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38,952 |
<p>I work for a company that has several projects involving computer vision. The literature rarely has papers on the exact problems we are solving. Furthermore, the state of the art in much of computer vision is often not reproducible or not ready for actual applications. Furthermore, the rate at which new papers come out in the areas we are interested in would make it very time consuming to digest most, let alone all of them.</p>
<p>On the other hand, we often get stuck and would like to get answers or at least inspiration from existing work.</p>
<p>Our goal in the end is to get to solutions as fast as possible. Does anyone have any guidance on how to balance time spent reading vs doing?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38953,
"author": "Simon",
"author_id": 29446,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29446",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'd look to the main conferences and focus on the most current papers, specifically the ones from researchers that have made their code available online, then you can more easily replicate their results. If it's computer vision work, you're talking deep neural networks now for most problems. In that case, you are very lucky, there are lots of open source and scaleable deep learning algorithms out there in many different languages to experiment with. I would pick a framework like Torch that has a lot of backing and is constantly getting updated with new results, that way you can download the latest research into a package you are familiar with. Caffe is also very popular. Graph Lab also has a deep learning module with a network structure pre-built for image classification problems.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 38956,
"author": "malarres",
"author_id": 9924,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9924",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Given that Computer Vision is a fast-paced research topic these days, I'd go for a Systematic Literature Review:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>A systematic review (also systematic literature review or structured literature review, SLR) is a literature review focused on a research question that tries to identify, appraise, select and synthesize all high quality research evidence relevant to that question.\n (source: <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematic_review\">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematic_review</a>)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>More specifically, Guidelines for performing Systematic Literature Reviews in\nSoftware Engineering could be helpful to you: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The stages associated with planning the review are:\n • Identification of the need for a review (See Section 5.1).\n • Commissioning a review (See Section 5.2).\n • Specifying the research question(s) (See Section 5.3).\n • Developing a review protocol (See Section 5.4).\n • Evaluating the review protocol (See Section 5.5).\n The stages associated with conducting the review are:\n • Identification of research (See Section 6.1).\n • Selection of primary studies (See Section 6.2).\n • Study quality assessment (See Section 6.3).\n • Data extraction and monitoring (See Section 6.4).\n • Data synthesis (See Section 6.5).\n The stages associated with reporting the review are:\n • Specifying dissemination mechanisms (See Section 7.1).\n • Formatting the main report (See Section 7.2).\n • Evaluating the report (See Section 7.3). </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>(source: <a href=\"http://www.elsevier.com/__data/promis_misc/525444systematicreviewsguide.pdf\">http://www.elsevier.com/__data/promis_misc/525444systematicreviewsguide.pdf</a> )</p>\n\n<p>As you may not need to <em>report</em> the review, you could skip this part. The thing I foresee more useful to you is that this system gives you insights about what you left behind in case you have to go back to study the literature, and it also helps to share the work among your colleagues.</p>\n\n<p>So, for example, once you've determined the conferences to read, the authors to follow, etc. you can start by reading the titles of the papers, that goes to a table. If the title seems promising, then read the abstract, so to another table. Finally you would have a stack of papers you have read completely, so you can write some lines about them in that very moment... and when you have a problem you didn't have before, you can re-read your previous work before searching for a new solution in the wild.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 38960,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is a wonderful quotation by Frank Westheimer that accurately summarizes the relationship between work and reading:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>A couple of months in the laboratory can frequently save a couple of hours in the library.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you don't know what's in the literature, you can easily spend days, weeks, or even months reinventing the wheel. It's tempting to get your hands dirty, but it can be a very expensive proposition if you later find that somebody else has already done the same thing.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 38967,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>On the other hand, we often get stuck and would like to get answers or at least inspiration from existing work. Our goal in the end is to get to solutions as fast as possible. Does anyone have any guidance on how to balance time spent reading vs doing?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In addition to the other great answers here, if this problem comes up frequently for you guys, you could consider associating in some way with a near-by researcher in computer vision. Their job is essentially to know the current state of research, and even if they don't know by heart whether a solution to a concrete problem exists, they should be able to figure it out relatively quickly (\"it\" being checking whether there is a published solution on this problem, not necessarily solving the problem if no known solution exists). </p>\n\n<p>What kind of relationship works for you guys differs from time to time - could be short-time consulting contracts, could be a longer-time joint project (if your problem is not yet solved and interesting to the researcher), could be something else entirely (I know researchers that joined the advisory board of a related company, and basically get paid for giving scientific advise on an irregular basis).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 38968,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your group is large enough, hiring a new Ph.D. every few years would make sure you always had someone who was up on the current literature.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42510,
"author": "kishjeff",
"author_id": 32367,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32367",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are in the product business as opposed to the research business then you have deliverable cost-timeline constraints probably. In this vein of thought I would imagine that the path worth considering is researching the best commercial/open source solutions available and \"foldable into your product\". This might be a library or other resource your products can use, as opposed to studying the latest research as that portends adding the effort of writing your own from scratch once you find a promising idea or technology.</p>\n\n<p>If on the other hand your business model includes complete R&D then tie your research stopping point to what offers a clear path to your deliverable. </p>\n\n<p>I would still in this case look at open source and commercial offerings as you could glean some path to a previously unconsidered technology path ie you might find something you would NOT use but which reveals a possible approach you have not considered or realized exists.</p>\n\n<p>HTH\nJeff</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38952",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29449/"
] |
38,959 |
<p>I'm currently a computer scientist, with work experience in both academia and industry. I'm starting to get very interested in the intersection of law and computer science. I do think we really need people that know law and computer science at the same time very well, to decide on the important issues currently we are dealing with.</p>
<p>What is the best way for me to deal with my decision? Do I need a law degree first, before I do research on this matter, If so I should start with an Bsc?; or should I apply for a junior research position in the law department? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38964,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You most certainly can work in the intersection without a law degree, and a number of prominent people have done so. A nice example is <a href=\"https://www.cics.umass.edu/people/rissland_edwina\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Edwina Rissland</a>, who is a well-known expert on machine reasoning about the legal code, and who actually taught at Harvard law school for quite some time without ever having a law degree. I heard one of her lectures on the subject once, and found it gave me a whole new understanding both about how our law really works and how we humans think about the world.</p>\n\n<p>Do note, however, that without a law degree, you will likely need some collaborators who <em>are</em> lawyers, to help you with their expertise in the subject, just as if you were digging into computational chemistry without being a chemist yourself. As for how to get into the area... just the same way as you would any other research area.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 100238,
"author": "Meng Weng Wong",
"author_id": 84247,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/84247",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Coincidentally, I started researching computational law around the time you originally posted the question. I've spent the last two years on fellowships at Harvard (<a href=\"http://cyber.harvard.edu/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Berkman Klein</a>), Stanford (<a href=\"http://codex.stanford.edu/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">CodeX</a>'s <a href=\"http://compk.stanford.edu/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">CompK</a>), and Ca'Foscari University of Venice (Venice is awesome).</p>\n\n<p>Some of my preliminary findings are available at</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://github.com/legalese/legalese.github.io/blob/master/doc/intro-course.org\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://github.com/legalese/legalese.github.io/blob/master/doc/intro-course.org</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://legalese.com/v1.0/page/past\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://legalese.com/v1.0/page/past</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://legalese.github.io/doc/chapter-201707.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://legalese.github.io/doc/chapter-201707.html</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://drive.google.com/open?id=10n25p2uwoDP91V-JbyFdWBSAbXfoZOlM-F9YmHeJk5s\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://drive.google.com/open?id=10n25p2uwoDP91V-JbyFdWBSAbXfoZOlM-F9YmHeJk5s</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Based on this research I believe there's a big opportunity, as Marc Andreessen at A16Z might say, for software to eat law.</p>\n\n<p>I'm working with a small research group to continue this line of research and ultimately produce some open-source software to illustrate the alignment between CS and law. If you'd like to get involved, please message me after you've skimmed the above materials, and maybe we'll discover some ways to collaborate!</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38959",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21552/"
] |
38,961 |
<p>I just received the feedback from the Editor-In-Chief that my paper has been rejected for publication in this high-ranking journal.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are several concerns raised by one of the reviewers. Therefore, it would not be possible to accept this paper for publication.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Based on the reviewers' comments, two of them seem to be in favor, as they raise no "substantial" concerns (they raise 5 and 4 points, respectively), i.e. their findings are mostly of a cosmetic nature (rephrase that, elaborate this, color the figures differently, correct a spelling mistake), and their recapitulation of the work is more precise than that of the third reviewer.</p>
<p>Now the third reviewer raises 6 points of concern. 4 of them are very valid remarks, however, they are not fundamental problems, at least, I don't perceive them as such, because they are easily amended (by at most 2 sentences each) and present no conceptual fallacies, i.e. as I see it, the particular parts are not clear to the reader and need additional explanations and more appropriate emphasis. The fifth concern addresses the structure of the paper, the reviewer proposes another ordering of the sections. The final point states the need for a discussion, which I indeed drafted, but chose not to include in the paper. It is not irrelevant, but it is not crucial for the problem, solution or background and could possibly distract the reader from the focus of the paper. In addition to space constrictions, this discussion was left out before submission.</p>
<p>Between submission and the decision, there was a change of the Editor-In-Chief at the journal. This might be the reason the review took longer than usual (10 instead of 6 weeks). Perhaps that could even influence the accepting policies...</p>
<p>After the first review, I'm used to getting rather harsh comments, either rejecting the paper or proposing another review cycle, it doesn't matter. The important part is usually that I get meaningful feedback about my paper and improve it. In this case, however, the reviewers' comments resemble something I would expect after the second or third review cycle, i.e. something that I can alleviate in a morning. </p>
<p>The problem is that I don't understand the reason for rejection. Even when I address all the reviewers' suggestions, I would still feel that nothing crucial has changed. Furthermore, when rejected, I can't submit the same paper to the same journal. I obviously intend to submit the paper to another journal. However, before doing so, I consider emailing the Editor-In-Chief and asking for more information regarding his decision. As things are now, the reviewers' comments state neither fundamental fallacies which imply that the paper is of low scientific value nor point how I could realistically improve on it. Is this a good idea? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 39015,
"author": "Jacques Wainer",
"author_id": 28968,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28968",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have never been an EIC but I have spoke to some, I have been a reviewer of many papers, and I have had the similar experiences as you described. </p>\n\n<p>It is probably useless to further inquire about your paper. The EIC decision could have been based on the private communication channels of the review process. The reviewer might have been lukewarm about your paper - maybe it was not a case of a substantial error but that the result was uninteresting. It could also be the case that the new EIC did not have the time for a careful consideration of your paper, of balancing the different reviews and based her decision on the less positive one. EIC are usually very overloaded and some of them explicitly use the rule of deciding based on the most negative review. If it is any of these two cases, you will not receive any further information from the EIC regarding your paper.</p>\n\n<p>My personal experience is that I was only able to change a EIC decision once, when the negative review was reasonably detailed and I could show that some of the main points made by the reviewer were 100% opposite of what was already written in the paper. The other occasions where I asked for more info or criticized what I thought was a wrong interpretation of the paper, I would receive a polite answer that the decision was made. </p>\n\n<p>Now, I wait a week until the frustration and the anger of how \"dumb is this reviewer\" subsides, make the the changes I think are reasonable and send to the another journal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40026,
"author": "Willie Wong",
"author_id": 94,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The editorial board's job is to keep out the worst papers, keep in the best papers, and make some (sometimes subjective) decision on which of the remaining to publish and which to reject. </p>\n\n<p>Note that it does <strong>not</strong> include helping your write your paper better. (Note that while <em>good</em> referee reports often do provide sufficient feedback for you to revise your paper accordingly, the main goal of the reports are to inform the editorial board to allow them to come to a decision.)</p>\n\n<p>EICs being busy as they are generally will not bother to carefully respond to requests for more information: all the info they can provide to you are already provided to you. It is possible that they made their decision in part on <em>confidential reports</em> by the referee to the editorial board (yes, most journals I referee for allow me to write a few sentences in private to the board that the authors don't get to see), and so cannot reveal that to you. It is possible that they are just so backlogged with submission right now that anything negative will cause them to reject. </p>\n\n<p>You are much better off finding a somewhat senior person in your field, show him or her your paper and all the referee reports, and ask for his or her opinion. Chances are one of the following is true:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>There are certain things that the referees wrote between the lines that you didn't quite understand yourself, and with this explained you can figure out how to much improve your paper.</li>\n<li>There are nothing strictly wrong about your paper, but maybe you were too ambitious in your original choice of journal (importance/sexiness of results and so on), and the senior person can point you to a more appropriate one. </li>\n<li>The senior person can, in an unbiased way, agree with you that your paper should not have been rejected, and that the EIC made a mistake to reject you. Then you just pretty it up and submit it to the next journal. </li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38961",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14133/"
] |
38,969 |
<p>Prompted by discussion in <a href="https://meta.mathoverflow.net/questions/2139/an-interactive-graph-of-mathoverflow-tags">this post on Meta.MathOverflow.net</a> I got interested in comparing usage of tags from <a href="https://mathoverflow.net/">MathOverflow</a> to submissions in the respective disciplines of <a href="http://arxiv.org/" rel="noreferrer">arXiv</a>. (Vide a similar idea of <a href="http://www.dataists.com/2010/12/ranking-the-popularity-of-programming-langauges/" rel="noreferrer">language popularity, GitHub vs StackOverflow</a> (or <a href="http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2015/01/14/language-rankings-1-15/" rel="noreferrer">one from 2015</a>).) Moreover, as people often use their real names on MO, it may be interesting to check the overlap of mathematicians.</p>
<p>The question is, how to get such data?</p>
<p>There is <a href="http://arxiv.org/help/api/user-manual#query_details" rel="noreferrer">arXiv API</a>, but for bulk downloads of metadata they recommend <a href="http://arxiv.org/help/oa/index" rel="noreferrer">Open Archives Initiative (OAI)</a>. Yet, as I see, it can query one article at a time, and one needs to know its id. So without knowing arXiv ids beforehand, it turns into a guessing game.</p>
<p>There are some plots in <a href="http://arxiv.org/help/stats" rel="noreferrer">arXiv usage statistics</a>, yet I don't see this exact data.</p>
<p>Also, one can get total submission to <code>math</code> from <a href="http://arxiv.org/archive/math" rel="noreferrer">links in Mathematics -> Article statistics by year</a>, but it misses the splitting into subdisciplines. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38982,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My main confusion was not realizing that <a href=\"http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/openarchivesprotocol.htm\">The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting</a> is a separate protocol, not a subset of arXiv API.</p>\n\n<p>In this case, the relevant queries are <code>ListIdentifiers</code> (10k items per query) and <code>ListRecords</code> (1k items per query). To get just identifiers we need to write:</p>\n\n<pre><code>http://export.arxiv.org/oai2?verb=ListIdentifiers&set=math&metadataPrefix=oai_dc\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>It results in 10k identifiers in the following form:</p>\n\n<pre><code><OAI-PMH xmlns=\"http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/\" xmlns:xsi=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\" xsi:schemaLocation=\"http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/OAI-PMH.xsd\">\n <responseDate>2015-02-16T19:28:22Z</responseDate>\n <request verb=\"ListIdentifiers\" metadataPrefix=\"oai_dc\" set=\"math\">http://export.arxiv.org/oai2</request>\n <ListIdentifiers>\n <header>\n <identifier>oai:arXiv.org:0704.0002</identifier>\n <datestamp>2008-12-13</datestamp>\n <setSpec>math</setSpec>\n </header>\n ...\n <header>\n <identifier>oai:arXiv.org:0712.1769</identifier>\n <datestamp>2011-06-23</datestamp>\n <setSpec>math</setSpec>\n </header>\n <resumptionToken cursor=\"0\" completeListSize=\"249546\">760571|10001</resumptionToken>\n </ListIdentifiers>\n</OAI-PMH>\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>As there are more results, to get next batch we need to specify <code>resumptionToken</code>, in this case:</p>\n\n<pre><code>http://export.arxiv.org/oai2?\n verb=ListIdentifiers&resumptionToken=760571|10001\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>and so on.</p>\n\n<p>Other useful parameters are <code>from</code> and <code>until</code>, e.g. as in</p>\n\n<pre><code>http://export.arxiv.org/oai2?verb=ListIdentifiers&set=math&metadataPrefix=oai_dc&from=2015-01-14&until=2015-01-14\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>To directly get categories (bear in mind that <code>set=math</code> specifies mathematics, but there are no smaller subsets), one can write:</p>\n\n<pre><code>http://export.arxiv.org/oai2?verb=ListRecords&set=math&from=2015-01-01&until=2015-01-31&metadataPrefix=arXiv\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>It's important to set <code>metadataPrefix=arXiv</code>, so that subdisciplines will be listed:</p>\n\n<pre><code><categories>\n math-ph cond-mat.other math.MP nlin.CD physics.class-ph\n</categories>\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>EDIT: </p>\n\n<p>I used delay as Nate Eldredge suggested, in my case - 25s. Yet, while trying to get all math (250k items so in 250 queries) it gave error at 70. I did continue it (with even higher delay) but sometime around 110 the query was not longer available.</p>\n\n<p>So, the way to go is in getting smaller chunks - e.g. by month (or for mathematics - at most by year). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 67639,
"author": "miku",
"author_id": 6198,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6198",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Shameless plug: I wrote a generic OAI harvesting tool, that will harvest Arxiv just fine. It's called <a href=\"https://github.com/miku/metha\" rel=\"noreferrer\">metha</a> and consists of a few commands:</p>\n\n<pre><code>$ metha-sync http://export.arxiv.org/oai2\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>This will download all data up to the last full day (it will take a couple of days). The XML API responses are compressed and placed under <code>~/.metha</code> directory. Metha will use monthly windows and a resilient HTTP client to ensure downloads succeed, while not stressing the server. It has been tested in the wild on hundreds of OAI endpoints.</p>\n\n<p>After (and during) download, you can inspect (already downloaded) records with:</p>\n\n<pre><code>$ metha-cat http://export.arxiv.org/oai2\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>For any further processing you will have to use your favorite XML tools.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Update: Additionally to the metha (incremental) harvester, I wrote a small tool called <a href=\"https://github.com/miku/oaicrawl\" rel=\"noreferrer\">oaicrawl</a>, which does no caching and just fetches records off an OAI endpoint one by one. This create more overhead, as there's an HTTP request for each record but can be useful, if the OAI endpoint does not support selective harvesting (e.g. by date) or is otherwise broken and you are ok with having a <em>best effort</em> data set harvested from the service.</p>\n\n<p>Syntax would be similarly simple:</p>\n\n<pre><code>$ oaicrawl http://export.arxiv.org/oai2 > arxiv.data\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Note, that this will concatenate the raw responses from the API and hence won't be valid XML out of the box.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 96550,
"author": "Eric Malmi",
"author_id": 80390,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/80390",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A torrent for a metadata dump \"collected from the OAI-PMH API endpoint using the 'metha-sync' tool\" is available at: <a href=\"https://archive.org/details/arxiv-bulk-metadata\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://archive.org/details/arxiv-bulk-metadata</a></p>\n\n<p>NB: This dataset contains metadata also for <em>non-math</em> articles.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 153571,
"author": "miku",
"author_id": 6198,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6198",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Arxiv metadata and fulltext have been made (more easily) accessible in 08/2020.</p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://blogs.cornell.edu/arxiv/2020/08/05/leveraging-machine-learning-to-fuel-new-discoveries-with-the-arxiv-dataset/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://blogs.cornell.edu/arxiv/2020/08/05/leveraging-machine-learning-to-fuel-new-discoveries-with-the-arxiv-dataset/</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.kaggle.com/Cornell-University/arxiv\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://www.kaggle.com/Cornell-University/arxiv</a></li>\n</ul>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The full set of PDFs is available for free in the GCS bucket <code>gs://arxiv-dataset</code> or through Google API (json documentation and xml documentation, <a href=\"https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/gsutil\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">gsutil</a>). They are grouped into several .tar.gz files in the tarpdfs folder, the complete set is about 1.1TB in size.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38969",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49/"
] |
38,975 |
<p>I asked this question on Stackoverflow and was directed to ask it here. The question is:</p>
<p>I wanted to ask about plagiarism detection tools for source code written in C++. When I searched Google the ones I found compare between documents that you already have. What I'm looking for is a tool that compares against content on the internet (i.e Github).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40441,
"author": "cmbarbu",
"author_id": 30824,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30824",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are many general sites such as: </p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker/</a></p>\n\n<p>Sure, they will flag everything that \"has to be copied\" such as \n int main\nbut everything that \"has to be copied\" should be common between your students. It should then be fairly easy to not take it into account using a simple script removing anything shared by more than 80% of your students, preferably before submitting it to the plagiarism checker. </p>\n\n<p>It would probably be easier using a website with an API such as: \n<a href=\"https://api.plagscan.com/guide\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://api.plagscan.com/guide</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 44653,
"author": "Ryan",
"author_id": 19685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19685",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>We use the MOSS (Measure of Software Similarity) system provided by Stanford, at <a href=\"https://theory.stanford.edu/~aiken/moss/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">here</a>. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 144178,
"author": "Patrick Kelly",
"author_id": 32046,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32046",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Haven't used it, but I found this:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://codequiry.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://codequiry.com/</a></p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38975",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29472/"
] |
38,980 |
<p>I would like to know if assumptions are accepted among the scientific community. especially in the field of theoretical computer science.</p>
<p>To be more specific, is it OK to say something like: "The behavior X <strong>might be</strong> explained by . . ." when you are not 100% sure that it is the correct explanation, or you are not able to explain it mathematically or statistically.</p>
<p><strong>Edit:</strong>
Indeed the possible explanation I'm talking about is not the main point of the paper, but a small part of results discussion that is, from my point of view, important for future investigations. Also, if I take the time to run some additional tests it would be off-topic and very time-consuming. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38981,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is not so much an assumption, but a hypothesis. If this is the bulk of the work, then it is not likely to be acceptable. But if this is part of the discussion of a larger piece of work, then it may well be acceptable. Your paper needs a contribution beyond the hypothesis. </p>\n\n<p>Ultimately, hypotheses are fine in papers. Good questions drive research forward.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 38983,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends on what you mean by \"is it OK\". If you write \"The behavior X might be explained by...\", it's certainly OK in the sense that nobody will be offended or automatically reject your paper. You are acknowledging some uncertainty, so there's nothing to object to (while there would be if you claimed greater certainty than your work justified). On the other hand, speculating about possible explanations is not as good as giving a compelling explanation. It's reasonable if this is not the main point of your paper, or if the speculative explanation is awfully clever. However, if the main point of your paper comes down to speculation that you just haven't investigated carefully enough to resolve, then it will probably not impress readers. You could end up with a paper that's not objectionable but still isn't very good.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38980",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8813/"
] |
39,017 |
<p>I don't really want a degree. I just want to get married, and have weekends and evenings off, and chill out and play board games, and have nice conversations with friends, and have time to exercise and eat good food, and partake in hobbies, and read books and play computer games and watch movies and write a novel or two. Stuff I used to do as a kid, that I can't do as a grad student.</p>
<p>I like my research, and I like my advisor, but I feel like I work a lot harder than my friends in industry, and I'll be putting my life on hold for at least the next two years, while I'm finishing classes and qualifying exams. Frankly I don't feel like I can survive the next year, and just the thought of staying here for the next few months makes me depressed.</p>
<p>The problem is if I wasn't a PhD student, I'd just be another fat ugly loser with no social status, and nobody would love me or think I was valuable. I wouldn't be taken as seriously when it came time to apply for jobs, and people would think I was stupid or at least not any better than someone with a bachelor's degree. At least now I can apply for internships and get interviews. And because I am a PhD student at a top school, people assume I'm smart, which also helps me find dates, even though I'm obese, wear glasses, and dress poorly. It puts me in a different "league" and if I quit I'd have to go back to dating losers who only want me because they can't find any other girlfriends.</p>
<p>Also if I quit my PhD, I would never be able to come back, and what if my new job ended up sucking, or I couldn't even get a job? I do like my work, and I'm glad I get to do such interesting stuff, I just wish there was less of it.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 39018,
"author": "Aubrey",
"author_id": 26682,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26682",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I cannot answer your question right now. So, take this as a friendly advice from someone on the Internet. It may be wrong, of course. </p>\n\n<p>I think you <em>should not</em> quit your PhD. Not right now. \nThere will be time for that, maybe. \nBut a lot of stuff is going on, and from your message your work is the only thing you seem to like and that gives you self esteem. \nSo, two thoughts.</p>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"http://mindsetonline.com/changeyourmindset/firststeps/\">Growth mindset</a></strong>. Please don't be fixated that you are like you are and there is no solution to that. You can do many things. You are smart, you can lose weight, you can dress better. These are not easy things, but you can accomplish them. So, maybe, think of eating healthier. Of being a little more careful on your health and body. This alone will make you feel better.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Seek counsel</strong>. There are people, more competent and talented than a stranger on the Internet, that can help you. Find one, it's the best way you can spend your money. Counselors are great, they can help you find solutions you thought they were impossible. I used them many times, I never regret it. There's no shame in that, remember. </p>\n\n<p>In my very humble opinion, you need to clear your mind about what are the burdens in your life, <strong>then</strong> decide if you want to quit your PhD. It may be the problem, it may be not. Good luck Jennifer! </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 39019,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><em>(I feel this is borderline out-of-scope, but I decide to answer this anyway half-expecting the question to be closed soon)</em></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I don't really want a degree. I just want to get married, and have weekends and evenings off, and chill out and play board games, and have nice conversations with friends, and have time to exercise and eat good food, and partake in hobbies, and read books and play computer games and watch movies and write a novel or two. Stuff I used to do as a kid, that I can't do as a grad student.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If that's actually how you feel, this is strike 1 that you should almost certainly quit. However, make sure that you are not falling prey to the \"the grass is always greener on the other side\" effect. There are plenty of things you also can't do working in industry because you'll have no time. (writing a novel might be one of those things)</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I like my research, and I like my advisor, but I feel like I work a lot harder than my friends in industry, and I'll be putting my life on hold for at least the next two years, while I'm finishing classes and qualifying exams. Frankly I don't feel like I can survive the next year, and just the thought of staying here for the next few months makes me depressed.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you feel you can't survive next year, this is strike 2 that you should get out. But again, make sure that you have make <em>correct</em> assumptions about life on the other side. Many people in industry definitely work at least as hard as I do in academia.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The problem is if I wasn't a PhD student, I'd just be another fat ugly loser with no social status, and nobody would love me or think I was valuable. I wouldn't be taken as seriously when it came time to apply for jobs, and people would think I was stupid or at least not any better than someone with a bachelor's degree. At least now I can apply for internships and get interviews. And because I am a PhD student at a top school, people assume I'm smart, which also helps me find dates, even though I'm obese, wear glasses, and dress poorly. It puts me in a different \"league\" and if I quit I'd have to go back to dating losers who only want me because they can't find any other girlfriends.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That's a really concerning paragraph, which makes me feel that you maybe want to seek out professional help. You seem to have a habit of putting yourself and others into buckets of \"valuable\" and \"less valuable\" people, based on quite superficial distinctions (looks, whether somebody has an advanced degree or not, losers, etc.). As a sidenote, I am close to 100% sure that you don't get more or better dates because you are a grad student, but (if at all) because you feel better about yourself as a grad student. This is strike 1 that you maybe should indeed stay in grad school.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Also if I quit my PhD, I would never be able to come back, and what if my new job ended up sucking, or I couldn't even get a job? I do like my work, and I'm glad I get to do such interesting stuff, I just wish there was less of it.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Is there no way to turn down your workload a bit without giving up grad student status entirely? </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 39020,
"author": "Ander Biguri",
"author_id": 16023,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16023",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that if you don't feel like that sometimes in your PhD, it means that you are not doing it \"properly\". Its a hard thing, specially personally talking. It gets into your life and makes you feel like you can't anymore sometimes. </p>\n\n<p>But cheer up, if it makes it better, everybody doing a PhD feels like that sometimes; it's part of the job. In my university there are several courses every year just for grad students to help us cope with this kind of feelings. </p>\n\n<p>Actually, not long ago a guy came to our uni. He wrote a book (and some <em>Nature</em> papers) called \"the 7 secrets of successful PhD students\" (<a href=\"http://www.ithinkwell.com.au/\">http://www.ithinkwell.com.au/</a>). I recommend you look at it. There are 2 main ideas that may help you deal with it, and deal with it happily:</p>\n\n<p>1.- There is more chance you fail kindergarten than grad school. If you make it to the end, you'll pass. So the problem here will be perseverance, if you get there, you'll make it.</p>\n\n<p>2.- <strong>Treat it like a job!</strong> Go to uni, work (and work hard), but when you get out, its not PhD time anymore. Play video-games, read, go out for a beer (or 7!) and write that novel. Define a strict line between PhD time and free time.</p>\n\n<p>My advice as PhD student. You can. Of course you can. You are not a loser. You definitely can deal with the PhD and the workload. If you are unhappy with your life, change it, and get out of the PhD, but if you like it and it's just workload pressure that makes you feel bad, keep with it, because it's probably going to be worth it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 39021,
"author": "Giacomo Alessandroni",
"author_id": 28699,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28699",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I do not know the law of your country but, e.g., in Italy is possible suspend the PhD. Ask freely to your supervisor, if he/she is a person, as I hope, that not only observes the professional side of things, but also (and especially) the human, you have chance to find an agreement.</p>\n\n<p>Try to explain, to your supervisor, your situation with this words. And remember: your life is the only and too much important to hear the thoughts of the people who do not believe in you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 39023,
"author": "CaptainCodeman",
"author_id": 15541,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15541",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can quit if you like. Life isn't that bad on the \"outside\" (I quit my first degree), and if you're good at what you do you can get a job. You'll get much better opportunities if you finish your PhD though. You can get married and have kids and watch movies either way, the question is what will you be doing with your life when you're not doing these things.</p>\n\n<p>It seems to me that you are going through an emotional low period, and you may have self-esteem issues which make it difficult for you to overcome them. Which is quite common. Most PhD students think of quitting at some point. You can talk to your counseling service, they are equipped to help you. (Admittedly sometimes they can be useless, but it's worth having a chat.)</p>\n\n<p>Also if you're upset about being fat, you can get in shape. (It has nothing to do with whether or not you quit your PhD.) I used to be a fat college dropout working in IT with no friends and no girlfriends.. but you make gradual changes and improve. It takes time but it's worth it. Momentum is key, you need to make gradual changes to your lifestyle and as you move forward it becomes easier as you become more motivated. See <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTuElM6T50w\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTuElM6T50w</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 39024,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are miserable, but stick to your situation, seeing other possibilities as even worse, you may be suffering <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome\">Stockholm syndrome</a>.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Moreover, one of he key dangers of PhD in academic career in general is that we tie our academic success (grant, paper, fellowship) with sense of own value. Many people are afraid to \"give up\" (as it hits their sense of identity) even if they would be happy to pursue other options.</p>\n\n<p>See:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Rebecca Schuman, <a href=\"http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Is-Academic-Rejection-So/146883/\">Why Is Academic Rejection So Very Crushing?\n</a> <em>Losing out on a job, tenure, or publication can be a unique agony. The cure is not success, it’s compassion.</em></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I cannot recommend on weigthing your choices (on the one hand you like your research, on the other - you would like to have more social life). But don't tie your sense of value to your academic status.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 39026,
"author": "Murphy",
"author_id": 16078,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16078",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>\"I like my research, and I like my advisor\"</p>\n\n<p>You might be surprised how rare these things can be, there's a lot of people in industry who have neither of those things and pretty much feel the same way while also being bored out of their minds 99% of the time. </p>\n\n<p>I can understand your feelings about social status but you're probably overestimating their social effects vs the social effects of your own perception of yourself. You got into a PHD program in a top school, you say people \"assume\" you're smart as if you don't believe that yourself but it's extremely unlikely you got where you are by being anything other than <em>actually</em> very smart. When you're surrounded by very bright people all the time it's easy to underestimate yourself. </p>\n\n<p>As for your perception of yourself: I've felt the same way and in your shoes I would have regarded any kind reassurance from nice internet people as a simple phatic gesture since it's just what nice people do when someone is feeling crap about themselves but suffice to say, it's important to realise that your own judgement of yourself is probably not 100% reliable and is likely heavily skewed towards the negative.</p>\n\n<p>Personally I found the best way to deal with feeling crap about myself was to pick the things I felt most negative about myself and to try to do at least one thing to improve each each week, feeling like you're not going anywhere can make it worse. </p>\n\n<p>You sound burned out and for that the same generic advice probably applies:</p>\n\n<p>It really really sounds like you may need to sort out your work-life balance a little, better to work 40-50 hours a week and be able to finish than work 80 and burn out half way. If it's crushing you to not be able to write that novel and leaving you unable to do the PHD it's essential that you get time to write the novel. If you feel the PHD is damaging your health then it's essential that you get the time to tend to your own health. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40028,
"author": "pojo-guy",
"author_id": 30516,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30516",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Take advantage of the university facilities to improve your physical condition. That will help with the perception of pressure, improve your social options and self-esteem, and relieve some stress. I started martial arts training 26 years ago with a university club because I needed exercise and the club fit my schedule. Throughout my post-academic career, the practice of martial arts has remained a near-constant.</p>\n<p>A PhD is a three-year program. It is transient, finish it. (Corrected per comments below)</p>\n<p>The industry is not necessarily less stressful. My careers outside of academia, in more than one industry, have always involved a certain amount of 24x7 work. While academia is not without its stress, the stress of not getting published is not in the same league as the stress of not getting the 2 million dollar bid that your company needs to survive the next six months.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40029,
"author": "Ivana",
"author_id": 6223,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6223",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Before making any decisions, it may be worthwhile to see if you can stay with your PhD, doing research with the supervisor you like, while fixing some of the things that cause you problems. You say you do not have any weekends or evenings. This is something i recognize but it may not be all due to your PhD program. </p>\n\n<p>This happens when the work is (or feels) important, ambitions are high, and both your own and your supervisor's expectations are unrealistic. I've had the same problem at two separate jobs. My friend had it worse: he had a job for 3 days a week while in reality he worked full time and quite a few times through the night. \nA tell-tale sign is when work and leisure mix in a bad way, like working (because it needs to be done by Monday) while watching television (because you are allowed to take micro-breaks, it's the weekend!).</p>\n\n<p>This can be fixed. Your university maybe has courses and/or counselors to help you with time management. If your workload is insane, it helps to get a clear picture of it, so that your supervisor also understands that a more realistic plan needs to be made. The people i know who are efficient and good at work/life balance: 1) spend time planning their work, that is, prioritizing tasks and writing down how much time each will take 2) stick to their plans 3) communicate plans and any changes in plans with their supervisors, co-workers and/or bosses.</p>\n\n<p>My friend now has a far more responsible job, works full time and he even has the evenings off.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40075,
"author": "Mathematics",
"author_id": 4203,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4203",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Whenever you feel down, compare what you have achieved in a certain period. </p>\n\n<p>E.g. Were you happy before starting PHD, was your life as beautiful as you think it would be after quitting PHD.</p>\n\n<p>You quit PHD or not, one thing you should always remember, </p>\n\n<p><strong>Always be grateful</strong>, never compare yourself with people better then you, but think about people who are in worse situation then yours.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40078,
"author": "Aru Ray",
"author_id": 948,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948",
"pm_score": 8,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I don't really want a degree. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There are many good reasons to get a PhD. Probably lots of people get say, bachelor's degrees and master's degrees, because they just want a degree, but the number of people who get a PhD just for the sake of getting a degree is (in my opinion) lower (for example, you might want to teach at the university level, see answers <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10522/should-i-stay-in-phd-program-i-dislike-to-have-a-shot-at-liberal-arts-teaching\">here</a>). This is partly because a PhD is in some sense harder and more time-consuming that bachelor's/masters degree, but also that the degree isn't really the point of a PhD, see for example, <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17232/is-doing-two-phds-a-good-path/17245#17245\">this answer here by Pete L. Clark</a>. To very briefly summarize, a PhD is a way to 'learn how to learn' and the stuff that you learn is a lot less important than the process of obtaining said knowledge. So your statement that you 'don't really want a degree' worries me a bit. I mean, the degree is not the point, and wanting a PhD is not at all the same as wanting a degree in general. Why did you apply to PhD programs? What was your motivation? What are your goals?</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I just want to get married, and have\n weekends and evenings off, and chill out and play board games, and\n have nice conversations with friends, and have time to exercise and\n eat good food, and partake in hobbies, and read books and play\n computer games and watch movies and write a novel or two. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Don't we all! Anyway, you know, you can do these things as a graduate student. This is easier/harder depending on your exact circumstances/stage of graduate career, but certainly doable. I recently graduated (with my PhD in mathematics), but in my graduate department on Friday nights a lot of us hung out at the grad student bar and then repaired to the department lounge to play boardgames often to the early hours of the morning. Some of us came in to work over the weekends, but not all of us. Anyway, even while physically in the department, we would visit each other's offices and goof off fairly regularly. Okay, for us goofing off also often involved talking about mathematics, so it wasn't entirely a waste of our time. In any case, chilling out and nice conversations with friends occurred throughout the workweek as well. In the first few years of graduate school, I did a really good job of eating right and reading and such, since my time was a lot more structured, and I was able to plan relatively well. Much of my department were regulars at the gym, and quite a few of us were spotted running on the jogging track (some of us were/are pretty good at this stuff: for example, <a href=\"http://news.rice.edu/2009/01/22/grad-student-is-top-local-finisher-in-houston-marathon/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">one of did quite well in the Houston marathon</a> and <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=778702422211725&pnref=story\" rel=\"noreferrer\">a current student is doing some awesome Crossfit things these days</a>). During major exams, or thesis-writing, or trying to get a paper out, these things got a bit harder of course. Aside from fitness, many of us did well with hobbies. Some of us were hardcore gamers – we even had an informal Magic the Gathering tournament periodically among the grad students; others enjoyed cooking – the rest of us enjoyed the food they would bring in to share; I enjoyed jigsaw puzzles – for a while we did jigsaws in my office, where others in the dept would drop by to puzzle for a bit when they needed a break from work; one of us was in a band, others in in/formal choirs and such; I and some others were involved to various extents in students organizations; and so on. Some number of us got married while in graduate school (not me personally), and one of the students in my cohort had a child as well. How did we do all this stuff? We had an advantage in being mathematics graduate students, since we are not tied to a lab as our counterparts in the rest of the STEM fields, and we had the advantage of being in a department with supportive faculty (who sometimes joined us for weekly boardgames and graduate student bar hangouts) and awesome fellow students. </p>\n\n<p>The most important part of the above list though, were the <strong>awesome fellow students</strong>. I was in a small department, so it was natural for us all to hang out together, but perhaps you're in a large department where this is harder. Try to find some fun fellow students. They are possibly feeling much of the same things that you are, and if they are in your department they possibly share your interests. If you don't know too many people (if this is your first or second year in the program), organize something – a movie night at your home, a potluck, or a boardgame night. You might be surprised at how many of your fellow students also want to find someone to chill with. </p>\n\n<p>The second most important thing is <strong>time management</strong> and <strong>prioritization</strong>. Figure out what's important to you, and then figure out a way to do it. You might have to be very disciplined and focused during the workday so you can run in the evenings, or play boardgames every weekend. But, if there's one thing I learned in grad school, it's that the number of hours you work is not as important as the quality of work you are getting done. You might end up spending less time overall on work, but if you're happier in general, you will probably do better work in the smaller amount of time. For example, I absolutely need some time every week that I can be at home by myself watching TV, probably with multiple cats napping on me. This might seem like wasted time to the outside observer, but really it's time that I need to recharge so that I can get actual work done at other times. That's just the way I work. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I like my research, and I like my advisor, </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That's really great. I mean this sincerely. The opposite is sadly far too common. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>but I feel like I work a\n lot harder than my friends in industry, and I'll be putting my life on\n hold for at least the next two years, while I'm finishing classes and\n qualifying exams. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Well, to be frank, it is possible that you are working harder than your contemporaries and that you are putting your life on hold, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. </p>\n\n<p>Lots of people have lots of life-changing stuff happen in their mid-20s. For example, it seemed to me for a while that everyone that I knew in my age group was getting engaged, married, or having kids. I decided to count in 2013 and here is what I found</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>51 people I know got married i.e. about 1 wedding per week. </li>\n<li>31 people I know got engaged i.e. about 2.5 engagements per month. </li>\n<li>19 people I know had a baby i.e. about 1.5 babies per month.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>(The count is with multiplicity, that is, if two people I know independently get married, I counted two weddings. There were no twins/multiple births that I'm aware of.) That's pretty intense! </p>\n\n<p>These are all cool people and I wish them all the luck, but I don't want to be getting married and having kids just because all my friends seem to be (I mean, what an odd story to tell your grandkids someday). </p>\n\n<p>Again, yes a PhD is hard work, hard work that doesn't ever get compensated for in any 'real' way. But the point of the PhD is not some eventual reward, the point of the PhD is really just the process of the PhD. Most likely I will never make the same amount of money as my friends with MBAs; they will probably have fancier job titles than me, and depending on where we are in the world, they might get more respect and power as well. But (forgive me) a PhD craves not these things. If you want prestige, power and such things, a PhD is not the right way to go at all. </p>\n\n<p>If you're getting a PhD chances are that you have somewhat different priorities than the average person (which is fine, just as the average person's goals are also just fine). My friends who are younger than me have much more seeming grown-up lives true, but they are on a different track than me, and it doesn't really make sense to compare. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Frankly I don't feel like I can survive the next\n year, and just the thought of staying here for the next few months\n makes me depressed.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is concerning. Please consider talking to someone directly. It's great that you asked AC.SE this question, but we are after all strangers on the internet. Talk to someone you know and trust. Your university probably has a counseling center. Talk to your advisor/mentor. </p>\n\n<p>Graduate students are often discouraged and depressed (I was no exception, see <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2219/how-should-i-deal-with-discouragement-as-a-graduate-student\">here</a>), for example, see this <a href=\"http://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2012/01/heal.aspx\" rel=\"noreferrer\">article</a>. The 'usual' discouragement often passes, but it is not uncommon for us to have undiagnosed mental/emotional health issues. A trained professional is a much better person to talk to about these things, and I hope you will consider doing so. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The problem is if I wasn't a PhD student, I'd just be another fat ugly\n loser with no social status, and nobody would love me or think I was\n valuable. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This seems very unlikely to me. From just this question itself I see that you enjoy reading, and playing boardgames and video games, and enjoy good food and hanging out with friends; from this I see that you have hobbies and interests, and enjoy people. You asked this question, from which I gather that you can be introspective and that you are giving actual sincere thought to what you want to do with your life. This is all from this one question. The poster of this question seems like an interesting person to me. </p>\n\n<p>Some of us are fat and some of us are less than conventionally attractive. Each of these things comes with barriers that one has to overcome. Conventionally attractive folks have their own set of hoops to jump through too. Yes, there do exist people in the world who think 'this person is overweight/stick-thin/different race than me/unattractive/the opposite gender/something else and therefore I do not value them', and those people can go f* themselves. There are enough of the rest of us too though. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I wouldn't be taken as seriously when it came time to apply\n for jobs, and people would think I was stupid or at least not any\n better than someone with a bachelor's degree. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That's kind of a judgmental statement about people with bachelor's degrees. Anyway, all of this depends on what kinds of jobs you're applying for. There are some jobs where having a PhD would actually hinder you (see <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11149/what-are-the-potential-pitfalls-of-having-a-phd\">here</a>). </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>At least now I can apply\n for internships and get interviews. And because I am a PhD student at\n a top school, people assume I'm smart, </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is also a worrying statement. It's possible that I'm misinterpreting your statement, but in case I'm not, please look up <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome\" rel=\"noreferrer\">imposter syndrome</a>, it's distressingly common in academia; in short, this is a phenomenon where despite much evidence to the contrary, someone is convinced that they do not deserve the success that they have achieved (also see this <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11765/ive-somehow-convinced-everyone-that-im-actually-good-at-this-how-to-effect\">question</a>).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>which also helps me find dates,\n even though I'm obese, wear glasses, and dress poorly. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you think that wearing glasses is hurting your ability to date, you could wear contacts. Similarly you could try to dress better (I recommend the show 'What Not to Wear'), or try to lose weight. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>It puts me in a\n different \"league\" and if I quit I'd have to go back to dating losers\n who only want me because they can't find any other girlfriends.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The people I know that are single do not all look alike, or dress alike, or all have poor vision. There isn't much that's common to them than the fact that they are single. You seem to be saying that if there were two individuals who were identical in every way except that one is in a PhD program that the grad student version would get more dates – I simply do not buy this. I might be willing to accept that this would be a true of a man, but I absolutely do not buy it for women. </p>\n\n<p>If you think someone is dating you just because they can't find another girlfriend, please dump them. Similarly, if you think someone is dating you just because you are a PhD student, please dump them just as fast. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Also if I quit my PhD, I would never be able to come back, </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I know this guy who was a PhD student in my department (mathematics) in the 60s, didn't finish, left with his master's and was teaching in community college. He kept doing math on his own time though, and he came up with something cool, enough that a faculty member he had been in touch with got him back into our program and he eventually got his PhD in 2011. He is an inspiration. (See <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24577/i-want-to-do-research-but-im-too-old-for-a-phd\">here</a> for more such stories). So, yeah, I disagree with this statement. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>and what if\n my new job ended up sucking, or I couldn't even get a job? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yeah, it's possible. But it's possible that you couldn't get a job with a PhD. Or that the earth is destroyed tomorrow to make way for an interstellar bypass. But worrying about this will not help us in any way. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I do like\n my work, and I'm glad I get to do such interesting stuff, I just wish\n there was less of it.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You know, reading your question, it really seems to me that it's not that there's too much work, but more that there isn't as much fun non-work in your life right now. I would really suggest trying to build a social circle among your fellow graduate students, not only for having people to do fun things with, but also for people in similar situations to talk to. I know that for me it was really helpful to talk to my fellow students about my doubts and concerns, because we were all in the same boat. It sounds like you are very concerned about dating, so for what it's worth, lots of graduate students I know dated other graduate students. </p>\n\n<p>While on the subject of dating, please consider whether you're giving too much thought to it. It is nice to have a partner that you can talk to, who will support you and care for you when needed, but finding such a person doesn't need to be take over your life. I strongly believe that successful relationships are composed of people that are also happy on their own and in their own skins. Perhaps it might be worthwhile to work on your own happiness for a while before seeking out a partner, particular since when having self-esteem concerns it is very easy to find oneself in abusive and/or unbalanced relationships. </p>\n\n<p>I would also recommend that you give some serious thought to what you value most in your life and what you want to do with it. What are you looking for? What is your dream job? It will probably help to talk to someone directly about such things too. You said that you like your advisor, so they might be a good person to talk to. Most of us that have been through graduate school have dealt with these things to some extent. </p>\n\n<p>Depending on this self-examination, you might decide that a PhD is not for you. <strong>This is fine</strong>. Or, you might decide to stick with it. <strong>This is fine too</strong>. With the caveat that you're doing it for the right reasons. Some of us hang on to PhD programs with this notion that 'quitting is bad'. That's a poor reason to stay in a PhD program. On the other hand, if you truly enjoy doing what you're doing, and you want to keep doing it for the rest of your life, that's a great reason to hang in there. If you want to stay in the program so that some hypothetical someone might deign to date you, that's a poor reason to stick around, and also such a person clearly isn't worth your time. </p>\n\n<p>Getting a PhD can be hard work, probably harder work than your contemporaries are doing in industry (I speculate, I've never had a job in the real world). It is rewarding in its own way though, to some people. This isn't a value judgment. Math makes me feel like a complete idiot almost all the time. The remaining 0.01% of the time is pretty good though, and that's enough for me. Mostly this makes me a masochist I think, but that works for me. But it makes perfect sense for it to not work for everyone, and honestly these other folks are probably better adjusted anyway. </p>\n\n<p>Lastly, your last paragraph makes me think that you're worried that you're making irreversible decisions. You're not. If you choose to leave your PhD program now, you can still come back to get a PhD (probably somewhere else). If you started your PhD with the goal of being in the academic world, but decide later that you want to be in industry, you can still do that. If you want to start back from scratch and work in sociology (say), you can still do that too. These things might require some work, but they are all still possible. </p>\n\n<p>Best of luck in your decision-making! I'd like to reiterate, pretty much all of us wanted to quit at some point, and pretty much all of us wondered why we were doing it. You're not alone!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40080,
"author": "Dunk",
"author_id": 885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/885",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would like to point out that 99% of the people out there don't give a darn about your being in a PhD program versus \"only\" having a bachelor's degree. The only people who care would be employer's looking for a PhD person to fill a specific position and snooty people like you are projecting yourself to be, by thinking that being in a PhD program actually gets people to like you more. At best, being in the PhD program might give you more confidence which is what attracts people.</p>\n\n<p>I will also point out that while you may believe you \"work a lot harder than your friends in industry\", I can guarantee you that you are almost certainly wrong in that regard. New grads tend to have to work their butts off to get noticed in their early years. They are making money, so they do have more opportunities to have fun experiences than a college student just scraping by, but that doesn't mean they have more time or are under less stress. But I suppose that also depends on the type of job and degree your friends have and their own ambition levels.</p>\n\n<p>With regards to: \"I just want to....\" and not having time to do it has nothing to do with being in a PhD program. It is what happens when people transition from being a child with no responsibilities to anyone but their self to actually growing up and being a responsible adult where they not only have obligations to their self but to others also. If you think being in a PhD program leaves you no time for the fun stuff you like to do, wait until you get married and have children. You will long for all the free time you have right now in your PhD program.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, part of the reason people prefer to employ people with college degrees is not just because of the education. Many jobs that require a degree can be adequately learned and performed by someone without a degree. One of the key reasons that employers like people with a college degree is that it shows that the person is not a quitter. Almost everyone goes through a phase or phases in their college career where they just want to chuck it all in and quit. Many people do just that. However, those who persevere and finish their degree demonstrates a high degree of willpower and the ability to do what needs to be done whether they want to do it or not. Employers want that kind of person because there will be many times on the job where people will want to chuck it all in and quit. Employers want people who will persevere, not those who quit.</p>\n\n<p>I am of the opinion, you made a commitment to get a PhD. So get the PhD. Don't quit. Quitting easily becomes habit forming. I also think you are falling prey to the grass is greener syndrome.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40082,
"author": "thomij",
"author_id": 20865,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20865",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is already a lot of good advice here, so I'll keep mine short.</p>\n\n<p>It's hard to get into a PhD program, and it's easy to get out. You can quit any time, but it will be very hard to get back into a program if you change your mind later.</p>\n\n<p>It sounds as though you like the work but you don't like the workload.</p>\n\n<p>Instead of just quitting, why not try dialing down your commitment just a little bit first?</p>\n\n<p>You mentioned not being happy about your weight (I assume you are saying you are not happy, and not that you just think other people are not happy). Why don't you set aside some time each day, a half hour or so, and go for a walk? It will improve your health, might improve your self-image, and it will give you time to think. Think of it like a \"trial quitting.\"</p>\n\n<p>During that time, think about what you really want out of life, and whether a PhD will help you get there. Maybe you will decide that it won't, but then you will be making the decision from a calm, thoughtful place, and not from a feeling of being trapped.</p>\n\n<p>If you think you might want the PhD, but that the effort to get it is too much, you should know that every PhD student goes through this (speaking for myself and the people I went to grad school with).</p>\n\n<p>This might be hard to understand while you are in the middle of it, but the truth is that we tend to make things seem more important than they really are. We have high expectations for ourselves, and in a PhD program, it is easy to feed into other's expectations as well and make ourselves miserable. If you can reach an understanding that it is all just expectations - none of it is real - it might help you.</p>\n\n<p>My other advice (after you take daily thinking walks for a week or so) is to talk to your advisor before you quit. He or she might have some ideas of ways that you can make the workload more manageable. Your advisor probably went through a similar crisis, and probably helped many of their former students go through them as well, and so they will probably also be able to give you some advice.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40087,
"author": "Blaisorblade",
"author_id": 8966,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8966",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>The problem is if I wasn't a PhD student, I'd just be another fat ugly loser with no social status, and nobody would love me or think I was valuable. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That's concerning in two ways.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Proving you're cool to other people is often listed as a bad motivation for doing a PhD — it's not strong enough. Good motivations are closer to \"you care about your research\" --- and you do! And that's so great — so few people have that!</li>\n<li>Thinking of yourself as a loser is a negative attitude which is (to some extent) a self-fulfilling prophecy.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In fact, a PhD might be helpful to prove to yourself your worth. OTOH, you \"shouldn't\" need to get a PhD to prove to yourself you're worth. I would indeed seek psychological counsel. If you have a good advisor you might also talk to him/her - lots of PhD student have motivation crises.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>There are lots of reasons for low self-worth. One which also increases your workload <em>and</em> is probably common among PhD students is perfectionism --- \"maintaining standards that are unrealistically high and impossible to attain\".</li>\n<li>You might regret quitting, especially if that's just due to depression or something else.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Generally, if you enter a PhD, getting a PhD or not is not a question of ability/intelligence, but of motivation - it's not a battle against your topic, but against yourself.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>And because I am a PhD student at a top school, people assume I'm smart</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>What do <strong>you</strong> think? It sounds like you don't agree (you say \"assume\"). But you're at a top school, so you might be a victim of impostor syndrome (thinking others overestimated you). I think it's endemic between PhD students.</p>\n\n<p>Also, BTW, if you're working a lot it's probably also because you're at a top school, and research is a career profession — a bit like running for an election, being a top manager, etc. None of those jobs are easy or would take less effort.\nFor me, realizing this was very scary, since I've avoided such jobs on purpose - but I decided to stick with it, and right now I'm happy I did.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40088,
"author": "ARM",
"author_id": 17859,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17859",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I want to just address one aspect of the question, which is:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I just want to get married, and have weekends and evenings off, and chill out and play board games, and have nice conversations with friends, and have time to exercise and eat good food, and partake in hobbies, and read books and play computer games and watch movies and write a novel or two. Stuff I used to do as a kid, that I can't do as a grad student.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I did everything on this list on a regular basis while a PhD student in a top-level program. (Except for the married bit, I only did that once.) This is kind of piling on at this point, but if you are in a program in which you need to put in 80-hour work weeks to be successful, <em>you are in the wrong program.</em> There's always going to be other people who work insanely hard, but unless your entire life revolves around an all-encompassing need to be the best scientist of them all, you shouldn't. Work hard during the day, and at the end of it go home and have a life. </p>\n\n<p>Edit: Misread this the first time. I read tons of novels but wrote zero. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40094,
"author": "benroth",
"author_id": 6043,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6043",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm glad that I finished my PhD.</p>\n\n<p>Why?</p>\n\n<p>Because I had very similar thoughts as you describe them, and (after very hard struggles) managed to grow as a person.</p>\n\n<p>I now have a clearer view on my priorities, and I know where I don't compromise. I make the rules for my life now.</p>\n\n<p>Currently I work as a postdoc and ultimately I determine my workload.\nI will not accept any workload that undermines my life quality.\nI now communicate this clearly and politely to the head of my lab.\nOn the other hand, I will spend a considerable amount of time to furthering my career, and will pursue the goals that I chose.\nI now communicate this clearly and in a friendly manner to my partner.</p>\n\n<p>The point is that these are all subjective decisions, that know one can answer for me. Having been on the fringe of quitting the program, and going through a process of evaluating all my life decisions, has brought me into a very fortunate position, I find in retrospect.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40286,
"author": "I Like to Code",
"author_id": 8802,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8802",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To add to the excellent advice posted by many others,\nI just want to focus on one particular aspect of your post:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The problem is if I wasn't a PhD student, I'd just be another fat ugly loser with no social status, and nobody would love me or think I was valuable...\n I'm obese, wear glasses, and dress poorly.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>Question: Why do you feel like a fat loser?</strong></p>\n\n<p>I have felt like a loser at various points in my life.\nMostly, I feel this way when things are going badly\nand I feel that they are out of my control.\nIt seems to me that you feel that\nmany things in your life are out of your control.\nIn particular, your obesity seems to be\nan extremely discouraging situation.</p>\n\n<p>How do you deal with things that seem out of control?\nI found the following so-called <em>Serenity Prayer</em> helpful:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,<br />\n The courage to change the things I can,<br />\n And the wisdom to know the difference.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You have to accept the things that you can't change—such as\nwho you are today,\nthe situation you are in—yet\nwork towards making it better.</p>\n\n<p>In addition,\nI would strongly encourage you to find someone whom you can trust\nto talk regularly with;\nthis can be a friend / mentor / religious leader / counselor.\nWhen I was a PhD student and dealing with depression,\nit was extremely helpful to see a counselor about once a week.\nThis was a perk provided free-of-charge\nby the student health services at my university,\nand was conveniently located a short walk from my office.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, with regard to the issue of obesity,\nwhile I am not an expert in that area,\nI empathize with you because\nthis can be a very frustrating issue for many.\nIt is just so hard and discouraging.\nWorse still, there are so many different viewpoints\nabout what is the right types of foods to eat,\nfrom veganism to paleo to really crazy ones like the hCG diet (don't try it!).\nPersonally, I feel that the book\n<a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0307474259\" rel=\"nofollow\">Why We Get Fat</a>\nby Gary Taubes\nseems to me to be the right scientifically based explanation\nas to why many people today in the US are fat.\nI would suggest that you do your own research\nto find out what is causing you to be obese,\nso that you can figure out what you want to do about it.\nBy doing this, you won't feel like you are a victim to your circumstances\nbut that you are able to overcome them.\nIf you can become a healthier person,\nthis would improve your self-image\nand your general sense of well-being.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck! Hang in there!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40318,
"author": "giaour",
"author_id": 7010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7010",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Is your ultimate life goal to be a tenured professor working 60-80 hours a week? If no, then you don't really gain anything by staying in your program.</p>\n\n<p>A lot of the answers provided imply that staying in your program should be the default option. I don't really know if that's how you should approach your decision because it really depends on whether you're committed to the academic life.</p>\n\n<p>The fact that you were smart enough to both get into and do well in a top-tier PhD program and quit when you realized that path wasn't for you will signal to interviewers that you're intelligent and great at cost-benefit analyses, so I wouldn't worry about no longer being able to get interviews if I were you. All else being equal, I would hire someone who quit a PhD program over someone who stuck it out.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40323,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are quite a few very nice answers, so I'll just make a minor point.</p>\n\n<p>When I was in grad school, I also sometimes felt I'd fallen into this hole in which I have to work very hard and that if I fail and quit I'd be a disappointment and a failure. It's not the same as in your case but, well, similar. I also considered quitting, and was stuck with my research for long(ish) periods of time.</p>\n\n<p>The reason I'm telling you this is not to moralize and say \"Ah, but I managed to pull through and so can you, don't worry be happy\". The point is that even after getting the PhD, occasionally in my life I've felt <em>the same way</em>, i.e. I was worried I'm going to end up as a big (non-fat) loser with a PhD, and that people mighty pity me for having let my academic training go to waste and not amounting to anything.</p>\n\n<p>Which is to say, what you're feeling is not really about quitting or keeping up the Ph.D. at all.</p>\n\n<p>And of course: You're not a big fat loser damn it. I could find objective justification to this in your own question, but you really should think about positive things you've done and even if it's not convincing you emotionally, start by making a mental argument for your not really being a loser. Maybe just someone with supposedly-simplistic/childish desires? Probably even not that. Also, read about <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome\" rel=\"nofollow\">Impostor Syndrome</a>.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/39017",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29506/"
] |
39,022 |
<p>As a young researcher, it is really interesting for me to gain knowledge in different topics related to my major. I attend many conferences and seminars in my field, I read papers and books which I find related to my major.</p>
<p>However, I sometimes find it disturbing to my research productivity when I read a book or two about one research field and then I find another interesting research paper and try to read some papers about that field of research.</p>
<p>I have the feeling that this changing of research path is disturbing my research productivity. Now, I have read so many papers and books in many branches of my field, but I have not gone in depth of any of them. Although I have good vision about the research fields I have studied, but I think that having no concentration on one or two research fields will be disturbing for me in long period of time.</p>
<p>Reading many books and papers in many fields gives me good vision about those fields, gives me ideas on some interesting research topics but also disturbs my concentration on one research field. I have the feeling that this is a good path for short period of time that I want to find my way; but in long term, I will miss my concentration on a research field.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>As a young researcher who is just trying to find his research path which I want to stay in, how should I make sure that this is the topic I want to do research in my whole academic life?</p></li>
<li><p>How should I stop my interest to learn new topics disturb my research productivity in future?</p></li>
<li><p>How should I overcome my desire to do research in many research fields and work on different research topics and stick to just one or two research fields and read papers and books only related to the research topic which I want to work on in long period of time?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The questions above are so close to each other and I think they can be answered under one question post.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 39025,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>As a young researcher who is just trying to find his research path which I want to stay in, how should I make sure that this is the topic I want to do research in my whole academic life?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You can't. The world will progress, funding will change and your interests are likely to <em>develop</em> as well.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How should I stop my interest to learn new topics disturb my research productivity in future?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There is inherent trade-off between focused work on a predefined topic and an open-ended mind-wandering. The current climate in academia seems to focus on productivity, which (in my opinion <code>*</code>) is not good for any non-incremental progress.</p>\n\n<p>But as long as you find enough time to publish good papers, I wouldn't bother about not being focused enough (publishing requires you to focus, whether you like or not). </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How should I overcome my desire to do research in many research fields and work on different research topics and stick to just one or two research fields and read papers and books only related to the research topic which I want to work on in long period of time?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Don't take a narrow (and, I think, common) definition of productivity as sticking to a narrow field and never wandering around. If you read a <em>research-level book</em> on another field (not just - its first chapter) then it is not shallow.</p>\n\n<p><code>*</code> Piotr Migdał, <a href=\"http://crastina.se/theres-no-projects-like-side-projects/\">There are no projects like side projects</a> (on Albert Einstein, John Bell and John Carmack)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40047,
"author": "Johnathan Clayborn",
"author_id": 29299,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29299",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a social sciences researcher and PhD Candidate myself I very much enjoy reading about (and sometimes participating in) studies that are beyond my narrow scope of Ed Psych. The more I understand about <em>everything</em> the more I see how many different things are inter-related and I see connections to things that others who don't venture out as much miss out on. I don't think that there is such a thing as too much knowledge. I read almost everything I can get my hands on. Even though my focus is on how people learn, I follow neuroscience, media, technology, sociology, and even DNA and evolution research. Sometimes they uncover something that is not useful for them, but is insightful for me. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/39022",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723/"
] |
39,027 |
<p>As I browse the Internet, I observe that a U.S. phd program may send its offers to the applicants at different time points. </p>
<p>However, does this difference imply the difference in favor? I mean, does getting an offer earlier imply getting a better offer?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 39030,
"author": "Marcus G",
"author_id": 29517,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29517",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Probably not. My institution has different sources of phd funding - for instance, from national bodies, overseas collaborations and agreements, internal scholarships in order to promote different initiatives (for instance we might have an agreement to fund 5 scholarships for students from Asia) etc. In addition, research projects might have PhD scholarships attached and these happen all the time. Therefore, we recruit new PhDs throughout the academic year. (and occasionally have new PhDs start outside of the standard start of the academic year)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40027,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'll assume you are talking about a department that admits students via a single admissions committee (rather than offers from individual professors or groups, in which case all bets are off regarding the timing).</p>\n\n<p>As a general rule, getting an offer earlier is a sign that the committee is more interested, but that doesn't mean the actual offer will be better in any concrete sense. Often there will be a first wave of offers, which may be followed by additional offers depending on how many people seem likely to accept. Sometimes the further offers are explicitly described as a waiting list, but sometimes the only distinguishing factor is that they come later in time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40030,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general, most graduate departments have \"flat\" offerings to their incoming graduate students—everybody gets essentially the same level of financial support. There may be some differences based on the students' abilities to secure their own funding (for instance, a \"bonus\" or \"premium\" if they bring in an external fellowship). </p>\n\n<p>Now there are some cases where graduate students have special fellowships for outstanding graduate students, but these are often highly competitive and require an additional round of review before the awards are made. However, the one example I am aware of announced the decisions at the same time as the admissions decision itself. So, unless you've been told at the time of admission that something like this might be possible, I would assume that your offer is going to be essentially the same as all other graduate students coming in. The school likely just wants to move quickly to get a better chance at retaining students it thinks are especially qualified.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/39027",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
40,036 |
<p>I wish to know how the Graduate Admissions Committees for top Universities in the USA decide about awarding Teaching Assistantship to a prospective student. If one had preferred <strong>both</strong> 'RAship' and 'TAship' in his/her application, does that mean he/she must first be eliminated from the RAship race and then awarded TAship as a consolation?</p>
<p>Also, if being a Research Assistant requires a stellar undergraduate research record, publications and so on, what are the factors which would have been considered for awarding the Teaching Assistantship?</p>
<p>To be very specific, if the student is from a country like India or China, would his English-speaking skills and academic competence be re-reviewed? </p>
<p>If so, please help me understand how these two factors transform from mere selection criteria to those for awarding Financial Assistance.</p>
<p>The Universities, I received assistant-ship from are among the best in my field of interest in Computer Science. Also, their CS departments are known to be well-funded and generously award their students with assistant-ships and scholarships every year.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40041,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the US, TAships and RAships are generally assigned by the department. There may be a rule about first year students (ours was that 1st year students could not be assigned TAships). You should also not assume that the division is made by a committee. RAships can be grant-related, or funded by generic department funds. The PI would usually make the decision if a student is considered especially appropriate for the project (unless the PI has a lousy department that doesn't give him/her much autonomy). Depending on the level of democratic sentiment, either the chair decides on the allocation, an admissions / funding committee does, or the whole department faculty does. TAships are also subject to university rules, if any, or department policy, about language competence, so it may be impossible to grant an incoming student a TAship if their English isn't certified for oral proficiency.</p>\n\n<p>Generally speaking, an RAship is better than a TAship from the student's perspective, but the department might either have a particular need for a TA (prehaps in a specific area) in that year, or it might be advantageous to have a year's teaching out of the way so that in your second year you can do something else. I would say that you should not over-interpret either outcome, if you checked the \"both\" box. \"Prefer\" means prefer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40054,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here's the way I read one STEM department in the US that I have some insight into, but I'm also reading this through third-party comments and the experience of a few students I know, so take it with a grain of salt. RAs go to professors who have grant funding or startup funding to support them. If a student is admittable, but no professor puts their hand up to say they want to support them on an RA, then they may or not be actually admitted depending on how many TA slots are available and how the committee feels about them otherwise. There may be a handful of department-level or privately-funded RA fellowships available for really great students. Some students may be admitted with no funding, though I think this is unlikely for students explicitly applying for PhDs (more below). </p>\n\n<p>I know of two separate cases where a student was rejected when no professor was willing to stick their hand up and offer them an RA during the committee meeting. In one of those cases, the student was admitted the subsequent year after publishing a few great papers and making a few contacts. The other student decided to do his PhD at another nearby school. I don't know what drives this difference between TA and RA admissions in this particular department, but it seemed clear that if you have someone who wants to work with you, you can surmount many admission obstacles, assuming they have funding. Not having a champion can also scuttle your chances. I think that some really top notch students must be \"claimed\" by professors based on their applications only, that is without prior contact with the prof, but I can't prove that and don't know how it works.</p>\n\n<p>My strong impression, but more speculatively, is that some students are admitted to the master's program with no funding hoping to score a TAship along the way or impress a professor in one of their early courses and land an RA. After that, being admitted already, they will try to upgrade themselves to a PhD student along the way. I think a lot of the TA positions go to these students. This latter impression is based on the huge number of requests for RA positions I get in a non-academic research organization every year from MS students with no apparent funding. </p>\n\n<p>Now with all that being said, students coming to this department with master's degrees already in hand appear to be at a disadvantage unless they have very strong CVs or prior contact with a prof that wants to work with them. That was the case with the two students I mentioned before. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40036",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26638/"
] |
40,037 |
<p>I am starting a PhD, and an interested in getting technical skills I will need over the next few years. </p>
<p>Are there any ethical issues with paying for people to help you to get these skills, assuming they are fully acknowledged? </p>
<p>From what I have read, I am working with the assumption that it is OK, as long as they are not "contributing to the research". However, this seems a bit fuzzy to me. Where does the boundary between the acceptable and unacceptable input lie? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40038,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In principle, as long as you give credit where credit is due, and as long as you do a thesis worth of work yourself, there need not be any problem. A nice example: many large biosciences have lab-specific technicians or technicians in share core facilities who carry out routine work and protocols. The student may not be paying them directly, but they are paid to do things for the benefit of the student's work (e.g., mouse colony maintenance, routine DNA preparation, sequencing, etc.) that may end up contributing to a thesis.</p>\n\n<p>The specific examples of work that you want to outsource, however, are rather concerning. If you are working on computer algorithms, then you should be comfortable with basic data analysis, plotting, and programming. If you aren't, and need a tutor to help get your skills up to speed, that's fine. If you're outsourcing simple but non-routine analyses that you should be doing yourself, however, it's likely to introduce serious problems because you will not be in a good position to debug the problems that <em>will</em> arise during analysis. Furthermore, as a prospective future employer, it would also make me very concerned about your competence in your area of study.</p>\n\n<p>In short: tutoring and outsourcing routine tasks if fine; outsourcing your core work is not.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40042,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As mentioned in <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40037/is-it-ok-to-get-external-help-during-your-phd-if-it-is-acknowledged?noredirect=1#comment87923_40037\">your comment</a> you are planning to ask help on data analysis and programming.</p>\n\n<p>As you are a PhD student, not a project manager; you should ask your PhD advisor whether those chores are your duties or not. I mean, it may be part of your duty as a PhD student to do data analysis and programming, so asking someone else to do it for you will not be a good idea.</p>\n\n<p>May be your PhD advisor has another PhD student or postdoc in his laboratory or research group and he may ask that person to help or teach you the programming and data analysis methods. He may decide that person to collaborate and do some parts of data analysis/programming for your project. May be he is expecting you to do those duties as part of your PhD programme.</p>\n\n<p>Policies on your program and project also play important role in answering your question. You should make sure whether you are allowed to ask somebody to enter your project (even for short periods) or not.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is it OK to get external help during your PhD if it is acknowledged?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>My answer to your question is, I cannot say whether it is OK or not. It depends on your PhD program, your university/research institute's policies and expectations of your PhD advisers from you.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, learning methods you need to do your project and asking somebody to teach these skills and methods to you is a good idea. You may ask someone to teach you programming or data analysis methods.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40046,
"author": "Johnathan Clayborn",
"author_id": 29299,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29299",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a fellow PhD Candidate myself, here's something else to consider. In my field of study (social sciences) people often hire professional statisticians to run the analysis for their dissertations because they are \"people persons\" and don't like advanced math. They often want to go into counseling or something like that where knowing how to run a multinomial logistic regression isn't really useful for their day-to-day job. It's understood that this is a wide-spread practice. I, for one, enjoy research and I've made it a point to learn everything I can about the analysis for the simple fact that the analysis <em>will</em> be asked about during my oral defense. If I paid someone to \"run the numbers\" for me, would I be able to adequately explain what methods they used or what the results mean and why I came to those conclusions? I'd rather take the extra time and do it myself so that I understand every aspect of the analysis. I have seen several people bomb their defense for this reason. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40052,
"author": "Nick Vence",
"author_id": 30542,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30542",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your PhD is in computer science or electrical engineering, it is expected that you can implement an algorithm in, say python or C++. Ask your advisor.</p>\n\n<p>Once upon a time, a civil engineering, PhD student, friend told me he had discovered this approximation (optimizing a hill's shape/slope for erosion resistance). He asked me (a physics PhD) if I could help him justify the math in exchange for being the middle author. I agreed and spent 10s of hours learning about continuum mechanics, programming a boundary value problem, deriving math, and proofreading the draft. Everyone was very happy with the collaboration.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40037",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30528/"
] |
40,043 |
<p>I'm a PhD applicant. I recently got an offer from a school I will not be attending.</p>
<p>The Professor that I spoke to politely asked that, if possible, I give an answer as soon I know if I'm attending the university. </p>
<p>I've already determined that I won't be attending, as I'm deciding between a couple other offers that I like better. What's the best way to turn down the offer without explicitly mentioning where I'm going instead (since I don't know yet).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40044,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Regretfully, I am declining your offer. Thank you very much for considering me for your program. </p>\n \n <p>Best regards,</p>\n \n <p>ThatGuy</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You don't have to say where you're going instead.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40045,
"author": "Aru Ray",
"author_id": 948,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here is what I wrote back in the day (I make no claims about this being good): </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Thank you so much for offering me admission into your graduate\n program. I was very impressed by [[University]] [[other details like\n faculty/students I had talked to personally, etc.]] and so I had a\n difficult decision to make regarding which graduate program to choose.\n After a lot of careful thought, I have decided not to accept your\n offer. I will mail the response form to you as soon as I can, but I\n wanted to let you know my decision now, since it may affect applicants\n on your wait list. [[Thank you so much again, etc.]].</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40043",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19655/"
] |
40,055 |
<p>I'm a law student acting as a teaching assistant/fellow for a tenured and notable law professor. Between last year when I took the course myself and now when I am a TA/TF, his mental acuity and health has declined significantly. He has essentially no short-term memory, tremors, and can't follow conversations. He rambles, mixes up classes and assignments, and even physically wanders off to look for things (not returning with anything...) in the middle of class.</p>
<p>The students know that something is wrong and often exchange looks when he loses the conversation or rambles. The faculty certainly does know. His assistant attempted to see someone in the administration for help but they brushed her off, and once the professor found out, he never forgave his assistant and there is a rift between them.</p>
<p>My heart breaks for him. He's had an excellent career and I don't want him to face this kind of humiliation. But at the same time, his condition is so poor that I had to teach the two-hour class today. He must know that something is wrong, too, because he will often make awkward jokes to cover memory lapses.</p>
<p>What can I do? He won't see a doctor. I am afraid of burning bridges with him by confronting him, since that's what happened to his assistant. I don't want to go behind his back to the administration for the same reason. I need his recommendation/reference for my career aspirations. His family is absent. I also worry that any intervention at this stage, in the middle of the semester, will only hurt his students.</p>
<p>Who, if anyone, in a school administration could I speak to about this? Is there someone who handles this sort of thing? Should I? Is it inappropriate for me to insert myself in someone's personal affairs like that?</p>
<p><strong>Update one year later:</strong> posted as an answer <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/61374/79875">here</a>.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40056,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 8,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Let the department head know what you've observed. You can write an anonymous letter if you feel uncomfortable or are worried about burning bridges.</p>\n\n<p>(I've been in this situation, as a student. We - the students in the class - wrote a collective letter to the department head. He was able to arrange extra TA support for the professor for the rest of that semester. He also arranged things so that this professor had other duties in the department going forward, but no more teaching.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40063,
"author": "Ander Biguri",
"author_id": 16023,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16023",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If nobody does anything about it, it will eventually blow up, but probably not in the nicest way.</p>\n\n<p>I had a similar experience with a professor that had a more than a small problem with alcohol. We were students, so we didn't want to risk our mark/course by going \"against\" him/her, so what we did was (as @ff524 suggested) to write some anonymous letters to the department. This lead to him/her going to seek help and everything got fixed in the end. </p>\n\n<p>If nobody would had done this, it would probably have ended in some very unpleasant situation where the school probably would have been forced to fire him/her. Informing the school about the problem was definitely the best option for students, the school and him/herself.</p>\n\n<p>This is just a personal experience in a bit different scenario, but I thought I may be helpful.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40072,
"author": "Snezzy",
"author_id": 30567,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30567",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is a possibility that he has (as my late father had 15 years before his death) a mere circulatory impairment, and that a simple (well, somewhat routine) \"roto-rooter\" treatment (balloon angioplasty) in hospital will restore his acuity. My dad got his marbles back. So can your prof, if it's the same difficulty.</p>\n\n<p>Go to the Dean, and stress the importance of getting your dear professor to the doctor now, before it is too late.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40073,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is very wrong to assume that the other members of the department or the administration do not know about this faculty member's condition. It's very likely that they knew about it previously and they know about it now. </p>\n\n<p>However, they are not at liberty to share the details about what they know about their colleague's health with you. This is both an issue of medical privacy as well as a human resources / personnel issue. They may be taking steps themselves to lessen his workload or to arrange a temporary medical leave -- but again, they may not or cannot share those details with you until they are officially public. And they may deeply care for their colleague and not want to publicly embarrass him by removing him from his post before they can arrange a phased retirement.</p>\n\n<p>So when you speak to them, they may only be able to listen and not tell you what they know or what they are going to do. Which seems from the outside like they do not care, but it may be far from that in reality. </p>\n\n<p>Now they might not be aware of some of the impact that his recent decline has had in the classroom. It might be useful to write a private letter or to talk to your chair/dean/provost about how to mitigate the impact on other grad students. But making a big public fuss and public embarrassment might be exactly what the administration may be trying to prevent.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40099,
"author": "zwol",
"author_id": 6209,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6209",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you think you can handle the extra work, you could speak privately to the professor yourself, and -- cautiously -- offer to take over the lectures for the rest of the term. He might be glad of a way to get out of this situation without losing face.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40106,
"author": "Steven McCann",
"author_id": 30607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30607",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>He could have early stage form of dementia such as alzheimer's. Addressing it earlier on is important as interventions can slow the progression of the illness. I think you should contact the department in some way to start forming some shared approach to assisting the professor. He will probably need to visit a neurologist.</p>\n\n<p>I'm currently working on a project researching those with Dementia, and its quite common for those with it to deny any problems. I have spoken with families who have and elder with dementia, and some of them haven't told the elder about the problem, as they thought it would be too much for them to bear. However, there are known treatment methods for dementia and it's important to get started sooner rather than later since in the case of dementia it's a progressive degenerative disease of the brain.</p>\n\n<p>Now I know there is no formal diagnosis, but there are groups like <a href=\"https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk\">https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk</a> which are a collective of people who share information on how to best deal with those suffering with dementia. If you reach out to them they may be of assistance also.</p>\n\n<p>Best of luck.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40321,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, a point of principle: It is your ethical responsibility as an academic and as a teacher to make sure the students do not experience a mis-taught course (or worse) due to this situation. So, you must do something and it's a matter of choosing tactics.</p>\n\n<p>Second, a warning. Your Professor might get very angry at you if he does not agree he has a problem, but finds out you've gone round accusing him of being a nutty professor, so to speak :-( Do things to mitigate this risk.</p>\n\n<p>Some ideas (some complementary, some contradictory):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You wrote the other faculty \"MUST know\". Maybe that's true, maybe it isn't and you're just jumping to conclusions. Find out. Does he have friends among the faculty? Talk to his friends, tell them you're worried but you're embarrassed/afraid to talk to him directly since you don't want it interpreted the wrong way. They should at least be understanding and may well provide valuable insight/information. Hey, maybe they intend to do something themselves...</li>\n<li>You wrote the family is \"absent\". Make them non-absent. Determine phone numbers (phone! not email!) and call them by order of proximity of relation. If you can't get a phone number, only email to say you have a delicate personal matter that worries you regarding Prof. Somebody, and that you very much ask that they agree to a phone conversation.</li>\n<li>Try not to act alone. Are there other TAs? Try to coordinate actions with them. Do you have a faculty union? Coordinate with your union rep before going to management with this.</li>\n<li>What about the students? If they've noticed, try having a discreet word with the relevant Student Union rep. Make him promise not to attribute any claims to you, but tell him you're concerned and if the students initiate some sort of a complaint, they will get non-confrontational backup from you (or others as well, if you're coordinated with others).</li>\n<li>Try to ask/manipulate someone authoritative to be in the room when your Professor is having one of his spells.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40348,
"author": "peterh",
"author_id": 10234,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10234",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>On my opinion, simply left it alone. I explain, why.</p>\n\n<p>I am sure, the administration of the university knows the situation much better as you would think. They also know, when and how to intervene. It is surely not the first similar situation which they need to handle, and don't forget: you only want to say him, what they already know. They have to solve the situation</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Without humiliating,</li>\n<li>finding a new successor,</li>\n<li>and capable to make the switch with the smallest possible overhead.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>And, what if your Professor only needs to find a doctor who prescribes some pills for him. You simply <em>can't</em> do this to a people so much older as you.</p>\n\n<p>Going to pension is seldom a funny thing for the profs, actually, not a funny thing for everybody.</p>\n\n<p>Incompetent professors are not a rare thing in the academic sphere, and most of them are <em>not</em> good-standing, but as you write, he is.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 61374,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 30545,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30545",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's been a year and I thought I should post a follow-up. I waited until the semester was over and then went to the administration, but was blown off. I even tried reaching out to his family, who didn't think there was a problem. Ultimately the issue came to a head without my involvement. He was so unable to teach that they took him off the teaching roster. Speaking engagements received very negative feedback, and ultimately there was no ignoring the issue anymore. He has since gotten medical attention and is no longer teaching, but the experience was as humiliating as I had feared it would be.</p>\n\n<p>It's really a shame that it came to this, and ultimately none of my concern or help made a difference--it had to just blow up in his face. I am disappointed that the administration was too little and too late.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40055",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30545/"
] |
40,057 |
<p>I noticed some prominent academics omit where they got their undergraduate degrees from in a CV (I am sure it's not a case where they never earned an undergraduate degree at all; those people also exist). </p>
<p>My question: After earning a PhD degree, is it bad form to remove from your CV that you have also earned an undergraduate degree (possibly from a lower ranked place)?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40059,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are all sorts of CVs, ranging from complete CVs to abbreviated highlights. Job applications or promotion/tenure cases generally require complete CVs, but shorter versions can be useful for getting a quick overview in other circumstances. Senior faculty sometimes post short CVs on the web, to emphasize their best qualities (most famous papers, most prestigious prizes, etc.). For comparison, a complete CV could easily be twenty pages or more, which would be much more cumbersome. I would not recommend imitating this until your CV also becomes unmanageably long; otherwise, it can come across like unrealistic boasting: \"there are so many wonderful things I could tell you about myself that I wouldn't want to waste time on trivia like where I went to college.\" Of course it can sound like boasting for senior faculty as well, but so can posting a lengthy but complete CV (\"I bet the world is eager to read a list of every invited lecture I've given\"), so there's no really modest option there.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40061,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>My question: After earning a PhD degree, is it bad form to remove from your CV that you have also earned an undergraduate degree (possibly from a lower ranked place)?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, I think this is bad form in most circumstances. Your <strong>curriculum vitae</strong> is supposed to be a <em>comprehensive</em> description of your academic history. Technically speaking \"brief CVs\" are not really CVs at all. This is really a technicality, because by whatever name these \"like CV's but briefer\" documents are often used for various purposes, including posting on your website and for grant applications. In particular when you apply for an NSF grant you need to turn in a <strong>biographical sketch</strong>; unlike what you might expect this is not a brief vignette about your life story but is in fact a severely abbreviated CV, generally limited to two pages. What you put in this document is carefully prescribed by the NSF: your undergraduate education <em>is</em> one of the things they ask for. In general the length issue seems to me to be a red herring: how many undergraduate institutions will someone have? This information belongs on the first page of any CV; how many pages follow is less relevant.</p>\n\n<p>Coming back to the general question, the purpose of a CV of whatever length is to describe your academic and professional history. Here are the two basic principles of (academic) CVs:</p>\n\n<p>(i) They should be honest and forthcoming.<br>\n(ii) Subject to (i), they should paint the candidate in the best possible light.</p>\n\n<p>If you don't include your undergraduate institution because you don't want people to know that information, then in my opinion you are violating (i). Someone who tries to hide such basic and innocuous information seems problematically unforthcoming by academic standards.</p>\n\n<p>Then there is (ii): if you omit mentioning your undergraduate institution from your CV, then a lot of people are going to suspect you're doing this for reasons other than the ranking of the institution. Things that I would think of:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Maybe you didn't get an undergraduate degree at all. (This is rare but could be a problem in some circumstances. Or maybe you claimed to have an undergraduate degree to get into a graduate program but actually didn't. (Again rare, but crazy things have happened!) Anyway, these are things that people don't need to be worrying about if it is not the case.</p></li>\n<li><p>There is something fishy or problematic about your undergraduate education: e.g. maybe your degree got rescinded later. If you don't list the institution, then we cannot even in principle investigate, and that's a cause for concern.</p></li>\n<li><p>Maybe you are trying to hide how long you spent in school or how long you spent out of it. Although (at least in the US) your age is really not our business, we are allowed to notice and take into account if you spent ten years out of school in between your undergraduate and graduate degrees. When I look at candidates' CVs, I calculate the number of years in between the undergraduate degree and the PhD. People who did their undergraduate degree a long time ago are (I think) more likely to either be a bit less committed than the norm <em>or</em> unusually mature, decisive and experienced (in other words, it's bimodal). I also largely subscribe to the \"real mastery takes ten years of hard work\" school of thought that has been espoused in various recent literature, so if I can see that someone is, say, only eight years past their enrollment in an undergraduate program then I expect them on the one hand to be a little green and on the other hand to still be on the rise. If you spent ten years in industry applying your undergraduate work, then the learning curve is different. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Finally, let me say that even the premise of being embarrassed at having gone to a lower ranked undergraduate institution seems suspect to me. In the US, most people decide that they want an academic career years after they decide on their undergraduate institution, so having gone to an undistinguished undergrad institution is rather common even among top people. Moreover, most people view the undergraduate education as being distinctly \"negative time\". In other words, if I know that you got a PhD from a top place and then I learn that you went to a mediocre undergrad institution, then given where you are now learning about how far you've come makes you look if anything better, not worse. If you got your undergrad degree at Harvard or Princeton, probably some pretty good graduate program will take a chance on you even if you did not actually do all that well. However, if you go to Gonzaga University and then get admitted to a top program (I am not picking on Gonzaga but rather choosing a real life example of a high-flying collaborator of mine), then gosh: you really must be good. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40084,
"author": "sevensevens",
"author_id": 14754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14754",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Short answer - no.</p>\n\n<p><strong>The Pragmatic reason</strong></p>\n\n<p>At any American university (and likely any decent university), they will check that you actually graduated with the degrees you list. A missing BS/BA will be found out in short order if you are hired.</p>\n\n<p><strong>The Academic reason</strong></p>\n\n<p>Your CV is suppose to be a complete list of your academic achievements - papers, talks, degrees, and the like. Its not meant to be brief. You should provide a complete list of your academic credentials including undergraduate studies.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40057",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30546/"
] |
40,070 |
<p>Several weeks after I received the recommendation from Professor M, he sent an email to me and asked me about the result of my application to a graduate school. He wants to know whether his recommendation is helpful and my application is accepted or not.</p>
<p>Although I have submitted my application and supporting documents to the graduate admissions, the deadline for the program I have applied for is on the 18th April.</p>
<p>The only message I received from the graduate school was that they had received my application. I have no idea whether my application is successful or not, but the email from professor M made me nervous.</p>
<p>I can see that there are a lot of professors here. I guessed that some of you had written recommendation letters for your students. I would love to know this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What were your reactions when you heard of your students telling you that their applications failed or your recommendation letters useless?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I feel scared when thinking of this situation.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40071,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should not be nervous about the enquiry, he just wants to know the outcome. Many academics lose track of time and/or have unrealistic expectations about how fast things move. I would respond that you haven't heard anything yet, but will let him know, regardless of the outcome, when you hear.</p>\n\n<p>If you get in, he will fell happy for you and if you don't get in he will feel a little sad for you. Even if you are unsuccessful, I would not tell a letter writer that the letter was \"useless\". The only case I might say something like that, and I would be much more positive about it, is if you chose not to use that individual as a reference. Something like: for that position, I was limited on the number of reference I could submit and I felt my other references were a better fit for the position.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40074,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>\"Was my letter helpful?\" is really a pretty useless question: assuming that you used the letter, you'll never really know whether it helped or hurt, because the admissions committee should not ever give you that information. The professor is probably really just asking the second question twice with different word: did you get in?</p>\n\n<p>You should not feel nervous about this. Instead, you should feel good, because it means the professor cares enough about you to follow up with you and to hope that you've gotten good news. Thank the professor for their interest, tell them the letter was helpful (after all, it helped you fulfill the requirements to apply), but that you don't yet have any news because of the late deadline of this particular program.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40070",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27408/"
] |
40,079 |
<p>Is it permitted in UK academia to have more than one Research Associate post which totals greater than 1.0 FTE? *. What's the general opinion if no definitive answer is possible.</p>
<p>Obviously 2.0 FTE would be a stretch, but I was thinking more along the lines of 1.2 FTE or 1.3 FTE.</p>
<ul>
<li>FTE = full-time employment.</li>
</ul>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41037,
"author": "gdp",
"author_id": 31290,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31290",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Generally in UK academic institutions, you are paid based on your \"grade\" on the pay scale (for posts up to but not including professor). If you were asking if you would receive more than 1.0 FTE in pay, I believe the answer is no, as you would no longer be on the regular scale. Your pay is based on your post, and the research funding would contribute to the University's costs and overheads, as well as your pay. The HR office would not let you be paid more than you should receive according to their calculations.</p>\n\n<p>If you mean holding more than one Research Associate post, while still receiving the same pay, this depends on your institution. I have many colleagues working on multiple projects simultaneously. They're putting in more than 1.0 FTE of effort. As to their official FTE, I believe thy are officially 1.0 FTE, and they are a Research Associate \"for\" a given member of staff. Their time is then \"unofficially\" (for want of a better term) split between multiple projects. </p>\n\n<p>I am sure this will vary between funding sources and institutions, as to what is tolerated/the norm. In this case I reference, however, this is not a case of holding multiple RA posts; rather holding a single post, which works on multiple projects. Since their post is not tied strictly to a single project, the FTE is perhaps not the best metric to gauge them by.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 81273,
"author": "John Doe",
"author_id": 66082,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/66082",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It seems quite common at UK institutions to offer a 20% FTE position to non-UK academics to beef up the REF return. These people have at last 1.2 FTE employment, and possibly have more positions.</p>\n\n<p>When academics are evaluating or reviewing for funding agencies (e.g. European Commission) or engage in external examination duties, they also have a (limited time) contract with other employers taking them over 1 FTE. This is often explicitly allowed in the employment T & Cs, as activities comprised within the university's core business.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40079",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
40,081 |
<p>I'm currently a 20 year old undergrad studying CS at a reputed institute in my city. I'm one of the very few from my batch who's interested in studying theoretical CS and mathematics (about 10 students from a batch of 200) and want to pursue research as a career. </p>
<p>Thing is, out of these 10 students, I'm the dumbest. I score the least in a graph theory exam, I cannot come up with creative solutions to problems in complexity theory as quick as they can (sometimes I keep on thinking for days, if not weeks, and still cannot come up with anything useful), I'm the student who the professor looks at and wonders: <em>why are they here?</em> To be very honest, I don't really like programming or web development. I like to spend time thinking about stuff, solving problems by hand, and learning fascinating things in logic and modern algebra. I'm weak at exams, true, but then I'm mostly clueless and disinterested in web development classes, where I can score easily but not learn something that I couldn't have learnt by watching tutorials on the Internet. I'm obviously looked down by my peers, too; and my grades are, well... not too great. In my current semester, I'm studying four theory courses (Complexity Theory, Graph Theory, Abstract Algebra and Cryptography) and one introductory CS security course. I'm going through the most difficult time of my academic curriculum so far; getting around 3-4 hours of sleep every day, with most of my day spent in attending classes and solving assignments. I'd like to drop a course from my current roster, but I'm afraid that since that'd show up in my transcript after I graduate, it might ruin my chances of getting into a respected grad school or landing a job. </p>
<p>I was recently diagnosed with manic depression, and while there are a few personal problems I have (premature balding, asocial lifestyle etc.) that might have caused that, some amount of the aforementioned issue might have also contributed to the cause. Anyway, I'm not asking for any consolation.</p>
<p>What I'm asking is: if anyone who's been through similar experiences while pursuing academia, how did you cope up? Even if you weren't like me (chances are pretty high that you weren't like me, CS theory/Math students are usually very intelligent), what do you advice? Should I stop studying theoretical CS due to my frequent failures? I mean, I don't believe in that kind of stuff, but usually if you fail too much at a certain thing, maybe that's some sort of sign or something? I don't really have a lot of friends, and no one from my family has received as much education as I have (so far), so I don't really have anyone I can ask for advice.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40083,
"author": "afaust",
"author_id": 21371,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21371",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, slow != dumb (your words). In fact, these are two completely different cognitive processes. WISC, a widely used IQ test, measures IQ as a composite of four scores. Two of them are working memory and processing speed, which is your general ability to quickly solve problems. Another two scores are Verbal Comprehension index and Perceptual Reasoning Index, which measure loosely your problem solving skills and pattern recognition. Many score high on one, and not the other. </p>\n\n<p>Some problems are hard, and it is very difficult to learn how to solve them. But, after solving (or understanding solutions to) many, many of them, you develop the feel how to approach a new problem. If you are passionate about the field, so much so that you have enough discipline to practice and work hard day after day, the results will come. </p>\n\n<p>Last, take care of yourself. And you might want to read up on imposter syndrome, <a href=\"https://counseling.caltech.edu/general/InfoandResources/Impostor\">https://counseling.caltech.edu/general/InfoandResources/Impostor</a> . A very common occurrence in academia, it is a mindset where people downplay their own successes, focus only on their struggle, fail to see others' struggles. For example, just from your post: you are more educated that the rest of your family, you have been admitted to a top school, are eager to tackle some of the most difficult problems, and have a very heavy class load. These are your successes. Give yourself credit for it. Focus on the struggle: you tend to call yourself names, and over-generalize several setbacks (bad grades), while seeing others in glorified way. A more constructive would be to look for a solution for your current struggle that takes an advantage of your strengths: maybe dropping a class, if you can, to give yourself more in-depth studying time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40096,
"author": "Carlos Bribiescas",
"author_id": 23569,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23569",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having taken the courses you mentioned in college, you feel about how I would expect someone to feel in your position. If you feel you're overwhelmed its because for your workload you can easily be overwhelmed. I agree with @Davidmh and @afaust on their points. </p>\n\n<p>Also remember you're comparing yourself against 10 other students (who i assume) have similar interests. If you were all equal, you might expect yourself to get the best/right answer 10% of the time. So it would feel as though everyone else is always doing something better than you. The only objective measure i see in your post is that you got the lowest score on <strong>a</strong> test. Everything else is just feelings.</p>\n\n<p>Also, think about the pool you're in. Say the baseline for your opinion of yourself was high school. You went to a college where the bar for average people was raised. Then you went on to a program that sounds similar to mine so I assume the average raised more. Now you're taking courses that are again challenging courses so the average raises more. Judging by where you are now, I suspect you were at the top in high school and now see yourself as failing because you aren't 'the best.'</p>\n\n<p>If you can't cope with the fact that you're competing with more and more qualified people, you need to dial it back a bit and get to point where you're feeling good again. Other people may downvote this, but you should drop a course, get some sleep, and get your bearings. Try the course next time its available.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40100,
"author": "kronos",
"author_id": 30600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30600",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A person says s/he is diagnosed with manic depression and there are a lot of very important details that might drive to a very unhappy state of mind. But the advice is to get some sleep and <em>don't force yourself too much, be nice to yourself, you are beautiful</em>. </p>\n\n<p>Using these examples, I can tell you my own experience in academia (with a phd, did some post-doc bla bla) I had the same pace like you but my story ended up not so bitter as you might anticipate however ridiculously difficult in the making. I'm now kind of known internationally in some small circle and it came much after the time I was struggling desperately inside academia so I don't care now but once in a while I review a few papers for the fun of it. </p>\n\n<p>This pattern probably going to be like this. While it might seem very attractive as you can get away with minimum human contact and sticking to your own imaginary world and enjoying algebraic constructions, academia unfortunately gets more and more socially demanding and on a subjective note with very unpleasant pretentious geniuses around you. After some masters or phd you will find yourself <em>OK, what now?</em> and then people will start saying <em>well you should have done some networking too</em>, or better <em>talk to that department head, this professor</em> and suddenly you would find yourself in a self-pitching game. Well the idea was to avoid that stuff WTF? Then your options would be much fewer than now. </p>\n\n<p>Also it gets more and more demanding in terms of non-research like stuff, grants or teaching or this paper form, that email etc. So the initial kick that almost you get from other substances wears off very quickly. The internet is filled with grad student stories and most of them are not dealing with half of your challenges and still having those hard times. Do the math(excuse the pun). </p>\n\n<p>So this utopia of <em>oh maybe you would do amazing things</em> is nothing more than <em>buy a ticket, you might win the lottery</em>. You don't even know what you might be working on. And that is the danger. You like the idea of research but you don't even know if you would like the topic or not. Imagine the frustration now and fold it many times if you get stuck in a topic that you don't like. On top of all those \"succesful\" people stress, you would be extra depressed that you don't want to work on bla bla. </p>\n\n<p>My strong recommendation is that don't see research as a place where people let each other alone and it is relatively peaceful for introverts. It is definitely not. And if you can try to comfort yourself and achieve smaller things, having smaller steps and most importantly if you can keep yourself happier bit by bit, two steps forward a few back, 5-2+3-6+2+1-7 ... you get the idea, keeping the total a bit on the positive side then you don't need this stuff. You can think about stuff outside academia anyways. You can even make money as analyst or some other thing that you can utilize your analytical skills. </p>\n\n<p>Lastly, instead of hanging out with the academia, you can use your thinking skill to create something that <strong>might</strong> lead to a path that you can walk on. Not some grad student's errands. And don't underestimate those Web development stuff. you sound like an academician already. Watch those youtube videos and try to do them then complain about triviality.</p>\n\n<p>You'll see pretty clever stuff also in those things. Clever people are everywhere and even better; math people are still people. Open any bell curve look at it carefully. That small percent that on the right side still denotes the intelligent people. I've seen some math people in quite good institutions whose IQ might be somewhere between a paper weight and a toaster. They know the lingo for sure but what they do with that information is still the same. </p>\n\n<p>If you find out that you get your kick out of a specific topic then consider academia and find out if there is a demand for it. Otherwise do it outside academia. There are more people like you out there than inside the academia. I think this would make a nice problem for you about the distribution of the risk and your chances. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40117,
"author": "Sumyrda - remember Monica",
"author_id": 13138,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13138",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First: I wholeheartedly agree with the answers by Davidmh, afaust and Carlos Bribiescas.</p>\n\n<p>Since your title asks about handling peers and your questions included \"How do you cope?\", I want to answer that aspect:</p>\n\n<p>Don't see the others only as rivals. They are your peers and you are in this together. Think about joining/forming a study group.</p>\n\n<p>I'm socially shy and a bit awkward, but my first year professors got me into the habit of looking for or forming study groups and whether I was the fastest or slowest student in my study group I always profited a lot by seeing other people's approaches, by learning to explain my reasoning and by having others help me stay focused.</p>\n\n<p>I participated in study groups of 2 to 4 students for many but not all of my classes, and having a study group was a real bonus every time.\nI did some classes solo and did well, but the material of classes I took with a study group came so much easier to me that I really can't recommend it enough.</p>\n\n<p>One thing to keep in mind when doing study groups: Besides any questions you might have from the lecture, do discuss (and maybe solve) homework problems until you're satisfied that everybody understood enough to write a solution, but never let anybody take home any homework solutions from the study group - if you can, meet in an empty classroom, use the board, and erase when you're done. The purpose of the study group is to work on an understanding of how to do the problems but the actual doing has to be done by each student on their own, in order to get the practice in and also to avoid plagiarism issues.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 75696,
"author": "Inquisitive",
"author_id": 27985,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27985",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One thing that impresses me about you, based upon what you've written, is that you seem to be able to handle more adversity than the average person. Unfortunately, you don't realize it. There are several very basic things that you should probably focus intensely on:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Stop knocking yourself because you are obviously stronger than you think. When you berate yourself, you are wasting time and being counterproductive.</li>\n<li>Spend some quick and intense effort thinking about what kind of occupation you'd like. Spend some time looking at this <a href=\"http://www.bls.gov/ooh/\" rel=\"nofollow\">resource</a>.</li>\n<li>Realize that you might very well be a \"deep thinker\". You reject easier, more superficial solutions quickly because you want to find the BEST solution. Many times, if not most times, \"creative\" solutions are in the eye of the beholder.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I think you have a lot more going for you than you realize. Sit back and, logically and objectively, analyze your situation.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40081",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30578/"
] |
40,085 |
<p>Do all schools have candidates at tenure-track campus interviews meet extensively with faculty members and administrators one-on-one? Are there schools where it is customary to devote a campus visit primarily to group interviews (faculty and students), job talk and/or sample class, tours of the facilities, and meals (with faculty)? Basically, does such a schedule signal lack of interest or is that the usual in some places? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40086,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Whatever the schedule is, it's almost certainly identical for all candidates. You can't deduce anything about the school's interest from the schedule.</p>\n\n<p>The way my department does tenure-track interviews, the only one-on-one meetings are with the department chair and the dean. Other than that, there are, as in your description, group interviews with faculty and students, a research talk, a sample class, and meals with a group of faculty. The schedule doesn't include one-on-one meetings with individual faculty. And this is the same for all candidates. </p>\n\n<p>(This is a mathematical sciences department at a medium-sized public university in the US.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40092,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Also take into consideration their overall interviewing load. If it is a large department and they are interviewing many candidates for a position or especially have many positions to fill, it may be extremely difficult to manage 1-on-1 interviews and keep everybody's sanity. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40126,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While a lack of scheduled 1-on-1 interviews could indicate a lack of interest, it generally is just a function of how the search, and possibly other searches, is being run. For example, my current department does not use 1-on-1 interviews as part of the formal hiring process since HR mandates that the same formal process is used for all campus visits. We have to ask identical questions to all the candidates at the panel interview. That said, almost every candidate we interview, and from what I remember every candidate we have hired, has asked to meet with a small number of faculty members (generally within our department, but sometimes outside our department) individually. If the visit does not include meetings with the people you would be interested in collaborating/interacting with, then you need to ask the search committee to arrange meetings.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40085",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30586/"
] |
40,097 |
<p>Which free online academic plagiarism checker is closest to Turnitin by quality standard of rigour?</p>
<p><em>Turnitin</em> features that even somebody plagiarize the context of a passage by use synonyms or simply rephrase the sentence, it is still able to catch the student cheating...</p>
<p>Please notice that <em>Turnitin</em> is not free and some of free software are not rigorous enough or even people called it a joke!</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40118,
"author": "Mathieu K.",
"author_id": 29055,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29055",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I suspect that given the breadth of material that can be plagiarized (not all of which material is available for free), a free option of the same calibre as paid options will never exist.</p>\n\n<p>I have not got the personal expertise required to give you a product comparison. If you're looking for a free product, I'd suggest making your own sample text and using it to test all the free ones. For a list of what's available, I like to use Google's Similar feature, which is hidden behind that little green down-arrow next to the green URL in search results, and which gives something like this: <a href=\"http://www.google.ca/search?q=related:turnitin.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.google.ca/search?q=related:turnitin.com</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40122,
"author": "FraEnrico",
"author_id": 27499,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27499",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I never tried any software thoroughly enough. If you google your question, you can find a lot of solutions, and it's just a matter of contacting the vendors and benchmark the different options. </p>\n\n<p>The question you must ask is: what are the sources against which the system makes a comparison? If you only look for free sources, your possibility of finding similarities are limited. If your system matches also the high amount of academic literature hosted by publishers, the odds to find a match are higher. But since the highest amount of academic literature is accessible only via paid subscription, your anti-plagiarism system has to make some sort of agreement with the publishers.</p>\n\n<p>So bottom line is: the best software is the one which searches through the highest number of resources. If a product is only limited to what is freely available on the web, it is very short-breathed.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40136,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I have recently (2 year ago) done a fairly thorough search for good, free alternatives to TurnItIn. My motivation was that my school did not use TurnItIn but that does not stop me from caring about my students' work. In the end, <strong>I found all of them (and there are many) are simply terrible in comparison to TurnItIn.</strong></p>\n\n<p>I've been using TurnItIn for 2 years now and I find it quite solid (of course there are things I would change but the basic functionality works well). The system has flaws but as I see, they maintain it and when a vulnerability is found (allowing a student to game the system), they generally fix it.</p>\n\n<p>Add to this the fact that most often (my) students copy from previous students, searching freely available online sources will not do a proper job.</p>\n\n<p>TurnItIn has a bit of a natural monopoly so it seems unlikely that any free alternative will ever gain much market share, meaning they will not have the papers to check leading to a vicious circle.</p>\n\n<p>I see you are a high school student which makes me wonder why you want to know. Without knowing your true intention, I'm afraid my answer will be less useful to you.</p>\n\n<p>If your purpose is to recommend a system for your school, they need TurnItIn. If your purpose is to check your own papers, you should use TurnItIn's student version (I know, it's not free). </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40097",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1391/"
] |
40,098 |
<p>The situation I have in mind is concerned with teaching introductory probability and statistics to business students, and there may be similar situations in other fields. Because of the risks associated to cheating in exams where computers are allowed, exams are restricted to basic hand-held calculators and datasets are consequently very small : compute mean and standard deviation for less than 10 data points, etc. As the material gets more complex (regression analysis) the sole option is to ask about analysis of printed computer output.</p>
<p>As a consequence, a lot of time is spent both in class and in student study time on learning such useless skills as computing standard deviations with a calculator (even I get it wrong half the time). This in turn leaves less time to teach what actually is useful : doing basic analysis with the computer (Excel, to start with). Another consequence is that it turns the students off any interest for the material as they understand that what is taught in class has little relevance for practice.</p>
<p>In short:</p>
<ul>
<li>time is wasted on outdated methods</li>
<li>useful skills remain untested and mostly unlearned</li>
<li>relevance is lost (course is "boring")</li>
</ul>
<p>I would rather avoid complex, time-consuming and costly methods of computer surveillance. Blocking wifi (jamming) internet access during exams is not an option due to local legislation and there is no access to a lab (students have to have their own laptops). Having the students use their computers as cheat-sheets is less of a concern.</p>
<p>So my question is: how can I improve the situation? </p>
<p>The main objective is to bring in more computer-assisted skills while limiting the opportunities for cheating.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40101,
"author": "user141592",
"author_id": 27327,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27327",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My undergraduate multivariable statistics class was designed like this: there were 5 larger computer labs, where we got to analyse large amounts of data using various computer programmes to try to answer some questions. We found out in advance that there were 15 sets of data, and 5 versions of the questions, so everyone had a different assignment. These labs were used to check our computer skills. </p>\n\n<p>During the final exam, we were tested on theory: proofs, deriving formulas, explaining which statistical test we would use for some hypothetical situation, and one question on interpreting the output from the statistics programme (MINITAB) that we used the most. This way, we were tested on the computer skills in a setting that was very similar to how we might use them in our working life, and the exam was pure theory: I never even opened my calculator during the final exam. Giving us different data sets, as well as requiring a full lab report analysing the output ensured that we actually understood what was going on with the computer and made it very difficult to cheat.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40102,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A common approach (not useful in your specific case, but I'll leave it in case it is useful to others) is to hold the exam in a university computer lab, where you control the hardware and software on all the computers. With the cooperation of your IT staff, you can install all the software they need, and then do some of the following:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>disconnect the computers from the Internet (by disabling the connection in software, or physically pulling plugs)</p></li>\n<li><p>install selecting Internet-blocking software</p></li>\n<li><p>install keyloggers or similar tools, whose logs you can use as evidence if there is any misbehavior</p></li>\n<li><p>walk around and watch what students are doing - so that they aren't opening administrative tools, rebooting from USB drives, searching the Internet with their phones, etc.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>(I presume the \"local legislation\" says that you can't use RF jamming to prevent students from getting wireless Internet access on their own devices. But surely you can block Internet access from university-owned devices; there can't possibly be a law against that.)</p>\n\n<p>You've added the information that your university doesn't have computer labs; students have their own laptops. I believe there is such a thing as blocking software that can restrict access to the Internet, other applications, etc. You could require that students temporarily install such software on their laptops. This is kind of obnoxious, especially for students using alternate operating systems or other unusual setups, and it won't stop a determined student (who could, for instance, set up their laptop so that the software appears to install but doesn't actually block anything), but it may be worth considering.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40120,
"author": "Jessica B",
"author_id": 20036,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20036",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't know if they could be set up for suitable questions, but some automatic assessment programs can be set up for 'proctored exams', where the students can't leave the browser while still taking the test. I've not used this myself, but I've seen the options available.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40121,
"author": "MathAndCo",
"author_id": 28473,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28473",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Maybe the right approach here is to have a smaller exam mainly on the rest of the material (is there any?) and also a big home project / assignment.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40125,
"author": "icedtrees",
"author_id": 30608,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30608",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not having a university computer lab is absolutely painful. However, you can improve the situation:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Make computer-assisted assignments for the relevant section. Ideally you would have an original, challenging assignment which is difficult to complete even with the internet available, and where Googling the answer is not of use.</li>\n<li>If conducting an exam, put a perceptive tech-familiar exam supervisor in the same room to make sure the students are not cheating.</li>\n<li>Ask students to turn off mobile phones and other electronic devices in the exam room</li>\n<li>In the exam, assess computer skills in a written form: \"What would you do in this situation?\" \"How would you solve X with Y program?\" \"What does A function do in B program?\"</li>\n<li>Allow the students internet access! You mention 'skills that would be useful in practice'. In practice, you do have internet access, and it's useful to learn to use it well! (Keep in mind you will have to monitor them to stop them communicating with other people.)</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40129,
"author": "Neil Strickland",
"author_id": 12638,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12638",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You could try a written exam with questions like this:</p>\n\n<p>Here is a description of an experiment. The experimenters gathered 10000 data points and analysed them using R. Here is a printout of the R session.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Describe in words the tests that were carried out.</li>\n<li>Which of these tests were appropriate to this situation, and which were misguided?</li>\n<li>The experimenters carried out a foobar test with these parameters, and then changed their mind and used those parameters instead. Which was correct?</li>\n<li>Can we conclude XYZ? Does it make a difference whether XYZ was specified as a hypothesis before the experiment?</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40142,
"author": "semi-extrinsic",
"author_id": 27555,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27555",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You could actually do this with the student's own laptops if you are willing to do the following:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Have the students use < name_of_statistical_software > in Linux on the exam. Assumes that this software runs on Linux. In this case you should have them use it in Linux also during the semester, so they are familiar with it. </li>\n<li>Buy one 8GB memory stick for each student (plus a few spares).</li>\n<li>Have someone in your IT department roll a Ubuntu (or whatever you like) live USB image that has all networking support removed. </li>\n<li>Hand out these USB sticks a few minutes before the start of the exam. </li>\n<li>Make sure that everyone's laptops can run said live USB image, and provide a few (probably 5-10 depending on class size) university laptops for those students who have laptops incompatible with your live USB image.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><strong>Bonus</strong>: not only can you deny them internet access, you can also deny them access to the hard drive of their computers during the exam, if the live USB image is setup to require a root password (which they don't have) for mounting hard drives.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Second bonus</strong>: this way their computer will be back to normal as soon as they reboot the computer and remove the USB stick.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40098",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10318/"
] |
40,107 |
<p>I just noticed that most of the research papers published (in the engineering faculty) are formatted such that each page contains two columns worth of information, side by side, for example:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/S2og2.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>
<p>If I were to write a research paper, then each page would only contain one column of material.</p>
<p>Furthermore, some material (such as the abstract) can occupy both sides at the same time. This is impossible to do using Word document.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/uTGLF.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>
<p>Can someone enlighten me as to what type of formatting is used to produce this effect? Is there a standard template?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40110,
"author": "Andrés Marafioti",
"author_id": 24429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24429",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most journals offer format guidelines. They tend to also give away some LaTex code in order for you to stay in the norm. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America offers <a href=\"http://jasa.peerx-press.org/html/jasa/Using_LaTeX_for_JASA.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">this template</a>. That should do it for the 2 columns you are looking for.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40115,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The examples that you show look like quite similar to either typical <a href=\"http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/authors/author_templates.html\">IEEE paper formats</a> or <a href=\"http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates\">ACM paper formats</a>. Engineering conferences and journals tend to use this type of extremely dense format, and often provide templates (like those linked above) in both LaTeX and Word. </p>\n\n<p>Yes, you can do these things in Word, especially following a provided template, but you probably should not: LaTeX is very widely used in the scientific world because it is much better at precisely typesetting scientific papers, especially mathematical equations. LaTeX is also much easier to do collaborative writing with, since its textual format is well-suited for diffs and merges with version control software. If you contemplate a career in engineering or mathematical research, you are well advised to invest a little bit of time in learning LaTeX, as it will make many things in your life much easier. Life sciences, on the other hand, tend to leave all of the formatting to the journal and submit everything in arbitrarily formatted Word.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40116,
"author": "Mathieu K.",
"author_id": 29055,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29055",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>See other answers/comments for info on LaTeX, which is much better than Word at typesetting, but which I haven't used myself, except for the occasional mathematical or chemical formula. (Edit: In fairness, I have never submitted a paper for publication, as I've never done research at the graduate level.)</p>\n\n<p>In a more basic word processor (like Word, OpenOffice, etc.), you can <strong>select a portion of text</strong> (by dragging the cursor over it) and </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>choose to <strong>format it in two columns</strong>, as in the body of the paper, <strong>or</strong> </li>\n<li>introduce <strong>additional indents</strong>, as in the abstract.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40135,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Your question is actually two. How are articles typeset and what can be used to type set articles.</p>\n\n<p>To answer the second, how you can accomplish this, there are three basic choices (1) a word processor such as Word or , for example the word processor in Openoffice, (2) (La)TeX, both suggested by others and (3) a typesetting software such as InDesign, Quark Xpress, Scribus or Publisher. Out of these choice (1) is the weakest and (2) and (3) provides much better control on the final product. There are freeware options in all three categories with LaTeX being the only free core. Option (3) is constructed for very flexible design and is used throughout the graphics industry for typesetting. LaTeX has huge advantages to automate advanced type setting and also handle both long complicated documents as well as documents with common elements such as scientific articles. Option (1) is perhaps the easiest to start using but is not intended for advanced typesetting such as for example in academia.</p>\n\n<p>To the first question, how are research papers typeset? Many, if not most, journal publishers use LaTeX to set articles. In fields where equations and specific scientific notation is frequent, it will be used almost exclusively. I doubt many prominent journals would use word to typeset their final product but many probably use different forms of specific typesetting software.</p>\n\n<p>The choice of typesetting method is, however, not necessarily coupled to how the author needs to format their manuscripts. A journal typesetting in LaTeX can easily accept word files. Remember that a manuscript is rarely provided in the final layout of the journal, the layout is something the journal does in the end. I know journals have provided cuts in pricing for those who provide type set articles after review but for manuscripts a single column wider line spacing text is all that is required. This means that the choice of format for the manuscript is less important although, if a journal provides a template or class file for a specific format that should be used (always follow journal instructions to the point)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 103716,
"author": "Rasmus Larsen",
"author_id": 9379,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9379",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Use a template for Microsoft Word</strong></p>\n\n<p>Your can find templates to achieve that look in Microsoft Word if you google it. </p>\n\n<p>Here is an example:\n<a href=\"https://pubs.acs.org/page/jacsat/submission/jacsat_templates.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://pubs.acs.org/page/jacsat/submission/jacsat_templates.html</a></p>\n\n<p>Looks like this. Just fill in with your own text:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/WQ60S.png\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/WQ60S.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 103724,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While there have been some strong answers here for how to accomplish typesetting using LaTeX or templates, etc. there is an alternative for some fields, particularly those (like biomedicine) where LaTeX doesn't have particularly strong penetration:</p>\n\n<p>You submit the unformatted document in (usually) Word, and the journal typesets it for you.</p>\n\n<p>For example, in my own career, I have <em>never</em> typeset a document for a journal.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40107",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23380/"
] |
40,112 |
<p>I ran across <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/10941/25375">this thread</a>, in which the accepted answer mentions to <em>"[..] Start on a research project (independently or otherwise) if you have not already ASAP. "</em></p>
<p>I'm an undergraduate studying mathematics and physics. I have an Associate's degree in Computer Science, and am very comfortable with programming. I'm currently taking a course in numerical analysis, and this has really motivated me to apply things we're learning to problems I come across while programming.</p>
<p>As an undergrad, with a lack of proper training/education to perform real mathematical research, would it look good (to future graduate schools to which I will apply) if I, for example, write a paper or two based on things I do applying mathematics to Computer Science and programming, e.g.- solving optimization issues in GPU processing of large data sets, etc?</p>
<p>Even if the papers aren't so interesting, would it at the very least look good on my "resume", so to speak?</p>
<p>For the record, I'm hoping to go to graduate school to study mathematics, not computer science, which is why I can't quite answer this question myself.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40114,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Undergraduate research is whatever research that you do as an undergrad, period. So if you do something that ends up being publishable, or feeds into another research project in a real way, it's undergraduate research.</p>\n\n<p>However, for practical purposes, you want to get some faculty involved in your research project. It will help with funding for travel (you <em>do</em> want to submit to conferences rather than journals in CS), it will make the work better, and you will end up with a good letter writer afterwards. And if you think your project won't be interesting to faculty in your current school, what makes you think it will later on swoon an admission committee?</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>would it look good (to future graduate schools to which I will apply) if I, for example, write a paper or two based on things I do applying mathematics to Computer Science and programming, e.g.- solving optimization issues in GPU processing of large data sets, etc?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Sure - if the paper is good. Solving optimization issues does not sound bad at all to me on first glance, but of course it is impossible to tell without seeing the paper or knowing in much more detail what you would want to do.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Even if the papers aren't so interesting, would it at the very least look good on my \"resume\", so to speak?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I guess that depends on what you mean with \"so interesting\". It does not have to be A* / Transactions level quality, but the paper certainly needs to be published in a reasonable, peer-reviewed, non-spam venue. Papers in pay-to-publish OA journals don't help at all.</p>\n\n<p>This seems to me to be an unfortunate side effect of the \"prior research experience required\" mantra that many admission committees nowadays seem to have - many students seem think that sending crap papers to pseudo-venues will help them get accepted. They don't. A paper that is substantially below the level that a prof. would want to submit himself won't help you.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>For the record, I'm hoping to go to graduate school to study mathematics, not computer science, which is why I can't quite answer this question myself.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you want to continue in maths, a maths paper will help more than a CS paper. Still, a good CS paper will be much better than no paper at all, I suppose.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40133,
"author": "Kimball",
"author_id": 19607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19607",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let me question your question. First of all, note the disclaimer in the answer you refer to that that user just gave some second-hand advice. Also, the answer with the most votes places much less emphasis on undergrad research.</p>\n\n<p>For admissions to most grad schools in math, undergrad research is neither necessary or expected (particularly published research--in fact, publications in good journals in math usually take a long time to get accepted, so the chances are low that you would have a good paper accepted by the time you apply for grad schools).</p>\n\n<p>If there are specific problems that you want to research on your own, that's great, and as xLeitix says you should try to get a faculty member to help guide you. If however you just want to write a paper to help get into grad school, this may not be worth it. While research experience is good for your application (though may not be extremely helpful if it's not in math), you need to consider the opportunity cost.</p>\n\n<p>What (let's say US PhD) admissions committees are looking for is evidence that you're talented, motivated and have solid preparation. Even if you've done some research, unless it's outstanding, if you don't have much advanced coursework, or didn't do well in abstract classes, you're probably in a worse position than someone in the opposite situation. The best preparation for grad school is taking a lot of advanced math classes and doing really well in them.</p>\n\n<p>That said, it's great if you do your own research on the side if it's not at the expense of your coursework, and if you have a faculty to discuss things with, they can write you a recommendation letter that can mean a lot, whether you've published, or even submitted, something or not. However, if you can do something like an REU (in math), that will be even better.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40112",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25375/"
] |
40,119 |
<h2>Context</h2>
<p>I am graduating from a Bachelor's degree (Computer Science) at the end of the year from a fairly large Australian university (top50 world). I am keen for a lecturing role (only teaching) at the university I am graduating from, specifically in the introductory computing subject (equivalent of Computing 101).</p>
<p>I am aiming for a lecturer (employment position), not lectureship (academic position, e.g. associate professor/professor). I assume that it will most likely be on a casual basis.</p>
<p>I have a great deal of previous teaching experience in computing areas. I have two years of experience as a course tutor for the same subject I plan to lecture for. This involves two hours of lecturing to a class of 20 students, plus four hours of lab assistance a week. </p>
<h2>Things I am aware of</h2>
<ul>
<li>Lecturers normally get picked from the researchers. I imagine this is to save the costs of hiring a dedicated lecturer (correct me if I am wrong). </li>
<li>Lecturers normally are PhDs. My faculty has had several exceptions, notably in the COMP101 subject and the Programming Competitions subject. (bachelor's lecturer and undergrad lecturer respectively).</li>
<li>Even if I am successful, my job security will be nonexistent. I am okay with this.</li>
<li>My faculty is on a fairly tight budget.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Things I am doing</h2>
<ul>
<li>Trying to get a recommendation from existing lecturers I know. This may be difficult, because they are risking their reputation on a somewhat dodgy applicant.</li>
<li>Asking existing non-researcher lecturers how they got hired</li>
<li>Actively undertaking volunteer work in educational groups</li>
</ul>
<h2>Questions I am often asked</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Why don't you teach for high school instead?</strong> Because I would be teaching on a much smaller scale (i.e. class of ~10 people) and making little impact. Because Australia's technology curriculum is miserable.</li>
<li><strong>Why don't you do a PhD?</strong> I wish to avoid research. I believe I can be a good lecturer, and that I can make the course more interesting, and I think I can do that without a PhD. Sorry if I offended anyone.</li>
<li><strong>Aren't you unqualified for the job?</strong> Are my academic qualifications substandard? Yes. <strong>Am I unlikely to get the job? Yes.</strong> Would I be a worse lecturer? Absolutely not. For an introductory subject, enthusiasm, empathy and communication are far more important than a postgraduate qualification.</li>
</ul>
<p>So, my concluding question is:</p>
<p><strong>What can I do to improve my chances of being hired?</strong></p>
<p>_</p>
<h2>Thanks to your great answers, I am considering:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Focusing on a casual instructor-type lecturer rather than a full-time academic position</li>
<li>Getting more industry experience (I have had only two previous software jobs).</li>
<li>Master's in CS or Education (preferably overseas)</li>
<li>Working (possibly for free) for an education company (coursera, openlearning, etc.)</li>
<li>Education startup</li>
</ul>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40124,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Gain specific professional experience in the subject you want to teach.</p>\n\n<p>In my (engineering) department, all of the teaching staff who do not hold PhDs (or are not current PhD students) have industry experience in the subject they are teaching.</p>\n\n<p>In other words, if you are a professional penetration tester, you may be hired to teach computer security. If you work for a major telecom, you may be hired to teach computer networks. <a href=\"http://www.kickstarter.com\">Kickstart</a> a successful electronics startup, and you may be hired to teach circuits. You get the idea.</p>\n\n<p>The point is to have <em>some</em> domain-specific expertise you can bring to the table (because university professors are supposed to be subject matter experts, or at least be able to pretend to be). If it's not from research, professional experience can also work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40131,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My answer might be a little unpleasant. Please do not take any of it personally, because I do not know you and I really wish you the best. However, there are certain things that must be told.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>"I wish to avoid research". I believe I can be a good lecturer"\n..." and I think I can do that without a PhD".</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>This is wrong. Part of teaching in a university should be dedicated to helping students (even undergraduates) how to do research. How can you teach something you know nothing of? Lecturers should be able to supervise theses and guide those students with the potential to really flourish. How can you guide a student like that, when (and this is the really bad part) you do not even WANT to do research?</p>\n<p>Also, as @ff524 has already posted in her excellent answer, you have no industrial experience and therefore you only know CS from what you learnt in the university. In case your students want to enter the industry, they should learn how to do that by an expert. Again, with no industry experience, how can you tell them of good software practises, facilitate those techniques in your class, teach them to write software reports, do debugging, when you have not actually practised it on a large scale outside the university?</p>\n<p>Wanting to teach is a noble cause. But people should start small. You cannot simply teach in a high-ranked university with no real-world working experience and without a PhD degree. A PhD is not only learning to do research but TAing, supervising theses and get a grasp of how the university "works". If teaching is really your call, you should start from private facilities towards certifications (e.g., Oracle) although even then people will ask you first to succeed in those certifications yourself, before teaching them. Still, those classes are smaller and therefore you can learn the ropes in a more fail-safe environment. Then after a few years of experience and multiple teaching hours under your belt, you might realize that a) teaching is not really that fun or b) It is fun for YOU and this is really what you want to do. Then you must start striving towards your goal to teach at a university.</p>\n<p>In a nutshell, wanting to be a lecturer at university in a Western World country, without a PHD and without industrial experience and straight out of your BSc is highly unrealistic. Gain some experience (teaching and industry as @ff524 suggested) and then come back in a few years.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40144,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Part of the problem with academia right now is that supply (the number of unemployed or underemployed PhDs) greatly outnumbers the number of positions available. One of my colleagues told me he got 400 applications for just one t-t position, this isn't unusual. </p>\n\n<p>Thus, universities don't have to lower their selection criteria in order to find willing and able candidates for even the worst of academic jobs -- the per-course, per-semester adjunct lecturer.<sup>1</sup></p>\n\n<p>Unless you are a relatively Famous Person®, it'll be very difficult to get past even the initial screening for a lectureship without a PhD at a university.</p>\n\n<p>You may have much better luck at community-colleges, technical colleges, online colleges, and polytechnics -- but even there, the economics of oversupply have meant jobs are tight for all.</p>\n\n<p><sub>Fn1: There is so much competition in the USA that some adjuncts are paid less than <a href=\"http://adjunct.chronicle.com/\">$1500 per course-semester</a> -- that means that even if they taught a 5:5 schedule (10 courses a year), they would still meet the US federal poverty guidelines for food stamps.\n</sub></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40148,
"author": "Ian",
"author_id": 9902,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9902",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As the question is about computing and IT, there is another way in. In some UK universities there are “instructors” these are people that teach but don’t do research, instead they run the universities IT systems.</p>\n\n<p>In the first year programming courses there is a great demand for lab supervisors to help the students with their programmer labs, as well as interview the students to check that they have written the program themselves. </p>\n\n<p>If you can get to work at the university in IT, you can then see if you can become a lab supervisor for a few hours a week. Then once you have proved yourself, you MAY get the option to do more teaching.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40154,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am going to try to focus on your specific question: ways to increase the chance of getting hired. I'll try to avoid digressing into a discussion of the pros and cons of such a career, but I'd recommend you explore those further - my impression from your questions and comments is that you don't yet have a clear sense of what such a job is like. Also, my answer will be based on the situation in academia in general, based on my knowledge of it: it is always possible that your university is a significant outlier.</p>\n\n<p>Since there is a lot of confusion over job titles across countries, in this post I'll use the word <em>instructor</em> to refer to a person who teaches in a university, and has full responsibility for the classes they teach. It should be distinguished from a <em>teaching assistant</em> whose teaching is done under the supervision of an instructor. In general, the basic qualifications to be hired as an instructor are <strong>content expertise</strong> and <strong>a record of successful university teaching</strong>.</p>\n\n<h2>Content Expertise</h2>\n\n<p>One of the features that most strongly distinguishes university education from high school is that teaching is done by content experts - people whose knowledge of their content area goes well beyond the introductory level. Have you ever had a teacher who you felt was learning their material one chapter ahead of the students? At a university, the goal is to get as far from that situation as possible. The most basic way to demonstrate a level of expertise is to <strong>earn a postgraduate degree</strong>. At many universities, a masters degree is an absolute minimum requirement for any instructor, and a doctorate is usually preferred. </p>\n\n<p>I think it is easy for people to underestimate the importance of this. After all, if you learned calculus your first year of college, why should you need to take 5-8 years of more advanced classes (many not involving calculus in any obvious way) before you can teach it? But in my personal experience, I think that having deeper experience in mathematics (a doctorate and research) really has helped me understand calculus - what it can be used for, different ways to interpret its results, how it relates to other parts of mathematics - at a much deeper level than I could as a college freshman, or even as a college graduate. And it benefits my teaching: I can help students make connections, discover alternate approaches, etc, in a way that I couldn't do otherwise.</p>\n\n<p>(In particular, it is not likely to be helpful to take the point of view that you don't need a postgraduate degree because it won't help you teach. For one thing, the people hiring you are the university faculty - they will almost all have postgraduate degrees, and won't take kindly to someone suggesting they are of little value.)</p>\n\n<p>It's quite unusual for someone with only a bachelor's degree to be a university instructor, and it would be extremely unusual for someone without a bachelor's degree. I'm rather startled to hear you mention that your university has such people working as instructors. (Is it possible they are actually teaching assistants?) If it's really the case, this may not be a good sign - it may suggest that your university is operating below international academic standards.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Research experience</strong> beyond the PhD is viewed as an even stronger sign of content expertise. If you aren't interested in research, then you should know that this is going to work to your detriment when you compete with people who have been active in research.</p>\n\n<p>In some cases, there can be alternative ways to demonstrate an appropriate level of expertise. In some fields, <strong>industry or clinical experience</strong> can serve as a sign of expertise, even if you don't have a postgraduate degree. But it usually has to be pretty significant - the institution wants to be convinced that your work in the field has been extensive enough to fill in any gaps in your formal education. And part of the benefit of hiring someone with industry experience is that their teaching can be oriented toward techniques, tools, approaches, etc, that are actually widely used in industry - so they will want to be convinced that your experience is broad enough that your sense of industry standards is accurate. (For instance, if you only worked at one company that had some oddball approach, you might have a skewed view that this was common in the industry - if you train your students only in the oddball approach, they won't be well prepared for other industry jobs.) So I'd say they'd want you to have pretty extensive industry experience - maybe 10 years or more. If you are thinking of going into industry as a back door into academia, realize that you are playing a very long game, with no guarantee of success.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, you should expect that you will be competing against other applicants who have masters and doctoral degrees, and that, all other things equal, those candidates will likely get preference.</p>\n\n<h2>A Record of Successful Teaching Experience</h2>\n\n<p>For an instructor-level teaching position, most employers would expect that you have <strong>experience teaching at the university level</strong>. You don't have to have had experience as an instructor - it can suffice to have worked as a teaching assistant. But they definitely want to see that you have taught university-level content to university students, preferably for several semesters, and that it went well. Often, they want to see <strong>evidence of your success</strong>, in the form of letters of recommendation from faculty who supervised your teaching, student evaluations, or similar data. Enthusiasm and idealism (\"I love the thought of teaching,\" \"I have great ideas to revolutionize teaching,\" etc.) will not substitute for actual experience.</p>\n\n<p>The most common way for people to start gaining this experience is, again, <strong>graduate school</strong>. Most graduate programs have the option for students to work as teaching assistants, often as a requirement of funding. You may not have full responsibility for your classes, but at least you are working in a university classroom and learning to address the challenges of teaching.<br>\nYour experience as a \"course tutor\" sounds like sort of a light version of this - a good start, but far less than a successful applicant would be expected to have.</p>\n\n<p>In some cases, teaching assistants get greater autonomy, and have the ability to essentially run their own class with minimal interference from supervisors - such experience is a plus. Also, many applicants for a university instructorship will have already had experience as an instructor at other institutions; in some cases several years. So you should expect to be competing against people with such backgrounds.</p>\n\n<p>I want to mention a special case of your situation - you're thinking of applying at an institution you've attended as a student. To a hiring department, this has pros and cons. Of course, they know you, and they know you are familiar with their institution's system and culture. But on the other hand, there is a benefit in bringing in people with outside experience who can broaden the \"gene pool\" - if they keep hiring their own people, they may get stuck in a cycle of suboptimal practices which everyone just thinks are normal. On balance, all other things being equal, I think most institutions will prefer <em>not</em> to hire their own students. But if you go elsewhere for a graduate degree, or otherwise get experience of the academic world outside your current institution, that would help.</p>\n\n<p>On the flip side, it's easy as a student to fall in love with your undergraduate institution, think it's the best place ever, and want to work there forever. Honestly, it's probably not prudent until you have seen other places as well - your view is likely to be skewed. Also, if you did get such a job, having your entire education and career at one institution is likely to be a detriment if and when you want to seek another academic job.</p>\n\n<h2>Summary</h2>\n\n<p>If you want a university teaching job, the most straightforward first step is to <strong>earn a masters degree in your content area</strong> and <strong>work as a teaching assistant</strong>. You can then start to test the waters and see what kinds of jobs you might be able to get. But it's entirely possible that you will have a very hard time getting hired without a PhD and/or further university teaching experience.</p>\n\n<p>It would also be a good idea to talk to faculty at your institution who know you well - perhaps academic advisors - and let them know this is a career that interests you. They will be more likely to have advice specifically relevant to your field and the job market in your area.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40155,
"author": "Yasha",
"author_id": 28181,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28181",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There's already a lot of good advice here, but I'll risk redundancy and enter the fray ...</p>\n\n<p>@icedtrees, the problem here isn't your motivation - it's your inexperience. It's awesome that you want to teach, but the problem is that, from both an academic and a professional point of view, you don't really have much to offer.</p>\n\n<p>I'll depart a little bit from the question of whether you need a PhD and instead focus on the fact that, from a computer science standpoint, <em>you are woefully underqualified</em> to teach, even at the basic level. I'm not saying this to offend you - I'm simply trying to help you understand why, as an individual without research or practical experience, you're not likely to be considered as a candidate to teach.</p>\n\n<p>I completely understand that you don't want to research. Not everyone is built for research, and it's not the only way to make a contribution to the field. For many, their contribution to computer science is through <em>actually working in the field and becoming an expert in certain practices and applications</em>. That's completely fine. As far as I can tell, most successful developers don't have PhDs in computer science. What they <em>do</em> have, however, is loads of experience. Simply put, you don't.</p>\n\n<p>The only experience you have is your college education, which, as admirable as it is to have completed it, offers you only the beginning of a glimpse into the world of programming. Your knowledge of computer science extends only as far as the curricula you have encountered - and even then, you likely only recall some of it (at best). You've not been pushed to actually apply it in a professional environment, and therefore, you're unprepared to lecture others. Most developers and computer scientists will tell you that the bulk of your learning happens <em>outside</em> the classroom. You'll learn more about the logic, philosophy, and practice of programming in your first year in the job market than you will in four years of undergraduate study.</p>\n\n<p>Ask yourself this - is simply having passed a driver's education course enough to qualify one to teach 'intro to driving'? Sure, you've successfully received your driver's license, but that's only <em>the beginning</em> of your experience with driving.</p>\n\n<p>It sounds like you could probably do well for yourself by setting out a five year plan. Why not complete a 2-year master's degree in computer science, and then seek out employment for at least three years? After five years, you'll not only be much more attractive <em>on paper</em>, but you'll have the confidence and experience to help instruct those who are just entering into the field. This would allow you to get your foot in the door without completing a large research project.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40202,
"author": "awsoci",
"author_id": 28324,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28324",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a level-A lecturer in Australia, I can add the more specific expectations you'll have to meet should you wish to lecture in a university setting and the difficulty in getting a position in Australia. </p>\n\n<p>Full time lecturers (either on contracts or tenured) have to meet a set of expectations that exceed teaching duties. The level of these expectations are also determined by your level (A-E). A level A position is rarely given for teaching (you see it much more often as a researcher position), and when it does occur, it is often an internal hire of a finishing postgraduate who has either just completed their PhD/MA or is close to doing so in that same department/school. Generally, this postgraduate will already have experience in teaching, lecturing and coordinating units as a sessional contract. Getting sessional contracts are generally word-of-mouth (I know so-and-so) or offered by your thesis supervisor if you are studying at the university. It is very (and I mean VERY) rare that they are advertised, and if they are, only internally.</p>\n\n<p>Level A (for lecturing) are generally not advertised on job boards, you'll often see Level B-C as advertised positions, and levels D-E sometimes advertised or done through word-of-mouth. The expectations that you'll have to meet, apart from your teaching duties include:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Publishing a set amount of publications, where a % of those publications are in quality/high impact journals as determined by the university/faculty</li>\n<li>Attracting a set amount of grant money</li>\n<li>Supervising postgraduate students and meeting a % for successful completion for said students</li>\n<li>Associated administrative work, such as coordinating honours degrees for your discipline, setting up/running seminars or conferences, etc</li>\n<li>Joining research committees and being part of professional organisations</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>These will be based on set targets, either yearly, or every 3 years and so on. Some universities, such as the one I teach at, do not have set expectations for a Level A, but it is expected that you attempt to reach Level B targets (which will also help with academic promotion).</p>\n\n<p>Most Australian universities want lecturers who can be on the cutting edge of research, and use that knowledge to teach their courses. It is also very, very competitive out there in Australia, there are plenty of PhDs with publications, research experience and so on who can't even get their foot into the door. They also want international scholars to beef up their reputations. </p>\n\n<p>It's fantastic that you want to teach, but if you don't want to do any research, your options are very limited for university lecturing. The more post-grads that complete their degrees (many of which will have teaching experience), the harder it is going to be for you to get your foot in the door when competing against others for jobs. Australia also does not have the abundance of universities and technical colleges available that a place like the US has, so this limits your options even further. Australia has approx 43 universities, 18 TAFE/polytechnic colleges and 19 private colleges. The US has approx 2,618 (not verified) accredited institutions (which I think includes both colleges/universities). </p>\n\n<p>This is by no means discouragement! It's just outlining the reality of teaching in Australia, and thinking about what you need to do to get there. You might have better success at teaching at TAFE/Colleges than in university if you don't want to do research, since it's all about skill, industry experience and practical learning. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40119",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30608/"
] |
40,123 |
<p>Open book exams are exams that are taken in a classroom, with a limited amount of time, but where the student can consult notes, textbooks, and any kind of written material. They are usually meant to test problem-solving abilities and the capacity to apply the existing theory rather than memorization.</p>
<p>It seems natural to allow the use of e-books in these tests as well as their dead-tree equivalents, since a student should be able to use their preferred medium to study and may have bought the e-book version rather than the paper one. Also, ecology and save the forests.</p>
<p>However, many modern e-book readers have 3G or Wi-Fi networking, and this would make it easy to cheat by getting external help (which is, of course, not allowed). It is not simple to make sure that this connectivity stays off during the exam: you can't just remove the SIM card and everything is ok.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Is there a solution other than "live with the cheating" and "forbid e-book readers overall"?</p>
</blockquote>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40127,
"author": "Aubrey",
"author_id": 26682,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26682",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would recommend allowing ebook readers based on E-ink, but not tablets or smartphones. \nIt is technically possible to browse on the Internet with those, but it is painstaking and difficult. You would probably see a person typing slowly and for a long time, so it's easier to spot.<br>\nYou can maybe try yourself with a Kindle or a Kobo. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40134,
"author": "ceoec",
"author_id": 28695,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28695",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Cheating happens with e-book or not. Many students cheated when they go to bathroom, and there is really nothing you can do about that; or they just looked at other's answer even without e-book, and you don't even have evidence to catch them. It is impossible to avoid cheating, but you can increase their difficulties of cheating by having more eyes on them. </p>\n\n<p>So if you allow the student the use of e-book, given it may be easier for those who want to cheat, you can have more tutors to invigilate so they would worry about being caught which may hinder them from cheating. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40139,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'm of the opinion that internet access should be absolutely forbidden or impossible during exams. It's a can of worms that is best left tightly sealed.</p>\n\n<p>Every modern tablet computer, and most e-readers, have Wi-Fi capability – therefore internet access. Really, it only makes sense to allow these if it is non-trivial to access the internet and if you have sufficient deterrents in place for the more determined cheaters.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>If the exams are held in a lecture block that is isolated from any offices or research labs, it should be feasible to request that the Wi-Fi network is turned off for the duration of the exam.</p></li>\n<li><p>Some tablets and e-readers have cellular network capabilities. For an exam with many students, this might be difficult to police. But if you check the model of each tablet or e-reader on entry to the exam and remove the SIM cards, that will remove their internet access. Unless the student puts a fake, inactive one in the device and keeps their active card in their pocket, that is.</p></li>\n<li><p>The Kindle 3G e-ink readers (perhaps others, too) <em>do not have user-accessible SIM cards</em>. Sure, web browsing on them is a pain and limited to 50MB / month – but you can still have email or webchat conversations with a friend on their computer at home who is telling you the answers. You cannot reasonably ban Kindle 3G readers but allow iPads.</p></li>\n<li><p>Anything with Wi-Fi capability can connect to an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network that someone created with their cellphone hidden in their bag that they left at the front of the room. This is absurdly easy to set up, though it is also possible to detect hidden SSIDs which would alert you to a possible cheater.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>As the years pass, although it does seem increasingly unreasonable to disallow e-readers into an open book exam, allowing networked devices owned and controlled by the students <em>will</em> make cheating easier. All we can do is make it hard enough to deter casual offending. A determined cheater <em>will always find a way</em>.</p>\n\n<p>Other than locking everyone inside a Faraday cage, you simply cannot stop people who have their own devices from accessing the internet. You do your best to find them, though!</p>\n\n<p>Other mitigation strategies might be:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Increased presence of invigilators. If the exam is held either in a room with individual desks, or in a lecture hall <em>with every second row empty</em>, it is easier for the invigilators to see up close what everyone is doing. If there were 6 to 10 invigilators in an exam hall of 100 students, as opposed to the usual 2, that might be a sufficient deterrent.</p></li>\n<li><p>Use electronic surveillance / prevention, such as a <a href=\"http://www.bvsystems.com/Products/Security/PocketHound/pockethound.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\">PocketHound</a>.</p></li>\n<li><p>Ban all electronic devices, but have enough copies of the course textbook in the library so that anyone who does not have one can borrow a copy. This might get expensive for a large class!</p></li>\n<li><p>Hand out university-provided e-readers to everyone without a paper copy. If the network capabilities are locked down under a password, this should be safe. Again, not a cheap or easy option.</p></li>\n<li><p>Only allow one or several pages of <em>handwritten</em> notes into the exam. In most subjects, spending too much time flipping through a textbook during the exam is a waste of time and an indication of a lack of study. The time spent in carefully curating a \"cheat sheet\" is usually worth far more in the exam than the cheat sheet itself. Is a full open book policy really necessary? If every question needs the student to refer to a textbook, perhaps the exam isn't asking the right sort of questions.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40123",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958/"
] |
40,141 |
<p>I am an 'overseas' student in a university, currently pursuing a bachelor's degree. Although I am really interested in signing up for graduate school, I am bonded to work for at least three years as soon as I get my bachelors degree. I am afraid that this might weaken my application and my chances of getting into a good university after I fulfill my bond obligations. Are my fears unfounded? Do professors really care about how long it has been since someone finished school when they review applications?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40249,
"author": "Tom Wilkinson",
"author_id": 30696,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30696",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When I started my PhD the majority of my fellow students had spent time working before they started. Some of them had been in full time employment for years (I believe the most was 7 years). As someone who went straight from BSc to PhD I was definitely the exception and not the rule. It shouldn't be something to worry about.</p>\n\n<p>My supervisor's take on the subject of how he chose candidates was: \"Whoever seems right at the interview.\"</p>\n\n<p>From my experience of interviews having relevant experience and showing a good work ethic is as important in academia as working for any other employer. Working outside of academia for a spell is no limitation and can in some case be a boon.</p>\n\n<p>Passion for the subject area and proof of regular hard work will get you a very long way with most academics.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40360,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your fears are unfounded. </p>\n\n<p>Instead of worrying, you should instead focus on growing and learning as much as you can in these three years. Above all, learn about <strong><em>yourself</em></strong> -- what are you good at? What do you care most about?? In what circumstances are you most productive and most alive?? If you can answer any of these question in this three-year period, then you will have used your time very productively.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40401,
"author": "farnsy",
"author_id": 20591,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20591",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It won't count against you except in rare cases (maybe music performance or something?). For the most part, having worked a little means you are more mature and possibly have some extra skills. Those are good things.</p>\n\n<p>In some fields it's a huge bonus. If you want to go to business school, for example, having worked is a huge advantage regardless of whether you want an MBA or Ph.D.</p>\n\n<p>The only hard thing about going back to school (this is my experience) is that it is hard to get used to being an impoverished and ill-respected student after having spent some time in the working world, where hopefully you were more respected and better paid.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40141",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30624/"
] |
40,145 |
<p>Consider a research work that is present in another person's thesis, submitted two years before at the university, but not published online anywhere. Can someone extend that work and submit it to a journal?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40146,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It does not matter whether the work can be found online or not. From the <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/tags/plagiarism/info\">plagiarism tag wiki</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Plagiarism is the unethical practice of taking credit for someone\n else’s work. It is a major concern both in research, where the most\n common issue is improper use of citations (or lack thereof), and in\n coursework assignments.</p>\n \n <p>Self-plagiarism refers to reusing one's own previously published work\n (or previously used coursework), without properly citing it as such.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So if you use previous work, whether available online or not, whether it's your own or someone else's work, cite it appropriately.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40147,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can work on anything you want. If you publish you must:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>cite the thesis;</p></li>\n<li><p>give an accurate account of what work was already contained in the thesis, and what you added;</p></li>\n<li><p>if you use passages of text or images taken directly from the thesis, identify them as such (as a quotation or similar). Extensive use of such quotations or images may also require permission from the original author and/or their university, depending on who holds the copyright.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40149,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>That the thesis was not published online is not relevant. You <em>can</em> conduct follow-up research, just like you can write a follow-up to anything somebody else has published. However, you most certainly <em>cannot</em> pretend that something originating from this thesis is actually your work. Just that the results have not been published in a peer reviewed venue does not make the results somehow \"free lunch\" for somebody else to claim.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40150,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The situation that you describe perfectly matches the situation fifty years ago, when nothing was published online. Now, just as then, it is entirely possible for somebody who wants to find the thesis to go to the university and look it up, or otherwise request access to the original. It is just that now, our expectations have been raised by the ready electronic availability of material.</p>\n\n<p>Thus, the situation with regards to plagiarism is the same as it has always been: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You can build on any intellectual work that has been created.</li>\n<li>You must properly cite any work that you have built on.</li>\n<li>You cannot claim the work of another person as your own.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40252,
"author": "adrianmcmenamin",
"author_id": 4351,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4351",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A work is published if it is given to anyone other than the author. So the mere fact it has not been published online is not to say it has not been published. So the thesis should be considered as a published work - in that sense your question is poorly framed.</p>\n\n<p>You are, of course, able to cite another's work but you should not seek to pass it off as your own. You can extend it and seek publication for the extended work, but whether it will be worthy of publication will likely depend on the nature of the extension.</p>\n\n<p>But an unpublished paper is a better outcome than being accused for all time of being a plagarist.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41545,
"author": "Kakoli Majumder",
"author_id": 9920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9920",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is expected that any resource you use in your paper, whether published or unpublished, should be cited. For unpublished data, most journals would also expect you to take permission from the author. </p>\n\n<p>Here's the policy that <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/authors/policies/plagiarism.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Nature</a> follows with regard to citing unpublished data:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Manuscripts are sent out for review on the condition that any\n unpublished data cited within are properly credited and the\n appropriate permission has been sought. Where licenced data are cited,\n authors must include at submission a written assurance that they are\n complying with originators' data-licencing agreements. Referees are\n encouraged to be alert to the use of appropriated unpublished data\n from databases or from any other source, and to inform the editor of\n any concern they may have.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 122262,
"author": "Kabir",
"author_id": 102448,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/102448",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The definition of plagiarism \"again\":</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them\n off as one's own.\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Until and unless you are not claiming the work as your own, you are not plagiarising. Give the credit to the original author and take his/her consent before working on it.</p>\n\n<p>One of the most important things to keep in mind while writing a new thesis is to cite correctly. Don't forget <a href=\"https://utas.libguides.com/c.php?g=498348&p=3412828\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">secondary citation</a> while working.</p>\n\n<p>Name the original work in-text and cite the secondary source you have seen. Include only the secondary source in the reference list.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40145",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30628/"
] |
40,156 |
<p>I am a PhD Student in Australia and I have been asked to help out a research team in my lab on a grant related research project. I have a fair bit of knowledge in the area they are looking in too. I am 'close' with all members involved (two are my supervisors and one is a postdoc in my building).</p>
<p>All signals are going my way indicate an enthusiasm regarding including me - however, I am also aware that the project may be time consuming for me. If I do get involved, I want to ensure I will be author on any papers that are released.</p>
<p>Would it be a naive question to explicitly ask one of the members whether I would be an author on any papers before committing myself to research?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40157,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Early. There is a fair number of questions here, because people had different expectations.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Would it be a naive question to explicitly ask one of the members whether I would be an author on any papers before committing myself to research?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No. Ask about your possible contribution to the project and conditions (authorship, conference presentations, extra funding etc).</p>\n\n<p>It's your time and expertise, so you have full right to ask what is the expected return. Asking for it does not mean that you lack passion - you just make professional arrangements.</p>\n\n<p>BTW: When it comes to authorship, it is great to make such arrangements by e-mail or anything leaving a written trace. I never had any issue with it, but I know a few first-hand stories in which people were moved first->middle or even denied authorship. So, better safe (and safe in an non intrusive way) than sorry.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40180,
"author": "Nicholas",
"author_id": 1424,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just to add to Piotr's answer -- I notice in your question that you are considering asking <em>one of the members</em> in the new collaboration about how authorship will be determined. </p>\n\n<p>By all means, ask this particular member. However, <strong><em>unless this member has some sort of authority over all the other co-workers in the proposed collaboration</em></strong>, don't be surprised if other members have a different view on how the authorship list on any given future paper should be formed.</p>\n\n<p>Re-iterating Piotr's point -- get this point answered <strong>early</strong>. </p>\n\n<p>My suggestion -- ensure <strong>everyone</strong> is engaged in this discussion <strong>early</strong>, so that dissenting views can be discussed and a policy set in place <strong>before</strong> the first research paper is written.</p>\n\n<p>There's no need to feel embarrassed about sorting this out now. Other members are likely to want to have this cleared up early as well. A polite email -- naturally indicating your enthusiasm for getting involved -- is easily written, along with a bald question like \"How is the authorship list going to be arranged for papers arising from this project?\". </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40184,
"author": "afaust",
"author_id": 21371,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21371",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another way to go about it is to have a conversation about the project and expectations. Meet with them to find out what the project is, and offer your particular contributions. There is nothing wrong to ask during this conversation if this work is going to go toward a paper, or simply suggest writing a paper. </p>\n\n<p>For example, they have a problem they can't solve. You are pretty sure that you can solve it. Be proactive and suggest explicitly your involvement - I can develop code that solves the problem, and will write up in a paper. You will run the experiments, and write that section of the paper. Where are we submitting?</p>\n\n<p>Then you can follow up in the email to express your excitement about the project, and summarize roles and responsibilities.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40189,
"author": "Nick Vence",
"author_id": 30542,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30542",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This sounds like a great opportunity for you to diversify you graduate experiences. Developing your professional network is very important to your career's success.</p>\n\n<p>You are wise to clarify expectations early on:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Do you <em>want</em> to join this collaboration?</li>\n<li>How much time will be involved?</li>\n<li>Is your advisor ok with this time investment?</li>\n<li>What do you have to gain? coauthorship? on multiple papers?</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40156",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19894/"
] |
40,159 |
<p>In academia, is there evidence that including phrases such as "refreshments provided" in a seminar announcement increases the average attendance (even slightly)?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40160,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<h2>Yes.</h2>\n\n<p>I would love to be able to say how content matters the most (I still believe it does), but in my experience in several academic institutions, providing refreshments is welcomed by grad students and faculty alike. If there are two events with equal content quality, one of which offers food, it will most likely get increased attendance. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40161,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My own experience is that it depends mainly on the level you are dealing with.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>With graduate students, postdocs, and faculty/staff, it is not so much that refreshments attract people, but that when refreshments are customary in a community that a lack of refreshments will disappoint attendees. I have known highly attended seminar series that never have refreshments.</li>\n<li>With undergraduates, refreshments make a big difference, especially cookies or pizza.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40169,
"author": "Yasha",
"author_id": 28181,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28181",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think you should approach the question slightly differently - don't ask whether more people will come to your presentation because there are refreshments. Instead, ask whether refreshments will enhance the overall experience. In my experience, refreshments help to keep the group together <em>after</em> the event is over, which in turn allows for people to mingle, share ideas, and get to know one another better. When refreshments aren't provided, people tend to bolt out the door immediately following the end of the lecture. In this sense, refreshments give you the chance to build community, and give undergrads, graduate students, and junior scholars the chance to bend the ear of a senior scholar.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40203,
"author": "Researcher17",
"author_id": 30663,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30663",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It works for best <em>'newcomer'</em> group among researchers.</p>\n\n<p>When I was a new grad student, I was enthusiastic about the <em>'refreshment'</em> part. Often attended programs for it.</p>\n\n<p>Gradually, we grow out of it. Now, <em>free pizza</em> does not appeal as much as it used to do 3 years ago. Drinking sugary drink was much more fun without <em>guilty</em> feelings (I was slightly younger, and cared less about my body that carries the head that contains the grey matters)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40240,
"author": "Taladris",
"author_id": 15528,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15528",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't see any reason that offering food could repel people. </p>\n\n<p>But, if the seminar is not attractive by himself, offering food may be of no help. I remember that, few years ago, my university decided to have a (very unformal, simple) cocktail after our general colloquium. It had almost no effect on the attendance to the seminar: most absentees didn't come to the seminar because it was at 5PM and they wanted to be home early. Offering crackers, cheese and good wine (that was in France) and orange juice didn't change anything for them. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40322,
"author": "Philip Oakley",
"author_id": 30739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30739",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are doing a seminar where you expect folk to travel to hear it, then I have found (for professional engineering (UK) seminars) that a nominal charge will help folk actually turn up (things for free aren't worth anything are they; Are they?).</p>\n\n<p>A small fee also allows folks to 'justify' their attendance and ancillary expenses that would not be allowed for a free seminar (a flight, a hotel, etc). It's a case of knowing your target audience and their issues and concerns, even contradictory ones!</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40159",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4018/"
] |
40,163 |
<p>If I write I paper in which I criticise a view or argument expressed by another author, is it considered polite or customary to offer the author an advanced/draft copy of my paper? </p>
<p>My criticisms are of course at an academic rather than personal level.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40167,
"author": "Yasha",
"author_id": 28181,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28181",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No, you don't have to provide a copy in advance to this individual. It is customary within most scholarly works to point out in the literature review which theories you do and don't agree with, and why. You are not expected to agree with everyone; in fact, agreeing with everyone would indicate a serious lack of critical thinking on your end. It's good that you don't agree, as long as you are able to express it professionally and support your disagreement with a strong counter argument buttressed by sturdy methodology and data.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, it's likely that this individual will be asked to review your article when you submit it for peer review. You can be assured that he/she will rebut your criticisms during the review process, so by the time your paper does manage (if it does) to pass review, you'll have likely had to rework a significant portion of the paper.</p>\n\n<p>If you are submitting this to a non-scholarly publication, then it is likely that the publication itself will provide the author a chance to respond to your criticisms.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40168,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>If I write I paper in which I criticise a view or argument expressed\n by another author, is it considered polite or customary to offer the\n author an advanced/draft copy of my paper?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Most certainly not. The other author will have a copy of the paper when it is available after publishing. Contacting him just to show him your published \"opposite\" paper (especially if you do not know the guy personally) will probably seem weird if not unfriendly. People on one scientific area know when there are other papers a) citing them or b) contradict their previous papers (Google scholar notifications are excellent for this). So, there really is no need for sending a special \"reminder\" about your paper. </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if you know these people personally an email saying \"This is my new paper building on your previous work\" and \"...tell me what you think about it\" might not be that bad. Still, it might be better to wait for them contacting you about your work, especially if those guys are more famous and established than you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40171,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This seems very field-specific. In some fields -- e.g. philosophy -- \"criticizing the work of others\" is more than business as usual: it's a substantial part of what all papers in the subject do. (Philosophy is probably the extreme case: though I am far from an expert in this area, I do have some familiarity with it, and my understanding is that a truly correct and unassailable philosophical argument would in most cases serve to show that the problem was not really philosophical at all! This is a field in which the rank and file philosophers of today criticize the golden gods of the past two thousand years as well as each other...and everyone seems pretty happy about it.) In certain other fields there is the sense -- and this can only be meant sociologically without opening up some truly deep cans of worms -- that \"right\" and \"wrong\" work is not a matter of individual opinion or belief: it is something that the community as whole must come to an agreement on. For instance, two scholars can happily present rival theories on the meaning of <em>Hamlet</em> or even on its authorship. Two scholars who report inconsistent physical experiments cannot coexist so happily: the community as a whole has a strong feeling that at least one of the experiments must be wrong.</p>\n\n<p>If you are just presenting a rival theory to someone else's in the sense of philosophy or the humanities -- i.e., the community as a whole will have no <em>a priori</em> problem with allowing the two theories to exist and each gain their own adherents -- then it seems to me that this is business as usual and everyone can read about it in the paper. But if you are working in a scientific, mathematical or other field in which the two works cannot coexist simultaneously in the community as a whole, then you are doing something that is potentially much more destructive to the other person. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't do it -- on the contrary, if anything you are more obligated to bring the issue to light -- but <em>I</em> think it would be at least courteous to personally contact the person whose work would be specifically invalidated by yours. On the other hand, whether something is \"courteous\" is clearly a matter of culture. I think that scientific fields vary widely on whether and how discourteous this practice is. For instance, there are some fields -- e.g. string theory -- in which large numbers of people are working within a very small and rapidly moving space. In this kind of situation, it is my understanding that you just take a good, rapid shot and see how everyone else reacts to it. If on Wednesday two contradictory string theory papers show up on the arxiv, then you know what people will be doing on Thursday: in other words, the community is so automatically and rapidly self-correcting that people think in terms of \"good ideas that didn't pan out\" rather \nthan \"wrong papers\". Or so is my understanding anyway: string theory is quite an amazing field to me because it is technically so similar but sociologically so different from my own.</p>\n\n<p>In my field -- mathematics -- the culture regards my publishing a paper saying \"Your paper is wrong\" as an extreme act to be avoided at many costs. Much better would be for <strong>you</strong> to publish an erratum/corrigendum/retraction saying \"Unfortunately the result I stated before is wrong; I thank [you] for bringing this to my attention.\" Publishing a paper -- or even circulating a preprint, say on the arxiv -- saying that Author X's work without making any attempt to contact Author X would be regarded by some as being discourteous to Author X. It could also be a strategically poor decision in some circumstances: when this happens, very likely some part of the community will mobilize to figure out \"as a whole\" who is right, you or Author X (or neither!). This mobilization will probably involve several people having conversations with both you and Author X, to the extent that you may end up talking to each other <em>through</em> other people. It could be more efficient and more seemly to have that conversation directly and privately with Author X. In particular, for better or for worse (and I think it is somewhat for worse) if you publish a paper saying \"Author X is wrong\" and <em>you</em> turn out to be wrong, then you may acquire a reputation for being a bit of a troublemaker. </p>\n\n<p>Finally, in very technical fields, it is often the case that the unique person who is maximally well equipped to resolve the discrepancy between your work and Author X's is...Author X. So unless you have some reason to think otherwise, availing yourself of this resource sooner rather than later is probably a good idea.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40178,
"author": "Sverre",
"author_id": 11053,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11053",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think this depends on both the customs in your field and on you as an individual. I doubt that there is any \"unwritten rule\" either way. You should do what you think is most beneficial to you.</p>\n\n<p>I myself do always send out manuscripts to people whose ideas I criticize in my paper, and I do this before submitting them anywhere else. My main reason for doing this is to give them the chance to correct me if I have misunderstood their arguments. It would be in no one's interest if I publish a paper with such mistakes - not in their interest, since I would be misrepresenting their research, and not in my interest, since I would be making a vacuous counter-argument. I have also experienced other people sending me their manuscripts for the same reason.</p>\n\n<p>Another reason I send them out is because I have good reasons to think they would care about my paper. After all, they have written about the very same thing.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40193,
"author": "D.W.",
"author_id": 705,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/705",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my experience, the expectations depend on the nature of your criticism, and probably on the field you are in. At a broad level, based on what I've seen in my field, I can separate this into two different kinds of situations:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>A factual dispute.</strong> Here, I'm referring to a situation where there is an objective truth. In my field, if I write a paper that says that a technical claim in a prior paper is wrong -- say, an alleged proof had a technical error -- it is considered polite to send an advance draft to the author of the prior paper. This is a situation where there is an objective truth: either the proof was correct, or it was flawed.</p>\n\n<p>Why is informing the prior author customary, in this kind of situation? First, it's polite to the author of the prior paper; it's a nice courtesy to them, so they aren't surprised and don't feel personally attacked. Second, and perhaps more importantly, it helps get at the truth more efficiently -- which is supposed to be our motivation for doing the science in the first place. For instance, suppose your criticism is wrong and you simply misunderstood or have a mistake in your reasoning; then the prior author may be able to point this out and save you some embarassment. Or, suppose they agree with your criticism and had actually already issued a correction to their paper which corrects the error. Then you can cite their correction. Finally, suppose they feel your criticism misrepresents their views or is not a fair characterization of what their paper was claiming. Then this is an opportunity for you to review whether your criticism is valid (taking into account their perspective) and possibly revise or refine your argument. In each of these cases, everyone benefits: you benefit from having a stronger argument, the prior author benefits from avoiding surprise or invalid criticism appear in print, and the scientific community benefits from getting to the truth of the matter more efficiently. So it's not that you are somehow obligated to inform the prior author, but it benefits you and it is considered polite to let them know as a courtesy and give them a chance to respond.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, this might well vary from field to field.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>A matter of opinion.</strong> It's a different story when reasonable people could disagree. Perhaps it is a matter of professional opinion or judgement; perhaps we are trying to draw conclusions based on imperfect information; perhaps there are multiple possible answers with complex tradeoffs; perhaps we are making a case for a particular conclusion, but the problem is complex and one could plausibly make a case for the opposite conclusion. This kind of situation might be more common in the humanities, in philosophy, in law and public policy, and other fields than in mathematics and the core sciences, but it can arise in any field.</p>\n\n<p>In these situations, I would not expect any clear custom or expectation about whether you share an advance draft of your paper with the authors of the prior paper. At least in my field, there is no expectation to share a copy of your paper with the prior authors. Here debate and counter-debate is expected and part of the norm in the published literature.</p>\n\n<p>So, in this kind of situation I would suggest that you evaluate what to do based on what you think makes sense in your particular situation, without feeling constrained by politeness norms. If you think the authors of the prior paper might give you valuable feedback, you could share an advance draft with them. If you feel that is unlikely to be useful, you could skip it (and you can still share a copy of the paper with them once the paper is published). It's entirely up to you.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>At least, this is my experience, in my field. Norms and expectations may vary from field to field, so I encourage you to talk to your advisor, a mentor, or someone senior in your field who you trust.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40163",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30639/"
] |
40,164 |
<p>I have recently finished my thesis and submitted to both university and national thesis center.</p>
<p>However, it is not online yet (probably there are many thesis pending). Should I wait for the thesis center to make it available or can I just put it to my website?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40165,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I asked my advisor when I should put my thesis on arXiv and he said I should do it after my defense, but not earlier. (And I complied.) It seems to be a standard practice (at least in theoretical physics).</p>\n\n<p>If there is demand, (very likely) you can mail your thesis privately (I did a few times). But putting it publicly may give some risk:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>it could look as if you have already defended it,</li>\n<li>in the case of failing (which, depends on country and procedures, may be possible or unlikely) it is kind of awkward.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Plus, the standard caveats: ask your advisor, check your institution policy etc.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40166,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Unless your university has a policy that explicitly forbids it (which would be very strange), you should feel free to post your thesis online as soon as it has been officially submitted and accepted.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40164",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15949/"
] |
40,172 |
<p>There <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29219/how-to-address-a-mistake-in-an-old-paper-in-a-very-prestigious-scientific-journa?rq=1">are</a> <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/520/how-do-you-make-corrections-to-a-published-paper?rq=1">several</a> <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3445/what-should-can-i-do-on-finding-an-error-in-a-published-article?rq=1">questions</a> on this site <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27147/what-is-the-correct-procedure-to-report-typos-or-errors-in-journal-articles">about</a> <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18911/what-should-you-do-if-you-spotted-a-non-trivial-error-in-a-highly-cited-paper">errors</a> in <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12195/what-should-i-do-if-i-found-a-citation-error-in-a-published-paper">papers</a> and even the <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/errors-erratum">errors-erratum</a> tag. I'm specifically thinking of mathematical errors, where there is an unambiguous mistake, like a wrong sign or wrong physical constant. I have come across ~5 of these in the past month.</p>
<p>Is contacting the publisher really the best way to correct these? Sometimes papers are old and it seems unlikely that a new PDF will be generated. Would the academic research community find it useful to have one canonical site that made it very easy to submit errors and corrections. Then, when reading a paper, one could check the site with the DOI or title and see if that paper has an entry. I am considering making such a site, but wanted to check with other academics if it seems like a worthy endeavor, if a site like this already exists, or if there is a reason it does not exist.</p>
<p>I realize this is an opinion question. I know these types of questions get closed, but this is still the best site I can think of to ask the question, so hopefully I get some good replies before this gets downvoted.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40182,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As far as I know, the journals or publishers which publish a paper accept errors/erratums on their published papers. So, if the errors and mistakes are too problematic, you may look for errors in the journal in which the paper is published. If you can not find such papers on errors of a previously published papers, you may write an erratum on the paper you find errors in. Also, if the errors are minor; such as grammatical mistakes, punctuations, citations, etc. you may write to the editor of the journal or it's publisher and tell them about such minor errors. They may correct such minor errors.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is there a website to record errors in papers?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If I want to answer your question; I have never seen a journal or website in which the errors of papers are published. But, I have seen journals accepting and publishing erratums on papers they have published before (depending on their policies) which I encourage you to search the journals'/publishers' websites for such papers.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should there be such a website to record errors in papers?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There are many journals and papers published in every branches of science. That would be a huge work to track errors in the papers. I am not so familiar with website design but I think that there should be very efficient system of moderation in such website. Also because, readers can find erratums on major errors of papers in the websites of the journals or publishers; and minor errors are not that much important to be tracked in a separate website; I personally do not find creating such website productive or helpful. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40183,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A site which has some ambitions and potential in this direction is <a href=\"https://pubpeer.com/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">PubPeer</a>, which aims to be a general \"online journal club\", but which has also become a place to dissect papers for errors and possible fraud, particularly in biomedical areas. It is thus one clearing house for discussing errors in papers.</p>\n\n<p>Interestingly, they also have apparently set up a system that allows you to use a browser plugin to easily dual-post your comments on PubPeer to comments on the paper at the corresponding journal's site, which may also help with putting pressure on editors to actually make corrections...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40245,
"author": "Johnathan Clayborn",
"author_id": 29299,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29299",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's been my experience that <em>electronic journals</em> are much more friendly to correcting errors than traditional, print-based journals. That's because print-space is at a premium and it costs them money to print an erratum to a previously published article. So, in the minds of the traditional publishers, they have to justify the cost of the erratum. Electronic journals, like the one I am the editor for, don't have to worry about that. We can just go into the file, edit the word and save the document and the problem is fixed. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40172",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/185/"
] |
40,173 |
<p>In the introductory chapter of my thesis, I've been surveying the previous work in my field. As part of this, I've used images from some of those publications and included them as Figures in my own thesis. </p>
<p>Occasionally, I have slightly edited them - for instance, changing the labelling. </p>
<p>I usually only use one image from each paper. </p>
<p>My understanding is that this falls under academic fair use, and I do not need permission from any of the publishers to re-use these images in my thesis. </p>
<p>Am I correct? </p>
<p>Update:</p>
<p>It is fairly easy to get permission using RightsLink with most publishers. Just fill out the form on the website and you get the licence immediately. </p>
<p>Bill Barth's comment is extremely important - fair use is a defence rather than a prophylactic and I for one don't want to be in a position of having to defend my use of Figures in a court of law. </p>
<p>Of course, it is extremely unlikely that any publisher would do such a thing, but my feeling is it's better to be safe than sorry. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40182,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As far as I know, the journals or publishers which publish a paper accept errors/erratums on their published papers. So, if the errors and mistakes are too problematic, you may look for errors in the journal in which the paper is published. If you can not find such papers on errors of a previously published papers, you may write an erratum on the paper you find errors in. Also, if the errors are minor; such as grammatical mistakes, punctuations, citations, etc. you may write to the editor of the journal or it's publisher and tell them about such minor errors. They may correct such minor errors.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is there a website to record errors in papers?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If I want to answer your question; I have never seen a journal or website in which the errors of papers are published. But, I have seen journals accepting and publishing erratums on papers they have published before (depending on their policies) which I encourage you to search the journals'/publishers' websites for such papers.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should there be such a website to record errors in papers?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There are many journals and papers published in every branches of science. That would be a huge work to track errors in the papers. I am not so familiar with website design but I think that there should be very efficient system of moderation in such website. Also because, readers can find erratums on major errors of papers in the websites of the journals or publishers; and minor errors are not that much important to be tracked in a separate website; I personally do not find creating such website productive or helpful. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40183,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A site which has some ambitions and potential in this direction is <a href=\"https://pubpeer.com/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">PubPeer</a>, which aims to be a general \"online journal club\", but which has also become a place to dissect papers for errors and possible fraud, particularly in biomedical areas. It is thus one clearing house for discussing errors in papers.</p>\n\n<p>Interestingly, they also have apparently set up a system that allows you to use a browser plugin to easily dual-post your comments on PubPeer to comments on the paper at the corresponding journal's site, which may also help with putting pressure on editors to actually make corrections...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40245,
"author": "Johnathan Clayborn",
"author_id": 29299,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29299",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's been my experience that <em>electronic journals</em> are much more friendly to correcting errors than traditional, print-based journals. That's because print-space is at a premium and it costs them money to print an erratum to a previously published article. So, in the minds of the traditional publishers, they have to justify the cost of the erratum. Electronic journals, like the one I am the editor for, don't have to worry about that. We can just go into the file, edit the word and save the document and the problem is fixed. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40173",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30642/"
] |
40,174 |
<p>I published three papers during my PhD, I'm now writing my thesis. </p>
<p>I have written three chapters, each based around each paper, but re-written so as not to fall foul of self-plagiarism rules. However, I've still used ALL of the figures from the publication in the chapters. </p>
<p>My concern is not really with this aspect of my thesis, though please tell me if I've misunderstood. </p>
<p>Finally, in the appendix, as reference, I have included the PDF files of my published papers, exactly as they are from the journal website. </p>
<p>Am I allowed to do this?</p>
<p>If not, am I allowed to use my own copies of the paper (e.g. the versions submitted on the <a href="http://www.arxiv.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">arXiv</a>)?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40176,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Plagiarism is passing other people's work as your own. Self plagiarism is reusing your own work, while passing it for new. From an ethical point of view, there is no problem in reusing the figures, provided you indicate it as reproduced from the paper.</p>\n\n<p>The copyright issue is trickier. Technically, in most cases, the journal owns the copyright, and you are not allowed to distribute it or reuse your figures without their permission. But, as many institutions follow a sandwich thesis (that is, the body of the thesis are the papers verbatim), the copyright transfer agreement explicitly permits this reproduction. You should look at what you signed and see if it applies. Otherwise, you should ask the journal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40177,
"author": "Nicholas",
"author_id": 1424,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't understand why you are repeating the same material twice in your thesis. Each of your three papers is re-cast in a separate chapter in your thesis, and then verbatim in an appendix. </p>\n\n<p>You most likely have assigned your original copyright in your papers to the journal that published them.</p>\n\n<p>I think adding the papers as an appendix is unnecessary, and may fall foul of the journal's copyright. The interested reader should be pointed to the journal article relating to each of the three chapters. </p>\n\n<p>If you reproduce substantially the same figures as that which appears in the journal -- to whom you've presumably assigned the copyright in the figures -- then you will need to ask for a license to reproduce those figures. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40188,
"author": "Giannos Antoniou",
"author_id": 30648,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30648",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First of all, this is a topic you HAVE TO discuss with your supervisor, no matter what we will tell you here.\nThe answer for me is clear: Use your papers in your thesis and use reference every time you are stating something important. It is important,before the abstract, use one page where you list your accepted papers (full description, including the publication), state your contribution (in case of multiple authors), and explain in a high level in which chapters you have used it.\nFor the Figures, just use references.</p>\n\n<p>\" but re-written so as not to fall foul of self-plagiarism rules\"....Try to realize the role of a conference paper, a journal paper and a chapter and it's really easy to avoid the self-plagiarism rules. Once you realize their differences, you will do many changes, especially to the first two and the last two sections. Believe me.</p>\n\n<p>No need to add as an appendix your accepted papers. You just need to declare them in your references.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40192,
"author": "Nick Vence",
"author_id": 30542,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30542",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The purpose of a thesis/dissertation: showcase the work you <em>have</em> done.\nIt need not include substantial, new, unpublished work.</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p>Organize your papers to tell the story of your graduate experience (one paper per chapter).</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Add appropriate transition material.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Write an Introduction & Conclusion chapter.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Talk to your advisor.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Consider the following chapter-opening paragraph:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The following text in this chapter is my first publication [1] (Journal of Computation) which describes the method I developed for ...</p>\n<p>Insert Title, Abstract, & Text of your 1st publication</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40195,
"author": "awsoci",
"author_id": 28324,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28324",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>The below response may or may not be helpful depending on the copyright laws of your university/country etc (this is based on Australia):</strong> </p>\n\n<p>I just completed my PhD so I can enlighten you a bit, having published papers during the course of my PhD that was then used in the body of my thesis. </p>\n\n<p>I published an article based on a chapter I had written, and then reincorporated that article back into my chapter (effectively 'updating' the chapter). </p>\n\n<p>I didn't have to worry about any copyright issues regarding tables/figures/material nor did I have to cite the information.I was able to really just copy and paste it in. All I had to do was write in my acknowledgements:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Parts of ___ have been previously published as (insert citation here). </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I was able to do this, because I chose to <strong>NOT</strong> publish my thesis as an ebook through the university (nor did I choose to publish it as a book). Your thesis is not considered a publication unless it is published as an academic book, or as an ebook (online copies through the library are not considered ebooks). This also meant that any pictures (of which I had plenty) only required citation information/source information, but I did not have to seek permission to use those images. If I wanted to publish the images in a paper or book, I would have to seek permission. </p>\n\n<p>If you are planning to publish your thesis as an ebook or academic book, that is when you will run into self-plagiarism issues. </p>\n\n<p>My advice? <strong>Do not opt to publish your thesis as an ebook/academic book.</strong> You've already published three papers (which is fantastic!) from your data, continue to go that route. </p>\n\n<p>This means you can use as much as you want from your publications into your thesis. </p>\n\n<p>Of course, this is the practice where I studied, as others have suggested, get in touch with your supervisor about these issues as well as the copyright experts (usually associated with the library). </p>\n\n<p>Generally though, you don't have to worry about copyright regarding reincorporating your journal articles back into your thesis UNLESS you then decide to publish said thesis. You don't even need to cite the information you've used from your journal articles if they were formed from the data of your doctorate. </p>\n\n<p>This is of course, based on the idea that your journal articles were based on your thesis chapters and are not too different/not relevant to your thesis. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 135633,
"author": "buzjwa",
"author_id": 82333,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82333",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>Refer to the publisher's copyright agreement. It should detail exactly what types of reuse are allowed for authors.</h2>\n\n<p>Reproducing your published articles in your thesis is generally permitted and indeed some universities require it as part of the thesis.\nThe only way to be sure is to directly check with the publisher(s) of your papers.</p>\n\n<p>Here is an example from OUP Journals (<a href=\"https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/access_purchase/rights_and_permissions/publication_rights\" rel=\"noreferrer\">source</a>, emphasis mine):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <h3>Rights retained by ALL Oxford Journal authors</h3>\n \n <ul>\n <li>...</li>\n <li><strong>The right to include the article in full or in part in a thesis or dissertation, provided that this is not published commercially;</strong></li>\n </ul>\n \n <p>For the uses specified here, please note that there is no need for you\n to apply for written permission from Oxford University Press in\n advance. Please go ahead with the use ensuring that a full\n acknowledgment is made to the original source of the material\n including the journal name, volume, issue, page numbers, year of\n publication, title of article and to Oxford University Press and/or\n the learned society.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Here it is very clear that you are allowed to reproduce your papers published by OUP in your thesis and are not required to ask for permission.</p>\n\n<p>Check with the publishers of your papers. It is very likely they have something along these lines in their copyright agreements.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 135809,
"author": "ATTMK2",
"author_id": 30642,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30642",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>An update on what I ended up doing: it turns out that most publishers will allow you to publish your own papers in your PhD thesis in full without any issue - I included all my papers, in their full published format and also in edited form in the Chapters, and this was covered by the copyright usage on the publisher websites. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40174",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30642/"
] |
40,200 |
<p>I am currently working in a faculty where among the courses in CS there is one about Computer Graphics. That course was taught last year by a professor who actually has retired, and who was a specialist in the field. The thing is that the Dean has talked to me for putting me in charge of that course in the undergraduate level, mostly because the other lecturers are with no available free time at all; and it will take some time to hire another professor. </p>
<p>The problem that I have is that even I hold a MSc in Computer Science, the knowledge that I have about Computer Graphics is basic. Only what I have followed in my bachelor's a long time ago.</p>
<p>Actually I am little scare of what to do, I have started compiling material for read and prepare my upcoming lectures, but I am afraid that maybe I will not be able to make a good course. In short, what strategy should I follow for lecturing a course in which I have only a basic background? Should I be completely honest in the first session and mention the students that this area is mostly new for me? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40201,
"author": "icedtrees",
"author_id": 30608,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30608",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have a few additions on top of the related question.</p>\n\n<p>I don't think you should be too concerned about your abilities. Your domain knowledge will be beyond the vast majority of the undergraduate students, and thus you will acquire knowledge very quickly. It is inevitable that you will miss some of the obscurities and fine details in the first time running the course, regardless of your graphics background.</p>\n\n<p>Specifically about Computer Graphics: I had a lecturer who had no background in computer graphics. She was taking the course for the first time, and it was one of the best courses I've experienced as an undergrad.</p>\n\n<p>Factors contributing to success:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>She took material from the previous lecturer (who had experienced success) and adapted it to her needs.</li>\n<li>She used many illustrative, well-commented code examples</li>\n<li>The assignments were fun, the results were impressive, and there was much opportunity for creativity and your own modifications. (bonus marks awarded for 'extension' tasks such as rain, fire, shadow effects)</li>\n<li>Lectures were absolutely full of practical examples. She wrote code on the spot and demonstrated how they affected the graphics. She solved mathematical equations on the spot and connected them up to code examples.</li>\n<li>The ideas taught facilitated graphical effects that were impressive and instructive, and with simple code examples. For example, a rain effect is constructed very concisely by randomly generating 2D rectangles, and you can teach billboarding with it. A realistic tree is constructed concisely with a lindenmayer system.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"http://webapps.cse.unsw.edu.au/webcms2/course/index.php?cid=2363\">course website</a> is open to everyone.</p>\n\n<p>I think you should mention that it is your first time teaching it, and ask the students for feedback during the semester (<strong>early</strong> in the course). They will be more forgiving and more inclined to offer helpful suggestions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40358,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I suggest that you plan for a self-study program in Computer Graphics before you start the first day of this class. If you can't plan a self-study program for your self, then you do not have adequate mastery to teach the course.</p>\n\n<p>You should do <strong><em>all</em></strong> of the exercises and projects yourself. If you can't or won't do this, then you shouldn't teach the course. As you do all these exercises and projects, you should take copious notes on what questions and problems arise, and what you find confusing. Computer Graphics is a well-established branch of Computer Science, so if you find yourself unable to explain the basic concepts clearly, then you shouldn't teach the course.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, you should put some attention to your written communication. Your question has many grammatical mistakes. E.g. \"Actually I am little scare of what to do, ...\" should be: \"Speaking frankly, I am a bit scared regarding what I should do.\" No matter what you are teaching, speaking and writing well is a vital skill.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40200",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144/"
] |
40,205 |
<p>My dissertation is drafted in a paper format which consists of three papers that I am planning to publish in future. Can I submit the manuscript to journals in 'as is' condition or I will have to draft new manuscripts based on the old manuscripts.</p>
<p>Please advise.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40207,
"author": "Behacad",
"author_id": 15261,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15261",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Are you hoping to publish in a peer-reviewed journal? If so, I expect your dissertation will need to go through substantial revisions. More specifically, I expect your dissertation will need to be condensed to some extent. Many journals for example want articles less than 5000 words, and I expect your dissertation, even in three papers, would be larger than this. </p>\n\n<p>It is possible that your dissertation is brief and will require minimal changes, but this is not often the case. I would check what journals you want to submit to, and check their length requirements. Often manuscripts based off of manuscripts feel like they were originally a manuscript, and not in a good way. Journal articles often get to the point quite quicker. For example, in original research articles (not reviews and such), introductions vary from 500-3000 words depending on the field (more is possible, of course). In a dissertation, an introduction might be 30 pages!</p>\n\n<p>Your dissertation likely also covers a fair bit of breadth. Make sure to include in a manuscript only the information that is relevant to that specific paper and line of thinking. </p>\n\n<p>I'm assuming this question is about the content/format, and not copyright and such. If you are wondering about copyright, my impression is what in most cases you can submit your dissertation exactly as it is for publication, unless you have already signed your copyright away. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40210,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>It is often possible to republish your dissertation as articles but it depends on the publishers and it sometimes requires permission.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Journal publishers will generally not publish work that is published elsewhere but dissertations are a common exception. <a href=\"https://libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/publishing/theses-copyright/theses-and-article-publishing/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">This page run by the MIT libraries</a> lists many science and engineering publishers and their rules about publishing articles that first appeared in dissertations. For other publishers, you'll need to check websites or ask journal staff or editor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 108621,
"author": "user2768",
"author_id": 22768,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22768",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>You can extract three manuscripts from your dissertation and publish</strong>, but...</p>\n\n<p>Your dissertation presumably comprises of the following sections: (1) Introduction, (2) Tools (filed dependent background material), (3) Manuscript 1, (4) Manuscript 2, (5) Manuscript 3, and (6) Conclusion. You can't simply pull-out Sections 3-5 and publish, because they lack sufficient introduction and tools. Moreover, before your dissertation is accepted, those sections might change. So, </p>\n\n<p>I suggest that you:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Wait until your dissertation is accepted (hence, all sections are in final version), </li>\n<li>(Assuming you're using LaTeX) add macros to Section 2 so that it can present tools for each of Manuscripts 1-3 individually (this avoids having to maintain three overlapping sections), and </li>\n<li>Merge each of Sections 3-5 with Section 1 and the aforementioned tools section to derive three manuscripts.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If you are still drafting your dissertation, then you might be able to reduce the above work load a little, but, I'd suggest not worrying too much about that.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40205",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30667/"
] |
40,208 |
<p>I'm a Computer Science graduate student enrolled in a US University. In a class I'm currently taking, the professor has just given us a strange assignment. The professor works full-time in industry and is teaching classes at the University by night.</p>
<p>He has given us a piece of legacy code from the company where he works, which he doesn't have time to deal with. Our assignment is to optimize this piece of code for him. For full credit, we must obtain a 10% performance increase, but the professor isn't sure that this is even possible. He has also stated that he will take the best solution and use it in his commercial applications at work.</p>
<p>Additionally, the professor has offered cash prizes for the top 4 or 5 students, ranging from $50 - $400.</p>
<p>I have several issues with this:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A successful assignment is going to require something new and/or novel to accomplish it, since the professor isn't sure how to do it himself. I'm not ok with just giving him and his company the copyright and other IP rights to the code I create to do this.</p></li>
<li><p>There's no direct educational goal associated with this assignment. He's simply offloading work he doesn't have time for or can't accomplish to his class.</p></li>
<li><p>To me, it seems unethical to try to monetarily incentivize the class to perform better at the work.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My questions:</p>
<p>Are my concerns legitimate and should I get my adviser or the department head involved?</p>
<p>Is there some way I can opt out of the assignment and request an alternative assignment to complete, based on my IP concerns?</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong></p>
<p>I checked my university's IP policy and students do indeed retain all rights to works created without financial backing from the university. Also, it seems other students had similar concerns and got the department involved before I even had a chance to. The department had the professor alter the assignment so that the requirements were more clearly defined and he doesn't stand to gain much from students answers.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40214,
"author": "ctokelly",
"author_id": 12045,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12045",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your institution will likely have a policy on IP and assignments so that might be worth exploring. The IP will likely either rest with you or with the university itself, or with you but with conditions (such as you accepting the work be submitted to plagiarism checking software and the like).</p>\n\n<p>Either way, it's possible that your institution would have something to say about professors using their professorial time for private gain.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40215,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You stated:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I'm not ok with just giving him and his company the copyright</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I sounds like you would not be <em>giving</em> but rather <em>trading</em> your code for the prize money. As ctokelly wrote in another answer, you should check your university's IP rules for code created as coursework and who holds the copyright. It might not even be yours to begin with (but do not assume either way - check).</p>\n\n<p>Selling custom code happens all the time but I agree, you should not be forced into participating. I applaud the prof's use of real-world examples in order to teach students. <strong>I suspect if you approach your prof with your concern, he would find a solution to your concern</strong> (like giving you an alternate assignment or simply not taking the copyright). That said, practicing on real-world problems is always good (even if you feel you do not want to submit your solution).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40267,
"author": "D.W.",
"author_id": 705,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/705",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You seem to be asking about two different things: (a) is it OK to assign coding assignments based on the instructor's real-world experience, and where the instructor isn't sure how to solve it himself? (b) is it OK for the instructor to use your solution/your code in his company, without your permission? You should keep them separate, as they're likely to have very different answers.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Is it OK to assign this sort of assignment?</strong> Yes, absolutely! It sounds like it could potentially be a great project, if designed well. A course project that's based on a real-world problem? Sounds wonderful. The instructor isn't sure what the best way to solve it will be? Open-ended projects can be great, too, as a way to boost creativity.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, it's the instructors responsibility to design the course project so it will inspire learning and meet the pedagogical goals of the course, but nothing about \"based on the instructor's real-world experience\" or \"the instructor doesn't know how to solve it himself\" is incompatible with that (and those could even be beneficial features). So, your negative reaction to that aspect is unjustified.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Is it OK for the instructor to use your solution in his company, without your permission?</strong> Almost certainly not. There are both ethical and legal concerns.</p>\n\n<p>From an ethical standpoint, this seems like a potential abuse of the instructor's position of power.</p>\n\n<p>From a legal standpoint, this could run into intellectual property issues for the company. At the university I am most familiar with, the university has an official policy on copyright. It explicitly states that student coursework remains the student's property: the student retains copyright in essays, code, etc. that they write in their course.</p>\n\n<p>So, look into your university's official policy. If the university has a similar policy, then the situation is very clear: this is a great assignment, and the instructor has every right to offer this assignment -- but he cannot use your code at his company (without a written signed agreement from you transferring copyright, and it would of course be highly improper for him to expect/demand this as a requirement of the course).</p>\n\n<p>Also, depending upon laws in your jurisdiction, it's possible that this abuse of the instructor's position of power <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/24563/705\">could itself pose legal issues</a>.</p>\n\n<p>In his enthusiasm, your instructor might not have realized these issues or thought through them very carefully. Don't assume bad faith -- this could well be a situation where the instructor saw a great opportunity for learning, and failed to recognize the issues with this aspect of the assignment. I'd suggest you start by talking to the instructor in person and very respectfully having a discussion about this: you could start by mentioning that you are not comfortable with him using your code for anything beyond the course, and his statement that he would use solutions makes you uncomfortable. Have a meeting in person -- an email is too easy to misconstrue. Assume good faith, share your concerns, and see what he has to say. It's possible that this might be a misunderstanding or that he might be entirely receptive to your concerns.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40529,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ul>\n<li><p>I totally agree that this has a smell of abusing power maybe even extracting benefits. </p></li>\n<li><p>But then you should never use conspiracy theories to explain things that may just be thoughtless.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>All the rest of this answer depends very much on your legislation. I'm stating guesses (IANAL) from a German perspective. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Copyright</strong> thougts:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>I guess that whoever holds the copyright is most likely not the professor (i.e. probably the student, possibly [for Germany: very unlikely] the university). So the professor needs to obtain a license to use the assignment code in their application. </li>\n<li>But: copyright is about the actual work = actual code. The idea behind is not covered by copyright. So using someone else's algorithm for an application with their own implementation is usually legal (unless the algorithm is patented). </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><strong>Ethics</strong> and related legal stuff:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>But: doing this in an exam-like situation may constitute abuse of power, because the students are not free to decide whether they tell the professor of their solution: the grading assignment <em>forces</em> them to reveal their best idea. Thus, they are not in an equal position.<br>\nI really have no idea about the legal situation this, but I could imagine that this could lead to a special protection of the student IP (something along the lines of unconscionability). </p></li>\n<li><p>The assignments need to be <em>graded</em> before the prize money could be offered to any particular student. If something like a license agreement plus \"prize\" is \"offered\" after student already received the mark, the student may be in an equal position for negotiation again. </p></li>\n<li><p>On the other hand, if the grading is not the final mark, and/or there is a chance to encounter the professor in other lectures, the professor may violate their duty (Germany) to avoid everything that could cast a suspicion of extracting benefits/undue pressure. </p></li>\n<li><p>Note that a copyright transfer without proper compensation may be void, at the very least in a situation where the professor's side can dictate the price. </p></li>\n<li><p>Putting the students under undue pressure in an exam-like situation may anyways void all kinds of agreements (e.g. license agreements before the assignment is graded).</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40208",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30668/"
] |
40,218 |
<p>In my thesis, I would like to refer to a set of links. These are tools/calculators/etc. related to my subject, included to show that there is an interest in society at large in this topic. </p>
<p>I'm wondering what the best way would be to include them. Options include:</p>
<ul>
<li>all (15+) in the running text is cumbersome;</li>
<li>a table with only one column looks just plain weird;</li>
<li>as references [1,3-5,76] breaks the flow of reading, and mixes them up with formal, cited literature sources. I would not suggest that these links are quality sources of anything, their simple existence is the point;</li>
<li>as an appendix diminishes their impact.</li>
</ul>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40219,
"author": "Maarten Buis",
"author_id": 14471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14471",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You could include them as an itemized list. Something like:</p>\n<p>There is a lot of intest in topic XYZ, as can be seen from the following example websites:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>http://(somepersonalwebsite).xyz</li>\n<li>http://(department).(institution).xyz/(applicable-tool)/</li>\n<li>etc.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>It is basically a variation on the table with 1 column, but it looks less "weird".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40221,
"author": "d_l_b",
"author_id": 30678,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30678",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am personally more in favor of using footnotes for that purpose; I used this approach extensively in my theses.</p>\n\n<p>You can use a web link for one of two purposes: to point to the website of something you mentioned, or as a reference to support a statement you make. In the latter case, a citation to a formal reference is preferred (with title, link, authorship date, and the date you last checked the link):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Text: McDonald’s toys are A, B, and C [42].</li>\n<li>Reference: [42] “McDonald’s Happy Meal Toy Safety Facts,” McDonald’s Corporation, accessed July 19, 2008, xttp://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/factsheets.html.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>But you are asking for the former case, for which I'd opt for something in the lines of:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Text: Social network websites like Facebook¹, Twitter² of LinkedIn³ are... .</li>\n<li>Bottom of the page:<br />\n¹ <code>http://www.facebook.com</code><br />\n² <code>http://www.twitter.com</code><br />\n³ <code>http://www.linkedin.com</code></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40225,
"author": "O. R. Mapper",
"author_id": 14017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14017",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Personally, I am in favour of adding them as references in the bibliography section.</p>\n\n<p>With that said, I am from a CS subfield that is very close to the \"real world\" in a way that related work is almost always a motley mixture of peer-reviewed publications, books, newspaper articles, technical standard documents (such as those by W3C), and actual innovative software or websites (whose concepts were never formally published in a scientific venue), i.e. sources with a continuously varying degree of reliability. Consequently, trying to find a well-defined rule about what to add as a footnote and what to add as a bibliography reference is certain to give you headaches (and uncertain to lead to a useful and consistent result).</p>\n\n<p>However, I can see a few (maybe a bit subjective) general advantages of using bibliography items rather than footnotes for links (in no particular order):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Bibliography items tend to more or less have a fixed format. Frequently, meta-information such as year of publication or author can be provided for web resources just as it can for anything else. When using a footnote, authors may be tempted to just provide the link and skip the meta-information that would be naturally included in a bibliography item, thereby foregoing both any due attribution and any information required to possibly locate the resource again, should the link die.</li>\n<li>I have seen styleguides that generally forbid the use of footnotes (e.g. <a href=\"https://www.eg.org/index.php/downloads/file/26-egauthorguidelines-cgf-sub\" rel=\"noreferrer\">\"Please do <em>not</em> use footnotes at all!\"</a>), but I have yet to see a styleguide that generally forbids the use of a bibliography. By not using any footnotes, your manuscript is one step closer to being agnostic of the final formatting used (and thus matches with the ideal of separating content from layout).</li>\n<li>If the same web resource is mentioned twice throughout your document, there is absolutely no problem if the link is provided in a bibliography item, which is simply referenced twice in your text, if appropriate (e.g. if the two mentions are sufficiently far apart). If the link is in a footnote, on the other hand, things are not so clear:\n<ul>\n<li>The footnote can be added several times in the document. However, this means a waste of space, and it may also confuse readers who expect some new information when reading a new footnote for the first time, or who might wonder whether they are looking at a copy-and-paste error where a previously unmentioned link should be provided. Personally, I consider this \"solution\" downright bad style.</li>\n<li>The same footnote can be pointed to several times. While this may be slightly cumbersome in some typesetting software, it is definitely feasible. However, it significantly increases the effort for finding the footnote (it might be on any page in the document), and the need to switch to another page than the one the reader is currently on kind of defeats the purpose of footnotes, anyway.</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>As a reader, I find keeping track of references, figure numbers, and table numbers that I still want to look into after finishing or while reading the current paragraph or section hard enough. There is no reason to add yet another independent list for footnote numbers.</li>\n<li>Also as a reader, I have a certain expectation what amount of information I will find when following a pointer to additional information. For bibliography references, it is clear that the pointer points to an entire external document. For footnotes, I conversely prefer it to be clear that the pointer points to no more than one or two sentences worth of additional information (for which I do not need to search for and/or open another document).</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40228,
"author": "Rafa Soler",
"author_id": 30684,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30684",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I did it like bibliography using a url shortener, this way the link is usable for those who read it in paper or electronic format and will avoid many issues with the bibliography format.</p>\n\n<p>One thing you should consider is to include the lasta access data to the link (they can remove it).</p>\n\n<p>Just in case, you can consider adding and annex where display the URLs unshortened whit their match, so if anyone can't access any of them can try to search by ieself in the web.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40218",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28202/"
] |
40,220 |
<p>A prospective employer requested a copy of my PhD thesis and some unpublished papers (still working on them). Is it wise to hand these to them?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40231,
"author": "user141592",
"author_id": 27327,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27327",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From the ethics course we had to take during the first semester of grad school: it depends. </p>\n\n<p>If your research contains anything that is waiting to be patented, then you can't pass it on to a potential employer. </p>\n\n<p>If your research was funded by industry, then you can't pass on unpublished work without the permission of whoever funded it (you could get sued). </p>\n\n<p>If it is part of a larger project that your advisor is working on, then you shouldn't pass it on without their permission (you probably won't face legal action, but your advisor could be very upset with you). </p>\n\n<p>As Nate pointed out in the comments, if you have coauthors for any of this material, you need to check with them before passing on anything.</p>\n\n<p>If it was funded by anyone who made you sign confidentiality agreements, then you can't pass it on without permission (I know people who receive funding from the NSA for cryptography work, or the DoD to work on certain engineering projects who had to sign such papers).</p>\n\n<p>If your chapters contain medical or otherwise personal data collected, make sure it has been anonymised to whatever standards there are in your field (HIPAA etc).</p>\n\n<p>If none of these apply, then you can probably pass it on without problems. I would still check with my advisor if I were you though, just to make sure.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40242,
"author": "Johnathan Clayborn",
"author_id": 29299,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29299",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree completely with Johanna. Chances are, if you mentioned the papers during an interview, they might be trying to assess your ability by looking at your work, much like a portfolio. They probably aren't looking to steal your work, if that's what you're worried about. And if you are worried about that, why would you even want to work for them at all? </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41700,
"author": "8404man",
"author_id": 31785,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31785",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you value the papers, give them a sample or a copyrighted version, if you think they are valuable enough to put copyright on. But if not, send them, and if they copy, you ruin their reputation by creating a campaign on social media about mistreatment of employees.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40220",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30677/"
] |
40,227 |
<p>I currently hold a bachelor's degree at Biomedical Engineering and I want to do a Master's Degree in Computer Science at California.</p>
<p>Would that be a problem?</p>
<p>Since I don't have a high GPA and the proper specialization, should I pursue a certificate of Computer Science first, increase my GPA and then apply for the Master's?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40231,
"author": "user141592",
"author_id": 27327,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27327",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From the ethics course we had to take during the first semester of grad school: it depends. </p>\n\n<p>If your research contains anything that is waiting to be patented, then you can't pass it on to a potential employer. </p>\n\n<p>If your research was funded by industry, then you can't pass on unpublished work without the permission of whoever funded it (you could get sued). </p>\n\n<p>If it is part of a larger project that your advisor is working on, then you shouldn't pass it on without their permission (you probably won't face legal action, but your advisor could be very upset with you). </p>\n\n<p>As Nate pointed out in the comments, if you have coauthors for any of this material, you need to check with them before passing on anything.</p>\n\n<p>If it was funded by anyone who made you sign confidentiality agreements, then you can't pass it on without permission (I know people who receive funding from the NSA for cryptography work, or the DoD to work on certain engineering projects who had to sign such papers).</p>\n\n<p>If your chapters contain medical or otherwise personal data collected, make sure it has been anonymised to whatever standards there are in your field (HIPAA etc).</p>\n\n<p>If none of these apply, then you can probably pass it on without problems. I would still check with my advisor if I were you though, just to make sure.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40242,
"author": "Johnathan Clayborn",
"author_id": 29299,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29299",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree completely with Johanna. Chances are, if you mentioned the papers during an interview, they might be trying to assess your ability by looking at your work, much like a portfolio. They probably aren't looking to steal your work, if that's what you're worried about. And if you are worried about that, why would you even want to work for them at all? </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41700,
"author": "8404man",
"author_id": 31785,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31785",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you value the papers, give them a sample or a copyrighted version, if you think they are valuable enough to put copyright on. But if not, send them, and if they copy, you ruin their reputation by creating a campaign on social media about mistreatment of employees.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40227",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19954/"
] |
40,230 |
<p>Related to my work is a large project, with many publication. There is not a single recent publication that is particularly related to my work, and most of the publications have a particular focus on some aspect of that project that is less related.</p>
<p>What is the best way to reference that project’s work in general?</p>
<p>As my advisor advised against citing something too old, my current approach is to pick the latest entry on their publication list that roughly covers the project as a whole. In this case, it is the invited talk at a large conference, so I am not sure if it is the best choice.</p>
<p><sup>If you care about the details: The field is computer science, and I want to reference the <code>CompCert</code> project <a href="http://compcert.inria.fr/publi-by-year.html" rel="nofollow">(publication list)</a>.</sup></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40232,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>pick the latest entry on their publication list that roughly covers\n the project as a whole</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This sounds like the best you can do in this situation. You should clarify that you are referring to the project as a whole, e.g., by writing: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>... as found by the CompCert project (e.g., Foo & Bar, 2012; see also <a href=\"http://compcert.inria.fr\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://compcert.inria.fr</a>)...</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The \"e.g.\" clarifies that this is an <em>example</em> publication. I like <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40230/how-to-cite-large-projects#comment88378_40230\">xLeitix' suggestion</a> of citing the project website. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>In this particular instance, I notice that there are no publications after 2012, so it seems like the project is finished, is it? In such cases, people might have a capstone publication \"The CompCert project: overview, lessons learned and the way forward\" that you could cite - which of course won't help you if the project is still ongoing.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Finally, you could of course contact the project's principal investigators and ask them how they would like the project to be cited. It would be a good idea to put such a piece of information somewhere prominent on the project website.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40233,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since software usually isn't peer reviewed, there's often a so-called marker paper that serves as the paper the authors want everyone to refer to when giving credit to the project for the software itself. These papers usually have a title like \"FooBaz: the Frobinator for Multi-core Systems\" or some such thing. In this case \"Sylvie Boldo, Jacques-Henri Jourdan, Xavier Leroy, and Guillaume Melquiond. A formally-verified C compiler supporting floating-point arithmetic. In ARITH, 21st IEEE International Symposium on Computer Arithmetic, pages 107-115. IEEE Computer Society Press, 2013\" seems like a pretty good overview of the project (from the title), but I haven't read it. </p>\n\n<p>As we say around here, you should only cite works you've read, so you should read whatever you end up citing. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40230",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30686/"
] |
40,234 |
<p>I like to get as much practice as I can before an exam so is it permissable to use other colleges or universities' practice exams or handouts for practice. I am not distributing them to anyone, selling them or profiting. Just want to get as much practice as possible. I was wondering if this is ok? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40235,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Studying universities practice exams, handouts, pamphlets, books, etc. is perfect only if you respect their privacy and rights.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40244,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If they've put it up freely available online, then they have made it available for people like yourself to read. Enjoy!</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40234",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30687/"
] |
40,239 |
<p>I have only 2 publications from my PhD, and I am applying for a post-doc position. </p>
<p>My fields are: Theoretical physical chemistry; condensed matter physics;
computational chemistry; cluster science.</p>
<p>I am already a postdoc and I am finishing 2 publications, and my collaborators are going to write other 2. The problems are: I have no idea when those 2 papers, that I am going to be co-author, will be published; the only proof I have publications is those 2 from my PhD, which are not really connected with the position I am applying for.</p>
<p>How to justify the lack of publications in my application form?
I always had this feeling that putting "manuscript in preparation" in my publication list sounds weird, even if it is true. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40246,
"author": "Memming",
"author_id": 386,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/386",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are nearly finished with your papers you are preparing, you can always send them to show that things are in the pipeline. Just make sure to put a note saying \"in preparation: DO NOT DISTRIBUTE\" or something similar in your manuscripts.</p>\n\n<p>Depending on your area 2 papers is not bad, especially if they are really good papers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40248,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I do not understand why you find \"weird\" putting manuscripts in preparation in your CV. In my field, it is perfectly normal and accepted, and I guess in all academia.</p>\n\n<p>This is the best way to explain what you did in the last years. It won't be strange at all, especially if you have talks on those results already, as you imply in a comment. These things happen; sometimes papers take a long time to prepare, and a selection committee should be aware of this fact.</p>\n\n<p>It would look much weirder, in my view, if you don't list them and write a long statement in the cover letter about the lack of publications. As they said in ancient Rome, \"he who excuses himself unsolicited, accuses himself\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40273,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The issue is not \"how many\" publications you have, but how good (and relevant) they are.</p>\n\n<p>If you have two publications that \"hit the mark\" in your field, you're fine. The rest can be explained by the fact that you were doing a lot of coursework, or maybe teaching.</p>\n\n<p>If someone has a bunch of second-rate publications in \"general science,\" that's not going to get them very far in physics or chemistry research.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40239",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15639/"
] |
40,257 |
<p>If all students of a class sign a petition claiming that a professor of a course is unqualified to teach, does the department/faculty change that professor?</p>
<p>Do students have this right? and what is the procedure to do so?</p>
<p>When ALL students sign a letter that they do not learn in the class of a professor, what is the responsibility of the department/university?</p>
<p>Some mentioned the need for solid evidence. What evidence students can provide that they do not learn anything in a class?</p>
<p>Isn't it the university responsibility to satisfy students by offering high quality education?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40259,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Such a petition is something that a department head or dean would take seriously. But at most universities, it would be their decision what action to take, if any; a petition wouldn't obligate them to make a change. </p>\n\n<p>Consider that if such petitions were binding, it would give the students an undue amount of leverage over the professor; if they got a difficult homework assignment or something else they just didn't like, they could threaten to submit a petition to get the professor removed.</p>\n\n<p>There is a principle of \"academic freedom\" that the administration will generally avoid interfering with how courses are taught, within reason, so it would probably take a pretty egregious deficiency for the administration to take the disruptive step of removing a professor in the middle of a course.</p>\n\n<p>It is likely to be more effective to start with one or two students having an informal discussion with the department head about the situation; a petition doesn't leave much opportunity for dialogue or compromise.</p>\n\n<p>Note also that the department head's decision would likely be based less on the students' <em>opinion</em> of the course, and more on objective information about what the professor is actually doing. So it would be more helpful to avoid phrases like \"everyone hates this class\" and prefer specific examples: \"the professor did this and this, and here is why we think this is a problem\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40297,
"author": "awsoci",
"author_id": 28324,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28324",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would tread carefully with this situation. It seems as though you dislike this professor, and without detailed information as to why, it comes across as that you just don't like them and want them changed. </p>\n\n<p>I also don't think you've given enough information to help us formulate a strong response, so I'm going to just have to go with the bare minimum that you've provided.</p>\n\n<p><strong>My questions to you:</strong></p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Why do you feel that you are not effectively learning in this course? Have you been doing your assigned readings and putting enough time and effort with your assessments? Have you been attending office hours of the professor or TA to help your learning with topics that you are struggling with? </p></li>\n<li><p>What is it specifically about this particular course that you feel the professor is doing a poor job in teaching? Are they not explaining concepts clearly enough? Do you not like the structure of the content? Is the professor displaying any behaviours that are sexist/racist etc and making you feel uncomfortable? Is there a large gap between the course content taught, and how you are assessed (i.e. are you being tested on material never covered, either in the lecture or in your reading packages?). Are you utilising other services in the university, such as language and writing services (if you are writing essays) or are you expecting the professor to help you with everything and not taking responsibility for your education? </p></li>\n<li><p>Are you receiving poor marks on your assessment? Do you feel that you are not receiving enough feedback? Is this frustration about your marks and not necessarily about the professor, in which you are blaming the professor for your performance? Are the students as a collective receiving poor marks across the board (i.e. are all students failing?)? </p></li>\n<li><p>How much of this 'collective' regarding how students feel about the professor is, in part, a truthful perspective? Sometimes, a person's voice which is the loudest can influence others to feel the same way but is not reflective of reality. </p></li>\n<li><p>Is this actually about their teaching, or do you just not like the professor? Are they challenging you more than others have? Is the teacher young and female, or of an ethnicity/race that does not conform to the standard white, middle-class heterosexual male? There are studies that have shown on multiple occasions that students are much more likely to disrespect young female professors/professors of colour and believe that they lack the competency to teach. Do you think this could be the case if the above is true? </p></li>\n<li><p>What kind of university/college are you attending? Some universities are teaching orientated, while others are research orientated. This means that how content is taught and assessed with dramatically vary. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p><strong>My response based on the limited information you've provided:</strong></p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Complaining about a professor, even as a group, will be regarded with a high level of scepticism, especially if students are not able to provide <strong>objective</strong> evidence to support their claims. If the course content matches what you are assessed with, and it comes to light that as a student, you have not attended office hours or put in the extra effort to improve your learning, your concerns will be disregarded. If; however, the content does not match that which is assessed, and the lectures are found to be sporadic and unhelpful, you have a case that should be considered. </p></li>\n<li><p>If you decide to go meet with the head of school or dean, you need to prepare a list of reasons that can be objectively assessed (i.e. evidence of the lectures and assessments, examples of feedback on your assessments, and so on). You also need to be prepared that if you are doing poorly in the course, that you have evidence that you have done everything you can as a student to try and improve (i.e. meeting with the professor to go over poor assessments) and so on. One suggestion that you can give, or might be met with, is having a member of staff sit in on the class to evaluate the professor's teaching. They will have the expertise to effectively determine whether or not the course content and the lectures are accessible for students. </p></li>\n<li><p>One thing students seem to forget, and struggle with, is that this is not high school where you might have been (what we call) 'spoonfed.' At university, there is an expectation that you are mostly an independent learner/ A professor is not going to identify you as a student if you are struggling, you have to take responsibility for that yourself. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Some things to think about. I'm not suggesting that you don't go to the head of school or the dean if you really think that something is wrong. What I am asking you to do is think more objectively about why you want to remove a professor from a course, and whether you have a legitimate cause, or if you are just frustrated. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40301,
"author": "Kate Gregory",
"author_id": 12693,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12693",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I faced this as a student. A small group of us went to the head. Getting someone else to take over the course during the term is rarely an option. It's not like there is someone else who knows the material and is teaching one course less than a full load just waiting to be asked to take this on. However the department can assign a TA to reduce marking workload (or increase marking fairness) and help students during extra tutorials, they can reduce some of the prof's other duties to allow more time to be spent prepping your course, and they can generally tell the prof \"pull up your socks.\" These things may help you a lot more than getting the prof turfed and having the course taught by a contract lecturer.</p>\n\n<p>If you intend to go to the administration, here are some tips:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>go with a problem (our prof is not doing a good job) not a solution (please fire this prof). Let your head or chair come up with solutions</li>\n<li>go early rather than later. I understand you need some time to be sure there's a problem, but every week that goes by people are not learning and flexibility is diminishing</li>\n<li>two or three leaders should go. As an undergrad we had \"class reps\" for this, but it should be easy to get a small group who can meet the head.</li>\n<li>do not bring petitions or other \"we all think this\" artifacts. You want to discuss a problem early and listen to the head's plan to deal with it. Petitions set the wrong tone.</li>\n<li>Remember your true goal is to get a good education. Not to win a political battle, get someone fired, or be awarded a mark you don't deserve.</li>\n<li>be there to listen as much as to talk. Your head may surprise you</li>\n<li>don't assume your unanimity gives you power. You think they can't fail the entire class? Think again. You will live on in legend like the entire fourth year class at my undergrad alma mater who failed and were expelled. Not for trying to turf a prof, to be fair, but for deciding they didn't need to do assignments since \"they can't fail all of us.\"</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Decades later, I filled in for someone during his sabbatical and taught one course for one term. I had triple the normal enrollment. Everybody had to take the course; nobody wanted to take it from him. The department never gave it back to him :-). So another option may be to drop this course and see if someone else offers it in the future.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40428,
"author": "Peter K.",
"author_id": 3965,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3965",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I had this happen. The teacher in question had some personal problems that caused him to drink (alcohol) to excess. Mostly it did not really impact his teaching. Then one day he came into the class falling-down drunk.</p>\n\n<p>Our class representative went to the head of school's office and brought him (or perhaps it was a trusted colleague; this was 30 years ago) into the class to view what was happening.</p>\n\n<p>In this particular case, the teacher was reprimanded and was given a leave of absence to get over his personal problems. He returned in a later semester and was a much better teacher then.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40257",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30703/"
] |
40,260 |
<p>Our applied math department is beginning to have a serious attendance problem at our colloquium. The appropriate level for our colloquium is that any person with an undergraduate degree in a quantitative/theoretical field should be able to follow the talk as long as they are paying close attention. </p>
<p>In an invitation letter to our speakers, who are mostly faculty members at other Universities in a variety of fields but also include some faculty at our university, we say </p>
<blockquote>
<p>"Your talk should be entirely self contained. You can assume the audience is mathematically mature and has a solid understanding of undergraduate real analysis and linear algebra but do not assume any prior knowledge in physics, biology or more specialized mathematics. Of course feel free to talk about such topics, just be sure to explain all basic concepts needed to follow the rest of the presentation as soon as they come up." </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Despite this warning, speakers go on, as usual, giving seminar level talks. Graduate students and the few advanced undergraduates that used to attend have basically stopped attending, which looks bad on our department, and lowers graduate student morale. Note the target audience is not undergrads. The target audience is first year grad students (and up) and faculty from many different quantitative fields.</p>
<p>I think part of the problem is that speakers assume applied math means "The math done in my field of research". They don't understand despite us linking to our graduate student's list of research interests in the email that applied math is extremely broad. Some researchers will have never taken probability theory or optimization and some who work in theoretical computer science haven't studied a differential equation since their sophomore years of college. And science backgrounds outside of math will be even broader.</p>
<p>Besides adding the request in our email, that the talk not be too technical, is there anyway to prevent speakers from giving talks that are too specialized or advanced?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40261,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think there are a couple of layers to the problem:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>The wording of your request to the speaker could be more clear. You should be very specific that you <em>encourage graduate students to attend the department talks</em>, so please keep the talk accessible for non-experts.</p></li>\n<li><p>Some of the speakers may not be prepared or able to give a (I presume 30 to 50 minute long) \"popular science\" style talk on their current research. Some things are much more difficult to distil than others. Either that, or (donning my Hat of Cynicism) they're ignoring your request because they don't want to write a whole new presentation or they didn't read the email properly.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Perhaps you could ask the guest directly if they are able to distil their research down to a talk that is appropriate for a grad student not familiar with the field. If they decline, make it clear in the talk invitation that it is a specialized presentation. If the speaker agrees to do this, you should explicitly tell your grad students that the talk should be accessible for them. This will avoid them feeling as if they wasted their time attending high-level talks, thus they'll be more likely to attend the others.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40263,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>One important thing to do is to be more choosey about inviting speakers who you know are capable of presenting to a broad audience. Some people will never give an accessible talk, no matter what you do. Others are good at speaking to a broad audience. Some good ways to find such speakers:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>People who do cross-disciplinary work are often really good at this, since they are generally used to speaking to non-specialists (i.e., people who are specialists in the other disciplines that they work with). </li>\n<li>Look for people who have recent survey publications which are broadly accessible, or who have had recent articles or other publications in the popular media.</li>\n<li>If you go to conferences and workshops, look for people who give accessible talks, even to a specialist audience. The best speakers will always <em>frame</em> their work accessibly, even when the meat of it is extremely specialized.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Once you have invited a speaker, make the speaker give you a full abstract, as well as a title. If the abstract is getting too technical, it's a bad sign for the talk. Send it back with request for revision to attract a broader audience. This can help people adjust expectations, though you can never prevent a speaker from speaking badly once they've begun.</p>\n\n<p>If you feel brave, you might even explicitly challenge your speakers more in the information that you send them. My favorite series that I have ever been involved in organizing was the <a href=\"http://projects.csail.mit.edu/dangerous-ideas/dangerous/www/\">\"Seminar on Dangerous Ideas\"</a> that I helped create when I was a graduate student, and which ran for about five years. This seminar was really trying to push people outside the box, and one of the ways we did it was to ask the speakers to address <a href=\"http://projects.csail.mit.edu/dangerous-ideas/dangerous/www/instigator.html\">\"the five questions\"</a>, which included things like \"Why should I fear your research?\" and \"What should I tell my mom about it?\" Many of the best talks that I have ever heard were in this series, because the challenges that we gave were able to create an atmosphere in which academics felt safe to say things they otherwise would not.</p>\n\n<p>You'll also need to work to revive your existing seminar series. A good way to do that is to line up several speakers in a row who you are certain will have broad appeal and be able to give a good talk.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40268,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would suggest saying in the invitation \"The appropriate level for our colloquium is that any person with an undergraduate degree in a quantitative/theoretical field should be able to follow the talk as long as they are paying close attention. The target audience is first year grad students (and up) and academics in many different quantitative fields\". I don't know what it means for a talk to be entirely self-contained, and that kind of wording encourages the inference that this is supposed to be a general public lecture -- then the remainder of the guideline shows how that's not so. Therefore I would expand on what the first sentence means. </p>\n\n<p>I take it the problem is not that the talks are at too low a level, but rather they are at too high a level. Saying that \"the audience is mathematically mature\" may encourage reaching too high -- I tend to think of ABD grads and faculty as being \"mature\" in a discipline. If the problem is that speakers are interjecting arcana from physics or biology or unrelated areas of math, then you need to strengthen the \"do not assume\" clause. Make it a sentence on its own, and elaborate. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40260",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8101/"
] |
40,270 |
<p>My lectures (mathematics) are delivered in a theatre with full projection facilities, and my lectures are given as PDF slides. But I often need to explain something not covered in enough detail on a slide, in response to a particular student difficulty (my lectures are very interactive!). For that I can use the whiteboard in the same room.</p>
<p>However, my lectures are recorded, and the recording system only picks up, as its video, what's projected through the computer onto the projection screen. My whiteboard ramblings (which often amount to a significant part of each lecture) aren't recorded, although my voice is.</p>
<p>A simple solution would be a graphics tablet which I could switch to and write on; as it would be projected through the computer system it would be recorded.</p>
<p>So - does anybody have any advice for a relatively inexpensive graphics tablet which would work for this purpose?</p>
<p>(A few years ago I used a Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet, running Android, which came with a nice digitizer pen. But my newer Lenovo Yoga tablet doesn't support such pens. And I don't want to buy a new whizz-bang tablet+pen. A cheap-and-cheerful solution is my hope here!)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40279,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would put up a webcam recording the whole lecture. This way, the students can see the whole whiteboard and your hand movements, and you get to use an instrument suitable for writing.</p>\n\n<p>I don't like the idea of using a tablet for this for two reasons: the size is limited (you can only write in a 20 cm wide range, as opposed to two metres of board), and the handwriting looks, for most people, terrible.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40345,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Wacom makes a few good USB graphic tablets in the 100$ price range. I have used a Bamboo Craft model myself, and I am kinda satisfied. You can plug them into a computer and sketch notes using applications such as Windows Journal or Sankore (the latter is open source).</p>\n\n<p>The main drawback is that they have no screen, so you'll have to practice writing while looking at the computer screen rather than at your fingers. But one quickly gets over it; you will get a decent handwriting on them with a little practice.</p>\n\n<p>What matters most is that these graphic tablets have a quality active digitizer. This means many pressure levels and better writing accuracy than the touchscreen you get in most consumer grade tablet pcs. To match that quality, you'd have to go with a device explicitly meant for pen input (nTrig or Wacom digitizer --- I think your former tablet had one, while the new Yoga doesn't, so you probably noticed the difference yourself already).</p>\n\n<p>As Davidmh notes, another drawback is the limited screen real estate --- the cheaper models have a small writing area. But it doesn't matter much in the end because one can be precise enough even with a small writing area as long as the digitizer quality is good.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40377,
"author": "Moritz",
"author_id": 22893,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22893",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My personal experience with different media used during lectures (basic calculations during an engineering course)</p>\n\n<p>Tablet:</p>\n\n<p>I experimented with my tablet (Galaxy tab S) but to be honest, my handwritten notes look like a child had written them. The Galaxy S is not particularly designed for taking handwritten notes, so maybe other tablets are suited better.\nGraphic tablets from Wacom may be suited well. The possibility to project the notes live while explaining something to a particular group anywhere in the classroom may be a big advantage but in my opinion it does not outweigh the unprofessional look. Unfortunately, no shop in my town has Wacom tablets in stock. Otherwise I would try them. One of my students uses the new tablet-laptop from microsoft and is very satisfied with his handwritten notes. Still, the writing looks not very professional.</p>\n\n<p>Document camera:</p>\n\n<p>There are different models and I used a document camera in the price range of 700 $. The camera itself can be used to capture the notes while writing on a notebook. The video can be streamed live using standard video software. Additionally, it is possible to record the session and save the data on a SD card (including your voice). I like the feeling of a pen on paper and my notes look much better than on a tables. In my opinion it is the easiest solution right now.</p>\n\n<p>But nothing beats the white or chalkboard. The possibility to teach while using my whole body for supporting the things I said is most comfortable for me. Furthermore, there is no device or desk between me and the students. As a consequence, it is easier to focus their attention.</p>\n\n<p>Since most questions do occur every year again and again, I produce short videos at home using my hq-webcam. It is much easier for me because I can focus on one particular goal (producing a video, or explaining something to one student in one particular class). I am not the multitasking type.</p>\n\n<p>To sum it up:\nIf you like the feeling of a pen on a paper you might want to search for \"document camera\"</p>\n\n<p>You may want to look at those two videos:\n<a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3kn_6S8GeY&index=8&list=PL-D9VzCLcFVeiCVuJ_75WZTm9GM1Jh-wK\" rel=\"nofollow\">Tablet for Tutoring</a> <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gG99_eD_JA&list=PL-D9VzCLcFVeiCVuJ_75WZTm9GM1Jh-wK&index=12\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wacom Pad in Teaching </a></p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40270",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30710/"
] |
40,275 |
<p>I am a mathematics undergraduate. I would like to get into a top 10 PhD school and might not do so this year. I would like to apply again and want to do what whatever is necessary to maximize my chances. </p>
<p>I have always heard that a masters in math is terminal and it might be too late to apply for one this year anyway(please correct me if I am wrong here).</p>
<p>What are my options?</p>
<p>Edit: I am currently in India, finishing my bachelors from one of the top schools here. I applied to places like UCB, Columbia, Chicago, Michigan-Ann Arbour and Wisconsin - in the area of algebraic number theory. I now realize that it was a little out of reach as of right now. </p>
<p>I have slightly low grades overall and good but not great math GPA(8.5 and 9.3/10 - 10/10 in graduate courses) and Subject scores(88%). I also do not really have research but from what I understand, undergraduate research is rare. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40278,
"author": "aaaaa says reinstate Monica",
"author_id": 30716,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30716",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, of course, it would be nice to know more. Exact field you are interested in (applied math, mechanics or CS?), which school are Top-10 for you, what is the experience.</p>\n\n<p>I would say that best advice would be to go and try to find a job in academia or research-related area. It might be harder in Math, but in bio-related labs one can often find job or volunteering opportunity.</p>\n\n<p>Is there any lab/professors who publish something that you are interested in? It would be great to contact them and describe your situation, maybe suggest why you failed this year and how you can improve, ask for advice. In my experience, many might reply, and almost everyone reads emails.</p>\n\n<p>I don't believe there are terminal degrees or positions, just lack of will and energy to present yourself and seize the opportunity.</p>\n\n<p>If you aced your tests (I assume), then you might lack in area of personal communication (can't present yourself as a strong and relevant candidate, can't show interest in PhD program of choice, appear to just trying to escape the \"real world\"), or you lack experience and research-related extra curriculum activities in your CV (volunteering in lab, working along grad student of your school etc).</p>\n\n<p>PS: I come from bio so by \"lab\" here I mean any research center/group/PI, academic or not.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40320,
"author": "sevensevens",
"author_id": 14754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14754",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You've got a couple of options</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>See what happens with the current applications. You may be surprised.</p></li>\n<li><p>Try to get a job as a researcher at your current university. If a prof. has worked with you and can vouch for you this will be much easier.</p></li>\n<li><p>Have really awesome GRE or equivalent scores.</p></li>\n<li><p>Cast a wider net. <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/search?q=top%2010\">Searching \"top 10\" on this site gets you 200 results!</a> You may want to apply to schools outside of the top 10 in your field as this seems to be the cut-off most well-qualified applicants use.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/21
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40275",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30712/"
] |
40,283 |
<p>Why don't typical US colleges offer more online courses so that all of the classes could be taken online?</p>
<p>Online courses are cheaper, more profitable and more efficient to produce quantity of student(which translate into more people can be educated); students don't have to spend time traveling to classes. Students could simply hand in homework online and colleges can just open up a lot of computer labs for the students to take exams in exchange and lay off some lower quality professors. Also, students can have more time to themselves to interact privately on the computer and all formal discussions can take place within the class online.</p>
<p>Also, the government would be able to pay less financial aid and students would have the convenience of learning the class material on a cell phone.</p>
<p>The most importantly,students can join a reputable college outside of thier home city and able to save the charge of dormitory</p>
<p>Also, isn't that it is better to eliminate the high cost private college by competition and let more low cost public university survive by let our government became richer from giving away less financial aid? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40292,
"author": "Ramrod",
"author_id": 28310,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28310",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I think there are multiple reasons, I'll touch on some:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Currently online courses tend to fill a gap for students who otherwise would not be able to complete many courses.<br> This allows non-traditional students to have a chance at academically being competitive, although traditional students sometimes utilize them as well. They aren't designed to replace traditional courses, but to augment them.</li>\n<li>It's harder to verify who is actually doing the coursework.\n <br> This seems like a fairly important issue, after all, you want potential employers to be confident that the degree a university bestowed means something - namely that you earned it. As a university, you want to be sure that your students aren't cheating.</li>\n<li>Market saturation.<br> In-line with the previous bullet point, if classes were very cheap for many students, universities wouldn't be able to charge as much in general per student. This essentially translates to a lower value \"per degree\". This effectively tackles you point about joining \"reputable\" universities - the general train of thought is \"If everyone can get in... is it necessarily reputable?\" (Definitely a con from the university's point-of-view as they can potentially inflate their importance by limiting degrees conferred.)<br></li>\n<li>Points of failure.<br> An online class, depending on the format, could potentially require a large amount of bandwidth. This means the university would be footing the bill to effectively run these courses, and the facilities to run quality web-based courses may not be cheap. While it's true the lectures could just be recorded or utilize some sort of learning software, decreased student interaction tends to lead to lower grades overall (Source: multi-year TA)</li>\n<li>Decreased profit.<br> Arguably, I believe colleges make a fair amount of money by physically having the students on campus. \"Butts-in-seats\" mean that they charge more longterm for dormitories and food. Increased physically facility usage allows colleges to approach benefactors for more money, citing student use and need of expansion. Benefactors want a dorm with their name on it, not a server rack.<br></li>\n<li>Collaboration.<br> Not the bad kind, mind you. Like @WetLabStudent mentioned, physically being at a college or university exposes you to ideals, people, and methodologies you might have never come in contact with. The ability to interact with a large spectrum of people is an important skill for the vast majority of students to develop.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>This isn't an exhaustive list, but I hope it raises some of the issues. If I missed a few more major relevant points, feel free to comment.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40315,
"author": "user141592",
"author_id": 27327,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27327",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is in addition to the practical problems raised by Ramrod, since in Europe many universities offer online degrees where you just take the final exam on campus and everything else happens online.</p>\n\n<p>From my experience at universities in Europe and the US, there is a really big difference in the attitude to an undergraduate degree. In Europe, a degree is something you complete and you end up with a record of courses you took and you performance in them. In the US, it is more about the experience: you live on campus with everyone else, you eat on campus with everyone else, you take the same basic required classes with everyone else. It's not just about getting the knowledge and a degree: it's about the college experience. You can't get this experience through online classes, so such degrees would be vastly different from the degrees on campus students get.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40317,
"author": "sevensevens",
"author_id": 14754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14754",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some high profile university do offer several programs online, such as Georgia Tech, which offers an online masters program (<a href=\"http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/</a>).</p>\n\n<p>I believe the reason more colleges do not offer these courses is simple. American brick-and-mortar universities are very good as selling \"the college experience.\" Universities are very good at convincing (mainly) young, high-school graduates to attend. They do this by having a nice looking campus, with (usually) a really nice gym and theater they can show perspective students.</p>\n\n<p>Most universities require freshmen to live in the dorms, and have a meal plan. The university also has several sports teams that parents and alums pay to watch. There is also a dining hall and a bookstore (and sometimes a swag store) that students tend to frequent. Online students can't spend money buying stuff on a virtual campus.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, adding online courses would mean hiring more profs. This coupled with the fact online courses are usually cheaper means that the university would be better off having more in-person courses, and accepting more students to stay in the dorms, eat at the campus dining hall and see campus sports teams.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40319,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another issue: online learning requires much more self discipline. Precisely, one of the points you make \"students don't have to spend time traveling to classes\" is part of making them successful. The daily commute is establishing a routine, and just by sitting in class, they are absorbing information, and a pace is set.</p>\n\n<p>In an online program, you don't have a class telling you what you should know. You have little pressure to keep up studying. In all practical ways, you are entirely responsible for your own study. We can agree that with ideal students (spherical, massless, and in a vacuum), that should be sufficient, but experience shows that, in most cases, it isn't.</p>\n\n<p>Also, online discussions are not the same as in person. Writing on a forum keeps a permanent record, and gives you time to think and rewrite your arguments. But you loose spontaneity: it takes some time to get back and forth, and it becomes easy to talk through each other. In particular, if you are explaining some concept to me, and you misunderstand my doubt, it may take some time before we both realise it. In person, I can give you feedback until you say \"Aha! I know what you mean!\".</p>\n\n<p>A chat is a bit better in this respect, but it is still slower to type, and you loose visual feedback. If you explain me something, you want to know if I am following you, getting more confused by the moment, or completely ignoring you. Furthermore, the clarity of a chat decreases with more than two participants.</p>\n\n<p>The closest thing to real life would be a video chat. But still, given the quality of audio, you have to make sure you don't interrupt others (that can make getting into the discussion difficult), you are in a completely silent room, all the hardware and software is functioning properly (never a given! At work, we have professional equipment and a team of great IT support, and still, every now and then, our remote collaborator cannot join our meetings), etc.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/21
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40283",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1391/"
] |
40,288 |
<p>In a class, students asked the professor to give us a copy of his powerpoint presentations, but he refused and claimed this is personal property.</p>
<p>Students need the presentations to review the topics presented throughout the semester.</p>
<p>Is the course presentation personal property of the professor or part of the educational materials which must be delivered to the students?</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Edit</strong>: Related question, but from the perspective of the faculty member:
<a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27347/is-it-common-to-provide-digital-notes-slides-or-handwritten-for-students?rq=1">Is it common to provide digital notes (slides or handwritten) for students?</a></p>
</blockquote>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40289,
"author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten",
"author_id": 440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The choice to give them to you or not is the professors, not yours. If he won't, then you need to find another way to preserve a useful record what went on in class.</p>\n\n<p>Mind you the only reason I see right away for withholding the slides involves trying to pressure students to appear in class. I have other way to do that, not the least of which is that a significant amount of material is not on the slides: it is only in my patter.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40296,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You wrote:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Students <strong>need</strong> the presentations to review</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Back when I was your age (of course I have no idea of your age but I am guessing you are a traditional undergraduate student), we had to take notes using these two antique tools called pen and paper. </p>\n\n<p>I don't think even one of my professors gave me anything, other than pausing so I had time to write down the important points. </p>\n\n<p>You have to take some responsibility for your education - don't just blame the professor for not handing you what you want.</p>\n\n<p>There is teaching research showing that students who take notes retain much more information than those who do not. It could very well be that the professor is trying to take advantage of this knowledge to force you to learn more.</p>\n\n<p>dmckee's answer is also great. The prof might be using this as leverage but in the end, you did not create the slides, they are not yours to demand. While many profs do freely give out their slides, it is actually unreasonable for you to demand them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40313,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>@Patricia asks what happens if a student is not able to take notes and think at the same time.</p>\n\n<p>If the student has a disability that prevents note taking (say for example, they are blind or they broke their arm), then in the United States the university will normally provide a note taker (usually another student in the course). The student will of course have to petition the disability services office for this and provide documentation. </p>\n\n<p>Otherwise, this professor is providing a valuable learning experience for you. Learning <em>how to learn</em> is just as - if not more- important in college as <em>what you learn</em>. </p>\n\n<p>In life, there are many occasions when you will have to be able to take notes (using pencil and paper) and quickly respond:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Working with a client in a business who orally gives an explanation of their situation and wants an immediate bid/response.</li>\n<li>Taking depositions as a lawyer and immediately needing to come up with additional questions.</li>\n<li>Listening to testimony as a jury member and needing to come to a decision of innocence or guilt</li>\n<li>Listening to a patient explain their medical history and then needing to come up with a diagnosis and treatment plan</li>\n<li>Students complaining how life / your course is unfair and needing to come up with reasons why they need to suck it up.</li>\n<li>etc. etc.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Life does not always give you its powerpoints.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40328,
"author": "Penguin_Knight",
"author_id": 6450,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6450",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Somewhat a tangential answer to how to cope with this situation. Hope it'd help.</p>\n\n<p>If you missed the chance of taking the notes in the first class, by all means try to explain to the professor and ask for at least an outline for this one lecture. After that, you'll need to use a new strategy.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>At least practice writing down the main theme or title of the slide, so that you can go home and fill in the details.</p></li>\n<li><p>Do the preparatory readings so that you can better put the slides into a mental framework, familiarize with the lingo, and ask relevant questions to clarify.</p></li>\n<li><p>Practice to listen for \"hint phrases.\" Lecturers come with different ways of speech, some are more \"fluffy\" and some are \"denser.\" Nonetheless, they often have some catch phrases before enumerating main points or emphasizing key concepts.</p></li>\n<li><p>Use systematic note taking system like the <a href=\"http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/cornellnotes.html\">Cornell method</a> or <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map\">Mind mapping</a> to quickly write down the ideas and their associations. Then you can rely on readings and research to fill in the details.</p></li>\n<li><p>Compare notes with your peers. It may help to clarify what's missed.</p></li>\n<li><p>Negotiate with the professor within reason. For instance, if he/she just flies through many tables and graphs from many journal articles, at least try to ask for a list of the references for each session. Do show the lecturer your notes and explain that it'd be very hard to copy the citations. (Although with author's last name, year, and the first three words in the title there is usually no problem.)</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40350,
"author": "peterh",
"author_id": 10234,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10234",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It has more to do with law. The slides are probably the intellectual property of the Prof, or maybe they are the IP of the Uni.</p>\n\n<p>Yet another possibility, that they are under publishing, or they were soon published, and the contract between the publisher and the IP owner rules out any reproduction.</p>\n\n<p>In any cases it is unlikely if you can do anything. But actually the whole thing isn't governed by the IP laws of your country, but by the local policies of your university. The problem is, that these are probably against you, too.</p>\n\n<p>On my opinion, your have the best chances if you try to reach your goal on a more cooperative way.</p>\n\n<p>I think, the goal of the prof is probably to motivate the students for an analytical reproduction of his lectures.</p>\n\n<p>I also really don't like this - unfortunately, not uncommon - behavior. But the prof has his viewpoints, too. Most of the ppts are easily reproducible by free hand. On my opinion, a slide is the best if you can reproduce its content on your logic, <em>while</em> you hear the lecture.</p>\n\n<p>His goal is probably not a bit-to-bit reproduction of the slides, but a <em>real</em> understanding what he teaches.</p>\n\n<p>Maybe a little bit hilarious idea, but he may or may not allow to make photos from his slides during the class. But one is sure: you <em>can</em> ask him, if he allows it, in worst case he will reject.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40357,
"author": "Keonramses",
"author_id": 30754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30754",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You could always explain to your professor, about the situation (ie. You needing it for review), telling him you might understand his reasons for not wanting to give it out. Also you could suggest that he give you key points in text books so you could make your own slides (you'd understand it better).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40364,
"author": "Patric Hartmann",
"author_id": 20449,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20449",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is the student's own responsibility to take care that he has all the material he needs for review. Take notes and draw sketches, if he shows pictures. I am now almost half-way through my 4th semester of lecturing and I do <em>not</em> hand out any of my materials: no powerpoints, no lecture scripts. The only thing the students have, is a schematic overview, so to say the \"table of contents\" of my lectures.</p>\n\n<p>The reason is simple: Taking notes by hand is the most efficient way to memorise something. If I would provide all the material, they would not pay attention anymore. In fact, a survey around here has shown that the average grades are higher in lectures where no material is provided.</p>\n\n<p>//edit\nAnd the other problem is: Facts and figures may change over time. If I hand out my material and it circulates among the students, then they suddenly get confused and use outdated material.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40366,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I really like <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/40296/10643\">earthling's answer</a>, but like all the others it (rightfully) tells OP why she/he <em>shouldn't try too hard to ask</em> for the notes. To the question of whether one can <em>force</em> a professor to give copies of the slides it's pretty clear that the answer is: <strong>No, you can't.</strong> </p>\n\n<p>The reasons are that there is most likely nothing in the school regulations or, even less so, the law, that can coerce a lecturer to give copies of presentations.</p>\n\n<p>Deal with it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40383,
"author": "J.R.",
"author_id": 780,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/780",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are several reasons why a student would want the slides, and several reasons why a professor might not want to make them available. </p>\n\n<p>For example, I can add a Dilbert cartoon to my slides, and, so long as I'm only showing them in class, that can fall under the umbrella of Fair Use. Make those same slides publicly available, though, and I may have just committed a copyright violation. </p>\n\n<p>If we want to give the benefit of the doubt to the students, we can assume they find these slides to be a convenient way to review major topics. If we take a more skeptical view, however, perhaps the students are trying to \"shortcut\" the educational process. </p>\n\n<p>I've been surprised sometimes at the number of students who tell me, \"Sorry I could not attend class yesterday, but I'll make sure I look at the slides,\" as though looking at the slides is almost as good as the real deal. (A lot of my slides contain visual prompts that remind me of topics I want to discuss, and little more. For example, if I want to discuss the <a href=\"http://calleam.com/WTPF/?page_id=2086\">Denver Airport fiasco</a>, I might post a picture of an airplane on a tarmac. Good luck, absentee, on figuring out what that sleek 737 represents or means.)</p>\n\n<p>One of my students once remarked, \"Your slides are really good in class, but not so good when studying for exams.\" I smiled, and informed the class that my slides were intended for me to use as a presentation tool, in order to help me lecture more effectively – not as a study aid. I'd be put off if students demanded my slides as though they had some sort of right to them. </p>\n\n<p>That said, I do understand there can be legitimate reasons to use slides when preparing for exams. Occasionally, I have built two sets of slides for each lecture: one \"juiced up\" version to use while lecturing, and another \"pared down\" version to give to the students; that can be a nice compromise. (Of course, it can take a lot of time to develop two sets of slides, so I don't always do this. In this business, everything is a tradeoff.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40391,
"author": "AJMansfield",
"author_id": 9407,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9407",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In this case, the copyright status of the presentation files is <strong>irrelevant</strong>, as what you want is not the <em>right to use</em> a copy, but a copy itself.</p>\n\n<p>Just because you attend concert doesn't mean you can demand that they give you a copy of the score, or require that they provide you with a recording of the performance, <em>regardless of the copyright status of the work</em>.</p>\n\n<p>Similarly, it would be <strong>unreasonable</strong> for you to demand that the professor furnish you with a copy of presentation files.</p>\n\n<p>This is a similar principle to that involved in selling free-as-in-freedom software or works that are under the public domain: even though anyone with a copy is allowed to distribute it, they are not required to do so, and can even charge others money for the service of furnishing a copy.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/21
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40288",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30718/"
] |
40,290 |
<p>My question is in the title, but I'm specifically curious about the case where all students give a professor a negative evaluation. In that instance, does the department/university stop giving him new courses? Does it have any effect whatsoever?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40291,
"author": "Ramrod",
"author_id": 28310,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28310",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends.</p>\n\n<p>If it's a research institution, the professor might not have been hired for their teaching ability to start with. Often times, however, they are still required to teach a couple courses. Large amounts of negative evaluations often cause professors in this position to be shifted to \"research only\".</p>\n\n<p>If a professor does not have tenure, student evaluations can serve as a basis for refusing to grant that professor tenure.</p>\n\n<p>If a professor does have tenure, I'm honestly not sure what happens. I imagine the repercussions would be university specific, perhaps even department specific.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40298,
"author": "awsoci",
"author_id": 28324,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28324",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends on the university, the class dynamics, and the position of the professor/lecturer (i.e. are they ajuncts or casuals? Or are the tenured/continuing contracts? Are they solely there to teach, or is teaching a small component to their research expectations?) </p>\n\n<p>Short answer: <strong>Generally not.</strong> Student evaluations are taken with a large cup of salt. This is because the anonymity of evaluations allow for students to provide unhelpful, derogatory and discriminatory comments without repercussions. If there is trouble with a class, the professor/lecturer may have already brought it up with the head of school/faculty prior to the course ending or evaluations coming through. </p>\n\n<p>I would also be careful in claiming that ALL students will complain. You might find that some students are only agreeing with the loud voices who are disgruntled, but may not feel the same. Students also often tend to only provide bad evaluations, students who really enjoy the course do not always tend to indicate as such on student evaluations and this is taken into consideration. We are more likely to provide negative feedback when we are displeased, than we are when we are happy. </p>\n\n<p>Women and individuals of colour/disabilities and so on are more likely to receive bad evaluations based on preconceived biases that students may not even be aware of. These are also taken into consideration when evaluations are received.</p>\n\n<p>Student evaluations can be helpful regarding what the professor can do to improve the course (structure, content and so on) but they are not helpful in assessing the popularity or whether students <em>like</em> a professor. It's not a professor's job to be liked by the students nor is it a popularity contest. </p>\n\n<p>The best teaching evaluations are those where students have carefully considered their responses and provided <strong>constructive feedback</strong> for improvement. Anything that reads as malicious or aggressive is ignored, and anything that says one thing which can be contradicted with evidence (i.e. a student claiming that a professor didn't spell out expectations, where in fact, there is hard evidence supporting that the professor did) will be ignored as well. If a professor received contradictory evaluations (i.e. one student saying really positive things, others who say exact opposite on the same topic) there is a general assumption that the student who says the negative things did poorly and is frustrated with their grade. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40316,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When I was a student, we did an interesting experiment on this, with the professor's consent. In a class of about 30, on evaluation day, the professor left the room briefly while we schemed about a collective set of outrageous lies to tell. I can't remember the full set, but it definitely included \"always shows up drunk, if he shows up at all.\" Then the whole class filled in some variation of these lies on our evaluations.</p>\n\n<p>Later the professor reported back on the results: nobody ever said a word about it to him. Our conclusion was that, given such a coherent attack on a professor widely known for his excellent teaching, the people processing the evaluations must have simply decided that it was a fabricated as a prank and tossed it out.</p>\n\n<p>The moral of the story is this: students generally vary widely in their experiences and their preferences for a class, and I expect that unanimity in anonymous dislike would actually be taken less seriously than specific and factual criticisms from individuals.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40335,
"author": "Harlan",
"author_id": 25147,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25147",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that <code>awsoci</code> answered your question quite well. But to add to it: student evaluations are taken seriously, or at least they should be, <em>if</em> a trend appears. Student evaluations are generally mixed with bare evaluations that were hastily completed, or overzealous ones, or those from students who are disgruntled for whatever reason. Therefore, I think that evaluations would only become a decision making factor if a trend began to appear, which was supported by other data. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/21
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40290",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30718/"
] |
40,293 |
<ol>
<li>I want to know a way to find past IELTS questions. If they are available freely? </li>
<li>Are there good exams for all modules? (Specially Listening)</li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40295,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You may use the books available in which some preparation exams (sample tests and past tests) are published and you can study those exams and sample tests. Some of these books and preparation materials are available in <a href=\"http://www.ielts.org/test_takers_information/how_do_i_prepare.aspx\" rel=\"noreferrer\">How do I prepare?</a> page on <a href=\"http://www.ielts.org/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">IELTS official website</a>, <a href=\"http://www.cambridge.org/us/cambridgeenglish/catalog/cambridge-english-exams-ielts\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Cambridge English Exams and IELTS books</a> and <a href=\"https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=ielts&gws_rd=ssl\" rel=\"noreferrer\">books about IELTS by other publishers</a>.</p>\n\n<p>If you are seeking for free online sample exams and studying materials, there are some preparation materials for exam available in different websites over the net, which you can find by a <a href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=ielts%20free%20sample%20test\" rel=\"noreferrer\">simple search</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 90919,
"author": "Antony",
"author_id": 74792,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/74792",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can find some practice tests for each module <a href=\"http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/prepare-test/free-practice-tests\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">here</a>.\nEven though they're not free you might want to consider buying books, including <a href=\"https://www.amazon.co.uk/Official-IELTS-Practice-Materials-Audio/dp/1906438463/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1497566231&sr=8-16&keywords=ielts\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">official practice materials</a>. </p>\n\n<p>And of course, as it has already been mentioned, a quick simple search on any search engine might give you enough preparation materials.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 93905,
"author": "Mari-Lou A",
"author_id": 24018,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24018",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is well worth investing in at least one <a href=\"https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_4_6?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=ielts%20practice%20tests&sprefix=IELTS%20%2Cundefined%2C407&crid=J7FY3J3749S0\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">IELTS past examination book</a>, make sure the CD is included in the price otherwise you'll have to pay for it separately and that single CD can be ridiculously high-priced. </p>\n\n<p>A word of warning for candidates who are self-studying, some IELTS websites are truly awful. Their suggested sample essays, for example, are an embarrassment and should not be touched with a barge pole. </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, there are professionals who genuinely care, and are also native speakers. <a href=\"http://www.flo-joe.com/ielts.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><strong>Flo-Joe</strong></a> and <a href=\"http://ieltsliz.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><strong>IELTS Liz</strong></a> are among the best in my experience. Liz's videos, especially, are very useful, clear, and straightforward. </p>\n\n<p>I am not affiliated with either website. But I have used these resources in private lessons to help Italian candidates pass their exams, or obtain that elusive 7.0 grade (IELTS). </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/21
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40293",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21783/"
] |
40,294 |
<p>PhD program is new in our department, and first experience of the faculty members and department head.</p>
<p>Our PhD classes are exactly like undergraduate classes: monologue lecture, strict attendance rule, no discussion, etc.</p>
<p>We are PhD students, and we have not experienced PhD classes before, but our expectation was something different. When we complain, the department replies this is the standard method around the world.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>How can we gather some information/evidence that how is a standard PhD class to convince the department? </p></li>
<li><p>How the PhD class are actually different from undergraduate courses?</p></li>
</ul>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40302,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Graduate-level classes are not necessarily any different than undergraduate classes, just more intense and more specialized. Some graduate-level classes are just exactly the way that you describe. Others have more of a \"seminar\" format, in which there is more reading and discussion, and in which students are expected to do part of the teaching---but at many institutions, there are also undergraduate classes like this.</p>\n\n<p>The real heart of a Ph.D. program, however, is not the classes, but the research that students are involved with and should ultimately learn to initiate themselves. Typically, Ph.D. programs start with a couple of years of intense classes, but then, once students have \"qualified\" (often by passing an oral or written examination), then classes become largely optional and you are expected to focus on research instead.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40310,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Students in a PhD program can (and should, and should be encouraged to) give feedback and offer constructive criticism on various aspects of the program. However it is a different matter for them to try to convince the faculty running the program that it should be run in a significantly different manner than it is. I don't mean that it is not their place to do so, but rather: if as a group the students in a PhD program feel that they know what the program should be doing better than the faculty then....time to go to a different PhD program. </p>\n\n<p>As for many questions on this site, yours could be improved by adding more identifying information, both geographically and in terms of subject matter. Advice which applies to all PhD programs everywhere in the world must be very general to the point of lacking acuity. However, from the little you've said it sounds to me that you are in a very small place: certainly a small university, maybe even a small country without a wide or strong academic tradition. The idea that the <em>faculty members</em> in your program have little experience with PhD programs sounds very provincial and distressing. Certainly they should have had, at the very least, experience <em>in their own</em> PhD program. (If that is not the case -- i.e., if by any chance the curators of your PhD program do not themselves have PhDs in your field -- just get out right away. That's silly.) But really each of them should be familiar with at least one PhD program other than their own, either from a postdoctoral or visiting position or, at the very least, being well-traveled and asking key questions to the people that they visit. </p>\n\n<p>(It is highly typical for academics to engage in shop talk like this: for instance I visited a collaborator at a different university last semester. I believe I was there for three days. In that time I spoke to about one third of the department faculty and had lunch with my colleague and a handful of graduate students in which I asked them questions about the program and their decision to enroll in it. At one point my colleague asked me what graduate courses we typically offer in area X in my department <em>and he wrote down what I told him and asked followup questions</em>. Does this make you think that this department was either very new or trying to recruit me for a job? Neither one was the case! We just very much want to know how everyone else does business...in fine detail.)</p>\n\n<p>The point is that most faculty administrating PhD programs are continually comparing their practices to what other programs are doing, to make sure that their own practices are as good or better in various ways. When you start up a new PhD program you need (I believe: I haven't done it) to do an enormous amount of this type of comparison in advance, and you have to explain to everyone involved why you're doing what you're doing: much more specifically than \"this is the standard method around the world\". Also most new programs start gradually: first you add a master's program and give everyone time to get used to that. Then, when you have enough master's students who really wish they could stay where they are for their PhD, you begin to try to build a PhD program, but it will be small at first, small enough to be easy to cater to the needs of the students you already have. </p>\n\n<p>In your case it sounds a bit like someone just came in the middle of the night and built an entire PhD program based on very broad ideas about what such things should be. That doesn't sound very good to me. I would encourage you to shop around for a more established program and one that meets the needs of the students who are taking it. If you are in a geographically isolated region, seriously consider moving out of it, at least temporarily. Going from one place to another to avoid provincialism is not an essential component of the academic experience, but it is a common and healthy one, and I strongly endorse it to those who have the option.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/21
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40294",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30720/"
] |
40,303 |
<p>Can an ABD (all but dissertation) return to the university to redo the dissertation? If yes, how do they proceed?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40304,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>ABD isn't usually thought of as a final status. Most people don't leave their university ABD. Most people spend a couple of years in the program, having passed quals, taken all the classes, and proposed a topic working on their dissertations. At this point, they are colloquially considered \"All But Dissertation\" because that describes what they've done so far not an official status. Every university will have a policy about what happens if you leave while ABD, and most will have some mechanism for coming back in reasonable time (not decades later) and finishing. Ask your advisor and graduate school or coordinator. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40314,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>tl;dr</strong>: it depends</p>\n\n<p>We had two students who were AWOL for many years while ABD and tried to submit:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>The first student had delayed writing for a decade or so due to family commitments but kept in regular touch with faculty, refreshed the theory and data of the dissertation, reconstituted a committee, submitted the dissertation, and graduated. </p></li>\n<li><p>The second student had not kept in touch with faculty. Their primary advisor had passed away many years ago and they had no committee. The student asked the department whether they could submit their dissertation but the data and theory used in the dissertation was decades old. They were not allowed to submit the dissertation.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Whether or not you will be allowed to even submit a dissertation depends on your university, on the provost, and then finally on the department and advisor. You will need to reconstitute a dissertation committee. After submission, the department will then have to decide whether to accept the dissertation as proof of your qualification for the PhD. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 97460,
"author": "Bruce M. Mackh",
"author_id": 81450,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81450",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, every university has its own specific policy. Some policies may or may not include:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>A person who has completed their classes and has passed qualifying exams becomes a doctoral candidate, and is, colloquially, ABD.</li>\n<li>ABD status at some universities may also be called a Candidate in Philosophy.</li>\n<li>Some schools confer the degree of MPhil to recognize a candidate's accomplishments until a candidate completes and defends their research, at which point, if successful, a candidate earns a Ph.D. or other doctoral degree.</li>\n<li>At some universities, there are some very specific ABD Status Agreements, including considerations for status as ABD In Residence, and ABD In Absentia.</li>\n<li>At some universities, you are ABD only so long as you have not abandoned your degree program and have not timed-out.</li>\n<li>At some universities, you are no longer, by their policy, ABD if you have left your degree program, or you have timed out.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>It's important to recognize that more often than not \"ABD\" is not a credential conferred, granted, or bestowed. Rather \"ABD\" is an indication of status--that status being you have not yet completed your research, and/or defended your research.</p>\n\n<p>Generally speaking, you should check with your university to understand their policy regarding the status, \"ABD.\"</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/21
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40303",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30730/"
] |
40,306 |
<p>I am a PhD student in the social sciences at an American university. I have completed coursework, my prospectus, qualifying exams, and teaching. I am about to leave for one year of dissertation fieldwork.</p>
<p>As is the case for most PhD students in my position, the project is larger, longer, and more independent than anything I have done before -- conducting one year of full-time original research, writing a dissertation, and then writing a book. Although my prospectus outlines a research plan, it feels too abstract to give day-to-day, week-to-week guidance.</p>
<p>What strategies have you used to succeed in a large, long-term research project, especially when it is based on fieldwork and for a dissertation? Personal anecdotes, experience, advice, and tips are welcome.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40312,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The most relevant advice (about the research, not life in the field) I can give is to keep on top of the analysis as the data comes in, and do <em>not</em> stockpile data in the hope that you can make sense of it when you're home. Analysis will reveal gaps and problems, which you need to address before you go away. Though if you're stuck with a rigid methodology where everything has to be set up before you go and then you just grind through the questionnaire, then you have my sympathies.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40326,
"author": "Penguin_Knight",
"author_id": 6450,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6450",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>For each of the components, have a plan B, even plan C:</strong> Be flexible about pretty much everything. For example, if you rely on making copies of questionnaires, would you still be able to collect data if the copier in the field office fails? Etc. It's always good to mentally play a couple what-can-go-wrong scenarios when planning the study. Do so within reason, however, or you may risk stressing out yourself.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Incorporate some immersive observation of the field:</strong> If safety and cultural environment allow, try to observe more as a bystander. For instance, a patient with diabetes may tell you that she always wears shoes to protect her feet when walking on the dirt, but in fact the local people may only own one pair of shoes and they only wear them in festivals or when meeting with visitors.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Learn the local languages:</strong> Interpreters in some places are not exactly fluent in English, knowing some of the local languages can help you better engage with the process like interview or daily dialogue. It will also facilitate your mixing-in with the community.</p>\n\n<p><strong>While you're there for your research, also think how you can benefit the community:</strong> For instance, you may volunteer some time to work, train some locals to empower them, share with them your results at the end, liaise local stakeholders to address your questions and give input to your solutions, etc. If possible, be more \"by the community, for the community.\" </p>\n\n<p><strong>Back up and back up again:</strong> If you use field note, get the ones with the brightest cover so that it's easily recognized and less likely to be lost. Written and drawn field notes should be photographed and archived regularly. Computer records should be backed up into at least two other media (external hard-drive and/or encrypted cloud storage.) Don't store your external hard drive and work computer at the same place (e.g. left in the car or office together.) For people who might have picked up your lost notes and wanted to return, make sure your equipment and notes have a contact method (like the address and phone of your host organization) to reach you. If possible, do not leave your personal address if you'd be living alone.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Backward engineer from your products:</strong> A day-by-day routine may be difficult, it's easier to set up milestones along the way. I found it useful to decide what the product will be (say, a 1,500 word literature review x 5 parts) and then give them an estimated duration to complete, followed by fitting them into the calendar. Once the big skeleton is in, then do the finer level like weeks/days to determine daily word quota you'll need to fulfill. Give everything some cushion time. Most of the time, I found myself underestimate i) transportation mishaps, ii) local festivals and holidays, and iii) administrative difference, like some clinic can just close for the day because they gave out all their medicine in the first hour after opening.</p>\n\n<p>And I totally agree with another answer that you should start entering and evaluating the data as soon as they are ready. Time to time I've found questions being misunderstood. E.g. I had respondents answering an English-to-Portuguese question \"What is your top three favorite foods?\" with \"Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.\" Knowing something has been lost in translation allowed us to correct the question quickly.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40355,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I suggest that you create no more than <strong><em>three</em></strong> Post-It notes to attach to your computer screen. On these, write your most concise statement of:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Why am I doing this research?</li>\n<li>What is significant about the way I am doing this research? (new? different?)</li>\n<li>In the end, who will care about these results? How can I make my results vivid for them?</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Look at these Post-It notes every day as you do your research and write your dissertation. If what you are doing deviates, either re-write your Post-It notes, or rewrite your research.</p>\n\n<p>This advise comes from my decades of experience. My best writing and research comes when I can feel direct and <em>visceral</em> connection with the people who might benefit from what I'm writing.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/21
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40306",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7934/"
] |
40,329 |
<p>After encountering a few official forms to fill out (tax, medical, LinkedIn, job applications), I don't know what my official job title is during my PhD. There doesn't seem to be a standard for this. I don't think "student" accurately reflects my role, because I'm doing research and getting a small stipend for it. What should I put down as my occupation?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40330,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Your professional title is Ph.D. student, or doctoral student, or just student.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40333,
"author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten",
"author_id": 440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your department may employ you as a <em>\"graduate teaching assistant\"</em> or <em>\"graduate research assistant\"</em>. In the US, at least, these title will be understood to imply that you are a student.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40334,
"author": "Harlan",
"author_id": 25147,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25147",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since you mention title for tax purposes and similar, if I were you I would assume the title of whatever your \"job\" functions are. Generally, in the case of a PhD candidate, you are usually either a \"Assistant Lecturer\" or \"Doctoral Candidate Research Assistant.\" Otherwise, you are a Doctoral Candidate, which I would use to explain my job title, rather than student. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40341,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There's really three different things mixed up here.</p>\n\n<p>Your <em>job title</em>, as an employee, is whatever it says on your paychecks. Maybe \"Teaching Assistant\" or \"Research Assistant\" or something similar. This is what you should list on job applications, etc, under \"employment\". No choice here.</p>\n\n<p>Your <em>educational status</em> is \"graduate student\", \"PhD student\", or the like. You could also use language like \"PhD (in progress)\" or \"PhD (expected completion 20xx)\". You <em>might</em> be a \"PhD candidate\" but defer to your institution's rules as to if and when they consider you to have that status.</p>\n\n<p>Your <em>occupation</em> is just a word to describe the field you are in and the type of work you do. So you could list \"biologist\", \"historian\", \"physicist\", etc, as appropriate. You could also choose something more generic like \"researcher\", \"educator\", \"scientist\".</p>\n\n<p>For tax forms in particular, I don't think it makes a lot of difference how you describe your occupation. I don't actually know how they use this information (maybe a good question for Money.SE), but I've always assumed it was mainly that if you gave your occupation as \"oil baron\" or \"railroad tycoon\" and then reported a tiny income, they'd probably audit you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40361,
"author": "Patricia Shanahan",
"author_id": 10220,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10220",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>During the time I was studying for my PhD, I put \"Student\" as my occupation on my income tax forms, even when I was being paid as a TA or GSR. That was after my industry career, so I had a more complicated financial situation. The returns were prepared by a tax-specialist CPA who agreed with \"Student\".</p>\n\n<p>I had a lesser form of the \"oil baron\" issue Nate Eldredge mentioned: the change in occupation from \"Computer Architect\" to \"Student\" explained both the disappearance of the relatively high wages I had been reporting, and the appearance of educational expenses.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 180653,
"author": "Deipatrous",
"author_id": 119911,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/119911",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Student.</p>\n<p>You may not like it, but it is: student.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40329",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12227/"
] |
40,336 |
<p>We have published a workshop paper last year. Now, we are planning to submit it to a conference. The conference paper roughly have 50% new materials. Basically, the workshop paper studied a 3.5-year data set while the conf version extends it to 4.5-year. The conf version also has a new data set. We also applied several new analysis methods to the data, obtaining new results.</p>
<p>My question is, is 50% new material enough for a new conference publication? Also, can I reuse the analysis methods in the workshop paper? What about reusing some text?</p>
<p>Thank you very much!</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong>: Based on the valuable answers and comments from the community, I think a good approach to handle this is issue is to carefully cite our previous work for any content that is originated from it. Therefore, we make a clear distinction between old stuff and new stuff. But a trick thing is anonymity. We probably can only cite our previous work anonymously in the submission, otherwise the reviewers can easy tell the paper is from us...</p>
<p>We will also consult the conference for more information. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40339,
"author": "Blair MacIntyre",
"author_id": 28128,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28128",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Depends on the specific workshop and conference.</p>\n\n<p>Some workshops (if they are small events at bigger conferences, and if they don't publish the proceedings) don't count as prior publication, so you can use all the material again.</p>\n\n<p>Some workshops are actually more like a regular conference, but use the name workshop. So you should treat it as prior publication.</p>\n\n<p>I suspect from your question that it is more the former. I would suggest asking the papers chair for the conference; if the workshop is related, they are probably familiar with it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40353,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You work is published on a CS workshop with proceedings. This is a prior publication. Period. </p>\n\n<p>All CS conferences I know of, require original material. Not 50% original material but 100% new material. This rule will be clearly written in the CFP. For example for <a href=\"http://www.www2015.it/\" rel=\"nofollow\">WWW</a> conference:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Submissions must represent new and original work. Concurrent submissions are not allowed. Papers that have been published elsewhere, are currently under review, or will be submitted to other meetings or publications while under WWW2015 review should not be submitted to WWW2015.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Or more clearly for <a href=\"http://www.sigmod2015.org/calls_papers_sigmod_research.shtml\" rel=\"nofollow\">SIGMOD</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Every research paper submitted to SIGMOD 2015 must present substantial novel research not described in any prior publication. In this context, a prior publication is (a) a paper of five pages or more presented, or accepted for presentation, at a refereed conference or workshop with proceedings; or (b) an article published, or accepted for publication, in a refereed journal. If a SIGMOD 2015 submission has overlap with a prior publication, the submission must cite the prior publication, along with all other relevant published work, following the guidelines in the Anonymity Requirements for Double-Blind Reviewing section below.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If your plan is to just put the same concepts and contribution, the same proofs and just add new datasets and new experiments and charts, then you should not publish in a CS conference. Instead there are journals that accept extended versions of your conference / workshop papers and you should aim for those. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40369,
"author": "Orion",
"author_id": 19732,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19732",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>When in doubt, ask your advisor. Some IEEE venues support iterative publication cycle, workshop, conference, and journal. In robotics, for example, at least 30% of novel material is needed to go from a workshop to conference, and a conference to journal publication. In that case, your new paper is just fine. Other venues, not so much.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, cite the previous paper, and be explicit about what is new in the paper your are submitting.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40336",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30744/"
] |
40,359 |
<p>Is it a standard practice for tenure and promotion committee to ask for referee reports of some published papers of the one evaluated?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40365,
"author": "GEdgar",
"author_id": 4484,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4484",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Review reports</strong> as in your title: yes. Asking an outside expert in the field for comments about the published work of the candidate. This is standard practice in some places and in some fields.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Referee reports</strong> as in the question: I have not heard of that. Except maybe in the case of a paper that has been accepted but not yet published: the referee report or editor's letter may be used as evidence of the acceptance.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40367,
"author": "Massimo Ortolano",
"author_id": 20058,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20058",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can't think of a committee expecting candidates to preserve the referee reports of previously published papers. I delete the referee reports from my mail box as soon as a paper is published.</p>\n\n<p>They can ask, however, the acceptance letters of the papers listed in your CV as <em>accepted for publication</em> but not yet actually published. In case you don't provide the acceptance letters, the committee might not (or <em>will</em> not, depending on the country, institution etc.) consider those publications in the evaluation process.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40368,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My university (a private R1) does ask for <strong>referee/reader reports</strong> in the case of newly published material in tenure and promotion cases. This is done when the scholar has recently published material that has not been cited elsewhere (thus, no bibliometric citation data) and the committee wants to ascertain the contribution to the field of study that the text may make. </p>\n\n<p>Assuming your publication was accepted, you should view this as a good thing. Referee reports in those circumstances are positive, highlighting the contribution you are making to the field (otherwise, why would the journal publish it?). Folks on tenure and promotion committees also know to read through the negative cruft on reader's reports, so don't worry about that issue either. </p>\n\n<p>p.s. I should note that at my university (as well as others), there is pushback against the use of pure bibliometric data (impact factors) as a way to ascertain a scholar's prominence in the field, but that is another question.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40359",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30756/"
] |
40,372 |
<p>Does this status mean it has been sent to referees? Or is could it still be desk rejected?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40373,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Under review implies it has been sent out for peer review and has passed the initial check. T & F primarily uses ScholarOne Manuscripts but also have their own electronic submission system. There may be slight differences between these but I would think they are set up similar to each other. I am familiar with the ScholarOne system. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 58132,
"author": "NYC10027",
"author_id": 43994,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43994",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From my experience, this status means that the manuscript has passed the in-house review and has been sent out to the reviewers.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40372",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30766/"
] |
40,376 |
<p>I am applying to various universities to study for an msc in maths or pure maths.</p>
<p>After sending of my application I have realized that I have not mentioned anything in the way future career plans. </p>
<p>Was this a bad idea?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40415,
"author": "Gimelist",
"author_id": 22213,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22213",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I don't think so, unless they specifically asked for it.</p>\n\n<p>This is not a doctorate- research is not the only goal of your masters. You are still a student and you will probably have to take courses as well, and you are there for the education. Your time at the institution is limited (one or two years). I doubt that anyone cares or expects you to know \"what you want to do when you grow up\". This is hardly significant for PhD applicants, let alone for masters.</p>\n\n<p>You do not need to worry.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40437,
"author": "Pim",
"author_id": 30818,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30818",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Actually your masters are a great time to find out for yourself where you want to take your professional future. Be it a PhD and research or the industry.</p>\n\n<p>Some purely research oriented masters may expect that you continue with research, but still it is your carreer and your life. A master that is well balanced between research and the industry will not have such expectations of you.</p>\n\n<p>And as Michael said, the short answer is you don't need to worry about this.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40376",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
40,378 |
<p>I am a graduate student and one of my research projects requires me to crawl a website using their public API. This is going alright but the amount of data we can collect is limited, since it is a public API.</p>
<p>As it happens, I will be doing an internship at the company that owns that website, and will soon have access to an unlimited supply of their data. Is it okay if I use that data for my academic research project, or will they expect me to only use their data for projects relating to my internship?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40380,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You should ask the company where you do your internship. Perhaps they are fine with whatever you want to do. Perhaps they will allow you to use their data but only release summaries, not the raw data. Perhaps they will require you to anonymize it.</p>\n\n<p>In addition, how will you do the analysis? Will you take the company's data and transfer it to your own computer? (This may well not be welcomed by the company.) Or do you plan on using a company-supplied machine to do your analyses? (Same problem - companies don't necessarily like it if you use their hardware for what are essentially personal tasks.) Do you want to install third party software to analyze your data on their machines?</p>\n\n<p>Think through what you want to do, then go to your supervisor. Depending on their personality, people may even be interested in working with you on this, perhaps get a publication out of it.</p>\n\n<p>Whatever you do, <em>don't, don't</em>, <strong>don't</strong> just use the data without asking. Whether or not you sign an NDA.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40395,
"author": "Damian Nikodem",
"author_id": 30775,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30775",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Ask them and see what they have to say. It's one thing to crawl their public api in your own time ( which actually may specifically prevent you from doing your research according to its terms of use ) but using their internal data directly without asking would be unethical at best and potentially illegal at worst. ( and the last thing that you would want is to be known as the guy that stole people's personal information for their own gain then got dragged through court when they made it public) while your research may only contain aggregate data or anonymised datasets then that still won't change the perception of potential future employers. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40409,
"author": "smci",
"author_id": 12050,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12050",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ul>\n<li>You have to ask for permission, in writing [*]. Don't just use the data without asking, that would be terminally unethical. If they are reluctant or have a confidentiality or security concern, you (and/or your research supervisor) need to make the case to them in terms of how they will benefit from publications and exposure - for reputation, recruiting, etc. Conduct this negotiation at the highest appropriate level you can manage, i.e. involve the people who have the authority to say yes and are actually incentivized to. (Also good for your career recognition). Sometimes you need the engineering dept to nudge the legal dept on your behalf, or override stupid policies.</li>\n<li>Define whether you can/should anonymize/double-anonymize/ aggregate/sample/fuzz the data (e.g. look at how the Census does it). Or maybe only use non-identifying fields. They may ask you to take reasonable efforts to secure it (password, encryption, firewall, external HDD), but don't agree to unlimited indemnification.</li>\n<li>Try to get the agreement as broad as possible, i.e. no time-limits, no limits on (non-commercial) scope, allow derivative works by you, your dept or your co-researchers. Agreements will almost always forbid derivative commercial use. If you come up with a patentable idea, who holds the rights? etc.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>[*] UPDATE: nightmares like the following (a retrospective IP policy) are precisely the sort of thing that can happen: <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40519/phd-student-issued-contract-at-year-3-which-will-sign-over-intellectual-propert\"><strong><em>\"PhD student, issued contract at year 3 which will sign over intellectual property. Is it legal?\"</em></strong></a>. Now that person can have all their publications vetoed and their thesis closed by the industrial partner. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40454,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n<p>I will be doing an internship at the company that owns that website, and will soon have access to an unlimited supply of their data. Is it okay if I use that data for my academic research project</p>\n</blockquote>\n<h1>NO!</h1>\n<p>No with the same strength as the answer to the question, "I'm doing research on wages in different professions. A friend has invited me round for dinner next week. Is it OK if I rifle through his filing cabinet to see if I can find a payslip?"</p>\n<p>If you want to use somebody's data and that data is not unambiguously public, you get their explicit permission, first. In a corporate environment, there are many reasons why permission may be refused: for example, the data may be commercially sensitive or the company might have privacy obligations towards its customers. The fact that you need privileged access to get hold of the data should tell you immediately that you need permission to use it for anything other than the specific reason for which you were granted that access.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40455,
"author": "K. Alan Bates",
"author_id": 19953,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19953",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What you are talking about doing is technically considered corporate espionage without explicit permission from the client. </p>\n\n<p>Facts (as you have stated them):</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You are performing academic research consuming public data of Corporation A</li>\n<li>You will be taking on an internship with Corp A and have access to Corp A's private information</li>\n<li>Your capacity within Corp A is disjoint from your academic research involving Corp A.</li>\n<li>You are at least entertaining the idea of using Corp A's private data for research purposes without their consent.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>So my recommendation is entirely dependent upon the nature of the relationship between your internship with Corporation A and their knowledge of your research project involving their data.</p>\n\n<p>If they knew about your research project before granting you an internship, I see it as entirely appropriate to ask them for permission.</p>\n\n<p>If they did not know about your research project before granting you an internship, you put your internship at risk by asking for permission to use their private data, depending on the sensitivity of the data you would have access to and the personalities of the business members in control of your relationship with the corporation. The risks associated with you violating their denial of your request could be more trouble than you are worth.</p>\n\n<p>If they did not know about your research project before granting you an internship and you publish private corporate data without explicit consent, they have a legitimate claim that you sought your internship with them for the express purpose of gaining dubious access to their private information and you would be in for a world of hurt both legally and professionally. Depending on the fallout of that, you could reasonably expect to find yourself to never be employable again in your field and you could reasonably expect to find yourself in prison depending on the nature of the data that you expose and the political clout that is held by the people that you piss off.</p>\n\n<h2>Edit To Add</h2>\n\n<p>You may already be between Scylla and Charybdis on this. Look at the potential optics: you have a research project (the nature of which you have not disclosed.) You also have an internship with access to corporate private data of one of the subjects of your research study. Assuming that you do not announce your research project and you take the internship, your standing both within your academic community and within the corporate world will definitely hinge on the nature and results of your research project. </p>\n\n<p>If you take an internship with them and then crucify them in your research project, their quid pro quo will be reciprocal regardless of whether or not they consent to you publishing their private data. With access to their private data, your research methodology will be called into question (perhaps legally) and any potential mistake you may have made will be exacerbated. If your results are flattering to Corporation A, then your academic peers may consider you to be politically beholden to Corporation A. </p>\n\n<p>You may already be in a no win scenario other than to cancel your research project or cancel your internship. You really are not supposed to do what you are thinking about doing.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40378",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30767/"
] |
40,381 |
<p>I keep hearing my teachers (high school and college) joke about how professors make their grad students write parts of textbooks for them. </p>
<p>For example, one high school teacher picked up a history textbook and joked that Spielvogel (the author) just made his grad students write all 1000 pages or so. </p>
<p>How common is this practice? Does this even have a grain of truth? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40388,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Amongst the number of professors I have known who wrote textbooks, I have never known this to be the case. Of course, I have only a small sample...</p>\n\n<p>I <em>have</em> however, known professors to trial run their textbooks on the students in the appropriate class. I would consider this entirely reasonable and appropriate, as in many cases it would probably be more accurate to say that, in fact, the textbook is a condensation and evolution of the lecture notes of the course that the professor has been developing in any case.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40418,
"author": "Lubo Antonov",
"author_id": 17730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17730",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can't provide you with general statistics on this, but I can relate what I have seen. In my undergrad I had a 3rd year project course where the professor had published a book that consisted of projects written by students in previous years. We were told that the projects we did would also be destined to be considered for future editions. I don't remember if credit to the student was given in the book, so let's just say that it was.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, I voiced my objection to not being given a choice about it (and was shouted down by my colleagues :). The professor's response was that 'MIT does this all the time' - I think he had his PhD from MIT.</p>\n\n<p>But this is the only time I have seen students being 'used' to write a book.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40433,
"author": "GEdgar",
"author_id": 4484,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4484",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a student, I studied from a great <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0387901388\" rel=\"nofollow\">textbook</a>, by Hewitt and Stromberg. Hewitt was the senior professor, Stromberg was his Ph.D. student. I met Stromberg years later. He did not consider that Hewitt has \"used\" him unfairly. On the contrary, writing this textbook was the start of his career.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 90422,
"author": "vahidbahrami",
"author_id": 74356,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/74356",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This can be very common. Even some students rise the suggestion to cooperate with another professor to author a specific book. For example when I was involved in researching and writing a book about mathematics of cryptography, I thought it'll be a good opportunity to receive the advice of my teacher and therefore to work with him completing that book. I hope you would love such thing as this is very common and many books published yearly have authored even by 20 and more persons based on their chapters. It seems that such method of publication will be very popular in near future.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 120403,
"author": "sachy",
"author_id": 100952,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/100952",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>On my colleague, we got a new professor who started writing new textbook of Linear Algebra during the semester on-the-fly based on </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>previous version (written many years ago by prof. predecessor)</li>\n<li>feedback from students (us) on how to better explain the topics</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>So from my experience, the student-professor collaboration on textbook is something from which <strong>both sides will profit</strong>.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40381",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17661/"
] |
40,382 |
<p>So I have just accepted (via some online function on the website) an offer of PhD admission into a prestigious US university. I have also been in telephonic and email contact with staff at this university. I still feel like it is rather informal. The department told me more information would arrive in April.</p>
<p>What I want to know is, is the offer I have accepted binding on the part of university? I have (and am about to decline) concrete offers from some UK groups and I am worried that I will be burning bridges. Can a US university rescind their offer? Does this ever happen? Am I just being paranoid?</p>
<p>For example, as I am still in master's program, my other offers usually said that I was admitted on the condition that I obtained a sufficiently good grade in my degree etc. My US offer does not make mention of anything like this - not that I plan on doing badly but it is good to know. Would the department think it odd if I asked along these lines?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40389,
"author": "Blair MacIntyre",
"author_id": 28128,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28128",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As far as I know (at least here at Georgia Tech) all the conditions (if there are any) are included in your offer. I have never heard of us rescinding an offer after it has been accepted. If there is a deadline, though, you must accept by then or the offer may no longer be valid.</p>\n\n<p>That said, I think nobody would be offended if your asked, if it puts your mind at ease. I would not mention the \"getting good grades in your MS\" or similar things.</p>\n\n<p>Just send a note to whomever you have been in contact with and say something like \"I'm very happy to have been accepted into the program, and am looking forward to coming. I am pretty sure I've completed everything I need to do to accept admission, but I just wanted to check one last time. I have a number of other acceptances I'm about to decline and I just wanted to check that everything is in order with my admission before I decline the other offers. Thanks for your help and understanding!\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40390,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Graduate admissions offers in the U.S. can sometimes be rescinded, but I've never heard of it happening except in extraordinary circumstances. I've known of cases where it was because the applicant failed to graduate, was dishonest in their application, or committed some sort of academic misconduct, but I can't think of any other reason. However, as Johanna noted in the comments, the offer is not conditional on getting sufficiently good grades (unless this is stated explicitly).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I still feel like it is rather informal. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This sounds like it's about as formal as I've seen. I don't think you have anything to worry about. The only worrisome scenario would be if you received an oral offer and gave an oral acceptance, with no documentation, but that shouldn't happen if the department is handling things properly (and indeed it doesn't apply in your case).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The department told me more information would arrive in April.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It's common to send a detailed information packet for incoming students in April, after all the offers have been accepted/rejected. That way the department can deal with it all at once, rather than handling each student individually. This packet typically includes things like registration forms, insurance information, housing forms, etc. (Anything they feel could be useful to students making a decision would be sent earlier.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 148029,
"author": "eric_kernfeld",
"author_id": 38930,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38930",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Anyone with better knowledge of the law is welcome to correct me here, but I think it's valuable to answer the question in terms of what universities are legally obligated to do, not what they usually end up doing.</p>\n\n<p>If by \"binding\", you mean \"legally binding\", then the answer is \"maybe\". US courts have primarily treated the student-university relationship as a contract, but they do sometimes deviate from that model. For many US states, a signed job offer is not binding unless it contains a clear or implied long-term promise of employment. I'm not a lawyer; I learned this stuff from the following sources:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2819&context=ilj\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2819&context=ilj</a></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.tonybeshara.com/tips/accepting-an-offer-new-employees/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://www.tonybeshara.com/tips/accepting-an-offer-new-employees/</a></p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40382",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28045/"
] |
40,385 |
<p>I would like to ask a researcher in a foreign institution to do my master thesis ( 5 months worth of research in Experimental Physics ) under his supervision.</p>
<p>I have written both a motivational letter and a short, coincise email stating what my intentions are. </p>
<p>Should I only send the coincise email, and wait for them to ask me for a motivational letter + curriculum, or should i attach those to the mail?</p>
<p>Otherwise, would it be better if I wrote the motivational letter in plain text under the mail, so that if they want to read it they won't have to ask me for it? </p>
<p>I know from my previous advisor that he often rejected such proposals if they were not coincise enough because he did not want to waste time. He told me that he mainly answer those who "tickle" his interest in few words, but I would like to hear more opinions.</p>
<p>Here is the short mail I was thinking of:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dear Professor, I am a graduate physics student at the University of
QuantumState currently on my first year of my master.</p>
<p>During my four years of studies I developed a keen interest in the
peculiar laws that describe lower dimensional quantum systems,
alongside a passion for the challenges that are encountered in the
experimental study of such systems. I would like to dedicate my master
thesis to an experimental study in this field, in particular, I would
like to do so under your supervision in your research group. </p>
<p>Alongside my interest in the field ( and I know that your institution
is one of the top research centers in the area ), I also have a strong
personal desire of moving to Copenhagen: if during my stay you would
find me a suitable addition to your group, I would be more than
looking forward to apply for a Doctorate position at your institution.</p>
<p>The timeframe allotted by my university for work on the master thesis
is the period going from february 2016 onwards (usually 5 months). I
know that it is very early, but to do the research in a foreign
institution my university requires me to obtain a statement of intent
from the external advisor long before.</p>
<p>Attached you find a more throughout letter about my interests and Ideas, and my curriculum.</p>
<p>Best regards,
Me Myself</p>
</blockquote>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40393,
"author": "Blair MacIntyre",
"author_id": 28128,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28128",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I do not know what the customs are in physics, but professors get requests like this a lot, and most of them feel like form letters (i.e., as if a student is sending out a bunch hoping someone will be interested).</p>\n\n<p>If you want to get noticed, be very explicit as to why you are interested in this person and their lab, and if your desired research aligns with projects you know they are doing, say so with explicit references. Your paragraphs above sound very generic, something you could have sent many places.</p>\n\n<p>Also, please consider:\n- if you are excited about a large project the professor is doing and would be happy to do a project for the professor that they need done, say so. Typically, if you have an idea already, that might be less appealing than being interested in doing something that the professor wants/needs to be done. Of course, having as specific interesting idea also shows you understand the area and the professors work.\n- if you have funding and will not cost the professor anything, say so. Oftentimes, professors don't have spare funding to pay for a visiting student (especially one they do not know) ever if they wanted to.\n- I would somehow (perhaps in the longer document) give an indication of experience you have (don't just tersely list it on the resume). A big question a professor would have is how much experience you have and how likely you are to be able to do something good in a short few months.</p>\n\n<p>I would also definitely include the attachments of the long statement and resume in your first message. If the professor gets through your note and is interested, they would probably appreciate knowing more about you before replying.</p>\n\n<p>Remember: the most precious commodity to a professor is their time. You need to convince them that the time they will invest in you is worth it. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 126202,
"author": "Patrick 2",
"author_id": 105399,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/105399",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Given the fact that professors or even post-docs receive bulks of these emails (most of them mass spam mails), you really don’t want to waste their time looking through numerous attachments. </p>\n\n<p>When I applied for for my master thesis at top-tier institutions in the US/UK, I went with your first suggested option: <strong>a short and concise mail with 1 attachment</strong>. This worked for me and led to a visiting research stay at the MIT.</p>\n\n<p>This short mail with the most important and relevant information should replace the classical motivational letter in my opinion. It is important that each line of your mail provides sufficient value so that a professor continues to read to the next one. So it’s good to refrain from standard phrases. Besides being short, the message really needs to be individualized. I tried to show that I familiarized myself with his specific research such as recent publications. Aspects of the message were mainly motivation, the research idea/topic, my qualifications and how I can contribute. As already mentioned by Blair your chances increase significantly if you state that they don’t need to fund you.</p>\n\n<p>With this email I would recommend at most 1-2 attachments e.g. your CV or already published papers. In a further note you could still offer to send further documents such as transcripts, writing samples or what else could be relevant in your research area on request.</p>\n\n<p>If you are interested in the application beyond the questions about attachements, it might be worth to look here <a href=\"https://www.termabroad.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://www.termabroad.com/</a> , where we wrote a little guide about the application as a visiting researcher e.g. for a thesis.</p>\n\n<p>Best regards</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40385",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12239/"
] |
40,392 |
<p>I got in a dispute with a professor I TA'd for, and now my department is not giving me TAships. What should I do? I am required to teach more classes in my department in order to satisfy a graduation requirement. In addition I do not have research funding and I'm dependent on TAships to make money.</p>
<p>Nobody actually told me I wouldn't be allowed to TA again, but I suspect I have been blackballed by my department (and there's no way for me to know, since the application process is opaque, and they can just keep rejecting my applications without telling me why).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40400,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The first thing would be to meet with the department chair to get the story. If that doesn't yield a satisfactory result, many universities have an appeals process, and you could call on that avenue. If teaching is an actual requirement, then they would need a pretty compelling reason to effectively terminate you without just cause and doing the Due Process thing, although this depends on the legal system in your country, of course. But you would have to be pretty blameless (e.g., if the dispute was over a significant error on your part as a teacher, that could be the end of the discussion).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40403,
"author": "Patricia Shanahan",
"author_id": 10220,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10220",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I agree with the idea of asking, as suggested by @user6726. However, as a matter of general office politics I suggest a couple of refinements:</p>\n\n<p>If you have an advisor, that is the first person to ask. If not, if there is someone with general administrative responsibility for graduate students, try them. You can always escalate to the department chair later if necessary.</p>\n\n<p>Regardless of who you ask first, if you really are blackballed make them bring it up. You have a question along the lines of \"I need more TA assignments for graduation, but have not got an assignment the last X cycles. What do I need to do to get an assignment?\" That opens the discussion without accusing anyone of anything. If they tell you that you are never going to get another TA assignment then it is time to escalate to the department chair and your union, if any.</p>\n\n<p>In a comment, I asked about talking to professors. Depending on the department's rules and customs, the professor who is responsible for a course will have some amount of influence over TA selection for the course. Even if you have been deliberately blackballed, asking a professor you do get along with about being a TA for one of that professor's courses may break the logjam.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40392",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30773/"
] |
40,397 |
<p>Is it possible (if not usual) to do consulting work during summers while working as academics in Aus/NZ universities? I guess the more important point is, is it allowed by the universities to earn extra money/work through outside consulting work?
Thanks,
John</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40400,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The first thing would be to meet with the department chair to get the story. If that doesn't yield a satisfactory result, many universities have an appeals process, and you could call on that avenue. If teaching is an actual requirement, then they would need a pretty compelling reason to effectively terminate you without just cause and doing the Due Process thing, although this depends on the legal system in your country, of course. But you would have to be pretty blameless (e.g., if the dispute was over a significant error on your part as a teacher, that could be the end of the discussion).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40403,
"author": "Patricia Shanahan",
"author_id": 10220,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10220",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I agree with the idea of asking, as suggested by @user6726. However, as a matter of general office politics I suggest a couple of refinements:</p>\n\n<p>If you have an advisor, that is the first person to ask. If not, if there is someone with general administrative responsibility for graduate students, try them. You can always escalate to the department chair later if necessary.</p>\n\n<p>Regardless of who you ask first, if you really are blackballed make them bring it up. You have a question along the lines of \"I need more TA assignments for graduation, but have not got an assignment the last X cycles. What do I need to do to get an assignment?\" That opens the discussion without accusing anyone of anything. If they tell you that you are never going to get another TA assignment then it is time to escalate to the department chair and your union, if any.</p>\n\n<p>In a comment, I asked about talking to professors. Depending on the department's rules and customs, the professor who is responsible for a course will have some amount of influence over TA selection for the course. Even if you have been deliberately blackballed, asking a professor you do get along with about being a TA for one of that professor's courses may break the logjam.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/22
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40397",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30777/"
] |
40,412 |
<p>I am department head. An adjunct professor teaching two courses in my department left without notice. He did not deliver the grades to me.</p>
<p>We have no staff in that field to give the final exam again. Even so, I wouldn't know how to convince the students to take the exam again, and I do not know what to do with the class activity, which should be part of the final grade.</p>
<p>The registrar is forcing me to deliver the grades, but I have no idea what to do.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience to share? What do department heads normally do in this situation?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40414,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I assume you've already tried to convince/pressure the instructor to provide enough information to assign grades. Assuming he's not dreadfully ill, it would be incredibly unprofessional for him to refuse, but sometimes people are unprofessional. If you don't know him well, is there someone else in the department who could try to talk some sense into him? Was anyone else involved in the course, such as a TA or grader?</p>\n\n<p>Once you've convinced yourself that you just can't get the grades, you need to take this up with the administration. It's a really awkward situation, and you shouldn't be improvising a solution. Whatever you do should be discussed with and approved in advance by the dean (or whoever has a similar level of responsibility in your university). Presumably this issue has arisen before, and the previous decisions will serve as a precedent. If this is the very first time, then you'll be setting a precedent. Either way, you don't need to take sole responsibility for figuring out what to do, and you shouldn't.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40432,
"author": "paul",
"author_id": 30811,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30811",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Assuming the following:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>the old prof is gone for good</li>\n<li>there are no available grades in the system</li>\n<li>the exams went with the prof, and possibly destroyed</li>\n<li>we are talking about last fall's term, so the course has finished and the students have moved on</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>It looks like a possibly unrecoverable situation. The students did their part, not their problem the tests didn't get marked and they are entitled to the credit and the grade.</p>\n\n<p>To phrase it in a contractual issue, the students contracted with the university for the education and agreed to prove their competence within a specified time period. The university in turn agreed to provide academic credit and a grade. The students did their part, the university cannot demand extra work from the students due to a failing on it's part. That the professor absconded with the final exams is <strong>not</strong> the student's problem.</p>\n\n<p>I would say that unless it is a critically important course, like \"Infectious Diseases 320\" or \"Nuclear Physics 440\" where an incorrect grade could be disastrous, assign a grade near the student's average in other courses. Some students may rightly feel they are entitled to a higher grade, those same students will likely understand the situation and agree to rewrite the final. </p>\n\n<p>Remember that \"fair\" in many cases is what everyone agrees with. If I think I deserve a B+, and you offer me one based on my semester average (along with a crystal-clear, full disclosure explanation of what happened) I will be ok with it. If I think I deserve an A I may consider wether that grade will actually make a difference and take the B+ rather than rewrite the final.</p>\n\n<p>(and it looks like someone borrowed my assumptions)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40449,
"author": "GWP",
"author_id": 30830,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30830",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the materials to base the grades on are missing or stolen, the dean should be dealing with this. In addition to the issue of the materials being missing, this brings into question the competency of the prof and whether this course was properly taught. Your school/department could lose accreditiation if this is handled incorrectly.</p>\n\n<p>Personally, I think the fairest thing would be to administer an exam to determine the competency of the students. Credit for the course should be awarded on a pass/fail basis.<br>\nAny students who wish (i.e. those who think this was their strongest/most time consuming course and were counting on it for a grade point average boost) should be allowed to retake the course at no charge for a grade. I would suggest scheduling an additional evening session to help accommodate them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40470,
"author": "Keith",
"author_id": 15586,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15586",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Seems to me that how this is handled is beyond a department head's level of responsibility. </p>\n\n<p>If you consider some of the solutions given, would it really be appropriate for your department to handle it differently from another department anywhere in the university? This situation has the potential to significantly impact the reputation of the institution.</p>\n\n<p>So, you could \"manage upwards\"; in the corporate world this is easy, but depending on your university this line may be unclear:</p>\n\n<p>Identify a set of possible approaches and their corresponding pros and cons. Take these to your supervising authority and have a decision made and signed off. This may require consultation with the legal department.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40471,
"author": "Joshua",
"author_id": 13438,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13438",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Assuming the following</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>the old prof is gone for good;</li>\n<li>there are no available grades in the system;</li>\n<li>the exams went with the prof, and have possibly been destroyed;</li>\n<li>we are talking about last fall’s term, so the course has finished and the students have moved on.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If the class isn’t absolutely vital, assigning all students who weren’t failing going into the class “Credit” might be acceptable. You can get that information from students’ copies of previous assignments returned. If the former professor isn’t answering, the wheels of justice turn so slowly that you won’t get them back in time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40475,
"author": "Bryan Ritter",
"author_id": 30821,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30821",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Ideas:</p>\n\n<p>You can give the students full refunds for this class, and let them take it again for free whenever you can offer the class again. </p>\n\n<p>Does your school offer some sort of no credit option, like 'auditing' a class, that doesn't give a grade, but basically says hey I've taken this class. This could be given at least as a temporary grade until everything is decided about what to do.</p>\n\n<p>You can let the students resubmit whatever work they've done for a new class, if what they have isn't enough to get a 'good' grade in the current class.</p>\n\n<p>If it's a class required for graduation, and can't offer it anymore you could ignore rather or not it's required for graduation for these students.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40495,
"author": "Dennis",
"author_id": 30862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30862",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is probably a university wide policy for this, or at least for similar cases. </p>\n\n<p>In my university the policy was that if exams got lost etc. a student would get the 90% mark (few students could have achieved this realistically) and to accomodate the top students a free chance was given to do a resit.</p>\n\n<p>If you don't have anyone that can facilitate a resit, you may need to reach out to other universities, but in practice most students will celebrate their mark.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40412",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30784/"
] |
40,420 |
<p>It is common that PhD students have teaching duties as TA. In this case, the person ultimately for the course (the <strong>instructor of record</strong>) is a faculty member. I should note that I am talking only about enrolled PhD students at the same university as where the undergraduate course is taught.</p>
<p>In some places, it seems that PhD students can serve as the instructor of record, but at many other places they are not.</p>
<p>What are the reasons why PhD students are not permitted to be instructors of record at some universities in the USA and Europe?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40681,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My institution (which is a highly ranked R1 private university) tries to differentiate itself from other universities by advertising that all of our professors teach and that the undergraduates -- if they choose to come here -- will learn directly at the feet of the greatest scholars in the world (blah blah blah..). </p>\n\n<p>My cynical quip aside, we try very hard at least nominally to ensure this. All professors in the arts and sciences teach their own classes (research staff at the medical school are of course exempt), although some teach less than others. </p>\n\n<p>Very few graduate students are permitted to be instructors of record -- only just a handful of 6th and 7th years are given this right, and only in very focused seminars.</p>\n\n<p>For us, it's a bit of a matter of pride -- what differentiates us from some of the other R1s. But like most things in the neoliberal academy, there has been talk of bringing in adjunct faculty and other changes that will certainly dilute the claim made in the opening paragraph above.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 101600,
"author": "Anya",
"author_id": 85436,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/85436",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This will obviously vary among countries, institutions and also departments.</p>\n\n<p>At my department (a Norwegian University (magic fairyland where \"PhD student\" is a regular, well-paid job), CS dept.) I did my first lecturing as a PhD student (a Master-level, seminar-style course) and was also the official \"instructor\" (together with another PhD student). The year after, while still working on my PhD, I was employed to teach a major undergrad course, also as the official (and solely responsible) instructor; I had no supervision or follow-up: no one pre-approved my lession plan, checked on my lectures, looked at the exercises I made or even checked the exam and the grading. Fortunately, it went well, and I was given the course again the next years (as a post doc), and I'm still teaching it now (as associate professor).</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, at our neighbouring department, they don't even let PhD students and post docs be officially responsible for small stuff like supervising bachelor students.</p>\n\n<p>In general, good teaching requires both skill, knowledge and motivation. If you're lucky, your personality and previous experiences will be enough to do good or even great teaching, even if you're an inexperienced PhD student (or perhaps not even that – I've had 2nd year Bachelor students deliver awesome lectures!). It's quite a gamble, though, and an inexperienced lecturer can just as easily be a disaster (then again, the same goes for an unmotivated experienced one).</p>\n\n<p>So, it makes sense to provide fresh lecturers (whether they're PhD students or newly hired staff) with guidance and supervision until both they and the department are comfortable with them taking full responsibility. Educating and training people is part of a University's mission, and that also applies to training lecturers – a department shouldn't just pick random PhD students to lecture courses and hope they eventually hit on a rare, talented \"great teacher\".</p>\n\n<p>So who should be the \"instructor on record\"? The person(s) who's actually responsible for the teaching, no matter the title. Having a rule that says \"a PhD student can't be ultimately responsible for a course\" is probably meant to avoid having courses taught by underqualified lecturers and sort of makes sense from a bureaucratic perspective (could even be that my own University has more-or-less this rule). Doesn't really help, though, if the department appoints a nominal \"official instructor\" and gives the actual job to a PhD student anyway.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40420",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30799/"
] |
40,421 |
<p>How could I verify that a person is a student/faculty/researcher at a specific department of any university in world? I could ask the user to verify the official email address provided by that university to him but not all universities in world provide a email address to their people. A considerably large percentage of universities do not provide.</p>
<p>What could be other ways to collect only verified people in some group for a university department ?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40430,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is no good <em>fully automated</em> way of doing this, because there is no central clearing-house are too many ways the humans maintain imprecise machine-readable records. </p>\n\n<p>If you are willing to have a human process, you can deal with a lot of the problem cases with a combination of Google and phone calls. That still won't ensure that an institution that you personally aren't familiar with is real, given all of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diploma_mill\" rel=\"nofollow\">diploma mills</a> in the world, but it will at least reduce the likelihood of giving access to a legitimate institution to the wrong person.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 180792,
"author": "Daniel Hatton",
"author_id": 128581,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/128581",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>the university has an https website whose certificate has a chain of signatures back to a certificate authority you trust; and</li>\n<li>members of the university have authority to edit their own profiles on that https website; and</li>\n<li>you're confident that the university's IT security is good enough to stop third parties from editing university members' profile pages,</li>\n</ul>\n<p>then the following might do the job:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>the person whose identity you're trying to verify creates an authenticated-PGP private/public key pair linked to an e-mail address they do have;</li>\n<li>they place the public key on their profile page on the university's https website;</li>\n<li>you obtain the public key from the https website;</li>\n<li>they then send you a cryptographically signed e-mail;</li>\n<li>you verify the signature;</li>\n<li>now you can be confident that the e-mail came from the same person whose profile page bears the public key.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40421",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/965/"
] |
40,422 |
<p>I have been feeling miserable about my PhD degree situation for a bit of time, and I just started therapy. So far I've tried not to take drastic decisions such as quitting, because I know I am strongly influenced by my condition, but lately I can't think about anything else.</p>
<p>I wonder if it is possible to convert my contract in a research assistance, or what is a graceful way out so to continue deserving recommendation, or what is an adequate resign notice period, etc., but I know it would much better to finish the PhD degree, and so continue trying.</p>
<p>Is talking about quitting possibilities with your supervisor a point of no return?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40423,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Talking about quitting with your supervisor (or someone else in your supervisory committee or department) is not a point of no return. In fact, it can be <strong>a turning point</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>PhD students all go through ups and downs and part of the job of the supervisor, and others in the department and university (head of department, counsellors, etc) is to help you get through the rough patches. </p>\n\n<p>If you do not talk about it and things get so bad that you actually quit, then it may be a point of no return.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Full disclosure</strong>: I quit my PhD. The first my supervisor heard of it was the day I quit. Luckily, someone else gave me another chance a few years later. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40429,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Absolutely not. Even quitting may not be a point of no return, if you have a good relationship with your advisor. I know of a student, for example, who actually withdrew entirely for reasons of mental health, but was explicitly told that their return would be welcomed if their circumstances changed. What is most important is to find a way that you can be honest about your struggles and planning. If you don't feel you know how to talk safely to your advisor about this, you should start by talking with your therapist, who can help you plan an approach and figure out how to talk about it without revealing information that you wish to keep private.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40431,
"author": "Dan",
"author_id": 30807,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30807",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This question resonated with me, so I signed up just to answer. The short answer is that one would hope that it shouldn't be a point of no return. But, of course, it depends heavily on your supervisor’s temperament.</p>\n\n<p>I was in a similar situation where I was deeply unhappy with the direction and content of my PhD research and despite my best efforts at raising these concerns I struggled to alter things. This was partly due to having two supervisors with not entirely overlapping areas of expertise. However, my main (on paper) supervisor and I met for a coffee in a neutral location, i.e. off campus and not his office, to discuss things. He was non-judgmental and supportive and, having done a PhD himself (naturally), he understood the situation. I did end up leaving the PhD programme but it was not because I couldn’t discuss things with my supervisor (I’ve since completed my PhD at a different University).</p>\n\n<p>So my suggestion would be definitely do not simply quit, you should feel able to discuss issues with your supervisor. After all (at least in the UK) supervisors are expected to provide some level of pastoral care, as well as directing research. If you'd feel more comforatble suggest a neutral location. Further, I’d reiterate what Dave Clarke said in that I don’t know a single PhD student who, at one time or another, wasn’t fed up with <em>some</em> aspect of their PhD.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40581,
"author": "Laurence",
"author_id": 30938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30938",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are few points of no return, else we'd all be lying at the bottom of cliffs.</p>\n\n<p>Are you going to GET the PhD? If so, finishing it and putting up with being miserable for a bit longer is an option you should consider. If you're convinced you're going to flunk it, talk to your supervisor, it's what he's there for. Maybe you'll be reassured that in fact you're doing OK. Maybe he'll agree you should try to succeed at something less ambitious.</p>\n\n<p>If you have the choice, not too long in the future, of having a PhD or not having a PhD, which would you prefer?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40599,
"author": "Jan-Christoph Schlage-Puchta",
"author_id": 30965,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30965",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would assume the answer to this question depends on the area. In mathematics (where I work) or humanities your supervisor will most probably try to help you not to quit, and if you do quit welcome you back after two years. In other disciplines, where Ph.D. students consume significant resources, things are different. The supervisor might well think \"If I let someone play with my 12 million dollar gadget, and he quits, then I wasted a lot of money. Better invest this into a student who actually finishes.\" </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40422",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13036/"
] |
40,424 |
<p>I saw on a conference website that the "delegate registration is up to the end of March".<br>
I'm wondering what that "delegate" really means? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40426,
"author": "DCTLib",
"author_id": 7390,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7390",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Provided that you are talking about a computer science conference, this most likely means that for every accepted paper, one of the authors should be registered by the deadline in order not to get the paper removed from the program (and the proceedings). The presenting author would then be the \"delegate\" of the group of authors.</p>\n\n<p>If it is already known that the paper will be presented by a non-author, then the respective person should also be registered by that date.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 43318,
"author": "Noemie Martin-Pascual",
"author_id": 32935,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32935",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Usually, this definition is extended to all the attendees of a conference, not just the presenters. So the delegate registration would be for anybody wanting to attend the conference</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 85408,
"author": "Tracy Leparulo",
"author_id": 69734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/69734",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the context of an event there are a few things to consider. First\nit may depend on the \"type of event\" for example: conference, summit, symposium, forum, expo. But typically it is referring to someone who registered for the event. A delegate is usually used at an association or membership event. There usually consist of a membership overall. However I have seen delegate used to describe someone with the basic attendee level. For example: delegate, premium, vip, sponsor etc. I've also seem delegate used instead attendee. This is a tricky one because there seems to be no consistent way. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40424",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28084/"
] |
40,425 |
<p>Let's say a person really wants to go to school <strong>X</strong> for his PhD, but he was not able to get admission in this round of applications. However, he has an offer from another school <strong>Y</strong>, where a person with strong ties to school <strong>X</strong> has agreed to be his advisor in case he attends <strong>Y</strong>. Is there any good strategy that he can use that will help him get into <strong>X</strong>, if he applies again next year? </p>
<p>At the same time he would still like to attend <strong>Y</strong> and do research with said person at <strong>Y</strong> in case <strong>X</strong> rejects him again. Applying as a transfer student doesn't seem like a very good option, since transfers happen in graduate school only in very special circumstances. Could applying as a freshman work out? Would admission committees view him more critically if they know he is already a graduate student at another institute? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40457,
"author": "Amatya",
"author_id": 6674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6674",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I know more than a few people who have transferred schools. A couple of them passed their comps (comprehensive exams) and then got admitted into better schools. They had to start over at the new school but had the option of testing out of the comps/qualifiers etc at the new school. This is not encouraged, because you're screwing over your old school but nobody is going to hold it against you if you can make a significant upgrade to your career. I knew somebody who went from Kansas State to MIT. That made a massive difference to his career post graduation. Also, it's a big positive for you if you can demonstrate to the new school that you can handle PhD material, pass exams, and get good letters from research faculty at your old school. Keep it on the DL and try to impress faculty at your current school and also the one person at your preferred school. Getting great letters will massively improve your chances.</p>\n\n<p>Some people I know actually flunked their comps (and were getting kicked out with a Masters) at the first school but started over at a much lower ranked new school. This is harder because whoever is writing your letters will have to explain why you're still a good fit for graduate school despite being unable to pass comprehensive exams. It still worked for some people, so that's also an option if you're really dying to get a PhD.</p>\n\n<p>A third reason people transfer schools is when they can't find anybody in their precise area of research. This happens between the 2nd and 3rd year when the student kinda figures out what they really love and want to work on.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40467,
"author": "SuperElectric",
"author_id": 27393,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27393",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was able to transfer from Georgia Tech to MIT after a year. I initially went to GA Tech to study with a famous professor, who, once I got there, said that she was slated to move to Carnegie Mellon in 2 months. Nobody else at GA Tech was doing what I was interested in at the time, so I decided to go through the application process again. I re-used one of my rec writers from my app to GA Tech, and got 2 new rec letters from GA Tech profs I had worked with. I was able to do this because of a great program GA Tech had at the time (I hope they still do), wherein first-years do 3 mini-projects with 3 profs in their first semester. 2 of those profs provided recs, one of which had come from the MIT department I ultimately got accepted to.</p>\n\n<p>To do something like this, you'll want to do the same and hit the ground running at University Y, starting research projects immediately despite your first-year courses. This will give you recs, and also give the admissions committee at X something new to consider.</p>\n\n<p>One tricky thing is if/how to present your intentions to the profs you work with at X. If they know you're planning to jump ship, they'll be less invested in you. It's probably best if you don't come in saying that you'd like to leave for X ASAP.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40425",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30803/"
] |
40,442 |
<p>I was looking for some information on the site that might help for applications to the <a href="https://www.nsfgrfp.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GRFP</a>. I found <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/1457/24682">JeffE's answer</a> to an old question extremely useful. However, I noticed that some of the advice he gives appears to be somewhat outdated. For example, the answer claims that it is a very bad idea to provide more than 3 recommendations, since any extra recommendations will be ignored. However, the <a href="https://www.nsfgrfp.org/applicants/application_components" rel="nofollow noreferrer">NSF site</a> now states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Applicants are required to submit <strong>three</strong> reference letters. There are <strong>five</strong> slots available for applicants to list reference writers. Applicants are <strong>strongly</strong> encouraged to utilize all available slots.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Have there been any other changes to the application criteria in the last few years that might invalidate any of the points in the old answer? Is there anything new to consider?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43270,
"author": "Mr. W.",
"author_id": 32915,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32915",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First off, as a single data point, I was awarded the GRFP this year with only three reference letters.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Each application consists of the following components: a 2-page personal statement; a 2-page description of past research; a 2-page description of proposed future research</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Currently, the GRFP requires a 2-page Graduate Research Plan Statement, and a 3-page Personal, Relevant Background and Future Goals Statement. This latter essay combines and shortens the previously required 2-page essays.</p>\n\n<p>That's the only thing in JeffE's post that is obviously no longer true.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 43283,
"author": "CephBirk",
"author_id": 24711,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24711",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I believe they strongly encourage you to fill all 5 slots so that you don't get stuck in the situation where one of your 3 references fails to submit your letter by the deadline. If only 2 letters are submitted then your application is incomplete and thrown away. By filling all 5 slots, you are hedging your bets in case this happens.</p>\n\n<p>To my knowledge, they still only actually look at 3 in the review process.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40442",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24682/"
] |
40,443 |
<p>In a technical course, our professor refused to introduce any textbook. He officially stated (included in the course syllabus) that all the course content will be discussed in the class, and cover all questions in the final exam.</p>
<p>I think this is a trick to bring the students to the class instead of relying on self-study.</p>
<p>I do not have problem with this method, as I regularly attend the class, but it would be easier to have a textbook.</p>
<p>My question: can a professor do this? Isn't it the essential right of students to have appropriate textbooks for each course?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40444,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is no \"right to have a textbook\". Students do have a right to pick a different professor, or a different major, if they want. You should assume that the lack of a textbook for the course means that the instructor has evaluated existing texts as not appropriate. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40445,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't see why should there be such a right. In most places, only things that have been presented on the lecture can be examined. If you are present at the lecture, you take your notes and study from them.</p>\n\n<p>If you miss a lecture, then (first it's your problem and second) you either ask a mate to have his notes copied, or come to the professor, explain your reasons (should be something serious: illness or good family reasons, as always) and ask for references that cover the lecture you missed. The prof (in most places) need not give any, but usually they will.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40446,
"author": "JP Janet",
"author_id": 28045,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28045",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can't say I see how it is required that a Professor prescribes a text. I have had lots of classes where the only material was that given in lectures. </p>\n\n<p>However, if you want some additional clarification, I would email the Professor and politely inquire if there are any references he considers relevant to the course. I cannot imagine a reasonable academic would be unwilling to advise you - his notes almost certainly draw from somewhere. In my experience, the biggest problem is that the course material is often concocted from many somewheres over many years. Still, I am sure the course leader could refer you to something, even if it is a list of chapters spread over multiple books.</p>\n\n<p>The thing is, if the Professor has not a set a text, this a sign that focus of the course (read assessment) will be based on the class material only. Hence you risk going down a rabbit hole working off other material, and I would try and be sure that the stuff you look up is in the scope of the lectures. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40447,
"author": "Penguin_Knight",
"author_id": 6450,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6450",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This actually sounds good! Whenever I met professors like this, I'd look forward to his/her lectures. Most of the time, they have good confidence, experience, and mastery of the subject and can pull off very systematic lectures and discussions. I would perhaps try to see this as a very positive sign and start appreciate the professor.</p>\n\n<p>As for \"trick\" to get students to attend. What most of us merely want is to have our teaching done in an effective manner (though \"effectiveness\" can be subjective, and would need to be optimized to fulfill both students and professor. But the professor is the driving force of the teaching process, as a student I'd respect the decision.) If coming to class is the most effective, then we'll make students come to class. There is no trick, for we don't get paid by how many show up in the class. We just want to see you and address your questions.</p>\n\n<p>Think another way, this is a person who would rather deal with more potential questions and varied reactions in class than stuffing you a text and ask you to survive yourself. It's likely a good sign. (Or, he/she may have copied the whole text into the lecture and read each slide out loud, though I tend to think most people are good first.)</p>\n\n<p>As for the text-deprived, they can always get their own text. The syllabus should have provided enough headlines for you to match with the book's contents page, allowing you to make an informed decision when buying or borrowing textbooks. Also, a search for syllabus with similar course title will also get you ample amounts of sample syllabi, most of which probably did suggest a text.</p>\n\n<p>Additionally, just because there isn't an assigned textbook doesn't mean the professor will not recommend any reference book. Perhaps later into the semester you can ask if there are any desktop references or web resources he/she will recommend.</p>\n\n<p>Lastly, some personal experience: good textbooks come by more often due to chance than effort. Sometimes the authors may use different terminology, have different inclusion or organization of the topics, use different software so the examples don't apply to the students, or everything is good but they haven't updated the book for 10+ years, etc. Sometimes there is just not a suitable text.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40448,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No, there is no mandate.</p>\n\n<p>I taught an introductory course last semester and deliberately decided to not use any textbooks at all -- only journal articles that the students could download from the library database. This was because I wanted the students to learn what my field was through the most recent, cutting-edge materials available. </p>\n\n<p>My university (<strike>I believe</strike> it is a <a href=\"http://www.studentpirgs.org/resources/textbook-price-disclosure-law\">federal rule</a>) says that I must list all the required textbook titles and prices before the beginning of the term so that the students can shop classes based on price. But there is no requirement to <em>have</em> textbooks and the fact that my class was listed as $0 for required texts was a bonus.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40450,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As an extreme case, I'll mention the <a href=\"http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore_method\">Moore method</a>, developed for mathematics courses. In a class taught according to this method, students are given only basic information (definitions, etc) and are expected to derive all the standard results in the subject for themselves (either individually or collectively).</p>\n\n<p>In the traditional version of this method, not only is there no assigned textbook, students are <em>forbidden</em> from referring to any textbooks or other resources on the subject, for the duration of the term.</p>\n\n<p>This teaching method is certainly controversial (no need to post comments saying you think it sounds terrible) but I think most institutions would consider it a legitimate approach if a professor chose to adopt it. </p>\n\n<p>As I've mentioned in a few recent answers, professors generally have wide latitude in making pedagogical decisions for the courses they teach, and institutions tend to avoid creating regulations that would constrain that latitude. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40451,
"author": "Steven Schulman",
"author_id": 7789,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7789",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have taught at universities which did not require textbooks, universities which did require a textbook but did not prescribe which one, and universities which prescribed the textbook. Perhaps the concern is that instructors in future courses should be able to presume student who completed a specific course has been exposed to a specific curriculum. Ideally, this should be true independently of the university or the instructor. In practice, it is not always so.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40453,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think this varies from one type of school to another, so I'll give the picture at my school, which is a community college in California. Every course is required to have extensive curriculum information that is approved by a curriculum committee, is maintained in a database, and is publicly available. This is important for us because our students transfer to four-year schools, and four-year schools need data so they can decide what courses to accept from us. Part of the required curriculum data is a list of one or more textbooks, and there are specific requirements, e.g., at least one of the texts listed must have been published within the last 5 years. This 5-year requirement is imposed on us by our accrediting body, which is very authoritarian and loves to micromanage. One can have a list like text A or B or C. It could be A and B and C. It could be A and (B or C).</p>\n\n<p>However, this is only a requirement on the info that goes into the curriculum database. If I decide to use a different text, or no text, and nobody in my department has any objections, then nobody will know or care. When we change textbooks, for example, the change always happens first, and only later, when we get around to revising the curriculum data, is it reflected there. (This may be as much as 6 years later.)</p>\n\n<p>I think the basic idea, which is reasonable, is that listing texts indicates very precisely what type of course it will be, including breadth, depth, audience, and level of intellectual sophistication.</p>\n\n<p>Note that there is no wide consensus on whether textbook selection falls within the sphere of academic freedom. For example, the AAUP's 1940 statement on academic freedom is silent on textbooks. In a large department, for a course that is taught by a lot of people, textbook selection is usually a formal and somewhat political process. This is partly for practical and economic reasons (e.g., not wanting students to get stuck with a book that they can't sell back), but also often for reasons of control. E.g., tenured faculty may feel that part-timers should hew closely to a certain prescribed structure.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40479,
"author": "Akavall",
"author_id": 13088,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13088",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is no such requirement that I know of, and there should not be. The professor's job is to teach the material. If they can do it without a book, great!</p>\n\n<p>I taught intro to statistics as a graduate student, and I could not find a book that I really liked. They were too wordy with real life examples, and they provided formulas with little or no intuitive explanation. So, I knew that I was going to rely on my notes from intro to statistics class (which was very good and almost entirely lecture based) that I took myself as a student. Given, that my class would be entirely based on the class lecture and the notes, I felt bad requiring a $100+ book, which would hardly be used.</p>\n\n<p>I \"recommended\" a book stating clearly that it is not required and I was not super impressed with it.</p>\n\n<p>Many people thanked me for not using a book in their evaluations. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40512,
"author": "Scott Seidman",
"author_id": 20457,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20457",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Damned if you do, damned if you don't. If you can't find a good text, and pick a mediocre one that doesn't help, the students won't like you wasting their money. If you don't specify a text in this case, the students think they're being tricked into attending class.</p>\n\n<p>To answer your question, profs are generally free to do as they choose with respect to texts. In response to your feelings on the matter, if you work out the math, in the top US private schools, you're paying about $200/lecture that you choose to miss. The pedagogical approach the profs tend to take work best if you're in class. If you don't mind missing out on that, and don't mind paying for lectures you're not attending, and can accept that you might well grade lower than your class-attending peers, then your approach to class attendance works well for you.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40443",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30826/"
] |
40,466 |
<p>I'm 34. I received a degree in computer in 2008 and have been running a business ever since. Recently, I decided to apply for a postgraduate program in healthcare in January.
To show that I was interested in health care, I completed a one year certificate course in a related field last year. A few days after I had submitted my application form and two strong recommendations, they arranged an interview for me. </p>
<p>The interviewers were friendly at first, and the questions were not very tough.
I was feeling confident until the senior interviewer (Prof. Joe) suddenly asked me if I wanted to become a nurse. I said yes. He smiled but then told me that all successful applicants last year were twenty something (at least 12 years younger than me.) I was taken aback by his comment. Was that a negative connotation? </p>
<p>Edited to add: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>I had read the professional recognition information on their web. The programme is accreditated by the nursing council and graduates are eligible to apply for registration as nurse, so I could not understand why he asked if I wanted to become a nurse. </p></li>
<li><p>The certificate course tutor had told us about the average age of nurse population.</p></li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40472,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the faculty member who mentioned this is treading on very thin ice. Age should <strong>not</strong> play a role in US admissions processes (nor in the admissions processes in most other countries. The statement that only candidates in their twenties were being admitted could potentially get the school into trouble if that's done intentionally.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40473,
"author": "M.Dax",
"author_id": 28944,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28944",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Are you sure you're not reading too much into this? It seems to me like all he was doing was quoting a stat. More often than not, it's industry and not an academic field, that tends to discriminate (sometimes without even realizing it!) based on age. I have to agree with one of the responders though that the professor was treading on thin ice, and in retrospect, he probably wishes he hadn't!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40496,
"author": "Penguin_Knight",
"author_id": 6450,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6450",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This is by no mean to be a controversial answer, just how I usually would deal with this situation if I found myself in a seemingly disadvantaged situation. Basically, I agree with one of the comments that perhaps the interviewer was trying to see how you'd respond.</p>\n\n<p>If we know that we are different from the rest in any way, be it much older, younger, taller, shorter, of a particular race, ethnicity or upbringing, do try some soul searching and elaborate what it truly means and how it truly can benefit you, the peers, and the organization. Time to time I found people (myself included sometimes) set off the discrimination alarm a bit too prematurely and close up or just being stunned. Instead, We all would benefit from taking a serious look on what we might get discriminated at, and up-play that property if a chance comes by. </p>\n\n<p>For example, in OP's situation, I'd suggest gearing the discussion to elaborate what packing extra 12 years of business experience can bring to the table. You may be more worldly, more sensitive to customer's (aka patient's) needs, more mature, etc. Then, proceed to talk about perhaps one general stereotype for being a more mature when entering a job... e.g. you'll lose 12 years of pay grade compared to your peers, how would you feel about that? Most of your future peer in the same rank with you will be a few generations younger, how successful have you been working with younger folks? Proceed to debunk them, and casually say that you wish this year there will be a successful candidate in his 30s.</p>\n\n<p>These are all just suggestions; I feel it's important to show that a candidate has thought about the situation thoroughly, and be able to dissolve an apparent unfriendly remark with grace. And this is probably important for nurses as well: impatient, angry, and suffering patients (and their family members) can say something a lot worse.</p>\n\n<p>Don't get too bogged down by those mean age statistics. If you truly feel you've found your calling, give it the best you can. Best of luck!</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/23
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40466",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28585/"
] |
40,468 |
<p>I'm looking to tour a few grad schools in the near future, but I can't find any dates for tours for any of the schools I'm interested in.</p>
<p>The school I attend has tours for potential grad students, but I'm not sure this is a thing all schools do.</p>
<p>Do grad schools typically have days where they hold tours?
Should I contact the schools I'm interested in? If so, who should I contact?</p>
<p>(I have not yet applied, I'm about a year away from that.)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40469,
"author": "zeldredge",
"author_id": 30837,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30837",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are in the middle of the graduate school application process, they will generally tell you (upon acceptance) when their open house is. If you are thinking ahead (e.g., to next year), I would send an email to the office of graduate admissions, or perhaps to the chair of graduate admissions for the department you're interested in. They may not have organized large-scale tours for prospective graduate students who have not been admitted, but I imagine they might be willing to work with you to get you on a campus tour, set up a meeting with professors whose work you are interested in, etc.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40490,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>\"Tours\" are different from \"open houses\". On \"tours\" there is zero chance you'll meet or hear from any faculty. At an \"open house\", there is 50% chance you'll hear from one or more faculty, and 25% you can actually talk to faculty during the reception. It would be very rare (and delightful) that a graduate applicant \"open house\" would have most or all of the faculty.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding \"open houses\", there are three possible methods to find out about them.</p>\n\n<p>First is to look at the Department's web site, and check under \"Events\" and/or \"News\". (Sadly) They might only give 2 weeks notice for \"open houses\". </p>\n\n<p>Second, the department might have a mailing list where you can add your email address to receive regular (daily or weekly) emails on upcoming events.</p>\n\n<p>Third, the open house may be not associated with the department but instead it might be hosted by the School, College, or equivalent. You may need to add your name/email to a mailing list for these events.</p>\n\n<p>Remember: Departments are notoriously irregular in their \"customer service\" in this regard. Almost no academic departments have incentives to perform their operational processes effectively.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40491,
"author": "nivag",
"author_id": 14115,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14115",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most graduate schools will hold some sort of open day/evening/session. Where you can find out more about the course/program you are interested in and possibly meet faculty and current students and go on a tour or similar.</p>\n\n<p>The way these things are organized varies from place to place and I have seen events organized at the university, department and group level. The smaller events tend to have greater interaction with faculty/students but may miss general impression of the institution.</p>\n\n<p>Information about when these events happen is generally available on the university/school website. However, it is not always obvious and may be hidden somewhere in the graduate admissions or events section and may not be up to date.</p>\n\n<p>If you can't find the information you want you could contact someone at the university. Whoever is in charge of graduate admissions is probably the best bet. But, if you can find any email that is to do with admissions enquiries they should be able to help.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40498,
"author": "Yasha",
"author_id": 28181,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28181",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Why not just set up the time yourself? Look through the faculty and find the professors that interest you, and then contact them. That's what I did - I met professors individually, spoke about my research interests, and asked them about theirs. They were almost always extremely kind and helpful, and I did this at about 5 schools. You could even call the department and ask if they have a department administrator or coordinator who might help you coordinate a scheduled day.</p>\n\n<p>Not only did this help me get a sense of what the schools were like, but I found out later that, when my name came up in the admissions pile, it was recognized, and helped me get in.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40468",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6473/"
] |
40,476 |
<p>Suppose a person spends their PhD at an institute with a high ratio of PhD students to other students, resulting in a very low teaching load for PhD students, resulting in no or almost no teaching/tutoring. Suppose he/she spends years in postdocs, where each postdoc is funded by supervisor grants, and involves no teaching. She/he does great science but does not acquire other skills or experience.</p>
<p>Consider that tenure-track positions always require stellar experience in research, teaching and getting proposals funded — all of the above.</p>
<p>Is it harmful to an academic career if research is great, but all done on other people's grants and with no teaching experience to speak of? If yes, how could one prevent or overcome this?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40477,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends. At my <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_I_university\" rel=\"nofollow\">R1 university</a> where the only thing that counts is research, you would be an ideal candidate for our hiring committees. </p>\n\n<p>At other <strong>R1s which balance research against a modicum of teaching</strong>, you might face a little bit of an uphill struggle. It might be good if you could at least pick up some teaching experience or certification<sup>1</sup> to help you in the job market.</p>\n\n<p>You face the most problems at <strong>small liberal arts colleges</strong>, where you would face two issues:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The concern that you don't know how (or really care) to teach </li>\n<li>The concern that you would think yourself ultimately destined for R1s and thus leave the SLAC at the first opportunity possible</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>You would have to counter these two prejudices in your job letter and interviews.</p>\n\n<p><hr>\n<sup>1. Even at my august institution, we're realizing our graduates are having problems on the job market because they have little to no teaching experience. So we have instituted a teaching and learning center where they can take seminars and workshops on pedagogic methods. They get a little annotation (certification) to this effect on their transcripts. Certainly not comparable to the teaching experience that doctoral students receive at public R1s. </sup></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40478,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer depends a lot on the particular institution but even within an institution there are likely to be significant differences between academic departments. </p>\n\n<p>In mathematics, many post-doc positions include some opportunity for the post-doc to teach a bit (e.g. one course per year.) I'd advise anyone in that situation to take advantage of the opportunity to get some teaching experience. Several universities have positions for early career mathematicians that combine a half time teaching load with plenty of institutional support for research- these look really good on a resume. Visiting Assistant Professor (limited term non tenure track teaching only) positions are also quite common in mathematics. These are a great way to get teaching experience, but you'll have a hard time doing any research while in such a position. </p>\n\n<p>In the mathematics department that I work in, teaching experience is a significant issue. However, I've been on search committees in other STEM departments at our institution where most candidates had no teaching experience to speak of and this wasn't an important issue. </p>\n\n<p>With respect to grant funding, it can be quite hard for post-docs to get experience writing grants since they typically aren't allowed to be PI on a grant while in a post-doc. However, any experience in writing proposals (even just helping your advisor to write a proposal) is a big plus in my opinion. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40524,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At many institutions, research is all that matters. If you're at an institute with a light teaching burden for your PhD students, it stands to reason that there may not be all that much teaching for the <em>faculty</em> to do. For example, at my graduate institution, faculty taught at most a class or so a year.</p>\n\n<p>Similarly, if you have clearly <em>thought</em> about grants, have a submission plan, etc., they may overlook not having submitted grants if there was a rational reason for that, like recognizing the need to support a much larger grant effort over funding a smaller postdoctoral-level grant.</p>\n\n<p>Basically, it doesn't need to kill your application, but you should be able to articulate what direction you will go in the future for research, teaching and grant writing.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40476",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033/"
] |
40,482 |
<p>I am an undergraduate in computer science. I worked on a professor's project, and he submitted it to a conference with me being the second author (he and I are the only authors). If it is accepted, I would really love to attend the conference (I have never done so before), both for knowing what other people are doing and establishing some relation with other professors. However, I am not sure whether it is even appropriate to ask my professor. We are keeping a very friendly relationship, and I don't want asking him for this thing to make him perceive me as "conceited" (or something else). </p>
<p>For my contribution to the research, he came up with the theory, and I did most of experiment and data analysis and visualization to empirically support it. It amounts to about 25%-30% of the total length of the paper. </p>
<p>I am completely unclear about funding issue. Do conference organizer provides some compensation? Or should I ask for university for support (I guess they will be at best reluctant since I am not the first author)? Or should I ask for my professor to use his funding? Or do I need to pay my travel expense myself? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40483,
"author": "seteropere",
"author_id": 532,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/532",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is perfectly fine for the second author <em>(if it matters: many people do use alphabetic ordering where second author does not necessarily mean less contribution)</em> to present the paper. <strong>It is not only appropriate but encouraged to attend</strong>. I have seen many professors attend with one or two of their students.. Tell your professor that you are interested in presenting the paper or at least attending the conference in case of acceptance. </p>\n\n<p>Ask him to help you with the funding. He may point you to different resources available on the department/university or even national level. Many conferences have student discount and many do waive the registration fees if you volunteered at the conference. Look for this information into the conference website. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40484,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Firstly, there is no reason (apart from funding) stopping a second author from attending. The conference organisers would love it, they want as many people to attend as they can get.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes conferences offer a small amount of funding for students. You should check out the conference web page and see whether you are eligible. As an author on one of the papers, you have a chance.</p>\n\n<p>But otherwise you will have to find funding from elsewhere. Your supervisor should be the first person to ask, then maybe the head of the research group you are in, then the head of department. Perhaps there is university-level funding available too. These people should be able to point you towards that. There's probably also an office somewhere who collects information about such grants. </p>\n\n<p>As a general rule, avoid paying out of your own pocket unless you have to.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40486,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As others have already stated, it is perfectly acceptable to show up at a conference when you are not the first author of your paper, or even if you have no paper at all at the conference.</p>\n\n<p>Depending on your research group and how well-funded it is, funding your trip may or may not be a problem. Your first partner in such attempts should certainly be your co-author, and there is nothing wrong about asking him whether you can go and to what extend his grants or the university can support you. The prof. will also know about other funding sources you may apply to. For instance, you could apply as a student volunteer for the conference (usually levies the conference fee), or you could ask for a travel stipend from the conference organizers (although these are often indeed reserved for first authors, at least in my field).</p>\n\n<p>As a sidenote, most professors around me are actually really happy about undergrads that want to go to conferences, as it shows that the undergrad really cares about research and wants to see how it is being done. People <em>love</em> that, because both, in my Swiss current and Austrian previous university, getting good undergrads to stay for a PhD was a perpetual concern and worth quite some money in up-front investment to professors that had some travel money to spare.</p>\n\n<p><em>(PhD admission works different to the US around here. Most of our PhD students come from our own pool of undergrads, and it's definitely a students market (i.e., few good students, lots of professors looking for them). Good undergrads are basically wooed by professors to do a PhD with them.)</em></p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40482",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27699/"
] |
40,487 |
<p>I am a first year graduate student in a computational math program. Based on my background (I just finished a one-semester graduate real analysis course), instead of reading a specific textbook, my supervisor suggested me starting reading papers. And if I find unclear concepts, I can refer to some books in library, learn the specific knowledge and come back to the paper.</p>
<p>In general I agree with this method since I think this is the most effective way to learn a new technique, that is, applying the new knowledge directly to my research. But I am not sure what I should do if it's a pure math concept, instead of a numerical scheme. For example, say the existence of weak solution of a particular PDE. After reading the relavant chapter or chapters of a classic book which I borrowed from the library, should I try to do the exercise after those chapters before moving back to the paper? Based on the suggestions <a href="https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/164002/are-the-exercises-necessary-to-understand-the-subject-of-a-mathematical-textbook?rq=1">here</a>, I should try to solve as many as exercises in that book to make sure I understand the theorems and techniques, and this is what I usually do in my undergraduate study. </p>
<p>But I have several concerns about this approach. Firstly, it may be time-consuming and may delay the research process. Secondly, unlike reading an undergraduate textbook, I started the reference book in the middle, while the exercises may require some previous chapters' techiniques, which I may not know and may not be directly related with my current research. </p>
<p>So may you share your experience about how to deal with this senario? Do you come back to the paper immediately (say after knowing the statement of a theorem) or do you spend some time solving exercises? If the exercises involving previous chapters' concepts, do you usually read previous chapters as well or do you just skip those exercises? I know it's good to learn more things, but given the time constrains and tons of things I need to learn, sometime it may not be practical. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40488,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You are definitely looking at the wrong factor here. The question for you should not be <em>\"Should I solve the examples?\"</em>, but rather <em>\"Do I understand the technique well enough to confidently apply it to my own research?\"</em>.</p>\n\n<p>If the answer to the second question is <strong>yes</strong>, you don't need to waste your time on doing more examples. If the answer is <strong>no</strong>, you need to study the technique more before applying it, and doing the examples may or may not be a good way to do it. However, in the second case, doing the examples cannot be \"too time-consuming\", as you will need to spend more time on learning the technique anyway. At the end of the day, it isn't about \"solving as many examples as possible\", but about understanding the material well enough. As a young researcher, you should be advanced enough to tell when this is the case.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, the way how you phrased the question makes me wonder to what extend you actually understand the technique. Specifically:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I started the reference book in the middle, while the exercises may require some previous chapters' techiniques, which I may not know and may not be directly related with my current research.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Of course one needs to know the concrete example to be sure, but if you are unable to do the examples because you have not read the previous text book sections, it seems to me that your understanding of the overall area is not all that great yet.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40494,
"author": "Ander Biguri",
"author_id": 16023,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16023",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends in your learning process. My philosophy is in general: </p>\n\n<pre><code>*To be able to say that you understand something, you need to be able to code it.*\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>This leads me to code lots of things in order to fully understand them. While it seems time consuming, once I have code it I realised that I do understand a lot of the high end research in the field and It saves me a lot of time that would be spent into trying to understand each specific paper using the technique I coded (or variations).</p>\n\n<p>However, you can not code everything. There are THOUSANDS of methods in each field. My recommendation: Solve the textbook problems that will be relevant to your work, the ones that you are going to use/modify.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40500,
"author": "sevensevens",
"author_id": 14754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14754",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>instead of reading a specific textbook, my supervisor suggested me starting reading papers. And if I find unclear concepts, I can refer to some books in library, learn the specific knowledge and come back to the paper.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is how you learn to read papers. When you first start, there will be several gaps as your undergraduate classes couldn't prepare you for every grad-level sub-field there is. You can fill in the gaps with reference books, your advisor, or other knowledgable students.</p>\n\n<p>Don't worry about missing something out of one of the reference books. Either you'll notice it when a paper makes a claim you don't understand (will be common at first), or your advisor will realize you do not understand it.</p>\n\n<p>Focus on understanding the papers you read. There is no way anyone would have time to read multiple text books and keep up in grad school. It feels overwhelming at first, but stay focused, and it will get MUCH easier.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40546,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I wanted to put in a word that mathematics really is hard and takes time to learn. </p>\n\n<p>In particular, in my experience -- which is, I must say, almost exclusively with <em>pure</em> mathematics, but in many programs in the US the distinction between pure and applied only emerges later on -- relatively few first year math PhD students are reading papers independently. Unless I very much misremember, I did not start reading \"serious\" math papers until my second year. For what it is worth, I was a student at Harvard, and I entered with a BAMS from the University of Chicago. I was not poorly prepared compared to my American peers. Also for what it is worth, \"one-semester graduate real analysis\" is what I took as a third year undergraduate. And then I followed it with another semester. And by the way I was a student of number theory. As I recall I spent the first semester of my first year studying for my quals, passed them at the beginning of the second semester, and spent the second semester learning about elliptic curves, local fields and schemes from <strong>textbooks</strong> of Silverman, Serre and Hartshorne. The idea of plunging into papers without having learned this material: well, it might have added some drama, but almost certainly it would have added to my total time to degree.</p>\n\n<p>I have very mixed feelings when I hear people on this site say things to early career graduate students like: \"don't get too bogged down in any one thing\"; \"you can read textbooks forever; time to start reading papers\"; \"only spend as much time to learn something as is needed to apply it to your own work\"; and so forth. It is not that such sentiments are not applicable in mathematics: I have said all of these lines myself. It is rather that in mathematics this kind of advice gets given out much later in the day: some of it is great advice for mid- and late-career grad students, and some of it sounds more appropriate for postdocs. On the other hand I have seen a lot of students -- including talented ones -- get snagged because they prioritize \"their research\" over basic learning. I did my PhD thesis on moduli spaces of abelian surfaces with quaternionic multiplication. <em>I didn't know what any of those words meant as a first year PhD student.</em></p>\n\n<p>Now I write all this knowing that the OP is in applied math, which depending on what that means could either be identical to the pure math experience, wildly different, or anywhere in between. But he is asking about pure math knowledge and seems to have the intuition that it will not come so quickly or easily. I think the most honest, helpful answer is: it does not come so quickly or easily to pure math students at top places. So if you're expecting it to come quickly and easily to you, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. A certain amount of patient, textbook-driven linear learning will pay immeasurable dividends down the road. How much? Good question: that's what advisors are for.</p>\n\n<p>Well, after all this I may as well take a crack at the precise question asked. Should you solve exercises in textbooks you read in order to gain background on your research? <strong>Sometimes</strong>. I think that whenever you're reading a math book and get to some exercises you should at least look over them and get a sense of how close you are to being able to solve them. This is an important clue to how much of the material has sunk in. On the other hand, how much time should you spend solving any one \"problem set\" when you're reading the text in \"research mode\"? Not very much <em>unless you see how solving that particular problem is relevant to your work</em> (in which case: lots of time, potentially). If you don't know whether the exercises are relevant to what you're doing, you either haven't read closely enough or are reading too linearly: you don't have to read textbooks in order or one at a time. Grab several off the shelf at once. Play them off against each other. Often what you actually need is something that most texts will hint at, drive somewhere near, leave to you as an exercise....but the right textbook will do it wonderfully. Or maybe no one text will say exactly what you want, but together they will. Being able to \"triangulate from multiple sources\" is, I would say, an intermediate research skill: I know many PhD students who don't seem to have mastered it (e.g. for complete lack of trying!), but it is one well worth developing if you're trying to dive head-first into the literature.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40487",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18259/"
] |
40,489 |
<p>If someone is on a tenure track in a science or engineering department at U.S. institution (Tier 1, if that makes the question more focused), and it is time to review his case to be tenured and promoted to associate professor, what is a typical range for the number of the external reviewers for his file? Does the number vary if the case is for professorship promotion?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41384,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The actual number varies by institution and, frankly, does not matter that much. The real questions are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><em>Are you known in a community?</em> Do people in your academic community generally know of you and, more importantly, your work.</li>\n<li><em>Does the university want to keep you?</em> It is always possible to find people who will write either effusively positive or cynically negative reviews of anyone and everyone. Such reviewers are generally known to people who seek their reviews.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The first question is loosely tied to the visibility of your research, and the second question is loosely tied to your value within the university (often including teaching, grant funding, collegiality, and the like).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41385,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The numbers vary enormously between universities and departments and, from my experience, seems to correspond at least roughly with the prestige (and tenure rate) of the institutions. At the very high end, I've met faculty in the humanities at both MIT and Columbia whose told me that their case required (or will soon require) 25 letters!</p>\n\n<p>Many top large research schools including the large state university that currently employs me will request in the order of 4-8. I'm under the impression that the majority of universities will request between 2 and 5.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41399,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At my institution, (which typically takes its cues from Tier 1 US institutions and is led by scientists who all come from Tier 1 US institutions), the dean solicits 6 names from the faculty member and another 6 names are determined by him or people in the program. From this list of 12, it's necessary to obtain at least 6 letters for the case. It goes without saying that none of the 12 names can have any significant ties to the candidate. All of the 12 should be full professors at \"peer\" institutions, which means institutions of the same or higher research caliber as your own. Typically most of them are highly distinguished, such as people who hold leadership positions in societies or journals or who have won major awards for their research.</p>\n\n<p>The above is for promotion to associate professor. I believe that for promotion to full professor the number of letters is higher.</p>\n\n<p>If you are interested in a particular institution, look up the rules in their faculty handbook (which is often publicly available).</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40489",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9547/"
] |
40,497 |
<p>When I search for papers using some keywords in academic databases (like Google Scholar), there are lots of papers, but I would like to read literature reviews first because I’m new in that area. (By <em>literature reviews,</em> I mean article-length papers that analyze existing work on a specific topic.)</p>
<p>So I think it would be helpful for me if there were a way to find literature reviews using the keyword or using the paper’s title. I want to categorize papers I’ve found by its document type (research, survey, review, etc).</p>
<p>What I've tried is using a specific academic database (ScienceDirect), which provides an advanced search, in which one can filter the paper by its type (original research article, review article, short survey, etc) – but I feel some limitations of this method.
I think I can also do this by adding the word <em>review</em> to my keywords for searching or by reading a paper’s abstract, number of references and guessing whether it is review article or not.</p>
<p>Is there a more efficient way to find review articles by the keyword?</p>
<p>(My research area is computer science.)</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE</strong></p>
<p>"feel some limitations" in my post, I'm not sure but it seems that ScienceDirect only searches for literatures that belongs to ElseVier company. I think It doesn't cover the journal articles well, comparing to e.g) Google Scholar so I said I feel some limitations of it</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41742,
"author": "Todd Booth",
"author_id": 26573,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26573",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Google Scholar does not offer as concise query commands, as for example, Scopus and ProQuest. Note that there is a bug in Scopus. When I use commands such as the following, they don't work unless, I add an extra space \" \", at the end of each line. Here is one of my Scopus queries, which shows you an example, of exactly what you are looking for. The keyword fields are ar:artical, cp:conference contribution, comp:computer science.</p>\n\n<pre><code>( \n ( \n ( DOCTYPE(ar) AND PUBYEAR AFT 2008 ) OR \n ( DOCTYPE(cp) AND PUBYEAR AFT 2010 ) \n ) AND \n\n TITLE-ABS-KEY \n ( \n \"design science\" and \"literature review\"\n ) AND \n\n ( \n SUBJAREA(COMP)\n ) AND\n\n LANGUAGE(English) \n\n)\n</code></pre>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 52192,
"author": "fileunderwater",
"author_id": 7223,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7223",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To me, using academic citation databases (such as <em>Scopus</em> or <em>Web of Knowledge</em>) is the obvious choice for these types of searches, since they have option for filtering on article type (which Google Scholar doesn't have). You haven't explained why you \"<em>... feel some limitations..</em>\" when using <em>ScienceDirect</em>, so it is hard to know exactly what you feel is lacking. If your issue is that it is a closed subscription platform, you can also use <a href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>PubMed</em></a>, which can also filter search results on article type (as <em>review[Publication Type]</em> in advanced search or by clicking on \"Review\" in the left panel when viewing search results). The main issue with <em>PubMed</em> is that it has a smaller coverage than the other databases, at least in some fields of science.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 131633,
"author": "Tripartio",
"author_id": 20418,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20418",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can simply search for \"review*\" as a required keyword in the title, abstract or keywords in a subscription scholarly database. There are three important aspects to my answer:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Search for \"review*\" as a required keyword:</strong> In addition to all your keywords of interest, you should connect them to \"AND review*\". This will get you all articles related to your topic that also mention something about \"review\". A literature review might be called \"a literature review\", \"a systematic review\", \"reviews the literature\", or other related terms, so \"review*\" (don't forget the \"*\") would be needed to capture all these. </p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Search in the title, abstract or keywords:</strong> Do not do a full text search, or else you will return far too many irrelevant results, since most articles probably mention \"review*\" somewhere. However, I expect that the vast majority of literature reviews would mention that keyword in their abstracts, if not in their title or keyword list. Such a search would return some articles that are not standalone literature reviews, but you always want a search strategy that returns a little too much, and then you can manually filter the results. That way, you don't miss anything. </p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Search a subscription scholarly database, not Google Scholar:</strong> Google Scholar is great for many things (I use it almost every day), but absolutely not for this kind of search. Google Scholar does not allow you to search only in the title, abstract or keywords. It only allows title searches, or abstract searches for articles in the last 12 months (or something like that). I believe that this is because publishers allow Google to index their texts only on the condition that it is not allowed to be as useful as paid subscription databases. So, it can only return thousands of results for this kind of search; you can't use it for the higher precision strategy I describe here. </p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 152164,
"author": "Aaron Tay",
"author_id": 126705,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/126705",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are a couple of methods to do this. I detail all 4 methods here</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://medium.com/a-academic-librarians-thoughts-on-open-access/4-ways-to-find-review-papers-systematic-reviews-meta-analysis-and-other-rich-sources-of-82898aebb6e7\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://medium.com/a-academic-librarians-thoughts-on-open-access/4-ways-to-find-review-papers-systematic-reviews-meta-analysis-and-other-rich-sources-of-82898aebb6e7</a></p>\n<ol>\n<li><p>Use built-in filters that exist in databases like Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science. However these tend to have somewhat selective in coverage, and as I write this in 2020, <a href=\"https://academic.microsoft.com/home\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Microsoft Academic</a> (Microsoft's answer to Google and almost as large), has a autogenerated vocab that includes labels for "<a href=\"https://academic.microsoft.com/topic/140608501/publication/search?q=Review%20article&qe=And(Composite(F.FId%253D140608501)%252CTy%253D%270%27)&f=&orderBy=0\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Review Articles</a>", <a href=\"https://academic.microsoft.com/search?q=systematic%20review&qe=%40%40%40Composite(F.FN%3D%3D%27systematic%20review%27)&f=&orderBy=4&skip=0&take=10\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Systematic Reviews</a> and <a href=\"https://academic.microsoft.com/topic/95190672/publication/search?q=Meta-analysis&qe=And(Composite(F.FId%253D95190672)%252CTy%253D%270%27)&f=&orderBy=0\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Meta-analysis</a> which can be used for filtering.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Do a keyword search and hope to match title, abstracts etc. This is the main method used for Google Scholar. As noted this can be quite inaccurate beyond the first few results, because Google Scholar has limited search synatx to do field searching.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Advanced boolean searching - using a complicated and advanced boolean search query on a syntax capable search engine, one can create a search with high precision and high recall to find such articles. I detail <a href=\"https://medium.com/@aarontay/finding-reviews-on-any-topic-using-lens-org-and-2d-search-a-new-efficient-method-d601e3e07d73\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">a method here</a>.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Using bibliometric citation mapping to identify review papers - The idea here is that if intutively if you see a lot of papers that you are interested in are cited by this one paper, it is likely this paper could be a review paper (and even if not it is probably relevant). Tools like <a href=\"http://www.cocites.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">CoCites</a> exploit this to try to detect such papers.</p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40497",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30853/"
] |
40,502 |
<p>This is probably a question quite opposite to the general vibe of people in academia, but oh well.</p>
<p>I am a UK-based PhD student and as I progress through my programme I notice more and more that my tutoring duties bring me a lot more enjoyment and fulfilment than research. Thus I started to wonder if there are ways of becoming a university lecturer without actually pursuing research.</p>
<p>I am observing many researchers who are, honestly, quite appalling lecturers and are quite vocal about not enjoying working with students anyway. At the same time, however, it seems that UK universities don't hire people who don't do research - at least I was unable to find any.</p>
<p>Most jobs I looked at involved research and, obviously, usually PhD-level jobs assume at least some level of research duties in them. At the same time I wouldn't want to be a teacher at a level lower than university, since I enjoy talking to students who chose the course more than to people who were forced to take it by the general curriculum. I was also a little bit afraid that in the academic world the job of a full-time tutor may be in the long run frowned upon, as "They is doing everything you are and ALSO doing research!"</p>
<p>So I guess the tl;dr version of my question would be:
<strong>Is it possible to have a career as a full-time university lecturer in the UK without research activities?</strong></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40505,
"author": "Jessica B",
"author_id": 20036,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20036",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My institution has policies that talk about 'teaching and scholarship' positions. These presumably require more teaching than the 'teaching and research' positions. So I believe the answer is yes. I don't know what the availability of such positions is though. It is conceivable that nowhere actually hires on that basis now.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40506,
"author": "sevensevens",
"author_id": 14754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14754",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is completely possible to be hired as a full-time lecturer without a Ph.D. You can also become a prof at a teaching university, which may be more what you want.</p>\n\n<p>If you go the full-time lecturer route, most universities hire lectures on a contract bases, but a few will be promoted to full-time lecturing positions. You will likely not have as much choice in the classes you teach as profs in your department.</p>\n\n<p>Your other option is to do research in teaching your subject. You get your Ph.D. by researching how best to teach the subject you are interested in, and once you've received it, you can apply to teaching universities that will pay you to teach without doing research. Teaching universities award tenure based on excellence in teaching, which encourages all faculty to have good lectures.</p>\n\n<p>NOTE: I believe the UK does NOT have tenure, but its still worth thinking about as both America and several other european countries have some form of it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40555,
"author": "Dan",
"author_id": 30807,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30807",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Absolutely. Such positions are called <em>teaching fellowships</em>. I don't know how common such positions are in general but we had two in the department where I did my PhD. There are certainly quite a number on <a href=\"http://www.jobs.ac.uk/categories/teaching-fellow-jobs/\" rel=\"nofollow\">jobs.ac.uk</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40564,
"author": "Ian",
"author_id": 22000,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22000",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To add some more detail to @sevensevens answer, here is some detail from my UK institution (hidden inside our intranet, so I can't link):</p>\n\n<p>The academic jobs have four areas where staff \"contribute\", one of which is education (the others are research, enterprise [consultancy or bringing in cash], and leadership and management [admin++]). All staff are expected to contribute to at least two at some level; an example they give for \"education led\" staff would be 70% education and 30% leadership.</p>\n\n<p>As an example, to get to level 6 (senior lecturer / associate prof equivalent) on the education led path, the member of staff may (in addition to their standard teaching duties)</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Develop and sustain major pedagogical and practitioner activity of high reputation in the UK and internationally, including through original research work.</li>\n<li>Play a leading role in the debate nationally about teaching and learning policy, methods and practices through publications, conference activity and other appropriate media.</li>\n<li>Act as coach and role model for teaching excellence locally through excellent practice and mentoring other less experienced teachers.</li>\n<li>May disseminate and explain pedagogic research findings through leading peer reviewed national and international publications, conferences and exhibitions.</li>\n<li>Develop links with external contacts such as other educational bodies, employers and professional bodies to foster collaboration. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>and are</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Able to develop and lead key communications strategies,</li>\n<li>Able to represent the unit/faculty/university at national/international conference sessions or senior management meetings as a lead expert.</li>\n<li>Able to develop significant new concepts and original ideas within their field in response to intractable issues of importance to the research or teaching area.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Those are a small selection of direct quotes (it's less than 20% of the set of points listed), which highlight the key point: if you want a <em>career</em>, with progression up the ladder and continued responsibility, then it is possible, but will require more than just being a good teacher/tutor to the students.</p>\n\n<p>I would finally note: there is a strong belief (backed up with significant evidence) that the teaching led route is not valued at anything like the same level as research led or balanced routes: promotion is slower, and teaching led staff are more likely to get the tedious admin jobs. There's been a push from the top to address this, but as yet it's not clear if that's (a) been successful, or (b) much more than PR.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 75121,
"author": "Dilworth",
"author_id": 8760,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8760",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Yes</strong>, it is possible to find universities in the UK that hire professor/lecturers who are only doing teaching. This is not very common, but do exist. These professors have no research responsibility, and so they usually teach twice than their research peers. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Example of such permanent teaching lectureship positions from the University of Manchester:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.academiccareer.manchester.ac.uk/about/do/jobsandroles/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.academiccareer.manchester.ac.uk/about/do/jobsandroles/</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Could I focus on teaching-only posts?</p>\n \n <p>Although teaching is part of the role of most academics, there are a\n number of teaching-only roles. The majority of these are associated\n with fixed-term positions, often part-time. However, some institutions\n have developed parallel career routes, allowing academics (in\n permanent roles) to remain focused on teaching and still progress\n through grades similar to the conventional 'Lecturer to Professor'\n route. This has traditionally been the case in the post-92\n universities, but more recently has also been recognised within some\n Russell Group universities.</p>\n \n <p>Job titles may differ to reflect the teaching focus of the job, with\n the term Teaching Fellow sometimes used to reflect a permanent\n teaching-focused academic role (as opposed to those Teaching Fellow\n posts which are fixed-term, teaching posts aimed at those aspiring to\n an academic career - check the job descriptions carefully). </p>\n \n <p>As a teaching-focused academic, in addition to your discipline\n knowledge, you may be expected to conduct research and publish, but in\n the fields of teaching and education, either generally or specifically\n within your discipline. At senior levels, you would generally also be\n expected to take a lead in the development of educational methods\n and/or technologies based on relevant educational research.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40502",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30872/"
] |
40,509 |
<p>I know that using an origin other than 0 for numeric data is considered misleading. But for plots in academic publications, is it ever a good idea to break an axis so that patterns and outliers can be more easily seen?
Or would you always try to find an alternative (e.g., using a logarithmic scale, faceting, using multiple plots with different scales)? I'm looking for a general rule of thumb.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40514,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In my own experience, the time when it makes sense to break an axis is when you have a mixture of two distributions, such that neither a linear nor a logarithmic scale can represent things clearly. For example, I have done this when dealing with an independent variable in which there was an exponential distribution of conditions, and also zero. (e.g., 0, 1, 10, 100, 1000): this is poorly represented\nin either log (where zero flies off the chart) or linear (where the lower values are compressed), but well represented by zero, then a break to logarithmic.</p>\n\n<p>For a dependent variable, however, I have found that it is usually better to use two charts with different scales, or a \"detail inset,\" because it is important to give the reader a sense of the full range of the observed values, and a break reduces the visual impact.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40516,
"author": "WoJ",
"author_id": 15446,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15446",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It also depends on the variation of the data. If you know, <strong>from theory</strong>, that your data will change from <code>10</code> to <code>20</code> and the changes there are the ones you are interested in, you can break the axis and focus on that range. Wherever <code>0</code> is is irrelevant, as you know that your data lies between <code>10</code> and <code>20</code>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40518,
"author": "gerrit",
"author_id": 1033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Sometimes, breaking an axis is the least bad alternative.</p>\n\n<p>In one of my publications, reviewers were complaining that some of my lines were off the graph. But I didn't want to compress the y-axis so much that the lower values would be harder to tell apart. So, somewhat reluctantly, the final version of my graph looked like this:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/9ecUC.png\" alt=\"IWP performances\">\n<br /><a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2013JD020759\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Source: Holl et al. (2014)</a></p>\n\n<p>Note the unusual discontinuity around the value of 300%.</p>\n\n<p>Is it ever a good idea? It is not ideal. But in context, it might be a better choice than any other alternative. In the figure above, I had the choice between (1) extending the entire y-axis normally up to 500% (rendering the difference between 100% and 125% hard to see), cutting off the graph at 300% (with one line going out of the graph), or by stacking two graphs with different y-scales as shown. I originally chose to cut off the graph, but after a reviewer complained, I opted for the solution above.</p>\n\n<p>As long as you make sure that it is entirely unambiguous what set of values each location in the axes relate to, it should be acceptable. As ff524 points out in a comment, you should also point out the discontinuity or break in the figure caption.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40522,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I used to be a \"don't break the axis\" purist. I like to think that I have learned better. Nowadays, whenever I know that zero does not make sense for the data I am visualizing, I don't hesitate to break the axis.</p>\n\n<p>A little example: I recently started recording my weight (in kg) and reducing my calorie intake. Here is the time series. Does anyone think that the plot on the right is more informative? It isn't. Because zero is not a possible weight for a healthy 39 year old male.</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/OpNQw.png\" alt=\"weight\"></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40525,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I know that using an origin other than 0 for numeric data is considered misleading</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You've been told wrong. That's just nonsense. <em>Do</em> use a zero baseline when you're using <em>area</em> to indicate quantity, and a zero baseline gives you an area that's proportional to the quantity. That's typically bar charts, column charts and area charts.</p>\n\n<p>But for line graphs, scatter graphs, sparklines, and any other charts where quantity is indicated by position rather than area, you're absolutely fine with a non-zero baseline.</p>\n\n<p>Have a look at plots of external temperature produced by meteorological organisations: how many of them have a baseline of zero Kelvin? None. Obviously.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40509",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10529/"
] |
40,511 |
<p>I've recently finished in Masters in Neuroscience in Germany ( & bachelors in pharmacy), and I'm trying to find a PhD position in European countries like Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, etc. In most of them, I have to contact the professor I'm interested in working with myself. I've already emailed a lot of them ( app. 20, with 6 replying no positions available).</p>
<p>-The problem is, I'm afraid if my emails are too generic. Here's the part from my emails where I have some concerns:</p>
<p>"As you will see in my resume, I have steadily oriented my education and experience towards becoming an accomplished researcher of regenerative medicine/technologies for the nervous system. Being a pharmacy & neuroscience graduate gives me a unique perspective that is useful when exploring the regenerative capacity of the nervous system, whether through manipulating neurons directly, manipulating surrounding glia, or the use of stem cells."</p>
<p>For the rest, I clearly stated that I'm looking for a possible position in their group, what my previous accomplishments are, as well as who I am in a brief description.
Naturally, I only emailed professors whose research I like and is linked to what I want & mentioned in this paragraph. So, is it inferred that I like their research/field, or is it still to generic?</p>
<p>Of course I read their about their projects on their group pages, but I'm not sure if I can go as far as reading their articles, since it would take too long, they may have no positions, and I don't know how many should I contact. So I wrote it in a more general manner, and if a professor/group leader expressed interest, then I would read in a lot more detail about their work (their articles & reviews). But is this truly the only way for them to consider someone?</p>
<p>-Another point is how many emails. One acquaintance mentioned that he had to send upwards of 300 emails to find a position. I simply can't believe he can send that many emails, without them being a single copy, but with each professor's name. I think it would be in the range of 20-50 emails, but that's pure conjecture on my part. I need to know from your experience, since if they're not so many, then I can read more about the professor's work in detail.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40513,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Quite simply, if your email to me does not explain why you want to do a PhD <strong>in my group</strong>, I am probably not going to respond to your \"cold\" email, unless your CV is so outstanding (several papers, good grades, working with people I already know, etc.) that I can't help but take a closer look.</p>\n\n<p>So you need to make sure that your email not only expresses your research interests, but also explains why your profile makes a good fit for the group to which you're applying.</p>\n\n<p>Also note that if you're sending a \"cold\" email and the professor isn't in the process of advertising a position, you <em>still</em> may not get a response.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40517,
"author": "user27206",
"author_id": 27206,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27206",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The volume of emails requesting a lab position received by most professors in my field is large and unceasing. This means that you have at most a few moments of attention from the prof who is skim reading your email. \nBy far the majority of emails read along the lines of \"my name is X and I would like to do a PhD in your lab\", usually followed by \"I have graduated from [insert foreign institution] and would value the opportunity to perform my PhD in your lab\". There is usually no information that describes why the work your lab undertakes is an important part of the decision process that lead the applicant to email the prof. Nor is there a description of what the applicant brings in the way of unique ideas/approaches that will forward the work the prof performs. </p>\n\n<p>Cold emails from excellent candidates will always have to compete with those from less exceptional candidates, and are out numbered by the latter by at least 20:1.\nSpend the time to personalise the email. Suggest approaches/experimental plans that will address areas of interest to the prof. If possible, go to scientific meetings and initiate a face to face contact that will notify the prof for your intent. Maybe try writing a traditional \"snail mail\" letter (you know, written on paper and sent by post) - this at least will force the recipient to spend a moment or two longer on the correspondence and may provide a novelty factor that aids in distinguishing you from the rest. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40530,
"author": "zelanix",
"author_id": 19434,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19434",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree fully with the previous answers, but there are a few things that I would like to add to them.</p>\n\n<p>Note that this can be very cultural and what works in one area may not be appropriate for another, but this is my take on things.</p>\n\n<p>Firstly I would always show some passion for the subject and demonstrate your background knowledge of the area. For example, in your case, <em>why</em> are you interested in researching the regenerative capacity of the nervous system? This may be obvious to you, but don't be afraid to spell it out. You can talk about benefits to society or possible applicability to other research or whatever you feel is appropriate. You mention many techniques, but <em>why</em> are they relevant / important? How is it related to the work in the specific research group? Always ask yourself <em>why</em> (and personally, I start by writing the <em>why</em> because it is the most interesting and compelling part).</p>\n\n<p>Secondly, and related, people are (on the whole) vain - show genuine interest in the person and their work. Don't over-compliment, but certainly show that you know <em>what</em> they do and <em>why</em> it is important. Then you can talk about why you are the right person etc. etc.</p>\n\n<p>On the issue of how many emails to send, I would say quality over quantity. Take the time to tailor each one to the specific professor / research group and really appeal to them rather than just sending out hundreds of emails (I would certainly not be proud of having to send over 300 emails to find a PhD!) Also, don't be afraid to send a follow up email if you don't get a reply. You really have nothing to loose from this - showing that you have the passion by sending a follow-up will certainly not harm your chances.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, there is a lot of material around to help you with this. A particularly good (and classic) book is <em>How to Win Friends and Influence People</em> by Dale Carnegie - old but very very good (more about management, but the psychology is the same). There is also a lot of overlap with careers advice on how to write a good cover letter and how to send speculative job search emails so search online for these. Also, your previous University probably has a careers department so they can really be very helpful in providing honest feedback on your emails / letters.</p>\n\n<p><strong>TL;DR</strong>: Always show your passion for the area and talk about the recipient (and their work). This is the best way to capture someone's interest. Talk about yourself last.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck with your search.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40536,
"author": "Nick Vence",
"author_id": 30542,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30542",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Stepping from a masters to a PhD program is a huge undertaking. While times are tough, research dollars are scarce, and busy under-funded professors may be unlikely to respond, consider consulting your advisor:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Take a printed copy of your application letter and ask for constructive criticism. </p></li>\n<li><p>After sharing potential research groups you have targeted, ask him to recommend some others. Perhaps s/he might write a letter of recommendations to a colleague.</p></li>\n<li><p>Read <em>How to Win Friends and Influence People.</em> It will accelerate your career.</p></li>\n<li><p>Finally, keep your chin up. Changing institutions is hard work. Spend a little time every day doing something you enjoy, for a positive mindset will give you that extra edge.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40511",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30873/"
] |
40,515 |
<p>I am a first year graduate student with thesis topic on computational math, in particular inverse problem. Based on what I know, this area requires a solid background of functional analysis and numerical PDE. </p>
<p>Currently I am wondering what kinds of seminars I should attend. My department have weekly student seminars on analysis and theoretical PDE. Basically students presenting their work/research output to their supervisor. As <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/39/will-people-judge-me-negatively-for-skipping-department-seminars/64#64">this post</a> and the great mathematician <a href="https://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/attend-talks-and-conferences-even-those-not-directly-related-to-your-work/" rel="noreferrer">Terence Tao</a> suggested, attending talks and conferences in different areas is beneficial. Hence I will try to attend other numercial analysis groups' seminars. But I was wondering whether it's helpful for me to attend those pure math seminars about analysis or PDE.</p>
<p>Though I found those seminars are interesting, my main concern is that being lack of suitable background, I may only be able to understand a small part of the seminar (a PHD student working on theoretical PDE once told me he can't understand his group-mates' seminar until his third year). The other concern is I will have less time for my own research . So in your opinion, what kinds of seminars I should attend? Shall I attend seminars in other departments (say physics or engineering) regularly?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40521,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You're not going to be able to determine which seminars are useful to <em>you</em> without going to some of them. And yes, some of them will be wastes of time. But I've gone to seminar series that should be extremely topical to me that never benefitted me directly, and some from peripheral departments that turned out to be very useful - as mentioned in one of the comments, even if you don't take away anything from the lecture, it's useful to know people. One day, you might find yourself in need of a graph theorist or some such, and it's helpful to have met them once, or be able to say \"I saw your talk...\" in an introductory email.</p>\n\n<p>Also, selfishly, from an applied field, having applied participants in more theory heavy fields is helpful for teaching theory students how to present their topics to people outside their narrow subfield.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40523,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As an early-stage graduate student, you should go to whatever seminars seem interesting to you, so long as it isn't interfering with your research too much. A good way to think about this might be to budget a certain number of hours per week for seminars (I'd suggest 2 to 6 hours/week, depending on your load), and within that budget see which are the most attractive.</p>\n\n<p>Over time, you will figure out which ones are most interesting and useful to you and which are not. It will no doubt shift with time, as well.</p>\n\n<p>Furthermore, never be scared of going to hear a talk just because you aren't working in the area. You never know which interactions will turn out to be important. For example, half of my own research program ultimately stems from sitting in a lunchtime seminar series that had <em>nothing</em> to do with my thesis and that I attended just because it was neat to hear what was going on in that area.\nTen years later, here I am.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 110926,
"author": "Tommi",
"author_id": 13017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13017",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Writing on inverse problems in particular, there is plenty of research of inverse problems for PDE from a pure mathematics perspective. For example, see the uniqueness results for Calderón's problem, enclosure method of Ikehata, and many results on hybrid data imaging (the recent book of Alberti and Capdeboscq is good).</p>\n\n<p>There are a number of people who approach inverse problems for PDE from both theoretical perspective and the direction of numerics and functional analysis. There is plenty of space for collaboration and many conferences in inverse problems (e.g. Applied inverse problems, SIAM imaging, Inverse problems: simulation and modelling, Inverse days) have both theoretical and applied talks, and everything on the spectrum between them.</p>\n\n<p>I would say that if the analysis talks discuss the equations related to what you are working on, or equations with obvious use in modelling concrete physical situations, then you should certainly consider listening to them.</p>\n\n<p>For seminars in physics or engineering, you should check if the subject matter is related to your own research interests. If you work on medical imaging and someone is giving a talk on EEG, go and listen at least once so you know what kind of questions they ask in their research and how they present the information.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40515",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18259/"
] |
40,519 |
<p>I'm EPSRC (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_and_Physical_Sciences_Research_Council" rel="noreferrer">Engineering and Physical Science Research Council</a>, the biggest UK funding source in the sciences and engineering) funded. Several months into my PhD an industrial sponsor came along. In exchange for additional funds they wanted me and the other PhD students in our group to spend some time during the PhD at their sites and work on industrial problems. This is known as a CASE award. I'm not sure what the university signed, but I have not signed anything. It was a verbal agreement with my supervisor.</p>
<p>I'm now in my 3rd year and writing up. The industrial sponsor has decided to renew their agreement with the university and just issued me with a contract (it states the university and industrial sponsor have agreed upon additional clauses as of early 2015). The clauses/contract that I've been asked to sign states that I will give the industrial sponsor all my intellectual property (to which I currently own) generated over the course of the last 3 years. It also states that the industrial sponsors will review all publications and stop me publishing anything they think will give them a competitive edge (Note I'm not and have never used any of their data, resources or industrial knowledge/work/ideas etc. this is my own work) - I'm just about to publish the remainder of my PhD and then submit my thesis in the coming months. I was in good position to finish early and focus fully on moving to the industrial site for the remainder of my PhD and work on the projects the industrial sponsors wanted me to look at. Clearly for any projects done while there, the IP would belong to the industrial sponsors - however they want everything, including the stuff I did before they even got involved!</p>
<p>Additionally signing the contract means that they can make my thesis closed - i.e. future employers are not allowed to see it. This could damage my future prospects as I was also looking at work outside of academia and they will no doubt want to know what I've been up to. This was never part of any agreement and I would have never taken on a PhD with these terms. Academia is all about the publishing and the free flow of ideas - this all makes me a very cheap slave!</p>
<p>Legally, where do I stand? I understand that as an employee issued with new contract I would have to either sign or walk away, unless it goes against the heart of the contract. But I'm a student and I'm in the last few months of my PhD, if I walk I get no qualification. </p>
<p>I've been told that they can't make me sign it - but won't go into detail as to whether it will affect my PhD or not? Again I'm EPSRC funded the industrial sponsors have paid me extra around 10% of the EPSRC stipend in exchange for me spending several unpaid months at their site working on projects of their choice. I've been told by my supervisor that it's in my best interest to stop resisting and ultimately sign the contract. Can they do this three years in? Has anyone been through anything like this? Anyone have any advice? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40527,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Unfortunately, we won't be able to provide you with legal information. (And you shouldn't trust random strangers on the internet that claim they can.) That said, it does sound extremely strange for a company to embargo your work done before they ever showed up.</p>\n\n<p>I would recommend that you approach your university's legal department. Ask them to specify explicitly what consequences signing or not signing the agreement proposed by the company will have on you and your obtaining a Ph.D. Ask them to answer <em>in writing</em>. This consultation should be free to you.</p>\n\n<p>If you don't like the answer you get there, you can get an outside lawyer. This will be more expensive. And it may be hard to find someone who understands the specific situation, employment-and-academia-wise.</p>\n\n<p>However, the first thing this lawyer can do is review the information you were so careful to obtain in writing from your university. Your university's legal department knows this. Therefore they have an incentive not to cheat you, and you should be able to trust their information at least to a degree.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40528,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Legally, you can't be made to sign a retrospective, retroactive contract.</p>\n\n<p>Professionally, if your supervisor or the university person responsible for the CASE studentships decided to be obnoxious about it, they could make the completion of your PhD uncomfortable.</p>\n\n<p>As long as you don't <em>need</em> the CASE money or the on-site experience, this looks like a useless deal for you; in your shoes, I'd be minded to talk to my supervisors, then the faculty graduate tutor. Explain without emotion that you didn't sign up for a CASE studentship; ask if they can give you a good reason why you should sign up, because from where you are, it's hard to see any value in it.</p>\n\n<p>They won't want to stop you finishing. You're EPSRC-funded, and having EPSRC-funded students fail to finish causes a problem for the department when it seeks a renewal of the funding. So you do hold quite a lot of the cards, here.</p>\n\n<p>Ultimately, it's going to be a negotiation. It would be very surprising, and rather irregular, if they did sign up with the sponsor having given the sponsor the belief that this contract will retroactively apply to all current PhD students: I've only seen the terms and conditions apply to those students who <em>start</em> their PhD as CASE students. My hunch is that it's more that someone is just trying to get something for nothing - a free rider.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40538,
"author": "MKU",
"author_id": 30904,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30904",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The problem here seems to stem from the blanket statements in the proposed contract.</p>\n\n<p>The word here is : propose your terms i.e. negotiate.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I will give the industrial sponsor all my intellectual property (to\n which I currently own) generated over the course of the last 3 years</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Instead of \"all intellectual property\" try to negotiate toward \"intellectual property in domain x,y,z only.\" You know what you've done for them, if there's no overlap try to give away what you don't need, maybe that will be enough?</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Industrial sponsors will review all publications and stop me\n publishing anything they think will give them a competitive edge</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Try to add \"each stopped publication will incur fixed penalty of £1e5, payable immediately.\"</p>\n\n<p>This way you may not be able to show your work but you may prove it was worth for them to keep it for themselves.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40541,
"author": "MKU",
"author_id": 30904,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30904",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Clearly for any projects done while there, the IP would belong to the\n industrial sponsors</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Clearly <em>not</em>.</p>\n\n<p>Assuming no employment (explicit nor implied) was in place, works created by you [a student] belong to you. See <a href=\"https://www.gov.uk/ownership-of-copyright-works\">here</a>.</p>\n\n<p>You can bargain by threatening with 'cease and desist' order for them using <em>your</em> IP.</p>\n\n<p>The blanket character of the contract could mean the strong commercial value has been found in some students work, and they try to secure it WITHOUT pointing to it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40550,
"author": "Nicholas",
"author_id": 1424,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Talk to a patent lawyer. It is going to cost you some money, but this sort of thing -- namely employee inventions, inventions of students, contract terms with respect to IP -- comes up <em>all the time</em> in a patent lawyer's practice. </p>\n\n<p>Approaching your university's IP arm may not be in your best interests. Try and get independent advice. </p>\n\n<p>I am not a lawyer, but I am well aware of sections 39 (<a href=\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/37/section/39\" rel=\"nofollow\">Right to employees’ inventions</a>) and 42 (<a href=\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/37/section/42\" rel=\"nofollow\">Enforceability of contracts relating to employees’ inventions</a>) of the UK Patents Act 1977.</p>\n\n<p>I do not believe that university students are considered employees for the purposes of s.39 and, as such, any invention belongs to the student. However, to what extent the agreements you entered into, either explicitly or by your actions,determine ownership of your IP will be determined, needs to be assessed by a competent lawyer. </p>\n\n<p>Again, this is not legal advice. You get that from a lawyer, who you've engaged to advise and/or represent you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40603,
"author": "Stuart Watt",
"author_id": 30967,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30967",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The other answers cover most of the issues, but I'll share one strategy I used in exactly this situation (I was supervising a PhD studentship with a CASE award, and the sponsoring organization did exactly the same thing). First of all, as said, the university should be able to help. In fact, they like the CASE award prestige and funding, but the university will likely take the line that in fact they own the work anyway, not you. (Hence the \"IP resides with the generating University\".) So in fact, they could sign over the work directly. In practice, all institutions prefer to get everyone agreeing because, also in practice, commercialization is totally doomed without everyone accepting a uniform line, at least to some extent. </p>\n\n<p>So we took this strategy: accept the basic assignment, but add a rider so that if the organization did not explicitly elect to commercialize the work within two (say) years of completion, that it would revert to the student and university jointly. The reality is: they likely won't be able to commercially use the work without employing you and/or the university, so personally I wouldn't really worry about them working on without you. Far more worrying is the possibility it'd be shelved due to inaction, and this is the outcome to guard against. Essentially, you're assigning them an option to commercialize, but they actually have to do it. </p>\n\n<p>The type of intellectual property also matters. They can't patent anything without recognizing you as an inventor. If it's software, there are some lovely approaches I used with open source licenses where the ownership is assigned but (being open source) a right-to-use is set. Then, even if the ownership changes, the right to use remains. This is broadly what happened with MySQL, and it allows </p>\n\n<p>Finally, making the thesis public can probably be easily added to the contract. UK employment law gets very twitchy about actions that make it hard for people to seek work -- again, this is more lawyer issue, but given the work has been open up to this stage, there doesn't seem much point in closing it off now, and I expect they'd get that. </p>\n\n<p>Don't be afraid to negotiate contract clauses. Company lawyers just start asserting everything, but quickly (well, more commonly slowly) adjust to a more realistic position. After all, they've usually just copied another contract and minimally edited it to suit.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40643,
"author": "tkp",
"author_id": 30998,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30998",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I second all the IANAL advice -- so get a lawyer. You should be able to get someone to give you some general IP/employment advice for a few hundred pounds.</p>\n\n<p>However, in addition, don't be afraid to push back on the contract and ask for terms to be modified. For example, you could propose changes such that you retain ownership but grant the sponsor a royalty free license to use. That wouldn't protect them from the loss of competitiveness they're worried about in the event your dissertation is seen, but they may be making more of a noise about that than they really want to. Alternatively you could offer to meet them halfway, saying that you will allow for your thesis to be closed only for a year, or to be closed for longer but with an exception for job interviews.</p>\n\n<p>Behind contracts there are always people (OK, there are also lawyers...), and people are often willing to discuss. Remember that you currently have a huge upper hand -- you currently own the lot.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40698,
"author": "Guest",
"author_id": 31038,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31038",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I also worked at a top research institution in my nation, and we routinely had Ph.D students sponsored by the industry.</p>\n\n<p>Here's how it worked. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Case 1</strong>: Let's assume that the problem being worked on did NOT involve the company's prior IP or proprietary product. <strong>In this case, the IP belonged to the institution / researcher</strong>. Because the company funded part of the stipend and/or gave some funding, the company simply got an exclusive right to use the IP commercially.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Case 2</strong>: Let's assume that the problem being worked on involved incremental work using the company's prior IP in addition to funding. In this case, IP generated within the premises of the institution belonged solely to the institution. IP generated within the premises of the company (obviously using the company's resources such as equipment and money) belonged to the company.</p>\n\n<p>So, the result was a joint IP shared between the institution and the company. Of course, the work done at the institution was \"generic\" and the work done at the company's place using the company's equipment was specific, targeted and a trade-secet.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Your case seems like case 1. I strongly advise you to Not sign that contract and keep your thesis open.</strong></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40782,
"author": "Steve",
"author_id": 31101,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31101",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The above discussion was all from a legal perspective, but there is a second, non-legal perspective that can be tried too: publicity. Here is one suggestion.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Keep good documentation of all communication. </p></li>\n<li><p>Decline signing the last-minute changes, handing over 3 years prior research. (as already advised above). You might still graduate OK anyway.</p></li>\n<li><p>But if it looks like there will be a problem, go to the awarders of the EPSRC and CASE funding and explain what the company is trying to pull. Explain that it would look bad for EPSRC and CASE scholarships if companies can attach these hidden strings.</p></li>\n<li><p>If, (very worst-case scenario), if they don't let you graduate, let them know you wish they had been up front with you with the information from the beginning. In fact, you feel that other prospective students who will be in your shoes have a right to know about this institution, this company, and these professors up front, and you would feel the moral obligation to let those students know all the details of your personal experience on the web, facebook, twitter, etc. so that they will be fairly warned if the same people try to inflict the same thing on them. Of course you would not give any opinions or moral judgements on these named individuals and companies, just the facts of what occurred so that readers can come to their own conclusions. (But before it comes to this, you should get a lawyer to review everything.)</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40519",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9589/"
] |
40,532 |
<p>Suppose I have a paper rejected from a top tier journal. The anonymous reviews highlight a number of strengths of my paper, but ultimately judge that the paper does not merit publication in that lofty journal. When I resubmit to a lower-tier journal from a different publisher - presumably after addressing some or all of the reviewer's substantive concerns - can I include the entire original reviews as part of my submission? How about including excerpts from these reviews in a cover letter? </p>
<p>On one hand these reviews might be seen as the property of the journal that rejected my manuscript and as part of a closed correspondence. On the other, in my role as an editor I do think everyone would be better off if we were more open about where we'd submitted and what feedback we'd received. That is useful information for an editor trying to assess the merits of a paper and decide whether to desk reject or to proceed with a full review. </p>
<p>I'm interested both in formal policies (I don't see any for the journals I frequent) and in general thoughts about the ethics of doing so. </p>
<p><strong>Addition</strong>: To clarify, I am more interested in whether it is <em>allowable</em> to forward these reviews than I am in whether it is <em>advisable</em> to do so. The latter question depends so much on the particular circumstances that I cannot imagine a single universal answer - though it is interesting to read the thoughts of the community on this issue as well. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40535,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Personally, this isn't something I would do. And honestly, the transparency argument is a little bit of a non-starter unless you're also going to quote the reasons for the <em>rejection</em> of the paper.</p>\n\n<p>Instead, I would try to take the spirit of those reviews and work them into the cover letter, in your own words, to talk about the strength and importance of the paper.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40537,
"author": "Faheem Mitha",
"author_id": 285,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/285",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In theory (in a better world) this might be a reasonable thing to do. In the world we live in, I think this is a bad idea. To start with, including rejection notices to a journal that you are hoping to get your paper accepted in just comes across as negative. Also, maybe the journal you are submitted to would be insulted that you got rejected from that other journal but are hoping to be accepted here. There are just too many downsides, and I don't see an obvious upside. Fix your paper based on the earlier reviews, and resubmit. Don't talk about those reviews.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40539,
"author": "Boris Bukh",
"author_id": 609,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/609",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have done this a couple of times (but not always going down in the journal hierarchy). In my cover letter I indicated that \"the paper was previously submitted to [blah], but was rejected because [...]. A copy of the report can be obtained by writing to [editor name].\"</p>\n\n<p>The motivation for not including the copy of the report is that it keeps me honest. I can't just select the bits I like.</p>\n\n<p>I have never had any problems with this approach, and I believe it to be the right thing to do. It saves editors' and referees' work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40551,
"author": "Falko",
"author_id": 4517,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4517",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I see no reason why it wouldn't be allowed to include previous review reports unless the original journal publisher explicitly states that all reviews are confidential and remain their property (and I have never seen this before when submitting papers). Similarly, as a reviewer, I have never ticked a box stating that the publisher retains copyright of my review reports.</p>\n\n<p>For a single case example: <strong>I have submitted previous reviews when resubmitting to a different journal</strong> (my field is ecology). However, I didn't cherry-pick selected bits, but included the full report with all my responses. </p>\n\n<p><strong>The manuscript was accepted by the second journal</strong>. I'm not sure whether they even read the previous reviews or whether it influenced their decision, but I can assure you that it didn't do any harm in my case (the manuscript was accepted, after all).</p>\n\n<p>However, the circumstances of this submission were very specific, so I'm not sure this advice applies to the majority of other scenarios.</p>\n\n<p>In my instance, I received positive reviews from the anonymous reviewers at the first journal, but the manuscript was rejected by the handling editor because it was supposedly too complex for the broad readership of that specific journal (not because of any inherent flaws in the research itself). At first, my co-authors and I appealed this decision (after asking the Editor in Chief for permission to do so) and resubmitted a revised manuscript in which we (a) tried to make it more accessible for a general audience and (b) corrected all the minor issues raised by the reviewers. Included in this resubmission, was a detailed (>15 pages) response letter to the first round of review. Unfortunately, even though the manuscript was reassigned to a different handling editor, it was rejected again.</p>\n\n<p>When I resubmitted to a different journal, I didn't have to change anything in the manuscript (the minor issues were already rectified). I also had a long, detailed response letter, which I just added as a '<em>additional file not for publication</em>' in the online submission platform (as one would add related unpublished works for additional background). </p>\n\n<p>Some extra notes:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>In my field, ecology, there is a general understanding that most\npapers have been rejected previously before they are eventually\naccepted (examples: <a href=\"http://conservationbytes.com/2013/06/06/learning-how-to-fail/\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>, <a href=\"http://ecoevoevoeco.blogspot.ca/2014/11/where-to-submit-your-paper-or-if-at.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a> and <a href=\"http://limnology.wisc.edu/courses/zoo955/Fall2005/publications/Wk02_Publications/Cassey_2004_Publication.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>). Perhaps being rejected previously has less of a stigma than\nin other fields?</li>\n<li>The second journal in my experience actually had a higher impact\nfactor than the first, which was older and, therefore,\nconsidered more prestigious (hence my decision to submit there\nfirst).</li>\n<li>In my case, the reviewer at the first journal signed his review\nreport (and was positive about the submission). I knew that he was on\nthe editorial board at the second journal, hence my motivation to\ndisclose why the manuscript was rejected previously.</li>\n<li>Lastly, and most importantly, I included the ENTIRE review report,\nnot just the few parts that were positive. I would not advise this\nstrategy if you receive negative reviews, obviously.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40552,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You certainly can but what is important for the receiving journal is to have an account of how you have revised your manuscript after rejection to improve the aspects on which it was rejected. Hence providing the reviews in full may not be the best way.</p>\n\n<p>As an editor, I am very happy when I receive a re-submission that clearly states why and where it was rejected followed with such an account of revisions and also why the author believes the manuscript is now publishable. What I am looking for is some tangible evidence that the reasons for rejection has been followed up. There are of course several reasons for rejection that are easily declared such as unsuitable for the journal, or rejection from a high impact journal that rejects even what would normally be major revisions (i.e. journal does not allow anything but minor revisions).</p>\n\n<p>What is not appreciated are sob stories about mistreatment even though mistakes happen. No journal publishes articles because they are sorry for the author. A focus on the scientific improvements is therefore key and providing a thorough account of revisions is a solid basis for the receiving journal to consider the manuscript for review.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 80392,
"author": "user65294",
"author_id": 65294,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65294",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Whether it is allowable to submit previous reviews depends, in my opinion, on whether the reviews were anonymous. With anonymous reviews I see no ethical problem: these reviews are supposed to be written by professionals impartially assessing your work. As such these are pure pieces of scientific knowledge and rather than sink into oblivion in your mailbox they could be used to inform other people as well. </p>\n\n<p>If a review is signed, I would approach the referee if he or she does not have objections. If they do not respond, I think it is allowable to submit the review if only it can be fully impersonated just by removing the signature. For example, if the referee quotes many papers of their own (or solely those papers) and then sign his/her name, I would not submit such a review.</p>\n\n<p>The reason for respecting privacy of the referee is that this referee may have views that run counter to his or her boss. So disclosing his or her attitude could harm the referee.</p>\n\n<p>A special question is to whether to submit the editor's decision, which is always signed. Unlike the referee, the editor is a public figure who should bear responsibility both for papers that get published in their journal as well as for rejected ones. So I would think it is allowable to submit the editor's decision.</p>\n\n<p>However, you should bear in mind that there are journals explicitly prohibiting publication of the reviews. One example is Proceedings of the Royal Society Series A: A Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. I had an argument once with the Editor-in-Chief who rejected our paper based on feedbacks of five referees three of whom were positive. I approached him with a request that I would like to post the reviews, as well as his own comments, on a blog and answer them openly. The Editor rejected firmly albeit without giving reasons. While I strongly disagree with this attitude, respecting the journal I never disclosed the reviews.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, many journals including those of the European Geophysical Union, strive to keep the reviewing process as open as possible and some of the reviews are published while the paper is under consideration. In this case, apparently, there is no problem in submitting these reviews or linking to them in your next submissions.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/24
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40532",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900/"
] |
40,533 |
<p>Is it legal to include another person's result in my research paper? </p>
<p>For instance:</p>
<p>Theorem (Name of the author): Statement</p>
<p>Proof. The proof of this appeared in [1].</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40534,
"author": "Nick Vence",
"author_id": 30542,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30542",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Isaac Newton said, \"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.\" Research would grind to a halt if each scientist had to start from \"scratch.\"</p>\n\n<p>So the question becomes, \"<strong>How</strong> should I use the work of others?\"</p>\n\n<p>The answer: By citing their published work. Since the number of times a publication has been cited is often used to measure its impact, this is both fair and ethical.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40542,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not only is this completely "legal", but -- up to issues of formatting and style that are up to you to decide -- it is a practice that occurs in the vast majority of contemporary mathematical papers.</p>\n<p>If you are unsure about how to word things, consulting your advisor (I sure hope you have one, since mathematics is a difficult profession to break into unaided, intellectual issues aside) and consulting many published math papers are both good ideas.</p>\n<p>Let me address the style issue a bit: this occurs in your choice to either set off Prof. A's result as a theorem in its own right versus just citing it when needed in the <em>proof</em> of a result in your paper. There are good reasons to do both. I'll start you off with <a href=\"http://alpha.math.uga.edu/%7Epete/truth_brief.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">one sample paper</a> to look at and try to get some feel for when each is done. Then look at a few dozen others. Anyway, it's really up to you. One tip: the reader should not be confused, even for a second, as to whether the result she is reading is due to you or is a recalled result of someone else. So please choose a style/formatting that makes this immediately clear.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40533",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30903/"
] |
40,554 |
<p>The papers for a conference are limited to 3 pages. On the website, however, it says Transactions of the IEEE offers a special feature edition (whatever it means?), so I think it would be good to submit the full manuscript to this special issue.
But that means I'm submitting two papers with the same title to a journal and a conference proceedings.
Is that ethical? How should I deal with this?</p>
<hr>
<p>The extended abstract is accepted. Meanwhile the special issued journal is open for submission. I contacted the editor of the journal and she said you can present your longer version in the transaction journal.</p>
<p>But basically I think I will use the same text and figures. Maybe 2 more pages than the conference one. Is it considered as self-plagiarism ?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40568,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In computer science, the typical rule of thumb is that a conference paper may be 'upgraded' into a journal paper with at least 30% new material. Certain subfields and other related fields covered by the IEEE may have different standards, however, and ultimately, the standard for this particular conference/special-issue pair is whatever the organizers have decided it is. Since a 3 page paper is a very short form, though, the full manuscript will almost certainly be reasonable to submit to a journal.</p>\n\n<p>It may not, however, be appropriate to submit to <em>this</em> special issue. Special issues associated with conferences are sometimes open submission (in which case, you can probably submit immediately), sometimes open to extended versions of any accepted papers (in which case, you need to wait to see if your paper is accepted), and sometimes only for a select set of invited papers (in which case, you need to wait to see if you are invited). The organizers <em>should</em> have posted this information on their site: if they have not, you can email them to ask.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40571,
"author": "Blair MacIntyre",
"author_id": 28128,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28128",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I will agree with what @jakebeal said, but will say that the main answer is his last statement: you should ask the editors of the special issue.</p>\n\n<p>In general, when concerned about the ethics of reusing text or resubmitting, I would always (ALWAYS) err on the side of asking. If you want to do something that is reasonable, they will likely say yes. If they don't think it's reasonable, they will probably say no, and tell you why. You can discuss it, and perhaps find a balance (in this case, between old and new content) that is acceptable. Asking is never a bad thing, IMHO, if your concern is \"doing the right thing.\"</p>\n\n<p>But, if you DON'T ask, you run the risk of them \"discovering\" the duplication and treating it as an unethical move. I have seen this happen. A person submitted to substantially similar papers to two conference simultaneously, and had the bad luck of the same people seeing it for review. Not only were both papers rejected, but the committee took action (which I won't share). Furthermore, everyone involved now thinks less positively about this person. </p>\n\n<p>You do not want this to be you.</p>\n\n<p>My rule of thumb is: if I feel like I need to ask about this, that's a pretty good indication I should ask!</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40554",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28084/"
] |
40,557 |
<p>In the last assignment I've given my students, one of the questions has two subquestions that go as follows.</p>
<ol>
<li>Explain how Theory X, as developed in Smith (2010) accounts for dataset A.</li>
<li>Briefly summarize the additional data that, according to Smith (2010), fall under the scope of Theory X.</li>
</ol>
<p>A number of students have submitted something along these lines.</p>
<ol>
<li>Something that is technically correct, but doesn't actually answer Question 1.</li>
<li>Something that is technically correct and answers both Question 2 and Question 1.</li>
</ol>
<p>What is the proper grade for this students? The three possibilities that I have in mind are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Full credit: they <em>have</em> provided correct answers to both questions, even though the answer to Question 1 is embedded within the answer to Question 2.</li>
<li>Full credit only for Answer 2, no credit for Answer 1: they not only have to provide the correct answers, they also have to provide them in the right place.</li>
<li>Half credit for Answer 2, no credit for Answer 1: half credit because the Answer 2 contains more information than I asked for.</li>
</ul>
<p>I'm inclined towards the second option (full credit only for Answer 2). Would this be appropriate?</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> in response to some of the answers below, the problem is not that my questions are unclear, as a majority of the students have managed to answer them properly.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40559,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What is your purpose of a grade? If it is a numerical certification of their knowledge, full credit is the right choice, as they indeed have shown to know the answer to both questions. If the assignment didn't have time pressure, you may consider applying a small penalty for the not so good organisation, but be prepared to have it challenged.</p>\n\n<p>Don't penalise adding extra, factually correct, information. Other professors welcome it, and even, the expect you to understand that the question has unwritten sub questions that should be answered too for the full credit (I had one of these in high school, and \"give three examples of mammals\" meant also \"explain what they are and why are they mammals, or I will only give you half\").</p>\n\n<p>Lastly, if several students have made the same mistake, consider that maybe the questions are not clear. I must say I don't quite understand the difference from your excerpt.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40561,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>From the level of detail you provide it is not entirely clear to me which option is the most fair one:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Possibility 1</strong> seems fair if the questions were not entirely clear, i.e., it is reasonable to assume that a student really just misunderstood. If a large fragment of your course actually answered as you said, this may be a reasonable assumption.</li>\n<li><strong>Possibility 2</strong> is my <em>default</em> policy for exams. It is not ok to answer \"something\" factually correct at some point, the answer also needs to fit the question. That is, if I hypothetically ask \"What is A?\" and \"Also describe the alternative approach B\", and the student brings up the right answers but mixes up A and B, she will get (fairly, as I think) a grand total of 0 zero points, or close to it. Of course this is only fair if it was obvious what was being asked. For example, if I had asked instead \"Name and describe a really cool standard idea to do foo\" (thinking about A), and the second question is then \"Name and describe a more uncommon alternative way to do foo\" (thinking about B), then purely mixing them up is not worth 0 points anymore.</li>\n<li><strong>Possibility 3</strong> seems somewhat iffy. Detracting points for \"too much information\" opens a can of worms, and easily brings students into a \"doomed if they do, doomed if they don't\" situation where they lose points for too much as well as too little info. However, this is again something that can be fixed by having sufficiently clear questions. If I ask \"Define C according to McFoo\", and the student offers 3 alternative definitions (one being the one of McFoo), the two other definitions are not just additional information, but objectively wrong. The main point here is to prevent students from gaining points by just blurping out a braindump of \"every piece of info on topic C\", without actually understanding the question.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>As said, from your question I am not entirely sure which case your situation actually falls into, however, it kind of sounds like Possibility 1 is fair in your specific case. If you are adamant that the question was clearly phrased and the students just misunderstood based on their lacking understanding of \"Theory X\", then Possibility 2 can also easily be justified. I would steer away from Possibility 3 in your case.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40563,
"author": "doomoor",
"author_id": 22592,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22592",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ul>\n<li>Possibility 1 would not be fair as the students didn't manage to understand the questions correctly.</li>\n<li>Possibility 2 could be applied but is very rigorous.</li>\n<li>Possibility 3 is unfair as the students answered the question correctly and haven't written anything wrong.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I think you are missing a fourth option, full credit for answer 2 but only partial credit for answer 1. While I understand that one could argue that the students answered both questions correctly I also think that understanding a question is part of the correct/perfect solution and should therefor influence the credits. But it should also be acknowledged that the students have shown that they have the knowledge to answer both questions correctly. </p>\n\n<p>If some students then want to argue with you regarding their answer you can always tell them that if they think a question is unclear they should always ask.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40579,
"author": "Joe Green",
"author_id": 30935,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30935",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I wouldn't create a policy for this. I would go on a case by case basis and judge how much it feels like the student understands it given their answers. </p>\n\n<p>When the student writes too much, there are two options: 1) It shows a lack of understanding, or 2) It shows good understanding. I would penalize #1 and, if I was going to penalize #1, it would only be fair to not penalize or even to give a bonus for #2.</p>\n\n<p>I would also keep in mind that tests are indeed high pressure environments and therefore have pressure induced errors therefore not adequately demonstrating the student's true understanding.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40607,
"author": "Catprog",
"author_id": 30969,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30969",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would probably handle it the same way as if question 1 was not in the exam and got that answer for question 2. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40614,
"author": "Dewi Morgan",
"author_id": 27663,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27663",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The purpose of an exam is to establish the students' mastery of your subject, and <strong>absolutely not</strong> to test their mastery of taking exams.</p>\n\n<p>If we give anything other than full marks for a correct answer, we have fallen into the trap of trying to mark their mastery of exam technique, a non-skill of no use in the real world, as opposed to marking <strong>their mastery of our teachings and our subject</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Oh, maybe if we're trying to train FAQ authors? Yeah, then it matters that they give the exact right info at the exact right point in a document I guess. But... I'm pretty sure you aren't.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>the problem is not that my questions are unclear, as a majority of the students have managed to answer them properly.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Consider the following sentence: \"This road junction is not unsafe because a majority of drivers pass through it safely.\" What percentage of drivers would have to have accidents at a junction, before you would call a junction unsafe? Did fewer than this percentage of your students make this error?</p>\n\n<p>Of course not. You wouldn't be here asking that question of such a low error rate. Your question was unsafe, and in fact, I'm willing to bet that I can predict exactly how they interpreted it:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>A) Explain Theory X, as developed in Smith (2010).</p>\n \n <p>B) Briefly summarize the additional data that, according to Smith (2010), fall under the scope of Theory X, and say whether/how this applies to Dataset A.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That's how they interpreted it, isn't it?</p>\n\n<p>To claim that your question was perfectly crystal clear, based on the fact that fewer than 100% misinterpreted it, is to disingenuously ignore the fact that several intelligent and hardworking students who have fully mastered the question's subject, all made the exact same error when faced with this question, and someone who didn't know the subject or even have the full question (me) was able to predict the specific misinterpretation that they made.</p>\n\n<p>Either:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Full marks; or</li>\n<li>Be prepared to justify 1) why you are marking exam skills rather than\ncourse knowledge, and 2) why you had a consistent error of interpretation from the completely-correct responses, which you disclaim any responsibility for and instead put down to... what, exactly? It's not ignorance, it's not stupidity, so what trait are you ascribing it to, and marking it down for? Failure to re-read a question enough?</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40620,
"author": "Yasha",
"author_id": 28181,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28181",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I suppose the real answer is whether you consider these questions to be concatenate or discrete to one another. If you treat them as concatenate, then it makes sense to look at their answers holistically to tease out whether they understand the material. In such a case, they might earn full points, simply because they have demonstrated that they understand the material</p>\n\n<p>If you treat them discretely, then you should simply be as systematic about it as possible.</p>\n\n<p>I would suggest the following logic:</p>\n\n<pre><code>IF student response to Question 1:\n Fulfills the requirements of Question 1, assign full points;\n Partially fulfills the requirement of Question 1, assign 1/2 points;\n Does not fulfill the requirement of Question 1, assign 0 points;\n\nIF student response to Question 2:\n Fulfills the requirements of Question 2, assign full points;\n Partially fulfills the requirement of Question 2, assign 1/2 points;\n Does not fulfill the requirement of Question 2, assign 0 points;\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>This is an easily-defended manner of grading. If a student challenges you and states that they answered Question 1 in their response to Question 2, you can concede that they did, and inform them that they would have gotten full points had they done so in response to Question 1.</p>\n\n<p>I would suggest, however, that your third option is not only unnecessary, but arbitrary. Have you stated, clearly, that students should add <em>absolutely no</em> extra content in their responses? It seems cruel to reduce points for such an easy mistake, particularly when, <em>ex ante</em>, student's are uncertain of what constitutes 'too much'.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40642,
"author": "S I G",
"author_id": 30996,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30996",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Grading must be completely objective.\nIf I give a lesson:\n Balls are spherical and the primary color red has a shade called crimson.</p>\n\n<p>and ask 2 questions of you, such as:\n 1. What is the shape of a ball?\n 2. What primary color is closest to the color Crimson?</p>\n\n<p>and you were to answer with:\n 1. Violets are blue.\n 2. Rubies are red and almost spherical in nature.</p>\n\n<p>I'd have to grade both with no credit as #1 is technically correct but it doesn't answer the corresponding question, and the second has the answer to both in it, but is not used in proper context of the lesson.</p>\n\n<p>Sadly, when students play with their answers, it's difficult to tell if they learned the lesson. But, what I know from first hand experience is when a student plays with answers like this, they're bored and are likely to do well given a chance in an honors or otherwise advanced course.</p>\n\n<p>Happy teachings!</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40557",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12314/"
] |
40,558 |
<p>I have had more than one undergraduate student who I have very strongly suspected of routine plagiarism that I cannot prove. There is a certain style of writing that is just inexplicable except as an effort to avoid plagiarism detection.</p>
<p>I will give an example from a case I was actually able to prove. The student wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Free enterprise prejudice is changing in the current period as another U.S. racial conviction framework at a moment that African Americans are a vigorously urbanized, broadly scattered, and occupationally heterogeneous group; when state arrangement is formally race nonpartisan and focused on anti discrimination endeavors; and when most white Americans lean toward a more volitional and social, rather than innate and organic, translation of blacks' burdened status.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This was clearly an attempt to plagiarize from one of the readings in the course:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Laissez Faire Racism is crystallizing in the current period as a new American racial belief system at a point when African Americans are a heavily urbanized, nationally dispersed and occupationally heterogeneous population; when state policy is formally race-neutral and committed to anti-discrimination; and when most white Americans prefer a more volitional and cultural, as opposed to inherent and biological, interpretation of blacks' disadvantaged status.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This kind of plagiarism is totally missed by SafeAssign, the detection tool that I have access to. When I am able to prove cases like this, it's only with much effort. Of course, I can just give students F for writing incoherently, but I would like to have these students removed from the course. I can only do it if I can prove the plagiarism. </p>
<p>Can anyone recommend any strategies for dealing with this? </p>
<p>EDIT: I of course do try to explain to the student that this is not an appropriate way to paraphrase. They typically say that they understand... and then they do the exact same thing on the next assignment.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40560,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://theory.stanford.edu/~aiken/moss/\">Moss</a> page states:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>it shouldn't matter whether the suspect code was first discovered by Moss or by a human; the case that there was plagiarism should stand on its own. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you want an automated method of discovering every cheat, wait until the Singularity. Lazy students will always find the way to get past the alarms with minimal work. You can spend months making your software understand synonyms, and they will just spend ten more minutes reordering the sentences.</p>\n\n<p>I think you have sufficient evidence to start the procedures, it doesn't matter it was you or the software who detected it. Anyway, I hope there are not too many individuals like this, in which case you should do something public education at a larger scale.</p>\n\n<p>Also, consider having a talk with the student. Maybe he doesn't think that it is plagiarism.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40562,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>To me it is not obvious that your example is a \"clearly an attempt to plagiarize\". It looks to me like an attempt to paraphrase. Most students that I see who cheat are too lazy to be bothered to change any words. If the original source was referenced, I would not pursue the academic misconduct route. Instead I would give a poor mark for writing incoherently and not showing any depth of understanding. I might also focus an activity on proper paraphrasing and how paraphrasing does not generally demonstrate depth of understanding.</p>\n\n<p>If the source of the paraphrased/copied material was not referenced, then the situation is more difficult. I would probably first consider if the simple lack of a reference is academic misconduct independent of the copied material. If it is not, then you need to decide if the two actions are academic misconduct. Again, I would probably give the benefit of the doubt and conduct a referencing activity. After the activity, I would let the hammer fall.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40577,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Well, in this case it sounds like you caught the plagiarism without needing to use the software. How? Because the student plagiarized <em>from one of the course readings</em>, and as it happens <strong>you are very familiar with the course readings</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>It seems to me that this \"human plagiarism catching\" can be generalized: you don't have to be able to have software to trawl the internet for copying if you yourself know -- or even have a sufficiently good idea -- <em>which</em> material is likely to be plagiarized. In my experience the average student is remarkably bad at getting academic information from the internet: they don't know enough to rapidly and accurately sift through the deluge, so they hold tight to whatever was high on the first google search screen and succeed or fail accordingly. If you are concerned about plagiarism, I think it would be time well spent to search the internet <em>before making the assignment</em> and bookmark the most plausible sources to be plagiarized. This won't catch everyone, but then again nothing will. If you feel strongly enough, you might even design some initial assignments as \"plagiarism bait\". As long as your goal is to teach your students right and wrong rather than <em>a priori</em> to get them in trouble, I think this is an entirely justifiable thing to do. Also showing someone that they have already gotten caught and gotten in some trouble can be a great motivator for keeping their nose clean in the future (or, sure, digging much deeper in their dishonesty, but again one has to play the percentages here).</p>\n\n<p>Good luck. I don't work in a field in which plagiarism in papers is common -- I am a mathematician -- and the idea that university students regularly commit such dishonorable acts disgusts me. Anyone who wants to take a harder line (and of course who informs and educates the students in advance) has my full support.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40583,
"author": "MSalters",
"author_id": 20869,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20869",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Detecting plagiarism has two parts. The first part is to find a possible match, and the second part is to compare the two works. Plagiarism is likely when a work is very similar to one specific prior work, and much less similar to other works. </p>\n\n<p>The problem with SafeAssign here is unknown. It could be that it fails to find a possible match, or it might find the two works dissimilar.</p>\n\n<p>We recognize the two paragraphs from the question as similar because the sentence structures are almost identical, many words are identical, and where the words differ they're synonyms. But you had the advantage of recognizing which text it came from. This part could in fact be automated without major problems. </p>\n\n<p>The main challenge for automated plagiarism detection is the selection of similar candidates. This probably needs to be done on multiple scales. First, transform the text by doing a grammar analysis. Replace any noun by literally \"noun\", any verb by \"verb\" etc, and see if you now find long matches. Secondly, replace all words by canonical synonyms or hypernyms and check for matches of smaller length. (It doesn't matter if the text becomes hard to understand or somewhat nonsensical). Finally, for the smallest scale, just sort lists or enumerations.</p>\n\n<p>Taking one step back, how would a plagiarism detector come up with likely candidates in the first place? A good method is to realize that documents about the same subject will typically both use fairly uncommon words. As a simple example, the word \"God\" is rather common in theological works and much less so in theoretical chemistry. This process will still work as an effective filter for the pair given in the question - both are trivially recognized as sociological works by their word choice alone (disregarding any sentence structure). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40593,
"author": "Lifes",
"author_id": 30948,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30948",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If I was the instructor...</p>\n\n<p>I would first strike out <strong>all</strong> wordiness: e.g. in the current period; at a moment; or... at the present time etc. There are numerous \"wordy\" lists available on the Internet that you can refer to for this part.</p>\n\n<p>Then, to detect hard to prove plagiarism, I would search <strong>only</strong> on significant or weighty phrases and ignore the adjective fluff--<strong>except</strong> for superlatives and qualifiers (few, most, many--which many students/people have trouble changing into different words). </p>\n\n<p>Focus on phrases that wouldn't seem to matter to a student who is copying, rather than comprehending/understanding what he/she reads... like \"most people\", \"few people\", \"many Americans\", \"few Blacks\", etc. Also focus on the \"meat\"--phrases that students would strive to retain because it sounds more sophisticated or more academic.</p>\n\n<p>So from the student example, I would pull out phrases like these, adding plus signs between them:\nU.S. racial+urbanized+occupationally heterogeneous+anti discrimination+most white Americans+blacks'+status [blacks' as plural possessive]</p>\n\n<p>Put only that string of select words and phrases into Google.</p>\n\n<p>The second Google hit shows enough resemblance--all the words are present. That hit goes to Google Books:\nRacial Attitudes in the 1990s: Continuity and Change, pg. 18\n edited by Steven A. Tuch, Jack K. Martin</p>\n\n<p>In other words, don't take a student's full sentence to use when checking Google. Instead, pull out phrases that sound like the student is a professor-wannabe, words the student would rarely or very rarely string together based on the student's age, college level, past writing assignments, past academic performance, speaking habits, etc. For example, if a 19 yr old with a C-average turned in that mess, I'd immediately think \"plagiarized!\"</p>\n\n<p>For in class teaching strategies, professors might assign speaking presentations early in the course. As each student presents orally, write on an index card the student's style and speaking level. e.g. Notes like: uses simple words; no sophistication; uses few/too many adjectives; uses good analogies; noun/pronoun-verb conflicts like \"He run\" instead of \"He ran\". The cards will be a reference for you when evaluating writing assignments throughout the course. </p>\n\n<p>A second teaching strategy: Print out a paragraph from a textbook, say 5 sentences long, with a copy for each student. Make it 'count'--assign grades for this exercise. Have them silently read it. Instructions: \nTurn the paper over and don't look at it again. In 3 to 4 sentences (reduced from 5) write \"in your own words\" what the author said. You may not use any significant phrases or adjectives from the original text except identifiers like age, gender, nationality, etc. (Men; women; middle-aged; American; Canadian, etc.) You may not simply replace words in the original with synonyms. [Alternate assignment: Same instructions but they may refer to the original and give permission to reuse only 3 significant words or phrases from the original version. If more than 3 are used, it will result in an F for the exercise.] </p>\n\n<p>Teaching strategy #3: Review good class note-taking. Specifically instruct the students to take notes for this class. Teach for 15-20 minutes. Stop and pick several students to refer to their notes and re-tell the class the main points you made but they must put the ideas into complete sentences. Their version must re-tell what you taught, as closely as possible. After several students share their retelling, review with the class how \"important pieces\" in lecture notetaking is similar to the task of \"paraphrasing\" points from texts. Talk about how hearing significant pieces from your lecture for notetaking purposes uses the same skills they need to also 'hear' /listen for significant words/phrases in texts. Discuss why they must use \"phrase quotes\" on significant pieces when paraphrasing for a writing assignment, in addition to sentence quotes. And discuss attribution for both.</p>\n\n<p>I enjoyed writing this and hope it sparks further ideas.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40602,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It looks like this student was aware of the <a href=\"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/7571/how-likely-is-the-five-consecutive-word-rule-to-detect-random-as-opposed-to\">\"five consecutive word plagiarism rule.\"</a></p>\n\n<p>S/he is copying strings of four words or so, and taking care to change the fifth (and maybe sixth) in sequence, (hence the \"bad synonyms\") then goes back to copying another \"string,\" etc. Assuming that you know the underlying material, that's how to detect it.</p>\n\n<p>As explained in other answers to my question, plagiarism consists of \"lifting ideas, plots\" as opposed to merely words. Your student is violating the spirit of anti-plagiarism rules while conforming to the letter (or trying to).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 140177,
"author": "user116358",
"author_id": 116358,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/116358",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I give an oral quiz to each of my students, not to find plagiarism but to assess understanding of the material. I pay close attention when a student of whom I believe to have \"paraphrased\" their entire paper. I'm a science teacher which puts me at an advantage. if the student can't comment on any of the challenging concepts, I find it suspicious.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40558",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9298/"
] |
40,572 |
<p>I 'm at the start of my second semester of college and I don't have any real practical experience with programming, but I have to take a class on OOP that is usually taught to juniors.</p>
<p>My OOP class teacher recommended "C++: How to program" 4th ed. by Deitel & Deitel as a textbook, which is a book with many horrible things written about it on the internet.</p>
<p>He also cited a couple generic manuals: "C++ primer plus" by S. Prata and "Absolute C++" that have cold reviews if any; plus a book on general theory: "Concepts of programming languages". </p>
<p>As an ultimate reference he suggested "The C++ programming language" which should be a very solid title, but seems to be more aimed towards experienced programmers.</p>
<p>I read the list at <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/388242/the-definitive-c-book-guide-and-list">The Definitive C++ Book Guide and List</a> and I'm really tempted to just pick up a title from it, maybe "C++ Primer" or "Accelerated C++".</p>
<hr>
<p>Does anyone have any sensible advice about this kind of situation?
Should I try to study from books that are recognized as faulted by all other sources but my teacher?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40573,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are two contexts in which a professor will generally point you at a textbooks:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>A requirement for a textbook that will be used directly for specific readings and exercises, in which case it is important to use the precise book and (unfortunately) edition, because otherwise you may not have the correct material for assignments on which you will be graded.</li>\n<li>A recommendation for a textbook as supplementary material, for you to use on your own for your own edification.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In your case, it sounds like one of the textbooks falls into the first categroy; if so, you should use the same textbook that the rest of the class is using It also sounds like the other textbooks fall into the second category: your instructor doesn't care <em>how</em> you supplement your background, just that you get sufficient reinforcement to be able to make up for your weakness in the class prerequisites. You should thus feel free to pick whatever text works best for you in that regard, including things like online tutorials that might not even be textbooks per se. If you think your instructor is a good teacher, however, you might consider that they may have had good past experiences with this text that causes them to recommend it to you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40574,
"author": "ceoec",
"author_id": 28695,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28695",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One thing about textbook review is, usually student who don't find the textbook has any problem, or who got good grades, would not care to write a review. People who usually write textbook review are those who failed the course and trying to blame the textbook. Sometime the textbook may be at fault but other times it may not. Also, sometime it depends on the level of the reader. Advance reader may find the book simple while some others may find it difficult. If I were you, I will go to the library or bookstore and read a chapter or two and decide myself. </p>\n\n<p>For instance, my OOP class used premier C++, some of us love it and some of us hate it. \nAlso, if the professor allows open book exam, you probably would want to have that book.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40575,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Especially as a beginner, you should really get the recommended book. It is very likely that the course will follow the book rather closely, and trying to study the same material from a different book is usually not easy if you just started to program. If you think that the recommended text book is really bad, you can always get some other learning material in addition.</p>\n\n<p>Some more explanation if you happen to think <em>\"C++ is C++ - it shouldn't matter which book the OP uses to study the same tool\"</em>. Well, problems arise if the text book the OP studies uses a different didactic concept / ordering of content than the course. For instance, I am teaching Introduction to Programming in Java. Our specific text book introduces OOP notions, such as classes and methods, much earlier than most books. Students that choose to study using different books often end up being extremely confused in class, because <em>their</em> books never mention class hierarchies until half-way through while they are all over the place in in-class examples. Another aspect is that most programming books have their idiosyncrasies in terms of how code is formatted, how certain basic ideas should be expressed, what \"good\" and \"bad\" programming concepts are. Advanced programmers can easily abstract from such idiosyncrasies, but they tend to confuse the heck out of beginners when applied inconsistently.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40582,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You have no idea the context of the reviews.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The book may have bad reviews because it was too advanced for them.</li>\n<li>The book may have bad reviews because it doesn't go into enough details.</li>\n<li>The book may have bad reviews because most C++ books have bad reviews.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Even if the reviews are by field experts you still need to ask whether it applies to your situation. For a C++ book, if you're in a course covering general programming concepts, I hate to say this, but wrong information in the eyes of professors or professional software engineers may, in fact, be benign for your purposes. A \"weeder\" course would prefer to use a very good but very hard book, which students who <em>should</em> be in a intro or survey course would loathe.</p>\n\n<p>A professor using a book with errors ideally will correct the errors as they teach. I had a very talented algebraic geometry teacher who preferred exactly this style. The choice was a readable book with several mistakes, or a very dense, very terse book that was hard to learn from. She used both and mostly lectured from the former.</p>\n\n<p><em>More general advice</em> is to compare several books and learn from the one that suits your learning needs. Using multiple textbooks is often ideal. What the professor requires for the class should be a pretty strong signal, though.</p>\n\n<p>The bottom line is: <strong>be defensive!</strong> assume your professor will be right about 75% of the time, and your textbook will be right about 75% of the time, so corroborate multiple materials against each other and other resources (like StackExchange sites), and you will succeed.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40594,
"author": "Zibbobz",
"author_id": 23717,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23717",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should definitely get the course-recommended book, not only because you're going to need it to follow along with the class insturctions, but because you as a beginner will need that tutelage to learn the basics in the first place. </p>\n\n<p>You should follow along with this book for the duration of class. It may not be good, or it may surprise you, but it will help you with this class and with learning what the professor is trying to teach.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Now, if you are serious about learning the C++ language, and find that the book isn't as helpful as you'd like, <em>then</em> you can invest in another C++-primer or C++ introductory book, <strong>after</strong> you have taken this class and grown more accustomed to OOP and the C++ language. </p>\n\n<p>In programming, especially collegiate-level programming, you'll find it's important both to know the standard practices <em>and</em> to practice on your own terms in order to grasp a language or coding fundamental properly. And there's no problem, assuming you have the time, with learning from two books instead of one. </p>\n\n<h2><strong>In short</strong></h2>\n\n<p>Definitely get the book your professor recommends, and use it during your course, because not doing so will seriously handicap you in this course. But, if you want to learn more, don't be afraid to pursue other sources.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40618,
"author": "Keith",
"author_id": 15586,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15586",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First, note that a course on OOP is probably not the same as a course just on C++. The C++ language was designed by Stroustrup to support the developer in multiple styles of programming, including OO.</p>\n\n<p>C++ today has become such a huge and complex language, moreover one for which which professional programming style has significantly evolved since the 98 standard. For example, its support for and take-up of functional programming has grown significantly.</p>\n\n<p>I'm assuming you want to do well on the course, as opposed to simply learning skills. </p>\n\n<p>Now, it's a long while since I've had a look at Deitel and Deitel, and I can't say I've good memories of it. However, hopefully the book is recommended because does take an approach supporting the OOP of the course and the subset of C++ you are expected to learn on the course. So go ahead and get the book.</p>\n\n<p>Having said that, if you really want to learn C++ itself well enough to be able to use it as a professional, be prepared to buy a few more books and put in a <strong>lot</strong> more work after you've done this introductory course.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40572",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30925/"
] |
40,585 |
<p>Can anyone advise on how to tailor a CV for travel grant applications? </p>
<p>I've seen a number of computer science conferences and workshops where the application for travel grants consists of simply sending your CV. </p>
<p>Is there anything that one can do specifically for this type of application? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 45458,
"author": "Angharad Eyre",
"author_id": 34386,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/34386",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should always try to tailor your CV to the opportunity you are applying for. You might want to consider a personal statement of two sentences that encapsulate who you are and why this travel grant is relevant for you. People tend to read the beginning of CVs and then skim. You want to make sure that the narrative makes sense, so don't include too much information and make sure that the information included is phrased so as to be relevant to the opportunity. Definitely include a page with all your publications and previous conference papers. In terms of conference travel grants, however, it's going to mainly depend on the paper proposal - how relevant the proposal is to the conference's main aims will determine how much the organizers want to help make sure you can attend.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 46314,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my experience, your CV is your CV, and it should list basically everything of scientific significance about you (unless you're so far along in your career that you can do an impressive \"highlight\" CV). The main decision available to you is how you order and cluster these things. </p>\n\n<p>Thus, if your CV is already ordered and grouped to put your best foot forward, scientifically, I don't think you need to do anything else in particular to tailor it for a travel grant application. I certainly know that when I have been in the position of looking at student/early-career applications to decide on travel grants, the full package is generally small enough that it's easy to see the significant bits no matter how things are formatted.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 46315,
"author": "chupvl",
"author_id": 35222,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/35222",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think is the same as for job application - show the accomplished things but in a more direct way, not descriptive way e.g.\n\"I participated in the project X that was dealing with Y, we proposed Z that is modified algorithm ZZ.\" can be converted to \n\"We/I developed new algorithm Z showed better performance compared to state-of-art. The algo applicable in this and that areas\".</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40585",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14861/"
] |
40,587 |
<p>Where can I find statistics for jobs to applicant ratios for engineering professorships or assistant professorships?</p>
<p>The reason I'm asking this is I'm thinking this might be the best metric to determine whether become a professor in an engineering field is "easier" (greater probability of being hired) than a humanities related field.</p>
<p>If the ratio I requested isn't a useful statistic, I am also open to other metrics.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40588,
"author": "user1258240",
"author_id": 29406,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29406",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At my institution I would say the ration is about 1:6. But this is a really bad metric for 'hardness of getting hired'. For example in the humanities typically applicants' hair is already greying, while engineering applicants almost still have their milk teeth. That is a much stronger indication that humanities jobs are much harder to get than engineering academic jobs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 73167,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't think that applicants per job is a statistic that is reported by departments. I've been on all sides of job searches (applicant, reviewer, bystander, administrative assistance), and that's always been a number that's stayed internal to the department.</p>\n\n<p>However, for jobs in the US, a good rule of thumb is that the number of applicants will be on the order of about 100. A short application window or a very specific research profile will diminish the pool, but the number of applicants will still be substantial.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40587",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14831/"
] |
40,591 |
<p>A few months back I contacted a potential advisor I am interested in doing my PhD with and he replied that he is considering my application and will be back in contact with me. </p>
<p>Today, I received another email from him basically saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dear [My Correct Name],</p>
<p>Are you still interested in doing PhD with me? If so, I will interview
you.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I wrote back that I am still interested and gave him my contact information. </p>
<p>He replied:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dear [Completely wrong name/ probably another applicant], </p>
<p>Thanks. I will come back to you later.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Should I send an email correcting him or just forget it?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40592,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In case the email was actually intended for the other person, it would be courteous to reply, saying that you got an email from him that you think may have been meant for someone else.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 121654,
"author": "Mariana",
"author_id": 96617,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96617",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would suggest you write him a short message:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Dear Potential Advisor,</p>\n<p>In order to avoid any misunderstanding, I would like to confirm that this interview confirmation was addressed to me: YOUR FULL NAME</p>\n<p>Thanks in advance!</p>\n<p>Your first name</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>I smile a lot and I use ":)" a lot as a gesture of sympathy on emails, sometimes even in formal/commercial ones. So I would add one:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>Thanks in advance! :)</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The smiley face will soften the error remark, and IMHO help to show him that you are really concerned about a possible misunderstanding and not offended by his error.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40591",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18244/"
] |
40,595 |
<p>By chance, I have the same last name as one of the supervisors of a project I worked on. If I ask him to write me a recommendation letter, will the admission committee misconstrue that we are related and how do I provide proof that we are not? By the way, I am Chinese, so there is perhaps more overlap in last names. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40596,
"author": "Corvus",
"author_id": 27900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is a very easy solution. Your supervisor can simply write something like</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>To whom it may concern,</p>\n \n <p>It is a pleasure to write in recommendation of John Smith (no relation). John is...etc., etc.</p>\n \n <p>Sincerely,<br>\n Professor Tom Smith</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40610,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>By the way, I am Chinese, so there is perhaps more overlap in last names. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Perhaps? Come on. Any worldly person who is paying attention knows that the ratio of people to surnames is orders of magnitude higher in China than in most Western countries. There are more than 1.3 billion Chinese (i.e., citizens of the PRC) and only slightly over 4,000 Chinese surnames, 100 of which account for about 85% of China's population. A 2007 survey reports approximately 92,881,000 Chinese with the surname Wang: more than 7 percent of the population. (Only about 1% of Americans have the surname Smith, and it drops off much more rapidly from there.)</p>\n\n<p>I completely agree with @Corvus's answer: with a two word parenthetical expression any writer can allay all concerns in this regard, and it is probably a good idea to do so. (When I describe work of other mathematicians named \"Clark\" -- and, because I am ever tolerant of the imperfections of others, \"Clarke\" -- I generally do say \"no relation\".) But I wouldn't worry too much about this. You're Chinese, not Macedonian: even we Americans know a thing or two about where you're from. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40595",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17724/"
] |
40,597 |
<p>I'm completing a master's in history (one year in), and am beginning to look at possible PhD programs. I have noted in a lot of forums that it looks <em>really</em> good if you have one (or several) publications to your name.</p>
<p>How does one even begin this process? Also, with coursework and the thesis writing process having just begun, how do graduate students find time to write and attempt to publish original work in addition to the aforementioned obligations?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40596,
"author": "Corvus",
"author_id": 27900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is a very easy solution. Your supervisor can simply write something like</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>To whom it may concern,</p>\n \n <p>It is a pleasure to write in recommendation of John Smith (no relation). John is...etc., etc.</p>\n \n <p>Sincerely,<br>\n Professor Tom Smith</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40610,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>By the way, I am Chinese, so there is perhaps more overlap in last names. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Perhaps? Come on. Any worldly person who is paying attention knows that the ratio of people to surnames is orders of magnitude higher in China than in most Western countries. There are more than 1.3 billion Chinese (i.e., citizens of the PRC) and only slightly over 4,000 Chinese surnames, 100 of which account for about 85% of China's population. A 2007 survey reports approximately 92,881,000 Chinese with the surname Wang: more than 7 percent of the population. (Only about 1% of Americans have the surname Smith, and it drops off much more rapidly from there.)</p>\n\n<p>I completely agree with @Corvus's answer: with a two word parenthetical expression any writer can allay all concerns in this regard, and it is probably a good idea to do so. (When I describe work of other mathematicians named \"Clark\" -- and, because I am ever tolerant of the imperfections of others, \"Clarke\" -- I generally do say \"no relation\".) But I wouldn't worry too much about this. You're Chinese, not Macedonian: even we Americans know a thing or two about where you're from. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40597",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30964/"
] |
40,598 |
<p>I'm currently an undergrad, and work as a researcher in an EECS lab. Recently, I discovered a novel application to work on, and so for the last few weeks I've been staying at the lab late almost every day, leaving at midnight or later. Since I live in a dorm on the opposite end of campus, I usually don't get to sleep until around 2-3 AM. In the morning I need to be up and in class by 8-9 AM (depending on the day), in a building that happens to be right next to the lab.</p>
<p>Would it be acceptable to set up a foldable cot at night (leave it under my desk during the day) and sleep at the lab occasionally? I'm usually the last person at the lab at night. If it cultural context matters, I work at a research university in California (US).</p>
<p><strong>EDIT</strong></p>
<p>The lab is mostly composed of graduate students and professors, so they usually maintain a regular 9-5/5:30 schedule at the lab (minus office hours and lectures). As one of a small handful of undergrads, I'm usually there between 4 (when class ends) and well after everyone else leaves. In some cases, graduate students will sleep in the graduate student lounge just outside the lab proper (still part of the lab IIRC).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40601,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Ask your supervisor. If your PI supervisor controls the space and gives you permission, there shouldn't be any problem for you.</p>\n\n<p>I've seen situations where there are experiments that need to be babysat over long periods and researchers bring cots into the lab so that they can devote more time and provide more frequent checkups than would be possible otherwise.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, if you are homeless and living in the lab for some longer period of time to avoid paying rent somewhere else, that seems like a much bigger problem. Honestly though, I've seen that done as well. The OK-ness and consequences of sleeping your lab will depend on the local culture, rules, and laws. If you ask a supervisor, it will be their responsibility to make that call.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40604,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have known many people who did this (or something similar) without much trouble. The key things to look out for are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Safety: are you behind a locked door or in a public space? Will people know you belong or be frightened by an apparent homeless intruder?</p></li>\n<li><p>Courtesy: the lab is not your home, and nobody wants to see you wandering around in your underwear or smelly in yesterday's clothes.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>You are probably OK crashing on the floor or a couch once in a while, but if you are going to set up a cot, you need to have a conversation with the people you share the space with to let them know and make sure they are OK with it. Also, many labs have a discreet shower somewhere in the building: learn where, and use it lest you become the subject of derision.</p>\n\n<p>In short: be safe and courteous, and happy dreams!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40606,
"author": "peterh",
"author_id": 10234,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10234",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Beware, it is mostly much more dangerous as it seems, even if it doesn't violate some policies literally. It is already dangerous if you here there until 2AM.</p>\n\n<p>Things are controlled not only by policies and rules, but also by personal feelings. Especially if you have longer plans about your research, on the sympathy of the employees of the lab will depend much more as you would think. And most of these people goes away around 17-18PM, to his family, and they are always there around 8-9AM, to do their job. If you are out of his cycle, it can make a general, negative impression from you.</p>\n\n<p>Although it can be even positive, if you <em>can</em> show very clearly, your task is important, and you are there because of your diligence. It will depend not on your answers to questions, but on your teachers / leaders (which is probably a prof \"governing\" the lab and the research there). And this positive effect will only work if it happens <em>seldom</em>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40623,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Would it be acceptable to set up a foldable cot at night (leave it under my desk during the day) and sleep at the lab occasionally?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>A worldwide internet academic community like this one cannot answer your question directly. You need to ask the head of the lab. This is the person who will need to vouch for you if any other university member (student, employee, faculty...) finds you there at night, and this is the person who needs to feel confident that someone sleeping in the lab is neither a threat, a conflict of interest nor an embarrassment to the lab and its work. </p>\n\n<p>I will go way outside my direct experience and speculate that keeping and using a cot <strong>directly inside a university laboratory</strong> is not something that the head of the lab is likely to approve. I don't know exactly what is being done in the lab, but if it's in EECS, sleeping is presumably not an intended use of the space. If you are sleeping right next to expensive and/or delicate equipment, then you are not using it as you have been trained to do, and in some (perhaps annoying but nevertheless real) legal sense you may not be qualified to remain in the presence of such equipment in a less than alert state. What if you stumble out of your cot and onto something? </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, a student lounge is an entirely different story: that seems precisely like a designated space for students to spend down time. If you put a couch in your lounge, then you can reasonably expect people to at least take naps. It would seem like a much better idea to me to place a cot in the lounge rather than the lab itself. If you don't want to do this because there could also be other people there: well, again, the lab itself is not your personal sleeping space. I would think that you could ask even a senior grad student or postdoc \"Hey, is it okay if I keep a cot in the lounge and sleep on it occasionally if I need to?\" </p>\n\n<p>Finally, although if the right people say so you certainly can sleep in/adjacent to the lab, I wanted to recommend that you give some thought to the work-life issues involved. In the long run, most people are much happier sleeping in a bed in a place of their own and also having some downtime / nonwork interactions between sleep and attending class. If you are sleeping nights in the lab with just a stored cot are you not showering / doing morning and evening hygiene / putting on clean clothes before you wake up in the lab and then go to class? This is most certainly possible and there are institutions full of large numbers of students who do it (I frequented an all-night cafe at MIT as a graduate student and encountered many students there whose motto seemed to be \"No shower until I finish this week's problem set\". It wasn't pretty.) But nevertheless most people realize that this is just less healthy, less fun and even less productive than doing things in a more balanced way. For that matter, what is it that you're doing in a lab for hours past the time that everyone else goes home? Is all that time really needed? I mean, intensity is great, but after a certain point it gets a little manic. Many of the most successful academics that I know work incredibly hard in a certain sense; but I don't know any leading academic that literally spends all their waking hours working. You just can't do good work for that much time. Anyway, it's worth thinking about. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40639,
"author": "sevensevens",
"author_id": 14754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14754",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Its generally acceptable to <strong>occasionally</strong> sleep at the lab. You mention that several grad students are sleeping just outside as well.</p>\n\n<p>If a couch is available, sleep on that. Bringing in a cot will attract attention, so check with the lab supervisor (either the prof or a Ph.D. student). I don't see why they would say no as sleeping at the lab every now and then is an unspoken requirement in many departments.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40660,
"author": "Patrick",
"author_id": 31004,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31004",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This answer might be slightly off-topic, since you're an EECS-student.</p>\n\n<p>However, in the biology department at my current university there are rooms with beds next to some of the laboratories, exactly for this purpose. These are intended for students and staff performing fermentation that require sampling every hour or two for several hours, sometimes through the night.</p>\n\n<p>So in some cases it is even encouraged.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40664,
"author": "Patricia Shanahan",
"author_id": 10220,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10220",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>In some cases, graduate students will sleep in the graduate student\n lounge just outside the lab proper (still part of the lab IIRC).</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This suggests an alternative solution. Your department may be willing to grant an undergraduate who is doing research in the lab, with use of a desk there, courtesy access to the graduate student lounge. I suggest checking into that. If graduate students staying overnight sleep in the lounge, rather than in the lab proper, it would be the more appropriate place for you to sleep.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40684,
"author": "Jesuisme",
"author_id": 31021,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31021",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The most important aspect here is that you should strive to be a good lab citizen. To that effect:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Personal hygiene is a major consideration (always) and especially if you're sleeping at the lab.</p></li>\n<li><p>Every lab has unwritten rules. These rules may not make sense or may not be relative to anyone working there presently. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>So gently ask the senior researchers/students what they think and make your decision after considering their input.</p>\n\n<p>P.S. - Sleeping in the lab out of passion, instead of crisis or servitude, is what I would dream of in a student.</p>\n\n<p>P.P.S - Riding your bike back from the lab at midnight sucks. Especially if there are big hills involved and you've got a backpack.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40711,
"author": "Yasha",
"author_id": 28181,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28181",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You want to set up a cot in the lab?</p>\n\n<p>I'd venture a guess that this would almost certainly be frowned upon. Many people here are arguing that you should worry about your hygiene. That's not the issue. The issue is that labs aren't zoned or designed as residencies. If there ever <em>were</em> an issue, such as a fire in the building or an injury to your person by some piece of equipment, the school would be in pretty hot water.</p>\n\n<p>You might be able to get away with it, but I can all but guarantee you that if the school found out that you had set up a cot in the lab, the administration would shut that down quickly.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40598",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13966/"
] |
40,605 |
<p><strong>Disclaimer:</strong> I asked this question on academia since it is very much so a student/professor relationship despite both him and me being significantly more industry oriented.</p>
<p><strong>About Me:</strong> I recently graduated from a degree (4-5 months ago) and am working in industry. I'm 20 years old. </p>
<p><strong>Dilemma:</strong> I recently found out from a friend of mine that my lecturer at EIT and my supervisor/mentor throughout my degree was planning to develop a new paper. I sent him an email telling him how the paper sounds like it would be very useful because as a graduate I found X, Y, Z to be very critical in industry. I also mentioned my new job in the email and some other stuff about the paper. </p>
<p>He replied saying </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Good to hear from you. Great that Company X has offered you a job that
appreciates your skills; at least, that's what I understand.</p>
<p>blaablaaPaperRelatedStuff</p>
<p>I hope you like your current job, and that you keep challenging
yourself. We should stay in touch. Cheers,</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So my problem is, what does "staying in touch" mean? How do I properly stay in touch with him? </p>
<p><strong>Other Questions</strong>:</p>
<p>The first answer to this <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/34169/how-should-i-stay-in-professional-contact-with-former-supervisors-and-or-colleag">question</a> had the best answer I could find, however It did not help me.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The easiest way is to keep working on projects with them. If that ship
has sailed, then the next best way is to be friends with them on
social media, which is to say, be friends with them in real life.
Barring that, you have to work to communicate with them on a regular
basis about topics relevant to your shared interests: go to
conferences and strike up conversations with them, share interesting
papers with them via email (i.e., "Did you see this new paper from
prof X? What'd you think?"), propose joint projects and write joint
grant proposals, etc. It's not hard, but it does take active work</p>
</blockquote>
<ol>
<li>I'm 20 and he is around 40+ and leads a very busy life (kids, own business on the side and etc), so I'm not sure the whole "friend" thing would work overly that well. </li>
<li>I'm in industry, he is in academia so projects/proposals are not really viable. (however he is more teaching/interfaceWithIndustry sort of thing as I do not believe he does any research any more). Also, "side-projects" are a viable option as we are software developers, however I have my plateful with them already and he has his own company as a side project, so there is no time for them really. </li>
</ol>
<p>Another Related Question: <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2300/how-does-one-maintain-academic-contacts">How does one maintain academic contacts?</a></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40622,
"author": "Kimball",
"author_id": 19607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19607",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First off, let me say the sentence \"We should stay in touch\" probably has no specific expectations. Based on your age, I guess this was an undergraduate advisor/professor. Typically a PhD advisor has a rather close relationship with their students. In your case, I don't know how close of a relationship you had, but if it was reasonably close then here are some situations where the professor might appreciate hearing from you:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>[academic] If you do related research and want to let him know about it. Similarly if you're going to a conference he is likely to attend, or you give a talk about your work with him, you might let him know. (In the case of a really large conference where you might not run into each other, an email in advance may be useful so you can try to arrange to meet up.) You can also let him know if you want to be updated wiht further progress on this research. Or if you decide you want to go to grad school or learn about something he's an expert in, you could ask him for advice. </li>\n<li>[semi-academic] If there are signifcant ways in what you worked on with him/he taught you helped you in your work, you could tell him and thank him again for his help. We usually appreciate hearing things are useful.</li>\n<li>[professional] If you change your job, he might like to know where you've gone off to. This is one way faculty maintain contacts in industry, through former students. He may want to contact you at some point to talk to/about other students he knows who are looking for similar jobs, or tell other people where his students have gone. To go along with this, if you change your email you should let him know.</li>\n<li>[professional] Conversely, if you're in a position where your company is looking for talented students with preparation similar to you, you could contact him to encourage students to apply.</li>\n<li>If you go back to visit your school, let him know in advance so you can try to drop in and say hi or have lunch with him to catch up and what not.</li>\n<li>Depending on how close you were, you might update him on major life changes (marriage, kids).</li>\n<li>If you both had some common nonacademic interest (again depending on your relationship), there are some options. E.g., if you're both into mountain climbing and you talked about the Himalayas, and then you finally go, you could let him know and send him a picture.</li>\n<li>Use an SNS. Though try to avoid bombarding him with messages with inviations from linkedln.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>That said, you don't want to force situations in which to contact him just to stay in contact with him. It might be natural for you to contact him a couple times in a year, or maybe not at all for several years. He may also contact you periodically (along the lines of 3/4 or with updates about your previous research project).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40656,
"author": "user1258240",
"author_id": 29406,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29406",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As far as my experience goes, this 'we should stay in touch' with no concrete suggestion as to how you should stay in touch, means he does not expect you to actually stay in touch on an ongoing fashion. </p>\n\n<p>The way I interpret the meaning of this phrase as it appears in the email you quoted, it means roughly the following: \"I am a busy man, and I have no particular thing in mind that we should cooperate about at the moment. But I like you, I am thankful for your comments, and I am impressed with what you achieved so far and by your potential. So if at any point in the future you see a concrete way in which our relationship can be put to use please contact me, and I will do the same on my side.\"</p>\n\n<p>So I would just answer back saying something like \"I'm glad were helpful. I'd be happy to chat more if you ever want [more comments about the current paper or anything related to the it or the job that you are doing now].\" </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/25
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40605",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30966/"
] |
40,609 |
<p>I'm a PhD student, in medical physics at a very good collegiate university in the UK. I did a four-year undergraduate masters' (in physics), and I'm just finishing a four year PhD. I'm now at the awkward stage of applying for grants, junior research fellowships and postdoctoral fellowships -- and I'm experiencing an awful lot of rejection letters, often after being shortlisted and interviewed. </p>
<p>My question is this: <strong>how much does my undergraduate degree <em>actually matter</em> at this point in my career?</strong> I wrote two articles (on computational biology) as an undergraduate that were published in good (impact factor ~5) journals, and by now my publications list has eight items on it (excluding conference proceedings), including a PNAAS article (albeit not first author) and several articles in the main journal in my field. I've won prizes, lectured, and got a teaching qualification. <em>Yet I still keep being rejected</em> for positions that are 'appropriate' for me to apply for.</p>
<p>When I speak to older (successful) colleagues about their experiences, they often drop things like "Of course, coming first in the year at [Cambridge/Oxford] helped me get my Junior Research Fellowship, and even the Tutorial Fellowship later" into conversation, and the vast majority have a very good degree. I <em>didn't</em> do fantastically in my undergrad degree -- I narrowly missed out on a first class degree (69.96%), largely due to one bad exam. I really can't help but think that the <em>reason</em> I'm finding it so hard to get funding is because I <em>didn't</em> come first in my year -- but I'm up against people who presumably have successful publication histories <em>and did</em>. </p>
<p>If there are a large group of equivalent, good, candidates for one position, do funding bodies and interviewing committees look at what's <em>different</em> between everyone? Is the fact that I'm <em>objectively</em> a second-class physicist holding me back? If so, what can I do about it? Or is it the case that these funding bodies do some sort of crazy weighted sum, whereby one-tenth-of-a-nature-paper is equivalent to being first-in-year? How much of a hinderance is it being -- as I was -- in the top 20% of your year, as opposed to the top 10%? Does the importance of your first degree erode over time?</p>
<p>I realise that I should feel pleased to be <em>shortlisted</em> where -- to give an example -- 283 people apply for one position, and I was in the final six. Yet 'feeling pleased' won't pay the rent next year, and I'm really starting to despair. Should I accept that this limitation is always going to hold me back in my chosen career path, and therefore just go and change it? </p>
<p><strong>Aside</strong>: I'm also concerned that, being an interdisciplinary person -- an MRI physicist -- I'm going to come across as being "too medical" for a physics position, and "too physical" for a post in a biochemistry department. In practice, my research ranges from Schrödinger equations to talking to cardiologists, and I believe that either location would be appropriate. This, however, is a whole other kettle of fish!</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40622,
"author": "Kimball",
"author_id": 19607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19607",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First off, let me say the sentence \"We should stay in touch\" probably has no specific expectations. Based on your age, I guess this was an undergraduate advisor/professor. Typically a PhD advisor has a rather close relationship with their students. In your case, I don't know how close of a relationship you had, but if it was reasonably close then here are some situations where the professor might appreciate hearing from you:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>[academic] If you do related research and want to let him know about it. Similarly if you're going to a conference he is likely to attend, or you give a talk about your work with him, you might let him know. (In the case of a really large conference where you might not run into each other, an email in advance may be useful so you can try to arrange to meet up.) You can also let him know if you want to be updated wiht further progress on this research. Or if you decide you want to go to grad school or learn about something he's an expert in, you could ask him for advice. </li>\n<li>[semi-academic] If there are signifcant ways in what you worked on with him/he taught you helped you in your work, you could tell him and thank him again for his help. We usually appreciate hearing things are useful.</li>\n<li>[professional] If you change your job, he might like to know where you've gone off to. This is one way faculty maintain contacts in industry, through former students. He may want to contact you at some point to talk to/about other students he knows who are looking for similar jobs, or tell other people where his students have gone. To go along with this, if you change your email you should let him know.</li>\n<li>[professional] Conversely, if you're in a position where your company is looking for talented students with preparation similar to you, you could contact him to encourage students to apply.</li>\n<li>If you go back to visit your school, let him know in advance so you can try to drop in and say hi or have lunch with him to catch up and what not.</li>\n<li>Depending on how close you were, you might update him on major life changes (marriage, kids).</li>\n<li>If you both had some common nonacademic interest (again depending on your relationship), there are some options. E.g., if you're both into mountain climbing and you talked about the Himalayas, and then you finally go, you could let him know and send him a picture.</li>\n<li>Use an SNS. Though try to avoid bombarding him with messages with inviations from linkedln.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>That said, you don't want to force situations in which to contact him just to stay in contact with him. It might be natural for you to contact him a couple times in a year, or maybe not at all for several years. He may also contact you periodically (along the lines of 3/4 or with updates about your previous research project).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40656,
"author": "user1258240",
"author_id": 29406,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29406",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As far as my experience goes, this 'we should stay in touch' with no concrete suggestion as to how you should stay in touch, means he does not expect you to actually stay in touch on an ongoing fashion. </p>\n\n<p>The way I interpret the meaning of this phrase as it appears in the email you quoted, it means roughly the following: \"I am a busy man, and I have no particular thing in mind that we should cooperate about at the moment. But I like you, I am thankful for your comments, and I am impressed with what you achieved so far and by your potential. So if at any point in the future you see a concrete way in which our relationship can be put to use please contact me, and I will do the same on my side.\"</p>\n\n<p>So I would just answer back saying something like \"I'm glad were helpful. I'd be happy to chat more if you ever want [more comments about the current paper or anything related to the it or the job that you are doing now].\" </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/26
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40609",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28533/"
] |
40,612 |
<p>I'm having the following problem: There is some interesting paper (in machine learning) which is cited by 180 other papers (according to Google Scholar). From these 180, I want to find the papers that build up heavily on the original paper. I mean, not the ones that just mention the original paper briefly and are not REALLY related to it, but the ones in which the original paper is one of them, let's say three, main references.</p>
<p>Now, obviously, I cannot read 180 abstracts/papers now. Any clever and experienced ideas? I'm a PhD student.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40613,
"author": "user141592",
"author_id": 27327,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27327",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>1) Ask your advisor.</p>\n\n<p>2) Scanning 180 abstracts to find the most relevant ones can be done in under a day if you're efficient about it (most can be excluded within the first two sentences of the abstract if they are not relevant).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 90294,
"author": "user2768",
"author_id": 22768,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22768",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You don't need to read abstracts nor papers, you can use the following method to skim papers.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Method</strong>. Find the paper on Google Scholar and click the \"cited by 180\" link, that'll give you a link such as <a href=\"https://scholar.google.fr/scholar?cites=7297898505323682187\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://scholar.google.fr/scholar?cites=7297898505323682187</a>, repeat the following steps for each of the 180 papers: 1) download, 2) find the citation to the original paper in the bibliography (hopefully in numeric, e.g., [1], or alphanumeric, e.g., [AB17], form), and 3) search for the citation (e.g., search for AB17) in the paper and check whether it is cited in a meaningful way. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Cost</strong>. Step 1 will cost you ~5 seconds if there's no pay wall and possibly minutes if there is, Step 2 takes ~30 seconds, and Step 3 takes ~50 seconds. (As you get better those timings will reduce.) Thus, a lower-bound on cost is around 1 1/2 minutes per paper or around half a day for all 180 papers. Factoring in pay walled papers, it might take 1-2 days.</p>\n\n<p>Alternatively, if you know roughly what you are looking for, then you can reduce your search space, e.g., you can consider all the papers that cite the original and contain \"keyword\" (<a href=\"https://scholar.google.fr/scholar?cites=7297898505323682187&scipsc=1&q=keyword\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://scholar.google.fr/scholar?cites=7297898505323682187&scipsc=1&q=keyword</a>)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 182676,
"author": "Slothworks",
"author_id": 11513,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11513",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>More recently, you can also use Semantic Scholar to do this. They have an option to sort citations to a paper by "Most Influenced Papers". For example, for the paper "<a href=\"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Latent-Retrieval-for-Weakly-Supervised-Open-Domain-Lee-Chang/a81874b4a651a740fffbfc47ef96515e8c7f782f?sort=is-influential\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Latent Retrieval for Weakly Supervised Open Domain Question Answering</a>" you can see:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/XRcXV.png\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/XRcXV.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\" /></a></p>\n<p>You can read how they determine "influence" <a href=\"https://www.semanticscholar.org/faq#influential-citations\" rel=\"noreferrer\">here</a>:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>"Influential citations are determined utilizing a machine-learning\nmodel analyzing a number of factors including the number of citations\nto a publication, and the surrounding context for each. You can read\nmore about our approach in <a href=\"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Identifying-Meaningful-Citations-Valenzuela-Ha/1c7be3fc28296a97607d426f9168ad4836407e4b\" rel=\"noreferrer\">“Identifying Meaningful Citations”</a>."</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>In my experience looking at computer science papers, it works quite well for those!</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/26
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40612",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30971/"
] |
40,615 |
<p>I know this question may be off-topic on academia SE, but really am not sure where to ask. I was admitted to a great PhD program recently, and was also invited to participate in their Open House in March. I was informed that I would be reimbursed for travel expenses. However the email says to book flights as early as possible to "qualify for a more competitive rate". Does this "rate" refer to the ticket price or the rate at which I am reimbursed? I'm afraid to ask the secretary since I don't want to make a bad impression.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40616,
"author": "Corvus",
"author_id": 27900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>By \"qualify for a more competitive rate,\" it seems pretty likely that they simply want you book early to get a cheaper flight. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40617,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, yes it does. The hard part for you is that you need enough financial capacity (credit card, usually) to float cost of the airfare until you actually take both the flights. The university won't be able to reimburse you until you've actually taken both the flights. Even then, it may take them a month or two to pay you back. They won't pay your interest payments.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40627,
"author": "user3082",
"author_id": 24500,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24500",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition, also talk to the travel websites as well, booking super-early doesn't always save you the most cash. But yes, you will want to book earlier than \"last minute\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40633,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Basically, the email is telling you to book ahead because flight costs increase dramatically if you try to book too close to the actual travel date. For instance, for domestic flights within the US the cutoff is typically 21 days before the flight: ticket prices can become two or three times more expensive if you try to book after that point.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, there's also the department's interest in having to pay less for your ticket, because that means there's more money available for other purposes (to pay for other students' tickets, hotel costs, meal costs during the visit, and so on).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 40706,
"author": "Monocyte",
"author_id": 31044,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31044",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the university's primary concern is paying as little as possible. Therefore they are nudging you to buy your ticket sooner rather than later. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/02/26
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40615",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26799/"
] |
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