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41,374 |
<p>As a preface, <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30473/should-i-cancel-alter-office-hours-for-committee-meetings">this is a related question</a> but it is from a different perspective. </p>
<p>I am an undergraduate student in physics and have a professor that routinely ignores his own office hours. He has three scheduled office hours/homework help sessions each week (two hours on one day and a third the next). </p>
<p>The professor has (and has had all semester) a known staff conflict during the second hour of the first help session and as such has missed at least one hour every week. He has not and will not reschedule this hour. </p>
<p>He also is routinely late to the first hour on the first day as well. As such, he is only at his office hours for twenty or so minutes for the first session. The second day he holds office hours he also often comes late but is much more consistent in attending. Unfortunately for me, I have a class conflict at that time and can rarely attend. </p>
<p>As a student, I learn best while working on homework problems and in one-on-one (or small group) interactions with the professor. Because of his unavailability, I feel like I am not learning anywhere near as well as I could. This is extremely frustrating to me as a student and overall I would like to know <strong>what, if anything, can I do as an undergraduate student to encourage my professor to attend his office hours?</strong></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41375,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Most faculty members state that they are available during their scheduled office hours or <em>by appointment</em>. If this is the case, then the most effective way for you to handle this situation is to send an email (or in-person) request for a short meeting outside of the regularly scheduled office hours.</p>\n\n<p>If the request is declined, you may want to speak to the person in your department who is responsible for undergraduate education to let them know about the situation, and ask for help in resolving the situation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41386,
"author": "Calchas",
"author_id": 31491,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31491",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the professor is refusing to play ball, and you have reasonably done what you can to sort it out between the two of you (polite requests by email to arrange other times, dropping in during the hours to ask), you should escalate this up the chain of command. Make a complaint to your student representative, if you have one, and be sure to ask to be notified when a reply to that complaint is made. Also, make a complaint to the head of the undergraduate studies committee, or whatever equivalent you have. If that doesn't go anywhere, CC in the head of department. If you really want to be annoying, do this in person.</p>\n\n<p>There is a reason to get another person involved: if the professor is tied up in another teaching or administrative commitment, one perhaps she would rather actually avoid, she now has some wriggle room to say \"sorry, I'm busy, the head of department wants me to do this instead\". </p>\n\n<p>Believe me, academic staff spend a huge amount of time dealing with student matters. If you make the right request through the appropriate channels, it will be heard. And actually, 99% may privately grumble about having to teach students, and the time commitment that is, but they do enjoy it really and they do like to see enthusiastic students. </p>\n\n<p>I don't know which country you are in, but where I am the undergraduates now pay a lot of money for their education. From that point of view I would expect as a paying customer to get my money's worth.</p>\n\n<p>Obviously, you better have some good questions to ask when you do get her attention. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41404,
"author": "Andy W",
"author_id": 3,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just another thought, when asked to schedule a time you can ask to schedule <em>during explicit office hours</em> in which you can come. The professor does not have much leg to stand on if you ask to meet during the time the professor is routinely late. </p>\n\n<p>Giving the prof. the benefit of the doubt, it may be the case that the professor is routinely late during that time slot because no one uses the office hours, so they are not punctual. (Although I totally agree it is unprofessional even if this is the case.)</p>\n\n<p>I agree as presented this case is problematic, but you have to remember the perspective of the professor. No matter what time slots you have the office hours it will always leave some students on the short end of the stick due to conflicts -- it is impossible to make everyone happy. I've gotten both complaints about office hours and times I've held extra study sessions. I'm willing to meet alternative times due to a tough work schedule or class conflicts, not so much because it conflicts with your afternoon workout session or because you only come to campus on certain days of the week.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41441,
"author": "blankip",
"author_id": 11420,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11420",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The professor should honor their office hours but it seems like you want a mini-class every week to sum up what he has already taught.</p>\n\n<p>I would first try to engage the professor during class. If your questions are answered during class then you are done - and great for you because now you don't have to go back to his office.</p>\n\n<p>If the professor tells you that he does not have time for your questions or that to ask him during office hours, then great again because now you have a solid reason for having his office hours enforced. </p>\n\n<p>I would follow up with the professor via phone or email to make sure to schedule an appointment. And then also show up at the office hours and email the professor then. \"Hi Professor X, I am currently at your office during your designated hours. Are you going to be available soon and if not when can we make up the hours?\"</p>\n\n<p>The tone of your question worries me a bit though. If I were a professor and there was a student who expected me to tutor them one on one then I may take appointments with that student less serious, especially if this student isn't asking any questions in class. Can you imagine if everyone said \"I learn better in one on one situations\"? The professor would need 40 hours a week of office hours and his classes would be useless. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42054,
"author": "Chris Cheng",
"author_id": 32026,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32026",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ol>\n<li>Try sending an email directly to the professor in question, and bring up this concern in a reasonable manner.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, some professors are more rigid than others. Other things to do:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>It seems like small and personal interactions are more your liking. Form a study group with classmates and/or friends. Would recommend talking to someone you sit next to in lecture regularly, your lab partner (if you have one), or the likes of those.</li>\n<li>Attend a different professor's office hours who also teaches the same course. Course syllabi are usually archived on department websites, and office hours should be listed on them. Who knows, you might like this professor better.</li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41374",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31514/"
] |
41,377 |
<p>The question is inspired by this <a href="https://i.imgur.com/xbWhRtJ.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">image</a> posted on reddit. Would this be considered a constructive step towards improving the interaction with students and the teaching in general? To clarify, I am talking about the reviews that the department or college solicits from students towards the end of the course, aka student feedback.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41389,
"author": "Kimball",
"author_id": 19607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19607",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your question is still rather vague, but it depends upon the manner in which one approaches the topic. The point is to make oneself inviting about student concerns rather than scaring them off. </p>\n\n<p>It can helpful to show/mention some previous reviews at the start of a course to point out that there are certain issues the instructor is aware of and wants to avoid them being a problem. For instance (from your linked image), the instructor may say something \"Based on reviews, I know I sometimes get excited and talk too fast, so if you notice I start speaking too fast, please let me know.\" </p>\n\n<p>I think once students know the instructor is aware of such issues and wants to address helps turn internal complaints (for students) or worries (for instructors) into productive conversations. Discussing reviews can also be used as an opportunity to point out and correct common misconceptions of students.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41394,
"author": "Daniel Wessel",
"author_id": 26614,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26614",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>When I was teaching at a German university and we received course feedback, we were required to inform the students about the feedback. So while the feedback was anonymously given by each student (online), the students should get general feedback on how the course was evaluated. For some that meant simply sending the questionnaire summary to the students, but many discussed the evaluation in the last lecture.</p>\n\n<p>For me it made sense to discuss the results:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You get an opportunity to thank the students for positive feedback.</li>\n<li>You get an opportunity to clarify contradicting or unclear feedback (e.g., talks to fast vs. talks to slow).</li>\n<li>You can also address 'below the belt' feedback. I think you can say anything if you do it with respect. And giving feedback -- even highly critical feedback -- with respect is something that students should learn, if only to prevent huge problems in the future where a lack of respect is ... less tolerated.</li>\n<li>You can show students how to constructively deal with feedback (if you can deal with feedback). I think you should both take the feedback serious and add some humor (i.e., take yourself lightly but the job seriously). Otherwise, you are not only alienating the current students but also future students.</li>\n<li>You can get feedback in the very last lecture. In some courses, the feedback was requested during the phase with the highest stress levels. Students only saw what they had learned and how they had benefited later.</li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41377",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6103/"
] |
41,408 |
<p>I am from a developing country and finished my BA in February 2011. I was a very good student and my university is one of the best in my country (It is in TimesHE top 200 global list so its prestige is somewhat acknowledged)
Last year I decided to go back to school after 4 years of fulltime employment (sector and position irrelevant to my research areas) and applied to 9 different M.S. programs in US. I was very uncertain about the strength and quality of international credentials, and gave myself no credit but to my surprise, only a month after my applications were in I have recevied 2 acceptances. By now I have 4 acceptances, 2 of which were my top choices. I am over the moon. I do not even want to hear from other 5, because I'm in for my top choices.</p>
<p>My question is this: I have been accepted to very good 2 M.S. programs for my research focus, and for both, program directors contacted me in person to congratulate and to state their interest to take me on as their student. Furthermore, both of them also offered me a TA position, one of them partial tuition waiver and the other one full waiver, while both give me a generous stipend and health insurance. However I cannot decide which one to go for.</p>
<p>One of them is sufficiently prestigious, my research interests are 50% in line with those of program director's, but their financial reward is great. I kinda negotiated the offer from her by sendind a follow up email and she finally sent me the offer. The school is also located at a nice city to live in, and I'd love to live there.
The other school, on the other hand, has the coolest program director a student would ever want, she is very friendly with me and I can tell she is genuinly interested in me. She'll be taking me on as one of her research students. Her research topic is 100% in line with mine. But this school waives only half of my tuition, so I'll be covering the other half myself. It is also located in a not-so-interesting city. </p>
<p>Which one should I go for? Cool mentor-bad city-half tuition rates or OK mentor-cool city-fully funded? I'd like to turn the other down very gently and keep the bridges "unburned". How do I do that without getting anyone offended?</p>
<p>I plan to stay longer in US so to eventually get a PhD.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41409,
"author": "user3209815",
"author_id": 14133,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14133",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You put the facts down already. So it is really up to you what is more important to you. Personally, I find that the second option is more tempting.</p>\n\n<p>Now to the question in the title, a polite email will probably suffice. Explain that you are regretting to inform them that you are going to accept another offer and thank them for their time and opinion. There are no bridges to burn, it is common practice to apply to more than one school and consequently be accepted by more than one. The people there know that and it is perfectly acceptable to turn down one offer in favor of another.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41417,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Before you turn it down, you should tell the school that offered you only half tuition that you have an offer from the another school (its OK to name it) that offers you full tuition. Mention that you prefer the offer from them (i.e., the half-tuition school) but that it will be financially hard for you to make it work.</p>\n\n<p>There's a chance that the school that offered you a smaller package will be able to match the other in order to get you. If not, they'll understand why you eventually turn down their offer and they won't hold it against you.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41408",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31546/"
] |
41,412 |
<p>I submitted a paper to a journal and one of the referees suggested to slightly change the title of the paper. The paper was already posted on arxiv. I have updated the paper on arxiv after the revision, but this update is not recognised by Google Scholar. The main problem with this is that Google Scholar is not detecting the new citations to the arxiv paper since the new citations use the new title.</p>
<p>Any suggestions on how to solve this issue?</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> I updated the arxiv version 2 months ago but Google Scholar does not detect it. It detects new papers that cite my manuscript, but not the updated arxiv.</p>
<p><strong>Disclaimer.</strong> I am aware of the following questions, but they are related to different issues.</p>
<p><a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/31800">Submitted to arXiv with a different title. How to make Google understand this is the same paper?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/20172">Do all versions of an arXiv paper appear in Google Scholar?</a></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41414,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Google Scholar should (relatively soon) detect both versions, at which point it will likely list them separately. Once both versions are showing up in your profile, you can merge them together. Select the check-boxes next to both publications, and a \"Merge\" button should appear amongst the buttons up at the top of the list. During the merge process, you can tell it which version is the \"best\" version, and it will use the information for that version as the source for its title, authorship, etc.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 149616,
"author": "Thomas Ahle",
"author_id": 17444,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17444",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can change the citation info by clicking the Edit button in the top-right corner:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/hfvgr.png\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/hfvgr.png\" alt=\"Google Scholar\"></a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 184900,
"author": "Jake",
"author_id": 156103,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/156103",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Google Scholar usually first indexes papers appearing within 7-14 days of their original announcement in arXiv, and then again within 2-3 days for minor tweaks that might have occurred after announcement. Any subsequent replacements or other metadata changes will appear in Google Scholar during their twice-yearly full system reindex, where they re-harvest all their data sources (details are at item number 1 in <a href=\"https://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/inclusion.html#troubleshooting\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">their documentation</a>). Typically these indices occur in January and July. No prior notice is given to arXiv that they are occurring, so arXiv cannot provide you with specifics regarding dates for the next harvest.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41412",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31551/"
] |
41,415 |
<p>After much research at many universities, I have found a supervisor whose research perfectly matches my research interests. I believe that I have truly found a good match...and believe that I would also be a great addition to the research team given my background and goals etc. </p>
<p>I have not heard back from said professor...it has only been a few days, and I intend to send follow up emails in the future. However, I am wondering, should I never hear back (because this has happened with other potential supervisors), do you think it would be OK to try and meet with this person physically? Said supervisor is at a university I have never been to, and in the UK (I live in the US), and I can't really find their office hours online nor classes they may be teaching. Any advice on how to get in touch with them in person, if I am willing to travel and go that extra mile? I would normally drop it, but I am so set on this one.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41429,
"author": "dang",
"author_id": 20854,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20854",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some important things to know:</p>\n\n<p>1) Many professors receive <em>dozens</em> of unsolicited emails a day from potential graduate students, and essentially ignore them because they can't keep up (although having a form letter \"no more students!\" response is, perhaps, a nicer thing to do).</p>\n\n<p>2) Many (most) faculty don't admit students without having some idea of how they will fund them, so it's not unlikely that this specific researcher can't really offer you a spot in the department. </p>\n\n<p>3) In my experience, most of the unsolicited emails are also way off the mark in terms of research topics, so the most important part of your communication with this researcher is conveying that you a) actually know what they do, b) have something useful to offer, and c) that you are applying to the department and would like to work with them. And it's fine to ask to speak with them <em>briefly</em> (by email or phone) about whether you would fit in with their research plans. They might ignore you.</p>\n\n<p>If you are actually in the area and want to set up a meeting (by email), that's one thing, but I don't think you should fly to their country and ambush them. </p>\n\n<p>Not to be a downer, but just because you think this person is the perfect advisor doesn't mean that you are their perfect student (or that they want another student right now). That said, you can still send a nice follow-up email and apply. You might want to apply to some other places too, however.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 59682,
"author": "Peter Slattery",
"author_id": 22179,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22179",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have one anecdote that is worthy of mention and consideration here. An ambitious colleague of mine really wanted to get a better supervisor. To do this, he traveled to an Ivy league university, arranged meetings with all relevant staff (some of whom were famous enough that I knew them by name even though I am not in his field). This audacious move paid off as he was accepted at this university (unofficially) as part of the research lab of one of the most well respect researchers in his field. This relationship and associate turned out to be of great benefit to him.</p>\n\n<p>While this story doesn't discount what dang said above, I think it shows how travelling to meet face to face with potential supervisors can be a much more effective way of getting them on board then emailing them. What is important, give what xLeitix said, is that you should not signal desperation by making it known that you travelled all that way to meet that person - instead, just explain your travel for other reasons. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 59684,
"author": "Jessica B",
"author_id": 20036,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20036",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your proposed plan is weird and inadvisable (as others have said). Without any context, to them you are simply one more person on the street. If there is sufficient funding for them to take students then they probably also have more people interested in working with them than they can take. If they have limited or no funding they can access, they will need to be careful about who they take. In either case, their time is precious to them.\nIf you want to meet them in person, you should do so through a mutual contact, or by attending a conference they are (speaking) at (I appreciate that without being on a PhD program this may be difficult, but you seem to have money to spare anyway).</p>\n\n<p>A more normal approach would be to simply apply to their institution, and say (if given an appropriate option) that you would like to work with that supervisor.</p>\n\n<p>However, you need to consider the difference in culture. If you are looking to start a PhD in the US, you are very likely not yet ready to apply for PhDs in the UK. The likely reason you can't find their office hours online is that many UK institutions don't have office hours. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41415",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31554/"
] |
41,416 |
<p>This is my first semester being a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teaching_assistant">TA</a> for this course. However, the professor has changed since I took the course. The content seems to have grown in difficulty since I originally took the course, and I feel that the professor has been giving inadequate or unnecessarily difficult problems to get across relatively simple concepts in lectures, which I then have to explain in tutorials.</p>
<p>I have compared to my previous notes and although the major concepts are the same, the examples used are overly complex, and I can see some students are falling behind as a result. Is there an appropriate, professional way to get this message across to the professor without sounding like I am not familiar enough with the material for the position as an assistant for this course?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41420,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Begin with the assumption that there are good reasons for the change: professors rarely make a large change in a course without thinking about why (it's just too much work to bother). Rather than beginning with your judgement (which might or might not be justified), open with an observation and a question, something like:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I was looking at my old notes, and I've noticed that the examples have changed a lot and gotten significantly more complex. I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit more about how you've changed the course and why?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Maybe the professor actually wants the class to be harder; maybe they just wanted it to be more current and don't realize it became harder as well; maybe you are overlooking something... all of these are possible, and until you understand how the professor is thinking about it, you don't have enough information to figure out how to proceed.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41426,
"author": "Trevor Wilson",
"author_id": 8937,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8937",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is there an appropriate, professional way to get this message across to the Professor without sounding like I am not familiar enough with the material for the position as an assistant for this course?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes: just send a short and polite e-mail to the professor mentioning that a lot of the examples seem to be too difficult for many of the students. There's no need to overthink it. If you make it clear that you are just passing along information rather than asking the professor to change the way he or she teaches the course, then I don't see how this could be objectionable.</p>\n\n<p>I think your worry about \"sounding like [you are] not familiar enough with the material for the position as an assistant for this course\" is unfounded. I always like getting e-mails from TAs about how the course is going, and my reaction to such e-mails has never once been to think \"sounds like this guy doesn't know what he's doing.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41463,
"author": "Martin - マーチン",
"author_id": 13372,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13372",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Every teacher has his or her own approach to a problem at hand and sometimes the viewpoint can be quite different. I believe it is good manners for a teaching assistant to give feedback to the teacher about the progress of their students. </p>\n\n<p>I assume you have access to the lecture notes and can check on what level explanations are given there. If you do not have access, that might be a good point to start, asking for them. Make sure when you tell the teacher, that you notice your students are falling behind. It might also be worthwhile talking to your colleagues about this situation, if they notice similar trends in their classes.</p>\n\n<p>Another good way is to ask the teacher for more examples and or exercises (or literature thereof) on a more fundamental basis. These can then be seen as leading up to the more complex problems. Especially when teachers are giving a course for the first time, it can be a little rough around the edges, and some might the misjudge the principle level of their own exercises.</p>\n\n<p>When I was a student, we had a similar problem with a new professor for mathematics. My teaching assistants talked to him, and successively to the other staff, about these observations. Unfortunately he was improvement resistant, even though it then came from other professors of the same field, and the whole problem had to be resolved by the faculty dean. But this is only the worst case scenario. When I was a TA myself I had vivid contact to the lecturers and they always appreciated the input.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41416",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22672/"
] |
41,421 |
<p>In order to help in future salary negociation, I wanted to know whether it is condiered normal in North America to be quoted a gross salary that does not take into account employer contributions to things such as a a mandatory pension plan.</p>
<p><strong>Specific example situation</strong></p>
<p>This question is based on a situation I am experiencing right now, so I will use this to illustrate more specifically what I mean. I have just accepted a postdoc position (in a Canadian university, in case this is relevant), for which my advisor offered a salary of $40,000.</p>
<p>He wanted me to start working very quickly and I was available, so I started working without having signed my contract. Two weeks after, he explained that the work contrat was ready, and that the amount I would see in it (ca. $36,000) was the $40,000 he had quoted minus the contributions towards the pension plan and group insurance.</p>
<p>It was not obvious to me whether the deducted contributions were <em>my contributions,</em> i.e. $36,000 minus withheld tax would be my net income, or whether he had deducted <em>the employer contributions</em> and my net income would therefore be $36,000 minus my own contributions minus withheld tax.</p>
<p>I sent an email asking just that, and my advisor came to my office, slightly on the defensive I thought, to explain that the grant he had for my salary covered only $40,000 per year in total but that he had decided he would pay for the employer deductions with money from a different grant, and therefore that a new contract would be drafted.</p>
<p>And here I am, wondering whether there was an honest mistake or misunderstanding, whether I'm being a diva and my advisor just doesn't want to deal with it, or whether someone has tried to screw me.</p>
<p>Your answers will help me address this concern but mostly, as I wrote, will be helpful to me and I suspect to others in knowing exactly how to negociate their salary in the future.</p>
<p><strong>Disclaimer</strong></p>
<p>And before anyone tells me, I do realise that I am getting an adequate salary in the current conditions and that I should consider myself lucky to have a pension plan and group insurance.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41423,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general, unless otherwise stated, you are normally quoted <em>gross</em> salaries, which are of course before any automatic deductions have been made. If you were somewhere like Germany, you could consult tables which tell you how much your post-tax salary would be, but in the US, there are too many variables (what health plan is selected, how many exemptions you choose to declare, and how much you choose to put into various retirement plans) for either faculty or even HR staff to be able to give you accurate information on the net salary.</p>\n\n<p>However, the <strong>employers'</strong> contributions are <em>not</em> supposed to be included in the gross salary, since that's not what you'd be expected to pay taxes on.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41424,
"author": "Trevor Wilson",
"author_id": 8937,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8937",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>To deduct employer contributions from the salary as well as employee contributions would be highly unusual, I believe. (If it were the norm, then there would be no need for a terminological distinction between employer and employee contributions.)</p>\n\n<p>EDIT: Here is my guess about what happened (purely speculation). Perhaps there are contributions that are classified as \"employer contributions\" for tax purposes, and the university requires these contributions to be made for postdocs as well as regular employees but only <em>makes</em> the contributions for regular employees, so for postdocs the money has to come out of a grant instead. This situation has the potential to be confusing, so perhaps your advisor simply forgot about this until you reminded him, at which point he realized that he made a mistake.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, the question you asked him in your e-mail was completely reasonable.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41421",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7788/"
] |
41,425 |
<p>I'm planning to start my master thesis soon. It will be an external thesis in a company.<br>
As this kind of thesis is not very common in German universities, I need to find a professor to supervise me during the whole semester. </p>
<p>Luckily, a professor agreed to supervise me and advised me to meet with one of his PhD students to discuss my task, whether it meets all requirements.<br>
We met the following day. Afterwards, I sent my professor an email to arrange a meeting to clarify some things and get his final OK.<br>
As he hadn't responded for about a week, I sent a reminder. This time he answered, we met and discussed more things. He even suggested to call my boss to clarify my task, so that I don't need to "liaise" between them.<br>
After talking to my boss, I sent my professor another email with times, my boss is available for the call.<br>
This email remained unanswered for another week, as well. I wasn't sure how to react, so I contacted my professor's secretary. She told me to send him another reminder, also she would talk to him.<br>
He answered me a few days later and promised, to call my boss during the following 2 days.<br>
Unfortunately, he didn't.</p>
<p>I'm in an awkward situation now. My boss asks me regularly about my professor, because I can't officially start my thesis before we have his OK. I'm waiting for about a month now.<br>
The phone call between them wouldn't last more than 10 minutes and all the little issues about my thesis would be resolved.
His secretary said, this behaviour is very uncommon. Also, I never had any problems with this particular professor.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41502,
"author": "Matt S",
"author_id": 31376,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31376",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You didn't really ask a clear question but I will answer the implied question: \"How would you handle this situation?\"</p>\n\n<p>My experience with emails and professors is they are hit and miss. For some this is a very reliable method of communication, for others it is not. This isn't necessarily generational since quite often universities give young professors a new email address which becomes just one more thing they must monitor. In addition, as the semester progresses, most professors' inboxes become flooded with student email along with the usual administrative junk mail. </p>\n\n<p>My suggestion would be find some way, phone call, in person visit or \"ambush\" outside of a regularly scheduled class. Once you find a way to make contact, explain your predicament with your boss and ask if there is a better method of communication. If the reply is \"just use email\" then explain this has proven unreliable and if you are to continue with the collaboration you need another method. </p>\n\n<p>Bottom line is this is a collaboration. If you are unable to collaborate, you will not finish your research and you will damage your reputation at your job. If the professor is unable to communicate in a manner supporting the collaboration, you need to find a different professor of find a different thesis.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41521,
"author": "Calchas",
"author_id": 31491,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31491",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not everyone does well with emails. Quite frequently I had to remind my supervisor that I had emailed him, and he would look embarrassed and find my email, and then be happy to talk to me for well over two hours, cancelling any other meetings he had.</p>\n\n<p>I remember once I said to him, \"So many unread emails? GMail now has some 'Important' filter that picks out those that are important so you don't see the unimportant ones immediately\"\nHis reply was, \"Yes I am using that, it is very effective, as you can see today I have only had 394 important emails. Maybe I will read a few of them.\" [and this was not a sarcastic remark!]</p>\n\n<p>After that I would see him in person or telephone him if I needed anything urgently.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41425",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28326/"
] |
41,427 |
<p>My friend studies at a very prominent university and has invited me to visit her. Coming across the university shop, I was considering buying one of the t-shirts with the university logo. </p>
<p>I am possibly over-thinking this, but the following scenario popped up in my head: What if, while wearing it, I am approached by a person who thinks I went to the university, and who'd ask me what my major was, etc. And when I'd say that I wasn't affiliated with the school, wouldn't it look like I'm taking a credit for what I haven't done?</p>
<p>Does wearing a university t-shirt imply that the person wearing it was/is somehow affiliated with the university?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41428,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>No. Many of the top universities are tourist attractions and it is not uncommon to see tourists wandering around campus taking photos and eventually buying paraphernalia. While in the US it is not uncommon to see students wearing standard school t-shirts and sweatshirts, in the UK, students generally do not wear clothes that are available in the bookstore. Rather, they wear clothes made for particular clubs that they are involved in.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41430,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No, but you may still confuse people, since many of the people who wear such clothes do have an affiliation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41432,
"author": "Marion",
"author_id": 31331,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31331",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not at all. In Madrid it is in fashion to wear UCLA t-shirts (fake). It would be rather weird if so many graduates were from Madrid ;)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41433,
"author": "O. R. Mapper",
"author_id": 14017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14017",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>And when I'd say that I wasn't affiliated with the school, wouldn't it look like I'm taking a credit for what I haven't done?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Certainly not. If those items were meant as any kind of certificate, they wouldn't be publicly available to everyone. Universities sometimes sell various kinds of university-branded paraphernalia, and while anyone associated with the university might buy them for themselves, they can just as well be used as gifts or directly sold to visitors who want to have a keepsake.</p>\n\n<p>I can't imagine anybody assuming that you actually study or have studied at a place just because you wear their t-shirt. That would be just as silly as assuming that all the people who are wearing <a href=\"http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=new%20york%20t-shirt\">t-shirts</a> or <a href=\"http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=new+york+schirmm%C3%BCtze&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Anew+york+schirmm%C3%BCtze\">caps</a> labeled \"New York\" (or some other toponym whose ring is considered fancy) are from, or have been to, New York.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41434,
"author": "Sid5427",
"author_id": 14005,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14005",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another point is that many Universities have great sports teams. American universities in particular have great sporting events and tons of people not in anyway affiliated to the university buy branded merchandise simply because they support a sports team from that University.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41435,
"author": "J.R.",
"author_id": 780,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/780",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This may vary from country to country, and from culture to culture, but in the U.S., wearing a shirt with a university logo may indicate nothing more than that you root for that school's athletic program. In some places, it's very traditional, particularly on Saturdays in the fall – and it's not just alumni wearing the garb. Sometimes the entire staff of a business establishment, such as a bank or a restaurant, will sport team colors. Some fans even paint their skin or dye their hair, or fly flags from their doorsteps, in addition to wearing numbered jerseys or sweatshirts emblazoned with team logos. </p>\n\n<p>Aside from athletics, there are other legitimate reasons to sport a jersey, too. Perhaps your child aspires to attend that school someday. Maybe you visited campus and wanted a souvenir. Or maybe you just like the colors. No harm in any of that.</p>\n\n<p>Unless the t-shirt says GRADUATED FROM USC or something like that, you're not doing anything misleading by wearing the shirt. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41439,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When I was younger, I'd buy a sweatshirt or T-shirt at every university where I gave a talk. In more recent years, I'd buy ditto for my daughter at many universities where I give talks. So, yes, some connection, but not necessarily \"affiliation\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41453,
"author": "Mental Mouse",
"author_id": 31572,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31572",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No. When I entered college, one of the first things my parents pointed out to me about the other students was that wearing the shirts of other colleges was clearly a popular fashion. (For my own part, I never had more than a couple of school-related shirts for my own school.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41508,
"author": "Zibbobz",
"author_id": 23717,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23717",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There will be an association that people have when they see you wearing this shirt - or using anything with the university logo - that may initially make them think you attended the university, especially if you're of an age, or look like you are of an age, that would have recently graduated or attended the school. This happens to my wife all the time when she wears my sweater with a logo of my Tech school on it. </p>\n\n<p>It is not, however, duplicitous to wear it, and you shouldn't feel bad for wearing it either. Some people will assume this based on you wearing the shirt, others will correctly assume you know someone who went to that college, and still others will assume something else entirely (like maybe you are a professor at that school). People do this with shirts that have logos, regardless of the accuracy of this assumption. </p>\n\n<p>Don't be too concerned about it - no one is going to accredit you the full rights and privileges of an alumni based solely on seeing which t-shirt you wear, and they'd be considered pretty silly for doing so. It is not wrong to wear a shirt in support of your friend's college. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41511,
"author": "Nick Vence",
"author_id": 30542,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30542",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While T-Shirts don't imply university attendance, I only wear shirts from places I have attended/worked.</p>\n\n<p>Once I was on a desert hike in Arizona and a lady asked me if I had been to UC Irvine as my shirt alluded. We then proceeded to talk about my experience at UCI and the research I did there -- it was a <em>great</em> conversation starter. Being an extrovert and not wanting to miss future conversations, I choose not to dilute my wardrobe?</p>\n\n<p>Besides, having attended the university on your shirt gives you better posture. ;)</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41427",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7594/"
] |
41,436 |
<p>I am quite baffled by the undergraduate studies in the UK as well with their graduate studies. In Argentina (where I am from) and in other countries like Spain and Greece (as well as in Equador for example), the undergraduate education lasts between 4 and 6 years. In Argentina doing a BA degree in Physics takes 6 years, in Spain it was until last year 5 years and now 4 and in Greece 4 or 5 years depending on the university. Then, in order to do a PhD you need to study another 2 (for 4 year degrees) years or another 1 year (for 5 or 6 year undergrad degree). </p>
<p>If you sum up you end up having between 5-7 years of pre-PhD education. In other countries e.g. in Germany, Italy, Holland, France you study a 3 year undergrad degree and then a 2 year Master's degree before you begin a PhD. Therefore in the whole continental Europe a pre-PhD education requires between 5 and 7 years of education. The PhD then lasts around 3-4 years usually.</p>
<p>Now in the UK a Bachelor degree lasts 3 years (i.e. like in Italy or Germany or France) but the Master's is only one year long. Additionally if you get a good mark in your Bachelor you may enter to a PhD program directly without any Masters. Thus in UK you begin a PhD with a minimum of 3-4 years of pre-PhD education. Then a PhD never lasts more than 3 years (most typically).</p>
<p>So, my question is how do we explain these differences? Why would a university look at a UK PhD graduate on the same standards as an Argentinian one? I am asking this because in my group in my university in Argentina we welcomed a UK postdoc this year. He started studying physics the same year as I did. Despite that he now has a PhD after 7 years of studies and I am just beginning my PhD. In our conversations I am amazed sometimes by the fact that this person has been awarded the title of Doctor by a rather prestigious university since he seems to lack very basics of my area of research.</p>
<p>To summarize we have the following facts: PhD time per country is
UK ~ 6-7,
USA ~ 8-10,
Germany ~ 8-9,
Argentina ~ 9-10,
Spain ~ 8-10,
Italy ~ 8-9,
Greece ~ 9-10,
Holland ~ 8-9,
and so on. How do we explain (or they explain) this difference between the UK (England and Wales basically) and the rest of the world? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41428,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>No. Many of the top universities are tourist attractions and it is not uncommon to see tourists wandering around campus taking photos and eventually buying paraphernalia. While in the US it is not uncommon to see students wearing standard school t-shirts and sweatshirts, in the UK, students generally do not wear clothes that are available in the bookstore. Rather, they wear clothes made for particular clubs that they are involved in.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41430,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No, but you may still confuse people, since many of the people who wear such clothes do have an affiliation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41432,
"author": "Marion",
"author_id": 31331,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31331",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not at all. In Madrid it is in fashion to wear UCLA t-shirts (fake). It would be rather weird if so many graduates were from Madrid ;)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41433,
"author": "O. R. Mapper",
"author_id": 14017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14017",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>And when I'd say that I wasn't affiliated with the school, wouldn't it look like I'm taking a credit for what I haven't done?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Certainly not. If those items were meant as any kind of certificate, they wouldn't be publicly available to everyone. Universities sometimes sell various kinds of university-branded paraphernalia, and while anyone associated with the university might buy them for themselves, they can just as well be used as gifts or directly sold to visitors who want to have a keepsake.</p>\n\n<p>I can't imagine anybody assuming that you actually study or have studied at a place just because you wear their t-shirt. That would be just as silly as assuming that all the people who are wearing <a href=\"http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=new%20york%20t-shirt\">t-shirts</a> or <a href=\"http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=new+york+schirmm%C3%BCtze&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Anew+york+schirmm%C3%BCtze\">caps</a> labeled \"New York\" (or some other toponym whose ring is considered fancy) are from, or have been to, New York.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41434,
"author": "Sid5427",
"author_id": 14005,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14005",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another point is that many Universities have great sports teams. American universities in particular have great sporting events and tons of people not in anyway affiliated to the university buy branded merchandise simply because they support a sports team from that University.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41435,
"author": "J.R.",
"author_id": 780,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/780",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This may vary from country to country, and from culture to culture, but in the U.S., wearing a shirt with a university logo may indicate nothing more than that you root for that school's athletic program. In some places, it's very traditional, particularly on Saturdays in the fall – and it's not just alumni wearing the garb. Sometimes the entire staff of a business establishment, such as a bank or a restaurant, will sport team colors. Some fans even paint their skin or dye their hair, or fly flags from their doorsteps, in addition to wearing numbered jerseys or sweatshirts emblazoned with team logos. </p>\n\n<p>Aside from athletics, there are other legitimate reasons to sport a jersey, too. Perhaps your child aspires to attend that school someday. Maybe you visited campus and wanted a souvenir. Or maybe you just like the colors. No harm in any of that.</p>\n\n<p>Unless the t-shirt says GRADUATED FROM USC or something like that, you're not doing anything misleading by wearing the shirt. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41439,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When I was younger, I'd buy a sweatshirt or T-shirt at every university where I gave a talk. In more recent years, I'd buy ditto for my daughter at many universities where I give talks. So, yes, some connection, but not necessarily \"affiliation\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41453,
"author": "Mental Mouse",
"author_id": 31572,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31572",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No. When I entered college, one of the first things my parents pointed out to me about the other students was that wearing the shirts of other colleges was clearly a popular fashion. (For my own part, I never had more than a couple of school-related shirts for my own school.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41508,
"author": "Zibbobz",
"author_id": 23717,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23717",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There will be an association that people have when they see you wearing this shirt - or using anything with the university logo - that may initially make them think you attended the university, especially if you're of an age, or look like you are of an age, that would have recently graduated or attended the school. This happens to my wife all the time when she wears my sweater with a logo of my Tech school on it. </p>\n\n<p>It is not, however, duplicitous to wear it, and you shouldn't feel bad for wearing it either. Some people will assume this based on you wearing the shirt, others will correctly assume you know someone who went to that college, and still others will assume something else entirely (like maybe you are a professor at that school). People do this with shirts that have logos, regardless of the accuracy of this assumption. </p>\n\n<p>Don't be too concerned about it - no one is going to accredit you the full rights and privileges of an alumni based solely on seeing which t-shirt you wear, and they'd be considered pretty silly for doing so. It is not wrong to wear a shirt in support of your friend's college. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41511,
"author": "Nick Vence",
"author_id": 30542,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30542",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While T-Shirts don't imply university attendance, I only wear shirts from places I have attended/worked.</p>\n\n<p>Once I was on a desert hike in Arizona and a lady asked me if I had been to UC Irvine as my shirt alluded. We then proceeded to talk about my experience at UCI and the research I did there -- it was a <em>great</em> conversation starter. Being an extrovert and not wanting to miss future conversations, I choose not to dilute my wardrobe?</p>\n\n<p>Besides, having attended the university on your shirt gives you better posture. ;)</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41436",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31331/"
] |
41,437 |
<p>I have been teaching math at HS level for some years, for this Fall I am applying for instructor job at local community colleges. Because of my background, I anticipate that the interviewer will ask me the difference between secondary and post-secondary math teaching. </p>
<ol>
<li>In a non-interview setting, I would answer there really is no much
difference considering that vast majority of HS graduates are
deficient in math skill. I was even told that community college is
just an extension of high school. The upsides are that I do not have
to deal with the pesky parents, students are more matured and
motivated since college is not free. Are these assessments correct?</li>
<li>But in an interview setting, I think that this honest answer won't
be politically correct. Any suggestion on a politically correct
response?</li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you for your time and help.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41445,
"author": "user31569",
"author_id": 31569,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31569",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>With regards to parents: in the US there are laws that prevent you from discussing anything about your students with anyone (including parents). But this is not an important issue, as any employer will likely believe that you will comply with basic privacy laws.</p>\n\n<p>One major difference between high school and community college teaching is the diversity of the student population. At a community college you will have a wider range of age/outside responsibilities/life experiences among your student population, and this may require you to adjust how you conduct yourself in the classroom.</p>\n\n<p>Also, unlike high school, at a community college you may have students who already went all the way through high school feeling like they will never \"get\" math. So you may want to think about how you would help such students.</p>\n\n<p>It may also be helpful to note that some community colleges teach courses that go beyond the usual level of high school math. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41455,
"author": "krman",
"author_id": 31413,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31413",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are several pretty big differences. Perhaps not all of these would apply, and not all of them are appropriate to mention in an interview context, but here are a few:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>You will likely be teaching students older than yourself (depending on your own age). This can be intimidating if a lot of your classroom presence and authority derives from age. You can't use lines like \"because I said so\" or \"you'll find out when you're older\" - not that you should in high school, either, but you're more likely to get away with it there.</p></li>\n<li><p>Discipline might be different. You can't send adults to detention (and adults includes both mature students returning to study to reskill, and 18yo kids whose parents are insisting they get some kind of an education despite their protests).</p></li>\n<li><p>Academically, you may be required to teach a higher level of maths. Not all classes offered by the college will be high school remedial level, and the college may want to know if your own mathematical knowledge is sufficient.</p></li>\n<li><p>\"College is not free\" can lead to students expecting more of you than you believe is appropriate academically: \"I'm paying a lot of money to be here, so you have to give me more notes/help/assistance/marks...\"</p></li>\n<li><p>Nobody has to be there (depending on attendance requirements at your college, but they can always just not take your class). Attendance may vary significantly more than in high school, with some weeks being almost empty and others (near due dates) crowded with students with a months' worth of questions each. Controlling this can be difficult.</p></li>\n<li><p>You might need to hold office hours outside of class times, and depending on the needs of your students, possibly have classes or office hours outside of regular business hours (such as evening classes).</p></li>\n<li><p>Students are much more likely to see you as being \"on their level\", and you may feel the same. It's nice to be friendly, but the boundaries between teacher and student are a lot more blurred and it might take more effort to avoid friendly or romantic relationships.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41437",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26972/"
] |
41,440 |
<p>I've recently started a PhD. I'm having trouble getting high impact authors to agree to write papers with me. Is there any ethical issue which prevents me from paying high impact authors monetary compensation, to agree to write papers with me? I of course will obey any and all paper writing requirements, such as both must substantially contribute, etc... </p>
<p>Also, my original intention is that the monetary payments would be fully disclosed before the transactions, to all relevant parties, including my University, supervisors, opposing side in the final PhD, etc...</p>
<p>I kind of do the same thing with my daughter. I hire a tutor, but ask them to help provide her with the required knowledge, but require her to do any and all actual work.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41442,
"author": "Corvus",
"author_id": 27900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If you are simply writing scientific papers, I don't think it is inherently wrong about hiring a collaborator. I do it all the time when I offer a student an RAship to work on a project and the student ends up as a co-author. It's a bit unusual that the student would be paying the professor, but I don't think there's an <em>ethical</em> problem there. (And in fact I do know of a few cases where a well-off individual has worked out an arrangement of this sort, albeit with a postdoc rather than someone more senior.) The only ethical issue I can see is that if the authors are required to disclosure their funding, the hired author might have to disclose that you had provided the funding. My student RAs always do so, after all -- we acknowledge the grant that supported them. </p>\n\n<p>If the work is to be part of your thesis, things get more complicated. You would want to be very clear that you had not violated any university requirements for the preparation of the thesis. My gut feeling is that paying high-impact coauthors to help with the chapters crosses a line, but I can't nail it down to some particular rule. And obviously (I hope), paying anyone on your PhD committee would almost certainly create a conflict of interest that would be a significant breach of ethics.</p>\n\n<p>All of that said, there most definitely is a <em>reputational</em> issue here. Word will get out that you are paying people to collaborate. Depending on your goals, this may not be in your advantage. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41443,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are lining their pocket with a secret bribe, then of course it is wrong on several levels. If you are offering to hire them in an openly declared consulting role on a problem, and willing to pay their rate and deal with the appropriate paperwork, that's more plausible. Note, however, that anybody actually high quality is likely to have a consulting rate in excess of $200/hour, and you probably can't afford them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41450,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is there any ethical issue which prevents me from paying high impact authors monetary compensation, to agree to write papers with me?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Assuming you are honest and open about what you are doing, and you don't violate any of the usual ethical rules about collaboration and authorship, I doubt you can get in any trouble for doing this. </p>\n\n<p>However, your collaborators might get in trouble if they accept your proposal. If they are already being paid to do this work, then their employer or funding agency will be unhappy to hear that they are making side deals for extra money, so you'll have to be careful in how this is set up. Furthermore, being paid by a student to collaborate looks terrible, since it suggests they are exploiting you or extorting money from you. Even if they insist it was your idea, I'm sure administrators will be unhappy with them.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, this would be bad for everyone's reputation, as Corvus pointed out at the end of his answer. You'd effectively be announcing that you can't convince people to work with you without offering them money, and your collaborators would be announcing that they sold out and decided to earn money via a project they wouldn't otherwise consider worth their time. Unless you work in a field with an exceptionally strong commercial ethos, neither side would end up looking good.</p>\n\n<p>Instead of offering money, it's worth rethinking how you are trying to attract collaborators. For example, are you trying to recruit people to work on your own ideas? That can be a tough sell, since they probably have lots of exciting projects already taking up their time (otherwise you wouldn't be interested in them in the first place), and they have little idea of how skilled you are or how good your ideas are. Instead, you might start by seeing whether you could contribute in some way to their current projects. If you impress them by doing so, then they may be much more open to other ideas you have.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41456,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the other answers are way too nice. As for myself, I have never heard of such a insulting / distorted idea about what a PHD is. Do you want to buy yourself a PHD? There are countless diploma mills for that, so you could hang a useless paper on your wall to claim you have a PHD without doing all the necessary work / research yourself. Do you want to buy yourself an academic career by hiring established professors to write papers for and with you? That is even more insulting. If that was the case, every rich kid could tell his / her dad. \"I want a PHD for Christmas. Buy me some high impact authors to write papers with me. Pleaaase..\".</p>\n\n<p>It does not work that way. And the fact that you are at the beginning of your PHD and you are even considering this, is even more infuriating for people who have busted their behinds to get a PHD (and some of the people in Academia SE still do to this day). Reconsider why you want a PHD and what you want a PHD for. I am mostly sure you want it for the all the wrong reasons and not because you actually want to do research. In that case, you should probably spare yourself the agony, because without a passion for research your PHD road will be a long, rocky one.</p>\n\n<p><strong>UPDATE</strong>: In retrospect, the tone of my answer is pretty hostile. Still, the upvotes showed that my initial reaction to the OP's question also expressed an important part of the Academia SE community. In this sense, my answer might still be useful if it makes the OP reconsider his \"thought\" of hiring \"high-impact\" authors to write papers with him, since such an action will probably cause much more damage to him than my \"harsh\" words. </p>\n\n<p>Moreover, since we had a previous question about \"Is it ethical to hire a programmer for ... my CS PHD\" and now \"Is it ethical to hire high-impact authors ... to write papers with me\", I sincerely hope that in the future we do not get any other questions like \"Is it ethical to hire a professor to write my PHD thesis if I still do the typesetting in Latex and all spell checking\" or \"Is it ethical to hire a professor to do my PHD defence, since I will still bring the pizza and the drinks\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41496,
"author": "La-comadreja",
"author_id": 23513,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23513",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You say you have \"recently started a Ph.D.\" At that stage, you're only expected to be gaining your bearings in the field the Ph.D. is about. You shouldn't jump ahead of yourself.</p>\n\n<p>Typically, your connections with other researchers will come from your advisor at this stage. Later, as you learn more about the field, you will develop more independent relationships with other researchers based on your level of scholarship.</p>\n\n<p>In many fields, it is common for top Ph.D. candidates not to publish until towards the end of the graduate program, after they have actually produced valuable research. The research tends to define the authorship, not the other way around.</p>\n\n<p>Furthermore, single-authored papers are arguably more prestigious than those with collaborators, all else being equal, because they reflect a higher level of intellectual independence. Caveat: Single authored papers are only possible in some fields.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41500,
"author": "I Like to Code",
"author_id": 8802,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8802",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>TLDR</strong> You can hire researchers to work with you,\nbut you still need to do independent work for your PhD thesis.</p>\n\n<p>I am unsure if you understand what is the typical research process\nfor a PhD student.</p>\n\n<p>Based on my observations of my PhD classmates,\nI would say that this is a more or less typical PhD experience\nin an applied math PhD program:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>A student would have a professors as his/her PhD adviser,\nand meet the adviser approximately once every one or two weeks.\n(Some students have two PhD co-advisers but the process is similar.)</li>\n<li>The adviser would give high-level input such as:\nwhy don't you read this paper,\ncan we build a mathematical model of this problem?\nThe student would do the work,\nand discuss his/her findings with the adviser during the next meeting.</li>\n<li>At the end of about two or three years,\nthe student would write the paper,\nwith the adviser providing some feedback.</li>\n<li>After 4-6 years, the student writes a thesis\nwhich is basically stapling 2-3 of his/her research papers together.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In our field, basically the student does all the tedious work,\nwhile the adviser provides high-level guidance.</p>\n\n<p>I think that it is basically impossible\nto hire anyone to do your PhD work for you\nbecause <strong>you are awarded a PhD\nwhen you can demonstrate through your independent work\nthat you are capable of independent research.</strong>\n(Caveat: Among my classmates,\noccassionally one of the 3 chapters of their thesis\nwas joint work with a fellow PhD student.\nNevertheless, at least the other 2 chapters were his/her independent work.)</p>\n\n<p>Finally, perhaps your expectations are unrealistic.\nI think it is fair to say that in almost any field,\nmost PhD students do not co-author a paper\nwith a professor in the top 1% of their field\nduring the course of their PhD studies.\nYou don't have to co-author a paper with a famous professor\nin order to do excellent work.\nIn fact, if you do co-author a paper with a famous professor,\npeople might discount your contribution to the paper\nbecause they think\n\"This is just another one of Professor X's amazing ideas\nthat Todd Booth just latched on to.\"\nThis thinking would be further reinforced\nif they found out that you paid for the collaboration\nas this is extremely unusual in academia\nfor a co-author to be paying another co-author out-of-pocket.\n(Usually funding comes through grants and not personal funds.)</p>\n\n<p>Instead of trying to pay a famous professor to work with you,\nwhy not work to become a famous professor in your own right?\nIf you do excellent work and become known for it,\nit is extremely likely that chances will arise\nfor you to work with other famous professors.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41522,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Luckily, there is no genuine issue here, since, I'd wager, none of the people you'd fancy paying to collaborate would do so, even for significant sums of money. This is lucky for you, since if any such thing happened there'd arise many problems... first about whether you earned a Ph.D., second, about your own fitness for the academic milieu...</p>\n\n<p>So, in brief, don't do it, don't try it. Even a failed attempt would be so operationally unfortunate for you that the ethical issue wouldn't even get to the front of the queue.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41582,
"author": "SlightlyIronicName",
"author_id": 31668,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31668",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is not the same as hiring a tutor. I suppose its possible that you could find a retired or semi-retired academic who is interested in your work. That said, the usual course of action is for you to find a researcher to work for or with, and write your own paper with their advice (and their name on your paper so you can publish). I don't know what your field of study is, but the route you are suggesting doesn't sound like it will help you get grant funding in the future.</p>\n\n<p>I think the problem you are having is related to the expense of running a research laboratory, and the way researchers are judged by their peers. I am not a researcher, but I have had a front row seat for my lab's struggle for research funding - so here is some perspective.</p>\n\n<p>The cost of running a research lab can be huge. For instance, the cost for some types of microscopes can easily be 6 figures. And the yearly maintenance contract for a microscope can be 5 figures. And of course most labs employ lab technicians and/or post-docs. On top of this, research groups pay their university a percentage of some of their expenses - salaries and some purchases. For a \"wet\" lab, this is almost 50%. In other words, a researcher's time has to equal a lot of money.</p>\n\n<p>So a lab has to get some grants, and researchers must have published research in order to get those grants. An experiment with negative results, even important and valuable negative results, generally cannot be published. So successful, accepted research is the indirect source of almost 100% of the funding of many labs. Sound like a crapshoot? Yes it is. Encourages bias? Ah hum mumble. Do researchers generally give into this bias? I think most of them try very hard not to.</p>\n\n<p>The grants that a lab receives are peer reviewed - that is researchers are on each other's grant panels. Researchers cannot afford to be involved in a research project unless they can defend it. Research can be highly specialized, and this makes it difficult to defend against critics who are experts in something slightly different. Researchers I know always hope to get panel members who do very similar work - if not, they are likely to get turned down.</p>\n\n<p>There is a lot of pressure put on researchers, and they value their time and reputation highly. Unless you can substantially contribute to funding a lab or have a project which the researcher really understands and believes in, they won't risk working for you. And there's no denying that there can be a status thing here - they would rather work with you then for you.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v30/n7/full/jcbfm201051a.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v30/n7/full/jcbfm201051a.html</a>\n<a href=\"http://acfnewsource.org.s60463.gridserver.com/science/negative_results.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://acfnewsource.org.s60463.gridserver.com/science/negative_results.html</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 71342,
"author": "Gvsg",
"author_id": 56650,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/56650",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my opinion it would be unethical to do this, as it would mean that students or researchers from richer backgrounds would have an unfair advantage over those from more working class backgrounds. In some ways it could be seen to parallel the idea of unpaid internships which give an automatic head start to young people from richer backgrounds who have the freedom to focus on obtaining key skills relevant to their desired career, while others have to take whichever paying job that allows them to subsist themselves/ their families.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 71364,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Taking this question seriously, since you appear to be independently wealthy, you could establish a research foundation (The Booth Foundation) and announce grants in your particular area of interest. I still doubt that you will get listed as a co-author but your foundation will at least get an acknowledgment. </p>\n\n<p>Or you could set up your own own research institute, in which case you might get courtesy last author depending on your field. </p>\n\n<p>Neither option guarantees that anyone serious will actually want to work with you, but you might attract some mercenaries or cranks. Cf. <a href=\"http://www.discovery.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Discovery Institute</a>. </p>\n\n<p>Ps Neither of these will get you anywhere near a PhD at a reputable university. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41440",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26573/"
] |
41,444 |
<p>So, awhile back I wrote <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/31774/11353">this answer</a> suggesting that the student council would be ideal to handle the issue, but got told that student councils have no influence/role in such matters. In general I am used to the idea that a student council and student representatives do anything where students have to be represented at a higher level (from specific studies, to the faculty level, to the university level, up to even international politics). This does not only mean being a part of the rule making process, but also making sure students aren't disadvantaged because of professors not following those rules. Now, today I came across <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41374/how-to-deal-with-a-professor-skipping-his-office-hours">this question</a> and a comment (+22) on the highest voted answer warns the OP against escalation, because of retaliations against him as a student. For me that's exactly the kind of thing where I would expect the student representative to step in, he would first approach the professor in his role as student representative (not revealing the names of individual students). If the professor doesn't resolve the issue at once the student representative would know - unlike a typical students - exactly who best to approach within the institution and is best aware of all the rules and systems that are in place (and importantly if a dean for example were to ignore student complains too many times a student council is able to escalate this easily to upper university levels).</p>
<p>Now, it's becoming clear to me that that's not how it works in a lot of institutions as a lot of answers which I would expect to be "go to your student representative" are instead complex diplomatic answers or just "live with it" answers, so what I am trying to understand is where this model <strong>does</strong> apply (is it typical of just some western countries? Europe in general? Only our institution?). And how a student councils activities and responsibilities broadly look in different systems.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41446,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer to this will vary a lot from one country to another and (at least within the US) between one university and another. I don't believe that there is any universal answer to this question.</p>\n\n<p>My experience within the US system is that \"student government\" typically has its most significant role in the area of extracurricular activities (clubs, student professional organizations, social events, concerts, intramural athletics, etc.) Student government can also play a significant role in the management of housing (dormitories) and food service. </p>\n\n<p>At some universities student representatives may have the opportunity to express their concerns to top level administrators at board meetings and in other settings. For example, my university's board of regents includes a student representative and the president regularly holds meetings with the students to hear their concerns. </p>\n\n<p>When it comes to degree requirements, academic rules and regulations, disputes over grades, and incidents of academic dishonesty (cheating), students typically have much less real power. In these areas, decisions are typically made by the faculty through some institution of faculty governance (e.g. a \"Faculty Senate\") that works with the administration. Although students may have some involvement in decision making in these areas, I've seldom seen a situation in which students actually held any meaningful voting power that could overcome the wishes of the faculty and administration. </p>\n\n<p>One interesting exception is that some schools have \"honor code\" policies in which students caught cheating are judged by fellow students. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41459,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Austria is in a rather interesting situation regarding this. Traditionally, Austrian universities were mandated to maintain what was called (roughly translated) \"university democracy\", meaning that all members of the university (students, non-faculty scientific employees, non-scientific employees, faculty) need to be able strongly influence all decisions that directly impact them. In practice, this led to (for instance) student representatives with quite real powers, such as vetoing certain decisions.</p>\n\n<p>After 2002, a new legisation was put in place to \"americanize\" the system, which (interestingly) was also understood to mean that decision power should be centralized more or less purely in the faculty (in Austria that's basically only full professors). Since then, the role of student representatives has shrunk perpetually. They are still in most meetings, but if they disagree, the only consequence is a note in the meeting protocol. This has certainly led to some developments that were quite frankly not in the student's best interests.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, in Austria, student representatives are still your best bet when you have some \"systemic\" problem with a lecture or a professor. Not necessarily because they have any power to change things, but at least they are on first-name basis with the people that do (the dean of studies, the responsible department head, etc.) due to sitting on many meetings with them. Even if they can't force anything, they should know who to talk to, who might be able to remedy the situation.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41444",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11353/"
] |
41,449 |
<p>I am affiliated to an institute and they provide each student an opportunity to make their own homepage, which they can put up as <code>www.[institute-webpage]/[username]</code>. Now, this webpage is not reviewed by the institute. I made my homepage recently and I am wondering if it is ethical to put ads on it. </p>
<p>On one hand, it is my own website, while on the other hand, it is hosted on their server and I don't have to pay anything to get this. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41451,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a matter of institutional policy. Find your university's IT policy and read it; if advertising isn't explicitly mentioned, ask someone.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.it.ufl.edu/policies/web-related/advertising/\">Here</a> is an example of an advertising policy, from the University of Florida. It permits only a limited group of university offices to place advertisements on their sites. </li>\n<li><a href=\"http://policies.vpfa.fsu.edu/bmanual/itpolicy.html\">Here</a> is a policy from Florida State University and <a href=\"http://www.gre.ac.uk/it-and-library/about/policies-and-procedures/it-policies/computer-related-legislation#S12\">another one</a> from the University of Greenwich that forbid advertising. </li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.abdn.ac.uk/staffnet/documents/policy-zone-information-policies/DITadvertising.pdf\">Here</a> is a policy from the University of Aberdeen that permits advertising under certain conditions.</li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.unlv.edu/web/advertising-sponsorship#advertising\">Here</a> is one from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, that generally forbids advertising but makes an exception for advertising academic endeavors - for example, a faculty member linking to a retailer or publisher of the academic book they have authored.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The point is: check your university policy.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41452,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It may depend on the rules of your institute, but I'd bet that putting ads on your homepage is not allowed. You should certainly not put up ads without verifying that you have official permission to do so.</p>\n\n<p>If you work at a public university or other governmental institute, then putting up ads could be considered using government property for personal gain. That's probably not just unethical, but illegal (but you'd have to look into the appropriate laws in your jurisdiction to be sure).</p>\n\n<p>If you work at a private university or institute, then it may not be illegal, but there are still probably institute rules against using institute property in this way. I'd be surprised if any big organization didn't have such rules.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41454,
"author": "Nick Vence",
"author_id": 30542,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30542",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In academia the goal is to build one's scholarly reputation. While this is done primarily through publishing quality research, developing a professional network is also important.\nIdeally one's webpage is:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>a summary of your research,</li>\n<li>a repository collection of useful links,</li>\n<li>technology tips you want to save,</li>\n<li>projects you have started,</li>\n<li>printed on your business card, and</li>\n<li>(most importantly) a portfolio of your work.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>When I visit a colleague's tidy web page, my impression of her goes up. Ads would erode this perception in exchange for a few dollars.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41449",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30664/"
] |
41,460 |
<p>I have some papers which describe some computer algorithms.
My algorithms have some input, output, static (global) variables, comments ...
something like the following algorithm, however I borrowed it from a book about artificial intelligence and I am not sure that is the style for a paper</p>
<pre><code>function SIMPLE-REFLEX-AGENT(percept) returns an action
static: rules, a set of condition-action rules
state← INTERPRET-INPUT(percept)
rule← RULE-MATCH(state, rules)
action← RULE-ACTION[rule]
return action
</code></pre>
<p>What is the standard notation to insert such algorithms into a paper?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41462,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To the best of my knowledge, there is no standard notation for algorithms across computer science fields. However, looking through previous editions of the venue you plan to send your paper to should give you a good impression for how algorithms are typically denoted.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, most papers I know just use a very simple procedural notation, basically pseudo-code in a simplified structural programming language. The reason is likely that such a notation has the least \"hidden assumptions\" in contrast to what your average computer scientist will know and expect. Contrary, your example seems ripe with symbols and expressions that are certainly not globally understood outside of AI. Using a \"compact, expressive\" notation loses much of its appeal if you then need to spend half a page to formally define your notation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41478,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Personally, I strongly recommend <em>not</em> using pseudocode, but instead choosing a language where you can express your real code tersely enough that you can simply publish your actual code in your paper.</p>\n\n<p>The reason for this is that writing code is hard, and so pretty much all code has bugs in it when first written or translated from another language. Normally, we debug our code in various ways, including running it against tests or applying static analysis tools. For pseudocode, however, you can't do this, and so unless you're dealing with a very simple algorithm, there's a high likelihood of introducing a bug during your translation from your validated code or math into pseudocode.</p>\n\n<p>If you must use pseudocode, however, just look at other publications in your field and choose a similar style. In particular, there are a number of <a href=\"http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Algorithms\" rel=\"nofollow\">good LaTeX packages for pseudocode</a>, which you are likely to find useful for this purpose.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41460",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21885/"
] |
41,464 |
<p>My application has been put on the wait list at my top choice institution (unfunded masters, about 10% acceptance rate). The Department said they may not be able to let me know the final decision until after April 15 (which I understand). However, I need to know the decision before April 15 to respond to other offers. In order to determine my chance, I have the following questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>While this may vary depending on the programs, is there a general percentage of applications out of the entire pool being put on wait list? If not what factors determine this?</p></li>
<li><p>Are wait listed applicants ranked? if not, how do programs determine which one to accept off wait lists?</p></li>
<li><p>Should I let them know that they are my top choice and if accepted I will almost surely attend?</p></li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41480,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answers to your questions depend on the university/department, but are all reasonable questions to ask. It would be perfectly reasonable to send an email along the lines of</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Thank you for letting me know about the wait listing decision. I understand how competitive the admissions process is. I wanted to let you know that XXX is my top choice and if offered a place I would accept it immediately. As I have also received an offer from YYY that I need to respond to by April 15, would you mind if I checked on my status closer to the deadline?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This will hopefully open a dialog and they might say something like \"given your place on the wait list it is unlikely we will know anything prior to the deadline\" or \"given your place in the wait list the picture should be a lot clearer closer to the deadline.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41492,
"author": "Calchas",
"author_id": 31491,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31491",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you want to play it mean, you will accept the second best offer on April 14th. But you will not give up on your first choice. If your waitlist subsequently clears and you get a confirmed place, then you will have to withdraw with regret from your other offer.</p>\n\n<p>Some people would suggest it is ethically unsound to accept firm offers in the knowledge that you may later renounce them. I don't really agree but that is your decision.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41464",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26799/"
] |
41,466 |
<p>In Biology, I was told, you will almost not be able to find a professor that does not have a Macbook. And as soon as they have enough money, students and scientific staff will follow. </p>
<p>But also in my own field, mathematics, I have seen lots of highly respected professors with Macbooks.</p>
<p>Now, I have never worked with a Macbook myself, but I have helped out colleagues with problems a few times and I have really have not encountered any advantages over a regular and half as expensive Windows laptop, or an even cheaper Linux laptop.
Those that I know good enough to question their choice of laptop confirm exactly my suspicion, saying they thought it was pretty/everyone in their lab had one, or swear by it but never had a different laptop.</p>
<p>Is there something I am missing about Macs? Maybe some recent convert out there?
If not, why are academics so keen on status symbols? Isn't academia the one place where content should count, not looks, or even worse, depiction of wealth? </p>
<p>EDIT: while I agree that this question is prone to flame wars and the question about mac vs. anything else is also not really new, I DID want to know about the specific situation for scientists and the two answers so far are exactly of the kind that I wished when I was posting the question. Now of course mentioning that Macs might(! "if they..") be regarded as status symbols attracts attention to my question ;)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41469,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Rest assured that there are reasons enough for using good quality hardware. Those of us who purchase a Mac do not do so because they are a \"status symbol\". We do so because they are the best tool for the job.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>In many fields, using Windows is simply not an option. We <strong>need</strong> UNIX.</p></li>\n<li><p>Linux is a good operating system, is free, and can be installed on a wide variety of hardware. However, Linux is nowhere near as refined as OS X in terms of its overall usability. We can often be much more productive on an OS X machine, and reserve Linux for use in virtual machines or on a powerful desktop when we need software stability or heavy-lifting power.</p></li>\n<li><p>The other side of the coin is hardware. Until recently, there was very scarce competition in terms of hardware quality. Macs are built well, thin and light, and have long battery life – great for conferencing. Now, other manufacturers have caught up and are making hardware that is at least as good – but a high quality Thinkpad or Dell XPS is still just as pricey as a Mac. I repeat: <em>comparably high quality Windows hardware is just as expensive as a Mac</em>.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The money spent on a good machine pays for itself in productivity.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41477,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I remember the transition point, which happened in the middle of my grad school, with the major shift happening across approximately 2003 - 2006. What happened was <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_OS_X\">OS X</a>. Before that point, scientists generally faced a nasty computing dilemma:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Use Windows, and have a terribly difficult time using lots of Unix-based scientific applications.</li>\n<li>Pick a Unix flavor, and have flaky hardware and driver support, no access to proprietary applications like PowerPoint and Word (which are often required for US government interactions), and a lot of time required in being sysadmin to your own machine.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Once OS X stabilized and picked up sufficient application support, you could get a Mac and have the best of both worlds: proprietary software, Unix (BSD), and minimal sysadmin time. The elegant design was a plus, but the big thing was the capabilities.</p>\n\n<p>Over time, both Windows and Linux have started catching up---particularly Linux, where there are now much more sane graphical interfaces and it is no longer a crapshoot whether you'll be able to make the drivers work on any given laptop. Mac has remained very strong, however, especially with things like their increasing lightness and lengthening battery life, though, and so I expect it will be widespread for some time to come.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41466",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31581/"
] |
41,472 |
<p>Most science research is published in subject-specific journals, of which there are many. However, there are a relatively small number of interdisciplinary journals, some of which are the most highly cited of all journals (Nature, Science); others have impact factors comparable to subject-specific journals (e.g., PLOS ONE, J. R. Soc. Interface, etc.).</p>
<p>If we discount arguments around open science and similar business model arguments (which could favor journals like PLOS ONE), and assume that the purpose of publishing is simply to get your research read (and cited) by the largest "relevant audience", when should one publish in an interdisciplinary journal versus a subject-specific journal (assuming they have comparable impact factors)? (Are there any papers out there that compare the fate of publications [or their authors!] in the two different types of journal?)</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 42057,
"author": "Alireza",
"author_id": 28811,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28811",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the scope of your research is so wide that audience of subject-specific journal would require prerequisite knowledge other than the predefined scope of the journal then I'd be publishing in the interdisciplinary journal if I were you.</p>\n\n<p>I don't to expect to read an article in computer science specific journal and encounter an article about useful application of computer science in some other scientific field.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42389,
"author": "Tommy",
"author_id": 23107,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23107",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>My opinion on this is as follows. If your research advances the state of the art of field X, either by adding new knowledge specifically to X or improving existing methods/knowledge in X, you should submit to an X-specific journal. If your paper improves knowledge in field Y using methods from field X, I would either publish in a journal specific to Y, or in an Y,X interdisciplinary journal. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42391,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the most important factor is who you (and the editor/reviewers) think should read the paper. <em>Nature</em> has a very broad readership from different fields - if your results are relevant for this broad audience, send there. <em>PLoS ONE</em> is also multidisciplinary, but has a different audience then <em>Nature</em>. If your results are relevant to a more specific field, send to a field-specific journal.</p>\n\n<p>In fact, in some cases, you could even have a work that is mainly in field X, but you feel an audience from field Y should be exposed to it and send it to the \"less fitting\" journal of field Y.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41472",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31584/"
] |
41,473 |
<p>I have had to read so many papers, and papers on writing papers, that I noticed how engaging and more pleasant to read a publication is when the author inserts the occasional funny remark.</p>
<p>I'm also writing so many project papers lately (mathematics bachelor) that I am actually developing an enjoyment for writing and attempting to come up with my own style. It's something I'd like to improve and I'd love to write more in the future and as I further my studies.</p>
<p>And so I wondered. How appropriate is it for a student to sometimes be funny in his or her reports? I have stumbled on so many half-assedly written assignments that it makes me think that many students simply don't care about nice writing at all, so I don't have any example to base an opinion on. Thoughts?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41474,
"author": "dtrihinas",
"author_id": 25403,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25403",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Well if its not a conference or journal paper but rather a report or even a thesis then go for it. Your teachers (despite what students think!) are people too, so if you can at a fun tone then why not. I've done it when I considered it appropriate and confident it would be acknowledged.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41479,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The goal of a publication is to communicate a scientific idea, not to be funny. That said, there's nothing wrong with using a little bit of humor if it doesn't detract from the presentation. The problem is that most humor does exactly that, either being a joke \"aside\" that disrupts the flow of text or (worse) effectively attempting to substitute humor for a solid argument (which is how humor is often used in normal conversation).</p>\n\n<p>For the most part, then, plan not to use humor in scientific writing, but as you develop your writing voice you may find there are ways that humor will eventually find ways to acceptably creep in (see the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_and_Bob\">scenarios in many security papers</a>, for example).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41481,
"author": "james h",
"author_id": 24643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24643",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Whatever you decide, humor in academic writing is always better understated rather than overstated. See here: </p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.imgur.com/HO7CC.png\" alt=\"Footnote on a name: "Better known for other work"\"></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41485,
"author": "Wolfgang Bangerth",
"author_id": 31149,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31149",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the general rule is that humor should not distract from the message of the paper, and that turns out to be a surprisingly high bar.</p>\n\n<p>That said, there is a place in every paper where you can find humor on a quite regular basis: The acknowledgments. I've thanked jetlag for unexpected nocturnal clarity there, and a friend has thanked his favorite brand of beer. There are probably many other occurrences. If you find it difficult to find appropriate places for humor in your papers, this is it! </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41491,
"author": "Kimball",
"author_id": 19607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19607",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the most important thing is comedy is <strong>know your audience.</strong> Either that, or be funny. I don't know, I don't really know comedy.</p>\n\n<p>The point is, you need to know your audience for your report to know how much humor, and of what kind, is acceptable. If it is a paper/report to be submitted to a serious venue, or just something to submit to a crochety old professor, then the answer is you should be quite reserved. If you're submitting this report to a professor who jokes around a lot and puts in a lot of humor in his notes, or just putting it on your webpage for fun, you can be more free.</p>\n\n<p>Caveat: many academic jokes undergrads think are funny are less so to experts. (It goes without saying that all professors' jokes are funny to everyone.) Once again, know your audience.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41498,
"author": "Matt S",
"author_id": 31376,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31376",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is something to be said for appropriateness both of time and place but also reputation.</p>\n\n<p>I can't speak for your field but as an instructor for computer programming, I <strong>always</strong> appreciate when students inject humor into their code assignments. </p>\n\n<p>Recently I have spent a lot of time reading academic works in the field of psychology. Authors from Wertheimer to Baddeley to Paivio have all injected small bits of wry humor into their writing. I appreciate this as a reader but am not sure I would try to pull this off as an author.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41501,
"author": "ZAR",
"author_id": 31602,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31602",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I must disagree with many of the answers here. I think well put humor deserves a place anywhere. Communication, whether via speech, writing or any other medium requires the active engagement of at least two parties. Humor, when used properly, is a method to increase audience engagement. Look at Wilde or Orwell - their writing is packed with quips and humorous devices. How about Franklin or even a figure such as Ulysses Grant in his memoir? Humor is a very effective tool to increase audience engagement and thus making your point all the more resonant and enjoyable.</p>\n\n<p>Response to comment (since I can't add comment due to closed status):\nThat is a good point - however have you read Orwell's essay on the English language and his resistance to much of it's trending slang? That would be considered academic, yet is still completely Orwellian </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41473",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27306/"
] |
41,495 |
<p>For a paper I am currently writing, I am doing an extensive literature review on a subject which is much more vast than I had anticipated. Are there any specific tricks and tips for organizing ones reading when the body of literature is so large? I tend to get carried away with interesting references and lose the overview a little. If I read everything linearly from A-Z, I would not have the time to finish my review. My goal is thus instead to have a non-exhaustive, but ideally representative impression of the structure of the literature (that is, different strands of research, who 'responded' to whom, etc.).</p>
<p>I would very much appreciate any hints from an experienced academic.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41672,
"author": "pehrs",
"author_id": 31735,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31735",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First: Use a modern reference manager. Mendeley, Zotero or Endnote are all fine. BibTex is wonderful for formatting the citations, and all the previous mentioned exports to BibTex. What BibTex lacks is search functions, storage of the original publications, networking, annotations, easy import and so on. The reference manager can save you significant amounts of work.</p>\n\n<p>Second: Start with the existing literature reviews in the field. If you are publishing the review you will need to position yourself against them in the related work anyway. </p>\n\n<p>Third: The trick to a good literature review is the focus. You want to include all the papers that are important considering the scope of your review, and nothing else. A review which covers \"the 200 most cited papers in this broad field\" is pretty much useless. If you feel you are getting overwhelmed it's time to start pruning ruthlessly. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41689,
"author": "Danny Ruijters",
"author_id": 28830,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28830",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Define useful subcategories within the field you are examining. When you are not familiar enough with subject to define applicable categories, then first read a few papers that have been cited a lot.</p>\n\n<p>Now assign each paper to one or more categories, just by reading the abstract and conclusions, and glancing over the rest. Also keep track of how many citations each paper received (you can use Google scholar or Scopus for this).</p>\n\n<p>Within each category you can build a tree by assigning the highly cited papers to knots, and the less cited papers to leaves. Connect them according to how they cite each other. Preferably, connect each leaf to only one knot. Keep in mind that since older papers can never cite the newer ones, it is most efficient to start with the older papers.</p>\n\n<p>Now you have a pretty structured overview, and you can spend some time to read the most important knots in more detail. Finally, write down for each category the most important differences with the other categories, and how the knots and branches are structured.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41726,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If my opinion, a good survey is not a snapshot of what is out there in the literature, but rather is a presentation of the current state of knowledge on a subject (which will necessarily involve some snapshots of what is out there). <strong>This model of knowledge is the novel contribution of the survey.</strong> Your goal, then, is to develop enough expertise in the \"lay of the land\" to be able to see a pattern that may have never been explicitly enunciated in the literature before.</p>\n\n<p>As such, I recommend the following iterative approach, which has been useful for me in preparing surveys:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Begin with a hypothesis of the structure of knowledge on your topic.</li>\n<li>With keyword searching, find lots of articles related to the topic.</li>\n<li>Do not read the articles: read just enough to make sure they are actually relevant, and download and organize them into categories based on your hypothesis.</li>\n<li>When you've got a big enough pile, skim them to see how your hypothesis is holding up, and adjust it to fit the reality of what you've found.</li>\n<li>Repeat from 2, with your adjusted hypothesis, gathering more references, until you find your hypothesis is beginning to stabilize. Once you've got a stable hypothesis, you are ready to write, and your final organization will reflect the discovery enunciated in your final hypothesis.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>A good survey is probably going to be in the 50 - 200 reference range. If you are finding that you are gathering many more than that, consider whether your subject is too broad and you need to narrow its focus. It may also be that you have an appropriate focus, but that you are thinking about too many details, and you need to go into less depth in your investigation.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41495",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25093/"
] |
41,499 |
<p>I'm wondering how to reference a book The Jepson Manual, 2nd Edition shown below.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Baldwin, B. et al. (ed.). 2012. The Jepson Manual, Vascular Plants of
California, <strong>Rev. 2, 2nd ed</strong>. University of California Press.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I wondering about citing the revisions which are available on-line at eflora. There are now two revisions of this second edition. Should the revisions be listed in the citation as above or some other way? And should I keep the book date at 2012 even though the online revision 2 was 2014.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41672,
"author": "pehrs",
"author_id": 31735,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31735",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First: Use a modern reference manager. Mendeley, Zotero or Endnote are all fine. BibTex is wonderful for formatting the citations, and all the previous mentioned exports to BibTex. What BibTex lacks is search functions, storage of the original publications, networking, annotations, easy import and so on. The reference manager can save you significant amounts of work.</p>\n\n<p>Second: Start with the existing literature reviews in the field. If you are publishing the review you will need to position yourself against them in the related work anyway. </p>\n\n<p>Third: The trick to a good literature review is the focus. You want to include all the papers that are important considering the scope of your review, and nothing else. A review which covers \"the 200 most cited papers in this broad field\" is pretty much useless. If you feel you are getting overwhelmed it's time to start pruning ruthlessly. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41689,
"author": "Danny Ruijters",
"author_id": 28830,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28830",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Define useful subcategories within the field you are examining. When you are not familiar enough with subject to define applicable categories, then first read a few papers that have been cited a lot.</p>\n\n<p>Now assign each paper to one or more categories, just by reading the abstract and conclusions, and glancing over the rest. Also keep track of how many citations each paper received (you can use Google scholar or Scopus for this).</p>\n\n<p>Within each category you can build a tree by assigning the highly cited papers to knots, and the less cited papers to leaves. Connect them according to how they cite each other. Preferably, connect each leaf to only one knot. Keep in mind that since older papers can never cite the newer ones, it is most efficient to start with the older papers.</p>\n\n<p>Now you have a pretty structured overview, and you can spend some time to read the most important knots in more detail. Finally, write down for each category the most important differences with the other categories, and how the knots and branches are structured.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41726,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If my opinion, a good survey is not a snapshot of what is out there in the literature, but rather is a presentation of the current state of knowledge on a subject (which will necessarily involve some snapshots of what is out there). <strong>This model of knowledge is the novel contribution of the survey.</strong> Your goal, then, is to develop enough expertise in the \"lay of the land\" to be able to see a pattern that may have never been explicitly enunciated in the literature before.</p>\n\n<p>As such, I recommend the following iterative approach, which has been useful for me in preparing surveys:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Begin with a hypothesis of the structure of knowledge on your topic.</li>\n<li>With keyword searching, find lots of articles related to the topic.</li>\n<li>Do not read the articles: read just enough to make sure they are actually relevant, and download and organize them into categories based on your hypothesis.</li>\n<li>When you've got a big enough pile, skim them to see how your hypothesis is holding up, and adjust it to fit the reality of what you've found.</li>\n<li>Repeat from 2, with your adjusted hypothesis, gathering more references, until you find your hypothesis is beginning to stabilize. Once you've got a stable hypothesis, you are ready to write, and your final organization will reflect the discovery enunciated in your final hypothesis.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>A good survey is probably going to be in the 50 - 200 reference range. If you are finding that you are gathering many more than that, consider whether your subject is too broad and you need to narrow its focus. It may also be that you have an appropriate focus, but that you are thinking about too many details, and you need to go into less depth in your investigation.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41499",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31600/"
] |
41,503 |
<p>I want to know whether my PhD thesis supervisor (with whom I have co-authored many papers) is allowed to be a reviewer for one of my journal submissions?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41505,
"author": "GSat",
"author_id": 31420,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31420",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In many cases this would be inappropriate. PhD advisors are considered to have a permanent conflict-of-interest when it comes to their advisees. </p>\n\n<p>Some conferences/journals relax this condition and allow for reviews from former collaborators if there has been no collaboration in the past 5-6 years (or some similar time window). You should check the rules around CoI for the particular journal if these are publicly available.</p>\n\n<p>However: it is best to not have your PhD advisor listed as a potential reviewer. If the Associate Editor or Editor-in-Chief makes that call -- to have an advisor review the advisee's work -- it is a different matter but one should not rely on obtaining reviews from former advisors.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41506,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The question is ultimately one for your advisor and the journal editor to answer, but it certainly does not seem like a best practice. If for instance you are being asked to suggest possible reviewers, I think you should never suggest your thesis advisor.</p>\n\n<p>I could perhaps imagine a situation in which your work is so difficult or technical that the thesis advisor needs to be consulted at some point in order to vouch for it or address its correctness. However, I think this should be avoided if at all possible: as the tag indicates, this is a clear conflict of interest. </p>\n\n<p>From the perspective of the thesis advisor: if I were asked to referee a paper by a current student I would automatically turn it down, giving this conflict of interest as the reason. If I were asked to referee a paper of a former student I would write back to the editor informing them that they are my former student, ask them whether they really want me to referee the paper, and take it from there.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41540,
"author": "Kakoli Majumder",
"author_id": 9920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9920",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the journal has asked you to suggest potential or preferred reviewers, you should not ideally include the name of your PhD supervisor. However, if yours is a niche field, and your choice of preferred reviewers is limited, then you could perhaps include his name, adding a note disclosing the potential conflict of interest and stating that you added his name due to a lack of other options.</p>\n\n<p>However, if the journal editor invites your supervisor to review your paper, then it's up to them to decide. Usually in such cases, the referee discloses the conflict of interest, as mentioned in the last part of Pete L. Clark's answer.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41503",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31603/"
] |
41,515 |
<p>I'm a Masters student and graduating in two weeks. I need to admit that I procrastinated A LOT while working on my thesis. If I do my Ph.D. I expect myself to procrastinate a lot there too. However, I'm wondering if this habit vanishes as the individual gets more senior in academia. So maybe as the person gets more senior in academia, they learn to handle this habit better.</p>
<p>My questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is true that the more senior you become, the more you are able to handle this bad habit?</p></li>
<li><p>Do professors procrastinate too?</p></li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41516,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ol>\n<li><p>No. I think that procrastination is a lifetime problem. I'm doing it right now, and while not a professor, I'm a senior researcher at a university.</p></li>\n<li><p>Yes. Everyone procrastinates.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I suppose that some people manage to never procrastinate, but my brain doesn't work that way. Don't worry, it's normal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41523,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>(1) No and (2) Yes.</p>\n\n<p>Evidence to support both claims is the fact that I am a professor and I am writing this answer to you as a way of procrastinating from writing two syllabuses, several research papers, and a grant application.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41515",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10497/"
] |
41,531 |
<p>Here is the situation; I made an article that got published in a Computer Science conference; the final decision was that it was considered a borderline paper. After a while I got an email from the organizers of that conference, letting the authors know that there would be the chance to resubmit our articles to a journal, but that the work should contain at least 30% more contribution than the original paper. Long story short, I worked through all the reviewers comments and added more information on my original article.</p>
<p>Actually I am a little bit afraid if my article would make it through the journal, but because I worked hard on doing the asked changes I would not like to leave it like that.</p>
<p>For that reason, I was wondering that in case of a rejection, Could I submit my expanded work to another conference; or should I just leave it like that? I am afraid that maybe the reviewers from another conference could see it like a case of self-plagiarized, even though I am citing my original article. </p>
<p>What to do in this situation? Should I paraphrase all the article again before submitting it with the new material? or should just let it be?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41533,
"author": "Orion",
"author_id": 19732,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19732",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When in doubt talk to your adviser. </p>\n\n<p>It is common in the Computer Science that the delta between conference and journal papers is 30%. That is not updated text only, but 30% of new substantial material, such as new experiments etc.</p>\n\n<p>When submitting paper to a conference, there isn't a 30% rule. Your new paper needs to have a stand-alone novel contribution. </p>\n\n<p>The reason is that CS adopted an iterative publication style workshop -> conference -> journal. So if your extended paper does not get accepted to a journal, you can attempt another journal, but not another conference.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41534,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>For that reason, I was wondering that in case of a rejection, Could I submit my expanded work to another conference; or should I just leave it like that? I am afraid that maybe the reviewers from another conference could see it like a case of self-plagiarized, even though I am citing my original article.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Submitting a conference paper that is only 30% off of another conference paper is not very likely to succeed. It is likely not going to be considered self-plagiarism (at least not if you didn't copy-and-paste large parts of your old paper, just described similar ideas in a new way), but the reviewers are likely going to criticise that the innovation over existing research (often called the \"delta\") just isn't large enough.</p>\n\n<p>However, you are free to resubmit to a different <em>journal</em> if this one rejects your paper. Getting \"invited to submit an extension\" gives you sort of a starting advantage, but you can still submit your revised manuscript to any other journal. Just note that some journals require a larger update than 30%, so you should check that you are in compliance with the journal's rules prior to submission.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41547,
"author": "Kakoli Majumder",
"author_id": 9920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9920",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Although your paper is now an expanded version, it would most likely have the same or very similar findings as that of the version you presented at the conference. Thus, if you present the expanded version at another conference, you'll most likely be repeating most of the ideas you presented at the previous conference. Thus, your paper will lack novelty, and will not be a success.</p>\n\n<p>In case your paper gets rejected, a far better option would be to submit it to another journal. Make sure you go through the peer review comments even if your paper is rejected, and try to incorporate the changes suggested. That way, your manuscript will be further improved and will stand a better chance of acceptance when you submit it to another journal.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41531",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144/"
] |
41,546 |
<p>I am approaching the end of the tunnel and starting to look for my options beyond the PhD. The few contacts I have initiated have been positive so far and I will be visiting some labs in the coming months.</p>
<p>I am wondering which questions would be good ask during these visits. What insights would be valuable to acquire after these visits?</p>
<p>Regarding the talk with the group/lab leader, I am thinking of keeping the conversation/discussion around <strong>research interests</strong> for both parties, as well as his/her <strong>expectations</strong> from me and my <strong>responsibilities</strong>, if I start a post-doc there.</p>
<p>With respect to the group members, I intend on inquiring about the social environment, work ethics/common practices, different competencies that are in the group. <strong>Edit:</strong> a good advice I recently got from an ex-colleague who's doing post-doc in the US now, was to investigate whether or not there is a tradition of inter-group competition, <em>i.e.</em> will there be another post-doc working on the same project? </p>
<p>Any comments/suggestions based on personal experience? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41561,
"author": "gerrit",
"author_id": 1033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Do not forget to ask about what <strong>training</strong> you can expect.</p>\n\n<p>As a post-doctoral fellow, you are supposed to develop new skills and expierence. A supervisor might simply look for a cheap scientist. One person I know was hired to do pretty much the work she did during her PhD, except at a different location and with virtually no supervision at all. They needed a specialist and she fit, but as she is the expert she has little use of the other group members. The good thing is that she keeps writing papers. The bad thing is that she doesn't really acquire any new skills that she didn't already have at the end of her PhD.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41571,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Your list is a good start, but I would dig a little deeper into the \"expectations\" item than you may plan. \"Postdoc\" is maybe the least well-defined role in a research group, and what you are supposed to (and <em>allowed</em> to) do can vary greatly. You need to have a clear understanding in advance whether your vision of the position matches with the vision of your mentor. Concretely:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Ask whether you are supposed to write papers without your mentor. If yes, try to get a feel whether the mentor <em>means</em> it (very few will outright say No to such a request). Try to get a feel for what percentage of joint vs. individual work your mentor expects.</li>\n<li>Ask whether you are supposed to write grant proposals. Ask whether you will be the PI of said proposals, or your mentor.</li>\n<li>Ask whether you will be responsible for your own PhD students.</li>\n<li>Ask whether it will be possible to work on topics that are of interest to you, but of less interest to your mentor.</li>\n<li>Try to get a feel for the mode of collaboration your mentor expects. Everything from <em>\"you do your thing and ask me for input when you need it\"</em> to <em>\"I'll tell you which problem to work on, and you report back your results to me\"</em> is possible, and you will want to know which one it is.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In addition to that, also ask what your mentor has in mind in terms of your career plan. When you apply for assistant professorships in a year, will he fully support you, or will he want to keep you around for longer? If the latter, what can he realistically offer you?</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41546",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674/"
] |
41,549 |
<p>I coauthored a paper with my former advisor and he sent it to an expert for review before submitting it to a journal. A couple of weeks have passed by and I would like to know the status, but I have not heard anything new from my former advisor about the paper.</p>
<p>I thus am wondering: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Are there any negative consequences associated with asking my former advisor about the status of the paper? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Simply put, I am afraid that my former advisor would feel that I am being pushy or something similar. </p>
<p>Moreover, if there are no negative consequences, I would like to know how to properly formulate such an email.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41550,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I see no problem with such a question. Just phrase it in a non-pushy way, like: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Hi, XXX: I just wanted to check in on the status of our paper, since we sent it to YYY for input a couple of weeks ago. Do you know if YYY has gotten a chance to review it yet?</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41552,
"author": "Soupturtle",
"author_id": 31633,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31633",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If you co-authored the paper, this is definitely a harmless and reasonable question. Just send your former advisor a brief email, asking whether he has heard back from the person he asked to referee it. Something along the lines of </p>\n\n<pre><code>Dear Prof. X,\nI was wondering whether you have heard back from Prof Y about our paper yet. \nCould you please keep me updated when you do?\nKind regards,\nZ\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>(Since you're afraid to ask I've guessed that you have a formal relationship with this person, but off course replace \"Dear Prof.\" and \"Kind regards\" with whatever you usually would use to address him.)</p>\n\n<p>Note that a couple of weeks isn't a very long time for reviewing a paper, as it's the kind of job that people tend to put off until either right before the deadline or until a magical time when they will be less busy, so it's very likely that the other person just hasn't gotten back to your former advisor yet. Especially if they didn't give them some sort of deadline.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41549",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
41,551 |
<p>I wrote a Master's thesis a couple of years ago (which is available to view from my University's online service; so it's out there) and am now doing a PhD. Some passages from my Master's thesis is relevant to my PhD and could be used in my PhD literature review. If it matters, the masters thesis is not published and I am studying in a UK university. </p>
<p>Am I allowed to copy chunks of text from my masters thesis into my PhD thesis?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41553,
"author": "user141592",
"author_id": 27327,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27327",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>No. It's called self-plagiarism. You can of course cite results from your Master's thesis, and even quote it, but only if you clearly indicate the source. That it wasn't published doesn't make a difference.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41555,
"author": "gerrit",
"author_id": 1033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I did my PhD studies in Sweden. In Sweden it is common to write two theses: a <em>licentiate thesis</em> after roughly 2 years, and a <em>PhD thesis</em> at the end. The second one is a natural extension of the first one, so this question came up. One person said one should rephrase everything, but we thought this was silly. Instead, I wrote a preface in my PhD thesis with the following:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>This text can be considered a continuation of the so-called\n licentiate thesis (Holl, 2011).\n In the Swedish academic system, the licentiate thesis is a thesis very\n similar in structure to the PhD thesis, that PhD candidates are encouraged\n to write approximately halfway through their PhD studies.\n A lot of the material published here was already published in the\n licentiate thesis.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Self-plagiarism occurs if you claim information is new, when you've already used it before. Therefore, if you write something like this in a preface, you are not committing self-plagiarism.</p>\n\n<p>However, you should still check if your university has any rules against it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 65313,
"author": "Peter Green",
"author_id": 42323,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/42323",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a matter for local policies at the university in question. </p>\n\n<p>At the university I got my PhD from you are required to declare what (if any) material in your thesis have been submitted for previous qualifications in the thesis front matter. The examiners will presumablly take that into consideration when deciding if you have done a sufficient ammount of new work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 73362,
"author": "Ashutosh Rana",
"author_id": 57601,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/57601",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In UK, this was strictly not allowed (I had asked a similar question to my guide on my Masters thesis). As Johanna correctly says, it is considered \"self plagiarism\" (you copied from yourself!) and while I do not agree with it, this is a common criteria.</p>\n\n<p>For the same reason, you are not allowed to take any article / essay written by you earlier, and use it in your PhD thesis or your Masters research thesis.</p>\n\n<p>The rationale, I believe, is that each work during your studies should be original and unique, different from what you have written earlier. It cannot build up on your earlier work (at least in the written word - in thoughts of course you have all through been building up on your past knowledge and learning)</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41551",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31646/"
] |
41,556 |
<p>I have two PhD offers:</p>
<p>Team a) I like the people but the research topics rather just ok.</p>
<p>Team b) I like the research topics but the people are a bit strange and not as well qualified.</p>
<p>Can someone, maybe out of experience, say which is more important to choose?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41559,
"author": "afaust",
"author_id": 21371,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21371",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It is a very personal choice, and depends on many factors. </p>\n\n<p>That being said, the team can make or break project. Not only you will get helpful advice (or lack of) from the team, but you will go through some very rough bumps along the way. The strength of the team when going to the hard times will determine if you come out stronger, or if all energy is spent in the conflict.</p>\n\n<p>You should ideally be passionate on the topic, but it might not be a love at the first sight. :) A good problem will give rise to five more questions to be answered, and once invested in it, your natural curiosity should drive you naturally to solve them. </p>\n\n<p>Personally, I would choose team over the topic within the reason. If the topic is completely outside of my interests, I would look into how to best integrate with the given team, would set my expectations accordingly. Perhaps you can find a well-qualified collaborator outside your group, or plan on working independently more, etc...But, do make sure you can work well with your adviser, without being able to work well with him/her, you won't get far.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41560,
"author": "Herman Toothrot",
"author_id": 4050,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4050",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Pick the right people and make their lab your home base, then find a way to make the topic also relevant to their group, and in the meantime collaborate with the not so ok people.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41556",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18228/"
] |
41,568 |
<p>In the acknowledge of a thesis, we thank all the people who helped our research. E.g.</p>
<p>"First of all I thank xxx, for xxx throughout my Ph.D. period."</p>
<p>For my master thesis's acknowledge, I tried very hard to rephrase the sentences to avoid repeating others' similar ones.</p>
<p>This time, I need to write my PhD thesis's acknowledge. I have download around 10 copies of other's acknowledges. I find it really difficult to work out a sentence structure that is different from all of them.</p>
<p>I mean the peoples we thank are different, but the reasons or the phrases representing how we should thank them are similar among all thesis.</p>
<p>I just wonder if I can stop struggling with rephrasing the sentence structure, and copy & mix the sentences from my and others' acknowledges and just replace the people's names?</p>
<p>Is this an acceptable behaviors? Is this plagiarism or self-plagiarism?</p>
<p>I just think there are so many theses with acknowledges. You probably would never be able to work out an unique sentence structure. You will be similar to others anyway. So why not just copy, mix and change names?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41570,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, throw away everyone else's acknowledgements sections. Ignore them.</p>\n\n<p>Second, think of all the people to whom you feel grateful, and write down your thanks in whatever way feels natural to you.</p>\n\n<p>It really is that easy. There's only so many ways to say something, so if it sounds similar to someone else's, so what? As long as they are your own heartfelt words, no one will notice or care.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41590,
"author": "Jessica B",
"author_id": 20036,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20036",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The acknowledgements aren't really something you claim credit for. I think on the whole people aren't going to worry about copied acknowledgement sentences, unless you copy something very unique (eg. someone quoting a film/book/their grandfather). I'd very much doubt anyone would care if you copied your own text from your master's thesis (I guess they might interpret it as insincere, but if they know you find the language hard they could probably see past that). You could try mix-and-match, with sentences but also with clauses. </p>\n\n<p>Or alternatively you could write in your own language.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41568",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15547/"
] |
41,575 |
<p>I have been out of undergrad for some time now but was interested in publishing a few things I have been working on. Are there any good "beginner" journals where someone without a mathematics PhD might have a chance at publishing something? </p>
<p>It might be important to note that most of the material would likely just be more on the recreational side of things.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41591,
"author": "Willie Wong",
"author_id": 94,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Of the <a href=\"http://www.maa.org/maa-journals\">journals of the Mathematical Association of America</a>, you can choose between <em>The American Mathematical Monthly</em>, the <em>Mathematical Magazine</em>, and <em>The College Mathematics Journal</em>. The three have (perhaps subtly) different scopes<sup>1</sup>, and short of you telling us exactly what your results are about we cannot tell you which journal is the best choice. (On the other hand, you can easily write to the editors of one of those three journals to see where your manuscript would best fit.) </p>\n\n<p>As Dirk mentioned, <a href=\"http://www.springer.com/mathematics/journal/283\"><em>The Mathematical Intelligencer</em></a> is also an obvious choice (again, caveats about not knowing whether your paper fit in their scope). </p>\n\n<p>If you aim the material at the mathematical maturity level between secondary (high school) education and first years of a college education, two good publications are <a href=\"http://www.pims.math.ca/resources/publications/pi-sky\"><em>Pi in the Sky</em></a> which is published by the Pacific Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and <a href=\"http://www.parabola.unsw.edu.au/\"><em>Parabola</em></a> which is backed by the University of New South Wales in Australia. </p>\n\n<p>Another general mathematics magazine you can try is <a href=\"https://plus.maths.org/content/about-plus\"><em>Plus Magazine</em></a> based at Cambridge; the editors specifically asks you to contact them in advance if you want to write for the publication. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><sup>1</sup> A very rough guide is that in terms of \"mathematical maturity\", the \"age\" of the readers are such that CMJ < MM < AMM. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41598,
"author": "Kimball",
"author_id": 19607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19607",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Willie's answers provides a good list of math journals aimed a general audience from undergrads to PhDs, but I'd like to give a different kind of answer. You question seems to assume that most math journals are specifically for people with PhDs to publish in but this is just false. While it's certainly true that most papers published in most journals are written by people who already have PhDs, many of them are written by grad students, some by undergrads, and even a few by high school students (I don't know any articles by preschoolers or middle schoolers, but maybe someone else can enlighten me.)</p>\n\n<p>The main question you should ask is: what journals publish the kind of papers I am writing? Since you say it's primarily recreational mathematics, then the kind of publications that Willie mentions may well be most appropriate (though beware the Monthly has rather high standards in terms of quality and exposition--I don't know much about the others). But, depending on the kind of mathematics, it might be appropriate for, say, one of the many journals with a focus on combinatoric or number theory. The ideal thing would be to see if one of your former professors, could give you some guidance--both feedback on a draft, and suggestions for suitable places for publication. In fact, the feedback on a draft is likely to be more valuable than journal suggestions. If this is not possible, you could also consider contacting a mathematician who you think may be interested in your work, and briefly explain your situation and ask if they would be willing to take a look at your draft.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 58235,
"author": "Ram",
"author_id": 44387,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/44387",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Try for Recreational Mathematics Magazine. <a href=\"http://rmm.ludus-opuscula.org\" rel=\"nofollow\">LINK</a>\nurl : rmm.ludus-opuscula.org</p>\n\n<p>As noted here, the <em>Journal of Recreational Mathematics</em> has ceased publication. Maybe this new journal will help fill the gap.</p>\n\n<p>See the 4 issues published so far at that address. And more information about the journal.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41575",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25195/"
] |
41,576 |
<p>I've recently watched <em>The Theory of Everything</em> and it got me thinking. How does a researcher with a serious physical impediment, such as Stephen Hawking, conduct his research?</p>
<p>Academic life usually involves studying, staying up to date with current literature, attending or giving conferences, teaching some classes, etc. Each of those activities presents serious challenges. For instance, how does he <em>do</em> math? Everything is done in his mind or does he scribble some notes on software? Or maybe in Latex? I'm assuming he has people helping him, too.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if this is on topic here, so I apologize if it's inappropriate.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41586,
"author": "Sumyrda - remember Monica",
"author_id": 13138,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13138",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Have you read his article in the Wikipedia? I believe most of your questions are answered there. </p>\n\n<p>As for students and researchers with disabilities in general: Every disability is different and different things can be done to help, from extra time on homeworks and exams, to special reading / blackboard viewing devices, hearing aids, keyboards that require very little finger strength, to having another person take notes for the disabled student / researcher. I'm sure I forgot lots of other tools. </p>\n\n<p>The most important tool for research is the mind and with a keen mind most obstacles can be overcome.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41592,
"author": "Sylvain Peyronnet",
"author_id": 43,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is a book by Hélène Mialet (philosopher and anthropologist of science at UC Davis) about how Stephen Hawking is working. For the author, Hawking is, by necessity, the archetype of new scientists who are more than just individuals.</p>\n\n<p>Here you can find information about the book :\n<a href=\"http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo3750667.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo3750667.html</a></p>\n\n<p>If I remember well, the book was in some sort of controversy, but this is just me remembering.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41576",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12018/"
] |
41,581 |
<p>Perhaps, this is a meta-level question. Most review papers narrate the story of the field/problem or summarize a large but focused body of literature. The authors are usually senior level faculties with years of experience in the field. How these papers are being reviewed and what is the formalism behind accepting or rejecting them? Many such papers fail to present a framework/criteria/dimension for the field (maybe due to complexity), but is there any effort targeted to develop reviewing skills for young researchers to follow? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41583,
"author": "Nick Vence",
"author_id": 30542,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30542",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When referring to a Review, I am thinking of a Topical Review, PhD Tutorial, or Colloquium such as those published in <a href=\"http://journals.aps.org/rmp\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">The Review of Modern Physics</a> or the <a href=\"http://iopscience.iop.org/0953-4075/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Journal of Physics B</a>.</p>\n\n<p>It is true that most publications leave a new graduate student without a sufficient introduction to the topic; however, this should not be the case with a Review. As a grad student, I recall being frustrated reading regular journal articles. Then I remember my elation while reading the introduction of my first review article. The clouds of confusion parted as the author explained few-cycle laser pulses in \"plain physics.\"</p>\n\n<p>Review articles are arguable the hardest to write. First, the author must be intimately familiar with the topic and be able to weave a disparate group publications into a cohesive story. The Review's introduction must present sufficient motivation, provide a historical context, and create a structural outline for the topic at hand. Next, the author must clarify and distill the important papers, and include lesser papers as they advance the story. Since Reviews often include over 200 articles in their reference list, this can be quite a task. Finally, a good Review will highlight new applications and open question.</p>\n\n<p>In addition to the above structural criteria by which a Review should be judged, see <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3628/at-what-stage-of-research-career-one-can-write-a-review-article?rq=1\">the selected answer of this post</a> for political advice.</p>\n\n<p>To summarize and answer your question:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Why don't junior scientists write such Reviews, and why aren't there efforts train them?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Before learning to run one must learn to walk, and before writing a Review one must learn to write a regular article. \nAs you mentioned, senior faculty often write Reviews because they have the most familiarity with the literature, connections, and experience.\nThe best training for junior faculty is gaining a familiarity with: the literature, the publishing process, and colleagues.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41584,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I too find it frustrating that so many literature reviews are so unsystematic.</p>\n\n<p>There are efforts underway to improve the quality of reviews, and to develop these skills in early-career researchers. We like our students, where possible, to write a review article as a early part of their PhD. The medical field has for many years been honing the quality of reviews, and there's much that other fields can learn from it.</p>\n\n<p>We have had a <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/34625/96\">Q&A about systematic reviews</a> earlier, and there I listed three relevant books. The most significant of these, as far as your question is concerned, is <a href=\"http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book240606?siteId=sage-uk&prodTypes=any&q=Systematic%20review&fs=1\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Doing a Systematic Review: A Student's Guide - Angela Boland et al</a> - it's primarily aimed at Masters students, and also makes for an easy-to-read introduction to the field for anyone.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41581",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23641/"
] |
41,593 |
<p>I tried searching for a similar question but most I read dealt with published papers and not a <strong>PhD</strong>, so apologies if this is a duplicate. I will remove this question if it is.</p>
<p>I've read a number of PhD dissertations and I haven't come across one which cites a conference paper, only journals (and the occasional website). I guess also it depends on the university if they accept such citations but I was just wondering if this is commonplace?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41594,
"author": "Danny Ruijters",
"author_id": 28830,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28830",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There is no problem in citing a conference paper in a PhD thesis. </p>\n\n<p>When selecting literature that you want to use in your scientific work, it is not uncommon to take the reputation of the hosting medium (journal, conference, etc) into account. The examiners of your thesis might question the quality of the work that you are citing when it origins from dubious sources. But that holds for dubious conferences, as well as for dubious journals.</p>\n\n<p>There are, however, many conferences with an excellent reputation. And there is no reason why you should not cite papers that have been published there.</p>\n\n<p>Furthermore, when you make use of a work (paper or anything else) that comes from a less established source, you are still obligated to refer to this work. After all, we want things to be verifiable in science. You might even cite a source that you are disagreeing with.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes, an extended version of the conference paper is published as a journal paper, and then you may prefer to cite the journal paper instead.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41596,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It has little to do with paper vs. thesis and everything to do with whether the person's field considers conference papers \"real\" publications. If you read computer science Ph.D. dissertations, you will find them to be <em>filled</em> with conference paper citations. In a field that disdains conferences, you will not.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41593",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31646/"
] |
41,597 |
<p>Just out of curiosity, I will like to know if there is any difference (if any) in academic environment, between Ph.D issued by most Universities and D.Tech issued by University of Technology.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41604,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Technology\" rel=\"noreferrer\">According to Wikipedia</a>, the nature of a D.Tech depends on where it is issued, and who by. In some cases, it is equivalent to a Ph.D., in other cases it is definitely lesser. It is certainly not a commonly issued or recognized degree, but that does not mean it has less value if it is from a strong institution.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 107243,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 90603,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/90603",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Typically its awarded in only a few British Commonwealth locations. It was awarded in Australia once as a Professional Doctorate (Deakin Uni) - and as such was at 'roughly' the level of a PhD although Professional doctorates are often considered less 'academic'. In South Africa it is/was common amongst the University of Technology sector. They are considered similar to a professional doctorate - in that they are more practice based than a traditional PhD. In the UK itself however it was once common many years ago in the University of London as a Professional doctorate - ie typically done by working people. Nowadays in the UK it is common as either a Higher Doctorate - typically given to PhD's after they have established themselves via a body of public work such as books and publications and therefore is considered higher than a PhD. Otherwise it is commonly given as an honary doctorate to luminaries in fields related to Engineering or Science. BTW I have a BTech(Hons) and an MTech followed by a PhD from the UK. Perhaps when I am older I will submit my body of work for a DTech. All were from schools of electronic engineering, although its probably impossible to do that today. It was once common at universities like Brunel and Cranfield.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41597",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10745/"
] |
41,600 |
<p>At the end of writing up our manuscript, we discover that there has been another earlier study in a very different context (but using a physical model very similar to ours) that claims a similar result. </p>
<p>We were not inspired by this earlier work and we could not have found it until we had our results; so this is not a case of not having done proper literature survey a priori. </p>
<p>So, do we cite them within the main text's introduction and results despite not having been inspired by it at all? Or do we cite them during the concluding remarks highlighting the similarities?</p>
<p>In either case, our results certainly complement theirs.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41601,
"author": "Massimo Ortolano",
"author_id": 20058,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20058",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>So, do we cite them within the main text despite not having been inspired by it at all?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, you should surely cite it and you can do it in the introduction, where you will outline the differences between the two works and specify in which way yours complements theirs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41611,
"author": "Andreas Blass",
"author_id": 14506,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14506",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In mathematics (maybe in other fields too), one would put at the end of the introduction a statement like \"After obtaining the results in this paper, we learned of related work by X. In particular, X obtained ....\" Here the \"...\" would be a description like \"a stronger form of our Theorem 7\" or \"a weaker form of our Theorem 7\" or \"a result related to our Theorem 7\" or whatever it was that X actually got.</p>\n\n<p>In computer science (maybe in other fields too), papers often have a separate section called \"Related Work\", and information of this sort would naturally go into that section.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41612,
"author": "peer revu",
"author_id": 31700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is useful for readers if you distinguish your work from previous work early on in a paper, typically in a \"related work\" section. If your paper is being peer reviewed, distinguishing your work from previous work is an important aspect of demonstrating novelty.</p>\n\n<p>It does not matter that you didn't find out about the previous work until after you had results. The manuscript is not a chronological record of your thought process.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41625,
"author": "anonymous_reviewer",
"author_id": 31710,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31710",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If indeed the other study deals with a completely different setting, and is only related to the present one by an analogous finding as the main result, and the only way to come across this other study is by using a description of that result as search terms, then I do not see why it should be cited in the introduction. Unless, of course, it is something to potentially attract further interest towards reading the present paper in full (the introduction is a good place to try to attract a potentially interested reader to read the paper completely).</p>\n\n<p>Otherwise, something like this can be mentioned in the \"discussion\" part of the paper, whether it is a separate section or a part of the conclusions.</p>\n\n<p>It is not like before beginning any study, we are first going to carefully read through all the papers in the world in order to find out if similar models have possibly been used somewhere in a completely unrelated setting. If the only reasonable way to come across the other study is indeed the result itself, it is fine to leave this citation to the end of the paper.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41811,
"author": "moorepants",
"author_id": 28991,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28991",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This also very much depends on the journal you submit to. There are a growing number of journals that aren't so concerned with the novelty of the result as compared to whether the science was technically correct. For example, PLoS One would likely accept the paper even if you note the other similar result. Some rarer journals may even value that you've independently found similar results as another.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41600",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31685/"
] |
41,605 |
<p>In the US universities, many positions are endowed by donors. Is it possible/common for individual academics to directly contact possible donors with some plans? If so, how one can find possible donors?</p>
<p>For instance, an academic can propose a plan to university officials for establishing an innovative research center. University officials check if they can raise fund for the plan or not. In parallel, the person can individually find donors to raise the necessary funds. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41607,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>How this is handled probably varies between universities, so you should check what is considered customary or acceptable at yours. I don't think there would be any explicit rules against contacting potential donors yourself, but it could antagonize the administration. Securing a large donation is often a lengthy process of building a long-term relationship with the donor, identifying shared goals, and convincing the donor that this would be the best use of their money. U.S. universities have special staff who are (or at least should be) skilled at handling this, and they would probably not appreciate individual faculty members interfering. Working with them would probably be more effective and would keep the university administration on your side.</p>\n\n<p>A further issue is that it's not good for anyone if competing faculty members try to convince the same donor to support their project instead of the competition. It's better to sort this out at the university level, rather than undermining each other.</p>\n\n<p>The best case scenario for fundraising by an individual faculty member is if they already have a personal connection with a potential donor who is not otherwise being asked for funding. If you are not in this position, then it will be difficult to identify the right people, and you are better off seeking professional advice from the administration.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41624,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You need about 30x the funding in the bank that you expect to need to run your research center per year. I.e. endowments often run assuming ~3% returns. If you want to endow a $100k professorship, then you need about $3.3M in your endowment. If you think you can raise that much, I'm sure your university would be happy to set up an endowed chair, endowed research center, or other named entity for your center's benefit. That being said, they might want to have solid pledges for at least half of the money handled quietly behind the scenes before they make a public announcement that they are raising funds for this purpose. Nothing is worse than announcing a big fund-raising drive and missing by a mile.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41605",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31691/"
] |
41,608 |
<p>I read that some academics would avoid accepting students (undergraduate or graduate) or other researchers requests on Linkedin. So what are the cases that could be acceptable for academics to add people on Linkedin and avoid any embarrassments?</p>
<ul>
<li>After completing their course?</li>
<li>After working on a joint research?</li>
<li>After attending a workshop, seminar, talk?</li>
<li>After meeting them at a conference?</li>
<li>After sending them an email about mutual work, papers, etc.?</li>
</ul>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41610,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I consider LinkedIn to be pretty low-stakes interaction, so I merely want to avoid being linked to spammers and frauds. My own policy, then, is that I will accept LinkedIn invitations from anybody who I actually know who they are, either by a) having had a non-trivial interaction with them (including by phone or electronically) or b) indirect interactions such as reading their papers.</p>\n\n<p>Other people may have more stringent policies, but in my opinion, it's reasonable to request a connection with anybody you have a relationship with: the worst that will happen is that they will ignore it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41631,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Each person has their own policy for who they accept as LinkedIn connections. If your priority is to avoid embarrassment, the safest practice is for you to establish a personal, mutual relationship before you issue a LinkedIn request. The best way to establish a personal relationship is to do so in person, through meaningful conversation about mutual interests. If you can't do it in person, then you might start the relationship on-line through email, but you should be conscientious to be sure that the communication is mutual. If you are in doubt about what this means, read the book <em><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People\" rel=\"nofollow\">How to Win Friends and Influence People</a></em>. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41608",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24823/"
] |
41,616 |
<p>I am a Computer Science undergraduate doing a research project in Bioinformatics. I know my weaknesses, especially that I am not good at speaking, listening, and interacting with people in all social context. Until now, this wasn't a problem, I hardly paid attention in class, studied by myself directly from books, and got excellent grades. But in my current position, I have come to understand that I have to improve some social skills if I want to advance. Right now, it's plainly difficult to me to follow the rationale among two or more phrases if I don't see them on paper and this characteristic is causing problems because my advisor's instruction are mostly oral. </p>
<p>Although my professor praises my ability to do math and program, he complains about how I easily lose track of the instructions. This is a true problem, specially when processing biological data (one thing is that the program works, the other is that it makes biological sense and I am not yet conversant in biological background). This situation is starting to raise problems with my advisor and I have to find a solution before everything gets worst.</p>
<p>Note: I take notes. This is the most logical, straightforward solution, but I never developed the ability to take good notes as I didn't like attending classes. I'm working to improve this skill, but I the problem of connecting orally communicated ideas effectively remains.</p>
<p>As a summary, I have to figure out how to follow the incredible amount of <strong>oral</strong> information passed to me, even if I have never built this ability.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41617,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Forgive me if I'm way out of line, but the problems you describe sound similar to those who have <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome\" rel=\"nofollow\">Asperger's</a>. Especially, difficulty with social interactions and difficulty processing instructions given verbally and with less than complete logical precision are both indicative of that condition. Have you looked into this? If the diagnosis seems to fit, then there will be a lot of resources out there to help you. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41618,
"author": "peer revu",
"author_id": 31700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've found that taking notes, even point form, is really helpful.</p>\n\n<p>Even if you were good at understanding oral instructions, taking meeting notes would be useful.</p>\n\n<p>They let you go back to things you didn't have much time to think about at the time later on.</p>\n\n<p>You could also email your supervisor a summary of your understanding of the meeting and your plans until the next meeting, so that he has a chance to correct/clarify in writing any misunderstandings, or refocus your priorities.</p>\n\n<p>As for the problem of connecting oral instructions, you should take every opportunity to confirm your understanding of the main points discussed so far in the meeting. Rephrase what you just heard back to your supervisor. If there is a definition you don't know, either ask right away, or jot down the word to ask about later.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41620,
"author": "walkar",
"author_id": 10086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10086",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You say your ability to take notes is limited, but he expresses most of his comments verbally -- have you tried audio recording your meetings? Most smart phones have an app that will do that.</p>\n\n<p>You should also ask him if that's alright first. You might get in trouble otherwise.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41616",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
41,622 |
<p>I'm looking for a tool (web application) similar to Atlassian Confluence but for academic purposes. The main purpose of that is to allow selected teachers and students from different schools collaborate on a project. It should have features like file uploading, to-do lists, calendar, rules assigning etc. Also it should have a possible low price-tag. I'm from Europe so if it could be a European tool that would be great.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41626,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I understand you mean \"school\" as in \"before university\", so you are working with non professional researchers. In this case, I think the most important bit is to keep it simple, and use tools people know and are familiar with and just work. So,</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><em>Mailing list:</em> for group-wide communication. There are tons of free alternatives.</li>\n<li><em>File upload:</em> shared Dropbox folder or ownCloud. With the extra benefit that everybody has a backup of everything, so nothing gets lost.</li>\n<li><em>Everything else:</em> any free wiki.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>That should cover all your needs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42130,
"author": "New Alexandria",
"author_id": 3962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3962",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Probably you want to look into <a href=\"http://www.jivesoftware.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">JiveOn software</a>. It is mostly used by businesses, but that groups includes Google and Pearson (a US education supplier). I have used it in a corporate setting, and can speak well of its ability to create collaboration spaces, and reinforce a group-learning social network.</p>\n\n<p>If you find they have pricing for education, or a course-long trial period, it would be good to hear. Seeing their potential, I would not be surprised that you could negotiate a deal, though as a EU-based learning org, you may not be able to offer them US-based tax deferral (501c3). Maybe they have a EU arm.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42133,
"author": "Stephan Branczyk",
"author_id": 11434,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11434",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should find this wiki comparison engine helpful:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.wikimatrix.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.wikimatrix.org/</a> </p>\n\n<p>I've personally seen wikis used very successfully in large academic environments. </p>\n\n<p>A couple of suggestions thought: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Don't think that because you start a wiki, people will use it. You must do most of the work initially, placing the content in there, structuring the content, etc. Others will come and contribute on their own, but only once you've seeded 90% of the content. </p></li>\n<li><p>Do not lock down the wiki with too many rules. As long as you lock out spammers and strangers, that should be enough, give everyone the same editing privileges on all the pages. You're not wikipedia. </p></li>\n<li><p>Make refactoring a wiki page a homework assignment for newcomers. Newcomers to wikis are afraid of refactoring existing wiki pages, for fear of deleting other people's content. Making refactoring a wiki page a requirement will alleviate that fear.</p></li>\n<li><p>Make editing the wiki an homework assignment for newcomers. Ask them to create a profile for themselves as a wiki page. Ask them to use their real names when registering, or at least their real first name (unless they're too young obviously).</p></li>\n<li><p>Make sure that the wiki has a RecentPages functionality and bookmark that page. That will be your primary way of observing what's happening in your wiki. </p></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41622",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31709/"
] |
41,627 |
<p>I had recently taken a class where things are poorly taught and much of the studying was self study. This then turned the course into a function of time and workload, and the resulting midterm mark is normally or bell shape distributed with a center of 50. </p>
<p>Needless to say, people who had less workload earned higher scores, people who had more workload earned less scores. After the exam, no one felt that the exam was a good reflection of individual capabilities but it is uncertain if the professor had gotten the hint.</p>
<p>How do professors interpret this outcome? Specifically, are there actions taken to some how adjust this (because most courses have an average passing around a C or 70 instead of 50)? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 48840,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Unless you have access to every student's score, you cannot know that the distribution is a normal distribution. It isn't clear that you do have access to the scores, but in a comment you say, \"the 50 percent people were slightly less than the people who got 30-40 and 50-60 but not by much.\" You have described a bimodal distribution -- one with two humps at the ends and a dip in the middle. Your \"slightly less\" says the dip in the middle is a small one.</p>\n\n<p>My own experience as a college teacher is that a bimodal distribution is a usual and expected result for a fair exam. At the \"good\" end, you find the people who either worked hard or found the material to be familiar. At the \"bad\" end, you find the people who did not work hard. That is <em>exactly</em> what you've described, although you equate \"worked hard\" with \"had more time to work.\"</p>\n\n<p>As far as interpreting the scores, you don't say whether the scores you mention are percentages, <em>i.e.</em> out of 100, or have some other base. If they're grades out of 100, then that is probably, but not certainly, a poor exam. (The other choice is that there's an entire class of poor students, and yes, that does happen.) If I, as a teacher, got a result like that, I'd use the grades as they were, but work much harder on the questions for the next exams.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, you question whether the exam \"was a good reflection of individual capabilities.\" That's not what en exam is supposed to measure. An exam is supposed to measure <em>your knowledge of the course material.</em> A very capable person who doesn't study can and should earn an unsatisfactory grade.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 48841,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here is how I normally assign grades in a class of 30-50 students, given a distribution of scores:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Declare the average to be either a B or B+, depending on how satisfied I am with the class's performance as a whole.</p></li>\n<li><p>To find the A/B cutoff, look above the average for obvious clumps. If, say, the average is 75% and there are ten scores of 85% or higher, and no scores between 80 and 85, then the scores higher than 85 are the As.</p></li>\n<li><p>There will not always be obvious clumps, and in that case I put the cutoff somewhere between the average and the maximum in a semi-arbitrary way. I may look back at some exams to see if particular students did what I consider A work.</p></li>\n<li><p>Determine the B/C and C/D cutoffs, then pluses and minuses, using a similar process.</p></li>\n<li><p>To distinguish Ds from Fs, I don't make a numerical cutoff. Fs are reserved for students who have not shown me that they're actually trying.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The benefit of this method is that if I accidentally make the exam too hard or too long, the students don't pay the price. But I always try to make my exams straightforward, with at most one challenging problem, because experience shows that asking students to regurgitate what I've told them already provides a good enough range of scores to separate students from each other. If I've done things right, the average is usually in the low 80s.</p>\n\n<p>Now, your professor may or may not use a system like mine. He may simply enter the scores into the grade book and use rigid, pre-determined cutoffs, regardless of the class's performance. The only way to know is to ask him.</p>\n\n<p>By the way, you've observed that the people who spent more time studying got higher scores, and this strikes me as completely fair. If the class could be aced without studying, it wouldn't be a very useful class.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41627",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23380/"
] |
41,628 |
<p>For example, if (hypothetically speaking) I am stuck on proving a theorem, is it okay to ask my academic advisor some help for next step? My approach has been, "this is what I have tried, I am stuck here...can you point out how I can continue". But the amount of time that it takes the professor to reply is stressing me out, I am afraid that he is getting exasperated at my question.</p>
<p>What makes thing a bit worse is that the prof says flat out he likes people who are able to solve problems independently. But he also has a reputation of being a fast replier to student emails regarding problems arising in his course. I wonder what he expects of me.</p>
<p>So what is considered appropriate to ask your advisor without pushing him to the limit of having to solve the problem himself. Ultimately I am worried about looking totally incompetent. Is there some way for me to not appear totally incompetent?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41629,
"author": "Corvus",
"author_id": 27900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Your approach to asking -- \"this is what I have tried, I am stuck here...can you point out how I can continue?\" -- is the right one. Without knowing how difficult of a problem you have gotten stuck on, and how often you ask for help, it is very hard for us to judge how your advisor will interpret your request.</p>\n\n<p>That said, in general I very much appreciate it when my graduate students and postdocs let me know when they get stuck on some step of a research project. My students and I are collaborators after all, and if I can help them get going again, or alternatively if I can recognize that we've been heading down a dead-end, this is very much to everyone's benefit. </p>\n\n<p>Of course, they should not be coming to me with trivial problems: \"I can't get this expression to format properly in LaTeX\" or \"I don't know how to compute the Jacobian matrix for this function\", nor would I want to get these requests on a daily basis. But if a competent student has made a serious effort to solve a problem and is still stuck, I'd like to know about it and to help if at all possible. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41630,
"author": "GSat",
"author_id": 31420,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31420",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First you should ensure that your question is not trivial (as @Corvus noted). </p>\n\n<p>Are there other graduate students in your group? Talk to them. Bounce ideas off them first. There may be senior PhD students or the like in your department who may be excellent resources for certain types of material.</p>\n\n<p>When you have exhausted some of these avenues, you can and should discuss the roadblock that you have with your advisor. It is quite possible that your advisor may also need time to digest the question and provide an answer or provide some direction. Remember that your advisor is your collaborator and that you are tackling a research question and so others may be as stumped as you are. Even if you believe your advisor is extremely capable you should bear in mind that faculty members have so many tasks to attend to that the fraction of time available to think deeply about your question is quite limited. This may be another reason for delayed responses. A PhD student may have a course or two to tackle but will have -- or is expected to have -- sufficient time to think deeply about a problem.</p>\n\n<p>One more possibility is to discuss your problem with another faculty member in your department who may not be working on the same problem but may have the relevant background to quickly set you on the right path.</p>\n\n<p>A professor responding quickly to questions in a course is quite different because she or he is already an expert on the material, likely set the question or has answered it in the past. So a swift response to student doubts in those cases does not contradict slower responses to open questions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41704,
"author": "gdp",
"author_id": 31290,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31290",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To offer perhaps a different perspective here, I wouldn't have hesitated to discuss something like this. Yours likes people who are able to solve their own problems. I'd perhaps pose the question though, that perhaps he also values those who know their own limitations and seek advice from others. </p>\n\n<p>As the other answers stated, it's always good to talk to other students or post-docs. This may be for specific advice, or simply as a form of \"rubber duck programming\" - there is significant learning and new understanding by explaining something in fundamental terms to a metaphorical (or physical) rubber duck sat in your desk. If your colleagues are not experts in the field, even discussing the problem in broad terms may help you spot something you didn't spot before. </p>\n\n<p>To give an example, I once was stuck in knots, trying to work out a complex concept in some code I was writing. I ended up discussing the problem in fundamental terms with my coworkers in the office. The process of explaining it to them (non experts in the topic) made me really think about the problem I was facing and its context. That led me to have the proverbial brainwave, and find a new angle of approach to the problem I hadn't considered. </p>\n\n<p>In saying that, as I said earlier, I never hesitated to discuss things with my advisor. In fact, we would generally try to talk for at least half an hour per day. Of course that wasn't all seeking technical advice, rather dealing with ongoing business and updating each other on any progress or interesting ideas or discoveries. Obviously this depends on your advisor, but in my experience, advisors value independence, but also recognising your own limitations. I would rather a student I'm supervising came with a problem, than struggled and made no progress for weeks or months. </p>\n\n<p>You asked how to avoid appearing \"totally incompetent\". What I advise is that you prepare a brief summary of what you've attempted. Be able to concisely explain the problem, and your initial analysis of how to solve it. Then be able to state the problem you're experiencing, and what you've tried to work around it. Did you refer to any other works or books (if so, mention this)? Putting a bit of effort into the question shows that you have put the work in, and understand the problem, but need some advice. Don't expect your advisor to immediately solve it, but perhaps they will give a few pointers or ideas. The first few words I mutter after being posed with a problem are often scribbled down quickly by students, who then go away to decipher them and try them out - often the initial thoughts from someone uninvolved with the problem help to solve it or offer a new insight or way of thinking. </p>\n\n<p>I would add though that often it takes me a while to look through a complex problem. And I am often bad at replying to emails when my initial reaction is to delve straight into the problem! Replying to class-related questions is typically much easier (they are generally based on established theory and can be answered with reference to slides, notes or books. Failing that, the explanation is usually familiar). For ongoing, leading edge research, that's obviously not possible. Don't panic - in the cutting edge of research, even the most experienced professor doesn't know the answer immediately. Otherwise it wouldn't be the cutting edge! </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41628",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23380/"
] |
41,633 |
<p>I had applied for a PhD to some colleges in the US, and am waiting for admission results. A professor at a college that I am hoping I am accepted at has responded to my queries of "Is my application likely to be accepted, or should I just accept school B's offer?" with the same answer "your application will be considered in the second round, so you should wait for it. However, I cannot make any promises". </p>
<p>I feel that if the professor thought I had a good chance of getting in, he might have stated so in his replies. "I can't make any promises" seems to be a polite but safe reply, indicating I might be accepted, but thechances do not appear too bright. Should I just accept school B's offer? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41634,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Should I just accept school B's offer?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Probably not -- at least not yet.</p>\n\n<p>In the U.S., at least in my discipline of mathematics, deadlines everywhere are coordinated to be April 15. If you decide where you would like to accept an offer beforehand, it is good manners to let everyone know of your decision immediately. But in your situation, where you are waiting on an offer you would prefer, it is fine to wait until B's deadline. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41637,
"author": "virmaior",
"author_id": 19769,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19769",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I take \"I cannot make any promises\" to mean ... I cannot [i.e., I won't] make any promises. Behind that door could be anything.</p>\n\n<p>In other words, it added no information to your decision about whether to respond in advance to School B's offer.</p>\n\n<p>I wouldn't recommend asking the same professor again, but a more informative question for you to have asked would be <em>when</em> (with specific reference to the April 15th deadline that most graduate programs operate under) you would hear back.</p>\n\n<p>Your best bet is to wait.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41633",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31723/"
] |
41,639 |
<p>So I have to defend my master thesis in computer science in two weeks. It's in Germany and the thesis is 30 credits. I'm wondering what could make someone fail his defense? In my thesis I mainly compare different approaches and algorithms and did experiments on them to answer some research questions. Would I fail if, for example, during the discussion a mistake in my comparison and evaluation approach is discovered which makes my results meaningless? Although I discussed my approach and everything I did with my advisor (postdoc not the prof), yet I still fear that I might have done something wrong and then everything collaps. </p>
<p>I still remember reading a question on this site where someone mentioned that he discovered a vital mistake in his PhD thesis after two years of the defense which made almost his entire thesis useless. Yet of course he didn't lose his PhD degree. So if something like this happens, but during the defense, what could happen?</p>
<p>So how would one fail his master thesis defense? Just to calm down a bit and feel safe and secure!</p>
<p>Edit: I passed with an excellent grade :D.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41640,
"author": "posdef",
"author_id": 5674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Evaluation criteria varies vastly, not only across different countries and cultures but even amongst different institutions within a country. </p>\n\n<p>The only way I can imagine anyone failing a thesis defense here in Sweden is if you have a mental breakdown during presentation or questioning.</p>\n\n<p>Alternatively if the defending student has plagiarised parts his/her work, that would also be a likely fail but otherwise, if you are allowed to defend, then you have practically passed already.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41648,
"author": "pehrs",
"author_id": 31735,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31735",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's pretty rare for a student to fail the defense of a master thesis in the Swedish systems, but I have seen a few over the years. The three most common reasons include:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Did not show up to defend the thesis (AKA: Lose on walkover)</li>\n<li>Doesn't know the material of the thesis (AKA: Didn't write it)</li>\n<li>Unable to hold a discussion about the thesis (AKA: hid in a corner)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Note that unlike a PhD thesis the professor does not have lot of skin in the game. Having a PhD student fail a defense is extremely embarrassing and can end the career of a professor. Having a master student fail a defense isn't considered such a big deal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41660,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Would I fail if, for example, during the discussion a mistake in my comparison and evaluation approach is discovered which makes my results meaningless? Although I discussed my approach and everything I did with my advisor (postdoc not the prof), yet I still fear that I might have done something wrong and then everything collaps.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This should not happen unless:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The mistake is blatantly obvious and something you should have really known better. And with blatantly obvious, I mean something that somebody who has not even studied computer science or a related field could easily spot. Even then you may have chances, if the rest of your work is appropriate – almost everybody brainfarts now and then.</li>\n<li>You made not only one mistake but a lot of big mistakes.</li>\n<li>It becomes obvious that you deliberately ignored that mistake, to avoid being stuck or to get “nicer” results.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>(In the first two cases, your advisor is in big trouble, too.) The point of the master thesis is that you should demonstrate that you can investigate a scientific question under supervision (or something similar – check the regulations, if you wish to know). One mistake does not change this.</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, in some examination regulations I am aware of, there is a procedure for the case that some important but localised flaw is detected in your thesis. For example, you could be given a month to amend your thesis.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How would one fail a master thesis defense?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I have not experienced or heard of such a case but from what I have gathered, you pass if you:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Give a talk about your thesis.</li>\n<li>Be able to answer questions about it.</li>\n<li>Are not detected to have been cheating.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Even if you suffer from a mental breakdown due to nervousness or similar, you probably can repeat the defense – at least with any reasonable examination regulation and examination committee. I am aware of one case where somebody had a nervous breakdown for understandable reasons¹ and the examination board let him repeat the exam. If you look into your examination regulations, there are probably some clauses that allow the examination board to do some things at their own discretion in exceptional cases.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Be aware though that being very difficult to fail does not make the defense unimportant. A bad defense may seriously (and in particular more than nominally) affect your thesis degree, which in turn has a huge impact on your total degree. In particular having passed a thesis with the lowest possible degree (or something close to it) is something you definetely do not want to have in your vita².</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><sup>\n¹ It’s very complicated, but you might compare it to the following: In the middle of the defense, somebody who was the defender’s girlfriend until six months ago enters the room being obviously pregnant in her ninth month.<br>\n² Unless you are in one of those few disciplines where this is the norm.</sup></p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41639",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10497/"
] |
41,645 |
<p>Note: Similar questions exist on ASE but those pertain to funded programs. </p>
<p>I have been admitted to an outstanding MS program and waitlisted for admission to another outstanding MS program. Both are unfunded. The first's response deadline is 04/15, and the second said they may not be able to let me know the final decision before then. While the first program is outstanding, I find better fit in second program (mainly research interest, location, and tuition rate). My question is: would it be ethically unsound to accept the first offer prior to the 04/05 deadline, and if I find out thereafter that I am accepted to the second one, decline the first? Since there is no funding involved (as in a Ph.D. program) I would not feel as bad about it. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41640,
"author": "posdef",
"author_id": 5674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Evaluation criteria varies vastly, not only across different countries and cultures but even amongst different institutions within a country. </p>\n\n<p>The only way I can imagine anyone failing a thesis defense here in Sweden is if you have a mental breakdown during presentation or questioning.</p>\n\n<p>Alternatively if the defending student has plagiarised parts his/her work, that would also be a likely fail but otherwise, if you are allowed to defend, then you have practically passed already.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41648,
"author": "pehrs",
"author_id": 31735,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31735",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's pretty rare for a student to fail the defense of a master thesis in the Swedish systems, but I have seen a few over the years. The three most common reasons include:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Did not show up to defend the thesis (AKA: Lose on walkover)</li>\n<li>Doesn't know the material of the thesis (AKA: Didn't write it)</li>\n<li>Unable to hold a discussion about the thesis (AKA: hid in a corner)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Note that unlike a PhD thesis the professor does not have lot of skin in the game. Having a PhD student fail a defense is extremely embarrassing and can end the career of a professor. Having a master student fail a defense isn't considered such a big deal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41660,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Would I fail if, for example, during the discussion a mistake in my comparison and evaluation approach is discovered which makes my results meaningless? Although I discussed my approach and everything I did with my advisor (postdoc not the prof), yet I still fear that I might have done something wrong and then everything collaps.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This should not happen unless:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The mistake is blatantly obvious and something you should have really known better. And with blatantly obvious, I mean something that somebody who has not even studied computer science or a related field could easily spot. Even then you may have chances, if the rest of your work is appropriate – almost everybody brainfarts now and then.</li>\n<li>You made not only one mistake but a lot of big mistakes.</li>\n<li>It becomes obvious that you deliberately ignored that mistake, to avoid being stuck or to get “nicer” results.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>(In the first two cases, your advisor is in big trouble, too.) The point of the master thesis is that you should demonstrate that you can investigate a scientific question under supervision (or something similar – check the regulations, if you wish to know). One mistake does not change this.</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, in some examination regulations I am aware of, there is a procedure for the case that some important but localised flaw is detected in your thesis. For example, you could be given a month to amend your thesis.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How would one fail a master thesis defense?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I have not experienced or heard of such a case but from what I have gathered, you pass if you:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Give a talk about your thesis.</li>\n<li>Be able to answer questions about it.</li>\n<li>Are not detected to have been cheating.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Even if you suffer from a mental breakdown due to nervousness or similar, you probably can repeat the defense – at least with any reasonable examination regulation and examination committee. I am aware of one case where somebody had a nervous breakdown for understandable reasons¹ and the examination board let him repeat the exam. If you look into your examination regulations, there are probably some clauses that allow the examination board to do some things at their own discretion in exceptional cases.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Be aware though that being very difficult to fail does not make the defense unimportant. A bad defense may seriously (and in particular more than nominally) affect your thesis degree, which in turn has a huge impact on your total degree. In particular having passed a thesis with the lowest possible degree (or something close to it) is something you definetely do not want to have in your vita².</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><sup>\n¹ It’s very complicated, but you might compare it to the following: In the middle of the defense, somebody who was the defender’s girlfriend until six months ago enters the room being obviously pregnant in her ninth month.<br>\n² Unless you are in one of those few disciplines where this is the norm.</sup></p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41645",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26799/"
] |
41,646 |
<p>I will shortly be submitting a paper to an IEEE-formatted journal. I am not affiliated with the IEEE, while my co-author is.</p>
<p>Currently, the author line reads like (made-up author names)</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Fred Boggs, Bob Fredds, <em>Senior Member, IEEE</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>One of the reviewers expresses concern that <strong>"it is unclear if the first author is IEEE-affiliated"</strong> (no, I am not). How should I format this? I have been unable to find references in standard IEEE template files. Should I sign up for IEEE just to have something to write next to my name?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41647,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would suggest asking the journal editor. This seems more like a question of journal style than actual content, and the editor should be able to help with that.</p>\n\n<p>I assume there is a tradition or convention that IEEE members are identified as such. Otherwise, I don't know why you would include this information at all; I don't see why a reader would care.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41649,
"author": "Mad Jack",
"author_id": 11192,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11192",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The example you have given in your question is correct. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Fred Boggs, Bob Fredds, <em>Senior Member, IEEE</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Here, Fred Boggs is not a member, while Bob Fredds is a <em>Senior Member.</em> This is the exact way you should format the author line in this example.</p>\n\n<p>In general, if you are not an IEEE member, you do not list anything next to your name in the author line for any papers you submit to IEEE journals: you should only list the membership grade next to your co-author's names if they are IEEE members.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should I sign up for IEEE just to have something to write next to my name?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You should not join IEEE just to have something to write next to your name in the author line of any papers you submit to IEEE journals (for more information on IEEE membership benefits, you may find <a href=\"http://www.ieee.org/membership_services/index.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">this site</a> helpful).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41664,
"author": "kronos",
"author_id": 30600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30600",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your reviewer is overreaching beyond their duties. S/he is not a copy editor and it is not their place to check the affiliations, it is IEEE's. </p>\n\n<p>Plus it is obvious because it does not say Senior member <strong>s</strong>, only says Senior Member so singular membership is implied. I would hope that they paid more attention to your article than this nonsense which is around for at least two decades that should be quite familiar to any in this business unless it is a freshman getting warmed up with reviewing papers.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41646",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17294/"
] |
41,650 |
<p>I was writing my bachelor's degree and that went quite bad. The reason was that my supervisor was a sophist, in my opinion. For example, when I wrote in my thesis:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"Let n be the cardinality of the set"</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The professor said the proof was wrong. Then after tens of times of trial and error I changed that sentence to the form </p>
<blockquote>
<p>"let n be the number of elements of the set".</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He accepted it. There were tens of times such small mistakes like this and in hyphenation of a word and he just asked me to fix errors in the thesis without pointing where the mistake is.</p>
<p>Is my career in mathematics finished as I couldn't get along with my thesis supervisor?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41653,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Overall I find your question rather strange. First of all the word \"sophist\" is rarely used to describe living people; in my experience it mostly refers to a school of teachers of rhetoric in ancient Greece. I had to look up the dictionary definition to see what I think you mean. The third definition <a href=\"http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sophist\">here</a> is</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <ol start=\"3\">\n <li>(loosely, by extension) One who is captious, fallacious, or deceptive in argument.</li>\n </ol>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If it helps:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>captious: </p>\n \n <ul>\n <li>(obsolete) That captures; especially, (of an argument, words etc.) designed to capture or entrap in misleading arguments; sophistical.</li>\n <li>Having a disposition to find fault unreasonably or to raise petty objections; cavilling, nitpicky </li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So it sounds like you think your advisor is finding fault unreasonably and making petty objections. I have two points in response.</p>\n\n<p>1) In my experience, the majority of the time students think that about their advisors, they are mistaken: the problem is actually one of miscommunication. I think it is very likely that there are <em>reasons</em> for the comments your advisor has made and that you just haven't found them yet. You wrote</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>after tens of times of trial and error </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is a huge red flag of poor communication. You shouldn't be editing your thesis by \"trial and error\", and you shouldn't have to edit it \"tens of times\" to address any one sentence. When someone tells you that a proof is wrong, you ask them why. If they don't tell you, you double check it yourself, come back and say \"I'm sorry, but I wasn't able to figure out your objection to the argument: it still looks valid to me. Can we discuss it in detail?\" If the answer is a hard <strong>no</strong>, then more than a sophist, you would be dealing with someone who is not actually advising you.</p>\n\n<p>In this case it is not even clear (to me, anyway) based on what you said that the issue lies with \"cardinality\" versus \"number of elements\". You are not getting specific enough feedback, so how do you know that this was the problem? That you think it was is in itself worth a followup conversation: the cardinality of a finite set is indeed the number of elements of that set, so why would one be acceptable and the other not? You should find out.</p>\n\n<p>2) Assuming that your advisor actually is captious, fallacious, deceptive, or is totally unwilling to explain himself: those are all bad things about him. Why would his bad qualities ruin your career? I could say more, but I'd need to hear more about why you're concerned. At the moment this concern is at the level of a <em>non sequitur</em> to the rest of your question.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41654,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is my career in mathematics finished as I couldn't get along with my thesis supervisor?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>If your account of the story is accurate</strong>, your advisor is either evil or a didactical failure. I would rather say that if you actually got along with this style of advising, this would count against you. So, this does not say anything against you and unless you want to specialise a particular subfield of mathematics that you can only pursue under this supervisor (which is very unlikely), your career is not finished. Choose a better advisor for your next thesis and that is it. The only drawback you suffer from is probably the sup-par grade of your bachelor thesis and not having the experience of writing a thesis under regular conditions.</p>\n\n<p>As a sidenote: If your account is accurate, I would consider this a denial of supervision and thus inappropriate behaviour. You should take this issue to your faculty’s student body (or similar) as well as to appropriate people from the faculty (e.g., a professor responsible for student issues). This may not have any positive effect on you, but at least you can spare other students your fate.</p>\n\n<p>However, you should also <strong>check whether you are at least part of the problem</strong>: If a supervisor acts as you described to everybody, it’s unlikely that you did not encounter any big red warning signs before choosing him or at least after starting your thesis work:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>News of such bad supervising should spread quickly amongst other students.</li>\n<li>The supervisor’s workgroup should be comparably small.</li>\n<li>Other members of the workgroup are likely to have informed you about this behaviour.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Did you in any way communicate with your supervisor about these issues, such as asking him to explain your errors to you? In particular, consider that your supervisor may not have realised that he told you ten times that something is wrong and just thought that at each instance he was pointing out a new error or an error he had missed before – which would likely not render the advising good, but at least it would not be abysmal anymore.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41650",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31739/"
] |
41,655 |
<p>I finished writing a paper but haven't sorted out the abstract yet. Currently it looks something like this, but I'm not sure if this is OK.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Hello, my name is _____ and I am currently a ______ in high school.
This is my first paper on math.</p>
<p>In this paper, we investigate....</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Notice how I changed from "I" to "we" in the second paragraph. I'm not sure if this is normal?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41662,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>By usual standards of academic writing, the first paragraph should be removed entirely. In academic writing, unlike conversations, the author does not begin by introducing herself. The focus is always on the topic of the paper, not the person who wrote it.</p>\n\n<p>This is particularly out of place in the abstract, which should be a very concise summary of the contents of the paper, so that a reader can tell as quickly as possible if the paper will be interesting or useful to him. It definitely should not contain anything unnecessary. (Also, it is normally limited to one paragraph.)</p>\n\n<p>In some cases, a brief biography of the author can be placed at the beginning or (more commonly) the end of the paper. But it's normally written in third person, and should take a formal, rather than conversational, tone (don't say \"Hello\"). </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>User45220 is a sophomore at Groucho Marx High School in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota. This is her first mathematics paper. Her interests include geometry and calculus.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The question of whether or not to include a biography, and if so where to place it, is up to the journal where you will publish; usually they have a policy of either always including biographies, or never including them.</p>\n\n<p>Now let me address the question I think you really wanted to ask: within the paper, should the author be referred to as \"I\" or \"We\"? (Grammatically, this distinction is called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_number\">number</a>, not <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_tense\">tense</a> which is something else.) There is no universal agreement on this. Historically, \"we\" has been more common, even if there is only one author. (\"In this paper, we investigate splines.\") But some authors prefer to use \"I\" (\"I investigate splines\"), and this is generally okay, if the editor of the journal approves. Another possibility is to use third person, and use \"The author investigates splines\" or \"The authors investigate splines\", according to whether you are writing the paper yourself or with co-authors. Ultimately, your preference as to which option to use is part of your own personal writing style.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41663,
"author": "Calchas",
"author_id": 31491,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31491",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You may choose as you wish. Personally, I find \"we\" in papers authored by a singular person very odd, and I find the image that the author prefers to use the majestic plural in reference to himself in ordinary life inescapable. However, it is quite common, and probably the \"safe choice\". Most top-tier papers are very happy with the singular first person.\nCertainly I (that is to say, \"we\"!) would not be inconsistent. If you want to begin with \"I\", then continue that way. If you are going to use \"we\", then keep it consistent throughout your work.\nFinally, do not worry too much about it. If your paper is accepted, you may ask the journal editors for their opinion.\nGood luck in your submission!</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41655",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31743/"
] |
41,657 |
<p>I received my PhD in mathematics about ten years ago. Despite my preference, desire, and attempts, I was not offered any postdoctoral positions. Part of the reason was (I think) that my dissertation topic was outdated, as opposed to being <em>trendy</em>. Since then, I have accepted a couple of tenure-track positions in teaching-oriented institutions, the second at a two-year Community College and in two years from now I will most probably be tenured. However, I constantly struggle with <em>existential</em> questions. I am <em>not</em> where I wanted to be. Granted, I have a job, but if my goal was to have a job, I was totally capable of aiming at a higher-paying job, instead of mathematics, when I was deciding what to study at college. As a teenager what intrigued me about mathematics (and still does) was its <em>beauty</em> and the opportunity it provided me for <em>being creative</em> through <em>research</em> and <em>continuous learning</em>. However, since my PhD the processes of research and learning have been very slow, despite my continuous attempts. For a long time I used to think the reason was lack of time due to heavy teaching load. While that may have contributed to the problem, I now think a bigger reason is lack of <em>team support</em>. There is a disconnect between my job and my research. I don't have people (graduate students, researchers, etc.) around me to whom I can talk about my research, everyday or every week. Consequently, the ratio of outcome to the time that I spend on research and learning new things is very small. So what are my questions?</p>
<ol>
<li>Ideally I would have liked to be part of a team, a <em>lab</em> if you like, consisting of one or two senior mathematicians (lab leaders), research assistants (mathematicians like myself who are not young enough to be postdocs, but still need to develop their research plans), postdocs, and graduate students. My question is, does such a model exist anywhere?</li>
<li>Are there any options for mathematicians who really are not after a secure job and prefer to work as research assistants (paid less), rather than tenured "calculus teaching" faculty who do not meet age requirements to be considered for postdoctoral positions?</li>
<li>Suppose someone (e.g., myself) didn't know better and did his dissertation on a topic that was not trendy and because of that couldn't secure a postdoctoral position. Is that the end of their career as a research mathematician? Are there any other options? What would you suggest?</li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41658,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<ol>\n<li><p>This model is extremely common in Europe (for example, one of my coauthors in Germany is in a group with her and another senior professor, two junior mathematicians on essentially very long term second postdocs, and about 7 or 8 young postdocs and 7 or 8 graduate students), but there is no institutional framework for it in the US. I know of pairs of tenure-line faculty at the same institution who are close enough to essentially run a joint research group, but outside of a few departments, they are unlikely to have more than one postdoc at a time, so \"research group\" mostly means them and their graduate students.</p></li>\n<li><p>Not really. Essentially postdoctoral positions are the only mechanism that exists in the US system for paying people who are not already performing at a pretty high level to do research. You could still apply to these, though as I think you've already guessed, the odds aren't great this long post-Ph.D. I think the other possibility would be obtaining a long term, non-tenure-track lectureship at a research university (for example, my department hired someone to <a href=\"https://www.mathjobs.org/jobs/jobs/6114\">such a job</a> this year) where there are senior faculty who might work with you. There would still be high teaching expectations (though maybe not worse than a TT community college position), and any research involvement would be \"on your own time,\" but presumably that's largely the case now.</p></li>\n<li><p>I suppose this depends on how you define \"career as a research mathematician.\" The answer is obviously not \"absolutely no,\" look at <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitang_Zhang\">Yitang Zhang</a>. Of course, that's a very extreme example (Zhang didn't even have a teaching position in mathematics for several years), but I think it does show that if you do something undeniably great, at whatever age, the community is open to it. On the other hand, this is like asking \"If I can't get on a Division I college team, does that mean my career as a basketball player is over?\" Obviously, no one can stop you from playing basketball, but if you mean doing so professionally, the odds are slim. If you're really that good, then maybe an NBA team will notice and hire you. But you're not going to be in the place that they look for potential new players, and you'll be missing out on how most people develop their skills. So it's a tough row to hoe. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I think in terms of what's realistic: if what you're missing is being around other people doing mathematics, getting ideas, etc. and you're not worried about security then I would look into finding a permanent (or at least renewable) but non-tenure-track teaching position at a larger research department. It will certainly have some downsides, but I think it's the closest feasible approximation to what you're looking for.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 100153,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ul>\n<li>keep reading about your field of research</li>\n<li>see where is the \"hot\" part. What things are debated / argued? What theories are evolving or developing? If we both agree that $\\int sin(x) dx = -cos(x) + C$, there is no debate and no opportunity for research here.</li>\n<li>publish something about the things you perceive as new (this will fix your self confidence too) and see what the community is saying about it. Think of the reviewers as your peers, not as your enemies, as the egocentric writers do.</li>\n<li>once you accumulate some publications, look for jobs in research</li>\n<li>try to join a research group, as an adjunct (unpaid). This won't take you much time, but you will interact with smart people, which will value your mathematical knowledge. And maybe they will raise some problems that would make you shift your view of what you want to research.</li>\n<li>you may want to keep your teaching job, since it puts bread on the table. Put some passion in it, this way it will be perceived as easier.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41657",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31740/"
] |
41,668 |
<p>I am currently doing some research on an algorithm that may (or may not) end up being slower than other similar algorithms. The idea behind it seems solid although it will probably not be as fast as other, already known and used solutions. Finishing and testing is of course part of the science, so the research will get carried out nevertheless.</p>
<p>So here is my question: <em>is writing an article about conducted, but failed work a good thing?</em></p>
<p>My thoughts are that publishing such an article would help people conducting similar research, who would otherwise waste their own time, trying to do the same thing. Saving their time is crucial for the scientific community in my personal opinion, but I am unsure how others perceive the same problem and I do not want others to have negative opinion about my work.</p>
<p>There are many similar questions on this site, but none seem to duplicate this exact one. <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/36794/have-researchers-any-incentive-to-publish-negative-or-confirmatory-results">This question</a>, for instance, covers confirming or denying others research carried out and described elsewhere, while I am talking strictly about inventing and disproving the idea myself. Many other talk about the rationale behind not posting negative results, but that's also a slightly different subject (although undoubtedly related).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41670,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In order to give your work sufficient rigour and novelty for publication, you might need to set out the theoretical basis for why you thought your new algorithm would be quicker; and an analysis of why, despite that theoretical underpinning, it was not quicker: i.e. how did reality interfere with the theory?</p>\n\n<p>In theory, the test for whether or not it's a good idea to publish failed attempts, is: would it help other researchers advance? In practice, even if it did, you might struggle to find a journal that considered it of sufficient interest to be worth publishing.</p>\n\n<p>Some fields do now have a journal of negative results, which could be a suitable venue. That seems, for now, to be mostly restricted to fields within the life sciences, which might not be your field.</p>\n\n<p>So you might want to consider going to one of the new mega-journals, which select only on the basis of whether your work is methodologically sound and on-topic, and whether you've paid their publishing fee.</p>\n\n<p>And now you can see one risk there: you've got to be careful to avoid predatory publishers.</p>\n\n<p>Another, less obvious risk, is that given some megajournals have incredibly wide scope (e.g. \"science\"), they are not always able to get suitable peer-reviewers: so <a href=\"http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2014/01/29/can-mega-journals-maintain-boundaries-when-they-and-their-customers-both-embrace-publish-or-perish/\">your work could appear alongside some really shoddy work</a>, leaving readers doubting the quality of your work, even if the journal is widely held to be non-predatory.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41676,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The key question to analyze for this decision is whether you just have a \"failure\" or a \"negative result.\" In this case, I am characterizing the distinction as follows:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>A \"failure\" is any case where you didn't get what you wanted in the study. This might be a negative result, but it might also be due to error, mistakes, design problems, management problems, etc.</li>\n<li>A \"negative result\" is a special type of failure, which clearly establishes that the system that you are dealing with <em>could not</em> produce the result you wanted or expected.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Negative results are often harder to establish than positive results, because there are generally more alternatives to rule out. They are, however, legitimate contributions to knowledge and should be published. Thus, if you have a project that is a failure, you should analyze it and ask: how hard would it be to turn this failure into a publishable negative result? If it is not too difficult, you should definitely publish your negative result.</p>\n\n<p>For some cases, such as medical studies, the answer is obvious and publication may even be required. For others, such as certain complex software systems projects, it may be effectively impossible to actually establish a negative result. For your own case, of investigating an algorithm, it could go either way, depending on the nature of the algorithm and your investigation thereof.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 43648,
"author": "mike J",
"author_id": 33123,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33123",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Its a very interesting idea. showing what you call failed attempts. however we need to realize that many problems, and the more complicated they are , may need many attempts or different approaches. its more steps toward a goal , than failed attempts. I think the word fail , actually implies giving up, maybe give yourself a D grade , or a C, but yes this would show the process , which is very important. so like Ford Model T was most successful, and there were many before that, in development, ford model A, model B, model C , etc, so these were predecessors, and they were in development , toward, maybe the goal of the Model T, which proved most profitable </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41668",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31753/"
] |
41,675 |
<p>I have applied to multiple graduate schools and have been offered two GTA positions. Both included full tuition waivers and similar work loads.</p>
<p>The primary difference is one is for a MS program and the other is for a Ph.D program. I applied to the Ph.D programs because the school's Master's program didn't come with a GTA opportunity. </p>
<p>I am not currently committed to the idea of pursuing a Ph.D. The way the program is set up, the course requirements for a MS and PhD are very similar with the primary difference being the depth of the research project. My plan was to evaluate my job prospects and the prospects of a PhD around the time I obtained my MS. I feel like I would have a better idea then about whether or not to pursue the PhD. I don't want to be dishonest but I don't want a career in academics and I suspect that a masters will be sufficient to get me where I want to go. Is it considered unethical to leave a PhD program after my masters under these circumstances?</p>
<p>If it makes a difference, I stated in my SOP that my goals were to obtain a job in an industry.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41677,
"author": "WetlabStudent",
"author_id": 8101,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8101",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is often frowned upon to leave a PhD program after you receive an MS, <em>if this is your intention from the start</em>, because the program would have admitted someone else who wanted a PhD had they known. However, if you don't tell anyone that this is your intention, there is no way for the program to know; PhD students drop out all the time after getting a masters (it is usually assumed that this was not their original intention). But ...</p>\n\n<p><strong>You are lucky enough to have been accepted to a fully funded masters program!</strong> If you think it is a good program, you should go there. Fully funded masters programs are quite rare in most fields. Do the right thing and allow the person who really wants a PhD to enter the PhD program. The PhD program, most likely, has offered you funding assuming you actually want a PhD.</p>\n\n<p>Now if you had not been accepted to this fully funded masters program you would have had a tougher ethical question. For people not accepted to such a program the options are to (1) doing something that is morally questionable (at best) and going to the PhD program, (2) getting a job and waiting a few years until that employer funds a masters degree or (3) paying the money for a masters degree and potentially going into debt. That is a much harder question to answer, my inclination on that one is to go for option (2) if at all possible. But the fact that you were accepted to this funded masters program makes doing the right thing a much easier decision than for most people in similar situations. Take advantage of it!</p>\n\n<p><strong>Response to edits made to the question:</strong> Note that you can still evaluate whether you want to go on to a PhD from your separate fully funded MS program. After your MS, you might even get into a better PhD program and have a better idea about what PhD program/advisor would be best for your research interests. The fact that you \"may\" want a PhD in the future is actually a good reason to take the fully funded MS program. The opportunity costs of delaying the PhD by 1-2 years, by doing a fully funded masters is much less than the opportunity cost in delaying an industry job. .</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41690,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your best bet here is to be clear and discuss it with your future supervisor. In case you don't know who, with whichever professor is in charge. If they are okay with it, there is no ethical concern, and you can drop without issues. If they prefer you not taking the masters, they will not get angry at you because you did no harm.</p>\n\n<p>Also, being honest about this can hopefully help you get a project more oriented towards industry and easier to close before time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41691,
"author": "Christopher",
"author_id": 31775,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31775",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are two things here. (A) Are you worried about what your peers/professors would think once you leave the PhD program after the MS? (B) Do you think it is unethical and hence, it'll make you feel guilty because the same PhD position could have been granted to someone else?\nWell, in my opinion, you need not worry too much about (A). People do drop out of a PhD after an MS, and the university does understand that it is statistically impossible that all the students will end up completing their thesis. (B) You should convince yourself that you deserved to get selected, and hence, in some sense you are better than that guy who just couldn't make it. Whether someone else would have been given this position is none of your concern, since you're not a part of the selection committee. Your job is to do well in the studies (MS/PhD) and make decision that will suit your academic interests better. So don't worry too much about the ethics of leaving the PhD in the middle and give your best in your MS. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41699,
"author": "grandmah77",
"author_id": 31783,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31783",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Coming from someone who is in the middle of his PhD program, I would say that it is really important to discuss your interests honestly with your presumptive future advisor (or school). Forget about the morals and ethics, forget about depriving other people. Sure, it's wrong, but that's not your main concern for your decision. </p>\n\n<p>First of all, your concern should be about getting yourself in and our of grad school efficiently. Sounds easy, right? Keeping yourself moving forward is harder than the actual work, and I say that as an experienced 37 year old (former) professional. I know for myself in engineering, my wife (PhD in Psychology/Neuroimaging), and a lot of grad student friends, grad school is incredibly tough. But it's not necessarily the academics or even the research that is so tough. It's the \"politics\". What I mean by that is keeping your masters/PhD focused, keeping your proposal to a reasonable scope, keeping other people from taking it over, keeping your committee members from exerting their own biased interests on your project, keeping your advisor from keeping you there forever as cheap labor. Or what about this: my wife's PhD advisor got fired for fooling around with a student during the middle of her degree. Think you can just \"get another advisor\"? You have to find someone with the same research focus, with funding, with time for another student. Or start over from scratch with a new advisor. Or for me, my advisor is old. If I don't get my proposal approved asap and god forbid something happens to him, I could end up effectively abandoned in the middle of my degree. AKA \"Start Over\". My project got switched three times in two years before I put my foot down. Ok, so that might all sound crazy, but you check around and you'll find a ton of these kinds of stories. I've only met a few people who had a really smooth grad school experience, at least outside med school. I've heard that med school (residency, etc.) is a very focused, structured and disciplined experience.</p>\n\n<p>What does all that have to do with you wanting to do a masters by being admitted into a funded PhD program? Well, first, if you sign up as a PhD student, you will be treated as a PhD student, which means you will have to do a lot more in the way of forming a PhD committee, making an extended research plan, submitting a proposal, passing your qualifying exam, etc. etc. when you don't have any real intention of doing that. You're wasting YOUR time, not to mention anyone else's. Second, you are really sabotaging your own success at earning only a master's degree.</p>\n\n<p>Here is a specific example: Your PhD project will be very, very different than a master's project. If you are in a combined Master/PhD program, your masters and PhD project is one in the same (maybe different phases/levels of difficulty). How are you going to get out of the program in 1-2 years with a master's if you're working on a PhD project set up for 3-4 years? You can't just stop in the middle, say \"that's enough\", and expect them to hand you a master's degree. Sure, you can absolutely quit, but you probably won't have any degree - just a couple years wasted and some prospective employers asking you what the heck happened and why you aren't reliable.</p>\n\n<p>Furthermore, as a PhD student, you might be guided to spend your whole first year getting classes out of the way without even starting on your 3 year project in earnest. Or, a different school might do the opposite and guide you to spread your classes out over 4 years. In my case, my research project was in a rush to get started, so I didn't take classes at all my first year. I just worked on building my reactors and getting them running for a multi-year duration experiment. That was my decision to ultimately benefit myself, but depending on the circumstances, your advisor may instruct you to do something similar.</p>\n\n<p>One thing I will say about ethics/morals/quitting is that in my field of water/wastewater engineering, at the graduate level, it is a remarkably small world. If you quit a program for an \"honest\" reason, nobody will frown upon you. But if you develop a reputation for not being genuine, there is a reasonable chance that it will haunt you eventually.</p>\n\n<p>Another thing that I will agree on with some of the comments to your question: Don't do a PhD unless you know exactly why you are doing it. I'm doing mine because I want to do a very specific job and after 10-12 years working experience, I decided that I wasn't going to find a way into that job without a piece of paper hanging on the wall with the letters \"PhD\" on it. It's not really about learning - I'm teaching post-docs right now. But no one is going to hire me to be their \"expert\" unless I have that PhD hanging on the wall to prove it.</p>\n\n<p>And it is absolutely true that having a PhD can be a hindrance for many jobs. Sure, you can say it's because it means you have to be paid more, or because being overqualified could scare an insecure boss. But I have actually had someone say to my face that they wouldn't hire a PhD in their consulting business because PhD's are by definition perfectionists. That person said \"in engineering consulting, there might be 10 solutions that will satisfy the project requirements. I just need one; it doesn't have to be the absolute best one.\" And to that, I agree wholeheartedly. In business, you can't waste time like that, and PhD's have a reputation not to the contrary.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41675",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31765/"
] |
41,678 |
<p>I am nearly at the end of my master thesis and, according to my research, the last part of it deals with something that has not been treated before in any paper/book I have found. </p>
<p>To make things more clear: in my thesis I am applying a method well known in literature, which has been applied many times on simple structural elements built on purpose to validate the method. In my thesis I have started applying the method on simple structures too, to be sure I have implemented it correctly. Then, in the last part, I apply it on a real-world structure using real measurements (not numerical generated ones).</p>
<p>The problem is that I am not sure if I should underline this fact as a novelty in the method application. According to my literature research, this approach has not been tried yet, but I can speak only 2 languages, therefore I looked for books/papers written in those 2 languages only. </p>
<p>What if this thing has been already done by someone else on a paper written in another language? Then my results will not be a novelty anymore, so I should not mention it in my thesis and this will also affect the 'goodness' of my work too (because my thesis will not actually add any useful information to the already existing literature).</p>
<p>How can I deal with this situation?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41679,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a common situation, since it really isn't possible to be absolutely certain that nobody has done this work before. What I find people usually do is:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Do the best literature search you can. As for references in other languages, in many fields it's common that papers written in, say, French, will have an abstract in English, so you'd have a chance of finding them even if you can't read French. But if you find a French paper whose abstract suggests that it may contain similar results to yours, then it is your duty to find a way to read it (look for a translation, ask a colleague to translate, learn some French yourself if necessary) and make sure.</p></li>\n<li><p>Once you are satisfied you have done a diligent search, write something like \"this result appears to be new\" or \"as far as we know, this result has not been obtained previously\". </p></li>\n<li><p>If it later turns out that your result was already known, be prepared to acknowledge that the other author had priority, and to be able to show that although you did a reasonably diligent search, you did not find the prior paper, and that your result was truly obtained independently (not plagiarized).</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41682,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>A general guideline for writing papers (which also extends to theses) is: <strong>Never claim that something is new/novel,</strong> and at least some journals or publishers reflect this in their guidelines, e.g., <a href=\"http://journals.aps.org/authors/new-novel-policy-physical-review\">here</a>. If you publish something, it is always implied that this is new according to your knowledge or, if it isn’t, that you properly cited whoever did it before you.</p>\n\n<p>The very most I have seen people claim is something along the lines of:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>To our knowledge, X has not been attempted before.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>which would be the truth in your case. I would however even refrain from such a sentence, as it should be implicit when you do not cite. However, in some disciplines (like yours) this may be common or acceptable, respectively.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What if this thing has been already done by someone else on a paper written in another language? Then […] this will also affect the 'goodness' of my work too (because my thesis will not actually add any useful information to the already existing literature).</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Master theses are (or at least should be) evaluated differently than papers and the main goal is not to produce something useful but to perform a proper scientific investigation (or similar). Of course, if you were assigned a proper topic, the two things are usually somewhat equivalent. But if, e.g., somebody publishes a paper doing the same things as your thesis one month before your defense, this does not diminish the quality of the investigation you performed¹. Something similar holds, if it turns out that somebody already published something similar in another language or under totally different keywords in another field (rendering it very difficult to find).</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, the duty of deciding whether something is actually novel lies at least to some extent on your supervisor: If somebody already investigated the topic of your thesis, you should not have been assigned this topic in the first place. You cannot be expected to know whether your topic hasn’t already been investigated before starting your thesis, because you probably do not even know where to search.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><sup>\n¹ It may even underline the importance of what you have been investigating and that your work is on a publishable level.\n</sup></p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41678",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28587/"
] |
41,687 |
<p>Every now and then I receive an email claiming to be from some undergrad student in Math or Computer Science at an Indian university asking for a summer research experience in "my research group" (there is no such thing).</p>
<p>These emails all have a very formulaic structure. There always is a claim that the student read and very much enjoyed some paper of mine, but never any indication that this actually happened (ie no reference to stuff in the paper). In particular, these emails look like they could have been sent to dozens of people with a little bit of copy&paste. Attached are real-looking CV's.</p>
<p>Are these real students or this is some elaborate scam? If these are from real students, why do they think this could potentially work? Why India?</p>
<p>Edit: While I have only received emails like this from India, in the comments Tom Curch mentions having received some from China, too.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41693,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I believe these are genuine requests for internships. They almost all appear to be mass e-mails. Even the personalized ones usually involve just a few \"fill in the blank\" additions, and it's clear that applicants sometimes share templates because I've received nearly identical e-mails from different applicants.</p>\n\n<p>As far as I can tell, it's a vicious cycle. It's difficult to judge these applications, and most of them are wildly ill-matched or inappropriate, so recipients usually don't even reply. (I've found that replying is viewed by some applicants as a strong form of encouragement, even if I just say something like \"Sorry, I never have any interns and I don't work in area X in any case.\" I feel bad about it, but this is a powerful motivation not to reply.) The lack of replies pushes desperate students to send out huge numbers of e-mails, and this drives the response rate even lower. The net effect is that everyone ends up unhappy with the status quo. For example, see the comments <a href=\"http://paulwgoldberg.blogspot.com/2011/02/iit-student-seeks-internship-at-your.html\">here</a>, which feature discussion from both faculty and internship applicants.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If these are from real students, why do they think this could potentially work?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It seems to have degenerated into a lottery, in which a few students succeed in getting an attractive internship and that motivates many others to try.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Why India?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>One partial explanation is that there are enormous numbers of English-speaking students in India who would be willing to consider studying abroad and would like to get an international experience as undergraduates. I've also heard that the IITs encourage students to do internships, but I don't know the details.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41723,
"author": "JRN",
"author_id": 64,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some of the comments to <a href=\"http://recursed.blogspot.com/2010/01/weirdest-request-to-work-with-me.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">this blog post by Jeffrey Shallit</a> written in January 2010 appear to be from students from India.</p>\n<p>Comment 1:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Not really. Most of the email soliciting these internships come from students who are looking for a free vacation in a foreign land, to make a bit of money and to get laid. The trend was started a few years ago, when some actually talented individuals were invited to universities abroad. Since then, these IITians seem to think that they are entitled to free lunches. My advice to you would be to install a spam filter that identifies these types of mail. If not, you can write a mail to the director of the institute or the dean of UG studies at "[email protected]" requesting them to forward a circular banning students from spamming international academicians.\nHowever keep in mind that some of the students are actually very talented, so to weed out the hacks, you can post some instructions that applicants must follow (many professors in major US universities have already done so).\nI hope these emails do not create a bad impression of IIT grads in your mind.\nI should hope so, considering I am one myself :)</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Comment 2:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>this is an Indian student of the college in discussion. We Indians are basically opportunists who have little to do with research when we say 'we study in premier institutes of India'</p>\n<p>Mass mailing is a fad amongst iit students, most of whom look for a paid vacation in your project. But iitians provide economic labor and some of them work above expectations(some...mind you). Next time, try negotiating with the guys, and i am pretty sure you would save by outsourcing to the brown :D\nregards</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Comment 3:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I too am a student in the mentioned institute, and like the guy who sent this mail, I have been applying to various professors in my field of interest.</p>\n<p>Of course, the sad truth is that most of us write a template mail and send it to a group of 100 odd professors. These are generally the ones who want to have a "free lunch".</p>\n<p>There are, though, certain very talented applicants who actually read your papers and are interested in working with you.</p>\n<p>It is very sad that these students are screwed because of the spammers, but such is the reality.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Comment 4:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Intern Mail Spamming has always been a nettling issue for the Professors of foreign universities.</p>\n<p>It is agreed that most students mail for the sake of getting an internship rather than having a keen and genuine interest towards the work. Yet, its a perpetuating fact that the Indian Institutes of Technolgy produce the best academicians.</p>\n<p>Thus, its a request to all the Professors o kindly keep their mind casual in this regard as they can be assured of really talented students whose mails are on the way.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>There are more comments, but they seem similar to these.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41734,
"author": "Aditya",
"author_id": 911,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/911",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I graduated from a premier Indian university more than a decade ago and have sent out such emails. Let me try to put this practice in context.</p>\n\n<p>Like many universities around the world, Indian universities have a semester system and a three to four month summer break in-between. Many Indian universities (but not the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institutes_of_Technology\">IITs</a>) have a compulsory <em>summer internship</em> that must be completed in the summer before the final year. These internships can be done either in industry or academia. Therefore, it is common for Indian students to apply for internships. Until the late 1990s, most students used to apply for such internships within India.</p>\n\n<p>The situation changed in the late 1990s because a couple of European universities (EPFL for sure, but I think that there were others as well) started a <em>summer internship program for Indian students</em> (almost exclusively from the IITs). The primary reason was to attract Indian students for graduate studies; at that time most Indian students went to English speaking countries. I participated in such a program in the early 2000s.</p>\n\n<p>These programs did not result in any mass emails. The department of the Indian university used to send a list of student CVs, and the department at the European school would select from that list. </p>\n\n<p>However, once students realized that European universities accept students for internships, they started applying en mass. And <em>most</em>, if not all, of them got offers, typically from universities in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, and Singapore; but also occasionally from the US and UK. (At least, this was the situation at my time). Initially, only IIT students were doing this; slowly everyone else also started applying.</p>\n\n<p>At our time, some of us applied because we wanted to experience the research environment in Europe, others applied because they wanted a paid vacation. Some were meticulous in their search and wrote personalized letters; others simply sent out a form letter to everyone. My understanding is that most students (at least from IITs) still get such internships, so the practice continues.</p>\n\n<p>Note that the universities which started this practice to attract Indian students were successful. They saw an increase in the number of students from IITs who applied for graduate studies. I have friends who went to study in a non-anglophone European country because someone had gone to the same university for an internship and had had a positive experience.</p>\n\n<p>I don't know if more European universities have started this practice or not; but I know that recently Canadian universities (rather a Canadian funding agency) started a university internship program for international students from India, China, and Brazil.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 61184,
"author": "typesanitizer",
"author_id": 31940,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31940",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Tl;dr:</strong> Few people genuinely want to do research internships at universities unless they are academically oriented. Successful students’ stories spread around. Juniors under pressure to land an internship emulate/copy templates. Despite sound advice from seniors, a lot of undergraduates send spam.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>As an undergraduate senior currently studying at IIT Bombay, let me try to add to the already written answers by Aditya etc. with reference to my interaction with my seniors and peers. As has been mentioned in <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/41734/7734\">Aditya‘s answer</a>, there are some formal channels to get internships; these are mostly helpful for top-ranking students, whereas the number of students wanting to do internships is much more.</p>\n\n<p>At IIT Bombay, there is no mandatory internship requirement for graduation but I know other universities where this is the case.\nAs far as I understand, students, especially juniors (and to a lesser extent sophomores) are under quite some pressure to land a \"summer internship\" and the order of preference is typically as follows: Great company > Average company > Foreign University > Indian University > Current University ≫ Nothing.</p>\n\n<p>For students who are interested in entering the job market after graduating, the order follows naturally, where the last few inequalities stems from peer pressure and the last one from “something is better than nothing”.</p>\n\n<p>For academically-oriented students – primarily aiming to apply to grad schools abroad the next year – the first two options are not relevant. Here, the internship serves three purposes:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Doing decent/good work ensures a letter of recommendation for grad school from a Professor who is not from your current university (the general belief is that such a LOR is likely to be more helpful than a “local” one).</p></li>\n<li><p>Research experience helpful for deciding fields of interest.</p></li>\n<li><p>As somebody as already pointed out, free vacation in a foreign country.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Of course, the relative importance of each factor varies from individual to individual.</p>\n\n<p>In the fall semester, there are often short sessions organized by student bodies on “tips on landing an internship” from successful seniors; I have attended a few of these. The common summary usually boils down to: if you are interested in some professor’s research write a short email with:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>short introduction;</li>\n<li>research you are interested in (after reading papers);</li>\n<li>previous research/study experience with linked/attached homepage/CV. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Although all our seniors strongly advise us against writing fake emails (like the ones you’ve mentioned) as it hurts the reputation of the student community and especially affects those who write sincerely, there are inevitably more than a few who feel desperate (because statistics of landing an internship via emailing are so low), skip over the “reading papers” bit and choose to send spam in bulk rather than a few well-thought emails. And inevitably, one “ideal” email gets shared which is copied and edited as a template. This leads to a “race to the bottom” as pointed out in <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/41693/7734\">the answer by Anonymous Mathematician</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Apart from the statistical factor, there is an obvious mental cost of writing a genuine email; posting spam takes little to no effort compared to writing a sincere email – I remember having written exactly one email which took me around two weeks including reading papers, references etc.</p>\n\n<p>A short reply to Pete L. Clark’s comment:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If faculty members really wanted their students to do internships abroad, why aren’t they helping them out in some way?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Many students have little to no experience with undergraduate research and are looking to land an internship quickly. Professors do occasionally help students get such an internship abroad; this happens mostly in the case where the student has prior undergraduate research experience <strong>and</strong> is comfortable talking about the situation with the professor.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41687",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12047/"
] |
41,688 |
<p>I need to cite some patents for a paper in BibTeX format. <em>Google Patents</em> provide me a BibTeX like this one:</p>
<pre><code>@misc{spangler1988method,
title={Method and system for measurement of road profile},
author={Spangler, Elson B.},
url={http://www.google.it/patents/US4741207},
year={1988},
month=may # "~3",
publisher={Google Patents},
note={US Patent 4,741,207}
}
</code></pre>
<p>I do want to cite Google as the publisher. Rather the patent is from the US Patent and Trademark Office.</p>
<p>What is the correct way to do this?</p>
<p>Note that this patent, e.g., is expiate due to failure to pay maintenance fee.</p>
<p><strong>NOTE</strong></p>
<p>I have found this instructions on <a href="http://www.ieee.org/documents/ieeecitationref.pdf" rel="noreferrer">IEEE</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em><strong>Patents</strong></em></p>
<p>Basic Format:</p>
<p>[1] J. K. Author, “Title of patent,” U.S. Patent x xxx xxx, Abbrev. Month, day, year.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p>[1] J. P. Wilkinson, “Nonlinear resonant circuit devices,” U.S. Patent 3 624 125, July 16, 1990.</p>
<p><strong>NOTE</strong>: Use “issued date” if several dates are given.</p>
</blockquote>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41728,
"author": "Willie Wong",
"author_id": 94,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Firstly, BibTeX is more or less a data structure. You can populate its fields however you want, as long as it captures the essential information. </p>\n\n<p>Now, there is an <code>@patent{...}</code> type which, while not standard, is supported by many styles. Check the documentation for the citation style you are using for details. As you would be using either the <code>@misc</code> or <code>@patent</code> types, you should try to populate your fields or configure your styles in a way that the <em>compiled output</em> from BibTeX matches the expected style of the document that you are trying to prepare. </p>\n\n<p>For example, <a href=\"http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/IEEEtran/bibtex\" rel=\"noreferrer\">IEEEtran's BibTeX package</a> supports that <code>@patent</code> type and you can read their documentation on what fields should be populated and how. In particular, they support the <code>number</code> field which you should populate with <code>4741207</code> and the <code>nationality</code> field which you should populate with <code>United States</code>, instead of the Google output which put those information in the <code>note</code> field. The <code>publisher</code> field is actually ignored in the IEEEtrans style, so you don't need to do anything about it, and the <code>url</code> you can just drop, since given the United States patent number it is relatively easy to find it on the USPTO website. </p>\n\n<p>If your publication follows the Chicago manuals, <a href=\"http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/15/ch17/ch17_sec219.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">here's how they prefer it to look</a>. Note in particular it does not show any \"publisher\" or \"url\" information.</p>\n\n<p>If you use biblatex, <a href=\"https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/45459/citing-patents-using-biblatex\">this TeX.SE q/a</a> gives a pretty good sample of acceptable use. </p>\n\n<p>In short, like most questions about \"how to cite <em>blah</em>\", the answer is:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The point of a citation is to give an unambiguous reference to previously published material. Many publishers and societies have established conventions and styles and the practical suggestion is to follow their guidance in how to style your bibliographic information. Absent that, use your own best judgment about how much information is sufficient to identify the reference. </p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41732,
"author": "Danny Ruijters",
"author_id": 28830,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28830",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is a bibtex @patent entry.</p>\n\n<p>This is what the <a href=\"http://ctan.mirrorcatalogs.com/macros/latex/exptl/biblatex/doc/biblatex.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">documentation</a> says:\n\"@patent A patent or patent request. The number or record token is given in the number field. Use the type field to specify the type and the location field to indicate the scope of the patent, if different from the scope implied by the type. ...</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Required fields: author, title, number, year/date</li>\n<li>Optional fields: holder, subtitle, titleaddon, type, version, location, note, date, month, year, addendum, pubstate, doi, eprint, eprintclass, eprinttype, url, urldate\"</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><em>However</em>, the @patent entry <a href=\"http://tex.aspcode.net/view/635399273629833626143940/how-to-reference-a-patent-with-bibtex\" rel=\"nofollow\">might</a> be treated as an @misc entry, and therefore, depending on the LaTeX citation style you use, you might want to use the @misc keyword instead, as indicated in the question.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, I would suggest to use <a href=\"https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/search.jsf\" rel=\"nofollow\">WIPO Patentscope</a> instead of Google for your url references.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 125574,
"author": "Eamonn Kenny",
"author_id": 104960,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/104960",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Add the <strong>nationality</strong> as per IEEEtran.bst as described in: </p>\n\n<pre><code>ftp://tug.ctan.org/pub/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/IEEEtran/bibtex/IEEEtran_bst_HOWTO.pdf\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>In addition all you need is <strong>authors, title, url, year, date</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>So if submitted to the United States this is what you would provide as the nationality or U.S. </p>\n\n<p>Also as mentioned above use WIPO patent search not google for accurate dates and years on patents.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 133555,
"author": "Astor Florida",
"author_id": 58030,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/58030",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I found the other answers a bit challenging for some random format. Here's what I did:</p>\n\n<pre><code>@misc{name,\n title={Best invention ever},\n author={Edison, Thomas Jones},\n year={U.S. Patent 1 234 567, Nov. 1969}\n }\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>This appears with the correct formatting, even though it probably not the technically correct way to do it. Not proud, but I need to move on.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41688",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28699/"
] |
41,694 |
<p>I'm in a Ph.D program and feel like I'm trapped inside of a bubble most days. Attending lectures, daily research seminars, meetings, etc is all very interesting to me and I really like what I do. However, all the fancy models, theory, and discussions only pertain to those of us in the position to be talking about such ideas and can actually understand the concepts. To a general audience it seems like a bunch of fancy equations that don't apply to the real world and I have a hard time explaining my side and why it is important. In turn, I start doubting the importance of academic/non-academic research. During my first year, I felt like my professors who were theoretical were just creating their own jobs; of course you can prove that theorem because of those assumptions. </p>
<p>So my question is, what are some tangible (or non-tangible) benefits of academic research? Why should research exist when most of the papers will only ever be read by academics, while a very select few will be accepted by the general public. </p>
<p>Disclaimer : please don't take this as an elitist post. I wouldn't be able to understand a carpenters way of thinking.</p>
<p>Edit : </p>
<p>I want to add, what is the incentive to invest so much in research that doesn't go anywhere in hopes that decades down the road one paper will be recognized? I'm having a hard time understanding the billions of dollars funded in research each year in hopes of a significant achievement.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41695,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The reason we do lots of strange and probably useless research is that predicting which bits will turn out to be important is only possible in retrospect.</p>\n\n<p>Consider, for example, the internet on which we are discussing the apparent uselessness of research. It is now driving a significant fraction on the world economy. Twenty years ago, it was just starting to be publicly noticed. Twenty years before that, my company was playing with the prototype versions in experiments you likely would see as largely useless and known only to a small niche audience. Thirty years before that, in 1945, Vannevar Bush laid the basic principles of hyperlinked text, in what was clearly an ivory tower fantasy... and yet here we are.</p>\n\n<p>Almost everything ever done in science is useless... But the parts that aren't make a real difference. Sometimes only a little, sometimes a lot, and sometimes they shift the fate of civilizations. You just have to hold a vision of how it <em>might</em> matter, and chase that dream with all your heart.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41705,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to the <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/41695\">answer</a> regarding how some objects of pure research turn out to be monumentally important (and we don't know ahead of time which ones they'll be), there is another point worth considering.</p>\n\n<p>What does it mean for something to \"benefit\" people/citizens/society? You might instantly think of rather tangible examples -- feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, ending wars, etc. But having a roof over your head and food in your stomach <em>is not sufficient</em> to be considered leading \"the good life.\" What about fun? Entertainment? Seeing something new? Learning how to do something you couldn't do before?</p>\n\n<p>Net value can be created in ways other than making a new material product enjoyed by every person on Earth. Consider money spent to fund poetry and archaeology and wilderness preserves. No one such project uniformly adds real wealth to everyone in the world (I might love camping but find poetry incomprehensible), but taken together they can have a grand impact on society as a whole. We end up with more knowledge about the world around us and about ourselves, opening up more options for how to spend our lives.</p>\n\n<p>To take a concrete recent example, a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_%28film%29\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">certain somewhat successful movie</a> used ideas from my own field of research, black hole accretion disks. This is an incredibly narrow field, to the point where most university astrophysics departments don't have anyone who deals with it. But the impact of the pure research went far beyond the few people capable of reading the scientific literature, in the form of providing new ideas that resulted in new creative works.</p>\n\n<p>People pay real money for culture and entertainment. Some even get one step closer to research and pay real money to learn a subject just for fun (see especially continuing education programs). Now I'm not claiming we spend the \"right\" amount of taxpayer money on pure research, or that it's necessarily going \"where it should\" -- that's incredibly difficult to quantify. I'm just pointing out that there is real value in expanding humanity's corpus of knowledge.</p>\n\n<p>Put another way, imagine living in a world with all your basic needs met but without any of the enrichment derived from fundamental research. Suppose someone were to come along with a Kickstarter idea -- learn as much possible about nature, from the history of the universe to cataloging all species of life on Earth, where much of the data and all of its interpretation would be made freely available to all. Wouldn't you, and indeed most people, give a little bit to that cause?</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41694",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24782/"
] |
41,697 |
<p>I know someone who works at a university and is considering taking courses there (which the university allows and subsidizes for its employees). If they take enough courses to make up a masters degree, will they be accredited a masters degree? Will employees, schools, etc. See this as the same as if they had just done the masters program regularly?</p>
<p>EDIT: In this case, their work isn't directly related to the MS program. Instead they work more generally for the university, in a capacity that isn't related to any particular department. They also hold a bachelors of science in the given field so I don't think prerequisites would be an issue.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41703,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Many master's degrees have other components besides required coursework, e.g. \"comprehensive\" exams, projects, a thesis. Certainly to get a master's degree you need to fulfill all the requirements. </p>\n\n<p>Someone who is taking master's level courses piecemeal should check to see whether and in what way they can fulfill these additional requirements. This may depend on the details of the enrollment. However, in most cases that I know about, the department and the faculty won't care much about the administrative fine print, so long as the student is doing well in the courses and shows herself capable of doing whatever extra work is required.</p>\n\n<p>If you do fulfill all the requirements of a master's degree, then you get a master's degree. Whether you were employed by the university at the time has nothing to do with the degree and probably would not show up on the transcript. By the way, in many academic fields most or all graduate students are employed by the university in one manner or another -- e.g. as a PhD student, I taught every other semester, and every semester that I was teaching I received a separate ID card listing me as an <strong>officer</strong> of the university. I had quite a few of these cards by the time I graduated.</p>\n\n<p><b>Added</b>: In order to get a degree, you need to be enrolled in the program. There is such a thing as a \"non-degree student\"; you might want to look that up. What I and Bill Barth are saying is that, in practice, a non-degree student who is doing well in the coursework and shows herself able to complete all the requirements of the degree has a good shot at getting enrolled in the degree program.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41706,
"author": "user-2147482637",
"author_id": 12718,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12718",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>If they take enough courses to make up a masters degree, will they be\n accredited a masters degree? Will employees, schools, etc. See this as\n the same as if they had just done the masters program regularly?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I have never heard of this happening. Taking courses that make up the same courses required in a Masters program is different than being in a Masters program. As Peter L. Clark points out, there are more requirements than taking classes to a Masters program. </p>\n\n<p>Put another way, a student admitted into the history department at a university is allowed to take classes outside their department. Imagine they extend their degree program by a factor of 2, or some other method for taking enormous course loads. Now they take every class that is required of a computer science degree. In the end, they do not get a computer science degree, they get a history degree.</p>\n\n<p>Yes, many universities allow employees to take classes. This is different than being in a degree program which may have a variety of requirements in order to graduate, such as internships, weekly faculty advisor meetings, thesis project, independent work, etc.</p>\n\n<p>As one reference, Cornell has a specific <a href=\"https://www.hr.cornell.edu/benefits/education/edp.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">employee programme</a> for doing just what you are asking about. It also states:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>You must apply to and be accepted by a school or college as a regular\n degree candidate, as special student status is not a consideration.\n Prior to the application process, you will need to have the\n endorsement of your immediate supervisor, your supervisor’s manager,\n and the dean or executive officer.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is different than employees taking classes, which is referred to as <a href=\"https://www.hr.cornell.edu/benefits/education/extramural.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">extramural studies</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41710,
"author": "JenB",
"author_id": 26776,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26776",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Basically it depends on whether they are formally enrolled in the subjects or just attending.</p>\n\n<p>I think you mean they would be enrolled (since the university is subsidising, this suggests they would otherwise pay full fees). As long as they pass all the courses, do an approved structure (that is, all compulsory subjects and the correct number of elective) then, yes, they get the same degree as any other student.</p>\n\n<p>If they are just attending lectures and doing some (or even all) the coursework, but never actually enrol, then they are not a student and will not get the degree.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41746,
"author": "T K",
"author_id": 12656,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12656",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Great answers above. One extra remark: One might also look at the school in which they are enrolled for these degree credits. During my PhD, I had a friend that was working at the university taking all the necessary credits for a certain scientific Masters degree. When it was almost done and he went in for a graduation check, they told him the degree he was going to get was a Masters in Liberal Arts instead of the MSc because he was enrolled in the Liberal and Professional Studies College part of the university (the name for the Continuing Graduate Studies college for the university) instead of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. There was no way for the college he was in to bestow him a degree from the Graduate School even though he had taken all the appropriate courses. Making sure one is enrolled in the right part of the university to obtain the degree is important if one is employed in a large university. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41697",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29437/"
] |
41,712 |
<p>When applying to a computer science PhD position in US, does it make sense to mention various significant achievements (finishing in top 5% percent) in programming/data-mining contests (<a href="http://www.topcoder.com/" rel="nofollow">topcoder</a>, <a href="http://www.kaggle.com/" rel="nofollow">kaggle</a>, <a href="https://www.hackerrank.com" rel="nofollow">hackerrank</a>). </p>
<p>These competitions have their weight for tech giants, but does a PhD hiring committee takes them into consideration? If so, it would be nice to know how much weight do they have and what is the best way to present them?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41721,
"author": "george",
"author_id": 21766,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21766",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, they matter to PhD hiring committees, because they show potential.</p>\n\n<p>I believe you should include such achievements in a \"Distinctions\" or \"Awards\" section in your CV.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42643,
"author": "Elchin",
"author_id": 25134,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25134",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Definitely yes! It shows you're willing to take an extra mile, and show extracurricular enthusiasm in the subject.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42661,
"author": "DoubleYou",
"author_id": 31253,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31253",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I doubt there is a given weight to any of an applicant's documentation. Every applicant is different, and every PhD research is different.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>An applicant might do well in certain competitions for coding, but a PhD research is certainly not only about coding. Most of it is literature review, writing and formulating the problem and finding a solution (which has nothing to do with coding)</li>\n<li>An applicant may have wonderful scores on each and every subject (in Bachelor/Master maybe), but if it is not completely within the field of the PhD, a committee will most likely look at how capable this applicant is for the research</li>\n<li>An applicant with a very good CV who writes an application letter that does not indicate any interest or is poorly written is most likely not to be chosen compared to an applicant with a reasonable CV who shows strong interest and enthusiasm</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Certainly, listing achievements and publications helps if you like to have a career in academia. In tech companies they hire you specifically for your programming skill, and that's most likely what you do there, not too much else. In academia it's the 'full package' that you need to provide.</p>\n\n<p>To conclude: I doubt there is a grading system and equation that evaluates the 'best match' for a PhD position.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: I am not saying that you should not mention them in an application. All achievements, honors and awards gained in the field will benefit your application. It can be beneficial to even shortly explain the details of the competition and your result, so the committee understands their importance.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41712",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7096/"
] |
41,713 |
<p>Given that only papers where you are the first-author will contribute to your dissertation, isn't it a poor use of time to be contributing to the projects of other researchers?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41714,
"author": "Corvus",
"author_id": 27900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In disciplines* where the PhD thesis consists of a set of published articles, the PhD usually - but not always - must be composed of first-author papers. Yet there are many reasons why it might be beneficial to be involved in other projects as well, so long as one is also making reasonable progress toward the dissertation. </p>\n\n<p>Perhaps the two most important reasons are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Training.</strong> Early on in graduate school, it may be valuable to simply have the experience of going through every stage of a research project from conception to publication, without having to be in charge every step of the way. Often a first of second year student will be involved in a research project on which a more senior student or postdoc is first author. </p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Portfolio-building</strong>. For most students the goal is not merely to finish the dissertation, but to do so in a way that positions the student for future success. It may be preferable to graduate with 3 first-author and 4 mid-author papers instead of 4 first-author papers, for example.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Additional reasons include</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Research assistantship duties</strong>. If one is being paid on an RAship, this often contributes substantially to published research that may not be directly relevant to the dissertation.</li>\n<li><strong>Reciprocity</strong>. Sometimes students collaborate on a series of papers and alternate first authorships as they go. </li>\n<li><strong>Too good a thing to pass up</strong>. Sometimes the lab hits on something so cool that one would be a fool not to be part of it, whatever the authorship position.</li>\n<li><strong>Networking</strong>. By establishing collaborations with researchers beyond one's home lab and institution, one builds up one's professional network. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>This is only a partial list, of course, but it should provide a sense of some of the reasons that graduate students should not shy away from projects that will lead to mid-author publications. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Authorship order does not matter in all disciplines. In economics and some subfields of computer science, for example, authorship is alphabetical by convention. Clearly this distinction does not matter in those fields.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>[ <em>Edited to include suggestions from the comments and other answers.</em> ]</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41722,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to Corvus' good answer, it is also worth noting that in many disciplines you <em>can</em> include work from a non-first-author paper in a Ph.D. thesis---you just have to place it in the appropriate context. For example, if your Ph.D. thesis is about a methodology that you have developed, then papers you participate in where you put that methodology to use would be excellent pieces to include in the thesis as part of the validation of its value, even if you are not the first author.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41753,
"author": "astromz",
"author_id": 31819,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31819",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another good side is networking. By collaborating with colleagues, especially those in other institutions, you end up with a list of collaborators that will be good for your future projects and career. Maybe next time you will end up writing a proposal with one of the co-authors, or maybe someone recognizes you on the job market since you collaborated with them before. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41713",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29303/"
] |
41,718 |
<p>I am pursuing a PhD in synthetic biology in the EU. I will finish my PhD in approximately 11 months.</p>
<p>I feel my PhD has been mediocre. I should end up with:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>3 first name research articles (two on a ≈3 IF journals, one on a ≈9)</p></li>
<li><p>1 middle name research article (≈9 IF) and 1 review (≈3 IF)</p></li>
<li>couple of courses I taught and, hopefully</li>
<li>Chapter for a book from Springer.</li>
</ol>
<p>I am tired with my field. I want to continue in academia, but not doing wet lab research. I have become interested in cosmology after reading some books on cosmology. </p>
<p><strong>Should change fields because of my changing interests?</strong>
Would I ruin my career? I also would like to remain within the EU, but I can also move to the US.</p>
<p>Does anybody know of specific fellowships for such extreme cases? I was looking into the Human Frontier Science Program but they would still require me to work into something related to the life sciences.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41724,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think it's going to depend a lot on the specifics of the field that you are switching to. You're actually doing a bit of a surprising direction of shift---I've known a number of people who made radical shifts in the opposite direction, from highly unrelated fields <em>into</em> synthetic biology, which works pretty well because it's a young and rapidly expanding field, both inside and outside of academia. Cosmology, on the other hand, is much older, not particularly growing (to the best of my knowledge), and without a large non-academia research sector, so it may be significantly harder to transfer into that field.</p>\n\n<p>That said, if you're going to transfer, postdoc is the right time for \"retraining.\" The key question is to look at the skills you have, and try to figure out how they can be remapped into something \"close enough\" that it will give you a chance to shift. You might want to consider looking at ESA or NASA, who have both cosmology and biology and where they may be close enough to help move from one to the other. If you do the shift, you should also expect a fairly long period of postdoc, probably multiple postdocs, while you retrain and build credibility for your new field.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, speaking as a synthetic biologist, I might urge you to consider that your view of the field may currently be quite limited. Synthetic biology is an extremely wild frontier with a lot of things you might be interested in. Are you sure you are tired of the field and the wetlab, or are you just tired of your particular lab and how it uses its wetlab people? There is a wide variety of labs and cultures out there, along with a lot of non-lab companies with good positions for people with prior lab experience. Unfortunately some academic labs have rather toxic cultures and treat their graduate students like underpaid lab techs, rather than investigators in training: if this has been your experience and what's driving you out of the field, consider that it may be much better elsewhere.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41729,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Cosmology is very very far from synthetic biology, in the sense that most of the expert skill a biologist has will not be useful in cosmology. The only exception if your background has a very strong physics/math component (which is unfortunately not the case for most biologists).</p>\n\n<p>For this reason, I don't think you have a chance to get a postdoc in cosmology without a PhD in a closely related field. In fact, if you only have classical biology training it might even be difficult to get into a graduate program. But if you are serious about cosmology, you will probably need to get a relevant PhD.</p>\n\n<p>Two other suggestions: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>I very much agree with jakebeal that synthetic biology is a very exciting field at this time. There are huge opportunities for creativity and ground breaking research. I suggest you go to a relevant conference to broaden your perspective of the field and hear what is being done.</li>\n<li>Have you considered a postdoc in astrobiology? This would be a natural way for you to combine your new interests with your current expertise. I think synthetic biology approaches will be a very important tool in this field in the future.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41730,
"author": "Willie Wong",
"author_id": 94,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your question is</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Should I change fields because of my changing interests?</strong></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It is much much more desirable to invest effort in the next 5-7 years and enter a career you actually like, compared to committing yourself to an academic job that you don't enjoy doing just to make a living. (If you just want to make a living: go in industry, they typically pay much much better.) </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if your question actually is</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Should I invest the next 5-7 years to switch to an unfamiliar field?</strong></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>my answer would be: are you sure you want to do that? This is the same question I would ask of someone who tells me he or she wants to go and do a PhD, in any field. A PhD, with an eye toward academic employment, is a particular life choice and include a certain degree of commitment and sacrifice. Just reading a few (popular science?) books on the subject is generally not enough information for you to decide whether the field is really for you. The fact that you have committed once and are now having doubts should be a flag to you that before you make another commitment in a drastically different direction you should perhaps seek out someone already in the field (in this case, cosmology), and talk to him or her and try to find out if this career path is really good for you. </p>\n\n<p>Further more</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Would I ruin my career?</strong></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>A drastic change of research directions is not common, but also not unheard of. If you do good work you will <em>not</em> ruin your career. But you need to be aware that</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Cosmology is very, very different from synthetic biology. If you are into more observational astrophysics, with a decent scientific background you should be able to get in to the field with some hands-on training (provided you find someone willing to invest the time in you). If you are however into <em>theoretical</em> cosmology, unless you have an exceptionally strong and diverse undergraduate training, you will almost certainly have to earn a second PhD if you want to continue in academia in that direction. </li>\n<li>Regardless of whether you earn a second PhD or not, the re-training required to take on a new field will necessarily take several years out of your life.</li>\n<li>You will, of course, have to field questions about this drastic change whenever you interview for early career positions; the \"I got sick of it and want to do something else\" response is unlikely to sell well. </li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41747,
"author": "gerrit",
"author_id": 1033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think finding a postdoc in a field so far afield is going to be very difficult. In many fields of academia, there are a lot of PhD students being trained. If a P.I. is hiring a postdoc, and they can choose between someone with a PhD in synthetic biology vs. someone with a PhD in cosmology, the latter will be preferred.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41800,
"author": "Santiago",
"author_id": 31848,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31848",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I also agree with the above answers. Getting a posdoc in cosmology without a PhD in a related area will be almost impossible. You maybe have a non-negligible chance if you try working with groups which basically do data science, provided you have a good computational background.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, I don't understand why you consider your PhD mediocre at all. In cosmology you would be glad to come up with 4 papers and a book chapter on Springer after your PhD. </p>\n\n<p>Cosmology has become a very specialized science where half of the people are always trying to come up with different models that are still not satisfactory at all which try to explain the data and the other half of the people are trying to understand how to produce and process larger and larger amounts of data.</p>\n\n<p>If by cosmology books, you mean popular books, then you will be entirely dissapointed once you start doing real research. Real life is much more complicated. In order to understand the literature of cosmology nowadays you need a strong background in General Relativity, Quantum Field Theory and Statistics. (I am not mentioning here all the astrophysical background which is certainly needed in some fields.) This will cost you at least 4-5 years of your life. I doubt that someone would pay you to do that.</p>\n\n<p>I am myself doing a PhD in Cosmology and it is a very competitive and fast-changing area of research. I know many good people with strong mathematical and physical backgrounds and very good PhDs which have had a very hard time finding a posdoc position. Especially if you consider Europe, which is almost saturated already.</p>\n\n<p>So, I would recommend you to find something completely different to do.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41718",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31801/"
] |
41,735 |
<p>It is common language in graduation ceremonies, at least in the United States, to hear a degree conferred with "all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto." How would one discover what the rights and privileges pertaining to a MA or PhD degree actually are?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41736,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer is: something that existed centuries ago in Europe, and not today, any more than one wears formal academic regalia.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 60737,
"author": "anonymous",
"author_id": 7269,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7269",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For the United States things are pretty limited, but generally the rights and privileges are going to be some sort of guarantee that the degree granting institution will verify that you were in fact awarded the degree in question. Since a lot of jobs now require degrees this is a non-trivial right. Additionally, alumni usually get some sort of perks such as library borrowing privileges, access to athletic facilities, etc. but that is very dependent upon the school. </p>\n\n<p>Of varying use depending upon where you live you can use post-nominal initials to indicate the degree awarded and being addressed as \"Doctor\" if you were awarded a suitable degree. As noted in the <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/41736/7269\">answer by jackbael</a>, you also have the academic right to wear the regalia of the school from which you graduated.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 63804,
"author": "Michael Hardy",
"author_id": 7229,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7229",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Each of my diplomas says my degree is awarded \"with all of its privileges and obligations\" or something close to that. I know of neither an official codification nor a learned treatment of the privileges and obligations involved.</p>\n\n<p>But, along with Thomas Aquinas, C. S. Lewis, and Mr. Spock, as opposed to David Hume and Cmdr. Data, I hold that values are <em>logical</em>. So I deduce that:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The \"privileges\" include putting the degree on your curriculum vitae so you can get jobs requiring a degree;</li>\n<li>The obligations include honesty about the subject matter in which you are supposed to have some expertise.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 63820,
"author": "virmaior",
"author_id": 19769,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19769",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would think the rights and privileges also includes the not necessarily actualized non-legal right/privilege to teach at universities and colleges (Sorry for the convoluted sentence -- I don't know how to simplify it).</p>\n\n<p>Actualization of course requires being hired by some university and is not wholly exclusive to PhD and MA holders.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 72271,
"author": "David Frazier",
"author_id": 57534,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/57534",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While the rights and privileges are not always physical aspects they do indeed exist. The right to wear Regalia (and the pride that goes with it), the fulfillment of a degree requirement for potential employers, the assumption that some degree of knowledge about the particular degree major exists, the legal aspect of holding a degree (and the fact that you can actually be jailed if you lie about some degrees, i.e. nursing, doctor, minister, etc), the privilege of moving on to the next step in your degree aspirations, i.e. masters, doctorate, etc. The degree process will open many doors that would not be opened if you lack a degree in some discipline. Just a few thoughts.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 91562,
"author": "Anna",
"author_id": 75471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/75471",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>to use the title granted for all your job searches and to receive henceforth the honors to be part of an elite, as a result of the level of education you have achieved by your efforts.\nto offer a professional expertise as expected for the conduct of the professional tasks that will be asked to you during your professional career and to respect the code of ethics of the specific profession. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 97457,
"author": "user81441",
"author_id": 81441,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81441",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As for specific countries, both my degrees were obtained in Canada, and both diplomas bear that statement, although one got all hoity-toity, and the entire diploma is in Latin.\nMy understanding is the rights are to use the designation (is: BA, and BEd, in my case) on curriculum vitae and letterhead, etc. It also qualifies me to apply for a higher degree program.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 97477,
"author": "Peter Taylor",
"author_id": 22995,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22995",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I don't think any of the seven previous answers attempts to address the question from the body of the post:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How would one discover what the rights and privileges pertaining to a MA or PhD degree actually are?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The first thing to do would be to check the university's website for its regulations, which may go by different names. E.g. in Cambridge they are <a href=\"http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/so/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Statutes and Ordinances</a>, and by reading them you can discover, for example, that both MAs and PhDs are members of the Senate (unless they have resigned or are suspended) and as such can vote in elections to the Chancellorship.</p>\n\n<p>If you can't find the regulations, believe them incomplete, or need clarification on some point, then the next thing would be to write to the university. Again, the name of the body or title of the person equipped to answer the query probably varies: it would probably be reasonable to make an initial approach to the Alumni Office, the Dean's office, or the Vice-Chancellor's office, and to request that should their department not be the correct one that they point you in the right direction.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 107529,
"author": "Dennis Daley",
"author_id": 90849,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/90849",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Given the Medieval origin, one right is not to have the authorities use thumb screws if you are subject to interrogation. Being able to write was deemed a valuable skill. I suspect other rights fall into these categories which are now extended to everyone through the Bill of Rights.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 147277,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here is what I used to tell students assembled for commencement: \"When the President of the University confers upon you your new degree, she will confer all the \"rights, privileges, and responsibilities appurtaining thereunto.\"</p>\n\n<p>Don't let that go unto your head. You have almost no new rights nor privileges; you may add the initials of your degree after your name, but outside academia, and before the Ph.D., almost no one does that.</p>\n\n<p>What you do have are the responsibilities of an educated person, one example of which is the responsibility to help others understand the social and political implications of what's going on. That turns out to be a substantial amount of work. So, enjoy your new status and exercise your new responsibilities well! We're proud of you, SPSU grads!\"</p>\n\n<p>Separately, the president specifically granted \"the right to wear the hood appropriate to your degree,\" so, at least one actual privilege, although perhaps less important now than 600 years ago.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41735",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/381/"
] |
41,740 |
<p>I am wondering if there have been any sort of rigorous/meaningful study about how well an h-index measures the scientific productivity of a person. I am wondering how much stock I should put into the h-index, both as a personal measure and a measure of those around me.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41757,
"author": "Yuichiro Fujiwara",
"author_id": 7075,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7075",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm no expert on this, and this is just a comment that is a little too long to cram in the comment section.</p>\n\n<p>Before addressing your question, h-index is <em>not</em> supposed to measure productivity alone. It attempts to measure both productivity and impact in terms of citation count. The simplest and crude measure of the former would be the number of papers a scientist has published, and one simple measure of the latter would be the total number of citations. You could say these are two crude measures of quality and quantity, although their meanings are vague. In a sense, h-index is intended to measure the quality and quantity of scientific output by a single number.</p>\n\n<p>Anyway, to answer your question, assuming that you are asking if there's any serious research on how well h-index works as intended, if you just google with some obvious keywords, you should be able to find many serious academic papers that study h-index, e.g.,</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/Scient.67.2006.3.10\" rel=\"nofollow\">A. F. J. van Raan, Comparison of the Hirsch-index with standard bibliometric indicators and with peer judgment for 147 chemistry research groups, <em>Scientometrics</em> <strong>67</strong> (2006) 491-502.</a></p>\n\n<p>or several papers cited <a href=\"http://www.researchtrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Research_Trends_Issue11.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">in this article (pages 5-6)</a></p>\n\n<p>or many other papers you should be able to find through usual means like checking the references at the end of a paper on the topic, looking up papers that cite them, putting more effort in googling, trying different keywords you couldn't come up with at first but you can after reading some papers on the topic, using different search engines, etc.</p>\n\n<p>Note that the above parers are by no means meant to be representative examples. I just googled a bit, skimmed bits and pieces, and copy-pasted the links. As I said at the beginning of this post, I'm no expert and as clueless as you. For what it is worth, the journal Scientometrics seems to have a decent impact factor, since you seem to care about that sort of thing.</p>\n\n<p>I hope real academics who work on bibliometrics chime in and give expert answers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41764,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Besides the convincing argument in Moriarty's comment to the OP there is also a formal argument that the index is particularly meaningless. The Notices of the AMS recently published \"Critique of Hirsch's Citation Index: A Combinatorial Fermi Problem\" by Alexander Yong, see here <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/notices/201409/rnoti-p1040.pdf\">http://www.ams.org/notices/201409/rnoti-p1040.pdf</a></p>\n\n<p>Roughly: The h index is about half the square root of the number of citations... </p>\n\n<p>More precisely: For an author with <em>N</em> citations to his paper, the h-Index always lies between zero and the square of <em>N</em>. Now assume that these citation are distributed on a number of papers and all partitions occur with equal probability. Then it turns out that the estimated h-Index is then about 0.54 times the square root of <em>N</em>. In the article it is quoted that Hirsch himself has observed that basically all h-Indices he looked at were in the range of 0.45 and 0.58 times the square root of <em>N</em>. Yong also states that, especially for the highly cited people in math, physics, computer science and statistics only very few people have an h-Index above 0.54 times square root of <em>N</em> (and they are never more that 5% above that). The article contains much more data but only for famous mathematicians such as Field's medalists or members of the National Academy of Science and it is really worth a read.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41740",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8975/"
] |
41,759 |
<p>I have a paper with autors A, B, C and D. Their names appear sorted by last name, so the order of the authors does not really say anything about their role in the paper.</p>
<p>When I cite this with the style that I currently use, I obtain “A et al, 2014”. This is logically, but B was the speaker and D is the professor of the workgroup.</p>
<p>Should I now cite this as “A et al”, or change the order of the names and make it “D et al” or “B et al”? The second version only works since I know the roles in the workgroup. With other papers, I would not know how to do this.</p>
<p>I could also just cite it as “[1]” and not worry about that at all …</p>
<p>What would be a good way to deal with this in general?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41760,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the authors are listed as <em>Adams, Brown, Clinton, Dylan</em>, you <strong>cannot</strong> cite it as <em>Brown et al.</em> The standard thing is to simply cite <em>Adams et al</em>.</p>\n\n<p><strong>If you are one of the authors and you cite it.</strong>\nLet's say that you are <em>Brown</em> and you now have an article with <em>Eldridge</em>. Then you can write the following:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>... as was shown by the first author in collaboration with <em>Adams et al.</em> [ABCD14].</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This way you cite the paper properly and at the same time, you make it clear that you are one of its authors.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41769,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've never seen a citation style that allows reordering the authors. If you're mentioning them by name, either list them all or write \"First et al.\", regardless of whether First is first author because of some estimation of merit or because of an accident of birth.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41771,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Elaborating slightly on David Richerby's answer: cite the paper with the authors in the same order that they appear in the original. <strong>Never reorder them for any reason.</strong></p>\n\n<p>The simplest reason for this is that people will expect that your citation matches the original author ordering. If the original paper has authors in the order A,B,C,D, and you cite it with authors B,D,C,A, a reader is going to think you are talking about a different paper by the same people, in which B was listed as the first author. They will probably figure it out eventually, but confusion will occur in the meantime.</p>\n\n<p>For a deeper reason, there are two possible reasons why the authors wrote their names in the order A,B,C,D:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>They made a decision that A should be considered the \"first author\", perhaps because A had the original idea or did most of the work.</p></li>\n<li><p>They made a decision to list their names alphabetically, so that nobody would be \"first author\". This implies that they believe that all of them contributed (approximately) equally to the paper.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In either case, you should respect their decision. If you change the author ordering, it makes it seem like you are second-guessing their decision, as if you know better than the authors who did what on the paper. This will come across as arrogant and disrespectful.</p>\n\n<p>You can't assume that the person who presented a paper at a conference is the one who did the most work on it. Maybe A did the most work but couldn't attend the conference for some reason. Maybe they all did the same amount of work, but B really wanted to give the talk and so they agreed to let him.</p>\n\n<p>You also shouldn't assume that the professor of a workgroup is the one who deserves the most credit for a paper. In many cases, the most senior person on a paper is the one who is least involved in its details (because they are dividing their time between many different projects).</p>\n\n<p>So if the paper lists the authors as A,B,C,D, cite it as ABCD. Some people think the use of <em>et al</em> is problematic, especially for alphabetically ordered papers, but if you must use it, cite as \"A et al.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41797,
"author": "Jaap Eldering",
"author_id": 1605,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1605",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Alphabetical ordering of authors is the prevalent style in mathematics (there may be other fields where this is used, e.g. theoretical CS, but I'm not aware of any others).</p>\n\n<p>In mathematics it is considered good style to cite the author list in full, i.e. A,B,C,D instead of A et al. The reason is that all authors are considered to have contributed (approximately) equally to the paper, so they deserver equal credit and exposure. Citing as A et al. would underexpose people with lastnames further down the alphabet. Also note that in mathematics, papers rarely have more than 3-4 authors, so this is not too unreasonable to do.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41759",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13232/"
] |
41,767 |
<p>I am writing my thesis currently and I want to include papers that I am included on as an author. I will have a couple papers where I am 1st author, but there is one where I am third but did a lot of the work. How do I go about integrating it into my thesis? Can I copy/paste most of the text still or do I need to rewrite it? I don't want to plagiarize but don't want to rewrite it if I don't have to. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41768,
"author": "Peter K.",
"author_id": 3965,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3965",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Check with your institution. Some universities allow collections of papers to be submitted, provided there is original material connecting them that is also submitted. See, for example, <a href=\"https://policies.anu.edu.au/ppl/document/ANUP_003405\" rel=\"nofollow\">the ANU's \"thesis by compilation\" rules.</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41773,
"author": "DoubleYou",
"author_id": 31253,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31253",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your thesis is a compilation of your published papers, then check with the institution for the rules.</p>\n\n<p>If your thesis is separately written, then most likely the pieces you wrote can be copied, as that's how I've gone about in my thesis. Additionally, you can also refer to the paper itself after you've written a piece of text about it. </p>\n\n<p>Most likely in this situation, copying the text would not always fit the structure of the thesis chapters, and some minor rewriting is needed. Even after thesis review, the structure might modify and sentences will eventually be different from the paper. You refer having done the most work, but check if your paper co-authors are happy with using the text directly (if they've written the text). If the paper is published, cite it, and you could specifically mentioned that it was your work published in that paper.</p>\n\n<p>Also, your supervisor is there to assist you and he most likely know the rules of your department and institution better.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 58788,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This situation does not sound problematic to me. Many people write theses that incorporate papers written under these circumstances.</p>\n\n<p>However, you need to get official permission, rather than relying on what random people on the internet say. Specifically, you need to check three things:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>What does your thesis advisor say?</p></li>\n<li><p>What are your university's regulations regarding reusing text from published papers, particularly with coauthors where it is difficult to identify who contributed to a given passage?</p></li>\n<li><p>Does the publication or copyright agreement with the journal permit reusing this text in your thesis?</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If any one of these has a negative answer, then you cannot copy the text. If they are all positive, then all you need to do is attribute the text properly. For example, you could clearly state at the beginning of a chapter \"This chapter is an edited version of the paper BLAH.\" Your advisor, university, and publisher will have suggestions or requirements for how this attribution should be done.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41767",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31826/"
] |
41,774 |
<p>I am about to apply for Master's degree at a University in US that specializes in game development. I have been playing and I am a huge fan of Blizzard games for almost 15 years and the reason I pursue a higher education is to broaden my knowledge and sharpen my skills so that I can land on my dream job.</p>
<p>I wanted to mention this (in a politically correct manner) because I think it shows determination. Is this a good idea or would it hurt my statement?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41776,
"author": "user141592",
"author_id": 27327,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27327",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's a good idea. The statement of purpose should explain why you specifically should get the opportunity to do a Masters, and having a good plan for what you want to do with it is definitely a plus there. </p>\n\n<p>I would however caution you that pretty much everyone who applies to such a Maters degree probably has similar plans and a similar background with a lot of playing games. Therefore, you should try to be a bit more specific than what you have here. What sets you apart from everyone else who has played a lot of games and wants to work for Blizzard?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41789,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Unlike the other existing answer, I would advise you to tread carefully.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><em>Maybe</em> this is different for a Master's in game development, but generally speaking, \"I like to play computer games\" qualifies as the #1 worst reason we get to hear about why students are interested in computer science. One of the reasons why this is such a bad motivation is because it shows a certain level of misunderstanding about what computer science is, and I would argue that this is even true for a master in game development.</li>\n<li>Even great computer game developers are, to the best of my knowledge, not <em>only</em> interested in gaming, but also in AI, computer graphics and animation, HCI, physical simulation, distributed systems, optimization, etc. Not all of them at the same time, but being \"just\" interested in building cool games seems rather weak, to be honest. I think it can be pretty much implied that you are interested in games if you apply for game development. Show and discuss your interests in other related areas that sets you apart from all the other applying gamers.</li>\n<li>Also, having working at Blizzard as your dream job does <em>not</em> show determination. Many people have this as their dream job, and still do not follow through. Determination is doing something to make your dream a reality despite problematic circumstances, not having a dream in the first place. You should explain what you did, not what you hope to achieve.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41774",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31828/"
] |
41,775 |
<p>I'm trying to understand an excerpt from a <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/02/pursuit-beauty">New Yorker article</a> about the mathematician <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitang_Zhang">Yitang Zhang</a>. The excerpt is included at the bottom. If possible, please help clarify Yang's point about tenure and nontenure positions; commentaries on the accuracy of his point would also be helpful.</p>
<p>In the excerpt, Yang seems to be asserting that nontenure positions are generally undesirable when he states,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are people who try to work nontenure jobs, of course, but usually they’re nuts and have very dysfunctional personalities and lives, and are unpleasant to deal with, because they feel disrespected.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, in the preceding sentences he seemed to be describing benefits of nontenure jobs:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you become a good calculus teacher, a school can become very dependent on you. You’re cheap and reliable, and there’s no reason to fire you. After you’ve done that a couple of years, you can do it on autopilot; you have a lot of free time to think, so long as you’re willing to live modestly.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I feel like he's contradicting himself. Is his point that <em>while</em> there are benefits to being a nontenure Calculus teacher, most people in such a position are “nuts” with “very dysfunctional personalities and lives” who “feel disrespected”? I feel like I'm not quite understanding him. The full excerpt:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Zhang’s preference for undertaking only ambitious problems is rare. The pursuit of tenure requires an academic to publish frequently, which often means refining one’s work within a field, a task that Zhang has no inclination for. He does not appear to be competitive with other mathematicians, or resentful about having been simply a teacher for years while everyone else was a professor. No one who knows him thinks that he is suited to a tenure-track position. “I think what he did was brilliant,” Deane Yang told me. “If you become a good calculus teacher, a school can become very dependent on you. You’re cheap and reliable, and there’s no reason to fire you. After you’ve done that a couple of years, you can do it on autopilot; you have a lot of free time to think, so long as you’re willing to live modestly. There are people who try to work nontenure jobs, of course, but usually they’re nuts and have very dysfunctional personalities and lives, and are unpleasant to deal with, because they feel disrespected. Clearly, Zhang never felt that.”</p>
</blockquote>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41777,
"author": "justin",
"author_id": 24280,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24280",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>After the advice in the comments section, I found Deane Yang's clarification of his comments <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/deane.yang/posts/877630805592611\" rel=\"noreferrer\">here</a>. What he says is,</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This is a beautifully written profile by Alec Wilkinson of Yitang Zhang, who recently proved a spectacular math theorem about gaps between primes.</p>\n<p>There is however an extremely unfortunate quote by me about untenured faculty. I just want to apologize to all untenured faculty, who are among the most underpaid, hardest working, and most dedicated people working at universities today. I know this firsthand working together with the instructors in my department.</p>\n<p>What I will say, however, is that the adverse conditions under which untenured faculty, especially adjuncts, have to work does lead a few to become bitter about their circumstances. This is an extremely unfortunate circumstance that we tenured faculty need to address.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41778,
"author": "Deane Yang",
"author_id": 31830,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31830",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Justin, I think you raise good questions, and I'll try my best to clarify what I intended to say.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding the first quote you cite, I did not meant to imply that in general non-tenured faculty are dysfunctional. The vast majority are incredibly dedicated and hardworking teachers. When I said \"most\", I really meant that most adjuncts who believe they have proved a major theorem (as Zhang did) are almost always wrong and usually \"have very dysfunctional personalities and lives, and are unpleasant to deal with, because they feel disrespected\".</p>\n\n<p>As for the second quote, I was trying to be facetious. Those of us who are tenured professors know how many responsibilities and duties we have in addition to our research and teaching. So I like to say that Zhang had set up the perfect situation for doing research over a long period of time. He didn't have tenure (which as I said entails a lot of distractions) and just had to teach calculus (which, after a year or two, requires minimal preparation time outside of class). In addition, he had no children, and his wife lives on the other side of the country. This was perhaps not a good joke for a broader audience, but my colleagues all get it.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, my point about Zhang is that he really was a good mathematician who had received very little respect from his peers and yet showed no signs of being bitter about his experience, even though he certainly would be justified in feeling that way.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41775",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24280/"
] |
41,780 |
<p>I am currently a sophomore undergraduate Mechanical Engineering major at a mid-sized public university. I know that I really do enjoy research, I love learning, and I love teaching. I am all-but-certain that graduate school is where I want to go after graduation, and so I have been working to gain research experience.</p>
<p>At the end of my freshman year, I began working with my advisor ("Prof A") on non-research-focused design projects (i.e. not the sort of thing that would lead to a publication), as a way to get some experience working under an advisor and to "get my foot in the door". He was highly impressed by my work (specifically the effort and time I put into the work) and gave me more opportunities at the beginning of this school year (fall 2014) to do more work with him on some research-focused projects.</p>
<p>As this year has progressed, Prof A has given me more and more support and has continued to help me gain funding for my own projects, and is the primary reason that I have excelled up to this point. He has certainly become someone who I would consider to be my mentor in many ways.</p>
<p>Despite all of the great opportunities I have received so far, I want to expand my horizons from the narrow topics I have worked on so far in research. Recently, I asked a different professor ("Prof B") to work on his research team, and he offered me a position. I immediately accepted, knowing that his research is something in which I'm highly interested, and something that I could certainly see myself researching in graduate school. I do not plan on letting this new project with Prof B in any way interfere with the work I am doing with Prof A; I simply plan to work on both concurrently. It should be noted that Prof B was fully aware of my work in Prof A's lab, and this played a role in his eagerness to have me on his research team.</p>
<p>When I mentioned my new research position to Prof A, he seemed disappointed in his demeanor (although nothing he said was necessarily disapproving), as though my working in another lab were not appropriate. I had thought that this should be no problem, especially coming from the standpoint that he is not my advisor in the way that a Ph.D. student has an advisor, so there is no obligation, per se, to consult him before taking on new work.</p>
<p>Was I wrong in not going to Prof A for advisement about this new opportunity, considering all he has done for me? Or was I correct that I have the right to go and find other opportunities if I wish?</p>
<p>As a broader question for the future, does the same etiquette apply in graduate school (master's and doctoral)? Or should actions be different in the two different situations?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41783,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You certainly have the right to pursue any line of research of research that you find to be of value, at any level (as a student and any time after that). You may, however, be wrong, about whether you can achieve your full potential in the subject area of A while also working on project B. There is a trade-off between working towards excellence in one area and working towards a high standard in two areas, and it may be that professor A has particularly high expectations of your potential in his area. Really, I think the competition between depth versus breadth is the hardest quandry that young researchers face. It might have been nicer to talk about it with A first, but it was certainly not wrong.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41784,
"author": "Brian Z",
"author_id": 9298,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9298",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If he is just concerned that you will not have enough time to do both, it's up to you to prove that you can handle it. </p>\n\n<p>But a general feature of academia is the presence of a lot of difficult and fragile personalities. It's not impossible that Prof. A took your choice personally, especially if there is any behind-the-scenes tensions between Prof. A and Prof. B. It's worth thinking about these things, but not too much. If Prof. A is going to be professional about it, there should be no further repercussions in your relationship with him. </p>\n\n<p>To elaborate in response to your more specific questions... </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Was I wrong in not going to Prof A for advisement about this new opportunity, considering all he has done for me? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No. </p>\n\n<p>I can't say whether or not you communicated with Prof. A in the most optimal way. Maybe things would have gone more smoothly if you said something sooner. But on the other hand, maybe you didn't need to tell Prof. A anything at all. There is no set rule or etiquette, it just depends on what your relationship with him is like.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Or was I correct that I have the right to go and find other\n opportunities if I wish?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes.</p>\n\n<p>You have every right to pursue whatever opportunity you think will be best for your education and professional development. Do your best to maintain good relations with the people you work with, but don't let that stop you from doing what you feel you need to do.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41780",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26891/"
] |
41,782 |
<p>Suppose that my team received funding for a project to "deliver X in time Y". It is implied that each researcher will contribute, more or less, equally. </p>
<p>When is it appropriate to make this explicit? In other words, in this scenario, what is a commonly accepted threshold to confront an author about their lack of participation (when their contribution is half of what is implicitly expected, a tenth, etc.)?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41783,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You certainly have the right to pursue any line of research of research that you find to be of value, at any level (as a student and any time after that). You may, however, be wrong, about whether you can achieve your full potential in the subject area of A while also working on project B. There is a trade-off between working towards excellence in one area and working towards a high standard in two areas, and it may be that professor A has particularly high expectations of your potential in his area. Really, I think the competition between depth versus breadth is the hardest quandry that young researchers face. It might have been nicer to talk about it with A first, but it was certainly not wrong.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41784,
"author": "Brian Z",
"author_id": 9298,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9298",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If he is just concerned that you will not have enough time to do both, it's up to you to prove that you can handle it. </p>\n\n<p>But a general feature of academia is the presence of a lot of difficult and fragile personalities. It's not impossible that Prof. A took your choice personally, especially if there is any behind-the-scenes tensions between Prof. A and Prof. B. It's worth thinking about these things, but not too much. If Prof. A is going to be professional about it, there should be no further repercussions in your relationship with him. </p>\n\n<p>To elaborate in response to your more specific questions... </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Was I wrong in not going to Prof A for advisement about this new opportunity, considering all he has done for me? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No. </p>\n\n<p>I can't say whether or not you communicated with Prof. A in the most optimal way. Maybe things would have gone more smoothly if you said something sooner. But on the other hand, maybe you didn't need to tell Prof. A anything at all. There is no set rule or etiquette, it just depends on what your relationship with him is like.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Or was I correct that I have the right to go and find other\n opportunities if I wish?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes.</p>\n\n<p>You have every right to pursue whatever opportunity you think will be best for your education and professional development. Do your best to maintain good relations with the people you work with, but don't let that stop you from doing what you feel you need to do.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41782",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
41,787 |
<p>Recently I submitted second revision of my manuscript in a highly reputed mathematics journal. My first revision was a major revision while the second one was a minor (with some terms like paper is ready to be published). After submitting my second revision I got an email from the editorial board which asked for further revisions of my manuscript. But, what is troubling me is that there were not reviewer comments in the mail. Also there were no attached files with reviewers comments.</p>
<p>Edit: I took only three days to resubmit my second minor revision and after another five days I got this mail with no reviewers comment.
Also, there is only one reviewer for this manuscript.</p>
<p>Edit: At the end of the mail that I received it is written that "Reviewer's comment" but it is showing blank. Submission status is "submission needing revision" (Revise). But I am not able to find the reviewers comments.</p>
<p>I am worried. How come this is possible?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41788,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My interpretation: after the first revision, both referees wrote that the remaining changes were minor. So the editor did not send the paper back to them but took a quick glance himself/herself to make sure they had been fixed. While doing this, he/she noticed a few more small mistakes and asked you to make these final changes.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41790,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Instead of trying to second-guess what might have happened you should simply contact the editors and ask what revisions they wish to see you perform. The reasons for the lack of information could be any of the suggestions given but could also be a mistake, an attachment that was not passed on or a mail sent by one person who has not seen your recently provided update, the list of possibilities is long.</p>\n\n<p>So, e-mail the editor or journal and briefly explain what you received and how the lack of information makes revisions impossible. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41787",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/897/"
] |
41,791 |
<p>Last year, when planning my academic future, I contacted a research group at my university, because I was interested in doing my Master's thesis in their field. One of the professors replied a couple of days later, and offered me a meeting. After said meeting, I accepted the proposed project, and have been working on it since. A few days after accepting the project I received another reply to my initial mail, from another professor in the group, which turned out to be one of my teachers in a course I had a few months after. I stayed with the first professor and project.</p>
<p>So fast-forward to present day: I am finishing up my Master's thesis, and interested in pursuing a PhD. I have not talked about it with my current adviser, and he hasn't offered me any projects (he is actually going to MIT in June, for a sabbatical, so he will be absent for a year). A couple of days ago, while talking with the second professor, he offered me a PhD scholarship/fellowship (I do not know the right word). The precise field of research has not yet been decided, because it depends heavily on government funding (but the general area of research is of interest to me). I have recently learned that said professor is actually a sort of "rival" to my current adviser (they have had projects from rival companies, and had a "competition" over an academic position).
I do not know whether to accept or not. I like the offer and the professor, but I would be interested in staying in the research group after completing my PhD, and I think it might offend my current adviser and cause tension.</p>
<p>Is it OK to accept said offer right now (telling my adviser, of course)?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41794,
"author": "Danny Ruijters",
"author_id": 28830,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28830",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that the correct answer is: it depends.</p>\n\n<p>Theoretically, you should be able to accept the offer and tell your current adviser right away. However, practice and theory do not always agree. I know of a case where a student received a lower (but still good) grade for her master thesis than originally was intended, after she turned down the offer to do a PhD thesis with the her master thesis adviser.</p>\n\n<p>So, you will need to assess whether your adviser's ego would be able to deal with you performing a PhD at his rival's group. When you think that this is not the case, or when you are not certain, then it is better to inform him after your master thesis grade has been determined.</p>\n\n<p>Things are a bit different when you actually would prefer to perform a PhD thesis under the guidance of your current adviser. Then, I would suggest that you inquire about such possibilities. You do not need to mention that you have an offer from his rival. </p>\n\n<p>Finally, I would like to stress that it is your life and academic career, so it is in your own best interest to choose the path that suits you best (and not necessarily your adviser's).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41795,
"author": "user-2147482637",
"author_id": 12718,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12718",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to the points of Danny, I think the research you will be doing can vary the amount of tension, and this is something you (not us) will need to figure out. As you stated, your not sure what the research will be. If they are 'rivals' in the sense that their research topics are the same and are nervous about being 'scooped', it might cause more tension. </p>\n\n<p>From the humanistic side I think you could imagine that your current advisor may feel a bit more upset if you are taking specific lab knowledge and lab secrets to a direct research competitor. This would depend on the field and the type of research you are doing.</p>\n\n<p>If you do want to take the position, you may be able to give some assurance to your current advisor about your future plans and your understanding that his work is confidential. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41791",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31843/"
] |
41,803 |
<p>I defended my master thesis successfully yesterday. Everything in my master thesis was written by me and there is no problem. However I'm a bit skeptical about one thing. So in my thesis I have a part that explains a very well known model. To explain the model you basically need to calculate the gradient of some function, and calculating the gradient is basically lengthy and spans many subsections. So there are many papers and I believe even books that show how to calculate the gradient step by step. So I found one paper and I read it and understood it and understood how the gradient of the function is derived. Next I compared the calculations in the paper to other books and I found that they are very similar. </p>
<p>Since I'm introducing the model in my thesis I had to explain how to calculate the gradient. I explain everything in my own words. However when I wrote the equations they look almost like a copy from the paper!! Since I had the same understanding, so the calculations just almost look the same. So I was really confused what to do about this. Since I want to include the derivation of gradient in my thesis and it looks almost the same from the paper. So I was wondering if this is plagiarism! Since I was skeptical, I checked that the equations also look somehow almost the same from other papers. So to make sure that I don't be held for any kind of plagiarism and credit the authors, I mention at the beginning of the section that starts to explain the model is that my following explanations are based on the explanation given in the paper, where I learned about the model. Calculating the gradient is kinda lengthy and spans couple subsections, so in the subsections I assumed that since I credited the authors at the beginning then I didn't credit them again later for the other derivations of the gradient. </p>
<p>Now my question, is what I did correct?! I mean they were only the derivations of the gradient, so they were equations and I can't just "rephrase" them!</p>
<p>I remember once asking one postdoc that I'm using a lot of equations from one paper and he said that I just need to credit the authors that I'm using the same notation, which what I did. However, when I look at the formulas I feel somehow uncomfortable, because they look like a copy from that paper. Should I be worried?!</p>
<p>I really tried to credit the authors and I cited the papers in many places where I was explaining the models. But only the look of those large chunks of equations seems like copying. </p>
<p>As I said earlier I defended my thesis today, so I just hope that I didn't do anything wrong with that because I really worked hard for my thesis and every single word is mine.</p>
<p>P.S what I know is that copying common knowledge is not plagiarism. So this was my assumption behind the calculation of the gradient. Because the derivation of the gradient is not a contribution and the derivation is done in many papers. (like the gradient of the log-likelihood of logistic regression). </p>
<p>So in short, suppose that calculation of the gradient of the log-likelihood of logistic regression is very lengthy in general. And I just copied the equations from a paper that does the derivation. However when I motivated Logistic regression in my thesis I said that my explanations in the next subsections are based on the explanation in the paper where I copied the equations from. Is that okay?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41806,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Mathematical equations are not normally considered subject to plagiarism, since there are only so many ways they can be written, and because they represent ideas rather than material that can be \"stolen\" without proper attribution. </p>\n\n<p>So long as you cite the material you are drawing from, and explain the equations in your own words, you should be fine.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 54294,
"author": "Laurent Duval",
"author_id": 38057,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38057",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I do believe, like @aeismail and other commentators, that equations are knowledge, and not subject to accusations of plagiarism. Yet, you should be cautious about your mathematical notations and their correspondence with the copied equations. </p>\n\n<p>If you have adapted the proofs, or the calculations, with your own symbols, and typed the equations yourself, you are fine. </p>\n\n<p>Be cautious about some mathematical notations (imaginary unit, convolutions, ordinal variables, greek letters), that may be more or less standard depending on the scientific field. For instance, the imaginary unit is often \"i\" in maths, and \"j\" in electrical engineering. The reuse of other field's notations should not look too artificial.</p>\n\n<p>However, I have seen persons who have cropped blocks of equations from some source in slides or reports, and who did not bother change their notations or cite the source. This behavior is closer to laziness or dishonesty than to a genuine personal work. But working on equations, their variables, to make them more understandable, clearer, is a plus.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, one side of plagiarism is in automated plagiarism detection tools. You may be worried about texts, but so far, they do not seem very efficient with equations. Unfortunately, since it is difficult to search formulae online.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 73329,
"author": "Paul de Vrieze",
"author_id": 10183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10183",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should remember that academic plagiarism is not plagiarism in the sense of copyright. Academic plagiarism is mainly the \"stealing\" of other people's ideas. As such rephrasing is normally not enough. Mathematical formulas are a bit of a gray area in that. Much of it is (very) well known and also subject to possible independent invention. Once you have a lot of them though, the probability of the same approach without awareness becomes unlikely.</p>\n\n<p>In all cases of gray areas, especially if they concern aspects of professional ethics (such as plagiarism), be safe and reference. Also be aware that not all readers are familiar with all parts of maths and may not recognise that you are just describing a reasonably well-known concept, not introducing it yourself (I have reviewed a journal paper with this issue, directing the authors to add the reference was sufficient, it was clear that they actually didn't come up with the idea). </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41803",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10497/"
] |
41,812 |
<p>I'm an undergrad trying to publish findings on the accuracy of consumer-grade motion sensors for IEEE. I've searched for existing literature on this topic, and I've found some interesting articles. However, I'm not sure how accurate these papers are. </p>
<p><strong>Once IEEE publishes a paper in a journal or conference, has IEEE deemed the paper's findings as accurate?</strong></p>
<p>That is, has a paper passed science's often-vaunted "peer-review" once that paper has been published?</p>
<p>I realize this question applies for my research and any other research published by a respected organization like IEEE or Nature.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41813,
"author": "Memming",
"author_id": 386,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/386",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>No. The publisher does not and cannot guarantee the correctness of the papers. Also the peer-review system is not perfect.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, even though a single paper might have some chance of being wrong, as studies are replicated, and follow up studies verify and extend the conclusions, the scientific community can build up stronger claims.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41843,
"author": "user31872",
"author_id": 31872,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31872",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Many papers in medicine, biology, psychology, social sciences, etc rely on statistical confidence levels, and so come with an explicit statement that they cannot be seen to be 100% accurate. </p>\n\n<p>A typical confidence level is 95%, which means unfortunately that you can expect roughly 1 in 20 conclusions to be incorrect. So these are fields where duplicated or reinforcing results are important. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41846,
"author": "Daniel Mietchen",
"author_id": 11244,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11244",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One paper specifically looked at <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124\">Why Most Published Research Findings Are False</a> and stimulated a lot of <a href=\"http://scholar.google.de/scholar?cites=15681017780418799273&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en\">discussion</a> around the topic.</p>\n\n<p><strong>EDIT to provide more context, as requested in comments.</strong><br>\nThe paper (published in <em>PLOS Medicine</em>, which defines its scope) uses statistical methods to examine the probabilities that specific study types in biomedical research will yield significant results that end up being published.</p>\n\n<p>Some quotes: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>the high rate of nonreplication (lack of confirmation) of research\n discoveries is a consequence of the convenient, yet ill-founded\n strategy of claiming conclusive research findings solely on the basis\n of a single study assessed by formal statistical significance,\n typically for a p-value less than 0.05.<br>\n <hr>\n most research questions are addressed by many teams, and it is\n misleading to emphasize the statistically significant findings of any\n single team. What matters is the totality of the evidence. Diminishing\n bias through enhanced research standards and curtailing of prejudices\n may also help. However, this may require a change in scientific\n mentality that might be difficult to achieve.<br>\n <hr>\n Despite a large statistical literature for multiple testing\n corrections [37], usually it is impossible to decipher how much data\n dredging by the reporting authors or other research teams has preceded\n a reported research finding. Even if determining this were feasible,\n this would not inform us about the pre-study odds. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>While some details of the methodology have been disputed, the gist of the article – that replication of studies is crucial to establish facts, and that the current publication system is biased against replicable research in many ways – has been widely acknowledged well beyond biomedicine, and the paper has triggered a wave of studies examining this range of systemic problems that the paper highlighted.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41859,
"author": "Dikran Marsupial",
"author_id": 2827,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2827",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Publication in a peer reviewed journal is only the start of the road to the acceptance of an idea by the research community, not the last. Peer review should really only be regarded as a basic sanity check of the paper and not relied upon. Once the findings of a paper have been replicated, or used as the basis for further research, then we can be more confident that the paper is correct, but it is still the readers responsibility to make sure they judge the paper for themselves. If a paper has been cited a large number of times (without the citations being refutations! ;o), then that suggest the work is probably sound. Uncritically trusting a paper because it has been peer-reviewed is essentially an example of the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority\">\"argument from authority\"</a> fallacy (in this case the anonymous reviewers being the authority). While peer-reviewed papers are more likely to be correct than, say blogs, there can be no guarantee of this, and it is best to maintain a skeptical attitude.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41889,
"author": "reirab",
"author_id": 12999,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12999",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The accuracy of published papers varies dramatically and can not be assumed. Specifically in the case of IEEE, it's a huge organization with lots of conferences and journals. Some of them tend to be more strict about what they accept than others. Some of the papers I've read from IEEE made me wonder whether they went through any peer review process at all, as the language wasn't even comprehensible. Even in the most respected journals and conferences, though, results should not be assumed accurate. You should use your own judgment to evaluate the logic and arguments presented (i.e. to ensure that their conclusions really do follow from their premises/experimental results and that their experimental designs seem reasonable) and, where feasible, repeat the experiments to verify their results.</p>\n\n<p>At any rate, the peer-review process that papers go through for publication is <strong>not</strong> a verification of the results, even in the most respected journals. The peer-review process consists of other authors looking over the paper and pointing out any perceived weaknesses in the arguments presented, noticeably incorrect results (i.e. math errors and the like,) and/or formatting and language errors. In some cases (especially for more general conferences,) the reviewer isn't even in the same research field as the paper (e.g. an RF engineer might be reviewing a paper on power systems or an AI researcher might be reviewing a paper on computer networks.) IEEE publishing a paper is basically saying \"After a cursory review, one or more members of IEEE think that this paper doesn't appear to be complete trash and likely has some academic value to someone,\" not \"IEEE asserts on the basis of its reputation that this paper's results are correct.\"</p>\n\n<p>The process you seem to have in mind - other researchers repeating the experiments to verify the results - is a completely distinct process from the peer-review process required for publication. This process usually doesn't start until after the paper is published. This is generally true for all scientific publication, not just IEEE. Mathematics is something of an exception in that they attempt to present actual proofs rather than scientific results in their papers. That is also often the case in the algorithms and logic side of Computer Science. Even in those fields, though, you should check the proofs yourself, not assume them to be accurate just because they got published.</p>\n\n<p>Especially where it is not feasible to reproduce a paper's results yourself, it is perfectly acceptable to cite that paper's results in your paper as a comparison. You just need to make sure that you cite it as something along the lines of \"<authors of other paper> found that their system achieved X performance level, while our experiments show that our system achieves Y performance level.\" That way, it's clear that you're not claiming to have verified their results, but that you're merely comparing what you saw from your system to what they claim to have seen from theirs. Of course, if it's actually feasible for you to test the other system yourself and present your own experimental results for it, that's better.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41900,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to other good answers/points, there is also the phenomenon that a result might seem approximately correct, and not looked at toooo critically because it didn't seem to really matter much... but met basic professional competence criteria, etc. If it happens to be the basis of other innocent/boring work, things can pile up on assumptions of correctness that have not been \"stressed\" at all. Then, if some more-serious/interesting development arises that depends on all that, people will reconsider everything in a much more serious way. Obviously! But, and until, that latter degree of \"interest\" has occurred, I'd worry that the chances are \"higher than we'd like\" that there're problems in a given result. Possibly <em>reparable</em> problems, especially in \"routine\" stories, but repair might often require a more expert appreciation of the situation.</p>\n\n<p>Summary: if a result has been \"stressed\", not merely <em>cited</em>, one can have some confidence. But even if often-cited, but only by uninteresting/inconsequential papers, who knows?</p>\n\n<p>And, as people have noted, many journals (in mathematics) specifically tell the referee that it's not their responsibility to check for correctness, but more/only for \"suitability\". (A status issue, among others, ...)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 78587,
"author": "salehgeek",
"author_id": 63352,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/63352",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At the very least, we generally make assumptions and are - unconsciously - looking for them. One particular manifestation is P-hacking. See Dr Derek Muller explanation on this: </p>\n\n<p>Most Published Research Wrong?\n<a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42QuXLucH3Q\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42QuXLucH3Q</a></p>\n\n<p>Also, incorrect use of Variance Reduction Techniques, random number generators and meshing can contribute towards inaccuracies.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>It is natural that reproducibility becomes a concern. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>When graduate student Alyssa Ward took a science-policy internship, she expected to learn about policy — not to unearth gaps in her biomedical training.</p>\n \n <p>She was compiling a bibliography about the reproducibility of experiments, and one of the papers, a meta-analysis, found that scientists routinely fail to explain how they choose the number of samples to use in a study. “My surprise was not about the omission — it was because I had no clue how, or when, to calculate sample size,” Ward says. Nor had she ever been taught about major categories of experimental design, or the limitations of P values. (Although they can help to judge the strength of scientific evidence, P values do not — as many think — estimate the likelihood that a hypothesis is true.)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/articles/10.1038/nj7622-703a\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Reproducibility: Seek out stronger science\">Reproducibility: Seek out stronger science</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>A P value of 0.05 does not mean that there is a 95% chance that a given hypothesis is correct. Instead, it signifies that if the null hypothesis is true, and all other assumptions made are valid, there is a 5% chance of obtaining a result at least as extreme as the one observed. And a P value cannot indicate the importance of a finding; for instance, a drug can have a statistically significant effect on patients’ blood glucose levels without having a therapeutic effect.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.nature.com/news/statisticians-issue-warning-over-misuse-of-p-values-1.19503\" rel=\"nofollow\">Statisticians issue warning over misuse of P values</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 94710,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let's put this way:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>They are <strong>not certainly-accruate enough</strong> to be valid and accurate for you to base your paradigms on without a lot of additional results and publications - but</li>\n<li>They are <strong>certainly-accurate enough</strong> for you to be able to entertain the opposite claim without presenting iron-clad arguments and/or experimental results to counter them.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41812",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31855/"
] |
41,814 |
<p>This is my first post to the community. I am currently researching on the criteria that make grouping of students as efficient as possible. There are many methods that a professor in an international university program could use to sort the groups of students in class. Nationality, age, educational background, GPA so far, age, level of interest on the course, genre, combinations of them etc. I am creating this post, to try and gather all the opinions on what criteria you use in your classrooms to make your groups as efficient as possible and if you have tried any different scenarios of grouping, what are the results you came across?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41816,
"author": "Ben Bitdiddle",
"author_id": 24384,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24384",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let them self-organize. Then whatever happens will not be your fault. Plus students might want to work with people they are friends with.</p>\n\n<p>I suggest using Piazza in your classes, and creating a \"search for teammates\" post, so people who don't know anyone in the class can still find groups.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41832,
"author": "gdp",
"author_id": 31290,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31290",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having seen this be done in various ways, I'll suggest 2 successful approaches I have seen used. </p>\n\n<p>The first is to split students into groups based on a combination of class performance to date (from mini tests or assignments), and attendance at class. Obviously this requires we have attendance records, but these are available on account of the main class activity being a programming lab, where attendance on lab computers is recorded during a scheduled class. </p>\n\n<p>We found the by considering class performance alone, students could end up in groups where they were of similar ability, yet one (or more) had significantly better work ethic and attendance than the others. I won't go into correlation between attendance and work ethic here as I feel it's off topic for this question. I will add that we see a clear and undeniable correlation between attendance and class performance, but work ethic is obviously difficult to quantify or measure. </p>\n\n<p>I suggest you also group students by course for logistical reasons, as it makes it easier for students with similar timetables to meet outwith the class. This may be less appropriate or indeed unnecessary if your students have free choice in classes, or if you use the American style \"major\" system, rather than the UK-style where a \"course\" is the major, following a somewhat prescribed curriculum. </p>\n\n<p>An alternative approach (to which I do not claim any credit over whatsoever, but alas am unsure of the originator of), which I shall not express an opinion on, is to offer the class a choice - either I (instructor) assign your groups, or you can. If you pick your own groups, that's it - final. No mark reallocation and negotiation and peer assessment. Alternatively, I (instructor) pick groups, but we have a peer assessment phase and divide marks according to contribution. </p>\n\n<p>The rationale of the latter approach (which I again highlight I unfortunately don't know the originator of) is that it forces students to think more carefully as to who they work with, rather than just a friend. Obviously your own policies may prelude this, or require peer assessment of contribution etc. </p>\n\n<p>My experience is that in the latter case, students prefer to have the instructor assign groups, when faced with the prospect of having to select groups based on ability, rather than blind loyalty and friendship. By giving the students the choice over how the groups are decided, they have had input into the process, and we receive significantly less complaints regarding group allocations when doing this, compared to setting groups without offering the \"choice\". In the event the students chose to pick their own groups (which is incredibly rare), you simply need to ensure everyone has a group, and that you stick to your policy on the group mark being final (note there are many considerations as to if this is valid or if it perhaps allows weak students to be carried, but I shall avoid discussing them for now as I feel they are relatively obvious to any instructor) </p>\n\n<p>In terms of student efficiency, I find the ability/attendance composite works nicely. I don't have experience of the other criteria for grouping on, other than anecdotally where (by coincidence) a group of international exchange students asked if they could be split up, as they wanted the chance to try working with other people than their own cohort (from the same university and course). In that case it was simply a coincidence due to a group of exchange students performing best in the class. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41841,
"author": "Tim",
"author_id": 12703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12703",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, I think many of your proposed criteria would fail independently, because they emphasize fairly abstract metrics that don't capture the qualities of an efficient group, which are things like communication, synchrony, logistical compatibility.</p>\n\n<p>Second, setting aside the issue of metrics, how do you define the maximum? Must we attain the maximum possible efficiency for all groups (unlikely), the maximum for the most (or least, or median) efficient group? To reduce the problem, given a particular set of groups, if a swap could be made that reduces the efficiency of one group and increases the efficiency of the other, how do you decide whether to make the swap? Basically, this is a challenging search space over which you don't have the ability to do any real searching unless you reassign people at will.</p>\n\n<p>That might sound like an excuse, but it's really an important pedagogical consideration: should you prioritize the bottom, middle, or top of the class, given that the others may suffer from your decision?</p>\n\n<p>All that being said, I think the most effective way to produce long-term groups is to first work in small random groups in class a few times, and then self-select while reserving the ability to make swaps which are mutually beneficial (i.e. no dumps). Unlike gdp, I don't see any reason not to factor group contributions in when grading, as this seems like a sort of arbitrary punishment for wanting to choose your group members.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41814",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31857/"
] |
41,815 |
<p>I will be teaching a new course with a new grading rubric. All of my students will write a lab report at the end of each 3 hour lab session. Each lab report will have an abstract, introduction, data, results, and conclusion sections. How can I prepare my grading rubric to minimize grading time for all lab reports I will grade at the end of each week?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41816,
"author": "Ben Bitdiddle",
"author_id": 24384,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24384",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let them self-organize. Then whatever happens will not be your fault. Plus students might want to work with people they are friends with.</p>\n\n<p>I suggest using Piazza in your classes, and creating a \"search for teammates\" post, so people who don't know anyone in the class can still find groups.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41832,
"author": "gdp",
"author_id": 31290,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31290",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having seen this be done in various ways, I'll suggest 2 successful approaches I have seen used. </p>\n\n<p>The first is to split students into groups based on a combination of class performance to date (from mini tests or assignments), and attendance at class. Obviously this requires we have attendance records, but these are available on account of the main class activity being a programming lab, where attendance on lab computers is recorded during a scheduled class. </p>\n\n<p>We found the by considering class performance alone, students could end up in groups where they were of similar ability, yet one (or more) had significantly better work ethic and attendance than the others. I won't go into correlation between attendance and work ethic here as I feel it's off topic for this question. I will add that we see a clear and undeniable correlation between attendance and class performance, but work ethic is obviously difficult to quantify or measure. </p>\n\n<p>I suggest you also group students by course for logistical reasons, as it makes it easier for students with similar timetables to meet outwith the class. This may be less appropriate or indeed unnecessary if your students have free choice in classes, or if you use the American style \"major\" system, rather than the UK-style where a \"course\" is the major, following a somewhat prescribed curriculum. </p>\n\n<p>An alternative approach (to which I do not claim any credit over whatsoever, but alas am unsure of the originator of), which I shall not express an opinion on, is to offer the class a choice - either I (instructor) assign your groups, or you can. If you pick your own groups, that's it - final. No mark reallocation and negotiation and peer assessment. Alternatively, I (instructor) pick groups, but we have a peer assessment phase and divide marks according to contribution. </p>\n\n<p>The rationale of the latter approach (which I again highlight I unfortunately don't know the originator of) is that it forces students to think more carefully as to who they work with, rather than just a friend. Obviously your own policies may prelude this, or require peer assessment of contribution etc. </p>\n\n<p>My experience is that in the latter case, students prefer to have the instructor assign groups, when faced with the prospect of having to select groups based on ability, rather than blind loyalty and friendship. By giving the students the choice over how the groups are decided, they have had input into the process, and we receive significantly less complaints regarding group allocations when doing this, compared to setting groups without offering the \"choice\". In the event the students chose to pick their own groups (which is incredibly rare), you simply need to ensure everyone has a group, and that you stick to your policy on the group mark being final (note there are many considerations as to if this is valid or if it perhaps allows weak students to be carried, but I shall avoid discussing them for now as I feel they are relatively obvious to any instructor) </p>\n\n<p>In terms of student efficiency, I find the ability/attendance composite works nicely. I don't have experience of the other criteria for grouping on, other than anecdotally where (by coincidence) a group of international exchange students asked if they could be split up, as they wanted the chance to try working with other people than their own cohort (from the same university and course). In that case it was simply a coincidence due to a group of exchange students performing best in the class. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41841,
"author": "Tim",
"author_id": 12703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12703",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, I think many of your proposed criteria would fail independently, because they emphasize fairly abstract metrics that don't capture the qualities of an efficient group, which are things like communication, synchrony, logistical compatibility.</p>\n\n<p>Second, setting aside the issue of metrics, how do you define the maximum? Must we attain the maximum possible efficiency for all groups (unlikely), the maximum for the most (or least, or median) efficient group? To reduce the problem, given a particular set of groups, if a swap could be made that reduces the efficiency of one group and increases the efficiency of the other, how do you decide whether to make the swap? Basically, this is a challenging search space over which you don't have the ability to do any real searching unless you reassign people at will.</p>\n\n<p>That might sound like an excuse, but it's really an important pedagogical consideration: should you prioritize the bottom, middle, or top of the class, given that the others may suffer from your decision?</p>\n\n<p>All that being said, I think the most effective way to produce long-term groups is to first work in small random groups in class a few times, and then self-select while reserving the ability to make swaps which are mutually beneficial (i.e. no dumps). Unlike gdp, I don't see any reason not to factor group contributions in when grading, as this seems like a sort of arbitrary punishment for wanting to choose your group members.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41815",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21829/"
] |
41,819 |
<p>I saw that some theses acknowledgements thanks God, so are there any rules or suggestions about that? Is it ok to do it for believers or just don't mention your religious affiliation in a scientific work? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41821,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I see no problem with this. A rabid atheist or differently-religious advisor or reviewer may be unhappy, but so may be a reviewer who is just going through a bitter divorce upon seeing an acknowledgement of a beloved spouse. No matter what you do, you can always inadvertently hit the wrong note.</p>\n\n<p>As to suggestions, I'd say a discreet</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_maiorem_Dei_gloriam\">A.M.D.G.</a></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>(centered on its own page) can never be wrong.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41822,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There's nothing wrong with thanking God or other religious figures, and it's not particularly unusual. It could upset people if you use the acknowledgments as a place to expound religious doctrine, but no reasonable person would take offense at simply thanking God and I've never seen it cause any controversy.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41823,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your acknowledgements are yours to do with as you see fit. Some might look at you a bit askance, particularly if your professed beliefs conflict with your research (e.g., a Jehovah's witness working on blood transfusions), but ultimately you can thank whoever or whatever you found helpful, whatever it might be.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41819",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24823/"
] |
41,820 |
<p>I'm applying to an assistant professor position at a private institution. I bought <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000083E4G" rel="nofollow">fancy resume paper</a> on which to print my CV/resume. There are other components of the application package that I need to include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Official application (contact info, criminal background statements, employment records, etc.)</li>
<li>Teaching statement</li>
<li>Cover letter</li>
</ul>
<p>Should all of these be printed on fancy paper? My feeling is that all except the official application should be, but at the same time that might make the relatively flimsy paper stand out.</p>
<p>The applications materials are being mailed directly to the chair of the department, and it is a very small department. There are only one or two other faculty.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41858,
"author": "Jakob Buis",
"author_id": 28202,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28202",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes. </p>\n\n<p>Any advantage or action that you perceive will gain you an advantage is worth doing, as long as it isn't unethical/against the law/etc. It might not impress anyone, or just the secretary who scans it, but it won't hurt either in those cases. A great application that is easy to read and on which somebody has obviously sweated the details is always a plus in my book, it shows that you care and that you pay proper attention to detail.</p>\n\n<p>That said, other details are much more important than which paper you use, such as your prior experience, letters of recommendation, existing work and no spelling mistakes(!). Don't stress it too much.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41868,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since most people use electronic documents these days, if you're dealing with somebody who actually <em>wants</em> paper, it's likely they'll appreciate your fancy paper. Print whatever <em>you'd</em> appreciate having on fancy paper (not worrying about expense, since it's just one packet for a long-term position) and you'll be fine.</p>\n\n<p>If, on the other hand, you've got a choice or electronic or physical, you should ignore your fancy paper and send an electronic packet. The physical submission option is only kept by many organizations as a fallback for odd exception cases.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41893,
"author": "peer revu",
"author_id": 31700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31700",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Above some minimum quality threshold (like, it's actually a piece of paper that is roughly a uniform white), the fanciness of the paper has had no bearing on any hiring decision that I've been a part of.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41820",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10371/"
] |
41,836 |
<p>I am working on documenting a new algorithm to solve a discrete mathematics problem, hopefully to publish academically. In this article, I will need to provide code samples and attach or link to a full code listing.</p>
<p>In academic articles I read from late last century, it was customary to document algorithms in C (one example here <sup>1</sup>). Counting problems that involved large numbers used <code>double</code> even if the precision was insufficient.</p>
<p><strong>In today's academic journals, what language is used by leading discrete mathematics papers?</strong></p>
<hr>
<p><em>For completeness, following are the journals I would try to target. I don't have access to these anymore, otherwise I would just leaf through them all.</em></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-combinatorial-theory-series-a/" rel="nofollow">Journal of Combinatorial Theory</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.journals.elsevier.com/discrete-mathematics/" rel="nofollow">Discrete Mathematics</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.journals.elsevier.com/discrete-applied-mathematics/" rel="nofollow">Discrete Applied Mathematics</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.combinatorics.org/" rel="nofollow">Electronic Journal of Combinatorics</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.journals.elsevier.com/advances-in-applied-mathematics/" rel="nofollow">Advances in Applied Mathematics</a></li>
<li><a href="http://jacm.acm.org/" rel="nofollow">Journal of the ACM</a></li>
<li><a href="http://epubs.siam.org/journal/sjdmec" rel="nofollow">SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.maa.org/publications/periodicals/american-mathematical-monthly" rel="nofollow">MAA Monthly</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.springer.com/engineering/computational+intelligence+and+complexity/journal/11831" rel="nofollow">Computational Methods in Engineering</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.springer.com/mathematics/journal/12532" rel="nofollow">Computational Intelligence and Complexity</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=26422&tip=sid&clean=0" rel="nofollow">SIAM Journal on Optimization</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.siam.org/journals/sicomp.php" rel="nofollow">SIAM Journal on Computing</a></li>
<li>Computational Intelligence and Complexity</li>
</ul>
<p><sup>1</sup> Shirish Chinchalkar in "An Upper Bound for the Number of Reachable Positions", ICCA Journal, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 181-183, 1996</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41839,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I don't know anything about Computational Methods in Engineering or Computational Intelligence and Complexity, but I can speak to the other journals. Journal of the ACM publishes plenty of theoretical papers, and the others you list are all mathematics or theoretical CS journals (although note that the American Mathematical Monthly is not really a research journal). Papers in these journals won't generally include code samples, and you can write a theory paper analyzing an algorithm without implementing it. If you do implement it, any reasonable choice of programming language is fine, whichever you prefer. A computer algebra system can be a good choice for a proof of concept, but it's really up to you.</p>\n\n<p>Incidentally, you've listed a rather broad range of journals. It would be a rare paper that could comfortably fit into all of them, so you'll eventually have to narrow the field. Based on your comments about code samples and implementations, I also wonder whether less theoretical journals might be a better fit, but of course it's hard to tell without knowing more about the paper you're writing.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41866,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is no single standard, but a general rule of thumb is that the more \"applied\" the work, the more likely it is to be written in a \"production\" language such as C, Java, Matlab, or Python. More \"elegance-focused\" work is likely to involve more elegant and succinct languages, such as Lisp, ML, Haskell, or Prolog. More theoretical work is likely to simply be in pseudocode.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41836",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4016/"
] |
41,840 |
<p>For me, it feels slightly clumsy to say I'm a <em>Research Fellow</em> without actually being a <em>fellow</em> (defined as <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fellow">a male person</a>). Nevertheless, it's unsurprising to have female research fellows at universities.</p>
<p><strong>Q</strong>: Is <em>Research Fellow</em> a gender-neutral term?</p>
<p>With this question, I'm seeking a way to understand why no-one seems to mind using "research fellow" to describe non-males. Perhaps there's some etymology to the term that would clarify things.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41842,
"author": "Tim",
"author_id": 12703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12703",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Yes, in your reference, the third definition is the one being used, rather than the first:</p>\n\n<p>a member of a group of people who have shared interests, activities, etc.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, we should look to how the word is actually used rather than solely to its dictionary definition, but in this case I think that actually makes the argument even stronger, since academics use the neutral form quite a lot and nobody else (at least in my part of the world) seems to care for the word.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41853,
"author": "Kimball",
"author_id": 19607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19607",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Indeed, as you suspect, etymologically it is not gender specific. If you think about the usages, fellow typically just carries a connotation of \"going along with\" or \"having in common with.\" See <a href=\"http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fellow\" rel=\"noreferrer\">this page</a> for more on the etymology. The <a href=\"http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fellow\" rel=\"noreferrer\">wikitionary entry</a> also has usage notes stating fellow is not typically used in the sense of \"a man\" in North America.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41854,
"author": "Tom Church",
"author_id": 563,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/563",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Yes, \"research fellow\" is a gender neutral term</strong>, just as Simone de Beauvoir can be called a \"fellow traveler\".</p>\n\n<p>The word \"fellow\" derives from the Old English <em>feolaga</em> which means roughly \"one who shares something\" and is etymologically not gendered; you are being misled by the more recent colloquial usage (less than 600 years old) to mean <em>male person</em>. But the meaning here, which is specific to the academic context, developed separately (via the notion that the fellows of a college share in its revenues). You can find more details at the wonderful reference, the <a href=\"http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fellow\">Online Etymology Dictionary</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 190506,
"author": "Esrold Blinty",
"author_id": 164566,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/164566",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The use of the term "fellow" suffers from ambiguity because it has two different meanings, depending upon its intended part of speech. To say a "fellow academician" is to use the word as an adjective whereby it means "belonging to the same class or group; united by the same occupation, interests, etc.; being in the same condition: fellow students; fellow sufferers." ~ dictionary.com But using "fellow" as a noun as in "That fellow standing in line" is unambiguously to refer to a male-coded human being. Thus to say a "Research Fellow" is clearly to use the term "fellow" to indicate a type of research position and, thus, to use it as an adjective: therefore it carries no gender implication. I have attempted to find an alternative adjective with the same meaning, but have been unable find one that works well in English.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41840",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8469/"
] |
41,845 |
<p>I'd like to follow up on my previous <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41812/how-accurate-are-published-papers">question</a>. If scientists have to replicate and validate/refute their peers' research, <strong>where do the "provers" find funding?</strong> </p>
<p>In my 2 years as an undergrad at a public American university, I've heard of a lot of professors researching new things and/or trying to find funding to research new things, but I've never heard of a professor dedicating resources to replicate his/her peer's work. </p>
<p>As I explore existing literature for my research project, I see that I could have used existing literature to guide the experiments I did for my project. Along the way, I could have replicated + validated* the existing "new" methods before trying my new method. Is this how researchers usually review their peers?</p>
<p>That is, professor X gets a grant to explore field A. Professor Y comes up with model 1 for field A. Using his own funding, Professor X designs and conducts an experiment to replicate model 1 before testing his own model, model 2. </p>
<p>Note: I assume my question depends on the field of study since a computer scientist can more easily verify a model + experiment than a chemist.</p>
<p>*Is there a better verb or phrase for replicate + validate/refute? Or does validation imply replication?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41884,
"author": "Tim",
"author_id": 12703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12703",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In my field (cognitive science), your supposition that replication is primarily pursued by investigators prior to extension is true. For example, I have an idea while reading a paper on learning targeted movements, I first implement the paradigm as described (either an exact replication or a conceptual replication) and then I extend it to test my idea. Thus, the money for this comes from the same places that the money for all research comes from: largely from government allocations and grants, partly from NGOs and industry.</p>\n\n<p>However, there has a been a recent trend--again, in my field, but as part of a larger movement in the social sciences--to improve replicability of results. This has included fostering availability of code for software projects and pursuing independent replications purely for their own merit. Last semester I attended a talk on a set of these replications, which, along with similar attempts from other labs, were pushing to overturn the original result. In these cases, the money to pursue the replication is probably somewhat independent from other projects of the researcher. This means funding agencies would be unlikely to provide a grant entirely for this work, so it is probably going to be supported as a passenger on previously funded work or on University funds (e.g. start up and salaries).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41886,
"author": "Julian",
"author_id": 31896,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31896",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can only tell you from the field of chemistry (and for germany). Normaly you only get funding from institutions to produce/research new stuff. Additional you get money (resp. Lab space, chemicals, technicians, positions for phds/post docs) from the university/institute to work on your field. </p>\n\n<p>So how to check others work. Thats easy. Lets say professor A finds a great new reagent to produce something. If you work in a similiar field or you (resp. a lot of times the phds get the ideas and the work) wants to get something different but you want to try his reagent/method you will redo his work to produce somthing new with it. </p>\n\n<p>That means you use his work (and you will hoefull cite him for that) to try some of your ideas. And then you will also see, if what he published was correct. </p>\n\n<p>For the down side (in my expreience),especially if the results were posted in a top tier journal it is very hard to reproduce others work at first. This may be because of the lack of your knowledge, but oftentimes authors \"forget\" to put in some details/knacks which will make the whole reproducing very hard. This will give Prof. A some more time to use his published method for his own research befor a colleague can copy his approach. Oftentimes something published in a mid or lower tier journal is better to reproduce since the experimental section is oftentimes more detailled or more \"realistic\". \nPlease note, that this paragraph is only from expreience and I don't want to blame someone special. It`s just what I experienced. </p>\n\n<p>As an addition, I think there a (few) journals/book series where the reviewer should/must reproduce the result first befor he can accept your paper. but that's really rare and I right now can't list you one from my memory. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41895,
"author": "BrianH",
"author_id": 6787,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6787",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In human (and non-human animal) behavioral fields such as Psychology and areas of Medicine, which often involve many paid participants and quite a lot of expense, replication is often NOT done \"first\" or separately from a new experiment! There just isn't the money and time to be so inefficient - so you need to dual-purpose and build upon existing literature instead.</p>\n\n<h2>Story Time</h2>\n\n<p>I'll use the example that was used to explain it to me, because I think it's a great example of the concept. In the study Effects of Marijuana on Memory (Weil, Zinberg, & Nelson, 1968), the researchers effectively wanted to know if pot screws with your memory - does it make you forgetful, etc? So they designed a simple experiment where they gave some people real pot, and other people fake pot - then they tested their memory. In that experiment, it turned out that the answer was \"pot does screw up your memory\" - people have a decreased ability to recall things while high on the ganja. </p>\n\n<p>But that was just one small experiment - what if it was just wrong? As a part of the idea of building upon past work to answer more questions, they designed a new study that asked if the effect of pot on memory depended on prior experience with the drug. This is a new question, but note that it assumes that pot has an effect on memory in the first place! In the new experiment they split people into the previous two groups (pot and no pot), but then split those groups as well so they were testing experienced pot heads and people who hadn't smoke it before.</p>\n\n<p>Part of analyzing the results includes comparing the memory to pot heads and non-drug users, as well as comparing the memory of people who did and did not smoke marijuana. This is, effectively, a replication of the previous study! However, the new study made it possible to look at interaction effects - and it happened to turn out that pot only made pot-naive people forget things they encountered while high. True pot heads, it would seem, have the same memory stoned as sober - and stoners sober had no notable difference in memory to non-stoners. Go figure!</p>\n\n<h2>If the first time was interesting...</h2>\n\n<p>The key in such experiment designs is that not only is a design testing something new (and thus making it worthy of funding and publication in most venues!), but it also serves to re-test (and replicate) previous studies. And this happens pretty darn often! </p>\n\n<p>If the effect is interesting, it naturally raises a lot of other questions - questions that are closely linked to the original effect. In testing these other questions, it is often difficult to even avoid testing the original thing too, and so replication is a natural part of the scientific process in these fields. It also produces a lot of the \"controversy\" that some fields experience.</p>\n\n<p>My favorite example of this is probably gender/sex differences in intelligence factors. Do men have better visual-spacial reasoning? Do women have better verbal abilities? For years it was thought that these were real, significant effects and gender differences - and more recently they appear to be very close to pure fantasy, with many studies indicating no difference in men and women whatsoever in such areas. At most, it is estimated that both of these effects have the respectively-weaker sex at average outperforming 30-40% of the opposite sex - rather than the 50% expected if the effect were nonexistent, with many studies indeed showing less, no, or reversed differences. </p>\n\n<p>And none of these studies had to be pure replications - any study that looked at IQ needed only to collect basic demographic data from the participants to allow such replications, which they probably were going to get anyway. No extra funding, yet loads of replication!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41997,
"author": "bfoste01",
"author_id": 19610,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19610",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I really wish explicit replication of high profile studies was a priority for funders. However, as was mentioned there isn't typically funding for this kind of research. </p>\n\n<p>The state of social science research is pretty terrible. I have tried to replicate results of past studies en-route to designing/analyzing my own studies. At times it can be like seeing that the emperor wears no clothes. </p>\n\n<p>I think a revolution is coming though. Open-source is becoming more common, and I think you'll see a younger generation of researchers, like myself, at the very least opening our code up to the public or other researchers. As an aside, if you want to see a researcher squirm, then ask for their code. Better researchers will probably move away from point and click stat programs, so that the entire process they went through en-route to results will be transparent. In addition, there's a slow revolt occurring against null-hypothesis testing, which has really been a major factor in the replicatability crisis, and you might see more funders putting money explicitly towards Bayesian models for common research problems where the evidence seems mixed or the policy results of the research-evidence are minimal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 64258,
"author": "Jan Höffler",
"author_id": 49273,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49273",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For impact evaluation there is funding from the <a href=\"http://www.3ieimpact.org/en/evaluation/impact-evaluation-replication-programme/\" rel=\"nofollow\">3ie replication project</a>. They list a number of studies they would like to see replicated. Expertise needed is development economics/epidemiology/medicine/development related political science or maybe statistics.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41845",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31855/"
] |
41,852 |
<p>I have a PhD few admission offers from some universities. My first choice school didn't make its decision yet, or maybe didn't post it online yet.</p>
<p>Is it OK to send an email asking about application status and explaining that I have other standing offers which I have to make decisions about quickly?</p>
<p>Would this have any negative impact on my application? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 42081,
"author": "Anonymous Physicist",
"author_id": 13240,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13240",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, it is okay to ask about your application status. If you tell them you got into a good program, that might be considered a sign you are good applicant.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42082,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is it OK to send an email asking about application status and explaining that I have other standing offers which I have to make decisions about quickly?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, it is more than okay. If you think you might prefer school X over your current list of accepted schools, definitely let them know. At worst they will be indifferent to this information. At best, they will be very grateful to know this and be given the opportunity to enroll you. They may for instance fly you in on short notice to interview / recruit you. In no case (well, no reasonable case...) will they respond negatively.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Would this have any negative impact on my application? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As mentioned above: absolutely not. Rather it could have a positive impact, including in some cases resulting in better funding for you.</p>\n\n<p><b>Added</b>: The above is general advice without factoring in the thought that school X may be better than the schools to which you've already been accepted. The advice is still valid, but the response from a top school may be less dramatic: top programs tend to make their admissions decisions more independently and tend to have good funding anyway. (Nevertheless they would be happy to know that you are still interested in them before you make your decision.) A (fairly long) while back an old friendly acquaintance of mine was visiting the Harvard math department as a prospective student after already having been admitted to MIT (which is not a measurably worse department, I should mention). He expressed to me the hope that MIT's interest would engender a \"bidding war\" between the two schools. This did not happen and in fact the student did not stay in any graduate program for very long.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41852",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18244/"
] |
41,856 |
<p>Stuck in the lab again, for the third night in a row. I have never done three in a row I think I might just break a record. I cannot sleep, because the lab is super crammed and uncomfortable and I am afraid that someone will come in and take my belongings, I am afraid that I will fall sleep for so long that I will miss something so important that will ruin this semester, especially at a time when I beginning to see the light at the end of a long dark tunnel that has been both physically, emotionally and mentally draining.</p>
<p>Why not go home? Because home is an hour drive away and I am stuck working on multiple projects that lasts from 8 in the morning to 3 in the morning. Have to get up to school again at 9 am. Not much time left in my time zone. Should I go to sleep? Might just wake up in a lab full of people and look embarrassed. Should I stay awake? I will just wind up falling asleep in the lecture which is ten times worse!</p>
<p>But that's not the point I am asking this question. I am asking this question because I am the only one left in the lab. Eyes wide open from dusk till dawn, headed for a big crash. Can't form a full sentence, my mind is going blank. I am starting to wonder if it is just me. What is it about me that forces me to wonder the halls at 4 in the morning to go to the bathroom to brush my teeth? What forces me to drink energy drink at 11 pm at night and wonder how long before I will have my first heart attack? Can you call an ambulance over the internet, my phone is dead.</p>
<p>How do academicians view the subject of sleep when things left undone, problem left unsolved swirls around your mind? How to be productive, meet deadlines, and get adequate sleep?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41867,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are three basic approaches to handling this:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s#Personality\">Paul Erdos' approach</a>. Pros: it worked for Erdos, after a fashion. Cons: you are not Erdos.</li>\n<li>Crack, maybe have a psychotic episode, and leave academia. Pros: it's the easiest course, and the one you're on now. Cons: everything else about it.</li>\n<li>Recognize that your career is not a sprint, but a marathon, and start triaging less important work in favor of sleep. <a href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1739867/\">Working sleep-deprived is exactly as smart as working drunk</a>, so you are already cutting your productivity, just in an uncontrolled manner. Pros: Survival, possibly having a career. Cons: you will have to say \"no\" to people.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The truth is, in academia there is an endless amount of work that you <em>could</em> be doing: <strong>you will never be done.</strong> The only choice you get to make is whether you will choose the things that you do not do, or whether you will make self-destructive choices that mean those choices get made for you arbitrarily by the fracture points of your body and mind.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41871,
"author": "Sylvain Peyronnet",
"author_id": 43,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You are following the \"path of the burn out\". You may be interested in reading this question and its answers :</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7668/what-can-i-do-to-recover-from-a-short-term-burnout\">What can I do to recover from a short term burnout?</a></p>\n\n<p>By main advice is always the same : seek advice from a professional, there is nothing that can be said here except \"don't do that\", \"enjoy life outside the lab\" and \"you have to realize that you won't miss anything by not being 24/7 at your desk\". For the rest, a professional is needed.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41874,
"author": "redshift",
"author_id": 31801,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31801",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that another approach to view this problem is: do I really need this amount of time to perform this specific task? Or is there a better, shorter way to tackle this scientific problem?</p>\n\n<p>It happened to me from time to time that either (i) the experimental design or (ii) the technical aspects of the experiment itself could be improved in a way that I could still reach the result that I was aiming for, without having to go through the pain of sleep deprivation.</p>\n\n<p>Always consider that as other people pointed out working so much will have a big impact over the quality of the data that you will obtain, thus leading to you having to increase even more the amount of hours that you put into the lab, in a vicious cycle that could have very negative outcomes.</p>\n\n<p>I would sit down and go back to the experimental design to see if there is a better path towards your goal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41878,
"author": "user31893",
"author_id": 31893,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31893",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the neurological institute I did my postdoc, the biologists tended to stay up with only brief intermissions while experimenting on the visual cortex of a cat. A cat lasted for about 3 days of useful results from anesthesia to euthanasia. It was sort of their code not to waste any of that time. Rats lasted shorter but were more expendible, probably also emotionally. But they were not useful for the same things.</p>\n\n<p>It was not really much of a conversational topic in this interdisciplinary institute but most people knew what was up when a biologist dragged himself around with bloodshot eyes before disappearing again.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41898,
"author": "Vibhu",
"author_id": 31911,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31911",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>How will you be able to complete things if you are unable to take care of your health? I understand that things are important,but is this going to matter on the expense of your health? \nI am not an expert but here are few things you can try:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Ask a friend to stay with you, so that when you sleep , your friend can keep a watch. You can sleep turn wise.</p></li>\n<li><p>Try to spend less time on laptop or phone. It drains your energy and makes you feel more tired.</p></li>\n<li><p>You can set few video recording devices , so that while you are taking moments to relax , they record everything you need. But give it a try before you actually start using this method and see if it is working correctly.</p></li>\n<li><p>Eat your food in short intervals, instead of taking all at a time. It may help you to become less tired. </p></li>\n<li><p>Keep fruits to eat in between(already chopped), instead of drinking energy drinks.</p></li>\n<li><p>Close your eyes, breathe in slowly from your nose (count to 7 or to 10 )and exhale from mouth ( slowly like you inhaled). This will help you to relax. Repeat it again and again ,until you feel relaxed.</p></li>\n<li><p>You can use cotton balls, dipped in cold water , to keep on your eyes for 10-15 minutes. It will help your strained eyes.</p></li>\n<li><p>Don't sit in one position, stretch your body from time to time.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>How cramped is your lab? What kind of chairs are there?\nYou can use chairs to take rest.</p>\n\n<p>I think you can work better if you are not sleep deprived. \nTry smart work not long work. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41912,
"author": "dugz",
"author_id": 31935,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31935",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You may be experiencing some early signs of bipolar disorder. I speak from experience because I was undiagnosed bipolar for over 20 years. When I was at the university, I occasionally experienced spells like you describe where it was just impossible to sleep. And once or twice a year I would fall into a pretty serious slump where it was all I could do to get out of bed for a week or two. And most of the time I was my good old self.</p>\n\n<p>I recommend that you discreetly get yourself checked out by a mental health specialist. If it is bipolar, you want to catch it early on because it can progressively get worse if left untreated. That's what happened to me.</p>\n\n<p>Either way, the specialist should be able to help you, perhaps with some non-addictive sleep aids for occasional use as-needed. Certain antidepressants can be used off-label to crush insomnia spells. I find them very helpful, very powerful, and I use them sparingly.</p>\n\n<p>Best wishes!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41913,
"author": "HSquirrel",
"author_id": 31936,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31936",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Try to stop at good enough on the tasks that really aren't that important. Spending several hours to go from 99% to 99.9% isn't really worth it (maybe for some limited tasks). You will save an immense amount of time.</p>\n\n<p>You'll be more efficient on the important tasks if you get enough sleep and you don't have to stress as much over them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41919,
"author": "smci",
"author_id": 12050,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12050",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your working, living, commuting and sleeping arrangements have gotten out of whack; also you are skipping exercise and time off. Recipe for burnout.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><em>\"I am stuck working on multiple projects that lasts from 8 in the morning to 3 in the morning\"</em> what does this even mean? That's insane. That's at least 8 hours too much. So immediately reduce it by 8 hours, depending on whether you prefer to avoid mornings or nights. I very much doubt your supervisor assigned you that schedule. What needs to change in order to fix that? Change it now. Can you nap in the afternoon? Exercise then nap?</p></li>\n<li><p>Don't sleep in the lab. It's just not productive. And it feeds the workaholism and anxiety. Also, your labmates will think you're weird.</p></li>\n<li><p>Worrying that someone will take your belongings can be solved by using a locker, and a backpack, but don't sleep in the lab. No sleeping-bags.</p></li>\n<li><p>In terms of sleeping arrangements, either rent a room nearby, find a couch to crash on, or use a car/truck you can sleep in, with blanket and cushions. Probably can't find a carpool with such a wack schedule.</p></li>\n<li><p><em>\"I cannot sleep, because the lab is super crammed and uncomfortable and I am afraid that I will fall asleep for so long that I will miss something so important that will ruin this semester.\"</em> There is a whole bunch of things wrong with that, workaholism and anxiety getting totally out of control. But for now, get your sleep schedule back together immediately so your thought process gets back to normality.</p></li>\n<li><p>Then talk to your supervisor regularly to check you're on track and don't need to be anxious. </p></li>\n<li><p>You are neglecting the crucial role of exercise and leisure time (as well as sleep) in any schedule. Fix that now. Whatever needs to get cut, cut it. 19-hour work days? Cut the least important 10 hours' worth. (Triage, as jakebeal said.) Unrealistic expectations? Talk to supervisor. Scheduling conflicts? Bring up to supervisor. No rational or ethical supervisor would inflict such a schedule on anyone. Academia is not some sleep-deprival forced-march do-or-die ordeal like special-forces boot camp. It's just a set of tasks to be managed and completed, then switch off and go exercise and have a beer with your friends. Really you're losing all sense of proportion.</p></li>\n<li><p><em>\"What forces me to drink energy drink at 11 pm at night and wonder how long before I will have my first heart attack?\"</em> Nothing \"forces\" you to, except perfectionism, anxiety and lack of structure, all of which you own. Do not drink energy drinks within 6 hours of sleep time. That means 6pm latest. Do not overconsume them. They lead to anxiety and insomnia; they can strain your heart. Every time you think of using an energy drink as a crutch, instead exercise/go for a run/walk/at least do pushups. Based on your symptoms and mental state, you should probably avoid energy drinks forever.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41921,
"author": "user141592",
"author_id": 27327,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27327",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was on my way to where you were a few months after I started my PhD. There are already some really good answers on why you should get more sleep, so I'm going to focus on how to get more sleep without stressing about not getting enough work done. Here are the two things that have helped me a lot with not getting stressed about shutting down at a set time to sleep:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Plan your day: make a schedule for what you should be working on when, and stick to it. Make sure this schedule includes things like exercise, time to hang out with friends, family time (if you're in a relationship, live at home or have kids) and a set bedtime. If it's scheduled, you'll feel better about not working during those times. </p></li>\n<li><p>At the start of every day, take 15 minutes and write a to-do list (based on which things you should be working on according to your schedule) for the day. Every time you do something, cross it off. At the end of the day, when your schedule tells you to stop working, look at the to-do list. Most likely, you will have crossed off a majority of the items on the list. Seeing all the things you actually have accomplished during the day makes it easier to shut down and recharge for the next day.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42002,
"author": "peter",
"author_id": 31991,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31991",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's hard to disconnect when you've got into a continuing stressy zone.</p>\n\n<p>If you find that Johanna's answer isn't enough for you, then you might try:</p>\n\n<p>-- schedule in some hard, physical exercise (2 or 3 times a week). (I chose swimming lanes). This will give your system a chance to work out all the piled-up stress metabolites (not science; just my world-model) and leave you physically tired. I found it altered my mood; even if only for an hour or two, providing respite from perpetual stress.</p>\n\n<p>-- eat as well as you can afford to; I find I lose concentration when I eat sugars, fats and starches without meat and vegetables [you might not prefer meat for protein]. Your body has to rebuild itself continually; give it the inputs to manage that.</p>\n\n<p>-- think carefully about your use of stimulants. Many established adults I've spoken to about this, have (eventually) adopted a plan like this: don't have any more coffee after 6pm / 3pm. Experiment has shown that caffeine too late damages your sleep (you don't get the benefit of the time you spend asleep), by making that sleep lighter. The <em>first</em> night a tea or coffee (or energy drink) late on will give you extra. The <em>second</em>, less. And quickly none or less than none; it isn't a sustainable behaviour.</p>\n\n<p>-- adopt a new policy to your body. It is the platform on which all your achievement is built. Nurture it. Feed it. Notice when it is struggling, and adapt what you expect of it. Don't treat it as a whipping horse; it is <em>you</em>. There are no marks for destroying your platform for future achievement, and the only person who will have to pay the price is you.</p>\n\n<p>-- managing your own programme and delivery is a continuing experiment. Watch how your system copes and adjust what you expect of yourself. When adults gave you tasks as a child, they were also supervising you from a position of seeing your general physical and emotional state. Now this has become your job. Have you noticed? </p>\n\n<p>-- reconsider the promises you have made. Are you trying to deliver more than your system can sustain. Consider unmaking some.</p>\n\n<p>-- the body isn't designed to perform under continual high pressure. It has evolved in an environment where it got bursts of stress and periods of relative calm. Bear that in mind when planning for performance. You <em>need</em> downtimes; and your body won't tolerate not getting them.</p>\n\n<p>-- do not try to reach your absolute limit of achievement, be aware that your capacity might not be infinitely elastic; if you get there, you might damage your ordinary capacity to deliver.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42004,
"author": "erwin",
"author_id": 31805,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31805",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are short-term and long-term approaches. Sometimes, a lack of sleep is necessary because of, eg, unexpected and valuable time on expensive valuable equipment X. Or, because the grant really is due today and you didn't budget time correctly. Or because process X has to be babysat and really does take 72 hours. For those short-term upsets, coffee and lots of water works, followed by about twice as much rest as the time you missed sleeping. <strong>Never pretend you can make time up on your long-term schedule by missing sleep.</strong> For processes, that part just sucks, either try to work in shifts with another student or set up a nearby sleeping area. If you're gadget-friendly, simple setups can often improve efficiency by allowing uninterrupted sleep.*</p>\n\n<p>Long-term, missing sleep does not work for most people. Planning can help a lot. So, start by figuring out everything you want to do, estimate how long it should take, and then prioritize. Start by filling in an 8 hour workday and try to get everything on your list done. Listing tasks such as 'try X' works better than 'solve Y'. For most people, it won't come close to happening in 8 hours. Next, measure the ratio of estimated to actual time and use that to scale your future estimates. Keep reviewing.</p>\n\n<p>Next, find a weekly hour limit that keeps you healthy. Then, optimize for efficiency. (commuting 2 hours?? move. Reading StackOverFlow instead of working? Um... Stressed, not getting much done? - Try the gym.)</p>\n\n<p>Finally, after a few iterations, compare your productivity to your peer group while adjusting for your career goals and choose realistically. If you aren't close to living healthily while being as or more productive as people likely to achieve your career goals, it would be reasonable to rethink them.</p>\n\n<p>*One of my friends moved into his office. There was a lab shower, so it wasn't bad - and saved a ton on housing. Add a lockable door == no problem.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41856",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23380/"
] |
41,863 |
<p>I took my first graduate course as an undergrad last semester and it seemed that graduate student exams are much more open ended. Not only do they require you actually know more stuff (i.e. remember the theorem, the general approach) but they also require a lot more creativity, time management and general problem solving smarts.</p>
<p>But flipping open a text at the graduate level (Birkhauser, Springer-Verlag type), not only are most books filled with theorems, lemmas, proofs etc from head to toe, covering a very large array of concepts, but the much needed exercise at the end of the chapter is replaced with a list of references. Where are the exercises? And the course I took was sort of commonly taught I believe - stochastic networks.</p>
<p>I can see how this can be very problematic as one climb up the academic ladder. How would you ever find a text on "lower dimensional topology of autonomous robotic system", "Brain chaos in semi-aquatic faunas" or "Renal-sarcomere interaction theory" (three completely made up course). </p>
<p>How should graduate students approach a subject or an emerging field where there exercises scarce aside from what is introduced during the lecture or in existing literature?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41869,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The purpose of an exercise is to have you start applying the material to a problem, which helps you learn it.</p>\n\n<p>As a graduate student, you're going to have started working on applications of your own. If you want to start applying the material you are learning, why not try applying it to work that you are engaged with? You will be in a less-constrained environment and without clearly provided answers, but, well, that's practically the definition of the difference between undergraduate and graduate education...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41876,
"author": "Kimball",
"author_id": 19607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19607",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First, let me reassure you that many graduate classes are similar to undergraduate classes, in that often there will be regular homeworks and plenty of exercises in the books, with undergrad style exams, just harder. Of course, not all of them are like this--some are more like what you might think of as seminars, but this is sometimes true for undergrad classes as well. It depends on both the level and the focus of the course.</p>\n\n<p>As for how you find exercises, learning how to ask your own questions and find your own (typically terribly naive) understanding of a subject is a large part of becoming a researcher. In graduate school, you should have an advisor who can help direct you with things and may suggest exercises or warm-up problems for you.</p>\n\n<p>To give more a practical answer: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>If a subject is fairly well studied, you should look for other books which may have exercises. </li>\n<li>If there are no exercises, you can make your own by trying to come\nup with your own proof, or working out things in special cases, such\nas computing examples.</li>\n<li>If it is a more recent area or specialized topic, where there are no\ngreat texts, sometimes there may be good online notes from a course\nor summer school someone has given.</li>\n<li>Lastly, I think a great way to learn a topic is to start writing\nyour own notes on it, and this works well for advanced/specialized topics where exercises are hard to come by. Trying to explain something to someone (even\nyourself or a vague nonexistent reader) forces you to ask yourself\nbasic questions about the topic, which helps you understand both the\nideas involved and larger context.</li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41863",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20070/"
] |
41,877 |
<p>I submitted a research paper to a special issue of a reputed computer science journal (SCI indexed) and the results were due on January 31st. However, the results have not been announced to date, and my email to the Guest Editor requesting for information on the delay has gone unanswered. I am really worried about this delay without notification, as the whole point of submitting to a special issue was to get reviews faster than regular issues. Is this big delay normal? Should I be worried that my paper is lost or worse? I can see the status "Reviewing" when I log into the journal's tracking service. Please advise on what I should do. </p>
<p>Thanks in advance. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41883,
"author": "user3209815",
"author_id": 14133,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14133",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I had a similar experience, although not with a special issue. In my case, the delay was due to the fact that a change of Editor-In-Chiefs happened. However, it came not even close to a delay of 45 days. That can be because a reviewer did not meet the deadline.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41888,
"author": "Julian",
"author_id": 31896,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31896",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Oftentimes, and that's valid esp. for academia, a call will be better than an email. It's really easy to oversee (deliberate or not) an email, but if you call, the editor (or a secretary) has to answer. And if you have someone on the line you can ask your questions directly and he has to answer or give you sme other sort of feedback. </p>\n\n<p>It's annoying for a lot of us, since an email is easier, faster, you can better oversee what you're writing and you don't have to call someone and speak to him personally. But from an efficency point of view, a call is in most of the cases the best approach. </p>\n\n<p>Just ask polite, don't make some sort of accusation or preasure somthing, but that are the same rules that apply for emails.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41877",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31891/"
] |
41,880 |
<p>In early March 2015, an eMail by a female German professor <em>apparently</em> rejecting a male Indian applicant due to the 'rape problem' in India made news. (The issue is a bit more complex. There is some discussion whether the eMails were selectively quoted and the professor has since apologized.)</p>
<p>What bugs me however is the following paragraph (which may or may not be what the professor has written, and which seems to be ignored by the news media):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"Many female professors in Germany decided to no longer accept male
Indian students for these reasons, and currently other European female
association are joining."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Is this a thing in Academia? Has anyone heard about hiring bans, either formal or informal ones, based on sex/gender and/or nationality?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41890,
"author": "gnometorule",
"author_id": 4384,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4384",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You are unlikely to get examples about formal hiring bans, in particular in western societies. It would not only be frowned upon, as in this case; it would also be against university policies, if not downright illegal. The only formal hiring bans I could think of are those implied by more general rules. The most obvious case coming to mind is that about 20 countries don't allow people with Israeli passport to enter, which means they cannot study or teach there either (about half a dozen or so countries extend this to people with other passports but evidence of a travel to Israel). </p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, it is possible that the professor was speaking a truth about what some consider in their hiring decisions...where usually they would only have the common sense to not explicitly admit the true reasons for their decisions. They would start where this professor is now: claiming that their labs are full. This is human nature, and academics are no better or worse than their fellow humans dealing with their fear and prejudice in regrettable ways. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41903,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the past I have heard of departments that have informally refused to accept students from particular countries if there were previous issues with cheating on admissions—but this was pre-Skype and Google Chat, when it would have been much easier to practice deception. (Usually, the issue was with phone interviews, where candidates with poor English skills would have a \"stand-in\" take part in the interview instead.)</p>\n\n<p>Another reason for hiring restrictions is the issue of funding—in addition to the example cited <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41880/are-there-formal-or-informal-hiring-bans-in-some-academic-settings-based-on-gend#comment92843_41890\">by ff524 in gnometorule's answer</a>, there is also the possibility that the funding agency which sponsors a given project may have additional restrictions on who can be funded. Often times the restriction is to exclude all foreign nationals.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41905,
"author": "Amir",
"author_id": 23641,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23641",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are bans rooted in funding and grants requirements. Its not only about Iranian and energy and aerospace.</p>\n\n<p>ITAR, Export Control and Defense Budget or National Labs funding are limiting most non-US citizens. NATO citizens can be accepted in some cases but really outside of these two category, other scientists will face limitations at some point of their academic career. </p>\n\n<p>During hiring for faculty positions, Departments are very interested to know about the funding prospects of candidates. In Engineering schools I have seen that the nationality and various Export Control and ITAR and unavailability of many federal(but defense or energy related) grants shortens the prospects on candidates and effectively removes them from the pool of candidates.</p>\n\n<p>Some engineering schools among others are dependent on defense-based labs and collaboration and they seem to mention the area of research they are interested which in effect is a signal to save candidates time if they are very focused on defense funding. \n As of \"ban\" I have seen that candidates from certain sanctioned countries can not work on certain topics(energy, nuclear, nano-material and so on), also if you consider the visa processing as a part of hiring that needs to be done by university you can imagine the bans from department of state/homeland/treasury can play a role in university hiring. \n All these limitation on funding and visa can flow down to the level of students and can go up to the whole department level. Some professors do not want to get involved in possible complexities or limitation and you see them not accepting certain nationalities. or departments(e.g. aerospace, nuclear) do not accept students from certain countries. \n Last, but not least, and aside from funding, sometimes departments care about their alumni being able to work in sectors they are training for in the US, which also will not work out with many nationalities. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 69384,
"author": "Doug Spoonwood",
"author_id": 7158,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7158",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some positions at the University of Melbourne (in a mathematics department) are currently <a href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/may/19/university-of-melbourne-mathematics-school-advertises-women-only-positions\" rel=\"noreferrer\">only</a> open to women.</p>\n\n<p>The Australian National University has an astrophysics position <a href=\"https://jobregister.aas.org/ad/284a30ba\" rel=\"noreferrer\">only</a> open to women.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 141997,
"author": "electrique",
"author_id": 42952,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/42952",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My experience is from a higher education engineering department in the UK.</p>\n\n<p>Formally, I've only heard of positive hiring initiatives. That is, the engineering departments are heavily male dominated so there is a push to increase the female percentage. This is in terms of subtle guidelines rather than fixed positions as other people mention. E.g., the position announcements are checked to make sure they are welcoming, parenting benefits are highlighted, at least 1 female member on the selection team, etc.</p>\n\n<p>Informally, there have been some \"nudges\". For instance, our department is highly multicultural and international. At some point, there was a streak of hiring faculty from a specific nationality shifting the dynamics. In an upcoming hiring, more than 2/3 of our candidates were from that specific nationality. Only 1 of them made it to the shortlist and I believe it was a management decision.</p>\n\n<p>I've also heard from young female colleagues that they had issues with male students of specific nationalities. The students did not respect and trust their mentoring and would seek to validate everything by internal or external older male advisors. This led to them not wanting to hire from those specific nationalities anymore. I've heard this from at least three colleagues. Again, nothing formal.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41880",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26614/"
] |
41,891 |
<p>I am applying for faculty positions in the US. Almost all of them require teaching philosophy and research statements. I have read some examples, but still do not understand what should I write. </p>
<ul>
<li>Should they be about my past experiences or future plans? </li>
<li>Should they be evidence-based or just my ideas? </li>
<li>How they should be categorized (e.g., different topics that I
taught or my teaching methods; different research topics or
research strategy)?</li>
</ul>
<p>I know that this question is too broad, but honestly I am deeply confused. How can I highlight my teaching/research potential to attract their attention?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 45091,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Many successful teaching and research statements do the same basic three things:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Describe broad themes or approaches</strong> that tie together your research or teaching.</li>\n<li><strong>Narrate specific relevant examples of your achievements</strong> related to these themes or approaches that illustrate your experience and qualifications.</li>\n<li><strong>Describe your aspirations and future directions</strong> in terms of your research or teaching.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>It might help to think of the research and teaching statements in terms of other items in your packet. For example, your writing samples will provide concrete examples of your work as a scholar so don't need to prove this in a research statement. Similarly, your CV will show your publication and teaching record so you don't need to reiterate this either. Instead, provide a high-level overview of your approaches to research or teaching while referring to examples from your experience that help make the case for your excellence in each area.</p>\n\n<p>Statements also provide a space for you to explain what you hope to do in the future. I used my teaching statement to describe examples of graduate and undergraduate classes I could teach that were on the books at the department I was applying to and that I would design from scratch. I used my research statement to explain the areas of research I was hoping to move into in the future.</p>\n\n<p>Your goals with the statement may also be to address potential weaknesses in your application. For example, if you have little teaching experience, your teaching statement is an opportunity to show that you have thought deeply about teaching and that you have gained relevant skills through experience like mentorship that might not show up on your CV.</p>\n\n<p>Specific expectations, in terms of of teaching and research statements, may vary from field to field and even within fields, but you can generally assume that authors have quite a bit of latitude. Look for examples online and, perhaps, more usefully, contact successful recent job market candidates you know to ask their materials.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 45160,
"author": "aparente001",
"author_id": 32436,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32436",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Teaching philosophy examples: <a href=\"http://www.uwo.ca/tsc/resources/selected_teaching_topics/teaching_dossiers/guide_to_constructing/teaching_philosophy_examples.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.uwo.ca/tsc/resources/selected_teaching_topics/teaching_dossiers/guide_to_constructing/teaching_philosophy_examples.html</a></p>\n\n<p>Nice suggested format for research statement: <a href=\"http://theprofessorisin.com/2012/08/30/dr-karens-rules-of-the-research-statement/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://theprofessorisin.com/2012/08/30/dr-karens-rules-of-the-research-statement/</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 45416,
"author": "Geo",
"author_id": 34545,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/34545",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have recently come off the job market myself (I am ABD, soon to defend). By far the most useful information I came across was from <a href=\"http://amzn.to/1e3uAnO\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Academic Job Search Handbook</a>. It has tons of useful information about Teaching Philosphy & Research Statements, plus tons of other information that might be useful to you, since it is geared toward US academic jobs. Good luck on your search!</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41891",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31898/"
] |
41,901 |
<p>I'm kinda new to academia and was wondering how citations are done. In particular, say I wanted to cite the "Inspiration, pure and applied mathematics, and aesthetics" of this article: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics</a></p>
<p>Would I cite the whole article, or is there a way of citing just the part I want?</p>
<p>Also, who do I mention as the author of a Wikipedia article?</p>
<p>Lastly, what format would is commonly used for writing such a reference?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41902,
"author": "mhwombat",
"author_id": 10529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10529",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This question is very basic and broad in scope; have you made any effort to research it? If you search for \"citation reference style\" on one of the major search engines, the first few pages are full of useful tutorials.</p>\n\n<p>There are many different formats used for references (e.g., Harvard, APA, Vancouver). If this is for an assignment, ask your instructor which format he or she wants you to use. If this is for a journal article you hope to publish, consult the journal submission guidelines.</p>\n\n<p>Normally, page numbers are not required for short articles. For something longer, such as a book, page numbers (or perhaps chapter numbers or section numbers would be used.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 134637,
"author": "deags",
"author_id": 111713,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/111713",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Use an APA citation generator. Dont write citations one by one. Even Microsoft Word has a 'references' section where you pasta the data of the site/book/article and its automatically generated. You can use Zotero too (it's a reference manager.)</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/18
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41901",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31919/"
] |
41,908 |
<p>I am wondering how I can find and keep updated of the latest colloquia and talks videos. I imagine that schools may take videos of talks they hosted and upload them somewhere. Of course not every school/department does this, and this depends on the field that one is interested in. But if I know where they are, I can check for updates manually, or set up some sort of feed/automated notification with keyword filtering.</p>
<p>To be more clear I am not looking for videos of online classes (e.g., <a href="http://coursera.org">http://coursera.org</a>), but talks about the latest work in one's field.</p>
<p>The only ones that I found are <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/stanfordonline/">Stanford</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/UCITLTC">UC Irvine</a>, but I suspect there must be more out there that are not on youtube.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41911,
"author": "Willie Wong",
"author_id": 94,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>Mathematics</h2>\n\n<p>From my experience not very many schools record talks as a matter of policy. But the special institutes often do. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.msri.org/web/msri/online-videos\" rel=\"nofollow\">MSRI</a> has videos available for workshops dating back to at least 2004. </li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/video-archive\" rel=\"nofollow\">Fields Institute</a> also has a large collection.</li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.newton.ac.uk/webseminars\" rel=\"nofollow\">Newton Institute</a> records almost all of its seminars and colloquiums. </li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/user/PoincareInstitute\" rel=\"nofollow\">IHP</a> has a Youtube Channel, and if you follow them on Google+ you get updates (sometimes even hourly) on new videos. </li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.claymath.org/publications/video-catalogue\" rel=\"nofollow\">Clay</a> records their research conferences. </li>\n<li><a href=\"http://scgp.stonybrook.edu/multimedia/videos\" rel=\"nofollow\">Simons Center for Geometry and Physics</a> no longer maintains a central list of videos. But if you visit the individual <a href=\"http://scgp.stonybrook.edu/scientific/workshops\" rel=\"nofollow\">workshop</a> pages the videos are made available very soon after the talks. </li>\n<li><a href=\"http://qgm.au.dk/\" rel=\"nofollow\">QGM (Centre for Quantum Geometry of Moduli Spaces)</a> records their conferences and master classes.</li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.birs.ca/videos/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Banff International Research Station (BIRS)</a> makes conference/workshop videos available.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42008,
"author": "Memming",
"author_id": 386,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/386",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://videolectures.net\" rel=\"nofollow\">videolectures.net</a> hosts a large collection on a wide variety. They started as more computer science oriented (I usually watch the machine learning ones), but there are also other fields of study.</p>\n\n<p>I've seen some major conferences and workshops utilize youtube lately.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42823,
"author": "CC cat",
"author_id": 456,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/456",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Adding one web site that I found: <a href=\"http://bids.berkeley.edu/resources/videos\" rel=\"nofollow\">Berkeley Institute for Data Science</a>.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41908",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/456/"
] |
41,915 |
<p>Are there any advantages or disadvantages in having two supervisors instead of one? Why would a graduate student want to do this or avoid this?</p>
<p>The context is in an MA where students usually have one supervisor and two committee members (examiners).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41916,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Pros:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>If one supervisor gets <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factor\">hit by a bus</a>, you still have a second supervisor who is familiar with your work and can thus give constructive comments on it, hopefully appreciate it and in particular evaluate it. Often, your supervisor is the only person at your university who is actually capable of fully understanding and properly judging your thesis and defense.</p></li>\n<li><p>If one supervisor turns bad or turns out to be bad and for example gives bad advice, makes ridiculous demands or even expects you to do questionable things, you can still turn to the other supervisor for advice or to have a serious word with the bad supervisor. If the relationship to the bad advisor goes totally awry, you may have the option to drop them and be supervised by the other supervisor alone.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>It depends:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>You may be expected to do more or less work. For example, if you are doing an interdisciplinary work and have one supervisor from each discipline, the supervisors may only understand and value the work you do in their respective half and thus think that you did not do enough. On the other hand, they may also overestimate the work in the respective other half and thus be more easily satisfied.</p></li>\n<li><p>You can benefit from the experience of both supervisors and learn something from one advisor that you cannot learn from the other.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Cons:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You may be affected by disputes between the supervisors. For example the first supervisor may tell you to do something in a certain way and then the second supervisor blames you for it.</li>\n<li>If aspects of your work require input from both advisors, you may need to wait not only for one supervisor to have time for you but for two. This is in particular difficult, if you need to talk about something with both your supervisors at the same time.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Some of the above obviously depends on the details of the relationships between your supervisors and the reason for the co-supervision. Thus, you can only judge yourself, if these points apply to your case and how important they are for you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41918,
"author": "Massimo Ortolano",
"author_id": 20058,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20058",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are cases where the situation is actually neutral, that is, there are no particular pros or cons. Two supervisors come out naturally when there is an on-going collaboration between two groups, and the candidate starts working within this collaboration, or when the candidate is going to work in a non-academic institution and needs an academic supervisor too. </p>\n\n<p>Typically, in the above cases, if the collaborations are well established, things go on smoothly, and the candidate hardly notices that she/he has two supervisors. Sometimes, one of the two supervisors can follow more closely the candidate, while the other can have more bureaucratic functions. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41925,
"author": "titus.andronicus",
"author_id": 13099,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13099",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Wrzlprmft's answer is very detailed, and this just serves as my personal experience (since I am doing just this: my Master thesis is supervised by 2 tutors with similar application areas).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If one supervisor gets hit by a bus, you still have a second supervisor who is familiar with your work and can thus give constructive comments on it, hopefully appreciate it and in particular evaluate it. Often, your supervisor is the only person at your university who is actually capable of fully understanding and properly judging your thesis and defense.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>This!</strong> It is not uncommon for STEM PhD students to do internships or a semester abroad at another institution (this actually happened to one of the supervisors at the middle of my thesis). Having 2 supervisors just gives you the chance to present with the one remaining.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>You can benefit from the experience of both supervisors and learn something from one advisor that you cannot learn from the other.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As far as why one would go to the extra trouble of having 2 supervisors think of it as follows: you are able to <strong>learn</strong> from different PhD students, that can have slightly different fields. \nIn my personal case, one of them is clearly more into physics and engineering concepts and prototyping, while the other is very knowledgeable in computer simulations, programming, etc. This definitely helps!</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>My piece of advice after having done such a project is (as in most project management):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Try weekly/biweekly meetings where <strong>everyone</strong> is present.</li>\n<li>Send important updates/pdfs or questions via email with everyone as CC. (Keep in mind to address in the email if you need an answer of supervisor X, as people tend to feel less obligated with this approach)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Best of luck in your project.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42410,
"author": "citrine",
"author_id": 32287,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32287",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was co-advised by two people with quite different backgrounds. In my experience, some of the pros were:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Crosstraining across disciplines. My two PhD advisors were trained in computer science and chemistry, respectively. I think of this as having two main sub-benefits:\n<ul>\n<li>You can work on problems for which fewer other people have the appropriate training, which can set your work apart and differentiate you as a scholar from others.</li>\n<li>You can get a more diverse skill set, which can serve you well both inside and outside of academic research.</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>Access to two different people's professional networks (potentially even in different areas).</li>\n<li>Experience with different interpersonal styles, styles of leadership, and research philosophies.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Some of the cons were:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Double the time spent in and preparing for meetings!</li>\n<li>More difficulty scheduling. In my experience, difficulty of scheduling scales exponentially, not linearly, with the number of professors you need to get in the same room.</li>\n<li>Competing priorities. Different advisors will have different ideas of what's interesting or worth following up on. You need to make sure everyone is on the same page about what direction your research should be taking.</li>\n<li>(Probably) a longer duration of training. Interdisciplinary work can be really rewarding, but it can also mean that both you AND your mentors will be working outside of their respective comfort zones. You can't just rely on what's within a single prof's wheelhouse. Of course it depends on the project and the person, but if, say, you wanted to do a US-style PhD and were dead set on getting out in just 4-5 years, I'd suggest choosing a single advisor instead of two.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42459,
"author": "Flounderer",
"author_id": 5842,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5842",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was co-supervised (one of my supervisors was the former supervisor of the other supervisor, making me my own academic uncle) and also want to do a pro and con list:</p>\n\n<p>Pros:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>When one supervisor was away, the other might still be available. So I probably got more supvision than I would have otherwise.</li>\n<li>I could complain about one supervisor to the other if things were going badly.</li>\n<li>I got two slightly different points of view on everything I did, which was certainly valuable.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Cons:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>One of them left part-way through my thesis and I was not allowed to switch universities, even though I was mostly working with the one who left by that stage.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 107098,
"author": "henning",
"author_id": 31917,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31917",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To add to the list of advantages: If the first supervisor is close to where you work, they may provide frequent and hands-on advice. If the other supervisor is a big shot who flies in only once or twice and writes one of the reports, they can bolster your reputation and write a positive letter of recommendation.</p>\n\n<p>(I know this isn't how academia should work if it were an ideal meritocracy, but in the real world where power and ties matter, this is how it does work, especially in more conservative countries.)</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41915",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11673/"
] |
41,920 |
<p>I have finished writing a paper and am a high school student. Since I'm sure this has no chance of being accepted to arxiv, I want to simply post it on a public forum. (This also has meaning for me because the forum helped me develop in the field where I wrote this paper, and I have friends there.)</p>
<p>My question is: Even if this is a not-that-important paper, imagine hypothetically that someone more prominent (ok, this is highly unrealistic, but just imagine) steals the main result of my paper and publishes it in a renowned journal, or at least somewhere more prestigious than a forum. Would he get credit for the discovery? This seems unlikely since the date I posted it on the forum will show that I came up with it before him.</p>
<p>Note: Although I don't wish to name the exact forum I'm talking about, it's similar to <a href="https://www.physicsforums.com/" rel="nofollow">Physics Forums</a>.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41926,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If somebody copies your text, then the fact that you posted this text publicly and earlier on the internet (in a location you can't feasibly control, so it won't look like you faked the historical record) will prove that they plagiarized.</p>\n\n<p>It's a little trickier if somebody in inspired by your idea and writes their own paper that doesn't cite yours, since there's no way to distinguish this from independently coming up with the same idea. It would be unethical to do this, but it could in principle happen. If you pointed out your prior posting, you would deserve to at least share the credit. However, people might still downplay your contribution. \"Sure, there was an earlier internet posting outlining the basic idea, but it wasn't nearly as well developed and nobody noticed it since it was posted somewhere obscure. The real scientific breakthrough occurred when the idea was independently rediscovered, properly understood and worked out, and disseminated to the research community.\" You could end up as a footnote, which is still credit but a sort of grudging credit.</p>\n\n<p>I don't expect this will cause any problems. It's not worrisome unless your ideal is attractive enough to seem worth stealing, while remaining obscure enough that someone could hope to get away with it. The biggest barrier to intellectual theft is publicity: once enough people know about your idea, anyone who claims to have found it independently will get shot down by someone saying \"You may not have known about this, but that's just your own ignorance, since the rest of us know Awesome Academist came up with this idea in 2015. You should pay more attention to the internet.\"</p>\n\n<p>Furthermore, if your idea really stays obscure enough that someone could get away with stealing it, then your posting evidently didn't have much impact on the community and you arguably deserve only a footnote's worth of credit. (People deserve some credit for reaching the goal first, but more credit if they make a bigger contribution by circulating their ideas and influencing the research community.)</p>\n\n<p>I doubt you need to worry about theft, but trying to publish your paper formally could help address this possibility by putting your work before a broader audience. Anything worth stealing is worth publishing in the first place, so if theft worries you then you should consider publication.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41942,
"author": "A E",
"author_id": 23260,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23260",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The only problem I see is with this:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>This seems unlikely since the date I posted it on the forum will show that I came up with it before him.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Hypothetically, someone in the future could easily argue that the date shown on the forum post has been faked - it would be even easier for them to argue this if you're friends with the person/people running the forum.</p>\n\n<p>So you need to get some kind of trusted-above-reproach third party to provide an unimpeachable confirmation of the <em>date</em> that you posted it.</p>\n\n<p>One way to do this would be using the Internet Archive's 'Wayback Machine'\n<a href=\"http://archive.org/web/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://archive.org/web/</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Save Page Now <br>\n <strong>Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future.</strong> <br>\n Only available for sites that allow crawlers. <br>\n As it says, it'll only work with sites that allow the IA web-crawler, so test it first with some other page from the same forum, and then once you know it's working post the paper and then get the IA to capture it. That'll prove the date on which you posted it.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Another way to do it would be to get a notary public to certify a document showing the paper, e.g. a printout of the forum post.</p>\n\n<p>(I should add that my knowledge of this kind of thing is based on IP law e.g. patents/copyright rather than academic publication, but still, priority is priority).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41955,
"author": "AaronLS",
"author_id": 22309,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22309",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are \"trusted timestamp services\" which use a combination of digital signing and included a timestamp with the document, as a cryptographically strong method of asserting that something existed unmodified at a particular date/time. Some of these services are free. So long as the services private key is never compromised, their public key can be used to verify the authenticity of the timestamp signature. Some of these services are free.</p>\n\n<p>The only doubt that one might cast on the legitimacy of such a signature, is whether you somehow coerced the signing authority to falsify the date. So usually you want the service to be run somewhere that anti-fraud laws/regulations would give them credibility.</p>\n\n<p>How much this would stand up in a court of law would probably involve expert witnesses that understand the process and can try and explain it to someone in a court of law.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41920",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31942/"
] |
41,923 |
<p>I want to write down this idea that I get from Wikipedia: both (James Watson and Francis Crick) thanked the Schroedinger's book for their inspiration.</p>
<p>(More specifically, that page is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Life%3F" rel="nofollow">What Is Life?</a>, and that idea comes from the last sentence of the second paragraph.)</p>
<p>This is what the wiki writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>each respectively acknowledged the book as a source of inspiration for their initial researches.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Of course that statement has a reference back up. My problem is that I can't figure out how to write that idea down without using the exact one used by the wiki. In my opinion, that sentence is better than any sentence I can think of to rephrase it. If I just use it anyway without quoting it, I'm afraid that I will be plagiarism. If I say that it is from Wikipedia, well, you know the result. My best solution I can find is using this clause:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>stated by Wikipedia, with Julian F. Derry (2004) backs up</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But it is super awkward. In case I can't think of any better sentence, do you know how should I do?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41924,
"author": "george",
"author_id": 21766,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21766",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I believe you should quote the initial source, not wikipedia. Quoting an article will not change in time, while nobody guarantees that a wikipedia entry will be the same after, say, a year or two.</p>\n\n<p>Now, I don't see any problem in rephrasing what the wikipedia article says in other words, thus avoiding plagiarism, while also citing the original source.</p>\n\n<p>E.g. \"both scientists have acknowledged that their initial researches were inspired by [book citation].\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41932,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Should I quote Wikipedia if I can't rephrase it?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes. If the important thing is the facts (and not the phrasing), then forget what Wikipedia said, read the source cited there, and work from that to find your own wording. But if Wikipedia has a better phrasing than anyone else has, and you want to copy that phrasing, then you need to credit it to Wikipedia. You shouldn't use this phrasing while trying to disguise the fact that it came from Wikipedia, or try to modify it just enough that nobody can be sure of its origins. You should either credit Wikipedia or rewrite it from scratch.</p>\n\n<p>If the quote is genuinely great, then using it makes sense, and nobody will care that it came from Wikipedia. (It's reasonable to question Wikipedia as a source for facts, but that's not a reason to avoid crediting it for good writing.) However, I'm not convinced this quote is so obviously wonderful that quoting it would look natural. Would it be that much worse to say something like this? \"Schroedinger's book was written for a popular audience, but it was nevertheless highly influential among scientists. For example, it inspired Crick to take up the problem of the physical basis of genetics.\" (Note that the Derry reference you mention never says it inspired Watson except via Crick. Wikipedia cites Watson's book \"Avoid Boring People\" for its influence on Watson, but I haven't checked what he says there. Derry cites \"The Double Helix\", but I haven't checked that either. In any case, you'd need to check these references, see how to incorporate Watson, and add a suitable citation.) I'm not saying this phrasing is ideal, but it could be good enough, and I bet you could come up with various alternatives, depending on exactly what you want to convey. I doubt it's crucial to your paper that this one sentence convey exactly what Wikipedia said. If it is, then quoting Wikipedia is fine, and if it's not, then the whole issue is not so important.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41923",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14341/"
] |
41,927 |
<p>Before I start explaining my situation, I would like to say that I have read the other questions on this topic but I cannot find what I need on 100%. I am a bachelor student and I am working on my bachelor thesis. The main activity of this thesis is to make a replicated experiment. The experiment involves participants to ask questions which require statistical and accounting intuitions. </p>
<p>After I have performed the experiment, I cannot get on 100% the same results. I know where the problem is coming from but it is too late to re-do the experiment. I am not sure what I should do. How bad is that for my work, as I cannot accept any of the hypothesis compared to the original article?</p>
<p>I have made an extension but I cannot accept the hypothesis of this extension as there are no statistical reasons to do so. I am capable of arguing about why the hypotheses failed to be accepted but I am sure if it is nice to fail at your hypotheses. </p>
<p>I have never written an academic paper before. </p>
<p>Regard Boris</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41934,
"author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten",
"author_id": 440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This answer assume that peer reviewed publication is the goal and is not complete in the context of the question</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>*but it is too late to re-do the experiment\" </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This kind of situation is no fun at all, and is all too common, but you can't say <em>anything</em> if you know that your work is defective. </p>\n\n<p>Your only really choice is to find more time and or money and start again or to keep mum.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41939,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Honestly report about the results you have achieved, including any errors and omissions in the method that have occurred, or any reasons why you think the results are not as expected. </p>\n\n<p>If you produce a good analysis and report, then it won't matter so much that the results were not as expected. </p>\n\n<p>The point of a bachelor thesis is mainly to demonstrate that the student is capable of applying the skills learned over the prior years in a larger setting. The goal is not to produce original publishable results.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41927",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31946/"
] |
41,935 |
<p>My thesis was done in industry environment, therefore in the acknowledgements I would like to thank all the people that helped me, but I do not know how I should call them. Colleagues does not sound right to me since I am not actually employed in that company although I spend there every day of the last 5 months. </p>
<p>Which is the right english word? (I am a non native english speaker, but I have to write my thesis in english). Moreover, which is the right word for my industry tutor? Shall I call it advisor (whereas my professor will be my supervisor)? Or is it better to say co-supervisor?</p>
<p>And lastly...shall I write both their name and surname or only the name?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41936,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can largely avoid the terminology question by saying something like:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Thank you to my company supervisor [NAME] and to the people at [COMPANY] who I have worked with, including [NAMES]</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41963,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>My answer is similar to but slightly different from <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733/jakebeal\">jakebeal</a>, but gives more meaningful context about this company's contribution and <em>why</em> you are thankful to them.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I am indebted to [COMPANY] and their managers and employees for serving as host and advisers to me for five months as I performed the core of my research. In particular, I would like to thank [NAME], who graciously tutored me about [TOPICS] which enabled me to [CONTRIBUTION]. I would also like to thank [NAME], [NAME], AND [NAME], who provided feedback and guidance along the way.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You should list first and last names for each person, including titles if they have a PhD or are a medical doctor: \"John Jones, PhD\" or \"Dr. John Jones\".</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41935",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28587/"
] |
41,937 |
<p>I have applied to a university for Research Masters. Following application, I contacted the Professor I had listed on my application and told him about my research and profile. He asked me to send him my Research paper and after going through it, he contacted me again to ask about if I have a valid TOEFL and References etc. After the initial conversation of 5 emails, he hasn't contacted me again and its been 20 days.</p>
<p>Should I contact him or wait? I am confused about what could be the best way of contacting him again.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 42822,
"author": "Kleigh",
"author_id": 32601,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32601",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am a graduate student, though I am not getting a research masters. However, what I would do is this:</p>\n\n<p>In most cases, it is a board of admissions counselors made up of multiple professors and maybe some administrative positions that will be making the decision as to whether to accept you or not. So, in that case it means that the decision to admit you into the Research Masters program would likely not lie solely on the one professor that you have listed on the application. So what I would do is contact the main office of the department that heads the research masters program that you have applied to and tell them something like \n\"Hello, my name is _____. I would like to check on the status of my application. I have been in contact with professor _____ but I know that he is busy so I wanted to check with you all to make sure that you have everything that you need from me and to see when I can expect a decision to be made pertaining to my acceptance. </p>\n\n<p>Sometimes calling and speaking to someone directly will get you a lot further than an e-mail, so you might need to try this method. </p>\n\n<p>I hope this helps!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42848,
"author": "fcb",
"author_id": 32615,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32615",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, it's been more than enough time to reach out and start the conversation up again. The trick is to be persistent, not pushy. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41937",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31952/"
] |
41,943 |
<p>I've got a midterm tomorrow and have been increasingly ill for the past few days. I need to decide whether or not I'm going to write the midterm, and if I don't I'd need some sort of proof that I was in fact sick. My question is, how sick should one be to not write a midterm? It is possible I could push through it.</p>
<p>Any advice on when to get a medical note to be excused? The way I see it 99% of the time it is technically possible to at least be present for the exam; even if one has the flu or strep throat they can still write it (though poorly). The institution only asks for a medical certificate, but even unintentionally one could fake being sick for example if I go to the doctor and tell them I'm here to get a note, they would probably give me one even if I'm hardly ill.</p>
<p>When should someone make the call to stop doing the work and get the note? A couple of my recent assignments weren't done to as high a standard as I would've liked because the illness is making it hard to concentrate and work, but I thought I would get better in a few days. </p>
<p>The other thing is I'm having trouble finding a doctor or nurse. I don't have a GP where I'm going to school and the campus medical is fully booked. I've phoned around to some drop in clinics and they have wait times of over an hour and charge at least $10 for a note.</p>
<p>UPDATE: I managed to get a note from a drop in clinic and scanned and e-mailed it to my professor. The course policy is that missed exams cannot be taken at a latter time and a mark for them will be calculated based on everything else in the class excluding the final exam. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41967,
"author": "awsoci",
"author_id": 28324,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28324",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's nice to see that you don't want to be one of those students who takes advantaged of the system. </p>\n\n<p>Go to the doctor, even if there are hour + wait times. Missing a mid-term generally means that unless you have a medical certificate for the date of the test, you will not be allowed to write a make-up. In some universities (like mine) it is a formal process in which you have to apply for and be approved by at a faculty or department level. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41975,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ul>\n<li><p>Check your course syllabus. Often, policies for exam makeups are documented there. It also might say here whether you need a doctor's note or not.</p></li>\n<li><p>Contact your professor right away (by email or phone) to inform them that you are ill and may miss the exam. As a professor, the further in advance I know about situations like this, the easier it is for me to make arrangements. You could also ask at this time about whether you need a doctor's note (or confirm what you read in the syllabus), and/or explain the difficulties you would face in obtaining one. The professor may be willing to make an exception.</p></li>\n<li><p>Obviously, go to the doctor if you are in need of treatment. Also go if the professor insists on having a note; this is probably not ideal if you don't otherwise need to see a doctor, but you really don't have much choice.\nour i</p></li>\n<li>Only you can make the decision as to whether you are \"too sick\" to take the midterm. My feeling is that any of the following would be sufficient reasons to stay home:\n<ul>\n<li>you think you would significantly risk your health by attending</li>\n<li>you have a contagious illness</li>\n<li>your illness might disturb other students (coughing, running to restroom, etc)</li>\n<li>you think your illness would significantly reduce your ability to do well on the exam (e.g. you are in pain, excessively fatigued, have distracting symptoms, etc)</li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41943",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23316/"
] |
41,944 |
<p>Let's see, just in this week alone I got the news that I have failed four of my midterms (out of five courses in total, the last course doesn't have a midterm), achieving around 40% in each, quite consistent effort across the board. By the way I have around a 3.8 GPA over 4 years of engineering school and I received a letter from the faculty telling me to pull my grade up or consult mental health professional.</p>
<p>I think all this is happening I am in the final stage of wrapping up a year long project that has truly went awry. Two of the members contributed nothing and did not even participate in completing the final system. So I was there to build the entire system myself. This was easy until it was time to deliver our final report. Guess who wrote the 80 pg long final report.</p>
<p>During all this I had one huge McDonald per day at around 1:00 AM, drank a dozen of energy drinks which I know cannot be too good for me. Missed nearly every single lecture. Wrote a 1000 word email to my supervisor detailing how much I suffered through this project and later wrote a 20 word email apologizing for the rambling. Fell sleep in the middle of a lab exercise (thankfully I am able to make up for the lab tomorrow morning). Also rejected from two schools, not my dream school, but hurt nonetheless.</p>
<p>This is the part when I think I would be finally schizophrenic. Like John Nash or that girl in Proof, I go full blown insane. Wear a clown hat on my way to school while swearing at bus drivers, sitting in the middle of a floor in a 7-eleven crying or writing indecipherable symbols on the blackboard. I am not dealing with this stress at all. I have not talked to my professors about the midterms, no plans to make up anything. I have not bothered to pick up the midterms either to check what is wrong.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, none of this has happened. I wonder if I am in a phase that is beyond five stages of grief, or if I have truly given up in my subconscious. Has anyone experienced something similar? Like a setback that is so big that you would think you would run into emotional troubles but nothing wind up happening. At what stage in academia would one most likely to suffer from a break down of some sort?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41945,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You have given more than enough evidence to show that <strong>you need to seek professional help and/or counseling</strong>. The impulse of telling people that you're in trouble is a good one. Posting anonymously on a site for academic advice is not the way to go: because you clearly need help by those with professional counseling training and very few academics have such training, most people on this site will (and should) decline to give you specific advice. Please seek help in real life. You can begin with student counseling services at your university. If you don't know where to go, google \"student counseling [your university]\". </p>\n\n<p>Note: I am leaving this as an answer rather than a comment because I feel strongly that this is \"the real answer\" for the OP. The manner in which probability of mental breakdown varies with the stage of one's academic career is not relevant to the OP. Mental breakdown can happen at all stages of an academic (and nonacademic) career, and rather than looking at age or seniority statistically one should look behaviorally, cognitively and emotionally on a case-by-case basis. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41983,
"author": "Mass Kent",
"author_id": 31972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31972",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>You should not have really taken up the entire work upon yourself!!!</strong> </p>\n\n<p>The moment you knew that your contributors were't listening to you and you would have to do the entire work, you should have reported to your professor or lecturer in charge. While you strive day and night with just a burger for a day, your contributors keenly listen to lectures and get ahead of you. My advice to you would be </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>1)<strong>Talk directly to your lecturer/professor</strong> about this situation\n (face-to face) and seek their help.</p>\n \n <p>2)There is a second chance for everything! Try to <strong>focus on your lab\n exercises and courses</strong> well and level up your grades!</p>\n \n <p>3) Most importantly, Please <strong>eat well and sleep well.</strong> Only if you are\n healthy, you'd be able to catch up.</p>\n \n <p>4)Sometimes, it's better if you <strong>share your troubles</strong> with someone. You\n can talk about it with your friends and even your family members. It\n relieves your stress. (It works for me, I can really relate to your\n situation-You know, I took step 1) below the moment I had a situation\n like yours)</p>\n \n <p>5) <strong>Stop worrying</strong>. Everything has already happened and you can't do\n anything about it. Take a step forward and think about \"What you can\n do NOW to resolve all these problems!\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In the FUTURE</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>1) Never have people as contributors who contribute nothing. The\n moment you get to foresee that you'd have to end up doing everything,\n take a bold decision to do your project alone. (You are the only\n contributor for your project so it doesn't matter if you do your\n project alone-and why let people take credit for your work?)</p>\n \n <p>2)Keep in touch with your project guide/professor constantly and let\n them know the project progress-how much each contributor has\n contributed)</p>\n \n <p>3) Please take care of your health (Eat well and don't be demotivated,\n no matter what happens. This too shall pass)</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41944",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23380/"
] |
41,946 |
<p>My stance is that these websites are a great boon to the research community and they were certainly extremely helpful for my research. I think they should be applauded rather than persecuted, and while they may be illegal now, I think a way to make them legal should be found (in the same way I can download articles legally through my university's subscription to all the major publishers and journals).</p>
<p>Can I thank them in the acknowledgements section of my thesis?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41949,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 8,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You <em>can</em> thank whomever you want in the acknowledgments of your thesis, but there may be consequences that you have to live with.</p>\n\n<p>In my opinion it is a bad idea to admit to illegal activity in a formal document like this. Once you write that, you cannot unwrite it: it will be archived for the rest of your career. I don't really think you'd get in any trouble directly, but by doing so you're advertising the fact that you are willing to break rules that you don't like <em>and do so entirely openly</em>. I think that a lot of potential employers prefer employees who when they break the rules for a good reason, do so more quietly.</p>\n\n<p>I also don't really see what you're gaining by doing this. A thesis acknowledgment is not a step toward legal free downloading of texts. I happen to agree with you that \"a way to make them legal should be found\". One way I work towards this is that I make all of my lecture notes -- some of which are very close to being textbooks -- freely available on the internet. Whenever I have spoken with publishing companies, I mention at the first meeting my requirement that my material be made freely available on the internet. To my surprise, they have not walked out of the room. I also have largely stopped assigning expensive required texts.</p>\n\n<p>In summary: an acknowledgment to the providers of illegal content is a microscopic flouting of the establishment, not a helpful act. I recommend that you think a bit more carefully about what you can do to actually improve the situation. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41999,
"author": "Paraplastic2",
"author_id": 24424,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24424",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I had a similar problem in my ethics class but I approached it differently. My argument was that piracy forces legal content providers to provide better services. I’m not going to drill down on that as it’s a much bigger topic. Thanking piracy for illegal but freely available information isn’t ideal as it sounds like you're endorsing it. In a scholarly context, that’s not overtly wrong but it’s not ethical. Debating that with professor’s and/or ethics boards is radically different than here or with your peers. </p>\n\n<p>Thanking piracy for forcing legal content providers to provide better services is better. That way you can structure arguments around what drives business change for the better. You can focus more on liking the end result without directly endorsing piracy. That might seem like dodging the issue a bit but I wasn’t comfortable directly thanking piracy in the context of my ethics class. </p>\n\n<p>In the context of learning and freely available information, I think we’re all a little torn. I love the idea of all college level information being freely available to everyone but that’s not feasible. Someone has to put together that information. Someone has to help others understand that information. If actual books are being made there’s a production cost. Everything that goes into producing that information has a cost be it in time or money. It easy to think of free/piracy as a great idea but it’s usually sharing that end product that had a cost to produce, for free. If it was just shared for free no money would be made to cover the costs of producing that information. Why would anyone produce information if they lose time and money? They wouldn’t. Then there wouldn’t be that great information to pirate. </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, the legitimate cost of that information is very high. For a country with over a trillion in student loan debt, is more debt the right answer to get people trained and into the workforce?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42072,
"author": "Shep",
"author_id": 789,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/789",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a counterpoint to the other answers, I'd say you should absolutely thank these websites. Why? </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>It takes minimal effort on your part. Some have suggested that instead you write an article praising illegal downloading. I hope you do that too, but adding a sentience to your acknowledgments is easier.</li>\n<li>You shouldn't be worried about it hurting job prospects. There's a pretty good chance your next employer isn't going to read your thesis anyway. Actually, there's a pretty good chance no one will read the entire thing. Furthermore, I'd be wary of any employer who judges you based on your acknowledgments section---I'm sure they've seen weirder things there. Just keep your pontificating out of the rest of the thesis.</li>\n<li>There's nothing wrong with supporting a cause. People who do read (parts of) your thesis will probably be impressionable young grad students. What you say is one more hint at how stupid our current system is when it comes to paywalls. Hopefully these new students will break the law just like you did, and that's great: there's nothing good about breaking the law for personal gain or just for the sake of disorder, but fighting for a cause (even if it's illegal) is half of what academia is about.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>That being said, phrasing and tact are everything. Make it subtile and keep it focused on the cause and not the disobediance. Something like</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"I'd like to thank those who have provided open access to otherwise prohibitively expensive material.\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>is better than</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"A big shout-out to all the all the pirates out there! @#ck The Man!\" </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You're <em>probably</em> not going to get a lot of respect by sounding like an anarchist.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><strong>NOTE:</strong> I may have a biased point of view, given that I'm in a field where most researchers equate paywalls with extortion and all our most prestigious journals are free. If a subscription to the the top journal in your field costs thousands of dollars a year and your colleagues are OK with that, I'm not sure what to tell you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42075,
"author": "somerandomdude",
"author_id": 31255,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31255",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think there are more cons than pros to writing this in your acknowledgement. To me it seems more like a written declaration claiming that you participated in some illegal activity.\nMany in the academic community write books which are pirated and they probably will not take it well if they read that in your PhD thesis. If you plan on pursuing a career in academia, these people will probably be a thorn in your side.\nAlso, if you are in a graduate program where you submit a thesis before you defend it. Your defense committee may decide to give you a hard time during your defense (of course I understand that in some graduate programs you may not have any other exams left after you submit your thesis).</p>\n\n<p>All I'm saying is that it may cause you much pain without contributing to your cause.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42088,
"author": "Kurt Sanger",
"author_id": 32056,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32056",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>No its not okay to knowingly receive stolen property and thank the thieves. If the information provided in the reference was relative to your work, and you are receiving a degree because it helped you to so so, then thank the authors who created this work and took the time to write it down and get it published by buying their book. And next time please find a valid library and borrow a legal copy.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42163,
"author": "Blaisorblade",
"author_id": 8966,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8966",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since this move is politically risky, should you take the risk? Richard Hamming addresses the general point in the famous <a href=\"http://www.paulgraham.com/hamming.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><em>You and Your Research</em></a> when he talks about ego assertion. The discussion is worth reading—let me quote just the following:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>And I think John Tukey paid a terrible price needlessly. He was a genius anyhow, but I think it would have been far better, and far simpler, had he been willing to conform a little bit instead of ego asserting.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>What was the ego assertion there? Funnily, it was just dressing <strong>casually</strong> instead of <strong>formally</strong>—these were the '50s.</p>\n\n<p>Also, there are better ways to fight for the cause, like joining one of the movements for changing publication models—legally. (See open access, though that's mainly for papers). Any actual work in such a movement could even go (I guess) in your CV as community service.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42164,
"author": "Annoyed Publisher and Author",
"author_id": 32097,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32097",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a publisher and author I would be extremely annoyed that someone actively promotes those who commit the criminal offence of illegally copying and distributing our intellectual property. </p>\n\n<p>First, I would refer to your university that your research was conducted using illegal obtained materials: that is undoubtedly in breach of your contract with the university and I would press for the cancellation of your degree. Harsh? Yes, but you are a criminal benefiting from the knowledge, expertise and labours of others. </p>\n\n<p>Secondly, I would take steps to have the site removed from major search engines and references to it blocked. We routinely do that now, when we become aware of them. We refer the site hosts to the relevant authorities in the countries where they are hosted with a view to having the site taken down and the owners / operators prosecuted. </p>\n\n<p>We would publicise the internet host and its IP range with a view to responsible site owners blocking that host's customers from accessing websites around the world.</p>\n\n<p>And finally, we would publicise your name and that you were prepared to use criminally sourced material for your own advancement, demonstrating both a tendency to criminality and that you operate in a moral vacuum, in the hope that no employer would engage a person with such a lack of ethical values.</p>\n\n<p>If the book you want is not legally available on-line, go to a proper library where publishers and authors are rewarded for loans. See if the book is available for lending for Kindle (you pay a small membership fee) because, again, publishers and authors are paid when you borrow.</p>\n\n<p>Would you thank the photocopy shop that makes illegal copies of text books? </p>\n\n<p>No, because you know it's a crime. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41946",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31957/"
] |
41,947 |
<p>Assume I have the name: "First Middle Last". I have been publishing as "First Last." </p>
<p>At my current job (postdoc) my adviser prefers that I list my name on my paper as F. Last (or F.M. Last), and I'm afraid that the change in style will make it less obvious that all the papers I've written are from the same person. Is this an issue that matters? If so, does it matter enough to insist on using "First Last" in spite of all other names being abbreviated on any papers?</p>
<p>P.S. If this is a community dependent question, I'm a physicist in the AMO physics and optics communities (e.g. APS and OSA). I'm asking about how my name appears in the list of authors on the paper I wrote (not about how citations are formatted).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41951,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Are you talking about how you are listed in citations, or how you are listed in the authorship of a paper?</p>\n\n<p>In authorship, it <em>definitely</em> matters precisely how you are listed, especially since there are a lot of scientists in the world, and there's a decent chance there's another one out there with a very similar name to you. It's fine to insist on having your name listed in the way that you want to have it listed.</p>\n\n<p>In citation, though, the fraction of your name that appears largely depends on the style of the citation required by the venue (I have even seen one highly aberrant journal citation format that omitted the author names entirely), and also doesn't matter so much, since the citation is really just a \"pointer\" to finding your original article.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41957,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If a journal requires a specific format (initials plus a last name, for instance), there's not much you can do. However, the more consistently and uniquely you can identify yourself, the easier it will be to make sure your work is properly \"accounted for\" and remembered. It's a lot easier to keep track of a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Restorff_effect\" rel=\"nofollow\">\"Hedwig von Restorff\"</a> than for a \"John Smith,\" for example.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41972,
"author": "Matt Menzenski",
"author_id": 31967,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31967",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you find yourself publishing under multiple names, e.g., \"First Last\" in one journal and \"F. Last\" in another, you might want to consider registering for an <a href=\"http://orcid.org\">ORCiD</a>. ORCiD provides a unique identifier which a researcher can use to unite all the different names she/he has published under. </p>\n\n<p>If you have a more common name, like \"John Smith\", an ORCiD can help differentiate you from other researchers with similar names. And if you change your name, ORCiD can help you link the older to the newer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41979,
"author": "haresfur",
"author_id": 31971,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31971",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I believe that consistency is important and it is important for journals to accept your preferred name if at all possible.</p>\n\n<p>I go by my middle name and it is important to keep it that way for me. One reason is that my first name is the same as my father and we have the same middle initial. Thus, there would be confusion if I published under my first name or just my initials. Even an ORCiD could be confusing if I linked by initials (although all those pharmacology papers might help my pub record ;-).</p>\n\n<p>At least I don't get the confusion with my grandfather's pubs that my brother gets.</p>\n\n<p>There is an additional consideration for women. When I got married, someone asked my wife if she was going to change her name. She replied,\"Why should <em>I</em>? I have more publications than he does.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42821,
"author": "Alex",
"author_id": 32404,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32404",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the author name style should be uniform for all the authors of a paper. Since your professor prefers initials for first names, you have not much choice :). The question here is whether bibliographic databases (e.g. Scopus) would recognize you and link this paper to the other papers you already have therein (i.e. recognize you as the same person). Additional data used to perform this properly is your affiliation. I have already published papers with initials for the first name. From my experience it works well in Scopus, even though I have very common last name.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 56474,
"author": "Andreas Blass",
"author_id": 14506,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14506",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Nowadays, I use just my first and last names on my papers (and my stackexchange registration), omitting my middle name. A few of my early papers, though, had my first and middle initials and my last name, for consistency with how my teacher and co-author formatted his name. The discrepancy has never caused any problems for me, but it caused a little extra work for the staff at Mathematical Reviews (nowadays MathSciNet). They are quite careful about keeping track of when two different names refer to the same person (and when the same name refers to two different people). So at some point, I got a letter from them asking me whether the papers under both versions of the name were mine. I don't know whether other fields than mathematics have an organization that is similarly careful about matching names to people. </p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41947",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12915/"
] |
41,952 |
<p>This is something that I thought about a while back when reading (I forget where) about someone who held a Ph.D. in chemistry, but focused on physical chemistry throughout his Ph.D. years and actually became a physics professor. </p>
<p>I was wondering how often this happens. For instance, do electrical engineering Ph.D. holders with very physics-oriented research become physics professors ever? What about vice versa? Or what about, for instance, applied mathematicians specializing in cosmology. Do they ever become physics professors?</p>
<p>More important question here: does this open up the possibility in which one can apply for faculty positions in multiple departments, thereby increasing one's chances of a faculty position? Or does the interdisciplinary nature of it actually <em>limit</em> the candidate's faculty choices?</p>
<p>Note, when I say someone is a professor in another field, I mean, for example, they received a Ph.D. from a department of chemistry and were subsequently employed by a department of physics. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41954,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>For interdisciplinary researchers, this sort of thing can happen fairly often. For example, if you are a chemist working on ecological applications, you might well have started out in a chemistry department and end up in an ecology department, or vice versa. This happens even more so when dealing with disciplines that may be categorized differently by different institutions: for example, is work on medical devices part of biology and the natural sciences faculty or part of electrical or mechanical engineering? Generally, however, if it's going to happen, there is at least some logical trail that you can see how the faculty member got from point A to point B.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41958,
"author": "gdp",
"author_id": 31290,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31290",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This has happened in the past, especially in some emerging fields. For example, I know a professor of electronic engineering, whose PhD was actually carried out within a mathematics department, studying cryptography. From there, the practical applications of cryptography in physical systems led towards electronic engineering. At the time of his PhD, computer science was quite different to what we have today, and indeed it wasn't hugely unusual for people to complete their PhD in mathematics, yet end up working in a different (yet related) department. </p>\n\n<p>While not precisely what you asked, in my experience it isn't at all unusual for people to make fairly significant changes in field, when working in postdoc positions. I've seen people from civil engineering working brilliantly in electronics groups, and vice versa. They can then end up forging a successful career in those groups. The impression from what I've seen is that if someone is doing work that's sufficiently inter-disciplinary that it's related to a group or department, provided their skills and expertise are in line with the department at the time, they are not disadvantaged. </p>\n\n<p>Obviously this might depend on location and discipline, although I know many people who moved into computer science in the early days, from different (often completely unrelated) fields.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 163447,
"author": "Houska",
"author_id": 115453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/115453",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Adding to the existing great answers (about interdisciplinary research and emerging fields), I'd add perspective by asking, <strong>"why are there obstacles at all?"</strong>. After all, traditionally the degree is awarded as a deliberately non-specific "doctor of philosophy", that happens to be in recognition of advancing the state of knowledge in some specific area, not as a "doctor of chemistry" or "doctor of linguistics" or whatever.</p>\n<p>At issue is that in our increasingly specialized academe, hiring is usually done at the departmental level. Therefore, those <strong>hiring committees ask, "will this candidate contribute to the reputation, research output, and breadth and depth of expertise in our department?"</strong> And also, <strong>"will this candidate help us train graduates in our discipline, and/or instruct service courses in our discipline to the broader student body?"</strong> And, frankly, "is this candidate like <em>me</em>, so that I can confidently assess their capabilities and fit?"</p>\n<p>A <strong>senior, respected scholar with sustained research output</strong>, that will have necessarily broadened out of the narrow area they started their work in years ago, will present <strong>little concern</strong> based on what exactly was the topic and awarding department of their Ph.D. years ago. And this will be easily outweighed by the breadth and reputational benefits they presumably bring.</p>\n<p>For more <strong>junior hiring</strong>, it depends on the nature of the position. Where an open position is targeted on an interdisciplinary area, or the <strong>search is being run by a specific research team or "Institute" or "Centre"</strong>, which may well be a part of a conventional department but has some autonomy, there will likely be a lot of <strong>openness to candidates from adjacent fields</strong>. If it's a hard-fought <strong>generic departmental position</strong> -- "we've finally got approval to hire another assistant prof in our physics department" -- a newly minted Ph.D.-Chemistry (that did their research in the intersection of physics and chemistry) will face a lot <strong>more skepticism</strong>: "Will they be able to build and fund a physics lab? Can they teach Physics 101? Which upper year Physics courses <em>will</em> they be qualified to teach?"</p>\n<p>The implications is that if you're junior and doing something interdisciplinary, that's great. But I would also consciously build and demonstrate your broader credentials in the standard field you think is most likely to employ you. And you'll have to work harder if you want to prove that in more than one field, or if it's a field that's different from the name of department that will sign off on your "doctor of philosophy" (sic).</p>\n<p><em>Note: Written with a North American perspective. Hiring dynamics can be quite different in e.g. the continental European model.</em></p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41952",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21694/"
] |
41,959 |
<p>Is there a preferred/standard/popular citation style within the computer science field? By citation style, I'm referring to these three general methods:</p>
<ol>
<li>Using #'s, like [1] or [6,7]</li>
<li>Using short strings like [SM15] or [Bob14]</li>
<li>Using author-date style, like (Smith, 2015).</li>
</ol>
<p>Browsing through the <a href="http://arxiv.org/list/cs/new">recent CS submissions</a> on arXiv.org shows a roughly 50/50 split between options (1) and (3) above, with the occasional (2). </p>
<p>So I really have two questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>Which citation method best communicates "this is a computer science paper"?</li>
<li>Which citation method best communicates what's actually being referenced?</li>
</ol>
<p>(The answer to both may be the same, but I can imagine, e.g., something like "Everyone uses '[1]', even though 'Smith (2015)' is clearly easier to read.")</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41960,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A <em>lot</em> of computer science papers go through either the IEEE or the ACM, so if you use one of their standard citation styles, it will \"feel\" like a computer science paper to many readers. Author guidelines, including LaTeX/BibTex, can be found <a href=\"http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/authors/author_tools.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">here for IEEE</a> and <a href=\"https://www.acm.org/publications/authors/reference-formatting\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">here for ACM</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41961,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Regarding your Q1: Both ACM and IEEE use citation style #1 -- \"[1]\", so it's safe to say that most readers of academic articles in CS are most familiar with that style. Therefore, if you use style #1, your paper will look similar to most conference and journal articles in CS.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding your Q2: it is my experience that citation style #3 -- \"Smith (2015)\" -- is most effective for the reader. This opinion is shaped by my department -- Computational Social Science -- so I read a mix of papers from CS, Statistics, Social Science, Economics, and others.</p>\n\n<p>My reason for favoring #3 is that it makes it easier to read the paper in line. Having read many papers in a given field, I am familiar with the most cited and most seminal work. If I see \"Padgett and Powell (2012)\", I immediately know what that reference is, or I can guess. But if I see \"[5]\", it tells me nothing. I have to go look at the reference list, then memorize that \"[5]\" stands for \"Padgett and Powell (2012)\" every time I see it.</p>\n\n<p>But the nature of the discipline and the nature of the paper lead to some differences in the role citations serve in the text. In Social Sciences in general, citations have a structural in the discourse in a field. Citations often mark schools of thought, lines of argument, or research lenses. In contrast, in Computer Science citations have a much more utilitarian function -- they point to papers that provide theoretical foundations, that attempted other approaches to the problem, that solved sub-problems, and so on. In a way, these are the intellectual \"bill of materials\" for the research behind the CS paper. The numbered references are sufficient for this, giving anyone pointers to the \"bill of materials\" should they need them.</p>\n\n<p>Another justification for citation style #1 is to shorten the page count for papers. In my opinion, this is less and less justified in an era where most people read papers electronically, not in print.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41959",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31964/"
] |
41,962 |
<p>Faculty positions are very competitive, and each advertisement should roughly receive hundreds of applications.</p>
<p>I think search committees cannot spend more than 1 min reading each CV during the initial screening (correct me if I'm wrong).</p>
<p>CVs are usually 10-20 pages documented in different formats, and it is not easy to capture potentials of a person in 1 min.</p>
<p>Owing to the fact that not all committee members are fully familiar with the journals in which applicant has published, his/her research impact, his/her universities of education, or the importance of his unusual achievements.</p>
<p>Then, how does a search committee shortlist the candidates during the initial screening? What do they quickly look for in a CV to keep the candidate?</p>
<p>NOTE: My assumption for 1 min for each CV was based on a simple math. If a job ad receives 400 applications, each member should spend almost 7 hours to review only CVs (not looking at other documents). If my assumption was somehow wrong, please forgive me. Your answer can clarify the issue anyway.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41965,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If faced with 200+ applicants, the committee would probably perform an \"initial cull\" where each of the about 5 members would select maybe 10 candidates to look at more closely. That would eliminate numerous applicants who clearly didn't fit the description (wrong specialization, no publications if the position is research-intensive, no teaching experience if that really matters for the post, not-appropriate alma mater i.e. <em>that</em> place is a degree-mill or on the wrong side of a political divide). In anticipation of a large applicant pool, I've known departments to request a 1-page essentials-vita as well as the full CV (highest degree, major employment, publications, conferences and grants), which makes it easy to home in on the half-dozen who might make the cut. The committee will probably miss out on some great candidates with significant latent potential.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41966,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let me make a few points with regards to to your solution of this <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_problem\">Fermi problem</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Hiring committees have more than one member. The more applications received, the more members the committee usually has. Moreover, it is highly unlikely that every committee member looks at every application in the first round. Exactly what is done must depend strongly on the department, but I can describe my own experience. In my department -- mathematics, UGA -- we do usually get 300-400 applications for a tenure-track job opening (sometimes for two or three positions at once, but that doesn't help any!). The applications are processed by subject area. In fact in my department the \"hiring committee\" consists of all tenure-track faculty, so initially I look at applications in my field -- number theory -- and closely related fields. This usually gives me about 50 applications to look at. I look at them <em>as they come in</em>, not all at once at the end, so in the first phase I probably spend something like half an hour a day over the course of several weeks looking at applications. This gives me more like 10 minutes per application, <em>on average</em>.</p>\n\n<p>Another point is that CVs <em>can</em> be 10-20 pages in length, but this is usually for people towards the end of an academic career who insist on putting every talk they ever gave and class they ever taught on their CV. For applicants for an assistant professor position, I would expect CVs to be in the 2-6 page range. (I am a 2003 PhD. My CV is holding steady at 8 pages.) Anyway, it is important to organize your CV carefully and put the information in the places that people are expecting to find it. </p>\n\n<p>Finally, I want to say that amount of time spent on each application is far from uniform. I said above that I spend about 10 minutes per application on each of 50 applications. But most applications I am spending either more than 10 minutes on -- it takes more like half an hour to read an entire application, no matter how quickly -- or much less. I do try to read every application in my field however briefly, but \"however briefly\" can be awfully brief. Hundreds of applications can, and must, be eliminated essentially immediately.</p>\n\n<p><b>Added</b>: I see that I didn't fully answer the question asked. In a quick first pass on applications, I look at more than just the CV. Our applications come to us in a very convenient online format via the MathJobs service, so that one click brings to a screen where we see the candidate's basic information (name, date of PhD, PhD institution, PhD advisor, current institution) and can click on various documents they (and/or others) have uploaded, which generally include:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>cover letter </li>\n<li>CV</li>\n<li>research statement</li>\n<li>teaching statement</li>\n<li>publication list (sometimes)</li>\n<li>multiple recommendation letters</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I usually look first at when, where and from whom they got their PhD, and then I click on the CV to see their background and their publication list. If I really don't like what I see -- e.g. no PhD, PhD is not in mathematics or something <em>very</em> closely related, clearly insufficient publications -- then I stop right there. This is maybe 20% of the applications. The next thing I do is to quickly read the advisor's letter and the research statement. Based on that information I decide whether to read on. (Maybe I've eliminated 50% of the applications at this point.) I next read the other letters and start to look more carefully at the candidate's research.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41971,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm serving on a hiring committee this year that received roughly 180 applications for a tenure track position in mathematics. All of the members of the committee reviewed all of the applications. Most could be very easily eliminated from consideration (PhD not completed yet, PhD in a field other than mathematics, wrong area, etc.) Although I got through some of these easy applications in a minute, the better applications took considerably more time to review, and I ended up spending about 15 hours reviewing applications for the first round or an average of about 5 minutes per application. </p>\n\n<p>When the committee met, we wrote down our top 20 lists, and it was relatively easy to select phone interview candidates, since only 18 candidates were on the top 20 lists of at least two of the committee members. We offered phone interviews to 18 candidates and had 14 candidates who agreed to phone interview. </p>\n\n<p>I don't blame applicants for submitting to lots of places, but the reality in mathematics today is that nearly all institutions will be able to find enough applicants to phone interview that meet all of their requirements, are in the preferred area of specialization, and have some post PhD experience (post-doc, VAP, or both.) If you don't have these qualities, then you're not likely to get through the first round of screening.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42047,
"author": "Sander Heinsalu",
"author_id": 6313,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6313",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In economics, for assistant prof position, they read which university the PhD is from, the quality and number of publications or number of working papers. This is from the CV at a glance, 20 seconds. </p>\n\n<p>In addition, the main advisor's recommendation letter contains a sentence like \"I recommend this candidate to all universities outside the top n\" or \"I recommend this candidate to all universities without exception\". The larger n, the worse the candidate. Finding this sentence in the reference letter takes less than 30 seconds on average. </p>\n\n<p>Overall, the initial evaluation fits in one minute.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42048,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have been on faculty search committees at an R1 math department, where our search was targeted to a research area somewhat close to mine. It generally takes a minute to find out the answers to the following questions:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Has the candidate produced a substantial number of papers, and published at least some of them in high-quality journals? Alternatively, has the candidate published at least a couple of papers in extremely good journals? (Our candidates are required to submit a publication list, so finding out this information is immediate.)</p></li>\n<li><p>Is the candidate doing research in a subject area that I am particularly interested in?</p></li>\n<li><p>Are any of the letter writers people I know and trust, such that I would be especially inclined to interview someone whom they recommended?</p></li>\n<li><p>Skimming the thesis advisor's letter and one or two more, does the writer have anything credible and strongly positive to say about the applicant's work?</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If the answer to any of these questions is yes, I give the application a more careful reading.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42049,
"author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten",
"author_id": 440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The last time I did this the piles were divided so that every application was seen by two members of the committee during the first round (described as a <em>\"well, duh!\"</em> sort), and needed an up-check from both to survive. We were looking for easy reasons to reject an application.</p>\n\n<p>I read the cover-letter and scanned the CV and looked to see that the other documents were present.</p>\n\n<p>Things I used to reject packets</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Documents given generic filenames (i.e. \"CV\", \"TeachingStatement\") instead of containing the applicant's name (thereby forcing me to rename them) was something I could overlook but it was a useful channel marker.</li>\n<li>Generic cover-letter (or on two occasions a letter intended for a different institution).</li>\n<li>Lack of suitable experience (we're an all-undergrad teaching-heavy department, so that means ditch application with neither teaching experience nor signs of interest in teaching). I was also interested to see that the candidate has some publications, but it was just an existence check.</li>\n<li>Multiple and blatant errors in spelling and basic grammar. I was prepared to be tolerant on this front for applications from foreign parts, but there was no need. </li>\n<li>Missing parts of the packet with no reasonable explanation given in the cover letter.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The surprise to me was how many this culled. These are the same things that every placement councilor in the known world harps on about. I'd have thought people applying to be professors would have that bit down cold.</p>\n\n<p>In the second round everyone looked at them and we actually sorted into \"great\", \"good\", \"maybe\" and \"no\".</p>\n\n<p>Then we started calling references for the two highest ranked piles, before a final cull down to a short list.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/19
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41962",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31966/"
] |
41,964 |
<p><strong>Short:</strong>
My master thesis supervisor want to present my findings at a conference. He did not ask me for permission, just informed me he will do so, how should I react?</p>
<p><strong>Long:</strong>
My supervisor early on said there might be an opening for continued work and maybe a phd if everything went smoothly. Half way through he revealed that this opportunity was no longer a option with the reason given being money, not my work. Around the same time I found a sidetrack and with his blessing followed that instead of the topic he originally proposed, which ended up with some interesting findings indeed. He has given general advice once every two weeks on this side-track but the findings of interest were made by me alone.</p>
<p>Now my master thesis is officially done and he e-mailed me that he want a meeting to talk about my report (that decides my grade), and (among other things) writes that he will present the findings from my work at a conference a few months away. This was written as a fact, and part of a longer paragraph.</p>
<p>I don't know how to react. If this is normal behavior in academia I don't want to seem unprofessional (or ruin my grade and chances to use him as a reference) by questioning this, but on other hand I want to get credited for my work. </p>
<p><strong>2-year edit:</strong> Got a notification that this question got a thousand views so decided to write a few words as a follow up.</p>
<p>My initial worried reaction to getting information about the grading and the conference in the same email was just stress and lack of experience getting the best of me. Nothing bad, such as not getting credit for my work, followed from this and I am actually a bit embarrassed that I was worried it might at the time.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41989,
"author": "Alice13",
"author_id": 31985,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31985",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It doesn't seem appropriate at all what your supervisor is doing. I would definitely talk to him/her about this and ensure that due credit and acknowledgement is given if and when your work is presented. You should find an agreement, before this happens, to make sure whether you agree or not to your work being presented by him/her.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42124,
"author": "Anonymous Physicist",
"author_id": 13240,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13240",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You should initially react positively. It is part of a supervisor's job to promote the student's work. Possibly this is what the supervisor is trying to do, but the supervisor failed to explain what is going on.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42128,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>He has given general advice once every two weeks</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>To me that sounds like the level of input that changes \"<em>my work</em>\" to \"<em>our work</em>\". While you should get credit for it, referring to it as <em>your work</em> and denying your supervisor the credit he deserves would be just as wrong as him denying you credit. Rushing to \"publish\" the work as <em>yours</em> is not a good idea since you and your supervisor are have both contributed to the work.</p>\n\n<p>Conferences work differently across fields, and even within fields. There are some conference presentations that are clearly presenting new work and proper co-authorship rules need to be followed. There are also conference presentations that focus on the past, and possibly current and future, work of a particular PI. You can think of these as review presentations. A review has an author (or set of authors) who has conducted the review. People who have done the work being reviewed are not authors (unless of course they are also doing the review).</p>\n\n<p>If your advisor is simply reviewing the work (both published and unpublished) in his lab, you should not be an author. You should, however, be credited/referenced when he talks about the work you have been involved with, just as he should credit/reference other people when he talks about their work. Having your work talked about in a review is ultimately a good thing.</p>\n\n<p>If you have concerns about how he is going to credit/reference you or him leaking critical material you do not want made public yet, you need to talk to your advisor. I would not approach him, however, as if he has done something wrong. While there are advisors who steal the work of their students, if that is the situation, you have a lot more to worry about than a single conference talk.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41964",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22803/"
] |
41,974 |
<p>The contract says financial support is for 5 years. I am not able to support my own living cost.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41976,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The only correct answer is \"possibly.\"</p>\n\n<p>If your contract says 5 years, that means they're only promising you 5 years. Beyond that, they are within their rights to refuse to offer extra funding.</p>\n\n<p>Depending on how well-funded your advisor is and whether he/she believes you're making acceptable progress, it may be possible for him/her to fund you beyond 5 years.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41977,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This very much depends on your institution and your professor.</p>\n\n<p>In some institutions (particularly many European ones), there is a very strong expectation that you <em>will</em> finish and get out in the time allotted, and you may well lose all funding.</p>\n\n<p>In others, it means that after the guaranteed period, it will be up to you and your professor. This was the culture where I did my Ph.D. My funding was only guaranteed for two years, if I remember correctly, but I actually spent seven years as a graduate student, and that was a fairly typical length in our department. As time went on, I got more involved in securing my own funding, eventually becoming the primary writer on a couple of funded NSF grants (though not the PI, given that I was just a grad student).</p>\n\n<p>You can try to find out which is the case by asking people at the institution.\nIn either case, however, I would recommend against worrying about it in the beginning of a Ph.D., particularly with a nice long five-year guarantee to work with: a healthy department and good advisor with either type of culture will help to steer you to an appropriate path to graduation, and five years is quite a long time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41978,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You need to ask someone in your department (your advisor, or whoever is in charge of the graduate program). Five years is pretty good, and it's unlikely they will guarantee more than that, but departments vary in how they handle students who outlast their funding:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Some departments simply cut people off. At that point, you have to support yourself through loans, savings, or a job (which could be an outside job or extra teaching, depending on what's available). This can be quite a burden, and it's an incentive to graduate in five years.</p></li>\n<li><p>Some departments will offer an additional year of funding if they can afford it and think you will make good enough use of it. It's not guaranteed, but it might happen if you need it.</p></li>\n<li><p>There may be other sources of funding, such as your advisor's grants or a dissertation completion fellowship. Whether this is feasible depends heavily on the field and your personal circumstances.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>There's no generic answer, and nobody on the internet can tell you which of these cases might apply to you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41982,
"author": "Jeromy Anglim",
"author_id": 62,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just to share an <strong>Australian perspective</strong>: A PhD scholarship is typically three years full-time. After that, traditionally there was an easy-to-get extra 6 months of scholarship (although this may be getting harder to get with increased pressure being put on timely completion). After that (i.e., 3 years and 6 months) getting a further 6 months scholarship is rare. At the university level it would typically require exceptional circumstances. Alternatively, occasionally supervisors will have additional money to pay the scholarship for an additional period.</p>\n\n<p><strong>More generally</strong>, when PhD students go beyond the scholarship period and need money, they combine work with finishing their PhD. Naturally, there are a whole range of ways that this is done. Generally, by the time you reach this phase of your PhD, you will have a range of marketable skills. In some cases your supervisor, department, or university may have teaching or research roles that are suited to part-time or even full-time work.</p>\n\n<p>The challenge is to keep the money flowing while at the same time getting enough sustained thinking time to finish the thesis. I've known a few people at this stage who stopped working completely in order to get a solid few months of thinking and writing time to finish the thesis. I've also known others at this point who never finish their PhD because full time work takes over and they never find the time to dedicate to finishing the thesis.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41995,
"author": "bfoste01",
"author_id": 19610,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19610",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm about to enter into my fifth year (next fall). However, I entered my program with just a BA, so I had to get my MA with thesis en-route to the PhD. I also had to take 4 years of classes. I will be proposing my dissertation at the start of next Fall. There's definitely pressure to finish, as in you get the gentle tap on the shoulder that it's your time to graduate. I'm excited about it. However, rarely have I seen a student, even who entered with an MA, finish in 5. I've never seen a student loose funding. In my department there is no shortage of TAships to be had if your advisor is in between grants- though there is no guarantee of funding. </p>\n\n<p>I don't know if I'm the only one to notice this, but it almost seems like when the department/labs are flowing with money students finish much slower. When money is good I've seen a year or two added to students' timelines some what arbitrarily under the auspice that \"It takes the time it takes to get a PhD.\" Whereas, when money is tight students fly out of the department. Maybe standards for dissertations drop to get people out the door? I'd like to think that doesn't happen, but I often wonder if keeping highly-skilled cheap labor around to do something with the data that a PI is collecting from a high-profile grant is often an implicit factor that impacts students' trajectories. In which case it is not uncommon to see students in their 6th or 7th year of the program receive funding. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42029,
"author": "confused",
"author_id": 32010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32010",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Usually this means that you will lose funding from the University. However, there are always professors with grant money.</p>\n\n<p>You should spend your first few years networking and finding a professor with funding and research interests similar to yours and then try to get them to hire you as their research assistant.</p>\n\n<p>I also know someone who took 9 years to get a PhD because he was able to work as an instructor and get funding from a different budget from the one they have to fund TAs.</p>\n\n<p>In other words, if the department wants to keep you around for longer since your research looks promising but needs more than 5 years, they will help you find the funding. If it looks like your research isn't going anywhere, stopping your funding is a way to gently nudge you out.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42070,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just to share my anecdote. (I am at some particular department of some particular US university.)</p>\n\n<p>I am now in my 6th year. My offer letter promised me only funding for the first four years (fellowship for the first year, teaching assistant for the next three). </p>\n\n<p>Nonetheless I was able to get funding for my 5th and 6th years. In my case as a teaching assistant. Sometimes people do end up getting no funding for some semesters or years, but typically even in that case they get a tuition waiver.</p>\n\n<p>I cannot be sure but my experience at this particular department of this particular US university is probably typical at US universities.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42092,
"author": "Shayne",
"author_id": 27112,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27112",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Disclaimer: I never did a PhD, however I was a staffer so take this with a grain of salt. The university does not want you to fail. its got a lot of money and resources invested in you, especially so with your supervisor. Theres two competing forces at play here. The first is the universitys incentive for you to succeed. This can be things like patents, marketability of successful research, continued funding, and of course prestige. On the other hand universities are somewhat resource constrained entities, you need to balance against this triage of resources. If the risk outweighs the benefits of continuing funding its not going to look good. Whether this is determined per case or via policy will depend on your institution, but whats important is you make a CASE for yourself and why you research is worth their money. Whatever the case is, you need allies in your department, starting with your supervisor and going up the chain. Get them excited for you.</p>\n"
}
] |
2015/03/20
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41974",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/37094/"
] |
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