using a copyright or trademark protected work without a license, you run the risk of lawsuit. Your institution may not be willing to rely on a fair use defense. Also, your publisher may not be willing to rely on a fair use defense (since they will be the lawsuit target). </p>\n\n<p>I personally think your use is without question a classic and canonical example of fair use, but that doesn't mean that you will prevail in publishing without permission. Many venues require that your sign a form saying that you have the copyright or permission to use all your images, so be careful.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26548,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><em>If there's no explicit prohibition against it in a EULA</em> and it is publicly-available software, just mention the source of the screenshot, either in small print on the cover or in a colophon. Remember the law belongs to you at least as much as them and academics have been too passive in helping courts settle these issues. And the proof of it is shown in other`s answers suggesting you should contact a lawyer. But in the United States, the Law is explicitly reserved for the People, not lawyers. These aren't difficult cases to think about. Academia has been dealing with the issue of fair-use for centuries. Just look at the issue as if it were your own special software, and you'll be able to figure out reasonable and \"fair use\".</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/29
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26531",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5929/"
] |
26,532 |
<p>I'm a recent math PhD, working in Subject X. I had the good luck to give a counterexample to a conjecture in Subject Y, using ideas from X. I don't know much about Y -- in fact I learned the conjecture in a "Y for dummies"-type paper and immediately saw the example. The people I met in Y seemed to be pretty happy about this.</p>
<p>Now I've been invited to give a talk at a big conference about Y. I would of course be delighted to do so, but by the time the conference happens my paper will be about 18 months post-arxiv. I don't really have plans or competence to do further work in Y, and I'm concerned that my paper will be getting stale by the time the conference rolls around. On the other hand, I could give a basic introduction to X and my example, which I think would be interesting to the audience.</p>
<p>Any suggestions as to how to proceed? Should I accept and give a dated talk?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26541,
"author": "David Z",
"author_id": 236,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/236",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm a physics PhD student, so our culture is a little different, but I've seen people give talks that were primarily about work published multiple years ago. So if math culture is anything like physics culture (and what I've heard suggests that the time scales are even <em>longer</em> for you), I don't think it's a bad idea. Especially, considering the fact that you have been <em>invited</em> to give this talk, it seems they want you there despite knowing that your work will have been out for a long time by the time the conference happens.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to inject something new into it, you could consult with some colleagues in subject Y and ask them what the relevance of your counterexample is. Then you could finish your talk with an overview of what they tell you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26551,
"author": "sevensevens",
"author_id": 14754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14754",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm assuming that either your job or the conference (or a mixture of both) is covering your travel + attendance cost. If that is the case you should give your talk on it.</p>\n\n<p>A couple of good reasons.</p>\n\n<p>1) Your employer likely hires PhDs to publish papers and give talks, and invited talks always looks good when you're looking for a promotion or a new position.</p>\n\n<p>2) Because Subject X provided a counter-example, it is likely much more relevant to Y than was previously though. Likely the researchers in Y don't know much about X, and would like to know more.</p>\n\n<p>3) You say you believe the conference attendees would be interested in your talk. This is the reason people attend conferences, to hear about something they don't understand well but find interesting. Don't worry that the paper is a few years old. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26564,
"author": "rumtscho",
"author_id": 103,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/103",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is nothing wrong with the paper being old. </p>\n\n<p>As an example, I once did a live experiment during a conference, with the attending people as participants in the experiment. Obviously, I couldn't evaluate and write up the data during the conference, although I had to give a talk with first results 24 hours after the experiment. I was also required to submit a paper with the complete results with the postproceedings, and these postproceedings appeared maybe 4 months after the conference and were sent to everybody who attended it that year. </p>\n\n<p>I had to give the talk on the postproceedings paper the following year, when the conference was held again. Of course, it was attended by the same crowd of known faces (it is a conference for a somewhat small community). These were the same people who had heard the first results the year before, and then received the written paper. </p>\n\n<p>Still, the talk was a success. The audience was very attentive during the talk, and I received both really good questions and great positive feedback afterwards, having professors come up to me, an unknown doctoral student, and express interest and praise for my work. They weren't bored at the \"old news\". </p>\n\n<p>In fact, I don't think they had read the paper from the postproceedings, and that's fine. With the sheer quantity of research produced these days, nobody can keep up with all publications in their core area, and everybody picks only the stuff which has direct implication for their own work. They are still very interested in related topics when they get the occasion to hear about them, and enjoy good work. They just don't seek this information actively. </p>\n\n<p>So, give the talk. It is a way to promote yourself and your work, and also your area X, which can have interesting synergies with Y. I doubt that anybody will have a negative reaction just because the paper has been sitting around for months. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26565,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To add one aspect to the other excellent answers here:</p>\n\n<p>Go and give that talk. Even if you don't really have plans or competence to do further work in Y, as you note, the topic seems to be interesting enough to enough people to explicitly invite you. So you never know, you might meet someone at that conference who you could collaborate with in extending your work!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26618,
"author": "TemplateRex",
"author_id": 18027,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18027",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Yes, you should accept and give the talk</strong>. Here's why:</p>\n\n<p>1) <strong>You will be providing a public service</strong>. Most of science is currently hyper-specialized and practitioners from different disciplines have trouble communicating their findings to each other because of the differences in jargon and mutually familiar techniques. You have managed to bridge a gap and it is very valuable to make more people in Y aware of your techniques from X. There might even be people from a related Subject Z at the conference, and they might also be looking to learn from you.</p>\n\n<p>2) <strong>There may be more low-hanging fruit in Y</strong>. You state that you are not inclined to pursue subject Y any further. But perhaps there are other current topics in Y where yet another technique from X might make a contribution. Just listen to some talks on Y and talk to the speakers afterwards. Someone might offer to co-author a paper with you, where they do all the work on Y and you provide the proofs from X.</p>\n\n<p>3) <strong>You might initiate more fundamental research on X</strong>. Why was the conjecture in Y formulated in the first place? Was your counter-example so hard to construct with the tools previously used in Y? Was the counter-example not a viable practical example in Y? How would other techniques from X map to the domain of Y? Perhaps there are aspects in Y that cannot be readily modelled using X. In that case, you might need to generalize some of X or combine it with tools from subject U.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion</strong>: go forth, inspire and be inspired.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/29
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26532",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20139/"
] |
26,538 |
<p>Earlier this year I entered into a high-profile molecular biology lab and started doing wet lab work (I am an undergraduate). Knowing that I have a computational background, my PI asked that I also help with a project that had been conducted over the last two years and was nearing its completion. I was told that if I made enough of a contribution that I could be listed as a coauthor. I wrote a program for the post-doc that is leading this project and used it to analyze the validity of part of his data. The most current (nearly final) version of the project's manuscript that is being passed around the lab unfortunately don't have my name anywhere on it, even though my code is listed in the supplementary information section.</p>
<p>I have always heard that you should get an authorship on a paper if your work resulted in a figure or sizable part of the discussion. My contribution to this project only slightly altered one figure, ensured the figure's validity, and got about 2 sentences in the discussion. My relationship with my lab and my PI especially is very important to me (I would love to continue my work here for at least another 2 years), so is it worth asking for a co-authorship, or at least an acknowledgement? Would doing so be inappropriate given my relative contribution (a month vs. 2 years) and status as an undergraduate in the lab?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26539,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Asking whether a contribution merits acknowledgement or co-authorship is <strong>always</strong> appropriate, as long as it is done in a professional and non-confrontational way.</p>\n\n<p>The answer may be \"no,\" but it's certainly worthwhile to ask. (And if the answer is \"no,\" at least you have learned something about standards for authorship and acknowledgement in your lab/field.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26542,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At the very least, an acknowledgment would be appropriate. However, it very much depends on the standards in your field—and within your present lab—whether or not you'll be recognized for a small analysis tool.</p>\n\n<p>Also, I would not expect that the tool would lead to multiple authorship credits—you created the tool once, and should receive \"credit\" for it once. (Otherwise, I'd need to cite the authors of the software I use in every paper out of my lab group!)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26563,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To be acknowledged seem appropriate. When it comes to authorship, having your name on the paper implicitly means you should also fulfil several criteria such as outlined by the Vancouver Protocol (look at <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/12030/4394\">this post</a> for details or search for posts with the tag <a href=\"/questions/tagged/authorship\" class=\"post-tag\" title=\"show questions tagged 'authorship'\" rel=\"tag\">authorship</a>). It seems unlikely that you would be eligible for co-authorship.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26566,
"author": "Dylan Richard Muir",
"author_id": 19984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19984",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A month's worth of work and a small analysis tool sounds like an acknowledgement, rather than an authorship. Depending on your relationship with the rest of the lab, I wouldn't press the point too hard -- a middle-author paper is worth something (but not much), and an acknowledgement is only worth the brief glow of seeing your name on a printed page.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/29
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26538",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20145/"
] |
26,550 |
<p>I see <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65/jeffe">JeffE</a> mentioned the existence of a faculty mentor in his <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11903/as-a-dissertation-advisor-how-can-i-best-help-a-typical-graduate-student#comment21937_11903">comment</a> on <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11903/as-a-dissertation-advisor-how-can-i-best-help-a-typical-graduate-student">this question</a>, so I am wondering if there is usually a faculty mentor for every junior professor (e.g., newly hired untenured profs). If yes, what are their roles?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26578,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It's rapidly becoming the norm at least at larger research universities (R1s) for all junior faculty to have assigned mentors from the senior faculty. At smaller institutions, they may not be assigned and so junior people have to find a mentor themselves from within the college, go externally, use their thesis adviser as a continuing mentor, or choose not to get mentored altogether.</p>\n\n<p>I'm currently serving as a senior faculty mentor to a junior colleague (I was assigned this person by my Chair) and am an informal mentor to two others. As I see it, my roles are to:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Show an active interest in my colleague's work. Read their published and unpublished work. Go to their internal talks and try to go to their annual conference talks. Provide feedback.</li>\n<li>Serve as a soundingboard for my colleague -- which journal should they publish in, should they change the structure of their article, what should their publishing schedule be. Suggest, but don't direct.</li>\n<li>Serve as an advocate for my colleague at senior faculty meetings and to the university at promotion and tenure time</li>\n<li>Take the colleague out for lunch from time to time. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In general, try to be a decent human being to them. Especially at the larger R1s, decent human beings are rare so this takes quite an effort. :-)</p>\n\n<p>Note that I've seen a lot of bad mentoring by senior faculty. I'm not sure if they do this because of spite or because they are Evil People®. In my mind, bad mentoring is worse than no mentoring, so I'm not sure if mandatory mentoring programs such as at my institution are a good idea. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26637,
"author": "BSteinhurst",
"author_id": 7561,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7561",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This will be a slightly different persepctive from RoboKaren's. I work in a small American liberal arts college in a small department. We have five tenure lines split between math and CS. My college does assign mentors to new faculty who are given funds to take the mentee out to lunch a couple of times. What is different from an R1 setting is that the mentors are specifically and intentionally from very different departments. These assignments come from the Faculty Development Office. Mine is from history. </p>\n\n<p>A few thoughts about what advantages having a mentor from an outside department may have:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>An outside mentor helps navigate the politics of a small department by knowing everyone involved but not being part of the situation. </p></li>\n<li><p>A lot of what the mentor gives is insight into navigating the college's structures and politics that are independent of departmental affiliation. For example, the relative workload of the various college-wide committees.</p></li>\n<li><p>It helps get you outside of your own department to meet people from across the college. In a small town in a small college this social role is more important than you might imagine. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>What this model does not accomplish is any sort of discipline specific mentoring on research or teaching. Those matters are left to informally acquired mentors and friends. This system may not be the Platonic ideal of mentoring but it does accomplish some good without too much bad. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26550",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13081/"
] |
26,553 |
<p>Typical disclaimer is now just common fodder for all papers and books. Any advice on a more original take to this generic statement would be appreciated!</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26555,
"author": "Marc Claesen",
"author_id": 7173,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7173",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Making the manuscript error-free is left as an exercise for the reader.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26559,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What is the point? If errors are due to factors other than those under ones own control, it should be mentioned (people are usually careful to protect their own names from problems they are not responsible for). Any unreferenced errors, ambiguities, misconceptions will clearly be labelled as the fault of the author by default.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26605,
"author": "Alecos Papadopoulos",
"author_id": 8575,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8575",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Usually, such a disclaimer appears when the author of the paper/book acknowledges some contribution from other persons that do not appear as authors, especially when (for papers) the referees are acknowledged for constructive comments and suggestions.<br>\nThe polite way is to say \"all <em>remaining</em> errors are my own\". </p>\n\n<p>The \"heavy-weight professional\" way is to say \"the usual disclaimer applies\". </p>\n\n<p>A natural way to create a Catch-22 (a vicious circle) would be to state \"to the best of my knowledge, this paper contains no further erors\". </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26619,
"author": "Raphael",
"author_id": 1419,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1419",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Donald E. Knuth writes in the Preface of Volume 4A of his series <em>The Art of Computer Programming</em>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I fear that [errors] lurk among the details collected here, and I want to correct them as soon as possible. Therefore I will cheerfully award $2.56 to the first finder of each technical, typographical, or historical error.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is not novel but if there is a greater way to own up and ask for help, I don't know it. This assumes, of course, you want to know about errors and not just issue a blanket \"my faul, duh\" statement.</p>\n\n<p>Incidentally, Knuth cites Christos H. Papadimitriou (<em>Computational Complexity</em>, 1994) just below; if you are in for a little snark:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Naturally, I am responsible for the remaining errors---although, in my opinions, my friends could have caught a few more.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I don't think it makes sense to copy such a statement (even as citation) to replace your own words. The best way is probably to be authentic and write what you think.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26655,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I find the increasing prevalence of this type of acknowledgement annoying. In political science, it seems like it is on almost every paper. Indeed, some authors have now switched to just writing \"the usual disclaimer applies\". Why I would need to acknowledge that I am responsible for (errors in) something I have authored continues to allude me. A novel (yet pleasantly classical) strategy would be to say nothing of this sort at all.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26553",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19581/"
] |
26,557 |
<p>So when writing a manuscript I usually go about as follows:
When reading papers on my topic I copy/paste or summarise those parts, which may be relevant for me and collect all these bits in a Word Document. It'll look like this:</p>
<pre><code>Species A grew taller than Species B (Smith et al. 2013)
Growth rate depends on genetics (Miller et al. 2012)
For Species A growth rate did not differ between experiments (Jones et al. 2013)
</code></pre>
<p>So basically a list of statements that I then regroup (manually) by topic. However, that last part is quite tedious (and I have to decide on how to group the bits, e.g. by "Species A" or by "growth rate"). </p>
<p>So I am looking for a tool (online or downloadable) with which it's possible to collect those text bits, assign tags to each and then select which tag to group by and get the selection of statements. </p>
<p>Are you aware of such a tool?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26770,
"author": "Xxxo",
"author_id": 20121,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20121",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Endnote can do such a task but you have to play a little bit with the fields in a reference. </p>\n\n<p>Each reference entry in endnote has some fields, e.g. author, title etc. The aforementioned ones are typical in all references' entry. But, there are some fields entitled \"custom\". These custom fields can have whatever title you want and can be used in order to make smart categories. </p>\n\n<p>E.g., I have used 2 custom fields. One for sub-fields of my field of study and one with notes. Based on the sub-fields, I have set up smart categories which hold papers-references with specific sub-field tag. Also, I can perform a search and EndNote will search also in the Notes custom field. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26837,
"author": "user30295",
"author_id": 15478,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15478",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I use Qiqqa to manage my PDFs when writing research papers. It allows you to highlight text or add notes to the PDFs. You can then tag the notes, and run \"reports\" which essentially will pull all of the tagged sections from all of the PDFs in your library into a single paper (similar to the Word document you mentioned) so you don't have to do that manually. It will show the original snippet from the paper, any notes you've made regarding that snippet, and the citation for the paper. There's also a neat brainstorm function that will let you visualize papers, tags, or notes and move them around/link them together; I use that to organize papers sometimes. </p>\n\n<p>There is a free version which will let you try out some features, and an affordable pay version that has more enhanced options. There are some helpful how to videos on Youtube that provide a nice sense of functionality and may help you decide if it's the tool you're looking for. I've been using it since I started grad school and it's been tremendously helpful in organizing my academic writing.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.qiqqa.com/67642\">http://www.qiqqa.com/67642</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26921,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I prepare a tex file for note taking (I learnt this by reading <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/10616/15723\">this answer</a> to the question <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10578/how-to-read-and-take-notes-on-research-papers\">How to read and take notes on research papers</a>) and I think that this method will help you. If you don't know how to work with LaTeX, it is very easy to learn; but you can make such file by means of any other typesetting software.</p>\n\n<p>You can organize your notes by having each chapter or section for any of the papers you read. For instance, section 1 is for the first paper you read. Then you can use the <a href=\"http://www.ctan.org/pkg/makeidx\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">makeidx package</a> to tag the content and prepare an index for your notes. And after all, you can add references to your notes. Every sentence you write from a reference, you can cite it by putting a simple citation code in front of it.</p>\n\n<p>So, by using three easy codes for <a href=\"http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Indexing\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">indexing</a>, <a href=\"http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Bibliography_Management\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">referencing</a> and preparing <a href=\"http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Document_Structure#Table_of_contents\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">tables of contents</a>; you will have a PDF file which is searchable, you have the references available and a table of contents which helps you to find your notes of papers. Also, you can categorize your notes of your papers by chaptering your file. For instance:</p>\n\n<pre><code>Table of Contents\n\n Chapter 1: Topic 1\n Section 1: Paper 1\n Section 2: Paper 2\n\n Chapter 2: Topic 2\n Section 1: Paper 3\n Section 2: Paper 4\n\nReferences\n\nIndex\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Benefits:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You can easily find your notes of your papers.</li>\n<li>You can have a references list of all the papers you have read.</li>\n<li>You have an index, so can find the keywords you are looking for easily.</li>\n<li>You have the papers you read categorized in each chapter, so you can easily manage your literature review and form the text you are writing.</li>\n<li>You can copy and paste the content of your tex file to your report or paper.</li>\n<li>You can print your file, or share it with a colleague or advisor for review.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26557",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20156/"
] |
26,570 |
<p>I have seen that students have two ways to write their thesis,</p>
<ol>
<li>They have a separate chapter to write an introduction to their thesis. This chapter usually consists of a literature review of their research topic.</li>
<li>They have an introduction section at the beginning of each chapter and they write a separate introduction to each chapter and they don't have any introduction chapter for literature review.</li>
</ol>
<p>Also, I have seen such behaviour in references part;</p>
<ol>
<li>some prefer that each chapter having its own references part;</li>
<li>some other prefer all the references come at the end of the thesis report.</li>
</ol>
<p>Could you please help me know which of these are standard and if any official guide to each exists, I will be happy to know and read them.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>EDIT:</strong></p>
<p>Thanks to the answers to this question of mine, I read the writing guide for masters thesis at my university and consulted my question with my advisor, and looked at the previously submitted theses, I wrote the introduction and literature review of my thesis in the very first chapter exactly after printing the abstract of my thesis and brought all the references at the very end just before the final page of my thesis.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26571,
"author": "Kristof Tak",
"author_id": 9401,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Well, I think there is no specific answer as if which is the \"best\" way of writing the Introduction chapter. I believe it boils down to preference. Sometimes it is possible to have both of them.</p>\n\n<p>I prefer,having an introduction chapter which talks about the topic overall and provides the basics to the reader, and then for each chapter you provide an introduction paragraph or section which tell the reader what is going to be solved in that chapter of the thesis.</p>\n\n<p>However, in most of the universities i.e. research groups, the student gets a template which he has to respect when writing the thesis. It is rather interesting that you have the freedom to choose that what type of template you will use for your own thesis.</p>\n\n<p>In any case before you start wasting time on considering which template you should choose, make sure that the research group where you will be writing your thesis does not provide a thesis template of its own.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27858,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You mix up two things: <strong>Thesis introduction</strong> and <strong>Chapter introduction</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>From what I observe, every thesis has to have an introduction. It makes sense after all: You need to introduce the topic of the thesis etc. You can't simply start a math thesis by <strong>Theorem. For all X ...</strong> -- you need to start somewhere, and that's the thesis introduction.</p>\n\n<p>The chapter introduction is a nice thing to do, and there are more options. It can be a short text before the first section, a separate section, some people even provide short (3-or-so-sentence) abstracts to each chapter. However, this is mostly part of your writing style, and it can't be so much enforced (well, it can, but that is IMHO ridiculous).</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>As for references, there should be guidelines for them. If there's no, then I advise to include full list of references at the very end, since that's what people expect by default, but it's only an advice, not a rule.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27859,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Standards and common practices vary widely between fields, regions, and institutions. There are no general rules or official guides.</p>\n\n<p>If it is similar to what previous students have done, your advisor says it is okay, and it doesn't violate any style guide that your university may have, it is fine.</p>\n\n<p>(This answer applies to a lot of the \"thesis style\" questions we've seen recently on this site.)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26570",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
26,573 |
<p>I'm just starting to investigate doctoral programs in education in the United States, and I'm considering how to handle the GRE requirement:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Hardline Activism:</strong> submit my incomplete application with a well-researched essay justifying my refusal to take the GRE.</li>
<li><strong>Soft Activism:</strong> submit my complete application including my first-try GRE scores along with a well-researched essay debunking the significance of my GRE scores related to my value as a candidate in the Ed.D. program, AND flatly stating that I spent no more than four hours (the length of the exam. i.e. No test prep.) on the GRE, in light of my scientific conclusions about it's relevance in this situation.</li>
<li><strong>Passive Acceptance:</strong> submit my complete application with my first-try GRE score and hope for acceptance.</li>
<li><strong>Active Acceptance:</strong> Study hard and take the GRE, then study some more and take it again. Submit my complete application and hope for acceptance. </li>
</ol>
<p>Are there other options that I'm overlooking?</p>
<p>My position is not "the GRE has no value." My position is "I'm an excellent candidate for this doctoral program, as evidenced by my application. GRE scores would not alter that conclusion." </p>
<p>I found <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11812/the-gre-why-does-this-still-exist/11817#11817?newreg=eab060635122496c891515b5e196c4b7">this discussion</a> very useful, especially the answer and citations by <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62/jeromy-anglim">Jeromy Anglim</a>.</p>
<p>As an aside, I admit that I enjoy testing boundaries just for fun, but this issue is more than that. As a proponent of thoughtful, responsible education reform, I'm leaning toward options 1 and 2.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26575,
"author": "virmaior",
"author_id": 19769,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19769",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the answer to your question is this: </p>\n\n<h2>How much do you value getting into graduate school versus how much do you value feeling like you are making a point?</h2>\n\n<p>If you value feeling like you are making a point, by all means, pursue the Soft Activism. My guess is that it will come across to the department like a complaint that you didn't do well enough on the test and are going rogue to make your point.</p>\n\n<p>If you value getting into graduate school, then engage in \"begrudging acceptance\" that this is how you get into that particular graduate school. Like it or not, there's often a line of people willing to take your place, suffer the test, and smile. Moreover, if there's money on the line in the forms of scholarships or fellowships, consider the time/money you put into the test an investment. Study, practice, and prepare until you get a score you can submit in the hopes of getting in. You don't have to actively like the idea, you just need to accept this is the means to acceptance in graduate school. </p>\n\n<p>For middle ground possibilities, I actually think the \"hardline activism\" approach is softer and less whiney than your \"soft activism\", because true or false it makes it seem like you've had a principled stand against the GRE since the beginning. Depending on the contours of the education program that might bode well for you. Some education programs might agree that the testing is bunk; my colleagues in education don't like standardized tests.</p>\n\n<p>You can of course just submit the scores you have, but if you think they are inadequate for acceptance, that seems unwise.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>After you're in, then write all the principled essays you want against it and try to change the system.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26576,
"author": "Amatya",
"author_id": 6674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6674",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>These opinions are based on my discussions with faculty members involved in PhD admission committees.</p>\n\n<p>I think your crusade against the GRE will be more productive when you become the department chair or the dean of a school. Right now it just sounds like you're afraid. </p>\n\n<p>Among the options you've listed, I would recommend #3. You should know that the GRE plays a small part in what gets you accepted in a good grad school. The admission committee cares about your essay, your letters, your past productivity, and how you've done in specific hard courses.</p>\n\n<p>The GRE is correlated with IQ and simply enables the committee to focus their efforts on a smaller pool. They know that they might miss on a good candidate who inexplicably bombed the GRE but they also know that they would easily find many many equally good candidates in the pool of those who did average and above on their GREs.</p>\n\n<p>If you do exceptionally well in your GRE (98 percentile +) then you will stand out. If you do average, the committee will focus on what they really care about, which is your essay, your letters etc. If you bomb it then your application likely won't be looked at.</p>\n\n<p>Don't waste your time and money taking the GRE many many times. Your score won't change very much and what's really important is the rest of your portfolio.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26577,
"author": "Orion",
"author_id": 19732,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19732",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you want an exception from the GRE requirement policy, submit other materials and politely ask the head of the admission committee for an exception. In the request build carefully your case as why you think you would be successful in the school. Remember, the school admission is not about your principles, it is about the Department having confidence you would be successful. And that's what you need to show in your petition.</p>\n\n<p>In my case, my GRE scores were excellent, but too old (10 years). Since taking the test I completed a Masters at one of the top schools with high GPA, and had a successful employment record at reputable (and picky) employers. The Department for my PhD program had no issues waving the requirement to retake the GRE, simply because I had other means to show that I would be successful in the program.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26579,
"author": "Per Alexandersson",
"author_id": 2794,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2794",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Consider a PHD program in Europe. To my knowledge and experience,\nyou will get more papers published during a European program,\nand the number of papers in good journals is what determines your future academic career.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26588,
"author": "Jen",
"author_id": 20178,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20178",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As someone who recently took the GRE for grad school I feel your pain. I didn't do badly but certainly not as well as I would have liked. I'm not a good standardized test taker and felt at a disadventage when taking it.</p>\n\n<p>BUT, my department (no idea about yours), does not weigh the score of the GRE very heavily. Unlike the SAT or ACT, there is no minimum score that you have to meet. I actually emailed my advisor for grad school, asking him about my scores and if they would do (or if not, would I need to take it over). There is no \"this score is good, this one is bad\" scale so I really didn't know how I stood from other candidates. </p>\n\n<p>My advisor essentially said this: they have the GRE as a requirment because they have to (or at least, it's the standard). However, they look more at GPA, letters of recom., and advise from the faculty. There are students from foreign universities who bomb it because of language barriers but that doesn't prevent them from getting in.</p>\n\n<p>Bottom line, I would ask the school(s) you are appling to directly if you are worried about getting in to see how heavily it weighs. In my opinoin and from those that I've talked to, nobody really believes the GRE is some great test that determines sole ability for getting through grad school.</p>\n\n<p>Now, if you just want to kick up some dust and try to take down the GRE all togehter, more power to you :p It's an antiquateated and unfair test and through my previous points of most schools (well, my school at least) not really caring about it, it's just a way to make more money.</p>\n\n<p>Though I would advise against option #1. Not submitting a GRE I don't think will do anything than merely have your application by incomplete. Mine was all done online so without having every box checked off, it wouldn't let you submit it anyways and as fair as I know you can not apply unless it's online. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26589,
"author": "reirab",
"author_id": 12999,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12999",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One word of caution regarding options 1 and 2: In many (if not most) U.S. colleges, the office of the Graduate School has the final say over who is admitted to candidacy for a graduate degree. GRE score requirements for that candidacy are usually a matter of official university policy and cannot simply be overridden by the faculty committee reviewing applications in a particular department. Getting an exception to university policy just because you don't like the GRE requirement seems very unlikely. There might be a few schools where that would work, but I would guess it to be a small minority.</p>\n\n<p>I would agree with the advice of others that you play by the rules to get into the program and then work from within to change the requirements for others in the future. This doesn't require several levels of administration to approve exceptions to university policy, it doesn't make it look like you just don't want to take the test, it doesn't make it look like you're trying to hide or excuse a poor test score, it doesn't make it look like you feel entitled to special treatment that other candidates aren't getting, and it doesn't make it look like you're going to be unwilling to work with others when you can't have your way. Of course, as virmaior said, this decision also depends on how much you value getting accepted into the program. My answer is assuming you value it highly. Also, again, results at your particular school will vary and will depend strongly on the university policy of the school as well as the viewpoints of the graduate admissions committee in your department as well as any levels of administration that may be required to approve their decisions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 67557,
"author": "Joel",
"author_id": 30852,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30852",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Best option if you want to make a point: Take the GRE, get a perfect score, then write a letter asking them to disregard your score in their evaluation of your application on the grounds that it is not an appropriate measure of your ability.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Don't expect that if you submit an incomplete application the people evaluating it will see your application or if they do see it, they may not have time to read your well-researched letter. </p>\n\n<p>It will likely be a committee, some of whom may not have looked at applications before the meeting (for an academic job hunt, my wife once learned she was on the short-listing committee when she got a 300 pg pdf file consisting of all the applications on Friday and was told that the meeting was on Monday). </p>\n\n<p>Someone not involved in the decision process may go through and throw out any applications that don't meet the admission criteria - if you're admitted despite failing to meet the criteria they are opening themselves up to a lawsuit.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26573",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20167/"
] |
26,585 |
<p>I applied for a tenure-track faculty position at a particular institution in the U.S. I was selected for a skype interview, but was not invited for an on-campus visit. I snooped around on the department seminar web page, but did not find any evidence that this particular department actually ever invited anybody for an on-campus interview.</p>
<p>Today, I received an email from the department stating:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Thank you for your interest in the faculty position within the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of [redacted]. Our search to fill this position produced many impressive applicants. <strong>However, for a number of reasons beyond the department’s control, the position was not filled.</strong> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>I can think of a couple of reasons that a department may not fill a vacancy, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>the finalists all ended up taking a job somewhere else</li>
<li>none of the finalists could agree to the terms offered by the department</li>
</ul>
<p>So, besides those possibilities listed above, what are the other possible causes of a faculty position going unfilled?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26592,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You will probably never know the full reason, because departments are not quick to air their internal issues with job candidates. But here are a few possible reasons:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>The search was halted by higher administration. One possible reason to do this so late in the process is because of funding changes (e.g. the funding for the position disappeared or was reallocated elsewhere). </p></li>\n<li><p>The search was halted by the HR department due to some violation of hiring practices. </p></li>\n<li><p>The search committee was unable to come to an agreement about who to bring to campus for an interview, or the dean rejected all the candidates before they were interviewed. </p></li>\n<li><p>Although this is less likely, someone who had planned to retire might have decided not to retire, or someone from another department may have been moved into the department (e.g. for legal reasons to settle a complaint).</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32291,
"author": "Bad Penny",
"author_id": 24773,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24773",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There may have been a change of administration in the middle of a search, and the new administrator didn't like the position description posted. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26585",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11192/"
] |
26,586 |
<p>In the acknowledgement section of a thesis or paper, the authors usually thank the funding institution of their research project and people who had significant impact on their publication.</p>
<p>When acknowledging companies/institutions in a publication, should they be informed beforehand? I mean, should authors ask for permissions before acknowledging any names in a publication?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26594,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As long as you're not publishing their logo, you should be able to print their name in an acknowledgement section. <strong>However</strong>, if you are getting sponsored by them, it may be <em>necessary</em> (according to terms of agreement(s) or as a courtesy) to show their logo.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26613,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If the agency provides funding, and you are not sure about their policy, you can always contact the person who administers your grant to find out. </p>\n\n<p>Some private foundations do have specific requests for acknowledgement. For example, I seem to remember that the Templeton Foundation likes authors to include a statement such as \"The opinions expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of the John Templeton Foundation.\" </p>\n\n<p>Your grant agent can surely tell you about this. And they will almost certainly be happy to hear you are publishing something with their support.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26638,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It likely depends on what field, and what you're acknowledging them for.</p>\n\n<p>In most medical journals, and as such most journals of \"allied\" fields like nursing or public health, you <em>must</em> name your funding sources, so institutes and companies take it as assumed that their names will be appearing in publications. One company that's funded projects of mine even provides the boilerplate language in their funding agreement.</p>\n\n<p>If you're acknowledging them for <em>help</em>, or the reasons you'd acknowledge an individual, rather than for funding? Again, likely depends on the field - again, in medicine, many journals consider being in the acknowledgements section to be a tacit approval of the results of the paper, and require you seek permission to put them in the acknowledgements section.</p>\n\n<p>Regardless of whether or not you <em>need</em> to, it's probably decent practice to let them know, especially if they're funding you, because it tells them you're doing productive things with their money.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26586",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
26,595 |
<p>I am doing BS Computer Science. I will be starting my final year in August and my CGPA is 3.05. I don't have any research experience yet but I am pretty sure that I want to get a PhD degree.</p>
<p>Will 3-4 months of research experience be enough if I involve in a research project now (considering the 15 December deadline for PhD application)? Or should I apply next year and get more research experience?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26597,
"author": "user1798812",
"author_id": 19476,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19476",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>PhD programs are for applicants who know and show, all they want to do is research! If the research project you are involved in, right now is extraordinarily productive, then you might get into a PhD program this year itself, given that the PhD would be about the research you are doing right now. You can also start writing review papers or research articles to start building your publication record. Even if it is under progress during the time of application, it still counts.</p>\n\n<p>If all (or most) of these are non-feasible for you for the time being, I'd suggest waiting till next year. That way you'd know better what research you want to pursue for PhD and would have a strong profile too. Chances of admission are higher, if you do it(apply for PhD) next year.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26631,
"author": "Nahkki",
"author_id": 18092,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18092",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Plenty of PhD students go into their program without research experience. I would say that of the PhD students I know who went into their PhD directly from their BS in CS well over half had no previous research experience. Previous research experience can help during the application process but it's not required.</p>\n\n<p>That answers your overt question of \"Do I need research experience to get into Grad School?\" but let's take a moment to look at some of the implied questions you bring up.</p>\n\n<p>Spending more time researching prior to applying for or attending graduate school can help you make sure that a postgraduate degree is really what you want. You should spend some time figuring out what kind of job you want after you are done with school and seeing what level of education will help you reach that goal. Or, in other words, <em>why</em> do you want to go to grad school? There were be a lot more happy grads students if more of them stopped to consider this question. I found that I while I enjoy research, I hate writing research papers SO MUCH that I couldn't face 5 - 7 years of research papers. I also discovered that for the jobs I wanted a PhD wasn't very useful at this point(and that most jobs I looked at would eventually pay for me to go back and get a PhD). </p>\n\n<p>Spending some time researching prior to applying or attending grad school would also be useful if you felt you needed to improve your application packet. You mention a 3.05 CGPA which is kinda, just 'ok' you know? It's not amazing but it's also not bad enough to prevent you from attending graduate school. It's the kind of CGPA that needs strong extracurricular activities, external projects, great letters of recommendation and strong statements of purpose in order to succeed. How are your letters of recommendation? Do you have a good relationship with any instructors that could write a personalized letter? Were you involved in good extracurriculars(not necessarily CS related, but, rather, extracurriculars where you <em>did</em> something)? Have you taken the GREs? How did they go for you? What schools do you want to do your PhD at? How competitive are these schools? These are the kinds of questions that will strongly effect your chances at getting into graduate school. Time researching could help with some of these - it could get you stronger letters of recommendation, buff up missing or subpar extracurriculars, give you time to study for and retake the GRE. </p>\n\n<p>Finally when you start thinking about a PhD you should consider a couple of things:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>If you are not 100% positive(and even if you are) that you want to get a PhD and do all the stuff that comes along with that then you should apply to a program that gets you a Masters degree along the way. This way if things don't turn out the way you want them to you still end up with a very useful piece of paper.</p></li>\n<li><p>What do you want to research? Just saying 'I want a PhD' is a short road to a shitty PhD experience. What are you willing to spend almost the next decade of your life researching? Who do you want to research with? If you want to study, say, Human Computer Interaction then you should be applying to schools that have those programs and have professors publishing and researching in that field. If you aren't sure what you want to study then, perhaps, more time researching before you apply would be useful - it would give you a chance to get the lay of the land and make some decisions(and possibly connections).</p></li>\n<li><p>I've already brought this up but it bears repeating. What do you want to do with a PhD? Do you want to research? Do you want to teach? Get this shit locked down before you sign up for anything. So many PhD students go into their degree program because 'I want a PhD' without thinking about the why and the what and a not insignificant amount of them end up never finishing. </p></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26595",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20184/"
] |
26,596 |
<p>As the lone experimentalist in my group, I end up supervising most of the students (M.S., B.S. and high school) who do experimentation-focused research in my lab.</p>
<p>I am always trying to improve my mentoring and supervision skills. So I would like to ask my current students for some feedback at the end of the summer.</p>
<p>However, I want to make sure they don't feel pressured in any way by this request, that they are assured there will be no negative or positive consequences to them, and that they understand that I really want honest answers. (I'm not fishing for compliments.)</p>
<p>And, I am looking for specific feedback that I can use to improve or build on, not just general complaints or reassurances that everything was fine.</p>
<p>Given the goals stated above, what's the best way to ask for this kind of feedback? Should we speak face to face in an "exit interview" kind of thing, or should I ask them to write something in an anonymous form online, or something else entirely?</p>
<p>What specific questions can I ask to get focused, helpful feedback on my supervision and mentoring abilities? </p>
<p>Does anybody here have experience (as either supervisor or supervisee) with this kind of assessment, and have useful techniques to share?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26599,
"author": "user1798812",
"author_id": 19476,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19476",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can do an anonymous survey. Ask them to rate you on certain criteria(that you mention in the survey, and want to get a feedback on!) Have them add additional comments too after the survey so they can add things that they feel, you should know about. This would be completely anonymous so they won't be too afraid to be honest. But on the other side they might still hesitate to open up completely as no one wants their boss to be mad at them just because they spoke the truth.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26604,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I (am) was in a similar situation as you are. I ended up supervising a team of BS and M.Eng/MPS students for a project. Most of the work for them involved programming and data visualization. </p>\n\n<p>After the end of the semester/year, I took them out for coffee in a casual setting and asked them how I needed to improve my supervision skills. Since I worked with them closely throughout the semester/year, we were on friendly terms and I got some very constructive feedback. This helped shape my supervision in the next semester.</p>\n\n<p>I did not ask anyone for help but this was what I had observed my previous adviser(s) doing with me so I followed their example. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26609,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>Set the Stage</strong></p>\n\n<p>At the start of each relationship, let each student know that you value feedback, that you are adaptable/flexible in your approach to supervision, and that you will be asking for their feedback both during and at the end of the end of the supervision period.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Reinforce the Message and Values</strong></p>\n\n<p>During the supervision period, look for opportunities to demonstrate your adaptability, your interest in feedback, and it is OK for them to offer feedback even if they might feel a bit uncomfortable. (Some people resist giving feedback to supervisors, including for gender/age/cultural reasons. They need to <em>experience</em> the process working successfully to overcome that resistance.)</p>\n\n<p><strong>Asking for Feedback</strong></p>\n\n<p>Aim for a face-to-face meeting, though it's fine if some people prefer to give feedback in writing. Before you ask for feedback, first ask what is important to them in supervision relationship. You need to understand their frame of reference and values. Then ask: \"What worked well for you? And what didn't?\" Then you can ask the feedback question: \"For those things that didn't work so well for you, what would have worked better for you?\" You are asking how things could be different for them, within their frame of reference. You aren't asking them to step into your shoes and advise you on how to be a better supervisor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26612,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The bigger question behind your question is: How can I be a more better/professional manager? Right?</p>\n\n<p>And to answer that, it's probably not as simple as posing a question on SE.</p>\n\n<p>I would ask you: Why do you think you need extra feedback? Do you think your students are hiding their thoughts or fearful of voicing their feelings to you? Because otherwise you should be fairly \"in sync\" with them while you're interacting, presuming your not managing from afar. That is the <em>key</em> indicator for supervisor performance, and there's no boilerplate that you'll be able to make for every situation and every type of person. If you try, you become the another PHB.</p>\n\n<p>As a former manager, I know that if your employees aren't voicing their true thoughts or concerns to you, there's already a problem. And it's not necessarily them.</p>\n\n<p>So the other key item, if I've guessed your intentions properly, is how do you develop this skill(s)? And for that you need to listen and dialog fluidly in each situation you encounter so that you <em>never miss a step</em> and always stay on top of things. That takes courage (because you will fail) and time (because it takes a diversity of experience), not technique.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26614,
"author": "Orion",
"author_id": 19732,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19732",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I tend to have a group lessons learned session, either periodically or at the end of a project/phase. Phrasing questions in terms of the project, what worked and what didn't, sets up a stage for a frank and constructive discussion. Since it is not about you, you can participate as well.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26596",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365/"
] |
26,598 |
<p>During my studies I've read a number of published articles where spelling mistakes have somehow squeaked through the review process. For example, I have found a paper with a section entitled <em>Turbulance Model</em> when the title should be <em>Turbulence Model</em>. I would love to be able to submit an errata if I knew it was going to be a one or two line email, but I don't know of anyone else who does this. Will editors be annoyed with little corrections like this? Surely there isn't a need to bother the corresponding Author with such a matter, is there?</p>
<p>To be clear, I am only thinking of cases like the example I've given; a clear spelling mistake or a missing word. I wouldn't start arguing with an author/editor over wording issues or other gray areas.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26601,
"author": "Miguel",
"author_id": 14695,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14695",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>On the arxiv there exist <em>versions</em> of manuscripts, which are a great way to get rid of this kind of mistakes. I hope that with the onset of online-only journals and the prevalence of internet for article reading this will become more mainstream. In the meantime, I would certainly not bother the author or the journal about such <em>obvious</em> mistakes: almost everyone will understand <em>turbulance</em> is misspelled, and although annoying to read, it certainly does not add confusion to the message. It is great to read nicely-written misspell-free papers, but my opinion is that we should not overlook the scientific quality of an article because a few words were wrong or the author was not a great writer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26608,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Let’s be utilitaristic and do a <strong>rough, optimistic calculation</strong>:</p>\n\n<p>First, how much time does correcting a spelling mistake cost?</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>First of all, it costs you some time to find a way to contact somebody from the journal. I ran an experiment with a random journal and it took me three minutes to find a way to contact the chief editor and to ensure that there is no easy way to contact somebody closer to actual typesetting.</li>\n<li>It costs you about one minute to write the mail.</li>\n<li>It costs the chief editor (in our example) at least one minute to read the mail and redirect it to typesetting.</li>\n<li>It costs the head of typesetting at least one minute to delegate the work.</li>\n<li>Whoever is actually doing the work, has to find the source of the paper, correct the mistake, check whether the whole paper is still neatly arranged (even if the correction did not alter the number of lines in the paragraph, the linebreaking algorithm or the font might have slightly changed) and every sentence is still on the same page (in fields, where references to pages happen). Again, I ran an experiment on one of my own papers and it took me two minutes (as the correction had no major effects) – and I operate my computer mainly via keyboard and consider myself a fast typer and well organized, not to forget that I do not have so many papers. Additionally, let’s consider one minute for uploading or similar.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>So, all in all, mankind has spent nine minutes on correcting the mistake.</p>\n\n<p>Now, At the end of the day, the reason why we bother with spelling is that it speeds up reading texts, i.e., saves the reader some time. Let’s say a small spelling mistake (like <em>turbulance</em>) costs every reader a second. Thus to break even with our nine minutes, the respective word has to be read about 500 times. I do not have any direct numbers on this, but as papers are mainly read by the same people who write papers, this would mean that I have to read (every word of) 500 papers for every paper I write – which is very far from reality.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Thus even under the above optimistic conditions you are likely wasting more time than you are saving.</strong></p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Also, from another point of view and my own experience: The involved people do not care. I can tell a story of how much trouble it was to make a typesetter change the way one of my tables was formatted such that it was any readable even if that would make it deviate from the journal guidelines – and that was a severe issue.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, it’s likely that you only need to read a few papers to spot a terminus technicus with confusingly wrong hyphenation. My favorite example is »generalized onset seizure«, which denotes seizures with a generalised onset and not onset seizures, which are generalised.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26617,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is not necessary to make an errata for simple mistakes. That said, however, you need to consider whether the simple mistake may change the meaning of what is written so the key issue here is \"meaning\". Anything that can create confusion of introduce an error in vital information necessary to understand the material should be corrected. Since it is generally not possible to change published (e.g. journal) material, an errata note should suffice. Otherwise, the misconception introduced by the mistake might propagate and your original work may be misunderstood. So check whether your found errors introduce any major consequences for correctly understanding the text.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 121383,
"author": "L_W",
"author_id": 100001,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/100001",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The definitions of Errata are also very specific to each publisher. <em>E.g.</em> <a href=\"https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/authorandreviewertutorials/biomed-central-editor-tutorials/post-publication-issues/making-corrections/10495904\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Springer's policies</a> state that publishing an Erratum is appropriate in</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>cases of serious mistakes or a factual error or omission in the methods, results, or conclusions. To warrant an erratum the scientific error must be serious enough to affect the replication and interpretation of results.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>While <a href=\"https://www.elsevier.com/editors/perk/policy-and-best-practice-errata-And-corrigenda\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Elsevier</a> make a distinction between Errata and Corrigenda:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>An erratum refers to a correction of errors introduced to the article by the publisher.</p>\n<p>A corrigendum refers to a change to their article that the author wishes to publish at any time after acceptance. ... Authors should contact the editor of the journal, who will determine the impact of the change and decide on the appropriate course of action</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Both seem to correct already published articles only by publishing another note about the changes, whatever that note might be called. Unless the meaning and understanding of a word or sentence is severely impacted or the scientific message changes, correcting spelling mistakes does not provide any benefit to the already published article.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26598",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9139/"
] |
26,607 |
<p>I have background in languages (BA in English Literature and Teaching in China, MA Conference Interpreting in Manchester, UK) and I am eager to do a PhD in cognitive science in the UK.</p>
<p>During my MA studies, we were studying fundamentals of psychology and cognitive sciences related to translating/interpreting. During the course of this study, some modern research techniques such as FMRI, EEG were touched upon but the course was not very comprehensive, as the focus of the field was never really on how the interpreters’ brain works during simultaneous interpreting or other language activities.</p>
<p>I found languages and cognitive sciences closely related, because it is very natural to bring up questions in one area while discussing the other. It’s close to instinct that an interest in one can seep into another, at least that was the case for me.</p>
<p>I am really keen to further my education in the area of Cognitive Sciences, and it's been the case for the last couple of years. But it’s a bit saddening to see that the minimum entry for these programs usually require a science degree in relevant fields, for example, CS, EE, Psychology, Neuroscience, etc. And at the moment (I'm 26), I can't really do one more undergraduate degree.</p>
<p>However, I understand that there are gaps to fill for a person to change their area of study. Usually in the UK, PhD programs would encourage the students to do the 1+3 program, where first years have the opportunity to fill this gap. But I fell that even for these 1+3 programs, students who have a liberal arts degree are still discouraged from applying because these PhD programs specifically require students to have background in relevant science fields.</p>
<p>So what should I do to be more qualified and have a better chance to be accepted as a PhD student? </p>
<p>My plan is to learn some fundamentals by finishing online courses in the following areas: Math (e.g. Calculus, Linear Algebra, Probability, to be more comfortable with fundamentals), Computer Science (such as basics of algorithms and Python to be able to perform some scientific computing), and Neuroscience (as it is fundamental to Cognitive Sciences). What about MOOC courses, more specifically, how are they viewed in the academia in the context of someone who is using them to fill in the gaps when changing fields?</p>
<p>I would like to know whether or not I have underestimated the difficulty and hard work required to put myself on this track.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38224,
"author": "Mr_road",
"author_id": 28914,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28914",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I studied at Edinburgh with a few friends who had come for the arts world into CogSci and CS Masters courses, they shared many lectures with us (Bio-Informatics). I would suggest either doing a Masters in a related field, before jumping into the PhD.</p>\n\n<p>I took some CogSci and Neuroinformatics modules for my MSc and I struggled not coming from that background, if I were doing it again and wanted to prepare I would look to the online courses. Many of them are excellent.</p>\n\n<p>MIT have an Opencourseware section on CogSci: <a href=\"http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/brain-and-cognitive-sciences/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/brain-and-cognitive-sciences/</a>\nNo one will look down on you for saying you have worked through an MIT course. They also have extensive CompSci resources. Coursera also has many excellent course, that will help fill in gaps in you education.</p>\n\n<p>I don't think you will find many people in academia who will look badly on people using any resources they can find to expand their knowledge and understanding of a given field.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41390,
"author": "Calchas",
"author_id": 31491,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31491",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a PhD science student you will be expected to handle numbers, statistics, algebraic manipulation, calculus, and in particular these days, computational numerics---all as a matter of (relative) ease. Not that you can do it in your head, or you know the answers off by heart, but rather that you are not daunted when an author casually jumps between prose and mathematical symbols every few words, because you have been literally solving similar problems for the past five years.</p>\n\n<p>There will be some PhD projects that are more \"numeric\" and some that are less, of course.</p>\n\n<p>I don't say this to put you off! Rather I am trying to say that the typical beginner PhD scientist has spent as much time steeped in this kind of thinking as you have spent learning and thinking about languages. It's not so much doing coursework and ticking the boxes, rather it's three plus years deeply embedded in this kind of world. So that puts you in a very different place. </p>\n\n<p>Now that isn't to say this is impossible. Your language skills may well give you an edge somewhere, and really the student molds the project to his own strengths, so I encourage you to apply. But you should definitely discuss this situation with potential supervisors before you apply. Some will be happier than others to accept what is an edge case, if you don't mind me saying. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26607",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20170/"
] |
26,615 |
<p>Whenever I meet my advisor and interact with him, in class or otherwise, I can't help feeling intimidated. I feel scared of the fact that I may fall below his expectations, and I become tongue-tied and mind frozen even though I know stuff. </p>
<p>How can I avoid this? Is this common at this stage? (I am an undergrad and just beginning research.)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26625,
"author": "Kristof Tak",
"author_id": 9401,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think this is a typical syndrome for young students, or those students who have massive respect for their Professors or Teachers. </p>\n\n<p>Usually the students consider their Professors to be superior to them; In addition to this the student might have some expectations in the future from that guide, trying to impress him all the time, so he is rewarded later on.</p>\n\n<p>The way to solve this is to have more communication with that person and after all realize that he is a regular human being, who sometimes in the past used to be a student, and most probably was intimidated by his guide. </p>\n\n<p>As you get to talk interact with your guide the Myth that you have in your head about him/her will start to get into the frames of normality, and the intimidation will go away after a while.</p>\n\n<p>Long story short: he is a human being as well</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 60933,
"author": "neuronet",
"author_id": 29012,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29012",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with the answer by Kristof, just to expand on their suggestion to get to know the person. I would take extensive notes in class, read the book, and come up with a lot of questions. I would try to answer them on my own, but some of them I could not, even after more than one try (this is pretty important).</p>\n\n<p>I would then go to the professor's office hours and ask the questions, that I had <em>previously written down</em>. This built up a rapport, let me ask intelligent questions without having to rely on being confident and eloquent because I was initially nervous, and also helped me learn the material.</p>\n\n<p>I'll be honest: with some professors I never got over being nervous. But to a person, they remembered me, respected me, and helped me get into graduate school because they saw that I cared enough to read over their lecture notes, the text books, and to write down good questions to bring them to their office hours.</p>\n\n<p>Confidence comes with time, sometimes not until graduate school or you are a professsional in your field, frankly. What is important is gaining competence, and knowledge, and experience. With those, confidence will follow.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/31
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26615",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20203/"
] |
26,620 |
<p>I am currently pursuing my masters degree in computer science from TU Munich, and I would love to pursue my PhD soon after my graduation, but I am worried about the finances at the same time. </p>
<p>What I gather is I should be able to make a decent enough salary but what I do not understand clearly, is whether I would retain my student status during my PhD and enjoy reduced taxation?</p>
<p>With reduced taxation and few other student benefits, it could possibly mean I have a more stable financial situation.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26627,
"author": "DCTLib",
"author_id": 7390,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7390",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Yes and no. Student status does not lead to reduced taxation in Germany (that should hold for non-locals, too). Instead, low incomes and scholarships are not subject to tax, which is probably what you are referring to. The maximum amount for scholarships before they are subject to taxation is said to be higher for non-Germans, though. As a student, health insurance is also cheaper. </p>\n\n<p>You are unlikely to get the cheaper health insurance as a PhD student as well. Depending on the state in which you do your PhD, you may or may not be allowed to enroll as a PhD student, so you may lose benefits such as cheaper food in the student canteen. Other than that, see the links provided in the comments to your question by Wolfgang Kuehne, as the taxation situation is very much dependent on how your PhD studies are funded.</p>\n\n<p>However, being subject to taxation and full-fee health insurance is not necessarily bad, as if you manage to find a 100% paid scientific employee position (which is not uncommon for CS), you will see that the net income is actually quite ok - even if you take the higher accommodation cost in Munich into account.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26628,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm not sure where you get the idea that a CS grad student in the US makes more than a CS student in Germany. If you get a full TV-L position (100%), which many CS positions are, then your <a href=\"http://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/tv-l/west/\">net pay after deductions</a> starts at 25,000 € per year (roughly $34,000), and goes up from there. I know of very few US graduate students whose <em>net</em> income is that large—most of them may get that much as a <em>gross</em> salary, and are then responsible for paying taxes and health insurance out of that sum.</p>\n\n<p>If you aren't trying to raise a family, or have exceptional financial circumstances, the graduate salary (it's a salary, not a stipend—as it usually is in the US) is probably more than sufficient to live anywhere in Germany. (Also, you receive full social benefits, including retirement and health insurance.)</p>\n\n<p>So, salary considerations shouldn't be a significant part of your decision-making process—at least not in the sense of \"can I afford to be a graduate student?\" You can ask if that's a lifestyle you want to be living, compared to what's possible if you go into industry.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/31
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26620",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20208/"
] |
26,624 |
<p>How should a teacher and student cope with a situation like this.</p>
<p>I've been studying spanish for about a year and enrolled in a successive course. However, the course starts really early and there is only one other student, who should probably be in a more advanced class. The other student has been studying spanish for probably twice as long as me and already knows most of the grammar to be covered during the trimester. Obviously, this puts some stress on me, as I don't feel good about interrupting each exercise asking for translations and slowing the class down. On the other hand, I would definitely be in the right if I did, but that isn't much help.</p>
<p>How can I and the teacher work together to make this situation acceptable for all parties? Honestly at this point I'm thinking about dropping from this trimester and taking the financial hit from tuition fee I will not get back.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26629,
"author": "Kristof Tak",
"author_id": 9401,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the course has a specific level e.g. A1, A2, B1, B2... It is none of your problems that a guy who most probably belongs to a higher level is sitting there. You should not feel ashamed for that, and put pressure on yourself. Usually each level has its own learning/teaching goals. Look at the learning goals of your current level. If the other guy is above the learning goals simply make yourself comfortable. Continue with your own pace, because its not you who is in the \"wrong place\" (although the term wrong place might be misused in here). On the other hand if you are below the learning goals, then simply move one level below, this way you will be in an environment where you will feel more comfortable.</p>\n\n<p>If it were up to me, I would not mind if there is a super-duper guy in the class. I would keep my own flow. I would raise my concerns to the teacher, in addition to that, if I were paying for that course I would \"force\" the teacher to work the situation out.</p>\n\n<p>In the end of the day, it is your teachers problem to provide the best effort and ensure that she/he taught you. But for that to happen you will have to let the teacher know the situation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26630,
"author": "Nahkki",
"author_id": 18092,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18092",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a hard situation to be in. I was in the same situation, different language, not all that long ago. It was a tiny class and although I had progressed through each of the preceeding levels with acceptable marks there was a student in the class who already knew 8+ other languages and whose career was based around learning and using languages. Compared to that me, who had never learned a language before in my life, and there was a huge disparity. </p>\n\n<p>How to handle this really depends on a couple of factors. </p>\n\n<p>One of those factors is the instructor. The instructors for the course I was in were nice and sympathetic but, ultimately, unable or unwilling to reign in the advanced student. Without instructor support in such a small class situation you will have difficulty making any changes in what is happening.</p>\n\n<p>That leads to another factor... What are you willing to do about this? I spent an exhaustive semester trying to 'catch up' to this student so I wouldn't constantly feel like I was being left behind. This is tempting for a lot of students in this situation. \"I will work harder! And this will make things better!\" The problem is that this depends on your other time commitments(can you afford to spend an additional <em>_</em> hours every day on this language), your aptitude for learning languages(some people are just slower at learning certain topics than others), your other base knowledge(if you don't remember what a conjugated adverb is then you'll have another layer of learning on top of what you are currently learning), and, frankly, your own frustration level with the course and subject material.</p>\n\n<p>I don't normally say things like this but I think Wolfgang Kuehne's answer is unhelpful at best. Learning a language in a class should be a collaborative effort among students guided by their instructors. I'm iffy about the decisions to have super tiny language-learning courses (my situation became untenable once the course size dropped to 3 students) because when you run into this situation there's no buffer. Things would, I image, be very different in your situation if there was a range of other students in the course with a range of other skills. But as a student there is only so many times you can 'risk' saying something in another language to be immediately, and always, corrected by another student in the course. If there is no give and take, if there is never a time when you are correcting and the other is learning(and vice versa) then it pushes the corrected student into an unfortunate position.</p>\n\n<p>Ultimately, and this may or may not be what you want to hear, I finished off the semester(it was needed to graduate on time) and I dropped the language(which I was planning on taking throughout my student career). Additionally I was put off both on the language itself and the process of learning languages in general. Having been in your situation, and maybe projecting a bit based on my own experiences; if your instructor is unwilling to go to bat for you and make sure things stay at an appropriate level, the other student is not dominating the learning time and you are not left feeling like the 'stupid one' in the class then, if you can, you should drop the class. </p>\n\n<p>You have done nothing wrong. The other student, probably, has also done nothing overtly wrong(though good golly can they seem like jerks in this situation). But it's not going to be a great learning environment for you and, if that's the case, you'll get more benefit by using your time in a less frustrating environment.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26642,
"author": "SterlingDragon",
"author_id": 20229,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20229",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having been that \"advanced student\" in a similar situation, I'd like to point out that in such a small class environment, there is really no reason that this shouldn't be an ongoing discussion between all three participants, throughout the duration of the course. Everyone has their own pace. In truth, everyone has their own pace through individual topics. </p>\n\n<p>With a little open communication you can likely resolve this in a manner that is appropriate to the particulars of your context. In my case, I had been worried about the student that I felt was falling behind. I not only didn't worry about going a bit slower in class, but I also invited him to a once-a-week study group between the two of us. I've found that teaching concepts is the best way to cement them myself. The entire experience was quite fulfilling, and I consider the course to be a complete success - even from a purely personal educational perspective.</p>\n\n<p>Your situation will be different, obviously, but the I think the only real answer is consistent, open dialog.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26659,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've been the \"better student\" (an advanced beginner) in a language group (French) where the other two parties were a native speaker, and another student (a rank beginner).</p>\n\n<p>The better student tries to teach something to the worse student, and the teacher corrects one or the other, or both, if there is a mistake made.</p>\n\n<p>Or the teacher teaches something to the better student, who passes it along (perhaps in watered down form) to the other student.</p>\n\n<p>When you have one teacher and two students, it's not really a class, but more like a tutorial, that allows for a lot more \"one on one\" or \"one on two\" work.\nIn a workplace, it would be like a boss acting as \"team leader\" with two subordinates, instead of as a \"department head\" with 5-10 \"reports.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26672,
"author": "Domi",
"author_id": 9791,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9791",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are at least two major false assumptions that many instructors tend to have:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>The first false assumption: Most students of most classes are very similar, with very little difference in pre-knowledge and conception. Welcome to actual teaching: You always have a diverse body of students. The bigger your class, the more diverse. Assuming that they are all about the same, and that they just understand what you are saying, is damaging and leads many instructors to just keep talking for hours on end, based on a wrong conception of their audience, and are then satisfied because they set \"lecturing\" (i.e. talking and illustrating) equal to teaching, leaving most students untouched (unless they are good story tellers, but that's a different topic).</p></li>\n<li><p>That brings me to false assumption number two: The idea that your teacher must be a complete expert on the topic in order to be helpful to you. It is certainly useful to know a lot about the domain, but no one is perfect. There are always \"gaps in knowledge\" and understanding. People might argue that an institution has bad quality control if they let non-experts teach students, but domain knowledge (or \"hard skills\", which in your case is Spanish) is only part of the equation. In order to help <em>people</em> learn more efficiently you need... well... <em>people</em> skills, i.e. soft skills. You need good communication, presentation, project management skills, and you need resourcefulness. Soft skills can be just as, or even more important to your teaching efficiency as domain knowledge (given you have at least a good basic understanding of the subject at hand).</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In your particular case, you can help the advanced student by finding better, possibly interactive, material and maybe even letting him help you help others. There is a whole body of research showing evidence of teaching being a very efficient learner tool <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_by_teaching\" rel=\"nofollow\">[1]</a> <a href=\"http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1235&context=ajte\" rel=\"nofollow\">[2]</a>. If you have the time and motivation, you can even try <a href=\"https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/TLE_pdf/TLE_Nov13_Article.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">flipping your classroom</a> entirely. Make sure though that he understands the special role he would play, so he won't feel \"out of place\". Most of this approach requires you to be a good communicator.</p>\n\n<p>Please consider <a href=\"http://www.academia.edu/1180001/Moving_away_from_teaching_and_becoming_a_facilitator_of_learning\" rel=\"nofollow\">this article titled \"Moving away from teaching and becoming a facilitator of learning\"</a> for more information on moving away from archaic models. Don't be afraid to try out something new! \"Trial & Error\", a general problem solving technique, found in almost every other field, is just not very common in education yet. But if your students are aware of your shortcomings and aware of your \"experiments\", your attempts of trying out something new, and you are in good communication with the students, you can make the entire experience more valuable than traditional \"you talk and they might or might not listen\" methods, every single time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26941,
"author": "David",
"author_id": 20473,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20473",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First remember: it's <em>your</em> class as well as the other student's (assuming that you have enrolled in the class with due regard to any prerequisites or other conditions that were specified). Therefore you have just as much right to be instructed at an appropriate level as he/she does. It's easy to feel stupid when you ask a question that may be obvious to the other, but try not to be overwhelmed by this feeling: as I always impress upon my (mathematics) students, the only stupid question is the one you <em>don't</em> ask.</p>\n\n<p>A possible suggestion: ask the teacher if he/she would permit the other student to teach you some of the material during class, with the teacher observing. This could be of real benefit to the other student too: attempting to teach a subject is possibly the best way to find out whether or not one really understands it, and in such a situation the teacher may very well notice some things that the student doesn't completely understand, and by explaining them improve his/her learning too. Moreover, if the other student is learning the language with the intent of teaching it in the future, the sooner they start practising, the better for them!</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/31
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26624",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20212/"
] |
26,632 |
<p>I am reading through a manuscript that I am co-authoring with a colleague and I noticed that it used digit separators/marks for all the numbers (i.e. 2,500 instead of 2500). Maybe it's just me but I think this style started after my colleague started doing a post-doc in the U.S. </p>
<p>I have checked the author guidelines of a couple of journals that are likely submission targets in our field and they don't seem to include anything about decimal/digit separators. I also checked my previously published articles and noticed that numeric values were not edited (by press editors that is) to include digit separators. </p>
<p>Thus my question, is there a general rule-of-thumb regarding number formatting, especially considering digit separators?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26633,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that, in as much as there is such a standard, it tends to breakdown between scientific and humanities fields. In general, I would argue that the modern standard in science is to use only spaces as separators (\"2 500\" instead of \"2,500\" for instance), while the reverse tends to be true in the humanities.</p>\n\n<p>However, the best guidelines for these sorts of issues, as usual, is to consult with the guidelines and recommendations of the individual publisher.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26634,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Digit separators differ between countries, particularly since the decimal seprator is comma in many countries but a period in English/American. Hence in English you may use commas as digit separators while in other countries periods are used. Space is therefore the only separator that is not confusing. A general rule of thumb is to not use separators for single-thousands but start to use them for tens of thousands and up</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>1000</p>\n<p>10 000</p>\n<p>100 000</p>\n<p>1 000 000</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>When using spaces in writing, it is good to remember to use non-breaking spaces so that numbers are not broken over lines.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26635,
"author": "Massimo Ortolano",
"author_id": 20058,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20058",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In scientific literature it is common to employ a <em>small</em> space to separate groups of digits (see e.g. <a href=\"http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/sec07.html\">NIST SP811</a>). If you're using LaTeX to write your articles you can obtain this spacing in two ways:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Directly with the small-space command <code>\\,</code>. For example: <code>There were $10\\,000$ people at the concert last night</code> (well, not exactly a scientific example).</li>\n<li>Using the <em>siunitx</em> package and the command <code>\\num</code> (or <code>\\SI</code> for quantities with units), which can take care of the spacing automatically. For example: <code>There were \\num{10000} people at the concert last night</code> (it adds automatically a small space after the 10).</li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/31
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26632",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674/"
] |
26,639 |
<p>So there are already some good questions on the topic of double doctorates:</p>
<p><a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17232/is-doing-two-phds-a-good-path/17256">Is doing two PhD's a good path?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1836/when-does-one-go-for-a-double-doctorate">When does one go for a double doctorate?</a></p>
<p>I'm looking for some advice specific to my situation. I'm currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in a mathematical field (computer science) but most of my research is geared towards applying these methods in a scientific field (stellar astrophysics). Because of this, my advisor is encouraging me to take up a second Ph.D. in astro. He says I can write one dissertation to get both degrees, and he doesn't think that it will delay my time to graduation too significantly. </p>
<p>On the one hand, it is attractive to me, because it might help qualify me more towards future positions in astrophysics. On the other hand, I don't necessarily see too much additional value in getting a second one; to me a Ph.D. is a license to do research, and one doesn't need two licenses. Further, I'm sure there is a real risk of it delaying my time to graduation significantly despite what I might be told. I'm also not completely convinced that it would equip me with skills that I wouldn't already be getting, although it might demonstrate to others that I have those skills. But then again, can't they just look at my publication record? Finally, while I absolutely love astrophysics, I am also attracted to other sciences, and I wouldn't want a doctorate in astro to cause people to think that I can't work in other sciences also. </p>
<p>Are all these concerns legitimate? Have I laid out the pros and cons appropriately? Are there other considerations I should contemplate? Are there some drawbacks or advantages that I haven't listed? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26640,
"author": "Marc Claesen",
"author_id": 7173,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7173",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't really see the point. I agree with a PhD being a license to do research. If you are interested in astrophysics and want to get a strong profile for future work there, make sure your publications are related. That's much more convincing than two PhDs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26694,
"author": "sintax",
"author_id": 20270,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20270",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your research interests and ability to articulate your interests in grant proposals will be significantly weightier in your future career than precisely which department from your university's school of arts and sciences signed off on your dissertation. </p>\n\n<p>Your publication history (which journals, what topics, etc.) will be more convincing than a dual PhD (which, honestly, would get you more sideways glances than researching or professing outside the department of your degree issuance).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26705,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>...my advisor is encouraging me to take up a second Ph.D. in astro.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I would not trust random strangers on the internet more than my advisor. He has nothing to gain with proposing this and he is probably genuinely interested in your welfare. Still, he may not know well the administrative part of his proposal, so make sure you know the details well by asking the administrative people of your university.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Is there extra courses required?</li>\n<li>Do you need to write only one dissertation? How will your dissertation change in case of the dual PHD.</li>\n<li>Will the PHD awarded from the same department as the single PHD or from a combination of departments.</li>\n<li>How much longer will your PHD take?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>So make sure you get your facts straight and then talk your objections with your advisor. Then you can decide what you want </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/31
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26639",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11251/"
] |
26,645 |
<p>I have a paper on the Arxiv which has recently been referenced in someone else's published work. I have since used the new work (of someone else) to significantly extend my current Arxiv work. Since my previous Arxiv posting has not yet appeared anywhere, I am sending the old work along with the extensions to a journal in a single paper. So my question is this: should I update the Arxiv listing for the previous paper with the new extended version as a revision or should I add it as a new paper? </p>
<p>I guess my worry is this: let A be my paper, B be the other paper that references A and A' be my extended paper which builds on some ideas from B to significantly extend A. If I post A' as a revision to A, then there is a weird referencing problem where B refers to my Arxiv post without knowing that A' builds on B. However, if I post A' as a new paper, then it includes essentially all of A in it (though presented in a more clear manner) and so there seems to be some duplication.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26646,
"author": "Mangara",
"author_id": 8185,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8185",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As long as the results of A are a subset of A', I see no problem with posting it as an update. </p>\n\n<p>To avoid confusion due to the circular references, you could mention something like \"Paper B builds on an earlier version of this work\" when you first cite B.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26648,
"author": "Bjørn Kjos-Hanssen",
"author_id": 11257,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11257",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Ideally the someone-else should have included the version number of the arxiv posting. In that case, there is no possibility of confusion.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26650,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with Mangara that there's no problem with updating the previous paper if your new version subsumes the previous one. It's understood that results in preprints are sometimes improved before publication, and so this won't trouble anyone. Furthermore, there are several reasons why you should (and not just can) do this:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>It's best not to leave incomplete versions of the paper lying around, since someone may run across them and never realize there's a better version elsewhere. For example, it's better if readers following the reference from B learn that there's a new version, rather than just seeing the old one and potentially assuming that's all there is.</p></li>\n<li><p>Posting very similar papers can look bad, like you are trying to inflate your paper count with minor variations. That's not your intent, but someone browsing through your arXiv papers won't having any way of knowing. You might also trigger the arXiv flag for text overlap between your papers, in which case the similarity will be explicitly pointed out to everyone.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The comments field in your arXiv submission can help address the potential for confusion. Whenever you make major changes to an arXiv paper, it's a good idea to explain in the comments what has changed, so that someone who has already read a previous version knows whether it's worth another look. Highlighting the changes in this way will also help clarify things for readers following older references.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26682,
"author": "David E Speyer",
"author_id": 1244,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1244",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I at one point took the route of adding a new paper, and had it come out badly, so I'd recommend replacing. In summary, we had <a href=\"http://arxiv.org/abs/0903.3694\" rel=\"nofollow\">paper A</a>, a lengthy preprint which developed a lot of theory in a somewhat confused order. We then realized that a large fraction of the results could be proved in a more general context and in a much cleaner way, which became <a href=\"http://arxiv.org/abs/1008.3939\" rel=\"nofollow\">paper B</a>. However, there remained a number of elegant combinatorial arguments which only worked in the original context, and became <a href=\"http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.3660\" rel=\"nofollow\">paper C</a>. </p>\n\n<p>I have had to tell a lot of people not to read preprint A, just B and C (which are now published). In retrospect, I think I should have made C a replacement for A. It seems that the argument for this is strongerin your case, where you are only replacing a paper by one paper, not two.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/31
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26645",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20231/"
] |
26,647 |
<p>I'm actually asking this question on behalf of a sibling who's pursuing a PhD in Biology. While I'm a Mechanical Engineering student and am "computer-savvy" and experienced in learning programming languages from technical textbooks and internet forums, she is very inexperienced in programming in any form.</p>
<p>What textbooks would you recommend for the self-teaching of MATLAB and/or Excel for the purpose of data analysis? If she wanted a technical book, I could find one in five minutes. I'm looking for a book that can explain MATLAB to an inexperienced user with no programming background.</p>
<p>Also, if you learned MATLAB or a similar program with great success, what tips would you give for self teaching? Thanks!</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26652,
"author": "Neo",
"author_id": 6898,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6898",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Learning Matlab (I prefer) or R will ultimately make you a more efficient researcher: not only do both languages allow you to do advanced mathematical data processes, but also make publication quality graphics. Excel requires much more work to get data visualization publication ready, in my experience. </p>\n\n<p>While your friend is a biologist, and field where my impression is that R is more heavily used that matlab, if she really wants to learn matlab, this book is great:<a href=\"http://www.springer.com/earth+sciences+and+geography/book/978-3-642-12761-8\">http://www.springer.com/earth+sciences+and+geography/book/978-3-642-12761-8</a></p>\n\n<p>While it is designed for Earth Sciences, the tools are universal. Not only does it teach you how to use matlab, but, it goes over statistics and numerical methods as well in a very easy fashion. This book was used in one of my masters classes, and most of the people in the class barely had calculus 2. </p>\n\n<p>My real suggestion is to explore R, as I think in general the world outside the physical sciences is moving towards using that. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26653,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The book I used as an undergrad: <a href=\"http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-642-45367-0\" rel=\"nofollow\">Scientific Computing with MATLAB and Octave</a> written by Alfio Quarteroni.</p>\n\n<p>It's not a beginner's tutorial, but it gives you the mathematical theory behind some of the most used functions. I found it useful because it really helps to know what the functions <em>actually</em> do. It contains sample code as well.</p>\n\n<p>One thing that biologist often need to do with Matlab is image processing. If it is the case, the book <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0130085197\" rel=\"nofollow\">Digital Image Processing Using Matlab</a> can be handy (lots of practical examples). </p>\n\n<p>The second is most likely available in the library of your/her institution, the first is a bit more confidential but should at least be available through inter-library loan. Note that a good person to ask about books and resources is your librarian.</p>\n\n<p>As a side note, an open-source alternative to Matlab is <a href=\"http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Octave</a>, which has a good online community around it and shares a good deal of its syntax with Matlab.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26663,
"author": "Mad Jack",
"author_id": 11192,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11192",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>If you happen to have bookmarked those resources when you used them, could you please post an answer linking to them?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>A good online resource for MATLAB is found at the <a href=\"http://www.math.uh.edu/~torok/math_6298/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Introduction to Computing Resources</a> page, put together by Andrew Török of the University of Houston. I linked to the main page as there are other resources listed in the contents menu which your sibling may find useful.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Also, if you learned MATLAB or a similar program with great success, what tips would you give for self teaching?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As with the self-teaching of other subjects, there is no good substitute for getting your \"hands dirty\" and playing around with what the tool has to offer. Start by learning the basics (as discussed in the online resource linked above), and progressively increase the complexity until you reach the desired level of understanding.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Edit — I'm including a few more online MATLAB resources that I know of:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.math.ucla.edu/~anderson/MDocs/index.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">UCLA MATLAB reference</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.math.mtu.edu/~msgocken/intro/intro.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Michigan Tech MATLAB help</a> (also mentioned by @rch above in the comments)</li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.math.utah.edu/lab/ms/matlab/matlab.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Utah MATLAB help</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://bass.gmu.edu/matlab/matlab.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">GMU MATLAB page</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://rt.uits.iu.edu/visualization/analytics/math/matlab-getting-started.php\" rel=\"nofollow\">Indiana MATLAB help</a></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26666,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>(with full agreement with the people who says that online resources, including even youtube are nowadays better than textbooks)</p>\n\n<p>If I were her, I first would learn statistics (that is relevant to her field). Is she an ecologist? A biochemist? Doing in silico bioinfo? They are pretty different fields.\nLearning MATLAB without having any clear idea about mathematics (linear algebra, statistical tests etc) she wants to use, is pretty damn difficult. This is the typical \"I just want to do ANOVA! just tell me where i should click?\" problem. On the other hand when she is already able to write down basic equations to paper, and understand what letter is what, and have at least a vague idea of the mechanics, the MATLAb/octave part become pretty straightforward.</p>\n\n<p>Two remarks:\n- I wouldn't waste my time reading 400 pages books discussing everything from PDEs to symbolic calculations. Any 2-10 pages long tutorial from the net gives the same info, with often better pedagogical part.\n- While Excel has many annoying features, it is very good to organize and save certain type of experimental data. You can put anything in it, figures, short notes, explanations for yourself, keep everything in one place and for printing one can use something else, gnuplot etc. Of course, it is subjective.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26673,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The best tool to learn depends on the actual job. For very basic data analysis, Excel has the lowest entry barrier, but the learning curve gets steep soon. Learning a full language will take some months, but will greatly expand the things she is capable of doing. Also, knowing programming in a field where everybody uses Excel can be a great advantage and unique feature for employment.</p>\n\n<p>One important factor deciding which language is the environment she is in. Having people used to the tools and perks of a language can be very useful when learning from scratch. On the other hand, I'd only count \"modern\" options (some old professors are very fond of FORTRAN77 and IDL, but learning these is like learning to train dinosaurs).</p>\n\n<p>She should consider not only her lab, but also ask at the Bioinformatics department, and take a look at other labs in the branch she is in. In my experience, for the most informatics side of the field, people use mostly Python, C++, and Java for some machine learning. I have encountered some MATLAB, but definitely not much.</p>\n\n<p>One last note: I think in learning your first language you want the cleanest and less quirky possible. MATLAB in this respect is a mess of a language, with a crappy syntax and bad scalability. My personal choice would be Python, so here are some introductory materials:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://python.g-node.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Summer school</a> on scientific programming and <a href=\"https://python.g-node.org/wiki/introductory_material\" rel=\"nofollow\">introduction to Python.</a> All materials are posted.</li>\n<li><a href=\"https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/\" rel=\"nofollow\">The official tutorial</a>. There is a lot of things that are not for useful for scientists, but it is very good introduction to the language.</li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.khanacademy.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Khan academy.</a> They have everything. Very nice.</li>\n<li>Coursera has a full assortment of courses. She will surely find something of interest there.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26681,
"author": "eleijonmarck",
"author_id": 20254,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20254",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As said previously in the answers to the question, the textbooks do not usually work great for programming.</p>\n\n<p>I am an Engineering Physics student working with Applied Mathematics and have been using and promoting MATLAB since I started. However, this summer I was out of my license and therefore turned to Anaconda.</p>\n\n<p>I am going to go off on a spin and recommend <a href=\"https://store.continuum.io/cshop/anaconda/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Anaconda Scientific Python Distribution</a>. Anaconda is based on Python which is a great language to start of on, if not the best. Not only is it free and open-source but can be used in so much more then MATLAB. They also explain why they give this out for free on their website.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>We want to ensure that Python, NumPy, SciPy, Pandas, IPython, Matplotlib, Numba, Blaze, Bokeh, and other great Python data analysis tools can be used everywhere.</p></li>\n<li><p>We want to make it easier for Python evangelists and teachers to promote the use of Python.</p></li>\n<li><p>We want to give back to the Python community that we love being a part of.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>From my experience so far, it has been more intutive to implement more complex tasks as well as being even a bit FASTER!!</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/31
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26647",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20098/"
] |
26,656 |
<p>I knew that the difference between SCI (Science Citation Index) and SCIE (Science Citation Index Expanded) is that SCI has a list of top quality journals, while SCIE includes more than the former. </p>
<p>I found a <a href="http://courses.emu.edu.tr/grad501/Lecture%20Notes/Research%20Guides%20-%20How%20to%20search%20for%20all%20research%20articles%20and%20what%20are%20citation%20indices.htm" rel="noreferrer">link</a> that seems to support this previous statement. However, I can't find any official information on this regard.</p>
<p>Does someone has some official links to what the difference is? if any.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 32099,
"author": "Thomas Christy Louis",
"author_id": 24618,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24618",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>From <a href=\"http://jmst.ntou.edu.tw/webdownload/SCIE_Letter.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Thomson Reuters</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>... the evaluation of and acceptance of a journal for the SCI or the SCIE is essentially the same with ONE major difference. The only difference is the storage media. SCI is only available on CD/DVD format; however, SCIE is available online.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 71117,
"author": "Ishan Bhardwaj",
"author_id": 56439,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/56439",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Thomson Reuters customer support explanation on SCI and SCIE:.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The Science Citation Index (SCI) is a sub-set of the Science Citation\n Index Expanded (SCIE), containing journals that rank competitively\n among the most highly-cited core journals in their category or\n categories. The Science Citation Index Expanded is essentially the web\n version of what used to be a database available only on\n CDRom/Diskette.</p>\n \n <p>When selecting the journals for the Science Citation Index we choose\n the top journals from each subject category and supplement this with\n top regional journals from each category to give broad geographic and\n multidisciplinary coverage. The evaluation of and acceptance of a\n journal for the Science Citation Index Expanded or the Science\n Citation Index is essentially the same with one major difference.</p>\n \n <p>This difference is in the application of citation analysis to the\n journal. <strong>While every science journal in our database is covered in the\n Science Citation Index Expanded and only those journals of relatively\n significantly higher citation impact are selected for the Science\n Citation Index.</strong> In other words, Science Citation Index covers only the\n most highly cited, highest impact journals in each category. This is\n because of the constraints of the CDROM and print media there is no\n difference in the selection process for Science Citation Index and\n Science Citation Index Expanded journals.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 104112,
"author": "VINU V S",
"author_id": 87760,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/87760",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>I got an explanation from Clarivate Analytics:</strong></p>\n\n<p>Based on the fact that Thomson Reuters selects journals of SCIE (including SCI) through a strict selection process, we hereby prove that journals of Science Citation Index® (SCI) and Science Citation Index ExpandedTM (SCIE) have the SAME QUALITY as the journal selection process for journals of SCI and SCIE is essentially identical.</p>\n\n<p><strong>The only small difference between of Science Citation Index® (SCI) and Science Citation Index ExpandedTM (SCIE) is the storage format. As known, both SCI and SCIE are available online. However, SCI is available on CD/DVD format but SCIE is not</strong>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 128160,
"author": "Quanita Kiran",
"author_id": 106780,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/106780",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another difference between SCI and SCIE journal is that SCI has non zero impact factor but SCIE journals are just ranked for impact factor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 129946,
"author": "Alan Liew",
"author_id": 108310,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/108310",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the correct understanding is that:\n1) All journals in SCIE and SCI undergo the <strong>same selection process</strong>, i.e. the regularity of publication, the peer review process, the editorial team, etc. So you can said they all passed the \"quality check\" (this doesn't mean they are the same quality..., even not all journals in SCI are same quality, aka Science/Nature/PNAS vs PLoS ONE - which is better? why rank journals on impact factor or why even publish their impact factor if they are same quality?)</p>\n\n<p>Now comes the difference ...\n2) Every journals in SCI is in SCIE, but not the reverse. The reason is \"only those journals of relatively <strong>significantly higher</strong> citation impact are selected for the Science Citation Index\"</p>\n\n<p>I think we can figure this out.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 143219,
"author": "Amit Choudhary",
"author_id": 118616,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118616",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that the researchers who published their work in a sci journal say that the scie journals are of low standards. </p>\n\n<p>As they have pulished in sci so sci is superior to scie.</p>\n\n<p>But most of the phd scholars says them same with a difference related to media.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/07/31
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26656",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/249/"
] |
26,665 |
<p>I know the university system as it is understood today dates at least as far back as the 13th century or perhaps even to the time of Charlemagne, Alcuin of York, et al., but how was higher education handled before universities? Was it by private tutoring?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26667,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends on what you mean by higher education.</p>\n\n<p>Degrees are highly inflated nowadays, now practically everyone and his dog has a PhD, or at least a BSc. </p>\n\n<p>100 years ago passing final exams in high-school practically was the terminal degree for most administrative positions. Much fewer people went on universities, mostly engineering, doctors and such. </p>\n\n<p>If you go back a couple of hundred years you realize that very few profession actually needed university degree, and universities were mostly scholarly centers for philosophy and religious studies. Most engineering didn't even exist 500 years ago, and what existed was taught by professional communities through apprenticeship, not by universities. So what you call higher education is defined very much by the post-industrial area. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26669,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As with many things the history of higher education is not well known since accounts may be scarce or missing altogether. Early evidence indicate that schools existed in Egypt where, primarily, boys would learn to read and write etc. One has to remember that such skills were not for the masses. Religiously connected schools also emerged where religious texts were handled and copied. Theological and medical teaching was also done but very little else. evidence of mathematics have been found so there were also schools, perhaps aiming at architecture, astronomy , etc. relevant for the culture. None of these has a degree at the end but was likely based on apprenticeship and mastery evaluated by the teachers. Similar evidence for teaching exists in all older cultures and seem to focus on maintaining order in the social and cultural basis for society.</p>\n\n<p>There seems to be a big step when considering Greek education which was far more comprehensive than the pragmatic education earlier. In the city states of ancient Greece specialized schools emerged where teaching circled around very specific topics such as the Hippocratic school of medicine on Cos. This specialization seems to have continued with the well known Greek philosophers/scientists such as Aristotle, Plato etc. and teaching progressed in directions envisioned by these founders. In other words, there was no single systematic way for schools to teach and operate.</p>\n\n<p>In the Roman world subjects were ordered in groups that we can recognize today: I grammar rhetoric, dialectic; II geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, music; III medicine, architecture. This was how the <em>liberal arts</em> (defined as theoretical and intellectual activities by the Greeks) were seen. The subjects have of course survived to modern times although organisation has changed. So education became more organised but the education was not open and still served a purpose for maintaining government rule. Out of the post-Roman world came the first universities as stated in the question where education became even more organized and eventually including fixed degrees.</p>\n\n<p>This answer is loosely based on the excellent book: <em>The first universities</em> by Olaf Pedersen, Cambridge UP, 1997. I strongly recommend it!</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26665",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9425/"
] |
26,674 |
<p>I was reading a paper from a reputable journal and found that the authors misrepresented earlier papers that they cited, by saying something like </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Theory X was developed in [A, B, and C], but the underlying assumption was not general enough, and therefore it is insufficient to address our problem, which warrants a more general approach. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The fact is that A, B, and C (which are well-known papers in the field) actually presented a general theory, which is applicable also to the problem considered in their paper. The rest of the paper sounds like an argument against something that was not there in the first place.</p>
<p>I think it is a serious misrepresentation if they did it intentionally. Otherwise, they should have been more familiar with the papers they cited. The fact that such misrepresentation slipped past the peer-reviewing stage also suggests that the review was questionable. </p>
<p>As a reader of the paper, what should I do if I find such misrepresentation? </p>
<p>In my case, the first author of the paper is someone I personally know.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26675,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general, there is not much you can do. If a misrepresentation leads to erroneous results, one way is to write a \"letter to the editor\" straightening out the error. Such an approach does not seem right in your case since the error is to state that someone has not reached conclusions they really have. I do not mean to say that this is ok but it is harder to get a comment published when the problem, for example, does not affect future research by introducing errors. One also has to bear in mind that the error apparently escaped both reviewers and editors on the way to publication. It may also well be that the author actually see it the way they write it which means the misrepresentation is not intentional (as you seem to imply). So in the way I read the particular case, I cannot see an immediate way forward. If one writes about a problem where the conclusion you refer to is cited, it is of course possible to point out who was first and thereby contribute to setting the record straight.</p>\n\n<p>So, if a misrepresentation leads to errors, it can usually be pointed out in a published letter. If the misrepresentation concerns a non-critical issue, it is still just as bad, but the possibility of publishing a clarification is much smaller. Now, clearly, these issues are on a sliding scale, so it may be difficult to see where a correction may be reasonable. In such cases, the editor of the journal where the paper was published should be able to provide some feedback on how to proceed.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26689,
"author": "Tim",
"author_id": 12703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12703",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since you say that you are concerned about the longer term implications of this error being included in the scientific record, you could consider applying the general theory of A, B, and C to the problem in the more recent paper yourself.</p>\n\n<p>If the approach is successful, as you imply it would be, you could write up the results in a white paper or maybe a conference paper. Their journal submission will almost certainly get more exposure, but researchers seriously attempting to build on their work would more than likely find your rebuttal (for lack of a more appropriate word).</p>\n\n<p>This is of course a lot of effort to go to for something that probably doesn't directly affect you, but it could also ingratiate you to the authors of A, B, and C, if that's something you care about.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26691,
"author": "sintax",
"author_id": 20270,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20270",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since the misrepresentation seems only to strengthen the motivation or novelty of the approach the authors of the paper in question present and don't, from your description, introduce technical errors which may be likely to propagate into future works, I would likely just mention to my friend (the first author) that the way I read them papers A, B, and C present a more general view than his interpretation seemed to suggest, then have that discussion with him. </p>\n\n<p>It could be that he has some insight into the real generality of the earlier papers than you do, or you could wind up enlightening him. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26674",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10936/"
] |
26,676 |
<p>A large majority of researchers in my field publish in Elsevier journals. However, a professor who is widely regarded as an authority in my field has, some years ago, signed <a href="http://thecostofknowledge.com/">The Cost of Knowledge</a> pledge to neither publish nor review for Elsevier. I think this is sad, since someone who is highly qualified to review these papers will no longer review them and improve their quality. </p>
<p>This professor has published in other journals, but it does not seem that others are following suit, since these Elsevier journals seem to be highly prized. What can he do to be able to review papers that would have otherwise come to his perusal without having to recant? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26677,
"author": "Marc Claesen",
"author_id": 7173,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7173",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Sounds like he's sticking to his moral principles, which is the best anyone can do. Maybe he could evangelize his opinion more to increase the impact of his crusade, but that's about it.</p>\n\n<p>I disagree with the insinuation that he may be doing his field a disservice, since moving away from the ancient publishing model is a good thing for any field in the long run. Besides, it's not like he has left the field; just a small part of its publication scene.</p>\n\n<p>Just because nobody seems to be following him (yet) does not mean he failed in any way.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26692,
"author": "sintax",
"author_id": 20270,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20270",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If authorities disregard a journal <em>en masse</em>, that journal (or series of journals) will lose any reputation for quality publication. If poor-quality papers get through to publication due to a drop off in submissions or high-quality available reviewers, that journal will lose even more reputation for quality. This sort of issue should be self-correcting if enough researchers feel strongly about it. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26800,
"author": "Benoît Kloeckner",
"author_id": 946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>(This answer is adapted from my comment below Marc Cleason's answer)</p>\n\n<p>In the spirit of the pledge, this professor could put a banner saying in substance \"I do not review for Elsevier journal, so if you are an author hoping for me to review your paper, submit to other publisher's journals\".</p>\n\n<p>One important thing about such a pledge is that it is useless if it is silent; this is an initial observation by Tim Gowers that lead to the pledge. Now that 14000 people have signed it, each one of them is somewhat hidden in the crowd, so making this kind of statements on one's web page is a way to make one's pledge more public, and to give the movement some momentum. Here, a prominent professor has also the possibility to influence the submissions of his or her colleagues, which is a good bonus.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26676",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10936/"
] |
26,693 |
<p>According to the reviewers, the paper I have submitted is now ready for publication.
How long I should wait to know the final decision of the editor-in-chief?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26695,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Reviewers can only recommend a verdict so what they say is not necessarily the outcome, the editor has final say. Of course if two reviews agree then it is very likely the outcome will be what they suggest. In a normal review situation involving an editor, the reviewers provide their reviews to the editor who in turn will make a judgement and pass on comments and possible suggestions for improvements to you. If your manuscript is in an open review system (such as the discussion format of Copernicus Open Access journals), you may see the reviews before final decisions are taken and in such a case, I would not trust reviewers opinions on the verdict until you also hear so from the editor.</p>\n\n<p>As is pointed out in a comment, it is a bit intriguing that you seem to have the reviewers comments but not that from the editor. The time between completion of reviews and to a decision by an editor will vary depending on many factors. The editor has to read the reviews in light of the manuscript and then value the comments and provide a synthesis of the outcome for you. Obviously the editor will have other manuscripts to handle in parallel which influences the time a decision may take. To state a time that can be applied to any situation or journal is therefore pointless. I am, however, certain that any serious editor is not keen to hold on to a decision for any extended period. With the journals I have published and the one where I am Editor-in-Chief times from receipt of reviews to decision can vary from maybe days up to a month in rare cases. This seems reasonable for the field in which I work but I am sure that such times vary between both field and journals within a field.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 86114,
"author": "cryptic0",
"author_id": 70404,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/70404",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am late to the discussion, but these issues are timeless, so I hope its okay. The reviewer comments, if positive, certainly influence an editorial decision positively, but you can't rely on them. Wait for the editor to respond. Different journals have different policies. Here is an anecdote from a BMC journal.</p>\n\n<p>My paper was in review at this journal for close to 4 months, during which we went through two revisions. At the end of it, two of the three reviewers took cheap shots at our product and shot the paper down. The editor, as it turned out, a person with a Master's degree opined \"based on reviewer reports, we are rejecting this manuscript\". We complained because there was no editorial opinion and were asked to resubmit the manuscript. During second review, they invited two additional reviewers and we finally were able to provide satisfactory revisions and both reviewers recommended acceptance. Again no editorial comment was provided. Our editor during the second submission is a fresh PhD graduate. We have been awaiting a final decision for 10 days. Upon inquiring we were told that now a senior editorial board member is assessing the manuscript before a final decision could be rendered.</p>\n\n<p>I certainly do not think this is the norm, but keep in mind that there are journals out there who do a sloppy job and employ unqualified people in editor's position. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26693",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13324/"
] |
26,697 |
<p>I have just finished my bachelor's degree in computer engineering. I am doing an REU with the professor who will be my adviser this fall when I enter grad school.
Currently my future Adviser has me working on research that involves image processing. I was hoping to head in other directions in embedded computing and security. </p>
<p>From our weekly research meetings it seems like my adviser will be assigning me research topics through out my grad school career. Is this normal that an adviser would insist on determining the research topic of the PhD students under them. I have not pushed back on this yet but I am not prepared to go in depth in image processing. I am not a math major or CS major and that field gives me little interest. </p>
<p>--ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BELOW--</p>
<p>As far as funding goes I am currently funded by and REU(research experience for undergraduates) and am unsure of where this funding comes from(NSF, department, professor). Here in 2 weeks though I will be funded by a Distinguished Academic Fellowship(DAF) that my university graduate school awarded me. </p>
<p>In order to get my DAF I had to write a research proposal. I proposed research into microprocessor, GPU, FPGA unification. As I understood it from those within my department I am not required to carry out that research as the proposal is more a way for the DAF committee to see that I can write a coherent proposal for later on in my academic career. </p>
<p>Concerning the union of my professors research interest and mine: He focuses on embedded system design for single specific applications. It just happens that in the current path of research he is onto it involves cameras. This then introduces the field of image processing into the project. </p>
<p>It seems that all his grad students are doing peripheral work on UAVs that will be coalesced into a UAV platform of some sort. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26699,
"author": "Kristof Tak",
"author_id": 9401,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the short answer should be \"NO\", but there are a lot of stuff which have to be taken in consideration. </p>\n\n<p>Is it clear on what type of project you will contribute with your research, or is it a research that is not on the frames of any project?</p>\n\n<p>If it is a research within the frames of a project which has got funding based on its documentation, you will have to work on what that research asks you to. And it is up to you to decide if you want to work on that topic or not.</p>\n\n<p>In both cases, I think that the field of research and the expected outcome of your research should be defined even before the research starts. Of course along the path you might hit obstacles and look at different stuff, but not to the extend of completely switching fields.</p>\n\n<p>Looking at your description it seems that you are working on completely off-topic stuff. </p>\n\n<p>Bear in mind that the Adviser might be testing you, and see your reaction. Maybe if you don't react and accept to do everything that he asks you to, then he will continue with the same later on. Also, he might be testing your patience.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, I strongly recommend that you have a very thorough and mature discussion with your adviser <em>before</em> starting to work on the research. And make sure that this discussion will result in \"clearly\" defined research goals, at least a well defined topic to focus on!</p>\n\n<p>In general, you are supposed to know the fields of interest of your adviser and expect that he will ask you to do work on those fields.</p>\n\n<p>image processing, security, and embedded are very broad definitions and (at least to me) look very unrelated especially when the granularity of a phd research is considered.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26702,
"author": "Namey",
"author_id": 7930,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7930",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This depends very much on:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>How much interests and your advisor's interests align</li>\n<li>Where your funding comes from</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>First, interest alignment: Starting a grad program, you find an advisor with interests that overlap with your own, do the foundational things that need to get done, then expand on it with your own ideas. Later, when you are pitching grants, very much the same thing but with program officers: you have a great idea, and you find a way to dovetail it with their calls for proposals. Finding the common ground between your research and others' research is a fundamental academic skill.</p>\n\n<p>Second, money: if you are funded through a grant that needs image processing research done, do you think that your advisor or the funding sponsor will give you a big thumbs up when you say, \"Actually, I have some great ideas for embedded security devices I would rather work on.\" Nope. If you were in their shoes, shelling out $30-60k on a student for a year, wouldn't you expect them to help get the grant completed successfully? If you want full control over your research, become independently wealthy first.</p>\n\n<p>Successfully doing your own research in academia, in grad school and beyond, involves a lot of meeting in the middle. Given the huge disparity of research topics you mentioned (image processing versus security), I genuinely wonder about the overlap of interests. If there really isn't much overlap, it might be worth looking for a different advisor. You won't become an expert in one field by being mentored by a guy in another field, even if your advisor lets you run wild with any idea that comes into your head.</p>\n\n<h2><strong>Update</strong></h2>\n\n<p>Since more info was added about the funding and interest overlap, I can note a bit more here. It sounds like your funding is relatively portable and not tied to a project. In that case, you should have pretty strong control over what you want to do. You should not be using this control to just pitch ideas and run with them. The benefit of a PhD program (as opposed to learning how to research while living in a shack) is to apprentice with people who are experts in what you want to do.</p>\n\n<p>However, having your own \"batteries included\" funding means you should be able to match with the best advisor for your interests. It sounds like you need to discuss the issue of overlapping interests with your current advisor. If you don't want to go in the same direction as the lab, maybe they can suggest another group who does something that is a better fit. Alternatively, maybe they will hit topics that you find more interesting during other phases of projects. It's not uncommon to switch advisors in the first year: I knew a professor in undergrad who actually recommended avoiding even starting in a given lab, so you could just meet with professors to find the best match.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26742,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In many fields, it is common for the advisor to \"suggest\" research projects to graduate students (including PhD students). In my own area of mathematics, for example, this is the case. </p>\n\n<p>Of course, there is give and take between the student and the advisor about exactly what project the student will work on, and one can never know the outcome of a research project before it is done.</p>\n\n<p>It is a well known phenomenon in math that some advisors have a vision for a long-term research program with many required intermediate results, each of which they will assign to a different PhD student as a thesis project. Depending on how many students they advise, not all the students may work on these results, but many of them will. </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, there are some advisors who give students more flexibility to choose a thesis project. But the project will always need to be in an area where the advisor has real expertise - otherwise, the advisor is not a good choice for the project.</p>\n\n<p>It is also worth keeping in mind that the goal of graduate education is to get students to a point where, <em>at the end</em>, they are able to select their own research projects and carry them out independently. This does not mean that the majority of students are already able to do so when they enter graduate school. It is easy for a graduate student to take on more than they expect, if they choose a thesis project unwisely. </p>\n\n<p>Ideally, you will find an advisor (1) who is very good at advising; (2) who you can work with successfully; (3) who works on topics you are very interested in; and (4) whose students have a history of good jobs after graduation. But sometimes it is not possible to achieve all of (1)-(4), in which case you have to compromise. For some students I have known, giving up on (3) was easy - after all, working on something long enough often makes it interesting. For others, not having (3) would be a deal breaker.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26772,
"author": "Rene",
"author_id": 20330,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20330",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer is YES, sadly. If you do not like it, you got to talk to him/her, or get another advisor if no agreement can be reached.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 67745,
"author": "anomaly",
"author_id": 17411,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17411",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No, it isn't normal or desirable. The point of getting a PhD is to learn how to conduct research, and part of that is learning how to choose research topics. Your advisor should suggest topics and steer you away from bad ones and toward good ones, but summarily giving you research topics for the entirety of your time in grad school is doing you a disservice. Find a different advisor. (In case it helps, my advisor did the same thing: He presented me with a list of topics he found in a paper somewhere, told me to choose one from them, and refused to even entertain my suggestions when I asked for something else to work on. It was one of many reasons why I got nothing out of my time in grad school, and I don't want you to have to go through something similar.)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26697",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17713/"
] |
26,711 |
<p>In the past few years, I've become very interested in staying in academia for as long as possible. I really wanted to be a professor, and I still do. Using the internet and meeting with a few professors, I've researched various aspects of life as a professor, including daily schedules, salaries, etc. While trying to get an idea of what a typical professor's salary might look like, I always stumbled upon "Head of Department" salaries, which were considerably greater than other professor salaries. I liked the idea of being paid more, but I always dismissed the idea of becoming a "Head of Department" because I thought that their work was more related to administration than teaching or talking about the field of their department. (One of the main reasons I want to be a professor is the opportunity to be directly involved in the fields I'm passionate about every single day.) However, I recently traveled to a university in my state with the company I am interning at, and I met the head of the department of mechanical engineering. Though that is not my field of interest, I was very glad to have the chance to meet with her. I learned all about her day-to-day life as head of department: I learned that she is quite actively involved in many PhD students' projects, and oversees many research projects. There is also an administrative aspect in her job, but it isn't nearly as overwhelming or burdensome as I thought. Since the visit, I've become very interested in a job like hers.</p>
<p>Is my perception of "Head of Department" skewed? What can I do to be involved in my field like she is in hers?</p>
<p>I would love to learn about and teach my passions for a living.</p>
<p>Side question: How involved are deans of __ in their respective fields?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26714,
"author": "Kristof Tak",
"author_id": 9401,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't have exact knowledge about what the life of a Head of Department Professor is, but looking at the Professors who act as heads of departments in my university, I can tell that they are equally involved in teaching as the other Professors. </p>\n\n<p>Simply if you want to deduce if a particular head of department is involved in teaching and research, look at the number of his publications after he became head of department (I know, this information can be misleading), also look at the courses they teach. I have not noticed any change in those numbers (in my University) after a given Professor became head of a department.</p>\n\n<p>It is true that they are more involved in administrative/managerial tasks. But, I think that is something that comes with experience. I assume you are a young scholar and eager to do teaching, but do you think you will have the same amount of desire after 20+ years on the field? Some managerial experience might look interesting then, right?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26717,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think this varies a lot depending on the field, the department and it's size. In my experience department chairs/head of departments (US/UK terminology respectively, on the whole) spend the majority of their working time on administration, but will remain involved in research and teaching, though at a reduced level. I think the degree to which they do this depends on their preferences. Those who are ready to stop or take a break from teaching and research can and people generally don't blame them; those who are still excited about it will find a way to continue them. It all just depends.</p>\n\n<p>However, I feel like there's a fallacy underlying your question. You seem to think (forgive me if I'm wrong; I am reading a bit between the lines) that \"Head of Department\" is a separate career track or something. In fact, I've never heard of a department head who wasn't a \"normal\" professor for 15 to 20 years before becoming head of department. It's not something I have a special interest in doing, but I have every reason to think I'll probably do a stint or two as department chair 20 or so years from now. So, at this stage in your life (your profile says you are 17), there's no reason to worry about whether you want to do it. Assuming you go into academia, become a professor, and stick with for a couple of decades, then you can think about whether it's something that makes sense for you, in the context of your department or one doing an external search at that time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26720,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another factor to consider is that at least at US universities there seem to be two extremes for how departments are run. At one end, the Department Head or Department Chair is strong and has considerable influence over the direction of the department as a whole. In such places, the Chair can direct the research direction of the department, make faculty hiring decisions, and steer the department as though it were their larger research group. At the other extreme, the departmental committees really have the power. There, the Chair is more of a rubber stamp for the committee decisions and represents their wishes to outside entities. In these models, the Dean or Head of School or whoever the Chair reports to also has a lot of power over the department.</p>\n\n<p>In the weak Chair model, department insiders usually take turns being Chair and then return to being regular faculty after their turn is up. In the strong Chair model, a national or international search will be done to find a top candidate to come in and lead the department to glory. Such a Chair might run the department for much of the rest of their career. </p>\n\n<p>All of the above are caricatures of the way departments work, but they give you an idea of much of the range of what is possible. In either model, the Chair may be involved to a greater or lesser degree in teaching and research depending on their preference and local culture.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26732,
"author": "Chris Leary",
"author_id": 11905,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11905",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I had the great (mis)fortune of being a department chair for four years. This was at a small, not prestigious, liberal arts college. We use the \"weak\" chair model as mentioned by Bill Barth (which I think compromises such things as chair evaluations of faculty: pan someone, even fairly, and they will get the chance to return the favor). I was an associate professor when I took the position, it was my turn. I did get a course reduction, from four to three courses per semester, along with a minor stipend (I could have made more, with less time commitment, teaching five courses). There were the expected administrative duties: making schedules each semester, purchase orders, budget, etc. Since the position had no real power, I was a glorified secretary to the department. All but one of my facult were former chairs, but they all came to me with every little problem as if they had no idea of what to do. Finally, I reminded them they were former chairs and if they had some request that needed my approval. then they should get the necessary forms, fill them out, and bring them to me for signature. This solved that problem.</p>\n\n<p>However, it always seemes there was something to take care of. As an example of how frustrating things can be, I arrived at my office one day at 8:00AM with three things I wanted to do. I left for home at 6:00PM having done none of them.</p>\n\n<p>I was just beginning to solidify a research program when I took the job. When I was done, I seriously considered leaving academia. After a few years of decompression, I revived my enthusiasm for research and am getting back to speed, but those several years off, complicated by some family issues, really hurt me from a professional standpoint.</p>\n\n<p>Now that I've related my horror story, I should point out that there are some people at my school who honestly enjoy being chair. Nonetheless, I would caution anyone to think long and hard before taking the plunge.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26744,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>\"Department heads\" come in different types. Some are like the kind that you say, basically faculty members with some administrative duties. Others are more \"political\" types, who are better noted for their administrative, than academic abilities. These two archtypes will fulfill the role at different times and situations.</p>\n\n<p>I'm writing about the experience of my father, a retired civil engineering professor, who spent a year and a half as the Acting Department Head. It was an \"interim\" position, held after a \"political\" type left, in which the priority was to restore the confidence of the faculty. My father participated heavily in PhD thesis supervision (a favorite activity of his), and worked closely with the Faculty Senate (which would be his next destination). All this was made possible by the \"temporary\" nature of the position.</p>\n\n<p>All this changed when there was a new dean, who wanted a Department Head to \"kick the asses of the full professors.\" My father's successor was a tough minded man (a Holocaust survivor, for starters), who did just that. But the pressures of that role were too much, even for him, and he had to step down after several years. While he was there, he relied on my father, who had been a department head, while being a good link to the Faculty Senate.</p>\n\n<p>It sounds like you could do well as one type of Department Head but maybe not the other. So you need to keep your eyes out on the institution to determine which is more likely to be the case. Bear in mind that is analysis could be complicated by the fact that the institution's needs may change from time to time as well.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27794,
"author": "Stavros",
"author_id": 21237,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21237",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The simple answer to your question \"What is life as “Head of Department ____” like?\" in one word is: difficult. Other words I can think of include thankless and masochistic. Perhaps I am being too cynical (after having had the role for four years). It all depends on which country you are in, what type of institution, the stage at which you are in your career and your overall aspirations. You talk about money, but the reality is that the remuneration is unlikely to equate to the workload and pressure, so I would never do it for the money alone. If that is what you want, go into industry or commerce.</p>\n\n<p>Head of Dept. is the description used in the UK. In the UK system, it is a powerful role and you will have a lot of influence on the direction and strategy of the department. This can make it very rewarding, but it is also a potential minefield. Don't expect to be friends with everybody; getting a group of academics to agree is rather like herding cats. There is also the stress associated with all manner of problems, such as difficult student issues, difficult staff issues, dealing with higher and lower levels of admin, not to mention the time required for all of this and the countless meetings you have to attend. This is a job only for those with a thick skin, lots of stamina, a sense of humour, good management and diplomatic skills. Also bear in mind that unless you have a reasonably sized research team, you will find it hard to produce any research in reasonable volume.</p>\n\n<p>Having said all that, there are people who relish academic management, and if you are in the right place at the right time, it can be the first step on a career path in the university management system. Someone who is Head of Dept. in their late 40's, for example, might well spend the rest of their career in senior university management as long as they don't screw up. At the end of the day, someone has to manage the system and if you are OK with it, go for it. But as someone else said, think long and hard about it.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26711",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
26,716 |
<p>Most research profiles I've seen focus on a set of similar topics.
Does anyone have experience in partaking in / conducting research in 2+ disparate fields? (especially if 1 of the fields is pretty different than what they studied in an institution)</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Pure mathematics</em> and <em>biology</em> (e.g. solving an open math problem and studying purring in cats)</li>
<li><em>Aerospace engineering</em> and <em>psychology</em> (e.g. modeling vortices and researching psychological effects of isolation)</li>
</ul>
<p>If a person had interest in researching a multiple, ranging topics, what advice would you give them? How do you think they should go about doing it? (if you'd recommend they do it at all)</p>
<p><strong>Edit</strong> - I'm an undergraduate mechanical engineering student. I'm interested in eventually researching two topics, one in my chosen field, one in genetics.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26723,
"author": "virmaior",
"author_id": 19769,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19769",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It might be possible (though I would say extremely unlikely) for someone to do two PhDs at once. The sort of mind necessary to do that would necessarily be extremely rare. (As in someone at least 3 deviations or more past the standard).</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Instead if you really want to do research in two fields, I can imagine two realistic routes:</p>\n\n<p><strong>Route 1:</strong> (a) build a career in one discipline by pursuing the PhD and then getting hired for it and then (b) get a second PhD in the disparate field and research in that. The example I can think of is <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Polkinghorne\">John Polkinghorne</a>, physicist and theologian.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Route 2:</strong> Do a second field as a hobby while gainfully employed in a different arena. But generally that requires strong overlap or that one be an armchair-pursuable field.</p>\n\n<p>Don't be fooled into doing an interdisciplinary PhD -- that generally either means you won't be prepared for any research at all or that you will be prepared for a single overlapping field.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>But depending on the specific avenue in mechanical engineering, there may be topics that do overlap with genetics -- such as DNA recombinance which involve machinery that can rapidly do DNA-typing or things like biophysics with flow mechanics. This would be a much more realistic goal.</p>\n\n<p>This is not uncommon in the sciences these days -- to have studied a topic in say physics and be working on biology that is heavily-dated and equation oriented later.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26724,
"author": "sintax",
"author_id": 20270,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20270",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can find a way to tie math into damn near any field or topic. Often at the graduate level you end up working with tools from \"outside\" of your discipline to solve a problem within it, or using the machinery of your field to solve otherwise-untenable problems in another. It's getting very multi-disciplinary out here, and very translational, and whatever other term you like for that kind of thing.</p>\n\n<p>Essentially, if the tools are applicable across fields, it's no big deal: your literature familiarity just has to have more breadth than typical. If they're legitimately unrelated and you aren't interested in trying to connect then or your solutions to the problems in the fields, it will be a very hard row to hoe. </p>\n\n<p>From a fellow MechE, take further classes in both and see which field looks most promising and exciting to you and follow that one professionally. Keep up with the other casually and consider how your understanding of one facilitates your work in the other.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26748,
"author": "user20313",
"author_id": 20313,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20313",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Multidisciplinary research is currently a popular buzzword among the sciences, with a lot of (PhD) funding requiring that research students span multiple departments.</p>\n\n<p>However, you will need to combine them in some way, you cannot research completely unrelated topics simultaneously (or at least find it very hard).</p>\n\n<p>I am currently working in Systems Biology, which spans Biology and Mathematics, applying mathematical modelling especially to experimental biological data.</p>\n\n<p>The relatively new discipline of Synthetic Biology might be suited to you, which seeks to apply the rules of engineering to molecular biology. This is an extension of the now standard practise of genetic engineering in biology. It is attempting to deconstruct biology into distinct parts and devices which can then be combined in novel ways.</p>\n\n<p>Other pairings such as Physics and Biology are also very suitable.</p>\n\n<p>At higher research levels, the subject lines tend to get blurred, you use whatever you need to answer the question most effectively, whether or not that falls within the discipline you trained for.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26749,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I second user20313's advice to try to combine the two fields instead of having two completely separate projects in different areas. An additional benefit is that there may be \"low-hanging fruit\", that is, you can get some interesting results from the applying standard methods and theory of an area to another, where they are less known and standard. There are lots of researchers that can do research in one topic, but very few people that know the language, problems and methods of two different fields and can \"bridge the gap\" and act as interface between two research groups.</p>\n\n<p>This works particularly well with computer science, mathematics and statistics; everyone needs them, but often they have no idea that they do. </p>\n\n<p>However, even if multidisciplinarity is a well-received 'buzzword' at the funding stage, it might count against you in some cases. In recent times people rely a lot (too much, arguably) on paper and citation counts to evaluate the output of a researcher; they may not realize that they have to normalize your impact factors and citations to the standard of a different field, or just strike you down because \"his/her publication history is only partially relevant to the subject\". Much depend on how the hiring system is organized in your country, though. This will only matter much later in your career though, when looking for a postdoc or a tenure-track position.</p>\n\n<p>That said, my advice is <strong>go for it</strong>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 44706,
"author": "alan2here",
"author_id": 33969,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33969",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Separating this for a moment from the internal mechanics of educational establishments, physiologically, you may find \"context switching\" unexpectedly tough.</p>\n\n<p>Some mental agility tests are designed to be hard by challenging participants to rapidly switch between multiple different tasks.</p>\n\n<p>However even on slower time scales, the time time it takes for your mind to warm up from thinking about one thing, to thinking about another, is called \"context switching\", and there can be many levels of context, that each need to be noticed and require a conscious push, over a significant period of time.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26716",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20277/"
] |
26,719 |
<p>I have been researching a topic in Computer Science for several years now. The topic was interesting, but while I managed to get some conclusive results, I was not completely happy about them. It was like something was missing, but I knew that I really needed to talk to somebody more specialized in the topic, but unfortunately a lot of external professors that I contacted did not have enough time to collaborate. Anyway I submitted it to two conferences, which were ranked like B according to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excellence_in_Research_for_Australia" rel="nofollow">Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) schema</a>:</p>
<pre><code>A* - flagship conference
A - excellent conference, determined by a mix of indicators
B - good conference, determined by a mix of indicators
C - other ranked conference venues
</code></pre>
<p>The final verdict at both conferences was a weak reject. So I made the corrections that the reviewers suggested and submitted it to another conference. This new conference has a rank of C, but it deals with the subject that I was making research; the final verdict was accepted as a borderline paper.</p>
<p>Now, the question that I have is that if I should present my paper at that conference, or should I try to fix other things and resubmit to other higher-ranked venues? For me it would be more practical to leave it as is, and let another researcher pick it up if she is so interested.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26721,
"author": "Marc Claesen",
"author_id": 7173,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7173",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should have asked yourself this question before you submitted to the conference. Withdrawing your paper now, after it's been accepted, means you wasted a bunch of people's time (editor, reviewers, ...). Do unto others ...</p>\n\n<p>Additionally, given that it was accepted as a borderline paper and was rejected at two previous conferences may be a hint that your work is not perceived as top of the line by external referees. I doubt you can shoot much higher than what you have now.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26777,
"author": "al_b",
"author_id": 5963,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5963",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>ERA ranking is subjective, I am not aware of peer-reviewed evidence that it works. Personally, I know conferences ranked as A, and whose quality is below acceptable. On the other hand, EuroPLoP is the premier conference for software patterns practitioners, and is ranked B in ERA. </p>\n\n<p>So, do not dismiss a conference just because it is marked as C there. If it is not relevant to Australian community, it does not mean it is not relevant to European/Asian/US community. It is always better to see PC, authors published in the past editions, and other factors to make a decision, not relying on some subjective number. </p>\n\n<p>BTW, there are more conference rankings:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http://shine.icomp.ufam.edu.br/index.php\">Conference H-index calculator</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://academic.research.microsoft.com/RankList?entitytype=3&topDomainID=2&subDomainID=0\">Microsoft Academic Search ranking</a></li>\n<li>community rankings: <a href=\"http://perso.crans.org/~genest/conf.html\">http://perso.crans.org/~genest/conf.html</a> and <a href=\"http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/assourav/crank.htm\">http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/assourav/crank.htm</a></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29901,
"author": "hbrerkere",
"author_id": 22875,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22875",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>ERA rankings are a left-over from earlier days when venues couldn't be easily and quantifiably evaluated in terms of \"impact\". The ERA rankings are/were driven by apparent popularity and \"votes\" cast by a small subset of Australian academics. This makes ERA rankings dubious since they are largely subjective.</p>\n\n<p>These days one has access to various online tools to evaluate the impact of a venue, such as Google Scholar Metrics (h5-index) and Scimago Journal Rank. In turn, these tools often expose many ERA rankings as erroneous.</p>\n\n<p>In terms of getting feedback on your work, conferences are not the only venues. You may also want to try \"Letters\" type of journals, which allow publication of short communications. Even if your paper isn't accepted, the feedback from the reviewers can be very useful.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26719",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144/"
] |
26,725 |
<p>I'm Java course which they said to me that they can arrange a Bachelor's degree from "The Chamber of Chartered Java Professionals International."</p>
<p>I did a little research my own, and from what I can see, they don't really have any verifiable information to confirm their existence. </p>
<ol>
<li>Is there such chamber that can give people a degree?</li>
<li>If they can, is it a reputable degree?</li>
</ol>
<p>My course is covers regular software engineering, including generic languages and sometimes specific languages. I also submitted a few assignments, and projects to the institute that I'm following the course with. From what I understand, they can make them equivalent to their degree requirements. However, their reputation and existence remain mysterious and I chose not to rely on what the institute says, which of course, technically, is a business. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26730,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In general, degrees are given by universities, technological institutes, and other similar <strong>accredited</strong> institutes of higher learning. A degree without such an accreditation in place offers extremely limited value.</p>\n\n<p>While this does appear to be a \"real\" organization, it does not appear to have any accreditation, which would make its degrees worthless junk. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26734,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Heard of Chamber of Chartered Java Professionals International?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<h2>No.</h2>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>2. If they can [offer a degree], is it a reputable degree?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<h2>No.</h2>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 44888,
"author": "Denver",
"author_id": 34099,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/34099",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>According to my knowledge, this chamber is owned by IJTS (a private sole owner company provides Java courses) in Sri Lanka.</p>\n\n<p>Not reputed.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26725",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20293/"
] |
26,726 |
<p>In applying to graduate program, what are some ways to prove knowledge gained from self-study?</p>
<p>I've been told of the following:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Independently conduct research / create projects that require the knowledge</p></li>
<li><p>Partake in research that requires the knowledge</p></li>
<li><p>Contribute to a project that requires the knowledge</p></li>
</ul>
<p>But the former seems like an expensive hurdle in many experiment-heavy fields, and the latter two seem like a catch 22. You must collaborate with people to prove your knowledge, but you must prove your knowledge to be considered for collaboration.</p>
<p>Are there other ways to do so?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26727,
"author": "just-learning",
"author_id": 10483,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10483",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>How about giving a talk on what you have learned -- e.g. at the scientific student society (or perhaps there is a separate student seminar)? </p>\n\n<p>If for some reasons this is not feasible, consider finding other students interested in the subject and form a (informal) study group to study this subject deeper. If you form such a group, you can also consider asking the professor who is an expert in the subject to (informally) guide/supervise this group in some way. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26728,
"author": "Tim",
"author_id": 12703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12703",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you have your own professional site (science blog, tasteful web comic, whatever) you can produce some original content that builds on the knowledge gained during your independent study.</p>\n\n<p>If you can manage to propose some minor extensions or future applications of that knowledge, even better, as it shows that you not only learned something but you have thought of where it can be applied in future research.</p>\n\n<p>Then just tactfully reference this content in your application.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26729,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>One may prove their knowledge by these aspects.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>They may have a certificate of the courses they have passed.</li>\n<li>They may have a publication or patent registration in the field of their personal studies.</li>\n<li>They may have worked in the field of their knowledge and their projects and portfolio is a proof of their knowledge.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>A website designer may not have any certification of their design knowledge, but the websites they have designed are the proof of their knowledge. </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>You may have done voluntary/paid teaching at your undergraduate university or in an educational institute, so you have the certification of your teaching activity and that may be counted as a proof of your teaching and your knowledge. (Also teaching/research assistantships to a course which you have never passed but you did assistantship in that area.)</p></li>\n<li><p>You may have some publications in the area of your knowledge, for instance, a published paper or book; or a contribution to a publication which is so related to your knowledge.</p></li>\n<li><p>You may have done some jobs related to your knowledge. An engineering design, done some code-developing, etc.</p></li>\n<li><p>You may have a recommendation letter from a professor in which has written that you have sit in their class for that course, but you have never registered for the course; so it proves that you have the knowledge of the course.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>However, as far as you are registering for a graduate program, you must fulfill their requirements not what is generally/logically reasonable or what seems to be acceptable. So it is better to provide all your proofs in your CV or their application process website and let them ask you for more official documents. Also, you can email them and ask for your special issue.</p>\n\n<p>P.S. It seems that your question indicates self-study knowledge, but some people may have done some non-degree programs and certificates of those courses may also prove their knowledge in the course.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26740,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One way of proving your knowledge is getting a letter of recommendation from a professor, or someone who can vouch for it.</p>\n\n<p>One of my favorite professors told me, \"If you ever come by some knowledge where the source isn't obvious I'll vouch for your knowledge of it if you can demonstrate it to me.\"</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26726",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20277/"
] |
26,745 |
<p>I am an economics PhD student; I'm seeking to wrap up my PhD and do something outside of academia.</p>
<p>If I don't plan on ever being in academia, is there any value (career-wise) for me to get any of my work published in economics journals? </p>
<p>Ideally I'm looking for answers pertaining specifically to economics; but information on other fields is welcome too.</p>
<p><em>To elaborate (following some comments):</em></p>
<p>The reason I do not want to stay in academic economics is that too much (though certainly not all) of it is bullshit I cannot believe in. (This of course is just my humble opinion.) If I wanted to stay in the game and do well, I feel I'd be forced to manufacture similar BS that I simply don't believe in. </p>
<p>In other words, doing this PhD was for me a mistake. If and when I do get my PhD, I will not even feel proud about it. But now that I'm near the finish line, I reckon I may as well cross it, if only for the credential. </p>
<p>Right now I'm looking at working for one of the MOOCs. I enjoy teaching and believe that teaching/education is important. But it is also possible that I might do something completely different; I don't quite know yet.</p>
<p>So now I'm thinking: Should I just try to graduate ASAP with the lowest quality work possible? Or should I invest a bit more time and effort to polishing my work up, so that some of it can get published?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26747,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are planning to work outside academia as a specialist in your field, then you need to have academic knowledge. I don't see any value of having PhD papers publication while you are seeking non-research job positions; but, a wise employer will decide upon your CV.</p>\n\n<p>As far as most of your time as a PhD student has been spent on research, so the employer is probably seeking the out put of the years you spent in university. These are the years you did not have enough freedom to work in industry, so the question here is what this candidate did at the university. </p>\n\n<p>Nobody wants to hire a tired and depressed candidate who did not do well in his studies as a student and it may come to mind that he will be as tired as the years he was student, why to have him in company?!</p>\n\n<p>So by having publications in your CV, you not make your CV comparative and comparable to the other candidates registering for the job; but also you will show that you are an ideal person in every situation. When you attend university, you did your best, finished your degree and have some publications; and the employer becomes more sure about choosing you. Percents bellow is my approximation of the need of publications in job market.</p>\n\n<p>If I want to generally answer your question:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>If you are going to be hired somewhere: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>100%</strong> If it is a research job and related to your studies; then you absolutely need to show your research capabilities. So you need to prove that can do the research chores and then having paper publications is good idea.</li>\n<li><strong>80%</strong> If it is a research job and not so related to your field, then the title of your papers may have no significant value but you need to show your ability to conduct research and having publications shows that you have the ability and the knowledge to do research.</li>\n<li><strong>50%</strong> If it is a non-research job and related to your field, it seems that having publications does not make any sense but you have to show what you did in your education years, so if you don't have work experience in your CV, show that you have published something, show that you are expert in your field, have something in your CV!</li>\n<li><strong>10%</strong> If it is a non-research job and not so related to your fields of study; then you may not need that much publications (see my answer above).</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li><p><strong>0% to 100%</strong> If you are going to work on your own and do not have any plans to be hired somewhere, do some business, be an entrepreneur, etc., you are the one who wants to hire you, so having publications isn't significant. But keep in mind that having research publications gives you ideas to work with, opens your eyes as a specialist and opens many more job opportunities than a person who has not any insight to research. So having publications may give you many more opportunities than having no publications.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In my opinion, be firm in every step of your life, finish your PhD with most output and publications; and enter a job which is so related to your field and make use of the things you learn during your studies at the university. If you do not gain much from your education, then it seems that you have lost your time for a PhD. So what was the use to get a PhD?</p>\n\n<p>By the way, I think that your question highly depends on answering to this question: What are you going to do after graduation? And, What the consequences of not having publications would be in your future careers and jobs. <em>You</em> are the only one who can answer these questions precisely.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26769,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>The reason I do not want to stay in academic economics is that too much (though certainly not all) of it is [BS] I cannot believe in.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Exactly because you think there are so much BS there, you should publish your papers if they are not BS.</p>\n\n<p>I would review my manuscripts to see if they are good if I were you. If I believe they are of good quality, i.e. non-BS, I would submit them to the journals for peer review. If they do not match good quality standard, I would improve them so that they are not the same as those BS I saw in some journals. I then submit them to the quality journals which do not publish BS.</p>\n\n<p>P.S. In my opinion, your question really has nothing do with where you are going to be and I consider MOOCs is part of Academia.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26831,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Disclaimer: I know nothing about the research in economics.</p>\n\n<p>Publications are useful when applying to a job closely related to their field of study, but are almost never a requirement outside academia. This being said, if you want to 'work for one of the MOOCS' you might want to reconsider, because they very often <em>are</em> made in universities. I never applied to a teaching position, but I suspect it's not irrelevant to have at least one publication (although again, not a strict requirement).</p>\n\n<p>Anyway, regardless of what your plans are, if you think your papers are not worthy of being published (what you qualify as BS), <em>don't submit them</em>, you will only lose readers' time. People apparently forget that the point of publishing is to show your work to others thus contributing to the field. The CV part is a by-product (at least it should be).</p>\n\n<p>In addition, publishing something you don't 'believe in' is going to be a long-lasting pain in the neck (that is, in reputable, peer-reviewed journals). It could take you month of struggling with a paper that you do not want to read again, but have to. If you made your decision never to work in academia again, then it's pretty much pointless. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26893,
"author": "The Almighty Bob",
"author_id": 16086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16086",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Disclaimer:</strong> <em>I never worked in the industry, so I have no first-hand information and everything I write is what I picked up from old colleagues, ... .</em></p>\n\n<p>That said, I think in economics outside Academia a publication is worth barely the space in the CV. When applying to positions in consulting you may have luck and someone recognizes the journal you are publishing in, but in large companies you rarely meet someone who even knows what AER or Econometrica are.</p>\n\n<p>So publications might look nice on the CV but (if you are not applying to a university or maybe a consulting firm) no one cares if you published at Econometrica or the working paper series of the university of nowhere.</p>\n\n<p>However, your case is a little bit different: MOOCs (and most teaching jobs) are at a university, so I would consider them as part of Academia and there publications might be worth something. Maybe not much but something at least.</p>\n\n<p>To put that in (pretty random) numbers:</p>\n\n<pre><code>100% For a research job (normalized)\n50% For a teaching job at an university\n10% - 20% If you are \"lucky\" and someone with a PhD in Economics makes the decision\n0% Otherwise\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Publishing takes a lot of time and effort, so, if you are sure that you do not want to stay in Academia (or work at MOOCs) graduate faster without polishing your papers too much (if you are getting some kind of grade: that usually does matter, so some polishing is probably needed).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27130,
"author": "bfoste01",
"author_id": 19610,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19610",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm in a different policy field, but share the same sentiments as you about academia. Consequently, I'm in the same situation of wondering how much I should care about publishing. </p>\n\n<p>Here's some of my observations to date: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>You have to show that you did something with your time while in a Ph.D. program. Publishing shows that I worked productively with my boss (advisor) on something \"important\" while I was a graduate student. However, this has diminishing returns. Namely, I'm perfectly content pumping my work out to a mid-tier journal, where I'm confident most of what I do would be published with just some simple edits that come about from the peer-review process at that level. My advisor, on the other hand, has a \"go big or go home\" mentality to publishing, which suits this person well given his/her career, but doesn't particularly help me get through the program rapidly to get a job outside of academia. </p></li>\n<li><p>The best part about being in graduate school, but also being certain that I'm not going into academia, is that I have all sorts of time to build skills on my resume that will help me land the kinds of jobs that I want outside of academia, but are skills I wouldn't otherwise gain through the formal experience of a Ph.D. program. For me, this is computer programming. I'm great at statistics, understand research designs very well, and plan on leaning on these skills on the job market. However, a perfect complement to those skills, for the positions I'm interested in, is to be able to hack my way around several programming languages. Now, I can build something tangible with the analyses that I was already quite fluent with. Aside from the basic work that I need to do for my lab, and the program requirements I need to fulfill to get out the door, I really focus on these tertiary skills while I have the time to focus on such things. This means I usually am less concerned about the conference deadlines that seem to loom over the other graduate students, or revising that paper for the 100th time to try and impress my advisor. However, I should say that I also get a lot of shit done for my lab, more than other grad students, and work in ways that are much more smart/efficient than other students in my department. So, I find it easy to find the time to focus on other skills that might be beneficial to me on the job market. So, I hope given your disposition about academia, and your career goals, that you are using the extra time that comes from letting go of engaging with the rat race in order to do something cool for your resume. </p></li>\n<li><p>The hard part is getting your advisor on board with your goals, which are reflected in a lack of concern about publication. First, it's harder to get them to pay attention to you if you aren't publishing things that are going to help them and their career. Two, if you're dealt an unlucky hand in being advised by someone who's never done anything other than academia (which is my case), it's hard to get them to understand your position. He/she might support your longterm goal, but will not be able to provide a vision of the intermediary steps one needs to take to reach that goal. I'm in the midst of negotiating my publication path with my advisor (i.e., \"this is a perfectly fine article that would get published in a range of mid-tier journals.\" Advisor: \"I just think if you redo this, that and the other thing, and then do this other thing, and think about this stuff then you could get it in one of the top journals...\"), you might find yourself in the same position. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I really could go into so much more about being in the position you are in, and the difficulties that come from it, but that would get away from the question at hand. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26745",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
26,751 |
<p>I'm an Asian student working with a European prof. My adviser told me several times that when he read my writings (our papers), he just wanted to rewrite it.
He told me that my English was rather OK, but "the way Oriental people think is different from us". By "us" he meant Europeans.</p>
<p>My adviser could not tell me exactly what was the difference. So I would like to ask if anybody here has experience working with Asian co-authors, and has the same feeling?</p>
<p>Or is this only my problem and my adviser is trying to avoid being straightforward?</p>
<p>Note: I do have problem with my writing. My first conf. paper had been rejected 6 times before it was accepted.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>UPDATE</strong></p>
<p>Thanks for the answers. I just want to make clear that:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I'm asking about the narrative of a paper, and how the content is represented. I'm not asking about the use of language expressions or passive/active writing.</p></li>
<li><p>Judging the comment of my adviser racist is unfair to him. He treats students like friends and 3 out of 5 of his students, including me, have been Asian (and I guess he has this feeling with all 3 of us).</p></li>
</ul>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26752,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not sure if it is fair to distinguish between \"Asian\" and \"European\" as such. Modern scientific writing is highly condensed and certainly follows a certain style. This style can perhaps clash with other traditional ways of expressing matters such as to never contradict senior scientists and other more regional etiquette based issues. </p>\n\n<p>The basis is to have good command of English and to get to a point where you can express your thoughts clearly and concisely. This is difficult for all and the way to learn it is to follow good examples. You should carefully look at articles you read and try to learn from the good examples (not everything you read will be good!). There are also many books that you can study and use as a reference although reading a book will not be enough. In the end it is only practise that makes perfect and for some of us (being a non-English native myself) it takes time and a need for good examples to follow.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26754,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think your advisor's statement was not well-stated, but there is a kernel of truth: people speaking different languages express themselves very differently, and this carries over to writing. It is not just a matter of \"European\" versus \"Asian\"; even among European languages, there is tremendous variation.</p>\n\n<p>For example, consider the use of passive voice. English uses the passive voice much more frequently than German, while German uses it much more frequently than French (where it is to be avoided as much as possible, with the use of reflexive and generic third-person subjects). These characteristics, along with others, show up when people attempt to write in another language, because that is \"what they know.\"</p>\n\n<p>Because Asian languages are so different from European languages in structure, syntax, grammar, and even basic organization (logograms versus phonograms, for instance), it is natural that it will take some adjustment from what can be written in an Asian language to how one would write in English. </p>\n\n<p>However, I would make sure to ask if your university offers training in academic writing in English, rather than just let your advisor do all the work. It will be a skill that you will need to develop in the future regardless of who fixes things now, so it's better if you learn it now rather than wait until you really need it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26763,
"author": "ChrisK",
"author_id": 20324,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20324",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I thought it was just me. I have had the very same feeling. I am married to a Chinese lady and her sister stayed with us for some time while attending to her graduate studies here in Sydney, Australia. I would often review her writing and constantly had the deep urge I wanted to restructure it --- not merely fix grammar and style, but restructure bottom-up. I didn't attribute it to culture or language at the time and usually resisted the urge to rewrite and confined myself to correcting just the spelling, but having read this post, I have to say it deeply resonates! I think there was a difference in the way thoughts were connected and in the flow of reasoning that was employed. I saw connections, but constantly asked myself \"why\" as if to compensate for something she'd omitted. The mental connections were there but somehow structured differently. I've spent considerable time in Canada, the US, UK, Sweden, Germany, Australia, and China. There are differences between European cultures also, but what I've seen in difference between Asian and European styles goes well beyond this. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26767,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The statement, while somewhat sloopy, definitely true. </p>\n\n<p>Different cultures has different rhetoric styles, and that definitely influence how essays are written and how arguments are built up. I have several Japanese and Chinese co-authors, but more experience with the former ones. E.g. the Japanese style of argumentation is often described as circular, and there is a whole bunch of literature on how this style is different from the Western traditions. </p>\n\n<p>If it bothers you the best thing you can do is to read papers you consider good and understand how they build up their arguments.</p>\n\n<p>ps:\nWhile you stated that your command of English is good, it is definitely a major issue with many Asian authors, too. It is very typical to see \"recycled\" sentences and phrases all over in their writing, which are often used off the context or with slightly misfitting meaning, without real connection to the text. This can destroy the flow of any argument and are pretty big turn offs. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26774,
"author": "virmaior",
"author_id": 19769,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19769",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I teach at a university in Japan, and I think there are severe differences between the expectations of Western academic writing and at a minimum Japanese academic writing (though I don't have the knowledge to make claims beyond those borders). This might shed some light on where this kind of conflict can be happening. There are severe stylistic and expectation differences in paper writing between Japan and Western contexts.</p>\n\n<p>Let me explain, in my discipline (philosophy), the standard style in America is quite simple:</p>\n\n<pre><code>Introduction = statement of thesis and major claims (5-10%)\nBody = arguments for the major claims necessary to defend thesis \nConclusion = restatement of major claims and thesis (~10%)\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>and then within body, there should be responses to potential objections.</p>\n\n<p>My sense is that writing in many other fields in English mirrors this -- at a minimum with the claim and argument centered structure.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>A Japanese academic essay in contrast follows a pattern that I believe originally has a German origin:</p>\n\n<pre><code>Introduction = explanation of why you are writing the paper (15%)\n*Haikei* = extensive background of prior work in the field (maybe 80% of the paper)\nConclusion = put in things you want to say (5%)\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>This then bleeds over into my students' attempts to write academic English papers.</p>\n\n<p>I think the German one is similar but the difference is what is placed in the background section. From my experience with German articles, you must write in a way that demonstrates general mastery of the literature. In the Japanese version (at least among the many papers I've read), you respond as a reader to things you like and don't like in the literature.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26785,
"author": "Penguin_Knight",
"author_id": 6450,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6450",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>No, this is absolutely not just your problem! I am also an ESL and this very comment has been given to me numerous times: <em>Your writing is weird, but I can't really tell how.</em> After many years of working on it (including reading many books about writing, joining a writing group, publishing some papers, and writing pretty much everyday), my writing is still, well, weird. I have come to terms that I will never be able to conceal my \"Asian-ness,\" and I'm fine with that.</p>\n\n<p>Though, in the process, I did learn some tricks. I hope some of them will be useful to you.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Have basic grammar all nailed down</strong></p>\n\n<p>I understand that you are not seeking for grammatical advice. But people don't just judge your work's structure and suspect its lack of European thinking style from the get-go. Small mistakes such as (taken from your question) \"By 'us' he <em>meant</em> European,\" and \" I do have <em>problems</em> with my writing,\" can prompt readers to think of you as a foreign writer. And once that thought is sparked, a lot of scrutinies will follow.</p>\n\n<p>Side notes: Some friends did give me very thorough diagnoses on my writing style, which may be useful to you: Generally I suffer from: i) lack of agreement between subjects and verbs, ii) wrong use of articles, and iii) lack of conjunctions and connectives. I have been working hard on addressing those problems, and it's probably going to be a life-long project which is fine by me.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Have him rewrite it</strong></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I'm an Asian student working with a European prof. My adviser told me\n several times that when he read my writings (our papers), <strong>he just\n wanted to rewrite it</strong>. He told me that my English was rather OK, but\n \"the way Oriental people think is different from us\". By \"us\" he\n meaned European.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Why not? Politely invite him to rewrite a few of your paragraphs. If he cannot name what is wrong, but he can rewrite it, then the solutions lie in the rewritten version. Schedule a meeting with him and go over the sticky parts. By that time he <em>will</em> have some ideas about your problems because after rewriting the piece, he will know what he has changed.</p>\n\n<p>Even if he cannot give you any suggestion, with the two versions you can now easily show any writing coach what you wrote and what your instructor thought you wrote. The writing coach should be able to pinpoint the some basic stylistic differences.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Analyze articles' structure</strong></p>\n\n<p>When you read an article, read it a few times with different lenses. First, read for general sectioning, then read for information, and lastly read for its syntactic structure. A wonderful book that I have come across on this kind of analysis is Schimel's \"<a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0199760241\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded</a>.\" It provides tools and examples on dissecting an article from paragraph down to wording sequence in a sentence. There are many grammatically correct ways to put together a sentence, a paragraph, and an article; this book talks about the subtle effects of those different ways.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Do not start from your mother tongue</strong></p>\n\n<p>One old habit that I have successfully gotten rid of is to mentally draft a sentence in my mother tongue and then translate that into English. The process was counter-productive at best because the revision was quite time consuming and painful. A couple tricks helped me through the struggles:</p>\n\n<p>Start from <code>Subject + Verb</code> or <code>Subject + Verb + Object</code>, then slowly add different modifiers. A wonderful book that teaches me most of these is Williams's <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0226899152\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Style: Toward Clarity and Grace</a>. If you get a chance, please read it. I still read it time to time as a writing therapy.</p>\n\n<p>Use a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map\" rel=\"noreferrer\">mind-map</a> to gather ideas. Mind maps, in my opinion, operate very much in the way that scientists display ideas: using categories, hierarchies, relations, and lists. By focusing on this device, I could make the structure tighter and more coherent.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Other resources</strong></p>\n\n<p>I have also grown bold enough to answer some writing-related questions on this site. Here are a few that you may find helpful:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18079/any-place-for-people-with-fear-of-writing/18098#18098\">Any place for people with fear of writing?</a></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23955/how-can-i-best-edit-a-paper-to-help-get-it-published/23956#23956\">How can I best edit a paper to help get it published?</a></p>\n\n<p>Good luck and keep working on it! Your (and my) problem is something that will not totally go away, but can definitely be lessened. Just enjoy the learning process and don't care too much about sounding 100% like a European thinker.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26819,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'll add my data point: From my experience with different co-authors I can not underpin the claim that Asian authors have a different writing style than European authors.</p>\n\n<p>Although the case of the OP seems to resonate with several people I am not really sure if this is really an \"Asian/European\" thing or even a cultural thing. It may well be a personal thing, i.e. a clash of two different styles of writing and thinking. As far as I see, different writing styles also exist for people with similar cultural background and, vice versa, people with different cultural background may still think and write in similar style.</p>\n\n<p>My personal experience is this: I have written papers with two people from Asia and with both I never felt a desire to \"just want to rewrite the paper\". I noticed different use of articles and also a little different language but still, I was totally fine with that and the collaborative writing went smoothly. On the other hand, I have written papers with other Europeans (other Germans, like me, to be precise) and sometimes felt the urge \"to rewrite anything\", also without being able to nail down what precisely was wrong. With some other authors from Germany or other non-Asian countries the writing also went smoothly. So my data is:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Two cases of Asian co-authors with no problems in collaborative writing.</li>\n<li>Three cases of non-Asian (in fact European) co-authors where I thought about \"rewriting anything\".</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Hopefully, this question and its answers may end up and give some hint how the bigger picture of the issue looks like. So please consider upvoting the answer which reflects your experience or contribute another answer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26834,
"author": "Pointblank",
"author_id": 20383,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20383",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>General advice for clarity (US style):</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Re-frame your thoughts into facts. No circular arguments nor implications. State them as simply as you can. Write them in bullets points and then add conjunctions. Don't pad them with fluff. Think about how to shorten/simplify for someone who has only 10 years of English. (Sad, but it works) Think about how your words might be interpreted in different ways and re-write it such that they have only one meaning, as simple as you can!</p></li>\n<li><p>Use first-person AND active voice. Not \"we might\", not \"one found that\", but rather, \"I did this!\" I personally don't like to claim individual credit for group work, nor state \"fact\" for uncertain things, but this style of writing is less ambiguous for the reader to comprehend <em>sigh</em>. Put your caveats <em>after</em> your claims.</p></li>\n<li><p>Structure:\n3a. 20~30% lit review.\n3b. 40% your experiment reason, methodology, findings.\n3c. 10~20% discussion of findings, future research.</p></li>\n<li><p>Submissions to conferences: don't write it like a publication, ffs. The reviewers usually have a rubric: does it fit the track theme? does it add value to the attendees? what do you plan to do in the session? how <em>little</em> do I have to freaking scan before I get the answers. I've had to review 20 submissions in 4 hours, so please just get to the point and don't brag about your achievements.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Good luck with your submissions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26856,
"author": "D_Ramage",
"author_id": 20419,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20419",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Which field are you working in? This makes a big difference. If you are writing in, say, medicine or hard sciences, the differences from region to region would be minor. In other fields, such as history or other humanities, there could be substantial differences in expectations of both reader and writer in organization, rhetoric, and so forth.</p>\n\n<p>Your professor mentions \"thinking,\" which would lead me to think he is referring to \"big picture\" issues. But I have seen professors react to the \"accent\" of second language writers with misleading comments, when, in fact, they were simply not reading through the \"accent.\" </p>\n\n<p>I would ask your professor to guide you through a revision of a single page of the paper--a reasonable request--and less vague, more constructive feedback may come through.At that point, I would follow the excellent advice from \"Penguin Knight\" above, \"Analyze article's structure.\" </p>\n\n<p>Good luck to you!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26878,
"author": "Jimmy",
"author_id": 20438,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20438",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I once rewrote a Ph.D. thesis for a Chinese student on the request of her thesis adviser, who said it was basically unsubmittable. </p>\n\n<p>Everything the student wrote was in 'Yoda' - backwards every sentence wrote she did. Most peculiar it was really. Just wanted to rewrite it after a few sentences you did.</p>\n\n<p>I never found out if she had the degree conferred. The thesis adviser said her work was marginal at best, notwithstanding the bizarre English. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26751",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15501/"
] |
26,755 |
<p>I'm working on a literature review for a masters thesis in the sciences, and I have a ton of sources that cover the topic. Many specific points are covered <em>ad nauseam</em>, and many similar ideas can be cited multiple times. My question is how many is acceptable? Is there a general rule for citing sources per sentence/idea? Does more look better? Basically, is there a limit?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26756,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The short and somewhat unsatisfactory answer is: <em>enough</em>. There is no formal limit but obviously too many becomes impractical. If you can reference a huge number of references for a single statement (sentence) it is normal to pick one or possibly a few by using a format indicating these references are just examples:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>(e.g., Smith et al., 1943; Turner and Anthony, 1963)</p>\n<p>some statement by, for example, Smith et al. (1943) and Turner and Anthony (1963)</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>I am assuming Harvard style formatting in these examples.</p>\n<p>Exactly when it is reasonable to show examples and when one actually have to show al references is a matter of context. If you, for example, have a series of references that together build up some matter and where none is more important than the other and none summarize the other, it could be necessary to list them all regardless of how many there are. I suggest you try to look at a number of different papers of a similar type (literature review) to the one you are writing to see how others handle such instances. You should also look at other masters thesis if you have the possibility.</p>\n<p>The main point of this is to know when it is sufficient to list only (good) examples rather than all possible references. This is of course a matter of training and learning to assess when which format is appropriate. It is therefore necessary to assess when papers simply duplicate each other (from whatever view point you reference) or when they each contribute something unique that merits their reference.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26757,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>And to add to Peter Jansson, don't over do it. A literature review in an article is meant as a general reference, so the reader can get \"up to speed\" in the state of the art of the topic under discussion. In your thesis, you have to show that you are able to search the literature, you understand it, and are able to extract the important information.</p>\n\n<p>If you put every single article, you are not fulfilling any. On the one hand, the reader will not know what are the most relevant articles for your work. On the other front, anyone can get all the articles published in a subfield in the last couple of years and write a sentence, based on the abstract and the figures, in just a few days.</p>\n\n<p>In short, show that you have comprehended the literature by finding the most informative subset of articles.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26758,
"author": "vector07",
"author_id": 14719,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14719",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some more concrete thoughts (background is biological sciences):</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>A \"particular point\" may be covered <em>ad nauseum</em> in backgrounds and introductions of papers in the field, but where did that idea originate?</p></li>\n<li><p>Cite review papers sparingly. I generally cite reviews only when pointing out that there's a tangentially related body of work well covered in someone else's review.</p></li>\n<li><p>The only time to cite MANY sources for a particular point is when the point is (or is considered) controversial. </p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26778,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Besides whether or not the citations themselves are necessary, it's also important to consider how they affect the flow of your writing. </p>\n\n<p>If it is actually <em>necessary</em> to cite all those papers (see <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13570/is-there-such-thing-as-too-many-references-for-one-paper\">Is there such thing as too many references for one paper?</a>, as well as the other excellent answers to this question), it would look much cleaner to place the citations in a footnote (especially if you use the author-year rather than numbered style).</p>\n\n<p>If you use numbered citations and LaTeX, the <code>sort&compress</code> option in <code>natbib</code> can reduce clutter by citing a range (ie [7-16]) of sources rather than [7,8,9 ... ]. However its effectiveness depends on how your bibliography is ordered.</p>\n\n<p>If you must cite many papers in a single sentence, you should at least make every effort to ensure it reads fluently and that the citations do not distract you from the main text.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26755",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20265/"
] |
26,759 |
<p>I am doing Master's in Applied Science in Civil Engineering. In my research I work with big data analysis which has gotten a fancy new name in past few years "Data Science". When I joined the master's program I didn't knew much about programming and had basic knowledge of statistical analysis. Over the period of about 2 years I learned a lot about data analysis in R language, developing data apps, creating interactive documents, etc. Although my research area had no direct relation with any of those things, I enjoyed learning them and using them in getting insights about data. </p>
<p>On the other hand, this journey has been very frustrating because I could get very little useful knowledge for my research study. My 2 supervisors have been very supportive and both have asked me to continue my work and switch to PhD. </p>
<p>One part of me long for getting out in the 'field' and have a 9 to 5 job with set amount of tasks everyday. But at the same time I am afraid to leave academia as this is all I've ever done in my career (worked as a Lecturer previously and now have graduate assistant positions). Money is another concern as I've not yet determined how much I would be able to get in scholarships/ grants during PhD.
I don't know how to keep myself motivated continuously during research, so there are always some days when I just don't do anything. I am really confused at this stage as to what should I do, complete my master's in next 4 months and graduate or go for a PhD. What are your thoughts/ experiences?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26760,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You shouldn't stick around for a PhD because you're afraid to do something else. A PhD is something that you should do because you're motivated to use the skills you acquire in the PhD in your later career (either as a researcher, or in a research-oriented field).</p>\n\n<p>If you're not excited about being a PhD student, then it's not worth it in the long run to be miserable for several years of your life to obtain the degree. Moreover, because the PhD can limit your ability to take certain jobs—because of the perception of overqualification—if you're not motivated, don't do it.</p>\n\n<p>In other words: Choose to do something because you want to be there—not because you're afraid to be somewhere else!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27126,
"author": "bfoste01",
"author_id": 19610,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19610",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>FYI: Big Data analysis and Data Science are two different things, that can certainly involve one another, but one does not have to involve the other. </p>\n\n<p>Also, Data Scientists don't fully know how to define data-science (i.e., is it a singular person with specific multiple overlapping skills, or is it a team of people with multiple overlapping skills? How is it different from a statistician? How is it different from a programmer?)</p>\n\n<p>Anyways, I'd take a job then come back and get a Ph.D. if you still want to go that route. It will be clear to you a few years into your job if your heart was really in academia or not, and if your heart isn't fully in academia you'll at least have a clear rationale for what the value added of a Ph.D. would be for you. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26759",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
26,779 |
<p>As a research student, I spend most of my time working on my research career, even when I am at home, I am awake until 3 or 4 A.M just doing my research-chores.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, long-term having not enough sleep, putting myself under huge amount of stress and hard work and more important, not getting enough exercise will directly put the person's health in to danger.</p>
<p><strong>Q:</strong> How should a researcher balance their life to both maintain their health and do their academic job?</p>
<p>I am wondering whether professionals and scientists really hardly worked this much and how their healthy and balanced academic/work life-style is.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26781,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I put my health first by committing to healthy activities that involve other people, so I will have to stick to them.</p>\n\n<p>For example, I</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Have a standing weekly running appointment with a faculty member at my school. I won't cancel this appointment because she will be disappointed.</li>\n<li>Have a standing non-academic volunteer commitment one afternoon each week (giving back to my community is essential for my mental health). I won't cancel this because there's a classroom full of 12-year-old girls waiting for me to come help them with their homework.</li>\n<li>Spend 25 hours each week, from Friday night to Saturday night, completely disconnected from the Internet and anything work related. (I do this as a religious observance, but it's definitely good for my physical health, too!)</li>\n<li>Hold meetings with students and faculty in other buildings in their offices, not mine, so that I am forced to occasionally go outside during daylight hours (if only to walk from one building to the next).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>All of these things are non-negotiable to me. That is, no matter what how busy I am or what deadlines are coming up, I will not compromise on any of these things. They're essential to my health and well-being, I arranged them so that other people are depending on me, and so I prioritize them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26789,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 20342,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20342",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I know that for myself, regular running has helped a lot in the past.</p>\n\n<p>The miraculous thing about regular physical exercise is that even though it takes time, you may find that it <em>seems</em> like you suddenly have more time overall.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26792,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First of all. Sleep. And sleep well. Increasing sleep hours increases productivity and not the other way around. Sleep early (people are not supposed to work too late at night) and wake up after good-solid 8 hours of sleep. Then when you wake up, you will realize that you have amazing clarity and excellent productivity. Also, two hours before sleep abandon work and do something relaxing, such as listening to music or spending time with your significant other. Work or stressful activities before bedtime, disrupt your sleep and its quality. So, that leaves you about 24-(8+2) = 14 hours to work which are more than enough.</p>\n\n<p>Devote at least one hour per day on average for exercise. Any sport, workout is better than nothing. Also, try walking. One hour of walking per day does wonders for your heart, lowers stress and you can still think about research while doing it (I do not advice this though). It also alleviates headaches (stress or work related). Also, mind what you eat. Keep your weight steady and do not eat too salty or fatty foods, that inhibit body and mind performance. Use a multivitamin every two days (after consulting your doctor). Also remember that a healthy body always performs better, including mind activities. Also maintaining a good, healthy appearance increases your chances for a fruitful social life, which will prevent you from overworking and overstressing yourself.</p>\n\n<p>And just a reminder. You should not spend too much time on Stack Academia as well :-)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26822,
"author": "Lilienthal",
"author_id": 15370,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15370",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You are only as busy as you want to be. How many hours you can put into work activities without affecting your mental well-being depends on how much you enjoy your work. Given that you describe your work as chores, you should be trying to adjust the cause, not mitigate the symptoms.</p>\n\n<p>There is no way that you can realistically handle the kind of workload you describe long-term. Putting in that many hours to the point that you're basically pulling all-nighters <em>might</em> be justified at crunch time: when a project is due and external factors or bad planning prevented you from finishing in time. The first step to improving your situation is to give yourself a realistic workload, likely something between 40 and 60 hours a week. Then set up a plan for your research that takes into account the hours you have available and set your goals accordingly.</p>\n\n<p>You can try this for a week to see if it helps with your mental fatigue and what the impact is on your research. There are any number of studies that prove the importance of work-life balance for productivity so while you might feel like you're working much less than you should, you should be accomplishing much more with your time. </p>\n\n<p>In other words: Work smarter, not harder.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27045,
"author": "chris",
"author_id": 4275,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4275",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should work less and take breaks, for the sake of the success of your research! Out of experience, most, if not all insights/breakthroughs came while taking breaks/ holidays etc… </p>\n\n<p>These breaks allow you to take some distance and give you perspective w.r.t. to your current work. On top of all the good reasons given by the other answers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27124,
"author": "bfoste01",
"author_id": 19610,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19610",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Prioritize you're health, happiness and relationships first. Nowhere is it written that a graduate student needs to work insane hours, answer every email the minute it comes in, etc. Frankly, if I worked for someone that had that expectation I'd leave. In fact, I did work for an advisor who was like that and I switched after a year. Life's too short. The stress, fatigue, unhealthy eating, lack of connection with other people outside of academia... it wears on your health. </p>\n\n<p>Don't fall into the rat race. I don't know your field, but in mine it's common for grad students to work insane hours because they just work inefficiently, so just work smarter. </p>\n\n<p>Also, under-promise over-deliver... always. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 37140,
"author": "Inquisitive",
"author_id": 27985,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27985",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>On the issue of workaholism, I think it all boils down to why people feel they are more valuable if they work hard. What makes them believe this? Are they trying to impress people and gain acceptance to fill a void?</p>\n\n<p>Does a person \"work to live\" or do they \"live to work\"? The latter seems a waste of life to me.</p>\n\n<p>If working very hard makes a person happy then perhaps they should do it. But if they are doing it for another reason and are not very happy, then maybe they need to reconsider.</p>\n\n<p>Maybe a lot of this comes from popular culture when media personalities talk about somebody's \"amazing body of work\". We've heard that phrase many times. Ironically, very, very few people are remembered for their \"bodies of work\". It takes an EXTREME amount of EXTREMELY high quality work to be remembered for it.</p>\n\n<p>People remember Mozart, but they don't remember the very good violinist that played with the city symphony 10 years ago. People remember Isaac Newton, but they don't remember lesser mathematicians who still contributed somewhat significantly.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26779",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
26,786 |
<p>I have worked as translator for more than seven years in the industry. I have a background in cuisine for more than ten years. Now I would like to add an graduate degree related to <em>Tourism, Hotel and Event Management</em> to my professional experience.</p>
<p><em>Can I enroll in such a masters program without first acquiring a Bachelors degree?</em></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26787,
"author": "Kristof Tak",
"author_id": 9401,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Masters degree without a Bachelor at all, or Masters degree after having a Bachelor from an unrelated field?</p>\n\n<p>I think the first one is strictly impossible. So far, I have never heard of someone getting a Master before having the Bachelor first.</p>\n\n<p>I know there might be corner-cases for geniuses who do both at the same time, or get directly accepted to phd studies skipping everything. But that is highly unlikely in usual cases of regular people. </p>\n\n<p>If you have such a goal, it will be a massive administrative obstacle to overcome. And I don't see how you could convince an established university to give up their requirements.</p>\n\n<p>Maybe in 3rd world countries you can get any type of degree by throwing some money, but it does not seem to me as if that is your goal.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT (after @Mad Jack's comment below): Yeah there are always corner-cases which may change the story. Given that your experience is worth more than a undegrad diploma, or the fact that you might hold different certificates might give you a chance. But, then again you will have to ask the admission office to make an exception for you. Tough, but not impossible as I learned something new!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26809,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I know people who have attended and graduated from master programs in Australia and the UK and I've seen people considering such programs in the US (though I don't remember the school in the US and it was about 10 years ago but I thought it was Carnegie Mellon). These schools were all reasonable, fully accredited schools.</p>\n\n<p>The students in question all were missing their bachelor degree. One had no university at all while others had most of their undergraduate credits yet had not finished. They key is that, like you, they all had significant real-world experience which was seen as offsetting their lack of credentials.</p>\n\n<p>So, the short version is, there are schools who will accept master-level students without an undergraduate degree and there are schools who will not accept them. You just need to do the leg work and see which schools will make that exception.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41288,
"author": "L.B.",
"author_id": 31455,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31455",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I attained my master's degree without having fully completed my bachelor's. It was for an MFA however, and my portfolio was strong enough to earn admission. I think it would be more difficult for a master's in the sciences or in a business related field. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41289,
"author": "keshlam",
"author_id": 10225,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10225",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I know of someone who got into a graduate program without technically finishing his Bachelor's, and then repeated that when getting admitted for PhD. However, this didn't save him much work; he still needed the earlier education and had to get top grades and demonstrate that he'd be a great researcher to be considered for these exceptions.</p>\n\n<p>That isn't what you were asking about, but it does show that unusual admissions are possible if you can impress the fight people. For most of us that isn't practical.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 43281,
"author": "Caribbeanguy",
"author_id": 32922,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32922",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Absolutely. In the UK this is rather the norm. In Australia it is also common. I think other con tries are moving toward that direction as well, but for now I know that the UK and Australia would do it for sure. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 44007,
"author": "Pdon",
"author_id": 33468,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33468",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Absolutely it is possible to obtain a Master's degree without a Bachelor's degree. I have a MSc from one of the top (#2 or #4 depending on which survey you choose) schools in the US. I had some (less than one full year) undergrad course over 20 years earlier.</p>\n\n<p>I am not familiar with the specific field you mention or the accredited schools that offer degrees but you should approach the dean of the school directly and establish a relationship then have that person guide you through the admission process. You must present exceptional credentials to be accepted but top business schools quietly admit one or two per year each class. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 107169,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, it is absolutely possible. But are there any degree-granting institutions that are so enlightened?</p>\n\n<p>In my educated opinion, a Masters is for industrial and other trades, while a PhD or even a Bachelor's degree (Bachelor of Arts) are for transcendental ideals. You don't need writing, a second language, a range of scientific and liberal courses for most fields.</p>\n\n<p>So you can be a Master, if another Master declares such.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26786",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20338/"
] |
26,791 |
<p>Due to a combination of factors, I ended up going for my undergraduate studies to a relatively unknown university that was close to me geographically.</p>
<p>Let's say that I have a relatively standard background for someone trying to apply to top tier schools for graduate studies (some research experience, some low to medium quality publications, very strong grades, good recommendation letters). Then how much does the alma mater have an impact for someone like me? I obviously know that it is still possible to be accepted, but how much of a disadvantage am I looking at exactly?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26794,
"author": "Tim",
"author_id": 12703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12703",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My impression after being accepted and discussing this with senior faculty was the following:</p>\n\n<p>A large, top tier graduate program receives applications. Some fraction of these (say a quarter) are entirely unqualified and will be discarded.</p>\n\n<p>Another, very small group are fantastically qualified, with great research experience and superb academic credentials from the very best schools. These few will almost definitely get in, but may not accept.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, the largest group consists of people with credentials that are no better or worse than yours (maybe they attended a better school, but their record is slightly worse, or their recommenders are more prestigious, but the letters are less personal). If you are in this group, you should do everything you possibly can to improve your application, but ultimately you're playing the odds.</p>\n\n<p>The biggest obstacle you will face at the top tier schools is that they receive so many more applications that the acceptance rate might only be a few percent. This means the odds are very unfavorable that any particular top tier school will accept you as a solid, but not extraordinary applicant.</p>\n\n<p>This is how it was explained to me anyway. So, I don't think your school is a serious handicap, but it probably does exclude you from the \"Oh my gosh, must accept and give all the money!\" pile. You might consider applying to more programs to compensate.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT: As Ben Webster pointed out, \"Apply to more programs\" is incomplete. You might consider applying to more high quality programs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26796,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You don't mention what field you're in. At least in the social sciences at my R1, we look at various factors. The admissions committee knows that people have to choose the college that they went to for various reasons other than just academic excellence. </p>\n\n<p>One of the factors that I look at is trajectory. Someone who went to a public high school, then a community college, and then transferred to a public university, with perhaps middling grades the first year but then quickly ramps up to stellar grades by the time they graduate is very interesting to me -- much more than someone who got all As at a <em>good</em> school but doesn't seem like they pushed themselves very hard.</p>\n\n<p>With the portfolio that you describe for yourself, I'd say you wouldn't be eliminated in the first round, but you'd struggle in the second and third rounds to stand out. How you stand out is up to you. I'd work on a stellar statement of purpose -- one that strongly articulates why you want to go to graduate school to study what you want to study. </p>\n\n<p>Again, this is in the social sciences at my school (a large private R1), your mileage may vary.</p>\n\n<p>Part of this is because brilliance by itself isn't enough for grad school in the social sciences. Perseverance and autonomy and the ability to get knocked down and get back up are also critical. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26825,
"author": "sintax",
"author_id": 20270,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20270",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I recommend reading the following article:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><a href=\"http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/education/edlife/why-you-cant-catch-up.html?_r=0&referrer=\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Why You Can’t Catch Up, by Nancy Hass; The New York Times, (August 1, 2014)</a></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The takeaway is that anything is possible, but you're much less likely to get into top tier grad schools with a low-tier undergraduate. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26791",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8001/"
] |
26,793 |
<p>I intend to work in industry after finishing my Masters in Statistics and am considering some universities in the United States. How will a Masters in Statistics with thesis, no thesis or with capstone project impact my career prospects? I've read that having written a thesis that is relevant to the employer's business would be beneficial. But how does that compare to a capstone project? It sounds to me that a capstone project and thesis mean the same thing as both involve research.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26794,
"author": "Tim",
"author_id": 12703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12703",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My impression after being accepted and discussing this with senior faculty was the following:</p>\n\n<p>A large, top tier graduate program receives applications. Some fraction of these (say a quarter) are entirely unqualified and will be discarded.</p>\n\n<p>Another, very small group are fantastically qualified, with great research experience and superb academic credentials from the very best schools. These few will almost definitely get in, but may not accept.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, the largest group consists of people with credentials that are no better or worse than yours (maybe they attended a better school, but their record is slightly worse, or their recommenders are more prestigious, but the letters are less personal). If you are in this group, you should do everything you possibly can to improve your application, but ultimately you're playing the odds.</p>\n\n<p>The biggest obstacle you will face at the top tier schools is that they receive so many more applications that the acceptance rate might only be a few percent. This means the odds are very unfavorable that any particular top tier school will accept you as a solid, but not extraordinary applicant.</p>\n\n<p>This is how it was explained to me anyway. So, I don't think your school is a serious handicap, but it probably does exclude you from the \"Oh my gosh, must accept and give all the money!\" pile. You might consider applying to more programs to compensate.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT: As Ben Webster pointed out, \"Apply to more programs\" is incomplete. You might consider applying to more high quality programs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26796,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You don't mention what field you're in. At least in the social sciences at my R1, we look at various factors. The admissions committee knows that people have to choose the college that they went to for various reasons other than just academic excellence. </p>\n\n<p>One of the factors that I look at is trajectory. Someone who went to a public high school, then a community college, and then transferred to a public university, with perhaps middling grades the first year but then quickly ramps up to stellar grades by the time they graduate is very interesting to me -- much more than someone who got all As at a <em>good</em> school but doesn't seem like they pushed themselves very hard.</p>\n\n<p>With the portfolio that you describe for yourself, I'd say you wouldn't be eliminated in the first round, but you'd struggle in the second and third rounds to stand out. How you stand out is up to you. I'd work on a stellar statement of purpose -- one that strongly articulates why you want to go to graduate school to study what you want to study. </p>\n\n<p>Again, this is in the social sciences at my school (a large private R1), your mileage may vary.</p>\n\n<p>Part of this is because brilliance by itself isn't enough for grad school in the social sciences. Perseverance and autonomy and the ability to get knocked down and get back up are also critical. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26825,
"author": "sintax",
"author_id": 20270,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20270",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I recommend reading the following article:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><a href=\"http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/education/edlife/why-you-cant-catch-up.html?_r=0&referrer=\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Why You Can’t Catch Up, by Nancy Hass; The New York Times, (August 1, 2014)</a></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The takeaway is that anything is possible, but you're much less likely to get into top tier grad schools with a low-tier undergraduate. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26793",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20343/"
] |
26,798 |
<p>I recently received an acceptance letter from a honor society (I am leaving off the name for now but can include a link to the website). </p>
<p>The offer said I qualified because of my grades or a nomination. I read a little into it and it a lot more like a sales pitch. Offering discounts, exclusive scholarships, and career services in exchange for a biannual fee.</p>
<p>The website does look very professional. I am not sure if it is a scam, a profit driven real honor society, or what else. Aside from intuition is there any ways to tell what an invitation entails without all the hype?</p>
<p>Also, even if they are a profit driven business is it likely worth time to invest in a short term membership?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26799,
"author": "Nahkki",
"author_id": 18092,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18092",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are three metrics I use to see if a 'exclusive' society is a scam or not.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>If they are imprecise when it comes to why I was invited. \"Because of your grades or a nomination\" is pretty weak honestly. Who nominated me? What was the grade cutoff? Are they associated with group in my university such that they could even have access to my grades? If your invitation comes from a nomination, a legitimate honors society should be willing to name the nomination. </p></li>\n<li><p>Do they want me to pay money? It's true a lot of honor societies may have a entrance or membership fee. This should be minimal and obvious and you should have a direct idea of what this is going towards. A 'honor society' which is vague the criteria upon which you were invited and who wants to charge you money is pretty sketchy.</p></li>\n<li><p>Have you heard of them before? Has anyone you respect heard of them before? When you google them - do they have conferences? Meetings? Journals? Are they cited anywhere? Or is there nothing but advertisements for them when you google the name? </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>It's not that any of the above criteria, alone, is enough to make a 'honor society' sketchy. And I'm sure there are, in some fields, societies that hit all three of the above and are totally legit. But, to be honest, a blind email to you that has a \"You may have won!\" feel to it is probably a scam on some level. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26801,
"author": "Jen",
"author_id": 20178,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20178",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Ah yes, the always exciting \"you are so awesome, here join my honor society!\". My method is to simply google \"name of honor soceity\" scam. You would be amazed at how much info is out there already answering your questions for you.</p>\n\n<p>To be honest, most \"honor society's\" are mostly just scams. Perhaps not as overtly as, say, a Nigerian prince being captured scam, but honestly, how many people sign up to be a member but never actually use any of their resources, even if they are legit? It's like a gym membership, only effective if you actually use it.</p>\n\n<p>Anyhoo, I only joined ones that were directly related to my school/ had specific branches on my school and only joined two, a very well known one and the society for my direct major. And those were more to do with resume fillers than anything else.</p>\n\n<p>Truth is, as far as I've ever seen, no one cares about the honor societies. If it's for an awesome gpa, well, your gpa on your resume covers that. If you do volunteer work, again, stating what you do is much better than just naming off an honor society. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26804,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In all of my experience: <strong>no one within academia cares about honor societies whatsoever</strong>. To expand on that: in academia we routinely (closer to constantly) evaluate people based on their academic qualifications, in a very serious way: i.e., the \"winners\" get offered substantial scholarships and/or jobs. Not once have I ever heard anyone mention membership in an honor society in any of these decisions. Not for faculty hiring, not for graduate admissions, not for picking TA's...never.</p>\n\n<p>When I was an undergraduate I did join Phi Beta Kappa (junior year: whoop de frickin' doo) and Sigma Xi. The way I recall it, I was moderately encouraged to do so by my undergraduate program. And I must say that the amount of money that I gave to these people -- if any; maybe my school paid it themselves? -- was truly negligible: at most $40, or something like that. Based on this money, for many years afterwards I got:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Regular newsletters from the organizations that made what looked like reasonable attempts at giving me some kind of scientific / academic contacts. (Not that I read them...)</p></li>\n<li><p>Semi-regular very strange calls offering to sell me gold-laminated books and other such frippery. Often these were done with enough of a \"hard-sell\" solicitation to get me a little steamed: one caller spoke breathlessly about the gold-laminated books and at the end asked me how many additional copies I wanted to order at a discounted price. I mentioned that she skipped an important step, and she asked what that was. I revealed that at no point in the conversation had she asked me whether I was even the slightest bit interested in buying anything from her. The rest of the conversation was brief but tense.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Based on these experiences, whenever any student asks me whether they should join an honor society -- the ones which are <em>not</em> supposed to be scams, like Phi Beta Kappa -- I say \"I do not advise you to do it if you have to pay more than the most negligible amount of money.\"</p>\n\n<p>However, I have occasionally talked to other faculty and university personnel about this issue, and their experiences are not always as negative as mine. What I suspect may be true (but I have unfortunately never had the occasion to find out!) is that: <strong>academic honors societies may be useful for people who are leaving academia, by providing some kind of modest continuing contact with the academic world</strong>. I mean, the idea that I need to open up a bi-annual newsletter and read about what other academics are doing makes no sense for me: I learn about what other academics are doing by <em>going to work</em>. But for people who go off into industry -- or something else -- maybe it is valuable. On the other hand, I have to imagine that, as with so many things, the internet makes this kind of thing largely obsolete: the amount of access that any citizen of the world with an internet connection has to current academic activity is greater now than what any professor had twenty years ago. </p>\n\n<p>One final question: does <em>anyone</em> care if your CV says you are a Phi Beta Kappa (junior year!)? I suspect not -- as someone else mentioned, these awards are given for your GPA, and you put your GPA on your CV anyway. But I would, as ever, be interested to hear other perspectives.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42745,
"author": "Brad BradBradBrad",
"author_id": 32533,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32533",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>People do care about honor societies. That includes prospective employers, your peers, your teachers, your family and friends, as well as you.</strong> I've seen an endless amount of these types of discussions on the internet as well as within groups of people I know in college. And, there are always very similar responses from two distinct groups: people who are actually in them (both the legitimate ones and the less prestigious ones), and the other large contingent of people who are not invited and who just outright know next to nothing about the honor society being discussed.</p>\n\n<p><strong>There's always going to be noise from people who neither put in the work, nor have the successful mentality to appreciate the role of rewards</strong> when persevering through long stretches of almost unthinkable difficulty in school. My advice is to ignore these people. They will exist throughout your entire life and will never cease trying to convince you that your success is unnecessary, and that you should lower your standards to match theirs. I promise you. These people will exist in every nook and cranny of your life from now until you die. It's best to shoo them away and bring in other success-minded people who lift you up.</p>\n\n<p><strong>There are indeed some hokey honor societies out there who don't have the history or structure to hold any weight.</strong> Golden Key was the best example of this at my university. I couldn't find a single person who could recommend joining. Although their requirements are so-so (I believe it's upper 10% of your class), no-one thinks highly of this. And, there's very little practical incentive to join like scholarships, discounts, etc. Despite being invited, I did not join this group.</p>\n\n<p><strong>But, there are in fact many honor societies that will incite looks of approval from esteemed professors, directors, chairs of departments, and potential employers.</strong> I know this because I have personally experienced it. There are professors teaching your classes who were not invited to join honor societies. Many partners at firms I've interviewed with are not members and were not invited. Acknowledgement of my membership in these honor societies is a frequent point of discussion and I've never had anything but positive feedback about my involvement with them.</p>\n\n<p>Aside from the hokey honor societies like Golden Key I am excluding, <strong>there are two major types of honor society you can join: major-specific like Beta Alpha Psi which is specific to accounting majors, and large, interdisciplinary honor societies like Phi Kappa Phi and Omicron Delta Kappa.</strong> These two different types are similar, but serve different practical purposes. I'm an accounting major, so I've been involved with Beta Alpha Psi for almost a year now. The requirements aren't that demanding: 3.0, involvement in a BAP committee, and 20 professional/service hours per semester. But, the rewards of involvement are HUGE for a prospective CPA. I've been heavily involved with all large and small firms (both local and big four), and I've been interviewed and offered jobs frequently. (And on a side note, there is nothing more academically rewarding than being able to constantly turn down offers for both internships and FT jobs.) I am good friends with many of the top notch students, and casually acquainted with most accounting firms. This is an immense advantage and it's directly linked with my involvement with Beta Alpha Psi.</p>\n\n<p><strong>The other two I mentioned, Phi Kappa Phi and Omicron Delta Kappa, have a completely different criteria for joining and thus, serve a completely different purpose.</strong> These are a traditional \"honor society\" that most people think of when these talks come up. But, there are very specific reasons why I both wanted to join, and actively pursued fulfilling the requirements to join when I first started college. <strong>First, they are exclusive and prestigious.</strong> At my university, these two are the only two honor societies formally recognized when you graduate. <strong>Second, they have high standards for joining.</strong> <strong>Phi Kappa Phi is based off how high your GPA is in relation to yours peers and only invites juniors and seniors.</strong> Since I was invited as a Junior, I know I have a higher GPA than 92.5% of the people in my class. Despite what people will attempt to convince you in discussion forums, this is something to be very proud of. <strong>Omicron Delta Kappa</strong> has what I feel are even stricter requirements. At my university, <strong>you have to maintain above a 3.3 gpa, but also demonstrate 3/5 leadership skills</strong> by active involvement in your university, community, etc. This was the HS I was most proud to be invited to, and I happily joined. <strong>Third, both of these HS' are over 100 years old, have many successful, very well recognized names among their ranks like past presidents, politicians, artists, scientists, etc., and are pretty much universally acknowledged as being an honor to join.</strong> And finally fourth, you get to wear honor cords and/or stoles when you graduate. </p>\n\n<p><strong>So to sum up, try to avoid getting caught up in the net of bitter people who don't encourage you to enjoy your success and rewards for hard work.</strong> Again, they will attempt to buzz around and distract you for the rest of your life. Whatever people try to convince you, <strong>no-one is getting rich on some obscure concept of an honor society scam.</strong> These organizations run on a shoestring budget consisting mainly of volunteers and charitable donations. If it is a \"scam,\" it's the worst scam in history created by some of the brightest individuals available. <strong>It doesn't hurt to have these on your resume, but it's also very rewarding to be a part of something that rewards and encourages excellence.</strong> Most of the people who matter will think highly of your membership as many of the people teaching you weren't invited or are not members. <strong>Good luck!</strong> I hope this sheds some much needed light on your decision. </p>\n\n<p>p.s. As someone above me mentioned, being involved in a leadership role will always be more advantageous than just being a passive participant. But, it just depends on the nature of the HS. I'm running for an officer position at the end of this semester in Beta Alpha Psi, but I have virtually no involvement in the others. I know this is a huge boost to my resume, but it's more of a practical decision that is slightly outside the topic of discussion here.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26798",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10637/"
] |
26,802 |
<p>My Name is among tens of authors of a paper on global health. </p>
<p>For the purpose of my CV update, I need to show my name without showing the names of all authors of the paper. </p>
<p>My preferred style is JAMA, which shows the names of the first 3 authors followed by 'et al'.</p>
<p>Would the following format be appropriate, at least for my CV, when My Name is published in the middle of a long authors' list ? </p>
<p>First Author, Co-Author, My Name, et al </p>
<p>If so, will this (customized) format ever cause any confusion for any group of audience?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26803,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If I understand correctly you suggest adding your name as third regardless of where it occurs (later than third). I would not recommend such a solution since it may be thought of as inflating your own importance (assuming author order reflects that). Even if such a solution would be acceptable within a specific community, one has to consider how it can be construed by others. In my CV I have set my name in bold face and I list all author names in a reference. This way my \"contribution\" becomes reasonably clear even at a glance.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26806,
"author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten",
"author_id": 440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The bolding trick suggested by others is fine up to a point, but eventually it will get to be silly.</p>\n\n<p>I'm coming from a nuclear and particle physics background and have papers with hundreds of coauthors. So I <em>didn't</em> take care that my name showed up. I just built my publication list using bibtex in the standard format for my discipline and assumed that readers who wanted to check that I was on those papers know how to use InSpire (the go-to publication database for these disciplines). </p>\n\n<p>That means that my name appears on my publication list only a few times, but it is also there in big letters at the top of the page.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26802",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20349/"
] |
26,805 |
<p>Recently I heard from a senior student that the celebrated adaBoost <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.32.8918" rel="nofollow">paper</a> was originally rejected by a conference. </p>
<p>Are there any other instances of seminal papers (in any field) which initially could not warrant a publication? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26808,
"author": "user8001",
"author_id": 8001,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8001",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm not sure if this counts, but Edward Jenner's original paper on smallpox vaccination was rejected by the Royal Society.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In 1797, Jenner sent a short communication to the Royal Society describing his experiment and observations. However, the paper was rejected. Then in 1798, having added a few more cases to his initial experiment, Jenner privately published a small booklet entitled An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae, a disease discovered in some of the western counties of England, particularly Gloucestershire and Known by the Name of Cow Pox (18, 10). The Latin word for cow is vacca, and cowpox is vaccinia; Jenner decided to call this new procedure vaccination. The 1798 publication had three parts. In the first part Jenner presented his view regarding the origin of cowpox as a disease of horses transmitted to cows. The theory was discredited during Jenner's lifetime.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Reference: <a href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200696/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200696/</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26811,
"author": "hyd",
"author_id": 20039,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20039",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One should also mention Fermi's famous 'Beta decay' paper, which was rejected by Nature and appeared in Z. Physik 88, 161(1934). English translation of the paper: <a href=\"http://microboone-docdb.fnal.gov/cgi-bin/RetrieveFile?docid=953;filename=FermiBetaDecay1934.pdf;version=1\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://microboone-docdb.fnal.gov/cgi-bin/RetrieveFile?docid=953;filename=FermiBetaDecay1934.pdf;version=1</a></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26805",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9705/"
] |
26,807 |
<p>I was wondering if there is any kind of "reliable" CS conferences ranking available on the web. I have searched on SCImago, but I believe it only ranks journals, and there is no mention about conferences. Actually I am curious about it because in the faculty that I am currently working we want to know which papers are presented to good conferences, and which ones are presented to bogus conferences.</p>
<p>Is there any way to know that for the field of Computer Science? I know there are some tools like Google Scholar, but I believe it is not so trustable after all. Should we rely on Scopus maybe?</p>
<p>Any advice?
Thanks</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26812,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is <a href=\"http://core.edu.au\">CORE</a>, an initiative by universities from Australia and New Zealand. On their website, you can find both journal and conference rankings. Most of the rankings are ok, but (of course) there are individual entries that seem too high or too low to me. As far as I know, many research organisations and faculties in the APAC area use this ranking to assign \"credit\" for papers.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, if your goal is to distinguish good and bogus conferences, I am not sure CORE will actually help you. The main problem is that CORE is only updated every few years, and only with entries which got submitted by somebody during a nomination phase. Hence it is never really complete. Actual bogus conferences (such as the infamous <a href=\"http://www.world-academy-of-science.org/worldcomp14/ws\">Worldcomp</a> series - see also for instance <a href=\"http://worldcomp-fake-bogus.blogspot.ch\">here</a>) are not listed at all, but so are smaller legit venues as well as any new conference or journal (of any quality). Hence, you can use the <em>presence</em> of a ranking in CORE as a signal that the venue is probably not bogus (it may still subjectively be better or worse than its ranking indicates, but it is very unlikely to be an actual scam), but you <strong>cannot</strong> use the <em>absence</em> of a ranking to indicate a bogus venue.</p>\n\n<p>Another problem that you may run into is that a few bogus venues have taken up the practice of using a name that is \"coincidentally\" very similar to existing high-ranked venues (cp. the top-quality <a href=\"http://www.www2015.it\">WWW conference</a> and the very low-quality <a href=\"http://www.internet-conf.org\">WWW/Internet</a> conference). To complicate matters further, in some emerging fields, even more or less established publishers sometimes churn out journals with basically identical names at more or less the same time (e.g., Springer's <a href=\"http://www.journalofcloudcomputing.com\">Journal of Cloud Computing</a> vs Inderscience's <a href=\"http://www.inderscience.com/jhome.php?jcode=ijcc\">Journal of Cloud Computing</a>).</p>\n\n<p>Finally, established conferences occasionally change their name, sometimes as part of a merger with other conferences, and hence \"fall of\" the ranking if you do not know what the conference used to be called in the past.</p>\n\n<p>All that is to say that CORE is a tool that can help you get a feel for the value of a publication, but it will not relief you from the task of actually looking at the publications themselves to assess their value.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26827,
"author": "al_b",
"author_id": 5963,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5963",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Check the last answer at <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26719/to-publish-or-not-to-publish-a-paper-in-an-era-type-c-conference/26777#26777\">To publish or not to publish a paper in an ERA "type C" conference?</a> - I put there several community rankings, highlighting some problems with CORE ranking. But CORE is a good start, I agree with the previous answer.\nP.S. Google Scholar does index conferences, but not correctly identifies all of them</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 54926,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The Chinese Computer Science Federation's rankings are, in my experience, very good. You can view an English translation of them at the <a href=\"http://pandasearch.ruc.edu.cn//mainAction!ccf_rank.action\" rel=\"nofollow\">PandaSearch</a> website. Searching Google for \"computer science conference rankings\" will turn up several alternative ranking lists; of these, the Chinese rankings are the most stringent.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 89046,
"author": "Maiaux",
"author_id": 73065,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73065",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The most reliable and up-to-date ranking I know of is the <a href=\"http://www.consorzio-cini.it:8080/consultazioneclassificazioni/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">GII/GRIN Computer Science and Computer Engineering Rating</a>, which is based on CORE, SHINE, and Microsoft Academic Research Conference Ranking, and has undergone several manual adjustments. It only includes conferences so far, but it's a good start.</p>\n\n<p>--- Edit</p>\n\n<p>A revised version of the ranking, updated with the new CORE 2017 data, is available at <a href=\"http://valutazione.unibas.it/gii-grin-scie-rating/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">valutazione.unibas.it/gii-grin-scie-rating</a> and now also involves the Spanish Computer-Science Society, besides Italian GII and GRIN.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 89052,
"author": "Al-Khwarizmi",
"author_id": 67932,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/67932",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The website <a href=\"http://valutazione.unibas.it/cs-conference-rating\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://valutazione.unibas.it/cs-conference-rating</a> allows you to look for a conference and gives you its rating in not one, but three conference rankings (CORE, MAS and SHINE), together with an aggregate rating.</p>\n\n<p>I think the CORE ranking is pretty reliable as far as rankings go, for the conferences that are listed. You only need to be careful with not equating \"unlisted\" with \"bad\" - it may just be a small conference or one that was not included because researchers in CORE's geographic area didn't participate in it lately. But for conferences that are listed, the ratings are quite trustworthy. CORE A* (in the aggregator website they call it A++) are top tier conferences.</p>\n\n<p>I can't vouch for the other two rankings as I haven't used them much, although the three of them seem to be at least roughly in agreement most of the time.</p>\n\n<p>A caveat: the aggregator was updated in 2015, while if you go straight to the source for <a href=\"http://portal.core.edu.au/conf-ranks/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">CORE</a>, you'll get ranks from 2017.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26807",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144/"
] |
26,813 |
<p>I am a senior year undergrad student from a prestigious institute in India. I intend to pursue a PhD after graduating. While researching universities, I stumbled upon the fact that many of the top schools have a minimum GPA requirement. For example UCSD has 3.4/4 as its minimum requirement. </p>
<p>My GPA is 7.2 on a scale of 10. It is quite above average in my school, but it translates to a 2.9 on a scale of 4 which looks pretty bad. DOes this mean that my application is likely to be rejected outright? </p>
<p>Also, I heard that most universities don't consider converted scores (by WES, for example) in a good light. I have research experience in my undergraduate years to offset the GPA. I really hope that the universities have a look at that. </p>
<p>Should I not apply to schools with such a requirement?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26815,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There's no absolute here—it really depends on the program in question. Some departments are stricter about cutoffs than others. It depends a lot on the number of applications they receive, and how selective they need to be. However, I know that many good departments don't screen on GPA alone. </p>\n\n<p>However, even if you're GPA is not \"elite,\" that's not the end of the world, so long as you have the research experience and the letters of recommendation to support you. (A student from our department was recently admitted to a top-10 engineering program in the US on the basis of his research experience—his GPA was pedestrian at best.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26828,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Fundamentally, graduate schools are looking for evidence that you can successfully complete the program and graduate. So to get in, you have to make a convincing argument that this is the case.</p>\n\n<p>Your GPA is unimpressive, but there are a few things that can make up for it. Two of them are test scores and faculty recommendations. What you need to do in both cases to rank much higher on these metrics than the typical \"2.9\" student. Then the fact that \"my GPA ... is quite above average in my school,\" will start to count for something. Specifically, it may get your graduate school thinking, \"This \"2.9\" GPA is at least a 3.2 or 3.3 on our scale, maybe more.\"</p>\n\n<p>You're still not home free, but this is where your research comes into play. If you can convince the school that you have exceptional research potential, they may think, well, this guy is a \"doer\" who will \"ace\" the thesis, and get 3.2-3.3 in his courses, just enough to get the 3.4 average. Or it could be that the required 3.4 represents \"insurance\" against a graduating requirement of 3.2 or 3.3. </p>\n\n<p>You'll probably want to get more and better advice from a faculty adviser. But if you do apply to the school of your choice, the above represent things to keep in mind.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26813",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15098/"
] |
26,818 |
<p>Suppose one works in field X, and has say two or three manuscripts ready for journal submission. Journal A is a good fit for all the manuscripts, but journals B and C would be appropriate as well.</p>
<p>All else being equal, is there any benefit in having papers in different journals? Does it hurt to have all of your papers, or say a substantial amount of them, in the same journal A? For example, would it be a good idea to submit one to journal A, and the other one to journal B?</p>
<p>I could think of someone saying "I read journals B and C, but not A", so in this sense spreading your research in different journals would make sense. But maybe this is not so typical to begin with.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26821,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There is obviously no right or wrong here, one should try to publish in the best suited journal. That said, in fields where there are several options, sticking to a single journal may look a little strange. If you publish in different (but suitable) journals, it may be looked upon as that your research is accepted by a wider set of peers. Some may perhaps also think you have a special connection to the journal etc. </p>\n\n<p>So the need to publish in different journals should primarily be the focus of the journal. Some people I know enjoy the fact that they are published in widely different journals and some people may see that as your research being more widely accepted (right or wrong).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26824,
"author": "Benoît Kloeckner",
"author_id": 946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I will answer only in the prospect of making one's CV look good; note that I am a mathematician and that this certainly affects my answer, notably because in mathematics (at least from what I see in France) the impact factor is rarely considered.</p>\n\n<p>The way a journal is seen can vary a lot from one person to another (for example, some journals cover several subfields but are important and selective in some subfields, less so in others). So, if you publish all your papers in the same journal, in addition to the effect described by Peter Jansson you will reduce the probability that any given person looking at you CV would think \"wao, he or she published in that excellent journal Y\" where Y will be A for some people, B for some else, and C for others.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26835,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In additions to the existing answers:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>CV beautifying, part 1: Publications in journals with different focus topics make you look more like an interdisciplinary person (which is usually preferred), while publishing in identically themed journals or even only one journal makes you look rather single-minded.</li>\n<li>CV beautifying, part 2: Excessive publishing in one journal may make you look like somebody who never tries new things and sticks to whatever is working.</li>\n<li>Publishing in different journals will give you a broader experience, though mostly with how publishing can be handled. There is one important exception to the latter, though: You may learn about advantages and disadvantages of the individual journals, e.g., if you only publish with journal A, you might never learn that journal B is better at organising and speeding up the review process, has a better style file, has better copy editors, etc.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26865,
"author": "avid",
"author_id": 15798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15798",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's unlikely that two or three equally good journals exist to serve a single audience. That is: while your work may be a \"good fit\" to all three, it is likely to reach a somewhat different audience in each case. In my field, for example, one journal has a more \"theoretical\" outlook than another. Plenty of papers could easily fit in either, but theoreticians may be more likely to read them if they are in one journal rather than the other. This may be a consideration, depending on the content of your paper and what you hope to achieve with it. Equally, you may bring your work to the attention of a wider audience by publishing in multiple journals: even if people do not read your paper, they may come to recognise your name.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42111,
"author": "mrm",
"author_id": 6318,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6318",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Depending on your country, there might be an \"official system\" that classifies the quality of publication channels, i.e. ranks journals (this happens in e.g. <a href=\"http://www.tsv.fi/julkaisufoorumi/english.php?lang=en\" rel=\"nofollow\">Finland</a>). Whether you like it or not, people e.g. outside of your field might judge your merits based on these rankings. The rankings live and might change over time, and if all of your papers are published in a highly ranked journal X today, the ranking of X might drop tomorrow.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 163139,
"author": "Collega",
"author_id": 124810,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/124810",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most people would base their decision on:</p>\n<ol>\n<li>The relative <strong>rating or impact factor</strong> of the journal compared with others relevant to the same field; and</li>\n<li>The <strong>relevance</strong> of your material to what the journal typically publishes and their audience.</li>\n</ol>\n<p>The <strong>citations you are likely to get</strong> will be influenced by both the profile of the journal and the relevance of the material to its readership.</p>\n<p>Its therefore perfectly feasible (and sensible) to publish material in a 'lower ranked' journal if the research you are looking to publish <strong>has greater relevance</strong> for that audience.</p>\n<p>BUT - if the research in question is genuinely only a <strong>1-shot-at-goal</strong> only situation when it comes to publication - then you would usually be inclined to go for the highest rated journal that you can as these outlets can be very selective.</p>\n<p>Be aware however that, for better or worse, most academics will now '<strong>salami slice</strong>' the output from their research, or different aspects of it, for different outlets. This is not always a bad thing (and may not actually constitute 'salami slicing'). For example, a paper emphasising theoretical or methodological aspects to the research may go to a different outlet to one that is more applied or gives greater emphasis to context, findings or implications in practice.</p>\n<p>This final point does however flag that if you are only ever publishing in one journal it does convey a relatively narrow focus in terms of <strong>how you convey the relevance of your research</strong> and <strong>your willingness to engage a broader audience</strong>.</p>\n<p>So in this case it sounds like publishing across different outlets is a good idea :-)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26818",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6318/"
] |
26,840 |
<p>Attending conferences is considered one of the perks of working in academia, for a variety of very good reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>networking, meeting new people</li>
<li>cutting edge research results and new directions</li>
<li>advertise your own research (while networking)</li>
<li>(often) nice venues</li>
</ul>
<p>In some domains, such as computer science, conferences are (becoming) the main exchange site of top work. In some other domains, conferences are considered entertainment. Next to this quality ambiguity, there are some downsides:</p>
<ul>
<li>travel costs can weigh on budgets of smaller research groups</li>
<li>conference papers more likely to be dismissed by hiring committees than journal papers</li>
</ul>
<p>A consequence of the first downside is that many groups only allow researchers to attend conferences if they have accepted talks/papers, which is difficult in top venues. A consequence of the second downside is that some researchers prefer to submit top work to top journals rather than top conferences. </p>
<p><sub>I do consider the second con relevant to the question, as this is one of the reasons for ending up wanting to attend conferences without having any accepted papers.</sub></p>
<p>Given the ups and downs, I would like to assess the importance of attending top conferences (even without accepted talks/papers) for both individual researchers as well as their research groups. </p>
<p><sub>My field is machine learning, but answers concerning other fields are more than welcome.</sub></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26821,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There is obviously no right or wrong here, one should try to publish in the best suited journal. That said, in fields where there are several options, sticking to a single journal may look a little strange. If you publish in different (but suitable) journals, it may be looked upon as that your research is accepted by a wider set of peers. Some may perhaps also think you have a special connection to the journal etc. </p>\n\n<p>So the need to publish in different journals should primarily be the focus of the journal. Some people I know enjoy the fact that they are published in widely different journals and some people may see that as your research being more widely accepted (right or wrong).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26824,
"author": "Benoît Kloeckner",
"author_id": 946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I will answer only in the prospect of making one's CV look good; note that I am a mathematician and that this certainly affects my answer, notably because in mathematics (at least from what I see in France) the impact factor is rarely considered.</p>\n\n<p>The way a journal is seen can vary a lot from one person to another (for example, some journals cover several subfields but are important and selective in some subfields, less so in others). So, if you publish all your papers in the same journal, in addition to the effect described by Peter Jansson you will reduce the probability that any given person looking at you CV would think \"wao, he or she published in that excellent journal Y\" where Y will be A for some people, B for some else, and C for others.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26835,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In additions to the existing answers:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>CV beautifying, part 1: Publications in journals with different focus topics make you look more like an interdisciplinary person (which is usually preferred), while publishing in identically themed journals or even only one journal makes you look rather single-minded.</li>\n<li>CV beautifying, part 2: Excessive publishing in one journal may make you look like somebody who never tries new things and sticks to whatever is working.</li>\n<li>Publishing in different journals will give you a broader experience, though mostly with how publishing can be handled. There is one important exception to the latter, though: You may learn about advantages and disadvantages of the individual journals, e.g., if you only publish with journal A, you might never learn that journal B is better at organising and speeding up the review process, has a better style file, has better copy editors, etc.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26865,
"author": "avid",
"author_id": 15798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15798",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's unlikely that two or three equally good journals exist to serve a single audience. That is: while your work may be a \"good fit\" to all three, it is likely to reach a somewhat different audience in each case. In my field, for example, one journal has a more \"theoretical\" outlook than another. Plenty of papers could easily fit in either, but theoreticians may be more likely to read them if they are in one journal rather than the other. This may be a consideration, depending on the content of your paper and what you hope to achieve with it. Equally, you may bring your work to the attention of a wider audience by publishing in multiple journals: even if people do not read your paper, they may come to recognise your name.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42111,
"author": "mrm",
"author_id": 6318,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6318",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Depending on your country, there might be an \"official system\" that classifies the quality of publication channels, i.e. ranks journals (this happens in e.g. <a href=\"http://www.tsv.fi/julkaisufoorumi/english.php?lang=en\" rel=\"nofollow\">Finland</a>). Whether you like it or not, people e.g. outside of your field might judge your merits based on these rankings. The rankings live and might change over time, and if all of your papers are published in a highly ranked journal X today, the ranking of X might drop tomorrow.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 163139,
"author": "Collega",
"author_id": 124810,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/124810",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most people would base their decision on:</p>\n<ol>\n<li>The relative <strong>rating or impact factor</strong> of the journal compared with others relevant to the same field; and</li>\n<li>The <strong>relevance</strong> of your material to what the journal typically publishes and their audience.</li>\n</ol>\n<p>The <strong>citations you are likely to get</strong> will be influenced by both the profile of the journal and the relevance of the material to its readership.</p>\n<p>Its therefore perfectly feasible (and sensible) to publish material in a 'lower ranked' journal if the research you are looking to publish <strong>has greater relevance</strong> for that audience.</p>\n<p>BUT - if the research in question is genuinely only a <strong>1-shot-at-goal</strong> only situation when it comes to publication - then you would usually be inclined to go for the highest rated journal that you can as these outlets can be very selective.</p>\n<p>Be aware however that, for better or worse, most academics will now '<strong>salami slice</strong>' the output from their research, or different aspects of it, for different outlets. This is not always a bad thing (and may not actually constitute 'salami slicing'). For example, a paper emphasising theoretical or methodological aspects to the research may go to a different outlet to one that is more applied or gives greater emphasis to context, findings or implications in practice.</p>\n<p>This final point does however flag that if you are only ever publishing in one journal it does convey a relatively narrow focus in terms of <strong>how you convey the relevance of your research</strong> and <strong>your willingness to engage a broader audience</strong>.</p>\n<p>So in this case it sounds like publishing across different outlets is a good idea :-)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26840",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7173/"
] |
26,842 |
<p>I am a young teacher at college. I have to go way too long, I know but I have the following problem. </p>
<p>In one of my classes, I have this guy who pecks at me for everything I say. He is surely conceited, but it hurts like hell when he makes fun of me in front of the whole class. </p>
<p>However, I take no note of it in class, but later I feel very sad. This makes me frightened to go to that class at all. </p>
<p>He is overconfident and imposing and seems to have got a big gang behind him. He is a threat and he disturbs me. Please help me tackle this situation.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26844,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a first step you could ask one of your more experienced colleagues to observe your teaching. Let the students know the colleague is there to evaluate your teaching. While it is obviously not a formal evaluation, it is an evaluation of how you handle a difficult teaching situation. You want to tell the students that you are being evaluated so that the trouble makers feel like they can sabotage you. If they do not know why they are being observed, the trouble makers may behave better. The goal is not to \"catch\" the student behaving badly, it is to have an example of bad behaviour so you and the evaluator can work through possible responses after the class.</p>\n\n<p>Hopefully the trouble makers will try and \"undermine\" you and act out. With first hand knowledge the colleague may have specific suggestions of how to deal with the student. If the student does not act out you can then discuss the types of behaviour the student shows with the colleague.</p>\n\n<p>Ideally the observer would be from your department, but if it is difficult to find someone, the observer does not need to be from your department nor understand the material you are teaching. They do not need to commit to the entire lecture, 15-30 minutes is often enough. The key thing is they need to be experienced enough to be able to provide suggestions and someone you respect enough to take the suggestions on board. If they understand the material even better, but you want someone that you respect with the needed experience.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26845,
"author": "Oneira",
"author_id": 20371,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20371",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Maybe you have been out of luck and got the 'bad' class (my teacher friends always have one from time to time) but if this problem is recurring, there is probably something you can do to improve yourself. </p>\n\n<p>I also think @StrongBad answer is a good way to find help to solve your problem with this guy in particular. </p>\n\n<p>As student, I have observed some attitudes were much more prone to gain the respect of the class.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Confidence (really the most important): Of course it was more present with older teachers who commend their course content and have a lot of teaching hours behind. This is cruel, but this is played in the first 30second you meet your new class. The way you speak and hold yourself in this period can go a long way... </p></li>\n<li><p>Ask questions: when you know the teacher might ask a tough question at any time, you follow much more and it usually avoid too much discussion. As student, often you don't want the teacher to see you and ask you to answer a hard question in front of every one. If really one guy is bothering you why not call him in front of the class and ask him to do a tough demonstration?</p></li>\n<li><p>It is sad to say, but the harder/more important courses will always be more quiet than the easy one even if the teacher is bad.</p></li>\n<li><p>Make it interesting: if the content is interested and well presented most student listen.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Again this is only my observation from the bench point of view...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26847,
"author": "bain",
"author_id": 15711,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15711",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The problem is one of basic psychology. In a classroom environment, an effective teacher needs to be respected as the leader - either respect for the authority of the position itself, or respect for the knowledge, or just basic good manners. By being disrespectful and undermining you and your authority, the student is implicitly challenging you in an attempt to elevate his social standing within the group. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>it hurts like hell when he makes fun of me in front of the whole\n class. However, I take no note of it in class, but later I feel very sad.\n This makes me frightened to go that class at all. He is overconfident\n and imposing and seems to have got a big gang behind him.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Your main problem is that you are under-confident, and your authority has been challenged by someone who is more confident, more imposing, and better able to \"work the crowd\". You need to regain the respect of the students. How you do this is up to you, but I would note:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Be confident. Act confident. Act like you are actually in control. When you begin to act like you are in control, you will begin to appear like you are in control, and, eventually, you will be in control. </p></li>\n<li><p>Stop being scared. This person can not physically hurt you. If he can mentally hurt you, then that is because you allow that hurt to happen. You need to find a technique to reduce your fear. Some people do this through contemplation, some through repetition of phrases like <em>\"I am a tiger\"</em>, some through more physical techniques like study of martial arts. Do whatever works for you.</p></li>\n<li><p>Play to your strengths. You are the one who is an expert in the subject that you teach. The student is not. In this domain, you are the more powerful one. If you choose to engage him, do not engage in bickering, because that is his domain. Engage him in the domain where you will win - in the exercise of academic and technical excellence.</p>\n\n<p>One option is to ask him if he knows the answer to a particular question, and ask him to explain it to the rest of the class on the board. This does not require singling him out - you can ask other students to also answer questions - but what it does is put him on the defensive. Either he admits that he does not know the answer, or he has to get up in front of the class and explain it. </p>\n\n<p>If the latter, then you have turned the focus of attention towards his knowledge and his teaching ability. It might help him to realise that he does not really want to be the leader in the domain where the leader has to stand and teach everyone else. He will probably get parts of the answer wrong, or have an incomplete answer, and afterwards you can probe this, and ask the other students to explain where he went wrong. This re-establishes you as being in control, and turns the focus of the class to subject knowledge and academic ability. You do not need to undermine him, just encourage him to demonstrate his lack of knowledge, and then let the other students demonstrate their own ability. This is enough.</p></li>\n<li><p>Be interesting. Boredom is a driver of problematic behaviour. The fact that other students are following your problem student indicates that they perhaps are not being challenged by the lessons. If you see the eyes of your students glazing over as you begin to speak, then change direction, and structure your lessons to directly engage the students. One technique is to have them work on problems in pairs, and then randomly choose one of them to present the solution to the rest of the class. This forces them to work, and forces them to come up with an answer that they not only understand, but understand in a way that they can explain to everyone else. Nobody wants to stand up in front of the class and look like an idiot. It takes the focus off you and your teaching and knowledge, and puts it back on the class, which helps to make the lessons more social and interesting. </p></li>\n<li><p>Take control. Changing the structure of the class and engaging the students in a way that allows you to demonstrate your leadership may encourage your problem student to back off. He is a part of the class, and if you have control of the class, it is likely that he will defer to that. But if he does not, you may consider a more direct approach:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The warning. Confront the student outside (or at the end) of class. Tell the student that his constant undermining is disruptive to the class and you are not going to stand for it any more. Tell him that if he can not be respectful, and does not value your teaching, then you do not want to see him in your class. Do not be angry or scared or emotional - just be straight - you are done, this is not a negotiation, this is the way it is.</li>\n<li>The appeal to authority. Tell the student that you are not going to stand for his behaviour any more, and if it continues you will report him to the disciplinary authorities. All institutions have formal mechanisms for dealing with discipline. The threat of this may help him to temper his behaviour.</li>\n<li>Remove the student from your class. Not always possible, but, either officially or unofficially, get rid of him. Officially, you can request a formal transfer. Unofficially, you can tell him that you will keep his name on the register but you do not want to see him in your class again.</li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26850,
"author": "Jen",
"author_id": 20178,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20178",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To be honest, sometimes you just get a dick. However, I have seen more often that the students merely thrive on the attention and have little regard to how you perceive it.</p>\n\n<p>Without examples of what this student does it's hard to give great advice but here are some of my suggestions based off of observing both confident and in control teachers and those who are timid and meek.</p>\n\n<p>I'm assuming this student asks questions designed to throw you off or tries to contradict you/ correct you at every turn. To this I ask \"does it throw you off and is what he says accurate and you were wrong?\"</p>\n\n<p>If he's trying to throw you off just tell him that his question isn't applicable to the lesson. If he wants to talk about it later on in more depth, then invite him to discuss it further after class or during office hours (they 99% of the time never do). This can keep you on task and not battling the everlasting \"but what if\" questions. </p>\n\n<p>If he's correcting you, is he right or wrong? If he's wrong then don't be afraid to tell him so (or that both answers are correct). If he's right, well, to be honest, that hurts your credibility a lot. No teacher that I've ever seen who is consistently wrong has the respect of their students. You really need to evaluate how/ why you're teaching and perhaps need to brush up more on concepts you don't know. </p>\n\n<p>If he simply disrupts class, then you need to take charge and be the leader of the room. When you have someone interrupt you and let it continue happening without saying anything, obviously that sets a precedent. The teachers that I've seen where this happens are quiet and meek and usually try to laugh it off while feebly getting the class back under control. Does this sound like you? Once this precedent is set, it is very hard to go back. I would advise working on that for the next term (assuming you are closer to being done and can just wait it out until this class is gone). </p>\n\n<p>Bottom line, it's your job to be in charge. Some students will walk all over you if you let them. Don't give them that chance. You can be respected and in charge without being a jerk or overly strict. The best teachers are the ones who are confident in their subject and respect their students, which, in turn, reciprocate with respect for the teacher. It's like the old saying goes \"Those who have to say they're in charge are clearly not\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26861,
"author": "Nisse",
"author_id": 20426,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20426",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the best way you can react is not to take personally his \"attacks\". Act like the guy does absolutely not touch you, that his questioning comments and remarks are useless and uninteresting. But for that, you should trust yourself and abilities. Don't let him spread doubt in you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26864,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think you have a potential ally in the rest of the students, if you treat them correctly. You are in a university, not in a troubled high school from a bad film: most of the students are mature persons, that are there because they want to learn.</p>\n\n<p>When I was an undergrad, I had a few friends in class, but most of the people were from completely strangers to no more than acquaintances towards the end of the degree. This means that I don't have any kind of loyalty or tolerance towards them: if you are annoying me, I am not going to like you.</p>\n\n<p>What do you think would happen if an outsider interrupted the class saying that the Apocalypse was going to happen in four months and you are all going to be abducted by UFOs? And what if this happened every week? Do you think your students would like it?</p>\n\n<p>It is important that you don't turn them against him, but instead give them the chance to do it. Put them on your side by engaging in a good interesting lesson. If you are teaching one of these subjects that nobody likes, try to make it more appealing by doing an experimental demonstration every now and then.</p>\n\n<p>If you try to actively turn them against this annoying subject, he will get angry, and things will get worse. And the students may misinterpret what you are trying, not like it, and things got even worse. Instead, you have to bring them in your boat because they want to learn and you are there to teach them. That guy is the enemy just because he is getting in the way, but you are a magnificent god, and he is welcome if he stops acting the way he is.</p>\n\n<p>Your mindset has to be that you are there to teach the class, and you have to take whatever means are necessary for it. If someone comes in late, making a lot of noise, and disturbing everybody, you have to show them you don't accept it and even tell them off. If someone consistently asks <strong>stupid</strong> questions, you can tell him to shut up. If someone is derailing off topic, you should kindly invite them to discuss after class. If someone starts to make political interpretations of Matrix Algebra, tell them that is not the place or the moment to discuss it. If someone is willingly hurting you, you may consider telling them that it is not nice and they should stop it. If you firmly invite an offending person to leave the room, they would either do it, or chicken out and apologise. If he just refuses, or decides not to acknowledge your request, or attack you verbally, his peers will see it as childish behaviour.</p>\n\n<p>Any confrontation you have with a student, is it not you, Name Surname; it is the lecturer of Your Subject. Once you step out of the building, you don't personally hold any grudge against them. This is where your power comes from, and also your shield: it is not you, it is the lecturer.</p>\n\n<p>You need confidence before getting in that class, and the best you can get is with passion for your subject and teaching. Prepare and rehearse your class beforehand, make sure you know everything you want to say, prepare the questions they may have; and when the day comes, go into that room knowing that you are going to nail the lesson, no matter what.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26868,
"author": "Nick clegg",
"author_id": 20431,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20431",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Giving authority to problematic students often helps as delegating responsibility will put him under pressure and divert his mind from generating devilish ideas towards escaping / fulfilling the responsibility that you have just burdened onto him. Example: Make him a Class Representative or a leader of the course.</p>\n\n<p>OR</p>\n\n<p>Reverse Psychology - Applaud his comments, Use sarcasm, intelligent phrases or sheer innocence to mess up his \"efforts\". </p>\n\n<p>This will not only eliminate the problem but also set an example for other students.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26885,
"author": "Stephan Branczyk",
"author_id": 11434,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11434",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Read <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0553263900\" rel=\"nofollow\">When I Say No, I feel Guilty</a> by Manuel J. Smith. </p>\n\n<p>I realize that this book sounds like it has nothing to do with your situation, but before you dismiss it out of hand, I implore you to read some of <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0553263900\" rel=\"nofollow\">its customer reviews</a> on Amazon. </p>\n\n<p>Note that it's a book that is best read backwards, from the back of the book, where the examples begin, to the front of the book, where the theory is actually discussed. </p>\n\n<p>On that note, someone else mentioned using sarcasm, but the book and I would advise against that. It's important that you do not throw verbal stones back at him and it's important that you do not scold him and make him lose face in front of his classmates. If or when that student crosses the line, ask to speak to him privately. Once alone with him, assuming you feel safe enough to meet him privately of course, he won't have an audience to play for, so he's much less likely to act out if you can be assertive about what you want from him.</p>\n\n<p>Next, I'd suggest that you take up some kind of combative sport, like martial arts, or boxing, or even a sport like rugby. This is not to encourage you to fight, please do not misrepresent my intent, this is just to teach you how to carry yourself with confidence and to mitigate some of the fear of a physical confrontation. </p>\n\n<p>Next, I'd suggest that you practice public speaking in a safe environment. The best place for that is <a href=\"http://www.toastmasters.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.toastmasters.org/</a> (it's a non-profit club, so it's a cheap way to practice public speaking and to bring up some of the problems you've been having in class and discuss possible ways to address them).</p>\n\n<p>Just one warning thought. Not all Toastmasters clubs are equal. If you don't like the vibe in one, try another one, and if you don't like that second one, try a third one. They're basically everywhere and there are many to choose from. The key is to keep on going, and to participate, even if you don't feel comfortable at first. If you go frequently enough, you'll feel comfortable enough and it can become like a second home to you. </p>\n\n<p>Next, and this is the most difficult challenge I can give you, so I don't really expect that you'll do it. But once that you've done all those three things I've suggested, I'd encourage you to take it up a notch higher, and that's to join a comics class sponsored by a night club, or to participate in poetry slams, or even to sing at Karaoke clubs, all the while staying completely sober. I'm not saying any of these things are going to be easy, especially not for the type of personality I envision you to have, but if you can do any of these things (without the help of alcohol), handling a single heckler in your class will seem like a real walk in the park after that. </p>\n\n<p>Please note that these things are worth doing, even if that guy ends up dropping your class. Our society tends to reward confident and extroverted people. And aside from the book I've suggested, which is one in a million, nothing beats practicing frequently and sharpening yourself against the brunt force of a real live audience. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26897,
"author": "Norman Gray",
"author_id": 10983,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10983",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The following are slightly generic remarks. They may not help much in this particular case (first impressions being so persistent, you may have lost this particular charmer), but might be helpful in future.</p>\n\n<p>Remember we all of us are apes, and have ape-like notions of territory. He is acting as if the classroom is his territory, whereas it is in fact <em>your territory</em>. But how do you establish that?</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Often inexperienced teachers stand right up at the blackboard, apparently as far away from the students as they can possibly get. Move forwards.</p></li>\n<li><p>If you can get into the class before them, welcome them in – nothing fancy, just generic \"good, good, come in, hurry up... hello...\" You're giving them permission to be in the room.</p></li>\n<li><p>Look into their faces as you talk; you're the authority figure, and you get to choose who you look at. Apes really react to being seen.</p></li>\n<li><p>I generally start a lecture by deliberately and obviously moving to the front of a class, just in front of the front-most rows, and just stand waiting expectantly but alertly. The students I'm looming over shut up promptly, and a wave of silence spreads outwards. If people are still talking, look right at them; others will follow your gaze, and there's nothing apes notice more quickly than people looking at them. If they keep talking, keep on looking, in a \"you're wasting all these people's time\" way. It takes real aggression for someone to blatantly keep talking in those circumstances. If you just keep standing, impassive, repeating in your head \"you are a stupid little dick, boy; you are a stupid little dick, ...\" you'll freak out the class and they will probably suppress misbehaviour themselves.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Move into the class</strong>. This is your territory and not theirs, remember, and so <em>you</em> can walk into the middle of it and they can't. If the layout permits, teach from the <em>centre</em> of the class occasionally. If you're explaining something on the board/screen, perhaps do so from half-way up the side of the class, facing in the same direction as them (apart from anything else, this provides variety and stops them or you getting bored!).</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>This doesn't have to be some massive mind-game, and it doesn't have to be and shouldn't be some sort of contest (which is the sort of game where social aggression wins). And I'm not suggesting you spray on the walls! But teachers often forget that physical presence and movement, and where you choose to stand, can send very powerful signals to creatures of all shapes and forms.</p>\n\n<p>Building confidence is hard; moving a couple of metres forward is less so.</p>\n\n<p><em>An exercise</em>: assemble four or five friends in a row of chairs in front of you, looking straight at you. Stand in front of them, looking back into their faces in turn, in a nice friendly way but saying nothing. It's weird how difficult it is to keep this up for even one minute. Part of what's initially challenging about teaching is the discomfort of having a room-ful of people looking straight at you, and if you can get used to this (in this context, without the distraction of having to teach at the same time), and if you remember the feeling of being looked <em>at</em>, you'll become more able to deploy the gaze in your territory.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26926,
"author": "Marxos",
"author_id": 19703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19703",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>That can be brutal. Two possibilities:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You have just stumbled upon a \"worthy opponent\" which offers you <em>the best</em> opportunity for your academic life: a chance to <strong>master</strong> the skill of <em>dialectic</em> in a war for nothing less than your intellectual integrity. This requires building the skills of ruthlessness and patience. Take care not to let ruthlessness devolve into cruelty. And you'll have to master timing for it not to blow up in your face. Forewarning: this could take months. Time it for the end of the semester. :)</li>\n<li>Don't fight him in the slightest, but humor him. But do talk to the Chair. Try to engage him/her on the problem since they are responsible for assisting you in exactly these issues by position of their office. If they can't help you, you can be sure that they don't deserve the office, because this is one of the most important issues for building the integrity of a university program and it is their job to help their faculty.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26944,
"author": "David",
"author_id": 20473,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20473",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As @bain said, do not engage in bickering. I would like to pick up on this and amplify it a bit.</p>\n\n<p>My suggestion is: whatever the student says, <em>take it seriously</em> - even if he clearly does not mean it seriously. Do not take it as an attack on you - even if he clearly means it as such. (Or, if you can't help taking it as an attack on you, at least try not to show that in front of the class.)</p>\n\n<p>When I say \"take it seriously\", I mean something like this: if you express an opinion and he says \"that's a really stupid comment\" - don't retaliate, but ask him politely, \"Why do you think it's stupid? What is your opinion on the question?\" If he replies with evasion or further abuse, quietly but firmly repeat the question. If he tries to get out of it by saying \"well the whole question is a waste of time\" you can ask \"What do you think are the important questions, and why do you believe they are important?\" Make him commit himself: let the whole class see that he is the one being unreasonable, not you.</p>\n\n<p>It is important, however hard it may be, to stay calm and polite. You may at present feel that the situation is you against him, but I can assure you that many students in your class will want to learn the subject and will be on your side, even if this guy and his gang have scared them into not admitting it. If he is abusive and you are polite, the class will be even more on your side - nobody <em>really</em> likes this kind of behaviour.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes (I don't know how it is in your subject) the line between robust discussion and personal attacks can be fuzzy. If, however, he engages in definite personal abuse (of your race, gender, appearance, manner of speech and so on) then he has clearly crossed the line and has forfeited his right to be in your class. Get the authorities to remove him. And if it results in his being tossed out of his course, don't even think of being sorry for him.</p>\n\n<p>Another thing: if the situation is seriously making you sad and frightened to go into class, then this could be turning into an occupational health and safety issue. Those who are in charge of such things in your institution may be able to help you.</p>\n\n<p>Finally I would like to support what others have said - if you could give more specific examples of what this student is doing, then you will probably get some more useful advice. I am sure that many people on this site have been in the position you describe and would <strong>love</strong> to be able to help you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26949,
"author": "Peter Bloem",
"author_id": 6936,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6936",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are some good tips in the existing answers, but I would give the following advice as a crucial first step: be very careful with your iterpretation of the situation. </p>\n\n<p>You've already branded this guy as \"out to get you\". That means you've made it personal, which is a bad place to get to. Not only because it leads to nasty behaviours and escalations on both sides, but also because that's what allows him to get at you confidence. </p>\n\n<p>Being in front of a classroom enhances certain signals and dulls others and can make you very paranoid. I've had situations where I couldn't figure out what was going on and why people were laughing and as soon as the class was over I suddenly realized that someone was making a simple joke. Not at my expense, nothing to do with me, just a normal joke. And of course, to make it worse, the students have no idea how blind you are to social cues up there (at least when you're starting out) so they think you're a total dork.</p>\n\n<p>A lot of things that feel like heckling can actually stem from other reasons. It may be that he's just a little socially awkward, and asking real questions. It may be that he's actually nervous and it's coming out in a strange way, and it may well be that he disagrees with something, but doesn't yet have the academic skill to show it in a civil manner.</p>\n\n<p>However, even if he is just out to bully you, and you see no point in trying to understand where he's coming from, it's best to hold on to your detachment. Don't let him him drag you down to his level. If he is heckling, he's basically brought high-school level behaviour to a university. I would prefer to act with almost astonishment. Let him explain himself, and really act like you'd never expect anyone to behave this way. Don't be indignant, or in any way affected, just act as if he's just sat the wrong way around in his chair or drawn on the table with crayons. Convey in your attitude and body language, as much as you can, that he's behaving very out of place and very childish. Ask him to explain (in a gentle tone, like you genuinely don't understand and want to find out) and don't be afraid to leave long pauses.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 95728,
"author": "Count Iblis",
"author_id": 17479,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17479",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another way to deal with this sort of a problem is to only engage with students' questions when they have questions that (in your judgment) are of direct relevance to the lecture. You can tell before you start that you're running a bit behind and that you'll now limit discussions during the lectures, students who have additional questions will be able to discuss that during the break. </p>\n\n<p>Then when a question is asked or a remark is made that you feel is not constructive, you'll just say so (e.g. you can say that you can't address this right now, but you're happy to discuss this in detail after the lecture). If you think that you're losing control of the class due the problem student having a following and they then start discussions in class among themselves, then a very effective way is ignore what's going on and to lower your voice so that you make yourself a bit more difficult to hear. </p>\n\n<p>This \"lowering of the voice-method\" is often used by professors when teaching to first year students who come straight out of high school. The alternative would be to ask the students to be quiet, but this then opens up a discussion about keeping order in class and that's not the ideal position to be in. You have your job to do which is to teach the subject, you're not a Kindergarten nanny. It's the student's job to master the subject and part of that job is attending college to follow the lectures. If they can't hear you because other students are talking they can ask them to stop talking, lowering your voice will force their hand immediately.</p>\n\n<p>Exerting your authority explicitly is best done at the first lecture the moment you address the class. At that point there is no problem at hand, so the ball is firmly in your court. You can then explain the rules for the exams and the consequences of failing the exam. Here it helps if the subject you teach happens to be one which is difficult to pass and there are a limited number of make-up exams. This puts a lot of pressure on the students to act in a serious way. Also it would help if attending the lectures is not compulsory. </p>\n\n<p>But suppose that the subject you teach is easy to pass and that attending lectures is compulsory so that you're going to get quite a few bored students in class. In that case you should consider modifying the lecture plan so that it includes additional tests. You then make it a requirement that students are allowed to sit the exam if they have done sufficiently well on the tests. You make it clear that this is going to be purely your judgment, that no appeal is possible. Also, you can mention that you have the right to deny a student the right to participate in a make-up exam. This can happen if the student does not show up at the exam and doesn't have a valid excuse (to be judged by you).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26842",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20399/"
] |
26,853 |
<p>Two years ago, I completed my bachelor degree with highest honor ranking 1st of my class in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department in my university in Egypt. Since then I have been working as a teaching assistant in the same department. I was seeking to pursue my Msc degree at a high ranking university and hence I applied for a Msc in 12 universities. I was able to gain admission(without funding) in four of them(among them was Carnegie Mellon and University of Michigan ann arbor). Meanwhile, a friend of mine helped me to get a research as position in a low ranking university in the US (No. 160 according to Us news ranking).
In the low ranking university, I am supposed to work intensively (the lab director requires the students to work on Sundays!) on a field that is not my primary field of interest. Also, he , this adviser, expects me to continue my Phd with him and my friends in this lab informed me that he will not give a recommendation letter if I want to leave his lab later. However, I am shooting for a higher ranking university for the Phd. </p>
<p>Do you advice me to go to the low ranking university with this adviser and then shoot for a higher one for the Phd? Or to wait and apply again for other universities for my Msc?</p>
<p>Also, is it OK to change my field of interest after finishing the Msc? will this limit my opportunists for a Phd in my primary field of interest?</p>
<p>Finally, how important is the Msc adviser's recommendation letter while applying for a Phd? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26855,
"author": "Neo",
"author_id": 6898,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6898",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer is clear, and has nothing to do with ranking: if you want to go onto a PhD, your application will mostly depend on the letter of your research advisor. </p>\n\n<p>That being said, there are terrible warning signs, and I would not take that position. Requiring you to work on sundays (and saturdays I presume) does not make a healthy student. Even students need down times. Sure, when I was writing my thesis I worked for a month straight; but thats crunch time. During normal students life it should be fairly balanced (40-60 hours a week working, with some play). </p>\n\n<p>If you are willing to pay (another topic) go to the higher ranking schools, or wait a year and reapply to see if you can get funding at a better school. The advisor at the lower ranking school seems unethical, and I would not work for him even if he was at a school like MIT or Caltech. The fact that he wouldn't write you a letter of recommendation if you decided to leave is truly an indication that he does not have your best interests in mind: writing letters his his job. </p>\n\n<p>As so many put it here, <strong>run don't walk</strong>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26860,
"author": "Eric",
"author_id": 20424,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20424",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the US, going for your MS and PhD at the same school is the preferred approach in engineering. The MS is seen as a golden parachute if you can't pass the qualifying exams for the PhD. Some schools even see having an MS as a disadvantage when applying for a PhD for this reason. If you think you might continue on for a PhD, then choose the school and adviser that you would want to continue on with.</p>\n\n<p>The question of funding vs. prestige is a tricky one. Do you want to work after school or do you want to stay in academia? Funding will leave you less in debt after school, but for a career in academia, the prestige of your program and adviser is very important.</p>\n\n<p>In your particular situation, there are terrible warning signs for the low ranked school so I would avoid that situation regardless of what your longer term goals are.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26853",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20417/"
] |
26,869 |
<p>As stated in the title, I'm wondering if someone could shed some light on whether it is possible to land a tenure-track position in philosophy with a J.D. By way of background, I double majored in philosophy and psychology, and I am heading into my 3rd year of law school. A life as an academic sounds more appealing than it did a few years ago when I chose law school over a Phd., and I'm curious if a J.D. could suffice. Any helpful insight on this topic would be greatly appreciated!</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26874,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is possible but you'll be competing against people with doctorates in Philosophy and dissertations and publications in philosophical journals. </p>\n\n<p>Usually the requirement for faculty at colleges and university is the \"terminal degree in the field.\" For law professors, this is the JD. For studio artists, the MFA. And most other faculty, the PhD. </p>\n\n<p>I don't think the Provost would raise any issues with your hiring in terms of credentials, but the more difficult thing will be to convince the hiring committee (consisting of mostly philosophy profs with some other humanists) that you're the right person for the job. </p>\n\n<p>Be prepared to articulate why you'll be capable of not only teaching PHIL101, but PHIL2xx, 3xx, and 4xx. If you're at a university, would you be capable of mentoring PhD students? The assumption will be that you don't have that experience, so the burden of proof will be on you. </p>\n\n<p>Many JDs figure it's just as easy to get the PhD with a few more years of school and emerge with a JD-PhD. </p>\n\n<p><br>\n<br>\n[Editorial Aside: That all being said, I think you're a bit nutso. Have you seen the starting salaries for law professors? They are earning $150,000+ in the few few years and often have tenure by their 4th year. If I were you, I'd go into the teaching of law and teach very philosophical law classes.]</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26877,
"author": "virmaior",
"author_id": 19769,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19769",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Realistically, no.</p>\n\n<p>There's more philosophy PhDs looking for jobs than jobs available in philosophy, and your undergraduate experience while helpful probably won't make you stand out as an expert in philosophy. Or to put it another way, while you've been earning your J.D. which prepares you for law, philosophy PhD earners have been studying the very subject material they will teach.</p>\n\n<p><em>But</em> you might be eligible for positions where they are looking for someone in philosophy of law. Specifically, if they want someone with practical experience (but then they wouldn't want you straight out of your J.D.). Probably a good way to ask this question would be to e-mail Brian Leiter (or someone else) who works in law and philosophy.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26924,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think in part you're mixing up (or at least not clearly distinguishing) two separate questions:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>If you have a J.D., could you become a philosophy professor without getting any additional formal qualifications? (Yes.)</li>\n<li>If you have a typical resume for someone just finishing their J.D., would anyone hire you to be a philosophy professor? (Almost certainly not.)</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>To go to an analogy that might be more familiar, your question is a bit like asking \"Can you go to Harvard if you get a GED?\" The answer is yes in a certain formal sense; I'm sure there are people whose highest qualification is a GED who have gone to Harvard. Probably, somebody, somewhere, with a JD has gone on to being a philosophy professor without getting an additional degree, but that doesn't mean it's something a reasonable person should expect to do.</p>\n\n<p>The important point here is that having a degree (even a very specific kind of degree) is not the primary qualification for becoming a professor. It's publishing in your field, convincing important people in the field that you are smart and good at what you do, and being able to teach undergraduate and graduate students in your field. A PhD helps you become a professor because it gives you a chance to do those things in a conducive environment, not because you get a sheepskin at the end. If you are able to do those things, maybe you can be successful in philosophy. It doesn't sound from your question like you've had much of a chance to do them yet.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26931,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The fact that you are a freshly graduated JD, and not a PhD cries out loud that you don't have any substantial research in the chosen field (neither other academic field). I don't think it is a good sign...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26942,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At a theoretical level, it's certainly possible. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Kripke\">Saul Kripke</a> never went to graduate school at all, but that didn't stop Princeton from giving him tenure in philosophy. If you're the next Kripke, then nobody will care what sort of degree you have.</p>\n\n<p>At a practical level, you can't get hired in philosophy with just a J.D., assuming you aren't talking specifically about philosophy of law (which might draw on your legal background on an equal footing with philosophy). If you are, then that's worth a more detailed and specific question regarding the necessary background and experience. For a start, see <a href=\"http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/lawsch.asp\">these comments</a> by Brian Leiter. If you want to do philosophy of law with a primarily legal background, it sounds like the chances are higher if you look for a law faculty position rather than a job in a philosophy department.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if you have in mind a philosophical career that does not make heavy use of your legal background, then the J.D. will be essentially useless. It's a terminal degree, but not one that certifies any level of background or experience in philosophy, so it will be irrelevant. The only way to get a job in a philosophy department at a four-year college or university is to convince them that you have the equivalent of a Ph.D. in philosophy (including not just basic knowledge, but also advanced seminars, carrying out research, and writing a dissertation - even if you won't be doing further research or teaching graduate courses).</p>\n\n<p>This level of experience would be rare among law students, and even if you genuinely have the equivalent of a philosophy Ph.D. you should expect to have a difficult time making a convincing case for this.</p>\n\n<p>I haven't seen your particular case (applying for philosophy jobs with a J.D.) in practice, but I've seen similar sorts of job searches in other fields (arguably with closer degrees, since Ph.D. degrees in related fields are more similar to each other than either is to a J.D.). In order to pull this off, you must have credible and compelling recommendations from mainstream faculty in the field you're applying to. So one key question is what the philosophy faculty at your current university think of you. Are they willing to write letters making a case that you are as qualified as their own Ph.D. students? If so, then you may have a shot at this, and you should talk with them for advice based on your personal situation. If you don't know any philosophers who are willing to write that sort of letter for you, then that will be a major barrier to getting a job in a philosophy department.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26869",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20433/"
] |
26,870 |
<p>I want a good relationship with my advisor. But he is very busy with his projects and I am very busy with my master thesis as well. It is very clear to me where my project is going, I just need time to get it done. So basically, for now I don't need to meet my advisor and he doesn't have time anyways. For technical questions I can always ask some PhD students from him and I work usually at home.</p>
<p>I guess emailing once a month with updates would only overload his email address. Do you have any other ideas how to keep a good relationship with my advisor although there is no direct need for it? No matter how good of an advising this is, what can <strong><em>I</em></strong> do to make a good relationship?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26871,
"author": "Nicholas",
"author_id": 1424,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Keeping your advisor up to date with how your work is going is important. You might think that your work is going along the correct path, but it is quite possible in research to start heading off down a path which - while possibly interesting - may not be the route your supervisor wants you to go down (at least, not without discussing it first).</p>\n\n<p>One way of damaging a good working student-advisor relationship is to end up in a situation where your advisor is demanding to know why you have taken the research in a new direction, without consulting your advisor for his/her advice. </p>\n\n<p>I do not think that a monthly update is going to overload your advisor's email account - unless he or she is an internet hermit. If you are worried about annoying your advisor with information overload, you could always end your initial email reports with words indicating that you are more than happy to talk face-to-face about your progress, or say that you are happy to make the email updates less frequent.</p>\n\n<p>No advisor wants to be left in the dark about what their students are doing. A good advisor will not consider a regular email update from their student a negative prospect - so long as you don't try your advisor's patience with multi-page long emails. For an MSc thesis project - where time is tight - I think that reporting on a monthly basis is about right. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26883,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First of, you are absolutely asking the <strong>right</strong> question (\"what can I do to make a good relationship?\"). The answer depends a bit on the preferences of your advisor - what works for some may not work for others. Here are a few things you could think about:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You say you work from home. This automatically decouples you from the lab and your advisor. Have you thought whether it would be possible to work in the lab (if they have room for you) for, for instance, two days a week? This would also help make sure that you stay on the track your advisor wants your research to go, see also Nicholas' answer.</li>\n<li>You say you work mainly with some of his PhD students. Try to bond and network with the PhD students you like, and impress them with your technical aptitude and motivation. Thinking back on my PhD advisor, the only master students he really remembered were the ones that his PhD students were constantly praising in <em>their</em> meetings with him.</li>\n<li>See if there is a chance to publish something (with your advisor) in the context of your master's thesis. This not only shows motivation, but also has an immediate benefit for your advisor. During paper writing, you will also automatically have a number of meetings with your advisor.</li>\n<li>If you are interested in doing a PhD, indicate this to your advisor and ask for feedback. I have the impression that many professors take significantly more interest in master students that want to stay on the academic path than in those that are about to leave to industry.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26870",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20106/"
] |
26,872 |
<p>Recently I got a rejection of my paper from a reputed journal. There were two reviewers who reviewed my paper.However reviewer1 accepted it while reviewer 2 rejected with some suggestions that can be well implemented. The strong reason for the rejection mentioned by the reviewer 2 was the some similarity with my earlier paper. </p>
<p><strong>My Query</strong>
One of the associate editor of this journal is the well known author working in my field and he has also received the mail notification regarding rejection of my paper. Perhaps he has reviewed this work as well. Shall I contact him to discuss about this rejection and ask for help to further improve our work as per his suggestions. I am fully confused and depressed with this rejection. As I was expecting this paper to be published in that journal. </p>
<p>I need help and suggestions. It would be of great help if someone could help me
in such case how to write mail. As English is not my first language I find it hard to write a convincing mail.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26876,
"author": "David Z",
"author_id": 236,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/236",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>No</strong>, I don't think you should contact the editor. Journal editors are very busy people, and they don't have time to offer individual comments on every paper.</p>\n\n<p>If you think that your paper did not get a fair review, for example if you have reason to believe <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5865/what-to-do-if-reviewers-reject-a-paper-without-understanding-the-content\">the reviewer did not read or understand the paper</a>, then that is worth contacting the editor about. But if you simply want to discuss the paper, the editor will likely view your request as not worth their time. They have already given you their comments on the paper, in the form of a rejection decision: in other words, the editor does not consider your paper appropriate for publication in the journal, and a discussion is not going to change that.</p>\n\n<p>I also think asking for suggestions on how to improve the paper would be inappropriate, because you have already been given suggestions, in referee #2's report. My advice: make the improvements suggested by referee #2 and try submitting the paper to a different journal where it might be a better fit.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26905,
"author": "Scott Seidman",
"author_id": 20457,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20457",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>No, you should probably not contact the Associate Editor.</p>\n\n<p>First off, referees do not generally make decisions about accepting or rejecting a paper. Referees make recommendations to associate editors and editors, and they, in turn, make decisions. Thus, the associate editor who was cc'ed on the email to you is probably the decision-maker who read the reports from the referees and decided to turn down the paper. This person also knows who the referees were, and is in a situation where this input can be appropriately scaled by the referees review history, level of experience, etc. For what its worth, I consider it bad form when refereeing to make my recommendation known to the author. I give an honest assessment, describe my issues, and then make my recs to the editors in the appropriate fields. (I also make it my personal policy for manuscripts, at least, to never say anything that I wouldn't say to the authors face)</p>\n\n<p>There may be check boxes in the reviews that you aren't privy to. Even your reviewer who seemed to recommend acceptance may not have been all that enthusiastic about it, or may not have thought the paper to be very important. </p>\n\n<p>You should make use of the feedback you got, which suggested that there was too much similarity with another paper of yours. You should make the paper clearer as to what the new findings are. Take a step back and determine if, given the magnitude of this extension, is this worthy of a full paper, or perhaps the field would be better served by some sort of short report. Then pick the appropriate venue for publication.</p>\n\n<p>There are some legitimate cases where you might drop the editor a note. Certainly, if something \"very wrong\" happened during the review process, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. My experience is that this is rare, and most reviews are fine. </p>\n\n<p>Your most productive action at this point would be to discuss the reviews with a mentor.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26872",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/897/"
] |
26,873 |
<p>I enrolled at my current MSc in computer science program last year having never completed a single computer science course in college. I decided to apply because 10 years after college I had a fairly successful career as a front-end web developer and figured it would be great to have a degree so as to look like a more legitimate programmer than what my anthropology B.A. degree might imply. I had taken several math and physics courses in college and did well, so I figured a computer science degree could be manageable.</p>
<p>Now, it's been over a year since my program started (I attend part-time). I dropped a core class in basic algorithms in my first semester because I couldn't understand algorithms and decided to enroll in the same course offered this summer. I'd hoped to do well this summer, but it looks like if I pass I'd be just barely scraping by. It feels like everyone is doing much better than me and can solve problems faster and more accurately. If you were me would you quit the program? I'm not sure if it is:</p>
<ul>
<li>a lack of a background in undergraduate computer science </li>
<li>the fact that I am an older student who is nearly 40</li>
<li>a lack of aptitude for this subject</li>
</ul>
<p>Any thoughts from others in computer science, engineering, and mathematical sciences would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>EDIT: It's been 7 months since I posted this and I've realized the problem. Front-end web development quite frankly is <em>nothing</em> like computer science. Many concepts in my basic algorithms course requires a good grasp of recursion, which I didn't have before entering the program. All the programming I had done in the past was iterative. Once I was able to understand and (more importantly) correctly apply recursion to everything from Towers of Hanoi to dynamic programming the algorithms course got much easier. To anyone starting graduate school in computer science--never underestimate the importance of recursion! Even if you think you understand it, test yourself with other students to make sure your understanding is solid! </p>
<p>More generally, my advice to anyone starting out in computer science is to figure out what it is you are weak at and work to get stronger in it. That can be hard to do initially if you are overwhelmed by the material and everything just appears really difficult, but talk to your professor and ask him or her to help identify your areas of weakness, never give up, and you will be able to master the material soon.</p>
<p>Btw, I did take a one year Intro to CS course for students without engineering/math backgrounds, but it mostly focused on object-oriented programming and glossed over recursion.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26875,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, talk to your advisor. He/She would know your situation much better than us.</p>\n\n<p>I would not quit right now if I were you. I think quitting now is a premature decision. I think it is understandable that you cannot catch up very fast especially you attend only part time. You probably should take lower level courses (probably undergrad level) to refresh the knowledge you acquired 10 years ago. If you still cannot do them very well, then consider to quit.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26881,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It sounds like you fell into a couple of common traps at the same time.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Trap 1:</strong></p>\n\n<p><em>I am good at front-end web development, I am surely good at computer science as well</em></p>\n\n<p>As you likely learned by now, it is possible (quite common, actually) to be a terrific <em>programmer</em> and still struggle with fundamental CS topics, such as algorithms. There may have been a time when programming was really applied algorithms, but today the skills required to write your average web application is relatively disjoint from what you learn in CS 101.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Trap 2:</strong></p>\n\n<p><em>I did decent in (undergrad) maths and physics courses, surely those (master) CS courses will be ok.</em></p>\n\n<p>This is a combination of multiple fallacies I have seen. Firstly, you may have not taken into account that master-level CS courses are, well, for students on master-level. They assume a strong command of the basics, which, by the sound of it, you lack. Further, doing ok in maths and physics is a good indicator that you'll do well in maths and physics, it by no means qualifies you directly for a CS master.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Trap 3:</strong></p>\n\n<p><em>I know what I need to know, I just applied to the master because I need a better degree.</em></p>\n\n<p>You say that:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[I] figured it would be great to have a degree so as to look like a more legitimate programmer than what my anthropology B.A. degree might imply</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I find this statement very concerning, as it seems you are more interested in getting a degree than in learning CS. If that is the case, you should seriously reconsider whether the degree is actually worth the trouble. Frankly, for most programming houses I am in contact with, 10 years of experience count for more than a master's degree anyway.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Now to answer your concrete question:</strong></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If you were me would you quit the program? I'm not sure if it is a lack of a background in undergraduate computer science, the fact that I am an older student who is nearly 40, or a lack of aptitude for this subject.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I would not assume that you are just \"not good enough\", and the age shouldn't really be an issue either. It definitely sounds like you are lacking background, and the fact that you are doing the master part-time surely isn't helping either. All in all, that does not make for very favorable conditions.</p>\n\n<p>Nobody but you can tell whether you should quit, but given the information, I would re-evaluate whether (a) a master is achievable for you, and (b) whether getting a master's degree is actually worth it for you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26886,
"author": "Steve Jessop",
"author_id": 11440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11440",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the lack of background is a huge factor.</p>\n\n<p>I <em>already have</em> a master's in mathematics, graduated 14 years ago. I'm certain I couldn't do a master's in mathematics now without going back over undergraduate material first. I'm fairly sure that revisiting that material would take rather more than just the spare time that I have left over after doing a master's in the spare time from my job. Of course mathematics isn't the same as CS, but I think the same consideration would apply.</p>\n\n<p>Doing OK in maths and physics at undergraduate level <em>might</em> have prepared you somewhat for a CS master's (although like everyone says, it's by no means guaranteed to be enough). But 10 years is long enough to forget even what you had, quite aside from the fact that what you had was a few courses rather than the syllabus of a mathematics major. It's not just the content of the course (most of mathematics is irrelevant to CS), it's the mindset of \"being a mathematician\" and \"doing mathematics formally\" that's similar to the formality required in your course, but is mostly absent from everyday apps programming. If you're anything like me, you have to some extent forgotten how to operate in the necessary mode, it no longer comes naturally.</p>\n\n<p>As a test, take a look now at the harder mathematics and physics problems from the courses you took. Can you site down and do them now with anything like the ease you did then? Even with an \"open book\" to look up definitions you don't recall? If not, then you're less prepared for CS now than you were then, and like everyone says you weren't fully prepared then.</p>\n\n<p>I think your best source of information is whoever decided you were qualified for the course. They must have thought you could get up to speed. Check with your professors whether you've done the sorts of things they think you would have to do to prepare, and whether that preparation is feasible on your schedule. Until you deal with the lack of background I don't think there's any way to tell whether you lack aptitude.</p>\n\n<p>Age shouldn't inherently be a problem, since people take degrees in all subjects at all ages. However, your life being full of other stuff <em>is</em> an obstacle to some extent. Part of the reason I was much better at mathematics 15 years ago than I am now, is that 15 years ago I did it every day, usually for several hours. So I was simply in a better position to accept information delivered in a \"mathsy\" way, which I think CS courses basically are. No doubt there's material out there specifically intended for part-time students, that could help you attain and maintain \"the zone\".</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I can't understand recursive equations like how you construct\n T(n)=log(n)+O(1) from an algorithm</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If explanations that work for your colleagues don't work for you then you might consider one-to-one tutoring. Naturally that's extremely expensive, but if the class hears \"and then throw the Master theorem at it\" and knows what that means and how to fill in the details, and you don't, then clearly they have background you don't and so you need things filled in that they don't.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If you were me would you quit the program?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If I were you I would probably be asking the university (a) whether there's anything else I can work towards with the course credits I have, (b) whether there's an approved means to take the program more slowly, giving more time to fill in any missing background as I go. I have no idea what the answers would be, but I'd want to know my options before seriously thinking about quitting.</p>\n\n<p>If it's just this one course (admittedly an important one, presumably other courses later require it) then it's entirely possible that you'll crack it eventually. There was one undergraduate course that I repeated (informally: my problems weren't being graded the second time) even after completing it the first time to what would have been a passing standard if my university worked that way (not in the US). It was <em>way</em> easier after that. You've seen some of this course twice, but some of it not at all (since you dropped it the first time and haven't reached the end this time). Personally I wouldn't do anything hasty until I'd at least reached the end of the course once. And if you scrape a pass that doesn't mean you can't visit the tougher material at the end a second time, and the early material a third. Although presumably if you wanted to be re-graded you'd have to formally enroll in the class yet again?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26896,
"author": "Lacoppidan",
"author_id": 20447,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20447",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>Survival guide from someone who's been in your situation</strong></p>\n\n<p>I think you're getting many discouraging comments here which doesn't help you a lot. You already know you don't have the best possible qualifications, you don't need people reminding you. The question is, <em>what can you do about it?</em></p>\n\n<p>I'm a CS major, but I started out as a physics undergrad. I had the kind of courses you're talking about, multivariate calculus etc. This means that when I had my algorithms course (following the same book as your course), I hadn't had any discrete math at all. \nThe discrete math helps you understand the data structures. The data structures are used when implementing the algorithms.\nProof techniques from discrete math helps you understand the correctness and runtime complexity of an algorithm.</p>\n\n<p>Even though having a vast knowledge of (discrete) math would aid your understanding of algorithms, it is a great overstatement to imply that you can't get by without it. I picked up all these things during my algorithms course. If I, like you, had asked people whether I should quit because I had zero knowledge of graphs and trees prior to taking the course, I would probably have received discouraging comments as you do now. As it happens, I got a perfect score for the course because I studied hard at exactly what the exam demanded. I rehearsed every single proof in the syllabus (mine was an oral exam).\nI don't know what type of exam you're up against, but I suggest you narrow down the syllabus as much as possible, and concentrate only on what you're supposed to know that will <em>get you to pass</em>.</p>\n\n<p>'Introduction to algorithms' is a very comprehensive book and there's a lot of stuff in there you don't need. A lot of people here are perfectionists and think you ought to know everything, I've even seen someone here suggesting you should know Lagrangian mechanics, I really don't see the relevance of that at all. This is not a physics course.</p>\n\n<p>Finally I'd like to add a comment about recurrences T(n). This can be hard to understand because the book doesn't give you an exact recipe for this.\nIt's helpful to think of the recurrence relation T(n) as the behavior of the problem. The problem is the input to the algorithm and is expressed in terms of n - the size of the problem. </p>\n\n<p>Example: I assume you're familiar with Mergesort. With the algorithm Mergesort you take the problem n and divide it into two equally large problems (you can tell from looking at the algorithm). These problems are half the size of the original problem, so you get a recurrence that says</p>\n\n<p>T(n) = 2T(n/2) + O(n)</p>\n\n<p>The recurrence basically says that the problem starts out as n and then becomes two problems of half size, which the algorithm is then applied to (hence the T). (You might notice then, that the recurrence relations are only applied to recursive algorithms). The O(n) expresses the linear cost it takes to merge the two problems together once they have been solved (because we know this is performed by the subroutine Merge). This step is not recursive, as it is performed after the problem has \"come back\" from being recursively solved.</p>\n\n<p>So as you can see, the recurrence relation is gleaned from looking at the algorithm. The relation is then solved by either the master theorem or the substitution method or gleaned from drawing a graph of the recursions (recursion tree) and then proved rigorously with the substitution method.\nThe solution will tell you the nature of the runtime, i.e.: If you increase the size n of the problem, how much do you increase the runtime? </p>\n\n<p>For Mergesort the answer is Theta(n log n) which means that the increase in runtime will be a function of the type f(n) = n log n. You compare runtimes by looking at the steepness of the slopes of these functions. If the runtime is Theta(2^n) then the slope will be extremely steep, and the time it takes to run the algorithm will increase very fast, so the algorithm is said to be very slow.\nThis is the answer you're looking for when you construct the recurrence.</p>\n\n<p>And finally: don't despair, it might seem very difficult at times, but you'll probably be closer to understanding than you think.\nA very good tool for me was to watch the lectures on algorithms and datastructures from the MIT opencourseware.\n<a href=\"http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-006-introduction-to-algorithms-fall-2011/lecture-videos/\">http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-006-introduction-to-algorithms-fall-2011/lecture-videos/</a>\nand\n<a href=\"http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-046j-introduction-to-algorithms-sma-5503-fall-2005/video-lectures/\">http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-046j-introduction-to-algorithms-sma-5503-fall-2005/video-lectures/</a></p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26910,
"author": "Jen",
"author_id": 20178,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20178",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am mildly confused about where you started with your Masters? But here's my experience as someone in similar shoes.</p>\n\n<p>I have an undergrad degree in Political Science but wanted to pursue a Master's in CS. In order to do this I had to start from the ground up and delayed my undergrad graduation to take the prereq classes for the Masters. Now here's the thing for anyone: getting into CS late in the game is hard. You have had no experience whereas others have had ample (as so many are coming from either being self taught or seeing it in high school).</p>\n\n<p>Learning CS can be daunting and I would guess from what you said your job is that you don't realize a fundamental thing about programming, and that's to make it easier for other programmers. From what I've seen of many web based programming is that there's a lot of backdoor programming going on. That's not a bad thing but as others have pointed out, programming is different than CS.</p>\n\n<p>To be honest, this sounds like a personal choice and not really heavy on pros and cons that aren't personal. You aren't getting it because you're out of options, because you've always wanted to learn it or because your job demands it. You're going because you think it might help you on paper. i'm not saying that's a bad reason, but it certainlt isn't helpful in the motivation category.</p>\n\n<p>I've known a lot of people getting their BS in CS and they suck at it. They fail at almost every class (or just barely scrap by). But man are they still sticking with it (for better or worse, who really knows). So what I'm saying is, your not alone in finding a CS topic hard or confusing. It's more, is it really worth the effort for you at the end of the day?</p>\n\n<p>Oh, one last thing, are you afraid to ask questions being a more senior member of the class? Do you just sit there hopelessly but afraid that everyone knows more than you? If so, stop that. They don't know more than you and quite possibly don't get it even worse. Go back to 20 year old you in undergrad, what would you do then? You would talk to your classmates and teacher to get a better understanding. If you do this already then good for you, but if not, you might just be surprised about where you actually stand in the class. (I've had classes where just scrapping by is considered an achievment as there is a tramendious failure rate)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26914,
"author": "user20464",
"author_id": 20464,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20464",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think first you need to start taking the subject seriously.</p>\n<blockquote>I had heard that CS is mostly math, so was under the (mistaken) impression that doing well in math means doing well in CS.</blockquote>\n<p>That's like "I had heard that basketball is mostly running, so was under the (mistaken) impression that doing well in running means doing well in basketball".</p>\n<p>Yes, you'll need your running. No, it does <em>not</em> at all save you from training like the others. Because everyone <em>knows</em> it to be a prerequisite.</p>\n<blockquote>\nI had a fairly successful career as a front-end web developer and figured it would be great to have a degree so as to look like a more legitimate programmer than what my anthropology B.A. degree might imply.\n</blockquote>\n<p>A front-end web developer qualifies you for a computer science degree like typing 100 words per minute qualifies you for a typewriter mechanic.</p>\n<blockquote>\nIf you were me would you quit the program? \n</blockquote>\n<p>Before quitting, it might be worth checking what it would take to <em>start</em> for real. Only <em>then</em> are you in a situation to judge whether the effort is feasible/possible for you and worth it. For a programming job, a CS degree is of somewhat marginal value.</p>\n<p>For a programming job in Scheme, I'd probably look and interview carefully before making a decision between someone with a degree in ancient Greek and Arabic or in Computer Science. Chances are that the former is so much better at thinking analytically and out of the box and not being scared of challenges that coming from an entirely different discipline is causing him less trouble than being schooled in a different programming language paradigm does the other.</p>\n<p>Seriously. So if you are going to try doing a CS degree, don not make it about getting a degree. It is a completely different and new skill set. If you want to work in your current profession, you might not even be able to put it to much use.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26961,
"author": "cs_alumnus",
"author_id": 20495,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20495",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At the undergraduate level, \"Data Structures and Algorithms\" is typically the weed out course for our department. Students take it in their second year after having had intro to programming. The sorts of problems you encounter in that course will help you reason about coding, however it's very possible to work in front end web development without encountering them. Typically, the place where this sort of logic is most useful is in the backend not the display layer.</p>\n\n<p>The graduate version of that course is likely to be the hardest course you have to deal with and the most unfamiliar to your skill set. It's also one of the few places where a firm understanding of discrete math is going to be very helpful. It's very common for Graduate students arriving from other disciplines or universities that did not cover this well to have trouble with this course. Frequently the solution is to have them audit the undergraduate course first.</p>\n\n<p>As for whether you should continue, If you find that after some experience you are interested in \"data structures and algorithms\" and \"formal languages and automata\", then a theory focused computer science degree may be interesting to you. If you don't, then focusing on management relevant courses like software engineering may be interesting to you. If you're in this program because you want to learn more for your own sake, that's great you will get out of it what you put into it. If you're in this program for career advancement, this degree might help you land management level positions but will have little or no effect on your ability to find developer level positions for frontend work. It may open up some new opportunities for back-end work, however if that's your interest the certificate route might be a lot cheaper and faster for you. As a developer, your 10 years experience is far more valuable than a masters in cs.</p>\n\n<p>If you have not already, I recommend taking the undergraduate discrete math, undergraduate data structures and algorithms, and undergraduate formal languages courses before continuing with the hard subjects in computer science. If you need to take some graduate level courses at the same time, take some soft subjects like software engineering which will likely be much more familiar to you.</p>\n\n<p>Also, while the coursework for algorithms is fairly well defined, not all books are equal. I recommend <a href=\"http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/introduction-algorithms\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/introduction-algorithms</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26965,
"author": "The Real Edward Cullen",
"author_id": 20496,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20496",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Had to leave a separate answer because I don't have enough rep to put it as a comment on @Lacoppidan's answer.</p>\n\n<p>First, I salute you on your attempts to become a <em>proper</em> programmer ;)</p>\n\n<p>Second, I want to scotch some of the BS that other's have written:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You do not <strong>need</strong> an undergrad degree in CS, <strong>unless the course says that you do</strong>. Many Masters courses are <strong>designed</strong> to accept cross-discipline students, which yours <strong>clearly</strong> is, as it wouldn't even <em>have</em> a DS&A module if it weren't!</li>\n<li>Age probably isn't a major factor. Yes, neuroplasticity drops as you get older, but all that means is that you need to work harder <strong>not</strong> that you can't do it. Certainly, I've found that there are things that I can understand intuitively now that I couldn't when I was younger. Also, if you have a settled/stable home life and job, that's going to put you at a massive advantage compared to many, as anxiety is the biggest blocker to learning you can get.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>It smells to me like you've got two separate things working against you:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You're doing part-time.</li>\n<li>You're <em>worrying</em> about passing; about whether you can do it.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Part-time is ++hard (see what I did there? ;) ) - <strong>the</strong> most valuable resource you have at university are your peers. I found that just having other people to talk about stuff with helped me enormously both in improving my understanding and consolidating my knowledge as well as building my confidence.</p>\n\n<p>So, my #1 tip to <strong>anyone</strong> undertaking a university-level course is: find people on your course(s) that you get along with and build relationships with them around the work. Don't worry about 'the age thing', worry about if those people help you understand what's going on or not.</p>\n\n<p>Also, don't worry about asking someone 'super clever' for help - you'll actually be doing them a <em>favour</em> by getting them to explain it to you in a way that you can understand. Sounds strange, I know, but having to explain something to someone (who may or may not be as clever as you), <strong>forces</strong> you to understand your subject better; to organise your own thoughts. I'm sure you know from your real-world experience, that being 'good' and 'clever' isn't enough - you <em>have</em> to be able to communicate your ideas to others and work collaboratively, because interesting software is non-trivial and non-trivial software is too big & complex for one person to do on their own.</p>\n\n<p>Worrying about succeeding or not will always hold you back. It's something that I've struggled with many times.</p>\n\n<p>One strategy I found works for me, is to just focus on learning <em>stuff</em>; just learn <em>anything</em> that's related to the course. Read for the sheer hell of it! Focus on the stuff that you find interesting. And write lots of code.</p>\n\n<p>By focusing on <em>just learning</em> you'll get much more out of the time you put in and you'll be more satisfied with what you've learnt. True, it may not help you pass your course, but chances are, it will, because when you've got back into the habit of just learning stuff, you'll find it easier to learn the stuff you need to pass.</p>\n\n<p>Another strategy is to <em>write more code</em>. One thing I definitely didn't do enough of as an undergrad, was write enough code. This is particularly important for stuff like DS&A - the only way to get really familiar with an algorithm or with things like pointer manipulation, is to do it. Lots.</p>\n\n<p>If you can do it and can explain how it works, then you understand it.</p>\n\n<p>This should be where your broader experience comes in; you've got 10 years experience of writing code, so you've no doubt picked up lots of techniques and skills that will help you. Use them!</p>\n\n<p>Use things like dry-running (something that I don't think is taught much these days, but it's still a fantastic tool, particularly for learning DS&A) and/or interactive debugging to step through your execution.</p>\n\n<p>The third technique I found really helpful is mind-mapping. I used it as a way to fill the gaps in my knowledge, by breaking a topic into its constituent parts, exploring the things I didn't understand and then return to the parent topic while this new knowledge was fresh in my mind.</p>\n\n<p>For example (sorry, no pictures), the subject of 'linked lists' might decompose into:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>list</li>\n<li>pointers</li>\n<li>head</li>\n<li>tail</li>\n<li>dynamic memory allocation</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I'd then look at each of these and ask myself \"do I <em>know</em> what each of these is?\" If the answer is 'yes', then I move on, if 'maybe', I check my knowledge against Google, if 'no', then I create a separate sheet and work on it until I do (decomposing further as necessary). That way, the next time I'm coming to a subject I and I see \"linked list\", I will either:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>know what a linked list is and how it works; or</li>\n<li>have a good set of notes that I can quickly use to refresh my memory</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Again, practice, practice, practice. The more code you write and have to debug, the better you'll get to understanding what's going on.</p>\n\n<p>This turned into a much longer answer than I'd intended, but I do hope you find it useful.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26873",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20436/"
] |
26,879 |
<p>I graduated from my undergrad program last December. My grades and GRE scores are good but my school is relatively unknown. I don't really have research in the sense that I haven't published anything, and I don't believe anything I've done to be particularly novel. The school I went to was a teaching college, there wasn't a strong emphasis on research.</p>
<p>That said, I have been known (as my recommendation-writing professors will surely vouch) to do projects wherein I pick a topic, read a bunch about it, and then implement what I've read about. At present, I'm writing a ray-tracing renderer, and I plan to implement a lot of advanced features by the time I actually apply to grad school, such as photon mapping and an BVH data structure. I also plan to implement a few more shiny bells and whistles based on techniques I've read from different SIGGRAPH papers, but I don't believe I will be doing anything that no one else has done before, especially in the 4 months left until my application is submitted.</p>
<p>For what it's worth, however, this project is 100% my own. I never took a graphics class while in college. I work 40 or more hours a week a software developer, and I do most of my work by waking up at 5:30AM and working until I start work at 9. I do most of my research (into papers and topics) when I get home, and during the work day when I have a few minutes.</p>
<p>My question is, how valuable is the information I just listed? Does the attitude demonstrated above make up for the fact that I don't really have terribly original research? What about the fact that my professors probably aren't that well known?</p>
<p>This applies mostly to the top tier of schools. I will be applying to several non-elite schools as well, but it is with the top schools that I am most worried about my lack of research. Do I have even a small chance to get into a top school, or am I simply noncompetitive as a candidate?</p>
<p>-- As for work experience, I have 8 months of experience as an intern at a fairly high profile research institute, but the truth is the work they had me do while there really wasn't research. My current job is developing mobile applications and websites. I find it very underwhelming, and I imagine graduate schools will as well.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26882,
"author": "Dylan Richard Muir",
"author_id": 19984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19984",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>How valuable is the information I just listed?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Very, since it shows that you are capable of reading and understanding the literature, and capable of implementing what you read (the true test of understanding).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Does the attitude demonstrated above make up for the fact that I don't really have terribly original research?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I doubt that any faculty, anywhere, expects undergrad students to have published research. I think the attitude you describe is very valuable for grad school.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What about the fact that my professors probably aren't that well known?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Well, having a famous professor vouch for you certainly counts for a lot. But not having that network at an undergraduate level shouldn't preclude you from getting into a good graduate course, especially if you have some nicely implemented projects up your sleeve.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26884,
"author": "Tim",
"author_id": 12703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12703",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am coming from a very similar background (high performing student in an average CS program, with no formal lab experience). As far as your chances at a top program, <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26791/how-handicapped-am-i-in-graduate-admissions-if-i-graduated-from-a-lower-tier-uni\">this question</a> was recently discussed. I don't think anyone can say for sure except the committee members, but it's definitely possible.</p>\n\n<p>I was accepted with a few independent research projects, none of which had any real \"results\". What I did (YMMV) was review the literature and come up with incremental modifications or advancements, or in one case an experiment for which the outcome was pretty obvious but which had never actually been performed.</p>\n\n<p>In my interviews, the emphasis was not even the details of these projects, but how I could relate the skills I had gained to the topics my potential advisers were interested in. As Dylan mentioned, even top programs don't require that incoming students are already accomplished researchers (what would be the point of attending?) but that you show initiative and capacity for research.</p>\n\n<p>My advice then, would be to use the 4 (+- 1) months you have until you submit to spin your implementations into independent research projects. Try to push just past the limits of the research you reviewed. If possible, you should document these projects by submitting technical reports somewhere (e.g. your undergrad dept. might be able to assign a technical report number and host the document).</p>\n\n<p>But even if you can't do that, try to clarify in your own mind how the experience of independent study might have prepared you for research, so that you can communicate that effectively. Good luck!</p>\n\n<p>Oh I almost forgot, everything I have ever read about non-research work experience indicates it's basically unimportant... however, if you happen to apply to non-CS programs that need programmers and you have work history showing your ability to build non-trivial programs it could be a significant advantage. This might backfire if your adviser wants you more as a programmer than a researcher, but nevertheless it could help you get in.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26879",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19655/"
] |
26,889 |
<p>I looked around but did not find that anyone has asked this before, but what are the fonts that are standard/recommended while writing academic reports/papers?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26890,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If there's no template, then the choice is yours. However, you should make sure to pick a font that's easy to read. The usual standards in academia tend to be the Times, Helvetica/Arial, and Computer Modern families. This doesn't restrict you from using fonts like Book Antiqua, Myriad Pro, Goudy Old Style, or Garamond, but they're definitely not standard. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26891,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For an academic paper each publisher journal have their standards. These do not affect or are affected by the manuscripts sent in to the journal. Some journals specify fonts, commonly standard Times Roman, for their manuscripts. If the journal specifies something, follow that specification. Otherwise use a font that is easy to read. There is no need to use anything but a standard font for whatever typesetting/word processor system.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26906,
"author": "J. Zimmerman",
"author_id": 7921,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As others have mentioned, the standard font varies, but is usually a serif font such as Times New Roman, although sans serif fonts such as Arial and Helvetica seem to be gaining traction as well. Their is major disagreement over which is easier to read--serif or sans serif fonts, with no clear consensus on the outcome. For example, see <a href=\"http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=5701275453838264877&hl=en&as_sdt=0,39\" rel=\"nofollow\">this paper</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Font <em>size</em> is typically twelve point. Follow the guidelines on this one, and make sure to keep your font consistent. Nothing is more likely to get you minus points than some obvious monkeying with the font size, whether to lengthen your manuscript (most commonly seen in undergrad papers) or to fit your text into the page limit (the rest of us!). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 96182,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>There isn't any.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Focus on the content, write using your favorite writing software's default font, and let the journal's typesetting staff worry about the looks of the published version.</p>\n\n<p>For the subset of journals that do not take care of typesetting, first make sure they are legitimate, then use the template they provide. </p>\n\n<p>If no template is provided discuss with your supervisor and colleagues whether the journal is really worth your time, if it is then use your favorite software's default font.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26889",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10158/"
] |
26,892 |
<p>I'm currently an undergraduate, and I will finish my bachelors this coming spring. I've been looking at graduate programs, including one physical chemistry masters program in the Amsterdam. I found out that I'm visiting Amsterdam in less than a week, and I am now wondering if it would be appropriate for me to ask the program contact person if I can visit the campus and maybe talk to a professor or two about their research and the program.</p>
<p>I'm concerned because it is short notice, and I haven't started any application with the school. But, I would like to know if the school is a good fit. I don't live in Europe so this is my only opportunity to visit the campus in the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>Would it be appropriate for me to ask if I could visit the college/institute? Also, should I mention a few projects that caught my eye and ask to meet the professors in charge? If so, how would be the best way for me to phrase it?</p>
<p>Thank you for the input.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26899,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are going to be visiting the city anyways, there's nothing wrong with asking if you can visit the department. The worst-case scenario is that they will simply tell you, \"no, it's not possible.\"</p>\n\n<p>However, visiting the department and talking with staff and students there is often a good way to show your enthusiasm for applying to a particular program, and can help to set you apart from other applicants. I know that a student I supervised in research did something similar and ended up being admitted to the program (one of the few he was accepted to, in fact). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26904,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This is totally appropriate and a great idea.</p>\n\n<p>Simply send an email to the contact person (who may have a title like \"graduate coordinator\" or \"graduate chair\"). </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My name is Edna Farblefester and I'm a junior at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople. I am interested in applying to your program next year. I will be in Amsterdam next week and was wondering if I might be able to meet with you or some of your colleagues to learn more about the program and some of the faculty's research.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>They should certainly say yes unless there are some extenuating circumstances. Graduate programs are always eager to recruit students, especially in a case like this where it costs them nothing. They probably do these sort of meetings all the time, so it should not be much of an inconvenience for them, even on short notice.</p>\n\n<p>They may also offer to set up a campus tour, arrange a meeting with one or more current grad students (very useful), and provide some information about living in Amsterdam.</p>\n\n<p>If there are one or two professors whose research particularly interests you, you could send similar emails to them directly. (Mention that you are already getting in touch with the contact person, otherwise they will probably suggest that you do so.)</p>\n\n<p>One final note: your phrasing \"asking for a site visit\" suggested at first that you were going to ask them to pay for the costs of your trip, which would be sort of an unreasonable request (it would be for them to offer if they wanted). Of course, that isn't what you meant, but you might just want to check your phrasing when you write your email.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26892",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20445/"
] |
26,907 |
<p>Let's say that Jones and Smith publish a mathematical paper containing a result (Theorem 3.1, say,) which is said in that paper to be due to Smith alone but appears for the first time in her joint paper with Jones. How should I cite this result?</p>
<p>Here are a few examples of ways I might cite the result if Jones were <em>not</em> a co-author of the paper (for definiteness let's say the paper is number 7 in my bibliography):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>"By a theorem of Smith [7, Theorem 3.1]..."</p></li>
<li><p>"Our argument is based on that of Smith [7, Theorem 3.1]..."</p></li>
<li><p>"...implies the hypothesis of Smith's theorem [7, Theorem 3.1]..."</p></li>
</ol>
<p>How might I adapt these phrasings to the situation described above?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26909,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is an unusual situation in mathematics: I'm not sure if I've ever seen a singly claimed theorem in a multiply authored mathematics paper except when the theorem has its provenance in explicitly mentioned earlier work of the single author. (I would be interested to see an example.) I'm pretty sure there is no \"standard\" answer. </p>\n\n<p>One idea would be to bail out of listing either author's name: you could just say \"Our argument is based on [7, Theorem 3.1]....\" This is not ideal: I think that when you cite someone's work in a critical way then their name should appear in the text itself rather than be pointed to / abbreviated in the bibliographic citation. But this is not a hard and fast rule, so far as I know.</p>\n\n<p>I suppose that if the paper itself says the theorem is due to Smith alone and not Jones-Smith, then you should attribute it that way in your writing. Thus all of your suggested phrasings seem appropriate to me. Readers who see \"theorem of Smith [7, Theorem 3.1]\" and then flip to the end to find a paper of Jones-Smith may be a bit surprised...but then they'll read the paper and see that you've reported the attribution as Jones and Smith themselves did. </p>\n\n<p>If this is a really famous theorem then the community at large -- or even different portions of the community -- may have its own feelings about how to refer to it. (A vaguely similar instance in contemporary mathematics is that some people speak of Maynard's Theorem and others speak of Maynard-Tao...) In this case, by saying one thing rather than another you may be signalling some kind of political allegiance / personal fealty....Such issues are beyond the scope of this answer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26911,
"author": "Lev Reyzin",
"author_id": 10,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would just cite it as \"Jones and Smith\" and not worry about it. The standard in math is to cite papers by their authors. If Smith wanted to be cited alone, she should have published the result herself.</p>\n\n<p>I think this situation has some precedent in other fields. I might be wrong, but think some journals such as Nature (see <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/nature/authors/gta/#a5.5\">http://www.nature.com/nature/authors/gta/#a5.5</a> \"author contributions\") make the authors disclose who did what. It does not mean that the paper needs to be cited differently depending on what part of it is used.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26951,
"author": "adipro",
"author_id": 10936,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10936",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The examples you suggested are fine even when Jones is a coauthor of paper 7. In fact, I see it as the best way of conveying the information. I have seen such citation being adopted, e.g., in <a href=\"http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/370/1959/246\" rel=\"nofollow\">this paper</a>. If you have access to it, see page 258, where the authors wrote</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>... in Budal’s original derivation [12, eqn (5.2)],</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>although the cited paper 12 is a two-author paper, as you may find in the references. In this example, one of the authors who cited paper 12 was a coauthor of that paper, so he knew that the derivation was due to Budal alone.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26907",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8937/"
] |
26,913 |
<p>At my UK university all new teaching staff, as part of the requirements to fulfil the requirements for a Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE), have their teaching observed by a member of their department, a member of another department, and a member of the Education Department (who run the PGCHE course). I don't understand the advantages of being observed by the three different people. What should I strive to get out of each observation?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26909,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is an unusual situation in mathematics: I'm not sure if I've ever seen a singly claimed theorem in a multiply authored mathematics paper except when the theorem has its provenance in explicitly mentioned earlier work of the single author. (I would be interested to see an example.) I'm pretty sure there is no \"standard\" answer. </p>\n\n<p>One idea would be to bail out of listing either author's name: you could just say \"Our argument is based on [7, Theorem 3.1]....\" This is not ideal: I think that when you cite someone's work in a critical way then their name should appear in the text itself rather than be pointed to / abbreviated in the bibliographic citation. But this is not a hard and fast rule, so far as I know.</p>\n\n<p>I suppose that if the paper itself says the theorem is due to Smith alone and not Jones-Smith, then you should attribute it that way in your writing. Thus all of your suggested phrasings seem appropriate to me. Readers who see \"theorem of Smith [7, Theorem 3.1]\" and then flip to the end to find a paper of Jones-Smith may be a bit surprised...but then they'll read the paper and see that you've reported the attribution as Jones and Smith themselves did. </p>\n\n<p>If this is a really famous theorem then the community at large -- or even different portions of the community -- may have its own feelings about how to refer to it. (A vaguely similar instance in contemporary mathematics is that some people speak of Maynard's Theorem and others speak of Maynard-Tao...) In this case, by saying one thing rather than another you may be signalling some kind of political allegiance / personal fealty....Such issues are beyond the scope of this answer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26911,
"author": "Lev Reyzin",
"author_id": 10,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would just cite it as \"Jones and Smith\" and not worry about it. The standard in math is to cite papers by their authors. If Smith wanted to be cited alone, she should have published the result herself.</p>\n\n<p>I think this situation has some precedent in other fields. I might be wrong, but think some journals such as Nature (see <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/nature/authors/gta/#a5.5\">http://www.nature.com/nature/authors/gta/#a5.5</a> \"author contributions\") make the authors disclose who did what. It does not mean that the paper needs to be cited differently depending on what part of it is used.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26951,
"author": "adipro",
"author_id": 10936,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10936",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The examples you suggested are fine even when Jones is a coauthor of paper 7. In fact, I see it as the best way of conveying the information. I have seen such citation being adopted, e.g., in <a href=\"http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/370/1959/246\" rel=\"nofollow\">this paper</a>. If you have access to it, see page 258, where the authors wrote</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>... in Budal’s original derivation [12, eqn (5.2)],</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>although the cited paper 12 is a two-author paper, as you may find in the references. In this example, one of the authors who cited paper 12 was a coauthor of that paper, so he knew that the derivation was due to Budal alone.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26913",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
] |
26,918 |
<p><strong>Question:</strong> The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome" rel="noreferrer">impostor syndrome</a> seems to be common in academia and there are quite a few questions about it. I wonder if there is something like the inverse impostor syndrome.</p>
<p>I'm not referring to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect" rel="noreferrer">Dunning–Kruger effect</a>, I don't feel particularly superior to anyone. That's not it. Metaphorically: I don't feel like I have a greater slice of cake because I don't see any cake, even though everybody speaks about how big, moist and delicious their slices are and how knowledgeable they are about cakes.</p>
<p>To me, <strong>everybody feels like an impostor</strong>. (And everything feels like a lie)</p>
<p>Is there a name for this feeling? I deeply and seriously wonder about how accurate and shared it may be, if it has a name then most likely I'm not alone in this and therefore maybe I would not be completely mistaken.</p>
<p><strong>End of the question.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Examples</strong> (in case you need them, I work in computer science):</p>
<ul>
<li>Head of the department speaking about "big data" for an excel file of several megabytes.</li>
<li>Planning setting the deadlines looking exclusively at the calendar (and not the work).</li>
<li>Gantt where activity A ends before activity B starts. A requires B.</li>
<li>Becoming an expert on a topic overnight because it's trendy and a buzzword.</li>
<li>Correcting English grammar and paper structure, for the worse.</li>
<li>Paper reporting evaluation results before any code has been written.</li>
<li>Paper reporting evaluation results when the code does a different thing.</li>
<li>Coauthoring a paper, without even laying their eyes on it.</li>
<li>Directing a thesis, not checking the formulas, only the "easy" parts.</li>
<li>A researcher makes the GUI, gets all the credit.</li>
<li>Constant meetings with no agendas or minutes (or effects)</li>
<li>Micromanaging without actual managing</li>
<li>Powerpoint before actual research or Powerpoint instead any research</li>
<li>Re-selling old ideas with new labels and minor cosmetic changes that are for the worse</li>
<li>Most of the tweets with the tag #overlyhonestmethods. However that's being sloppy, I mean being an impostor, focusing solely on how things look because:
<ul>
<li>Doing some research formally (writing proofs) and empirically (developing a system and testing it with a benchmark, creating a benchmark!) and writing about it on a paper takes much longer than</li>
<li>Writing some fiction on a paper, which anyway takes much longer than</li>
<li>Subliminally collaborating on a paper and putting your name in it.</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>BTW: one of the problems why there are so many impostors (as I see it) is that open source code is not requested.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26922,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My two cents: Academia is a very competitive field. Many smart people have to compete for a small number of opportunities, such as (but not limited to) funding, grants, positions, publications on prestigious journals etc. In such a highly competitive environment it is partially necessary to oversell yourself (and your team's) abilities and the importance of your research, otherwise better \"salesmen\" might easily steal your \"spotlight\", even when their research might be less significant (according to who is another question) than yours. Of course the more important your research is and the more prestigious your position is and the more weight you carry in the scientific community, allows you not always having to oversell yourself and your abilities. But for the most of us who do not belong to those chosen few, networking, connections and advertising our work is certainly necessary in most of the cases.</p>\n\n<p>In this scenario, how much each one of us oversells himself is a question of personal ethics, upbringing and aspirations. Many go overboard and might fit the negative scenarios you describe. But this type of behavior is not Academia specific and the world is full of such people in any profession. This is a fact of life and you have to \"deal with it\". In some cases, it is useful that such people actually exist for you to realize what not to become and who you really want to be.</p>\n\n<p>But as a friendly advice, you also need to to calm and vent down. Focus on the positive aspects of life and your work and make your own rules on how you play the game. If your working environment is toxic, minimize its effects by living a full, meaningful life outside Academia. Our work is only a part of who we are and in the long run and there are many more important things in life. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26923,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have on occasion felt the same myself (sometimes still do), and know of many disillusioned PhD students who felt exactly like that. There are dark moments in the night, when you are wondering whether funding for CS will be cut down entirely eventually, when funding agencies also get to the conclusion that CS is one big science of imposters.</p>\n\n<p>However, what you need to realize is that this <strong>is in fact impostor syndrome</strong> - only that you are not comparing yourself to your peers, but rather you <em>and</em> your peers to e.g., other sciences. However, the reason why it happens are the same: you have unrealistically high expectations of the research community, which it cannot possibly live up to in reality. You know the shortcomings of your community all too well, but do not have enough insight to see that other research communities or professions are also far from perfect. Yes, all the crap you mention happens on occasion, but guess what? We are all human, so it is simply unrealistic to assume that every professor will always be a good manager (or even a decent human being), that every dean will always still be an active and good researcher, or that every paper is always published with the most noble intentions.</p>\n\n<p>I should also mention that your conclusion that, if you are not alone in this feeling, you surely need to be right, is fundamentally flawed. History has shown all over again that <em>many</em> people can be wrong in the same way at the same time.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Edit:</strong></p>\n\n<p>By the way, I think your question title is wrong. The opposite of the impostor syndrome is, as you say, more or less the Dunning–Kruger effect. What you are referring to is not the opposite. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26927,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A literal answer to a literal form of the question (\"is there a name for this?\") is \"jumping on a bandwagon\". :)</p>\n\n<p>CompSci obviously has the blessing/burden of the internet. Probably the only other things equally over-hyped (!?!) are gambling, porn, and various fraud possibilities. The only \"completely legal\" one of these four is CompSci... but the pressures to fudge are amazingly great.</p>\n\n<p>A comparable bandwagon-corruption (at least in the U.S.) was/is \"basic science\", esp. math and physics, after WWII, where the \"bandwagon\" was that this would \"save us from the commies\" (because building The Bomb had ended WWII... crypto was still secret). So then we had the NSF (National Science Foundation) throwing money at people in math and physics for a while... so NSF funding became a test of credibility, and often at R1 universities nowadays it's impossible to get tenure if y're not vetted by the NSF. But there's not enough money to go around, etc. Unsurprisingly, the NSF has evolved into (pardon my saying-so...) an intensely bureaucratic entity, decisions made in ever-deteriorating fashion.</p>\n\n<p>Similarly, not everyone can successfully author a video-game or internet-app or ... \"Market saturation\" is another very-relevant descriptor in such situations.</p>\n\n<p>\"People tend to jump on(to) band-wagons.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26933,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is called realistic worldview or healthy criticism. Once one has a sufficient impressive publication list and good political sense, academia can be a very nurturing place for laud incompetence. A friend of mine called it \"Stephen Hawking syndrome\" referring said authors competence in philosophy. </p>\n\n<p>One problem is the hero worship: \"If someone is smart / talented than she/he is competent in anything\". At a (or more like beyond) career point most people in academia really believe this and applies to themselves as well as other people judged. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26945,
"author": "Stephan Branczyk",
"author_id": 11434,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11434",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is there a name for this feeling? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If there was a name for this feeling, that would imply that this interpretation was just a feeling and wasn't real (and that impostors are not the norm in your field). </p>\n\n<p>You don't believe that your feeling is wrong? Do you?</p>\n\n<p>The actual term you're looking for is probably <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult\">cargo cult</a> worshipers and that's not the feeling you have, but the label you'd use to describe the impostors in your field. Richard Feynman even coined the term \"cargo cult science\", which would imply that he found the majority in such a science to be negligent and most of them potential impostors. </p>\n\n<p>See this entry in Wikipedia on <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult\">cargo cult</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The metaphorical use of \"cargo cult\" was popularized by physicist\n <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman\">Richard Feynman</a> at a 1974 Caltech commencement speech, which later\n became a chapter in his book <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surely_You%27re_Joking,_Mr._Feynman!\">Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!</a>, where\n he coined the phrase <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult_science\">\"cargo cult science\"</a> to describe activity that\n had some of the trappings of real science (such as publication in\n scientific journals) but lacked a basis in honest experimentation.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>See his explanation:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Following is an excerpt from speech (taken from the book).</p>\n \n <p>In the South Seas there is a cargo cult of people. During the war they\n saw airplanes land with lots of good materials, and they want the same\n thing to happen now. So they've arranged to imitate things like\n runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a wooden\n hut for a man to sit in, with two wooden pieces on his head like\n headphones and bars of bamboo sticking out like antennas--he's the\n controller--and they wait for the airplanes to land. They're doing\n everything right. The form is perfect. It looks exactly the way it\n looked before. But it doesn't work. No airplanes land. So I call these\n things cargo cult science, because they follow all the apparent\n precepts and forms of scientific investigation, but they're missing\n something essential, because the planes don't land.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I suppose that term \"cargo cult\" could be used as a qualifier for many different areas. For instance, if one was so inclined, one could say \"cargo cult academia\", or \"cargo cult business\", and so on...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26970,
"author": "BrianH",
"author_id": 6787,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6787",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There actually specific terms/descriptions for what you are experiencing. A few of them are \"becoming jaded\", \"cynical\", or - depending on what connotation you'd prefer - \"being a realist\". This isn't rare, and in general is a side effect of increasing knowledge and experience.</p>\n\n<p>The impostor syndrome and Dunning-Kruger effect is all about a false, biased impression of reality. If you have simply become a cynic, this can become a bias where you come to just assume - and automatically perceive - everyone to be full of it, regardless of whether or not they are.</p>\n\n<p>I have found as I get older and learn more about the world I have to actively fight this bias and assumption that everyone else is full of it, for a simple and all too common reason: people are in fact very often full of it. But let's look at why:</p>\n\n<p>1) As humans we usually do not know what we do not know.</p>\n\n<p>2) Being wrong actually feels exactly like being right, all the way to the very instant we realize our wrongness.</p>\n\n<p>3) There is so much to know about the world that even the most brilliant of us can know only a tiny fraction of what there is to know.</p>\n\n<p>4) The world is complicated and difficult to predict.</p>\n\n<p>5) We have very limited knowledge and ability to predict things, yet we must try to be the masters of our fate and make decisions anyway.</p>\n\n<p>6) Our very physical bodily makeup causes us to be drawn to confidence, and it is often easier to be confident when one knows little. In the words of Bertrand Russel, \"The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.\"</p>\n\n<p>7) Bluffing can be a highly effective real-world strategy (\"faking it\" is often a highly profitable strategy).</p>\n\n<p>...and more.</p>\n\n<p>One of the \"treatments\" for this bias, if you will, is to remind yourself that while all the above is true, it is just as true of ourselves as it is of others. Most material in the world might very well be chaff, but sometimes you find something of great value, and it isn't good to just plug one's ears and believe nothing or to believe everything.</p>\n\n<p>In other words, work towards a healthy skepticism instead of biased cynicism.</p>\n\n<p>Another issue, dealing with #3 above, is as one learns one quickly develops knowledge that is greater in that specific area then the vast majority of living people. As a simple example, a basic undergraduate course in statistics can give you greater understanding of stats and probability than over 95%+ of all people in the entire world (if you pay attention and think about the material, anyway). With such training you almost immediately notice that nearly every use of statistics in mass media (to say nothing of politics) is wrong, biased, an outright lie, and is at least fundamentally unreliable. </p>\n\n<p>This applies to all of your bullet examples. If we assume most human skills and traits are normally distributed, it suddenly becomes no surprise that most people (managers or otherwise) aren't very good leaders, aren't remarkably honest, tend to exaggerate or make stuff up, and so on.</p>\n\n<p>However, this is all very much the reason why we have science in the first place: to err is human, and oh how oft we err. If we weren't so prone to such errors, we wouldn't need specially developed methods refined over many, many years to help us move towards correctness. </p>\n\n<p>I personally feel that much of the reason for doing science is precisely this realization that most of what we know and believe is probably wrong - and if we are right about anything, it's mostly an accident. And anyone who pretends otherwise is full of it, whether they know it or not - and that includes me, too.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26992,
"author": "Michael Gazonda",
"author_id": 20526,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20526",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>False humility.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>deprecating one's own sanctity, gifts, talents, and accomplishments\n for the sake of receiving praise or adulation from others - <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humility\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wikipedia on Humility</a></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The \"impostor\" doesn't realize how awesome they are, and downplays themselves. When you see that you are smarter and more aware than those around you, but choose to not see this, that is exactly what impostor syndrome is.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome\" rel=\"nofollow\">From Wikipedia:</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The impostor syndrome (also spelled imposter syndrome), sometimes\n called impostor phenomenon or fraud syndrome, is a psychological\n phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their\n accomplishments. Despite external evidence of their competence, those\n with the syndrome remain convinced that they are frauds and do not\n deserve the success they have achieved. Proof of success is dismissed\n as luck, timing, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they\n are more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to\n be.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In your case, you go on to consider that the others around you should know better. And because you don't accept and represent your true nature that is \"smarter\"/\"more aware\" than those around you, you become an impostor like them.</p>\n\n<p>In effect, it is two sides of the same coin. You're looking at those around you as being on one side of the coin, and you on another. The truth is that you're both the same coin.</p>\n\n<p>We are brought up to believe that it is \"good\" or \"right\" to be humble. And to an extent, this is truth. I'm not arguing that. However, it seems that you've taken this point to the extreme where you're now falsely humble.</p>\n\n<p><em>It is false humility that is the impostor you are looking for.</em></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26918",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571/"
] |
26,928 |
<p>The bookstore at my American university is an outpost of Barnes and Noble, charges much higher prices than can be found on Amazon, and in my opinion offers very poor service. Among other things that upset me, they prohibit students from browsing the stacks of textbooks -- instead you are supposed to tell the staff what you want, so they can retrieve it for you. </p>
<p>I prefer to mass e-mail my students in advance of the course and urge them to buy their books for my class at Amazon, used if at all possible.</p>
<p>Is there anything unethical, or that could possibly get me into trouble, about this?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26929,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, facetiously, if you consider yourself beholden to your university, so that you must shill for all their money-making activities, then, yes, you are not doing what they'd want. :)</p>\n\n<p>Second, many universities' bookstores have become financially-independent, in effect for-profit, entities, taking advantage whenever possible of convenience and misunderstandings... Their being for-profit already corrupts their function, and their selection of available (=profitable) books, not to mention their pricing structure.</p>\n\n<p>Third, for-profit textbook-writing is a huge industry, with the pursuant corruptions (wherever there's a dollar to be made...). New editions with pointless changes, ... In my opinion, given that the internet exists, we, collectively, can do better, in many ways. Information is not entirely free, but it's not as expensive as all these scalpers (!) would like us to believe.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26930,
"author": "Nicholas",
"author_id": 1424,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Writing an email to your students advising them to obtain their textbook from somewhere other than your University's preferred supplier - B&N - might well earn you a telling off. </p>\n\n<p>Helpfully informing your students - in a lecture, not in writing - that your preferred textbook is available at the University bookshop - <strong>as well as from other sources</strong> - is less likely to cause you trouble. It is, after all, a completely true statement, and in the best interests of your students. Everyone knows about Amazon and I would expect any thrifty student to refer to Amazon's website for competitive prices for the textbook.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26932,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Politically?</strong> </p>\n\n<p>Sure, but there is always a chance that you will step on someone's toes if you do anything. I fully agree with Nicholas that you have subtle ways to do it.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Ethically?</strong> </p>\n\n<p>In the given situation the bookstore is a for-profit entity that gives below-average service to your students on an above-average price. Whatever approach you use to define the main mission of a university, it should include a good and fair service to your students for their 10-20-30 k$/year they pay. So I would say <strong>it is unethical to not tell them</strong> that they are not obligated to use a sub-par money-sucker service, and they are free to buy from internet, e.g. Amazon. If anyone is unethical in this situation, it is the person who is supervising the B&N shop's license to run at your university. But it is again a politically sensitive issue. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26937,
"author": "J. Zimmerman",
"author_id": 7921,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not <strong>wrong</strong> per se, but as others have mentioned, you may well be stepping on some toes. If you don't feel like dealing with the owners of said toes (whether in the bookstore, or the relevant person in the university), then there are ways to do so without blatantly stating that the bookstore is ripping off students. (Note that I'm not implying that you are <em>blatantly</em> saying any such thing!)</p>\n\n<p><strong>One option</strong> is to tell the students on the first day of class. The obvious downside to that is that many students will already have purchased the needlessly expensive bookstore texts by then. </p>\n\n<p><strong>A better option</strong> is your practice of mass-email prior to the start of the course. Instead of urging the students to buy from Amazon (which may imnply that you are affiliated), why not just provide information on prices from the bookstore as well as the prices --for new and used-- from several vendors (Amazon is just a starting place, Abebooks, Ebay, Textbooks.com, etc, come to mind as well). Also, as others have mentioned in the comments, students will appreciate if you mention whether the latest edition is required, or if the previous (much cheaper!) edition will also work. The savvy student will know what you are implying for the alternate vendors, and the rest... well, perhaps they deserve to pay the bookstore prices!</p>\n\n<p><strong>Additionally</strong>, if your institution has a formal or informal student exchange, students may be able to buy used textbooks from a student who took the course last semester. You might be able to put your incoming students in touch with this network, as well. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26939,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The only thing wrong about it is that you should be telling them to look not just on Amazon, but everywhere on the internet. A convenient aggregator is dealoz.com (there are many other similar sites). </p>\n\n<p>Amazon is perhaps more reliable than many other sellers, but it is usually more expensive too. And: If you just say Amazon, it might sound like you're getting a commission from Amazon!</p>\n\n<p>Also, especially for many of the more popular textbooks, it is not difficult to find free PDF copies somewhere. This may or may not be legal, but considering how evil the US textbook industry is (and the university bookstores as well), it is arguably the morally correct thing to do. You can phrase it in an ironic fashion in your email, e.g. \"You may or may not know, but there are many free and illegal PDF copies of this book online. I strongly discourage you from downloading these.\"</p>\n\n<p>ADDED TIP: Use older editions of the textbook and tell them it's OK to get an older edition (indeed, try to design your class so that it's no big deal even if they use an older edition). For the most popular textbooks, the evil textbook companies pump out a new edition every 2 or 3 years (even for things like Calculus or Spanish 101 where probably no radical advances either in research or pedagogy are made even once a decade!) As a student I was always annoyed when the professors would by default just ask you to get the newest edition, because it's just the simplest/easiest thing for the professor to do, but of course it could cost me easily $50 more.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26940,
"author": "TCSGrad",
"author_id": 79,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/79",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you have the student's best interests at heart, you can mail them that you'd be following the (n-1)th edition of the textbook, where n is the most recent version. That way, they can get the textbook at less than the price of a cup of coffee(or even free!), and there's almost always the exact same content!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26946,
"author": "Tallmaris",
"author_id": 20481,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20481",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Urging</strong> student to buy from a supplier rather than another can be seen as advertisement and it's not something a professor should do.</p>\n\n<p>Suggesting to look for alternatives or simply mentioning the book title and letting them do the math is probably the best way to go. You may imply that the most recent version has very small (or no) changes so clever people can go and buy the previous version from other students or used-book stores.</p>\n\n<p>As a final comment I noticed that no-one mentioned to push (in this case urging is allowed) the students to use the University (or the City) Library: books are free to peruse and to borrow, what better option is there?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26952,
"author": "user541686",
"author_id": 1201,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1201",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I wouldn't <em>specifically</em> mention Amazon. It's just one vendor. Just let them know that they don't need a new copy and are probably able to order cheaper used versions of the book \"online\".</p>\n\n<p>I don't think they'll have any sort of trouble understanding what you're trying to say, and it sounds a lot more reasonable and less rebellious to the rest of the university.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26958,
"author": "Raczack",
"author_id": 20489,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20489",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is no need to specify a particular source lest it border on advertisement, but recommending alternative sources for materials has been fairly common in my experience. In fact, our campus bookstore's website even lists a price comparison tool for all the major online retailers. Taking that as a baseline I think it is only honest to provide information to the students if you find it particularly informative. It isn't uncommon for professors to email the class in the weeks leading up to the start about alternative versions and how compatible they would be with the class \"just in case\" they are having trouble acquiring the book. Even so far as \"I have heard some sources are even 'selling' an electronic copy\" has appeared as a subtle nod to the fact that there is a pdf that can be downloaded out there somewhere. Some universities will be happier than others in this regard, but as long as you avoid dropping specific names of retailers in any mass correspondence then I don't see anything outside of standard practice here.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26963,
"author": "Lodewijk",
"author_id": 18361,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18361",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As long as Amazon is really the best place to buy them it couldn't be unethical.</p>\n\n<p>It feels wrong for me because Amazon competes unfairly due to it's size. It may also feel wrong because you're telling students not to follow the norm. </p>\n\n<p>Bottom line? You're helping your students. That's what you should be doing! Keep it up!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26967,
"author": "Jen",
"author_id": 20178,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20178",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just from my own personal experience and less about ethics: my teachers tell me all the time to not waste money at the bookstore. And actually, unless you're a freshmen or a <em>really</em> lazy college student, no one buys from them anyways. I haven't bought a textbook from the university store in years unless (and boy do I hate this) it's a \"university specific\" text book that you literally can't get anywehere else. </p>\n\n<p>Also, I never, ever buy books until at least the first week of class to better gauge if I actually need them. I'll get them if a teacher makes a point of saying I'll need to (and even then it usually is a 50/50 shot of if they use it or not -_-)</p>\n\n<p>What I would recommend is to just verbally tell your students in class to buy the book from somewhere else (this allows no direct trail from you saying to <em>not</em> buy from the bookstore). </p>\n\n<p>Another suggestion some of my teachers have done is to list the book and then, as others have said, give the bookstore price and an amazon/ ebay price as well and let the students figure it out.</p>\n\n<p>But really, I would say, just tell them in class. Your students should really already know to never buy from the bookstore and it creates less liability (if there were ever to be one) on your part.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27066,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As soon as you've selected the textbook for an upcoming class, post the information, including the ISBN, on your web page. Books available in electronic form have different ISBNs; list the electronic version, too. If you require a particular edition, say so. If an earlier edition will do, <em>explicitly</em> say that. I try to include a link to the publisher's site for the book, which will have the publisher's list price, information about electronic versions, and sometimes even free resources for students. Here is one of my textbook listings:</p>\n\n<pre><code>Required Textbook: Stallings, William and Lawrie Brown [_*Computer\nSecurity Principles and Practice, Second Edition.*_][1] Pearson / Prentice Hall,\n2012; ISBN-13: 9780132775069. The second edition has been revised \nsubstantially. Only the second edition will do for this course. (Note: This \nbook is available for rental as an e-book on Google Play. Kindle editions\nand rentals are available on Amazon as well as in the university bookstore.\nOther options may also be available.)\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>I haven't told the students where to buy the book, but I've given them everything they need to make informed purchase decisions. The \"other options\" note is <em>surely</em> enough of a clue to set people to searching.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27071,
"author": "Scott Seidman",
"author_id": 20457,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20457",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My informed guess is that students know anyway, and there's no need to tell them.<br>\nFWIW, I don't believe that publisher-direct is a much better option, and I also believe some of the electronic \"rent-for-a-semester\" deals from the publisher are not that hot.</p>\n\n<p>Interestingly, the publishers are going to track purchases from your campus bookstore. My own experience with one publisher is that they gave me tons of problems about providing me with access to electronic teaching resources associated with my text because they didn't feel the bookstore was selling enough copies.</p>\n\n<p>Without going into too much detail, there are some real interesting (let's just call them) \"issues\" with modern academic publishing. In some ways, there are problems in that area that are somewhat analogous to what record labels have been dealing with during their recent history. There are just better ways to distribute information these days, and if publishers don't tweak their business models, they'll become dinosaurs.</p>\n\n<p>If there is ONE THING you should be sharing with your students, it's that finding and using illegal electronic copies is THEFT. I'm certainly no hero for the publishers, who I don't have much sympathy for, but I'd love to see textbook theft by electronic or other means specifically listed in our academic honesty language.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26928",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565/"
] |
26,947 |
<p>Every day I receive the latest arXiv abstracts via email, with subject lines such as</p>
<p><code>physics daily Subj-class mailing a4 1</code><br>
<code>physics daily Subj-class mailing 124 1</code><br>
<code>physics daily Subj-class mailing 490 1</code></p>
<p>With new email clients that create "conversations" from an email chain based on the subject line, the disorderly nature of the subject lines makes it a pain to sift through the last week's abstracts if I haven't kept myself up to date.</p>
<p>What do <code>a4</code>, <code>124</code>, and <code>490</code> mean? These identifiers are not unique to each day's listings, but I cannot spot a correlation between them and the date of the email. Is there some hidden way to either include the date in the subject header, or remove these seemingly random strings?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27491,
"author": "Micah",
"author_id": 20956,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20956",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>They look like hexadecimal. So they may be the beginning of a hash or UUID. This would be similar to what git uses to refer to specific versions in a repository. If this is the case, they are effectively random and you aren't going to find any correlation with the outside world (which is the point).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27520,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Straight from the horse's mouth: there is no fix, but an update is on the list of things that \"will be done when they're done\".</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>You may safely ignore the numbers after the text \"class mailing\" as\n they are used for internal audit code and essentially meaningless from\n a user perspective.</p>\n \n <p>We do have plans to update the mailing code at some stage, but the\n time-line is unclear due to limited developer time.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26947",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562/"
] |
26,950 |
<p>I have finish my BSc in physics. I want to work in a interdiscipline like biophysics or econophysics. Because these are mainly physics, one can study higher with spending little effort to understand biology or economy concept. However, I think that having a stable knowledge in other discipline would also help you better in researching. Since I have studied physics, mathematics isn't a problem, therefore I can skip it to shorten the study time, which means the amount of time I spend will approximate to the master degree duration (I hope so). Another point is I can be more flexible than one who only know his/her specialization.</p>
<p>The biggest disadvantage is I don't have a master degree, of course. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26955,
"author": "Dylan Richard Muir",
"author_id": 19984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19984",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends on what you want to do next, and where you want to do it. In Switzerland, you are supposed to have a Masters degree to start doctoral studies, however with you bachelors degrees you can probably convince them to accept you (depending on the fields). In Australia, most people <em>do not</em> have Masters degrees before starting a PhD.</p>\n\n<p>+1 for flexibility and broader knowledge.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26957,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><em><strong>Disclaimer:</strong> the following is my practical experience on research. I have no idea about the opinions of admissions committees and the like, but it probably depends greatly on the country and the relative quality of master's and undergrad education.</em></p>\n\n<p>I am a theoretical physicist by formation (5 years degree). Then I did my master's thesis (I had taken enough courses) in Bioinformatics, and I am doing a PhD in Biophysics.</p>\n\n<p>When I start a new project (or tackle the next sub-project), there are a bunch of things about Biology and Chemistry that I don't know, but most of them are actually quite easy. I am sometimes lacking \"the bigger picture\", being able to my questions into a broader meaning, but that is not so important. For example, my master's project was to improve the number of identified peptides in an experiment using computational techniques, and that is a very clear goal. What to do with this improved results? Obviously, we can improve the things we already do. But, are there biological questions it can help answer? I am not sure, but there are experts on that.</p>\n\n<p>For the <em>middle picture</em> range, I rely on my advisors. They are also physicists, but they have learned along the way pretty much what they need. And after just a few months, I was surprised of how much I was able to help the new members of the lab.</p>\n\n<p>Actually, I believe taking another undergrad degree would not help so much. Of course, I would be faster at the beginning, because I would know what things like \"the $C_\\alpha$ residuals\" mean, but the actual meat of the project, where we spend months, is probably not covered (or not covered in enough detail) in most undergrad degrees. And the main reason is that these details are known only to those who have actually worked hands on with it.</p>\n\n<p>Let me give you an example: in Physics we talk about spectra all the time, and all the information you can extract from it, with perhaps, the only limitation is the noise of your instrument. The truth is, unless you have a VERY expensive camera, you are going to find very funny stuff, like two spectra taken right after the other, with exactly the same experimental set up, will not have, on camera, the same intensity; and even the profile of the line. To compensate for this you need to get clever, and it very much depends on the details, so it is very difficult to teach unless your lecturer is an expert in spectra analysis and can tell you how they do it. And still, most people can just rely on the spectra pre-processed by the experts, so they don't need to know this. Unless, of course, you want to work with raw spectra yourself (been there). </p>\n\n<p>Lastly, a master's or a PhD has some courses. They are usually quite specialised, targeted for your level and background, and can bring you up to speed in the things you need to know about your field quite nicely.</p>\n\n<p>And to add some peace of mind, my former lab hired a postdoc coming from computer vision. His biological knowledge had quite big holes, but nevertheless, in a couple of weeks he was already doing amazing stuff with very good ideas.</p>\n\n<p>Bottomline, go for the advanced studies. You can always take Biology or Economy on the side (for example Open University or unofficially at Coursera).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26960,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I strongly disagree with a 2nd BSc degree. First, even if you manage to somehow avoid officially some courses because of your first degree, all BSc degrees have a minimum duration which is typically longer than a MS. So, it is not going to be faster or easier. Second, even if you get the 2nd degree you will know less than the ones who have a MSc in the second area. Also, a MS is a nice way to connect with potential advisors if you want to continue for a PHD and work on a specialized thesis similar to your interests.</p>\n\n<p>To make a long story short: If you can get to MSc program of your area of interest with your (partially irrelevant) BSc degree, go for it. Then cover the knowledge you are missing on your free time. It is not going to be easy, but if you pull it off, it will work better for you in the long term. <strong>Disclaimer:</strong> That is what I did and it worked for me. Hope it works for you too. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26968,
"author": "Jen",
"author_id": 20178,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20178",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As someone who was in a situation similar to yours I always would recomment the advanced degree. The key difference (at least in most U.S scholls) is that with a B.S/ B.A you have a lot of \"fluff\" classes to make you more well rounded. Going for a M.A/M.S cuts away a lot of that and focuses much more on just the relivent classes. This makes getting the advanced degree much more time efficent.</p>\n\n<p>Another point I'd like to make is that <em>rarely</em> does two degrees do anything. When getting a job for example, you get more money with an advanced degree. There isn't anything (to my knowledge) that gives you more for two degrees. So you've just wasted years of your life for not much reward (knowledge? Maybe, but certainly not any more than with a Master's in a specific field).</p>\n\n<p>One final anecdote: I had a teacher who had two Master's in something or other in a field where PhD's reign supreme. Because of this, he wasn't allowed to be a full fledges professor but only an instructor (much less stable and much less pay). I say this because, yes he had two \"advanced\" degress, but two doesn't equal the higher degree. In this case, I believe you would just be limiting your options with the second B.S. In any case, good luck :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27044,
"author": "Thaddeus Aid",
"author_id": 20578,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20578",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am a D.Phil. (PhD) student at a Doctoral Training Centres at Oxford and my experience is that a Master's degree in interdisciplinary bio-science would do you much better than a second BSc. I was one of 11 \"mathematical sciences\" students in my year with a couple of mathematicians and a bunch of physicists. None of us needed to relearn the skills from a BSc because we all had them, what we needed was direction on what is important to learn for working between disciplines. If I were you I wouldn't go for the second Bsc, I would go for a Master's or alternatively as I was recommended skip the Master's and go directly into a PhD program.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27850,
"author": "Matthew-Mortensen",
"author_id": 21236,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21236",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A masters degree is far superior. The study done at a graduate level far surpasses the study at an undergraduate level. Employers look at a masters degree with much more acclaim than they would 2 bachelor's degrees.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27869,
"author": "BCLC",
"author_id": 21026,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21026",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Master's for sure. I would rather be a master of something than a jack of many trades. Specialize. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage\" rel=\"nofollow\">Comparative advantage</a> and all that. Or perhaps you would rather be a jack? Then maybe 2 bachelor's is for you, but interdisciplinary doesn't imply jack/2 bachelor's I guess.</p>\n\n<p>Re: Econophysics, you can try out quantitative finance/mathematical finance. I am currently a grad student of QF, and we are learning stuff like Brownian motion and Feynman-Kac theorem. Basic for you Physics people, right?</p>\n\n<p>There's the small difference of applying the stuff to finance (allocation of scarce resources over time) rather than economics (allocation of scarce resources), but hopefully that's not too far from your intention.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to get into QF/MF, you could take a master's in it or just get a master's in Physics and learn the Finance on your own. Finance is relatively easy to learn. Things to check out:</p>\n\n<p>Quant Stackexchange (save it from beta please)</p>\n\n<p>Quantstart.com</p>\n\n<p>Emanuel Derman</p>\n\n<p>For Mathematical Finance (the Finance is introductory while the Math is not):</p>\n\n<p>Hull's Options, Futures and Other Derivatives</p>\n\n<p>Bjork's Arbitrage Theory in Continuous Time</p>\n\n<p>Please be patient with the cute math you may see.</p>\n\n<p>For Economics (Basic-Math Basic-Economics book):</p>\n\n<p>N Gregory Mankiw's Principles of Economics</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 57774,
"author": "Tom",
"author_id": 43980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43980",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>\"Or perhaps you would rather be a jack?\" </p>\n\n<p>Do people need to be reminded that medical doctors in Canada, and elsewhere, earn 2 bachelor's degrees? The first one is either a BA or B.SC., and the second undergraduate degree is an \"MD\". Same for teachers, BA or B.Sc. plus a B.Ed. Ditto for Law - BA or B.Sc. plus an LLB (Bachelor of Laws), now called a 'Juris Doctor', but it is still an undergraduate degree. Even though the 2nd bachelor's degrees in these professions are undergraduate, they are 'professional' undergraduate degrees.</p>\n\n<p>So for many professions, 2 undergraduate degrees are both necessary and sufficient. So much for the \"Or perhaps you would rather be a jack?\" </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 126029,
"author": "user105277",
"author_id": 105277,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/105277",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It would depend on how useful your first bachelor's degree is. </p>\n\n<p>If you majored in most liberal arts or humanities areas, then a second bachelor's in business, engineering or information tech could open up some doors for you that your first degree did not.</p>\n\n<p>The first question to ask yourself is \"Get a Master's in WHAT?\" That's an almost impossible question to answer if your goal is to get a better job.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26950",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14341/"
] |
26,953 |
<p>Surprisingly, I have not found a similar question to mine - all I found was a question about the maximum number of citations per sentence.</p>
<p>However, I am more interested in the total number of citations that is considered normal for a paper (to be more specific, a Master Thesis, which in my case will be around 60 pages of content.)</p>
<p>I heard that about 1 - 1.5 multiplied with page count would be a good number of sources cited.</p>
<p>I am asking because I am a little worried that I might have cited too many sources.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26954,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There is no definite answer. It really depends on how much previous literature exists, how much of it you have reviewed and cited appropriately, and (loosely) what the word count of the document is. Page count can misleading, as some theses have many more figures and tables than others.</p>\n\n<p>No one is going to skip to the bibliography, think negative thoughts, and say \"you have too many references!\" without reading the document. If no individual part of the thesis could be considered as having too many citations, then the thesis as a whole has an appropriate number of citations.</p>\n\n<p>These related questions have answers as to how you can decide if a particular part of the thesis has too many citations.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26755/maximum-number-of-citations-per-sentence\">Maximum number of citations per sentence?</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13570/is-there-such-thing-as-too-many-references-for-one-paper\">Is there such thing as too many references for one paper?</a></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26962,
"author": "O. R. Mapper",
"author_id": 14017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14017",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to the other answer, this question is based on some slightly questionable premises, as seen in the sentence \"the total number of citations that is considered normal for a paper (to be more specific, a Master Thesis, which in my case will be around 60 pages of content.)\":</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>In the communities of CS that I am familiar with, a <em>Master Thesis</em> of some 60 pages is not a <em>paper</em>. A <em>paper</em> is usually a document that concisely describes something on typically 5 to 15 pages (depending both on the paper type (short, full, journal, poster abstract, ...) and the layout. Hence, a <em>Master Thesis</em> is not comparable to a <em>paper</em>.</li>\n<li><em>Papers</em> published in conferences (and maybe to a somewhat lesser extent, in journals) are usually bound to a very strict upper page count limit. When you have lots of interesting stuff to tell, there is only so much space left for references and you often have to skip citing some sources that you would have liked to include. Such a restriction usually doesn't exist in graduation theses such as Bachelor or Master theses. There may be a rough guideline for the expected number of pages, but exceeding that by a moderate amount (in the case you presented, I'd frankly say 80 pages instead of 60 is ok) <em>if the content is worth it</em> is not necessarily a problem - least of all if the extra length is caused by \"additional info\" such as the appendix or references rather than the core document.</li>\n<li>Lastly, there is no <em>normal</em> number of references because each topic is different. For some Master Thesis tasks, there may be a number of default works that should always be listed in the initial exposition of the general topic, which in itself already fill a page of references, whereas other Master Thesis tasks might not have such a \"default list\"; the general exposition is done with very few or without any references.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 66260,
"author": "ramgorur",
"author_id": 7537,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7537",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The number should be N, where N is the exact number of papers that you have really read, understood and (mostly) relevant to your thesis.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 167216,
"author": "Anonymike",
"author_id": 139286,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/139286",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I just completed an M.A. thesis in English literature, and I mean just. I tend to be light on the number of sources I use and I like to have favored sources and work it to exhaustion.</p>\n<p>My thesis is about 30,000 words, about 50 percent more than the minimum at my institution. I have 27 secondary sources and six primary sources. The institution requires 20 sources, I don't if that's 20 secondary or 20 total, but what I did will give you and idea what you need to do.</p>\n<p>I'm not just out college. In fact, I am senior citizen age. My writing ability is equal to that the people who write the journal article and equal to that of a professional historian too. Reading the journal articles I have had to read to do my seminar papers and my thesis, I have seen many that are excessively heavy on sources. Some are light on sources but seem nevertheless to be good articles.</p>\n<p>How you primary sources you cite might depend on your topic. It could be only one. Conceivably, it could be none. For a master's thesis in literature, the minimum might be one secondary source for each thousand word. In imagine, in that case, that it might be double than many for a doctoral disseration. In that case, the number secondary sources for doctoral thesis would have to be around 150.</p>\n<p>How many source might depend on the individual and how that persons works their sources. But I would still say, expect to be required to have 150 sources or close to it.</p>\n<p>My thesis was low on sources in part because I first outlined a theory and then applied that theory to the characters of four novels without much reference to outside sources.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26953",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15339/"
] |
26,971 |
<p>As the title says, do student reviews of teachers actually ever matter? </p>
<p>At least in the U.S most universities I know of have their students evaluate their teachers at the end of each term. I do know that things like tenure, if they do research, or if they are just an instructor plays a role in how weighted these evals are but even so, does anyone know if anyone actually cares or does anything with the reviews?</p>
<p>I've had many teachers of all types and some were notoriously horrible. Every year hordes of students would write lengthy reasons why the teacher was bad, give them very low marks, etc... And yet the teacher has remained. </p>
<p>I do know some teachers who do actually care (the teachers get them a semester later) and they can look at what the students liked/ disliked, etc... Which seems like the only way these evals are used. At least the way it feels to me, the administration (the ones who require these reviews), simply collect them, put them in a file, and never speak of them again.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26972,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes the reviews matter in a number of ways. They are generally considered by tenure and promotion committees and consistently awful reviews can prevent tenure/promotion even for someone with excellent research and service. Committees look both at the average/median and the spread/extremes of any numerical scaled questions as well as the open comments.</p>\n\n<p>The evaluations are also used by some people to actually improve their teaching. This is obviously much harder to enforce, but in my experience no one sets out to be a consistently bad teacher.</p>\n\n<p>Very rarely would a teacher be fired based on student evaluations since they have a number of inherent flaws. First the scores and comments tend to be much better in electives than required classes. Scores also tend to be better in small group teaching versus large lectures. Some topics also tend to score higher than other topics regardless of who is teaching. There is also the issue of bias. Student comments can reveal a shocking degree of sexism, racism, and homophobia. Finally, the timing is really wrong to evaluate how much the students learned and how important it was. Asking for an evaluation before the student can see how the class fits into the entire education, and future job, misses so much about what a teacher is trying to do.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26974,
"author": "Andreas Blass",
"author_id": 14506,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14506",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my department, teaching evaluation numbers are available to the executive committee for use in recommending raises (or non-raises) in faculty salaries. At the college level, these numbers are a required part of the file recommending people for promotion, and the file must also include the numbers for other recent instructors of the same course or similar courses (because it's known that some types of courses generally get better evaluations than others). One of the associate deans is expected to call the committee's attention to any serious problems with a candidate's teaching. </p>\n\n<p>In general, extremely high or extremely low teaching evaluations, if consistent over a number of semesters, have a real effect. Near the middle of the range, they don't matter much.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26983,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No, for the most part these surveys don't matter. They were marginally relevant 40 years ago, when they first appeared, and have become even less relevant now.</p>\n\n<p>They're generally not useful to the teacher in improving his/her teaching, because they're just numerical ratings. If students give me 3.7 out of 5 on \"grades were fair,\" that doesn't tell me anything useful.</p>\n\n<p>If the teacher already has tenure, they don't affect the teacher professionally.</p>\n\n<p>At the community college where I teach, they don't matter for getting tenure, because tenure is a rubber stamp. At fancy schools, they don't matter for getting tenure, because tenure is based on research.</p>\n\n<p>They also don't matter because they've been overtaken by technology. Students check web sites like whototake and ratemyprofessor; they never see the surveys, whose results are usually not made public. For public schools in the US, myedu.com will tell them grade distributions for various professors.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26986,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends on the university/college and the department. </p>\n\n<p>It is sometimes joked that a good teaching award is nicknamed the \"Kiss of Death\". But by my anecdotal experience, this joke is not so far from the truth at some places. So presumably at such places, the weight placed on student evaluations (when deciding tenure say) is zero. Or perhaps even negative (!) - i.e., literally the worse your students think of you, the better for your tenure decision.</p>\n\n<p>In contrast, at good liberal arts colleges, they are more heavily weighted.</p>\n\n<p>It all depends on how much the particular department cares about teaching. It is difficult to generalize, even restricting attention to the US.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27004,
"author": "rch",
"author_id": 15789,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15789",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At my institution my professor told me that non tenure track profs are suspended if they have an unsatisfactory overall rating, which surprised me. For tenured profs it doesn't seem to matter so much. Tenure track profs might be hindered by consistently low ratings. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27032,
"author": "Analogue girl",
"author_id": 20518,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20518",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My experience as an University Lecturer is that academia have an entrenched bias verbalised as: \"Those who can,do and those who can't, teach\". \n Student feedback of a negative nature should be used to alert faculty that the staff who are teaching may need some professional development in ped/andr-agogy.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27038,
"author": "Martin Argerami",
"author_id": 542,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/542",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have seen teaching evaluations being used to deny promotion to full professor. </p>\n\n<p>That said, they are not always that useful. When I get my evaluations every semester I read them and sometimes they help me improve. But often they are so clearly biased that I get nothing from them: as an example I remember one that said \"midterms are nothing like the assignments\", and this was a week after a midterm where 3 out of the 5 questions were taken verbatim from the assignments. </p>\n\n<p>I have also been in position to observe that beautiful and/or funny people get above average evaluations, as do easy markers. These facts don't help committees to take the evaluations too seriously. </p>\n\n<p>As for ratemyprofessors, in my own case the comments there are not representative of what you see in the full sample of the in-class evaluations.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27051,
"author": "farnsy",
"author_id": 20591,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20591",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Student reviews may or may not matter depending on the institution, department, and professor. </p>\n\n<p>For a research-active professor at a research institution they will most likely not matter at all in any respect unless they are really outliers...like worse than anyone has ever seen in the department. Even then, I think the result would be the department chair asking them to change.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, at a teaching school or for a teaching professor (say, a clinical or adjunct) they can be extremely important and could result in termination.</p>\n\n<p>Those are the extremes, and anything in between is also possible.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27060,
"author": "user19932",
"author_id": 19932,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19932",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the answer depends on the teacher. If the teacher hopes to cover the subject well and is friendly with everyone, the rating should be average and the objective is achieved. But if the teacher wishes to engage the students either to get feedback on the subject taught or to better understand the various needs of the students to further tweak their understanding, then all feedback especially the negative ones, are useful. Alternatively, you can see that some teachers use \"kiss the ass\" approach in their teaching otherwise negative feedback would affect the renewable of their contracts. In reality, not everyone can claim to understand their students especially those who does not say much during and after classes. I think the feedback is a good outlet for such students and teachers alike. But not all teachers are willing to take risk in teaching. Hence, it is not surprising that teachers are increasing more difficult to to be taught especially those who spend 100% teaching compared to those who have certain % for research and teaching. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 184319,
"author": "Deipatrous",
"author_id": 119911,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/119911",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes and no. If staff member X is the protegee of influential higher-up Y, then no bad feedback can hurt X. Up to a complete walk-out by 30 students in protests of X's complete lack of preparation, arrogance, and ignorance.</p>\n<p>(Yes, this is a true story about X. Rest assured that yours truly was not involved or affected in any way by it, so this is not sour grapes or anything, although, yes, this sort of thing deeply disgusts me.)</p>\n<p>On the other hand, if staff member Z is up for the chop for some political reason, then negative student feedback can obviously be a stick to beat Z with.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26971",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20178/"
] |
26,979 |
<p>Increasingly, my school has been recruiting students from Central Asia, so I see 1-3 Muslim students in each section.</p>
<p>Near the end of the last term, one student asked for leave for some religious activity. He was surprised when I said he could go, then he told me he had missed many Friday afternoon religious activities, but his advisor (or perhaps some other school administrators) said he couldn't leave. I heard a similar story from another student.</p>
<p>I realized that many of the other Muslim students may have similar problems, but they are too nervous to speak out and let me know. Since they remain quiet, I'm not sure how to accommodate them.</p>
<p>What are some typical things a teacher can do to accommodate Muslim students?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26981,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are a lot of places you could go to learn about Islam, starting with wikipedia. It could be interesting to do so: I recently read the <em>Autobiography of Malcolm X</em> and found his description of his pilgrimage to Mecca fascinating and moving. Last semester when I talked about <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel%27s_Horn\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Gabriel's Horn</a> in my calculus course I wanted to be more balanced in my allusions, so I mentioned that in Islam the horn is blown not by Gabriel but by Israfil, and I was strangely pleased to figure out for myself that Israfil is the Islamic counterpart to Raphael (whereas Jibrail's role is expanded from that of his Christian counterpart).</p>\n<p>The point of that preamble was: I do not doubt that learning more about Islam would be a worthy endeavor. Nevertheless I am skeptical that such knowledge would directly help you to accommodate Muslim students. Like most major world religions, there is considerable variation in the way it is practiced. I recommend rather that you familiarize yourself with the policies of your university on religious accommodations. Just yesterday I received the yearly memo on <em>Sensitivity to Religious Practices</em> from my upper university administration. It reads:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Many of our faculty, staff, and students commemorate various events of importance to their particular religions. Our institutional practice is to make every reasonable effort to allow members of the University community to observe their religious holidays without academic penalty. Absence for religious reasons does not relieve students from responsibility for any part of the course work required during the period of absence. Students who miss classes, examinations, or other assignments as a consequence of their religious observance should be provided with a fair alternative opportunity to complete such academic responsibilities. Students must provide instructors with reasonable notice of the dates of religious holidays on which they plan to be absent.</p>\n<p>As you plan your syllabus and begin communicating with students, please keep in mind that some religious holidays affect a significant number of University of Georgia students and might require a student to abstain from secular activities or attend a house of worship. Different groups within a particular religion may also observe holidays on different dates, making it difficult to provide a comprehensive list of all potential religious observances. You may wish to search online for a religious calendar resource to serve as a guide for the dates of common observances.</p>\n<p>Thank you for your cooperation.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>At least if you are in the US (as I seem to recall is the case?) it seems very likely that your institution has some equivalent version. You could keep copies on hand and give them to a student like the one you described above. You can direct them to appropriate university administration if they feel that they are not being accommodated within the stated rules of the university. If you really feel strongly, you could try to speak to the relevant administrators yourself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26990,
"author": "Kristof Tak",
"author_id": 9401,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Although the students who move abroad to study in countries which are much different in the religious aspect of they own, do not expect the same religious accommodation as it would be at home, my experience so far has shown that it is a pleasant surprise to them that someone shows interest in accommodating them.</p>\n\n<p>One thing that they appreciate a lot is remembering the Eids (the main holidays) as well as observance of the Holy Month of Ramadan. These days are celebrated together with the family in their respective countries so being far away is hard. In that case receiving some \"good wishes\" message is very welcomed. Whereas, the best would be if the University of someone organizes the \"fast-breaking\" (<em>Iftar</em>) dinner.</p>\n\n<p>In addition to that, the Friday prayer is important, if they are allowed not to attend classes during the Friday prayer time, it is very helpful. Last year we received an email from University administration which described their plan of building praying rooms for Muslim students. I have also read that the Katholik University of Leuven has a praying room. That email was very welcomed by the Muslim students.</p>\n\n<p>All in all, I think just acknowledging that you know something about the religion and the important days is heart-warming as they do not expect more than that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27000,
"author": "user20532",
"author_id": 20532,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20532",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>All good answers here. Ramadan expect your students to fast during the day. As a Jewish Man I understood that fasting is a serious tenet of faith. Also, if you are a Jew or Christian the Muslim considers you a person of the book. Extend the same courtesy. Not saying anything bad... They avoid pork, alcohol and games of chance. If you ever speak of Muhammad... After you say his name say may peace be upon him. Five times a day the call to prayer will go out. Facing Mecca prayers will be said on a prayer rug. Most Muslim countries have a system set up to where the faithful can hear said call... I.E. Iraq which I spent time in or in Istanbul which I loved. You will not see pictures of religious figures or icons as you would in Eastern Orthodox churches, Catholicism or Protestant churches. Meat is eaten and prepared in a similar manner to our kosher standards. They just call it Halal. Anyway, it would take forever to list everything. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27010,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a graduate student, my qualifying exam actually ended up taking place during Ramadan. As I was observing, I asked my graduate department to take that into account in scheduling the oral exams, which required two days for everybody to complete. They obliged in giving me an early morning slot, which was helpful compared to a late afternoon slot (when hunger would have affected my mental sharpness).</p>\n\n<p>I would also note that Ramadan could conflict with evening labs, depending on how late they run. In such cases, it would be helpful to offer alternatives, where practical (perhaps the students could be allowed to start earlier or later, so that the meal break does not interfere too much with the lab schedule). </p>\n\n<p>Finally, I should also mention that the observance of the Friday prayers, as well as the dates of the main observances, fluctuate: the former because they're tied to the solar schedule and thus shift during daylight savings time, as well as geographically according to both latitude and longitude, and the latter because they're tied to the lunar calendar but, unlike the Jewish calendar, are not intercalated. (Rough rule of thumb: the Islamic calendar \"gains\" one month every three Gregorian years.) Eid ul-Fitr this year was about July 28 in 2014; by 2017, it will be approximately June 26.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27011,
"author": "Kogesho",
"author_id": 7773,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7773",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think I can contribute here as a muslim. Although some of us avoid it due to laziness, a muslim is required to pray 5 times a day, at certain hours. It is like a ritual that requires a clean and quiet place. But if the person has to do something at that time, he can pray later. So a student doesn't need to leave class to pray. He can pray all day's prayings when he goes home.</p>\n\n<p>There is also friday praying which requires a community to pray with. Unlike the other prays (5 times a day) you cannot do this later or by yourself so it can be good if student is allowed not to attend class friday afternoon.</p>\n\n<p>During Ramadan (which is now during summers but in few years will be during school time again) muslims do not eat or drink anything till sunset but people can eat or drink in front of them. If there are evening classes during sunset, it is best if these students who choose to be thirsty and hungry are allowed not to come so they can do their iftar as they require.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27018,
"author": "peter",
"author_id": 17246,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17246",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I make zero accommodations for Muslim students. I also make zero accommodations for Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Pagan, Hindu etc. Your religion is your personal business and it should stay your <em>personal</em> business. If my lecture / lab / test runs through your observance time you have two choices: take 10 minutes and keep quiet about it, or leave the room. If it's a test you don't get back in. If it's a lab you may miss something important, like how to handle dangerous chemicals. It would be very ironic if your prayers to your God resulted in meeting Him an hour later because you missed something important.</p>\n<p>Tolerance and accommodation work both ways. I simply ask that <em>all</em> observant students show equal accommodation for the rest of the class who are quite happy with a 2:30 start time and don't want to rearrange their day because one person prefers 3:30. My reading of the afternoon prayer schedule, for example, says the time is not fixed: "... till the sun is still bright and enough daylight remains for a person to travel 6 miles". The sun is up until at least 5 in the winter, and 6 miles takes 20 minutes (10 on the highway that runs past campus).</p>\n<p>Also, remember on the application form, when the school pointedly did NOT ask any questions about race, gender, color, religion, disabilities, heritage etc.? There's a reason: because the answers are irrelevant to the programs (and schedules) we offer.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>one student asked for leave for some religious activity</p>\n<p>one student asked for leave for some sports activity</p>\n<p>one student asked for leave for some social activity</p>\n<p>one student asked for leave for some political activity</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>How are these questions any different?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27021,
"author": "Evgeniy",
"author_id": 20557,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20557",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The student must take their own decision, what is more important at the moment: to sit in the class or to make religious activities. The school should not prevent such, but if the one comes then later and means, he wouldn't take part at examine, cause instead to learn he done his religious activities, so he must get his bad note - religious activities aren't an excuse for non-completion of school duties.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27042,
"author": "Ilmari Karonen",
"author_id": 496,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/496",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My general suggestions, for adjusting your course schedule to accommodate the religious <em>and any other</em> needs of your students, would be:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><strong>Don't make attendance compulsory</strong> if you can reasonably avoid it.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, sometimes — e.g. for exams — requiring physical attendance may be unavoidable, but if there's any chance that a student <em>could</em> successfully complete the course without being present on a particular occasion, I'd suggest allowing it.</p>\n\n<p>This may require some extra effort on your part, such as making lecture notes available for self-study, or scheduling supplementary lab sessions to make up for missed labs. It's up to you (and your department policy) how far you want to go with this, but at the very least, I'd suggest that, if a student tells you in advance that it would be inconvenient or impossible for them to attend a particular session, you should try to accommodate them if it's possible with reasonable effort.</p>\n\n<p>In particular, IMO there are <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11353/what-is-the-best-way-to-keep-your-students-from-getting-out-of-control/11371#11371\">other reasons</a> to avoid compulsory lectures, anyway. Just make it clear to your students that being absent does not excuse them from learning the material that the lecture was supposed to teach them (but that you're willing to help them do so, as far as practically possible).</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Publish your course schedule well in advance</strong>. This goes especially for exams and other things that are compulsory and/or cannot be easily rescheduled, as it allows students to plan their schedules in advance and to make an informed decision on whether they'll be able to properly attend your course.</p>\n\n<p>You may also wish to ask prospective students to contact you if they'd like to attend your course but find the schedule problematic. At the very least, even if you find yourself unable to accommodate them this time, the feedback will be valuable for planning the next year's / semester's schedule.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Ask your students to tell you if a particular time is inconvenient for them</strong>, and make it clear that you're willing to make allowances where possible, especially if multiple students find the time problematic. If you do find that you have several students who'd prefer not to come to class at a particular time, bring it up in class (or e.g. on the course mailing list, if you have one) and see if there might be a way to reschedule the class without unduly inconveniencing anyone else, or even if it would simply make sense to skip it.</p>\n\n<p>This should go for <strong>any reason</strong>, not just for religious ones, although those obviously do qualify. All the same, if a significant fraction of your students would really like to, say, watch a football match during a particular lecture, rescheduling that lecture could also be a perfectly reasonable request to consider.</p>\n\n<p>The important part here is to make your students aware that you <em>want</em> them to tell you if your schedule is inconvenient for them <em>for any reason</em>, that no reason is too insignificant to ask, and that, even if you may not necessarily be able to arrange a perfect accommodation, you'll at least consider all requests. Do remind your students that you're not omniscient, and that if, say, an important lecture happens to overlap a religious event (or a football match), that might just be because you weren't aware of the conflict.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Try to anticipate potential sources of scheduling conflicts</strong>, such as major religious events, popular celebrations and, yes, even big concerts or sports events. That seems to be the specific thing you're asking about here, but I'm putting it last on the list because I feel that it's of secondary importance compared to the other suggestions above.</p>\n\n<p>Sure, it's a good idea to be aware that, say, having a class on Friday afternoon could be problematic for Muslims, and that you probably shouldn't schedule anything important on major religious holidays like Eid al-Fitr or Eid al-Adha (or, for that matter, on Christmas or Easter, either). But, ultimately, it's IMO <em>even more important</em> to get your students to tell you if your schedule doesn't work for them, and to be willing to adjust the schedule or to find alternative solutions to accommodate the students' needs, whatever they may be.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27064,
"author": "roblucci7",
"author_id": 20605,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20605",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salat\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>Description of Salat</strong>:</a> </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Muslims are commanded to perform prayers five times a day. These prayers are obligatory on every Muslim who has reached the age of puberty, with the exception being those who are mentally ill, too physically ill for it to be possible, menstruating, or experiencing postnatal bleeding. Those who are ill or otherwise physically unable to offer their prayers in the traditional form are permitted to offer their prayers while sitting or lying, as they are able. The five prayers are each assigned to certain prescribed times (al waqt) at which they must be performed, unless there is a compelling reason for not being able to perform them on time</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>From the above quote, I would expect the school has to provide time for Muslim students to perform prayer. This could be about 20 to 30 minutes every prayer time, except for Jumu'ah that could be carried out for half an hour to two hours.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27137,
"author": "Shahryar",
"author_id": 10773,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10773",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Plus to other recommendations (such as advanced scheduling , ...) some tips on cases, when talking about things some how related to Islam (as a course material).</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Stereotypes are usually misleading, each individual reflects\nhis/her specific set of beliefs </li>\n<li>Consider existence of variance or some times extreme variance in groups which all are identified with Islam label</li>\n<li>Consider that many of them are not\nobservant (usually different nationalities show different proportions in this)</li>\n<li>Consider that many political orientations and religious\nbeliefs have found blurred boundaries specially in recent decades\nand for younger generations. So one talking about some political\ntopic might actually considers it a religious topic or vice versa.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 51945,
"author": "Massimo Ortolano",
"author_id": 20058,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20058",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have now taught for about ten years to classes with a significant fraction of Muslim students. Here are a few remarks:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>If you have a class on Friday afternoon, you might want to ask if it needs to be rescheduled or delayed because of the Friday's prayer. A couple of years ago I had a class on Friday starting a 2:30pm: a representative of the Muslim students asked me to delay the class of about 30 min to allow them to come back from the mosque. I told them that 30 min were a bit too much, but 15 min were ok. They replied saying that by hurrying up a bit they would have been able to be roughly on time and we agreed on a 15 min delay. Had they insisted for a longer delay, I would had asked the faculty a rescheduling of the class.</li>\n<li>I avoid to offer to shake hands to female Muslim students when they come to my office during office hours or after an oral exam.</li>\n<li>In my classes students participate also to electronics labs, where they divide in groups of 3-4 students each. Sometimes I have to sit among them at their bench to better show how a certain measurement works or to fix a circuit they assembled. In those cases, if there are female Muslim students in the group I pay a bit more attention at not touching them while I'm speaking. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I've never been asked to make any other special accommodation.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26979",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
] |
26,982 |
<p>I am a PhD student in social science who got interested in programming via data analysis in R and various utility tools in Python, SQL, Java (for web scraping, data querying, etc.).</p>
<p>I am considering whether I should take several undergrad CS classes at my university, including 1) Data Structure & Algorithm, 2) Software Development (both in Java), and 3) Database.</p>
<p>My concern is that I've seen various posters on this site claiming that what's taught in CS program has very little to do with the craft of programming itself. My main goal is to better my data analysis skills (for a data science career) and perhaps learn some machine learning and agent-based modeling. Given that goal, should I those classes? If not, what's the best way to learn programming the applied way?</p>
<p>(A common answer to "how to learn programming by yourself" is to do a project. However, engaging in a project without guidance and quick feedback is a very easy way to get sidetracked, especially since I'm in social science where programming skill is nothing but a tool and not valuable in and of itself. So, if your answer is "to do a project", please provide more details on how to get guidance, e.g. data analysis books)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26985,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No, you shouldn't take undergraduate courses just because the subject interests you.</p>\n\n<p>You are doing a PhD in Social Sciences. That means that all of your academic effort goes into your PhD. A PhD is a full-time occupation. Not in some weak, 35-hours-a-week sense of \"full-time\", but in the sense of consuming as much brain work as you are able to put in.</p>\n\n<p>Programming and statistics are merely some of the means to an end for you: to provide you with the tools you need to complete your PhD. So focus. Focus on that. Every time you feel the urge, when feel distracted by machine learning or whatever, ask yourself: how does this <strong>directly</strong> contribute to me finishing my PhD? Catch yourself as soon as the siren call of \"it will help me better understand the bigger picture of machine learning\" or whatever starts weaseling its way into your mind. Those are nasty little tricks the mind plays on itself, that will drag you off your true course, and onto the rocks of endless distraction. And then you'll never finish your PhD. Just keep looking at the post-it-note you've attached to the side of your monitor that contains a terse expression of your PhD's research question. That is your beacon: aim at it relentlessly, and don't steer away from your true course.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26987,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are considering such classes, then go for it!</p>\n\n<p>You are right that basics of computer science have little to do with direct application (its unlikely that you will need to invent a new sorting algorithm). But:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>algorithmic thinking is invaluable,</li>\n<li>getting it at level of computer science students (rather than \"computer science for liberal arts majors\") may be a challenge worth it,</li>\n<li>getting contacts and interaction with CS students is invaluable (you may learn a lot about applied programming by immersion),</li>\n<li>learning advances CS will pay off (regardless if you stay in academia or not).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Dedicating a year or whole studies to something is a commitment people sometimes regret. Taking a one or two courses someone is interested it is rarely regretted.</p>\n\n<p>@EnergyNumbers warns you against lack of focus. But hey, you are not taking a random subject! It is a thing that will boost skills you need for the things you are doing.</p>\n\n<p>Source: I did take one such class (while majoring in phys/math) and it was great (my only regret is I didn't take more). Now I am doing data science.</p>\n\n<p>Disclaimer: I do like to side-track and I have little respect towards entrenching oneself in one, arbitrarily defined field.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26991,
"author": "Alan D.",
"author_id": 20525,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20525",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I see a couple of places where CS classes would help towards data analysis in the social sciences.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>thinking about issues like complexity can help when you're writing scripts to analyze large amounts of data</p></li>\n<li><p>the \"craft of programming\" is also useful to learn, because you realize the risks of your code being wrong or faulty in some way (and techniques to guard against that), which in a social science study can simply lead you to draw completely wrong conclusions. Such skills are likely to be taught rather in computer/software engineering than CS, if that distinction exists wherever you are.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>One of my friends, a glaciologist, lost an enormous amount of time during his phd because of limited programming skills and the inability to verify his code, which led him to doubts about his experimental results. The programmer they hired just didn't understand the science and was useless...</p>\n\n<p>Finally about machine learning and agent-based modeling, you won't learn much (if any) of that in undergrad courses. Those are usually graduate courses.</p>\n\n<p>Perhaps an interesting avenue would be to collaborate with a computer scientist on a research project related to your studies, rather than embarking solo on a toy programming project.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27012,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I recommend learning about those topics. While EnergyNumbers is correct that programming is a means to an end for you, I strongly disagree with the implication that becoming a better programmer is a waste of time. Knowing more about computer science will let you complete your analyses faster and more easily and, more importantly, will give you more confidence in your code and the results you produce. A real life example of social science programming gone wrong: the coding errors in the Reinhart-Rogoff spreadsheet.</p>\n\n<p>I also feel this way because I'm in the opposite of your situation. I'm a software engineer, but I'm interested how developers work with their tools and each other, so there's a social science flavour to my research. I've found it extremely helpful to dip into social science textbooks and courses to learn more about doing this kind of research. If I hadn't taken the time to learn more about grounded theory, conducting interviews, designing surveys, and so on, I'm sure my work would have serious methodological problems.</p>\n\n<p>That said, I don't think you necessarily have to take a course to learn the material, or at least not an on-campus course. I took Coursera courses on <a href=\"https://www.coursera.org/course/algo\" rel=\"nofollow\">algorithms</a> and <a href=\"https://www.coursera.org/course/ml\" rel=\"nofollow\">machine learning</a> for my own interest and can strongly recommend both of them. EdX and Udacity are two other MOOC providers with good offerings. Doing online work is more flexible than attending undergraduate lectures, and you can pick and choose the material that's most relevant to you. Reading textbooks on your own time is an even more flexible approach. On the other hand, if the structure of an on-campus course helps you learn, then by all means, take the course.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27052,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most of the time, in practical programming you can get away knowing the craft without really needing the science, except for a few details (why is it faster to iterate the matrix by rows than by columns? why can I not run this in parallel?). But a stronger background on the science can help you expand your limits. For example, imagine you have a \"weird\" dataset, where the standard algorithms don't work, but maybe you can think of your own!</p>\n\n<p>Also, you will be able to understand papers from other disciplines. I personally have \"leeched\" knowledge from papers in Sociology, Electrical Engineering, Medicine, Mathematics... all of them oriented at the processing of their data, that was by chance, somehow similar to mine.</p>\n\n<p>Yet another reason for it is that it can boost your academic value. I don't think there are many people with a CS background in Social Sciences, and probably even less with a strong knowledge of the science behind your research, which means it can help you stick out and be a valuable asset for your lab.</p>\n\n<p>If this was not enough, never underestimate the value of networking. At some point, you may hit a problem that is too hard for your programming skills. Having connections in CS, you can propose a collaboration.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 75522,
"author": "Aaron Brick",
"author_id": 14140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14140",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The three courses you mentioned deserve discrimination: one yes, one maybe, and one not yet.</p>\n\n<p>Do take Data Structures and Algorithms. It covers the principal means of practically addressing real classes of problems. Even if you never use most of the techniques you see there, getting a sense of the scope of approaches to deterministic problems is key to designing new programs. If you're going to do some programming you want to know that this stuff exists.</p>\n\n<p>You may choose to take Software Development. I'm assuming it's like Software Engineering, which is actually about the craft: team formation and communication strategies, productivity tools used by professional programmers, optimization for quality and maintainability. These practices are niceties essential to working in large groups or on long-lived projects, frequently ignored by solo programmers. </p>\n\n<p>Don't rush to study relational Databases. They're just a famous case of a matched query language and data structure (it's an arbitrary number of mixed-type 2D matrices). You don't need to study them unless you're going to use them.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26982",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11636/"
] |
26,988 |
<p>In <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26971/do-student-reviews-of-teachers-matter">Do student reviews of teachers matter?</a>, there are a couple of comments which suggest that being labeled a "good teacher" is a bad thing at a research intensive university. I have heard this in the past, but have always thought it was based on the fact that you wanted to be known for your research as opposed to your teaching. In other words that you want to be known as a "good researcher" as opposed to a good teacher. The way the comments are used in that question it sounds like you should in fact strive to be known as a "bad teacher".</p>
<p>Is it bad to be known as a good teacher? Is it good to be known as a bad teacher?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 26989,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>No.</p>\n\n<p>I work at a university that focuses almost exclusively on research (we have only graduate students, most of whom are Ph.D. students, and the number of postdocs, research staff, etc. is approximately equal to the number of students). A few faculty members are well known as excellent teachers, and a few are commonly known to be poor teachers. In general, I don't think the distinction has very much influence on the respect accorded to each within the university (and even less in the larger academic community). But I think the good teachers are better liked, both by their peers and the administration. I certainly appreciate it when I find that students are well prepared thanks to having taken a course with a \"good\" teacher. And bad teachers are occasionally so bad that they cause administrative problems, which makes everyone unhappy.</p>\n\n<p>Part of each faculty member's annual review is an evaluation of his/her teaching (by the dean). A positive review is definitely a good thing.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27061,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I made that comment so here's my answer:</p>\n\n<p>Yes and no.</p>\n\n<p>There are many great senior researchers at my r1 university that are renowned teachers as well. That is, they can easily hold four hundred undergraduates enthralled for hours on end. They are no doubt Great Teachers in the truest sense.</p>\n\n<p>But there are also a great many junior faculty who did not get tenure at my university (our tenure rate was less than 1:4 for past several decades, although it has gone up recently). </p>\n\n<p>The common reason given for their negative tenure decisions is that they spent too much time on students and not enough time on their research. That is where the faint praise, \"at least they are good teachers,\" comes in.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Tl;dr</strong>: for senior faculty, good teacher is high praise as it presumes excellent research scholarship. For junior faculty, it is dangerous faint praise as it assumes misplaced energies.</p>\n\n<p><br></p>\n\n<p>Note: You should post a separate question about the \"Curse of the Teaching Award\"</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26988",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
] |
26,996 |
<p>During the last term, I recorded at least 50 cases of student plagiarism. The most common cases were students copying and pasting paragraphs verbatim from various Web sites, assembling them together, and calling it their essay.</p>
<p>I took what I thought were sufficient steps to inform students of what was not allowed:</p>
<ul>
<li>I posted the rules in the syllabus, on the course Web site, and listed relevant rules in the instructions for larger projects.</li>
<li>I issued spoken warnings in class regularly, occasionally showed some examples of such submissions, and also showed students some of the steps I took to catch the plagiarism.</li>
</ul>
<p>I also set what I thought were strict enough consequences so that students know it is better to do nothing at all than to cheat:</p>
<ul>
<li>20% grade loss (from their entire grade) per infraction, no matter the value of the assignment (most assignments were only worth ~5%).</li>
</ul>
<p>Note, these are policies I established from the very first day of the class, and carried through the whole term. Yet, even in the final weeks, I continued to catch copied work and failed a lot of students.</p>
<p>What further steps can I take to reduce this problem?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27003,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It might be helpful if you can tell us what field you are in, or more specifically what kinds of class you are teaching. What is the subject, and is it a big lecture class or a small section, etc? Catching 50 plagiarists makes me think you are teaching big lecture sections. </p>\n\n<p>Here are two things I do: First, I have a very harsh plagiarism policy. I automatically fail anybody I catch plagiarizing. This raises the stakes.</p>\n\n<p>Second, I consciously try to design assignments that are hard to plagiarize. There are a variety of ways to do this. For instance, you can give fairly specific assignments. Don't say: \"Write a paper about Shakespeare\" but instead \"Write me a paper on the role of ghosts in King Lear and MacBeth.\" This doesn't make cheating impossible, but it makes it harder to google and get a prefabbed paper. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27014,
"author": "user20549",
"author_id": 20549,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20549",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To reduce plagiarism I would increase the penalty to \"failure\" for any instance of plagiarism. This policy might make students react emotionally and therefore might seem difficult to do. Therefore, I would add to your \"let them know in advance\" policies a few statements (eg in the syllabus) to show the problem context, as \"Last semester 50 students failed the class due to plagiarism,\" and \"the purpose of the policy is to protect the value of the university's degree. If the school gets a reputation as a cheaters' school, the value of our degree may drop to that of a low tier school.\" </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27016,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While both of the existing answers have the same basic answers as me, I will add mine simply because I don't have time to make it short enough to fit into a comment.</p>\n\n<p>As Shane wrote, design assignments that are hard to plagiarize and fail all students who plagiarize.</p>\n\n<p>I do both of theses but still have a problem with students plagiarizing. I fail all who plagiarize but they have a chance to resubmit one time (school policy). If it were up to me, I would fail then without a chance to resubmit, but it is not up to me.</p>\n\n<p>In the end, some students do not take the issue of plagiarism seriously. <strong>These are the students whom you need to awaken and finally seeing that they will not graduate until they write their own assignments will eventually awaken them.</strong></p>\n\n<p>I have had students (more than one) who end up taking one of my modules three years in a row (because they keep failing for plagiarizing). Eventually, they all get it and do their own work (or they change schools). The students who get caught and open up to me usually have the same reason: They waited until the last minute and did not have time to complete the work, so they took a shortcut.</p>\n\n<p>I have even had students who clearly spend hours modifying the work of someone else just to avoid detection. I constantly wonder why they would not simply spend those hours doing the actual work. I don't always get a response when I ask the student.</p>\n\n<p>First semester students are usually worse than more senior ones but it does seem that some students think that even though one teacher is tough, they still try it (and sometimes succeed) with other teachers. A more coordinated school-wide effort would seem to help with this, although I have been unsuccessful in making my colleagues as concerned as I am on the topic.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27033,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I sit on my departments academic misconduct committee and see a huge number of cases and have looked at a number of statistics. We use TurnItIn at my university and allow students top precheck there work to obtain both a similarity score and a detailed report of which parts of their paper are likely copied. About half our students use this precheck feature, but they seem to ignore the output since the similarity index on the precheck are generally not that different from the similarity score on the final copy. In other words telling students exactly what is copied does not decrease plagiarism. We have a pretty light penalty for a first offence of plagiarism, but the penalty for a second offence is much more severe. Having previous offences does not reduce the probability of committing plagiarism on future assignments, so we do not think that the severity of the penalty matters. We have concluded that the students who plagiarise just do not care and that there is nothing that can be done to discourage them.</p>\n\n<p>Looking at the sources students copy from, we do not think the specificity of the assignment would reduce the number of incidents. What we notice is that some types of assignments (e.g, take home essays) are much more likely to contain plagiarism than others (e.g., exam essays) and that plagiarism is much more likely to occur during the first year. We therefore limit the number of assignments with high rates of plagiarism during the first year. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27074,
"author": "Evgeniy",
"author_id": 20557,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20557",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Plagiarism is violation of administrative policy enforceable by a forfeit of benefits. Students are all adults and should know about plagiarism from their former schooling prior to attending the university. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>First case: Warning and educational session explaining intellectual dishonesty </p></li>\n<li><p>Second case: Exmatriculation/expulsion.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>We as society need such specialists and often we pay our taxes for their education. Tolerating plagiarism allows students to graduate from the university with an art of criminal thinking. Exmatriculation is in this case just a prophylaxis of more substantial and society-harmful crime.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30503,
"author": "A.G.",
"author_id": 10318,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10318",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a very hard decision to make if you are alone with the problem.</p>\n\n<p>It is my experience that teaching institutions tend to gloat about having a hard line / zero tolerance policy towards cheating (plagiarism is cheating, at least once the students have been told so), while being rather soft on cheaters when it comes to actually taking action.</p>\n\n<p>I would therefore recommend that you actually ask your bosses (department heads and the like) what they recommend. Do make sure they are not encouraging you to waste your time (by taking action against cheaters only to see your actions canceled by some committee). If your institution actually enforces a hard line policy, go with it. If it is rather permissive, well, you cannot do much more than go with it too... :(</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 37267,
"author": "jeff",
"author_id": 28154,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28154",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I used to work in a college when desktop computing was in its infancy. \nit was inevitable that a class of 30 students would come up with similar papers if they all used the same research sources.<br>\nI failed 27 out of thirty papers submitted in the first week because they were all copied from Microsoft Encarta, which was available in the college library. I knew that the article had been copied and pasted as I had a print of it on my desk which I had used to prepare the module with. After a class protest against my actions I reviewed my actions and failed the other 3 as they had copied the article but at least had the good sense to re-word it so it wasn't quite so obvious. Sadly, none of the students had acquired any knowledge of the material.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 51792,
"author": "o-0",
"author_id": 21552,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21552",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Depends on the number of your students and a little bit of work from your end. I did teach a programming class with 100 students. I did the following: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Created 20 topics and with a little bit of guideline for each. </p></li>\n<li><p>In a class, asked students to write their names and I put them in a hat. Then asked a student to come to the board and pick names from the hat. So we randomly created 20 groups of 5. </p></li>\n<li><p>Monitored their work every week to see who is doing what in the group.</p></li>\n<li><p>The last 2 weeks of the course and during the presentation of their work, I asked each person individually in a group what they have done and if the rest of the group agree with that. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Almost all students came through. The best thing was created this interactive process, I was happy because they were gradually building up and learning and solving their problems ,and they were very happy because they felt they got what they deserved. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 51795,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The thing that has worked best for me is to explain that citation and accompanying references show me, the instructor, that the student has actually done work instead of just jotting down whatever comes immediately to mind, and that I reward work.</p>\n\n<p>That and assigning a grade of zero on the first instance with a warning that a repetition will result in referral to the student conduct office.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 51797,
"author": "Memj",
"author_id": 36363,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/36363",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The university I attended and teach at has the same plagiarism policy and I've only ever heard of 3 cases occurring during my time learning and instructing. </p>\n\n<p>The policy is that if you are caught plagiarizing you fail the course and can be taken to court. Legal charges depends on who they are stealing from and if that person wants to press charges. Of the 3 cases I have seen never has anyone pressed charges.</p>\n\n<p>In terms of what you can do to reduce plagiarizing there's various methods that depends on what your university allows you to enforce. First, I would fail a student immediately if it's copy & paste. If it's a student who clearly just doesn't know how to cite things correctly (example: \"famous quote in paper\" no acknowledgement as to who said it). </p>\n\n<p>You seem like you put a good amount of effort into telling your students the consequences for plagiarism but I don't think losing 20% will deter a lot of people form at least doing it once. 80% is a passing grade though simple path would say if they assignment is less than 20% if your final grade, just don't do it rather than copying it from somewhere else. </p>\n\n<p>You mentioned that you teach a writing course? In my writing courses we had to have a peer proofread our rough drafts before moving onto the final paper. If you do something similar then you may want to encourage having students review a digital copy of the assignment and have the peer run it through copyscape or even inform the students to run their own assignments through copyscape. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 51812,
"author": "ewormuth",
"author_id": 37649,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/37649",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just a couple of things to add, having been the plagiarism czarina at my school for a number of years.</p>\n\n<p>1) The university should have a campus-wide policy so that students in different sections of the same course don't receive widely differing consequences.<br>\n2) It's written into the California Education Code that teachers cannot grade punitively, so failing a student for plagiarism was out. We could give the student a zero on that paper only, and figure that zero into their final grade.\n3) We sent particularly egregious cases to the Student Discipline Officer, who as the President's designee could be punitive or whatever she felt appropriate.\n4) Many students come to college not understanding how to cite sources correctly. They need to be taught.\n5) Change your assignments every semester and as one responder said, write questions in such a way that students will not be able to easily cut and paste.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26996",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
] |
27,002 |
<p>What is the best way to search for conferences all over world? I need to participate in one in the near future.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27119,
"author": "al_b",
"author_id": 5963,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5963",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For computer science conferences:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.wikicfp.com/cfp/\" rel=\"nofollow\">WikiCFP</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://eventseer.net/\" rel=\"nofollow\">EventSeer</a></li>\n<li>Springer <a href=\"ftp://ftp.springer.de/pub/tex/latex/llncs/LNCS_Forthcoming_Proceedings.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">LNCS forthcoming proceedings</a>:</li>\n<li>ACM <a href=\"http://www.acm.org/calendar-of-events\" rel=\"nofollow\">calendar of events</a></li>\n<li>IEEE <a href=\"http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/index.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">list of events</a></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Subject-specific mailing lists, such as:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https://research.cs.wisc.edu/dbworld/\" rel=\"nofollow\">DBWorld</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.aisnet.org/AIS_Lists/publiclists.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow\">AISWorld</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.sigir.org/sigirlist/\" rel=\"nofollow\">ACM SIG-IR list</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://web.satd.uma.es/mailman/listinfo/ecoop-info\" rel=\"nofollow\">ECOOP info list</a></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27120,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have a very good experience with national and similar subject mailing lists, for instance French \"Groupes de Recherche\" such as <a href=\"http://www.gdr-im.fr/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.gdr-im.fr/</a> intended for Theoretical Computer Science. There're dozens of them in France for instance.</p>\n\n<p>Once you are a member of such group, you recieve quite a lot of mail (subject prefixed by <code>[gdr-im]</code>), most of it are information on interesteing seminars, job offers and conference CfP (for both local and international meetings). I have found being a member of this mailing list very valuable.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27224,
"author": "Hauser",
"author_id": 213,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/213",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>By doing reasonable googling. As you didn't state your topic let me make an example when <a href=\"https://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&prmdo=1&q=registration+intitle%3Aconference+magnetism+|+magnetic+material+|+physics+inurl%3Aedu+|+inurl%3Auni+-filetype%3Apdf+-filetype%3Adoc+-filetype%3Appt+-filetype%3Aps+2014..2014&oq=registration+intitle%3Aconference+magnetism+|+magnetic+material+|+physics+inurl%3Aedu+|+inurl%3Auni+-filetype%3Apdf+-filetype%3Adoc+-filetype%3Appt+-filetype%3Aps+2014..2014\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">searching for conferences on magnetism</a>. The operators I use should be self-explaining. Most conferences will be announced on websites of universities or mentioned, to exclude old ones search only within <code>2014..2014</code>, and so on...</p>\n\n<p>See also my <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/455/213\">other answer</a> which has some links how to use google properly</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 28313,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Nature's website has a <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/natureevents/science/\" rel=\"nofollow\">list</a> of scientific conferences and events (324 events are listed in September 2014), but may be biased towards certain fields. I think I saw similar lists in other journals as well.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 100106,
"author": "Brian",
"author_id": 80669,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/80669",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I worked as an administrator for the 21st McGill International Entrepreneurship conference and we listed our conference on a conference announcement directory called PaperCrowd.</p>\n\n<p>It attracted several delegates from around the world. I found out it was in the same city I lived in and I applied for a job there and got it! I am now the proud community manager of PaperCrowd. We are working hard to improve the services for researchers worldwide.</p>\n\n<p>You should try PaperCrowd - a global directory of academic research conferences. You can search by topics, geography and keywords for research conferences you are interested in such as law, legal etc.</p>\n\n<p>Organizers add their events in a couple of minutes and it’s free. It’s restricted to academic research conferences.</p>\n\n<p>It feels good working for a company that I have seen myself was effective.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.papercrowd.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://www.papercrowd.com/</a></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27002",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20534/"
] |
27,030 |
<p>I was an international student and graduated 3 years ago. Now I want to continue my research career instead of working in the industry. I worked for free for a professor for one month last year. It was a good experience and we had a good impression to each other. I approach her again and asked to get back to her lab, she said that she could consider to work together on a project for 1 year, but she has no money. On one side, I was always excited about to be back to a lab to do more researches, and expecting to extend it to a PhD study; on the other side, I couldn't be glad and work well without enough money. I am going to meet this professor soon, I was wondering:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Why did she asked me to work for free?</p></li>
<li><p>How to negotiate or should I just give it up?</p></li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27031,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The question you have to answer is:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Can you go for one year without eating and living under a bridge?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As I assume the answer is no, you simply tell her you cannot work without getting paid. She shouldn't be offended by this.</p>\n\n<p>Even if she has no money, she may know other labs that have, and can recommend you My master's advisor came one day with a friend of his and said \"this is Prof. Smith, and he is looking for a PhD student in a project I think will interest you\".</p>\n\n<p>Lastly, depending on the country, working for free may be illegal. In Spain it is common to do PhDs unfunded, in Sweden it is considered slavery.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27035,
"author": "JuliandotNut",
"author_id": 11191,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11191",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I see two questions here, one is what Davidmh clearly mentioned. The other is</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If it is a common practice to do so?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>To this second question, I will say it depends on the student's aims and advisor's funds.</p>\n\n<p>I know one of my friend doing the same in KTH, Sweden. Another friend of mine did a research for 2 months in a UK university after her masters for free. The value you get is recognition for working in a good lab and may be some research papers if you can manage.</p>\n\n<p>I assume your professor recommended so thinking you are enthusiastic about research and may do so even if she could not provide you with some money. If this is not the case, you can tell her politely, it is not considered offensive at all. <em>I also guess here that you have not told her about your intentions to extend this research to a PhD later</em>. If you do so, she may tell you later if she gets funds or may direct you to another lab if you discuss with her.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27037,
"author": "avid",
"author_id": 15798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15798",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You need to be clear what you wish to achieve. Working \"for free\" is never great, but it might be tolerable if it helps you to get somewhere you want to be. Once you've decided what you want to get from this, then discuss this with the professor and ask how she can help you get there. For example, it might be possible to write a grant application to fund you for a PhD, if that is what you want. Be prepared to walk away if the prospects don't seem worth the risk.</p>\n\n<p>You might also ask whether there is scope for earning money from other sources - say, from teaching. Be cautious about vague promises that don't ever materialise into anything concrete.</p>\n\n<p>Above all, decide what this is worth to you, and what your exit strategy is going to be if things don't work out according to plan. Once you've worked for free for several months, it's easy to think \"well, just another month... perhaps something will come along\". This is unlikely to be a good situation to be in...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27125,
"author": "bfoste01",
"author_id": 19610,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19610",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you demonstrate value you should be compensated for value-added that you bring to her project. If she really wanted to pay you then she'd find a way. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27030",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20563/"
] |
27,043 |
<p>When applying for a tenure-track academic position in the US right after my PhD (in the US too), is it a good idea to ask for a letter of recommendation from a professor in my graduate school with whom I took a class where I got good grades while showing a strong interest (genuine interest), then later on served as a TA for that class? </p>
<p>I haven't done any research project with him though, but we get along well: he is one of the professors I appreciate the most both intellectually and personally, I would have chosen him without any doubt as advisor if I was in his area. He is well-respected in his field (say in the top 20, if you want some ranking). His area of research is a bit different from mine but useful for my research: he works on database management systems while I do machine learning, so there are some very interesting connections such as large-scale machine learning / data analysis (~aka. "big data"), query optimization, etc. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27057,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends on the school. At a SLAC (small liberal arts college), the hiring committee members will pay more attention to teaching experience and may be more willing to be impressed by a Big Name®.</p>\n\n<p>At a R1, faculty are not only inoculated against Big Names®, but they have enough experience with individual Big Names® to read between the lines of otherwise blandly positive letters with hermeneutic vigor.</p>\n\n<p>I've been repeatedly surprised by my senior colleagues discussing letters from other Big Names® with \"he only wrote two pages of song and praise? He must not have liked that person\" or of a fairly damning letter with, \"she's a grouch. The fact that she wrote at all means that this person is brilliant.\" Context is important.</p>\n\n<p>A letter that spoke only of your teaching and not of your research would be seen as faint praise in this milieu.</p>\n\n<p>Note that I'm in the humanistic social sciences at an R1. Your mileage may vary.</p>\n\n<p>TL;DR: save the references from this person for SLACs where the praise for your teaching ability will be seen as a strong positive.</p>\n\n<p><sub>Also note that at larger R1s, we are familiar with the difference in writing styles between American (where everything is excessively effusive) and European/Asian letters (where a strong letter of recommendation reads: \"Jon Smith was a member of my lab from 2005/10/1 to 2012/5/1. His work was perfectively adequate with no complaints. Sincerely, XX\"). Smaller institutions may not have that experience and in those circumstances, you may ask one of your American letter writers to include a short paragraph noting that European counterparts thought highly of you but that might not show up in the letters in the hyperbolic form we are used to in the United States.\n</sub></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30832,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having a recommendation letter that addresses your teaching ability and experience is useful if the search committee cares about teaching. Many advertisements specifically ask for at least one recommendation letter that addresses teaching, and I frequently see such letters when I look at applicant's files. Thus I don't think it would be unusual at all for you to have a letter of recommendation from your TA supervisor even though you haven't taken classes or worked on research with that person.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27043",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20581/"
] |
27,047 |
<p>Prior to completing my PhD degree, I used to hear, rather very often, that working in finance is the most non-academic viable career option for newly-minted PhDs in theoretical physics. But, now that I am actively searching for such jobs (any job, to be precise), it appears that employers in finance expect qualifications that practically all newly graduates like me lack. I might be wrong on this, but I don't know of anyone using SAS or R in their PhD research in theoretical physics. So, I was wondering what else is out there available to a newly graduated PhD with mostly a pen-and-paper background in theoretical condensed matter physics.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27830,
"author": "Anonymous Physicist",
"author_id": 13240,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13240",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Two options I am aware of:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The electronics industry. Sometimes they hire condensed matter theorists who can help them design better products. I know one theorist at Segate who works on better hard drive designs.</li>\n<li>Finance. Most, but not all, jobs will require programming experience. If you have not gotten any programming experience in a theory PhD I would consider your research strategy highly unusual. Theorists probably lack experience with R and statistics, but if you understand basic computer science concepts it should not be hard to learn these things on your own.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Finally, consider academic/education positions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27831,
"author": "BCLC",
"author_id": 21026,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21026",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Regarding Finance, perhaps you should instead look for Quantitative/Mathematical Finance (quant) jobs. I think non-mathematical finance jobs do require different skills (though I don't imagine them being more difficult than QF jobs).</p>\n<p>Many physicists become quants. You may want to try looking up Emanuel Derman to see his books if you might be interested in reading them and the Wiki pages on mathematical finance to see what kind of math is involved.</p>\n<p>I am a grad student of QF now and we are learning SAS, R, Brownian motion and Feynman-Kac theorem. (at least the latter 2 are) Basic for you (theoretical) Physics people, I presume?</p>\n<p>Edit: Regarding the mathemagician's comment, I've read some job openings for quants. There's no specific mention of having a degree in QF. They are just looking for master's/PhD's in quantitative disciplines. I recall one mentioning master's in Math, Physics or Engineering as a prerequisite.</p>\n<p>Finance is relatively easy to learn. You don't need a QF degree to be a quant. Try checking out Hull's Options, Futures and Other Derivatives or Bjork's Arbitrage Theory in Continuous Time, but please be patient with the cute math you may see.</p>\n<p>Other sites to check out are the quant stackexchange (save it from beta please) and quantstart.com</p>\n<p>Edit 1: Regarding guest's answer, why don't you work a technology company or something?</p>\n<p>Edit 2: teaching highschool/secondary school?</p>\n<p>My knowledge of Physics is only up to Vector Calculus (or Partial Differential Equations if you want) and basic Analytical Physics so that's all I got haha</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27047",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16184/"
] |
27,054 |
<p>My friend, a doctoral student, is being accused of harassment/stalking by the dean, yet law enforcement has not contacted my friend, and the dean refuses to substantiate his accusation, for fear of retaliation. My friend has not been given a trial, yet the dean is preventing him from completing his PhD, suspending him from the university. The dean kept my friend's adviser completely in the dark regarding the accusations. It seems the dean is harassing him, pure and simple.</p>
<p>What should he do?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27056,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Universities do not in my experience hold \"trials\" in order to reach their decisions, however weighty. So the answer to the literal question asked is probably \"yes\". </p>\n\n<p>I guess what you mean to ask is whether the dean has the unilateral power to do this. I'm not entirely clear on what \"this\" is: what does \"preventing him from completing his PhD\" or \"<em>effectively</em> expelling\" mean, precisely? But even if I did, I would have to know the rules of your friend's university rather intimately in order to answer. (<em>Someone</em> in your university has the power to do this. As @Paul comments, probably more than one person was involved in the decision. Just because the action looks single-handed to your friend does not mean that other university officials were not involved.)</p>\n\n<p>One tip: if your friend's adviser doesn't know, get your friend to tell her!! (i) Could it make things any worse? (ii) Won't she find or sooner or later? Sooner may be soon enough to at least try to do something about it; later, maybe not.</p>\n\n<p><b>Added</b> \"It seems the dean is harassing him, pure and simple.\" Well then he should report it to....oh. Seriously, if by this you mean that you think the dean has some kind of vendetta against your friend which caused him to simply fabricate these charges: though obviously I don't and can't know the situation, I find that very unlikely. Though there may be no \"trial\" system in the university, there will be some kind of clear guidelines and procedures for expelling students. If the harassment is simply made up then the expelling couldn't possibly have followed these procedures, which would open the university up to a trial, possibly an embarrassing and costly one. I think I understand this clearly, but a dean understands it like I can't even imagine.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27058,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Is there an ombudsman at the university? That would be the obvious person to go to after trying your advisor, director of graduate studies, and department chair (in that order).</p>\n\n<p>Also the proliferation of the administrative ranks at universities often means that there are usually multiple Deans and associate provosts that you can talk to.</p>\n\n<p>As with Pete Clark, I highly doubt that a Dean would try to expel someone with no cause. While the Peter° Principle operates at the administrative ranks, Deans and Provosts have no job security (they only have tenure if they are also faculty, which many are not) and are thus unlikely to do deliberate grievous harm. [They are more than capable of grievous harm through incompetence, indecision, or an adherence to rigid bureaucracy, but that doesn't appear to the case here.]</p>\n\n<p>° n.b.: Pete Clark != Peter of the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle\" rel=\"nofollow\">Peter Principle</a> as far as I can ascertain.</p>\n\n<p>Try to inquire with faculty to ascertain if there is more to the story (if it's your business, which it may or may not be; there are many things which regardless of <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FERPA\" rel=\"nofollow\">FERPA</a> or <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIPAA\" rel=\"nofollow\">HIPAA</a> should not be discussed about fellow students). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27098,
"author": "Dennis",
"author_id": 17284,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17284",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Deans are human: there are good ones and bad ones. The bad ones are capable of this sort of behavior, although in my experience Deans of this ilk tend to focus more on faculty than on graduate students.</p>\n\n<p>In <em>any</em> university, the keys to these things lie in the University's policies. <em>In the United States of America</em> Deans are typically granted a fair amount of latitude, but even so they must stay within policy guidelines. Again, at American universities there is usually some sort of appeal mechanism for this sort of suspension. That is the place for your friend to start: what internal University mechanisms exist on his campus? If there are none, there is informal appeal through the campus's Chief Academic Officer (usually called the Provost). He also needs to confer with his dissertation advisor about the next steps.</p>\n\n<p>As has been noted, you have only one side of the story and that from an interested party. It's said that God helps those who help themselves. It was also said that we get by with a little help from our friends. Your friend needs to take some actions to help himself. If the facts of the case really are on his side, he will likely get some help from his friends along the way.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27054",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9425/"
] |
27,062 |
<p>I'm doing an (external) bachelor's degree in the field of computing and am in the second of my three years. The final requirement of this degree is a project, complete with development and a dissertation that has to be submitted to the institute and defended at a Viva. I've taken the liberty of researching well into a lot of parts of my potential project, and have given a lot of thought into it.</p>
<p>My long research has prompted my few family/friends in the industry to ridicule me (which I don't mind), and have warned me that creating a "good" project would run the risk of "questionable" practices enacted.</p>
<p>In short, I've been told that the panel might fail my project and transfer all it's content to a favoured student of their own if they find mine interesting enough. I do not know if this is a fact or just a rumor. But, I don't want this to happen (with me or anyone else).</p>
<p>What measures can I take to make sure that they can't do things like this to both the dissertation I submit and the code I develop? I've already thought of private repositories on online version control systems to keep the code, but what about the dissertation?</p>
<p>Note: </p>
<ul>
<li>we are required to include a declaration signed by my advisor and myself that allows the dissertation to be used by the institute for loans and publishing, as well as to outside organizations.</li>
<li>I'm intending to release the software as open-source after I graduate, so this may be a problem.</li>
<li>If it is stolen, I doubt that complaining to the institute will help, and may result on the ganging up on me.</li>
</ul>
<p>P.S.: I hope I don't sound like a whiner or moron.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27063,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>My long research has prompted my few family/friends in the industry to ridicule me (which I don't mind), and have warned me that creating a \"good\" project would run the risk of \"questionable\" practices enacted. In short, I've been told that the panel might fail my project and transfer all it's content to a favoured student of their own if they find mine interesting enough. I do not know if this is a fact or just a rumor. But, I don't want this to happen (with me or anyone else).</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I <strong>hope</strong> that this is just a paranoid rumor. It would not be founded in any university I am aware of, but of course not knowing your institution, one can't say anything for sure.</p>\n\n<p>However, the question is what you can do to minimize the risk, if you feel this is an actual possibility that you need to insure yourself against. Usually, the best bet against having your work stolen is to make sure that as many people as possible know of this work as yours. For instance, you can show it to other faculty members that you trust (if you need an excuse, you can always ask them for feedback), or upload it to a (timestamped) preprint service. For code, the best is probably to just upload everything as open source to GitHub or a similar service.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27069,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>we are required to include a declaration signed by my advisor and myself that allows the dissertation to be used by the institute for loans and publishing, as well as to outside organizations.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This can be either a transfer of copyright (your work belong to them now), or a broad authorisation to publish it however they want. They are two different situations, and you would have to read it carefully, but it will most probably only cover your report, not your code. So you can just upload your code to a public repository and link the implementation from your report. Given your concerns, a viral licence like GPL sounds appropriate for you.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, authorship is, under some jurisdictions, one of the unrenunciable rights. No one can pay you, convince you, or otherwise force you to claim authorship on your work. They can buy it, but they cannot change who did it. What they can do (and many universities do) is own the outcome of your research, like patents. The rationale is that they have been providing you with resources and advise. Check the legal conditions of your degree. This may include final undergraduate projects, where the student is also paying for the education, and not receiving any money from the university.</p>\n\n<p>Anyway, I don't think a reputable institution will lightly steal from its students. Authorship can be easily proven in some situations, taken to court, and the damage to their reputation can be enormous.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27073,
"author": "Evgeniy",
"author_id": 20557,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20557",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Send your full project documentation as a <strong>registered</strong> letter to your own address and , if you know any, friendly attorney-at law. Such letter <strong>must</strong> stay not opened, not from you, not from attorney. The idea behind it is, that the whole project documentation is registered as yours at defined date.</p>\n\n<p>I've done such more then once to protect my start-up ideas from plagiarism, if i was going to discuss ideas with venture capitalists. According to at least German law, such protection fully works, if it discussed at any court.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Edit (13.08)</strong></p>\n\n<p>I have even found an online notary, notatus.de (sadly only in german), which offers legally proofed document depositation / escrow, specially for the purpose of authorship protecting. They offer even depositation and letters of deposit for computer files, so one isn't forced to send paper documents. BTW, this service is free!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27157,
"author": "Geremia",
"author_id": 9425,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9425",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Get a free certificate (e.g., from <a href=\"http://startssl.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">StartSSL</a>) and use it to digitally sign your document.</p>\n\n<p>I know PDFs and many other file formats support digital signatures. See <a href=\"https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/certificate-signatures.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">this about signing a PDF with Adobe Reader</a>; it appears Adobe even offers a free, easy-to-use service so you don't have to get a certificate from a third-party.</p>\n\n<p>Digitally signing something proves that it is yours because no one could claim your work is theirs without knowing your private key.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27062",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20601/"
] |
27,065 |
<p>I will be spending 2 weeks in China later this year, to visit a university and talk to the various research groups. The host university will be paying all my expenses.</p>
<p>My contact person at the host university has asked me if I would like for him to make hotel reservations for me or if I would like to do it myself.</p>
<p>Ideally I would like for him to make reservations, as he knows his own city. But am I "allowed" to ask to see the hotel first, before he makes reservations for me? Or is that considered impolite and rude as they are paying for me?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27067,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you have specific requirements regarding the hotel (accessibility, star level, kitchen availability, etc) you may want to send them to your host. The chain of command in academia is rather long. I would suggest that in your case it is something like</p>\n\n<p>you -> your host professor -> their secretary -> their travel agent -> hotel</p>\n\n<p>Each time you want to change your request, it has to pass through the whole chain, which makes the process particularly time-demanding and reduces the efficiency. It is a good idea to keep the number of such iterations as small as possible.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27068,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If all you want to do is get information about what hotel is being booked, you can always ask them to provide it so that you can share the information with your family and friends as well as the people in your office so that they know how to get in touch with you in case of an emergency. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27072,
"author": "user20617",
"author_id": 20617,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20617",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you want to have the final decision on which hotel to book, then ask your host for a recommendation of local hotels and how much he's prepared to support your housing expenses. With this information you can book the hotel yourself, and if it exceeds your host's housing support you can pay the difference. Remember that your host is not your travel agent.</p>\n\n<p>However, I think you have a much better chance of getting a superior hotel for the same money if your host makes the housing arrangements. As a local, he likely gets better rates than you are as foreigner. Also the hotel proprietor will be eager to get the <em>next</em> guest your host invites.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27106,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Given that it's in China (and I'm assuming you're not Chinese), I would let the host do it for three reasons:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>It's important to be gracious to the host. This is a general rule in most cultures, but particularly in East Asian ones. Letting your host be a good host is part of this. Trust your host's judgement here.</li>\n<li>My experience with Chinese hotels from Shanghai to Xinjiang is that there is minimal to negative correlation of the quality of the hotel to the website or the official star rating. It is highly doubtful that you could ascertain anything superior from afar than what the local person would know. </li>\n<li>Logistics. The host may want to put all of the people in a particular hotel (or spread them between a particular few) because of logistical reasons: geography and they have only one van to pick everyone up, etc. etc. </li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I would let your Chinese hosts handle everything. If you have particular needs (room must face towards the south; hotel restaurant must have halal food; etc.) then let them know. Otherwise, let your host be your host.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27065",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6049/"
] |
27,076 |
<p>Often the publisher requests to get the proof within 24 hours when it's ready. What are the reasons for making this so short? Do they want the authors to not make too many changes?</p>
<p>EDIT:
The email I received said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Please ensure you check the entire article carefully, and answer all
queries. Return corrected proofs and any related material by uploading
to the site within 24 hours.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>EDIT: @StrongBad pointed out <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23387/how-much-time-is-usually-left-for-authors-to-return-page-proofs-what-happens-if">a related question</a>.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27079,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The reason is simply that nobody is expected to make any changes to the galley proofs. The content and the basic wording of the paper is fixed after acceptance. No rewriting or reformulating is allowed at this stage. The authors should <em>only</em> check if the typesetting and copy editing did not introduce any errors. Often you are also given a list of changes that the copy editor made and you can also work through this list. In other words, the author is only expected to read the galley proofs once and only with the \"correctness lens\". This could be done in less then 24 hours in almost all circumstances. In exceptional cases you may well ask for deadline extension.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27080,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your paper ought to be in pretty good shape after you get to the point of galley proofs. At that point, you are really just checking to be sure that their typesetters didn't <em>introduce</em> errors. All of your own typos and requests from reviewers should have been fixed by the time you get there.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27081,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to the fact that in most cases you can easily check the proofs within a day, I would assume that it’s also more efficient for the typesetters and in particular the copy editors in the case that you actually want to correct something as they are still familiar with your paper and are thus faster at applying your corrections. For example, after one day a copy editor usually remembers the reason and context of a particular change and can thus faster work your corrections.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27083,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As I said in my answer to <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23387/how-much-time-is-usually-left-for-authors-to-return-page-proofs-what-happens-if\">How much time is usually left for authors to return page proofs? What happens if I am late?</a>, I have never seen a 24 hour turn around time requirement, but 48-72 hours seems quite common. I think there are two reasons for the turn around time to be on the order of days. From my experience, publishers are working on a tight schedule; there might only be a month or two between when the proofs are finished and the issue is delivered to subscribers. If an article needs to be re-typeset or delayed to a later issue, the publisher will need to rework the the entire issue which is going to take some time. It seems that with their time scale the longest they could wait for proofs would be two weeks. This leads to the second issue. Academics do not handle deadlines well and publishers need to handle the articles from the worst procrastinators amongst us. If you give a bunch of academics a deadline in 2 weeks a non-insignificant portion will take over a month. Quick, cheap, paper based publications with flexible deadlines for authors and reviewers just isn't practical.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27084,
"author": "E.P.",
"author_id": 820,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/820",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galley_proof\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><strong>Galley proofs</strong></a> are part of the production process where a book or journal issue is actually printed, as opposed to the 'softer' process of deciding what pieces will go into it and in what form. As such, the deadlines for their revision are associated with the physical production process rather than the editorial process for the piece and can be quite different from deadlines for e.g. minor revisions or revise-and-resubmit requests.</p>\n<p>These proofs are only meant to be used to check that the typesetting correctly represents the author's intent, and not that the content is scientifically correct (which should have been done at an earlier stage). Occasionally a one- or two-sentence 'note added in proof' may be appended to a paper but that's about it; for an example see the <a href=\"http://www.aip.org/pubservs/style/4thed/AIP_Style_4thed.pdf#page=14\" rel=\"noreferrer\">AIP style guide, p.11</a>. Checking the typesetting is assumed to be a straightforward matter that does not require more than one day (though assuming that an academic can spare the time at the publisher's decision with no prior notice is another matter), so such deadlines are usually OK.</p>\n<p>Note also that such deadlines can be negotiable if properly handled. If such a requests lands on you and you will not be able to complete it in time, it is usually acceptable to notify the editor, as soon as possible, that this is the case. A polite note along the lines of</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Dear Editor,</p>\n<p>We have successfully received the proofs of our article. Unfortunately, today is my thesis defence, my coauthor is getting married and my advisor is away due to travel, so we will be unable to complete your request to review the proofs within 24h. We will get them to you as soon as possible, which will likely be the day after tomorrow. Is this acceptable, or will it lead to a delay in publication?</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>can work wonders in stretching such a deadline. From personal experience, I have seen a 24-hour request be stretched to a full week without a publication delay.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27101,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The proof is an actually typesetted version of your paper, ready to production. In other words, everything is ready that someone pushes a button and the press can print the issue. This is the very last \"lets check it one more time\" thing.</p>\n\n<p>For this reason:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>If you have a correction, it is actually cost money to them. </li>\n<li>If there is 50 paper in the journal, and 10 out of the 50 start rewriting the paper in the last minute, then the production line waits till everything is fixed, reformatted, again cost money. A lot.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Before anyone starts to complain about the 24 hr (which is common in my field, too), let us be a little professional.<br>\nYour paper should anyway be free of errors and well written at the point of submission. Then several referees check it back and force, as well as you are free to check your manuscript if you are not sure. When you are at the proof stage, your paper has already read and checked by several people, several times for months. You don't have a good reason to re-write anything, except if there is an error due to typesetting. In other worlds, if you done your job decently, you don't have more than 5 min job with that proof in 99% of the time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27118,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'll try to explain the problem from both perspectives: author and a journal typesetter.</p>\n\n<p>The typesetting process goes as follows:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>We pre-plan the issue contents 2 months in advance, in order to balance the issues in size. This is necessary for small journals with 4 or 6 issues per year, not quite for large journals with a long publishing queue. At this moment, we take articles that are accepted. If there's not enough of them, we go through the queue and try to find articles that can be accepted quickly.</p></li>\n<li><p>Now the authors provide the final version. This takes some time, so I receive the articles usually 4-6 weeks before the issue date. That's not a lot of time.</p></li>\n<li><p>Most articles are typeset within 1-2 weeks after I receive them. With these, there's no problem at all. However, then you have articles that take more time, since the quality of the figures is being discussed, as well as semantics (when the formatting from the authors is poor and the semantics are not clear) etc. This takes some time. So it can happen that the article is typeset like 2 weeks before the issue date, or even less.</p></li>\n<li><p>So now the article is typeset and is with the authors for proofs. Any correction they make has to be incorporated. Sometimes it's not easy (requests for replacing a figure with a better one, for moving figures to other pages etc. are not uncommon). Sometimes I strongly disagree with the authors on these. In such cases, we need to have yet another couple mails exchanged or the chief editor involved, and that takes time again. At this moment you see that 24 or 48 hours can be the maximum we can give.</p></li>\n<li><p>Once all articles get back, the issue has to be made ready, articles published online, CrossRef+Scopus metadata prepared, DOI registered etc.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>That's the perspective of the journal I typeset. I hope that it is clear that the publication comprises a lot of steps. When the authors are cooperative and reasonable, everything goes fluently and the final version is ready 4 weeks before deadline. And then you have cases when things don't go quite well, and you get very close to the deadlines.</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, to make things easier (and reduce the amount of work just before the issue date), you leave authors quite a short time for response. In most cases, there is plenty of time left, but if 80% of people misuse this time, we work 16 hours a day the last 3 days before the issue date to sort everything out, and we simply want to avoid this.</p>\n\n<p>From the perspective of the author, 48 hours is not much for proofreading an article, especially since this has to be done very carefully. However, in most cases, if you ask for extension (a 5-line mail with a very short request is enough), it will be granted without any problem. Just please don't misuse the possibility.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 55674,
"author": "dwoz",
"author_id": 38642,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38642",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Speaking as a former Design Director, Typographer, and Production Manager of many publications and also of national-market print advertising work:</p>\n\n<p>The reason that there's a tight deadline for authors' galley proofs is because of what galley proofs are for: evaluating whether the formatting has introduced any issues with readability or meaning; whether there's any typos or format errors; whether there's any omissions or duplications. </p>\n\n<p>The turnaround is tight because it's part of the <strong>production</strong> phase, not part of the <strong>editorial</strong> phase. The time to edit and re-write and fuss over the article is done and gone. Galley proofs is a final reality check, not a chance to revisit that awkward sentence in the 4th 'graph.</p>\n\n<p>Traditionally in print, editorial and not production is given the luxury of extra time. Usually there is no luxury of time, in spite of what it appears to the author. Most journals have a lot more production steps to go through and are very close to press time when the authors' proofs go out. It may seem like \"not a big deal,\" but a printing operation has scheduled their presstime very closely, and if your book is late, it gets bumped from the schedule in favor of something that is actually ready for press. If your book is bumped from the press schedule, it might be days or weeks before it can slot back in. The cost to \"hold\" the press is spectacularly prohibitive.</p>\n\n<p>Production and pre-press times are shrinking these days, it's easier today and faster to get a book to press than it was in, say, 1985. In many ways that exacerbates the problem with proofs turnaround...there's just no \"fiddle\" time anymore. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 172735,
"author": "a3nm",
"author_id": 17423,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17423",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Short galley proof delays are not universal, in particular for journals having no print edition. I am involved in the copyediting phase of the <a href=\"https://lmcs.episciences.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">LMCS</a> journal (called "layout editing"), which is an arXiv overlay journal. When we modify articles for style or typographical reasons, we give authors 2 weeks to verify our work (sending them the new PDF plus a LaTeX diff). The 2-week deadline is really to put a deadline, but there really is no urgency. When the authors approve, the paper gets assigned an issue and the final version is published in that issue.</p>\n<p>My understanding is that the galley proof step with short deadline is because, with print journals, some editing must occur as part of the preparation of a specific print issue, and fit in the production timeline for that issue. But once you get rid of the print version (and who reads academic journals on paper nowadays?), the problem simply goes away.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27076",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/386/"
] |
27,078 |
<p>I'm writing an application email to a professor for a PhD program. One dilemma that I have is whether I should add hyperlinks and if there are any problems in doing that. Consider the imaginary paragraph below:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>... <em>and I currently work under supervision of professor
<a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27078/are-there-any-drawbacks-in-adding-hyperlinks-to-phd-application-email">Foobar</a> in laboratory of <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27078/are-there-any-drawbacks-in-adding-hyperlinks-to-phd-application-email">blabla</a> at
University of</em> ...</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Is this a bad practice? Is there any chance that they neglect the convenience of a single click because of a the visual incoherency of the text?</p>
<p>P.S. Are still any email client that shows the actual url instead of hyperlink text?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27085,
"author": "Nahkki",
"author_id": 18092,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18092",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are a few holdouts who only read emails once they have been printed. With the advent of smart phones and the decline of lab or research area secretaries this number has gone down but there are still a few. I know of at least 2 in my area of research at my alma mater that still worked with only printouts and both were, if a bit stodgy when it came to fancy technologies like emails, were brilliant researchers.</p>\n\n<p>For that somewhat silly reason I would definitely find a way to put URLs inline in any emails to professors you aren't familiar with. Something as simple as:</p>\n\n<pre><code>... and I currently work under supervision of professor \n Foobar([www.school.edu/~foobar][1]) in laboratory of \n blabla([www.school.edu/~blabla][1]) at University of ...\n</code></pre>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27095,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think I'd write it \"straight,\" and give the links in a closing paragraph at the end. That way, links don't distract from the point you're trying to make<code>*</code>, but you've still provided the information that may be wanted. I'd surely put the full URL, instead of a blind link. So:</p>\n\n<pre><code>You can find Professor Foobar's page at www.school.edu/~foobar The Blabla\nlaboratory maintains a page here: blabla.school.edu\n</code></pre>\n\n<p><code>*</code> For an example if distracting links, see any Wikipedia page. (It <em>is</em> getting better, though.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27100,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>My personal remark:<br>\nI am not particularly fan of clicking all around links in an email I just got from a stranger, however natural and official looking it is. </p>\n\n<p>From reader engagement point of view:<br>\nLinks directly included to the text actually invite the reader to interrupt their reading and click and go to the website of another university, reading this and that there, <strong>instead of reading your mail</strong>! It is exactly you don't want, becasue you want her/him to stay and read your mail from start to end. If you really want to link, I would make a separate short paragraph at the end or in P.S., something like \"for your convenience, here are links to blablabla\". That way the reader easily can reach those websites, IF she/he chooses and AFTER she/he read your message. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27078",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12666/"
] |
27,086 |
<p>I was offered an opportunity to prepare a 2-page research proposal for a postgraduate research program in computer science.</p>
<p>I am searching for a systematic and step by step technique to select/find a workable research topic.</p>
<p>Is there any systematic procedure/strategy/approach/method that researchers generally use to select/find and narrow down a research topic from an ocean of topics that pops in one's mind?</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1646/how-to-select-a-masters-thesis-topic-if-your-advisor-wont-suggest-one">Is this technique an standard in the academia?</a></strong></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27085,
"author": "Nahkki",
"author_id": 18092,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18092",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are a few holdouts who only read emails once they have been printed. With the advent of smart phones and the decline of lab or research area secretaries this number has gone down but there are still a few. I know of at least 2 in my area of research at my alma mater that still worked with only printouts and both were, if a bit stodgy when it came to fancy technologies like emails, were brilliant researchers.</p>\n\n<p>For that somewhat silly reason I would definitely find a way to put URLs inline in any emails to professors you aren't familiar with. Something as simple as:</p>\n\n<pre><code>... and I currently work under supervision of professor \n Foobar([www.school.edu/~foobar][1]) in laboratory of \n blabla([www.school.edu/~blabla][1]) at University of ...\n</code></pre>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27095,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think I'd write it \"straight,\" and give the links in a closing paragraph at the end. That way, links don't distract from the point you're trying to make<code>*</code>, but you've still provided the information that may be wanted. I'd surely put the full URL, instead of a blind link. So:</p>\n\n<pre><code>You can find Professor Foobar's page at www.school.edu/~foobar The Blabla\nlaboratory maintains a page here: blabla.school.edu\n</code></pre>\n\n<p><code>*</code> For an example if distracting links, see any Wikipedia page. (It <em>is</em> getting better, though.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27100,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>My personal remark:<br>\nI am not particularly fan of clicking all around links in an email I just got from a stranger, however natural and official looking it is. </p>\n\n<p>From reader engagement point of view:<br>\nLinks directly included to the text actually invite the reader to interrupt their reading and click and go to the website of another university, reading this and that there, <strong>instead of reading your mail</strong>! It is exactly you don't want, becasue you want her/him to stay and read your mail from start to end. If you really want to link, I would make a separate short paragraph at the end or in P.S., something like \"for your convenience, here are links to blablabla\". That way the reader easily can reach those websites, IF she/he chooses and AFTER she/he read your message. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27086",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
27,087 |
<p>I've seen many, many examples of scientific presentations from the National Laboratories in which virtually every slide is oversaturated with information. If this were an isolated event, I wouldn't have given it any thought. But I've noticed this pattern in presentations over many years from among presenters hailing from US national laboratories. Though my field is computational science, I've seen talks from national laboratory scientists in other fields and their presentations also have this same characteristic.</p>
<p>In academia, I've been taught to keep slides as simple as possible, with as little info per slide as necessary. My understanding is a presentation should be though of as an "advertisement" for the paper to be published. Thus, presentation slides should be designed to preserve the audience's interest. One method of keeping the audience interest is to not overwhelm them with too much information all at once (e.g., not too much text and not too many pictures in a single slide). I presume this is universally true, regardless of discipline.</p>
<p>However, the overwhelming majority of national laboratory presentations that I've seen seem to fill up virtually every available space with as much information as possible. Why do presentations from national laboratories tend to contain so much information per slide? How does this meet the needs of their target audience?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27089,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My guess is that it's a cousin of the same problem <a href=\"http://www.zdnet.com/news/pentagon-cracks-down-on-powerpoint/96099\" rel=\"noreferrer\">in the armed forces</a>, which has been a problem <a href=\"http://www.zdnet.com/news/pentagon-cracks-down-on-powerpoint/96099\" rel=\"noreferrer\">for two decades</a>. (Note one link is from 2000, the other from 2010.)</p>\n\n<p>On another level, the culture of the national laboratories has been trending in a more corporate direction, and many of the presentations that they need to give have limits on the number of slides to be presented. Managers want the whole \"story\" told in a handful of slides, which leads to over-compression of information.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27094,
"author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten",
"author_id": 440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let me try to answer for the tendency in my own discipline (particle physics) where we have this problem across the board (i.e. universities too). </p>\n\n<p>Much like questions and answers on a Stack Exchange site, those slides are expected to form a resource for future investigators. We <em>know</em> there is too much there for anyone to absorb in the meeting, but we also know that more people will dig these slides out of the archive over the next year and <em>study</em> them then actually attended the meeting in the first place.</p>\n\n<p>Yes, in an ideal world there would be a technical report <em>and</em> a deck of slides, but in fact there are only the slides.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Personally I try pretty hard not to do this, and the result is a lot of backup slides and a lot of little URLs hanging around the bottom of the slides.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>As an aside, I think that PowerPoint and similar polished slideware makes stuffing them (over-)full way too easy. I use a LaTeX base for mine (just the old slides class with my own library of macros for a long time, but I've started using Beamer) and these tools encourage a better style. </p>\n\n<p>Alas, I know all the tricks to squeeze on just one more thing.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27099,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think it is just presentation style. We have the same in our universities: hey, let's put 3 topics and 5 figures on this slide, so everyone will be impressed! I don't say that everyone should talk like Steve Jobs or the TED presenters, but I believe that presentations should comply some basic rhetoric and design principles.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27087",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/931/"
] |
27,103 |
<p>I'm thinking about studying in Germany next year at a university. I am a US citizen. I have completed a 2 year Associate's degree program at a trade school and also finished my general education requirements, at about 45 units as a combination of AP tests and classes at a community college. </p>
<p>When applying, they the schools ask for an official copy "school-leaving certificate" - I'm guessing this means diploma. Do I need an official copy of my high school transcript and/or diploma? Does my Associate and other college credit infer that I have already successfully completed high school? As I haven't quite mentioned any specific schools, I think this answer is probably the same regardless of the country of the institution.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27108,
"author": "Ondřej Černotík",
"author_id": 8164,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8164",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Yes, German universities oftten require an official copy of your high school certification, even if you already have a university diploma which implies the completion of a high school. The same happened to me when I was starting my PhD in Germany - I also was required to present my high school certificate, although I also had two university diplomas (bachelor and master). In a similar manner, both of my university diplomas were required.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 100336,
"author": "Mark",
"author_id": 75255,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/75255",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You not only need to show that you completed high school, you also need to provide something that includes your grades*.</p>\n\n<p>In most (all?) study programs in Germany, applying students are ranked by high school (\"Abitur\") grades, and a cut-off is used to decide who gets in (<em>numerus clausus</em>). The cut-off differs per subject, and may differ by university.</p>\n\n<p>*include a key for the grades, as they differ in every country: e.g. highest, lowest, pass limit; or even better an official translation of US-grades to German grades.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27103",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20637/"
] |
27,107 |
<p>I am pursuing a specific research question. I have thoroughly surveyed existing research on the topic, and found dozens of researchers working on the problem, but was disappointed by their work. Their research:</p>
<ul>
<li>Does not consider the full magnitude of the problem.</li>
<li>Constantly tests old, insufficient methods.</li>
<li>Overlooks significant details, so the test results are meaningless.</li>
<li>Lacks innovation.</li>
</ul>
<p>I found lots of interesting ideas posted around the Internet. In blogs, forums, and USENET, I found people with some clever new ideas to approach the problem. These people had a genuine stake in the problem, so I found their ideas actually brought the problem somewhere meaningful. These informally-posted ideas need testing and considerable refinement. They are far from perfect, but many times better than what the academics are dealing with.</p>
<p>I would like to prepare some trials and publish some papers, centered around a number of these ideas. It is only fair that I give credit to the authors of those ideas. Essentially, I need to give credit to lots of anonymous people who posted their ideas informally. I have never read an academic paper containing highly informal references. Can I include references like this in my paper?</p>
<pre><code>MutantTurtle17. “My Amazing DIY Tin-can Refugee Shelter.” MyBlog. 2014.
Retrieved from http://...
SimCityFan2012. “RE: RE: Look at this!” Shelter Designs Forum. 2013.
Retrieved from http://...
</code></pre>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27109,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is an actual problem that I also struggle with in some aspects of my research. There are problems in which the blogging and industrial world is, sadly, miles ahead of the scientific state of the art. <strong>However, citing an abundance of blogs and other non-reviewed resources is rarely a good idea.</strong> A few citations of web resources are usually ok, though. Hence, my (imperfect) solution to the problem currently is to cite the 2, 3 web resources that are best suited for my paper, and try to find academic resources that cover the rest of the ground as good as possible.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, this situation is certainly a possibility for you. If you can take the ideas from these forums and blogs, and bring them on a sound scientific basis (e.g., through user studies or formal analysis, whatever is appropriate for your research) and publish it <em>both scientifically and informally</em> (e.g., in your own blog), there is a good chance that you make a strong impact on both the scientific side and the blogging community. At the end of the day, people tend to remember not only who originally threw a revolutionary idea or concept out there, but also (sometimes even more so) the person that made the revolutionary idea <em>work</em> (or, at least, clearly showed that it works).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27113,
"author": "Peteris",
"author_id": 10730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10730",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>Does your paper really test & verify <em>lots</em> of ideas?</h2>\n\n<p>You state that \"I would like to prepare some trials and publish some papers, centered around a number of these ideas.\" How many of those ideas do you expect to actually implement per a single paper?</p>\n\n<p>If you implement, evaluate and contrast three novel ideas from blogs&forums, preferably including a solid comparison against a baseline published method; then that's just three informal items that you need to cite, in addition to the current academic publications.</p>\n\n<h2>There are references and references</h2>\n\n<p>If your paper assumes something, or claims non-obvious things, then you need 'proof' of it outside of your paper that should come from references. Those references need to be trustworthy - preferably respectable peer reviewed publications.</p>\n\n<p>However, if your paper uses references for giving credit to ideas or pointing to original sources, then that's an entirely different class of reference, where blogs and forums are just as acceptable as, say, referencing archives of private informal letters that are used in studies of literature or history. </p>\n\n<p>If you have never read an academic paper with a lot of informal references, then it is because it is very dependent on the field you're studying - for example, a thesis about racial stereotypes in online media would reference many informal sources as examples; while a thesis about particle physics wouldn't have any.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27115,
"author": "Jessica B",
"author_id": 20036,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20036",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Maybe one way of dealing with having lots of informal references would be to divide the bibliography into sections, so that the reader can easily see the different types of reference (acknowledgement versus justification). </p>\n\n<p>Or alternatively maybe put them all in an extended acknowledgements section (since databases won't be able to do much with blog citations anyway, perhaps it wouldn't matter so much if they don't appear in the official bibliography, provided the reader is sufficiently informed of who came up with what).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27223,
"author": "h22",
"author_id": 10920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10920",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the post knowingly belongs to some well known researcher or otherwise a known, notable person, such post can be cited, because even \"personal communication\" at the end can be a reference. However it is not good as a proof that something questionable is true as this is not a peer reviewed article.</p>\n\n<p>If the author of the post is anonymous or not a scientist, such source is not trustworthy and is only suitable as a raw input data for analysis in social research.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 193317,
"author": "Daniel Hatton",
"author_id": 128581,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/128581",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is just a personal opinion, but let's run it up the flagpole and see who salutes.</p>\n<p>When deciding whether to use (and therefore cite) information from a particular source, ask yourself: <em>who has checked that the evidence and arguments presented in this source really support the conclusions this source reaches?</em></p>\n<p>For a peer-reviewed paper in a journal or conference proceedings, the answer is "a couple of independent experts in the relevant field, in a formal procedure in which they're fully focused on the task". That's great, you can go ahead and use (and therefore cite) the information with only a pretty cursory check of plausibility on your own part.</p>\n<p>For a Wikipedia article with many independent authors and a lively talk page, the answer is "a large community of Wikipedia users, some of whom are experts in the relevant field and some are not, who may not be fully focused on the task in a formal process, but who at least have a clear pathway to correcting any errors they discover". Again, this is pretty good - maybe you need to be slightly more careful in your plausibility check than you would with a peer-reviewed paper, but you're still good to use and cite.</p>\n<p>For a book that's been through many editions, the answer is "a large community of readers, some of whom are experts in the relevant field and some are not, but who don't have any particularly clear or reliable pathway to correcting any errors they discover". Before you use (and therefore cite) this, you're going to have to do a bit of work checking the evidence and arguments really support the conclusions yourself.</p>\n<p>For a book in its first edition, or for a newspaper or magazine article, the answer may be "a single editor who was more concerned with style and grammar and spelling than with the substantive validity of the arguments". Before you use (and therefore cite) this, you're going to have to quite a lot of the work of checking the evidence and arguments really support the conclusions yourself.</p>\n<p>For a Wikipedia article with a single author and a moribund talk page, or for a blog or forum post, or for an ordinary web-page, the answer may be "no-one". You can still use (and therefore cite) it, but you're going to have to do all the work of checking the evidence and arguments really support the conclusions yourself, and put enough details in your manuscript/assignment to convince the referees/examiners who are evaluating your manuscript/assignment that you've done that work.</p>\n<p>(In all cases, part of that work of checking might be done by investigating whether multiple independent sources reach the same conclusion.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 193320,
"author": "Moishe Kohan",
"author_id": 61756,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/61756",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am a mathematician, former editor of several journals (currently, just one). Suppose I were to receive a paper submission with an accompanying email saying something along the lines:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I have thoroughly surveyed existing research on the topic, and found dozens of researchers working on the problem, but was disappointed by their work. Their research:</p>\n</blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Does not consider the full magnitude of the problem.\nConstantly tests old, insufficient methods.\nOverlooks significant details, so the test results are meaningless.\nLacks innovation.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I found lots of interesting ideas posted around the Internet. In blogs, forums, and USENET, I found people with some clever new ideas to approach the problem. These people had a genuine stake in the problem, so I found their ideas actually brought the problem somewhere meaningful. These informally-posted ideas need testing and considerable refinement. They are far from perfect, but many times better than what the academics are dealing with.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Or/and, checking the bibliography list, I see many references to Reddit, Wikipedia, Quora, blogs by people I never heard of...</p>\n<p>My crank-meter would go to something like 99% and my first reaction would be:</p>\n<p>Should I even bother soliciting a quick opinion (let alone a referee report) on this paper? Or should I check if the supposed solution of the 4-dimensional smooth Poincare Conjecture uses "simply-connected" instead of "homotopy-equivalent to the 4-sphere?"</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27107",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
] |
27,112 |
<p>The number of citations seems to be a good unit of measurement for someone's success in a specific field, however, shouldn't the h-index also include the popularity of a given field? For example, I've seen papers in computer science being cited thousand of times while other papers relating astronomy only a couple-hundred times.</p>
<p>When taking into account the actual quality of the paper and the amount of work that was put into releasing the evidence, the astronomy paper would probably be measured higher (for example). However <strong>publications within less popular fields are cited less simply because they're not as <em>popular</em> as other fields</strong>.</p>
<p>If I choose a field that is not particularly popular, I risk at perhaps not achieving the same amount of success that I would if I had chosen a more popular field.</p>
<p>Are standard measures of academic output skewed by the relative popularity of the field?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27114,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The comments are already spot on, but let me elaborate a bit.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Comparing h-indices (or any other \"hard\" metric) is already dangerous in narrow fields and downright foolish if used for comparisons among different fields.</strong> This is not only because some fields are larger than others, but also because:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Differences in publication standards. In applied CS we write <em>lots</em> of papers, in many natural sciences, much fewer papers get written per researcher and time period. Arguably, this is because many empirical fields require the setup and analysis of lengthy experiments, something that is not typically (but not never) done in CS.</li>\n<li>Difference in co-author ethics. Just check around here on this stack exchange, and you will see that standards for co-authorship are <em>not at all</em> uniform in all fields. Clearly, fields with more loose co-authorship standards also expect researchers to be part of more paper projects, hence leading to higher h-indices on average.</li>\n<li>Differences in citation standards. In some fields, papers traditionally have 10 or less citations. In others, multiple dozen references are considered an informal minimum, again leading to higher average h-indices.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>(and this is even without going into how easy h-indices are to manipulate if you are willing to - keyword \"citation rings\")</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 36983,
"author": "Corvus",
"author_id": 27900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Setting aside fields that are very small, with almost no one working in them, the size of the field matters quite a bit less than people tend to think. The reason is straightforward: larger fields have more citation donors, but also more citation targets. Suppose each paper cites 30 other references. In a field with a 1,000 papers, you would have 30,000 citations shared among 1,000 targets for an average of 30 citations received by each; in a field with 1,000,000 papers you would have 30,000,000 citations shared among 1,000,000 targets again for an average of 30 citations received by each. </p>\n\n<p>In principle, the <em>growth rate</em> of the field does matter. If a field is growing rapidly, you have a large number of citation donors referencing a small number of target papers, leading to higher citations rates among these early entrants. </p>\n\n<p>In practice, as mentioned in the other answers and comments, the most important factors are probably citation and authorship practices in the field, and the degree to which the field is adequately covered in the citation database you are using. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27112",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12847/"
] |
27,133 |
<p>I'm currently a college senior and I'm working on updating my resume. My GPA is a 3.46. Is it acceptable/ethical to put on my resume that my GPA is a 3.5?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27140,
"author": "The Almighty Bob",
"author_id": 16086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16086",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>No.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Just report the GPA as it is listed on your report / certificate.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42960,
"author": "Jake",
"author_id": 21222,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21222",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Ethically, it is always best to round down slightly. If your GPA is 3.46251, I would specify it as 3.46. There isn't a big difference between 3.46 and 3.47, but 3.47 would be embellishing slightly, and that is not honorable.</p>\n\n<p>It would be honorable to round it down to 3.4, but it has the air of fact falsification to round it up to 3.5.</p>\n\n<p>The only possible case, where rounding it up to 3.5 <em>maybe</em> would be acceptable is the hypothetical case where you must choose from several options such as 3.0, 3.5, etc. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42966,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with the other answers, which say that you shouldn't round a GPA of 3.46 to 3.5. Here's the reasoning I see behind this:</p>\n\n<p>One scenario is that someone may be using a sharp cutoff (for example, a graduate fellowship that requires a 3.5 GPA). Then fine distinctions could matter, and everyone will be better off if your ineligibility is discovered early on. I consider sharp GPA cutoffs foolish, but unfortunately they are not as rare as they should be.</p>\n\n<p>For anyone who is not committed to such a cutoff, there's no significant difference between 3.46 and 3.5, and logically it shouldn't really matter. On the other hand, there's a psychological difference, of the same sort as the difference between $9.99 and $10.00. The reason why rounding to 3.5 is appealing is that it crosses a psychological threshold that sounds better, but that's exactly why it's problematic. You don't want your resume to come across as manipulative, and that's what 3.5 looks like to me. I think \"If your GPA were 3.52, you would report the extra digit to demonstrate that it was over 3.5, so a reported GPA of 3.5 means it's more likely something like 3.46. This candidate is probably trying to manipulate me by rounding the GPA to make it sound better.\" I wouldn't reject someone over GPA rounding, or consider it truly dishonest, but I wouldn't read the application as cheerfully or charitably as I might have otherwise.</p>\n\n<p>For a more dramatic example, rounding 3.96 to 4.0 will look even more manipulative, since 4.0 has the special significance of meaning straight A's. I don't think anyone cares as much about 3.5 as a threshold, but it still signifies more A's than B's.</p>\n\n<p>Note that rounding down is probably not in your interests either. If you round 3.44 to 3.4, then people may still assume you are rounding up from something like 3.36. It might not look as bad (since 3.4 is a less noteworthy threshold than 3.5), but you are still better off sticking with 3.44.</p>\n\n<p>So how many digits should you use? If your school reports an official GPA, then I'd recommend using the same number of digits they use. Two digits is pretty standard, and I don't recall having seen more than three.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 170070,
"author": "s hoffman",
"author_id": 141876,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/141876",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I disagree about it being "honorable" to round down.</p>\n<p>3.46 should either stay as is, or would round up to 3.5. Anything over 3.45 would not round down. Basic math.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27133",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20664/"
] |
27,146 |
<p>Many papers use numbered references (e.g.: [1], [2]). Is this considered a good style or even a rule or <strong>would it be acceptable to use abbreviated names of the authors and year of publication (e.g. [Smith09] for J. Smith, 2009)?</strong> I find the abbreviated name reference style a lot more informative as after a while of reading papers on a given topic it’s usually easy to identify the cited publication without the need to look at the full bibliography. I have seen this style used in books and some editorials but it is not common.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27148,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The two systems are equally good but used in different communities/journals etc. You therefore need to check what is normally used in your field and when submitting manuscripts, of course, check what the specific journal uses. The fact that you say \"most journals use\" indicates you are in a field that uses numbered or <em>Vancouver style</em> (author-number) references. The author-date, or <em>Harvard-system</em>, is used by <em>most journals</em> in my field.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27150,
"author": "Peteris",
"author_id": 10730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10730",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>You don't get to choose</h2>\n\n<p>Although as a reader I vastly prefer the name-year system, as I don't have to look up most of the references, the advantages are rather irrelevant - in almost all cases, you don't get to choose, as you'll have to comply with the citation standard of the publication. </p>\n\n<p>The journal, conference or thesis standard generelly will list the citation style required, and that's it.</p>\n\n<p>In some fields one or the other style is more common, but in any case you may encounter a publication where a different style is required, so check first.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27152,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The name/year system is much better, and you should use it whenever possible. In particular, if you work in a field with preprints your preprints should use name/year or initial/year even if the journal will later force you to change it. The reason is that name/year communicates relevant information, while number communicates no information at all. Just giving numbered references means many readers won't know anything about who did what work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27178,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In math/CS you mostly use <code>[1,2]</code> or <code>[Lot02,Zai04]</code>. You can choose (unlike what most other answers impose) either of them, note for instance that both <code>amsplain</code> and <code>amsalpha</code> exist and either of them can be used in AMS publications.</p>\n\n<p>It's a matter of habits which style the authors choose. The <code>alpha</code>/<code>amsalpha</code> <code>[Lot02]</code> style is better in most cases. However, there are communities where a numerical style is strongly prefered, moreover with the bibliography sorted by the order of appearance, and with compression turned on, because they cite hundreds of articles. And well, you don't want your in-text citations look like <code>[ABC00a,ABC00b,ABC00c,ABC00d,ACE00a,ACE00b,ABC01a,BC00a,BC00b,BC01,BC02]</code>, when it can be <code>[1--11]</code>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27240,
"author": "dr mat",
"author_id": 20755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20755",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It surely depends on the field we are talking about. </p>\n\n<p>In medicine the number method now is the standard, probably because it improves overall readability of the text. Important references are often cited literally (\"Smith et al. demonstrated that... [58]\") and general statements by a collection of other researchers (\"Many workgroups found...[23-27,57,89]). </p>\n\n<p>Especially in books and reviews where the citations go in the hundreds You appreciate if the text is not clutterd by parentheses with long names but has only small-print numbers in exponential style.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27146",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20674/"
] |
27,154 |
<p>Occasionally I have some material to cover that is best presented in the form of take-home group projects.</p>
<p>Some student groups manage to find a way to coordinate their work well and to complete the projects successfully, with every team member benefiting from the collaboration. Other groups do not do so well:</p>
<ul>
<li>Some groups evenly divide the work, but still work in isolation, losing the benefits of working with peers.</li>
<li>Some groups push the work to one or two students, while the remaining students merely contribute their name.</li>
</ul>
<p>I wonder if there are strategies or tools instructors use that can encourage more groups to operate successfully while they are working outside of class?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27158,
"author": "Nahkki",
"author_id": 18092,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18092",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think first it may be worthwhile to accept that in any group work situation there is the possibility that people will worked siloed (or isolated from one another) or one or two people will push the work forward while others are relegated or chose to remain in a passive state.</p>\n\n<p>There are some good reasons for this. I recall being a student with a pretty solid GPA, group projects were a horror for me. If the project grade is based on the overall project and does not take into account individual contributions this meant that students who were less focused on their GPA would be willing to turn in something that was not up to my standards. This led both to situations where other students refused to do work on the project (knowing that the stronger students would carry them in order to avoid dings to their GPA) and to situations where stronger students would freeze out other students (ie the stronger students would choose to take all the work and not let other be involved) in order to maintain control over the project.</p>\n\n<p>Group projects are often used as an analogy for working in the 'real world' where working in groups is the norm. The fundamental difference is that in most cases if a peer is completely slacking or sending in subpar work there is a concrete structure to monitor and handle that issue (which doesn't always work of course but there's almost always more accountability than in academic group projects). You can mimic this behavior in an academic setting by splitting up the grades for the project. Don't give one 'group grade' to everyone, instead have students report on who did what (this is particularly effective if you can have them set this early in the project instead of during turn-in) and correlate the students grade to both their work and their work in the context of the project. Having this set up early can be a great way of preventing aggressive or strong students from freezing out what are perceived as the 'weak links'.</p>\n\n<p>Additionally consider regular checkpoints on the project. This will let you get a feel for the interactions in the group and the content being produced while also minimizing the opportunity for a student to jeopardize the group by waiting until the last minute to work on their part (this will still happen to some extent).</p>\n\n<p>In short - add more structure to the group project. This increases the workload on your end but it mitigates the most common issues you'll see in groups during group projects. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27159,
"author": "Kristof Tak",
"author_id": 9401,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Drop the flat hierarchy in group projects. Use and quality based hierarchy, assign the hard-working students as group leads. Not all of them have the same level of leading qualities, but ask from them not to take the whole responsibility. </p>\n\n<p>Divide the project into tasks, and tasks into subtasks (if they don't know how to do it internally, but first give them time to try to do it, or ask for that explicitly). Otherwise, clearly assign subtasks to each group member and require each group member to spend certain amount of time per week on those tasks. Lets say each student has to spend 10 hours per week on the project related tasks. Ask students to keep track of the time they spend on a spreadsheet document by marking down the start-end times and describing the solution, or if there is no solution why it didn't work. Require them to provide also references. This document preparation should not last longer than 15 - 30 min per week. Allow the document to be informal.</p>\n\n<p>Make sure to protect your hard-working students. As @Nahkki has mentioned, group project are nightmare for good students, as they take all the workload and do everything just to ensure that the overall grade remains within their standards. However, such behaviour has long-term effects on the hard-working students, resulting in burnout. Protect them as they may show up being useful in the later stages of the project, or sometimes in the future.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27173,
"author": "Oneira",
"author_id": 20371,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20371",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Splitting the grade is a very good way to encourage the participation of every one. However, it means you know how to split the grade. You can ask for each work to have an author contribution section, stating both who did work on which part and the overall participation of each student. You can also ask the group to tell you how to split the grade. It will encourage them to discuss the contribution of each one together. Most of time if they work fair together they will just split equally, but it will encourage to give less if one did slack which is just fair. Also for longer project (like semester long) I would have Q&A session with a teacher or teaching assistant. Clearly state the fair/unfair work repartition is one of the subject that can be discussed in this occasion. I would definitely not recommend to do the spilt yourself if not equally. There will always be this guy who can talk more than speak that will trick you. If this guy tries to trick the other group member, then they need to learn how to deal with it. it's part of their training. Also some time they will decide to split and work separately, it is sometime the best way to get the thing done and they need to recognise those situation too. Example: they work with people they don't like and interact very badly. </p>\n\n<p>I think letting the student assign their own group roles themselves is critically important for their training. You want them to be able to take decision as a group, as they might need to do when they will be working in a company. They will be natural leaders that will take the reins, but that is ok, not everyone is good in this position. They might enter confrontation, but this is something they will also face later in their career and they need to be prepared for that. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27174,
"author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten",
"author_id": 440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Ken Heller, who promotes a group-based approach for physics, uses a neat strategy to discourage slacking.</p>\n\n<p>Exams are divided into an individual part and subsequently a group part, but if a member ever failed (even once) to attend the group sessions the rest of his or her group votes to allow or not allow that person to participate in the group portion of the exam.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27176,
"author": "Nate Schultz",
"author_id": 20694,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20694",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I had an engineering teacher in high school who by far was the best (in my high school) at assigning group projects. </p>\n\n<p>Students have a tendency to want to work alone because that is the environment they are accustomed to. High school teaches kids how to work in a 20th century factory: stay in line, follow the rules, do your work and let other people do their work.</p>\n\n<p>My engineering teacher wanted us to work as adults would: he assigned us brief guidelines, and our group was responsible for collaborating and producing something for him. For example, as the first project in the intro to engineering class, he started by showing us a lamp he made. Then he asked us how one could make 10,000 of them for as low cost and as easily as possible. We had to deliver an assembly process (to make the lamp), a parts lists, and a floor plan of the building we would theoretically have. </p>\n\n<p>I think what mostly made it so good was the lack of formatting. Many kids didn't like it, you had to actually listen when he talked because he didn't hand out sheets reiterating what he just said. You had to use your best judgement with regards to making the product look as nice as possible, as apposed to following some guidelines. The class made you think, you couldn't just go from one step to the next and get the correct answer, you had to think for yourself and make up your own steps.</p>\n\n<p>Grading was a struggle for him, especially because this was one of his first times teaching this class. You got a grade for the project (everyone in the group got the same grade), and you got a grades for small check ins to make sure you were actually doing stuff in your group. </p>\n\n<p>Engineering is mostly about problem solving, so when asked questions he would often respond \"That's <em>your</em> problem\". He did so if people complained they were doing too much of the work, or if their group wasn't listening to them, etc. You can't learn how to work in a group if some higher power solves your communication problems for you.</p>\n\n<p>Hope that helps, sorry for rambling. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27197,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 20342,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20342",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I took a class that involved group work. The professor allowed groups to vote to fire a member, provided they gave sufficient reason to the professor. This meant that everyone was held responsible.</p>\n\n<p>My group nearly fired someone who kept missing meetings and then lied about it. However, he was sufficiently scared into working hard, so we let it slide.</p>\n\n<p>I'm not saying this allowing teams to \"fire\" people is the best way. However, I think that finding a way to make team members accountable to each other is essential.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27154",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
] |
27,155 |
<p>The journal Science has two sections for submission, Research articles and Commentary.
<a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/site/feature/contribinfo/prep/gen_info.xhtml">http://www.sciencemag.org/site/feature/contribinfo/prep/gen_info.xhtml</a></p>
<p>Under commentary, there is a section for 'Policy Forum'. Unlike 'Education Forum' there is nothing explicit about research related to Policy. If one submits (not invited) a manuscript to Policy Forum, is this considered peer reviewed publication? Is there a difference in citation both in format of a citation and if it is common to cite a manuscript published in Commentary?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27203,
"author": "mkennedy",
"author_id": 5711,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5711",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The general discussion for the Commentary section mentions this:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Commentary material may be peer-reviewed at the Editors' discretion.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you look up a sample Policy Forum paper online, you can download the <a href=\"http://www.sciencemag.org/citmgr?gca=sci%3B296%2F5568%2F659\" rel=\"nofollow\">citation information</a>. For example, </p>\n\n<pre><code>NUCLEAR WASTE \nYucca Mountain \nRodney C. Ewing and Allison Macfarlane \nScience 26 April 2002: 296 (5568), 659-660. [DOI:10.1126/science.1071886]\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>and then in various formats. Here's the BibTeX entry:</p>\n\n<pre><code>@article{Ewing26042002,\nauthor = {Ewing, Rodney C. and Macfarlane, Allison}, \ntitle = {Yucca Mountain},\nvolume = {296}, \nnumber = {5568}, \npages = {659-660}, \nyear = {2002}, \ndoi = {10.1126/science.1071886}, \nURL = {http://www.sciencemag.org/content/296/5568/659.short}, \neprint = {http://www.sciencemag.org/content/296/5568/659.full.pdf}, \njournal = {Science} \n}\n</code></pre>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27205,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general, a \"Comment\" is always a publication. However, your question is whether it should be listed in someone's publication list, presumably along side peer-reviewed articles. I believe the relevant criterion, as <em>mkennedy</em> suggests, is if the comment has itself been peer-reviewed. When yes, it can go in the regular list; if not, then it should presumably be relegated to a \"additional publications\" list or something of that type.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27155",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12718/"
] |
27,165 |
<p>I understand that according the ethical rules, obtaining the funding does not automatically entitle the principal investigator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal_investigator" rel="noreferrer">(PI)</a> for authorship. But I don't understand the unwritten rules. </p>
<p>I was on a postdoc. During the postdoc, I was paid from a grant obtained by the PI. At the beginning, he told me to find a good research topic and write a paper ("this will be your child"). I spent some time on literature search and very preliminary computations. I presented my idea to the PI but he told he doesn't want me to continue this topic. He even repeated this several times, on different occasions. He said my idea was too losely connected to what his group was doing. So I gave up that topic and did not do it any longer. Finally, I published a paper on quite different topic, together with the group members, and the PI was also a co-author. </p>
<p>One day I talked to a colleague from that group and I mentioned my old research idea. I said I would like to develop it anyway, when I finish the current postdoc. He told me that the PI should still be a co-author because I spent some time working on this idea in his group and I was paid by his money.</p>
<p>Now, it's been a couple of years since I finished that postdoc. I have independence and I can publish myself as the corresponding author. I would like to publish a paper on the idea I once had. Should I somehow credit the old PI? (And his grant? It's over already.) </p>
<p>The whole idea of the research is mine. The PI did not contribute whatsoever to it. I feel that crediting someone just for his funding is not ethical. The more so that he rejected my idea. But I understand the words of that colleague as a sort of a warning because he has been working with the PI for a long time and probably he knows his attitide. And that guy (the old PI) is quite well-known person in the community. Do you think I should somehow negotiate with him? Or stick at nothing and just publish the paper as entirely mine?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27167,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I cannot see why the former PI should have co-authorship on a paper they did not support or had any interest in. You are not a slave (or at least should not be) when on a post-doc (or any other position) and should retain the freedom to take own initiatives. As long as you fulfil any obligations within the position you are holding, no-one can prevent you from developing your own ideas. I can see an issue if you use materials that involve costs that you are not covering, for example, lab equipment or chemicals, electronic resources that removes capacity or resources otherwise used by the project. I do not count, for example, using a computer and printouts as such resources.</p>\n\n<p>So, for me there is no question you can use the research as your own and you should add only authors that fulfil reasonable contributorship criteria, that is have contributed to the science of your work (see posts under the <a href=\"/questions/tagged/authorship\" class=\"post-tag\" title=\"show questions tagged 'authorship'\" rel=\"tag\">authorship</a> tag for such criteria).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27170,
"author": "Andreas Blass",
"author_id": 14506,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14506",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In (pure) mathematics, if you began working on this project while supported by the PI's grant, but without or even against his advice, then your publication about it would ordinarily include a footnote on the first page, saying something like \"Partially supported by grant 314159 from the Munificent Funding Agency, John Doe principal investigator.\" I actually often see such footnotes without the name of the PI, but I see nothing wrong with including the name if it helps to placate him. CAUTION: Conventions may be different in other fields.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27175,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most disciplines have either a \"Funding\", \"Financial Support\", or a general \"Acknowledgements\" section that people use to note the source of funding for the research in question. Since the initial research that led to this paper was supported by your previous PI, you should note that in the paper and thank the funding agency and your former advisor for their assistance and support as you developed the idea.</p>\n\n<p>Since the PI in question repeatedly decided to not support or become involved in the work when they had the chance, I don't see how there could be any reasonable expectation of co-authorship and it's very unlikely that they will be upset.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27201,
"author": "Floris",
"author_id": 15062,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15062",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I believe the PI does not qualify for authorship. However, there is nothing to be lost by a little civility. You could send him a note - something like this (fill in the blanks)</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Dear Professor <code><name></code><br>\n I hope you are well. It has been <code><some time></code> since I moved from <code><old institution></code> to <code><your current institution></code>, and I am settling in well. <code><some personal details about your life></code>.<br>\n You may recall that we once discussed <code><the idea></code>, but since it did not align with the research direction of <code><old group></code>, we dropped it and instead I focused on <code><what you did in postdoc></code>. Now that I am at <code><new institution></code> I have dusted off the old idea, and actually was able to turn it into a paper that shows <code><some salient details></code>. I intend to publish it in <code><journal, timeframe></code>.\n Now since the idea had originally been formed while I worked in <code><old group></code>, I thought it would be appropriate to make a mention of this in the acknowledgements; I hope that you agree that this is the correct way to indicate the link to <code><old group></code>, given that we did no research on this topic while I was there.<br>\n I hope everyone is well. Please send my particular regards to <code><friends></code> - I miss <code><whatever you enjoyed></code>. Best wishes,</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If he thinks he ought to be included in the authorship list, such a note leaves the door open. It is usually not worth ending up in a fight with someone who is well established in your field - and it's their transgression, not yours, if they insist on being named a co-author.</p>\n\n<p>That said - I stand by my first sentence: what you describe does not qualify the former PI for co-authorship in this instance.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 163977,
"author": "Hugo van den Berg",
"author_id": 136354,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/136354",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Send them the manuscript when it is ready for submission but before you submit it with a note explaining that you feel s/he warrants a mention in the acknowledgement or even a co-authorship.</p>\n<p>Their response will tell you a lot about their character.</p>\n<p>But if they want to be on it, put them on it, and if you later regret doing this, just do not deal with them again in future.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27165",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20686/"
] |
27,180 |
<p>I find that in many cases, either a table or a plot will do an equally good job of presenting numeric information. Does anyone have any advice or even rules about when to prefer using a table over a plot and vice versa? I'm referring to tables and plots in the context of academic journal articles. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27183,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would say: Use tables if the actual values are of importance and use plots if trends (or similar things) are important.</p>\n\n<p>The rationale is simply that one cannot extract actual values of a function at specific places from plot. Vice verse its much simpler to see linear growth or periodicity from a plot than from a table. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27185,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As @Dirk says, it's often quite useful to preserve the numeric values - that's the motivation for tabulating data. However, plots have the advantage of being able to easily visualize trends in data.</p>\n\n<p>If you have a set grid of <em>x</em> and <em>y</em> co-ordinates, with each pair of co-ordinates having a numeric value, you can sort of do both.</p>\n\n<p>Here is an example. The trends in the data are made much clearer by plotting and colour-coding the data, but the numeric information is preserved. As a result the readability of the numbers isn't perfect, but (depending on your data) you can sometimes have the best of both worlds.</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/DUGHI.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27188,
"author": "Relaxed",
"author_id": 11596,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11596",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are able to do it, use plots, period. What little purpose tables used to have is currently best served by online supplementary material, either on the journal's website or your own.</p>\n\n<p>If you have more than a couple of constants/data points (which would not require a table either), numbers are very difficult to read and (good) plots are much better for human consumption (I don't think this is merely a matter of taste; while I am not an expert there is quite a lot of research on this).</p>\n\n<p><em>If</em> actual values are actually useful to someone, a table is in fact a very poor way to provide them as anybody wishing to use them must go through a time-consuming and error-prone data entry process. What should actually be done in this case is making the data themselves available electronically. A table is not a decent alternative to that, not anymore.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27189,
"author": "Alexey Popkov",
"author_id": 6255,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6255",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I find that in many cases, either a table or a plot will do an equally\n good job of presenting numeric information.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Strictly speaking, a plot does NOT present <em>numerical</em> information because it is just a picture. The purpose of a plot is to show geometrical form of some dependence(s) when this form is important. It is impossible to recover <em>original</em> numerical information from such picture. The requirement of reproducibility of scientific results requires to provide all necessary information needed to reproduce the results described in the paper. Most journals do not allow publishing large tables of numerical data but they allow to publish <em>supplementary information</em> online which can contain huge tables in TXT format. It is good idea to supply such information and it is free.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>The topic of effective visual presentation of information is subject of <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infographics\" rel=\"nofollow\">infographics</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><a href=\"http://www.amazon.co.uk/Visualizing-Data-Explaining-Processing-Environment/dp/0596514557\" rel=\"nofollow\">Ben Fry. Visualizing Data (2008)</a></p>\n \n <p><a href=\"http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elements-Graphing-Data-W-S-Cleveland/dp/0963488414\" rel=\"nofollow\">Cleveland W.S. The Elements of Graphing Data (1985, 1994)</a></p>\n \n <p><a href=\"http://www.stat.bell-labs.com/doc/93.4.ps\" rel=\"nofollow\">Cleveland W.S. (1993): A Model for Studying Display Methods of\n Statistical Graphics. // Journal of Computational and Graphical\n Statistics, 2(4): 323-343.</a></p>\n \n <p><a href=\"http://www.amazon.co.uk/Visual-Display-Quantitative-Information/dp/0961392142\" rel=\"nofollow\">Tufte E.R. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (2001)</a></p>\n \n <p><a href=\"http://www.springer.com/statistics/computational+statistics/book/978-0-387-24544-7\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wilkinson L. The Grammar of Graphics (2005)</a></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>and others.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27196,
"author": "gerrit",
"author_id": 1033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to the other answers, I think it depends on how much data you are trying to show. Personally, I like to use tables when I can. If you have only three data points, a figure wastes a lot of space and ink. Tufte calls this the <a href=\"http://www.infovis-wiki.net/index.php/Data-Ink_Ratio\" rel=\"nofollow\">Data-ink ratio</a>. In his book, he recommends:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Above all else, show the data.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So, if you have hundreds of data points, you would show a figure, unless the exact data values matter (in which case it is rather a reference table). But if you have only a handful of points, it is more efficient to display the data in a table. Unless, as other answers point out, you want to visualise a particular relation or trend — then a visualisation is again more appropriate.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27222,
"author": "h22",
"author_id": 10920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10920",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Readers and listeners tend to read without no more that 16 or about items on the figure during presentation, so a good table should not be larger that 4x4 or about. This is relatively small size. Use plots if you need to present more data.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27336,
"author": "Raphael",
"author_id": 1419,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1419",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Are the specific values really, really meaningful and relevant? Do they have meaning outside of the sandbox? Are you, for example, publishing new measurements of fundamental constants? No? Then, most likely, the actual numbers have no business being in your <del>article</del> extended abstract.</p>\n\n<p>My rationale is: you are telling a story. Elements that don't serve to make a (major) plot point or at least support it have to go. Nobody will look at the numbers if their values are not relevant or support a point you are trying to make.</p>\n\n<p>Now, there is data that does not lend itself well to the usual plots you can make (line plots, histogramms, bar charts, ...). Sometimes, a table is all you can do, especially if the data has no useful scale in at least one dimension. For example, assume we have investigated four methods in four scenarios and have collected some quality measure; the bigger the number, the better the method worked in that scenario.</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/RaSPf.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p>What do we see in this table? Nothing, without really <em>reading</em> which may be a waste of time, given that the numbers may not mean anything on their own.</p>\n\n<p>What is the <em>story</em> we want to tell? Maybe something like this: Methods one and three are complementary and excell in their respective strong scenarios; you should pick one of them if you know which category your application falls into. Method two is somewhat useable in all cases but worse than the specialists; use it if you don't know what you have at hand. Never use the fourth method, it's always bad.</p>\n\n<p>We can improve the table so that it supports that story at one glance by normalising the data (I assume a linear scale from 0 to 250 here) and giving visual indication of \"good\", \"meh\" and \"bad\".</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/Nojeu.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"><br>\n<sup><a href=\"https://github.com/akerbos/sesketches/blob/gh-pages/src/academia_27180.tex\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">[source]</a></sup></p>\n\n<p>Now, the layout of the table can be improved and maybe you want to swap columns so that the complementary methods are neighbours. It is hard to show variances with this visualisation. Furthermore, the <a href=\"http://colorbrewer2.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">choice of colors</a> can be debated (red/green may have different meanings in different cultures; also they can not be distinguished by a sizable portion of all readers). </p>\n\n<p>Still, I think the example serves to support <em>my</em> point: be creative when representing data, with a focus on supporting the narrative of the article and less on dumping data (there's other places for that).</p>\n\n<p>There is plenty of literature on visualising data but I'm not intimately familiar with any, so I'll just point you towards some blogs:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http://flowingdata.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">FlowingData</a> by Nathan Yau</li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.theusrus.de/blog/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Statistical Graphics and more</a> by Martin Theus</li>\n<li><a href=\"http://visualisingdata.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">visualising data</a> by Andy Kirk</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>They have plenty of inspiring examples.</p>\n\n<p>One further TeXnical note: it's possible to <a href=\"https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/29293/3213\">draw small inline-style plots</a> (called <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparklines\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">sparklines</a>, apparently) with which you could potentially fill a table.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27180",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7159/"
] |
27,191 |
<p>Is it ethical/lawful to recolor/scale the logos when importing them to presentation slides to make the logos meet the template standards and fit the theme colors?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27192,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Logos are often trademarked, and therefore you are <strong>not</strong> free to recolor them according to whatever color scheme your template happens to use. </p>\n\n<p>However, many companies and universities do have multiple versions of their logo available, for precisely this reason. You should contact your university's (or organization's) press office (or similar office) to see what is available, before toying with it yourself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27195,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 20342,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20342",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most companies/institutions guard their branding very carefully. Many companies spend thousands or even millions on developing a brand language, which includes fonts, colors, and other design elements.</p>\n\n<p>I don't know the specifics of the legal ramifications of changing logo colors, but the owners of the logo are sure to be against it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27204,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The following is based on general copyright concepts and should apply to any reasonable copyright laws:</p>\n\n<p>Any logo is created by somebody, be it a professional graphic-design company or the dean’s nephew, and <strong>without further ado</strong> this person (or company) holds the copyright to that logo. This mostly means that you cannot do certain things with it (or an altered form of it), which usually include dissemination or using it for commercial purposes. Whether using the logo in a presentation shown to a small audience is included in this depends on your country’s copyright and other aspects. Using it in a publication would almost certainly be a breach of copyright, however. Anyway, let’s assume it would not be legal to use the logo for whatever you do.</p>\n\n<p>As it would be pretty pointless, if, e.g., members of a university were not allowed to use its logo (when representing that university), the creator will usually have authorised the university and its members to use the logo – but this authorisation can be bound to conditions. Furthermore the university itself may impose conditions onto its members regarding the usage of the logo. These conditions may include:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You must not alter the logo (e.g., by recolouring it or changing its aspect ratio). I expect this to be a common condition.</li>\n<li>The logo must make up a certain percentage of your slides, pages or posters. This is a rather silly condition in my opinion, but I would be surprised, if there were no precedent for this.</li>\n<li>The logo must not be resized. If sufficiently stupid people make the rules, this might happen, however it hardly makes any sense: The logo may not have any physical size to begin with (as many image formats do not contain this information) and how the logo is initially sized when imported in your software depends only on whatever the software’s creator chose to be the default. And even if it has physical dimensions, it does not make any sense to use the same size in print and on projected slides. Something similar holds for sizes in pixels.</li>\n<li>The word <em>penguin</em> must be on any page or slide on which the logo appears. I am exaggerating here, but the only way to be sure that there are no silly conditions is to check.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Now, if you are lucky, there exists some document which states that members of the university or similar are authorised to use the logo and which contains conditions (if any exist) and requirements of logo usage. <a href=\"https://brand.osu.edu/logo/\">Here</a> is an example thanks to Mkennedy.</p>\n\n<p>On the other side of the spectrum, you may have some institute’s logo, which was handrawn by the director’s niece 30 years ago and gone through several iterations of scanning and printing, because the original has been lost. You have no official authorisation to use the logo at all and the legal grey zone you are entering does not change much if you additionally alter the logo (in any remotely respectful manner). It is very likely that nobody will care, let alone sue you.</p>\n\n<p>Where on this spectrum you are is something only you can decide.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Anyway, I would recommend to use such a logo only on one or two slides, so it should not dramatically destroy your colour concept.</p>\n\n<p>Additionally, you might consider adapting your presentation’s colour scheme to the logo’s colour scheme, but beware that the latter is not necessarily a good choice for projectors.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27220,
"author": "posdef",
"author_id": 5674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am converting <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27191/is-it-ethical-lawful-to-recolor-scale-the-logos#comment57539_27192\">my comment</a> to <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/27192/15723\">aeismail's answer</a> as the OP <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27191/is-it-ethical-lawful-to-recolor-scale-the-logos#comment57651_27192\">suggested</a>:</p>\n\n<p>Logotypes are typically covered by what's known as the <em>graphical profile</em> of organisations like companies, universities and indeed even political parties or NGOs. </p>\n\n<p>A graphical profile usually contains things like (but not limited to) color(s), aspect ratio, font(s) and positioning of eventual text elements regarding a logotype in question. Depending on how \"complete\" or \"strict\" a graphical profile is, you can do varying degrees of manipulations. </p>\n\n<p>It's typically not an issue to scale the image, given that the aspect ratio, or the width-height proportions are kept as the original. If the organisation in question has put some thought into their graphical profile, they should have the logotype in a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">vector-based format</a>, which scales up/down without any quality loss. </p>\n\n<p>Keep in mind that scaling up an image is usually not a good idea, if the image is <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raster_graphics\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">bitmap</a> and not vectorised. It's also good to remember that there might be issues regarding readability, i.e. there might be a limit on how much you can scale down the logotype. Logotypes that have <a href=\"http://oic.nccu.edu.tw/data/ss_logo/24689962047b2b27651919.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">text within the graphics</a> tend to have such limitations. [Keen observer might notice how badly the text renders if one does not pay attention when converting vector graphics to raster graphics]</p>\n\n<p>Finally, even if you are allowed to crop a logo (due use as decoration on the edge of a slide or poster) exactly how you can crop the logo might be defined as well. For instance the logo I linked above has 4 predefined cropped versions, that you are allowed to use. Beyond those you are not allowed to crop/scale/change the logotype in any way. </p>\n\n<p>Just exactly how that might be enforced is a whole different story however.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27226,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To clarify the resizing issue discussed in the comments: for any length-based system of preparing a document, the concept of \"size\" is indeed a valid one.</p>\n\n<p>If the people who provide official University logos have done their job properly, the logo will be available in postscript and/or PDF formats that have a <em>defined size in centimetres</em>. These original dimensions are probably intended for reproduction on A4 paper and in that case should not be changed (in the interest of consistency).</p>\n\n<p>For instance, the .eps logo of my University is defined as being 1.77 cm high. On official, printed A4 letters it is the exact same 1.77 cm in height. In most cases it would be inappropriate to rescale this logo when creating an A4 document. Consistency is good.</p>\n\n<p>As a side note, the concept of measuring Powerpoint slides in pixels is wrong: it's a vectorized document. <em>There are no pixels</em>. I don't have a copy of Microsoft Powerpoint, but Apple Keynote's default slide size is 1024x768 points (not pixels!). 1 pt = 1/72 inch. I suspect Microsoft's system is the same.</p>\n\n<p>A logical method of scaling to different media would be to scale based on the font size of your main body of text. Most A4 documents have 10pt font. So, if you're producing a poster or presentation with a main font size of 24pt, just make the logo 2.4 times wider and taller. This will keep the logo's size in proportion to the rest of the text.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27191",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
27,193 |
<p>I am working full time currently as a programmer in a summer internship. In the fall I will be continuing school and working part-time as a programmer.</p>
<p>I believe that I want to be a professional programmer and someday a software engineer.</p>
<p>However, I am very interested in all the areas of computer science that I have been studying. I hear occasionally about how some computer science majors end up being "just programmers" and not "computer scientists." There seems to be a common thought that becoming a programmer means that you give up the field as a whole and the possibility of contributing to the field.</p>
<p>I would like to be a professional programmer, but also a lifelong learner in the field of computer science. Am I naive to think this is possible?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27194,
"author": "Ozgur Ozturk",
"author_id": 20707,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20707",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I am a professional programmer with a PhD.</p>\n\n<p>I have had a colleague, who was working as a programmer and continued even publishing in his unrelated field (chemical engineering/textiles), so if you are dedicated, it is even easier for you to do, since your area might be related, but still it is not a light undertaking. But if you can find a more research heavy R&D position in the industry, of course that would make it easier.</p>\n\n<p>I am personally planning to teach adjunct classes, to keep me fresh about theoretical basis.</p>\n\n<p>Hope my two cents helps.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27214,
"author": "Oneira",
"author_id": 20371,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20371",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was discussing your question with a software developer and here is what came out:</p>\n\n<p>Software development require some specific skills you will develop in the job, and you will surely not be able to be an expert in development as well as, algorithmic, cryptography, network, AI etc... But if you want to keep working on some other computer science subject, it depends where and which project you decide to work as software developer. </p>\n\n<p>If you develop an authentication server or an anti-virus you will still have to keep up in computer security, if you develop a network layer for a game you will have to know about how a network work etc... of course you should probably avoid to go to a company that design web sites or implement yet another client data base...</p>\n\n<p>And as always: what ever you are interested in you can continue to be interested outside of your work.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27193",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20342/"
] |
27,198 |
<p>My paper was published and later on I found that two references were mistakenly included with the third reference, which is the correct.
My phrase looks like this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am worried about this (Smith 2001; David 2006; Magnus 2007)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and this is the correct form that it had to be:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am worried about this (Smith 2001)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>so the references "David 2006" and "Magnus 2007" have nothing to do with the cited phrase and they never did that work; and were not meant to be included but maybe it was a problem with reference management software that I used at the time.</p>
<p>I wonder if this will cause a problem to my paper or even plagiarism/retraction.
I am really worried about this and any advice is more than welcome.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27199,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Obviously it would have been better not to commit such a silly blunder in a published paper, but I don't think it matters much. Such errors, especially when accidental, will inevitably occur, much as typographic errors. A slight embarrassment to you, yes, as any typos or errors in formulas would be, but not truly \"actionable\" by anyone, so far as I know. So, bottom line, \"forget about it\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27200,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Plagiarism is the use of another author's ideas or words without proper credit. You haven't done that, so there's no need to worry about it. Also, people don't retract papers over trivial editing errors like this.</p>\n\n<p>However, since it's something that might be confusing to a reader, it may be worth asking the journal about printing a correction. Simply get in touch with the editor who originally handled your paper, or if they no longer work with the journal, contact the editor-in-chief. They would typically publish a one-sentence note in some future issue of the journal, stating that the references were included by mistake and should be ignored. Alternatively, they may decide the matter is too trivial to be worth the space to correct it.</p>\n\n<p>Either way, you should post the correction on your web page, and any other place where the paper is publicly available (preprint servers, etc). </p>\n\n<p>This is no big deal and happens all the time. Just get it fixed, move on, and be more careful next time.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27198",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20708/"
] |
27,209 |
<p>I'm sorry if this is not the right place to ask this sort of question, but I really need an answer.</p>
<p>I'm from the middle-east and wants to apply for a master's degree in Russia, but lately people are discouraging me about the idea, for the following reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>A Russian degree is not perceived as "very good" in other parts of Europe (western countries) & USA</li>
<li>difficult to get a job while (or even after) studying, since you are a foreigner</li>
<li>even if you get a job, incomes are LOW</li>
<li>there have been several racism-related crimes against Black and Hispanic (etc) people, and all-in-all it's a dangerous country.</li>
</ul>
<p>Don't get me wrong, I love Russia and Russian culture, but I'm paying a big amount of money, so I'd love to get things in return.</p>
<p>My question is: are my concerns reasonable, or are they just the product of American (Hollywood) propaganda? Would you advise me to study abroad in Russia or drop the idea and find somewhere else?</p>
<p>I mean: is it worth the time/money/effort or not?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27221,
"author": "h22",
"author_id": 10920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10920",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Leading universities (Moscow, St Petersburg and the the state universities in the capitals of the former Soviet Republics) used to be very good during the times of the Soviet Union and the first decade afterwards, and it was possible to get a PhD position anywhere in Europe after finishing them (not a post doctoral position after doing PhD there, however). I am unsure about the most recent situation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27225,
"author": "Dmitry Savostyanov",
"author_id": 17418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17418",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I try not to think of myself as a person influenced by the US propaganda (I am more acquainted with Soviet and late Russian propaganda, more likely). However, I can not really advise you to go for degrees in Russia.</p>\n\n<p>First of all, the STEM subjects were traditionally strong in the Soviet time due to the nuclear project. Unfortunately, the professorial level degraded significantly in the post-Soviet 90s, and did not fully recover yet.</p>\n\n<p>Second, you are probably aware that most of the universities in Russia teach courses in Russian. Unless your Russian is already fluent (or at least basic), be ready to spend a year or so mastering it before you will really address your subjects. Unless you plan to work in Russia afterwards, the knowledge of Russian (as opposed to English) is not something that increase your career progress dramatically.</p>\n\n<p>Lastly, having summa cum laude BS and MS degrees, as well as a PhD (or Cand Sci as we call it) from strong Moscow Universities myself, I probably can confirm that many HR departments prefer to see something easily recognizable on your CV, e.g. the University of Oxford as a trademark impacts your progress much better than the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology that sounds almost like Inshallah Salam Alaikum University for someone who never heard of it.</p>\n\n<p>On the bright side, studying in Russia you most definitely will experience interesting adventures, befriend the best guys and hang around the most gorgeous young ladies. Also, if you can solve problems you face in Russia, you arguably are ready to solve them in any other place.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27276,
"author": "Kristof Tak",
"author_id": 9401,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I will extend Dmitry's great answer, to answer the later part of your question: \"Any alternative suggestions\" - part.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Teaching quality:</strong></p>\n\n<p>It is clearly stated (and pretty obvious from History) that Russia used to do a great job in terms of science, but things have changed after since.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Living Prospects:</strong></p>\n\n<p>I don't know what is the real motivation behind your decision to pursue studies and possible career opportunities in Russia, but to me it Russia does not seem like calm waters. Overall, the country is facing political difficulties which may result in economic difficulties which in turn would affect the job market. Additionally, the country is now well known for its racist behaviour (as you have noted). I don't know how would that reflect to your assessment during studies, and living quality overall.</p>\n\n<p><strong>The propaganda consideration:</strong> </p>\n\n<p>The same way you assume that you might be biased by the Hollywood propaganda, you should expect the world to be biased by it as well. If we assume that you get a quality degree in Russia, it might not have the same value outside of Russia. What if you decide to switch from Russia to another country afterwards? That would put you immediately in an unfavourable position, especially if you move towards west.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Alternatives:</strong></p>\n\n<p>I would strongly recommend you to have a look at European universities. It depends what your priorities are. If your priority is high quality teaching that you could start with Switzerland, Austria, Scandinavian countries etc. If you want a more laid back working atmosphere you could have a look at South or Eastern Europe: Spain, Czech Republic, Poland. However, if you want to have a strong scientific background, with considerably less living expenses than the other Western Europe countries have a look at Germany.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Note:</strong>\nAs the other members have asked, it would be nice to add details about the amount of money you are going to invest, and the field of study you are interested in.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 78420,
"author": "givnv",
"author_id": 63425,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/63425",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It was a family tradition to study in Moscow, so I had strong stimulus (both financial and personal motivators) to continue this.</p>\n<p>However, things have dramatically changed in a very short period of time. Ten years ago, the country was open to foreign academics (also potential ones) and they were considered a benefit to the country. This is not the case anymore. You could clearly see discrimination, not among your professors, but among the population.</p>\n<p>Without fluent Russian you will have a hard time at university. Even harder outside it. I have been mocked, because my Russian, which is grammatically above the average level, even in academia, has an accent. I had also encountered aggression, both verbal and physical, when people notice that I am a foreigner. Young people are quite nationalistic, so expressing any opinion that is different than the current status-quo can be dangerous, if not among the right audience. Contrary to one of the answers here that states that all Russians are the same, I can say that I have met my best and most reliable friends there, and all of them are Russians.</p>\n<p>I have lasted there 2 months. However, I have to admit that in the past education from Russia was quite competitive. My grandfather graduated in Foreign Relations and he was working for numerous Western European ministries, because of his degree and experience. Russia had also brilliant scholars in chemistry, medicine and biology.</p>\n<p>Nowadays, when someone hears a Russian degree I can clearly see that the first thing he thinks is corruption and "How much this diploma cost?", which I think is rather unfortunate.</p>\n<p>Unfortunately, due to the times we live in, being from the Middle East is quite a negative characteristic in the eyes of most people.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27209",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20715/"
] |
27,228 |
<p>I am going to start my PhD, unfortunately, I did not get any funding. I am thinking of taking a loan so that I could focus more on my PhD studies, but the loan will need to be repaid after PhD. Therefore my question is if my financial situation is likely to be better as a postdoc than as a PhD student. My reasoning:</p>
<p>As a PhD student:
I have to pay academic fees,
I do not get funding or a salary.</p>
<p>As a postdoc:
I do not have to pay academic fees or any other fees to a university (am I right?),
I may get a salary but may not to.</p>
<p>How many postdocs do get paid? I looked at research groups I am interested in and they say, they do not have funding for postdocs and their postdocs usually are supported by some grant that they themselves have arranged before coming to the group. So is my financial situation going to depend on if I can secure a grant for my research as a postdoc or I should expect to receive a salary? How likely is the success in either ways?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27242,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A postdoc is a time limited academic job, a PhD is a research student position. The latter is usually financed but does not have to be. I have never heard of a Postdoc that did not involve payment. In your question you seem to indicate there would be a choice between the two but a postdoc, as the name implies, requires a PhD so one must go through a research education (and receive a PhD) before applying for a postdoc position.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27243,
"author": "The Almighty Bob",
"author_id": 16086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16086",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>So is my financial situation going to depend on if I can secure a\n grant for my research as a postdoc or I should expect to receive a\n salary?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The question is not getting a grant or getting paid, it is getting paid by the institution you work for or getting your salary from a grant giving institution.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How many postdocs do get paid?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>(As far as I know) All of them. Depending on the country you are talking about it may even be illegal to employ someone without pay.\nHowever, (as @virmaior pointed out) there are some \"postdocs\" in Japan that are not paid and have no work requirements. At least in Europe and the US this is not common and in most cases this is probably a bad idea for someone looking for a regular postdoc position (see my comment below).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How likely is the success in either ways?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That depends on your field, the quality of your work, ... . We can not answer that but you can talk to your peers /supervisor about the job market to get an idea.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[as a postdoc] I do not have to pay academic fees or any other fees to\n a university</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Right.</p>\n\n<p><em>One general remark: If you are not not getting a (paid) postdoc position or a grant you should try to find a job in the industry anyway. Finding a more senior position is usually much harder than finding a postdoc position.</em></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27228",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8784/"
] |
27,230 |
<p>As a new semester of school approaches I have begun updating my syllabi for the classes I teach. I have lately used a clause in the syllabus about no children in the classroom as I feel it is a distraction to both me and the other students. Having been in classes both as a student and as an instructor where children are present, I find it necessary now to have such a written statement. </p>
<p>However, there are a few parents who dislike such a clause. Some of these young parents feel that they should be able to bring their children to class, as they otherwise would need to drop out of school because they do not have enough money to hire a sitter. I feel that this is just "how it is," and is part of being a responsible adult. </p>
<p>Do other universities have policies about children in the classroom? How can I reach a happy medium of not coming across as a complete jerk, but still maintain a level of education in my classroom?</p>
<p><strong>Added:</strong> I am of the feeling that we many times need to make a rule because of that "one person" who ruins it for everyone. My stand as it is right now is that we need to come down firmly in writing, then adjust with leniency as people show they can handle having their child in class. I am not ridiculous about my classroom rules, but I prefer to give it straight, then relax the standard if needed. </p>
<p>Also, as a matter of scope, I teach at a conservative Christian university. Many of the students married young and have a child or two. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27232,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most universities I know have both a cultural understanding and formal regulations that the only people who are allowed in the classroom are those that are registered for the course, except where explicitly permitted by the instructor. (Thus for instance one has the notion of \"auditing\" a course: this basically means that you are not signed up to take the course for a grade and will not complete the required coursework / take any exams, but you do have the instructor's permission to sit through the class meetings.) This is a defensible regulation: without it, who knows who would show up for a course, taking up possibly limited space and occupying the attention of the instructor and/or the other students?</p>\n\n<p>Children are people, right? I would thus frame the discussion in that way: you're not discriminating against someone because they're a parent. You're just not allowing people in the classroom who are not registered for the course. </p>\n\n<p>I am somewhat surprised that this is a problem for you at all, and I wonder where you are teaching and if the cultural mores and regulations are different there. I don't know of any American university in which people would think they could bring children to class except in some truly exceptional/emergency situation in which they have received the instructor's permission. In any case, I would advise you to look up your university's specific policy on \"unregistered attendees\". Assuming it is along the lines of what I am suggesting you should, at most, modify your syllabus to quote from and/or link to this general policy. Don't make the issue about child care at all.</p>\n\n<p><b>Added</b>: I just looked at your profile and saw that you say you are in South Korea. As I said, both cultural mores and regulations may well be different there, and if it is very common for students to bring children to class, that makes me much less confident that rules or customs are being violated. So to adjust my answer for this: \"Do other universities have policies about children in the classroom?\" Not policies specific to children, but more general policies and also different expectations that mostly prevent the issue from coming up. But I don't know what other South Korean universities do and anyway, your university is <em>your university</em>: it is (I suppose!) allowed to do things its own way. If you do not find written regulations of the sort I mentioned above, I would talk to your colleagues -- and especially, to tenured faculty; I also see that you are a master's student, which also may be relevant in terms of how much you are permitted to rock the boat -- and find out how they deal with the situation. If several other faculty members have successful \"no children in the classroom\" policies, then you should be able to implement yours. If you are the only one you know in your university who wants a \"no children in the classroom\" policy: because you are a graduate student instructor, I would advise against pursuing that.</p>\n\n<p><b>Further Added</b>: Please read the comments below about \"drop ins\". The policy I describe above is very standard in the United States. It seems that in certain European universities the culture (and perhaps regulations) are quite different.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27233,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In my years of teaching in Asia I have had one class session where a student brought a child with him. It was an exceptional case but I was surprised he did not ask for permission. The child was well behaved (maybe 7 years old) and sat in the back not disturbing the class in any way. For this reason, I let it slide and I might be willing to accept it happening in the future. </p>\n\n<p>However, I do make it quite clear to my students, I am the captain of this airplane and I will not tolerate ANYTHING which negatively impacts the learning environment. This includes anyone who disturbs the learning process in any way. I agree with Pete L. Clark - <strong>it is not a childcare issue. You need to focus the students on it being a learning environment issue.</strong> If a student does not turn off their ringing phone, out they go. If someone dresses in a way which distracts students or me, out they go. If anything exists which negatively impacts the learning process for even one of my students, out they go.</p>\n\n<p>I'm pretty strict on this and I don't generally have problem because of that.</p>\n\n<p>Back to your core question: How do you maintain a level of education while not being a jerk? You focus on the real issue. <strong>The real issue is not kids, the issue is disruptions.</strong> While you can be forgiving and understanding, to do so in a way which negatively impacts your students should never be accepted.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27235,
"author": "jaia",
"author_id": 12861,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12861",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Being a parent and a college student is tough. Not everybody has good access to childcare and even if they do, things happen. Surely the mere presence of a child in class can't be much of a distraction except for a few moments at the start of class. If the child is quiet and well-behaved, why not allow it? (Your policy could say that distractions, including noisy children, are not allowed.) It'll make some of your students' lives just a bit easier.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27372,
"author": "Martin Thoma",
"author_id": 4092,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4092",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am now a student for 3 years in Germany (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology). I tried to find anything \"official\" about children in lecture halls, but that was not successful. </p>\n\n<p>I have only seen students with their children in a lecture about 3 times. (There might have been more children, but I probably didn't notice)</p>\n\n<p>Twice, the children were silent. Only once I've heard one of them. Then the mother went pretty quickly out of the lecture and came back (with the baby) about 15 minutes later. Nobody said anything.</p>\n\n<h2>What I think as a student</h2>\n\n<p>As long as children don't make noise and as long as the lecture hall isn't crowded I can't see any reason for them not to be there. When the child is loud, then the parents should directly go out with him/her. Most lectures aren't that silent that it is bad when you hear a baby cry for a few seconds.</p>\n\n<p>However, when the child is distracting other students / the professor then the child has to leave the lecture hall.</p>\n\n<h2>What I would do in your situation</h2>\n\n<p>I see two ways to deal with the issue.</p>\n\n<h3>Opt-child-in</h3>\n\n<p>You could forbid children in your lectures. But if students really have problems, they might come to you and want to speak with you about it. Then you should make clear that you can make an exception, but only if it works. That means if the child is distracting you / other students, the parents have to search a solution.</p>\n\n<p>I would go for this solution if there are many children who don't know how to behave in a lecture.</p>\n\n<h3>Opt-child-out</h3>\n\n<p>Don't forbid children directly. When there are problems, you can speak with the parents. You can tell them that their child distracts other students and hence they should not bring it again to lectures.</p>\n\n<p>I would go for this solution if there are only occasionally children who distract lectures.</p>\n\n<h2>More thoughts</h2>\n\n<p>You could ask parents to take a seat in the back / close to the door. This way they can quickly go out when the child/baby is loud.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27230",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14518/"
] |
27,244 |
<p>I am looking for a phd position in stem cell biology and have been trying very hard for the last 6 months in Germany or any European country. I have tried to contact many professors via mail but have nothing by way of a good response.
I have a good academic record and score.</p>
<p>Can anyone please help me out how to best proceed or where I may be lacking in my method so far?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27249,
"author": "Relaxed",
"author_id": 11596,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11596",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The process is going to be very different from one country to the next. But from what I have seen so far, the three most common ways to start a PhD in Europe are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Reacting to a job offer. If there is a specific position available and no local student that's been pre-selected for it, it's possible to come to a university to start a PhD. </li>\n<li>Coming in contact with a professor through a course (possibly while doing some preliminary research work with said professor). This would require (re)doing a master's degree in the same university, with an eye toward the PhD.</li>\n<li>Coming with your own funding, very often a grand from a foreign government or possibly from a private company.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I don't know anybody who started a PhD by contacting a professor/research group out of the blue.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27266,
"author": "andreas",
"author_id": 20529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20529",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As aid before, the process is very different from country to country. I personally have experience in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>More and more institutions move to PhD programs. Sometimes it is the only way to do a PhD, and Professors are discouraged to hire students without them going through the initial assessment of the PhD program committee. Usually, these programs are easily to find on the web. See e.g. here <a href=\"http://www.vbcphdprogramme.at\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.vbcphdprogramme.at</a>, or here <a href=\"http://www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/education/phd/overview/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/education/phd/overview/</a></p></li>\n<li><p>Look for job advertisements at dedicated portals like ResearchGate (<a href=\"http://www.researchgate.net\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.researchgate.net</a>) or <a href=\"http://www.eth-gethired.ch\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.eth-gethired.ch</a> in Switzerland.</p></li>\n<li><p>Contacting Professors out of the blue might work in some cases/disciplines. In fields or countries were industry pays much, much more than academia, Professors have problems in recruiting talented PhD students, e.g. computer science or generally in Switzerland. They are glad if they can finally put a qualified person who does the work on the grant they already got month ago. </p></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27244",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20757/"
] |
27,246 |
<p>I am a few days from completion of an industrial internship that is required for my Masters degree. I have had a bad experience with the supervisor of this internship, who has insulted me several times during my internship period. He is mean, he gets angry very easily, he is bad-tempered and most importantly he is ignorant: he never knew what I must do as a trainee, it is me who proposes the tasks to him. Finally, now that I have finished the main task of my internship, he says it is useless.</p>
<p>Completing the internship and the degree involves reporting on my internship to an academic jury. Given this bad experience, how should I handle my report?</p>
<p>In particular:</p>
<ol>
<li>I do not want to give an acknowledgement to my field supervisor in my report: is this a bad thing to do? I mean, will the jury ask me why I did not write an acknowledgement?</li>
<li>If the jury asks about my evaluation of the company where I did the internship, should I be honest in telling them what happened, or should I lie and tell them everything was fine?</li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27248,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ol>\n<li>Be a better person than him. Write the acknowledgement.</li>\n<li>I would think that telling your jury that he was a very hard man to work for is fine, but I wouldn't call him incompetent to people who are effectively his peers. I definitely wouldn't recommend him other students.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27252,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>If the jury asks about my appreciation of the company where I did the internship: should I be honest in telling them what happened and that my advisor is too incompetent? Or should I lie and tell them everything was fine?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You should do the same as in any other case when a professional relationship goes wrong. You need to:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Focus on the facts.</strong> <em>\"The project was not going smoothly\"</em> is a fact. <em>\"We had communication issues, so I ended up delivering not what they wanted\"</em> is also ok. <em>\"The project was going badly because the advisor is incompetent\"</em> is you trying to assign blame. Stay clear of that. You do not need to lie to the committee and pretend that all was great, but try to refrain from presenting your own interpretation of the events. It is understandable that you will want to make sure that the committee understands that the issues were due to no fault of yours, but by badmouthing your advisor (no matter how warranted) you are likely to reach the opposite.</li>\n<li><strong>Take the high road.</strong> If it is customary that students write an acknowledgement to their advisors, write a short, polite acknowledgement thanking him to allow you to work in his team, if you can thank him for nothing else. Rocking the boat over something so minor seems unwise.</li>\n<li>Whatever you do, <strong>stay professional.</strong> Acting out of anger and a lust to \"get back\" on your advisor for his insults <em>will</em> backfire on you.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p><strong>Important Edit:</strong></p>\n\n<p>Based on your follow-up information:</p>\n\n<p>(retracted - some racist comments as well as statements about unduly long work hours)</p>\n\n<p>The fourth, maybe even more important point is:</p>\n\n<p>If something really bad went on (like in your case), <strong>find out what the correct official action to take is</strong>. File an official complaint with your university, or even talk to a lawyer and have him look into filing a law suite (racist comments in the workspace are certainly grounds for a civil law suite where I live). Don't take a placebo action that does not hurt and does not help, such as not including him in your acknowledgements.</p>\n\n<p>The other 3 points stay in place - even if something terrible went down, you need to stay professional and you need to focus on the facts, in your official reports as much as when you talk to your jury about the incident(s).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27269,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Even if writing an acknowledgement is the norm in such a kind of report, acknowledgements remain a kind of gesture, which should have no impact on a professional evaluation. If such gestures have to be performed for their own sake, they become pointless and worthless¹: If literally everybody is being acknowledged, being acknowledged isn’t worth anything. Thus for acknowledgement having any point, there must be at least a small chance of, e.g., an advisor not being acknowledged, if this person really does not deserve it.</p>\n\n<p>So, if your advisor did everything to be not worthy of any acknowledgement (as it sounds like), the only reason to acknowledge him would be that he still has impact on your grade or career². Assuming that this isn’t the case, the jury should not ask you about this missing acknowledgement, as your relationship to your supervisor should (idealistically) not play into your evaluation. (I will come back to this in a moment.)</p>\n\n<p>As for your defense (or interview with the jury), I second the already given advice: Avoid appearing to place blame on your supervisor, but focus on the facts instead. Depending on what the mode of the defense is, e.g., if you are mainly asked questions and do not have to freely report on big chunks, you might not even need to address the issues yourself, unless asked. If you are however asked, e.g., why you made some decision on your project and it was due to your advisor commanding this decision, clearly say so. This also applies to the acknowledgement: If you are asked why you did not include one, it is the jury who brings up this topic and not you, and you can thruthfully say that you felt that there was nothing to acknowledge – but never bring on this topic on your own.</p>\n\n<p>Another thing that you should be prepared for: If your internship was sufficiently long, the jury might hold the opinion that it was your responsibility to report severe problems to the university, such that it could assign you a new internship position or similar. Whether this opinion is justified depends on several factors, such as how much time this would have wasted and how high the risk would have been that such a complaint would have backfired at you and so on.</p>\n\n<p>Also, if it’s not too late for this: Talk to your student body. They better know your specific situation than we do and might have experience with similar cases. Also, they have the means to drastically reduce the chances that this company ever gets an intern from your university again (I assume that they keep a list of good and bad companies for such internships).</p>\n\n<p>Finally, talk to the jury (or another appropriate person), after everything is over. They also will have means to drastically reduce the chances that this company ever gets an intern from your university again.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><sup>\n¹ And you might enter some euphemism treadmill which ends up in a special acknowledgement language which has nothing to do with actual language anymore, as it is the case for employment reference letters in my country.<br>\n² Be aware that there might be not-so-obvious ties between your advisor and members of your university.</sup></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27246",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20759/"
] |
27,263 |
<p>I think I have stumbled once again over the meanings of "issue" and "volume".</p>
<p>So I have found <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12541-010-0035-y" rel="nofollow">this article</a> which declares both fields. Now I used JabRef's <code>DOI to BibTeX</code> to pull the info and it worked as expected. But it only pulled the volume number.</p>
<p>But sometimes I noticed the DOI database only pulls the issue number for an article, more than only giving the volume number. Why?</p>
<p>I suppose one should prefer using the issue because there are (usually) issues of a journal ("magazine") in a year... right?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27267,
"author": "Oneira",
"author_id": 20371,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20371",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I guess your question is about citing an article. If the article you want to cite is in a journal which have both volume and issue number (this is very often the case). Then you should write both of them.</p>\n\n<p>The issue is the booklet number in which the article was published. They are grouped together to make a volume. Often one volume correspond to all the issues of one given year, but not always. Page numbers usually run sequentially through a volume (issue 2's first page will be numbered one higher than the last page of issue 1 and so on). </p>\n\n<p>Finding the article in a (paper) library is easier if you have both the volume and issue number since you directly know which booklet you need to consult. While helpful, the issue number isn't strictly required in order to find a particular article. Indeed, libraries often bind all the issues of a single volume into a hard-backed book where the page number is sufficient.</p>\n\n<p>Today with electronic paper those notions might have lost their meaning, and in the end, the DOI is probably the best way to share a reference. However, it is still in the habit to provide both issue and volume number, and given what they mean, it does not really make sense to have only one of them. The last word will go to the editor of the journal you are publishing the reference in and the bibliography style may or may not include the issue number. So for your personal bibliography, it seems safer to have it for the day you publish in a journal which request issue numbers.</p>\n\n<p>For this particular paper in jabref, I don't know why only one get pulled. Maybe it is a bug, or a database error.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 126041,
"author": "guest",
"author_id": 105280,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/105280",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The issue number is useful when pulling a hard copy of the journal before it has been bound. Some libraries wait a year or two before binding. So during that time you have loose issues. </p>\n\n<p>P.s. Some people still use the library, still read hard copies. Not everyone is young and computer oriented--you'll get the wrong perspective if you think the SE demographic represents Academia. Don't assume everyone is using the screen only. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27263",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10635/"
] |
27,271 |
<p>What do you do when you've sent a paper on your fancy new algorithm to a conference, and before the conference has replied to you, you spot a newly submitted paper on arXiv on the same algorithm?</p>
<p>Possible reactions I can imagine:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You immediately submit your work to arXiv and/or open-source your code to "prove" you were working on it too (or at least as much as that might be worth at this point)</p>
</li>
<li><p>You just wait and see if the conference accepts it (but then what?)</p>
</li>
<li><p>You withdraw your paper entirely -- you "lost"</p>
</li>
<li><p>You totally ignore it -- it's not "official" until it's peer-reviewed, so you might still be "first"</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Furthermore, who typically gets credit if:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Your paper is accepted, and is first to be published outside of arXiv</p>
</li>
<li><p>Your paper is declined, and is <em>not</em> first to be published outside of arXiv</p>
</li>
</ol>
<hr />
<h3>Update</h3>
<p>I'm reading the other group's paper more carefully (I'd only had a chance to glance at it yesterday, and was alarmed because several of the key words and concepts were exactly the same as ours), and it seems like they might not have discovered the same algorithm after all -- it's difficult for me to tell because their notation and terminology varies considerably from ours, but there's a chance that we've found different algorithms, even though several key concepts are the same. I'll continue looking into it, but just thought I'd mention this to add more context. At least now I'm a little bit more hopeful.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27272,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your paper gets accepted in this conference, you win. The submission date is before the arxiv uploading and no one can claim you plagiarized the arxiv preprint. </p>\n\n<p>If your paper gets rejected, you probably lost. In subsequent submissions you have to cite the original arxiv preprint, make extra effort and experiments to differentiate your work from theirs (by augmenting your original work) and claim that both works have reached independently to those parallel findings. Still, this lowers your work's novelty and might lead to another rejection. In that case, the other side might lost too, because your original rejection might also signify that the algorithm is not that seminal or important.</p>\n\n<p>So, you should consider in what ways you can expand your work to actually provide novel content in comparison to the arxiv preprint, in case of rejection. In case of acceptance, you have nothing to worry about.</p>\n\n<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> I really liked the other answers. Submitting to arxiv the OP's paper as soon as possible is probably the best thing to do. Also sharing co-authorship (in case of rejection) is of course the ethical / right thing to do and that is what the OP should do. But:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Case 1. There is some foul play on the other side. In that case, they do not want to share co-authorship but patent / steal the idea. In that case, co-operation is not likely to happen</p></li>\n<li><p>Case 2. No foul play involved and the OP's paper gets rejected. The other side has already patented those results by their arxiv preprint. They may even already submitted the paper to another conference (many times that is when you upload preprints). Why would they share co-authorship? Would the OP share co-authorship if his paper got accepted? Will he include the other paper in the related work section (of course he should) in his camera ready version (in\ncase of acceptance), when most of the results are identical? According to his comments he is not going to do that (when he has nothing to lose by that if his paper got accepted). Why does everyone assume that the other side will cooperate? These are serious questions that are easily answered on an ethical basis but the practical side is always more complicated. And what if the other side is more famous / established than the OP? Sometimes in that case they may even refuse co-authorship on that fact alone. Co-operation and co-authorship usually happens between similar / equal parties but they are harder to achieve when the other side has more leverage.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I really hope things work for the OP. But if his paper gets accepted he should definitely cite the other work and explain the situation in his camera ready version. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27273,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It seems to me that the best answer is some combination of 1. and 2. Because you submitted the paper for review before the other work -- call it paper X -- appeared on the arxiv, the community will readily believe that your work does not rely on paper X. (At first I wrote \"completely clear that your work does not rely\", but that's too strong: it's possible that you had some prior contact with the authors of paper X and learned about their work before it was published. But from your description that didn't actually happen, so no problem there.) </p>\n\n<p>So you are in a fortunate situation: because you submitted the work to the conference before the arxiv posting, you have established your independent priority. The fact that the report hasn't come back yet has nothing to do with that. With respect to the submission, it would be reasonable to just wait for the report -- I am assuming that since it is a conference, it will come back within a month or so? If your paper is accepted, then you should include in the published version and also in your conference talk the information that similar (or the same...) work was independently done in paper X.</p>\n\n<p>However it would be a good idea to write immediately to the authors of paper X and let them know about your work. If you are in a field where the conference paper will be supplemented by a later journal paper, then depending upon the degree of similarity you may want to consider a joint publication. If not, then your journal papers should cocite each other: this establishes that \"you both have priority\", which is certainly possible, and then both works should be publishable. (But in my opinion a joint paper is the better option if the work is very similar: does the community need two versions of the same work? Can everyone be counted on to know about and value the two works equally? Better to join forces: that seals it.) Depending upon the response you receive and the timing it might be a good idea to post your submission to the arxiv as well, with a note explaining the chronology.</p>\n\n<p>I disagree with both 3. and 4. First, it does not matter who did the work chronologically first but rather that each work was done independently and before the other was <em>published</em>. <strong>There does not need to be a \"winner\" and a \"loser\" here: you can both \"win\".</strong> It is good that research communities operate in this way, much better than your option 4.: no one has control over which referee report comes back first or which paper goes to press first or anything like that, so if this were the standard it would be at the very least quite unfair and in fact open to all kinds of ethical issues and abuses.</p>\n\n<p><b>Note</b>: One of the comments asks whether the work was stolen. It seems that the only plausible way for this to happen is for there to be some collusion between the authors of paper X and either the conference organizers or the chosen referees of your paper. This type of behavior is in my experience extremely rare, so I don't want to address it in my answer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27281,
"author": "Mangara",
"author_id": 8185,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8185",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This actually happened with a paper I worked on. We handled it by:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Immediately submitting our own version to arXiv, including a short mention of the other paper.</li>\n<li>Informing the other authors of our result, and offering to write a joint journal paper.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Submitting your own version as soon as possible strongly suggests that it was an independent discovery, especially if the presentation is completely original. It also sends a signal that you're not trying to hide anything.</p>\n\n<p>By writing a joint 'final' version, both parties can share the credit. In our case, the papers had been submitted to different conferences, so we thought a joint journal version would be the most appropriate. In the end, both papers were rejected from these conferences, but the other authors were able to strengthen the original result, while we generalized it. This meant that we were able to write a very strong merged paper, which was accepted to the most important conference in the area.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27295,
"author": "Alecos Papadopoulos",
"author_id": 8575,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8575",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Many theorems, algorithms, fundamental scientific ideas, etc bear the name of (or are attributed to) more than one person. This does not always happen because these persons worked together. Sometimes it happens because it is established that they worked on the same issue <em>approximately</em> during the same period and/or published <em>approximately</em> during the same period. An example that I can immediately give from Economics/Econometrics is in the sub-field of Stochastic Frontier Analysis: in 1977 two papers were published independently, laying the fundamentals of the field. Almost 40 years later, they are still mentioned together, when the author wants to refer to those that initiated the whole thing. These papers are</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0304407677900525\" rel=\"nofollow\">Aigner, D., Lovell, C. A. A., & Schmidt, P. (1977). Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models. journal of Econometrics, 6(1), 21-37.</a></p>\n\n<p>and</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.jstor.org/stable/2525757\" rel=\"nofollow\">Meeusen, W., & Van den Broeck, J. (1977). Efficiency estimation from Cobb-Douglas production functions with composed error. International economic review, 435-444.</a></p>\n\n<p>Your algorithm and the other algorithm may be \"cousins\", and the existence of both may have positive externalities on the research and professional paths of all involved, since it makes for a more vigorous \"look here!\" shout to the scientific world. I would even consider <em>promoting</em> the other paper alongside yours.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27271",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1201/"
] |
27,278 |
<p>I have coauthored two papers, which are strongly related. The younger paper is thus citing the first and the older paper is annoucing the second along the lines of “a study of aspect X will be published elsewhere“. As ArXiv enables you to update your papers, it would be possible to include a citation to the new paper in the old paper after the aforementioned sentence. This might save a reader of the old paper some time with finding the new paper.</p>
<p>However, this breaks some paradigms that were inherently fulfilled by any pre-internet citation, i.e., that you could not cite future work¹ and that there are no loops in citation graphs (i.e., there can be no papers A₁, …, such that A₁ cites A₂, which cites A₃, which cites …, which cites A₁). Thus I find it conceivable that such a citation into the future may cause some problems, for example some weird software behavior (ignoring for the example’s sake that this would arguably be the software’s fault).</p>
<p><strong>Is there any such issue, which would make the aforementioned citation into the future a problem?</strong></p>
<hr>
<p><sup>
¹ Of course, <em>will be published elswhere</em> existed before, but it could not be accompanied by a regular citation.
</sup></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27279,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Well, arXiv paper is on the same level as any other preprint. When a paper is on arXiv, it's somehow not quite different from you putting it on your personal website. Whence I don't see any problem here.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27280,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Occasionally two related articles are published simultaneously and cite each other, so loops in the citation graph are OK. See for example <a href=\"http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/40047/title/Simultaneous-Release/\">this article</a> in The Scientist which describes two papers which do so. I was able to verify that they both cite each other through my university's library.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27292,
"author": "Lucas",
"author_id": 20796,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20796",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I understand that when you are \"updating\" your paper, you are creating a new version in the same way a new edition to a book or a republication of the article in another journal or event. If memory serves arxiv takes track of the version numbers. Does it not? </p>\n\n<p>The problem is: a 2nd edition should be cited by its new publication date and location. The same way we do with books. When a republication happens on journals there is usually a note in the header informing the original publication date and location of the article. I do not think this is an internet related phenomena. Version tracking is common in books. Republications are not common in printed journals, but they do happen.</p>\n\n<p>In short: I do not see any problem. You are actually citing the past on a new edition. I think a note in the header in the document explaining that this is always an good idea.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27278",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734/"
] |
27,283 |
<p>I have completed my MD. I am more interested in research than in clinical practice. I know there are post-doc positions available which accept post-MD candidates. Still I am thinking of doing a PhD in my specialty of interest. However I would like to know what are the benefits of pursuing a PhD after receiving an MD? Is it really necessary to obtain a Ph.D. degree for a research career? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 27287,
"author": "posdef",
"author_id": 5674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Look at it this way; an MD says you are qualified to practice medicine, and a PhD says you are qualified to do research. In theory you <em>could</em> practice medicine without an MD (it'd be illegal in many countries but not having an MD does not mean you don't have medical knowledge), and likewise you <em>could</em> do research, especially part-time, without a PhD. </p>\n\n<p>Leaving semantics aside, having that degree significantly increases your chances of pursuing a career in a particular field. If you intend on leaving the clinic and devoting your time and energy to research I'd say that a PhD would be expected, when you look for jobs. Whether or not you can bypass that expectation with other qualifications would be speculation.</p>\n\n<p>As it turns out an MD & PhD combination is... uhmmm how to put it delicately.. \"<a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlEXOzC6vqE#t=35\" rel=\"nofollow\">so money</a>\". :)</p>\n\n<p>I say you put your hat in front of you, figure what you want to do, and go for it. Many doctors here (in Sweden) go for a double degree and it is definitely not something that's frowned upon. On the contrary, in many cases it is an additional merit for future promotions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27296,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is very much depend on your country and research field. Technically speaking many medical doctors affiliated to hospitals do research and publishes the results, so it is definitely not impossible. However, you should ask yourself if you have enough technical knowledge in your field you want to go and if you have enough experience in setting up research programs, writing proposals and papers etc. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 80091,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm an epidemiologist, working with a large number of research-oriented MDs, as well as a number of MD/MPH, MD/PhD and PhD researchers.</p>\n\n<p>In terms of an MD vs. an MD/PhD...</p>\n\n<p>I haven't met anyone whose been held back by doing research with just an MD, but my field admittedly somewhat exalts clinical expertise. The biggest advantage of a PhD is that you will have spent a great deal of time doing <em>research</em> instead of clinical practice. If you want to be an expert in methods for research and analysis, that's where a PhD comes in. The MDs I work with often end up deferring to a PhD (like me) when the research goes from the high level to genuinely in the weeds.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/08/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27283",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15993/"
] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.