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29,351 |
<p>When writing any kind of paper or homework at the university I am supposed to give references for my citations. At the same time, sources like Wikipedia are not considered good for university level. Now let's say I am writing about malware, and I want to give definition about virus. Wikipedia has a good explanation, but I obviously cannot just copy without references (right?), and to give reference to Wikipedia is considered unacceptable.</p>
<p>So how am I supposed to give reference to such an item? Am I supposed to change the sentence in such a way that it cannot be tracked where I took it from?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29419,
"author": "A.G.",
"author_id": 10318,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10318",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Standards for papers and homework is not the same as for publications. Moreover, there is nothing fundamentally right or wrong about a definition as long as you introduce it as such ! (in University words mean what you decide they mean -- within reason, that is). You can definitely write something like</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In this paper I will use the definition of a <em>virus</em> as a '...' (1)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>and refer to a footnote that says</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>(1) definition taken from Wikipedia article <em>Virus</em>, retrieved on\n 2014-10-04\".</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Of course if Wikipedia's definition is taken from a printed reference, use the latter.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to be extra-cautious you can have a look at the change log and discussion of the Wikipedia article.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29424,
"author": "J. Zimmerman",
"author_id": 7921,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Two points to remember:</p>\n\n<p>1) Always give a reference for anything which is not your own! Changing the sentence in such a way that it cannot be tracked is NOT an acceptable substitute. </p>\n\n<p>2) For as long as you are a student, the university sets the rules for what is considered an acceptable source. </p>\n\n<p>Since your university, like many others which I am familiar, does not consider Wikipedia to be an acceptable academic resource, you should not cite Wikipedia in papers/homework. (When writing for an audience other than your professor(s), you be the judge. <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/19083/7921\">This question</a> provides a nice overview of the pros and cons of citing Wikipedia.) <strong>For the example you've given, the relevant Wikipedia <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">page</a> has many linked references. The usual workaround is to follow those references, find one which contains the definition you need, and cite that reference rather than Wikipedia.</strong> Of course, as JeffE noted, be sure you've actually read the source you are citing! </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29351",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22509/"
] |
29,352 |
<p>In an attempt to make a poster of my work, I search for tips on the internet and books and I meet two opinions that conflict with each other:</p>
<p><strong>Tell a story:</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>Why do we choose this (Objective)</li>
<li>How do we do? (Experiment, simulation, etc)</li>
<li>What do we find? (Result/Conclusion)</li>
<li>What can we do more? (Future work)</li>
<li>Reference</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Important first:</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>Result/Conclusion</li>
<li>Objective</li>
<li>Experiment, simulation, etc</li>
<li>Future work</li>
<li>Reference</li>
</ol>
<p>In my opinion, I will choose <em>tell a story</em> if the audience is not in my field, and <em>important first</em> if the audience has a good knowledge on what I do. But I am still confused if this is right. And should I apply this to my paper work?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29419,
"author": "A.G.",
"author_id": 10318,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10318",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Standards for papers and homework is not the same as for publications. Moreover, there is nothing fundamentally right or wrong about a definition as long as you introduce it as such ! (in University words mean what you decide they mean -- within reason, that is). You can definitely write something like</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In this paper I will use the definition of a <em>virus</em> as a '...' (1)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>and refer to a footnote that says</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>(1) definition taken from Wikipedia article <em>Virus</em>, retrieved on\n 2014-10-04\".</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Of course if Wikipedia's definition is taken from a printed reference, use the latter.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to be extra-cautious you can have a look at the change log and discussion of the Wikipedia article.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29424,
"author": "J. Zimmerman",
"author_id": 7921,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Two points to remember:</p>\n\n<p>1) Always give a reference for anything which is not your own! Changing the sentence in such a way that it cannot be tracked is NOT an acceptable substitute. </p>\n\n<p>2) For as long as you are a student, the university sets the rules for what is considered an acceptable source. </p>\n\n<p>Since your university, like many others which I am familiar, does not consider Wikipedia to be an acceptable academic resource, you should not cite Wikipedia in papers/homework. (When writing for an audience other than your professor(s), you be the judge. <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/19083/7921\">This question</a> provides a nice overview of the pros and cons of citing Wikipedia.) <strong>For the example you've given, the relevant Wikipedia <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">page</a> has many linked references. The usual workaround is to follow those references, find one which contains the definition you need, and cite that reference rather than Wikipedia.</strong> Of course, as JeffE noted, be sure you've actually read the source you are citing! </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29352",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14341/"
] |
29,353 |
<p>I'm a PhD student and I prepared a poster for a conference. Do you think I should send the poster file to all the co-authors? The list is quite long so I mailed the draft only to a few of them. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29356,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Yes. Everybody who is listed as an author should see and be able to contribute to the poster. You wouldn't want to be listed as an author of a work that you have never seen either, right?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29371,
"author": "abir",
"author_id": 22516,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22516",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Completely agree with xLeitix's answer: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Everybody who is listed as an author should see and be able to contribute to the poster. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Also, if it is a big file (assuming your poster is heavy on graphics) perhaps it is best to upload it to dropbox or a similar service and then send the link to all the authors. Depending on their (and your) digital fluency, the team can refine the document right from dropbox without having to send email back and forth. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29353",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14155/"
] |
29,360 |
<p>Assume we have a paper published in a conference or journal. Should I mention my co-authors while posting some content of the paper (or just paper's link) on Twitter or Facebook?</p>
<p>Let's assume I am aware of their Twitter or Facebook accounts.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29361,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It would be a polite thing to do to at least link the co-authors, for example, something along the lines of:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Paper title, paper link, #co-author</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It also depends on the amount of space available in your tweet - their names will be written on the paper itself in any case. At the very least, let them know that you are tweeting/posting the link/paper, which would give them an opportunity to retweet/share it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29366,
"author": "mhwombat",
"author_id": 10529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10529",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would mention your co-authors, but check with them about how they want to be \"linked\". Even if they have a Twitter or Facebook account, they may no longer use it, or they may use it for personal contacts only.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29367,
"author": "abir",
"author_id": 22516,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22516",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Agree with Omen.</p>\n\n<p>Also add the following:</p>\n\n<p>If you shorten the URL of your work (using bitly.com or something similar) and \"twitterfy\" the title (perhaps make a hashtag combining a few select words from your title and the subject e.g. #semweb_info_integration_newway), you should be able to cite at least 5 or 6 twitter handles easily. I am not sure facebook is a good idea, considering (IMHO) for a lot of people it is more of a personal medium. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29377,
"author": "Aaron Hall",
"author_id": 9518,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9518",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having trouble <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/16759/is-there-an-inflation-in-the-number-of-authors-per-paper\">considering so many coauthors</a> with 140 characters? Link to the paper, which lists the coauthors. #winningatacademia</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29360",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5644/"
] |
29,373 |
<p>I am interested in Math, specifically pure Math, in the USA. I will be on the job market soon for a tenure track position and mathjobs ads usually do not specify the teaching load. </p>
<p>What is the average teaching load of tenured faculty (in pure math say) at a research university? (and let's say we are talking about faculty members who are still very much research active)</p>
<p>I've met faculty who teaches 1+1 (or even 0+0...), 2+1 or even 2+2. But I don't have a good general picture of how much teaching is done (partly because I haven't studied in the US).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29375,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In mathematics departments at U.S. research universities, typical teaching loads are 1+2 or 2+2, with 1+2 being common at fancier or better funded schools. See <a href=\"http://www.math.utk.edu/Dept/AppIII.pdf\">this chart</a> for some data; I don't know how accurate it is, but it looks approximately right to me. 1+1 is not absolutely unheard of, but it is very rare. Of course what counts as a \"research university\" is unclear, and some places that consider themselves research universities may have 2+3 loads, but I don't think any of the more prestigious research universities have 2+3.</p>\n\n<p>Of course there are a lot of other factors that come into teaching load. How much flexibility is there in the course assignments? How does the teaching credit differ between huge lecture courses and small graduate seminars? How many people (if any) get a reduced teaching load? Does the department allow faculty to buy out of teaching using grant funds? Without answers to questions like these, a numerical comparison of teaching loads only tells you so much. What I'd recommend is that you apply for every job you might plausibly want, and then once you start to get interviews or offers you can look into the teaching conditions at these schools in detail.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29395,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Teaching loads of 1+2 or 2+2 (where the courses are 3 credit hour semester courses) are typical of the better research universities. Some institutions do weird things like the quarter system or semester courses that are 4 credit hours, but there are ways to adjust for this. </p>\n\n<p>Teaching loads of 3+3 or even 4+4 are quite common at regional comprehensive universities and liberal arts colleges. Keep in mind that most tenure track faculty positions are going to have those kinds of higher teaching loads. </p>\n\n<p>If I were looking at teaching loads and comparing positions, I'd also be looking at the types of courses that I'd have to teach and the size/format of the classes. For example, I have a 2+3 teaching load, but I get to teach small junior/senior/graduate level courses for science/engineering/math majors in my areas of interest. I'd rather have this teaching load than a 2+2 load where 3 courses per year were large sections of freshmen calculus for business majors and I only got to teach one upper division course per year in my area. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29406,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I don't have a good general picture of how much teaching is done (partly because I haven't studied in the US</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>A <strong>lot</strong> of teaching is done. It is easy to get the impression, when talking with faculty from the relatively small number of research institutions, that there is little teaching. But most institutions in the U.S. are not research institutions, and most institutions have teaching as their primary mission. </p>\n\n<p>A two-course-per-semester load would be viewed as extremely light at most institutions; three to four courses per semester is common in mathematics departments at the university level. Higher loads are common at the community college level. </p>\n\n<p>When applying for positions, one of the easiest <em>faux pas</em> to make is to try to negotiate an unrealistically low teaching load. It is unlikely that a school will give a new tenure-track professor a load significantly different than the existing ones have. But they will view the request as as a sign the applicant hasn't done their research, or a sign the applicant will not be a good fit. </p>\n\n<p>So you want to know the typical load at a school as soon as possible in the interview process, preferably before you apply. When investigating the typical teaching load at a school, there are several important things to ask about: </p>\n\n<h3>Do they count courses, or do they count hours?</h3>\n\n<p>The \"N + M\" system of counting loads is not universal. Many schools count loads by the credit hour. In these schools, a 12-hour-per semester load is viewed as high, and not compatible with much research -- essentially a 4+4 load. But if the school has courses that are more than 3 credit hours, a 12-hour load might be a 3+3 load. In mathematics, the three calculus courses are often 4-hour (or even 5-hour) courses, and sometimes so is differential equations or linear algebra. You have to research this on a school-by-school basis. Schools with loads higher than 12 hours per semester are unlikely to require any research, but I have heard of some teaching-only schools with 15-hour (or higher) loads (e.g. community colleges).</p>\n\n<p>To find out the \"real\" teaching load, look up the schedule of classes for the fall and spring and count how many courses the existing tenure track faculty are teaching. </p>\n\n<h3>Do they have \"research releases\" to reduce teaching loads?</h3>\n\n<p>Only the best research schools will guarantee a light teaching load. Many schools have a uniform, heavy load for everyone - but then give \"research release time\" to reduce the teaching load of faculty who are active in research. </p>\n\n<p>This was true even at the highly ranked institution where I did my PhD - the default load was used mainly for older faculty who were no longer active in research, while the lighter load was used for research active faculty. Research releases have become common even at non-research-intensive schools that want to increase their research profile. In almost all cases, they are not written into the contract, and are handled by a separate policy. So you also have to investigate these on a school-by-school basis. </p>\n\n<p>For example, at my institution the default load is 12 hours per semester, which is typical for this type of institution. But research active faculty receive a reduction to 8-9 hours per semester. Several freshman and sophomore level classes, including precalculus, calculus, and others are 4-hour or 5-hour classes. So, depending on the way the course schedules turn out, the 12-hour load is often a 3+3 load, and the 8-9 hour load can be a 2-2, 2-3, or 3-3 load. For me, this is a quite reasonable load which allows me to publish regularly as well as teach several courses. </p>\n\n<p>Some schools that otherwise have a high teaching load give a research release for first-year faculty, to give them a chance to write up the results of their dissertation and publish those. </p>\n\n<h3>How often do you get a sabbatical?</h3>\n\n<p>A sabbatical is a semester or year of modified duties, typically with no teaching. </p>\n\n<p>Some institutions guarantee a sabbatical before tenure, which can help offset a higher teaching load. The main examples I've seen of this are small liberal arts colleges. At other institutions, you will never get a sabbatical before tenure (e.g. regional public universities). So you need to investigate the sabbatical policy, as well, because a semester or year of no teaching significantly affects your average teaching load in the surrounding years. </p>\n\n<h3>Is there a good balance?</h3>\n\n<p>The final question about teaching load is whether there is a balance between the amount of teaching and research you would like to do, the amount of teaching and research you are expected to do, and the amount of teaching and research you are able to do with the teaching load at the institution. Low teaching loads, on their own, are not a guarantee of happiness! </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29373",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22522/"
] |
29,384 |
<p>I am preparing an NSF grant proposal in mathematics. I am requesting summer salary and a travel budget (and not much else), and after I compute the total I have to add an extra 50% of it and add it as the "indirect costs" of my proposed research.</p>
<p>This feels absurd to me (although it is the same, sometimes with an even higher rate, everywhere in the United States) -- especially since I do not require any special facilities or equipment to conduct my work. Is there a convincing argument to be made that this is reasonable?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29385,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is there a convincing argument to be made that this is reasonable?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>One answer is no, it's not based on any real accounting. Indirect cost rates were negotiated individually by universities in the early days of federal research funding in the U.S., and they are very difficult to change now (because many funding agencies have to coordinate on these rates). Some universities genuinely have different costs, for example due to location, while others just negotiated more aggressively. There's little rational basis to it, so you can't hope for a detailed breakdown that indicates exactly why it should cost this amount.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, the indirect costs are not meant to cover just special facilities or equipment (in fact, those would be direct costs). They are meant to cover office space, library access, computer infrastructure, administrative support, etc. These are all rather expensive, and taking these costs into account could very plausibly increase the total by more than 50%. So even though the numbers aren't arrived at by adding up actual costs, they really aren't crazy.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29386,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The indirect costs help to pay for all of the other resources you have access to which are not directly paid for by other costs. For instance, these indirect costs help to pay for administrative assistants, information technology, library subscriptions, utilities, and other costs.</p>\n\n<p>They can also go to pay for the costs of administrators (including the fine folks in your university grants and contracts office who actually submit your NSF proposal).</p>\n\n<p>Whether or not the rate is reasonable for <em>your</em> university is hard to judge, but a 50% overhead rate overall is not that excessive. Compare that to industry or the US national laboratories, where the overhead rate can exceed <strong>200%</strong>, and things don't look so bad in comparison.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29389,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You can take a more birds-eye view of the question. </p>\n\n<p>Recall that the main purpose of the NSF is to support part of the public policy interests of the U.S. government. Here is a quote from \"<a href=\"http://www.nsf.gov/about/glance.jsp\">NSF at a glance</a>\":</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>NSF's goals--discovery, learning, research infrastructure and stewardship--provide an integrated strategy to advance the frontiers of knowledge, cultivate a world-class, broadly inclusive science and engineering workforce and expand the scientific literacy of all citizens, build the nation's research capability through investments in advanced instrumentation and facilities, and support excellence in science and engineering research and education through a capable and responsive organization.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As the NSF says on the same page, </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>We fulfill our mission chiefly by issuing limited-term grants -- currently about 11,000 new awards per year, with an average duration of three years -- to fund specific research proposals that have been judged the most promising by a rigorous and objective merit-review system.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It is true that indirect costs on a grant don't directly support costs of research - that's why they're \"indirect costs\". But they do support the national research <em>infrastructure</em> by passing additional funding to institutions that show merit by winning competitive grant funding. The indirect funding helps these institutions provide a research environment not only to the researchers who are awarded grants, but also to other researchers and students. </p>\n\n<p>Supporting the overall national research infrastructure is certainly a reasonable part of the public policy goals of the NSF, and the indirect costs system is not the worst way I can think of to decide which institutions will receive such funding. Of course, there are also equipment grants and other specialized NSF grants, which also help support the national research capacity. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29384",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565/"
] |
29,392 |
<p>The NSF postdoctoral application is due in less than 2 weeks and I am trying to send out invitations for my reference letters. However, for the past week (on fastlane.gov) I have gotten the same error.</p>
<p>"A database error occured while performing fastlane.pdoc.ProcessReferenceLetter."</p>
<p>I contacted the NSF by email and by phone and haven't gotten any response by either format. Is there anyone getting this?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29411,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Screen shot and date stamp every attempt to do this operation until it works. Call the helpdesk <a href=\"https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/contacts/contact_fl.jsp\">800 number</a> back every hour during business hours until someone answers the phone, but don't just leave message after message if it goes to voicemail. If you haven't already, send invites via email personally to each of your references so that they know the request from FastLane will be coming eventually. Tell each of your references about the problem so that they'll be prepared to take alternative action if NSF gives you a workaround. Keep good records of all your attempts.</p>\n\n<p>If you can figure out who the cognizant program officer is for the specific fellowship you are applying for, write them an email Monday after you have tried to get in touch with the FastLane user support folks again with a short explanation of your problem and ask them for options.</p>\n\n<p>FastLane being down on broken is usually a great reason for NSF to give you an exception to a deadline. </p>\n\n<p>As noted in the comments, there is some upcoming Fastlane downtime due to the <a href=\"http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2014/nsf14083/nsf14083.jsp\">NSF financial system upgrade</a>, but that shouldn't be the problem today or for the rest of the week. The FastLane user support team is usually very responsive, but with the financial system update going on, they may be swamped. </p>\n\n<p>Finally, you might also try talking to the Sponsored Research Office/Office of Sponsored Projects/etc. at your current university. They work with staff at NSF all the time, and may have contacts that can help you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 57033,
"author": "A. Olsen",
"author_id": 43345,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43345",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I realize this is now a year old but I was just working on my NSF PRFB application on FastLane today (2015 and a year later), ran into the same error and stumbled on this page. I called FastLane help and they were able to resolve the problem. The person who helped me figured out that you have to re-save the \"Cover Sheet\" component of the application. He said the reference letter writer submission refers to this part of the application and so it needs to be updated/completed for some reason.</p>\n\n<p>He did this for me but I'm assuming he just opened the \"Cover Sheet\" in the main \"Form Preparation\" window by clicking \"Go\", cleared something and changed it back to what it was before and saved it. You might also be able to just click the \"Go\" next to \"*Remainder of the Cover Sheet\". When I do this it says \"The Remainder of the CoverSheet has been automatically filled in and saved.\" If you are able to re-save, the \"Saved\" date next to \"Cover Sheet\" in the \"Form Preparation\" window should change to the current date.</p>\n\n<p>Once this was done I was able to add a reference letter writer without getting the error message. I hope this helps someone else out there if they run into the same problem!</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29392",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22534/"
] |
29,405 |
<p>According to <a href="https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/10775/5645">this answer</a> it is a feature that BibTeX converts all characters to lower case for titles in the bibliography. This is confusing for me. What characters in the titles I cite should be upper case?</p>
<p>Here is a screenshot were I marked all characters that I would have written uppercase:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/3WH8m.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>
<p>(The first 'r' in recognition was a mistake)</p>
<p>So I think I should write everything in capital that I would write in capital in a normal English sentence. Is that correct?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29407,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some journals use capital letters for All The Words In The Title. Some others (thinking about legacy systems) may put it ALL IN UPPERCASE or all in lowercase.</p>\n<p>Really, the case of the letters is completely irrelevant for the reference itself, so it is understandable that BibTeX wants to give it all a coherent format. All in all:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A. Einstein, The Foundations of General Relativity.</p>\n<p>A. EINSTEIN, THE FOUNDATIONS OF GENERAL RELATIVITY.</p>\n<p>A. Einstein, The foundations of General Relativity.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Are equally easy to find and unequivocally point to the same reference.</p>\n<p>Note that in the comments to the linked question it is stated that the style may override this behaviour, using a different convention, or leaving it as written on the bib.</p>\n<p>As always, general rules for English grammar apply:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Proper names should be capitalised, so Markov is capital.</li>\n<li>Acronyms, like NPEN++, ought to be in all upercase.</li>\n<li>Academic disciplines (like Physics or Biology) should be. It is debatable if "pattern recognition" should be or not.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29408,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It depends on the citation style. Basically there are two possibilities: <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_case#Title_case\">title case</a>, or normal English sentence style.</p>\n\n<p>If you are writing for a journal, it surely has a citation style that you should adhere to. In practice, however, the style of citations won't really matter until the time your paper is accepted, so you do not need to worry about it when writing.\nIf you are writing for yourself, you are free to decide as you prefer, as long as you are consistent. If you are writing a thesis, be sure to inquire because some OCD university committee might have imposed requirements.</p>\n\n<p>Bibtex is essentially a program to abstract out citation styles and apply them programmatically, separating content (in the <code>.bib</code> file) from formatting. Using a properly formatted <code>.bib</code> file, you just need the command <code>\\bibliographystyle{}</code> to change from a style to the other.</p>\n\n<p>So, how should the title field be formatted in a properly-written <code>.bib</code> file? Like this:</p>\n\n<p><code>title = {Handwriting Recognition with Hidden {M}arkov models and Grammatical Constraints}</code></p>\n\n<p>Basically you use title case and embed into a pair of braces the characters that should stay in capital even if the text is converted to sentence case. Bibtex can convert automatically title case to sentence case (but not vice versa). Commands for diacritics and special characters (such as <code>\\\"a</code> or <code>\\c{c}</code>) and dollar-delimited formulas should also go inside an extra pair of braces.</p>\n\n<p>Incidentally, another tricky aspect of Bibtex syntax is author name formatting. Authors should be in the format</p>\n\n<p><code>author = {von Lastname1, Firstname1 Middle and Lastname2 jr., Firstname2}</code></p>\n\n<p>or, if full given names are not available,</p>\n\n<p><code>author = {von Lastname1, F. M. and Lastname2 jr., F.}</code></p>\n\n<p>Note that 90% of the bibtex files that you will find on the internet, even the ones from the publishers' websites, are badly formatted. Bibtex's syntax is quirky and complicated to get right.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29405",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4092/"
] |
29,420 |
<p>I have been in a tenure-track position in 5-6 years and I am applying to positions in other universities, including tenured positions. For the list of references, should I include my former PhD advisor? I have some other good names to include and also I have a good relationship with the former advisor. I was wondering the pros and cons of including/excluding the former advisor in the list of reference. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29422,
"author": "Bjørn Kjos-Hanssen",
"author_id": 11257,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11257",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In most cases it seems a good idea to include the former adviser.</p>\n\n<p>I suppose an exception would be if you are now much more \"established/senior\" than your adviser, or if there is some serious problem with your adviser's professional reputation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29430,
"author": "D.W.",
"author_id": 705,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/705",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This might vary from field to field, and based upon how established and well-regarded you are within your own field, but personally I would not feel that it is mandatory to get a letter from your prior advisor, if you have other letter-writers who you think will be more suitable (know your work better, are better-regarded in the community, will write you a stronger recommendation). At this stage in your career most faculty are now established enough that they are your own brand and can stand on their own, separate from their advisor. In particular, 5-6 years in a tenure-track position is probably far enough along in your career that I don't think the hiring committee will look askance if you don't have a letter from your prior advisor.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, if the hiring committee wants an assessment from your former PhD advisor, they will ask your former PhD advisor. For jobs at this level, it's not unusual for them to ask others for their opinion of you (beyond the letters that you provide), if you are a serious candidate.</p>\n\n<p>That said, usually your former PhD advisor is someone who knows you well, wants you to succeed, appreciates your work and your interests, and is well-informed about your research -- so they are often a good choice of a letter-writer, all else being equal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 35272,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My impression is that at this stage it has much higher value if your recommendation letters can prove that you already somewhat established yourself in your field, your independent research topic is going well and people beyond your lab/institute start recognising your name. </p>\n\n<p>Most cases a recommendation letter from your former supervisor hardly can demonstrate independency, it may even suggest just the opposite. I saw cases when a well-meaning ex-supervisor was writing pages about how friendly and docile is the candidate, how good student and doing always everything as ordered. This kind of recommendation letter you really DON'T want to get for a tenured position. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29420",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18/"
] |
29,423 |
<p>A very high profile Prof. A recommended me to another high profile Prof. B to do some work for him. While normally as a graduate I should be very thankful and jump on this, I simply cannot do the work asked due to time and I also believe there would be a more suitable candidate for the work. Prof A's recommendations hold very high weight in the field I work in (his previous recommendation got me a job as an undergraduate). I feel that Prof A may have misunderstood my skills (he confused Java programming with Java web programming essentially). Prof A knows me somewhat well (I work for him currently), so perhaps this is why he recommended me. </p>
<p>How do I turn down Prof B's request in a polite manner without losing any face to myself or Prof A? In my response, should I also forward candidates whom I think would be able to do the work (e.g. cc them in the email)?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29425,
"author": "Brian Z",
"author_id": 9298,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9298",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>\"While normally as a graduate I should be very thankful and jump on this, I simply cannot do the work asked due to time and I believe there would be a more suitable candidate for the work.\"</p>\n\n<p>That is more or less exactly what you should say. Express your gratitude to Professor A. If you have a major academic obligation taking up your time, like comprehensive exams or something, mention that. Do NOT CC the candidates you have in mind, but do mention to Professor B that you can recommend someone else who you think would be a good fit.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29426,
"author": "RoLaAus",
"author_id": 22555,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22555",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Don't bother going in the detail about Java, just tell both professors that you do not have the available time to commit to prof B.</p>\n\n<p>If they mention changing your schedule with prof A, then recommend your alternative candidate (which hopefully you do anyways), and express your concern that taking on prof B's project may take more time than you have available, even if prof A gives you time off from working for him.</p>\n\n<p>Another possibility (though I don't know how well this would work, since you don't provide any project details), would be to say that prof B's project is going in a different direction than you see your future heading.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29423",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21069/"
] |
29,433 |
<p>I am currently an undergraduate physics student in the fall semester of my junior year. Until recently, I thought I would have to stay an extra semester to complete my undergraduate physics degree, but after looking over my scheduling possibilities for the next three semesters, I've realized I will be able to graduate on time (spring semester of my senior year).</p>
<p>My dilemma arises from the fact that I am also trying to meet the requirements for two minors (one in computer science and one in math). The two possibilities I see are as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If I choose to graduate on time, my curriculum for the next three semesters will consist of 9 physics courses, 2 computer science courses, and 1 general education. I would finish with my bachelor's in physics and a minor in computer science.</p></li>
<li><p>If I choose to stay an extra semester, I will be able to complete the requirements for both a computer science minor and a math minor, and I will be able to spread out my physics classes a little more. Additionally, I may be able to take one or two extra elective classes in either math or physics.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My plan is to go to graduate school after my bachelor's , so given my circumstance, is it worth it to stay that extra semester just for the minor in math? Will the additional time to graduate or the extra credential make any difference when it comes to physics graduate school admissions?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29445,
"author": "kevin",
"author_id": 21479,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21479",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Will the additional time make any difference in admissions? I don't think so, since you are pursuing more credits, it's natural that it takes more time.</p>\n\n<p>Will the extra credits count? Since you're enrolling a post-graduate degree that is also your major, I don't think it matters much. If you're doing a master on Math, it probably matters. Don't forget you can always consult the admission office.</p>\n\n<p>It sounds like you enjoy (or at least don't dislike) university life anyway, so if financial support is not a problem for you, I'd encourage you to take an extra semester. Besides earning the extra minor, you'll also benefit from a more relaxed schedule, which should improve your grades.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29450,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Basically, a second minor doesn't really convey any additional benefits to you in terms of admission. It just means you've done enough courses in a specific area to be recognized by your specific school as having completed a \"minor.\" Some schools in the US (and most foreign schools) do not offer minors, so it won't make a big difference.</p>\n\n<p>Also to consider—if you are planning to do graduate school after your bachelor's degree, taking an extra semester in the US likely means that you will have to wait <em>a full year</em> before starting graduate school. This can have significant impacts, as you will then need to find something to do in what would have been your spring semester. There is also the possibility that, because you will be out of school for a while, you may need to start repayment on any student loans you have. (Usually you're allowed a six-month grace period before repayment starts.)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29433",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22562/"
] |
29,436 |
<p>This question came up after reading some answers to <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29185/is-it-possible-to-use-one-thesis-for-two-degrees">this one</a>.</p>
<p>Is it useful either for applying for a job or for applying for a PhD position to have two degrees in the same area on two different universities without needing more time than usual for the degree (in case of master: two years, or maybe two and a half year)? Are there advantages, are there disadvantages?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29452,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would be very confused about why somebody needed two degrees <em>in the same field</em>. If the fields were overlapping but distinct—mathematics and computational science, for instance—that would not be such a big deal. But somebody with two biology degrees or two mathematics degrees from different universities would be such an exceptional case that I would want to have some explanation for this in the statement of purpose. (Why did the applicant feel it necessary to have a second bachelor's or master's degree on the same topic?)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 88124,
"author": "Sergio Gucci",
"author_id": 28982,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28982",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At its core, no. Why did you think it might? Having two degrees implies increased experience academically, certainly, compared to someone with only one degree. But it also implies other things that are not as good, to me, personally. I explain why in the next paragraph, but as mentioned this is a very rare thing and will definitely bring increased scrutiny on why it happened. </p>\n\n<p>My only experience with people having multiple same-rank degrees in the same field has been with failed PhD candidates who immigrated already holding ME degrees and then failed their defenses at the end of their PhDs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 107600,
"author": "James",
"author_id": 90902,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/90902",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No, it is not useful and will only cause employers to ask “why?” and scrutinize your application. -from an 18 year career professor and director of grad program. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29436",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22378/"
] |
29,454 |
<p>How do you check if a book is a new edition of an older book, but they have different titles, without accessing the books? Are there websites which maintain such records?</p>
<p>For example, is <a href="http://lccn.loc.gov/2007012974" rel="nofollow">this book</a></p>
<pre><code>Fundamentals of data structures in C / Ellis Horowitz, Sartaj Sahni, Susan Anderson-Freed.
Edition 2nd ed.
Published/Created Summit, NJ : Silicon Press, 2008.
</code></pre>
<p>a newer edition to <a href="http://lccn.loc.gov/76015250" rel="nofollow">this one</a></p>
<pre><code>Fundamentals of data structures / Ellis Horowitz, Sartaj Sahni.
Published/Created: Computer Science Press, c1976.
</code></pre>
<p>Does the second one have later editions?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29452,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would be very confused about why somebody needed two degrees <em>in the same field</em>. If the fields were overlapping but distinct—mathematics and computational science, for instance—that would not be such a big deal. But somebody with two biology degrees or two mathematics degrees from different universities would be such an exceptional case that I would want to have some explanation for this in the statement of purpose. (Why did the applicant feel it necessary to have a second bachelor's or master's degree on the same topic?)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 88124,
"author": "Sergio Gucci",
"author_id": 28982,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28982",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At its core, no. Why did you think it might? Having two degrees implies increased experience academically, certainly, compared to someone with only one degree. But it also implies other things that are not as good, to me, personally. I explain why in the next paragraph, but as mentioned this is a very rare thing and will definitely bring increased scrutiny on why it happened. </p>\n\n<p>My only experience with people having multiple same-rank degrees in the same field has been with failed PhD candidates who immigrated already holding ME degrees and then failed their defenses at the end of their PhDs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 107600,
"author": "James",
"author_id": 90902,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/90902",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No, it is not useful and will only cause employers to ask “why?” and scrutinize your application. -from an 18 year career professor and director of grad program. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29454",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/218/"
] |
29,456 |
<p>I am in the process of applying to PhD programs in Computer Science. A professor with whom I'm interested in working is moving from university A to university B. While he is not super well-known, his research interests and mine align very well, and I am quite sure I would have been admitted to university A had he remained there.</p>
<p>He will not moving to B until latter half of 2015, which means that he will not be able to give input into PhD applications to university B for the 2015 admissions cycle.</p>
<p>I will be applying to university B (with the hope that I can work with him), but is there anything that I can (or should) do with regard to my application? Or just mention it in SoP?</p>
<p>(B is slightly more competitive than A, and both are top 15 schools)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29458,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>which means that he will not be able to give input into PhD applications to university B</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is incorrect. He certainly can, if he chooses, e-mail the director of graduate admissions at B, say that he's interested in working with you, and ask him/her to consider your application favorably. They don't have to admit you, but that would be true even if he were at B now and had been there a long time.</p>\n\n<p>I'd recommend mentioning this in your SOP, and perhaps also e-mailing him and letting him know that you are applying to B with the idea of working with him. (If you have not done so already.)</p>\n\n<p>That said, \"I am quite sure I would have been admitted to university A had he remained there\" sounds possibly a bit presumptuous, although I don't know your circumstances. In any case, do what you would have done if this professor wasn't moving: apply to the graduate program where he'll be, let him know, and hope for the best. Good luck.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29471,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Usually it's presumptuous to plan the professor you'll be working with in years 3+ of your Ph.D. before completing the first couple. There are many reasons you might not want to work with a professor, but either you will not want to (your interests or goals change) or they will not want to or be otherwise unavailable.</p>\n\n<p>Therefore, <strong>first and foremost, you need to demonstrate to a school you belong at the school.</strong> Specific interest in a professor may very well be a major factor in your decision, but from the stance of your application it will be supplemental. If the target professor can vouch for you, remember they are vouching for you to be admitted to the school, and that they would be very interested in working with you in the future.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29456",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22583/"
] |
29,457 |
<p>I've just finished my PhD in Genetics, and I am looking at moving into industry, as a scientist. </p>
<p>"Senior Scientist" seems to be the closest match, because the salary is slightly higher than a junior post-doc.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29459,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I am not sure how much sense this question makes, given that no position in a research lab is really comparable to a postdoc position.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, I have seen the term \"research staff member\", or just \"researcher\" or \"scientist\" being used a lot as an entry-level, permanent position in a research lab which requires a PhD. \"Senior scientist\" or \"senior researcher\" is typically a bit more advanced (\"researchers\" become \"senior researchers\" through regular career progression). However, concrete names of course vary between companies, so you should never assume much of anything about a position purely based on its name.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"Senior Scientist\" seems to be the closest match, because the salary is slightly higher than a junior post-doc.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That's a very bad heuristic. Too many other factors influence salary for it to be of any worth for judging the level of a position.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30187,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some companies, including the one that I work at, actually do offer positions that are explicitly postdocs and fill the same type of role as postdocs in academia: a limited-term position connected to some specific set of projects/responsibilities, with the expectation that the person will move up or move elsewhere at the end of the period.</p>\n\n<p>Beyond that, industry titles tell you nothing, because there is nothing even vaguely like a standard. Where I work, \"senior scientist\" is approximately equivalent to \"associate professor\" in academia. At a smaller company I know of, it means \"has a master's degree.\" At yet another company, it might mean \"has been here for 30 years.\" You just don't know.</p>\n\n<p>Instead, look at the background required and responsibilities associated with the job, and see if they match what you have to offer. Beware that position postings are often the result of a mangled committee process, and if it calls for a long laundry list of skills, you're probably in good shape to apply if you have at least a couple of them.</p>\n\n<p>Salary may also vary wildly, depending on the sector of industry and particular company, but as a rule of thumb it should be well above what you would be paid as a postdoc in academia. In computer science, for example, a Ph.D. entry-level position in industry gets somewhere between 1.5x and 4x a typical postdoc salary (it's one of the compensations of stepping off the traditional track). Sites like <a href=\"http://www.glassdoor.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Glassdoor</a> are a good way to tell whether you are being made a fair offer or not.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29457",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22584/"
] |
29,463 |
<p>While I was studying abroad, I was offered a PHD position for having a very impressive project. I was actually only in 3rd year engineering at the time and I din't want to go into the professor's specific area of research, so I declined the offer. The only written confirmation I have of this is an e-mail exchange.</p>
<p>That course is important in the field that I'm going into, so I really want to mention that I did really well on it, but I'm afraid that a verbal conversation and an e-mail exchange isn't official enough. After all, if someone asks the professor, it's highly probable that he will have forgotten and he might claim I mis-understood the e-mail exchange. Should I:</p>
<ol>
<li>Include the fact that I got an offer on the resume anyways.</li>
<li>E-mail the prof to get a written confirmation and only include his distinction in my resume if he replies. What type of written confirmation would this even involve?</li>
<li>Tone down the claim to say that I had the best project and leave out the offer.</li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29467,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would not include such an offer on a CV. Saying you were offered a position is fine to include in a cover letter or statement of purpose or other such document, but a CV should be a listing of demonstrable accomplishments. Including something like this is potentially awkward—and declining a job offer is not normally what you want to \"show off\" on a CV anyways.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29469,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would recommend against including a verbal offer on your resume. Even aside from whether the professor remembers, an offer of a PhD position might not be very meaningful. Professors vary in how careful and responsible they are about making such offers, and I've known of cases in which faculty expressed interest to potential students in ways those students thought of as near-binding offers but which were not intended that way. (If someone says \"Would you like to come do a PhD with me?\", they may view the question as having implicit conditions such as \"provided you meet the admissions requirements and I can come up with funding for you,\" while the student may not realize that. This question means the professor will try to make things work out, but it doesn't guarantee that they will try hard or succeed.)</p>\n\n<p>Of course your offer may well have been far more serious, but it's hard to convey this on your resume without going into too much detail about it.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Tone down the claim to say that I had the best project and leave out the offer.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I would take this approach, assuming you have some official recognition such as an award for the best project in the class. (If it was at a prestigious university, then having such an award might mean more than the PhD offer.) If you don't, then there's insufficient basis for calling it the best project.</p>\n\n<p>If you're applying to graduate school, why not ask the professor in question for a letter of recommendation? That would give him an opportunity to write about how impressive the project was, how it was the best in the class, and how he wishes you wanted to specialize in his area since you would make a wonderful PhD student. Hearing these sentiments from him would mean more than anything you could list in your resume.</p>\n\n<p>Similarly, if you're applying for jobs, you could ask the professor whether you could list him as a reference.</p>\n\n<p>If it wouldn't make sense to ask him for a letter or to serve as a reference, then it's probably not important enough to be worth worrying about indicating on your resume.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29463",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14831/"
] |
29,464 |
<p>I am moving to a new place to take a new academic position. <strong>Now that we have committed to it, what can I do to help my spouse adjust to or enjoy the new location?</strong> We are both academics.</p>
<p>Edit: Several considerations were made in wording the question. 1. Questions that are specific to a particular situation are discouraged here. 2. I am past the negotiation stage so I do not want negotiation advice. (Yes, my spouse had many chances to change our plans.) 3. Presumably this situation will occur to dual-career couples at most career stages. Therefore I am thinking beyond my current situation in anticipation of the next one. Answers from people who have been in this situation are appreciated.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29495,
"author": "Jessica B",
"author_id": 20036,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20036",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was told the other week that the new undergraduates' top priority for freshers' week is 'find a friend'. I think that's very important for anyone moving to a new city. Ignoring the academic aspect, I would encourage you to think about what social life both of you will have outside work, other than your time with each other. What things do you each enjoy doing? Are there ways you can make contacts before you arrive? Will your choice of living arrangements affect what opportunities are open to you? Do you need to make sure you each have suitable transport? How will you stay in contact with friends and family elsewhere? Can you find a replacement for your favourite restaurant/park/...?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29503,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer depends on the academic ambition of your spouse. If she/he has none, your question is borderline off-topic on this site. In this case, you can look into things similar to the <a href=\"http://hsspa.harvard.edu/\">Harvard Spouse & Partners Association</a>, which I personally would only join with a gun to my head, but might be something your spouse is into.</p>\n\n<p>The rest of my answer assume she/he wishes to stay in the academic loop.</p>\n\n<p>From what I saw in several universities in Europe and the US, several universities try to take into account dual career ambitions. Especially if your spouse is a woman, chances are the institution that hired you will consider creating some sort of academic position for her. Look for things like 'gender-equality office' to have more information on the topic. </p>\n\n<p>If there is no such thing, I know that some people attend classes and seminars in the local universities (this is true in universities unlike Harvard, were guest attendance is allowed and free). Some volunteer as lab assistants. Some join <a href=\"http://www.amstat.org/chapters/\">local chapters of scientific societies</a> (a good way to meet potential employers or hear about academic opportunities).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42085,
"author": "Anonymous Physicist",
"author_id": 13240,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13240",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>(answering self) In retrospect, getting my spouse a good gym membership was very helpful. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29464",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13240/"
] |
29,466 |
<p>For the next 6 months or so, I plan to study hard for GRE. Since I don't have much time, I plan to ONLY study for the mathematics portion of the test as I would like to score at least in the 90th+ percentile for the Mathematics Subject Test. But in order to have the capability to achieve such a task within my time frame, I plan to spend no more than 3-4 days to study for the analytic writing and verbal reasoning portion of the general test. </p>
<p>So my question is: Do graduate schools focus or take into consideration the (possibly low score for the) analytic writing and verbal reasoning portion of the test if you were to score high on the mathematics part? Advice from those who are familiar with how selection committee of graduate schools (in Mathematics) pick applicants would be great!</p>
<p>Some clarification: I feel as if I was not too clear with my question. By "studying hard" I don't mean to sit down and just study "specifically" for the GRE test but rather to enhance my knowledge in Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Topology, and Differential Equations among other topics such as Set Theory and Logic. GRE Mathematics Subject Test will be something that I will be preparing for along the way. My reason to spend ~6 months has nothing to do with scoring high on GRE. I will perhaps spend no more than 1-2 weeks reviewing the Princeton Review. I just don't know if I will have much time to work on my writing skills if I'm deep-neck into learning Mathematics.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29468,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a graduate student you will have to write a thesis or dissertation. Your communication skills are important! </p>\n\n<p>When I'm evaluating applicants to our graduate program in mathematics, it goes without saying that the applicant had better have a very high quantitative score and anyone who doesn't isn't going to be a desirable applicant. What separates the desirable students from the undesirable students are reasonably high scores on the other sections of the test. </p>\n\n<p>Keep in mind that students in many disciplines take the GRE. I don't expect a mathematics student to be as good a writer as a student in English, but if the student has a ranking in the 10th percentile, I've got to wonder whether that student will be able to write an acceptable thesis without me doing a lot of editing. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29565,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, a decent verbal score is definitely desirable. I mean it: I have done graduate admissions for my math department, mentioned low verbal scores as a point against the applicant, and had the point taken by the rest of the committee. But I would think that spending three-plus years in a university would be the best possible way to study for the GRE verbal: if after all that you need separate study in reading comprehension, sentence completion, and so forth, something has gone wrong!</p>\n\n<p>(I remember the GRE as the SAT all over again, to the extent that my GRE scores were each within 30 points of my corresponding SAT scores. The GRE has been retooled multiple times in recent years with the unfortunate effect that a lot of people doing graduate admissions, like me, are now a little vague on what it actually contains. We tend to assume that the changes are cosmetic and that the exam is more or less the same as the one we took years ago.)</p>\n\n<p>The math subject GRE is not a hard <em>test</em> in the sense that you need to devote much (or any, necessarily) time to study for it. I remember contemplating studying for the Math GRE (circa 1997), learning that the study guide was really pretty miserable, and maybe spending a weekend flipping through a book on differential equations because I had never taken a course on that. More pertinently, I remember that at least one third of the test was rendered trivial by my deeper study of subjects like topology and analysis: e.g. I think there was a question like \"Which of the following properties does the real line, as a topological space, <em>not</em> have? Hausdorff, compact...\" To me this read more like a mathematical joke than anything else.</p>\n\n<p>Here's the bottom line: please don't spend six months only, or even primarily, studying for any/all of the GRE. What a terrible waste of your time. If I am honest, the fact that you think this might be a good use of your time makes me concerned that you might not be a good candidate for a graduate program in mathematics. I would not say this if you provided any distinguishing or identifying information whatsoever, but as you are completely anonymous it is something to think about. The way you prepare for graduate school in mathematics is by learning math. That means absolutely mastering truly basic, undergraduate level topics like linear algebra and deepening your knowledge of algebra and analysis. This knowledge and mastery will serve you well at every step of the graduate process, starting with admissions. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29567,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My fairly extensive anecdotal experience is that \"verbal\" scores are harder to \"cram\" for, perhaps harder to \"game\", than the math subject test and \"quantitative\" exam... so that, perhaps oddly, a high verbal score seems to be a very positive indicator of future success, while subject test success has a more limited indication.</p>\n\n<p>Lowish verbal scores, even with high Subject test scores, seem to be correlated (again, extensive-anecdotally) with a certain brittleness moving forward into PhD-level mathematics, ... perhaps after considerable success in lower-level mathematics. (We can observe the substantially non-verbal, nearly cryptic stylized form of much low-level mathematics.)</p>\n\n<p>So, yes, some people on admissions committees (e.g., me...) pay attention to those other numbers. On the other hand, it's not at all clear that these things can be \"studied-for\", much less studied-for for several months.</p>\n\n<p>As Pete Clark noted, learning more sophisticated mathematics is often far more effective at more-than-gaming the system, since quite a few of the prankish-shallow questions that would stump novices are transparent to a person with some experience, perspective, and context.</p>\n\n<p>Even so, self-coaching about how to take a timed, multiple-choice test, and some prior samples, are surely helpful to best represent one's knowledge of the subject matter. And being rested, not over-caffeinated, not hung-over, etc. Despite the potential silliness of the last observation, I have observed many people disserve themselves by putting themselves into bad physical states for these and other exams... If diagnosable anxiety is an issue, it should be dealt with forthright-ly...</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29466",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22591/"
] |
29,478 |
<p>I am a student of LLM. After LLM I want to do Ph.D on Waqf family courts. I am also interested in doing a Ph.D on comparative religion from Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi. My doubt is can I do a Ph.D in both subjects simultaneously from the same university or different university, or is it necessary to complete in one subject and then pursue another. After all is it allowed to obtain two Ph.Ds.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29468,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a graduate student you will have to write a thesis or dissertation. Your communication skills are important! </p>\n\n<p>When I'm evaluating applicants to our graduate program in mathematics, it goes without saying that the applicant had better have a very high quantitative score and anyone who doesn't isn't going to be a desirable applicant. What separates the desirable students from the undesirable students are reasonably high scores on the other sections of the test. </p>\n\n<p>Keep in mind that students in many disciplines take the GRE. I don't expect a mathematics student to be as good a writer as a student in English, but if the student has a ranking in the 10th percentile, I've got to wonder whether that student will be able to write an acceptable thesis without me doing a lot of editing. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29565,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, a decent verbal score is definitely desirable. I mean it: I have done graduate admissions for my math department, mentioned low verbal scores as a point against the applicant, and had the point taken by the rest of the committee. But I would think that spending three-plus years in a university would be the best possible way to study for the GRE verbal: if after all that you need separate study in reading comprehension, sentence completion, and so forth, something has gone wrong!</p>\n\n<p>(I remember the GRE as the SAT all over again, to the extent that my GRE scores were each within 30 points of my corresponding SAT scores. The GRE has been retooled multiple times in recent years with the unfortunate effect that a lot of people doing graduate admissions, like me, are now a little vague on what it actually contains. We tend to assume that the changes are cosmetic and that the exam is more or less the same as the one we took years ago.)</p>\n\n<p>The math subject GRE is not a hard <em>test</em> in the sense that you need to devote much (or any, necessarily) time to study for it. I remember contemplating studying for the Math GRE (circa 1997), learning that the study guide was really pretty miserable, and maybe spending a weekend flipping through a book on differential equations because I had never taken a course on that. More pertinently, I remember that at least one third of the test was rendered trivial by my deeper study of subjects like topology and analysis: e.g. I think there was a question like \"Which of the following properties does the real line, as a topological space, <em>not</em> have? Hausdorff, compact...\" To me this read more like a mathematical joke than anything else.</p>\n\n<p>Here's the bottom line: please don't spend six months only, or even primarily, studying for any/all of the GRE. What a terrible waste of your time. If I am honest, the fact that you think this might be a good use of your time makes me concerned that you might not be a good candidate for a graduate program in mathematics. I would not say this if you provided any distinguishing or identifying information whatsoever, but as you are completely anonymous it is something to think about. The way you prepare for graduate school in mathematics is by learning math. That means absolutely mastering truly basic, undergraduate level topics like linear algebra and deepening your knowledge of algebra and analysis. This knowledge and mastery will serve you well at every step of the graduate process, starting with admissions. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29567,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My fairly extensive anecdotal experience is that \"verbal\" scores are harder to \"cram\" for, perhaps harder to \"game\", than the math subject test and \"quantitative\" exam... so that, perhaps oddly, a high verbal score seems to be a very positive indicator of future success, while subject test success has a more limited indication.</p>\n\n<p>Lowish verbal scores, even with high Subject test scores, seem to be correlated (again, extensive-anecdotally) with a certain brittleness moving forward into PhD-level mathematics, ... perhaps after considerable success in lower-level mathematics. (We can observe the substantially non-verbal, nearly cryptic stylized form of much low-level mathematics.)</p>\n\n<p>So, yes, some people on admissions committees (e.g., me...) pay attention to those other numbers. On the other hand, it's not at all clear that these things can be \"studied-for\", much less studied-for for several months.</p>\n\n<p>As Pete Clark noted, learning more sophisticated mathematics is often far more effective at more-than-gaming the system, since quite a few of the prankish-shallow questions that would stump novices are transparent to a person with some experience, perspective, and context.</p>\n\n<p>Even so, self-coaching about how to take a timed, multiple-choice test, and some prior samples, are surely helpful to best represent one's knowledge of the subject matter. And being rested, not over-caffeinated, not hung-over, etc. Despite the potential silliness of the last observation, I have observed many people disserve themselves by putting themselves into bad physical states for these and other exams... If diagnosable anxiety is an issue, it should be dealt with forthright-ly...</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29478",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22605/"
] |
29,484 |
<p>I want to submit an extended abstract of my Ph.D. dissertation to a workshop that looks for summaries of recent work. My dissertation is based on several publications done in collaboration with other researchers (and my adviser).</p>
<p>Who should be listed as authors for the purpose of the workshop submission? Just myself, because I am the sole author of the dissertation, and would be the sole author of the newly written extended abstract. In which case, I knowledge my collaborators. Or do I list all the collaborators as authors of the extended abstract? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29487,
"author": "OBu",
"author_id": 10941,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10941",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Well, you will mention your co-workers in your dissertation, and I would recommend to add the significant ones to the paper. If your new abstract is just discussing your own work, you should be the only author, but from your question I got the ipression, that original work of others is included and therefore they should be co-authors.\nOne exception could be if you are just citing already published material, then it would be formally correct to be the only author - but personally I would not choose this option unless I really have t,o because it lowers the motivation for others to collaborate in the future. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29490,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It's safest to ask your collaborators what they would prefer. You can't include them as coauthors of an extended abstract without their permission, and they might be upset if you leave them off. (Even if doing so is standard at this workshop, they might not know that or might disapprove of this standard.) I'd guess that they would politely decline authorship of the dissertation abstract if asked, but there's no way to be sure other than asking.</p>\n\n<p>But first I'd recommend asking your advisor about this issue. I'm not sure what sort of workshop you mean, which suggests that this may be field-specific. In that case, you need to be aware of the conventions of your field and this workshop in particular. Presumably you aren't the first person to submit a dissertation abstract to this workshop, so this issue must have been dealt with before. If your advisor doesn't know offhand, then it's worth looking through past years to try to find examples. (As a last resort you could ask the workshop organizers for advice, but you shouldn't bother them with this unless you have to, and I'd be very surprised if you had to.)</p>\n\n<p>Then you can write to your other coauthors and say \"I'd like to submit an extended abstract of my dissertation to Workshop X. When people have done that in the past, coauthorship of papers appearing in the dissertation has been handled like this: ... Is it OK with you if we do the same here?\" It's worth including a copy of your proposed submission, so they can see exactly how they would be mentioned if they won't be authors.</p>\n\n<p>If you don't include them as formal authors of the abstract, then of course you should make it very clear that this is merely a summary of work published elsewhere and who the authors of those papers are.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29484",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21371/"
] |
29,492 |
<p>A publisher for an e-textbook is offering me an honorarium if I try it with a class. My own ethical take on this is that I would not entertain this regardless of the size of the honorarium (which I don't know). I certainly wouldn't do this without full disclosure to the students who I'm forcing to buy the book. I also don't see this as a particularly good text for my course.</p>
<p>While my own position is sort of steadfast, it's something that I haven't seen before in academic publishing, so I'll ask "Are there situations where taking an honorarium for trying a textbook on a class is acceptable behavior?"</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29496,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think if you'd not seriously consider the text <em>without</em> the honorarium, that clinches a \"don't do it\". That is, external monetary motivations should not be allowed to color your professional judgement. And, given that the appearance of impropriety is itself a potential problem, even if the text is plausible, better to be able to later claim objectivity by not taking an honorarium/bribe...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29519,
"author": "A.G.",
"author_id": 10318,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10318",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In this situation \"honorarium\" seems like a glorified bribe. It would be OK to accept payment for actual work (like, producing a written report on how the book did in a class), but as long as no such work is expected then all the publisher would be asking is for the instructor to sell his students. So my answer would be a plain \"no\".</p>\n\n<p>One of the reasons that Universities pay their professors handsomely is precisely in order to buy them freedom.</p>\n\n<p>I would add that such a publisher deserves to be made \"famous\" for such practices.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29492",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20457/"
] |
29,494 |
<p>I am a senior who is graduating in December with a Bachelor's Degree in Pure math. I would really love to apply to the PhD program. However, I have been really depressed because even though I have a good GPA (3.85), and I have gotten mostly A's in all of my math classes (I have taken math classes up to Topology, measure theory, and Algebra), I feel like this is not good enough since I have 8 W's [withdrawals--no grade given] on my transcript. The horrible part is that 6 of these W's are on math courses. All those W's occurred during my first year at my university. The second year up to now I haven't gotten any W's.</p>
<p>My question is: How horrible (by the Committee who selects candidates for the program) is a W seen on a transcript? Is there anything I can do about it?</p>
<p>I feel like I have a big hole on my transcript, and it has been chasing me throughout my undergrad years even though I managed to hide myself from this monster and continued to take a lot of math courses, earning A's (and two B's) in all of them.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29497,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Good point in your transcripts is your GPA. However, you have some withdrawing courses which may/may not affect your admission chances. Here are my general suggestions:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>For a PhD admission, you will need two or three letters of recommendation. You can ask the professor who knows you and is writing the letter for you to explain why you had such problem. I think it will be better if the professor who is writing for you be the lecturer of the course you withdrew. He can explain the instances on it. (For instance, some other people in the same class also withdrew the course, the exams and assessment was really tough, etc.)</p></li>\n<li><p>You can improve your chances and your problems with your transcripts by having a better GRE score report; so try to have higher scores on your GRE to improve your chances in your admissions.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>And a final advice; this is your transcripts. You may not be able to change it. Don't be afraid of it and apply for the programs you like. Don't prejudge and let the admissions committee decide whether you are eligible for their program or not. May be the other applicants may not have better resumes than you and you be admitted in a good program, who knows? You will not miss anything.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29498,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Your situation doesn't sound so bad to me at all.</p>\n\n<p>First of all, though perhaps I shouldn't, I will admit that many graduate admissions personnel do not thoroughly scour the transcripts. They look at the GPA and they look at the courses taken. Often this information is given separately on the application, so a look at the actual transcript may only be required if there is something missing there. So there's a <strong>tip</strong> for you: if you are asked for separate information about courses taken, definitely be sure to list it. (If on the other hand you are asked to list the courses taken together with the grades you got, it seems to me that you are ethically obligated to list the W's.)</p>\n\n<p>More than this though, W's occupy a sort of nether region in academic grading. In my university we have WP (withdrew passing) and WF (withdrew failing). Only the latter affects your grade, and my understanding is that WP is not meant to be a stigmatic mark at all. (In fact undergraduate students are limited to 4 WP's over the course of their careers.) Unless the registrar puts an asterisk next to your 3.85 GPA and says <strong>warning: there were some W's!</strong> then in at least one very official sense the W's are <em>not being counted</em>.</p>\n\n<p>More good news: all of the W's are in your first year. That is exactly the sort of localized difficulty followed by dramatic improvement that admissions committees are looking for. </p>\n\n<p>I think it would be a good idea to use your personal statement to <em>briefly</em> address the W's. I'm thinking of one or two sentences which acknowledge that they exist, say a few vague words of excuse (e.g. \"time to adjust to a new academic environment\", \"personal difficulties long since resolved\"; nothing too specific or gory), and especially: point out how nicely you've moved on. If you feel like you can use the W's as part of a larger depiction of a crescendo of academic accomplishment, you might try that, but that's a more \"advanced technique\", so to speak.</p>\n\n<p>I think it is quite likely that the average effect this will have on your application is little or none. Honestly, to me you sound significantly more guilty / apprehensive about a minor issue long since resolved than you need to be. I forgive you! Please don't hesitate to apply to all the PhD programs you're interested in. (If you like algebra/number theory/geometry/topology, please consider UGA.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29508,
"author": "Alan",
"author_id": 22621,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22621",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Well, I'm personally a current Ph.D student who was in exactly this situation....I had a <em>ton</em> of withdraws for psychiatric/medical reasons on my transcript, but I had my life and my psyche straightened out by the time I was ready for grad school. My advice is to be open and honest in your communication with the schools in question, let them know the reasons for the withdraws and that you have your headspace settled now.</p>\n\n<p>There's a long tradition of mental health issues and mathematicians, there's a lot of us out there. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29550,
"author": "user2864482",
"author_id": 22654,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22654",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The first thing is to talk to the professors who would write recommendations for you. Firstly, those professors know a lot more about what happens in graduate admissions than you can guess. Secondly, recommendations are usually more highly weighted (and more closely read) than grades, so if they give you good recommendations that will out-weigh odd things on your transcript (especially if they were in freshman year).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29494",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
29,504 |
<p>What should I opt for? </p>
<p>Option A) very well paid PhD, around €3000 per month at a respectable university
or;</p>
<p>Option B) a non-paid PhD, where I have to pay €2000 per year at one of the top 10 universities of the world?</p>
<p>EDIT: Actually they are both UK universities, Option B is ranked <strong>between the top 10 in the world in engineering and tech</strong>, and I do get a scholarship that pays 18000 pounds which covers the difference between international student tuition and EU tuition. In Option A, I will be doing research in a good university and will be working alongside giants in the industry.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29509,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Unless you're independently wealthy I think it is always unwise to do an unfunded Ph.D. program. With the current academic market the way that it is, there's just no guarantee that you will get a good job with the Ph.D. that will allow you to quickly pay off your debt. There's also no guarantee that you'll get a Ph.D. at all. We're talking about over a hundred thousand euros! There are some advantages to a top ranked department (as ff524 says, university ranking is irrelevant), but it's not 100K euros worth of advantage (especially since often a lot of the advantage of a top dept. is that they're better funded and so students can concentrate more on research).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29515,
"author": "omerfar23",
"author_id": 22631,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22631",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Usually no, it is not worth self-funding a PhD program; in your case, however, I think it is worth it for two reasons:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Awesome top-10 school in your country</li>\n<li>Relatively cheap (ration between cost of education to future income). </li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I will share my experience with you. Right now I am in-directly paying for my PhD. I was accepted in a Computer Engineering PhD program at a state school which is a fairly well known public research school, among the top 50 in the United States. I am using my company's education benefit to fund my education. For me it has been worth it but if I had to pay tuition entirely myself, I wouldn't do it since I already have masters degree and there won't be any major pay increase at my current employer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29556,
"author": "L Platts",
"author_id": 9117,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9117",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Congratulations on receiving these two offers from good universities, both of which offer at least some funding. I make it that the difference between your two options is about €114000 over the three-year period that UK PhDs are usually funded for. This is probably a very large difference and it might be worth trying to ask somebody within your field who knows both institutions and departments whether that would be worth it. </p>\n\n<p>Certainly, self-funded students can survive PhDs in the UK, and your prospects of successfully completing are probably better than average if you are in engineering and tech. In addition, it may be a realistic prospect in the UK to receive payment for carrying out some teaching and demonstrating. I would advise asking about this possibility before you commit to option B. Look at the research council guidelines beforehand to try to gauge the best practices for salary and training.</p>\n\n<p>However, there may be more important criteria than money. In one department I worked in I saw hoards of both funded and self-funding students abandoned by a particular supervisor before they quit. Don't let this be you. The (prestigious) department did nothing; it was absolutely buyer beware. So the usual advice applies: Talk to your supervisor's previous students, did they complete on time? What are they doing now? Did they see others around them succeed and being supported? Did they feel the supervisor, department and university helped them to succeed? Unfortunately, a top department is absolutely no guarantee of a non-toxic research culture in the group. </p>\n\n<p>If option A is research council funded (or is funded by a high-profile UK body or another funder demanding results for their money), this would weigh heavily in my decision to take it, even if it is at a less prestigious university. There will be consequences for the group and department if a council-funded student fails to finish by the four-year deadline, and this means that both the supervisor and institution are absolutely committed to the student succeeding and solutions will have to be found if things start to go wrong.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 62469,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While what you should opt for is clearly a personal decision, my stance is the following:</p>\n\n<p><strong>You Should Never Take An Unfunded PhD Position</strong></p>\n\n<p>There is already a decently high opportunity cost for getting a PhD - adding substantial amounts of debt (or erosion of savings to it) just makes this opportunity cost worse. It will put tremendous pressure on you coming out the other end into the job market, and generally speaking I've never encountered an institution that didn't use unfunded positions as a sort of \"soft rejection\" signaling mechanism.</p>\n\n<p>The hope may be, of course, that you come, prove to be an outstanding researcher, and can find funding with a member of the faculty, but that's a <em>hope</em>, and one that's far from guaranteed.</p>\n\n<p>Especially considering that your second, funded option sounds like a very decent choice of school, I wouldn't do it unless you're genuinely independently wealthy to the point that all of this is a purely theoretical discussion, but my guess is that's not the case.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 95278,
"author": "Mikael",
"author_id": 79195,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/79195",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Make sure your supervising professor is a world famous researcher in your field of choice and that they are a large research department. Check out their past students. Did they achieve research careers or leaving the country?</p>\n\n<p>I did a PhD that straddled two fields; my supervisor was expert in field A, while I was interested in working in field B. The department was also based on field A. After I had successfully published a paper, a rival university tried to derail me from working in field B, because I was stepping on their toes. I ended up having my PhD deliberately dragged out for four years.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 109282,
"author": "Allure",
"author_id": 84834,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/84834",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some calculations using the input parameters you gave.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Option A</strong>: Assuming a 3-year PhD, you are earning €36,000 a year, or €108,000 over the duration of the PhD.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Option B</strong>: Assuming a 3-year PhD, you are losing €24,000 a year, or €72,000 over the duration of the PhD.</p>\n\n<p>Let's assume that if you take option A, you go on to a job that pays a discretionary income of €3,000 a month (i.e. 3000 after all taxes and basic spending are deducted). If you take option B, you instead get €3,000 + X a month, where X is a positive number. (This is an assumption, and there's no guarantee that it will indeed happen.) Further, let's assume you save the entire sum, that you graduate at age 30 and work until 65, and your monthly salary never increases faster than the rate of inflation.</p>\n\n<p>Next we assume that you already have enough money saved such that if you take option B, you start your working life with €0 (no student debt). That means that if you take option A, you start with €180,000. <a href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/18/the-sp-500-has-already-met-its-average-return-for-a-full-year.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">The average return of the S&P 500 per year over the past 90 years is 9.8%.</a> This is the rate of return at which you're increasing your savings. </p>\n\n<p>Now we can use <a href=\"http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_calculator.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">a compound interest calculator</a> to figure out how much money you have at retirement. Given €180,000 starting principal, €36,000 annual addition, 9.8% interest rate, and 35 years to compound, <strong>Option A gives €14,978,512.10</strong>. With option B, you have €0 starting principal, unknown annual addition, 9.8% interest rate, and 35 years to compound. Fiddling with the annual addition yields the result: <strong>to get the same ~€15 million retirement fund, you need an annual addition of €52,700</strong>. </p>\n\n<p>You'll need to vary the parameters to fit your situation of course, but the result of this analysis is typical. <strong>Your monthly discretionary income needs to be at least ~€4392, or X must be at least €1392, for Option B to be competitive with Option A</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Do graduates with a degree from a top 10 university earn €1392 more per month than graduates from a lower-ranked university? You can ask around, but I'm pretty confident the answer is \"no\" unless you are in a field where average monthly earnings are five figures or greater.</p>\n\n<p>tl; dr: <strong>take the funded position.</strong></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29504",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22618/"
] |
29,506 |
<p>I would like to know if someone knows whether there are IT solutions (websites etc) that help with meeting interdisciplinary researchers from local academic institutions (socal).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29534,
"author": "Dr G.",
"author_id": 17698,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17698",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would suggest you try finding researchers on <a href=\"http://www.academia.edu\" rel=\"nofollow\">Academia.edu</a>. Generally, you will find a whole host of researchers who have similar research interests and who are willing to collaborate. You also might try to find email or snail mail addresses of researchers you are already familiar with in order to establish links with them. If you don't attend conferences and network, I believe the above are viable options you should consider.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29540,
"author": "omerfar23",
"author_id": 22631,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22631",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Attend a hackathon or tech event, or atleast attend the last day (presentation) of these events, you are bound to connect with people various background and research area.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29542,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you really want them local, the best social network is actually being social.</p>\n\n<p>You can either attend conferences and university events in your city, attend seminars at other departments (some are announced in their webpages), or just send a series of polite emails to researchers working in thins you want. Just list the departments that may be doing something you like, browse their personnel, and skim their last publications to see if your research interests may be aligned.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 31263,
"author": "Dikran Marsupial",
"author_id": 2827,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2827",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my case, through my universities intramural cricket league! Seriously, getting to know academics in a social context not directly related to work is an excellent way to find people to work with, and if they are people you get on well with, that makes the academic collaboration more enjoyable and productive. Most universities have social clubs and societies (and e.g. language courses) that are open to staff.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29506",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22619/"
] |
29,512 |
<p>What does (S’73-M’76-SM’81-F’87) mean in author biography. I am writing a paper and the format given for author biography also include a must fill entry: (S’73-M’76-SM’81-F’87). I tried to Google it and I can see many similar entries in authors biographies in published papers.</p>
<p>Can someone please help me about how to fill up the field (S’73-M’76-SM’81-F’87) for myself?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29514,
"author": "Mad Jack",
"author_id": 11192,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11192",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><em>Disclaimer: I base my answer on my familiarity with the IEEE. Other societies may follow similar conventions.</em></p>\n\n<p>For members of the IEEE, the notation in your example is a \"shorthand\" way for indicating when the author achieved a certain membership status within the society. For example,</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>(S’73-M’76-SM’81-F’87)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>means that A. N. Author became a <em>Student Member</em> (S) in 1973, a <em>Member</em> (M) in 1976, a <em>Senior Member</em> (SM) in 1981, and an <em>IEEE Fellow</em> (F) in 1987. </p>\n\n<p>If you are not a member of the IEEE, then you do not use this shorthand in your biography.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 151334,
"author": "Leone",
"author_id": 109455,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/109455",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><em>As well as <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11192/mad-jack\">Mad Jack</a>, I'm basing my answer on IEEE.</em></p>\n<p>You can find IEEE's documents guiding authors on how to style their papers. The most updated one that I could find today can be download from <a href=\"https://journals.ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/your-role-in-article-production/ieee-editorial-style-manual/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">here</a>. The document is called <a href=\"http://journals.ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/IEEE-Editorial-Style-Manual.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">IEEE Editorial Style Manual</a> and it was published in 07/10/19.</p>\n<p>The passage you are looking for is located in the <strong>section Biographies</strong>, <strong>page 13</strong>:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>[...] The format for listing the IEEE membership history is to list each grade of membership attained followed by an apostrophe and the year it was attained, with each year and grade combination separated from the others by an en dash. Note that if an author attains the same membership grade in more than one year, list only the first year that it was reached. The current membership listed with the biography must match the byline.</p>\n<p>Abbreviations for IEEE membership grades are S (Student Member), GS (Graduate Student Member), A (Associate Member), M (Member), SM (Senior Member), F (Fellow), LA (Life Associate Member), LM (Life Member), LSM (Life Senior Member), and LF (Life Fellow). Note that A stands for Associate, not Affiliate, Member. Affiliate memberships are not listed in the byline or biography membership history. Do not include references to IEEE membership from the text of the biography.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29512",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22624/"
] |
29,520 |
<p>I'm in the process of applying for master of "Parallel and Distributed Computer Systems" in VU university. The university requires me to write a letter describing why I deserve a scholarship. I have written this letter multiple times, but every time I read it from beginning to end I feel it contains pride words and I think this will not help me to get scholarship.</p>
<p>Can someone help me to write effective letters like this?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29521,
"author": "MoustacheMan",
"author_id": 21737,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21737",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Committee must be convinced that the money will be well used. It would look best if you told you would invest the money to become better at the field of your studies (buy literature, go to conferences, pay for some courses or certifications, publishing your articles in journals). However, trying to look perfect could backfire. <strong>In my country</strong> it would be reasonable if you wrote that part of the scholarship would be spent on something not related to education. But that depends on the country, culture, traditions, committee members etc.</p>\n\n<p>You must also convince the committee that you will do good in studies. That is why you should mention your study results and achievements.</p>\n\n<p>You must convince the committee that you like the field of your studies, you are passionate and will keep working hard. If your studies have helped you at your work, mention that. Also mention your short and long term goals - educational and professional.</p>\n\n<p>You can also mention your strongest characteristics and give arguments. (example: leadership abilities, you lead a student team in project x which was successful. )</p>\n\n<p>The motivation letter as a whole is the answer to the question \"Why do you deserve a scholarship?”</p>\n\n<p><strong>edit #1:</strong> I changed the part about spending scholarship money on something not education related, because of the comment by Trylks.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 80432,
"author": "sdhirajj",
"author_id": 65340,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65340",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Scholarship is the grant for those students who are either extraordinary and talent or who are unable to pay their college or university fees due to low economic status of family.So the reason differs to individual.And I feel that student need to write their true story seeking for scholarship such as if his/her family cannot pay the sum maybe because of poverty or the individual is extremely good or expert at something and can contribute to the welfare and fame of university.And needless to say, the student need to meet the criteria of scholarship scheme and should write accordingly including their true need of scholarship.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 90378,
"author": "Gaurav",
"author_id": 60,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/60",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think one of the main reasons why questions like this are included in scholarship or fellowship applications are to distinguish exceptional candidates from each other. In most programs, a lot of applicants will be quickly eliminated by the selection committee on the basis of various criteria: because they didn't complete the application form correctly, because their previous experience doesn't suggest they'll benefit from this program, because they have access to other funding sources, because they aren't outstanding academically or socially, because they didn't interview well, or any number of other criteria.</p>\n\n<p>However, once that filtering process has ended, the selection committee has a list of exceptional, driven applicants who would clearly benefit from the funding -- but may not have enough funding to support all of them. That's when they start comparing those applications in detail, and that's where an applicant who can demonstrate why they'd be even a <em>slightly</em> better candidate than the others has a better chance of getting funded. This question is an opportunity for you to demonstrate what makes you unique when compared to other exceptional candidates.</p>\n\n<p>In line with this, you don't need to say, \"I would benefit from this funding because I have an exceptional academic history and I would be unable to take this opportunity otherwise\", because the rest of your application already proves this. Instead, think about the committee comparing you with the best candidate that you can imagine: someone just as smart as you, just as accomplished as you, and someone who would benefit from this funding as much as you. What could you tell the selection committee that would convince them to pick you instead of this other candidate?</p>\n\n<p>Some suggestions:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Are you (individually) particularly suited for this opportunity? Maybe you have previous experience with distributed systems that you can apply to this Masters degree?</p></li>\n<li><p>Is this opportunity particularly suited for you? Maybe there's a professor at VU you'd really benefit from working with, or maybe their program focusing on some aspect of distributed systems that are really important to you.</p></li>\n<li><p>How will selecting you benefit your hosts? What is something interesting you could bring to VU that other applicants can't?</p></li>\n<li><p>How will selecting you benefit your sponsors? Find out exactly what the scholarship's goal is: is it to give students access to opportunities that might not otherwise be available to them? Is it to transfer some skills to your country or community by educating you in those skills? One of the people at my university pointed out that one of the biggest benefits they get from international students is that their local students -- who might not otherwise be able to afford international travel or the chance to work closely with people from other cultures -- could now do exactly that without traveling anywhere! Whatever the sponsoring organization is doing, figure out how sponsoring you will help them advance their goals.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>As with all application questions, do <strong>not</strong> lie or exaggerate, or try to anticipate what the selection committee wants to hear: figure out what's unique about you, and figure out the best way to explain this to them. All the best!</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29520",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22636/"
] |
29,522 |
<p>After reading this question about <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7523/should-the-slides-in-a-presentation-be-self-explanatory-or-be-as-minimal-as-poss/28751#28751">slides making</a> and asking myself two questions about <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29352/which-is-the-better-scheme-for-a-poster-tell-a-story-or-important-first">poster making</a> and <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26277/are-ted-presentations-academically-credible">TED talking</a>, I realize that these activities are for showing what you found, make the audience be attracted. If they need further explanation, they should read your paper, which has successfully defensed and proved that your work is validated. One important thing when you attempt to attract people is concentrate on the important, which means unnecessary things need to be trimmed. I think the reference is one of those. So, should we put the references in slides/poster when we already have them in paper?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29523,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've only done one of these. I followed the same rules I'd follow in a paper. If the poster mentioned the work of another, there was a citation in the poster text and a reference at the bottom of the poster. That resulted in ten references (out of about 100) on the poster. <a href=\"http://scis.nova.edu/~robebrow/dissertation/cellular_automata_poster_brown_robert_20131209.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://scis.nova.edu/~robebrow/dissertation/cellular_automata_poster_brown_robert_20131209.pdf</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29524,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you subscribe to the \"slides should be teasers to motivate people to read the paper\" view (<a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/7574/4140\">I don't</a>), then make sure you provide full bibliographic information <em>for the paper</em> at least. If the paper is not published yet when you give the presentation, take the time to edit your presentation once the paper is published, if you can still access the presentation - e.g., if it is on your website.</p>\n\n<p>There is little more frustrating than looking through an old presentation about a paper that nowhere tells the reader which paper is being talked about, so you have to scare up the presentation's author and hope he tells you. (As likely or not, he may not even remember himself which paper he was talking about.)</p>\n\n<p>And then you can certainly skip references in your presentation.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT: And I would suggest the same for a poster: if you make the poster available even after the paper was published, e.g., as a download, add the info what paper it was about.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29525,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There's different schools of thought on that, and I don't think there is any really dominant convention (at least in my field). By and large, for conference papers, I tend to only include citations when it seems particularly important to do so (for instance when citing something in verbatim), or when I want to stress that an opinion that I am presenting originates from a different author.</p>\n\n<p>It is somewhat different for defense-style talks (thesis defense, job talks, etc.). I tend to use more (self-)citations in such presentations, as it seems more essential here to make immediately clear that I am not making my content up as I go along, i.e., that the material is actually peer-reviewed. Also, having references to good papers of yours directly on the slides is a subtle but powerful reminder that you were able to get your research published in good venues.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29526,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My rule for presentations is:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Don't say anything that an interested member of the audience will not be able to remember.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This includes tables, but also bibliographic references to things that are not absolutely central to the presentation. There is a caveat: if the conference is recorded or the slides are available offline, you could write them in a non intrusive way (but not mention them during the talk).</p>\n\n<p>Posters are different, as an interested reader may spend a longer time reading it. But then, the rule becomes:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Don't include anything that an interested reader will not be able to remember, or won't bother to write down.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This trims away \"previous work\" (except, perhaps, a single very good review) or citations for the exact value of a certain constant you used; but you should include things that are indeed central.</p>\n\n<p>And of course, by all means, you should include the reference to your own paper, so it is easy to find.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29529,
"author": "Phil",
"author_id": 19988,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19988",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I always include key references (i.e. ones necessary to ground the work in the literature including my own refereed work) in my slides and on my posters. I absolutely consider the references to be important as they ensure appropriate credit for prior work and to demonstrate one's understanding of the current state of the field. I do this in one of two ways for slides:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Include the bibliographic reference by author at the bottom of the slide. This is my preferred way for conference presentations where people familiar with the field will likely already know the article you refer to.</p></li>\n<li><p>Provide a bibliography at the end of the presentation. This approach can be useful if there are quite a few references, or especially if the presentation is likely to be used as a resource in its own right. This can be the case if you ever upload slides to e.g. your personal website, or if it's for a tutorial-style presentation.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29573,
"author": "Flounderer",
"author_id": 5842,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5842",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One important consideration is whether any of the people who wrote the references are in the audience. It can't hurt to mention them because academics like to have their egos tickled. Of course, this doesn't apply for posters.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29624,
"author": "Jukka Suomela",
"author_id": 351,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/351",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just give the references in the <strong>shortest possible manner</strong>, e.g.:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>(Smith et al. 2004)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There is no need to provide a full list of references anywhere. Such a minimal reference is sufficient for the following purposes:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>It clearly shows that this particular result is not from your current work.</li>\n<li>The <strong>year of publication</strong> helps to clarify the relative timing of prior work.</li>\n<li>Smith et al. in the audience will appreciate your talk.</li>\n<li>The few experts in the audience can guess which work you are referring to, especially if this is a very well-known paper in the field.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 110634,
"author": "Mahoma",
"author_id": 93461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/93461",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>According to\n<a href=\"https://wilkes.libguides.com/c.php?g=191944&p=1266692\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://wilkes.libguides.com/c.php?g=191944&p=1266692</a></p>\n\n<p>If you have a handout to accompany your poster, you may list your references on that. If not, you should list them in small type at the bottom of the poster.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 112228,
"author": "Erel Segal-Halevi",
"author_id": 787,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/787",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I always try to put references to papers of people that are likely to be in the audience. </p>\n\n<p>I noticed that it draws their attention and keeps them alert throughout the talk.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29522",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14341/"
] |
29,527 |
<p>This is a topic I constantly think about when writing a document.</p>
<p>Often after I complete a document in LaTex I would go through the document to make sure that the figures are where I want them to be (I want you here, not there!) and this is a very frustrating procedure.</p>
<p>My question is: How important are figure locations in a document, e.g. if the figure you refer to is not on the page where you are referring to it, perhaps even two pages after. </p>
<p>I have noticed that textbook publishers rarely give any thought to it and I cannot decide whether it bothers me or not. It would certainly make my life easier if I don't have to worry about floats jumping around in a LaTex document.</p>
<p>Any thoughts? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29531,
"author": "Maarten Buis",
"author_id": 14471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14471",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are publishing your work as an article in a journal or a book with a publisher than it is often not your decision. It is even very common for the figures and tables to be all collected at the end, and within the text there is a text like --- insert figure 4 here ---. For that reason it most of the time hasn't bothered me. The only time I considered the exact placement of figures and tables was when I was publishing my own dissertation and I was responsible for the lay-out.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29532,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are many policies that publishers imply considering figures. The most common ones are:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>All figures or tables (so-called floats) have to be numbered and get a caption.</li>\n<li>All floats have to be placed at the top of the page, or at a page solely made of figures and tables.</li>\n<li>All floats have to be referred in the text by their number.</li>\n<li>Every float has to appear no sooner than on the page where it is first mentioned (i.e. if it's first mentioned on page 5, it shouldn't be placed on page 4, but it can be placed on page 6).</li>\n<li>Numbering should be consecutive (i.e., no 1 then 3 then 2).</li>\n<li>The first reference to the floats should be consecutive (with the exception where you basically only \"confer it\" (with \"cf.\" or alike).</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Some journals want you to provide figures and tables separately, some don't care, some have typesetters that do it themselves, some don't force captions, some allow in-text placement, etc. Just check what you have to do. If nothing is said, I recommend complying with the rules above.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29533,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It may be that your journal's style guide will have something to say about this, so you should read it, but my preference is for figures and tables to appear in the order they are discussed in the text even if that makes them relatively far apart. You should do your best to get them $\\pm 1$ page from their reference, but it's not the end of the world if they go further.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes you need a headline figure to appear somewhere prominent, but otherwise, it's usually worth relaxing a bit over figure placement. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 69086,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I personally don't care. The default LaTeX algorithm does a decent job, and I don't consider it worth my time to tweak it manually (other than adding an occasional <code>[!ht]</code>).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29527",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15332/"
] |
29,535 |
<p>I'm currently writing a paper that has some kind of tutorial parts in it. I have written sentences similar to:</p>
<p>«... depending on your operating system, the procedure is different»</p>
<p>Is addressing the reader directly like that in a scientific paper ok? Or should I try to rewrite these sentences? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29539,
"author": "NauticalMile",
"author_id": 9139,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9139",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Except when outlining a motivation for a particular section in a paper, I would recommend speaking in third person as much as possible. An example of the exception is:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Because our primary interest is in ____ we have chosen to follow the method developed by ___.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>For your case I would reword your sentence as:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Depending on the operating system used, the implementation will differ.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Always shift the focus to the things being manipulated, whether it be an experiment, computer program, or anything else.</p>\n\n<p>As for your sentence in the comment you could write it as:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How the scripts are run is at the user's discretion; it may be interactive, line by line, or in batches, depending on its function.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I have used the <code>at the user's discretion</code> a lot in my work; it's a professional way of saying <code>you can do this part however you like</code>. Also, whenever I have to identify somebody whose completing a task, I try and identify them based on the task they are completing (e.g. <code>the analyst</code>, <code>the user</code>, or <code>the programmer</code>). If you say <code>you</code>, you are assuming that the reader is the one who will be carrying out these tasks, which may not be the case.</p>\n\n<p>If you have to address the <em>reader</em>, then you can say something like:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>For the reader's convenience, the pertinent information has been summarized in Table 5.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>or the famous, albeit witty, cop out:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>_____ is left as an exercise for the reader.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29549,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Whether to speak in third person or directly in first person is a matter of taste and tradition. However, when you consider reading papers that are written in an active voice and in a direct way, compared to third person and passive voice there is probably no contest which will put you to sleep first. </p>\n\n<p>Using \"this author\" about yourself or \"the reader\" distances both you and the reader from the work, it is as if you are reading account which only concerns others. There is no question that appropriately using \"I\" for yourself and maybe you for the reader is more direct and makes the communication clear. In an account where you also involve the reader you can also use \"we\" as in the reader and you, jointly. This is not the royal \"We\" as used by some.</p>\n\n<p>In your example of \"...depending on your operating system, the procedure is different\" skipping the \"your\" would not detract from the message: \"...depending on the operating system, the procedure is different\". But since you really want to say that differences appear because of the type of operating system used, I would suggest rephrasing to something like \"...depending on the choice of operating system, the procedure is different\". I am, in this case, not sure if \"your\" makes the point any clearer to the reader.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29535",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22644/"
] |
29,536 |
<p>Since I'm applying for grad school, I'm currently in the process of acquiring recommendation letters from my professors. They usually ask me a few questions about how to guide the letter, such as what do I want to emphasize and how to address the letter?</p>
<p>How does one address a grad school applicant's recommendation letter? I mostly settle for "Dear Madam or Sir". Is "Dear Graduate Admissions Committee" or some other alternative considered better?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29538,
"author": "Ram",
"author_id": 21894,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21894",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>According to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salutation#English\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\" title=\"Wikipedia\">Wikipedia</a></p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Dear Sir or Madam or 'Sir/Madam' (If the gender of the reader is unknown).</li>\n<li>To Whom It May Concern (If the writer wishes to exclude the gender of the reader from the salutation and/or to convey that the reader should forward the copy to one more suited to receive or respond appropriately).</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>As <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29536/how-to-address-grad-school-recommendation-letter/29538#comment64401_29536\">@Davidmh</a> has mentioned it is least concerned. I personally have chosen to use \"To Whom It May Concern\" when I applied to grad school as in some grad schools the recommendation letters might get forwarded from the admissions staff to various professors. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Edit :</strong> The first is British English and the second is American English as mentioned by <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29536/how-to-address-grad-school-recommendation-letter/29538#comment64405_29538\">@Davidmh</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29541,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are required to send your letter of recommendation to a specific person (may be your future advisor), the admission committee, head of department or an office in the university where you are applying to, then you should tell your professor to address that specific person or office. If in the guidelines of your application, you have not seen any emphasis on to whom/where should the letter be written, then ask your professor to write you a general recommendation like the one indicated in the <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/29538/15723\">@Srikanth's answer</a>.</p>\n\n<p>P.S: As I read the first paragraph of your question; I think your professors want to know what is most important for you to be included in your letter of recommendation. Something which will positively affect your application chance and something that should become <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29536/how-to-address-grad-school-recommendation-letter/29541?noredirect=1#comment64409_29541\">bold</a> in their recommendation. Of course they have many students in their classes and they may miss some positive and important points about you. So, they ask you to remind them the important things which comes to your mind. I have seen some professors that ask the students who want letters of recommendation to write a draft themselves and by reading the draft, they write a recommendation letter for their student.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29536",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14831/"
] |
29,543 |
<p>In preparing my academic vita for applications to PhD programs, I came across this question: Since I have some papers published in less known journals, should I list them or not to list them? </p>
<p>Will listing them instead hurt my applications?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29544,
"author": "DCTLib",
"author_id": 7390,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7390",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>PhD admission committees look for evidence of your ability to successfully complete the PhD program. Published papers can be a big hint that the answer is \"yes\".</p>\n\n<p>Unless it can be argued that the journal is a predatory one, I would suggest mentioning the published paper in your application if you think that the paper is of good quality. Even when the journal is not so well known (but has good standards), it shows that you can perform the type of work expected from you if they choose to accept you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29545,
"author": "ddiez",
"author_id": 21435,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21435",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Unless you have published in predatory or other journals with some suspicious reputation, all publications count positively. The more you demonstrate your productivity the stronger your application. How much each publication counts will depend on other factors, like the order of authorship (being first or middle; note that depending on the field ordering may be irrelevant) or how many times the publication has been cited.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29546,
"author": "Alan D.",
"author_id": 20525,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20525",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here is a <a href=\"http://scholarlyoa.com/2014/01/02/list-of-predatory-publishers-2014/\">well-known list of predatory journals</a>.</p>\n\n<p>As DCTLib says, you probably shouldn't publicize publications to any of these. For any others, go ahead! A less reputable journal paper is better than no journal paper. Once you have dozens of publications, you can start thinking of filtering out less reputable stuff.</p>\n\n<p>Note: I would have added this as a comment to the previous answer, but don't have the reputation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29559,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I asked this same question from the other side of the table: <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7908/value-of-light-to-none-peer-reviewed-pay-to-publish-articles\">Value of light-to-none peer reviewed pay-to-publish articles</a> when I had a student apply to do a Phd with me who had three articles published in essentially predatory journals (maybe a hair better). My concern was that the papers indicate a student whose potential goals are not well aligned with the requirements of many competitive PhD programs. The answers convinced me that that is not a big issue. I would suggest including them and mentioning in your cover letter/statement of purpose that you understand the differences between high and low quality publishers. I think that would help to convince potential supervisors to evaluate the publications based on the quality of the research and not the place of publication.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29566,
"author": "You're It",
"author_id": 22663,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22663",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From a current PhD student:</p>\n\n<p>I would definitely recommend listing them on your CV.</p>\n\n<p>The publication expectations for PhD applicants are relatively low (compared to postdocs, etc), and many PhD applicants don't have a published manuscript in a peer-reviewed journal yet. So having something on your CV that shows you're published, even if in a journal with a 0.1 impact factor (lesser known), will still make you stand out.</p>\n\n<p>Something else to consider - humans are busy. And academicians are super busy. And unless you're applying to a program in the same field as the journal you published in, there's a good chance the people reviewing your application won't even know the quality of the journal on your CV. And they most likely won't look it up. And even if they do, the key is that you've published something. This, in itself, is great.</p>\n\n<p>As I see it, you can only gain from adding these to your CV.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29618,
"author": "sevensevens",
"author_id": 14754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14754",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are just beginning your Academic carrier, list EVERY reputable publication, including popular pubs such as magazines and news stories (be sure non-peer reviewed pubs are marked).</p>\n\n<p>Even after you have several publications, and need to thin your CV, keep a list of all published articles in a longer format CV in case it is needed by a committee of some sort.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29543",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
29,551 |
<p>I took a research writing course at my university (which is required of most students) and did extremely well in the course, winning a writing award for the work I did in that class and having it published in the school's textbook for their introductory English courses. I went on to be a TA for that professor for two semesters afterward and did extremely well, and I think his recommendation would be nothing but glowing.</p>
<p>However, I am an Electrical Engineering major applying for an MS in Computer Science, and while his recommendation shows my ability to write and teach, the work I did was entirely non-technical. Would it still be worthwhile to ask for a recommendation from him, or should I focus on getting more letters from my EE/CS professors instead? I currently have one excellent letter from my employer (a small company that I worked for a little over a year during school, was able to lead development on a few projects and teach some people, mostly industry), but sadly don't have a good enough relationship with enough of my other professors beyond "got an A / did well on some projects".</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29562,
"author": "MoustacheMan",
"author_id": 21737,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21737",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I can't think of how an excellent letter of recommendation from a professor in an unrelated field of study could hurt you. Perhaps if it was the only (excellent) letter of recommendation, maybe then. But you mentioned you have an excellent letter from your employer and can (I assume) get at least one more good letter from someone else, so I think you are in a good position.</p>\n\n<p>You are right, his letter of recommendation would not be about your technical skills related to EE, but it would mention your characteristics, work ethics, teamwork ability in a very good light. Research writing course is also not that far away from EE. It shows you are more diverse than the stereotypical programmer or engineer. You worked with this specific professor for 2 semesters, he could give you an outstanding letter of recommendation. I think his letter will give you more than any single average/solid letter from other professors.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32134,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The two relevant points are: 1) you took the course and 2) you had the professor. And may I add a third, you may well get your best recommendation from this professor.</p>\n\n<p>\"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.\" That is, don't overlook the opportunity to get a very good recommendation from somebody. It's better if it is in a related field, \"all other things being equal,\" but all other things AREN'T equal.</p>\n\n<p>In a graduate school situation, it is quite important that you can (and did) excel \"somewhere.\" That it is in an area close to your field is certainly of some importance, but it's not the only thing. And good writing skills are relevant in engineering, science, or ANY technical skill.</p>\n\n<p>It's hard enough to get good/great recommendations as it is. Don't pass this one by.\nThen, of course, try to get good recommendations in your field as well in order to produce a strong, all-around package.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32135,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is always a good thing to have letters from faculty who are wholly enthusiastic about your performance. However, if the performance is in a different subject from the one in which you're applying for graduate study, their relevance will be at least somewhat lessened compared to letters from faculty in that subject. One reason that this is true is that the admissions faculty are more likely to know faculty in the same subject personally. Even if they don't, they have a lifetime of training at evaluating people in the same subject: e.g, when I read a striking letter from someone I don't know, I often look them up to find out their research profile. </p>\n\n<p>It may be that my field -- mathematics -- is snobbier than most when it comes to discounting letters from those in adjacent fields. But with the exception of physics, statistics and computer science, if I get a letter from someone in a different academic field, they simply can't directly convince me that the candidate they're writing for will be successful in my PhD program because I can't be confident that they know what it takes to be successful in a (let alone my) PhD program in mathematics. They can convince me that the candidate is a very strong / talented / accomplished student in general, which is certainly a good thing, and what they tell me about their skills in Subject X might make a positive impression on me. I would be delighted to hear that a candidate was an award-winning writer. But this would not be a good substitute for a letter from a mathematician telling me that the candidate has what it takes to succeed in my math PhD program. (And you don't need a faculty letter to list the awards you've won; that information should be included elsewhere in your application.)</p>\n\n<p>So I would say: sure, get the letter from this faculty member in a different subject. But use it <em>in addition to</em> other letters from faculty in your subject, not as replacements for it. (In most programs I know, you can freely turn in more letters than are asked for.) If you really can't find more than two strong letters from faculty in your field -- that's a separate issue, by the way -- then it would probably be better to use this letter in place of a letter from someone who is not going to rate you highly. In my opinion you should not use the letter to replace a letter from a faculty member who will say you are strong even though they don't know you well enough to say anything really insightful about you. We don't need deep insight from every letter: merely being vouched for by someone that we know (at least, by reputation) and respect may be good enough. \"Got an A / did well on some projects\" is not actually a bad letter from the right person.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29551",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22652/"
] |
29,554 |
<p>In some countries, it is required for students to contact a professor and find an advisor before they start their application for that university. I have heard from some of my friends who are studying PhD that if a professor is eager to advise a student who has contacted him (because of his outstanding vita, publication, etc.), he will help that student to find a good scholarship or even offers some scholarships from funding providers he knows (maybe from industry, research institutes, etc.).</p>
<p>I am asking this because after I heard this comment, I feel that if a professor does not show support for scholarships, or if he says in emails</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I will be happy to advise you on your PhD, please go to admissions webpage, also visit scholarships webpage and apply for one you are eligible for receiving.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>it means that this professor is not <em>strongly</em> interested in advising me.</p>
<p>I mean, if the professor really wanted to have me in his research group as a PhD student, he would try to help me finding scholarships. If he is not helping and is not talking about it, he is not really interested in having me as a PhD student. He believes that I am not a strong student and I will not find any scholarships. So, this is a way to politely and automatically reject a PhD student. Is this really true?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29558,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>That could be the reason, but I can think of a few alternatives.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>He may have a deadline for a paper next week, or has heavy teaching, or any other very time consuming task.</li>\n<li>He hasn't had a new PhD student lately, so he is not really updated in the funding sources available.</li>\n<li>You know your eligibility much more than he does. For example, you might state in your CV that your were born in Colombia, so he knows you have that nationality, but you may also have a Spanish passport, and thus be eligible for funding for EU citizens.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I would guess that these applications require you to submit some sort of research plan; that should be done with your future supervisor. Once you found a suitable funding possibility, ask for help to write the proposal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29564,
"author": "rachaelbe",
"author_id": 11304,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11304",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It could be, as is usually the case in the UK, that the Professor has no direct influence on the awarding of scholarship money. It would, therefore, be irresponsible of him to mislead you about your chances of obtaining funding. I certainly wouldn't take it as a sign that he doesn't wish to supervise you.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29554",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
29,560 |
<p>I recently got a good job and I want to thank a very senior professor in my department, who spent time to write me a very good reference.</p>
<p>I am thinking maybe to give him a thank you card when I go to see him before leaving the department.</p>
<p>I come from a culture where gift-giving is considered obligatory if someone has helped you to achieve something major. I'm not sure this is appropriate in the UK context. </p>
<p>Any ideas? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29561,
"author": "Stefano",
"author_id": 22533,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22533",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A thank you card is definitely a good idea and I cannot see that it would be considered inappropriate. If you are from abroad, a little something typical of your country of origin may also be appropriate. Like a small box of traditional sweets, a little traditional doll, a fan, or something like that. I have had this kind of little things given to me by students. </p>\n\n<p>Also, the university will probably have a policy on gifts which you may be able to locate on their web site. The general idea is that it should not be something worth a significant amount of money.</p>\n\n<p>Rather than asking a classmate, I would ask a junior faculty for what goes as the norm. A classmate may be as inexperienced in this as you are, because the rules in academia can be significantly different from other parts of society. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29579,
"author": "Aaron Hall",
"author_id": 9518,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9518",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A well thought-out thank you note would be good. Better if you know them well enough to know they like a particular place, e.g. their favorite coffee shop, and you could buy them a gift certificate. I'm probably reading my own biases into this, but I would not get them less than a $20 gift certificate, or maybe a nice bottle of wine (if you know they'd like it). If that's too expensive for you, just focus on making your thank you note mean more than a couple cups of free coffee.</p>\n\n<p>But you're under no obligation. They performed their duty as they were obliged to do, likely because you did so as well. If you're on good terms, and I think it's safe to assume you are, a simple thank-you note is likely to mean much more than anything else you might do.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29592,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>A thank-you card would be perfect, or even just saying thank you.</p>\n\n<p>There isn't a strong culture of giving thank-you gifts in the UK so your professor won't expect one and certainly won't feel that you are ungrateful if you don't give him something. However, it's almost never inappropriate<sup>1</sup> to give a small gift if that's what you want to do. The suggestions in the other answers (a gift card for a coffee shop, a bottle of wine or especially something from your own country) are all good ideas. I wouldn't spend more than about £10 on such a gift. </p>\n\n<p><sup>1</sup> The situations where it would be inappropriate would mostly be cases where the gift could be interpreted as a bribe; that obviously isn't the case, here.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29560",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22659/"
] |
29,563 |
<p>When applying for academic jobs in the US, one is often asked for a recommendation letter from someone who can attest to your teaching abilities. </p>
<p>How much experience should the letter-writer have with your teaching? Should they have observed you teach multiple times? (In my present postdoc I will teach 3 courses per academic year, should I be inviting potential teaching-letter-writers to visit each course? Or perhaps a selection of undergraduate/graduate courses/seminar talks?) </p>
<p>Are the answers to the above different for postdocs/tenure-track jobs? Within tenure-track jobs, are they different for research-focused versus teaching-focused jobs?</p>
<hr>
<p>I am personally in mathematics. I am assuming the answers will not be too field-dependent (please correct me if I am mistaken), so I left it out of the main body of the question. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 37609,
"author": "A.S",
"author_id": 22447,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22447",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>How much experience should the letter-writer have with your teaching?\n Should they have observed you teach multiple times?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I don't think there is a \"right\" answer here, but there are a number of educated guesses that represent sensible approaches. I will list a few points that common sense suggests, as a starting point. </p>\n\n<p>It makes sense that the person providing a letter should be familiar with your teaching at least \"on paper.\" In other words this can be someone who has observed your teaching at least a couple of times. (I don't think it is critical that the observer has sat in on <em>all</em> the classes you teach, but maybe a couple sessions in one or more classes, to have some general idea of how you are doing. Chances are these were representative examples.) OR, it could be someone (like dept chair or your PI/postdoc advisor) who can be reasonably expected to have access to your end-of-semester course evaluations and has some decision-making capacity with regard to your teaching assignments. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>should I be inviting potential teaching-letter-writers to visit each\n course? Or perhaps a selection of undergraduate/graduate\n courses/seminar talks?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I think both are fine ideas. Keep in mind the availability of those you are asking, so as not to overburden them with these requests. Sometimes once sit-in might be enough for an experienced faculty member to form a reasonably accurate judgment of your capacity for teaching. Kudos to you if you do not 'orchestrate' the specific class they sit in on, but invite them to drop by 'any time' on any class (except exam time). This is mostly for your own sake, so you can hold yourself to a higher standard overall across your classes. The confidence required to extend such an invitation may not go unnoticed as well. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Are the answers to the above different for postdocs/tenure-track jobs?\n Within tenure-track jobs, are they different for research-focused versus teaching-focused jobs?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Seems a bit like splitting hairs here...I believe any sensible approach should be sufficient across all of your purposes. The only caveat would be that common sense suggests that deeper familiarity with your teaching will allow the letter writer to write something more coherent about your teaching than the collection of generalities that may be the limit for someone only casually (e.g. indirectly) familiar with your teaching. </p>\n\n<p>(Side note: There are more public though less formal records compared to course evaluations, like RateMyProfessors.com. Not the most authoritative resource on objective evaluation of teaching, but see how you are doing there, just in case.)</p>\n\n<p>Finally, teaching simply doesn't matter as much when applying for research-focused jobs. If your core responsibility will be to drum up grant funding, worry about that in your application, and don't worry so much about your teaching record. This may not be universally the case, but should serve as a reasonable rule of thumb.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 37677,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In a situation where \"teaching matters\", there are two significantly different tangible assessment types: student evaluations, and peer (or supervisor) evaluations, not to mention the more extreme sort of commercial sites which have the systemic problem that the commenters self-select, typically with skewing to negative, even ranting reviews.</p>\n\n<p>The aggregate response in university-organized end-of-term student reviews is useful, not necessarily as a gauge of whether you're a good/effective teacher, but whether the students are \"happy\". For that matter, successfully generating no \"complaints\" during a term is some kind of success. This does matter.</p>\n\n<p>Peer-evaluation (occurring not at pre-arranged times, but unplanned, yes), or evaluation by your director of undergrad studies in your department, is the closest to what hiring committees might care about. In particular, if you are doing what your peers or \"boss\" think you should, it doesn't matter whether the students love you or not... as long as they're not actually unhappy.</p>\n\n<p>(Indeed, our goal surely isn't so much to make students \"happy\" in a superficial way, as to achieve certain pedagogical goals.)</p>\n\n<p>The attributes relevant to undergrad teaching, especially lower-division, are essentially unrelated to seminar talks and even to graduate-level teaching, since the objectives (and the frame of mind of the audience) are invariably very different.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: a \"teaching letter\" that merely reports that the student evaluations were positive, or that there were no complaints, is positive, but cannot count as a \"strong\" teaching letter, I think. This is a special case of the weakness of recommendation letters of any sort that merely repeat facts not known first-hand to the writer. First-hand information is better, and, further, <em>lack</em> of a first-hand-information letter-writer is not a good thing...</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29563",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948/"
] |
29,568 |
<p>When applying for academic jobs in the US, one is often asked for a recommendation letter from someone who can attest to your teaching abilities. Suppose someone has been involved in various workshops, programs, discussion groups, etc. about pedagogy through a Center for Teaching Excellence (or a comparable office) as a graduate student or postdoc; is it acceptable for a non-teaching staff member from this center, who has facilitated such activities, to write a teaching recommendation letter for academic jobs? In particular, how are such letters perceived by hiring committees?</p>
<p>Edited to clarify: I was envisioning that such a letter would be in addition to a teaching letter written by a faculty member in one's department. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29773,
"author": "Anonymous Physicist",
"author_id": 13240,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13240",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes. You should ask someone who can provide detailed information about the quality of your teaching and who the hiring committee will view as qualified. I do not see how the letter writer's department is relevant. Consider that ability to work across disciplines is widely expected. If the letter writer is a teaching expert that could be beneficial.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 37259,
"author": "Sylvain Peyronnet",
"author_id": 43,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A typical case where non-teaching staff can write teaching recommendation letters for someone is when someone from the administration has the role to design and gather teaching evaluations. Such staff member can provide hard quantitative and qualitative evidence of the quality of teaching.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, this kind of letter cannot give actual facts, except by citing what students have written in their evaluations.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 37261,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that such a letter would give a mixed impression, depending on the personalities of the people on the hiring committee and the priorities of the institution.</p>\n\n<p>On the one hand, it could be viewed very favorably indeed. Being an active participant in such a workshops would signal your dedication to quality teaching, and perhaps this staff member could write a very moving and positive letter.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, it could be viewed unfavorably. I think that some faculty members, especially at research-oriented schools, might have an instinctive distrust for this kind of organizationalism. Moreover, an active interest in pedagogy doesn't necessarily imply that you're actually a good teacher in the classroom.</p>\n\n<p>Overall, I would recommend in favor of obtaining such a letter, especially if you are targeting jobs which prioritize teaching. However, you might consider getting a second teaching letter from someone in your department. If you don't get a second letter, I would recommend that you ask the staff member in question to observe your classroom teaching, and discuss that in his/her letter (and not just your interest in pedagogy). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 37263,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would view the letter favorably if the letter writer made it clear that they had observed the candidate's teaching. </p>\n\n<p>I've seen some TA training programs where the TA's are observed in the classroom and get formal evaluations by someone involved in the training program. A letter of recommendation from such a person would be quite valuable from my point of view (and assuming that the letter was positive this would be helpful to the candidate.) </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if the person that you're considering is just a faculty development specialist who runs workshops that you've attended and hasn't directly observed your teaching, then such a letter would be much less useful (read useless) to me. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 37285,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another important factor to consider is whether the person in question understands the conventions of academic letter writing. The one time I have looked at a letter written by person in this situation, it was horrible. I'm sure that person was especially incompetent (there were an embarassing number of typos, they had obviously cut and pasted from other letters, they wrote a lot of things that made no sense, etc.), but it made me very wary of such letters in the future. I'll also say, from my experience in hiring at research universities that two teaching letters would look a little weird. I think mxmxmx overstates things a little: while a lot of professors at research universities are essentially indifferent to a candidate's teaching, most recognize that it will be good for the department to have better teachers. However, it is true that they're more concerned about avoiding disasters than separating good teachers from great, and most wouldn't seriously consider compromising on research quality in order to get a better teacher.</p>\n\n<p>One thing you might consider: ask the non-academic staff member to write an more informal summary of their interaction with you, observing your teaching, etc., and have them send it to the faculty member writing your teaching letter. That way, they can quote from it or use it for material, without having a separate letter.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29568",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948/"
] |
29,572 |
<p>I am currently submitting a paper for Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. I worked on this project for the last four years and was the only one working on this project. I had everything going very well. In order to get the crystallization, I gave the plasmid construct to another laboratory which has expertise in crystallization. Fortunately, they got the crystals.</p>
<p>After the crystallization got successful, one researcher (say, A) from their lab came to my lab and my professor told me to teach him all the methods. I happily agreed to do so. After A went back to his lab, I got the draft of the paper from my professor, where, my name appeared as first co-author! I almost fainted. There were 20 figures in the paper. 13 were contributed by me, 4 by A and rest by 2 other people. The paper was mostly about my work. But in the contribution section, my prof and the prof of A mentioned that I and A had equal contribution. In fact it is mentioned that A was solely contributor of crystals and he equally contributed in all other results.</p>
<p>I discussed this issue with my prof, but he tells that he is getting pressure from A's prof to make A the first author. And my prof does not want to estrange relationship with A's prof. I am heart-broken and I don't know what to do.
Please suggest me what to do.</p>
<p>Edit 2021: It has been quite some time since I posted this question. I accepted the authorship as recommended by my advisor. Now I feel mature and realize that maintaining a cordial relationship with one's advisor and colleagues is more important than anything else. If one is capable enough, s/he will get more opportunities to prove their worth.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29574,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First, try to calm down and don't react hastily.</p>\n\n<p>Your situation is very frustrating, but it is not horrible. Let's say that the current author ordering would be the final one. You would be what's known as a <em>co-first author</em>. While it would be slightly more advantageous to be the sole first author, in my experience being co-first practically will not have a significant negative effect on your CV (BTW - are you a grad student or postdoc?). This is important for you to realize - <strong>the worst-case scenario that you mention is upsetting, but definitely not a disaster</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Some additional points:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You can try explaining your perspective to your professor. If you originally decided that you would be the sole first author, you should definitely remind him/her of that. Do this politely, of course, but show your professor this is a big deal for you. This could cause the professor to reconsider, depending on his/her personality.</li>\n<li>Instead of being the sole first author, you can consider being co-first but listed first. This doesn't make a big difference, but people might associate you with the paper more easily (Whatshername et al.).</li>\n<li>Consider that regardless of the number of figures, the other author might deserve being co-first. For example, in many papers an experimentalist produces the data and a computational person analyzes the data and produces most of the figures - and they would often be equal co-first authors (even though each of them could think of themselves doing \"most of the work\"). So I do not know all the details of who did what, but it does not sound completely implausible that the other person did work which justifies being co-first.</li>\n<li>Regardless of what happens, I suggest you talk with your professor about how to get a more satisfactory outcome next time (if this is relevant for you). Discuss authorship in advance and what happens when things change.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29588,
"author": "Alexander",
"author_id": 12974,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12974",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The question is: who wrote the results down? Writing down the results in an appropriate form is taking much more time, and maybe even more knowledge, than doing the research and coming up with some figures.</p>\n\n<p>Did you write your intermediate results down; and if so, why didn't you publish them? Did you really do four years of research without leaving the nuthouse called \"university\" once, heading for a conference?</p>\n\n<p>If three years of intermediate results are all written down and published, A will have to take all the conference papers into the list of sources, so everyone can see who the researcher behind the paper really is.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29599,
"author": "camelccc",
"author_id": 21409,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21409",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Unfortunately I have seen this sort of thing actually happen - and have seen 1 paper withdrawn, and resubmitted, and another that was never published because of it.</p>\n\n<p>Your professor is looking to get tenure - you are in a strong position.\nGet your thesis defended 1st, then worry about this.</p>\n\n<p>Id actually refuse to let the paper be published at all rather than this. If you are looking to stay in academia, the 1st coauthor will be a massive deal, unless you have multiple other papers. We are talking the difference between a sucessful academic and the eternal post doc. If you are looking outside academia, whether or not the paper is published will matter little.</p>\n\n<p>If you have to write to the journal to request withdrawl, it will end your advisors chances of tenure, though get the thesis defended 1st, or he'll likely refuse to let you graduate.</p>\n\n<p>If you can't get your thesis done first, go to the department chair now - do not wait. It's academic misconduct, though in my experience you will only make things worse by discussing with your advisor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29629,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Disclaimer: My Ph.D. is in Theoretical Comp Sci, so I am speaking from a very different kind of experience.</p>\n\n<h3>Some Meta suggestions and notes</h3>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>I'd say <em>don't</em> calm down - but still, don't react hastily. Especially since there are about a zillion different ways for you to act.</p></li>\n<li><p>The whole name ordering and who-contributed-more haggling and intrigues are quite unbecoming. In some fields, authors are listed in alphabetical order, period. Maybe one guy/girl did almost everything, maybe it was a real team effort, maybe someone was simply the higher-ranking person - it doesn't matter. Or rather, maybe it matters, but it doesn't matter to the promotion of science, so it's not part of the paper. It would be extremely rude for an article to include a sentence such as \"person X contributed more than person Y\".</p></li>\n<li><p>Unfortunately, academia is not living up to its ideals, and your Professor is playing politics too much at your expense. You need to consider whether it's more important to you to try and make a stand and try changing these norms of behavior - at least locally and to some extent - or rather endeavor not to cause a scene, maintain good working relations and move on to doing more actual science. I can't entirely fault the second alternative, and in fact it looks like the vast majority of people choose it, but I suggest the first. Of course, there's a third option...</p></li>\n<li><p>Maybe this is all dirty politics. Maybe your Professor is not really your friend. Maybe you're surrounded by frenemies. If you adopt this view, treat everything like a cut-throat market interaction and try to make the most of it personally without getting your heart broken. I don't recommend this approach but it's the basis for at least one suggestion below.</p></li>\n<li><p>Whatever you decide to do, try to run it confidentially by other people who know what's going on, or who know your Professor, etc. Of course, these people may then run to your Professor, or A's Professor, and mention your plans to them; this might be undesirable, but might also be desirable - getting a kind-of-a-response from one of them before actually acting in a way you can't go back on.</p></li>\n<li><p>From your description it seems that A made a significant contribution to the paper; and that he is not involved in trying to get his name as a first co-author. Keep that in mind; avoid antagonizing him and try to avoid courses of action which make him your antagonist on this matter - either because you want to be fair to him; or because you want to work with him in the future; or because you don't want him to try and get back at you.</p></li>\n<li><p>How do you know your Professor told you the exact truth? Maybe there are other reasons for making A co-first-author. Try to obtain more information, maybe from other people, maybe in A's lab.</p></li>\n<li><p>Many of the possible courses of actions are dangerous to you, some to your Professor, some to others.</p></li>\n<li><p>You're suggesting there's some sort of a quid-pro-quo between the Professors. Try to ascertain what your Professor is getting in exchange, specifically for this decision or in general. That is likely to help you decide how to handle the situation.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<h3>So, what might you do?</h3>\n\n<p>These are mostly mutually exclusive alternatives, and each of them makes some assumptions regarding the above.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><strong>Insist.</strong> Tell your Professor that you're sorry for possibly putting a strain on his relationship with A's Professor, but you do not accept making A a co-first-author. Talk like he needs your permission to do this.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Conspire with your Professor.</strong> Suggest to your Professor that he should oblige you, and have you talk to A's Professor to explain your case, or arrange with your Professor for it to appear like you threw a fit, or would have none of it (suggestion 1) - while actually this was not the case.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Appeal to A:</strong> It is not inconceivable you could get A to support your position, in a group meeting or via email. If he's a person with some integrity, he should, and then the co-first-authorship becomes an untenable position, for both Professors.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Peer pressure on A:</strong> Tell your common acquaintances and friends about what they're trying to do to you, and how A is going along with it. Have some of them inadvertently or advertently talk to him about it. </p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Collective action.</strong> Get your Graduate Researchers Union (I do hope you're unionized!) involved. Then you can play the good cop, while your union rep comes see your Professor and tells him \"Look, we cannot allow this to happen. If you promote certain graduate researchers at the expense of others, we may have to resort to denouncing your action publicly, with multiple people bringing it up in departmental or all-university fora.\" Your Professor will likely rethink his position then.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Haggle.</strong> Tell your Professor, or your Professor and relevant other people involved, that this they're hurting your feelings and your career, that they're demanding quite the sacrifice, and without being compensated somehow you're not willing to accept it (perhaps without naming the exact sanction you are thinking of). Maybe you could get a Post-Doc promise (in writing of course, otherwise it's useless)? Maybe A's lab can do some work for you which they usually don't have time for? Maybe they could promise reciprocation in a forthcoming paper?</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Accept your fate.</strong> Maybe, like <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/29574/7319\">@camelcc's answer</a> suggests, A sort-of deserves it anyway. Maybe where you intend to go after the Ph.D. you can establish your merit without people counting positions in author lists. Maybe the price of antagonizing people / making a scene are too high, and you're about to finish and need some peace and quiet to write up your Ph.D. research thesis.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Cry bloody murder.</strong> If your Professor insists, and you can't influence any of him, A's Professor or A, publish an open letter to both Professors of them, with copies to the Dean/Provost/Rector/whatever it is you got, and send it also the faculty Ph.D. candidate mailing list, put it up on the bulletin board etc. Be super-polite, super-reverential, as non-accusative as possible, say things like \"I believe it is inappropriate to misrepresent\" rather than \"You are lying in claiming\" etc. This is a weaker and more dangerous variant of options 5. and 9.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>File a disciplinary/ethical complaint.</strong> Of course, it may be difficult to make anything stick, plus, it very much depends on the regulations and the norms in your university and in your more immediate surroundings. I'm guessing this is considered a highly unusual course of action and is at least frowned up if not worse... also, note you need to make an official demand of all authors to correct the listing, since if you don't have that rejected you can't really complain about anything.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29661,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a \"political\" situation, and must be treated as one. You have two alternatives, \"go along,\" or fight.</p>\n\n<p>Your professor clearly wants to go along. Clearly, the other professor has \"called\" a favor and put your professor in a tight spot. On the other and, the other professor now owes your professor (and you) a favor. Speak candidly to your professor, without being too blunt, and ask what will be in it for you in the future. Hopefully. someone will return the \"favor,\" eventually. And, of course, be more careful in the future. (I made a similar mistake myself.)</p>\n\n<p>Your second alternative is to fight. Start by going to the dean, and if necessary, go to court. Hire a lawyer to advise you of your rights. Make sure that you have logs, diaries, etc. establishing the fact that you did research on this topic before anyone else.</p>\n\n<p>Be aware that if you choose to fight a powerful professor, \"no one\" in your department and probably not in your university will have anything to do with you again, and they may even \"blackball\" you to the rest of the academic community, meaning that you may have to change fields. If you are really that talented, it may be worth it. Otherwise, consider the \"go along\" alternative.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29785,
"author": "a20",
"author_id": 22752,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22752",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your professor is being bullied, and he's telling you to go along with it because he doesn't have the guts to defend his student.</p>\n\n<p>Treat it as a bullying situation. Why should you, your work & your career be victimised because your professor is being bullied?</p>\n\n<p>And further, why do they all think you can be the ultimate pawn? You've to stand up and fight back but in a way that you can win. No point rocking the boat and losing. Do it quietly and hit hard in unseen places that hurt but they can't cry out. They have to smile and grin in public and back away from you.</p>\n\n<p>My advise to you is to become a b*stard that they did not see coming:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Gather some facts, know the weaknesses and pasts of the other professor and Mr A.</li>\n<li>Do not talk directly with the other professor. Be very nice to him if you meet him.</li>\n<li>Go and talk to A, face to face. Demonstrate that you have his weak spot in your hand, and you are going to squeeze if he doesn't back out. Give a deadline. Send him messages at odd hours that make him lose sleep. Keep the pressure up. When you have someone's weak spot in your control, they will find it extremely hard to think rationally.</li>\n<li>He might react according to stages of trauma/grief: Denial and Isolation, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. Be cold, know what he's going through and it's according to your plan. Be merciless, be relentless, force him to get to acceptance. Do not accept bargains.\nHe's got to be sure you're serious. </li>\n<li>Once your deadline is up, squeeze hard but not all at once. Act more than your threat. Don't show your ultimate cards though, promise further pain. Give another deadline, shorter this time. Keep the pressure on.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Be absolutely cold and logical. This is your 4 years of work. They want to play you out and profit from it? Well find their pressure points, weak spot. How can you hurt them without hurting yourself? Let Mr. A run to his professor and cry. If the other professor wants to meet you etc, avoid as much as possible, say all the right non-commital things and make him feel at ease, but behind his back, squeeze Mr A with righteous vengence.</p>\n\n<p>Second, don't trust or turn to the system to help you. The professors are the system and they will burn you.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Third, don't expect the story to end here. Stories like this will be whispered behind your back and impact your reputation and career further on. Make a stand, win quietly or spend your career walking with your tail between your back, wondering \"what if..\".</strong></p>\n\n<p>Source: I've been successful when I was bullied at workplace by a boss, by doing something similar.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck, I hope you win and report back. Cheers!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 159318,
"author": "WetlabStudent",
"author_id": 8101,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8101",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Agree to co-first author, but demand your name is listed first</strong></p>\n<ul>\n<li>On the paper, there will be an asterisk on both your names noting you contributed equally (despite the fact that you disagree) but you can still ask that your name comes first in this list. This is a compromise, but it is beneficial to be the first name on the list when someone quickly reads your CV.</li>\n<li>On a CV you just list the publication with the author order as is, with no asterisk explaining author order, or with a small asterisk explaining the contribution of all authors, and let folks correctly assume you had the greatest contribution.</li>\n</ul>\n<p><strong>Correct author description to say you also contributed crystals</strong></p>\n<p>Your professor is less likely to fight back on these suggestions than demanding sole first authorship. It's a good compromise for all parties involved.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 159327,
"author": "Daniel",
"author_id": 22062,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22062",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n<p>I discussed this issue with my prof, but he tells that he is getting\npressure from A's prof to make A the first author.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>If you want sole first authorship then tell your adviser to push back on said pressure. This doesn't mean you need to be rude or go behind your adviser's back.</p>\n<p>Explain to your advisor you find it unfair to you (and your future career) that A, whose contribution you feel doesn't merit first authorship, is getting co-authorship when you're the one who spent the past 4 years working on these results. That this diminishes your contribution as first author.</p>\n<p>There is an open communication line with your advisor, use it. What's the worst that can happen? Maybe you'll get what you want, or maybe he'll say no. But at least you gave it a shot.</p>\n<hr />\n<blockquote>\n<p>In fact it is mentioned that A was solely contributor of crystals and\nhe equally contributed in all other results.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>If this is not true, then I think you should ask for it to be corrected. Otherwise <em>the lie</em> will forever be imprinted on that paper and no one other than you will remember it.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29572",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22666/"
] |
29,576 |
<p>I am a graduate student in engineering whose work includes a lot of programming and implementation of the developed theories. I am not a computer scientist, but I am a fairly skilled programmer, at least when compared to other people in the field.</p>
<p>In the recent months I went to a few conferences and to meetings with partners participating in my research project. In most cases my supervisor attends these events as well. We do not have the same background, and while I get a lot of support from him, there are some gaps where he is not proficient and does not have a good overview, especially about the amount of work required to get something implemented. In such tasks we have a relation that is based on trust that I am doing a correct job, which gets disrupted when other researchers are involved, as described in the continuation.</p>
<p>At such events I have encountered the problem that some people boldly enquire why I did not research or develop a particular (usually irrelevant) feature, and give suggestions for the extension of the work which are far beyond the scope of my project and time. This is especially the case about programming, and it comes from people who have never implemented anything. For some of the suggestions, I would need my own research team and a few years of funding. And sometimes the people asking such questions try to show-off in front of others by trivialising my research. This is annoying. And this situation gets worse when I give a simplified presentation of my work in order to make it more understandable to a wider audience. On conferences I see that other young researchers experience the same problem.
Indeed I am a young researcher and it may look like I am overestimating my work, but I have a good overview of the field and I have no issues with suggestions that require an additional but reasonable amount of work. My papers so far all got good reviews, and at my department I am one of the most productive graduate students, which makes me confident that I am on the right path and do more than enough work.</p>
<p>While I tend to ignore such demands, this puts me in a difficult position when it is about a topic where my supervisor does not have expertise. My supervisor gets a wrong impression that I am not doing a right job, and that my work is basic touching only the tip of the iceberg. Other people in the audience instantly get such opinion as well. This escalated today when I have received a very good review of a paper that I have submitted with my supervisor. From the beginning I was very confident about the work, however, when presenting it around, I run into issues described above. So the comment of my supervisor on the review was “I am happy to see that you have improved your work after the initial hiccups and confusion. You did not research what others told you to do, so we have been lucky here.” This was really annoying because my work was never in question, and from day one I have followed the same path and did not encounter any difficulty. So this gives you an idea how much such comments on conference may influence one’s opinion about a work.</p>
<p>Is there a general way how to deal with such situations at conferences and meetings? Luckily I have not encountered this behaviour during peer-reviews, but if I had, it'd be easier because it doesn't require an instant reaction.</p>
<p>I have some generic answers such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>“Thanks for your suggestion. I have been thinking about this, but it requires too much work, and that is outside the scope of my project. Further, it would not significantly contribute to the value of the work.”</li>
<li>“I have considered it, but I don’t find it of interest, so I have decided not to do it. If you are interested in this topic, I invite you to collaborate.”</li>
<li>“That seems to be an interesting point. We can discuss this at the break in further details.”</li>
</ul>
<p>but sometimes they do not give the desired outcome because people can be persistent.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29590,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is important to recognize that this is <em>not</em> happening to you because you are a junior researcher. At <em>every</em> point in your career, somebody will feel (and, distressingly often, openly state) that your work is not good enough, goes into the wrong direction, is not \"real\" science, tackles the wrong problems, uses the wrong tools, or is in some other way flawed. Learning how to react to criticism regarding your work, even and especially if said criticism is coming from more senior researchers, is a crucial skill that every PhD student needs to learn. I feel it is best to stop relying on your advisor to justify your contribution as soon as possible.</p>\n\n<p>In that vein, I think you should see these situations at conferences and meetings as <em>opportunities to learn</em> rather than ugly situations that you need to weasle out of as fast as possible. I do not mean that you should get into nasty fights with the audience during the Q&A part of a presentation, but I am certain you <em>do</em> have good reasons why you did some things and did <em>not</em> do other things. Do not try to evade (<em>\"Let's discuss this in the break, ok?\"</em>), but try to explain calmly why you did what you did. Yes, maybe that person asking the question will disagree, but so what? The fact that your actual peer reviews are good shows that there are a non-trivial amount of researchers that actually agree with you. The person asking the question is not your supervisor, you don't need to agree with him/her specifically on your research agenda or approaches. </p>\n\n<p>Let me go over your proposed blanket statements one by one:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>“Thanks for your suggestion. I have been thinking about this, but it requires too much work, and that is outside the scope of my project. Further, it would not significantly contribute to the value of the work.”</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That's ok, but I would leave away the part about \"not significantly contributing to the value of the work\". That sounds a bit too confrontational to me. Better just leave it at \"that's really interesting, but we currently do not have the resources to tackle this complex problem\".</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>“I have considered it, but I don’t find it of interest, so I have decided not to do it. If you are interested in this topic, I invite you to collaborate.”</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Stay clear from passive-aggressiveness. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>“That seems to be an interesting point. We can discuss this at the break in further details.”</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Ok, but can come across as too defensive. I use the \"ok, let's discuss this one-on-one\" phrase usually only when somebody is asking variations of the same question over and over again, and it seems likely to me that the rest of the audience is already zoomed out of the conversation. However, in that case, a good session chair has already stepped in anyway.</p>\n\n<p>How you could react is the following:</p>\n\n<p><em>\"Thank you for your interesting suggestion. We have indeed discussed a variation of this before, but implementing it in practice would require us to first do [complex thing A] and [complex thing B], which have been shown to be non-trivial efforts in the first place in [optimally you have some reference why this is indeed hard]. This would certainly improve the quality of our solution, but we are currently more looking towards extending our work into [more feasible other direction]. Of course, if you are interested in this, I would be very happy to discuss potential collaborations over [hot beverage of your choice].\"</em></p>\n\n<p>(a variation of your first suggestion, but a bit more formal and respectful while still making it abundantly clear that you are not actually going to do the thing that has been asked for)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29596,
"author": "nivag",
"author_id": 14115,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14115",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have found that the best way to deal with such questions is to know what you are talking about, preferably much better than whoever is asking you.</p>\n\n<p>As a junior researcher you may (won't) be an expert in everything in your field but should still know your particular project really well.</p>\n\n<p>If you know your project you have probably thought about most of these questions already. Therefore, you can give an actual reason why something is a bad idea/won't work. For example when asked, \"Why didn't you use method X, which is known to be more stable?\", you could reply, \"While method X is more stable, unfortunately in this case it produces an incorrect result because of Y.\"</p>\n\n<p>For your particular answers:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>“Thanks for your suggestion. I have been thinking about this, but it requires too much work, and that is outside the scope of my project. Further, it would not significantly contribute to the value of the work.”</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I think these are two separate answers and it should either be \"I have been thinking about doing this but haven't got around to it yet/don't have enough time/need more money.\" or its \"No, that wouldn't be useful as its not relevant/wouldn't work/generally a stupid idea (give a proper reason though). </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>“I have considered it, but I don’t find it of interest, so I have decided not to do it. If you are interested in this topic, I invite you to collaborate.”</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Personally, I wouldn't say something is not interesting, as that implies it boring but would say its not my priority right now or similar. Alternatively, you can say why you think your work is more interesting/important to do. For example, \"Interesting point, but I think it is important to finish my work on X as it will have Y implications to your suggestion\".</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>“That seems to be an interesting point. We can discuss this at the break in further details.”</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I would keep this answer for where someone has actually made an interesting point that you are either not sure about or think is valid and would like to discuss further.</p>\n\n<p>Final points: Whatever you do keep it civil and don't dismiss people opinions out of hand. That will only make it appear you don't know what you are talking about, and every so often someone might say something of real value.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29607,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the underlying problem is that <strong>people you work with don't value the same thing as you</strong>. In your comments, you are talking about your code to be 'robust' and 'mature', which is a great thing if you're developing a commercial product but might not be given much credit in an academic environment. </p>\n\n<p>Look at this thread for the many reasons why it is so: <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17781/why-do-many-talented-scientists-write-horrible-software\">Why do many talented scientists write horrible software?</a></p>\n\n<p>As for 'open source' it starts to be valued more and more because people understand the arguments of reproducibility and the need for more scrutiny in the evaluation of methods. But it's only a nice additional feature, not a necessary criterion. </p>\n\n<p>You can look for ways to change their mind, but it might be a useless struggle. Your situation is frequent with people who are doing a lot of programing in engineering or biology labs. Other people don't necessarily value the amount of work put into programming, they are happy when it works but would rather buy a commercial solution if they could. </p>\n\n<p>What they value is when your work <em>answers fundamental questions in the field</em>, that could be the case even when your code is ill-structured, suboptimal, badly-documented, slow, has variables named <code>aaaaa</code> and requires users to copy-paste folder paths frequently.</p>\n\n<p>You might want to consider steering your efforts towards something less code-y. Because ultimately you will need to satisfy your thesis committee, not your fellow githubbers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29614,
"author": "Trylks",
"author_id": 7571,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Good answer, in the comments of the question, thank you. I was going to reply with a comment, but this is becoming too long.</p>\n\n<p>I think the problem you mention is common to any work that cannot be simply quantified. Formal proofs and even papers are also examples of this and I'm sure people will find many other examples. In short, making some destructive criticism is easy, specially if it completely ignores or overlooks crucial aspects of the work. For people that don't have some knowledge to have their own criteria or opinion this criticism may seem legit, and there is very little to do wrt to that because explaining why it isn't legit may require educating these people on something they don't care enough about to be educated and they are going to perceive it as poor excuses.</p>\n\n<p>So what to do?</p>\n\n<p>First of all, the answer by @xLeitix is perfectly fine. I have another answer to replace all of the three you both comment (it's a variable template so you can change it):</p>\n\n<p>Thank you for [your suggestion|pointing that out|that nice reminder], we actually [considered|evaluated|thought about] that [proposal|approach|option|alternative] and it is [certainly|definitively|quite|fairly] [interesting|relevant|promising], however we have [focused on|prioritised|addressed first] the presented work and we will consider that for future lines.</p>\n\n<p>You will consider it and discard it, because it's stupid, but you don't need to say that in their face. That is a general answer that can be useful for many people. If you (specifically) want to slap them I have a different proposal.</p>\n\n<p>I infer you have a good expertise in making questions, proving theories and programming, you seem to be in the right track for data science, stick that buzzword to everything and reply to any criticism with something like:</p>\n\n<p>\"I get your criticism on the triviality of the current work and of course that is something that can be perceived when the work is considered superficially. Upon closer inspection you may notice that being rigorous from scientific and engineering points of view and ensuring the quality of the process and results requires a work that is not trivial at all, so we may wonder what is the value of non-trivial conclusions that are reached through non-trustworthy processes\".</p>\n\n<p>(please change non-trivial and non-trustworthy with proper words, it's getting late for me)</p>\n\n<p>You may as well physically slap them or spit them in their face, but don't expect to make many friends that way, use only with absolute jerks when you are absolutely certain that everybody else is thinking the same thing but keeping their tongue for politeness. With this I mean: never, because absolute certainty is never available.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 72445,
"author": "dwoz",
"author_id": 38642,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38642",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Late answer...</p>\n\n<p>Q: \"why didn't you implement XYZ feature?\"</p>\n\n<p>A: \"Well...in any project of this nature, we can easily see that there are many extension points where additional features and/or functionality seem plausible and even desirable. In the scope of this project, we decided that proving a baseline implementation of the core concept was the boundary we would stay within given our resources and timeframe, though it's certainly valuable to note that extensions, for example the one you've quickly identified, are ripe territory for further study.\"</p>\n\n<p>Q: \"why didn't you use language/tool/library/system XYZ for this instead of what you did use?\"</p>\n\n<p>A: \"first of all, language XYZ, though generally known within the CS discipline, doesn't enjoy widespread commercial support. Whether or not it's an ideal tool for this job is certainly a valid topic for discussion, but the goal for the researchers was to solve the problem at hand, not to learn and become fluent in a then-unknown language. I'm sure a more efficient implementation will emerge, should this project become commercialized.\"</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29576",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22668/"
] |
29,580 |
<p>I am an international student, and now pursuing my Ph.D in pure Math in a not very good (ranking 70+) and relatively small state university in U.S.</p>
<p>As usual, I am a supported TA, and I am wondering whether the teaching load here is too heavy.</p>
<p>The department supports about 50 TAs in total. There are two types of TA here. For those who have not passed the Speak Test (which is another awful thing), they can only serve as graders, and are expected to work 12 hours in grading hws per week. For those who passed the Speak Test, they have to teach 3 or 4 sessions of recitation every semester.</p>
<p>Based on my experience, I feel so tired after a whole week's work as TA that I have little time or energy to do research. And I once heard that in some (private) universities, a typical TA job consists only teaching two recitations per academic year...</p>
<p>My questions are the following. (To be precise, I only care about a TA duty in math major.)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What does a typical TA duty (especially the working hours) look like in a state university and in a private university? Especially, is it true that a TA in a state university usually works longer in his/her TA duty than the one in the private university?</p>
</li>
<li><p>Is the TA duty here reasonable compared with other state universities?</p>
</li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29582,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not sure if this data point is really deserving of being an answer, but:</p>\n\n<p>I graduated from a top-25 math department at a fairly large state university 5 years ago. The standard TA assignment was 4 lower-division recitations (e.g. calculus) per semester. Our contract permitted us to be assigned up to 20 hours of teaching duties per week, though most weeks the assigned duties took significantly fewer hours. Students working as TAs for advanced courses (upper-division or graduate) were usually assigned 2 recitations, but were also expected to grade homework, etc. </p>\n\n<p>So what you describe doesn't sound totally out of line, unless you are spending considerably more hours per recitation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29591,
"author": "Alan",
"author_id": 22621,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22621",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yet another solitary data point: I'm a graduate teaching assistant at a state university. In our first year, we were tasked with 15 hours a week, either all working in our math learning center, or part in the MLC and part as a TA for a professor. </p>\n\n<p>After the first year, once we've gotten credentials to teach, we shift to teaching 1 course a semester, 3 hours of mandatory office hours, and 4 hours in the MLC on general tutoring duty.</p>\n\n<p>I haven't found either schedule to be particularly onerous. I'm not doing research yet, but the grad students who are doing research don't seem to have a problem with their duties that I've seen.</p>\n\n<p>I have absolutely no idea how this compares to other public or private universities, but...there you are.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40781,
"author": "user141592",
"author_id": 27327,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27327",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm at a small R1 university right now. For first year grad students, work may not be more than 5 hours a week. In the first year, we are expected to focus mostly on passing our prelims and getting used to grad school. The work consists of a calculus study hall and a few hours of one-on-one tutoring to students who are struggling with basic calculus.</p>\n\n<p>From the second year onwards, we are assigned as TAs for a class. Here scheduled hours may not be more than 5 every week. Scheduled hours include recitations, office hours and mandatory attendance in the class. On top of that, we have grading and preparing for recitations. This cannot be more than 15 hours a week, and should be more like 8-12. If the total workload is more than 15 hours on average, and more than 20 hours on special occasions (midterms, finals etc) the instructor has to ease up on their demands on the TA or ask for a second one. </p>\n\n<p>In our fourth or fifth year, we can choose to be the instructor for a class for one semester, to better prepare for future postdocs, and it is generally understood that during this semester the workload will be considerably higher (~30 hours).</p>\n\n<p>My university is very strict when it comes to not letting professors take advantage of their TAs by overworking them, and an instructor continuing to demand more work than this from their TA has lead to them not being assigned classes with TAs anymore.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29580",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20900/"
] |
29,600 |
<p>I submitted my paper on mathematics to a journal 8 months ago but I have no received any reports or comments yet. I sent an email to the editor asking him about the manuscript, he just replied that it is still under review. What shall I do? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29601,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Mathematics tends to have a long refereeing process. It's nice when it can be completed in a few months, but eight months is not especially worrisome. The editor should be sending the referee(s) periodic messages to make sure they aren't just forgetting, and you can send status inquiries to the editor every once in a while if you'd like (it shouldn't be necessary, but it can't hurt and could conceivably help). I tend to ask for a status update every six months or so.</p>\n\n<p>One reason it takes so long is that refereeing a mathematics paper is difficult. The referee has to read and understand the proofs, which is one of the slowest and most painstaking forms of reading. Another issue is that there is no expectation that it should be done quickly: a referee who takes eight months isn't generally considered problematic by the journal or the community at large.</p>\n\n<p>In practice, the lengthy refereeing times are not a problem. Mathematics papers are typically circulated publicly (for example, on www.arXiv.org) long before they are accepted for publication, so the publication process isn't holding up progress in the field. And the mathematics community is well aware of how long it takes to get papers officially published and takes this into account in career evaluation (hiring, tenure, etc.). For example, if you're applying for a job, nobody will expect your papers from the last year or two to be published yet. If they are at least on the arXiv and submitted for publication, then everything is as it should be.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29637,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To reiterate the other good answer and comments... do nothing. It is unfortunate, yes, and frustrating, yes, and inconvenient, yes, that refereeing takes so long... but it is both understandable and inevitable.</p>\n\n<p>Ironically, but understandably, the more original your work is, the more effort will be required of referees... who are paid nothing, and will acquire no status/raises/funding/whatever from their efforts to appraise or improve your writing.</p>\n\n<p>As in other answer/comments, hiring committees and funding agencies are aware of the time-lags... although, yes, true, it's better to have gotten <em>through</em> this gauntlet than have to explain that one is enduring it.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29600",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22686/"
] |
29,605 |
<p>I have submitted a paper on mathematics to a journal and it was there for more than one year. I asked the editor many times about the reason of the review delay. At the end the paper was rejected with trivial comments. Some experts told me the reason of the rejection is that: I had asked the editor many times about the paper, which make him insist that the reviewers make their decision fast, and thus they gave trivial comments which led to the rejection. Can this really be a reason for rejection?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29610,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To some degree politics play a role in the final decision an editor makes. For a manuscript that has reviews that make it a borderline decision between major revisions and reject, if the editor finds you problematic, that could make an outright rejection more likely. Except in extreme circumstances, politics will not result in a manuscript that has stellar reviews being outright rejected (or vice versa). There are many reasons beyond an editor's personal opinion of you that can cause a manuscript with trivial comments to be rejected. Reviewers can generally submit confidential comments to the editor which can include serious criticisms, the scope of the work is often grounds for rejection as is how the manuscript fits into the scope of the journal. For some manuscripts and journals, the absence of negative comments is not enough to warrant publication, but rather you need a reviewer to champion the paper and make positive comments.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29611,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It really <em>should not</em> be a reason for rejection. But the world of journals (even restricted to mathematics, which is my field as well) is vast and variable, and no one person gets to see more than a small part of it, so <em>could</em> it happen that repeated messages to the editor are a proximate cause of a paper's rejection? Unfortunately it could and probably has at least once...but all kinds of crazy things have probably happened at least once.</p>\n\n<p>What I want to convey to you is that you are perfectly within your rights to check in with the status of a paper at appropriate intervals. In fact it is often wise (or even necessary) to do so, because a lot of processing jobs get done slowly on the part of the referees without specific reminders. (I am speaking in particular <em>both</em> about my experiences as an author and as a referee.)</p>\n\n<p>There are better and worse ways to deal with editors -- as a quick example, when I submit a paper I like to suggest that <strong>I will inquire</strong> about the paper after N months (I fill in a value of N, never less than 4) and see what kind of response I get. I have never been told not to do this; at worst, I get a \"contact us whenever you like, but don't expect expedited service because of this\" type of response. As ever, being polite and professional catches more flies. But fundamentally: no, it is completely unprofessional to reject a paper because an author wants it to be processed in a timely manner. Reputable journals and editors should take it as a point of honor not to do this.</p>\n\n<p>It would be different if you gave the editor an ultimatum: e.g. \"I need a report within three weeks or I will withdraw the paper\". Many editors will respond to that by cheerfully accepting your withdrawal. But that does not seem to be the situation you describe.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29617,
"author": "Mark Meckes",
"author_id": 101,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/101",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The question seems to be conflating two different possibilities. It sounds like the \"experts\" you consulted suggested that referees feeling pressured about time may do a superficial job of reviewing the paper, and superficial reviews aren't good for the paper's chances of publication. But your wording (especially in the title) suggests that the editor actively decided to reject the paper as a direct result of your messages.</p>\n\n<p>As Pete says, the second scenario <em>really shouldn't</em> occur, but in a big world, lots of things happen at least once in a long while. The first scenario also shouldn't occur, but in a system run by imperfect, busy human beings, it's possible and probably happens rarely but regularly.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, I agree with Pete's bottom line: it is perfectly reasonable and appropriate for you to make polite, professional inquiries every couple months.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29636,
"author": "Andy Putman",
"author_id": 4513,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4513",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This advice is only for mathematics; other subjects have different cultures.</p>\n\n<p>I think it really depends on the tone you use and how often you make inquiries. Getting rejections for seemingly trivial reasons by people who don't appear to understand your paper is par for the course, and you should try to develop a thick skin about it (it happens to us all; the common wisdom is that if you are not getting rejected 50% of the time, then you are not sending your papers to good enough journals).</p>\n\n<p>I usually inquire at 9 months, at 1 year, at 15 months, and then every two months. My emails are very low-key and non-pushy; here is an example:</p>\n\n<p>\"Dear Prof. {last_name},</p>\n\n<p>I'm writing to check to see if there has been any progress in the refereeing process for my paper \"{title}\", which is currently under consideration at {journal_name}. Thank you very much for your consideration.</p>\n\n<p>best,</p>\n\n<p>Andrew Putman\"</p>\n\n<p>If I know the editor, I might be a little more casual, but the above is a good template if you are just starting out.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29605",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22686/"
] |
29,608 |
<p>Is there a consensus as to whether or not conference papers are counted as publications?</p>
<p>I know that if something is a journal paper then that thing is tacitly understood as a publication, but is the converse true?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29609,
"author": "juandesant",
"author_id": 10233,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10233",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the conference paper was refereed before been accepted for the conference, that counts as a refereed publication. If it was not, it is a non-refereed publication, and should be counted as such.</p>\n\n<p>Different fields have different rules for how publications are accounted for, specially in how multi-author publications are handled, so you should at least state which field you are talking about.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29613,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>To elaborate a little on Pete L. Clark's excellent comment, if your paper appeared in publicly available conference proceedings, then it is a publication. How valued or respected this form of publication is depends on the customs in your field, whether the paper was refereed, etc. Computer scientists may be more impressed by prestigious conference papers than journal papers, while mathematicians often view conference proceedings as an inferior publication venue. Still, the question isn't whether it's a publication in the first place, but rather how significant or worthwhile a publication it is.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, some people use the term \"conference paper\" to refer to a paper they presented at a conference, which may not even have had published proceedings. If there aren't proceedings or the proceedings don't contain the paper, then it isn't published.</p>\n\n<p>And of course there are borderline cases. If there were only a few copies of the proceedings, and they are not available in major libraries (even by interlibrary loan) or online, then the paper is at best just barely published. But this shouldn't occur for a conference sponsored by a reputable organization.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29608",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
29,620 |
<p>I want to know about <strong>appropriate actions to take when not receiving an e-mail reply from professors after 2 to 3 weeks of sending an e-mail</strong>.</p>
<p>When writing my e-mails, I try to highlight questions and important points leaving other details in normal style to make the reader quickly understand what am I asking for. Additionally, I start the e-mail with Dear Professor , I conclude with a respectful salutation form and I proof read the text of the e-mails multiple times. I am sending e-mails to professors <strong>asking them for a graduation project proposal</strong>.</p>
<p>E-mails are sent to professors responsible for European or North American funded research projects.
Professors to whom I sent e-mails are from various institutions and countries (USA, Canada, Switzerland).
The <strong>same problem is faced in previous occasions</strong> when I needed to send e-mails for various purposes but I don't receive replies except for one or two times.
I tried twice sending reminders after a reasonable time (one to two weeks) of sending the first e-mail but no response is received!</p>
<p><strong>N.B:</strong> if it's helpful to mention, my field is not covered by any research lab and not taught in any university in my country.
And this is what makes the problem more complicated!</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29622,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Professors directly teaching might have some obligation to answer your email (some university have quality of service policies, ensuring that students receive feedback within a given number of working days), if it's related to their teaching. </p>\n\n<p>Professors from partner universities might fall under the same obligations, if there is a mutual agreement. However, professors from other university have <strong>no obligation whatsoever to answer you.</strong> </p>\n\n<p>Professors are usually very busy, among other things dealing with their own students, they might not have the time to deal with other students. If you are asking about a proposal and you do not receive an answer, you should assume by default that they are not interested. There is no much you can do, apart from contacting other professors, or asking your own professors to contact them. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29628,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It sounds like you are e-mailing strangers and asking them to tell you what to do. This seems almost certain to fail.</p>\n<p>Also, I don't know what a "graduation project proposal" is -- keep in mind that these professors don't know and don't care what the requirements of your university are. They <em>might</em> be willing to help you with their scientific expertise, but you should not ask them for help with anything that doesn't <em>directly</em> relate to what their expertise is in, or where it's not clear what exactly you are asking for.</p>\n<p>Here is an e-mail that <em>might</em> get a reply.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Dear Prof. X,</p>\n<p>I am a student at University Y where I am interested in bioinformatics. I have to complete a senior research project [... brief details]</p>\n<p>One topic I was considering was XYZ. In particular, I was thinking I might try to investigate the effect of ABC on DEF under conditions GHI. [Note: <strong>do your own homework here, this should be something intelligent</strong> and then they might be willing to provide helpful input] I hope I can ask you two questions: In the first place, do you believe that such an approach is feasible?</p>\n<p>If so, since University Y doesn't have much in the way of resources, do you know where I might seek guidance as I work on this?</p>\n<p>Thank you very much.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29630,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Too long for comments: both the earlier answers are very apt.</p>\n\n<p>The original poster's comment to the later answer reveals a misapprehension about how things work, and the relative work-load to accomplish certain things.</p>\n\n<p>First, cold-calling is a bad start on anything... unless it is extremely polite, is clearly completely specific to the individual addressed E.g., I respond badly, or, simply, not at all to emails with no \"greeting\" whatsoever, or do not address me (politely) by name, and/or that give no indication of anything specific to <em>me</em> or my actual work, etc. My reasoning is that I should spend no more effort on a response than is visible in the initial email... especially if I'm being asked to do someone a favor.</p>\n\n<p>Second, asking to participate in a project whose existence is unknown makes the inquiry sound very spam-y, so will invariably get a bad reaction. Already it'd be an uphill battle to get a spot on a project whose existence was known and relevant... since most likely there are more people wanting such spots than there are spots available. Again, you should \"do your homework\" about existing projects, and their specifics.</p>\n\n<p>Third, asking for a \"proposal\" is asking for quite a lot, in fact. That is, a coherent, viable, state-of-the-art proposal is something that takes quite a while to craft, and has considerable value of various sorts. In many subjects, the writing-up of such is a major activity. Such things would not be donated to <em>anyone</em>, much less cold-callers, much less cold-callers who send \"reminders\".</p>\n\n<p>... and this isn't \"ungenerousness\", it's that many academic research situations are very competitive, especially for funding, and people work full-bore to get that funding, ... leaving not a lot of energy left over to donate to unknown people.</p>\n\n<p>Even if you're cold-calling, giving no or scant information about yourself (except that you're looking for participation in a project in subject X) gives the responder little ground to respond <em>reasonably</em>... and I, for one, am disinclined to go through several emails to extract information that should have been available up-front, etc.</p>\n\n<p>In summary, there simply isn't any powerful way for you to induce responses of the sort that'd directly help you in the way you wish, understandable though your wishes are, and as unfortunate as your local situation may be. Some different path will most likely have to be taken.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29634,
"author": "Andy Putman",
"author_id": 4513,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4513",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I get emails like this all the time and never reply. I can't imagine that anyone would give you a positive response, and I don't think there is anything you can do that will result in you getting what you want.</p>\n\n<p>I think that my policies for responding to email are pretty typical.\nAside from \"professional business stuff\" (e.g. invitations to speak, referee requests, inquiries from the media, etc), I generally only respond to emails from strangers in the following situations.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Technical questions about my papers (or related things, e.g. my answers on math overflow). These always get a response, though sometimes I can take a little while if I'm particularly busy (e.g. when traveling).</li>\n<li>Mathematical questions. I'll always answer these if they are close to my research interests and are at a high level, and otherwise it depends on my mood. The speed is similar to questions of type 1.</li>\n<li>Questions from students at Rice. These always get some kind of response, usually very quickly (sometimes that response is a request that they come to my office and chat). I'll also usually respond to questions from students who have some kind of indirect connection with me (e.g. I'll respond to questions from students of my collaborators).</li>\n<li>Inquiries about our graduate program. For specific question, I'll usually quickly respond. For things that seem more like requests to work with me, if they sound serious then they get a very short reply with a link to the webpage saying how to apply to our PhD program (and a sentence about how I don't take students until they have been accepted and passed their quals). Sometimes they sound ridiculous (e.g. someone who has an engineering background and is clearly emailing everyone they can find on the internet), and they get no response.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Other than that, I just don't have the time. I have enormous amounts of stuff that I have to do that is directly related to teaching (at Rice; I'm not paid to teach anyone else) and research. I'm sorry that you can't get help from your own university, but sadly there just isn't anything that I can do about that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29645,
"author": "DCTLib",
"author_id": 7390,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7390",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As the other answers already tell you, asking for a project proposal is asking for a very big favor, such that cold calling isn't likely to work.</p>\n\n<p>The following piece of information is missing from the discussion as of now, however: many established researchers receive many cold-call requests for doing an internship with them. It is common practice in some countries to have them included in the students' curricula, and thus, it is not uncommon for students to aim high and try to get one at good schools abroad. Quite often, these mails are not very well targeted and researchers getting many of them are quite quick at pressing the \"delete\" key here. </p>\n\n<p>Your request for a thesis topic/proposal may very easily be <strong>seen</strong> to fall into this category, even if it does not! Because such a request is so uncommon, people may expect that you would be asking for a (possibly paid) internship or (paid) PhD position in the second mail, and thus may not want to risk to be embarrased that they invested time on the matter if it turns out later that their suspicion was correct. So hitting the delete button quickly is a safe course of action for them.</p>\n\n<p>I second the commenter's suggestion to ask your institution to build the necessary bridges for you. Does your institution already have a scheme for spending a semester abroad? Perhaps you can consider actually doing that?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29659,
"author": "Ellen Spertus",
"author_id": 269,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/269",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with other respondents that you cannot expect unknown professors to respond to your emails.</p>\n\n<p>Could you join an online community (email list) for your area of research interest? After lurking long enough to understand its culture, could you send a post explaining your situation (being interested in the topic and having nobody to discuss it with in your country) and ask if someone would be willing to comment on your proposal? Alternately, you could send your proposal to the list (although be prepared for it to be torn to shreds). The administrator of the list may be able to advise you on what is appropriate.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29720,
"author": "tripleee",
"author_id": 20411,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20411",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One additional factor which I think may be useful at least as secondary background information: This sounds a lot like you are trying to bypass the regular admission process. You should start by finding out what it takes to become a student at their Department and follow the same enrollment process as everybody else. If your background and skills are a good fit, you could find yourself in a project even as a junior student (but this is arguably a very optimistic outlook).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 61382,
"author": "Captain Emacs",
"author_id": 45857,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/45857",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I try to be responsive as much as possible, even if I cannot help. However, if I see that the person clearly has no idea what I am working on, tags on some keywords that seem to fit my profile or similar, and I am under time pressure, I won't respond. They haven't spent the effort finding out who they are addressing, and cannot expect effort of politeness in return.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes, I get what is effectively advice request from students from another university. If they work on something I am interested in, have done good work and bring something to the table, I consider this a collaboration across institutions, and I am happy to engage in it to some extent. However, if it is clearly a supervision request with no benefit to research that I am able to productively carry out, I am not prepared to invest my department's resources (i.e. my time) for this. Supervising my local students, for which I am paid, takes precedence.</p>\n\n<p>I do give, however, brief advice where I can help with a little effort. This should not be extended into a back-and-forth discussion, to not abuse the time of the responder.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29620",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22690/"
] |
29,631 |
<p>I am currently working under a post-PhD (postdoc) scholarship. In my country (Argentina) I am usually considered still a <em>student</em> (although it's kind of a gray area).</p>
<p>In other countries, would I qualify as a <em>student</em> or as a <em>researcher</em>?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29632,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In general, if you are not enrolled in any course and also are not enrolled in a program in which you may eventually earn a degree, you are not a \"student.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29633,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think postdocs are assumed to be employees as research staff (not students) of each university , as far as they have contracts with universities and may receive salaries. They do not take courses in the university. They conduct some researches in a research group in collaboration with professor(s) there. Their research topic may be something very close to their PhD project, something near to their PhD research in other concept (such as interdisciplinary projects), or something very different.</p>\n\n<p>PS: Some PhD students also have research contracts with universities and are assumed to be employees of those universities, but I think their difference with a postdoc is that they receive a degree but postdocs are not receiving any degrees.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29680,
"author": "Wesley Bland",
"author_id": 8503,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8503",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's also relatively common in the USA for post-docs to have non-university appointments. There are many government and private labs that hire post-docs to do research as employees. These positions have various levels within their respective companies/labs.</p>\n\n<p>For instance, I am a postdoc at a USA national laboratory. Here, postdocs are considered long-term temporary employees (with some reduced benefits and a reduced salary compared to a full staff member as you would expect). We aren't considered students or under any particular education program, though there are development programs offered to help in the transition between a full-time student position and a full-time research position.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29681,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just to further show the range of possibilities, in the US in mathematics, postdocs are usually considered <strong>faculty</strong>. (In particular, they are university employees, and not students.) They usually have (light to moderate) teaching duties, and often have official titles involving words like \"<a href=\"https://wumath.wustl.edu/node/679\" rel=\"nofollow\">lecturer</a>\", \"<a href=\"https://math.mit.edu/about/employment.php\" rel=\"nofollow\">instructor</a>\" or \"<a href=\"http://www.math.cornell.edu/m/Positions/faculty/hcwang\" rel=\"nofollow\">assistant professor</a>\". Of course, they are still temporary positions of 1-4 years or so, and are not tenure track.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 74936,
"author": "Significance",
"author_id": 48584,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/48584",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In Australia, postdocs at universities are academic research staff with fixed-term contracts. They have the same salary and working conditions as permanent academic research staff at the same level (typically level A or B), though permanent staff would usually be hired at level B or above.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29631",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10793/"
] |
29,638 |
<p>At the age of 21 I entered an (UK) M.Sc./Postgraduate Diploma Programme in Software Engineering.</p>
<p>I entered without an Undergraduate degree based upon modules I undertook in a distance learning Masters Programme from a reputable UK University that required no formal entrance requirements (very unusual situation that I took advantage of).</p>
<p>Out of a cohort of 40 students on the new M.Sc. course I was the only one without an Undergraduate degree although I had Postgraduate credits as mentioned. Again this was unusual.</p>
<p>I graduated with a UK Postgraduate Diploma (but not an M.Sc. as I could not fund the remaining twelve week/3 month project), however my marks were excellent.</p>
<p>Here I am twenty years later with no degree. <em>I wish to undertake further study in Software Engineering</em> and am at a loss to effectively know where to start. I am way too late to go back and do the three month research project to get my M.Sc.</p>
<p>[For those outside the UK a Postgraduate Diploma is effectively the taught/exam component of an M.S/M.Sc. and usually compromises 75% of the course. It is an M.Sc. in all but the three month research project. Most students complete the project but some do not, usually due to funding or academic reasons. My reason was purely funding.] </p>
<p>I am not qualified for an Undergraduate Degree in Software Engineering (effectively a waste of time as I'm somewhat beyond that syllabus) as I do not hold School level University entrance qualifications and I'm not qualified for an M.S/M.Sc. ironically (even though I previously were on an M.Sc!) as I have no first/Undergraduate degree.</p>
<p>If I had finished the extra 12 weeks I'd be qualified to enter a Ph.D. programme but the failure to do the twelve weeks (wholly due to the fees at the time which were huge for the Project) makes me qualified for nothing even though I hold a formal Postgraduate level qualification.</p>
<p>What to do?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29916,
"author": "tripleee",
"author_id": 20411,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20411",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm going out on a limb here, but if you would like to get into academic research, perhaps you could manage to get a paper or two published on your own. My understanding is that if these are well-received, they could make up for any missing formal qualifications.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34200,
"author": "keshlam",
"author_id": 10225,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10225",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can't vouch for the UK, but here on the other side of the puddle, once you've been out in the Real World (TM) for some number of years, your classes start mattering less and what you've done with them starts mattering more. A school's concern, if you're coming back for an advanced degree, is whether you have enough knowledge to cover the prerequisites and enough aptitude to complete the degree in a reasonable amount of time with a reasonable grade. (In other words, whether you'll be a student whom they're good for and who makes them look good.)</p>\n\n<p>For PhD there may be some bias toward folks who are already researchers, but \"research\" comes in many flavors, not all academic.</p>\n\n<p>(I could have gotten into Columbia in NY for a MS simply on the basis of \"you can't be an idiot or IBM wouldn't have hired you\" -- plus having aced a few of their extension classes. Can't imagine things are very different there.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34296,
"author": "Paul de Vrieze",
"author_id": 10183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10183",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is very unfortunate that you miss your project, especially since you do not have an undergraduate diploma either. A project is very important, not only for your ability to do research, but also for your ability to write a long coherent document arguing your research questions. I tend to ask for any thesis from prospective students to verify their abilities.</p>\n\n<p>Lacking a project, you should endeavour to compensate. You should have some long-form written document that may compensate and demonstrate your abilities. This could take the form of a research paper (even unpublished). Your best bet of getting in (assuming you're good enough - a PhD is not for everyone) is to do a thorough review to identify your research group and possible supervisors. Then try to contact them personally, and convince them you're worth their effort. They should be able to guide you through the rest of the process.</p>\n\n<p>Be aware though that academics tend to get lots of unsolicited emails from \"prospective PhD students\" of varying quality. These tend to be especially from the middle east due to government sponsored scholarships without entry requirements on the sponsoring side (if students get accepted they get the scholarship - if they fail, they often have to pay back the scholarship).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29638",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22701/"
] |
29,642 |
<p>I noticed in the book "A Beautiful Mind", by Sylvia Nasar, that a recommendation letter, for PhD applications, written for John F. Nash runs as follows: <em>This man is a genius.</em></p>
<p>Then, out of curiosity, I wonder that if such reference letters for PhD applications work in the present days? </p>
<p>Image taken from the <a href="http://findingaids.princeton.edu/collections/AC105/c3" rel="noreferrer">Graduate Alumni Records</a> of Princeton University:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/p7gtk.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/p7gtk.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29646,
"author": "Maarten Buis",
"author_id": 14471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14471",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Even though the event that inspired this questions may or may not have actually happened, the question is still a valid one. </p>\n\n<p>I suspect it greatly depends on who wrote the recommendation. If the person writing that recommendation is a great authority in this field and is known for not giving praise easily, then such a recommendation letter might help. On the other hand, if I were to write such a letter...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29651,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A letter that simply states \"This man is a genius\" is not helpful for judging the likelihood of a PhD applicant being successful since it takes a lot more than genius to succeed at a PhD and genius is not a requirement for success. Further, the skills required to become \"academically famous\" do not necessarily make you better at judging the abilities of others. Academically famous people many see more good students than others, but that is not enough for me to take their word at face value, I want to see evidence of why the recommender thinks the person is a genius. Finally, if the student is so good that nothing more needs to be said about, I would be worried about why an academically famous person would be unable to convince his department to accept the genius and convince the genius to attend.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 36442,
"author": "Ben Bitdiddle",
"author_id": 24384,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24384",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my experience, most communities of high achieving people don't openly value intelligence. Generally they dismiss it and say that hard work and luck is what's really important. And they would laugh at you if you wrote your IQ score on your resume.</p>\n\n<p>If someone said \"Person X is very smart\" and didn't write anything else, I would see it as a backhanded compliment. Like \"X is smart, but he doesn't have the traits that are <em>actually</em> valuable in academia.\"</p>\n\n<p>In fact, if I don't like a professor, and someone asks me what it's like to work with them, I usually say something like \"this guy is brilliant.\" Which is true for pretty much every professor at a good university.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29642",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
29,643 |
<p>Can I have a PhD in mathematics or physics after having a bachelor degree in medicine provided that I score high in GRE physics or math?</p>
<p>I have had zero coursework in math or physics but I am not sure if I could greatly increase my chances into grad school by taking GRE and scoring highly in the test.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to show that I'm smart or anything but I think that mathematics is my cup of tea for I'm very passionate about it and I have studied analysis and algebra and quantum mechanics other things from standard textbooks getting help from resources such as MIT OCW.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29644,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The hard answer is a straight no.</p>\n\n<p>Doing research level Mathematics or Physics requires a broad set of knowledge and maturity that takes years to achieve. GRE exams are quite crappy, they just ask a lot of questions on basic knowledge and arithmetic; but you won't see an integration by parts (first year maths).</p>\n\n<p>But not everything is lost. There are fields where medicine and maths overlap, and definitely your expertise on one field and interest in learning the other can definitely help. Look at Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, and perhaps, Biophysics. I myself am a Physicist working in Bioinformatics. I do pure analysis of the data, but in the group we also have a wet lab, where my colleagues are trying (among other things) to come up with new creative ways to gather data more suited for our purposes.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29656,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the U.S., this idea is fraught with difficulties, but is not impossible, in part because the usual undergraduate math curriculum in the U.S. is pretty thin and slow in any case, so that the typical first year or two (or more) of graduate work in mathematics is still coursework, getting-up-to-speed. Despite rumors of \"undergrad research\" in the U.S., genuine such is quite unusual, although \"research experiences for undergrads\" do give a positive experience showing that \"classroom math\" is not what mathematics is eventually about.</p>\n\n<p>But there are intangibles acquired by doing that undergrad coursework, including \"being on the same wavelength\" as one's potential cohort, and having practice understanding what the instructors expect. While it is true that some of this is not particularly constructive pure convention, it does affect communication in both directions. If you're missing this experience, this will be an added catch-up project.</p>\n\n<p>Beyond conventions and standards for communication, there is also the potential issue of accidental self-deceit about the degree or depth of one's understanding, if one has not interacted with other people. It's <em>not</em> that the typical U.S. undergrad curriculum is terribly substantial, but in a way this makes it all the worse, insofar as the truly important points can be lost or misinterpreted in a context of vast ocean of seemingly uniform technical details. Or, from another side, a too-physics-y attitude about mathematics may generate lots of trouble for you in a \"strict\" mathematics context.</p>\n\n<p>After these cautions, I guess the point is that it is nevertheless <em>possible</em>, if one really wants it, to pursue mathematics (e.g, in the U.S.) despite not having the corresponding undergrad degree. Your issues would be primarily two: (1) getting letters of recommendation from <em>mathematicians</em> with PhD's, (2) demonstrating some self-study knowledge/awareness despite lack of transcripts showing such. Prepping for the GRE subject test in math might be feasible, and getting a good number is plausible without the undergrad degree, but this wouldn't be sufficient.</p>\n\n<p>Probably taking at least one, probably two or more, upper-division or intro grad level math classes at a serious university would help you generate letters and also demonstrate that you can do the work at that level. At many places in the U.S., it is possible to register for such courses as \"non-degree student\", paying a lower tuition.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29643",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22715/"
] |
29,648 |
<p>I have been offered a 2-year postdoc position in a good Dutch university. What they sent me so far is an email stating that they would like to offer me the position, and whether I would like to take up this position. I then replied with a yes instantly. Does this exchange of emails constitute a formal appointment decision (and acceptance)? I heard from others that it will take some time for them to formulate an employment contract. So what I shall do in the meantime is to wait and not to push them? </p>
<p>Also the PT's preferred start date is 1st February. What does 'start date' mean exactly? Is this the date that I will start getting paid? the date that I actually start working? If this is the case, does a starting date of 1st Feb imply that I should arrive earlier, say, in January to look for accommodation and sort everything out before 1st Feb? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance! </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29649,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Having done a post-doc in The Netherlands, I think I can answer your questions.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Your \"yes\" is an acceptance, though probably not legally binding. They will take it in good faith that you have accepted. The contract may arrive in the mail for you to sign, but you may just sign on your first day. </p></li>\n<li><p>The starting date is the date you will start and get paid from. You will probably need to go to The Netherlands earlier to find accommodation, though you could easily start everything on February 1 without causing any problems. They will understand that in your first few weeks you'll need to vanish to register yourself with the city, to get bank accounts, etc etc. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I would ask them if the have an accommodation service, even if it only provides short term accommodation. Finding accommodation in The Netherlands can be difficult. \nIn fact, I would simply ask them what their expectations are, essentially sending them the questions you've posted above. Unless it is the first time they've hired a post-doc, these questions will be unsurprising and they should have answers for them. The Dutch are good at dealing with direct questions (and you'll need to get used to receiving them ;-) ).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29650,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the email offer is unconditional (for instance, doesn't depend on obtaining a visa or other), then you can consider it as an appointment decision (in the sense that it would be unethical for either side to come back on that decision). However, for some purposes, such as administrative ones, you might need to wait for the actual contract. </p>\n\n<p>The start date usually corresponds to the date where you <em>start working</em>, in many places, you receive your first salary only around the end of the first calendar month (sometimes later, if you start late in the month). In your example, you might receive your salary around the 28th of February. </p>\n\n<p>Whether you come earlier or not depends on you and the institution. They could offer you some temporary accommodation, to give you enough time to find a place on your own. But if you come earlier, you won't be paid for the period of time between the moment you arrive and the start date. </p>\n\n<p>In any case, your new institution should be able to answer all these questions for you, you should be very welcome to contact them (you won't be the first person in that situation, nor the last one!). </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29648",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22718/"
] |
29,666 |
<p>I have attended many presentation where the presenter will show a graph/table in one of his/her slides, but they struggle to explain the semantics of the graph/table/results. </p>
<p>I think there is much more hidden in graphs/tables than young scientists can tell. Is there a way to improve this skill. </p>
<p>My adviser is also very strict on this, so I would like to know how to form sentences which really explain well what is being presented in the slide.</p>
<p>I believe a good point to start is explaining the axis and what they represent, and then comment on results. But how to improve this.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29668,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>One problem people often have when presenting data in graphs and tables is that they often include data that is not relevant. For talks (formal or informal) I really like the process of starting with an empty graph of just the axes and explaining what the axes are and the limits and what they mean. Sometimes I then like to show idealized data from competing hypotheses so people can know what to expect without the added difficulties associated with understanding real, and potentially noisy, data.</p>\n\n<p>Once people understand what the axes mean, I add data to the plot. Ideally, I start with a single data point and explain exactly what the data point means. I then add additional data points from the same \"condition\", possibly one at a time if they are discrete or all at once if there is some meaningful function that describes them. Once the first set of data is presented, I add on the second set. Sometimes it is helpful to remove or grey out the first set of data while you are introducing the second set of data so people can focus on just what is new. Once the second set of data is explained, bring back the first set and talk about the relationship between the two sets. This should ideally be moved to a new figure or panel to highlight the differences and similarities you want the listener to focus on.</p>\n\n<p>If there is more \"hidden\" in figures and tables, that means it is too complicated for a talk. In manuscripts space is at a premium and you often have to have figures that tell multiple stories. In these cases the text still needs to walk you through the figure step-by-step and introduce each piece of information in the order in which you want the reader to look at it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29679,
"author": "Phil",
"author_id": 19988,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19988",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a very important skill to master, and a pertinent question. You are correct to first start with the description of the axes (also ensure that axis labels are legible on the slide!); this orientates the audience and will help them understand the results.</p>\n\n<p>To follow on from this, I could share a couple of tips from my experience. First, make sure you understand how the slide fits in to the context of the whole presentation - what is the story you are telling? Then, ask yourself what the key point is you would like the audience to take from this slide (you can maybe get away with 2-3 points). This will guide the formatting of the figure itself, and the animation surrounding on the slides - for instance I find it useful to annotate the figure on the slide as I describe the result (for example putting a red circle around an interesting feature of the plot).</p>\n\n<p>My last tip would be that the importance of practising the presentation by <strong>actually speaking it out</strong> loud (not just in your head!) cannot be understated. This is a sure way to identify areas where you are not entirely sure what to say, then you can make some more notes or write down key phrases to help you in the actual presentation.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29666",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401/"
] |
29,667 |
<p>I am currently applying for tenure-track assistant professor jobs.
One of the positions requires me to submit a cover letter,
in addition to a CV, research statement, and teaching statement.
(The application is online)
I am thinking of writing the following:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>October 1, 2014</p>
<p>Dear faculty committee</p>
<p>I wish to apply for the faculty position
in the Department of Mathematics
at Stanford University.
Currently, I am a postdoctoral fellow at
the University of California at Berkeley
in the Department of Mathematics
under the supervision of Dr. James Moriarty.</p>
<p>Enclosed are my curriculum vitae, teaching and research statements,
and two research papers.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if further information is needed. </p>
<p>Yours truly, <br>
John Watson <br>
Department of Mathematics <br>
University of California at Berkeley <br>
123 4th Street, Box 5678 <br>
Berkeley, CA 12345-6789 <br>
(123) 456-7890</p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>What is the purpose of the cover letter?
Is it just to indicate what are the documents included in the application?
I ask this because most of the other positions for which I am applying
don't require a cover letter.</li>
<li>Should I include a brief summary of my research interests and teaching experience, one paragraph each, in the cover letter?</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Edit:</strong>
In reality, I am not in the field of mathematics,
nor am I a postdoctoral fellow at Berkeley.
The details in my cover letter are fictitious
and meant only to illustrate the structure of the cover letter
which I will write.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29672,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my field, which is not mathematics, a cover letter is a critical component of the job application. I feel like I have seen questions/answers on AC.SE that suggest in some fields the cover letter is less important. In general, in my field research statements, while specific in what the research goals are, are generally not tailored to an individual department. The same goes for teaching statements. My field is interdisciplinary and if you are applying for a position in a medical school you may use a different research/teaching statement than if you are applying for a position in an engineering school or a science school, but for any given type of department/school you would likely use the same research and teaching statements. You might tailor a small portion of them to demonstrate how you would fit into a specific department and the university as a whole, but you would not write new statements for each department. The cover letter on the other hand is where you explain how you fit into the department and university and is essentially rewritten for every application.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29678,
"author": "David Hill",
"author_id": 11258,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11258",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'm a mathematician, and I was at Berkeley. I wrote a cover letter similar to yours and got exactly one interview that year (it was 2010, but still). The only reason I got that interview was because a member of the committee thought very highly of one of my letter writers.</p>\n\n<p>I would suggest you write brief paragraphs regarding teaching and research, and order these paragraphs depending on how you gauge the focus of the department.</p>\n\n<p>I would take this as a basic template for the cover letter you are going to write. As you get ready to apply to a school, you should try to learn as much as you can about the department. Is there someone there you would like to collaborate with? Do they offer any courses you would really like to teach? Do they offer an REU that you could contribute to? You might also morph your research paragraph into a \"student research\" paragraph if that is what they are looking for.</p>\n\n<p>Many of these departments won't look at the letter at all, but you don't know which. For the ones that do value it, you want to show them that you understand what they are doing and want to be a part of it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29706,
"author": "Geoff Hutchison",
"author_id": 21869,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21869",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'll be honest about when I read packages (in chemistry). The first thing I look at is the CV. I also skim the cover letter. Then I read the recommendation letters and the research and teaching statements. Depending on the CV and recommendation letters, I may take more or less time on the research/teaching statements - if the candidate seems promising, I'm more thorough.</p>\n\n<p>But if the cover letter is short, not tailored at least <em>some</em> to our department, contains obvious typos, etc. I'll get a bad impression.</p>\n\n<p>Look, anyone applying to a tenure-track position has taken a <strong><em>lot</em></strong> of time to get to this point. You've secured a PhD, possibly gone through a postdoc position, and prepared the whole application.</p>\n\n<p>Why spoil it with a lousy cover letter. Take some time, think up a paragraph or two about a particular department, consider what you might add, and let us know.</p>\n\n<p>This tells me that the candidate is not just blindly sending out a gazillion applications.</p>\n\n<p>I doubt everyone completely rewrites their cover letters for each application (I didn't). But I <strong>do</strong> want to see that someone has taken the time to carefully craft a paragraph or three about us and how they might fit.</p>\n\n<p>Will we interview someone who seems stellar with a poor cover letter? Probably. But we also get ~100 applications for every opening, so why would you risk it?</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29667",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8802/"
] |
29,669 |
<p>Just curious about how professors feel about having to write recommendation letters? Is it a chore for them? Or do they actually enjoy writing them? Or is it more of neutral.</p>
<p>I am in a situation of applying to various graduate schools. Last year I only applied to one school and was rejected. This year I am thinking of applying to more schools so as to increase the chance of being accepted. I feel a bit "guilty" about having to ask my supervisor to write 5 separate letter of recommendations. Would it take up too much of their time?</p>
<p>That said, I don't really have any other choice since the recommendation letters are pretty much compulsory. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29675,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Writing recommendations is a lot of work, but I take pleasure in doing it. To control the work, I decline recommendations from students who earned grades of less than B in any of my classes. When I get a second request from the same student, I tell them my limit is four letters. I also ask for material from the student that eases the workload a bit.</p>\n<p>Here is what I tell my students: <a href=\"https://facultyweb.kennesaw.edu/rbrow211/help/recommendations.php\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://facultyweb.kennesaw.edu/rbrow211/help/recommendations.php</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29705,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Although I'm not a professor, my position has a lot of similarity and I have often been asked to write recommendation letters. My reaction has been a mixture, depending on who is asking for me to write the letter:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Students who I like and respect: \"Sure, I'll be happy to. What are the aspects of your work that you'd most like to have emphasized?\"</li>\n<li>Students who I haven't got a strong opinion on: \"I'm not sure that I know your work well enough to write a strong letter. If you really need me to, I can, but I think you'd be better served by getting somebody who knows you better.\"</li>\n<li>Students who I have been disappointed in: \"I'm sorry, but I don't think that I would be a good person to write the type of letter that you need.\"</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>You only want letters from the first type, who will happily sing your praises. And for a student like that, it's no burden at all: I'm going to want to push your career forward, because I'm hoping I'll get to see somebody who I like prosper, and maybe even return to work with me as a colleague in the future.</p>\n\n<p>As for the multiple letters question: don't worry about it unless you're applying to like 20 schools. If the programs you're applying to are similar, they're probably just going to be writing just one template letter about their experiences and filling in a couple of blanks to customize for the institution. Now certain institutions have terrible forms that will make it a pain to send that letter, but that's hardly your fault, and your recommender will be used to it...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 191333,
"author": "jerlich",
"author_id": 62052,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62052",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am a professor. It's part of our job. I generally only write one letter per student, and send that letter to all of the programs they have applied to. The exception is if they are applying to different programs (e.g. some neuroscience and some cognitive science) I would tailor the letter for the program. It is work. Just like teaching, reviewing papers, writing grants, mentoring, etc. If I like the student, I will enjoy sharing my enthusiasm for that student.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29669",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22728/"
] |
29,670 |
<p>My internal model of academia is that (1) as a group we are one of the most tolerant of biological and philosophical differences (e.g., gender, sexual orientation, and religion) and (2) that we are likely to take extreme views on issues related to our research. I have no evidence for either of these and they seem potentially at odds in that it seems strange that people would be so passionate about their research and be blase about their religion (or any other philosophy). Is there any work that characterizes the level of tolerance of academics on various issues?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29671,
"author": "fkraiem",
"author_id": 12864,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12864",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There is <a href=\"http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2063742\">a recent study</a> which generated quite a bit of noise and seems to indicate that racial and gender biases do indeed exist in academia (at least in the U.S.). The researchers sent e-mails to professors pretending to be a prospective graduate student, and response rates varied widely depending on the ethnic- and gender- markers in the purported student's name.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 47803,
"author": "MissMonicaE",
"author_id": 36330,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/36330",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a matter of fact, academics tend to be quite left-leaning, especially in fields like sociology. (<a href=\"http://organizationsandmarkets.com/2006/07/23/why-do-sociologists-lean-left-really-left/\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Here's\">Here</a>'s an article about this, with links to multiple studies.) Sadly, they're not abnormally likely to be tolerant of conservative viewpoints.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 115500,
"author": "John Slegers",
"author_id": 37939,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/37939",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>David French is the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a nonpartisan group that monitors free speech on campus. In <a href=\"https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=461497&page=1\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">a 2005 interview with ABC News</a>, French argued that \"the universities have been so captured by the left point of view, that you're going to get more political and intellectual diversity at your average suburban mega-church than you are at an elite university.\" The cause, he believed, was the systematic suppression and censorship of conservatives.</p>\n\n<p>That same year, Rothman, Nevitte and Lichter published <a href=\"http://www.conservativecriminology.com/uploads/5/6/1/7/56173731/rothman_et_al.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">a paper</a> using data based on a telephone survey in 1999 of approximately 4000 faculty, administrators, and students. The purpose of this study was to test if professional advancement is influenced by ideological orientation. What they found out, was that conservatives and Republicans taught at lower quality schools, compared with liberals and Democrats. This suggested, they argued, \"that conservative complaints of the presence and effects\nof liberal homogeneity in academia deserve to be taken seriously\".</p>\n\n<p>A <a href=\"https://pcl.stanford.edu/research/2015/iyengar-ajps-group-polarization.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">2014 study</a> by Iyengar and Westwood underscored how powerful political bias can be. In an experiment, Democrats and Republicans were asked to choose a scholarship winner from among fictitious finalists, with the experiment tweaked so that applicants sometimes included the president of the Democratic or Republican club. Four-fifths of Democrats and Republicans alike chose a student of their own party to win a scholarship, and discrimination against people of the other party was much greater than discrimination based on race.</p>\n\n<p>For <a href=\"https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0199863059\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">a 2016 study</a>, Shields and Dunn surveyed 153 conservative professors. “As two conservative professors,” they wrote in The Washington Post, “we agree that right-wing faculty members and ideas are not always treated fairly on college campuses. But we also know that right-wing hand-wringing about higher education is overblown.” Nevertheless, about one-third of the professors professors admit to using \"coping strategies that gays and lesbians have used in the military and other inhospitable work environments\", ie they \"closeted\" themselves by passing as liberals. Some also said they were badly mistreated on account of their politics.</p>\n\n<p>In <a href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/2017/02/21/the-threat-from-within/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">a 2017 speech</a> before the Stanford Board of Trustees, former Provost John Etchemendy argued that he \"watched a growing intolerance\", \"a political one-sidedness, that is the antithesis of what universities should stand for\". \"It manifests itself\", he argued \"in the intellectual monocultures that have taken over certain disciplines; in the demands to disinvite speakers and outlaw groups whose views we find offensive; in constant calls for the university itself to take political stands\".</p>\n\n<p>In 2009, world–renowned political scientist Norman Finkelstein was denied tenure at DePaul University <a href=\"https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/16/us/penn-removes-professor-for-racial-remarks-trnd/index.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">for his criticisms of Israel's human rights violations against the Palestinian people</a>. In 2014, co-discoverer or DNA James Watson was forced to sell his Nobel prize after losing most of his income <a href=\"https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2017/11/24/the-problematic-case-of-the-wilfrid-laurier-ta-who-dared-to-air-a-debate-on-grammar.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">for stating that people of African descent are less intelligent than white people</a>. In 2017, graduate student Lindsay Shepherd was hauled before a three-person panel at Wilfrid Laurier University, which interrogated her for more than 40 minutes <a href=\"http://www.worksanddays.net/2008-9/File14.Klein_011309_FINAL.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">for showing a first-year communications class a video snippet from TV Ontario of Jordan Peterson debating another professor on the use of gender pronouns</a>. In 2018, University of Pennsylvania Law School professor Amy Wax was removed from teaching mandatory first-year courses <a href=\"https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/11261872/James-Watson-selling-Nobel-prize-because-no-one-wants-to-admit-I-exist.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">for saying in an interview that she didn't think she'd ever seen a black student graduate in the top quarter of the class</a>.</p>\n\n<p>These are some of many examples where academics / scholars have been reprimanded for making statements deemed too \"politically incorrect\" by their employers. While such cases are obviously but annectodal evidence at best, they do suggest Etchemendy may have had a point when he said he watched a growing intolerance \"that is the antithesis of what universities should stand for\". They do suggest it may indeed be safer for conservative professors to pass as liberals. They do suggest that French may have had a point when he argued there was systematic suppression and censorship of conservatives. And they do suggest that Rothman, Nevitte and Lichter may have been right to conclude that that conservative complaints of the presence and effects of liberal homogeneity in academia deserve to be taken seriously.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 115504,
"author": "nara",
"author_id": 83029,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/83029",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think it might depend on the field. For example, if you are in a Biology department, you're likely to be labeled as \"ignorant\", \"dumb\", or \"coward\" if you are Christian (or Jewish, or Muslim or any religion that believes in a God who creates), regardless of whether you believe in evolution or not, and regardless of what your actual religious beliefs are. Generally, in natural sciences that's a pretty common trend I think. One could argue that this is more related to the second point you mentioned, rather than the first one, but given that this intolerance, as I said, is regardless of the opinion of the religious person about the origin of life and rules of physics, one could also argue that having this opinion that \"any religious person is incapable of appreciating science\" as an assumption, is a form of intolerance. </p>\n\n<p>(There is a documentary about Christian professors in science (or biology) departments who were not tolerated by their colleagues and were discriminated against, but I couldn't find it now)</p>\n\n<p>When it comes to ethnic and racial tolerance, in my experience, a level of racism and orientalism that would face condemnation in the US (but not necessarily in Europe) is not uncommon in academic communities in Europe. That being said, my impression is that they're still considerably more tolerant than an average person (or at least an average conservative) in that society. </p>\n\n<p>But overall, I perceive academics to be more tolerant than the median member of the society.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29670",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
] |
29,713 |
<p>My paper is rejected with this comment from editor:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Unfortunately, the reviewers generally agree this paper should not be
considered for publish in....</p>
</blockquote>
<p>My question is do all the reviewers reject the paper? </p>
<p>While, I read the reviewers's comment, some of them suggest some notations in order to improve my paper.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29714,
"author": "Jessica B",
"author_id": 20036,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20036",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can't really tell, unless it's explicit in the referee reports you receive. A referee could well give suggestions for improvements even if they advise rejecting the paper - they don't assume that just because the paper wouldn't appear in this journal it won't appear anywhere. It also doesn't matter whether all the referees recommended rejection - it is the editors that make the call, and that is what stands.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29719,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>A serious editor makes a decision based on the reports from the reviewers along with their own critical view of both the manuscript and the reviews. This means that both reviewers may not have made the official recommendation of reject, it sometimes happens reviewers give a \"major revision\" officially while in their confidential comment to the editor they provide their reasoning for providing that recommendation instead of a reject, which they think would be equally appropriate. Hence there is communication \"behind the scenes\" that is not visible to the author(s). It is also possible that an editor makes a decision for a reject based on reviews that recommend otherwise. In such cases the grounds may, for example, be that the editor sees that the revisions will be too complex to fit the time frame of a regular \"major revision\". Or, that there is some formal issue that reviewers will be unable to detect. The latter should, however, not be very common since such issues, including suitability to the journal, should be weeded out at the time of submission, not after review (thereby wasting reviewers valuable time).</p>\n\n<p>In the quote you provide, it seems as if both reviewers have found grounds for rejecting the paper. It is probably not very common that an editor changes such overwhelming recommendations (although it can happen). The fact that reviewers provide comments is not in any way unusual. Any serious reviewer knows that part of reviewing is to provide feedback on what is thought should be revised. Hence there is normally no major difference between reviews resulting in a <em>recommendation</em> for \"reject\" than those resulting in, say, \"major revision\". Any first round review that is returned without any comments and providing either an \"accept\" or a \"reject\" will, in my opinion as editor, be signalling a reviewer not willing to do the job and in fact useless for the process (manuscripts so good that they can be accepted without any action are very rare indeed).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29713",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22235/"
] |
29,723 |
<p>I have checked the originality of my PhD thesis in mathematics using <a href="http://turnitin.com/" rel="noreferrer">Turnitin</a>. The similarity was 31%. Is this percentage acceptable by most committees? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29729,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>TurnItIn uses a complicated algorithm to determine whether a piece of text within a larger body of work matches something in its database. The TurnItIn is limited to open access sources and therefore has huge gaps in its ability to detect things. Further, while TurnItIn can in some cases exclude things like references and quotes from the similarity index, it sometimes fails. Overall, when my department's academic misconduct committee looks at TurnItIn reports we essentially ignore the overall similarity index. We do not completely ignore it in that it guides how we are going to further examine the document.</p>\n\n<p>We employ 4 different strategies based on whether the similarity index is 0, between 1 and 20 percent, between 20 and 40 percent, and over 40+ percent. A piece of work with a similarity index of 0 is pretty rare and generally means that students have manipulated the document in a way that TurnItIn cannot process it (e.g., if a paper is converted to an image file and then converted to a pdf, there is no text for TurnItIn to analyse). A similarity index less than 20 percent can arise from work that contains no plagiarism with the similarity being quotes and references and small meaningless sentences. The key here is \"meaningless\". For example, there are only so many ways of saying \"we did a t-test between the two groups\" and it is reasonable to assume that someone else has used exactly the same wording. A piece of work with a similarity index less than 20 percent can also, however, include a huge amount of plagiarised material. A similarity index between 20-40 percent generally means there is a problem unless a large portion of text that should have been skipped was not (e.g., block quotes, reference lists, or appendices of common tables). A similarity index in excess of 40 percent is almost always problematic.</p>\n\n<p>You really should not depend on the overall similarity index. First and foremost you should depend on your own following of good academic practices. If you have followed good academic practices, there really is no need for TurnItIn. If you want to use the TurnItIn report, you should look at what is being match and ask yourself why it is matching. If it found something your \"accidentally\" cut and paste, or \"inadvertently\" did not reword appropriately, fix it and use that as a wake up call to improve your academic practice. If everything it is finding are properly attributed quotes or common tables (or questionnaires, etc) and references then there is no problem.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29731,
"author": "Compass",
"author_id": 22013,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22013",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have some familiarity with Turnitin, though that was way back in undergrad. The thing about similarity engines is that they aren't perfect.</p>\n<p>It's important to consider exactly how <a href=\"https://turnitin.com/static/resources/documentation/turnitin/sales/Answers_to_Questions_Students_Ask.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Turnitin describes itself on its FAQ</a>.</p>\n<h3>What does TurnItIn actually do?</h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Turnitin determines if text in a paper matches text in any of the Turnitin databases. By itself, Turnitin does not detect or determine plagiarism\n—\nit just detects matching text to help instructors determine if plagiarism\nhas occurred. Indeed, the text in the student’s paper that is found to match a source may be properly cited and attributed.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>When we were testing Turnitin in high school (probably a decade ago) with a short writing prompt (~page or two) with a single source, the entire class ended up getting 15 to 20% similarity score, because not only did our sources match, but our quotes matched. No surprise there, really.</p>\n<p>Now, consider how large Turnitin's database has grown. If this FAQ is to be trusted, you're comparing your paper to more than 80 thousand journals.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Turnitin’s proprietary software then compares the paper’s text to a vast\ndatabase of 12+ billion pages of digital content (including archived internet content that is no longer\navailable on the live web) as well as over 110 million papers in the student paper archive, and 80,000+\nprofessional, academic and commercial journals and publications. We’re adding new content through new partnerships all the time. For example, our partner CrossRef boasts 500-plus members that include publishers such as Elsevier and the IEEE, and has already added hundreds of millions of pages of new content to our database.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>If I recall correctly, you can see exactly where your paper has similarity with others, so you can pull that up.</p>\n<h3>Sources of Similarity</h3>\n<p>My bet is that your paper cites papers almost identically to how another paper cites theirs. The great benefit of commonplace citing techniques like APA and MLA is that they're consistent.</p>\n<p>If you cite, for example, the general APA format from Purdue, and someone else cites it, they're going to match at almost 100%.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from <a href=\"http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/</a></p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The chances of you citing a paper that has never been cited before when compared to the world of science is, let's face it, probably 0%. Someone out there has cited your sources at some point. With sources being at times up to 10% of the paper's length, that's an easy portion we can knock out.</p>\n<p>The other portion likely has to do with the vernacular that is used to describe a situation. Let's go with the following statement, written entirely off the top of my head.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Java is an object-oriented programming language.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Pretty simple statement, and true enough that <a href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Java%20is%20an%20object-oriented%20programming%20language.%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">it has been mentioned 260,000 times already, in that exact wording.</a></p>\n<p>Similarity for that statement is 100% if it were to check for that. But when you make it loosely checked for similarity (i.e. remove the quotes from the search), you get <a href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=Java%20is%20an%20object-oriented%20programming%20language.&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">several million hits.</a></p>\n<p>Does that mean I plagiarized? Nope. Would TurnItIn flag it? Definitely. Consider how likely everyday people great each other with "How was your weekend?" Are we plagiarizing each other's greetings? Nope. We pick up similarities in how we control language to understand each other, and that shows in papers, where we describe confidence intervals, methodologies, and processes the same way.</p>\n<p>Perhaps even more terrifying in considering the similarity score, is that it will likely evaluate the two following statements similar:</p>\n<p>Statement 1</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The double helix of DNA was first discovered by the combined efforts of Watson and Crick. Watson and Crick would later get a Nobel Prize for their efforts.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Statement 2</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The double helix of DNA was not first discovered by the combined efforts of Watson and Crick, but by Franklin. Watson and Crick would later get a Nobel Prize for her efforts.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Two very similar sentences. 80-90% similarity word-wise. Meaning-wise? Completely different. That's why the human element is required. We can tell those two statements tell an entirely different story when read. These small similar sets of wording add up quite quickly, and a 30% similarity in your case, given the level of research probably done in whatever your field is, and the amount of sources you have probably cited (100+?) is unlikely to be anything to fret about in this day and age.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29733,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is this percentage acceptable by most committees? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is the wrong question to be asking, since academic decisions are not made based on a numerical measure of similarity from a computer program. The purpose of this software is to flag suspicious cases for humans to examine more carefully. It will identify passages that appear similar to other writings, but it can't decide whether that constitutes plagiarism.</p>\n\n<p>For example, part of your thesis might be based on previous papers you have written. In some circumstances, it may be reasonable to copy text from these papers. (You need to check that your advisor approves and that it doesn't conflict with any university regulations or the publishing agreement with the publisher.) Of course you would need to cite the papers and clearly indicate the overlap. It's not plagiarism if you do that, but Turnitin doesn't understand what you've written well enough to distinguish it from plagiarism. So it's possible that Turnitin would flag lots of suspicious sections, but that your committee would look at them and see that everything is cited appropriately.</p>\n\n<p>If you haven't committed any plagiarism, then you don't need to worry about this at all. If you genuinely write everything yourself (or carefully quote and cite anything you didn't write), then there's no way you could accidentally write something that looks like proof of plagiarism. There's just too much possible variation, and the probability of matching someone else's words by chance is negligible. The worst case scenario is that Turnitin flags something due to algorithmic limitations or a poor underlying model, but human review shows that it is not actually worrisome. (Nobody trusts Turnitin more than they trust their own judgment.)</p>\n\n<p>I'll assume you don't know you've committed plagiarism, but it is possible that you honestly wouldn't know? Unfortunately, the answer is yes if you have certain bad writing habits. For example, it's dangerous to write while having another reference open in front of you to compare with. Even if you don't copy anything verbatim, it's easy to write something that's just an adaptation of the original source (maybe rewording sentences or rearranging things slightly, but clearly based on the original).</p>\n\n<p>If that's what worries you, then you should take a look at the most suspicious passages found by Turnitin. If they look like an adaptation of another source, then it's worth rewriting them. If they don't, then maybe Turnitin is worrying you unnecessarily.</p>\n\n<p>But in any case a plagiarism finding won't just come down to a percentage of similarity. Any percentage greater than 0 is too much for actual plagiarism, and no percentage is too high if it reflects limitations of the software rather than actual plagiarism.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30482,
"author": "Zach Pollock",
"author_id": 23261,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23261",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have used websites in the past to help with similar content, they will give you a report of what was found online and help remove/reword the similar content so you don't have to worry about your document being marked as plagiarism.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30508,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From my experience with Ithenticate (the version of turnitin for journals and conference proceedings), I'd say that 30% similarity most likely indicates significant plagiarism or self-plagiarism (recycling of text.) I would certainly investigate further to understand exactly where the similar text was coming from.</p>\n\n<p>If the similar text is taken from sources written by other authors, then I would investigate further by reading the text carefully and comparing it with the sources. There are certainly false alarms raised by this type of software. For example, common phrases like \"Without loss of generality, we can assume that...\" and \"Partial differential equation boundary value problem\" will be flagged. Standard definitions are also commonly flagged.\nHowever, if I see long narrative paragraphs with significant copying, that's clearly plagiarism. </p>\n\n<p>It's traditional at many universities to staple together a bunch of papers and call it a dissertation. Conversely, it's also very common to slightly rewrite chapters of a dissertation and turn them into papers. Either way, this is \"text recycling.\" </p>\n\n<p>Now that text recycling can be easily detected, commercial publishers are cracking down on it for a variety of reasons. First, the publisher might get sued for copyright violation if the holder of the copyright on the previously published text objects. A different objection is that the material shouldn't be published because it isn't original.\nAs a result, text recycling between two published papers (in conference proceedings or journal articles) is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. This has upset many academics who have made a habit of reusing text from one paper to the next. Some feel that if the reused text is from a methods section or literature review, than the copying is harmless. Publishers typically take a harder line. </p>\n\n<p>The situation with dissertations is somewhat different. In one direction journals have always been willing to accept papers that are substantially based on dissertation chapters with minimal rewriting. Since the student usually retains copyright on the thesis itself, there's no particular problem with copyright violation. Since dissertations traditionally weren't widely distributed, publishers didn't care that the material had been \"previously published.\" I don't really expect this to change much in the near future. </p>\n\n<p>In the other direction, there are two issues: First, will the publisher of journal articles object to reuse of the text in the dissertation as a copyright violation? You'd need to check with the publisher. Second, will the university be willing to accept a dissertation (and perhaps publish it through Proquest or its own online dissertation web site) that contains material that has been separately published? That really depends on the policy of your university and the particular opinions of your advisor and committee. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29723",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22686/"
] |
29,724 |
<p>I'm not an academic (sorry!), but at various points over my career I have been interested in working with professors on a variety of projects. I never found an easy way to find a professor who might be a good fit (e.g. is in the right field and interested in consulting work) and I'm wondering if there is one? I suppose that part of my question is whether professors in general are interested in consulting work - I know they are extremely busy, so I'm not sure if this type of work is even attractive.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29727,
"author": "Scott Seidman",
"author_id": 20457,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20457",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This type of work can be very attractive. Some universities even encourage it. I'm entitled to spend up to 20% of my time on consulting projects. </p>\n\n<p>It does get tricky. The prof involved should really be using ZERO university resources for consulting work. While it may never come to it, this should be verifiable through an audit if that's ever demanded. My own Univ Policy is \"Faculty members may not use facilities, equipment, materials, funds, personnel or \nsimilar resources of the University in the consulting activities. They may use \nUniversity telephones, email accounts, computers and software programs that are \ngenerally available to the University community, and library resources (but not library personnel), so long as the use is reasonable in duration and frequency, does not compromise the security or integrity of University property, information or software, and does not violate any other University policy\". Such policies may vary by university or country, but if I were hiring a consultant, I'd pay ample attention to making sure the university involved did not get hooks into any of my IP.</p>\n\n<p>This can go the other way, as well. There was a recent court decision (perhaps someone can help me point to it) where a faculty consultant accidentally signed away university rights!! In response, my own school requests that faculty run consultancy contracts through Univ. counsel. They can't <em>make</em> us do that, but in return they will keep an eye out for the best interests of their faculty as they review the contract.</p>\n\n<p>Finding the right consultant can be tricky. You don't mention what sort of consultant you're looking for, but I'd suggest looking at web pages of local universities to see if any faculty research interests line up with the work you need to have done. Start with the departments that produce the types of students that you'd consider hiring to do that sort of work. If you can't find a match, an email to the chair might help. In fact, the chair would know which faculty members would benefit from expanding their portfolio in this way. </p>\n\n<p>As with any consulting arrangement, spend some real time on the contract. Make sure the consultant understands what the deliverables will be. A good consultant will not take on a poorly defined job, and should be able to help the costumer define the job. If the job is vague, consultancy may not be the best way to go, and you might consider sponsoring a small research project.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 36913,
"author": "Rob Schade",
"author_id": 27914,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27914",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am one of the founders of a company that does exactly what you are asking. It matches professors and businesses together for consulting and executive education. The company is called LIFTPhD. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 55273,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While it is often a little bit challenging to set up - how consulting works will vary by institution, position, etc. professors are often greatly interested in doing consulting work. Just like industry experts, it allows them to make more money than they otherwise would, work on some interesting projects, etc. It's also, if you don't necessarily need \"Professor So-and-so\" but merely a highly trained expert in the field, a good way to help supplement grad student and postdoc income.</p>\n\n<p>The best way to get in touch with them is to find someone who seems appropriate, and ask them. There are a couple ways to potentially find someone:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Look at your local university. Physical proximity can be helpful, and even if they don't/can't work on a project at the moment, they may be able to point you in the right direction - they know the field better than you do.</li>\n<li>Try to find academics who clearly do work in your field. Are there papers you've read, either in the mainstream press or journals, that are relevant to your problem? Is there a particular university you hire a lot of graduates from? etc. Again, this may not prove immediately fruitful, but could help get you oriented.</li>\n<li>Professional organizations may be able to help. They often have job boards, membership directories, etc. At least one I've encountered also actually has it's own consulting service - it essentially collects interested members, and matches them with projects as needed.</li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29724",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22763/"
] |
29,726 |
<p>I am aware that being funded by a grant greatly improves your chances of receiving a master's degree, however, hypothetically what would be the potential consequences of offering to fund your own? If the negative consequences are minimal, how does one go about offering this to a potential supervisor without under-selling themselves?</p>
<p>I'm applying to programs in Canada.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29829,
"author": "Dr G.",
"author_id": 17698,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17698",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Getting funding usually stipulates that you have a project that is related to the fund that you have applied to. That being said, it is not always the case. Whether you are self-funded or funded does not necessarily mean that a particular supervisor will work with you. If your research interests are not aligned with the professor's, then it is likely that he/she will reject working with you, even if you are funded. It does not really matter if you are funded or not. It looks better on your CV, however, if you do get funding.</p>\n\n<p>Furthermore, being funded does not guarantee that you will receive a master's degree. Hard work and dedication do. It is the same in any academic program.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to work with a certain professor, I would suggest that you email him/her with a research proposal. That way he/she is able to 1) know that you exist and are keen to work with him/her, 2) that you have a project in mind, and 3) you are open to criticism concerning your research proposal. </p>\n\n<p>Professors like working with students who want to work with them, usually, and they also like students who have similar research interests, or have stimulating proposals for new avenues of research.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29907,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One potential problem is what I'll refer to as \"Lack of Responsibility\", and I experienced a little bit of it when part of my degree was funded by a university fund not tied to any particular project.</p>\n\n<p>While it gives you a tremendous amount of freedom, it means that you're not tied to any mentor/group/project/grant. Your work product doesn't need to go in the annual report, or be written up to make the lab look good for a renewal, etc. There's no pressure to settle down and get to work - which means the freedom to explore, but also the freedom to drift aimlessly.</p>\n\n<p>Basically, it removes \"Because someone needs to keep the lights on\" as a motivating factor behind getting work done, and that is a <em>powerful</em> motivator.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29726",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22764/"
] |
29,732 |
<p>I'm looking for a suggestion, for a medical journal counter part to the <a href="http://arxiv.org/">arxiv</a>. A minimal frill, open access online repository
to time stamp articles with some visibility. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29736,
"author": "ddiez",
"author_id": 21435,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21435",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The closest would be <a href=\"http://biorxiv.org\" rel=\"nofollow\">bioRxiv</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29739,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not aware of a \"pre-print\" (I don't mean this term in a derogatory manner) repository for medical research similar to arXiv. I think there are two reasons for this. The first is that my understanding is that the peer review process in medical fields often takes less than a month and rarely more than a year where as in Physics and Maths I think the pattern is reversed. The second reason, and I believe the most important reason, is that medical research studies should be preregistered. The <a href=\"http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">2013 Declaration of Helsinki</a> states:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Every research study involving human subjects must be registered in a publicly accessible database before recruitment of the first subject.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This requirement has lead to initiatives (or possible vice versa) of trial repositories like <a href=\"http://www.biomedcentral.com/authors/protocols\" rel=\"nofollow\">bioMed Central</a> where protocols can be peer reviewed and published. While this is very different from arXiv which archives complete studies, it may provide the type of \"time stamping\" you are looking for.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29743,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To elaborate on the answer by ddiez: <a href=\"http://biorxiv.org/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">bioRxiv</a> has been deliberately designed to fill the same sort of role for life sciences that arXiv does for physics, math, and computer science. A key reason for this is the growing recognition amongst some practitioners in these fields that scientific communication is being inhibited by the long time to publication and pre-publication secrecy that is typical in life science fields---it is not uncommon to be hearing privately about work for years before one is able to read the details or cite it. Overall, this is a very good thing: it improves communication, it reduces the chance of being \"scooped,\" and it reduces the \"all-or-nothing\" pressure associated with targeting super-high-impact journals.</p>\n\n<p>That said, bioRxiv is still fairly new, and the conventions for its relationship with journals are still evolving. Some journals are very supportive and encourage authors to deposit in bioRxiv. Others still tightly embrace the prior publication culture and consider deposit in a preprint repository a prior publication that precludes submission. Check carefully what the policy of the journals that you are targeting with before you make a decision about whether to deposit.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 79597,
"author": "adipro",
"author_id": 10936,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10936",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>How about <a href=\"https://peerj.com/about/publications/#PeerJ-Preprints\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">PeerJ Preprints</a>? It was <a href=\"https://peerj.com/blog/post/47030855181/peerj-preprints-a-new-preprint-server-for-the-biological-and-medical-sciences/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">launched</a> in 2013.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>PeerJ Preprints is the 'pre-print' area of PeerJ. Similar to pre-print servers that already exist (for example arXiv.org), authors can submit draft, incomplete, or final versions of articles they are working on.\n ...\n PeerJ Preprints will only accept submissions in the same subject areas as PeerJ (Biological and Medical Sciences) and PeerJ Computer Science. </p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 101258,
"author": "on4aa",
"author_id": 7419,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7419",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h1>Researchgate.net</h1>\n<p>A lot of academic medical professionals are uploading pre- and post-publication manuscripts to <a href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://www.researchgate.net/</a></p>\n<p><strong>EDIT:</strong> Above answer was all there was at the end of 2017. However, since June 2019, <a href=\"https://www.medrxiv.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">medRxiv.org</a> fully serves the needs of the medical science community.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.medrxiv.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://www.medrxiv.org/sites/default/files/medRxiv_homepage_logo.png\" alt=\"medRxiv.org\" /></a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 145809,
"author": "gncs",
"author_id": 114345,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/114345",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>medRxiv</strong>: a preprint server for health sciences.\n<a href=\"https://www.medrxiv.org/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://www.medrxiv.org/</a></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29732",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1380/"
] |
29,737 |
<p>I am citing in Harvard style, so my entries end up something like this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Widom, H. (1975). Asymptotic inversion of convolution operators, <em>Publ. Math. Inst. Hautes Études Sci.</em> <strong>44</strong>: 191–240.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>With the above entry, I noticed that the same author cited the year as 1975 from his later papers, but the publisher's website says volume 44 is from 1974. I looked at the actual journal volume and sure enough it has 1974 in big letters on the title page, but the small copyright notice says 1975. It seems that this is the journal volume <em>for</em> 1974, but was actually published in 1975. (According to the stamp on it, my university's library received its copy at the start of April 1975, so my speculation is that they only narrowly missed a deadline to pubish in 1974.)</p>
<p>My question is: how should I cite this? Should I mention both years? If so, how should I fit them in to the citation, and if not, which should I use?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29738,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since the purpose of the citation is to enable others to find the work in question, use whatever number serves this purpose best.</p>\n\n<p>Most likely this will be 1974, as this is the number required by people who want to find the printed journal. People searching online will probably find the paper equally well with either number and even if there is a difference, it will be negligible in comparison to the annoyance experienced by somebody searching for the printed article.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29744,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>With the advent of \"online first\" and \"just accepted\" publication streams, this dilemma is becoming even more common. It is now frequently the case that a publication will become available and begin gathering citations well before its \"official\" publication date.</p>\n\n<p>As noted in the answer by Wrzlprmft and Jim Oldfield, publication dates serve two purposes:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Extra meta-data to help with a search for the reference</li>\n<li>Establishing priority between competing researchers</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The citation that you write only needs to do the first. Thus, my practice when dealing with multiple publication dates is to write whichever is the \"most persistent\". For example, I have had citations like \"published online June 2012\" doi:XXX\", then in another later work cited the same paper as something like \"34(4), pp 1-10, January 2013, doi:XXX\" once it's progressed in the publication queue to actually receive a final volume/issue/date.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding the question of priority: that's not really your job in a mere citation. If order of precedence is actually important to your discussion, you should be discussing it in the text, and not just leaving it to the reader to infer from citation dates, because the real story is often more complicated. That's why in the actual text of many publications, you will see multiple dates in addition to the final publication date. In the most extreme cases, you will see a long string like: \"Submitted Date1, Revised Date2, Accepted Date 3, Published Online Date 4.\"</p>\n\n<p>In short: don't sweat the precedence issue. In the citation, use the date that will be most useful in obtaining the full publication, and let precedence questions be handled separately.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 47884,
"author": "JRN",
"author_id": 64,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One way to cite a journal issue with 1974 printed on it but actually published in 1975 is to say that the year is <code>1974 (1975)</code>. (For an example, see the answers to <a href=\"https://hsm.stackexchange.com/q/1853/72\">this question</a>.)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29737",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22769/"
] |
29,742 |
<p>Out of curiosity, I am wondering if a PhD application decision letter gives the reasons for the decision? </p>
<p>If yes, why? If not, why?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29746,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In my experience in the US, I have never seen any sort of decision letter for an application (whether for Ph.D. or any position) that gives reasons for the decision. It may be different in other countries, but in the US at least, there are many good reasons to never give such information formally.</p>\n\n<p>The actual decision-making process is never as clean and clear-cut as anybody wants it to be, and with the limited information available in applications and even interviews, there are going to be cases where people make mistakes or make good decisions for unclear or hard to state reasons. Lots of good people may get turned down for reasons having nothing to do with them, such as just having too many good candidates in the same area.</p>\n\n<p>If an institution gives real reasons in an official statement (as opposed to something meaningless and bland like \"not an appropriate fit at this time\"), then it is opening up the door for all sorts of potential problems and disputes, not to mention potential legal liability if something could be construed as relating to a protected category such as gender, age, religion, or ethnicity. They also have to worry about seriously unbalanced people who may take it as a personal insult and begin some sort of stalking or harassment campaign (it happens!). Not giving reasons may feel unsatisfying and cowardly, but it is an easy and safe path for an institution, and as such is generally official policy.</p>\n\n<p>Now, if you have an informal trusted relationship with somebody who was involved in the decision process, then it is sometimes possible to get a strictly unofficial take on what may have happened. You might learn things you didn't want to know about how sausage is made, however.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29748,
"author": "Ian",
"author_id": 22000,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22000",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At my UK institution it is now required that all applications have a reason for the decision, which is communicated to the applicant. This is meant to ensure and document a clear decision making process for quality assurance purposes.</p>\n\n<p>However, these officially documented reasons are often bland, boilerplate and uninformative. The useful information usually requires direct comparison with other candidates (for the <em>relative</em> ranking), which is exactly the information the institution can't release by law.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29751,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here are the only sorts of \"reasons\" I've ever seen in US decision letters.</p>\n\n<p>Acceptance: \"We were impressed by your qualifications.\"</p>\n\n<p>Rejection: \"We had many more qualified applicants than seats.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29758,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No, there is usually no specific reason given.</p>\n\n<p>What would even constitute such a reason for rejecting someone from grad school? People sometimes imagine that there might be a clear-cut explanation, perhaps numerical. \"The applicant pool was strong enough this year that we were able to set a GRE verbal cutoff of 165\" or \"We prefer applicants who have taken eleven courses in their major, but you've taken only eight\" or \"You lost out to someone who published one more paper than you did\" or \"We accept applicants from Yale only when we run out of applicants from Harvard.\" That's generally not how admissions decisions work. Instead, the judgment is holistic, based on the entire application, including intangible aspects like how compelling the letters of recommendation are. There's not much to say beyond \"We got many strong applications and managed to fill the incoming class with applicants who impressed us even more than you did\", and there's nothing to be gained by spelling that out.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, there's occasionally a simple reason, when you really can refuse to admit someone because of something specific. However, that reason is sometimes insulting, and it would be dangerous to give the impression that the applicant could be admitted in the future if they just fixed this one thing. (It's rare to see an otherwise wonderful application with one utterly unacceptable aspect. Instead, if you're unacceptable in one respect you're likely to be at least questionable in others.) It would just be adding insult to injury to say \"Well, your application probably wasn't good enough overall in any case, but here's one aspect we found particularly appalling.\"</p>\n\n<p>I think what applicants often want isn't an explanation of the decision so much as constructive advice. Should they give up on the idea of attending graduate school? Do they need additional preparation? Are they not presenting themselves in the best light? It's completely reasonable to seek this sort of advice, but preferably from a mentor. Brief comments from admissions committees are unlikely to be useful.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29742",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
29,759 |
<p>I'm due to attend a conference soon, and plan to take notes on the talks I attend. My note-taking software of choice (org-mode) can easily export to HTML. Is it legal to post my notes on my website? Is it ethical?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29761,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Firstly, you will need to ensure that content from the conference is allowed to be shared - I have attended conferences were we were explicitly told not to share the content as much of it was pre-publication.</p>\n\n<p>Secondly, and very importantly, if it is allowed and you do take notes, you should provide proper attribution - referencing the author/speaker and the conference proceedings.</p>\n\n<p>If you are not sure of the legalities of reproducing your notes - ask and receive explicit advice.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29769,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The question of whether it is legal and ethical to take notes intersects with a number of different areas, each of which needs to be considered:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Expectation of Privacy: Are you going to be exposing the speaker to a level of publicity inappropriate with their reasonable expectation of privacy?</li>\n<li>Copyright: Are you going to be violating copyright on the speaker's intellectual property?</li>\n<li>Non-Disclosure Agreements: Are you going to be violating a non-disclosure agreement that you or your institution has signed? Such agreements are most likely to be the case when commercial secrets or non-filed patentable material is involved.</li>\n<li>Security classification, arms control treaties, export restrictions: Certain data and technologies are subject to special regulation due to their potential to be used for harm.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>For a typical open-registration scientific conference, you have no need to worry about non-disclosure agreements or controlled information. If you are in a situation where those are applicable, you will most certainly be told in no uncertain terms, and will probably have had to sign specific paperwork to take responsibility for this fact.\nThese issues, though, are the ones that can cause real trouble if you screw them up. No open-registration scientific conference should ever have them apply, however.</p>\n\n<p>That leaves copyright and privacy. Copyright isn't a problem if you're taking notes: that's your highly lossy paraphrasing of their material, and as long as you don't try to pass it off as your own work, it's both legal and ethical. If you were recording audio or video, that would be a different question, as well as potentially problematic for privacy.</p>\n\n<p>As for privacy: if somebody has signed up to present their work in an unrestricted meeting, there is no expectation of privacy for the work. As for the person themselves, scientists are semi-public figures: as long as you are commenting on the public and professional aspects of the person, that is certainly acceptable (i.e., it's OK to talk about a scandal about a retraction, but at least ethically problematic to talk about rumors that they were raised by drug-addicted wolves).</p>\n\n<p>Beyond that, it's common courtesy to make sure you get names and attributions right, as well as keeping you from embarrassing yourself. But your personal notes aren't a record with any special standing, and as long as you keep from actively slandering the speakers you should be fine. You still might cause trouble for a speaker who screws up and inappropriately discloses nuclear weapons secrets on pre-patent IP, but that's more their problem than yours...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29775,
"author": "O. R. Mapper",
"author_id": 14017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14017",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This may be field-specific, my answer refers to public (in a way that attendees do not need any security clearance or something) computer science conferences:</p>\n\n<p>I do not see any issues with posting these notes. In this day and age, commenting on whatever talk is currently being held live from within the talk on Twitter and Co. is becoming commonplace.</p>\n\n<p>I have been to several conferences whose organizers specifically recommended a particular Twitter tag so the comments from the audience members could be quickly found online, and once, there was even a projector set up that would display any comments posted tagged with the conference tag throughout the run of the conference. Likewise, photos from the conference presentations have sometimes been posted by the conference organizers and others.</p>\n\n<p>One of the nice features of this is that attribution comes almost for free - the conference tag already points out the event, and the time at which live comments are posted indicates what talk is currently being held. To make sure, you can always include a small note about the paper number or title, but that's already sufficient to unambiguously identify the paper and the authors based on the conference schedule.</p>\n\n<p>Lastly, even though you may want to express certain opinions about the talks, in most cases it is generally good to be respectful toward the authors. Nothing is won by publicly humiliating them in any way; if you have objections against their presentations, make them specific and tangible. Also, make sure you are aware whether you are referring to an actual shortcoming of the underlying research, or just to a presentation issue due to limited presentation time. If you think the issues are serious, you might even try and contact the author for a clarification, and then integrate that additional knowledge when writing or updating your note. <em>The only time at a conference when I saw participants write somewhat respectless Tweets on a talk (and thought they were rather appropriate) was when a business person literally flooded the audience with buzzwords (yes, in a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzzword_bingo\">buzzword bingo</a>-enabling way) and thus delivered zero useful contents. That is definitely an absolute exception in conference talks.</em></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 54141,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm not a legal expert, but regardless - <strong>it is ethical from first principles</strong>. You're a researcher, and your duty - as well as part of the purpose of the conference - is to expand human knowledge and understanding. The publication of your notes (with due attribution of claims, mentioning of speakers etc.) directly promotes that purpose.</p>\n\n<p>If it's illegal, then that's bad law. Try to get this law repealed in your country; try to get people to circumvent it en masse; or try to find a legal loophole to allow you to publish your notes.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29759",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4469/"
] |
29,764 |
<p>I'm an undergraduate student. I used to think that a PhD certifies a person as an expert in a specific topic of a specific field. I've now been told that while that's true, a PhD most importantly proves that you are capable of independent research in general.</p>
<p>A professor of fluid dynamics told me that if he wanted to shift his research to an unrelated topic like dog anatomy, rather than getting a second degree he would seek out successive projects that get progressively closer to his research interest (e.g. a project on modelling blood flow in a dog, etc.), until eventually he is working on his originally unrelated research interest.</p>
<p>Is the above approach generally valid? If it works, then what legitimate reason is there to get a second PhD?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29767,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would tend to agree with your professor: a Ph.D. primarily certifies you as being capably of creative contribution to research, and secondarily as an expert in a narrow sub-discipline. Combine that with the continually shifting landscape of the scientific frontier, are there is a great deal of flexibility in what a person with a Ph.D. may end up doing over time.</p>\n\n<p>I have heard one of my close colleagues say that: \"One way or another, in ten years time we can't be doing the same thing we are now. Either we will have succeeded and need to move forward, or we will have failed and need to try something else.\"</p>\n\n<p>In such changes, there is usually a significant degree of continuity that allows one to \"pivot\" from one area for another. Like in your professor's example, there are a lot of ways in which dog anatomy and fluid dynamics are related, and it's natural that an expert in fluid dynamics might well be drawn to the parts of anatomy most relevant to their existing skill. </p>\n\n<p>A nice real-world example of such a radical transition: <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Knight_(scientist)\">Tom Knight</a> made his name pioneering networks and computer architectures, then radically shifted into biology. There is a <a href=\"http://www.fastcompany.com/3000760/tom-knight-godfather-synthetic-biology-how-learn-something-new\">nice interview with him</a> about his history and how he made the transition, which involved lots of re-education but not bothering with the formality of another Ph.D. He's also moved back and forth between industry and academia quite a bit.</p>\n\n<p>That said, I could imagine some transition so extreme that it might require an entirely new apprenticeship, e.g., from astrophysics to medieval French history. But that sort of change would be a rather extreme an unusual example.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29774,
"author": "pesablog",
"author_id": 22791,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22791",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I suggest asking yourself this set of questions before engaging on a second PhD:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Do I find delight in long hours of profoundly involving, extended, and solitary study? </p></li>\n<li><p>Have I achieved my greatest satisfaction in researching and writing long research papers in the previous PhD? Would I enjoy writing more? </p></li>\n<li><p>Do I have a compact intellectual drive and curiosity that is becoming more concentrated in the next field of research or several related fields? (This momentum needs to be distinguished clearly and honestly from a drive to have a Ph.D. in order to obtain something else, whether an attractive job, a certain status, a sense of accomplishment, and so on.)</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29791,
"author": "Has QUIT--Anony-Mousse",
"author_id": 17690,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17690",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends. Largely on <strong>is the first PhD recognized</strong>?</p>\n\n<p>Consider someone doing a PhD degree in some field with rather low standards. Say, in politics, or medicine. You may end up being frowned upon if you are in contact with technology PhDs, who (apparently) have higher standards.</p>\n\n<p>It will of course also vary from school to school. And people in medicine and politics will downvote this answer...</p>\n\n<p>So in my personal opinion:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>if your PhD was 3-5 years <em>additionally</em> to a masters degree, is from a highly regarded school, involved publishing several scientific papers, and is in a discipline such as CS, Physics, Math: don't bother doing another PhD</li>\n<li>if your PhD was a \"small\" solution, maybe only 2 years after a bachelor, you didn't publish anything before (if at all), and your work was mostly summarizing and discussing what others wrote before: compare to standards in tech departments.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Your professor of fluid dynamics probably has a PhD of the first kind. Widely respected as capable of doing <em>own</em> research. But you know: not all PhD programs have such standards.</p>\n\n<p>I've <a href=\"https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediadesk.uzh.ch%2Farticles%2F2013%2Fdissertationen.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">read</a> of PhD \"thesis\" assignments that essentially meant transcribing some old medical work into modern language; which apparently many students outsourced this, because they couldn't even read the script anymore...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29794,
"author": "Peteris",
"author_id": 10730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10730",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>Some doctorates are more specific than a PhD</h2>\n\n<p>Some tasks require specific qualifications for which a generic PhD may not suffice. For example a researcher working on neuroscience or robotic prosthesis may come from various fields of science, but (depending on your jurisdiction) can be prohibited to work on people independently before obtaining also a degree in medicine - no matter what skills they may already have, the specific degree is mandatory. Similarly, there are areas of sociology and politology where a reseacher would be well skilled in the relevant areas of law, but they may need to obtain a jurisprudence degree to be allowed to practice those skills.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29764",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15756/"
] |
29,765 |
<p>Recently, I took the PhD qualifier exams for my department. In my dept. there are 3 exams, each covering a subfield (say subfield A, B, and C). First you are given an hour to work through several problems, and then you have another hour to present to several professors, who critique your answers and ask supplemental questions.</p>
<p>I was well prepared for all of my exams, and did excellently on exams B and C. Exam A did not go as well. During the oral part of the exam, I was asked a question using term Z'. I stated that I am unfamiliar with this term and asked for clarification on its meaning. I was given a vague and unhelpful explanation, along with some chastisement about how this term was "fundamental" knowledge. This wasted perhaps 5 minutes or so of the exam and make the remainder of the oral part fairly awkward. Though I believe I solved the problems correctly, I left with a bad feeling about the terminology issue.</p>
<p>After the exam, I looked term Z' up on Google. Seems it's a <strong>very</strong> uncommon term for Z. The textbook I was being tested on used Z, as did all 3 of the courses I've had on subfield A.</p>
<p>A few days later I got the results of the exams. I failed exam A, but will be allowed to retake it in the future.</p>
<p>For the sake of identifying what I did wrong, I spoke with one of the professors who administered my exam. I asked what I should focus on for the next time. He said "the fundamentals." I asked whether the terminology issue was the deciding factor and it apparently was not. Instead, he thinks I don't understand absolutely fundamental concept Y. Oddly, he also complained that I used a more general form of Y. (So, which is it? Do I understand Y really well or not at all?) The most I can make of this is that the terminology issue made him and the other committee member think I'm an idiot, and then they were much less fair to me from that point on.</p>
<p>He then asked me to solve a problem which he made up on the fly. I used one version of Y to solve this problem, and he complained that (though correct) how I did this demonstrates that I don't know what I'm doing. The annoying thing about this is that I'm a TA for undergrad class A right now and the way I solved this problem is exactly the way the book the dept. uses does. It seems that he'll complain regardless of how I do things.</p>
<p>I now believe this exam was not fair, and this professor likely will be on my exam committee next time. I doubt I'll be able to pass if he continues being so unfairly critical of me.</p>
<p>At this point, what are my options? I am considering appealing to the dept. head, but I don't want to make things worse than they are right now. I could make enemies in the dept. if I appeal, and I'm not sure if there are other options I should consider.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29789,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It is hard to know the exact issues for an oral exam we were not present for and for which we are hearing only the candidate's version. Based on your own description it sounds like you feel very strongly that you know the material flawlessly and were treated unfairly. I'm sorry about that. However your description did not convince me that that's what actually happened: rather it sounds like the committee had some issues with your performance that you don't yet fully understand. Since you are allowed to retake the exam, you should find out as precisely as you can what went wrong and what they want you to do better.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I was well prepared for all of my exams</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Isn't that for the committee to decide?</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>and did excellently on exams B and C. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>May I ask: is that the feedback you got on exams B and C: that you did excellently? Or was it just that you passed? It matters: if in two out of three exams that committee really felt that you did \"excellently\", then they think you are an excellent student and there will be a lot of support for you to stay in the program. Also, do you have the same examiners for all three exams? </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>During the oral part of the exam...The textbook I was being tested on used Z, as did all 3 of the courses I've had on subfield A.... I asked whether the terminology issue was the deciding factor and it apparently was not. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You gave a very long description of something that took \"five minutes\" of a one hour exam and was explicitly said not to be a cause of your failure. You are focusing very strongly on whether it was reasonable for you to know the terminology. But then afterwards you just looked it up on the internet and decided that it was not something you need to know without talking to anyone else about it. That's a problem. Another observation is that -- and this is something that happens to lots of students - you let your entire performance get derailed by an inessential minor point. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>For the sake of identifying what I did wrong, I spoke with one of the professors who administered my exam.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You should speak to every professor who administered the exam. Exams are not failed because one of the committee members didn't like your performance: at the very least the majority felt that way, and much more commonly they all did. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The most I can make of this is that the terminology issue made him and the other committee member think I'm an idiot, and then they were much less fair to me from that point on.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I wasn't there, but I think this is not a very good guess. Since there seems to be a lack of clarity about the result even after speaking to one of the examiners, I would consider asking for a <strong>written evaluation</strong> of your performance. It would be a good idea to discuss this with your adviser first and make sure that this will be properly viewed. I think it is a very reasonable request: you passed two out of three exams and will take the third one again. You really want to know clearly -- and spend time thinking about and taking into account -- the reasons for the failure. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>. I used one version of Y to solve this problem, and he complained that (though correct) how I did this demonstrates that I don't know what I'm doing. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I don't understand what that means. As you've told it, it certainly sounds annoying. But he must mean something by it. Your conclusion</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>It seems that he'll complain regardless of how I do things.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>is the most negative and unhelpful possible one. Does this faculty member have a reputation in the department for being so unreasonable? </p>\n\n<p>You mention that your adviser was there for the deliberations [but I guess not for the exam itself?]. That should be extremely useful: you can get your adviser to explain their decision to you. If he does not understand why you failed despite being at the deliberation, then you do have a problem. If that is the case, definitely bring up the prospect of getting a written decision that you can then go over with him.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>They did suggest that I might have been rude, but I don't think I was.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Whoa. Your advisor thinks that you may have been rude to the exam members, but you have just brushed that off because the one exam member you spoke to didn't specifically mention it? </p>\n\n<p>I'll give you the honesty of a lifelong academic who is a complete stranger to you: <strong>to me, you do sound a bit rude and disrespectful</strong>. You look for confirmation on the internet that you are getting asked silly questions. You say \"In this case, the one professor I've spoken to is definitely wrong.\" And you write</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>There is nothing to study. The professor I spoke with's claims about my knowledge are contradicted by their own statements as well as my performance on another of the exams (which builds upon knowledge of field A). </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>To hear a student who has failed an exam say that there is nothing to study the next time around is a huge red flag. Maybe you know the material well according to your own standards and previous experience. But if you know it <strong>perfectly</strong>: you are in the wrong place. No one who has nothing to study belongs in academia: you already know everything, so you have nothing to learn. Also you happen to know that your examiners are wrong, do not understand the material as generally and intuitively as you, and cannot even make logically non-contradictory statements in explaining themselves. Well, look: either you're right or wrong about this. But if you truly feel this way, then either way, at the very least <em>this</em> PhD program is not for you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 31923,
"author": "AtomicAcorn",
"author_id": 22781,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22781",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I want to post what I did do for future reference.</p>\n\n<p>Ultimately, I've decided that my best bet for passing quals is hitting a home run on my retake. One thing I did find helpful was speaking with someone at the ombuds office. They informed me of the procedures I would need to go through if I were to file an appeal. Given that, if I fail the retake and I believe the decision is unfair, I will appeal without hesitation. I would recommend talking to someone at the ombuds office to anyone else in a similar situation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 173574,
"author": "Helen Harrison",
"author_id": 145008,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/145008",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am a student in a doctoral program as well and have had three encounters with three professor's who are close in behaviors and thinking. If you have a disagreement with one of them the other two makes it hard for you. There is no way of knowing unless another professor outside their circle pulls you to the side and explain what is going on. Correction it was four of them. I received a B grade from two of them and an A- from the other two.</p>\n<p>In their classes they make you feel insignificant and a bother to be there and critical of every thing you say all because my political views were different. However, in other professors classes I was able to show I am worthy of a PhD.</p>\n<p>So, I understand what you are going through. I would go to the top and ask for a conference with all parties on the test committee and have someone there from outside who knows calculus and be a witness of your understanding of the theorem. I do not know calculus on your level but I know when someone is bias and that one failed you displays bias.</p>\n<p>The more top people know what is happening the better but speak to an academic attorney first before doing what I suggest or anyone else to guide you. Find news articles where colleges been sued for your type of issue and contact those lawyers.</p>\n<p>I hope things works well for you.</p>\n<p>Experienced Student</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29765",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22781/"
] |
29,776 |
<p>In my courses, students work on large, on-going projects, but submit some parts each week, showing their progress. All of the work is done on a computer or table.</p>
<p>Mid-semester, I always get reports from students of technical failures, e.g.:</p>
<ul>
<li>Deleted entire project folder.</li>
<li>Reformatted hard drive or upgraded system without backup.</li>
<li>Sent computer to be repaired, cannot work on project until it returns.</li>
<li>USB not unmounted, files broken.</li>
<li>Device containing project folder lost or stolen.</li>
</ul>
<p>I want to create a policy which is not so harsh as to turn all of these students away. At the same time, I worry if I am a little lenient, students will start claiming problems every time they forget to do their homework. What is a good policy that is not too harsh, recognizing that technical problems do happen, yet which cannot be too easily abused?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29777,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should deal with them in the same way that you deal with students who claim to have lost non-digital work. Here are two reasons:</p>\n<ol>\n<li><p>This is not really any different from when students complained that <strong>"the dog ate my homework."</strong> Both paper and digital formats are susceptible to being damaged, lost, or destroyed.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>They will not get any special exceptions from their boss when they lose important digital documents in a real job.</p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n<p>My students do most of their work in digital formats and I've never made special exceptions. I suppose I would do so in some unusual circumstances (say, a university server where they were told to store their work had been hacked).</p>\n<p>If you want to help them develop better digital work habits, introduce them to backups, Dropbox and/or version control. But I don't think that is your job.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29781,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A few years ago, these were legitimate (if sometimes dubious) problems. With the arrival of free and easy-to-use cloud storage, however, there is no reason that anybody should ever have to lose data again.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.dropbox.com/\">Dropox</a> has a free account that provides 2 GB of storage, automatically backs up any time that you are on the network, and gives the ability to undelete files and roll-back to previous file versions across something like a month of time. Since it's cloud-based, it can be linked to another computer should one be broken or stolen. As long as your students aren't doing something extremely data-heavy, like art & design, the 2 GB limit shouldn't be a problem.</p>\n\n<p>Given this, why not set up a policy as follows:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>At the start of the class, state that students who work electronically will be expected to keep good backups such that \"the digital dog cannot eat your homework.\" Introduce the class to Dropbox as a recommended solution, but let them know that any cloud-based backup is OK (there are lots of other solutions available too, but Dropbox is currently the best for both universal availability and simple user interface).</p></li>\n<li><p>Then, during the semester, if somebody comes to you with a tale of woe, treat it like you would somebody failing to show up for a quiz. There might be extenuating circumstances, but they are rare and probably come with the equivalent of a doctor's note (e.g., a campus police report on stolen property).</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29792,
"author": "Joshua Michael Calafell",
"author_id": 22807,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22807",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Possibly what you could do is give your students an <strong>educated</strong> fair warning. <strong>Show them how to make backups!</strong>. Knowing how to backup data, especially for system administration, is an invaluable skill, and can save people countless hours of time and frustration. My teacher expects us to make backups of our files regularly because of the possibility of data loss, and since she told us how to do it (if you don't want to do tarball, or zip backups, you can use cloud services such as Amazon or Dropbox to save files), there's no excuse to have lost anything. <strong>A CS student should be competent enough to not have this happen!</strong>. Frankly, any CS student should be aware of, and familiar with </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>\nHow to make a backup of important files in Linux or Unix using <code>tar -cvf [file_name] [folder_name]</code>\n</li>\n<li>\nHow to extract using <code>tar -xvf</code>\n</li>\n<li>\nHow to make backups in windows using either Windows © tools, or simply making zip files of important folders. \n</li>\n<li>\nHow to use online services such as dropbox.\n</li>\n<li>\nHow to write shell scripts to perform regular backups either in Bash, or if using Windows, .bat files.\n</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If you provide them with this knowledge, which should only take about an hour, or even provide a handout or a web post about this issue, and inform them that data loss is common, and steps need to be taken to prevent this, then they are completely liable for any irregular data loss that occurs. Also, you are in the clear a a teacher, and have given your student an invaluable lesson on data management and possibly Linux/Unix/Windows skills they didn't have prior to meeting you. Of course these are just suggestions. I do wish someone would have taught me how to make a simple tarball backup script on day one. Would have saved me much grief. Happy teaching! :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29793,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Based on this question, as well as based on your previous questions (e.g., <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28504/what-to-do-about-students-who-ask-for-help-too-often\">here</a>, <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28450/is-read-the-syllabus-a-sufficient-transfer-of-responsibility\">here</a>, or especially <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23445/do-i-need-to-define-all-forms-of-cheating-in-the-syllabus\">here</a>), I get the impression that students in your school are leading the teachers on quite a bit. I have been teaching large undergraduate courses (400+ students) at a public university in central Europe for years, and many of the problems you often seem to stumble into are pretty much unknown to me. For instance, I can literally remember a <em>single incident</em> where one of my many students claimed that he could not finish his homework because he lost data due to a technical problem. You, on the other hand, make it sound like this is a regular occurrence.</p>\n\n<p>As I don't think that your students are somehow inherently more prone to lose data due to no fault of their own, the logical conclusion is that they are (at least in the majority of times) just making up excuses. Hence, the question is not <em>\"how to deal with students who lost their digital work?\"</em>, but rather <em>\"how to deal with students who <strong>claim to have lost</strong> their digital work?\"</em>.</p>\n\n<p>My answer to this question (and, incidentally, also to your other, previous questions) is <em>to treat your students as adults.</em> Among other aspects, this means that they are responsible themselves for any technical issues on their end, the real ones as well as the made-up ones. Yes, this will mean that occasionally, somebody will actually be struck by a problem innocently, but at a university, adults are supposed to handle problems by themselves. To me, this is a large part of the learning process at a university - there is no safety net that catches you when you are behaving unreasonably (and, yes, not correctly backing up your homework definitely falls into this category).</p>\n\n<p>So, my answers to your problems would be (formulated a bit more politely, but no less directly):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Deleted entire project folder.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Too bad. Do it again.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Reformatted hard drive or upgraded system without backup.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Too bad. Do it again.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Sent computer to be repaired, cannot work on project until it returns.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Use one of the computers in the university lab, or borrow a computer from a friend.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>USB not unmounted, files broken.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Too bad. Do it again.</p>\n\n<p>(Also, speaking as a computer scientist, this is so unlikely to happen on modern file systems that I would be very much inclined to think that you are lying to me.)</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Device containing project folder lost or stolen.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Restore from backup. If you have no backup - too bad, do it again.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29795,
"author": "Superbest",
"author_id": 244,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/244",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You say your students already:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>submit some parts each week</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Simply ask them to submit the whole project folder (perhaps in a zip) instead. If they lose their work, they can always roll back to the last version they gave you.</p>\n\n<p>Advantages of this:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Requires no extra training for the students. They already know how to send you folders.</li>\n<li>Requires no extra work by you. You already have a system for dealing with folders they send you, just keep using that system.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Disadvantages:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>If the projects are very large, it may be difficult to send them. Many email providers have size limits on attachments, and uploading large files takes time. Although you could just ask students to send you a link to their DropBox.</li>\n<li>Files use more space on your disk.</li>\n<li>There is some latency associated with recovery. It may be some time until you (or the TA) see the student's request for the last version. If, like I suspect is commonly the case, they have a habit of \"losing\" work a few hours before the deadline, they may email you saying they lost their data at 3 am, and claim that they couldn't finish the work in time because you didn't reply quickly enough.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Alternatively, you can require them to use a version control system, such as git (there are other version control systems, but I've never encountered a reason to use them over git besides \"the rules say I'm not allowed to use git\"). With GUI tools like GitExtensions and TortoiseGit, not to mention numerous tutorials online, this is extremely easy to figure out even for novices. Set up repositories for them, and communicate that they will be graded for that week on the last commit before that week's deadline (also solves the \"but you looked at the wrong branch\" problem - if they have several branches, they can make sure their final commit is to the preferred branch). Advantages over the \"send whole folder\" method:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>No busywork on your part required. You don't have to go into twenty emails, download attachment, rename and organize it every week.</li>\n<li>If they lose data, they don't require your intervention. They can check out from their repository themselves.</li>\n<li>As git will only upload the difference between states, if there are large files that are static between revisions, subsequent commits will be small and take up little network bandwidth or disk space.</li>\n<li>Students get experience with a good version control system that is widely used in the industry.</li>\n<li>Students learn first hand about importance of versioning. Likely, individuals who managed to get in college will immediately understand that the more frequently they make commits, the less work they'll need to redo if they lose data. If for some strange reason they cannot comprehend this, you can explain it at the beginning of the course.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Disadvantages are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Students (and you!) must now learn git (or whatever system you choose). Although, perhaps \"you better go learn git right now or you will fail this course\" is not a bad thing for students to hear at certain points of their education.</li>\n<li>Students may try to get tech support for git from you, or get upset when you tell them to go elsewhere (such as stackoverflow) for that.</li>\n<li>You must set up a repository for them to use. However, your school's IT department would probably be able to help with this, and even the worst case scenario of \"set up a free account on BitBucker or github\" is not that bad.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29859,
"author": "Brian Moore",
"author_id": 22844,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22844",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It may simply be that Ben has unluckily come across more students with academic integrity issues than many of us. A sensible compromise is to say to the class that certain 'excuses' for non-submission of work are not really going to hold water, and others would require some actual evidence, or a properly formed description of what has gone wrong.</p>\n\n<p>Regardless of your outlook, things do go wrong, I have been involved in many cases of USB drives failing and even the most reliable forensic and data recovery tools being unable to recover the data. This is more-so if a drive suffers from certain types of electrical damage. However, I agree that CS students should at least have some good practice under their belt in terms of data management, backup and continuity. </p>\n\n<p>However, are they really adults yet? Of course not! All the statements about them being adults and now they need to learn to be adults. Listen to yourselves, please - they will be a few years in post before they become more adult and start to take real responsibility for their actions. I train new employees on a monthly basis and the main thing is to allow them to shadow someone with sound technical skills and integrity, they need to 'learn' to become professionals and as such build the skills we expect of a professional practitioner (our domain is IT Security) - they certainly are not all ready when they arrive from University to make sound business (or in many cases technical) decisions. </p>\n\n<p>There is nothing wrong with showing them good data management techniques and actually I would argue that as a practitioner of over 20 years service, its is imperative to show them the principles of data management. One solution does not fit all, some IT security organisations would rather their employees do not use the services of Dropbox (for various security and non-dislosure reasons), however as a basic backup facility and data repository, it is ideal for students. We train all of our staff in data management, so why would you not educate students?</p>\n\n<p>I liked the fact that Joshua took the time to show how to use the tar command (and extracting from a tar file) using Linux. To support this, there is an excellent (if perhaps a rather Unix biased) tutorial at: <a href=\"http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Unix/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Unix/</a>, which covers the (basic) use of tar, gunzip and to be fair provides a very nice introduction to Unix. Most of this will work on Linux too, with the odd usage exception and of course side-effects may differ. Therefore, even if you lack expertise, it's likely not a good enough excuse not to provide some sort of guidance. That guidance may just be to make use of a suitable resource that provides the skills or knowledge, and that's what a good teacher does - you can't be great at everything (and remain a modest and well-balanced human being).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29861,
"author": "Chris Dutrow",
"author_id": 22850,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22850",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I do not work in academia, but have faced almost identical problems many times as a business owner.</p>\n\n<p>The underlying problem is that:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You do not want to allow people to consistently take advantage of the system</li>\n<li>But you also don't want to be too harsh with \"innocent\" people who have found themselves in a tough situation. (we've all fail to achieve an expected goal every now and then due to circumstances outside our control)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I always address this problem using some form of this basic pattern:\n - Be lenient on first transgression\n - Be strict on future transgressions\n - Do not \"judge\" the quality of excuses.</p>\n\n<p>For example, this is what I might do in your case:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Have a \"known\" policy of allowing one transgression.</li>\n<li>Have an \"unknown\" policy of affording leniency on the second transgression. (Always afford leniency, but don't tell people that you will do this until they find themselves in hot water. This will help you to not have to fail people who took a \"strike 1\" when they probably shouldn't have, but then found themselves with a legitimate problem later on)</li>\n<li>Afford zero leniency on the third transgression.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>What is really nice about this type of policy is that you don't have to be the arbiter of who has a \"good\" excuse. People always have a good excuse, especially the people who are gaming you and the system. You can consistently execute this policy the same way for all students. It will allow the \"innocent\" students to always succeed. It will allow the \"players\" to succeed just as long as they are taking their studies seriously overall. And you will be able to fail incapable students without even having to listen to their reasons for not having done their work because after all, you already gave them two chances and statistically, it is extremely unlikely that they had three legitimate \"emergencies\" in one semester.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29862,
"author": "ProductionValues",
"author_id": 22852,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22852",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Use Git!! Why? Both your and my question have the same answer: \"You must award failing grades for failure to submit assignments.\" Git is so pragmatic, its usage will solve your dilemma and provide students will practical experience with a ubiquitous technology!</p>\n\n<p>Git is a source code management platform that functions as a repository for safe-keeping of all code revisions. In doing so git enables independent collaborative efforts to be merged safely into branches, each of which carries along with it a required message and an exact differential of the code between commits. </p>\n\n<p>Sure, diligent frequents to the great outdoors like your computer science students working offline in the wilderness will inevitably eventually have their laptop eaten by a bear, their digital work for class mere free radicals in the wild. </p>\n\n<p>While close inspection of one's abrasions and tattered garbs can reveal much about wild ursa and truth, an emotionally-detached audit of your classroom's Git repository can actually do a much more practical job. Honest efforts committed throughout the course will shine brighter than his sunburned scratch marks -- and an empty repository will surely ease your apprehensions regarding lending no leniency at all.</p>\n\n<p>Using Git is an amazing part of the software development process. In fact, utilizing git as the central repository for digital work allows for brilliant collaborative efforts among the student body. Perhaps a test would be the random distribution of APIs among the students and the assignment to write code to implement it. You my consider not divulging the function of the assembled code until the next day, when you can put it together, together!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29873,
"author": "Noah",
"author_id": 22857,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22857",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Well speaking as someone who until recently was a student and someone who doesn't like to see all the slackers get off, but on the other hand, I have had technical issues before.</p>\n\n<p>I would say:\n1. DropBox, AeroFS, Google Drive, etc. are everyone's friend\n2. CrashPlan and Time Machine are also everyone's friend.</p>\n\n<p>With those two, most excuses will be gone. If you introduce them and students are too lazy to use them, then I don't see a lot of need to feel sorry for them.</p>\n\n<p>I had a laptop get stolen once while I was in school, and I lost all of the data on it, mainly because it was all less than a month old so it was not included in my monthly backup (and things like DropBox didn't exist at the time yet).</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, I had a Macbook with a dying hard drive that randomly corrupt files and/or refuse to boot while I was in the middle of my MBA program. I would re-install Mac OS and it would work for another week or so until it exploded again. With DropBox and Google Drive, it was a simply a nuisance rather than a disaster.</p>\n\n<p>You can also mention to your students that:\na. You don't recommend changing or upgrading their computers during the project\nb. You don't recommend upgrading their OS during the project\nc. You don't recommending them using a beta OS or changing OS during the project.\nd. They should be careful what they install on their computers.</p>\n\n<p>i.e. the computer should be a tool to do their work and not something to play with and hack on.</p>\n\n<p>The answers suggesting to use CVS, etc. are a bit silly unless the students are computer science students. Version control tools offer less benefit when dealing with binary files and the learning curve is steeper.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29874,
"author": "Sebastian",
"author_id": 22860,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22860",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A story a few years back: My ssd failed on me, and in the same week a certain individual with a certain file hosting service was arrested, with the file servers being shut down. Luckily, I had only recently moved to the cloud and still had an external hd with a two-week old backup on it.</p>\n\n<p>My teacher gave a bit of leeway, warned me about using dubious hosters and gave me a week extension period. I'd advise a strict position, except when their backup service is legitimately compromised. This could even happen to a major service. </p>\n\n<p>I guess a more legitimate file hoster wouldn't have had this problem, but it's still ultimately out of your control. I now use a combination of an external hard disk (or two, depending) with Google Drive and OneDrive for easy file transfers to my phone & tablet, as well as an additional backup.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29964,
"author": "abathur",
"author_id": 5668,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5668",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I too ran semester-long projects with mostly freshmen and found it sufficient to \"strictly\" enforce a <em>lenient</em> late-work policy:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>I <em>always</em> accept late-work until a stated buffer time before grades are due</li>\n<li>I assign one or more drafts/pre-work (i.e., outlines, notes, actual drafts) of all major assignments for a non-negligible portion of the total assignment grade.</li>\n<li>late work is <em>always</em> assessed a daily diminishing penalty starting at the due time, regardless of reason for lateness; I don't have the formula in front of me, but I think it ranges from 15 to 2 points/day</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I inform the students at the beginning of the semester that I'm not in the business of gauging the validity of their excuses, and have instead a generous, consistently applied policy which will allow them to recover (through diligence) when life gets in the way.</p>\n\n<p>The net effect is that the draft phase of the assignment is the only one where they can completely lose their work before I, at least, have a backup copy. At this early point the consequences of a data loss aren't failure of the assignment (unless they neglect the importance of the draft phase, for which I have no sympathy.)</p>\n\n<p>In practice, I've found that the policy has the desired effects:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>My non-slacker students who have occasional life or technical issues have been able to recover with minimal final-grade impact</li>\n<li>I don't have to waste mental overhead on feeling unfair, debating whether I'm being lied to or manipulated, or worrying about being biased in my adjudication of excuses</li>\n<li>The slackers we intend to punish with a strict due-date policy are still astonishingly capable of using the generous policy to hang themselves</li>\n<li>Students almost never completely write off an assignment (or the course), because the diminishing penalty preserves enough value that it always makes sense to do the work (isn't that the real goal?)</li>\n<li>I get to feel like my students learn the more valuable life lesson of how-to-dig-myself-out-of-holes-of-my-own-making-through-working-hard-to-catch-up as opposed to the alternative lessons of how-to-burn-with-perceived-injustice or how-to-shrug-and-never-complete-the-work-because-it-will-no-longer-be-accepted.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I realize it takes a philosophical shift to <em>let go</em> of the notion that we need to reject late work. I also realize this answer is basically just a variation on the current most-popular no-special-policy answer, but the implementation differs enough that I thought it might help you approach the problem from other angles.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 47662,
"author": "user0721090601",
"author_id": 35918,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/35918",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One of digital media professors laid down the rules (this was back in 2004 or so) under which he would accept the \"my files were lost\". You needed to have three different back ups, in three different locations. For example, physically at your residence, physically on campus on a portable drive, and online on the campus storage, all of which magically lost the files at the same time. Note that campus storage, like many modern-day cloud backups, in theory could recover files deleted (though doubtful they'd spend the time for a student's lost paper).</p>\n\n<p>Since the chance of all backups being lost simultaneously is for all intents and purposes zero, he was able to all at once</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Make his policy of not accepting \"my digital files disappeared\" as an excuse.</li>\n<li>Encourage better than good backup strategies.</li>\n<li>Give a reasonable exception to policy (reduces complaining) while knowing full well no one would make use of it.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 166782,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From the sound of it, the assignment is being submitted little by little, over many weeks. In that case, students can retain their previous weekly grades, but lose credit for the most recent iteration.</p>\n<p>Say it's a matter of 10% a week for ten weeks. The student has successfully made five submissions, earning up to 50% for those weeks. In week 6, the files get lost. The student gets a 0 (out of 10) for week 6.</p>\n<p>Hopefully, the file will have been recreated by week 7. If not, then another 0 for week 7, etc. until the end of the course.</p>\n<p>Basically, the student gets credit on an ongoing basis for successful early submissions and loses credit for each week of "failure."</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 166907,
"author": "Daniel Hatton",
"author_id": 128581,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/128581",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Further to @DavidRicherby's comments: For the last couple of years I was at Plymouth University, the university was providing each student with an enormous amount of storage space on a OneDrive for Business account, with fully-automatic backup and version control. If you're nervous about the privacy and security implications of involving a third-party cloud storage contractor, I guess that, at the cost of some effort in setup, you could achieve the same with a university-managed git server.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29776",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
] |
29,778 |
<p>I published a paper on a statistical topic after my bachelors.</p>
<p>Currently I am doing my masters thesis and I would like to cite/use my own paper in it.</p>
<p>However, I did not inform my supervisor before that I already had a publication in a similar field of my thesis when I started, because I did not expect it to be directly relevant then. However, now I would like to use this paper.</p>
<p>Is it OK to cite my own paper in my thesis? Will the supervisor be OK with it, despite I did not inform him about my previous work when starting the thesis with him?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29779,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I don't see why your supervisor would be concerned about it, especially if it is relevant for your current research. But, to be sure, let them know about your previous work and emphasise how it is relevant (and its importance) to your current work.</p>\n\n<p>When you use your paper, make sure that you cite it as you would any paper.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29780,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Practiced in moderation, self-citation is natural, healthy, and ethical.\nThere are typical two reasons why excessive self-citation can become problematic:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>It often indicates a person who is unaware of the related work being done by the rest of the community.</li>\n<li>Self-citation can be abused to falsely inflate one's perceived importance and citation metrics.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>A healthy line of research, however, will often produce a non-trivial fraction of self-citation in each paper because your old work <em>is</em> related to your new work. In fact, it would be unethical to <em>not</em> self-cite when citation is appropriate.</p>\n\n<p>A simple guiding principle for approaching the question is this: if somebody else besides you had written the paper, would you want to cite it? If the answer is yes, then you should cite the paper. There isn't even any particular reason you need to mention it to your supervisor, though it would probably be fun and enjoyable for you to mention in passing, \"Hey, and it turns out this other paper I wrote was actually useful enough to cite!\"</p>\n\n<p>Now as to whether you can <em>include</em> your other paper as part of your thesis, this is a very different question. The first question is: why would you want to do so, if a citation will suffice? If you've done a Masters' Thesis worth of work excluding this other paper, there is no reason to need to include it. If you haven't, then that is when you need to have a discussion with your supervisor, because the answer will depend on the policies and practices of your particular department.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29778",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18228/"
] |
29,786 |
<p>I live in US. In some applications it is asking to enter your cumulative and major GPA. However I am wondering which GPA is more important and which one is used for admittance famous graduate schools (Top 10) in engineering program?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29788,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First of all, remember that GPA is more of a negative filter than a positive filter.\nIf you do not have an excellent GPA in your relevant major, then you are definitely going to have trouble getting admitted. The GPA outside of your relevant major is less important, but it will still raise major questions if you have, say, all As in major and all Fs outside.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29796,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have a buddy who was an admissions officer some years ago, and he said, \"major.\" </p>\n\n<p>In graduate school, you will be taking mostly courses either in, or related to you major. Therefore, your \"major\" GPA is considered a better proxy than \"cumulative\" GPA for a graduate degree.</p>\n\n<p>In graduate school, there is much less emphasis on being \"well rounded\" and more on \"specialization.\" If your non-major grades are decent, and your major grades are good, that's what counts. My friend had a 3.9 GPA in the engineering major, and only a 3.3 overall.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29786",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20608/"
] |
29,798 |
<p>I am in my first semester of a computer engineering PhD in the USA. At my University during your first year they will pay for your expenses to attend, up to $1000.00, for a conference. Every year after that they will pay your expenses if you get a paper accepted. </p>
<p>I am wondering how others look at/find conferences that they feel are worth the monetary and time commitment for what they provide. My areas of interest are embedded systems, computer architecture, and security. I have found many conferences but am unsure of how I should vet the quality of these. </p>
<p>What criteria do others use when looking at conferences and judging their relevance to the area they address?
What opinion or otherwise do people have of academic conferences vs industry type conferences vs enthusiast type conferences?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29800,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are many different types of conferences and many different reasons to go to a particular conference. The most relevant that I would say for your situation are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Flagship conferences that <em>everybody</em> in a field goes to because that's where everybody goes, and where research presented will get the greatest audience.</li>\n<li>Niche conferences and workshops that serve some particular smaller interest group. They are less prestigious, but are where the communities they serve have a lot of key interactions and get a lot of actual intellectual work done.</li>\n<li>Crap conferences that would like to fool you into believing that they are one of the first two.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Some good tactics for judging the quality of a conference:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Where do the people whose work you respect (particularly your advisor) publish and attend?</li>\n<li>Where are the organizers and program committee members from? Are many of them from high-profile research institutions?</li>\n<li><a href=\"http://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en\" rel=\"nofollow\">Google Scholar metrics</a></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Given your early stage and breadth of interests, I would recommend going to one of the broad flagship conferences, where you can hear about lots of things from lots of different types of researchers and organizations. Those conferences often have a lot of industry attendance as well. I don't know your specific field too well, but even from outside I know that <a href=\"https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc15\" rel=\"nofollow\">USENIX</a> is a large conference with a strong reputation. Still, use the heuristics I suggest and see if it's really the one you want...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 100107,
"author": "Brian",
"author_id": 80669,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/80669",
"pm_score": 0,
"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"
}
] |
2014/10/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29798",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7705/"
] |
29,804 |
<p>About once a year, I end up with a section with a student who is well ahead of others in the course. Often, these are students auditing the course, but sometimes are senior students attending 100-level courses or students majoring in the subject attending a course for non-majors in a made-simpler-for-non-majors course.</p>
<p>Such students are often eager to learn, quick to volunteer to come to the board or volunteer their work for peers to check (e.g. in a writing course), active in discussions, and they tend to take charge of group work. This does not seem like behavior I should discourage. Yet, in such sections, I notice significantly reduced confidence, participation, and engagement among other students, who seem uncomfortable with having a strong student constantly outdo them. Other sections tend to have active lessons, with many students eager to volunteer or join in a discussion, but in these sections, the class atmosphere is quiet and I'm reduced to calling on names and getting unwilling participants to carry the course along.</p>
<p>What can I do to turn this situation around?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29809,
"author": "J.R.",
"author_id": 780,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/780",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'll offer two ideas; perhaps you can use them both:</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>One thing you can do is augment your class with on-line discussions, as a form of blended learning. </p>\n\n<p>One advantage of asynchronous on-line discussions is that it's not as easy for one person to dominate the conversation. Also, if everyone is required to contribute to the discussion, no one can sit back and let the guru do the heavy lifting for them. </p>\n\n<p>If your class is too big for all the students to answer the same question, the class can be put into groups, and each group can have their own shot at analyzing and answering the question. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>During class time, when I've had a \"resident expert\" answering a lot of my in-class discussion questions, I've often let that person answer a question or two at the beginning. If they try to keep answering questions, though, I'll sometimes say something along the lines of, \"Wait, you've had a turn; we need to get some of your classmates into the discussion now, too.\" Said in a friendly, pleasant and encouraging tone, it hasn't seemed to alienate the smart guy, and other students pick up on the cue that it's time for them to get involved. </p>\n\n<p>I've also had some after-class discussions with these hard-chargers, to let them know I appreciate their enthusiasm, but it's best for everyone if they don't overdo it. That's usually been well-received. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29810,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When I was a TA, I always found these types of students the most difficult to handle. You don't want to crush their enthusiasm, but you also don't want to let them dominate and make it harder for other students to learn. It's also important to remember that just being way out ahead of other students doesn't cause this phenomenon: you're dealing with somebody who is both ahead and feels a need either to show off or to receive affirmation from you the instructor.</p>\n\n<p>Some tactics that I found effective were:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Establishing clear ground rules that people had to raise their hands to be acknowledged, rather than just shouting out. Then you need to become comfortable waiting long enough for other students to raise their hands too.</li>\n<li>Saying things like \"Everybody needs a chance to learn, so I'm going to make sure that we get some folks up to the board who haven't been there very often.\"</li>\n<li>Rather than asking for volunteers, actively calling on students who have been silent. It's embarrassing for them, but if you do it kindly and make it into a guided learning experience at the board rather than a test of their abilities, it can be a very good thing.</li>\n<li>Privately discussing with the enthusiastic student, something like: \"I'm very pleased at how well you're mastering the material, and I need to make sure other students have a chance to have the same learning opportunities, so I'm going to call on you less often.\"</li>\n<li>Giving \"extra credit\" work that the enthusiastic student can be working on to occupy themselves.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In all cases, what you want to emphasize is the importance of active learning by participation, and how it's important for all students to have those opportunities.</p>\n\n<p>Addendum: I was talking about this with my wife and she told me about a tactic that she uses that I think is another excellent addition to the toolkit:</p>\n\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li>Divide the class up into rough geographic zones and call on zones round robin, e.g. \"Left side answered the last question. Let's get an answer from the middle now.\"</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29828,
"author": "Aaron Hall",
"author_id": 9518,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9518",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Ideally, such a student wouldn't be in your course, they would be in an honors section or a senior/graduate level course that meets the requirements they are attempting to fulfil with your course while still being challenged. If you have an opportunity to identify such a student before the end of the add/drop period, you may recommend they make a change, or work with their advisor to give them an honors section while limiting their participation (so that others can contribute). I did such an honors course while sitting in on stadium hall sized lectures in my first year physics course at FSU, and my extra work consisted mostly of writing an on-topic paper graded by the same professor.</p>\n\n<p>If it is too late for them to switch to a more challenging course, there's not much you can do, except to act fairly towards all of the students. You'll need to work harder at getting the others to participate. You could also give this student the attention they need outside of lectures, perhaps suggest to show up for your office hours, or speak to them before or after class.</p>\n\n<p>Perhaps you could give the class, as an optional assignment, an opportunity to do a minor literature review of seminal works in the field, and you might communicate to your special student your expectations that they would want to do this. However, you can't force the student to do the optional assignment. But another possible upside for the optional assignment is that some of the others might surprise you with their self-motivation and thus build more confidence in their own abilities.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29830,
"author": "Jack",
"author_id": 22833,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22833",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>College students realize that there will always be someone more knowledgeable out there. They know there are going to be people that are majors, retakers, old serious adults, or students with genius parents. If you want to get your other students to participate then just randomly call on people whether they raise their hands or not. Tell them to pick group leaders by rock paper scissors. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29888,
"author": "Murphy",
"author_id": 16078,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16078",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I remember <em>being</em> that smartarse, and yes, they can be looking for approval or to show off but it depends.</p>\n\n<p>If they're first year undergrads near the start of the year they may not be generally good at a lot of things outside the course, it can be a case of \"Finally! finally something I can understand and really be good at.\" And they may be revelling in that unique experience. I wouldn't be too tough on that. </p>\n\n<p>Further into the course if they're far ahead I'd suggest giving them something tougher to think about. They've read through all the sections you're covering in their own time, they're listening attentively but they're thinking about how it links up to something 3 chapters ahead. This is not going to help the other members of the class when that person asks questions that leave them lost. </p>\n\n<p>My suggestion: Quietly give them something tough to chew on. Really tough. They're probably completing the assignments with ease, give them a challenge. It doesn't have to get them marks. If they're looking for approval or confirmation that they know what they're doing that will give it to them and it has the advantage that it keeps them advancing. If they're putting off other students actually talk to them quietly after class and tell them something similar to what you just said in this stackoverflow question and ask them to consciously avoid things which intimidate other students. They're not babies, they can understand. </p>\n\n<p>Hell, give them a job tutoring undergrads in lower years. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29897,
"author": "Nicholas",
"author_id": 15274,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15274",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not an educator, so please take these suggestions with a grain of salt:</p>\n\n<p>I think existing answers are off the mark, as they're focusing on altering the environment in a very artificial way for the quieter students. College is about learning life skills (not just academic ones) that will allow students to thrive in the real world, and they will need to deal with groups/teams of varying skill levels eventually. Meanwhile, existing answers all focus on punishing (in some way) the most successful students.</p>\n\n<p>Instead I would focus on the root problem. There will always be someone better than us, and someone worse than us. We should see the latter as an opportunity to help another while taking pride in our own skills, and we should see the former as an opportunity to challenge ourselves against a superior opponent, all within a safe and comfortable atmosphere. Look for ways to encourage this sort of approach in the quieter students.</p>\n\n<p>Specific suggestions:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Perhaps you could do more group work, pairing stronger students with weaker ones so that the former can help the latter. Perhaps even formalize it with a 'peer mentoring' program.</li>\n<li>Observe interactions and insure stronger students are getting and using the opportunity to increase their own confidence by helping struggling peers, not by overpowering them.</li>\n<li>Give all experts the experience of failing safely, even yourself. Creating an accepting environment for mistakes can help reduce the fear of making them; the classroom should accept excellence as well as those at a lower standing, without it impacting their valuation of self.</li>\n<li>If you have the time, find specific skills that the weaker students are strong in, then give them the chance to shine in front of the class; use this to build confidence; consider making a point that everyone is strong in some areas and weak in others, a valuable life lesson.</li>\n<li>As an extension of the former, and alternative to the first, find pairings that allow each student to use their strengths to shore up the weaknesses of the other, and assign group work based on those pairings allowing both to shine.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29906,
"author": "Xxxo",
"author_id": 20121,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20121",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was Adjunct Lecturer for some time in a technical field/institution and yes, I came across such type of students and situations.</p>\n\n<p>What I've found out was that not strong students were feared to answer because they <strong>maybe</strong> say something \"stupid\" or \"wrong\" or anything that could be accompanied by a synonym of the previous adjectives. And, just by \"luck\", in such classes there always was a really good student who always knew the right answer</p>\n\n<p>What I did to overcome such situations was to organize the lecture or the lab in order to actually looking for <strong>wrong answers</strong> in order to, on one hand, prove my point, and in other, motivate and make students to think about why I actually saying what I was saying in the lecture, i.e. what problem was solved with what they were going to learn in the lecture. So, if I was to point out the problem then I needed the problem and the problem was found in the wrong answers. </p>\n\n<p>Thus, if the good student yield out the correct answer I accepted it. Actually, I was saying that this was the correct answer. But, just afterwards I asked \"Although that this is correct, why is correct? What someone else would do? Why is wrong something else?\" and trying to take answers from students that were not active in the lecture/lab. If the non-active students were not saying anything, then I asked \"Why you do not say just what it comes to your mind\", which most probably followed by \"Because I do not want to say anything wrong\". Such answer gave me the opportunity to \"change the game\" by pointing out really hard that \"<strong>everyone is born without knowing and there are not wrong/stupid/etc answers from people that learning</strong>\". When (finally) I got my wrong answer, I tried to: a) justify the student that gave that answer (because was a common answer, or an answer that was first came to mind), and b) start revealing the flaws of the wrong approach (and provide the path to the correct answer) with consecutive simple questions. </p>\n\n<p>Although that such a strategy may took away some valuable time from a lecture, dialogs like the above were only held once or twice in the semester. Afterwards, most people were active and the good students were trying to actually go \"deeper\" in the problem than before. But, because \"going deeper\" required to find out what were the wrong approaches their \"learning difference\" from other students was diminished. This diminishing was happening because good students were actually waiting to listen my counter argument in the not-so-correct answers of their colleagues. By doing so (i.e. waiting for my counter argument), they do not yield out correct answers, they do not discouraging their colleagues and they learned to think one step ahead. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29918,
"author": "Nonsingular",
"author_id": 22885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22885",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that the biggest detriment to isolating or adopting teaching policies that ostracize the enthusiastic student is that it demonstrates to the quieter students that enthusiasm is discouraged. The best case scenario is that instead of quieting down the top performer, is to discover additional top performers. That way, it's not just one or two very enthusiastic students, but a whole majority. That way, it becomes easier to single out quieter students and approach them outside of class.</p>\n<p>From my own experience, I was in awe of a classmate who knew the course and the text very well. It made me look at my study habits and try new ones. I figure, if he wasn't as active, or if he kept his abilities to himself, I would have been less enthusiastic with my studies.</p>\n<p>And, as a matter of definition or etymology the definition of student (technically study, however the definition of student refers to the definition of study) is</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>early 12c., "to strive toward, devote oneself to, cultivate" (translating Latin >occupatur), from Old French estudiier "to study, apply oneself, <strong>show zeal for</strong>; examine" (13c., Modern French étudier), from Medieval Latin studiare, from Latin studium "study, application," originally "<strong>eagerness</strong>," from studere "<strong>to be diligent</strong>" ("to be pressing forward"), from PIE *(s)teu- (1) "to push, stick, knock, beat" (see steep (adj.)).</p>\n<p>Martha swanc and becarcade to geforðigene þan Hælende and his þeowen þa lichamlice behefðen. Seo studdede emb þa uterlice þing. [Homily for the Feast of the Virgin Mary, c.1125]</p>\n<p>From c.1300 as "<strong>apply oneself to the acquisition of learning</strong>, pursue a formal course of study," also "read a book or writings intently or meditatively." From mid-14c. as "reflect, muse, think, ponder." Meaning "regard attentively" is from 1660s.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>(All bold is emphasis on my part)</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=study\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=study</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29977,
"author": "user22934",
"author_id": 22934,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22934",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Students learn in different ways. Some like to talk out an explanation or answer and others like to reflectively think through their understanding. Sharing in a class of your peers (people who you want to think positively about you) can be difficult for many students, especially in a class larger than 20. One approach that has been documented as helpful for many students (and I use it as a staple approach) is the Think/Pair/Share structure. Ask the question, then have students write down <strong>on paper</strong> their ideas/thoughts/explanations. After a quiet minute, invite them to turn to someone nearby and together construct a stronger answer. After the students talk in pairs for 2-3 minutes, invite a couple of pairs to share their collective answer with the whole class. This is a structure with increasing risk (share with self, share with one other, then pair shares with whole class). I have found that after I carefully require the structure (e.g. keep everyone quiet during the reflective minute) several times, the students can execute the structure well and more students participate. I also am careful to explain why I want to use this structure often, rather than open questioning.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29804",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
] |
29,805 |
<p>The primary method of instruction at most colleges is lecturing, where the professor delivers and explains a set of well-established knowledge to the students.</p>
<p>However, there are drawbacks to this: people have different goals, intellectual orientations, and levels of prior knowledge. What's more, the information delivered in these lectures is well established, well documented, and easily available online -- and for far less money than the average college tuition.</p>
<p>Can lectures be more effective than, say, reading a book oneself? I am unconvinced. Instead, I see people learning by imitation, reading, discussion, and practice. If education is a way to prepare for life outside of academia, shouldn't the method of instruction also reflect the ways people learn outside of that environment? </p>
<p><strong>What advantages (if any) does lecturing have, that make it worthwhile in an age where there are so many other options?</strong> Is there any systematic, empirical evidence that supports the widespread use of lecturing?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29812,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the first critical false premise in your question is the notion that lectures are not frequently used outside of academia. Speaking as somebody who sees quite a bit of both academia and industry, as well as some of the government and amateur communities, I would say that the lecture is used nearly universally in every domain where one person is trying to convey information to a large group of people at the same time.</p>\n\n<p>This is not to say that a lecture is always the right choice. There are, as you point out, a lot of different ways of conveying information and many of them are useful in the university setting as well. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flipped_classroom\">Flipping the classroom</a>, for example, is something that many schools are experimenting with at all levels. That very overabundance of information that you point out as a value, however, is also a problem that a well-done lecture can solve.</p>\n\n<p>Here is what a lecture does that is unique: within the sea of related information, a good lecture shows which exactly are the conceptual elements that a particular expert believes are most important about a topic, and then shows a well-developed way of understanding how they relate to one another. The format may be anything from chalk to powerpoint to documentary movie, and many good lectures incorporate elements of audience participation and embedded example problems to help further stimulate learning. In every case, however, the distinguishing feature of a lecture is that the class turns over its collective attention to direction by a single expert, and the way in which that attention is directed is a significant part of the value.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29817,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While jakebeal's answer is excellent, I will add just two more points.</p>\n\n<p><em>Some</em> university educators simply do not understand pedagogy very well. That is, they spend their time improving their knowledge of their specific domain and do not focus on improving their knowledge about how to best facilitate student learning. <em>Some</em> educators also make the mistake thinking that their students have the same ability to \"drink from a firehose\" and if they just deliver the most important content then the students will be able to sort it out in their out-of-class studying. In that regard, a 1-2 hour lecture might save a student 10 hours of research time, especially if the student is unfamiliar with research (like a first or second year undergraduate). As pointed out in the answer I already referenced, these lecturing sessions could be recorded and moved out of the classroom (flipping), providing more time for discussion in class.</p>\n\n<p>Lastly, and this partially repeats the sentiments of jakebeal, lecturing is great at some things. For example, I have some classes where we meet in two sessions per week. The first session is a lecturing session where I introduce them to some of the most important ideas they should be aware of. They are expected to then take those ideas, and do some research, applying the concepts to the real world. Then, the next session, is more of a seminar with much higher levels of interaction without any lecturing.</p>\n\n<p>So, lecturing can be done for the wrong reasons but it also has its place.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 46549,
"author": "Dilworth",
"author_id": 8760,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8760",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As an academic (a professor) I concur with your view. Lectures are not an effective way to transmit information to many students. That said, for some students it is a good way. But certainly for about 20% (just an approximation) of students lectures are a very unproductive way, and might even hinder their academic advancement. The reason for this is that about 20% of the population has cognitive difficulty in listening (e.g., ADD), so for such people lectures are only harmful. </p>\n\n<p>I would argue that lectures are used because of historical reasons, and also because it is non-trivial to come up with a different method which is also reasonably economic (private lessons are better than lectures, but are not economic).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 46557,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Inertia/tradition accounts for many things. \"Doing things they way they've always been done\" [sic] is usually considered defensible, too. Also, people have already-existing mental models for what a lecture should be like, often including specifics about the subject matter.</p>\n\n<p>The fact that information is available on-line is not wildly different from the fact that information was available in universities' libraries. Yes, a sufficiently motivated person can simply go to the internet/library and find lots of information. A potential problem is that there is too much information, that it is fundamentally chaotic (despite our attempts to impose order or develop \"search engines\"), and fundamentally hard for a non-expert to evaluate. Even worse, a non-expert may fail to realize that they are failing to correctly evaluate information. :)</p>\n\n<p>Still, yes, very many classes/lectures are boring, and attendance is often easily replaced by reading the designated textbook or other sources. However, in several decades of observation, many students (at all levels) either prefer or have become accustomed to a kind of passivity, so that they'd rather show up somewhere at a regularly scheduled time, see their fellow students, and have the pace and content dictated to them by even a fairly boring lecturer.</p>\n\n<p>In my own student days, I did not like going to classes, for the obvious sorts of reasons: for one thing, if one <em>had</em> read the book, a slo-mo flawed, re-recital of it seems pointless in comparison to just re-reading at one's own speed. Second, if one found the material interesting, why stop? Why not read ahead? Why not look at other sources, too, for complementary viewpoints? Why not look at related stuff? (This was as feasible in libraries as it is on the internet, with perhaps two added advantages: there really was not much junk in libraries, since it was filtered, and, second, the chances of serendipitous discoveries in libraries was larger than on the internet.) Such a process inevitably makes the \"canned\" lectures seem crazily irrelevant.</p>\n\n<p>(Also, years ago, libraries were some of the few reliably air-conditioned places!)</p>\n\n<p>But let's ignore the problem of student passivity, and ask why/how a lecture _could_be_ better than just reading a book or searching on the internet. Arguably, a lecture is <em>not</em> better if it just amounts to reading from the book, copying from it onto a blackboard, etc. I would claim that trying to make lectures simply present text-book material is a big mis-use of the medium! That is, systematic presentation of all the details belongs in a book or on-line, but not in a lecture. Oppositely, what could be in a lecture that could not be in a book or notes? \"Affect\", meaning intonation, gestures, facial expressions, theatrical effects, and so on, are hard to put into writing, but (by \"lecturers\" capable of it) can be put into a lecture. This includes reaction to facial expressions and body language of the audience/students, and conversational interaction if the group isn't too large. For example, lectures can include \"pep talks\" that would be hard to fit into writing. \"Reassurance\" can be done live better than in writing, I think.</p>\n\n<p>Another feature is the \"live/real-time\" aspect: a lecturer (in mathematics, my field, for example) can literally <em>do</em> things in the lecture room, live, in real time, with voice-over narrative, in effect. That is, the audience can witness the genuine activity as exercised by an expert practitioner, with accompanying critical and methodological comments. Yes, up to a point, textbooks and monographs <em>could</em> be written in such a fashion, but it seems that stylistic pressures move them in the opposite direction, aiming for a sort of artificial perfection that can only be achieved by much editing! Too often it seems that writing aims to create impressive edifices rather than be accessible, helpful ... and a live lecturer can easily do better, if they try.</p>\n\n<p>So, for my own lecturing, I definitely do think in terms of \"adding value\" beyond what students could derive from written sources, and in terms of using the medium in ways that distinguish it from static written sources (and not having a lecture be a bad re-copying of those written sources).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 46613,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Some may argue that lectures are more effective means of instruction than, say, reading a book by oneself. I am unconvinced, since I have not encountered lectures outside the educational system.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I am a bit surprised at this statement.</p>\n\n<p>I work in industry. When I present the results of an analysis or pitch our product to a potential client, either on site or via a conference call, this is a lecture, usually with slides and with questions in between or at the end, but a lecture nonetheless - I <em>read at my audience</em>. Same for any earnings call by a CFO or CEO. Nobody disseminates a product pitch or their earnings numbers solely by distributing reading materials.</p>\n\n<p>I would <em>definitely</em> \"argue that lectures are (often) more effective means of instruction than, say, reading a book by oneself.\" Note the \"often\" I added. I fully agree that I'd prefer to get a lot of information I currently have to digest in the form of video tutorials rather in the form of printed matter.</p>\n\n<p>But sometimes, and the math lectures I attended in my dissolute youth come to mind, it simply <em>is</em> far easier to learn if the material is presented by an experienced teacher at the blackboard. You can agree or not, but I'd say that the argument is not as outlandish as you seem to take it to be.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 60951,
"author": "vonbrand",
"author_id": 38135,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38135",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A lecture to a live audience gives the lecturer the oportunity to \"read\" what is understood and what isn't, to field questions and adjust the material presented to the situation.</p>\n\n<p>True, the lectures started out as a reader reading the text and the students writing it down as their own copy to study (before newfangled stuff like printing presses, or $DEITY forbid, Internet and web pages with class notes), and most are still handled mostly like that. As to why my students show up to class without peeking at the notes, and insist in copying my scribblings when the notes are much better organized, beats me.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 87659,
"author": "Wanderer",
"author_id": 71793,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/71793",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Reading a technical book (or any written source) is an art that is not as easy to master as it might seem. One should know (or, better say, feel) what their mindset ought to be. It's some kind of the right “viewing position” that one should learn to have. Simply put: reading a book is an act, not a passive process, and so one needs to learn that art just like one needs to learn doing carpentry. Lectures certainly ought to help with that.</p>\n\n<p>In other words: a human is a guide to a book; before you hear from someone knowledgeable, you may well look at the contents in the book from the point of view of the wrong assumptions, inclinations, etc, and not even realise you had a choice where you in fact made that choice incorrectly. There's a lot of talking about “body language”, “intonations”, “showing what is important”, and so on, but I think the honest answer is that we don't know why it happens. Just that's how it is. Just we humans are able to influence one another's mindsets in ways that are totally unpredictable and sometimes useful. We talk differently than read a completed work.</p>\n\n<p>We still don't know how brains work. So, we don't need to be too enchanted with the assumption that in learning, people just “copy” some “information” from one brain to another. Practice shows that the process is more complex…</p>\n\n<p>PS: I just thought of an example where that matters: a lecturer might often mention, when exposing the material, some “dull details” about how perceive the material, that just don't fit into a completed written work (they would look wrong there, or would be understood incorrectly, or would be blended with the material itself), but are very good for forming the right “point of view” about the subject, and so in conversation (after all, a live teacher talks to live students, therefore that's a conversation, in a way) are not really dull at all. It might be some advice on learning, like for example “<em>when reading a mathematical exposition, stop right at the first thing that you don't understand and ask a question</em>” and many others of this kind.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29805",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16049/"
] |
29,813 |
<p>I've been writing a big grant proposal for the last few months and I am almost done. I asked my advisor to read it and give me advice on content, and he has yet to read it. He's always saying he'll "read it later" or "he's busy". </p>
<p>I finally got a meeting with him this past week and he says he will read it this weekend. As we're wrapping up, he says it will look good on my CV to have "contributed" to a grant that got funded.</p>
<p>Here's the problem though: I've written the entire grant proposal and done all the literature research for it. The only tangible contribution my advisor has made is to tell me which protein he wants to study. He's also an "absentee advisor" and I do all my own experimental design and troubleshooting. Actually,the post doc in our lab has been giving me all the help/advice.</p>
<p>How should I handle this situation? I realize I could just give him the credit, but how would this reflect on my future career opportunities?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29816,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As far as I know, a grant is given almost always to a PI (principal investigator, i.e. head of the lab). Sometimes postdocs can also be listed as PIs, but I don't remember seeing a grad student as a PI on a grant. So even if technically you wrote the grant proposal, the PI will receive the grant.</p>\n\n<p>This means that he is the one that can write in his CV that he got the grant, and you can write that you wrote the proposal. You cannot write that you are the one that got the grant if you are not listed on it, regardless of whether you wrote the grant proposal.</p>\n\n<p>In this sense, a grant is different than a research paper, where you get credit according to your contribution. <strong>A grant is given not as a prize for writing a good proposal, but as funding of specific future work executed by a specific person/lab</strong>. I am not sure what the guidelines are for grant proposal writing, but I would not be surprised if this is considered ok in terms of the guidelines. Of course I am assuming your advisor read it thoroughly and thought it is a good research plan.</p>\n\n<p>Also, it is very possible that your PI actually did have a major contribution to getting the grant. The funding agency takes into considerations several factors such as the grant proposal but also the PI's record.</p>\n\n<p>Having said all this, you should definitely write in your CV that you wrote a successful grant proposal by yourself (you can consult with your advisor on how to write this in the most impactful way).</p>\n\n<p>Disclaimer: I don't have any details on the specific grant, so I may be completely mistaken...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29847,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The US National Science Foundation <a href=\"http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf14001/gpg_1.jsp#ID3\">requires acknowledgement</a> in the proposal of anyone other than the PI or co-PI that contributed to the writing of the proposal text. I don't know when this criteria was introduced, but it's been around since at least the <a href=\"http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/nsf04_23/1.jsp#ID3\">2004 version of the GPG</a>. Almost no one knows it's there, though, considering the surprise expressed by folks I've shown it to. I also don't know if other US agencies or agencies in other countries have this requirement, but you should look at the proposal preparation instructions of the agency you are applying to. </p>\n\n<p>I don't recommend starting the conversation with your supervisor by mentioning this requirement, but you should have it in your back pocket.</p>\n\n<p>The US NSF leaves the determination of who is eligible be a Principal Investigator up to each submitting organization. At my university, all faculty are automatically eligible, as are those with the titles Research Associate, Research Scientist, Senior Research Scientist, and Research Professor. Others may be given eligibility on a proposal-by-proposal basis. This sometimes includes graduate students, but it is very rare. </p>\n\n<p>Technically, grants from the US NSF (and presumably other agencies) are not given to the PI, but to the organization for which they work. Traditionally, these grants are administered by the PI and, as a courtesy, awards may be allowed to go with a PI if they leave a university to work for another, but this is not guaranteed.</p>\n\n<p>You should definitely put your writing contribution on your CV, but be clear that you were not the PI or co-PI unless you were. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29853,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Following Bill Barth's comment, I actually ran into the NSF requirement to list all contributors the hard way back when I was a graduate student. </p>\n\n<p>Several of us (faculty and non-faculty alike) had worked together on an NSF proposal. We weren't aware of the requirement and couldn't figure out how to officially list me in an appropriate blank on the NSF forms, so we basically shrugged and let it be, figuring that having my work prominently featured and my closely associated faculty members as PIs would be clear enough.</p>\n\n<p>To our horror, rather than grant reviews, we received an official investigative inquiry into academic dishonesty and plagiarism! The grant reviewers, not seeing my name, were concerned that my faculty collaborators had stolen my work. Since everybody involved was actually well intentioned and close collaborators, we got it sorted out quickly enough, and learned to our great embarrassment how we should have done it (I'm ashamed to say I can't remember the exact details on the forms).</p>\n\n<p>Needless to say, we still didn't get the grant, though the next time around we did it right and did get funded. In my C.V., I most certainly list myself as an author of that grant, while also marking the appropriate other authors as the PIs.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29813",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22822/"
] |
29,824 |
<p>I'm a computer science student in my third year of undergrad. I've been taking math classes on the side and will have finished most of the applied math major by the time I graduate.</p>
<p>I'm wondering how difficult it would be to get into graduate school for applied math with a computer science undergrad degree. I could possibly switch over to the applied math major if that would make graduate school admissions easier, but I'm wondering if it would also be fairly possible with a computer science undergrad.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29849,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There's no reason why you couldn't get into an applied math graduate program with a CS bachelor's degree. Some parts of some applied mathematics programs are called computer science in other programs (and vice versa). Many applied mathematics students come from engineering, physics, CS, and other undergraduate programs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29857,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I did this myself (a long time ago, in the 1980's.) I completed the requirements for a BS in Mathematics and a BS in Computer Science, but I took the Computer Science degree because it was more employable. A few years later after I'd had some experience in software development positions, I decided to go back to graduate school in applied mathematics. I was accepted to every graduate program that I applied to. </p>\n\n<p>Some key things to do:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Make sure in your application cover letter/statement of purpose to explain that you have taken a lot of mathematics at the undergraduate level. This will help if the reader of the application doesn't bother to read your transcript and see the mathematics course work. </p></li>\n<li><p>Get a good score on the GRE subject test in mathematics as well as on the GRE general tests. </p></li>\n<li><p>Get letters of recommendation from your former mathematics professors, particularly professors in applied mathematics.</p></li>\n<li><p>Connect your background in computer science to applied mathematics. You're in a good position to specialize in numerical computing as a graduate student. </p></li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29824",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22827/"
] |
29,840 |
<p>In a formal academic writing (in the everyday sense), is it appropriate to use phrases such as "step out on" to titillate the reader? </p>
<p>Since I am not a native English speaker, and since I have not yet accurately catched the general range of humor in the US, I wonder if using such phrases would be instead considered as a disrespect? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29841,
"author": "user2768",
"author_id": 22768,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22768",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Your first priority should be to convey your ideas to the reader. Given that I, and many others, have absolutely no idea what \"step out on\" means, I would suggest that you avoid the phrase. On the other hand, I think humour is occasionally acceptable, but it needs to be timeless humour.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29845,
"author": "Massimo Ortolano",
"author_id": 20058,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20058",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are many examples of humour in academic writing, both in journal articles and in textbooks. One of my favourite is a note on p. 33 of Gregory's <em>Classical Mechanics</em> (Cambridge University Press):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Be a hero. Obtain this formula yourself without looking at the text.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>But:</strong></p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Especially in a journal article, where the number of pages is limited, the piece of humour should anyway convey information which is relevant to the topic of interest.</li>\n<li>The piece of humour should not be rude or offensive and should be clearly understandable by the readers without looking up at dictionaries like Urban Dictionary. Many of the word usages reported in Urban Dictionary are local and not very widespread, but journal papers and textbooks are firstly reviewed and then read by people all over the world: How many people would properly understand your piece of humour?</li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29840",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
29,863 |
<p>Is it an acceptable practice to use simple graphics found on Wikipedia (and hence in Wikimedia Commons) in a conference poster? </p>
<p>From the legal point of view, this seems to be fine, as long as the image is properly attributed. Presumably it should suffice to mention the source in acknowledgements section. Or am I missing something?</p>
<p>How would this be perceived? Would it come across as unprofessional? The poster I am preparing is for an interdisciplinary and not too formal event, and the graphic I'd like to add is meant to illustrate a basic mathematical notion. (However, more general answers are very welcome.)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29866,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/19083/are-there-instances-where-citing-wikipedia-is-allowed\">primary issues</a> with using Wikipedia for academic research are that it's a tertiary source, and there's no credibility/quality assurance.</p>\n\n<p>So, you should make sure that</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>If the image contains intellectual content that requires citation, you should cite a primary source for that content. </li>\n<li>The image (including its factual/intellectual content) meets academic standards of quality and accuracy.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Assuming these are satisfied, reusing images from Wikimedia (or a similar source) is not inherently unprofessional. Of course, if the image is of poor quality or doesn't fit in well with your poster, it will look unprofessional - but this would also be true if you had created the image yourself.</p>\n\n<p>This is, of course, assuming that the image you are using <em>is</em> in Wikimedia commons (<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Images\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">not all images on Wikipedia are</a>), and</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>you follow the <a href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reusing_content_outside_Wikimedia\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">license requirements</a> (protects against legal/copyright problems)</li>\n<li>you correctly attribute the source (protects against ethical/plagiarism concerns)</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34817,
"author": "Aubrey",
"author_id": 26682,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26682",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Adding some details to the previous response, I'd like to stress that many Wikipedia images come from <a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Wikimedia Commons</a>, and Commons is a different project than Wikipedia. \nIt is mainly a repository of free multimedia files </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"that makes available public domain and freely-licensed educational media >content to all, and that acts as a common repository for the various projects of >the Wikimedia Foundation.\" The expression \"educational\" is to be understood >according to its broad meaning of \"providing knowledge; instructional or >informative\". [1]</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Thus, it is possible to find great images in Commons, that come from various sources (like NASA, or other institutions like museums, galleries, libraries, academic databases, academic journals). There are <a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Featured_pictures\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">great pictures</a> on Commons. </p>\n\n<p>Now, you are talking about \"simple graphic\", and the specific image is \"meant to illustrate a basic mathematical notion\". [2]\nThere are many professionals who use their free time to provide Commons (and hence Wikipedia articles) with illustrative, clear graphics. </p>\n\n<p>I can't think of no valid reason <strong>not</strong> to use a graphic meant to illustrate the exact concept you want to illustrate, and meant to be used and shared for free, just because there would be the word \"wikimedia\" in the credits. </p>\n\n<p>If the images suits your need and you feel it professional enough, please use it and give credit. </p>\n\n<p>[1] <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Commons#Policies\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Commons#Policies</a></p>\n\n<p>[2] Here's the <a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Mathematics\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Mathematics category</a>. </p>\n\n<p><em>Full disclosure</em>: I'm a >10 years old volunteer in Wikimedia projects, and I've also been very active in movement roles like being president of a Wikimedia national chapter.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42789,
"author": "Nemo",
"author_id": 32575,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32575",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Simple: it's unprofessional if you do it unprofessionally.</p>\n\n<p>The first way to be unprofessional is to not respect copyright, moral rights and verifiability. Just use what is useful, always cite your sources and the copyright license.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 82978,
"author": "Pete Forsyth",
"author_id": 67485,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/67485",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answers here are excellent, but a few points. (This from the perspective of someone who knows Wikipedia policy and Creative Commons licenses well; I do not claim any special expertise in academic standards that might go above and beyond the legal requirements, though.)</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>The Wikipedia page or the Wikimedia Commons page will almost always have detailed information about the file's license, about its author, and about its origin. You should consult that information as a starting point, and can have a fairly high degree of confidence in its accuracy -- but to meet an academic, professional, or legal standard, you should also find ways to confirm this information for yourself. The information is intended to be helpful in that effort, but is not necessarily authoritative.</p></li>\n<li><p>When doing that verification, be aware that some of Wikipedia's sources -- including U.S. federal agencies and major museums -- provide deceptive or incomplete information. In a comment thread above, it's been noted that images in the public domain may be marked with \"licenses\" or other text that indicates they are only to be used for non-profit purposes, or they are not to be modified, etc. Sadly, such cases are not uncommon. Those claims are <em>inaccurate</em>. If a file is truly in the public domain, no such requirement can be legally binding. (If you're in such a situation and it's important, you should check with a lawyer.)</p></li>\n<li><p>Many (but not all) files will require attribution (the \"BY\" component of CC BY or CC BY-SA licenses). However, that attribution is to the <em>copyright owner</em>, not to Wikipedia or Wikimedia. As a practical matter, Wikimedia's Terms of Use suggest a link to the Wikimedia page as the minimal/standard way to fulfill that attribution (which is important in the case of anonymous/pseudonymous contributors, whose Wikimedia avatar is the only available method of attribution). But in many cases, a user provides their legal name; and in some, they even indicate a preference for how to write the attribution, perhaps including a business name (as I have done <a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ward_Cunningham_with_Hypercard_stack.jpg#Licensing\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\" title=\"here\">here</a>, for example). If for some reason you prefer not to credit \"Wikipedia\" or \"Wikimedia\", that may be just fine. Look closely. Also, beware of the (thankfully rare) files you may find on Wikimedia Commons that are available under <em>only</em> the GFDL license; its attribution requirements are highly arcane and cumbersome!</p></li>\n<li><p>The \"Share-Alike\" (SA) component of a license commonly used on Wikimedia has not been discussed. It's rare that it would impact a project like this, but it could. If your poster is <em>derived from</em> a file with such a license (which is a different standard than merely <em>including</em> it), then your poster must be made available with the same license.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Disclosure was brought up in a comment thread above, so a few points about myself:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>I'm not a lawyer</li>\n<li>I'm one of many co-authors of the <a href=\"https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Terms_of_use\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Wikimedia/Wikipedia Terms of Use</a></li>\n<li>I run a training & consulting company focused on Wikipedia</li>\n<li>I'm the editor of the Wikipedia Signpost newsletter.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29863",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7328/"
] |
29,868 |
<p>I have presented a paper at a conference and received a certificate proving that I was a presenter. The conference does not have an English agenda, so it would not be easy for an application committee to find proof that I was the one who presented it online. I am now submitting the paper as one of my writing samples for a Ph.D. application. Should I attach the presenter certificate to the paper, in order to prove to the committee that I was really the one who presented it?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29872,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As per the answer to your <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27901/how-to-prove-that-papers-were-presented-when-conference-programs-are-not-in-engl\">previous question</a>, you are not required to spontaneously supply proof for everything in your CV, and it would look extremely unusual to attempt to do so in this case. </p>\n\n<p>The fact that you <em>could be</em> asked to substantiate anything written in your CV, and the consequences of subsequently being caught in a lie, are considered enough of a deterrent to prevent people from lying about their credentials. The standard practice in academia is <em>not</em> to include \"proof\" of everything on a CV unless explicitly asked for proof of some kind.</p>\n\n<p>So in answer to your question of whether you should merge the \"certificate of being a presenter\" into the paper presented at the conference as part of your PhD application: No, you should not. You should not submit such a \"certificate\" <em>at all</em> unless you are explicitly asked for it, and I have never heard of anyone being asked for such a thing.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29877,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One thing to keep in mind is that certificates from a conference are easy to fake: anyone can make a plausible-looking certificate on their own computer, and the admissions committee will have no idea what a real certificate would look like. (And even if the admissions committee somehow knew what it should look like, an applicant could copy/modify someone else's certificate.) This makes them almost completely useless for verification. The certificates may satisfy bureaucratic requirements among those who use them, but in practice they won't actually prove anything.</p>\n\n<p>I would recommend against including these certificates with your application. It looks suspicious to me, like you're presenting it as stronger evidence than it actually is. In particular, people might wonder whether you are trying to prevent a more detail investigation by preemptively offering a certificate.</p>\n\n<p>However, this isn't a particularly important issue, since the admissions committee probably isn't worried about whether you actually presented the paper at this conference. A conference presentation is not meaningful or worthwhile for its own sake, regardless of quality. There are conference with low standards (where bad work is sometimes presented) or no standards at all (where anyone can present whatever they like). Instead of being worried about whether you presented the paper, the admissions committee will instead wonder whether presenting the paper means anything. That's much more subtle question, since the only way to convince them that the quality is high is if someone knows enough about the conference to judge its quality and is trusted by the committee. In practice, the way this typically works is that if the committee really wants more information, they find a member of the department who has a contact in the country in question and ask them for their opinion of the conference. (This can also lead to verifying attendance if necessary, since the contact will presumably have the appropriate language skills and can also get in touch with the organizing society.)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29868",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
29,878 |
<p>I would like to know if it is possible to get into top 10 engineering schools for MS/Phd program without any publications?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29887,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The admissions process for graduate school is complicated. I am not aware of any admissions committee that requires prior publications to be accepted. Admissions decisions are not so much based on the presence/absence of publications but on the extent to which the application demonstrates an ability to conduct research. Prior publications can demonstrate an ability to conduct research, but do not necessarily guarantee it. The lack of publications does not mean you cannot conduct research, but does mean you need to demonstrate research potential in another way (e.g., letters of recommendation). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29890,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In my experience, most undergraduates, even excellent ones with strong research potential, do not publish. The reason is simple: undergraduates usually have to spend a lot of time on classes and don't have much time available for research, even if they're very good at it. The likelihood of both producing a significant publishable result and seeing it in print before applying to grad school is simply not very large. Even if you do get a publication, it's not obvious whether it's due to your research talent or due to your supervisor placing you on exactly the right project.</p>\n\n<p>That said, getting involved in research as an undergraduate is the best thing that you can do if you have interest in graduate school. Not only will it put you in a position where a professor can give you a good recommendation for your research work, but it will also help you figure out if you actually <em>want</em> to subject yourself to the grueling realities of a Ph.D. program. And who knows, you might even get some publications!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29895,
"author": "user22869",
"author_id": 22869,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22869",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Faculty in those institutions have their own research agendas, and yes, there are very awesome undergraduates who do not have any publications who land the dream of the Ph D. And this is a top institution I have observed my friends get into without the publications. This said, the work performed in undergrad is your CV. The projects that you chose to undertake for grades, the extracurricular activities you chose to participate in--- everything about you that you choose to present in the application process determines how persuasive you are to the potential faculty member.</p>\n\n<p>The more that your interests and skills match the needs and research agendas of the professors, the better chance of convincing them that you're worth their time and money.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29913,
"author": "Danny W.",
"author_id": 21704,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21704",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Faculty on the admissions panel for a department typically assume that undergraduates did not do any of the \"heavy lifting\" on any paper they are on. Rather, they assume the PI/grad student/etc. had the idea, did most of the experiments, wrote the paper, and that the undergraduate may have assisted in parts of the experiments that were routine. <em>This may not be the case</em>, and if so is hopefully said in the letter of rec. But it is what is generally assumed (and honestly, what is typically true). </p>\n\n<p>So to answer your question: no, publications are typically not required for admission to a good PhD program. </p>\n\n<p>Some fellowships (NSF, Hertz, etc.) do have a bias towards published undergraduates however, although it's also not a requirement. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29878",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20608/"
] |
29,880 |
<p>I am applying to PhD programs in the US.</p>
<p>I am wondering if there is a default decision imposed on international applicants. This question may sound ridiculous, but, I still ask here because I have seen someone (a claimed PhD student who has been involved in graduate admission, for now I cannot recall clearly the website) on the internet said that every international applicant is assumed rejected.</p>
<p>What goes on in the admission committee members' heads? Specifically, is it true for international applicants that the committee member picks up an application, and says "Unless I find something good in this application I'll reject it"? (This paragraph is quoted and adapted from Willie Wong's comment below.)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29884,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It is a tremendous generalization to speak of all programs having the same default decision, or all members of an admissions committee in a program having the same default decision, or even to assume the existence of a default decision at all.</p>\n\n<p>In reality, a more likely consideration an admissions committee member might use is, \"Does this candidate have similar credentials and experience to successful PhD students we have admitted in the past?\" (i.e., no \"default\" decision.)</p>\n\n<p>However, if we're going to generalize <em>and</em> assume the existence of a default decision:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>For programs in which there are a large number of applicants for relatively few positions, the default decision for <em>any</em> applicant is \"reject, unless the applicant is extremely strong.\"</li>\n<li>For programs in which there are relatively few applicants for a large number of positions, the default decision is \"accept, unless there is some evidence this student is unsuitable for the program.\"</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Programs at top-ranked departments, in fields where PhDs are in high demand, and where PhD students are generally fully funded, are more likely to fall in the first category.</p>\n\n<p>Programs at lower-ranked departments, in fields where PhDs are not in high demand, and where students usually fund themselves, are more likely to fall in the second category.</p>\n\n<p>The nationality of the applicant is not generally relevant in the \"default\" decision, barring exceptional circumstances (e.g., admissions committees in nuclear engineering at U.S. universities may reject Iranian students by default since 2012 because they will be <a href=\"http://iran.usembassy.gov/reshtehvisa.html\">ineligible for visas</a>.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29885,
"author": "Karthik Upadhya",
"author_id": 17494,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17494",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not at all true. I am from India and I do know people who have joined Stanford, Berkeley, Rice, Purdue, Maryland etc. for PhD</p>\n\n<p>In fact, I myself was offered PhD in 2 universities but I didn't accept it because I wasn't offered any funding. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29966,
"author": "user2379888",
"author_id": 9365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9365",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The problem that international students face, applying to US institutions, is that they may come from schools that we, in the States, are unfamiliar with, and have letters from professors we don't know. The students who apply from Cambridge, Oxford, Sorbonne, IIT, etc., they get looked over very seriously. But we have no way to judge the quality of these other, less recognizable, schools. So, given this imperfect information, and the finite number of positions, we may elect to take students from second tier, but familiar, US schools, over these unfamiliar international students.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 147028,
"author": "metastable",
"author_id": 122033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/122033",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is an absurd claim! I am an international student who has got acceptance from 5 US Ph.D. programs. I have my friends who are doing their Ph.D. in top US schools. There are lots of international students in all the US universities! Don't listen to that guy, make a good profile and apply. Good luck.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29880",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
29,881 |
<p>Recently, I contacted a publisher about the draft of a book that I wrote about a year ago. I found their advertisement over the net. This is a scientific book that I have worked on for about two or three years and have revised it more than four times. </p>
<p>The publisher proposed that if I pay a certain amount of money that they can publish my book in a month or two.</p>
<p>Does this kind of pay-to-publish or self-publishing of books confer any reputation in academia? What are the advantages and disadvantages to doing so?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29882,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The value of a pay-to-publish book is approximately the same as any other pay-to-publish material. </p>\n\n<p>As described in <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/7911/11365\">this answer</a>, the only way for someone to judge a non-peer-reviewed publications is to</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Read them, see what they're worth. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So, if this book attracts a large number of readers in your academic community and they are impressed, it will enhance your reputation. This is not likely, unless you are already well-known in your field.</p>\n\n<p>If people read the book and think it's bad, it will detract from your reputation. </p>\n\n<p>If very few people bother to read it (which is the most likely case), it will confer (at best) zero benefit to you and will be a waste of money. </p>\n\n<p>It may also confer negative reputation benefit. People who don't read the book may assume that the book is bad, and that if it was really good, you wouldn't have had to pay-to-publish.</p>\n\n<p>For further reading, there's a relevant article over at <a href=\"https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/17/self-publishing-option-academics-periphery\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">InsideHigherEd</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29891,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would recommend that you ask yourself a question: why do I want this book \"officially\" published? You could, after all, just make the material free online via arXiv or as a webpage or an archival technical report of various types depending on its contents and your situation.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Prestige of having a published book? A pay-to-publish press will generally give you <em>negative</em> credibility, since there are so many publishers that will publish your book without making you pay (including lots of dodgy low-quality ones that will publish pretty much anything). Pay-to-publish smells like desperation or resume-padding.</li>\n<li>Money from sales/royalties? If they thought it was going to make money, they would be paying you, not the other way around.</li>\n<li>Higher visibility? A pay-to-publish press will generally not be any good at promoting your work. They're not going to invest any real money in promotion if they aren't expecting to make significant money from sales.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Serious and reputable academic publishing houses are always looking for good books to publish. The right ones for your field will generally have booths at the major conferences in the field, with representatives that you can talk to.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 36693,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In all areas of publishing these days (academic and nonacademic, fiction and nonfiction, books and periodicals), there is a great blurring of the formerly sharp lines between what used to be referred to as \"vanity presses\" and legitimate publishers. Even within traditional publishing, things are blurry. For example, World Scientific seems to publish some legitimate academic work, but it also publishes crank material by kooks. Your academic reputation is a vaguely defined thing that exists in the minds of your colleagues. Some of these colleagues will be more conservative and backward-looking than others.</p>\n\n<p>One thing that I think should be much more clear-cut is that it is extremely foolish to pay someone to produce and distribute your book. There are zero-cost options such as lulu.com.</p>\n\n<p>Another no-brainer is to do your homework and make sure that the people you're talking to are not an exploitative or abusive operation. Abusive practices are extremely common in self-publishing.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 36698,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Virtually none.</p>\n\n<p>The main difference between academic/university presses and trade presses (including vanity presses and self-publishing) are that <strong>academic presses engage in a process of peer review</strong> before selecting which material to publish.</p>\n\n<p>That is, academic presses will send your ms out to peer academics who then provide reader reports that will be used by the academic presses' board of directors/editors (usually academics themselves) to make the decision to publish the book or not -- usually after revisions indicated by said external readers.</p>\n\n<p>This puts a book from an academic press in the category of peer-reviewed publications. </p>\n\n<p>Note that there are some second and lower tier colleges don't care where a scholar's book comes from. If you suspect you are in one of these colleges -- ask your mentors and senior colleagues what you should do. </p>\n\n<p>p.s. Once you have a certain degree of fame, you can publish with trade presses. Stephen Hawking really doesn't need the CV boost that might have happened if <em>A Brief History</em> had been published by U-Cambridge Press rather than Bantam Books. And if you are in fields that view books with disdain (say... physics) then it wouldn't really matter where or even if you published a book.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 167978,
"author": "Harry Hab",
"author_id": 139326,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/139326",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Do not deal with publishers who ask money from you upfront.</p>\n<p>Never, ever.</p>\n<p>If you are an established academic you will be approached by reputable publishers who will pay you (albeit not much).</p>\n<p>Your reputation is unlikely to be affected, as the book is likely to sink into oblivion unnoticed. (This remark is not a negative reflection on the book you wrote; it happens to almost all textbooks, including very good ones.) However, as far as your CV is concerned, Oxford (Princeton, etc) University Press will look more impressive than the name of some fly by night vanity press.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29881",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
29,892 |
<p>When I look into a specific problem over Google Scholar and simple Google Search, I find many related publications from publishers other than IEEE, ACM, Elsevier, Springer etc.</p>
<p>Usually the authors come from Indian, Chinese, Arabic institutions. My initial instinct is to ignore them, however I always feel as if there might be something important.</p>
<p>What is the right thing to do in such cases?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29894,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are a lot of good publications in the world that are not published by mega-publishers. Some of them you've never heard of because they are regional or specific to certain subfields, but are still very good. It's also often difficult for people from certain countries to publish in mainstream conference venues due to visa issues. For example, IEEE and ACM usually require at least one author to be present in person, and that may simply be impossible for, say, a group of Iranian authors and a conference being held in the U.S. Likewise, the cost of travel is often prohibitive for authors from the developing world.</p>\n\n<p>That said, there's also a lot of junk publications in junk venues, and even something like <a href=\"http://retractionwatch.com/2014/02/24/springer-ieee-withdrawing-more-than-120-nonsense-papers/\">the IEEE stamp doesn't mean you're reading a real paper</a>.</p>\n\n<p>So how should you evaluate a paper in a dubious venue? Just like you would any other paper:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Is it on target with what you are looking for?</li>\n<li>Are the results significant?</li>\n<li>Is the data credible?</li>\n<li>Is it part of a network of related papers building toward the presented result?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Publications in dubious venues are just much more likely to fail these tests.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29899,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Back in the old days before online publication and widespread indexing of journal articles, readers depended on journal publishers to curate the research papers and select the best papers for publication. Now, there are many more places to publish, and the number of papers being published has grown dramatically. More so than in the past, good papers are published in obscure journals and bad papers are sometimes published in prestigious journals. </p>\n\n<p>In evaluating the quality of a paper, you're largely on your own. However, one thing that you can do now that you couldn't easily do in the past is to check how many other authors have cited the paper that you're looking at. If the paper that you're looking at is widely cited by other authors (and the citations are not negative ones), then there's a good chance that the paper is reasonably trustworthy. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29911,
"author": "Danny W.",
"author_id": 21704,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21704",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At this point, for almost any field worth doing research in there is just <em>too much literature</em> for anyone, even an expert, to keep up with. In the field that I work in on the order of 100 papers are published a week - I could literally read all day and still not be caught up. </p>\n\n<p>Instead of this, I have found much more use in following particular groups whose work I have found useful in the past (some outside of the US/Europe axis). So, if one of these (approximately 100) groups publishes a paper in a non-major journal, I am more apt to read it. Along with this, I <em>don't</em> read everything in the major journals of the field, either. This might help if you don't want to completely ignore non-major publishers but also don't want to spend your whole life reading. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29921,
"author": "Umm Yasmin",
"author_id": 22892,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22892",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should have a basic workflow for assessing the merit of a resource. If it's from an unknown journal or seems a bit dodgy, I would do a quick scan of the abstract, introduction, methods and conclusion (if they don't exist then there's a red flag). Also, what resources are listed in the references/bibliography? If they are all low-quality (the MSM, other unknown journals, Wikipedia) then I'd quickly move on.</p>\n\n<p><em>But</em>, if the writing is clear, the research aim, hypotheses/questions, analysis and findings appear credible, there are good quality references cited, <em>and</em> it is relevant to the research you are doing---always ask 'how is this relevant to my question?'---then I'd read deeper and errr... Google the author to find out a bit more about him/her and the institution to which s/he belongs. </p>\n\n<p>As you get further into your reading and your field you will be able to assess the quality of the resource quickly.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29947,
"author": "mtall",
"author_id": 22876,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22876",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Google has recently done an analysis of citation trends, and found that citations to \"less\" prestigious journals are actually increasing: </p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://arxiv.org/abs/1410.2217\">Rise of the Rest: The Growing Impact of Non-Elite Journals</a></p>\n\n<p>An extract from the above study:</p>\n\n<p><em>\"... now that finding and reading relevant articles in non-elite journals is about as easy as finding and reading articles in elite journals, researchers are increasingly building on and citing work published everywhere. Considering citations to all articles, the percentage of citations to articles in non-elite journals went from 27% in 1995 to 47% in 2013. Six out of nine broad areas had at least 50% of citations going to articles published in non-elite journals in 2013.\"</em></p>\n\n<p>Additionally, in my personal experience (15+ years of computer science research), I've found that the breadth of ideas is considerably enhanced if one makes some effort to go beyond the so-called \"top\" journals, while still staying aware of publications in \"top\" journals.</p>\n\n<p>A lot of the elite-type publications can be quite political, in the sense that stuff won't get published in them (ie. get past the reviewers) unless it follows the fashionable-approach-of-the-day and cites the \"right\" papers. This can lead to a reduction of new ideas and/or only incremental improvements of existing methods.</p>\n\n<p>As a consequence, some of the less \"prestigious\" journals can in fact be a breath of fresh air, where some of the more risky, newer, and/or alternative methods are explored.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29892",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9401/"
] |
29,900 |
<p>Note: I'm not an academic, but I had a student like this as a colleague while in high school (12-18 in a school for students with Asperger's)* myself and I think that this is a worthwhile subject to discuss.</p>
<p>Sometimes you have one or two REALLY shy students in a class with a small headcount. Students that never raise their hands in class, never ask questions, never notify that they have a problem,... The really severe cases will internally panic when you ask them a question and just shut down completely, not even making a sound or a response.</p>
<p>They aren't bad students, far from it. They make their assignments, score well on tests and succeed in the exercises. They just are REALLY passive in the classroom, to the point of almost starting to cry when the teacher asks them something. They also only have that problem in class: when they're among friends during non-class time, like lunch or break, they're quite open and talk rather freely.</p>
<p>As an example, the student from above was so shy that he couldn't introduce himself during the very first week. In the first 2 years, he couldn't give any public speeches, even after much encouragement from the teacher. You couldn't get any more than 2 consecutive words out of him. When the teacher addressed him because they wanted to involve him, he did the above mentioned shutdown, even after repeated encouragement. He loosened up somewhat over the years, but it was still such a surprise when he first willingly raised his hand (sometime in the 4th year), that he got a positive note in his weekly report just for that.</p>
<p>The problem is that it's not always immediately obvious if the student struggles with something. Sometimes, a student like this hopelessly fails an entire class because he didn't understand something from the first year and was too shy to ask for help.</p>
<p>What methods can a teacher use for students like this?</p>
<hr>
<p>*While I mention a student from SEN education, this question also can apply to non-SEN students. And while this question mentions a high-school student (which I understand is not entirely on-topic in here), it also applies to higher education with smaller groups.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29904,
"author": "curious",
"author_id": 11673,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11673",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I think stating very clearly that you are available to answer questions (and not just while in class) like office hours or before/after class is important. Some students are more comfortable with email, make sure they know they have your email and that it's ok to use it. Give some positive reinforcement when students ask questions. </p>\n\n<p>I teach graphic design so I don't have a lot of students (20 at most usually) and a lot of classroom time is dedicated to problem-based learning and most of my teaching is coaching. I go see every student to check how they're doing and ask if they have any questions. It's difficult for them to get their work criticized in front of everyone at first so I'll do small group meetings instead of whole class presentations. </p>\n\n<p>I think most shy people can open up when they're around people they trust so I think establishing trust with the student as a teacher is crucial. You can make them work in small teams so they get to know each other better and build up slowly from there. </p>\n\n<p>I don't think it's something you can fix in a single course so there is only so much you can do without affecting the whole classroom. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29946,
"author": "Clif Kussmaul",
"author_id": 22904,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22904",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When you pose a question, have students discuss their answer in pairs or small groups for a few minutes before you call on someone. Thus, students present the group's answer, not their own, so they feel less on the spot. Plus, answers tend to be better, and students have learned from the discussion. \nThis is sometimes called <strong>Peer Instruction</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>There are other proven techniques for having students work in small groups, too - see <strong>Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL)</strong>, <strong>Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL)</strong>, etc.</p>\n\n<p>Note that \"shyness\" can also be a cultural issue, not just an individual issue.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30787,
"author": "Eev",
"author_id": 23534,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23534",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Think also how you react to questions or answers from the bolder students. Even the stupid questions. While I was not \"shutdown\"-type of shy when I was younger, much of my participation depended on how the general atmosphere was.</p>\n\n<p>If I had to fear that my question or answer would get negative reaction, I would not ask or answer voluntarily. Don't trust that students will know what is stupid question and what is not. Shy person might quite likely fear that his/her question is stupid or answer is wrong, even if it would not be. So if they have seen you react negatively to \"legitimately\" stupid question (and by reacting negatively I mean things like sighing or comments such as \"I <strong>just</strong> explained this...\" or similar type) they probably won't ask their question.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 31165,
"author": "Stu Dent",
"author_id": 23881,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23881",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am a college student very similar to this. I absolutely love <a href=\"http://www.piazza.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Piazza\">Piazza</a>, \na web tool that allows professors to create very functional online forums for classes- like Moodle forums, except they actually work. I've used this both in entirely online classes and in large lecture sections, and I find it tremendously valuable.</p>\n\n<p>My favorite thing about it is that it gives the professor the option to allow students to ask/ answer questions anonymously. This is wonderful for asking questions that you think are stupid, which are usually the ones that need to be asked the most. Conversations I've had with other students (or with profs or TA's) on Piazza have saved my grades on many assignments.</p>\n\n<p>Whether someone chooses to use Piazza or something else entirely, I heartily recommend enabling some kind of supervised online communication with (and among) your students. Not all of them will use it, but the ones that need it will be grateful.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT: This isn't an advertisement. I don't know how to prove that, but can you recommend stylistic changes I could make to my response that would sound less like an ad?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 31170,
"author": "Anonymous Physicist",
"author_id": 13240,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13240",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One method that may work when nothing else does is to give the student a question you are going to ask in class, along with the answer, in advance. This can help the student focus on solving their participation problem because any subject matter difficulties are removed.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 87088,
"author": "agitron",
"author_id": 71266,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/71266",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I hand out poker chips. When the student has spoken they turn it in. Each student needs to contribute to the discussion as we are doing critiques of work. This helps me easily keep track of who hasn't spoken. The objective and expectation is clear to the student what is being demanded. I've been surprised by how well this works with very shy students. Holding the chip in your hand, helps with the anxiety, and you see you aren't the only one. These are post college students, mostly from foreign countries. More and more I see the tricks from elementary school work really well with adults.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29900",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11593/"
] |
29,908 |
<p>I have a PhD in Computer Science and have been working as a "pure researcher" in an academic setting for the past 10+ years. I have a decent publication record, with a large number of citations to my work. As part of the research role, I have also been a co-supervisor/advisor of several PhD students and done presentations in front of conference audiences. I've done a bunch of "guest lectures" in a few undergraduate classes.</p>
<p>I'd like to transition from the current pure research position to a mixed teaching and research role. My motivations are to have more contact with people (as research can be lonely) and better job security. To than end I've applied for several teaching positions (tenure-track associate professor), but I've been told that the lack of teaching/lecturing experience (undergraduate students) is a problem.</p>
<p>Why would the selection committee see the lack of teaching experience as a deal-breaker?</p>
<p>I do understand that teaching requires a different set of skills than research. However, teaching skills can be learned, so is this a case of demonstrating the capability of learning such skills? If so, what would be some acceptable strategies for obtaining such skills?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29914,
"author": "Paul",
"author_id": 931,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/931",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Think of it in the reverse direction: Would you hire a person with tons of teaching experience for a research job? I think the same thing goes for someone with tons of research experience applying for a teacher position: It's a mismatch of skills that (like being overqualified for a job) renders you as a potential flight risk from the job. People want to hire candidates who are best fit for the tasks they are to perform; who don't have to struggle to acquire the skills to perform the job well.</p>\n\n<p>You may be trying to reach for something that you're really not ready for yet. However, all hope is not lost. Instead of pursuing a professor position, try being an adjunct (part-time) instructor first. This will enable you to practice teaching and help you to understand if you really want to do this in the first place. If you are able to maintain the position over a period of time, and learn the ins and outs of being an educator, you'll be much more qualified for professor positions in the future.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29915,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's true that teaching skills can be learned. But some people underestimate the amount of work required to do so, or do not commit to putting it in, or remain tied to ineffective philosophies of teaching, and thus do not become good teachers. Others do, but it takes them some time, and in the meantime they don't do as well.</p>\n\n<p>All other things equal, a search committee would rather hire someone who has already been through this, and will be able to walk in and teach well from day one, rather than needing a potentially long period to adjust (during which they will have to explain to their dean why this new hire's teaching evaluations are so poor). Especially since you are applying at a more senior level (associate professor), your competitors likely have 5 years or more of teaching experience, and evaluations, letters, etc, that show that they are effective teachers. Lacking that, it's understandable that you would be at a significant disadvantage.</p>\n\n<p>It seems to me that the most natural course of action would be to see if you can pick up some teaching at your current institution. Approach your chair and express your interest in teaching a class or two if the opportunity arises. There will likely come a time when the chair just can't get all the classes covered, and would ordinarily consider looking for an adjunct, visitor, or graduate student to teach a class - then she will think of you. If you pull it off with reasonable success, and make it known that you are receptive to continuing to teach, you will likely get more opportunities. Eventually you can build up sufficient experience to be a good candidate for a different job - or maybe you'll find that your existing job, plus occasional teaching, satisfies you after all. (Or maybe you'll find that you don't in fact enjoy teaching, and stick to the job you have.)</p>\n\n<p>I'd think that this sort of gradual phase-in of teaching duties is likely to go better and be less stressful on the whole. Even if you were able to get a full-time teaching job, you'd likely be asked to start teaching 2-3 courses per semester right off the bat - with no prior experience, that can be a pretty severe shock.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29908",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22875/"
] |
29,923 |
<p>Is there any resource that lists how much each university pay in journal subscription fees? I am mostly interested in US universities (E.g. Harvard: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/apr/24/harvard-university-journal-publishers-prices" rel="noreferrer">$3.5M/year in 2014</a>, MIT: <a href="http://ent.arp.harvard.edu/AfricaHigherEducation/Online.html" rel="noreferrer">$4M/year in 2006 for science and engineering journals alone</a>), but still curious about other countries (e.g. French universities <a href="http://rue89.nouvelobs.com/2014/11/10/france-prefere-payer-deux-fois-les-articles-chercheurs-255964" rel="noreferrer">paid 172M EUR/5years to Elsevier</a>, Finnish research organisations paid a total of <a href="http://tiedonhinta.fi/en/english/" rel="noreferrer">27 million euros in subscription fees in 2015</a>).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29924,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There is, in fact, a resource with the information you asked for, for institutions in the United States.</p>\n\n<p>Detailed information on individual academic libraries' expenditures (by university) is available from the National Center for Education Statistics in the United States, as part of their <a href=\"http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/index.asp\">Libraries Statistics Program</a>. </p>\n\n<p>The data from these surveys, including the individual responses from each university, are available for download in plaintext format at <a href=\"http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/aca_data.asp\">this link</a>. The most recent year available is 2012.</p>\n\n<p>To take your example, according to that data, Harvard's expenditures for library resources in 2008 included $9,248,115 for serial subscriptions. In 2012, this number was up to $16,391,638 (the most of any library in the survey).</p>\n\n<p>If you're interested, a set of related information on amounts paid by selected public universities to specific major publishers can be found in </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Bergstrom, Theodore C., et al. \"<a href=\"http://pnas.org/content/111/26/9425.abstract\">Evaluating big deal journal bundles</a>.\" Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111.26 (2014): 9425-9430.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>(see especially the supporting information for the latter.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29925,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't know for sure whether there's a database that shows total journal spending at a fairly comprehensive list of universities, but I doubt there is. There's not as much transparency around university budgets as one might hope (especially at private universities, but even at public universities). [EDIT: As ff524 found, I was wrong about the existence of such a database.]</p>\n\n<p>There is certainly no large-scale database that breaks down library budgets to show the amount spent for each publisher. In fact, many bundle contracts explicitly keep this information secret. Taking advantage of open records laws, Bergstrom, Courant, McAfee, and Williams managed to collect information about a number of contracts with public universities, leading to a <a href=\"http://www.econ.ucsb.edu/~tedb/Journals/PNAS-2014-Bergstrom-1403006111.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">paper</a> and <a href=\"http://www.econ.ucsb.edu/~tedb/Journals/BundleContracts.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">further information</a>. However, there are still many universities at which this data is officially confidential.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29938,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I know you're primarily interested in the US, but others reading the question title may be interested in other countries. For the UK, see</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http://figshare.com/articles/Journal_subscription_costs_FOIs_to_UK_universities/1186832\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Wiley/Springer/T&F/Sage/OUP/CUP</a> (collected by Stuart Lawson and Ben Meghreblian)</li>\n<li><a href=\"http://gowers.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/elsevier-journals-some-facts/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Elsevier</a> (collected by Tim Gowers)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>For some information about New Zealand universities, see <a href=\"http://mcw.blogs.auckland.ac.nz/2017/12/03/big-deal-journal-bundles-price-information-from-new-zealand/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Mark Wilson's blog post</a> and <a href=\"https://figshare.com/articles/Spreadsheet_of_journal_subscription_costs/5656069/1\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">spreadsheet</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 80286,
"author": "Franck Dernoncourt",
"author_id": 452,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some more data from <a href=\"https://ropengov.github.io/r/2016/06/10/FOI/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://ropengov.github.io/r/2016/06/10/FOI/</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Finland paid in total 131.1 million EUR subscription and other fees on scientific publishing in 2010-2015</strong>. The overall breakup of the\n costs is available as a separate table. The average annual costs for\n in Finland were 22 MEUR in 2010-2015; this is one third of the annual\n subscription costs in <strong>Austria (70 MEUR</strong>; Bauer et al., 2015), and\n two thirds of the annual expenditure <strong>(31 MEUR) in New Zealand</strong>.\n Data for the top-10 publishers in the UK 2010-2014 is available in\n Lawson, Meghreblian & Brook, 2015 (Table 1). During this period the\n <strong>UK paid altogether 4319 MEUR</strong> (rough estimate based on the exchange rate June 12, 2016) for the top-10 publishers. Finland paid 61 MEUR\n for the same top-10 publishers in the same period, which is roughly\n 17% of the UK expenditure per capita (unexpectedly low?). The costs in\n the other countries seem unexpectedly high compared to Finland.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Some graphs from <a href=\"http://www.vsnu.nl/en_GB/cost-of-publication\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.vsnu.nl/en_GB/cost-of-publication</a> showing costs incurred by Finnish universities for books and journals by publisher:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/7KMRB.png\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/7KMRB.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></a></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/t8isR.png\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/t8isR.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></a></p>\n\n<p>FYI <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/80339/452\">Why don't major research institutions systematically publish their subscription fees to scientific journals?</a></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29923",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452/"
] |
29,932 |
<p>I would like to know does it help if I take a graduate course related to my major in engineering as an undergraduate and do very well in it? will it increase my chance of getting to graduate school in case if graduate school committee sees the graduate course in my transcript?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29933,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, I think most admissions committees would see this as good evidence of your preparation for graduate study.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29934,
"author": "James",
"author_id": 22672,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22672",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would say overall, yes.</p>\n\n<p>My school offers what's called a \"project course\" and it's intended to get senior students aiming for their masters experience with research and writing a thesis. You speak to a professor in your faculty who's research revolves around a topic that interests you and you will write an honours thesis related to that under their supervision throughout the year. I study Computer Science, so my project courses also contained an application aspect. If I want to get into grad school, they will see that I have built a large program, written a thesis, and worked under the supervision of a professor at my institution. All desirable traits in a grad student.</p>\n\n<p>It is very, very common for students who take these courses to get their position as a masters student under the same professor the very next year. Definitely something an academic advisor will recommend you do.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29943,
"author": "Ian",
"author_id": 22000,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22000",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are two specific reasons why it will help:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>It shows that you can work at a high level;</li>\n<li>If the course is in the area where you are applying to study, it shows that you have investigated that specific area and have some level of commitment to it.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p><em>However</em>, in my experience the graduate level course <em>may not</em> compensate for poor or patchy performance on the undergraduate programme that you're <em>meant</em> to be completing at the time (not saying that this is the case, but I've seen some try). Some recruiters see patchy UG performance with additional courses that you didn't need to take as an indication that you can't focus on the most important, immediate task. In either case, I'd expect detailed questions on why you took additional graduate courses, and how you balanced your workload, at interview.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29944,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It really depends on the student and the graduate course(s). Consider two students.</p>\n\n<p>Graduate courses are unlikely to help a student with a strong academic record and a near perfect GPA, but no previous research experience and recommendation letters that only speak about classroom abilities. There will be little doubt from the admissions committee about the ability of this student to learn advanced concepts and the weakness of the application is the limited evidence to evaluate research potential.</p>\n\n<p>Graduate courses may help an applicant with a good record of relevant research experience and recommendation letters that focus on the research, but a weak academic record. The weak part of this type of applicant is fear over the ability to learn advanced concepts. The ability of a graduate course to sway the decision of the admissions committee will depend on both the grade and the content of the course. Anything less than a B in a graduate course is likely a disaster and it may take an A to sway an admissions committee. Similarly, taking a course that is unrelated to your research interests or is viewed as a \"soft\" topic will likely decrease the value of the course.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29932",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20608/"
] |
29,935 |
<p>Let me preface by saying I'm studying Computer Science, so I don't know how well this applies to every field but this is what I have heard from. many Computer Science and Engineering majors.</p>
<p>I have heard that, when applying for jobs, a masters degree can be a sign of poor performance. That is, those with a masters in Computer Science are thought to be significantly poorer programmers than those with an undergraduate. </p>
<p>I am interested in getting a masters degree because I hope to one day transition into more analytical and research based positions, but if I get an MSc. could it hold me back? Would it be better to get some work experience, and then get my masters mid-career? I know that some employers may even pay for your graduate studies, but is this significantly better than the alternative in any sense?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29936,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would actually think it is precisely the opposite: generally, a computer science Masters requires a thesis, and that thesis usually involves writing a big chunk of functioning code of some sort. Accomplishing that indicates that person is capable of a accomplishing a large and complex task with minimal supervision. With an undergraduate degree, you don't necessarily know whether they've ever built a real program that wasn't handed to them as a pre-digested problem as part of their curriculum.</p>\n\n<p>Now, if somebody was a giant company looking for \"cannon fodder\" programmers to grind out massive repetitive projects, maybe that could be a minus. Likewise, you have to pay people better when they've got a Masters, commensurate with their increase in skill, so if somebody is looking for low-quality coding work, a Masters could make a candidate overqualified. However, if you're thinking about eventually moving toward more research in your career, do you really want those sort of jobs?</p>\n\n<p>I know for a fact, however, that the company group I'm in rarely even considers hiring people without at least a Masters. A number of others I know are similar: the more cutting-edge or research-oriented a company is, the more that they are likely to value that extra education.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29939,
"author": "Compass",
"author_id": 22013,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22013",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No, the Master's will not hold you back. I received an MSc last year in Computer Science, and I no longer eat ramen unless I want to.</p>\n<p>I'm not sure where the rumor began that Master's in CS makes you overqualified. In April, when I switched jobs, I was interviewed by four large companies looking specifically for people with Master's. In fact, I was one of only two candidates at one of the jobs, and the recruiter made it apparent to me that they were having difficulty finding people who had Master's degrees to fill these higher-education positions. Plenty of BS programmers, but not enough people with team capabilities.</p>\n<p>A fact of life is that we may not learn everything in school. I didn't. That's okay! It's also true that some of the things you use at work will be covered in classes. For example, I learned how to use servlets in class. Six months down the road, I looked at some software we were using at my old job, and lo and behold, same technology. I ended up making some improvements to that software and even presented that information at a conference.</p>\n<p>It's ultimately up to you whether you want to work a bit for experience before or after your Master's. I would say, looking back, the Master's prepared me much more for the real world than just the Bachelor's.</p>\n<p>Master's Degrees, like most investments, are investments. Time and money are placed in, and a commodity is produced. In this case, the commodity may not be apparent, as you haven't received your MSc. You don't just learn <code>programming++</code> at a Master's level. You learn how to apply programming to research, or the real world, depending on your ultimate career path.</p>\n<p>Here's a rough rundown of what each level is. Note that this is for COMPUTER SCIENCE. Other fields may differ drastically from this in what type of content is taught. For example, Physiology Masters are probably not going to be taught project management.</p>\n<h3>Bachelor's Level</h3>\n<p>At the Bachelor's level, students traditionally start by learning the basic concepts of software development and theory. For example, machine language and compilers. Eventually, students get mastery of perhaps a single language. In my case, this was Java, so I'll use that as an example.</p>\n<p>For Java, we learn a pretty decent amount of practical use for <em>grunt work</em> programming. Your bread and butter skills, for example. In the working world, we would probably label this Software Developer I. Entry-level. You can fill in, but so can a lot of other people. You'll have a hard time getting to show you're out of the pack at this level, because there's only so many ways to create a <code>for-loop</code> and "good enough" will usually do.</p>\n<p>One of the things that's not focused at the Bachelor's level is working as part of a development team.</p>\n<h3>Master's Level</h3>\n<p>At the Master's level, students have the opportunity to learn much more focused topics of study. Off the top of my head, here are some examples that would be reasonable continuing from a BS with little prior background.</p>\n<ul>\n<li>enterprise web and application development (building large self-supporting frameworks, industry)</li>\n<li>cryptography (cracking or developing encryption, practical both for industry and research)</li>\n<li>neural networks (pattern finding and analysis, mostly research at the moment)</li>\n<li>artificial intelligence (it's really tough to describe what this field is, even for me, but it's both industry and research at this point)</li>\n</ul>\n<p>In addition, there are several parallel fields that you also have associated topics of study you can migrate to, for example Information Systems Engineering, or Bioinformatics.</p>\n<p>Additionally, concepts are provided in preparation for a management role. The software development cycle, for example, is taught as one of our core courses, and shows us how we enter the design phase and work through to the development and testing phase. Whereas in college, classes were expected to complete one or two-week assignments, most of my graduate classes focused on delivering an entire product at the end of the semester.</p>\n<p>Regardless of what you study, there is likely an industry or research institution that will be interested in what you learn. A fresh graduate would very easily qualify for a Software Developer II role, a mid-level developer.</p>\n<p>Another major benefit of graduate level courses is the establishment of a <em>development team</em> as an entity. Whereas in undergrad most of our tasks are solo endeavors, by Master's we may have to collaborate with other people, or use other people's code. Code reuse is nice at this level, and so is working with people with different backgrounds. No longer are we in the universe where we can't copy people's code (we still have rules about that, like attribution, but now we can use APIs and libraries to simplify our lives!)</p>\n<h3>Doctorate Level</h3>\n<p>As I am not a PhD, nor do I plan to get one, most of this is from familiarity rather than experience. Doctorates will, similar to a Master's dedicate most of their time to study a specific subset of computer science. My adviser in college studied neural networks, for example. Most doctorates gear towards research and/or teaching at this level. Much of it is based on theory and concept rather than software development at this point. Similar to how basic college calculus versus PhD math are on completely different levels.</p>\n<h3>Possible Caveat to the PhD</h3>\n<p>I have heard of these rumors of higher education being a disadvantage. In my opinion, a PhD with no hands-on software development lead in the software development cycle is probably going to be a hard buy in industry that needs a software developer lead. That's hearsay for me as I haven't met any PhDs in CS outside of university, so take with a grain of salt.</p>\n<h3>Software Developer Roles in the Industry</h3>\n<p>I mentioned software developer roles above, but only up to Level II. Traditionally, I have only seen levels go up to III, but at a recent interview for work, I met an SDIV. These roles can be roughly defined as brackets for years of experience.</p>\n<ul>\n<li>SD I: 0 to 2 years experience, likely to have a Bachelor's. Entry-level and most likely the bottom rung of programming and testing. May be tasked to work with an SD II for most work. (This used to be me.)</li>\n<li>SD II: 2 to 5 years experience, or <em>equivalent</em>, may have a Master's. Likely to work independently as part of an overall project (i.e. you get assigned a task, usually broad, such as "Implement a user interface to handle XYZ." This is me at the moment).</li>\n<li>SD III: 5 to 15 years experience, most likely have a Master's. Significant experience with the software development cycle. Likely to be a project manager or be assigned to a high-level development or testing team (i.e. in framework management). This would be someone like my Project Manager boss.</li>\n<li>SD IV: 15+ years experience. This person is well-qualified to be a project lead, or may lead multiple projects. This would be someone who is probably could teach a graduate class on the subject and not need to consult a book. You'll rarely encounter these people, since coding languages go out of phase or are brand new. Someone really has to have been an early adopter of the language to get this amount of experience.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29935",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22672/"
] |
29,951 |
<p>I am an academic at a UK university and have been asked to do some consultancy work for a company who wants to own all the IP for that work. I would only do this work on the weekends. Would my university have some claim over this IP? My university's written rules only say that the ownership of all inventions will be determined by <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/37">Section 39 of the Patents Act 1977</a>. This, on the face of it, seems to suggest they wouldn't have any rights over the IP.</p>
<p>I am reluctant to ask my university until I am clear what the right answer is as their initial reaction to all enquiries is just to say no.</p>
<p>Section 39 Patents Act 1977</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(1) Notwithstanding anything in any rule of law, an invention made by
an employee shall, as between him and his employer, be taken to belong
to his employer for the purposes of this Act and all other purposes
if—</p>
<p>(a) it was made in the course of the normal duties of the employee or
in the course of duties falling outside his normal duties, but
specifically assigned to him, and the circumstances in either case
were such that an invention might reasonably be expected to result
from the carrying out of his duties; or</p>
<p>(b) the invention was made in the course of the duties of the employee
and, at the time of making the invention, because of the nature of his
duties and the particular responsibilities arising from the nature of
his duties he had a special obligation to further the interests of the
employer’s undertaking.</p>
<p>(2) Any other invention made by an employee shall, as between him and
his employer, be taken for those purposes to belong to the employee.</p>
<p>(3) Where by virtue of this section an invention belongs, as
between him and his employer, to an employee, nothing done—</p>
<p>(a) by or on behalf of the employee or any person claiming under him
for the purposes of pursuing an application for a patent, or</p>
<p>(b) by any person for the purpose of performing or working the
invention,</p>
<p>shall be taken to infringe any copyright or design right to which, as
between him and his employer, his employer is entitled in any model or
document relating to the invention.</p>
</blockquote>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29952,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You need to spend a few hundred pounds with a UK IP attorney/solicitor getting some advice about the law in your country. If the weekend contract has any value to it at all, it will be worth finding out from someone who knows the law.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29954,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To broaden Bill Barth's answer a bit: you <em>definitely</em> need to get an lawyer involved. You also should make certain that there is date-stamped written communication ensuring that your university's legal/IP staff are aware as well. This may seem like a pain and may make it harder to get started on anything, but it's much better to get any possible conflicts identified and sorted out now, rather than to find yourself in the middle of a complex and lengthy lawsuit later.</p>\n\n<p>I don't know about the UK, but suspect it to be similarly heterogeneous to the US, where there is an exceedingly large range of differences in the IP rights given in employment agreements at research institutions, both within academia and outside of it. Some places are very liberal and basically claim nothing that's not \"in the direct line of your duties.\" Others claim even your dreams and the photos you take at your kids' birthday party (not exaggerating!). In all cases, however, there is often a wide grey area between <em>de jure</em> and <em>de facto</em> policy, and it's important to get an agreement and understanding written down before you give IP to any second organization.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29963,
"author": "Code Whisperer",
"author_id": 22916,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22916",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>More important than the laws surrounding general IP in your country is the contract you signed with your employer.</p>\n\n<p>The contract must detail exactly what work is to belong to the company. The contract probably specifies a body of work and a timeframe. For example,</p>\n\n<pre><code>The company shall own all works by the employee related to Tree Bullfrogs created from April 1, 2000 to April 1, 2001.\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Alternatively,</p>\n\n<pre><code>The company shall own all rights to all works produced during normal business hours.\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Most of time the contract will be designed by professionals to supercede general IP laws your country has. However, no contract can give a company to all things you create on your own time, unless specifically agreed upon.</p>\n\n<p>In conclusion, <em>read your contract.</em> Depending on the stakes involved it could make sense to hire a lawyer, but he will also be more concerned with the contract.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29972,
"author": "Francis Davey",
"author_id": 22922,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22922",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>While it is right that it would be helpful for you to pay, what ought to be a modest sum, to an intellectual property lawyer to check that what you are doing is OK (and hence rely on their indemnity insurance) for reasons that will become clear, hopefully I can say something useful here.</p>\n\n<p>Patent law is UK wide, even though the UK is divided into distinct jurisdictions for most purposes. Other aspects of law are different, eg Scots and English contract law differ on a number of points. I suspect that the differences between the various systems aren't relevant to your problem, but when seeking a lawyer it makes sense to talk to someone from your part of the UK (for these purposes: Scotland, England and Wales, and Northern Ireland, are the 3 relevant jurisdictions).</p>\n\n<p>Some UK IP law, for example copyright law, makes the employer the first owner of the IP if it is created by an employee in the course of their employment. The 1977 Act differs from this by creating two possible situations: (1)(a) and (1)(b) above.</p>\n\n<p>39(1)(a) asks three questions:\n- is what you are doing a part of your \"duties\" under your employment contract?\n- are they either your \"normal duties\" or duties \"specifically assigned\" to you?\n- would an invention reasonably be expected to result from carrying out those duties?</p>\n\n<p>These questions mean what they say. Could what you are planning to do in the weekend be fairly said to fall within your duties as an employee? If yes, you need to think very carefully about the other two questions, if no, then they will not fall within s39(1)(a). To answer <em>that</em> first question is something that will depend on what your duties are (for which we would have to examine your written contract of employment or statement of terms of employment and also what you actually do) and also what it is you are proposing to do.</p>\n\n<p>And that is exactly something that you should be talking to a lawyer about, rather than asking here, because it may require a delicate and careful examination of the facts.</p>\n\n<p>s39(1)(b) applies to people with a special obligation to further their employer's interests. In commercial companies this would be likely to include members of the board of directors. For a university it would depend very much on the nature of the post (see above).</p>\n\n<p>Universities in the UK can have very strange contractual arrangements. I worked for a university at one time which permitted me to do paid contract work during my \"working hours\" (which were not enforced). That may have been unusual but should demonstrate why nothing should be assumed and why it is sensible to talk to a lawyer about it.</p>\n\n<p>Hopefully those remarks will help you take advantage of legal advice more efficiently.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29951",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/37765/"
] |
29,953 |
<p>I have a colleague in my group who became TA for a course which we took together, which is taught by our mutual advisor. It is almost a policy that a student can't become TA unless he scores an A in the course, but he was chosen because he asked "first" and the professor is "nice", even though I was the highest scoring student, which usually gets the teaching assistantship. He also knew that I wanted to TA that course, yet he still asked.</p>
<p>Many students come to him for questions or help. He usually tells them to copy the homework (!) or to ask me or a colleague of mine for help because "he doesn't know and [me and my colleague] know the material much better!"</p>
<p>How do I deal with such a person? I mean, my colleague and I try to answer all the questions the students have, but the annoying thing is that we can't be doing half the job while he gets all the money. We spend our time trying to help others where he should do that. We are very busy people and we don't have time for this when we don't have to officially do it.</p>
<p>Should I talk to my advisor about this? I don't want to sound as if I'm envious. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29956,
"author": "Maarten Buis",
"author_id": 14471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14471",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Being nice is nice, but you also need to set your own priorities. You are not the TA for that course, so you are not obliged to answer any questions. If you happen to have time and feel like answering a question (notice the singular), then fine, answer it. When not, just politely say you don't have time and that they should go see the TA. Also, you are not responsible for (bad) advice given by that TA. Instead I would focus on getting your own research done, or do the TAing of some other course. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29960,
"author": "BMS",
"author_id": 10371,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10371",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are two separate issues here that you should mentally separate:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Your friend got a job you wanted.</li>\n<li>Your friend is not doing that job well.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>As for the first point, not much can be done after the fact. Perhaps make your interest in the course known to the professor who will teach that course next time.</p>\n\n<p>As for the second point, you are well within your bounds to refuse to help students since you're not associated with that course. You can tell your friends that you're too busy with research and other TA duties to help his/her students. This dissociates the prior TA-assignment incident with the actual matter at hand.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29961,
"author": "Compass",
"author_id": 22013,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22013",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The biggest issue, I feel, is how you're handling the situation where your friend asks you for help. Whereas other people have addressed your bounds, I feel like we have to address how you are treating those bounds.</p>\n\n<p>I'm going to say a statement that, up until a year ago, felt very alien.</p>\n\n<p><em>\"My needs are as important or more important than the needs of others.\"</em></p>\n\n<p>Say that a couple of times in your head. It sounds selfish or wrong to say such a thing. And that's what I felt as well when I was told this statement initially.</p>\n\n<p>But is it really wrong? Of course not. When we evaluate the greater good, we sometimes devalue our personal selves, even though we have a vested interest in it, in an attempt to remain unbiased. This works well in standalone situations, but not in this one.</p>\n\n<p>Consider the scenario you've presented.</p>\n\n<p>Your friend, knowing full well you wanted the spot, took it from you. Then he comes to you to ask you to help his students. And you've gone ahead and helped him and now you're complaining about why you have to do that.</p>\n\n<p>You've, in short, placed his needs above your own needs. You don't get anything out of this relationship. You may have heard of this type of relation: a toxic one. It wastes your time and returns you nothing and gives him all the credit when his students succeed.</p>\n\n<p>You're never going to get the TA job you want if he's in it. And you're helping him stay in it! </p>\n\n<p>You may feel like you're doing people a service, but you're not. If this TA is bad, he should be removed. Your helping him will keep him there and impact the learning capabilities of other students, and waste your time for little to no benefit.</p>\n\n<p>If you really want to help these students, you should be doing this on your own time when you feel like it, not because your friend asks you to help him do something he should be doing by himself. Instead, you're helping carrying your friend's responsibility for him when he accepted a role that traditionally bears all the responsibility alone.</p>\n\n<p>You need to be willing to say <em>no</em> to this person.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29967,
"author": "tripleee",
"author_id": 20411,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20411",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would try to quantify the manifestations which are objectively problematic. How often are you interrupted by students? How many tell you (in so many words) that your so-called friend could not or would not help them? What other tasks suffer because of this, and by how much?</p>\n\n<p>Collect data, black on white, until either <em>(a)</em> you can convince your professor that something is wrong, even if not to the point where you can get things your way; or <em>(b)</em> you convince yourself that it may not be worth your time and effort after all -- I know it seems preposterous now, but my experience is that sometimes that's what happens when time passes.</p>\n\n<p>Don't wait too long to make that decision. Sounds to me like maybe you should give it a week, maximum.</p>\n\n<p>You might not need your data, but it's a good starting point for objectively assessing the situation, and if somebody should ask you for numbers or other proof, you know you are prepared.</p>\n\n<p>Strive to remain professional. Try to reason about what's beneficial for the students, the department, the collective, in the long run; not yourself or the problematic TA. Still, if you are doing unpaid work, I would consider bringing up the topic of fair compensation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29982,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree that this is unprofessional behavior on the part of the other TA (let's call him X).</p>\n\n<p>I understand your instinct is to try to help the students when they come to you, and that's certainly generous of you. Unfortunately, this sort of thing represents a very common pitfall for young academics. Working with students is very rewarding, in the short term: it feels like something where you can make an immediate difference in someone's life. This is especially true in contrast to research, where work is often solitary and progress is slow and difficult to discern. So spending extra time with students, while helpful in itself, has the potential to become a serious distraction in the long run. Balancing one's time between teaching, research, and other activities can be one of the hardest thing for an academic to do (it certainly is for me).</p>\n\n<p>So I think this is a good opportunity for you to practice \"protecting your time\". Helping X's students, even if you enjoy it or feel the students really need it, is not something that can take priority over other tasks that are specifically your responsibilities (e.g. your research). </p>\n\n<p>I would suggest having a talk with X and tell him that you're not going to be able to help out his students, and to please not send them to you. If you feel you need a justification for this, you can just say it's distracting you from your research or studies or something similar. If X's students keep coming to you anyway, you can politely tell them \"I'm sorry, but I'm not the right person to help you with this. I'd suggest that you ask the professor during her office hours.\" You don't need to get involved any further; if lots of students start coming to the professor and complaining that X can't answer their questions (and in my experience, believe me, they will), or even that X sent them to you, who couldn't help: she will figure out that something is amiss.</p>\n\n<p>I agree with the other posts that you should not explicitly try to play this to your advantage as far as getting the TA position. That seems to have the potential to backfire. It may work out for you in the long run, but stay at arm's length while things run their course.</p>\n\n<p>On a side note, you mentioned that you've overheard X encouraging students to \"copy their homework\". I'm not quite sure what that means out of context, but if you mean X is telling them to do something dishonest like copy from each other without attribution, then this is a much more serious matter that I think obliges you to step in - it puts X over the line from unprofessional to unethical. If you feel you have enough of a relationship with X to speak frankly, tell him that's a bad idea: it's likely to get students in serious trouble, and also him if they tell the professor he told them to do it. Otherwise, or if X doesn't seem to take you seriously, alert the professor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29986,
"author": "Taladris",
"author_id": 15528,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15528",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you have to answer most of questions from students, it seems to me that the TA does not prepare enough the material he suppose to teach and this is a totally unprofessional. </p>\n\n<p>Answering students is not helping them, since you can answer particular questions (about a particular homework,...) but you have no time to teach how to have a global understanding on the material. In this situation, you should speak to your advisor. If you want to make it smooth and keep a friendly relation with the TA, you may warn him first that you cannot continue to answer the students questions and that he has to prepare thoroughly the material. </p>\n\n<p>Of course, noone has a perfect knowledge of everything, so you probably should keep yourself available to answer theoritical questions <strong>from the TA</strong>, not homeworks questions from the students. The TA validated this course, so he knows well part of the material. By ponctually answering the question of the TA, you help him to master it completely and to answer himself to students questions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30004,
"author": "David P",
"author_id": 22954,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22954",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It strikes me that the underlying cause of your unhappiness is not the professionalism or otherwise of the person that got the TA position, or the impact of his behaviour on you, but the fact that he got the position you wanted and that seems unfair to you. Here's a lesson that will serve you well I think: life is not fair. The world of work is not fair. Career progression, in particular, is not fair. Good things do not automatically go to the most deserving. If you want something, do not sit back and wait for it to fall into your lap because you think you deserve it for working hard or whatever.</p>\n\n<p>Rather than focusing your anger on him, you should ask yourself: who or what is responsible for this state of affairs? Some helpful information would be to know whether you made your desire to be TA known to the advisor - if you didn't then you must have been hoping the advisor would simply offer it to you. Your colleague meanwhile made his desires to be TA known. Why shouldn't he? Did you really think that he should not pursue his ambitions out of some sort of deference to you because you have better scores? If he (or you or anyone else) adopted that policy they would never get anywhere in life. If you think he should not have been made TA and you should AND the advisor knew of your desire, then the responsible party is the advisor for picking someone else. If the advisor did not know of your desire then either you are responsible for not making your wishes clear, or your advisor is responsible for not asking you whether you wanted it before giving it to someone else. In either scenario, your colleague is not responsible for \"depriving\" you of the TA position. </p>\n\n<p>So, if you feel something is amiss with him being made TA, talk to the advisor. </p>\n\n<p>With the day-to-day behaviour of the TA it's a different matter - if you are not happy having work pushed over to you in this way then talk first to the TA about it, and if that has no effect talk to the advisor about it. Sitting there complaining and making accusations behind someone's back isn't particularly professional either. If you want things to change, start asking for what you want.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30019,
"author": "Adam Davis",
"author_id": 11901,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11901",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Honestly, your question could be (and probably should be) shortened to: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I'm really good at subject X, and students keep coming to me for help on subject X. How should I respond, given that I don't have time for this?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I'd advise the following response:</p>\n\n<p><em>\"I really wish I could help, but I don't have time. You really should ask your teacher, or teacher's assistant if you have one.\"</em></p>\n\n<p>And you're done. There is no need to be concerned about how they came to know of your skills, or become involved in petty politics or whether someone is getting a free ride or passing the buck.</p>\n\n<p>If the student indicates that they've already tried those resources, you might remind them that they are paying students, and if their teacher or TA aren't meeting their needs, they may have to have a discussion with them, or bring it up with their guidance counselors. Also suggest that they might want to form study groups with others in their class.</p>\n\n<p>Lastly, if you enjoy teaching them, offer tutoring services. This will give you the ability to receive pay for your work, without all the overhead the TA has to deal with, and you're already receiving free advertising.</p>\n\n<p>Regardless, there is no need to carry bitterness and acrimony into these situations. Treat it as though you hadn't been hurt, and as though the TA and teacher are both acting in the student's best interests, and then decide how to act from that point. The answer should be obvious once you ignore your personal baggage. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29953",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18244/"
] |
29,969 |
<p>What is the right approach for sending emails to contact the graduate students in the graduate schools that we are applying to?</p>
<p>Some questions to ask current graduate students are suggested in this <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/353/what-are-some-good-questions-to-ask-current-graduate-students-when-visiting-scho">related question</a>.</p>
<p>When asking such questions by email, what are things to consider to maximize the chances of a useful response?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29970,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Once you have been admitted, the department will typically help put you in contact with graduate students. Of course they will select the most enthusiastic ones, so it can be helpful to reach out to others to get a better sample (for example, students in your research area or who are working with potential advisors). You can generally find contact information for graduate students on the departmental web page or on their personal web pages, and it's reasonable to send a quick e-mail. You can ask whatever you'd like, but you should remember that it's not really their job to tell you about the department. It's best not to ask questions you can get answers to elsewhere (for example, don't ask about degree requirements), awkward questions (such as departmental gossip they might be uncomfortable discussing, especially in writing), or repeated/demanding questions (after all, they are doing you a favor).</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, I don't think you should contact graduate students before being admitted. Most graduate schools receive substantially more applications than they will be able to accept, and sometimes far more. It's not efficient to spend a lot of time telling people about the department if they are probably not going to be admitted anyway. Instead, that can wait until the admissions decisions have been made. (Plus you'll generally get more enthusiastic responses once you've been admitted.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29974,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When I was applying to grad schools, I cold e-mailed some people and got some very helpful responses. </p>\n\n<p>In the first place, you might start by apologizing for cold e-mailing them. If there are any extenuating circumstances, you might explain them. I e-mailed under two different circumstances:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>I was accepted by program X, and got the sense that I didn't want to go X, and wasn't planning to fly cross-country to visit -- but I wanted to hear from a couple of people at X first.</p></li>\n<li><p>I was waitlisted by program Y and I was pretty sure I wanted to go there. But things were going down to the wire, and I didn't get the opportunity to visit before the acceptance deadline.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>You will optimize your chances by writing your e-mail in a way that expresses your gratitude and a little bit of your personality. Ask them questions that you can't easily learn for yourself by browsing the department's website. And write your e-mail in a way that makes it clear that you are hoping for a response but then won't need anything else from them. (Unless you end up visiting later, in which case I recommend offering to buy them lunch or a beer.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29981,
"author": "Neo",
"author_id": 6898,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6898",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My email has been posted at both my MSc and PhD department's website. I do not mind cold emails, even before applications are submitted. I answer this question maybe 3-4 times a year before applications are even due: \"If you could go back in time and start over, would you still come back?\". Applications cost money, I don't mind spending an hour or two every year helping people whose shoes I was once in. </p>\n\n<p>Most people are the same I'd think.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: </p>\n\n<p>I'll read anything with my advisor's name in the email, so, if you title the email \"Prospective student for Advisor\" or something like that, then It will probably at least get read. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29969",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20608/"
] |
29,971 |
<p>I am hoping to continue my masters in machine learning or data mining. So as a part of the process I am mailing to professors. I have a decent GPA and GRE score. I have research experience in these fields but no publication. I am not an extraordinary student but a motivated one. If any professor see my profile they may find it very ordinary. How can I ensure him that I will do my best. I know that knowing the research works of the professors will help you to get a professor's attention. Is it natural to grasp his research work completely? Though the track might be same, but the level of research is more deep than my previous experience. Is there any way to show him I am worthy? </p>
<p>I am not sure whether this type of question is appropriate for this forum. But hope that someone will enlighten me. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38110,
"author": "Alireza",
"author_id": 28811,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28811",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another way to get the attention of the professor is a recommendation email or phone call from your bachelor advisor. This shows you're so worthy for your advisor that he takes time to recommend you.</p>\n\n<p>Note: In case the professor does not already know you, it might be somewhat hard to get his/her attention just by mail as they receive a number of such mails every day.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40158,
"author": "Nick Vence",
"author_id": 30542,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30542",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To summarize some <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40090/using-industry-experience-to-recover-from-bad-undergrad-record/40091#40091\">other advice</a>, attend weekly departmental seminars and ask questions (during or after) the presentation. These meetings are designed to inspire, and you need not be an official student to attend. </p>\n\n<p>Professors really like what they do, and it is flattering when students ask honest questions about their research. Taking the initiative to attend another department's seminar and being inquisitive will raise your status from ordinary student to extraordinary student. Finally, befriending a faculty is a huge step towards acceptance into any graduate department.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41327,
"author": "bcmcmahan",
"author_id": 31479,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31479",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When applying to graduate school, I read two recent papers of every professor I wanted to work with. Of course, I only picked professors that were interesting to me. Then, I read those two papers thoroughly (which, in itself requires some explanation; basically, produce a one page precis containing a summary, the weak points, and possible extensions) and emailed the professors with questions on it, both clarification and analytical. </p>\n\n<p>If you want to grab a professor's attention, show him that you're a student who is thinking along similar lines, who is competent, and will require little energy to motivate and train. The demonstration of a synergistic relationship is important. Ultimately, that's not only what professors should want out of students, but what students should want out of the professor. Entering into an advisor-advisee relationship is a serious commitment and personality clashes make that difficult. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29971",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22920/"
] |
29,975 |
<p>I worked in a research laboratory last summer and some of my work was used in a paper that was published this year at a conference. This is my first paper and I am listed as a co-author, however, my last name was spelled wrong.
I have a capital “i” in the middle of my last name that was mistaken for a lowercase “L”.</p>
<p>Firstly, what steps should I take to correct this? Is it best to contact my supervisor from the lab and ask them to correct it or should I attempt to do so myself?</p>
<p>Secondly, in the future should I change my last name spelling to use a lowercase "i" in the middle to avoid this occurring again? I am an undergraduate student, but I am interested in pursuing a career in research.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38110,
"author": "Alireza",
"author_id": 28811,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28811",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another way to get the attention of the professor is a recommendation email or phone call from your bachelor advisor. This shows you're so worthy for your advisor that he takes time to recommend you.</p>\n\n<p>Note: In case the professor does not already know you, it might be somewhat hard to get his/her attention just by mail as they receive a number of such mails every day.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40158,
"author": "Nick Vence",
"author_id": 30542,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30542",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To summarize some <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40090/using-industry-experience-to-recover-from-bad-undergrad-record/40091#40091\">other advice</a>, attend weekly departmental seminars and ask questions (during or after) the presentation. These meetings are designed to inspire, and you need not be an official student to attend. </p>\n\n<p>Professors really like what they do, and it is flattering when students ask honest questions about their research. Taking the initiative to attend another department's seminar and being inquisitive will raise your status from ordinary student to extraordinary student. Finally, befriending a faculty is a huge step towards acceptance into any graduate department.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41327,
"author": "bcmcmahan",
"author_id": 31479,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31479",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When applying to graduate school, I read two recent papers of every professor I wanted to work with. Of course, I only picked professors that were interesting to me. Then, I read those two papers thoroughly (which, in itself requires some explanation; basically, produce a one page precis containing a summary, the weak points, and possible extensions) and emailed the professors with questions on it, both clarification and analytical. </p>\n\n<p>If you want to grab a professor's attention, show him that you're a student who is thinking along similar lines, who is competent, and will require little energy to motivate and train. The demonstration of a synergistic relationship is important. Ultimately, that's not only what professors should want out of students, but what students should want out of the professor. Entering into an advisor-advisee relationship is a serious commitment and personality clashes make that difficult. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29975",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22931/"
] |
29,989 |
<p>I found in a medical paper from the 1990's a non-citation like this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The results and terminology by John Smith, Jane Poe, John Doe, Richard Roe, Larry Loe, <em>Journal of Scientific Papers</em>, 12345-698 (3), are unscientific [Brown, 1997; Lawrence 1985]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, they want to unequivocally reference the paper by Smith et al; but as they consider it bad, they don't want to give them a citation. I have never seen that before. Also, I am not familiar with the field, so I can't say how bad that paper is.</p>
<p>Citations are considered as a measurement of the impact of a paper, and as such, a proxy for its quality. On the other hand, people cite papers even to criticise them (you did it all wrong, people!).</p>
<p>Is this non-citation ethical? How bad would the paper have to be to justify it?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29992,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>\"Citations are considered as a measurement of the impact of a paper, and as such, a proxy for its quality.\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Many people, including me, agree that these considerations are not appropriate; the second even more so than the first. However, using a practice as you describe, i.e. citing a paper but not adding it to the bibliography, could work in the direction that citation indeed stand a bit more for \"impact\" and \"quality\". However, since are so many more flaws with the impact factor and bibliometrics as a measure for anything else than the number of citations (such as self-citations, citations \"forced\" by reviewers, citations rings in the vanity press, citing without reading the paper…) I would say that it does not make sense to use a practice of citing without citing.</p>\n\n<p>My brother proposed a <a href=\"http://janlo.de/wp/2010/04/04/scientific-citation-markup/\">\"markup\" for citations</a> which goes in the same direction, i.e. something like</p>\n\n<pre><code>\\cite[negative]{PaperWithSevereErrors}\n\\cite[community feeling]{PopularPaperWithNoSpecificRelation}\n\\cite[please journal editor]{AnyPaperOfEditor}\n\\cite[enforced by a referee]{SuggestedPaper}\n\\cite[proof or evidence elsewhere]{TechnicalPaper}\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>but I guess that this proposal has to be taken with a grain of salt…</p>\n\n<p>In another direction: Citations say on what work you build your own. If there is a paper which you find horrible and which you do not build upon, is there a need to cite it? If you simply want to bash some others work, use a blog post, or probably even don't do it at all. However, if you think that the respective paper is bad but used by others nonetheless and want to emphasize in what way it is flawed than you have to cite it properly as your contribution really builds upon that paper.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29993,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As editor I would not accept this in a publication. If it is published it should be referenced. Yes, it bumps the references for the authors and yes, bad science may attract a fair amount of citations for all the right?/wrong? reasons. But, it is not up to the authors to decide how referencing should be made, journals have guidelines that should be followed. Having the citation properly referenced makes it easier for others to find the article and see it for themselves. </p>\n\n<p>Furthermore, from another point of view the statement that something is \"unscientific\" is not appropriate either. It is an opinion. The cited paper can be unscientific but the academic way to show this is not to just say it but to prove it.</p>\n\n<p>Your quote is a specific case, of which I know nothing, so the reply concerns the general case but I would react if I saw something like that in a paper I edit and I would ask the authors to stick to facts.</p>\n\n<p>One last point is that if a paper is really bad, then it should be considered for retraction. That is how scientifically extremely poor, bordering on dangerous, papers are handled.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30003,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This looks an awful lot like a reference to a secondary source where for whatever reasons the authors were unable to find primary source (in your example the paper by Smith and colleagues) and instead is relying on the secondary sources by Brown and Lawrence. In <a href=\"https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/09/\" rel=\"nofollow\">APA style</a> this would look like </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In Seidenberg and McClelland's study (as cited in Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993), ...</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>and wouldn't have the date and journal of the primary source, but there is substantial variation in citation styles.</p>\n\n<p>If, however, the paper by Smith and colleagues is readily available, then it is bad form not to use the primary source and instead rely on the secondary sources.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30030,
"author": "Scott Seidman",
"author_id": 20457,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20457",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's most certainly bad form. Let's say you read a paper that you believe is wrong, and you want to write a paper saying how wrong it is. </p>\n\n<p>If you cite the paper, yes, the wrong paper will get the citation, but when people who know how to use the literature (less and less every year -- sigh) look up the original paper, they have a fair chance that bibliographical tools will point them to the new paper. This should help correct the literature, and prevent the wrong paper from being cited for years to come. The citations will eventually die down for the wrong paper.</p>\n\n<p>In contrast, if you don't cite it, it will be harder for the community to learn that its wrong-- thus YOU ARE HURTING YOUR FIELD by not using every tool at your disposal to correct the literature!!</p>\n\n<p>As to ethics, it's certainly not plagiaristic with the full citation appearing in the text. You're not trying to hide anything. It's just wrongheaded and somewhat petulant, but I'm not sure I would call it an ethical breach of real magnitude. It certainly doesn't make the author look good.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30046,
"author": "David",
"author_id": 20473,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20473",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A citation is not a recommendation. One of the purposes of citing a paper is that readers of your paper can check what use you have made of it. I would say that this is at least as important when you are criticising that paper as it is in the contrary case. If you criticise the paper and do not make it as easy as possible for the reader to find that paper, then it could be felt that you are hindering any attempt to tell whether or not it is in fact <em>your</em> comments that are \"unscientific\".</p>\n\n<p>(I am sure you understand that this is hypothetical and I am not suggesting that there is any such intention in your own case.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30047,
"author": "h22",
"author_id": 10920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10920",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No. If some existing work is really somewhat pseudoscience only, it is unlikely to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, to start from. However if major flaws have only been discovered after publication, such history must be cited properly, including the published reference to the analysis, why unscientific. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30069,
"author": "E.P.",
"author_id": 820,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/820",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One thing to consider is that one way to judge the quality and impact of a specific publication is to actually look at the references that cite it. If you formally cite it, you will appear in such a list:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Papers citing "A is good", J. Smith et al., <em>J. Sci. Pa.</em> 1, 23</h3>\n<p>[...]</p>\n<ul>\n<li>"A is actually terrible", A. Green and B. Black, <em>J. Sci. Pa.</em> 4, 56</li>\n</ul>\n<p>[...]</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>An unorthodox citation will remove your paper from this, and will deprive people investigating J. Smith et al.'s claims of the chance to easily find your refutation.</p>\n<p>I should note that no literature search is really complete until you take at least the key works in the field and look carefully at the papers that cite it, and this is something that people do look at.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30095,
"author": "Stuart Golodetz",
"author_id": 9320,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9320",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's not obviously <em>ethically</em> bad, but it's a poor way of going about things. You cite papers for a number of reasons:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>To place your own work in context (to show the way in which your work relates to that of others).</li>\n<li>To help your readers find other papers in the field.</li>\n<li>(Somewhat more tenuously) To demonstrate your own awareness of the broader field in which you work and thereby imply that there might be a slightly higher chance that you know the subject well enough to make your work interesting. (Of course, work done in isolation can also be interesting, so this doesn't entirely hold water.)</li>\n<li>(Sad, but not entirely uncommon) To avoid your paper being sent back by a reviewer who was saddened that his/her own paper wasn't cited.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In none of these cases does citing a paper in and of itself imply that you endorse the contents of that paper. (In the last case, people have been known to say mildly complimentary things, which do count as endorsing the paper to some extent, but the fact of citation itself doesn't.)</p>\n\n<p>As a result, you should cite all papers that you feel are relevant, and explain your views on them in the text. If you think a paper's relevant but rubbish, you can always say things like:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In \\cite{Foo}, Foo et al. described an early method for crawling Bars.\n This work unfortunately had a number of significant downsides,\n including its failure to maximise your whiskey intake per unit time.\n More recent works \\cite{Baz} have addressed this issue by focusing\n exclusively on Whiskey Bars.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It's less helpful to say something like:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>There was some work by Foo et al. that focused on generic Bars and\n wasn't great. However, the exciting work by Baz and Wibble \\cite{Baz},\n which focuses exclusively on Whiskey Bars, has addressed this issue.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As a reader, I might still want to read the sub-optimal work of Foo et al. to better understand the limitations of their approach. By citing it, you help me do that.</p>\n\n<p>More generally, judging the quality of a paper by the number of citations is an inaccurate business at best - you can write a bad paper and get all of your friends to cite it, and you can write a good paper that gets ignored. Number of citations tells you a little about the impact your paper has had (if only on your friends in some cases), but nothing about whether it's any good. A bad paper can have a greater impact than a good one.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29989",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587/"
] |
29,991 |
<p>I am currently in a very embarrassing situation.</p>
<p>I have a paper (forgot to say, this paper takes no more than two pages) submitted to a journal. The journal accepted my paper for publication and I saw it online. But today I found that my paper disappeared without notifying me! I emailed them, and a staff member replied that a reviewer asked them to withdraw my paper. The reason given for this was:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Your paper does not meet the requirements for publication.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And I then tracked the publisher and the editorial policy, I found the journal is nearly a predatory one. First, it is a new journal, published only for one year. They require no publication fees only this year, from next year on, they do require! Second, the publisher is in the famous <a href="http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/">list</a> of predatory publishers. Also, it took only two and a half weeks from submission to acceptance.</p>
<p>On top of this, I may face problems because I have used this paper to apply some scholarship.</p>
<p>What can I do?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 30002,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The most important thing you need to do is figure out the copyright status. If you have given them exclusive rights to reproduce the work, then you may not be able to publish it anywhere else. It is likely that the copyright transfer was part of a publication contract where the publisher has agreed to publish your work in exchange for the copyright transfer. Hopefully, the publisher will given up the rights you transferred to them. If they won't, you may need to get a lawyer to explore your options.</p>\n\n<p>Having listed the paper in a scholarship application is problematic. Paper-based journals and journals that generate DOIs create a permanent record of the published papers. In your case, it seems a published paper has simply disappeared. I would write to the places you have submitted an application and explain the situation. something along the lines of</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The paper XXX, which I listed on my application, was published by YYY. Unfortunately, YYY is a known predatory publisher and has since made the paper unavailable. I still stand behind the research; attached is a copy of that work. I am currently working towards resubmitting the manuscript to a reputable publisher. I am sorry for any problems this causes.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30018,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's hard to give objective advice without knowing more about the case, especially which journal, but this journal's behavior is surprising. Usually fake journals will publish <em>anything</em> as long as you pay for it.</p>\n\n<p>Some have as strategy to generously offer free publishing to 'high quality papers' (which tells you something about the papers that don't fall in this category by their standards...) or to Western authors. In the later case, the goal is to give a false appearance of international recognition to cater for the needs of (mostly, but not limited to, India- and China-based) authors to publish in 'international' journals. Of course <em>they have no real strategy to archive the work that they receive</em>, they probably have no data management or backup strategy, nothing. I suspect some operate from internet cafés. It's frequent that entire journals just vanish without a trace, and without reimbursing the APCs, obviously.</p>\n\n<p>In your case, why would they not publish your paper is mysterious, but is probably not unrelated to the fact that you didn't pay anything. It's <em>possible</em> that they actually evaluated it and found an issue with it (plagiarism, ethical concerns, blatant off-topic, etc.) or that it didn't serve their purpose of legitimating the trash that they accept for a fee, but only you can know if this is an option.</p>\n\n<p><em>Or</em>, they have bad intentions, from which I can think of a few:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>They will ask for money to publish it.</li>\n<li>They will want to sell you back the rights.</li>\n<li>They will sell the content to some unscrupulous scholar who will publish it as his/her own.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>At any rate, brace yourself, anything is possible. I would recommend, in the short-term, to upload a pre-print on your personal website to give access to it to your scholarship committee, even if the copyright contract prevents you to do so. Fake journals rarely have the firepower (or enough legal notions) for seriously fighting over copyright issues. You should also tell your story to Beall, at least for the sake of warning other scholars.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29991",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
29,994 |
<p>I've seen many theses with long long title.</p>
<p>I understand that can help to narrow down the scope of the thesis.</p>
<p>Yet, I was recently asked to think of the title of my thesis, and I don't like those long long titles.</p>
<p>Is something in the form of "On XXX of YYY" a good title?</p>
<p>For instance, </p>
<ul>
<li><p>"On the uncountability of real numbers"</p></li>
<li><p>"On the identification of biological systems"</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I think this can make the thesis rather straightforward. Is such a title specific enough to attract the intended audience? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 29998,
"author": "MA Ali",
"author_id": 22859,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22859",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>That name made me curious and i opened the Question. But i did not got from name what is it about. </p>\n\n<p>If thesis is about to make people curious, then go for it. but if you want a name that one is real representation of your thesis. Then choose an alternate. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30007,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The title of a work is the first thing that people will use to decide whether to read it or not. You want it to say as clearly and lucidly as possible what it is that you have contributed. If you title something \"On XXX of YYY\", then that says you've done a loosely coupled collection of investigations regarding the relationship of XXX and YYY. If, however, the important conclusion of your thesis is more specific, it's good to say that in your title.</p>\n\n<p>To make up an example, compare:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>\"On the diet of Antarctic seals\": this document studied diet exhaustively, and came up with very thorough data but no particularly big surprises.</li>\n<li>\"Antarctic seal diet dependent on frozen pizza\": this document studied diet, and found something rather bizarre that clearly needs more study.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In sum: short is good, but unnecessarily vague is bad.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30011,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I personally don't care for this style of title. Seeing a title like \"On the cromulence of blobs\" makes me wonder: What exactly <em>about</em> the cromulence of blobs is the author investigating? Why doesn't she just tell me? It tends to leave me less piqued than frustrated, and gives me the subconscious suggestion that rather than producing a specific result, the paper is just going to ramble on about blobs and their cromulence.</p>\n\n<p>But in general, for choosing a title: the first question is, what kind of thesis did you write? Some theses (especially doctoral) are <strong>original</strong> and present new results, others (especially undergraduate and sometimes masters) are <strong>expository</strong> and simply explore existing results.</p>\n\n<p>For an <strong>original thesis</strong>, my advice would be to choose a rather specific title that accurately describes your results, even if it is long. I would use the following rule of thumb to evaluate potential titles: look at all the papers you know that contain closely related work (hopefully you have cited all of them, so all you should need to do is open your bibliography). For each of them, ask yourself: <strong>Does my title make it clear that what I did is different from what's in this other paper?</strong> If not, your title is not specific enough. Other researchers doing related work will want to be able to tell at a glance whether your thesis is likely to address the question they have in mind.</p>\n\n<p>For an <strong>expository</strong> thesis, a more general title is fine: just state the topic that you wrote about. People are unlikely to come looking for such a thesis with a specific question in mind; they may read your thesis more for a general overview of the topic.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29994",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22947/"
] |
30,005 |
<p>I have several papers in IEEE Xplore. I have uploaded their pre-print versions in academia.edu. But when I search in Google Scholar, I can't find the links of those I uploaded in academia.</p>
<p>What should I do to show up the link of my free papers alongside with the original published ones in Google Scholar search? Where should I upload the free versions?
I am an undergrad student and I do not have any official website/e-mail.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 30009,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the preprint version of the paper has been indexed by Google Scholar, then Scholar should show that version of the paper as well. Assuming that it's permissable under the publisher's rules, you could post the paper on your personal web site and Scholar would eventually find and index it. However, you can't explicitly add anything to Scholar's index. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 56096,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As best as I can tell, your IEEE Xplore papers and Academia.edu papers <em>do</em> appear on your Google Scholar profile. You simply need to click \"All <em>x</em> versions\" once you've selected the paper.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30005",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22958/"
] |
30,008 |
<p>I teach a course, every week I assign homework. I put several hours to choose the right homework problems which cover the course material and permit them to be prepared for the exams.</p>
<p>I encourage students coming to my office hours and to ask all of their questions, I may also help them to solve the homework problems. During the class I normally give some hints about the homework's difficult problems (in any). </p>
<p>The homework load is (in my opinion) reasonable: 4-5 exercises, maybe 3-4 out of them are easy and maybe 1-2 is a little challenging. The homework has 10% point.</p>
<p>Today, to my surprise I saw a user who has asked all of my homework problems (including the easy ones) on math stackexchange. And all of them have been answered. Regarding the particularity of my homework problems and the time of posting the questions, I am sure that the user is one of my students, I am not sure which one. </p>
<p>To be precise I had not prohibited the students about posting the homework questions online as I was not expecting this situation. </p>
<p>My question is what is the best strategy to deal with this situation.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 30012,
"author": "Dr Porkchop",
"author_id": 22961,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22961",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I had this happen in my biostatistics course a few years ago, with Yahoo Answers. </p>\n\n<p>I told that class that every single person was going to get an F for the semester for academic misconduct unless the student(s) came forward and admitted their action.</p>\n\n<p>Then I went to Yahoo Answers, made a bunch of fake accounts, and posted tantalizingly wrong answers to all of my own HW questions. I have told all subsequent students not to google the HW answers because there are wrong solutions out there.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30014,
"author": "nivag",
"author_id": 14115,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14115",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not sure what my opinion of this really is.</p>\n\n<p>On one hand is asking on the internet really that different from asking a friend how to do a particular piece of homework, or even just looking up the method in a textbook.</p>\n\n<p>Presumably you think that looking the answer up on the internet will not result in your students learning the material as well working out how to do it for themselves. The result of this is that the students will do worse in their final exams which are worth distinctly more than 10%.</p>\n\n<p>You could give your students a gentle reminder of this at the start of the next lecture/course. Hopefully, they will listen to you and try and do the work on their own. If not, I wouldn't feel bad for them if they did poorly in their exams. </p>\n\n<p>Some people may be concerned that not punishing this behavior is encouraging students to cheat and gain extra marks for their homework. I would say you are quite naive if you think students wouldn't ask each other how to do the homework anyway. It is very hard to police these sorts of things which is probably one of the reasons they have a relatively low weighting.</p>\n\n<p>Personally, I would give homeworks zero weighting as this removes any incentive for students to try and improve their mark this way. The questions would probably still be asked but that is more because students don't like going to office hours.</p>\n\n<p>While you probably could try punish the offending student under your institution's academic integrity rules, I think you will have difficulties identifying the culprit without significant effort and possibly underhand tactics from your part. Even if you could identify them I wouldn't for the reasons outlined above.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30008",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12871/"
] |
30,020 |
<p>I've been working a Software Engineer for almost 7 years. A few months ago I finalized my Master's degree on Computer Science, and now I'm thinking in applying to a Phd program in a European College.</p>
<p>I have no prior experience in research -besides the Dissertation for the Msc- so now my resume is very enterprise oriented. I'm a big fan of <a href="http://www.careercup.com/resume" rel="noreferrer">Gayle Laakmann resume tips</a>, so the current version of my resume is very goal-oriented and brief but I'm not sure if that's what academia expects of a resume.</p>
<p>Do you have any suggestions on how to do a resume to applying to a Phd Position in Computer Science? Also, a template or an example would be of great help.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 37411,
"author": "user27975",
"author_id": 27975,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27975",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>All scholars want to pursue PhD. They intend to study the new and past problems so that they can redesign the novel theory for the well-being of the globe. In that case,if he or she expects to take PhD, he or she must gain the qualities such as: *Firstly:He or She must obtain continental country-wise Marks in every sphere of educational stage what Europe requires. Secondly: She or He has to take M.Phil or equivalent in the particular track's research work.Thirdly: He or She must overview the rules and regulations for the pursuant of PhD.He or she has to apply with all credentials such as:Transcripts, Certificates, Passport, ID Card, Social Security Number, Application Fees, English Language Proficiency Test Scores which requires and schedule time submitted.Fourthly: She or He has to completed a resume or CV, Personal statement, a research proposal and 2/3 recommendation letters which requires if applicable.\nFinally: He or she makes up of his or her mind to design a dynamic research quested problems and resolves ideas where the scientific world can gain a novel theory's inspiration for the discipline of Computer Science so that the reviewers can throw a satisfaction to innovative a new policies for the well-being of the mankind and womankind. In that solution anybody of the globe can find out a good path to pursue an educational career goals.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 37428,
"author": "sevensevens",
"author_id": 14754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14754",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I've never heard of a University admitting students based on a resume. Universities use transcripts, standardized test, statements of purpose, and letters of recommendation to admit students.</p>\n\n<p>The statement of purpose is probably the closest to a resume, but this is meant to be more of a narrative of why you're pursuing a PhD, not a sales pitch about how awesome you are (which is what a resume is).</p>\n\n<p>From your question it sounds like you may not have much experience with graduate research. This is fine, but it sounds like you're approaching the PhD as another job, which is wrongheaded. A PhD gets you out of the trenches of customer demands and allows you to focus on \"pie in the sky\" problems. If you want to remain business focused, a PhD may not be for you.</p>\n\n<p>If you do want a PhD, you should speak with your profs. from your MS degree. They will be able to guide you towards universities and programs that will appreciate your industry experience. Is there a reason you don't want to apply in the US (using the word resume suggest you're American). </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30020",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21687/"
] |
30,021 |
<p>I have collected some papers regarding the subject of my M.A. thesis, but I have some articles that I couldn't find where they were published. The point is when I Google the title of the article, Google shows me that the article has been cited more than 60 times, but I can't find where and in what journal. How can I find the journal in which these articles were published? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 30022,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Sometimes the route that seems most tedious can end up being the most efficient. I would try looking at some of those 60+ references. Any work that's been cited so many times will have to have the source listed in the bibliography sections of those references. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30023,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Google Scholar typically offers \"Cite\" button that will give you its best bibliographic information available on the citation. That will usually give you everything you need. If not, follow the links in Scholar to where it found the article, and there will usually be bibliographic information. And you can also do as @aeismail suggests and look at how others have cited it.</p>\n\n<p>For some particularly odd or obscure articles, however, you may still be unable to find an appropriate set of journal/conference information. For example, technical manuals often have no official publication, but just an online reference site that is being maintained. Another example is the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlson_Curve\" rel=\"nofollow\">Carlson Curve</a> is widely referenced but has no official publication beyond a series of blog posts. Still, there is always a correct way to cite: follow the principle of giving the most complete and persistent data that will allow others to find the same information that you found.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30021",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22967/"
] |
30,024 |
<p>This is a follow up question from <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11149/what-are-the-potential-pitfalls-of-having-a-phd">this one</a>. From what I read in that question I understood that in most cases the PhD is not a good idea to grow a good career in the industry. </p>
<p>However I contacted two people in the industry who have PhDs in machine learning and data mining and they work in Amazon Germany as machine learning scientists or data miners. They told me almost any job in data mining or machine learning requires a PhD.</p>
<p>My question is: do the same pitfalls for other fields also apply for PhDs in machine learning and data mining? If not, then are there still other pitfalls?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 30026,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The statement \"PhD is not a good idea for a career in industry\" is not always true. It depends both on the field but also on the type of job you want to do. For some things, like programming, experience in industry is often considered much more useful than advanced degrees. However, if you are aiming for a position that involves advanced research and development (like some machine-learning jobs), you will most likely be required to have a PhD, or at least have a major advantage.</p>\n\n<p>It is possible that you might earn less or advance slower in a PhD research-type position, but I don't think salary level or rank are necessarily the way to measure career success.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30028,
"author": "Compass",
"author_id": 22013,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22013",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Supply and demand plays a large part into why I believe the \"PhD is not a good idea\" comes across. To be fair, a PhD will probably NEVER hurt your chances. It's more whether it will HELP your chances. I find what's best is to demonstrate exactly what each degree provides in a theoretical job application.</p>\n\n<p>A BS in CS, MS in CS, and PhD in Machine Learning (with BS/MS in CS) all apply to a job that is asking for computer science skills.</p>\n\n<p>The BS provides programming at a basic level and maybe a few upper level skills.</p>\n\n<p>The MS provides what the BS does along with additional experience in concepts such as the development cycle. He may have also had some work experience.</p>\n\n<p>The PhD provides what the MS does plus a research in the background of machine learning (probably not applicable to most jobs).</p>\n\n<p>The PhD really doesn't offer significantly more in a practical sense. The PhD can still get the job, but the advantage the PhD has over the MS is much smaller than the MS over the BS. If the MS will do, it may depreciate the value of the PhD (it won't hurt you, but it won't help you as much). When you're competing for the same Master's-level equivalent position, you're in a very big pool of potential candidates, given how there are naturally more MS holders than PhD holders.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Now we'll take the same candidates, and apply the same people to a machine learning job instead.</strong></p>\n\n<p>The BS has probably never heard of machine learning or taken a class.</p>\n\n<p>The MS may have one class worth of experience in machine learning. It would be quite rare for an MS to have work experience with machine learning as well.</p>\n\n<p>The PhD has dedicated a significant amount of time in machine learning. Probably knows everything about theory, and has written his own software.</p>\n\n<p>In this case, the PhD has significantly more experience simply due to his field of study. Probably the only candidate, or one of a few, and has an actual machine learning background.</p>\n\n<p>If you plan to get a PhD in machine learning and then decide to code general enterprise environment software, it's not going to help. If you get that PhD and then decide to work in a cutting-edge environment that actually implements machine learning, you'll probably be the top candidate. Also keep in mind that there are far more general development jobs than there are for machine-learning. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30034,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As a person who has hired quite a few people in industry, I will simply say that <strong>advanced areas</strong> (or even areas that are <em>perceived</em> to be advanced) <strong>often see PhDs being preferable</strong>. In this respect I completely agree with Bitwise.</p>\n\n<p>I do not, however, agree that you might earn less. <strong>Those with sought-after skills get paid well in industry</strong>. It is about supply and demand but supply (people who can do the job) is not high and demand is growing.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Machine-learning is hot in the business literature</strong>. That is, managers are <em>becoming</em> well informed about the potentials of machine-learning and they are becoming worried that the only way they can compete for the long-term is by taking advantage of this area.</p>\n\n<p>While lower-level programming jobs might not see any benefit from higher qualifications, areas like machine-learning are not seen as lower-level.</p>\n\n<p>To answer your main question, are there pitfalls of having a PhD if you want a job in industry? The answer is no. I am unaware of anyone who has ever thought lower of a job candidate because they have a PhD. Yes, you could get a job without one but for your areas of interest, a PhD will give you lots of advantage when it comes to getting job offers.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30024",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10497/"
] |
30,031 |
<p>US universities typically organize visit weekends for newly admitted graduates, after which the latter confirm or refuse the offer. Is there any research/study/survey that looked at the impact of the visit weekend weather on the admitted graduates' grad school decision?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 30026,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The statement \"PhD is not a good idea for a career in industry\" is not always true. It depends both on the field but also on the type of job you want to do. For some things, like programming, experience in industry is often considered much more useful than advanced degrees. However, if you are aiming for a position that involves advanced research and development (like some machine-learning jobs), you will most likely be required to have a PhD, or at least have a major advantage.</p>\n\n<p>It is possible that you might earn less or advance slower in a PhD research-type position, but I don't think salary level or rank are necessarily the way to measure career success.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30028,
"author": "Compass",
"author_id": 22013,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22013",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Supply and demand plays a large part into why I believe the \"PhD is not a good idea\" comes across. To be fair, a PhD will probably NEVER hurt your chances. It's more whether it will HELP your chances. I find what's best is to demonstrate exactly what each degree provides in a theoretical job application.</p>\n\n<p>A BS in CS, MS in CS, and PhD in Machine Learning (with BS/MS in CS) all apply to a job that is asking for computer science skills.</p>\n\n<p>The BS provides programming at a basic level and maybe a few upper level skills.</p>\n\n<p>The MS provides what the BS does along with additional experience in concepts such as the development cycle. He may have also had some work experience.</p>\n\n<p>The PhD provides what the MS does plus a research in the background of machine learning (probably not applicable to most jobs).</p>\n\n<p>The PhD really doesn't offer significantly more in a practical sense. The PhD can still get the job, but the advantage the PhD has over the MS is much smaller than the MS over the BS. If the MS will do, it may depreciate the value of the PhD (it won't hurt you, but it won't help you as much). When you're competing for the same Master's-level equivalent position, you're in a very big pool of potential candidates, given how there are naturally more MS holders than PhD holders.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Now we'll take the same candidates, and apply the same people to a machine learning job instead.</strong></p>\n\n<p>The BS has probably never heard of machine learning or taken a class.</p>\n\n<p>The MS may have one class worth of experience in machine learning. It would be quite rare for an MS to have work experience with machine learning as well.</p>\n\n<p>The PhD has dedicated a significant amount of time in machine learning. Probably knows everything about theory, and has written his own software.</p>\n\n<p>In this case, the PhD has significantly more experience simply due to his field of study. Probably the only candidate, or one of a few, and has an actual machine learning background.</p>\n\n<p>If you plan to get a PhD in machine learning and then decide to code general enterprise environment software, it's not going to help. If you get that PhD and then decide to work in a cutting-edge environment that actually implements machine learning, you'll probably be the top candidate. Also keep in mind that there are far more general development jobs than there are for machine-learning. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30034,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As a person who has hired quite a few people in industry, I will simply say that <strong>advanced areas</strong> (or even areas that are <em>perceived</em> to be advanced) <strong>often see PhDs being preferable</strong>. In this respect I completely agree with Bitwise.</p>\n\n<p>I do not, however, agree that you might earn less. <strong>Those with sought-after skills get paid well in industry</strong>. It is about supply and demand but supply (people who can do the job) is not high and demand is growing.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Machine-learning is hot in the business literature</strong>. That is, managers are <em>becoming</em> well informed about the potentials of machine-learning and they are becoming worried that the only way they can compete for the long-term is by taking advantage of this area.</p>\n\n<p>While lower-level programming jobs might not see any benefit from higher qualifications, areas like machine-learning are not seen as lower-level.</p>\n\n<p>To answer your main question, are there pitfalls of having a PhD if you want a job in industry? The answer is no. I am unaware of anyone who has ever thought lower of a job candidate because they have a PhD. Yes, you could get a job without one but for your areas of interest, a PhD will give you lots of advantage when it comes to getting job offers.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30031",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452/"
] |
30,039 |
<p>When an academic apply for a faculty position, the main criteria of selection are usually his record of research and teaching (and other academic affairs).</p>
<p>For the case of research, it is straightforward: research publications, other research outputs, funding, etc.</p>
<p>But how one can have an exceptional record of teaching and academic affairs?</p>
<p>When someone has many high impact papers, he can be confident about his research records. With what records, one can be confident about his teaching/academic records?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 30049,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The following points would contribute to a good teaching record:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>List of courses</strong> that someone has given. Note that this shows the quantity of teaching, but not the quality. Still, I would consider it the key part of someone's teaching record, and to some extent quality might improve with quantity in this case.</li>\n<li>Undergraduate and graduate <strong>student theses</strong> that one has supervised. Some measure of teaching quality might be how well the theses were done (e.g. prizes/publications), even though this says more about the student than about the teacher.</li>\n<li><strong>Teaching evaluations</strong> from students. That's probably the best way to really assess the quality of teaching.</li>\n<li>A formal <strong>teaching qualification</strong> and any <strong>teaching prizes</strong> will be a nice bonus, of course.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30060,
"author": "Kate Gregory",
"author_id": 12693,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12693",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Defining or even giving an example of an exceptional record is hard. An easier thing is to compare two things, and see which one is more exceptional. So:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>you have only taught one course (perhaps multiple times) or you have taught a great number of courses. </li>\n<li>you have taken over courses that already existed, or you have introduced a topic to your department for the first time</li>\n<li>you have taught only undergrads, or at all levels within your university</li>\n<li>you have taught only your own department, or throughout your university</li>\n<li>you teach in one very narrow area, or a number of difficult topics</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>in all these cases, the second is more exceptional than the first. Then consider things like being nominated for (or winning) awards or commendations, and you can start to tell a story. Some rare people will have achievements like \"so many students want to be in my section of this course that I lecture in a 1000-seat hall\" and while this is certainly exceptional, you can construct a good tale of why you're great even if you don't have that particular anecdote.</p>\n\n<p>To me, it's put important to put your claim and the evidence together in a paragraph that starts by asserting your claim (\"I have an exceptional teaching record\") and goes on to back that up by listing what you've taught - or just stating a number if it's too many to list - and what's exceptional about your record. Don't just include a whole pile of facts about you and hope people will realize this means you're a great teacher. Show that you are and claim that you are. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30039",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13854/"
] |
30,040 |
<p>I have a problem with the courses I'm TAing. I am a math PhD student at a large (supposedly good) state university where the lower-division math classes are taught in the "discussion section" format (i.e. students go to a big lecture with clickers three days a week, and attend 30ish person sized recitation with a TA once a week). I teach three of these recitations.</p>
<p>When I first came here several years ago, I was shocked by the low quality of the courses I was assigned to. This was supposed to be a good school, yet the students are treated without respect, held to no standards, and come out knowing virtually nothing. Furthermore, there are strict limitations imposed on TAs, to the point where I feel that I am being actively prevented from teaching anything to my students. A breaking point came for me recently when my course coordinator made it mandatory for us to assign online quizzes through a third party "online instructional application," instead of administering handwritten quizzes in class. I have <em>very</em> strong objections to this, for multiple reasons that I could elaborate on, but they are not the point of this post.</p>
<p>The point is, I feel gross. I'm being forced to teach in a way that I find unethical and unreasonable, and every attempt that I have made to bring up an issue in the past has been met with complete inflexibility. It seems to be the culture of the department to dismiss the opinions of its graduate students.</p>
<p>I don't know how else to state my objections. I know I'm not in charge, and I don't want to be unprofessional, but I want to be heard. I have given serious thought to resigning with a public letter. However, even with that sacrifice, I'm not sure anyone would listen.</p>
<p>Is there anything I can do? How should I handle this situation?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 30045,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A first important note before I answer the actual question:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I don't know how else to state my objections. I know I'm not in charge, and I don't want to be unprofessional, but I want to be heard.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>From what it sounds like, you <em>were</em> heard (you have been given the chance to voice your objections on multiple occasions). The persons in charge just decided to not follow through with your suggestions, which is, in the abstract, completely ok for them to do (they are in charge, and you are not).</p>\n\n<p>I feel this is an important distinction to make - from what you have written in the post, there is nothing that rings a big alarm bell of grossly unethical behaviour to me. Yes, the thing with the commercial provider could be due to somebody personally profiting from the contract, but it could just as well be that the persons in charge honestly think that handling quizzes electronically will improve class. There are strict limitations on what TAs can do and teach in many big courses in many universities, this is often simply required for coordination between different recitation groups. That you feel the students are treated without respect and \"come out knowing virtually nothing\" sounds dramatic, but I am not entirely sure whether this is a fact or just your personal impression.</p>\n\n<p>One interesting question would be how other TAs and the undergrads see the situation. Are other TAs also of the impression that the quality in the courses is much lower than it could be? Do the students also feel treated without respect? If you have not done so yet, I would suggest you to verify that your opinion is indeed shared by a majority of the other involved stakeholders - and, if this is not the case, reflect critically whether you are just overreacting.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is there anything I can do? How should I handle this situation?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It sounds like you did what you could do (bring up your concerns with the responsible persons), and they decided to dismiss your concerns. At this point, you have basically two options:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><em>Quit TAing</em> - some statements in your (well-written) question sound like you have reached a level where you cannot justify working on the course anymore. In this case, the best thing to do is to leave. However, don't make a big fuss with a public letter etc. - I have seen similar things happen on multiple different occasions, and they <em>never</em> led to any substantial change and they <em>always</em> led to a plethora of public shaming and scapegoating of the letter writer. Don't put yourself into that position.</p></li>\n<li><p><em>Go on</em> - you have done what can reasonably expected from you in this position (notified the higher-ups, argued your objections), and they have decided to not change. You do not need to have any ethical concerns about leaving things be for now, and just move on teaching the course <em>even though you personally would do things entirely differently</em>. You are, as you say yourself, not in charge, so you don't need to beat yourself up over decisions which are not yours to make.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If you select the \"go on\" option, you can either resign from your cause entirely (and give up all hopes of change), or play the political game. As you are probably well aware, politicians everywhere (not only in congress, but also in companies, faculties, and any other collection of humans) are able to influence decisions that are not actually theirs to make by slowly swaying over the formal decision makers to their cause. This will only work \"from the inside\", so if you quit, this door is pretty much closed to you. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30053,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would strongly recommend against doing anything dramatic, such as resigning or publicly denouncing the course. I feel bad about discouraging acting on your beliefs, but I think it could actually hurt your career. There are two reasons for this:</p>\n\n<p>First, the topic of how to teach low-level mathematics courses has become contentious and politicized in recent decades. Unless this is actually your scholarly specialty, it's safest not to get too dramatically involved, particularly as a grad student. The problem is that you can easily find people who will embrace you as a champion or martyr, whichever side you are on. Even if you are sober and self-restrained (which would probably rule out a public letter), other people on your side will say provocative things and attract negative attention while supporting you. Controversy is dangerous for academic careers, since it's generally easier to veto hiring someone than to generate an offer. So if you acquire equal numbers of friends and enemies, your enemies can hurt you more than your friends can help you. Plus, if you want a research career, being known for inflexible opinions about low-level teaching will distract attention away from your research accomplishments. That distraction can be a problem even for people who agree with you.</p>\n\n<p>Second, you risk coming across like a worrisomely disruptive colleague. Most math departments contain at least one faculty member who regularly takes fervent stands on seemingly minor issues. They feel they have logically analyzed these issues, and they can't in good conscience cooperate with anything other than what they see as the logical option, since that would be a betrayal of the basic principles underlying mathematics. Coordinating with others or compromising play no role in the analysis, and it doesn't really matter how important the issue itself is (what matters is standing up for what's right). These people drive everyone else nuts, since they make it impossible to get anything done without either giving in to them about their pet issues or spending hours debating.</p>\n\n<p>I'm not saying you are necessarily disruptive in this way. You have chosen an important topic to get upset over, and you might be completely right about it. However, if a hiring committee hears that you resigned in disgust upon being asked to administer online quizzes, they will wonder what else you might make a fuss over. This could put them off even if they agree with your concerns about teaching, and there's no way to reassure them that it's really just this one issue.</p>\n\n<p>So what can you do while avoiding these dangers? One approach is to let the faculty handle this fight. If every faculty member disagrees with you, then your cause is hopeless in the short term and it's best just to calm down and finish your Ph.D. program without too much controversy. If some of them do agree with you, then it's not likely that publicly joining them as a grad student will shift the balance of power in the department. Instead, you can try to get your future TA assignments in courses they teach, while encouraging them behind the scenes in their attempts to change the department's approach.</p>\n\n<p>To the extent you take direct action, I'd look for approaches that don't cause extra work for anyone else. For example, if you resign, then someone will have to find a replacement for you (so they'll automatically be upset about it). But you might be able to improve the course by strategic volunteering. Could you prepare optional handouts meant to deepen the students' knowledge? Could you offer a few additional review sessions before exams? These sorts of things aren't going to effect the fundamental changes you seek, but they could at least make you feel better about having done something rather than nothing, and they may build some goodwill with the lecturer by showing that you really want to help the students.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30061,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Many new graduate students have idealized ideas about teaching. You should ask yourself whether your opinions are based on a long experience of teaching at similar schools, or only based on your impressions as a new TA of \"how things should be\". </p>\n\n<p>In my experience in the math departments at two 40,000+ student state universities, many new GAs have an idealized viewpoint that doesn't match reality. Here are a few important aspects of these schools that I didn't recognize when I first arrived at one: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>The typical student at a large state university is not as strong as many incoming GAs imagine. This is true even at highly-rated institutions. Yes, the students can do something - they are decent students. But the university has no way to find 10,000 \"graduate-quality\" high school seniors each year to admit as freshmen. Many of the students they do admit will still struggle with calculus, organic chemistry, and other traditionally \"hard\" courses. </p></li>\n<li><p>At a large institution, many of the students who don't struggle with calculus already took it and can place out of it, or will sign up for an honors calculus course if there is one to take. So the calculus classes aren't a representative sample of the student body, which increases the effect from the previous paragraph. </p></li>\n<li><p>Especially at large schools, students complain about unequal treatment. If every section of the calculus course ran differently - especially if some TAs decided to impose stricter standards than others - the likely result would be formal complaints by the students, which the departmental administration would have to resolve. So it is often a <em>goal</em> of the course coordinator to prevent each TA from making their section much different than other sections. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>A new GA only enters the program once, but faculty see a new crop of GAs every year. These new GAs are unfamiliar with the history of the department, and they do not attend the administrative meetings where the relevant faculty talk about how they want the courses to run. But the GAs often have opinions about how the courses <em>should</em> be run which the faculty know would be disastrous if implemented. The general tone of the question above sounds to my ear like the type of complaint permanent faculty have probably heard from many previous graduate students, so I'm not surprised if they quickly dismiss it. </p>\n\n<p>From the outside, it sounds as if the coordinator of your class is doing things to try to maintain quality. Using clickers in lecture, and using an online quiz system, are ways to increase student participation. </p>\n\n<p>With that said, let me answer:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is there anything I can do? How should I handle this situation?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As a TA, do your best in the situation you are in, and learn from your experience. Once you graduate, the format of the calculus course you once taught will be a very minor afterthought. If you end up in a position to decide on how calculus is taught at another school, you can use your experience then. </p>\n\n<p>If you take up a career in academia, there will be <em>many</em> irritating things that you have to do, with little flexibility. You can't win every battle, even if you think the other side is completely wrong. So you have to have a thick skin, and keep a focus on what is really important. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30065,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would recommend two things:</p>\n<ol>\n<li><p>Don't take responsibility for what you don't have authority over. For example, if the students ask why they have to take their quizzes online, the answer is "Because Prof. X said so." If they complain, don't try to justify Prof. X's decision. Just say "I have been explicitly told that I don't have any authority over this matter. You should go talk to Prof. X."</p>\n<p>Indeed, you have an opportunity to play good cop - bad cop. The powers that be have set up a system and a series of hoops to jump through. Become an expert on how the game is played. If old exams are publicly available, study them carefully and explain to your students what sorts of questions are likely to appear. If you present yourself as the students' ally against "the system", they will believe you when you give them advice and tell them that they really, really need to do their homework.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Keep this in mind in your job search. A lot of small liberal arts colleges pride themselves on offering an experience opposite to what you describe. Do a good job even in an environment you hate, and when twenty employers ask you "Why do you want to work at a liberal arts college?" in ten-minute interviews at the Joint Math Meetings, you will have a very convincing answer.</p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30040",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22980/"
] |
30,041 |
<p>I am a PhD student in mathematics, and I noticed that on my peers' CV's, they often list conferences they attended. It seems as if they just attended these conferences, they did not help organize, nor did they give a talk.</p>
<p><strong>Should I list conferences I only attended on my CV, or does it look like obvious filler?</strong></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 30042,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Maybe the customs are different in mathematics, but in computer science I would never consider putting attendance of an ordinary conference on a C.V. Now, there might be certain exceptional cases where there's some sort of exclusive prestigious invitation-only conference, but that would be a rather unusual case. Most of the time, the only thing that attending a conference shows is that you had access to enough money to be able to register and show up. I, at least, would see a list of conferences attended as filler.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30048,
"author": "h22",
"author_id": 10920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10920",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It may not be a big achievement just to <em>attend</em> a conference, however participation with the poster and especially oral presentation I think could be mentioned, especially by students who may not have any publications yet. </p>\n\n<p>Conferences should be listed separately, not confusing them with peer reviewed publications that are much more significant achievements. This list must include the header of your poster or presentation, co-authors, not just the name of the conference.</p>\n\n<p>After there are enough published serious works, a list of conferences does not make much sense.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30056,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In general, you can put pretty much whatever you want in your CV (unless there is a template, in which case deciding what to put or not should be pretty straight-forward). The question is: <strong>what is the point of putting a piece of information in your CV?</strong></p>\n\n<p>Usually, a CV is used in the context of a recruitment process, where the point, in the end, is to give reasons to the recruiter to recruit you instead of someone else. Hence, a piece of information contained in a CV should be instructive, for instance by ensuring that you do have the proper credentials, or by providing evidence that you can be apt to the position you are applying for. </p>\n\n<p>Perhaps attending conferences is something relatively rare in your field, and you have attended more than the average PhD students? In that case, listing all the conferences you have attended could indicate you are very interested in keeping up with recent advances in your field. It could also show that you enjoy travelling. Perhaps you have secure internal or external funding to attend that conference (i.e., the funding was not automatically given)? That's also good evidence. <strong>You could list them if it provides evidence for an aspect that you are willing to emphasise in your application.</strong> </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if the conferences you have attended had nothing special, or do not help emphasising any particular point, then you might want to keep the space in your CV for something else. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30041",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22503/"
] |
30,043 |
<p>I think I have only seen one CV where a photograph of the CV owner was included. I personally wouldn't want to put my photograph in my CV, but I was wondering, <strong>in what situations would including a photo if oneself within the CV be appropriate?</strong> </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 30052,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, there is no clear cut right or wrong here and the short answer as I see it is that there is no question of appropriateness, but maybe of impact. </p>\n\n<p>I see quite a few CVs at different stages in academia and the majority lack photos but a fair number carry them. From my perspective, I would say that persons in or aiming for academic education are the ones that to a larger extent add photos to their CVs. People applying for higher academic jobs, after their PhDs, do it less. The latter is likely due to the fact that when applying for such a job it is the merits (publications, teaching experience etc.) and the experience in research which receives all focus. An image is irrelevant.</p>\n\n<p>So why will (mainly) younger persons add photographs? I agree that tradition (e.g. in different countries) plays a role. I can also imagine that it may seem like a good way to present themselves amongst a more anonymous mass. Whether or not this is successful, I am not certain. But, it is true that these applications stick out and are noticed and for good reasons. As social beings we are used to see faces and communicate with persons so an image may have an effect. Unfortunately, due to irrelevant reasons but hopefully in very few instances, some people may also let the picture influence their views of applicants that overshadow the official selection criteria but that is another story.</p>\n\n<p>To add to the picture, most people have personal web pages of a facebook page with images of oneself and other things related to life and activities. A link to such pages (e.g. through a QR patch) could be more efficient to relate personal traits and interests than a photograph in a CV. This does not mean that all will take the time to see the pages.</p>\n\n<p>So for any academic use, I do not see an image as important. Use of a link to social media incl. web pages may suffice, if one thinks there is something valuable to see there. So the appropriateness is not an issue as I see it but the positive effect, if any, may decrease with time since important assessment criteria are progressively filled with information.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30055,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In the United States, you should never include a photo in an academic CV. It comes across as somewhat inappropriate, like you are deliberately drawing attention to your appearance and hoping it will influence the decision. (I know that's not actually the intent, but many people's gut reaction upon seeing the photo will be \"Why is the applicant showing me this? Do they think I should know what they look like before making a decision? How is that supposed to be relevant?\") If you are from a country in which photos are often included, then that will be understood as a reasonable explanation, but it will stand out as foreign. If you aren't from such a country, then it will look bad.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30057,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you apply for a job or for grad school in Germany, a photo will be more than appropriate (unless there are other rules or specific forms for the position or school). Indeed it is quite the norm to have a photo on your CV for job applications in Germany (both inside and outside academia). However, if you have a CV attached to, e.g., a grant proposal, then a photo would look strange.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30064,
"author": "Pavel",
"author_id": 17596,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17596",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My rule of thumb is to <strong>put a photo on a CV when there is a chance it will help you</strong>. Have you spoken on a conference and you want to be easily recognised by someone who could have seen you there? Have you talked to someone important, who happens to see a lot of people, and you want your CV to better remind them of you? Is the photo required officially or by local culture*? Then yes, put your (smiling) face on the CV .</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if there is a strict anti-discrimination policy in place at the particular institution, that discourages photos on CVs, then you better avoid sending yours with a photo.</p>\n\n<p>* As @Dirk mentions, it is appropriate to attach a photo to your CV if the recipient is in Germany (my current employer is a German company and I can say the photos are very useful very often), in the neighbouring Czech Republic, however, a CV with a photo is rarely seen and not really required. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/10/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30043",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22503/"
] |
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