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2014/10/23 | 967 | 4,061 | <issue_start>username_0: For learning new courses by one's self is it better
* to read the related text
* to attend online courses such as from sites like Coursera
* to combine the two
* or use another method altogether
In general, which is the better strategy for a motivated adult learner who is entering a new area?<issue_comment>username_1: Without wanting to sound harsh, this whole post is all about you and how it will benefit your further career (after leaving this job). You seem to forget that you will be teaching real, young people that need a good teacher, in order to get the education they deserve. So, unless you refocus on them first, perhaps you should reconsider getting this job for simply "overcoming your fears, developing leadership skills, which you could then use in private sector" and leave it to someone more passionate about it.
To directly answer your question: Getting a job you are not sure you are going to like and risk being bad at it or prematurely leave, always looks bad on any resume. So, unless you are really passionate about this, perhaps you should stick to what you already know.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Cons: Adjunct teaching at a community college may be a poor way to get references because you will mostly be working with students, not professionals who can serve as references. I taught one class at a CC and met my department chair a total of twice.
I would not worry about ratemyprofessor.com. Most people don't take it seriously. All students are different, so you are sure to get one occasionally that does not like your teaching. You can use a different name for teaching if you are really worried.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: As a full-time I.T. employee with a CS background at a community college, I feel I may be able to chip in here. We have a lot in common -- great hard skills, shaky soft skills, a desire to overcome our limitations, and a desire to better educate the next generation of programmers.
As username_1 said, first you need to focus on the students. You've pointed out that their CS material could use revision, so I think you're already on the right track there. The best CS professors I've worked with have one thing in common: they all had prior or concurrent industry experience. Current, real-world experience gives you an advantage when it comes to curriculum development that can really benefit the students.
As for the class size, I'd have a hard time imagining 100 students in a CS class at a community college. Our class sizes tend more toward 10 than 100, limited apparently by interest, not class size caps. It's still more than one-on-one, so you'll still have to get over that, but just remember why you're there.
Don't worry about how badly you might screw up. Even the best professors get occasional low ratings and the internet is full of anonymous jerks spewing vitriol. You're not in middle school anymore, just don't worry about it.
As for how it looks on your resume, I can't personally speak to this with any great experience, but as a hiring manager I'd look favorably on it, particularly if you teach only one or two classes per semester for awhile. It shows that your soft skills are maybe stronger than the next guy and that you're comfortable conducting training and writing documentation within your field of expertise. Those are all desirable qualities that are a little harder to find in the software industry. The only negative point I can think of for it would be if they thought you might be trying to get your foot in the door as a full-time professor, they might not want to bring you on full-time. Not a lot of places think like that, though.
Finally, regarding benefits: I can't speak to any other school's policy, but adjuncts here are simply part-time faculty. As part-time employees, they don't get medical/dental benefits. They're hired on a per-class basis, so if you want to teach one or five classes, that's up to your desire and their needs. We're pretty flexible, I expect that's pretty standard.
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/10/23 | 615 | 2,319 | <issue_start>username_0: I am writing a computer science paper in which I cite several lengthy sources (text books and standard specifications). Whenever I cite such a source, I add the page numbers of the subsection to which I refer, e.g.:
>
> Bla bla is considered very important [52, pp. 210-214].
>
>
>
One of the reviewers of the paper remarks the following:
>
> Do not use references with indication of page numbers (e.g., [52, pp. 210-214]), this is very uncommon.
>
>
>
*Is this really true (in computer science)?*
*Am I wrong to include the page numbers in the reference?*
The reference in question is a 400+ page book that broadly covers a whole subject area and I thought knowing which pages I actually refer to might help the reader. There are several other (and longer) sources, such as technical standards, which I cite in the same fashion.<issue_comment>username_1: Many computer science venues are fairly picky about their citation styles and also use highly abbreviated citation styles that don't give any option for including additional information like a page number.
If page numbers are critical to your citation, then you have two options for how to include them while conforming to the required style:
1. If you only use one narrow set of pages in the book, use an "in-book" style citation (@inbook in BibTeX) that includes the page numbers in the reference.
2. Alternately, or if you refer to more than one set of pages, you can include the pages in the text rather than the citation:
>
> Bla bla is considered very important, as described on page 210--214 of [52].
>
>
>
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Specifying which part of a long book or article you are referring to in your citation is a sound practice, but in general section, theorem or equation numbers are more common than page numbers for this task: [52, Section 3.5] or [52, Equation 3.23] rather than [52, Page 132-134].
Personally I use page numbers only as a last resource where nothing else is available: that is, when the section or equation I want to refer to does not have a number of its own.
I do not have a compelling reason for this, if not that section numbers are more robust to minor pagination changes, but this is the behaviour that I have seen more commonly.
Upvotes: 4 |
2014/10/23 | 1,791 | 6,438 | <issue_start>username_0: I have noticed in a number of papers, including those in top journals, a common dirty practice which consists of self citing your previous works and omitting other important references in the area (I admit some of them at least include the classic references). For instance Prof. <NAME> writes a paper and his references look like:
>
> [1] <NAME> (1970). Paper 1.
>
>
> [2] <NAME> (1971). Paper 2.
>
>
> ...
>
>
> [200] <NAME> (2014). Paper 200.
>
>
> [201] <NAME> (1687). Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
>
>
>
I am aware of the concept of [Publication Bias](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publication_bias), which is related to a bias with regard to what is published. I wonder if there is also something related to self-citation bias or citation bias (it might also be the case that a person only cites a group of researchers (friends?))?
This, of course, is not just a matter of taste, but it is a practice that complicates the literature review in a certain area.<issue_comment>username_1: This problem has been receiving significant attention in recent years. Among other thing, there was [a recent scandal around "citation cartels"](http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/journal-citation-cartels-on-the-rise/2005009.article), in which journal editorial staff organized not only to ensure their own journals self-cited but also so that groups of conspirator journals would cite one another in order to raise impact factor while adding a layer of indirection to make it harder to track. Such journals also sometimes strong-arm authors into adding citations to other publications within the same journal.
I don't know if anybody has tried to further tease apart the different between intentional (i.e., citation cartel) and unintentional citation bias. It would be interesting to study, but may be difficult given the amount of intentional bias that some are using the game the system.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I would say that the use of self-citations that you describe is very common, but whether it's dirty is not clear-cut and it's probably difficult to study. I can also see several different perspectives, some more malicious than others:
1. Bias due to better knowledge of your own and related researches (friends) work. I find this rather benign, often unintential and natural.
2. When providing a reference to support a specific point, everything else equal, most researchers will probably cite their own work before the work of others. This with the assumption that both papers provide equally good evidence/arguments, and that the author can only use a maximum number references for his paper (which is commonly the case). This behaviour is probably most often seen in soft/weak references of general points in e.g. introductions and discussions. I personally find this behaviour maybe not ideal, but rather human.
3. The concious choice **not** to cite other researchers work that would be relevant. This can come in (at least) two forms: 1) ignoring researchers with a critical perspective on your work (~academic feud), 2) wanting to "claim" the field as your own. Both of these cases should ideally be spotted during the review process, but I think it is very common so still see traces of them in published papers. The problem is probably to prove bad intent, and it is also dependent on reviewers that know the litterature in the specific field extremely well and also bother to speak up about it. This form of behaviour is naturally the most problematic one.
Under point 3, the first form (ignoring criticism) has recieved most attention. However, reading between the lines, I feel that the second form is relatively common as well, where groups of researchers try to "claim" a specific topic (intentionally or unintentionally), so that their body of work is the go-to reference for this topic. A good way to achive this would be to preferentially cite work from within the group, especially if you are already a well established researcher. This can be particularly powerful if you are writing review papers of topics, since these can be used to define the core literature of a topic for future researchers that discover the field (probably related: [Matthew effect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_effect)).
I don't know about studies that try to quantify how common these specific behaviours are. However, the study of citation patterns and self-citations is common, and two papers that touch upon the things mentioned here are [Hyland (2003)](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.10204/abstract "<NAME>. 2003. Self-citation and self-reference: Credibility and promotion in academic publication. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 54(3)") and [Fowler & Aksnes (2007)](http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11192-007-1777-2 "Fowler & Aksnes. 2007. Does self-citation pay?. Scientometrics 72(3): 427-437"). [Hyland (2003)](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.10204/abstract "<NAME>. 2003. Self-citation and self-reference: Credibility and promotion in academic publication. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 54(3)") looks at how self-citations can be used for different purposes, while [Fowler & Aksnes (2007)](http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11192-007-1777-2 "Fowler & Aksnes. 2007. Does self-citation pay?. Scientometrics 72(3): 427-437") tries to quantify the "value" of self-citations (which seems to be quite large).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: For another study of this and related practices, see [Nefarious Numbers, by <NAME> and <NAME>ler](http://arxiv.org/abs/1010.0278). They review how gaming citations led the *Internation Journal of Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation* to have by far the highest impact factor in its field, despite being a third-tier journal according to expert opinion.
Another famous case involved the journal [Chaos, Solitons and Fractals](http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081126/full/456432a.html).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: In this article you find empirical evidence for the self-citation bias:
username_4 & <NAME>,
[SELF-ENHANCEMENT IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH:
THE SELF-CITATION BIAS](http://www.psychologicabelgica.com/article/download/pb-51-2-129/49), Psychologica Belgica 2011, 51-2, 129-137.
Upvotes: -1 |
2014/10/23 | 2,407 | 9,998 | <issue_start>username_0: I'm currently pursuing a Master's degree in a STEM field and working on a thesis. For my master's thesis, my advisor suggested I expand the code of the group's software and add new features to it. However, is very large (some files are thousands of lines long) and hard to read. It consists of many different files and there are hardly any comments that explain what the functions do, the meaning of the variables, etc. There's no documentation that explains what the functions/classes do. It seems like whenever I am focusing on what a function does, there's multiple functions/variables in it that are defined in another file and those functions/classes themselves are hundreds of lines long
While my advisor has mentioned he is open to helping me with whatever questions I have, most of the problems I'm having are related to the code, since it's so gigantic and I don't even know where to begin to ask questions. But the prof doesn't know much about the code, so I have to ask the postdoc whenever I have questions about the code. However, the postdoc doesn't even know alot of the code (he knows c++, but most of the code was written by a former postdoc), and told me I should email that former postdoc to answer my questions about the code.
I've spoken to some people about this, and they've said this is a very bad situation. Should I leave this group and join a new one, even if it means I have to delay my graduation by an extra semester(assuming that I will graduate on-time if I continue with this current group)?
It's been a month since I joined this group and I hope to finish by next spring, but I don't know how realistic that goal is.<issue_comment>username_1: Because I know some people here may not be completely familiar with computer science and "documentation", I'm including this to help people get a better grasp on the scenario.
### The Context
Somewhere in life, if you work with code, regardless of whether you enter research or industry, you are likely to come across `magic code`.
In most cases, the `magic code` works. No one knows how or why, and the original ~~magician~~ developer has likely moved on. So we have a product that works, but no one knows the ~~incantations~~ methodology that was used to produce the results.
An example of `magic code`:
```
c=["6B8CFF","B13425","6A6B04","E39D25"];a='0155000555540ABEC02EFEFC2EBFBF2BFEA803FFF00A6A002A69A8AA55AAF9D76FFD557FF5555F0541502A00A8AA00AA';with(document)for(i=0;i<96;write('
')){h=('000'+parseInt(a.slice(i,i+=6),16).toString(4)).slice(-12);for(j=0;j<12;write(''))
```
No one, not even people with knowledge of this language, will instinctively know what this snippet of JavaScript does. [It draws a picture of Mario](https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/39915/pixel-art-episode-1-display-super-mario)
Writing code like this, the developer will know what they're doing, but no one else will. It is a remarkably efficient time and space-saving technique if you don't have to explain to anyone what you're doing.
The caveat about uncommented code is that somewhere down the line it falls apart and becomes impossible to improve or understand. Someone before you most likely took the code and coded on top of original uncommented code, and kept kicking the documentation down the line for someone else to handle, i.e. saved time now for an eventual time cost later.
At this point, it sounds like the "later" has reached critical mass, where progress cannot continue unless previous progress has been documented.
Leaving the project removes you from the problem, but the problem still exists, and will land in someone else's lap, and if the code is as bad as you indicate, this is application is on development death's door.
### What you should do about it
You should meet with your advisor to discuss your concerns, as well as these issues:
* This code, while functional, does not follow standard coding convention, and will likely need to be brought up to standards before development can continue.
* Documenting of undocumented code is time-intensive, but ultimately improves future developments Documentation can easily take a fair percentage of the actual time spent coding. If this code has been developed for 4 years, I wouldn't find it unreasonable for a new person to take several months to document everything, or a few weeks to document the important stuff, while leaving the guts intact.
* Possible alternative projects such as retrospective analysis and improvement of the application for improvements, while corrolating your actual topic with how it is being handled by the code.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I would be very wary of taking on this thesis topic. There's a huge amount of programming effort here, but you're not trying to get an MS in software engineering, so this will necessarily be a project in which you spend most of your time doing work that is actually outside of your discipline. Furthermore, there's a risk that either you'll never be able to understand various aspects of the code or that you'll misunderstand things and then make changes that break the code.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: This isn't a complete answer by any means and this is very far from being my field, but I wonder if there's a possibility of an alternative before you jump ship. Could go to the existing postdoc and ask him if there is any project related to the code base, that you could do in the time available, that would help move his work forward? Then take that idea back to the supervisor, saying that you've talked it over with the postdoc. You might get a bit of informal supervision and you could work on a portion of the code that you could be advised on...if it was technically possible, everyone was amenable etc.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: The short answer to your question is, yes, it is realistic in the sense that it is a common scenario, and no, it is not realistic in the sense that it can seriously hurt your career and you may not want to get involved in a quagmire like this.
The long answer: scientists are notoriously bad in developing and managing codes. As a result, you often end up like 30 years old undocumented FORTRAN codes that run only a Win95 machine. It may sound exaggeration, but I used to have an old PC because certain software could only be compiled with certain Fortran compiler which has last version running only Win95 or older systems.
The situation therefore common and obviously it can be very tiresome to fix all this. If you don't think it worth the effort, don't get into it. On the other hand there are cases when the code can do magic and important magic. In this case it is an opportunity to you to became a magician and an expert in a tool that needed by many, but for obvious reasons, can be used by only very few. In other word, if it is an important program, it may pay of on the long term.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: sorry to hear about the difficulties. I used to be a graduate student too and most of my current friends who I interact with almost daily are graduate students. As username_4 pointed out, this scenario is very common but certainly far from ideal. I understand your concerns very well since I was in this scenario not too long ago. I was debugging a code written by a earlier post-doc which was in C++ and I was only a novice at C++. My supervisor knew that I was a novice at it and he did not know much about the nitty-gritties of the code. However, I was only debugging the code so did not need enough expertise to add new features. In the end after a couple months of effort I was able to fix the code. That was my story.
However, in your case there are 4 possibilities:
1) Your supervisor envisions some useful features but has no idea how much effort it is to implement it or thinks it may not require much effort but in reality it does.
- (Bad scenario)
2) Your supervisor has somewhat of a good idea of how much effort it is and needs you to do it so that you could use these new features in your work (to follow) and write up a thesis based on it. - (Not a bad scenario unless you have your own different likings for topics you want to work on for your thesis).
3) Your supervisor has somewhat of a good idea of how much effort it is and needs you to do it just as something useful for the group besides your thesis. -(Not a bad scenario unless it takes more than a month or two and absolutely can't go in your thesis).
4) Your supervisor has somewhat of a good idea of how much effort it is and needs you to do it because it will be useful for the group and it is going to take several months and does not help you advance in your field or cannot go in your thesis. -(Bad scenario)
Now, you need to figure out which scenario you fit in broadly. The way to figure out is to discuss and ask questions to the post-doc in the group as well as your supervisor. Ask for a meeting and discuss your concerns (perceived as not the best thing to do- but in reality it is indeed the best thing to do). Many students worry about their supervisors judging them negatively. This worry needs to be suspended since something greater is at stake. Proper communication will eventually lead to good results and in turn a good judgement anyway. Again, you need to discuss and understand how useful this project is for yourself. Then you need to come to a consensus wit others about how long it is expected to take and if it is worth your time to do it. Lastly you should also discuss and put some safeguards in your plan, i.e. a timeline where you expect smaller goals of the project to be completed and if it does not work out the way you want what will be plan B?
And another important thing: If the project or other possible projects that you could take up in this research group do not interest you at all, then you should look elsewhere.
Hope this helps. My best wishes.
Feel free to ask more questions in response.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/23 | 517 | 2,055 | <issue_start>username_0: There is a well known book "Scientific topic X. Philosophical reflections." It contains a collection of articles on the topic. I am writing a paper myself. To what extent is it allowed to use the same title?
I am not stealing or borrowing the title because it is particularly original, it just concisely summarizes the goal and content of my paper (without redundancy). I also came up with about 10 alternatives, but I like this one still more.
I suppose it is ok, after all - there can be only so many permutations of words for a particular topic/approach, e.g. "Introduction to philosophy of science, Basic course in Calculus, etc."
What are the academic standards on this issue?<issue_comment>username_1: There are no official policies on things not being allowed to have the same name.
It doesn't seem to be a legal problem: How many books are called *Algebra*? and how many songs are called *I love you?* How many companies have been called *Smith and sons*?)
It is not a technical problem since [title is not the most relevant citation information](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/16615/1471)
Is it an ethical problem? I don't think so.
Still, if the other book is well known, it can lead to confusion and people can think that you are a bit bizzare to reuse the title. I wouldn't do it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I published a book with a title that had never been used. I research every title that I want before using it. Then, 5 months later, a writer on the New York Times Best Seller List came out with his book using that same title.
If that writer did his research, he knew that the same title was used just 5 months earlier and should have used another title for his book.
Of course, being a Best Seller, his book always comes up when someone searches for that title. If someone searches for my book, they get his.
I don't particularly appreciate it, but as mentioned, it is legal unless copywrites apply.
Just felt like getting it off my chest. My book is better, by the way!
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/23 | 1,683 | 6,753 | <issue_start>username_0: I hope I have found the right website for my query. Would it be possible to get a psychological experiment that you carried out published to any journal, despite the fact that you are:
1. Only 17 (nearly 18) years old
2. Have no degree or qualification
I've got some really great ideas for psychological experiments that I haven't been able to find them done yet. I really just want to do science and get recognised for it. I was thinking Google Science fair, but that has ended. I'm just doing this for self-pursuit and interest. I am hoping exposure to a scientific audience can lead me to my future career path.<issue_comment>username_1: You don't need any formal qualifications to get an article published. You don't have to have degrees or titles or money or anything. What you have to do is make an original, important contribution to the sum total of human knowledge.
I don't want to offend you here, but you need to be realistic. The chances that you are going to make such a contribution at 17 or 18 is virtually nil. You haven't seen anybody else suggest such experiments, but how much literature have you actually read? How many monographs, how many research articles? The reason that it is pretty much only people with PhDs who publish research is not that there's some big conspiracy. It can take as many as 5-10 years of dedicated, carefully directed effort, involving lots of mentors and help along the way to get a person to the point that they can start making such contributions.
Don't be discouraged in your desire to do research. But recognize that you've got a long road of learning the field, and internalizing the norms and practices of the discipline before you're realistically going to get a piece of original research published. It really is that hard, but that's also why it's so special and valuable. Stay hungry.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: There are two different types of "no qualifications":
1. A person may be "unqualified" because they don't have the usual pieces of paper
2. A person may be "unqualified" because they are not familiar with the standards and practices of the field.
Don't worry about the first one. Worry about the second one. For example, one of the other comments raised the issue of getting human subject experiments approved. Likewise, there are lots of subtle challenges in experimental design that have to be dealt with in order to getting a valid psychological result. But high school students and undergraduates do real scientific work all the time. Consider, for example, the [iGEM genetic engineering competition](http://igem.org/): students from around the world, both high school and undergraduate, get right out to the bleeding edge of science, and some of their work goes on to be published. Or consider the [Hackerspace/DIY movement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace), which is bubbling over with innovation and certainly knows no age barriers.
Now, what most of those folks have, and what it sounds like you don't currently, is mentors who know the ropes. A good mentor might or might not be "qualified" in the sense of pieces of paper, but should have a good sense of the scientific method, and at least some ideas of who else to get involved if you start thinking you've got a unique result and want to figure out how to get from [awesome science on the internet](http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/11/the-burger-lab-revisiting-the-myth-of-the-12-year-old-burger-testing-results.html) to a formal publication.
Don't worry about the uniqueness or publication part of it too much. First, find some good peers and a mentor if you can, and *just start doing some science*. Then see if you actually enjoy the thrill of the knowledge chase enough to overcome the frustrations of experiments that don't work and people who point out the problems in the ideas you have come to love. If you fall in love, not just with the *idea* of science, but with the process, then as time goes by you can sort out which of the many science-related career paths ends up being a good one for you to pursue.
Maybe you'll end up published before you turn 20, and maybe you won't. If that makes a big difference to you, then you're in it for the wrong reasons.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes, it's possible if uncommon. I did it, learned a ton, and had a blast. The byline in the journal just unceremoniously lists my affiliation as my high school. It's actually pretty funny. But the others' answers are spot-on; you have to put in a lot of background reading in the field. This is much easier when you have a mentor in the field to guide you, but I didn't have one. If you can, talk to someone with a good brain for research and study design even if they're not in psychology, and ask for their help with the idiosyncrasies of preparing a manuscript for submission.
Don't have wild expectations, but go for it. It's pretty damn fun to do independent research. And psychology is not a bad choice: the literature is accessible to a layperson, and if you're clever, you can do a psych study on a shoestring.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Ignore the doubters.
Do the goddamn experiments and keep a METICULOUS log of your activity, practice, procedures etc. Videos, transcripts, audios, pictures, notes, EVERYTHING.
Most of the greatest minds in our history all came from little to no educational background, (or completely different fields)
People forget that science isn't about a degree, it's about curiosity.
Go do it my man.
It's true, it might be easier if you can have a patron or mentor but don't let that stop you from starting. You can do both at the same time. Send a respectful letter or phone the Professor and say something along the lines of:
"Hi, My names username_4, I'm doing some cool research about xyz, I thought you'd be intereted because
I'm running my xth wave of experiments (never say it's your first or second) at the moments and it's due to finish on the xth.
I'm telling you this because it would be great to have another perspective/opinion/insight about the results. Already there are some amazing trends beginning to show."
Be confident and display certainty in your communications.
Don't get too caught up in the pomposity of academia. Respect it, but don't aspire to it, keep things simple man.
FYI. I read and use various reports, and papers all the time in my occupation, and most of it could be said with about 60% less verbage. It's disgraceful that the most 'educated' minds require so many words, they are nearly as bad as lawyers, (which use these massive amounts of words to sneak their own interpretation into)
Toasting to your success my friend.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/10/24 | 1,892 | 7,602 | <issue_start>username_0: Is it possible do to an online or distance Ph.D. program at all?
If so, are there ones that are cheap or free?<issue_comment>username_1: To a first approximation, it's not possible. There are few online or distance Ph.D. programs, and they usually have bad reputations. A Ph.D. from a university with a bad reputation will actually be worse for your career than having no Ph.D. at all, so you should be very careful. Plus these programs are as far as I know never free. You can get financial support for Ph.D. work in several ways (competitive fellowships, a faculty member's research grant, teaching classes for the department), so depending on the field you may not need to pay anything yourself and may even earn a modest stipend, but that's not because the program itself is cheap or free. Ph.D. supervision is intrinsically time-consuming and expensive.
I'm skeptical of how serious your question is. Hoping for a free online Ph.D. isn't really reasonable; furthermore, if you have no time to attend a university, then you probably have no time to complete the years of full-time research required to write a Ph.D. dissertation.
However, I felt it was worth answering to warn you about scams from unaccredited universities. There are plenty of diploma mills that will offer you a relatively cheap and easy Ph.D. online. Such degrees are completely worthless, so they'd basically be stealing the fees from you.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: Peter- where are you located and what is your citizenship?
Many countries have Higher-Degree-by-Research (HDR) for free or minimal payment but only available to local students and based on competitive entry.
For instance, in Australia, many PhD programs are currently free for local students, but you must be citizen, secure a commonwealth 'position' (as basically the Commonwealth covers your tuition) and in around 2016- fees will be introduced. I think international students can also apply for tuition-free positions but this might depend on the university.
Depending on your Faculty, research topic and resources required to undertake your research - it is not uncommon for a PhD to be undertaken 'remotely' in Australia. However, Australia generally does NOT have course-work related PhD - the entire 3 years is research and thesis writing (this differs from the system in the USA).
I think also Germany and Belgium have free higher education.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: A PhD requires significant time input from an advisor – several hours a week from somebody earning a decent salary. That's not something you can get for free or at a distance.
If distance learning is an absolute requirement and you're in the UK, the [Open University](http://www.open.ac.uk/postgraduate/research-degrees/degrees-we-offer/doctor-of-philosophy-phd) might be what you're looking for. If free is an absolute requirement, you need to look into potential sources of funding: in most places, there's no such thing as a free PhD but there are organizations (including some governments) that will pay the fees for good students. But be aware that these are very competitive.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: There is NO free doctorate ( or degree at any other level) from any properly accredited university. BEWARE diploma mills!! I began my PhD in Australia when the exchange rates were much better and later had to drop out due to a family emergency. I've been researching less expensive degrees, but my area is nursing, so it most likely does not apply to you. Your best bets are state schools which offer online doctorates, or looking overseas at England/Scotland/Wales. As mentioned above, Germany has free tuition, but not all courses are offered in English. My concern is that you say you "have no time". Do not believe that because a doctorate is done via distance that you will have an easier time of it. I skyped and phoned my advisor in Cairns, Au. weekly for an hourly conference. Then there were the hours of research I did prior to those conferences. A doctorate is time-consuming. There's no way around that. You may get decent tuition at perhaps 250.00 to 350 dollars a credit in a state school (most doctoral courses are 3 to 6 credits each depending on your area of study), but you will still have to put in the time and then you will write a dissertation with multiple revisions. You don't sound ready for doctoral study, my friend. I often tell my undergrad nursing students who say they have "no time" to do their work that the world will not accommodate them. That's just life. Sometimes we must wait for the right time to go to school, or we have to make a great effort to ensure we set aside the time if we really want the degree.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: MOST PHD PROGRAMS IN THE USA ARE FREE!!! YOU WORK FOR THE INSTITUTION
AND THEY WAIVE YOUR TUITION!!!! (You BECOME a servant for a professor for 3 to 7 years) (He may or may not give you a phd after your service!!!)
I suspect that most of the people answering this question have never
been in a doctoral program!!
1) DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY GETTING A MASTERS!!
For most phd programs, you only need a ba or bs to apply.
2) Phd courses are all home made by the teacher from academic journals!
Text books are not used (you already know every thing in all the textbooks)
3) The training program consist of reading adademic journals.(Thousands of them), then doing your research project.
4) The goals is to train you to be able to write, research articles for
academic journals ( not to train you to teach in a college).
5) If you want to be a college teacher a phd is required to get a full time
job. Ba or Bs Or Masters is good enough for a part time college teaching jobs.
6) College Chairmen are usually only hire people like them selF!
if the chairman is harvard or columbia, he or she will only hire
people from those schools!!!
7) REPUTATION OF THE SCHOOL IS VERY IMPORTANT, IF YOU WANT TO GET
A COLLEGE TEACHING JOB!!
8) London university and the university of south Africa had very
well respected external academic phd programs that could be done
outside the country. I know of one person witha a south africia
external phd, who worked at NYU business school.
9) The courses are twice as difficult as a regular BA course.
10) Most Phd students are foreign, so they audit the courses 1 or 2
times, before actually enrolling.
Good luck,
Bill
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_6: Many UK universities offer a "PhD by published works". Basically you take a group of scientific papers you have written that demonstrate a PhD level of work and competence. You then write an introduction/summary, submit it with the collection of papers (the university will provide a supervisor to assist with this assembly process) and they examine the work, give you a viva etc. There will be fees but afaict the total fees paid will likely be much lower than a traditional student will pay as you will only be registered as part time and will not be registered for as long.
Many Universities restrict this to their own former students or others who are in some way associated with the University, but there are some who offer it to extrnal applicants with no previous relationship to the University.
This is NOT going to be an easy way to get a PhD, but if you have managed to be active in academic publishing without getting a PhD the traditional way (a traditional PhD program is basically a research apprenticeship) and you want to convert that work into a PhD then it may be an option for you.
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/10/24 | 2,002 | 8,124 | <issue_start>username_0: I know there are a lot of discussions about this topic in this forum and I read all of them but my situation is slightly different.
I took a class with my professor and I worked in his research lab and I know him for a while. When I asked him for a letter of recommendation he told me send you CV plus draft of your letter of recommendation. In this forum a lot of people said do not do that it is unethical. I understand this and I understand why it is unethical but what should I say to him should I say this is unethical and I cannot do that or should I forget about letter of recommendation from someone who I worked in his lab.<issue_comment>username_1: To a first approximation, it's not possible. There are few online or distance Ph.D. programs, and they usually have bad reputations. A Ph.D. from a university with a bad reputation will actually be worse for your career than having no Ph.D. at all, so you should be very careful. Plus these programs are as far as I know never free. You can get financial support for Ph.D. work in several ways (competitive fellowships, a faculty member's research grant, teaching classes for the department), so depending on the field you may not need to pay anything yourself and may even earn a modest stipend, but that's not because the program itself is cheap or free. Ph.D. supervision is intrinsically time-consuming and expensive.
I'm skeptical of how serious your question is. Hoping for a free online Ph.D. isn't really reasonable; furthermore, if you have no time to attend a university, then you probably have no time to complete the years of full-time research required to write a Ph.D. dissertation.
However, I felt it was worth answering to warn you about scams from unaccredited universities. There are plenty of diploma mills that will offer you a relatively cheap and easy Ph.D. online. Such degrees are completely worthless, so they'd basically be stealing the fees from you.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: Peter- where are you located and what is your citizenship?
Many countries have Higher-Degree-by-Research (HDR) for free or minimal payment but only available to local students and based on competitive entry.
For instance, in Australia, many PhD programs are currently free for local students, but you must be citizen, secure a commonwealth 'position' (as basically the Commonwealth covers your tuition) and in around 2016- fees will be introduced. I think international students can also apply for tuition-free positions but this might depend on the university.
Depending on your Faculty, research topic and resources required to undertake your research - it is not uncommon for a PhD to be undertaken 'remotely' in Australia. However, Australia generally does NOT have course-work related PhD - the entire 3 years is research and thesis writing (this differs from the system in the USA).
I think also Germany and Belgium have free higher education.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: A PhD requires significant time input from an advisor – several hours a week from somebody earning a decent salary. That's not something you can get for free or at a distance.
If distance learning is an absolute requirement and you're in the UK, the [Open University](http://www.open.ac.uk/postgraduate/research-degrees/degrees-we-offer/doctor-of-philosophy-phd) might be what you're looking for. If free is an absolute requirement, you need to look into potential sources of funding: in most places, there's no such thing as a free PhD but there are organizations (including some governments) that will pay the fees for good students. But be aware that these are very competitive.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: There is NO free doctorate ( or degree at any other level) from any properly accredited university. BEWARE diploma mills!! I began my PhD in Australia when the exchange rates were much better and later had to drop out due to a family emergency. I've been researching less expensive degrees, but my area is nursing, so it most likely does not apply to you. Your best bets are state schools which offer online doctorates, or looking overseas at England/Scotland/Wales. As mentioned above, Germany has free tuition, but not all courses are offered in English. My concern is that you say you "have no time". Do not believe that because a doctorate is done via distance that you will have an easier time of it. I skyped and phoned my advisor in Cairns, Au. weekly for an hourly conference. Then there were the hours of research I did prior to those conferences. A doctorate is time-consuming. There's no way around that. You may get decent tuition at perhaps 250.00 to 350 dollars a credit in a state school (most doctoral courses are 3 to 6 credits each depending on your area of study), but you will still have to put in the time and then you will write a dissertation with multiple revisions. You don't sound ready for doctoral study, my friend. I often tell my undergrad nursing students who say they have "no time" to do their work that the world will not accommodate them. That's just life. Sometimes we must wait for the right time to go to school, or we have to make a great effort to ensure we set aside the time if we really want the degree.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: MOST PHD PROGRAMS IN THE USA ARE FREE!!! YOU WORK FOR THE INSTITUTION
AND THEY WAIVE YOUR TUITION!!!! (You BECOME a servant for a professor for 3 to 7 years) (He may or may not give you a phd after your service!!!)
I suspect that most of the people answering this question have never
been in a doctoral program!!
1) DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY GETTING A MASTERS!!
For most phd programs, you only need a ba or bs to apply.
2) Phd courses are all home made by the teacher from academic journals!
Text books are not used (you already know every thing in all the textbooks)
3) The training program consist of reading adademic journals.(Thousands of them), then doing your research project.
4) The goals is to train you to be able to write, research articles for
academic journals ( not to train you to teach in a college).
5) If you want to be a college teacher a phd is required to get a full time
job. Ba or Bs Or Masters is good enough for a part time college teaching jobs.
6) College Chairmen are usually only hire people like them selF!
if the chairman is harvard or columbia, he or she will only hire
people from those schools!!!
7) REPUTATION OF THE SCHOOL IS VERY IMPORTANT, IF YOU WANT TO GET
A COLLEGE TEACHING JOB!!
8) London university and the university of south Africa had very
well respected external academic phd programs that could be done
outside the country. I know of one person witha a south africia
external phd, who worked at NYU business school.
9) The courses are twice as difficult as a regular BA course.
10) Most Phd students are foreign, so they audit the courses 1 or 2
times, before actually enrolling.
Good luck,
Bill
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_6: Many UK universities offer a "PhD by published works". Basically you take a group of scientific papers you have written that demonstrate a PhD level of work and competence. You then write an introduction/summary, submit it with the collection of papers (the university will provide a supervisor to assist with this assembly process) and they examine the work, give you a viva etc. There will be fees but afaict the total fees paid will likely be much lower than a traditional student will pay as you will only be registered as part time and will not be registered for as long.
Many Universities restrict this to their own former students or others who are in some way associated with the University, but there are some who offer it to extrnal applicants with no previous relationship to the University.
This is NOT going to be an easy way to get a PhD, but if you have managed to be active in academic publishing without getting a PhD the traditional way (a traditional PhD program is basically a research apprenticeship) and you want to convert that work into a PhD then it may be an option for you.
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/10/24 | 2,918 | 10,856 | <issue_start>username_0: Every once in a while you see a headline similar to "17 year old student finds a cure for cancer!". [Here](http://www.nbcnews.com/video/rock-center/52207962) [are](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/jack-andraka-the-teen-prodigy-of-pancreatic-cancer-135925809/) [some](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/15/angela-zhang-high-school-_n_1207177.html) [examples](http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/teenager-creates-new-hiv-test) [too](http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2419219,00.asp).
What's behind this? I find it hard to believe that a teenager without any academic education (or minimal education) can solve a problem that many experienced, well-funded, scientists have been working on for years. Or make a technological breakthrough that billion dollar international tech firms could not reach by themselves.
Are they really teen prodigies with brilliant minds or are they working in a team of people who know what they are doing that actually do all the work?<issue_comment>username_1: I was a judge at the [Intel Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)](https://student.societyforscience.org/intel-isef) in 2012, and I've seen some of what happens here. For those who aren't familiar, ISEF is the "Olympics" of science fairs. Everyone here has already won numerous local, regional, and national awards.
The level of science being displayed here is frankly ridiculous. Many of the students at the fair are completing work at or beyond PhD level. Many of them work with well-known and highly capable research labs or university faculty, and a good number of them perform research on their own using their ginormous brains.
Some of the research being performed here is, in fact, things like cancer cures. To give you an idea of the level of research, browse [this award listing](https://www.societyforscience.org/content/press-room/intel-isef-2014-special-award-winners). Some good ones to call out from the 2012 fair:
* One of the grand prize finalists developed a technique for [early stage pancreatic cancer detection](https://member.societyforscience.org/document.doc?id=385)
* Some kid build and demoed a [working fusion reactor](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/isef-fusion-hot) ([other stories on this](https://www.google.com/search?q=2012+ISEF+fusion+reactor&oq=2012+ISEF+fusion+reactor&aqs=chrome..69i57.6623j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8))
* Lots of novel approaches to addressing [traumatic brain injury](https://student.societyforscience.org/article/concussion-more-%E2%80%98getting-your-bell-rung%E2%80%99)
* All sorts of kids doing [wicked advanced math](https://student.societyforscience.org/article/competing-math)
* Some [brain-computer interface work](http://www.incose-la.org/news/71-community-outreach/468-intel-isef-2011-honors-high-school-science-fair-winners.html)
* And a [whole lot more](https://member.societyforscience.org/document.doc?id=386)
These high school students are coming from across the globe and are performing top-notch research. So yes, there are definitely some teens who build lots of stuff, and they do it the same as you and me... find a problem, research it, and solve it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I actually disagree with [the answer given](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/30475), and having judged a fair number of high-end science fairs myself (not Intel, granted, but the all-Chicago science fair, which is essentially an Intel qualifier), took something different away from it. I am also close friends with a number of Intel finalists, and have discussed their experiences in depth.
While most of the high schoolers at this level of science fair are extremely intelligent and will eventually become great, **independent** drivers of research, at this level they typically are not there yet. Their projects, for the most part, are designed by a faculty member or senior grad student/post doc, and the student is guided through the many experimental steps involved until they find *something*, at which case, because the research was done in a university lab and it is already better than 98% of other science fair projects (which are usually done at home with minimal resources), they typically do very well in science fairs.
*Occasionally*, one of the students is truly head and shoulders above everyone else, and can operate somewhat autonomously in a lab setting and can ask and answer their own questions - essentially at the level of an older graduate student. But, like a graduate student, they typically still need the oversight of a senior person who "gets" research.
I realize that this response is mostly to the answer given above, and not the the main question, but I felt strongly that the answer needed to be addressed.
As for prodigies:
1. In the sciences, which require tons of background knowledge to even know what's going on (see: cancer), I have never, ever, heard of a true prodigy who could, for example, be running a 15 person cancer research lab, writing papers, etc. You don't just "understand" cancer the way some people "understand" math, innately.
2. In math, the story is much different. There are always math prodigies, and they typically get tenure in their early twenties (see: <NAME>, <NAME>, etc.)
3. There are, of course, CS "prodigies" who are good at coding and creative enough to think of something that hasn't been done. But this isn't really what you are talking about.
tl;dr: there are no true "prodigies" in science. There are in math, though.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: The most important statement in your question is "What's behind the headline..."
Let's split this up into two questions:
**First: are teens doing cool science?**
Teens, like anybody else, can do science. A lot of teens are actually in a good place to do really creative work (scientific or otherwise), because they're young, have relatively few responsibilities, and are brash enough to try things that will probably fail. Sometimes, those things don't fail.
In some problems, it's easy to get to the edge of science: my favorite example is the [iGEM genetic engineering contest](http://igem.org). Another great example of an "easy" problem is [how cats drink water](http://web.mit.edu/preis/www/mypapers/how_cats_lap_reis_etal_Science_2010.pdf): that's a paper in Science whose key laboratory equipment was a good high-speed camera---the key innovation was how they thought to ask the question, and it could just as easily have been a teen as a bunch of folks as MIT (though the teen would have a harder time getting it published so well). Other problems, though, e.g., "prevent cancer", are really pretty hard to do anything about.
A good heuristic for understanding what's going on in a particular case is to look at how much background and resources is required in order to take a particular approach to a problem. The more that's necessary, the more likely it is that any teen involved is a small (though possibly still quite smart and creative!) part of a big organization.
They also might just be wrong. Lots of ways to be wrong in science, for teens and anybody else. You should judge the science of a teen just like you'd judge the science of any other researcher.
**Second: Do the headlines have much to do with what teens are doing in science?**
In a word: [No](http://www.badscience.net/2009/09/how-to-read-articles-about-health-by-dr-alicia-white/).
In a few more words: science reporting is often pretty dismal, and in popular sources usually has much more to do with fitting something into a societal narrative. And one of our cherished narratives is the [Teen Genius](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TeenGenius).
Also, don't forget that both teens and their mentors are just as capable of being self-promoters, self-deluded, or frauds as anybody else.
Bottom line: if a headline sounds like one of those terrible "One weird trick..." internet ads, it's probably about the same level of reliability.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: In my experience there is a wish in the press to report science as spectacular as possible:
Instead of saying that some teenager did excellent research far beyond the level of his peers, i.e. something which may be suitable as a PhD topic, it has to be a "working fusion reactor". I guess that the guy knows exactly that he did not build a "fusion reactor" in the usual sense, which in my opinion does not make his achievement any smaller. The young woman working on the nanoparticles probably know exactly that this is not a "cure for cancer", but that it is a small building block of a huge technological/medical task-this does not make it less cool or amazing in my opinion, and any scientist would be happy to work with such talented and motivated people.
But saying that somebody does something absolutely amazing, and is in the top 1% of his age class seems not spectacular enough.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: In *some* cases, it really is the case that a young child came up with some truly novel contribution.
<NAME> (now professor emeritus at UC Berkeley) published a paper about a number system with an [irrational base](https://math.berkeley.edu/~gbergman/papers/base_tau.pdf). He wrote this paper when he was 12; you may note that the bottom of the last page, he writes what I assume is his academic affiliation: "Jr. High School 246, Brooklyn NY". He was [interviewed by <NAME>](http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=384135&messageID=1185546), in which the introduction was very similar to what you've mentioned.
<NAME> is my father. I asked him once how that happened and I recall that he thought this idea was somewhat clever at the time and discussed it with his math teacher. The teacher agreed that it was clever and suggested that he write it up as an article for submission to a mathematics journal. He did so and it was accepted.
Do I think my father is smart? Of course. Do I think he's some sort of super genius who operates in a totally different manner than all of us other humans? Not really, I think he's someone who just naturally likes to mentally explore various spaces. He happened to be curious about mathematics as a kid (and still as an adult!) and happened to run into someone who encouraged him publish that idea at the right time.
Later on in life, he has certainly achieved quite a bit in the academic world, but at the same time has jokingly referred to research as "banging one's head against a wall until you find a soft spot", implying you can try hard for a long time and get nowhere, and then by chance have a huge breakthrough that leads to further huge revelations. Sometimes, a relatively blank slate with a lot of curiosity thrown at a problem can find that soft spot.
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/10/24 | 460 | 2,148 | <issue_start>username_0: My contract requires that I maintain a certain number of office hours a week where I am available to meet with students. In practice this time is rarely entirely taken up by student meetings however.
Recently I have joined some relatively large university committees that (not surprisingly) have a hard time arranging meeting times. I have historically indicated that I am unavailable to meet during my office hours but I am not sure if this is the appropriate position to take.
The solutions that I see are:
1. Consider this time booked and unavailable.
2. Consider this time flexible and reschedule office hours as needed (this would likely be somewhat frequent and could also just create more downstream conflicts).
3. Cancel the office hours as conflicts arise.
**What is the appropriate way to deal with responsibilities that conflict with office hours?**<issue_comment>username_1: My feeling is that it is fine to cancel or reschedule office hours when other responsibilities conflict, provided:
1. You announce it to students several days in advance;
2. You tell students that you are happy to meet them at another time, if they make an appointment.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: It seems to me that you need to generally be available for students a certain number of hours per week, *without* scheduling appointments. That's because scheduling an appointment is somewhat of a barrier, making it less likely students will avail themselves of your assistance. Office hours are largely intended to be for students who may have a hard time asking for help; those students may have a hard time getting help otherwise. (Of course, whether this works in practice is another question...)
As such, if it's a rare thing, it's probably fine to just cancel the hours; but if it's as frequent as your question makes it out to be, you should keep the office hours as set. If the committees often like to use that time for meetings, I would (permanently) move your office hours, but not reschedule them frequently - that leads to confusion over what hours you hold that particular week.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer] |
2014/10/24 | 451 | 1,956 | <issue_start>username_0: When a PhD program in the United States like [this](http://cogsci.jhu.edu/graduate/doctorate/requirements.html#funding) states that students are expected to engage in full-time research during the summer months and the January intersession in addition to their regular coursework, should one expect that vacation time is out of the discussion, unless it is unofficially granted by the advisor?<issue_comment>username_1: If your advisor is providing your pay, then you should negotiate vacation with your advisor. About 2 weeks per year is considered standard in US employment.
If your advisor is not providing you with pay, you should still discuss it with your advisor to make sure they think you are making progress and are committed to your research. However, your advisor should realize they are not in a position to dictate terms.
Do not be surprised if nobody cares. But don't abuse it.
I recommend planning your vacations at the same time as everyone else's. The benefits are that other people will not notice you are gone, and it can be hard to get work done anyway when the people you work with are gone so less is missed. Typically these times are late December and August.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: My university is officially closed (skeleton crew only) from Christmas Eve through New Year's Day, and lot's of graduate students take this time off (and more). OTOH, there are plenty of profs that work their students to the bone and demand work over Christmas break, every other holiday when the university is closed, and every weekend, too.
If personal time is important to you, you should discuss expectations for time spent working or in the lab with a potential advisor before your sign on to work with them. My PhD supervisor expected people to put in appearances most weekdays in the lab and to be productive, but I know others that have Friday meetings that generate Monday deadlines.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/24 | 2,591 | 11,086 | <issue_start>username_0: I am in charge of the grading for an undergraduate class, and I am trying to determine the grading scheme which would best help students figure out what is a correct/incorrect answer without generating too much frustration.
My current position is to be demanding and give *very* little partial credit. For instance if the question asks to give a definition and the student gives an example, I would give no partial credit even if the example is a good one.
Strict grading is meant to make it clear when the student gives an inappropriate answer (e.g answering a different question from the one being asked, not providing enough of an argument to support an answer,...), *and* conversely when the student is answering correctly. For every graded piece, I write careful solutions and comments on how to answer properly. Strict grading is also meant to help the student figure out when she or he really needs to go look at the solutions and comments. Somehow, I fear that if students get partial credits more easily, they are more likely to believe that their answer is after all not that bad. Then they may be more likely not to check the solutions/comments, although the answer might be seriously flawed (e.g. they gave the right True/False answer but did not provide a correct justification of it).
In the class I am teaching, **final grades** **are purely relative** that is whether one gets an A or B solely depends on one's position in the grade distribution. So if they worry about final grades, student should not care too much about whether grading is strict, or whether partial credits are awarded, but rather whether the grading scheme is applied homogeneously between students. On this last point (making grading homogenous) I put a lot of effort (e.g. if no partial credit is awarded to a student answering "False" to a question without providing a proper counter-example, I make sure the same applies for every student answering "False" without providing a proper counter-example). I explained during class and repeated in all comments note that giving 0 to everyone or 5 to everyone was innocuous in terms of the final grade. I put the same effort in trying to make the purpose of strict grading clear.
**However**, I realize that there is more to getting a zero on a question than how it affects your final grade. My impression is that some students get frustrated for not getting partial credits. Some students expect to get partial credit as soon as they write something sensible even if it does not answer the question. I want to make clear that **I don't blame them for that at all**. I understand that this has to do with the grading culture they have been exposed to, and that my grading might be at odd with this culture. What worries me is that such frustration may eventually have detrimental effects on their learning : instead of thinking
>
> " Oh, I got a zero, given what the instructor explained about his
> grading scheme, that means I am probably not answering the question
> right. I know that other people also got zero for the same kind of
> mistakes, so I should not worry about the way it will affect my grade,
> but I should definitely go check the solutions and comments to figure
> out what is wrong with my answer, and eventually go to office hours if there is
> still some
> confusion"
>
>
>
some of them react in a much different way. For many potential reasons, getting a zero makes them frustrated about the question/test/instructor, to the point that they are less likely to try to figure out what went wrong with their answer. More generally, not receiving partial credit may create discouragement on their behalf which would definitely negatively affect their learning.
Now, I could easily (I think?) solve the frustration problem while maintaining a fair grading procedure by uniformly giving (much?) more partial credit. However, not knowing about the average students' psychology in the class, it is hard for me to figure out which effect will dominate:
1. Would the decrease in grading clarity overweight the decrease in frustration and eventually decrease the number of students who thoroughly compare their answer to the solutions/comments (and hopefully learn how to give better answers)?
2. Or is the frustration-effect so high that giving more partial credit will have a positive overall effect on their learning?
Because this will differ from one class/university culture/topic to another, I am **not primarily interested in guesses about whether 1 or 2 would hold**.
What I would be more interested in is getting your insight on grading policies which would potential get me the best of both world, that is making it clear when a question is not answered properly and motivate the student to understand why, *while* avoiding any kind of detrimental frustration effect.
Thanks in advance for your help,<issue_comment>username_1: This recent review on grading gives evidence that when students receive both a grade and comments, they do not absorb the comments and become discouraged rather than motivated:
<NAME>., & <NAME>. (2014). Teaching More by Grading Less (or Differently). CBE-Life Sciences Education, 13(2), 159-166. Link: <http://www.lifescied.org/content/13/2/159.full.pdf>
If motivating students to answer questions more carefully is your primary goal (and it is a good one), I would suggest considering a "redo" policy rather than stern grading. And skip the thorough comments and develop a simple system. That will make the time spent similar on your end, while motivating students to improve because they get another chance to earn all the points.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: A few concerns that jump out to me:
* don't neglect the semiotics of letter grades! "A" means "you put in the right amount of work to succeed in this class." "B" means "you might get a grade you're happy with, but with a little more work you could get an A." I don't think it's wise (no citation, sorry!) to let students flounder in the dark wondering if the lauding comments mean "try harder" or "about right," which of course differs based on what the students are shooting for.
* Be very, very careful with equitable comments. Say you expect a student to do poorly (how privilege-sensitive are you?). So your comments may say "you've come along way" which translates to a B- for a student for whom you had low expectations or an A+ and is ready to be a researcher with a glowing rec letter coming from you for the best.
* Don't let students think this is a competition. Curve grading works in large classes where the students' individualism aside, statistics applies. It works in smaller classes too, but the students may not realize if there's more than 7 or so students it's not competition-based.
* You have a bigger class right? If it really is fewer than 7 or so students, there's a chance
you'll have enough outliers to bring your planned curve into
question. Or say at 7 students it's not independently, and they,
fairly, collaborate a lot since they're really enjoying the material
as well as each other's company.
tl;dr: give them meaningful letter grades, about 1/3-2/3 of a grade lower than they'll probably get, assure that the grades are approximations but will be boosted by the curve, and follow through with that. Source: I had two professors do this in college in *very* different settings (small, elite math weeder v. honors lit intro) and it worked out.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I think the "best of both worlds" is the world of strict grading that you are currently in:
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> My current position is to be demanding and give very little partial credit. For instance if the question asks to give a definition and the student gives an example, I would give no partial credit even if the example is a good one.
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Sounds okay to me. Either the student doesn't know that such an answer is inappropriate, or knows that it is but chooses to give it anyway. This is bad in either case.
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> Some students expect to get partial credit as soon as they write something sensible even if it does not answer the question. I want to make clear that I don't blame them for that at all. I understand that this has to do with the grading culture they have been exposed to, and that my grading might be at odd with this culture.
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It's always good to understand students rather than blaming them. But this should not lead you to compromise the standards of your discipline.
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> For many potential reasons, getting a zero makes them frustrated about the question/test/instructor, to the point that they are less likely to try to figure out what went wrong with their answer. More generally, not receiving partial credit may create discouragement on their behalf which would definitely negatively affect their learning.
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They'll get used to it. Trying to shield students from the experience of frustration is just passing the buck to the next instructor and ultimately making the problem worse.
Moreover, unwarranted partial credit itself negatively affects learning by causing students to focus on tricks to get points on problems they don't understand, rather than focusing on understanding problems and writing correct solutions.
In my opinion, the only downsides to strict grading of the kind you describe are:
1. you have to make your expectations clear,
2. you have to grade carefully, and
3. you have to make the grading scheme clear.
But it sounds like you understand this and are doing it already. So I think you're fine and you don't need to compromise.
If you really want to give more partial credit, you could build it into your exam questions: for example, offer some smaller number of points for an example instead of a definition/proof. This way you don't encourage bad habits.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: A professor in the math department has a really nice HW policy: there are 2 deadlines for every HW (a week apart), and everything is graded twice with the highest grade taken. The grading itself is very rigorous, and there little partial credit. Because the grading is harsh, it is very efficient and assignments are turned back in 48 hours. This subtly encourages a lot of good behavior:
* students start at least a week early
* students need to be clear to get better feedback on mistakes (instead of trying to get partial credit through ambiguity)
* it helps to have typed work
* there is complete transparency with the grade
* it promotes a healthier attitude about mistakes
* student correct their misunderstandings instead of mounting a legal defense for partial credit
* never have to deal with late HW excuses/ extension requests
Since originally answering this question we have implemented something similar in a for a computer science class.
* Very harsh automated grading that gave very specific feedback about program mistakes, with no limit for the number of submissions
* 25% of assignments could be "resubmitted" on the last day of class with no penalty
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/24 | 1,073 | 4,489 | <issue_start>username_0: My very best friend cheats, not just looking over her shoulder for two answers, I mean full out cheats - raising each grade from what would be a D to an A. I feel very guilty for doing something wrong, so I can not cheat.
I have a rank 35 in the school (I have only made 3 B's in 4 years of school). Most students above that cheat constantly. She takes mostly AP classes and I do too, but I am getting very frustrated that she and others look very intelligent when they cheat on the **whole** test before hand. My friend always brags about how she will be awarded a very prestigious award for her grades in Calculus, but my friend just told me she cheats on all the tests. Just recently she got a list of all the answers for a test and just bubbled each in knowing nothing. She will be awarded with many awards she does not deserve. I just don't think it is fair considering colleges look at rankings.
I don't want to lose my friendship with a really close friend, but I can't let this stand. I have tried warning her it was a bad idea. She wants to be a medical doctor and I feel like its important now for her to not cheat. People say that bad things will happen in the future because of what she does now, but I honestly believe she will continue to cheat without consequences.
Side-note: Another friend said, "Why would it matter if she cheats, that isn't affecting you." I just feel like it is affecting me when rank is what colleges look at.
**What should I do?**<issue_comment>username_1: You say that several students are cheating. This is actually good in the sense that you maybe can avoid specifically naming your friend.
One option is to contact a relevant faculty member (ideally one that you know and trust) and say that you know that several of the top graders are cheating. A second option is to do this anonymously.
The advantage of doing this anonymously is obviously that people will not know that you reported this. The disadvantage is that it may be less credible.
BTW your friend is completely incorrect. It definitely **does** affect you, since the ranking and the prizes can affect your future career. If she can't understand that, then she perhaps isn't such a good friend.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I strongly recommend you take action in order to end your friend's cheating ASAP, either by convincing her (first thing, obviously) or letting the professors know. You can do that anonymously, the professor will have to catch your friend in the act anyway so the credibility issue should not be too much of a concern.
Why? Well, just because you friend wants to be a medical doctor. Habits die hard, thus she is more than likely to cheat her way through medical school, and then real problems will arise. Patients treated by doctors who do not have the right credentials will suffer, some may die. Think about them, their loved ones. Makes sense?!
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: It is far better for your friend and classmates to learn the consequences of cheating now before the consequences become more severe. Cheating in college often becomes part of a student's permanent academic record. Cheating on a job often results in employees getting fired with loss of income and increased difficulty finding a job.
Definitely report it, anonymously if you prefer. Share everything you know including methods, frequency and duration. You don't have to tell your friend that you are reporting it, but she may figure it out. Include the names of the students who you know are cheating. This will make it much easier for the teachers and administration to correct the situation. Let the teachers decide what to do. Realize as a former teacher myself, I occasionally suspected cheating but did not have enough evidence to do administer consequences.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Do not let this get back at you.
One of the first things to do is: protect yourself.
In an ideal world, you report the cheaters, they get punished and life goes on.
I've seen that situation happen. But we don't live in an ideal world, what happened was that the cheaters didn't have any other consequences other then a: "guys we heard that", and the girl who reported them had a real shitty 2 years, because the cheaters weren't so forgiving to the "rat".
So: I'd argue that the best thing is to look after your own interests first. If there's a way to get it of your mind without getting identified, go for that.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/24 | 3,113 | 12,704 | <issue_start>username_0: In the freshman classes I teach (the class is like 30-35 students), some students would step out the class for 10-15 minutes and come back. The class time is 1 hour and 15 min. This is always interrupting.
I have asked the class before that this is a poor classroom etiquette, you have 15 min between classes to do whatever you want, so if you leave the class during the lecture please do not come back. Yet, they still do it.
Anybody is facing similar situation? and how you deal with it?
Clarification: I made it clear in class that if you need to leave, please inform me in advance. Or if you have a medical condition that requires you to leave regularly, please let me know. My question is not about those cases<issue_comment>username_1: The statement
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> if you leave the class during the lecture please do not come back
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is ambiguous. If they leave class are they allowed to come back or not? The best solution in my opinion is not to create rules like this since it effectively backs you into a corner. Some things, like being respectful of classmates, need firm rules and require you to enforce them. Things like bathroom breaks probably do not, but if your ability to teach really depends on students not interrupting class, then you need to do something about it. the best thing would be to change your teaching style such that interruptions are not hugely distracting. If you cannot change your teaching style and students coming and going is hurting the rest of the students, then you need to do something about it.
I suggest at the start of the next class you clarify your original statement with:
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> If you choose to leave class during the lecture you will not be allowed to return.
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Then the first username_5e someone gets up to leave, interrupt the lecture and remind them they will not be allowed to return. The reason I suggest two warnings is this is a change in behaviour. If they leave and attempt to come back, stop your lecture and tell them to leave. Do not resume your lecture until they leave. Hopefully it will not come to it, but if necessary call the campus police to have them escorted from the classroom. One sacrificial student will probably be enough to regain control. The key is if you see students coming and going as a critical issue for you teaching you need to take control of the situation. Hopefully, you can modify your teaching to handle students coming and going.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Have a 10-minute break in the middle of the lecture. (E.g., 35min lecture + 10min break + 30min lecture = 1h 15min in total.)
1h 15min is far too much without any breaks. There are plenty of studies that show that students do not really pay attention to the lectures more than for maybe 20-30 minutes in the beginning of the lecture (and for a short period of username_5e right before the lecture ends), so by telling *everyone* to take a 10-minute break you are likely to *improve* the learning outcomes (even if you have got slightly less username_5e for teaching).
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: The existing answers seem to me extreme. I don't think some sort of draconian blanket "leaving-the-room policy" is needed here. I would suggest the following:
* For students leaving occasionally: **Ignore it.** They are adults and someusername_5es things in their lives may take higher priority than your class (e.g. going to the bathroom, feeling unwell, family emergencies, etc). If it's distracting to you, well, deal with it. It's a classroom, not a funeral, and you are a professional. Take a breath and get back to teaching.
* If you see a particular student leaving often: **Have a private word with them to see if things are okay.** They may have special circumstances that you don't know about (chronic illness is one distinct possibility). Once you know their situation, you may be able to offer specific suggestions that will reduce the disruption and/or get them more engaged in the class.
* If, after talking to them, you are convinced they are just walking out from spite, and they won't stop: **Follow your institution's policy on disruptive students.** Your department chair should have further guidance. It may ulusername_5ately be necessary to drop them from the class.
A short break in the middle of a 75-minute class is a reasonable idea, but I would keep it very short: perhaps 1-2 minutes, enough to stand up and stretch, not more. It should not significantly reduce the amount of username_5e students spend on task. (Otherwise, as mentioned above, you may encounter problems with your institution's authorities that your class does not provide as much instructional username_5e as promised by its number of credit hours. Moreover, some students will see it as wasted username_5e and resent it.) Better yet, break up the lecture with some other sort of productive activity (small group discussions, problem solving, etc).
I don't think it's appropriate to publicly shame students for poor etiquette, or shut them out of class if they leave. You will unfairly punish students who legiusername_5ately need to step out for a few minutes, and anyone who is doing it from spite or boredom will just be further alienated.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: Not to offend your teaching methods or style, but perhaps you should ask yourself why the students are leaving in the first place. I would suggest talking to one of them outside of class and asking honestly if there's something you can do to help their learning experience that is non-disruptive to the other students.
I had a professor who was brilliant but not good at teaching because he had difficulties relating to his students. Because of this, several students would leave for 10-20 minutes at a username_5e in the middle of class because they felt they weren't getting anything out of the class. If your students need more susername_5ulation during lecture, try switching up your teaching style once in a while. Include a little bit of interactivity with trivia or jeopardy-style extra credit in the middle of class to keep everybody participating and excited to learn.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Punishment
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> Attendance contributes 5% of the grade, I take it at the beginning or at the end of the class. May be a possible solution is to start taking it at random username_5es?
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Others already mentioned that students can have valid reasons to leave your class for 10 minutes, among other [\*]:
* health issues (anxiety issues, bladder problems, a bad back, etc.)
* pregnancy
* family emergencies (which can be quite regular in some cases)
Punishing them for these issues would not be the right thing to do, and it might very well **violate your schools non-discrimination policy**.
You should also keep this in mind when talking about the issue in class (because it can - depending on the situation - easily come across as public shaming and thus 1. discourage students from taking your class and - again - 2. violate the non-discrimination policy).
[\*] If your students are leaving in small groups, these reasons could also explain that (good friends helping with an anxiety attack for example).
Suggestions on handling this
----------------------------
**Ignore it**. There are enough valid reasons that students might step out[\*], and honestly, non of them are any of your business. And **the students are already punished**: They missed part of the class, and possibly cannot follow the rest of the class that well because of missing information, so they have to work at home to catch up.
If you still want to take action:
* try to apply for a room that has exits at the back
* analyze your material: are there parts of your class that are boring/unnecessary? students might be leaving because of this
* create a questionnaire asking about this, which the students can answer anonymously
If you want to talk with the students about it:
* do it privately and individually
* apologize for bringing it up in class in front of everyone, suggesting that they have poor etiquette, and asking them to not come back
* don't ask for their reasons, or at least accept "private" as a valid answer
* ask how you can help them (for example, provide them with a seat closest to the exit)
[\*] This is still true if some students step out just because they want to smoke. It is not ok to punish the students with good reasons along with the students with bad reasons.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: At my university, there were classrooms where the outer door handle locked after class started. If you left, you couldn't return until someone let you in. To be clear, students could leave, but not return without assistance.
This approach worked very well for interruption deterrence.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: >
> In the classes I teach some students would step out the class for 10-15 minutes and come back. This is always interrupting.
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>
>
Consider the following questions:
* Can you rearrange your classroom so it's less distracting (door in the back rather than front or sides)?
* Who is it distracting, you, or the other students?
* Is it the same students?
* Does it happen every day in every class, or is it more rare than that?
* Are several people leaving and entering at random username_5es throughout the period, or is it just two interruptions per class when it does happen?
The students are adults. They are free to make decisions about their username_5e. Honestly, 1.25 hours isn't too long to expect an adult to sit and listen to a presentation or lecture. They do it all the username_5e at any other performance, be it a movie theater, play, or otherwise.
You should first consider whether the interruptions are truly preventing the students from learning. If the only problem is that you are interrupted, then honestly you need to change so such interruptions don't bother you any more.
If you can alter the layout of the classroom, then a physical change might improve the situation.
Finally, if you truly feel that these interruptions are unacceptable and cannot be accommodated then you have the following options:
1. Talk to those who leave. Do it after class every username_5e they leave. "You understand that you are expected to attend the whole class period. If this was an emergency, then I can excuse it."
2. Start giving out useful hints for upcoming tests/projects/etc. Save them for the username_5e when people leave.
3. Start making it an issue of attendance. "If you leave during class I will mark you absent." Alternately every three username_5es they leave they get counted absent for one day.
4. Start making it an issue of grades. "In-class attendance without breaks is a requirement for this course. If you do not attend, or you interrupt class to leave or exit between the start and end of class, it will impact your grade in the following ways."
5. Start giving 5-10 minute pop quizzes. Keep some handy you can use at a moment's notice when people leave.
6. Grow up. You are an adult. Your students are adults. You and your students can ignore the exit/entrance of a student and continue on without remark or change in pace. There's no need to punish those who leave. Make your presentations as informative and interesting as possible, then move forward and ignore those that leave or enter at inappropriate username_5es.
Wasting your username_5e and energy getting upset will only hurt you. Train your patience and ability to carry on in the face of adversity, and you'll become a more effective instructor.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: IMHO grading based on attendance is not opusername_5um. If a student who is there 50% of the username_5e can learn everything a student who is there 100% of the username_5e can, do they really need to be punished for it?
A compromise view might be: base the grade on various factors, like exams, attendance, participation, homework, and what not; with each student being given the option of an alternative weighing: mostly exams. If someone then does poorly on exams *because* they missed part of the class, that's their problem. But if they do well, why worry about seat username_5e?
One thing I definitely dislike: someone comes in late and the instructor stops speaking and waits for the latecomer to sit down and settle in. And then complain about *"what the latecomer did to disrupt the class"* (guilt tripping). I think the instructor should just keep talking and let the chips fall where they may. (The latecomer/break taker must not of course be so loud as to make it impossible for the instructor to be heard.)
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/25 | 307 | 1,470 | <issue_start>username_0: I was trying to fill out the graduate school application for graduate school. However in the "recommender info" part it asks me to enter the address, city, institute and title or position but I wonder what they are? should I enter the university address? is title or position like assistant or full professor?
I would be very appreciated if anyone can help me with that.<issue_comment>username_1: Ask the person who will write the letter of recommendation what address they want you to use. I suspect that this university will send them a return envelope to use to submit the letter, so the address must be their proper mailing address.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Lookup the mailing address for the academic department in question. This can be easily found on the department's website. And yes, position is something like assistant or associate professor.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: These days, most people who could serve as a good recommender have a professional website that will give their full contact information, including their full title, mailing address, etc. You can typically find this either by Google or by going to their organization's website, which will somewhere have a list of faculty and other significant staff.
If this information is not publicly online (most likely to happen with a recommender from a company) then just ask your recommender to give their preferred contact information.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/25 | 1,134 | 4,758 | <issue_start>username_0: I am a new student in a college, the other company in my class is so quiet! (very rare questions and answers), and I am not very good at English (my professor is English).
I said negative comments about things that I disagree with such as "I don't think that because..", "I think it changed, this is old statistics..". I corrected his speech: "Sir, is it weather or climate?". I laughed and spoke in my language in the class so he thought that we are talking about him,
I actually feel shy when I speak in my language to my friends but it's difficult sometimes to change to English. I really feel like he is saying to himself "rude girl!"
In addition, I ask some ridiculous questions and talked too much, I just noticed how stupid I was. But the worst thing I did is when I suggested (by email) to come the class earlier because we are late, He thought that I am not interested and I want to finish earlier. He spoke to me in front of class but I did not understand what he was talking about ( his voice was low and angry), At home I understood so I sent an email of explanation but I Still feel bad. I am really nervous and confused, what should I do? I feel like I want to leave the class.<issue_comment>username_1: It's simple: don't act childish in future lectures. If you are talking/giggling/whatever instead of following the lecture you are a nuisance to the professor but also to other students that try to pay attention.
Disagreeing with the professor is not necessarily bad, though comments like '*this is old statistics*' are not constructive. It's better to ask questions that can help you (and your classmates) understand the material better than to remain quiet and learn nothing. Just make sure you are polite when doing so and don't openly challenge your teacher's knowledge.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: **Don't** make the language as an excuse to your behaviour. Being respectful to your professor has nothing to do with the language proficiency. If you can't learn in English then quit your English-speaking school. Most of us are not English native speakers and yet we study at English schools.
>
> *What should I do to fix the problem?*
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**1) Change your behaviour**. There is no need to give your opinion about everything the professor says. At the same time, I bet you are very welcome to ask questions *related to the material* and the professor will be happy to answer them.
**2) Tell the professor that you have changed and you regret what you did**. I believe you got a very nice professor ( I know some professors who will make your day miserable if you act like this in their class). Take the class seriously or at least do not be the class trouble maker.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: The existing answers are great but I would add a few things. As a note **I teach classes were ALL my students are non-native English speakers but I am a native English speaker**.
**If you find the prof's statistics are out of date, then email him** with what you believe the current data is. Making everyone in class think less of the prof is unlikely to motivate the students to put in the work to learn.
**Don't pick apart the grammar or vocabulary usage unless it is important to his point**. For example, if he says "the weather is heating up over the decades because of pollution" then the fact that he should use "climate" is not really critical. You are not there to teach him English and even native speakers make mistakes and sometimes those mistakes are on purpose. I regularly use incorrect vocabulary because I believe my students would not know the proper word in English. If it matters, I will focus on the word. If it does not matter, then keep everyone focused on the point.
As far as what he is thinking when you are saying in a language other than the language of the classroom AND you are challenging him at every turn, then yes, he is likely thinking you are saying something bad about him.
You need to be polite. **Asking questions is fine (actually it is great) but if you are asking every minute you are slowing down the class** which makes it harder for the prof to keep his timing. Remember that he has a job to do and you should want him to do his job well. So, find a way to support him and not harm his efforts.
I suspect he is a professional (otherwise you would be talking about what he did to make you suffer) so just change your behavior. If you want to apologize, then do so. However, even if you do not but **if you DO change your behavior, I am sure he will appreciate your enthusiasm in the classroom**. Just keep it under control. Keep participating, in a reasonable way, and you may yet become his favorite.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer] |
2014/10/25 | 1,105 | 4,823 | <issue_start>username_0: I teach freshmen courses. The lessons are in the classroom, but I also use an LMS to receive homework, to communicate grades and comments, and to post additional readings and resources.
It is normal to encounter a few students not doing work, but this term, I found about 80% of one section doing no homework, even easy work. To investigate why so many students are not doing the work, I tried these strategies:
1. I sent private messages to each student informing them that they missed several assignments and that it is their responsibility to inform me of any problems. The students did not reply.
2. I posted a private survey to the LMS to all students, asking for students to describe any problem they were having with the LMS or homework. None of these students completed the survey.
3. Seeing no replies after 5 days, I set aside some of class time for a whole-class discussion on this topic, but this made students nervous. In retrospect, realize this was a poor choice.
I did learn through the discussion that some students did not know how to use the LMS and now that we've spend 20 minutes covering that (again).
After my discussion, more homework is coming in, but still about 50% of the class has a 0%.
* I do not see this problem in my other sections, nor have I had this failure rate in past years.
* A student signed me into their account, so I could confirm that there were no anomalies in the LMS for this section.
I want to identify why this section has so few students submitting work, so that I can make appropriate adjustments to the course, as necessary. How can I investigate this problem further, without making students nervous to explain?<issue_comment>username_1: There are many aspects to this question, which amount to "what are some good teaching techniques?" In fact, I think getting students to do homework assignments is one of the most important parts of teaching. I recommend you look for in person training programs at your intitution's (or a nearby institution's) teaching center. Each institution in this network has such a program: <http://www.cirtl.net/>.
When I did this, I learned how to design better assignments, lead better class discussions, create more engaging classes, and find out what determines student success. I think most senior faculty would benefit from similar training.
In this case, I suggest creating in-class activities the students cannot do unless they did the homework.
Also, in my experience, all LMS suck. Don't use them except when you have to (typically to keep grades confidential).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: You have been around the block a few times, so I interpret this question to be "What is going on with THESE PARTICULAR students?" And of course I don't know.
I have run into some scenarios at my large public university which may be relevant:
1. Recent admission changes which bring in students from more low-income schools with less experience with self-regulated learning.
2. Changes in course requirements which allow less-experienced students to take the course.
3. Limited timing of a different required remedial class made one of my two sections also all remedial.
4. A shift to making a class more online also allowed students to fall behind more easily.
Whatever the reasons, I would also want to know why this results in homework avoidance and how to help overcome this.
Have you tried having undergraduate tutors ask the students what would help? Your students might feel safer admitting problems to peers.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Undergrad here,
+Is there any chance an above-average percentage of these students are registered for a pass/fail grading option? They might think "oh I just need a C" and be choosing to ignore the homework, thinking they can just ace the exams. Even good students do this. Perhaps your registration system puts them in one section.
+It could also be that your problem section was the only one left open for people who did not bother to register in a timely manner. Thus, slackers would be overrepresented :). There would also be a shortage of good students that the slackers could copy from. Was there confusion about the availability of your class this term?
+Perhaps there was a miscommunication about class drop procedures. People just quit doing the work and think you will be the one to unregister them? Are these people coming to class? Perhaps the hypothetical hasty-registered "slacker section" have decided to mass quit...but slack off on the unregistering.
Or, like the others have said, something is wrong with your LMS and they might not know which homework is due. If there is a tech issue, it might not necessarily "look broken" and people think you just have not given any homework YET.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/25 | 427 | 1,837 | <issue_start>username_0: Few days ago I found on a website that my professor's student won the "Golden Kingfisher Prize" for her presentation under his supervision in his previous university 2 years ago .. Do you think it is good to talk about it? And what is the best way for this ?.<issue_comment>username_1: Professors are people too, hence any acknowledgement of achievements and, as in this case, their part in an achievement is always a nice thing to do.
It would probably not be a good idea to make too much of a big deal of it - but an email or a chat of congratulations to your professor is a polite acknowledgement and appreciation of a significant achievement.
Most of all, know that you are working with an academic that has, in some way, facilitated a student earning a great award. Just keep that in mind in all your future interactions with the Professor.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If I were you, I would approach them privately (this dismisses all possible concerns the Professor could reasonably have of brown-nosing/self-interest). The caveat is that you need to enter the conversation gracefully - I don't assume you would be congratulating the Professor out of anything but your own kindness and gratitude to said Professor, but a rekindling of communication after a number of years always sets up a warning flag among the weary.
If you had a strong relationship with the Professor, I'd recommend simply talking to them about it - asking what they learned from the experience, what advice they would give to you in areas relevant to this field, how they learned to adapt to the learning styles of others, etc. Put more simply, make it clear that you're interested and still eager for their insight on things, but make sure you personalize it to them - after all, it was their achievement.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/10/25 | 9,407 | 39,689 | <issue_start>username_0: I got caught cheating in a two-hour engineering exam consisting of 100 multiple choice questions which was done online through the [**moodle**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle) e-learning software. I feel like my life is almost over.
Having not studied well and having no time to study, I decided to cheat. I know there are no excuses for cheating. Before the exam I dug up research about moodle exams, and it turned out you can take the exam anywhere you want to as long as you have the quiz password. Taking advantage of this, I went up to my engineering library and asked a close friend who was taking the exam to send me the quiz password before he starts.
What I had prepared:
* Calculator (was not allowed during the quiz).
* Printed material (consisted of more than 200 pages).
* Google search engine (on a laptop ready to help).
* Whatsapp (to ask questions for a friend who took the quiz last year).
As I sat down, I did the first 50 questions, suddenly the quiz froze and moodle told me:
>
> **you are not allowed to take the exam from this location**.
>
>
>
While I was leaving, one instructor responsible for the course (there are 5) came and found me. She accused me of cheating, took my mobile and made come with her to a huge office where two instructors searched all my mobile (took the name of my friend who gave me the password), and started talking to me, asking for all details of this crime. They confiscated my phone and looked at everything: Whatsapp conversations, all my emails, and images. The instructor took the mobile from my hand without asking me and kept it with her. It seems that the instructors are going to report me as well as my friend who sent me the password for the exam.
The university's Student Code Conduct says that cheating will result in one of the following: a Dean's Warning, Suspension, or Expulsion. If any of that happens, my future is over. A Dean's Warning will cancel my financial aid. A suspension would be for at least two years, and coming back would require a lot of work. An expulsion will be definite.
I've learned the lesson about cheating, now how can I fix this? How can I prevent the five instructors from reporting me? It's obvious that I should speak to them, but what should I say? What can I do? My future is almost over, but many of you are teachers and instructors here, what can I do to fix this?
---
EDIT: Wow, it has been almost 3 years. I would like to update on how I dealt with the situation.
**Lesson:** It was obvious to never ever cheat under any circumstances, independent of whether you'd get caught or not.
**Consequences:** I received a Dean's Warning but the financial aid wasn't revoked. However, I couldn't stay in the department as engineering was not for me, and I was even ashamed to stay in the university.
**What happened next:** I transferred to an ABET-accredited Computer Science institution and I graduated with distinction in 2.5 years. It was extremely stressful as I took 6 major courses (18 credits) in one semester, but I had to do it.
**Future plans:** I'm going for an MSc in Computer Science in St. Andrews next year.<issue_comment>username_1: To the comments: The OP knows he cheated - he's asking what he can do to improve his situation. Clearly, there are good and bad ways to deal with it.
I haven't been on an AD board myself, but I have caught cheaters. From my experience, the best thing you can do is the following:
1. Admit everything.
2. Apologize. Make it clear that you understand how and why cheating is wrong.
3. Do not under any circumstances give excuses for your cheating or blame others for it - as you do in this question. You chose to cheat, no one put a gun to your head.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: You were caught *in flagrante delicto*. You were accessing the exam with illicit material in an unapproved location and were caught while the exam was in progress.
Reading what you have provided, I believe there is essentially **nothing** you can do to prevent the instructors from reporting you. Given the extent of your infraction of the code—after all, this was an intentional violation, not an accident like forgetting a citation in a paper—it's hard to see how they can *avoid* reporting this. Think about it this way: if *you* do not get reported, who can be reported?
Letting you off the hook also sends the wrong message to you and to your fellow students about the importance and strictness of the honor code.
I'm afraid you will have to live with the consequences of your actions. (Was the benefit from cheating **really** worth the consequences of possibly being caught?)
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: First, in light your question title, let me offer some encouraging words. **Your life is not over.** Cheating is an academic transgression; unless your situation is very unusual, you have not committed a crime. Take a breath, realize that this is a problem that you need to address as an adult, and part of that means being sober and reasonable.
Of course this is serious, and will likely have severe consequences regarding your future as an engineering student--but it is not the end of the world. It is essential *for your own sake* that you learn from this experience. Understanding why this was a poor choice is probably more important than your engineering degree.
---
**You should not try to fix this.** The fact is, your instructors are there to help you, and they are still trying to help you. They are understandably frustrated and disappointed by this situation.
**You should** be honest to yourself about the choices you made. This *could* happen to anyone; it *doesn't* happen to people who think about and understand the consequences. More specifically, my advice to you is:
* apologize to your friend for coercing him into helping you cheat
* understand that your cheating was not justified in any way; do not offer *any* excuses
* admit everything and be as honest as you can with your instructor
---
Of course, that advice is predicated on you understanding that your **cheating was a poor choice, and not merely unfortunate because you got caught**. It's not clear from your question if you've made this distinction.
In the stereotypical view of cheating, you struggle because you aren't willing to put in the time and effort to learn, and you misrepresent your abilities through cheating on an exam, quiz, etc. It is easy to see this is dishonest; it's a form of lying.
Say that we take you at your word and that your description of the course as an "unreasonable amount of work" is completely true, accurate, and without embellishment. Let us further suppose that cheating is the *only* way that a qualified, hard-working student could earn a passing grade in this course. Cheating in this instance is not better, it is even more dishonest.
Here, by cheating and earning a passing grade, you misrepresent the abilities of the honest students in the class, and interfere with the instructor's ability to assess learning and make necessary changes to the course.
Upvotes: 8 <issue_comment>username_4: You can not prevent them from reporting you, and attempting to prevent the report would only reflect worse on you and your character. This is your opportunity to demonstrate humility and integrity.
Do not make excuses, do not lie. Own your mistake and be ready to say why it was wrong, and the impact to your instructors and to your classmates. Consider that engineers design, construct, certify and maintain critical infrastructure; they must be held to the highest standards, to protect human life, and why integrity matters. To illustrate, [look back at R<NAME>](http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2007/01/remembering-the-mistakes-of-challenger/), the engineer who tried to prevent the Challenger disaster, and the engineering manager who was cowed into making a decision against his better judgement.
Expect disciplinary action. Whatever the disciplinary action, thank them for it, as it will be a valuable learning opportunity.
Be sincere, be gracious, and move forward. Begging,feeling sorry for yourself or attempting to shift blame will only make you look worse in the eyes of the school, in the eyes of your peers, and eventually in your own eyes.
You will get through this, even if it changes the trajectory of your career.
And who knows? You might find your passion in something else other than engineering.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: To elaborate on @username_1's excellent response, take full responsibility for your actions. It seems you still have several things to learn. Although the consequences are potentially severe, you seem more concerned with the consequences than a genuine change of heart. The desire to not be reported is strong indication of this. Your friend is *not* innocent and chose to participate in collusion, in other contexts this is illegal. Also, a good professor will ask "Why did you cheat?" and not assume you have excuses with "What are your excuses?"
Engineering courses are known to be quite difficult. *Despite the temptation to cheat, follow through with a lifetime of being honest.* Finally, many even most students I have worked with have poor study skills. Since 50% of learning is forgotten with 24 hours, review frequently. Get in the habit of summarizing methods, notes, etc. Combined with other study skills, the course load should become not easy but bearable thereby reducing the temptation to cheat.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: >
> I've learned the lesson about cheating, now how can fix this? How can
> I prevent the 5 instructors from reporting me. It's obvious that I
> should speak to them, but what should I say? What can I do? My future
> is almost over, but many of you are teachers and instructors here,
> what can I do to fix this?
>
>
>
From the way you wrote this, it seems to me that in your current mindset, you have not yet learned the full lesson. I say this because the second sentence above seems to me still in the same mindset where you are trying to control and engineer a result to essentially beat the system and get something better than your own actions have generated. That is not full understanding of learning that that whole approach is not appropriate. You're treating the system like an adversary, acting in a victim mentality, and trying to manipulate your way out of it. You have some lessons to learn about humility, honesty, surrender, and building integrity from the ground up. I would suggest accepting those.
I would suggest it may help for you to consider you may also be wrong-minded when you think things like:
>
> If any of those happen, my future is over. A dean's warning will
> cancel my financial aid. A suspension, will be at least for two years
> and coming back requires a lot of work. An expulsion, will be
> definite.
>
>
>
The "my future is over" fear is what led you to cheat in the first place. As your professor kindly observed, you didn't need to cheat in the first place, and it got you into far worse trouble than doing your best would have. Indeed, I think your future looks darker if you don't take full responsibility now. I would be more optimistic about your future if you lose your financial aid and have to leave that university, but actually learn your lesson and continue at some other institution.
Your future will depend on your mindset, your integrity, and how you do your chosen field of work (including how you feel about yourself and how you relate to your work). These things are built upon each other like the bedrock, foundation, and upper levels of a building. If your mindset is full of panic, it will undermine your integrity. If your integrity is unsound, it will undermine your work. Seriously. This is practical and not empty moralizing.
So, realize that if you really want to be an engineer, you can do this, even if you need to go to another university. Even if it takes another 2 or even 4 years. Then, restore your integrity by being completely honest about everything and taking full responsibility for everything you caused and continue to cause. Don't try to cover anything up, make anything sound good, look good, nor avoid looking bad. You will feel a lot better about it all when you let go of resisting and admit everything. Your instructors know all about it, and will notice any attempt to make this better for yourself, so even if you were going to cling to being a desperate manipulative person, it would be best to surrender and fully admit everything, and be as honest as possible in everything you do. If you can really learn these lessons, then it may actually make sense to give you some leniency. If you're still resisting, then it wouldn't be doing anyone any favors in the long run, to do anything less than suspend you.
The good news is, this lesson is FAR more important than the engineering content you were studying.
Upvotes: 9 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_7: Actually I have a different take on this. There are also ethical rules that must be followed by the university just as there are ethical rules (aka laws) that must be followed by the police even if you commit a crime. I highly doubt that it is legal for them to detain you against your will, use intimidation tactics to steal your personal information from your phone, and confiscate your personal property without consent. I'm not condoning cheating but I also believe that both parties are required to use ethical conduct. The university faculty are people who are in positions of authority, and they should not be allowed to use their position to manipulate you into doing anything they want. Even if they suspect you of cheating. There are ethical ways of doing it. It's not just on the part of the student to maintain ethical conduct. In the future know your rights and know the laws. Police require warrants to take your personal property. Is it not the case that university faculty must also abide by the laws?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: There are two issues here that I see. The first is the punishments seem to be designed such that a Dean's Warning is relatively light. Without section 5 which outlines the punishments that can accompany a Dean's Warning, one cannot be sure. I guess is if outside factors, such as financial aid, would greatly magnify the penalty, the committee who oversees these things might be wiling to work with someone who has been caught cheating. The second issue is that the event you describe are so egregious that the committee wouldn't try and move directly to suspension or expulsion. If the committee is trying to figure out how to suspend you, then asking for a lenient application of a Dean's Warning will not go over very well.
As with any case of academic misconduct, you need to find someone who is on your side and understands the system. A lawyer arguing from a legal perspective is generally not the best first approach. You should check with the student services office for help.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_9: What you did was actually pretty severe as far as cheating goes. Sometimes cheating could be explained by a brief moment of weakness. For example, suppose you take an exam and discover that it is far more difficult than you expected, so you make an impulsive decision to take a look at your neighbor's answers. That's still wrong and deserving of punishment, but it could at least be viewed as a foolish choice brought on by panic, which could make it easier to forgive. On the other hand, you planned and carefully prepared in advance to cheat effectively, and you even recruited a friend (who is apparently not so honest himself but might not have done anything wrong if you hadn't brought him into your plan). It's pretty much the worst case scenario for cheating.
I don't think there's anything you can do to keep from being reported. There may not even be much you can do to affect the punishment. However, what I hope for from students in cases like this is genuine introspection.
By this I mean going beyond a superficial account of rules and motivations. There are a lot of standard things you can say: your fear of punishment will keep you from cheating again, you recognize that you were cheating yourself out of real learning, you understand how unfair your actions were to your honest classmates, etc. These should all be true, but they are fundamentally unsophisticated. Essentially, they are what society tells eight-year-olds who are having trouble behaving. It doesn't inspire a lot of confidence when someone announces "Oh, now I finally understand what my elementary school teacher always told me."
Instead, I hope a crisis like this will provoke some soul searching, not just repeating standard answers. What sort of person are you? Could your family or colleagues rely on you, or will you someday pull the rug out from under them when your long-term dishonesty is uncovered? Could a stranger rely on you? Are you the sort of person who acts with honor even when he could get away with cheating, or the sort who always puts himself first? Who are you, and who do you want to be?
The point is that many cheaters have elaborate rationalizations and excuses (I see some tendency in that direction in your question). They convince themselves that they aren't actually dishonest people, just trapped in difficult or unique situations. When caught, they try to repair their self-image with as few changes as possible: they learned what not to do *in this situation*, or they view it as a one-time mistake unconnected with the rest of their life. When I see someone doing this, I worry that they are on a dangerous path in which they will blindly follow the same old habits and patterns in other cases. I'm confident that you have the potential to be an honest and trustworthy person, but what you did in this class is not a good start in that direction.
I don't want to coach you on what to say or how to say it. It's a deeply personal matter, and in any case I don't want to help you pretend you've had a deeper learning experience than you actually have. However, I'd really recommend thinking about the big picture of your life, not just this one incident. It may help to discuss it with a relative, mentor, religious leader, etc. In the end, you need to convince the university that you've learned more than just a cost/benefit analysis of cheating, so that they have faith that you could benefit from a second chance. I don't think you will, or should, escape punishment, but it's in your own interests to try to learn and grow as much as you can from this experience, and it can't hurt your prospects if the administration sees that you are doing so.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_10: >
> One normal engineering course at my university had an unreasonable amount of work: each week we would have like 5 quizzes (1 labview quiz, 2 class quizzes, 1 computer lab quiz, 1 graded report). The course merging with another 4 courses (Electric Circuits - Differential Equations - Statistics - Chemistry) caused a lot of pressure.
>
>
> The material of the engineering course, was overwhelming, incredibly lengthy in unreasonable amount of studying required.
>
>
>
Outside of the question of cheating---and you are clearly in the wrong there---this suggests that you may not have mastered the material from the previous courses to the level expected of you.
Engineering school is *hard*, but it is not impossible.
If you come out of this with the option to continue your studies (either at your current institution or elsewhere) you might want to consider either or both of ...
1. Going back and re-doing some of the preceding material until you are deeply conversant with it and able to handle the concepts and calculation needed fluidly and without much difficulty. Just being sufficiently prepared will reduce the load from the subsequent course.
2. Recognizing that engineering is not for everyone and it might not be for you.
In any case, I'd like to remind you that the job you are studying toward is one where a mistake or a cut corner can have *life-threatening* consequences. Your instructors are right to take this very seriously and you should too. Think carefully about this. Do you want that kind of risk hovering over your work?
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_11: Your life is not over. I want you to obtain professional psychological counselling but I fear that you will think this is only another kind of punishment to be "fixed".
Your comment "How can I prevent the 5 instructors from reporting me. It's obvious that I should speak to them, but what should I say?" is massively irrational.
It is the *job* of the 5 instructors to report you. You are thinking you can ask them not to do their job, apparently in the same way you thought you did not need to do *your* job of understanding the course material for the examination.
It is *not at all* obvious that you should speak to the 5 instructors. Unless they have asked you for a formal response I think it would be *very unwise* to speak to them.
There is no ethical dilemma over whether people should do their jobs. Your dilemma is whether you have chosen a job (student of engineering) that is within your capacity. There are fundamental norms of human behaviour involved here that your family should have taught you to navigate. That they haven't is why I suggest counselling. A 2-year suspension sounds like an excellent option. If you become an engineer, people's lives will depend on your knowledge of the subject matter and your honesty to say "I do not know the answer to this question" when you do not know the answer to a question.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_12: Every error carries potential for something good. This is quite possibly an example of being manipulated into cheating without even knowing. The school's error, quite possibly, may be that they are expecting unrealistic amount of studying to be done by a student. It takes time to absorb new knowledge; they may think "well others have done it before..." but no one knows how much previous knowledge others had. Usually those who are getting top marks have more than average or required knowledge about the subject. I know, I have certainly been in that situation (when I was a student, while others were struggling with math, I did not; but I used to win math competitions, and my mother and my roommate at the time were both math teachers).
However, this still does not give you a reason to cheat. The lessons is: no matter how badly someone else is behaving (and I have seen that in many institutions of higher learning), you should always do things that are ethical. Integrity is one thing that makes all the difference on this planet.
Yes, I think that your school lacks in that department, but you have shown to be just the same at that moment you cheated. Once you understand that, that we are often manipulated into "cheating" (e.g. when doing 85 mph on a 65 mph road, where the conditions, car, and even road survey make that 85mph perfectly safe) you look at your error in better light.
Ultimately, this is not a perfect world, and one needs to be aware of other people's errors so that we are not misled into doing more of the same.
In the end, if your school is one of the nation's leading institutions, they are unlikely to budge; but if it is a "for profit" institution with questionable record, they may be willing to back down.
The point you made about too much work should be mentioned in your meeting. You can tell them honestly that in all that panic of not having enough time to prepare (they should know you need to sleep, eat, go to a doctor and whatnot), you could not think clearly and this seemed like the only way out. Perhaps you were under too much stress to think clearly and make a right decision.
You obviously did not feel you could honestly approach them and let them know that expectations were too high.
But, don't focus on their error. Your part of the error is what matters. Ask yourself - what it would take you to sell your integrity. Only when the answer is a firm "there is no way", is it a correct one.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_13: A long-term plan is something you need to think through.
It probably looks like this: -- maybe not exactly as that would be arrogant -- I've left out what to do about where to live, whether to stay and work in the local community or create a clean break, etc -- though obviously your personal lifestyle is going to be affected by what happened and how you handle it. Your life is not over. It is merely more difficult. Step up to the challenge.
1. Accept that you deserve to be suspended or expelled. If you are instead given a second chance, great! or not. Aren't you burned out by this point? Most people would be. This incident also doesn't sound minor, at all.
2. If you are lucky, your friend(s) who helped you cheat will get the Dean's warning level of punishment. I say "if **you** are lucky", because a normal person would feel absolutely awful, for a long time, for damaging their friends' reputation and career. Don't try to lobby for your friends.
3. If you haven't already done so, tell your parents, and apologize to them or anyone else personally bankrolling your education.
4. Get a job and pay your own bills -- assuming your financial aid, loans, work-study, and/or family pays your current bills. Your family, rich or poor, will see this as a sign of maturity. Now obviously the best jobs want degree holders and are concerned about grades and honesty. Don't apply for jobs like that, you'll wind up beating yourself up over and over about what you did every time they reject or worse, be tempted to lie and cover it up. Now the workplace is hardly angelic, there are obviously bad jobs working for dishonest people. Try to avoid those as well. It looks like you could do some computer freelance work. Actually marketing yourself and finding customers is harder than the programming part. Consider trying that for a while.
5. While working for a living, hit the books and the free online course sites. There are good free online courses from top engineering schools: i.e. Caltech, MIT, Stanford, etc. Cut yourself some slack by not officially signing up - trying watching all the lectures and doing the readings. Then start doing some of the assignments. Answer forum questions or Stack Exchange questions about the material.
6. As you gain demonstrated proficiency in the coursework you were once struggling at, build a portfolio. Like the computer program portfolio I see attached to your profile page. Stuff you are interested in and good at.
7. By this point you should be good at something that wouldn't be obvious from your former transcripts. Find academic allies who can help you develop. Write profs of online classes where you think you are doing well. You can sometimes get a certificate, or a promise of letter of recommendation this way.
8. Use the portfolio when writing your new university applications a few years from now. To get back into a university you should diversify the applications across schools. A few years and all these steps will make an application more acceptable. Though you may still need to address the earlier incident, by this point you will not only have an idea of what to write or say but can demonstrate your new-found passion and ability. By this point you should also have made at least one ally who can write a decent recommendation letter.
Good luck with this journey.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_14: **Do not make excuses**.
I believe this is the *only* important thing in this situation. Any student can muddle through phrases like "this course was too much work," "my life is over," etc., as you are right now.
Engineering programs usually receive large funding support from corporations that plan to hire their students. They accordingly act like such corporations, so perhaps it's good to think of how this would look in a corporation. Say you're a journalist who plagiarized, a software engineer who downloaded source code on a USB stick and lost it, a mechanic who mucked up the brake line in a car, etc... what happens? you get fired!
* "But my wife and kids."
* "But it was an accident I promise not to do it again."
Et cetera, will fall on deaf ears. Your "excuses" will also fall on deaf ears.
I earnestly do think that your punishment will be somewhere above "light" and below "career-ending." The best thing you can do here, in my opinion, is **act *professionally*.** That means understand the above points. Understand that you know you are in a bad situation *and nothing you can do will change their view of that*. That will be the platform from which they may feel they are doing business with a worthy professional instead of a whiny student who doesn't understand his life "being over" has little to do with "the company's bottom line". **Be someone they can do business with.**
Next, of course your life isn't over! There are way too few engineers for corporations not to hire people who have never made mistakes. Even real mistakes with consequences. This is what people sometimes derisively call an "adult" or "real world" lesson but the platitudes are true that character and perspective are important in getting through them. I'm not going to call this a rosy mistake; it is a real one with consequences. Some corporations - maybe including your dream one - may see this as egregious and unexcusable. **Other companies will be happy to evaluate your character in an interview and see for themselves, and this is a story you can actually interview off of** quite strongly (in fact how meticulously and honestly you were able to write about this makes me quite optimistic about that). There will be far worse things that will happen to you in life and your life will, sometimes begrudgingly, go on, I suggest taking this as such.
P.S. The lesson here? Goody-two-shoes version: Doing something wrong has completely unpredictable consequences.
Realist version: Protocol and regulations are enforced far better than the perpetrator realizes. See: insider training.
It is *not* surprising to me that your engineering school had the caveman-level technical resources to dismantle your plan. This should not be surprising to you. Furthermore **you can prove in an interview you really understand the consequences of, say, downloading company code illicitly better than anyone else** (in particular that you will get caught!) So, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and the first time someone asks you about this, breathe a sigh of relief since you know they're ready to be won over.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_15: >
> I've learned the lesson about cheating, now how can fix this? How can I prevent the 5 instructors from reporting me.
>
>
>
I want to discuss why the university has such strict policies against cheating, and why this situation *must* be reported.
The first problem with cheating is that it degrades everyone's degree. When you start working for a company on graduation, your degree represents certain skills that you are assumed to have learned in getting that degree. If the company finds out you don't have these skills, in the future they will assume that anyone who graduates from your program might not have those skills. If cheating is taken lightly, then your degree becomes meaningless, because no-one will know what skill-set it actually represents.
This leads into my second point: getting an engineering degree sets you up to become a professional engineer, a position of great responsibility. I'm not exaggerating when I say that people's lives will be in your hands. If you misrepresent your skill-set, you will be put in situations where you don't have the knowledge to do the job properly. If you haven't learned integrity in your undergrad, when put in such a situation you may complete the project anyway (this is like cheating in the real world). If you do this, whatever system you're designing may fail, and this could get people killed. That is why integrity is of the utmost importance in engineering programs.
If you have truly learned your lesson, and you understand these two points, then you will understand that cheating was wrong not because you got caught, but because that type of behaviour ultimately puts people's lives at risk. But as others have said, your life is not over, and it is not too late to change. If you learn your lesson now, and carry yourself with integrity from this day forward, you will make a great engineer.
It is especially important that you show this integrity over the next few days. This means not trying to cover anything up. The instructors *have* to report you; if they don't, they are also committing an offence. If you have truly learned your lesson, and can demonstrate this, then hopefully your punishment will be lenient.
If you want to be an engineer because it fits into some life plan (it gives you status, money, whatever), I think you've got things all wrong. Be an engineer because you want to help people. If you don't end up being an engineer, that's fine; there are lots of other ways to help people, and I'm sure you'll find one that you really enjoy.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_16: *(I originally planned to make this just a comment, but then I realized that I have too much to say for a comment. I'll still try not to repeat what was said before and keep on topic.)*
1. **Please, feel sorry for your friend.** I know what I say, since I was more than often the one helping in cheating, but not the one trying to cheat himself. If there is a hearing with the course responsible, please try to explain this to them, because at least in my eyes, your friend is not guilty here, he's been just a friend.
2. Side note to the previous point: When they took your phone to find out who'd helped you, they might have done so illegally, depending on your country, and on other circumstances. I need not be right and it's not something you should use to get a profit from it. But it could be helpful if your friend got into troubles too. Update: I just learned that you gave them consent to the search, which probably changes a lot. Still, I think that this aspect may be considered, but don't want to give you false hope.
3. **Do not give up.** I know it's easy to say and difficult to do, but you should perform at school at the same level as you did before. All the people that will treat your case and make any decisions are humans, not robots, and you haven't lost your credit completely, you "just" cheated in one course. Facing the problem in as professional manner as possible is certainly helpful.
---
And to answer your original question: How can I convince the instructors not to report it? You shouldn't. (But that has been addressed by the other answers.)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_17: In order to minimize the damage it is essential to have a different plan you will follow if you ever find yourself in a similar situation in the future. One option is to ask for help.
If your course workload is too much for you, talk to someone - an instructor, an adviser, even fellow students etc. If the workload really is unreasonable, the more students saying so, the more likely the department would be to change it. If most students are coping, you may get advice on how to cope. Or maybe you needed to take an extra year, or move to a different, less demanding program.
In any case, you need to have a definite plan for dealing with similar situations. Even in the short term, having that plan firmly in mind will come through in your interactions with others, and may help convince them this is the last time you will cheat.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_18: This is probably a good time to transfer to another college. Your situation is likely being discussed by all of the faculty in your department as well as many of the students. You've burnt any positive references you might have at this university which depending on the job market may make it very difficult to find work even if you do complete your degree there.
You need to transfer the work that you've completed so far and start over building up the trust and respect of a new set of faculty and peers.
You sacrificed whatever good will you had and financial aid when you bet on not being caught. It's time to salvage what you can, learn your lesson, and move on. Lots of people transfer for all sorts of reasons and you don't need to disclose your reason to everyone you meet. The transcript might list something about your situation, but it won't convey all of the details and the severity. You may need to work extra hard to build the respect and trust of anyone who has access to your transcript however at the undergrad level that shouldn't be a big problem.
Next time discuss the difficulty level of the classes you want to take with other student before taking them, estimate your ability to complete those classes to the quality level you want. If you can't complete 5 rigorous classes in one semester, then don't take 5 rigorous classes in one semester. If you find yourself stuck like this again, consider that getting a failing grade in a class isn't the end of your academic career. Depending on the timing and the institution you may be able to either drop the course or retake it and average the grade.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_19: >
> If any of that happens, my future is over.
>
>
>
No it isn't. I personally know people who have done far worse and still manages to have good futures. For example, I know someone who stole thousands of dollars from a charity online funding campaign by hacking. He was jailed for 20 years, but when he came out he began a new life, atoned for what he did wrong, and become a professional programmer and now works for Amazon. You're mistake is much less worse. It is much easier to recover. You didn't actually commit a crime. Here is the worst that could happen in 3 punishments:
1.Dean warning. You lose your financial aid. Then, you need to **work** where you can't cheat. This will make college harder for sure, but I know people who do it. And I have a feeling that after a bit of this you may get financial aid back and they see that you do really care.
2.Suspension. This is worse than 1. You are out for 2 years. During those 2 years, though, you can get a job and as such real world experience. Maybe also go to therapy. While you'll be delayed by 2 years in school, on the upside, you will learn actually useful things.
3.Expulsion. This is a really big problem...but not life ending. Youre expelled and then, as I have said before, will **have to get a job**. After a few years of real-world job experience, during which time you might learn more than you would at school, you should be able to be accepted into a different college. Large setback, but overcomeable.
In conclusion, the worst that can happen to you is that **you need to actually work** for a bit/while and possibly are set back a few years schoolwise. Not the end of your future.
To answer your original question:The damage has been done, the genie is out. Don't say anything unless asked. You can't fully fix this immediatly. You won't get them not to report you. The best you can do is accept your punishment, learn, get a job and real-world experience, and eventually resume school. You're not 2 anymore, and "Sowwy. I prowise to newer do it again." doesn't work. Welcome to the real world, where things aren't fixed in 2 seconds.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/25 | 689 | 2,710 | <issue_start>username_0: I'm an undergraduate student at a top CS school who is looking to apply for my Master's soon (in about a year or so). I am applying to my school's 5 year masters program as a backup, but I would prefer to switch schools just to get a different experience.
My first question has to do with the acceptance rates of various CS Masters degree programs. I found that it was very difficult to search for the acceptance rates for various schools that I am interested in. Some of those schools include Yale, Berkeley, Stanford, and CalTech. However, I was unable to find acceptance rates for any of these schools. Could someone point me to a resource that I could use, or just give me the acceptance rates? Also, are there any "underrated" schools that I should be aware of (and by underrated, I mean high acceptance rates and good departments)?<issue_comment>username_1: I suspect that most programs do not post their acceptance rates at the master's level. That's in part because they could be subject to wild fluctuations from year to year, as the number of applications change.
In particular, one other thing to consider: most graduate programs have a *target* of incoming students they want to enroll. They will generally admit only as many students as they feel they need to reach the goal. If students are accepting offers at higher-than-expected rates, they may lower the admit rate in subsequent years to compensate. Similarly, if they are under their target, they may admit a larger than expected pool.
Considering top-tier schools, my suspicion (although I don't have the numerical evidence) is that they get enough qualified applications that admissions now are partly a "lottery": if you meet the qualifications of a typical student, you may or may not get in, depending on the needs of the department in that particular year. So just do your best.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I found [this link](http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-admission-statistics-for-top-schools-in-computer-science-information-science-and-electrical-engineering) on Quora. It looks like top 30 programs all have nearly same acceptance rates hovering from 6% to 10%.
When you mean underrated, I understand it as underrated by public and does not trigger 'wow' to public which includes Big Ten schools like Purdue, Penn State, UMichigan, UMaryland, UMadison, and other schools like UCIrvine, UCSanDiego, UTAustin, Georgia Tech etc.
Overrated are Ivy Leagues for sure including Harvard, Columbia and revenue generator masters programs in USC, UPenn, Brown, Johns Hopkins etc. (for CS/IT)
Level (neither underrated nor overrated) are CMU, Stanford, UIUC, MIT, Caltech, Princeton etc.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/10/25 | 460 | 2,016 | <issue_start>username_0: Quite often when I read a medical research article I wonder whether other researchers tried to reproduce the experiment. I could go through the list of papers that cite the article but I find this solution a bit tedious and inefficient for this task.
Is there any database that lists reproduction attempts (with ideally the number of fail and successful reproductions)?<issue_comment>username_1: While not a direct answer, publishing failure to reproduce can be difficult as a standalone activity (think cost, time, and rewards), and where reproducibility information does exist, it may be field or community specific (like [blog-syn](http://blog-syn.blogspot.com/) for organic chemistry).
But there are a few large and well-funded studies that aggregate information simply because their purpose was to replicate big studies- eg the [Cancer Biology Reproducibility initiative](http://validation.scienceexchange.com/#/cancer-biology), and perhaps some of these studies will grow over time.
You may also want to check sites such as Pubmed Commons and PubPeer, which increasingly are gathering discussion of papers.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In clinical study in medicine, meta analysis, accumulating data on several different papers on the same theme, is the methodology to find the overall effect size of the intervention. Cochrane database is most famous one which gathers such systematic review.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: The quick answer is, there does not seem to be a database concerned directly with reproducing experiments in medicine. The closest seems to be what is done in just about all meta-analysis papers - they do [repeated keyword searches](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2219937/) in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Science Citation Index, Cochrane registry and similar. The Institutes of Health have a [clinical trial registry](https://clinicaltrials.gov) that's worth looking into, because some trials may never end up being published.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/10/25 | 956 | 4,130 | <issue_start>username_0: I am currently writing my bachelor's thesis in Computer Science. When I have a sentence
```
It was shown in [Kir10, HZK09] that ...
```
does it make a difference if I write
```
It was shown in [HZK09, Kir10] that ...
```
instead?<issue_comment>username_1: First thing to do, is to check to see if there is a style guide for citations with your university and your supervisor.
If there isn't one, make sure when you choose an in-text citation style - **keep consistent**.
At my university, when I was a student (until last year), the rule was to use the first one in your example, the reason was to show a citation to the *most recent* works relevant to what you are citing.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Some styles require multiple citations to be in alphabetical or numerical order. For example, APA style requires that citations be in the same order as they appear in the references list (that would be alphabetical order.) Other styles (e.g. the Council of Science Editors) require that they be given in chronological order.
You need to check with the style guide for the style that you're following to see what is expected. If you're writing a journal or conference proceedings article, the instructions to authors should tell you what is required. If you're writing a thesis or dissertation, there are likely to be institutional policies that specify a particular style.
In LaTeX there is a package called "citesort" that will sort your citations. There is also a "sort" option for the natbib package that does this job.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: If the citations are sorted in the "expected order", nobody will notice.
If they are in the opposite order, people may assume that they were *intentionally* put in that order as an indication that the first one is more relevant than the later one. At least some people will, like me.
Look at the papers and books you read in your own field, and see what conventions they follow.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: As was correctly pointed out by several other answers, various styleguides require a specific ordering.
**Brief rant:** In my opinion, this is extremely unfortunate, and I cannot avoid the feeling that the only reason for such requirements is that editors feel that's an aspect where they can show with little effort (both alphabetical and chronological ordering can be checked automatically!) that they do provide and enforce clear styleguide rules.
**What I would like to add to the other answers** is the explicit statement that, if there is no fixed rule imposed by anyone, you can intentionally use the effect described in [username_3's answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/30580/14017). **In that case, do order your citations in a way that makes most sense with respect to their contents**, for instance, by listing the most literal example of a claim first.
After all, there is no reason to actually follow an ordering scheme by year, or by author name, unless you are required to do so. It conveys no useful information:
* The earliest or the most recent publication is by no means automatically the most significant one.
* Ordering by author name or paper title is even more arbitrary.
* Ordering the same way as the bibliography has two aspects:
+ The bibliography might be sorted based on the order of first references to each entry. In that case, the ordering in a multi-citation is essentially irrelevant, as the bibliography will always adapt to that. This helps finding bibliography entries when reading a paper without the help of any technology that prevents manually searching for bibliography items, and also, it is only reliable for as long as each bibliography entry is referenced only once.
+ The bibliography might be sorted based on another criterion inherent to each bibliography item, such as year, title, or author name. In this case, references in a multi-citation are probably scattered throughout the bibliography, anyway, and using the same ordering for the references still conveys no useful information, as described above.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/25 | 1,125 | 4,772 | <issue_start>username_0: I recently was returned a midterm I wrote. One question I interpreted differently than what was intended. As a result I got 0.5/3 marks, which isn't a big deal but considering the test was only out of 15, it adds up. Due to timing conflicts I'm unable to meet the prof during office hours, but have scheduled to talk to him after next class.
I'm getting a bit stressed out, I'm uncertain what to say and what to ask for. If I had interpreted the question he intended it to, then I'm sure I could have gotten full marks. Any suggestions? This is the second time it happened but the first was only for 0.5 mark, so I let it slide.
The question had to do with output of a program and asked "what are all possible outputs of the program?" and I wrote down the correct answer, but what he was getting at was if the program was rerun the output may be in a different order so he wanted the answer to have all possible permutations.
Does anyone have recomendations on how many marks to ask for or have a policy on when to talk to the prof when you think you deserve more marks?<issue_comment>username_1: In the situation you described, *in principle* it seems reasonable to ask for the professor to reconsider the grading, based on what you've written. If you do, here are a few tips:
* Be polite. Take the professor's personality into account. You don't have to be sycophantic, just be professional.
* Be clear about the situation without being verbose. Choose neutral wording - don't insult the exam or make it seem like you are trying to dodge responsibility.
* Don't put the professor "on the spot" - don't pressure them to decide immediately, especially if you are talking to them just after class. If it is at all possible, try to meet at office hours instead. Perhaps give them your exam and ask if they will look at the question and get back to you.
* Listen carefully to the response. You can stand up for yourself, but being aggressive is not likely to help anything, so avoid any appearance of that.
That is my opinion about *asking*. Whether you will *receive* extra points is a separate question. Certainly, a few professors may be completely unreasonable.
In my experience most professors *want* to be reasonable, but they may have other valid concerns about changing the grade, which you would not be aware of:
* Whether changing your grade would require changing other students' grades in order to be fair. This might not be straightforward if the exams have been returned.
* Whether, in the professor's opinion, you had enough examples of similar problems to know what was intended.
* Whether the change is likely to actually affect your final class grade. It it seems unlikely to change your overall grade, and there are other concerns about making the change, this may lead the professor to say no.
* Whether many other students are asking for grade changes - which may be less reasonable. There is sometimes a concern that one exception to a policy will lead to many more - so a seemingly inflexible policy may be an attempt to avoid a slippery slope.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Does anyone have recomendations on how many marks to ask
>
>
>
Yes, one: do not, *absolutely*, ask for a specific amount of marks. Explain your interpretation, but leave to the professor to decide whether you deserve more marks or not and, in case, how many.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: From the perspective of the marker:
At any time, even the best students might misunderstand a question, and go off the rails in answering it. That's ok, no one exam question or coursework question is a big deal in the final Masters mark. The final assessment, references, and so on, will all be based on the overall course, not one question.
But when a student gets in touch to say they disagree with their mark, and want to negotiate a new one, and they're doing this outside of (or in the absence of) any existing appeal framework, then in my experience that's usually a sign that there are much deeper problems: that this isn't an unlucky incident, this is a problem student.
Bear that in mind.
Don't do any of the things you propose doing. Instead, appoach someone who taught that module *and* was involved in the marking; tell them that you know you screwed up on that question by misinterpreting what it was asking; and ask how you could have avoided it, and how you can avoid repeating that mistake in the future. Then, if the question genuinely was ambiguous, there's a good chance they'll understand the issue, and take compensatory / corrective action if appropriate. And if it wasn't ambiguous, their answer to your question will help you learn, which is - ultimately - the whole point of the exercise.
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/10/26 | 1,108 | 4,954 | <issue_start>username_0: I've found myself in a paradoxical situation. I have failed modules over and over, many modules, some modules more than once. One of the failed modules was introduction to computing. After passing it I felt an urge to write lecture notes because I though that the "official" lecture notes made by two teachers of the computer science department were too shallow and unappealing. I took some time to write it and publish in a free webhosting service.
Now I'm feeling like continuing that type of work, expanding it to more modules, such as physics and calculus. It seems that explaning things with plain english, doing comparisons and following a straight path is kinda easy for me. Although I did fail so many modules so many times.
Is the correlation between learning a subject and having high grades strong?
Conversely, is the correlation between not properly learning a subject and having really bad grades strong?<issue_comment>username_1: There's no general answer to the question. It depends on the individual course.
* If the course is designed so that grades are earned for demonstrating achievement of a learning outcome, then there will be a strong correlation between having high grades and achieving the learning outcomes of the course.
* If the course is designed so that grades are earned for things that don't demonstrate achievement of a learning outcome, or so that students can achieve a learning outcome but not have an opportunity to demonstrate it to earn a grade, then the correlation will be weak.
Also, your general description of "learning a subject" may not necessarily be strongly correlated with the desired learning outcomes of a course. It's possible to earn a poor grade for a well-designed course even after having "learned the subject" if the course has specific learning outcomes (i.e., "Students will know how to solve a certain class of problem," "Students will have learned this particular skill") and what you are learning about the subject happens to be orthogonal to those learning outcomes.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The correlation between learning facts and getting good grades at the postgraduate level isn't particularly strong, no.
At lower levels an appearance of education can be simulated by the rote learning of facts. But that becomes less true as the education level increases. By postgraduate level, although some facts are useful, it's much more about being able to use academic tools, to be familiar with theories and their strengths and weaknesses, and being able to think things through deeply and critically.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: A few notes:
* **Are you actually *allowed* to post lecture notes online?** Many schools or professors will take exception to this.
* I will disagree with some other answers: **there isn't a correlation with learning materials and having high grades, *but*, there is a correlation between knowing enough at a given point in the class and having high grades**, if the class is taught well. That is, if you know what you should know at a given point, your grade is more likely to be higher. However, just because you are learning a lot doesn't mean your grade is necessarily good.
* [Edit: wording improved] You mentioned you're studying computing. As CS grad student, I can tell you that studying computing is somewhat different from studying other fields: you *cannot* "learn" computing in the same way you learn other subjects. Memorizing facts and techniques *aren't enough*; the largest part of succeeding at computing is *understanding at a deep level* the *implications* of the facts. (This is of course important in other fields too, but you can get away with rote learning for longer. In CS, though, lack of understanding is an *immediate* path to failure.)
+ To prove this, I will mention that I *never took* notes in my CS classes. I didn't because while the lecture was proceeding, I was internalizing everything I didn't know already, and then applying it every chance I got. Guess who did better.
+ To elaborate, **practice and application are literally the most important things to do when studying computing**.
* I agree with the commenter that **you need to ensure that what you think you are learning is actually correct**. For a technical field, it is easy to screw yourself up with mistaken beliefs. Computing, in particular, is a field where being a smartass is a prerequisite. You need to be *highly* attuned to very slight differences in meaning, and if you're going at it alone, you're going to miss things. Talk with the professor. Talk to your TA. We're there to help you understand these finer points and check yourself.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: No. I can recall many things that I learned in college 45 years ago from classes in which I received poor grades, and I have forgotten things from classes in which I received good grades.
Upvotes: -1 |
2014/10/26 | 2,397 | 10,304 | <issue_start>username_0: What to do if the average of the 1st midterm is like 35%?
Should I repeat the exam? should I ask them to redo the problems in which most of them did poorly in the exam and average the old score and the new score?
Other suggestions?
(The level of the exam is not different from past exams, where the average was around 60%. Same learning outcomes, same everything as past semesters. The only difference I made this semester was to break each question into sub questions, each of which will target certain concept in the main question. Students usually have the habit of asking for partial credits for writing relevant equations without knowing how to use them properly. I made that change to see how clear they understand things and to make grading scheme less ambiguous. I have already trained them on similar problems and concept questions in class, but it seems that they did not take it seriously or they are not used to that, I am not sure)
An Update: I regraded some papers using the same way I graded papers in past semesters (just by looking at the overall solution of each question) and the average became slightly higher (~40)<issue_comment>username_1: **If you are confident that the students did not take things seriously, then I believe you only have one option: Fail them and leave it at that.** If you allow the students to "slide by" without putting in even the minimum effort then you will see even more of that in the future (and so will other teachers, until someone allows the students to fail).
**Of course, you need to be sure of this. I would interview some of the stronger students and see what they thought the problem was.**
As a point of personal experience, I had one student who failed a subject I teach (he took it from another teacher whom I replaced). When he retook the class, he got me. I failed him because he put in no work. He took the class a third time (second time from me) and I failed him again because, again, he put in no work. Then he took the class a third time and I failed him again. Finally, he did put in the work. What he produced was still quite weak but it was enough to justify a minimum passing grade. I am confident that he would have never learned the need to actually put in effort if I did not take a hard stand like this.
Now, your case is a bit different because you are talking about a whole class and not a single student. I also had a case like this where the students thought they could "outsmart" their teachers. I failed 50% of the class that semester. Some of those dropped out of school (not only because of their performance in my subject) and others re-took the subject. I actually thought the school would complain about me failing so many students but there was not one word (and years have passed since then).
**Don't let them slack off but do make sure it is really them slacking and that the problem does not lie elsewhere. If they deserve a 35%, then give them a 35%.**
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Just play a bit of devil's advocate here (actually, students' advocate.)
I feel it's unfair to say if a student just put down some relevant answers, then he/she is just trying to slide by. To lecturers all these appropriate answers are like a well organized wardrobe. We can immediately tell if the answer is spot on or is beating the surrounding bush. However, for students, their wardrobe is their whole dorm room. New information is being incorporated on a daily basis and students may not have enough time and experience in applying the information to make the organization happen before the exam date.
Just because the concept of "you should meticulously answer the questions" was demonstrated and stressed in class does not mean it can be successfully applied in exam because there are a lot more stress and a lot less sleep the night before in an exam condition.
Because the expectations are different in both entities, once you have delivered the exam back, I believe the immediate reaction from them will not be "I should pay more attention in class," but more like "this lecturer is a very unreasonable grader (or anything more profane/derogatory.)" A 35% average is not unheard of; a 35% average plus a group of eager students who want to make their final exam right is something I've definitely never heard of. They will hate you and the atmosphere in class will deteriorate.
All these are to say, if you're going to unleash this chaos, you must be 100% sure you don't bear any problem or fault. From all the related posts of yours, I couldn't help but wonder why this change (from granting partial credit to everything has to be right on or you'll get a zero?) To make sure there is at least some reliability, I'd suggest picking a few papers from the low, medium, and high tiers and give them to a couple colleagues with your new grading scheme and ask them to grade in their own privacy. Check with them and see if their scores are different and discuss why.
I also love the idea of @username_1 about interviewing with some students or class representatives.
In future tests, I'd suggest instead of using the new strict marking scheme all across, use a separate system to denote questions that will be marked strictly (for instance, with a \*\*\* in front of the question or dedicate a subsection for them.) This is to allow you to phase into this new scheme slowly. The information you gain in the process will also help you refine your questions. Students will not take such a big blunt, and they will have a chance to see these questions as a challenge rather than a threat.
To conclude, I'd like to share this inspiring quote (which I unfortunately don't know to whom I should attribute):
>
> Teach the students that you have, not the students that you want to
> have.
>
>
>
While I fully embrace the idea of teaching the students to be serious and meticulous, I'd still consider an overall positive learning environment takes priority. And if I have to relax my criteria somewhat, I will do that within reason. This 35% ordeal is an unfortunate event; I am really sorry that happens but can't help to also think that this is tainted with some overly zealous expectations, and I do hope you'll fine an optimal decision soon.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: What I usually do, and this would also apply in this situation: I tell the students that if their performance improves **significantly** in the final exam, and if any of the remaining exams/quizes, I am willing to ignore the grade for the first midterm when I calculate their grades.
But they have to prove that the first midterm was an accident.
This usually motivates them to work harder for the remaining of the class, and for some students a poor first midterm is a good wake up call.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: You have two issues:
1. how to make sure that student's final marks in this course represent their true understanding of the material
2. how to fix whatever has caused a generally low level of understanding so far in this course.
For the first one, I have once or twice given this speech:
>
> Some of you feel that this year's midterm was [too hard, not enough time provided, unfairly weighted to one set of topics, held on a day you couldn't think properly] and does not represent your true knowledge in this course. If you think so too, then send me an email **within the next week** and I will replace your midterm mark with [your mark on the next midterm, your mark on the final exam] when calculating your overall mark in this course. You **may not wait** to make this decision until after you have written another test or seen your mark on another test. Tell me right now **that's not me** and the mark won't count.
>
>
>
Surprisingly, some people who failed the midterm do not take this offer. "What if I do even worse on the final?" they ask me. I tell them, "then you'll fail the course no matter how I calculate your mark," but they hold back anyway. People who take the offer usually do extraordinarily well on the final. I think they crank their studying up dramatically.
That stops all the "but I am going to lose my scholarship!" "My parents will disown me!" responses. They can set this mark aside if they need to. But you need to address the fact they haven't really learned the material, they are just scribbling down some equations they hope are related. This may mean extra tutorial hours, taking two or three times the length of the midterm to walk through solutions slowly and carefully, taking questions. It may mean offering practice questions so that they can see if they get it now. (Have them mark their own work with the textbook as a guide, to keep your workload manageable.)
Once they are actually learning the material, you won't feel bad about giving them a final mark that is not pulled down by their initial difficulties. And you'll have solved the underlying problem for both yourself and for them.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: In my experience, when an entire class does that badly, it's almost always the professor's fault, although they will usually never admit it, not even when the faculty commission just gave them a rap on the knuckles for it.
In all my years as a student I came across only one such situation where it wasn't the professor's fault: the courses were planned unreasonably close together and the contact time (lectures, lab work, and so on) was greatly reduced compared to the previous year. One day the class realised that considering we would all fail some course anyway, we would be able to help out each other a lot better if we all failed the same course.
But most of the time an entire class does bad, the professor simply was an inept teacher. Other causes of situations like this have included: exam drawn up by a different professor than the one who taught the class, exam unreasonably hard compared to exercises, exam covered different subject matter than the lectures, lecturer tried to cram too much material in a short course, and bad comprehension due to bad study materials.
It is possible for a student to overcome these problems by self-study (I got through some of those massive failures unscathed myself) but only to some extent and not consistently so.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/26 | 736 | 3,137 | <issue_start>username_0: In a Ph.D. application, a statement of purpose (or more precisely, research statement) is required. I think a candidate should use this statement to showcase his/her good research qualities backed up by the research experience to the admission committee.
In order to make those qualities (i.e., those positive adjectives) stand out, can one emphasize those adjectives by italicizing them?
Specifically, I am referring to qualities such as "independent thinking ability, rigorous"...
In my opinion, the research interests and professors of interest should be highlighted in bold so as to facilitate the faculty reader allocation. This way, highlighting these adjectives also in bold will be pretty messy. So it may be a good idea to highlight the adjectives in another and less catchy form, i.e., the italic form. Am I right?<issue_comment>username_1: The preferred details for typesetting your research statement are likely to be highly subjective. Different things are likely to be pleasing, striking, or off-putting, depending on the individual preferences of whoever is reading your application.
I would agree that italics are one of the preferred methods to provide [emphasis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emphasis_(typography)) without being too flashy or distracting. Whether or not that is the appropriate choice for your research statement should probably depend to some extent on the style and content of the rest of your application as well. If you have access to a university writing center, you should try to speak with someone there to decide on the style and arrangement of your application.
To speak to my own experience, I generally will not consider a candidate more capable or skilled in *independent thought*, *rigorous work*, or *attention to detail*, because it is typographically emphasized on their application.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The most effective way of emphasizing an attribute is not by typography, but by illustrative examples. Compare the declaration:
>
> I am capable of great *attention to detail*
>
>
>
versus a more illustrative:
>
> I am well known for my attention to detail: other members of my lab group always ask me to review their proofs before submission.
>
>
>
The real meat of the statement is not the bit you might want to fiddle with typography on, but the larger sentence that demonstrates *how* you display the attribute in question. In this "show, don't tell" sort of presentation, messing with typography will distract from your point rather than adding to it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: **I would skip the italics.** There is no rule against italicizing things in your personal statement. That said, you should remember that this is a formal piece of professional writing. Bolding words comic book-style seems unprofessional and italics only seem slightly better.
More importantly, if I wasn't convinced by the unitalicized version, I am not going to change my mind because of the slanted letters. I would focus on finding a way to let your virtues speak louder than your typography.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/26 | 531 | 2,203 | <issue_start>username_0: I got master in Physics and now I am thinking to continue for PhD in marketing, business or Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Is it possible to switch for Phd? How can I do that and how should I persuade admission committee?<issue_comment>username_1: Switching fields this drastically takes some work. You probably will not be able to go directly, although many business schools are dying for more quantitative people, so that could change things.
Really, though, you probably won't have a hard time convincing the admissions committee that you are smart enough to do a PhD. What you need to show them is that you are genuinely invested in the topic and have legitimate interest in it - that it's not just a passing "fad" for you, which you won't complete. Ways to do that include:
1. Get a second masters.
2. Find someone who does the kind of research you do, and work with them for a year or two.
3. Since you want to do marketing/business stuff, you really should think about working in this field in industry for a few years, first. Many business PhD programs won't even admit people who don't have "real world" experience.
Of these, the third is probably best. It will take time, but will also leave you in the best position to pursue your PhD of choice.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: It is very possible to switch majors. If possible, try to talk with a faculty member with whom you are interested in working. If they are willing to work with you then the admissions process is likely to be fairly simple.
With that said, a PhD in business is meant to prepare you for teaching or a career in academia, not in actual business. If you want business skills for work outside of academia, an MBA is the way to go. Considering this, an admissions board / faculty member is probably most interested in your aptitude to publish. Your masters shows strong quantitative skills and so if you have any publications, that will likely go a long way in helping you get started.
All of these are very general statements, if you are really serious about a PhD then you should definitely contact schools you are interested in and see if you can talk with faculty.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/26 | 1,915 | 8,202 | <issue_start>username_0: We have two students in my department who handed in identical essays. As per our policy we scheduled independent meetings with both students to determine what happened. Going into these meetings our primary objective is to figure out which of the following 5 possibilities occurred:
1. The students worked jointly and wrote one essay
2. One student wrote the essay and knowingly allowed the other student to copy the essay
3. One student wrote the essay and the other student copied their essay without the first student's knowledge
4. The students worked independently and managed to write word for word identical essays (this seems unlikely)
5. The students independently copied the same source
One student is on medical leave and was therefore unable to attend the meeting. The student who attended the meeting showed us drafts of previous essays which have convinced us that neither (4) nor (5) occurred. Further, when we exclude the other student's essay, TurnItIn doesn't find anything of concern. We also are confident that the student who attended the meeting did not copy the essay from the other student. This leaves us with possibilities (1), (2), and (3).
Our policy states that both students would be punished for academic misconducted if either (1) or (2) occurred and only the other student would be punished if (3) occurred. It seems without talking to the other student we cannot really come to a fair conclusion. Without a decision the student who attended the meeting will have neither passed or failed the class and therefore is not eligible to retake the class nor take any class which has the class in question as a prerequisite. It is unlikely the student on medical leave will be back in time to make a timely decision. How should we proceed?<issue_comment>username_1: If you are convinced that the student who attended the meeting wrote the essay in question, then you must conclude that either the other student stole a copy or the two students collaborated. I think that almost requires grades of "Incomplete" for both students until the matter can be resolved.
Edited to add: I like <NAME>'s comment about waiving the prerequisites for the student who attended the meeting. His is a comment to the original question, and is worth reading.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Not letting this student move forward at this point would be punishment. If there is a chance that you will find the student innocent of any wrongdoing, it seems like the injustice of punishing them for something they did not do is worse than letting them get away with something they did.
Make it clear to the student that they will pass the class given the lack of evidence against them but that you will continue to evaluate the situation. Make sure they know that if you conclude later that they have colluded, you will update their grade to a failing one and force them to retake the class.
The only real negative consequence of this is that the student might be able to take classes that require this class as a prerequisite before they are forced to go back and take the original class again. That's not ideal, but it doesn't really seem so bad.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: In my university we have a general rule: **If you collude, you both fail that assignment. If you took another student's assignment and copied it (stole from a classmate) then you not only fail the assignment but you fail the subject and must retake it**. Note: It is possible to fail and assignment and still pass the subject by resubmitting the failing work (as I believe most UK universities do and I believe you are in the UK).
I do not believe there is a perfect solution but by having a rule such as this, you can mostly avoid having one student say "It is my original work" when really it was joint work **because they would not want to save their friend at the cost of retaking the module (when they could both pass, albeit with a lower grade).**
If you have the same rule and the student in front of you is very clear about that and the student in front of you says "Yes, this is mine, all mine, he must have stolen from me" then I would let that student pass (without any contradicting evidence from the other student).
The challenge with such a rule in this case is that they might have colluded but the other student might simply take the fall, if only because he has nothing to lose because he's out on medical leave and cannot complete the module this term anyway. So, he might as well fall on his sword.
In your case (where one student is unavailable) I would have the student present sign some simple declaration ("It's my original work and the other student must have stolen it from me and I agree if the above is found to be untrue then my grade will be changed after-the-fact.")
I **would not** worry about the student taking subjects which need this subject as a pre-req. If he doesn't understand, that will be shown clearly later and will sort itself out.
Again, it's not a perfect rule but it mostly prevents colluding students from getting away with it by imposing double punishment on one.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I know this can only apply to some of the situations, but if the student is unable to attend, yet still able to communicate I would say:
**Have you considered scheduling a call?**
You can just do the talk by phone, or Skype and documents can be scanned and mailed.
Perhaps this is not as good as a face to face meeting, but I would say there is a good chance that you can clear things up this way.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: As an answer, I would like to bring up a question. Are the drafts conclusive evidence that (4) and (5) can be excluded? As far as (4) is unlikely, I find (5) highly likely. My question is extended to ask what was the time frame between finding the plagiarism, informing the students of the plagiarism, and the submission of the drafts by the student who isn't on sick leave?
As most "drafts" are neither handwritten or typed on a typewriter, the ease and quickness that a draft can be made does not remove doubt that the work isn't of the student.
If (1) and (2) are options, and this brings into suspect their collusion, then don't think that they still wouldn't be colluding in the fallout.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: It's hard to believe that *both* students would have agreed to turn in identical papers. Most students would know that turning in a paper identical to some other student's would certainly be noticed. So, it is more likely that only *one* of them is the culprit. In this case, this student is most likely stupid as well as dishonest. The question is how do we tell who is lying? I believe <NAME> had a similar problem, when two woman claimed to be the mother of a single child. You might want to offer to give *half* credit to each. The one who cheated would likely object less.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_6: I have another idea. Are the students both of the same sex? I just found something interesting that may help.
This site analyzes text for traits statistically associated with the sex of the writer.
<http://www.hackerfactor.com/GenderGuesser.php>
It seems to be fairly accurate. It correctly identified <NAME> as female (it was not fooled by her male pseudonym, LOL), and me as male. I also used it to analyze a text translated by male and female translators of a male writer (the same passage of about 600 words). The male translator's text came out 8% more 'masculine'.
If the test text comes out 'female' and one or both of the students is male, you have reason to suspect one or both has copied it. But of course, this is only one tool and must be viewed as such. It is just a piece of evidence to add to whatever other evidence you may have. To 'calibrate' the system, you could run all the students' papers through the process to see if it correctly identifies the male and female students in the class.
Of course, if both students are male or female, and the analysis does not show any discrepancy, it is of no help in determining which of the five possibilities occurred.
Upvotes: -1 |
2014/10/26 | 1,782 | 7,788 | <issue_start>username_0: I teach a practical class which is assessed by a lab report. I grade the lab reports based on a rubric. The rubric has 6 sections (abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusions) with a number of items that I generally expect to see in each section. Historically, about 95% of the lab reports can be accurately graded based on the rubric while the remaining 5% of the lab reports go in unique, often very good, directions and therefore do not tick many of the boxes on the rubric. I am considering showing the students the grading rubric in advance of writing the reports this year with the hope that this will key them into what is important so that they can better demonstrate their understanding of the key issues. Is there any research that looks at the benefits and consequences of showing students a grading rubric in advance?<issue_comment>username_1: Sharing a good rubric with your students can be a helpful way to let them understand what is expected of them. There is a down side in that the rubric then provides a basis for students to complain that you've graded a paper unfairly. Don't release the rubric unless you're really willing to give credit according to the rubric even if a paper has obvious flaws in areas not covered by the rubric.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: **Being open and clear about your grading policy** is a large part of what makes the grades you assign meaningful. In that respect, it is generally helpful to share the rubric with your students if you work from one. At minimum, a good [grading](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5673) system should meet three criteria:
1. it should accurately reflect differences in student performance
2. it should be clear to students so they can chart their own progress
3. it should be fair
Sharing your rubric directly enhances the second criterion, and presents a context for evaluating the other two. You might also consider using some of your lecture time to go over examples of what an excellent lab report should look like and then discuss the rubric with your students. This would give you an opportunity to point out that lab reports should cover key points, but good lab reports don't necessarily follow a rigid cookie-cutter format.
---
**Since you asked about sources** on sharing rubrics with students:
The authors of [Introduction to rubrics](http://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=8060&recCount=25&recPointer=0&bibId=17232944), mention discussing the grading rubric with students and even include a chapter on constructing/tailoring rubrics directly with student feedback.
>
> [Stevens, et al.] "... because we discuss the rubric and thereby the grading
> criteria in class, the student has a much better idea of what these
> details mean ..."
>
>
>
However, you may be interested in [this paper](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02602930301671) which examines the learning outcomes for different peer groups when they're given details about assessment criteria. Evidence for their conclusions is based on a very limited number of samples, so the usual cautions apply, but they found that simply sharing explicit grading criteria was not sufficient to positively influence learning, while making time for the students to work more intensively with the rubric did yield benefits.
>
> [Rust, et al.] "... it is being engaged with the process of marking as well as seeing
> examples of other work that significantly contributes to the students’
> subsequent improvement in performance."
>
>
>
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: In my training to be a public school teacher mostly from principals, assistant principals and other expert teachers, the expectation is we show the rubric when we give the original assignment.
In a related example, my college tutoring student with a long test has likely spent too much time on less critical questions because the professor did not explain the weight given to each question. Even when he got his test back he and I are unsure how much weight is being given to each question. This is inappropriate on the professor's part.
It is only fair to students that they know ahead of time what is important to the professor communicated through a rubric or advance knowledge of the grading scheme.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: **Write careful and comprehensive rubrics and distribute them with your assignments.** What better way to tell students what you expect from the assignment than by telling them exactly how you are going to evaluate it?
If there are unique and interesting directions that you want to allow assignments to go but that you think your current rubric precludes, rewrite your rubric so that it's flexible enough to allow these papers to be assessed highly. A great rubric is clear enough that an instructor can communicate clearly what is expected in a way that is transparent, fair, and clear, but not so overconstrained that it leads students to formulaic box-checking. It's a tricky balance but worth striving for.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: I wanted to continue the trend of substituting my opinion for the research you requested:
Any impact the sharing of the rubric itself has on student outcomes is secondary to the impact the transparency of sharing the rubric will have on you, your pedagogy, and the course itself. Even a controlled study of a large standardized course taught in many sections, half of which do/don't receive rubrics, is going to be blind to the cumulative benefits of transparency:
* being forced to clarify your expectations to yourself (i.e., extract them from your intuition) well enough create a rubric you're confident leaving in the hands of your students
* being encouraged to evaluate how well your pedagogical practices actually prepare students to meet these explicit expectations
* being forced to face problems with your expectations (as the distance between the grade you intuitively want to give a student and the grade the rubric suggests they deserve)
* being forced to renegotiate your rubric as students challenge it
In short, your ability to consistently apply your public rubric in ways that satisfy both you and your students is a good proxy for evaluating your own course design.
Beyond this, I'd also like to add to the "student benefits" concern: one of the overarching goals of education is to teach people how to do "good" work on their own. Learning to self-evaluate is a big part of consistently performing good work without supervision; learning the qualities of good work is a big part of learning to self-evaluate, along with feedback mechanisms that consistently communicate the importance/validity of these qualities.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: There are disadvantages to distributing the rubric. Most importantly: it encourages sensible students to game the rubric rather than understanding and answering the question. I do not think this concentration on grading rather than learning is a good thing. Against this you must set the benefits of transparency and the ability of students to engage with their assessment.
You seem to think that the very good unique answers are a problem to be discouraged – I disagree; I think they’re a good thing. The difficulty for you is in grading them – and it seems you are sticking to your rubric in the face of good answers. This is a mistake. The rubric should be used as a guide to help you give consistent grades, not to limit the range of answers you will accept. When faced with a high-quality answer that does not fall neatly into your pre-written rubric, your response should be to try and grade that submission without the rubric not reduce the marks you award.
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/10/26 | 950 | 3,378 | <issue_start>username_0: Is there any research/study/survey that looked at the main reasons why academics leave academia?
I did read [a](http://theprofessorisin.com/its-ok-to-quit/) [few](https://chroniclevitae.com/news/434-leaving-academia-it-s-time-to-have-the-talk) [articles](http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/id-have-to-be-mad-to-leave-here-they-said-and-they-were-right/420932.article) [explaining](http://chronicle.com/blogs/phd/2013/08/08/the-afternoon-i-decided-to-leave-academe-and-what-happened-next/) [why](https://www.quora.com/Why-did-you-leave-academia?share=1) [some](http://anothersb.blogspot.com/2014/02/goodbye-academia.html) [particular](http://thehairpin.com/2014/03/talking-to-anne-helen-petersen-about-why-shes-leaving-academia-for-buzzfeed) [academics](http://blog.devicerandom.org/2011/02/18/getting-a-life/) [left](http://lilligroup.com/tag/deciding-to-leave-academia-when-it-was-your-dream-profession/) [academia](http://crypto.junod.info/2013/09/09/an-aspiring-scientists-frustration-with-modern-day-academia-a-resignation/), but I would like to have some statistics to see what are the most common reasons invoked.
I mostly interested in the computer science field (machine learning) in the US, but curious about other fields and locations as well.<issue_comment>username_1: No hard stats on how often each reason occurs, but from anecdotal evidence:
Switching fields
----------------
Some people simply choose other carreers - either they're disillusioned with their research topic, or with some specific people/managers, or found a much better paying job in other domain. This is pretty much the standard set of reasons for any other jobs.
Lack of continued funding
-------------------------
The only academic-specific reason that I have seen - it's often hard (or subjective) to say if it's "not enough money" or "you and your research are not good enough to compete for the money", but it certainly happens - some research project ends, a new one doesn't get started (yet), then people get other jobs to feed their families, and don't come back afterwards if/when new funding arrives.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I retired immediately after completing my Ph.D., but would have switched back to industry if I had continued working.
I am much, much happier and more effective doing technical work than teaching or managing. The computer industry has well-established technical tracks that allow career advancement without becoming a manager. The academic world, at least in the USA, seems to require teaching and administrative work from everyone, regardless of individual preferences and talents.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: For machine learning specifically, I think a major reason is the high demand for such skills in industry (both in existing businesses, in startups/spinoffs or as consultants), which makes leaving easier compared to some other fields. This applies to other fields that are close to the market as well (for instance engineering).
Innovation and tech transfer is important for universities, so I am not entirely sure how to classify researchers that 'leave academia' to start a spin-off to valorise the IP generated during their research career. That said, many machine learning scientists take this 'exit', which can be unavailable to researchers in more fundamental fields.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/26 | 603 | 2,721 | <issue_start>username_0: I am applying for PhD and In my statement of purpose I said that I have submitted a paper for a certain conference and that I will submit another one to a top conference once I have completed doing certain measurements.
I also said that by the end of my degree I will have done this and that. I mention these things in my CV too which I will submit to that school.
Is it OK to say such things ? These are near future plans and show how I progress and what I plan to do and I believe that they will improve my chances of getting admissions. How will professors and admission committees look at such a CV ?<issue_comment>username_1: No hard stats on how often each reason occurs, but from anecdotal evidence:
Switching fields
----------------
Some people simply choose other carreers - either they're disillusioned with their research topic, or with some specific people/managers, or found a much better paying job in other domain. This is pretty much the standard set of reasons for any other jobs.
Lack of continued funding
-------------------------
The only academic-specific reason that I have seen - it's often hard (or subjective) to say if it's "not enough money" or "you and your research are not good enough to compete for the money", but it certainly happens - some research project ends, a new one doesn't get started (yet), then people get other jobs to feed their families, and don't come back afterwards if/when new funding arrives.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I retired immediately after completing my Ph.D., but would have switched back to industry if I had continued working.
I am much, much happier and more effective doing technical work than teaching or managing. The computer industry has well-established technical tracks that allow career advancement without becoming a manager. The academic world, at least in the USA, seems to require teaching and administrative work from everyone, regardless of individual preferences and talents.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: For machine learning specifically, I think a major reason is the high demand for such skills in industry (both in existing businesses, in startups/spinoffs or as consultants), which makes leaving easier compared to some other fields. This applies to other fields that are close to the market as well (for instance engineering).
Innovation and tech transfer is important for universities, so I am not entirely sure how to classify researchers that 'leave academia' to start a spin-off to valorise the IP generated during their research career. That said, many machine learning scientists take this 'exit', which can be unavailable to researchers in more fundamental fields.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/27 | 1,724 | 6,899 | <issue_start>username_0: I have read the term "soft-money research position" a few times.
E.g. [Path of a postdoc](https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2007/09/path-of-a-postdoc.html).
>
> Another consideration for interviewees is whether to pursue a
> "soft-money" position. A tenure-track university professor is
> typically paid a nine-month salary to teach one or more courses,
> conduct research and train graduate students. During the summer
> months, the professor can optionally pay his or her salary from grant
> money. In contrast, non-tenure-track research professors often hold
> soft-money positions, which require them to cover 100 percent of their
> salary from research grants, teaching and/or administrative
> responsibilities. Soft-money positions offer the advantage of few
> teaching responsibilities, which frees time for grant writing and
> conducting research, but at the expense of job security, since winning
> grants is a necessity. The Hutchinson Center and some other private
> institutions offer a compromise between these systems, covering up to
> half of a faculty member's salary from institutional funds, so
> research grants only have to cover the remainder.
>
>
>
[Advice for stats students on the academic job market](http://simplystatistics.tumblr.com/post/10124797490/advice-for-stats-students-on-the-academic-job-market) gives a clear distinction between soft and hard money:
>
> Before listing the options I should explain the concept of hard versus
> soft money. Revenue in academia comes from tuition (in public schools
> the state kicks in some extra $), external funding (e.g. NIH grants),
> services (e.g. patient care), and philanthropy (endowment). The money
> that comes from tuition, services, and philanthropy is referred to as
> hard money. Every year roughly the same amount is available and the
> way its split among departments rarely changes. When it does, it’s
> because your chair has either lost or won a long hard-fought zero-sum
> battle. Research money comes from NIH, NSF, DoD, etc.. and one has to
> write grants to raise funding (which pay part or all of your salary).
> These days about 10% of grant applications are funded, so it is
> certainly not guaranteed. Although at the school level the law of
> large numbers kicks in, at the individual level it certainly doesn’t.
> Note that the break down of revenue varies widely from institution to
> institution. Liberal arts colleges are almost 100% hard money while
> research institutes are almost 100% soft money.
>
>
>
I'm still confused regarding the exact definition of a soft-money research position: what is the threshold soft-money : hard-money above which a position is regarded as a soft-money position?
Conversely, what is a hard-money research position? Is it any research position that is not a soft-money research position?<issue_comment>username_1: It is a soft money position if the position goes away when the soft money is not available.
I prefer the term "contingent".
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It's actually a little bit more complicated than "soft money" vs. "hard money," but the basic idea is that any scientific position can be categorized on the basis of where the money to support it comes from.
In general, "soft money" refers to positions where the funding source is based on external grants and contracts. As long as there is a sufficient supply of such money that a person can obtain or that somebody else is willing to devote to their support, they are employed. If that money dries up, however, the position dries up with it, becoming part time or disappearing entirely.
In contrast, "hard money" positions are not directly project-dependent, but instead are created for a purpose by an organization. Termination from a hard money position only comes either for cause or due to the organization deciding to remove the position and not shift the person to another position. They are often more secure (thus the notion of "hard"), but not necessarily. Tenure-track faculty posts are typically seen as the ultimate in "hard" money: they are ultimately supported by tuition, and even if the students stop signing up for a department, it is typically slow enough that universities tend to prefer to allow departments to age to extinction rather than fire faculty. A corporate research post is also often "hard money" because it is created by fiat in a company's strategic plan, rather than being dependent on external funds. It is much less secure, however, because it can be removed by fiat as well.
Where it gets complicated is that various different sorts of "hard" and "soft" positions have different levels of vulnerability. For example, some "soft" positions are effectively amortized over a large group or include bridge funding, such that they may be nearly as secure as a tenure-track position.
It's a good first-approximation, however, in talking about the challenges of academic fundraising and career management. The basic rule of thumb is: a PI in a "soft" position needs to raise money to pay their own salary, while a PI in a "hard" position does not. Thus a "soft" position has a hard time surviving on small grants while a "hard" position merely ends up with few students for a while.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: username_2 is correct but i'll try to give a shortened version of this specifically to a position as a 'researcher' opposed to a position in which research is part of the job description (such as professor).
**A soft-money position as a researcher means the PI is paying through a non-permanent funding source, such as a grant, almost always for a specific project.** You can think of any project-based hiring as soft-money research position. Usually in research institutes, this is how a research assistant or intern is paid. Higher level research positions can also be payed this way for large grants (as their salary is probably higher).
**Hard-money position is hired as a long term employee fundamental to the institute.** In a research institute, this would be someone hired directly from the staff budget of the institute. If it is a government based institute, a hard-money position is funded from the budgeted salaries, in many ways similar to operations costs or administration, i.e. something that is a planned hiring independent of a specific project.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: A soft money position usually means that the position is being funded by a grant. In colleges and universities, this generally means that the job may be capped to end after 1 year, 5 years, etc.; however long the lifespan of the grant. If you are accepting a position that is funded by soft money, you should know up front how long the grant lasts, and if the grant has a reasonable expectation to be extended after the ending date.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/27 | 2,436 | 10,124 | <issue_start>username_0: In Academia, a soft money research position is one [where uncertain money comes from an external source](https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/04/02/essay-building-career-soft-money-position). The employee or [xyr](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xyr) supervisor/boss might need to secure funding every couple of years or so, in order for the position to continue. The way out would be tenure or a government job.
An obvious soft money position is the post-doctoral fellowship, but many post-docs might not find a faculty position directly. For example, if the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) advertises a soft money assistant researcher position, they have [a defined path of promotion steps](https://www.apo.ucla.edu/policies/the-call/professional-research-series/professional-research-series-1). UCLA defines four steps of assistant researcher (2 years max), three steps of associate researcher (2 years max), and nine steps of researcher (3 years max until step IV, possibly indefinite from step V). If coming in at step I of assistant researcher, it might, theoretically, take 4\*2+3\*2+4\*3=26 years of positions in steps of 2 years (first 14 years) and 3 years (last 12 years), until one *might* be appointed indefinately, if I'm reading things correctly. Needless to say, not ideal from an employee's point of view.
Although time-limited positions and soft money might not mean exactly the same thing, I suppose they often go hand in hand. That raises the question: *how common is it for researchers to spend a long time, say more than 10 years, in soft money positions*? It's one thing to "drop out" of Academia when finishing a PhD at 28 years, it's another thing to move from postdoc to assistant researcher to associate researcher, only to finally discover, at age 45, that you're not good enough for tenure, and lack the necessary skills and experience for a teaching position. Oops.
In Science, Technology and Engineering (STEM) fields in the USA and Canada, how common is it for researchers to spend more than 10 years in time-limited soft-money research positions?<issue_comment>username_1: In the U.S., at least, long-term careers on various forms of "soft money" are a lot more common than it looks from inside the "core" academia of graduate school and tenure-track faculty positions. In reality, the research ecosystem is very complex, with all sorts of niches that aren't necessarily apparent from the outside. My own experience as a grad student was that I didn't even know any of these options existed until a colleague reached out and invited me into the non-traditional side of academia.
I know of many people who have had long and fulfilling careers, all the way to retirement (if they ever really retire), entirely on soft money. Some of them have been with a single university or company for that entire time. More often, they shift around from position to position over time, between university, government, small company, large company, consultancy, foundation, non-profit, standards organization, etc., in patterns dictated by the evolution of those organizations and how the research opportunities are shifting. Unlike with postdocs, this often doesn't require moving, particularly near a high-tech hub: Boston and the Bay Area are obvious examples, but many large cities have research sectors that interact with the local universities in all sorts of non-obvious ways.
The distinction between "soft" and "hard" money is not always as obvious as it appears, either. For example, there are organizations that pool soft-money risk, or have core positions that are effectively hard because they are pooled between many external grants. Even university professors can often have the option to "soften" their positions by buying out of teaching responsibilities.
From my experience, it seems that there are three main classes of soft-money researcher, showing up in all of these environments:
* Primary investigators: just like normal faculty PIs, but with a higher cost and no teaching commitments. A PI who can establish a strong research direction and funding stream can hold a position nearly as secure as tenured faculty.
* High-skill implementer: these are people who don't necessarily lead their own projects, but who work full-time for PIs in executing projects. Engineers, analysts, programmers, lab technicians, etc. Really good implementers are always in high demand for research, and can have a long and productive research career when teamed with the right sort of PIs.
* Exploited labor: these are either implementers who haven't developed/proved their skill, people trying to become PIs who haven't made it yet, or researchers who are stuck in an exploitative environment. This is the type of soft money that seems to be most common in certain parts of traditional academia and can be "eternal postdoc limbo" (or its fake-hard-money cousin: "adjunct faculty limbo"). Unfortunately, it can often be hard for a researcher to tell if they're in this category and whether it's a passing stage or a trap they need to break out of.
Life in these worlds can be very different than in the teaching-centric parts of academia, but an awful lot of interesting things happen in them, and it offers much more variety in career options for a graduating Ph.D. with an inclination to research than I think most people know about.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: In central europe, things look much the same as username_1 explains in his strong answer. In reality, I think only a **small minority** of academics actually follow the theoretical trajectory of "PhD student - [short time as postdoc] - junior prof - tenured prof" around here. A simple reason for this is that the notion of tenured-track "junior professors" (whatever this position is formally called differs from country to country) is in fact a new-ish invention around here, and actual positions of this type are still **very, very rare**. My alma mater with more than 100 CS profs. had less than 5 calls for single tenure-track CS positions *lifetime*.
The career trajectory of an academic in central europe is generally much less standardized. The first step is always doing a PhD, but what comes in the next 10 to 15 years is different from candidate to candidate. Common career stations seem to include: (1) traditional postdoc positions, (2) working as a senior postdoc / soft-money PI (3) spending a few years in related industry, (4) founding your own startup (and, often, running it into the ground :) ), (5) working as a research scientist in a government or industry lab, or (6) going abroad (to the US or asia) for any of the options 1-5.
Some will then, after spending 10+ years in a combination of the options above, directly re-enter the regular university system as a tenured (full) professor. The majority, of course, will at some point before that drop out of academia entirely (e.g, their startup succeeds, they find work in industry more fulfilling and better paid, or they simply decide that their research isn't good enough to have a real shot at professorship).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> The way out would be tenure or a government job.
>
>
>
There seems to be a misconception here, namely that tenure is necessarily a way out from soft-money positions. Instead, it's possible to get a tenured soft-money position. This means the university provides no salary or other funding (which are supposed to come from grants), but they can't decide to eliminate your affiliation with the university. This is obviously not as secure as being paid by the university, but it still means something. Controversial research can't be held against you, and the department can no longer decide you don't meet their standards. (The latter is actually a genuine risk. Sometimes someone is allowed to hang around in a soft-money position for many years despite not being respected by some of the department, because nobody cares enough to try to get rid of them. Then one year a new chair comes in and decides to clean up the department by imposing higher standards.)
Most soft-money positions do not lead to any sort of tenure, and it's rare to have an "up or out" scenario in which someone must achieve tenure or leave. In particular, the scenario described in the question, in which someone pursues a soft-money position for twenty years and is then denied tenure and forced to leave, is not standard or common.
In particular, I don't think the UCLA positions the question links to are "time-limited" in any harmful way. My reading is that once you reach Researcher V or above, you can sit at that rank indefinitely. The time limits on lower levels ensure that junior researchers will get periodic raises and titles the reflect their increased experience. There is no tenure in this career track at UCLA; there is periodic review, but I'd guess that it's not particularly severe (intended to make sure people remain productive, not to weed out otherwise promising researchers). It's certainly not a career track with anything like the security or stability of a tenured position, but aside from that it looks pretty reasonable.
>
> In Science, Technology and Engineering (STEM) fields in the USA and Canada, how common is it for researchers to spend more than 10 years in time-limited soft-money research positions?
>
>
>
It varies enormously between fields and departments. In medicine, soft-money positions are pretty common and they can be prestigious and relatively secure. In mathematics, very few people support themselves entirely from grants. In computer science, it's in between.
As a rule of thumb, in the U.S. long-term soft-money positions are not a route towards a tenured hard-money position. It can happen, but this is not the typical or expected outcome. Instead, they are a parallel career track. One way to gauge how common this track is at institutions you care about is to look at departmental directories and count titles like "researcher", "research associate", "research scientist", etc.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer] |
2014/10/27 | 574 | 2,083 | <issue_start>username_0: I have been working towards a degree in mathematics and in computer science for the last two and a half years. That corresponds to the following bit in my résumé:
>
> **Education**
>
> B.A. in Mathematics (2012 - 2016 expected)
>
> B.S. in Computer Science (2012 - 2016 expected)
>
>
>
However, I recently found out that I can graduate next semester with a major in mathematics and a minor in computer science. If that was my plan, I would write this:
>
> **Education**
>
> B.A. in Mathematics (2012 - 2015 expected)
>
> Minor: Computer Science
>
>
>
However, at the moment I am undecided about which path I plan to take.
Which should I include in the résumé? I am considering just writing down whichever one would seem more impressive, but I don't want to be deceitful.<issue_comment>username_1: The best way I worded my resume was
Stating the school you when to, the city,state
Bachelors of Some Thing
Additional Fields of Study: Minor in Computer Science and Engineering
In terms of your resume, I would start out stating your revelant course work in a list but make it into a table (hide the borders when your done) that you can hide in MS Word.
After that put your volunteer and work history
after putting that put all the skills and qualifications.
I added something a bit extra which was I speak Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese), Spanish, Japanese, and English (my second language was English)
Math majors are much needed in CS and in biology. That's a very good path.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Facing an uncertain graduate date is a common issue, particularly for many Ph.D. students who aren't sure exactly when they are going to defend. The thing that you want in your C.V. is to communicate as clearly as possible what are your skills *and time of availability* to the people considering taking you on for your next career stage after graduation. Thus, put your current best estimate in; if you want to indicate an option to join a position earlier, put that in as well as an option.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/27 | 983 | 4,106 | <issue_start>username_0: I completed my MS in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and was planning to do an PhD in Operations Research. But after first few weeks in program , I decided it was not what I wanted to do in long term and dropped out.
There is a background to this- my untenured MS advisor refused to sponsor my PhD . Another well known professor in the department came forward and offered me a good stipend but I dropped out from his lab after couple of weeks.
Things had become too caustic even before I joined his lab. The PhD professor wanted me to help him with some algorithms in the final month of my MS, but my MS advisor shooed him multiple times saying that I was very busy, when in fact I was free all the time. My MS advisor wanted me to make her a co advisor and get her a piece of the tenured professor's project, it didn't work out and since then she has become pretty vengeful towards me. She rejected job offers from our research sponsors after MS saying I was doing PhD and was not interested in working for them.
I think at this point I have lot of ill will against me in my department mainly due to active efforts to undermine me by my MS advisor.
In my university ,we need to take around 30-40 credit hours of subjects and pass candidacy and continue the dissertation.
I am taking an completely different route to PhD. I am taking 9 credit hours every semester (full time course load is 6 credit hours) and at same time working full time as Data warehouse SW developer.
It's very strenuous(My long commute, job and courses and assignments occupy at least 17-18 hours of my day) but I am able to manage them and it's working pretty well as I get paid around 135K at my job.
*Is this is an ideal approach until I finish my subjects and then see if any HCI lab in my department can take me in? Can I expect things to calm down in 2 years time.or what can i do right now to improve on this situation?*
Or am I really hurting myself here. My concern at this point is after my candidacy, no lab will take me back because of no recent research work. By the way, I don't need to finalize an advisor for the dissertation right now, I can take candidacy exam in dept. by forming a temporary committee .
One advantage I may have is I will have enough money by that time to volunteer in a lab for around an year to prove my worth. But again I am afraid my MS advisor may actively sabotage any of those efforts. I have been afraid and tensed for past few days thinking about this.
Edit : I am from Midwest US<issue_comment>username_1: I think it's better to be involved in research from the beginning of a PhD program, but I've seen plenty of programs *designed* to discourage starting research until the student has passed the qualifying exams. Both models can lead to good PhDs and good careers afterward. You appear to be in the enviable position, assuming you can sustain it, of being able to save a substantial portion of the salary from your day job so that when it comes time to start some research, you can do so with your own funding. If the project goes well, and you are good at research, you may be able to complete your dissertation more quickly than someone who has to work on a funded grant which has deliverables other than your thesis.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Where is the department Chair in this situation? Depending upon the structure of your college within the university, that is generally the individual with whom you can discuss both your questions regarding research and your situation with your MS advisor. It sounds as if you need someone who can deal with the administrative aspects of the situation - the person who signs your MS advisor's annual review.
If that doesn't work, you can go to the Dean of your college, or perhaps the Dean of Students. In my years working in Academia, the Dean of Students was always a powerful individual within the university. You shouldn't have to deal with the petty issues that you're experiencing. You should be able to focus on your degree and its associated research.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/27 | 2,734 | 10,499 | <issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student and am thinking ahead to when I start up a psychology lab---what are some of the best data entry and management systems? To avoid the "it depends" answer, below I list what I'm looking for. If you must say "it depends", it would be helpful to know what it depends on (i.e., what the good options are for different needs). I've done some work with data management systems in SPSS and Excel, and have not been impressed.
Here's what I'd use it for:
* Entry of ~100 variables for every one of ~100 measures and ~10,000 cases. In other words, the entire (merged) data matrix could be about 100 X 100 X 10,000 cells (10,000 rows and 10,000 columns).
* Data involve human subjects and are mostly from questionnaires
Here are some things I'd like it to be able to do:
* Data entry can be restricted to specified, plausible values for each variable (string, number, integer, value from 0-2, etc.) in order to minimize data entry errors
* Double data entry checking (users enter the same data twice and the system flags discrepancies to minimize data entry errors)
* Data from different measures are entered in separate forms, but data can be easily merged by one or more matching columns (full outer join)
* Data can be easily imported into R (ideally in base R with a .csv or .txt file)
* Efficient (time & effort) to open and use
* User friendly (undergrad RAs would be using it)
* Can interface to import data from other sources so that not all data are entered manually (iPad-entered data, website-entered data, physiological data, .csv files, tab-delimited files, etc.)
* Data can have appropriate safeguards because they involve human subjects (e.g., password protection, encryption, others?)
Not necessary, but ideally it would be:
* Low (or no cost) and a one-time license that can be installed on an entire lab's worth of computers
* Platform independent (can be run on Mac & PC)<issue_comment>username_1: You want to avoid 'it depends' answers but the reality of the situation is that 'it depends'.
That's a bit of a pat answer but I'm reasonably sure that there is no such magical software or data management system that meets all of your requirements. Which means, ultimately, you'll have to pick and choose which of those requirements are hard requirements and which are soft.
My gut tells me that (depending on your data), when you're talking about 100 x 100 x 10000 x 10000 you're starting to talk about databases rather than traditional 'data entry' systems. It's true you can(and a lot of labs do) do a lot of data in desktop spreadsheet environments but once you start getting over a couple thousand points of data opening and managing those spreadsheets becomes nearly impossible. That combined with your desire for a low-cost or no-cost solution points me towards my-SQL as a backend. For ease of DB entry(especially with undergrads) I would recommend a web based front end - this means it's available on mac or PC and does not necessarily require an install for the user. This will require some work/ramp up but the bonus of data in a true database is that all of your other requirements(exportability, flexibility, etc) are handled as long as you design it intelligently.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: It really depends, but more description would be helpful. For instance, if you're getting an NIH grant running a drug trial, then the system will be entirely different as if you're on another grant checking people's quality of life using questionnaires. A data set with 10,000 rows and 10,000 columns is definitely not considered as a big data set in today's data analysts' point of view. Of course, what exactly goes into the cell matters as well: coded responses like 1=male and 0=female versus thousands of genomic data inside one cell will mean a huge difference.
Assuming you're working on just collecting data in the level of questionnaires or clinical observation, I feel that general commercial software you mentioned (SPSS and MS products) should work.
>
> Data entry can be restricted to specified, plausible values for each
> variable (string, number, integer, value from 0-2, etc.) in order to
> minimize data entry errors.
>
>
>
Excel and SPSS are the wrong tools for that purpose but their related products like [Access](https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Restrict-data-input-by-using-a-validation-rule-63c8f07a-6dad-4fbd-9fef-5c6616e7fbfd) and [SPSS Data Collection Data Entry](http://www.spss.com.hk/software/data-collection/data-entry/) do that. For freeware, CDC's [EpiInfo](http://wwwn.cdc.gov/epiinfo/) can also do that.
>
> Double data entry checking (users enter the same data twice and the
> system flags discrepancies to minimize data entry errors).
>
>
>
The SPSS program and EpiInfo mentioned above do that. Even the [SPSS base program](http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/spssstat/v21r0m0/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.spss.statistics.help%2Fidh_compare_to.htm) can also do that. In fact, most statistical software have some of this capability. e.g. Stata compared file command ([cf](http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?cf)) and SAS command [COMPARE](http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/proc/61895/HTML/default/viewer.htm#compare-overview.htm), just to name a few.
>
> Data from different measures are entered in separate forms, but data
> can be easily merged by one or more matching columns
>
>
>
To me, this is more of a management and planning rather than system. As long as there is a well developed ID assignment scheme, most software can pull up and merge data pretty efficiently. I agree that SQL would be nice, and most software have some of SQL incorporated into it as well: Access, SAS PROC SQL, Stata odbc, R, etc.
I'd consider a good documentation trumps all on any day. If there is a clear linkage between data sets or tables, even Excel's VLOOKUP is an okay tool.
>
> Data can be easily imported into R
>
>
>
Packages like `foreign`, `sas7bdat`, and `xlsReadWrite` are readily available.
>
> Efficient to open and use
>
>
>
Efficient on what? Time or effort? Some of these software suggested have a steeper learning curve but eventually can be highly efficient (R, SAS) while some are more icon-based point-and-click (SPSS, Access) that are easier to pick up but eventually will become a bit slower if the users do not advance into the script-based interface (aka running SPSS and Access using scripts.)
>
> User friendly (undergrad RAs would be using it)
>
>
>
That depends on what your school is teaching the undergrads. But no matter what they know or what they claim they know, I still train everyone.
>
> Can interface to import data from other sources (iPad-entered data, website-entered data, physiological data, etc.)
>
>
>
For iPad you'd need to talk to the programmer (if you have one) to make sure the exported data can be read. For website-entered data (I'm assuming you mean something like Survey Monkey,) SPSS and Excel are still dominating. But both can be easily read by most statistical software. Physiological data are device specific, you may get comma separated, tab delimited, or even proprietary encoded data, you'll need to check with the device makers.
---
>
> Low (or no cost) and a one-time license that can be installed on an
> entire lab's worth of computers
>
>
>
I'd check if your institute has any site license agreement with the major software retailers and start from there. If no license agreement, then expand your search to educational discount agreement. A statistical software that is about US$2,000 can be bought at less than $200 if your institute has agreement with the retailer.
I like R (as a free stat software) but am other totally ignorant when it comes to free database or research management platform, can't help here.
>
> Platform independent (can be run on Mac & PC)
>
>
>
Then you probably want to avoid SAS unless you are willing to install Windows parallel onto your Mac. Most others mentioned in this answer can run fine on these operation systems (like Stata) or have separated versions for each system (like MS Office.)
---
If you're not sure what is a "good system," I'd suggest looking for general guidelines from data repository organizations. They often have guidelines like [this one](http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/deposit/guide/) which delineate what are good enough data sets to be hosted by them.
Books on "data cleaning," "data management," and "work flow management" may also help you refine the system. The tools are important, but the rules of using them are a lot more crucial for a less frustrating data management experience.
And finally just a disclaimer, I don't have financial affiliation with any product that I mentioned in this answer.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Too long for a comment, hence an answer:
What kind of data are you entering? Is it psychology, biology, public policy, engineering, marketing, ..., philosophy?
If you are dealing with human populations and recording what people tell you in response to your requests, you may want to ask it in the professional statistical circles on lists like [AAPOR net](http://www.aapor.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=aapornet_guidelines&Template=/Security/Login.cfm#.VE-xpPnF92E) (American Association for Public Opinion Research), [SRMSNET](http://www.amstat.org/sections/srms/srms_net.html) (Survey Research Methods Section of the American Statistical Association) or [Government Statistics Section](http://www.amstat.org/sections/sgovt/) of ASA. In the company where I work, our interviewers enter may be single digit % of your estimated data daily, and we are talking about a substantial interviewer workforce in one of the largest survey organizations in the U.S. Entering the data by a human in a small assistant professor lab with three undergrads at the scale that you are thinking about is simply impossible.
If you are coming from hard sciences, you really ought to consider automatic data entry from your instruments. It is silly to have an undergrad look at a scale and record the number down in Excel.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: For people who come across this post in the future, I eventually decided on using [REDCap](https://projectredcap.org/) (Research Electronic Data Capture). REDCap meets all of the requirements noted in my above post, and is widely used by many researchers at many universities across the globe.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/10/27 | 963 | 4,591 | <issue_start>username_0: I have research work that has been conducted and is at the stage where it is worth disseminating to the research community. It is somewhat cross-discipline in nature, and involves some technical contributions and is also of interest to a set of end users who are completely non-technical.
The problem is that, having attempted previous submissions, it has become painfully clear that neither community seems to appreciate quite the same issues as the other. Thus, a single paper aimed at addressing all the issues from both perspectives ends up being perhaps lacklustre, and apparently unappealing from both sides. This is partly due to constraints on paper length, which prevent adequate detail for all aspects of the paper, and also the fact that fundamentally large portions of the paper end up being targeted towards an audience that is not present for the given journal.
Therefore, I was wondering if I could adopt the approach whereby a high-level paper is written targeting the end users of the development and submitted to an appropriate journal, and a second paper which covers the technical aspects in detail without trying to cover the aspects necessary for the end-user audience. Considering that both papers will present the same results, is this an acceptable approach to publication?<issue_comment>username_1: This is actually something my group also deals with extensively. A lot of the work we do is focused on improving existing computational methods to improve their efficiency or extend their range. A lot of the time, the actual work done is of very little interest to the end-user audience, but quite significant from a computer science perspective. So a lot of our recent work has been divided in exactly the manner you propose: we present the basics of the method and some end-user applications in papers geared toward the application community, and specialized papers for the methodology that are directed toward the CS community.
The main thing to remember is that the publications should stand independently of one another as much as possible. Some overlap will of course be inevitable here, but you should strive to make the "stories" they tell as distinct as possible.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I think it is a good decision to target your manuscript for a single audience if your experience has shown that presenting it in a broader fashion misses the mark. It is not unusual to write two different papers that advance the same prior work and present new results.
However, this shouldn't simply be a matter of repackaging the results of the first paper, it necessarily entails analysis and additional work to produce a substantially new result.
Another option that can work well is to divide your article into separate, directly related articles (Part I and Part II) published in the same journal. In my experience this ends up being a lot of work, but it relaxes the length constraints and allows you to section and adjust the presentation of the material in a unique way.
---
On the other hand, the answer to this question *as it is stated* is, unequivically, no.
>
> Considering that both papers will present **the same results**, is this an
> acceptable approach to publication?
>
>
>
Quality journals nearly always stipulate that they will not accept work that has previously been published elsewhere--a practice known as [redundant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplicate_publication) or duplicate publication. Unfortunately, it is not always possible for reviewers and editors to be aware of multiple simultaneous submissions and there seem to be a number examples of people abusing the system with few consequences.
What constitutes original work may vary to some degree in different fields, but the point of any paper is to communicate something noteworthy that isn't otherwise available.
"Results" need not be defined narrowly as new measurement data, but every article should be an honest attempt to contribute something original to the field.
For instance, good review papers are very much original contributions in the sense that they synthesize results and highlight connections that might otherwise go unnoticed. But if you set out with the premise to publish *the same* results in more than one article you are creating more noise for all of us trying to keep track of the literature. You may not always be called on it, but the practice is something that [good reviewers and editors](http://publicationethics.org/case/duplicate-publication-and-now-fraud) notice.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/28 | 2,560 | 11,007 | <issue_start>username_0: Are there any policies on taping or recording or even streaming a professor's lecture?
What do professors think about students who do this?
Obviously, most circumstances the professor would never find out, but there was this one instance when a professor got really angry because a student was recording him without his permission.
I don't understand why he would be offended, most likely the student is only using it for review and not commercial purposes as the nature of the class is quite obscure, could anyone shed a light?<issue_comment>username_1: I can think of some reasons why a teacher would get angry when a student videotapes the lecture without his or her permission:
* Doesn't want a public, permanent record of his/her errors
* Believes that his/her lecture is his/her intellectual property and considers the videotaping without consent as a form of theft
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I do not believe it had anything to do with the act of being recorded by itself. Most universities are beginning a process of recording lectures for later consumption by the students anyway.
Instead in this case it is likely because the professor was ***unaware*** they were being recorded. They may do or say something that they regret or which gets them into trouble. If however they knew beforehand that they were being recorded it would be unlikely that they would do that since they know the repercussions would be more severe. I think it was an instinctive reaction to protect themselves from others using the recording against them.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Some people might have a protected identity. Publicly making pictures and movies without consent can endanger lives.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Leaving aside the points already made (that it's exceptionally rude to do so without consent, etc.), I'll just (approximately) state the policy of my institution: *anyone* speaking or otherwise appearing on a recording made on university property has copyright to their "performance" in that recording. Thus if a lecture or seminar is being recorded, before it can be re-broadcast, *every* voice and face that appears must *explicitly* consent.
The usual context is the lecturer recording must either get an explicit release from every student *or* edit out the appearance of any student from the recording. However, the converse also holds: if a student records the lecture, they need to get the consent of the lecturer (and also all students that might appear on the recording).
There are no cases where I would worry about a student recording *me*. There are plenty of cases where I would worry that a student recording a session would inhibit or discourage the participation of *other students*. This is especially true if the other students found out about the recording without having been told in advance and explicitly asked if they're happy about it.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: In my mind, i think there are different aspects.
The purpose of the recording is one of the main aspects => for personal use only, for the students of this university, for public publishing, etc
The context of the event recorded is another important aspect. If it's a public meeting, it may be difficult to any party to restrict the recording.
If it's private, it's another story, even if the lecturer is a public personality i think. In some context, you only can be present because you implicitly agreed on some specific rules linked to the event.
If it's secret, it's another another story, ... etc
In a university course for example, do not forget that what your record is owned by the university.
This is not exactly public stuff, so you really should tell and ask the professor if he does agree to be recorded, and also, who will use the record later.
The same should be done for everyone present that could be identified on the record.
I think that everything but "personal use only" may even need any kind of written agreement between all the parties (the recorder, the professor, the university, and even the students that could be identified on the record).
This agreement may contain some conditions, like "you can publish it only if you hide the face of the professor, or of a students, ... "
Some party may also want to keep the possibility to forbid the use of the record afterward.
Anyway, i suppose that if all the parties don't mind, it eventually can stay only a verbal agreement assuming that every party is a witness for the others. But that's pure speculation from my part.
To answer the original question, the reasons for the refusal of one party (not just the lecturer), may be VERY variate (rational or not), and even if it may be frustrating or sounds like an injustice, i am not sure the party even has to tell you why if he don't want.
It is his right to refuse and you have to respect his right.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Speaking as a professor, given the capabilities of today's gadgets I'd say get used to it. I teach programming, and note-taking has recently turned into the entire class raising their phones and taking a picture of the screen. I step out of the way so they all get a clear view. Given the topic I really can't object - it's a technology-based course and as with all programming it's very precise - one missing comma produces a lot of frustration.
If I speak as a student, I would also say to the professor get used to it. I paid (a lot) for the lecture, I *will* have a copy I can refer to later. It's not like hiding the camera is at all difficult. The more noise made about it, the *more* likely it will end up on YouTube. Any in-class rants on the topic will definitely make prime time.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: I've been on both sides of this issue. I've been in classes where recording was encouraged and also seen syllabuses where it was expressly disallowed. The justification for the disallowing was 'intellectual property' and the distractions that recording setups might create.
As a professor I've never had an issue with it. But I liked being asked instead of being surprised. I am not camera shy but I don't like the idea I have to 'perform' well on camera. Sort of adds a layer of anxiety to the teaching experience.
Good point above on the re-broadcasting issue. I'd hate for some bonehead mistake to end up on Youtube and ruin my career. And I don't like the idea that people could take turns going to class and share the videos instead. That's why I do daily quizzes without makeup opportunities.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: In this particular case, I would think the professor didn't feel respected and therefore became angry. He didn't even get the chance to acknowledge what the student is doing, and also the student didn't give himself the chance to quickly explain why he is recording him.
I think a small dialogue before the class would have easily clarified this and even could have had a positive impact on the professor's reaction.
Imagine yourself being taped by the professor during a in-course presentation without being told. If he just said "Hey, I'm recording you for feedback purposes" or whatever, it would be a whole nother deal.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: At least in the UK it is likely to be illegal to stop a disabled student that is unable to take notes from recording a lecture.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: I am surprised this hasn't been mentioned before, but (at least in Germany) this is first and foremost a personal rights issue. Recording someone without his knowledge and explicit consensus is a violation of their rights and people react very strongly because it is a sensitive topic. Finding out in retrospect that you were recorded doing something, of questionable nature or not, is rarely something people rejoice over. (If you've ever been to an alcohol-heavy college party, you probably know.) Generally, people like to be in control over what is documented about them.
Most lecturers I've had over the (ongoing) course of my bachelor studies made it clear that they were ok with e.g. photos of the blackboard but not with video or sound recordings. But without such clear regulations, basic decency dictates to ask.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: A colleague was recorded giving a single lecture at another institution without her permission- the reason given was "we can't afford you next year" - on that occasion she insisted that the recording be destroyed. A student recording a lecture isn't participating fully, much like the person recording a concert, the student is blocked from the experience by the device and action.
I put all essential material online for review after a lecture has happened, as I insist on student participation, in the form of discussion / Q&A / replies to direct issues, any record would also record the students- who have not consented formally to being recorded?
Finally, this is just plainly rude! Why not ask permission? A lecture is not a rehearsed performance, it will contain fumbles, digressions, new perceptions. You have not bought an experience, you are supposed to be a participant. Put the phone back in your pocket and join in.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: I have "solved" this by recording my lectures myself and making the recordings available to students. That addresses the requirement of U.S. law that a performance "fixed in a tangible medium" and so protects my own copyright in the lecture. Students are put on notice *every* class that the session is being recorded. They're told at the beginning of the term that I *am* being recorded and they *may* be recorded. So far, no one has complained.
<http://bbrown.kennesaw.edu/papers/podcasting/podcasting_protects_ip.html>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_12: There *are* likely policies on taping or recording lectures, but as with many policies, they will likely vary by institution.
More importantly than that, if you're going to tape or record someone, it's *polite* to ask their permission first, and if they refuse, to accept that. Even if there's no policy/legal basis for it, nor do they actually need to justify themselves.
Beyond that, the professor may legitimately have concerns beyond just whether or not you intend to sell the recording. Knowing there is a recorder in the room changes how people act. A professor might wish, for example, to have fostered an environment where people are free to make intellectual leaps, push the bounds of their knowledge, make mistakes while discussing a problem etc. in a relatively consequence free environment.
Having a recorder in the room now makes those mistakes permanently recorded, and if you're *streaming*, it makes it publicly broadcast. It's not unreasonable to presume that will have a dampening impact on those "This might be wrong but..." questions, and the professor may wish to prioritize those over your note-taking convenience.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/28 | 751 | 3,104 | <issue_start>username_0: I'm a graduated student and about to make a poster for my institution's conference. I would like to have a website so that I can have more space to present in the poster while still have a data to show if necessary. If I choose to have a free domain, I will have an URL contain the host name, e.g. myname.wordpress.com. If I buy a domain and use free host like Wordpress, I can quickly build my website up but the price is not cheap. If I buy a domain and a host, the price may cheaper but I have to build it by myself. I want my website to look professional (and impressive) on the poster so that using a free domain may not a good choice, but I also consider in the economic prospect. In my country, $10 is not a big deal, but also not a thing that people is willing to spent easily.<issue_comment>username_1: The best thing to do in terms of web presents at this point in your career is probably to host it through your institution. Pretty much any academic institution has some way for its members to host a website, and will sometimes provide templates as well. Talk to your IT staff and find out what they recommend.
If hosting through your institution is not possible, you can also consider using ResearchGate as your official web presence. It is designed as a social network for academics, and gives a nice stable URL as <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/[yournamehere]>
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: If your department/school won't give you support...
The domain should cost you between $0.50 to $0.99 USD for the first year. Hosting costs range a lot, but many offer deals for the first year that cost about $12 USD.
After you have your own server and domain, it is trivial to setup WordPress on your own server.
Thus you get the best of both worlds, extremely affordable and easy! Besides, I recommend most people have their own personal website for their portfolio and such anyway.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I'd recommend [Github pages](https://pages.github.com/) as a quick and easy way to set up an accompanying static site without paying for hosting. For free you get a slightly nicer sub-domain than wordpress etc. (`username.github.io`), or if you've bought a custom domain you can use that. There's some nice, modern default themes and Jekyll integration if it's to be used as a blogging platform.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I would simply walk off a poster without asking for a copy of the paper if the poster had a WordPress reference for the contact information. To me, this makes a statement to the effect of "I am an amateur and don't really know if I want to be a part of academia".
There is no shortage of professional social networks, including LinkedIn (academia + real world), ResearchGate (academia as a whole), WebMD (medical sciences), and whatever it might be in your discipline. You can start off with these. Also, I am surprised that you can't set up a personal page at your institution, even as a graduate; this would be the primary route in the U.S., as far as I can tell.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/28 | 597 | 2,671 | <issue_start>username_0: If you want to apply for graduate school in computer science , you have to show that you have the prerequisite background knowledge . What are the available options ? Can I take a challenge test for credit in one subject area ,say ,algorithms provided that I have the required knowledge in this subject ? There is a man who managed to complete most of the undergraduate MIT computer science curriculum using MIT OCW . Can he verify his knowledge to the admission committee by taking challenge tests?Can I take the final exams that the university department offer to regilar students without attending to prove that I have the required knowledge for the graduate program ?<issue_comment>username_1: What you want to do will limit your choices among schools. Where I teach, we do allow provisional admission for people without the requisite undergraduate degree.\* Those students are required to take a series of foundation courses before beginning the "real" master's courses. It is possible, although not easy, to test out of the foundation courses. The provisional admission is revoked for the student who earns unsatisfactory grades (C or below) in the foundation courses.
So, you will need to look for institutions that allow provisional admission, and then check the details of the provisions.
\* Students must have *some* accredited undergraduate degree to be admitted; but it need not be in computing.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I went through this starting in 2001. I had a 1970 bachelor's in mathematics and a 1975 master's in computer science, and successfully applied for 2002 admission to a computer science Ph.D. program. I was not able to get a detailed transcript for the master's degree so I had no evidence of specific computing courses I had taken.
I got letters of reference from people in industry who knew my work. I made prior contact, through my industry network, with some professors in the department. I took the computer science GRE, which is no longer available.
The professors waived recommended prerequisites based on my experience: "The bad news is I've never taken a formal course in operating systems. The good news is I worked as an operating systems developer for 8.5 years."
The department assigned professors to check whether I needed to take undergraduate courses in their subjects, or already had the corresponding knowledge. They used several different systems, including looking at my industry achievements and interviewing me. One professor did not commit until after I had an A in his graduate course, when he decided there was no need for me to take the undergraduate course.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/10/28 | 958 | 3,969 | <issue_start>username_0: I'm in the last year of my MSc in computer engineering and I want to apply for a PhD in Germany. I have a reasonable resume and have a published paper and my master GPA is 16.5/20, but my bachelor GPA in not so good, it is 13.5/20.
Can you tell me how much is this important? Do I have any chance?<issue_comment>username_1: This totally depends on the university. There is **no common rule** for all German universities. Having good grades in field related courses may be the most important part, also the thesis being field related won't hurt either. Other than that it can depend on the university, the faculty, the chair, the potential supervisor and so on.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: As flo said, it totally depends on the university.
In principle, you can become PhD student at any German university if you
1. Have someone eligible (normally a professor in the department) who declares that she/he will supervise you, and
2. You meet the requirements from the examination regulations for the PhD.
In the majority of cases, the examination regulations can be found on the web. Many departments do not list a formal "grade" requirements, but some do. Typically, the grades are only given in German style, so there is room for interpretation when translating foreign grades. **GPAs** are pretty much unknown in Germany. Admission officers will look at the grades (e.g., A-F, where F means fail) and if the institution where the grade has been awarded is "OK". Summary grades are expressed in the same system as the individual grades. To make this part of the answer complete, as you are probably aware, it is normally a requirement to have a Masters degree before you can start with a PhD.
Structured programs, such as graduate schools, typically have their own rules *on top* of these. Again, standard vary, and you should be able to find some information on the home page of the respective graduate school.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: The exact requirements depend on the specific federal state ("Bundesland"), university, department and professor
Each federal state of Germany has its own university law ("Landeshochschulgesetz"), and that may impose limitations on the admittance to a PhD program, Additionally, each university can impose additional rules, and so can the department (usually "Fakultät") where you want to apply for a PhD. Finally, you must be accepted as a PhD student by a professor and he, too, may have additional requirements for accepting you.
In the end, you'll have to contact a department representative (usually the at the examination office/"Prüfungsamt") to check the formal requirements. Make sure you tell them your degree, GPA (and preferably also the interpretation of that GPA on the German grade 1-5 scale) and the country in which you graduated. This person should be able to check whether your are applicable to enter a PhD program, not only based on their department rules, but also based on university rules and state law.
You'll also have to contact the professor that you want to act as your PhD supervisor, and apply for a PhD student position (this may be a teaching position, a research project position, or a simple unpaid agreement supervision).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Adding a detail to the other answers given.
According to what I have seen and heard at the (German) university I'm a student at, your *Bachelor's* degree is probably almost irrelevant as long as the Master's is okay.
I think you won't need to stress out over a low score there. Personally, in the unlikely case you're asked about it, I would try to point out the improvement since then, and how you plan to continue that improvement.
Also, at my university there is a grade translation table, which can be used to map between Germany and pretty much every other country. You should inquire if your targeted university has something like that, too.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/28 | 2,514 | 9,928 | <issue_start>username_0: I want to apply to a postdoc position at a UK based University.
They want me to fill a "Equal Opportunities Data" form with questions about my marital status, sexual orientation, religion and race. Why do they need that? Will there be any consequences from not specifying these?
Will the employing professor have access to the data?<issue_comment>username_1: * The employing professor will not have access to this data.
* You can omit anything in this form.
* The data from this form goes to HR and is aggregated there so they can prove to auditing bodies that the staff distribution is not skewed (i.e. that they are not discriminating on basis of whatever)
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: No, this information will not be made available to the hiring committee and not filling out this information will not have any negative consequences.
The university uses the data to monitor discrimination - from time to time, it is checked whether the percentage of successful applicants from minorities is roughly the same as the percentage of the respective minorities among the applicants. If the ratio is very off and the number of hirings was sufficient to indicate a "trend for discrimination", the university will take measures to prevent this in the future. And for this, they need to collect the data.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: The general idea behind "equal opportunity" employment is that if two candidates appear *equally suitable* for the job, the candidate with a more favourable "minority status" will be selected.
You may always ask if it's compulsory to give that information. My personal stance is that none of that information is relevant to the job, so the employer has no need to know.
**Edit:** Contrary to the comments suggesting I am wrong, *this does happen*, though not in the UK. For example, see the [DESY.de](http://www.desy.de/v2/e/) jobs website.
>
> "Comment on all job offers:
> Handicapped persons will be given preference to other equally qualified applicants. DESY supports the careers of women and therefore encourages especially women to apply."
>
>
>
[NOAO](http://ast.noao.edu/opportunities) says:
>
> Preference granted to qualified Native Americans living on or near the Tohono O’odham reservation.
>
>
>
I don't know how widespread this sort of policy is. But if I can find one institute in Germany and another in the USA, surely I can find more.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Under the equal opportunity act UK employers are not allowed to discriminate on the grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.
These forms allow them to help check that this is not happening by comparing the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful candidates, as well as the general population.
The data should be treated as confidential, although exact wording varies between forms.
Completing such forms is generally not compulsory and most forms will have a prefer not to say option for most categories.
My advice if you are still concerned would be to contact whowever is running the admissions process and ask them (politely) what the data will be used for. They should be able to tell you (or find out).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: It would be illegal for them to take this type of information into account when making hiring decisions - it would be 'direct discrimination':
>
> It is against the law to discriminate against anyone because of:
>
>
> * age
> * being or becoming a transsexual person
> * being married or in a civil partnership
> * being pregnant or having a child
> * disability
> * race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
> * religion, belief or lack of religion/belief
> * sex
> * sexual orientation
>
>
> These are called ‘protected characteristics’.
>
>
> You’re protected from discrimination in these situations:
>
>
> * at work
> * in education
> * as a consumer
> * when using public services
> * when buying or renting property
> * as a member or guest of a private club or association
>
>
>
<https://www.gov.uk/discrimination-your-rights/types-of-discrimination>
As other people have already said, many employers collect this information (while keeping it secret from the people making the hiring decision) in order to ensure that their recruitment process doesn't contain systemic 'indirect discrimination', which is:
>
> putting rules or arrangements in place that apply to everyone, but that put someone with a protected characteristic at an unfair disadvantage.
>
>
>
<https://www.gov.uk/discrimination-your-rights/how-you-can-be-discriminated-against>
If you leave that section of the form blank then it should not count against you in your job application (often the form will say this on it somewhere).
There is an exception in that '[positive discrimination](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action)' is (since a change in the law quite recently) allowed in certain, quite limited, circumstances:
>
> **Employing people with protected characteristics**
>
>
> You can choose a job candidate who has a protected characteristic over one who doesn’t if they’re as suitable for the job and you think that people with that characteristic:
>
>
> * are underrepresented in the workforce, profession or industry
> * suffer a disadvantage connected to that characteristic (eg people from a certain ethnic group are not often given jobs in your sector)
>
>
> You can only do this if you’re trying to address the under-representation or disadvantage for that particular person. You must make decisions on a case by case basis and not because of a certain policy.
>
>
> You can’t choose a candidate who isn’t as suitable for the job just because they have a protected characteristic.
>
>
> **Disabled people**
> When recruiting you can treat a disabled person more favourably than a non-disabled person because of their disability.
>
>
>
<https://www.gov.uk/employer-preventing-discrimination/recruitment>
See also: [The Equality Act 2010 and positive action - Commons Library Standard Note](http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/briefing-papers/SN06093/the-equality-act-2010-and-positive-action)
If you find that an employer is breaking the law in respect of discrimination, then [contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service](http://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com/app/ask) (free).
>
> Some examples of the types of issues we have advised on:
>
>
> * An individual who was unhappy about the way that the younger clientele at work treated him and spoke to him because he was an older person.
> * A Trans individual, who had transitioned from male to female, who worked for a security company and reapplied for a security pass only to discover that the process for renewing her pass had disclosed the fact she had undergone gender reassignment surgery.
>
>
>
<http://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com/app/about>
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: As a lecturer and department head, at least in the UK I can tell you this answer is far simpler than those above.
Colleges and universities are able to sell the information gained from the equal opportunities segment of our application forms. There is no legal requirement to include it in the process, but it does generate extra income which every educational establishment is fighting for these days.
You do not have to put anything, and I would actually advise you not to. It does not form any part of the administrative profiling for students, and the majority of the time teachers never even see these forms once you fill them in and any employers would certainly never have access to them.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: So they can prove that they aren't discriminating against non-majority race/sex/orientation individuals. The unfortunate bit is that this means they must prioritize anything in the non-majority r/s/o category (usually something rather specific, depending on the prevailing politics), which has the unfortunate effect of de-prioritizing folks who happen to fall into the category considered "the majority" (which is often a perceived majority and not an actual one, if a majority even exists).
Your professors or whoever else don't have access to individual information of this sort, it is used as an aggregate for central planning authorities. Isn't politics lovely?
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_8: Some good responses to this question are already supplied (especially to OP's "Why do they need that? Will there be any consequences from not specifying these? Will the employing professor have access to the data?").
What there seems still to be lacking in the answers is any specific data from the UK university sector. This is [not hard to find](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22Equal+Opportunities+Data%22+site%3Aac.uk&t=canonical), and here are a couple of representative examples:
* [University of Cambridge](http://www.hr.admin.cam.ac.uk/hr-staff/hr-data/applicant-data)
>
> We understand that some applicants may not wish to provide sensitive personal information to us at this stage, which is why we have provided the option to answer each equal opportunities question with ‘Prefer not to say’.
>
>
>
* [University of Nottingham](https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/jobs/howtoapply/application-tips.aspx)
>
> It is not necessary for you to include personal information in the main body of your application form, e.g. sex, age, marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, nationality, country of birth, religion.
>
>
>
A lot more information is found on even those two pages, and many universities put their policies online in PDF form, so not so convenient for linking here. This sort of search also demonstrates that such policies and procedures are found across the sector, and not restricted to a few odd-ball institutions.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/28 | 936 | 3,901 | <issue_start>username_0: This question is similar to [this one](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30646/how-to-build-a-list-of-top-authors-in-a-field), but focused on papers rather than on authors. Does anybody know of a systematic way to build a list of the most cited and/or influential papers in a discipline?
I've tried to use Google Scholar, but I was not able to search papers by label, as you can do in the case of authors (see the accepted answer [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30646/how-to-build-a-list-of-top-authors-in-a-field)).<issue_comment>username_1: I have undertaken to create such lists as an academic exercise myself, and quite a lot of effort is involved in doing this. There are a variety of approaches that I will suggest, and I would place more emphasis on the first approaches.
**Literature review papers**: Look for literature reviews on the subject of interest. Read the reviews' analysis and discussion of the state of research, there should usually be a discussion of *how* the state got where it is, and their citations should point you right at the seminal works.
**Paper Cites**: review known papers of interest for their citations. You'll want to recurse back to this strategy as more papers become known to you.
**Textbook tables of citations**: Review several respected textbooks that cover the subject, and inspect their citations for more works that you want to be aware of.
**Reputation, reference**: Ask professors and PhD students in the field what papers they think are important. Some professors may not be particularly helpful, but some may drop a comprehensive bibliographic database right in your lap.
**Seminar Reading Lists**: Ask for the reading list for PhD student seminars in the field.
**Most Downloads/Read**: This might not lead you to seminal works, per se, but seminal works will tend to be more read, and this provides another way of categorizing and prioritizing your review the literature. For example, if one paper has been downloaded at a rate 1000 times higher than another on the same topic, you might choose to examine the former first.
Also, you'll need to keep track of your efforts. Expecting to solely rely on your memory is not only wrong, but likely to mean you've wasted much of your research time. I use [Zotero, a free bibliographic database](https://zotero.org/) with integration in Firefox, to track the papers I've read. If I get papers or books in electronic form, Zotero can also store the electronic copy for me. It can also quickly create a table of references for you, and has some other nice features. It also has competitors that I'm not as familiar with, of note are Mendeley, a freemium model platform, and Endnote, a rather popular and mature commercial platform.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Some citation databases (such as Scopus and ISI Web of Science) give you the ability to see what are the references and citations for a specific paper. With this feature you may come with just one seminal paper and then see who cited this paper (forward) and who was referenced in the paper (backward) with the highest citations themselves. You can extend this chain in past and future or expand it by including lower citations or more papers in the initial set.
This method is probably working in a more narrowed scope than "field" but probably just one line of research in a field.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: In addition to the other suggestions, try searching for "*your-field-name* bibliography". You may find that someone has put a useful list of papers online, perhaps even in a format you can import into your reference manager. For example, I searched for "artificial life bibliography" and found many useful results, including this [collection of Computer Science Bibliographies](http://liinwww.ira.uka.de/bibliography/).
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/28 | 1,056 | 4,648 | <issue_start>username_0: Often, I’ll be in lectures and the lecturer will explain the point to me, and I make a comparison with something else that helps me understand the point, and it clicks. For example, in Syntax, the lecturer was talking about the difference between a noun and a determiner phrase; how the former describes a set of things, and the latter points to a specific thing. This reminds me of computing, so I think: ‘Oh, right. Nouns are classes, and DPs instantiate those classes.’
Is this type of rephrasing ever a useful thing to vocalise in lectures, for other students or the lecturer? I do sometimes vocalise these thoughts, usually in a smaller class setting though, not lectures. I usually try to keep quiet because I feel like either people won’t understand what I mean, or the teacher doesn’t consider it relevant or useful. So, my questions are: Is this kind of contribution in lectures valuable? Or do lecturers prefer that you ask questions instead of making statements?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, certainly it can be useful.
However, it's more useful if your analogy is well thought through, and can be stated concisely in a way that you think can be understood by the other students. If it's sort of rambling, or misses important aspects, or requires background that most other students may not have, it may cause more confusion than it clears up. So in some cases you may prefer to make a note for yourself, think it through later, and discuss it with the lecturer privately (e.g. during office hours). The lecture may then mention it in a future lecture, or invite you to do so.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: If you are in a small lecture that encourages participation, then it is definitely appropriate to participate, and understanding things in more than one way is often a great thing. I would recommend phrasing your thoughts as a question rather than a statement, however, e.g.:
>
> Would I be right in understanding this like [comparison]?
>
>
>
After all, you're only just learning the material and don't yet know if your comparison is actually right! If you can concerned that you might be talking too much then a) a very good lecturer may be able to let you know gently in the midst of class and b) you can ask the lecturer their opinion after class.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: To be honest, the specific example you give is unlikely to be helpful, since you're in something like a linguistics class and your analogy requires an understanding of a completely different field, object-oriented computer programming. Most of the other students probably won't have that background and the lecturer might not, too. And suppose the lecturer doesn't have that understanding. They'll likely be tempted to ask you to explain your analogy so they can evaluate whether you've understood or not. So now you have to spend a couple of minutes explaining OOP to the lecturer and all of that is time that would better have been spent on the actual subject at hand. The lecturer might also feel that you're trying to embarrass them by asking questions about something they don't understand.
In general, I'd be wary of interjecting with analogies since, unless the analogy is perfectly accurate (which most aren't), it's likely to lead to a discussion of the accuracy of the analogy, rather than further clarification of the real point.
Beyond that, I'd give the tautological advice that interjecting with alternative ways to understand is useful if it's useful. If the other students find it increases their understanding, go for it; if they seem not to appreciate it, don't do it. If the lecturer already explained it once and most people already understood it, there's no great value in you explaining it to everyone again. In particular, if your interjections become interruptions which break the lecturer's flow, you're hindering rather than helping.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Because these types of comments may or may not be welcome depending on the nature, topic and size of a course and the pedagogical approach of the instructor, **you should ask your instructor if these kinds of interjections would be welcome.** You can easily do this with a quick question after class or in an email. To make things concrete, it might be a good idea to come prepared with at least one concrete example of the kinds of clarification or reframing you might offer as a comment. As an instructor, I can see myself going way or another based on the class and the setting. That said, I would be always be happy to be asked ahead of time if this sort of thing would be welcome!
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/28 | 536 | 2,379 | <issue_start>username_0: I have reason to believe that the editor assigned to a paper we have recently submitted might have also acted as referee.
I am of course not sure because reviewers for this journal are in principle anonymous (as is standard, at least in my field). So I want to make clear this is not an accusation or even a complaint - the report sounds very reasonable anyway.
However, this has made me wonder: would it be appropriate for an editor to referee a paper that he/she is in charge of?<issue_comment>username_1: **Yes, it's appropriate.** As far as I know, it's also rare.
Editors usually rely on the reviewer's evaluations but nothing prevents them from giving their own review.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: That editors occasionally act as reviewers is not uncommon. This does not mean it should be the norm, quite the contrary. As an editor (in Chief), I have on occasion stepped in and performed a second review when I have felt that it has been needed to speed up the process for a paper, most often because of a lack of response from reviewers that have once agreed to review. In addition, I would only take on paper where I have the specific expertise.
Stepping in do perform reviews as an editor requires attention to the roles of reviewers and editors and I feel it is important to let the authors know that I have stepped in to do the review and also why. Since, I as an editor have the final say in advising the authors on how they should revise their manuscript, for example by valuing the reviewers recommendations into a reject/major revision/minor revision/accept decision, adding own opinion to the mix is not as far reaching as might be thought. It is not unheard of that editors may look away from reject or accept recommendations based on information not observed by reviewers, but as rare as such instances are, should the intervention of an editor in the review process be. So in conclusion, yes, editors can add reviews but should do so with extreme caution and rarity.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I’ve served as associate editor and even editor in chief of several periodicals. Most explicitly disallow this but one explicitly requests that the AE provide one of the 3 reviews! I think the latter makes sense, since a full review has the AE familiarize themself much more thoroughly.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/28 | 2,417 | 10,307 | <issue_start>username_0: **tl;dr:** How not to come off as boasting, arrogant, attention seeking, etc. if you are one of the few students participating in class?
**Some background:**
I am currently attending a Master's level course where in-class participation of students is quite low. Typically, very few questions get asked by the students. When the lecturer asks a question to check if the class is following (or rather: at least not sleeping), the same 2-3 students provide the answers.
I try to participate actively: I'm not afraid of giving a wrong answer or of "looking stupid" by asking a question that can easily be answered. This however sometimes leads to me answering most of the lecturer's questions, which - I think - discourages other students to ask questions in the lecture (after all, who wants to announce that they didn't understand something when there is somebody else in the class who apparently did?) This in turn might lead the lecturer to falsely believe that everyone is following (not really my problem), but it might also lead to me being perceived as boasting, arrogant, attention seeking, disruptive (without ill intentions), etc., which I want to avoid.
I realized a while ago that I do like the attention and since then I try to evaluate whether a question/comment is really helpful before actually asking it. I also avoid answering the lecturer's questions immediately so that other students have a change to answer (or feel pressured to do so because of enduring silence ;)). On the other hand, I do not want to sell myself short and I do not want to be perceived as being arrogant because of not bothering to answer.<issue_comment>username_1: I had the same problem in college. In many of the classes that I took I was apparently the only one who had the slightest interest in them. I did ask a lot of questions, and generally participated more than most students. It was not a problem. Just make sure that the teacher is comfortable with it by discussing it after class if he has the time and interest. Just don't come off like Eddie Haskell (i.e., a sycophant).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: One good heuristic that you might use is to discriminate between two types of questions:
1. Questions with a clear "right answer"
2. Questions encouraging discussion
Questions with a clear answer are typically more about polling for whether people are tracking, and answering deprives somebody else of a chance to answer. For a question encouraging discussion, however, your answer instead may break the ice and make it *easier* for other students to join in with answers of their own. Answering discussion questions also benefits you more, since they are where your answers can demonstrate deeper understanding, if you have acquired it.
If you and your instructor both know you are doing well, then why not "step back" and leave most of the "right answer" questions for other students? Especially if you let the instructor know that you have realized you are talking a lot and want to give space for others, it should not reflect badly on you in any way.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Based on this...
>
> I realized a while ago that I do like the attention and since then I
> try to evaluate whether a question/comment is really helpful before
> actually asking it. I also avoid answering the lecturer's questions
> immediately so that other students have a change to answer (or feel
> pressured to do so because of enduring silence ;)). On the other hand,
> I do not want to sell myself short and I do not want to be perceived
> as being arrogant because of not bothering to answer.
>
>
>
...I think you're already taking appropriate action to avoid the appearance of arrogance. Some additional suggestions:
* Be alert for any "hints" from the instructor that you might be monopolising the conversation. For example, if the instructor says "let's hear from some other people", that's a pretty strong hint.
* After you've answered one or two questions, you might want to stay silent. If no one else speaks up and the silence gets awkward, then briefly make eye contact with the instructor, as if to say "I'm willing to answer this if no one else does". The instructor can then call on you if he or she chooses.
* Try to focus on answering the questions when you're *not* sure of the answer. That way you'll get feedback when you need it.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: If you are answering most of the questions, it sounds like you *are* speaking too much. If I were your instructor, I *would* think you were dominating discussion in a way that was disruptive. Because other students may want to think more before speaking, my advice is to **sit back and don't be afraid to allow awkward silence as a way of encouraging others in class to speak.**
Ultimately, it is the instructor's job to moderate discussion to maintain an effective participation balance. That said, doing so effectively often requires the cooperation of other students in stepping back — even if this means awkward silence in the room — as a way of ensuring participation balance. In my own classes, I encourage students to maintain balance using a [rule of three and one](http://username_4.cc/teaching/assessment.html) I have adopted from [J<NAME>agle at Northeastern University](http://reagle.org/joseph/zwiki/Teaching/Best_Practices/Learning/Balance_in_Discussion.html): **I encourage students to limit themselves to three good responses before everybody in the class had an opportunity to speak once.**
Following this advice should give you ample opportunity to have your questions answered and to impress the instructor with your engagement and thoughtfulness. It will also mean that other more timid students speak up in ways that will raise questions you have not considered and will improve your learning in that process. My tendency is, like you, to dominate discussion. In my own experience in workshops and discussions, I've found that following this advice means that I learn much more from my fellow participants. The fact that I come off as less overbearing and arrogant is a nice bonus.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Given a set of questions, answer those for which you have answers but that you perceive as the hardest ones only.
This way, you can cut down on your participation rate for the questions. Meanwhile, by giving answers to difficult questions, lecturers will know that by transitivity, you most likely also know the answers to the easier questions.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: I don't think the question is whether you come across as boasting or arrogant, even though I agree it's good to be cognizant of that possibility. I think the real question is how do you balance your desire to participate with the needs of the rest of the class? In some sense, the lecturer is also responsible for this. In my own classes, it frequently happens that there is one student who is a lot readier to answer than others. If it seems like it is interfering with classroom dynamics, I will purposely solicit answers from other students too.
Since this is a shared responsibility, I would talk with your instructor and mention your concerns. If they feel you are answering too many questions to the detriment of the other students, then perhaps you can scale back. On the other hand, if they think the classroom dynamic is fine, then maybe you don't have to worry.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: What you're describing is a disadvantage of your instructor's chosen teaching technique. When a teacher chooses chalk-and-talk, this is what happens: the technique does not invite or reward participation by students. You have no control over this, and no responsibility for the negative outcome. Your non-participating peers likewise have no control or responsibility. They have been deterred from participating, and are responding the way most people respond to that deterrent. Only one person has the power to change the classroom dynamic, and that person is not you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: The answer is to **test**. Testing removes assumptions and you've been making many.
Go silent for a week (or whatever period you deem sufficient). See how the class responsiveness changes. Everyone keeps scratching their heads as usual? Problem solved.
One or two guys/gals start participating more? Give them occasionally some extra time before you respond to help them keep it up. You could also talk to them and say that you're not competing with them and "very glad someone else is participating, keep it up guys!"
The whole class raves, hands constantly fly in the air and even the sun gets hidden in the process? Not going to happen, so no need to worry about that :)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: Strictly speaking, from personal experience, I actually like these kinds of people who are hyper-active & ask many questions.
I shied away from actively participating in class at a later stage of high school mostly out of my introvert nature.
During my Masters, I had a guy in the class who used to ask a lot of questions & was the first to answer & generally wanted the teacher to go into
more deeper concepts, out of scope for the current exam syllabus. Since the teacher, while answering these questions, address the whole class
rather than the
one who asked the question, I also gain more or less equal information & knowledge from it.
So its basically two choices for me,
1. Feeling negativity towards you, jealousy & call you names & think
about your boastful nature & how I hate you & missing on teachers
answer & then going home & having to spend extra time on the same
concepts you asked about in class
2. Feeling positive & actually thank you for improving my knowledge as
well, when all the effort to analyse the teachers concepts &
deducing a question from it was made by you while I was just happy
for you to do the work for me.
Also, to add another point, monotonous lectures from teachers are boring & I get distracted fast. Its only because of this hyper activity from
you that helps me regain focus on the lecture.
So, I do not consider you as boastful & arrogant. You are a good person for me & another step on the ladder of my success.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/28 | 993 | 4,425 | <issue_start>username_0: I know a lot of questions are asked about letters of recommendation, but I was unable to find anything on this site or the internet in general that spoke to the particular issue of how to build the sort of relationship with a professor that results in good letters of recommendation. I get that you should of course do pretty well in the class and participate and go to office hours and be generally easy to work with and stuff (and ideally do research with the professor), but apart from that, is there nothing more you can do?
I know some might be eager to answer that you shouldn't be so mercenary about it (i.e. you should just organically be interested in the material and the professor and the good letter of recommendation will follow), so allow me to provide an example where this did not work out. I got a letter of recommendation from my favorite professor in college, which for some reason I was able to see (it was about a decade ago, so I forget how; I had waived my right to see it). Even though I thought he liked me (I went to office hours multiple times; I had two classes with him, both of which I did well in; he encouraged me to go for a fellowship; he even went out of his way to see a play I was in), the letter was the most basic "this student was in my class" sort of letter you could possibly imagine. It was such an incredible slap in the face.
Maybe he was just a jerk and that's that. Maybe I should have asked for a "strong" letter of recommendation (which I didn't know at the time was what you were supposed to ask). But regardless, given the vagaries of human relationships on top of the limitations of your own abilities, how is it even possible to get a strong letter of recommendation?<issue_comment>username_1: Strong recommendation letters come from *professional* relationships, rather than *personal* relationships. Of course, the two are often related, but if a professor hasn't seen much more than getting an A in a class from a professional perspective, then they can't say that they have. A wise and helpful faculty member will warn you of this fact in advance, but faculty are human and many may not be wise enough or helpful enough to give an appropriate warning.
The canonical answer, of course, for getting a good recommendation to grad school is to work with a professor on an actual research project. What you actually need, however, is for a professor to be able to speak to your *potential to become a good researcher*. Even working on a research project will not necessarily demonstrate that, if your role is as a cog in somebody's machine (a friend once worked on a research project as an undergraduate where her job was literally to grind rocks into powder with a mortar and pestle: the project was awesome, the job they wanted done was not).
What does research potential really consist of? In my experience, research potential means:
1. Creativity in approaching difficult or ill-defined problems
2. Initiative enough to accomplish hard work work independently
3. Skill enough to solve complex problems effectively
4. Intelligence and background enough to acquire new skills when needed
5. Social skills enough to do all of these things as part of a team (semi-optional)
There is another excellent way besides actual research projects to demonstrate all of these as an undergraduate: project-centric classes. Many graduate or upper-level undergraduate classes have an large optional or required capstone project. When you take on such a project, it gives you a chance to do something really cool, above and beyond the base minimum. With a good project, you can demonstrate all of these qualities to your professor and provide both the evidence and the motivation to write a really good letter.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: 1. Do well.
2. Make sure they remember you.
As for (1), take challenging courses with respected professors, and take on research opportunities with professors.
As for (2), just remember to go to office hours at least once or twice. You generally have far greater risk of looking stupid for not asking help when you got less than an A, than for asking help for literally any topic coming from course material (and I'm sure there is a quite difficult thing the professor covered and would be surprised you took interest in at all).
*Anything else and you are overthinking it*.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/28 | 1,604 | 7,026 | <issue_start>username_0: A common belief is that open book exams reduces cheating since all the information that a student would wish to look up is already with them. Open book exam therefore tests a person's knowledge and organization rather than memorization.
However, a textbook is not merely a set of references written by distinguished authors in size 12 fonts and high quality paper, it could also be used as a set of notes for students to scribe onto, whatever in his fancy.
This becomes highly problematic in courses where the material is often repeated year after year, such as computer science or computer hardware courses where students are not expected to remember say commands, or highly specialized mathematical formulas. In these cases, students will just jot down the solution to past term paper i.e. all the questions from 1997 - 2014, and do a compare and match when they receive their actual exam paper. After which, answers that belong to similar question will simply be jotted down. 100% accuracy with zero understanding.
This happens so frequently, I am completely confused by the very definition of an open book exam. Are students allowed to jot down notes (such as the solutions to past paper) in their textbooks in an open exam? What is considered cheating in an open text book exam??<issue_comment>username_1: In my experience, I've seen three versions of open book exam:
1. You can bring in a set of notes.
2. You can use any textbooks and notes you want, but no electronic assistance.
3. You can use any reference you want local or remote, except for asking other people to solve your problem for you.
As personal electronics become smaller and more pervasive, these are all effectively converging together: if you allow students any open book, then you have to allow the whole internet, and impose an honor code that requires students to not outsource their problems.
In this environment, my feeling is that the only way to run an open book exam is to be testing for mastery of material, rather than problem solving. In other words: open book works only when the answers cannot be readily extracted from the book (or other resources), but only from the synthesis of all of the knowledge within. There must be no single "right answer", but a range of possibilities requiring creativity. Thus, cheating can be detected in the same way that plagiarism can, because every student should be producing their own unique answer.
The best and fiercest open book exam I have ever taken was in an algorithms class as an undergraduate. The exam was six questions, each asking us to develop the best possible algorithm that we could to solve some curious problem based on the principles we had learned in the class. We were handed the exam to take home and given 48 hours, in which we were allowed and encouraged to use any resource we wanted, except not to talk to anybody else about the problem. It was brutal, it was terrifyingly hard, and it was the most fun I've ever had on an exam. That, I think, is a standard to aspire to.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I routinely run open book exams. I allow students to bring: books about any topic they need or wish; notes of any kind, especially course notes; solutions of all the exercises solved during the lessons, those of past exams and those given as homework; programmable calculators (but no computers with connectivity).
(Of course, I warn them that all of the above are useless if they haven't studied)
So, for me, cheating means:
1. Trying to find a solution from external resources by means of cell phones, computers, radios or whatever.
2. Copying a solution from a course mate.
3. Asking for advice to a course mate.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: **Read your course syllabus. If you still have questions, ask your instructor.**
There is no single standard set of rules for "open book exam", nor even any universal definition. Your instructor could have decided that some resources are allowed and others are not. You need to obey the rules determined for your particular course by your particular instructor. "What is considered cheating" is "any violation of the rules announced by your instructor".
It's irrelevant what anybody else says "open book exam" means or what they might say you can or cannot use. If someone on Stack Exchange says "it's fine to use resource X", and your instructor says it's not, I assure you that using resource X can lead to you being charged with cheating, and saying "some random person on Stack Exchange said it was fine" will not be a good defense.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: In my experiences in an open book exam you can use:
Your text book
Written notes (not typed, copied, etc).
Class assignments/homework (not quizzes or other exams)
The notes and assignments/homework allowance varies on the instructor.
Cheating would be using any resources that the instructor does not allow which can include but may not be limited to:
Taking from another students exam
Using another students notes/handouts
Using your notes if not permitted
Using a form of notes not allowed (photocopies or printed)
Using a device such as a tablet or phone
Using other exams or quizzes if not allowed (this happens a lot in large classes where other forms of notes are allowed)
If you are unsure about what you can or cannot use it's best to talk with your instructor about it as the actual do's and don'ts all depend on your instructor and what the school will permit (My university did not allow instructors to allow students to use quizzes on open book exams).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: As other answers have pointed out, the exam should list the specific materials allowed. Individual universities often have a policy of what set of allowable materials constitutes an "open book" exam, and if the professor allows a wide scope of materials, it may fall into this category. However, if in the widest sense of the term, an "open book" exam usually means you can bring in any printed materials you like (but not electronic devices that can search for new material after seeing the questions, or electronic repositories of material). In such cases, any well-prepared students will bring in all available past-exam papers and their solutions. Unless there is a restriction to prevent this, it is not cheating.
This really gets to the heart of the matter - if a professor sets an open-book exam, it is incumbent on the professor to set appropriate questions that cannot be answered without understanding the material. If the professor sets an open-book exam, but sets questions to be similar to an available past exam (such that you can just adapt a past answer), that is really a screw-up *by the professor*, not a problem with the student. Instead of worrying about whether they student has cheated, the proper question is why the professor is not meeting his responsibility to test the material in a manner that requires genuine understanding.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/29 | 3,149 | 12,044 | <issue_start>username_0: There are a growing number of prominent universities in the world which are based in countries where the government exerts substantial control over its citizens in ways that are not typical in "Western" countries (Europe, US, Canada, etc.). Two examples:
1. [KAUST](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Abdullah_University_of_Science_and_Technology), in [Saudi Arabia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia), where alcohol is illegal and there are extremely strict dress codes.
2. [Tsinghua University](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsinghua_University), in [China](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#Sociopolitical_issues.2C_human_rights_and_reform), where citizens are not typically allowed to protest or congregate, and in general citizens are not entitled to, for example, free speech.
For those who are/were faculty (or postdocs/researchers) at such institutions, and who were raised/trained in Western countries with less restrictive governments, what is life like at such a research institution? In particular:
1. Are you bound by the restrictive laws the govern most citizens (for example, dress codes or alcohol in Saudi Arabia, or speech in China)? (Of course it's assumed that you can't just do whatever you like - I'm mostly interested in the laws that have nothing comparable in Western countries)
2. Did you bring a family or significant other with you? What has their experience been like?
3. Do you expect to stay at this institution for your career, or will you eventually try to return to your home country/a Western country?
Importantly, I am NOT passing judgement/being critical of the government of these countries. I am really just interested in how the institutions/governments of these countries treat researchers who are not citizens (and who, from my experience, have often been recruited from another western institution).<issue_comment>username_1: **This answer is Saudi Arabia specific**
As a native of Saudi Arabia, I thought I should speak about the academic life in the country:
**Life in General**
>
> Are you bound by the restrictive laws the govern most citizens (for
> example, dress codes or alcohol in Saudi Arabia, or speech in China)?
>
>
>
The very first thing you need to be aware of: you can do (legally) whatever you want in private. That includes *everything*. I grew up blocks away from U.S. Military campound and I can assure you the life *within* the compound is just like any western lifestyle. However, in public, there are some rules you need to be aware of;
So yes, you need to follow some generic rules in public. In private no one going to question your behaviour.
**Life as an academic**
>
> how the institutions/governments of these countries treat researchers
> who are not citizens
>
>
>
In Saudi Arabia, there are public and private universities. The public universities are regulated and funded by [Ministry of Higher Education](http://www.mohe.gov.sa/ar/default.aspx) (MOHE).
Most of the universities rules differentiate between citizens and non-citizens (i.e. foreigners). For western academics, this has the advantage of being able to negotiate the salary and other benefits while for citizens its fixed in advanced (based on the qualifications). Unless you are trying to make a revolution in the country, the government has nothing to do with you/your research. All the decisions related to a faculty member take place within the department/college then get approved by the university president office.
>
> Do you expect to stay at this institution for your career, or will you
> eventually try to return to your home country/a western country?
>
>
>
I have never seen a western professor stay for a long term (i.e. 10+ years). Most of the people I have seen at [KSU](http://ksu.edu.sa), leave after 5 to 10 years. I believe there are many reasons to this. Most importantly, the research environment, kids going to schools and I have good money by now.
**KAUST**
[KAUST](http://www.kaust.edu.sa) has a special consideration (I believe its not even regulated by MOHE) to the extent which makes all the above (about other universities) as incorrect. KAUST is a westernised place more than any other part of Saudi Arabia. KAUST staff, faculty members and students ,unlike most of the other universities in Saudi Arabia, are diverse and came from different cultures, countries and faiths.
That being said, I am not a western academic and I believe @username_2 has a word in this
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> **Disclaimer**: What follows is a combination of openly-available facts and some personal opinions. The opinion parts are my own and I don't claim to speak for anyone else. I did not intend for this to be "the answer" to this question; it deals with only one country/university.
>
>
>
I was born and raised in the United States, and got all my degrees there. I have now been a professor at [KAUST](http://www.kaust.edu.sa) for 5 years. I certainly came here by choice; I had good competing offers at some top programs in my field in the US.
>
> Are you bound by the restrictive laws that govern most citizens?
>
>
>
To a significant degree, yes. For instance, alcohol, pork, and a number of other substances are not permitted anywhere in Saudi Arabia. On-campus housing for single students is in separate buildings for men and for women.
However, KAUST is exempt from a number of the social customs that are in effect throughout the rest of the country. For example:
* KAUST is the only university in the country where males and females learn in the same classroom together.
* Women can drive on the KAUST campus (with a license).
* Women do not need to wear the abaya (burkha) at KAUST, or to cover their hair, etc. They dress as they please, within professional standards of modesty.
KAUST is not completely unique in these respects; the Aramco "compound" (which is really a small city) in the Eastern Province has similar exceptions. The KAUST campus and the Aramco compound are also the only two places in the country with a movie theater.
Of course, we frequently leave the campus to go to Jeddah. My wife can't drive there and wears an abaya. Also, the university culture at KAUST is more top-down than at most US universities, which I believe is a reflection of the local culture. But our current president is changing that to some degree.
>
> Did you bring a family or significant other with you? What has their experience been like?
>
>
>
I brought a wife and two young children (my third was born here). They are happy here -- if not, we wouldn't have stayed! Frankly, KAUST is an ideal place to raise a family. My children have friends from almost every imaginable culture, religion, and race. They take lessons in things like piano, swimming, and ballet. The schools are excellent and the community is extremely safe (I don't even lock my bike). I'll often bike to my childrens' school and take them to the park for lunch; everything is within five minutes by bicycle here. I live 1 block from the beach and my morning commute is a short bicycle ride through beautiful surroundings.
Life is pretty relaxed and hassle-free because the university essentially manages everything (and manages it well). My wife doesn't work outside the home. She participates in a number of community organizations and has time to devote to friendships, hobbies, and especially to our children.
I'll add (since most westerners find it surprising) that there are many single western women who work here very happily.
>
> Do you expect to stay at this institution for your career, or will you eventually try to return to your home country/a western country?
>
>
>
I came to KAUST because it was an adventure and chance to build something new and worthwhile. My initial plan was to spend perhaps 3-4 years at KAUST and then go back to the US. However, I have since realized that I have the ideal academic job (by my own criteria, at least):
* **Extremely generous funding** with no need to write grant proposals (KAUST has one of the world's largest endowments and only about 120 faculty).
* **Light teaching load** (1 MS level course and 1 PhD level course per year), which also has allowed me the time to be bit innovative and try things like inquiry-based learning.
* A relatively **light administrative load**, compared to what I hear from colleagues in the US. This is largely due to having excellent and plentiful support staff.
* Long-term job security with the freedom to do research along any direction I wish (university positions generally include this, but other careers I considered do not).
* Essentially unlimited access to a world-class supercomputer (200 Tflops, upgrading to 5 Pflops next spring). This is relevant to my particular field; other researchers here get similar benefits from other exceptional facilities.
Now I suppose the last bit of this post sounds like an advertisement, and I can't really help that. In light of all this, I don't plan to leave any time soon.
I've been planning a series of retrospective posts on this topic for my blog. I will link to that here if I get around to writing it.
**Some updates in response to comments**:
* KAUST is committed to avoiding gender (and other types of) discrimination. There are very many women (married and single) who work at KAUST. There are many families in which both spouses work. I can add that the opportunities for women to work in Saudi Arabia (outside of KAUST) have increased dramatically in the last couple of years. As of 2016, KAUST's student body is 40% female and about 40% Saudi, so I'd guess around 16% are Saudi women. Hundreds of Saudi women work at KAUST. They are treated no differently from foreign (or male) students/employees.
* Because most of us have close ties to groups in the US and Europe, KAUST researchers travel a lot. We also have a large, steady stream of international visitors. For instance, the last three presidents of [my professional society](http://www.siam.org) have each given a seminar at KAUST.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: It's an interesting question and I can give you an answer from personal experience as I studied in China for two semesters at the [Southwest University of Political Science and Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_University_of_Political_Science_%26_Law).
I do not know if the rules at Tsinghua are that much stricter than there, but I didn't really experience any problems.
They checked daily if all students were in their dorms at 10pm - at least for the Chinese who would be punished upon failing to comply with this regulation (it could mean to fail an entire year or be expelled if being missing too often!). However, missing Westerners were simply ignored. The monitors would sometimes send a message to make sure everything is fine and politely request to be back soon, but that was it. Generally speaking, as a foreigner you can ignore many rules and even some laws without getting in any trouble. It may seem unfair but that's just the reality there.
Also considering other problems like privacy issues and internet censorship you are pretty free as a foreigner. The latter I circumvented by VPN and when I would hang my coat on the security camera in an internet café, nobody cared.
I once didn't register properly (actually it was the police station's fault) and when I wanted to prolongate my visa, I simply had to write down the date and address of my arrival on a slip of paper and sign it - problem solved.
I do not know what experiences others made but China was and still is easy-going in these aspects as long as you are a Westerner.
// Corrigendum:
I changed "foreigner" to "Westerner" in the last sentence as the Chinese are easy-going on white foreigners from the West. A total different story is the treatment of Indians and Africans who sadly face strong prejudices by many people (though this is changing at least in the better developed parts of the country).
Upvotes: 4 |
2014/10/29 | 2,737 | 10,488 | <issue_start>username_0: I have seen a few conferences that state on the call for submissions that the conference will be "submitted for indexing in Thomson Reuters Conference Proceedings Citation Index (ISI Web of Science)."
Does submission mean they will 'apply' and could be rejected, or are all submissions accepted?<issue_comment>username_1: **This answer is Saudi Arabia specific**
As a native of Saudi Arabia, I thought I should speak about the academic life in the country:
**Life in General**
>
> Are you bound by the restrictive laws the govern most citizens (for
> example, dress codes or alcohol in Saudi Arabia, or speech in China)?
>
>
>
The very first thing you need to be aware of: you can do (legally) whatever you want in private. That includes *everything*. I grew up blocks away from U.S. Military campound and I can assure you the life *within* the compound is just like any western lifestyle. However, in public, there are some rules you need to be aware of;
So yes, you need to follow some generic rules in public. In private no one going to question your behaviour.
**Life as an academic**
>
> how the institutions/governments of these countries treat researchers
> who are not citizens
>
>
>
In Saudi Arabia, there are public and private universities. The public universities are regulated and funded by [Ministry of Higher Education](http://www.mohe.gov.sa/ar/default.aspx) (MOHE).
Most of the universities rules differentiate between citizens and non-citizens (i.e. foreigners). For western academics, this has the advantage of being able to negotiate the salary and other benefits while for citizens its fixed in advanced (based on the qualifications). Unless you are trying to make a revolution in the country, the government has nothing to do with you/your research. All the decisions related to a faculty member take place within the department/college then get approved by the university president office.
>
> Do you expect to stay at this institution for your career, or will you
> eventually try to return to your home country/a western country?
>
>
>
I have never seen a western professor stay for a long term (i.e. 10+ years). Most of the people I have seen at [KSU](http://ksu.edu.sa), leave after 5 to 10 years. I believe there are many reasons to this. Most importantly, the research environment, kids going to schools and I have good money by now.
**KAUST**
[KAUST](http://www.kaust.edu.sa) has a special consideration (I believe its not even regulated by MOHE) to the extent which makes all the above (about other universities) as incorrect. KAUST is a westernised place more than any other part of Saudi Arabia. KAUST staff, faculty members and students ,unlike most of the other universities in Saudi Arabia, are diverse and came from different cultures, countries and faiths.
That being said, I am not a western academic and I believe @username_2 has a word in this
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> **Disclaimer**: What follows is a combination of openly-available facts and some personal opinions. The opinion parts are my own and I don't claim to speak for anyone else. I did not intend for this to be "the answer" to this question; it deals with only one country/university.
>
>
>
I was born and raised in the United States, and got all my degrees there. I have now been a professor at [KAUST](http://www.kaust.edu.sa) for 5 years. I certainly came here by choice; I had good competing offers at some top programs in my field in the US.
>
> Are you bound by the restrictive laws that govern most citizens?
>
>
>
To a significant degree, yes. For instance, alcohol, pork, and a number of other substances are not permitted anywhere in Saudi Arabia. On-campus housing for single students is in separate buildings for men and for women.
However, KAUST is exempt from a number of the social customs that are in effect throughout the rest of the country. For example:
* KAUST is the only university in the country where males and females learn in the same classroom together.
* Women can drive on the KAUST campus (with a license).
* Women do not need to wear the abaya (burkha) at KAUST, or to cover their hair, etc. They dress as they please, within professional standards of modesty.
KAUST is not completely unique in these respects; the Aramco "compound" (which is really a small city) in the Eastern Province has similar exceptions. The KAUST campus and the Aramco compound are also the only two places in the country with a movie theater.
Of course, we frequently leave the campus to go to Jeddah. My wife can't drive there and wears an abaya. Also, the university culture at KAUST is more top-down than at most US universities, which I believe is a reflection of the local culture. But our current president is changing that to some degree.
>
> Did you bring a family or significant other with you? What has their experience been like?
>
>
>
I brought a wife and two young children (my third was born here). They are happy here -- if not, we wouldn't have stayed! Frankly, KAUST is an ideal place to raise a family. My children have friends from almost every imaginable culture, religion, and race. They take lessons in things like piano, swimming, and ballet. The schools are excellent and the community is extremely safe (I don't even lock my bike). I'll often bike to my childrens' school and take them to the park for lunch; everything is within five minutes by bicycle here. I live 1 block from the beach and my morning commute is a short bicycle ride through beautiful surroundings.
Life is pretty relaxed and hassle-free because the university essentially manages everything (and manages it well). My wife doesn't work outside the home. She participates in a number of community organizations and has time to devote to friendships, hobbies, and especially to our children.
I'll add (since most westerners find it surprising) that there are many single western women who work here very happily.
>
> Do you expect to stay at this institution for your career, or will you eventually try to return to your home country/a western country?
>
>
>
I came to KAUST because it was an adventure and chance to build something new and worthwhile. My initial plan was to spend perhaps 3-4 years at KAUST and then go back to the US. However, I have since realized that I have the ideal academic job (by my own criteria, at least):
* **Extremely generous funding** with no need to write grant proposals (KAUST has one of the world's largest endowments and only about 120 faculty).
* **Light teaching load** (1 MS level course and 1 PhD level course per year), which also has allowed me the time to be bit innovative and try things like inquiry-based learning.
* A relatively **light administrative load**, compared to what I hear from colleagues in the US. This is largely due to having excellent and plentiful support staff.
* Long-term job security with the freedom to do research along any direction I wish (university positions generally include this, but other careers I considered do not).
* Essentially unlimited access to a world-class supercomputer (200 Tflops, upgrading to 5 Pflops next spring). This is relevant to my particular field; other researchers here get similar benefits from other exceptional facilities.
Now I suppose the last bit of this post sounds like an advertisement, and I can't really help that. In light of all this, I don't plan to leave any time soon.
I've been planning a series of retrospective posts on this topic for my blog. I will link to that here if I get around to writing it.
**Some updates in response to comments**:
* KAUST is committed to avoiding gender (and other types of) discrimination. There are very many women (married and single) who work at KAUST. There are many families in which both spouses work. I can add that the opportunities for women to work in Saudi Arabia (outside of KAUST) have increased dramatically in the last couple of years. As of 2016, KAUST's student body is 40% female and about 40% Saudi, so I'd guess around 16% are Saudi women. Hundreds of Saudi women work at KAUST. They are treated no differently from foreign (or male) students/employees.
* Because most of us have close ties to groups in the US and Europe, KAUST researchers travel a lot. We also have a large, steady stream of international visitors. For instance, the last three presidents of [my professional society](http://www.siam.org) have each given a seminar at KAUST.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: It's an interesting question and I can give you an answer from personal experience as I studied in China for two semesters at the [Southwest University of Political Science and Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_University_of_Political_Science_%26_Law).
I do not know if the rules at Tsinghua are that much stricter than there, but I didn't really experience any problems.
They checked daily if all students were in their dorms at 10pm - at least for the Chinese who would be punished upon failing to comply with this regulation (it could mean to fail an entire year or be expelled if being missing too often!). However, missing Westerners were simply ignored. The monitors would sometimes send a message to make sure everything is fine and politely request to be back soon, but that was it. Generally speaking, as a foreigner you can ignore many rules and even some laws without getting in any trouble. It may seem unfair but that's just the reality there.
Also considering other problems like privacy issues and internet censorship you are pretty free as a foreigner. The latter I circumvented by VPN and when I would hang my coat on the security camera in an internet café, nobody cared.
I once didn't register properly (actually it was the police station's fault) and when I wanted to prolongate my visa, I simply had to write down the date and address of my arrival on a slip of paper and sign it - problem solved.
I do not know what experiences others made but China was and still is easy-going in these aspects as long as you are a Westerner.
// Corrigendum:
I changed "foreigner" to "Westerner" in the last sentence as the Chinese are easy-going on white foreigners from the West. A total different story is the treatment of Indians and Africans who sadly face strong prejudices by many people (though this is changing at least in the better developed parts of the country).
Upvotes: 4 |
2014/10/29 | 859 | 3,459 | <issue_start>username_0: Why can courses at the same department have an apparent disproportionality between credits and hours?
For example at my French university my department offers a 12 credit course with 48 hours of lectures and 72 hours of practical work, a 9 credit course with 24 hours of lectures and 12 hours of practical work, a different 9 credit course with 24 hours of lectures and no practical work, a 6 credit course with 24 hours of lectures and 36 hours of practical work. There are also 0 credit courses with 1 hour of lecture, but these are not really courses and are just included in the course catalog as bonus content to make up a bit for courses not offered in the current year. All of the courses I refer to are Master's level.
How are the number of credits calculated? Intuitively, one would suppose that the number of credits should be somehow proportional to the number of hours, but it is clearly not simply: a x # of lecture hours + b x # of practical hours.
**Question:** What is the relationship between credits and course hours?<issue_comment>username_1: Although only your school can tell you why that specific department has that system, I can give *one* answer.
If credit is determined by amount of work needed, the larger work is equal to larger credit. It is independent of time spent in class. In your situation, it could mean that some classes do not need extra hours in class, but extra hours outside of class, which is then factored into credits.
A good example of this is in Art/Design/Architecture schools (maybe music and dance as well). In Fine Arts/Architecture, there are usually classes called "Studio" in which they are nearly twice as long as other classes. So, an engineering class (history class or programming class in the same department of architecture) may have lecture 3 hours twice a week, for 3 credits, and a Studio class will have 6 hours twice a week for 3 credits. The perceived workload is thought to be equal as the Studio class naturally requires more time in a studio than at home reading.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: In the European Credit Transfer System ([ECTS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Credit_Transfer_and_Accumulation_System)) one credit point
equals 25-30 hours of workload and you are supposed to do 30 credits
per semester or 60 per year.
The number of ECTS credits assigned to a particular class is not
directly related to the hours in class but to the total workload for
the class.
For example, the master thesis is worth 30 ECTS in most German
universities, yet there is 0 class time for it. On the other hand, I
once took a chemistry lab course with 6 credits => 150-180 hours
workload of which 120 hours where time spent in the lab, which was ok
because you can't really do much at home except finishing that day's writeup and taking a look at what is planned for the next day.
In your examples, subtract the class time and you're left with around
180-240 hours of self study (reviewing the material, doing homework
assignments) for the first three classes and half that for the last one
- so the 9 credit classes seem to involve more self study and less time
in class.
That's perfectly fine as long as the overall workload is between
25\*credits and 30\*credits hours.
Since your university is in France, I want to mention that France has
specified the workload for 1 ETCS credit point to be 29 hours.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer] |
2014/10/29 | 1,921 | 7,946 | <issue_start>username_0: I was recently told that in many schools in the US (maybe other countries too), the minimum grade for a graduate course is B or B−. Meaning that B is considered as a passing score. I would like to know whether this is true. Why should it be the case? Does this mean that grading in graduate school is easier?<issue_comment>username_1: I can tell you for a fact that people can get worse grades than B- in graduate courses. People can even fail in graduate courses. It happens pretty rarely, though, because the population of students in a graduate course are highly selected.
If you read other questions on this site, you'll see that graduate school admission is a strong filter: most people need to be both excellent and a little bit lucky to get in, because there are so many excellent students who want to go to grad school. That means most grad students are smart, hard-working, and ambitious enough to put in the work to deserve the grade. As for undergraduates in graduate-level courses: if they weren't willing and able to put in the work, why wouldn't they choose one of the easier options? Moreover, most schools allow students to drop a course without penalty early in the semester, and the people doing poorly are the ones likely to drop.
Now, grade inflation can certainly happen. But by the time you're dealing with graduate courses, usually the class is pretty much full of people who want to be there and are capable of making the grade.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In some sense grading may be "easier", but it's also just that the effective grading range is compressed, and that grades per se matter less than in undergraduate classes.
In many graduate programs, getting a grade lower than B (or even A-) is considered a warning that you need to seriously knuckle down and start doing better. To take a random example, [UIUC](http://www.grad.illinois.edu/gradhandbook/chapteriii/section02#programGPAs) has a campuswide minimum GPA of 2.75 (B-), but most departments set higher minimums (as high as 3.25, or B+) Here's a relevant quote from [an old grad school blog post](http://girlscholar.blogspot.com/2011/04/grades-in-grad-school.html):
>
> My first semester in grad school, my M.A. advisor laid it out for to me: "If you get a B in a grad school class, you should ask the professor whether you should consider dropping out of the program. If you get a C, don't bother asking."
>
>
>
What this means is that the range of grades in grad school is effectively compressed, going from A to C instead of A to F. Getting a C in a grad school class is, in many cases, practically equivalent to getting an F in an undergraduate class. This grade inflation probably has historical roots in a sort of academic politeness in which it became considered more and more insulting or embarrassing to give someone low grades.
However, it's not as significant as it may seem, because grades are typically much less important in grad school than in undergrad. In grad school (especially PhD programs) you are working much more closely with faculty and they monitor your progress at a much finer grain. It's not just about getting a good grade, but about conducting research, making progress on your degree milestones (e.g., writing an MA thesis or PhD dissertation), and so forth.
In grad school, your class grades are meant to be not just an evaluation of your performance in that class, but a signal as to whether you are developing the skills necessary to succeed in the program as a whole. It would be unusual (probably unthinkable) for a grad program to suddenly give someone the boot simply because their GPA dropped too low; rather, a series of low grades will lead to increasing concern from the faculty, with meetings, emails, etc., gradually escalating from "Is everything ok?" to "You need to start working harder" to "Get your act together or else".
I've known grad students who received multiple grades in the B range, and this is what happened to them; they were subjected to increasing pressure from the faculty, with increasingly more explicit suggestions that they could be kicked out of the program if they didn't improve their performance.
That said, it is true that in some cases grading in grad school can be "easier" than in undergrad. My personal experience has been that in some cases faculty members are willing to be somewhat more flexible on grades as related to the actual course content, as long as they are satisfied that you got what you personally needed from the class. For instance, if you are specializing in Topic X and you take a requred class in Topic Y intended to broaden your background, the professor may give you an A even if your paper in the class is only adequate, if the professor understands that that is not your specialization and you don't need to fully master it in order to succeed. The flip side of this is that if you take a class in Topic X (your specialty), the professor may hold you to a far more exacting standard, knowing that you really must be on top of that material.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I think the idea is simply that people who get into graduate programs must have gotten A's or B's in nearly all of their undergraduate courses. So if graduate courses are graded in the same way as undergraduate courses, it makes sense that most of the students in them should get A's or B's. Meanwhile, since a C in an undergraduate course would be a strong strike against you for admission to grad school, it is also a strike against your continued enrollment in a graduate program.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Part of the answer is in disputing some assumptions in the question, as remarked upon to some degree in the other answers. That is, for one thing, graduate admissions are most often selective enough so that every grad student is probably able to do the work at a level that would, indeed, perhaps be a "B+" in "grading on a curve", *if* the population in the course were far less selective than it ... in fact... is. This is in contrast to the common conduct of undergrad courses, especially lower-division ones, where there *is* often no pre-filtering at all. The students self-select, and their own judgement may be flawed.
But then why might a "B+" be considered "a problem"? What is the "problem" if it's not "failure"? Well, it's not-at-all "failure" by undergrad standards, but that standard is far, far too weak for an apprentice professional. Unlike undergrad courses, where a "C+" may fulfill "a requirement", but absolutely not indicate competence, grad students need to be more-genuinely competent. A "B+" is an indication of some gaps in competence.
So, yes, those undergrad "C+"s are not evidence of "sufficient competence", at all. Indeed, that's why people who get that minimal "C+" in calc I invariably have terrible trouble in calc II, etc. The primary reason such grades are tolerated at all is that, in fact, much of the function of lower-division undergrad math is *filtering*, so that content mastery is nearly irrelevant in many cases.
Again, most often, grad students are not being filtered very much after admission, so the issue is genuine content mastery, not "getting by".
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: It definitely depends on the program of study...I believe the grading system is harsher for people who study something career specific---AKA nursing, physical therapy, Occupational therapy, med school, law school, etc..These programs tend to have a lot more drop outs/people who are unable to maintain the 3.0 minimum...People who study something like a Phd in Sociology, philosophy, or an M.S in Biology usually get higher grades because these programs tend to put less emphasis on passing tests and put more emphasis on producing research... Which is very different from lets say law school, where there is a huge emphasis on grades and rankings...
Upvotes: -1 |
2014/10/29 | 485 | 2,109 | <issue_start>username_0: I am applying to doctoral programs and I have a worry about the application.
Since I found that my TOEFL score does not meet the minimal requirement set by a school that I am applying to, I am wondering if it is likely for me to be screened out before my whole application is reviewed by the professors?<issue_comment>username_1: I think it is depends on the program. For instance I have applied to the program where my TOEFL score was below the required minimum, but I still got a interview with this university and I had a feeling that I probably would get in. I did not wait for an offer because a better graduate school admitted me the next day.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I do not know about US schools, but for my UK university the IELTS requirements are non-negotiable. Most of the time we see this right away. Sometimes we screw up and read and evaluate the entire application before noticing. In all cases the student is not offered a place. Other UK universities, especially ones that struggle to fill their spots, sometimes will argue with the administration that an exception should be made. From my understanding, they almost always lose.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Depends on many factors.
**Who is the decision Maker?**
If the decision-maker is a Professor who at the same time is the head of the research group where you ought to work, then its up to him. And I see some space for tolerance there, given that all the other parameters are OK.
**You fitting exactly to the needs**
On top of that, if all the other parameters (minimal admission requirements) are already met, and you have even more than the Head of the Research Group expects, then he/she might be willing to take a risk and make a trade-off, especially if you fill completely to what he needs in the group.
**University Administration :(**
On the other hand if the admission is handled by an administrative office of the University, then they will not care much about your scientific background, and will most probably dismiss the application.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/29 | 396 | 1,408 | <issue_start>username_0: This question has been discussed [several](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28013/what-salutation-to-use-for-someone-with-a-phd-who-is-a-lecturer-or-reader-in-the) [times](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1930/eu-ph-d-in-germany-calling-yourself-dr-or-ph-d) but there doesn't seem to be a clear answer for my particular situation.
I have a Dr.rer.nat from Germany but currently I am working for an institute in the United Kingdom. Is it legal or acceptable to continue to use the title Dr.rer.nat (First Name) (Last name) in the UK or do I need to change it to (First Name) (Last name), (Ph.D)?<issue_comment>username_1: In the UK the holder of a PhD (or other professional doctorate) will generally use the title Dr as opposed to Mr/Mrs/Miss that would normally be used.
Unlike in Germany there is no addition to field of study.
Therefore the correct title would be Dr (First Name)(Last Name).
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: It is certainly legal to refer to yourself by the title you would use in Germany - few titles are actually legally controlled in the UK - and I would say it is also acceptable. However, I would suggest that is *advisable* to use the normal UK convention so that your audience understands what your title means without you needing to explain.
I would therefore use Dr user23530 rather than Dr.rer.nat user23530.
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/10/29 | 1,866 | 7,846 | <issue_start>username_0: This happened two semesters ago, when I was teaching-assistant to a class of bachelor students. The lecturer had such marking weights, 30% for teaching assistant class including all the homework and his quizzes and 70% to the midterm and final exams.
At that semester, one of the students did not even attend one of my TA classes, did not solve any homework and also did not take any quizzes. I also gave some extra time to the students to give me their homework if they have missed some of them, but he did not give me any in that period of time.
He passed midterm and final exam with a passing mark and normally, I did not give him any mark for his TA part. His final mark was about 65%. I did not even know this guy personally.
After he was announced of his final mark, he called me by my mobile phone and started shouting and swearing to me over the line. I tried to calm him down and explain his wrong attitude towards the TA class but he did not pay attention. He continuously shouted and told me I will do this and I will do that to you! He never tried to make it clear why he was not working on homework or not attend the class. He expected that because he was good at final exam, I have to neglect his weak work in TA class.
I told him that if I give you extra mark for the homework you did not solve and the exams you did not sit, this will be unfair to other students who came to the class and worked on the course. I did not continue that conversation and turned my phone off. I really wanted to help him, but I found no way indeed.
After that, I did not even report him the the university police or the professor for his behaviour.
Was my attitude toward this lazy and angry student correct? How should teaching-assistants deal with such students who behave crazy? How should a TA calm his angry student down and talk to him logically and what should he do when they behave really bad to them?<issue_comment>username_1: As a teaching assistant, **you should not be abused.** If a student becomes angry and abusive, **you need to disengage and pass the problem upwards.** While TAs participate in the grading of a course, the responsibility and authority for dealing with any significant grading dispute with a student lies with the professor, not with any TA. It's OK for TAs to deal with minor problems presented calmly (e.g., "You added up the scores and got the wrong total"), but **major disputes and angry students are not things a TA can or should attempt to handle.**
If you are confronted with an angry student, **do not respond to the content of the dispute.** If you do so, you may say something that can cause a major problem for yourself or the professor later. Instead, just keep repeating something along the lines of,
>
> "Please calm down. This is something that you need to talk to the professor about."
>
>
>
If the student persists to the point where you feel threatened, then you have both the right and the obligation to get campus authorities involved. **A person who is extensively verbally abusive may become physically violent as well, and you need to protect yourself.**
Once you have disengaged from the student, contact the professor immediately and explain the situation. At that point, it is the professor's responsibility to deal with the student, though they may need more information and input from you in deciding how to proceed.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: As mentioned in [another answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/30804/15723), this falls into the general realm of dealing with angry people, not specifically students.
My suggestion in a situation like yours is to attempt to calmly disengage from the phone conversation ***as soon as possible***. In many cases, you cannot make the student calm down.
I would then respond **by e-mail** to the student and CC the professor and any other relevant authority figure.
I've learned from personal experience that phone conversations or verbal interactions can be skewed later and mis-remembered by either or both parties. By responding by e-mail, you have increased the emotional distance from the student and provided a clear record in case of a later dispute. Moreover you have time to make sure your response is calm. I sometimes have trouble remaining calm when someone is yelling at me or verbally abusive.
Calmly explain your position and the grading policy. Attach a copy of the grading scheme from the beginning of the semester and make it clear in the e-mail that you do not appreciate the student verbally attacking you.
The student may dispute that they shouted or were verbally abusive, but because you CC the instructor, you have started a chain of evidence in case the student attempts to go over your head later.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: As a doctoral student with prior TA experience, I would say the first step should be to talk with your direct supervisor. Universities have great professionals in place to handle these situations. If this angry student disrupts the classroom and/or impedes your ability to do your job, you should send this issue up your chain of command so to speak. There are certainly techniques you can learn in communicating with students in the case of isolated and acute occurrences. But, if this is an ongoing problem, it should be handled by the University.
However, I should note, as we were instructed by our university police captain during TA training, the moment a student becomes belligerent and refuses to cooperate you should 1) dismiss the class and 2) call university police. Dismissing the class is a good move because many students who are acting up like having an audience and sending the class out may help to calm down this individual. You run into a lot of different people in the University setting and you never know what they are going through in their lives (e.g. substance-abuse, etc.). If you ever feel uncomfortable or unsafe don't hesitate to call the police. They are there for you.
P.S. Don't ever give out your cell phone number to your students. If they need to reach you outside of class they should make an appointment or send you an email.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: When a student is calling your personal phone to shout and swear at you, you're past the point when you should deal with the situation on your own. Contact the relevant university authorities, and let the professor know what's going on. (Don't ask the professor to handle it; let the university handle it, but keep the professor informed about the situation.) Don't try to calm down or reason with the student on your own; it's not going to be successful, and he's already crossed the line into the area where the university does need to be involved.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Credentialed (licensed) teachers are trained to know the school and state's established policy on such interactions. Make sure you know these or at least where they are so you can refer to them before taking action of any kind. I find this very helpful in reducing the burden of such decisions as dealing with angry and abusive students AND staff.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: Your attitude was not correct - but in a way you probably did not expect. **You did too much yourself.** You should immediately refer him to the professor and let him deal with the situation. It is not your job and you are stressing too much over something that happened **2 semesters ago**! Professor/Lecturer sets the rules and he or she is in the best position to fend of such attacks. I tell all my TAs to refer any complaining students to me. It also works both ways - that way I also keep the tabs on the quality of TAs' work. "The bucket stops here" should be written on every university professor's door.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/10/29 | 2,070 | 8,143 | <issue_start>username_0: Reading the question posted [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30785/what-salutation-to-use-for-someone-with-a-phd-from-germany-in-the-uk) left me with a more general question:
Given the professional title and name: Dr. (First Name)(Last Name), is there some way to differentiate between the holder of a philosophical doctorate and a medical doctor? Wouldn't it be more appropriate for a PhD holder to have the title (First Name)(Last Name), PhD?<issue_comment>username_1: You can't. That's why there are numerous jokes in English-speaking culture about whether someone addressed as "doctor" is a "real" doctor or not. Medical doctors are supposed to be the "real" ones in the jokes.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: You can't immediately tell from the title, but then titles are not typically used by an individual to broadcast their occupation - we don't have variants of "Mr" for plumbers, bank managers, or rock stars - despite their very different occupations. Rather, the title is to be used *by others* when addressing that individual, in order to signify a degree of respect, typically for a particular level of training, qualification and responsibility, or else for a particularly respected position in society. Even the term "mister" is a meaningful sign of respect that historically would not have been as widely applied as it is today - the ratchet of etiquette has gradually eliminated everything below it.
The actual title "Doctor" means "teacher" (from Latin "doceo", "I teach"). This title is more often more relevant to PhDs than MDs, so you probably have your suggested solution backwards. That said, the solution is really neither necessary nor appropriate. Much like "Master" (from Latin "magister", in this case "teacher"), "Doctor" signifies that an individual has not only gained enough competency to practice in a particular field, but has developed enough expertise to instruct others. An individual who is sufficiently qualified to practice but not teach would historically have been known as a "journeyman", roughly equivalent to "professional".
In short "doctor" refers not to a *field* of expertise, but rather to a *level* of expertise.
Incidentally, most UK surgeons drop their title of "Dr" and revert to "Mr" after joining the Royal College of Surgeons. I've heard through a friend of at least one surgeon who reacted quite angrily at being addressed as a mere "Dr", which in such circles, due to a collision between traditional titles and modern medical training, could be unkindly translated as "trainee".
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: A medical practitioner usually holds a MBBS or MD degree or similar and - at a reasonable level of proficiency - membership of a professional body such as the AMA ( American Medical Association) or the RCP ( Royal College of Physicians) or whatever applies in their part of the world.
A holder of an academic doctorate ( PhD, DrPh, EngD etc) has researched a topic or problem within their specific subject in sufficient depth to have generated fresh insights or made a breakthrough or contributed significant new knowledge to the existing corpus.
Both have earned the right to be addressed as 'Dr'.
However, it would appear to me that one or two posters have been watching a few too many episodes of 'The Big Bang Theory' as I think the need to differentiate between the two very rarely applies except in a medical emergency.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: There is no difference in spoken address ('Doctor'), but one is a Ph.D. and the other is an M.D.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: I have seen the difference in the written form of their name;
One is `Name Family, PhD.` and other one is `Name Family MD.`
The same applies to the people holding Engineering doctorates such as `Name Family, EngD.` or holding doctorate in business such as DBA. Also, in different countries there are usually different doctorate titles ([link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_doctoral_degrees_awarded_by_country)) awarded.
But all of these people are called *doctors*.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: In the United States, in spoken address, both are called "doctor."
For personal correspondence, both are addressed as "Dr." as with an invitation addressed to "Dr. and Mrs. Smith." (Or maybe "Dr. and Mr. Smith." If they both hold doctorates, it is "Drs. Smith." For a couple with different family names, use "Dr. Smith and Mr. Brown.")
For professional correspondence, both are addressed by name and degree, as "<NAME>, M.D." or "username_6, Ph.D."
Since the distinction is only relevant in professional interactions, there really isn't any ambiguity.
If you are speaking to a medical doctor professionally, you will know it by the setting, and you still say "doctor." If you ask for medical advice at a cocktail party because someone was introduced as "doctor" you deserve anything you get! I've been known to say, "I'm a college teacher type doctor, not a take-off-your-clothes doctor." That usually sends the message and often gets a laugh.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: In French (maybe other latin countries too), but I don't know about English, you can make a small difference by adding *ès* : <NAME>, Docteur ès Physique.
Then twice in a row you have specified that he was a scientific doctor (not a medical one) and his field of research.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_8: While both have the title of "doctor," that is identifying the fact that they both have the same education level, a doctorate.
The meaningful difference here is *occupation*: one might be a professor, the other a physician.
To differentiate between the two you can use the actual doctorate type or the job title:
* My professor is Dr. Jones. (or) Dr. Jones teaches my class.
* My physician is Dr. Smith.
* <NAME>, Ph.D.
* <NAME>, M.D.
Of course a physician could also be a professor (who teaches in medical school?), or an M.D. might be a researcher who does not treat patients as their primary means of income (i.e. they only deal with patients during the course of medical studies). I do not think you can do much about those cases.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: It's not an easy question to answer. Ph.D's who are professors are just called "professor," and research assistants with a Ph.D are called "doctor" by secretaries and students. Titles are never mentioned in academic papers.
It's different with doctors: Patients and nurses call them "doctor;" if they are also professors, which they often are, the are called "professor" since professors have a higher status than mere M.D.s, and when they write papers in medical journals they put M.D. after their names. When practitioners without an M.D. refer to themselves as "doctor" they are just called "frauds."
Things are much more interesting in Germany. I was treated there by a woman doctor in a University Hospital who was also a professor of medicine. Her title was Frau Dr. Med, Dr. Professor Mueller. Some Professors have three degrees, meaning that are called Herr (or Frau) Dr. Dr. Dr. Professor.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_10: In Germany, it is common to denote the subject area the doctor was obtained in, such as *Dr. med.* for medical doctors, *Dr.-Ing.* for engineers, or *Dr.-rer-nat.* (rerum naturalium) for sciences like chemistry.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_11: The confusing aspect is that doctor connotes medical treatment to most people, not a doctoral degree. Anyone smart enough to have a PhD knows the difference. I would not want a PhD doing my surgery, nor an MD teaching me philosophy.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_12: The usual practical solution is "ask them."
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_13: Doctor means you have a doctorate. Simple as that, a medic can have a doctorate in medicine and thus be a doctor, but if you do not have the degree then you are not a doctor, you can be a surgeon or a licensee of medicine but you are just referred to as doctor out of colloquial use of the title based on historical rots and customs.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/29 | 553 | 2,558 | <issue_start>username_0: When writing a paper it is important to discuss related work. I am working on a problem where two research fields meet. When I did a literature review I noticed that related papers often omit important information or write important information ambiguously. I can understand that this is a problem where two research field meet and that there are two sides of the problem. I believe that in most of these papers relevant information is only given for research field "A" but not "B". Nevertheless methods from research field "B" are used for which the information is not (clearly) given and thus I would never be able to reproduce the results. Therefore when writing my related literature section I was wondering if it is acceptable if I mention these problems for the papers I discuss ?
To be clear, this is not about confidential information, so the authors always choose to do it this way, or are not aware of what they are doing.<issue_comment>username_1: Think about relevance to your results
-------------------------------------
Is the particular criticism relevant to the point of *your paper* ?
For example *"The method described in paper X works only in dry conditions, so for researching dolphin behavior it's not useful and we used a different approach described in chapter 4"* is a relevant criticism and should be included.
*"Paper X is a very poor and ambiguous description of the method using obsolete terminology, I had to read it five times and refer to a Klingon-English dictionary before understanding how it works"* is not relevant, as most likely none of your conclusions would be based on such a sentence. It would be relevant only if your paper is a meta-study on the readability of scientific articles, or if your paper is about historical changes in commonly used terminology in your subfield, where the faults of other papers is the topic of your research.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It is more strategic (for your career) to say what they did and then talk about how other work expanded on that, rather than focus on what they didn't or failed to do. You never know when someone from that field will end up reviewing your work.
For example, you can say "Decades of work from B has implicated the involvement of X in Y. Research from A further suggests that the influence of X on Y is mediated by Z. However, many questions about the underlying mechanisms remain unresolved."
That way, you hint that although the work from B is extensive, it is not conclusive.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/29 | 756 | 3,101 | <issue_start>username_0: I have published a few months ago a paper for an IEEE Conference, the paper got published and it is indexed in the IEEEXplore. I have received an email from a research coordinator at the university that I am currently working on, asking for the online printed version of it. In the affiliation of the article was written the name of this institution, but I wonder if they are going to put in to be available online for free at the university webpage. In that case, that would not cause a problem with the publishing rights of IEEE?<issue_comment>username_1: Whether your institution plans to put it online is a question you have to ask them.
Whether they are allowed to put it online depends on the policies of the journal where it was published. You will need to read the copyright transfer agreement that you accepted when the paper was published.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: [IEEE policy](http://www.ieee.org/documents/author_version_faq.pdf) explicitly allows the author, their institution, or other pre-print repository such as arXiv to distribute the *final preprint version* of any document, but not the version from IEEE Xplore. Scientifically, there is no reason to differentiate between the two, so as long as you send the final preprint version, it accomplishes the task of spreading information and there is no conflict with IEEE policy.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Many universities now have an open-access policy that reserves a **prior non-exclusive license** to distribute any research done at their institution. It is likely that your university has such a policy, and that is the reason for the request. You should check with your university (or look at [this list](http://roarmap.eprints.org/)).
If such a policy is involved, the natural legal question is then
>
> What happens if an author at such a university then signs an agreement transferring copyright to the publisher?
>
>
>
This has been considered in great detail by <NAME> in [a study published in the Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property, Vol. 10, p. 377, 2012](http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1890467). This seems to be the most authoritative work available on the matter. His conclusion is that **the non-exclusive license granted by Harvard-style open access policies will remain in effect in such cases, at least under US law**. This is based on a careful analysis of [section 205(e) of the US Copyright Act](http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/205), which reads:
>
> (e) Priority Between Conflicting Transfer of Ownership and Nonexclusive License.— A nonexclusive license, whether recorded or not, prevails over a conflicting transfer of copyright ownership if the license is evidenced by a written instrument signed by the owner of the rights licensed or such owner’s duly authorized agent, and if—
> (1) the license was taken before execution of the transfer; or
> (2) the license was taken in good faith before recordation of the transfer and without notice of it.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/29 | 503 | 1,728 | <issue_start>username_0: I have a table that compares the performance of different systems according to different error measures:
```
System | Error 1 | change | Error 2 | ...
--------------------------------------| ...
Baseline | 0.6 | - | ...
A | 0.1 | -0.5 | ...
B | 0.3 | -0.3 | ...
C | 0.7 | 0.1 | ...
D | 0.6 | 0.0 | ...
```
I currently chose `-` to denote that the value does not make sense. Of course, I can subtract the error of the baseline system from itself and get 0. But I don't think that makes sense.
Should I put `-` in that cell? Or `--` or `---` (I write the document with LaTeX) or eventually something different like `N/A`? Or make the cell black?<issue_comment>username_1: If it is self-evident (remember to look at your table from the perspective of a reader) I would just leave the cell empty. Less clutter is better. When not, I would tend towards `--`. More importantly I would add a footnote to the table explaining what `--` means. I think the footnote is in that case more important than the difference between `-`, `--`, and `---`.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I cannot find any mention of what to do with missing data in the [APA style](http://www.apastyle.org/), [MLA style](http://www.mla.org/style), or [Chicago style](http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html), but according to [this website on AMA style](http://www.docstyles.com/amastat.htm#Sec23) says:
>
> Missing data and blank space in the table field (ie, and empty cell) may create ambiguity and should be avoided . . . . An ellipsis
> (. . .) may be used to indicate no data are available [or applicable]. (p87)
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/10/29 | 360 | 1,273 | <issue_start>username_0: “All Web Science track papers will be published in the **companion proceedings** of the WWW conference." (<http://www.www2015.it/call-for-web-science-track/>)
What does " companion proceedings" mean？ What are the differences of it with the main proceedings?<issue_comment>username_1: If it is self-evident (remember to look at your table from the perspective of a reader) I would just leave the cell empty. Less clutter is better. When not, I would tend towards `--`. More importantly I would add a footnote to the table explaining what `--` means. I think the footnote is in that case more important than the difference between `-`, `--`, and `---`.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I cannot find any mention of what to do with missing data in the [APA style](http://www.apastyle.org/), [MLA style](http://www.mla.org/style), or [Chicago style](http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html), but according to [this website on AMA style](http://www.docstyles.com/amastat.htm#Sec23) says:
>
> Missing data and blank space in the table field (ie, and empty cell) may create ambiguity and should be avoided . . . . An ellipsis
> (. . .) may be used to indicate no data are available [or applicable]. (p87)
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/10/29 | 1,347 | 5,366 | <issue_start>username_0: At a recent seminar talk, I was amazed to note that one of the two coauthors (not the presenter) was the [president of a large and well-known university](https://president.uchicago.edu/page/about-president-zimmer), since I had always assumed that taking on such a position would necessarily mean the end of a research career.
* Are there m/any examples of people that continue to do substantial amounts of research when in a senior administrative position, such as dean, provost, president, etc.?
* Do research faculty often become deans, presidents, etc.? Why do faculty usually do this? (I understand that there might be a pay increase, but does it usually indicate that they no longer want to do research as intensely?)<issue_comment>username_1: Some do, some don't. Naturally, administration is different kind of work from that of the scholar. There are only so many hours in the day. But administrators have to come from somewhere, don't they?
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: In these positions, one gets to influence the direction of the whole university, rather than the direction of the research of 1 to *n* individuals. At such magnitude, one can effect more change.
Often people get disgruntled with the way things are run at the level they are currently working. The only way to fix things is to move to more managerial positions. Don't like the way the Masters program is run? Become Coordinator of the Masters Programme. Don't like the way the faculty is being run? Become Dean.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I can imagine that one reason a researcher might want to take on an administrative role is it allows them to become more of an advocate for scholarly research. Instead of doing research themselves, they can empower other researchers by ensuring adequate funding, facilities, equipment, and resources are available to perform research.
Can they convince governments/donors to continue giving funds to the institution in the face of budget cuts? I think these sorts of considerations would be something a researcher would have an interest in the outcome of.
Whether or not academics make for good administrators is another issue, and would depend on one's individual background.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Any professor with a large research group has effectively made the transition to administration already. The realities of managing more than a few people working for you on research projects means that a large chunk of one's time is already consumed by writing reports, pursuing funding, managing personnel, etc. The actual amount of time hands-on with research vs. directing and enabling research to be carried out by others typically rapidly decreases as the size of the group rises. From this perspective, the transition to higher-level administrative positions like center or department head, and from there to wider-scope positions like dean or provost may not be as large as it appears.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Related (in a way): [Why do academics write peer reviews?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7556/why-do-academics-write-peer-reviews) At some point in a researcher's career, it comes down to giving back to the community, and part of what the community requires is not only exciting new research, but also the day-to-day administrativia. Bluntly said: someone needs to wash the dishes.
And while there may be non-academic managerial people (chancellors etc.) to do the day-to-day administration, it should really be academics that set policy for an academic environment. So I'd argue that many academics that move into an administrative position do so out of a sense of duty to academia as a whole.
(Of course, there are also the power-hungry types, or those who like the way an administrative position gets them into the limelight and the press more often.)
Finally, at least in Germany, it is common for professors who take on administrative responsibilities to have their teaching load reduced, so the bite doesn't fully come out of research, but at least to a degree out of teaching. Usually, you will make sure to get relieved of giving the less interesting introductory lectures but keep the more advanced ones, so your pipeline of potential grad and Ph.D. students doesn't dry up.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: In answer to the first half of your titular question, "Why do research faculty pursue administrative positions, such as dean, provost, president, etc. ?"
This was the subject of a study several decades ago:
>
> <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, Mid-career change in academia: The decision to become an administrator, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Volume 13, Issue 2, October 1978, Pages 229-241, ISSN 0001-8791, <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0001-8791(78)90048-9>.
>
>
>
To quote this study on the main reason professors chose to switch or not to switch to an administrative track:
>
> A predominant finding in this study was that the attraction of an administrative career for a professor was most attributable to its promise of increased power and authority. In contrast, the professorial career had greater appeal because of its relative autonomy and freedom from organizational demands.
>
>
>
Please read the paper for methodology, limitations, etc.
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/10/29 | 1,000 | 4,019 | <issue_start>username_0: I'm a USA grad student in computational biology. Starting 2 years ago, I tried to get paper X published, with very little feedback from my advisor, and after a year (!) in review paper X was rejected. Meanwhile, I was working on other projects, gaining experience, and drawing closer to graduation. My advisor then asked me to submit X to a kind of shady non-journal "proceedings" (he had some hook-up), and he didn't seem happy that I objected. Now, I hope to graduate in a few months, and with the benefit of my improved knowledge of science, I'm trying to get project X published again. My advisor only cares about getting things out the door, not about the projects, and he has a connection to this Chinese journal (jmcb.oxfordjournals.org) that I never heard of. He is impressed by their impact factor because that's how he is (I can tell they are gaming their IF.). He wants me to put it there, while I think a lower IF, less obscure journal would be way better. Additionally, it appears that very few institutions subscribe to this journal (my univ does not).
It's not a spam journal, but I never would want to submit there, and I feel that I should have some control over it as it's my work. But is it worth it to fight him on this, or should I just go along with it because he's the boss? I guess if it's easy to publish there, I should be grateful not to have to keep working on it after graduation? I do want to do a postdoc.<issue_comment>username_1: If the journal is junk, you should not publish there, period. So, the real question is: Is the journal as bad as you think it is or this journal is just not one of the top journals in your area but still a legit, reputable journal? So, confirm which of the two applies. How to distinguish journals has already been discussed several times in this forum. Check the editors, look their homepages if they mention their editorial work there, see who else publishes there and check some of the published articles.
In case this is actually a legit, reputable journal but still not top of the line, you should really consider if your work is actually as good as you think it is. It already has got a rejection and perhaps your advisor suggests some medium (and not top) journal, since he may believe your work might actually have a chance there. So, be open about this and ask him. What does he actually think about your specific work? Is it not good enough for the top journals? If he believes it is not, perhaps you should reconsider your stance.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Here is what I can say:
1. There are some very respectable people on the editorial board, e.g., <NAME>, <NAME>, etc. That said, I haven't heard of most of the people who are editors, and editorial boards can be manipulated.
2. Oxford University Journals are (quite) reputable - at least, Nucleic Acids Research (NAR) is looked upon very well in my part of the world.
3. I'm not really sure what you mean by "less obscure, lower impact" journal. Like, PLOS one, or Molecular Biology of the Cell? If the latter, it might be worth fighting for, but I don't think a potential postdoc adviser is really going to split hairs between MBoC and the journal you suggest (neither is Cell, right?) I do not think PLOS One would be a better choice.
4. Do you *know* the reputation of the journal your PI wants to submit to is how you perceive it, or is just your perception upon first glance? It may be that the journal is looked on perfectly fine by other researchers. It might be worth talking to a non-adviser mentor in your field about it.
tl;dr: You could fight it, but you probably have better things to do with your time (i.e., find a postdoc), and it's not an obviously bad journal, so I would say just move one.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: If it's true that few libraries subscribe to it, then I would say that's serious enough grounds to choose something else, perhaps an Open Access option.
Upvotes: -1 |
2014/10/29 | 2,007 | 7,039 | <issue_start>username_0: I am doing a literature review in the medical field, which is as many other fields heavily impacted by [publication bias](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKmxL8VYy0M). Is there any standard way to account for it?
When am I e.g. allowed to say that treatment X successfully treat condition Y, despite the fact that a certain amount of studies may have been left unpublished as they did not show statistically significant "positive" results, i.e. that those unpublished studies did not successfully show that treatment X does treat condition Y?
Or shall I just ignore it?<issue_comment>username_1: This is a very good question. Unfortunately, I don't think that there is (or can be) a "standard" answer. Consider: if you found 10 papers finding a strong treatment effect of X on Y, you *a priori* have no way of knowing whether these 10 studies were *all* studies on the X-Y relationship... or whether there were 20 studies, 10 of which were published, while 10 others showed no relationship and ended up in a [file drawer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publication_bias#File_drawer_effect)... or whether in fact there were 100 studies, 90 of which repose peacefully in file drawers all over the world.
That said, there are a few standard ways of at least investigating the structure of *published* effects, among them the [funnel plot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funnel_plot). However, the funnel plot and similar methods will usually only be good for *investigating* publication bias, not for *accounting for* it. And I would argue, as per the previous paragraph, that if you try to *account for* publication bias in any quantitative way, you need to be extremely careful not to overstate your certainty in this accounting, given the uncertainty about inputs into your accounting.
Anyway, while a question like this is certainly on-topic here, you may actually get more answers at CrossValidated, although [a quick search](https://stats.stackexchange.com/search?q=publication%20bias) didn't turn up a lot. You may want to consider posting an analogous question there. Two potentially enlightening questions are [here](https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/38403/what-causes-the-discontinuity-in-the-distribution-of-published-p-values-at-p) and [here](https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/43144/pros-and-cons-of-meta-analyses), the last of which has a very good [answer](https://stats.stackexchange.com/a/43272/1352) pointing to a book, from which I'll quote just one sentence: "Good meta-analyses endeavour to obtain unpublished studies."
EDIT: finally, you may want to check out and/or contact the [Bias Methods Group of the Cochrane Collaboration](http://bmg.cochrane.org/), especially [this list of references](http://bmg.cochrane.org/references-resources#Publication).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: First, you should note the difference between checking for evidence of publication bias and correcting for it. To know that there are patterns in the data that indicates publication bias means that you will be able to temper the discussion of your results, and maybe suggest potential weaknessess in the study, even if it is not possible to correct for biases.
There exists a number of methods that can be used to identify publication bias. A simple graphical *funnel plot* of effect size vs. sample size is maybe the easiest to apply. The idea here is that the scatter around the true effect size should be symmetric and with expanding variance at smaller sample sizes ("trumpet-shaped"). Publication bias can lead to underreporting of non-significant studies with smaller sample sizes, which would result in a skewed pattern in the funnel plot. Another method to test for publication bias is a regression between standardized effects and precision ('Egger's method') or rank-correlation methods. You can get an overview of these methods and others in e.g. [Macaskill et al. (2001)](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sim.698/abstract;jsessionid=74754EA6447D7B6295590ED03EEBF256.f01t03) and [<NAME> (2000)](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10729693).
Accounting/correcting for publication bias is trickier, and I have no personal experiance in using these methods. However, I know that one method that is used in medical research is to only include pre-registred studies in the meta-analysis. If this is possible depends on your topic though. You can also use simulations and parametric methods to basically try to recreate the complete (unknown) dataset, and in this way account for the publication bias (one example of this is [Givens et al. 1997](http://www.jstor.org/stable/2246205))
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In general, it may be a question in statistics rather than 'academia'. E.g. by looking at the distribution of p-values you may have an educated guess about acceptance distribution.
See [this Economist article](http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21588057-scientists-think-science-self-correcting-alarming-degree-it-not-trouble) for description of the problem and [this post/paper](http://digest.bps.org.uk/2012/08/phew-made-it-how-uncanny-proportion-of.html) on the distribution of p-values in psychology (in short: too many just a bit below .05).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: As mentioned above, there are a number of statistical methods available. The funnel plot is probably the oldest, but it has its "issues" (<NAME>., et al (2006). BMJ (Clinical Research Ed), 333(7568), 597–600)
An interesting, newer method is Ioannidis's test for excess significance (<NAME>., & <NAME>. (2007). Clinical Trials (London, England), 4(3), 245–253).
However, all these techniques amount to "statistical divining rods", telling you whether the results seem too good to be true.
If you really want to determine whether publication bias is present, you need to know (a) the results (not just the existence) of unpublished studies and (b) whether the results in the published literature have undergone "statistical alchemy" and, if so, what the true "unspun" results are.
Since you say you're working in medicine, you have a unique opportunity, at least if you're working with drugs. You can use FDA drug approval packages, as I have in my own work. you may find these papers of interest:
<NAME>., <NAME>., <NAME>., <NAME>., & <NAME>. (2008). Selective publication of antidepressant trials and its influence on apparent efficacy. The New England Journal of Medicine, 358(3), 252–260. doi:10.1056/NEJMsa065779
<NAME>., <NAME>., & <NAME>. (2012). Publication Bias in Antipsychotic Trials: An Analysis of Efficacy Comparing the Published Literature to the US Food and Drug Administration Database. PLoS Medicine, 9(3), e1001189. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001189
<NAME>. (2013a). How to access and process FDA drug approval packages for use in research. BMJ (Clinical Research Ed), 347(oct14 2), f5992–f5992. doi:10.1136/bmj.f5992
Hope this helps.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/10/30 | 435 | 1,732 | <issue_start>username_0: I have about 80% weighted average (years count 1, 3, 5), I am on my third BSc year and I would like to apply for a MSc afterwards in top university.
There are 2 4th year subjects that I really, really would like to take, but they are known to be the most difficult subjects in my university. The alternative is to take the easiest courses and keep the grades up.
I did a calculation that I should have about 64% this year to pass with a first.
Should I risk it? Will anyone really acknowledge this risk I am taking? Is it really worth it?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Should I risk it?
>
>
>
That depends on the particulars: how useful are the easy courses, how hard are the hard courses, ...
>
> Will anyone really acknowledge this risk I am taking?
>
>
>
Yes, the admissions committee will certainly consider what subjects you studied.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If you really want to get into top programs, the (not) answer is to take the tough classes and excel in them. At top graduate schools, the average course difficulty will almost certainly be above the hardest undergraduate courses that are available to you. This might be a different story if the classes in question are graduate-level classes.
In terms of graduate admissions, one of the most important factors is not your overall GPA, but your GPA in **known-difficult** courses (this is obviously more of a factor if you did your undergraduate at a well-known school). Avoiding difficult classes is a bad signal, but so it getting poor grades in them. Okay grades in the hardest classes will probably be neutral to positive depending on the situation and how well-known your undergraduate program is.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/10/30 | 865 | 3,611 | <issue_start>username_0: I am in the process of applying for a PhD at the univerity where I am currently completing my undergraduate.
The application has a section for awards.
I don't have anything to show for my time as a undergraduate (my university doesn't really acknowledge achievements in coursework).
I have several awards from my tertairy entrance exams/subjects completed in highschool.
Such as:
* Award from my current univerity for being the highest ranking disabled applicant for undergraduate.
* Award for being one of the highest scoring in my state for a particular tertiary entrance subjects
* Several awards from my highschool for topping the school in particular tertiary entrances subjects
Are achievements/awards gained as a result of actions I undertook in highschool relevant to my application now?
I'm not talking about things like merit certificates in lower years of highschool (Its not impressive to piles of those), just things relating to my tertiary entrance exams/subjects, particularly the first two which are awarded by the university and the state, for achievement in final year of highschool.<issue_comment>username_1: I wouldn't include high school awards because it's really not the same playing field as undergraduate and graduate level study. Were you awarded any scholarships while in school? These can go under awards as well.
Applying to the same institution will likely help your application. If you have no awards, focus on your personal statement which can set you apart. You likely have familiarity with the profs and research happening at your school. Familiarity with those would be impressive in your essay.
Best of luck!
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: High school awards are unlikely to help much but they probably won't hurt you either. I think it's fine to include them on a short "early-career" CV but move them to the very end to signal that you understand that these are not important measures of your current qualifications.
Who knows, if they are really awesome, they might might even help. I saw a graduate student CV once that listed being ranked first on a province-level college admissions exam that included many tens of thousands of students. Sure, it was a long time ago, but I was still impressed enough that I remember this now. I think I kept my high school awards on my CV until I started thinking about going on the faculty job market as a PhD student. At point, they just seemed completely irrelevant.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: In general I would head into the same direction as [<NAME>'s answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/30913/10039): They might not help you in the application but they shouldn't do any harm. However, I would restrict that to awards that have at least *some* relevance to your application. This can be either awards for some achievements in the field of your PhD or awards that are about your general skills.
As an example for the first type, if you apply for a position in biology, you might add an award for being among the top 5% of the state in your high school final exams in biology. I maybe wouldn't include the same biology award if I'd apply for a position in economics. By this you can show that you're already interested in that topic for some time.
For the second type, imagine you received some award for some type of ongoing social engagement beyond the "normal" activities during your high school time. By this you could show that you are not just pulling your duties but also are willing to engage in things that are beyond your obligations.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/10/30 | 801 | 2,969 | <issue_start>username_0: I am thinking about what should I bring to the conference.
Normally, will people dress up (like full suit) for the dinner?
p.s. I am in CS domain.<issue_comment>username_1: No. You do not need to wear a suit for presenting at a conference. Most of the times, CS conferences have the typical t-shirt (or shirt), jeans combination of computer / tech guys.
For the dinner, you can dress a little more formally (if you want) but still a suit is not required. In fact, if you are young (<30) , wearing a suit and a tie would probably seem a little weird.
Bottom line: Wear what you usually wear when you go to work for the presentation and a little more formal (nicer) wear for dinner.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: If it's not the first iteration of the conference, chances are that you could see past editions of the conference, including some pictures of the dinner, so you can just do what you see.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Basically, [what @username_1 said](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/30852/4249). Just wanted to add a specific example: a (CS, European) conference I attended last summer got this fancy place for the gala dinner, and they asked the attendees if they could dress in formal wear.
This wasn't quite well received: most people didn't pack a suit (a lot of them traveled with only hand luggage). The collective decisions was to either *do the best they could* (in the situation) or *not really care*.
Finally, the dinner was a mixture of some suits and dresses (but mostly on older people, I would guess 30+ or even 40+), most people in pants and shirt combination or half-serious summer dresses (instead of standard T-shirt) plus an odd few wearing crazy print T-shirts and jeans. I've seen a few people come in with a tie, look around and then discreetly take it off and tuck it in their pockets :)
So bottom line is: overall, people at the gala dinner will be slightly less casually dressed than your typical day in the office (in European labs, at least) or conference presentations. Also, it's not uncommon to end up in a bar after the gala, and you probably don't want to overdress and look out-of-place if that happens.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I can only tell you my experience at conferences - biomedical in the U.S. - the bio conferences tend to be pretty dressy with most conference goes in sports coats (for guys) and formal pant suits for women.
I would bring a nice shirt/slacks and sports coat, at least you can quickly mold to the situation. I didn't know the conference was that dressy and felt out of place in a polo shirt and slacks (this was again my experience). But every industry is different, it depends on where the conference is (hawaii or chicago), how many people are there, who you want to impress, etc.). Nobody will remember if you overdressed but everyone will remember if you were that guy who showed up to a gala in shorts/t-shirt.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/30 | 910 | 3,535 | <issue_start>username_0: It's very important for a research professional (such as a Statistician) who needs to work on multidisciplinary fields to attend international conferences and see what's going around in the field of research. However, sometimes information contained in the websites about the upcoming conferences are too subject specific (e.g. there's so many related to computer science).
Is there any website that 'gathers information' (rather than just providing information from the user submitted ones) on all conferences irrespective of particular subject areas?
If there is any website about conferences that is related to Statistics and the fields which has its use, it'll do for me as well. Thank you for your reading.<issue_comment>username_1: No. You do not need to wear a suit for presenting at a conference. Most of the times, CS conferences have the typical t-shirt (or shirt), jeans combination of computer / tech guys.
For the dinner, you can dress a little more formally (if you want) but still a suit is not required. In fact, if you are young (<30) , wearing a suit and a tie would probably seem a little weird.
Bottom line: Wear what you usually wear when you go to work for the presentation and a little more formal (nicer) wear for dinner.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: If it's not the first iteration of the conference, chances are that you could see past editions of the conference, including some pictures of the dinner, so you can just do what you see.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Basically, [what @username_1 said](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/30852/4249). Just wanted to add a specific example: a (CS, European) conference I attended last summer got this fancy place for the gala dinner, and they asked the attendees if they could dress in formal wear.
This wasn't quite well received: most people didn't pack a suit (a lot of them traveled with only hand luggage). The collective decisions was to either *do the best they could* (in the situation) or *not really care*.
Finally, the dinner was a mixture of some suits and dresses (but mostly on older people, I would guess 30+ or even 40+), most people in pants and shirt combination or half-serious summer dresses (instead of standard T-shirt) plus an odd few wearing crazy print T-shirts and jeans. I've seen a few people come in with a tie, look around and then discreetly take it off and tuck it in their pockets :)
So bottom line is: overall, people at the gala dinner will be slightly less casually dressed than your typical day in the office (in European labs, at least) or conference presentations. Also, it's not uncommon to end up in a bar after the gala, and you probably don't want to overdress and look out-of-place if that happens.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I can only tell you my experience at conferences - biomedical in the U.S. - the bio conferences tend to be pretty dressy with most conference goes in sports coats (for guys) and formal pant suits for women.
I would bring a nice shirt/slacks and sports coat, at least you can quickly mold to the situation. I didn't know the conference was that dressy and felt out of place in a polo shirt and slacks (this was again my experience). But every industry is different, it depends on where the conference is (hawaii or chicago), how many people are there, who you want to impress, etc.). Nobody will remember if you overdressed but everyone will remember if you were that guy who showed up to a gala in shorts/t-shirt.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/30 | 777 | 3,380 | <issue_start>username_0: If your undergraduate degree transcript shows that you failed one subject, and in the other you barely passed but still you have a good WAM (say 85) or GPA (say 6.5 out of 7), would those two subjects in your transcript destroy your chances of being admitted?
To be more specific, I graduated last year with a combined degree (Electrical engineering and Mathematics). I got 40 in Digital Fundamentals and 61 in physics. These two subjects were first year, first semester subjects of my undergraduate. All my other grades were greater than 85. My current GPA is 6.8 (out of 7) and my WAM (weighted average mark) is 86 (out of 100). The second time that I did digital fundamentals, I got 96.
I am planning to do a phd in electrical engineering.<issue_comment>username_1: You're not going to like this, but the answer is, "it depends."
If you flunked computer science, it'll be hard to find a CS program that will take you. If you flunked underwater basket weaving and want admission to a CS program, well, that might work. If "failed one subject" means "failed one course," that might not be too bad. If it means "never passed even one history course, " not so much.
It also depends on how long it's been since you were an undergraduate. Admissions committees understand that people mature and that a poor showing in the distant past doesn't necessarily mean you'll be a poor scholar today.
To be blunt, it also depends on the school to which you apply. Harvard probably won't take you, but there could be schools that might. Pick a couple, visit them in person with a copy of your transcript, and ask. You'll need an appointment for that personal visit; if you just show up, no telling who will talk to you. You're visiting in person to show them you're serious.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I should say it depends to what school you are applying. GPA is considered as an important factor but I should tell you something. GPA is considered as a negative factor meaning that most of graduate schools have a threshold GPA and if your GPA is below that then you are not considered as a competitive and if your GPA is higher than that then they will consider other factors in your application.
You see that every graduate school requires you to upload your transcript because transcript shows whether you have have failed the course, have received late drop,have received an incomplete grade and many other things. They also look what course you have taken and what grades you have received in your transcript. Now the answer to your question varies based on your interest.If you want to study electrical Engineering then your Electrical engineering courses are more important for admission and specifically within Electrical Engineering courses those that stress more on your research and your pathway caries more weight. For example, if you are studying communication or control theory physic might not be that big of deal but if you are planning to study solid state or photonics low grade in physic might be a matter of concern.
Important point you should consider is that most of graduate schools ask you to upload additional documents such as your personal statement or something similar to that. This lets you explain why you receive a bad grade in your physic and Digital fundamental course and how you improve your grades.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/10/30 | 461 | 2,053 | <issue_start>username_0: In a couple of either books or articles that I have read as part of my research there have been some minor errors (when taken in context of the whole work) when they relate to the area I am researching. My general research area is History.
For example one is, Area A operated as a B. Wherein fact it should have said Area A operated as a C.
The reasoning I was thinking of referring to them is to highlight while there is good literature on the topic I'm researching, sometimes errors can occur in more general histories which (hopefully) my thesis can address.
Is it appropriate to refer to such errors in that context?<issue_comment>username_1: If such errors in published literature are relevant to the question of your thesis, then yes, it is not only appropriate, but even necessary that you address them.
Otherwise, if the question of your thesis is not affected by these errors, and they are not major problems, I don't think they are important enough to mention in the literature review.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I think as a rule of thumb: you have to consider what those errors mean.
If they are minor errors (maybe a wrong year for the death of a person or some spelling errors) then let it be. If there are errors that point to something else (especially in your field: History), you have to point to the cause. Are they really errors or is it a movement / conspiracy / something else that causes those errors? It often happens that new political regimes in a country rewrite the history (sometimes by deleting things, sometimes by adding errors or rumors so that the interpretation of various historical events is not clear enough - so that those events will be simply not important enough to be considered for future history books, and so and so forth...).
Or perhaps the historians who wrote those books you want to point to were simply not good enough at doing their job and just copy pasted things here and there, thus helping the wrong information to spread.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/30 | 995 | 4,497 | <issue_start>username_0: I have been reviewing a paper where the authors apply a computational method from an earlier paper they published to a specific system of general relevance. The paper seemed ok, and I recommended major revision in the review.
After submitting the review, I've been working with this computational method myself and discovered that the way the authors applied the method is seriously flawed, so that it makes in general no sense to interpret the result in any way without further tests. If I had noted this problem earlier, I would probably have recommended rejection in my review.
What's the recommended course of action in this situation? Should I notify the editor of this additional discovery, so that the authors can directly take care of it in their (presumably ongoing) revision, or is it better to just wait for a request to review the revised version?
I haven't heard any decision from the journal so far, but I don't think that the paper will be accepted without revisions.<issue_comment>username_1: It is certainly advisable to notify the editor, so that she/he can pass on the information to the authors. The editor may or may not take this information into account for the decision.
When sending the information, you may want to offer to write a revised version of the review.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> What's the recommended course of action in this situation? Should I notify the editor of this additional discovery, so that the authors can directly take care of it in their (presumably ongoing) revision,
>
>
>
Yes, I think so. This seems to be in the best interest of all involved: you, the authors and the journal. It may be tempting to feel "embarrassed" about this or feel loathe to hold up the stately train of the editorial process, but you should resist these temptations: part of being a professional academic is being completely willing to change and adjust to new information and/or new insight you've acquired.
>
> or is it better to just wait for a request to review the revised version?
>
>
>
No, I don't think so. Put yourself in the authors' shoes: wouldn't you like to have this information as soon as possible? Revising a paper without knowing about a serious -- potentially fatal -- error sounds like it could be a waste of their valuable time. Moreover, the longer they think that the paper will be accepted with revisions, the more disappointed they will be when they learn about the true situation.
I would write up carefully your description of the error as though it were part of the original referee report. In effect this does become a new referee report, but you don't necessarily need to edit this into the old referee report: having already submitted that, the matter of it is to convey the new information. Of course, the final decision about in what manner to inform the authors lies with the editor.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: You should definitely contact the editor as soon as possible. It is not certain that the editor has provided your review to the authors yet and even if the editor has done so, receiving the additional information allows the editor to make additional decisions concerning additional revisions or even rejecting the paper altogether.
So it is vital that you send your additional information as soon as possible.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: In addition to all other excellent recommendations I would just highlight that reporting a flaw in the paper is in your own best interest. Imagine the paper is accepted. Then others will try to reproduce the results or scrutinize the computational methods. If other researchers find flaws in the paper that may force a retraction. Depending on the popularity of the paper that may lead to wonder how it could have been accepted on the first place. In that case the blame usually goes to journals and referees. Although referees are frequently anonymous this hypothetical situation may damage your reputation as a referee in that journal. If referees are not anonymous then your reputation can be even more affected.
On the other side of the coin, if you report a potential flaw and it turns out the flaw does not exists, then probably means the authors needed to give extended explanations- your report will give them the opportunity to do so. That would not affect your reputation- referees' job is to question what its in the manuscript- even when sometimes we may be wrong.
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/10/30 | 294 | 1,272 | <issue_start>username_0: I wrote a paper to a journal, which is still under review. Now I need to cite it in another paper that is double-blinded. Is this a problem?<issue_comment>username_1: When it comes to double-blind review, it's up to everyone in the process to respect the blinding. Internet searches and unblind an article very quickly, so everyone who reviews blinded articles knows their not supposed to do it. As long as you follow the blinding instructions, it should be OK.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Typically, there are two ways to cite yourself in a double-blind paper:
1. Cite the paper as though it were written by somebody else
2. Blank the information in the citation (e.g., "Blinded paper currently in review")
You should use the first whenever possible, since it is more informative and allows the reviewer to consult the reference. The second case is used when it cannot apply and maintain blinding, like citing the conference version of a paper in an extended version for a journal. Your case is another good example: the paper is under review and so cannot be read by the reviewers in any case, so blanking the citation is fine. The article formatting guidelines may even give you a specific preferred method for doing so.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/30 | 1,369 | 5,310 | <issue_start>username_0: I notice that some schools, e.g., MIT EECS, has these two non-faculty appointments, Principal Research Scientist and Senior Research Scientist.
At least true for MIT EECS:
Both of them, just as Faculty members, are PI's and can run their own research groups. One difference I know is that Principal Research Scientist's appointment is reviewed every 4 years, whereas Senior Research Scientist's is evaluated every 5 years (as per MIT's website). Yet, this doesn't tell much.
In addition, Principal Research Scientist falls under "Sponsored Research Staff Appointments" category, whereas Senior Research Scientist falls under "Academic Research Staff Appointments". Does this tell something?
What is the exact difference between them and the Faculty members (i.e., professors)?
Why aren't they just called professors?
What are the differences between these two?<issue_comment>username_1: In many U.S. institutions, MIT EECS being one example, there are parallel Professor and Research Scientist career tracks. Typically, they compare as follows:
* Professors are required to teach, supervise students, are always primary investigators, can gain tenure, and have 9-month salary paid by the department, with summer pay dependent on external funding.
* Research Scientists are not required to teach (though they often do, particularly graduate seminars), sometimes supervise students, are sometimes primary investigators, cannot gain tenure, and all of their pay is dependent on external funding.
Both tracks have rank denoted by adjective (e.g., "Assistant, Associate, [], XXX Chair" for a professor). Typically 'Principal' is higher than 'Senior'---the numbers on the [MIT EECS pages](http://www.csail.mit.edu/biographies/PI/biolist.php) look to imply the opposite of that, but I am not certain.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: According to the MIT EECS pages, there are two tracks:
* Academic Research Staff. These are mostly shorter term (such as a Postdoctoral Fellow), and are funded externally (by grants and similar).
* Sponsored Research Staff. These are longer term appointments which are funded by the department.
Senior Research Scientist is an Academic Research Staff position, because while it is long-term, it is also a position for which the researcher is expected to procure their own funding.
From [5.3](http://web.mit.edu/policies/5/5.3.html#sub3), the SRS's funding:
>
> Appointees to this rank generally are expected to raise funds to
> conduct research and cover their own salaries.
>
>
>
Principal Research Scientist is a Sponsored Research Staff position, and is funded by the department (though I'm sure they can get their own funding also, their salary is paid by the department).
From [5.2](http://web.mit.edu/policies/5/5.2.html#sub1), the PRS's funding:
>
> Funding responsibility resides with the department, laboratory, or center that is the locus of the appointment.
>
>
>
From [5.1](http://web.mit.edu/policies/5/5.1.html) on the difference:
>
> Two types of research appointments are described in the following
> sections: long-term appointments, which are classified as sponsored
> research staff appointments, with the exception of the Senior Research
> Scientist/Associate/ Engineer position; and short-term appointments,
> which are, in general, classified as academic research appointments.
>
>
> The purpose of the campus research appointment structure is to create
> professional sponsored research staff categories with employee
> benefits and privileges in order to encourage long-term research
> careers at MIT. The concept of long-term professional careers,
> independent of classroom teaching and supported entirely from research
> grants, is not a new one for the American research university. This
> mode of research, with professionals working in departments,
> laboratories, and centers, is an important mechanism for universities
> to maintain research viability, enter new fields, and bring
> researchers to the campus.
>
>
>
It seems evident that Senior RS is basically the same position as PRS, but not funded by the department. In some cases, the PRS could earn more, because (for example) a NIH-funded SRS would be limited by NIH regulations, while a PRS who is funded by the department is only limited by whatever MIT chooses to pay them.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: For scientists,there are "Research Scientist", "Principal" and "Senior". The latter two can be PIs. The later two also have short term tenure meaning the university will cover their pay for a short term should their funding lapse. I believe for Senior it is one year. Senior are equivalent of full professors in rank and help set the research direction of the whole lab or group. Principals can seek and run their own grants and may or may not have some departmental funding if the dept has large support grants.
Senior is definitely a bigger deal than Principal. There is a big salary step to senior. At MIT Senior is limited to 10% of faculty and principal to 15%. Scientists don't have to teach or have grad students and have no "tenure clock". you will typically find them at larger research groups and labs that have dozens if not over a hundred staff and students.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/30 | 1,816 | 7,516 | <issue_start>username_0: Is it OK to prevent students from using their cellphones during the lecture by stating that in the syllabus?
and how to deal with students who insist on using their cellphones during the lecture?
(Most of what they do is either to text message or to browse the internet. Often I see those who are used to use the cellphones during the lecture smiling or showing something on the phone to the person next to them which might start a side chat. Is that OK to ignore?)<issue_comment>username_1: By stating that you forbid students from using their cellphones in a lecture in a formal manner, you are making a rod for your own back. Some (many? most?) students will continue to use their cellphones during your lecture. Unless you draw attention to this when it happens, students may feel that the rules you have specified in your syllabus are, instead, suggestions, and some of the other rules may similarly be broken.
If your goal is to increase attention, there are other techniques. For instance, make it a habit to engage with the class by asking (easy) questions. Direct one of these at a habitual cellphone user. Even if the user is fiddling with his/her phone at the time, wait until the silence in the class becomes more engaging than facebook/twitter/email. He/she looks up. You have an enquiring face. What's the answer? Don't know. Oh. Anyone else? Point made. Move on.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> What is the best policy to deal with students using their cellphones
> inside the class?
>
>
>
In my opinion: Just ignore them. As long as they are not disturbing the class I don't see a point in doing anything.
There are many different reasons for using a mobile phone during class, maybe they have to check something you said in the course material, maybe they just want to check their time or maybe their learning speed is faster than your teaching speed.
What you are trying to fight here seem to be two things:
1. The students are distracted by their phones.
2. The students are distracting someone else by talking to them.
The first thing is, in my opinion, not your problem. They are old enough to decide for themselves if they want to pay attention or not. You are providing them with the opportunity to learn something and if they take advantage of it is up to them.
The second point is (again, only my opinion) a valid point. However, I think you have the wrong approach here. You can't possibly know if banning mobile phones achieves that goal. The reason for using mobile phones is, most of the time, boredom (for whatever reason) and if not allowed to distract them with their phone they might try to distract them by talking with their neighbor. Therefore, a ban of mobile phones **might** be the cause for more side chats. If you want to reduce these chats maybe you should try it more directly.
>
> Is it OK to prevent students from using their cellphones during the
> lecture by stating that in the syllabus?
>
>
>
The question should be: Is it OK to try to prevent students from using their cellphones. Here you have (as already said by @username_1) a problem of enforceability. Students are still going to use mobile phones (most of them (including me ;-)) don't even have a watch anymore) and then you have the problem that it will be hard to enforce your rule.
Again, I think you are trying to fight two things with your mobile ban: Distraction for themselves (which is, in my opinion) non of your business (and most students would just switch to something else to distract them) and distraction of others by talking to their neighbors.
If you want to fight the second point you should, in my opinion, try to enforce this directly, e.g. by asking them if they have a question (or, if it happened more often, to tell them to shut up or, in the worst case, just kicking them out) or, as @username_1 suggested, ask them an easy question.
Personally, I think it is impossible to distinguish if they are discussing something relevant to the course (which, in my opinion, is great and should not be banned) and irrelevant chats which are a (minor) distraction and should be banned, therefore I tend to ask if there is a question.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: One of my high school math teachers used to make us leave backpacks, phones, even calculators in the front of the classroom during his lecture. This allowed us to spend less time on lectures, but with more dialogue, and gave all of us a feel for how to help each other. Sure, some of us were smarter than others, but when smart students got bored they could raise their hands and ask tougher questions, and when students fell behind, other students who were closer to the same level could offer their own explanations. That wouldn't have been possible if we'd had access to cell phones or even search engines, and it allowed him to more effectively pace his lecture according to class needs.
I don't think there's a universal answer to this question - it's like asking for a 'best' chess opening . . . but a few things to keep in mind:
* Cell phones don't just hurt attention span, they hurt class feedback, causing not only a clueless student, but a professor who is largely clueless about 'why' the student is clueless.
* People with phones don't have any idea how distracted they are. Not remotely. Even people who know will repeatedly underestimate the problem.
* The same students who complain about your anti-phone rules during the first week of class will blame you for their lack of understanding during the last week of class.
* Students who are smart enough to get bored of the lecture are often capable of identifying the needs of other students and helping to move the class forward - unless preoccupied by cell phones.
And on the flip side, a student who is *determined* to use a cell phone but isn't *allowed* to use it will invest extra focus in hiding the activity. At that level of determination though, I'd have to agree with Al<NAME>'s assessment that the student really does deserve to fall behind.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Regarding the use of cellphones in class-if I were an instructor, I would make it clear on the first day of class that they don't need to be on cell phones during the class. It can distract others, plus it shows disrespect for the learning environment and the teacher. Stating the issue of cell phones during the lecture by stating that in the syllabus is an excellent approach and needs to be enforced!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: One of my colleagues says that any student found using a phone during class will have their final course graded lowered by two letter grades. While that seems draconian to me, one of my students says NO ONE has a phone out during his classes. Don't know if he has ever had to enforce it, but the threat seems to work.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: (am not a professor, but am well versed in common sense) My approach would be along these lines:
As long as such activities are not impeding the ability of other students to learn, I would ignore students who are focused on their phones. It is completely within their rights to choose to ignore a lecture, or material that may help them pass a course.
If, however, said phone activity is causing disruption I would ask the student to either put the phone away, or finish the activity elsewhere.
You cannot save everyone, best to focus on those who clearly want to be there.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/10/30 | 1,810 | 7,564 | <issue_start>username_0: For a class project in machine learning, I am considering building a set of predictors where the feature set includes information about the topic, keywords in the title, the authors, the date, etc., and the outputs are probability of getting published, expected citation impact, etc.
I would like to choose a single journal such as *Nature* for example. Will it be possible to collect the necessary data to accomplish this? Anyone have tips on where I can find statistical data about particular research journals?<issue_comment>username_1: By stating that you forbid students from using their cellphones in a lecture in a formal manner, you are making a rod for your own back. Some (many? most?) students will continue to use their cellphones during your lecture. Unless you draw attention to this when it happens, students may feel that the rules you have specified in your syllabus are, instead, suggestions, and some of the other rules may similarly be broken.
If your goal is to increase attention, there are other techniques. For instance, make it a habit to engage with the class by asking (easy) questions. Direct one of these at a habitual cellphone user. Even if the user is fiddling with his/her phone at the time, wait until the silence in the class becomes more engaging than facebook/twitter/email. He/she looks up. You have an enquiring face. What's the answer? Don't know. Oh. Anyone else? Point made. Move on.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> What is the best policy to deal with students using their cellphones
> inside the class?
>
>
>
In my opinion: Just ignore them. As long as they are not disturbing the class I don't see a point in doing anything.
There are many different reasons for using a mobile phone during class, maybe they have to check something you said in the course material, maybe they just want to check their time or maybe their learning speed is faster than your teaching speed.
What you are trying to fight here seem to be two things:
1. The students are distracted by their phones.
2. The students are distracting someone else by talking to them.
The first thing is, in my opinion, not your problem. They are old enough to decide for themselves if they want to pay attention or not. You are providing them with the opportunity to learn something and if they take advantage of it is up to them.
The second point is (again, only my opinion) a valid point. However, I think you have the wrong approach here. You can't possibly know if banning mobile phones achieves that goal. The reason for using mobile phones is, most of the time, boredom (for whatever reason) and if not allowed to distract them with their phone they might try to distract them by talking with their neighbor. Therefore, a ban of mobile phones **might** be the cause for more side chats. If you want to reduce these chats maybe you should try it more directly.
>
> Is it OK to prevent students from using their cellphones during the
> lecture by stating that in the syllabus?
>
>
>
The question should be: Is it OK to try to prevent students from using their cellphones. Here you have (as already said by @username_1) a problem of enforceability. Students are still going to use mobile phones (most of them (including me ;-)) don't even have a watch anymore) and then you have the problem that it will be hard to enforce your rule.
Again, I think you are trying to fight two things with your mobile ban: Distraction for themselves (which is, in my opinion) non of your business (and most students would just switch to something else to distract them) and distraction of others by talking to their neighbors.
If you want to fight the second point you should, in my opinion, try to enforce this directly, e.g. by asking them if they have a question (or, if it happened more often, to tell them to shut up or, in the worst case, just kicking them out) or, as @username_1 suggested, ask them an easy question.
Personally, I think it is impossible to distinguish if they are discussing something relevant to the course (which, in my opinion, is great and should not be banned) and irrelevant chats which are a (minor) distraction and should be banned, therefore I tend to ask if there is a question.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: One of my high school math teachers used to make us leave backpacks, phones, even calculators in the front of the classroom during his lecture. This allowed us to spend less time on lectures, but with more dialogue, and gave all of us a feel for how to help each other. Sure, some of us were smarter than others, but when smart students got bored they could raise their hands and ask tougher questions, and when students fell behind, other students who were closer to the same level could offer their own explanations. That wouldn't have been possible if we'd had access to cell phones or even search engines, and it allowed him to more effectively pace his lecture according to class needs.
I don't think there's a universal answer to this question - it's like asking for a 'best' chess opening . . . but a few things to keep in mind:
* Cell phones don't just hurt attention span, they hurt class feedback, causing not only a clueless student, but a professor who is largely clueless about 'why' the student is clueless.
* People with phones don't have any idea how distracted they are. Not remotely. Even people who know will repeatedly underestimate the problem.
* The same students who complain about your anti-phone rules during the first week of class will blame you for their lack of understanding during the last week of class.
* Students who are smart enough to get bored of the lecture are often capable of identifying the needs of other students and helping to move the class forward - unless preoccupied by cell phones.
And on the flip side, a student who is *determined* to use a cell phone but isn't *allowed* to use it will invest extra focus in hiding the activity. At that level of determination though, I'd have to agree with Al<NAME>'s assessment that the student really does deserve to fall behind.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Regarding the use of cellphones in class-if I were an instructor, I would make it clear on the first day of class that they don't need to be on cell phones during the class. It can distract others, plus it shows disrespect for the learning environment and the teacher. Stating the issue of cell phones during the lecture by stating that in the syllabus is an excellent approach and needs to be enforced!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: One of my colleagues says that any student found using a phone during class will have their final course graded lowered by two letter grades. While that seems draconian to me, one of my students says NO ONE has a phone out during his classes. Don't know if he has ever had to enforce it, but the threat seems to work.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: (am not a professor, but am well versed in common sense) My approach would be along these lines:
As long as such activities are not impeding the ability of other students to learn, I would ignore students who are focused on their phones. It is completely within their rights to choose to ignore a lecture, or material that may help them pass a course.
If, however, said phone activity is causing disruption I would ask the student to either put the phone away, or finish the activity elsewhere.
You cannot save everyone, best to focus on those who clearly want to be there.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/10/30 | 895 | 3,510 | <issue_start>username_0: I'm applying to Stanford, which requires 2 letters of recommendation from teachers, due in 2 days.
Both teachers have known about this since mid-September, but one of them hasn't submitted his letter. I've asked him, and he tells me that he has one prepared, but he hasn't submitted it yet.
I can't add a third letter that would qualify because of the way that the common application works.
Should I wait for the deadline to pass, hoping that he turns his letter in at the last minute?
Or should I ask someone else to write a letter in his place?
I'm mainly considering the first option, because I have no reason not to trust him, ~~but I'm not sure what will happen if he doesn't pull through.~~
Turns out that they *do* accept letters of recommendation after the deadline, so long as the application is in on time.<issue_comment>username_1: Politely and very gently remind the professor that the letter of recommendation is due. That's really all you can do. If your professors says they will submit it on time, try to believe them.
As you have found out after posting the question, to the extent that it doesn't hold up other parts of their process, people on admissions committees understand that your flakey letter writers don't mean that *you* are flakey and will usually do what they can to accept or consider late letters. Often, departments will remind students or letter writers that their letters are missing, at, or even after, a deadline.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Prior to the application deadline I would send an email along these lines (taken from [Cindy Au on Quora](https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-etiquette-for-sending-reminder-emails-to-professors-writing-recommendations-for-you/answer/Cindy-Au-1)):
>
> Dear Professor [Professor's name],
>
>
> The deadline for submitting letter of recommendation for [name of
> graduate program/ fellowship] is quickly approaching. I would like to
> inquire if there is still any document I can supply to make your
> writing easier.
>
>
> I understand that this is a very hectic time in the school year and
> thus can't thank you enough for your time and support.
>
>
> Respectfully yours,
>
>
>
You can also "accidentally" try to run across the teacher around his/her lab or class location, or simply drop by his/her office, but it really depends on teacher's style as some might be a bit annoyed. For most the email should be enough. Academics are used to deadlines (and last-minute submissions).
When I was applying for grad schools I applied for a fellowship whose deadline was 15 days before grad schools' deadlines, so that gave me two weeks of safety (I didn't care about the fellowship as it was conditioned on me returning to my home country after the PhD), but anyway if you trust a professor enough to write a recommendation letter for you, you can also trust that he will submit on time.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: There's sort of an unspoken rule that writers will not always get letters in on time and letters are frequently accepted late. But late acceptance usually depends on how prestigious the thing you're applying to is. Your case is iffy. The general rule is to write early and often: Two months, one month, two weeks, one week, two days, day of, and shameful "you're late email" and a follow up with the program about whether they're still accept your letter. The place you're applying to will also, often, send reminder emails to the writer.
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/10/30 | 645 | 2,648 | <issue_start>username_0: I am looking at graduate schools and one of the things I would like to know about the schools I'm looking at is where recent graduates are now. I realize that contacting the colleges individually would certainly work. However, there are a lot of colleges out there, and it is untenable to ask them all individually. Is there a place where this kind of thing is available online?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Is there a place where this kind of thing is available online?
>
>
>
No. Not to my knowledge.
Some departments list where (some) of their graduates go after finishing their PhD. Your best source of information is your potential advisor webpage. Some professors mention where his/her PhD students go after finishing their degree while others mention only the names.
In the latter case, one simple way is to Google their names; you may get an idea where are they now. Another is to look for your potential advisor recent publications that are co-authored by his/her graduated students. You may know where are they now by their affiliation.
If you still do not have a potential advisor, a random sample over the faculty members in your department may be sufficient.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: If your looking at PhD's who presumably wanted to go on to academic careers, and if you can get a list of the graduates from a particular year, then you can generally track those people down by searching for them using Google. Most people who've remained in academia have at least some presence on the web. Folks who go to work in industry often become invisible.
The hard part is getting a list of graduates from a particular year. This can sometimes be done using commencement programs. I have done this using the mathematics genealogy project at:
```
[http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/][1]
```
Despite the name, this database has records for computer science, mathematics, and statistics graduates from many institutions. You can search by institution name and year of PhD (e.g. I'm Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1992.)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: If you're looking for graduates who went to private companies, you may try LinkedIn. In theory, the private companies' keep their list of employees private. With the heavy use of LinkedIn, it's easier to search for people who went to certain schools and work/worked at certain companies. The problem is that the information is not readily available to people who don't have any connections to the schools and the companies.
Of course, there are always people who are so private that they don't sign up for LinkedIn.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/31 | 810 | 3,480 | <issue_start>username_0: Is there any extensive research/study/survey that looked at what percentage of people who left academia were happy with their decision after X years?
I mostly interested in the computer science field (machine learning) in the US, but curious about other fields and locations as well.
People leaving academia can be PhD students or after (tenure-track, tenured, soft-money research positions, national lab researchers, etc.).<issue_comment>username_1: Well, I cannot think a reason that such a study should be either thought of doing or published... It lacks in many aspects (strictly speaking of study) and has really many dependencies (e.g. economical, political, cultural, scientific discipline, field in the discipline and others).
What I think that you actually seeking is some sort of justification for preferring one after the other. Since I can only speak of my self, I will try to present my point of view.
Professional and academic "worlds" are interconnected. Neither is better, "scientificier", more correct or anything than the other. Actually, (I believe that) it is supposed that academia is the more risky research department of a society, where by "risky" I mean research that mostly not results in a commercial ready product. But academia involves also teaching, where by teaching means that you have to pass to others what you know.
On the other hand, professional world is not only sales. It has development, implementations and other really interesting parts (at least to me). Of course, without sales there would not be any actual "sales"... but that's something that I cannot discuss because I think my self as a little biased on that subject. Professional world has also patents, applied knowledge, problem solving on implementation (and not in simulation) and actually making things that work all the time.. not only in the lab or at the presentation. I think that you can image what would happened if your car, your kitchen, your laptop and all the other facilities worked as most things in academia presentations, applications etc.. Armageddon!
Finally, a PhD is not only a way for an academic career. It is also a good way for creating a start-up company! Or obtaining patents! Especially of you get paid during your PhD.
So, what someone should choose must not be based on "how most people felt" but on which enviroment feels better and what goals this person have, i.e. wants to create things that actually work? things that are used as they are by many? Or teach and conduct research for unsolved problems or in order to optimize existing implementations?
And a final tip, if you are thinking on starting a PhD for pursuing an academic career then you choose it for the wrong reason (at least on my perspective). A PhD should be started for satisfying the inner need of research and not because taken as a career solving degree.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I believe some of the national longitudinal surveys would cover this for the US.
For instance, the [National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort](http://www.bls.gov/nls/nlspressreleases.htm#anchy79) started tracking "middle school" age students in 1979 and is still tracking them. They have hundreds to thousands of attributes including education and many measures of health and happiness (though not all are updated every year).
Another example is the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health).
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/31 | 3,581 | 14,875 | <issue_start>username_0: For some of my more difficult and early morning tests, I will buy coffee and bring it with me into the exam. My hope is that the caffeine will help me be fully alert, think more clearly, and write answers more quickly.
However, I know that drinking caffeine puts me in a slightly different state of mind physiologically than my classmates. Is it fair for me to drink caffeinated beverages at tests? If it isn't, is it merely something rude that would be nice for me to stop, or a form of mild cheating that I would be wise to admit to and discuss with my professors?<issue_comment>username_1: Working in computer science and looking at the consume of caffeinated beverages in the department I'm wondering: Is it possible to work without? Seriously, you are legally allowed to buy this stuff and as long as it is not forbidden by any rule of your university it is totally fine to do so (**edit:** As long as you fit 'social norms'). Some people will eat dextrose/glucose or do other things they think will help them. Everybody has his/her own ritual I guess.
Taking other drugs to be able to learn better is a whole different story but here I don't see any problem as long as your university allows it. So it is neither rude nor any form of cheating.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: That would be totally acceptable. Remember, you are also in a totally different state if you went to the toilet right before the exam. If you drank a litre of water in the morning. If you ate something for breakfast that happens to contain lots of short-chained carbohydrates, providing lots of energy for your brain.
You have to draw the line somewere and coffee is definitely acceptable, if not expected.
**Edit:**
As several comments suggest, your other question about rudeness because of smelling beverages: that's different from course to course, and you will probably have to employ some degree of common sense there. People are usually not bothered by coffee smell as opposed to french fries or the sounds of eating potato crisps. If in doubt, just ask your TA or fellow students *before* going to the exam.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: You might find that your university policy prohibits any beverages except water during exams. Coffee has a strong aroma that can be distracting, especially to the less-awake students who might then crave coffee.
Even if coffee had no aroma, it would still be distracting. A cup of tea or coffee is usually pretty identifiable by sight. If someone walks into my office with a mug of green tea, I usually want a mug of tea myself long before I can smell it. *"That guy 20m away is drinking some unidentified hot beverage. Now I want coffee!"*
Sure, the consumption of coffee *beforehand* should be fair and allowed in any country where it's a legal and commonly consumed drug - chances are many classmates drink it too. You still have to have learned the material in order for the coffee to help you remember it. It's just not fair to be distracting to others during a test.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: In my classes, students bring coffee to my exams all the time. When I have to give early morning exams, *I* often bring a jug of coffee and paper cups, and offer cups of coffee to the students for free, as a way to help their scores.
There are deep philosophical questions about whether it's even possible to "cheat" using drugs. It comes down to whether one views "cheating" as defined by the rules of the institution, or as an ethical violation that goes beyond the written rules.
Most actual cheating policies ban sharing or receiving information during the exam, but make no mention of performance-enhancing drugs (e.g. Adderall). Some universities do have policies about misusing prescription drugs, e.g. [the policy at Duke University](http://studentaffairs.duke.edu/conduct/z-policies/academic-dishonesty). But the policies at my university make no mention of performance-enhancing drugs. Although possessing prescription drugs without a prescription may be somewhat illegal, it would not be a violation of any academic "cheating" rules at my school.
I doubt any school has rules against caffeine, however. Note that the Duke statement only refers to *prescription* drugs -- that is surely intentional. In the U.S., apart from a few religious groups, drinking coffee is perfectly acceptable as a way to improve concentration.
Your school is probably more likely to worry about the mess it would make if you spill your coffee than about the benefit you receive by drinking it. So, unless someone asks you to stop, you shouldn't worry about it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: One of my students admitted to me that he took a harmless and side-effect free sugar pill before a stressful exam in order to benefit from the placebo effect, which placed him in a different state of mind to his cohort, unfairly enhancing his cognitive capabilities. Needless to say, he was summarily dismissed.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: At the university I went there where plastic cups available at the entrance and if you wanted coffee or tea you could take a cup and put it on your desk if you wanted coffee and upside down on your desk if you wanted tea. Then when the test started a coffee lady would walk by and fill your cup if you had one. This leads me to think that it is acceptable (if not commonplace) to have coffee in the exam.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: I think the salient point in your question can be more explicitly stated as:
>
> What determines which advantages are fair and which are unfair to have during an exam?
>
>
>
Going to the extreme for fair advantages: Is not being sick on the exam day cheating? Is not being hungry cheating? Is not staying up the night before cheating? Is attending every lecture and study session fair? Is studying for the exam fair? Is being more intelligent than your classmates fair? Is always marking the correct answer fair? Is lucking out and having exam question be on something you happen to be very experienced with (database question for a seasoned database programmer) fair?
All of these are obviously fine. Yet consider the other extreme:
Is smoking during the exam fair? Is taking Adderall fair? Is doing cocaine before the exam fair? Is hacking the instructor's computer to get answers fair? Is manipulating the TA to trick them into revealing answers to you fair? Is bringing a cheatsheet or phone with you fair? Is making someone else take the test with you fair?
These aren't qualitatively different from the previous group. Sure, some are distinguished by being illegal (hacking) but many are accepted ways of improving performance in all but exam contexts (having reference materials at hand, looking up things you don't know online, collaborating with peers).
I posit to resolve this as follows: Exams are not a meritocracy. The point isn't to enforce some sort of egalitarian principle or to "let the best man win". The exam is part of the course, and the aim of the course is to make students proficient with the course material. The exam exists as a target for the students to aim for as they are independently studying and preparing.
If you agree to this point, then the question of what is fair becomes trivial: The instructor allows as "fair" any behavior that they deem conducive to learning.
For example, studying for days on end may be unfair to students who don't have as much time to study, but encouraging students to study benefits learning, so instructors deem it fair and sanction it.
On the other hand, stealing exam questions beforehand is an extremely effective way to do "well" on the exam, but not only do you learn nothing this way, if you get caught and punished there may be severe consequences for your future career. Theft of questions is a mechanism by which the exam is enabled to act as a [perverse incentive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive). The instructor, therefore, tries to remedy this by specifically banning this mechanism. That such banned mechanism are called "unfair" (as if to imply some egalitarian or justicial purpose) is, I think, an artifact of language.
Coming back to your question:
>
> Is it fair for me to drink caffeine during tests?
>
>
>
Let's accept the premise that drinking coffee increases your performance (I am skeptical of this).
Is this conducive to the learning process? There is a tiny positive effect - your brain performing better during the exam means you will be more likely to experience those moments of really grasping a concept when you are forced to use it during the exam.
Does it facilitate a perverse incentive? Dubious.
* If the caffeine helps mental performance that much, students will probably start drinking it during courses or when they study, which means their learning will be *enhanced*.
* If they drink only during the exam, their score will be slightly inflated compared to other students. But the effect is tiny and self-damping: The more effective coffee proves to be, the more students will start drinking it, and everyone will end up on equal footing anyway.
* The smell of coffee may slightly disadvantage other students, which has a very small positive effect on your grade if the exam is graded on a curve. However, the effect is tiny, and if any student feels otherwise, they can always complain and ask you to remove the offending beverage.
Taken together, it seems like there's a few positive and a few negative effects, but all are very small. The only thing being meaningfully incentivized is the business of the coffee shop - but this does not detract from the learning process.
On the other hand, some people enjoy drinking coffee, it makes them feel more comfortable in the exam, and if it lets them believe they have control over their performance and have "stacked the deck" in their own favor, the psychological motivation may contribute to a more positive attitude towards the course in general. Altogether, when you are trying to teach someone something, it probably works better if they are physically comfortable rather than not. So I don't think it should be considered unfair or banned, unless students are very clumsy and constantly spill the coffee, litter by leaving empty cups around, or otherwise go about it in an unacceptable manner.
As an addendum, with more "hardcore" performance enhancing drugs, this may not be the case. For example, instructors would most likely be against taking drugs like Adderall (although this is very difficult to enforce) because it would incentivize the abuse of these drugs. Adderall abuse has serious harmful consequences, unlike caffeine abuse which is not commonly thought to be harmful.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_8: My short answer is **Yes**. You can drink as much coffee as you want.
I've studied in 4 universities and had many exams in my academic life. I've systematically experimented different ways to boost my performance in exams. I've experimented with sugar-rich snacks, coffee, prayers, meditation, and a few more. I know my experiments would not stand scientific scrutiny and you should take them with a grain of salt but they gave me an insight into what actually matters.
The difference coffee made in my exams was insignificant. I can assert the same thing about effects of chocolate, sugary drinks, meditation, and prayer. The only thing that seemed to be directly correlated to my performance was amount of practice before exam. Whenever I locked myself in the library and studied the course material hard, I did well in the exams regardless of anything else. I also did poorly in easy exams when I didn't prepare.
So drink coffee with no guilt because you are not manipulating your performance.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: EDIT:
Just openly bring your coffee mug and you'll see on the faces of the staff and students if it's a good idea or not. Simple as that.
\*It's not unfair because (1) anyone can do it and (2) it's not a competition.
\*It's not cheating if it's allowed, and the effects are surely minimal anyway.
---
Why would fairness enter the equation at all? You will be graded according to *your* performance, not relative to others. It's not a competition, it's an individual appraisal. Besides, anyone is free to drink coffee if they want to.
In any case, I don't think coffee or any other drug taken during the exam would have much of an effect.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_10: When there are thousands of ways to be proficient at any given subject, hundreds of ways to learn and execute the skills required to be successful at any given subject, and a million ways to fail... Is it fair to measure a student's proficiency with only a narrow sliver of a window into said student's ability provided by a paper test in the first place?
I say absolutely not; And limiting the student's scope of success to what one person (or few people) think is the 'correct' application of a concept is setting education back hundreds of years, and is entirely unfair to the students and society at large.
That being said, do what you have to do to get out of that trap so you can move on to the real world where you're going to be applying those skills and concepts as a matter of survival-- where you're free to drink as much coffee as you want, and use as many calculators and references as you need to get the job done. Don't ignore the lessons! Just get through the tests without worrying about fairness- the world isn't a fair place anyway, and you're the only one responsible for being good at what you do; Not the education system; So who cares if it's fair that you drink coffee? As long as you pass your tests and enter the professional world as a reliable quality producer of goods and services.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_11: I am a caffeine abstainer. I don't drink coffee because I can't stand it. The caffeine in the coffee might give you an advantage over me, but it would be the same advantage in the workplace (where I also don't drink coffee). So I think it is fair.
The day I took a standardized test that helped determine my academic career, the weather was really hot. Everyone showed up to the test center wearing summer clothing. I was the only one to bring a jacket in my bag. The test center cranked up the A/C and I put my jacket on. Was my comfort cheating?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_12: This would only be unethical if you'd be gaining an advantage that is unavailable to other students. For example, if coffee would be prohibited, but you'd use it despite of that, or if it were too expensive for others to obtain. But as long as caffeine is socially acceptable, readily available for everybody and allowed at the exams, it's a fair choice for every body to use it or not.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/31 | 359 | 1,489 | <issue_start>username_0: Suppose you have a diagram in a bachelor's thesis (which is written in English) with one axis
"mean stroke count"
and the other
"standard deviation"
Should the first letter of "mean" and "standard" be uppercase?<issue_comment>username_1: There's no fixed rule that applies here. You should check if the style guide the publisher to whom you are submitting the paper has a guideline. If not, feel free to use whichever convention you'd like, but be consistent throughout a given paper. Don't change from one to the other haphazardly.
In the case of a school document (thesis, etc.), your university probably has a recommended style guide; follow those guidelines instead.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: From a general survey of style books, ***yes***, at least the first alphabet should be capitalized:
1. American Medical Association Manual of Style: Title format (e.g. Average Consumption Index, %)
2. Chicago Manual of Style: Sentence format (e.g. Average consumption index, %)
3. Scientific Style and Format (Cambridge): Sentence format
An easy way to see this: axis labels are akin to the row and column titles in a table. If those titles are generally capitalized (which is the norm), then the axis title should also follow. So, I'd recommend at least follow the sentence style capitalization rule. This is not to say lower case titles are absolutely wrong, but I am sure they will raise more eyebrows in a bad way.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer] |
2014/10/31 | 1,230 | 5,448 | <issue_start>username_0: I am teaching at a relatively large, public institution in the United States. I have assigned my students a research paper related to the thermodynamics of human biology. I have asked the students for a project summary including several anticipated citations, and one student has included a paper from the journal ["Creation Research Society Quarterly"](https://www.creationresearch.org/index.php/extensions/crs-quarterly) as an anticipated citation.
As far as I can tell, this is a reputable journal in the sense that it is not predatory. However, I'm concerned that the perspective of the journal, including ["Fresh perspectives on science and society as impacted by origins"](https://www.creationresearch.org/index.php/extensions/crs-quarterly) will not be compatible with accepted scientific theories (and here I use theory in the rigorous, scientific sense that means established according to all scientific evidence, rather than in the colloquial sense that means hypotheses). Moreover, the ["Statement of Belief"](https://www.creationresearch.org/index.php/about-crs/statement-of-belief) published by the Creation Research Society explicitly states the religious motivations of the organization, whose viewpoints are generally considered incompatible with accepted scientific theory.
I have not read the article that the student intends to cite, so I do not know the information contained within that article and its perspective on the subject required for the assignment. Nevertheless, my general questions are:
1. Should I encourage this student to seek out alternate sources for this assignment? Before doing this in my specific case, I should obviously read the paper the student will cite, but consider the case that I have read the paper and I am concerned about the scientific validity of the article.
2. If so, how can I do that without encroaching on his freedom of religious expression?
3. Finally, how can I fairly grade the scientific content of an assignment that presents a viewpoint opposed to established theories, such as the Theory of Evolution?
(It is not my intention here to begin a discussion on the merits of various hypotheses/theories related to religion and science, and I would note that this question could very easily be posed from the other direction. This is obviously a very complicated and fraught area, and I hope I have not caused offense in my presentation.)<issue_comment>username_1: A good way to think about this is to de-charge the religious aspect of the question by considering a parallel situation involving an equally dubious published paper with no religious aspects, [such as this one](http://retractionwatch.com/2013/02/22/way-out-there-paper-claiming-to-merge-physics-and-biology-retracted/). What would you do if a student wanted to cite such a piece of nonsense as support for their claims in a paper?
Rather than simply prohibiting the citation, you can treat this as a teaching opportunity to talk about how to determine the credibility of a scientific paper. It is, of course, certain that the paper that the student wishes to cite will fail any reasonable test, given the notoriety of the journal involved and its complete disconnect from the rest of the scientific literature. This is also an excellent opportunity to talk about how in science publication is not the end, but the start of the real conversation.
Perhaps rather than immediately talking to the individual student, you can take a few minutes in class to talk about how to evaluate a paper and its place within the scientific community. Compare a nice strong peer-reviewed paper to a lunatic one like that linked above, both of which are completely secular in nature. Then explain that part of what students will be graded on in their assignment is their ability to evaluate references. This gives you good grounds to warn the student that their citation is a problem without even having to bring religion into the picture, as well as teaching the whole class some valuable information.
Let the creationist citation fail on its scientific (lack of) merits, rather than making this an argument about authority and belief. The beauty of science is that, in the long run, authority and belief are simply irrelevant. [*Eppur si muove*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_yet_it_moves).
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: My feeling on this is it's their paper. This is college, not high school. If you want to cite a religious journal in a biology paper, it better be a damn good citation or come with follow up citations from other journals.
To be honest, I wouldn't address it at all based on the principal that all academic papers should be thoroughly researched. If you want to start giving heads up on what journals not to use, be prepared to never move on from that topic. Some people just lack the proper level of judgement for these things and no amount of teaching will get them to understand.
I would say grade all the papers fairly on content. Anyone who used sketchy information, without further citations to help support their view, should be docked points simply for failing to write a proper paper.
Hand holding is over-this is college, there are REAL academic aspirations out there that need your guidance and spending time explaining that creationism doesn't belong in thermal dynamic biology is only taking away from people who can improve.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/31 | 867 | 3,711 | <issue_start>username_0: During a one year of postdoc of mine in pure mathematics, I didn't publish anything. I definitely did a research report and wrote down the main questions (in the form of conjectures) we were after and some ideas on how they could be solved. I'm now doing a new postdoc in an applied area as my next postdoc, and I was wondering whether it's okay/encouraged/discouraged/harmful to mention that research report in my list of publications/pre-prints. Clearly, it's just an expository report without proving any new results, which will never be published or even put on arXiv, but it does reflect the fact that I was not idle during my postdoc.
What do you think?
Thanks!<issue_comment>username_1: A good way to think about this is to de-charge the religious aspect of the question by considering a parallel situation involving an equally dubious published paper with no religious aspects, [such as this one](http://retractionwatch.com/2013/02/22/way-out-there-paper-claiming-to-merge-physics-and-biology-retracted/). What would you do if a student wanted to cite such a piece of nonsense as support for their claims in a paper?
Rather than simply prohibiting the citation, you can treat this as a teaching opportunity to talk about how to determine the credibility of a scientific paper. It is, of course, certain that the paper that the student wishes to cite will fail any reasonable test, given the notoriety of the journal involved and its complete disconnect from the rest of the scientific literature. This is also an excellent opportunity to talk about how in science publication is not the end, but the start of the real conversation.
Perhaps rather than immediately talking to the individual student, you can take a few minutes in class to talk about how to evaluate a paper and its place within the scientific community. Compare a nice strong peer-reviewed paper to a lunatic one like that linked above, both of which are completely secular in nature. Then explain that part of what students will be graded on in their assignment is their ability to evaluate references. This gives you good grounds to warn the student that their citation is a problem without even having to bring religion into the picture, as well as teaching the whole class some valuable information.
Let the creationist citation fail on its scientific (lack of) merits, rather than making this an argument about authority and belief. The beauty of science is that, in the long run, authority and belief are simply irrelevant. [*Eppur si muove*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_yet_it_moves).
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: My feeling on this is it's their paper. This is college, not high school. If you want to cite a religious journal in a biology paper, it better be a damn good citation or come with follow up citations from other journals.
To be honest, I wouldn't address it at all based on the principal that all academic papers should be thoroughly researched. If you want to start giving heads up on what journals not to use, be prepared to never move on from that topic. Some people just lack the proper level of judgement for these things and no amount of teaching will get them to understand.
I would say grade all the papers fairly on content. Anyone who used sketchy information, without further citations to help support their view, should be docked points simply for failing to write a proper paper.
Hand holding is over-this is college, there are REAL academic aspirations out there that need your guidance and spending time explaining that creationism doesn't belong in thermal dynamic biology is only taking away from people who can improve.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/31 | 4,775 | 20,256 | <issue_start>username_0: I am co-teaching a relatively large class with two other colleagues in a big university. Each semester, most students are amazing, trustworthy, and well-behaved and it is a pleasure to work with my students. But there is a very small group of students each semester who cheat and I don't know how to deal with them.
The university has a detailed, strict, and elaborate policy for dealing with cheating. We send students suspected of cheating to a special committee where they decide if the student actually did anything wrong. The committee demands a copious amount of evidence before it convicts any student, yet at the same time, the university policy is so restrictive that we cannot collect evidence. For example, we are not allowed to do anything that indicates or suggest a student may have cheated. We are not allowed to mark their papers, move them during exams, or even talk to them. This means that most students get away with cheating if they are sent to the committee. Students who have copied identical answers from a neighbor over and over in quizzes got away with it in the committee. This process is so pointless that the course coordinator does not report most of the cases to the committee anymore.
I don't mind that a few students get away with cheating but the universities' restrictive policy shuts all the doors to any further discussion with the students. **I am not looking for ways to punish my students. I want them to understand why cheating is unfair to other students and, hence, unacceptable.** I want them to understand integrity and honesty are far more valuable traits than getting good grades in college.
Any suggestion on how I can communicate these ideas and their importance to my students?
---
Edit:
I am sorry for not being clear. My question is not about how to prevent cheating. It is bout how to have a conversation with cheaters.
We do what we can to prevent cheating. We randomly seat students, make two copies of the exams, assign a good portion the final grade to labs, and use various other techniques. This question is about reaching to the cheaters and having a discussion with them.<issue_comment>username_1: Since you speak of "a small group who cheat," it sounds like most of the students do understand the policies and importance of honesty. That remaining small group who cheats? Nothing that you do or say is going to convince them not to cheat.
Likewise, university policies often make it hard to actually punish cheaters, because they begin with the presumption of innocence, which is generally a good idea.
A better way to approach the problem is to adopt a "layered defense" strategy of a number of small actions that reduce the cost/benefit ratio available from cheating. Some of the sorts of strategies that I have seen include:
* Increasing the separation between desks
* Randomized assigned seating, which is likely to break up cheating conspiracies
* Printing less questions per page, with lots of white-space for working the problems, so that an answer will not be visible for as long a period of time
* Problems that are based on "showing your work" rather than obtaining the right answer.
* Problems with many possible solutions, that convert copying into plagiarism.
* Putting more credit into projects and labs, rather than exams.
None of these alone will solve the problem, but the more of them you can enact, the harder it is for cheaters to prosper. Some of them may even help the non-cheating students, by forcing them to engage more deeply with the material. The balance, of course, is that it all takes time and effort from the instructors and TAs, so you need to make your own cost/benefit analysis as well.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Your question was how to "communicate these ideas and their importance" to your students.
Sadly, you cannot. These students will cheat as long as it works for them, as you have already observed.
You can cut down on cheating by using username_1's suggestions in his answer.
I teach in the field of computing. The idea (of Jake's) that works best is supervised practical labs. Give the students homework, but make them come to the lab and produce a program. If they've cheated on the homework, they won't be able to do it. When they fail the lab, which should be a significant part of the grade, perhaps they will learn why they should not cheat. (My experience is that even that doesn't work. It *does* help cheaters pave their path to the exit.)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Randomize the questions on the quiz so that they can't cheat off their neighbors. You're approaching the problem administratively, when I think you can deal with it pedagogically.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: If you are worried about whether students copy each other answers on exam just split them into groups, with each group having different (but similary difficult) questions, then arrange seating in such way that neighbours will be in different groups. This will make cheating much harder.
This arrangement is quite popular in Poland.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: * Don't present it as a plagiarism/honesty problem so much as an originality/understanding problem. Problems need victims. The victim of my plagiarism problem might be a willing or eager one. Or maybe I paid him. Or maybe I don't care. The victim of my originality problem is myself, and my future, and my career.
* Have them peer-review each other. Most students care about a professor's opinion, but they're stuck with each other for the rest of their lives, particularly if they're all going into the same profession to get published by the same journals or build the same industries. They can convince each other that tests are silly, temporary metrics and that cheating is no harm, no foul . . . but concepts of character and dignity will hit much closer to home for students who have to produce comments about each other's originality.
* Have them produce questions about each other's codes, proofs, theorems, or whatever the subject matter is. If it's a technical class in which many answers are likely to look identical whether they are produced honestly or not, commenting on each other's work might be redundant. But producing questions requires creativity in *every* field, and answering those questions for each other requires basic conceptual understanding.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: If you print the tests with the questions distributed randomly, so that question #7 on one test is question number 17 on another, and the correct answer to each question is also randomized, that seems to me a good solution to students looking at one another's answers.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: Serious question: why is cheating unfair to the other students? Do you bell your grades? If a handful of students get 90 who should have got 70, will all the rest of the students see their marks drop 1 or 2% to compensate? If you don't officially bell, do you do so mentally (class average on that midterm was 82; I had better make the second one a little harder) ?
If not, then how is it unfair to the other students that some cheat? It is unfair to **themselves** since they will have the mark but not the knowledge to go with it. They will probably blow a job interview or two. They may struggle in next year's courses that assume they know this year's material. They are hurting themselves compared to genuinely learning the material. They cheat for one of two reasons:
* they don't care if they learn the material or not; it is of no value to them and they only want the mark
* they are unable to learn the material in the time they can allot to doing so
If you want to change their behaviour, you'll need to change one of these two things. Either show them how what they are learning will be of value to them, or find a way to help them learn it better.
Examples of the first:
* Today we will learn to normalize a database. This is a common technique when [whatever] and CSC 203, DSC 307 and most grad courses here all assume you're thoroughly capable at this technique
* The next few lectures cover this history and motivations of the X technique. I've heard that students who know this material well do very well in job interviews for Y positions, because the interviewers are always asking about this topic
* By the end of this term you will know how to ABC. This is the most common task assigned to new hires who've just graduated from our DEF program, which is why this course is required for all of you. While I hope you all get high marks in this course, what's really important is that you master the technique: there's about an 80% chance that you'll spend your first working year doing this, for an employer who won't help you if you find it difficult. The TAs and I are here to make sure you're comfortable with it by the time you leave us
Sure, this is work. As an adjunct myself, I don't always know what things I teach actually matter in what other courses the university offers - I don't have the curriculum memorized. I do have a little more insight into the job picture than some other profs. Still, you can figure this stuff out - ask the TA if you have one, for example.
Now the second part. Some cheaters are privileged self entitled brats who can't be bothered to put in the work. (My father taught someone who brought a servant to labs to do the actual physical work of the lab and couldn't understand why anyone would object.) Ignore them: whoever should have reached them at age 4 did not, and you probably won't now. But some are scared: if their average drops they'll lose their scholarship. They're finding it hard to keep up because they have a job as well as studying. Their parent or significant other is ill. They are hanging on to their position rather precariously and they do rash and wrong things because they think they have no choice. You can gain some insight into that mindset in another question: [I was caught cheating on an exam, how can I minimize the damage?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30539/i-was-caught-cheating-on-an-exam-how-can-i-minimize-the-damage) especially some of the earlier revisions where the OP explains why they decided to cheat.
So if you think someone has cheated and you don't want to use the official system, simply hand them a note that says "See Me" and a time and place such as "30 minutes before class, in our classroom" or "5pm today, in my office." When you have them alone say something like this:
>
> I think you were really struggling in that exam. I have learned to spot facial expressions over the years and you did not have the material for this course cold, nowhere near. You may manage to pull off a decent mark, whether by guessing or some other approach, but I don't think you know everything you need to know. Don't think I'm calling you in to get you in trouble. I want to help you. What do you need to learn this material thoroughly? Would you like a one on one session to go over the test questions and be sure you understand how to solve them? I have some resources that provide the same material we cover in class but from a different perspective, would you like those? (Perhaps some prefer videos, some diagrams, some hands on practices etc.) Have you talked to the student resource centre about test anxiety, test taking techniques, studying techniques etc? Did you know that if you have demonstrable issues with, for example, multiple choice questions I can work with the student resource centre to construct an exam that's a more accurate measure of what you personally know?
>
>
>
The entitled ones probably won't even come to the meeting, but if they do, they will decline all your offers and get out of there as fast as they can. The desperate ones? **You just might reach them.**
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: >
> *I want them to understand why cheating is unfair to other students and, hence, unacceptable*.
>
>
>
If I wanted to reason with a handful of cheating students, I wouldn't start by trying to convince them that cheating is unfair to *others*. I'd try to convince them that cheating is unfair to themselves.
Too many students have gotten into a mindset that they attend college primarily to obtain a degree. Instead, they should be there to attain an education. (There's a difference – and this difference often affects student attitudes and behavior.)
Students who aim to get a degree without caring about their education don't worry about how much they learn – they only care about what goes on their transcript. These students have no problem missing class, so long as they feel like they can get their hands on any "testable" material after the lecture. If they miss class for some reason, they will often ask, "Did I miss anything important?" (Translated, this means, "Did I miss anything I will need to know for the exam?" Sadly, it never seems to mean, "Did I miss anything that might come in handy for my first job?")
These students also have less qualms about cheating on an exam. It's all about getting a good grade on the test, which leads to getting a good grade on the transcript, which will lead to a good job down the road.
You might try reminding these slackers that they'll eventually be competing with students who did the work right and learned the hard way – and that some employers like to ask some tough questions during hiring interviews. Students who took their *education* seriously will probably have better success during those job interviews.
And even if they are lucky enough to bamboozle the HR interviewer and get a job offer somewhere, these students aren't necessarily out of the woods yet. Challenge them to gaze into the crystal ball, and imagine what will happen *after* that: when the company who hired them gets disappointed with their new employee, and more senior coworkers start to marvel at how that kid who had all those As and Bs on his transcript doesn't seem to know jack about anything, and can't write a decent memo to save his life.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: I think, the real problem here is not the cheaters but the helpers.
You stress out that the cheaters do not understand that cheating is not fair.
Well, it does not have to be!
Because life itself is not fair and this is exactly the point of view of a cheater.
A student who lost his dad 4 days ago, a student who is sick and a student who is fully-fit taking the same quiz is not fair.
What I mean is, cheater could have his/her own reasons for cheating.
Hence, the problem becomes telling the helper that cheating is unfair.
But *which part of cheating is unfair?* Now let's say cheater C, helper H and a non-cheater N is taking the quiz.
It is unfair because a N either studied hard and took the same grade with C or did not study and got nothing even though C got a high grade. Well, in this case, H does not care what happens because he/she is *helping* a friend.
What I would do (actually did several times) is:
* Ask questions that can be answered in so many ways and distribute the full points of each question equally between the same answers. e.g. if question is worth 10 points and 5 students have the same answer, each get 2. This also encourage students to improve their creativity. That will prevent helper to continue helping and cheater to take minimum benefit.
* Give extra points to cheaters! When the results are announced, the helper will surely want to check his/her paper. But will not be able to find anything wrong and cannot ask to check the cheater's paper as well. Now, the hepler either will admit that he/she helped or will say *no* to further help requests.
In the long run, however, I decided not to care so much because university does not care as much as I do.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: I simply disagree with those who believe that there is nothing you can do and these students will continue cheating.
There can be many reasons behind this behavior:
* some may fail to understand the importance of the course/topic
* some may be desperate to get high marks because they are not in a good academic standing
* some may have other issues, including family issues, etc.
* some may be taking too many courses that they cannot allocate enough time for each
* some may simply find it culturally acceptable.
I guess your best bet is to first identify the reason behind this behavior. Communicate with your students in a constructive way. Put yourself in their shoes and see what is the actual source. Only then you'll be able to effectively address these issues.
Clearly, finding the reasons is time consuming and requires a lot of effort from your side. But based on your question, I am assuming that you care about your students and are willing to take the necessary steps.
There are various ways to deal with each of the above situations. I'll be more than happy to briefly go over some of them if you are interested.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_11: In my own teaching, I do not distinguish between "cheaters" and "helpers" in the way that you seem to suggest. The helper and the helped are both cheaters.
That said, the helpers are likely to be better students (since they can help), and thus are likely to have further ambitions (graduate study, well-paying jobs) for which they can use your goodwill later. My own attitude (and that of some like-minded colleagues) is that formal grades are always given as a matter of course when someone completes the work defined for a certain course, but my further mentoring, letters of recommendation for graduate school, support for local awards, etc., are optional at my sole discretion, and must be separately earned by demonstrated scholastic ability as well as appropriate conduct.
I thus do nothing with regard to grading when I know that a student has cheated (either as the helper or the helped) but have no proof, but that student will not later get a letter of recommendation, or a friendly tip about an exciting job opportunity at a great company, etc., from me. My colleagues and I who serve on local committees for awards during graduation, etc., also vote down any student whose ethics are suspect. This is not published policy as such, but good students know that this is how things work, and it keeps them in check.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_12: It sounds to me that part of the problem is your university's policies, such as on collecting evidence and departments not reporting incidents. You may be able to collect evidence in a more roundabout manner (Can you make copies which you then mark up for evidence? Can you require that all graded materials be returned to you?). If you're still finding no way to effectively dissuade cheating and are getting no support form the university, you may need to consider looking for a different place to teach that actually cares.
One component of preventing cheating is making exams or projects where cheating is going to be very difficult. Having exams where students have to apply knowledge instead of just reciting memorized facts generally cuts down on students even being able to cheat (possibly with a fact sheet provided). Or, do like one of my art teachers did and actually assign a short portion of the exam period for collaboration. It'll honestly be a bit more like the "real world" if the end goal is application of facts instead of memorization.
As far as communicating good values to these students, I've had very little success at doing so myself. One statistic I've seen is that about 75% of undergraduates (and 25% of grad students) in one study self-reported cheating in college courses. For many students, the ends justify the means (consider tuition costs!). Ethics definitely would have to be presented to the class so they actually affect students' internal cost-benefit analysis. What will you be looking for that could get flagged as cheating? How would a future boss respond to fudged numbers or trying to submit someone else's work? How can applying yourself actually make tuition be worth it (or at least be less of a grievance)? How is this field applicable in the real world outside of the classroom?
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/10/31 | 1,412 | 5,912 | <issue_start>username_0: Assume that someone is an excellent researcher (many awards and at least 7-8 publications a year) and a very good teacher but he is not "liked" by some of the tenured faculty in the department (due to differences in opinions on how things should go or how decisions should be taken regarding different matters in the department).
Shouldn't being an excellent researcher and a very good teacher outweigh any social issues?<issue_comment>username_1: This is a really contentious issue (typically referred to as "collegiality" in the context of tenure decisions), and there's no clear standard for what to do. There have been a lot of opinions, such as [this one](http://www.aaup.org/report/collegiality-criterion-faculty-evaluation) from the American Association of University Professors, but there is no universal rule.
On the one hand, it's outrageous to deny someone tenure just because you personally dislike or disagree with them. That's an abuse of the tenure process. The goal is to end up with a good colleague, not a friend or sycophant, and other considerations are not relevant. Furthermore, there's a danger of discrimination if the current faculty prefer to be around people like them, which just compounds the individual unfairness.
On the other hand, how someone acts can be a fine reason to deny tenure, regardless of how good their research and teaching are. For example, it would be a mistake to tenure an abusive jerk. Being a good colleague involves treating people decently and participating successfully in committees or other administrative tasks. If you behave poorly enough that you can't do that, then you shouldn't be a member of the department.
Of course the difficulty lies in distinguishing between these possibilities. What one person sees as courageously standing up for their beliefs in the face of opposition, others can see as being rude and disruptive. It can be difficult to tell whether someone is behaving in a genuinely objectionable way or you just don't like them.
I'd recommend extreme caution in these sorts of cases, since there's great potential for unfairness and poor decisions. (When these issues come up, it's a good time to think about implicit bias. Maybe this behavior wouldn't have bothered you if it had come from someone else?) At the same time I can't endorse a policy that says it doesn't matter how you treat your colleagues, so the best I can say is "it depends."
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Should't being an excellent researcher and being a very good teacher outweigh any social issues?
>
>
>
No. Being a senior professor is to a large extend a management and leadership position in the faculty. Being good at the "technical" parts of your job is not sufficient if you are terrible at the management and role model part. Further, I really cannot think of a good reason why somebody who is actively disruptive to the running of the faculty (such as the one annoying faculty that everybody seems to have, the one that takes a stand on *everything*) needs to be kept in the faculty despite better knowledge.
At the end of the day, tenure is not an individual teaching or research award. It is the department telling an academic "you are really valuable to us - we want to keep you around". Clearly, there will always be cases where somebody is ok at teaching and research, but other (more inter-personal) factors keep them from being "somebody you want to keep around". You may think this is sad, but really it is not much different to the cases where a really likeable person does not get tenure because her/his research isn't great - in both cases, it is just that one integral part of the job that is missing.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: At my university (a large private, research-oriented institution in the United States), tenure has several stages.
1. The senior faculty votes on whether to try to pursue tenure for a junior faculty in their tenure year.
2. Outside letters are solicited and the tenure portfolio is put together.
3. On the basis of the portfolio and letters, the senior faculty votes to recommend tenure or not.
4. If the department vote is positive, it goes to the Provost's office. The divisional committee responsible for promotions examines the portfolio (including external letters) and the department chair makes a presentations of the materials. This is the most difficult hurdle to clear.
5. If the divisional committee approves, it then goes to full senior faculty and then to the Board of Trustees. The full senior faculty and BoT rarely decline to offer tenure at this point (c.f. <NAME>).
Personality only really plays a role in stages #1 and #3 and only weakly at my R1 institution. And almost everyone receives a positive vote from their own senior faculty -- even though it is not always unanimous.
The real hurdle for tenure is the divisional committee and there it is the scholar's portfolio (which consists entirely of their research output) and the outside letters that matter. In a sense, the evaluation is entirely blind to the personality or character (or amount of service and teaching) the individual made.
I also don't want to downplay the role of the outside letters. These are extremely important. You want to be known as a major player in your field by the time you come up for tenure. In a sense, having an outgoing personality will help tremendously here but only to a limited amount. After all, the external tenure reviewers are also reading your entire portfolio and judging you based on that, rather than on the really great drinking games you played at the last conference.
I like to think that the system is relatively fair. An Evil Chair® can deliberately sabotage a junior scholar in many way before coming up for tenure and in their tenure bid, but absent such malfeasance it's not inherently a bad system.
Upvotes: 3 |
2014/11/01 | 1,359 | 6,024 | <issue_start>username_0: If a professor is an editor of a journal, then should he ask his graduate students (PhD) to review articles? What do you think, good or bad on what points?
Different from "[Is it common to review papers assigned to your supervisor?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5662/is-it-common-to-review-papers-assigned-to-your-supervisor)", where the professor is a reviewer and not the editor.<issue_comment>username_1: I think that there is a significant difference between a professor reviewer asking a student to be a sub-reviewer (as in the linked question) and an editor directly asking their students to be reviewers.
An important goal of peer review is for the editor / program chair to obtain additional independent perspectives on a manuscript. If the editor requests a review from a student in their lab, whose review they will need to oversee and mentor, then they are losing the independent perspective and significantly compromising the peer review process. Thus, I think that it is inappropriate.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: It may serve an educational purpose, i.e. teach the student how the review process works. In that case it would be worth thinking about asking an extra reviewer in case the review is sub-standard.
In many cases I know (I am from sociology) PhD students develop before finishing their dissertation into full (albeit junior) collegues with an own perspective and specialization different from the advisor. If the paper that needs reviewing fits the specialization of the PhD student, then I see no problem asking them for a review.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I think username_1's answer is too restrictive. When I was a senior graduate student, and my PhD supervisor was a journal editor, he would occasionally ask me to do a review for his journal where it was clearly related to my work. It was clear that by this time in my graduate program that he considered me an independent researcher and thus eligible to review for his journal. His ethics and judgement on such matters were beyond question.
Just as she does when she accepts an article for publication, an editor has to make a judgement call when soliciting reviewers. Some graduate students are clearly capable of making independent evaluations of the work of others and can do so without compromising the peer review process. We wouldn't give PhDs to students if they weren't ready for that responsibility (among other things), and most graduate students are ready for it well before they actually finish writing and do their defense. All such students are eligible in my mind to do peer review.
Edited to add: It's been awhile, but I'm pretty sure I was asked to do my first journal article peer review not by my PhD supervisor, but by the first journal I submitted an article to as first author (while I was a student). I don't think my full credentials were known to the editor of that journal, but even if they were, the editor clearly thought the first author of an article was a sufficient peer to ask me to do reviewing for their journal. It's very common in my experience to be immediately asked to do a review by a journal editor upon submission of an article.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: There is nothing wrong with asking your peers, including graduate students, to do a review for a journal, as long as it is done along the same guidelines as any other review for the journal. It would, for example, be poor if an advisor asked a graduate student to review a paper and providing hints of the expected outcome, "here's a joke of a paper for you to review". Then, of course, the editor would not be fit to be an editor.
Doing reviews is a job that must be learned by experience and since graduate school is preparing students to become independent researchers, having experience to review is a good thing. I do not think it is god to ask first year graduate students to do reviews but late-stage students should be able to manage. An advisor, relative to any unrelated editor, can of course best judge where the student expertise lies and hence provide papers that falls within the core expertise of the student. In the case of graduate student-advisor relationships, it will be key that the roles of advisor-student and editor-reviewer are kept separate.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Generally, I don't think this is appropriate. Here are a few reasons:
1. **Ability to provide a completely independent perspective may be compromised**: how does one ensure that one's research group is not vulnerable to *groupthink*? Even if one feels they are free from such biases, others outside the group may not be convinced--what would happen if they find out?
2. **Possible conflict of interest**: while an editor may choose not to 'hint' to the student on what an 'acceptable outcome' should be, it may be difficult to convince others that this is not the case. As another example, how about a scenario whereby a student wants to put in some objection to the article, but does not do so because of the editor? What if the editor deliberately chose the student because the editor knows that the student holds a certain set of viewpoints on that area of research?
3. **Possible consequences if this becomes a widespread practice**: supposing you just have one editor who thinks its perfectly fine to provide such 'hints' to his students? It may just take one person to break the system and undermine the reputation of a journal (that took a long time to build up).
Note: on the other hand, if the editor has already sent out the article to the reviewer(s), as per the journal policy, and you are providing an independent point of reference, then perhaps that is more acceptable.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: I have one additional negative to nathaniel's list: student may feel compelled to perform a service (spend his valuable time) because of the control advisor has over student's Ph.D. Student may feel it hard to say no.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/11/01 | 1,485 | 6,092 | <issue_start>username_0: I need some advice on how to catch up on my online courses. I have gotten really far behind on my work and lack the motivation to keep going. This my second year taking online courses and it seems harder than the first. What should I do to move forward?<issue_comment>username_1: * First of all it boils down to how far you are curios and passionate about the subject area of the course you are talking
* From question it seems that you were interested to learn but some what distracted with other reasons
* **Remember** **One Thing**
The state/situation/position you are in are the action of your past thoughts and that's this truth will apply for your future too
* **Have a Plane Of Action**
* First prioritize your activities i.e do first things first
* **Remember your goals**
* That doesn't mean that you should have a life time goal but it points that a person with out a goal is as good as kite with out a thread
* Learning something without any purpose doesn't at all interests you
* First of all learn the purpose of what you are learning and history around it and it's evolution and talk about it with you friends who shows interest towards some discussion that gives you little boost of encouragement and interest towards the course
* **If He can then you can**
* Please don't get carried away by peoples judgement about you because they to are humans and it's self implies that humans vulnerable to mistakes work hard and prove them wrong ....I know that's what you will do from now
* **Have a RoleModel**
* We all tend to have role models based on our interests ,having and remembering them from the work they have done will always keep you motivated and forwarded
* **Please Don't get carried away by immaterial ,fragile ,immortal temporary pleasures ,all these can entertain you for a short period of time but they will fade away soon**
* **Every Expert was once a beginner**
* Don't give up at the first attempt that's not the nature of winners
* i.e When you are trying to catch a rabbit out of a folk and you could not get it don't change the rabbit but change the tactics
**-----------Wish you all the Success in you life---------**
**Einstein,Newton,Euler,<NAME>,<NAME> ,Columbus,Alexander,....**
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: First, you have to assess how much time is left in the semester and how much work you have left, then do some triage. If you've missed assignment deadlines or exams in one or more courses, those may not be salvageable.
The result of your assessment should be a list of those course(s) in which you still stand a chance of earning a satisfactory grade. Work like the devil on those courses.
Communicate with *all* of your professors. For those you're trying to salvage, apologize to the professors for getting behind, tell them you're trying to pull it our, and *ask for help.* Most professors will work with you if you're working with them.
I'm less sure what you say to the professors of the courses you've decided to write off, and maybe someone will comment on that. I think something like, "I realize I've gotten so far behind in your course that I cannot pass. I apologize. I hope you won't hold this against me too much when I repeat the course." I *am* sure that silence in the write-off courses is not the right answer. Do not just disappear.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: As Yoda says... "Do or Do not... there is no 'try'"
As both an educator, and a student in online learning I can feel for you on both sides of the coin. Allow me to inject some of my personal tricks... tools to help you.
First off... **contact your teacher/instructor/professor.** This is critical point one and both appropriate, and professional. This reach-out opportunity is your chance to tackle a few serious steps toward getting back on track:
* it allows you to admit that you have lost motivation and that you
know you are behind.
* shows you to be accountable for your lost
placement and willingness to get back on track.
Next, a mentioned before, start "triage"... an emergency assessment & prioritize a list of what must be completed first. Some projects could be banged out in an hour, but worth only a few % points. Others may take 2 days but have serious weight on final grades. Refer to your syllabus and see what is most important for the final grade. After you have assessed their importance and created a complete list of everything due, estimate their completion times (2 hours, 6 hours, 2 days etc etc)
Once you have a prioritized list of what weighs heaviest, and their estimated times... create a time line with the total number of days/hours/weeks remaining in the class. I use excel as it is easy to navigate and layout the time frame. Pen and paper works just as good though. Hopefully you have weeks and you have enough time to right the ship... but if it is days, you need may need to sequester yourself and focus intently on finishing.
Now that you have a list, and a timeline, inject the items to be done into the time line (create a gantt chart) and you have your plan of action ready to go.
...NOW... All of this is the plan. Only you can physically make the commitment to turn off the tv, step away from the video game, opt to not go out drinking, to the movies, or dinner... and settle in and FOCUS.
I find that I often pull up a neflix/amazon selection and put on a movie or something I have seen a dozen times already so I know what is happening without actually "watching" it. This seems to help to with eliminating that deathly silence in my den.
Only you can find your own motivation, and make the hard decission to actually buckle down and focus. It is hard (and I have done it) to find that once you have lost a few weeks. Perhaps pick a few smaller exercisses or tasks form your plan and finish them first to get that sense of accomplishment to fire off a few points in your direction. That may be just the sense of completion you need to find the next level of commitment.
Last point, and perhaps the most important... DO NOT GIVE UP!
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/11/01 | 1,597 | 6,310 | <issue_start>username_0: According to this [MIT statement of purpose guideline](http://web.mit.edu/msrp/myMSRP/docs/Statement%20of%20purpose%20guidelines.pdf), the statement of purpose seems to be an important part of a PhD application.
However, I have also heard that, in the case of [MIT](http://web.mit.edu/), the statement of purpose is only reviewed after the application has been tacitly accepted.
So, how crucial is this part of the application, and what part does it play in the process of graduate admissions at top schools in the US?<issue_comment>username_1: You have to specify which discipline, but for the social sciences the statement of purpose is the most important item in your portfolio.
We also look at grades, GREs, and letters but we scrutinize the statement the most. A good statement can resuscitate a candidate with middling grades, a bad statement can condemn an otherwise good student.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This is an extremely general question, since it doesn't refer to the discipline. Since [another answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/30993/21869) comments on the social sciences, I'll speak up for physical sciences. (I'm in chemistry.)
We look at every facet of the portfolio. To do otherwise is to ignore useful information on the applicant. Let's be honest, we don't have much data. We get grades, GRE general scores, GRE subject scores, and recommendation letters. Plus the statement.
I mentioned in [my answer to another question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30923/can-low-score-in-gre-hurt-the-application-with-good-gpa-for-top-graduate-school/30945#30945) that GRE scores will sometimes serve as a first screen, to cut the pile down to a level we can really analyze. But that's not a "tacit acceptance". (I don't even know what that might mean.)
**Yes. After a first cut, we look at the statement of purpose 100% of the time.**
And yes, if someone writes a lousy statement with an otherwise good package, it's a bad sign. It tells us that the student just doesn't care to do a good job. Is that someone I want as a grad student? Probably not.
Even if a student has stellar grades, GRE, and a paper in *Science* but the statement is poorly written, I'm going to think twice compared to a student who might be a bit behind, but seems to have a vision and sells themselves well in the statement.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I serve occasionally on the PhD admissions committee in the computer science department at Stanford. To me, your grades and test scores are less important than your statement of purpose and your recommendation letters. To clarify: the statement of purpose is **very, very important.** I want to see how you articulate your future plans, how you think about and approach research.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: ### Original Answer
I would add an exception to @username_1's answer. Economics programs tend to place very little weight on statements of purpose. Econ is perhaps a bit different from other disciplines because the first year is all coursework.
In a statement of purpose *for an econ program* one should highlight relevant previous courses/skills (especially math/stats) and indicate a few areas of interest (e.g. "Macro labor" not a dissertation proposal). Minimize the fluff.
Several economists (including [<NAME>](https://faculty-gsb.stanford.edu/athey/gradadvising.html) [Stanford] and [<NAME>](http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Eeconjeff/Courses/Advice%20on%20Graduate%20School%20in%20Economics%200911.pdf) [Michigan]) have composed helpful guides on grad school admission. I'd bet others have done the same in other disciplines.
### Edit In Reply to Comments
The general point that I hoped to make with this post (which was implicit but which I will now make explicit) is that *the importance of the personal statement (and the nature of the application in general) is particular to a given discipline*.
Why don't economists care about personal statements? First, it is costless for applicants to overstate/misrepresent their interests, talents, background, enthusiasm, etc. Second, given the other materials available to the adcom (see below), even a truthful statement is more or less superfluous. Third, deemphasizing the personal statement reduces the advantage enjoyed by native English speakers in admissions.
What do economists care about, then? By far the most important component is faculty recommendation letters. It means something if a faculty member is willing to say that someone is "the best student they've had in eleventy years in the profession". Suppose a faculty member misstates the qualifications of the applicant and the applicant is admitted (and perhaps offered a stipend). If the applicant fails out, then (1) the adcom will be disinclined from believing the recommender the next time around and (2) there may in certain cases be some informal social/professional consequences (i.e. "Hey remember that time you recommended that one kid and we wasted a spot and 25k on him just so that he could drop out in April of the first year?").
I don't think that this is a perfect system (or that admissions are perfectable) but that's just the way it works and has worked in pretty much any econ department for quite some time. Depending on your view of economics, it either more-or-less works OR goes towards explaining why econ is so messed up(!).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: I have to agree with what one of the CS guys wrote above, that in CS we consider the SOP to be extremely important. Also, you should know that MIT does not usually 'tacitly' accept anyone based on only their grades and numbers. Usually, a tacit acceptance comes about because you have a funding source lined up; perhaps you've secured a fellowship or you've established very close contact with a faculty member in MIT or the college you're applying to, and that member has agreed to accept you into the group INCUMBENT on your getting through the general grad school admissions process. At that point, your SOP might not seem as important because it's obvious you've found your focus, and in most cases, the SOP is merely an avenue for you to articulate your focus ('purpose') in a convincing, objective fashion.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/11/01 | 1,254 | 5,267 | <issue_start>username_0: How shall a masters student deal with the complete failure to meet the expected results when working on a master's thesis?
For example, in the field of machine learning a masters student might spend 4-5 months developing a method that turns out not be useful, not even being comparable to benchmark datasets.
Should the student quit it?
Should you at least take a break from academia to avoid harming your career ?
Or should you work on a different idea and risk another few months which is also not guaranteed? Given the fact that the advisor is simply asking you to try new things<issue_comment>username_1: Step 1: Don't panic
I was in a similar situation halfway through my MSc. I was in a panic, sure that my academic career was in ruins. My supervisor calmed me down, reminded that a negative result was still a result, and and told me that a for a master's degree, it was not strictly required that I make a scientific contribution or have a publication. In the worst case, in my thesis I would present my negative results, explain why this technique didn't work, and suggest what could be done differently by future researchers. (Once I was relaxed enough to think clearly, I came up with new things to try, and everything worked out grand.)
I suggest you discuss the "worst case scenario" with your supervisor; you'll probably find out it's not as bad as you think. Remember that this is research: positive results are not guaranteed.
Step 2: Think about why this technique isn't working.
I'm sure you've learned something about why your technique isn't working. That should give you some ideas for what to try next. If you're out of ideas, sit a friend down and explain everything to them. The friend doesn't need to know anything about machine learning; they're just a sounding board. The naive questions they ask may give you ideas. Maybe you need a week off to recharge your batteries.
Step 3: Try something new.
Take those new ideas you got in step 2, and apply them. But now that you're more experienced, think about how you could find out more quickly if the idea is feasible, so you can change tack again if needed.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Just a general answer, more to the overall issue than to your specific case: "Failure" to get the expected results isn't necessarily "failure" in the sense of not producing a good thesis. Although in the specific case you mentioned (machine learning) there is often a desire to produce something usable, in many cases a thesis topic is motivated by prior research. A negative finding can still be significant if it adds to the overall knowledge total in the area (for instance, by showing that predictions from earlier research are not confirmed by yours).
For my PhD, I spent over a year conducting a series of experiments to test a certain hypothesis derived from earlier research. I found no evidence in support of the hypothesis. Nonetheless, I wrote it up as a negative result, and framed it as placing limits on the theoretical proposals that motivated the project (i.e., "people suggested things might work like this, but I checked and apparently it's not so"). My committee thought it was a useful contribution and I got the PhD.
A lot depends on your field and your committee. It is easier to do what I described in a field where there is a lot of speculative theorizing relative to the amount of hard data. I can imagine it'd be a lot harder to do that in machine learning. Also, the bias against negative results (the so-called "file-drawer problem") can create pressure to produce a positive finding. In the broadest sense, though, if you had a good reason to go looking for something, not finding it can be as informative as finding it, and that's part of science.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I concur with the above answers. I spent a year working on a topic for a PhD dissertation, before I decided that I lacked the qualifications to do it. So I went to my advisor, and said, "What now?" Two weeks later I was starting the work that got me my PhD. Leaving academia will probably be a mistake; you may find that you never have the right time to go back. As pointed out, negative results can have value. I think of Gödel and the Completeness Theorem, wherein the concept of unsolvable problems was formalized. Instead of proving that first-order predicate calculus was complete, just the opposite was proven: it is possible to create theorems that can never be proven (see also Al<NAME>, Church, Post, and for that matter, Heisenberg).
So take a look at your work. Proving that some idea cannot work is a contribution. And if not, try another topic. That's what advisors are for.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Years ago [<NAME>](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Lehr), a colleague of mine at <NAME>awr College, told me of a conversation she'd had years before that with <NAME>, a brilliant algebraic geometer then at Johns Hopkins. She told him about a failed attempt to solve a particular problem. He said "you must publish this." She asked why, since it had failed. He replied that it was a natural way to attack the problem and people should know that it wouldn't work.
Upvotes: 5 |
2014/11/01 | 1,010 | 4,206 | <issue_start>username_0: I am currently getting my M.A.T. in secondary mathematics. As a part of my degree, I take graduate level math courses. I am currently in a PhD level math class, and the instructor of this course has told me that if I want to get a PhD in mathematics he would want to work with me because he believes I have a "future" in his subject area.
My question is, what is the value of his offer? Is his kind of offer easy or hard to come by?
The mathematics department at this school is not renowned, but I respect this professor's work. Is his offer something I should definitely take advantage of, or should I shop around for different universities/offers?
I hope my query isn't too specific. I am feeling quite conflicted and would appreciate any and all input.<issue_comment>username_1: Whenever you get an offer, always shop around. That is not academia-specific.
Generally professors who work in Ph.D. granting programs want to have Ph.D. students. It may even be necessary for them to get some Ph.D. students in order to keep their jobs. Therefore it can be easy to find a faculty member who will encourage potential Ph.D. students. I would not put much value on this sort of offer unless it includes and offer of RA or fellowship funding.
Never get a Ph.D. to please a professor; do it only for your own benefit.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The easiest way to get into a Ph.D. program is to have a professor who knows who you are and wants to have you as a student. In many other questions on this site, people talk about the difficulty of standing out from the crowd amongst the large number of applicants to any decent Ph.D. program. With this professor, at least, you have stood out, and that's quite significant... if you want to do a Ph.D. with them.
First a *sine qua non*: don't even consider it if the program doesn't guarantee some degree of funding. Every respectable university should be offering support for its STEM Ph.D. students through some mix of research and teaching assistantships. It should be the department and not the professor that guarantees funding (though if the
professor has funding, they may be able to give you more time as a research assistant rather than a TA, if that is what you both want).
Beyond that, key things to ask yourself:
1. Do you actually want a Ph.D.? Getting a Ph.D. is a terrible, soul-wrenching process and it renders you unfit for most employment. If you are truly drawn to research, however, it is the best and only course to take.
2. Are you OK with not being at a famous institution? There are only a few famous institutions in any field, and getting into them is a gamble. Often, however, there are a great many solidly respectable institutions that can launch you on a totally reasonable career, especially since it is often possible to "upgrade" institutions through postdocs.
3. Do you really want to work with this professor? You don't know what working with this professor will actually be like. One advantage of the high-profile institutions is that if you find things aren't working with your advisor, there are often many opportunities to switch to others. In a smaller and less renowned department, you will likely have less alternatives should things go wrong.
Ideally, if you answer yes to all of these questions, you should start doing some work together now, so that you can get a sense of whether there's a good working relationship. If so, embrace it and be grateful that you found a good match.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I agree with the other posts, but to directly answer your question about the value of the offer. Unless you want to get a Ph.D. in math, the value of the offer is zero.
If you are interested in doing that you should definitely explore other options. At a minimum, it will help you better understand the plus and minuses of the program at that institution and working with this particular professor. If he's worth working with he should be encouraging you to do this as well, IMHO. Note that most competitive Ph.D. programs not only provide funding, but also invite top candidates to interview and visit. It's usually an eye opening experience.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/11/01 | 894 | 3,568 | <issue_start>username_0: I used three images from Wikipedia to compose them to a new image. All other images (not that many) are created by myself.
How should I cite them?
The images are:
* <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Computer-aj_aj_ashton_01.svg>
* <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Server-multiple.svg>
* <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Server_by_mimooh.svg>
I currently use the following text below the description (within the caption):
>
> The image of a desktop computer on the top left is from
> \url{<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Computer-aj_aj_ashton_01.svg>}
> and was created by an unknown artist,
> the server image on the top right is from
> \url{<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Server-multiple.svg>} and
> was created by RRZEicons and
> the images that was used three times for classification workers is from
> \url{<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Server_by_mimooh.svg>} and
> was created by Mimooh.
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: For small, relatively generic images like this, it is not typically necessary to cite the full sources directly in the image caption. Rather, you could include a note in the references section of your paper, saying "Figure 1 makes use of these images from Wikimedia Commons..." and then list the URLs and whatever other attribution info is needed. If you wanted, you could also include a brief note in the image caption saying "See references section for image credits". Giving due credit to the creators of these images is the stand-up thing to do, but in practice, it is extremely unlikely that anyone will ever know or care whether you properly cited them in a case like this.
(Of course, I'm not a lawyer and my opinion counts for nothing legally. This is just my impression of common practice among academics who make use of internet images in their own diagrams, slide presentations, etc.)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: The first image is sourced to [OpenClipArt.org](http://openclipart.org), which releases images into the public domain specifically to simplify your life in cases like this. OpenClipArt specifically releases under the [Creative Commons Zero license](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) to enable this. For such images, as well as anything else in the public domain (e.g., [most images published by the US Government](http://www.usa.gov/copyright.shtml)), there is no requirement for specific attribution.
It is courteous to add a discrete note on the sourcing, and it would be dishonest for you to claim to be the artist, but the a major part of the reason that people build public domain image repositories is to let people build them into diagrams and other images without dealing with the attribution problem that you face. Since there are lots of these sorts of server diagram images on OpenClipArt.org, I would strongly suggest that you see if you can replace your current images with public domain images.
If you don't do this, then for the attribution-required images the figure caption should include the website references, just as you would reference a paper that you reproduced an image from. For example, you may phrase it: "Server images adapted from [cite1,cite2]" where the citations give the appropriate online document citation, just as you would if you were citing any other webpage. This is kind of a pain, and easy to lose track of if you reuse the images in other contexts, which is why I strongly recommend using non-attribution licensed images whenever possible.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/11/02 | 2,276 | 9,257 | <issue_start>username_0: I submitted a paper to a top tier conference and it did not get accepted. The paper contains an original idea, and I am afraid that the paper could get plagiarized between the time I send it to another conference after incorporating reviewer's suggestions and making some modifications. Such things have happened in the past to a few students in my department.
I had considered posting the paper on arxiv as a means of timestamping before sending it to the aforementioned conference, but didn't, as this would have violated the double-blind review requirements of the conference. (The conference chair replied to my query as follows:)
>
> The submission of a paper in the arxhiv.org system is not strictly
> speaking a double-submission, but rather a violation of a double-blind
> submission required in this conference, as the reviewers will be able to
> find your name (and those of the coauthors) if they do a simple search
> in Google. Thus, I am quite certain it will be rejected, and I do not
> consider it an acceptable practice in this conference's submission to be
> fair with all the submissions in order to handle them equally during the
> review process by the reviewers.
>
>
>
Hence I had not posted it on arxiv. Now this paper has been rejected and I would like to timestamp this paper now, while still being able to send a modified version to some conferences in the future (including those that follow a double-blind review).
**Is there a mechanism by which I can timestamp my paper that does not violate the blind review requirements?**
Edit: The paper was in computer science, if that matters.
A related question "[How can I time-stamp my data without publishing it?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23367/how-can-i-time-stamp-my-data-without-publishing-it)" asks about ways to timestamp while keeping the information in the paper private or hidden to avoid plagiarism. However my question is about ways to timestamp such that it is still possible to publish the information while not violating blind review.<issue_comment>username_1: The most typical way to time-stamp a piece of work is to place it in a public repository: arXiv is a good example when it applies; many institutions also have a technical memo or technical report system in place. Although this may technically violate certain interpretations of double-blind submissions, as noted in the comments blinding of authorship is pretty iffy in many cases. Moreover, in practice this will only be violated if the reviewers actively go looking, particularly if you put it in an institutional repository rather than a global one like arXiv. I would thus advise that if you are worried about date-stamping, just do it and let the double-blind nitpickers complain if they even notice.
One other consideration: certain publications (particularly certain journals) do have a policy against accepting material that is already available online. While this is in my view an insane policy, if you find yourself dealing with such, one way to handle with it is to put up a shortened version of the work, i.e., extended abstract, as the date-stamped pre-print.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: A partial workaround that was often used in the previous lab where I worked was to tamper a bit the article you put on arXiv by changing the title and the abstract, or even publishing an incomplete or old version of the article to also tamper the full-text.
This is surely not foolproof as reviewers can still find the article if they really want to do so, but at least you honestly tried to avoid violating the double blind process while still retaining guarantees of authorship.
And personally, I'm inclined to say that if reviewers still find the article with these precautions, then they are to blame for violating the double-blind process, not you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Are you really afraid that it will be *plagiarized*? The only people who have seen your work are the programme committee and any reviewers who saw the paper when you first submitted it. It would be very surprising if the programme committee or reviewers of what you describe as a "top-tier conference" rejected a paper and then plagiarized it.
Or are you worried that you'll be *scooped*, i.e., that somebody else have similar but independent work accepted by another conference or journal before you manage to get your paper published? If so, the fact that you already submitted it to a conference should be enough to demonstrate your priority. It's not just you and your co-authors who are claiming that your paper already existed in October 2014 but also the programme committee of the conference can confirm this.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: You can make a copy of your paper, seal it in a brown envelope and go to the post office, have the envelope hand stamped and mailed back to you. Do NOT open your the envelope but keep it in a safe place. Then if you ever need it, you can bring the sealed envelope that has been postmarked with the earlier date which is your proof the original material was yours.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: Here's a version that focuses on
1. making the proof watertight for legal matters
2. not publicly revealing the content
(which follows from the double-blind requirement)
The legally provable way of time-stamping something (and also to legally prove the state it was in at that time) is to have a **notary attest it**, and/or **give a copy to the notary for keeping** (which allows to prove that the content was not tampered with afterwards). This kind of service is the main business and duty of a notary.
The ["poor man's version" of a sealed and unopened post-stamped envelope](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/42372/725) is much cheaper, but unlike the notary attest there is no legally binding guarantee that a court would accept this.
As has been pointed out, making the content public, preferrably with a time stamp (aka publishing (!)) is the yet cheaper alternative - however IMHO it is not compatible with the double-blind requirement of the question: It is not possible to have the content + your identity + a timestamp publicly (which are the 3 pieces of information you want to connect) available to everyone but the blinded reviewers.
---
As for cryptographic methods, at the moment I'd consider them at a similar level to the post-stamped envelope. The legal weight of this is quite unclear to me -- if you're really concerned I'd say an encrypted email exchange with someone who states "I got this email at this and that date" is at the same level as having someone testify that they saw or got the content from you at the stated date.
I'd imagine that a notary could do the encrypted signing, but AFAIK this is a techonolgy that yet has to fully emerge:
* There has been a project called "Datennotar" (data notary) at the [Fraunhofer FOKUS](https://www.fokus.fraunhofer.de/) and the [University Kiel](http://www.lvstein.uni-kiel.de/t3/index.php?id=94) - final reports in German are available at [ISPRAT (funder)](http://www.isprat.net/projekte/).
AFAIK there are no data notaries so far in Germany.
* [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENotary) says such services exist in the US. A quick search brought up some companies, but the first two web pages I tried at least to me looked incomplete in some important details: one has a contact page without any kind of address, the second has email and phone only. Over here in the EU this wouldn't be legal for any kind of business ...
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: The informatics way to do that would either be a **digital signature** with a timestamp. Such a thing exists e.g. for PDF files, but there are some disadvantages:
* you need to obtain a digital certificate, which is expensive
* you need to know how to digitally sign the document
* you need to understand how timestamping works and enable it
A simpler approach is a cryptographically [**secure hash**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Hash_Algorithms) of your paper. If you don't exactly know, which one to choose, simple choose all of them. There are free tools to calculate the hashes. On Windows, try [HashCheck](https://github.com/gurnec/HashCheck).
In the next step you publish those hashes on a website. Twitter is quite common, [Pastebin](https://pastebin.com/) should work as well, maybe also a website of your university. After that, you archive that website, e.g. on [Archive.org](https://archive.org/).
Whenever someone wants to verify whether you wrote the article first, you can proof by letting him recalculate the hash on (a copy of) your file and compare to the hash you published earlier.
Make sure you never modify that version of the paper. Not a single byte.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: Check out this paper:
<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, and <NAME>, “CryptSubmit: Introducing Securely Timestamped Manuscript Submission and Peer Review Feedback using the Blockchain,” in Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL), Toronto, Canada, 2017.
<https://www.gipp.com/wp-content/papercite-data/pdf/gipp2017b.pdf>
Upvotes: -1 |
2014/11/02 | 1,896 | 8,701 | <issue_start>username_0: When writing a referee's report for an editor of a journal, does one always aim and try to be as brief as possible, saying yes or no to the publication (giving a couple of sentences in support of one's decision regarding the reasons for recommending/rejecting the paper)? Is it ever appropriate for the referee to write about finer details of the work they are reporting on, in their report to the editor?
After doing a fair bit of research to figure out whether to recommend a paper for publication or not, it can still be a hard decision to make. Is it then appropriate to share the finer details with the editor or does one have to make the decision and write only in support of that decision?<issue_comment>username_1: When I write a report I try to be as detailed as possible in my response to the authors. This is important as they will need my comments to improve the manuscript, and if the comments are vague they will fail to do so. However, many of the journals I have experience with in my field (life sciences and bioinformatics) ask referees to avoid including comments regarding the suitability for publication in the letter to the authors. For that purpose they provide the score sheet that needs to be filled when submitting the report (at least for journals using electronic systems).
However, those score sheets cannot convey all the information about the impressions of the referee after reading the paper. Therefore, there is always a section with comments to the editors. In this section you should add any relevant information that is not clearly represented in the score sheet. Personally, I always try to add specific comments to the editors. For example, I may have complained in my report about the poor description of the statistical methods. Then I will let know the editor that that is, in my opinion, a mandatory change for the suitability of the manuscript for publication. Finally, when writing my comments to the editor, I try to be as brief as possible (but never just 'yes' or 'no'), so that I do not overwhelm the editor's likely busy inbox with unnecessary comments.
In summary, the comments to the editor should include any information that is not properly represented in the score sheet, cannot go into the response to the authors, and may be relevant for the editor in order to make an appropriate decision on the manuscript.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> does one always aim and try to be as brief as possible, saying yes or no to the publication?
>
>
>
Each reviewer has his or her own style. Some deliver a very brief report, others provide rather long lists of questions and suggestions.
In general, you might not want to spend too much time writing a response if the paper is generally bad with evident blunders. If, instead, the paper is good but needs a number of amendments, you might be willing to write a detailed response giving advice on how to improve the paper.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Reviewing is a "Golden Rule" situation: "Treat others as you would like to be treated." The authors have (probably) invested a lot of time and effort in the paper, and being accepted or dismissed with a terse couple of sentences is neither helpful nor particularly respectful. Even if the paper is terrible, the authors deserve a thorough explanation of why you think that it is terrible, so that they can understand the fairness of the decision---remember, many papers that you encounter will come from young authors or authors from institutions without a very strong scientific research culture, and your feedback is critical to helping them improve.
Furthermore, as a referee, your job is not to make the final judgement (even if you have a form that says "reject" or "accept"), but to provide the editor or program chair evidence in support of their decision. I thus find the following template useful for organizing my reviews, to make sure that I convey the right information:
1. Start with a few sentences summarizing what you think the main idea and impact of the paper is.
2. Give a general feeling about whether you think the paper is ready for publication or not.
3. If not, explain what are the biggest general problems that have to be dealt with.
4. Major issues list: all significant scientific issues that have to be addressed before publication
5. Minor issues list: all the scientific side-issues, nitpicks, typos, nice-to-haves, etc.
The distinction between 3, 4, and 5 is one of triage and communication, and should be made very clear in a review. #3 is the main reason for your judgement. #4 is for all of the rest of the problems that impact the scientific content of the paper. #5 is for all the little stuff: I always appreciate it when a reviewer reads carefully enough to provide nitpicks and notice typos, but it's also important that it be clear (to the editor, as well as the authors) that such minor problems are, in fact, not the basis of judgement.
A place that this distinction is particularly critical is regarding requests for additional experiments. Many reviewers seem to feel that it is their job to assign "homework" for the authors, and this is seriously problematic. You should only request new experiments if the work as presented will not stand scientifically without it. If you have suggestions for experiments that you think would be cool or would strengthen the point, put them in "minor issues" and clearly label them as suggestions not required for publication. It doesn't matter if you would have done it differently or if you think the new experiment wouldn't be too much work: your job is to evaluate whether the paper is scientifically sound, not to pretend that you are the authors' Ph.D. advisor.
Another important point, with regards to structure and grammar: remember that many papers you read will not be written in the authors' native language. Difficult as it may be, it is critical to try to separate language and presentation problems from scientific problems. I always remind myself that I would be writing much worse prose in the authors' native language. Thus, my section #5 may often contain a comment like, "The paper has many problems with English grammar and needs attention from a proof-reader," but unless the problems are so bad that they impair my ability to understand the scientific meat, it stays as a "minor issue."
In addition to the textual feedback, there are often numerical or qualitative ratings to select. I view the textual feedback as the meat, and always prepare it first, especially since writing up the textual feedback often changes my opinions of what the numbers should be. Moreover, numbers are not very informative, because different people interpret them differently: the text is the only opportunity you have to clearly communicate your reasons for liking or disliking a paper.
Finally, there is one case where all of this goes out the window: if I find that I am dealing with a plagiarized or multiply submitted paper, then the authors are wasting everybody's time and I have no problem giving a short and harsh rejection, e.g., "I didn't like this paper the last time we rejected it, and the authors haven't changed anything since then."
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: A review is supposed to provide the view of a peer on the manuscript submitted for publication. An editor needs to take one or several, usually two, reviews to form the basis on deciding on the fate of the submitted manuscript and to form the basis for revisions by the authors. There are very few instances, I have yet to see one, where a paper is publishable as is. There is, however, no clear correlation between usefulness and length of a review.
The key is to provide feedback for improvements to ensure the manuscript becomes as good a contribution as possible. Some reviewers spend much time correcting language or other formal aspects of manuscripts. These sorts of comments are always welcome but the core issues are focussing on the science itself and the clarity with which it is disseminated.
So a shorter form of report contains the core scientific and clarity issues encountered and perhaps general comments on other shortcomings, a longer report details also the detailed issues. The size of the reports obviously depend on the quality of the manuscript but also on your expertise. Some times editors appoint reviewers to cover a narrower but vital aspect of the manuscript. The good review should be critical, fair and objective and provide both the editor and authors with suggestions for improvement. By necessity this will be more than just a few paragraphs of comments
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer] |
2014/11/02 | 3,085 | 12,771 | <issue_start>username_0: I know that they are "just as human as we are", but I feel somewhat uncomfortable to talk nonchalantly with the top-notch math researchers and professors in my department because of their social position, their extremely superior knowledge and talent, and also because of their age.
Still, I feel that it is like a waste to have such interesting mind-expanding people around and not to interact properly and talk about maths when I meet them in the department (outside the lecture hall).
So my question is: according to your experience, what is the best (where best means: most polite, appropriate, acceptable, but also profitable) way to interact and make the most of the presence of such awesome professors? Can I discuss "lower" [mathematical and non-mathematical] subjects with them even though their actual (research) interests lie in much more abstruse topics?
Any suggestion (even in the form of a comment) is really appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: Find out their other interests (often on book-jackets they authored or on their profile page on the department webpage), engage them in those.
Be respectful of their time. Ask "I heard you are active in *topic*. Do you have a few minutes to discuss?". If they say no, drop it. If they offer another time, follow their lead.
Do not be obsequious or servile; speak respectfully, but as an adult to an adult. Do not act as a peer, until invited to do so.
Respect the individual and the rank. Keep the values and priorities of the professor in mind. If invited to address the professor by name, do so. If not, address the professor as "Doctor *such-and-so*" or "Professor *such-and-so*".
Lastly, always be polite, be kind and listen.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: From a student's point of view, here is how I tackle the situation. You can break it down by the circumstances in which you meet, and thus guesstimate how much time the professor has for you.
Asking "may I talk to / email you later about...?" can be useful if it's not the right time and place for a useful discussion.
DTK's answer has good points about how you should approach a conversation.
Of course there will be some variations depending on the culture and environment of your department, and how well you know the prof you're talking to.
**Hallway / elevator encounters**
If they look busy or rushed, perhaps best save it till later. Otherwise, keep questions very brief, concisely answerable, and related to something you know they're interested in (i.e. their own research field).
**Discussions at semi-social occasions, such as at a gathering after a seminar, or breaks at a conference**
Here, the professor probably has no immediate obligations or things urgently pressing on his or her mind (or else they'd have disappeared by now). This is a better opportunity to ask broader or more complicated questions, or if they work in a related field you could ask for an opinion on a problem you've been thinking about.
**Social occasions such as at lunchtime, conference dinner, etc.**
As above, but they may even prefer to talk about something *other* than their own field of expertise -- sports, politics, an interesting paper from a completely unrelated discipline that you read whilst procrastinating, etc. If you don't know the professor very well, you might want to wait for him or her to initiate steering the conversation in that direction.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I took a class with a Nobel Prize-winning economist. He was pretty laid back. Usually the older these people are, the more open they are to talking.
My tips.
Be prepared for lectures - do the required reading and assigned work.
Ask them about things that they'd have an interest in talking about. For instance, the economist who taught my class was married to a woman from a country I had lived in for a while. I asked him how he liked that country. We talked for 30 minutes, and he gave me his personal e-mail.
Think of interesting things you have done and talk to them about those things. Travel, how you applied coursework to another subject, your career plans - pretty much anything interesting. Catch them in office hours - they're usually more laid back.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I would say treat them as a fellow human being. Just that they are famous in there fields doesn't mean that they are 'handled with care, and need special procedures to communicate with them'.
Try not assume too much, and just be yourself. Be genuine about it, because *any* human being knows when it's all fake and pre-constructed.. :)
That would be my advice in a nutshell.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: While I am not a "famous professor" I am famous in my field, enough that people routinely want their picture taken with me at conferences. At the same time I get a little starstruck by folks more famous than I am (for example having dinner with the single person who invented the language I'm now considered an expert in, or having him plop himself down next to me while I'm watching a session at a conference.) So I can see both sides of this particular dynamic.
My suggestion to you is this: you have an access to this person that outsiders do not. If you have a Nobel-winner in the same building as you, who lines up for coffee with you or is sitting next to you at a meeting, you can talk about **anything nontechnical at all.** You can admire an item of clothing (what a cool tie! I love that ring!) or similar accessory (oh, you got the new phone/band/watch - is it good?) or comment on the weather, or how much you're looking forward to the presentation by the visitor, or just about anything other than the professor's research. I can't do that. How incredibly creepy would it be for me to email a Nobel-winner complimenting them on a tie or ring or watch worn in a press release picture?
They are indeed "just as human as we are" and because of that, your first interactions with them should be on that basis. Talk to them about the same things you would talk to anyone about. Don't burst out with a technical question you've been dying to ask. Just relax and be someone who while not a peer, has that inside access. Interacting properly with these people will include technical stuff - I can't so much as go to lunch without talking about technical stuff - but it will also include normal human stuff like "did you watch that game last night" or "were you stuck in that giant traffic jam yesterday" and the like.
I don't mind when people I've never met want to start conversations with me by asking my technical opinion, or sharing theirs. I love what I do. But if you want to form a true connection with your famous colleague, do it by emphasizing the colleague part first and letting the technical conversations arise a little more naturally. While I was thrilled to have Stroustrup tell me I should definitely write the "C++ as a first language" course for Pluralsight (I hesitated, because it's hard, but he encouraged me to do it and he was right, it's a great course in the end) it was actually slightly more fun to discuss the importance of caffeine to programmers and the sadly-neglected role of chocolate in that :-).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: To enhance on some of the other answers here: I, like many other scientists, used to have a very limited tolerance or appreciation for small-talk. My feeling was essentially: why waste time talking about boring things like weather or sports when we could be talking about *SCIENCE!*
Something that helped me overcome this, however, was realizing small-talk actually has a high indirect value as a signaling strategy. Small-talk allows you to actively signal to another person that you have recognized them as a human being, rather than as a resource to be exploited. It also gives a number of opportunities for the other person to signal to you whether they are currently interested in a serious conversation or whether they are feeling too busy / burned out / cranky, etc to have one. Small-talk thus lets you discretely negotiate reasonable bounds for an interaction.
Not starting by engaging in small-talk, however, is a good way to set off many people's crazy-filters, since many highly problematic people are not capable of engaging in small-talk.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: I used to be an Academic Advisor at a university. The others here are correct in both these are people just like you and me, and, they are busy people, so you don't want to "waste" their time.
However, professors LOVE, and I do mean LOVE (at least the good ones) students who are interested in the coursework. One of the primary complaints I heard from the ones I knew was that students didn't respond/interact enough during class, nor did they show any genuine interest in the material. If you're a particular professor's current student.
As a college student, this is the one time in your life when you'll have seemingly unlimited access to such minds. I was always, and still am as a graduate student, blown away at the knowledge and skill some professors have. Take advantage of this now. You never know where it may lead you in the future.
These professors were also undergraduate students at some point in their life. They too may have struggled with some concepts you are struggling with, if you're seeking assistance. While working as an Advisor, I was their peer. I was on a first name basis with them, and had great conversations. I remember one professor tell me that he struggled with a particular concept as an undergraduate. Rather than give up, he worked hard to not only gain an understanding of that concept, but went on to master that concept. If you ask questions about math lower than their PhD level expertise, you may strike a cord with them. If they see that you're interested in something, whether struggling or not, they may offer insight into how better to understand or learn the topic. Or, since they may have a deeper understanding of the topic, they can offer an understanding that you didn't know possible.
Again, don't be shy. You may even ask a particular professor if they have office hours during which to discuss a particular topic. If the professor has student or graduate assistants helping them, ask an assistant how best to meet with the professor.
Again, take advantage of these opportunities while they exist.
Good luck!!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: Most aspects have been alredy dealt with, I'll just add this one:
Take care to watch for signs that tell you whether the Professor does not mind talking to you or whether he just answers in order to be polite.
Most famous (in their field) academics I have talked to are extremely social animals, some aren't, and some would like to be but never find the time. So most know how to terminate an unwanted (or untimely) conversation, although few will want to look arrogant, so it's good to exercise a little more care than usual to gauge how your dialogue partner likes the conversation; not necessarily because missing the queue might make someone important angry but because it helps them to not feel bad for telling an interested student off.
I.e.: Don't feel guilty if you miss a clue -- they're used to students only understanding half of what they say :)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: As some of the answers suggested, those profs are humans, too. How they react to some lowly academics, such as students, differs. All really depends on his personality. Don't be offended if he ignores you. In all cases, don't be pushy. Let me share my two stories.
*Story #1*:
A famous prof shows up for the conference at my school. He knows a lot of faculty members reasonably well. He's highly respected in his field and has strong, controversial opinions. My advisor asked me not to approach this famous prof during the conference under any circumstances. Surprisingly, he approached me during lunch and started to engage some small talks. His wife is in the same ethnic background as I do and he's interested in a second opinion on the food from that area of the world. At the same time, I felt the uncomfortable gaze from my advisor...
*Story #2*:
A person (let's call him "A") would like to visit my advisor during his business trip. My advisor refused to meet "A", but "A" insisted to drop by. I don't know the relationship between "A" and my advisor. My advisor stayed home on that day. To make "A" satisfied, my advisor asked his students to engage in useless small talks if he drops by. "A" did drop by and I turned him away to my best abilities. My advisor called my lab extension later in the afternoon making sure that "A" was gone before he drove to campus.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/11/02 | 710 | 3,080 | <issue_start>username_0: I submitted a paper to a [science] journal and received some particularly constructive feedback from the referees. I am inclined to add something to the effect of
*We are grateful to the referees for their constructive input.*
to the acknowledgements, as I have seen in other papers before. But is this considered appropriate?
On the one hand, it seems polite. But on the other, it's part of the job of a referee to make suggestions. Moreover, since they are anonymous and I am not going to specify their contributions, the only information provided in this remark is that 'someone suggested something' which seems a bit pointless.<issue_comment>username_1: Referees typically use significant time and effort to provide their expert views on manuscripts in the review process. It is therefore never a bad idea to thank them. That said, there are a few things to keep in mind.
First, keep in mind that your revisions, based on their comments and the editor's handling is what the reader's see. It would not be fair to make it seem as if the resulting article is all due to the reviewers comments. In fact, they may end up disagreeing with some points of your final article.
Second, a bad type of behaviour is to acknowledge reviewers in a way that does not reflect their statement. I know of a case where an well respected peer was mentioned as having provided "valuable input on an earlier version of the manuscript" where the review was a "reject" of a really poor manuscript. In this case it was made to look as if the current manuscript was endorsed by the peer, which really was not the case. [to add a further explanation: one can promote ones own work by implying that someone who is a major name has provided input earlier and by doing so have provided input to the state of the manuscript under review]
So, thanking reviewers is a good way to provide acknowledgement to persons who support the process but remember to phrase it so as not to put aspects of the final paper in their mouth that they do not support.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I usually try to add a line to the acknowledgements to thank anonymous referees and I try to make it honest and clear. Reviewers' time and effort invariably improves my papers and I think it's only polite to thank anybody who contributed for their time, effort, and engagement to making a manuscript better.
Will anybody care if it's missing? Will anybody even *notice* if it's missing? Probably not. That said, although it may be the "job" of the reviewers to give suggestions, refereeing is something that academics do as volunteers. Reviewing papers is perhaps the most thankless part of an academic job. Acknowledgement of the positive impact that referees have seems like the least an author can do.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Please do not forget that the academic system for publishing original articles owes a lot to reviewers and referees, so I am sure some journal editors will suggest the autor(s) to include the acknowledgemente to them.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/11/02 | 660 | 2,939 | <issue_start>username_0: I am instructed by my university to offer 1 academic reference and 1 work reference for industry work (I am doing a year-long placement). However, all attempts to actually get suggestions on who to use from the university have been useless as they appear to be dodging my questions by not responding.
As my course is quite large, I seriously doubt any lecturer or demonstrator will even know my name, let alone me as a person and therefore cannot give a personal reference. But, as we have to give somebody, who should it therefore be?<issue_comment>username_1: Your academic reference should be a teacher you have taken a class from or worked with in another academic capacity like a research assistantship, an academic internship, etc.
For students very early in their careers who have only taken large lecture classes, this can be challenging. Some teachers of large lecture classes have concrete guidelines for when they will recommend students in these classes (e.g., I might have a policy of recommending any student who achieves more than a 3.7/4.0). You might look at your professors websites or ask them. The professor will likely review your work in the class before writing a letter so you will be wise to pick a professor of a class you did extremely well in.
Alternatively, you might be able to ask a post-doc or graduate teaching assistant that you worked with more closely with who is familiar with your academic work. I wrote these letters for undergraduates when I was a graduate student. Graduate student letters would be inappropriate for applying to a graduate program but should be just fine for intra-University programs and placements.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Real world employers mostly want to confirm that you have ability to work independently as well as on a team, which is evidence of self-discipline and good communication skills.
For this reason I would suggest, if possible, to ask a lecturer/professor in a class where you did some type of project which required working over a period of time to produce something tangible like a presentation or a paper or a design. Preferably in a team, and ideally where you had some leadership role or were responsible for a good chunk of the work.
Ideally this lecturer would have acknowledged your project as of especially high quality and well done. When you meet to ask them, bring some evidence that will help them remember your work (they deal with hundreds of students and it may be challenging to recall any one individual's accomplishments).
Anecdotal evidence is always great in this case because it gives them something specific to talk about. You can also bring a hard-copy sheet with a bullet list of your accomplishments (grades, projects, extracurricular work) that will give the lecturer some raw material for the reference.
Help them out, and they will help you. Good luck!
Upvotes: 0 |
2014/11/02 | 616 | 2,706 | <issue_start>username_0: I am currently writing my bachelor's thesis. I made a lot of experiments and I describe them as well as their result in the text. Currently, I have most tables with the results of the experiments within the main part. However, I am thinking about putting at least the bigger tables in the appendix as they make the text hard to read.
What should I put in the appendix and what should be in the main part?<issue_comment>username_1: Put the more important data in the main part of your thesis and less important tables which should be reported in your report in the appendix.
As an instance, if you have 10 tests in your thesis, you may put results of 5 more important tests in the main part and 5 less important tests in the appendix of your thesis.
Don't put extra information and tables in your thesis as they make the reader of your thesis a little bored.
If you can, turn some of your tables in to plots and graphs, as seeing repeated tables in a text makes it boring and having some plots in your text makes it easier for reader to understand what you are talking about.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: As a rule, the appendixes should be ignorable. That is, if you rip them off, the thesis is still valid and understandable.
Appendixes are good for side discussions or extra supporting materials.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: I like to think of appendices (or supporting information, which is the same thing for a journal paper) in terms of the narrative structure of a text. The main text should contain everything that makes up the "story" of the work. In it, a reader who basically trusts that your methods are sound should find everything that they need to understand the work.
There are often, however, places where it is important to show your work, but that are not particularly interesting. If they are lengthy enough that they start feeling like a major detour in the flow of the narrative, then they are a good candidate for moving to an appendix.
Some examples from my own recent papers:
* Theorem and proof sketch in main text, boring exhaustive proof with lots of slightly different cases in appendix.
* Graph summarizing results plus an example of result detail in main text, all the rest of the results in appendix.
* Data from method presented in main text, data showing that plausible alternatives didn't work in appendix.
* Intuitive description of method and key mathematical concepts in main text, exhaustive mathematical details in appendix.
Exactly where to draw the line is somewhat subjective, but fortunately doesn't matter all that much unless you are dealing with format or length restrictions.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer] |
2014/11/03 | 2,338 | 10,257 | <issue_start>username_0: As a second year graduate student, it's become increasingly difficult for me to figure out what journals are the most prestigious. My research is very interdisciplinary, and so journals from many different fields would be suitable for my work.
Initially, I took Impact Factor as a good proxy for journal ranking. However, I've come to learn that IF doesn't necessarily reflect the whole story. It seems that number of citations (for an individual publication), regardless of journal, appears to be the most important metric.
However, barring that, I assume most people (in the interest of career success), would still like to publish in the best journal they can get in.
Consider a journal like Physical Review Letters. It has an impact factor of 7.7. However, a relatively new journal like Advanced Energy Materials has an impact factor of 14.3, almost double that of PRL. However, I've always heard that PRL is one of the best physics journals that you can publish in (heck, Einstein's EPR experiment was published there). So if I had an article that would be appropriate for submission to both, which would be the better one to get in?
Then there's something like Nature Physics, with its 20.6 Impact Factor, which suggests getting in here would be a more significant achievement that either of the other two. But by how much? Surely not by three times?
(Part of the problem is that Research Gate gives you a total IF score for all your publications, which I think biases that number more than it should be.)<issue_comment>username_1: This is a particularly difficult question for interdisciplinary research, because different fields have radically different citation customs and publication time-tables, which leads to the same impact factor meaning very different things. Impact factor also has [numerous other problems](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_factor#Criticisms).
Moreover, absolute ranking of a journal is in many cases less important than reaching the audience that you want to talk to, particularly in interdisciplinary research and especially if you want to reach an application community.
Rather than focusing on impact factor, I would recommend using the following method to determine how to rank journals as possible publication targets:
1. Pick half a dozen researchers who you highly respect and want to be the audience for this paper.
2. Look at the journals that they publish in. The more frequently a journal appears, the better it is as a target for this audience.
This can also help you distinguish between targets for broad and narrow papers. For example, you might have a methodology paper that speaks to a very particular sub-discipline. A journal specifically for that sub-discipline may have a much lower impact factor, but may be a much better place to place the paper and it may actually end up having much higher impact and citations than if it is in a "better" venue where it is mostly read by people for whom it is irrelevant.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: If you are interdisciplinary in the sense that you would call yourself a "Theoretical \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_", "Quantitative \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_", "Computational \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_", or an "Applied Mathematician", then if you rank journals by impact factor you will artificially be biased against very good theoretical journals.
As a general rule of thumb (with several exceptions of course) the more theoretical the journal the lower the impact factor. The reason for this is because theoretical work is often more self contained. You cite a book or a few papers for the mathematical techniques or theorems you use, and not much else. Discussions and intros are short, the derivations are the crux of the paper, and the culture is that it is up to the reader to evaluate the importance of the results. It is not uncommon for a math paper to have less than 10 references.
For experimental papers you have to cite a lot of papers just to argue that your results are important. In addition, there are often many similar data sets that your result might shine light on or that contradict or confirm your result. In such cases you'd have to cite them all. Intros and discussions are often long and in many cases are viewed as the most important parts of the paper. It is not uncommon for an experimental biology paper to have 50-100 references.
In my field a good theory journal would have an impact factor above 2 and good applications journal would have an impact factor above 5. You have different audiences reading each. The reason I bring this up is that you mention as your example a general physics journal that accepts a lot of theory papers (i.e. papers with proofs) and one that seems to be more experimentally driven (and as an aside in a very hot field right now). The point is impact factors can be useful in comparing papers within a subfield but are not so good at comparing papers across fields.
If my result is of the form:
* Here is this theoretical result and it explains data from experiments or what we observe in the real world...
* Here is this theoretical result and it shows that all these experiments people are doing are missing the point. We should be doing these experiments instead...
* Here is this theoretical result and it means this for how we should be building ...
Then I want to publish in the applications or general science journal to reach a wider non-theoretical audience because the whole point of the result is its implications
If my result is of the form:
* We built this mathematical model which can be used to describe real world system; it has some really interesting behavior, but its unclear if this behavior is relevant to the system the model can be used to study
* We studied a mathematical model and proved X Y and Z. People have been using this model for a while and numerically have showed that it does a "good job" at ... we prove it actually does do a good job at ....
Then I would publish in a theory journal because the people you want to reach is other theorists who are comfortable with math. You want to get down into the gritty details.
Your philosophy may be different, but the point is that it is about reaching your target audience not the impact factor.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In my experience / research field, impact factor somewhat correlates with the prestige of the journal, but there can be exceptions (most notably when comparing across disciplines). Keep in mind that 'impact factor' is not the only metric, and may not even be the best metric. One may even get conflicting answers based on one's choice of metric. Here's an example to illustrate this point.
Based on impact factor:
```
Nature > Nature Materials > Physical Review Letters > Physical Review B.
```
Based on [2011 eigenfactor](http://www.eigenfactor.org/rankings.php?bsearch=2011&searchby=year&orderby=eigenfactor):
```
Nature > Physical Review Letters > Physical Review B > Nature Materials.
```
Based on [Google Scholar's h5-index rankings](http://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en):
```
Nature > Physical Review Letters > Nature Materials > Physical Review B.
```
So which metric is closer to the truth? It likely depends on who you ask, and it depends on which field they are in. Consider asking people from the research community you are in (and especially those who are in the places where you intend to apply for a job in future). Keep in mind that journal impact factor is not the only criteria. Other criteria that could be just as important (or even more important) include: referrals, who you worked with, what was your contribution to the paper, how well you are able to defend your work, whether your skills fit in with the rest of the organization, how established are you in the field.
Note: when talking to people, one should also consider that impact factor tends to be more controversial when comparing across fields (the eigenfactor system tries to correct for this). Some fields may have higher citation counts than others because: they tend to cite each other more often, there are more researchers, they publish more or often, or some combination of all 3. What happens when a particular department has people specialising in multiple fields (where some fields have significantly higher citation averages and journal impact factors than others)? Trying to equalise the playing field across multiple disciplines is not a straightforward task (and what happens if the department does not really try to equalise the playing field?).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I generally agree with the arguments made by @username_1 and @MHH, and just want to make another point which the other answers don't state clearly. Within a field such as physics, some topics are more *hot* and receive more attention both within the field but also from other areas of science, which will translate into more citations. It is therefore common for some narrower journals that focus on *hot* topics to have higher impact factors than good, prestigious generalist journals that span the entire field. This is because generalist journals publish good science (hopefully) in both *hot* topics and all other subtopics, including subtopics that have lower citation rates (and e.g. theoretical work generally have lower citation rates, see also the answer from @MHH).
I don't know the journal ecosystem in physics, but can imagine that *Physical Review Letters* publish in all fields of Physics, while *Advanced Energy Materials* only publish in a narrower subfield, and this can be the reason for the difference in impact factor (which might not then correlate to the overall "prestige" in physics). A similar situation is found in the field of Ecology, where some journals related to Global change have higher impact factors than more traditional ecology journals with a broader scope, which arguably doesn't relate to a difference in journal prestige.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Metrics to consider are (some already mentioned):
* Eigenfactor
* Article Influence
* Impact Factor
* 5 year impact factor
* Source-Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP)
* SCImago Journal Rank (SJR)
* CiteScore
* H5 Index
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/11/03 | 710 | 3,323 | <issue_start>username_0: What exactly is an "invited review article"? I have the opportunity to be an author on one of these, but I have no clue how this looks in comparison to research articles. (I am referring to invited review articles for reputable journals well-known in the field only.)<issue_comment>username_1: >
> What exactly is an "invited review article"?
>
>
>
It is an article that appears in one issue of a journal. The article goal is to review the recent development of a specific topic (sometimes it goes with a special journal issue in that topic).
>
> how this looks in comparison to research articles.
>
>
>
Research articles contain original ideas and contributions to the field done by the authors. In contrast, a review article usually has no absolute *originality* in a sense that the authors are not coming up with something totally new. They are nicely summarizing what is happening in the field and identifying possible challenges.
The benefits you get out of publishing a review article in your field (specially when you are at an early stage of your research career and with a reputable journal) are numerous
**1. You get to know your topic.**
This has the advantage of organizing your thoughts and identifying possible contributions into the field.
**2. A Good Critical Review = High Citations.**
Good review articles tend to have many many citations. This means many people going to know your name (and possibly look for your other publications).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Journals accept different types of articles apart from regular articles such as for example, short communications, letter to the Editor, Correspondence etc. The definition of these vary. Journals publishing regular research articles may have guidelines that state that they do not accept review articles. There are also journals that focus on review articles. The reason for not accepting review articles probably vary substantially between journals but clearly review articles are usually very extensive and require much more work from reviewers and editors and so may be disrupting the regular flow of articles.
So, in the cases, I know of, including "my own" journal, Invited reviews is a way for a journal that focuses on publishing regular research articles to put strict limits on what is submitted as a review article. The "Invited" meaning that there is no point in submitting in a review article to the journal in the hope of getting it published. Instead the journal will in some way invite the reviews they will accept for review. By "invite" the journal can consider receiving suggestions for a review by an author or by having editors identify and suggest authors to write a review, I am sure the processes vary. In this way, the review becomes a more exclusive entry in the journal focussing on a topic that is considered of key interest to the journal and its audience. The main difference from reviews in a review article journal is thus the selection method of the manuscripts.
So, for what it is worth, an invited review, given the points provided above, will be slightly more prestigious than an ordinary review article in a review journal. In the end, however, it will be the usefulness of the article that provides the real value of the publication.
Upvotes: 1 |
2014/11/03 | 670 | 2,980 | <issue_start>username_0: How does getting into non-submission based magazines appear? For instance, if R&D magazine took an article about my work (NOT an actual research paper) and published it in their magazine, would this be something I would want to mention on my CV/résumé or would I even bother listing it at all?<issue_comment>username_1: An article about your research in a broad, application-oriented journal certainly highlights the application potential of your research, and this would be something that you want to show in most applications also for academic positions.
However, I'm not sure how this could be integrated well within an academic CV. Usually you also have a research statement that describes your research activities, and I think it might fit better there. You could generally discuss the (potential) practical impact of your research, and then cite such an article to support your statement.
If such an article would refer to a specific research paper you published, it may also be an option to mention it in your publication list as "*featured by ...*".
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I saw some researcher having "media coverage" or "general impact" columns in their CVs, see e.g. [this example](http://complex.ffn.ub.es/~mbogunya/cv.php#media).
Other way to go (which I do) is to append to the respective publications "featured by [The Economist/Technology Review/2014 Highlights of [this journal]/John Smith's blog]".
IMHO as long you are not overdoing it, it should be a plus.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I think the key lies in what you mean by "your CV". I personally have a master file for my CV which includes all kinds of information I consider is useful to highlight my person and my work in a wide sense. I then pick and chose from this file to tailor for the specific use and limitations that come up.
So my answer to you will be: *it depends*. You need to consider what may be useful for each time you are required to provide a CV. In many cases, publications in a popular science context can be considered quite valuable whereas they may not be in other cases. I therefore recommend you to consider keeping a master file where you add the sort of publications you refer to under some appropriate heading. You can then decide if you want to add these in the particular case. If you end up with lots of low impact reports etc. you can consider shortening a list to a sentence stating, for example, that you have written X articles in popular science for the following journals: Journal , Journal Y etc.
So, make sure you save all kinds of positive outcomes you have from your work and carefully select what you submit in the end. A single popular science article may not excite many (depending on publishing venue) but if you aggregate a more substantial list over time, it shows your interest to share science with the general public which is sought after with, particularly, (public) funding agencies.
Upvotes: 2 |
2014/11/03 | 283 | 1,249 | <issue_start>username_0: I was a PhD student and working on a paper. My adviser told me that he could not support me anymore so I left him. Now I am wondering if I could publish that paper on my own. There were 3 other coauthors on that paper but I was the first author and main idea was from me.<issue_comment>username_1: Your paper had other authors. Generally, if you want to publish it, you have to communicate with the other co-authors (whether they were your supervisor or not).
Regardless of who the *first* author on a paper is, if other individuals made authorship-worthy contributions to the work, you can't publish it without communicating with them first.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: When an academic paper is produced, the copyright generally belongs primarily to the institution at which the work was done and secondarily to the author(s) of the work.
Therefore you must seek and obtain the permission of the institution at which you were enrolled before disseminating the work in any form, whether electronic or otherwise or presenting it at a meeting or conference. Failure to do this would represent a breach of academic ethics and could leave you open to legal proceedings from the institution in question.
Upvotes: -1 |
2014/11/03 | 4,118 | 17,707 | <issue_start>username_0: I organized my students to take their exams in the school’s computer labs. Some students finished well before others. In each section, I tried different policies for what students should do in this situation, but none worked very well.
1. I let one section of students leave when they finished, but make much noise while moving their chairs and gathering their things. Furthermore, I am concerned that students will find ways to cheat, e.g. leave and access the Web-based testing system from their iPod.
2. I let one section do as they like on the computers when they finished, but this made it difficult to determine who was finished and who was using resources to cheat on the exams.
3. I gave one section some extra credit work to do if they finished early, but many students did other homework instead, which led to similar difficulty in determining who was finished or cheating.
What is a good policy that does not cause interruption to other students but also does not hinder proctoring efforts?<issue_comment>username_1: Why were the students leaving early disruptive? Under the rules of every institution that I've been at you are under exam conditions until you leave the room. They should be utterly silent and respectful to other students or face the usual penalties for breaking the rules of exam conditions.
If you're not happy with them leaving early I'm not sure why you would do anything to occupy them. Make them sit in silence and wait for the the exam to finish. Boredom never killed anyone.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: I had one teacher, that put crossword or sudoku at the end of each test sheet. I think it is much better to give students something to do in the spare time. You should choose something that you can easily differentiate from cheating.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I do see the general concerns of allowing students to leave early; after all, they might meet up with whoever leaves for the bathroom while still taking the exam and provide them with information specific to the exam.
Now, of course that could happen as long as no-one has left, too. Someone could hide information in the bathrooms, or someone could meet up with someone not taking part in the exam at all, or that latter person could hide some information in the bathrooms after the exam has started. These issues could be mitigated in the following cases:
* **Only students taking part in the exam can enter the bathrooms.** This depends a lot on the architecture; unless the lecture hall is extremely large (> 500 seats maybe, from what I could observe so far in universities?), the average number of required toilets at any moment during lectures generally does not warrant an extra set of bathrooms reserved for a single lecture hall. And even then, those bathrooms seem to be more often than not accessible in a way that one does *not* have to cross the lecture hall (and thus can enter and leave the bathrooms without anyone in the lecture hall noticing), for the very purpose of allowing outside people to use the bathrooms without disturbing whatever is going on in the lecture hall.
* **Students need to be accompanied to the bathroom door.** Depending on how many proctors were assigned, and the size of the room/number of students, this may or may not be feasible. And even then, it would not totally prevent the exchange of information to take place *in* the bathrooms themselves.
* **The inside of the bathrooms needs to be checked whenever a student is brought there.** This would require to have at least one male and one female proctor around. Highly unlikely to happen in gender-unequal disciplines such as computer science.
Those cases of cheating would be somewhat undirected, anyway. It may depend on the exams, but we generally try to not ask for any knowledge that needs to be memorized (in some cases, notes are even allowed during the exam). Our exams are usually designed in a way to test whether some knowledge can be applied in scenarios that are described on the exam sheets. Hence, **the major concern is not cheating by accessing the course material or other references; the major concern is having someone else specifically solve one's particular tasks from the exam at hand**. Therefore, what needs to be prevented is the contact between someone who is still taking the exam with someone *who also knows the exam tasks*. The straightforward solution to this is asking students to wait until everyone has finished.
Another point is that no matter how quiet students *try* to be, when they get up, they will make at least some noise:
* Walking around creates some noises on non-carpeted floor, so that should generally be minimized. Leaving for the bathroom is allowed as there are medical reasons for that, but there are usually no such reasons that would warrant the impatience of having to leave right away.
* Students who leave need to pack their stuff (writing utensils, drinks/food, other objects they needed to have around such as watches and their student IDs), which again will create some (more than just from writing) sounds.
* In case of "lecture hall" type rooms, that do not have single chairs, but folding seats mounted to the next row of tables, students who do not sit right next to an aisle can only leave by making everyone else between themselves and the aisle get up. It is annoying when that happens in a cinema, and it is downright antisocial to disrupt someone's concentration like that who is taking an exam.
Some students may complain that they are wasting time, and - from an egoistical point of view - they may be right. However, unless we can provide a single room and a single proctor for every single student, that is not how exams realistically work:
* **They do not have to stay for an unexpected amount of time.** If the exam was scheduled to take place between 2 PM and 4:30 PM, they can expect to leave by 4:30 PM. The time was known beforehand, and they will have arranged their schedule accordingly.
* **They are not the only ones taking the exam.** Indeed, they (think they) have finished their own exam. But that doesn't mean they can stop caring about their environment at that moment, as the world still isn't centered around them; once they have stopped writing, it is their obligation to allow the other students to finish the exam without any further disruptions. I do not believe in punishing students who take longer by giving them an even harder time. Proctors need to guarantee avoidable disruptions are avoided, and giving in to someone's impatience is definitely avoidable.
* **The time is only wasted if they decide to waste it.** There are plenty of things to do while waiting in a silent environment; from thinking - to get one's thoughts away from the exam topic - to sleeping. All of those are much less counterproductive with respect to the other students than insisting on creating more noise by leaving immediately.
* **Some overhead is to be expected.** Reading out the exam rules and checking attendance in the beginning takes quite some time (in large exams, often more than 20 minutes). That is expected when taking an exam, and likewise, students should expect that there will be some time after they have finished writing that they still need to spend in the exam room.
Therefore, my general preference is to simply ask them to wait till the time is over. They can use some of that time to make sure they completed everything correctly (when do you ever get the chance/time to check what you wrote in an exam? You should use that opportunity!), and other than that, **they are adults**. They should be able to show a little patience on a few occasions.
*EDITED to further address some more specific points that were brought up in various of the comments in this thread.*
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I would suggest perhaps letting them leave in a more constructive way - when finished, the student raises their hand and waits for a tutor to come to them. They state they've finished and are escorted, quietly, from the room. Add a minimum time at the start and end during which they can't leave, to avoid disruption at the important settling in and final rush times, but during the bulk of the exam, people will barely notice.
Alternately if they aren't allowed to leave by the faculty, I'd arrange something whereby the student has a marker (eg a red cone of paper) on their monitor during the exam. When they finish, they raise their hand again and you come to remove the cone, at which point they're allowed to browse and do homework etc. that way you can differentiate between those finished and those attempting to cheat.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Based on your question, it sounds like several students may be asked to sit quietly for 30+ minutes. I don't know the specific policies of your university, but here are a few suggestions.
1. If you have an empty back row, allow any student who has turned in his exam to take a seat behind currently working students and use phone, laptop etc.
2. Have a TA offer student escorts outside the building every 10-15 minutes. This will be the way students can leave before the exam is up.
3. Double check policies. Universities in America (and likely Europe) generally count the exam done when the student gets up from the chair. The students are not generally disruptive as they leave the building, and the no in and out policy prevents students from colluding in the bathroom.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: I'm going to agree with Jack on a couple points (why is students stepping out disruptive?) - with few exceptions and on major difference I think:
**Test is over, class is not over**
The main difference I'd like to point out is that in my limited experience (as a student) the test being over doesn't mean the class is over - normally that means you start lecture on the next chapter/section/subject... After a test students are free too:
* sit at their computer - visible to staff and clearly not involved in test taking activities
* run to the store (nearby, in building, snack shack)
* just meander outside in the hallways until everyone is done - being respectful of our class AND neighboring classes.
* etc
* be back in your seat at X-time for further lecture
Either at a predetermined time (Test is 45 minutes) or as soon as all students are done taking the test, a 15 minute break commences that is then followed by further class time.
`Test starts at 11 in the computer lab. You have until 12:15 to be finished (60 minutes for test, 15 minutes for break) and seated in the normal class room. Be respectful of those taking test, and those in nearby class rooms` is more than reasonable if you are doing it outside of the normal classroom (computer lab).
**What do you consider disruptive?**
I think all of these suggestions to "Raise your hand to get permission" reeks of grade school and isn't something you do with responsible adults. I would find THAT more disruptive than *Be quiet, respect others and wait or step outside until the test+break is over*
But I think a major unanswered part is what are YOU calling disruptive? Students weaving through packed seats? Students saying "I'm done"? Students simply moving? Doing cartwheels through the isles due to the joy of finishing a test?
If you need to put up a guide, and treat it like every other disclaimer -
* Don't eat the Chiclets included with your hard drive.
* don't use hair dryer while in the shower.
* Don't do cartwheels after the test.
... because SOME idiot had to eat the Chiclets or use a hair dryer in the shower, then do so. But I think those kinds of situations are probably covered in the generic "Don't do that" information you get when you start college.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_7: I simply make an announcement with, say, 30 minutes to go requesting that, to respect the concentration of the students still working, students finishing early remain quietly seated until time is up.
This usually has the intended effect. The worst thing that's happened is that some students get up and try to leave immediately after that announcement. I meet them in the aisle and quietly repeat my request.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: You did not specify what grade level these students are at. I tutor third-graders, and if they are let go early, they are definitely disruptive. But if this is college level, you are nominally dealing with legal adults. Forcing them to stay in the room until class is over sounds like unlawful restraint. I didn't even require that my students show up, except for the major exams. But they would lose all possible points for class participation, and hand-in assignments were always due. But, I explained, their chances of passing one of the exams were very close to zero unless they managed good study habits. A couple students tried this each term. Some got A+ and some got F. I finished one of my 3-hour PhD exams in 20 minutes, handed it in, and walked out of the room. It never occurred to me to ask permission, and if I had, the exam proctor would have thought it bizarre. (I passed with a perfect score).
If you have college students who are "disruptive" if they are not in class, your school has deeper problems than whether or not students can leave exams early, and they are not your problem. Even as an undergrad, we were treated as responsible adults, and such grade-school silliness as I've been reading here would never have happened.
I'm amazed that college-age students even tolerate such treatment. Or need it.
Note: if the students are disruptive, one way to control them is have them line up, buddy-to-buddy, and hold hands while walking in the halls. Like I did in pre-K.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: It depends a lot on the class and on the age of the students, which the original poster did not share. University students are expected to behave like adults, secondary school students may need a bit more supervision, especially if the school is not set up to accommodate students with no particular assigned place to be.
If a lot of students are going to be finishing early it may not be possible to give them a place where they can sit separately and use materials that contain possible exam help (even their class textbook may be inappropriate to read within view of students who are still working on the exam); in this case it may be best to provide reading material on the exam computer that will allow them to get an early start on future work, such as a reading assignment from a later chapter of the coursework.
Extra credit questions on the exam may also provide a way to keep all students occupied for the full exam time.
(As an illustrative example, I finished my final exam in a university economics class in 20 minutes, checked my work three times, and still walked out in less than a third of the allotted time. Telling students to spend the extra time to check their work may not be helpful.)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_10: Among the three policies you suggested, only **Policy 1 - Let them leave when they're done** is good - or rather, it's the only morally acceptable one.
The reason is that you have *no right* to keep people in their seats doing nothing when they're done with their exam. That would be treating them like *prisoners*. You can and should make an effort to arrange things so that their leaving will be less disruptive (e.g. chairs which don't make a scratching noise when pulled...) - but nothing beyond that.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_11: This is from personal experience as a student and proctor.
1. A student's "stuff" --
The best rule to have is that students are not permitted to bring anything to the testing site. If this is just not possible, you can ask students to put what they bring along a wall or up front, on the floor, near the teacher's desk. This rule alone can result in students bringing less stuff to the exam.
2. Phones and electronic devices --
Ask all students to pull their phones out before the exam starts and ask them to either put them on silent or simply turn them off. At this time, tell them to put them away and inform them that if a cell phone or other electronic device is seen in the open before the student leaves the exam room, they receive a zero on their exam. They can wait until they are in the hallway before looking at their missed calls/messages.
3. Computer monitor --
Tell students that after they have completed their computer-based exam to turn their monitor off. This can be optional based upon circumstances. You could also ask the students to close all open programs and return to the desktop.
4. Permit students to leave upon finishing their exam --
Tell students that they are in "exam mode" until they leave the room. Any spoken words that are not directed at a proctor or the instructor will result in a zero on their exam. They can retrieve their belongings from along the wall or from the area near the teacher's desk. You can even go so far as escorting students to the door and opening and closing it behind them.
5. DO NOT assume that students who finish last are weak students --
I am a graduate student and am usually one of the last to complete an exam. I am also one of the highest grades in the class. Some students have text anxiety or concentration problems that cause them to take longer on their exam. You can even offer to allow students who know that they take longer on an exam or have concentration issues to sit in desks that are furthest from the door or locations that are prone to disruption from students leaving.
I hope you find this useful.
Upvotes: 3 |
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