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<issue_start>username_0: I wrote a research paper in high school in the field of lasers and optics but did not get published. It is on the internet open for anyone to read. How should I go on citing this? I want to refer to it in an application where it asks me to cite all works I have been a part of.<issue_comment>username_1: Firstly, congratulations on getting your poster accepted. If you don't go, I hope you are able to find someone to present the poster on your behalf (this is actually quite common).
In terms of deciding whether or not to go: it depends on your situation.
Some things you should consider:
1. Your financial situation and how much the cost will be. On top of the flights, you need to pay for registration, accommodation, meals, a travel visa (if applicable), and local transportation (e.g. to and from the airport).
2. Your career stage and future goals. Are you planning to stay in the field? Will you have future opportunities to attend similar conferences? This affects how valuable going would be to you.
3. How much networking you will be able to do. Do you know other people attending the conference? If you don't know anyone, it can be difficult to network. But if you know someone there (e.g. your advisor) who can introduce you to people, that can make things much easier. You should also have some idea of who you want to network with. I will sometimes decide whether to go to a conference based on knowing who will be attending and who I want to network with.
Your advisor will know your situation better than I do and can give more specific advice. So, if you are uncertain, you should talk to him more about it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I think that Sam has given you some very good points to consider. I have attended three conferences and spoken to many others about their views on conferences. Based on my experiences and what you have outlined, I would advise you not to attend the conference for the following reasons:
1. It will be very expensive. That is ok if you are getting your moneys worth, but I am not sure you will.
2. In my experience most conferences involve superficial networking and do not provide sufficient contact to create long term relationships. People meet, make small talk, and then go their separate ways. Sometimes if they have common ground they make plans to work on things but usually distance will prove too much of a barrier for the plans to work out.
3. No-one important will likely want to talk to you about research opportunities if you are just a PhD with a poster. There will be many people competing for the attention of the successful researchers and you will be at the bottom of the pile. In some ways you are probably better not to approach those people until you have something to excite them with - as I was told before, you don't want to "go out half baked," as you may only get one chance to make a good impression.
4. Many people who attend conferences actually treat it as something of a holiday and don't attend much of the conference proceedings.This means that fewer people that expected are actually available to talk to.
I am happy to expand on these points as needed if you want to know more about why I feel the way I do.
Also, despite what I have said, Canada is a cool place so that is one argument for why you might choose to visit and fit in the conference on the side :)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: If you decide to go, since the airfare will probably be a *major* expense, please set up an itinerary to visit one to three departments you are interested in getting to know better, somewhere in the vicinity of the conference. Once you've chosen the departments you'd like to visit, here's how you broach a visit:
>
> Dear Prof. So-and-So,
>
>
> I will be in your area during the month of March, to attend such-and-so conference. I am currently a fourth-year PhD student at *y* University, studying under Prof. Z. I would be interested in visiting your department/institute during my visit to North America. If you like, I could give a talk about xxx (give a one to three sentence description).
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
Of course, if your advisor has a connection and can arrange an invitation for you, so much the better; but if he does not, please don't let that stand in your way.
If they take your bait and ask you to come and give a talk, plan to spend two days in that town, meeting with people and hearing about what they are doing.
Read up on current research going on in that department before arriving.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: Several times now I've had desk rejections from journals in pure mathematics that are variations on the theme of 'we have a large backlog of very good articles, so unfortunately we won't even be sending your paper to a referee even though we might ordinarily do so'. I suspect this is just euphemism for 'we aren't interested in your paper/your paper is not good enough/go away', as claiming a large backlog seems to me to be more objectively defendable than making an editorial decision (ie 'not significant enough') and standing by it on its own terms. Alternatively, it may be phrased this way to soften the blow in claiming to not make an explicit judgement call on paper quality.
Is this common practice among editors and/or journals? I haven't in my admittedly limited experience heard similar wording in rejections from, say, experimental sciences journals. More controversially, am I correct in my reading, that it is just euphemism? (If so, I do not appreciate it, in the interest of academic honesty over lawyer-approved weasel words.)
Ideally answers would come from people who are editors and/or those with *extensive* experience in publishing. A bonus would be answers that can detail whether this sort of thing is on the rise, coming from people who have decades of experience.<issue_comment>username_1: Although I've not been "an editor", I've been involved-enough with refereeing in "pure math" for almost 40 years now that I can observe some patterns:
First, the last several decades were very productive in the sense that many, many people got PhD's in math from pretty darn good places, and were focused on research. Second, the advent of TeX + internet (as opposed to paper mail) has effectively decreased the "friction" of submission so that the volume of submissions is insanely higher than 30 years ago. Maybe 100 times that rate? Meanwhile, the number of reasonably-substantive-status mathematics journals has *not* at all increased, and the refereeing system (pro bono, in people's spare time) has not changed. I hesitate to suggest that referees should be paid (jeez, for one thing, this starts to create conflicts of interest worse than those already present...), but the "old" system cannot cope with the new volume.
Thus, desk rejections will be more frequent, and more aggressive. That is, in particular, editors will not want to annoy/burden their "stable" of expert referees with a higher volume of papers... (One could hope that the pool of expert referees would grow proportionately to the number of TeX'd-up manuscripts, but this seems not to be so.)
Yes, I'd be willing to believe that the rate of inaccurate desk-rejections has gone up... not through malice or prejudice, but exigency.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: One of the factors that make mathematics different from, say, experimental sciences, is that the expectations on referees is an order of magnitude higher. Seriously refereeing a medium-length paper is a full week of work, and often takes up to a year since the referee has to find 40 hours (or even more for a longer or more difficult paper) outside of all their regular duties.
There is exactly one journal currently on my refereeing blacklist, and this is a journal that rejected a paper over my fairly strong recommendation for the paper to be accepted. It might be bad for a paper to be desk rejected, but it is even worse for the paper to go out for refereeing, be recommended for acceptance, and then have the paper rejected because of lack of space or length of backlog, wasting six months to a year or more for the author and wasting a week of work for the referee.
If an editor believes the referee is unlikely to be able to convince them to accept the paper, they should not send it out for refereeing.
Some journals have now explicitly adopted a process where the editor(s) consult with a first referee to get a quick opinion on whether the paper should be fully refereed. Even journals that don't adopt such a process formally may have editors who informally consult with experts before deciding whether or not to desk reject a paper. In many cases, informal consultation with someone the editor knows personally is more accurate since they can more accurately convey the journal's standards and go back and forth about the merits of the results claimed in the paper.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I have not ever heard the particular reason for rejecting a paper you cite, despite having been an editor for two of the top journals in our field (computational math) for several years. I believe it's a cop out.
That said, there is nothing wrong for an editor to reject papers without sending them out for review. As an editor, you can often see that a paper doesn't have the required level; or that it is outside scope of simply covers such a small and non-interesting niche that it's not of interest to the readers. If you sent this out to 3 people for review, you'd burn out your referees. It's better for everyone to come to a decision quickly and send it back to the author without review. I am honest in such cases, however, about my reasons to do so.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: This is a real phenomenon, which I've had to deal with in practice as an editor. It's by no means universal, and it's probably a cop-out to some extent, but in at least some cases it genuinely indicates that standards are temporarily higher than normal while the journal deals with a backlog.
My impression is that it is caused by several factors:
1. A publisher that targets a certain number of pages per year and will not substantially exceed this target (on the grounds that it will cost more without raising subscription revenue correspondingly), regardless of how many papers the editors accept. If there are too many accepted papers, then they will be published gradually over time.
2. A decentralized editorial board in which individual editors recommend papers for acceptance without having to justify their decisions in terms of the publication rate of the journal.
3. A sufficiently large backlog that authors start to get upset about how many years they have to wait to see their paper in print.
All of these factors can contribute, but they are not all necessary. For example, Journal of the AMS has had backlog issues in the past, despite having an editorial board that makes decisions jointly.
Typically what happens is that the publisher or the editor in chief starts to get worried about the high backlog (since it can hurt the journal's reputation) and pressures the other editors to accept fewer papers until the backlog starts to decrease. During this period, it can be tricky to coordinate with referees on the new standards, so editors typically desk reject papers they aren't excited about, even if those papers might plausibly have been accepted normally.
Each year the AMS publishes backlog estimates for mathematics journals ([here](http://www.ams.org/notices/201510/rnoti-p1266.pdf) is the 2015 version). If you see a particularly high backlog listed there, then the stated reasons are probably real. If you don't, then the editor might be trying to soften the blow of rejection, or it's possible that the AMS's backlog estimate is not right.
It's worth noting that a small backlog is good, since it evens out the random fluctuations in the acceptance rate and keeps the publisher happy. It's only a problem to the extent that it starts to upset the authors, and it has been less of a problem in recent decades (since the AMS started publicizing the backlogs).
>
> I haven't in my admittedly limited experience heard similar wording in rejections from, say, experimental sciences journals.
>
>
>
Yes, this phenomenon does not seem to exist in most other fields. In mathematics, formal publication is not the primary mode of communication (rather, it's for permanent archiving), so nobody is too horrified by backlogs, and this lets things get out of hand occasionally. In the experimental sciences, authors demand rapid publication, so there is no concept of accepting more papers than you have space to publish and developing a serious backlog.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: Can a person who doesn't like to talk much still become a good lecturer/academician? Do you have any experience like this or know anyone like this?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, I have known several. They may be a better "lecturer" because they will use other teaching techniques than lecturing which are more effective because they lead to active learning.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Absolutely, a person who's not naturally inclined to be a speaker can become a good lecturer and scientist. One of my best professors, actually, was a person with such inclinations. Finding that speaking was not something that he was good at, he turned it into an object of study and began collecting heuristics about what made a good and effective talk. By studiously applying these heuristics to his own teaching and professional communication, he could at least ensure that his talks did not fail on any identifiable dimension.
Talks need to do a lot of different things at once: holding attention, identifying key salients, speaking at different levels to different parts of the audience, providing "breadcrumbs", etc. Because of this, it often turns out that it's much less important to do any aspect brilliantly than to make sure that no aspect has been neglected. This professor might not have been a brilliant and exciting comedian, like some who are natural lecturers, *but he often gave better lecturers than the naturals.* The more natural lecturers were often simply less consistent: following their enjoyment and intuition produced brilliance in some aspects and weaknesses in others, while his stolid application of heuristics ensured an across-the-board solidity of presentation.
In short: ultimately, it's not a matter of talent but of choices for how to invest in acquiring skills.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I used to be INCREDIBLY shy as a child / teen / young adult. I hated public speaking and did anything that I could to avoid it.
Mid 20s I ended up unemployed and was told by a family member that you don't even need to interview to be a substitute teacher, you just sign up, get a background check, and start getting work. Desperately needing money, I went for it. And they were right, I started getting work right away.
It was stressful at times but it helped me get out of my shell a lot. And not just get out of my shell, but plan and execute strategies to keep my "audience" (the kids) engaged. Because let me tell you something about teaching elementary kids... you either take command and keep the kids engaged, or you spend the whole day dealing with discipline issues instead of teaching, which is the most frustrating thing in the world. It was a trial by fire, so to speak, and I figured it out in time.
I grew to love it (went back and got a teaching degree and teach elementary computers now) but moreso I found that A. I was no longer terrified by public speaking and B. I actually kind of liked it.
So I started signing up to do presentations at various video game conferences / etc. Now I was presenting for adults but honestly... it's not that different from teaching elementary classes. Make a plan that covers the entire time period you're going to be up there. Have alternatives if your plan isn't working. Keep the audience engaged (I always plan "activities" for the audience so it isn't just me / my partners up there talking.) The vast majority of my anxieties used to come from "what if I flop in front of a crowd" and although that is always possible, good planning and audience engagement goes a long way towards minimizing that risk.
Not sure if this helps you since I don't teach adults, but I've thought about moving in that direction sometimes to pick up some extra work, like teaching night classes or whatever, and while the before-elementary-teaching me would never have even dreamed of trying to teach college classes, now it's like yeah, why not? Current me is more than prepared for that challenge.
I'm still actually somewhat shy, and at parties and stuff I'll often end up just kind of standing near the outside of a circle and listening without saying much. But now I have the skills and experience to public speak, and I feel pretty solid about doing it. Recently my 5+ year long girlfriend came to assist me for an hour long presentation (complete with activities) at a video game conference with a crowd of around 100 people and despite being in an intimate relationship with me for years and seeing how I interact with people in other situations, afterwards she told me she was shocked at how well I commanded the thing... detailed planning, speaking loud and clear, energetically running around the room, actively engaging the audience, making people laugh, etc. Apparently I become a "different person" when I'm in control of a public presentation as opposed to being just another face in a crowd.
So yeah, not sure this totally answers your question, but you can definitely go from scared, not so great public speaker to feeling generally in control and able to take command of the situation and do a great job. And though I doubt you want to start substitute teaching elementary kids, there are probably other paths too. Just getting the practice helps.
This isn't to say I don't sometimes get nervous about it though. I think some level of nerves is pretty normal.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: I have read [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/16265/you-are-paid-to-answer-my-questions-how-to-handle-silly-questions), where the OP asked how to handle silly questions. In the excellent answer of Irwin, the 6th point attracted my attention:
>
> If it's a matter of the student talking on and wasting time with questions, then you can ask the student politely to keep questions for after the class. If the student is trolling you with questions and is otherwise being a nuisance this option usually works as well.
>
>
>
I am a TA in mathematics at a university in continental Europe and I organized a weekly question time (one hour) where I answer questions of undergraduate mathematics students. Usually, these hours are very well visited so I struggle a lot to answer all questions in my limited amount of time. However, there is one student who constantly tries to prevent me from answering other student's questions. He first wants *his* questions answered. But most of the time his questions are not useful at all:
* He wants to show the other students how much he knows. He uses a lot of mathematical terminology, sometimes even terminology which was not yet introduced in the lecture (and sometimes *will* not be introduced in the lecture). For example, if derivatives are the content of the lecture, he asks something about weak derivatives. My advice that he should first understand the special case and not the more general one is ignored. However, he also asks questions about the specific course (which fall into the category of the next two bullet points.)
* He has a very tiring way of asking questions. If you answer his question, he often accuses you of "not understanding his question". If you answer his question and politely tell him why his question does not make sense, he usually changes the topic (if the question was about topic A, he says "But I was talking about topic B all the time, you did not understand my question"). Telling him that he has to ask more precisely is ignored, he thinks that the TA is not able to answer his questions, because they are too difficult to answer.
* He always wants *his* questions to be answered first. This is very bad for the other students, because the other students have more or less useful questions which deserve to be answered well. Hence, this student is just wasting time, which could be used in a better way to answer more useful questions. Of course, the other students are annoyed by him, too. I think that it is just a question of time until one of the other students tells him that the question times cannot stay like this.
Now my question is: How do I deal with such a student? The cited advice above does not quite apply here. He *does* come to my question time and also to the question time of other TAs (who have the same impression of him). If you ask him to keep his questions, he just does not stop asking and disturbs you in the process of answering other questions. For example, if you answer a question, he just interrupts you and says "But isn't it like *that*? (...)", saying this with a tone which expresses that you are wrong and he is right.
I also offered him to come to my office to discuss his mathematical problems, but he apparently does not want to, because he has never appeared in my office (and I think he won't in the future). My impression (and also the impression of the other TAs plus the professor's) is that he just wants to ask questions publicly to express how much he knows and to demonstrate that he is very intelligent.<issue_comment>username_1: My solution is a partial solution.
This student seems very reluctant to change his behavior. Maybe you could introduce a new procedure for everyone that will block him most of the time.
Since you don't have the time to answer all questions, students interested in asking questions could put their name in a bowl. During the period, you draw name, the student ask the question and you answer (any other method of having a random attribution of who can ask questions could work).
If the disturbing student don't want to respect the procedure and keeps interrupting you, I would suggest asking him to leave:
"Sorry, I will answer your question when your name is draw. If you do not agree with that, I would ask you to leave as you are disturbing the other students."
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: If the student is just overexcited and more advanced than others, then the question linked above by ff524 has an excellent answer. However, that does not seem to be the case. By all appearances, the student talks to talk, and drops references to superior knowledge - real or imagined - *to show it off.* I've studied with plenty of students whose knowledge exceeded even advanced classes they were forced to take, and - in my experience - the common reaction of a true talent is boredom or eventually failing to show up, not jumping on stage. The closest case similar to yours failed his qualifying.
Hence, I think your problem is one of learning *to assert yourself* in a challenging situation. Here are some suggestions for what you might want to try:
1. Be an authority figure, not a friend. When I was a squad leader at the army, I was an unkissed geek-kid; my soldiers included a drug dealer, coal miners, and someone 10 years older, divorced, 2 children. I've found that, absent natural charisma which I don't have, acting somewhat reserved and distant, while always having an open ear for feedback, was the best way to get through this. When later TAing, I resisted the urge to fraternize and acted similarly, which worked very well for me (in both cases, I was top rated among my peers.)
2. Create a system of taking questions, and stick to it. This might be simple ideas such as one day taking questions front to back, the next left to right, etc. which - as students tend to gravitate towards seats in a particular part of a classroom - means your problem student will only get to lead a discussion every now and then.
3. Be professional, but honest about your frustration. If the student interrupts others, or you, first follow the advice of the linked question. I expect it to fail though as your student isn't interested in talking after class when no one witnesses their awesomeness. If it fails, tell them "I'm sorry, there are many questions others have, too, and I need to address theirs as well.(meet me after)" If you can't shut them up, keep eye contact, and say, more seriously but calmly, "I really have to move on. Please allow others to talk", etc.
4. Seek advice from your professor, as needed. If the person becomes disruptive and unresponsive to your hints mentioned in 3., discuss with your professor, and ask if you can kick them out of a TA session when that happens. Express your concern about preparing the other students properly.
5. Assume good intentions, and talk with your student. This should probably be point 0. Ask the student if you can talk after your session. Be a bit flattering - interested student, knows much - then point out that others don't, and you really need to focus on them, and their more basic questions, while handling his in 1-on-1s, as necessary. This might clarify if they are acting in good faith and just get overexcited, or not.
6. Mention that TA sessions are optional, and that no one already having the knowledge taught is judged for not showing up. One of my TAs, stuck in a basic linear algebra II class with a 4-time math Olympics participant (b/s/g/g) who had gone through the entire Bourbaki already did this, and it was the last time the student was seen. If it works as in this case, you might also get a chuckle out of the other students who probably understand what you mean.
There is an additional informal way to address this as well. The next time you catch them being wrong in their aggressive ways, talk them into a corner. If they change topic, say so - "That's interesting, but let's not change topic. I'm really curious to understand what you meant when you said (X - the wrong statement)." Be calm, friendly and insistent, and keep this up until an error is admitted, or they shut up. As their interruption is only to show them in a gleaming light, it might help greatly in making it stop. I would only use this as a last resort though.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: After you've answered his question to your satisfaction, move on to someone else's question, whether he likes it or not. If he talks over the other student, or you, to try to ask another question, politely but firmly tell him that he has to wait. "You had your turn, now it's Steve's turn to ask a question." If he refuses to shut up and wait his turn, ask him to leave. You're in charge of the room; don't be afraid to manage it.
And be fair about it: after Steve's question, move on to Jane's question, and come back to the problematic student in his proper time. This would be a good policy even if one student were monopolizing the Q&A session with useful questions.
You can also flat-out refuse to answer off-topic questions. "That's outside the scope of this course. I'll only talk about that if no one has any on-topic questions." Be a broken record if you have to.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: As a TA, part of your job is managing your time with students to ensure that every student with a class related question is helped. Part of this is learning how to deal with difficult students like the one you mention.
First, put any student with a question about a homework, quiz or test at the front of the line. Keep this focused. If your problem student tries to interrupt, or get off topic, simply say.
>
> I want to make sure everyone understand the material that was covered
> in the assignment. I'd be happy to discuss this if there is time
> after.
>
>
>
Second, limit the amount of time the student can ask questions. Next time he takes a long time talking with you, simply say.
>
> I've got several other students, and can only give you X amount of
> time (10, 15 minutes). Once his time is up, enforce it, and make sure
> all the students have a chance to get a question answered.
>
>
>
Thirdly, if he is good, suggest him for an unpaid undergrad research or TA position if appropriate. This will give him the respect of the other students, which he wants, and will teach him how annoying he is being to you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: You, the TA, are currently in a situation where the students are running the Question period. That's all fine and good, until you get one of "those" students.
What you need to do is turn it around so that YOU are the one "asking the questions." How? By establishing a sign-up sheet, and questions should come in on paper. This is how music open-mic nights are organized. You don't just show up to an open mic and walk right up on stage, you have to "run the gauntlet" of the moderator.
Then, YOU, the TA, ask the submitted questions, without naming who's question it is. This strips the questions of any personalization or attribution, and there is only one person in the room that will find this unsufferable, and that's your precious pearl student who will feel himself to be neutered, and will lose interest in the process...because his opportunity to control the dialog has been blocked.
The best thing that can happen from this scheme is that the problem student exercises his "awesome-sauce-ness" by actually answering other's questions correctly and being genuinely helpful, and at worst he loses interest in the process because he has no way to establish himself as center of attention.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: One trick I use in situations like this is that sometimes I put questions up for a vote of all the students present. "Let's make sure that we're helping as many people as we can," I'll say, "Raise your hand if you'd like to see this problem worked out?" Generally if I get at least 3 hands up then I'll follow through; but if absolutely no one seconds the strange question, then I'll say, "Maybe you and I can talk about this after class" (and it's probably a minority of the time that the student follows up with it).
This makes it rather explicit when no one else in the room is interested in the oddball question, and effectively creates buy-in from everyone else that skipping it is good. A few times I've escalated this (say, reviewing for a final exam when everyone wants all the exercises covered in one hour) by putting all the proposed questions on the board, recording vote tallies for each, and then using the available time from top-votes to least.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: Why not asking for the doubts beforehand by email, and answering to the more interesting or pertinent to the program in question? That way, the more interesting questions would be selected, the students would benefit more, you would have more time to think beforehand about the validity of the questions, and further valid questions that would not fit on the program or time, could be answered by email or privately.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I just received a decision letter from a journal editor (after three rounds of major revision). The letter shows that the reviewers "have asked for some other minor revisions". After getting the minor revision letter, I immediately completed the revision in accordance with the feedback from the reviewers (the suggested changes just involve adding a few sentences) and immediately resubmitted the revision to ScholarOne. A week has passed since I submitted the revision, but the status in ScholarOne remains unchanged. Is this normal? Can I assume that this basically means "acceptance with minor revision"? Thanks for your insight and sharing.<issue_comment>username_1: The answer depends on the associate editor, and mostly on you. Imagine you drastically change your manuscript at this stage, not taking into account the suggested minor revisions? The editor would have the right (and power) to withdraw your submission, which would be fair...
Suppose now you play the game honestly. After three rounds of major revisions (which is huge), I suppose the journal has bet on you paper (or has surrended). My opinion: chances are your paper is going to be accepted.
But you never know for sure before you get the final acceptance letter (or the publication, which could be withdrawn for outer reasons).
I suggest you to comply to the minor edits as soon as possible. Allow at least one week for the editor, editorial staff to check the last minor correction, or possibly a little more, for instance if the editor decides to ask a picky reviewer to do the job.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, characterizing revisions as "minor" strongly suggests that if you make those revisions the paper will be accepted. Editors may prefer not to explicitly say that the paper is "accepted with minor revisions", because authors may make "minor revisions" that don't correct the problems, and then feel that they've been promised publication in spite of that.
Depending on the journal, the editor, and the revisions, the manuscript may or may not go out to re-review once again, and even if it doesn't a one-week delay from submission to re-evaluation is not surprising. In my field (biology) I wouldn't be surprised to hear back about acceptance anywhere from 1 day to 1 month after re-submission.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Minor revision usually implies that the reviewers (and the editor) think that authors can correct the paper in a way that will address all of the concerns, and the reviewers not need to see the paper again before publication.
From the reviewer's standpoint, "minor revision" means "authors should fix this and this, and don't bother me with the review again, the manuscript is ok otherwise".
However, if the author fails to address the concerns when revising the paper, the Editor may send the paper to another round of minor revision, and in extreme cases, to the major revision (for example if the minor corrections start to reveal bigger problems with the papers as originally envisioned).
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: Minor revision means that your paper accepted by about 70 % but not final acceptance until you fix further comments. Time varies from journal to others, but within one month.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: One week is not too soon. The Editor is a professor too and may be away for the week at a conference. Or, depending on the time of the semester, may be grading a big stack of tests or projects. Or could be out sick for a few days, they are people too. After 3 weeks, email to politely check on the status.
Minor Revision isn't the same as "Accepted" but means it is very likely to become Accepted. But don't claim it until you have that email that has the wonderful word, "Accepted."
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: No, minor revision doesn't mean accepted with minor revisions. Strictly speaking, for truly minor revisions, it's possible that the editor accepts your paper and leaves you to make the remaining changes during proofs. Since the editor didn't do this, it's still possible your paper will be declined. I've also sent minor revision decisions which were effectively "Sorry we can't understand your paper, please get it proofread by a native English speaker", in which case the real peer review hadn't even started yet.
One can say the paper is more likely to be accepted than not, but the paper is not accepted until you receive the acceptance letter.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I have plans to apply for some TT positions in the US. However, I'm Brazilian and I don't even have a visiting visa. I've never been to the US.
Therefore the whole immigration process is mainly unknown to me, with the exception of a small amount of information I managed to gather online.
Ignoring the CV, merits, etc, which I know play a decisive part in the TT hiring process, my question is :
>
> How much the immigration hassle can change the outcome of the hiring process?
>
>
>
Just to clarify further, I'm interested in the immigration factor only. Is it relevant?
Of course, a foreign superstar would be good enough reason to overcome these obstacles, but I'm no superstar and I was wondering where they draw the line, if it is even worth to do the applications... (If you are extra curious, my scholar : <https://scholar.google.com.br/citations?user=0D1ExLoAAAAJ>)
Possibly related: [Is it more difficult to score a Tenure Track position in the US when applying from outside?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17694/is-it-more-difficult-to-score-a-tenure-track-position-in-the-us-when-applying-fr)<issue_comment>username_1: Caveat: I'm a US citizen, so my experience with this is from the hiring side and from discussions with colleagues who are not US citizens.
The short answer is that it will not change things very much. All of the hiring processes I've been involved with paid absolutely no attention to a candidate's citizenship status. That doesn't guarantee this is true everywhere, but in most cases, I don't think it's a big issue. Universities have it much easier than almost any other employer under US immigration law (for example, they have an exemption to the H-1B cap), and while there will be a fair amount of legal runaround, I've never personally known someone hired to a TT job in the US who wasn't able to take the job for immigration reasons.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I've taught at both large R1 universities and small liberal arts colleges. For the large R1s, we don't care -- we simply want the best person for the job, regardless of their nationality. R1s have very competent foreign scholar offices and lawyers who know how to do the proper visa paperwork.
At smaller schools, it's more difficult. Budgets are tighter and the provost has more say over searches. If there are two candidates that are almost equally ranked, then the provost may suggest one over the other for non-academic reasons. There may not even be approval for international airfare for job candidates at the interview stage.
You have to remember that an H1B application will cost at least $10,00-$20,000 in lawyer's fees, staff time, and application costs. The stack of paperwork for the Department of Labor certification itself is about 3 inches thick. Furthermore, even though there is an exemption, sometimes H1B applications can be very, very slow -- which means that an instructor hired in March might not be able to join the campus by August. This can be deadly for a small school that needs its faculty present.
**tl;dr** Be the absolute best candidate possible for the position and the visa status won't matter. Otherwise, it is a factor amongst other factors.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: At R1 places, especially, there are very experienced people one of whose primary jobs is to take care of visas. Faculty don't worry about that.
The issue is not so much visas for working here, but that *interviews* become much more complicated. These days, I think most tenure-track hires (at R1's, at least) include visits to campus for several days, during which the candidate gives talks, goes to lunches and dinners with various faculty, and so on. If you're not already in the U.S. or close by, the airfare may (depending...) be crazily more expensive.
Another impediment for people far away, larger than visas, is experience with the U.S. system in general (students' attitudes, service, etc). There is concern that people who've *not* done post-docs in the U.S. or not done graduate work here might be unhappy with U.S. students' attitudes (whether or not they're able to adapt to these attitudes).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: This question is about visa issues, which aside from being a legal matter are notoriously fraught with subtle technicalities, to the extent that even a lawyer may need many very specific details in order to answer a question on the subject. So let me start by saying that **I am not a lawyer, nor a person with expertise on immigration matters, nor someone agreeing to be held responsible for any advice I am offering here.** I am just a friendly person with an opinion, which I am happy to offer. I am also currently a department chair at a large U.S. university, so have a bit of experience dealing with visa-related questions on the hiring side.
The main points that I think are relevant for your question are the following:
1. As <NAME> commented, U.S. universities are not subject to the quota system for H-1B visas. When a university wants to hire a foreigner, they can sponsor them for an H-1B visa. Assuming you are qualified, and assuming that the NSA doesn't know anything bad about you that we don't, I don't see a reason why it should be even remotely a problem for you to obtain a working visa for the U.S.
2. It is true that sponsoring a new faculty member for a visa costs money. I don't know exactly how much; the $20K figure mentioned by username_2 sounds too high to me, but for argument's sake let's assume that it is correct. Well, although it is objectively not a small amount of money, it is in fact very small if you compute it as a percentage of the cost of employing a faculty member. At a good research university, a new faculty member in CS (not my area, but close enough for me to know something about) will typically be offered a startup package of at least $50-100K, and possibly quite a bit more, to pay for startup costs such as relocation, buying some equipment (computers, and other things depending on the kind of work the faculty member does), and to allow paying for travel to conferences, hiring research assistants and such for a year or two until the person is able to secure some grant funding. And then there is the cost of the faculty member's salary, which will be paid indefinitely until he or she retires.
The point is that when you consider the hypothetical $20K expenditure in the context of the total benefit a good researcher brings to the institution, and the total cost of their employment, the $20K is actually a trivial amount of money. For a serious university, even a poor one, I think it is a no-brainer that it is worth making the effort to hire the best possible person for the job, even if that requires a modest extra investment of that sort, compared to hiring a U.S. citizen for whom that expense is not needed but who is slightly less qualified. I have never heard of a department that made the opposite calculation, and I have never heard of a foreign researcher at the tenure-track level who experienced difficulty being hired *because of immigration issues*. That does not mean such things don't happen, but if they do then that would be outside the realm of my own experiences.
3. Lastly, you mention that you have never visited the United States. Although you asked specifically about visa issues, and my opinion is that visa issues are mostly or entirely irrelevant to your situation, I think it's worth mentioning that the fact that you've never visited the U.S. is in my opinion (very) relevant to your situation, and is a much bigger complication and potential hindrance to your job applications than anything related to visas. It's not that I think there's anything wrong with not visiting the U.S. -- far from it -- but I do think your lack of familiarity with the U.S. and its culture could be a real problem both when you come for an interview and if and when you move here after getting a position. The very fact of your applying for a high-level position in a country you have never visited could appear quite strange to people considering your applications, leading them to question how well you are likely to fit in at their department and institution. I don't know how much thought you've given to this issue, but I would strongly suggest that if you have a serious goal of securing a tenure-track position in the U.S., if at all possible one of the first steps in your plan should be to arrange to first of all *visit* the U.S. for a reasonably long period of time, say a month or two, and visit at least a couple of different geographical parts of the country, and certainly include some universities in your visit so that you can experience first-hand what academic life in the U.S. is like.
Note that I absolutely don't mean for this part of my answer to be read as in any way a criticism of your desire to move to the U.S. or of your never having visited. I am merely saying that coming for an extended visit first will (in my opinion) make you a much better job prospect and a much better interviewee, in a way that I think you cannot appreciate given your lack of U.S. experience. By the way, although this opinion I'm expressing is specific to the U.S. and is not entirely symmetric with respect to countries, it would definitely apply in many other analogous situations; for example, I have never been to Brazil, and if I were to apply for a tenure-track position in Brazil without visiting first, my guess is that my lack of Brazilian experience (separately from my lack of knowledge of Portuguese) could be a serious disadvantage for my applications. (Though, of course, never having been to Brazil, I cannot be sure if that is indeed the case... :-) )
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_5: There's a second visa issue that hasn't been mentioned (because it doesn't apply to most applicants). You're not in the US and Brazil is not a visa waiver country. This means that you will need a temporary visa in order to go to an interview. (I think a B-1, but I am not a lawyer.) It is not unusual to be invited to an interview on insufficient notice to get a new visa. If you think you have a serious shot at a US job, then I would try to get a temporary multiple-entry visa in advance of interview season.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: For immigration purposes, you do not really need the university to sponsor you and go through H-1B route. If you have good credentials, you can always sponsor yourself and apply for EB2-NIW (which is designed for advanced degrees holders!). You can even apply from outside the US.
For TT positions, most applicants in my field (Engineering) are international students on F1 visa (some might have J1 visa, but that is a different story). Most of the time, fresh graduates will require some sort of immigration sponsorship if they get hired. Keep in mind that many PhD holders (if they have high credentials) will choose to go with EB1, EB2-NIW routes rather than the H-1B visa since it is much faster, cheaper and basically designed for them.
If I remember correctly, professors hired by universities are more likely to apply for immigration under EB1 category. PhD students/post docs will go with EB2-NIW. In theory a PhD holder who works as a professor in a university can apply under EB2-NIW and EB1 (two seperate applications) and at the same time. The main differences between these categories is related to having a contract (i.e., position as in an assistant professor for EB1 or self-sponsoring as in EB2-NIW). Additional information can be found on the USCIS website.
I hope this helps!
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I often see in the US that many engineering programs are listed as a BSc or an MSc for Master's.
In my country (New Zealand) one can obtain a BSc in three years in a science field, or, if wanting to pursue engineering, a bachelor of engineering (BE) can be attained, most often with an honours component (BE(Hons)) in four years.
The honours component includes a year long research project with thesis in the final year as well as additional non-research related coursework.
To put it simply, my question is:
1. In the US, what is the duration of a BSc in an engineering field?
2. Does this include an honours component such as the one I have mentioned?
3. If not, is there a significant emphasis on research?
4. If yes, is this something all students complete, or is it optional?
5. Is this honours/research component very important to the overall degree?
My confusion arises due to the name of 'BSc' and also due to no honours being mentioned i.e. it is not 'BSc(Hons)'.<issue_comment>username_1: 1. Most ABET-accredited programs in the US offer a 4-year Bachelors of Science in XYZ Engineering (sounds like the equivalent of a BE from your home country). Most science programs (i.e., Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Sociology, really any type of science, hard or soft) are 4-year programs as well.
2. Many programs have an optional honors thesis that students can pursue if they are interested - it's rarely, to my knowledge, required.
3. US engineering programs don't typically emphasize research - though this depends on the school - but most emphasize a capstone project during one's third or fourth year. This can range from working with an actual client (like my undergrad did) to working on a project that the professors running the project determine.
4. Generally speaking - all students complete the capstone, research/honors is optional.
5. Practical experience is what's most important - that comes from the capstone project, laboratory exercises, and above all internships/co-ops/REUs.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In the U.S.:
1. Most ABET accredited engineering B.S. programs are designed to take 4 yr, as are most other bachelor's level programs, science or otherwise. If you eliminate the General Education requirements as I did, it's not terribly difficult to complete the degree in 3yr. I also know that many students take 5yr to complete their B.S. in engineering, but they're typically the ones who have significant "extra-curricular" activities and don't take a full load of classes each term.
2. Some schools have an "honours" program, but personally I'm not familiar with them. More typical is a 5yr program that leads to a both a B.S. and a Masters degree (either an MS Engineering or an MBA).
3. Research opportunities aren't typical for undergrad students, but they're available and are usually something that comes about when an undergrad student shows excellence and a professor has an opportunity. I did some research into heat exchanger designs for a professor as an undergrad.
4. Doing research is optional, but if you were to undertake something like a 5yr B.S./M.S program, research would most certainly be a part of the program. The focus in undergrad programs is going to be on getting some industry/practical experience.
5. Research is important if you want it to be, but it's not typicvally mandatory for an undergraduate engineering degree in the U.S.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Bachelor of Arts
* At least 24 semester hours, at least half is upper division
Bachelor of Science
* At least 36 semester hours, at least half is upper division
ABET's Accreditation Requirements:
* BEng Total is 120-123 semester hours
+ 30 semester hours in Engineering
+ 45 semester hours in Sciences, Technology, and Mathematics
* BEng Total is 124-127 semester hours
+ 31 semester hours in Engineering
+ 46 semester hours in Sciences, Technology, and Mathematics
* BEng Total is 128-135 semester hours
+ 32 semester hours in Engineering
+ 48 semester hours in Sciences, Technology, and Mathematics
I've round down the E, so it is likely for STM to also be round down to 46 semester hours. Usually, 120 semester hours are for most public schools, 126 semester hours from legacy requirement of 6 semester hours of physical education, 128 semester hours are for most private schools, and 135 semester hours are public schools that inflate to 4.5 years.
1. It is usually 4 years, but some public schools inflate to 4.5 years.
2. It usually cannot have honors component, because honors require taking more rigorous version of a class, which requires even more semester hours. An honors version of a class is +1 or +2 semester hours compared to a regular version. Also, a student must take all possible honors version of general education and in their major to get honors.
* In a public school, a normal student needs 40 classes (40x3=120), an honors student needs 30 classes (30x4=120), and lose out on 10 classes of free electives if not Engineering Major. General Education is 16 classes, each Arts Major is 8 classes, each Arts Minor is 4 classes, each Science Major is 12 classes, each Science Minor is 6 classes, and Engineering is 15 classes.
* In a private school, a normal student needs 32 classes (32x4=128), an honors student needs 26 classes (26x5=130), and lose out 6 classes of free electives if not Engineering Major. General Education is 12 classes, each Arts Major is 6 classes, each Arts Minor is 3 classes, each Science Major is 9 classes, each Science Minor is 5 classes, and Engineering is 20 classes.
3. Research is not usually part of undergraduate in the US. However, some do provide it as an option, and rarely as mandatory depending on majors.
4. If a capstone is a research (thesis), students must complete it. Students must complete capstones no matter what it is, if it exists. Some majors do not have capstone.
5. A capstone is either one class (3 or 4 semester hours) or two classes (6 or 8 semester hours).
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: Say I gained knowledge from a review article. However, I don't cite that review article. I do cite articles cited by that review article, but not the review itself.
Should I still include that review in my bibliography?<issue_comment>username_1: It may depend on the type or purpose of the document. If it's a journal article, check the requirements in the Instructions for Authors. Some state that the reference list / bibliography should only list sources that are cited in the paper. Similarly, if it's a thesis chapter, check the requirements for your school or university regarding citations and reference lists / bibliographies.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: You have to motivate authors of review articles. The simplest way to do so is to cite them. If we do not motivate people, then no one will eventually perform this sort of not very thanked and quite time consuming job and you will have no opportunity to retrieve knowledge quickly as you did now.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I have handled similar situations by adding a sentence citing the article, such as
>
> Smith (2003) provides a useful summary of this topic.
>
>
>
My reasoning is that since I found the review article very helpful, people reading my article may be interested as well. I know I appreciate references like this.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I see this question is tagged with the "ethics" tag, and there is also an ethics subtext to the question, although it is not stated explicitly. Well, I don't see it as an ethics question at all. The purpose of citations is not to serve as acknowledgements to an author whose paper taught us something useful, and citing a paper is not something you should do as a courtesy because you want to be nice to someone or feel that they deserve a pat on the back. Rather, citations have two goals:
1. We cite a paper **if we feel that this would help the reader**. Will your readers be interested in seeing this review article as background material for the topic you are discussing? If yes, then definitely cite it.
2. We cite a paper to properly **acknowledge the research contributions of other authors**, on which our work relies and builds on, so that the reader is informed about the context of the new work we are discussing in our paper. If by citing the papers referenced in the review article you have already provided such a context, then citing the review article in addiiton is not necessary.
The point is that there are good reasons to cite a review article. But an ethical consideration involving some moral debt that you feel you owe to the writer of the review article, which seems to be what you are asking about, is not one of them.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I don't know what the expectations are in your field. However, one way this sort of thing might be dealt with in mathematics is to write something along the lines of
>
> [1] gives a helpful review of this subject.
>
>
>
or
>
> We direct the reader to [1] for onoverview of related work.
>
>
>
I think that is a valid way of including the reference if you feel you *want* to do so, without actually needing to decide whether it is necessary or not.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: Only the cited articles are listed in bibliography. Therefore, if you don't cite the review article, you do not include it in the bibliography.
If you think that the review article is useful and you want to include it in the bibliography, you can just cite it in the paper.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I am student at a UK institution and looking to apply for a PhD programme in the USA. The application deadlines are nearing and I haven't taken the GRE general test yet. It seems that if I take the test at the first available date, the scores will arrive after most deadlines.
How important is it to have the GRE tests scores when applying to graduate programmes in the USA? Will not having it automatically have my application rejected?<issue_comment>username_1: I am just going to add some details to **<NAME>**'s comment.
Nowadays, the GRE General score has an important impact on either bare admission or the financial support.
The famous schools often use it to distinguish better applicants among the their crowded pool. Furthermore, moderate universities consider it as a measuring criterion to dedicate their financial support.
All in all, [the limited universities](http://www.msinus.com/content/universities-without-gre-225/) do not need this score as a mandatory material for the application, but the majority of the universities expect the applicant to provide his/her mark within the application. Actually, sending the scores right after the deadline might be acceptable for some schools. This possibility should which be investigated, case by case, by communication with the corresponding graduate admission department. So, you better check the target programs and if they commit the late scores, stick to the preparation for the test.
Best
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Three things:
1. the application deadlines for you are several weeks earlier than the dates that decisions on the applications are made, so even if the scores arrive after the deadlines, they may still arrive in time to be taken into consideration.
2. different U.S. disciplines (and to a lesser extent, different departments in the same discipline) have radically different views on how much the GRE is worth. So the answer to your question really depends on what subject you're intending to study, which you haven't told us.
3. bureaucracy at some institutions may prevent your application from being considered, even if the faculty thinks the GRE is unimportant.
The best thing to do is write the schools you are considering and ask. You may have taken the GRE in time for some of them, and I expect others will consider your application even without the GRE.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: Due to financial issues, I've had to work in order to support myself alongside my degree, and unfortunately due to work obligations I've had to miss some lectures and classes. Due to not spending much time at the university, I also don't have many friends who would be willing to help me catch up.
Would it be appropriate in any way to ask the lecturer or the class TA to help me on a 1-on-1 basis? I think I've managed to fall behind sufficiently far that I would need several hours of help to catch up -- could I possibly suggest to the professor that I can offer you £50/hour for your time? I don't want it to be construed as bribery or anything inappropriate -- I just want to pay the person fairly for his/her time.
Is there an appropriate way to do this? I know that in my high school some students paid teachers for 1-on-1 tutoring, but I'm not sure how it works in university?
For context, I'm in the United Kingdom, I'm doing a master's degree, and the end-of-term examinations are administered anonymously (i.e. the person grading does not know whose paper he/she is grading).<issue_comment>username_1: The appropriate way to do it is explain what you want, and why you are willing to pay for it. You have to be careful to not say something like "I want to pass this course, and I'm willing to pay you to make that happen", since that would look like an offer of a bribe which would be illegal. It is not illegal to pay a person for personal tutoring. That is the point at which your concern should end. It is possible that university regulations forbid an employee from accepting such an offer, but it is the employee's responsibility to make that determination, not yours. If it is forbidden, or if the employee would simply feel uncomfortable with the appearance of conflict of interest, s/he can tell you so and may be able to point you to an alternative tutor.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: At my university in the USA, it would likely be illegal for the instructor or the TAs of the particular class to participate in this. There is just too much of a (perceived) conflict of interest since they are evaluating you for a grade for the class.
However, there would not be anything barring you from approaching a graduate student who was a **former** TA for the class; nor would there be a problem in approaching an instructor at **another** institution or someone who is at your institution who is **not** teaching your section of your class that term. You could even ask an upperclass student who took the class last year to tutor you.
Your department secretary may be able to connect you with a grad student who needs a few extra dollars and isn't in the conflict-of-interest position to tutor you directly. Or post something in your local craiglist or student bulletin board system.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: Scientific literature has items called letters, communications and journal papers. They all seem quite similar in terms of format and content. What are the differences between them?<issue_comment>username_1: The appropriate way to do it is explain what you want, and why you are willing to pay for it. You have to be careful to not say something like "I want to pass this course, and I'm willing to pay you to make that happen", since that would look like an offer of a bribe which would be illegal. It is not illegal to pay a person for personal tutoring. That is the point at which your concern should end. It is possible that university regulations forbid an employee from accepting such an offer, but it is the employee's responsibility to make that determination, not yours. If it is forbidden, or if the employee would simply feel uncomfortable with the appearance of conflict of interest, s/he can tell you so and may be able to point you to an alternative tutor.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: At my university in the USA, it would likely be illegal for the instructor or the TAs of the particular class to participate in this. There is just too much of a (perceived) conflict of interest since they are evaluating you for a grade for the class.
However, there would not be anything barring you from approaching a graduate student who was a **former** TA for the class; nor would there be a problem in approaching an instructor at **another** institution or someone who is at your institution who is **not** teaching your section of your class that term. You could even ask an upperclass student who took the class last year to tutor you.
Your department secretary may be able to connect you with a grad student who needs a few extra dollars and isn't in the conflict-of-interest position to tutor you directly. Or post something in your local craiglist or student bulletin board system.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: On mathjobs.org, each posting often has at the bottom of the listing "further info." Sometimes the name and contact information for a faculty member is listed. Instead of addressing my cover letter, "Dear Hiring Committee Member," would it be better if I wrote, "Dear (name of faculty member)?"<issue_comment>username_1: No. Although the person listed for further information might be on the search committee, they certainly won't be the only member of the committee. Furthermore, the person listed for further information might not even be on the committee.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I would definitely go with "
To whom it may concern".
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for mathematics PhD programs in the United States.
I did not major in mathematics as an undergrad and I did not do so well the first time around on the GRE Math subject test (about 60th percentile). I have since completed a Master's in mathematics and my score has improved to about 90th percentile.
I think it could benefit me to send both scores since it shows my progress. Will admissions committees in general view this in a positive light? Or should I just send my most recent good score.<issue_comment>username_1: Send your best one. GRE is typically used simply as a filter and including your lower score will probably hurt you more than it helps.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: As I recall, in my day at least one could not choose which scores were sent. A complete history of scores was sent with a score report.
Upvotes: -1
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2015/11/15
| 879
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<issue_start>username_0: I have been invited to review technical content in the past. However, if I want to be part of review process for specific conference/journal – how do I go about and suggest my availability?<issue_comment>username_1: In a word: networking.
Most conferences and journals don't have any formal process for people to offer themselves in this manner. I'm not exactly sure why not, because most publication venues are also always wishing they had more trustworthy reviewing capacity. I think it's the "trustworthy" part that's the issue: there is a notion that the people in charge of selecting reviewers should have some reason to believe the review you turn in will be a meaningful evaluation of the work under consideration. Still, in practice I often identify possible reviewers by looking at their online presence, so having a person submit themselves as a possible reviewer seems like it would be no less reliable — it's just that in my experience it's just not done.
Instead, the most frequent ways that I see people getting asked to be reviewers are
* by having people get to know them and think of them when they're looking for people to review, and
* by having other people who are declining to review point the editor to them as an alternative.
If you put the word out into your professional network that you are looking to review papers, then reviews will likely start coming your way. Furthermore, once you've reviewed for somebody, you'll be in their database: provide a high-quality and timely review and fill out the reviewer account with keywords and such, and you'll be more likely to be tapped again to review for the same venues, because reliable reviewers are like gold.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In my field, you don't solicit reviewing work. (In fact, most people would like to avoid being given reviews, as it is work with little reward. It's seen as a responsibility, rather than a privilege.)
Being asked to give reviews shows that you are respected in the research community and it is often listed under "service" on CVs. So I can understand why you would want to be asked.
When the editors or program committee receives a paper, they need to find reviewers. Who they select will be informed by many things, including:
1. Who they know. If they know you and that the paper is relevant to your expertise, then they will send it to you.
2. Referrals. They may ask someone else who declines to give a review, but suggests you instead.
3. Citations. If the paper in question cites your related work, then chances are you might be a good reviewer, so they'll send it to you.
4. Web presence. Before asking you to review a paper, they will probably google you to make sure you have the right expertiese. And, if all else fails, they might simply look for reviewers online by googling keywords.
So if you want to be asked to review a paper you should: (1 & 2) network with other researchers so that they think of you when they see a paper in your area, (3) write lots of papers so that your expertise are clear, and (4) have a good web presence so that people can find you and see what you do; that includes maintaining a professional web page and a google scholar account.
All of these tips are of course tips for success in academia in general!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: In my field, it's quite uncommon to *solicit* review assignments, but there are fairly reliable ways to end up with them if one is so inclined. For many of the major annual meetings, there's often a request for abstract reviewers that one can sign up for.
Personally thought, I found the most reliable way to end up as a potential reviewer for a journal is to submit something to it. This is not the *only* way, but my heaviest review workload comes from journals I submit to regularly.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I am about to publish my first paper, but there is a little question bothering me. I have two middle names and I've noticed that most authors with two middle names choose only one to use as a initial. So their abbreviated names become "Last AB", not "Last ABC" (which apparently doesn't look so good).
However, I've read the "instructions for authors" of many journals, and none of them says anything about choosing the initials you want to use, you just have to put your full name and (I suppose) they abbreviate it by themselves.
Can someone please clarify for me how it works and how people manage to choose the way journals publish their initials?<issue_comment>username_1: You're doing the right thing to consult the 'instructions for authors'; but if you have any lingering doubts, it would not hurt to email to the journal's publishing team.
Having said that, in the journals that I have published in, there has not been any restrictions as to how many initials can be included in your manuscripts. One of my co-authors also has 2 middle names, and has not had any problems including all of them. The author can specify how they have their name expressed - I have done this, some papers have my middle initial, some don't.
Sometimes, when papers are indexed by a different party other than the publisher, the initials maybe shortened.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I have two middle names, and have faced a similar dilemma, since there is a great deal of inconsistency not just with journals and citations but in how pretty much *all* bureaucratic systems choose to handle names.
In making your decision, there are three main cases to consider about how your name will be used:
1. **How your name appears on your own papers:** With pretty much any reasonable publication, you should be able to specify your name precisely as you wish it to appear. Just be consistent from publication to publication.
2. **How you are identified in databases:** This is important because this helps guide other people's discovery of your related works, but you are at the mercy of whoever coded up the database and how many [bad assumptions they made about names](http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/). Fortunately, this is why [ORCID](http://orcid.org/) was created, because names aren't very good unique identifiers in the first place. An ORCID, however, provides an easy hook for programmers to organize your publications correctly.
3. **How people write your name in citations:** This is (hopefully) the most common usage, but also the one you have least control over, since people and style guides may mutilate your name in any number of creative ways, especially if your name contains non-English characters. Even closely related languages like French, Spanish, and German often get mangled in transliteration (e.g., losing their diacritics). Fortunately, it matters somewhat less in this case, as the citation is really just a pointer to your own paper.
My personal solution has been to simply use no middle names, since I did not want to end up with one being picked over the other. That works for me partly because my name is relatively unusual to begin with---somebody with more common first and last names might be much more motivated to include one or both of their initials.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: The [Elsevier policies](http://www.elsevier.com/about/company-information/policies/sharing#acceptedmanuscript) state:
>
> Authors can share their accepted manuscript: by updating a preprint in arXiv or RePEc with the accepted manuscript
>
>
>
I haven’t arxived a preprint; the paper is published already; yet I’d still like to arxive the accepted version – does above sentence imply that I’m only allowed to update an existing Arxiv entry but not create a new one now?
---
IEEE policies have a similar phrasing:
>
> 8. Electronic Preprints. Before submitting an article to an IEEE publication, authors frequently post their manuscripts to their own
> web site, their employers site, or to another server that invites
> constructive comment from colleagues.Upon submission of an article to
> IEEE, an author is required to transfer copyright in the article to
> IEEE, and the author must update any previously posted version of the
> article with a prominently displayed IEEE copyright notice. Upon
> publication of an article by the IEEE, the author must replace any
> previously posted electronic versions of the article with either (1)
> the full citation to the IEEE work with a Digital Object Identifier
> (DOI) or link to the article abstract in IEEE Xplore, or (2) the
> accepted version only (not the IEEE-published version), including the
> IEEE copyright notice and full citation, with a link to the final,
> published article in IEEE Xplore.
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: You're doing the right thing to consult the 'instructions for authors'; but if you have any lingering doubts, it would not hurt to email to the journal's publishing team.
Having said that, in the journals that I have published in, there has not been any restrictions as to how many initials can be included in your manuscripts. One of my co-authors also has 2 middle names, and has not had any problems including all of them. The author can specify how they have their name expressed - I have done this, some papers have my middle initial, some don't.
Sometimes, when papers are indexed by a different party other than the publisher, the initials maybe shortened.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I have two middle names, and have faced a similar dilemma, since there is a great deal of inconsistency not just with journals and citations but in how pretty much *all* bureaucratic systems choose to handle names.
In making your decision, there are three main cases to consider about how your name will be used:
1. **How your name appears on your own papers:** With pretty much any reasonable publication, you should be able to specify your name precisely as you wish it to appear. Just be consistent from publication to publication.
2. **How you are identified in databases:** This is important because this helps guide other people's discovery of your related works, but you are at the mercy of whoever coded up the database and how many [bad assumptions they made about names](http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/). Fortunately, this is why [ORCID](http://orcid.org/) was created, because names aren't very good unique identifiers in the first place. An ORCID, however, provides an easy hook for programmers to organize your publications correctly.
3. **How people write your name in citations:** This is (hopefully) the most common usage, but also the one you have least control over, since people and style guides may mutilate your name in any number of creative ways, especially if your name contains non-English characters. Even closely related languages like French, Spanish, and German often get mangled in transliteration (e.g., losing their diacritics). Fortunately, it matters somewhat less in this case, as the citation is really just a pointer to your own paper.
My personal solution has been to simply use no middle names, since I did not want to end up with one being picked over the other. That works for me partly because my name is relatively unusual to begin with---somebody with more common first and last names might be much more motivated to include one or both of their initials.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: My TAing mostly involves helping students working on their programming assignments during classes.
A student asked me to give him private, paid, tutorials for the module, being concerned that all 'usual' resources to which he has access for free (book, classes, a bit of time outside of classes with me) won't be enough to cover his starting gap in this course.
Is this ethical? In particular, is it ethical from the point of view of other students in the course? They might think he is getting a privileged treatment, if he doesn't tell them I am being paid for that time. Should I ask him to notify them? Worse, they could think I am giving out solutions to him (I won't, but they might not think that's the case).
Should I speak with the professor of the course myself about this? Or could I ask the student to discuss his difficulties with the professor first, and eventually ask the professor himself if I can private-tutoring him?<issue_comment>username_1: It's too much of a risk of a conflict of interests - even when trying not to, as an insider you might give undue advantages to the student, or, even if not, other students might argue you did. You probably have qualified friends though who could help your student, and you could consider referring your student to one of them (they, too, need to of course check if this is ok under the terms of whatever contracts they are employed by by your university, if any).
Whatever you choose to do, it's a good idea to discuss it with the professor you TA for. Always be transparent, and avoid to be wrongly perceived as trying to hide your actions from your superiors.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Should I speak with the professor of the course myself about this?
>
>
>
I'd recommend telling the student you can't do it, and mentioning to the professor that you were asked but turned it down (to avoid any rumors). There are massive issues here:
1. Being paid extra compromises your ability to grade the student's work. It looks too much like a bribe, and the fact that the student will presumably stop paying you if the tutoring is ineffective (as measured by grades) creates an ongoing incentive to grade leniently or supply inappropriate degrees of help. Even if you feel you can avoid bias, the apparent conflict of interest is so strong that other students will almost certainly be upset. Think about it this way. If the extra money doesn't matter to you and you have enough time, why not help the student for free? The fact that money is changing hands at all indicates that the money matters to you (as it would for most people), and that is evidence of dangerous incentives.
2. It could look like you are extorting money from your students. This is the flip side of the first point: in addition to your incentive to offer too much to those who pay extra, you now have an incentive to offer too little to those who don't hire you as a tutor. Some students always grumble about how unhelpful their TA is (regardless of the facts), and you really don't want them speculating that your supposed unhelpfulness is intended to pressure them into paying for extra tutoring.
3. I'd bet this is a major violation of university rules. Of course you'd have to look into your own case, but I'd be shocked if any university allowed course staff to accept paid tutoring from their students.
I'd be wary of asking the professor whether this is acceptable. For most questions, asking can't hurt, but here the ethically questionable aspects are so strong that asking whether it is OK could look bad. If you ask, you should be sure to make your understanding of the ethical issues clear, to avoid giving the impression that you think it's fine and just want to check whether the professor has any objections.
If the student needs a tutor, I'd recommend pointing him towards official university channels. For example, perhaps your department maintains a list of students who would be willing to offer tutoring. The important thing is to avoid any appearance of conflicts of interest. Recommending hiring your friend instead of you is better than accepting the job yourself, but it could still look awkward. (Students might wonder whether you were receiving a commission or kickback from your friend, or whether securing jobs for friends was enough of an incentive to influence your behavior.)
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I don't think it matters if you aren't grading, this is a big conflict of interest still. It is your job to help the students, so you shouldn't accept money to help some students more than others.
Make an effort to point him to a tutor who is not involved in the instruction of the course in any way. You don't want to look bad in the eyes of the other students, and you certainly don't want to jeopardize your TA-ship for a few bucks. You can always tutor students who **aren't** in your class if you need extra money.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: This came up where I teach, and I was also told that this would be an ethical violation, even for students who aren't in my own classes. As others point out, it raises the possibility that you're giving preferential treatment to the student in question (maybe giving advance tips if you know the form of the exams?). Or the other way around: potentially a person could intentionally sandbag their own classes or TA sessions to generate extra business tutoring on the side later on.
I've heard this come up numerous times in other instructors' classes, and every time the inquiring student gets weirdly argumentative when told that it would be an ethical violation on the part of the instructor. If someone has a good way to de-escalate when that happens, I'd like to know.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I see this as ludicrous-- why are you being so overly righteous and saintly?
When close to 80 percent of all faculty are hired as part-time or contingent with little or no benefits, and must cobble together assignments to make a liveable wage, do administrators hold back on this unethical financial exploitation? No, not even a blink! The question should be-- do instructors need to have more ethical or so-called 'conflict of interest' considerations than their administrators? Of course not! Teaching is our profession and obligation (even though we are not treated professionally by many of our employers.)
Secondly, at at least one university where I have taught, the renowned University of Southern California, even publishes faculty members' private tutoring contact information and along with prices on the main university website: <http://ali.usc.edu/find-an-english-tutor/>
Of course educators are ethical, and tutoring is definitely an ethical enterprise.
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: I have seen some discussions in this community about **Academia vs. Market world**. However, they couldn't satisfy my this question:
Assuming what is written in answer of [Why is Paper Publishing and getting a patent completely unrelated?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2122/why-is-paper-publishing-and-getting-a-patent-completely-unrelated) by @Anonymous\_Mathematicia, I can submit my paper and file the same idea as a patent, in parallel. However, it seems that it will cause a problem: Journals normally ask authors to submit only the "non submitted to others" studies and ask them "not to submit it anywhere else before rejection/withdrawal". Now, there are two plans (only the second one seems reasonable but I mention both for covering the possible cases) (a) if I am submitting the journal paper before filing the patent (that seems dangerous), then will I have the right of filing it for a patent? However, for plan 'a', even if for journal it is okay, for patent policy it may be considered as revealing the idea and burning the opportunity! (b) If I have filed (or published) the patent before submitting the journal paper, will I have the right of such submission?
In other words, is a published patent besides its copy as journal paper considered as double publication?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> In other words, is a published patent besides its copy as journal paper considered as double publication?
>
>
>
Typically there is no copyright problem, because there is no overlap in the text. A patent consists of formal legal writing, and it generally does not use any of the text of the academic paper. If you wanted to use some of the same text, then you would need to make sure the publisher of the paper did not object. However, this is uncommon: academic and legal writing styles differ substantially, and they are aiming at very different purposes, so any substantial overlap would indicate that you are doing a poor job of at least one of the two (and you might as well avoid minor overlap so that you don't have to address the copyright issue).
Even aside from copyright, there is still the question of whether this is considered a form of double publication or simultaneous submission. I believe the answer is almost always no: patents don't count as academic publications and publishers will not care or object. However, it can't hurt to ask before submitting, just to make sure this is how it works in your field and for this particular journal. It's also a good idea to mention the patent submission in your cover letter when submitting the paper, so that nobody could accuse you of concealing this information. (I'd be shocked if it were a problem, but better safe than sorry.)
Keep in mind that very little of the academic content will actually appear in the patent application. Academic papers are typically focused on experiments, data analysis, or theory, but these would not be included in the patent application itself. Instead, it is a description of an invention and how it is used in practice, together with a long list of legal claims laying out which aspects of the invention are worthy of legal protection. Academics could learn something from the description of the invention, but it in no way substitutes for the academic paper.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: One other thing to consider is even if you submitted a paper and a patent application simultaneously...
...and even though the paper acceptance/publishing process can take years...
...the paper will likely STILL come out in print before the patent is granted! (if it's granted)
The key fact though, is that an academic journal and the patent office don't consider themselves to be competitors, and in fact are NOT competitors.
Upvotes: 2
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| 721
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently I was in a large research conference mostly targeted at undergraduates, so there were people from many universities recruiting for summer programs, grad schools and academic societies.
It seemed like an excellent opportunity to make myself known, but I didn't have much success when interacting with them.
Most of the time I could have easily found on the internet all the information they gave me. When I tried to dig a little deeper (i.e. how much research experience do students accepted to your school have?) I got some very generic responses (i.e. We look at the whole package so it varies). I also attempted to talk a bit about my research interests in general to schools that seemed a good match, but that also went nowhere.
However, universities wouldn't spend so many resources if they didn't expect to gain something at these events, so I imagine I'm going about this the wrong way.
What should I speak about with university recruiters?<issue_comment>username_1: The best way to do what you want (get your name out, learn about how to improve your application) is to contact faculty and administrators at the departments you're interested in, and to apply for undergraduate research opportunities.
If you want to make use of these recruiting events, you could ask more general things about the university. Student life might be a good place to start. You might also ask the recruiter if they can give you any contacts in the departments that you're interested in.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Go for all the administrative details.
Things you don't want to ask a potential supervisor, (e.g. asking about money)
and things not research related (which a potential supervisor might not know).
* What is the official duration of a PhD?
+ what is the current average duration of a PhD?
* What kind of living allowance/stipend is available?
+ How does that availability change if you go over time?
* What is there exact process for applying?
+ Does this process change if you have already found a supervisor at the university who wants to take you on board?
* How many PhD Students are at the university?
+ How many apply?
+ How many students in total? (i.e. what is the ratio)
* What facilities do PhD student normally get?
+ is there separate reading areas in the library?
+ do you have a office? Shared office? Expected to use library?
* How many supervisors are you required to have?
+ Some it is 1, others 2
+ Some it may be minimum 2 but normally 3
* Who is the best person at the university to contact if I have more questions?
+ Is this the same person I would contact if I were currently enrolled as a student?
* Can I have one of those cool free pens/USB sticks/mugs you are giving out?
+ thanks.
And if they can't answer, move on, you have better things to do.
You can almost certainly get an answer to these via email later.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I am trying to evaluate pros and cons for working at universities as tenure-track (and eventually, hopefully, tenured) and research scientist at national labs. I realize that not much is discussed on what it means by working at national labs (except a few specific questions such as [Are faculty positions more competitive than government research lab positions?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/41185/are-faculty-positions-more-competitive-than-government-research-lab-positions)), unlike working at universities. I wish to start by asking about job security, salary (US universities usually pay 9-monthly and expect profs to cover the remaining 3 months from the prof's grants. Is there any such thing at national labs), any other things? Working with research students (all the way to completion of their degrees, as opposed to as your interns for a few months) is of course rewarding at universities. But probably too much teaching and administrative work may be negatives at universities too - any comparison with national lab jobs?
I know that this may be slightly broader question, and a bit subjective too, but I believe answers from different perspectives would help researchers like me who are at critical juncture at their career and need to decide one way or another.
Edit-1: I also came to know that some research labs in the US may have different classifications. e.g., is National Renewable Energy Laboratory same as NASA etc.?
Edit-2: How about 'redundancies'? Can these labs use 'lack of budget' or some other (non-disciplinary) excuse to remove the permanent staff?<issue_comment>username_1: My experience is purely through my work at NASA, so take that with a grain of salt.
There are (roughly) two levels of employment at NASA Research Centers (not labs like JPL): civil servants and contractors. If you're looking to become a research scientist at NASA, you want to become a civil servant, though there are plenty of scientists on contract.
Contractors are just that, they work on a specific research project that has allocated in its budget a certain amount of money for a project. Usually these contracts are administered under huge omnibus corporations like Millennium Enterprise Integration, who take something like 200k in overhead, per contractor.
What this means is contractors can be extremely expensive to a project, and that, as a result, contractors usually split their time (and cost) on two or three projects. If you're a contractor at a NASA center, you'll need to maintain a decent porfolio of projects that cover your salary. It can be stressful, but also less regulated than civil servantship
Civil Servantship is a pretty sweet gig if being a tenured professor was your reason to enter academia. If you get hired as a civil servant, it's virtually impossible to fire you unless you commit the equivalent of a felony (which is easier than tenured professorship, see below). Basically when you're hired congress agrees to pay your salary for the rest of your working life.
You can apply for money to do projects, including internal funding that academics won't have access to. With that you can hire contractors or buy equipment, but not pay yourself. Instead you have this new unit of labor called Full Time Equivalent (FTE), which is can also be part of a grant award, and represents your salary being paid for a full year. FTE vary depending on the center you're at, Alabama FTE is going to be cheaper than Bay Area FTE, but at some centers there's a significant surplus of FTE going around (no idea why). All not having FTE means as a civil servant is you might have to go ask someone for FTE, which means you're effectively working for them.
I said before it's easier to commit a felony when you're a civil servant, and that's because you're effectively a representative of the U.S. government. That means you can't take money from companies (gifts are limited to $20), and a whole host of other rules that have been put in place because essentially every form of graft and corruption that you can possibly imagine has already been done by someone in the government. It's actually pretty amazing.
Also the pay for a civil servant isn't that great (still better than grad school!), and because of the rules you can't really supplement your income. That's why it's not unheard of for civil servants to actually switch to contractors sometimes- the caps for compensation are much higher for contractors, and can be influenced by a competing offer.
oh and also you don't have to teach, but that's one of the few places where civil servants can make extra money (lecturing at local universities).
But in terms of an environment where 1) you can pitch research and it will get funded and 2) you'll have job security that tenure used to match, there is no better place, as far as I can tell, than NASA.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: There is only one difference between tenure-track/tenured positions in universities and research scientist positions in national labs,that is, that tenure-track/tenured positions ensure job security and proper employment to a person which is not ensured for research scientists
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: I'd like to point out something you haven't mentioned. A few national labs have a number of institutional duties that somehow constrain their research activities, leaving, in a certain sense, less freedom to their researchers with respect to the academic environment (which is not necessarily a bad thing or a limit to the possible achievements).
For instance, the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), which is under the umbrella of the Department of Commerce, is the *national metrology institute* of the US. Main duties of this institute are thus the realization and the dissemination of the units of the International System of Units (SI), and the work of many of its researchers is aimed at fulfilling these duties. This might involve also the participation at various international committees.
Such constraints might be an issue for someone, less for others, depending on their character, but I think they should be kept in mind when choosing between the two options.
Another point worth noticing is that in some labs, depending on country, goals and funding sources, there might be less (sometimes much less) pressure to publish with respect to the academic environment.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: My experience in Australia:
* Salaries are for the full 12 months in both academia and government research.
* Salaries and benefits are about the same in academia and government research.
* Job security is not that different (academic tenure in Australia is not as strong as in the US).
* There is less opportunity in government research to work with graduate students (though there is still some opportunity). I see this as a disadvantage in itself, and it also hurts your publication rate in the long run.
* On the other hand, it is easier to work in large, interdisciplinary teams of experienced scientists on big problems.
* Government researchers do not have the same freedom of speech that academics enjoy. We can be fired for publicly questioning government policy in our area of expertise.
* Our research is designed to answer specific questions asked by governments and industry clients. This is both good (our work has an impact in the real world) and bad (it's not always as scientifically interesting as what we might prefer to work on, and is usually not the most efficient way to produce interesting papers).
* We spend less time writing grant proposals than in academia. We still need to write proposals and still rely on external funding for much of our research, but the sources of funding for which we are eligable are different, usually require shorter proposals, and probably have a higher success rate.
* Where I am, our external funding has to cover our own salaries and substantial overheads, as well as operating costs. This means that we are expensive for research bids that put us in direct competition with university researchers. On the other hand, it also means that we don't usually need to sweat the operating costs, as they are such a small component of the total.
* At the same time, it's not like being a contract researcher at a university. I have indefinite tenure and my employer can carry me through some lean periods in funding, and will also write me into large projects organised by others.
* There is more bureaucracy in government research than academia, but we also have more support to navigate that bureaucracy. For instance, I'm not allowed to put up my own web page describing my research, but I can work with communications staff to produce something polished. I'm not allowed to sign my own copyright transfer forms when I publish a paper, but there are contract staff to negotiate changes to contracts when needed. I'm not allowed to submit a paper to a journal without having it internally reviewed and signed off by my boss, but there are accountants to help me manage my research project budgets.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I have worked at a number of universities and national labs. It's hard to make many generalizations because the culture differs so much from institution to institution. However, a few things are generally true--you see fewer graduate students at national labs (more postdocs) and you do not spend as significant a chunk of time teaching or doing "service." You do not spend as much time applying for grants and in fact are not eligible to apply for many. The focus of research has to be something that advances the lab's mission. Your project can be canceled, or you can be moved to a different project/subject. Unlike academia, you have a boss, and the boss has a boss, and yes you can absolutely be fired or laid off (and I don't think it's as hard as people think, as I have seen a number of people go). I also don't agree with a previous comment that scientists are not paid on the GS scale. Many agencies do pay on the GS scale. Others use the similar ZP scale. You get a 12 month salary, not 9 months plus grant. There is not a tenure application process as there is in academia. The atmosphere at most federal labs is very different than at a university...you wear an ID badge at all time, there are various layers of security, you often cannot install things on your own computer, etc. This is even more true at military labs.
Overall I would probably choose the federal lab, but it depends a lot on your personality and how much autonomy (and job security) you need.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a Ph.D. student in linguistics and a relatively new course instructor. My understanding of the material is not in doubt. But I'm doing a really poor job of catching small errors. Even when I check my lecture slides afterwards, I don't find them all. Almost every week, I'm having to email my students at least once telling them that diagram X was mislabeled or example Y was in the wrong place or I said something completely backwards. I don't want to end up overapologizing, but I feel like my teaching is unacceptably sloppy. I do put a lot of time and effort into considering/rehearsing how to teach things, and I compare my approaches to materials from several previous instructors of the same courses. This does not seem to have been enough.
I normally take pride in getting details right. Heck, I used to work as a proofreader and built up quite a stellar reputation! I know that teaching a course is a big job and that I have the instincts of a perfectionist. Nonetheless, I'm doing a much poorer job than usual when it comes to getting things right. If I were one of my own students, I think I'd be rolling my eyes at myself by now.
What sorts of strategies do others use in order to catch errors in their own teaching *ahead of time*? I'm very urgently wanting this to be less of a problem. There's no need for these little disruptions and I'm irritated with myself for confusing my students so much.
Thank you!<issue_comment>username_1: If you catch this during teaching, this means that you probably should rehearse (out loud) and then similarly things should emerge. You already mentioned you rehearse, but maybe you need to rehearse in a more elaborate manner (in a different room, in front of a mirror, etc.) to change your mindset and then find new mistakes. If you rehearse in your head in front of your PC, you are stuck in the same state of mind and won't find mistakes.
Other typical approaches:
* Typical proofread advice
+ Read from back to front and mirror images/figures to get a fresh view upon things. This helps finding misplaced labels.
+ Spellcheckers and other digital proofing tools (programs which check if borders are met, elements are hidden, etc.)
* Teaching notes as bullet points, which you periodically check during the lecture, to ensure you are still on track and have told everything you want to tell (i.e. have not forgotten some points)
+ These should also uncover any kind of logical mistakes. If you follow your line of thought during rehearsal, this should help explaining correctly and in order.
+ Notes provide self-confidence, which greatly reduces being error-prone. If you are less nervous, things go easier and mistakes are not so disrupting.
* Find someone to proofread (either mutual agreement with someone or pay someone until you are more experienced. A student could be a good choice)
Finally, things can and will go wrong. It is more about how you handle the mistakes. Maybe simply update your slides after the lecture and tell the student next week, that last weeks slides were updated, with comments where things were not explained correctly.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It is next to impossible to catch your own mistakes. It does help to get into the mindset "I know nothing about this" (yes, it does work, suprisingly), and read carefully making sure stuff used has been explained beforehand.
As a knowledgeable person on the subject, it is doubly hard to understand where students struggle. A useful technique is to give them "extra homework" to carefully read and critique handouts. Perhaps give extra points for mistakes found, pointing out unclear passages, suggested examples.
Upvotes: 1
|
2015/11/15
| 617
| 2,637
|
<issue_start>username_0: I wrote my graduate advisor asking him to updated his reference letters for me, but he has yet to respond. I e-mailed him again, but he and I did not have the best relationship, and I am worried that now that I have graduated, he may not do this for me. I was curious about I should do in the situation that he refuses to update it.
I have been told it raises questions when a letter is not included in applications.
His old letter is stored on mathjobs.org, and the last date was probably April of this year. I was curious that, if I have to, **would it look bad if I use the old letter**?
If anything, since I have deadlines coming up, **can I use the old letter as a placement**? I was told I can mention that a letter should be updated soon in my cover letter.<issue_comment>username_1: Using an ***old*** letter of reference might not be so effective, due to a variety of reasons. Firstly, most of position holders expect to have the most recent status of the applicant from the presented information within the letters. So, you should not wonder if such committees will not take considerable attention to a letter, does which consist of the explanation about you, corresponding to some long time ago. Secondly, even if no date has been inserted within the letter and the committee would accept it, you better not to use such letter. Because, your current situation could be, noticeably, better than that time and the more recent letters will, totally, reflect a more up-to-date overview from you.
In a positive perspective about the advisor's behavior in this story, you could assume that he might not consider himself as a qualified referencing person for you, anymore. He knew you and your characteristics for some times ago and could not be sure to depict you as well as that time. Therefore, he might be no longer to act as a right reference for you, now.
It is, however, inevitable to use the old letter, if your time up to the deadlines are restricted.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Not exactly an answer, but a couple things to note.
Letters on MathJobs expire eventually; I think you can see the expiration date on the "cover sheet" page. It will be very awkward if it expires partway through the application process.
Also, note that your advisor will be able to remove or update the letter at any time, which could be a problem if he is really vindictive - he could replace the letter with something unfavorable.
So in short, regardless of how an old letter looks to the committee, it may not be wise to use the letter against your advisor's wishes.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
|
2015/11/15
| 3,993
| 17,088
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am a university student and have recently found out how much easier it is to use my smart phone to take snapshots of notes professors write on the blackboard during lectures (since I am quite bad at understanding and writing at the same time, it is very useful).
To make sure the professors do not have problems with this, I asked each of them before starting to take pictures. They all had the same response: they are fine with it, as long as I do not make the shots publicly available. Of course, I have no intention of doing so. However, it made me think: why do professors emphasise this? All of the material is already public, tens of different lecture notes exist, some of the profs even made their own lecture notes freely downloadable for anybody.
So my questions are:
* How could bad quality pictures of the blackboard cause any harm to them?
* Why would it make a difference if I copied the content into my notebook or typed it in word by word and published that? (I have never heard any professors asking the students not to upload the notes, they write themselves during the lecture.)<issue_comment>username_1: Several explanations are possible:
* Their blackboard scribblings are *their* copyrighted material, so they have every right to restrict distribution. I.e., written "for my students only".
* What ends up on the blackboard is just a part of the class, explanations, questions and answers, on-the-fly examples, reiteration of a missed point is an integral part of teaching. All that doesn't show up, so the result isn't really complete, and probably less than useful on its own.
* They don't want to get exposed publicly with stuff somewhat sloppily written on-the-fly, badly organized, with little (or no) possibility of checking/editing, and (probably worse) no careful citing of sources.
* They are secretly writing a textbook, and don't want to get their scoop stolen by a "pirate blackboard" version on the 'net ;-)
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: It seems that they do not want to be held to any mistakes, accidental plagiarism or misattribution, or inadequate explanations that they wrote during class.
Also, they may view publishing itself as a process of 'quality control' that lecture doesn't offer. Also in some fields there is a fear of being 'beaten to the punch' if something you are working on is made available before it is complete. Ideas are intellectual property and there is a fear of that property being stolen or unfairly adopted. Publication leaves a paper trail to resolve any potential disputes, so they tend to be avoided all together.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: In addition to the reasons given in the other answers, your professors will probably teach the same class again in a year or two and they don't want the next batch of students to have access to all the notes. There are good reasons for this:
Firstly, students could use past lecture notes to cheat on problem sets and exams. This could happen because next year the professor switches the example he or she went over in class with a homework problem. Or the professor might go over solutions to homework in class.
Secondly, if students have access to the lecture notes from previous years, they might decide not to come to class (or come and not pay attention). The usual student reasoning is ``I don't need to go to class, because I have access to all the information already.'' Unfortunately, those students end up doing poorly, because lecture notes don't adequately compensate for not coming to class. So sharing lecture notes with the next batch of students can be doing them a disservice.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Any and all materials produced in a lecture are covered by copyright, intellectual property, and student conduct/academic integrity policies.
Materials for students available in university classes are not 'public' materials, and distribution of materials outside of the classroom goes against the policy, and may/may not be subjugated to copyright infringement law. Otherwise, why go to university if you get the education for free?
Technically, notes and other materials from units should not be reposted in any manner 'to help the next student' in accordance with these policies. It's a very grey area, however.
To give an example of when it happens and it's not so grey, I found an assessment of mine earlier this year (word for word, including tips on how to do the assessment well, and what the assessment marking criteria is) all over paid essay writing websites, with attached codes pertaining to the subject of my unit.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: The scribblings a professor writes on the board during a lecture represent the lowest-quality type of content that that professor will ever present in public: handwritten, hastily created under time pressure and at a time of high cognitive load, messy, unchecked, and prone to error. On the other hand, professors, like any other professionals, will much prefer to be judged by the *highest-quality* content that they produce, e.g., their research papers, which are carefully crafted over a long period of focus and concentration, digitally typeset, polished repeatedly, and double- and triple-checked for accuracy. So, to the extent that a professor gets to control which of the content they produced gets publicly released, they will almost never voluntarily consent to the release of the low-quality content.
An analogy that occurs to me is that of a movie actor: for precisely the same reason as I described above, actors prefer for the public to form its opinion of them through their movies, and not through a paparazzi photo of them taken while they were out shopping for groceries, wearing disheveled clothes, no make-up, a sloppy hairdo etc. So, if you don't want to be like a paparazzi, you will respect the wishes of your professor and not publicly post photos of their blackboard writings.
---
**Edit:** I feel a need to clarify my remark about "lowest-quality type of content" and "hastily created [...] messy, unchecked, and prone to error". It seems that some people are reading this as a description of some kind of unprofessional professor who comes to class unprepared, delivers a poor quality lecture, then out of insecurity and fear of having their poor lecturing skills exposed publicly, refuses to allow pictures of their blackboard posted online. That is not quite what I meant (or at least is only one possible scenario covered by my answer). I was talking much more generally about **any** professor, whether excellent or poor, who comes to class, well-prepared or not, and delivers a lecture, which may be an excellent one, and then, **for completely legitimate and rational reasons and not out of any insecurity, guilt, or shame**, objects to having pictures of their blackboard posted online.
*Why would they object if their lecture is so good?* Some have asked. The logic behind this is that the blackboard scribblings, even of an excellent and well-prepared professor, will still be a type of content that was created during a very short amount of time (the time of the lecture), while the professor is busy doing several other things at the same time (talking to the class, figuring out the details of the math or whatever it is they are writing on the board, consulting their notes, keeping track of time, etc.), is under the psychological pressure of being watched by a large group of people (many people find this a stressful situation), and has no time or cognitive resources available to detect or correct small errors that may be introduced inadvertently, no matter how carefully prepared one is. So, in a purely **relative** comparison between this content and other kinds of content that the same professor creates (e.g., research papers, which as I've said are thoughtfully prepared over many months), blackboard scribblings are **relatively speaking** a low quality content. It is simply an unfair competition: two different kinds of content, two different quality standards, and for the reasons I explained, many professors quite reasonably prefer to have only one of the two types be posted publicly online.
Finally, note that all of this is not at all at odds with the fact that the blackboard writing can still be good or even excellent in the context of the lecture in which it is performed.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_6: I think your question a bit naïve. Once you find yourself in the same situation as your professors, the answer will be obvious.
Just imagine that a junior student comes to you and asks you for some help, say, with a difficult math problem. Would you help him? I suppose you would. Most people would if they have the time and expertise. You'd spend an hour with him, hopefully solve the problem and explain the solution to him.
Now imagine that the same student tells you that he is going to publish all the notes and scribblings you make while you are working together on this problem. Anyone will be able to find them if they search for your name. It will be available on the internet, likely forever. You will have no control over it whatsoever, as you aren't even the one who published them. You won't be able to correct it if you find a mistake. It *will* contribute against your professional reputation, but if some stranger criticizes the notes, calls them wrong or hard to understand and useless, you will not have a chance to defend, clarify or correct them. It is not at all the same as when you were explaining the solution to your friend and you were having a *discussion* with him.
Would you still help this student if you knew he was going to publish the whole discussion? Maybe you wouldn't. Or maybe you would but you would only agree to publishing the notes if you get the chance to carefully correct and polish them, to make sure it is suitable for a general audience with whom you cannot engage interactively, and that you would have some control over where and how the notes get published so you can update them in the future if necessary. Of course preparing these notes is going to take a lot more time than the one hour discussion you'd need to explain the solution to just this one student. So you might easily decide that you don't have the time for such an endeavour.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: One of the ways I find it helpful to think about questions like this is to ask "What's the benefit of the reverse happening?" Lets say that the professor not only allows you to take a photograph of the notes, but to share them online. What benefit is there?
Even leaving aside things like errors propagating through the notes, allowing the notes to exist online just lets a lesser form of their lecture notes (the blackboard, absent any context or the lecture itself) out into the world. What purpose does that serve? Who really benefits from it?
There are numerous downsides to it (as other people have discussed), and the upsides are pretty fleeting - at best, you could argue that the current class would be freed from taking notes, but many people *prefer* to take notes, and this creates a dependence that your camera, picture taking skills, and hosting will always be available and adequate to their needs.
Basically, ask yourself: "Why should they?"
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: One additional point I haven't noticed above: at certain institutions (including mine), the copyright of the professors' teaching materials (including, strictly, their writing) does not solely belong to them: it belongs to the institution as well.
The logic behind this is as follows: the university pays the professor to create course material. However, the course itself (and the material) belongs to the university. The expression of that material depends on the professor, so they have a say in its use (I believe "performance rights" is the phrase). However, it remains the university's material.
This also explains why nobody worries about a student making open their notes on the course: the student's notes are their interpretation of the material, not that which was produced as a work for hire.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: As a professor, I want the class experience to be dynamic. If students had access to the content on the board, they might think it unnecessary to show up.
Also, writing notes results in a higher retention of information than just reading them (or typing them). <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: I agree that, as in other answers and comments, faculty might not want "unedited, unengineered, live" performances to be recorded and exist forever on the introwebs.
At the same time, the "added value" (supposedly beyond books, Wiki, on-line stuff, even my own on-line notes produced for the very class itself) I aim to provide is something (I fancy...) cannot be captured by just "screen capture" of the blackboard, any more than a video without audio of a stage play would "be the play". Ok, so then a video+audio recording (I think they call these "movies") would maybe capture everything... just as movies do. Or video DVDs of orchestras playing music, as though that might substitute for "going to a concert".
In many ways, these substitutes are excellent. Cheaper, for sure. So one should ask about in what way, if any, they lack. That is, instead of worrying so much about prohibition of "pirated" videos of my lectures, I should ask myself what, if anything, I'm offering that these recordings don't capture...
Answer: not so much that very many people would care about. ("Oh, those silly people...")
For such reasons, I refused to be video-taped giving some popular courses of mine some years ago, when the university did not agree to give me sufficient IP (intellectual property) rights to not have my recordings replace me in my job... :)
The relevance of this ranting to the question is that many professors reasonably worry (whether or not they're good teachers at various levels) that their university or department will seek to replace them with cheap simulacra... possibly even just recordings of themselves... as I do suspect... and even tangentially related things are instinctively resisted, even if they're almost non-sequiturs.
In particular, unlike what even bad actors can expect, there are no "residuals" for replays of math videos. Maybe in the future. For the moment, "tenure" is the closest thing? :)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: This is not a comprehensive answer, but it's too long for a comment. There are many possible reasons why professors would say this, but the one that I suspect is the most important is the following.
Many professors, as well as the schools that employ them, want to maintain the fiction that lecturing is a reasonable method of instruction in the year 2015. Lecturing originated in an era when books were too expensive for most individuals to own, so professors would read the book out loud, and students would copy down the words with a quill pen in order to have their own copy. This is a silly thing to do in 2015, and empirical evidence shows that for a variety of subjects, lecturing is not an effective way to teach, compared to the alternatives: <http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/05/08/1319030111> .
The trouble is that it would be inconvenient for professors and their employers to admit this. At big schools, it's very cost-effective to herd 300 students into an auditorium to watch a professor give a canned powerpoint presentation. Students also tend to uncritically accept lecturing as the normal mode of instruction, and often they dislike the alternatives, which would force them to prepare for class, play an active role, or risk having other people see them be wrong about something. And for professors, it's easy to deliver the same canned lecture year after year. "We pretend to teach, you pretend to learn."
If professors who use lecturing as their sole mode of instruction allowed their lectures to be posted for free on the internet, they would encounter an existential crisis. There would be no reason for them to keep showing up in person, semester after semester, and there would be no reason for their students to show up for class.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_12: First, thanks for having the courtesy to ask for permission.
I think there are a couple of other things to consider:
1. Since all the professors answered the same way, there may be a department or university policy regarding posting content online.
2. "Harm" is relative to the individual and the situation. It could be financial, artistic, or social. At the end of the day, the content belongs to the professor and the university and they determine the usage.
3. Class notes are your interpretation of the knowledge disseminated in class. They are meant for personal use. When you post them online, veracity and/or plagiarism become your responsibility.
Upvotes: 0
|
2015/11/16
| 3,921
| 16,701
|
<issue_start>username_0: I've heard a few pros and cons about each.
If you go right away, you'll just get it out of the way.
If you wait to go, you'll learn way more and understand what's useful to focus on.
On the other hand, if you've been earning money, it will be harder to go back to living on a graduate student wage. One professor in particular said if I thought I was going to go back to graduate school after working for a few years, I was in for a big surprise. My dad thinks the people with the best experience are those who waited to get their masters after working for a while.
Interested in going into industry afterwards. Also considering a PhD, but have been told by the same professor that PhDs are a waste of time.<issue_comment>username_1: Several explanations are possible:
* Their blackboard scribblings are *their* copyrighted material, so they have every right to restrict distribution. I.e., written "for my students only".
* What ends up on the blackboard is just a part of the class, explanations, questions and answers, on-the-fly examples, reiteration of a missed point is an integral part of teaching. All that doesn't show up, so the result isn't really complete, and probably less than useful on its own.
* They don't want to get exposed publicly with stuff somewhat sloppily written on-the-fly, badly organized, with little (or no) possibility of checking/editing, and (probably worse) no careful citing of sources.
* They are secretly writing a textbook, and don't want to get their scoop stolen by a "pirate blackboard" version on the 'net ;-)
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: It seems that they do not want to be held to any mistakes, accidental plagiarism or misattribution, or inadequate explanations that they wrote during class.
Also, they may view publishing itself as a process of 'quality control' that lecture doesn't offer. Also in some fields there is a fear of being 'beaten to the punch' if something you are working on is made available before it is complete. Ideas are intellectual property and there is a fear of that property being stolen or unfairly adopted. Publication leaves a paper trail to resolve any potential disputes, so they tend to be avoided all together.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: In addition to the reasons given in the other answers, your professors will probably teach the same class again in a year or two and they don't want the next batch of students to have access to all the notes. There are good reasons for this:
Firstly, students could use past lecture notes to cheat on problem sets and exams. This could happen because next year the professor switches the example he or she went over in class with a homework problem. Or the professor might go over solutions to homework in class.
Secondly, if students have access to the lecture notes from previous years, they might decide not to come to class (or come and not pay attention). The usual student reasoning is ``I don't need to go to class, because I have access to all the information already.'' Unfortunately, those students end up doing poorly, because lecture notes don't adequately compensate for not coming to class. So sharing lecture notes with the next batch of students can be doing them a disservice.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Any and all materials produced in a lecture are covered by copyright, intellectual property, and student conduct/academic integrity policies.
Materials for students available in university classes are not 'public' materials, and distribution of materials outside of the classroom goes against the policy, and may/may not be subjugated to copyright infringement law. Otherwise, why go to university if you get the education for free?
Technically, notes and other materials from units should not be reposted in any manner 'to help the next student' in accordance with these policies. It's a very grey area, however.
To give an example of when it happens and it's not so grey, I found an assessment of mine earlier this year (word for word, including tips on how to do the assessment well, and what the assessment marking criteria is) all over paid essay writing websites, with attached codes pertaining to the subject of my unit.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: The scribblings a professor writes on the board during a lecture represent the lowest-quality type of content that that professor will ever present in public: handwritten, hastily created under time pressure and at a time of high cognitive load, messy, unchecked, and prone to error. On the other hand, professors, like any other professionals, will much prefer to be judged by the *highest-quality* content that they produce, e.g., their research papers, which are carefully crafted over a long period of focus and concentration, digitally typeset, polished repeatedly, and double- and triple-checked for accuracy. So, to the extent that a professor gets to control which of the content they produced gets publicly released, they will almost never voluntarily consent to the release of the low-quality content.
An analogy that occurs to me is that of a movie actor: for precisely the same reason as I described above, actors prefer for the public to form its opinion of them through their movies, and not through a paparazzi photo of them taken while they were out shopping for groceries, wearing disheveled clothes, no make-up, a sloppy hairdo etc. So, if you don't want to be like a paparazzi, you will respect the wishes of your professor and not publicly post photos of their blackboard writings.
---
**Edit:** I feel a need to clarify my remark about "lowest-quality type of content" and "hastily created [...] messy, unchecked, and prone to error". It seems that some people are reading this as a description of some kind of unprofessional professor who comes to class unprepared, delivers a poor quality lecture, then out of insecurity and fear of having their poor lecturing skills exposed publicly, refuses to allow pictures of their blackboard posted online. That is not quite what I meant (or at least is only one possible scenario covered by my answer). I was talking much more generally about **any** professor, whether excellent or poor, who comes to class, well-prepared or not, and delivers a lecture, which may be an excellent one, and then, **for completely legitimate and rational reasons and not out of any insecurity, guilt, or shame**, objects to having pictures of their blackboard posted online.
*Why would they object if their lecture is so good?* Some have asked. The logic behind this is that the blackboard scribblings, even of an excellent and well-prepared professor, will still be a type of content that was created during a very short amount of time (the time of the lecture), while the professor is busy doing several other things at the same time (talking to the class, figuring out the details of the math or whatever it is they are writing on the board, consulting their notes, keeping track of time, etc.), is under the psychological pressure of being watched by a large group of people (many people find this a stressful situation), and has no time or cognitive resources available to detect or correct small errors that may be introduced inadvertently, no matter how carefully prepared one is. So, in a purely **relative** comparison between this content and other kinds of content that the same professor creates (e.g., research papers, which as I've said are thoughtfully prepared over many months), blackboard scribblings are **relatively speaking** a low quality content. It is simply an unfair competition: two different kinds of content, two different quality standards, and for the reasons I explained, many professors quite reasonably prefer to have only one of the two types be posted publicly online.
Finally, note that all of this is not at all at odds with the fact that the blackboard writing can still be good or even excellent in the context of the lecture in which it is performed.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_6: I think your question a bit naïve. Once you find yourself in the same situation as your professors, the answer will be obvious.
Just imagine that a junior student comes to you and asks you for some help, say, with a difficult math problem. Would you help him? I suppose you would. Most people would if they have the time and expertise. You'd spend an hour with him, hopefully solve the problem and explain the solution to him.
Now imagine that the same student tells you that he is going to publish all the notes and scribblings you make while you are working together on this problem. Anyone will be able to find them if they search for your name. It will be available on the internet, likely forever. You will have no control over it whatsoever, as you aren't even the one who published them. You won't be able to correct it if you find a mistake. It *will* contribute against your professional reputation, but if some stranger criticizes the notes, calls them wrong or hard to understand and useless, you will not have a chance to defend, clarify or correct them. It is not at all the same as when you were explaining the solution to your friend and you were having a *discussion* with him.
Would you still help this student if you knew he was going to publish the whole discussion? Maybe you wouldn't. Or maybe you would but you would only agree to publishing the notes if you get the chance to carefully correct and polish them, to make sure it is suitable for a general audience with whom you cannot engage interactively, and that you would have some control over where and how the notes get published so you can update them in the future if necessary. Of course preparing these notes is going to take a lot more time than the one hour discussion you'd need to explain the solution to just this one student. So you might easily decide that you don't have the time for such an endeavour.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: One of the ways I find it helpful to think about questions like this is to ask "What's the benefit of the reverse happening?" Lets say that the professor not only allows you to take a photograph of the notes, but to share them online. What benefit is there?
Even leaving aside things like errors propagating through the notes, allowing the notes to exist online just lets a lesser form of their lecture notes (the blackboard, absent any context or the lecture itself) out into the world. What purpose does that serve? Who really benefits from it?
There are numerous downsides to it (as other people have discussed), and the upsides are pretty fleeting - at best, you could argue that the current class would be freed from taking notes, but many people *prefer* to take notes, and this creates a dependence that your camera, picture taking skills, and hosting will always be available and adequate to their needs.
Basically, ask yourself: "Why should they?"
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: One additional point I haven't noticed above: at certain institutions (including mine), the copyright of the professors' teaching materials (including, strictly, their writing) does not solely belong to them: it belongs to the institution as well.
The logic behind this is as follows: the university pays the professor to create course material. However, the course itself (and the material) belongs to the university. The expression of that material depends on the professor, so they have a say in its use (I believe "performance rights" is the phrase). However, it remains the university's material.
This also explains why nobody worries about a student making open their notes on the course: the student's notes are their interpretation of the material, not that which was produced as a work for hire.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: As a professor, I want the class experience to be dynamic. If students had access to the content on the board, they might think it unnecessary to show up.
Also, writing notes results in a higher retention of information than just reading them (or typing them). <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: I agree that, as in other answers and comments, faculty might not want "unedited, unengineered, live" performances to be recorded and exist forever on the introwebs.
At the same time, the "added value" (supposedly beyond books, Wiki, on-line stuff, even my own on-line notes produced for the very class itself) I aim to provide is something (I fancy...) cannot be captured by just "screen capture" of the blackboard, any more than a video without audio of a stage play would "be the play". Ok, so then a video+audio recording (I think they call these "movies") would maybe capture everything... just as movies do. Or video DVDs of orchestras playing music, as though that might substitute for "going to a concert".
In many ways, these substitutes are excellent. Cheaper, for sure. So one should ask about in what way, if any, they lack. That is, instead of worrying so much about prohibition of "pirated" videos of my lectures, I should ask myself what, if anything, I'm offering that these recordings don't capture...
Answer: not so much that very many people would care about. ("Oh, those silly people...")
For such reasons, I refused to be video-taped giving some popular courses of mine some years ago, when the university did not agree to give me sufficient IP (intellectual property) rights to not have my recordings replace me in my job... :)
The relevance of this ranting to the question is that many professors reasonably worry (whether or not they're good teachers at various levels) that their university or department will seek to replace them with cheap simulacra... possibly even just recordings of themselves... as I do suspect... and even tangentially related things are instinctively resisted, even if they're almost non-sequiturs.
In particular, unlike what even bad actors can expect, there are no "residuals" for replays of math videos. Maybe in the future. For the moment, "tenure" is the closest thing? :)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: This is not a comprehensive answer, but it's too long for a comment. There are many possible reasons why professors would say this, but the one that I suspect is the most important is the following.
Many professors, as well as the schools that employ them, want to maintain the fiction that lecturing is a reasonable method of instruction in the year 2015. Lecturing originated in an era when books were too expensive for most individuals to own, so professors would read the book out loud, and students would copy down the words with a quill pen in order to have their own copy. This is a silly thing to do in 2015, and empirical evidence shows that for a variety of subjects, lecturing is not an effective way to teach, compared to the alternatives: <http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/05/08/1319030111> .
The trouble is that it would be inconvenient for professors and their employers to admit this. At big schools, it's very cost-effective to herd 300 students into an auditorium to watch a professor give a canned powerpoint presentation. Students also tend to uncritically accept lecturing as the normal mode of instruction, and often they dislike the alternatives, which would force them to prepare for class, play an active role, or risk having other people see them be wrong about something. And for professors, it's easy to deliver the same canned lecture year after year. "We pretend to teach, you pretend to learn."
If professors who use lecturing as their sole mode of instruction allowed their lectures to be posted for free on the internet, they would encounter an existential crisis. There would be no reason for them to keep showing up in person, semester after semester, and there would be no reason for their students to show up for class.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_12: First, thanks for having the courtesy to ask for permission.
I think there are a couple of other things to consider:
1. Since all the professors answered the same way, there may be a department or university policy regarding posting content online.
2. "Harm" is relative to the individual and the situation. It could be financial, artistic, or social. At the end of the day, the content belongs to the professor and the university and they determine the usage.
3. Class notes are your interpretation of the knowledge disseminated in class. They are meant for personal use. When you post them online, veracity and/or plagiarism become your responsibility.
Upvotes: 0
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2015/11/16
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a postdoctoral fellow working on computer science. I've been a postdoc for one year and three months so far, and I think my job will last for three years in total.
Thinking about the future, I suppose I'll apply for a second postdoc position after this, in another university or scientific research institute. But some days ago I met a colleague of mine who is in her third postdoc year, and she said that at the end of the year she will start to apply for some permanent position, such as research associate or principal investigator.
I was quite surprised because I always thought that a second postdoc position was normal in our computer science field.
So my question is: **after a first postdoc period of three years, should you apply for a second postdoc position or for a permanent position?**
**What is the best choice for you?**
**And how do you understand if you should apply for a second postdoc position or a permanent position?**<issue_comment>username_1: This can vary greatly by subfield, country, etc., so there's no universal answer to whether a second postdoc is necessary or a good idea. People typically make the decision based on several factors:
1. You should ask your mentors (your postdoctoral advisor, Ph.D. advisor, and other faculty you know) for advice. They can offer insight that takes into account both your accomplishments so far and the job market you will be applying in.
2. You should compare yourself with other people you know who have gotten jobs recently. Making these sorts of comparisons is tricky, so you shouldn't take this too seriously, but it will give you a feeling for where you might stand. If your colleagues regularly get permanent positions after three years with accomplishments like yours, then you should try applying for such jobs too. If they don't, then you shouldn't expect to be so lucky yourself.
3. Most people aren't quite certain, and they end up applying for a mixture of postdoctoral and permanent positions. That's fine, and it's counterproductive to focus 100% on one type of job unless you are sure the other would be unavailable or undesirable.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I will spell out the caveat first. Certain faculty positions clearly mention a minimum amount of post-doctoral research experience (e.g. two or three years) in their advertisement. If we are talking about these jobs, unless you satisfy that requirement, applying for these is not going to be very beneficial (unless they relax such criteria later for some reasons - maybe not enough candidates applied etc., and that's chiefly a textbook example of sorts).
In other cases, i.e. when you satisfy the minimum eligibility requirements for the jobs you are seeking, it is always sensible to keep applying for these while you are still in the middle of your first postdoc (*this is as per your situation*). At the same time, also keep yourself in the hunt for the next postdoctoral stint. This way, you are at least going to have a post-doctoral position (if not a faculty position) when this postdoc no.1 ends, and it is never a great idea not to have it this way. (More colloquially, at least you will have a decent *current affiliation* to declare while applying for other positions!) Also, since the ratio of *successful applicants to usual total no. of applicants*, in typical permanent faculty positions is not very impressive, you are giving yourself more shots at success this way, and that while you can still pay your bills! Of course, your candidature will keep improving with each post-doctoral stint too, which will be an added bonus.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Advantages of getting a "real" job, as opposed to another postdoc:
* you get an earlier and stronger start in preparing for retirement (since the "real" job probably pays much better, and since the "real" job probably has better benefits in terms of the real job's institution contributing 10% of your salary towards retirement)
* you don't have to move to a new city as many times
Advantages of doing another postdoc:
* you have more time to build up your publication list, which can help you get tenure later
* it can be very stressful to be teaching and establishing your research program at the same time, with the pressure of the tenure decision hanging over you
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a dedicated person, very passionate about physics and pursuing my PhD at a good school is crucial to my life. I've been preparing my application documents for a while now. GPA is almost 4 and Physics GRE is 980. My general GRE is at the 97 percentile. Good recommendation letters. I have other few decent ranks since high school as well. HOWEVER, I'm from the Middle East, and yes, my name is Mohammed. I can feel how the world is infuriated about the Islamic community in general, though the vast majority of Muslims are vulnerable to (and on daily basis thousands are already subjected to) similar attacks from ISIS. The majority of us, including myself, are terrified by ISIS, sorry for and mortified by these attacks by ISIS.
My question: Will these events perhaps hurt my application? If you were to decide on my application on the admission committee, how would my citizenship, religion and name affect your decision?
So grateful for any attempt to help. In fact, I'm sort of developing anxiety due to this issue.
---
EDIT: For those wondering, I'm applying only for universities in the USA.<issue_comment>username_1: Short answer: No.
Academic programs are normally very diverse and academics will regularly interact with people from different religions, nationalities, and ethnicities.
Hence the vast majority of academics know better than to judge an individual like you based on the actions of a few lunatics.
Nationality and religion will not be taken into account in admissions. (Although there is one caveat: some universities will have a preference for students from the country the university is located in for funding reasons.)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Will these events perhaps hurt my application?
>
>
>
No, I don't think you need to worry about this. It's possible in principle that they could, but only if something went terribly wrong. If I were on an admissions committee and detected any signs of religious or cultural bias along these lines, I would be shocked and would intervene, including getting the university administration involved if necessary. This form of prejudice is utterly unacceptable. Fortunately, it also seems to be rare in academia. I've never heard any of my colleagues say anything along these lines, while I've heard a number of them speaking out against such prejudice.
I'd be horrified if any department could put together an entire admissions committee in which bigots had real influence, and I don't think this is a realistic possibility. It's a little more worrisome in departments where individual faculty make admissions decisions. Academia is large enough that every field must contain at least a few bigots, so it's possible that you could send an application to such a person. I wouldn't worry about this, since bigotry is not at all common or accepted: I don't expect you'll run into it at all, and there's no way it could hurt many of your applications.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: Not a chance.
What admissions people will see and pay close attention to is:
>
> GPA is almost 4 and Physics GRE is 960. My general GRE is at the 97 percentile. Good recommendation letters. I have other few decent ranks since high school as well.
>
>
>
Which is outstanding (congratulations for these results of your hard work , by the way!). A university admissions team will see this and be just as impressed and likely open the doors for you to continue your education.
Another point made in a comment by @ff524:
>
> You wouldn't want to be accepted at a department stupid enough to conflate "Islam" and "ISIS."
>
>
>
If a university admission makes decisions based any similar misconceptions or generalisations due to conflict, pressure or just misunderstanding, then that says more about them and their ignorance (and possible bigotry) - and would not be worth pursuing; however, this is extraordinarily unlikely.
In answer to the other part of your question:
>
> If you were to decide on my application on the admission committee, how would my citizenship, religion and name affect your decision?
>
>
>
If it were me (or any one else from my research team), your nationality, name and religion would not be a factor in our decision - those impressive academic credentials would.
(By the way, our admissions officer is also named Mohammed and is my best friend).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> Will ISIS attacks hurt my PhD application as a Muslim?
>
>
>
Only indirectly.
Admissions committees have good incentive to get the sharpest, most hard working people into their programs. They will care about your excellent results, as they should.
But administrative procedures may hinder people coming from your part of the world more than other applicants. I am basing this on my experience of being a Serb who wanted to study at Western universities, while Serbia was screwing up royally on the political scene, waging wars and making enemies everywhere. Sanctions made it difficult to travel. A friend of mine was denied a visa even after being admitted into an academic program and obtaining funding. Tuition was more expensive for us (to study in the EU), but far less funding was available. Even though I obtained a scholarship that covered the tuition, it was paid to me in monthly installments while the university insisted that I (as opposed to EU students) pay the entire tuition up front. Nobody could employ me without massive administrative hassle, meaning I couldn't just work at a bar a few hours a week if I needed some extra cash. Phone companies would not let me have a contract with them, limiting me to expensive, pre-paid phone cards. And on and on the list goes.
So yes, I think your chances will be smaller, but not because of admissions committees within any given university. It could happen that academic staff are not sufficiently aware of the additional hurdles you're facing, though. On the other side of the equation, professors from your side of the world might be less experienced at writing recommendation letters, for example. So a number of small obstacles will accumulate, many of them stemming from recent and current world politics.
And my heart goes out to you. It sucks to be vilified by outsiders for things being done by people you don't identify with.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_5: Definitely not! Political/social events will have little to no importance in your academic life. Your admission will be judged by your test scores and other objective benchmarks.
You have no reason to be anxious, everything depends on how "performant" you are, not on different events that happen in the society.
Keep on the good work, you will do great!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: Will they? Yes. Is there anything you can do about it? Not much. Will it matter much? Hopefully not.
It is a fact of life that people are biased about almost everything all the time. Sometimes the biases are small sometimes they are big. That sucks, but it is human nature.
Usually people in most academic positions are able to overcome their silly biases and only rely on the ones that matter, like a bias toward good GPA.
What can you do about it? Exactly what you are doing: being a decent human being and excelling academically, this will hopefully move people's biases in a positive direction instead of the negative direction that well publicised attacks do.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: In the US, your religion should not have any impact on admissions. However, there are always random situations in which your nationality may have implications, such as being from Iran - *[Top U.S. university bans Iranians from studying chemistry or engineering because of sanctions](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/top-us-university-bans-iranians-from-studying-chemistry-or-engineering-because-of-sanctions-10053931.html)*.
While this was reversed shortly after, and in the case of Iran should stay stable as the new talks between USA and Iran have opened borders more, it shows there was at least enough prejudice from an academic university to push it through. I mention this specifically as it was not a government block as the other answers have pointed out in terms of visa.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: I'm from India, a country that has borne the brunt of terrorist attacks by different Islamic groups over more than two decades, and even witnessed several Hindu-Muslim riots. However, under normal circumstances, this does not affect recruitment, university admissions, or career progression in any way. When it comes to academics, people are generally more keen on your performance record rather than on religious, cultural, or ethnic background.
However, currently, the world is in a state of shock due to the attacks, and people everywhere are feeling extremely vulnerable. While they might not conflate Islam with ISIS, there might be an unconscious fear leading to momentary hesitation. Obviously, they would definitely not entertain that kind of bias, and would make an effort to ensure that they take a rational decision. But the point is, they might have to make an effort to push this thought out of their minds. However, during normal times, they would probably not even notice that you are a Muslim, as religion would be the last thing to come to their minds during an admission selection.
In your place, I'd wait for things to settle a little, and once normalcy is restored, start the application procedures. Perhaps I am being overly cautious, but I feel that unconscious biases might creep into the minds of even the most rational people in an environment of fear.
However, keep faith. You have been a hard worker and an excellent performer. Things like this cannot and should not come in the way of your academic career. I'm sure, you will get admission in a very good university.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: Your religion will almost certainly not have a major impact of your chances at a reputable university.
However, students from some countries that happen to be muslim-majority, such as Iran, may have trouble working in some sciences, such as nuclear physics, within some countries.
ISIS, however, does not change this at all.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: One of my collaborators recently sent me a link to a video of someone presenting at a professional conference. In the presentation, they use some of my published research that I did as an intern, including figures from my paper, but they never credit me in the presentation.
I have several questions about this:
1. Is this normal or is this something that I should be credited for?
2. Is it typical for someone to contact you before using your research in a presentation?
3. Is it worth contacting the company about this?
On the one hand, I'm happy that more people are seeing my research. On the other, it feels a little upsetting to see my research getting presented without getting the credit for it.<issue_comment>username_1: You clearly said that your paper is published and has your name on it. No matter who presents this paper or this work, your name will be forever there. Everyone who will lookup this paper to find out more about this research will see that you are a co-author, regardless of who actually presented it.
TL, DR; I would not worry too much about it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Is this normal or is this something that I should be credited for?
>
>
>
No, it is not normal practice; yes, you should be credited whenever a result from a paper for which you are a co-author is mentioned. The only exception I can think of is if the paper has several authors and is cited in the style "[first author] et al. (2014) showed that ...". Even then, one would typically expect the presentation to include a full citation at the end that explicitly mentions your name as a coauthor.
>
> Is it typical for someone to contact you before using your research in
> a presentation?
>
>
>
They do not need to contact you before mentioning your research in the presentation (and it is not typical for anyone to do such a thing), as long as two conditions hold: a. the research that they are going to mention has been published or is otherwise publicly available, and b. they credit you by name in their presentation as I stated above.
>
> Is it worth contacting the company about this?
>
>
>
That depends. What are you hoping to achieve by contacting the company? It seems very difficult to judge from the details you provide whether this was some kind of egregious, intentional misrepresentation by the person in the video, or whether it was an accidental omission due to sloppiness or perhaps not copying correctly the list of authors. If it was the latter, although it is still a bit annoying I wouldn't bother complaining - at most I would send a friendly note to the presenter to politely call their attention to the fact that I am also a coauthor of the paper they cited, so that they can correct the error the next time they use this presentation. If it was the former and there is a clear intent to deceive or other unethical aspect, I may seriously consider contacting the company to complain.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: In theory, any errata should use the same medium and address the same audience. If an article is incorrect, the corrections should be published in the same journal.
In this case, it is unlikely that the same people will be called to another meeting, where they will be told that authorship was misrepresented last time. So there is no practical way to get redress. This situation is double-edged: on one hand, you have been slighted, but on the other, your slight has already been forgotten. Those people wouldn't remember your name even if it were said. So live and let live.
If we are talking about something more persistent - for example, a TED talk with millions of viewers on Youtube -, you could seek arbitration from the video host. Just like with journals, there will be some the initial hoops. But in the end, the video host will deal with it in a manner dictated really by what your lawyers could do to other guy's lawyers. I am not a lawyer, but I suspect it is cheaper than going to court, and gets the same results, burned bridges included.
There may be a way to kindly ask the other person so that this mistake will not be repeated. But its success depends on the personalities involved.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am nearing the conclusion of my first course as an adjunct instructor and I'm searching for some useful and engaging activities for reviewing the semester's content as a group. This is a required undergraduate survey business systems course that covers a fairly wide range of concepts and terms, with students representing a variety of majors. I hope to both prepare them for the comprehensive final exam and to reinforce the key ideas that we've covered (between which, ideally, there is significant overlap). Although most of the students are performing quite well, there have been several complaints about the difficulty of preparing for an exam covering such a diverse set of topics.<issue_comment>username_1: There are an endless amount of resources for this question available on the internet here is just a handful of ideas
* Developing a study-guide yourself is a default option for most lecturers. You include all of the concepts that will appear on the exam plus additional ones that you believe the students should know but that you will not assess. The additional information prevents the students from focusing only on test content.
* Jigsaw involves dividing the work for the review by groups. Each group reviews their part. After each group reviews their part you remix the groups so that each group includes all of the pieces of the review. Everyone in each group shares their part to form the complete picture.
* Some professors have students make potential sample questions. Developing and answering questions is a useful technique in content mastery. Students are able to articulate what they know through such an approach.
There are also an endless supply of games that can be modified to help with reviewing, for example
* Jeopardy
* Wheel of Fortune
* Monopoly
* Bingo
This provides some basic ideas.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Since you say the syllabus is fairly wide but with significant overlap between areas, I would suggest doing an 'overview' session (or more than one) that pulls together the different topics in a different structure, showing the connections, now that the students know all the topics. That helps to give the students an idea of the whole, rather than just disconnected sections, and also serves as revision. Seeing ideas covered from a different viewpoint may also help some students who are struggling to understand one idea but are happy with a related idea from a different section.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: The other answers provide some really good, tangible ideas, but I think sometimes it's good to change up not only *what* is done but *how* it's done. During pre-finals week I typically hold in-class review sessions but I also schedule a frisbee review session outdoors, outside of class.
Here, students can toss the disc with me and also ask questions in an informal way. Obviously frisbee doesn't have to do much with coursework, but this helps to break down the barrier between instructor and student. Students often don't expect to ever see their instructor in shorts and a backwards hat. This also helps involve marginal students that probably wouldn't come to an outside review session otherwise.
I've also watched World Cup games with students on campus as well, but it doesn't have to be frisbee or the the World Cup - the idea is to do something that the students like. It helps them feel more comfortable. Many students struggle with test anxiety, so helping students feel more at ease in itself can help them understand material better. Outside of class events give students more exposure to you, as the instructor, allowing them to ask more questions.
Simply goofing off outside of class is not meant to replace good, proven pedagogical techniques, of course. But I really think supplementing in-class sessions with fun, outside-of-class events legitimately helps students.
Upvotes: 1
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2015/11/17
| 570
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying to graduate school, and I am having a problem with recommendation letters. I need three recommendation letters with two of them being academic reference letters. Honestly, last year, I had requested two recommendation letters from two of my former professors for my law school applications. However, in the end, I decided not to pursue law school for a number of reasons, despite being accepted to one. Currently, I am applying to a number of different schools' masters' programs in the field I plan to study.
As I mentioned earlier, I am having difficulty with the recommendation letter process. I wrote emails to those two professors about my situation, and one professor was willing to revise her former recommendation letter for my new masters' programs applications. However, I have yet to hear back from the other professor. I had written a senior thesis under that professor, and I was hoping to receive a letter from him. After I sent an email to that professor a few weeks ago, and received no response, I sent him a follow-up email yesterday. I received no response to that follow-up email either. If there is no response, does that mean a discreet "no"? Should I send another follow-up email a few days later? Or, should I find another academic recommender at this point? My first application deadline is in the middle of December.<issue_comment>username_1: I am not in your field. But from a faculty's perspective, the lack of response does not necessarily entail that the professor is unwilling to write a recommendation letter for you. A faculty's life is much busier than you think (this is something I did not know/agree when I was still young and crazy); it is possible that the professor forgot to get back to you and/or that s/he is currently out of touch. If I were you, I would wait for a day or two and would send a polite email telling the professor that you decide to seek for help from from another person due to time constraint (and this is exactly what you need to do in order to ensure that the universities you are applying to receive all of your application materials on time and to give another person sufficient time to work on your recommendation letter).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: A quick phone call to the departmental secretary will tell you whether or not that person is away on vacation, out of the country, at a conference, home sick, or perhaps in a rush to finish a grant proposal or finalize a course. Any number of things could account for this.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/17
| 1,838
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<issue_start>username_0: I've been working as a PhD student in biology and currently in my last year. However I realised just a year into my PhD that I hated doing experiments, I really hated it. I think one of the reasons may be that in the beginning, most of my experiments did not work. Also, I couldn't justify spending years of my life working on a tiny protein that no one cared about, all in the name of basic science. I initially wanted to quit but it was a difficult decision because I am an overseas student and may have had to immediately return home if I did.
During this period, I did find that I enjoyed working on statistics and taught myself to code a bit, mostly at night. I'm currently taking online coding courses and I really enjoy using computational methods within my field especially in statistics. My main question is: is it realistic to switch to a career in bioinformatics and statistics, and how can I go about this immediately after my PhD?<issue_comment>username_1: As a PhD student in Math with Computer Science background who is working in Bioinformatics exclusively: it is definitely possible for you!
In the Computational Biology Institute at The George Washington University where I work as GRA we have PhD students, Post-docs as well as Faculty from different backgrounds (including pure biology) working purely in bioinformatics area.
I do believe you don't have to switch as much, as you think. It only takes a group that is more focused on the "informatics" part more, than on biology. But still caring about Biology to change the main daily routine of yours. And your background will be needed, as bioinformatics can not exists without biological reasoning and biological guidance / insights.
If I were you, my first step would be to find what is the most "informatics" related problem close to your current research. It might be not your group, who is doing it, but still. Educate yourself a bit about such research by reading related articles. And after that it is as simple as writing a couple of emails to PIs of respective studies and telling them, that you are very interested in collaboration on their topic. This might yield a joint publication or even a post-doc position offer from respective lad.
I wouldn't count much on pure "career" in statistics, as it usually requires more math background. But biologists in bionformatics, who at least knows how to do statistics are very hard to find. So the more you know from the programming / statistics side, the better you are off go to more informatics groups.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Apply for an M.S. in Statistics or Computer Science, this can help you get a good background. Then apply for Post-Doc positions. An even better idea is to get your M.S. in Data Science, and then find a post doc in something of that sort. Data Science is a highly lucrative field, and if you have an interest in it, Why not?
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes you can! As you are motivated enough to learn stats or computer programming, without spoiling your last year, I suggest you to try to publish a work (w/ collaboration with someone in maths, data science, CS), at least in a conference, with a twist toward bioinfo or biostats. This will show the bend in your carreer to future employees.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: No! Don't run into anything. Think what is the real problem. Is it that you don't like dealing with uncertainty?
>
> "I hated doing experiments"
>
>
>
What makes you think that you will not do experiments in "bioinformatics and statistics"? An Experiment does not have to be something done in test tube. People working in bioinformatics and statistics are also doing experiment all the time, they are experimenting with there code and methods. And yes most of the time things do not work. After all it is "Research".
OR is it
>
> I couldn't justify spending years of my life working on a tiny protein
> that no one cared about
>
>
>
The bad news is that it is true in other fields also. There are plenty of bioinformatics/statistics methods/papers that no-one cared about (My gut-feeling: such papers are more common in bioinformatics/statistics). No-one can predict what with absolute certainty what what will work and about what people will care.
Bottom line, experiments not working and no-one cares about my research are common in science. If you think that this is the main problem that what is the guaranty that you will not face them in other field? In that case you should also consider option of moving out of academia.
In theory it is possible to switch to subject and it might be easier because fields are linked. But you should not forget the bigger picture and reality. You don't like your current topic, that indicates that might took a ill-informed decision in past. Don't repeat it again. Before taking any decision, talk to your Professor or someone who is experienced and know you well (about your research work). And most importantly talk to a person who is doing bioinformatics/statistics. Someone whose job you want ideally in future. Ask them about the day to day difficulties and challenges. Put yourself in their shoe and then decide.
Note 1: If you want to work as a bioinformatics/statistics technical support then it might be little different (less experiments). But as far I have know people at technical support side of the science are also doing "experiments".
Note 2: As others mentioned, people coming from different field to bioinformatics/statistics, it is true BUT current situation is more different then 10 years ago. As bioinformatics as a field has evolved and matured more and more jobs required more specific knowledge and skills. Although it is not impossible to gain skills but my point is it is much difficult now a days to change to bioinformatics as it was 10-15 years ago when there were very less bioinformatics specific students/phds.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Its definitely possible, I was in the same position as you, and I made the same change myself, although I did this after a wet-lab postdoc. I am now a bioinformatics PI.
Personally, I was lucky enough to land a position with a 3 year program specifically designed to take wet-lab trained biologists and retrain them in bioinformatics, but its definitely not the only way to do it.
The absolute best way to do it would be to undertake a small computational/statistical project relevant to your current work. It will go much better and you are more likely to succeed if you find yourself a friendly bioinformatician willing to help you with the project, but don't approach them cold and just say "I want to learn to do bioinformatics, please give me a project". Rather say "I've got this idea, and I wonder if you'd be able to help me realize it".
Even in the absence of this, you might find that you will be able to land a bioinformatics postdoc. There is a massive shortage of trained bioinformaticians, and if you bring some enthusiasm, you might be able to land a position. But two words of warning:
1. Made sure you will have the supervision of someone who knows what they are doing - don't volunteer to be a pet bioinformatician for someone who can't supervise you without any other support.
2. Think what you bring to the relationship - perhaps the position is 50:50 wet-dry and they are looking for someone with both skills - so you may be required to do some wet lab for the opportunity to learn the dry lab. Alternatively you may being specific biological knowledge that a supervisor is willing to exchange in return for a training in computational biology.
As has been pointed out above, *probably* you will always be in a particular part of bioinformatics - the part that applies computational tools to biological problems, rather than the part that applies computer science to create tools.
Upvotes: 0
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2015/11/17
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<issue_start>username_0: The response to many questions which connected/related issues of religious beliefs and adequate/correct behaviour of academia? For instance the recent ([Will ISIS attacks hurt my PhD application as a Muslim?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/58293/will-isis-attacks-hurt-my-phd-application-as-a-muslim)) featured many responses that suggest the proper perspective of academia upon religion would be undiscriminatory/unconcerned one.
This being only what I read out of that I wanted to know if there is a by tradition or convention agreed-upon way that academic decisions and actions should approach when interaction with religious beliefs cause either cooperation or conflict.
cooperation: if religious generates a field of relevant interest (like the theologies)
conflict: if the methods like peer review, seem to be in some sort of contradiction. Meritocratic review by peers (equality) versus potential ranking of persons according to some religious prejudice (i.e. non-believers being religiously seen as inferiors and not peers).
An answer to this question would either give insight why or why not it is by tradition, convention, methodology, etc. proper to think of a specific perspective upon religions from academia. As a third acceptable response a well substantiated suggestion on the reasons academia would be too complex to device such a repsonse would be appreciated too.
As too recently in many domains of science, mostly the "hard sciences" like natural sciences, seemed to have the notion of objectivity.
In else, e.g. some social sciences, and with a post-normal science understanding the issue of normativity has become increasingly challenging. Also in this respect especially the perspective on religious was to my understanding defined as a alternating/competing setting in which both (religion) and academic knowledged may stand complementary. Anyway this is only a initial suggestion what arguments might be developed in an response, as to foster and facilitate the answerability of this question further<issue_comment>username_1: I don't understand the question. It is word salad. Academia is – or, perhaps more accurately *should be* – secular.
Even disciplines such as religious studies are secular (for if the study of religion is not approached in a secular manner, then frankly it's not valid scientific research).
Of course, there are still [tricky situations](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17815/what-to-do-if-assignment-is-against-students-religion?rq=1), that [should be mitigated](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26979/what-do-instructors-need-to-know-to-accommodate-muslim-students) as much as is reasonable. But personal beliefs aren't relevant inside the classroom or laboratory. As long as they don't irreparably interfere with someone's capacity to take a course or do their job, *they just don't matter*.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Historically, academia and religion were quite tightly intertwined. Consider, for example, celebrated ancient Greek philosophers such as [Pythagoras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras) and [Aristotle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysics_(Aristotle)), whose philosophy treated mystical subjects just as readily as practical ones, and indeed did not distinguish between them. Religion continued to be a prime motivator in scientific investigation for many centuries, with no particular line being drawn between theological and other investigations: see, for example, the mixtures of theology, mathematics, and physics investigated by giants such as [Newton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton#Religious_views) and [Leibniz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Leibniz#Theodicy_and_optimism), whose work remains foundational to much of our knowledge today. My knowledge of the history of scientific investigation in the Islamic world, South Asia, and China is much weaker, but I would be surprised if religion did not likewise play a significant role there as well.
Along the way, however, something interesting and completely unexpected emerged. Despite the best intentions of those scientific theologians, the theological aspects of their investigations tended to be much less productive than the secular aspects of their investigations. The Pythagorean theorem and Newtonian physics *work* in a way that requires no belief on the part of the person using them---indeed, they work even in the presence of great skepticism about their truth. Faith turns out to be a very unreliable way of obtaining knowledge---at least any knowledge that people can agree upon, as demonstrated, for example, by [the proliferation of Christian denominations with conflicting theologies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations_by_number_of_members).
As a consequence of these emergent facts, the *scientific* investigations of academia have become firmly committed to [methodological naturalism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalism_(philosophy)#Methodological_naturalism) simply because *nothing else has turned out to work*.
So, where does that leave religion in today's academia? There are three main ways in which religion interacts with academia:
1. Religion is a thing that many people do, and thus it is an entirely valid subject of study, whether from a sociological perspective or from a [pragmatic perspective](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficacy_of_prayer).
2. Because people have a wide variety of beliefs (both religious and secular), academia, like anything other human institution, needs to make reasonable accommodations for those beliefs that do not compromise the academic mission. For example, many people do not eat meat, so it makes sense to ensure there are vegetarian options available at a scientific conference banquet.
3. Some groups of religious believers perceive scientific work as threatening, and thus attempt to attack both science and academia in general, and to undermine them in various ways. Academia, of course, needs to try to resist such attacks.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Is there a way to check which journals are available in a specific library/university? For example, my university library has access to some, but not all, the scientific journals related to Machine Learning in Springer. It would be helpful in case I need to move in order to get access to a specific topic or group of related papers.<issue_comment>username_1: These come to my mind:
1. The best way is to ask the librarian to give you a list of journals available in their library.
2. Check the website of the library/ university you are interested to study in, they may list the journals and publications which they have access to.
3. *Very few* journals/ publishers list the libraries/ research institutes where their journals are available in.
4. Also, you may email the journal and ask their customers service whether they are available in a specific library or not. I have never tried this and I am not sure whether they are going to answer you.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Since you (marsop) wrote *Austria* as place of residence in your profile, you may be interested in the **[EZB database](http://rzblx1.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/index.phtml?bibid=AAAAA&colors=7&lang=en)** that lists university library **electronic journal subscriptions** for most institutions in 5 countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland) and a few others (including the Library of Congress in Washington, DC). It also supplies information for many non-university libraries that typically have electronic journal subscriptions.
To use it, first click on "Choose Institution" on the left side of the page. Then select your institution (if it is listed). If you then search for journals, you will see a color code next to the journal names indicating whether members of the institution have (electronic) access to the journal's content.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: Noise canceling headphones are quite expensive (up to 300 USD) compared to normal headphones, but can boost productivity by creating a sound isolation in noisy environments. Would it be ethically justifiable to buy those for non-research purpose (i.e., it's not needed for experiments)?
On one hand, I feel like good office furniture like chairs and desks are fully justifiable for the well-being and productivity of the research team members. But, this argument seems like a slippery slope, since I could also say that having a high-end espresso machine or special dark chocolate bars also could boost research productivity. In a corperate environment, I would have no problem in purchasing some of these, and I would consider them to be ethical, but in an academic environment, I find it difficult to find the ethical boundary since the funds are intended for research.
The fact that noise canceling headphones will likely be used for listening to music both while working on research and not, especially during travel, also adds to my ambivalence. But then research purpose laptops are also used this way often, and I don't have a problem with that.
**EDIT**: I'm not looking for alternate solutions. Just an ethical evaluation. It seems there's no real answer to this question. I appreciate everybody's response. I will choose the most balanced response as an answer but you should really read all the answers.<issue_comment>username_1: *Disclosure: we actually bought pretty expensive Bose Noise Cancelling headphones for our students recently, for the reasons you mentioned.*
I think there is a very easy answer to this - will your funds cover the expenses if the purpose is reported truthfully, or will some "creative" cost reporting be required?
In the **first case**, I have a hard time seeing an ethical issue - as you say, equipment is equipment, and if whoever funds your research is ok with spending some of it on "potentially productivity-increasing even if ultimately not absolutely necessary" equipment, then why should you be ethically required to not make use of this option? The only case I would see where this would become an issue if you, for instance, would not actually be planning to be using the headphones much at all in the office, and are mainly looking to use them for a private purpose (but then again, if you wrote this in your expense report, whoever funds your research would probably *not* be ok with this expense anyway, making this more similar to the second case).
In the **second case**, it is pretty clearly not ethical to hack around whatever the criteria given out by your funding agency (e.g., pretending like you will need noise cancelling for a specific experiment so that it counts as costs for conducting a specific experiment rather than equipment costs, etc.).
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: I am aware of someone doing precisely this. Their office was quite open to a fairly active space, and being able to concentrate through the noise became a real issue. When this was bought up with the Administration, the solution proposed was to buy noise cancelling headphones for those affected.
They remain property of the university, the same as if they'd bought a computer, or anything else that enables them to do their research. There's not a lot of difference, in my opinion.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: This question is in the grey area. I would say to ask someone above you (i.e. advisor), as you don't want to be responsible for doing this on your own. Also, you can bid for some cheaper ones on Ebay or what not. If your advisor is okay with it, you essentially then have a green light to do so, and if worse comes to worse, you are not solely responsible. Actually, I see that you are an Assistant Professor, so perhaps you can casually bring it up with the Chair? Maybe you can convince the department or institutional funding?
My main point is this, don't be solely responsible for doing something in the grey area. Just run it by somebody who is on top of you in whatever capacity, and go from there. I'm glad you're actually concerned about this though, that says a lot about you as a person.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> Is it ethical to buy noise canceling headphones with research funds?
>
>
>
In an ideal world: yes. In the world we actually live in: in my opinion, no.
Here's my rationale. In an ideal world, people are honest and never abuse grant funds to purchase something that is not strictly needed for research, or make rationalizations for using grant money to buy something that could arguably improve productivity but also happens to be a cool electronic gadget that is fun to play with even when not working on research. In such a world, when a PI decides he/she needs to purchase noise-canceling headphones based on rational considerations that this is an effective use of grant money, this is a reasonable and ethical thing to do.
In our world, sadly, people do act out of dubious, self-deceiving and outright dishonest motivations *all the time*. Even the best among us are not completely immune from having our brains play tricks on us, telling us that some action we are considering taking can be justified on some ethical grounds X, when actually the real reason we want to take said action is Y, such that if Y rather than X were the stated motivation then the action would become pretty clearly unethical.
The bottom line: even if your contemplated purchase makes perfect sense for your students and lab, and even if you swear on your mother's soul that your motivation is pure as snow and you will never use the noise-canceling headphones for any recreational purpose, if we allow one PI to purchase $300 headphones we have to allow it for every PI, and I suspect 99% of the people who end up using that allowance will be doing so for the wrong reasons and with less-than-pure motivation in mind. In other words, allowing this will push the system in a harmful and possibly unsustainable direction (if we allow headphones, what about fancy stereos? Smart watches? Etc.). So, in the overall interest of encouraging an ethical use of taxpayer money, I think it makes sense to ask you to "sacrifice" the hypothetical "3%" productivity gains that you are citing as the justification for your purchase request. Personally, having myself managed to somehow be productive despite never owning noise-canceling headphones, I have a feeling you and your students will be just fine and will find a good alternative use for the $300.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_5: If you're talking about a noisy/boisterous office environment...then I think that's a very difficult "sell." If you're talking about a researcher being in a research environment where there is sustained ambient noise above 85dB (for example, from the equipment being used or studied) then you have a fair measure of justification, especially if it's also required that the researcher needs to be able to hear things...skype calls, etc.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Let me answer this question by asking you another question.
>
> Is it ethical to pay for a much more expensive private office with research funds because [you're much more efficient](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/a/412/14577) in such a private and more quiet office environment?
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>
>
Of course, it is. As long as your budget is large enough, and there is no fine print that explicitly forbids it, there shouldn't be a problem with that.
In fact, these kinds of decisions are made all the time in academia.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: Let me answer your question in an extreme case:
Some labs purchase this type of headphones, at high prices probably. Because they can't do work without it.
Their experiments require a step of long time sonication which is really harmful to human ears. Therefore, researchers in order to protect themselves have to wear these headphones just like how people wear gloves.
I guess my example can avoid the ethical controversies, even if some people do use it to concentrate on work while they propose to buy it for the sake of protection against sonication noise.
And that's how some labs use their money, whether you like it or not.
Current situation is that a lot of labs and institutes can find a lot of reasonable proposals to get what they need, though, for another project.
And, sadly, that's how labs run sometimes: you use your current excuses/publications to ask for what you need for another unrelated project, the result of which will in turn be used to get funding for another one.
If someone else were standing in your shoes, they could probably get the headphone in the name of sonication, and do good work, and produce more scientific values than the headphone they asked for.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_8: I dont really see people addressing a simple answer, ask your administration. Most often your funding has some rules and your administration has their own rules.
It seems the justification of buying headphones is because it helps do the research. In that case, buying comfortable chairs also helps do the research. However, chairs are not allowed to be bought on research funding (in many cases) and must be purchased through the overhead funds the university keeps, which is exactly why they do that.
Similarly, there are posts on SE that discuss how even full computers can not be purchased on funding, and you must buy processors and components separately.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: Anything could be ethically justified in the right situation. If the only research scientist that has the ability to unlock the science that provides a way to defeat the evil empire from destroying the universe is rendered incompetent unless availed of free prostitution services to liberate his imagination through sexual release, then free prostitutes would be a legitimate expense item in the budget. If saving the universe wasn't a legitimate goal of the research, providing free prostitutes would likely be construed as defrauding the funds provider and, depending upon the prevailing law, subject the funds administrator to criminal prosecution for violation of the funding terms or other laws.
So, when attempting to determine whether to buy something with earmarked funds, one should first run the purchase through a series of exclusionary gates:
1. Determine what is formally approved in writing. If the funds are acquired through a grant directly from a federal government agency granter, the applicable rules regarding expenditures might be found in the terms attending the offering, the administrative code of the granter agency, and the Office of Management and Budget. If you want a horse's mouth answer, contact the entity that will audit the grant. Grant offerings can provide wide latitude in making expenses but take it from someone who has been there, the auditors, post expense, can deny the expense and backcharge the expense even when it appears to have been totally in compliance with the goals of the grant. Auditors, probably moreso when acting as a third party contractor for the granter agency, are likely to find at least one thing wrong with everything they audit so that it looks like they're doing their job. In other words, government auditors sometimes function like cops with a quota. The more an expense formally adheres to written guidelines, the less likely they'll declare it inappropriate. Novel interpretations of the rules that seem legitimate in light of the overall goal might be logically interpreted as appropriate by most everyone but are still more likely to be denied. Auditors don't enjoy much imagination when it comes to entertaining unique ways of interpretation, even when same is done in perfectly good faith and in the best interest of obtaining the outcome envisioned by the granter.
If the funds are from a government agency but funneled through another such as a state agency, then the state laws and administrative codes might have to be referenced as well. If the state law conflicts with the federal law, their exists potential for denying expenses as a result. Chargebacks are chargebacks regardless of whether your right or wrong in discharging your administrative duties.
2. If the funds are provided in-house, consult up the chain of command for formal written guidelines and other guidance. There may be formal guidelines already in place and available to the institution's employees, contractors, and/or others who spend, administer, or invoice the institution's funds or those of it's funding sources. Once again, the auditors will likely be the final authority on what is considered appropriate. If they're guidance is available without rustling any feathers in the chain of command, it would likely provide the best source of information about how to make a decision. If you do contact them, you might be the first to ever take the time to do so so don't be surprised if they're surprised at your call. Also, if you discover that NOBODY really has an idea about the policy, including the auditors, then document that as well so that you can show that you made a good faith effort to discover the truth. The risk is that if you dig too deeply and find that NOBODY is doing it right, you might make some of the higher up incompetents uncomfortable with your questions. You'll have to use your own judgment about whether it's safe to poke around the place with questions that could make somebody look bad.
3. Take it from someone who knows, any item that has utility outside the work environment is more likely to eventually come up missing. Employees tend to take things home with them to work after hours, an admirable behavior when done in compliance with the rules. Same tend to forget to bring things back to work sometimes, a less admirable behavior. The more utility the item has outside the workplace, and the more expensive the item is, the more likely it is to become lost in the name of enhancing productivity.
4. When in doubt, err on the side of caution, or not. I remember <NAME> missing an important speaking engagement because he got stuck in a traffic jam. The blame was rolled downhill to those attending to the details of delivering him to same on time. They were chastised by the higher ups for not renting a jet helicopter to fetch him out of the traffic jam and ensure his timely arrival at the speaking engagement. Likely, had Gates managed to barely arrive on time by ground transportation, anyone suggesting wild spending on a helicopter to avert a potential disaster would have been chastised as financially irresponsible. If the research is successful, expenses will more likely be viewed as appropriate. If unsuccessful, you might be called onto the carpet for buying rubber bands.
Only you have a feel for the terrain in your particular situation so you might have to go on instinct, but then again, that's why you make the big bucks, right? Just remember to document your good logic for the expenditure so that your ready for a fight if it is called into question. If your prepared to defend it, any expenditure has a better chance of approval than one that you are at a loss for words to explain. If you rely on the assertions of others to justify the expenditure, document who they are, what they said, and when. If it's a career life or death, you might even tape record it, if and when legal to do so. When it hits the fan, people that told you it was ok to do it the wrong way will forget they ever had a conversation with you, assuming they remember you at all.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: Noise canceling headphones do not work well in all circumstances. The active noise cancelling mostly works well with low frequencies like various engines or compressors running nearby. If you are doing a complex experiment in such environment, they are definitely worth buying as distraction from such noise may be very significant. I have carried some experiments with the cooling systems nearby being so loud I could barely talk to my partner. Using protection is such cases is unlikely to be unethical.
In a normal laboratory or office environment too big part of the distracting noise comes from the higher frequencies and the headphones will not help much. I have tried to use such headphones in an office environment with just too many people talking around, they were near useless. Hence buying them will not make any sense.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_11: I'd say, people have different sensory sensitivity.
I for one have sensory over-stimulation and am very sensitive on hearing or handle large open areas with people for very long. So I always use noise-cancelling headphones - it makes work and life more manageable.
What I mean is, what does it matter if you use it only at work or also for recreation? If you have nothing for recreation then you won't be very enthusiastic at work either in the long run (I know what lack of spare-time for recreation leads to). So, in my opinion is is great that one device (noise-cancelling headphones) can help with both noise at work and for recreation.
A happy employee is probably a more productive and creative employee.
Should the money be spent on this or that is always the question, but as always it is also a matter of prioritization. If you feel that such headphones are what feels like it will really make a difference for your research then yes that is probably what you should try to get hold of next.
Perhaps you can make a deal such that you pay half and employer pays half and then you will use them for work but you can also use them at home for recreation.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_12: Think of it this way:
Suppose you were to ask for noise insulation / dampening for the lab / group office. That might cost $1,000, or $5,000 (I have no idea how much). Would you have *any* ethical doubts about asking for that? Well, you might, but only for one reason:
**Is reducing the ambient noise level for my research activity important enough for the university / the human race to invest in?**
If the answer is "yes", then noise cancelling earphones seem ethically appropriate. The fact that you can also use them to enjoy research-unrelated activities is no more than cause for carefully scrutinizing your request to make sure it's legit.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I have the forum data for several MOOCs. Can I legally share it with someone else without going through IRBs or some other administrative process?
The data contain timestamp, post title, post body, and username. Since all data was publicly available by browsing the forum as a MOOC user, I would tend to believe I can legally share it.
I am located in the United States, if that matters.<issue_comment>username_1: The answer may depend on the MOOC platform. Based on a quick read of the TOS for a couple of the more popular MOOC platforms, I would say:
* Coursera: Probably not. Coursera allows you to share *your own* postings, but not anyone else's.
* edX: No. The TOS specifically calls out User Postings as content that you are forbidden to download in bulk. However, like Coursera and Udemy, edX allows you to retain rights to *your own* postings.
* Udemy: Probably not. Udemy and you can share your postings, but you cannot share someone else's postings.
[Coursera's Terms of Service](https://www.coursera.org/about/terms), to which you agree when you register and use their service, state:
>
> All students participating in the class must agree to abide by the following code:
>
>
> 3. I will not make solutions to homework, quizzes, exams, projects, and other assignments available to anyone else (except to the extent an assignment explicitly permits sharing solutions). This includes both solutions written by me, as well as any solutions provided by the course staff or others.
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>
>
Also (**boldface** added):
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> The Services enable you to share your content, such as homework, quizzes, exams, projects, other assignments you submit, posts you make in the forums, and the like ("User Content"), with Coursera, instructors, and/or other users. **You retain all intellectual property rights in, and are responsible for, the User Content you share**.
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> ...
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> Coursera respects the intellectual property rights of our users, Content Providers, and other third parties and expects our users to do the same when using the Services.
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Finally:
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> You also aren't allowed to:
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> * Reproduce, transfer, sell, resell, or otherwise misuse any content from our Services, unless specifically authorized to do so.
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[edX's Terms of Service](https://www.edx.org/edx-terms-service):
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> [Y]ou agree not to scrape, or otherwise download in bulk, any edX Site content, including but not limited to a list or directory of users on the system, User Postings or user information, online textbooks, course materials, or trademarks and logos.
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>
But also (**boldface** added):
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> By submitting or distributing your User Postings, you affirm, represent, and warrant (1) that you have the necessary rights, licenses, consents, and/or permissions to reproduce and publish the User Postings and to **authorize edX and its users to reproduce, modify, publish, and otherwise use and distribute your User Postings** in a manner consistent with the licenses granted by you below, and (2) that neither your submission of your User Postings nor the exercise of the licenses granted below will infringe or violate the rights of any third party. You, and not edX, are solely responsible for your User Postings and the consequences of posting or publishing them.
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And:
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> By submitting or distributing your User Postings, you hereby grant to each user of the Site a non-exclusive license to access and use your User Postings in connection with their use of the Site for their own personal purposes.
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>
>
[Udemy's Terms](https://www.udemy.com/terms/#section5):
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> The content you post as a student or instructor (including courses) remains yours. By posting courses and other content, you allow Udemy to reuse and share it but you do not lose any ownership rights you may have over your content.
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>
>
Also:
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> When you post content, comments, questions, reviews, and when you submit to us ideas and suggestions for new features or improvements, you authorize Udemy to use and share this content with anyone, distribute it and promote it on any platform and in any media, and to make modifications or edits to it as we see fit.
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Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Here is my instinctive answer: it depends on what you do with it. If you want to use it for *research*, you probably need IRB approval. This is really no different than using student exams for research. On the other hand, if you just want to make them available as a "blob of data", then the situation may be different.
The thing is this, though: If it turns out that you do need IRB approval after you have already used the data or made it available, you're in hot water. The pain associated with this situation is so large that you really don't want to get there. My recommendation therefore is: Make an appointment and walk over to your IRB office and discuss the situation with them. That'll cost you 30 minutes. If they say that you don't need IRB approval, that's a small investment. If they say that you do need IRB approval, you will want to know this before you do anything with the data, and in that case (given all the attendant CITI training, writing the IRB application, etc), the 30 minutes will still be a small investment.
Trying to avoid IRB review by asking a bunch of people on the internet via a 3-paragraph, 5-sentence question that leaves out all of the important information, is not a smart strategy.
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<issue_start>username_0: A named reviewer has made some suggestions, which I'm exploring, and I'd like to ask for input on a particular point. I have exchanged emails with this person before asking for input on the same work. Would it be appropriate to email directly to ask?<issue_comment>username_1: Better to do this through your editor, to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If the reviewer has given you their name, then that is their choice. In my experience journals give the reviewers the option of anonymity. If they've chosen to reveal their name then I think there is no issue with you contacting them directly. Especially if you've discussed the work with them previously.
When you resubmit the paper, with the changes, perhaps you could then include this persons name in the list of people not suitable for reviewing the paper (Assuming that this journal asks you to submit names of suitable, and not suitable, reviewers).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I usually give my name when doing peer reviews, but I would not want to be directly contacted. Individual reviewers have no control over the editor's decisions or opinions, and you might be misled into following a reviewer's opinion that the editor feels is incorrect or minor. It also might give the impression of trying to influence a reviewer directly, which would be improper.
Work through the editor.
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<issue_start>username_0: We are submitting a journal paper to ASME Journals of Mechanisms and Robotics for the first time. The manuscript is prepared in LaTeX. In the final submission, it is required that we submit "text-only" file along with the final PDF.
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> II. TEXT-ONLY FILE(S)
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> 1. The text-only file, Word or LaTex, should include the following items in order:
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> 1.1. paper title
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> 1.2. author(s) info (affiliation, address, email)
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> 1.3. abstract
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> 1.4. text: single column and double spaced
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> 1.5. reference section (ASME requires a numerical format, e.g., [1], [2](https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/50904/how-can-i-remove-the-figures-from-a-draft-of-my-document), etc.)
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> 1.6. table caption list
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> 1.7. figure caption list
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> 1.8. tables, each on separate page
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> 1.9. footers containing page number
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[ASME guidelines](http://journaltool.asme.org/Help/AuthorHelp/WebHelp/JournalsHelp.htm)
If someone who has submitted to ASME before can answer what exactly are they expecting from LaTeX users, it shall be of great help.
1. Are we just supposed to upload the LaTeX document as is and the requirement is more directed towards Word users?
2. Am I supposed to remove all the figures? That would mess up the references. In order to correct that I shall have to manually add the reference numbers to figure! I tried options such as [How can I remove the figures from draft](https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/50904/how-can-i-remove-the-figures-from-a-draft-of-my-document) and gobbling the \includegraphics command, but in vain.
3. Do I have to manually type the figure caption list? As deleting the figures would remove all the references and \listoffigures wouldn't work.
4. What exactly does this requirement mean?
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> 1.9. footers containing page number
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Regards.<issue_comment>username_1: Although I have not made any ASME submissions, the following information might be of some use to you.
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> Am I supposed to remove all the figures? That would mess up the references.
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Yes. But only from the `tex` file. You must include the figures (only as EPS or TIFF as per ASME guidelines) as separate files. You can do this without adversely affecting references by adding the `[demo]` option when including the `graphicx` package.
`\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}`
It is the label you add inside the `figure` environment that counts in the list of figures. There would be no error even if you don't include any image (like using `\includegraphics`) inside the environment. Although the page numbers may vary, the actual list would remain intact.
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> 1.9. footers containing page number
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>
>
This is not for LaTeX users to worry about. If the class file provided by the journal is coded properly, it should take care of this by itself.
>
> The full contents of the paper must be submitted in the PDF file.
>
>
>
The above line is also included in the ASME guidelines. I suppose it is the the PDF of how you intend it to be. This may submit the necessary figures as per your liking. However, I think you may submit both PDFs, one with figures `YourTitle_(with_figs).pdf`, and one without `YourTitle_(without_figs).pdf` and intimate this to the editor for clarification.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I contacted the ASME staff and they said
>
> "You can submit the LaTeX files with the figures embedded and we will accommodate."
>
>
>
I guess that makes life easier and solves the problem.
Upvotes: 2
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| 4,134
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<issue_start>username_0: There are plenty of journals and conferences in my research area. And there are things we could look up in advance, like impact factor, journal rank and so on.
But I would like to find a place where I could put my **personal experience** with the journal (or conference).
For instance, in Amazon the customers can review and criticize the books they read. In my country there is a site where you can complaint about any company that failed to satisfy the customer (a flight company, a magazine, a bank, etc).
One could argue that this would be unfair to the people that invest their time as editors or reviewers, but in my opinion it is a **two-way relationship**. Things like waiting one year without an answer from editors, poor review or evasive answers, is a disrespect to a research group who invests a lot of time as well.
So, **is there a place where one could respectfully give a review and share their experience with a journal or conference?**<issue_comment>username_1: There are a few sites that do this:
* [SciRev](https://scirev.sc/)
* [Journalysis](http://journalysis.org/).
* [HelpMePublish](https://helpmepublish.org/).
Of these, I think SciRev is the most active, but I'm not certain about this. That said, in my experience, the actual rating information on these is not of much value. Uptake is pretty slow, and most of the reviews I've seem to just very high marks indiscriminately. As a result, you can't infer too much from the tiny sample sizes available. The information about time to result, review quality, etc. might be useful in principle, but in practice again you've got tiny sample sizes and probably a selection bias as well in terms of who submits reviews -- though I don't know which way this selection bias would go.
*Nature* wrote a [news piece](http://www.nature.com/news/rate-that-journal-1.17225) (not paywalled) about these sites in early 2015.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I would like to provide an update on what username_1 already wrote back in 2015.
The URLs provided are not alive anymore, it is only SciRev that I could find, on a new domain: [SciRev.org](http://scirev.org)
As username_1 remarked, quality scores are questionable, but I found review period feedback useful. SciRev still has very small sample size for journals of my interest, but even with 3-4 reviews, coming from different users - you get at least some idea on the timing. In my perception, reported time periods tend to converge - therefore, it can serve you as somewhat valid indication.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: In addition to [SciRev](https://scirev.org/), the review site already mentioned in previous answers, there is the [Humanities Journal Wiki](https://humanitiesjournals.fandom.com/wiki/Humanities_Journals_Wiki).
SciRev is broader in scope, and while it does contain entries for humanities journals, the site seems to concentrate on the sciences. SciRev is also highly structured: users wishing to review a journal fill out largely quantitative questionnaires on the review process, which are then used to produce statistics on review times, submitter satisfaction, etc. It's also possible to submit free-form reviews, though these are optional and go through a vetting process before being published on the website. This process can take some time; of the two reviews I submitted last week, one was published within a few days and the other still hasn't been published. Overall I like the concept and design of the site, though for most of the journals I'm interested in, there are next to no submitted reviews.
By contrast, the Humanities Journal Wiki is limited in scope to humanities journals. It's a wiki that anyone can edit, even without registration—this lowers the bar to participation, which probably explains why the site seems a lot more active than SciRev. Since all reviews are free-form, it's not possible to quantitatively compare journals, and reviews are wildly different in terms of what information they provide. On the whole, though, I find it to be more useful for choosing a submission venue.
Upvotes: 0
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2015/11/18
| 1,093
| 4,315
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<issue_start>username_0: **For an application cover letter, is it better to sign it with just my name, or with "Ph.D." after my name?**
What I am not sure of is that at the beginning of the letter, I do state when and where I got my PhD from. For reference, I am applying for positions in mathematics.<issue_comment>username_1: In the U.S. mathematics departments I'm familiar with, writing "Ph.D." after your name would not be disastrous, but it would be a bad idea. It can look insecure, like you are worried readers will assume you don't have a Ph.D. if you don't remind them frequently, or pompous, like you feel having a Ph.D. is an important distinction that must be emphasized, and I see no upside to balance the risk of appearing insecure or pompous.
To clarify, I don't think merely listing "Ph.D." after your name would undermine an otherwise great application. Nobody is going to take it that seriously. However, it can be tricky to get the tone right in academic job applications, and some applicants inadvertently write things that could be read as insecure or pompous. (Indeed, it's natural to feel insecure, and it's easy to come across as pompous if you try too hard to convince the reader that you'd make a great hire.) The danger is that the reader might piece together several small things into an overall negative impression, maybe even subconsciously. From this perspective, it's safest to eliminate issues you can identify, even if they wouldn't be decisive by themselves, just in case they might reinforce other things you're unaware of.
Note that conventions for the post-nominal use of "Ph.D." may vary between countries or even universities, as well as between fields. This is a matter of culture, and you'll need to figure out what the culture is like where you are applying.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: No. As much as you'd like to have some sort of a "kudos benefit" from having become a Doctor of Philosophy - just don't. They already know you're a Doctor of Philosophy, don't run the risk of sounding like a full-of-themselves Doctor of Philosophy... even if they don't interpret it that way - they might.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Since I am looking at tenure track cover letters in mathematics anyway, I just opened 12 of them, more or less at random, to gather statistics on this point. Of these letters:
* Nine are signed Firstname Lastname
* Two are signed Firstname Lastname PhD.
* One is signed Dr. Firstname Lastname
The minority three had at least some of their schooling outside of the US.
Upshot: it is distinctly more common not to sign "PhD", it probably says something about your academic culture, and people play it either way. I have to disagree with @username_1's assessment that putting a PhD after your signature would be "a bad idea". I have read (literally!) hundreds of cover letters over the last month, and I have never noticed up until now who does this and who doesn't. There are things that appear in cover letters that I find slightly annoying, and this is not one of them. But since you are asking: probably don't do it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I disagree with the herd, here. When writing formal business letters, your signature block generally contains your name, title, and positions.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/trCEX.gif)
[Source](http://i2.wp.com/www.businesscommunicationarticles.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/structure_or_parts_of_a_business_letter.gif)
It is not "bragging" to include Ph.D. on the line that follows your signature, and formality calls for it. You would not include Ph.D. in your actual signature-- that would look presumptuous.
So far as I know, I can't think of a case where using a formal style in a formal communication would count against you. I can think of many cases where handling a communication that calls for formality in an informal way would be inappropriate.
UPDATE (and feel free to revoke upvotes!): Frankly, the idea that omitting or including your title on a cover letter will have any impact on a search committee is ludicrous. If that's the factor in your application package that makes the difference between an offer and a no offer, your CV must be pretty good.
Upvotes: 3
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| 1,290
| 5,073
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<issue_start>username_0: For my Ph.D work I used large volume of data which can not be put into my thesis. So, I am planning to put all this data online, so that other could download freely and cross check my work. It would also help future scholars to do the same work conveniently in future. Providing data online used for research is not commonly practiced in my country. I just want to know is it right(also sensible) to do the same? Won't it lead to any complication in future?
Can you also please tell me what is being practiced in other countries like USA and UK regarding data?
[Note : all data is downloaded from free sources so does not involve any copyright issue]<issue_comment>username_1: In general I think this is a good idea, but it might depend on your area. This way others can verify your method and compare it to yours. At least this is how it is used in for example Computer Vision and Machine Learning.
Some examples:
* [Online image database (University of Edinburgh](http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/CVonline/Imagedbase.htm)
* [Different data sets of the University of Texas](http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~grauman/courses/spring2008/datasets.htm)
* [Computer Vision test images (Carnegie Mellon University)](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~cil/v-images.html)
* [Microsoft Research Image understanding](http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/objectclassrecognition/)
Some theses with a dataset published:
* [<NAME>'s PhD thesis](http://turing.cs.washington.edu/papers/downey_thesis_data/)
* [Soo Ling Lims' PhD thesis](https://soolinglim.wordpress.com/datasets/)
* [To<NAME>' PhD thesis](http://ilk.uvt.nl/~toine/phd-thesis/)
[Professor <NAME>](http://people.kmi.open.ac.uk/stefan/) from the Open University UK, wrote in [How to write a good PhD thesis and survive the viva](http://people.kmi.open.ac.uk/stefan/thesis-writing.pdf) (for a PhD in the computing subject):
>
> Some value in a PhD thesis is drawn from careful
> experimental design. It is best practice to only change one parameter at a time; **to use datasets that are publicly available or at least make datasets available**; to describe experiments in a way so that they are reproducible; and, particularly in Computing, to set up experiments in
> an automated batch fashion.
>
>
>
You however have to make sure that you are allowed to (re)publish the data on your web without violating any copyrights (even if it can be downloaded for free), otherwise you can just link to the external data set.
*Edit:* also see [this question](https://datascience.stackexchange.com/questions/155/publicly-available-datasets) about [Publicly Available Datasets](https://datascience.stackexchange.com/questions/155/publicly-available-datasets).
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Some things people should consider before making their data freely downloadable. Many of these may not apply to you, but they're general considerations. In some cases these are things that should be decided before data are ever collected.
1. **Are the data truly yours?** Does your institution have some claim to the raw data, or to the analysis? Do you have co-authors who also have a claim to the data? Do you have permission from all parties to make this available? Can you document this?
2. Is there anything **confidential** in the data?
3. Is there anything **copyrighted** in the data? Are there other potential legal concerns about making it available? If you have modified or analyzed the data using software, is the download compatible with the software license?
4. If humans were involved in any way, is their information **anonymized**? Did they give permission to make their data available, even in aggregate? Did your institutional review board approve this part of the project? Do you have clear documentation showing this?
5. Are you willing and able to **maintain the data**? Will it be on a site that you control and will control for a period of time? If not, who controls it, and are they willing and able to continue to make it available? What is a reasonable time for the data to remain available -- two years? Five? Twenty?
For many studies, 1-4 may not apply, but 5 is something people don't seem to think about very much. Far too often, individual researchers stick their data, or supplementary information or whatever, up on their institutional web sites, and then two years later their IT people do some reorganization and all the links are broken; or the people move to another institution and their pages are all deleted; or a bug hits and no one notices. Or they put the data up on their personal pages, and then GeoCities is bought by Yahoo! and gets shut down in their country. The web five years ago was a very different place from today, and it will be very different in another five years.
One option is [Dryad](http://datadryad.org), which promises to store researcher data; see their [claims](http://datadryad.org/pages/repository) here. I have no experience with them other than downloading data, but the concept seems good.
Upvotes: 2
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| 466
| 2,111
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student.
My paper got accepted with minor changes and then re-submitted again and accepted by the journal. In the meantime, I had conflicts with my supervisor who is a co-author of my paper and I decided to change the lab. Now, he sent an email to the editor stating that the paper was not confirmed by him and now the paper is blocked till he confirms. He will never allow the paper because of the personal conflict. Can someone tell me what can be done?<issue_comment>username_1: It is unlikely that a journal will publish a paper if one of its authors states that it should not be published at this point (for various reasons). However, it would also be more than questionable for you to demote the other author to only be included in the acknowledgements section (at least if you did not do everything that you could to resolve the situation).
So that leaves you with trying to resolve the situation. One way of dealing with such problems is to **elevate the issue**. Possible points of contacts could be the dean of your former department or your dean of studies. In some places, where you have a secondary advisor whose role is to help you in case of precisely such problems, then she/he should be your point of contact.
To prepare any of these meetings, make sure that you have a statement of what happened that it is as accusation-free as possible, while trying to stick to the facts. While such issues are better discussed face-to-face, preparing the statements helps with getting your point across in an organized way.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Who paid for the work? I work for a research funder, and we have have a requirement for publication attached to all the funds we award. A proportion of funds are held back until publication. We have a number of steps we follow with an investigator who won't publish - which include reclaiming the funds they were awarded for the research, and withdrawing all other funding from the institution concerned.
It may be your funder has an opinion about work they've paid for not being published.
Upvotes: 2
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| 1,986
| 8,558
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<issue_start>username_0: I am in my first year of a PhD in France. My adviser recently bought a laptop for me using the research funds on which the computational codes for my research work are installed. According to my adviser, I can take the laptop to my residence when I leave the lab.
>
> Is it ethical to listen to music, watch videos or movies I love on the work computer?
>
>
>
I am well aware that discussing with my team would be the ideal thing to do but I am not sure how my supervisor would take it. I cannot reach a conclusion of whether listening to music and videos helps me constructively in my research. One favorable justification I found is that listening to music helps me concentrate better, but I am not sure it is always the case. The reason is that at times some movies feel very motivational, music feels soothing but on some other occasions I find myself investing hours in them when I am supposed to complete a task. This may be purely attributed to my personality but I am unable to reach an answer.<issue_comment>username_1: You don't need to be specific when asking your supervisor or colleagues, just say that you are unsure of what you can and cannot do with the computer, and ask for some examples of things that are and are not allowed. Chances are that if watching movies or listening to music is not allowed, it will be one of the first things they will mention, since those are among the things most commonly done on a computer these days.
If they don't say that those things are forbidden, then go ahead and have fun. As a French person and former student in France (I have moved elsewhere for my PhD...) I can't see how this could be considered unethical (and, to be honest, your question made me chuckle a little).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: *This started its life as a comment, but I think it actually makes a good answer:*
I think discussions such as "listening to music help me concentrate better" are overanalyzing things here. To seriously justify anything with this effect, you'd have to dive into the psychology of different styles of music, working times, etc.
Seen more superficially, listening to music and watching movies are activities that are simply not directly a part of your work. The - implicit or explicit - agreement for using the laptop will likely be somewhere between "Use it like you would use your own computer, but eventually return it undamaged." and "Each and every keypress must be directly a part of your work, or else you must not perform it." You just have to find out where in this spectrum the agreement for using the laptop lies.
Therefore:
* Look at what other (more senior) colleagues do with their work laptops.
* Ask them directly.
+ Try to find out about intentional or implicit deviations between official rules and actual behaviour (and possibly decide for yourself then what you can live with).
* Possibly ask the supervisor, if the above points are inconclusive.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Unless explicitly stated in the rules that they should have told you when you got the computer, you can do whatever you want that doesn't damage the machine or compromises your work. Common sense applies:
* Playing a CPU intensive game at the same time you are crunching some numbers you need soon will slow your computations, so it isn't good. Playing the same game while the CPU is doing nothing else, should be OK.
* Storing music or films in the hard drive is fine, but if you are running out of space for your data, they should go away.
* If the university is providing some backup service, make sure you are not bloating it with gigabytes of your personal stuff. A few megabytes of configuration files of your own programs and other small things shouldn't be an issue.
One can argue that just by using it you are wearing off the battery, and that is costing your university money; but on the other hand, a new battery costs around one salary day, and if that is what it takes to keep you happier and more productive (even a tiny bit) for years, I think it is well worth it.
If you were to need the help of IT support (in my university is as good as nonexistent anyway), they may delete your personal files and programs if they think they are related to the problem, as <NAME> pointed out in the comment. If they were less understanding, you may even be told off for installing software that they don't know (mind you, it may even be research related!).
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: My answer might be slightly different than some... I'm in charge of managing several computers for an elementary school, including teacher computers, and man... the workload teachers and students cause for me by doing things they totally thought were "innocent" is huge. Don't get me wrong, if it didn't happen I wouldn't have a job, so I don't mind much, but sometimes they wreck relatively well working machines fast.
The main issues come from going to unknown sites and getting viruses. If you're using legit sites to find your videos and music, I'd say it isn't a big ethical issue. Legit meaning stuff like watching videos on Youtube or Netflix, listening to your own music on iTunes, etc. If you're using shady sites that might potentially bring on viruses, it becomes an ethical issue. If you're in the grey zone in the middle somewhere... the ethics are in the grey zone too.
So really I think the ethics depend on not just the actions but how you are partaking in them and what risks you are bringing along with you.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Yes, I consider it ethical if done in a responsible manner (more on that below). Reasons:
1. A laptop is a general purpose machine designed to be used for many things. Using it for recreational purposes in addition to research incurs no extra costs beyond those already invested in purchasing the machine (well, somebody mentioned battery and hard drive use, but *come on* - I've never had a laptop wear out either). An action that isn't harmful and is a net positive to the world usually should not be considered unethical.
2. A rule or ethical convention that prevents non-work-related use of laptops would have several very negative consequences. Specifically, a very large class of university, government and corporate workers would be forced to:
* buy and maintain another laptop for personal use. This is expensive and wasteful. The world already has enough economic and environmental problems, do we really need to add more junk and waste?
* carry two laptops with them whenever they travel. Again, this is wasteful, overly burdensome, and mostly just pointless.
3. Personal use of work computers is, as far as I know, widely accepted, at least in academia in the U.S. (This reason falls in the "supporting evidence" category, i.e., it is not proof that this behavior is ethical but suggests that it is at least widely considered ethical in the existing cultural context.)
Finally, as I said above, in order to be ethical, the non-work use must be *responsible*, in the following common sense meanings that were already mentioned in other answers:
* It should not damage the computer beyond ordinary wear.
* It should not consume computing resources that were needed for research.
* It should not jeopardize the security of sensitive research information or of the workplace's technology infrastructure.
* It should not violate any laws (e.g. downloading music and videos illegally would be absolutely not okay).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: I don't know about France, but in the USA, some states have policies for publicly owned computers (which includes government agencies and state universities) and are subject to a *de minimis* personal use standard. That is, you are allowed to use the publicly owned computer for personal use if it does not interfere with your work and is "minimal". If the use is brief, infrequent, of little or no cost to the state, and is not disruptive, then a “de minimis” use of state resources would not be unethical. Typically bandwidth is included in this concept. So, if you are at home using your own bandwidth (e.g. to listen to the internet radio or watch an internet movie), you are not really using much in terms of state resources. However, as soon as you start streaming these things from work, or storing those files long-term on your work computer, you have overstepped your ethical bounds.
Though, your employers should already have their own policy in place regarding personal use.
Upvotes: 3
|
2015/11/18
| 11,724
| 26,376
|
<issue_start>username_0: To me, it seems that "Fully Convolutional Networks for Semantic Segmentation" (<http://arxiv.org/abs/1411.4038v2>) has quite a bit of impact. However, I would like to support this feeling with data.
On [Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.de/citations?view_op=view_citation&continue=/scholar%3Fhl%3Den%26as_sdt%3D0,5%26scilib%3D1%26scioq%3DFully%2Bconvolutional%2Bnetworks%2Bfor%2Bsemantic%2Bsegmentation&citilm=1&citation_for_view=u52T6MYAAAAJ:QIV2ME_5wuYC&hl=en&oi=p), I can see that the paper was cited by 116 publications. However, I would like to plot a curve showing when it was cited. So I would like to export this data to a CSV with a "date" column and a "title" column. (Other columns like authors, how often the other paper was cited, journal, ... would be nice, too).
Are there other ways to quickly analyze the impact of a paper?<issue_comment>username_1: Are you referring to this type of plot, which can be found through an author page containing that paper (in this case [<NAME>](https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=-ltRSM0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra)), by clicking on the title:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JJTta.png)
At the Google scholar [page of that paper](https://scholar.google.de/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=-ltRSM0AAAAJ&citation_for_view=-ltRSM0AAAAJ:d1gkVwhDpl0C) you can also hover over the bars to see e.g. that the paper has 109 citations from 2015. I don't know about a way to directly export data from Google scholar. You could probably html scrape the data though, or by manually using "*custom range*" [here](https://scholar.google.de/scholar?oi=bibs&hl=en&cites=4198330480927824223) to get citation counts for each year.
Another option is to use the [*Publish or Perish*](http://www.harzing.com/pop.htm) software (which functions as a front-end to Google scholar), which allows you to use the "*Lookup citations*" feature to get an exportable list of all the citing papers found through Google Scholar. This list will contain year, title, authors, citation count etc for all the citing papers.
An excerpt of the data for this particular paper is included below. In this particular case (since most of the citations are coming from arXiv) you can actually get a better temporal resolution of the citations after some post-processing of the exported data, since it includes the arXiv identifier which contains the month of publication (posting to Arxiv). That plot looks like this, for the 77 arXiv papers citing "*Fully Convolutional Networks for Semantic Segmentation*":
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BpAv2.png)
Data excerpt:
```
427,"<NAME>, <NAME>","Very deep convolutional networks for large-scale image recognition",2014,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1409.1556","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.1556","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=15993525775437884507&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",1,2015-11-18,""
51,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Semantic image segmentation with deep convolutional nets and fully connected crfs",2014,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1412.7062","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=12556287530133233148&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",2,2015-11-18,""
31,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Hypercolumns for object segmentation and fine-grained localization",2014,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1411.5752","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=338188405356970854&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",3,2015-11-18,""
24,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Conditional random fields as recurrent neural networks",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1502.03240","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=4680896688857314530&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",12,2015-11-18,""
20,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Convolutional feature masking for joint object and stuff segmentation",2014,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1412.1283","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1412.1283","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=3867986733742388443&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",4,2015-11-18,""
18,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Weakly-and semi-supervised learning of a DCNN for semantic image segmentation",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1502.02734","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=12298732919189295864&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",6,2015-11-18,""
14,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Boxsup: Exploiting bounding boxes to supervise convolutional networks for semantic segmentation",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.01640","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.01640","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=10583411756105923851&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",9,2015-11-18,""
13,"<NAME>, <NAME>","Fully connected deep structured networks",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.02351","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.02351","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=9137941562147447673&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",10,2015-11-18,""
13,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Efficient piecewise training of deep structured models for semantic segmentation",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1504.01013","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1504.01013","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=1420854562551446027&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",25,2015-11-18,""
12,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Faster r-cnn: Towards real-time object detection with region proposal networks",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1506.01497","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.01497","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=16436232259506318906&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",5,2015-11-18,""
10,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","DeepEdge: A Multi-Scale Bifurcated Deep Network for Top-Down Contour Detection",2014,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1412.1123","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1412.1123","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=2089551699301366907&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",8,2015-11-18,""
9,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Fully convolutional multi-class multiple instance learning",2014,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1412.7144","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1412.7144","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=6242051221514792488&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",11,2015-11-18,""
7,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Learning Deconvolution Network for Semantic Segmentation",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1505.04366","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.04366","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=4896002303003783815&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",80,2015-11-18,""
5,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Spatial transformer networks",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.02025","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=1662293494062093494&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",7,2015-11-18,""
5,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Region-based Convolutional Networks for Accurate Object Detection and Segmentation",0,"ieeexplore.ieee.org","","http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=7112511","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=2674763949973029385&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",42,2015-11-18,""
4,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Object Detection Networks on Convolutional Feature Maps",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1504.06066","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1504.06066","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=8299550676813721451&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",21,2015-11-18,""
4,"<NAME>, <NAME>","Holistically-Nested Edge Detection",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1504.06375","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1504.06375","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=18154299256265143241&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",112,2015-11-18,""
3,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Parsenet: Looking wider to see better",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1506.04579","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.04579","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=11105541992267753132&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",13,2015-11-18,""
3,"<NAME>, <NAME>","Inverting convolutional networks with convolutional networks",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1506.02753","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.02753","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=3843085858101673825&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",14,2015-11-18,""
2,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Decoupled Deep Neural Network for Semi-supervised Semantic Segmentation",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1506.04924","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.04924","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=15385340253531275638&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",15,2015-11-18,""
2,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","What's the point: Semantic segmentation with point supervision",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.02106","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=14456480836534501375&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",16,2015-11-18,""
2,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Projective Feature Learning for 3D Shapes with Multi-View Depth Images",2015,"Computer Graphics …","Wiley Online Library","http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cgf.12740/full","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=16653555319690091022&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",17,2015-11-18,""
2,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Joint Object and Part Segmentation using Deep Learned Potentials",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.00276","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=4342156029683513177&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",48,2015-11-18,""
2,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Convolutional Channel Features For Pedestrian, Face and Edge Detection",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1504.07339","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1504.07339","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=6994455475312011326&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",59,2015-11-18,""
2,"<NAME>, <NAME>","Object detection via a multi-region & semantic segmentation-aware CNN model",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1505.01749","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.01749","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=17076919334968493616&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",65,2015-11-18,""
2,"<NAME>, <NAME>…","Modeling Local and Global Deformations in Deep Learning: Epitomic Convolution, Multiple Instance Learning, and Sliding Window Detection",2015,"Proceedings of the IEEE …","cv-foundation.org","","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=372687354279680428&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",84,2015-11-18,"PDF"
2,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Accelerating Very Deep Convolutional Networks for Classification and Detection",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1505.06798","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.06798","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=11183077033015235296&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",89,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Understanding and predicting image memorability at a large scale",2015,"","people.csail.mit.edu","","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=4151583339195604249&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",18,2015-11-18,"PDF"
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Quaddirectional 2D-Recurrent Neural Networks For Image Labeling",2015,"","ieeexplore.ieee.org","http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=7118156","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=13720065868238901658&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",19,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Unconstrained Facial Landmark Localization with Backbone-Branches Fully-Convolutional Networks",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1507.03409","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1507.03409","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=12791133750001877582&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",20,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Constrained Convolutional Neural Networks for Weakly Supervised Segmentation",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1506.03648","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.03648","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=18113115400192563138&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",22,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Matrix Backpropagation for Deep Networks with Structured Layers",2015,"","maths.lth.se","","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=17387807402435828231&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",23,2015-11-18,"PDF"
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","SegNet: A Deep Convolutional Encoder-Decoder Architecture for Image Segmentation",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1511.00561","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.00561","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=18037094217443794526&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",24,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Recursive Training of 2D-3D Convolutional Networks for Neuronal Boundary Detection",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.04843","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=17230449095463437923&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",26,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","What Is Holding Back Convnets for Detection?",2015,"Pattern Recognition","Springer","http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-24947-6_43","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=1468500825478747183&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",27,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Training Deep Networks with Structured Layers by Matrix Backpropagation",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.07838","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1509.07838","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=8704018611282114837&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",28,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Semantic Image Segmentation via Deep Parsing Network",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.02634","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1509.02634","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=18281955767933637624&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",29,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Deep Multi-task Learning for Railway Track Inspection",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.05267","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1509.05267","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=16444267879523298138&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",30,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Material classification and semantic segmentation of railway track images with deep convolutional neural networks,”",2015,"IEEE International Conference …","researchgate.net","","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=13942078593779597868&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",31,2015-11-18,"PDF"
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>ka…","A Multi-scale Multiple Instance Video Description Network",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.05914","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=1990066366497434516&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",33,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Learning Depth from Single Monocular Images Using Deep Convolutional Neural Fields",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1502.07411","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1502.07411","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=2562418167496300062&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",52,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Effective Training of Convolutional Networks using Noisy Web Images",0,"comupedia.org","","","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=12447971813084759439&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",70,2015-11-18,"PDF"
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Monocular Object Instance Segmentation and Depth Ordering with CNNs",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.03159","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=7431213548054053779&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",78,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Semantic Part Segmentation with Deep Learning",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.02438","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=16300824466121812385&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",79,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","High-for-Low and Low-for-High: Efficient Boundary Detection from Deep Object Features and its Applications to High-Level Vision",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1504.06201","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1504.06201","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=6429592123688911770&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",86,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Brain Tumor Segmentation with Deep Neural Networks",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.03540","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=4159936825454045654&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",91,2015-11-18,""
1,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","FlowNet: Learning Optical Flow with Convolutional Networks",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1504.06852","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=4399198863370102461&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en#=20",111,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Efficient Convolutional Patch Networks for Scene Understanding",0,"hera.inf-cv.uni-jena.de","","","http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=related:G0POBdhSJIsJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en#=20&as_sdt=0,5&sciodt=0,5",32,2015-11-18,"PDF"
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Camera Elevation Estimation from a Single Mountain Landscape Photograph",0,"cmp.felk.cvut.cz","","","",34,2015-11-18,"PDF"
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Computational Mammography using Deep Neural Networks",0,"cs.technion.ac.il","","","",35,2015-11-18,"PDF"
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, MY Yang…","Relating Cascaded Random Forests to Deep Convolutional Neural Networks for Semantic Segmentation",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1507.07583","",36,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Proposal-free Network for Instance-level Object Segmentation",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1509.02636","",37,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Transfer Learning from Deep Features for Remote Sensing and Poverty Mapping",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1510.00098","",38,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Cross Modal Distillation for Supervision Transfer",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1507.00448","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1507.00448","",39,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Accurate Vision-based Vehicle Localization using Satellite Imagery",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1510.09171","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1510.09171","",40,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","How Useful Is Image Super-resolution to Other Vision Tasks?",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.07009","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1509.07009","",41,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Multi-Scale Convolutional Architecture for Semantic Segmentation",2015,"","ri.cmu.edu","","",43,2015-11-18,"PDF"
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Pose-Guided Human Parsing with Deep Learned Features",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1508.03881","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1508.03881","",44,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, MT Sun, <NAME>","Semantic Instance Annotation of Street Scenes by 3D to 2D Label Transfer",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1511.03240","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.03240","",45,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>","Discovering Characteristic Landmarks on Ancient Coins using Convolutional Networks",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1506.09174","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.09174","",46,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","ProNet: Learning to Propose Object-specific Boxes for Cascaded Neural Networks",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.03776","",47,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Semantic Image Segmentation with Task-Specific Edge Detection Using CNNs and a Discriminatively Trained Domain Transform",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.03328","",49,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>","Exploring the influence of scale on artist attribution",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1506.05929","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.05929","",50,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Bayesian SegNet: Model Uncertainty in Deep Convolutional Encoder-Decoder Architectures for Scene Understanding",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1511.02680","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.02680","",51,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","A unified framework for automatic wound segmentation and analysis with deep convolutional neural networks",2015,"… in Medicine and …","ieeexplore.ieee.org","http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=7318881","",53,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>","Novel Convolutional Neural Networks for Deep Learning and Its Applications to General Image Classification",2015,"","pc01.lib.ntust.edu.tw","http://pc01.lib.ntust.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0708115-214445","",54,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Pixel-wise Segmentation of Street with Neural Networks",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.00513","",55,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Semantic Segmentation of Images Exploiting DCT Based Features and Random Forest",2015,"Pattern Recognition","Elsevier","","",56,2015-11-18,"HTML"
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>","Learning Multi-Domain Convolutional Neural Networks for Visual Tracking",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1510.07945","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1510.07945","",57,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Attention to Scale: Scale-aware Semantic Image Segmentation",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.03339","",58,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Leveraging Mid-Level Semantic Boundary Cues for Automated Lymph Node Detection",2015,"… Image Computing and …","Springer","http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-24571-3_7","",60,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>","Segmenting Microarrays with Deep Neural Networks",2015,"bioRxiv","biorxiv.org","http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/06/03/020404.abstract","",61,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Semi-and Weakly-Supervised Semantic Segmentation with Deep Convolutional Neural Networks",2015,"Proceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM …","dl.acm.org","http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2806322","",62,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Coupled Auto-Associative Neural Networks for Heterogeneous Face Recognition",2015,"Access, IEEE","ieeexplore.ieee.org","http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=7270978","",63,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>-i-Nieto…","Assessment of crowdsourcing and gamification loss in user-assisted object segmentation",2015,"Multimedia Tools and …","Springer","http://scholar.google.comhttps://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11042-015-2897-6.pdf","",64,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>","Bottom-up and top-down reasoning with convolutional latent-variable models",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1507.05699","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1507.05699","",66,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>","Deep Head Pose: gaze-direction estimation in multimodal video",2013,"","ieeexplore.ieee.org","http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=7279167","",67,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","DenseCut: Densely Connected CRFs for Realtime GrabCut",2015,"Computer Graphics …","Wiley Online Library","http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cgf.12758/full","",68,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>","Visual Saliency Prediction using Deep learning Techniques",2015,"","imatge.upc.edu","","",69,2015-11-18,"PDF"
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Discriminative Unsupervised Feature Learning with Exemplar Convolutional Neural Networks",2015,"IEEE Transactions on …","computer.org","http://www.computer.org/csdl/trans/tp/preprint/07312476-abs.html","",71,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>","An Iterative Convolutional Neural Network Algorithm Improves Electron Microscopy Image Segmentation",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1506.05849","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.05849","",72,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","SEMANTIC IMAGE SEGMENTATION WITH DEEP CON-VOLUTIONAL NETS AND FULLY CONNECTED CRFS",0,"stat.ucla.edu","","","",73,2015-11-18,"PDF"
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","Learning with a Wasserstein Loss",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.05439","",74,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Semantic Segmentation with Boundary Neural Fields",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1511.02674","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.02674","",75,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>…","STC: A Simple to Complex Framework for Weakly-supervised Semantic Segmentation",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv: …","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1509.03150","",76,2015-11-18,""
0,"<NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>","Deep Cascaded Regression for Face Alignment",2015,"arXiv preprint arXiv:1510.09083","arxiv.org","http://arxiv.org/abs/1510.09083","",77,2015-11-18,""
```
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You can do it with `scholar` package. Follow the steps
1) Find the article in scholar.google.de
2) Click on one the authors registered in google scholar, this will show the page with all articles of that author
3) Click on the title of the article you want, this will show the profile for the article. Copy the complete address (url) showed behind that page
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JRePW.png)
4) From the url get the id for author to get the publication list, and the the pub\_id for the article
```
id="ltRSM0AAAAJ" #user
arta=get_publications(id, cstart = 0, pagesize = 100, flush = FALSE)
article=as.character(arta$pubid)[2] #W7OEmFMy1HYC
```
5) Get the data for the article and plot the data
```
art2=get_article_cite_history(id, article)
library(ggplot2)
ggplot(data=art2, aes(x=year, y=cites)) +
geom_bar(stat="identity", fill="steelblue")+
geom_text(aes(label=cites), vjust=-0.3, size=3.5)+
theme_minimal()
```
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yLj0K.png)
Upvotes: -1
|
2015/11/18
| 476
| 2,048
|
<issue_start>username_0: When it comes to postdoc positions in mathematics in the US, does it make any difference for the hiring committees if your thesis adviser is a big name (say, someone like Gromov or Milnor)?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, it makes difference.
However, your personal relationships with the prospective advisor make even more difference.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: In spite of the obsession with objective assessment and quantification that supposedly governs science, personal recommendations often still matter the most during the hiring process. Hence, if you have a big shot PhD advisor, you'll probably have an easier time finding a good postdoc in a group that your advisor has good contacts with.
If you don't have the big shot backing, you can (partly) make up for it by approaching potential postdoc advisors in person (e.g. at a conference) and convincing them that you're not only a scientist with high potential but also a nice person.
The point is, when you apply for a postdoc in a good group, your application is likely to go to the "meh" pile if neither your nor your advisor's name ring a bell with the group leader.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I'm surely not the most qualified person on this site to answer, but I have been on a postdoc hiring committee in pure mathematics and I quite disagree with the existing answers. The single most important factor is going to be your letters of recommendation (with second on the list being your publications and preprints). I think having a famous advisor is going to be of minor importance in comparison; most people understand that also great mathematicians sometimes have students that are just mediocre, so that it's no great predictor of future success. In fact I heard in a sense the opposite argument being made, that if an applicant from a smaller university with a less famous advisor has strong letters from big names, then this is *more* impressive than if a student at a "top" university had the exact same letters.
Upvotes: 3
|
2015/11/18
| 329
| 1,462
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a MS in CS with couple extra courses in statistics at graduate level. I am interested in statistical machine learning, however the research can be carried out in Statistics and Computer science department both. I was wondering if anyone has an insight on how hard it would be to get into a statistics PhD with a Masters in CS, I do have some publications and currently working as a Statistical analyst.<issue_comment>username_1: CS (in the theoretical track) and statistics both do considerably cover the ***mathematics***! Actually, ***a robust background in mathematics*** could drive you to pursue the statistics program and many other interdisciplinary research fields, deservedly. With due attention to the fact that you have passed a couple of related courses in master level and taking your applied research in the target field, you have a noticeable chance to be successful in this way.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: There are plenty of PhD Statistics programs that would want you, just because of your background. Keep in mind that their are tons of PhD Statistics programs in the USA. You can apply to 10 relatively low ranked ones, and and 10 of your choice, and see from there, for example. One thing to reiterate, ranking is just a relative number. If you graduate and are seeking a Data Scientist position, and have a M.S. In Computer Science + A PhD in Stats, your good no matter where you went.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/18
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently sent the following letter to a journal of questionable reputation:
>
> To whom it may concern:
>
>
> In the [Journal Redacted], in the paper titled [Paper Redacted] by [Authors Redacted], the following section is plagiarized from Wikipedia:
>
>
> [Text Redacted]
>
>
> That section is copied from this Wikipedia article: [Link Redacted]
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> [Signature Redacted]
>
>
>
They replied with the following:
>
> Dear Mr. [Name Redacted],
> As you mention that there is plagiarism. Yes, I read the research again but that part is from introduction. Introduction part is not part of the research.
> Please read it again...
>
>
>
I replied with:
>
> Sir or Madam,
>
>
> You are correct that is from the introduction, but any usage of non-original material whether part of the research or not must be properly cited or it is plagiarism. Even if this were an opinion piece and not research, this would be plagiarism. I expect this will be addressed soon.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> [Signature Redacted]
>
>
>
They replied with:
>
> Dear sir,
> I will inform to author for proper reference citation of the paper.
>
>
>
What do I do at this point? If they take corrective action, it will take some time. How much time is it appropriate to give them before I report them elsewhere?<issue_comment>username_1: At this point, it would seem that you, the OP who reported the plagiarism, isn't the one being plagiarized, nor do you seem to have any relationship with the author or journal. In other words, you are not the injured party, if there is one, and you have no standing, prerogative, or authority.
Basically this means you have done everything you can or should do, and there's nothing further for you to do.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The responses that you received from the journal show that it is not just questionable but clearly predatory and rubbish. No sane scientific publication venue would say 1) wholesale plagiarism doesn't count in the introduction and 2) it can be addressed just by adding a reference.
The journal clearly has no interest or intention toward rectifying the situation, and it's almost a pure waste of your time to interact with the journal more at this point.
At this point, there are two actions that make sense for you to do:
1. If it's a "pay-to-publish" open access journal, make sure it gets included in [the predatory publisher list](http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/) by contacting [<NAME>](http://scholarlyoa.com/about/)
2. Report to Wikipedia, who can decide whether they care enough to pursue.
After that, let it drop: the internet is filled with vast sewers of low quality junk, both scientific and otherwise, and you've got better things to do with your time.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2015/11/18
| 470
| 1,877
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<issue_start>username_0: I was recently asked to review a paper (for a very reputable journal). In the cover letter, it says
>
> "This paper has been checked with [turnitin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnitin) to ensure there is no similarity to other papers."
>
I haven't seen this before (although I have limited reviewing experience). Is this normal? Or does this indicate something strange about the author?
I've never checked any of my own papers for plagiarism. Should I?
EDIT: Also, why would you mention this in the cover letter?<issue_comment>username_1: I've never put such an assertion in one of my own cover letters, and would find it very strange to do so.
* It's assumed that I *should* be behaving honestly and avoiding both plagiarism and self-plagiarism. Saying: "really, I'm not plagiarizing!" just makes me wonder why the person felt they needed to say anything.
* If I'm *not* behaving honestly, why wouldn't I lie about the results of plagiarism-checking too?
If I saw this as a reviewer, I would think it reflected an odd but almost certainly irrelevant thing about the authors, and then proceed to ignore it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: There are two separate questions here.
1. *Do authors normally check their own papers for plagiarism?* Don't know, but I would assume that it is not that uncommon, especially if they want to preserve their reputation when working with new people who do they not know well.
2. *Do authors put these things into the cover letters?* Absolutely not, this sounds pretty insane and one wonders what was the motivation behind it. Perhaps this was the work of a fresh PhD student, who was required to use Turnitin by his supervisor, just to make sure that he did not plagiarize anything. But I would assume that supervisor would order him to remove such sentence from the cover letter ASAP.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/18
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<issue_start>username_0: I am considering (for a variety of reasons) submitting an article to a philosophy journal, which happens to have a Scientific Journal Impact Factor of 4.699. This would be my first submission.
Is this considered to be a decent impact factor?
Or should I try a higher ranked journal?<issue_comment>username_1: IFs vary dramatically in different subjects. For Mathematics, for example, IF of 4.7 is **huge**. For Physics it is probably somewhere in a medium or higher band. As I heard, for Biology or Pharmacy the IFs are typically much larger.
I am not really aware of a situation in philosophy, but 4.7 seems to be a **huge** IF for a journal in humanities. Consider asking your colleagues (or your supervisor if you have any), if this is a reputable journal (and check that it is not a scam or predatory journal).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Why not check the impact factor (or similar metrics) at a well-known, reputable source, and then compare it to the rest of the field? I've never heard about *Scientific Journal Impact Factor* (this one: <http://www.sjifactor.inno-space.net/>?), but it sounds suspicious and it doesn't list several well-known journals (at least in biology). The "original" impact factor comes from Thomson-Reuters, but in case you do not have access to it (you library should have it though), there are also free reputable services that offer similar metrics. [*SCImago journal rank*](http://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php) or [*Journal metrics*](http://www.journalmetrics.com/) from Scopus comes to mind. Compare the journal you are thinking about with others in the field using one of these services. If the journal you are considering cannot be found there, I would consider this a red flag.
A journal ranking list in philosophy from *SCimago* can be found [here](http://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php?area=0&category=1211&country=all&year=2014&order=sjr&min=0&min_type=cd). If you order that list by "*Cites per document (2 years)*" you will have a very close approximation to the Thomson-Reuters impact factor. From what I can see, an impact factor of >4 would be off the charts for a philosophy journal, which makes me even more sceptical about the metric that you have been looking at.
What's the name of the journal you are considering?
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/18
| 1,330
| 5,756
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying to a few Ph.D programs in mathematics and I found that most schools only admit about 5% of applicants. I know most programs fund students; some schools give stipends to all incoming students; some schools give stipends to only a fraction of students, but no one pays out of pocket.
Why not admit a larger percentage and have those pay their way through?<issue_comment>username_1: Money is only a part of equation in academia. Other constrains are the following:
1. **Supervision**: A PhD student should be supervised, which requires a commitment of a Professor and often one or two co-supervisors. Supervising a PhD project is very time-demanding process, and even the most experienced professors can not efficiently manage ten or more PhD students without compromising the quality.
2. **Space**: A PhD student needs time in a lab, access to computing resources, or at least a desk allocated for them. Funny enough, even the latter can be a real issue and a good reason why universities can not hire twice as many PhD students as they like.
3. **Success rate**: Universities are keen to improve their position in various ratings, especially international. The success rate of PhD programs is a very important factor, which directly impacts the funding which university gets from funding bodies and (sometimes) government. Hiring a student who is happy to pay for their tuition is of course nice; however, if they do not complete the program, more money can be lost in the following years as the university goes down the ratings.
This can explain why the numbers of PhD students are not as important as their skills, excellence, and commitment.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: As with several other questions on this site, my suggestion is to flip your question around, and ask yourself "What would the department gain by admitting those students?"
Given your suggestion that these students pay their own way, presumably your answer is "Money". But I'd suggest to you that PhD students are an *intensely* inefficient way to generate income for a department for a number of reasons:
* PhD classes are small. At my former institution, even for the classes that were required for PhD students, the class size was easily dwarfed by most undergraduate classes. The ratio of students paying tuition to instructors being paid to teach isn't particularly favorable.
* This ratio becomes worse when, as @DmitrySavostyanov points out, you factor in that PhD students, to be successful, require more than just admission. They need a faculty advisor, and that faculty advisor has to actually do things, rather than just sign off on your course plan for the year. They'll need a committee. They may or may not need resources to actually work on their projects, and these resources are considerably above what might be needed for an undergraduate.
* It also becomes worse when you keep in mind that at many institutions, tuition scales by the number of classes you take. So as PhD students enter the "post-coursework" period of their career (and the resources they demand increases) they're actually paying less tuition, not more.
Beyond that, as some people have noted, failing to get a funded position anywhere is a pretty strong signaling mechanism that, regardless of how much they might think this is a good idea, the applicant may want to consider other options. Departments care about their reputation - both for ego reasons, and very practical reasons like "This effects our faculty and student's job prospects, funding opportunities, etc." Following a path where you admit tons of students who have a higher probability of being unqualified risks being thought of as a "diploma mill", and that's...pretty much a disaster for a department's reputation.
There's also simple self-interest - while in the short term flooding the pipeline with PhD students might be somewhat beneficial, in the long term there's no benefit to having a number of graduates well above equilibrium.
It should be noted however that in several fields, *Masters degrees*, which are much less resource intensive than PhDs, are indeed used as income generating programs.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Why doesn't an artisan's guild accept any talented artisan from off the street? There isn't enough demand for their trade to keep all their members working if they can't keep a grip on their numbers.
While the amount of funding a program can support certainly factors in, some would argue that even current levels of Ph.D. students are too big. If you think about each student a mentor spits out being a replicant, how many times can a prof replicated before there are no more positions? Hence -- the vicious postdoc circle.
Until we get a grip on how best to get these graduates into non-academic careers, the numbers need to stay somewhat low.
Everything else sort of aligns with this. The number of universities, the space that they have, the funding available, all have reached some sort of equilibrium related to the size of the research body society is willing to support. To have more practitioners than can be supported is a bad outcome.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: I currently have a weak PhD student, & I can tell you that it is extremely stressful for all involved, student & supervisors alike. Admitting weak students will either reduce the quality of the PhDs, or require the supervisors to invest an unsustainable amount of time in training the student or, as is currently the case for my student, result in a very confused, stressed, tired student who is barely hanging on, barely understanding, but not wanting to give up after the initial time investment, not to mention moving countries.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/18
| 3,178
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<issue_start>username_0: Imagine "a person" who may or may not be brilliant in her field, but certainly has new things to contribute, some of them (in her opinion) fascinating.
Imagine she adores her field, relates to it spiritually, and has been convinced for years that her life purpose is to do this research. She cannot imagine spending her time on this planet in any other way.
Of course, she has poured hours into it already, devoting her undergraduate career and much of her personal time to her area of interest. But she knows that it takes years of full-time commitment, study, and mentorship to become an expert in a field and to become qualified to break ground in a specific area.
But suppose it is not in her nature, nor particularly within her abilities, to meet the demands of today's academic culture. She is absent-minded and spacey; she is idealistic; she is in certain ways immature. She crumbles easily under stress and is psychologically vulnerable. She has difficulty making time for everything even without the demands of a graduate or postgraduate workload. She hates filling out forms and (especially) soliciting recommendations, even though her kind and charitable professors are always eager to write for her.
Please answer one or both of these questions:
**A.**
Should the person in my example "go into academe"--that is, should she go to graduate school for an academic PhD? If not, what should she do?
**B.**
Does the "absent-minded professor" exist anymore, and if so, how do/did they get through the hurdles?<issue_comment>username_1: I think the heart of this question comes to what this hypothetical person actually wants when it comes to "doing research." This could mean a lot of different things, but when I hear people speak vaguely in this manner, the notions often roughly categorize into three clusters:
* **Exploring ideas relating to a field of knowledge:** To explore ideas and communicate about them a person can readily participate as an amateur, working at whatever level of intensity and engagement makes most sense. There's nothing wrong with engaging on this level, and it can actually be quite important, especially when it comes to communication of scientific ideas (e.g., many science journalists can be considered to engage with research in this way).
* **Doing work that supports the advancement of knowledge:** One can do work that supports research without actually signing up for the full primary investigator load. Lab technicians, amateur astronomers, and industrial researchers are all people who "get things done" that directly contribute to research and the advancement of knowledge, yet rarely or never need face the challenges associated with publication and funding. The bigger the research project, the more space there is for people of this sort: most of the people working on the [Large Hadron Collider](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider), for example, probably fall into this category. Depending on the particulars, contributions might require no formal education at all anywhere up to a doctorate and postdoc specialization.
* **Organizing and leading investigations that advance knowledge:** Leading research as a primary investigator is where the serious "heat" comes in, and where a doctorate is definitely required. Here one needs to have not only the technical training but also to be able to deal with strong criticism of one's ideas and to be well organized and capable of communicating scientifically. *Note, however, that "dealing with criticism" should not mean putting up with verbal abuse and ad hominem attacks.*
Now, relating this to your hypothetical person. The two key warning flags that I see in your statement are "crumbles easily under stress and is psychologically vulnerable" and "difficulty making time for everything."
* If "difficulty making time" means the person cannot really commit to things, then only amateur work is likely to be a good path.
* If "crumbles easily" means "cannot handle people challenging ideas", then leading investigations is definitely out, and any sort of doctoral program is likely problematic. On the other hand, if it means "is easily hurt by verbal abuse" then graduate school is entirely possible---it would just be important to find a good advisor match and some sort of supportive personal network.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Before anyone becomes an "absent-minded" professor, they have to pass certain stages, including PhD, (several) postdocs, assistant professor role, associate professor and then full professor. The responsibilities, demands and dynamics in these roles is very different. Many people find it hard to cope with pressures and demands in competitive academic environment; many people really struggle to adjust when it comes to transition between roles.
For a person you described, I see no reason why she could not have the same difficulties as many people in academia have.
On the other hand, for someone "idealistic" and "slightly immature", academia is probably a better place than a position in competitive industry or business. Many academics are (to some extent) disorganised, many academics don't like doing their paperwork, many are idealistic or shy or introvert. However, despite these personal quirks, they managed to do some important contribution to the knowledge in their fields and convinced their colleagues and their universities that they deserve a place in academia.
Maybe to answer your question, you need to assess the ability of this person to "do the job", including research (can she write a paper and get it published), teaching (will she prepare for her class and show in time for it), and knowledge dissemination (can she explain the results to colleagues in conference). I think it can be in fact more important, that the personal features you described.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Should the [person under question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/58435/13010) "go into academe"? Let us preserve the (probably-fictive-here :-) use of the third person and refer to our subject as the *PUQ*. The question as asked presents a 3-relation between
* the PUQ (a bundle of abilities and preferences)
* a "field" (implicitly presented as a bundle of conceptual content and interests)
* a role (called "academic," implicitly tenure-track but presently post-/graduate) "contributing to" or "participating in" that field
The dilemma as given is that the PUQ is strongly conceptually aligned with the field (pun intended :-) but strongly behaviorally misaligned with the academic role within that field. Yet the question as presented is merely, should the PUQ adopt that role?
ISTM the analysis provided ignores a dimension of the field which is strongly relevant for optimizing PUQ-role (and -life) outcomes: what is the resource-intensity of the field? Notably, does contributing to the field tend to require significant external resources, as with (e.g.) most computational or experimental physical science, or heavily-archival social science? Or not, as with (e.g.) much of humanities and mathematics?[1]
If the field *is* resource-intensive, the PUQ might seek a non-academic or non-TT-academic role within an organization able to provide the necessary resources. E.g.,
1. Find someone who is
* researching in the domain
* needs additional staff
* can "make it rain" sufficiently to pay her bills
2. Work for them. She may need to volunteer for them first.
The role-containing organization will hopefully also provide sufficient personal income. If not, this role may require (as, increasingly, may the academic role) reducing personal expenses and (on conventional measures) standard-of-living.
If the field is *not* resource-intensive, the PUQ might seek the role of independent contributor, by
* Working as little as possible at one or more temporary or permanent "gigs" used to "pay for the passion."
* Fundraising to {add to earnings, create more spare time, fund contribution}.
* Contributing (e.g., researching, publishing) "in spare time."
[1]: Note that resource-intensity is obviously a continuous dimension, not a discrete one. The binary analysis is presented here simply for brevity; extension for continuity is left as an exercise for the reader :-)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: There's a third path possible here. As an example -- I know a guy with a PhD in linguistics, who did his research on an obscure aspect of an obscure language. He found it very satisfying. But after graduating, he got a job as a database manager at a university. I was surprised to hear that he likes the job!
Another example -- how many people went to school for music or dance, but ended up working in something either slightly or completely different?
Please don't feel that you have to *work* in the field that you pursue your studies in.
On the other hand, if you find that the academic environment is a mismatch for you, to such an extent that it makes you unhappy (despite the intellectual satisfactions it brings) -- then please first take care of yourself by getting yourself out of a destructive environment.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: **If she were my constituent**
*We all only get 1 life to live - the most intelligent of us have a duty to our fellow man not to waste that time focusing our energies on anything other than solutions to life's big problems. In the words of <NAME>:
“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”*
**If she were my friend**
*We only get 1 life to live - and we have a duty to ourselves to spend that time in accordance with our own beliefs. In the words of <NAME>: “I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.”*
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: >
> Imagine "a person" who may or may not be brilliant in her field, but certainly has new things to contribute, some of them (in her opinion) fascinating. Imagine she adores her field, relates to it spiritually, and has been convinced for years that her life purpose is to do this research. She cannot imagine spending her time on this planet in any other way.
>
>
>
This sounds like someone who is passionate about research.
>
> Of course, she has poured hours into it already, devoting her undergraduate career and much of her personal time to her area of interest. But she is wise enough to know that it takes years of full-time commitment, study, and mentorship to become an expert in a field and to become qualified to break new ground in a specific area.
>
>
>
This sounds like someone who has already committed significantly, and who is fully aware of the long and arduous road ahead.
>
> But suppose it is not in her nature, nor particularly within her abilities, to meet the demands of today's academic culture.
>
>
>
This would require some elaboration. But I sense a bit of an idealization of what professors are (see below).
>
> She is absent-minded and spacey; she is idealistic; she is in certain ways immature. She crumbles easily under stress and is psychologically vulnerable. She has difficulty making time for everything even without the demands of a graduate or postgraduate workload.
>
>
>
I want to be cautious about interpreting this one. But it sounds like your typical overworked young college student.
>
> She hates filling out forms and (especially) soliciting recommendations, even though her kind and charitable professors are always eager to write for her.
>
>
>
This sounds like someone who already has a good rapport with her instructors, and whom such instructors have a high opinion of.
Am I too off the mark so far?
To your questions:
>
> Should the person in my example "go into academe"--that is, should she go to graduate school for an academic PhD?
>
>
>
Sounds like she might enjoy it very much.
>
> Does the "absent-minded professor" exist anymore, and if so, how do/did they get through the hurdles?
>
>
>
I've gone to school wearing mismatched shoes; would that qualify?
Academics are people. Many, but not all, are very capable in and passionate about what they do. But without exception, they all have weaknesses, they all question themselves from time to time, and they all have had their confidence shaken in the face of adversity and/or criticism at some point.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: **has been convinced for years that her life purpose is to do this research. She cannot imagine spending her time on this planet in any other way.**
But she *can* imagine doing this research outside of academia? And if so, can it be done so it still has the same or better impact? Can the results of the research for instance be packaged as books aimed at a large audience, rather than articles in specialised journals? Can she support herself (and dependants) following this road less taken?
Upvotes: 0
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2015/11/19
| 3,443
| 13,734
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<issue_start>username_0: As an undergraduate, I had a problem: I could work very efficiently during the week, but over the weekend I could get absolutely nothing done. Usually my plans for the weekend would include errands, studying, working on papers and projects, getting ahead with reading, and taking care of numerous chores (laundry, bills, writing applications, etc.)
But I would end up doing none of this. Instead, I would find myself scrambling to do the bare minimum for Monday in the wee hours of Sunday night or in the last few minutes before class.
Does anyone have tips for navigating short periods of unstructured time, such as two free days, in an academic setting?<issue_comment>username_1: One solution that has often worked for me is to try to *not* work on the weekends. If your weekdays are solid work times, then you can do more intense work on the weekdays and aim to have your weekend entirely free. Even if you don't entirely succeed, you'll still be in a much better situation with respect to the things you need to do by Monday. Then you can take real time off and have fun without guilt and actually recharge yourself for another solid week.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: As a postdoc and young faculty, I always felt guilty about not being particularly productive on weekends. I'd make big plans for really spending solid hours on this or that project or paper, but it never came together.
In the end, I realized that I'd goof off so much on the weekend because I was simply burned out from the week. My resolution, made a few years ago, has been to simply not work on Saturdays, and I live by that rule pretty rigidly. Saturday is the day I go on long bike rides with my friends, go out with the wife, read fun stuff, watch movies, and not feel bad about any of this. Sunday sleep in, have a lazy morning, and then spend the afternoon working from the couch. Sunday has typically become a pretty productive day for me. It's made me a lot happier with my weekends, and with myself.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: It's usual thing. We plan the work to be done and we won't be usually able to work out the plan as we want. It's quite natural I guess. What can help you, I think is to keep some reminder (or something of that sort in your phone) saying to start doing a particular task. (Keep the same reminder every half an hour. So, you might start doing that task, because you keep on seeing the tasks to be done. (Towards the end of the reminder, you may add the ultimate target or aim of doing the task)
This might be helpful for you, I believe. You can also stick around some posters too. (When you wake up in the morning (be it weekend or weekday) you get to read what is written in the poster. Remind yourself what you want to do) if there is a strong intention for you to work hard in the weekend, you'll be able to do it.
All the best @SAH :)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: What I tried to do in college and post-grad is party my ass off on Friday and Saturday. Sunday was recovery and study/research day. Much easier to focus when you get the party out of you and when you have a slight hang-over you don't feel like doing much else.
(I am vehemently opposed to those who act like they are going to study all weekend and procrastinate, bitch to their friends about all the stuff they need to do, watch netflix and just waste the weekend. Party it up then cram on Sunday!)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: I'm someone who does tend to work every day of the week, unless some particular event pops up to postpone it. That may not be for everyone, but in some sense it's easier to just have the same daily rhythm rather than switch it on and off. As an undergraduate I probably wasn't always working on class work; first, there's so many more interesting activities available than later in life, and two, maybe I was working on personal programming, writing, or gaming projects.
Here's a thing that helps me be productive. I keep a "todo" list (actually in a LibreOffice database) tagged with a priority A, B, C, or D. Every day or night I try to process the top 3 priorities to the top of the list -- and then I try to go and do whichever one seems like the most fun, or compelling, or on-my-mind at the time. This seems to go down better than forcing myself to do something because "I must". I may not be working on the ideal top priority, but I'm working on *something*, which gives momentum.
I've got "todo" items that get recycled with weekly, monthly, and quarterly chores. For example: weekly chores include grocery, laundry, shaving, and some other stuff. Try to get this as tight and efficient as possible so you can tick it off in about an hour without thinking about it. For example: my monthly chores include a system virus-scan (takes about 1 hour), and while that's happening I do a sweeping/bed laundering task.
Find some way to get regular exercise, it makes a big difference in energy levels. Sometimes for me that's been drumming or daily tennis.
In 2009 our TV blew up and we never got it replaced. I used to spend quite a bit of time watching TV. If you still have a TV then I might recommend ditching it.
I only check email and voicemail once a day. My phone is off all the time the rest of the day so I'm never interrupted. Occasionally there's some social cost now as other people find that weird.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: I can clearly relate your issue with myself here. I am in the first year of my PhD and had the exact same problem that you are facing now when I was in my undergrads. Firstly, working in the weekends is not for everyone. But since your motivation is clear from the question, I would keep away from advising you the (dis)advantages of working in the weekends rather share some methods I employed myself.
>
> Problem: I could work very efficiently during the week, but over the weekend I could get absolutely nothing done.
>
>
>
I am not sure what you meant by `efficiently,` I take the word meaning here. There may be several things that could distract you. I state some of them.
* Away from classroom atmosphere.
* No external motivation (class time tables, tutors, classmates).
* Codes of conduct attached to the workplace is no longer applicable.
Here are my tips addressing each point.
* Create a stimulating atmosphere comparable to your classroom or library at your stay.
This varies from person to person. For me, I like my room to be clean and ordered. There is a portrait of Einstein(I am in Physics by the way) on the wall on my left. I have a clipboard and a whiteboard on the wall facing me.
* Rely on internal motivation.
Before I start my work in the weekends, I tell to myself how important it is to focus on my aim. Keep realistic timetables and stick on it (very important). It is important to keep time for non academic activities (I have never me anyone who is devoid of those!). I spend 2 hours per day during weekends reading autobiographies(**The Autobiography of <NAME>** by **<NAME>** is highly recommended), Chess etc. Bear that in mind and make a [realistic timetable](http://www.bath.ac.uk/students/support/academic/time-management/).
* Make sure the codes of conduct at the classroom is *still* valid at home.
This doesn't mean that you should wear a uniform (if you have one). In my case this translates to limiting time spent on social media, being disciplined during the study hours in the time schedule etc.
That said, let me tell you that *the personality and passion of a person
has a huge role to play in this*. This would make this answer highly subjective but this is what I followed with moderate success and I insist you to focus on the general idea that is communicated.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: Too long for a comment... All the answers here (even the outliers, I think) are essentially honest accounts of how people deal with "the week", and the peculiarities of the rhythm it may suggest for our lives.
Of course, if the real question is "how do I get myself to systematically behave in a way I don't want to...?", then the answer is either that it's not sustainable, or "change yourself". :)
My own choice, for many reasons, has been to try to avoid thinking in terms of this entirely conventional (though universal) description of human activity: workdays, weekends, holidays, vacations. This was obviously easier when I had no kids, and no partners involved in conventionally-scheduled lives. But even in, and if one looks carefully, almost *because* of, the throes of small-children exigencies (maybe more severe than almost everything else), one can remind oneself that the conventional description of weeks and days is purely conventional.
So let's be philosophical: what does one *want*, (versus) what does one *need*? At one extreme, trying to force oneself to be more "virtuous" than one's natural inclination (at any particular point in life) seems at least partly misguided, although nudges in various directions are obviously part of a developmental process.
If the question is "how to overcome practical things getting in the way?", well, this has nothing to do with weekends, all the more since many academics can "work from home" (!!!) whenever no trip to campus is necessary. My own faux-rationalization is that doing laundry or washing dishes is a better "cigarette break" than actually smoking, although we all should know that it's easier and more fun to be addicted to an addictive thing than to non-addictive tasks. :)
In that vein, whenever one finds oneself trying to coerce oneself into something against (part of) one's will, one should... consider. By this year, I think the key point is to not make plans that commit you to be something you don't want to be, especially in terms of what it involves day-to-day.
For myself, I try to *integrate* practical tasks with "my work". "Breaks" from long-term not-immediately-gratifying projects are to take care of (immediately gratifying?) tasks such as folding laundry, paying bills, exercising (relatively fun!), going to the grocery, taking care of house/lawn/whatever...
Still, if one really doesn't care about the "research project", it'll be a good trick to make it stay in one's head. On the other hand, caring a bit too much does keep one awake at night... but maybe it's an adventure?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: As an undergraduate, you were basically doing a more intense and funky version of high school. College was a fixed-term way station on the road to your real life. The ideal approach was to hunker down, make your excuses to your friends inviting you to parties, and sprint the finish. You, I, and 99% of the undergrads out there, had... limited success in this. Oh well. We're only human.
At the graduate/postgraduate level, things change. *This is your job now*, and there's only a very dim light at the end of the tunnel. the number one worry is not goofing off, it's getting burnt out. Drop-out rates are far higher here than they were at the undergraduate level.
Don't ignore your urge to take a break from time to time. It's healthy, it's reasonable, and it'll help you (a) advance in your academic career, and (b) not end up hating your life in the process.
Sometimes you'll wake up on Sunday and be hell-bent on getting some crazy work done that day. That's natural, at least for the fanatics with the drive to remain in academia. Go for it.
Sometimes you'll drag yourself out of bed on the weekend and want nothing more than to binge-watch Netflix all day. That's natural, at least for the mortals who inhabit academia. Go for it.
Bottom line is, work-life balance is a matter of *understanding your needs* as both a professional researcher and a normal person. Those two identities are in direct conflict, and you can't allow either one to conquer the other, because they need each other. Keep them both fed.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: I'm an undergraduate as well, and what works for me, is to not plan ahead, but just find that time during the weekend where you're not really doing anything, and brute force yourself into a short period of pure studying/working.
It doesn't have to be an hour, you can start with as little as 30 minutes (some work can honestly take me way less than that to complete, if I full-on apply myself).
The thing is, even if you only managed to solve one exercise, or read one page, or even just progress in a tiny step and it seems like you didn't get any closer to finishing your work, you'll inevitably feel some kind of accomplishment, even a little proud of yourself - and once you feel that, **go do something fun!** Don't get carried away and keep working when you are past the time you set, just do whatever else. Then, after a few times you'll "trick" yourself like that, you'll notice you can set the work time longer and longer, because it will no longer be conceived as a bad thing. You'll be willing to spend more time working to get that reward afterwards. Kind of "Pavloving" yourself.
Try this a couple of times, and even if it doesn't work, at least you've done some studying!
Hope it helps :)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_10: If you have trouble working on your studies in a focused way on the weekend, then get those errands, laundry, bills, applications, etc., out of the way. Set yourself a reward that you will indulge in ONLY when a certain basic to do list has been accomplished.
It can help to have a support buddy -- someone who is going through something more or less similar, with whom you can compare notes at least once a day. Make sure the buddy doesn't drag you down, though.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: There is another answer sort of regarding this topic [Academic dismissal from PhD program. What next?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/14971/academic-dismissal-from-phd-program-what-next) . but my situation is different.
I am currently completing applications for PhD programs in Economics and Statistics. I have a Masters degree in Economics from which I just graduated.
I absolutely love these two fields and want to continue with a career in research. When I was an undergrad though I had a lot of trouble and was put on academic probation. It was 3 years ago, and I feel that I have matured a lot since (I did very well in masters program GPA: 3.77), but I do not know how to explain it on my applications.
Some schools specifically ask for you to do so. Others do not. The later are the most challenging since I do not know whether or not to even mention it in other materials (such as the Statement of Purpose).
I can say that I managed to turn it around for two reasons
1. I developed an incredible passion for econometrics that kept me motivated to perform.
2. I learned how to work with others more productively. I developed specific areas in which I was very strong, like statistical programming, and because I was willing to help others with their work (mostly students but a few faculty too), I would receive help from them as well in areas I was weak.
It is a shame that I have this on my record, because I feel I would make a great fit for some of these programs, and believe I have a lot to offer. Any advice on how to approach this issue would be appreciated. Thank you<issue_comment>username_1: I think you know the answer to this: it's what you just told us. If I read that on an application, I'd nod and keep going, my concerns fully assuaged. (I've read similar, and still recommended admission of the applicants in question.)
If, however, I saw a bunch of lousy grades and a probation notation on an undergraduate transcript with no explanation of what happened and what's different now, that would be a huge red flag for me even considering the better graduate-school record. I would wonder whether the applicant would crash and burn again, and what else the applicant might be hiding from us.
Face it head-on, the way you just did here. I can't guarantee it'll be fine, but I think it's by far the best of your available alternatives. People aren't perfect and they grow over time; we know that, and a lot of us are not averse to second chances. If you learned from what went wrong and put it behind you, that's what we need to know.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Faculty are people too: they know that stuff happens, and they know that someone who has fallen once will not necessarily fall twice. What we look for in applications is evidence that they are motivated *now*. You may not know this, but a sizable fraction of successful applicants had a bad year on their transcript. If it was their last year, that's typically a killer; if it was the first or second year and they've demonstrated since then that they have overcome these difficulties, we typically don't care much about the bad year.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I'd look more at your last performance (master's) than what came before. And if you did OK in the later, I'd turn a blind eye (at least mostly) to previous performance.
Don't worry too much. just go ahead and complete the paperwork. But keep in mind that *nothing* is guaranteed, keep other options open. Just in case.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: So, I had somewhat of a thought experiment idea.
I'll be honest: I define plagiarism as misrepresenting who wrote (or provided the ideas of) parts of your papers. I don't believe you can self-plagiarize. If the goal of the assignment is to teach you something, and you already learned it in the past (by writing a paper that fits), I see no point in the busy work of making the current paper different enough just for the sake of it.
I realized that in the US, authors are granted a copyright to their creative works by default. (Even if few of them realize this or ever claim copyright to their works.)
Could a student use their copyright of their works to prevent (or at least seriously restrict and complicate) faculty's checking of self-plagiarism in the future? Couldn't the student just not grant the right to copy their works? If the teacher/professor hands graded work back, then they would have no copy left, and if they don't, they would have to share that one original copy with everyone who wants to check a student for self-plagiarism.
Personally, I have never (in 3+ years) had a case where I could reuse (parts of) a paper. I haven't yet had instructor specify that assignments had to be written for that assignment only. If an instructor did specify that, I would follow their rules. I would, however, try to convince them to change their mind, and this thought experiment might be part of that discussion.<issue_comment>username_1: First off:
>
> I don't believe you can self-plagiarize.
>
>
>
I'm afraid that it doesn't matter what you believe about the word or its definition. It is not the *reuse* itself that is considered here, but it matters that most other academics believe that *unattributed reuse* of one's own work is ethically incorrect. If you choose to do things that most others label "self-plagiarism," then sooner or later it will not go well for you.
Now, as for your idea about copyright: potentially you could in fact make yourself a pain for the faculty members who deal with you. You don't even have to be right or sane about your argument, you just have to threaten to make a big legal stink. You will then greatly complicate your professor's lives, but one way or another you will not prevail: most likely either you will lose the legal case or the university may simply decline to continue instructing you.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: It'll never work.
I have a hard time believing that any attempt to sue the university for copyright infringement would stand up in court. I think one could make an argument that by handing in the assignment, you implicitly grant the university a license to copy it for internal use. "Fair use" permissions might also come into play.
If somehow you got the university to take your legal threats seriously, you can expect the immediate effect to be the following: all course syllabi would start to contain a clause saying something like "To take this course, you must consent to the university making and indefinitely storing copies of your work."
I think most academics would also consider that you would be acting unethically by trying this strategy. It's generally accepted that university instructors have the ultimate right to set the parameters of their courses. If those parameters include "you may not hand in work already submitted in previous courses", then I would consider that this policy is binding on you, and that if you won't abide by it, you shouldn't take the course. Your proposed strategy seems like a transparent attempt to weasel your way out of abiding by them. If you attempt to use it to get away with forbidden duplicate submissions, and you do eventually get caught, expect the full weight of academic dishonesty sanctions. Short of that, expect a very bad relationship with your university and instructors, no letters of recommendation, etc.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: The [business trajectory of Turnitin](https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/03/25/iparadigms-wins-turnitin-lawsuit/) provides a fairly conclusive answer to this question: no, at this point copyright offers little or no protection against checking for any sort of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: At least at my institution, submitting to one class work that was done previously for another class would not count as plagarism (see Article II of our [Honor Code](http://honor.gatech.edu/content/2/the-honor-code)). Plagiarism is clearly defined to be submitting the work of *another* person without proper attribution. In fact, the enumerated items in Section 3 wouldn't apply to your example. But there are two catch-all's -- first, "Students are expected to act according to the highest ethical standards" and second, "other acts of academic misconduct may be defined by the professor."
For the first point, I assure you that submitting work a second time would be brought as "unethical" behavior in the absence of anything else. And while one could try to argue in front of the judiciary committee that it was, somehow, not unethical, I am fairly certain that argument wouldn't work (having served on the committee and been an advisor to students facing the committee).
But the second point is the most direct. In Section 4, it says faculty are expected to:
>
> Make known to their class as specifically as possible what constitutes appropriate academic conduct as well as what comprises academic misconduct. This includes but is not limited to the use of previously submitted work, collaborative work on homework, etc.
>
>
>
Every professor I have ever taken has included a line on the syllabus that says all work is expected to be our own, original, not used previously, and done within whatever limits they want to impose about collaboration. So in every class I have ever taken, re-using work would be an academic violation -- not because of plagiarism, not because of copyright or lack-thereof, but because it was explicitly said that it was not allowed.
And in the odd case that it wasn't listed that way, it would be wrapped up under unethical behavior and shot down anyway.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Interesting question! Let me address the points you make and ask about. Like the other answers, I will take the liberty of discussing not just your literal question but some of the other issues you raise, which I find quite thought-provoking.
>
> I'll be honest:
>
>
>
That's a good idea, especially since you are posting your somewhat misguided beliefs in a public forum from a user profile that clearly reveals your identity.
>
> I define plagiarism as misrepresenting who wrote (or provided the
> ideas of) parts of your papers.
>
>
>
Okay, that's a reasonable way of putting it.
>
> I don't believe you can self-plagiarize.
>
>
>
Hmm. I think you are falling into a common trap here that is related to the unfortunate and rather misleading terminology associated with the behavior referred to as "self-plagiarism." Indeed, when you submit your own work you are not "plagiarizing from yourself" in the sense of "misrepresenting who wrote parts of your paper," since you are claiming that the paper was written by you, and indeed it was. Rather, self-plagiarism involves a misrepresentation of *when* (or in what context) the work you are submitting was written. It is an unethical thing to do, but for slightly different reasons than plagiarism, and **it is not a special case of plagiarism**; it is quite a different offense.
>
> If the goal of the assignment is to teach you something, and you
> already learned it in the past (by writing a paper that fits), I see
> no point in the busy work of making the current paper different enough
> just for the sake of it.
>
>
>
But are you not assuming a rather narrow interpretation of "the goal of the assignment"? Would it not be equally plausible to say that "the goal of the assignment" is to *increase your knowledge* of a certain subject? In that interpretation, if you have already learned "something," the assignment would be an opportunity for you to learn *even more* about the "something" in question. Rather than submitting the same work a second time, you could reach the goal of increasing your knowledge by expanding on your earlier work (as <NAME> suggests in a comment), and achieve an even deeper level of knowledge and understanding, and do all of this without needing to work any harder than any of the other students.
Now, it's not for me to say that my interpretation of "the goal of the assignment" is correct and yours is incorrect. That's really for your university and professors, who are the ones giving you the assignment, to say. However, I will point out that my interpretation is motivated by a desire to maximize the new knowledge I gain from a given situation I find myself in, whereas your interpretation seems motivated by an apparent desire to *minimize* the amount of work you put in for your classes. A good university will definitely want to appeal to students like me more than it would want to appeal to students like you, so I suspect it will agree with my interpretation (and I know this for a fact in the case of my own university).
---
And finally, to your actual question:
>
> Could a student use their copyright of their works to prevent (or at
> least seriously restrict and complicate) faculty's checking of
> self-plagiarism in the future? Couldn't the student just not grant the
> right to copy their works?
>
>
>
The main problem with this idea is that as a student, **the legal rights that you have *in practice* are very different than the legal rights that you have *in theory***. Remember, you want something from your university: a degree. Because of that, the university can force you to voluntarily give up all kinds of rights that you might theoretically have, just by making that a condition for getting grades and eventually your degree. For this reason, your idea will never work. As others have pointed out, as soon as you attempt to exercise this right to prevent your professors from copying your work, or any other right that your university reasonably perceives as interfering with its educational mission, the university will simply insist that you must waive that right if you want to remain a student in good standing. I am not a lawyer, but I don't see anything that would prevent your university from making such a requirement.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: In my classes, I design the interface in such a way that there is a certain amount of understanding and adaptation necessary to make it work with the exercise which makes naive plagiarism difficult.
I **expressly** allow students to use own prior work, as long as it is clearly indicated which part of the work was carried out before. I consider it good practice to understand how earlier work can be fit into later projects, and if adaptation is easily possible, it speaks well of the design ability and mental flexibility of the students and thus can even gain bonus marks.
However: for this, the added value of current achievement with respect to past achievement must be transparently assessable. What is called "self-plagiarism" here, is trying to obfuscate the delineation with respect to past achievement. This is the actual assessment offence here; this component it has in common with "traditional" plagiarism (and it holds independently from the unethical aspect of withholding credit from whoever would deserve it which is not relevant here).
Abusing the law to get away with unethical behaviour may work may appear to be subversive fun for "legislation hackers". However, one needs to keep in mind that the fact that there may be a legislative hole (if there is one in this case) is not necessarily a sign of gullibility of the system, but of time-effort tradeoff. For the powers-that-be it may be a better tradeoff to set a drastic example to one individual abusing the system and leave the legislative hole open than to close the hole and make all others suffer from the restrictions. Although, in my experience, both things happen.
In other words, chances are, one won't get away with the copyright/self-copy model, and everybody else at the uni will be slapped with additional restrictions on the copyright they can retain (if there were no or looser restrictions before) and possibly other restrictions. In other words, one would have poisoned the village well. Of course, just in your thought experiment.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I don't really like other people seeing my source file. Are there good reasons to upload the source file (.tex) on arXiv over uploading just the PDF?<issue_comment>username_1: At the start, I'd like to direct attention to @Noah Snyder's comment on the OP: <http://arxiv.org/help/faq/whytex>
If for no other reason, I'd be happy to see ArXiV and others steer away from the ubiquitous PDF format because it's proprietary (see various places in [the Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format)).
One GPL alternative I've had experience with is the ultra-lightweight [DjVu](http://www.djvu.org/) format.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Arxiv mandates uploading the source of any PDF file generated from Latex code. You will not be able to upload only the PDF version in this case (unless you succeed to game the system).
Why do the require the source? This saves quite a lot of space (50k-100k source vs. 500-900k PDF) and there are some additional reasons. As the other comments mention - the full explanations are in <http://arxiv.org/help/faq/whytex>
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I was aware that there are a few REU programs that began offering positions before their stated deadline. Is there an advantage to submitting my application early, besides the reassurance that my supporting materials like letters of recommendation will be received on time? For example, if the admissions committee starts reading applications early, they may look at my application more favorably when they aren't inundated with applications.<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Is there an advantage to submitting my application early, besides the reassurance that my supporting materials like letters of recommendation will be received on time?
>
>
>
I'm not aware of any advantage to submitting a math Ph.D. application early, beyond knowing for sure that you have not missed the deadline. Not even for letters of recommendation, since it's not clear that submitting early will lead your recommenders to do likewise.
There are certainly advantages to preparing your application materials early. You'll have more time to revise them, and you can share polished versions with your recommenders before the last minute. However, this is a different issue than whether you should submit them early. You might as well submit everything once you're done making changes, but there's no need to rush.
>
> For example, if the admissions committee starts reading applications early, they may look at my application more favorably when they aren't inundated with applications.
>
>
>
I doubt that many people will look at applications early. For example, it's common to assign each application to one or more faculty members, who are supposed to carry out an initial evaluation. (This ensures that no application gets overlooked and that the readers have equitable workloads.) In such a system, there's no advantage to starting early since the assignments will not yet have been made.
Even if someone does start reading early, I'm not convinced they will necessarily evaluate the applications more favorably. One can imagine the opposite scenario, in which early readers are harsh, in the hopes that the upcoming applications will be better, while later readers have a more realistic assessment of the overall applicant pool. Ultimately, I have no idea whether early readers would be more or less harsh, but I'd bet the effect would be very small. If it's unpredictable and small, then it's not worth worrying about.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> a few REU programs that began offering positions before their stated deadline.
>
>
>
Could you provide evidence to this claim? I never heard of anything like that let alone couldn't find a logical explanation for it.
>
> For example, if the admissions committee starts reading applications early,
>
>
>
Well, I would say part of it depends on the particular institution, the selection committee and the number of applicants.
>
> ... they may look at my application more favorably when they aren't inundated with applications.
>
>
>
No they will not. Often the selection committee comprises of three or more members and it is an established norm that you select the best from the lot no matter where you are from or when you have applied provided the application reached within the deadline. Usually the admission process comprises of several steps. Some institutes conduct several rounds of interviews (personal experience) to select the most suitable candidate.
That said, I have no supporting evidence to concretely prove the claim wrong, but in my opinion *I wouldn't want to be in an organisation where haste precedes meticulousness.*
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: So I was wondering whether the [SJIF (Scientific Journal Impact Factor)](http://www.sjifactor.inno-space.net/) calculation was authentic and accepted.
How can someone identify whether an alternative impact factor is generally accepted and from a reputable source? What kind of things should one look for in evaluating an impact factor metric?<issue_comment>username_1: One way to judge a journal metric is to look at a few of the journals that are ranked highly by the metric, and judge for yourself whether they seem like important, reputable journals. (See [How do you judge the quality of a journal](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/101/how-do-you-judge-the-quality-of-a-journal).)
According to the SJIF metric, [this](http://www.ijmra.us) is the publisher of the US-based journal with the highest impact factor. Visit their website (if you dare - it may give you a headache). I think it's pretty clear that this journal is not an important or reputable journal. The other journals ranked by this metric are similarly unprofessional.
Also: here's <NAME>'s [list of criteria](http://scholarlyoa.com/other-pages/misleading-metrics/) that he uses for identifying a "fake" impact factor, and a list of metrics that he believes meet those criteria.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Mirroring username_1's advice, go to journals that *should* be ranked highly, and see if they are. Either if their rank is appropriate, or if they're there at all.
For example, the *American Journal of Public Health* or the *American Journal of Epidemiology* are decent, society level journals that should be well-represented by any meaningful citation metric that's in the public health or epidemiology sphere. *Neither* even appears in SJIF's list. This indicates two things:
1. The journal isn't of the mind that being listed by that impact factor index is meaningful or worthwhile. That's a pretty strong signaling mechanism.
2. The service isn't attempting *coverage* of journals that actually represent where scholarship is being done. Which raises the question of what they *are* making their decisions based on - likely processing fees.
These types of services may (and hopefully should...) disagree on their metrics somewhat, but if the service is reputable, the major journals of your field should appear there in *about* the order you'd expect them to be in.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: The first thing to check is what the index is claiming to measure, and how it is trying to measure that. Due to it's name, the *Scientific Journal Impact Factor* appears to be similar to the traditional *Journal Impact Factor* (JIF) from Thomson-Reuters. From its name you would therefore assume that the SJIF is measuring some sort of average citation rate of papers published in the journal. However, the list of [evaluation critera of SJIF](http://www.sjifactor.inno-space.net/methodology.php) **doesn't include any information about citation rates**. It also doesn't mention a database of citations, which is needed if you want to evaluate journals based on citation performance. In contrast, the JIF from Thomson-Reuters is using citation information from the *Web of Science* database while the *SCImago Journal Rank* (SJR indicator) and the *Source normalized impact per paper* (SNIP) are using the Scopus citation database.
In fact, the evaluation critera that SJIF claim to use includes just about everything **except** information about the citation performance of papers. The index is therefore very misleading, since most people probably read it in comparison to the normal Thomson-Reuters JIF. Instead, they claim to evaluate such things as the Editorial Board, print quality, Internationalization, indexation, review quality etc. It is however completey opaque how all these components are weighted to produce their index. The minimum evaluation critera of SJIF also includes that; "*At least one issue* [and] *At least 3 articles must have been published*". To me, this shows quite clearly what kind of information their evaluation is based on.
Having said this, I also agree with the other answers that an easy check is to look at the score of well-known journals in your field (if they are ranked at all), to see how they are ranked in comparison to other journals.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm taking a distributed systems course at a well known university in the U.S.
I've noticed my professor has three primary forms of responding to student questions during his lecture:
* Immediately answers with, *just a minute, we're going to cover that*
* Immediately answers with, *that's what we just covered*
* Spends a couple sentences briefly explaining why the student's question doesn't apply / doesn't work
Almost no dialog is ever spent on further explanation, but rather on disproving. So, instead of recognizing student questions as a lack of understanding, it seems to come off as defending what he already covered and moving on.
As a student in this course, how best do I approach this?
I fear this may be just a personality trait / teaching style that he's acquired, and I wouldn't want to offend him with "Your responses to questions are unhelpful." — But maybe this is the best option?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, this happens many times. I have observed this generally happens if teacher is either young or new (*might not be true but it is my observation, other experienced teacher here can shed light on this observation*). Also this can be characteristic of that person as you mentioned. I would suggest first check if questions you (or others) asking are valid. I mean are they really not following in second category you mentioned.
>
> Immediately answers with, that's what we just covered
>
>
>
Or wait for some time and see if it is not following in first category,
>
> Immediately answers with, just a minute, we're going to cover that
>
>
>
If these doesn't satisfy and he/she is falling into third category,
>
> Spends a couple sentences briefly explaining why the student's question doesn't apply / doesn't work
>
>
>
Then meet his/her personally after class and clarify your doubt. May be that person didn't understand your question correctly. It is also possible that sometimes some teachers become offensive if they can't answer your question and they might take this approach. In this case he/she might search for answer and get back to you later on. I had professor who has done similar thing where he answered abruptly and tell that student's question is not valid. However after 2-3 days, he mentioned this question again in class and said he was confused. He gave correct answer that time. I liked his attitude. He actually apologized that he misunderstood and then he researched on this for 2 days and finally answered !!
Even after that you think that person is doing this again and again then you can first talk to his/her fellow professors who do you think can understand students better. I guess there is always some professor with whom students talks freely. We had one such professor who actually was aware of all student matters better than us (*He even knew who is dating whom* :P). Your last resort will be head of your academics. You can talk to him/her and explain situation. You can take few representative students with you also. Then head of academics can handle things further and will take appropriate decisions.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: When a professor avoids questions (doubts) in class, it could generally depend on one or more among the probable reasons.
* The answer to the question would eventually be covered later in the session
* The question is irrelevant to the current topic under discussion
* Lack of time to explain in detail and cope with the syllabus
* The answer to the question is not known to the professor at that time
Most may interpret the first three points as excuses to gloss over the fourth point. If any of the first three reasons are true, then the professor would be able to clarify your question after the session in her/his spare time. If the professor continues to avoid the question, then it may lead to infer the last cause.
IMHO, you should feel more comfortable having the question avoided rather than obtaining a random answer. Now, you have the option to search for the answer rather than be contented with the wrong one. You may force out truth, but not knowledge *per se*.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: It may be time to become more assertive in this person's class.
* If he immediately answers with, just a minute, we're going to cover that, then you can speak up 5 minutes before class ends, or at the beginning of the following class, for example: "Excuse me, Prof. So-and-So, you mentioned you were going to be covering Topic B. Since we didn't get to that today/last time, could you please start with that leftover question from last time?
* If he immediately answers with, that's what we just covered, follow up immediately, for example, "Could you please clarify how the material you just covered answers my specific question? ... I'm sorry, sir, I don't see how that was relevant to my question."
* If he spends a couple sentences briefly explaining why your question doesn't apply / doesn't work, then you can try something like this: "You feel I asked a stupid question. Nevertheless, I asked because I would honestly like an answer. Can you help me formulate the question in an acceptable format?"
Meeting one on one with certain professors sometimes gets one nowhere, unfortunately. Still, you could try visiting office hours to find out more about what he's like.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I've downloaded the source code and data published in a paper. I've followed their methods, in particularly, copied and pasted their sample code. Unfortunately, I've failed to reproduce the figures in the paper with their software. For example, the variance accounted by the first principal component reported in the paper is about 10% more than I can see on my computer.
My generated figure:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/qcqwR.jpg)
Their reported figure in <http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v32/n9/fig_tab/nbt.2931_F3.html>
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Xnovl.png)
The difference is small but the medians are different in the paper to my generation. The figure in the paper looks better and more aligned to the medians (a good thing). I did a PCA plot (they also did that for the paper), the eigenvalues are different to reported.
I followed their methods in <https://www.bioconductor.org/packages/3.3/bioc/manuals/RUVSeq/man/RUVSeq.pdf>
I simply copied and pasted their code and used their R-package.
Can I consider this as an example of data-manipulation (to make the figures look better) and therefore academic misconduct?
EDIT:
The method is non-stochastic, it involves computing singular value decomposition for factor analysis. There is nothing stochastic, no random number is generated. Identical data-set (downloaded from their R-package).<issue_comment>username_1: If the result proposed by the published paper depends on some sampling of data, then a probable sample error could be introduced. This would mean you would have to follow a *Test of Hypothesis* to disprove their result.
Edit addressing the added details:
Variance of a population is surely equal to or *larger* than its subset. You cannot accuse misconduct purely on this case. To reject their claim of a mean, median, or variance, you ought to do so with a formal test of hypothesis taking your own subset into consideration.
There are several standard materials available on test of hypothesis. For a quick reference, you may refer my concise expository paper [here](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283318687_Test_of_Hypothesis_-_Concise_Formula_Summary).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Academic misconduct is the *last* thing you have to consider, not the first.
First, you have to consider that there might be something you are overlooking (e.g. an updated version of the code, or the data set is not really the same, or something related to the machine or etc.). Then, you have to consider that mistakes happen, and as I wrote [in this answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/48228/20058), yes, there are plenty of errors out there, *that do not come from academic misconduct*: a mistake can have leaked somewhere in the paper, code or graphs.
Therefore, if you have reasons to consider that difference significant, you can contact politely the authors trying to set up a *scientific discussion* -- not an accusation -- to understand where the difference comes from.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: You seem to want to head immediately to the worst case, and a fairly serious allegation. Data manipulation and academic misconduct are *very* serious things. And starting off from that position is pretty antagonistic and is likely not going to be very productive in actually figuring out what's going on - more likely, it's going to get everyone defensive.
The first thing you should do is *email the authors* with a clear, detailed account of what you did in your replication attempt, and where the differences you found from their results are. Ask them if they might be able to provide more details on their own methods, or review yours to see where they differ. There's any number of ways a replication based experiment can subtly deviate from a published work.
Even if the answer *is* "No, we can't account for that", it may very well be human error, rather than misconduct. But before you can even go down that path, you need to make sure it is a genuine replication failure.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: While waiting for the outcome of my application for a research fellowship, I was offered a job at a university in another country. It turned out that my fellowship application passed the first stage, but after some consideration, I decided to accept the job offer and not to pursue my fellowship application any further. My question is, should I tell the secretariat immediately that I would like to withdraw my application or should I just let the deadline for the second stage of application pass without informing them anything? Also, what should I say to my potential collaborators?<issue_comment>username_1: It is customary to withdraw your application(s) as soon as you have accepted a post elsewhere. By doing so you increase the chances of fellow applicants to be shortlisted / admitted to the next stage. Also, non-attendances and late withdrawals create a considerable mess at the interview stage, and it is better not to annoy your prospective colleagues, with some of which you may need to collaborate in future.
Actually, prompt communication is typically a win-win situation, and unnecessary delays in communication usually give nothing good to anyone (despite maybe some illusion of control).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> I am not hesitating; I just would like to know what is normally said.
>
>
>
How's this as a starting point?
>
> Dear [name of collaborator],
>
>
> I wanted to let you know that I've taken a position at \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, and have withdrawn my application at \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. I took this decision for a variety of personal and work reasons, and I think it's going to be a positive move for me.
>
>
> I hope that we can still collaborate in future, albeit perhaps in a different way than we were hoping to do. OR This means that I won't be able to work on any collaborations with you in the foreseeable future, but I wish you well in your project.
>
>
>
What will help you write this letter is the conviction that if you were in their shoes, you would want to be notified, the sooner the better.
Feel free to provide more information about your situation if this draft doesn't suit your needs.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I finished the Master of Science and got my diploma in Belgium. Before obtaining my Masters, I did a Bachelor's in Architecture in Serbia. Altogether I studied six years (4+2).
**"The holder of this degree can use the title of Master. The holder of this degree is also authorized to bear the Dutch language title of Burgerlijk ingenieur."**
Since I would like to work in Germany, it is important for me to prove to German authorities that I have completed my engineering studies, in other words that I am an "engineer". In my opinion, this is enough but I am not quite sure what it means exactly .<issue_comment>username_1: There really isn't enough information to determine how German authorities will view your degree. The big issue is what field your diploma is in. If it's in a recognized engineering field, you should be fine, since EU degrees are supposed to be accepted across the EU. On the other hand, if your degree is in a non-engineering field, you may be out of luck.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: As far as I can judge, the German authority where you apply for confirmation to use the title "Ingenieur" needs to check whether your degree from Belgium is equivalent to a German degree in an engineering subject. You need to supply them suitable documentation to check this.
A nice resource for this kind of comparison is the Anabin database: <http://anabin.kmk.org/anabin-datenbank.html>
It contains a huge collection of international degrees, down to individual universities that issue them, and it gives their equivalent level and field of study in Germany. Searching for degrees from Belgium, I see a lot with the title "Burgerlijk ingenieur", and it seems all of them are on A5 level (corresponding to German / EU Masters degree) and in an engineering related field.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I'm from Denmark and here engineers are called "civil engineers". I don't know Dutch, but I'm guessing that "Burgerlijk ingenieur" means the same. The reason why the title is not just "engineer" is because engineers ususually worked in the military and to make things clear the new type of engineers got the name "civil engineers".
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Literally, "Burgerlijk ingenieur" translates to "Civil engineer" but it has a different meaning. A "Burgerlijk ingenieur" can specialize in computer science, electrical engineering, civil engineering, etc. On graduation, you get a title like "Burgerlijk ingenieur computerwetenschappen", specifying the specialization. So a "Burgerlijk ingenieur" can be a civil engineer, but that is not always the case.
A civil engineer in Belgium would be called a "Burgerlijk ingenieur bouwkunde" or "Bouwkundig ingenieur".
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: In my country, job rank is not aligned to tenure. You can be an Assistant Professor with tenure (i.e. a permanent contract at the university) or without tenure (on a temporary e.g. 5 year contract), or you could be an Associate Professor with or without tenure. I have tenure, but I am an Assistant Professor... which I understand is fairly rare in the US (if not non-existent)
If the time comes that I want to look for a position in the US, I assume based on the feedback from [my previous question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/54137/what-is-a-better-point-in-an-academic-career-to-move-to-the-u-s-as-an-assistan) that I should focus my search on an Assistant Professor position rather than an Associate Professor level position.
If I were to apply for an academic position in the US, how should I explain this? Is it worthwhile to mention that I have tenure already? Do I need to ask for a shortened tenure clock or will it be decided by the university on their own?<issue_comment>username_1: You would need to submit your curriculum vitae
as part of your job application,
so it would be natural to include the information
that you have a tenured job position there.
In your CV, you could include something to the effect of:
>
> Department of X, University of Y
>
>
> * Assistant Professor with tenure (2014-present)
> * Assistant Professor (2008-2014)
>
>
>
You should also briefly mention your employment history
in your cover letter,
at which point you can include the fact
that you currently have a tenured position.
Occasionally, a candidate who currently has
a tenured position at university Y
is willing to take an untenured position at university Z.
If that is the case, you should also
mention that explicitly in your cover letter.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: They will not care about your position outside US. They will care about your publication list mostly. There are countries where people get a formally permanent university position just after PhD, but their are not called professors immediately. This fact does not, however, mean that their position is equivalent to the tenured professor in US.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: This advice is just for research universities (R1s) in the USA:
If you are applying for **untenured positions** then the number one question we have is: when this person comes up for tenure in X years, will they be tenurable?
* You should check to see whether the tenure clock 'resets' at hiring and whether you will be evaluated on the entirety of your portfolio or the new material since you were hired.
* People can usually come up for tenure early if they so desire.
* We've had people leave tenured associate positions to come to our R1 as untenured assistants.
* We're wise enough in the world to assume if someone is leaving a tenured position, they have good reason to.
If you are applying for a **tenured position** then we would want to see a portfolio commensurate with that status. Just because you have tenure at your school doesn't mean that it'd meet the bar at our institution.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am working on a manuscript for publication in a chemistry journal. I find that my approach to the problem is very different to previous work on the matter. I find very hard to fit its argumentative line into the common scheme: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgements, References.
I am scared that my paper will be automatically rejected if it doesn't follow conventional sectioning. Is this an issue?
What should I do to increase chances of acceptance of my paper?
I can only think of the following alternatives, but I am not experienced and I am unsure of which is the best way to go:
* Force the standard sectioning at any cost of the argumentative line?
* Use many paragraph in the introduction to describe the sectioning?
* Just use my criteria and structure the paper in the way I think it is better?
---
My thesis is that previous work did not consider some peculiarities and because of that their results aren't reliable. I need to prove the existence of these peculiarities and argue that my approach is better in these cases. Only experts in method X itself know that method X fails in some cases, and most researchers just apply method X assuming that its results are very good, so I feel myself in the need to show believers in method X that the method fails in certain cases (I'm not an experienced published author, so maybe my ideas are wrong about the need to convince others).
Finally, as there is not a method Y that works for all cases, I used results of many methods for each case and made a deep analysis considering the strengths and weakness of each method. Due to this, and the particularities of each case, I used a different method for each case. Even if I list methods for each case, I would have trouble fitting this into a Methods section early in the paper.
Due to the peculiarities I mentioned, I analyzed secondary properties as well. This gave rise to a lot of methods and situations that are hard to describe. I performed many calculations with a variety of objectives (first showing the existence of the peculiarities, and then calculating a useful value), and as many of the readers are not experts in the method itself, I think I need to provide a lot of background information before describing the methods themselves.
Note: The reason I chose a journal in which I know that most readers aren't aware of these kinds of situations, is that the properties calculated are of their main/exclusive interest. In other fields these kinds of things are well known and this work does not provide any insight on them. I'm just trying to correct previous values reported in one field, by applying well known facts from another field.<issue_comment>username_1: I struggled with this very issue for my first couple of papers. I'll bet it's the middle part (Methods, Results, Discussion) that you feel doesn't fit the paper you're trying to write. **That may because your view of the type of thing that goes into those sections is too narrow.**
First, it may help to approach the writing a bit differently. Forget about the sectioning for the moment, and just write, in any order. Make the points you want to make. Add in the arguments or experimental results that you need to support those points. As you're writing, you realise that there are things your reader needs to know in order to understand your paper, so write that as well.
Now you can start to think about the *order* that the information should be presented in. So rearrange what you've written into logical paragraphs, and put them in a sensible order.
As you're doing this, a natural structure for your paper should emerge. There's stuff that the reader needs to know in order to understand your paper. That goes at the beginning, in the introduction. You'll also want a short summary of your main points. This will go in the conclusion. You might want to suggest areas for future research.
You may not need any acknowledgements in your paper. Ask your supervisor. You obviously need references.
The abstract is a summary of what the paper is about. I tend to write the abstract last, because it's only then that I know exactly what the "story" the paper is trying to tell is!
But it's the middle part (Methods, Results, Discussion) where the structure can be a bit confusing, especially if your paper isn't about a typical chemistry experiment. This seems to be the area where there's the most difference in structure between papers. For example, the results and discussion of those results might be combined into a single section, typically called "Results" or "Results and discussion".
So let's think of those sections a little more *generally*. You need to explain *how* you approached the problem. If your paper is an argument for something, then you need to explain your underlying assumptions, and how you reached the conclusions you reached. This is the sort of thing that goes into the "Methods" section -- although you may want to give this section a different title.
For an argument paper, it might be difficult to separate the "Results" from the "Discussion". So perhaps those sections could be combined into one section that presents your argument. Look for some papers that present arguments, you'll get ideas on structure.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: **TL, DR**; Follow the norms of your discipline.
You have already considered the fact that if you do not follow the standard format used in your discipline, your paper will automatically gets rejected. Keep that thought and revise your manuscript accordingly.
>
> I find that my approach to the problem is very different to previous
> work on the matter. I find very hard to fit its argumentative line
> into the common scheme
>
>
>
No, that sounds lazy. You are comparing apples to oranges. First, you can write your paper the way you want it and then you can rewrite it, following the standard format used in your discipline. Only then you can really compare which of the two formats suits your content better. Writing what comes natural (because it is easier) does not make your paper better. It makes it unstructured and hard to follow by the corresponding experts. And that usually leads to rejection. Also, the argument "I find very hard to..." is self-evident. Yes, writing papers is hard. Writing good or seminal papers is even harder.
In our first papers, some of us thought that we should write our paper exactly the way we wanted and came naturally to us. Guess what? Our initial manuscripts sucked. And then we improved and our papers got better. How? By reading good, seminal papers and following the example of prominent people and how they structured and organized their papers. You do not have to learn this by the rejection of your manuscript. This will be one of the many papers you will probably write in your life. Learning to write according to the norms of your discipline is inevitable (for your following papers) and is a skill that you should learn and practice sooner rather than later. And you should start with your current paper.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: There are two entirely separate issues here:
1. Does the journal *require* a particular format?
2. What's the appropriate narrative with which to present your work?
Some journals require a strict organization of sections, while others merely suggest it. If it just suggests, you can do what you think best. If a journal requires a certain organization, though, you need to follow that organization. If it doesn't make sense for your narrative, then you might pervert the organization to better serve your narrative: for example, [this paper of mine](http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/sb300030d) is about a methodology, so the method effectively *is* the result, and a rather large discussion of methods lives in the results section.
Another option is to make heavy use of supplementary information. For example, many high-impact journals require strict adherence to a format and also have tight length limitations. Supplementary information for such papers is often far longer than the papers themselves, and you can readily tuck in a pointer to a thorough explanation of methods by a reference to one of your supplementary documents.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: I would suggest that you pick a small number of cases where Method X doesn't work. You can allude to there being many other cases (in other words, you may mention that there are many other cases, but don't list them in this first paper). Think hard about why the readers of Journal A will care that Method X fails on these particular examples.
Once you have selected the cases to include, and have identified the relevance to this audience, you will be able to pull out some of the material you have already written, to put into an article for Journal A.
If this is published and well received, you may be able to publish more examples in a series of future articles; an opportunity to present your complete compendium may also present itself at some point in the future; but my proposal is based on the motto, "Start somewhere."
For this (possibly first in a series) article for Journal A, Jake's suggestions are very good, i.e. find out if it's required to follow the common scheme (Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgements, References); if so, create some sub-headings under "Methods" for the necessary background information.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am looking to apply for a teaching position near my town at a local community college. It's a part time position teaching mathematics (and from my research its up to highschool/first year calculus).
I am currently a PhD student and have never applied for an academic position like this. The job posting only requires a resume/cover letter and nothing about a teaching philosophy statement.
The question is regarding my CV or resume. I think at this point in my life, my CV is my resume. Here are the relevant sections (in this order) I have in my CV right now:
* Education
* Teaching experience (minimal, just TA duties, no formal experience)
* Professional experience (my two full time jobs I worked after bachelors)
* Workshops/Certificates (workshops I've attended, certificates from coursera/edx)
* Relevant coursework (a summarized listing of my courses, for example writing "Real Analysis" instead of "Real analysis 1, real analysis 2" and similarly "singe, multivariable, and vector calculus" instead of "math 100, math 120, math 220")
* A list of my programming languages. (in categories such as "general: C++/java..", "mathematical: matlab, maple, R" ... )
* Activities and interests (my memberships and associations with clubs such as the AMS (American mathematical society).
* supervisor (my two supervisors and their emails)
This ends up being a nice clean two pages. My cover letter (which I have yet to write) will be at most one page.
So the question is.. is my CV properly formatted? What do I do about my lack of teaching experience and how do I address that?<issue_comment>username_1: I taught at a community college when I was a graduate student. In my case, I expect I was the only applicant because the pay was very low. I have a few points of advice. Most likely, you have to have at least a master's degree to get the job. So be sure to let them know that you have one.
Do not list totally irrelevant qualifications to the material you are teaching. For example, programming languages are not relevant. Do mention any informal teaching experience you have (Most likely you have at least explained things to other people before.). Do explain what you achieved when you were a TA. Do mention experience with course management systems. Also, let them know why you want to teach at the community college.
It probably would not hurt to send a teaching philosophy, if you can write one, though it was not requested.
<https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/tips-faculty-job-seekers-community-colleges>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I would disagree a bit with @AnonymousPhsicist's answer, in that many community college math departments have taken on (and very reasonably so!) a broader enterprise, relating to computing in particular, and more explicitly statistical things than in the past.
That is, the future of general mathematics (as opposed to fancier research-related versions) that will be useful to most people must include both "programming" issues and, in many situations, "statistical" issues.
That is, no one cares about, or needs, extensive computations by hand, though it *is* a very good thing to have extracted from those misguided by-hand courses a sensibility about reality, if one hadn't that previously.
One awkwardness will be the possible disconnect between the mathematics relevant to any of your students' lives and the traditional curriculum. Depending enormously on the situation you find yourself in, the disconnect could be stunningly awful... or it could be very mild. In particular, the "mythology" of that math dept would determine whether or not your computing and other experience is a plus, or is "heresy". (Note: some low-wattage contexts are more doctrinaire and angry about ... change... than higher-status places!)
As in all cases of deconstruction of "episodes", stop and think about the questioner's context, and so on...
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: The answer from username_1 is right on target (except perhaps the part about omitting your experience with computing, as Paul pointed out). I have no opinion about the rest of Paul's post because I had trouble understanding it.
I'd like to make a few additional suggestions.
1. You should tighten up your CV for applying to jobs like this. Try to get it down to one page. Even if you can't, it is still valuable to get it more succinct. For example, you do not need to tell them that you took Calc I, II and III. From your existing degree(s) and current educational status, this is obvious and goes without saying.
2. Your teaching philosophy can be included in your cover letter, but please be concise -- aim for no more than one paragraph. Make sure it comes across as being grounded in practical experience. (As <NAME> said, it's okay if this is largely informal.)
3. Also in your cover letter, you can pull out your main selling point(s), and tailor your application to the particular institution you are applying to. How do you know what spin to give your application? By digging around in the college's website and reading articles in the local press about the college; by visiting the college; by calling up the dean of mathematics and finding out more about the position.
One thing I can think of that might make your application less than ideal is that they might be afraid you would leave after a couple of years. (This might or might not bother them.)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: My answer is: You're probably fine as-is. You've likely already put more thought into writing up this question than most community-college teaching applicants.
You may be surprised or shocked by how cursory the vetting process is. In my experience, getting an initial part-time math/computer-science teaching position at community colleges (in two different major cities), with a Master's degree, involved respectively a 5-minute and a 15-minute interview. (In the former case the interviewer was also on the phone the whole time.) In many places the adjunct instructors are so numerous, and have such high turnover, that very little time can be spent for vetting.
Years later (I'm now a full-time lecturer at the latter institution) I was told by the department chair who hired me from out-of-state that what clinched my interview was an unusually literate cover letter. Your mileage is likely to vary greatly.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm applying to Master's programs for Statistics. In my personal statement, I mention the names of some R packages like car, ggvis, and effects when I talk about professors that I would be interested in working with and some of my own research. Typically when people write about these, they are just all lowercase letters, not italicized or anything.
It looks really weird in a regular Word document, especially since "car" and "effects" are regular words. I'm afraid that it may look out of place. Is it okay if I change the font to the code font so it looks like `ggvis` and `effects`? I wouldn't use the grey background, but the serif typewriter font is pretty standard for bits of code, right? I'm afraid it will look unprofessional for academic/business writing.<issue_comment>username_1: Probably you are thinking about this too hard: as long as it's clear what you're saying and choosing a reasonable form of presentation, it's probably fine. Monospace font is one way to do this, another way is to put the names in quotes, just like you did in your question.
If you want to be really cautious, you can look at scientific papers from the field and see what conventions people tend to use. That way, you will be certain that your readers will find your presentation familiar.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I would recommend following the style guide in the official [R documentation](https://cran.r-project.org/manuals.html), which is to typeset the package name with a **bold font**.
See [this related question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/101444/how-to-format-the-name-of-an-r-package-in-thesis). The answer I'm posting here is given on that page in a comment on the original question by <NAME>.
Upvotes: 2
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| 4,927
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<issue_start>username_0: Background: I am a fourth year math graduate student working in differential geometry in the US.
I'm currently preparing a presentation for a graduate seminar at my university, and today I met with my research advisor to go through my outline. Shortly into our discussion, he became rather serious and expressed concern about my inclusion of unfinished work and unexplored ideas. While they only make up about 5–10 minutes of my hour-long talk, he was worried that I'm not sufficiently protecting my IP from theft. He went on to say that this is a much more significant concern at conferences where I would know very little about my audience members, but he still wanted to exercise caution.
I don't disagree with him, but that led me with the following questions:
1. In my personal opinion, I work in a rather dark corner of my discipline. I don't intend to contradict my advisor, but is this a legitimate concern?
2. Obviously the risk is venue dependent, but would there be any forum in which I would be completely safe?
3. How nervous should I be to discuss ideas with people who ask questions at the conclusion of my presentation? Do people ever go "fishing" for ideas?
4. Should I be more careful speaking about "unfinished work" or "unexplored ideas"? Does one carry more danger than the other?
5. Since publishing is such a drawn out process, is there some point before the release of one's results that they could be given as part of a presentation?
6. Finally: Is there any way to say how much should I feel safe sharing?
Any responses to these questions or related comments are much appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: **tl;dr**: Light is the best disinfection.
If you work in a relatively small sub-area, and know all your potential colleagues and collaborators, you can decide for yourself how likely is that some of them can "borrow" an idea from you and publish it as your own. Your personal intuition about your the situation in your particular case is much more relevant than a general discussion.
However, you can also consider the following facts to help you make your decision:
1. Publishing process in Maths usually takes much longer than in Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, or related "hard" areas. It is not uncommon for an article to be in first review for 6-9 months, and it is not uncommon to have 2 or more review cycles. Are you really ready to keep your findings secret until the paper is published?
2. If some ideas were shared among a small circle of colleagues, and two of them claim that they "own" the result, it is actually more difficult to find out, who was the original author, and who pretends to be one. On the contrary, if the pre-print is made public, and the ideas are presented on a large international conference (in a room with more than 10 people), than there are more witnesses who connect the idea with your name, and it is less likely that someone will dare to stole the authorship (but still possible, of course).
3. An important task of your supervisor (as any supervisor) is to ensure that the work will be eventually published; and as you know publishing is time- and effort-demanding. By expressing their concern, your adviser in some form encourages you to publish these ideas as soon as possible, which is a completely legitimate request. In fact, if one shares a good idea on a conference, but then never publishes it, someone else definitely will, sooner or later.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: 1. Better safe than sorry -- think about how devastating it could be, if someone from that audience decides to explore with your ideas and publish before you can get your thesis out.
2. No. Maybe in a group meeting with the other students of your advisor.
3. You don't need to be too nervous. But do say clearly that you are working on a problem for your thesis, if someone comes too close to asking questions that you're exploring in your thesis. Again, I'm not suggesting that most mathematicians are jerks, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
4. Yes. For two reasons. One, your ideas might get stolen (it's rare, but it does happen, and especially if you don't know who is in your audience, it's a gamble). Two, especially as a graduate student, people don't really believe you if you have all these grand ideas that you have not explored. Talking about unfinished work lowers your credibility.
5. Only if you have a preprint on hand (ideally on arXiv). If the audience asks for a preprint, you should be ready to hand it to them. As you become more senior, you might be able to get away with not having a preprint, but as a graduate student, you should really have a preprint.
6. Uh, only the stuff that you feel absolutely sure about. Don't spew out nonsense, because people can (sometimes) tell that you're bluffing. It's better not to take any chances when you're so early on in your career.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/20
| 389
| 1,744
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<issue_start>username_0: I gave a talk a few months ago, and one member of the audience made a particularly insightful suggestion. My advisor and I are still working on this topic, and it seems like our research is heading in a direction where his suggestion may end up being incorporated into our work in a fairly significant way. We haven't spoken to him about this work since, but how should we deal with this? Should he be an author, or only mentioned in the acknowledgments?<issue_comment>username_1: You should at least acknowledge the person who made the suggestion.
I would also ask this person if they would be interested in working with you to coauthor the paper. If the person who made the suggestion is very senior or doesn't work in your area, then they'll likely be happy with the acknowledgement.
However, a suggestion like this, without any further involvement in the writing of the paper isn't by itself sufficient to merit coauthorship under guidelines such as the ICMJE guidelines for authorship.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: At present, I don't think merely having a helpful suggestion, even if it launches a fairly significant line of inquiry, merits a paper authorship. They haven't, after all, actually worked on *the paper*.
This kind of thing is exactly what the acknowledgements section is for. And in several cases, I have thanked colleagues for contributions that were the result of something like this - a helpful comment, a directed question, a conversation over drinks, etc.
It may however be worth reaching out to them to see if they would like to work on the paper with you, if it is not yet fully finished. After all, they were extremely helpful once, they may very well be so again.
Upvotes: 3
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2015/11/20
| 1,038
| 4,535
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<issue_start>username_0: My question is quite simple. In Industry, you get your job, be productive, get an MBA (in many cases), get into management, etc., etc.,
In academia, you are productive, get your research published, etc, etc.
To what extent are the promotional and "climbing the ladder" procedures similar? How can academics learn from this to get promoted faster?<issue_comment>username_1: They are really not very similar at all.
(This answer describes common structures at US universities.)
There are a number of very significant differences between "promotion" in academia and in industry.
* The vast majority of faculty members will be promoted at most twice in their entire career. Once from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor, and once from Associate Professor to Professor.
* Promotions cannot be granted unilaterally by a single manager. Either of the two promotions mentioned above typically requires something like: a majority (or supermajority) vote of the faculty in the department, the recommendation of the department chair, the approval of a dean and a provost (and maybe a Promotions Committee), and often the university president and the board of trustees. *All* of these are required for the promotion to take place.
* Promotions cannot be sped up. University policies usually require a fixed minimum (and sometimes maximum) number of years of service at one rank before being eligible for promotion. In some cases a candidate may be able to negotiate to adjust these timelines at the time of hiring, but usually not afterward.
* Entering management isn't the "normal" path. The Professor ranks described above are not really management positions, and the duties of each rank are roughly the same: teach, do research, engage in institutional service. The most common "management" position for a professor would be department chair, and in many cases this is a fixed-term position, after which the professor resumes their previous duties. A professor could also try to become a dean; but since this typically means the effective end of their research and teaching career (or at least a drastic reduction or long hiatus), it's not something they do lightly.
* Management structures in academia are relatively flat. A department chair may supervise up to 40-50 tenure-line faculty members or more, and perhaps a larger number of non-tenure-line faculty, postdocs, etc. A dean may supervise a similar number of departments. At my medium-sized university, there are only three levels of "middle management" between an ordinary assistant professor and the university president. As a result, there are relatively few "management" positions available, compared to the number of "rank-and-file" professors.
* Universities are to some extent run from the bottom rather than the top. Significant decisions are often made (or recommended) by vote of the rank-and-file faculty, rather than by an executive; this concept is called "shared governance". As such, management has less power than they would in a company, and professors don't need to move into management to have some influence on the overall direction of the institution.
As such, the sort of things that are commonly recommended when seeking promotion in business (showing value to the organization, currying favor with management, demonstrating ability to supervise others, etc) are not nearly as effective for advancement within academia.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: It also depends a lot on the country and the academic community you're working in.
In the UK for example, once you hold a Lecturership, there are relatively clear criteria for promotion, usually entailing getting grants, publishing in decent journals, supervising PhD students, teaching, etc. The procedures for promotion are relatively transparent here.
In contrast, in Germany there is generally no such thing as a path for academic promotion. You can do a postdoc at a certain university and get stellar results, yet it is usually expected that you find your next higher-level appointment at another institution. Assistant Professor appointments ("Juniorprofessor") sometimes come with a tenure track option, with more or less well specified criteria that may get you a tenured position. But tenure track is still rather the exception than the rule in Germany. The only promotion can be obtained on the Full Professor level (from "W2" to "W3"), and is practically always a matter of negotiation (e.g., if you get an offer from another university).
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/20
| 941
| 3,841
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for a few different masters' programs and I need three recommendation letters total. I graduated from university last year spring, and when I send emails to the professors I had for my major courses, the majority of them do not respond (they responded when I was a student on campus).
* Are professors more likely to ignore emails from students who are no
longer affiliated with the school?
* Also, is it fine to accept recommendation letters from professors who taught courses that I received my minor in?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Are professors more likely to ignore students who are no longer
> affiliated with the school?
>
>
>
They often show the tendency for presenting the recommendation for the students, who had a live impact in their minds in view of academic performance, personality and so on. You can't expect from a professor to write anything useful about you, when he/she even can't recall you, deservedly.
On the other hand, leaving the academia and the school, within which the professor is affiliated, would not lead to his/her certain ignorance. In my own explicit experience, one my professors did present an awesome LoR for me, even though I'd left the department for more than 3 years. He did that with due attention to our constant communication and collaborating on some research stuffs.
>
> is it fine to accept recommendation letters from professors who taught
> courses that I received my minor in?
>
>
>
Yes. The recommendation should come from the person, who can depict you, as well as possible. The lecturer of a minor course, could who be able to hit this mark, would be a right choice.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> I graduated from university last year spring, and when I send emails to the professors I had for my major courses, the majority of them do not respond (**they responded when I was a student on campus**)
>
>
>
Do you mean that you were in need of recommendation letters while you were still a student?
Normally you will need to provide mark statements of your highest degree to the selection committee. I am curious to know the institute or graduate school you have applied while you were doing your undergraduate studies. Yours may be an isolated case, from my experience neither me or my classmates didn't have difficulty getting recommendation letters even if we were no longer affiliated to the institute. That said, there may be several reasons for the faculty not to reply your mail. The faulty
* thinks you don't deserve a recommendation.
* had brief period with you so that he cannot at the moment assess your skills for a recommendation.
* may just be busy or forgot to reply.
* don't know you.
>
> Are professors more likely to ignore students who are no longer affiliated with the school?
>
>
>
From my experience, **NO** but there is a fair chance that you will receive late replies or may be ignored, the above points renders an explanation.
>
> Also, is it fine to accept recommendation letters from professors who taught courses that I received my minor in?
>
>
>
Usually the admitting schools have guidelines (some have a specific format) for a recommendation letter and it is often stated that the letter should be from ***who had worked with you closely*** or ***have known you long enough to write with authority*** [[1]](https://www.socialpsychology.org/rectips.htm). If you think this applies to the professors who taught minor courses, you are good to go.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Likely they are just feeling very short of time. Don't give up; try phoning also; but also do reach out to some other people.
Make sure to include an unofficial transcript as an attachment, to jog their memory of who you are. I suppose a photograph might not be a bad idea.
Upvotes: 1
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2015/11/20
| 741
| 3,295
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<issue_start>username_0: A few days back I emailed a potential supervisor in one of the Top schools in Computer Science. To my surprise I got an instant reply from him mentioning that I should apply and he has funding for research assistants like me. He also mentioned a few questions about research topics so to follow up I sent him the answer and asked his opinion. However I didn't hear from him after that. Here I would like to mention that questions were not to test me but just general research questions which he is interested in, and my reply was also more like a discussion and asking his opinion. Now I am confused what I can get from this, and also should I ask him somehow to have Skype interview? He is really a great professor and has his own funding so may be he can even effect committee decision.
Thanks.<issue_comment>username_1: The professor encouraged you to apply --- so that's what he expects you to do next. It is nothing wrong in your attempt to establish a more substantial connection with him and to promote yourself in his eyes, it increases your chances to get selected. However, imagine that at the same time there are probably 100+ other candidates, trying to do exactly the same --- sending him several smart research questions, involving him in some discussion, and expecting to chat over Skype with him in a few days. How would you feel in his shoes?
Of course, professors want to be available for their potential PhD students, TAs and colleagues, and of course, they want to participate in the selection process. But many of them do not want to carry out all the communication themselves --- that's what secretariat, admissions, and HRs are for! I assume there is a formal route to submit your application, and I suggest exactly what your professor suggested --- prepare your application and submit as instructed.
If in a meantime you receive a message from him --- go forth and suggest a Skype meeting. If not --- assume that the professor is busy, and submit your application before the deadline anyway.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I am in my first year of a PhD and I went through similar experience while I was searching for a PhD position.
Since you have mentioned your potential supervisor is from a *top* institute, he sure will receive numerous applications all over the globe. Since he had replied positively and told you he have funds for the position makes you an eligible candidate but bear in mind that you are *one among many*.
>
> However I didn't hear from him after that.
>
>
>
You mentioned you have applied a few days back. It is normal for the reply to take a few weeks. I am sure the professor would be using the same approach to other students who had applied. I went through one such process in Germany, the potential supervisor asked me to answer some questions which is not very specific to his field of research. After my reply, he invited me for a skype conference. Consider the questions as a preliminary screening test.
You haven't mentioned if the position is advertised or not. If it does the selection involves a several steps, may be two or three rounds of interviews.
I got the reply after two weeks inviting me for a skype interview.
I suggest you to wait a few more days.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/20
| 2,848
| 12,013
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<issue_start>username_0: Is it commonplace to give a presentation at a conference and not have *anyone* ask a single question afterwards? What should one make of such silent feedback?<issue_comment>username_1: Except for tier 1 and 2 conferences, *its usual*.
This can be due to one or more of the following reasons
* The other participants know little or not related to your research topic
* The other participants are more focussed on their own presentation
* The session chair have limited or no knowledge of your presentation
* The audience could not comprehend your presentation
* This is also common at nearly all conferences when they are trying to wrap up the session if you are one of the last participants to present if earlier participants delay their presentation.
I doubt this is much to be bothered about. The main aspect is that your publication is to be visible to those who are interested online.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: It may also be that the audience hasn't had enough time to internalize your material in a way that leads them to even have questions. So one piece of feedback that you may take is that you have pitched your talk at too high a level and assumed too much knowledge about the subject in your audience. If that's the case, you may try bringing the level of your talk down a small notch to accommodate.
Also, depending on the niche that your material covers, people who are interested and well-versed in your area may have to go home, find a copy of your paper, and study it heavily before they can even formulate a question. I always work, when I'm session chair, to develop at least one or two questions to seed the Q&A part of each talk and try prompt some discussion. Even if my questions are kind of lame, they may spark some ideas in others (as well may your answer!).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: This is extremely common. Usually the session chair will at least ask a question to be polite. But...
**I am certainly disappointed when I don't get *any* questions after a talk.** Indeed, my **primary gauge of the success of a talk** (by myself or someone else) is **whether it provokes interesting questions**. Whenever I have listened to a really great talk, I've always had many questions afterward.
In my experience as a member of the audience, the most common reason that a speaker gets no questions is that **the talk is too narrowly focused and does not contain enough motivation or context**. That is, the audience cannot digest the talk in relation to other things they know, so they cannot form meaningful questions.
Thus the lack of questions is often a sign that you should spend more time on introductory material and present the meat of the talk at a higher level. Often it is more effective to draw analogies and pictures or diagrams rather than to get lost in technical assumptions and extensive notation. Your talk is an opportunity to advertise your research and provoke interest; it is certainly not reasonable to expect the audience to digest the details of your methods or results in 15 minutes or even an hour. Yet most scientific talks still try to do the latter. I believe this is why so many conference sessions are almost devoid of questions.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: There are multiple reasons why you get no questions:
1. No time for questions (may or may not be your fault)
2. You are too intimidating to get asked a question publicly
3. Your talk was hard to follow but nobody wants to look stupid
4. Your talk was so simplistic that nobody cared to engage
5. You never made your subject interesting enough for your audience
6. Audience energy level low (time of day: too early/too late, dark room, too warm, too much food, not enough food...) - thanks J.R. for the suggestion!
I have seen instances of all of these leading to "no questions". But I STRONGLY believe the power of conferences is in the **interaction**: it is not just a one way passing of (perhaps incomplete) information from speaker to audience (although giving visibility to your work is *part* of the reason to present at conferences); but when a presentation (oral or poster) is interesting and engaging, it should bring out questions and comments from the audience. It should be your *goal* to get questions.
So while it is unfortunately *common* for there to be no questions, I would say in 90% of the cases that is because the talk/speaker missed the opportunity to engage with their audience and tap into the "hive mind". Only you know whether in this case it was "not your fault" - but more often it is. If so, then you missed an opportunity. People showed up for your talk, and you were given a **precious gift of their time and attention**. And you didn't take advantage of it.
Here is something to ponder: if you were a business and you wanted to hire 100 consultants for 15 minutes to listen to your latest ideas and critique them - what would it cost you? And how would you make the most of that opportunity?
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: To give a somewhat contrasting opinion to the answers and comments stating that this no questions are a common occurrence:
In the fields whose conferences I have been attending (all of which do not use conferences for publishing), if nobody asks a question, it is generally expected of the chair to ask one. Thus, **zero feedback happens only rarely and usually is due to a very bad talk**. The same goes if the chair only manages to ask a “lazy” question. As already mentioned in the [comments](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/58552/what-to-think-of-zero-feedback-at-a-conference#comment137513_58552), you can estimate what attitude your field or a particular conference by observing how many other talks get zero feedback.
Possible other reasons for this are:
* Your talk is off-topic at the conference or the particular session (in case of bigger conferences). In the first case, it’s most likely you who is to blame; in the second case, it’s either you or the organisers.
* The session or your talk are particularly badly visited. In this case, having a more attractive title and abstract may have helped.
* There was a lack of time. However, usually even in those cases there is a call for “one quick question”. If your talk began as scheduled, it’s again your fault.
So, to sum this up: If you are at a conference where almost every talk receives feedback, you should really be concerned about zero feedback.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: 1. Is it commonplace?
It's not commonplace but definitely too frequent, and not something
you want happen to you.
2. What to make of it?
**If you want questions and feedback during or after your talk, make them ask.**
There are several ways to do this, here is one approach: pause periodically, make eye contact, smile and ask if everything's okay, not as a rhetorical trick but in a genuinely concerned fashion: "was I clear about why we made assumption A?", "do you see why Q follows from P?" if you get a sorry look, you may want to slow down and clarify the points in question, but if you get a bored look and a confident hand wave, you may want to speed it up!
If you know someone in the audience, make eye contact with them. If there was an earlier talk on a vaguely related topic, name-drop "as we learned in Paul's stimulating talk this morning..." while looking into Paul's eyes with an over-the-top smile. If Paul enjoyed that, he may ask you questions during the talk, if only to remind everyone that he's that Paul.
Don't mumble. If English is your second language (or third or fifth), it is imperative that you speak slowly and loud and that you repeat yourself. Even if you've lived in the States for 20 years --- we probably don't understand half of what you're saying!
If you're a native speaker of English addressing an audience of non-native speakers, same thing: slow down, repeat. When you repeat, change the words ("x implies y", "y is implied by x", "if you see x, you'll see y" something like that)
One thing you can do if you're unsure of the type of audience you'll be facing, is to prepare a ***non-linear talk***. In a non-linear talk, you have more slides than you plan to discuss, you have a method to access the desired slides when needed (e.g. dynamic links in a PDF or HTML presentation), and you ask your audience for their preference:
Early on in the talk, go something like "is everyone familiar with the works of x and y and their proof of the impossibility of z? Would you like me to go over the key points? No, great, let's jump right into the heart of the matter then..."
After you've summarized the best of your contributions, you can offer them another choice: "I know some of you are experts in the field of x, so you may be interested in seeing the details of our proof of y, or perhaps you've seen too many of these proofs (smile, pause, eye contact, controlled laugh to encourage them to laugh at the "joke") and you'd like to see our empirical results?".
To make sure you get answers to these questions, ask the more senior people (the junior people may not dare to take on the responsibility of nudging you one way or another). With a non-linear talk you should be able to adapt more easily to the audience and serve them the dish they want, so to speak.
One way to look at it is as a symptom of ***mismatch*** between speaker and audience. And one approach to this problem is to try to identify the cause of the mismatch. If you ask the right questions to your audience, you may discover the causes of the mismatch early on and, hopefully, address them. You have many great answers that discuss some of these possible causes. Hopefully you can now sense how to move forward.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: I suspect that the answer to the question depends on the discipline. My impression of the role of questions at mathematics conferences is somewhat at odds with most of the other answers and comments so far.
>
> Questions at the end of a talk are a crude barometer of the level of audience interest in a talk. A lack of questions does not necessarily indicate a lack of interest.
>
>
>
After all, the (vast?) majority of the audience will not ask a question at the end of a given talk; this does not mean that the majority of the audience is not interested. Some of the possible reasons for not asking questions have been outlined in other answers. However, I disagree that a lack of questions is inherently undesirable, and in need of an explanation. Consequently, it seems a little strange to me that on the one hand one would try to manufacture questions for the sake of feigning interest, or on the other hand that one would try to coax questions out of the audience, as if they were too shy to ask.
My own response to an interesting talk is to want to read a preprint on the subject. Perhaps there is something that can be helpfully asked at the time, but as username_2 says, the audience may need more time to reflect on the material before a worthwhile question can be asked. When I ask a question arising from a talk it is often much later, possibly the next day. I've similarly been asked questions at conferences some time after my talk.
Moreover, often the questions that get asked on the spot, even the talk is by an eminent speaker, are points of clarification ('should that *k* be an *m*?', 'is this *n* the same as the *n* you mentioned five minutes ago?', 'are you (still) assuming *G* is locally compact?') While giving some assurance that the asker is awake, such questions don't necessarily show that the audience is grasping the subtleties that the speaker is hoping to convey. And if anything, the speaker should aim to make the exposition clear enough to minimise the need for questions of this sort.
However, if you find that you get significantly less feedback than other speakers do then it is worth exploring why, and the other answers give possible reasons.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/20
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| 1,205
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<issue_start>username_0: Is the number of accepted papers normally determined before papers are submitted? Or is it determined based on the quality of the papers?
I'm primarily interested in CS conferences.<issue_comment>username_1: In my experience the Program Committee often has a target rate or a target number. Conferences occur on a fixed number of days, and given the length of the talks you'd like to have and the number of parallel sessions or rooms available, you can back your way into the number of papers you can accept.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: My experience (computer architecture conferences) is almost universally the latter: The percentage of papers accepted is a function of the quality of the submissions (relative to the quality bar for that conference), not the number of submissions. This usually yields the expected result, although over time it may force changes in the conference schedule (e.g., if the research community is growing). Occasionally, the General Chair may have to adjust the conference schedule if the result is not what was expected (e.g., half- vs. full-day schedule on the last day, fewer/more parallel sessions, etc.)
Upvotes: 3
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2015/11/21
| 819
| 3,450
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<issue_start>username_0: This question is motivated by [Should you list irrelevant work experience on graduate school applications?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/58440/should-you-list-irrelevant-work-experience-on-graduate-school-applications)
In that question, the OP cited text from one graduate school's question about employment history:
>
> [List] employment experience (including part-time) since secondary school
>
>
>
Why on earth would a graduate school admissions committee care whether a candidate worked part-time in a dry cleaning store from May to August of 2003?
Are they just trying to narrow the field by making the application process more tedious and daunting?<issue_comment>username_1: My suspicion would be that the school with such a requirement has a very narrow age window it desires in its graduate students, or at minimum desires that the ink still be wet on their baccalaureate diplomas -- the "train them up young" approach. Listing all post-high-school jobs is not usually terribly onerous for the typical 23-year-old.
I can't speak to how appropriate this is across disciplines. I can only say that where I am we only ask for a résumé and do not specify how far into the past it need go, because we value learners of all ages.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I think you nailed it almost exactly. I won't say that they
>
> ...just trying to narrow the field by making the application process more tedious and daunting...
>
>
>
but they (people, designing the forms) do not particularly care about streamlining it and making it more inclusive for mature students students from "non-typical" backgrounds.
I do not want to say that Universities as a whole do not care. At some level, they very much do. Universities often have special people or even teams dedicated to improving access for "under-represented" groups of students. However, the activities of these accessibility teams, however excellent they are, rarely affect the practices of internal departments responsible for managing the application process: Admissions and HR. I have certainly came across the HR departments using the same forms for ~20+ years, some of which are quite bizarre. My favourite was perhaps when I applied to a University Lecturer post in the UK and was asked to produce the results of my GSCE exams, which are college-level exams in the UK, which I never had because I did not grow up in the UK. The web-site of this University proudly announced their international outlook; however, the HR processes did not recognise a possibility that anyone with non-UK education may ever apply for the post.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: This is not about admissions. Forms for employment in the private sector and visa applications will also ask for complete job histories, and other tedious lists.
The information is not used for anything and there is not a reason to collect it. The cost of collecting the information is on the applicant and not the the organization, so the organization sees no problem with it.
In recent years, the information is collected through a form created by a third party software vendor. The vendor designs the form to cover all use cases (such as hiring people into security-sensitive roles). The organization collecting the information has to actively remove things from the form if they are not wanted. As a result, in most cases you get the default form.
Upvotes: 1
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2015/11/21
| 1,574
| 6,654
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<issue_start>username_0: I am in my first year of a PhD in France. I recently attended a competition of best presentation by PhD students. It was a 15 minutes visual presentation and 7 minutes of questions. After the presentation, one of the members of review committee openly stated the following;
>
> Since we have an audience from diverse areas of science, mathematics and technology the presentations should have been *simple* so that a *layman* can understand. I quote <NAME>, "if you can't explain it simply you don't understand it well enough."
>
>
>
Even though this communicates an obvious message, I feel *layman* bear a high level of ambiguity with it. The following questions crops up in my mind.
1. How much can you [laymanize](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/laymanize) a particular research topic say, from theoretical physics, for example *Non local wavefunction collapse*?
The topic is chosen as random but for those who don't have exposure in basic quantum mechanics may not understand the technical terms.
2. Is it advisable to prepare such a presentation in assumption that the audience are completely nescient?
If I oversimplify the presentation, leaving all the technical terms, I highly doubt that there will not be any material for those who actually knows the subject.
One approach is to try to satisfy both the extremes, first explain the technical terms in detail and then move on to subject core which I found is difficult if not impossible to fit into the time limit.<issue_comment>username_1: First, it is important to recognize that every scientist is effectively a layman for almost all other science.
For example, I am a computer scientist, and I have only a vague layman-level understanding that when you say "non-local waveform collapse" it's probably about quantum mechanics and Bell's theorem, and the math you put up on a slide will certainly be rather alien and fairly incomprehensible to me. If I put up a slide on the semantics of field calculus, it would probably be likewise alien to you, and if a biologist of my acquaintance put up a slide on the chemical mechanisms of chromatin remodeling it would be alien to both you and I. Think of a layman, then, not as [some sort of idiot to be condescended to](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_Week), but as an intelligent and interested person whose expertise happens to be in a different field.
Furthermore, our relative ignorance of one another's work is greatly amplified while listening to a talk: when I am puzzled and need to think about what you've just said, I miss the next things being said and have to try to catch up! In effect, only people who are *extremely* close to your own work, even within your field, will be able to follow deep technical details in a talk. Every audience except the smallest and most intimate, then, is effectively composed mostly of laymen---but likely with a few experts as well.
So, how do you give a talk to heterogeneous audiences? Personally, I find it effective to think of a talk as an *advertisement*, the goal of which is to make people interested enough and convinced enough by your work that they want talk with you about it afterward or to read the manuscripts that present it fully. Start with a discussion of the goal of your work, how the work relates to other work and why its goals might be interesting, narrow down to a few key details (which might only be understood in detail by the few experts in the audience), present evidence for why your insights are correct, and widen back out to explain why what you just presented satisfies the goals you laid out in your introduction. Such a structure can then "laymanize" even the most complex topic, by explaining how it fits into the larger world, while at the same time respecting the intelligence of the audience and not sacrificing communication to experts.
For the details of how to accomplish this effectively, I personally have found [<NAME>'s "How to Speak" lecture](https://vimeo.com/101543862) to be an excellent resource for heuristics and tips, and recommend it to others as well.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You should talk to the audience that you have in front of you, not the audience you wish to have.
If your audience knows next to nothing of importance of your subject, explain to them why anyone should care. Given the time constraints, this might mean that you give them an introductory lecture from a 1st year course, and reduce your own work to "having something to do with simplifying calculations that arise in blah.". It is better than them being completely lost and intimidated by words that they do not understand.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: In my experience the best approach in these situations is the use of analogy.
The reason for this is, if you can find an analogy which is applicable it can be accessed by most members of the public as well as your peers. There is an added bonus that an analogy is far less condescending than a talk during which you treat everyone as if they were 5 years old :)
Analogies can be scaled to the audience. For example, I once saw a talk at a conference where kinetochores were likened to couples dancing. It was effective and I feel would have been accessible to anyone. While speaking to an academic audience terminology was used which made it clear that the 'couples dancing' analogy was not fully suitable however it was a good 'base' on which to build the questions and hypothesis.
Another advantage of this technique is that if you are clever about it you can make your talk humorous in a natural way.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> One of the members of review committee... stated... "The presentations
> should have been simple so that a layman can understand."
>
>
>
If they did not provide these instructions ahead of time, and if it's not clear that the one guy is speaking for the whole committee, I think you may safely ignore his comment.
Some topics are of course more laymanizable than others.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: A good rule of thumb when speaking to lay people (or scientists from other fields) is to talk mostly about *why* you research a particular topic, and only a little bit about *how* you actually solve the problem. A general audience isn't going to understand the details anyway, but you should be able to explain to them in broad strokes *what* it is that you're interested in and *why* anyone should care. Indeed, if you can't explain these last two points, then you probably did not understand them well enough yourself.
Upvotes: 3
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2015/11/21
| 488
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm applying for a PhD in the US (I'm from Italy).
I was thinking that maybe I could ask the primary professor of the school I'm applying for to review and give me his opinion about the statement of purpose I'm writing.
I'm afraid though, that in the US academic environment, this could be seen like ethically not fine. In Italy this would not be a problem, but I want to avoid to hit a cultural difference.
Is it something appropriate?<issue_comment>username_1: You may not *ask* for a ***review*** which would be very time consuming. See this way, the professor would be receiving numerous applications from all around the globe and you are probably one among many. Think of him getting review requests from all of them (which would be statistically less probable by the way). He would be probably busy with his own research work and its more or less an annoyance if you *ask* for a ***review***.
Now, if you are called for an interview or a presentation by the selection committee and if that requires preparation of topics specific to your potential advisor's research area, then its perfectly fine to ask him questions or suggestions for improving your presentation. Even here, I **do not** recommend you to *ask* for a ***review*** rather you may request for suggestions.
>
> In Italy this would not be a problem, but I want to avoid to hit a cultural difference.
>
>
>
I don't think this has anything to do with cultural difference, professors are ought to be equally busy in both of the countries.
Upvotes: 1 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Your hunch is correct. It would not be ethical.
However, if you have a mentor in your current institution, you can certainly send this person a link to the primary professor's home page, and your essay, asking for feedback.
But before you do, here's a pretty effective exercise. Imagine that the trusted mentor is reading your essay and jotting down comments in the margin, slashing here, asking for more detail there.
Upvotes: 1
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2015/11/21
| 264
| 1,089
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm applying for a research postdoc fellowship in mathematics (I just finished my PhD) at a prestigious UK university. I've been told to write a research plan for what I intend to do with the fellowship. Unfortunately I have no idea who is going to be reading my plan.
Should I start off by introducing them to my area? My area is in evolutionary PDEs and professors in eg. number theory may not know anything about it. I was going to define a PDE and then quickly talk about my previous work and then my intended research work. Overall it's 3 pages at the moment.<issue_comment>username_1: You have to convince readers of two things:
1. The problem is important
2. You are qualified to tackle it
To that end, you should make the problem and likely outcome accessible to anyone, but your proposed approach can assume more skill.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You don't need to aim this at the number theory people. They may not be experts about PDEs, but they will be smart enough to show your proposal to somebody in the department who is.
Upvotes: 0
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2015/11/21
| 580
| 2,524
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for academic mathematics positions, and I noticed that a few job applications ask for experience using technology in the classroom.
**What use of "technology" in the classroom are these hiring committees looking for in an applicant?**
The only things I can think of for mathematics is the use of computing programs, or videos and demonstrations shown on a projector.<issue_comment>username_1: It's hard to guess exactly what the authors of the advertisement meant. However, there are lots of technologies that the advertisement could be referring to, including
* Graphing calculators.
* Numerical and symbolic computation software (MATLAB, Maple, Mathematica, etc.)
* "Clicker" audience response systems.
* Lecture capture recordings.
* Prepared video clips for students to view outside of class.
* Learning Management Systems like Blackboard, Canvas, etc.
* Systems for online discussion of the course such as Piazza.
* Computer based homework systems like WebWork, Maple TA, etc.
In evaluating candidates, I want to know what experience they've had with these technologies and how they've decided to incorporate them into their teaching.
Most experienced instructors will have used at least some of these and have opinions about how best to use them. A candidate who can't talk intelligently about these technologies is probably lacking teaching experience. Someone who claims experience with these technologies and has the "wrong" opinions about how to use them will likely be seen as a poor fit for the position.
Before you go for an on-campus interview (or even for a telephone or skype screening interview), it would be a good idea to see what technologies have been adopted at the campus you're visiting so you can be prepared to discuss this during your interview.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Great answer from Brian, helpful comment from dmckee. I have a couple of thoughts to add.
Here's what they don't want: someone who just works his way across the blackboard panel by panel, as might have been done 40 years ago.
Please make sure that you have a clear purpose and intended benefit from each technological tool you introduce. Also remember to accommodate a variety of types of learners. (Example: My ODEs professor would write a complicated equation on the board and then stand smack dab in front of it while talking about it. I needed to *see* it while he was discussing the equation.)
Please don't forget about geogebra.
Upvotes: 1
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2015/11/21
| 1,776
| 7,448
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<issue_start>username_0: I suffer from OCD and intrusive thoughts.
I was once in a test and we were given this extract on a page. I had been analysing the top part of the extract, only. Then, I may have seen the other candidate analysing the bottom part of the extract - I saw nothing of their answer, just their pen moving around that area. The area was quite cramped, in terms of the paragraph space, so I'm not sure what exactly happened, but there definitely wasn't any words or answer/notes she was making on that area. The question was on nostalgia and the quotes that were at the bottom actually referred to remembering and ditching memories. This may have prompted me in referring to the quotes in that certain area. Is this cheating and I feel that this helped me, but I didn't see her notes on it.
My biggest anxiety is cheating. There was a weird compulsion to look around to assure myself that I'm not cheating, if you see what I mean? Yes, I saw the other person analysing that part of the extract, but not her notes or answers on that part/quotes. The question was on nostalgia, and the part that the other candidiate was analysing was right at the end. So, I thought, how about I read the ending, since I was only using quotes from the top. When I read the quotes at the end, they were perfect but I thought that I didn't deserve to use them. Then, I thought, it's on one page, why can't I use it? What if I read this part and summarise it so I can use it. It is really frustrating, because I'm not sure I looked with intent towards her direction; it was a hard extract. I feel like killing myself. This is not the true me!<issue_comment>username_1: It sounds like you observed something – perhaps even accidentally – that helped you on the exam. If your eyes wandered over there on purpose, actively in search of some help from another unwitting student, then I guess we could call that a form of cheating, albeit a relatively minor one.
On the other hand, if you weren't actively trying to figure out what that other student was doing, but simply noticed something as you glanced in that direction as you gathered your thoughts, then that seems more like the fault of the testing environment, where too many students were clustered too close together.
Sometimes we might notice something that gives us an advantage, even if when we don't want to. (I'm reminded of times where I've seen the solution to a crossword puzzle I was working on, and noticed a word even though I wasn't looking for it. After that's happened, there's no way to purge it from my mind! Incidentally, I've always thought it was a bad idea to print a puzzle's solution on the same page as the puzzle itself – even if it *is* printed upside-down.)
Anyhow, only you know for sure if your discovery was inadvertent or not. If it *was* inadvertent, then I wouldn't worry about it all. If it was intentional, then be glad you stopped at getting the hint (i.e., "Read further down the passage") rather than going further and trying to figure out what that other student was writing. In the end, you still had to compose your own answer, even if you did get a gentle, helpful nudge in the right direction.
I wouldn't fret about it; however, if your conscience refuses to let it go, you could always tell your professor what happened, being truthful about whether your observation was intentional, accidental, or some hard-to-explain mixture of the two.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't think this incident is anything to worry about. Ordinary looking around shouldn't be so easily conducive to seeing another person's test that students start second-guessing what they were intending to do.
However, I recognize this sort of internal response to it (I also have OCD) and would like to encourage you to seek further assistance. OCD easily starts making you wonder whether you *meant* to sabotage yourself or whether thoughts of bad things might have helped make them happen. Then it leans in and starts taunting you about whether you might be at risk of doing so to a greater degree.
I recommend cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which helped me immensely. Over three months several years ago, I went from being almost unable to concentrate due to my fears of...everything, basically...to having minimal intrusive thoughts (and lots of coping strategies to deal with the ones that showed up). It's hard to believe the difference.
Hang in there! You deserve to find peace-of-mind.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: OCD or similar, if formally diagnosed, could be legally considered a disability. Your school would then be obligated to accommodate your needs in an instructional setting.
Taking examinations in a separate room is a very common form of accommodation for students with mental disabilities. Whoever it is in your institution that deals with students with disabilities will be very familiar with this measure. Schools like it because it's easy and cheap to accomplish.
Given how upsetting this experience seems to be for you, and that it sounds like it wasn't a one-off thing, I'd really advise you to get together with your Office of Disability Services or whatever it's called and figure out a way that you can take exams without having to struggle with these challenges.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: It is hard for you to do your best work when you are expending energy
looking around to assure yourself that you're not cheating, when you find yourself thinking that you don't deserve to use the quotes provided, when you feel like giving up or harming yourself, when you are pulling petals off a mental daisy over and over again, wondering Is this cheating or not, would it be considered cheating or not, etc.
Jane is absolutely right that you can document your OCD and get a plan in place that gives you some accommodations in a streamlined way. However, in the short term, you can let each of your professors know that you suffer from OCD and need to take your exam in a separate room. If the professor is reluctant to do that before you've finished documenting your disability, he or she should at least be willing to seat you in the front with no neighbors nearby.
My son also suffers from OCD and intrusive thoughts. Your description is vivid and quite effective.
I hope you are in, or will soon be in, treatment for your OCD. The two approaches that have shown good results in studies are
* SSRI (= anti-depressant): you have to work your way up, gradually, to a much higher dose than is given for depression. A general practitioner can start you on this, but a psychiatrist would be needed for the ramping up. Note: as one is doing the ramping up, sometimes the quality of sleep suffers; and with OCD, sleep difficulties are quite common. Therefore many people with OCD find it helpful to take a separate medication to prevent or treat insomnia, such as Zaleplon or Trazodone. A general practitioner can prescribe either of these.
* Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP): it can be difficult to find someone trained in this. The International OCD Foundation may be able to help you find someone in your area. Note, some insurance companies do allow one to work remotely (over Skype). <NAME>'s group in Long Island is one group that has experience doing this.
Frequently, the two approaches (SSRI and ERP), are combined.
Forgive me if you already knew about the treatment options.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/21
| 698
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<issue_start>username_0: Background:
In the final year of my masters. Not seeking to apply for a PhD program in the future.
Situation:
I have a potential opportunity to TA a grad level course. Highly confused about taking it up. The opportunity is good however along with the 2 courses that I have to take for graduation, I also wanted to take up another extra course to gain new skills for use in the industry.
Ideally I would want to do both - the extra course and also the TA work. However since I have not taken up a TA opportunity before, I fear balancing 3 courses + the TA work would be a potential overload. However once I leave grad school, I won't be able to have a TA opportunity nor will I be able to take the extra course that is offered here. The TA work would be around 15-20 hours per week. I also have to pay for the extra course I take up.
Any ideas/suggestions would really help. Answers from an industry standpoint would really help.<issue_comment>username_1: I can't really comment on the financial side, that all depends on your own financial situation. The main advantage of TAing, besides the money, is that if you want to teach in the future in any capacity then getting some experience teaching is vital. If you don't plan to teach in the future, then the work experience is probably negligible. There are probably some "soft" benefits that could be useful in industry, such as learning to effectively condense and explain material in your field, but I doubt they would be very helpful in terms of getting hired.
In terms of balancing work, that also mostly depends on the courses and your own productivity. I will say that at many PhD programs, 3 courses + a 15-20 hour TAship is a pretty standard workload for the first couple years (assuming you don't do significant research your first year or so), so it's probably doable.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Being a teaching assistant takes up a lot of time, and can be excruciatingly tedious and repetitive (but you often can't do the work on autopilot).
If you don't need the tuition remission or the stipend, skip it.
Most TAships don't involve being an instructor of a course. So just having TA experience, in general terms, on your CV doesn't necessarily help you when you're in the job search.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: The biggest, and really only, con of being a TA is the time. This can have knock on effects on the number of credits you can register for and your research and learning.
There are a number of pros. They are usually paid and a great way to learn the material in the class. The level of understanding you need to teach is much higher than what you need to pass a class. This can both be usueful and look good on a CV. It is an easy way to gain teaching experience, although this is not particularly useful for industry jobs. It also often provides another person who can write a reference letter.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/22
| 1,496
| 6,574
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<issue_start>username_0: (Asking on behalf of a friend.)
I work in math, in a field where reviews are not double-blind: reviewers are anonymous, but review copies of papers include attribution. I’ve received several reviews recently (on different submissions) which were similar in style, all negative, and rather light on substantive criticisms. The other reviews for those submissions were generally positive.
I’m rather concerned that they’re from a single reviewer with a grudge against me — it’s a small field, so one can easily encounter the same reviewer/author repeatedly — and I have some suspicion of who this reviewer might be (though far from certain).
Is there any defensive action I can take on future submissions — anything I can say to the editor at some stage to avoid getting shot down by this same reviewer again?<issue_comment>username_1: I've had a similar experience, but on the other side of the table. I was the reviewer (the journal was JAES, the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society).
There was an author who published a boat-load of papers on a subject where I have published just one. But my paper dealt with some very fundamental issues (I called the paper "Wavetable Synthesis 101, A Fundamental Approach" or similar). The AES Editor did not send any of this author's papers in my direction and when enough of these papers that made only incremental advancements **did** get published in the Journal, I finally wrote a Letter to the Editor (that was published) that was a little critical, because this author consistently ignored a mathematical issue (phase) that my 101 paper did not.
Anyway, after about the 10th or 15th new Wavetable paper to come from this author, the JAES editor **did** finally send a manuscript to me to review. I was not nasty, but I **did** continue to point out what this author was obstinately choosing to side step (offering no mathematical justification).
I am **sure** the author knew who *that* reviewer was, even though I was supposed to be anonymous.
So, **if** the reviewer with a grudge is picking on you for just anything, maybe the reviewer just doesn't like you and there could be any number of bad reasons. Maybe he/she thinks you're encroaching on his/her turf and/or hadn't paid your dues yet. Maybe this reviewer wants to be cited by you where he isn't. Who knows?
But if this reviewer is picking on you for about the same reason, on these multiple submitted manuscripts, I might, if I were you, think about **what** that particular reason is and answer it one way or another. One might be a consistent technical omission. Or maybe, just like the "bad reviewer" above, this reviewer thinks you're missing critical citations and his/her work is among the missed citations.
Whether the reviewer has a grudge or not, he/she is not the only reviewer. But you still are obligated to take seriously every criticism and suggestion for improvement offered by the reviewers. It doesn't mean that you will agree with every one, but then be prepared to **respond** to each critique or suggestion that you disagree with. **Persuade** the reviewer, the other co-reviewer (who is not picking on you) and the editor, that the critique is mistaken.
Finally, if, after all this, you feel that this reviewer is useless, find some way of asking the journal's editor or assistant editor (whoever has dispatched your submission to whoever appropriate reviewers) to consider getting a third or fourth opinion. Even suggest a couple of persons in the field that you respect but make sure they are not in the same institution you are in nor have ever co-authored a paper with you.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Further to the comment by @Michael, you should feel free to write to the editor to ask that any additional submissions you make do not go to the reviewer who is causing trouble. Some comments on this:
Peer review is how we give confidence to the wider community of scientists, and the world at large, that our work is of a high quality. Negative reviews have to be faced and addressed. Sometimes the comments are oblique and insubstantial. Sometimes they are incisive. Weigh up the danger of dismissing this reviewer in future and the positive service he or she could provide, against not having to answer their questions in peer review. This person could throw you their tricky questions via a review of your paper, or, as a question to you after a talk you give at a big international conference. In which manner would you prefer to address such a question?
That said, if the quality of the reviewer's comments have been poor -- as you've suggested in your post -- then you perhaps feel more confident that you -- and, importantly, the journal editor -- aren't getting a good service from the reviewer. If you come to this conclusion, then, by all means, request the editor refrains from sending your future work to this reviewer.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Quick and dirty solution:
Since you know (or at least have strong indication about) who this "unfriendly" reviewer is, you can do as following.
Upload the paper to the arXiv, then send the paper to this unfriendly colleague before submitting to the journal, asking for criticism/comments. After that put the name of this colleague in the acknowledgement section.
Usually editors do not send a paper to a guy who has been named in that section.
PS: You may, or may not, consider the criticism of this unfriendly colleague in the revised version of your paper.
PS: It could be a good idea to discuss personally with this colleague, in a conference, or even by inviting them at your research institution (if you can). In this way you can have a thorough and deep discussion about your work. Perhaps you will discover that their criticism is not a grudge, but it is based on serious issues. In any case you will learn from that criticism and improve your work.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: Suggest in the covering letter to editor to exclude that particular reviewer from the possible candidates due conflict of interest.
This is a common practice, not to avoid negative reviews but mostly in cases when another group of researchers is working on the same or closely related topic, to prevent conflict of interest. If they are approaching a publication themselves, it is very tempting to delay a publication of the competitor and the neutrality may suffer.
Editors normally pay attention to this and will select an alternative reviewer from (usually) a wide list of other candidates available.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/22
| 214
| 931
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<issue_start>username_0: How much of a change is online learning through open courseware (OCW), etc., actually making? Are there any peer reviewed studies regarding the same?<issue_comment>username_1: One way is to assess the performance by a single test of two groups of students, one in the regular classroom atmosphere and the other group using solely online tools. The topic may be chosen at random, with varying levels of difficulty. It would also provide information about effectiveness of using online tools in teaching difficult concepts. This [study by <NAME>](http://www.naspaa.org/jpaemessenger/Article/VOL19-2/03_Ni.pdf) is in that direction.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Consider the ratio of traditional credit hours per student to online credit hours per student: you could compare this ratio over time. (This doesn't say anything about the effectiveness of the trend towards online study.)
Upvotes: 0
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2015/11/22
| 436
| 1,934
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying to a few different masters' programs this fall after having applied to a different program last year. In the end, I decided not to pursue that option due to financial reasons. I graduated from my university in May 2014, and I have visited many of my professors during their office hours while I was a student there. Of course, I only made recommendation letter requests to professors in courses that I did well in. Last year, when I was applying to another program, it was relatively easy to obtain recommendation letters from the professors I made requests to. However, this year is different. I explained my change of direction to the professors who wrote my recommendation letters last year. Except for one professor, the other professors don't even bother responding to my emails. In cases when I am requesting recommendation letters after graduation, do I have visit professors directly and have a conversation with them? If that is the case, I am unable to do that because I am currently outside of the US. Also, am I expected to give them a gift at the time I am making such request? I want to know what I may be doing incorrectly.<issue_comment>username_1: One way is to assess the performance by a single test of two groups of students, one in the regular classroom atmosphere and the other group using solely online tools. The topic may be chosen at random, with varying levels of difficulty. It would also provide information about effectiveness of using online tools in teaching difficult concepts. This [study by <NAME>](http://www.naspaa.org/jpaemessenger/Article/VOL19-2/03_Ni.pdf) is in that direction.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Consider the ratio of traditional credit hours per student to online credit hours per student: you could compare this ratio over time. (This doesn't say anything about the effectiveness of the trend towards online study.)
Upvotes: 0
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2015/11/22
| 3,123
| 12,817
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently, I’ve noticed a few popular comments that got me thinking. The first were left on [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/57619/what-are-some-good-ways-to-keep-students-coming-to-lectures), asking:
### What are some good ways to keep students coming to lectures?
One comment reads:
>
> *I think you're asking the wrong question. The right question is "How do I help struggling students better learn the material?" The answer might involve increasing attendance, but it might not.*
>
>
>
As of this writing, this comment was upvoted **33 times**¹.
Another highly-upvoted comment (more than 20 upvotes), is found [a little further down](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/57619/what-are-some-good-ways-to-keep-students-coming-to-lectures/57621#comment134971_57621); it says:
>
> *If missing your lectures does not mean that students don't learn the material, then what's the problem? Maybe the student just learns better from reading on their own*.
>
>
>
I found similar sentiments in comments beneath an answer to [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/58257/why-do-professors-want-to-make-sure-that-their-notes-written-on-the-blackboard-w):
### Why do professors want to make sure that their notes … will not be published?
One particular [answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/58257/why-do-professors-want-to-make-sure-that-their-notes-written-on-the-blackboard-w/58262#58262) suggested:
>
> There are good reasons for this: .. if students have access to the lecture notes from previous years, they might decide not to come to class (or come and not pay attention)
>
>
>
That answer received half a dozen downvotes, along with some upvoted comments below, saying:
>
>
> >
> > *Professors do not need to have a reason, but .. the reasons you gave are bad.*
> >
> >
> > *“There are good reasons for this” — Maybe so, but you haven't given any*
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
---
In one sense, **I get what these comments are driving at** (at least, I think I do). We live in a changing world – some might say in the midst of a revolution. Today's students have a wealth of information at their fingertips, so we are moving away from the “sage on the stage” model of learning. Shame on us if we play little games to coerce students into attending lectures that fail to contribute significantly to their learning.
On the other hand, though, **I find myself wrestling with this**. Taken to an extreme, it's almost as if we're encouraging professors to structure their courses so that students who choose to skip lectures could still learn the material equally well. We could give traditional lectures to those enjoy lectures (or learn better from them), while at the same time providing the same information in alternative forms for those who would rather take a course heavy on self-study, and light on mandatory attendance in the classroom or lecture hall.
I've taught in both the online and face-to-face environments, so I understand that both approaches can be effective. Up until now, though, I've taught my face-to-face sections differently. I try to leverage the advantages that each modality offers; in the case of face-to-face courses, that means relying heavily on in-class discussions using the Socratic method.
Consequently, many of my PowerPoint slides steer clear of bullets, favoring pictures instead. (A picture will prompt me to launch into a particular discussion, but prevent me from reading aloud
to the class – in other words, using pictures instead of words will force me to speak more extemporaneously). If I do have a slide with bullets, I often add an extra text box with a question, such as, "Why is this important?". Such prompts remind me to stop talking and yield the floor back to the class regularly. The goal is to get their brains out of a passive listening mode and into an active thinking mode.
I've found this to be rather effective, yet past students have told me, "Your slides are good for lectures, but they don't make good study aids for exams." I've told them that's true, and that it's also by design – which brings me back to my conundrum. Based on observations and overheard comments, I think more than a handful of today's students get into the habit of skipping classes because they've found lectures to be unhelpful and a waste of their time. I try very hard to make sure this isn't the case in my class, but sometimes I sense that students have made up their minds before we've even gotten underway, to the point where these students happy-go-luckily convince themselves that, by and large, college lectures are strictly optional.
**I guess my question is this**: Should I cater to such students? That is, should I invest more time into developing additional materials that would make it easier for a student to do well in my class, even if that student decides to skip half my lectures? Or is the onus on the student to be more selective about which lectures should be attended, and which can be considered more optional?
---
¹ I am one of the 33 upvoters, so I have no problem with the sentiments expressed in that comment.<issue_comment>username_1: I think you've missed the point.
It is not the responsibility of the instructor to provide ways for the student to learn without coming to class. But there will always be the possibility that one of the students has access to better external resources.
Consider if one of the students is the nephew of the textbook author (or, if you wrote the textbook, the sister of your recent PhD student who extended your work in significant ways after the book was written). It's entirely possible for that student to be mentored outside of class, and become more knowledgeable and practiced than any of the other students, even if the class is taught exceptionally well.
In such a case, you shouldn't consider the student's absence from your lecture a problem that needs to be solved. And a grading system that penalizes this student for poor attendance, rather than assigning a mark based on competence and ability to apply the material, would be a failure.
Some students will use outside resources. It's the instructor's responsibility to devise a grading system that properly evaluates the student's performance, but not to provide the outside resources. Spending your effort on alternative resources dilutes preparation for the class, which harms the students who take the traditional approach.
Focus on handouts, notes, and problem sets that aid in understanding your lectures, and any student who chooses a different approach also has to take responsibility for it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: To answer your question: No, you shouldn't. Yes, it'll be nice if you have time to invest into it.
Ensuring that your lectures provoke in-class discussions with your students and using a Socratic method is a very good thing, and you have my praise. It will, without doubt, encourage students to come to your lectures. However, there will be those who a) orders of magnitude better in learning through reading than through listening, b) who slack and skip lectures, c) who work part-time (depending on the country you're in, this might be acceptable or not). So, do your best to deliver thought-provoking, bright and inspiring lectures, and first cater to those who come to your lectures. There are some ways to help those who don't come; I can think of two.
Personal experience: I've been a TA on a graduate-level physics course. While the professor slides were exactly as you describe (images to seed the conversation) and I liked it, I also felt that the slides will not be enough for me and for the students to retain the content of the lecture. I started writing down the lecture notes (in an electronic format, to be corrected and shared with ease). So, if you are willing to cater to such students but have limited time, the first option is to ask someone to scribe for you.
Another option, which required substantial effort but might be beneficial in the long run, is video recording the lectures. Learn if your university has some kind of video recording initiative; if they do, there will be people who deal with the technical side of recording, and you'll just have to wear a mic. I recall our university did it for a class of 10 people; the recordings were useful when I was preparing for an exam, even for the lectures I attended.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Personally I think there are arguments on both sides of this, and the controlling factor may be priorities/policies at your institution.
I would say your *first* priority is to give good lectures. It sounds like you are already doing that.
If you still have time, creating extra resources may be important for students who have good reasons for not being able to attend lectures (personally I don't consider being too busy to be a good reason, but I've found that more students than I would have expected have health problems, family emergencies, or similar), and also students with disabilities. To a greater or lesser degree you do have some responsibility for helping those students. If those resources also help students who can't be bothered, then that's the way it is.
However, making things too easy for students can actually be harmful. Students will need to learn to behave responsibly if they're going to get on well in the real world, and university is a good time to do so. Also, without digging up references now, there is research, in maths at least, showing that explaining things too well can result in less effective learning, presumably because there's no need to do the fighting with the material that builds a proper understanding of the underlying ideas.
What I've read suggests the best thing is to provide resources (within your time constraints), but to also make it clear to the students what the purpose of each resource is (and what it isn't). For example, in your shoes I would plan to tell the students right from the start that the lecture slides are not intended to act as a study guide for exams. The chances are they will still complain about it, but you can point to where you told them (write it down somewhere in the notes/syllabus). But you should also tell them what you do expect them to use as a study guide.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> Are we mere facilitators of glorifed correspondence courses?
>
>
>
Unfortunately in the current environment probably yes.
The “chalk and talk” or “sage on a stage” model of instruction is a minimalistic model. That does not mean it is ineffective or old-fashioned. We call it “traditional” because traditionally teachers have to cover a lot of material for a lot of students in a little time, with copious extracurricular responsibilities. Without additional faculty and programme support, what other choice do instructors have?
It is a method we select for efficiency. But if the benefits of being face-to-face are lost when the number of students in the class/lecture exceeds 10–30, then maybe what we have is not even a **glorified correspondence course**, but a **stunted correspondence course**. A single lecture is given on a fixed day at a fixed time in a fixed place with fixed seating capacity. In an online environment, any number of students can watch lecture videos in their own time, watch them again as many times as required, pause to check other sources, talk to friends or classmates, take coffee breaks and breathers, and move between effortlessly (depending on the quality of the technology) between different class materials and media.
>
> should I invest more time into developing additional materials that would make it easier for a student to do well in my class, even if that student decides to skip half my lectures?
>
>
>
Ideally, yes. Practically, no.
Three people are responsible for a students’ learning: the student, the teacher, and the teaching institution. Without a institution that supports progressive approaches to teaching and learning, it’s impossible to truly tailor your student-teacher interaction times for individual students’ needs.
If I were a university academic (I am not, I am a secondary mathematics teacher), I imagine it would be wonderful if I could post amazing notes and videos publicly online. If others were doing the same, I wouldn’t even have to produce all the necessary resources myself. Then I could use lecture time as an open communication forum – probably using some kind of technology for students to submit talk items to an agenda. This is probably a bit too progressive (or prematurely progressive) for most tertiary institutions today.
P.S. I very much appreciate your approach to PPT!
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Background
==========
I did my masters research project with Prof X. While doing this I joined his lab, where he used to ask me to do random tasks i.e. taking part in different projects, conducting lectures to undergrad students, help him preparing presentations, doing literature reviews not related to my project. I did all those things because of my curiosity and passion for learning as many things as I could. Unfortunately, this delayed my progress in my masters research project.
The Prof. X seemed not at all concerned not only about me but also his other students, except when he wanted us to publish. Although the research field was new to me and I had to do everything on my own and I learned a lot. In the end, he was quite happy and satisfied with my work. He offered me PhD position at his lab but having bad experience with him, I politely refused that right now I don't have any plan to pursue my PhD.
After that, I could notice he is very cold towards me. During my writing stage, he continuously burdened me more with different tasks related to lab. Moreover, after submission he totally ignored to pass the examiner's names to faculty and it delayed my masters results further two months, even though I requested him multiple times. Once I came to know about this delay through faculty, I told him very politely that how can he do that? He just said (laughingly): sorry I forgot about it.
This is not the first time I found him selfish and not consistent while having no concern about any of his student.
Question
========
Now, I am applying for PhD position and I need references. I have other other faculty members with whom I have worked with or taken courses and they are willing to witness my motivation and good performance. The problem is that they require one of the referee must be the main research supervisor, in my case Prof X. I don't trust Prof. X in this matter. What should I do now?<issue_comment>username_1: I think your concern is on good grounds.
>
> *they require one of the referee must be the main research supervisor.*
>
>
>
They normally expect a recommendation letter from Prof. X and excluding him could create a bad impression on the selection committee. Certainly the selection committee needs to know how the student worked with Prof X. Recommendation letter, the master thesis and a personal interview are more or less only *logical* way to reach a conclusion about the application. From my experience the recommendation letter can have the potential to influence your chances of getting admitted even if an interview gone good/bad. If you exclude Prof X, chances are that your application gets rejected in the early stage, you might even get an interview if you are lucky.
My advise is to arrange a meeting with Prof.X and openly tell him that you are applying to so and so group, you are motivated in their methods in so and so topic and explain him why you *really* need to be a part of them. Tell him **why** you turned downed his offer and honestly share your concerns. Keep in mind that this **should not be an "I am sorry" type of meeting** but an open discussion about what you honestly think.
Now you speculate that Prof. X would write a bad recommendation letter. I think he would have hard time in doing so **if your master thesis is strong**. He will have to convince the committee how bad was his experience with you, still you manage to produce a quality thesis. If you are confident about your thesis and even if you still think Prof. X would write a bad letter, I don't think it is a good idea to exclude him.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If you submit an application with a bad reference, it will quite probably sink your application. On the other hand, simply ignoring the requirement in the application may lead to a desk reject.
However, if obtaining a good reference from your advisor is not going to happen, you should probably **address that up front in your statement of purpose and include the reference anyway**. Disclose, *in a neutral fashion*, that you had difficulties with your previous supervisor, and *focus on what you learned from that*. If you can show in your SoP that you can endure challenging situations, and even grow from them, while also showing you are able to conduct high quality research, this may outweigh not having the critical reference.
**Pros**:
* It meets the requirements of the application (if, indeed, you have verified that this is a *hard* requirement)
* It demonstrates that you can endure challenges in research, as you will inevitably face more during your PhD (just hopefully of a different nature)
* It shows maturity in your application (by favouring openness and transparency)
**Cons**:
* It includes a weak reference letter in your application, if you can even persuade your advisor to write it
* It risks presenting (rather than concealing) less savoury characteristics of your past research profile, which shows that you're not a "golden," flawless candidate.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I'm sad to say but you are in very bad spot right now. From your description,it looks like that professor suffers from bad case of inflated ego combined with very petty and vengeful personality. To hold back someone out of pure spite is quite bad.
You need his reference and he can flat out deny your request if he holds a grudge. Remember,your refusal of his offer hurt his ego.
I would suggest that you politely arrange a meeting with Prof X and talk to him in person. You are not gonna like what comes next. You are going to brown nose it. Plain and simple,there is no other way since he is in position of power and probably egoistical A-hole. Stroke his ego by telling him how much you learned from him,how you admired him and viewed him as a role model. Put together every positive experience you had while working with him and tell it in a way that it reflects good on him. Tell him how writing that letter and you getting admitted will reflect on him. BS it,embellish,but in the end,your goal here is to make Prof X happy enough to write you that letter. You don't need to grovel below him,but you need to play it tactful and smart.
I know that this sounds awful,degrading and above all else unfair,but life is unfair. Focus on the goal,bad taste goes away.
I had dealings with professors who were world class A holes with egos to the Moon and back. Asking anything from them made my stomach turn. Hell,my mentor on master thesis was like that. Superb professor,with lot of practical experience and theoretical knowledge. But he was egomaniac and a hole on the good day. But with right nudges and some ass kissing he helped me a lot. He even wrote me a letter of recommendation for my first job. Whole experience taught me thing or two how to handle those types of characters who held position of power.
Hope it helps and best of luck
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: What if you told him that working with him has made you consider a PhD, but because of family/location/other issues, you can't stay at his lab in the long term?
I mean, you're trying to get a recommendation from this professor. As much as I dislike butt-kissing on principle, it sounds like he's the sort to live on some buttering up.
I got quite a few things to work out for me by playing nice. Sometimes you have to play nice even though the other parties aren't- and I've had to play nice with some seriously malignant people. All you can do is focus on the positives of that relationship when you're talking with them, but always keep the negatives in mind. Don't get sucked into his vortex while wearing the nostalgia glasses, though. You've made a good call by not staying in his lab.
Good luck to you, OP. :)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: You cannot afford a bad reference from your adviser(by the way, you don't have co-advisers?).
An adviser is a person who has the responsibility to supervise your work and progress. The credibility of your CV will be validated according to your adviser's recommendations, along with other professors, depending how much they were involved in your education, gaining skills, and experience.
How you can avoid all of these? I don't think "butt-kissing" as someone suggested previously is a good way. I think you should openly talk with your adviser and discuss what is their opinion about your work, progress and future prospects. Nothing neutral- everything should be solved with this conversation, since you need to decide if you want to omit his/her recommendation. After all, you would be better off having NO recommendation than a BAD recommendation.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: You are looking for a risk-free response and there isn't one. The bottom line here is, you don't trust Prof. X, so a letter from him seems out of the question. You can be certain that this will raise eyebrows and your application may be turned down out of an abundance of caution. So let me preface my advice by saying thay this approach is not perfect. If you decide to request the letter, there's some good advice in the other responses.
1) The one thing you have going for you is the paper and your master's thesis. The master's thesis is single author, so there's no dispute as to who did what. You need to describe in your SoP *precisely* what your contribution to your paper was, cite the paper in the SoP, and provide a link to the paper and the thesis in case anyone cares to read it.
2) Carefully sift through the work of the professors you are targeting and describe briefly but compellingly why you would like to work in their group. Here's what will probably happen: The graduate committee will see that you are specifically mentioning a research group and will forward your application to that professor for comment. Once that happens, your SoP is in the hands of someone that can assess the quality of your work and your technical knowledge, who might actually take a look at the thesis/paper, and who suddenly has a lot of power over your application.
3) Additionally, you may want to request a letter from the senior Ph.D. student or (best) postdoc you worked most closely with; he/she should be a co-author of the work and should briefly describe in the letter in what capacity they know you before getting into the details. It should be someone you trust with keeping it confidential.
All the best.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In this case you should not select Prof.X as your PhD guide since he behaved very badly with you. Also you should inform your fellow mates that they also don't select him as guide. My advice is that you write your master's thesis without his supervision.
He offered you a PhD position at his lab but having bad experience with him, you have done a very good job if you have politely refused by telling him that right now you don't have any plan to pursue your PhD.otherwise he (Prof. X) would have told
you to write your master's thesis under him which could be disastrous for you
Since this matter is very serious you should complain about his behavior to your department's higher authorities i.e.the head,dean,chancellor,vice-chancellor,etc.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_7: The supervisors reference letter is one of the most important parts of your application, and for that reason I think you should try a combination of things.
For one, trying to improve the chances that your supervisor will write positive things in your letter by having a discussion with them where you outline the many positive experiences (hopefully there are some) and accomplishments from your time as a master's student. Reiterating how Prof X helped you succeed in these achievements (eg a publication) should increase the chance of these things being written in your reference letter.
As others have mentioned, you should try to explain how you had some personality conflicts with your advisor but managed to overcome these and still be successful. Mentioning that you were offered to stay as a PhD student but declined because you have a desire to learn in a new environment etc, might also help the committee see that there is something odd about the negative things written in Prof.X's reference letter.
In addition, if you are on good terms with other Prof's in the department (eg your other referee(s) or a co-advisor), or better yet the department head, it might be worth having a discussion with them about your problems as they may also be able to mention something in their reference letter that will help to outweigh any negative aspects of your supervisors letter.
All in all, a very difficult situation, but not something that should keep you from finding a PhD position if you were a successful masters student.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_8: I assume that Prof. X would be known in the field that you work in. In that case, their behaviour will probably also be known to their colleagues. For the list of references I would give people I expected good references from. In the cover letter, I would mention that Prof. X was my academic supervisor and could be contacted, but that the references listed were my preferred references.
Be careful not to say anything rude about Prof. X. And don't complain too much about your experiences, or you would sound like someone who might be trouble. Just say who are your preferred references, and let the committee decide for themselves whether to go with your preferences or follow their own guidelines. If they go against your wishes and get a bad reference (or no reference), they won't be surprised, and hopefully they will also have gotten all the references you really recommended as well. But the committee might also respect your wishes.
I agree that this sounds like a bad situation, and you might want to warn juniors in the lab about your experience so they can transfer if they agree with you. Have you spoken to people who were senior PhD students when you came in, and ask how their experience went? It may be that you are overly worried now, and that in fact your supervisor writes excellent letters. You should probably do this before any of the other steps suggested above.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I am doing a degree in Computer Science. I am not in my final year, however my lecturer has asked me to do a dissertation over the whole of this year as a sort of dry run. This is so when I go to do my actual dissertation next year - the whole process won't be foreign to me.
My project (which I have had signed and approved) is to write a piece of software which converts SVG images into front end application code (converting a button design into an actual coded button which can be used in c# applications).
My problem is that I'm struggling to find areas to research for my literature review. My project isn't innately about any topic of research, it's just creating a piece of software.
Methods and results of what I've tried:
* From what I've read, this part of the essay should include literature for/against (or opposing thoughts) of the topic at hand. The only way I can break this down to fit my project is - Should/Shouldn't User Interfaces be created from deigns. Could this possibly lead to less accurate representations of what was needed? Will the controls created be as efficient as a control created by a person based off of the designs
* What is known or already understood about this topic. I've not yet found anything suitable that another person has done with regards to converting SVG's to code.<issue_comment>username_1: Ultimately you need your professor's take on this. However, a literature review doesn't have to just be about research. It would probably be helpful to find similar programs and study how they handle this problem. In doing this, you can learn what works, what doesn't work, and areas where you can add improvements. If writing a program like this is common for dissertations at your school, you can approach more senior students or other professors who are familiar with the process and ask them how this is handled.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Figuring out what to put in a literature review usually involves taking a *giant* step back and thinking about (1) what someone needs to know in order to understand your work, and (2) how your work fits into the overall body of research. For example, you might want to address the following:
* What are vector graphics (like SVG) and how do they differ from bitmap graphics (e.g. PNG).
* Why is there an interest in automatically generating code?
* What other attempts have been made to automatically generate code (not just from UI designs, but also from other types of designs like UML diagrams)?
* How successful were these attempts?
* What problems have been encountered?
* What is the state of the art in automatic code generation today?
* Why isn't automatic code generation more widely used?
* What benefits and drawbacks are there for automatically generating code from a graphic, as opposed to from a drag-and-drop approach as is typically used in Visual Studio.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I am writing an academic paper with some co-authors and we are thinking of including a word in parentheses in the title. So the title would look something like
>
> XXXX (YYYY?) XXXX
>
>
>
I have two questions:
1. Is there any style issue/argument against this? The fact that I need to ask this question in the first place leads me to believe that there is. But I thought I would ask since this may just be a rare occurrence and may not violate any writing/style rules.
2. In case it is okay, would it be okay for the title to *start* with the parentheses?<issue_comment>username_1: There are many papers out there with parentheses in my title. In particular, there are at least three articles (from different publishers) starting with a parenthesis:
* [(Patho)physiological Significance of the Serum- and Glucocorticoid-Inducible Kinase Isoforms](http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00050.2005)
* [(Patho)physiological implications of chronic dietary sodium restriction during pregnancy; a longitudinal prospective randomized study](http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0528.1991.tb15335.x)
* [(Patho)physiological implications of the novel epithelial Ca2+ channels TRPV5 and TRPV6](http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00424-003-1038-7)
Thus, there is at least some publishers who do not object to this.
On the other hand, this probably does not hold for all publishers, and there very likely is at least one out there, who objects against parentheses in titles.
Unless there is a clear rule in the publisher’s guidelines, it will be impossible to predict its opinion on this matter. Thus, I would suggest to just use the parentheses and let the publisher or the copy editor, respectively, worry about this.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: The main stylistic argument against the use of parentheses in a paper title is that **parentheses are an expository device that should be used very sparingly**, even in the body of a paper or other text. I learned this the hard way: for many years I had a bad habit of injecting too many parenthetical clauses into my writing. At some point I became aware of this and started making a conscious effort to replace any use of parentheses with an equivalent non-parenthetical statement, and found that in 90% of the cases doing so made sense, was easy to achieve, and improved the presentation. Overall I feel that my writing has greatly improved thanks to this small change, and I would recommend to anybody to follow the same guideline that parentheses are like a strong spice, to be used in moderation and only when there is a very good reason to do so.
With that said, I have used parentheses in the title of one of my own papers (the idea of one of my coauthors, but not necessarily a bad one), and think that this is fine if it serves some clear purpose and done in good taste. As others have commented, it may be done to lend the title a slightly more informal feel, or to inject a pun or a bit of humor, or to add some important qualifier to the main statement of the title, e.g., "The infinite-dimensional halting problem is (almost) undecidable."
Finally, I do think using parentheses at the beginning of the title is almost certainly a very bad idea. Parentheses by their nature are just a little bit distracting, and the beginning of the title of your paper is the last place where you want to distract your reader's attention. The title should have a strong, punchy start that pushes the reader along and helps them to appreciate what your paper is about; see a related discussion [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/15453/is-it-better-to-start-the-paper-title-with-a-verb). Moreover, another small principle of good scientific writing is that sentences in general, and titles in particular, should not start with punctuation marks of any sort (or with mathematical symbols), so that's another reason why parentheses would be bad at the beginning of the title.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I always wonder whether there are some particular rhythms (or tones) people use while presenting their work. It seems many people I have seen talking have some particular style and they repeat that through out the talk.
Personally, I feel very uncomfortable while giving a talk although my English is not that bad. Thought this type of rhythm might help me dealing with this "uneasiness". Looking for your advice..<issue_comment>username_1: Everybody has to find their own style and "voice." Perhaps in some people, that might come out in a sort of rhythm or tone. In my own talks, when I am comfortable and happy with my material, I often settle into certain characteristic pattens of emphasis and pause, fast and slow. Watching people give good talks and studying their style can be a useful tool for figuring out how you *relate* to various tactics, and perhaps give you more comfort in their diversity, by showing that you do not have to strictly conform to any particular pattern. Your "voice," when you find it, however, will be uniquely your own.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Agreed with @username_1 that one finds one's own style, tone and rhythm being two aspects of it. I think most academics don't think about tone and rhythm explicitly, but they're useful ideas (I come from a performing arts background, where we sometimes do think of those explicitly). I'd say that if they appeal to you as frameworks for your speaking style, or tunable "parameters," then experiment with them.
Some off-the-cuff thoughts:
* It's easy to go too fast if you're nervous, or otherwise not thinking about your rhythm and/or timing. Without speaking deliberately slowly, take your time a little, and don't rush. People need time to absorb what you're saying.
* One useful structuring in music is to present a melodic theme A, then present a variation or a complementary theme B, and then bring them together A+B. If your talk lends itself to something like that, you might deliberately structure it that way. For example, present your main point, the thesis (A), elaborate on consequences of that thesis (B), and then reiterate the thesis and how the consequences you mentioned can/will lead to further study (A+B).
* A lot of folks use their slides as prompts for their speaking. This functions well enough, but better talks are those where the visuals support your message, not the other way around. One consequence of using slides as prompts is to make your rhythm irregular, since there's a lag between changing the slide and remembering what you wanted to say there. Again, I think this is okay much of the time, but talks that flow better do not do this, in my opinion. They have a structure of their own, and slides (if any) change in sync with what you're saying.
* It's very much a matter of taste, and of what's appropriate in the circumstances (e.g., addressing a kindergarten class, or giving a keynote at Commencement, or a rowdy faculty meeting), but tones people tend to take are: studious, comic (witty, corny, self-deprecating, etc.), relaxed, confident, enthusiastic, etc. Use what you feel strongest in, and experiment.
Hopefully something in there is helpful :)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I agree and upvote both previous answers, and just offer this checklist in addition:
1) Do not try to adopt an artificial inflection or tone. You'll wear it like a bad suit.
2) Do try to express your wonder and enthusiasm about the subject matter.
3) DO use personal vernaculars and colloquial "common man" phrases in your presentation.
4) If you can't describe your ideas to a nine-year-old child, you can't describe your ideas. Fit your program to your audience. Don't drill down to level 29 for investors.
5) DO express your enthusiasm.
6) DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT...(did I forget to emphasize "do not?") read powerpoint slides verbatim to your audience. You will be dismembered and killed and otherwise inconvenienced if you do this.
EDIT: It is a very VERY good idea to do some practice read-throughs of your presentation with some kind of rhythmic music in your ears. The music is there to give you a PACE REFERENCE. Do not, however, play bad amateur techno soundtracks behind your ACTUAL presentation.
Have you ever been at an author's reading, where that author was like a runaway train careening off the rails into the ravine below? That's PACE. Ever watched an amateur golfer try to rip a tee shot and instead scuttle it just past the "ladies tees?" PACE. Ever sat through a lecture with an ancient wizard-of-the-arts who was nonethless apparently overdosed on thorazine? PACE.
Your pace wants to be conversational, it wants to seem natural and unforced. Too slow and you bore your audience and lose them. Too fast and you overwhelm your audience and lose them.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I just want to find out if this is normal, and see if anyone has any advice.
I recently decided to apply for a PhD program, and have been trying to get letters of recommendation. I first went with the professors I thought could give me the best recommendations because they knew me best, but when a week went by with no answer to my emails I did some research and found both were on leave (one with no estimated date of return). I decided to go through all the courses I'd taken, and organize the contact information for each professor. I found that, out of 12 different professors, only five are still active at the university. And wouldn't you know it, but none of the professors who gave me A's are active! (I know that grades aren't the most important thing in a letter of recommendation, I just thought it was an extra weird bit that all my B and B+ professors were still teaching).
I worked full-time while getting my MA, and so I didn't go to office hours or schmooze with the professors before or after class (because I was coming straight from work with no time to spare, and after class I was either going right back to work or tired because it was late). I participated in classes, but I don't think any professor would say they know me well. Am I screwed as far as getting into a PhD program, even if I get recommendations about my excellent academic potential or whatever, if the letters aren't personal?<issue_comment>username_1: The most common and most valuable letters come from the professor(s) that were your academic advisor(s), or that otherwise directed or participated in your thesis work.
Not to be acerbic, but you made the mistake of treating your master's program as a place where you went to sit and look at powerpoint slides, and made use of your professors as if they were just there to read from powerpoint slides. A typical response to a recommendation query from such a professor is likely to be "I don't think I'm a good person to write you a recommendation, because I will not be able to speak to your strengths and abilities."
They say this to you because there is a well-established unwritten and unspoken protocol in PhD admissions, that of the "damning with faint praise" letter. The committee reads that letter as "this professor either had nothing to say about the candidate, or chose not to say bad things about the candidate. In either case, the professor had nothing GOOD to say about the candidate."
Beyond that...It is quite acceptable to ask an inactive professor (retired, on leave, etc.) to pen a recommendation. It's entirely their prerogative whether to accommodate you though. Only your direct thesis advisor feels a burden of responsibility to write anything at all.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: The high turnover is unusual, and is bad luck for you.
One could say that you didn't go out of your way to make personal connections. On the other hand one could say that you worked efficiently. It's a matter of point of view.
Just follow basic best practice with your applications -- apply to a safety school, a bit of a reach school that makes you drool when you imagine studying there, and something solid, i.e. in between. What will help you control your anxiety is to remind yourself that
* getting into a PhD program is easier than getting a tenure track teaching job
* a good admissions committee will look at the whole person, and the whole application; some candidates are stronger in some aspects, some in others
* as long as the committee is convinced you can do a good job in their program, they will want to admit you, because they are in business to accept and educated students
In your case, if it continues to prove difficult to get the desired types of letters, you may want to consider:
* contacting the dean or chair of your department to request a letter explaining that the key faculty members are not available, but describing your strengths on the department's behalf
* including an explanatory note in your application
* including a reference from an employer
Upvotes: 0
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2015/11/23
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<issue_start>username_0: My efficiency is very high during exam week. How do I keep this high efficiency at other times?<issue_comment>username_1: You probably can't.
Exam periods are high intensity last minute sprints, exhausting and taking a toll on the other aspects of your life. Personally, I barely spent time cooking or meeting friends. My time was spent on life support activities (eat and sleep), studying, and regretting not having managed my time better. I also remember being exhausted and not being able to do much intellectual work right after the exams were over.
You can pull this off for a short period of time, but you cannot keep this for long without being burned out. Plan ahead, spread your workload, and make sure you get enough rest and leisure to keep your brain rested and at peak efficiency.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I'd say you can not.
And I will not only compare it to my own experiences during university time - but also as a sports athlete that did lots of competitions on international level.
Like a sportsman you define which races (exams) you find most important - or at least where you need to put in lots of work to succeed.
You will notice that you can't always succeed in the same way for every race (exam) - you will be burned out a bit after a heavy exam the same you will be burned after a hard race.
You need regeneration - everybody will notice this after heavy work is done. You need to step back and enjoy your success - but in any way you need to get some sleep, meet some friends, have fun.
You manage to be fit and powerful just on top of the hill - this is where your race and exams starts. If you will exercise to be fit before this day comes you can not hold it until the important day comes.
So just lean back and be sure you do what you have to do when it is the right time and enjoy life in the times where you can. (This is in my humble opinion the most important advice I can give you for your whole life) - there is nothing wrong with you!
--
When you do some races on international level you need to qualify in some other races way before the important race day comes. Yet, you have to do really good on those qualification races.
But anyhow - any athlete will not have his 100% race condition on those days - he will exercise and plan to have them just at the race day. And if you ever did sports and trained a lot for races you mostly experienced how awesome you did during the race and you never imagined before that you could do that!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I agree with the previous answers: you cannot keep up your efficiency as high as during exam time. However, I think you yourself know that it is not humanly possible. I think what you really want to know is how you can maintain a decent pace of work during other times, so that you are not so overloaded during exams. I would advise my students to follow this plan when I was teaching:
* At the beginning of the semester, list down all the work that you
have to do for the semester, breaking each larger piece of work into
smaller units that can be completed in 2-3 hours.
* Calculate the study time that you think you can devote comfortably
each week and set targets for yourself to complete a few units within
each week. Keep some buffer time, just in case you cannot complete
one or two tasks or something urgent comes up that takes away some of
your study time.
* You have to ensure that you complete the scheduled tasks within the
week.
* Begin and end your stud time by having a look at the list. Tick off
tasks from the list as you complete them. This will give you a sense
of satisfaction.
* Reward yourself on the weekend if you have completed the task; punish
yourself if you don't. For instance, you get to go to a movie if you
complete the tasks, but you cannot go if you don't. Change the
rewards each week for novelty.
Hopefully, you will be able to maintain a good pace if you diligently follow this plan.
Upvotes: 1
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2015/11/23
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a final year student and applying to graduate schools in the USA for Fall 2016. Recently, a professor was filling out my recommendation section in a college's admission portal.
In that portal, there was a question asking to rate the student in terms of intellect, communication ability, and such other things based on 'percentile' in class. The options were 1%, 5%, 10% and 50%. My teacher selected 50% as a higher percentile means better ranking in class. My current class ranking is 2/60 and I am worried about it. Did my teacher do the correct thing or should she have chosen the first option(1%)?
**Edit (15 Nov 2018):** Well this question is almost 3 years old now. Got a notification from this recently so wanted to thank all the people who answered back then. I did ask my teacher to send the correct data and consequently got in one of the Ivy Leagues in the fall of 2016. [*So good, baby baby..*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JZom_gVfuw)<issue_comment>username_1: Lower is definitely better. For example, the "Common Application" which is used for applying to undergraduate schools is pretty clear that 1% is good.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hWEj6.png)
The same generally holds for graduate school applications.
You should ask the recommender to try to change it and, if she is unable, she should contact the admissions committee directly. A top 50 percent ranking will almost surely lead to you not being accepted.
If your reference writer is so unfamiliar with the US system, you may want to consider asking someone else. There is an art to writing good recommendation letters. For example, it is reasonable for a recommender to rate the "intellect", "communication ability", etc. as being top 1% even if the student is ranked 2/60 since there is a difference between class rank and "intellect", "communication ability", etc. In fact, differentiating between the two is the whole point of the recommendation letter.
If the recommender is unable to change the letter at this point, it is much better to put in a phone call/email to the chair of graduate admissions than a phone call/letter to the university. In my experience the central administration is useless and you need to get to whoever is actually looking at the applications. It is critical that the recommender, and not the applicant, makes this call/email.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: By the WORDING of the question, we would be led to believe that you would want to be in the highest percentile of the class...i.e. in the mythical 99th percentile.
HOWEVER...by the structure of the constrained-choice answers, they've re-phrased the question to mean the TOP-percentile, which is expressed in the reciprocal fashion, with the 1% being the best.
There would be no sense whatsoever for a school to want to differentiate whether you were the very worst or almost the very worst, or merely average. They want to know if you're the best, almost the best, or merely average.
DO go back to your professor and have them revise the recommendation...sooner than later!
Upvotes: 3
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2015/11/23
| 443
| 1,532
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<issue_start>username_0: Which of the following is correct?
>
> a) Johnson et al. (2010) **prove** that all snow is yellow.
>
>
> b) Johnson et al. (2010) **proves** that all snow is yellow.
>
>
>
I suppose the question boils down to whether I'm citing the authors or their paper. If the paper is the subject of the sentence, it's singular (b). If the authors are the subject, then it's plural (a).<issue_comment>username_1: I personally am comfortable with both ways, for exactly the reasons that you give: it's entirely reasonable to refer to either the authors or the paper. The important thing is to be consistent with your usage throughout a manuscript, else your readers may wonder why you feel it appropriate to refer to some authors directly but not others.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I'd offer another alternative:
c) Johnson, et al. (2010) a proof of yellow snow.
The paper penned and published by Johnson and his buddies back in 2010, entitled "An analysis of the purity of driven snow" does not PROVE that all fallen snow is tainted, thus is "yellow." His paper OFFERS A PROOF that all fallen snow is tainted.
I believe, though I reserve the right to be ridiculed and otherwise piled on by both Chicago and MLA acolytes, that when you first cite a reference, it is of the general form:
1) Johnson, et al. "An Analysis Of The Purity Of Driven Snow" (2010) p.544. (optional summary descriptive text)
...and subsequent cites can be shorthand:
2) Johnson, et al. (2010)
Upvotes: -1
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2015/11/23
| 2,225
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a PhD student in mathematics, working in a quite unpopular field (recursion theory). As I'm now applying for postdoctoral positions in the US, I've encountered the following problem: The number of mathematics departments in the US having notable researchers in my field is quite small. As I'm quite flexible with my research interests, I added departments with researchers in related fields (such as model theory and set theory) to my list. But even then, there are less than 20 relevant departments across the US to which I can apply.
I heard that in order to maximize the chances of getting a postdoctoral position, mathematicians often apply to 50 positions or even more. I'd like to do the same thing, but I have some questions about it:
1. Are there any arguments ***against*** applying for postdoc positions in math departments where your research interests are not even remotely represented?
2. What should I do in order to increase my chances of getting a postdoc position in such a department? More specifically, what should I write in my cover letter (where applicants usually mention relevant faculty members, and sometimes also explain why they fit the position)? Should I contact a faculty member? What should I write to him/her? Any other useful advice?
3. Assuming that I have a strong application, do I have a reasonable chance of getting a position in such departments?
4. Bottom line question: Should I invest time and effort applying for positions in such departments?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, you should apply broadly to departments that have little or no strength in logic. Your chances of getting these jobs may be lower, since the search committee may be less excited to hire you and more worried that you'll choose another offer instead. However, the chances will certainly not be zero.
>
> Are there any arguments against applying for postdoc positions in math departments where your research interests are not even remotely represented?
>
>
>
The most important criterion is whether you would take the job if it were your best offer (or whether you'd look for other options: non-academic jobs, trying to spend another year in grad school, etc.). If you would seriously consider taking it, then it's reasonable to apply.
If you don't stand out as a star student, 20 job applications is probably not enough, so you should either broaden your search or decide you are comfortable with the risk of not getting an offer (since you'd be happy with non-academic options). If you want to maximize your chances of getting an academic job, you'll have to consider departments that aren't an ideal fit.
>
> What should I do in order to increase my chances of getting a postdoc position in such a department?
>
>
>
The most important factor you can control here is probably your research statement. If it is highly technical and difficult to read for anyone in other fields, then you are less likely to be hired. Instead, you need to make it accessible to non-experts, so it explains the context for your work, why it matters, and what it's connected to.
Of course, everyone should follow this advice in their research statements: leaving out this information can only hurt (and probably will). But it's particularly important if you can't rely on local experts to make a case for hiring you.
>
> Assuming that I have a strong application, do I have a reasonable chance of getting a position in such departments?
>
>
>
Yes, depending on your definition of "reasonable". Your chances will generally be lower if you work really doesn't connect with that of anyone in the department, but not necessarily dramatically lower (especially if you look really talented or show some breadth). It's also hard to predict who might be interested. For example, some combinatorialists are interested in theoretical computer science, and this might lead them to like the idea of having a recursion theorist around, even if you don't see this in their papers.
>
> Bottom line question: Should I invest time and effort applying for positions in such departments?
>
>
>
Yes. Using https://www.mathjobs.org, it really doesn't take much time and effort. I'm not sure it's worth spending lots of time carefully crafting a custom cover letter for each case (in my experience cover letters are not so important anyway), but it's absolutely worth pressing the "apply" button.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I sympathize with your situation - recursion theory as a whole is essentially the size of a sub-subfield in other areas of mathematics. Of the relatively small number of U.S. departments with logic programs, many are also extremely selective, and so getting a postdoc in any area of logic is challenging. It certainly cannot hurt to apply to every program with a logic group that is hiring a postdoc, although if they are not looking for a recursion theorist this year your chances will be much lower.
On the other hand, the recursion theory community has at least one advantage due to its small size: many of the researchers in the U.S. know each other, and know each others' students. I have always thought it is a friendly community, at least compared to the rumors about some other fields.
Two more things that are also worth note.
1. If you cannot get a true "postdoc", it is sometimes possible to find at least a temporary position at an institution with a logic program. Some of the logic departments are quite large, and may have another round of hiring for instructors later in the spring or summer. So, if you don't have a postdoc offer by the expected date, make sure you reach out (and/or ask your advisor for advice) to schools where you might be able to work while you apply again next year. It is particularly helpful in this case to try to get more research done in the spring, before you graduate, to strengthen your applications for the following year. I find it is always hard to get research done in the first fall at a new institution, while also applying for jobs.
2. Depending on the type of department you are looking for, you may want to consider broadening your search to less-famous schools. If you are interested in both excellent teaching and excellent research, by doing some internet legwork you can often find schools that are not prestigious but happen to have strong research programs (relative to the kind of school). These schools are often less picky about the "area" you work in, and you might be able to sell yourself as a discrete mathematician or mathematical computer scientist. Ironically, you sometimes have *more* research flexibility at these schools, for various reasons, which is a good thing if you are a recursion theorist. So look for choice tenure-track openings as well as postdocs. Just be well prepared when you give an interview - tenure track interviews are not like postdoc interviews.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> Are there any arguments against applying for postdoc positions in math
> departments where your research interests are not even remotely
> represented?
>
>
>
The big disadvantage to being the only logician as a postdoc is that you really do want to be able to collaborate with people at your institution, or at least nearby. If you end up somewhere where all you can do is work on your own projects by yourself, that is going to be a disadvantage when you go on the market after your postdoc.
There are some ways to mitigate that. You can collaborate with people at other nearby institutions. You can collaborate with people who are far away, by Skype or on trips (this is easier in computability theory than in many fields). Maybe most importantly, if you can manage to collaborate with someone at your institution on something interdisciplinary, you can turn that into an advantage.
But if you end up as the only logician, you should definitely plan to put active work into making sure you're doing some collaboration.
>
> Assuming that I have a strong application, do I have a reasonable chance of getting a position in such departments?
>
>
>
Logicians certainly do sometimes get hired as postdocs in schools without logicians on their faculty, though it's much less likely at the large research oriented universities. (Indeed, I can think of at least one computability theorist who's currently a postdoc at a very good liberal arts school with no logicians on the regular faculty.)
>
> What should I do in order to increase my chances of getting a postdoc position in such a department? More specifically, what should I write in my cover letter (where applicants usually mention relevant faculty members, and sometimes also explain why they fit the position)? Should I contact a faculty member? What should I write to him/her? Any other useful advice?
>
>
>
As far as I know, getting hired as a postdoc generally requires at least one person on the faculty who's excited about hiring you, and other people who are reasonably happy to have you. Two things that would increase your chances are:
1. Find faculty contacts. There are plenty of non-logicians out there who do have some interest in logic, and logicians generally have a good idea who they are. Getting one of them to support your application can make a big difference.
2. Write an excellent research statement that makes your work compelling to people who know nothing about logic. This is really important (and a good idea for other schools, too). If you can convince the other mathematicians at a department that you'll be someone they'll actually be able to talk to about math, that makes a big difference.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/23
| 593
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<issue_start>username_0: I wrote an email to Prof. X to ask about a PhD student vacancy and talk about a topic in one of his papers. He refused to accept me because of his retirement and replied with a warming email. In that, he cc-ed two others that he thought might be interested in me, Prof. Y and Prof. Z. Prof. Y refused because his area is somewhat distinct to mine; Prof. Z hasn't answered yet. I haven't responded to anyone yet. I also want to ask Prof. X's opinion about Prof. T's work, who is actually the one that I want to follow.
How should I respond to this? My feeling is that if Prof. X cc-ed others, this means that he wants to create a group discussion. As a group, everyone should have the right to hear each other voices. Should I reply to the group with a generic "thank you" email?
But if I do that, then I have to send another private emails to Prof. X and Prof. Z. I just worry that this will make me looks sneaky because I don't have the courage to discuss this in public.
What should I do?<issue_comment>username_1: The key factor here is that the professor X is retiring. He is not attempting to initiate a group discussion, he is trying to pass you off to the other CC professors and give you an introduction to them.
The correct way to respond is to send a nice single-addressee thank you note to original professor X only, perhaps also asking your query about Professor T, then send a single-addressee email to each individual Professor listed in the CC.
The key here is that you won't be working with the group, you'll only be working with one of them.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Semantically, if he wanted to create a group discussion, he would have put professor Y and Z in the **To** field, and would have addressed them and you in the first few lines of the email e.g. "Dear Y, Z and username_1,..."
If he wanted to let Y, Z know about his correspondence with you, i.e. keep them informed, he would, as he did, put them in the **CC** field, (For the interested reader later CC=Carbon Copy). He is just ensuring they have knowledge of what went down.
If he wanted to ensure they had knowledge, but you did not know they knew, he would have put them in the **BCC** field (Blind Carbon Copy).
However, people do not always use the fields "correctly".
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/23
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a student in my course that does well on the exams, and his answers to the exam questions show a deep understanding of the material. However, this student has not been handing in the assigned homeworks and has a missed a few lab assignments, as well. I've been told by other faculty that he has a job which keeps him up late, and have noticed that he struggles to stay awake at times during the class.
Depending on how he fares on a project worth a large portion of his grade, and the final exam, the missed homeworks/labs could cause his grade to be below a C, which is the required grade that a student must receive if they are to advance to the second, more advanced course [and, a C grade is also needed to get credit for the course; otherwise, the student will need to retake it again on the next offering, which isn't until two semesters from now]. Further, this student is a senior, so a D grade would be a major setback for him.
For those of you who have been in this situation before as an instructor, my question:
>
> Have you ever passed/failed a student like the one described above? If so, do you regret your decision? Why or why not?
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: As an instructor, when I find myself in this situation, I invite the student to make an appointment to speak with me privately in my office.
During that private meeting, I will discuss his/her current performance in the class, and point out the likely consequences if he/she does not submit the required work. I will advise the student as to what he/she must do to achieve the grade he/she needs.
Then it's up to the student to earn the grade he/she wants - or to fail. You can't live their lives for them.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: **Talk to the Student now**
---------------------------
If possible you should communicate to the student exactly the precarious position they are in. Presumably this student is capable of completing the assignments and labs just like other students in the course. From the sounds of it, even doing an average to below-average job on these would substantially reduce the odds of a very negative outcome.
At that point the burden is on the student. You cannot make changes to the weighting of grades because of the external circumstances: this would really not be fair to other students. Presumably you have some notion of the percentage weights the various graded assignments are worth. Explain this, and make it clear that excellent performance on exams is simply not enough.
Of course, I would feel bad giving a D or lower to a student in this situation, but the grade *must* reflect the student's performance in the course as a whole. It is unethical to give a student a grade other than the one their coursework has earned.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I strongly recommend you start with whatever the policy is in your syllabus. Most syllabi contain details about grading, points allocation, etc. By starting here, you can avoid any claims of "unique treatment", given that everyone received the same instructions.
That said, it sounds as though your student has a unique personal situation causing him to have difficulty completing all the material. In that case, I would follow the advice of username_1 and meet with the student privately to discuss. Simply bring the issue up and see what the student says. A comment of "I don't need to do your stupid homework, I'm good enough at the material without it" may deserve a different reaction than "I would love to do it but I simply don't have time with my other responsibilities".
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_4: My approach in this kind of situation has been to follow my syllabus and grading process to the letter. Students who earn Fs, even those who need a passing grade to advance, get Fs. If they need a heads up to see this coming, then it's definitely worth pulling them aside and telling them. It really can change their approach.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: You should discuss an alternative scheme for the homework problems for this student. Just tell the student that the way things are going now is not acceptable, he'll not get the credits for the course. If he tells you that he'll try harder, tell him that you actually know why he isn't doing well on the assignments, that he is going to fail the course and may also become ill due to overwork and then risk dropping out of university altogether.
Then offer him an alternative scheme for the assignments that is more compatible with his schedule, but which also comes with zero tolerance for not adhering to it. You should aim for assignments for him that are at least as hard as the regular assignments. You should tell in class that some students are following an alternative scheme for assignments to accommodate for private issues, that this is open to everyone, but the assignments are on average a bit harder than the regular assignments. This makes sure all students are treated equally, and that the alternative scheme is not an easy pass so the floodgates for the alternative scheme are not opened.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Stick to your syllabus.
That doesn't mean you're out of options though. Talk to the student and determine a minimum number of assignments that the student must complete in order to reach that C. Concentrate on balancing assignments that the student can complete, with assignments that you feel are especially important.
My school has a similar grade requirement for meeting the prerequisite for advanced classes, although a student will get credit for the current class with a D. When faced with similar situations I have on occasion recommended students be accepted despite their lower than typical grade. That has had mixed results, bending the rules too much for a student will not do them any favors.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: As others have said: default to the syllabus grading scheme to the letter. Diverging from this sends you down a sinkhole of making more modifications on the fly, trying to be fair to all students, running different case what-ifs, and generally doing a lot more work.
Given enough heads-up (again, as others said), I have specified a bare-minimum number of assignments that a student has to turn in to get a passing grade.
Also consider the appropriateness of an "Incomplete" grade. Although I almost never do it, if there is truly a unique situation that you want to account for, consider withholding the grade until the student passes in some bare-minimum work after the fact. A downside of this is that it does create more work for you (scheduling and following up), but in theory that grade status is designed to account for that.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: First of all, let's dispense with the fantasy-world argument about the ethics of grading fairness and all that claptrap...The student's grade is the student's grade, and no other student has any standing to discuss it or even notice it, much less complain about it. "Objective" grading is a starting point. No more, no less.
Having said that, I have opened the door to the fact that any grade given is purely at the discretion of the professor, and that doesn't mean it is completely arbitrary: there should be some discernible qualification or justification for a grade that diverges from an "objective" grade.
Of course, any individual Professor's criterion for adjusting a grade will ultimately be subject to review and revision by the department chair and/or dean or even provost...so let's just dispense with that here and consider it assumed.
I think the breakpoint is whether the situation is chronic or episodic. My personal feeling is that a student isn't going to school to get through part-time work...They're doing part-time work to get through school. Their coursework is, as far as I care about, thier primary concern. With this notion, I am less inclined to give chronic absentee/no homework situations a "pass" but reserve the ability to be lenient in the here-and-there odd situations where "life happens."
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: Kudos to you for wanting to find a way for a talented and hard-working but over-extended student to succeed.
What is the right measure of whether the student is mastering the material in a way that supports the follow-on classes? Ideally, you will design your syllabus so that the student's grade will appropriately reflect their level of mastery. In some courses, there is no real mastery without lab mastery. In others, textbook-based conceptual mastery would suffice. They are many reasons why the grade contract on your syllabus might be incorrectly formulated. E.g., you might be weighting homework heavily because that is the only reasonable way to get pass rates appropriate to your institution. That is, sadly enough, sometimes it is unavoidable to reward effort instead of mastery. You say the student shows "deep understanding", and if by that you mean that he will be well prepared for the follow-on courses, you might propose a fair replacement for the grade contract on your syllabus. Make sure you would be comfortable offering every other student the same option. Then consider whether the grade contract on the syllabus should be altered to include this option. If yes, then you have probably found a good solution.
One strategy I use in courses where the final exam provides a comprehensive test of appropriate mastery is to give an A grade to anyone who gets an A on the final. (Of course, this is inappropriate in many courses.) Perhaps this offers a helpful starting point for dealing with this student.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_10: In my experience, if a students final mark works out to be just short of a passing grade It is common for teachers to round up the grade if they think the student has an adequate understanding of the material.
In some cases this has involved meeting the student after the final exam and going over the test with them to get a better understanding of the students depth of understanding. Some answers on a test may look good, but it could just be that the student has seen a similar problem before and has a good memory - but are not capable of elaborating on their answer. In this way you can get a better sense of the students actual proficiency with the material and decide based on that to pass or fail.
The whole purpose of homework is to help prepare the student for midterms and finals - and retain that knowledge. So if they can accomplish that without the homework and have an above average understanding of the material I don't think it makes sense for them to fail the class. This is probably one reason why university level courses often have finals worth 50% of the grade, whereas homework accounts for maybe 10%.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_11: What do you wish a grade in your class to mean? If you ignore the missing homework, a good grade in your class will indicate that a student has a strong grasp of the material and a high level of skill in solving the sorts of problems which you put on your tests within time limits. If you penalize the missing homework enough to make excellent test performance alone inadequate to obtain the good grade, a good grade in your class will not reflect the students ability to utilize their knowledge of the material to solve problems under time constraints. They may still have a good grasp of the material, or they might not. If they get a poor grade, they may still have a good grasp of the material, or they might not. The homework-penalizing grading will, however, reflect a degree of subservience and submission to discipline even in situations where the homework has little to no benefit to the students knowledge.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_12: While it is important to try to be "consistent" with grades, I think we can mostly agree that the point of courses is to educate, rather than demanding compliance to (admittedly artificial, even if self-consistent) rules. If the situation described comes up in the middle of the term, it's awkward to accommodate, because suddenly declaring that students have the option of having their grade determined by just exams could be objected-to on the grounds that if they'd known that, they might not have done the other work... Hard to argue with this, even if we imagine that the intention of homework and labs is to help learn the material, etc.
In the past, I have bent my own rules and given grades based on performance on the final. By this time, I would arrange things so that I'd have less reason to do so... Altogether, out of perhaps 100 such cases in 40 years, I can recall at most 1 or 2 where students were genuinely successful in learning the material while being somewhat disconnected. So, in fact, although some students half-heartedly complained that they'd have not done the homework if they'd been allowed-to, not "allowing" it did them a favor.
So, I have no regrets at bending the rules for a few, although I was not happy that in 98 percent of cases this bending didn't save them.
So, by now, my default for undergrad courses is to "require" homework + for exceptions see me at the beginning of the term, not part-way through... explaining that changing things in the middle easily leads to unfairness... I do give examples of plausible exceptions (about skipping homework, especially, about missing a midterm, ... how can I demand that people not go ski-ing at Thanksgiving?...)
Summary: the goal is education, but/and a significant fraction of students will dis-serve themselves through naivete... But/and I no longer can stomach arguing that enforcement of artificial rules "makes sense". I strongly prefer more defensible positions. :)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_13: I had a professor that instituted a "flex" grading system (for all students) to cover this contingency.
There were three aspects of the course: 1) homework 2) hourly exams, and 3) the final, weighted 1/3, 1/3, 1/3.
But if some student did markedly better or worse on one aspect of the course, the professor would re-weight the grades 40% for the best aspect, 25% for the worst aspect, and 35% for the middle one. That way, each part of the course would have a minimum weight of 25% and a maximum weight of 40%, but students with skewed grades were given a benefit compared to the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3.
The professor's experience was that the "re-weighting" *rarely* changed anyones' grade, but might for the odd student. I was that odd student.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_14: One way out would be to announce to the class that you would be giving out a difficult optional assignment that anyone can attempt for bonus credit of say 20%, and at the same time inform that student privately that you are doing this for his sake but such that it is still fair to all, and so he had better submit the optional assignment if he didn't want to get a poor grade.
The first advantage is that it is fair to all students and yet rewarding those who have a much deeper mastery of the subject. You should of course mark the assignment impartially and try to prevent any cheating, and it will naturally give extra credit to the better students.
The second advantage is that it does not penalize any students at all, since it is purely bonus credit. So no student will have any reason to complain, since the good students can prove that they deserve a good grade.
The third advantage is that you do not have to rely on your subjective and possibly inaccurate judgement of this student's abilities. It may be bad to give good students an 'undeserving' poor grade, but it would be even worse to give bad students a truly undeserving better grade than there is clear evidence for (unless you are absolutely certain that your student's performance on the exam is so outstanding that all your colleagues will agree fully with you).
Note that I'm purposely not answering the question of whether to pass or fail the student involved, since according to the above we can only answer that question after the optional assignment deadline.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_15: Convert assignment to exam. Just explain the student that not everything can be verified in exam, that some kinds of performance, understanding can only be seen from assignment results, so assignment marks influence the exam marks.
As the student is doing exams well, he will do the assignments well also now, because they are part of the exam. Currently he probably does not think it is necessary.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_16: There are many answers already, but let me give one that applies in France (hoping I am not the only French around here).
First, Universities usually have special attendance waivers for students who work aside their studies. Students have to declare this early to make university able to accommodate them, but it is always a good thing to let them know they should disclose their situation to the person in charge. Note that some otherwise mandatory requirement can be waived (e.g. some homework, some in-class evaluations) but that some cannot (e.g. practical work in experimental sciences are usually too important a part of the curriculum to be waived).
Second, the grading system is often only loosely defined, which makes one able to adapt it to the case. One should of course always be as fair and as precise as possible, to make the grade really reflect what it should measure.
Third, even if the grading scheme has been precisely established and cannot be changed at all, the end-of-year jury has complete power of changing grades. Be sure to attend it so that the student's case is treated appropriately. Short of that, make sure the case is known to all colleagues.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_17: Depending on whether your academic rules at your institution allow this flexibility, you can offer the student to do what at least two of my professors did during my undergraduate days:
* Talk to the student first to ensure that they really understand the material.
* Offer them to simply take the tests and the final test as 100% of their grade. Maybe ask to solve a couple of randomly selected homework problems too.
* In the interest of fairness, offer the same option to **all** students in the class who qualify (based on already-passed test grades). If they feel that they **really** know the material excellently enough not to bother doing the homework, prove it to you in an brief oral exam combined. If they perform as well, they get the same waiver.
This way:
1. You ensure that the students you graduate from your class truly reflect the level of knowledge you wish to impart to them
2. You don't penalize students who know their stuff (because they are just extra smart, or because this is old material for them) by making them do make-work which doesn't enhance their knowledge or understanding because the homework in class isn't intended to evaluate the student's knowledge but to help them gain that understanding.
3. You don't treat anyone specially due to their "special circumstances".
Remember, your goal is to (1) teach the material; (2) teach to learn. It's not to make students complete 100% of their homework because the homework, like Everest, *is there*.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_18: It is imperative that you design your grading system to take this type of situation into account. Some students simply will not get the homework done, even if they understand the material. The reason is not really your concern (unless of course it's something like a medical or family emergency). In my courses, I always instituted a way for students to avoid zeros on homework. For instance, I would allow them to make up late work for up to a week, though at only a fraction of the value. If it was past a week, I would offer them additional work (e.g. writing a paper, or doing a special project or lab) to make up some points. However, I stress that this policy must be written in your syllabus so that grading remains fair to all students.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_19: *The last part of your question is a poll and is not kosher for this site, but I will offer my point of view about your basic dilemma.*
The old-fashioned way of grading put a great deal of weight on the exam(s). In a lab course, this would include a lab exam.
Over time, we started to become more humane, and reduce the pressure about the exam performance, by giving more weight to other components.
If you feel that your exams are well enough designed that a solid exam performance sufficiently permits a student to demonstrate mastery of the material, and if you are confident about your exam proctoring procedures, then be humane. Be flexible. Celebrate his mastery of your course material by giving this student a well-deserved A.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_20: Your syllabus has, or should have, a formula used to calculate the students' grades. This student is making a choice, based upon what he or she understands that formula to be, not to do the homework. Every student should be able to look at the grade formula, figure out what grade they can accept, weigh that against their goals and the time demands of their other courses and pursuits, and determine what they want to hand in.
Of course, doing the homework should help the student to generate an understanding of the topics in the course, and thus help the student do better on exams and major assignments. It could also help a student recognize red flags for a lack of understanding that merits extra attention. If the homework doesn't play such a role, or some other similar role, then it's just busy work, and you need to ask why its being assigned in the first place.
You should view the grade as a pre-established contract with the student put forth in the syllabus. If the student can abide by it, they stay in the course, and if they find they can't, they're free to make other plans. The fact that you're wrestling with this decision now seems to signal that you haven't clearly established this contract. Use this situation as an experience to sharpen your grade formula in the future such that a student in this situation would get the grade you feel is deserved, but for this semester you need to stick to whatever formula you conveyed. If you haven't conveyed a formula, do what you think is right, but *it is WRONG to place students in a situation where they don't understand what generates their grade* and you should certainly fix this for future iterations.
How much should homeworks count? My own personal feeling is that if it counts too much, it just encourages academic dishonesty. It should count enough that poor homework performance should certainly rule out an A, just to encourage students to do it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_21: In my alma mater, which was also where I taught for a several years, the academic studies bylaws explicitly stated that **the course grade is intended to reflect the student's command of the subject matter.** Assuming the subject matter is not the practical skill of writing code or building something, the "deep understanding" OP has discerned would be enough to give the student an excellent grade. There are rules, and there are higher-level rules (the "constitutional level" if you will). So, actually, sticking to some formula in the syllabus against one's better judgement would be mis-grading that student and, theoretically (but not practically) grounds for *him/her* to complain...
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_22: One follow-up question I wold ask is whether the exam in question is as rigorous as the OP suggests; the student may indeed have known the material well (or known it already from past exposure), but if it required very little practice to master the skills needed to excel at a summative assessment, how powerful a measure could it possibly be? My students often ask me for a final exam whose grade could trump the rest of the semester (probably because they got that "Senior Day" treatment in high school), but I ask them two question which quickly snuff out the requests:
1. Would you be satisfied if your exam results *dipped* and thus brought your A down to a C, "just because" you got a 79.8% on the exam?
2. Are you prepared for an exam *genuinely* testing every major "essential" ("irreplaceable") concept we have discussed, and not this "gentler" one I have prepared in acknowledgement that you have already showed me a partial mastery based on your earlier exams? ("'Cause I could *always* make this final exam a *lot* more challenging....)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_23: I know what you want to do. You want to give them a break. BUT, you established grading standards for the entire class. It would be unfair to treat this student differently from the rest. And you can be penalized for doing so. If you don't want to enforce your own standard, then you should create a new one for the next class. But you must enforce the one you established for this class.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am in mathematics on the job market.
**How should I thank my interviewer?**
Does an e-mail suffice, a verbal thanks, or should I mail a handwritten note?
Although I do love writing handwritten notes expressing thanks to my family and friends, I don't want to come off as looking for favors. I am also not sure what is customary in mathematics.<issue_comment>username_1: I'd like to second @Shane's point [that it would seem a bit *quaint*]. Think of it from your interviewer's perspective: If you had a number of people to interview, besides getting your regular work done, you'd probably be happy if any correspondence was conducted through standardized channels. All of the faculty members I've known communicated via e-mail as first and last resorts.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Honestly, in this and at least one other question you are worrying about things that no one on the employer's side will care about in the least. You do not need to send a thank-you letter to any of your interviewers. If you feel like you made a personal connection with a specific faculty member, you certainly may write an email (or a letter, or whatever...) saying that you enjoyed meeting them / look forward to seeing them again / whatever. Or not: we won't care either way.
Math departments are not evaluating candidates for their general etiquette. Please remember that:
(i) We are drawing from a worldwide applicant pool, and there is no such thing as worldwide academic etiquette. We expect that once someone is hired they'll learn the local ropes.
(ii) Mathematicians have a reputation for being a bit eccentric / weird / exhibiting non-standard social behaviors. Probably this is somewhat exaggerated, but the truth is that math departments are a great haven for those whose professional competence vastly exceeds their social skills. If you are *not **too** weird*, it should not be a problem. Likability is, obviously, a positive, but we are really not running a popularity contest: the gentleman who was pretty quiet at lunch but gave a nice clear talk and has one more strong paper is going to get hired over the life of the party whose talk was a bit fuzzy and whose CV is not quite as strong.
The above is centered on research departments. Liberal arts colleges value collegiality more, but they too will make a distinction between someone who is simply socially dexterous versus someone who knows what to do in the very specific, content-related interactions they will have with students. They will not assume that because someone is well-mannered they will be good with students (or inversely): there are people whom I find painfully awkward who are *wonderful* with students, and students are surprisingly good at seeing the difference here as well.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm aware of very similar questions previously asked - all with good answers. These usually pertain to following up with a professor after a recommendation. My question is specifically about sending a thank you letter to a professor at the end of a semester.
My current semester is ending in three weeks and it has been my favorite semester by far. My professors taught their material really well and I was engaged non stop from the beginning of the semester. Among my professors, some assigned great homework questions, or lectured really well, or were very accessible during office hours. Overall, I had a great learning experience this semester and I want to express my appreciation because I haven't had a semester like this in the three years I've attended school.
I understand it may seem silly to question what is just a polite and appreciative gesture (I think it's silly myself), but I'm a little intimidated about the impression it will leave on my professors. I want to avoid the stigma of "teachers pet." For this reason, I've considered writing anonymous notes, but that seems creepy.
Kind of a light dilemma but I'd like some input because after thinking about it for a while I think it's an interesting topic. Thank you!<issue_comment>username_1: In the academic culture I am familiar with, this is a perfectly appropriate and appreciated thing to do *after* grades have been released. (A letter at the end of the semester but before grades are finalized can look like an attempt to influence the grading process.)
I have received some emails like this, and I was very happy to receive them. They left me with the impression that the student is a mature, appreciative, and thoughtful person, not that he/she is somehow trying to be a "teacher's pet."
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Professors are people too -- they appreciate if they are told "job well done, thank you!" emails. Most of us try to be good teachers, make the material and the way we present it, interesting to our students. It is nice to know that sometimes it works. So go ahead!
(The only caveat I would add is to wait until grades have been posted, so as to come over as sincere, and not as a backdoor way to curry favor in hopes of getting a better grade.)
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: I think this is dependent on the culture you live in. Where I currently live (Germany), I have the feeling that receiving such an email could be seen as an attempt by the student to suck up to the professor.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: When asking questions such as these I have learned that the best approach is to BE YOURSELF.
If you want to say something nice - say it. If you want to do something nice - do it. Don't worry about the repercussions of being nice.
I had the same question at work. After my first Christmas bonus from the owners (it's a small company) I wondered if it would look like I was sucking up if I thanked them. I asked HR and she said she thought it would be appreciated. Using the e-mail they sent to tell me of the bonus I replied to all and didn't hear back from any of them. I asked again the next year, replied to all again, and heard nothing back again. So, if they don't respond to my gratitude does it annoy them? I hadn't heard of anyone else doing it and they never said anything to me about it.
The next year I decided that I didn't care if it annoyed them. I wanted to say thanks because I was thankful and I feel it is a good to express those feelings (regardless of the circumstances) - it's who I am. If they don't like it then that is on them. Being (sincerely) nice, in my opinion, is never inappropriate.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: While an email note might be appreciated by many professors, I feel that there are a large number of professors who do not regularly communicate via email. If you have communicated with the professor via email before, then email can be a fine medium. However, sending an email can be quite impersonal and the teacher may have difficulty putting a face to the name if it is a large class or the teacher isn't familiar with you personally.
The best way to thank a teacher is to do it in person (e.g. during office hours). If you want to show an especially appreciative gesture, you could nominate the professor for recognition (e.g. faculty awards). Really, though, professors appreciate seeing their students learn and hearing about what they liked in the class. So, if you could communicate *why* you especially liked their class, that would be quite welcome!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: As a student (many years ago), in the US I had a similar experience with a professor who really inspired me.
After the semester was over, I went over to his office to have a chat with him to tell him how much I enjoyed his class; even though it was the most challenging course I had taken.
At that time, I thought writing an email or a note would would not be enough to express my gratitude for what he had done for me as a student and furthered the interest in the subject.
We ended up chatting for a while in his office where I learned a bit more about his background as well.
It is one of those moments that defined the rest of my career as I always continued to be inspired by the way he was able to distill his considerable wealth of knowledge on a very dry and difficult subject into engaging course material.
---
The reason I mention the above is that he and I were from very different backgrounds (culturally and socially) and I believe if you approach the issue with sincerity; the words in your note/email will not appear as those of a "fawning teacher's pet" but rather that of genuine thanks and gratitude; as I sense the hesitation that prompted your question may have to do with making sure your intentions are conveyed correctly to your professor.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: As another alternative available at some universities, use the "regular" way of thanking: Thank the professor by submitting a favourable judgement in the semester-wise teaching evaluation. This has several advantages:
* It will give the professor the same feeling of praise.
* There is little chance this will seem over the top, or as an attempt at currying favour, as praising (or criticizing) where appropriate is the very point of the evaluation (plus it is anonymous, while still somewhat verified if the evaluation is normally only accessible to students at that university, possibly in that course).
* The praise will also be visible among the professor's colleagues, and thus might be considered when looking for "best" (or at least apparently popular) practices.
* The praise is aggregated, so rather than seeming like a one-off message, if more people voted favourably, that is a convincing indicator of general satisfaction with the teaching. Arguably, this is more useful for the professor to know than that a single student who bothered to write an e-mail is happy.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: I just today received a very nice set of chocolates for the teaching I did this year. Small tokens of gratitude really go along way in fostering good teacher student relationships and as Maslowe would tell you being appreciated makes you feel good.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_9: Personal discussions are always more lovely, and I always remember when a student tells me they loved my teaching/class etc in person.
However, in an age where student evaluations of teaching can make or break a new contracts/promotions etc, emails can be quite helpful for lecturers in having written feedback beyond the traditional qualitative student comments.
Any email a student sends me I keep a copy in a feedback folder. That way, if/when I go for a job, or a promotion, I can use it as additional supplementation. That might sound horrible (I know) but it can be really helpful when a lecturer can show qualitative feedback on their teaching from students who took time to say so outside of a mandatory (or not) anonymous survey.
So depending on where you are, an email might be better received, only in that it can then be kept and used down the track as evidence for good teaching.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_10: I agree with most of the other answers that it would be appropriate to send a thank you note if you liked the lessons.
Now as a teacher myself, if I receive a thank you note I would also really appreciate to read what it was precisely that made the lessons so good. Knowing what students like in my lessons certainly helps in doing exactly those things again when I have to give the same lesson again next year.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I reached the point in my PhD where, besides focusing on performing and analyzing the last experiments and starting to write the thesis, I should also start thinking about the next step - what to do once I finish it?
Since I would like to have some more research time to publish as many papers as I can from my PhD work, I think the obvious next step would be a post-doc position.
I am an international student in the US and I could apply for fundings both from my native country and from US agencies.
The big question here is: is there anything unethical in submitting the same research proposal to two (or even more) agencies? Will I be committing some kind of academic crime if by any chance one same reviewer is called to judge the same proposal submitted to different funding agencies and realizes it?
I should highlight here that I would never accept **both** fundings. The goal would be purely to maximize the odds of getting research funded. In the unlikely event I would have the proposal granted by both agencies, I would choose the most beneficial or convenient to me and my advisor.
Two reasons I can think of **NOT** to do this would be:
* a) wasting time of a larger number of reviewers (who could be reviewing someone else's proposal);
* b) preventing more people from getting funded.
But is this cheating or just part of the business?
I appreciate any input - specially criticism.<issue_comment>username_1: It is not only unethical, but often *illegal* to actually be funded for the same work twice---in the United States, this would typically be considered double billing and looked on very poorly indeed by most funders.
As such, it is poor form to propose the same work to two different places simultaneously, because if more than one funder wishes to fund it, then you will have to turn one down. Even if this isn't against the rules, it will piss people off for wasting their time and burn bridges.
That said, there *are* certain circumstances where overlapping proposals are reasonable, as long as they are appropriately declared. For example, one might submit two proposals to the same call, each of which share a critical task, but the rest of which go in different directions. The proposals can then explicitly declare this fact and note that if the funder chooses to fund both proposals, that the overall cost will be reduced because only one instance of the critical task need be funded.
In short, here, as in many other places in academia, the key to ethical behavior is transparency and avoiding wasting peoples' time.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Ask your program manager(s). NSF for example specifically asks you to list any simultaneous submission on the cover page.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: In mathematical scientific papers, which section would I detail pseudo code or sample source code? Would that be included in an Appendices section or above under Methods?<issue_comment>username_1: * How long is it?
+ If short put it in the paper
+ If long put it in the appendix
* Can your paper stand with-out it?
+ If so, then it is supplementary, so goes with the supplementary materials, i.e. in the appendix
+ If not, then it needs to be in the paper.
If it is both Long and Required, then perhaps you are writing overly detailed pseudocode. I know the formal pseudocode I learnt in high school was detailed to the point of being executable -- which defeats the purpose of pseudo-code -- if it can be written clearly in a language that is in common use in your area (E.g. R for statisticians, Matlab for signals engineers) you can just write it in that language and avoid any ambiguity.
If on the other hand it is short and not required, it can go anywhere (Possibly even in a footnote). Though its still not required.
A common pattern, I've seen a few times is to have pseudocode, or just textual descriptions of the algorithm in the main text. Then an implementation in a real programming language in an appendix; And/Or a footnote linking to the authors website/github where it can be downloaded
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The most important deciding factor is your reason for wanting to include the pseudo code.
If the code is meant to *make understanding the paper easier*, then by all means include it in the main body of the paper. For instance, if you described a method for solving a certain problem, but then you want to give a more precise and succinct description in the form of the pseudo code, then the reader will want to see it as soon as he reads about your method. As a special case, if the code is essential to your argument, you should definitely include it in the main body. Depending on the level of complication, you might either want to put it in the introduction (if it's very short) or later on.
On the other hand, if the code is meant to just make precise things that the reader already knows, then it's best deferred to the appendix. For instance, suppose that you are writing a pure mathematics paper, and you employed the computer to check some standard (but tedious) estimates for you. Then you might want to include the code so that the inquisitive reader can check that you got all the technicalities right, but most people will be more than happy to never have to look at them.
As a rule of thumb, put things in the appendix if (and only if) you expect an average reader will not want to see them. This could be for a variety of reasons, the most important of which are a) the material is standard, and included for the sake of completeness, b) the material is technical, and reading though it actually makes it harder to understand what's going on (unless one already has a good grasp of the main ideas).
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I have been teaching for 10 years. During this time I have also been developing and contributing to open source software. The collaborative nature of open source projects and scientific research has contrasted strongly with my experience of teaching. People publish their research results in journals for peer review and they post their source on GitHub and other online repositories for review and collaboration, but there seems to be a dearth of collaboration on the development of good teaching materials and assessment. Am I overlooking a community somewhere where there is good peer review of teaching materials with a focus on current pedagogy?
I would like to be able to upload the pictures, notes and so on that I have developed to explain a particular concept and have other people critique it and make it better. Further, I would like to be able to contribute a question which assesses a particular skill and have it reviewed by peers and improved. This way we could build a repository of high quality materials and spread the load of development of new questions.
My specific field is chemical engineering process dynamics and control, but I would be interested in knowing if there is such a community somewhere in any tertiary education field.<issue_comment>username_1: * How long is it?
+ If short put it in the paper
+ If long put it in the appendix
* Can your paper stand with-out it?
+ If so, then it is supplementary, so goes with the supplementary materials, i.e. in the appendix
+ If not, then it needs to be in the paper.
If it is both Long and Required, then perhaps you are writing overly detailed pseudocode. I know the formal pseudocode I learnt in high school was detailed to the point of being executable -- which defeats the purpose of pseudo-code -- if it can be written clearly in a language that is in common use in your area (E.g. R for statisticians, Matlab for signals engineers) you can just write it in that language and avoid any ambiguity.
If on the other hand it is short and not required, it can go anywhere (Possibly even in a footnote). Though its still not required.
A common pattern, I've seen a few times is to have pseudocode, or just textual descriptions of the algorithm in the main text. Then an implementation in a real programming language in an appendix; And/Or a footnote linking to the authors website/github where it can be downloaded
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The most important deciding factor is your reason for wanting to include the pseudo code.
If the code is meant to *make understanding the paper easier*, then by all means include it in the main body of the paper. For instance, if you described a method for solving a certain problem, but then you want to give a more precise and succinct description in the form of the pseudo code, then the reader will want to see it as soon as he reads about your method. As a special case, if the code is essential to your argument, you should definitely include it in the main body. Depending on the level of complication, you might either want to put it in the introduction (if it's very short) or later on.
On the other hand, if the code is meant to just make precise things that the reader already knows, then it's best deferred to the appendix. For instance, suppose that you are writing a pure mathematics paper, and you employed the computer to check some standard (but tedious) estimates for you. Then you might want to include the code so that the inquisitive reader can check that you got all the technicalities right, but most people will be more than happy to never have to look at them.
As a rule of thumb, put things in the appendix if (and only if) you expect an average reader will not want to see them. This could be for a variety of reasons, the most important of which are a) the material is standard, and included for the sake of completeness, b) the material is technical, and reading though it actually makes it harder to understand what's going on (unless one already has a good grasp of the main ideas).
Upvotes: 2
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2015/11/24
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student and I recently won a young scientist award and prize money (~500 USD) at a conference for the "best presentation". I did the majority of the work for the presentation, and I was the only one present at the conference.
However, my co-authors (8 people) all wrote their share for the conference proceedings (that's what makes them co-authors). The co-authors are in various stages of their career, from professors to fellow PhD students.
1. Should I share my prize money with the co-authors? If yes, with all of them in equal amounts? Or only with those who would be eligible for a young scientist award themselves?
2. Would it change the situation if I won the award for something else, say "best paper"?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, you should share the prize money.
I can't think of a better way of ticking off many people right at the beginning of your career than not sharing the money. You do *not* want to make enemies over this. An issue like this could follow you for decades. Don't make that error.
For the same reason, share it equally, so people don't feel shortchanged.
I understand that the difference between 500 USD and 500/8 = 62.50 USD is nontrivial to you, but the main benefit of the award will be its presence on your CV, not so much the money.
And anyone on your team who already has tenure will most likely decline their share, leaving more to share among the struggling grad students, anyway.
And I don't see how the argument would be different for a "best paper" or other award.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I think that it is important to recognize that the biggest value of the award is its contribution to your C.V. and future career, not the prize money. As such, I think you should approach the question of the money as generously as possible: after all, you gave a good talk, but many of the aspects of that good talk depended critically on the contributions of your co-authors.
What, then, is a fair way of allocating the money? Pretty much any numerical formula that you follow will both a) leave some people feeling that their allocation is too big or too small and also b) only be a few dollars anyway, given the number of people involved.
I would therefore recommend defusing the question entirely and turning the prize money into an investment into future goodwill and papers: suggest that it be spent on going out for a fancy dinner together (or similar such outing) to celebrate the success of the collaboration!
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_3: First, if you have spent some of your own money, I believe part of the prize ought to cover it.
Second, a "young scientist award" sounds personal. Yet, awarded at a conference, where awards are (usually) not granted on "paper only", communication is part of the package, where all co-authors have taken part. So the award "should" go to all the team, just like for a journal paper. From your side, offering something with it is the best: barbecue party, restaurant, personalized gifts, than can re-enforce the links between the publishing team. They can decline the offer, to leave you with the money. Their call.
Side story: I won a presentation award with another PhD student, whom I did not meet (not in the same country): we co-wrote the paper by mail. Since we met two years later only, I offered him a wire transfer, which he declined. Recently, the PhD student I supervise won an award. We (the seniors) immediately told her to keep it.
The result will be a balance between what you propose, and what they offer.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: It depends on who the collaborators are, to me. $500 is a ton of money for some Ph.D. students, and I don't think a prof would begrudge not being in on the split. If the money is situation-changing for you, I'd limit the split to the STUDENTS on the project who actually contributed.
If the money isn't important, I'd try to do something a bit nicer than splitting it up. Maybe taking your collaborators out to a medium-priced dinner with it would be a nice gesture.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: First, let me say that I really like username_2's answer and his dinner idea. Some of the other answers make good points as well. However, none of the answers so far address the key point of whether morally the award is meant for you alone or also for your coauthors, except for <NAME>'s answer, which I think gets it entirely backwards.
By your description, the award is a **young scientist award and monetary prize, given for the "best presentation"**. It **has your name on it**. *You* are the person who actually showed up at the conference and delivered this "best presentation"; presumably it was your good performance that won you this honor. Moreover, the conference organizers speak English (or whatever language "best presentation" was translated from) and know full well the difference between the meaning of "best presentation" and "best paper" and between the meaning of "award given to young scientist X" and "award given to paper authors X, Y and Z". I think it is presumptuous and rather inappropriate for some of us to be questioning their intent here. They wanted to give **you** the award, not your coauthors. So, from a moral/ethical point of view, I see no principle that says you have any obligation to share the award money in any way, either by a cash distribution or by paying for a dinner. One could even hypothetically argue (depending on whether traveling to the conference was a burden for you and something the other coauthors wished to avoid) that it is the other coauthors who should be paying for your dinner.
With that said, from the practical point of view would it be a good idea for you to share the prize money? Well, if I were your coauthor I would flatly refuse to accept any share of the money, for the reasons stated above. I would also find it a bit strange to be invited to a dinner at your expense. I would not take offense to such an invitation, and I find the dinner idea appealing in general, but I would politely tell you that you deserve to keep the award money and I prefer to pay for my own dinner. I also find it very hard to imagine any professor who would feel slighted by not being offered to share in the prize money from a PhD student's young scientist award, so I find <NAME>'s talk of making enemies a bit unreasonable. The one aspect of the prize-sharing suggestions that I can agree with is that it may make sense to offer the other *PhD student coauthors* a share of the prize money (or a free dinner), purely as a gesture showing kindness and generosity on your part. I don't think you are obligated to do this in any moral sense, but it will very probably win you some good will that may be helpful to you down the road, and is just a nice thing to do in general.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_6: First of all I give a frowny face to everyone who suggested that a graduate student try to divvy up a $500 "young scientist best presentation award" with post-PhD personnel. At least in US academic culture, that borders on the ridiculous. Postdocs make about twice as much money as graduate students, and professors make at least three times as much money as graduate students. $500 may actually make some difference in a student's life: e.g. they could perhaps buy a new bed rather than sleeping on a futon with a broken plank (to take an example from my own graduate student days). If I was a coauthor on this paper I would have absolutely no expectation of a share of the $500. I wouldn't be offended by such an offer, but in my mind it would be a terrible mistake to put any of my student's prize money in my own pocket. (I gave @username_1's answer a downvote for the suggestion that the OP is compelled to do this or it will haunt him for the rest of his career. No way.)
I agree with username_5's answer, which calls attention to the fact that the people who made the award are probably as familiar as we are with academic life and linguistic nuances: when they say the award is for the **presentation** and that it is awarded only to the **presenter** as a **young scientist**, surely they mean precisely that. If one agrees with the ethics of this then it seems to me that the only people the OP should contemplate splitting the award with are other graduate students who were involved in preparing the presentation.
He says that the prepared the *majority* of the presentation, which I find to be of some significance. In my much more individualized branch of academia I have never collaborated with anyone on a talk or conference presentation; even when I am describing joint work, the description of it is entirely my own. (Occasionally I have had the chance to watch a collaborator present on joint work with me, which can be very enlightening: their presentation is always different from mine; sometimes it is better, sometimes it is worse, and sometimes it is just *different*.) It could be (but might not be; I won't pretend to know) an assumption of those who gave the award that the OP singlehandedly prepared the presentation. If he got *significant* help from someone else, then that should have been clearly reflected in the presentation itself, and it might be worth raising that issue with the conference organizers. Here I would determine significant both by the total proportion of the presentation prepared and its role in essentially improving the presentation. Routine help should be paid back with gratitude and reciprocal routine help. Many professionals could feel embarrassed by the suggestion that routine help entitles them to a share of an academic prize.
I do want to admit that one *could* question the ethics of a prize which is given to an individual for work which is known to be collaborative. In my field (mathematics) awards given for conference presentations are very rare, and I remember that within the last year I read about a fairly prominent award given for a "best presentation" at a conference. I can't quite summon all the details now, but I do remember scouring CVs of the various parties involved to try to figure out whether the collaborators on the paper were getting short-changed for this. I found it a bit weird. However for a graduate student with eight coauthors to refuse a $500 prize on ethical grounds seems really impractical. If all parties agree that this is an improper recognition of an individual for a team effort, then it could be handled internally by not viewing the money as being individual money at all: it could be used only for expenditures by that group of coauthors, e.g. as funding for a different coauthor to speak on the work (or some continuation of it).
Finally, let me say that sometimes academics make mountains out of molehills, and I see a bit of that in the answers to this question (including mine!). If the OP takes the money, writes warm thanks to all of his collaborators, and tells his advisor to let him know if any further action is warranted on his part, I think he'll be fine.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_7: The award was for presentation, and it sounds like that was pretty well all your own work. If it had been for Best Paper, then yes, the situation would be different and you would have much more reason to at least offer shares to your co-authors (although in that case I would've expected it to be awarded to all the co-authors already).
So you are *entitled* to the money, and will keep the credit on your CV anyway. However, it would still be good to acknowledge your co-authors. The amount of money you use for that depends on your own circumstances and feelings - using it all for a communal dinner as suggested would be great, but if you need the money you can also do something much smaller. For example, providing a large cake at the next get-together of the authors with a little speech "I wanted to get this to thank you all for the satisfaction of working together on the paper. It made it so easy to present enthusiastically because .....". Similarly if co-authors are remote, you could just send them chocolates, cake or something similar with a little note.
[Of course, in this day and age you need to pay attention to those who have allergies, are on a diet, hate chocolate etc ..... but hopefully you can find something suitable]
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_8: I'm not sure it is a rule, but one way to do this is that the presenter takes half the prize money, and the remaining authors share the other half. If the coauthors decline receiving money, you can keep their share.
("Source": I have received a quarter of half the prize money from a presentation at a conference)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: Try to figure out a good way to ask them what they think, in a way that they will feel free to say what they really think.
That won't be easy--I try it all the time, and try to think what the other person would have to say if they said what they really wanted, and how socially difficult it would be to do it. However, it is what you're most interested in, it seems--what would they think is fair?
You could say you asked here or "asked around" and then say something along the lines of "people gave the following suggestions, what do you guys think? I want your honest opinions, because I want this to be something we all feel good about and not something where there will be hard feelings among people who I consider valued collaborators."
One more thing to keep in mind--you might end up needing to report this on your taxes, and prizes are (or were, last time I checked, which was a long time ago) taxed pretty heavily in the US--you might want to find out what the deal is locally wherever you are.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_10: Morally, I'd say "Sure, share it with them - right when they share their higher salaries and research budgets with you..."
... but think about it as money you can use for political reasons. That is, consider spending it on something which advances your standing either with your research time, your department, future collaborators etc. Also, following @StephenKolassa's suggestion very partially, try to sort of hint at what you intend to do with the money, to give other the opportunity to lay a claim to it, even if you think it's baseless. Better to discuss it openly then for someone to feel you ran off with the money... and probably they won't say anything.
That's my $0.02 anyway.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_11: A PhD student I worked with recently won a $2000 prize in giving a talk at a conference. I know he's worked hard and earned the prize entirely, even given a large amount of help given by me. It was still his work and his presentation!
Never the less I came in to find a bottle of Whisky (nice single malt) on my desk and similar gifts on his co-authors desks.
I was touched, the thought meant a lot to me even though I hadn't expected or wanted anything at all. Just something to think about.
Upvotes: 3
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2015/11/24
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<issue_start>username_0: I have recently applied to a postdoctoral position, I reached the interview stage (which took place by video conferencing with the group leader and a postdoc), and was ultimately rejected.
I would like to ask for some brief feedback so that I might be able to improve my future applications, but the only email exchanges I have had were with the HR/recruitment people during the application process (it is a nameless 'recruitment' office that got back to me with the outcome of the application).
Which route would be best for asking for feedback: -
(i) email the HR/recruitment people to ask if the group leader would be willing to provide some brief feedback
(ii) email the group leader directly (as I have no previous email contact with them, I would need to find the email address from their website)
Some pitfalls I can see to asking the HR people are: (a) that they may just not pass on the message if they are busy; (b) it could be more work for the group leader if not done directly with them; (c) they could ask the group leader in person who then forgets; (d) I am also a little worried that the HR office may pass on the message in a not very kind way (e.g. "X candidate wants to know if you can send feedback" - rather than the more polite email I could send directly thanking them for their time); (e) if there is any policy of not allowing panels to provide feedback.
Some pitfalls I can see to asking the group leader directly are: (a) it may not be taken very well since there is an online system in place and a recruitment person who manages the application process; (b) they may be even more busy than usual and dislike the direct interruption; (c) as I don't have their email address I would have to find this online, which doesn't look very casual - I would prefer not to come across as someone angrily looking for an explanation for why they have been rejected, I am genuinely just trying to improve my future chances of finding a position.
I am sure there are many other factors I haven't considered.
Finally, please can someone suggest any tips they may have for writing a request for feedback? What format of email would be least irritating for an interviewer aside from just being brief? Does anyone have direct experience of this (from either side)? Even anecdotes of things you may have received in the past that were particularly good/bad may be helpful.<issue_comment>username_1: Contrary to @dsfgsho's comment, I think you have everything to gain and nothing to lose by reaching out for feedback. It's admirable that you wish to improve yourself.
As for your reservations regarding this course of action,
1. Had you been chosen, you would be working under this faculty person. You would be in some working relationship where daily communication would take place, and that person would be approachable to you. No number of sieves or layers between you in the recruitment process will diminish that fact.
2. While true that faculty members are busy people, supervising their group members should be a large part of what they do. Obviously, one of the most influential phases in training a group member is choosing that person, and deserves a fair share of their valuable time. That said, you should allow a reasonable amount of time if you expect a reply. Depending on the time of the academic year, that could be as long as a number of weeks!
3. Faculty members' e-mails are clearly published on the department website. There's good reason for that.
I believe that politely stating your aim and apprehensions, as you've expressed in your OP, are more than enough to warrant a courteous and informative response. I also believe that any person who mistreats prospective students who act as you do is not fulfilling their role as educators.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I imagine it might be less awkward if the interview hadn't been over Skype.
Maybe it would reduce the awkwardness a bit if you tested the waters a bit by writing an email to the group leader more or less along these lines:
>
> Dear Prof. So-and-so,
>
>
> Thank you for giving me the opportunity to have my interview via Skype. As I/my spouse had just had a baby the week before, I really appreciated your flexibility, as it was really not a good time to be traveling.
>
>
> I enjoyed hearing about the research program you have at X University. I will be attending such-and-so conference in April. Maybe I'll see you there!
>
>
>
If you get an answer, the tone of the answer would hopefully give you more of a feeling whether a request for feedback would be okay.
If you don't get any reply at all -- at least there's no harm done with a simple email of this type.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Asking for feedback on your application from someone who has turned you down is generally unlikely to yield useful information, and it may annoy them by making them choose between saying something unsatisfying or not replying. Here are some of the issues that have run through my mind when I've been asked for feedback (which is not common but happens every once in a while):
1. I wonder whether I'm dealing with someone argumentative or difficult, who will try to dispute my explanation or change my mind, use the feedback as evidence in an accusation of misbehavior or dishonesty, or misquote me to others. Even a perfectly reasonable applicant might feel upset if they re-apply next year and get rejected again after having felt they addressed all the issues I raised.
2. In most cases there's nothing objectively wrong with an application. All I can say is "your application was good but we liked someone else's better", which is not informative.
3. Comparisons with other applications are crucial, particularly with the successful application, but all the details of other applications are confidential. It's difficult to explain why we liked someone else's application better without revealing anything that isn't already public knowledge. There won't be a simple quantitative explanation ("you should have published two more papers in high-prestige journals"), but rather a subtle qualitative comparison that is difficult to summarize in the abstract.
4. Furthermore, letters of recommendation are one of the most important parts of an application, and their contents should not be revealed to the applicant. It's tough to give useful feedback without touching on the letter contents, especially because most concerns I might mention would at least make it clear that the letters didn't resolve these concerns.
5. In some cases, I can identify a problem with an application that is not based on letters of recommendation or direct comparisons with other applicants. However, these problems are often not easily fixable (e.g., "we just didn't find your paper topics interesting"). Pointing them out feels like adding insult to injury. It might be useful for the applicant to hear that they never had a chance at this job, but I don't want to be the one to say so. The best case scenario is that the applicant always remembers me as the person who delivered this insulting news, and the worst case scenario is that I make the committee look foolish if we misjudged the applicant.
It's only in rare cases that I have genuinely useful feedback, something fixable that I can ethically reveal to the applicant and that might make a real difference in the future. (This usually indicates that either the applicant's advisor is negligent or the applicant is not listening to advice.) I've never had someone ask for feedback in this situation, although it might happen someday. In a few cases I've tried to communicate this information through a backchannel, such as one of the applicant's letter writers.
In your case, there's almost certainly nothing seriously wrong with your application on paper, or you wouldn't have been interviewed. Assuming you didn't do anything dreadful during the interview, you presumably fall into the second case above (your application was good but another was even better), and I doubt anyone will be able to give you satisfying or useful feedback.
If you decide to ask for feedback, I'd recommend indicating that you are aware there might be little or nothing to say. For example, you could send a thank you e-mail and include something along the lines of "I realize that you may have no constructive feedback to offer beyond that another candidate was an even better fit for the position. However, should you happen to have any advice for how I can strengthen future applications, I would greatly appreciate it." This relieves the pressure by giving them an easy way to decline to say anything substantive, while bringing up the topic just in case. I don't think there's any need to do this, or that it is likely to result in useful feedback, but it can't hurt.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2015/11/24
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<issue_start>username_0: So I have been on my own completing a paper that I had started with initial discussions with a professor more than an year ago. In the meanwhile I have lost contact with that professor and I haven't heard back from him when I emailed him the recent state of the draft.
I had showed the draft to another expert in the field and he had given me some very positive comments and had asked me to complete a certain part of it more fully. He had introduced me to some other renowned experts in the field to talk to about the paper. But I haven't gotten back any feedback from any of them about the current draft.
As it stands I am unable to find any experts to read my paper.
In this situation can I (a) submit it to arxiv and (b) submit it to a journal?<issue_comment>username_1: The most important question is whether anyone else should be a coauthor. From your description, it's unclear whether the professor you were initially talking with should be one (the others do not sound like coauthors at this point). The fact that you describe it as "completing a paper that I had started with initial discussions with a professor" suggests that maybe he should be. The key issue is whether he contributed anything significant to the paper's content. If so, then you need to discuss the authorship issue with him and cannot make a unilateral decision. If he did not contribute anything, then there is no ethical barrier to submitting the paper to the arXiv or a journal if you choose to do so. However, you should be careful with this decision, since it is a major problem if the two of you disagree about coauthorship (especially if you find out after you have already submitted the paper without him). If you think the situation might be ambiguous, then you need to discuss it with him before submission.
When I say there would be no ethical barrier to submission if you have no coauthor, I mean submitting it would not be a form of academic dishonesty. You might still offend people, if they feel you are not taking their advice seriously or giving them a sufficient chance to respond. I'd recommend giving everyone plenty of warning before submitting the paper. For example, you could send an e-mail saying something along the lines of "I'm just about done with the paper on topic X. I'm planning to submit it for publication in a month, after I do some final polishing, and I would greatly appreciate any feedback or suggestions you may have." (But don't say it this way unless you are sure nobody else could have a case to be a coauthor.)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: You can always submit a paper whenever you want. However, if someone has significantly contributed in your work in any respect, you should mention him/her as coauthor. Again, if the prof. is not responding you, means he/she is not really interested and does not provide you comments/review of the paper (no other contribution)), i believe you can ignore him.
Remember, its always better if someone can read your paper (an expert) before submitting your paper to a good journal/conf. For example, if your prof. reads the paper and gives you the comments, it is perfect. Otherwise, you can ask to your friends/colleagues to read the paper and give you feedback (in this case no co-author is required to be mentioned).
Hope this discussion will help you.
Upvotes: -1
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