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<issue_start>username_0: I would like to send an email to a paper author, but I'm not sure how to address them.
The author is not a professor,
their google+ profile says "Network Engineer" (in an important network company BBTW).
As far as I know has a degree and has several publications like articles, conference papers, RFC's.
I'm a Master degree student.
What form of address should I use?<issue_comment>username_1: Default to "Dear Mr. [last name]" (assuming you're sure the person is male). If you're not sure the person is male, use "Dear [first name] [last name]". Don't worry about other titles unless the person specifically uses "PEng." or other professional association designation after their name, in which case include that.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I strongly recommend "Dear Dr. [Lastname]". Most people who publish scholarly papers do have doctorates (or are in the process of getting them). Those who don't have doctorates are unlikely to be offended by the upgraded title. Those who do have doctorates may be offended by a downgrade.
Upvotes: 2
|
2016/06/28
| 719
| 2,697
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<issue_start>username_0: I graduated from what is known as a "Hogeschool" in Belgium. When trying to explain this term on English websites, I've always used the term "University College" or "College", However, I'm not sure what terminology to use. Wikipedia doesn't have a Dutch article that's linked from "College", and "Hogeschool" is referred to "HochSchule" or something like that. Google on the other hand just translates "College" as "College" and "Hogeschool" as "University".
However, Hogeschool and University are not the same: University is a step above Hogeschool, and I want to avoid ambiguity with people thinking I graduated from a more prestigious kind of higher education than I actually am.
What is the proper English term for a "Hogeschool"?<issue_comment>username_1: Apparently this is the same kind of institution as the German "Fachhochschule", which is usually translated as "university of applied sciences". The [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogeschool_van_Amsterdam) about "Hogeschool van Amsterdam" seems to confirm this: "The Hogeschool van Amsterdam, University of Applied Sciences (HvA), or Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences ..." See also their English website: <http://www.amsterdamuas.com/>
However, you might still need to explain this in more detail to those not familiar with the Dutch, Belgian or German education system.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: My answer will assume that it is similar to the German "Fachhochschule" as suggested by @username_1.
I'm not aware of a specific term that already exists in the U.S., that most people would understand. (There might be something in use in the U.K.)
If you need to tell someone what your credentials and academic experience are, you might want to say something like this:
>
> I graduated from a "Hogeschool" in Belgium. This is a technical school, an institution of higher learning that grants a terminal post-secondary college degree in various applied sciences. Graduates typically work in industry after graduation without going on to pursue a Master's or a PhD, as might be the case with university studies. It's roughly equivalent to a non-Honors (four-year) Bachelor's degree in the U.S. There is less student choice in course selection, and it features more of a hands-on approach, building on-the-job experience through co-op education.
>
>
>
If you want a shorter, more informal version:
>
> I have a Bachelor's from a technical college or *Hogeschool*, in Belgium. It's still considered "higher education," but it's less high-fallutin than a university.
>
>
>
Please feel free to adjust anything I didn't get quite right.
Upvotes: 2
|
2016/06/28
| 743
| 2,836
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a colleague who is very new to this country (USA). His English leaves a lot to be desired, to the point that it often actually hinders communication. I think he's trying to learn, but it's obviously hard.
Sometimes in an email, there will be a few mistakes that are fairly glaring, even if I get what they're trying to say. I was considering asking him (so as to not just give unsolicited advice), "would you like me to correct any errors in your writing I see when you email me? It could help you improve more quickly."
It could definitely help him learn, but I'm also aware that it could be embarrassing for him, as well as presumptuous on my part. Personally, I (like to) think I'd really like it if someone made me that offer if I were in that position, but of course I can't know for certain.
Is that a good idea, or is it better to just mind my own business?<issue_comment>username_1: Apparently this is the same kind of institution as the German "Fachhochschule", which is usually translated as "university of applied sciences". The [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogeschool_van_Amsterdam) about "Hogeschool van Amsterdam" seems to confirm this: "The Hogeschool van Amsterdam, University of Applied Sciences (HvA), or Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences ..." See also their English website: <http://www.amsterdamuas.com/>
However, you might still need to explain this in more detail to those not familiar with the Dutch, Belgian or German education system.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: My answer will assume that it is similar to the German "Fachhochschule" as suggested by @username_1.
I'm not aware of a specific term that already exists in the U.S., that most people would understand. (There might be something in use in the U.K.)
If you need to tell someone what your credentials and academic experience are, you might want to say something like this:
>
> I graduated from a "Hogeschool" in Belgium. This is a technical school, an institution of higher learning that grants a terminal post-secondary college degree in various applied sciences. Graduates typically work in industry after graduation without going on to pursue a Master's or a PhD, as might be the case with university studies. It's roughly equivalent to a non-Honors (four-year) Bachelor's degree in the U.S. There is less student choice in course selection, and it features more of a hands-on approach, building on-the-job experience through co-op education.
>
>
>
If you want a shorter, more informal version:
>
> I have a Bachelor's from a technical college or *Hogeschool*, in Belgium. It's still considered "higher education," but it's less high-fallutin than a university.
>
>
>
Please feel free to adjust anything I didn't get quite right.
Upvotes: 2
|
2016/06/28
| 757
| 2,681
|
<issue_start>username_0: I wish to go to Japan for a semester-long research internship in the field of robotics. I am a Canadian citizen.
However, I am having a hard time finding what funding I can actually apply for.
I know the JSPS fellowships are out of question as they only apply to postdocs.
MEXT fellowships are out as well because they are only for a full 5 years.
**What funding is available for undergraduate research in japan?**<issue_comment>username_1: Here are few funding sources may help you to study in Japan.
**Scholarships for International Students in Japan:**
<http://www.jasso.go.jp/en/study_j/scholarships/scholarship/index.html>
**Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho) Scholarship:**
<http://www.studyjapan.go.jp/en/toj/toj0302e.html>
**Embassies, Consulates, Permanent Missions Overseas:**
<http://www.mofa.go.jp/about/emb_cons/over/index.html>
**Here is another one especially for women:**
<http://www.cwaj.org/Scholarship/njg.html>
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: @username_1an and @username_3 have provided links for general (undergraduate) fellowships in Japan. You'll note that most provide tuition and a living stipend (as well as airfare / language training in some cases).
What these fellowships do not provide is **research funding** -- if by this you mean equipment and supply costs. They will not provide funds if you want to build a robot, run experiments, or even to buy a laptop/Raspberry PI.
This is because research grants for equipment purchases go to university professor- and researcher-run labs. If you want to do research in robotics, you should write to professors/researchers and ask them if you can study in their lab for a year under the various scholarship/fellowship programs listed by the other respondents.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Most if not all scholarships for studying in Japan are listed in the ["Scholarship for International Students in Japan"](http://www.jasso.go.jp/en/study_j/scholarships/brochure.html) brochure published by the Japan Student Services Oganization (JASSO). Most of them are aimed at students enrolled in a degree program at a Japanese university, however.
For a short-term visit, there is in particular the [Student Exchange Support Program](http://www.jasso.go.jp/en/study_j/scholarships/scholarship/short_term.html) scholarship by JASSO (which I have received in the past). You apply for it through your host university, so do ask them about it if they have not mentioned it to you. Note that the amount is "only" 80,000 JPY per month, which is certainly not enough to live on: the goal is to help cover your costs, not to cover them fully.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2016/06/29
| 1,439
| 5,941
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a student of Pure Mathematics interested in Linear Algebra and Abstract Algebra. I was browsing the Internet for good research topics containing both a flavor of linear algebra and also having some real life applications when I came to learn about **Spectral Graph Theory**.
I have searched for professors who are actively involved in this field, but I have only found a few names whose topic of interest is Spectral Graph Theory. There are also a very few number of books available in this field.
Is this a good topic to work on? Is it very difficult to find an advisor in this field? Though I am able to learn the topic on my own, I am finding it difficult to approach someone in case I am having a problem.
Also, is it wise to first decide a topic and then find an institute which has professors in this field or it should be the other way round i.e., I should select a good institute according to QS rankings first and then decide a topic accordingly?<issue_comment>username_1: It depends if you seriously want to stay in academia after or not.
* If you just want a PhD diploma, you will manage with almost any senior advisor, but it might take a while, you might run into funding limits and so on with an advisor who does not play the "publish or perish" game.
* If you want to stay in academia after, it is more difficult: you do need to find your own subject, and create your own "niche" (many senior researchers now advocate for such a specialization very early on).
But you also need to be sure you will publish papers, in good journals, and there is the importance of the advisor: someone who has good (and long) publishing records is more likely to be an efficient advisor who will not let you extend your PhD time forever without publishing.
Finally, academia is competitive, and a big name on your CV can sometimes make the difference between the "interview" pile and the trash for a postdoc. In fact I discussed that with 2 seniors in my field, and they admitted having a soft spot for people coming from "big names" because "you anyway get brainwashed by your advisor". They have a point there I think, but only if the advisor really works in collaboration with his PhDs. However, big name on CV with no publications will lead you nowhere.
Personality wise, it is a gamble, and you cannot really avoid it.
I would personally go for a good advisor (forget the QS rankings: look at the specific advisor's records by going to Web of Science and find the h-index of the professors), for the simple reason that after my master I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but in fact working with an excellent competitive advisor during my PhD convinced me to slightly change my overall interests (in terms of modeling approaches).
For the specificity of your topic, I don't know, I am in environmental sciences.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: True research is driven by passion. It would be *better* to select a topic that interests you and then search for an advisor who could work on that topic. All that matters is how fine-grained your initial topic ought to be. If it is too narrow, it might be difficult to find a suitable advisor.
Coming back to your problem, *Spectral Graph Theory* is actually a subtopic of *Graph Theory*. There are many professors researching on that topic. Just because it is not stated in their research profile doesn't necessarily mean they would not work on it.
The key for a good PhD candidate is to be flexible and open to new ideas. Your initial idea may be readily accepted for further research by your prospective supervisor, or you may be assigned with a new one. But the field of the topic is your choice to make.
Best wishes on your PhD journey!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: In brief: no, in mathematics in the U.S., you do not "have to choose" a research topic prior to beginning your PhD. At the same time it is \_of\_course\_ good to have something to be enthusiastic about, curious about, fixated upon. But that can change, and probably *should* change as you learn more. It is apparently the case that in the U.S., and to some degree elsewhere, in *mathematics*, undergrads and even M.S. students really don't get enough background to understand contemporary mathematics at all, except very superficially. Fine, that's not a moral failing... maybe just evidence that there's a lot happening in mathematics... (!?!) But, then, in that light, the enthusiasms that novices have are necessarily (by-far-typically) ill-informed... and will change if/when they learn more.
This is not to say that one should not have an opinion, or should not admit interest in things because one knows one's interest will change... but only that one *should* anticipate that change, rather than believe that one "has arrived" at age 22 or so, and there's nothing left to learn, and now it's just "trying to solve problems/do research". I understand the appeal of that, but, if we think about it, it's better in the long run if mathematics is not that shallow or superficial.
More specifically, spectral graph theory is a quite viable research area. "Expander graphs" are popular and google-able. Lots of people work on this, both from the "spectral side", and from the "graph theory" side.
And, perhaps counter-intuitively, the possible fact that there are not so many "books" treating a topic can in fact be a very positive sign... it's unclear. That is, if there are zillions of books on something, then chances are good that it's an older topic and has been worked over pretty hard... leaving less room for beginners to contribute.
So, sure, it's entirely reasonable to have specific and fine-grained interest... as opposed to "general" interest. Like having a specific lunch rather than a lunch-in-general. :) But be utterly open to changes in your viewpoint... as you learn more, which will be for many years. :)
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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2016/06/29
| 1,236
| 5,068
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<issue_start>username_0: I know there's alot of questions on S.E. about dropping out of graduate school after having started. My position is similar, but also different:
I was accepted into a prestigious university's program for a PhD in Computer Science earlier this year. I am expecting to be fully funded for up to 5 years, the school and program are great and well known, etc.
This summer I have been working at this same school as a Research Associate, doing very similar work to the kind of work I understand that a PhD student would be doing in order to work towards their completion of their Thesis and I've come to realize several things:
1. Upon class signups I realized that I didn't have a particular yearning to take any of the graduate school's offered courses. I've come to a late realization that I'm not looking forward to any future course work.
2. Having been working 60+ hour weeks since early May, I've come to the conclusion that I'm not capable/willing to work this many hours. I would like a life outside of my work/schooling.
3. The geographic area in which the school is in (and by extension, I am living in) is not one I am used to. I am finding it extremely difficult to adjust to these new living conditions (Large city, deep south, etc).
4. This is exacerbated by my perception of the fact that my graduate school is highly composed of work-oriented and often culturally different individuals that I am finding it extremely hard to relate to. I'm discovering a lack of anyone willing to "hang out" outside of lab or classes.
5. Personal and family issues are calling me home most weekends, and the school is a bit further from family than I'd like.
That being said, I think all indications point towards me dropping out of the program as soon as my work contract is finished (just before the start of fall classes). However, I would like to do this as gracefully as possible without burning any bridges, but am unsure of a few things.
1. Due to the April 15th resolution, am I obligated to spend any amount of time at this university as a graduate student? (I'm technically employed now, not a grad student). If so, how long?
2. If above obligation is not present, should I try and remain to attend classes for an amount of time before dropping out to make an effort for the graduate school? I'm fairly certain at this point nothing short of a miracle change in many factors would be enough to change my mind about wanting to stay for a 3-5 year period.
3. If I choose to leave in either case, what is the best way to professionally explain the situation? Who should I explain it to? My graduate school does not assign advisors until the end of the first year, so there isn't a sole advisor to ask.<issue_comment>username_1: The [April 15 resolution](http://cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGSResolution_May2016.pdf) is a commitment that you won't accept another PhD offer without the OK of the school whose offer you accepted:
>
> However, an acceptance given or left in force after April 15 commits the student not to accept another offer without first obtaining a written release from the institution to which a commitment has been made.
>
>
>
and also a commitment not to accept an offer you don't *expect* to honor:
>
> Acceptance of an offer of financial support\* (such as a graduate scholarship, fellowship, traineeship, or assistantship) for the
> next academic year by a prospective or enrolled graduate student completes an agreement that both student and graduate
> school expect to honor.
>
>
>
It doesn't obligate you to go to grad school if you decided you don't want to, after all.
If you are really sure you don't want to do a PhD, the department will be much happier if you don't start (rather than starting and dropping out), so that they can offer your spot to someone else. In the first part of a PhD, the department is investing (time, money, teaching and supervision) in you with an expectation of future returns. You're not doing them any favors by letting them invest those resources in you when you don't plan to really use them.
You can politely inform the person responsible for the program (e.g. director of graduate studies) that you don't plan to attend after all.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I can't imagine the university wants a PhD student who doesn't want to be there. Talk to them. Research the primary source rather than casting around for opinions. I'd have thought that would be second nature to anyone at PhD level!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I would say you have an obligation to let them know as soon as possible that you have changed your mind and do not want to continue as a PhD student. PhD students cost their advisors and schools time and money, especially in the early years when they are not yet very skilled in research. To host a PhD student who does not finish their degree is demoralising and a waste of resources. To change your mind before starting is better for everyone involved. It will also look better on your CV.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/06/29
| 1,430
| 6,165
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<issue_start>username_0: Summary of my situation:
I'm early in my 4th year as a PhD student (Cell Biology), and I think I want to quit. My program is 5-7 years, so I have at least 2 years left or I can drop out and claim a Master's and say that I have an extra year of experience since I qualified a year ago.
I have an exciting project that I'm interested in, but do not feel like my advisor lets me finish experiments before expecting me to start the next set. As a result, I have very little to show for a lot of work. The paper will probably be big, but it's far off.
I don't think I'm getting what I wanted out of grad school. I see ways that I can achieve those original goals in the future, but it will be a while and I'm not sure its worth the wait.
The stress and workload leave me racked with guilt, initiate panic attacks, and have sent me into depression (maybe? I'm planning on talking to someone at my school's student mental health center). I know it's work related because when I do manage to take a day off, I feel perfectly normal, like my old self, but as soon as I walk back into lab it starts again.
Question:
Can I talk to another professor (someone on my committee, someone I'm familiar with in my department, or someone familiar with my project but not on my committee) to get advice about my particular situation, the advantages/disadvantages of quitting, and how to talk to my PI about it? Or would that be seen as going behind my PI's back?<issue_comment>username_1: Talking to other people including mentors is always a good idea.
It sounds like you're having trouble handling the stress of a PhD and your desires to drop out are not related to any particular issues with your advisor. It's almost impossible to tell how your PI would take it. However, I doubt most reasonable people would consider you seeking advice from others as "going behind their back."
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: This is my own personal suggestion, do not discuss anything with anyone. You might end up building a bad reputation that might stay haunting you for long time. Take few days off, relax, dissect your problem, is it related to your judgment on your supervisor or is it related to the type of heavy load that biology PhD work faces. Do you do all your best and did not get any result.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: You can, and you should. Quitting your PhD is an important decision, and I find that getting advice based on a few different perspectives is always a good idea when making big decisions. In addition, there are a few more reasons that warrant talking to others in this particular situation.
*Ideally* an advisor who is able to provide impartial advice would be in the best position to advise you on this matter, since they are the person with the most amount of combined knowledge about you, the field and project you are working on, etc. However, often the work that you do as a PhD researcher has implications for your advisor's carreer. For example, it may be in their interest to see that you complete your work and produce publications for them, so they may be motivated to keep you working. Conversely, they may prefer to discontinue with you because of the emotional labor involved in an unproductive work relationship. Such reasons may compromise their impartiality.
Regardless of whether you decide to bring up the matter with your advisor or not, if you decide to quit, you will have to talk to them. If this happens, regarding *how* to talk to them, I argue that you can benefit from the advice of others. It's probable that the conversation won't go very smoothly, and it is often in your best interest to retain moderation. If you get advice from trustworthy people with relevant experience, you can avoid being caught off-guard and losing your grace.
Of course, you have to be thoughtful about talking to other faculty as well. Ideally they should be people you know and trust, and who are reasonably successful in a field that relates to yours. Bonus points if they know your advisor well. If you are fortunate enough to know 2 or 3 such people, and if they have the time to talk to you, you are very lucky. I try to talk to such "mentors" as much as possible when making sensitive decisions about my work, and I for sure benefit from their advice.
I hope you can resolve this soon. I can also recommend you consult to communities like this one for specific advice on productivity and professional matters. Don't let issues with specific people hurt your health or your carreer; these are more important than what your advisor or any other individual thinks of you.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: 1) I would recommend talking to username_2 else from your department. Keep this conversation professional. Try to identify and convey the problems you are facing. In your case: not enough depth in experimental data, need to do another set of experiments before getting a good sight/understanding/analysis of what has been already measured. When having conversation, try to avoid just complaining. Your situation is not unique, and while you might get sympathy, it might not be easy to provide a structured help. Try to make it simple to help and advise you.
2) Talk to you supervisor, be honest. You will have to have this conversation anyway.
a)If you decide to go - you will need to explain the reasons, you cannot just stop showing up in the lab. It is a good practice to maintain good professional relationship even in that case. You might restart your PhD somewhere else or look for industry position - you will need the reference from your PI.
b)If you decide to stay - talk to your supervisor. Explain what is causing the trouble. Good productive environment in research lab is win-win for prof. and students. Make clear what could be done in order to increase your productivity. You problem might be just the lack of communication on both sides - you and PI. May be he/she thinks that your data is sufficient to draw strong conclusions. Try to see, what is your PI's view on the objectives of the project.
3) Talking to counseling services is also a good idea.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/06/29
| 713
| 2,943
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<issue_start>username_0: How useful is a PhD if my final career goals don't involve leading my own research lab? In a perfect world I would like to end up as a bioinformatics programmer/analyst in a lab or a core facility to help other people with their projects rather than work on my own. (This is what I'm already doing, actually, but I fell into it somewhat by accident, and I'm not sure if I will be able to find similar jobs in the future without a PhD, if I need to leave my current lab. Thus this question.)
Is a PhD going to be a significant advantage for this kind of position, compared to a BS plus equivalent time working in a staff bioinformatics job in academia? Or are PhDs mostly only useful for people who want to end up as professors or managing research projects in industry?<issue_comment>username_1: Looking at your situation, I would say that if you have no intention of teaching and no interest in conducting your own research, a doctorate may not be the best use of your time. It might be better to earn your BS and get some experience under your belt.
That said, a PhD might help open doors in some really cool labs / companies / universities. There may be some jobs that require the terminal degree.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think it really depends on the research field and the lab you want to work at. And also the specific job you want to handle in the whole research project. Some part of the project may require a PhD and some may not
I'm studying Economics. For the academic job like faculty in the University, you will need PhD with no doubt. For jobs in the industry, it dependents. NGOs like IMF and World Bank, they hired people with PhD degree or Master degree for the research related work.
If you know specifically the work you are going to as your career later. You can search and find out what kind of people they are hiring for those jobs. And you can contact them for more details. Best wishes!
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: If you want to do **research** as a bioinformatician in an academic lab, getting a PhD is definitely worth the effort. It may be possible to get a staff scientist position or similar without a PhD, but the degree is usually the easiest and the fastest route.
On the other hand, if you want a **supporting** role (e.g. as a software developer), a PhD is not particularly useful. Most of the time people seem to expect an MSc degree or equivalent experience.
I'm not sure how things work in the industry.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: It's helpful to be able understand both the problem and the method of solution. A PhD can help immensely in this. Also, some labs may not consider an applicant without a PhD for the kind of work they need done. I often don't consider non-PhDs for my positions, though I don't personally hire in the bioinformatics space either (though one of my colleagues does and most of his hires are PhDs).
Upvotes: 2
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2016/06/29
| 956
| 4,127
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<issue_start>username_0: So I am considering pursuing a PhD in robotics (or a related field) after spending a year in the industry. I want to make an informed decision about my career path and be reasonable about things. The thing is, frequently when presented with a potential reason for why graduate education is a bad idea, I seem to dismiss it thinking: *"but engineering is **different**!.."*
In particular, people saying that there is no point in going for a PhD, unless one wants to pursue a career in academia, seem to strike me as not relevant to the engineering disciplines. In the end there is plenty of technical R&D going on around, and even my medium-sized company employs their fair share of wise folk whose only job is to come up with ideas and research into them to see if anything interesting comes out.
Somehow, in my mind, engineering PhD's are applicable, employable, can quit it half-way to return back to industry with no harm to their CV, etc. etc. (not to mention there's always funding for them!).
I do acknowledge that there exist some pretty theoretical or not-applicable technical fields out there, but they don't really come into my calculation as my interests lay elsewhere.
Where is the flaw in my thinking? Where am I most likely to get burned with my expectations?<issue_comment>username_1: I have a PhD in Aerospace Engineering and work at a university, but I'm not really on a traditional academic track. So non-academic jobs are possible for PhDs with engineering degree. I work for UT Austin's computing center, and while I publish some, it's not my primary focus nor do I teach often. There are jobs at large centers of knowledge production and problem solving for engineers and technical non-engineers alike!
Also, everyone who quits a PhD program probably takes a small knock to their CV or resume. Physicists and chemists who don't complete a PhD also have lots of options for employment, but there's a risk that they will also have trouble finding a job because they may be seen as unable to complete a hard task by sticking to the work. I think you are being to glib or flip when you assume that you can bail out of an engineering PhD program and land softly immediately after in an industry job. Maybe, maybe not.
Also the idea that PhDs employed by industry are the wise men(!!!) who come up with the ideas is both quite sexist and shows that you have some thinking about the world still to do. Non-PhDs and non-men often come up with good ideas and solve research problems in industry and academia both.
You are likely to get burned because your thinking doesn't really reflect the world. Men and women both, engineers and scientists both, can all solve hard research problems inside and outside academia both.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I answer as a comment, because my intuition tells me this is answer is relative. I too have (engineering) professors who told me this during my undergrad, and nearly swears by the fact that engineers command more, have more flexibility and thinks more applicably in research. In my limited experience, being an engineering researcher doing basic/ fundamental research, I have noticed more of these values, but again...my engineering professors has emphasized those traits **every week**, whereas they're not usually mentioned as often to non-engineers, say traditional science majors. That being said, doing a Ph.D isn't about thinking that you could "back out half way," more importantly, it's about your commitment to solve an unknown truth. Be qualified, be passionate, speak about real applicable aspects of your work, that will ultimately determine your reputation, engineer or not. What do you think?
From my experience in industry, Ph.Ds have been hired from across the spectrum, perhaps it may be safer to say, if the company is primarily mechanical engineers, they would tend to favor the Ph.Ds with similar training and experiences. One thing to keep in mind is make sure you know the "tools of the trade." Ph.Ds in industry would really benefit, though some pretend to stand on a pedestal anyways.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/06/30
| 1,424
| 6,101
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<issue_start>username_0: We teach a large graduate class with many teaching assistants (TAs), who are involved in grading 4-5 assessments (each contains a large amount of code, and a 4-page report corresponding to the solution).
Each time we grade, it takes an extremely long time-- we first carefully create a rubric, based upon which the TAs evaluate each others' solutions; next we review these grades and come to a consensus on individual line items in the rubric. We also blindly grade a single student submission at a time and re-calibrate the rubric and it's application till we have consensus.
Despite doing all of this, we end up having non-trivial variations in the mean, median, min and max grades assigned by each TA. We have hundreds of students and dozens of TAs, and it isn't feasible to have multiple grades per student submission.
Last Spring, this led to a significant number of grading iterations for each assignment, and we eventually ended up averaging across iterations, rather then converging to a common grade for each student.
We're trying to automate the monitoring and evaluation of grading tasks on our grading portal so that outliers/problem cases can be reassigned, and the lead instructor can identify if a TA is not grading well. Is there any research or anecdotal experience with such grading issues in classes that you have taught/assisted in (and any useful countermeasures)? If not, is there a systematic way where grades can be curved based on the grader, in a way that is fair?<issue_comment>username_1: I am not entirely sure if this is an "answer" or a "comment" but I'll supply it as an answer.
First off, I'm answering from the perspective of academia -- not from the perspective of perfect statistical analysis or experiment design or anything like that. So put away any screams that this fails some sort of T test or does not produce a normal distribution -- those aren't the goals of academic work in general.
I think you might be trying to solve this problem the wrong way in all honesty. You state:
>
> We also blindly grade a single student submission at a time and re-calibrate the rubric and it's application till we have consensus.
>
>
>
and then
>
> Last Spring, this led to a significant number of grading iterations for each assignment, and we eventually ended up averaging across iterations, rather then converging to a common grade for each student.
>
>
>
This sounds like an immense amount of work to give students grades. But worse than that, it's clear the earlier work doesn't do anything for you since you had to take the consensus-achieved "re-calibrated rubric" and then if I'm reading correctly redo and jig together a bunch of things to produce grades.
If it seems like an immense struggle to come up with grades, then at least on of the following seems true to me:
1. You and your team are suffering from a strong case of OCD.
2. You're probably not achieving real consensus on how to grade things so much as minimal acquiescence on a single answer.
3. You and your team are fighting against gravity -- i.e. you are trying to counteract a feature of human grading that you should just accept and work around.
4. A misundertanding of the nature of academic work and grading (for more on that topic see this question and especially this answer: <https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/31526/20058>).
I see three potential solutions:
Rather than try to QC to perfect grade normalization, accept that individual grading differences are in-eradicable and make it so students' work is graded by a distribution of graders and that grades are not so subject to this fluctuation as to be questionable. For instance, have each grader look at a sample of 5 "standards" (an A, B, C, D , F) and see what grades they assign to them. Use this to categorize graders as severe, neutral, and soft and make it so everyone gets a fair mix of graders.
And/or make the rubric explicitly clear to the point where individual differences don't matter. i.e.,
"one point for a program that complies, one point for a program that
executes without crashing, one point for a program that produces the correct output, two points for using a recursive function, one point for mentioning "iterative sort" / "iterative sorting" in the description.
And/or figure out where the individual grading differences happen and minimize the importance of these for actual grades.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I agree with the previous answer in that you do seem to be making more work out of this than is necessary.
For the programming part of the assignment I would suggest defining very specific marking criteria - if the program successfully does this then you get this mark. This should be easy to grade and could even be automated. Some aspects of programing style also could be marked with precise criteria.
For more subjective aspects - the report or perhaps some aspects of code style you probably don't want to be quite as specific. You are going to get variation between markers no matter what you do. However I would suggest that going around iterations as you are saying that you do is more likely to lower confidence in grading than having a simpler system and sticking to it. There isn't always a single right answer.
For marking of major capstone engineering projects which I manage we require two blind markers for each project. They both use the same criteria. These marks are then moderated with a small moderation committee of more experienced colleagues. Generally if the two marks are within a reasonable range (say one grade) it is considered OK to take the average as the final mark. If not the implication is that one or other marker may have missed something and so the moderation groups job is to determine what that is from the evidence presented by the markers and decide on the mark accordingly. Occasionally it is necessary to allocate a third reviewer who is not blind to previous marks if it isn't obvious from the previous markers evidence. There is no further process needed.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/06/30
| 940
| 3,585
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<issue_start>username_0: Is it considered bad style if I have a section with multiple subsections and start my text only in the subsection (no text below the section heading)?
>
> 1. Section
> ----------
>
>
> ### 1.1 First subsection
>
>
> This is where the text starts …
>
>
> ### 1.2 Next subsection
>
>
> This is where the text goes on …
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: I think there is no black and white answer here. I think in books it is uncommon to have no text below chapters and start directly with sections/subsections. Typically you will find this:
>
> 1. Book chapter
> ===============
>
>
> Here goes some introductory text. [...]
>
>
> 1.1 Section
> -----------
>
>
> This is a section blabla [...]
>
>
> ### 1.1.1 Subsection
>
>
> More text here
>
>
>
I believe a thesis should roughly keep to that structure, too. While I initially preferred to start with the text in the hierarchically lowest section, I became accustomed with the above layout and prefer it over my old habit now.
Regarding articles and similar publications you should keep to the journal’s style guide, which usually prescribes the layout very strictly.
TL;DR: I don’t think it is considered bad style, it depends on the type of text and the place you publish it.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I asked my supervisor the exact same question while writing my master thesis. He said that it is a matter of style, he preferred putting an introductory text under each heading. I looked over some articles in my field as well, and they were pretty divided on it.
If you have a style guide from your university/publisher, or if you have examples available, I would say, follow those. Otherwise it's up to you.
I found it good practice, because those are the places where you write a short summary/introduction for that chapter, which could help you organize your thoughts.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I guess a general answer will be opinion based (not a vote to close), but one general suggestion I would give is: **ask your supervisor or a conference chair**. (but last of them could be not responding, busy ppl. you know)
I had different supervisors during B.Sc. M.Sc.-Thesis and paper writings. Some of them were okay with headings and subheadings without "glue" text between, some really made a mass of it, that it would be the ugliest writing style they could imagine.
I have the habit to write those introducing glue paragraphs between headings (as @[mwormser](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/56698/mwormser) suggests too) just telling the reader what will come in the following subsections. But I would always ask a supervisor for what he/she likes more. In case of anonymous blind reviews you may chance 50/50 with the likes of the reviewers. Maybe the journal/conference/etc. offers a ***style guideline*** that makes suggestions to this question too, just have a look at the submission pages.
Anyway an introduction paragraph that has no "hard-fact / result / discussion" content - but is only a meta-text about what to come - should *be short*. Give the reader the chance to decide at this point if he/she is in need to deep-read the next (sub)sections or if he/she is familiar enough (eg. obligatory method describing intro chapters of a thesis) with their content.
Another solution I also saw was use of epigraphs (quotes, jokes etc.) to fill this gaps between headlines. This makes the glue paragraphs less repetitive, but I would be careful with this and (if that) only spread them very rarely.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/06/30
| 770
| 3,485
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<issue_start>username_0: I am doing my master's in Software Engineering at a German university. I had been told that the seminar presentation influences the final grade more than the contents of the seminar paper.
But the irony is I work more for the contents of the paper (about 2 months) than the presentation (about 5 days). Why is it so?
FYI, I constantly discuss with my supervisor (who decides the grade) regarding my progress and incorporate his comments as well.<issue_comment>username_1: Presentations generally involve a discussion with the panel, questions from the audience, and even heated debates. Papers present the research and can absolutely give an impression of the knowledge of the writer, however, it can be easy to hide behind a paper. You can't hide in a presentation. It becomes quickly, and sometimes painfully, obvious in a presentation when the researcher has not fully developed their work.
Also, very few people will take the time to read the paper, but there's a good chance that quite a few people will attend the presentation. How well you present your work will reflect the quality of the work in the eyes of the audience. It might be outstanding research, but if you can't present it well and your message is lost, the work will be shrugged off.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In one sentence: Apparently, the primary objective of the seminar is for students to learn professionally presenting information related to their field.
This presentation involves both an oral and a written part. Among these, it is arguably the oral part where you can commit many more mistakes that the seminar can address. Mistakes in the written part, beside very general stylistic conventions, often depend on individual styleguides, are pure language issues (and thus beyond the scope of university courses - language majors excluded), or depend a lot on individual circumstances thatbmay or may not be the case in a text written by a student. This supports putting more weight on the oral part.
That does not mean that the contents of documents is generally unimportant, just that it is not in the focus of that particular seminar course. Of course, students are still given topics from their field, and there are several reasons for this:
* Presumeably, it is one general topic that can be assumed to be interesting for all students in the seminar (adduming they all have the same major).
* In case there are any peculiarities when presenting information in the given field, these are best conveyed/highlighted/discovered by presenting on-topic information.
* while students may be assigned different concrete topics, referring to the same field makes the talks at least remotely comparable in terms of style of information presentation.
On top of that, your task probably requires even a bit of thinking rather than just gathering existing information - if only to make the task not as dull for you, and maybe also to reduce the probability to find a ready-made solution that exactly fits your particular topic. Still, the task is *probably* still not highly creative as such (at least I would not consider the development of a totally new technique a suitable topic for such a seminar, or anything else that is not mostly a "routine" task in the respective field). Much of the work you spent was likely spent on tasks such as literature analysis, which should help structure the information for both the written and the oral parts alike.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/06/30
| 1,342
| 5,929
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<issue_start>username_0: So my first paper from my undergraduate research just got published! Yay!
However: I am still stressed out: What if there were any mistakes? I did my undergraduate research in a psychology lab, all other coauthors have a psychology background. I myself got very interested in mathematical modeling and took many math classes as an undergrad. As a result the paper also had a lot of mathematical statements and proofs in the supplement. Nobody except me has ever checked the proofs. They passed through peer review; though I am not too sure the reviewers were in a position to judge the proofs either (unless the editor was very diligent and sent the manuscript to mathematicians; it did not sound like that from the reviews).
To the best of my ability these proofs are correct. However, I would not describe myself a mathematician yet (though I will start my PhD in the fall in an applied math department), so I am worried there could be some subtle error in there.
What would my current advisor think if someone actually found a mistake there? Or my future department? Are such thoughts common and how do people deal with these?<issue_comment>username_1: I think you are probably right: it seems unlikely that mathematical statements and proofs included in the supplementary materials to a psychology paper would receive much scrutiny. Even if the editor took the time out to get an extra, mathematically sophisticated referee, the fact that you received no comments about this part of the paper (right?) indicates that even if "read" it was not regarded as an important factor in the evaluation of the paper.
What is the upshot of this? In a nutshell: for better and/or for worse, probably this mathematical work of yours will receive little or no attention. I don't know any mathematicians who regularly read psychology literature. Since you have just been admitted to a PhD program in mathematics, the time for people to scrutinize your undergraduate research has already mostly passed. By the time you graduate, you should/will have much more relevant material for people to focus on. It is debatable whether you should even list this paper on your CV at the end of your graduate career: I would say you probably should, but in a separate category from all of your math papers.
If I were looking to hire you for a post-PhD academic position, I honestly would not even consider reading a psychology paper you wrote as an undergraduate. I would not expect such a paper to have any substantial mathematical contributions, I would expect to be entirely unable to evaluate the significance of the paper as a work of psychology, and -- more honestly -- knowing that you put some theorems and proofs in it as an unassisted undergraduate student, I would expect this material to be a bit callow/superficial. Most undergraduates have not begun to independently engage in research-level mathematics *in any way*, so it is hard to hold against them whatever they put in papers.
Viewing this as a teachable moment, here are some possible takeaways:
1) I agree with Kimball and <NAME>: you should do what you need to do to gather confidence in your work *before you publish it*. By professional mathematical standards, yes, it is a mistake to publish a piece of mathematics without soliciting the opinion of at least one mathematically qualified person. If you happen to be in a similar situation in the future, you should show your work to teachers and mentors in the mathematics department. You may have to wait what seems like a long time to get a fairly quick reading / reaction from them, but even an instantaneous reaction is valuable.
2) On the other hand, just because you're worried doesn't mean you actually did anything wrong, and it certainly doesn't mean that you did anything *terribly* wrong. A large percentage of papers contain minor errors. E.g. just yesterday I got an email from a collaborator informing me of a typo in a published paper (on the same subject as our collaboration, but he was not a coauthor). There was a missing "+1" from several formulas. This really doesn't distress me at all: I will make the change on the copy of the paper on my own webpage, and that's that. And by the way, I have made worse mistakes than this in published work (and in my PhD thesis): ones that do bother me a bit, but much more me than anyone else. In the realm of honest mistakes, I can't think of what you could have done in an undergraduate paper in a different field that would be so bad so as to place any clouds in the sky of your academic career.
3) Let me not completely neglect the possibility that you did something right: maybe your paper has a real mathematical contribution. If that is the case, you should not drop the matter but try to continue, improve and refine the work, with the goal of publishing it elsewhere. Again, mathematics hidden in a psychology paper is very well hidden indeed. Maybe that's not what you or the mathematical community wants.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: We live in a 'post publication peer review' world, where every paper you publish can be, and usually is, scrutinized by your peers. This sometimes sounds daunting, but you can also make this work in your advantage. In this specific case, you could ask one or two experts in the field of mathematics to review the material that is available. If they find that it is accurate... great! If they find that there are errors, you can proactively publish an corrigendum to rectify the mistakes made.
Your responsibility for this paper does not stop once it was published. The author remains responsible and should proactively seek out improvements, where possible and relevant.
It is great that you have raised this, it shows that you are committed to the work that you have published and want to present it in the best way possible.
Good luck...
Upvotes: 2
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2016/06/30
| 1,628
| 6,348
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<issue_start>username_0: My girlfriend (let's call her Rose), who is a graduate student, got approached by a person of influence in Rose's industry (call her Elizabeth) who is currently working towards her PhD. Elizabeth asked Rose to "help" her write her literature review and she will receive monetary compensation. Rose, wanting to make a good acquaintance with Elizabeth, agreed to "help." Elizabeth asked Rose to write 30(!) pages of literature review -- a "rough draft" -- which Elizabeth will use to write her literature review.
I already told Rose this is unethical behavior. However, Rose doesn't want to burn this bridge. Is there a way for Rose to ethically help Elizabeth? Possibly, in a way that Rose's credentials also grow?<issue_comment>username_1: The only ethical way I can think of requires three steps from Elizabeth:
1. checking if the university rules allow such a contribution;
2. speaking with her adivsor to see if they, too, permit such a contribution, and if they think whether the examination committee might like it or not;
3. explicitly acknowledging the contribution of Rose in the preface and
in the chapter where the literature review appears; for instance,
>
>
> 1. Introduction
> (§1.5 by Rose)
>
>
>
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Your girlfriend could write an independent literature review in the same area that Elizabeth is working. She could publish this and then Elizabeth could use it as a helper with her own literature review. It's still in a gray area, but it's less unethical than being hired to write someone's thesis. Rose would get a publication out of it and Elizabeth would have a citable guide for her thesis's literature review.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: It might be okay if they publish it as a paper as co-authors (or even as a manuscript on arXiv) and this is acknowledged, complete with the author list, in the PhD.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> Elizabeth asked Rose to write 30(!) pages of literature review -- a "rough draft" -- which Elizabeth will use to write her literature review.
>
>
>
Let us all acknowledge the elephant in the room. **No, there is *no* ethical way to handle this, as Elizabeth does not *want* to handle this ethically.** It seems painfully obvious to me that Elizabeth is outsourcing the writing of her dissertation, or at least parts of it, under a thin veil of "help" and "drafting". Given that Elizabeth is giving Rose clear length instructions and everything, I would be surprised if "draft" in this context is anything else than an euphemism for *"please write this for me, and I will do some cosmetic changes and hand it in"*.
Any of the proposed solutions (publishing the material beforehand, claiming authorship of this chapter, ...) will not be accepted by Elizabeth, as it will not accomplish the goal she is rather evidently going for, which is getting her literature review without having to actually write it. Besides, it seems extremely dubious to me that any serious thesis committee will allow some of the proposed solutions (e.g., explicitly having a different author for chapters of a *thesis* - the reaction of any committee in any university I attended would be between bewilderment and anger if you proposed that).
As such, there are only two ways forward for Rose:
1. Tell Elizabeth friendly but in no uncertain terms that she cannot do this. She can get a little creative with the reason if she does not want to tell Elizabeth that she finds the proposal unethical, if she must.
2. Go forward with writing the literature review, but be aware that she is actively involved in a case of academic misconduct, and that there really isn't a way to rationalize this differently.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: Almost anything can be **ethical** if it's done openly and honestly and nobodies contribution is misrepresented to anyone involved.
If Elizabeth makes it absolutely clear to anyone judging the thesis exactly what has come from Rose and in what context then there's no *ethical* breach.
There could however still be a breach of *rules* since the rules can still forbid this kind of "help" from third parties for a thesis.
The difference between a breach of ethics vs a breach of rules is important since it can mean the difference between a simple "fail" or rejection for including too much material from a 3rd party or in breach of some rule vs being investigated for grossly unethical behavior. One is actively attempting to mislead someone, the other is just screwing up.
If Rose were certain that Elizabeth was going to be open and honest then there would be no ethical issue for Rose, it would be up to Elizabeth to make sure that everything fit the rules of her institution but ***practically speaking* given the context Rose should reasonably expect that perfect disclosure may not be what Elizabeth plans.**
Hypothetically if Rose were to provide this "help" in a context where it seems unlikely that Elizabeth will act perfectly ethically it would be fair to also consider Rose's actions unethical and it may reflect badly on her if the situation came to light.
If Elizabeth has no problem with Rose meeting with, say, her advisor/supervisor and/or someone else senior from her institution and discussing how it will work then it may be ok.
Otherwise run a mile.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: While completely agreeing with xLetix's answer (Elizabeth doesn't *want* to do this ethically), here are two practical options which don't give Elizabeth all of what she wants:
1. **Tell instead of write**: Rose offers Elizabeth to coach her on the literature and previous work in the field - to have one-on-one sessions explaining what's been done. A sort of private tutoring.
2. **Presentation, not review**: Instead of writing a 30-page literature review, Rose creates a long(ish) presentation in Beamer/Powerpoint/LO Presentation about the state of the art.
3. **No access to text**: Write the review, but only allow Elizabeth to read it, not to get a copy of it. So ELizabeth would still have to write her own survey, from memory regarding the survey prepared by someone else.
This is all a bit borderline ethically, still, so I would not actually recommend it unles a gun is being put to your head, metaphorically speaking.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/06/30
| 632
| 2,554
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<issue_start>username_0: Can I use the data of Friends TV show transcript in my thesis for analysis and publish my paper/findings. Does the usage of TV show transcript data for analysis and construction of new script based on the original script come under fair use of exception in US copyright law ? Can you please advise me on how to proceed further.<issue_comment>username_1: The description of your activities that you have provided, using a 'script' from a popular TV show for research purposes in a machine learning algorithm is allowed within the 'fair use' description of copyright. It is my understanding that the following descriptions place the usage described within 'fair use':
>
> Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
>
>
>
Since you are using the script to train a machine algorithm, and not the video, audio, nor are you reproducing it for your audience, it seems to be well within fair use.
>
> Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
>
>
>
Using a script to train a machine algorithm, it seems, would have virtually no effect on the 'potential market or value of copyrighted work'.
Highlighted portions from ["More Information on Fair Use by Copyright.gov"](http://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html)
Another possible solution you could consider is to train your machine learning algorithm on a different humorous show whose copyright has expired and is therefore in the Public Domain. [Here is a list of humorous televeision shows whose copyright has expired, including "The Beverly Hillbillies"](http://www.fesfilms.com/public-domain/television/comedy.html).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I wouldn't. Fair use is a defense in court to a claim of copyright infringement brought against you by the copyright holder. That means that you have to get sued, hire a lawyer who fails to convince them to drop the suit due to your use under the fair use principles, and then take your defense to trial before a judge or jury. This, while unlikely to happen, is likely to cost you more than $10k and maybe as much as $100k if you get sued. It's not worth it.
I'm not a lawyer, nor am I your lawyer, but I'd find a play or radio play that is [now in the public domain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_in_the_United_States) and use that instead. The idioms and colloquialisms are likely to be dated and may mess up your algorithm, but that's better than getting sued and being out the money.
Upvotes: 1
|
2016/07/01
| 653
| 2,842
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<issue_start>username_0: Is it considered plagiarism if in the abstract, only key authors of frameworks used were cited and other peripheral concepts mentioned in the abstract were not cited but were cited in the body of the study?<issue_comment>username_1: That is not plagiarism. Only when you don't cite the relevant source materials at all, plagiarism comes into play. Such materials ought to be cited next to the relevant concepts. You wouldn't have to cite the references every time you repeat the concept.
Having too many citations in the abstract is something to be generally avoided. As long as you cite those references *next to the appropriate concepts* in the body of the article, you won't be considered plagiarising content.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: In the abstract, you want to inform the reader about the paper that you have written, you want to convince the reader that is it worthy of their time to actually read some of it. You should realize that for the bulk of the readers, the abstract is all that they will ever read of your paper and as such, the abstract should stand alone, it should be a self-contained story. Including references in an abstract will ask for an additional investment of time from the potential reader, which might chase them off.
Plagiarism in an abstract arises when you copy text from other sources and include it in the abstract itself. In such cases, you present work written by others as something that you have done yourself, which is clearly wrong.
Plagiarism of another nature could arise when you imply that previous results from others were actually performed by you. As the authors of the original work will have an interest in your paper, rest assured that they will be the first to send you a message (if it was not picked up in the peer review process) asking you why you presented yourself as the author of work that you did not do.
Some final thoughts:
- An abstract is supposed to be short, so there is no room for things that do not belong there (a thorough literature review is one of these things)
- Clarity and honesty are essential. If you do not copy from other people and if you are Always clear (beyond a reasonable doubt) in your descriptions of the sources of the material that you present, you should be fine
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I've worked on academic journals for 20+ years, and the vast majority (> 80%) don't allow citations in the abstract. Those that do require the entire reference (i.e., authors, title, journal, vol, pages) because the abstract has to be able to stand alone. If you cite "Smith et al." and the reader sees only the abstract, "Smith et al." has no meaning.
Regarding plagiarism, you don't need to cite specific works. Just use phrases like "in prior studies" or "researchers have reported XXX."
Upvotes: 3
|
2016/07/01
| 1,240
| 5,016
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a junior faculty member at a research university. I am working with postdoc A on a project. Postdoc A's PI, Dr. B, works in the same university, but is affiliated with another department. Prior to starting the project, postdoc A and I have agreed that we would work on the project during their spare time. We did not inform Dr. B about this arrangement. When the project is about half-way done, Dr.B found out that A is working with me on the project. Dr.B approached me and told me that all postdoc A's projects have to go through them, and claimed that postdoc A could get fired by the school if the school found out that postdoc A is publishing papers without their PI.
My questions:
1. Is it true that all projects of a postdoc have to go through their PI (even if the research is conducted during the postdoc's spare time)?
2. Do I have the obligation to let Dr.B know about my collaboration with postdoc A, given that we agree to work on the project during A's spare time? (I know as a courtesy to a colleague, I probably should have informed Dr.B about it before the project starts...)
3. What can I do at this point to make sure postdoc A's career is not affected by this incident?<issue_comment>username_1: 1. It is likely not legally binding that postdoctoral activity must go through the supervisor, especially not if the additional work was beyond "normal working hours" and uncompensated. For example, if the postdoc had wished to donate time to a charity, no permission from the supervisor would be necessary. However,
2. Yes, you and Postdoc A had a professional obligation to inform Dr. B about your collaboration, especially if it was intended to result in publication and was not just for Postdoc A to learn something new. Dr. B has committed to training and advising Postdoc A, and Dr. B's financial and intellectual commitment to Postdoc A makes your unpaid collaboration possible. Also, you might be hard-pressed now (after the fact) to demonstrate convincingly that none of the work ever took time from the projects with Dr. B. Therefore,
3. You should take the fall for this one. Apologize to Dr. B, say that you should have known better and that you wrongly advised Postdoc A. Offer review and editing of the manuscript and possibly minor authorship to Dr. B. Or, collaboration on a follow-up project. Give a gift of coffee, tea, or a favorite food (I have found this to be a surprisingly effective apology strategy with academics -- citing my personal experience here).
Citation for all advice -- personal experience in the lab of another Dr. B, watching another Postdoc A.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: "Can" is a very vague way to answer this, as it will depend on many factors - like the policies of Dr. B's lab, and if said postdoc wants their contract renewed. Or university policy (never underestimate the detail of university policy). But there's no universal, legally binding policy regarding this.
**Do** they? Yes, all the time. Probably a good 50% of the publications that came out of my postdoc were from outside my PI's lab.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Projects don't *have* to go through the PI, but it is considered professional courtesy that they do. The PI is paying for the postdoc's time and efforts.
You should have asked before starting the project.
In general, if a postdoc is hired to complete a certain task, then depending on the terms of the grant that they're under, it might be the case that the funding agency will get mad if it's discovered that the postdoc works on unrelated research activities.
Grant applications often have research effort descriptions, e.g. postdoc will devote 100% of their research efforts to task X, PI will devote 20% of their research efforts to task Y. So your claim that the postdoc worked on this in their spare time is irrelevant - they were doing research activities, and this took away from time they could have done other research activities related to the grant.
What can be done now? Apologize to Prof. B, and to the postdoc for putting them in an uncomfortable position. Be ready to write a very warm and glowing reference to the postdoc regardless of the outcome of your research efforts. I don't think this will have a lasting effect on their career assuming the work with their PI went well.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> Is it true that all projects of a postdoc have to go through their PI (even if the research is conducted during the postdoc's spare time)?
>
>
>
No. That would be blatantly unethical. Authorship must be earned. Being the PI is not sufficient to earn authorship in most disciplines. You might also check your local labor law.
>
> Do I have the obligation to let Dr.B know about my collaboration with postdoc A, given that we agree to work on the project during A's spare time?
>
>
>
No. You have no obligation to report on any colleague's spare time. It does not matter if they are golfing or doing research.
Upvotes: -1
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2016/07/01
| 1,025
| 4,180
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<issue_start>username_0: Which factors determine whether academics get paid when they give interviews in the media (or other kind of media appearances, e.g. debates)?
I am mostly interested in the field of computer science, and English-speaking venues.
I am also interested any statistics giving some insights on how frequently academics get paid for media appearances, and how much.<issue_comment>username_1: 1. It is likely not legally binding that postdoctoral activity must go through the supervisor, especially not if the additional work was beyond "normal working hours" and uncompensated. For example, if the postdoc had wished to donate time to a charity, no permission from the supervisor would be necessary. However,
2. Yes, you and Postdoc A had a professional obligation to inform Dr. B about your collaboration, especially if it was intended to result in publication and was not just for Postdoc A to learn something new. Dr. B has committed to training and advising Postdoc A, and Dr. B's financial and intellectual commitment to Postdoc A makes your unpaid collaboration possible. Also, you might be hard-pressed now (after the fact) to demonstrate convincingly that none of the work ever took time from the projects with Dr. B. Therefore,
3. You should take the fall for this one. Apologize to Dr. B, say that you should have known better and that you wrongly advised Postdoc A. Offer review and editing of the manuscript and possibly minor authorship to Dr. B. Or, collaboration on a follow-up project. Give a gift of coffee, tea, or a favorite food (I have found this to be a surprisingly effective apology strategy with academics -- citing my personal experience here).
Citation for all advice -- personal experience in the lab of another Dr. B, watching another Postdoc A.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: "Can" is a very vague way to answer this, as it will depend on many factors - like the policies of Dr. B's lab, and if said postdoc wants their contract renewed. Or university policy (never underestimate the detail of university policy). But there's no universal, legally binding policy regarding this.
**Do** they? Yes, all the time. Probably a good 50% of the publications that came out of my postdoc were from outside my PI's lab.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Projects don't *have* to go through the PI, but it is considered professional courtesy that they do. The PI is paying for the postdoc's time and efforts.
You should have asked before starting the project.
In general, if a postdoc is hired to complete a certain task, then depending on the terms of the grant that they're under, it might be the case that the funding agency will get mad if it's discovered that the postdoc works on unrelated research activities.
Grant applications often have research effort descriptions, e.g. postdoc will devote 100% of their research efforts to task X, PI will devote 20% of their research efforts to task Y. So your claim that the postdoc worked on this in their spare time is irrelevant - they were doing research activities, and this took away from time they could have done other research activities related to the grant.
What can be done now? Apologize to Prof. B, and to the postdoc for putting them in an uncomfortable position. Be ready to write a very warm and glowing reference to the postdoc regardless of the outcome of your research efforts. I don't think this will have a lasting effect on their career assuming the work with their PI went well.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> Is it true that all projects of a postdoc have to go through their PI (even if the research is conducted during the postdoc's spare time)?
>
>
>
No. That would be blatantly unethical. Authorship must be earned. Being the PI is not sufficient to earn authorship in most disciplines. You might also check your local labor law.
>
> Do I have the obligation to let Dr.B know about my collaboration with postdoc A, given that we agree to work on the project during A's spare time?
>
>
>
No. You have no obligation to report on any colleague's spare time. It does not matter if they are golfing or doing research.
Upvotes: -1
|
2016/07/01
| 1,115
| 5,128
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently reviewed a paper (general applied mathematics context). During the review, I realized that the fairly general ideas introduced in the paper can potentially be applied to a specific problem in a similar context. The authors did not mention this application in their paper, so I suggested to add a short comment about it in my review.
I later started thinking about the application in more detail and tried out some things, which actually seem to work quite well for this application. Now, the paper is still in the review process and might take some time until it gets published. What is the proper way how to proceed here in order to use the ideas and results which I in my exclusive position as a reviewer saw? How can I refer to the paper that is still under review? How can I best discuss the ideas with my co-workers (and potential co-authors) without disclosing that I reviewed the paper?
The paper under review is not available online on any preprint servers such as arXiv etc<issue_comment>username_1: You can't ethically do anything based on ideas from this paper until it is made public (by the authors as a preprint, or by the publisher). In particular, before that point you can't refer to the paper, you can't use the ideas without referring to it, you can't publish or otherwise disseminate results based on it, and you can't discuss it with other people, including your collaborators. It can be really frustrating to know something important and be unable to tell anyone else for the time being, but there's no way around it ethically.
The reason is that submitting a paper for publication is not considered to release it for other use or dissemination until it is actually published. The people involved in processing and evaluating it (most notably the editors and reviewers) have an ethical obligation to keep all information about the submission strictly confidential and not to use it to gain any personal advantage. Once it is published of course it can be treated the same as any other paper, and in the meantime the authors can choose to make information publicly available via preprints or talks (in which case others can follow up on this information as appropriate), but nobody else is authorized to release any information before publication beyond what the authors have chosen to share, or to use it for any purpose other than reviewing the paper. Otherwise it has the same ethical status as using material you stole off the authors' desks.
There's no reason why the research community has to work this way in principle, but it's the system that has evolved over time. (Note that as recently as the 1930's, famous physicists were [not all in agreement](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2005/09/16/einstein-vs-physical-review/) as to how peer review should work.) It's possible that in the future we will move to systems such as submitting for publication only after releasing a preprint. That seems to be the trend in some fields, but we haven't yet made a full transition if we ever will, and the community's ethical principles still offer protection to authors who choose not to distribute their paper before publication.
Nobody signs a non-disclosure agreement when reviewing a paper, but the ethical principles are well established. Deliberately violating them would be a serious form of misconduct, which could easily be career-ending if it was more than a minor or technical violation.
<NAME> asks in the comments whether referees are allowed to prepare follow-up papers, as long as they don't distribute them before the original paper becomes public. I.e., does the "you can't ethically do anything based on ideas from this paper" really mean you can't do anything, or just that you can't disseminate anything yet? (Let's assume it's a single-authored paper that is not discussed with anyone else in advance.) My interpretation is that nobody can stop you from thinking a little, and you may not even be able to stop yourself, but actively working on and writing a paper of your own would be abusing your position as referee. There probably isn't a consensus as to exactly where the line is for what's strictly forbidden, but either side of the line could still look terrible. If you want to publish work you began thinking about as a referee, I'd strongly recommend against doing it so quickly that's it clear you had to have known about the original paper in advance.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: One thing you absolutely could do before publication, and given your interest, you probably should, is investigate the possibility of contacting the authors, and ask if they'd be interested in collaborating on enlarging upon their work in the direction of your comment.
If they say yes, then you have their go-ahead to build on their work, get to start work straight away (though you can't publish before them, of course), get the advantage of their experience in the area, and so on - it's all upsides.
If they say no, then you're no worse off: you still have to wait until it's published.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/07/01
| 1,838
| 7,616
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<issue_start>username_0: **Some background:** I'm currently about to finish my first PhD year (in a 4 year program) in complex geometry and I'm really struggling with it because I have to learn a lot of new mathematics essential for the area and which are completely new to me. My background is not completely in mathematics. I did my bachelor in physics and computer science, and after that I obtained a masters in pure math, where I got to learn the foundational material (analysis, topology, number theory, etc.)
As a consequence I've contemplated the following options:
1. The first gambit: Continue with it and give it my best try. I'm confident I can learn all the material I'm required to, the problem is my learning speed is not fast enough.
2. The second gambit: Change to a more friendly area: I'd like to think of this as an area that requires less foundational material (more vertical perhaps?). An area which may be better suited for me according to my background AND for which my university has a group for it (this limits the options). One of the options would be applied math.
3. The solution I fear most: Quit the PhD. I really don't have the slightest idea what would be of me in this case since I despise the idea of working in a 9-5 job, it's just not my thing.
In fact, all this got triggered by my advisor showing concern about my progress a few months ago, and as of now, they told me to learn certain topics, yet I find them quite hermetic given my foundational gaps, so I often get very stressed while studying this foundational material since I should be also studying what I was told to.
At the moment I'm not personally ready to take options 2 or 3, but these ideas are always in my mind.
**What this post is for:** I'd like to know what other people in similar situations to mine have done and how it worked for them. Maybe I'm overlooking other better courses of action. Maybe it's normal to feel this way or have some of this problems, or not. Broadly speaking I'm looking for advice from a more experienced person.<issue_comment>username_1: There is one piece of advice that seems particularly important to give: **do whatever is needed to enjoy working on your PhD**. You won't go very far if stress and pressure is all that gets you going, and the probability of getting an academic job after *even a very good* PhD is too thin to go into PhD without enjoying the PhD years by themselves.
Of course you will have to work hard whatever path you take, and not all the work will be pleasant. But if you are not enjoying your current work at least from time to time, you should definitely change something. Having insufficient foundations is a pretty good explanation for not enjoying oneself, so going to a subject where this problem will disappear feels reasonable to me.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I really feel for you. I had a very similar experience in math graduate school. I won't go in to the details, but let's say I ended up in a research group whose general area I was interested in, but the particular research they did was not as interesting to me and required a rather different background. I struggled to fill in the gaps in my background, but it was difficult not least because I wasn't all that interested in it, and I always felt only half welcome in the group. I ended up basically taking approach 2 from your list, working on a project at the interface between my current group and another group in the department. I wouldn't say the latter group "required less foundational material", but the stuff I wanted to work on had not been that heavily studied before, so it was in some sense easier because I was the first to look at it seriously. Not surprisingly, the results were not particularly breakthrough, however, but I did complete my PhD defense ( a year longer than usual ).
I have since left academics, in no small part due to my experiences in the social and societal aspects of academic math life. In fact, realizing this about the fourth year of my PhD program, I started looking outside of academia for job opportunities, took a couple of classes in more applied fields, and contacted a recruiter. If you decide to go this route, I very strongly recommend contacting someone to help you with the job search. In my experience, the disdain for leaving academics and entering industry amongst pure mathematicians, while mostly tongue-in-cheek, nevertheless means they are clueless about the prospects and the process. Again, one person's experience, but I think it can't hurt to reach out.
I might have been able to struggle harder through the foundational material, but I felt I would have ended up with a thesis in a subject that was not my passion, and it seemed to me at the time at least that once you've gone that far into a specific research field, your post-doctoral position(s) will be in that field, and it will be even harder to switch; I didn't want to spend my career in the same field as my research group.
I don't mean to dissuade you from trying to stay in academics, but I will say that I'm very happy with where I've ended up. I would also caution you, the last year of my graduate school was very difficult and I had to find my own way both in terms of research and job prospects; my advisor could not have cared less about my job search once I was no longer looking in academics.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: You are taking a journey a road less travelled by many educated individuals. There had to be a compelling reason for you to choose y
To quote the first articles last paragraph:
>
> Successful PhD students thrive in a highly intellectual environment, are willing to work very hard with only a possible payoff, love their field of study, and don't mind forgoing impressive paychecks. If this sounds like you, forge ahead!
>
>
>
<http://www.princetonreview.com/grad-school-advice/why-you-shouldnt-pursue-phd>
Remember that your pursuance of new knowledge will expand your perspective. It is not just solving a new or lingering problem, your cognitive notions will be tested and truths will be challenged and verified. The rigor is real and the demand complex. Your computer science background is your cure for the analytics.
Physics roots theoretical understanding to tangible outcomes.
Quoting someone who directly engaged your current field of study:
>
> Because you love math[s].
>
>
>
<http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~justin/phdadvice.html>
Option two sounds most to my liking because I am a Computer Science and Applied Math fan. Its practical to me.
For you, it sounds like you are going to finish with choice 1 and really should get back to the books to exercise your brain on the routine of the extra courses not seen or remembered from your past (like number theory). You have a lucky foundation that favors your current studies. Have a good journey.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: My experience was a little like yours. I studied algebra as a pure math grad student. Up to a certain point, I actually enjoyed the work even. But, when it came time to really get down to writing a dissertation, select an advisor, etc., I just found that I did not enjoy the subject that much.
I switched to doing an applied math PhD and have found it personally to be much better. I enjoy the subject a lot more, feel more inspired in the field of research, and am ultimately a lot happier.
I sort of "lost" a year or two of time by making this switch, but it was better than spending the next 30 years in a field I did not enjoy.
Grit can only take you so far in a PhD.
Upvotes: 3
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2016/07/01
| 420
| 1,781
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a starting PhD student and my advisor got a research grant funded, and I am supposed to do the project. I have been supported by my family in the hope to find funding. well, the professor said that all the money from the research grant went to the department and so I am not getting any. Could that scenario happen?
P.S. My adviser is a new assistant professor and she is getting another student in the fall.
Thanks<issue_comment>username_1: Yes. The funding can only be used for the purposes for which it was obtained. Unless the funding explicitly includes a line item to support a student it is unlikely that the money could be used for that purpose.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: That would be illegal in the US. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, but here, all people who work are entitled by federal law to be paid, at least, minimum wage. If he refuses to pay you, you can either quit, refuse to do the work, or call your state's department of labor (or whatever it's called) or the US Departmen of Labor. I don't think Florida has such a state-level department.
If all the money that came from the grant to your school was swallowed by the department, then *they* should pay you instead. In the US, awards by the NSF are made directly to the university with the requirement that the funding listed in the budget for the workers must go to the named PI and the other named people or (often) unnamed student who will do the work. There are other line items that go to the university (indirect costs, etc.), but I'm not considering those here. The university, essentially, must send the salary money down. I don't know where you are or what terms the granting body puts in its terms, but some similar model seems likely.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/07/02
| 995
| 4,413
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<issue_start>username_0: Would this idea be too sensitive / too much information / generally a bad idea?
For example, I have a friend who is doing her computational biology PhD at a strong U.S. program, and her main research is about the illness of one of her family members, whom she unfortunately lost recently.
I have also heard of specialist (medical) doctors who got into their field because they suffered from the very illness that they are now trained to diagnose and treat.
For me, at a much lower level, at the MS Thesis level, I have a chance to work with a very well-known applied mathematician, who has joint appointments at our math dept and medical school. But, I don't have a clue what project I would like to initiate with him, other than about something that I have dealt with personally and medically -- and this topic could likely be within his research domain. Of course, I would be naturally *very* passionate about working in this area. I am always fascinated, when I see my own team of doctors twice a year to have discussions about my health.
If I could do a mathematical project about my own health issue, do you think that this is ... TMI? A classic "beginner's mistake" perhaps? Or, is it pretty common for applied mathematicians to dedicate some (or all) of their research to issues that they are intimately familiar with?
Thanks,<issue_comment>username_1: I do not have experience with specifically applied maths, but in general, there is no problem at all with conducting research in a direction that you have some personal connection with. One could argue that many applied research projects are driven by concrete needs, and I fail to see why those would have to be needs of *other* people rather than a researcher's own.
That being said, you *will* need to remain cautious of your own bias in your endeavours. As a researcher, it will be expected of you to work on the topic from a neutral, scientific, "big picture" perspective, which is easy to lose if you are at the same time also part of this "picture".
Let me provide one example from my own research. I conduct research on software engineering. Many of our best PhD students have worked as software developers prior to starting their PhD, so in a way they are also part of the same demographics that they research. What can now happen with inexperienced students is that (s)he will, for instance, interview developers with regard to a specific problem, process, or practice, and, during the analysis phase, discard statements that go against their own prior experience as "obviously wrong" or "bad". In that way, a student may overemphasize results that resonate with her/his own prior experience, and discard results that don't, essentially guaranteeing that the results are in line with what the student expected going into the study based on her/his own experience.
You will need to make sure that you do not run into the same trap - don't assume that everybody experiences your health issues the same way, that you are some sort of gold standard of this specific condition, or that your specific variation is more important or relevant than others. However, these are definitely issues that a good advisor can help you with.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Having personal engagement with your research can be a great benefit:
* Being directly affected by something is a strong motivator for persisting through the inevitable struggles of research.
* Being engaged also gives you perspective that may help with formulating effective questions and answers and avoiding traps in thinking.
Some successful examples I personally know in the biomedical field include an amputee researcher of artificial limbs and an autism researcher with an autistic sibling.
As @username_1 says, there can be challenges with personal bias, but I don't see that as any different than the personal bias that all researchers bring to their subjects.
In fact, I think one needs to be more careful if you are *not* directly engaged with a problem, because it is easy to be blind to the true needs of the people involved. Consider, for example, the way in which a largely male medical establishment simply ignored many aspects of women's health for many years, or the continuing embarrassment of many misguided aid projects in the developing world.
In short: go where your passion is taking you.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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2016/07/02
| 932
| 3,819
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<issue_start>username_0: Few papers use DOIs in the reference section (example below). What are the downsides of using DOIs when listing references?
---
A typical [example](http://aclweb.org/anthology/N16-1011) from one of the main conferences in the natural language processing field showing no DOI:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZR5iX.png)<issue_comment>username_1: There's no downside for me, but finding them can be challenging. I just looked at several recent downloaded articles, and I don't see a DOI on the front page. So, I'd say my personal inertia keeps me from digging around on the Internet looking for a DOI to add to my BibTeX entries for each paper I want to cite. I try to add them when they're immediately presented on the papers I cite, since they do have to be found. But having to go look to find them makes them less likely for me to use. Not every paper has a DOI that is readily found. There's no step in my workflow when writing where I go through all my DOI-less citations and try to find one. Maybe that's a bad habit, but it is my habit. I suspect that's true for many authors, but I think you have a bad assumption that there's some downside to DOIs that prevents people from using them. It's not enough of a requirement yet that people do it because journals or the community demand having them on every citation so that people get over their inertia and go find them or figure out if every citation even has one.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: They occupy precious space on a page. For journals that publish in print, this costs money. In other cases, papers are subject to page limits, and adding DOIs would take away from space that could be used to describe results.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: To me, the primary reason for not including DOIs in the bibliography is the length restriction of the paper1. [The DOI on its own doesn't work as a bibliographical entry](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3097/publishing-dois-instead-of-traditional-references), together with the human-readable information, it is redundant, and it adds roughly one line to the paper per entry. Therefore, a bibliography with DOIs is (by removing the DOIs) a welcome source of extra space for content that would otherwise have no space left.
1: In my field, length restrictions are typically tight (8 to 12 pages in two-column formats for "full papers") and to be taken seriously, and additionally aggravated by the fact that papers in my field typically include plenty of figures. Moreover, in my field, bibliographies are normally included in the length restriction or subject to their own length restriction (I have come across rules like "up to 8 pages, or up to 9 pages, if the last page only contains bibliography items").
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I can speak for mathematics, where virtually no papers are cited with DOIs. Indeed, I confess to only a vague understanding of what they are (and I suspect most mathematicians would say the same).
The only downsides of which I'm aware are that they would take some effort to look up, and take a little bit of space. I think the reason they aren't used is because mathematicians don't see any obvious need or benefit. At any rate, I glanced through the DOI FAQ just now and didn't see any compelling use case.
Perhaps this is because we have MathSciNet (Mathematical Reviews), a searchable database of essentially every modern math paper that has been published in a reputable journal, with reviews and links to online versions (when available). Indeed, sometimes citations include the "review number" from this database. I don't bother, because it is just as easy to look up papers by author name and title, but some people do.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/07/02
| 1,632
| 6,763
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an incoming PhD student. Before I applied, I chose a particular school because it had a specific PI. (Of course, this is not a good idea, but I did not know better at the time.) The PI is very famous in my field and was extremely excited about having me in his lab, going above and beyond to get me to work in his lab (e.g. private tours, etc.). I believe he was partially responsible for getting me into this school, but I can never be certain.
I had to take a year off for medical reasons, but for the last year and a half, we have been in monthly discussions about what I will work on and what I will do, and he has been giving me lots of work to do before I arrive. Up until just recently, it was obvious to both of us that when I came to the school I would be in his lab. He expects me to skip my lab rotations and join his lab immediately.
However, I recently learned from a conversation with one of his postdocs that he has being emotionally abusive to one of his graduate students (e.g. comments along the lines of "you know everybody hates you"). I also learned that he has been completely ignoring one of his postdocs (as a result of which the postdoc hasn't published in the last year and a half), and that he gave away the project of his other graduate student to someone not in the lab, and then lied about it.
So obviously I'm not joining this lab. What is the best way to break off this relationship? I am concerned about him retaliating, as he has a lot of power in the department. I also cannot share my true reasons for leaving with him, because then he would retaliate against the postdoc who told me.
Is this something that should be done via email? Skype? I saw him recently when I visited the school (and learned this information) so I did not bring it up then. There are many other labs in the department so I'm not concerned about that. But I am concerned about what the consequences might be for leaving his lab. Also, what kind of excuse should I use? My present excuse is "I am questioning my interest in sub-sub-subfield X and want to do rotations before I start working with you."<issue_comment>username_1: >
> My present excuse is "I am questioning my interest in sub-sub-subfield X
> and want to do rotations before I start working with you."
>
>
>
I think this is the key to buying time, and an opportunity to make more first-hand observations. You don't even have to immediately question your commitment to "sub-sub-subfield X". You can tell the PI that you feel you must do the lab rotations because they would be good, at this stage in your studies, for broadening your perspective and building your intra-department network.
Depending on his reaction, your observations during the lab rotations, and how you interact with the other labs, you can either go with the original plan, or decide you really, really like a slightly different research area that puts you in a different lab.
That way, you can frame your not joining his lab as a positive choice to do something you have found suits you even better, rather than as a rejection of him and/or his field.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: My answer assumes that you are convinced that your presumptive advisor is emotionally abusive, and that you have made a firm decision not to work with him.
However, you haven't given a first- or even second-hand account of abuse or neglect; it's also possible that the *postdoc* is blowing a personality conflict out of proportion by spreading false accusations. The only *direct* red flag I see is your presumptive advisor's expectation that you will join his lab directly without doing rotations. You may want to have a **confidential** discussion with another senior faculty member about your concerns, before jumping off this particular cliff.
---
Pretend that your presumptive advisor is a reasonable adult human being. Talk to them **in person**. Be straightforward and honest.
>
> "Thank you for your encouragement and your support, but I have decided not to join your lab."
>
>
>
That's it. You do not owe them an excuse, an explanation, an apology, or a description of your alternate plans. (I think you do owe them thanks.)
If *you* would be more comfortable giving an explanation, then do so respectfully, honestly, and carefully. But if you have no intention of working with this advisor in the future, do not suggest the opposite, even indirectly. In particular, you should *not* say "I want to do rotations before joining your lab" unless you actually intend to join their lab after doing rotations. It would be better to say something like
>
> "I have decided to do full rotations before joining *any* particular lab. I want to explore a few different subareas, and I think the breadth of experience will help my long-term academic career."
>
>
>
Be ready for the advisor to pressure you to do a rotation in their lab, or to argue that you're actually *damaging* your long-term career by not joining a lab directly. Thank him again for his advice and encouragement, but stick to your guns. Or he might surprise you by being completely supportive and giving you good advice about other labs to work in.
Under different circumstances, I might suggest being direct about your suspicions of emotional abuse and neglect, but as you say yourself, that could backfire on the advisor's other students and postdocs. That's their fight to have, not yours.
If the advisor is as emotionally abusive as you suspect, he *may* try to pull you into an argument or blackmail you. He may say things like "I got you admitted to this department; you owe me." or "I'll have you kicked out of the program." or "I'm big and famous and important, and I know everybody, and you've just signed your academic death warrant." Do not engage. Do not argue. Do not back down. You have neither signed a contract nor sworn an oath of fealty. The most you owe him is your sincere thanks and your future success, on your own terms. Assuming you work in a healthy department, his threats are idle.
That said, you should have someone in your corner, just in case his threats are *not* idle. **Before** you dump your advisor, I strongly recommend having an honest **and confidential** discussion with the graduate director, ombudsman, department chair, or another trusted senior faculty member. (The other students will know who to talk to.) Be completely straightforward about your concerns, especially about possible repercussions from your decision. Hopefully they will reassure you that your concerns are groundless, or at least that someone else is willing to fight for you to be treated fairly.
If not, you're better off in a different department anyway.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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2016/07/02
| 4,489
| 19,110
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<issue_start>username_0: For example for an undergrad CS/ECE course, say Intro to Computer Networks, there are about 5 textbooks published by the top 15 publishers in the last 20 years. Why aren't there way more textbooks, since there are probably tens of thousands of people (academics) who have the necessary knowledge to write such a book.
Is it because:
1. publishers don't publish a book about a topic for which they already published a book previously;
2. or academics don't think writing a textbook is beneficial for their careers and royalties are very low?<issue_comment>username_1: In my experience, reason (1) is less important than reason (2). Publishers will publish a book if they think the potential market will pay off their investment in production, marketing, distribution, and all the other costs they'll incur. My first book was published even though the publisher already had a book on the same topic (yeah, stupid on my part, but I never thought about the pitfalls inherent in competing in-house), which is partly why I said (1) was not particularly important. If you look around, you'll find that many publishers, especially the larger ones, carry more than one book on a subject, particularly for intro- to intermediate-level courses, in the hope that a potential adopter will find *some* of their offerings acceptable.
The more important reason, in my opinion, is that at many schools in the US, a published textbook counts for little or nothing when decisions are made about tenure. Writing a text is a time-consuming project: most of the texts I've written took from one to two thousand hours of my time. For an untenured faculty member, a *much* better return on investment would be to use the time getting articles published in respectable journals, or whatever's appropriate for their discipline. When this subject comes up in conversation with a junior faculty member I'm unambiguous: **save the book-writing until after tenure**.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: As in the other comments and answer: it's a lot of trouble, doesn't generate money, and doesn't generate *status*, either. In fact, it often generates anti-status, for various reasons: because of the other features, many academics (I'm in mathematics) would never consider writing any sort of book at all... and many of these people seem to subliminally want to rationalize this as a positive virtue by denigrating anyone who *does* write a book (especially a textbook). This is a fairly typical mechanism: declare the desired state a virtue... I've had "colleagues" say to me, quite snarkily, upon hearing that I was working on a book, "Oh, you must have a lot of time with nothing to do!" Sigh...
It is also true that there is pressure from publishers to make new textbooks as similar as possible to old textbooks... which perpetuates certain features that one might decide are not so good. That is, understandably because publishers want to sell books, a new textbook "has to" resemble existing ones enough to compete in the market for those books.
Another disincentive, of a different sort, is the point that nowadays with an internet, one needn't have pseudo-perfected a body of material before putting it on-line, because it can be corrected, tweaked, etc., indefinitely. In contrast, a physical book's immutability creates pressure for a degree of perfection that is (relatively) very expensive (if only in time and energy), due to severely diminishing marginal returns. The very linearity of a book creates similar somewhat-fake problems... And physical books are not searchable! It's crazy! :)
So, I personally have written some texbooks, didn't make much money... Nowadays, I mostly just put textbook-like material on-line, thus without the constraints of old-timey publication. This similarly generates no status-points at all, and no money. :)
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: Because you can just hire an undergraduate to TeX his lecture notes and have an easily amendable script specifically tailored around your course. Although it does not generate you any income, it requires a lot less effort than going though the whole publishing process of a textbook and yet serves its purpose exactly the same.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: I can't really speak *personally* to what does/n't motivate an established academic to work on textbooks, but I do have a little insight on the work involved. I'm currently writing/editing for an established broad IT textbook series. I suspect there are a few big things that factor into an individual's calculation:
* There's a tension between finding a field/niche that is both new enough that there isn't already an authoritative, entrenched textbook but large enough to support a book (both ways--there's enough content to cover and enough programs/classes/teachers/students to have any prospect of making money). I would guess a clear majority don't work on topics that clearly *need* a textbook.
* If there is already an established textbook, you're probably going to have to go through several editions just to get legs under it unless you or your publisher have enough clout to convince professors/instructors/departments to leave a book they already have developed curricula around.
* This treadmill effect means you're pledging to give up a certain amount of time every few years if the broader (trans-edition) project of the "book" is to succeed. My perspective on time may be skewed by the size (quite large) of the books I'm working on, but I'd guess most minor to moderate revisions (updating for gradual change in the field or your own pedagogy; no large-scale restructuring/rewriting) take between 2-20 weeks of full-time work (without accounting for time spent procrastinating by those who find writing/editing less fun than research/mentoring/teaching).
* Given the above, I would guess there aren't many people with the stamina to write a substantial first-edition textbook in less than a year without neglecting (or being excused from, or not even having) teaching, research, and/or family responsibilities.
* I think there's a relationship between how much time you get to spend teaching material and how successfully you can structure it in a way that is useful for students and other teachers, which I suspect makes it hard for early-career academics to quickly turn out a textbook that will really resonate with others, but may make it (relatively) easy for mid/late-career academics to build a textbook from a body of material they've been iteratively shaping for many semesters.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: First of all, without knowing much about the subject you mentioned, I'm willing to bet that the premise of your question is simply wrong and that there are actually quite a lot more than 5 books on Intro to Computer Networks published by reasonably well-known publishers in the last 20 years. The world is a big place, and the publishing world is also much larger than you think, and don't forget it includes books written in languages you don't speak (yes, believe it or not, many textbooks are written in languages other than English) or that cater to an audience from a geographical region or academic subculture you have no connection with. The numbers you cited (5 books, top 15 publishers, last 20 years) are clearly just your own private speculation and have no evidence backing them, so assuming that they're wrong with high probability is one way of answering the question.
Second, another way in which your question is unfortunately not very well-formulated is that it's phrased as a multiple choice question but offers only two choices, none of which really come close to the heart of the reason why more textbooks don't get written (to the extent that there's anything that needs explaining here, since as I said in the first paragraph, a lot more textbooks actually do get written than I think you realize).
The truth is that writing textbooks is simply very hard. Academics have to decide what they will work on at any given point in their careers and what they will invest their limited time and energy in, so naturally they will opt to invest those resources in projects that will have the best impact on the world, their scientific community, and their personal careers (where these considerations are ordered differently according to what that person cares about most), and that have the best chance of success. Writing a textbook is a big project that takes anywhere between 1-4 years, and sometimes much longer (I personally know an author who took 15 years). While there are a lot of people who would like to undertake such a large project in some utopian, hypothetical sense, when it comes down to the practical task of actually sitting down and writing one, many people end up being deterred by the large effort and degree of focus that this task requires. By contrast, some alternative ways for academics to invest their time in that can be just as beneficial as writing a textbook, like working on short-to-medium term research projects, or even long-term research projects that yield intermediate deliverable products like actual publishable papers on a short-to-medium term basis, end up being a lot more suited to the psychology of many academics and hence a lot of people will prefer to focus on those other approaches to making an impact and advancing their field and career.
Finally, I have two other remarks about some of the reasons mentioned by others for why more textbooks don't get written. One is that I disagree with those who say that writing a textbook is a thankless task - my experience is that if you write a *good* textbook that actually helps your field in a substantial way rather than just present a slightly different point of view from 10 other textbooks, then that is likely to win you a lot of respect and admiration from colleagues, and even translate into material career benefits - promotions, speaking invitations, maybe job offers, etc. Overall, if you choose your textbook project wisely and have the talent to write a good one that makes a real contribution, it can be just as good for your career as any other thing you could be doing with an equal amount of time. It can also teach you things that doing other activities will not teach you, and make you a better and more disciplined scientist in ways that will eventually produce their own benefits far into the future. So those secondary and tertiary effects also need to be considered, but perhaps it's true that those benefits are not sufficiently appreciated by many would-be authors.
The second remark is that I also disagree with people citing the low royalties as reasons why anybody doesn't write a textbook. All the other activities that academics do when they're not writing textbooks don't pay *any* royalties at all, so from that point of view writing a textbook is strictly *more profitable* than publishing papers, writing research software or whatever. This calculation of the royalties you get divided by the number of hours it took you to write the book mentioned in some of the comments is completely nonsensical - you are paid a salary by your university while writing a textbook, just like you are paid a salary when you write your latest paper or do anything else. So, to summarize, yes the royalties are low, and certainly I don't think a sane academic will write a textbook for the royalties it will earn them, but just as certainly no one will *not write a textbook* because the royalties are low. If an academic decides not to write a textbook, you can be pretty sure that they made that decision for completely unrelated reasons.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: As someone writing a text there are 3 reasons to write one.
1. Money from royalties
2. Career advancement and reputation
3. Advancement of the field
Regarding **1** I anticipate that the money I have spent traveling to visit my collaborators will exceed the money that I will receive in royalties.
Regarding **2**: My hope is that this establishes me as a leader in the field in the eyes of people outside the field (I'm sufficiently respected within) - which will then help my career. The rewards probably don't justify the effort I have put in from a purely objective view however. The same effort put into departmental politics or grant writing or publishing would probably yield comparable outcomes.
Regarding **3** - this is the reason I'm actually writing it. I think there is a gap in the field that is best filled by a single broad coherent overview (as opposed to review papers or more research papers).
Once this book exists, all 3 motivations are reduced for other potential authors.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: 2 is more like it, though perhaps the royalties for a well used text would be reasonable if all the students in all the courses for which it was set actually bought it. But my last book didn't net enough to cover the time writing it.
I've several times had publishers ask me to write a textbook in areas where I have a high research profile (and some already have multiple related textbooks). Early on I considered it, today I wouldn't (although I'm working on something that could be called a textbook but isn't). I'd rather write another research monograph, but in such a way as it could be used as a textbook for a senior undergraduate or postgraduate class (no exercises, problems or answers). As an EIC for a book series I seek research monographs, but if they also double as textbooks, great!
But, if you are interested in citations, writing a well used textbook is the best way to get lots of citations without doing anything original - because most students are lazy and cite the textbook, rather than reviewing the work and citing the seminal work, the key developments, and actually getting up to date.
An easier way though, is writing a good review paper. A better way still, is writing a good critical review that doesn't just rake over the coals but organizes the work, and sets out a pathway for future work in the field - I liken it to SWOT analysis.
Many textbooks are written by people who are more experts on writing textbooks than experts in the field they are writing about. In fact, spending your time writing and revising textbooks tends to STOP you being able to be at the forefront of the research in the field. But there are exceptions, time out for a top researcher to write one good text (not normally the Q&A type), and back to good research. Some combine good research with the textbook - and still get gazumped. I'm thinking of the Minix/Linux saga here with Tanenbaum's Modern OS textbook...
For me it comes down to time more than money, I want to be working on tomorrow's version of the field, not recapping yesterday's! But if some publisher paid me enough to fund my next three years' research (say $1M) I'd be happy to spend six months writing a textbook. In practice, the royalties would be a fraction of the salary for the time spent.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: In the UK there is strong academic pressure to produce work which will add to the research rating of the school/institution, since that in turn governs a critical portion of the funding received by the institution. Rating is not governed simply by the number of citations but by a system of rating how valuable your contribution is to the field Lure a Nobel Prize winner to your department and you may get lots of money. Support someone who's written a good textbook and you may get nothing. Which means a textbook won't look great as a reason to hire you.
This is a strong disincentive to those who might want to write a textbook early in their careers.
There is also a disincentive if there is already a strong or well-established textbook in the field - nobody will buy a text book which their tutors / professors have not recommended. And getting a new textbook recommended might be easier in a technical field, where old ones may be out of date or there may be no older ones. Doing it in, for example, history is much trickier.
Again, basing this on the UK pattern, most students will get by with purchasing as few books as possible. They will download stuff from the internet, use material from libraries or just ask a friend - again this applies less to technical and professional material. Trying to write a history textbook is a mug's game - no one will buy it unless they have to and most students won't have to - "Why can't you just put it on the internet?"
The introduction of tuition fees in the UK over the last couple of decades has led to students feeling that they have already paid enough for their education and that the information they need should be provided for them - again on the internet.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: Wow, what a lot of negativity re writing textbooks. Let me offer a more positive perspective, at least in the field of mathematics. I've written seven textbooks over 30+ years, some solo, some with colleagues. One is at a beginning undergraduate level, two are at an advanced undergraduate level, and four are graduate texts. The first was written primarily while I was a post-doc and appeared as I was applying for tenure track jobs, the second was written while I was in a tenure-track position. Yes, they were a lot of work; the rule of thumb I've learned (for me) is to estimate the amount of time it should take, and then triple it. Would I have done better, career-wise, to have spent more time on research. Possibly, who can know, but I'm satisfied with how things have turned out.
My personal answer to "why write a textbook" is primarily:
*Here's am area of mathematics that I love, and I'm writing the book that I wish that I'd had available when I was learning the subject.*
Or, in a similar vein, the undergraduate cryptography textbook that I wrote with two colleagues is designed for a course that we teach, and *it presents the subject in the way that we find most interesting.* This is not to say that there aren't plenty of other cryptography textbooks with perfectly valid viewpoints, but they don't say what we wanted to say.
There is also a great deal of satisfaction in holding in one's hands a book that one has written, and it's great to receive positive feedback from readers. There's even satisfaction in receiving lists of errata, since it shows that someone cares enough to carefully read your book!
As a practical matter, as others have indicated, it's easiest to write a book after developing the material as a course and creating detailed lecture notes. But the road from lecture notes to polished publishable book is neither short nor straight.
Finally, since it seems apposite, I'll end with a link to an article that I recently wrote entitled: *Rational points on, and the arithmetic of, elliptic curves: A tale of two books.*
It details some of the history behind the writing of two of my books, and is (freely) available at
<http://www.ams.org/journals/bull/0000-000-00/S0273-0979-2017-01542-X/S0273-0979-2017-01542-X.pdf>
Upvotes: 3
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2016/07/02
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<issue_start>username_0: I've been spending the past three years as an autodidact for computer science and physics, in lieu of a degree. Main reason for this being that high school classes bored me, so I did poorly in them, and there were no CS classes available at the time. I decided at the age of seventeen to begin learning CS and pursue an equivalency instead, which I have.
However, now I am starting to see that I'd like to branch into observatory astronomy and integrate my data-science knowledge, as I notice an ever increasing necessity for people with both these skills. However, the space community seems to feel a lot more strongly about having a degree, more specifically a PhD (which I personally disagree with but that's getting off topic).
My question is, what possible options do I have? Should I continue being an autodidact and try to prove myself without a degree? Or suck it up and pursue one? If lack of a doctorate is out of the question, what's the most efficient track to a university with the competency level appropriate for me? My biggest problem is time. I want to do as little side tracking as possible, and stay on track with my current competency level.<issue_comment>username_1: The problem with academic outsiders is that you cannot judge their abilities. Having a Ph.D. does not mean that you are good, and having none does not mean that you are bad, but there is a strong correlation between degrees and competence. If you have neither a degree nor published work I have only your word that you actually know anything about CS or astronomy. At the same time for every position there are dozens of applicants with a degree, publications, and recommendations, so your chances of getting this position are practically 0.
So the first question is whether you need the income from a position, or do you have some other job providing you with a sufficient income? If you need the money, you almost certainly need a Ph.D. The only exception I could think of would be that you publish remarkable results. But then you can turn these results into a Ph.D. at no further costs anyway.
The second question is how much resources you need for your research. In mathematics and CS a lot of serious research requires nothing but a computer for typesetting. In astronomy you might be able to run over existing data or do simulations without much costs, but it is more likely that you need computation power beyond your financial means. If you need access to observatories, you run into serious trouble.
So if your planned research requires some outside input, and you do not get a degree which allows you to successfully ask for this input, you have to become known in some other way. Start with problems which require no resources, publish results, give talks at conferences, talk to people privately at conferences. Once you earned some respect, it should be a lot easier to get help with your projects.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I agree with the [prior answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/72264/10220), but have some further points on the relationship between programming and astronomy, and on the community college route.
If you wanted to do paid, supported research in computer science, you would need a PhD just as much as to do paid, supported research in astronomy. A PhD is the easiest way both to learn to do research and to demonstrate that you can do research. Programming in itself is different because it is a practical skill distinct from research.
After retirement, I took a community college Latin 101 course just for fun, and I volunteer with a community college robotics group. The good news is that you will have some bright, motivated, fellow students. The bad news is that you will meet some students who are just going through the motions, and are not really trying to learn.
You may find some of the courses you have to take boring, but you are presumably more mature now than when you were in high school, so you should cope better. Aim to do work at a much higher standard than is demanded for the course. That will help you concentrate, and equip you for transfer to a four year school.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: There is another aspects of degrees that drives the need for a PhD. This has to do that the main property of a PhD is that it is a philosophical doctorate, it teaches you how to think and approach problems in a very particular, highly structured way. Masters and BSc degrees do this somewhat, but to a much lesser degree.
While it is reasonably easy for someone very talented to learn to think in a BSc way, it is much harder to do so independently for a doctorate. It is possible, but uncommon, and most cases involve people who dropped out rather than never started.
Note that this says nothing about subject skills. Subject skills, such as programming, can very well be self-taught, although guidance is very helpful, especially to gain more conceptual understanding faster. Data science often involves a large amount of trial and error with well-defined tools. Large aspects of that are primarily skills (but do require some degree of advanced understanding).
Upvotes: 3
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2016/07/03
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<issue_start>username_0: Is it possible or legitimate to pursue two distinct research interests in the same discipline in the context of an advanced academic career (PhD and beyond that)?
For example, can I have two research interests the one concerning History of Economics and the other concerning Mathematical & Computational Economics in a PhD program in an Economics department where there are always professors that have these but usually not the same person?
Or for example, can I have two research interests the one concerning Political Theory/Philosophy and the other concerning Mathematical & Computational Social Sciences(Political Science) in a PhD program in Political Science department where there are always professors that have these but usually not the same person?
Just for the record, I have postgraduate academic education from prestigious universities both in Computer Science & Applied Mathematics and in Social Sciences(mainly Economics) & Philosophy. For this reason, I want to maintain both my strong qualitative and quantitative skills and have these, two in each case essentially, quite distinct research interests.<issue_comment>username_1: This sounds like a trivial question to answer in the affirmative, initially, but, upon reflection, there may well be differences across institutions in the level of flexibility they offer with regard to your autonomy. An easy litmus test will be to ascertain how much funding may be generated by your proposed approach from big name global brands, who you can sell the benefits of the value you can bring to them. If your proposal attracts significant investment in research funding and, perhaps, great PR for your chosen university, there should be no reason why the university would reject such a proposal? Think of your proposal both in terms of academic value and net profit -- more like a business plan.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> For example, can I have two research interests the one concerning History of Economics and the other concerning Mathematical & Computational Economics in a PhD program in an Economics department where there are always professors that have these but usually not the same person?
>
>
>
Practically speaking, your PhD topic will need to be on *one* topic, so you will need to choose to some extent. Relatedly, you will also need one (and usually exactly one) advisor - you can have the other person as a member of your committee, or sympathies permitting, just as an unofficial mentor and collaborator, but typically the formal advisor will need to be one specific person.
However, this should not prevent you from conducting research on both your interests. Typically, there are two ways to go about this:
1. Find a topic that naturally integrates your interests. For instance, you may write a thesis in political sciences, but with a healthy dose of econ (which almost automatically also includes plenty of applied maths), *or* you may write a thesis in economics, but with a focus on political implications of economic theory. In this example, both versions sound completely reasonable to me. Of course, if your actual interests are farther apart, this becomes less reasonable.
2. Choose one of your interests as thesis topic, and work on the other as side topic. This you can do in most cases, as long as there is *some* understanding between the disciplines (and your advisor is generally in favour of side projects, which [apparently not everybody is](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/67741/thesis-supervisors-project-or-my-project/)). This course of action has the disadvantage that ultimately, you will lose time to work on your thesis, and your thesis may accordingly take longer to complete or be less compelling than if you worked 100% on it.
That all being said, a common advice given to students is to remain somewhat narrow in their academic interests early in their career, and only start to branch out and diversify once one is strongly established in one particular aspect of a field or discipline.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: First of all, some of the practicalities depend a bit on the system and your ambitions. In a PhD, stick with a single **topic**. This topic may be approached from two perspectives (2 disciplines/subdisciplines). The most common way to "fail" a PhD is to not finish. Students that cannot choose, or cannot stick to a problem are frequently those that fail to get sufficient coherent material together for a thesis (and in any case they will have wasted time).
Once you have a PhD it is slightly easier (although you need to be careful if you are on some sort of tenure track). If you want to build some form of reputation you will have to again stay focussed on closely related problems (so that you can build a reputation as expert on that area). This doesn't mean you can't do side-projects (people will assume it was a student with an off-interest), but you do need to maintain sufficient focus on "your" area.
If you have tenure and don't have a wish to make a strong name in research, you can however do whatever you want. As an academic with strong side-interests I fully sympathise with your wish to be broad, but it is difficult. One thing that is maybe some consolation is that as you progress/gain experience, the size of your topic/scope tends to increase in size.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: In addition to the very good answers of [username_2](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094/xleitix) and [username_3](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10183/paul-de-vrieze) I would like to add a few thoughts on your question, especially focusing on the "and beyond" part. I am sure that it is possible to have different research interests within one field because (at least in mathematics) there are quite a few people who do that.
On the other hand, I think that, especially during early stages of the career, it is a somewhat risky thing to do. There will be some important occasions where your scientific achievements will be judged by experts in your field (e.g. if you apply for positions with a search committee or for tenure). If you are working in two different areas it is quite likely that they are only familiar with part of your work which on its own might be small compared to other people's work in this (sub)field.
I think it is less risky if you have a "main interest" and make sure that you are building a strong research record in this and consider the other field as side projects.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/07/04
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<issue_start>username_0: I have just completed the third year of an integrated master's degree (a three-year undergraduate degree plus an additional year of study at a master's degree level, with the final degree being an MPhys) in Astrophysics at a UK university. This summer I have to decide the topic of my final year dissertation, which counts for 50% of my final year.
I am almost certain I would like to continue in research and hence I am also starting to look for PhD places. I am very interested in cosmology, but with no idea of a specific area I want to go into and so I had thought of doing something in the field for my Master's dissertation, to get an idea of what it would be like to perform cosmology research.
However, the university I am at does not have a research group in this area and no facilities or expertise either. I have approached a potential supervisor (the lecturer who taught my one cosmology module, who is a plasma physicist), but he has told me that it is entirely up to me to decide on a topic/ question, which I am wary of doing due to my complete inexperience and lack of knowledge.
So, my question is this: if I decide to do my Master's dissertation on a different topic (eg solar physics), will I be at a disadvantage when applying for cosmology PhDs?<issue_comment>username_1: Don't ask us.
Contact your favourite three prospective universities for your cosmology PhD. Better still, contact your favourite three supervisors for your cosmology PhD. Ask them:
1. What Master's dissertation topic will prepare me best for my intended cosmology studies?
2. What Master's dissertation topic will make me most likely to be successful when applying to study a cosmology PhD?
(The first question is much more interesting than the second).
You will find enthusiasm for engaging with your question and your situation, because you are expressing specific interest in their field and because you are not asking them to decide anything about your application – since you have not applied. Quite a lot of people in senior levels in cosmology are interested in cosmology and are glad to find interest in cosmology in other people.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Martin's answer is good, but I'd like to share my experience anyway, which is that the topic of your thesis is less important than the quality of your work.
That is to say, publications, good recommendations, good marks, and awards/accolades are much more valued than the specific topic that you worked on. People don't expect miracles from your master's thesis, rather they want to know whether you have the necessary knowledge/skills to embark on a PhD.
Yes, a thesis topic which aligns perfectly with your interests is ideal, and it may be a minor disadvantage if you can't work on such a topic, but ultimately it's not up to you what topics are available to you, and people in academia recognise this.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In addition to the above, it depends very much on your funding (we are discussing the UK system here). If you will be self-funded, the supervisor will primarily look at your ability to finish (complete), and second to how open you are to work in an area the supervisor(s) is/are comfortable with. The limit here is how many students the supervisor can practically supervise with sufficient attention to each student.
If however you seek to have some scholarship you will likely be working on a previously specified project with certain targets in mind. You will be competing against more students (it's paid, there is more interest; direction can be helpful; there are less places available). In these cases it depends on the project and supervisor. Sometimes there just is a certain piece of work that must be completed. In other cases, some serendipity is possible and may lead to great research outcomes.
Even in the funded case the quality of your work, and especially thinking is the most important. Where a masters requires some independent, reflective, insightful thought, a PhD requires it absolutely. Working from that perspective, as a supervisor (not in physics though) I would expect you to have considered what would/could be the best solution. That you would not be able to do the project of your first choice would not really be held against you (unless it was for lack of exploring ways to do so anyway), but you should have good reasons for the second choice. Those reasons could be that you want to be broad and love that topic as well, or because it is closely aligned.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/07/04
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<issue_start>username_0: I have observed in the "author ***guidelines***" of journals, that results and discussion may be requested as
* distinct `"results"` and `"discussion"` sections,
* or as combined `"results & discussions"`.
In particular, more qualitative observation based topics tend to prefer the latter, while direct quantitative measures that may be the dominant tool in the field may be the impetuses of choosing distinct sections.
Has anyone had any experience with journals and just how rigid they may be when it comes to the hierarchical distinction/formatting of results and discussion sections?
My thoughts are that a journal may be more willing to separate the sections than to combine. But I am trying to gauge whether it will even be worth approaching the journal to inquire whether they would consider a manuscript with a combined `"Results & Discussion"` sections.<issue_comment>username_1: I hate it when a journal decides to stretch you on a [Procrustean bed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrustes#Cultural_references) of arbitrary structure, since many research projects simply do not fit on such. Some really want you to fit their arbitrary structure, while others will bend, and it's not really possible to know which is which and how much flexibility you've for unless you talk to an editor.
That said, I've often found that with a little bit of mental gymnastics in how you approach "results and discussion" you can generally make things work. Consider, for example, [this decently-cited paper of mine](http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/sb300030d), which didn't really fit the "intro - results - discussion - methods" format desired by the journal, since it was *about* a (fairly complex) method. Well, if you think of the method as *being* the result, then we essentially shove the whole paper as we wanted to structure it into the "results & discussion" section, with our preferred structure as subsections. The "methods" section then contains all of the boring details about protocols for the validation tests that we ran.
Bottom line: often a journal really means it about its structure requirements, but that actually constrains you less than you might think.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: So, I received some suggestions from some colleagues who had some useful information that ultimately resolved my problem. So for posterity, here's how my conundrum was resolved.
>
> Look through the current issue (and work your way back) to determine
> the prevalence of the the scenario your seeking to resolve.
>
> Then follow up with the journal if your proof feels weak or insufficient.
>
>
>
In my case I found 3 examples spread out over 10 years. Not a strong positive, but it at least has been approved in the past. This may imply, however, that this was an exception granted special permission. Since there's no way to figure this out, I decided that I wouldn't face the same level of reluctance from the editors if I contacted them with a question about what they would accept. In fact, despite my expectation that they would be irritated having to address this question, they were kind and enthusiastic.
Guess with so many journals these days the competition between some is tight and they want your business.
Upvotes: 2
|
2016/07/04
| 563
| 2,246
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am writing a paper in math. In that paper, I need to quote several theorems/propositions from a classic textbook on the subject. All of them are quite standard results, but I am not sure what are the original sources for those. The book didn't say that either (unless it's a quite famous theorem, then it would have a name attached to it). How do I properly refer to that? I heard that if I don't put a name next to it, people will think I am claiming it, which I am not.<issue_comment>username_1: I'm not sure how things are done in math, but if these theorems are "quite standard" and common knowledge, I would think you could mention them, and say something along the lines of "for a reference" or "for further discussion" see XYZ textbook
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Contrary to intuition, it is often *inappropriate* to try to cite well-known and foundational material to its original source. The reason is that you did not actually learn the material in its original form but instead from some modern reinterpretation of that material (e.g., in a standard textbook).
To see why, try reading the original for something like [Newton's Laws of Motion](http://sites.trin.cam.ac.uk/manuscripts/NQ_16_200/manuscript.php?fullpage=1/). First of all, it's in Latin. Even if you get a translation, however, you'll find that the notation is strange and difficult to comprehend. That is because even though the fundaments of Newtonian physics have not changed in the centuries since it was discovered, we have improved greatly in our ability to understand and teach the material, as well as in how we integrate it with other material.
In short: if it's textbook material, it is most honest to cite a textbook as your source. Two modifying notes, however:
1. It doesn't have to be the textbook that you personally learned from---any good presentation will do.
2. You only need to cite a textbook if some of your audience may be unfamiliar with the material. In a computer science paper, the [halting problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem) needs no citation; in an interdisciplinary paper expected to be read by e.g., economists or biologists, it does need a citation.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]
|
2016/07/05
| 1,841
| 7,967
|
<issue_start>username_0: This is my first time teaching mathematics. I've been giving lessons based on a certain textbook which contains excellent exercises (not just the exercises, but the order in which they appear leads one to discover mathematics for yourself). However, the textbook has a solutions manual, and I am certain that if the source was revealed, then students would purchase the manual and defeat the purpose of the course. I am wondering if it is ethically acceptable to retype myself some of the exercises and exposition from parts of the book in order to obscure the source (and perhaps reveal it at the end of the course)?
My intentions are solely to create a joyful mathematical experience for the students. There is no intention of plagiarism. My only worry is that the exposition is so good that I don't see how much I can deviate.
**Clarification:** The course is not intended to have students master a technical subject and then solve problems under a time pressure. This is not a mathematics course for engineers or scientists. Rather, problem sheets are given each week, with the requirement that at the end of the week the student turns in 10 solutions to their favorite problems. The focus is on quality of writing and clarity of though. In fact this entire issue is now resolved as I have communicated with the author.<issue_comment>username_1: I can think of the following potential ethical issues, some more easily mitigated than others:
* **Misleading others into believing that you have created the exercises yourself** - You can easily avoid this by explicitly noting that the material is adapted from another source (without specifying the source). In most cases, there is no expectation of originality in teaching materials anyway - see [Is it considered plagiarism for a professor to use uncited sources in teaching materials?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32169/is-it-considered-plagiarism-for-a-professor-to-use-uncited-sources-in-teaching-m)
* **"Stealing" professional credit or similar benefits that would otherwise be due to the original authors** - If you are redistributing the materials to colleagues for use in their courses, or otherwise using the materials in a way that would earn professional "credit" or goodwill (not just assigning the exercises to students), then you should definitely cite the source. Otherwise, I don't see a problem here.
* **Withholding a potentially useful resource from the students** - If the book is genuinely helpful, I don't like the idea of preventing students from finding out about it. (Surely there is some more content and other exercises in the book that you *aren't* rewriting and giving to your students, that they might benefit from?) If you judge that the educational benefit of preventing some students from finding the solutions is really much greater than the benefit of some students buying the book and using it to learn more effectively, fine; but think that through very carefully.
* **Suppressing sales of the textbook** - Presumably if you did not obfuscate the source, some of your students would buy the book (because it is such a helpful learning resource), and the authors of the book want people to buy it (or download it, if they have made it available in that way). I suppose you could mitigate this by getting permission from the authors.
Personally, I would prefer to tell students about the textbook, but remind them that if they don't actually do the exercises themselves, they will probably do poorly on the exams. If that was not an option, my second choice would be to modify the exercises so that students who had the original text and the solution manual would only be able to solve them if they understood them.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> My intentions are solely to create a joyful mathematical experience for the students. There is no intention of plagiarism.
>
> (...)
>
> However, the textbook has a solutions manual, and I am certain that if the source was revealed, then students would purchase the manual and defeat the purpose of the course.
>
>
>
I want to challenge this perception. I think you, by removing the opportunity to use the solutions manual, are making this a *less joyful* experience for your students.
**When not having access to the solutions you remove the possibility of easily getting help when stuck, and gaining confidence of having done a exercise correct after giving it a go.** Possibly why the solutions are available in the first place!
To expand on this from my own experience when I was a student: It's not fun to get stuck on hours for a problem, when you just don't see the solution you're supposed to find. Having to go to the lecturer for help is a big obstacle, and would make me dread doing exercises for that course. The help from the lecturer would anyways be a simple "look at using this method" which I could have found for myself in the solutions manual.
Secondly, even when not being stuck, if faced with several similar tasks in a row that build upon each other, I would like to be certain I have understood the first ones correct before moving on to the more advanced ones. A solutions manual allows easy access to verify that, thus gaining confidence and making solving the next tasks more motivating.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: My answer is similar to username_2's:
An enjoyable mathematics experience is one where the student *learns* the subject and becomes confident in their ability to perform the techniques.
Arguably, you could *try* to get all of your students to have this experience, but it's also likely that a majority of your students simply aren't interested in learning (as ghastly as that sounds to most of us).
The best thing that you can do for your students is provide opportunities for them to actually understand the material so they can later apply it. One of the best ways to understand the material is universal to all disciplines - careful practice.
Engineer your class and grading style to promote the kind of practice that helps them understand.
I had two *fantastic* math classes in college - Calculus 2 and Linear Algebra. In the former, to teach us the different series and whether or not they converged, each day he'd put a series on the board, ask the name of it, and then show us several examples of the series and integrating the series. The homework supported the problems, and then ultimately the tests were against the material that we covered. I think we may even have had a practice test to ensure that we had all of our questions answered before the actual test.
Linear algebra was similar. We had to prove different things, like a certain matrix was an identity matrix. After teaching us how to do the proofs, we had quizzes every day where we used the proofs that we learned. Maybe one day we had to prove that this was some kind of matrix
```
0 1
1 0
```
And then the next day it was
```
0 0 1
0 1 0
1 0 0
```
By changing things around he made sure that we actually *understood*.
Were there kids who dropped out of those classes? I'm sure there were. Were there some who *still* failed or got D's? Yeah, probably.
But if we *wanted* to pass the class, and *wanted* to get an A, it was totally possible.
They also emphasized working out the problems because we could get at least partial credit if we were doing *something* right, even if we made a little mistake or took things in a wrong sort of direction.
You will always have students who will try to get something for nothing, and you will always have students who will actually try to get something from your class. You can decide how much you want to gear your class towards punishing and rewarding these individuals. Me? I'd design my tests and grading schemes so that people who pay attention and do the work have no problems passing the tests, and those who just phone it in end out choking on the tests.
Upvotes: 2
|
2016/07/05
| 1,416
| 5,830
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm writing my thesis in English. English is neither my or my advisor's mother tongue. I'm now doing some corrections that were suggested. Some of them refer to the content of my thesis and some of them refer to the language.
**How should I deal with the suggestions that are obviously wrong?** For example suggesting I put a comma before *if* or use a future tense after *once*. I don't want to intentionally make any grammatical errors in my thesis.
I agree with most of what is pointed out. There are only few amendments that I take issue with.
Should I just ignore his wrong suggestions? But then he may notice that I haven't changed what I was supposed to when he reads my thesis again.
Should I explain to him why I haven't changed what he suggested? I could quote some websites (when I disagree with what he proposes, I always look it up). Wouldn't that be rude?<issue_comment>username_1: It will be helpful for your advisor if you give a list of changes, and where they were implemented in the text, together with your new version of your thesis. That way (s)he won't have to read your entire text again and can just foucus on those passages that have changed. That document would also be a logical place for mentioning the changes you did *not* implement and give the reasons why you did not do so.
Your advisor will probably be very familiar with this way of working; this is how we respond to reviewers when we sent articles to journals. So this should not feel strange or offensive to her or him. This does not mean that (s)he will agree with you, but that is something you can talk about at the next meeting.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm a non-native English speaker who happens to be also an advisor. As an advisor I am, *of course* always right; as a non-native English speaker and (defective) human being, I am -- guess what? -- sometimes wrong.
Since my students and I, and your advisor and you, are both non-native English speakers, corrections of papers and theses are a wonderful chance to *both* learn something.
Thus, when your advisor makes a correction and you have doubts about it, discuss it in a *non-confrontational* way:
>
> Should there be a comma there? I seem to recall that English grammar prescribes that comma should be omitted, doesn't it?
>
>
>
The dialogue is of course fictitious, and strength and details can vary depending on the relationship you have with your advisor and on your country traditions, but if you cannot afford such a discussion with your advisor, well, grammar is probably the least of your problems.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: This is meant as auxiliary to the fine answers already posted
that address the question more directly.
When you receive a questionable edit suggestion,
the true source of your advisor's concern
may well be in the surrounding content more than the grammar.
Quite often a seemingly-minor edit's underlying intent
is to clarify a distinction, for example,
or to fine tune an emphasis,
where you might do best to reconsider the wording,
not just punctuation.
This is true for suggested edits in general.
Each suggestion represents a location that itches,
not necessarily the very best way to scratch it.
All that you — or your advisor,
for that matter— know for absolutely certain
is that *something* caused enough discomfort to trigger a markup.
Your advisor quite likely hopes that
you will see more in their suggestions than
they had time to clarify, even in their thoughts.
If the edit in question does happen to be purely for grammar's sake,
drawing your advisor's attention to its material context
will forestall the edit while your advisor takes
a second look and possibly thinks of a better suggestion altogether.
In any case, grammar minutiae can be attended relatively comfortably
when the focus is momentarily wider.
For your *once*-versus-tense instance,
you could ask for an opinion along the lines of,
“looking at this sentence made me wonder
if I should reorder it to give a clearer sense of
how \_\_\_\_\_ depends/depend/depended on
(or leads/lead/led to, ...) \_\_\_\_\_.”
This comes from a technical editor who
views all forms of writing and markup as a series of clues
and who helps academic authors
spin English from international fiber.
Some of these authors are very confident native speakers,
with whom the ideas mentioned here
have been refined somewhat delicately.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I have encountered this issue on various occasions, and my usual reaction is to completely change the offending sentence. By *completely*, I mean that I change it in such a way that the grammar issue on which whoever reviewed the text and I seem to have differing opinions about does not occur any more.
My rationale in this respect is simply that when both of us are not native speakers of the written language, even though I am fairly certain I am right, this is not an issue I want to spend any real time with.
Quite random, fictional example:
>
> Users could find the image during the study if they were previously informed about its extistence.
>
>
>
Suggested correction:
>
> Users could find the image during the study, if they were previously informed about its extistence.
>
>
>
Solution:
>
> Users who were previously informed about the existence of the image could find it during the study.
>
>
>
The only problem with this approach is that the reviewer might find another questionable grammar issue to focus on, but I have rarely encountered this issue in anything other than isolated cases (i.e. just isolated questionable suggestions for correction, or repeated suggestions, always referring to one out of a small set of issues that the reviewer thinks obey to different rules than the ones I apply).
Upvotes: 3
|
2016/07/05
| 1,288
| 5,588
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm curious to know if anyone has any experience with conducting a tenure-track job search during the summer for positions in the US. I've noticed jobs posted from late May through early July. What's the timeline for hiring decisions this late in the cycle? Should I expect a typical interview / campus interview / offer process? How late are these decisions typically made? If I applied for a position in early June but haven't heard anything by early July, should I assume the position is closed?
I'm looking for positions within English departments at four year teaching institutions and HBCUs, pretty exclusively. Thanks so much!<issue_comment>username_1: When positions are posted in the summer, in many cases that means that the initial attempt to fill the position during the school year failed, either because not enough high-quality candidates applied (nowadays unlikely in the US) or (more likely) because the preferred candidates accepted positions elsewhere.
In any event, each university has certain requirements for faculty hires which the department is obligated to follow: at a minimum, you should expect an on-campus interview and offer process to be a part of a summer hiring process, even if the rest of the process is somewhat truncated. (I would suspect the phone/Skype interview to be optional for such a search.)
As for determining when the position is "closed," you should keep in mind that getting the necessary quorum for hiring committees is much harder in the summer, given faculty travel schedules. So I would not automatically assume that you've missed your window of opportunity. If you have a question, a politely worded email to the contact for the search may provide some information. (But I would have a strong reason—other than curiosity—for sending the email; perhaps you have travel or work-related unavailability.)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: My first official act as Chairman of my department was to conduct a summer job search. The search process was the normal one: post the position; decide which candidates to interview; interview; make an offer. We posted in June, the fall semester began in late August. Naturally, there was a desire to expedite the process in order to give the new hire opportunity to get to the area, find housing, and so on. I don't think we made a decision until mid July or so. I would not assume that the position is filled yet. If you haven't heard anything by late July, things might be different. You can always contact the institution to see how the search is progressing. In spite of best efforts, these searches can drag on.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: In my academic circles, it is essentially *verboten* to do tenure-track hiring over the summer. (One cannot count on having a quorum of faculty members in-town, and those who are around probably have other plans.) You might get better advice by specifying your field and the kind of institution you've applied to (e.g. research university, four year college).
I just saw @username_1's answer: yes, I think that summer tenure track hiring is likely to be a kind of "Plan B," or alternatively comes from an administrative initiative rather than the departmental level. (In my experience, upper university administration can be surprisingly out of step with faculty hiring timelines.) But to me this kind of hiring feels "exceptional," and some of the standard hiring practices may be abridged or otherwise bent.
As a general rule, I would not *assume* an academic position is closed until they tell you. If you are still interested in the job, send a short email to the chair of the hiring committee. She will tell you whether the position is still open. You should know however that sometimes "the position is still open" means that they conducted their search, interviewed their candidates, and found a candidate that has indicated willingness to accept but hasn't filled out the paperwork yet. You should certainly be pursuing other options, and you should be aware that in almost any academic field, there will be many more hiring opportunities available during the academic year.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I'm a postdoc in philosophy, rather than English, but I have applied to a bunch of positions advertised in the summer, some of which have been TT. (Don't know much about HBCUs though, sorry!)
My experience has been that there is no real rhyme or reason to summer hires. The ordinary process (first round interview, on campus interview, offer) might apply or might not. For one years, they have tended to do just one round of interviews, usually via Skype, and then make an offer. For summer TT hires, they might skip the first round and just bring three or four people to campus.
My sense is that mid-July is the *latest* an offer could go out for a TT position starting in September, not because the University doesn't want to stress out their candidates (they don't care about that), but just because there are lots of compliance issues and paperwork that needs to be done before the start of class, such as criminal background checks. Working backwards, that would yield a timeline like:
* 15 July, offer goes out.
* 10 July, search committee meets, makes recommendation to dean/provost.
* 7-9 July, interviews conducted.
* 1-5 July, first round interviews conducted, if there were any.
I think that would be an incredibly tight timeline, so I would take it that if you haven't heard any good news early next week, then you've probably not been selected to move on.
Upvotes: 2
|
2016/07/05
| 774
| 3,262
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm finishing my fourth year of a Ph.D. in mathematics. I have enough for a dissertation, and by the end of the summer, I will probably have enough for a very nice dissertation. And I plan to finish next year.
I also a couple of published papers not directly related to my thesis, and a few projects that might bear fruits maybe even this summer. So by October, when "application season" begins, I should be ready to apply to schools.
My advisor wants me to submit my work around the time I apply, so I can write in the applications that the thesis has been submitted. However, if I do that, I am likely to find myself without funding and without money for a significant portion of the year, as my university halts your stipend and employment as soon as your work is approved.
His argument is that a lot of universities might outright reject, or at least consider it less favorable, if I haven't submitted my work. As it might signal that I'm not ready to move on. This seems a bit odd to me. But I never sat in the chairs of those who make these decisions.
I also don't know how these things vary between departments, so I'm asking specifically for mathematics.<issue_comment>username_1: This answer is specific to the USA.
Your dissertation advisor needs to write in their letter something along the lines that you've written X chapters of your dissertation (or the equivalent in the hard sciences) and that they fully expect you will be able to defend and submit by such-and-such date.
On the receiving side, we know that some students will decide at the last minute to not submit their dissertation and defer graduation. This is usually critically important for international students who will lose their immigration status once they graduate, but it also applies to domestic students as well who might need university health care, housing, or just the extra time to perfect their dissertation.
We all know how this game is played. On the receiving side, all we need is assurance that you WILL be able to submit IF you are given the post-doc. Many post-docs have been burned by recipients who did not finish the dissertation receive the PhD before arriving at the post-doc and turned the post-doc into a pre-doc. Many now have formal language that if you do not submit by the start of the post-doc, your hiring letter will be vacated.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: The answer is going to be country specific. In the US as mentioned in this [answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/72346/929), your advisor vouching for your expected finishing date will be enough.
In the UK, there will be a job specification that will list essential and desirable criteria. HR departments do not forward on applications to the search committee that do not meet all the essential requirements. HR prefers to hire the candidate who meets the largest number of "desirable" criteria. In most cases, search committees can bully HR into hiring who they want from the pool of candidates who meet all the essential criteria. For post docs, "a defended, but not conferred, PhD" is generally an essential requirement, although some universities/positions only make it "desirable" and other require the degree to be conferred.
Upvotes: 3
|
2016/07/05
| 1,264
| 5,135
|
<issue_start>username_0: People always consider universities like Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College etc. among the best universities on the planet, with centuries of experience in research methodology. One would assert that their policies to conduct 1-year master programs (versus their 2-year counterparts at rest of the world, specially north america) sounds a little odd and vague.
[This article](https://prepadviser.com/one-year-vs-two-year-masters-programmes-pros-cons/) has tried to address some Pros and Cons. Seemingly, "Shortness" of the program might not be a true advantage, where the depth of the education might be endangered. Moreover, the students might not be, deservedly, flourished by the target program, because it will be supposed to be finished, when the students have just focused on the case, primarily, without acquisition of the all of the desired educational and research profundity. On the other hand, the investment does not sound to be a considerable factor to justify this policy, because most of the students (and their parents) realize that paying for graduate studies will construct their future and the investment on this case will, fairly, be compensated with the upcoming achievements, such as successful recruitment and so on.
So, I, personally, can not understand the real underlying logic behind taking such decision into account by UK universities. It is undeniable that a multitude of international students would not discern these short programs as efficient steps to build a robust future for them in either further academic progressions or professional job sector.
**Why don't UK universities manage their master programs in 2-year periods, instead of current short 1-year ones?**
**What motivations could convince a typical international student to prefer a 1-year master program at UK to a 2-year one at north america?**
PS. There is a, typically, [similar question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/901/1-or-2-year-masters-program) within the community, has which not asserted on the intrinsic facts, under the aegis of this policy. It's content, globally, demonstrates more reasons to revoke the credibility of the case.<issue_comment>username_1: The [article you link to](https://prepadviser.com/one-year-vs-two-year-masters-programmes-pros-cons/) lists 3 cons to a 1 year program: not enough time to take electives, not enough time for a work placement, and not enough time to get good letters of recommendation. It also lists duration, and the decreased costs, as the major benefit. The cons, however, are not particularly important in the UK (and many parts of the world) while the pro is important worldwide.
*Electives:*
The UK educational, and employment, system does value electives. Students start specializing at age 16 when they take their A levels. Undergraduate programs typically have no "general education" type requirements. Many MSc programs are so specialized that there are not enough electives offered to fill a second year.
*Work Placement:*
In the UK, work placement opportunities are not limited to students. In fact, in my field, work placements are only available to graduates and students cannot do a work placement.
*Recommendations*
Letters of recommendation are just not that important in the UK. For example, for permanent academic positions, letters of reference are not part of the decision process until the very end. Many jobs do not require any references at all.
*Duration*
For self-funded programs, a 1 year program saves you money. Even with funding, there are still opportunity costs associated with the 2nd year.
To get to your questions:
>
> Why don't UK universities manage their master programs in 2-year periods, instead of current short 1-year ones?
>
>
>
In general, as with most things, finances rule the day. While 2-year programs would theoretically bring in more money to a school, the fear is that a 2-year program would not meet the needs of UK students and student numbers would drop. This would result in decreased revenue for the school/department.
>
> What motivations could convince a typical international student to prefer a 1-year master program at UK to a 2-year one at north america?
>
>
>
My UK school pitched our MSc program to US students as: if you know what you want to study, why waste money and time studying other things
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: At least when I was living in the UK, full time courses really were full time. I took 2.5 years to complete my M.Sc., because I was working and taking classes in the evenings. During those 2.5 years I had very little free time - work, studies, sleeping, and basic self-maintenance took 24 hours a day.
The same program was also available as a one year full time course, but it would have been extremely difficult to work much while doing it that way.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: In UK the Masters are one year, however we also have to see that in other parts of the world there is no Class 13 or Year 13, here we study a year more even before getting into a graduate programme.
Upvotes: 0
|
2016/07/06
| 595
| 2,476
|
<issue_start>username_0: So, I understand good grades in high school, you use your GPA with your application to college. Once your in college, is there any reason, like putting your college GPA on your resume, to get anything greater than a C(unless to fulfill prerequisite grades)?<issue_comment>username_1: There are several reasons to aim for good grades:
1. You will probably want either a job or graduate school admission after graduating. The better your grades, the easier it is going to be and the more choices you will have.
2. You are in college to learn. Why waste your time and the college place on not doing your best?
3. Think about those prerequisites. If you only just make the grade to go into the next class in a sequence, you may not be able to keep up and may fail some of the later classes.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The purpose of high GPA (good grades) as an undergraduate in college is to demonstrate to future employers, collaborators and professors your ability to complete a certain amount and level of work in a satisfactory manner. Many factors in your life will be influenced by your undergraduate GPA:
* many scholarships have a minimum GPA and academic progress which must be met.
* Graduate school admissions are largely based on undergraduate GPA, class schedule, and letters of recommendation.
* Many Future Opportunities are only available to those who achieved a high GPA, for example, I have seen Ph. D. programs which require a 3.0 minimum undergraduate GPA.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: As the other replies already make many important points, I'll just add a few that are not listed yet:
* During college special programmes might be accessible only if you have a good GPA. Look up "honours programme + your college name" and something might pop up.
* In some cases you might be able to compensate for certain grades by scoring higher on other subjects, this also varies per college.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: The other answers give the standard practical reasons why one should aim to get good grades, but I prefer a more idealistic explanation, which is that good grades are not the real goal one should focus on, but rather a side effect. If you focus on the real goal of learning the material at the highest level possible, good grades will follow automatically. So, good grades do have their practical uses, but philosophically speaking, they are just a distraction.
Upvotes: 3
|
2016/07/06
| 862
| 3,221
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am interested in the differences between levels of professorships in the countries:
* USA
* UK
* China
* Germany
I read [the Wikipedia Article about Professorship in United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professors_in_the_United_States#Visiting_professor) but as far as I can tell - in the end - both take up the position of a professor:
* for a (short) time - but tend to stay for quite a while, even if that is not the idea (both possibly receiving bad contracts)
* which is non-tenure track,
* are not involved in administrative tasks,
* might come from a different university, but don't have to.
In an international context: **What is the difference between an "adjunct professor" and a "visiting professor"?**
Additionally: **Which one is more prestigious?**<issue_comment>username_1: In Japan, "adjunct" and "visiting" might serve as translations for *hijyoukin* and *tokunin* or *shouhei* (<https://iss-intl.osaka-u.ac.jp/supportoffice/eng/housing/navi/status/>) respectively. Adjunct means part-time in this case. "visiting" meaning "specially-appointed" (i.e., not tenure track).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In the United States, "Adjunct Professor" is essentially [an academic temp worker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjunct_professors_in_North_America). They are typically paid very poorly, have no job security, and [often live near or below the poverty line](http://chronicle.com/article/An-Adjuncts-Death-Becomes-a/141709). They are often not well respected, particularly as many faculty perceive them as either a threat (administrators often use adjuncts to avoid making tenure-track appointments) or as a source of cheap labor.
A "Visiting Professor" on the other hand, typically means somebody who has a position elsewhere and is temporarily associated with the faculty, e.g., while on sabbatical or as a courtesy appointment for a person from industry who is teaching a course. A visiting professor might or might not draw any salary from the university, depending on the particulars of their appointment. Their status and degree of respect generally depend on their main position.
Note, however, that this vocabulary is not legally protected, and so some US institutions may change these titles around, particularly if they are seeking to camouflage the nature of an poorly paid post.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: In India: Adjunct faculty refers to professionals from industry who engage part-time for a few hours/modules/courses in a College/University. Visiting faculty belong to another Institution/Industry who on sabbatical/leave engage for a few days/weeks/months in another institution. Guest faculty is appointed on ad-hoc/temporary basis until a regular faculty is appointed
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: As far as I know most these terms are not used in the UK. I know of no adjunct professor.
A visiting professor is just an honorary title, usually with little or no stipend or remuneration. They may get paid expenses when they visit. They may sometime teach a guest course; that's about it. It is not a job.
There is no tenure track in the UK. No one has tenure. We are all dismissable.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I just noticed a weird aspect about [this paper](http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature12073) (which was of interest [here](https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/76339/why-are-pear-shaped-nuclei-possible/76340#76340) and recently came up again [here](https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/266308/do-pear-shaped-nuclei-really-have-anything-to-do-with-time-travel)). If you look at the author list, it reads
>
> <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME> and <NAME>
>
>
>
In particular, it splits into an initial, non-alphabetic component,
>
> <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>
>
>
>
and then an alphabetic list from <NAME> through <NAME>.
How should I interpret this authorship convention? What fields is it used in, and to what purpose? My initial reaction would be to assign to the initial component a ranking down in 'importance' more akin to the "first author did most of the work, middle authors supported, and last author sponsored and oversaw the work" convention used in fields with smaller collaborations (at least in physics), but that leaves the alphabetic component in an awkward position, so I'm not sure my interpretation is right.<issue_comment>username_1: **How should I interpret this authorship convention?**
The first (non-alphabetic) authors are likely the main contributors in order of contribution significance as you guessed. Starting from the alphabetic ordering the authors would be those with lesser contributions (but equal to each other).
**What fields is it used in, and to what purpose?**
I do not know what fields this is specific to, but I would not be surprised if this is a common strategy for papers with many authors irrespective of the field. Ordering a long list of authors with equivalent contributions in some manner simply seems sensible and alphabetic ordering is a simple and common ordering scheme. Unless the publisher has a policy on how this should be handled, alphabetic ordering seems to be a simple go-to strategy.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I would make an ideological suggestion: **Don't interpret it at all.**
I believe that the custom of choosing author list positions to express degrees of contribution, seniority, who-is-whose-daddy etc. is unbecoming and should be discouraged in favor of alphabetical author lists. To this end I would suggest applying a sort of "color-blindness" to the order of listing.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> How should I interpret this authorship convention?
>
>
>
The non-alphabetic people are primary contributors, with their own ordering, while the alphabetic ones all worked together to contribute something that lead to the paper. It might be impractical or undesired to rank authors within the latter group.
You can't assume too much more than this. For example, the last non-alphabetical author need not have been a funder, but could simply have been the least important of the contributors who actually input text into the paper. Also, it's entirely possibly for there to be multiple alphabetic sections, ordered relative to each other based on which contributed component was most pertinent.
>
> What fields is it used in, and to what purpose?
>
>
>
Observational astronomy, for one. I know firsthand since [I have just such a paper](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015ApJ...799...52W). The author order is this:
1. Primary contributors. Those who did the primary analysis and wrote the paper, in order of who did the most work.
2. The leaders of the subgroup of the larger collaboration directly involved in this branch of science (here the Type Ia supernova people in a group looking at all transient phenomena in the sky). The order here is also non-alphabetical, and somewhat pre-arranged in the collaboration.
3. The builders of the collaboration, in alphabetical order. Those responsible for setting up the instruments and data pipeline and such.
4. The data reducers, in alphabetical order. Those who manually slogged through the raw data at the level of instrumental considerations, getting it into shape so that later reductions at the level of astrophysical interpretation could be done.
I'm sure there are other fields where this also applies. I would expect to see it wherever there is a large group behind the scenes (so ordering based on anything other than alphabetical becomes impractical), but where there is a small group writing each focused paper.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: **Context:** As PhD candidate, I'll have my first journal paper ready to submit around July 15th. My lab will be closed due to summer break for 5 weeks from July 23rd to August 29th. I will not work full-time during this break, and my supervisors/co-authors might not respond to their emails. Moreover, I won't be able to work (or maybe even to answer my emails) during the two last weeks of August, because of travel conditions.
**Question:** Would my potential lack of reactivity during this period depreciate my submission? In other words, *should I submit my paper right before going on holidays, or should I wait until I return from vacations in order to be more reactive to reviewers comments?*<issue_comment>username_1: I would recommend submitting, because there is a great degree of uncertainty in when you will receive a response, and even with a fast response, your allowed revision time will likely be long enough to extend beyond the vacation time in any case. If things more unexpectedly quickly, you can ask for an extension and will likely face little problem in obtaining one.
If you do this, however, you have the following responsibilities:
* Make sure that you at least monitor your email when you are around, so that you can respond if necessary.
* In the two-week period when you will be unable to check your email, make sure you have a vacation auto-response message set up.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I agree with username_1's answer, but would add one point:
One possible scenario is that you receive a desk-reject from the editor (i.e. it is not sent to review). If this occurs, it is likely to happen very quickly, often within a week or less. A desk-reject doesn't require a response from you **unless you wish to appeal**, which is something that you would probably want to discuss with your advisors first. An appeal after a month's wait might be viewed less favourably than a more immediate one, if nothing else because the paper will no longer be at the front of the editor's mind.
That is probably the scenario in which your absence might have the most negative effect (still fairly low risk). So consider the following: would you be likely to appeal a desk reject (how keen are you on this particular journal)? Do you think a desk-reject is likely (is it a popular journal with lots of submissions, and/or have you written a controversial manuscript)? If the answer to both those questions is "yes", then you **might** want to consider waiting. But overall, I would say that the process of submitting and revising papers is such a long and drawn-out one that you are best off getting underway as soon as you are ready.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: From my limited experience, I think if it is complete, you should submit it before going to a holiday. Depending on which journal you submit, the review time will vary, and they can take good amount of time to get a decision. For example for Elsevier journals, most of them will have an estimated response time based on the historical data, you can decide based on that. For example, the journals in Elsevier which I am concerned of have an initial response time or 2 ~ 3 months atleast.
Also, if they respond quickly, and it is a major or minor revision, you will still get a good amount of time before the deadline. Also, in some circumstances, if you think you won't be able to be perform the revision before the new deadline, you can write to the editor asking for more time, justifying why you want it.
I would also recommend to check the mails once in a while to keep an eye on things.
Also see the other answers, as they discuss some more special scenarios.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: My undergraduate studies were in the area of applied mathematics and statistics and I am interested in doing postgraduate studies in the area of mathematical biology. But when I looked into different courses offered by universities, there are so many other areas that look similar to mathematical biology. It would be a great help if someone can clarify the difference between **mathematical biology, systems biology, bioinformatics,** and **synthetic biology**.
* Which are more extensively related to biology?
* Which are more suited for a background in applied mathematics and statistics?
* Does systems biology require engineering knowledge and could it be pursued with applied-mathematics knowledge.
* What are the differences between systems biology and synthetic biology?<issue_comment>username_1: As a point of note often times several of those terms are used as synonyms, or interchangeably.
Mathematical biology is a kind of non-specific overarching domain, it could contain anything from population level dynamics to single protein dynamics.
Systems biology is field specific, but it refers to studying a whole systems as opposed to say a single gene in a a disease.
Bioinformatics is typically used in reference to the analysis of genetics data (proteomics, transcriptomics...)
Synthetic biology (at least in my understanding) is creating a new molecule (protein, DNA sequence...) out of "building blocks" - similar to building a widget out of stand alone electronic modules.
To answer your question about pursuing these fields, in my opinion bioinformatics lends itself best to a statistics background, it's highly dimensional, huge data sets... and can benefit a lot from a statistics background.
I'd hesitate to answer your question about systems biology because it can vary from large coupled ODE's to no math at all depending on what "sub-field" you're looking at.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't have any experience in any of these fields, so take my answer with a grain of salt. I do, however, come from a mathematics background like yourself.
From a cursory reading of each topic's Wikipedia page:
* **Mathematical biology** is also known as theoretical biology, dependent upon where you choose to focus your coursework. It stresses the modeling of anything from small- to intermediate-scale biological systems and interactions. It also employs a vast array of mathematical disciplines in its applications.
* **Systems biology** is very similar to mathematical biology, in that it focuses on interactions within biological systems. It emphasizes the modeling aspects of large-scale and complex systems. Emphasis is placed on computational mathematics.
* **Synthetic biology** is heavily reliant upon knowledge of engineering and biology, not so much mathematics. It employs various engineering disciplines in the fabrication of biological components. Synthetic biology draws upon knowledge from systems biology, but is much more pragmatic than systems biology. I would say synthetic biology is just another phrase for "biotechnology", with various biological disciplines contributing to it.
* **Bioinformatics** seems like something you'd be most interested in. Much like how data science is the application of mathematical tools and software to study data, bioinformatics is data science with strictly biological data. It deals with finding meaningful ways to interpret biological data.
To reiterate, I am not an expert in these fields and have drawn all of my knowledge on these subjects from Wikipedia.
Regardless, hope this helps.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: Unfortunately, the admission website of a university I am interested in applying to does not list the minimum score required on the GRE math subject exam.
Does anyone know the minimum score requirement for this exam when applying to graduate schools to study mathematics?<issue_comment>username_1: There is no definite minimum GRE score (other than the smallest possible score on the test) for any program, unless that program explicitly has adopted one. If they don't mention it on their website, you could try calling or emailing their graduate coordinator and asking them.
In all, here are the main possibilities, and the reality varies by institution:
Case A) There is no minimum, and they consider all applications.
Case B) There is a minimum, and they will tell you.
Case C) There is a minimum, but it is a secret.
Case D) There is no formal minimum, but there is a *de facto* minimum in that they almost never (or never) actually accept someone below a score of X, even though they technically say there is no minimum. In the end, this is the same as Case C above.
In practice, the most selective institutions will occasionally mention "averages" like 80% percentile or 90% percentile - but without a standard deviation that's not really very informative. It is also the case that many people view GRE scores differently depending on your country of origin, so it is not necessarily meaningful or helpful to know anything like averages.
In the end, the advice for the GRE is: do as well as you can without harming some other aspects of your application (don't let your grades slide just to study for the GRE), and as always try to have the best overall application packet to maximize your chances.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Let me be straightforward. If your GRE math-sub is not higher than 90%, then don't send it, because it will not give you much extra credits. Students in my undergrad usually get 95+%, the median (of students that I know) is like 96~97% (sample size: around 10). I come from a country whose students are notorious for being good at exams and math, so don't feel too frustrated if you cant get 95%. I think 90%+ is good enough.
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am preparing a paper for a conference. At some point, I want to show that one area is gaining more interest over another area. Do you think that using a google trend diagram as a supportive (not the main) evidence is a good idea ? My area of research is web information systems.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, you can use it, but treat it like any other source of data.
I have been encouraged to use Google Trends data as supporting evidence by my professors. You would need to explain the implications of the data, including caveats, just like any other type of data. In the case of Google Trends, be careful not to overstate what it is saying. It is only counting searches made on the Google platform, so what does this tell you directly, and what does it imply indirectly?
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You can use it. There is no rule that prevents you from doing this anyway. But consider a few points.
1. Where are you going to include this? If this is part of the Introduction or Motivation sections, this should be fine, as there are (field dependent, of course) many papers that have introductions that are not-so-technical in the nature, and to build up the interest of the reader.
However, including this as part of a latter technical section such as Evaluation is a terrible idea, as it is not really technical.
2. If you are indeed going to include this in the "Introduction" or "Motivation" as above, make sure to use it appropriately.
For example,
Don't pay too much importance to the numbers (Search results). They mean nothing. Rather, discuss or point how they grew over time (Topic "A" appeared to grow exponentially in interest though it started with much lesser impact in the Internet compared to Topic "B" based on the Google Hits).
3. Space is very expensive in research papers. Most of the conference papers give you a limited space (such as 10 pages). Are you sure you are not wasting the precious space with not-so-useful diagrams?
My point is, consider whether there are better ways to utilize the space while proving your point (Topic "A" is gaining more interest recently compared to Topic "B").
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently submitted an article. After review process, I added all suggested changes to the article and now it is longer than formatting restrictions allow.
It is a conference article and any extra pages are charged. That extra page contains only some references. My question concerns the extent to which I can modify my article after receiving review. I am not talking about results or conclusion or any other major topic related changes, only e.g. grammar, style, figure location, text and section rearrangement, layout, etc.).
Can I remove some of the suggestions of reviewers? To what extent are any other (non-required) changes acceptable and/or permitted?<issue_comment>username_1: Within the guidelines set by the conference publication process, I see no reason why you can't make small changes that can reduce the page size. I will often edit things down for the final version to fit in the desired format. Of course, if your review comments were "everything is too terse, please expand", then you might have a problem with complying with review comments and page limits :)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In my field (information theory), conference papers only got accepted or rejected, there was no such thing as "major revisions" that included another round of review. Therefore, as a senior researcher in my group once pointed out, theoretically you could change the entire paper after acceptance and still be allowed to publish (and yes, there were several conferences where a conference paper was considered a "true" publication). If your field is the same, you can ignore any suggestions from the reviewers.
However, I personally wouldn't ignore a comment just because the paper got too long. Changes I made in such a situation usually were:
* Remove DOI and weblinks from the references
* Make the figures slightly smaller
* Find paragraphs where the last line consists only of a single word and try to reformulate that paragraph to make it shorter
* If your paper contains formulas: change some smaller (unreferenced) formulas to inline
* If all that didn't help, try to shorten the introduction (the part where the background is explained)
If you are using Latex, the effects can be amazing even with the slightest change you make. Anecdotal source: I was once working on a paper that just fit the 5 pages limit. At some point, I decided to add the word "that" (the sentence was something along the lines of "the formula we obtain by" and I wanted to change it to "the formula THAT we obtain by..."). I recompiled and suddenly had a paper that was 5 pages + 1/2 column! Adding the word "that" made the last word in the paragraph move to a new line, as a consequence, another paragraph at the bottom of that page didn't fit any more and Latex decided to move two lines over to the next page. This caused a formula on the bottom of that next page to exceed limits and so on. Taking the word "that" out again made the paper exactly 5 pages again, so I decided that keeping the page limit was way more important than one sentence sounding great instead of good ;)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: The papers I have published have generally required some documentation addressing the reviewer comments when the paper is resubmitted. Even if not, it's a good practice to keep notes on what changes you make to a paper through the review process.
I have not always adopted reviewer suggestions, but have written these items up with explanations just as I've written up comments on changes that I have made in response to reviewer suggestions, giving a rationale why I haven't made adopted specific suggestions. Bar one submission, the journal editors and reviewers have accepted these unaltered passages as readily as they've accepted the other amendments.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: We published paper *A* before. Now, we are writing the camera-ready version of paper *B*, which is closely related to paper *A*. Therefore, we currently reused around 50% of the related work section from paper *A*. Would this be acceptable? Thanks!<issue_comment>username_1: Short answer: No.
Medium answer: It can feel silly to find new phrasings for sentences or paragraphs that say essentially the same thing, but the alternative is unfortunately self-plagiarism. You can and should make a comment like "the following subsection is largely adapted from [other paper]", but even with that, the text should be different enough to not be considered a quotation. There is some wiggle room with technical definitions that can't be rephrased without a loss of clarity, but other than that, err on the side of rephrasing.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: **Yes, ONLY if you acknowledge the past work!** Feels silly to cite yourself but you have to....
I had a similar issue with my MSc. thesis, whereby it contained more than 50% of the work and even chunks of text from a previous report, book and paper. It was found acceptable by my supervisor and examiners (local (South Africa) and international) to have a statement at the end of my introduction like this:
*"As such, this study set out to investigate the xxx and yyy . It forms a part of a larger study, namely, ABC (DEF study No: K5/xyc3) (Mynamehere et al., 2014)."*
Because this study was an add on to the previous publications. In my objectives section I also stated:
"\*This paper/report/dissertation forms a part of a larger study XXX (ABC study No: K5/xyc3). This paper/report/dissertation by *Mynamehere* et al. (2014) to includes: *state main objectives of that report here*
This paper/report/dissertation expands on the knowledge presented in the ABC report K5.xyc3, focusing on xXX. The objective is divided into the following aims to.....\*"
I did a similar thing for my second and third paper that came from the same work. This allowed me to rewrite ( with minor changes in style) chunks and paragraphs of written text across the different documents. If I used direct quotes or figures from my own results section only then ( but rarely) did I cite myself (over and above the statements above).
**This was acceptable to the review boards of all three of may papers that are in local (South Africa) and international journals.**
Upvotes: 2
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2016/07/07
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<issue_start>username_0: I am mathematics undergraduate student interested in joining the workforce out of undergraduate (quant finance and data analysis). The past few summers I have been participating in pure math research programs (REUs), and I am struggling to write a résumé section for the REUs.
If any mathematicians are reading this, my most recent REU problem is PDE regularity. I'm at a loss for words on how to explain that to a layperson without making it sound useless.
**How do I effectively talk about my work/results in the context of a resume read by applicant tracking systems and human resources?**<issue_comment>username_1: As a general note, do not use so many contractions and abbreviations. Writing terms out in full, at least the first time you use them, will never be wrong and may save a reader some time and effort.
You need to think of your resume in terms of what it tells the expected reader about your suitability for the job you are seeking.
Don't try to explain the subject matter of your research project "to a layperson". If the project does relate to a potential job, the hiring manager will either be a mathematician who understands the area, or will have mathematicians who understand the area on their technical staff, or at least will have arranged to consult a suitable mathematician on the hiring decision. If it does not relate, the reader of the resume probably does not care what the project was actually about.
A research project may tell a potential employer other things about you. Can you work independently on a specified problem? Can you write a coherent, readable report? Is your work good enough to lead to being accepted for a research project at a high prestige institution?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Without demeaning your accomplishments, undergraduate mathematics tends to mean you're barely getting into academia and mathematical research. In fact, I am in the middle of my PhD with some published papers and that's still the case. Because of this, what you're learning/researching in undergrad is not as esoteric as it may seem. The topics at REUs are usually chosen because they are easily approachable by undergraduates and widely applicable.
Let's take Lp-regularity. Sure, you can dig deep into pure-math, looking into Lp-regularity of PDEs on manifolds etc., but this is actually a very relevant topic.
You say you're interested in quantitative finance? One of the biggest areas of research and application in quantitative finance is stochastic (partial) differential equations (SPDEs). Many models in the field (including the Black-Scholes model) use different forms of stochastic differential equations. Understanding the regularity results of these equations is crucial to understanding the error estimates for the numerical methods which are used to solve these models. One of the biggest recent results in the field (which resulted in a Fields Medal in 2014) is Holder-regularity of some solutions to SPDEs (and using a Holder-regularity approach, "Regularity Structures", to famously solve the KPZ equation), and people have already shown how this framework can be used to make numerical methods for previously-intractable SPDEs. In fact, in many cases one can only understand "the solution to SPDEs" via Sobolev spaces and Lp-regularity, making it essential to understand the numerical methods and simulation. So simulating financial models with low error requires the mathematics you learned.
But many PDEs require understanding Lp-regularity since many PDEs require talking about Sobolev spaces. In fact, one of the main uses of modern mathematics in industry is Finite Element Methods (FEM, or Finite Element Analysis, FEA). All of these numerical methods are derived for solutions in Sobolev spaces, this is not a fringe topic: this is central to the simulations used in the areospace industry, the petroleum industry, NASA, etc.
Also, some of the main methods in Data Analysis (especially in manifold learning) these days are closely related to optimization on PDEs, usually proving convergence in some weak norm and using facts about the eigenvalues of LaPlacians that you'd be familiar with.
All of this said, I think the best thing to do would be to scramble through Wikipedia and find out how what you learned is related to all of these different fields. Or pick up the [Princeton Companion to Applied Mathematics](http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10592.html) and see how the study of PDEs is showing up in systems biology, genomics, medicine, finance, computer science, etc. You don't need to know all of it, but a good understanding of where you currently stand would give you a good perspective on how you're useful. I am not an industry person so I can't recommend on how exactly to put this in your resume, but with this understood you should be able to cater resumes to the jobs you're applying for.
Even if you don't end up doing something directly related to PDEs, I think most people would like that you have some understanding all the new stuff that's going on. At the very least, you will seem "experienced with math and number stuff".
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently pursuing my PhD in computer science at a mid-rank US institution (ranked 50 in US-news graduate computer science ranking). Assuming I have a decent publication record and good references. Would I have better chances of securing a postdoc position if I applied to openings in the US or would I have better chances if I applied to openings in other countries such as Canada, UK, Australia?<issue_comment>username_1: I agree with <NAME>. regarding higher chances of being accepted in institution which have one or more research groups in your area despite the country.
Also, i would like to add that here in Europe it is highly suggested to spend your postdoc period in another country. This will show that you are truly independent when it comes of research.
Although i am not sure whether this apply also in USA or in other countries you might want to consider this aspect too.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: In short: your chances of securing a position is higher with people that **know** you (or someone you have worked with).
Whether that is people that are physically around you, or people that are working on the other side of the globe (whom you met in a professional setting e.g. at a conference). This is in line with what @la femme consmique, mentions in the comments, networking is important.
That aside, I have noticed a general skepticism in the U.S. towards Europe. I mean if you are applying for postdoc positions in the US from a European university, you might have to deal with a certain skepticism that does not exist amongst European institutions. It's almost as if you need to convince them that the university actually exists and you haven't made it up on your own (yes, I am exaggerating a bit).
[I would like to make this very clear that this is a subjective statement from personal experience, not a fact.]
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: More specifically in finance/economics. As I understand it, spending at least 5 years in the program is highly beneficial if one intends to work in academia. However, if aiming for industry positions instead some would argue that it might not add as much value as the forgone salary would justify.
This leads me to my question. Let's consider a person who has completed M.Sc prior to entering a PhD program in US in Finance/Econ or another similar field and is on par with the average candidate in, say T20 school. With hard work and long nights, how quickly could such feasibly expect to complete their PhD?
Furthermore, are there major differences between programs in e.g how fast the coursework can be finished, and between requirements one needs to fill before being allowed to graduate? How about supervisors, i.e. are some less willing to let you graduate ahead of time at the risk of suffering some personal reputational damage if it turns out that the candidate falls short of the standards typically expected from a fresh PhD graduate? Any other factors I fail to consider?<issue_comment>username_1: The first thing you need to ask yourself is: do you really want a PhD? At its core a PhD is nothing more and nothing less than "vocational education for researchers". In a PhD program you will learn about and get some experience in doing real research. If you don't want to become a researcher, then what is the value to you? There is the status that some feel comes attached with the title, but is that really worth a couple of years of your life?
Assuming you really want to go through with this, then you need to realize that it will take at least 3 years and probably more. That is a long time, so you need to approach that more like a marathon than as a sprint. So don't go in and start burning the midnight oil, because you will only burn out yourself before you are done with your PhD. This is a very common mistake among PhD students.
The only PhD student I know who made it in about 3 years had a completely different approach. She had a plan that was realistic, and she stuck to it. Making a realistic plan for your thesis is very hard. She managged because she already had experience doing research and was already well versed in her topic. She was also extremely disciplined in how she managed her time, and this ment that while at work she worked very hard, but she would **not** work in the evenings and **not** work in the weekends. She was able to work that hard and that focussed for 3 years on end **because** she did not work in the evenings and in the weekends.
I am not that person. I whish I was that disciplined, but I am not, and it took me 7 years to finish my PhD...
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: >
> Completing a PhD sooner: what does it take?
>
>
>
**Hard work, the right kind of advisor\*, and a good chunk of luck.**
\*Namely an advisor that would rather let a good, hardworking student graduate early with a medium thesis than in the regular time with a great thesis.
---
The main trap that you seem to fall into is that you think of your dissertation as a number of defined of boxes that need to be ticked. Strictly speaking this is of course true, but it is also not a very valuable way of thinking about your PhD studies. In practice, most of the boxes are either little effort to tick (coursework) or more or less tick themselves automatically while you are at it, while some boxes (most importantly your research) basically last for your entire PhD studies. Unfortunately, "do PhD research" is in practice a time-bound task rather than defined over specific results. That is, very rarely your PhD project will be defined as "if you achieve X, you are done" (where X is something clearly measurable). Much more likely, your underlying PhD research question will be a little open and fluffy, and you spend 5 - 7 years conducting various studies into this direction, and hand in once you have learned enough that your committee is happy. This cannot easily be sped up, as getting good results early will usually mean that your committee expects more results from you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: **It depends.**
As the others have noted, you should enter into a program with the assumption that you will be in for at least three years (post-Masters) minimum. Beyond that though, you have a certain degree of control over things while being at the mercy of luck for others. If you are in a field where you don't need much in the way of fieldwork, then the biggest limiting factor might be you own productivity. Even more so if you are doing dissertation by publication.
For dissertation by publication you might be able to reasonably expect to have three solid papers going through the publication process or even in press by the time you defend. Having a well defined problem helps and mitigating your own expectations will as well. As much as a lot of PhD students want to write, say, the next "[Non-Cooperative Games](https://rbsc.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/Non-Cooperative_Games_Nash.pdf)" for their dissertation, it is an extremely high bar to try and reach. This approach also also the dissertation to be more "[bite-sized chunks](https://thesiswhisperer.com/2014/02/12/thesis-by-publications-youre-joking-right/)" and has you checking off chapters early on in the process.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/07/07
| 1,984
| 8,503
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<issue_start>username_0: Institutional Background
------------------------
I'm currently taking a programming course as part of my computer science studies at a rather small German university.
The course is done by the professor, who's holding the lecture, and three assistants who do the lab with us, prepare / correct the assignments and update and maintain the sample code base / documentation.
Actual question background
--------------------------
Now I've liked the assignments a lot and even posted them on [CodeGolf.SE](https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/) (after the assignments expired) after having obtained permission from my professor. They have done quite well over there (usually a lot of answers, upvotes and views). To be clear: The assignments were not "good" in the sense that they were trivial or easy, they just required an appropriate understanding of the materials and were quite enjoyable to do.
Because I and apparently others have enjoyed these assignments, or the ideas behind them, so much, I'd link to thank the author of the assignments in a nice email with links to the relevant CodeGolf posts.
As an inexperienced student I don't know whether it would be awkward for him to get such a "thanks" for "just getting his job done".
**Is it generally considered appropriate / acceptable to *thank* members of the team besides the primary instructor for a good and enjoyable course experience, like good assignments)?**
As for the relation between the assignment author and me: We had near to no interaction except him pushing the new assignments into everybody's SVN folders and then correcting all solutions, usually without many comments, after the students have pushed them back into the repository.
To distinguish this question from [*"Is it appropriate to send an email to a professor at the end of the semester thanking them for their teaching?"*](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/58747/56299): To my knowledge, the assignment author has no authority whatsoever about my grade and I already have my qualification for the exam and I've never met / seen him in person.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, I think it would be fine. Everybody likes to know their work is appreciated. Teaching assistants are often not appreciated enough by their students (and sometimes not enough by their professors!).
Just a short concise form of thanks would be enough:
>
> Thanks for those exercises you set for course *xyz*. They were really interesting, and I enjoyed solving them. I hope you liked creating them as much as I appreciated their contents.
>
>
>
Something along those lines perhaps. If you make it too long it might sound obsequious or sycophantic.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: ### In Germany
From my point of view, being a German computer scientist, I would also deem it appropriate to thank the team. From my point of view it is perfectly fine.
### In General
Most certainly it would leave me smiling for the rest of the day. Everybody likes to hear that he/ she did well, as Brian already wrote.
### Feedback
To give another angle why this is ok: Let's think about Feedback.
When designing courses and assignments, feedback from the students can be extremely helpful. It is not easy to judge how an assignment is received and nobody learns from assignments that are way too hard or way too easy. So if you tell them the assignments worked well you are providing important information to further improve the class.
In my experience, negative feedback is more readily given than positive. On the other hand, it is often not useful hearing that the course was too hard, from someone who skipped half of the sessions.
That said, I think your point of view matters here and can help shaping the next iteration of the course. Share it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: My opinion is that if you feel thankful toward someone for something, just express it. Sometimes it might seem awkward, but so what? The thanks can be very simple, or more elaborate, depending on the size of the act, among other things. Don't overthink it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Of course! No one dislikes having their hard work acknowledged and appreciated. This is even more true in academia, where the feedback loop is incredibly long and the feedback is mostly negative. At the very worst, a few people might demur and say, "Just doing my job." or something, but I suspect most of those people are still secretly pleased and I would be shocked if any were actually offended.
You can even do this in a way that *helps* the assistant.
**Provide concrete examples of what you liked**. For example: "I really appreciate the detailed comments I received on my assignments. My internship supervisor keeps commenting on how much my code has improved recently, so thank you for all the advice." or "Balanced binary trees finally clicked for me after we made that silly model from straws and sellotape during a tutorial." This may help the professor and/or assistants improve their teaching in the future.
**Get your feedback "on the record."** A personalized note or email would definitely brighten my day, so by all means, send one. However, if there is an official course evaluation, please fill that out too. Scores on those may be used to determine future teaching assignments, internal awards, etc. and they may also make the professor aware of the assistants' good work. This can be very helpful if the professor is ever in a position to recommend the assistant for a teaching position somewhere. In fact, it would not be totally out of line to mention this to the professor, if the occasion arises, or cc them on an email.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: >
> YOU DID **WHAT**?!?!?
>
>
>
In general, thanking people is perfectly appropriate.
>
> I've liked the assignments ... and even posted them on [Programming Puzzles and Cold Golf (CodeGolf.SE)](http://codegolf.stackexchange.com) (after the assignments expired) after having obtained permission from my professor.
>
>
>
Basically, what this indicates is that the instructor doesn't object. The instructor's job, of course, is to run the course.
>
> I'd link to thank the author of the assignments in a nice email with links to the relevant CodeGolf posts.
>
>
>
If I made the puzzles, I might appreciate knowing that my work has been shared with many people in the world, and that it was well-received.
However, there is another possibility. Hypothetically, if I was a TA, I may have thought long and hard about this, and finally come up with a great puzzle that will challenge students. I submit my code to the professor, and he agrees to use it for this class. I think about how my contribution has benefited this department now, and how this benefit can happen for years to come thanks to the possibility of re-using material.
Then, the professor okayed a student's request to post this onto CodeGolf. The professor has probably heard of Stack Overflow and might have some vague idea that Stack Exchange is somehow somewhat related, but may not be familiar with just how popular Code Golf is. (I know, this hypothetical scenario is getting painted by making quite a lot of assumptions here. What is being said here might closely match reality, or may differ significantly.)
As a TA who may be more familiar with Code Golf (especially after you show the hyperlink), I might be a bit disappointed that the professor ruined the ability to re-use the work in an academic setting. Another possibility is that you may have taken my chance for fame. After all, if I really thought that posting the puzzle was a good idea, I may have done so myself (and received whatever resulting reputation benefits I could). Now, you've kinda ruined the author's ability to do that.
Overall, this might be bad news that might disappoint some people more than what it enhances their life. The professor probably won't be disappointed at all, since the professor did give the okay for this. The TA's may have a different perspective.
In summary: I say again, thanking them would be perfectly appropriate. Letting the person know that you've used the code in such a public way (and even providing the hyperlinks) might work out quite well as this may cause the authors to appreciate your actions and their results, but there's also the possibility that they might not like that. I simply advise you to be prepared for that possibility before you do that.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/07/07
| 4,562
| 19,969
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently submitted a paper for publication. I was amazed to read the tone of one of the reviewers.
Previously, it was read by a pair of peers. I am completely sure that they would tell me if they found something wrong with the manuscript. Instead, their comments were positive.
This reviewer did not address *any* specific point of the work, just underestimated it as a whole. I could understand if his/her opinion was that the work is poor overall, but I perceive his/her comments as unnecessarily offensive.
As examples, the review contains the sentences:
>
> It seems to the present referee that the author does not realize what constitutes the fundamental problem of molecular quantum mechanics as related to calculation chemistry.
>
>
> The simple fact that the author ... and then he picks the "best" through statistics and numerology, reflects his attitude and respect towards the concept of THEORY.
>
>
>
On the contrary, very often my colleagues joke about (and many times we have discussed) my obsession with accuracy and scientific rigor. So, I am very convinced that the manuscript can not have an unusually high lack of rigor.
Although I have already published papers, I am inexperienced in publishing. This was the first time that I did the publishing process by myself.
I wish to know
* Are these kinds of comments normal from reviewers? If so, what motivates them? I tend to think that the comments should be an objective appreciation of the work and not the author.
* How are they perceived by the academic community?
* Should I respond in any way?
**Edit:**
Just for clarification. I don't have evidence that the reviewer misunderstood the work. The only comment he/she made is the second quote that I previously included in the question. It is noteworthy to say that this point is far away from the central point or incumbency of the paper. The other thing he/she mentioned about the work is related to the title.<issue_comment>username_1: Getting angry reviews that, in your opinion, fail to understand your work is normal. It's sadly part of the territory.
It's hard to say why someone writes an angry review. Maybe they're an angry person, maybe they had a bad day and didn't like your work, or maybe they're one of those "tough love" people and get a little harsh when they disagree about something.
Your best approach is to ignore the tone of the review. If your paper got accepted, celebrate your publication. If you get a rebuttal, try to address their underlying concerns by politely pointing out why they are wrong and you are right.
If you are certain that your work is correct and the reviewer is wrong, think about what in your paper might lead them to believe what they did. If one person thinks you did something wrong, others might too. Consider rewriting that part of the paper to clear up any misunderstandings. It may be time consuming, but it will make your paper all the stronger in the long run.
Not to make any assumptions as to your research ability, but if this is your first time submitting a publication on your own, it is entirely possible that your technique is wrong. You can be rigorous in your approach and still do things incorrectly. It may be worthwhile to approach a more senior researcher that you trust and get their opinion on your paper with respect to the review.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: It does happen, but it is unprofessional on the part of the reviewer and in my opinion, also unprofessional of the editor for letting this through in this form. The first line in your quote is a harsh criticism, but for all I know, might be fair. But when the reviewer accuses you of using numerology, that is deliberately offensive (assuming that it is not literally true)!
It does happen and it is unfortunately not as rare as it should be, but it is not the norm. There's not much you can do about it now that the paper has been rejected. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and submit it somewhere else. Consider also leaving a review of the journal on <https://scirev.sc/>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> Is it normal this kind of comments from reviewers?
>
>
>
It is quite common to get hostile reviews. They are not supposed to be angry, usually it is expected that reviewers stay calm and dispassionate as a matter of professionalism. Sometimes they don't.
>
> If so, what motivate it?
>
>
>
Maybe you have made some glaring errors that are so bad the reviewer was infuriated. Maybe they just really don't like you and decided to find some flaws just to ruin your perfectly good manuscript. Maybe they were having a bad day and felt like taking it out on something. Who knows?
>
> I tend to think that the comments should be objective appreciation of the work and not the author.
>
>
>
Reviewer comments don't have to be objective. One key point of reviews is whether the paper is interesting and important enough to be in that journal. Importance and interest are of course subjective notions.
Likewise, if the author seriously misunderstands the existing theory of their domain, this is a valid criticism. At best they need to rewrite the paper to avoid saying factually incorrect things, at worst their whole work is unfounded. This is of course assuming the author actually did misunderstand something important - oftentimes people say you misunderstand something simply because they don't like what you propose, not because you actually misunderstand it.
>
> How are they perceived by the academic community?
>
>
>
You're not supposed to write angry reviews, this is considered unprofessional even if justified. However, in science many people have strong opinions about things, and these people may like seeing someone scolded over their pet peeve. They may publicly claim they disapprove of the behavior, but secretly support it.
That is to say, don't count on the editor saying "What a jerk, he's bullying the poor author for no reason". He might as well say "He sure showed that fool! Well done!".
>
> Should I respond in any way?
>
>
>
In your example, the reviewer seems to take issue with your fundamental approach. I'm not familiar with the field, but when many competing methods for solving a problem exist, it seems to me perfectly reasonable to examine them all and pick the best one. Of course, if one picks the best by picking the one that gives the results most supporting one's hypothesis, that is circular reasoning with little scientific value. The "best" approach should be chosen on independent criteria.
Since the reviewer says "numerology", I would guess that they consider your approach unscientific in this sense. They appear to imply that you have simply tried several methods until you got lucky and found one that coincidentally supports your claim, not because your claim is correct, but because several of these methods have probabilistic errors, and this one happened to give a chance misleading result. If this is true, then you might want to follow a more rigorous approach to choosing a functional (whatever that is). If it is not true, you should take steps to convince the reviewer that your results are in fact genuine and not coincidental - a classic example can be found in [multiple hypothesis testing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_comparisons_problem#Example).
It sounds like you believe the criticisms are unjustified (and otherwise you would probably not submit this question). In your brief excerpt, the reviewer's tone also seems quite hostile, so it's hard to imagine what you could possibly do so wrong that they got so angry. In that case you have a reviewer being unfairly hostile. Your best option is to provide arguments supporting your position, and hope that the editor will take your side. You could complain (to the editor) that the reviewer is being unfair, but that could make *you* look just as bad, so I wouldn't recommend it (but I also wouldn't recommend against it). A more constructive thing would be to ask the reviewer what you could do to address their concern: If they are sincere, they should suggest a reasonable change that will fix the problem and make everyone happy. If they say something unreasonable like "Scrap the paper, scrap your research, go back to school and retake chemistry 101" then it will be obvious to the editor that they are biased; even a sympathetic person will be put off by such arrogance.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I would like to present an alternative view. **Some authors may feel that the reviewer is being angry, when they are in fact just being critical**. I'm not saying this applies to your situation, but I think that in many cases, this is worth considering.
The role of a reviewer is to critically evaluate the manuscript. They need to make a recommendation about whether the manuscript should be accepted, subject to revision, or rejected. They also need to identify the problems with the manuscript. Most reviews are blind reviews. Reviewers are typically busy people, who are not being compensated for their work.
Thus, the role requirements and incentives of a reviewer emphasise being critical and making a sound judgement. There is limited incentive for spending extra time being tactful or polite. If they feel that the manuscript is clearly inappropriate, they may not spend lots of additional time providing detailed comments about smaller issues.
In addition, the fact that the process is often double blind or the reviewer does not personally know the author, also means that the reviewer is less clear on the motives of the author. If they perceive a fundamental failure in the manuscript, they may think you are wasting reviewer time: i.e., you should have worked on it longer before submitting the work, or they may wonder whether you are shopping a manuscript around to many different outlets.
Of course, there are plenty of arguments for why a reviewer should be polite and constructive even when they are identifying critical problems. However, it's not their primary goal.
Then there is the psychology of the author who receives a critical rejection. The author has invested a huge amount of energy into the manuscript and reads a set of critical comments from a reviewer who seemingly fails to notice all that is good in the manuscript. In daily life we rarely encounter the brutal honesty associated with a critical reviewer. The author also often wants to believe that they have done good work and their manuscript is good. Thus, the author may perceive the comments of the reviewer as inappropriate and "angry", when in fact they are just being critical.
The reviews you get on your manuscript are going to vary in quality, informational content, and so on. Very occasionally, you might get a malicious reviewer; much more common are slightly incompetent reviewers, or rushed reviewers, or brutally critical reviewers; or some combination of those three.
However, most of the time even with very negative reviews, you have the opportunity to think about how that impression was formed. Could you have made your arguments clearer? Could you have framed the paper differently? Is there a critique that this reviewer is raising that you could present a counter-argument to in the paper? The point is to learn something from the critique, and the thing you should learn is often implicit. It's not always the overt point made by the reviewer. Ultimately, there are many journals and most journals send articles out to more than one reviewer; so even if the reviewer is wrong, if you are right the manuscript will ultimately find a home.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: One possibility is that there is a language barrier causing your work to be misunderstood, or even possibly offensive to a certain person's sensibilities. I do note that your original post here had many English errors, which made it hard to read in places, up to and including the "Violence" claim in the title (which is, strictly speaking, a totally false claim, for example).
It sounds like someone else was handling your prior papers; maybe they heavily edited the language? And I'm guessing that your peers share a common first language with you; perhaps the reviewer does not? One recommendation would be to make sure that you have a native English speaker review your future papers before sending them out.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Unfortunately it is quite common that authors receive negative feedback on their work, however this is often based around a misunderstanding or just a difference in opinions. What one might consider the right theoretical/scientific approach, might be perceived as the worst by others. I and probably others reading/commenting this topic have a hard time answering your questions the right way hence we haven't read your article nor the angry review. We can only guess and reply based on "feelings" etc.
Reading the newspaper online OFTEN shows angry reviews / comments by people that simply doesn't share the point of view that of the author. In my opinion this is what develops our written skills etc and this is what papers are about, bringing different topics for discussion?
If you want a more direct answer, please submit your article and the negative review. That would help a lot!
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_7: This answer is based on mainly one small detail in your question: The fact that the word theory in the quote of the review is written in capitals. Judging from the quote only, it appears that the reviewer was addressing exactly one point of the paper: its theoretical depth, which he considered insufficient. Does the journal in question have the word "Theory" in his title? If so, it's probably better to select another one for publication.
@username_1 wrote that you can be rigorous and still do it incorrectly. I'd like to modify that: You can be rigorous and do it correctly, but still use an experimental approach and not a theoretical one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but investigating 53 samples (in your case functionals) and then picking the best according to some measure sounds very experimental to me.
Have you considered the possibility that the reviewer just picked an incredibly bad way to tell you that your approach does not fit the standards / expected contents of the journal? Maybe he recently received a lot of papers he considered "unworthy" and eventually got frustrated about "everyone wasting his time"? Maybe he just had a bad day?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I approve of the review as is - in the situation I describe in my answer, a simple "does not meet the scope of the journal" would have been both more helpful and less insulting. But reviewers are people, too, so unfortunately, such things may always happen.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: One line of your question was a "tip-off: "This reviewer did not address any specific point of the work..."
What bothered the reviewer wasn't what is in the paper, but what **isn't.**
"It seems to the present referee that the author does not realize what constitutes the fundamental problem of..."
"The simple fact that the author examines... reflects his attitude and respect towards the concept of THEORY."
(I deliberately stripped out the technical language to get to the core of the complaint.)
It seems that the reviewer has very strong ideas about what should go into such a paper. And you didn't have them.
Maybe he has a point. Or maybe he has an axe to grind.In either event, it seems like you and he are on different "planets."
I would ask more senior people in your field (particularly those who can identify the reviewer by his distinctive style) which it is. The answer to the question of whether his concerns are germane or bogus will tell you whether or not this is normal.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: Answering the question in the title
===================================
A lot of papers submitted for publication are garbage. They do not advance science, not have they been written with this goal. Often they are incoherent, illiterate, confused, or 'cargo cult' imitations of actual scientific research. Many of these garbage papers are submitted to prestigious journals where they waste the time of prominent and experienced referees. These people consider their time to be valuable. Therefore they might get angry if asked to review such a paper, particularly if the paper is not the first one they have encountered. This might well be the main reason a referee gets angry when writing a report.
Should such a person get angry? Well, they are entitled to their own feelings, but they should probably not express their anger in an unprofessional way, in the text of the report. Some people argue that rudeness has a positive benefit, because it discourage the submission of garbage papers. However, I think most people would disagree with this. Certainly the free software community has reached a near-consensus that it is counter-productive to be rude to people in the related area of patch submission and code review. <NAME>, who was previously one of the best-known proponents of 'flaming' people who submit bad code, has spoken out strongly in favour of codes of conduct which forbid this type of rudeness.
Your review
===========
However, I am not sure that the examples you quote could accurately be described as 'angry', unprofessional or rude.
>
> It seems to the present referee that the author does not realize what constitutes the fundamental problem of molecular quantum mechanics as related to calculation chemistry.
>
>
>
Papers do get submitted by people who do not understand the fundamental problem of their field. If a reviewer believes that the author does not understand the fundamental problem of their field, what should they write in the report? It is obviously very important for them to communicate this belief to the editor. I think they should write something very much like the above. Note that the reviewer makes it clear that this is how things *seem* to *that reviewer*, and does not present it as fact. Thus they leave open two possibilities - that the author does understand, but has not successfully communicated, or that the author has successfully communicated, but the reviewer has not understood through some fault of their own. To me, this sentence does not seem angry or unprofessional. However, it does make it clear that the reviewer considers this work to have little merit.
Your paper
==========
I don't know anything about your work. However you should see this report as at least a strong piece of evidence that your work is of very poor quality. It might be a convincing piece of evidence or not - certainly you might want to consider the possibility that this referee is better qualified than your colleagues to decide this. If you or your work do not meet the basic standards of academic research, then perhaps you work in a department with colleagues who also do not meet these basic standards, who are impressed by your rigor, but whose opinion is not trustworthy. On the other hand, if you *know* that your work is serious, important and new, then you should disregard the review. It could be that for whatever reason, the referee does not *himself* understand the fundamental problem of the field, or that he holds an very unorthodox opinion as to what it is. (In this case he was a bad choice of reviewer.)
Note that one of the main reasons it is considered to be a bad idea to be rude and angry to people who submit work of little apparent merit, is because of the chance that there might be a mistake. It's of course extremely hurtful, upsetting and demoralizing to have someone misunderstand your work and reject it without appreciating the reason it is genuinely worthwhile. For someone to also feel on top of this that they have been insulted is really a terrible outcome.
Upvotes: 3
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2016/07/08
| 1,420
| 6,054
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<issue_start>username_0: For starting a new problem I generally need to look for work already published through [Google Scholar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Scholar). For example, recently I came across an equation, the `Pochhammer-Chree` equation. When I type this equation name in the Google Scholar tab, a large number of publications on this equations piles up. It is not possible to look for every single publication to check what type of work has already been done on this equation.
Let me elaborate a little more. Suppose I need to check if the *Lie symmetry analysis* on this equation has been carried out or not. Then I have certain options in advanced search, that to include the words `symmetry` or `symmetry analysis` in the title, abstract or in the whole article along with the word *Pochhammer-Chree*. Here of course the time range can also be given. Unfortunately, even by this type of search I can miss some of the article that have been already published on symmetry analysis of *Pochhammer-Chree*.
Is my way of search correct? If not, how should I search through the web by not missing a single article on the topic I am looking for?<issue_comment>username_1: It is true; there are too many papers out there to even read the abstracts of all of them. That is why many research papers contain phrases like "to the best of our knowledge", etc.
My approach to minimize the risk of missing out publications is as follows: I start with reading review papers. These will sum up the research up to a certain point and will show you what the seminal papers in the field are. Then I look up the latest papers that cite the reviews and/or the seminal papers. This approach works very well with Google Scholar.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: One trick that I find useful, when researching an area that I'm relatively new to, is to **sort by the number of citations**. Among the top-cited papers from the search will often be the original paper that introduced a concept, and/or a useful review article. Both of those provide excellent starting points to follow citations forwards and backwards through time. If neither of those appear, then out of the top few papers, pick the one with the most relevant sounding title, and with any luck it will, at the very least, provide references within the text that will form a useful starting point.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Just to elaborate on what the other posters have mentioned: your first
job is to find at least one paper that is very relevant to the
specific topic that you are interested in, e.g. symmetry analysis of
Pochhammer-Chree equations. Possibly just searching on Google Scholar
and browsing the results is your best option here. The number of
citations that a specific paper has is an indication of whether that
paper was important/influential within your field (i.e., these are the
papers your reviewers will know about), so you should make sure to
study these papers in particular. Once you have a good reference
paper, you can use Google Scholar to click on the blue 'Cited by ##'
hyperlink that is on the bottom left of every search result on
Scholar. You can use this to find other relevant papers going forward
in time. As you collect relevant papers, you can also look at their
references (and read the 'related work' sections of the paper) and
find other papers that you may have missed.
In most cases, it is impossible to 'not miss a single article' on the
topic that you are looking for, and I don't believe this is a useful
goal anyways. Of course, in some fields, a result may be binary:
either you have proven/shown something or you have not, and once it's
done, there is no point doing it again. But in most fields, if two
people independently pursue the same topic, they will approach it in
different ways, and confirming each other's findings in this way
provides a lot of value. When your paper is reviewed, it is essential
that you demonstrate an intellectual heritage to your work - that you
care about prior work, and have used it to guide you, and you are
building on a tradition. If you miss something, the reviewers will be
happy to point it out, and in my experience this is rarely the reason
a paper gets rejected. And even if a paper is rejected for inadequate
understanding of prior work, this is an easy problem to fix for
resubmission elsewhere.
So in summary: you can only do your best. The process outlined above
is the process used by most people these days. If you follow this
approach, and put in the proper amount of effort, then if you miss
something anyways, I don't think anyone will hold it against you (and
most likely no one, including you, will ever know).
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: The search feature on Google Scholar is a fantastic starting point to begin your research, but there are also other methods which can be used with Google to provide highly relevant results.
Once you have found a paper in your general topic and have determined to be of high-value (usually the first result in Google Scholar Search) you can then view which articles cite this article, and which articles are cited by this article. That is a fantastic way to develop an interconnected web following the same line of thought through time. You can learn who researched what when, and what advancements were made to that theory or reasoning and how long each development took.
For Example, when [searching google scholar for "CRISPR Cas9"](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=CRISPR%20Cas9&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C32&as_sdtp=) (A new methodology for genetic engineering) A number of results is displayed, and underneath each result, statistics are available. Under the first result, it says "Cited By 850", by clicking this link, you are able to see what recent publications on the topic are covering. These can also be sorted by citations, date published, authors, etc. This is one of the most effective methods for performing google scholar searches and finding relevant information.
Upvotes: 1
|
2016/07/08
| 539
| 2,387
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<issue_start>username_0: Is it considered to be plagiarism when a researcher translates a little-known paper from another language and uses this text, without citing reference, as his own? I understand that to use results of someone’s research work is ethically improper but does it carry a real punishment?<issue_comment>username_1: Short answer: **Yes, it is plagiarism**.
Slightly longer answer: In the process of translating a little known text and using it nothing has changed about the fact, that you copied text from someone else without citing it correctly. I would consider it unethical. Why would you not want to cite it anyway? You got the source, you can cite it! You shouldn't bother about possible consequences, because doing it right in the first place will prevent you from getting into trouble.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes. Plagiarism is, at its core, using someone else's work and claiming it as yours. The fact that you translated it does not diminish the fact that you are using someone else's ideas.
I should add that there is of course *value in itself* in translating a previous paper, and you will get some *credit* for this even if you make it clear that it was someone else's ideas that you are translating.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: In many legislations (e.g. Germany) it is a violation of copyright as well: the translation is considered a derivative work/adaption. This means you need the permission of the copyright holder (typically publisher or author) to publish your translation. Citation alone is not sufficient.
As for "using it as your own": Your translation may anyways qualify as an own work, depending on how much original work you put into the translation. (Computerized translation does not qualify.) A good translation is not a mechanical process but constitutes a creative work in itself and therefore is considered a work with its own rights (at least in German copyright law).
Again, this doesn't change the fact that you have to obtain permission of the copyright holder of the original work for publishing your translation. Doing this will typically take care of possible issues with plagiarism as well: re-use authorizations tend to specify how to reference the original work (slight disclaimer: the re-use authorizations I've seen so far were not for translations but for graphics and tables).
Upvotes: 3
|
2016/07/09
| 2,703
| 10,960
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<issue_start>username_0: Next month (August) I am supposed to go back to the US to continue my math PhD programme in a Public State University. I hold a TA position as everybody does in my department. Nobody, I say again, nobody holds an RA position. My duties, as equal to almost everyone, are two recitation sections of 60 students each. Every section meets 3 hours a week, that is 6 hours a week for both, plus preparing material, grading a weekly quiz (120 for both) plus grading homework weekly (120) plus grading classwork weekly (120) plus holding office hours plus organizing and keeping grade records plus going 4 hours a week to a center called "math help room".
I saw many US students leave the programme. They get fed up. The vast majority of the students are Chinese and they seem happy with it but I do not. The workload is too heavy and there isn't much time for learning or research. I have seen most people get their PhD at my department with only one publication that even says "to appear" on the resume of the PhD graduates. All advanced PhD students at my department spend even more of their time on TA duties than doing their research, as opposed to my country (Mexico) where advanced PhD students do not have TA duties.
Is that normal? Is my math department a scam?
I was surprised and happy at first that I was accepted to a US university to do a math PhD. But I could not get admission to a PhD in my country nor Spain nor Brazil, which are not supposed to be as good as a US university. Is my reasoning ok? Why did my department accept me when lower schools rejected me? Do they only want to get staff for their recitation sections?
Is my reasoning correct? Or is the main objective of a PhD here in the US just teaching?<issue_comment>username_1: Since you said that you come from Mexico, I presume that you are on a F-1 visa. If so, then as a condition of your visa, you are permitted to work on-campus only up to 20 hours a week. Keep time sheet to see if you work more than that. If you do work more than that, talk to whomever is responsible for assigning the TA work in your department to reduce your load down to 20hrs. Do not be swayed by "this should take less than 20hrs" if in reality it takes more than 20hrs.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. The text above is not a legal advice.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: 1) Right now, the academic job market for research-oriented jobs sucks balls. The truth is that, if you are not absolutely f-ing brilliant AND extremely hard-working, your chances at a research-oriented job are pretty close to 0. Given that you couldn't get admission to a PhD in either your country or Spain or Brazil, and I'm guessing your university in the US is not one of the top-20 programs, you're most likely not absolutely f-ing brilliant. But I can't say for sure - maybe there are reasons I don't know about, and some people don't realize their brilliance until later in life.
2) I would guess that the vast majority (possibly even 100% historically) of graduates from the program you are in end up in jobs where research is a secondary part of their job (if they end up in an academic job at all). They will end up teaching in small, lower-rated liberal arts colleges or regional state universities not offering a graduate programs, or even community colleges, and their teaching workload as a professor will be more than double your current teaching workload. (They'll still be required to do some amount of research, but it might not ever add up to anything as significant as their PhD dissertation.)
3) Given (1) and (2), your program is probably designed to produce graduates who are competent at teaching upper-level undergraduate courses, which includes having enough personal experience of research to be able to explain to students what research in mathematics is and guide students in getting their feet wet. Research productivity beyond this level for their graduates is purely a bonus - appreciated but not aimed for.
4) It's quite common for mathematics PhDs to graduate without a completed paper. What matters is not how many papers but how good they are. If you want a research job, it's probably much better to finish graduate school with a paper in preparation that people think will end up in *Algebra and Number Theory* or *Compositio Mathematica* (especially if it's really your ideas rather than those of your supervisor that made the paper work) than three published papers in journals at the level of *International Journal of Number Theory* or twenty in the *Journal of the Elbonian Math Society* (which is made up - but, for the purposes of this answer - assumed to be a legitimate but obscure journal).
5) Your teaching workload is not particularly unusual for a lower-tier doctoral program in the US. If your goal is to be a teaching professor, wouldn't it seem weird to complain about doing a lot of teaching? If you really want to be a research professor and think you have it in you, wouldn't you be grateful for the chance, poor as it is from your point of view, to prove yourself?
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> Is my math department a scam?
>
>
>
I've never heard of the math department of a US public university being a "scam". There are for-profit universities that are considered by many to be not much more than a scam. But I have a lot of trouble imagining a public university being one. My rule of thumb would be that if most of the university professors in your department are actively publishing papers, it would be a **really** "long con" to be a scam. So I wouldn't worry about that so much.
>
> Is that normal?
>
>
>
I cannot say for sure it's exactly normal, but it is at least not so far from it. During my PhD (statistics), I almost always was supported by TAing, although that was only 1 course per quarter. However, my friends in the math department at the same university TA'ed for two courses. I'm not exactly sure what leads to that, but I would assume it has to do with the undergrad course/grad student ratio.
So I don't think you're being intentionally scammed or your PhD program is completely out of sync. And as a light at the end of the tunnel, I will say that my first 2 years in my program were absolutely miserable (60hrs/week of homework + TAing, exams, etc can take a bit of an emotional toll)...but the following 4 years were really enjoyable!
With all this in mind, that's not to say there's no need to question your program; it is possible that it is a legitimate program but with poor job placement afterward. Assuming your program has been around for a long time, looking at what our students in your program have done is a somewhat good predictor for what your job prospects will be. This is not a perfect predictor of course: almost everyone in my program went into industry but I did not.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: The idea that there is some sort of dichotomy between academic mathematics "research" and "teaching" in the U.S. is an incorrect over-simplification. It *is* true that there is considerable PR hype about "research" being the fundamental goal/criterion/status-generator... It *is* true that almost all math grad students in the U.S. are supported as TAs, not RAs. It is also true that sometimes the TA workload is unreasonable, and, often, people seem to find the TA work more immediately gratifying than their research, and if done inefficiently certainly takes more than 20 hours per week.
It is also true that some grad students from abroad are happy enough to be in the U.S. that working conditions are not an issue...
While it may be that many academic math jobs, particularly those with lighter teaching duties, are filtered on research, faculty still inevitably spend quite a bit of time on teaching and service. If teaching is extremely unpalatable, then academic math will be unpalatable.
Some people might say that any situation in which the "apprentices" cannot expect to get as good a job as the "master" are scams... but it's hard to find a situation in real life which works differently, I think. It's only a scam if someone makes a stupid promise to you that you'll eventually have a job just like your advisor, since, based on numbers alone, that's unlikely.
In my opinion, the true goals of graduate education in math are several: learn how to be an effective undergrad teacher, learn some advanced mathematics, learn how mathematicians make new mathematics, and practice attempting that.
In particular, research in mathematics requires mastery of so much prior work that it's very unusual for grad students to have genuine publications prior to the award of the PhD. This is very unlike lab-oriented engineering or CompSci degrees. That fact is not a sign of failure. If anything, it might be a sign of substance, that faculty insist on graduate education and more genuine research accomplishment than "papers" per se.
Also, in particular, again, the purported dichtomy between "researcher" and "lecturer", and a perception that the "goal" of graduate programs is to produce one or the other, is inaccurate. Graduate programs teach advanced mathematics to the grad students, and show what research is. The likely fact that they'll be doing a lot of teaching in their subsequent career does not affect the advanced mathematics... and the TA practice is helpful in becoming efficient and effective as a teacher.
There is sometimes a subtler issue, of grad programs which recruit international grad students who won't complain ... about workloads or anything else. That's not a good sign... but "even" domestic students are often pessimistic about the possibilities of change, and don't want to speak up for fear of retribution, etc. In the range of "generally reasonable", there are extremes, and there are abuses, indeed. Nevertheless, even then, it's probably not really a "scam".
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: My first semester of graduate school in mathematics at State U, I was given two courses per semester (not TA, I taught them) and ran a tutoring session. I didn't think it was a scam, but eventually I realized I could do better by just working construction 20 hours a week and simply paying my tuition.
My last semester, the department sent out an advertisement for a tenure track position. Starting salary $30000/year, 3 courses per semester. They received over 400 applications from great schools all over the US and got someone who I regarded as very capable and had nice publications from his PhD. That's the reality for non-elite mathematics professors in the US. I guess by your definition, tenure-track professors are being scammed as well.
I now solve differential equations for a steady income, so I regard the trade I made to my university as a good one, but if things hadn't worked out I'd probably agree with you. Just be glad you aren't going into massive debt like the law school students.
Upvotes: 3
|
2016/07/09
| 431
| 1,611
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<issue_start>username_0: I am interested in the field of combinatorics and I would like to track new papers in journals on combinatorics (mainly the top of this list <http://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php?category=2607>).
How should I do that? For example, Journal on Graph Theory has email alert service but with some of the others I do not see such option.
How do you, personally, track new papers in your area?<issue_comment>username_1: You can try setting up one or more [GoogleScholar alerts](https://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/help.html#alerts). You will get a mail if a new paper from your area of interest is added to Scholar. So please keep in mind that this only works for papers that do end up on scholar.
The alerts are not specific to any journal, but you can specify a set of keyword to search for. If you do not find another way this might be a workaround if you put some time into crafting your alerts. I use this to keep track of a very small but specific field (in Computer Sciences), so I do not know how it will scale up for your problem.
As far as I know it is not possible to set an alert a specific journal, but I have not put much research into this. It might be possible.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Most journals have an RSS feed. Use an RSS feed reader/aggregator (I currently use [Inoreader](http://www.inoreader.com/)) and subscribe to the feeds of the journals that interest you.
For example, the [Journal of Graph Theory's feed](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/rss/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1097-0118) is linked from its homepage.
Upvotes: 2
|
2016/07/09
| 491
| 1,486
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a master's graduate from Iran. I received an admission offer (PhD in business) from one of the reputable universities in England but I don't have scholarship yet.
My question is: In addition to internal scholarships(I mean the university's) What are external scholarships I can apply for? i.e. If the university doesn't give me a scholarship, are there other British institutions to fund my phd studies or not? I am exploring all my chances in the remaining time to accept the offer.<issue_comment>username_1: Jobs.ac.uk has a [page about funding a PhD](http://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/studentships/1534/phd-funding-a-checklist-of-possible-funding-sources/) that includes the following:
>
> A number of charitable organisations, foundations and trusts can help fund PhD’s. These include:
>
>
> The Wellcome Trust
>
>
> Cancer Research UK
>
>
> The British Academy
>
>
> The British Federation of Women Graduates
>
>
> The Institution of Civil Engineers
>
>
> Institution of Engineering & Technology
>
>
> Institution of Mechanical Engineers
>
>
> Royal Geographical Society
>
>
> Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland
>
>
> Leverhulme Trust
>
>
> Action Medical Research
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: One friend introduced [Islamic Development Bank (IDB) scholarships.](http://www.isdb.org/irj/portal/anonymous?NavigationTarget=navurl://e6a729183f50b834c13c3abf5cc619ae)
Upvotes: -1
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2016/07/09
| 444
| 1,301
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<issue_start>username_0: >
> Assume that you are applying for a certain position and they require a proof that you master a given language at a [certain level](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages).
>
>
>
Are there websites where you can fill out tests and obtain a certificate?<issue_comment>username_1: Jobs.ac.uk has a [page about funding a PhD](http://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/studentships/1534/phd-funding-a-checklist-of-possible-funding-sources/) that includes the following:
>
> A number of charitable organisations, foundations and trusts can help fund PhD’s. These include:
>
>
> The Wellcome Trust
>
>
> Cancer Research UK
>
>
> The British Academy
>
>
> The British Federation of Women Graduates
>
>
> The Institution of Civil Engineers
>
>
> Institution of Engineering & Technology
>
>
> Institution of Mechanical Engineers
>
>
> Royal Geographical Society
>
>
> Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland
>
>
> Leverhulme Trust
>
>
> Action Medical Research
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: One friend introduced [Islamic Development Bank (IDB) scholarships.](http://www.isdb.org/irj/portal/anonymous?NavigationTarget=navurl://e6a729183f50b834c13c3abf5cc619ae)
Upvotes: -1
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2016/07/09
| 1,682
| 7,341
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<issue_start>username_0: Many conferences in my field (theoretical CS) are organised as follows. They are run by academics, as an endowement, scientific association, or some other not-for-profit organization. Each year, submission and reviewing are done on some platform like Easychair, producing a list of accepted papers. The authors of these papers are then requested to submit a final version of their work (or camera-ready) for inclusion in the proceedings of the conference. The proceedings are managed by a for-profit scientific publisher (e.g., Springer, Sheridan Communications, etc.), and the authors are asked to sign a copyright transfer agreement, so that the publisher can sell the final version on their website. The publisher may edit the final version, but in most cases it doesn't: the publisher's only role in the conference is apparently to compile these proceedings.
To make papers more broadly available, it seems to me that authors could prefer to simply host the final version of their work on an open repository like arXiv, as they often do anyway, instead of publishing their work in the conference proceedings. (Alternatively, they could simply submit the title and abstract to the publisher, along with a pointer to the arXiv version.) This would save authors the effort of dealing with the publisher's formatting requirement, and would also avoid any potential legal issues with the copyright transfer (which do not always allow authors to host their work elsewhere). Further, it seems to me that it would make no difference to all the rest of the conference organization.
Hence my question: **Are some conferences OK with authors hosting their work somewhere else than in the publisher-run proceedings?** More generally, do conferences care whether the authors of an accepted paper actually submit a camera-ready version to the publisher? If yes, why, and what happens when authors fail to obey? If no, why do authors bother?
(I imagine that authors may want to include the accepted paper to their résumé, but instead of listing their paper as being "published in the Proceedings of XYZ", they could point to the arXiv version with a note "Accepted/presented at the XYZ conference": presumably, this should make no difference?)
(Related: [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/68504/choosing-between-a-one-page-abstract-in-conference-proceedings-and-full-version) suggest that some conferences allow what I propose (for different reasons, apparently), but I have never heard about such conferences in my subfield. Why aren't there more of them?)<issue_comment>username_1: I don't know if there would be any negative consequences from the conference from refusing to include your paper in the proceedings, but there are several positive reasons to do so. I don't know about theoretical CS, but I understand that for many sub-disciplines of CS, the conference publication is more imporant for your career than any journal publication. So, if yours in one where the conference article is more important than the journal article, you may have already accomplished the most important part for you already by the time you give the talk. That being said however, you might still prefer to put the paper into the proceedings volume since:
* it should be easier to find and refer to for future researchers and yourself than if it is on your website or the arXiv
* a journal special issue is probably considered more archival than arXiv.org by some
* if your discipline is other than I mentioned, you now might be considered to have a more prestigious journal article as well (depending, often, on whether others understand the level of peer review associated with that conference).
If this printing is a free service of the conference and goes in the publisher's digital archive, I'd be inclined to take the opportunity over trying to host it myself or arXiv it, and I have done so, even though CS is not my primary discipline. I'm not a big fan of the copyright transfer that is basically required to allow the big publisher or the professional societies to publish a copy of your work that they did not author (at least in the US and Europe).
I'd say that it's unlikely to be a big problem with the conference for you not to publish in the proceedings, though you might get some pressure from them to include your article. Some of the organizers, if they are common one year to the next, might remember your refusal and hold that against you the next year, but that would be unethical in my view, so they might also just let it go. As long as the paperwork to submit the article to the proceedings comes *after* the conference, there's not much they can do to you before the conference (like pull your talk), so I wouldn't worry too much about that. Finally, before you sign the copyright transfer with the publisher, you have an opportunity to read the publishing agreement and decide if it currently or ever will meet your standards for openness. If it doesn't or never will, then you can make that call as late as possible if you want to.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think this depends very much on the culture of your field.
I'm in a field (bio-/medical optical spectroscopy; chemistry) where conference proceedings count much less than "proper journal articles" (and they are subject to muss less strict reviewing). Consequently, we don't have much proceedings volumes (some conferences try to enforce submission of a proceedings paper if they have). I think this is because conferences are often comparably small and consequently try to get as many participants as possible. However, travel funding is usually tied to presenting at the conference. Thus, almost all participants typically present either a talk or at least a poster. The review process decides who gets an oral presentation (unless you opt out and immediately say you'd like to have a poster) rather than who presents and who should not present at all.
Instead, there often is a special issue in one of the normal journals where the paper is subject to the normal peer-review process. These themed issues are more or less tightly bound to the conference (we once were asked whether we'd want out paper to be put into one such issue. The paper wasn't presented at the conference, but it would have been on topic).
Also, it is quite common to present preliminary results at the conference. As it may take more time to finish and write up the study, it is quite normal to submit the manuscript to a suitable (other) journal when it is ready.
To give an example with numbers: [Spec 2014](http://spec2014.com/users/media/a_otwinowska/Conference_Summary.pdf) had 62 oral + 191 poster presentations with 282 participants. The [Analyst themed collection](http://pubs.rsc.org/en/journals/articlecollectionlanding?sercode=an&themeid=971f0237-e1d2-4c2c-bdd8-edcb904b87fb) has 53 full papers + 3 communication papers.
arXiv counts even less as there is no peer review. arXiv is considered only for depositing a manuscript *in addition* to the publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Fortunately, most publishers nowadays allow arXiv, and even if they don't in my country (Germany) the copyright law now has a clause that allows to make the manuscript publicly available after some embargo period.
Upvotes: 0
|
2016/07/10
| 579
| 2,540
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently I submitted minor revision to springer journal. For 3-4 days, the status of my manuscript status was showing to be `Editor Assigned` and after that status changed to `Under Review`. Now status of manuscript is changed to `Editor Assigned` again. What is meaning of this change ?<issue_comment>username_1: It most likely means that the manuscript was send out to a referee, but that the referee ultimately declined to review it. That happens all the time, and the system may or may not be updated to reflect the fact. In the case, the system was updated, and since the paper is back with the editor (who still needs to find a reviewer), the posted status reflects that.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The first mission of the editor is to assign reviewers and take a decision depending on their return. Hence the first `Editor Assigned` to `Under Review`. The reason with it is now `Editor Assigned` can be due to several reasons. This depends a lot on the manuscript management system, and the editorial practices.
Either:
* The editor has already received the necessary reviews, and is taking a decision (perhaps taking another look at your paper)
* The editor has not received the necessary reviews.
The second case may be caused by different situations. Even with a "minor revision", it may happen that:
* not enough of the first round reviewers have responded. Some journals impose a minimum. So he is looking for another reviewer (or doing the review himself), as suggested by @username_1
* the 2nd round raised more than minor concerns. Sometimes, after the first round, a reviewer notices sometimes more important, and can ask for a major revision (or a reject). So the editor may add another reviewer, to settle the case.
The latter happened to me once as a guest editor. ED1 said major, ED2 said minor. After round 2, ED1 said OK, ED2 said reject. A very painful situation for everybody.
I wish you are just in the editor decision frame.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: This is simple.The reviews have been completed and the concerned editor has been assigned by the journal manager to evaluate the review report, so that he communicate the same to the corresponding author.No confusion , it is just normal practice
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: In some situations, it shows that the reviewers are done reviewing and their reports have been sent back to the Academic Editor for final decision. This is why the status shows "Editor assigned".
Upvotes: 0
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2016/07/10
| 505
| 2,120
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<issue_start>username_0: Is the topic research for a post-doc position supposed to be more general than the research conducted towards a PhD degree? Or rather the opposite?<issue_comment>username_1: Getting a Ph.D. is establishing that you are capable of doing a significant piece of research. A postdoc is then your opportunity to start defining the direction in which you are going to take your research, professionally.
As JeffE says, it is usually (though not always) a good idea to be doing something *different* in your postdoc than you were for your Ph.D. The reason for this is that otherwise you risk getting "stuck" in your little niche and never really moving beyond whatever happened to be your thesis and into the wider worlds of research.
A postdoc, then, is a chance to broaden yourself, to shift your direction (within reasonable bounds), to build momentum in a direction, and generally to start spreading your wings and leaving the nest. How exactly one does that is as varied as are the people who pursue science as their career.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Is the topic research for a post-doc position supposed to be more general than the research conducted towards a PhD degree? Or rather the opposite?
>
>
>
Great answer by username_1, of course, but I will offer a slightly different approach to answering the question.
The postdoc has three main functions, in my opinion:
* transition to independence
* stepping stone to stable employment
* opportunity to build up your publications list
It might last a year, it might last two. Because of this more limited time frame (compared with the PhD), you will probably spend less time delving deeply into the postdoc project area, perhaps because you are not working on something drastically different from your PhD area, perhaps because you (wisely) embark on something more narrowly focused (so that you can complete it in a shorter amount of time).
Therefore my answer to your question is
>
> The topic research for a postdoc is more focused, and less general, than the research conducted towards a PhD.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 1
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2016/07/10
| 493
| 2,300
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<issue_start>username_0: I started to write my own literature review today for my master's thesis and I found a very good paper which sums up/overviews the history and concept of the specific topic I am writing about. Usually I track down each cited source to read the original and paraphrase it in my own words. However and with that paper as a guide, I feel like I am 'copying' it or copying its chronological order. Is this a bad thing? I am also reading other papers and I will also try to address the gaps in such papers.<issue_comment>username_1: First off: Using review papers as a guide line for your review is perfectly normal. What you should consider is, that even if the review is comprehensive, since its release there has been new research and publications were released that you should address.
Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with using review papers for tracking down other papers, but the least you can do is to also cite the review paper and remark that the review has a good take on the topic.
If you have any additions or own takes on the reviewer's opinion: do that! Discuss why you added other papers to your literature that the author neglected, give a different order to the topics if you prefer it, etc. In a historical context it might be difficult to change many things, but you should try not to copy it too much. As long as you formulate own sentences, your're fine.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: In addition to ian's excellent answer, I would say that you need to clearly understand the purpose of your own research topic and the purpose of your own literature review to support that topic. I don't know how original your master's thesis is supposed to be (that depends on your supervisor), but if your topic is original, then no matter how similar the review article that you found is to your topic, there must be some aspects of your topic that are different from what that review covers. You must develop a very clear understanding of what these differences are. Then, on one hand, you should still read and summarize the articles that overlap with the published review, and then on the other hand, you should explicitly highlight other articles that the published review did not cover that you need to cover.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/07/10
| 449
| 2,034
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<issue_start>username_0: There are several universities which have a staff profile page on their websites. Lecturers usually list their academic qualifications, work experience, the modules they teach and the papers they have published there.
1. Since the page is public and qualifications and work experience are private information, can a lecturer refuse to provide this information?
2. Is a university allowed to disclose a lecturer's background to the public or other staff members without said lecturer's consent?<issue_comment>username_1: Sure it is acceptable for a Lecturer to refuse to do this, given that it isn't a condition of the Lecturer's being hired that they agree to publicly posting the information, nor is doing so strictly required for the lecturer to do the other parts of the job that are required.
My own view is that it'd be crazy not to make your information publicly available, since there's no harm in doing so, but much harm in terms of lost opportunities from not doing it. Still, there's no legal or even moral prohibition against making poor career choices.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: To be a bit blunt for the sake of discussion...
1. Academic work - teaching and research - is public work in its essence, regardless of the material ownership of the university. Consequently, an academic staff member's qualifications and work experience are (or should be) essentially **public** information, or rather, the part of them relevant to the rest of the academic community. Thus it would be inappropriate for a lecturer to hide this information.
2. As far as that background is relevant to the staff member's research and/or teaching; and unless s/he specifically objected with reasonable cause, then the university can certainly assume it can present this background information on the web page. However, the university should be required to indicate which parts of the information you provide go on the web page, and write up that specific part yourself. IMHO.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/07/10
| 743
| 3,053
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently received a memo stating that I am not allowed to ask for doctor's notes when students are absent from class, as this is allegedly a violation of privacy rights.
If this is the case, then how can a faculty member legitimately verify that a student who claims to have missed an exam or other activity as a result of illness was, in fact, sick as claimed? Couldn't students abuse such a policy to postpone an assessment for which they feel unprepared?<issue_comment>username_1: You shouldn't. There are several reasons besides privacy why you should not ask for doctor's notes.
* It implies you think students are dishonest. If you act as though you expect students to be honest, that teaches them that honest behavior is correct behavior.
* It encourages students to come to class when sick, which makes more people get sick.
* It wastes medical resources.
* I have had students send me pictures of their injuries I would rather not have seen because they thought I wanted evidence.
Finally, I suspect students who feign illness to postpone an exam will not do well on the make-up exam either.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Couldn't students abuse such a policy to postpone an assessment for
> which they feel unprepared?
>
>
>
Yes. My experience teaching the first semester at a community college is that granted an open-door absence policy, the *majority* of my students were skipping all the tests, circulating the real test among themselves, and then taking a makeup together on a later date. (Assuming I could get them all in one place.) This was more than double my scheduling/test-making/test-grading labor, and also delaying the assessment/feedback cycle by a week or more for each test.
In my second semester I ended that policy. The policy since has been: Nothing is excused for any reason. No excuses or notes need be given to me. One low test score is dropped (and likewise for any other assignments). This is an enormous time-saver (both in test-giving and excuse-verification), and allows me to immediately hand back corrections and feedback in the next class meeting.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I don't know about the US, but in the UK and Australia it is standard practice to request a doctor's certificate (same as for sick leave from employment, e.g., <https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/sick-and-carers-leave/paid-sick-and-carers-leave/notice-and-medical-certificates>). This is not the same as obtaining medical records. Typically these are checked by administrative staff to verify the doctor actually administered it, since students have been known to forge them.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: As stated in multiple comments, ask the Division of Student Affairs, the Dean of Students, or similar organization, to verify the student absence for you.
Having this intermediate will save you from violating your student's privacy, and also relieve you from the burden of assessing whenever a medical certificate is genuine or not.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/07/11
| 1,127
| 4,703
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<issue_start>username_0: Question
========
One is supposed to be devoted to pure mathematics. Is it beneficial for one to pursue a master degree before applying a math PhD in the United States?
Backgrounds
===========
The question is due to the harsh situation of undergrad students who are outside the U.S. and want to apply for a pure math PhD in the U.S. After an application process, one received no offer or no satisfactory offers. I wonder whether it's beneficial to apply for a master degree first, as a springboard towards a PhD position?
I googled online and found some similar posts. However, I found nothing exactly matches what I want to ask, such as:
1. `One can determine whether he/she really wants to do math via a master life.` while I suppose that one is devoted to pure mathematics.
2. `To attend some required courses (for PhD applicants) which aren't available in his/her university.` They don't require a lot, and in the situation I'm interested in, there is not shortcoming from this kind of restriction.
I want to know the pure pragmatic effect of a master degree. Does the fame or honor of the graduate school increase the chance of admission for students? Do (good) scores in the graduate school de facto prove the strength and ability of students? Are these more convincing than scores/works in the undergraduate school?
Thanks for information.<issue_comment>username_1: Can't say for sure, but in my experience, most PhD programs will accept you with only a Bachelors degree. I believe most students pursuing a career in academics go straight into a PhD program from undergraduate studies. The Masters degree is more for students expecting to get a job in a technical field outside of academia.
So in most cases, I would say it is not useful to go to a Masters program if you are looking for an academic job. Just apply for a PhD program. Should your situation change, it is easy to "downgrade" from a PhD to a Masters program and graduate earlier.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: The short answer to the title is yes, it can help for less competitive (foreign or domestic) students, as has been mentioned on this site several times (e.g. <https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/42268/19607>; see also [How does the admissions process work for Ph.D. programs in the US, particularly for weak or borderline students?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/38237/19607)) but I can't find all the relevant issues in a single post.
For foreign students, there are a few different reasons why one might have trouble getting into a decent PhD program in the US:
* you are coming from a very competitive location (e.g., east Asia) so by comparison you look weaker to many similar applicants; also, schools don't usually want to admit too many people from a single region
* you have a horrible TOEFL score; unless your application is absolutely stellar, this will hurt you, as most PhD programs will need you to teach/TA undergrads
* you come from a school that is not so well known in the US, so grad programs have difficulty assessing the value of your grades, coursework and letters of recommendation. letters of recommendation are very important in this case, but unfortunately many faculty at these schools don't know how to write appropriate letters of recommendation--I've often found all the letters for a candidate to be completely useless.
On the other hand, master's programs are easier to get into, so if you're having trouble getting into PhD programs, yes, it's a good idea to apply to Master's programs. Of course, before you apply, you probably won't know your chances, so my suggestion is if you are unsure, apply to some of both.
As for the benefit, assuming you go to a Master's program that is more reputable/well known, then coursework and letters there will count for more than at your undergrad for various reasons:
* First, your study of more advanced material counts more.
* (if you're comparing the value of work *after* you've done a master's program) How you have done most recently generally counts more than the more distant past.
* The people reviewing your application are more likely to be familiar with the quality of education and the standards at this school. (At the least, you are coming from within the US system.)
* Last and not least, your letters of recommendation are likely to be more meaningful, because the faculty at the Master's program know how to write letters for US PhD programs, and the faculty evaluating your letters are more likely to know the letter writers and how to interpret what they say. (Also, they'll be evaluating you on more advanced material, which is more meaningful.)
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2016/07/11
| 950
| 3,809
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<issue_start>username_0: I have noticed personally a tendency toward hyperbole and dare I say anti-intellectualism within American society, along with of course a marked polarization along ideological fault lines.
Is it ethical for a professor, seeking to shape a more informed and open-minded citizenry, to dock points from students who argue a point overtly ideologically when it adds nothing to the point being addressed?
Examples I have in mind:
* OK: As demonstrated by the retrospective study by Pooler, discourse in American society is beyond an unacceptably and unsustainably dangerous level of polarization along ideological, racial, and religious fault lines.
* Not OK: As demonstrated by Pooler, or by turning on grandfather's favorite Fox News program, discourse...
* Not OK: The progressives and their Alinksy-style tactics have succeeded in polarizing...
One more question: how do you handle edge cases, such as the following?
1. A gifted student submits a quality paper written in an obviously sarcastic manner without any single instance of excessive sarcasm, like the copious use of understatement, implied hypocrisy and contradiction, etc. Is that just clever?
2. A student submits a adequately-researched opinion paper that argues a position you find reprehensible using what appear to be sincerely-held value judgments about, say, war crimes or genocide. For instance: "When it comes to dealing with a barbaric and cruel enemy, one must have the courage and moral strength to do as the Romans did when dealing with the barbaric Carthaginians. If the women are spared, no man or boy should be found alive. In modern times, <NAME> sums it up well: anything that flies on anything that moves. It may be ugly, but it is an ugliness that betrays an inner beauty."<issue_comment>username_1: At least based on the examples you gave, the rule you mention is clearly directed at teaching students to argue better and without resorting to various straw men, ad hominem attacks and other such rhetorical fallacies. Sure, there is some room for error or unfairness as with any policy, and depending on the precise way it is applied one can argue about whether this approach is *effective* in instilling good thinking habits among the students; but *unethical* it certainly isn't, as long as it is applied by the professor in good faith and out of a sincere belief that this serves the educational goals of the course.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Not only is it ethical, I would even expect a thorough professor to penalise polemics (unless writing a polemic invective is specifically the purpose of the homework). Fact analysis should be separated and clearly delineated from own opinion. I think it is extremely bad style if academics present facts to make their opinion appear in a favourable light or to vilify the opponent's opinion; it's bad if it is openly so, it's worse if it is manipulative. Bad things happen when this style gets out of control in political discourse (see e.g. Weimar Republic).
It is perfectly fine to present facts in a disinterested form first and *then* to take sides, clearly and openly, with reference to pros and cons. But the rhetorical polemics that increasingly pervades discourse turns truth-finding (or rather -approaching) into a jousting contest where overwhelming the opponent, independently of the ground truth, is all that matters.
Sarcasm can have a place in achieving a critical distancing from the matter - but, again, it should not be mixed in into a fact-presenting section and it is very rarely appropriate in an academic text.
In short: yes, I believe that, not only is OP professor's action ethical, but it is the right thing to do. Facts should be presented clearly delineated from opinions.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2016/07/11
| 1,517
| 6,434
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<issue_start>username_0: My question has to do with the proper etiquette for notifying a personal contact on a faculty search committee that I am applying to. The question is based on the perspective of U.S. institutions.
**Background:**
I am a doctoral student about to go on the job market. Several months ago at a conference, a colleague from my master's program introduced me to his boss, for whom he has worked for around 5 years. The boss, it should be noted, used to work at my current institution. While I am not sure of the circumstances of his departure, it seems he is still friends with some of the professors in my department. Through our conversation, I found out that their department was going to hire several new faculty members sometime in early summer. I went on their university's HR website about 3 weeks ago and saw the posting. I reached out to my colleague to reintroduce me to his boss, so that I could ask the boss questions about the faculty search that he (the boss) may be able to answer, i.e. whether the position was "truly open" or if it was only posted as a formality (having been on the other side of the hiring table in my previous life, I knew that sometimes institutions already have an internal candidate, but they have to post the position as a legal requirement, particularly if it is a public institution). The boss replied to my e-mail and told me that: 1.) the position was truly open, and more importantly, 2.) he is the chair of the search committee. He also asked me whether I had already submitted my application (I have not). I am in the process of replying to his e-mail, and would like advice on how I can maximize my connection without sounding desperate or annoying.
**Questions:**
1. Is it appropriate for me to tell him that I am putting my packet together and that I will let him know when I submit the application?
2. Following (1), is it appropriate for me to ask him to be on the lookout for my application when/after I submit it?
3. Is it appropriate for me to ask follow-up questions about the person they are looking for, for example whether there are specific courses they're trying to develop within their department, whether there are research areas they're specifically looking for, etc. so then I can "tailor" my cover letter/teaching statement/research statement to what they need?
4. Should I be taking advantage of the fact that the search committee chair is still friendly with several people on my dissertation committee by having them contact him?
5. The expected start date is sometime in late fall of this year, but the posting shows a closing date sometime in the summer next year. Can I ask my contact when he expects to start reviewing the applications?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Is it appropriate for me to tell him that I am putting my packet together and that I will let him know when I submit the application?
>
>
>
You most definitely want to respond ASAP and let him know that you are in the process of applying. It is not necessary to follow up further and tell him when you have applied, but nor would a quick email saying something like "Just to let you know, I submitted my application on the HR system today" be out of place.
>
> Following (1), is it appropriate for me to ask him to be on the lookout for my application when/after I submit it?
>
>
>
I would not use this terminology. Your communication with him is implying that he should keep a look out for your application. No reason to be blunt.
>
> Is it appropriate for me to ask follow-up questions about the person they are looking for, for example whether there are specific courses they're trying to develop within their department, whether there are research areas they're specifically looking for, etc. so then I can "tailor" my cover letter/teaching statement/research statement to what they need?
>
>
>
One can always ask a search chair this, but as they are the search chair and do not personally know you, you should expect a non-informative answer. This is a much better question for your personal contact/friend. In your case since the search chair used to work at your current department, someone in your department (possibly your advisor) who knows the chair personally, could also reach out to the chair.
>
> Should I be taking advantage of the fact that the search committee chair is still friendly with several people on my dissertation committee by having them contact him?
>
>
>
**YES! YES! YES!** I really cannot say *YES* enough. As awful as it sounds, this is how you get a job. You want to do this in a coordinated manner. You do not necessarily want every member of your department calling up the chair. You need to sit down with your advisor and discuss this search (but also all the searches you are applying for) and figure out your application strategy.
>
> The expected start date is sometime in late fall of this year, but the posting shows a closing date sometime in the summer next year. Can I ask my contact when he expects to start reviewing the applications?
>
>
>
This falls into one of job postings that is confusing for applicants. Presumably, they want someone to start ASAP, but do not want to lose the position if they do not get a good applicant. They also could have screwed up the deadlines. This is something you could ask the chair. If the posting suggests a person to contact about questions, you could also ask them.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Just to add:
3.) Yes, that is usually one of the chair's tasks. But I think your approach is too passive because you basically let him decide what you will do. It also shows that you have the tendency of not doing your homework. Instead, check their program, study their research profile, and come up with your pitches. For i) it's your five-year investment and you should take the full control of it; and ii) perhaps your new points of view may bring something for the committee to think about. And to be very honest, there are often some courses, some tasks, or some committees a group of faculty are collectively avoiding, you do not want to be the unloading zone of those.
5.) Could be budgetary reason. Usually a hiring lasts for a year after it is approved. They could have applied for a whole year to get this position, but would like to try to get someone in the first half-year. Pretty ambitious.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 2
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2016/06/27
| 1,633
| 7,712
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<issue_start>username_0: I understand that this topic is a bit vague, but if someone could give me a pointer in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it.
I'm currently an American undergraduate taking part in an internship at a Japanese engineering university in a professor's research lab for the summer. I have no prior experience with computer science research, and my understanding of it is pretty fuzzy, but I assumed it would involve a decent amount of theory and less software engineering practice.
However, many of the graduate students in my lab are working on projects that I would only think of as software engineering. For example, one is developing a system to effectively generalize how various sensors could interact with a common server. Another developed an iOS app and a server backend that basically gathers data from the app into the server for analysis (and the analysis isn't anything particularly special or innovative from what I understand).
The professor's main research project is developing a web app that uses a special algorithm to analyze discussions on a forum. The algorithm part is what I would think of as research, but from the papers I've read regarding it, they seem to focus on the app as a whole and less on the algorithm.
Do all of these things count as computer science research? Would they perhaps fall more under computer engineering research with less emphasis on computer science theory? And (at least in America, where I plan to attend graduate school) is this a common kind of research for graduate students and/or professors? It just seems strange to me that what I view as basically building a useful app counts as academic research. It seems more like engineering to me and less like research.<issue_comment>username_1: What counts as research is a matter of opinion, and ultimately, up to the community of researchers who do research in that area. It will depend on the novelty of the work, what we learn from it, and what has previously been done. Generally, just building software usually isn't considered research if no new generalizable knowledge is created; but it can be considered research if it is aimed at developing new knowledge (e.g., evaluating a new technique for solving some problem we previously didn't know how to solve).
You are right: just building a useful app isn't normally considered research. However, this can be tricky to tell from the outside, because developing a new technique to solve some problem *can* be research, and if you have a new idea that you think might solve some problem, often the way you to evaluate that idea is to implement it and see whether it does indeed lead to the claimed improvements -- which from the outside can look like you're "just" building a useful app.
So, telling research apart from engineering can sometimes be a bit tricky, especially for someone new to research. Also, understand that this is somewhat subjective. One person's research can be another person's "mere engineering"; the community doesn't always agree on what ought to be publishable. Ultimately, this comes down to a judgement call, one that has to be informed by deep knowledge of the area and also by a sense of "taste" that is developed through experience. We're unlikely to be able to answer whether a specific project of yours counts as research, because we lack that deep domain knowledge of the area, and because the description in the question is too shallow to tell. If you're new to research, you might also have a hard time judging this.
If you're new to research, this is why you work with an advisor who is experienced in research. Identifying useful problems to work on that are research-oriented and likely to lead to publishable results is one of the primary roles of your advisor/mentor.
Of course, if you don't know whether you can trust your advisor, and you don't know how to make those judgements yourself (because you are new to research and not an expert in that area), then you have a more basic problem.
Therefore, let me suggest a useful proxy. Is the professor's work getting published in reputable peer-reviewed forums? If it is, then at least that research community considers it research, which is good enough. If it isn't, then you have reason to be wary. Thus, with this idea, you can look at the publication record from that group over the past 3 years or so and see what their track record is.
You might also find it interesting to read a few of their past papers. Often, published research papers try to identify what their novel research contribution is (either explicitly in the introduction, or implicitly when they discuss related work and compare to it).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Building an app should not be considered research in the field of computer science.
The only way it should be considered research if you are creating new algorithms for that particular application or doing comparative studies for various algorithms for various test cases and draw some conclusions from this. But in this case building the app is just a helping activity for your research and in no way the building itself should be considered research.
There are probably universities where they formally consider it as research just to fill some papers and hire some people, but this is, in my opinion unethical.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: If your app has a new design architecture which differs, in some certain aspects and upto some degree, such that it adds something new and brings some benefit, then it can be considered research.
For example, if you use RESTful architecture to make a software, then its engineering. But if *you* make the RESTful architecture, ([like in the thesis here](https://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/top.htm)), then it would be research.
On the other hand, if you use existing methods and techniques to adapt to some given problem at hand to efficiently solve it, then it is Software Engineering, or Computer Engineering.
Another example. If you use deep neural network library to train a huge image repository to recognize the faces and learn the facial expressions, then can be classified as engineering. But if you come up with a new neural network algorithm or some modification which adds to the literature, then it would be research.
Often, there can be a very thin line between research and engineering, though it would be clear with the context. This is because, sometimes, with new software product ideas, one needs to innovate and get new things working. Often software organizations do publish a some significant papers which introduce new approaches and algorithms adding to the research community.
Programming a single independent application is definitely not a research, but is application development. Although, from your question it seems that the app will be used as a component of a larger picture.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Of course building useful software tools is a major part of CS research. Unfortunately current situation is that software systems are not citable and they are not counted toward impact in research work. However, there are some efforts to make software an impactful and citable peace of work, see [this](http://software.ac.uk/so-exactly-what-software-did-you-use). If you look at the current research published in scientific communities, you will observe this common trend that researchers tends to put a link for their open-source software (in github or other repositories) or data that has been generated in their research work. Publishing open-source software helps in replicating the research results towards making useful theories as well.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/07/11
| 1,812
| 7,329
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<issue_start>username_0: I am really confused by the difference between *Hochschule* (university of applied sciences) and *(Technische) Universität* ((technical) university) in Germany, especially with respect to the master’s degree.
What is the main difference and features?
Can a master graduate from Hochschule have a chance to do PhD like a graduate from a university in Europe, US, Canada or Australia?<issue_comment>username_1: The term "University of applied sciences" is an attempt at translating the name "Fachhochschule" for the international audience. The issue with this wording is that they are *not* universities.
They give vocational degrees geared at preparing students to enter the workforce directly. These degrees are typically valued in industry and government or healthcare settings, not so much in academic ones. Note that the Bachelor/Masters system has been (somewhat awkwardly) patched over the previous education system in German-speaking countries. A Bachelor from a Fachhochschule typically cannot get you admitted in a Masters at a Technical university.
What complicates the issue is that some institutions with the word "Hochschule" in their names *have* university accreditation. These and
technical universities offer more fundamental learning, an education more suitable to pursue academic careers.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: First we should get the words right. In Germany, a Hochschule is the general name for higher education. A University and a University of Applied Science are both a Hochschule. It is the generalization.
A Fachhochschule on the other hand is just the University of Applied Science.
When it comes to Germany, a graduate from a "Fachhochschule" is allowed to write his or her PhD at a normal university. However, some universities may have some reservations and force you to "prove" your scientific skills, or to attend additional classes.
From the legal point of view, an M.Sc. from the Fachhochschule is equal to the one of the University.
However, the Fachhochschule often awards the Master of Engineering, instead of the Master of Science from the University. (While the M.Eng still allows you to write the PHD)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Both the answers by username_1 and username_2 are spot on. Two other things are:
One additional difference, albeit not related to Master studies but important nontheless: A Fachhochschule usually does not award PhD degrees. It used to be like this throughout Germany, but things changed very recently. So if you get an MSc (or MEng) from a Fachhochschule you will have to change places in most cases.
A bit more related to Master studies: Fachhochschulen do not have the mission to train the students for research - as username_1 said, they train students to get jobs in companies. Their training is often much more hands on and not focusing on fundamental issues that much. That said, I know at least one Master student from a Fachhochschule who wrote good PhD thesis at a university later…
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I did my bachelor of art in a FH. I was confused about it too.
Some of the answers are correct here, but some are not. So few things to clarify:
1. It all depends on your curriculum and degree in the end. I got B.A. with 27 ECT in empirical research and I got several admission from M.A. programs from good research universities, none of them ask me to do additional courses after they see my transcript and module handbooks.
This is when it gets confusing, yes, FH is generally there to train for jobs, but there are some FHs that offer highly research-oriented courses (who knows why.. but I choose one because I like the major). With the degrees from these courses, you won’t have problems with getting admissions to research universities, it all depends on your GPA.
Most of the research M.A. requires more than 12 ECT in empirical research and I got 27 ECT, so there is no reason for them to reject me just because of a title.
2. This is, however, not the case for the Netherlands. They have a relatively strict legal distinction, so most of the HBO students have to do pre-master if they enter research universities due to their lack of ECT in research methods.
3. At the master level though, if you aim for research, go with research university instead of FH. The FH bachelor to Uni master transition can be easy if your curriculum still focuses on research. But the majority of the FH masters will not prepare you for an academic career.
4. FH does not offer Ph.D. degrees usually, but sometimes in collaborations with some universities, people complete parts of their PhDs in an FH, because there are FHs that have really good reputations in certain majors and have collaborations with universities.
Few things to add: If you have chance or not, it depends on your curriculum (if you have learned and practiced research methods needed...) and degree (as long as you have M.S. or M.A.). (Also, connection with the professors, funding availabilities, etc...) Legally there is no problem, but of course, it depends on the skills you have acquired during your studies. If you get into only FH Masters, it’s not the end of the world. In Germany, you can take additional courses or be guest students at other research universities in your region too. (I think you need to pay in certain areas, but in some regions, this is possible and completely free) Just try to get good grades in those additional courses in research universities to prove yourself, it will count.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Since you have asked this question five years ago, things have changed and more people from Fachhochschulen are doing PhDs (although you still have to have a supervisor from a proper university). I know many people who do a joint PhD, where they stay at the Fachhochschule and do their research there (most of the time applied research), but are enrolled as a PhD student at a proper University.
The main issue is that many of the disciplines that one can study at a Fachhochschule differ from the disciplines that are taught at proper universities, so finding a supervisor can be challenging, as their specialty might be quite far from the aspiring PhD students area of study. Thus, it is quite common that the PhD candidate from the Fachhochschule needs to take several additional courses.
In general, if you have really good grades and are determined to do your PhD, is is perfectly possible to do it even with a Fachhochschul-Master, albeit it will probably take a bit more effort than for those coming from a proper university.
There are efforts to give even (select) Fachhochschulen the so called "Promotionsrecht", allowing professors from Fachhochschulen to supervise the PhD candidates on their own, without aonther professor from a proper university necessary.
One thing to add is, that since some years, professors at Fachhochschulen are requiered to have a PhD themselves (that was not the case until a few years back). Because of this, some Fachhochschulen have difficulties in finding appropriate candidates (as people with the right, applied skills often don't have a PhD) and often professor posts are vacant as a result. So as a Fachhochschul-PhD holder, it might be easier to attain a professorship as they are in high demand.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I coded the methodology based on the paper ["Free Water Elimination and Mapping from Diffusion MRI"](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19623619) and I am curious if I am legally bound to take permission from the authors or the journal in making the code open source on Github?<issue_comment>username_1: You are not required to get permission to implement an idea you have read about in a paper, or to make it open source.
The paper is protected by copyright, but this only protects the text and images in the paper (the expression of the idea), not the idea itself. The copyright on the paper does not prevent you from creating your own realization of the idea in code and distributing it freely. You should also acknowledge the source of the idea by citing the paper in which you read about it, but this is an ethical requirement, not a legal one.
The exception to this is if the methodology in the paper is patented; in this case additional restrictions on what you can do will apply.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: IMHO you must cite their paper in your Github repository explicitly, but you are not required to get a permission.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: Might be best to check whether the information in the paper is covered by more than just copyright. In the US, for example, even mere algorithms can be patented, so implementing the algorithm in code, even though the code itself is all your work and copyrighted to you, can still be a patent violation.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: IANAL and thus I won't give legal advice. Whether you *have* to ask them or not is irrelevant. Asking them is a courtesy which the authors will most certainly appreciate and might even cause them to *endorse* your project, maybe even as *the* official implementation which they might also contribute to.
In the unlikely event that they strictly deny you permission (maybe they already have their own implementation that they want to distribute commercially and thus they wouldn't want a free competitor) *then* is the correct time to take legal advice. Assuming you're working in an academic institution they most likely have a legal department which you could and should check on. Of course you can also do so before contacting the authors, maybe asking about the proper approach to not make you accidentally liable.
Just don't trust the internet for legal advice.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I will be starting my PhD in Math this fall. I have diverse interests including philosophy, history and economics, but I concluded that a PhD in Math would be most useful in the real world. I wanted to hear people's thoughts on <NAME>'s strategy for graduate school, which can be summarized as follows: "get passing grades and follow voraciously your curiosity on the side." Here is the full quote:
From Antifragile:
>
> My idea was to be rigorous in the open market. This made me focus on what an intelligent antistudent needed to be: an autodidact—or a person of knowledge compared to the students called “swallowers” in Lebanese dialect, those who “swallow school material” and whose knowledge is only derived from the curriculum. The edge, I realized, isn’t in the package of what was on the official program of the baccalaureate, which everyone knew with small variations multiplying into large discrepancies in grades, but exactly what lay outside it…
>
>
> Again, I wasn’t exactly an autodidact, since I did get degrees; I was rather a barbell autodidact as I studied the exact minimum necessary to pass any exam, overshooting accidentally once in a while, and only getting in trouble a few times by undershooting. But I read voraciously, wholesale, initially in the humanities, later in mathematics and science, and now in history—outside a curriculum, away from the gym machine so to speak. I figured out that whatever I selected myself I could read with more depth and more breadth—there was a match to my curiosity. And I could take advantage of what people later pathologized as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) by using natural stimulation as a main driver to scholarship. The enterprise needed to be totally effortless in order to be worthwhile. The minute I was bored with a book or a subject I moved to another one, instead of giving up on reading altogether—when you are limited to the school material and you get bored, you have a tendency to give up and do nothing or play hooky out of discouragement. The trick is to be bored with a specific book, rather than with the act of reading. So the number of pages absorbed could grow faster than otherwise. And you find gold, so to speak, effortlessly, just as in rational but undirected trial-and-error-based research. It is exactly like options, trial and error, not getting stuck, bifurcating when necessary but keeping a sense of broad freedom and opportunism. Trial and error is freedom.
>
>
> (I confess I still use that method at the time of this writing. Avoidance of boredom is the only worthy mode of action. Life otherwise is not worth living.)
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: That is a high risk, high reward strategy, and one that worked for Taleb. Your passing grades would turn off a lot of employers. But the point of following your passion is to hope to "get lucky" with one highly placed person who loves your work, and will "jump" you past your peers. In games like bridge, it's called "playing for top or bottom." The idea is *not* to be "mediocre."
Taleb's own research is about "fat tail" events, that the chances of getting lucky (or unlucky) is "fat-tailed, that is greater than most people would believe, assuming a normal distribution. Events that are on the unlucky side are called ["Black Swan Events."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: The passage you have shared refers specifically to a baccalaureate degree:
>
> The edge, I realized, isn’t in the package of what was on the official program of the baccalaureate... but exactly what lay outside it.
>
>
>
In a PhD, coursework takes a backseat to research. In research, there is no such thing as "get passing grades"; there is no meaningful threshold at which your research is considered acceptable, only a continuum of poor to exceptional. At the end of your PhD, your prospects on the job market (especially the academic job market) and the impact you have made with your work depend on how close you are to the "exceptional" end of that range, not just having achieved some minimum requirements and earned a piece of paper that says you have a degree.
Furthermore, PhD-level research requires a level of depth and focus that is not typically present at the undergraduate level.
That's not to say you can't have broad interests, and you can even leverage your broader interests to improve the quality of the work you do in your primary field. But a strategy of planning to undertake a PhD and put minimum effort into your PhD research while doing other things on the side is not a winning strategy for most people. Instead, you should try to use your curiosity *for* your PhD research. (Also see: [Can I slack off and get a PhD?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/37341/can-i-slack-off-and-get-a-phd))
In fact, later in that same chapter, Taleb describes how his curiosity and drive to understand probability led him to *specialize* in that and focus on that to the exclusion of everything else:
>
> When, at Wharton, I discovered that I wanted to specialize in a profession linked to probability and rare events, a probability and randomness obsession took control of my mind. I also smelled some flaws with statistical stuff that the professor could not explain, brushing them away—it was what the professor was brushing away that had to be the meat. I realized that there was a fraud somewhere, that “six sigma” events
> (measures of very rare events) were grossly miscomputed and we had no basis for their computation, but I could not articulate my realization clearly, and was getting humiliated by people who started smoking me with complicated math. I saw the limits of probability in front of me, clear as crystal, but could not find the words to express the point. So I went to the bookstore and ordered (there was no Web at the time) almost
> every book with “probability” or “stochastic” in its title. I read nothing else for a couple of years, no course material, no newspaper, no literature, nothing. I read them in bed, jumping from one book to the next when stuck with something I did not get immediately or felt ever so slightly bored. And I kept ordering those books. I was hungry to go deeper into the problem of small probabilities. It was effortless. That was
> my best investment—risk turned out to be the topic I know the best. Five years later I was set for life and now I am making a research career out of various aspects of small probability events.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: Having a good scientific idea and writing a good paper out of it are the most important steps in order to publish in high-ranking journals, but they are not the only steps needed. The other steps are writing a good cover letter (to convince the editor) and good answers to referee reports, if needed (and this is almost always the case, based on my personal and and colleague's experience). Cover letters and rebuttals are a sort of "grey literature", in the sense that are carefully written, but not published, but only read by a few people (editors and referees).
Therefore one can learn to write good papers by reading good papers, but one cannot learn writing good letters and rebuttals by *reading* them, since they are not published.
In the light of this, how one can *learn* to write successfull cover letters and rebuttals?<issue_comment>username_1: * Be professional and respectful.
* Try to see the viewpoint of the reviewers.
* If there is disagreement, provide a counter argument with backing evidence.
* Always try to do 'something' to meet reviewers halfway. What 'something' is could be the suggested changes or a tweak in the text. IMO, this shows you respect the reviewers, even if you think their comments are nonsensical.
EDIT: As long the important points are highlighted clearly, you'll be fine. The aim is to delineate reviewers' comments and yours. I for instance organize my letter into Reviewer-1, Reviewer-2, etc as sections, and then within each section, break up all questions into paragraphs, and use coloring to delineate comments and responses. I sometimes italicize or bold text to further emphasize certain points/arguments.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: * Your supervisor/PI/mentor should be an important source of information here. Not only will they have a lot of experience at the author end, they will also have reviewed lots of papers, and quite possibly acted as an editor. So they know what *they* would look for in a cover letter/rebuttal.
* As <NAME> recommends in the comments, "Try asking people from your group/institute for the letters they sent".
* Treat your cover letter/rebuttal as you would the main paper: send it to your co-authors, and if possible a trusted non-co-author, for comments and advice.
* Wherever possible, try to get experience as a reviewer and (if at an appropriate stage in your career) an editor. This will help you to see things from different perspectives, and will also give you the chance to read both good and bad examples from other researchers. Even if you don't have the chance to do either of these things, try to put yourself in the editor/reviewer's position, play the devil's advocate, and think about what might persuade *you* if roles were reversed.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: My university's subscription is really limited (I come from Lebanon). I never found any paper related to my research or essays using the database that my university is subscribing to; even the basic pioneering papers in business. Yesterday, I started writing my master's thesis and the very basic papers behind my topic cannot be accessed through my university's portal (cannot simply ignore them) and I, obviously, don't have access/cannot pay for individual papers. What to do in this case? Someone here recommended a Reddit page that provides and shares papers upon requests. How legal/ethical is that? The page claims that all the shared papers are based on the concept of fair use.
Eventually, I have 3 options: Follow this way, adopt a bad scholarship behavior by not tracking down original references to check myself (which is out of the question) or I just go home and forget about writing a master's thesis or a literature review because it's almost impossible to access those papers without the help of option 1. As for emailing individual authors, well none have replied so far so it isn't always a practical option as I cannot wait days for 1 particular paper to be received (if any).<issue_comment>username_1: The legality of copyright is a mine field. As I said [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/34407/is-it-legal-usa-and-ethical-to-use-international-edition-textbooks-when-i-pay/34410#34410), I think that redistributing a paper goes against the wishes of the publisher and is therefore unethical. I think the real issues are
>
> I cannot wait days for 1 particular paper to be received
>
>
>
and
>
> papers behind my topic cannot be accessed through my university's portal
>
>
>
I find it hard to believe that your research is progressing so fast that a couple of day delay receiving a paper is going to be catastrophic. Additionally, while electronic access is nice, you should check with you library regarding paper versions. Additionally, Lebanon seems to be developing an "Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Services" called [LIDS](http://lidsconsortium.weebly.com/). In the absence of your university helping you obtain a copy of the paper, you should talk to your supervisor. They may have a colleague at a university with a better library. Only after exhausting all other opportunities would I consider buying the paper from the publisher or using a general list server to obtain a copy.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Legally, I am not sure --- it depends on the laws on the country as well. Ethically, I don't see anything wrong about it. Academia is about building and sharing knowledge: if anything, I would consider it unethical to put papers behind a paywall.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Most scientific papers have their copyright owned by an academic publisher (which may be a for-profit company, a scientific society, a university press, etc.), and the publisher often does not allow people to redistribute the papers that they own. Hence, in most cases, it may be a violation of copyright for an individual to give you a copy of a scientific paper, either privately or by posting it online. Sometimes, even the authors of the work may not be legally allowed to share their work with you, because they have signed the copyright away -- even though this is common practice.
Now, in terms of ethics, many papers are produced by researchers who are paid by public money, and many researchers intend their work to be as widely disseminated as possible. In any case, researchers are not paid when publishers sell their articles, and few would object to their papers being shared with people who cannot afford to buy it from the publisher. People in the [open access](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access) movement will argue that, in ethical terms, people like you should have access to the output of scientific research, without the publisher's copyright standing in the way. In fact, open access advocates often feel that academic publishers, in particular commercial ones, are acting against the interest of the research community by restricting the dissemination of scientific papers. This follows the intuition that research supported by public funds should be freely available to members of the public.
Personally, I would encourage you to obtain articles however you can when you cannot obtain them from publishers, without worrying about legal issues. I find that the most convenient way is often to use [Sci-hub](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sci-Hub), but you can also ask for papers on Reddit, or asking colleagues or the authors of the paper. I can completely sympathize with the fact that it is essentially infeasible, when checking related work, to send emails, requests, wait, etc., for every single paper which you think may be relevant and need to check out. Situations like yours is what make me believe that the current academic publishing system has significant problems, and that encouraging open access to scientific papers is worthwhile.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I am a gardener. I work in a small garden that produces high quality fruits for a village. The village doesn't need my fruits, as they could live on beans and potatoes, but my fruits have been shown to improve the villagers health and fight cancer (for real!).
But, there is a problem here. I need to irrigate the garden and the only river nearby is owned by [Insert evil company name] who demands a huge price the village can't afford for their water. Up to now, my garden survived on rain water, but this is not reliable enough as in my country rains very little.
I heard there is an evil girl from Kazakhstan who dug a canal parallel to the [big company river] and she routinely deviates water to whomever needs a little irrigation. I'm sure this is neither ethical, nor legal and [big evil company] would be blessed if she was killed together with her relatives and anyone who dares think monopolies and paywalls are wrong. I believe the right thing to do is to forget the garden, and my fancy healthy fruits, take a job as a bus driver and keep my integrity intact. I shudder to think of the alternative:
sci-hub, libgen.
<http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/whos-downloading-pirated-papers-everyone>
Edit: check my other, less angry answer here:
[Is it ethical to obtain journal articles from places other than the publisher's official sites?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/63350/is-it-ethical-to-obtain-journal-articles-from-places-other-than-the-publishers/63385#63385)
Edit2: Aside from the ethical and legal issues, it is preferable in some cases (e.g. my institute) to use the illegal ways to get papers. The reason is that we have a portal made by the IT company of [insert politician relative name] that makes it really hard to access even the journals we have subscription for (about 10% of the journals I need to check regularly).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: I won't comment on ethics because that's up to personal values, but I'll discuss legality.
**It is usually legal to obtain journal articles from Reddit**. That's because these sources don't usually yield the final published version (i.e. the one accessible from the journal website) and that is the only version behind a paywall. Publishers are usually happy if authors share preprints, since more readers leads to more usage leads to more citations leads to more subscriptions.
Here's an example from [Elsevier](https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/copyright#Author-rights). Note authors are allowed to share their article for "Personal Use, Internal Institutional Use and Scholarly Sharing purposes". Clicking on "scholarly sharing" links to [this page](https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/sharing), which explicitly says:
1. Authors can share their preprint anywhere at any time.
2. Authors can share their accepted manuscript [immediately] by updating a preprint in arXiv or RePEc with the accepted manuscript.
3. Authors can share their accepted manuscript [immediately] by providing copies to their students or to research collaborators for their personal use
4. Authors can share their accepted manuscript [after the embargo period] via non-commercial hosting platforms such as their institutional repository
In other words, Elsevier allows you to get a preprint off Reddit. Since Reddit is noncommercial, Elsevier also allows you to get the accepted article (i.e. the article after reviewer comments are incorporated, but before copyediting/typesetting/whatever) off Reddit but only after the embargo period, which is usually about 6 months to a year. Elsevier does prohibit you from getting the published journal article (i.e. the article after copyediting/typesetting/whatever) off Reddit, but if you like some people believe that publishers add no value, then you probably aren't concerned about getting this version anyway.
Although every publishers' policies differ, Elsevier's are typical.
tl; dr: unless you are getting a very recent paper, or you're getting the published journal article, you're not breaking laws.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm about to enter a math PhD program at a pretty good school, but the job market for research university professors has been terrible as far as I can remember (since the late 2000s recession). I hear many stories of hundreds of excellent candidates applying for one or two openings.
Older professors tell me it wasn't always like this. What did the market look like when it was considered "good" and could it ever come back by the time I finish in 5-6 years? Or has there been a fundamental shift in academia preventing the good times as we knew it from ever returning?<issue_comment>username_1: Compare page 3 of [the AMS annual survey from 1999](http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/1999Survey-DGUpdate.pdf) with page 4 of the [2008 edition](http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/2008Survey-DGUpdate.pdf) and page 4 of the [2014 edition](http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/2014Survey-NewDoctorates-Report.pdf), in terms of employment for new hires we are actually much better currently than the early 90s.
Depending on the age of the individual you talked to: the good old days could be everything up until the late 80s, when rate of unemployment remain largely below 2%, and new graduates are often immediately hired on tenure-track positions. We are almost certainly not going to return to that level of employment: in the post-WWII era through the cold war there have been (for one reason or another, GI Bill for example) expansions in funding for academia. That growth was never sustainable. As a benchmark for the future you probably want to consider the data from 1990 on.
If you look in the 1999 data, of those obtaining employment in the United States, just under 30% (of the new PhD recipients) are hired in postdoc positions and a bit over 50% in permanent positions (30% in academia and the other 20% in industry/government). The 2008 data is similar. The postdoc percentage is higher in 2014 (38%) but not outrageously so.
You can spend some more time teasing out the data yourself; the annual survey results [are available online for the past 15 years](http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/docsgrtd), and presumably the AMS has the old data dating back to the 50s available somewhere.
If you want to be more forward looking and consider hiring statistics overall instead of just for new PhDs, since the economic crisis the AMS has been running [employment surveys](http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/2014Survey-Recruitment-Hiring-Report) every years. A quick glance at the 2014 survey suggests that things have improved slightly.
---
As a side remark: the large number of applications mathematics positions receive has in some part to do with the availability of MathJobs.org. The website makes applying to 50-100 positions in one hiring cycle relatively easier in mathematics compared to other academic fields without a similar centralized job database. So the inflation of number of applications received per opening compared to "old days" does not 100% correlate to the health of the job market.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: In my opinion, there are two factors that define a "good" job market. One of them is *NOT* how many people apply for any given position. The number of people applying for a position depends on the number of people graduating, the number of people who want to switch universities, and the number of people who want to switch careers. I believe even in a good job market, you can still get 100s of people applying for positions. I do not believe a "good" job market means that everyone who wants a TT position with a 1-1 teaching load (i.e., 1 class in the fall and 1 in the spring) at an R1. I think a good job market means the "top people" (I don't want to define "top people") eventually get a job.
The first factor that I think defines a "good" job market is the number of positions "good" positions being advertised. I think of a "good" position in the US as a TT position with a teaching load less than 3-3 (i.e., 3 classes in the fall and 3 in the spring). My field is on the small side, so in a bad year, there would be less than 5 positions targeted to my specialty and in a good year 10+. In a good year there might also be another 10+ open calls and another 10 or so calls where if you squint enough you can argue you fit. So in a good year there might be 30 or so "good" positions to apply to and in a bad year less than 10.
The second factor is the number of positions that will help you progress. These could be soft money research positions or poorly paid one year visiting positions with a reasonable teaching load with colleagues that will help you become a better researcher. I do not consider 5-5 adjunct positions as helping you progress. Most of these progression positions, at least in my field, are a direct result of grant funding. They could come about from someone on the job market getting a grant themselves or from a current faculty member getting a grant to buy out of their teaching. In a good job market, there needs to be enough of these that the "top" people can avoid being unemployed and stagnating for a year.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: First, some historical perspective: <NAME> and <NAME>, two mathematicians from the late 19th century whose names you still hear repeatedly these days if you come anywhere near algebraic geometry, both taught high school.
Second, a counting perspective: Research university professors probably average a doctoral student at least every five years, with some averaging more than one a year. This means every professor produces somewhere between 6 to 40 replacements over the course of their career. Assuming no change in the number of jobs, only one of those replacements will get a research university professorship.
Third, a practical perspective: It's hard to imagine research in mathematics, especially but not only pure mathematics, having direct practical benefit to many people. That means the amount of funding purely for research tends to be rather small. Even at research universities, teaching is an important rationale for paying a professor's salary, and the benefits to teaching are an important justification for research.
What happened between the 1950s and 1980s, particularly in the US, was an enormous expansion in higher education along with a massive increase in research funding. The US went from having about 5% of its 20-year-olds going to college to about 50%. Assuming a corresponding increase in the number of professors, this meant a professor could advise 10 PhD students and have every one of them get a job. For obvious reasons, we will never see a 10-fold increase again. Also, the US was enormously wealthy and had resources to spend on less practical purposes like mathematical research and providing high quality university education. (The US still spends about 50% more per university student than Germany. Most of that is going to smaller classes with more attention paid to helping students along.)
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: There are different levels of "good". In 1969, as I was starting my last year in graduate school, a senior professor told me about job-hunting: "Well, you should decide where you want to go and assume that we can get you in there." I'd call that a good job market. But, in my case, it didn't work that way; apparently the greatest effects of the post-Sputnik boom in math had just faded away. So did I encounter a bad job market? By comparison with prior years, yes. But I sent out a total of three applications and got two offers. By comparison with more recent times, that was still an extremely good job market. I see no realistic hope for things to get that good again.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a 3rd year mathematics undergraduate(see my math se account), and I think I am well positioned to go into academia, and I am willing to do anything to make it happen.
I also have a desire to show my love for America, and I can't think of any unequivocal of doing this other than joining the military.
Many of my competitive advantages have come from completing certain milestones before a certain age(i.e. finishing the trigonometry books that Ramanujan used at the age he did them, BC calc in 8th grade, a competitive REU program Freshman year, going straight to the graduate courses in my undergrad). Thus getting deployed to active duty might break this string.
Has anyone had any experience in this matter?
I am not, of course interested in industry, at all. I would sooner do math on the streets than go into any other job where I cannot continue what I am doing 24/7.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes a military service would interfere to some extent with your academic career.
One way to reduce the impact of a military service on your academic development is to serve in a unit in which you can use some of your mathematical skills (typically R&D, technology and intelligence units). You don't have to be an infantry soldier - in fact you are probably more useful to the military if they can use your special talent. Also, check if the military has special programs that involve academic studies as part of the training.
Finally, even if it does interfere with your career it is up to you to decide whether this is a deal breaker. Plenty of people have had very successful academic careers with such interruptions due to various different reasons.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The United States has five service academies where the academics are also serving in the military. There are also a variety of non-military federal agencies which employ mathematicians to do research. The NSA is probably the best-known.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I think you should really consider what you are willing to do in the military. Are you going to enlist or apply to OCS? What is your desired MOS? If you want to join the military while continuing in academics, this is very field specific. For example, the Navy/Army/Air Force employs a number of medical physicists and will pay for their masters degrees. You need to specify exactly what your goal would be while in the military.
**"I am not, of course interested in industry, at all. I would sooner do math on the streets than go into any other job where I cannot continue what I am doing 24/7."**
If you join the military, you will almost absolutely break your 'string' of math achievements.
**"the wars that are fought are antithetical to my conception of American values"**
If you are enlisting and you branch infantry, what will you do? If you become an armor officer, what will you do?
All academics aspire to 'serve' humanity in their own way. Research pushes mankind forward, not nations.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: If you must join the military, you will have a better shot at a career in academia if you do it before you embark on your PhD. You have probably reached the end of the phase of life when achieving things before a certain age makes much difference in any case. Age matters less and less as you continue. On the other hand, when people look at your CV, they will be looking at your record of research achievement since completing your PhD (or possibly since publishing your first paper). A career gap can have a big impact.
If you must serve military goals, you may be able to make a bigger contribution as a researcher than as a member of the armed forces. The defence forces fund research that ultimately makes a big difference to their operations.
How else can you serve America? You can do research that has a positive impact for American society: applied mathematics research in health, economics, justice, or the environment, for instance. You can volunteer in ways that make life better for American people: habitats for humanity or a tenants' information service or tutoring diadvantaged children, for instance. You can become politically active and support policies, candidates and parties that you think will make America stronger and happier (and help keep the country out of wars that you find antithetical to your values, perhaps). You can run for political office yourself. You can serve a term in the public service before embarking on academia. There are many options!
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am checking plagiarism of my master thesis. It comes out 32 percent. So upto what level of plagiarism is accepted?
My master thesis is on the topic of homomorphic encryption in Cloud and I uses turnitin online service for plagiarism checking.
Edit: I apologize that I do not included the detail that plagiarism level comes out 32 percent when I include my research paper as it is in my thesis. The paper are going to publish in IEEE conference. If I exclude this research paper, The plagiarism level is 12 percent.I also posted question related to it on academic stack exchange and if anyone interested, you can check the link
[Can research paper information be used in thesis writing?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/72676/can-research-paper-information-be-used-in-thesis-writing/72683?noredirect=1#comment177374_72683)<issue_comment>username_1: The turnitin tool is saying that it thinks 32% of the text of your thesis could have been taken from other sources.
The software is a very blunt tool, and often has difficulty recognizing common turns of phrase and specialized terminology (e.g. I've seen "Without loss of generality we can assume that" and "Traveling Salesman's Problem" flagged.) It also doesn't recognize situations where there's a direct quote (properly delineated and cited) from another source.
Thus it's necessary for a human to review the report generated by the software to see what's going on. Without seeing that report, no one can give you an authoritative answer to your question. However, in my experience, I've never seen a paper with this high a score that didn't have significant problems.
To directly answer your question, no amount of plagiarism is acceptable in a master's thesis.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: To answer a now-included question: there is no computer tool that can correctly identify all plagiarism. To decide whether you have plagiarised, you need to answer the question 'have I included text, images or ideas that are not my own without making that clear?'
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: While writing my thesis, I have encountered the following situation:
My thesis is based on the work of Gourieroux *et al.* (1993) who, as part of the text, cites another paper, Gourieroux and Monfort (1992). In the references to the 1993 paper this paper is listed as having been published in "CREST-Départment de la Recherche INSEE, DP No. 9214". I also need to cite this paper, but can only find a version which was published in 1995 in the journal "Econometric Theory".
My question is therefore, should I use the original citation from he 1993 paper: Gourieroux and Monfort (1992), or go with Gourieroux and Monfort (1995).
I am inclined to go with the latter, but worried it would be considered strange if I write something like "Gourieroux *et al.* (1993), using theory developed by Gourieroux and Monfort (1995), show...".
Thanks in advance for your help!<issue_comment>username_1: I favor acting in the following way:
* If you've only read one of the versions, cite that one. God knows what's in the one you haven't read.
* If you've read both versions:
+ if they are identical relative to the information you need, publication in a journal or proceedings volume takes precedence over (re)publication in a career collection (e.g., "Selected works of Jones"), which takes precedence over arxiv, which takes precedence over non-arxiv manuscripts.
+ if they are not identical relative to the information you need, cite whichever one contains the best version (where *best* probably needs to be decided on a case-by-case basis).
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It looks to me like the 1992 paper was initially published internally, as the publisher is the research centre. Then in 1995, it was published properly in Econometric Theory.
But anyway, I don't see any reason why you should cite the 1992 paper, if you haven't read it.
And yes, the dates do look a bit strange, but hey, it is what it is. I've actually seen citations like these in relation to dissertations.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: [because this is potentially relevant, I'm a 37 y/o male]
Being the end of the semester, I've had a bunch of students come to my office hours to ask questions about things I'm responsible for. Among them, there have been a small number of female undergrads that have shown up wearing the kind of clothing that I think is inappropriate for a meeting with a faculty member. I'm not a prude (I hope), but I feel there is something amiss when a 20 y/o undergrad wants to discuss course validation from a neighboring university and then she goes and sits in front of me wearing booty shorts and a very see-through t-shirt (or a tanktop so skimpy that half her bra shows no matter what, or... take your pick). Before someone says anything to the effect, yes, it's summer, but it is not *that* warm (we're having a nice 20-25 C average these days).
In short, how can I tell these women, politely, that they should think twice about showing up half naked to meetings with faculty members?
Note that I'm not implying that I'm feeling sexually harassed or anything along those lines. Without getting into details, I'm old enough and happily married enough that I don't find college girls sexually appealing anymore. What I'm looking for is a way of telling them *meetings with people higher up in the hierarchy have implicit standards, including some pertinent to what you may and may not wear* that doesn't sound like a crude rephrasing of *oh please why don't you cover up you filthy [censored]*.<issue_comment>username_1: Does your institution have a student dress code?
Does your location have public indecency laws?
If their clothing violates either, refuse meetings until the problem is corrected.
Otherwise, ignore their appearance and carry on as usual.
---
Their sense of appropriate dress is clearly different from yours, but like political or religious opinions, such senses are often personal and cultural. For all you know, a bikini is her preferred set of comfortable clothing. Without a clear agreed-upon set of rules to defer to, such opinions are unproductive to dispute. Let it be.
Upvotes: 8 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> In short, how can I tell these girls, politely, that they should think twice about showing up half naked to meetings with faculty members?
>
>
>
I can think of 4 situations:
1. If they are violating a university dress code, you should politely remind them of the policy.
2. If they are not in violation of a university policy, but their appearance makes you feel sexually harassed, you should follow whatever procedure the university has in place. If the dress code allows for clothing that makes you feel harassed, I would follow the procedure to the letter and not say anything directly to the students. If there is no dress code, you can politely mention that their appearance makes you feel uncomfortable (or you can follow the procedure).
3. If they are not in violation of a university policy and you do not feel sexually harassed, saying anything is giving them unsolicited advice. While I think it is not out of place for faculty members to give students unsolicited advice, you should do it politely and in a non-judgmental manner.
Maybe something along the lines of:
>
> When meeting with someone in a professional setting business causal dress is often preferable, even when not formally required.
>
>
>
4. Finally, you may want to document the issue with someone in your department. While an extreme case, I had a student who would regularly unbutton her blouse prior to entering my office and button it upon leaving. She would do this immediately outside my door and in my view. This probably qualified as sexual harassment, but I did not care to follow up. I did, however, tell my head of school and director of teaching (as well as making sure my door was always open) so that they were aware of the issue in case she ever raised a complaint.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: If you're on good terms with the (quite likely female) office staff in your department you might consider asking one of them to catch the student in the hall or the office and comment - of course without telling the person that you or anyone else had suggested that.
Do clear this with the department chair in advance.
**Edit** in response to comments (and downvotes). I fully understand the reasons *not* to do this. My answer is based on my experience as professor and chair with an extremely competent and sensitive administrative assistant. I can well believe that had I suggested this to her she'd have agreed with the commenters that it was not the right way to handle the problem.
My goal in answering was to make sure that all avenues could be considered. There's a fine line to draw in many such problems between informal local solutions and the procedures spelled out in the rules (or, often, not spelled out).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: Let's take the extreme situation, and say that a female student shows up *completely naked*. Even in that case, your best bet is to do absolutely nothing.
1. Most important, really, what do you care? How does this impinge negatively on your life at all? Don't you have better things to spend your time on?
2. What business is it of yours? You have a fair amount of *de jure* and *de facto* authority over these students. You have therefore a corresponding responsibility to only use that authority appropriately. You aren't, I assume, teaching a course in fashion.
3. What good can happen? Best case scenario, the student takes the advice in the spirit it was intended and follows it -- which is not that great. Worst case, and nowadays a likely one, is that she files some sort of grievance.
4. Some of the rest of us like it when girls dress like that and would appreciate your not messing with a good thing.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: Similar issues to this one [also arise in industry](http://compensation.blr.com/Compensation-news/Performance-Termination/Unemployment-Compensation-Insurance/Provocative-Clothes-Dress-Code-Issue-or-Sex-Harass/) (in the United States) on a semi-regular basis and generally it seems that the following is the general consensus:
1. Unless there is an explicit dress code in place, dress and appearance should be ignored in a professional manner (i.e. you don't comment on it unless invited to).
2. Counseling someone on dress and appearance needs to be done in a very sensitive manner and usually it is better if someone of the same gender does it to avoid potential accusations of sexual harassment. This generally includes explicit dress code violations as well.
Without there being something like an explicit article of clothing that could be cited as troublesome (i.e. [this scenario](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17739/should-professors-intervene-if-a-student-is-wearing-offensive-clothing-in-their)) the situation would likely be seen as very subjective, as evidenced by the comments on your question and the answers here. About the only thing you really can do it note it with your superiors since it does sound like the student's appearance was questionable enough to warrant the question on this site.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: As others have said, if there is no formal dress code, then their clothes are beyond your control.
But, your own behavior IS under your control. So, do not look at these students. Talk to them with your eyes on the ground or on the table.
This expresses your discomfort with the situation in a perfectly legal way. Your eyes are your own, and you do not have to look at people if you do not like their appearance, for whatever reason.
I believe this will make them consider their appearance, at least when they talk to you.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_7: Going against everyone else, I believe that, if the university makes any sort of claims about preparing people for the workplace, there should be some attempt to remind these students of what is (in)appropriate. Based on my experience, the students may not be deliberately being inappropriate; many seem to have no concept that what is appropriate in one context is not appropriate in another. If we don't teach them that at university, there's a good chance they'll have to learn it the hard way when they (try to) enter the workplace.
However, I don't think you as someone-they've-come-to-at-the-end-of-term are the right person to pick them up on it. If you can identify the students, I would flag it to whoever is their individual tutor. If not, find who is responsible for them as a cohort. At least in the first instance, professionalism should probably be addressed at cohort level or above. How individuals can be approached, if there is a serious ongoing problem, will depend on the local structure of pastoral support.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_8: This is about rules, but also context.
Teenage, adolescence and early adulthood is a period where *all sorts of provocative and inappropriate behavior can be met*, and these issues reveal very sensitive, with mixing with the rules of a university or a workplace.
*Early adulthood is a period of transgression, and transition* involving self-esteem, fear, social building, etc. Light dress, aggressive words or attitude, political or religious signs are examples, that I do not put on equal footing. Young adults test themselves against older adults. Call it nature, hormones, growth, whatever. As an adult, **do not take it personally**. As a teacher, a figure of trust, better **take it professionally**: you are here to provide them with knowledge for life or work.
Just remember that quite often, "Sin is in The Eye of the Beholder" too. Some can be equally shocked by mystical signs on T-shirts of some metal listeners (I do listen to that kind of music. As a teenager, I was pleased this could shock my parents).
Adults can provide some guidance, should show a flawless example, and remind some of the rules that exist. I believe quite **important not to make a personal case**, either face to face or in public. Mentioning inappropriate dress code in a classroom is likely to spark attention to certain persons. So one has to stay professional, as much as can.
If the rules exist, they can be recalled at the beginning of the year, by an authority, while students (or co-workers) are still fresh and do not have a firm status: a dean, social services can do the job. If inappropriate behavior appears later, it can be interesting to share it with (trusted) colleagues, to address whether some actions should be taken. If so, a letter could be sent to some people (or all students), with a copy of the university's rules, recalling to respect them all.
If the rules don't exist, this is a good opportunity for the university staff to work on some.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: >
> I'm not a prude (I hope)
>
>
>
Being a prude is not a binary state. Their choice of clothes makes you slightly uncomfortable: you don't see them as sexual subjects but you do see them as "half naked", and you feel that there's "something amiss".
So, compared to them and their peers, actually you are a little prudish. There should be no shame in admitting that to yourself, or in considering that *your feelings* are what *you* can directly deal with. You don't want to see these women half-naked. That's a perfectly reasonable preference, but not *necessarily* one that you should require somebody else to go to extra trouble to fulfil.
You say that meetings with their superiors have *implicit* standards. This strongly suggests that none of those standards are *explicit*, that is to say there's no dress code or any other concrete expression of the standards you're talking about, and nobody else has told them that office hours visits should be considered a somewhat-formal meeting. In short, you're sailing on your own gut feeling here, which is a dangerous way to interfere with how other members of a large institution choose to dress.
Your feelings may or may not be in line with the gut feelings of the rest of the faculty, but it's clearly not in line with the gut feelings of your students, who don't feel they should dress up for your office hours. So speak about student dress to other faculty members and your own superiors, and anyone who has a direct responsibility for student conduct. Be sure to dress up compared with your normal clothes, when speaking to your own superiors, because they are ever-so grand. If in doubt, formal evening attire is always appreciated in the office of a Dean or above ;-) If there's a general feeling that things have gone too far then the institution should act *consistently* to suggest or demand a certain standard of dress when attending *any* office hours, not just yours.
I should add that I'm assuming these meetings with you aren't something they prepare for as a formal event: they see it as just dropping in on you in your office hours, as part of their day. So if you give them the advice you're tempted to give them, about "meetings with their superiors", then they'll be like tourists visiting a famous church. They have the clothes they wear normally for comfort or style or however they decide what to wear, then they have a cover-up they carry in their bag to put on when they visit you because you have different standards from the rest of their day. So yeah, that would come across as prudish and idiosyncratic to those who disagree with your standards, there's no avoiding it.
If you feel that meetings with you are a formal event, as opposed to one stop in the middle of their typical day, then by all means advise some level of business-casual dress. I attended a university that had a strict dress code for exams and vivas. I literally would not have been permitted to attend such "meetings" with my superiors if not wearing a bow-tie. So I know what academic dress codes can look like at the extreme, and if there's a standard, fine: people have to meet it, or lobby to change it, or get out. But this cuts both ways: if there's a standard for how students are *allowed* to dress, and this is within it, then *you* have to accept it, or lobby to change it, or get out. Don't tell them their chosen clothes are inappropriate if it turns out the "official" view of the university is that they're acceptable and that you should not treat your office hours as a formal meeting.
To avoid being accused of (and, for that matter, to avoid actually exhibiting) gender discrimination you should probably object to ripped jeans, baggy shorts, football jerseys, and other clothing inappropriate for semi-formal situations, just as much as you object to bras showing. Because if your standard is the number of square inches of female skin on display, sorry, you're showing your age and some prudery. I know this because I'm the same age as you are and I'm continually astonished by the fashions the young'uns go through. Male or female, and whether the clothes are revealing or not I confess to being bewildered!
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_10: My suggestion is to do nothing and say nothing this term in order to avoid the risks others have pointed out, especially since you say you neither feel harassed nor uncomfortable.
**However**, next term, I would suggest doing what I had a professor do: **add a "Professionalism" section to your syllabus and first day procedural talk**. You still have to be careful in some of the ways others have pointed out: make sure you frame everything around professionalism and preparing them for the workplace, use subdued language that applies to unprofessional attire for both genders and if you cite examples, give one for men and women. Also, and this is key, **include other unrelated examples of things they need to know for how to behave, like how to professionally email a professor** (that's what my professor went on about. boring to me, but I'm sure some people in the class needed it). Don't forget to add something about how conforming to (for appeasing rhetorical purposes add 'arbitrary') rules about professional attire may be just a hoop to jump through, but that it is a socially meaningful way to communicate seriousness and respect. In general, just be careful of the tone. Preface and end it with something like 'most of you probably don't need this, but some students don't get the preparation they need in highschool for how to behave in the real world, yada yada yada...'
The benefits of this plan are many
1. It gives you the opportunity to pass on actually helpful information to your students that they are expected to just know in the business environment
2. It protects you from being misunderstood or maliciously attacked
3. It accomplishes your goal or,
4. Makes it so that if you do say something, it is less reasonable of them to claim you are overstepping or being oppressive since you made your expectations clear beforehand
5. Gives you the opportunity to set expectations that will help the term run smoother and more enjoyably
Well, that's my two cents. Hope it helps.
***Edit concerning addressing the issue this term (warning, somewhat abstract)***
As someone in the comments pointed out, you could send out a mass email addressing the entire class. My concern with this gets at what I think the key distinction is in professionally responding to this scenario, and also provides an opportunity to respond to some of the critiques of the question itself leveled in other responses.
As many have pointed out there is a difference between professionalism and prudery. This distinction is not the same thing as whether or not student behavior (of any kind) bothers you. These are different aspects of the issue. Dress is a socially embedded method of communication, so it is unhelpful to say you merely ought to keep your opinions to yourself. Dress codes simplify dynamic, but are never exhaustively effectual. Taken together this means that professionally responding to scenarios concerning the professionalism of student behavior must take into account institutionalized norms (like dress codes), context (like your relation to students as well as timing), as well as personal judgements.
That last one is tricky though and that is where the fine line is. First of all, it is inescapable because we are socially embedded creatures. To say it is not inescapable by saying it is all merely opinion ***or*** that there is an absolutely objective response both lead to an arbitrariness as well as an abstract conception of what it means to be human which denies the real character of being a social creature both affected by and affecting norms. It is also problematic (ie, the risk of being a prude). This is all too philosophical though, so let me be concrete: **it comes to not being disingenuous by simply imposing what you would like on your students, but making it about being helpful to them.** Even if deep down you are disingenuous, it would be unprofessional to act that way, so you have to include various other pieces of advice on how to professionally behave as a student in a sufficiently non-confrontational, non-reactionary, and in an honest enough manner to actually help your students rather than to simply make them conform.
This means ultimately making it about the students and not oneself (even if deep down you're selfish about it). That means not being reactionary or making students feel singled out. That means you can't do it this term. It would be too reactionary causing those students to be self conscious about their looks, and would ultimately make it about you, which is morally condemnable, unhelpful to the students (I won't argue this point, but trust me), and (importantly seeing as this was asked within the context of academia), unprofessional. No pretensions about being objective would prevent this precisely because of its socially embedded nature.
As such, I repeat, do nothing this term, include a professionalism section next term, and try your best to use it to actually help your students. At least in my local, the highschools under-prepare their students, and you really may be the only person who ever explains to these students you are supposed to be respectful in an email, or turn off your phone before you go into a meeting with one's superior, and yes, wear sexually neutral clothing in a professional environment.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_11: Couple of points that might help:
1. It helps defuse the situation if you make a general guideline than if you address specific individuals because it might make them defensive or feel like they have been picked on. Ergo, if you do feel strongly about it send a general email to the class group or post a document addressing this on the class webpage.
2. It helps even more if a third person does this job. e.g. Talk to the Department Secretary etc. & see if they can send a general email to the student body. That way the message is sent but no one feels picked upon, not even the members of any particular class. If this is an issue I am sure it is an issue for more than one class
3. Another strategy that helps is to be seen as proactive rather than retaliatory. So next time perhaps have some of these things included in your class handouts on the first day itself.
4. Talk about this issue in confidence to other faculty you trust. To make sure it is indeed an issue and not something you are overreacting to. Sometimes getting an independent perspective can totally surprise you.
5. Make the effort to read up and see if there are university or departmental policies on this. If you do send out an email about this make sure you refer to those general policies. Never try to rewrite policy on an ad hoc basis.
6. Try to differentiate between two different matters: (a) Is this affecting your interactions and hence you want change or (b) Are you trying to improve the students' professionalism for their own long-term good. If it is (a) then it warrents an immediate solution. If it is (b) there might be alternative paths that are a better resolution. e.g. A Departmental required seminar on professional conduct etc.
7. Recognize that the problem may indeed be real, and you did a good job recognizing it but you may not be the best placed to deal with it. So try to see if someone else is best placed to handle it. e.g. The Department Secretary, The Student Affairs Dean, Department Chair etc.
8. Take a minute to think if the effort is worth it. Is it easier just ignoring it? One must pick one's battles. Do you really feel so strongly about it? But if you do, then by all means pursue the matter.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_12: I've got hand it to you Koldito. I brought up a topic loosely similar to yours many months ago and nearly got crucified by a prude that frequents this site. I will only reveal his initials (N. E.).
I'm almost 50 years old and I can tell you that my libido is still very strong. **I don't believe you one bit when you say you don't find college ladies appealing anymore ;>)**. I've been around too long and seen too much. I'll probably get crucified for saying that as well!
Anyway, I definitely do agree that you have yourself a difficult situation and I don't know what the ladies' motivations are. I have ideas though. In other words, I'm certain something is definitely amiss like you indicated.
I haven't read the advice others have posted. **Perhaps you should place a dress code on your own academic web page that delineates how anyone should dress for these important meetings. Then, maybe you should tape a hard copy to your office door so that it can't be missed. Make sure it's strongly worded. You might need to get permission from your bosses to do this**.
Your concerns are warranted. You are being placed into a dicey situation that you really don't want to be in. If I was the guy in this situation, I'd also be seeking my wife's advice. Your wife may be one of the best females to seek advice from...your best ally.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_13: Others have given good answers, I don't want to repeat them, but just another couple of thoughts:
I agree with you that this sort of dress is inappropriate. I AM a prude and I'm proud of it. But that said, if the university does not have a dress code or if the dress code is loose enough to allow what you describe, I think your options are very limited.
You certainly could offer advice about proper dress for "professional" meetings. But realistically, I think that given current culture and academic norms, the most likely response is that the young lady will reject any such advice. "Who are you to tell me how to dress?" "I can wear whatever I want." Etc. As others have noted, she might even accuse you of sexual harassment for bringing it up.
I wouldn't make a move without talking to higher-ups. The real solution is to get the dress code upgraded. If the university isn't willing to do that, then I don't think you have much of any chance to "win" trying to take action unilaterally. If you ask them to change the dress code (or to implement a dress code, if there is none), and they say no, then it's hard to imagine that they would back you up if you tried to impose the dress code that was just rejected on your own students.
Others have said that if there is no university rule about something, then an individual professor has no right to invent one. IN GENERAL I'd say this is absurd: professors impose their own rules on their classes all the time. If a student submitted his homework in crayon, I think many professors would tell him this was unacceptable, whether there was a university rule against using crayon or not. I'm sure a chemistry professor could tell students that they are required to turn off the Bunsen burners before leaving the lab, whether this is an official school policy or not. Etc. But in the particular case of student dress, especially female student dress, you're walking into a minefield. This is an emotionally, culturally, and politically charged area.
In American culture today, and especially at universities, there are some things that we all know are true but you are not allowed to say. A pretty young woman walking around campus in a bikini will be instantly sexually arousing to most males. She will likely find many young men following her around. Male professors, no matter how old and how happily married, will have to struggle to restrain inappropriate thoughts about her. A young man, no matter how handsome, walking around in a bathing suit will not have at all the same impact. Most people will just think it strange. Young woman may well notice he's handsome but it will likely be a passing thought. Female professors will mostly find it annoying, not arousing.
And I bet many of those reading the above paragraph are saying, "That's not true! That's absurd! How dare you say that!" But you know it is true. So maybe now they're saying, "Well, okay, it's true, but it's bad that it's true, and saying it out loud just, umm, like perpetuates stereotypes, or encourages people to think in terms of the way the world really is rather than the fantasy world that we wished we lived in". (Well, they probably wouldn't put it that way, but that's what they'd mean.)
Upvotes: 1
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2016/07/12
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<issue_start>username_0: As the background, I am a graduate student in high energy physics, mainly theoretical physics. Recently, I have sen that there are a few scholars who don't put the preprint versions of the paper in the preprint servers such as arxiv. I must add the fact that for many of the journals the self-archiving of the preprint is allowed, and I see no point for not putting the preprint version submitted to peer review on arxiv. I have seen that there are some old researchers and also some not so old ones who don't put the preprint versions of the paper on arxiv and sometimes make it difficult for some papers to be read. Hence, the question would be on how to promote open access and convince people to be opened within this direction.<issue_comment>username_1: Does your institution have a student dress code?
Does your location have public indecency laws?
If their clothing violates either, refuse meetings until the problem is corrected.
Otherwise, ignore their appearance and carry on as usual.
---
Their sense of appropriate dress is clearly different from yours, but like political or religious opinions, such senses are often personal and cultural. For all you know, a bikini is her preferred set of comfortable clothing. Without a clear agreed-upon set of rules to defer to, such opinions are unproductive to dispute. Let it be.
Upvotes: 8 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> In short, how can I tell these girls, politely, that they should think twice about showing up half naked to meetings with faculty members?
>
>
>
I can think of 4 situations:
1. If they are violating a university dress code, you should politely remind them of the policy.
2. If they are not in violation of a university policy, but their appearance makes you feel sexually harassed, you should follow whatever procedure the university has in place. If the dress code allows for clothing that makes you feel harassed, I would follow the procedure to the letter and not say anything directly to the students. If there is no dress code, you can politely mention that their appearance makes you feel uncomfortable (or you can follow the procedure).
3. If they are not in violation of a university policy and you do not feel sexually harassed, saying anything is giving them unsolicited advice. While I think it is not out of place for faculty members to give students unsolicited advice, you should do it politely and in a non-judgmental manner.
Maybe something along the lines of:
>
> When meeting with someone in a professional setting business causal dress is often preferable, even when not formally required.
>
>
>
4. Finally, you may want to document the issue with someone in your department. While an extreme case, I had a student who would regularly unbutton her blouse prior to entering my office and button it upon leaving. She would do this immediately outside my door and in my view. This probably qualified as sexual harassment, but I did not care to follow up. I did, however, tell my head of school and director of teaching (as well as making sure my door was always open) so that they were aware of the issue in case she ever raised a complaint.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: If you're on good terms with the (quite likely female) office staff in your department you might consider asking one of them to catch the student in the hall or the office and comment - of course without telling the person that you or anyone else had suggested that.
Do clear this with the department chair in advance.
**Edit** in response to comments (and downvotes). I fully understand the reasons *not* to do this. My answer is based on my experience as professor and chair with an extremely competent and sensitive administrative assistant. I can well believe that had I suggested this to her she'd have agreed with the commenters that it was not the right way to handle the problem.
My goal in answering was to make sure that all avenues could be considered. There's a fine line to draw in many such problems between informal local solutions and the procedures spelled out in the rules (or, often, not spelled out).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: Let's take the extreme situation, and say that a female student shows up *completely naked*. Even in that case, your best bet is to do absolutely nothing.
1. Most important, really, what do you care? How does this impinge negatively on your life at all? Don't you have better things to spend your time on?
2. What business is it of yours? You have a fair amount of *de jure* and *de facto* authority over these students. You have therefore a corresponding responsibility to only use that authority appropriately. You aren't, I assume, teaching a course in fashion.
3. What good can happen? Best case scenario, the student takes the advice in the spirit it was intended and follows it -- which is not that great. Worst case, and nowadays a likely one, is that she files some sort of grievance.
4. Some of the rest of us like it when girls dress like that and would appreciate your not messing with a good thing.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: Similar issues to this one [also arise in industry](http://compensation.blr.com/Compensation-news/Performance-Termination/Unemployment-Compensation-Insurance/Provocative-Clothes-Dress-Code-Issue-or-Sex-Harass/) (in the United States) on a semi-regular basis and generally it seems that the following is the general consensus:
1. Unless there is an explicit dress code in place, dress and appearance should be ignored in a professional manner (i.e. you don't comment on it unless invited to).
2. Counseling someone on dress and appearance needs to be done in a very sensitive manner and usually it is better if someone of the same gender does it to avoid potential accusations of sexual harassment. This generally includes explicit dress code violations as well.
Without there being something like an explicit article of clothing that could be cited as troublesome (i.e. [this scenario](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17739/should-professors-intervene-if-a-student-is-wearing-offensive-clothing-in-their)) the situation would likely be seen as very subjective, as evidenced by the comments on your question and the answers here. About the only thing you really can do it note it with your superiors since it does sound like the student's appearance was questionable enough to warrant the question on this site.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: As others have said, if there is no formal dress code, then their clothes are beyond your control.
But, your own behavior IS under your control. So, do not look at these students. Talk to them with your eyes on the ground or on the table.
This expresses your discomfort with the situation in a perfectly legal way. Your eyes are your own, and you do not have to look at people if you do not like their appearance, for whatever reason.
I believe this will make them consider their appearance, at least when they talk to you.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_7: Going against everyone else, I believe that, if the university makes any sort of claims about preparing people for the workplace, there should be some attempt to remind these students of what is (in)appropriate. Based on my experience, the students may not be deliberately being inappropriate; many seem to have no concept that what is appropriate in one context is not appropriate in another. If we don't teach them that at university, there's a good chance they'll have to learn it the hard way when they (try to) enter the workplace.
However, I don't think you as someone-they've-come-to-at-the-end-of-term are the right person to pick them up on it. If you can identify the students, I would flag it to whoever is their individual tutor. If not, find who is responsible for them as a cohort. At least in the first instance, professionalism should probably be addressed at cohort level or above. How individuals can be approached, if there is a serious ongoing problem, will depend on the local structure of pastoral support.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_8: This is about rules, but also context.
Teenage, adolescence and early adulthood is a period where *all sorts of provocative and inappropriate behavior can be met*, and these issues reveal very sensitive, with mixing with the rules of a university or a workplace.
*Early adulthood is a period of transgression, and transition* involving self-esteem, fear, social building, etc. Light dress, aggressive words or attitude, political or religious signs are examples, that I do not put on equal footing. Young adults test themselves against older adults. Call it nature, hormones, growth, whatever. As an adult, **do not take it personally**. As a teacher, a figure of trust, better **take it professionally**: you are here to provide them with knowledge for life or work.
Just remember that quite often, "Sin is in The Eye of the Beholder" too. Some can be equally shocked by mystical signs on T-shirts of some metal listeners (I do listen to that kind of music. As a teenager, I was pleased this could shock my parents).
Adults can provide some guidance, should show a flawless example, and remind some of the rules that exist. I believe quite **important not to make a personal case**, either face to face or in public. Mentioning inappropriate dress code in a classroom is likely to spark attention to certain persons. So one has to stay professional, as much as can.
If the rules exist, they can be recalled at the beginning of the year, by an authority, while students (or co-workers) are still fresh and do not have a firm status: a dean, social services can do the job. If inappropriate behavior appears later, it can be interesting to share it with (trusted) colleagues, to address whether some actions should be taken. If so, a letter could be sent to some people (or all students), with a copy of the university's rules, recalling to respect them all.
If the rules don't exist, this is a good opportunity for the university staff to work on some.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: >
> I'm not a prude (I hope)
>
>
>
Being a prude is not a binary state. Their choice of clothes makes you slightly uncomfortable: you don't see them as sexual subjects but you do see them as "half naked", and you feel that there's "something amiss".
So, compared to them and their peers, actually you are a little prudish. There should be no shame in admitting that to yourself, or in considering that *your feelings* are what *you* can directly deal with. You don't want to see these women half-naked. That's a perfectly reasonable preference, but not *necessarily* one that you should require somebody else to go to extra trouble to fulfil.
You say that meetings with their superiors have *implicit* standards. This strongly suggests that none of those standards are *explicit*, that is to say there's no dress code or any other concrete expression of the standards you're talking about, and nobody else has told them that office hours visits should be considered a somewhat-formal meeting. In short, you're sailing on your own gut feeling here, which is a dangerous way to interfere with how other members of a large institution choose to dress.
Your feelings may or may not be in line with the gut feelings of the rest of the faculty, but it's clearly not in line with the gut feelings of your students, who don't feel they should dress up for your office hours. So speak about student dress to other faculty members and your own superiors, and anyone who has a direct responsibility for student conduct. Be sure to dress up compared with your normal clothes, when speaking to your own superiors, because they are ever-so grand. If in doubt, formal evening attire is always appreciated in the office of a Dean or above ;-) If there's a general feeling that things have gone too far then the institution should act *consistently* to suggest or demand a certain standard of dress when attending *any* office hours, not just yours.
I should add that I'm assuming these meetings with you aren't something they prepare for as a formal event: they see it as just dropping in on you in your office hours, as part of their day. So if you give them the advice you're tempted to give them, about "meetings with their superiors", then they'll be like tourists visiting a famous church. They have the clothes they wear normally for comfort or style or however they decide what to wear, then they have a cover-up they carry in their bag to put on when they visit you because you have different standards from the rest of their day. So yeah, that would come across as prudish and idiosyncratic to those who disagree with your standards, there's no avoiding it.
If you feel that meetings with you are a formal event, as opposed to one stop in the middle of their typical day, then by all means advise some level of business-casual dress. I attended a university that had a strict dress code for exams and vivas. I literally would not have been permitted to attend such "meetings" with my superiors if not wearing a bow-tie. So I know what academic dress codes can look like at the extreme, and if there's a standard, fine: people have to meet it, or lobby to change it, or get out. But this cuts both ways: if there's a standard for how students are *allowed* to dress, and this is within it, then *you* have to accept it, or lobby to change it, or get out. Don't tell them their chosen clothes are inappropriate if it turns out the "official" view of the university is that they're acceptable and that you should not treat your office hours as a formal meeting.
To avoid being accused of (and, for that matter, to avoid actually exhibiting) gender discrimination you should probably object to ripped jeans, baggy shorts, football jerseys, and other clothing inappropriate for semi-formal situations, just as much as you object to bras showing. Because if your standard is the number of square inches of female skin on display, sorry, you're showing your age and some prudery. I know this because I'm the same age as you are and I'm continually astonished by the fashions the young'uns go through. Male or female, and whether the clothes are revealing or not I confess to being bewildered!
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_10: My suggestion is to do nothing and say nothing this term in order to avoid the risks others have pointed out, especially since you say you neither feel harassed nor uncomfortable.
**However**, next term, I would suggest doing what I had a professor do: **add a "Professionalism" section to your syllabus and first day procedural talk**. You still have to be careful in some of the ways others have pointed out: make sure you frame everything around professionalism and preparing them for the workplace, use subdued language that applies to unprofessional attire for both genders and if you cite examples, give one for men and women. Also, and this is key, **include other unrelated examples of things they need to know for how to behave, like how to professionally email a professor** (that's what my professor went on about. boring to me, but I'm sure some people in the class needed it). Don't forget to add something about how conforming to (for appeasing rhetorical purposes add 'arbitrary') rules about professional attire may be just a hoop to jump through, but that it is a socially meaningful way to communicate seriousness and respect. In general, just be careful of the tone. Preface and end it with something like 'most of you probably don't need this, but some students don't get the preparation they need in highschool for how to behave in the real world, yada yada yada...'
The benefits of this plan are many
1. It gives you the opportunity to pass on actually helpful information to your students that they are expected to just know in the business environment
2. It protects you from being misunderstood or maliciously attacked
3. It accomplishes your goal or,
4. Makes it so that if you do say something, it is less reasonable of them to claim you are overstepping or being oppressive since you made your expectations clear beforehand
5. Gives you the opportunity to set expectations that will help the term run smoother and more enjoyably
Well, that's my two cents. Hope it helps.
***Edit concerning addressing the issue this term (warning, somewhat abstract)***
As someone in the comments pointed out, you could send out a mass email addressing the entire class. My concern with this gets at what I think the key distinction is in professionally responding to this scenario, and also provides an opportunity to respond to some of the critiques of the question itself leveled in other responses.
As many have pointed out there is a difference between professionalism and prudery. This distinction is not the same thing as whether or not student behavior (of any kind) bothers you. These are different aspects of the issue. Dress is a socially embedded method of communication, so it is unhelpful to say you merely ought to keep your opinions to yourself. Dress codes simplify dynamic, but are never exhaustively effectual. Taken together this means that professionally responding to scenarios concerning the professionalism of student behavior must take into account institutionalized norms (like dress codes), context (like your relation to students as well as timing), as well as personal judgements.
That last one is tricky though and that is where the fine line is. First of all, it is inescapable because we are socially embedded creatures. To say it is not inescapable by saying it is all merely opinion ***or*** that there is an absolutely objective response both lead to an arbitrariness as well as an abstract conception of what it means to be human which denies the real character of being a social creature both affected by and affecting norms. It is also problematic (ie, the risk of being a prude). This is all too philosophical though, so let me be concrete: **it comes to not being disingenuous by simply imposing what you would like on your students, but making it about being helpful to them.** Even if deep down you are disingenuous, it would be unprofessional to act that way, so you have to include various other pieces of advice on how to professionally behave as a student in a sufficiently non-confrontational, non-reactionary, and in an honest enough manner to actually help your students rather than to simply make them conform.
This means ultimately making it about the students and not oneself (even if deep down you're selfish about it). That means not being reactionary or making students feel singled out. That means you can't do it this term. It would be too reactionary causing those students to be self conscious about their looks, and would ultimately make it about you, which is morally condemnable, unhelpful to the students (I won't argue this point, but trust me), and (importantly seeing as this was asked within the context of academia), unprofessional. No pretensions about being objective would prevent this precisely because of its socially embedded nature.
As such, I repeat, do nothing this term, include a professionalism section next term, and try your best to use it to actually help your students. At least in my local, the highschools under-prepare their students, and you really may be the only person who ever explains to these students you are supposed to be respectful in an email, or turn off your phone before you go into a meeting with one's superior, and yes, wear sexually neutral clothing in a professional environment.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_11: Couple of points that might help:
1. It helps defuse the situation if you make a general guideline than if you address specific individuals because it might make them defensive or feel like they have been picked on. Ergo, if you do feel strongly about it send a general email to the class group or post a document addressing this on the class webpage.
2. It helps even more if a third person does this job. e.g. Talk to the Department Secretary etc. & see if they can send a general email to the student body. That way the message is sent but no one feels picked upon, not even the members of any particular class. If this is an issue I am sure it is an issue for more than one class
3. Another strategy that helps is to be seen as proactive rather than retaliatory. So next time perhaps have some of these things included in your class handouts on the first day itself.
4. Talk about this issue in confidence to other faculty you trust. To make sure it is indeed an issue and not something you are overreacting to. Sometimes getting an independent perspective can totally surprise you.
5. Make the effort to read up and see if there are university or departmental policies on this. If you do send out an email about this make sure you refer to those general policies. Never try to rewrite policy on an ad hoc basis.
6. Try to differentiate between two different matters: (a) Is this affecting your interactions and hence you want change or (b) Are you trying to improve the students' professionalism for their own long-term good. If it is (a) then it warrents an immediate solution. If it is (b) there might be alternative paths that are a better resolution. e.g. A Departmental required seminar on professional conduct etc.
7. Recognize that the problem may indeed be real, and you did a good job recognizing it but you may not be the best placed to deal with it. So try to see if someone else is best placed to handle it. e.g. The Department Secretary, The Student Affairs Dean, Department Chair etc.
8. Take a minute to think if the effort is worth it. Is it easier just ignoring it? One must pick one's battles. Do you really feel so strongly about it? But if you do, then by all means pursue the matter.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_12: I've got hand it to you Koldito. I brought up a topic loosely similar to yours many months ago and nearly got crucified by a prude that frequents this site. I will only reveal his initials (N. E.).
I'm almost 50 years old and I can tell you that my libido is still very strong. **I don't believe you one bit when you say you don't find college ladies appealing anymore ;>)**. I've been around too long and seen too much. I'll probably get crucified for saying that as well!
Anyway, I definitely do agree that you have yourself a difficult situation and I don't know what the ladies' motivations are. I have ideas though. In other words, I'm certain something is definitely amiss like you indicated.
I haven't read the advice others have posted. **Perhaps you should place a dress code on your own academic web page that delineates how anyone should dress for these important meetings. Then, maybe you should tape a hard copy to your office door so that it can't be missed. Make sure it's strongly worded. You might need to get permission from your bosses to do this**.
Your concerns are warranted. You are being placed into a dicey situation that you really don't want to be in. If I was the guy in this situation, I'd also be seeking my wife's advice. Your wife may be one of the best females to seek advice from...your best ally.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_13: Others have given good answers, I don't want to repeat them, but just another couple of thoughts:
I agree with you that this sort of dress is inappropriate. I AM a prude and I'm proud of it. But that said, if the university does not have a dress code or if the dress code is loose enough to allow what you describe, I think your options are very limited.
You certainly could offer advice about proper dress for "professional" meetings. But realistically, I think that given current culture and academic norms, the most likely response is that the young lady will reject any such advice. "Who are you to tell me how to dress?" "I can wear whatever I want." Etc. As others have noted, she might even accuse you of sexual harassment for bringing it up.
I wouldn't make a move without talking to higher-ups. The real solution is to get the dress code upgraded. If the university isn't willing to do that, then I don't think you have much of any chance to "win" trying to take action unilaterally. If you ask them to change the dress code (or to implement a dress code, if there is none), and they say no, then it's hard to imagine that they would back you up if you tried to impose the dress code that was just rejected on your own students.
Others have said that if there is no university rule about something, then an individual professor has no right to invent one. IN GENERAL I'd say this is absurd: professors impose their own rules on their classes all the time. If a student submitted his homework in crayon, I think many professors would tell him this was unacceptable, whether there was a university rule against using crayon or not. I'm sure a chemistry professor could tell students that they are required to turn off the Bunsen burners before leaving the lab, whether this is an official school policy or not. Etc. But in the particular case of student dress, especially female student dress, you're walking into a minefield. This is an emotionally, culturally, and politically charged area.
In American culture today, and especially at universities, there are some things that we all know are true but you are not allowed to say. A pretty young woman walking around campus in a bikini will be instantly sexually arousing to most males. She will likely find many young men following her around. Male professors, no matter how old and how happily married, will have to struggle to restrain inappropriate thoughts about her. A young man, no matter how handsome, walking around in a bathing suit will not have at all the same impact. Most people will just think it strange. Young woman may well notice he's handsome but it will likely be a passing thought. Female professors will mostly find it annoying, not arousing.
And I bet many of those reading the above paragraph are saying, "That's not true! That's absurd! How dare you say that!" But you know it is true. So maybe now they're saying, "Well, okay, it's true, but it's bad that it's true, and saying it out loud just, umm, like perpetuates stereotypes, or encourages people to think in terms of the way the world really is rather than the fantasy world that we wished we lived in". (Well, they probably wouldn't put it that way, but that's what they'd mean.)
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently co-organizing a conference targeted at young researchers (mostly PhD or post-doctoral people). All talks are to be done by these younglings. However, there are only around 10-15 scheduled talks, while we expect at least twice as many people.
*What kind of activity can we set up so that the attendees who don't get to talk still get an opportunity to share their research (with other attendees and more senior researchers)?*
Our go-to option is a poster session. However, I have been at the same kind of conference before, and these tend not to be very successful. I think this is because the conference is rather small, which means few people by poster. Posters also don't seem to promote discussing with other attendees (people tend to stay beside their poster, to speak with the occasionnal interested bystander).
A few years ago, somebody organized on the fly a "research speed dating" event: from what I have understood, everybody gets five minutes to explain their reasearch head-to-head with another attendee, then the people mix up and start again. It was quite successful, or so I have heard, but the details are fuzzy and I have no experience whatsoever in organizing this kind of thing.
Our default option is still a poster session, but what other possibilities are there? Or, if nothing else, how may we run a good poster session?
---
Edit: the conference was last week, so I have some feedback. There were few posters, so we did a little introductory session for people not among the plenary speakers (some who submitted a poster, some who didn't). I think it was successful in fostering discussions for those who submitted posters. Thanks for all who answered here, and who helped us choose this option.<issue_comment>username_1: Depending on how focused the conference is, you could do a guided poster session which I've seen used for larger conferences. Assign people to group to attend all the posters on x topic or sub-specialty led by a senior conference attendee or volunteer. Think of the poster group leaders in the same way as your think of session chairs - introduce the poster presenters and ask questions if no one else does.
The speed dating idea is also an excellent way to get people to interact in a structured way and fairly easy to set up depending on the space, number of attendees, and the amount of time. Assign people to group **A** or group **B** when they enter. Imagine one long table: All the **A**s sit on one side. All the **B**s on the opposite side. 1 minute may be too short. 5 minutes is a good amount of time to have both parties speak and exchange information. After 5 minutes, ring a bell or an alarm and have all of **A**s move in one direction to the next participant. More than one table? use the same principle but specify the wrap around points [beginning and end]. Lots of space? Set the tables up like a circle and say the people on the inside seats stay seated.
If the conference is indeed as small as you may suggest, an ice breaking event of introductions and interests is a good idea at the beginning of the conference.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: This reminds me of maybe relevant idea. When I went to a summer-school on mathematical physics in Heidelberg, the organizers made a "Gong show". The idea was that everyone had to stand up before the auditorium and introduce themselves, both professionally and personally. The point of the gong was that you got only something like 2 minutes to do so, then the organizer hit the "gong" (he hit a glass with a spoon I guess) meaning you should finish. After that came 2nd gong and after the 3rd you had to go off stage. This was very nice as even the speakers attended this event and introduced themselves.
Moreover it really helped that we were given as a part of the conference materials printed list of names and email addresses so we could take notes on who is who.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: As some of you may have heard, <NAME> recently published a paper in JAMA describing the US health care reforms ([link](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2533698)). First of all, I am not trying to start a discussion on the validity of the content of the paper.
Maybe I am overreacting, but as an academic, that specific publication raises a number of concerns. Within scientific research and publishing we have a number of ethical principles that should always be adhered to (e.g., authorship, conflicts of interest, plagiarism, ...). When I look at that publication, I can't help but wonder about a number of things, such as:
1. **Authorship**: Obama is listed as sole author on the manuscript. I personally highly doubt that he has done all of the research and writing himself. That constitutes a problem in publication ethics, as is often discussed at length on this site. He does name a couple of people in the acknowledgements, but in my opinion *these people* should have been authors while Obama should've been in the acknowledgements. Quoting the acknowledgements:
>
> I thank <NAME>, PhD, and <NAME>, PhD, who assisted with
> planning, writing, and data analysis. I also thank <NAME>, MA; <NAME>, BA; <NAME>, MPP; <NAME>, BA; and <NAME>, MS, who assisted with editing the manuscript. All of the individuals who assisted with the preparation of the manuscript are employed by the Executive Office of the President.
>
>
>
2. **Conflicts of interest**: the paper essentially "finds" that the reforms done by the Obama administration are a good thing. Of course Obama will say his reforms are good, yet this was not explicitly disclosed in the conflict of interest statement.
3. **Political papers**: the article is published as a *special communications*, which requires prior inquiry before submission. I feel that this type of paper does not fit into a scientific journal. It's fine to do politics, but I feel it should be done elsewhere.
I am genuinely left wondering whether papers like this one are good or not. While I applaud the idea of scientific papers coming from policymakers, the above mentioned issues (and others) are significant.
My question: are such papers in scientific venues OK or not?<issue_comment>username_1: * **Authorship**: This one is messy. The [JAMA instructions](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=202118) say *Authorship credit should be based only on (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; and (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (3) final approval of the version to be published* based on the acknowledgements, I think there is a case that <NAME>, PhD, and <NAME>, PhD could be authors for their contributions to *planning, writing, and data analysis* while those who only edited the manuscript fail the test.
The difficulty is that the JAMA requires written permission from everyone named in the acknowledgements. For whatever reason, the contributors did not feel they deserved authorship. It is possible that they were bullied out of authorship. Universities, and I am hoping the White House, have systems in place to handle this type of bullying. In the absence of any evidence wrongdoing, I think we need to assume that credit was fairly given.
* **Political papers**: This is also a little messy. I think good scholarly journals should include non-research papers (as long as they are clearly mark something like *special communications*) that likely have broad appeal to the readership. I think journals should strive to keep readers up to date on important issues in the field, even if it is not original research. I also think journals should actively engage in activities that will bring wider attention to their respective field. I think the specific paper falls well within the scope of [JAMA](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=202118) which includes *all subjects that relate to the practice of medicine and the betterment of public health worldwide.* What makes things messy is that in addition to *Special Communications* [JAMA](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=202118) also publishes *Controversies* in a point-counterpoint and *Health Law and Ethics*, both of which may have been better fits. Given the partisanship surrounding obmacare a *Controversies* may have been a fairer way to present the issues.
* **Conflicts of interest**: The [JAMA instructions](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=202118) say *A conflict of interest may exist when an author (or the author's institution or employer) has financial or personal relationships that could inappropriately influence (or bias) the author's decisions, work, or manuscript.* and I don't think that being the originator of an idea counts as a personal relationship that would qualify as a conflict of interest.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: My thoughts:
* Authorship: This is probably the most problematic one, as it seems unlikely that this was entirely written by the President, especially given the acknowledgements. But it's also possible that the framework was written by the President, and what's being acknowledged is editorial assistance, talking over the idea with experts, etc. Especially for a position piece, I don't think that's overly troubling - the piece is clearly "President Obama's perspective on things".
* Conflict of Interest: This one I think is a non-issue. "Cares a lot about something" isn't a conflict of interest. Even "considers this the major accomplishment of his career" isn't a conflict of interest.
* Political papers: **"the article is published as a special communications, which requires prior inquiry before submission."** What makes you think it wasn't? I doubt the White House just sent off a paper to JAMA on a lark. If your objection is that JAMA said yes...well, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that. JAMA is the journal of an academic society - one that takes political stances. Public health and medicine are inherently political fields - an editorial calling for more preparedness for Zika is political, as an example. This is part of a series examining one of the largest changes to the American medical system...what venue is more appropriate than the Journal of the American Medical Association?
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: The authorship and conflict of interest problems are very troubling to me.
I see authorship questions as a matter of *academic honesty*. To not include an author or add an unearned authorship is an implicit lie about how the research was conducted. "Who *actually* did this?" is a critical question in any study, as only those people can actually say the methods or valid or that the study was done at all. From the perspective of scientific witnessing, only the person who *actually did the work* can say what was done, or if it was done at all. To have an author who didn't actually do the work saying what was done reduces the paper to ***heresay***, it's just someone saying what they heard was done.
So to have a single author on this paper implies that Obama *personally did* the majority of the work in this paper, which seems likely to be untrue and thus, **academically dishonest**.
Also, Obama lists himself as the ***corresponding author*** on this paper. Which means it seems that he will be personally handling requests for materials. I somehow suspect that it might be difficult to get a timely response to requests for materials and data.
The conflict of interest issues are also important, but others have already addressed these better. He clearly has a vested interest in the outcomes of this work, and they don't even bother to mention it.
What makes me a bit angry about this is that it reduces something *serious* that scientists work hard to do right to something which is just PR. Authorship comes with responsibilities, and I have doubts about how seriously that's being taken.
Let's all hope this doesn't become a trend.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I've been working on several research project these years, and it looks like a normal position paper[1] to my eye. A very well written one, given the standards. Regarding your specific concerns:
1. **Authorship**
This one is the more intriguing, as the norm usually is quite the opposite[2] and you'll expect to find one author from each strong University/Research Centre involved to be listed. But talking about strength, Who's at the level of the POTUS individually and the White House as an organization? Being all of them part of the same "Research Centre" just confirms the rule of listing one (THE one in this case)
2. **Conflicts of interest** This is very normal. Position papers are written by the people that are funded to research about the topic.
3. **Political papers** I wouldn't surprise if I found position papers on every journal, not only in JAMA. At least I found some examples in CS conferences (I know, proceedings are not journals) where the "next grant research project" are presented.
[1] "*A position paper presents an arguable opinion about an issue. The goal of a position paper is to convince the audience that your opinion is valid and worth listening to. Ideas that you are considering need to be carefully examined in choosing a topic, developing your argument, and organizing your paper.*" <https://web.archive.org/web/20070316023144/homepages.uhwo.hawaii.edu/~writing/position.htm>
[2] mandatory joke: <http://researchinprogress.tumblr.com/post/73499257618/authors-popping-up-to-be-listed-for-a-project>
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I have been involved in two volunteering groups for the past two years and I'm not sure If I should ever mention it in the SOP/CV.
Should I mention it in one or both my SOP and CV? Also, how detailed should I write on the type of activity/nature of the work/vision/reasoning/accomplishments, etc.
Note: I'm applying for Electrical and Computer Engineering for a master's degree.
The volunteering work is totally unrelated to the degree. The activities are focused on aiding homeless and abused animals<issue_comment>username_1: I see nothing wrong in mentioning that on your resume even if it is unrelated. If you have enough place on your 1-2 page resume, you can put it.
In my eyes, It shows that you are a passionate, social and informed person and not just a (sitting in front of the computer) geek.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I would recommend against mentioning unrelated volunteer work in one's statement of purpose---after all, you have said that it is unrelated to the career that you are intending to pursue. If it *were* directly linked, then of course it would be useful to mention it.
Likewise, there is no space for this type of work in any of the main sections of an academic CV: this isn't like applying to college, where you are encouraged to list a bunch of extracurricular activities to show your breadth and interesting personality. Graduate admissions is instead more typically about showing that you have the mix of skills, drive, and focus necessary to succeed in you intended program.
It is often the case, however, that people will have some sort of "other significant experiences" section at the very end of their CV in which they put miscellaneous things that they think are important. If you feel that your volunteer work is an important ingredient in understanding you as a potential professional, then this is the appropriate place to include a brief note. It may help you if it catches the eye of somebody who finds it significant, and it is unlikely to hurt you.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> Should I mention it in one or both my SOP and CV?
>
>
>
Yes, in the CV (shows you're well rounded and well enough organized to keep up with a commitment outside of school), but not in the SOP (because it's unrelated) -- unless this particular experience was fundamental in motivating you to want to go to grad school.
>
> Also, how detailed should I write on the type of activity/nature of the work/vision/reasoning/accomplishments, etc.
>
>
>
The whole thing should fit on two (maximum three) lines.
If you have ever done any other volunteer work, you can make a whole section for Volunteer Work.
Alternatively you could include it under Work Experience, and then in the description make it clear that it was a volunteer position.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: Impact factors exist to quantify the "impact of a paper."
Does a similar metric exist for quantifying the pace of change (obviously determined by quantity of high-impact factor papers) in a particular field (physics, in particular)?<issue_comment>username_1: I don't think that is any meaningful metric.
Take medicine, for example. It is a very conservative, slow moving field, and yet, one of the fields that publishes the most. On the other end we have things like computer vision and machine learning research, that publish a relatively small share, but are advancing at an astonishing rate (for example, in deep learning, almost everything older than 5 years is completely outdated now).
If you want a more useful metric of pace of change one could look at the number of research level books relative to the normal volume of journal publications. Writing a book takes a long time, and only makes sense in fields that are going to remain stable for a few years; but I am not aware of anyone keeping track of this.
[Source](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2909426/pdf/11192_2010_Article_202.pdf)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: While not global and not generally used, if at all, the [UK Research Excellence Framework (REF)](http://www.ref.ac.uk/) divided research into [36 fields](http://results.ref.ac.uk/Results/SelectUoa) and assessed the "excellence" of "every" university in the UK. From this, the ["research power"](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ref2014/ref2014-results/UCL-REF2014-Results/research-power) can be calculated. While there is no agreed upon standard, it is something like the ‘grade point average’ [GPA]) multiplied by the full-time equivalent (FTE) number of researchers submitted. While this is usually used to create league tables of departments or universities, there is no reason one could not create a league table of fields that ignores the university.
That said, it is important to note that most academics, I believe, would argue there is no reason to create such a meaningless number.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Although far from perfect,
[**Citation half life**](http://admin-apps.webofknowledge.com/JCR/help/h_ctdhl.htm) is one citation-based indicator often used to quantify how quickly a field or journal is moving. It basically looks at how long a paper takes to get half of all its citations. So for example, a fast moving field might have a citation half-life of 4 years, whereas a slower moving field might have a citation half-life of over 10 years.
In the Journal Citation Reports you can see these values for each journal.
Of course, there is the question of what exactly this means. For example, I believe fields like statistics and mathematics have much longer citation half lives, perhaps because seminal articles remain important.
Understanding citation half-life is also important when you want to compare impact factors for journals across fields, or compare citation counts and h-indexes across scholars.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: In preparation for future PhD work I came up with some ideas & protypes for software components that might later become scientifically relevant, both from a CS and application viewpoint. My natural reflex to having a working proof of concept for an idea is to put it on Github under GPL.
However all (or most) of my colleagues strongly recommend against that before I haven't built any scientific credit based on that code. Their reasoning is that someone else might "steal" the idea and "usurp" the scientific precedence.
Given that the scientific and open source communities do seem a bit detached in places this appears plausible.
Does anyone have actual experience from a similar situation? Did anyone ever have scientific credit stolen from open-sourced code? The other questions, namely [19348](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/19348/when-should-you-publish-code-on-github-work-in-progress-or-after-publication) and [17740](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17740/open-source-the-project-code-before-or-after-publication), don't even mention the appropriation issue. But when it's not an issue, why are my colleagues so frightened about it?<issue_comment>username_1: If you make your code public, you need to think about the consequences. If your goal is to contribute toward academic research, the GPL should cover you just fine if someone wants to use your work. Remember, this means people can (and might) use your code for their own work. This doesn't stop someone from taking your incomplete idea and running with it. However, it can ensure that you are credited for your contribution (at least in the codebase) and that your code cannot be monetized for someone else's benefit. But remember, this is the internet we're talking about. Not everyone is conscientious.
I generally go by the belief that an idea is worthless without execution. Thus, if someone beats you to the punch, it sucks but that's life. Nevertheless, the best way to curate a good idea is to get input from others, hopefully some of whom may be more knowledgeable about the topic than you or have different takes on it than you. Therefore, it's a cost-benefit trade-off. You should decide whether the risk of someone completing your idea outweighs the potential improvements you may make from sharing your work and receiving feedback. If so, don't make it public. If not, share it with the world and seek informed feedback.
I am personally inclined to go with the latter case. There's a lot of stuff out there. The chances someone steals your ideas are often pretty slim.
To answer why people are often so afraid: I think most people have tunnel vision about their work. Because everyone is an expert on their own work, it seems pretty easy to them. They've also put so much time in to it that even the most minute chance of someone taking their idea frightens them. Having read plenty of OPC (other people's code), it's usually a pretty high bar for entry in order to actually try to steal someone's ideas.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I have heard anecdotal stories from people whose research ideas got "stolen" (if there is such a thing), but never in the context of someone looking at code on github.
So I would guess that the chances of someone randomly copying your idea from your public code on github are pretty slim.
However, the questions can be asked the other way around. What do you gain from making the source code publicly available? Any (outside) interest in the code would likely only come if you publish your idea in a journal or other type of publication.
If you want to collaborate with people in your group via github, an option might be to make the repository private (which is free with an academic email address, as I mentioned in my comment above).
Upvotes: 2
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2016/07/13
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently graduated from PhD and right now I am working in a consulting company. My manager asked me to write a proposal to get public funding to do research. The topic is computer science and semiconductor industry. Since the company is located in Germany, I can apply for funding institutes in Germany and Europe. However, I have difficulty in finding funding institutes to support research in the industrial section.
So, I am looking forward for your suggestions and help.<issue_comment>username_1: In the US through our National Science Foundation, you'd need to partner with a university who would, at least in name, lead the project. All NSF programs have eligibility requirements, and those don't usually include private non-educational entities as leads. Also, you'd need to openly publish your results. In the end, due to the Bayh-Dole Act, the university probably has the right to patent and license for sale the results, but your company would probably not be able to do so itself.
I assume that the EU and Germany have similar constraints on government grant funding, but I'm not 100% sure. It would be worth looking at some prior EU and German grants and see if they do.
You could also look at trying to satisfy government contracts in the defense industry. There are whole multi-billion dollar defense contractors in the US (Raytheon, Lockheed-Martin, etc.) that do research on behalf of the military here to deliver much more than guns and planes and such. The government frequently wants algorithms (e.g., weather prediction, signal processing), etc. to satisfy our defense needs. I suspect that yours do, too.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In Germany it is typical to apply for public funding through the federal ministries such as BMWI or BMBF. You can look up funding programs at the BMWI Förderdatenbank.
You will find some information about the programs of the BMBF [here](https://www.bmbf.de/pub/Foerderberatung_des_Bundes_2015.pdf) (in german).
Usually the ministries have certain topics open which you can apply for with a consortium of different industrial and academic partners. At least that's how we get public funding.
See [here](http://www.tuvpt.de/fileadmin/downloads/FB_Leichtbau.pdf) for a currently open call for application.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: The European research funding is managed trough the [cordis](http://cordis.europa.eu/home_en.html) platform. One of the current open programs is [Horizon 2020](http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/high-performance-computing-hpc).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: the best way is to look at the financial and funding structure of the institution that you would like to ask for cooperation. This information or data are available through commissioner for information of public importance. You need to be aware, that there is law in Germany that if institution is funded 100% from Government, they are not allowed to make profit outside of institutional funding,
I suggest you to find institution in countries of EU and Europe that give legal right to institution to cooperate and accept grants and cooperation from a private sector. Usually, Czech republic or Poland, or maybe Serbia that is outside of EU but still in Europe have these laws, that basically gives full autonomy with who they will cooperate and how.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently received a review of my paper from a journal. Two referees suggested some changes and one referee just rejected the paper claiming that this study was not necessary. The editor decided a major revision. I revised my paper and two referees appreciated the rebuttal and paper while one referee still rejects.
Now, the editor gave me five days time to submit a revision. I sent. Is there a chance of acceptance?<issue_comment>username_1: Unless there are some general reasons to impose a deadline on your paper, such as that it is intended for a special issue, I would strongly guess that your paper is practically accepted and the editor only wanted you to apply some minor changes. I only ever heard of such short deadlines when the only things that needed to be changed were minor and quick to do.
If the editor expected you to present changes and arguments to sway the third referee’s opinion, they would have given you more time. If the editor had decided to follow the third referee’s recommendation, they would have rejected the paper immediately and not further waste your and their time with it.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Usually, if a single review is "reject" (for a journal), a paper is rejected straight away. Since you have been given a chance to amend the paper, the editor must have decided that the opinion of the dissenting reviewer is for some reason irrelevant (he did not understand the paper, his comments/requests are unreasonable, etc.). Short deadline is unusual as well, perhaps, as some other asked, there is special issue in play?
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: [The NSF now allows](http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf15001/sigchanges.jsp) their funding to be used to pay for childcare expenses for scientists attending conferences in the United States. I take it that this means that organizers of NSF-sponsored conferences can offer to reimburse the childcare costs of attendees.
I periodically help to run conferences which are funded by the NSF, and I would like to offer funding for childcare to help parents attend the conferences I run. What should I know about childcare?
From what I have read on the internet, it seems that parents would like conference organizers to make all the arrangements in advance. However, as a nonparent I question my ability to do this effectively. I know nothing about daycare. Moreover, I would somewhat prefer to make sure that childcare will actually be required before I take the time to arrange it.
Is it enough to advertise "Funding for childcare will be available; if you require childcare, please contact us by [date] so we can make arrangements", to encourage parents to use the internet/telephone to find a provider they like, and to reimburse for the bills? Or is it important to go beyond this in some way?<issue_comment>username_1: I believe thinking about, and preferrably getting data on, the ages of children who would be likely to accompany their parents, would help you answering the question. An older child (say, 7 and older) has vastly different needs from a toddler.
Speaking from experience, a short-term daycare solution for children under 3-4 is likely to cause more frustration for both kids and parents than it solves. I would strongly recommend against offering this.
Another question you might like to consider is whether people travelling with children are likely to also bring their partner. I would guess "yes". If so, perhaps you could use the childcare money to somehow compensate the partner for (presumably) taking unpaid leave from work? This would be a perfect solution for infants/toddlers, and especially if a mother who is still breastfeeding (or has a small child with very strong maternal attachment) wants to attend.
I guess you could offer these as complimentary solutions: centralised daycare/playgroup system for children above (e.g) 4, compensating partner for travelling along for children under 4 (or with special needs).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: What an excellent question! Of course, the best way to proceed depends in part on the size of the conference. If the conference is fairly small, such that you are unsure whether ANY participant will need childcare, perhaps include the advertisement as you've written. If the conference is larger, a solution arranged prior to the advertisement might relieve headaches for yourself, the organizing staff, and (of course) the conference participants.
KiddieCorps is one company that offers event-based childcare. I've also seen advertisements for childcare or activities offered through the conference hotel. One such arrangement was for the Epidemics conference in Clearwater, FL in 2015, but the conference website has switched over to 2017 details and I don't have a link. For either of these options, perhaps speak with the service about the best way to advertise and about any limitations.
It is likely difficult for an individual parent to arrange a close or on-site location, so at a minimum, arrange this and prominently advertise its existence to attendees (<http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2014/08/new-initiatives-offer-child-care-solutions-traveling-scientists>). For nursing mothers, proximity is particularly important (<http://thefederalist.com/2014/11/13/does-your-professional-conference-welcome-mothers/>).
Good luck!
Upvotes: 0
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2016/07/13
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<issue_start>username_0: The problem is pretty much the title. I have a bachelor and master degree in applied math. I have been assigned a small problem to start with, from a professor (who is considered very good in my field) who is willing to give me a reference, which in turn I need in order to apply for a PhD position. Our common goal is for me to work gradually on the problem and, if I solve it, produce a published paper. This is a huge matter for me as do not yet have any publications, and it will (I believe) boost my chances to obtain a PhD position. The problem is that I have been working for a month on this and I have not reached an answer. So, considering that he said that this first problem would be pretty easy to deal with, I am really wondering what to do.
I need an answer on this: Should I admit to this person that is highly accomplished that I am having difficulties at what he asked from me? or should I tell him all I have got up till now even if that is not even close to a solution?<issue_comment>username_1: I don't know why you think there are any options *other than* both. Of course you shouldn't *just* say "I'm having difficulties, full stop" without talking about what you have tried. Of course you shouldn't *just* say "this is what I did" without also talking about where you're stuck.
You sound like you're worried about making the best impression on this professor. The best impression you can make here is showing that you have the maturity to deal with doing research: to work hard on a problem, be aware of both what you've accomplished and what you haven't, and be able to ask for help where you need it.
There are bunch of things that could be happening:
* You went off in the wrong direction, or missed something, and the professor will be able to help get you back on the right track.
* The problem is actually harder than the professor thought, and explaining why you're stuck will make that clear to them.
* The problem is harder than *you* thought, and the professor expected you to need some help.
In all of those cases, the absolute best thing to do is honestly present the work you've done. The less you worry about framing things to make you look good, the better you actually end up looking.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I am a professor of (theoretical) mathematics at [a state university in the US](http://alpha.math.uga.edu/~pete/). In recent years I have advised a number of graduate students: so far, one master's student and three PhD students have written theses under my direction, and I currently have two PhD students.
Just now I tried to look back over these six students and recall if any of them ever just solved a problem I gave them with no intermediate discussion or help from me. This definitely happened once: one of my students did something brilliant over the course of a couple of weeks that became the main core of his PhD thesis. There is another case where a group of students working in a research seminar with me quickly and completely independently came up with a clever, computationally-intensive way of answering a question soon after I raised it in the seminar. And my first student was exceptionally strong: to my mind his thesis work was done mostly independent of me, but that did not stop him from asking a steady stream of technical questions both of me and his co-advisor.
I could complement each of the stories above by half a dozen more involving the same students, in which they got very substantial help from me, or -- even more commonly -- simply abandoned the problem because they did not have the prerequisites / could not make progress / was not to their taste / was too difficult, too technical or otherwise poorly chosen by me. I won't tell such explicit stories, of course, but you should be aware that virtually every graduate student in mathematics could. In my opinion, thinking that you need to talk to your advisor only after you've solved a problem (even a "small" one, or even a single step of a problem) is a major misunderstanding of what the student / advisor process is like in mathematics. I don't know how it is in other academic fields, but as a student in mathematics when you start (trying to) do research **you don't have a clue**. Somehow you need to get from not having a clue to research success in the span of several years: you do that by getting *a lot of help* from your advisor.
When I was a PhD student (at one of the top programs in the world, with one of the most eminent advisors in the world) I was very independent. I would usually meet with my advisor *less than once a month*. When I met with him more often, I felt like I was telling him an incomplete story: you asked me about this, and I am trying this, and it is starting to look like it won't work, so maybe next I will try *that*...I wanted to go through the entire process of acquiring background and trying to solve a problem in all the ways I could think of by myself: by talking to him sooner than that, I felt I wasn't giving him my best effort. In retrospect I really think I played this mostly wrong: my approach fanned the flames of my independence, but at the cost of much of the help and insight I could have gotten from my world-renowned advisor. In recent years my professional confidence has grown a lot, and I am much more willing to tell someone "You know, I thought about what you told me [for, say, a day or two] and couldn't work it out. Here's where I got stuck. Can you tell me a little more about...?"
Now I work with PhD students and often wish they would check in more often -- both more often chronologically and more often in terms of steps of their own thought process. I've had so many meetings where it turned out that students were spinning their wheels for 4-6 weeks on something that gets cleared up immediately upon meeting: either I resolve the point they're stuck on (there is no shame in that, by the way; I would much rather a student spend three months on a problem, getting stuck every so often and allowing me to unstick them than spending three years solving the problem completely independently) or they misunderstood what I told them and are going down the wrong track or it turns out that what I suggested definitively doesn't work.
The point is that getting help from your advisor -- substantially and often -- is much of the value gained from being in a PhD program at all. You should not at all feel embarrassed about asking your advisor for help. Instead you should work on asking for help in a way which shows knowledge and professionalism: don't just say "I'm stuck." Explain where you're stuck. Better yet: when you leave any meeting with your advisor you should have been given at least one specific thing to try out, and when you come back you should report on that (very small, usually) thing. If it worked...but seriously, it usually won't work, in which case you should endeavor to try to explain *why* it didn't work. Just coming and saying "I couldn't do this" to your advisor is not very helpful. At best, it is liable to elicit your advisor telling you what she thinks will work to solve the problem: this could be helpful...or she could solve the problem before your eyes.
Let me finally say that most thesis advisors I know have relatively poor ideas about the true difficulty of a problem and how long it will take a student to solve it. (To be fair, you can give the same problem to two students of ostensibly equal background and abilities, and very often one of them will spend months or years longer on it than the other.) An advisor who thinks that a problem is "quick" or "easy" probably means that it is quick or easy *for her*. Also, there may well be (and arguably should be, at least eventually) unforeseen difficulties. Finally, academics are famous for underestimating the amount of time it takes to do anything: the same advisor who is looking down her nose a little bit at you for taking several months to solve an "easy" problem may well have just sent an email explaining that her referee report will be several months late.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_3: Ok, not gonna lie here...I have degrees in RTVF & English, and math set off my panic response in my lovely little anxiety bubble I hid quite well (with the exception of people trying to tutor me in math - there was no hiding it then.)
I do, however, see parallels to my writing efforts to get published, gain traction with those for whom my career was being nurtured, etc. I apologize right off the bat if this is terribly simplistic or irrelevant to your quandary! "Occam's Razor Theory" popped into my head...& all I can think about are all the times I went through the looong litany of ways to achieve my desired end result, always with that notion that at I could quit, when all along, I was missing the point - simplicity is the answer to overthinking.
Everything I'd ever learned from my parents AND the best educators I'd been fortunate enough to have had take me under a wing. That advice was ALWAYS when struggling, seek out that person for whom the work is to be validated, or that mentor somewhere that can help you refocus, etc. Because it's not a bother to them...
No matter the level you ultimately land in a career, there will always be need for collaboration. No one truly goes it alone. And from what I have heard about such things as your current work, there are those who take months if not years to complete - if this is not one of those kinds of taskers that allow for that allotment of time, all the more reason to go to the person in the know for help. It will not be a blight on your abilities, rather a star on your wisdom in doing what needs to be done & getting that info from the right person. (Let's face it, the "right person" getting asked for a bit of help never insulted that "right person!")
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Even though quite good answers to the question were provided I will share my story as I hope some people might find it insightful. I am a PhD student (applied math, mostly quantum related stuff as I did study theoretical physics before) just finishing the first year and what I will share is what happened to me for the past few months.
During a conversation with my advisor (and I guess it was not even proper meeting, but just some talking in the corridor of the institute) she told me that I should probably try to prove this one thing, that it should hold. I did that quite fast as it really was very easy. Then I did study some literature, mostly recent papers and I realized that probably even the converse should hold. As it usually goes, this was way harder to prove, but I was unable to find a counter-example, I was capable of developing some idea how the proof should go almost immediately but for a week or so I was not capable or putting together the actual proof.
When I did talk to my advisor during our weekly meeting I did present my idea on how the proof should go based on some assumptions and I admitted that until now I was not able to prove the result properly. Since this was a problem I did come up with myself she did not have an idea how to prove it, but she pointed out that I should look up exposed faces in the literature. Literally, she told me something like: "Look up exposed faces in Barvinok's book". Just that. Even this simple sentence helped me to finish the proof (if it is correct, I have to wait until august to ask her about that).
The morale is that you should talk to you advisor no matter what. In my humble opinion the reason is that those people after working in mathematics for years have a lot of experiences and can point out useful things even if they can not provide the full answer.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: I would like to to add to the previous answers by offer one extra piece of advice. Before admitting to your advisor that you are stuck, try to find some tangentially related problems and make a little bit of progress on those. Your advisor will be happy that you have something, and it also shows initiative. It will possibly give your advisor more ways to direct you in the future.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: > Our common goal is for me to work gradually on [a small] problem and, if I solve it, produce a published paper.
>
A published paper pretty much implies a problem not previously solved. "small" in that context means something like well-confined. However, the well-confinedness is a guess. Fermat's Last Theorem looks like something that should be doable with congruences, and pulling something off with congruences is a lot of routine and skill. Small problem. Now it has been proven that within a given framework of congruences, Fermat's Last Theorem is not provable (not false, merely not provable). This proof ruling out a whole infinite class of "small problem solutions" is, in turn, not actually a small problem.
It turns out that even though FLT seems very much in the ballpark of a lot of "small problems", it's actually on a very slim borderline of "true by a very small margin", requiring a whole lot of new techniques to reel in.
You haven't reeled in your fish yet. Nobody else apparently did either which may just mean that it's a fish in a boring lake nobody visits. But it can still be a big fish whether or not it would be edible.
Maybe you just need somebody to show you a different angle of pulling the line. Maybe you need an entirely different reel. Maybe the best thing you can hope to do is to get a good size estimate of the fish to alert bigger fishers.
Your have an advisor, not a task master. This is a perfect point to get his advice. As a researcher, you are expected to spend your time well. When you stop making progress, you are not doing so. Now sometimes you just need to get stuck in a certain place for long enough in order to find a solution. But that's expensive, and you should make it count. Getting stuck somewhere where a more experienced person can point you out in 5 minutes is not making it count. You may or may not be there.
So: discuss.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_7: The answer by <NAME> is beautiful and kind and reflects a lot of real in the trenches time. I will just add a little perspective (more from the worker side, not the manager...never been a prof but did my "union card").
First: Realize that the incentives of professors and students are different. A tenured prof in a research setting wants to solve dramatic problems that get him prizes. These are butt-hard. There are profs I know who have burned multiple students in a row having them bang their heads against a problem that they didn't solve (in some cases wasting years of their time and not getting the union card). For the student this is a calamity. For the prof, it is not. Now, I absolutely don't think your prof is doing this. But you need to realize it is an extreme example to show the difference of student and prof.
Second: I have learned doing a lot of new, hard problems as a consultant that it is easier to be stupid early. A month is not the end of the world (for an academic) but it would be a calamity in the business world. In general at the beginning, you want to interact and show something, progress, effort, difficulty, etc. There is a slick way to show it ("here is my progress" versus "here I am stuck"). But in any case, it is better to interact early and get redirected early than later. This is not just an academia thing, it is a life thing!
I actually do have a huge value for the Message to Garcia (read it). You don't want to have no initiative. But at same time if you are stuck...interact early.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I very recently submitted a manuscript to a journal and found that I had mislabeled y axis on three panels of a many panel figure (put relative activity (%), instead of fold change in phosphorylation). Additionally I noticed that instead of PIP2, I put PIP3 in a signaling schematic. do you think the paper will be rejected for such errors if all other things are okay?<issue_comment>username_1: I agree with <NAME>. and believe that, unless the typo has a very negative effect on the logical foundations of your paper, it will not cause the rejection of your paper.
Also, usually, you can contact the support staff of your journal and ask them if they can help you fix the issue. I made a rather similar mistake in a chart in one of my papers and for that, I contacted the support staff of the journal (published by Elsevier). After discussing the matter with them, they asked for the correct version of the chart, asked the editor of the journal if a modification is allowed and modified my submission.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: The correct course of action will be to e-mail the editor, outlining the typos and providing corrections. You should note that the typos have no influence on the conclusions or any other significant parts of the article.
You should do this as soon as possible, so the reviewers are also made aware of this. Assuming that your article doesn't get accepted right away with no changes required, you will have a chance to correct the errors in a later revision.
The worst thing to do would be to do nothing, or doing it too late. One thing that you do not want to do to have the article published with the errors in it. You have two options then, either ignore it and let the errors exist forever in the scientific record (worst option) or submit a correction which will be published as a separate article and will be referred to from the original article. Some publishers will actually correct the original article, but there's no guarantee this will happen. Either way, it's better to make the corrections as soon as possible. Which is now.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/07/13
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<issue_start>username_0: In some subfields of Computer Science, usually the order of authors in papers indicate the importance of contributions of authors to a paper. I am currently contemplating the possibility of pursuing a PhD degree. Accordingly, my question is, when applying for PhD positions, do admission committees consider (and if so, how do they evaluate) the order of authors in papers that I have published. Is the number of papers in which I have been the first author an important factor for admission committees?<issue_comment>username_1: Primary authorship is best. However, any authorship when applying to a PhD is good.
(Depending on the field and subfield, being listed first indicates being the primary author).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: It depends. Authorship order doesn't always indicate who did the most work or the most important work on a paper in many fields. Some fields are alphabetical. Some fields have the lab leader or the person who won the gran *last*. Hopefully the admission committee understands the norms of their own field and the field you are coming from (if they are different) to be able to make a good evaluation.
I've never served on a PhD admissions committee, but I understand that they generally will try to determine your contribution to your publications when evaluating your application.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I was wondering if there still exist universities (in the US or in Europe) where one can obtain a PhD in Philosophy by only presenting an original and well-developed work around a subject or an author.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes. Many UK Universities have it in their regulations to permit the award of a degree by prior publication.
However, that does not mean you can just submit your publication and expect to receive a doctorate! The regulations permit the university to recognise someone, usually already associated with the institution, who has made some publication of academic merit made by a non-academic that has received some form of public praise to be rewarded and recognised by the university for their work. This is distinct from a degree *honoris causa* which may be awarded to honour the person who has done some deed that is not a publication of equivalent worth to a thesis.
An example, of my personal knowledge, is someone who spent their life studying local flora and published a significant catalogue of plants as an amature botanist. The academic nature of the work was recognised by the University with the award of a Phd by prior publication. I have also known it happen to a local playwright for a lifes work.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: A lot is hidden in the word `presenting` in your question.
If by presenting, you mean that you just show it to them, they say "wow" and they give you a degree, then I severely doubt any such institution exists.
If by presenting, you mean that you apply to a university that allows degree by prior work and show them that you've published papers of sufficient quality in reputable journals and presses, then yes.
To back this up, look at for instance, [Kent](https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/types/published-works.html), [Glasgow](http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_238082_en.pdf), [Bradford](http://www.bradford.ac.uk/media/academicqualityunit/documents/regulationsordinances/Regulation-for-PHD-by-Published-Work-revised-May13docx.pdf). It's not that you've got something original you did, it's that you've published enough. At the same time, note that *in principle* publishing in a journal does not require an advanced degree or institutional affiliation. When full double-blind refereeing is used, no one would even know.
(The same system is also used at times in Japan where it is called *ronpaku*)
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2016/07/14
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<issue_start>username_0: For example, when discussing red-black trees in lecture, is it appropriate to use the phrase "Black Nodes Matter?"
The proof that red-black trees are balanced relies heavily on the property that each downward path originating from a node contains the same number of black nodes. Given this, I am wondering if it is appropriate to say #BlackNodesMatter.<issue_comment>username_1: This would be very unfortunate. People across the political spectrum have strong feelings about the words Black Lives Matter. Indeed, the subject matter of the movement is literally life and death. It's not something that should be made light of in mixed company, let alone in a classroom.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: The joke is in poor taste and inappropriate to a professional environment.
As pointed out by others, this might either be taken as moderate to serious offence in some places and just misunderstood in others, hence it is unlikely to achieve any of the intended effects. Places where most people would laugh wholeheartedly at the joke are probably places where I would not feel too comfortable staying.
While I agree that anything can theoretically be made light, this strongly depend on context and company.
As a general rule, if you feel like it is a good idea to check the appropriateness of a joke with somebody, then the joke is not appropriate.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: First I would like to mention that this specific joke would be very offensive to some people in the US and I think it is a very bad idea to use it.
However, to answer the question more generally, I think the appropriateness of joking about a charged subject in a lecture is very culture-dependent. In some countries, the worst-case scenario is that such a joke would be dismissed by some students as bad taste without any serious repercussions. However, in the US, I would personally either be extremely careful what I joke about or refrain from joking altogether, since there is a low threshold for what is considered offensive and repercussions can be very serious (just to be clear - I am not passing judgement on this). This is especially true if you are a non-native in the US, as you may not even be aware of what is considered offensive (I have seen this happen several times).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Besides for potentially offending your audience, a joke like the one you suggest can also detract from the goal of your presentation, which is presumably to inform or educate your audience.
For example, a couple of years ago I got this email, addressed to all of the authors on a paper I co-authored:
>
> I wanted to write to say that I’m a big fan of your [REDACTED] work—it is a really cool idea that addresses a real problem, and it was great to see the work in this year’s [NAME OF CONFERENCE]. However, the actual talk as presented really bothered me, and I felt that it was important to write to you. Based on conversations during the breaks and at the end of the day, I know that I’m not the only person who feels this way.
>
>
>
The email went on to say that this person, and apparently others at the conference, thought a joke that was part of the talk (which was delivered by my co-author, and which I hadn't seen before) was sexist. Personally I thought the joke was more stupid than offensive, but I was unhappy with my co-author for using it - because when people talk about my paper during the breaks at a conference, I want them to be talking about the content of the work, not a joke that the presenter made. The joke was a distraction from the real goal of the talk.
Jokes are good when they *support* your goal of educating the audience, but not when they distract from that goal. (And definitely not when they're offensive.)
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: Is the intention to provide an extra knowledge connection that would help students remember the material better?
It seems like it could be helpful in that regard; that'd be a primary benefit ('pro').
Pros should be weighed against cons and the net compared to alternatives.
Are you demeaning the lives of people who are killed by police brutality, or the work of those advocating on their behalf, by calling attention to that movement in this setting? Based on the fact that you asked this question at all, it doesn't sound like you are intending to demean anyone, but whether or not people interpret it that way depends not only on intention but also on audience and context (e.g. classroom mood, what style students have come to expect from you), etc. If your audience receives a demeaning message from that line, that'd be a primary 'con.'
If you are supporting the work of those advocates by calling attention to their cause, as they seek, then your reference would be *helping* the #BlackLivesMatter movement (and whether this is a pro or con probably depends on how you feel about that movement).
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: I agree with many of the previous answers, and the major issue is that it can be offensive and distracting to poke fun at a sensitive and important topic. However, there are several other factors to keep in mind:
1. Whatever you say may be overanalyzed. For example, in your red-black tree example, black nodes particularly matter since they play a special role in the proof. By contrast, "Black Lives Matter" means they matter as much as other lives (despite not being treated as being equally important), not that they matter more than others, so the analogy isn't very compelling. An uncharitable interpretation of your joke is that it's poking fun at or undermining BLM by comparing it to the assertion that black lives are unusually important relative to other lives. If that were the intent, it would make the joke (even) more offensive. Of course the purpose was presumably just to create a striking mnemonic, not to make a political statement, but when you joke about sensitive subjects you should expect to have far more read into your joke than you had intended.
2. It's easy for the class to spin out of control. For example, a student may respond with "Don't red nodes matter too? I think the only fair statement is that all nodes matter." All that point, you really have no good response. It's not wise to go off topic into an actual political discussion, but you're in a messy situation since that response has emphasized your joke and made it even touchier politically (ending the discussion with "all nodes matter" would not be a good idea). If you get a follow up of this sort, I'd recommend apologizing for raising a sensitive issue and explaining that additional jokes and discussion are off topic. In any case, the point is that class members may take the joke further than you did and in a more explicitly political direction, and you shouldn't set up such a situation unless you are prepared to deal with it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: Do not do this. Simply pointing out how nodes are identified as black, and relating it to Black Lives Matters, isn't a joke, it's a basic observation/wordplay. Race and color do not make good wordplay.
Are you African American? If not, don't relate the color of the nodes to someone else's race. In comedy this would be called punching down (a joke at the expense of groups with less power).
-Performing comedian for 6 years.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: The best you're going to get out of a classroom joke like this is a light chuckle.
The worst is that you've badly offended a student.
The risk:reward ratio is pretty heavily biased toward "Just don't."
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: Well, your question almost answers itself:
> Is it appropriate to make a pun that references a highly charged topic in current events, in a lecture on an unrelated subject?
"Highly charged topic" perfectly matches racial slurs and sexist jokes. In particular "highly charged" implies several quite opposed sides with vested interest and emotions.
Which means that some people will likely get similarly offended like some would be with racials slurs or sexist jokes, and their offense is taken for the amusement values of others.
Is it *appropriate?* I think that answers itself. You probably wanted to rather ask whether it nets you sympathies. Maybe it will. But I'd recommend using more appropriate ways to do that.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_10: It's very likely that if you make such a pun you make it a lot harder for the audience to reason rationally about the subject that you are talking about.
Half of your audience might spent 5 minutes thinking about the political implications of your statement instead of the math you are talking about.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/07/14
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm going to be teaching my first course in the fall semester, and I've been trying to think of ways to make the homework benefit the students. One thought I had was to have the homework be due the week following its assignment for full credit, at which point partial solutions would be posted to the course site, or at the following lecture for partial credit. I can think of variants where parts of the assignment could be submitted at each deadline, so if a student figures out how to do problems 1, 3, and 4 but has no idea on problem 2, he can submit the three he figured out for full credit at the first deadline, then use the partial solutions to figure out the last problem and turn it in for partial credit at the second deadline.
What are the benefits and drawbacks for the students and administrators of such a system? Students: Is this a system that you would find helpful? Instructors: Have you tried anything similar in the past, and if so, what were the results?
This is what I've been able to think of so far:
* Administrators
+ (+) Encourages students to look at the solutions
+ (+) Helps homework be a learning experience
+ (-) Requires two sets of solutions if full solutions are posted later
+ (-) Requires more organization, especially if students are allowed to submit on multiple days
* Students
+ (+) Provides an extra resource when working through the assignment
+ (+) Encourages completion of the assignment, which should increase retention because students are using (some) of the knowledge
+ (-) Confusing system
+ (-) Assignments will overlap if assigned weekly<issue_comment>username_1: I think this is a really good idea. Students who have no clue how to solve a problem *need* to figure it out and work through it. If they can't do it initially by themselves, then your partial solution will help them, and they'll get partial credit in exchange.
I will add that judging by you saying it'd be "confusing", that assignments would "overlap", and that you'd need more "organisation" to handle the assignments .... it seems you expect many students to make use of this extra deadline? If so, I think that'd be nonoptimal. The vast majority of the students should deal with the vast majority of the problems as they normally would: working on them, following up on their ideas, solving it, and turning it in on the first deadline. You can ensure this by only giving a very low amount of partial credit if they happen to use the second deadline and your partial solution.
Your system should only be in place for that small subset of students working on a small subset of problems that they truly have no clue what to do with. It should be there to ensure that everyone works through and understands everything (and your partial credit is the reason they'll do this, so while it should be low, it should still be something they're gonna want). If the partial credit is too high, not only will all those weaknesses you mentioned come into effect (very confusing system because now students have to measure the probability of their initial solution being correct versus the partial credit they'll get if they wait till the second deadline, it'll require more organisation since many students will be using this system, and it'll give you many overlapping assignments, again because many students will use it for many problems), you also risk making it very unfair towards the students who worked it out for themselves.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I give weekly assignments and post the full solutions immediately after the assignment is due. However, I also give partial credit (50%) to any assignments turned in after its due date but before the final exam.
I have seen a handful of students utilize this system. Typically they are the ones who normally complete assignments but missed the deadline due to extraneous circumstances. I consider these use-cases to be exactly in the spirit of my policy. Occasionally, I will have a student who submits virtually all of the assignments in the last week of the term. I see this as an unintended consequence of the policy (I would actually prefer to discourage this kind of procrastination).
There are a few downsides from an instructor's point of view:
* There is a higher organizational load than if you enforce a strict deadline. I find the marginal cost of grading a late assignment to be surprisingly high. If assignments came any more frequently than weekly, I am confident my system would become onerous, and the one you propose would be even worse.
* There is a risk that an honest (but poor) on-time effort by a student could be surpassed by a dishonest late effort by another student. I haven't seen this but it is a worry in the back of my mind. I try to avoid this by actively encouraging students who do poorly (worse than 50%) to re-submit after looking at the solutions.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/07/14
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<issue_start>username_0: I have seen far too many people that just cannot or are unwilling to learn due to the subject being rather uninteresting or boring. They tend not to want to learn things they don't understand because it requires effort and dedication.
For example, people wanted me to teach them how to create robots, android apps, games, etc. but when it came to programming and using database, no one really wanted to pay attention or cared about it, and what was worse, they complained about how difficult the assignment was even it was just creating a simple calculator program. I gave them tools to solve the problem. They had everything needed to create the program on their own without hand-holding but it seems like it just wouldn't happen.
Is this due to a lack of experience in teaching based on the method used or is this the student's fault for not even trying to learn? If this looks like a problem with the method of teaching, how should I improve or inspire learning?<issue_comment>username_1: In my opinion, you shouldn't ever try to spend time educating someone without ensuring that the person actually wants to be educated. There's a difference between, say, "wanting to be a programmer" and "wanting to learn how to program". You could ascribe the first sentence to literally **anybody**. Who doesn't want a free skill? It's only the people who also fit the second description that you should educate.
The difficulty is that people usually don't know the difference between those two things. I often don't know it: I once decided I wanted to learn how to play the keyboard. Picked one up, played a few tunes, but could never find myself interested in sitting there for hours and playing the same tune over and over until I had mastered it. Turns out, I didn't really want to learn how to play the keyboard: I only wanted to play it.
So, it's up to the educator to help decide whether the person really wants to learn it. There are a few ways to do it. First of all, be honest: don't advertise your education with what the students will learn, but *how* they'll learn it. Because that's actually what they'll be doing. So when people want you to learn them to teach games, tell them from the get-go what they'll be doing, how terse and repetitive and basic it can be. But then, during the education, ensure that the end goal is always in sight. So if you're teaching somebody to make a game, instead of them applying their skills solving some math problem ("compute the nth prime with property y", e.g.), why not give them a piece of code from an actual game, and have them solve a small, intermediary step - and then show them the result, the before and after effect of their contribution?
TLDR:
1) Students should come to you for how you'll teach them, not for what you'll teach them,
2) During the study, always keep the end goal in sight. Don't let them drown in repetitive theoretic stuff ... let them .... swim in it, I guess, always taking in fresh air whenever they need it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I would say the particular details of this question is a bit vague and hard to assess. Because we will have a hard time knowing/understanding the actual details of some of your statements. (For example exactly how difficult the actual assignment was, what prior knowledge did the students have etc.)
However getting to the actual question: How can you be more inspiring to people learning what they don't understand.
In my opinion there is one major thing that you can recognize in any good teacher that I have had during my studying, both in mandatory school and later in university aswell.
* As a teacher/lecturer, there is a difference between an interest in **your** study, and the interest to **teach** others.
The best teachers I have had always have had one thing in common. They LOVED their subject so much, that they really BURNED for others to realize the beauty in it aswell. As a student, there is such a difference getting an half-assed answer to a question from a lecturer just wanting to get out of there and 'do something important' instead to a lecturer that really takes his/hers time and explains stuff thoroughly to you.
Furthermore, trying to answer a bit of those later examples (as I personally have encountered situations where the teachers expectations clearly was out of reach for us students). I hope that you have some kind of evaluation of your course, why did they find the assignments hard? Were they unprepared? Did you assume them to have some basic knowledge they did not have? It has happened to me , where a teacher assumed us to have a lot of knowledge in programming while we only had taken an introductory course. That teacher was flexible though and added extra lectures in those subject what we had to know and that course turned out rather good in the end.
Still, at the end of the day, you can't magically change people into wanting to learn. You can make your best effort in that your teaching will be fun and inspiring, but at the end of the day, the willingness to learn has to come from the pupil.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: First I would like to state that I do not have decades long experience in teaching other people, but I have decade long experience in making myself learn something.
This is what I often do to help myself stay focused: I read books "from back to front". Not literally, but what I mean is that I first look up what I really want to learn and then go back to study (sometimes not that interesting) things I need to understand to learn the the part I looked up before. This really sets a big sign in my head: you go through this to be able to do that later. And it helps.
I am a mathematician but let me try to propose a possible implementation: you said the students want to make apps/games but don't want to learn databases. Assuming they have some basics in some programing language (e.g. Python) you can tell them that you will explain them how to do one part of a game - inventory. You can ask them how to implement an inventory for a game and push the idea toward databases, gradually going from the example of game inventory to the abstract database stuff. In the end you can give them an assignment to make something like game inventory.
I am not really sure if my example makes 100% sense as I am not that good programmer (database for inventory is probably an overkill), but I hope I made a point.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: I think Jin5's answer is quite good, however, I do think one of our responsibilities is to do our best to motivate our students. That said, not all students want to be motivated.
Many people would like to speak a foreign language, but they want to skip the boring work of learning vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. It's the same with programming. Students must learn the components before they become masters.
I agree with others here that the passion you feel for the subject will have a motivational impact on the students. I remember one student at her graduation come up to me and said she changed her field of work from her original major to something completely different. I asked why. She responded, "Because of that one class I took from you. You were so inspiring about it that I really saw how important it was and I really fell in love with that subject."
I never really thought I felt anything special about that subject. However, I have always thought it was really important and that came through in a way that has motivated more than one of my students to end up focusing on that area.
In short, show them how what they want (making robots, etc.) includes many areas, including database work. **With luck, they will see how databases are just one more building block they can use to build their own masterpiece**.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/07/14
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<issue_start>username_0: Is it unethical for someone to proofread/edit your cover letter?
Because then it's not fully your work anymore. It could be helpful, but I am asking if it is ethical towards the hiring professional? You wouldn't state that someone improved your work, but you are acting as if it is all yours.<issue_comment>username_1: I do not believe so. When I was preparing my own CV and cover letter, I received many useful recommedations and one of them was to have a friend or even a professor proofread it. Though I am not a professor or employer, I believe that it is more important to put facts and truth in these documents and avoid equivocations because these two types of documents are used to present you and you want it to be as flawless as possible. For a good reference, please visit the following link:
[Resume & Letter Writing - Career Center of Berkeley University](https://career.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/Guide/ResumeLetterWriting.pdf)
The following link also provides some insights:
[Five things to remember when emailing a professor - USA Today](http://college.usatoday.com/2012/03/15/five-things-to-remember-when-e-mailing-a-professor/)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I see no ethical problems with this whatsoever.
One has to understand most academic ethical principles through the lens of academic society. In particular the belief that academic writing should be solely that of the author unless otherwise scrupulously documented is not an absolute ethical principle but a belief and expectation of practicing academics throughout the world. It applies to certain kinds of writing and not others (and there are edge cases that cause disagreement, as seen on this site).
I don't know any academics who view a CV as a **piece of academic writing** in the sense that issues of originality and plagiarism apply. If you like the format of someone else's CV, you can copy it for yourself. In fact, it is more efficient if you just ask them for the word / latex / whatever file they used to make their CV and adapt it directly. I imagine *most* academic CVs are adapted in this way.
Cover letters are viewed differently by different parts of academia. In my circles (mathematics, research university, US) cover letters are usually quite
perfunctory: within recent memory my colleagues and I discussed whether we even wanted to make a cover letter an official part of the job application. In my field there is something called an "AMS Cover Sheet," which is a sort of form that you fill out that has the information of a cover letter, and some departments would happily accept this in lieu of a conventional cover letter. Using an AMS Cover Sheet as a cover letter is the equivalent of adapting someone else's CV. However, it is my understanding that in some other parts of US academia -- especially in liberal arts colleges and/or the humanities -- the cover letter is extremely important (I have heard someone say it is the *most important part* of the application). If what you say to convince a hiring committee that you are a good fit for their institution is lifted from someone else's cover letter, then indeed that might be viewed as problematic.
The above covers the situation of literally cutting and pasting CVs and cover letters. When it comes to proofreading: it is my understanding and view that unless specifically prohibited, getting your academic documents proofread is not only acceptable but usually highly encouraged. When it comes to editing, some amount is probably okay but some amount is probably too much. It also depends on who is doing the editing. My PhD advisor gave me more extensive feedback on my employment materials than on any other single thing. I took the implication that these materials are extremely important, and I have tried to "pay forward" his help by giving similar extensive help to students (including, but not limited to, my thesis advisees) on their employment materials, webpages and so forth. I would not hesitate to circle a sentence and scrawl a suggested alternative in the margins of their draft. I do hesitate (and never have, I believe) retyped any of my students' theses or employment materials: thus I am *suggesting* changes -- sometimes very specific changes, and sometimes with the clear intent that my suggestion will be implemented directly -- but I am not making the changes myself.
In general I have a hard time envisioning a proofreading or editing of a cover letter or CV that would be ethically problematic. I think students and young academics should be much more concerned with having these and other application materials flawlessly literate and highly polished and should seek to err on the side of getting the help that they need to do so. If such a person has a reason to think that some particular aid they are getting may cross the line, they should ask their advisor.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: No. I don't believe that it is unethical at all. Having said that there are several different aspects to this, which you may personally find to be a moral grey area.
1. Proofreading
2. Editing
In **proofreading**, if the person is just telling (or writing) a bit of feedback on what you've written with the expectation that you then rewrite your work, then the work is at all times still *your work, written by you*.
Many institutions, including universities, will offer free proofreading to their students; you should absolutely take advantage of this, if you can.
In **editing**, there could be a bit of a grey area. If the person actually changes your words, then one could argue that perhaps it's not quite your work anymore. That being said, you don't have to accept any edits made, if you don't feel comfortable.
In either case, the most important things to remember with cover letters and resumes is to be honest and promote your skill-set and accomplishments.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: I'd say that given a single typo is enough to get your resume thrown out, it would be extraordinarily unprofessional NOT to have your work proofread.
That said, after crazy numbers of people had commented on and proofread mine, I realized that I'd had "DBMS" written as "BDSM" for about two years. Nobody had caught it :(
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: The purpose of a CV / Cover Letter is to optimally represent your skills, motivations and interests in order to secure an interview for a particular position. As long as the representation itself is *honest*, then whether or not you relied upon some assistance to create the document is irrelevant, I think.
I have had experience, though, of recruitment agencies attempting to force proof-reading and editing of my CV upon me. Typically this would be for the purpose of hiding my address from an employer, and placing their own branding on the CV.
That, I would argue, *is* unethical.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I have few papers already published in certain journals which cannot be uploaded on [ResearchGate](https://www.researchgate.net/) due to copyright issues, now is it legal to upload my own version of the paper formatted in LaTeX or in other words the manuscript I sent for publication that was not typeset for journal publication?<issue_comment>username_1: In general, the typesetting is irrelevant, as far as copyright law is concerned; the law protects the content, not just the specific file. If posting an exact copy would infringe copyright, then posting a re-typeset copy would also. If the publisher owns the copyright, then you need their permission to upload anything that contains any significant amount of the paper's content (barring fair use exceptions, etc).
Some copyright agreements contain terms saying that they only cover the journal's typeset version, giving the author permission to self-archive their own version. But if yours said that, you would know.
For a more certain answer, consult an intellectual property lawyer in your jurisdiction.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: As one of the other answers says, typesetting is completely irrelevant--the question is whether or not you are authorized to upload the content.
The **[RoMEO website](http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/index.php)** has documentation on the precise legal authorizations of every major journal publisher, and of an extensive list of journals. You can consult it to quickly confirm what exactly the journals you've published in authorize you to do.
Their information is not always 100% accurate, but it's above 95% accurate. I've sent them corrections and they are quite conscientious to update their information, and they usually have direct links to the publishers' copyright statements so that you can verify what they say.
I will note though, that a very large amount of the time, it is not authorized to upload to general repositories like ResearchGate, Academia.edu, SSRN or arXiv (depending on the journal). If you want a safe place to load your articles, the most commonly authorized places are your personal website or your institution's open access repository.
Upvotes: 3
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2016/07/15
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<issue_start>username_0: I am planning to take the GRE Subject Test in Math. I have ADHD and would like to request accommodations.
I live in a first world country now but used to be based in a third world country. In this third world country I was seeing a resident psychiatrist.
I am about to have a new psychiatrist who is not a resident.
This psychiatrist has met me for only an hour while my old psychiatrist , the resident, met with me for over 12 hours already.
What certification should I submit to ETS?
new doctor only? Old doctor though resident only? Both?<issue_comment>username_1: Follow [the instructions given by ETS](https://www.ets.org/disabilities/documentation/documenting_adhd/). They are very specific about what kind of documentation they need.
Give your current psychiatrist the link and ask if he/she can provide everything on it, and if not, what he/she recommends you do to collect the necessary documentation.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This was actually a stupid question because I should have just asked (and later I did ask) ETS, who advised me to submit from both psychiatrists.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/07/15
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm working on improving the contents of a university level introductionary course.
Has there been done any research on the impact of lecture slide quality on student learning?
My assumption is that slides that are well structured, follow a theme, spread content over slides in a thought through manner, etc. will give the students better learning. I feel like this is a safe assumption but I've learned not to trust assumption, can this be backed up or contradicted by research results?
The question at hand is whether or not refactoring old lectures is worthwile, as they stand they are sort of hap-hazard and glued together of slides from various lecturers.<issue_comment>username_1: I don't think there's any research on 'slide quality and its effect on student learning'. I would imagine that it is very difficult to separate just the effect of slide quality from other factors affecting student learning.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: If you're refactoring the course, consider moving away from a mostly lecture-based approach towards more active learning. There is a lot of evidence out there to support the effectiveness of active learning techniques (if used correctly). To paraphrase [What Is the Impact of PowerPoint Lectures on Learning? A Brief Review of Research](http://www.hagerstowncc.edu/sites/default/files/documents/14-fletcher-powerpoint-research-review.pdf): "PowerPoint or slightly better PowerPoint?" is a less important question than "How can I
adapt my lecture course for active learning?"
Having said that, there is some evidence that slide design based on principles from multimedia learning research can have a positive effect on student learning, compared to slides that violate those principles.
For example, in engineering:
>
> [We] compared learning
> outcomes in 110 engineering students who viewed a technical presentation in which the slides either integrated or violated
> six multimedia learning principles. The presentation slides that adhered to the six multimedia principles followed the
> assertion-evidence approach, while the presentation slides that violated the six multimedia principles followed commonly
> practiced defaults of PowerPoint. Essay responses from the 110 engineering students revealed superior comprehension and
> fewer misconceptions for the assertion–evidence group as well as lower perceived cognitive load. In addition, stronger
> recall occurred in this assertion–evidence group at delayed post-test. These findings support the use of the assertion–
> evidence structure for presentations in engineering education
>
>
>
Source: Garner, Joanna, and <NAME>. "How the Design of Presentation Slides Affects Audience Comprehension: A Case for the Assertion–Evidence Approach." International Journal of Engineering Education 29.6 (2013): 1564-1579. ([PDF](http://writing.engr.psu.edu/ae_comprehension.pdf))
Here's another example, from medicine:
>
> **Methods**: A pre-test/post-test control group design was used, in which the traditional-learning group received a lecture on shock using traditionally designed slides and the modified-design group received the same lecture using slides modified in accord with Mayer’s principles of multimedia design. Participants included Year 3 medical students at a private, midwestern medical school progressing through their surgery clerkship during the academic year 2009–2010. The medical school divides students into four groups; each group attends the surgery clerkship during one of the four quarters of the academic year. Students in the second and third quarters served as the modified-design group (n = 91) and students in the fourth-quarter clerkship served as the traditional-design group (n = 39).
>
>
> **Results**: Both student cohorts had similar levels of pre-lecture knowledge. Both groups showed significant improvements in retention (p < 0.0001), transfer (p < 0.05) and total scores (p < 0.0001) between the pre- and post-tests. Repeated-measures anova analysis showed statistically significant greater improvements in retention (F = 10.2, p = 0.0016) and total scores (F = 7.13, p = 0.0081) for those students instructed using principles of multimedia design compared with those instructed using the traditional design.
>
>
>
Source: Issa, Nabil, et al. "Applying multimedia design principles enhances learning in medical education." Medical education 45.8 (2011): 818-826. ([PDF](http://olms.cte.jhu.edu/olms2/data/ck/sites/225/files/Instructional%20Design(1).pdf))
and there were also long-term effects:
>
> **Results**: Findings showed that the modified condition group significantly outscored the traditional condition group on delayed tests of transfer given 1 week (d = 0.83) and 4 weeks (d = 1.17) after instruction, and on delayed tests of retention given 1 week (d = 0.83) and 4 weeks (d = 0.79) after instruction. The modified condition group also significantly outperformed the traditional condition group on immediate tests of retention (d = 1.49) and transfer (d = 0.76).
>
>
>
Source: Issa, Nabil, et al. "Teaching for understanding in medical classrooms using multimedia design principles." Medical education 47.4 (2013): 388-396.
A third example:
>
> To measure the effect of a multimedia design principle adherent PowerPoint presentation on test item performance, student satisfaction, student confidence in potential exam performance, and classroom dynamics.Two versions of an identical lecture were presented in different formats over subsequent years (2011, 2012, and 2013). One with traditional PowerPoint slides and the other redesigned to comply with multimedia design principles. Student scores on identical exam items were compared and a voluntary student survey was used to evaluate the activity.Students performed statistically better on identical exam items, were very satisfied (mean = 7.4 of 10) with the redesigned PowerPoint format, confident in their potential exam performance, and a majority (66%) wanted to see pictures and narration more often.Students may retain information better when presented in a multimedia design adherent format. Student reaction was positive and indicates that students may prefer this method to traditional PowerPoint slides.
>
>
>
Source: Pate, Adam, and <NAME>. "Effects of applying multimedia design principles in PowerPoint lecture redesign." Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 2.8 (2016): 235-239.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: RE: *assumption vs. research results*: It would be quite a challenge to accurately measure how much a largely cosmetic change in a course might affect student learning. Personally, I've always thought that the quality of the slides sends a message to the audience: low-quality slides can have an adverse affect on student morale, motivation, and attention spans, while well-designed slides could have a positive impact by keeping students more engaged and perhaps even improving long-term retention.
Proving my assumption quantitatively as opposed to anecdotally, however, would be a challenge. I suppose I could teach two sections: one with a set of "cohesive" slides and the other with a set of "haphazard" slides, and compare student performance. Even if I conducted that experiment, it's often difficult to get reliable data that way. (Any difference in scores could be due to other factors, such as what time of day each section was taught, or the raw talent of the students in each section.)
About my remarks on the "quality" of my slides, there are several practices I often employ regularly; for example:
* Replace bullets with pictorial cues
* Add occasional humorous cultural references in strategic places
* Add discussion questions intended to launch an in-class discussion
* Pepper the lecture with active learning activities
Based on student remarks (via in-class comments and end-of-course surveys), I get the feeling that my efforts are appreciated, and it's worth the time I invest. Last year, one student put his hand up in the middle of a lecture last year, and asked me, "How much time do you spend on your slides?" He told me outright that he appreciated the effort. Another student in that same section was engaged to an intern who was working for me on a committee. She told me, "My fiancé says he really enjoys your class; it's more interesting than most."
As with many things in learning, though, it's all about tradeoffs. While I feel my slides help facilitate a more lively and interactive presentation, I've also been told that my slides are great during lectures, but not such a good resource for studying. Moreover, I'm an adjunct professor, so it's not like I'm committing time that would be better spent on research.
RE: *The question at hand is whether or not refactoring old lectures is worthwhile, as they stand they are sort of hap-hazard and glued together of slides from various lecturers*: I think it would be worthwhile, but maybe you could refactor them gradually over time, so it wasn't such an enormous task. Try to get them into a cohesive theme and smooth the transitions as you continually improve the course.
As much as I admire your thirst for hard data, there are times to go with your gut. If you cringe at the haphazard feel of your presentation, perhaps your students are noticing, too.
One last hint to consider: If getting the slides more cohesive is a daunting task, perhaps you can hire a student to do some of the heavy lifting. We did that for a course that needed a lot of material moved from written notes into PowerPoint. It was an efficient way to get much of the work done at a very reasonable cost.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/07/15
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD candidate with one child (18 months) and one year left in the PhD. My husband and I want at least one more child. I am trying to learn about the relative pros and cons of having a child during the summer after defending vs the summer after my first year on the tenure track. I don't feel 100% confident that I will get a tenure track offer, but I also have some good signs. Here is what I came up with:
Baby after defense/summer before starting tenure track:
* (+) I will be 1 year younger, giving more flexibility if decide to
have a 3rd child, possibly bounce back sooner etc.
* (+?) I have been told the first year of tenure track is typically less productive research-wise because of teaching responsibilities. I have successfully done the "teach with new baby" thing during grad school, but my research definitely suffered during that semester (partially because my class was a new prep). If I am going to have reduced research output, the first year might be the time to bite that bullet?
* (-) Pregnant on the job market, face possible discrimination. This would be more of an issue at flyouts when I would be showing.
* (-) I didn't get morning sickness with first pregnancy and 3rd trimester pain was manageable, but no guarantees of easy 2nd pregnancy. Difficult on the job market.
* (-) Moving to new city while super-pregnant or with infant (really least of my worries)
Baby after first tenure track year:
* (+) Would likely get time off the tenure clock
* (+) Not pregnant on the job market, perhaps get better offer
* (-) Might have a greater impact on research to have infant during 2nd year, which is typically more productive than 1st (so I have heard)
* (-) Perhaps hurt reputation with colleagues/will have to have weird and awkward conversations about my pregnancy with new colleagues (At least this is my experience in grad school - 50%+ asked me if my pregnancy was planned, etc. So awkward.)
* (-) If we want a 3rd kid, that will be pushed back closer to tenure review.
Am I missing anything? Does anyone have any real-life observations about timing an academic baby?<issue_comment>username_1: (Just to put my experience first: I'm a man, and had my first child about 7 months ago, around the same time I went up for tenure.)
This is one of those "your mileage may vary pretty massively" questions. My general recommendation is that it's better to have to the baby once you're more established in your job, but there are so many moving parts, no single recommendation can work.
Some people have a less productive year the first year they are on the tenure-track (I don't think I did), but in many disciplines, that's because they are assembling a lab, which I'm not sure you want to be doing with a new baby either. In my opinion, the minuses you list are pretty big.
If I were going on the job market as a pregnant woman, I would be very worried about unconscious discrimination. I don't think you would have problems with this most places, but it often just takes a couple of people in a department to sink your candidacy, and they could be influenced by the pregnancy without knowing it.
I think also you're neglecting the fact that if you have your baby after starting your new job, you will probably be eligible for maternity leave. Most places I of in practice give a semester of maternity or paternity leave, though with some caveats (at my current institution, it's usually possible to get a semester off teaching, but with other service duties still required after the first few weeks). I've known people who had babies late in postdocs who really lamented missing out on this.
The matter of your reputation with colleagues is pretty hard to game out. I'm sure there do exist departments where showing up either with a new baby or immediately becoming pregnant might make a bad impression. This would mean your colleagues are jerks, but unfortunately, it's hard to guarantee your colleagues won't be jerks. I feel like it's likely to be a wash though, since colleagues can just as easily be weird about the fact that you have a baby, as that you are pregnant.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Ask the HR department when you get a job.
Many places put a 1 year delay in the TT process if you have a baby.
Watch out for unintentional discrimination during a fly-out. While technically illegal, pregnancy often counts against a candidate.
(Full disclosure: I am also a man, so take my comment with a large grain of salt)
Upvotes: 1
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2016/07/16
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<issue_start>username_0: I have been making an integrated approach and its program on modelling the joint distribution of wind speed and direction (<https://github.com/cqcn1991/Wind-Speed-Analysis>). And I'm trying to publish a paper to get more attention on it.
However, my supervisor is not very familiar with the field I'm in, and I want some realistic and honest feedback on my work and whether it will be accepted by my target submitting papers. And if not, how can I improve my work to increase the chance.
One way I can think of is contacting the authors of papers I cited, and ask their feedback. But most of them are established professors and I'm afraid I can't get too much help in this aspect. Is there any other alternatives? I truly believe I have made something useful, but getting them published is a really tiring process.<issue_comment>username_1: many journals provide an acceptance rate somewhere on their website. this statistic can provide insight into how many people who submit actually make it into the journal. this one way to know how you may fair in addition to other strategies.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> However, my supervisor is not very familiar with the field I'm in
>
>
>
This may not necessarily be a bad thing. Having your article read by someone who's an expert in this specific field can give you another valuable point of view.
>
> One way I can think of is contacting the authors of papers I cited, and ask their feedback. But most of them are established professors and I'm afraid I can't get too much help in this aspect.
>
>
>
Wrong wrong wrong! Many PhD students suspect that established professors will not care about their work, which is a symptom of the [impostor syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome). If you work is relevant and important in the field, they would be delighted to see it. Talking to established professors is an excellent way for experts in the field to read your work and give valuable feedback. If your program really solves a problem they have, they will use, cite it, and promote your own career.
>
> Is there any other alternatives? I truly believe I have made something
> useful, but getting them published is a really tiring process
>
>
>
Submit the work. If you think it's good enough, go for it. It will go through peer review where it will be assessed by knowledgeable people in the field, providing feedback (both positive and negative). You should have no fear that someone will steal your work because it's already out there on GitHub.
.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: You can ask the editor. It's called a pre-submission inquiry.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/07/16
| 764
| 3,384
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<issue_start>username_0: I submitted my paper to ICANN2016 conference in which we could choose among the possible options of "poster" and "oral" presentation at the submission time. I submitted for the oral category and received the acceptance notice as a "full paper" to be in the proceedings, but no info on the type of presentation (oral/poster).
Then I registered as they requested to do so before the deadline, but later on, when the conference program become revealed on the website I noticed that I am placed in one of the poster sessions and even in a so "irrelevant" session!
Honestly I become less motivated to participate in the conference as I've heard that the posters are mostly a way the organizers try to compensate the conference expenses (they have 80 posters in the conference). And the chances of getting noticed or getting any useful feedback on my work can be so subtle!
Also not to mention that in the review feedback there was no detail about the review process which could be considered as useful feedback on my work. Just a simple general comment like "the work is so solid, technical and great.."
So I came to a sort of conclusion that I already wasted my publication by submitting it to the conference!
Also I was wondering if I can withdraw from participation and ask my payment back? considering that they didn't mention the type of the presentation in the acceptance notice, and also the fact that I chose the oral presentation in the submission.<issue_comment>username_1: This is very, very common. At most conferences, there are simply not enough time slots for everyone to give an oral presentation. Conferences still tend to be way too long most of the time with way too many "less important" presentations between "interesting" ones anyway.
Posters can be a very efficient way of communicating your results and connecting with other researchers important to you. You are not "wasting" your paper by presenting a poster. And you will attend other's presentations and can engage in the discussions. So I don't really agree with your conclusion.
It's understandable that you are disappointed. However, while it is totally up to you, your decision on whether to participate should not depend on a potential resentment of being "rejected" from an oral presentation. Base your decision on whether to go on who you think you might get to know, and who might be there who could benefit from your results. Prepare a great poster. Have handouts ready. Approach people directly, start to network actively.
Whether or not you might receive any money back highly depends on the specific event and the local organizing committee. You can ask. But at this stage I would say it's unlikely.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: It is sometimes possible to write a polite mail to the organizers saying that you understood from previous correspondence, that you've got a talk. Seeing that it's only a poster, you would like to withdraw and ask for money back. I have done so myself in the past, it was no problem.
I by the way, I disagree with the point of view, that I often see on this site, that a poster can be just as valuable as a talk. Surely that is correct, "sometimes", but I've attended my fair share of poster sessions, and more often than not, you really just stand there, trying unsuccessfully to spark some interest in your work.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/07/17
| 552
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm going into my third year of university, and the past year (my second year) was a very bad time for me. I was admittedly overzealous, and quickly exhausted myself with my research work, overloading with courses, and my campus job.
Between all this, I also was taking a course that required me to seek the advice of a professor, for which I talked to about three professors in my department. While these professors were happy to meet with me and talk with me, however, I didn't really follow up with them as well as they asked (i.e. I didn't show them the final product, because I ended up not doing so well in the course).
I'm wondering if I seek the advice of these profs again, how high is the chance that these profs will even give me the time of day?<issue_comment>username_1: Be frank (and brief) and ask up front if they will again work with you on your project. Whatever the response, you'll not have caused offense nor missed an opportunity.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: You should not fear this. Faculty are very interested in students who will learn, do, and advance. However, you must "do" in order for them to believe you. In university/college, things are earned and not given.
Be at ease with faculty. Speak with them.
This is school. School is a place for learning. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness; It is expected; It is rewarded.
I have been college faculty (part-time) for a few years. I know that sometimes student (or anyone) might have a bad day, week, or quarter/semester. If they are nice, committed, honest, and willing to do something to prove themselves, I'm willing to give them another chance. (But chances are limited.)
In some cases faculty just plain forget students. Faculty might have a regular FT job external to university (even full time faculty sometimes have FT jobs). They might have 40 students in each of 5 classes each quarter/semester. Too many to keep track of.
Faculty might also suggest a student followup with them, but they don't expect it. For example, you ask for help on a paper, and a different prof gives you help and says "Let me know what grade you get." They likely will not hold it against you.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/07/17
| 684
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm updating my CV and need advice regarding publications. I am formerly a Professor of Human Services and Counselor Education. I am not currently in academia, but am a licensed counselor in private practice... just updating the CV to be prepared for possible future opportunities.
I have written articles for publication in magazines, newspapers, and online resources (blogs, etc.) for 13 years or more. I've also been quoted as an "expert" in numerous articles that other folks have written... some are national publications for our profession.
I do not have any peer reviewed journal articles at all.
1. Should I list the articles for newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc. that I have written on my CV? Assuming APA style if so. Under what heading shall I list them so it is not confused with academic publications?
2. How do I list articles in which I have been quoted by another author? Under what heading shall I list them? I've not had any luck with my research on this one.<issue_comment>username_1: I would put all of the non-academic writing you've done under a heading like "Other Writing for a Popular Audience". Beware that such publications won't count for much in applying for faculty jobs, or at least, that they won't replace peer-reviewed academic research. However, they might be a "value-add" at some places.
You never list in the CV where you've been cited. (At least not that I've ever seen). Instead, what I see people do is mention their citations as a single line in the cover letter. "My work has been cited in prestigious venues like *The Journal of X Studies* and *X Studies Review.*"
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I suggest "Magazines" or "Publications (not peer reviewed)".
If my research is covered in the news, then I list the article under a section "Media" using APA format. I do not recommend mentioning academic citations.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Some opinions are field specific and not representative of all academics. There are many types of disciplines and conventions within them, even with a CV. This means there is both a precedent for what you are asking, and also the inevitable disagreement from someone in another area on the value.
You can list non peer reviewed papers in a category as you choose. Some examples:
* Authored Publications
* Publications (non-reviewed)
* Magazine Publications
Likewise, you can refer to articles that cite/mention you as
* Media
* Cited
* Publications on Work
For reference, academics in design fields will use this style and do exactly as you are asking. [Here is just one example.](https://taubmancollege.umich.edu/sites/default/files/pdfs/faculty/mpdl-cv.pdf)
Upvotes: 0
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