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<issue_start>username_0: To be admitted to my PhD in Mechanical Engineering, I had to have a 1-year coursework, with 8 subjects and a research-proposal defense. Here in Portugal, an “Advanced Studies Diploma” in Portuguese "Diploma de Estudos Avançados" is awarded, but I would like to know what it’s really worth because I am thinking of moving to another country, and I am not sure whether I will finish my PhD.
* What is that equivalent in countries such as England, Germany or the USA?
* Can I ask for a degree recognition in an university of one of those countries? Here in Portugal it is not considered a degree, just a 60 ECTS diploma.
* What does this diploma give me in terms of jobs? Do I have an easier access to some jobs? If yes, which kind of jobs? I am a Materials Engineer MSc., with an Advanced Studies Diploma in Mechanical Engineering<issue_comment>username_1: As a PhD student from the Universidade de Lisboa (<https://fenix.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/cursos/deic/curriculo>), who is also a student of mobility (Erasmus Mundus), I hope I can add some of my observations which might be helpful.
Advanced Studies Diploma is everything of PhD, except the PhD defence (since it also includes the research proposal defence, that we call "CAT"). In my university (IST-ULisboa), CAT usually comes by the end of the 2nd year. To pass that, you would already have a solid research plan with possibly a few publications and research done.
So, this is part of the PhD (in IST, "Advanced Study Diploma" is used interchangeably with PhD), than a prerequisite to be accepted to a PhD.
I would assume, you already have completed your masters and half-way through your PhD since you have completed all the course works and defended the research proposal, hence making you a "PhD candidate".
However, unless you already have some arrangement with another university or a professor in another country (as in Erasmus Mundus and other exchange/mobility programs), I would strongly advice you against contemplating the idea of migrating/halting half-way through. It is not going to be easy to move your credits to the new university.
With your advanced courses, you may have gained some expertise in academia and research. However, it will be still something half-done than a complete degree. But this part is just my personal opinion. You may list it as an on-going PhD in any case, I suppose.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Bouncing off @PradeebanKathiravelu 's answer, in the English-speaking world, the completion of all PhD requirements except for the dissertation is often called "All But Dissertation" (ABD) and is quite common.
If you find yourself applying to jobs in the USA, UK, or another English-speaking country, you could document your education like this:
>
> Advanced Studies Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (Equivalent to PhD ABD), University of Lisbon.
>
>
>
Alternatively, if you are dealing with someone that you suspect has no knowledge of or does not care to learn much about foreign qualifications, or someone who "needs" to see the equivalent Anglophone credential out front, you could write it as:
>
> PhD ABD Equivalency (Advanced Studies Diploma in Mechanical Engineering), University of Lisbon.
>
>
>
or
>
> PhD ABD (Equivalency, Advanced Studies Diploma in Mechanical Engineering), University of Lisbon.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: PhD and DEA are the same thing, DEA could have or not read the PhD Thesis, but certainly are in the same acadamic level and same degree.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: At ETH Zurich a CAS (certificate of advanced studies) is 6 months. DAS (Diploma of advanced studies) is 1 year. Those are "Continue education" plans, meaning, one may be able to do it besides a job (kinda difficult but theoretically possible).
DAS requires 30 points (ECTS).
A MSc (Master of science) requires 130 points, around 2 years full time.
A PhD is another thing and takes several years. It's a job itself.
I would say it worth to finish your DAS, that may be enough for applying to a PhD in another country.
In any case, you have to ask the university in your "target" country.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/12/22
| 1,535
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<issue_start>username_0: Suppose I have done a collaborative work, where I do 80% of the work. Hence, I am the first author. Now my collaborator goes to a conference to present a poster of that work. In the poster too, my name is (for the obvious reason) first. But my collaborator is the presenting author. Now if the poster gets a prize, who gets it, the person presenting it or the first author? Technically, who should get it?<issue_comment>username_1: A poster alone does not get the price it is usually judged together with the poster presentation, thus the presenter has a big influence too. I would assume the presenter will get the price, but depending on your collegaue he might share the monetary value with you (if any). On my poster award the title of the poster and authors were listed too. So if you are intrested to put on you CV you might still be able to do that as long as the authors are listed on the certificate.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: A prize is typically given for both content and presentation of a work, so a typical fair way to handle prize *money*, whether for poster or paper, is to offer to split it evenly amongst all of the co-authors. Co-authors who feel they have not offered a full share of work might choose to decline their share, but the basic assumption should be an even split. To do otherwise just opens the opportunity for much interpersonal conflict over a generally quite small amount of money.
Remember also that the most significant value of a poster or paper prize is not typically any money that happens to be associated with the prize, but rather the increase in your personal credibility and future prospects that comes from the recognition.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: It will depend on the nature and amount of the prize. But one approach that works well is for the prize to pay for a round of drinks for the group at the next opportunity. Other options include buying cakes for the group or even a box of chocolates if the prize is small. The recognition is more important in many ways.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: First of all, there isn't a firm technical code of how to handle this situation. This is a collaborative piece of work, and I think this is much more a question of social etiquette.
Nonetheless, this depends on a number of factors. Most importantly: What is the prize actually being awarded *for*? Is it just for the work? For the work and its presentation? Is it for the *communication* of scientific work, via the structure of the poster and possibly the oral presentation?
Unless it's the last case and only one person made and presented the poster, I would say the most socially tactful way to handle the money would be either:
1. Use it to go out for drinks or to a nice dinner, with everyone listed on the poster
2. Split it evenly.
If it were me, I would have a discussion with your co-authors about which option the majority would prefer. If you can't bear to unnecessarily spend time with your colleagues, you could offer the split it evenly and then leave it up to other people to decline if they feel it's appropriate.
Yes, you might be out a few hundred dollars, if your co-authors don't fully deserve a share of the prize. However, you would preserve important resources in your career, namely the relationship with your co-authors. In the future, they may well be your paper/grant reviewers, recommendation letter writers, colleagues, etc. Having navigated a delicate social situation gracefully can impact your career for *years* to come, much longer than the prize money would have lasted.
Additionally, regardless of what happens with the money, remember that the prestige of the award is still yours and should still be represented on your CV (as it should be on every poster authors' CV).
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: If the prize is for the *poster*, then logically and morally **all coauthors of the poster -- anyone who is entitled to list the poster on their CV -- are recipients of the prize and entitled to a share of the prize money**. It doesn't matter if you are first author, second author or twenty-seventh author, and it doesn't matter if you presented the poster or not. As I was arguing in [this answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/58791/40589) to a closely related question, "Best poster award" has a pretty clear meaning in English (or the language of the conference), and I don't see a case for questioning the intent of the conference organizers in using this language, so there really isn't much room for debate on this point as far as I can tell. If they had titled the award "Best presentation award" or "Best poster and presentation award" then we would be having a different discussion, and then the argument "A prize is typically given for both content and presentation of a work" in username_2's answer would be relevant. But they didn't, so it isn't.
Now, logic aside, this is also a question of human relations, so whether it is worth making a fuss about some small amount of money that comes with the prize depends on many additional factors having to do with the personalities of the people involved and the power dynamics of the situation. I don't feel I can advise you about this. But from the moral point of view I think the situation is completely unambiguous.
Hope this helps, and congratulations for the prize!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: The relevant question is, why didn't you present the work, if you did 80% of the work, and are thus the first author? Technical/financial barriers for conference participation? In general, the *prizes* (I am considering moral "rights" here) are awarded to all authors, unless they are very specific. I would argue "best presentation" does not apply to those authors not giving the presentation, but such cases are rare. Similar issue may be with "best student paper award" where I think it is pretty clear that it is awarded to the student, not the supervisor, although it is achievement for a supervisor in its own way as well.
For the actual *prize money* I would say that in general, it should be split among authors, with exception of student prizes, where I think it would be really inappropriate for supervisor to get any amount of money, since these prizes are not something big anyway.
So if you do not agree with splitting the money evenly, then you should think about who do you put on your paper as a co-author.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/12/22
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently accepted to referee a mathematics paper. This is my first referring assignment and was wondering if there are free plagiarism checkers more suitable for math papers.
***side note:*** Several years ago I saw a paper stating a theorem which sounded so familiar to me. I happened to have a reference book in that topic. Long story short, "their theorem" in that paper was verbatim from the book without referencing it. Unfortunately, I did not contact the publisher that was surprisingly the mathematical society of country X (I should have).<issue_comment>username_1: As in jakebeal's comment, if there is actual plagiarism, it will be picked up in the text, so you could use a generic plagiarism checker. Note the arXiv [checks for text overlap](https://arxiv.org/help/overlap) and picks up quite a few things (the stated purpose is not to catch plagiarism, but it still does, though mostly "self-plagiarism" as far as I am aware).
That said, having done a fair amount of reviewing in math, this is not something that's typically done. Ideally, as a reviewer, you should be fairly aware of what's already been done in the area, and at the least, literate enough in the area to search for what has been done. (One tip: look at the crucial references, and check for papers citing them.)
What is much more likely than outright plagiarism is that some or all of the main results are already published, but unknown to the author. This may be because the results are not stated in the exact form the author is proving, or just the author wasn't aware of the appropriate papers. (I once pointed out that one of the papers the author referenced contained stronger results than the author proved--the author just didn't realize it!)
In any case, a proper literature search in the process of reviewing will turn up plagiarism almost all the time if it happens, and moreover is important for a good review. So my advice is don't worry about using a plagiarism checker, just do your homework.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: In the journals I help edit, admittedly not in the mathematics field, a plagiarism check is one of the first internal checks undertaken on a submission. I would be surprised if there isn't one in place in most journals. The results of the check are forwarded to the deputy editor for consideration. It is not released to the reviewers. Perhaps your journal has access to math-specific checkers.
If you're worried about a particular manuscript, I suggest requesting a plagiarism check through the deputy editor who's handling the manuscript. You don't need to wait for the results before proceeding with review. I suggest incorporating your request within your review itself. For example:
>
> Review of Manuscript 16.10634.1
>
>
> Numerous typographical errors in the abstract.
>
>
> I recall seeing part of the proof somewhere. Please perform a plagiarism check.
>
>
> Etc.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: From a U.S. perspective... I've never in my life thought about "plagiarism" when refereeing a paper. If it does copy previous work, that previous work would most likely be know to me (from my attempt at competent scholarship). More often, novices fail to understand prior work, etc., so the problem is not "plagiarism" but something else.
If you, as prospective reviewer/referee, do not feel confident to assess these things, you should decline...
Upvotes: 1
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2016/12/22
| 631
| 2,587
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<issue_start>username_0: After looking up the journal name (Journal for Internet Technology and Secured Transaction (JITST)), I discovered this journal was not listed in either the SCI or EI indexes. Is this journal worth publishing in? More generally, how do I judge journals that are not indexed?<issue_comment>username_1: It really depends on your field to determine if it is worth publishing in or not. Some reputable, but niche, journals don't get indexed very broadly but are well respected and read by members of that discipline. As such, your best bet is to see if you recognize any of the names of peers in that journal and then publish accordingly. You might also want to reach out to some of them directly to see what their experience was as well. It should be noted that that generally journals will work to get themselves added to major indices so an old (i.e. more than twenty years) that isn't indexed may be a red flag.
On the subject of red flags, you may have noted the copyediting that went on with your post. Another thing to be careful of is similarly named journals as is the case of the International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions ([IJITST](http://www.inderscience.com/jhome.php?jcode=IJITST)) and the Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transaction ([JITST](http://infonomics-society.org/jitst/)). There is a subtle difference there if you are just looking at the acronym and personally it raises a red flag for something worthy of close inspection. If you look the journals and publishers up on [Beall’s List of Predatory Publishers](https://scholarlyoa.com/2016/01/05/bealls-list-of-predatory-publishers-2016/), you will find that [the publisher for JITST, Infonomics Society, is there](https://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/). Inderscience Publishes, which publishes the IJITST, does not appear to be listed.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: There are good journals that are not listed in the SCI, so this alone does not mean that the journal is bad. However, an overly long list of topics including non-descript terms like "web-service" and "Future technologies" looks bad. Also the sentence "Our journals’ impact factors have been compiled by Indexing Citation Board (ICB)." is pretty suspicious, when you find out that ICB is actually "Infonomics Society’s Indexing Citation Board (ICB).". A review process of 4 to 6 weeks is also not hinting at serious checking. So even if this is a serious journal, someone tried really hard to make it look like trash, and I would definitely not consider publishing there.
Upvotes: 3
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2016/12/22
| 796
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<issue_start>username_0: What can stop a university from doing whatever they want and screwing students over in terms of accusing them **unfairly** of cheating, plagiarism, or a misunderstanding of professor authorization of essay re-submission in a second class? Also trying to take a student's degree or credit away after the course is completed/graduated with little evidence and no proof of circumstantial evidence that truly happened at the time of the incident? I ask this since they are private and go by their own rules and apparently there is no standard policy for how all universities are supposed to deal with issues. There are a lot of cases where businesses "screw people over".
This is in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
Thanks.<issue_comment>username_1: Now that you've supplied sufficient information, the answer to your question seems fairly clearly spelled out [within the university's own policy documents](https://brocku.ca/webfm_send/28409):
* Section 6.6 shows that the decision-making process is not just a single professor "screwing you over," but rather:
>
> a determination of academic misconduct shall be decided
> by the Department Chair/Program Director based on a discussion between the student, the
> instructor, and the Department Chair/Program Director, as well as a review of the evidence
>
>
>
* At some point, it leaves the department and ends up in the hands of a Dean, who also meets with the students. The full details of the process are spelled out in Section 7.
* If the student is unhappy, they have a right to appeal to a Senate Student Appeals Board (Section 8), which seems a peer body rather than a faculty body. The full details of that process are spelled out in another linked document.
This looks like a pretty typical set of checks and balances: the individual professor is involved, but the key decision-making is not done by that professor or even within the department, and the faculty is in turn checked by appeals to a body of students.
Now, if your professor, the department head, the involved dean, and the student board are all convinced that you are guilty, you've got a more serious problem on your hands. Getting outside legal help *might* be warranted, but based on what you've written here, it seems like it's also quite plausible that you've either committed an offense and don't understand why it's an offense, or else that you've done yourself a disservice in the process by alienating people who might otherwise have helped.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Because the dispute does not involve criminal charges, is between two parties, and does not involve criminal or family law, you want a civil lawyer. Specifically, you seem to be accusing the university of [civil tort](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tort).
Universities tend to have very good (read: expensive) lawyers protecting them (and their endowments). You would need an equally good (read: expensive) lawyer to be able to have a go at them.
Whether you will find a civil lawyer willing to take you on without a hefty retainer (at least $10,000 in my neck of the woods if not much more) is an entirely different matter.
Upvotes: 3
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2016/12/22
| 263
| 1,095
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<issue_start>username_0: I took a class that started at 5:30. Another class I was taking started the same time. Can I get a refund or sue for this, as there should have been a message not letting me complete my schedule because of the conflict?<issue_comment>username_1: No, that sounds like something that you should be responsible for avoiding yourself. It might be nice if the school kept better track of this kind of thing for you, but it is ultimately your responsibility to know what you are enrolling in and paying for. You might be able to get some kind of tuition refund, if you are really polite and persistent, but even that is quite unlikely. A successful lawsuit is simply not going to happen.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: if you sue:
* You have a low probability of winning
* Your "damages" and the amount of money to be won, seem low
* You will likely have lawyer's fees and other cost of litigation
* You will waste your time and focus
* Your relationship with the university will be damaged
* Your reputation will likely be damaged
I hope that list helps.
Upvotes: 3
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2016/12/22
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<issue_start>username_0: I am transitioning from junior to senior researcher status. I have several publications as first author, many as coauthor, and a few as senior (last and corresponding) author.
As people perceive differently the role of authors according to their position, especially when looking briefly at a scholarly paper, I am wondering when it is most appropriate to transition from first to senior author.
Does it depend on biologic age, academic age, ranking, tenure, or what else?
My field of interest is cardiovascular research, but I think that a general answer followed by some details on the main different academic fields would be beneficial for ACADEMIA readership.<issue_comment>username_1: I think in most fields in which author order denotes the relative level of contribution, while people talk about the last author as being the "senior" author, this is more of an artifact of the fact that the PI of the group generally makes the least contribution to the work. I have never heard of some one striving to be senior/last author. Rather, the author order simply reflects the order of contribution.
If I have the highest academic rank, am the oldest, been in academia the longest, have a name that comes last alphabetically, and obtained the funding, but contributed the most to the project, I would want first authorship. More often than not what happens is people in my lab do most of the work and I make contributions through guiding the research. This generally leads me to making the smallest contribution and naturally being the last author even though I have the highest academic rank, am the oldest, been in academia the longest, have a name that comes first alphabetically.
A related question is when do you start structuring your research program such that you make more less "first author" like contributions. This tends to happen naturally as your time for research decreases and the number of projects that you are involved in increases. Typically this means you have enough funding for a small team of research assistants, PhD students and Postdocs.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: In my experience, regarding fields in Faculty of Science ( biology, chemistry, physics, geog...etc ) it is requered by the statute, that if you are the associate professor, you need to have certain amount of senior authorship.
Regarding research institutes, as far as I know, if you are PI you are always the senior author, a corresponding author can vary but usually is from person that was most involved in research.
my university, not allow students ( PhD candidates ) to be senior or corresponding author.
Some institutions, make differences between first, co-author, senior and corresponding author. General advice is to make sure at your institution what are rules, or in your coutry.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: For life sciences, usually until you get a faculty position (PI) first-author papers are those that count, and once you get a position last-author papers count.
When I say "papers count", I mean that until you become PI, first-author papers have the most weight when applying for fellowships and faculty positions. For PIs, last-author papers count the most for grants and tenure. By the way, this is not just informal weighting: some institutions and funding agencies explicitly state that only co-first (for pre-PIs) / only co-last (for PIs) papers count, and if there is an exception you need to justify it.
So I think that if this applies to your field, the transition point is well-defined. However there may be grey areas (for example in countries where there are intermediate positions such as "super postdocs").
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Depends on the culture of a particular field. Some fields use alphabetic order to remove this problem, so there is no one true answer, if you do not specify the field you are participating. You may take the answer of a *username_1* as a good rule of thumb.
In short, the first person is the one that actually wrote the paper. The later ones have an order of contribution/hierarchy/original idea for the paper/you name it...
And the particular culture really changes how to give an answer to your question.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/12/22
| 444
| 1,790
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<issue_start>username_0: I emailed my potential supervisor to express my interest in her works. We talked once and I was encouraged to apply to the university. Recently, I emailed her to inform her that I have submitted my application. I got a response from my potential supervisor that I am admitted. How should I thank her for admitting me?
Also, one of my recommendation letters is not submitted yet. Does that mean I am definitely admitted? Because I have to ask about financial aid and scholarships and I have no idea when or how to do so...<issue_comment>username_1: You won't know for sure whether it was her sole decision. Even if she has a major role in the process, she probably had to influence other people in her department. Be polite and write how grateful you are to be accepted in that institution, and how eager you are to start working with her. You won'd be mistaken.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> How should I thank her for admitting me?
>
>
>
Just like you would phrase any other similar email, within or outside of academia. There is no need to overthink this. There is no specific protocol for that, and no need for a special "thank you" email (although an answer that acknowledges that you have received the mail and are still interested in the position is definitely advisable).
*Dear XXX,*
*I am very happy to hear this, and I am looking forward to working with you.*
*Can you please advise me on what the next steps for me are?*
*All the best,*
*<NAME>*
As a quick sidenote to all those expressing disbelief that a single professor may have decided to accept or reject a PhD candidate: This is how it works in most places in Europe. Don't assume that admission to PhD school is organized the same as in the US everywhere.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/12/22
| 499
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<issue_start>username_0: In the Information for Authors of several (health) related journals, manuscript types may include *original research* and *review* articles, among others.
I thought systematic reviews (whether quantitative or qualitative) should be submitted as *review* submissions, as opposed to, for example, original studies with novel findings based on data collected or analyzed by authors. However, the guides in those journals say a *review* requires an unstructured abstract, as in narrative reviews.
In [this answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/27355/4018), review articles can be considered original observations. So why do some journals distinguish between review articles and original research? And, under which category should systematic reviews be submitted to these journals?<issue_comment>username_1: You won't know for sure whether it was her sole decision. Even if she has a major role in the process, she probably had to influence other people in her department. Be polite and write how grateful you are to be accepted in that institution, and how eager you are to start working with her. You won'd be mistaken.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> How should I thank her for admitting me?
>
>
>
Just like you would phrase any other similar email, within or outside of academia. There is no need to overthink this. There is no specific protocol for that, and no need for a special "thank you" email (although an answer that acknowledges that you have received the mail and are still interested in the position is definitely advisable).
*Dear XXX,*
*I am very happy to hear this, and I am looking forward to working with you.*
*Can you please advise me on what the next steps for me are?*
*All the best,*
*<NAME>*
As a quick sidenote to all those expressing disbelief that a single professor may have decided to accept or reject a PhD candidate: This is how it works in most places in Europe. Don't assume that admission to PhD school is organized the same as in the US everywhere.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/12/23
| 985
| 3,991
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<issue_start>username_0: I am starting to work on my thesis on analyzing the social network. My question is about using ethical procedures to access data.
1. Is it ethical to use Facebook messages as the source of my data if I have permission from the other users?
2. Is it alright to create a chatroom to create a chat/web page to get the data, is it the right way to go?<issue_comment>username_1: In the United States, if you are funded by any government agency (NIH, NSF, etc.) and you do research involving human subjects, you are required by [law](https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/regulations/45-cfr-46/) to get approval from an IRB (institutional review board). Research involving messages on social networks can, in some cases, be considered human subject research under this law. Similar laws exist in many other countries.
Furthermore, many conferences and journals require prospective authors to have clearance from an IRB or similar ethics board if they submit a manuscript involving human subjects research. For example, [ACM SIGMOBILE](https://www.sigmobile.org/mobisys/2016/submission.php) policy:
>
> As part of the submission process, authors of papers that describe experiments on human subjects, or that analyze nonpublic data derived from human subjects (even anonymized data), will be asked to certify that their work was vetted by an ethics review (e.g., IRB approval). We expect authors to follow the rules of their host institutions around data collection and experiments with human subjects.
>
>
>
Note that IRB approval must be obtained before you start working with human subjects, not after the fact.
Legal requirements aside, when working with human subjects or their private information, you have an ethical responsibility to get clearance from an independent third party. There is an obvious conflict of interest associated with having the *researcher* decide whether the research is ethical. That is the function of the IRB.
For an example of what *not* to do, see the case of the [OKCupid data release](https://www.wired.com/2016/05/okcupid-study-reveals-perils-big-data-science/) and [some of the fallout](https://neuroconscience.com/2016/05/13/okcupid-data-leak-framing-the-debate/) from that.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: You will need to refer to the Human Research Ethics Committee of your university as policies differ between institutes.
>
> Is it ethical to use Facebook messages as the source of my data if I have permission from the other users?
>
>
>
Under our policy, we have designated a category of research called "Negligible Risk Research" (NRR) in which the foreseeable risk to participants is no more than inconvenience. One class of NRR projects includes research relying exclusively on publicly available information legally accessible to the public and/or publicly accessible with no reasonable expectation of privacy. In some settings, this may describe your use of Facebook data. Be aware, though, that this may not always be the case, especially in closed groups in Facebook.
>
> Is it alright to create a chatroom to create a chat/web page to get the data?
>
>
>
You are confusing data collection with ethics. Creating a chatroom is a data collection technique. It says nothing about the information you wish to collect and the protections that you need to consider. For example, I used a chatroom to collect data for research into drug use in university students. This type of research was extremely sensitive and was particularly difficult to achieve ethical approval. We got it in the end, though. One of my students wanted to explore the use of emojis in everyday chat conversations and the university ethics committee deemed this relatively low risk.
>
> is it the right way to go?
>
>
>
My advice is to work with your institution's human research ethics office. They are often happy to help. ***You do not want to proceed without ethical assessment.*** No no no.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/12/23
| 716
| 2,841
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<issue_start>username_0: What is *Summa cum Laude* and how do you get it (USA)? Is this equivalent to *First Class Honors* in Australia? What is the equivalent of an *Australian University medal* in the USA?<issue_comment>username_1: Each university can define *summa cum laude* and *magna cum laude* as it choses. Honours/honors/medals cannot be considered directly comparable between American and Australian universities. Keep in mind that American universities do not have to adhere to national regulations or standards. They are much more variable than Australian universities and also far more numerous.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: The typical Latin honors are "cum laude" ("with honor"), "magna cum laude" ("with great honor"), and "summa cum laude" ("with highest honor"). These are essentially a coarse form of ranking within the graduate class, telling you something about GPA or relative rank.
They are widely but not universally used in the USA, depending on the philosophy of the individual institution: for example, MIT does not use Latin honors or provide any sort of ranking information on its students because it wishes them to be judged individually. As with many other aspects of formal academic organization the US, however, there is no central authority or shared definition, and organizations vary rather wildly in how they actually determine Latin honors, if they even use them. Thus, the only way to know precisely what it really means is to look it up for the individual institution---and even then, they might shift their policies over time.
Bottom line: a Latin honor on a degree means that a student went to an institution that uses Latin honors and they ranked roughly "good", "better", or "best" in their performance there.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: There might not be an exact comparison between the Latin honours system in US universities and the letter-grade honours system in Australian universities, but there are effectively three classes of each, so this indicates that there might be a rough correspondence. In most Australian universities, the classes of honours are:
* 1st Class Honours (a High-Distinction average);
* Upper 2nd Class Honours (a Distinction average);
* Lower 2nd Class Honours (a Credit average);
* 3rd Class Honours (a Pass average). \*
Unless some more reliable information arises (e.g., some data on GPA conversions, etc.), I would suggest the following rough correspondence:
* 1st Class Honours = *summa cum laude*
* Upper 2nd Class Honours = *magna cum laude*
* Lower 2nd Class Honours = *cum laude*
---
\* The case of 3rd Class Honours generally only occurs if a student is selected into an honours year, but then receives only a Pass average in that year. This is usually considered to be similar to not getting honours.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/12/23
| 561
| 2,188
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<issue_start>username_0: I am looking for good options for tools to manage my PhD students, in terms of seeing that they are on track in working out their PhD theses (I am in the UK, three year system) and are hitting their necessary milestones. Each year, as the number of students I supervise grow, it becomes more unwieldy to keep track of each student's progress.
In some ways this sounds like I am looking for a project management tool like [MS Project](http://office.microsoft.com/project/) or [OmniPlan](https://www.omnigroup.com/omniplan). But these seem too unwieldy and, perhaps, I would like to also have something that can help manage the chapters I have read and the comments I have given then.
So some basic features would be:
* Collaborative software (preference of hosted on a server)
* Task lists with deadlines
* Timeline progression
I am curious what recommendations people have.<issue_comment>username_1: Like @Orion suggested, [trello](https://trello.com/) is great for organizing work. It is a [kanban board](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_board) where you express tasks as cards and you *pile* those cards in different *decks*; usual decks are TO-DO, DOING and DONE, but this is up to you. You can have different boards, one per student. It is collaborative and allows to grant access to a board to specific users (e.g. each student's board would be accessed by the student and you). you can open a card and write comments on it.
If you prefer not to depend on an external service, you can self-host a trello clone, like [wekan](https://github.com/wekan/wekan).
Update: for Gantt charts within the kanban board approach, I see 2 options:
* Pay for the Trello extension called [elegantt](https://elegantt.com/).
* Use the open source kanban board called [kanboard](https://kanboard.net/). It is less visually appealing, but comes with a Gantt view out of the box. You can either host it yourself or subscribe to the [hosted version](https://kanboard.net/hosting).
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Try overleaf and sharelatex shared accounts! That way you can monitor thesis writing progress and even comment and modify.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/12/23
| 878
| 3,805
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergraduate majoring in computer science. I want to apply for a top Master program in the US. I have done the GRE test and most of the other things required.
I am currently doing research with my professor so there might be more publication to come but it will be later than the application deadline.
I don't know if I should try to apply this year. There are certain things I am concerning (my GPA might be lower, my reference letter might not be as strong as before, there might be more applicants in the next year) .
There is one thing I don't know how will the admission office work on.
If I failed the first year, will it be a negative factor for my application the next year (say if I could been admitted originally, but because I failed the last application the year before so I am not accepted)?
will it be like I revealed too much information so they can see my change between the two years(for example they found I didn't make much progress like the years before in that year)?
will they compare the two applications(for example they found there is lots of change in my SOP, like my life goal changed largely) or will they be processed totally independent?
Just say I have 25% possibility to get admitted, my situation might be better or worse the next year. If I failed this year I will reapply the next year. Is it worth a shot to apply this year?<issue_comment>username_1: I applied twice in two consecutive years for graduate school. Some universities do not track or compare current applications to previous ones, so those schools likely would not notice (and thus would not care).
Some institutions do track if you've applied previously. This isn't a deal-breaker, but then you'd want the year gap to show you made significant gains and improved your application.
Thus, my advice would be: if you want to apply this year, go for it. If you don't get in, find a job or internship and/or take classes that let(s) you improve your application significantly. Develop new skills, showcase an ability to be successful in more advanced projects.
Then, were you to apply that next year, don't mention that you applied to that institution before and got rejected, but do emphasize all the skills you gained during your time off. Talk about how that year prepared you to be a successful graduate student in your essay, make sure the skills developed during that year are clear on your resume and in your description of projects (if there is one).
Edit: If you are concerned the graduate program is a reach for you, you might consider taking a year off to build your skills anyway. You could probably make a decent amount of money for that year, and you may be less stressed and able to get more out of graduate school.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> If I failed the first year, will it be a negative factor for my application the next year (say if I could been admitted originally, but because I failed the last application the year before so I am not accepted)?
>
>
>
I have done graduate admissions in the US (in mathematics), and in all of my experience I have never seen the phenomenon of downgrading an applicant in Year X because they previously applied but were rejected in Year Y.
Let me also say that when it comes to faculty applications, the "carpet-bombing approach" -- i.e., apply widely and often -- is very much the norm. Thus it seems likely to me that the prospect of reapplying looks much more unusual to the student than it will to the faculty members who will be processing the application.
Combined with the trivial (but true) remark that you get into precisely 0% of programs to which you do not apply, I would certainly encourage you to apply in consecutive years if you still have interest.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/12/23
| 630
| 2,602
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<issue_start>username_0: I am willing to apply for a Ph.D next year and by September I am planning to graduate from a M.Sc. in Economics. I am trying to choose my mentor for my final thesis but I was wondering which is the impact of a Master thesis on a Ph.D. application.
I know there are many thing that will be taken into account when analyzing an application but I thought a good thesis in the field for which one is applying could be a nice introduction as well as the name of the professor (the more "famous", the better) chosen as tutor.
Are my considerations right or wrong?<issue_comment>username_1: *Sometimes* choosing a famous name backfires. If it's a hot shot with tons of students, he will distinguish among his students, when writing his letters, by giving strong letters to the strongest among his flock, and mediocre letters to the less spectacular. Such a mediocre letter from a big name can be quite damaging to an application.
Even aside from that -- choose the person who fits best:
* you are interested in their work
* you admire the person ethically
* they bring out the best in you
* their management style suits you
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: When I began working on my Master's Thesis in an engineering field (in the United States) I asked my advisor a similar question, namely: "Should I perform a problem report or a thesis?". My advisor, who is a well established and active professor, told me it depended on if I ever thought I would do a PhD.
He said that a Master's Thesis and the associated research were essentially training to learn how to research and document effectively and efficiently. Therefore, a well researched and written thesis is very important for admission into a Doctoral program - because research is what a Doctoral program requires!
Of course, as stated in another answer, having a well-known advisor could be a double-edged sword in its own right.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: username_2 is right. If you are planning on doing a PhD, you should demonstrate that you are a strong researcher. That's why MRes programmes are gaining some traction. If you are planning on going straight into industry, do something that is relevant to the sector.
As an example, I originally planned on working in Arts Management so I did a practical thesis on good practice for Virtual Museums. Later, when I decided to go into Academia, I realised that I would have done better doing a data-led masters programme. However, I was fortunate and it didn't matter, though my experience counted for a lot by then.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/12/23
| 418
| 1,752
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying to Grad School. I have indicated three references. However, one of them has not yet completed. He has stopped responding to mails and phone calls too. Would it be wise to change him with some other reference ?
If it is of any importance, the person in the question is my undergraduate thesis advisor.
Since I don't have commenting rights I will add some more info here.
@kostia I visited his office some days back -> he disagreed to write then. Then some days after I visited, he writes to me saying he can do 5. And so I indicated him in requests. That was the last I had heard from him. I write him reminder e-mails almost every day, he doesn't reply.<issue_comment>username_1: A strong letter from the undergraduate thesis adviser would be very valuable, since this is the person who presumably knows your academic achievements better than others. Assuming that your adviser has agreed to write a recommendation letter (otherwise you should not have listed him as your referee), I would recommend to try your best and find him by going directly to his office, or through his colleagues or admin people.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Adding to @Kostia's answer, a negative letter from the undergraduate thesis advisor will tank your application.
He is giving all the signs of not being able to write a positive letter. He disagreed when you first asked him, then he agreed to only writing a few, now he is avoiding you.
I would absolutely not use him for any letters if at all possible. Again, a bad letter from your advisor is worse than a missing letter. Try to find a third person and have them write to as many schools as will let you change the letter writers.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2016/12/23
| 917
| 3,798
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<issue_start>username_0: I hope that you can give me a good advice on my situation.
I'm a PhD student with 3 advisors: one main advisor and 2 co-supervisors. I'm very happy with them all and we are working on a paper together. They are very good at providing feedback and criticism (mostly because they don't have other PhD students). Unfortunately, they don't always agree on the content/style of the paper. Now I have worked on this paper for a very long time and every time I have been close to submitting it (2 out of 3 think it's ready) - one of them wants (me) to improve it or push it in another direction. This has been very stressful for me. Now we are again close to submitting it (I hope) and I'm now thinking about what to do differently for the next paper/in the future. The solutions that I've come up with are:
1. Take more charge in my PhD i.e. don't let one opinion control what is going to happen if there is no other complains.
2. Only work with max. 2 at the same time.
Choice 1. seems rude to me. Because I feel like it's my job to listen to all of my advisors. But on the other hand, **how do I tell my advisors that I think we should work on our communication and that my research is suffering from working with 3 people at the same time** that 1) always think they know best, 2) don't like to compromise and 3) don't always agree.<issue_comment>username_1: It sounds like a significant part of your problem is coming from treating your three advisors equally when, in fact, they are not equal: one of them is your main advisor, and that distinction matters.
You can use the distinction between main advisor and co-supervisors to break the symmetry that is giving your difficulties. You don't say whether it's your main advisor or one of the others who is currently holding up paper submission, so let me treat both scenarios:
* **Your main advisor thinks your paper needs more work:** Then your paper probably needs more work, because your main advisor is the one probably closest and most responsible for your work. Discuss the opinions of the others with your main advisor, and if they aren't convinced that it's good enough, then you need to do the work.
* **One of the others thinks your paper needs more work:** If your main advisor thinks the paper is ready to submit, then have a discussion with your main advisor about the objection. If your main advisor agrees with the objection, then you probably really do need to do the additional work. If your main advisor still thinks the paper is ready to submit *then you can enlist your advisor to help explain to the co-supervisor why the work isn't going to be done.*
In either case, if you focus on the relationship with the main advisor, and make that the locus for decisions, you can still keep the benefits of the inputs from the co-supervisors without becoming paralyzed by their differences of opinions. Your co-supervisors may disagree with the main advisor, but if you make it clear that you need to follow the opinions of the main advisor in case of disagreement, then they are likely to view it in those terms rather than feeling upset with you because you aren't taking their advice.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It's hard to answer without knowing more about what your field is, and what the nature of the collaboration is. Is it you, primarily, doing the work, and the advisors give feedback on what you've done? Do you all together design experiments, and then you conduct them?
In any case, generically, I'd say that your option (1), to take more ownership yourself, is fine. In addition, I'd recommend getting all the advisors in a room together when you all discuss your work. It's much easier to reach consensus this way than by endless virtual discussions.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/12/24
| 2,336
| 9,811
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm an undergrad in biology, long story short, I was looking a professor's CV (not in medicine) and he had indicated his GPA in his grad school (apparently he had the highest in his program). But what about medical school? I read somewhere that courses in med school are pass/fail and not graded. Not sure if that's true but if it is, how do good students distinguish themselves?
Secondly, same question in terms of getting into top specialties as indication of how good of a student someone is. On a medical school site I saw what seems to be labeled as "competitiveness" of various programs, with dermatology and plastic surgery being highly competitive and family practice and psychiatry being the least. I assumed this means that only most successful students get into these programs, and so this can be used to indicate how good someone is. But apparently not so. I'm not sure exactly how this works, but it seems med students, though they take the same exam (USMLE), they self-select into various specialties.
So how can you tell how good a student is in medical school if there is no GPA and if getting into a specialty also don't indicate that?<issue_comment>username_1: Gone are the days when course marks are the only metric against which medical students are assessed. This is one of the reasons for the institution of pass/fail modules of instruction. This issue is difficult for medical students to understand, given that entry into medical school is contingent on tough criteria involving grade-based metrics. All these questions you've asked are tied to this old way of thinking.
>
> how do good students distinguish themselves?
>
>
>
Medical students distinguish themselves in ways other than course marks. They show compassion towards patients. They show creativity in their approach to problem solving. They demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively. They work well with their peers. They lead and follow, as is appropriate to achieve the best outcome for the patient.
It's not all about the marks. It's all about the patient.
>
> same question in terms of getting into top specialties as indication of how good of a student someone is
>
>
>
I believe that you're looking at the question ass backwards. In logic terms, your applying the fallacy called confirming the consequent.
Competitive people get into dermatology.
Sally got into dermatology.
Therefore, Sally is competitive.
I suggest that you refrain from judging the "competitiveness" of a doctor on the basis of his or her specialty.
The choice of specialty has been long studied and the motivation to pursue a particular medical specialty is based on a number of factors, not the least of which is personal preference. I can think of no one in my professional life as a medical doctor -- professors, peers, students -- who've pursued a clinical specialty simply because it was the most competitive thing to get into.
The "competitive" label of some specialties is a function of supply of training posts against demand for the profession. There are relatively few positions available for dermatology compared to the need of the population. I promise you, if dermatology places were to triple overnight, the "competitive" label would be lost. The same is true at the other end. There are many places for family medicine, some not able to be filled.
>
> So how can you tell how good a student is in medical school if there is no GPA and if getting into a specialty also don't indicate that?
>
>
>
There is no single metric. Rather, I suggest that you understand the mechanics against which you will be assessed. These will differ as you progress through your medical training. At each stage, the everyone resets to zero, any you start from scratch. There is no carry over of grades. Let me give you an example. In the program I head, we receive 400 applications for the 12 training places we possess. Once we select our trainees, everyone is treated the same. Effectively, the utility of your GPA, your medical school award for perfect attendance, your three letters of recommendation -- all of these have served their purpose and we chuck them out. We don't care whether you were top of your class or bottom of your class. You're now in our class and our rules apply. Do you know who has the hardest time figuring this out? Well, it's the people who are fixated about class and status.
Anyway, good luck to you.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV.
What I mean is, I have zero personal experience with studying or teaching medicine. But I've read books about people going through medical training. So my answer will only be as good as those books (and my ability to imagine that world).
>
> 1. How do good students distinguish themselves?
>
>
>
Judging by the context you gave, of reading a professor's CV, I think you're asking how one can tell who the rock stars are.
In academia: the length and the quality of the publications list, getting on the cover of an important journal, winning a prize, getting a prestigious fellowship, being an invited speaker, etc.
In medicine: here I'm less sure of my answer, but I think the items I mentioned for academia would apply as well. Also, when I hear one mental health professional speak of another one's credentials, they seem to know which are the really good training programs, so if someone has listed one of those on their CV, then that's a feather in their cap.
Perhaps you are asking, how do selection committees figure out which are the strongest candidates for a position. I imagine the reputation of the training program, and the recommendation letters, must be extremely important. Blue-blue-blue's answer gives an insider view of what a supervisor thinks about when preparing to give a reference (compassion, creativity, problem solving, communication, collaboration).
From my reading (which I will say once more, may have given me a totally wrong impression), here is what one has to do to be a successful medical student:
* learn to do practical things like drawing blood, not necessarily with the benefit of step by step training in how to do it efficiently (in other words, this part of the job can be pretty sink or swim)
* be respectful of nurses
* respect the medical hierarchy
* stay on top of an enormous amount of reading, so as to be able to answer impromptu verbal quizzes in front of fellow students, and also so as to be able to care for patients and do the creative problem solving mentioned by blue-blue
* work incredibly long shifts, catching naps as catch can
* navigate electronic records comfortably
* be efficient
* manage one's anxiety about appearing stupid, or about making a mistake
* learn enormous amounts of material and figure out a way to catalog it all in one's brain
>
> 2. I saw what seems to be labeled as "competitiveness" of various programs, with dermatology and plastic surgery being highly competitive and family practice and psychiatry being the least.
>
>
>
I think what you saw was a rating system indicating the relative ratios of #slots divided by #applicants. If that ratio is much higher in one specialty than another, then it is called "highly competitive."
If you are wondering how a student should use this information when choosing a specialty, my personal opinion is that one should be primarily guided by one's natural affinity for an area of medicine. (I can tell you that I was not very encouraged when I was in the hospital with a serious fracture, and the attending specialist who was overseeing my care, and checking on me from time to time, heard that my spouse is a physicist, and confided in me, "I always wanted to study physics, but my father said the only way he'd pay for my college was if I studied medicine.")
>
> 3. So how can you tell how good a student is in medical school if there is no GPA and if getting into a specialty also don't indicate that?
>
>
>
See above. Also, when I was choosing a pediatrician for my first child, here are the qualities I valued in the one I chose:
* She was able to connect with the child and with me
* She listened to my point of view
* She explained things clearly
* She sometimes mentioned recent research results as they related to the issue the child was having, and sometimes on a subsequent visit I was able to see that she had done some reading in the interim (that really distinguished her from most doctors I had seen; maybe they all do that, but just don't talk about it....)
* She gave us useful advice (sorry to have put that at the end, it's of course just as important as the other things)
And here are the reason I switched to someone different after some time:
* We were having trouble getting child #2 diagnosed; I found an article I thought could give us some clues (it turned out, in fact, to provide the key to what was wrong), but when I mailed it to her and asked her to read it, and made an appointment for one month later, when we got there, she still hadn't read it.
* She refused to use email or a patient portal or fax to communicate with me. It was very frustrating always to have to go through a semi-literate receptionist.
The current doctor of child #2 has some modern tech-related qualities that I really appreciate:
* She checks frequently for messages that come in from patients through the receptionist and the patient portal.
* She responds promptly through the patient portal, writes helpful letters explaining to the school what the child needs, and gets the letters to me directly through the patient portal. That gives me a chance to preview the letter and let her know if there's something the school is liable to misunderstand -- before the letter gets sent to the school.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/12/24
| 1,487
| 6,170
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a first-year pure math PhD student. I'm going to take an oral qualifying exam in a few months, and for this I need to find at least one person who agrees to be my adviser and one of the examiners in the qual. I'm interested in symplectic topology, and I have already talked with a professor of this area, whom I was going to ask for being my adviser. However, my interest in machine learning got revived, and I'm now very certain that I want to change my path.
Reapplying to CS PhD isn't really a good choice for me, since I didn't take any CS course in undergrad. However, I have studied this area by myself, and the process was very easy compared with studying pure math. I've audited topics courses in ML, from which I believe I don't have any lack of prerequisite for this subject, and that I'm ready for research once I finish reading relevant papers.
I'm aware that, once passing qual, I have freedom of changing the area to pursue. For example, a pure math PhD student having done a qual on symplectic topology can get a PhD by writing a thesis on computational complexity. While qual is not difficult for me, I have no idea how to actually proceed from now on. Should I tell the professor that I want to take the qual with him as my adviser and that I will not work on symplectic topology after that? (After that, I will find a co-adviser from CS department with whom I will work on thesis.) Or should I not tell him my intention until after the qual?<issue_comment>username_1: This is less about process than it is about ethics.
You have knowledge about your future action that you are keeping from the professor. This is material information, in my view, that prevents the professor from reaching a fully informed decision. Thus, while he might accept to advise you in good faith, the same cannot be said for you. That is to say, you are not entering into the adviser-advisee relationship in good faith.
Let me put it to you another way. When is it best to tell my fiancee that I really don't love her but am actually only after the green card -- before the marriage or after the marriage?
Forgive the bluntness of this response, but I think a PhD is not only about the subject knowledge that you will be gaining. It's about pursuing your goals in an ethical manner. How would you feel if you were used as a means to an end? A professor agrees to take you on because he needs supervision experience to gain tenure. He really doesn't know much about the research you're conducting, something he should have said before he agreed to accept you. He achieves tenure, then asks you to leave his lab because he's decided that he really can't supervise you much.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Given that you're in the US, my advice to you is **slow down**. You don't need to pass your oral exams in your first year, and studying for and passing an exam in a subject that you intend to drop completely is not a good use of your (or anyone's) time. Moreover, you can stop working with (or not start working with) your advisor without jeopardizing your future in the program, so there is absolutely no reason not to be forthcoming about your concerns.
I suggest talking to your current faculty advisor and devising a program of study which allows you to explore ML while not quitting symplectic topology "cold turkey". As a first year student you can afford to spend at least a year taking courses trying to figure out what you want to study and building up background in that area. In fact, it is very unusual for a first year US math PhD student to know exactly what they want to study in the future: that kind of decision usually lies at least a year away.
It sounds like you thought you did and that you have some pride in your own advanced standing. That's understandable, but the thought of going ahead with an examination in a subject that you plan to drop soon thereafter and with an advisor that you plan to drop immediately thereafter is really not a rational, wise or kind way to proceed. I think you need to take some time to gain a better perspective. Sharing your proclivities and your plans with your peers and mentors is a good way to do so, but again: take it slow.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: >
> Reapplying to CS PhD isn't really a good choice for me, since I didn't take any CS course in undergrad.
>
>
>
That strikes me as a less insurmountable problem than it would be to go the other direction (from CS to pure math). Take a look at some programs of study, read the course descriptions, and chart out the sequence of prerequisites.
You have been studying Pure Math Topic A, but you are currently thinking you probably don't want to do research in it after all; if you are pretty close to being ready to take the qual in Topic A, then I think you should consider going ahead and taking it, as long as you're honest about your intentions. However, I will couple that suggestion with one other: for any Topic B that you intend to do research in, you should take the corresponding qual.
You strike me as the sort of person who would be able to get through the prereqs to start in a CS program in a reasonable amount of time -- with one caveat: I don't know anything about the subfield you're interested in, machine learning, but I do know that all students of CS must sooner or later do some programming, i.e. plan an algorithm, make a plan of attack for writing many lines of code, self-document the code, crank it out, debug it, make the input and output nice. One needs to have, or learn, a certain kind of patience. The question you wrote gives me the impression you can read and make sense of things efficiently, and do creative problem solving. I don't know if you can program. It might be a good idea to get your feet wet with that and find out if you can, sooner rather than later. For example, some people in this world take a class in CS and really struggle, because they can't get the hang of debugging. If you were such a person, then it would not make sense for you to pursue a graduate degree in CS.
Have you talked this over with your family?
Upvotes: 1
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2016/12/24
| 789
| 3,449
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<issue_start>username_0: In the US, most Ph.D. programs accept far fewer students with master degrees compared to students who just graduate from college with a bachelor. Why is that the case since master students are supposed to have more background and maybe more research experience than students who just graduated from college?<issue_comment>username_1: Most of the students in the US who are in Master's programs in the arts and sciences are only in these programs because they failed to be admitted to PhD programs with their Bachelor's degree. Generally speaking, being in a US Master's program is by itself a sign of weakness.
While some students do become significantly stronger over the course of their Master's programs, generally speaking, students with a Master's degree have less innate ability than students who are admitted directly after a Bachelor's degree. They may have more knowledge and experience(\*), but this is usually easily made up for in a year or two of study. (There are exceptions, and it's quite easy to spot them from letters of recommendation, but you're asking a statistical question about numbers overall, not about specific individuals.)
Foreign students who might not have had the opportunity to be directly admitted to PhD programs immediately after a Bachelor's are evaluated differently.
(\*) Actually, someone with a Master's from my department usually knows about as much as someone with a Bachelor's from a top university, and is significantly less capable.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I definitely do not agree to this statement. I am in world's top 10 universities in EE. In my department, rarely they accept any international student without Master's degree.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I'm not sure that your basic premise holds. What you've stated is not common knowledge, and you don't give any particular source for your numbers. More importantly, you haven't answered @NateEldedge's question about total numbers vs. acceptance rates.
Based on my own anecdotal experiences, however, my guess would be that the actual circumstances are this:
* Students with a Masters are more likely to get into a U.S. Ph.D. program than students without a Masters, for exactly the reasons that you suspect.
* Most students interested in a Ph.D. program, however, apply directly without bothering to get a Masters first. As a result, it may well be the case that most U.S. Ph.D. students do not have a Masters.
The underlying reason that would cause such an apparently counter-intuitive situation is that in the U.S., it is typically the case that a Ph.D. and a Masters are both terminal degrees that serve different purposes. A Masters is frequently a focused collection of coursework in support of one's profession, whereas a Ph.D. is an apprenticeship into the world of research. As such, most U.S. Ph.D. programs do not require or expect applicants to have a Masters, and there is often little incentive for students inclined toward a Ph.D. to delay and acquire one, unless they have some particular reason (e.g., they aiming to shift fields, improve on a past poor record, or escape the effects of a poor undergraduate institution).
Note however, that in other parts of the world, like Europe, Ph.D. programs are organized to assume that students have already acquired a Masters, and in such programs it is the case that nearly every Ph.D. student will have a Masters.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/12/25
| 633
| 2,751
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a few good ideas in the area of evolutionary economics which I would like to discuss with an established researcher. How do I go about doing this? I live in Bangalore, India, where there don't seem to be any researchers in this area.
Do I just put it together as best as I can and email it off to whichever professors in the United States that are accessible on the internet?
The big problem is I don't quite know "the lay of the land" in terms of previous research, how my ideas fit in, and exactly how valuable they are, although from my initial survey, I have a hunch that I'm on the right track.<issue_comment>username_1: There is a chicken-and-egg problem here: you don't have the attention of the experts because you haven't demonstrated achievements in their field, which you can't do effectively without their vetting. To get those experts' attention you need to demonstrate that you have something new, without wasting their time.
Publishing something in the field is the best way to command their attention; the experts will be professionally required to digest your work. Usually only people with substantial academic credentials achieve this.
The alternative is seeking their attention in some way. This means being thankful and brief. Many academics are kind people who will answer a quick question. Don't rely on a hunch; be sure you are on the right track before asking for their attention. Be ready for no response or a no, and take your time; you may find after writing that the question you asked was not quite the right one. Connections can also be made indirectly; though you have no friends working in related fields, you may have a friend-of-a-friend who is doing so.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Do you have a relevant PhD, or a PhD in general? These days, it is almost unheard of to be contributing to academic research without a PhD - with the exception of masters students that sometimes publish their work with the help of senior researchers or PhD students (and to a lesser degree, Bachelors students). In all of these cases, there is an established relationship between the less experienced researcher and more experienced researchers.
So, my advice is quite simple, if you do not have a PhD then go and apply to a relevant PhD program! That would help you gain the knowledge you feel you lack.
If you already have a PhD in a different area, then my advice is slightly different. Hopefully, your current area of research (if there is one) has some relation, in which case I would suggest trying to publish similar research in that area and then use that to get a research position with relevant experts in "evolutionary economics". That is, try and switch fields.
Upvotes: 0
|
2016/12/25
| 726
| 3,204
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<issue_start>username_0: We got a small set of good outcomes from some work that we were doing in recent months. However, the outcomes are not so good to be published in good conferences (CS).
So, we decided to post and keep it online via arXiv.
Recently, one of my friends rang me and asked to publish the work in not-so-reputed conference (preferably, IEEE).
I was wondering, is it a good idea to publish it in bad quality conference? Will it give a bad name to us?
*Could we get some inputs although we know that the work could still be published after arXiving?*<issue_comment>username_1: It probably depends on the "bad quality conference".
There are some conferences that are not the "top" conferences, have relatively high acceptance rates, and don't necessarily get the most exciting new results - but still do legitimate peer review, have respected experts in the field on their committee, and generally attract good attendees from good programs, albeit not with their very best work. These conferences are very much worth submitting work to and attending. You will get to network with people who are generally doing high quality work, get useful feedback on your own work, and hear some interesting talks.
(Many of the workshops that are co-located with the "top" conferences also fall into this category. These are especially useful, because you can also attend the main conference, and some people from the main conference will attend the workshop. They have many of the benefits of publishing in the "top" conference, but have much higher acceptance rates and are often a good venue for less mature or less exciting results.)
Then there are conferences that *don't* do high quality peer review, whose organizers and TPC are not particularly well known or respected, that have a very broad scope (so the attendees are barely interesting in one another's talks), and whose proceedings are riddled with plagiarism and work with serious methodological flaws. I would strongly recommend against submitting to these. You will not gain any of the benefits mentioned above. You will waste money traveling to and attending the conference. Publishing in such a conference will preclude you from ever publishing this work in a more reputable venue. It can also signal a lack of judgment with respect to where to publish - while many people will excuse this as just a lack of experience, it is still not the impression you want to leave on people reading your CV.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: How 'not so good' are the results? Can they be improved significantly with additional but reasonable time and effort? Have you received rejection notices from other conferences and/or journals already?
I would try my utmost to improve the results, if possible, and target a conference ranked reasonably. I faced a similar conundrum -- my field is related (Computer Security and Cryptography) -- and we opted to spend an additional 4 weeks generating additional results, which paid off. Like username_1 says, poorly-ranked conferences don't only waste time and money, but, in my experience, are usually a red light for others reviewing your profile in the field.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/12/25
| 3,057
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an instructor at an American university. A student of mine, Student H, claimed that he was very sick and had to miss the final exam. Based on my trusting students in general, I allowed Student H to take a make-up exam, which took place about 4 hours after the actual exam finished.
About two days later, soon after I submitted the final grades (student H got an A-), I received emails from a few students (in the same class and in other classes) accusing Student H of deliberately postponing the exam, and asking other students, who took the exam on time, about what was on the exam.
I am attaching the emails below (without revealing any names of the students). I know these students personally and I do not think they would conspire together to make up stories about this.
I responded to them asking them to approach students who were asked, or witnessed someone being asked, by Student H about the exam questions.
Nonetheless, please let me know if you think these emails below would already suffice to accuse Student H of academic dishonesty?
If no, what else do I need? Even if I cannot make a convincing case of academic dishonesty against Student H, should I at least request a change of his grade (to a much lower one)?
I feel many students are angry about Student H's behavior, so I must do something about this.
Thank you very much for helping.
**Student 1**
>
> Anyway, I just want to say something unfair that I've seen in my
> course. Professor, I couldn't understand you giving Student H makeup
> tests for several times; he wasn't sick. I kinda expected him going to
> take a make-up final, as he had done so far, and it really happened
> again on the final. He wasn't sick as far as many students saw him
> just a day before and also on the final, but intentionally making dry
> coughs while he was with us.
>
>
> I really wanted you to notice him making lame excuses for getting
> make-up quizzes, the midterm, and the final, but you didn't. At least
> he had some conscience, he should not ask someone about the
> information for the midterm and the final, but he did. Unless he was
> that sick so that it was really hard to take the final, it wouldn't be
> a real problem. However, he always made excuses like being sick, and
> get information from students who already took to get better scores on
> tests. He didn't do such things to other professors, but he did in
> this course because he knows you were one of our considerate
> professors to us.
>
>
> Many students were mad about it. I hope you deal with this problem
> well to resolve students' resentment.
>
>
>
**Student 2**
>
> Student H, our classmate, kept on making an excuse in order to take
> exams late. If he was really sick, I could have understood it, but he
> was not sick that much; it seems somehow manageable. I have three
> evidences that his excuses were deceitful, and I will explain to you
> by chronological order.
>
>
> First of all, when Student H skipped the first midterm exam, it seemed
> like he postponed the exam on purpose. No matter whether he was really
> sick or not, he asked others what was on the midterm exam. He should
> not have asked those to other students, and this is totally unfair as
> well as he is being dishonest.
>
>
> Second, Student H asked me to postpone the final exam together. I
> cannot deny the fact that both of us were sick, due to the flu, but it
> was still manageable for both of us -I was not even sure that he was
> really sick or acting like he is sick. Since I did not see any point
> of delaying the exam, I rejected his suggestion. Aside from this, he
> even told me the process of postponding his final exam. He told me
> that he did not receive any e-mail response from you, and he even told
> me that he tried his best not to meet you in the hallway of the 4th
> floor while doing the work-study program so that he can prove that he
> is genuinly sick, while not. At this point, he is being dishonest
> toward faculty members to postpone the exam.
>
>
> Lastly, after postponding the exam, he asked other students about the
> exam questions, and took the exam. I personally believe asking exam
> questions to other students is also committing of an academic
> dishonesty.
>
>
> To summarize, as seen in the delay of two major exams without any
> valid reasons, as well as asking exam questions, I believe it can be
> enough evidences to prove that Student H committed the academic
> dishonesty. Plus, I wish this issue stay between us -make me
> anonymous, please.
>
>
>
**Student 3**
>
> On December 19th, the day before the exam, Student H told me that he
> postponed the exam time. He told me that he intentionally postponed it
> not because of his sickness. What he intended was if he take the test
> late, other students who took early in the morning would tell Student
> H about the final. This is not my inference. This is what he told me
> directly. I hoped no one would tell him what questions they had in
> the final. However, unfortunately, I witnessed Student H talking with
> someone who already took the final in the afternoon around 1:00 pm.
>
>
> I am upset with Student H's behavior. He's behavior makes other
> students' efforts come to nothing.
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: >
> please let me know if you think these emails below would already suffice to accuse Student H as being academically dishonest?
>
>
> If no, what else do I need? Even if I cannot make a convincing case of academic dishonesty of Student H, should I at least request a change of his grade (to a much lower one)?
>
>
>
Most American universities have dedicated units for handling cases of academic misconduct. Now, just like if you had strong suspicions and some evidence regarding a crime being committed the right thing to do would be to go to the police and tell them what you know, so it is true here that you have strong suspicions that the student has committed academic misconduct, and therefore you should inform the appropriate office on your campus in charge of handling such misconduct cases of what happened, and share with them the emails from the three students. It is not your job to decide whether the evidence is convincing enough -- let them worry about that. After all, universities have units to handle misconduct cases precisely so that experienced professionals can handle allegations of misconduct in a consistent manner and taking into account all relevant information; for example, for all you know, they might have information about the accused student that you don't know (perhaps they were accused of misconduct in the past or have a history of feigning illnesses to avoid exams).
To summarize, just tell them what you know and let them handle it. You do not need to present this as "accusing" the student of misconduct, simply say that you have information to suggest that they may have committed misconduct, and share the evidence you have.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I was quite surprised to hear that you allowed
the student to take a make-up final exam
4 hours after the other students took the final exam
In my university,
there is a system for handling cases where a student misses
an examination or in-course assessment
which makes up 20% or more of the total course grade.
A student who is unable to attend an exam
is required to submit a mitigation request through an online system.
When the student claims that the reason for not attending was sickness,
then the student is required to submit evidence
(e.g., a medical certificate from a doctor).
Only after the system approves the student's mitigation request
is the student allowed to take a make-up exam.
Given the delay (about two weeks)
in processing various students' mitigation request,
the teaching team is forced to set a different exam from the original.
I am not sure if such a system exists in your university.
Nevertheless, if you had a more systematic process
for reviewing and approving these mitigation requests
(e.g., require students to submit evidence)
and set a different make-up exam,
that would perhaps have prevented this situation from happening.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: There are several things wrong with the story. Those emails are hardly sufficient evidence to make a case. Could be one person writing 3 emails.You must report the matter or leave it be. I do not think you lowering his grades is a good idea. What will you lower them to? If you do report it then the identity of the 3 informants will have to be revealed. You say you trust your students but you do not trust H. You, better than anyone else, know whether H was capable of an A or not... It did not amaze you when he got that grade, so obviously it is possible.
Your students know you are a soft spot and so do you. Make-up exams have to be different. I would not want anyone to know that I had given a student the same exam later on and now I think he cheated. Learn from this mistake and move on. In your place, I would just forget the whole matter and profit from someone exposing my weakness. But I am not you, this is your decision to make.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: What is your university policy for academic consideration? In most universities, when a student is absent in an exam due to illness, he has to apply for academic consideration within three working days of the actual exam and provide documentation (medical certificate) to the university. Once the medical certificate is verified, then the subject coordinator will receive an email to look at the academic consideration application and gives a supplementary exam to the student. The supplementary exam takes place a month later and the exam questions are different.
Now back to your question, I see no hard evidence that student H cheated. Could it be that other students were jealous of the grade of student H and sent those emails? To be honest, I can not say for sure who is right and who is wrong?
However, I can see that you have done few things wrong here. Did you follow the policy of your university on academic consideration? If you did and the medical certificate was verified, then there is no way that you can accuse student H of academic misconduct. I find it weird that the student sit the final exam after 4 hours; did you give him exactly the same questions? If you did not follow the academic consideration policy of your university and give exactly the same questions, then I am afraid you are at fault and you can not blame student H. It is also unfair to give him a lower grade unless you can prove that he cheated.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: You need to do the following, go and see your line manager. Take with you all the evidence, do not breath a word of this sort of thing to random strangers on the web.
I have had to deal with student cheating twice in my academic life, first as a postdoc and then as a lecturer. The first case was students who colluded wrongly while writing lab reports, an older postdoc advised me to mark the reports as if nothing was wrong. Then to take both reports to the person in charge of the lab course. I showed this person the evidence and allowed this person to choose what to do.
The second time I was more senior, I found two students had done a plagiarism (copy and paste) from Wikipedia. Before acting I went to see my head of department.
My advice is unless you know the policy of the university and what to do next for certainty, go and see your line manager. This will protect you from the possibility of acting out of line with the rest of your university.
The problem is that either way around this story will not end well, at least for someone.
1. If the emails are true and reasonable then the student accused will be punished.
2. If the emails are a smear campaign intended to tar the reputation of an innocent student then if it was another student who sent them then this student should be looking at getting a punishment.
Upvotes: 0
|
2016/12/25
| 677
| 2,933
|
<issue_start>username_0: I finished my masters at University X and I am continuing my PhD in the same university which allows me to transfer up to 20 credit hours of my masters coursework to my PhD course requirements which is 27 credit hours. So now I only need to finish 7 credit hours and I will be done with the PhD course requirement. I heard from couple of friends that I should take more courses because finishing my PhD with a small number of courses might potentially hurt my future by making my PhD less in value. If this is true, how many courses should I take to make a good PhD courses count?
I am interested in both industrial and postdoctoral positions after I finish my PhD.<issue_comment>username_1: Your success in a PhD program will be judged based on your research, not your course work. You should take the minimum number of courses required to get the degree, and spend your remaining time performing research.
The exception would be if you are seeking a job at an institution where you would teach multiple disciplines, and are required to have taken a certain number of graduate courses in each discipline. This would not be unusual at American community colleges.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Another potential red flag might be that both degrees are from the same institution. However, this is something that can be surmounted.
For me, though, the major red flag is that you don't seem to have an advisor yet. This is a very important part of the process of getting a PhD.
So how do you set that up, you might be wondering?
You could start by reading about the different research areas represented by your department. Pick a couple that look intriguing, and read the faculty bios in that area. Once you have a short list of possible advisors, observe them at seminars, etc., perhaps take a class or sit in on some classes. Talk to other students. This part of the process might take on the order of a month.
Once you have a pretty good idea whom you would like to work with, it's time to read some of the papers that professor has written. It's okay if you don't understand everything yet. Start making a list of questions based on your reading.
Visit that person's published office hours, and ask for an appointment to discuss (name-of-paper).
When you get to that appointment (or in that pre-visit), mention briefly that you are a new PhD student and you don't have an advisor yet.
If the conversation goes well, ask if that person would mind giving you some advice about course selection. If the answer is yes, then send the professor an unofficial transcript by email, and any specific questions you may have about specific next courses.
*Connecting with an advisor doesn't always happen exactly that way -- I tried to boil a complex, extremely varied process down to a simple procedure. You don't have to follow it precisely.*
**Happy advisor hunting!**
Upvotes: 0
|
2016/12/25
| 516
| 2,030
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am always stuck by the randomness of some syntax rules in academic articles, hence I cannot infer a proper answer to this question:
>
> Is there a correct way to choose among "X theorem" and "X's theorem"?
>
>
>
I chose the word "theorem" for my concern comes from reading mathematics, but of course this questions stands for any reference to someone's work.<issue_comment>username_1: In health and medicine, there is a concerted effort to move away from possessive attributive eponyms. Thus, instead of Alzheimer's disease, it's now Alzheimer disease. The same is true of Parkinson disease, Gram stain, Cushing syndrome, etc.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I am not a first-language English speaker, but a rule of thumb I have heard from several people (in mathematics) is: use exactly one among possessive and article. So: *We compute the solution using Newton's method*, or *We compute the solution using the Newton method*.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: It should be either "X's theorem" or "the X theorem," not just "X theorem". There is no single rule saying just one of those is always correct. Sometimes both are and sometimes just one is.
Eisenstein's criterion or the Eisenstein criterion, Mordell's conjecture or the Mordell conjecture, Chebotarev's density theorem or the Chebotarev density theorem are all standard English. You can go either way.
What qualifies as correct English is what people who speak (native) English deem to be correct English. There is no way to apply logic to the matter. The answer to your question is that you should write whatever the common convention is, which you find out by reading and talking to people in the field. It could go both ways (see above) or only one way is standard and you should just use that. For example, it is standard to refer to "the Weil conjectures". Nobody these days talks or writes about "Weil's conjectures" for the set of conjecture he made about varieties over finite fields.
Upvotes: 2
|
2016/12/25
| 1,592
| 6,404
|
<issue_start>username_0: I have developed (or rather partially developed, if to be exact, as there are some unsolved conjectures and other white spots) a new abstract, fundamental, pure math theory.
I have published it as a freely available book (plus supplementary materials such as a partial draft of the second volume) in Internet.
I am wondered for very little attention the academic community provides for my work.
How many years (usually) does it take for a new math theory to become widely accepted in universities? Does it depend strongly on whether I advertise my work in scientific conferences?
I am myself not an official academic (but rather earn my living as a programmer). Also my spoken English is not yet good enough to participate in scientific conferences.
How many years it takes for a new math theory to become known in the world?
Would it be significantly faster if I were an official scientist (like a professor)?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> How many years it takes for a new math theory to take over the world?
>
>
>
It depends on a theory. <NAME> has published his breakthrough papers proving the [Poincaré Conjecture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poincar%C3%A9_conjecture) on arXiv preprint service in [2002](https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0211159) and [2003](https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0303109). They have been picked up by math community and several articles with detailed exposition appeared in [2005-2006](http://www.claymath.org/millennium-problems-poincar%C3%A9-conjecture/perelmans-solution).
So, why your mathematical theory has not conquered the world yet? Check a checklist below.
* **Is it important?** Do people care about that type of problems? Have they tried to solve these abstract mathematical problems before? Are there any important applications of this pure math? How your discovery is going to improve the people's lives? You can increase the chances of your paper to be accepted if you answer these questions and publish these answers along with your results.
* **Is it new?** You may think it is completely new, but the problem may be known under another name and be solved quite a while ago in some equivalent form, so you can not recognise it. That is why it is so important to discuss it with other colleagues who have a wide academic background and may help you to see the connections between what you do and what is already done elsewhere.
* **Is it correct?** Unfortunately, not every piece of mathematical writing is correct. Professional mathematicians have little or no time to go through every manuscript appearing on the Internet. That is why we often rely on a reputation of researchers behind the breakthrough, or/and on a peer-review process of an esteemed academic journal. You are not an established academic and your discovery is not published in a peer-reviewed journal. It may really take a while before someone bothers to read it, if it ever happens.
* **Is it disseminated?** It is not enough to put the paper online. Even journal papers do not have much attention these days, because of the exponentially growing number of written materials published and limited time to go through all of them. To increase the chances for your theory to get attention you should make an effort to publicise it on conferences, workshops, academic seminars, industrial meetings (if your theory may have an industrial application). These avenues allow you to tell people about your discovery, but also to listen to their feedback and hopefully to understand why they are not so interested yet.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Dmitry makes good points, but let me add some things.
>
> How many years (usually) does it take for a new math theory to become widely accepted in universities?
>
>
>
It depends both on how interesting it is and how easy it is to digest. If you mean accepted to be mathematically correct, this usually happens in the peer-reviewing process, so usually within 1-2 years. If you mean, gain a massive following, see below.
>
> Does it depend strongly on whether I advertise my work in scientific conferences?
>
>
>
Not so much for correctness (usually), but for the next question yes.
>
> How many years it takes for a new math theory to take the world?
>
>
>
On average, infinity. There are loads of new theories and, consequently, most of the cannot dominate the mathematical scene.
>
> Would it be significantly faster if I were an official scientist (like a professor)?
>
>
>
Probably, just because most professors have more opportunity to advertise their work, and get other colleagues and students to do follow-up work.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> My spoken English is not yet good enough to participate in scientific conferences.
>
>
>
My motto is *Start somewhere!* And that goes for daunting intellectual projects as well as cleaning up a big mess (such as my garage -- which you could think of as an overstuffed attic).
For you, the place to start is **poster sessions / short talks** and **English classes**. You should pursue these *simultaneously*.
Mathematics is best done *with a combination* of introspection and collaboration. The above two suggestions are the way to begin to break your isolation and begin to open up the doors to collaboration with other mathematicians.
Tip: when you begin to go to conferences:
1. (a) *If the conference has a poster session:* Take a poster with you about some manageable chunk of the work you have done so far; put a stack of handouts next to your poster for people to take home. The handout should be just a few pages long, and should be presented in such a way as to pique the reader's interest.
(b) *If the conference does not have a poster session:* Present a small module of your work in the short (20-minute) talk session (thanks to commenter username_2 for this suggestion). Again, bring some hand-outs to give to those who show interest.
2. Look at some of the other posters. Notice what you like and don't like in a poster. Pick a few to study more in depth.
3. Join dinner groups. Listen. Be a sponge. Share contact information with some people you feel some personal affinity with -- regardless of the exact branch of mathematics they are interested in. Networking is a gradual process and it takes patience to develop international relationships.
*Bon voyage, and have fun!*
Upvotes: 2
|
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| 434
| 1,638
|
<issue_start>username_0: A student submitted a paper in an art history class that contained some ideas from art critics she read about, and whose ideas she agreed with. The student didn't cite the critics as source, but claimed it wasn't plagiarism because their ideas were merely their own subjective judgments, or opinions, not facts or findings; furthermore, they were opinions she agreed with.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, it's plagiarism if she learned novel or interesting ideas from an art critic and then used them in her own paper without crediting the source. It doesn't matter whether the ideas are facts or opinions.
For commonplace opinions with nothing novel or interesting about them, there's no need for a citation. However, that's presumably not the case here, since one couldn't attribute such opinions to a specific critic.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> **[pla·gia·rism](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/plagiarism)** ˈplājəˌrizəm
>
>
> *noun*
>
>
> the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them
> off as one's own.
>
>
>
So, in this case, the source (art critic) or destination (art history class paper) are irrelevant; it is still plagiarism.
It might seem unfair that ideas get accredited to the first author, but that is the game. Publish (early and often) or perish.
Technically is it not plagiarism if someone honestly arrives at an existing idea independently (reinvents the wheel). Not the case here, and impossible to prove anyway. That would be considered negligence, since a disciplined researcher would find any existing references.
Upvotes: 2
|
2016/12/25
| 479
| 2,152
|
<issue_start>username_0: I know there isn't an absolute answer but I certainly could use some hindsight.
I'm writing an SOP for an Msc at TU Delft in Aerospace, and I am having trouble with two parts of it : specifically I'm required to provide hypothetical thesis topics and explain why among the different tracks in Aerospace I want one in particular.
First of all, regarding the track, I've explain my interest by explaining in detail which courses I'm really eager to follow and which part of these courses I feel are the most appealing, but I'm not sure if I should be this is the right approach, I'm also wondering if I' not going too much in details by being so specific about the courses.
Then about the thesis subject, I know what the focus of the Msc is going to be , what courses I will follow and what the research themes are but I don't know what thesis subject are going to look like, and what is a relevant subject or not. So I don't know if I should stay a bit generic and talk about the fields of research or try to make a concrete thesis subject anyway ?
Thanks in advance.<issue_comment>username_1: I can only give a little bit of hindsight from my own personal experience and it may also vary a lot depending on the universities. But in my case, I didn't go in depth, and stayed very superficial overall, mostly referring to the subjects that the documents and information that the university provides and in the end it was enough.
But then again it isn't really representative, only somebody who actually evaluated applications may be able to provide objective answers.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: The expected Statement of Purpose probably differs between fields, countries and even institutions. In economics, it is not a major factor in admissions even if required. People write about their general interest area and proposed topic, with the expectation that their actual thesis may be completely different.
As I understand it, the purpose of the SOP is just to demonstrate having an idea about the field in general and being able to distinguish subfields. As mentioned, this may vary across fields.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a paper that was just accepted (but not yet published) in an open access journal. I am also upgrading my website right now, and I would like to know if I am allowed to post pictures which are in the paper (which I made) on my own personal website. I know that by publishing in a journal, I am giving up some rights over the material to the journal itself, and that certain actions are grounds for the journal to remit the article such as trying to submit the paper to another journal.
Can I use the pictures on my website, now before the paper has been published?
Do I have to wait until after the paper is published to use them?
Are the rules different for journals that are not open access?
I found the license information:
>
> Ownership of the copyright in the Contribution remains with the Author(s).
> However, the Author(s)’ re-use rights in the Contribution are subject to the rights and restrictions set forth below in this Section, and in clause 3 and 4(a). After the Author(s) have submitted the Contribution to NPG hereunder, the Author(s)’ rights to re-use the Contribution shall be the same as those set forth in the Creative Commons licence selected above, with the following additional re-use rights:
>
>
> (a) to reproduce the Contribution in whole or in part in any printed volume (book or thesis) of which they are the Author(s); and
>
>
> (b) to reuse figures or tables created by the Author(s) and contained in the Contribution in oral presentations and other works created by them.
>
>
> Notwithstanding, if the entire Contribution is rejected by NPG and not published, all rights under this licence shall revert to the Author(s).
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: >
> (b) reuse figures [...] created by the Author(s) and contained in the Contribution in [...] other works created by them.
>
>
>
does IMHO cover your pictures.
However, depending on you legislation you may need to get approval (legally speaking: a license) by your coauthors.
* IIRC in the US each coauthor can excercise the copyright independent of the other coauthors (please correct me if I'm wrong)
* but e.g. in Germany all coauthors hold the copyright together, and must act together.
I guess that already single figures are works of their own and thus may only have a subset of the paper's coauthors as authors (but IANAL). But IMHO figures in scientific papers still frequently have multiple coauthors: in analogy to what constitutes authorship for a paper, I'd say that everyone who had an important contribution to the figure is coauthor of the figure.
Examples:
* A suggests that a hexbinplot is more appropriate than the current pseudo-3d scatter plot. B accordingly changes the figure => I'd say both A and B are coauthors of the final figure.
* A result plot showing a model and the experimental data: experimental design & measurements by A, theoretical bounds for models by B, and modeling of the experimental data & plotting of all into one figure by C => IMHO makes 3 coauthors.
Note: things may be even more complicated as e.g. in Germany the right for secondary publication according to §38 UrhG refers to the authors, while the commercial rights are typically with the employer.
**Practically speaking** I guess it is easiest to ask all coauthors of the paper (and if relevant your employer) for permission to re-use the paper or parts of it on the web site. I'd anyways consider piecemeal asking of some coauthors every time you want to put another figure on your blog as impolite.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Since you refer to the Nature Publishing Group, now merged with Springer to form Springer Nature, the information on open access found here
<http://www.nature.com/openresearch/about-open-access/policies-journals/>
says that falling under the [CC BY license](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), anyone (including the authors) can modify, use, redistribute your work, as long as the initial publication is mentioned.
Looking further here
<http://www.nature.com/openresearch/about-open-access/what-is-open-access/>
this was about the gold open access.
The green open access is more restricted (for example the final typeset version cannot be provided on your own homepage) and re-use might be limited. Maybe yours is the green option, as you have extra clauses.
In that case and from what you shared, it seems that as author you can re-use the paper in other printed publications as long as you author them and figures and tables, like the pictures you want to share, can be distributed in any other work of your, including oral presentations.
**But you ask something slightly different**. Can you use them even before they are published online or in print?
I see this as less a re-use question and more of "would it be considered a double publication". If your article has gone to production, I don't think it can be rejected, and since you signed the open access, it's already valid. The best thing to do is ask the journal directly, still. I think I would wait to publish them after I can provide the citation on my homepage (as even incomplete citation or as DOI).
The rules are definitely different if the journal is **not** open access or you selected the **non** open access option. In that case, you have to see what is the exact agreement with the publisher, as you may have signed an exclusive publishing agreement, that doesn't allow any re-creation of your work through free access routes (but there might be exceptions in your favour).
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: Admissions committees look at a student's entire transcript to get an understanding of their academic abilities. Why is it not sufficient to judge a student's academics based on GPA alone?<issue_comment>username_1: The problem with GPA as a measure is that it just mixes together a bunch of different classes indiscriminately. Consider these three different students:
1. This student is pretty steady, but not great, and tends to get an even mix of As and Bs across all of their classes, obtaining a 3.5 GPA.
2. This student always takes the class with the easiest grading policy whenever they can, and tends to get mostly As in the "easy" classes. When they cannot evade a "hard" class, they get mostly Cs, resulting in a 3.5 GPA.
3. This student is very strong and gets mostly As, but there was one semester when family problems disrupted their life, and missed assignments caused them to get Bs and two Fs, also ending up with a 3.5 GPA.
As you can see, even though all of these students get exactly the same GPA, they are very different. Student #2 is clearly far weaker than Student #1, who is in turn weaker than Student #3, whose GPA has been strongly affected by the one problem area.
If we can see which classes they took and what grades they got on those classes, we still don't have the full story, but can get much closer to an appropriate evaluation of each student's actual strengths.
[This set of pages at Berkeley may be useful.](http://collegetools.berkeley.edu/resources.php?cat_id=8)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: In addition to username_1's answer-
Grad schools are looking for people who will make good researchers. We figured out long ago that great students (who have good GPAs) are not necessarily great researchers. Similarly, some students with middling GPAs can be great researchers, even though they didn't score top-tier grades.
A graduate admissions board is probably far more interested in a 3.5 student with a a research project or two rather than a 4.0 student with no extra-curriculars. (In fairness, I do know of a few people who take the opposite viewpoint- they get enough 3.9's and 4.0's applying to their programs that they don't see any value in considering other students. However, those people do not serve on admissions committees.)
For a more decision-centric answer, GPA by itself can only really be used to exclude people. You might discard the bottom 50% of applications by GPA, or you might establish a hard cutoff by saying you must have a 3.0 or higher. It doesn't give you good reasons to include people, and when committees make these decisions what they really want to do is find great reasons to include applicants.
Consider how these three statements would sound to someone who is trying to figure out who will make a good researcher:
"This person has a 4.0 GPA."
"This person was an excellent student."
"This person has some research experience and would like to understand better how to build city-scale sensor networks."
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: There are two major reasons, both of which boil down to "Context".
1. Graduate school is not "Undergrad+". There are few if any distribution requirements, and your coursework will follow a pretty specific subject. In contrast, your GPA is an amalgamation of all the classes you have ever taken. To use myself as an example, some major components of my GPA stemmed from 4 semesters of German, a feminist art history class on the middle ages (which was *amazing*) and a class on Grimm's Fairy Tales. As importantly, a number of classes *didn't* count toward my calculated GPA because they were taken while I was studying abroad, and thus the credits simply transferred. Most of these classes were in Microbiology. Assume I barely passed all of those. If I was applying to a microbiology program, do you think they'd prefer to see those classes broken out individually, or a composite score that's heavily influenced by being able to give reasons why the Bayeux Tapestry is more properly an embroidery, and why the Saxons in said embroidery are depicted wielding axes?
2. It lets the admissions committee actually look at you as a whole person. Did you take some classes outside your major that would never the less be useful? How well did you do in them? Did you take classically challenging classes (Organic Chemistry) that might explain why your GPA took a hit, or were you simply a middling student?
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: An [answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/82205/32436) to a recent question about the importance of looking at a student's whole transcript got me thinking. Is there some other way of summing up a student's academic performance, other than the GPA? Something that would distinguish among the three types of 3.5 students described in Jake's answer:
>
> 1. This student is pretty steady, but not great, and tends to get an even mix of As and Bs across all of their classes, obtaining a 3.5 GPA.
> 2. This student always takes the class with the easiest grading policy whenever they can, and tends to get mostly As in the "easy" classes. When they cannot evade a "hard" class, they get mostly Cs, resulting in a 3.5 GPA.
> 3. This student is very strong and gets mostly As, but there was one semester when family problems disrupted their life, and missed assignments caused them to get Bs and two Fs, also ending up with a 3.5 GPA.
>
>
>
In other words, is there a way of summarizing a student's transcript, that doesn't ignore so many important details?
I suspect that incorporating just class rank doesn't help much (an anecdotal, subjective contribution): my high school allowed one to choose to take classes with credit/no credit (C/NC). I chose to be graded with letter grades for a handful of classes, and received A's in all of those. I suspect this may have been why I graduated with a laughably high class rank.<issue_comment>username_1: I believe that there *cannot* be any single numerical statistic or small set of such statistics that summarizes the nature of a student well.
The first reason for my assessment is that there are too many different ways one may wish to *use* information about a student, and too many ways that a student can have an unusual background that will not fit into those boxes well. The second reason is that any metric, once established, can (and will) be optimized against, thereby undermining its value.
Summarizing a student on one or a few metrics is no better than the much-bemoaned practices of judging faculty for tenure by a few metrics.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Class rank "doesn't help much": do you have an empirical basis for saying so? Let's say you are trying to see how well high school performance predicts college grades. I think the research shows that class rank and quality of high school program will enhance by a considerable margin whatever predictions you would obtain from GPA alone.
But that presumes that you are looking for a means to predict college grades. You haven't said why you want to sum up each student's high school performance. There is, probably fortunately, no single best way to "sum up" anything. That would turn something arbitrary into something universally right or wrong. Instead, systematic assessment hinges on the idea that we choose certain indicators because they are useful to predict or explain specific other things that are of primary interest. Perhaps you want to know how far a student will travel in school; how much s/he will participate in the civic process; or how happy s/he will be at your school. Each of these outcomes figures to have its own best set of indicators, i.e., its own set of factors that will furnish the best explanations or predictions.
Another way to say this is that the validity of an instrument or indicator is, strictly speaking, always described with respect to a specific use that will be made of it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Obviously, and I mean really blatantly obviously, getting published in a top-ranked journal, getting one (or more) patents and then starting your own company, or getting a relevant award, prize, or honor (NAS, Noble, and a couple of hundred others in various disciplines) would serve you far better. Which would you rather have, a Nobel Prize (relevant to your area of academics) and a 1.0 GPA, or a 4.0 GPA and no Nobel? The apex of the academic world is accomplishment, this is either in ideas or leadership. Just so obvious that if you demonstrate mastery of either, preferably both, then nothing else (aside from criminal or 'problematic' behavior) matters.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: GPA as it is applied at most universities is not a good indicator .There are some things that could make it a better indicator .It will never be a perfect indicator .If there was less emphasis on assignments and more on Exams there would be less scope for cheating .If there were more little Exams the stats would even out more .If the Exams were written in such a way that it was really hard to get an A and really hard to get an E .When you see a class where more than half of the students get A passes how can an employer take things seriously .They should only give A passes to say 5% .Then an A is something .These days it also depends greatly on what university .If there was more moderation between universities this could help things .It has also been said that a lower grade in a harder exam is a better metric .This was the case in the New Zealand Junior scholarship exams .
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: <NAME>'s answer says "there cannot be any single numerical statistic or small set of such statistics that summarizes the nature of a student well." But numerical measures of scholastic achievement are not going away, and it's better to use better measures rather than poorer ones.
This paper describes a very thoroughly worked out proposal for reforming the calculation of GPAs: <NAME>, "An alternative to traditional GPA for evaluating student performance," Statist. Sci. Volume 12, Number 4 (1997), 251-278, <http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.ss/1030037959> . It's designed to eliminate the penalty that students suffer for choosing majors where GPAs are low, and to eliminate incentives for faculty to inflate grades in return for higher student evaluations. (Student evaluations of teaching have been shown to be [inversely correlated with learning](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/75968/1482).) Johnson was writing in 1997, which was before the existence of web sites such as myedu that allow students to so easily choose instructors based on their lenient grading -- so, if anything, the need for this type of reform is much more acute now.
Another way that IMO grade point averages should be reformed is that there should not be such a heavy incentive for students to take a course once, drop a few weeks before the final with a W, and then take it again in order to get a higher grade. I teach at a community college in California, and the incentives for this behavior are very strong and very effective. It's perverse, because the state legislature is very concerned with encouraging students to graduate more quickly, but these incentives produce the opposite effect -- and college administrators love it, because if a student takes a course n times, the school gets their revenue multiplied by n. Students may be told that a W on their transcript looks horrible and will make them more likely to be rejected when they apply to transfer, but I don't think the system necessarily works that way. Popular majors at some schools (e.g., kinesiology at Cal State Fullerton) have extremely high GPA requirements for transfer students, and students know that if their GPA doesn't make the cut-off, their application won't even be considered. And for unpopular majors at low-status schools, weak students know that all they need to do is get an AST degree, and they're guaranteed admission, so all they need is a 2.0 GPA. My suggestion for reform would be to put some kind of cap on W grades, such as 2 per student, statewide, in our community college system.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/12/26
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<issue_start>username_0: I was invited to interview at several graduate schools this upcoming February. All of the programs are in the fields of biochemistry and biophysics. What is appropriate attire for graduate school interviews? One of the schools mentioned business casual. Does anyone have any good suggestions? I thought about wearing a sweater with an oxford underneath. However, I will also bring a sport coat just in case.<issue_comment>username_1: In general, you want to look neat enough to make it clear that you are taking things seriously, but not so formal that you give the impression that you are overly formal or don't understand the norms. Typically slightly overdressed is better than slightly underdressed. Your goal is to have people not particularly notice what you are wearing, and instead listen to what's coming out of your mouth.
Standards vary slightly from field to field: in my experience, mathematicians tend to be the most informal and chemists the most formal of the STEM world (business students and liberal arts exist in their own separate universes, which I am less familiar with).
In general, however, I would suggest that men wear a sharp-looking long-sleeved button-down shirt, long pants, no jacket or tie. For women, the rules are more complex (and I am less familiar, but am incorporating advice shared from experiences of female scientists who I know), but something at that same level of "business casual" is probably good; long-sleeve button down, or a sweater; avoid cleavage or anything that can be taken as sexy. Unfair though it may be, pants are probably better than even a long skirt or dress for that reason. Heels can help for height, but don't wear sharp heels or heels that make noise. Low to no makeup, as there is often prejudice against that (again, not claiming any of this is fair).
Make sure your hair is clean and presentable too; if you have long hair, you will probably want to tie it back (men and women both).
Contrary to all this: if you have a strong sense of style and good personal visual taste, you can probably make all manner of things work. But make sure you're confident you can pull it off---if you can, you probably already know it. For the rest of us, I just recommend making the clothing unmemorable.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I had to look up *oxford!*
I'll focus my answer towards men's clothing, since that was the nature of the question.
Your proposal sounds fine for the shirt (I would call it a tailored shirt or a button-down shirt) and a sweater (I assume you mean a pullover). A look I like is a V-neck sweater over a shirt with tie. That is such a happy medium between formal and casual. However, to some people, ties are anathema, so I'll reassure you that you don't need to wear a tie.
In general, overdressing a little bit is not as bad as underdressing a little bit. So, don't go in a T-shirt.
Now, one thing you might want to take into account is that in February, temperatures are unpredictable. Once in a while you find yourself in a place that's overheated, and in that case it's good to be wearing layers. With that in mind, if you think you might get uncomfortable if there are nerves conspiring with a thermostat set too high, then perhaps shirt without tie, plus sport coat you can take off during the interview if necessary, would be more practical than the shirt plus sweater. (But for some people, temperature variations are not a big deal.)
For someone who doesn't like to wear a sport coat, an alternative would be a nice fleece jacket or vest, not too thick so that it doesn't look like something you'd wear on a camping trip.
Now let's talk about the bottom half. If you're going to Minnesota, you'll need long underwear and slacks that are roomy enough to accommodate. I would avoid jeans, since jeans = casual. Dress pants are okay, and something in between is okay too. Unless you will be wearing boots, check that the pants are not too short. Sit down and make sure you haven't got too much leg showing.
Avoid the socks that are so low-cut that it looks like you're not wearing socks. We do not want to see any ankle skin in business casual.
You may wear dress shoes if you wish. You may wear another type of shoe that doesn't look old or scuffed. You may wear boots, and you should plan on that, if snow is likely where you are going. (If this were a summer interview: sandals <> business casual.)
Accessory: you'll need some kind of bag. Knapsack is fine if that's what you're comfortable with. The guideline for a knapsack is the same as for the shoes -- nothing old or starting to wear out.
**Coat**: make sure it's **clean** and tidy. A dirty coat, and too-low socks, are the most common faux pas I tend to see around campus.
Gloves/mittens, hat: make sure you dress for the weather. It would not make a good impression to seem not to know how to take care of yourself!
Briefly, for women: choose something that wouldn't make you stick out in a crowd, avoid anything low-cut, and avoid showing anything that might be interpreted as an undergarment. Other than that, just go for something comfortable, that you enjoy seeing when you look in the mirror, and you'll be fine.
Make-up: if you use make-up normally day to day, do that; if not, that's perfectly fine too. But please don't use any perfume or anything scented. (Same for men.) You don't know who might be allergic.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: "Business casual" — which you've already been told explicitly — seems safe and corresponds to my experience with graduate student interviews.
Although there is [no generally agreed upon definition of business casual](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_casual), it is generally interpreted to mean:
* **Men:** A collared shirt and slacks with a nice pair of shoes. A blazer or sweater would be typical. A t-shirt, jeans, a sweatshirt, tennis shoes, or any athletic-wear would all be too casual. A suits and/or tie would generally be considered too formal.
* **Women:** Trousers or a knee-length skirt with a blouse or shirt with a collar although a dress that is comparably formal could also work. Jeans, tank tops, flip flops, or athletic wear would be too casual. A gown or a suit would be too formal.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: The United States is weird when it comes to how to dress with regards to interviews. You say several school and I noticed that the answers thus far neglect to mention this as well: there are regional differences with regards to what is considered acceptable business casual. The East Coast tends to be much more formal than the West Coast and for the rest of the county the mores can be all over the place.
Generally a the major rule of thumb is that you want to dress at least as formal as the person interviewing you, if not more so. If one of the schools told you business casual, then assume business casual for all of the schools to make your life easier. If you have a smart sport coat or blazer and build you outfit around that then you should be fine. Males should generally avoid ties as they are rarely worn by Americans any more outside of business and finance. As others have noted, make sure you are wearing shores that are comfortable and broken in as well. Also, make sure they don't make much noise when walking since that can be a distraction when you are having a conversation with someone while walking with them.
Do a Google image search for people attending a poster session for a conference in your field. Most of the presenters are going to be dressed some variation of business casual and it will give you an idea of what is expected in your field.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a PhD student in the field of operations management. I've just finished writing a chapter in a handbook and am thinking about rewriting it into a publishable paper.
How much of the content can be the same and what else do I need to consider - such as empirical data, new conceptual development, etc.?<issue_comment>username_1: There is absolutely nothing wrong with using research you've already published, whether in a book chapter or any other format, as a basis for further research that could lead to a new publication. However, it sounds to me like the way you are approaching this is a classic example of **putting the cart before the horse**.
Your goal should be to do *new research* that contributes something to your area, not to artificially boost your publication list by rehashing old material, which as I said in the comments is the definition of self-plagiarism. Once you have found something new to say beyond what you already wrote about in your book chapter, it will become naturally apparent to you when it makes sense to publish your findings, so the question you are asking here will likely never need to be asked. The point is that publishing is merely the last step of the process of doing research, and in some sense the least important step. It is the means to the end of communicating your research results, not the end unto itself.
As for the practical question of how much material from the book chapter you can include in a new publication, there are different schools of thought on this, with some people viewing any inclusion of substantially similar text from earlier publications, especially without an explicit citation and mention of the similarities, quite negatively. I advise you to consult your advisor or a senior colleague who is familiar with the norms in your area about such things.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I strongly believe, the best practice is to treat your published book chapter (or another published work by yourself) as if it was written by someone else. Use it in your new contribution to the same extent as you would reuse a work published by your colleague. So basically you should explicitly cite the source every time when you use any of your prior work in a new paper. ("HSC (2016) wrote so and so..." [this is the only permissible option if you anonymize your contribution for a double-blind peer review]; "as proposed elsewhere by the present author (HSC 2016)..."; "I earlier proposed (HSC 2016)..." etc..).
Even if your particular discipline may take a different stance on self-plagiarism as suggested in other comments and replies, it does not make it a good thing.
(Consider also that if your paper is subject to double-blind peer review, the reviewer will make no difference between self-plagiarism and plagiarism from another author).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: If your question was how to turn an article originally intended to be published as a book chapter (but not published at all) into a conference paper, that would make some reasonable discussions based on your field. Because this will lead us into discussing how book chapters differ from the conference papers or journal articles.
But your case is different. It has already been published as the book chapter! This makes the answer to the question flat and simple.
"How to turn a book chapter into a publishable paper?"
"You cannot turn an existing book chapter into a publishable paper".
If you must make a new paper on the same topic, it is going to be an entirely new one (citing previous work, as mentioned already by @username_2). It is not "turning a book chapter" as a new paper - like old wine in a new bottle.
@username_1 has answered in detail to your other sub questions.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: There is no particular reason that I want my preprint paper both on my blog and on arXiv, but I just thought it would look nice on my blog. If I were to do this, will arXiv mark my paper as plagiarized, because there is another copy on my blog? If so, how do I prevent this (is there an option to fill-in alternate links to the same paper)?
**The following concerns me:**
1. I have heard that arXiv have their own moderators, so that lead me to assume they might have a plagiarism test done on submitted papers. If my paper is already on my blog, isn't it more likely to be flagged as plagiarized by any average plagiarism software?
2. I have been surfing the web to understand about arXiv: <https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAcademia/comments/5dq2jx/what_does_it_mean_to_have_your_paper_rejected_by/> There have been evidences of proper articles being rejected. This being the case, how does it ensure security?
3. The reason we post our papers first on arXiv is to prevent the content from being stolen by some anonymous person, who first rejects our paper upon submission and unlawfully uses the content elsewhere. How is arXiv different in this aspect?
I haven't used arXiv before, and this is going to be my first time and I apologize if my question is very basic, I don't have much experience with these stuff.<issue_comment>username_1: [According to the Arxiv itself](//arxiv.org/help/overlap), it applies some plagiarism checks but these are only applied to other articles within the Arxiv. Of course, there could still be some checks against publications elsewhere, but given that a considerable amount of papers is only published on the Arxiv after journal publication, these can only be a tool for moderators.
So if your paper will cause a warning to be thrown at all, this is only a warning for the moderator. Moreover, it would be a type of with a high false-positive rate, as it applies to any paper that was already published in a journal. Thus any reasonable reviewer will see that the paper on your blog is claiming the same authors and thus there is no plagiarism going on.
Note, however, that there are some journals out there that allow preprints to be published on the Arxiv but not on personal webpages or webpages with commercial interest (for which ads may suffice). I recommend checking [Sherpa](http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/index.php) or your target journals’ copyright agreement before publishing anything.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> If my paper is already on my blog, isn't it more likely to be flagged as plagiarized by any average plagiarism software?
>
>
>
This won't be a problem, unless you do something really weird, like post your paper on the blog under a different name. Lots of arXiv papers also appear elsewhere, and the arXiv couldn't function if this caused trouble.
>
> There have been evidences of proper articles being rejected. This being the case, how does it ensure security?
>
>
>
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by security. Strictly speaking, nothing is ensured, but in practice I believe very few proper submissions are rejected (almost none). Unless you are an amateur researcher or are working on something unconventional, I don't think you need to worry about rejection by the arXiv.
>
> The reason we post our papers first on arXiv is to prevent the content from being stolen by some anonymous person, who first rejects our paper upon submission and unlawfully uses the content elsewhere. How is arXiv different in this aspect?
>
>
>
It's not different in principle, but in practice I don't consider this a serious issue. I doubt any arXiv moderator has ever stolen a submission, since the risk/reward ratio would be terrible. (It makes little sense to try to steal a paper when the authors will presumably post it online somewhere else shortly, and when there's an electronic record that you rejected it from the arXiv.)
More generally, I disagree that this is a key reason to post to the arXiv, since theft by reviewers is rare. When people talk about establishing credit by posting to the arXiv, they generally aren't talking about preventing theft, but rather publicizing the work enough that nobody else will independently make the same discovery and claim credit.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: >
> If my paper is already on my blog, isn't it more likely to be flagged as plagiarized by any average plagiarism software?
>
>
>
The key thing is that you as an author must hold the copyright on your paper when you submit it to Arxiv.
Since you own the copyright, you can grant Arxiv permission to host your paper, for which you can choose one of the [arxiv licenses](https://arxiv.org/help/license).
The arxiv licenses are non-exclusive, so you can at the same time also share your article on other sites, such as your blog or personal page.
So even if Arxiv would mark your article then as plagiarism, you can explain that you own the copyright and what you do is in agreement with the Arxiv license.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/12/26
| 1,095
| 4,795
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a colleague who is coming up for tenure review shortly, and there is a problem with his teaching history. He was hired to teach classes specifically in area X, although his research is in a slightly different area (Y). I was on the committee that hired him, and the teaching was a major part of what we were looking for.
However, this person has not taught any classes in area X, at all. I know from persona knowledge that he requested not to teach X in his first semester, and I have heard from others that he continued to not want to teach in that area. (I have no reason to doubt the veracity of this hearsay, and his teaching assignment requests can be documented for the tenure and promotion committee.) This has not turned out to be a serious problem in terms of covering classes. Somebody else, also from area Y, started teaching some classes in area X, and we later hired a full time person working in Y.
Yet I am still concerned that the assistant professor coming up for tenure has flouted the requirements of the position for which he was hired (which were clearly set forth in his offer letter from the dean). His research is fine, although not outstanding, and his teaching in other areas would normally be considered adequate. He also does fine in other considerations (service, collegiality) as well. However, I am not sure whether it is appropriate to vote in favor of his tenure case, and I was wondering whether what others might think to be appropriate in such a situation.<issue_comment>username_1: Based on the information you've provided (and certainly the part of it that is not based on unsubstantiated rumors, which I think it would be quite problematic to take into account), I do not see any cause for concern of a sort that would cast a serious shadow over your colleague's tenure case.
The reason is that individual faculty members do not decide what they teach, but instead the assignment is made by the department (the chair or a dedicated committee) based on its needs, and it is the duty of faculty to teach what they are assigned. It is completely fine if your colleague *requested* not to teach courses in area X - we all have preferences in such things; it would only *not* be fine if he were to be assigned such a course and refuse to teach it, and that does not seem to be what happened. If the department can meet its future teaching needs without this person ever teaching a course in area X, why would you or anyone else find fault with that? To summarize, your interpretation that the faculty member "flouted" the teaching requirements of the position seems quite questionable to me, at least in the absence of additional details you haven't provided.
I should add that I have seen cases of faculty members who actively resisted teaching courses they had been assigned. Such conflicts usually involve people with very difficult personalities, and unless the department chair is a total pushover, they will likely escalate quite rapidly to a higher level involving the dean and/or disciplinary action being threatened or pursued. And when this happens, you can be pretty sure that the miscreant is already tenured...
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: **Private Liberal Arts College**
At a private liberal arts college, there are usually three tenure requirements: **teaching**, **research**, and **service**. There may be a fourth, sometimes explicitly spelled out, but sometimes implicit within service: **collegiality**.
At the small privates, collegiality is weighed heavily. Departments are small. Keeping the peace is important. Someone who doesn't pull their weight is a serious issue. If the department votes against a candidate on collegiality/service grounds -- this will be seen as a valid reason -- and their case most likely won't make it past through tenure and promotions. Even if the vote is not negative, but something like 4:2 (remember departments are small), the small minority vote may be enough to sway the tenure committee or provost.
**Public University**
At a public university, the same three criteria (research, service, teaching) apply but departments are bigger and the tenure process more bureaucratic and transparent. You can't not-tenure without a documented reason that fits within the rules and regulations. "Collegiality" as such is usually not considered unless documentable. Any concerns about teaching should have been properly reported in the candidate's third year / mid-term review -- usually under "teaching" but perhaps also under department service. If they were documented and they weren't addressed by the time of tenure review, then it could be grounds for separation. But otherwise you'll need to come up with a documentable reason for not tenuring.
Upvotes: 3
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2016/12/26
| 729
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<issue_start>username_0: Can I teach a college level math course at a community college with secondary mathematics certification.<issue_comment>username_1: It is my understanding that secondary mathematics certification and community college teaching are "disjoint sets," such that having the certification is neither required nor directly helpful to teach at a community college. I am confident that having such a certification will not disadvantage you in any way, but that's probably not what you're asking. If you mean "Can I teach a college level math course at a community college with a secondary mathematics certification **instead of [something else]**?" then the answer is: maybe not, but if you are interested you should probably ask.
I have only indirect knowledge of the community college teaching community, and my understanding is that the parameters of the job vary heavily by region and institution. For instance, in some parts of the country most community college faculty have terminal degrees (generally a PhD), whereas in others this is rare. The requirements to teach one course may well be different from those of full-time faculty. I would expect that having a master's degree in a related field would be sufficient for you to teach college-level math courses at *many* community colleges. If you only have a bachelor's degree, then that might not be enough...or then again it might.
At my large state research university (UGA), we often find ourselves wanting to run a few more sections of precalculus and calculus and having to hire temporary (or "adjunct") faculty very close to the last minute. It is my understanding that the necessity of covering classes can result in a flexibility in terms of hiring. So I think that there is a good shot that someone who looks competent to teach course X will eventually get to teach course X at some community college if they are sufficiently persistent.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: <NAME>'s answer seems solid. Here is a specific example to back it up: CUNY is one of the systems that most generally requires a PhD and published research even for community-college professors. But adjuncts can still be hired with only a bachelor's degree in the subject. (The teaching certification is, indeed, a non-issue.) From a current CUNY job posting for adjunct math instructors:
>
> QUALIFICATIONS
>
>
> For Adjunct Assistant Professor: Ph.D. degree in area(s) of experience
> or equivalent. Also required is the ability to teach successfully.
>
>
> For Adjunct Lecturer: Bachelor's degree in area(s) of expertise, and
> the ability to teach successfully. Master's Degree strongly preferred.
>
>
>
[That's currently here](http://cuny.jobs/brooklyn-ny/adjunct-lecturer-or-adjunct-assistant-professor-mathematics/0206B7F45AEF4956AE554BE9C4588B59/job/), but the link will probably age out quickly.
Upvotes: 3
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2016/12/27
| 334
| 1,392
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<issue_start>username_0: I just recently got a job as a research assistant over the holiday (which will later turn into an unpaid independent study project). Before hiring me for the job, my supervisor asked me if I would be taking a week off for vacation during the holidays. I told him no. However, for Christmas, I recieved (as a gift) tickets for an afternoon weekday show of an expensive stage production. The show is about an hour and a half from where I live so I would need to take most of the day off. I will be informing my supervisor via email about this. How do I inform him/phrase the email?<issue_comment>username_1: There is no answer for your question. It totally depends what kind of relationship you have with your supervisor. In my case I have very friendly relationship with supervisor and a text message is enough to inform him about this kind of minor issues.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: XX,
I was just given a surprise gift -- tickets to a show in YY City. It would be thrilling to go -- any chance you could spare me on Thursday? Because of the distance, it would mean missing the whole day. However, I'm free all day Saturday. If you like, I could come in then to make up the time.
(however you like to sign your name)
*Please feel free to adjust this as needed. For example, you can make the tone less breezy and more formal if you want to.*
Upvotes: 2
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2016/12/27
| 829
| 3,632
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<issue_start>username_0: I’m currently in the first semester of MSc of psychology in a university in Germany and we got a lecturer from a university abroad who wanted to know what we had published. To his surprise, none of us had any publications. For us at least, not having any publications when entering the graduate program is normal.
I know of a couple of peers who were able to publish their bachelor’s thesis and one person who had several publications even before he started his masters, but at our university those are the exception, rather than the rule.
How is the situation in other countries and disciplines? Do undergraduates generally have any publications?<issue_comment>username_1: Throughout every country and every field that I am familiar with, it is fairly unusual to be part of a publication as an undergraduate.
It is also the case, however, that those who did publish are more likely to go on to graduate school, and that it would be unusual to have a class of any significant size with *nobody* who had published in it. I don't know the actual statistics, but let's assume only 1 in 10 undergraduates who go on to grad school have published something as an undergraduate, in which case in a class of 20 students, there is a ~88% chance that at least one person would have published.
Thus, it might well be surprising to the lecturer that *nobody* had published, even though publishing as an undergraduate is fairly rare.
*Note: the numbers that I gave were notional, just in order to illustrate the way likelihood is non-intuitive for a whole class. As a point of reference on the high extreme, however, consider that [85% of MIT undergraduates participate in on-campus research programs](http://wiki.mitadmissions.org/Undergraduate_Research_Opportunities_Program). A lecturer coming from a high-density research environment like that may well have biased expectations about research frequency.*
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: It depends what field, and also depends on the culture.
Sometimes students only respond to what is available to them. I remember the first article that I wrote as an Architecture Undergrad, we were told that the best articles would have a shot at publication. In this field, obviously research and publication will not be in the minds of young undergrads, therefore, it only became an option because the academic staff had encouraged it.
but it is rare, I would imagine. Especially as even if the students had the motivation, the quality of the work might be lacking.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: This quite depends on field - my friends from experimental physics were more likely to get a publication as a member of some team then me doing mathematical physics. (I eventually did get a publication before finishing MSc as a solo author but the results are nothing outstanding or special in the big picture.)
Also some universities (such as the one I attended) provide the opportunity to participate in a students "competition". It goes as this: you get an advisor to oversee you, you get some results and you prepare a poster to present it. Few people are selected (best work/presentation in the respective field) are selected and awarded (they get some extra money, quite a nice amount for the local costs). The results are not published in a journal but I think they are kept somewhere in a database of the university. This system is good because nobody expects the students to produce any significant results - compared to journals but they still get to do some scientific work. But the downside is it is not recognized as a publication.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/12/27
| 491
| 1,949
|
<issue_start>username_0: If the main purpose of an article is to present/introduce a new method, can it still be entitled "A Comparative Study"? Or does it depend on how much of the article is devoted to the comparison of related methods? I am asking from the perspective of a reviewer.<issue_comment>username_1: In many ways, the title of a scientific work can be thought of as a super-short abstract. In other words, it should tersely summarize what a reader is likely to find most salient in that work.
Thus, if you are a reviewer encountering a title that you find misleading as relates to the content, then it is entirely reasonable and appropriate to suggest that the title be changed. As flaws in a paper go, however, I would find it pretty minor from a reviewing standpoint, since it doesn't much affect the content and is very easy to fix.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I would not introduce a false dichotomy of "right"/"wrong". A scale from "bad" to "excellent" should be used. However, a misleading title is generally not acceptable.
As a reviewer I'd ask the authors to improve the title and might even recommend an alternative. This happens fairly regularly. Some reviewer guidelines explicitly ask the reviewer to check if the title is appropriate and some review forms have a subitem where you are asked to indicate if the title is appropriate.
Finding the perfect title can be surprisingly hard and an outside perspective from a reviewer can sometimes be very valuable to improve it. Most authors are receptive to suggestions concerning the title.
An interesting example is ["Replicate or lie" (Prosser, 2010)](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2010.02201.x/full) which even acknowledges a reviewer for the catchy title:
>
> I am very grateful for the invaluable comments of both reviewers of
> this article, one of whom is solely responsible for the title.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
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2016/12/27
| 1,076
| 3,411
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<issue_start>username_0: Research has shown that [most of the published studies in various fields are false](http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124). For example, the [Reproducibility Project: Psychology](https://osf.io/ezcuj/) only managed to confirm 36% of previous 100 psychology studies had a statistically signifiant result the second time. Also, only 6 of 53 studies considered landmark in cancer were successfully replicated. In these circumstances, when such a quantity of false studies pass the peer-review process in most scientific fields, how can we filter authentic information from fields we don't have expertise in?<issue_comment>username_1: First thing to consider is that research can never provide absolute certainty. Any result you find is only preliminary. You can have various degrees of preliminary: a single study with an acceptable but not brilliant design can provide interesting clues or first steps for a larger project, but not much more. It is right and productive that these studies are published, but don't treat them as truth.
Second thing to consider is that the problem is not necessarily with the articles themselves, but with the lack of replication. So, if you find a result that interest you, try to find replications. If none exist, then you need to be more careful.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The p-curve [(see p-curve.com)](http://www.p-curve.com/) has been proposed as a way of identifying whether a set of results is likely to have been p-hacked. The term and technique was coined and/or developed by [<NAME>](http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/~uws/) and colleagues, who blog about replication and p-curving at [Data Colada](http://datacolada.org/).
* ["P-Curve Won’t Do Your Laundry, But Will Identify Replicable Findings"](http://datacolada.org/)
* ["Ambitious P-Hacking and P-Curve 4.0"](http://datacolada.org/45)
* ["P-curve vs. Excessive Significance Tests"](http://datacolada.org/24)
The technique has been applied by several research groups besides Simonsohn et al, ie [Head et al 2015](http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002106)
There have been critics of p-curves (including [John "most published finding are wrong" Ionnadis](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0149144) ), as well as other techniques such as [excessive significance tests](http://datacolada.org/24) and the [distribution of published p-values](http://andrewgelman.com/2013/09/26/difficulties-in-making-inferences-about-scientific-truth-from-distributions-of-published-p-values/).
Some references:
* Simonsohn, Simmons, Nelson (2014) "P-Curve and Effect Size: Correcting for Publication Bias Using Only Significant Results" Perspectives on Psychological Science V9(6) p.666-681
* Simonsohn, Nelson, Simmons, (2014) "P-curve: A Key to the File Drawer," Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, V143(2), p.534-547
* Simonsohn, Simmons, Nelson (2015) "Better p-curves" Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
* [Ioannidis and Bruns. 2016. p-Curve and p-Hacking in Observational Research. PLoS ONE.](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0149144)
* Head et al 2015 [The Extent and Consequences of P-Hacking in Science. PLoS ONE](http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002106)
Upvotes: 2
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2016/12/27
| 1,755
| 6,305
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<issue_start>username_0: What are some of the serious consequence that my friend could suffer if he tries to pretend that he has never gone to a Community college before?
(He thinks that it will make the 4 year college admission officer look down upon him.)<issue_comment>username_1: In the United States, and probably elsewhere, a student who lies on an application for admission can be denied admission or dismissed from the university, even after acceptance and starting classes or other work.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In addition to being denied admission or dismissed from the university, as noted in [username_1's answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/82276/11365), lying on an application can be grounds for revoking a degree after it was awarded. You may also be required to pay back any scholarships that were awarded to you under false pretenses.
For example, here's the [policy of University of Arkansas at Little Rock](http://ualr.edu/policy/home/student/falsifying-application/):
>
> If the false, misrepresented, or misleading information on the application portfolio is discovered:
>
>
> * **Before the application process is completed**, the application will not be processed and no admission offer will be forthcoming.
> * **After admission and prior to enrollment**, the admission offer will be rescinded.
> * **After admission and enrollment**, the student will be administratively withdrawn from all classes and dismissed from the Graduate School; institutional financial assistance will be terminated retroactively and all tuition and other awards made to the student must be repaid.
> * **After a degree or certificate has been earned**, the degree or certificate will be revoked.
>
>
> Under no circumstances will the applicant receive a refund of his/her application fee or tuition and fees.
>
>
>
Finally, from the rest of the Internet, some anecdotes (I cannot vouch for their accuracy).
Via [Powers v. St. John's Univ. Sch. of Law](http://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/court-of-appeals/2015/28.html):
>
> After <NAME> had completed three semesters as a part-time law school student at St. John’s University School of Law, the law school discovered that Powers had made material misrepresentations and omissions in his law school application regarding his criminal history. St. John’s subsequently rescinded Powers’s admission based on the application’s material omissions and misrepresentations.
>
>
>
Via [Poets and Quants: "Stanford Takes Away An MBA Degree"](http://poetsandquants.com/2014/03/05/stanford-takes-away-an-mba-degree/):
>
> For the first time ever, Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business today (March 5) confirmed that a 2003 graduate of the most selective MBA program in the U.S. no longer has a degree because he was admitted under “false pretenses.”
>
>
>
Via [Yale Daily News](http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2008/09/10/the-man-who-duped-the-ivy-league/):
>
> He is <NAME>, once a junior in Morse College, now a convicted felon. Kicked out of Yale College in the summer of 2007 for forging his application, he now faces five years of probation during which he must pay Yale over $31,000, for scholarships he stole — or else serve three years in jail.
>
>
>
Via [The Right of Educational Institutions to Withhold or Revoke Academic Degrees](http://www.stetson.edu/law/conferences/highered/archive/2005/RevokeDegrees.pdf):
>
> The Supreme Court of New Jersey revoked the license of <NAME> to practice law in the State of New Jersey after New York Law School revoked his Juris Doctor degree for failing to reveal material information on his application to law school and admission to the bar.
>
>
>
Via [hermitosis on MetaFilter](http://ask.metafilter.com/213277/Can-I-etchasketch-my-education-history):
>
> I tried this once. I got accepted to the university and had forgotten to include a transcript from a summer community college course that I'd taken as a freshman in high school. I genuinely forgot to include it.
>
>
> Anyhow I got a call saying that my acceptance was revoked, and when I visited the administrative office to try and explain, they accused me outright of deliberately covering it up in order to improve my chances of getting into their university (the grade had been a C, which lowered my overall GPA by just a smidge).
>
>
> I was allowed to appeal their decision, but my appeal was rejected. And that's the story of how I was kicked out of university before I ever got to attend a single class (but not, I'm happy to say, before I'd already gotten my school ID, so I did wind up being able to draw upon some benefits).
>
>
>
Via [happymomof1 on College Confidential](http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/7929003/#Comment_7929003):
>
> I was almost thrown out of a graduate program that I was halfway through when the university realized that one (yes 1) transcript was missing from my file. In fact, even after it was delivered to them, and recorded as arriving, they managed to lose it again and I had to have it sent again. We are talking about a 30 year old transcript for 8 undergraduate credits taken in summer school! When I asked why they cared, the registrar (not a filing clerk) himself told me that missing transcripts can mean lost accreditation. No college or university wants to lose accreditation, they'd rather lose a student (or potential student).
>
>
>
Via [airborne911 on College Confidential](http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/8253733/#Comment_8253733):
>
> I attended two schools in spring 2006, but I forgot all about the second school (I only took one class there, and the rest of my classes were taken at the first school). I did not list the school on my application. USC sent me a request for transcripts from the second school in April. I called the admissions office to inform them that I simply forgot about the second school I attended. The lady on the other end of the phone said, "That's okay. That's what the National Student Clearinghouse is for." She then told me to send a detailed letter explaining why I didn't list the second school on my application, because omitting information is grounds for automatic rejection.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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2016/12/27
| 972
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently got a major revision from an applied math journal. However the only change the reviewer has asked is to put a remark on some theorem in the paper (why the specified theorem will not work under some general case). According to the reviewers the rest of the paper is fine.
I am slightly confused why is it a "major revision". Any suggestion will be helpful.<issue_comment>username_1: Just make the required changes and send the paper back to the editor. Don't worry about what it's called – it makes no difference to your situation whether it's called a major revision, a minor revision or a super-special changey thing.
As to *why* it was described as a major revision, only the editor really knows that. Maybe it was even just a mistake.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: It varies by journal I'm sure but sometimes the line between "minor" and "major" revision is set by whether the reviewers wish to see the changes authors make in response to their comments before recommending acceptance.
A "minor" revision would go straight back to the editor and then to production while a "major" one goes back to the reviewers first. This might not be related to the amount of work required.
In your case it's possible that the reviewer wants to be sure you include an appropriate section about the limitations of the algorithm otherwise they wouldn't recommend acceptance.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: (Background disclaimer: I’ve seen this from the perspective of an author and reviewer, not an editor.)
**Major/minor can refer to the *importance* of an edit, not just to its size.**
For instance, if a key statement in the paper is inaccurate (e.g. if a theorem is incorrect as stated), then even if the changes needed to fix it are small, the reviewer may describe this as “major revisions”, and the editor may agree. So the referee is saying “you seriously need to fix this!” not just “consider adding something about this?” For some journals/conferences, it also has the practical effect that the referees get to see the revised version before it’s accepted, and check that the required changes have been made — so, again, a referee may call a revision “major” because they feel it’s essential for correctness, and want to ensure it has been made before endorsing the paper for publication.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Umm, why not **just ask them** (the editor and/or the reviewer)?
Maybe some paragraph got clipped out of the email? Maybe the reviewer is over-estimating the importance of that comment, or you are under-estimating it? You can just ask - no harm, no foul. It's not like you're asking for some special favor.
PS - Better to ask when while submitting the corrected version, so it won't appear you want to evade their suggestion.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: For some journals I've seen, a minor revision means we're going to accept the paper eventually, a major revision means we're still undecided.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Two additions to answers given sooner.
First: in most reviewing systems, reviewers may provide a *decision* (eg: accept, minor, major, reject), *comments for the authors* **AND (blind) comments to the editor**. It might happen that the latter influence the editor more, especially if they exist. Very often often, reviewers go open (only *comments for the authors*). But, in some cases, the comments to the editor can be different, or asking for a more drastic decision.
Second: each reviewer provides a decision. There is no standardized way of producing a unique decision (editor) from several rankings. For some, three minors make a major, two majors a reject, for instance. Up to the editor or the journal rules.
Third: in mathematics (or fields using maths heavily), more than in other sciences, a tiny detail can be quite important.
Anyway, **what matters most is your precise answer**. The rest is not in your hands.
Did I say "Two additions" in the preamble? Let me remind you that: there are three types of mathematicians, those who can count and those who can't.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/12/28
| 1,099
| 4,588
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<issue_start>username_0: As a deferred action for early childhood arrival ([DACA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_Action_for_Childhood_Arrivals)) student, I found out that I am not eligible for federal fellowships from the government or through the university.
Some universities allow for fellowships to DACA students if they meet in-state requirements but being a student who attended undergrad at another state, I do not qualify. (I applied to all out-of-state graduate programs)
With the DACA status, I can still apply and work as teaching assistant or research assistant to fund my Ph.D. program.
So my question would be, if I do not have any fellowships on my CV and only RA & TA positions, how much would this negatively impact me when applying for assistant professor positions, if at all?
Do hiring committees ever place emphasis on whether the student had had fellowships or not? And would it be more worth it to go into a Ph.D. program in-state where I may qualify for *some* federal fellowships made through the school (from a funding perspective)?<issue_comment>username_1: I cannot speak to your field (which you have not specified) but I did not have any fellowships (fellowships are fairly rare in public health) and was fine getting a tenure track job. Fellowships are nice little prestige markers, but letters, publications, funding applications, etc. are also critical.
So no, it's certainly not impossible. It might not even make things appreciably more difficult.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: The same restrictions apply to international graduate students, so this won't make you unusual at all. Certainly many international grad students get jobs, so that's proof that it won't put you at a prohibitive disadvantage.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: **There's no way that you are going to be disqualified from faculty positions by not having a graduate student fellowship.** There's no "has a fellowship" checkbox on rubric that search committees use.
What will matter is a holistic evaluation of the quality of your research, your publications, your teaching experience, and your letters of recommendation.
Of course, evaluating junior faculty candidates is difficult and lots other things matter as well and can help reinforce (or cast doubt) on a committee's evaluation of a candidates quality. In that sense, a prestigious fellowship can be an additional positive signal in an otherwise strong packet. In that context, you should think of a fellowship as a "nice to have" — it does nothing to replace great research, great publications, and great letters.
In some ways, not having a fellowship might even help, if it translates into more work as a TA and RA. This might lead to teaching experience and publications, which will be viewed as more valuable than all but the most prestigious fellowships. For example, I've seen faculty candidates who had made it entirely through graduate school on fellowships dinged for a lack of teaching experience.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: It would be helpful to specify your field, since as usual [academia varies](https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/a/1212/13). From my perspective, I would be embarrassed to try to argue to my colleagues in favor of a candidate for a tenure-track position based on their having a graduate fellowship. I would expect their reaction to be some mix of laughing off the suggestion and thinking I'm a prat. So in mathematics, I think in their direct effect they are mostly irrelevant. Indirectly having the time away from teaching to do research can be helpful, but the effect is uncertain. Certainly, DACA students have much more serious concerns over the next few years than this one.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Graduate fellowships are usually awarded at the time of admission to a graduate program; as such, the question of whether or not someone gets one is only a reflection of their **undergraduate** record. In my experience (mainly in math), tenure-track hiring committees care very little about an applicant's undergraduate record. For instance, most applications do not ask for any information about the undergraduate degree beyond the date and the name of the institution - not even the GPA. A minority ask for an undergraduate transcript, but my impression is that they don't really read them - they are mainly to weed out fraudsters claiming degrees that they don't actually have.
As such, I would expect graduate fellowships, or lack thereof, to carry negligible weight in a faculty application.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/12/28
| 2,713
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently was offered 2 researcher job offers in two different countries. The first one is from the USA and the second one is in Japan. The professor in USA prepared all the documents for a J-1 Visa and after receiving them I have been issued a visa for 2 years.
I have now been offered another, more suitable job in Japan (more related to my interest and higher salary). I am also very interested in living in Japan. Although I applied to both jobs at the same time, the selection process in Japan took a month longer than the US process.
I accepted and signed the offer letter from the USA professor. This is an agreement to the professor that I will join, moving forward the professor will issue the documents for J-1 Visa. I was also asked in the interview whether I am considering any other job positions somewhere else. I replied yes, but my first preference is this one (the USA one).
How can I politely decline or inform the US professor of my changed situation? How would the professor in the USA feel after everything is done and I decline at the last moment?<issue_comment>username_1: Joining the other commenters: I'm not sure what you think a "commitment" is if signing an offer letter and having your employer issue a visa do not qualify!
I'm not sure why you think that your answer in the interview is relevant: it is perfectly normal for you to consider other positions **until you accept one**, at which point you should take yourself off the market.
I think it is very likely that the offer is not legally binding: I have seen such things happen to departments, and they have never pursued the matter legally. What will happen though is that the people who offered you the job will feel that you **reneged** on them, and in particular that you broke your word. That they have gone to the time and expense of successfully getting you a visa is likely to amplify their feelings of ill will. (Also, it could make them be less willing to hire foreign workers needing visas in the future: please think about the implications of that for a while.) It is possible that this could damage your academic and professional reputation in the long-term with this faculty member, at this university, and perhaps in broader circles containing them. It is also possible that they will get over it rather quickly and hold no lasting grudge.
If you want to renege for a permanent academic job in a country that you distinctly prefer living in: in my experience, while some will call that action dishonorable, most will ultimately countenance it as something that you needed to do in order to get the happy life you want. But if this is a temporary job for which you cannot see your way to your next job or staying in the country you want to live in: this could turn out to be a decision that you regret. Whatever you do, I certainly urge you to get up to speed on how academic hiring works: this will stop you from making serious mistakes in the future (and may convey other advantages in your future career).
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: **TL;DR - Politeness is the least of your worries. You may need to engage in some damage control here.**
This seems a little messy to me.
That you've received a visa under the J-1 visa program means that you've got a commitment with a sponsor enough for the US government to agree to providing you with a visa. The application for a J-1 visa is rather time-consuming and will involve the outlay of resources. At the very least, the sponsor must provide evidence of insurance and fees. It is likely that these have been covered by your sponsor.
Thus, you have two problems that you need to resolve.
First, you need to inform your employer/sponsor. You need to understand that because they have already issued you with a visa, then it is highly likely that they were anticipating that you would take up the offer. You need to review the paperwork you've signed. It is likely that you have misunderstood the implications of commitment. In my university, visa processing does not begin until there is a firm commitment from the candidate in the form of a contract. Whether it is a contract or not in the legal sense is for you to determine. What is important is that the sponsor has prepared for your arrival. This means that
1. They have stopped the job search, something they will need to restart
2. They have planned a training or work program (a requirement of the J-1 visa) that they cannot now fill
3. They may have paid fees on your behalf for visa processing, insurance, housing reservations
There are many other things that might have happened behind the scenes. You will need to appreciate all of these and understand how your refusal may cause them not a little bit of disappointment.
Indeed, if I were the sponsor, I would be furious about this development.
Your second problem is with the US government. The circumstances under which you gained the J-1 visa now no longer exist. You will need to work with your sponsor to have the visa cancelled. You do not want to travel to the US with this hanging over you as the immigration service is another world altogether.
I wish you the best of luck.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I'll be blunt, you would be losing a lot of face if you back out of the job offer in the United States a month after it was issued. It could be so far as to prevent you from ever working with anyone in that group again.
While an offer letter [is not a legally binding contract](http://blogs.lawyers.com/2011/06/offer-letters-employment-contracts/), the understanding in the United States is that by signing and returning it you are accepting their offer and committing your services to them. Typically this also means you should contact other prospects to let them know that you are no longer on the market. In the event you have another interview lined up, usually people in the United States will inform the people that made the offer and negotiate accordingly.
Generally backing out of a offer letter is only acceptable in the United States if extenuating circumstances occur that would render you unable to do the job. Think something along the line of major illness, death in the family, and so forth. Even then, depending on the circumstances and the position, the employer might just negotiate a delayed start date for you to allow you to take care of things.
As [mentioned by another person](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/82308/7269), double check what you signed. I find it very hard to believe that they would have started the J-1 Visa process without having an employment contract from you as well. In contrast to the offer letter, an employment contract is a legal document that has clauses enforceable in court. They can't force you to work but there may be a clause that allows them to claw back fees associated with your hiring process if you back out of the contract in bad faith.
Pragmatically, if you haven't already tried to back out of the deal with the group in the United States, I would recommend that you just politely decline the position in Japan and continue with the offer you originally accepted. Granted you would be in the United States instead of Japan, but if you can get an offer from a group in Japan once, most likely you can do it a second time.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I would do the following:
* Talk to them (if possible, in person) and explain that a major and unexpected event occured, that motivated your decision about the position;
* Politely apologize to them;
* Offer to cover all expenses they had with the process.
Even this not being the case, there are things that happen in life that could issue a change of events (e.g. a divorce, children, a disease, family, etc). It is better for everybody if you forfeit the position now then later.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Do not listen to other respondents. The United States is "employment at will" which means that you can resign from your post-doc at any time for any reason - even a dumb one. The J-1 visa is not your problem.
If you feel unreasonable pressure to take this post-doc, then that is slavery which is illegal in the United States. Call the Department of Labor and report it.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_6: I think other answers here address your direct question, but probably aren't the answer you were hoping for. Here's an idea that might make everyone happy.
1. **Just take the US job.** As AJK commented, you've made a *commitment* to do so.
The next step is where your politeness skills can start to pay off.
2. **Contact the Japanese team and ask them very politely if you can turn *their* job offer into a paid visiting position for a year or six months or something like that.** At least in principle this is not out of the question. For example, maybe your boss in the US won't mind you working from Japan for a period of time, or maybe you could do it after the US job is over, or take a leave of absence. All of that could be negotiated; the main point is that if you can take an extended paid research visit to Japan in any form, it will look good on your CV, and satisfy your desire to spend time there. You can decide later where you want to live long-term. In general it's a good idea to visit someplace before you take a job there anyway!
If you can do things this way, then you will strengthen your network, improve your chances of doing interesting research, and keep everyone happy.
*tl;dr*: Build bridges, don't burn them.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: In addition to the issues raised above, it's possible that the Japanese would, because of your actions a) withdraw their offer, or b) feel you are untrustworthy. Your worse case therefor is losing both offers.
(As indeed might be the case if either establishment sees this correspondence!)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: ### To *directly* answer your question of how to do this "politely":
Simple: **generously** pay back *everyone that you can* for the damages you may be incurring.
You made a commitment (that's literally what signing something *means*), and you're reneging on it, so the only way to save any face is to make it up to them, and short of actually finding a clone of yourself who can live the life you would've lived, the next-best option would be money.
In which case, I hope you're *really rich*, because I imagine you're going to need a lot of money. Think about all the things that could have gone wrong, and how much it might really be costing them. The professor might very well not be able to get a million-dollar grant down the road because you're not there doing the work you promised for him/her, stalling his/her progress.
If you can donate enough to the research/department/college/university/etc. to cover all these costs so that they don't even *think* about getting upset, then I'm sure you'll save lots of face — I don't imagine they'll mind missing 1 hire if this gets them (say) a million-dollar donation! It'll easily help them find other people. But if you're not quite rich enough to do that, well, sorry, I'm pretty sure there's no other way to do it politely. When you err, the polite thing to do is to shut your mouth and make it up to others. If you can't, then, well, you can't.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I did post doc in a university where i did experiments. Later after i rejoined job, i worked on it for 2 years, developed analysis methods and together with prof through communication by mail send it to a reputed journal with the prof being the corresponding author. The mail from the journal forwarded by the prof to me says that my prof is the corresponding author and i am the co author. Does it mean that i am the second author? In the manuscript i am the first author and my prof is the corresponding author and second author. Kindly clarify.<issue_comment>username_1: The corresponding author is the author who corresponds with the journal and receives all correspondence regarding the manuscript after it has been published. **This role is independent of author order.** In some disciplines it's common that the first author has this role and in others it's the last author who does it. But any of the authors can be corresponding author.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: To the best of my knowledge (and at least in the field in which I work), the author order in the manuscript is authoritative -- if you're the first author there, you're the first author. (To put it another way, I would feel entirely happy to defend my first authorship at an academic job interview on such a basis.)
By contrast, the definition of a co-author is somewhat context-dependent -- it can either mean any one of the people who jointly authored a paper (including, potentially, even the first author), or it can mean one of the authors other than the first author, or (as apparently in this case) it can mean one of the authors other than the corresponding author. As such, I would have thought that the journal is entitled to refer to you as a co-author in that sense if it wants to, but it doesn't affect your actual position in the author order.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: My application to a specific PhD position was rejected. I was informed about it last week and I wasn't even invited to an interview. The information was a standard email telling me that "despite your evident qualifications, there were better candidates". Now, I see that the institution re-posted a job ad for **the exact same position**, and only changed the starting date to a later one.
I'm a bit puzzled by this situation and don't know what to do:
* Should I re-write a better motivation letter and apply again, or does the early rejection means I have no chances at all?
* Should I contact the thesis supervisor and ask him what could improve my chances, like [this answer to a similar situation](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/71633/48286) suggests?
* Or should I wait a bit, get other experiences as research staff/assistant or something similar and apply for another position later?
My biggest worry is that I might appear too "pushy" and that my future applications in this institution will be automatically rejected, even if I have more experience. On the other hand, having a feedback from the supervisor could be useful for future applications.
I am aware that similar questions have bee posted already, like [this one](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/71633/48286). However, my situation is slightly different, as I would apply to the same position without any new experience (against what is advised [there](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/52077/48286)). The cultural setting is German-speaking Europe.<issue_comment>username_1: First of all, can you be sure it is exactly the same position? The same professor might have just gotten another grant which can fund another PhD position; it is then possible that they announced the second position with an (almost) identical ad. If that is the case, you can still have a chance of being accepted if you apply. If not and it's indeed the same position, it'll be much more difficult.
If it's a second position with the same professor, it means that the search for a suitable candidate starts anew. Being rejected with the previous application then isn't really a problem—it just means there was at least one candidate better than you. With a new hiring process, the selection starts from a beginning and it can happen that you'll be the best candidate this time. If, on the other hand, it's the same position, none of the candidates was a good fit for the job; and that doesn't change now unless you can change a part of your application (like your cover letter).
In my opinion, you cannot go wrong by sending a brief, polite email to the professor and asking about the new ad and potentially for a short feedback on your application. The worst that can happen is that you'll get no response at all, and then it's probably not a good idea to apply.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I wouldn't worry about "appearing pushy". The biggest risk here is that you will waste your time and mental energy. It is true that if you simply repeat your application the chances of getting admitted this time round are small (though not 0%). It's worth making the call you suggest for two reasons: one you gain experience on what was wrong with your application, two your rejection may have been due to a misunderstanding, and you could clear that up. Your supervisor may even be very enthusiastic about your application after this is cleared and addressed in your application.
However, there is another angle to consider. A PhD is no trivial endeavour. It is physically, but mostly mentally demanding, and will push you to your psychology's limits. Many people who embark on one regret it, or drop out, or are [worse-off professionally at the end than they were when they started](https://medium.com/the-economist/why-doing-a-phd-is-often-a-waste-of-time-349206f9addb). So if you got rejected from a PhD course without even an interview invite, you really need to consider if this is the kind of PhD program and / or kind of environment you're willing to spend the next 3-7 years in. A PhD is extremely challenging at the best of times when there *aren't* politics etc to worry about. If they rejected you outright, then maybe that's a red flag that you don't want to be applying for that particular course / department in the first place. So at the very least, weigh the reasons for this particular course very carefully; don't go blindly into a PhD / environment that isn't right for you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: If it were a second (similar) position which became available unexpectedly (funding granted or someone quit), almost all organizations would draw on the pool of applicants which they'd just finished vetting, and reach out to the applicant who was, effectively, their second choice.
This really sounds like they just didn't like any of the applicants they received, and want to throw their hook back in the water. Bit of a shame they chose to tell you they went with another applicant, if they didn't actually do so. Possibly they did make an offer to the only one they found acceptable, and that applicant declined.
If I were on the inside, I'd probably re-word the description to stress whatever qualities the prior applicants didn't have. Also I'd probably give it a little more time.n But academics can be remarkably clumsy managers and their relationship with their institution's HR department can be horrible. (As with their IT department, etc etc.)
So this *could* indicate a dysfunctional hiring process. Which describes far more of them than you want to imagine. It probably can't hurt to clean up your application and send it back in, but frankly I'd write them off. Some job postings are just plain vapourware.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I've been working on a case study paper with a colleague, who is the first name on the paper. He is writing his PhD thesis and I am writing my MSc. thesis under the supervision of the same advisor.
Is it okay both of us to use the same results/findings of this paper in our theses?
Advisor told me that this is not okay and added that even if the other guy would be okay with that, he didn't accept this.
At the time that I will be defending my thesis, the paper wouldn't be published yet. The PhD guy will be defending after me in the future.
What is wrong with that? People cite other people's work and use them in their theses. Why is it not accepted for me to use the results of the paper that I am contributing?<issue_comment>username_1: This depends on your country and university regulations, etc. In general you can use the results of your papers in your thesis but e.g. in my case (Europe) if I would use a paper that I only co-authored I would have to indicate what I did myself and what was done by the other author(s).
On one hand it would not be understandable to me if you could not cite a paper in your thesis (and you should be able to also indicate that you are one of the authors and that you did this and that in the paper). Citing papers in other papers/books/thesis is something you *should* do to clearly state where the results you are using come from (unless it is a textbook stuff).
If you are about to copy-paste parts of the paper or the whole paper then yes, this may be different and could strongly depend on your university regulations and I expect you would be at least required to clearly state what you did yourself.
On the other hand it is probably never a good idea to go against your advisor directly. Ask him/her about this, say what would you like to do with the paper, hear them out in detail what is the problem with that and propose a solution. If this is a case of regulations then there is no going against it as you would only harm yourself. If this is the case of ethics then your advisor should and hopefully will explain the situation - that is also what advisors are for, or at least should be.
I would like to give you a better answer but at this point I really miss the background and big picture to do so.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> What is wrong with that? People cite other people's work and use them in their theses. Why it is not accepted me to use the results of the paper that I am contributing?
>
>
>
You have answered your own question. You can of course cite this paper and use it in your thesis as you would do with other people's work. What is unacceptable is, to use the paper as it were your work (and make verbatim copies of text and graphs into your thesis), though you have contributed to it.
You are the second author. First author has a higher potential of using this in their PhD thesis - whether it comes before or after your defence is irrelevant.
You can of course use your contributions to the paper (such as the text that you wrote representing the components that you built by yourself) into your thesis.
In summary, pls follow your adviser's suggestion in this. If you are unclear of what you can exactly borrow from this paper into your thesis, consult your adviser further. It is highly unlikely that your adviser will tell you not to borrow even a single sentence from this paper (unless you contributed nothing to the paper - which is unlikely, given that you are the second author).
Of course, feel free to cite and highlight this paper in your thesis!
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: in my knowledge in case Indonesia, it's okay to cite your collaborative research finding or result but to use same data of your collaborative research in case put in your Paper it not okay, a collaborative research counted as one research, I think if you use the same data and put in your paper without citing, you can be a plagiary, so you can't use the same data without citing the authors
but overall you should clarify to your advisor "why it happen", it seems your supervisor have a reason for your problem, or ask your second advisor
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: The answer is: **It depends**. The norms around whether the results from a single study can be written up in more than one thesis or dissertation vary by university, field, lab, country, advisor, and thesis committee. There are some places where it is explicitly forbidden. In other places, it is common in at least some form. At my graduate school (MIT), collaborative PhDs are rare but possible.
It cases where it is possible, however, it is up to the thesis supervisor, the thesis committee, the department committee, and the university to ensure that each thesis reflects the work of each thesis author — in both quality and quantity of work done by that individual — to justify the degree being conferred. Sometimes, this means that each thesis must describe a sub-part of the work that each author was the intellectual lead of. Sometimes, this means that each thesis describe a separate extension of the shared work. Sometimes, it means a single thesis with two degrees. Sometimes, it means that it's simply not possible. Figuring this out is subjective.
The only things that always true is (a) that it must be both explicitly documented and well explained both that the thesis contains joint work and what each author contributed, and (b) that everyone involved must be supportive of going forward with multiple degrees reflecting a single body of work.
In your situation, it sounds like your supervisor believes that this is not the case. Why does your supervisor think it's not appropriate in your case? You'll just have to ask them.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: If I understand the issue correctly, the problem that the advisor has with your using the results is that both of you and the PhD student would be claiming them as "primary contributions" to your respective theses. This is typically problematic since you would *both* be saying "I added this work to the realm of knowledge in my discipline," which typically defeats the purpose of what a M.Sc. thesis or Ph.D. thesis is supposed to do: namely, document that an individual is capable of doing research at an appropriate level (and in the case of the Ph.D., advance the state of knowledge in the field to a certain minimum degree).
You should be able to at least cite the work that the two of you have done jointly—to not be able to do so would be unfair—but the advisor may not want you trying to base your entire thesis off the joint work.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: Can I measure the quality of literature review by analyzing the argument created in the literature review chapter of a masters thesis to see whether the arguments are consistent or inconsistent?<issue_comment>username_1: An inconsistent argument is bad, but an consistent argument alone is not enough for a good literature review. The primary purpose of a literature review is to give an overview of the state of the art in a specific field. A chapter that fails to adequately cover the field is a bad literature review, even if the argument is consistent.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't think an argument's logical consistency is useful, in and of itself, to determine the quality of a piece of written work. An argument is logically consistent if there are no logical contradictions. That is to say, all statements in the argument can be held as true at the same time. If it cannot, then the argument is logically contradictory. For example, the following statement is explicitly contradictory:
>
> "Carotid endarterectomy is both cost-effective and not cost-effective in the prevention of stroke in patients with carotid stenosis."
>
>
>
In this case, the author might not be asserting the contradiction, but has poorly summarised the conflicting evidence from research that shows that the cost-effectiveness of carotid endarterectomy is not established with certainty. This is a common enough technique in literature reviews in which the research gap is defined.
In some cases, arguments may be implicitly contradictory. Take, for example, that great line used to demonstrate borderline personality disorder:
>
> "I hate you. Please don't leave me."
>
>
>
Here, the idea plays on the meaning of "hate" as a strong emotion and the equally contrasting sense of "need". Once again, there is no logical consistency in this statement, but it is a valid statement nonetheless.
Finally, logical consistency is actually a low bar to surmount. An argument can be made logically consistent simply by asserting unrelated premises.
```
A. Some rats are white.
B. All viruses are tiny.
= = = = = = = = = = = = =
C. Therefore, carotid endarterectomy is suitable for carotid stenosis.
```
This is a logically consistent syllogism, but you will agree that this is a fine example of invalid reasoning.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I finished my master's degree in September, and I have applied to PhD programs that begin in September 2017. Most of the schools asked for a CV with the application. I've had to take a part-time job in retail to make ends meet while looking for a better job, and I included the retail job on my CV under the employment section. My CV, of course, highlights my more relevant positions (teaching/research assistantships), along with my conferences, awards, etc. But I'm concerned that I may have made a mistake in including the retail job at all - I only felt compelled to do so because I wanted to be honest about my current employment.
Will including the retail job on my CV possibly be seen negatively by PhD admissions committees? I am hoping that it is a non-issue, but I am not sure.
Edit: I realize similar questions have been asked but I don't think my question is a duplicate of the one that was suggested. I'm asking about whether it was a good idea to include current employment, not hobbies and interests.<issue_comment>username_1: *Disclaimer:* I never served on a hiring committee so I can't speak from experience. But I did my share of applying and know how I would look at such a situation.
Working in retail is not going to get you accepted to grad school. But having a one-year gap in your CV won't help you either; that would probably be even more damaging. Not explaining what you did (or are doing) after your master's would raise all sorts of red flags: What does he do? Why won't he tell? Can we rely on him doing good work?
The best strategy would probably be to explain your current situation in your cover letter: You finished your master's in September and didn't have time to apply for PhD while finishing (or whatever your reason is). You *really* want to go to grad school (explain why!), so you took whichever job you could get while applying. Formulated this way, you can even use your situation to show your motivation, dedication, and perseverance, which are key skills for any PhD student!
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: You've included a piece of information on your CV that's essentially irrelevant for the position you're applying for, and that's how it will be viewed. Most people on admissions committees won't care, assuming your application indicates a high level of motivation for a PhD. So don't worry about it.
That said, some people will probably want to know why you'll have a 1-year gap between the end of your masters and the beginning of your PhD. Presumably either you applied to some places last year and were unsuccessful or just didn't apply. Neither of these things would be held against you much—but there are potential concerns here that I would want to see cleared away in other parts of your application. For instance, not applying last year might lead one to wonder how serious you are about a PhD and/or how on top of things you are. Hopefully your letter writers/personal statement would put any such concerns to rest.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: In general, my advice would be to **not list irrelevant positions on your academic curriculum vitæ**.
If you've held non-academic positions that are at least somewhat related (e.g. you've worked as a programer and you're applying to graduate school in computer science), it's not unusual to list them in a section toward end of your curriculum with a heading like "Professional Experience" or something similar. If they're not related at all, it doesn't need to go in.
Will doing so hurt? Probably not. I'd feel especially confidently stating this in regards to graduate school applications where there's simply not a strong expectation that you'll know the norms among academic CV writing or, for that matter, that you'll have a lot of *relevant* material to fill your CV with.
To the extent that your work in an unrelated field as left "holes" (i.e. unexplained periods of time) in your CV, the normal place to explain that is with a line or two in your personal statement.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> I finished my master's degree in September
>
>
> I wanted to be honest about my current employment (retail)
>
>
>
Being honest means answering interview questions truthfully. If they ask you if you ever threw sand at someone when you were in preschool, tell them the truth -- but there's no need to volunteer such information.
Finishing a master's in September is inherently awkward. For significant gaps in a résumé, you can put some brief explanation in a cover letter, but for a short gap like this it isn't necessary.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a graduate student in education who recently had a child. I have devised a few plans/topics that would work for my thesis but I keep revisiting them because they require a lot of data collection in the field, something I am not sure I will be able to achieve with a young baby at home and no babysitter/daycare for now.
So here I am, trying to come up with various data collection methods that could work without having to be in the field:
* Giving directions to a research assistant and paying them to do it
for me
* Interviews through Skype
* Surveys
* Self-reports
* Document analysis
What would be other viable options that I haven’t listed?<issue_comment>username_1: **Questionnaires**
**Written interviews**. If journalists can do it, I don't see why you can't. There are some sub-options here. You can send a list of questions by email, let them respond, send follow-up questions, rinse and repeat; you can set up a chat session and save the transcript; you can supplement a written interview/conversation with phone calls to clarify key points.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Depending on your topic, consider working with an existing dataset. I highly doubt that would be frowned upon in an M.A. situation - you only have so much time to get things done!
I see you're in Ed Tech, so you have a lot to choose from. Most MOOCs provide open data you could work with (for example, see Harvard and MIT's [Dataverse](https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/mxhx)). The [LAK conference](https://solaresearch.org/initiatives/dataset/) is also an excellent resource for learning analytics datasets. Finally, there are also some governments that are providing open data pertaining to education, such as [Queensland](https://data.qld.gov.au/group/education) in AU.
But even if you can't find an existing dataset that provides the information you're looking for, the strategies you mentioned can all be used highly successfully. My own MSc thesis in Learning & Technology is one example. I designed a study where I combined an online survey with sentiment analysis to understand the role of personality in a set of online courses provided by large university. Never had to leave my laptop :)
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I find myself in an unfortunate two-body problem situation. My fiancée got two offers earlier this year, one a post doc and the other a tenure track position. She deferred the tenure track for a year and is currently halfway through her post doc. The university she got the tenure track position from was happy to do this for her so she could broaden her teaching and research skills.
I am a PhD student who is finishing up in May, but I find myself not having many good options for employment. The area in which she got the tenure track position is very small and there are not many options for people with a math PhD outside of working for one of the universities. Obviously I knew this already. However, none of them are hiring for this coming year.
The [two body problem in academia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-body_problem_(career)) is a classic problem and it's not one that is easily remedied. I'd really hate to be a lecturer because that's a really rough lifestyle and I have a lot of research I want to do. I have at least three or four papers lined up for the next year or so in addition to one I have published, two that I have submitted, and another I'm submitting in the next week or two. I'm starting to feel a lot of dread about this. What should I do (or even my fiancée do) to get an academic position for the fall (ideally in the area she will be in)?<issue_comment>username_1: You (or rather, your fiancee) should talk to the department where she will be taking the tenure-track position. Many universities try to support the employment of faculty members' spouses/partners, as part of their family friendly policies. This support can take a number of forms.
The simplest form that the support can take is for the university to hire you in an academic position. You don't mention whether your fiancee is also in mathematics, which may be relevant. It's often easier to get the school to hire a partner in the same department. The reason is that the hiring has to be done with the approval of the department that is going to be employing the spouse, and that may be easier to get if the department has already made a commitment to one member of the couple. Sometimes (and ideally, I would say), the trailing spouse can be hired in another tenure-track positions.
Other times, the trailing spouse may be hired in a non-tenure track position, but one which can nonetheless be effectively permanent. You say you do not want to work as a teaching-oriented lecturer. Unfortunately, you are unlikely to get a permanent, non-tenure-track position in math as anything else; academic positions in math almost invariably involve teaching. The situation can be somewhat different in the laboratory sciences, where people can be hired as research scientists with little or no teaching component to their duties. At my institution, I know of a case where a professor was hired in the physics department, then his partner was hired as a research professor in biology.
The third possibility is that, even if they cannot offer you a suitable academic position, your fiancee's university may be able to help you locate some other kind of employment. Some schools have official policies that offer this kind of support; but some do not. However, even if there is no official policy supporting this, you may still find people (especially in your fiancee's department) willing to assist you. The help could come through personal connections, or making some of the resources of the university's career office available to you. After she finished graduate school, my own wife got some help from my institution finding job leads, which were extremely helpful.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There's nothing particularly unusual about your situation, but I'm a bit confused by your post. What have you done to try to obtain employment thus far? It would pretty late to be just applying to TT or postdoc jobs now. Have you applied for positions in other cities? As other people have mentioned, the lack of any discussion of whether you tried to negotiate a job for you when your fiancée was offered her job (and what happened if you did) seems like a pretty big oversight. I'm going to assume you have asked and were turned down (since if you haven't, why are you talking to us and not her chair?).
Unfortunately, you face some nasty choices here. My personal recommendation is to try to get a job somewhere else. Being separated from your partner sucks, but your other options are probably being a lecturer or being unemployed, both of which will be bad for your long-term prospects.
In the long term, you should expect that you and your fiancée will have to apply for TT jobs elsewhere (either to actually take the jobs, or use as negotiating leverage). So, what you should focus on is being marketable when you do that in a year or two. So, get the best job for your career in the long-term wherever that is, and get used to flying.
If you really can't stand to be apart, you can contact local universities, even if they aren't hiring. It will be bureaucratically impossible to make you a TT offer at this point (it's way too late this year for that), but they may have lecturer-type positions for you. Often in the spring, they'll realize that they have teaching needs (someone decides to take a job elsewhere or take a leave, and they end up with a hole in their teaching schedule). But since you've said that's not what you want, that just circles us back to the long-distance option.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I might first try to decide which of the following is a bigger deal:
1. Working in a job that is not centered on research and mathematics
- Having some significant uncertainty over the next 2-3 years about where your family will be living/working in the future.
If the first is a bigger deal, you probably want to do your best to land in a TT or something close - which probably means you need to find a postdoc. If the second is a huge deal (for instance, if you want to have kids in the next year), you could consider administrative-focused alt-ac positions within your fiancee's university (<https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/november-2013/in-admin-four-history-phds-discuss-their-alt-ac-careers>). These might be easier to get if your fiancee's department is trying to ensure she stays!
Are there multiple universities in this area (as suggested by your post)? One possibility would be to find a postdoctoral position in the same area, preferably in a different department than your fiancee. This is a temporary solution, but one that keeps you in the hunt for a tenure-track position. If you build a strong resume, it might be possible to be hired either at your wife's current university, or for both of you to together move to a new university. This is a difficult path, but can happen.
I suggest "preferably in a different department than your fiancee" because in many places, if you join a department as a postdoc, they may view you only as a trainee, and have difficulty seeing you as a potential equal/TT candidate. (Of course, other departments like to hire their own... YMMV.)
Finding a postdoc in a small town can, of course, be difficult - you may have to search in more fields and departments than you first planned. For instance, applied mathematicians could postdoc in some computational/theoretical groups in mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, physics, etc. You could also consider a long-distance relationship for a few years - though it is tough!
One last note: negotiating for a two-body accommodation usually requires leverage of some sort, e.g. "here is a great person we want to hire" or "we need to prevent this person from leaving." Right now, after your fiancee has already accepted the job and negotiated for a deferred start, but before she has started working, it sounds like your leverage is near its minimum.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: This is essentially an impossible question to answer, but I'll point out a few things that might be useful. (I'm a physics professor at an R1 university in the U.S.; parts of this may or may not be relevant to your field or area.)
The very best thing you can do to get a long-term academic position in the same geographic area as your fiancée is to be the best you can possibly be in your field. This may sound like a silly thing to point out, but I think it's under-appreciated. Creating positions, or even creatively making use of existing positions, is tough; a really good motivation for faculty to work on this is for them to really believe that *you* would be great to have as a colleague. Conversely, if they are not very excited by you, doors will not open. I've seen this happen many times. (And, it makes sense.) You might not like this, but if staying away from your fiancée for a year and working on your research at some other position makes you a stronger mathematician, it will probably help both of you in the long run.
Another route is for your fiancée to threaten to leave unless a position is found for you. Given that she hasn't actually started, though, this would be a bad idea -- it will generate a lot of ill will, which junior faculty should try to avoid. Of course, and I know this doesn't help you, the time to have negotiated and set this up would have been *before she accepted the position,* when it would have been very normal and understandable.
A third path is for you to take some sort of adjunct-like position, assuming such a thing exists or could be created. In my experience, people over-estimate the likelihood that this will morph into something "real." (See item 1.) I should also note that creating a job *for a particular person* is often difficult or sometimes even illegal (in contrast to running an open search.)
Good luck!
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: >
> I have at least three or four papers lined up for the next year or so.... What should I do to get an academic position for the fall (ideally in the area she will be in)?
>
>
>
First part, written by username_1:
>
> Many universities try to support the employment of faculty members' spouses/partners, as part of their family friendly policies. etc.
>
>
>
Second part:
If you don't succeed in getting the type of research position you would like, in the desired location, and you can get by without any income for a little while, you may want to consider asking a math department in your partner's town to host you as a visiting researcher in an unpaid position. This would give you some sort of office space, perhaps shared; people to interact with; and an affiliation.
I've seen trailing spouses make this work. Sometimes they apply for their own grant money.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/12/28
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a Criminal Justice AA degree & ten years of law enforcement experience. I'm considering going back for something like a Master's in Law Enforcement Administration or Criminology, however financially I would need to be in a master's program because of the funding tier that opens up.
Can one enter a master's program with an associate's degree instead of a bachelor's degree? Is this an something that anyone has seen done before?<issue_comment>username_1: Are you in the United States? You'll probably need that bachelor's degree to be admitted to a reputable master's program. As Inde's comment says, you may be able to transfer some of your AA credits. Many institutions have a rule about accepting "old" credit, so if your AA is more than seven or ten years old, you may have trouble with the transfer part, too.
If there is a college that's part of your state's public system nearby, make an appointment with an admissions counselor and go there for a visit.
If you should find a master's program that will take you with your AA degree, check their accreditation and reputation *very carefully.* You don't want to spend time and money on a degree that turns out to be worthless.
Although "shopping" questions, and by extension, answers, are off-topic here, you may be able to fulfill the requirement for a bachelor's degree on line at an institution like Excelsior College.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I did a little research, and something like this may be possible. A number of institutions offer combined bachelors/masters degree programs in criminology, criminal justice, and other related fields. (For example, the [John Jay College of Criminal Justice](http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/baccalaureatemaster%E2%80%99s-degree-program-bama), part of CUNY in New York, has a such a program.) I presume that these programs are largely intended for people, like yourself, who already have career experience in law enforcement and related fields. Googling for "combined bachelors masters programs criminal justice" should turn up a few more similar programs.
It's hard to say whether a particular program like this would work for you. For example, I don't know whether your funding sources would be satisfied with you being enrolled in a joint bachelors/masters program. The John Jay program I linked to also has additional reqirements for transfer students, which might be problematic.
However, since many gradate programs in these fields cater specifically toward people who have already spent time working in law enforcement, many more places may have policies in place for addressing the needs of people like you. If there are specific institutions that you are interested (local to you, for example), I would suggest contacting them (possibly in person) to see whether they have programs to help you. You are probably going have to earn a bachelors degree on the way to your masters, but they may be able to classify you as a masters student for the full duration of your program.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a senior in mathematics at the University of Illinois (Urbana). I will be graduating sometimes in 2017, and I would like to go to grad school straight after graduation.
How many credit hours of mathematics does an average successful student take before applying to graduate school?<issue_comment>username_1: I can't say what the average is, but I'll provide some suggestions that should enable you to answer what I think is your underlying question:
>
> How can I figure out how many more *I* should take?
>
>
>
Pick a couple of programs you're interested in applying to. Read the program of studies carefully, then check the courses you would be signing up for in your first year, to see what the prerequisites are. This will guide you in your course selection, and give you a fair view of how well prepared you are. Make sure to look at the textbooks used, to gauge the level of difficulty.
Something to keep in mind: if you can get a TAship, unless you have a fantastic scholarship for your undergrad, it would be financially advantageous to make the move to grad school earlier rather than later. (If you aren't accepted on the first try, you can always try again when you have more feathers in your cap.)
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: This tends to vary a lot, but here's what I'd consider reasonably good preparation for pure math graduate school in the United States:
* Three semesters of calculus (possibly less if you've had calculus in high school)
* A semester of linear algebra
* Two semesters of abstract algebra
* Two semesters of real analysis
* One semester of complex analysis
* One semester of topology
* At least 2-3 more semesters of advanced electives. These can vary a lot, but it helps to have some expertise in a few different subfields of math before attending graduate school.
So it seems that I'm recommending at least 12-13 semesters of mathematics. Assuming 4 credit hours for a one semester course, this is 48-52 credit hours of college mathematics.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: There's one theoretical concept I feel I need to explain briefly in the literature review portion of my MA thesis, but it's very slightly tangential and I don't want to spend more than a paragraph on it. A textbook provides the most all-encompassing, thumbnail sketch of this concept, which would allow me to explain it while citing a single source rather than three or four journal articles.
Would it be déclassé to use a textbook as a reference in a MA thesis for this purpose?<issue_comment>username_1: From my professional and research experience as a research assistant, I will say that this should not be considered déclassé as long as you:
1. Do not overemphasize too much but just mention the main idea.
2. From a research perspective, sustaining your main idea on various sources is the standard rule in most papers, however, there exists implicitly (because there is no formal rule that states how many sources you can use to sustain your idea) a certain limit of sources which depends on the weight of the idea that you are introducing. If your point or idea is going to be discussed in a few sentences then the textbook with one more source that serves as introduction will be more than enough.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You are right that listing a textbook is generally not seen as 'academic' enough. But I think it would make sense to cite it in a literature review with a note like, 'For a good basic overview of this subject, see…'. This I think is acceptable, given that the rest of your thesis shows awareness of more technical pieces as well.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In addition to the other answers, I would say that in a context where a citation of a review article would be sufficient (I would argue this applies when you are talking about "slightly tangential" topics you don't want to overemphasize), a textbook reference is sufficient if you cannot find a relevant scholarly review.
I think it would be especially sufficient if it is a more specialty textbook (i.e., not a first-semester undergraduate textbook) or authored by someone who is particularly expert in the field (vs. an expert in teaching the subject, who may explain the subject well for a novice but not have had a hand in original work in the field).
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a PhD student, from Europe, nearing the end of my thesis.
I'm going to the USA for a conference in a few months. A couple of professors (assistant professor level, both fairly young, recruited in the past 2 or 3 years) whose work I'm very interested in teach in the vicinity of the conference venue.
Would it be acceptable for me to e-mail them out of the blue and ask them if they'd like to meet/have coffee to discuss common research interests?
They both do literature like me and care about similar methodological issues. However we work on (and in) very different geographical areas, so the chance of us ever meeting at a regular conference are low.
Is this ever acceptable? Does rank/school factor into it?<issue_comment>username_1: The answer is simple: **yes, it is acceptable and common**. Don't worry about your rank or about the status of your school. If your email is polite, friendly, is not too long but still includes enough relevant information about you to make it clear to the professors that you and they have shared interests, I estimate that the chances of success (meaning they will agree to meet) are very high — basically the only reasons why this may not work are if the professor is out of town on the day you are proposing to visit, is overwhelmingly busy with other commitments, or is an unpleasant and unfriendly person you probably wouldn't want to meet anyway. Good luck!
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Would it be acceptable for me to e-mail them out of the blue and ask them if they'd like to meet/have coffee to discuss common research interests?
>
>
>
It's certainly acceptable, but I don't agree with Dan that it is "common". More frequently than getting mailed completely out of the blue, I get requests from conference acquaintances (although the bar is extremely low - people who I have talked to literally once have no problem contacting me when they are in town), or it is the supervisor of a PhD student who asks me to meet his student who will be in town.
I guess the main points to keep in mind are:
* Not being disappointed if the professor does not have time or does not even answer. Professors by and large tend to be busy, and your request is bound to have rather low priority. Don't take it personally if nothing comes out of it.
* Having a clear goal / agenda for the meeting. The one time that I don't enjoy these kind of "let's have coffee" conversations is when the other side who requested the meet-up seems to expect me come up with ideas of what we even talk about. Do your homework, and don't expect them to prepare for the meeting.
>
> Does rank/school factor into it?
>
>
>
"Rank" as in "professor vs. PhD student" may factor into it a little bit (even though it should not). "School" as in "their university is better ranked than yours" will not realistically be a significant factor for most people.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I find it not only acceptable and common, as username_1 wrote, but very welcome and even fundamentally necessary for a successful academic career (for all parties involved!) and a research which really provides progress to society.
You will certainly achieve something even as a secluded researcher in your ivory tower. But you will surely boost the output if you exchange ideas, experiments and results.
I just sent out such a mail and I received two of them yesterday. We will have a small congress in March and I want to use that chance to talk to others and many others want to use the chance to talk to me.
Good research is always "giving and receiving" - you can only do that in constant exchange with other researchers.
I strongly encourage you to do so and to use every future chance to do it again. You may get business cards you put in your drawer for years. But suddenly you stumble across a problem and a contact from years ago proves very useful to solve it.
Make as many contacts as you can. Get in touch with people, exchange ideas with them and always remember: This is beneficial for you and the other party, for the scientific community in general and for our society.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: These are your future colleagues. You will (hopefully) be "running into" them in the future. So "now" is as good a time as any to try to get a head start on the relationships, if possible.
As another poster warned, just make sure that you have something to say, most busy people don't want to "just have a cup of coffee, and, of course, conduct yourself professionally as with colleagues.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/12/29
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<issue_start>username_0: Suppose that a person was born in country A and the language of country A was his mother language (non-English); he then immigrates to country B (English speaking), is a citizen of country B and has done his undergraduate entirely in country B. This person had no need to typeset anything in his own native language but devoted a lot of time and developed an open-source (La)TeX system for country A; the localized (TeX)LaTeX system that he has developed is now extensively used in country A in academia for typesetting books, theses , ... . He is also a well-known person in country A for his TeX work. His TeX work for country A was very significant that improved the quality of the academic publishing in country A a lot and academics in country A can even write a letter to confirm this.
Now if this person applies for graduate school in electrical engineering (USA), does his TeX work for country A help him in his graduate admission? is there any need to mention his TeX work or will not the admission committee really care?
**Note:** USA is neither country A nor country B<issue_comment>username_1: Like all "extracurricular" activities, it will *help*, but maybe not as much as you would like. I agree with Jeff that it's an "accomplishment that shows a lot of desirable traits", but fundamentally, if the rest of your application is not sound, this is not going to win them over.
I think it is best to think of this as a tie-breaker - if the rest of your academic achievements are as good as the ones of the next best candidate, this is going to be an unique characteristic that will make you stand out and be more memorable. However, if other candidates have better letters, more research experience, or vastly better grades, the fact that you did something very useful in a fundamentally different area is not going to be valued highly enough.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: The question is:
>
> I carried out a large, successful open source project that made a big splash in certain circles. Will mentioning it strengthen my application to grad school in another field?
>
>
>
Yes, as long as you have all or almost all the prerequisites needed for the degree program you want to apply for.
I would suggest getting a letter of recommendation from some reasonably well-known name in Country A who can describe the project and the impact it has had in academia in Country A.
(I say "or almost all" because you might get conditional acceptance with instructions to take one or two specific courses over the summer before beginning the grad program.)
Upvotes: 0
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2016/12/29
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<issue_start>username_0: I've read several books about argument and I have problem in interpretation from English to Bahasa. Is there any difference between claim, support, and premise in argument?<issue_comment>username_1: Formally (see, for example, [Campbell and Huxman](http://www.cengage.com/search/productOverview.do?N=16%204294889626&Ntk=P_EPI&Ntt=1683419536261133721630458042411852177&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchallpartial))
* A **claim** is an assertion.
* A **reason** is the justification for making the claim.
* **Support** is the evidence underlying your claim.
* An **argument** consists of a claim + reason + support.
Let me give you an example of my **argument** about democracy in the Philippines.
1. **Claim**: The Philippines' young, vibrant democracy is facing real challenges in the 21st century ...
2. **Reason**: ... because the rule of law is threatened by endemic corruption, extrajudicial killings and an armed secessionist movement in the south.
3. **Support**: Statements about the democracy and the need for the respect of the rule of law, the nature of corruption and its effect on democratic institutions, the moral problem of extrajudicial killings, etc.
Formally (see Aristotle's Organon), a **premise** is a statement from which a conclusion in drawn. This is nicely demonstrated in classic syllogisms:
```
Premise A: All men are liars.
Premise B: Socrates is a man.
===========================================
Conclusion C: Therefore, Socrates is a liar
```
In the syllogism above, A and B are premises. From both premises, the conclusion C follows.
Premises, by themselves, are virtually meaningless because they act as unreasoned or unsupported claims. For example, if I made the premise,
```
"The Philippines' young, vibrant democracy is facing real challenges in the 21st century."
```
and left it there, you would ask such questions as
* what are your reasons for this statement?
* what evidence do you have to support this premise?
* what are the implications of this claim?
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The previous answer is great, but I will give a simpler answer in case your English isn't quite up to that level yet.
**Premise** = an axiom. We will *assume* this is true, right from the start.
**Claim** = the statement we want to prove.
**Support** = the reasons why the *claim* is true. We will persuade the reader to accept the *claim* by giving *support* for it.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I ask this question because there are institutions that pay authors an honorarium to add the institution as an additional affiliation when the authors publish, even when those authors do not have any kind of contract or appointment with the institution, nor do research or teach there. This is clearly a way to game the system and increase the number of publications accounted to that institution. This is evidently not ethical, but I do not know if there are any stated policies or regulations on this practice. The end result is that a university that does do not provide funding or resources for research will have the same number of publications as the university that does conduct and foster research.<issue_comment>username_1: As far as experience goes, an author's institutional affiliation matches the location of their name on a payroll, regardless of their publishing.
In other words:
* on the payroll of University of 123 = institutional affiliation is 'University of 123'
* on the payroll of no research institution = 'independent scholar'
Any other arrangement may be characterized as 'creative affiliation'(along the lines of creative accounting).
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: This is pretty old, but I will provide an answer to an increasingly relevant question. Affiliation is understood to be where the major part of the work was done. If this is not the author's current primary employment, then those details should be included in the contact details and/or acknowledgements. Any paid affiliation is unethical. Surprisingly, I did not find any reference to this "creative affiliation" in the COPE standards <https://publicationethics.org/>.
Many publishers include a statement about what to do if affiliation changes during the publication process - i.e. how to credit the institution where the work was begun and the institution where the publication was finalized. For example "Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address." from Elsevier Guidelines for Authors (<https://www.elsevier.com/journals/journal-of-archaeological-science/0305-4403/guide-for-authors>, but they all include this). It seems that what the OP describes is so unethical that no one has addressed it explicitly (yet).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Don't be afraid to be an independent researcher. No affiliation may be fine if you are not truly concerned about who gets to "own" your research. I have seen papers where the person does not have an affiliation.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: According to Wikipedia:
>
> A **tenured professor** or curator has an appointment that lasts until retirement age, except for dismissal with **just cause**. A common justification for existence of such a privileged position is the principle of academic freedom, which holds that it is beneficial for state, society and academy in the long run if scholars are free to examine, hold, and advance controversial views.
>
>
>
I know this "just cause" includes academic misconducts and crimes, but my question is about a mild case:
I have heard that professors and associate professors have certain research requirements. If a professor or associate professor stops to be active in his research (for instance, publishing very few or even no papers for years) after he gets tenured (but let's assume he still does a fair job in teaching and outreach), will he be dismissed from the university?
If there are no such examples, then what is the binding power of research requirements upon professors and associate professors?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> What is the binding power of research requirements upon professors and associate professors?
>
>
>
Without some specific agreement to the contrary, tenure means you can't be fired for doing insufficiently good research. Some tenured positions involve post-tenure review, which can weaken the notion of tenure by expanding the cases in which you could be disciplined or even fired, but this is not the default.
On the other hand, there are tons of other ways to enforce requirements. If a professor is not doing good research, they may be asked to take on extra teaching or service (which is reasonable: if they aren't spending time productively on research, then they should spend it on something else). In more extreme cases, they might never get a raise again, in which case their salary is gradually eaten away by inflation if they aren't near retirement. If the chair specifically wants to punish someone, they can assign them the classes or committees nobody else wants, give them the least desirable office, etc. In short, there are lots of ways a tenured position can become unpleasant, which gives the administration more leverage than one might guess from the definition of tenure.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I don't know of examples, but it's plausible. Remember that the purpose of tenure is to guarantee academic freedom, not to guarantee employment. While there is certainly an expectation of continued employment, it's not inviolable.
A particular institution's employment contract (or their faculty manual, if it has been incorporated to the employment contract, as is commonly done) will outline exactly how and when a tenured employee can be terminated. However, tenured faculty typically sign one-year contracts just like non-tenured faculty. Thus, it's more likely that the tenured faculty will be told they are being non-renewed "for cause". Some institutions make a distinction between termination and non-renewal, while others don't.
My graduate institution has this in their faculty manual:
>
> [Termination of a tenure track appointment for] adequate cause may be academic incompetence, neglect of duty, a
> serious violation of the faculty member’s responsibilities as outlined
> in Section II of this policy, or admission or conviction of a serious
> violation of the criminal code, but the university bears the burden of
> proving that the alleged reason is adequate cause for termination
>
>
>
The relevant part of Section II referenced above is:
>
> The faculty member has an obligation to fulfill his/her teaching and research responsibilities.
>
>
>
Where a specific department will likely have their own specific policies and procedures as to what constitutes the research responsibility. This can be very specific- the "research responsibility" might be defined as a certain number of publications, or a certain number of grant dollars. If the faculty member cannot meet that expectation then they are demonstrably not meeting the research responsibility as defined at their institution. Then it would be within the scope of the employment agreement to terminate the faculty.
A friend at a serious mid-tier research institution has told me that their bottom-line expectation is $250,000 of grant funding per year. Another friend at a good teaching institution that is trying to do more research has said that their bottom-line expectation is to apply for two grants per year. In my current department the obligation is phrased as a percentage of time. The research and scholarly obligation of the tenured or tenure-track faculty in the contract is described to be 50% of your effort (teaching and administrative duties is supposed to be the other 50%). If no such specific definition exists then it would be still possible to argue that a faculty member is not meeting their research obligation, but it would open up the department and university to potential legal issues.
Ultimately, this really comes down to a matter of practicality. Is it worth the time and the effort to remove someone who is severely under performing? If you have a lot of classes to teach and everyone is satisfied with just doing more teaching and less research then it's unlikely to be a fire-able situation. On the other hand, if you're in a competitive and aggressive department where you might be seen as "wasting" a faculty slot that could be better used by someone else, it would absolutely be within the realm of possibility.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am trying to find a doctoral program without a capstone, project, or a dissertation, because I do not find a value in doing a project.
But why isn't there a doctoral degree that does not involve a major project?<issue_comment>username_1: The doctoral degree indicates that you are ready to "do research" yourself. A Ph.D. (or similar doctoral degrees) is essentially your qualification to join the academic community as a fully fledged researcher. Until this time, your research, e.g., for a Master's thesis, was conducted under close supervision by your professor.
The community believes that the best way to find out whether you can conduct a research project yourself is, in fact, to have you conduct a research project yourself. This is what the dissertation is all about. (Of course still under supervision - after all, you are still learning the ropes.)
No amount of classes or coursework will prepare you adequately for the realities of research, just as you can't get a driver's license through a written test only, without demonstrating that you can indeed drive a vehicle.
I strongly recommend that you reexamine the value you may see in a doctoral project.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: So first we have to distinguish between PhD's and the EdD, MD, JD type of degree.
If you are getting a PhD in something then you are the world expert on that narrow topic. That is the point of the PhD, at least in the sciences. You need to be able to solve a problem no one has solved before. You have passed your professors. Some fields, such as engineering, use some form of project rather than a written document.
The coursework is designed to prepare you to *begin* your doctorate. You are used to undergraduate or masters programs where you take a class and learn something. The purpose of the courses is to add to your personal knowledge in the topic. In a doctorate, the purpose of the courses is for you to learn how to think about problems. In some fields, such as accounting, the content knowledge is pretty much complete at the masters level. A PhD in accounting isn't about knowing more knowledge in accounting, it is about researching the consequences one accounting standard has on society versus another.
Most people never finish their dissertation who get through their coursework. There are two possible reasons. The first is a lack of discipline and commitment, but the second is that you have chosen a problem that you cannot solve. Generally you could avoid the second by being careful, but it does happen. A PhD is intended to be risky.
The EdD, MD and JD and a handful of similar professional degrees substitute rigour, exams and methods to show they have sufficient expertise in their fields that they no longer need supervision *or* their fields require postgraduate supervision and so in some fields, such as medicine, the doctorate is granted prior to the "project." It is not enough to have an MD to practice medicine as an independent person. You then need to pass an exam, then get an internship, then pass another exam, then become a resident, then pass another exam then become a practitioner and possibly specialize and take yet more exams to show you could be a "fellow," in a professional society. You will then take continuing exams to show you should still be practicing.
So, in medicine, the MD is granted before the "dissertation" phase.
The courses in a doctorate are not there to teach you everything you need to know. They are there to prepare you to know how to learn on your own, everything you need to know.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: If you are asked to participate in review of a conference paper to which you have yourself submitted a paper, what is likelihood that *your* paper has been accepted?
Or is it possible that they would ask an author of the rejected work to participate in the review of remaining submissions?<issue_comment>username_1: It's unlikely that a decision has been made yet about your paper. At least in the sorts of conferences I'm familiar with, no decisions are made before the program committee meeting (except possibly eliminating completely inappropriate submissions, such as crackpot or off-topic work). This means all reviewers are recruited before any decisions are made, since all the reviews are needed at the meeting, so being asked to review supplies no information about whether your submission will be accepted.
The only correlation is that you shouldn't be asked to review something too close to your own submission, to avoid conflicts of interest. If you are worried about that, you could always ask the program committee member who recruited you as a reviewer. It's possible that they just screwed up, without realizing the potential conflict, but it's more likely that they think this paper is far enough from your submission to be safe.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I support the existing answer but would like to add:
The fact that they had a good enough opinion of you to invite you to be a reviewer does increase the probability of acceptance of your own submission. This is like one of those classic conditional probability questions.
The invitation to review is positive feedback, and you may take this as a shot in the arm. It's always helpful to get a boost in one's self-confidence!
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: Would professors keep an undergrad student's essay to contribute to knowledge in a certain field? I mean keep for the purpose of citing and using it as a reference when conducting further research on the topic.
Or are they designed to just reiterate information already known just to prove that the student understands the material to qualify to pass a class?
Consider a scenario where the prof is covering course topics throughout the semester and then tells the students to write an essay (the typical introductory paragraph/thesis, body, conclusion, etc.). For example, a student writes about a certain topic in the field and the arguments used to defend that topic over an opposing claim against the original thesis. The student may present arguments that can can be a breakthrough in the field as to why a certain position on a topic is the best choice.
This could happen where the student has a background outside the classroom that contributed to the "original" discovery.<issue_comment>username_1: I imagine that undergraduate essays rarely contribute to the knowledge in a field, but there is nothing stopping them.
There is no rule that you have to hold a PhD to contribute. You can be a graduate student, an undergraduate, or completely unaffiliated with a university and contribute.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: That would be the "honorable" thing for the professor to do.
This is most likely to happen when the student has a helpful background outside the classroom. For instance, the student has a farm background, and designed a new farm implement for a mechanical engineering class.
It is "easy" for a professor to claim credit for teaching the student something "in class" that the student used, because of the professor's superior knowledge. The above example is one where the student is in the best position to defeat a professor's claim; that is, the student can challenge the professor to match his knowledge of farming.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: My impression is that your only protection from an unethical professor, whether you are an undergrad, grad student, or professional, is:
>
> Write a paper and submit it.
>
>
>
The ethical thing for the professor to do would be to say:
>
> The ideas you proposed in your term paper are very exciting and I believe have the potential to form the basis of a publishable article. I would suggest that you apply to do a summer project with Prof. XX to develop your ideas further. Also, Course YY, which will be offered in the spring by Prof. ZZ, would be quite helpful in terms of background knowledge / research techniques / writing mechanics (or whatever). I hope you can fit it into your schedule. Let me know how it goes!
>
>
>
And then s/he would return the term paper to you.
*My answer is based on a comment I once heard, urging a grad student to submit a paper quickly, that was in draft form, because a particular professor in the department had been observed going through someone's trash can.*
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a pure mathematics [problem](https://fourierkingdom.wordpress.com/2016/03/01/a-jumping-fourier/) which I formulated after years of research in signal processing of audio signals and years going into formulating a problem on precise mathematical terms, which is a provable/disprovable mathematical statement. (I avoid using the term conjecture as I am not qualified enough)
My belief is that it has very important applications in real world signal processing. I want to solve this math problem, and I need funding, research environment, collaborators, and access to mathematicians for discussions. All this I believe is provided by a PhD position in a University that is serious about path breaking research. My goal is to solve this particular problem and not any other problem.
How can I go about achieving this goal?
Edit : summary of problem
In effect i have proposed a new formula for inverse fourier transform with no assumption on its jumps except that they are finite and absent beyond a certain point. This new formula ensures not only pointwise convergence but also convegence of variation. Classical Fourier formula does not have convegence of variation in the presence of jumps.<issue_comment>username_1: Unfortunately, I expect it will be difficult to find a supervisor who will take you on under these circumstances. It's not impossible, but it will require finding exactly the right match, and that will require a lot of luck.
Here are some of the issues that will worry potential advisors:
1. What if the problem is too easy, and turns out not to be substantial enough for a Ph.D. thesis? Will you drop out from graduate school in disgust? Will you angrily insist that you signed up to write your dissertation on this topic and now they have to let you graduate?
2. What if the problem is too hard, and you spend several years in graduate school with no hint of progress or even the potential for future progress? When your advisor suggests changing course, will you listen? Or will you keep banging your head against this problem until they kick you out for lack of progress?
3. What if the problem doesn't end up being nearly as interesting or important as you hope? Will you accept this outcome, or will you turn into a crackpot who insists that the rest of the research community is just wrong?
4. Are you too emotionally invested in this problem to judge whether you are making progress or how interesting it is? How painful or awkward would it be to work with you on this topic?
5. Are you interested in learning how to do anything else besides work on this specific problem? The purpose of a Ph.D. program is to train researchers with some breadth, not just to solve one specific problem, so you need to maintain some perspective and longer-term goals than any single problem.
It's possible that none of these issues is an actual problem, but few people will agree to supervise this thesis unless they have enough knowledge of both you and your problem to feel reassured. Unfortunately, the bar for "enough knowledge" is probably pretty high. I wouldn't do it unless I knew you relatively well and had spent some time thinking seriously about the problem. This is not going to happen during the ordinary graduate admissions process.
Instead, I think you're probably best off not worrying too much about graduate admissions, and instead just focusing on convincing people that this is an important problem. If you can make a real intellectual connection with a professor based on this problem, then you can explore whether it might be a suitable topic for a Ph.D. thesis. Otherwise, applying to graduate school for the sole purpose of working on this problem is likely to be fruitless.
(To be clear, I might be wrong about this, but it's my impression based on the limited information in your question.)
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: It sounds like you have a singular focus on achieving the following two goals:
1. Getting into a fully funded, high quality pure math PhD program.
2. Using your position as a funded PhD student to solve a particular math problem you have formulated, and nothing else.
Let's start by thinking how you can achieve the first of these two goals. The thing to keep in mind is that PhD programs decide whom to admit based on the applicant's potential to successfully complete a PhD. So, the extent to which your plan formulated in item 2 above will help you get into the PhD program depends precisely on what it says about your potential to complete the PhD.
Unfortunately, by stating that you are uninterested in working on any other math problem, I think you are likely to *hinder* your application, and make it *less* likely that you are admitted, by showing that you have *less* potential to successfully complete a PhD than other students with more normal plans. The reason for this is that you are taking an approach to math research that any experienced mathematician knows is a bad one, which is to "put all your eggs in one basket". The fact is, most research problems that mathematicians work on end up leading nowhere, and for this reason experienced mathematicians know that in research one must be open minded and try to work on many problems to have a good chance of success, and that even when working on a specific problem one must be flexible and willing to change one's goal as one acquires a more nuanced understanding of the problem.
Likewise, if you dedicate yourself to solving your problem and doing nothing else, it is overwhelmingly more likely that one of the following things will happen rather than your dream scenario of solving it and getting a PhD based on that solution:
* The problem will end up being too difficult and you will not succeed in solving it.
* You will discover that the problem is known and is solved in some obscure paper from the 1950s, or is an easy corollary of a well-known result.
* You will discover that the problem is easy and has a trivial solution, and moreover the application you had in mind will turn out to be not as useful as you thought, making the result unpublishable.
* The problem will end up being at a good difficulty level. You will solve it after a year or two of work, only to discover that for subtle reasons you did not appreciate beforehand, the application you had in mind is not as useful as you thought, making the result publishable but not very interesting, and not enough to get a PhD for or to make you feel that the whole endeavor was worth the effort you put into it.
To summarize, your attitude as it currently stands positions you as a difficult person with unrealistic goals and expectations about what it means to be in a PhD program -- not a good image for someone trying to get into such a program. If you really want to achieve goal number 1, let alone goal number 2, you need to think about how you can present yourself as a more attractive candidate. As username_1 explained, that means being more open minded and expressing curiosity about getting a broad exposure to many areas of math and many research problems, and not just showing a singular desire to perform one feat you have set your mind on and which no one else is yet convinced is either worth doing or feasible to perform.
You also need to get rid of the mindset (as expressed in your comment "*You know how difficult it is to come up with a provable mathematics statement thats not trivial and absent in the literature?"*) that by formulating a new math problem you have done something amazing that shows some special level of talent. You *may* have done something amazing, and you *may* be really talented, and the fact that you came up with a reasonable-sounding open problem does say something mildly nice about you, but frankly, open problems are a dime a dozen (one can easily find hundreds of them on MathOverflow). You can mention the problem in your Statement of Purpose, and perhaps some people on admissions committees will be impressed by it, but your unhealthy focus on the problem at the moment is much more likely to hurt your application than it is to help it.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: In your shoes, I would apply to a "bunch" of PhD programs, and write about your desire to take a PhD program for the purpose of solving this problem in your Statement of Purpose. I wouldn't go much further than this, and ask for funding and research grants until I got admitted. The single-minded focus on the one problem will give people a clue about your level of interest.
You may be asked to work on a few "other things," but hopefully, your posture will land you in a program that will allow you to spend most of your time (80% or more) pursuing your field of interest.
In giving you this advice, I'm assuming that you want a PhD for this one purpose only, and have no other reason for seeking a degree. If there are "other" reasons, I would make solving this problem only "part" of my Statement of Purpose.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: Successful research professors are those that can get grant money for a specific research project. They then spend this money on doctoral candidates and post docs who will work on their project. It's very unlikely that a faculty member is going to devote much of his time and money to someone else's research project and generally it would not be ethical for him to do so.
Your best hope, and it's a slim one, is to apply for a research grant yourself.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: For the reasons mentioned by the others, I would recommend that you search for an appropriate open science portal, and start working on the problem yourself. (It's better you don't join a PhD program just to tackle this problem).
Be sure to try and explain why you think it is important, and possible applications for it, and so on. The better you communicate, the more chances of people actually getting on board, and providing you with their expertise (which you will need).
It needs to gather steam in the community, which might take some time (assuming it doesn't get shot down immediately). Once you have had a few people go over it and give you their take on it, you'll be in a better position to know what to do next.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: I disagree with the previous answers. A student who has a serious proposal for a research project is highly motivated and probably gifted and well educated. So when it comes to hiring this would be a big bonus. As long as the proposal is slightly related to my own interests, I can give useful advice. Different from experimental fields, in mathematics a Ph.D. student does not help her advisor, if you are really interested in something, you do it yourself. In fact, it is important to be not too interested in their problems, because otherwise you would constantly have to pretend that you are not ahead of the student.
However, looking at your webpage I have great doubts that this proposal is well suited for a Ph.D. It deals with a problem in a rather old-fashioned area, so it might have been answered 80 years ago without many people today knowing so. The convergence questions you raise should be doable within a few weeks. The problem of approximating functions without increasing the variation is also not new, in fact this is one of the big advantages of splines.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: You want to work on a particular problem. You do not yet seem to have all the tools needed to do independent research, such as literature searches, paper writing and notation skills, and a mathematics academic network. If you had all those skills your mathematics question would not have needed so many edits and would have been accompanied by a survey paper showing the current and historical state of the most closely related research that exists. A PhD would indeed be a very good way of building those skills, but you are trying to jump straight to research on your problem, skipping the tools-building step.
Instead, you should use the a PhD program for what PhD programs are designed to do, to aid you in becoming a fully competent researcher in your area. For that purpose, the choice of problems is much less important than what you learn working on them. You can learn, for example, to write publishable papers by writing papers about something in the general area, in close collaboration with published researchers.
Late in or immediately after the PhD you should revisit your problem, trying to step back from it emotionally and evaluate it as you should have learned to evaluate problems during your studies. Do you think it is important? Interesting to any community with journals etc. in which you could publish? Unsolved? Solvable with reasonable effort? If the answer it all those questions is "yes", either look for a post doc that will let you do independent research or look for a reasonably easy industry job that will leave you enough time and energy to work on your problem, and go for it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: 1. You want to work on a particular mathematics problem. You think you have nailed down the scope of the problem, and you think it is applicable to a real world problem. You are highly motivated. You feel that to make meaningful progress with this problem, you need to receive funding so you can devote yourself full time to this project, and easy access to collaborators. Although I don't think you said this, I got the impression you also feel you would benefit from some targeted coursework.
2. You have the idea that a PhD would be the way to go about things.
Did I get that about right? If so:
How about you try to put together a self-study program? Figure out what you need to learn; find a mentor; take some classes; attend seminars. To resolve the funding issue: don't quit your day job.
It may be that as you are going along this path, you will find yourself gravitating towards a PhD program for broader reasons than you currently have. And then that would be a natural next step.
For now, though, it sounds like you have the drive and interest to keep you going without a department providing a particular structure for your endeavor. (As others have pointed out, a department's structure doesn't align perfectly with your goals.)
Best wishes for your studies and for your project!
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm still in the beginnings of my life as a graduate student researcher. My advisor is pushing me to submit my work to upcoming conferences. Now, I'm a complete novice to these procedures, so I began to sift through various conference websites to learn a bit more. I noticed that some conferences have post-deadline submissions for research papers. What does that exactly mean?
Do post-deadline papers get vetted differently, or do they basically receive an extended deadline?
(Physics, if it matters.)
**Edit**:
Example: <http://www.ofcconference.org/en-us/home/submit-papers/><issue_comment>username_1: I've sat on journal committees and reviewed proposals. We know that for many people, their institution won't pay unless they are presenting. So we want to make as many slots as possible. If there is a possible to squeeze in a few more talks or posters after the deadline (because we found another venue, or didn't get enough in the first place), we'd open it up for post deadline submissions. The bar might be a little higher, but only a little. (I can imagine that for some conferences, the bar might be lower.) It's a slight pain, because things have to be reviewed more quickly, so we would rather not do it.
Other conferences are much more selective, and this would not apply to them.
That might not be how it works for every conference. If they announce post-deadline submissions before the deadline, then I have no idea.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You can think of post-deadline submissions as reserving seats on overbooked flights: if someone doesn't show up, you get the place. But in case of conferences, not that automatically.
Some twenty years ago, when conference submissions were handled through emails, post-deadline submissions were not that uncommon, at least in my field. You would have sent an email apologizing for not having been able to respect the deadline, and hoped for the best. If the technical committee found your work valuable and the organizers could find a free slot, either oral or poster, your paper would have been accepted and your submission would have been added to the book of abstracts as a spare sheet with the headline "post-deadline submission". I recall conferences with around 5-6 post-deadline submissions.
With the advent of submissions managed through websites, it seems to me that post-deadline submissions have been progressively less accepted.
>
> Do post-deadline papers get vetted differently, or do they basically receive an extended deadline?
>
>
>
How post-deadline submissions are handled really depends on the conference organizers, and how much post deadline the submission is. In some cases, they could be reviewed directly by the chairs of the technical committee rather than by the designated reviewers.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Post-deadline submissions, at least within optical communication, are also intended for "new and significant material in rapidly advancing areas".
From the OFC 2020 website:
>
> Postdeadline submissions are not an opportunity to submit a paper
> after the published deadline, but are intended to provide those with
> late-breaking work an opportunity to submit that work for
> consideration. Postdeadline submissions should describe new and
> significant material in rapidly advancing areas. A limited number of
> postdeadline submissions will be selected for presentation, and only
> those papers judged to be truly excellent and compelling in their
> timeliness will be accepted.
>
>
>
<https://www.ofcconference.org/en-us/home/submit-papers/submit-papers/#Postdeadline> (Accessed 2020, March 5)
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Is undergrad research experience related to the undergrad field preferred, or can I do research on the area I plan to study in grad school instead?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Is undergrad research experience related to the undergrad field preferred, or can I do research on the area I plan to study in grad school instead?
>
>
>
It's actually just the opposite: research in the area you plan to study in grad school is preferred, because it sheds more light on your talent and preparation in this field and it demonstrates that you understand what's involved in this work. If your undergraduate research is not in the field you plan to study, then there's a risk that you won't do as well in that field or won't enjoy it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Research in computer science reflects your field of "origin."
Research on the brain reflects your "destination" field.
It's easier for you to "prove" yourself in your field of "origin" (computer science).
But if you feel that your grades, test scores and other activities have already proved your capabilities, you may wish to get a "head start" on your graduate program by doing your research in your "target" field of neuroscience.
Most graduate programs would appreciate and understand this, because your interest is actually more believable this way.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Keeping in mind that although you feel sure right now of exactly what kind of master's you are going to do, that might change, nevertheless, I will go along with what you have planned, as a working hypothesis for now.
To succeed in interdisciplinary work, you need to get some very good intuition about the area of application, which in this case is neuroscience. In the bulk of your coursework, you will be doing a lot of programming and computer science. Doing hands on work in a neuroscience lab would be a great way of complementing that. However, you would need to make sure you have taken enough coursework in neuroscience to be comfortable in the lab. That might be a tall order. Also, you might find that the nitty gritty lab work is not your cup of tea. After all, presumably there are reasons you are not doing neuroscience for your Bachelor's!
So, those are my thoughts, coming from another interdisciplinary field, mathematical biology.
At this early stage, it might be wise to keep both options open.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: If you are hoping to get into a new area in grad school, doing research on that area while you are in undergrad will give you new perspective, and it will be better for you in the long term, since you have an idea whether or not you really want to do this field, or maybe even what you have originally been doing in undergrad, come grad school.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I just submitted an article using data from another study that was done together with a colleague. I am (technically) the first author of the first study, though we are equally credited first authors and we did refine the first study’s design together, though it was my idea and I wrote the software that eventually performed the data collection. I did say that the data came from our original study and cited it in the second.
He is upset as I did not ask him for permission to use the data from our joint project (I could probably still tell the journal to add him to the acknowledgements). But, he also wants to be credited as an author, even though he did not contribute to the current study. Does using data from a previous joint project warrant his authorship?<issue_comment>username_1: As with most authorship discussions, the issue is somewhat nuanced:
* On a purely technical level, everything appears to be in order. The two of you conducted a study, and you published it together. You did a second study alone based on material from the first study, and credited it correctly. No academic misconduct has happened in any part of this process.
* However, on an emotional, personal level, it is easy to see that your co-author probably assumed that you would continue working on this project together, and he feels betrayed by you taking a significant chunk from your earlier joint work and exploiting it without is knowledge, and without giving him a chance to partake and continue to get credit. Note that the issue here is not so much that he is not a co-author of a study that he did not contribute to, but that you presumably never gave him a chance to contribute and continue to be part of the project.
**Edit:**
*Based on the OP's comments, it's not actually clear to me anymore whether the co-author did not in fact also deserve authorship in the second study. Personally, I would at the very least be highly uncomfortable using unreleased, so-far unused data that somebody else helped collect.*
As is often the case, I feel it would help if you put yourself into your co-author's shoes. Would you feel that everything is ok if the roles were reversed, and your co-author just conducted this follow-up without telling you, and based partly on your earlier work and data that you collected?
Unfortunately, it is difficult to move forward from where you currently are without any hard feelings. Adding your previous co-author to the new study, if even possible, is not ethical as (s)he did not contribute, and obviously you can't go back in time and give him a chance to continue working on the project with you. I feel an important part to clean up this situation is you apologising for not handling this situation in the best way, and acknowledging why the other side is upset (rather than focusing on whether or not you have "technically" done something wrong). If your personal situation seems salvageable, (honest) promises of joint future work usually do wonders in smoothing over rocky current authorship discussions. However, if your personal relations are sufficiently tainted, it may be best to just store this away as a learning experience and move on rather than continue working in a collaboration where the trust has been lost.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Including the information in your comments, I think there are two separate but related issues here:
A) Do you need your previous coauthor's permission to use the data for an additional study?
B) Do you have a responsibility to solicit contributions from someone who helped design and collect data to allow them to become an author?
In my opinion, the answer to **(A)** is **no** you do not need your coauthor's permission to use the data. *However*, for **(B)**: given this person's contributions to the original data collection, **you should have offered an opportunity for authorship**. Note: I am not saying this means you should gift authorship to this person with no further contribution from them, but you should have given them a chance to have input in the analysis, and an opportunity to contribute to/review the manuscript.
If the previous coauthor was unwilling to contribute because they didn't have the time, or had misgivings, or any other reason, then I think you could still go forward and use the data (assuming you are within bounds of whatever IRB/IACUC/relevant regulations concerning the data) and perhaps given an acknowledgment for the earlier contributions.
(note: I am writing from the perspective of the biological sciences, where multiple authors on a paper is common and contributions are expected to be non-uniform across the author list; if you are in a field where single/dual authorship is the norm this may not apply)
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for an assistant professor position at a research university (in one of the hard sciences). It is stated in the announcement that some teaching will be required, and a teaching statement is needed for for the application.
I only have limited teaching experience. I have never taught a full semester course. I have helped out colleagues by teaching their courses for 1-2 weeks at a time, while they were travelling. Thus I taught as many as 7-8 different subjects, mostly graduate courses, but always for a very short time (except once, when I did it for 2 months).
I did enjoy these short opportunities to teach and I was hoping to be able to teach a full course at some point, but at my current job this was unfortunately impossible for a number of reasons outside of my control.
Will this lack of experience seriously harm my application? How should I approach writing the teaching statement in my situation? I do have opinions on how to each effectively in the classroom, but they may be naïve: they are based more on my experience as a student than as a teacher. I am even less confident about laying out a syllabus for a full semester (what is too much or too little, best organization, etc. -- following a textbook is not always an option).
Should I describe and discuss my background at length? I fear that doing so will highlight my inexperience too much. But not doing so makes it difficult to beyond generalities.<issue_comment>username_1: We can't tell if the lack of teaching experience will hurt you or not; too many variables. But I can share with you how to prepare yourself on this front.
**Make a clear inventory of all your guest lectures, reflect on them**
Do know that most job market candidates have not taught a full course themselves and nearly none of them had developed a course for real by themselves. Your profile is definitely not in the dismal category so you shouldn't beat yourself up too much. In the teaching experience section, list all of the relevant guest lectures you have done, and make sure to highlight the 2-month one, as it's already 2/3 of a semester. If you can survive 8 weeks, you can likely survive 13 weeks.
Do also recall the title of your talk, class size, undergrad or graduate students, any in-class activities you have used, any evaluations you have applied (assignment, quiz), and if you can get a hold on your colleagues whom you helped, check if their course evaluations had any entries that are pertinent to your performance and ask if they would allow you to quote them.
Also, since it's a research institute, it'd be important to document your 1-on-1 mentoring experience as well. Any entries on supervising students or postdocs should also be captured.
With this inventory listed in front of you, try to dive deeper to remember how and why you explained the concept a certain way, why you decided the sequence of slides/notes were better this way. New teachers often worked on hunches, but most hunches have some reasons behind them. And most of them are a direct manifestation from their experience as a student. So, in fact I think it's totally fine that you based some of your teaching philosophy on your student identity.
**Develop a clear set of vocabularies in learning and education**
There are a few titles I enjoyed and found useful when learning how to teach:
* [How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching](https://smile.amazon.com/How-Learning-Works-Research-Based-Principles/dp/0470484101/) by Ambrose et. al.
* [Tools for Teaching](https://smile.amazon.com/Tools-Teaching-Barbara-Gross-Davis/dp/0787965677/) by Davis
* [Student Engagement Techniques](https://smile.amazon.com/Student-Engagement-Techniques-Handbook-College/dp/047028191X/) by Barkley
* [Teaching What You Don't Know](https://smile.amazon.com/Teaching-What-You-Dont-Know/dp/0674066170/) by Huston
* [What the Best College Teachers Do](https://smile.amazon.com/What-Best-College-Teachers-Do/dp/0674013255/) by Bain
* [The Teaching Portfolio: A Practical Guide to Improved Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions](https://smile.amazon.com/Teaching-Portfolio-Practical-Performance-Promotion/dp/0470538090/) by Seldin et. al.
If you have access to these titles, definitely check them out. You should be able to garner a healthy amount of concepts and vocabularies about teaching, and apply them appropriately in your teaching statement. By the end you should be able to sensibly talk about things like Bloom's taxonomy, backward engineering of syllabi, action words in learning objectives, summative and formative assessments, etc.
Some schools (perhaps your current one as well) periodically conduct teacher development workshops. While you're there you can also try to enroll in some of them, or at least contact them for online or published references on learning theories and teaching methodology. They will also be an excellent source for sample teaching philosophy.
**(I think) there is no recipe for teaching philosophy**
I have come to a conclusion myself that there really isn't a golden formula for how to write a good teaching philosophy. It is really an authentic statement about your current teacher's state of mind. (I looked at my teaching philosophy written 4 years ago and I found that silly as well.) A little bit of naivete is not going to hurt you.
What I found, however, is that it's easier to develop this document if you sit down and ponder about 3-5 statements starting with: *"I believe learning should be..."* and then elaborate from there. If you have done your inventory and literature review meticulously, you should be able to come up with a few that resonate with you.
It is also common to mention what kind of courses you're ready to teach. Most committee members would find that easier to imagine how to incorporate you into the teaching roster.
**Seek help from peers**
And since you mentioned you have helped some other faculty pals, definitely consider getting their feedback on your teaching philosophy. The people working at the faculty development will also be a good resource if you don't wish to publicize your job hunting.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I've been on hiring committees for adjuncts and full time instructors at the community college I work for (I support our online courses and teach for the ITE dept. as an adjunct).
We do look at what has been taught, at what level. We look for experience with things like lesson planning, planning content for an entire semester, how students grades are computed (labs vs projects vs exams). Being in IT Education, we also look for real world experience, industry certifications, the skill set we need filled (can't really use a networking guru to teach iOS/Android programming), etc. just like any other job.
One thing that we always do is have candidates do a 15-30 minute "teach us". We give a topic that has a few areas that tend to give confusion on first introduction and see how they do. From what I understand most academic departments on campus do this when hiring adjuncts and faculty.
A total lack of "real" teaching (full term at a similar or the same institution in the same or similar department) isn't nearly as detrimental as a lack of any kind of teaching. And since everyone has to start somewhere, the "teach us" gives us a chance to see what the candidate can bring to the table.
Re: Teaching philosophy - yes, we do get into that. Teaching to certification tests, good or bad? Why? What is better for evaluating the type of learning we care about (trying to product a halfway decent junior programmer or network admin) - exams or projects? Why? Should we consider attendance as part of the grade (heck, my 7th grader doesn't have it as part of his grades!), etc.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I will give a partial answer because you've already got two good answers. I will provide one suggestion that was not covered previously.
When you are in the classroom as a student, you of course notice some things the instructor does well, and some not so well. But you are primarily there to learn.
When you go into a classroom as an observer, you are free to devote yourself entirely to the observation role. You can take notes that focus on what's working in the teaching and what's not, and you can observe the level of engagement of the students.
You can prepare for this application, and for a teaching job, by observing classes and keeping a journal about your observations. Doing this in conjunction with your reading would be the best way to go about it.
I think it's okay to be honest in your essay. Try to strike a balance that projects self-confidence, humility, and a willingness to learn from your students and from your colleagues.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/12/30
| 2,473
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<issue_start>username_0: Our research (me being one of the co-authors) consists of two main sub-cases which are too long to be in a single paper. So, they were divided into two parts--Part1 and Part2. Both of these papers contain the same text in many places (theory,introduction,procedure). The authors for both the papers are also the same.
If we were to submit this to two different journals, is it plagiarism?<issue_comment>username_1: In my experience, some repetition from authors in methods/procedures between publications is often permitted, even if it is technically self-plagiarized (though the original should still be cited, without question), because some techniques will simply be the same and there are only so many ways to say the same thing.
Duplication of an entire methods section is different, however, and should never happen because the work should never be exactly the same to be unique.
Having the same text in other sections, even just copying a few sentences, however, is quite bad form, and yes, I would say that is self-plagiarism. You have found a logical way to divide the results into two papers: there should be a logical shift in emphasis of the theory and background to match.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> If we were to submit this to two different journals, is it plagiarism?
>
>
>
Reusing text from another paper (even a closely related paper) without explicitly saying so would generally be considered self-plagiarism. Unless they have exceptionally permissive publishing agreements, you would be in violation of your agreements with both publishers if you didn't get explicit permission to do this. Even if the journals have the same publisher, they would probably still be unhappy, because this is a violation of scholarly norms.
If you feel your particular case is reasonable and would be considered acceptable in your field, then all you need to do is to be clear about it. Include a sentence like "For the convenience of the reader, Section 2.1 is copied verbatim from [citation to part 1]" and explain the situation to both publishers when you submit the papers. If they are OK with it (and you are honest with the reader), then everything's fine, but you certainly shouldn't submit the papers in this state without comment.
For this to work, you'll need permission from both publishers. In mathematics that would be an unusual request, and I doubt you would receive permission, but things may work differently in your field. In any case, you may come across as naive or eccentric if it doesn't work the way you expect, but at least nobody will be able to accuse you of being dishonest or manipulative.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: **Plagiarism** is the use of others' ideas or distinctive language without sufficient attribution. Your question is about the amount of allowed duplication in your own work. That should (I think) not be talked about in terms of plagiarism. The term "self-plagiarism" is sometimes used for this, but I don't like it: the two academic crimes are inherently different because the victims are different. In a case of plagiarism, the primary plagiarized party is the victim. In a case of improper duplication, the victim is, in a more diffuse way, the rest of the authors' academic community: they are, in several different ways depending on the situation, "paying twice" for the same product.
So "Is this plagiarism?" is (I think) not the right question here. (Answer: not if each paper clearly cites the other and duplicated content is pointed out.) The right question is **Is the decision to make two papers out of one project with a substantial amount of identical content serving the academic community well? What aspects of this course of action are potentially problematic, and what else could we do instead?**
I would begin with
>
> Our research (me being one of the co-authors) consists of two main sub-cases which are too long to be in a single paper.
>
>
>
How do you know your work is too long for a single paper? At least in my part of academia [mathematics], on the one hand the length of a single paper is quite variable: many papers are published each year which are under 5 pages and over 100 pages, for instance, and relatively few journals have strict length requirements. I have heard that length requirements are more common and more severe in other fields, but I would ask whether you are specifically violating the length requirements of all the best fit journals in your field. On the other hand, the length of an academic paper is quite fungible: in my experience, most papers can be compressed by up to 25% without a reader really noticing a change, and many papers can be compressed by up to 50% without ruining the core content. That amount of compression could solve your problem. Have you tried?
Sometimes people do have feelings that "this paper is too long," but that can be quite subjective. (For me as an author, fatigue starts to set in somewhere between 30 and 40 pages. After 40, the burden of keeping the entire paper in mind as any individual changes are made starts to feel significant. My longest paper is about 50 pages and had a very energetic coauthor.) If you are not actually violating length requirements or very clear norms of your field, I think it would be better to submit a paper which feels a bit on the lengthy side and see what feedback you get. Sometimes referees and editors recommend splitting a paper in two -- if you get such a recommendation, you can be more confident that you made the right decision.
Note also that your choice of "splitting" seems not to be a very natural one: you are not splitting the paper into two parts which can each stand on their own, and because of that you are repeating a lot. This makes me think that even if you have decided to write two papers and not one, a different way of splitting might make more sense. If your paper is unavoidably too lengthy to be published as one, then that should imply that you have **enough academic content for two papers**. What you have done so far -- repeating several sections verbatim for most papers -- is likely to create the impression among your readers that **you do not have enough academic content for both papers but are trying to stretch one paper into two anyway**.
Well, I hope this gives you some things to think about. I can't really give you the answer without seeing your paper. Among other things, it depends on the proportions of everything involved. If for instance the "theory, introduction, procedure" occupies two pages, and each case occupies 20 pages,
then the amount of duplication is probably acceptable. Even in this case though a different reorganization might serve you better. In my experience, breaking something unnaturally in half and trying to publish each half separately can devalue your work: academia wants to publish "full things" rather than "half things". However, this is ultimately quite subjective, and with sufficient reorganization you could probably overcome this.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: No, it would not be. The gist of plagiarism is that you *misrepresent* the authorship or originality of a work. So long as there is no misrepresentation whatsoever, there is no self-plagiarism and no plagiarism. So long as the later paper properly cites the former paper, there is no misrepresentation whatsoever.
Note that avoiding plagiarism by being honest about the duplication likely won't help you. You'll still have problems with getting the journals to accept the papers. The first journal will not be happy that you plan to publish a lot of the same content through another journal. The second journal will not be happy that much of the content has already been published in another journal.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: Why even worry about whether it's technically plagiarism or not?
Simply **have the introduction and the preliminaries refer to their own use in another work.**
It's easiest for the preliminaries, where you could either add this at the beginning:
>
> In this section we present same fundamental definitions and basic tools necessary for our exploration of Foo. It should be noted that these are also relevant in the context of Bar, in a line of research which the authors { are currently pursuing | have pursued in [citation here] }.
>
>
>
or at the end:
>
> The observant reader may note that the definitions and tools put forward in this section would also be relevant, as-is to the study of Bar etc. etc.
>
>
>
For the introduction the wording can probably not be generic, and I would weave in the mention of both Foo and Bar saying that this article focuses on Foo, while the authors are pursuing parallel work on Bar. Or something like that. As in the above, if something was already published, do cite it.
For both sections you don't need to spend more than 2-3 sentences to make sure you're self-plagiarism-free.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: No. Plagiarism is defined as:
>
> the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.
>
>
>
There are two essential elements both of which must be present:
1) it being someone elses work ... (it's not, it is the work of yourself and the co-author).
2) passing off ... again, you are not doing that either.
Plagiarism is in essence, breach of copyright, but in this case it is your work and you are free to re-use, re-pack and repeat as much and as often as you wish.
At worst, you are guilty of repetition.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_7: The two subcases have in common the following:
>
> theory, introduction and procedure
>
>
>
Pick one paper in which to explain these in detail. I'll call that one TBE (for Thorough Background Exposition).
Then in the other paper, give a brief sketch of the theory, introduction and procedure, and refer the reader to the TBE paper.
If it helps you -- you could think of the dividing up you're going to do as *modularizing*.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: My way of dealing with this situation would be:
1. in paper one: state that the problem will be solved in two parts and the second part is still in preparation and will be published as separate paper.
2. in paper two: in the intro and method section write a statement that the paper is the continuation of paper one, then cite the first paper.
Upvotes: 0
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2016/12/30
| 659
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<issue_start>username_0: Specifically, I'm in the field of Computer Science, where conferences (such as [EuroS&P](http://www.ieee-security.org/TC/EuroSP2017/)) have lots of cool [affiliated events](http://www.ieee-security.org/TC/EuroSP2017/events.php), some of which have proceedings and some which do not.
I am more interested in the affiliated events than the conference itself, and was wanting to submit a paper to one of the workshops and an extended abstract to another -- I am working rather than a student at the moment, and so funding for the conference itself will be hard to come by (in addition to the cost of taking time off work). The affiliated events are held over the weekend, and I was wondering:
* Is it possible to attend/be published at only affiliated events and skip the conference?
* Is this a commonly done thing or, if it were to happen, should I keep quiet about it?
Thanks!<issue_comment>username_1: There is no need to attend the main event/conference if you are only interested in the affiliated events.
To be sure, you could check the registration forms (of past editions if they are not on line yet): it is there that hard constraints such as compulsory registration for the main event would be listed.
In my field, software engineering, it is not uncommon to skip the main event, especially for people from industry who have a presentation in one of the side events. And workshops can also be more interactive, fun, and useful.
So I see no need at all to keep quiet about this!
Good luck with the submissions!
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Is it possible to attend/be published at only affiliated events and skip the conference?
>
>
>
This depends a bit on the conference, but in most cases, the relationship between a "main" conference and its satellites and workshops seems to be like this:
* Nobody really cares whether you actually attend the main conference, and there is no reason to be quiet about this. However, some conferences require you to register (I.e., pay) for the main conference in addition to any satellite events, even if you have no intention of attending. So you should keep this, probably significant, additional costs in mind.
* Satellite conferences often have their own proceedings, so it is definitely possible to be published only at the satellite, for whatever that is worth. Associated workshops often publish their proceedings in a companion volume of the main conference. I am not sure whether you would consider this "be published at the main conference", or why this would matter for you.
That being said, the best persons to answer this for you reliably are the organizers of either the main event, or of the satellite events you wish to attend.
Upvotes: 2
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2016/12/30
| 2,787
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a chemistry undergrad in the honors college at my school and the following happened:
1. Last Spring, the college held a research conference and I did REALLY well with one judge (49/50) and poorly with another. The judge I did poorly with cited the wrong research project, or whoever tallied the scores assigned the wrong score sheet to me.
Another professor was upset about how her student was judged too, and so when she heard about how I was judged, she grouped us together in one complaint, but our emails to the people in charge of the conference went largely unanswered regarding her student, and *completely* ignored regarding my situation.
2. Weeks later, a student in my research group who had been receiving massive praise from the honors college for having presented at a conference, received an award for her research. I was actually the one that
went to the conference, not her. It was known by the honors college that I went, but they must have assumed the other girl went too because she was in the same group. Perhaps I should have stepped in and said, "She didn't go, it was just me," when she first received praise, but I felt I was in an awkward place. I asked the girl early on in the school year to correct the honors advisor, but she (the girl) said it wasn't important. Our research advisor assured me there's no way of knowing that the trip to the conference was the only factor in the college's decision to give her the award and that she had not been consulted about it, which made the situation a bit less discouraging. That student *did* do research in another lab -- although I had heard complaints about her work in the other lab well before she and I were at odds.
A few weeks ago, I talked to the dean of the honors college about the situation, and I was pretty much told, "Sorry 'bout cha', that's life. Life is unfair." It made me feel like I was being really petty, and his tone made me feel chastised for bringing it up.
To me, **this isn't an issue about praise, it's about fairness, responsibility, and supporting students.** The "life is unfair" argument he used just *really* bugs
me. In my view, something like having an excruciatingly painful, lifelong health condition is a "life isn't fair" situation. "Life isn't fair," for me, fails to be a legitimate argument for people refusing to be accountable for their actions or even just issuing an apology.
Despite support from professors, my research advisor, and the Dean of Students, I'm still really gutted about these things. I'm demotivated in my coursework and research (research was seriously my lifeblood.) I worked so incredibly hard and I used to get so much joy just out of working without the need for recognition.
**How do I feel confident and motivated again in my education and research when I feel unsupported?**<issue_comment>username_1: The truth is that (i) the things you describe suck because you deserved praise but didn't get it, (ii) there's nothing you can do about it. In some sense, it's true: That's life. Stuff happens that is disappointing, frustrating, unfair, and there is nothing you can do about *these* things.
What matters is that you get back up and keep whacking at it. That's because while there are things that you can't affect, *on average* you will get praise for the things you do right. In other words, you may lose some, but you can also *win* some, but only if you keep doing good work and keep at it. At the end of the day, people recognize those who do consistently good work, and while you may not get *every* award you actually deserve (and sometimes even others may get it), you will get *some* of these awards, and they will look quite good on your resume.
So keep thinking about the next poster competition or conference, prepare, work for it, and do the best you can. If you do it often enough, *statistically* you will get what you deserve. It may simply not be every time.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: In both of the experiences you describe, you were not treated fairly. I think it's really healthy to be disappointed at unfair treatment: for one thing, this kind of disappointment is a key component in learning to treat others fairly; for another, indifference to being treated poorly could be dangerous just as absence of pain on being burned could be dangerous.
It is however good to cultivate a sense of perspective on such matters. When unfair treatment has serious, lasting negative consequences, you should fight back. When it's a passing thing, sometimes it is better to take just one quick shot at rectifying the situation, and sometimes it is better just to let it go. Let me ask you this: **What are the specific negative consequences of what happened to you? Are they durable? Will they affect your future?**
* With regard to the first case: I am a tenured full professor, and I have never had my academic research formally judged and graded at a conference. So I honestly don't know what you lost out on by being judged poorly. Maybe some words of praise, a line on your CV, and/or a small cash prize? These are not serious losses. The experience seems to have hurt your morale. I understand that, but I think you can easily shake it off with the right perspective. Two people evaluated your research. One person gave you an excellent evaluation, and one person gave you a poor evaluation. Already that's not so bad. But wait, it gets much better: the person who evaluated your work poorly *had you confused with someone else*. So actually no one really thought your work was poor. Isn't that great?
* The second situation is similar in that in fact you are only receiving positive feedback. If going to a conference in Pittsburgh is praiseworthy and you went to the conference, then *the praise actually applies to you*. The person who gave the praise may not know that, but you know it, and that's much more important. By the way, when a student award is for something subjective like "good research" rather than being best with respect to an explicit metric, awards are very often given to graduating students rather than non-graduating students. If an award was given to a graduating student in your research group and you feel more accomplished already than that student, you have quite a good shot at getting the award yourself when you graduate.
There is a general theme here: successful academics are largely self-motivated. And for most academics, the greatest reward and job perk is the satisfaction they derive from their own understanding and achievements, both at any given time and the experience of being on a steady upward trajectory of mastery and accomplishments. (I am reminded of my college's alma mater: *Let knowledge grow from more to more; and so be human life enriched.*) Praise and rewards are not *insignificant* -- among other things, they are key checks on our own self-evaluation -- but they ought to be *less significant* than your internal sense of your own academic trajectory. If you actually love research -- and it sounds like you do -- then that is your reward right there. I'm not saying you should ignore the rest, but as above you can try to put it in perspective.
To address your questions:
>
> Is this kind of thing common in academia?
>
>
>
The specific nature of the bumbling you describe is not necessarily so common (though bumbling of one kind or another is hardly rare). But being underappreciated largely by mistake or inattention is rather common, I'm afraid. Every academic I know can spin a wrenching yarn about excellent work which was treated rather shabbily by others.
>
> More importantly, how do I feel confident and motivated again in research when I feel really unsupported?
>
>
>
That's a very personal question, but I have given some part of what I hope is a helpful answer. Namely, you have to do you. Being unsupported through what you can clearly and rationally perceive are the faults of others rather than your own should not discourage you from continuing in academia. It may mean that there is a better place for you, but good news -- repeated changes of location which bring new mentors, collaborators and subsidiaries are a key feature of academia. As I mentioned, in each of your stories above there is clear positive feedback on your work and no clear negative feedback -- so I see absolutely no reason for you to lose confidence *in yourself* and in *your own work*.
The point of being in an "honors college" is not accumulating honors, by the way. (To be frank, the terminology is really pretty silly, and even somewhat off-putting.) Rather it is about being given extra opportunities and being guided towards more rapid mastery: to say it slightly mathematically, it is about increasing the slope of your academic trajectory. Giving a student an award for going to a conference is also a bit silly, like giving a child an award for bringing home a good book from the library: yes, there was some praiseworthy behavior involved, but the important part is the *opportunity*, not the praise for receiving it, and whether the opportunity was used well and/or turns out to be significant is for the person who received the opportunity to judge, not the person who gave the praise. Would you rather have the praise and not the book or the book and not the praise? Clearly the book is preferable...if you actually want to read it. Similarly, I hope you will see that by going to the conference and not getting the praise, you *were* supported more (in this one instance, anyway) than your colleague who was lavishly praised for a conference that she didn't attend! Ask yourself whether you enjoyed the conference. If you did, there's your motivation.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: To cut it short: Dealing with unfairness is something which will stay with you in academia. There will be many instances when it happens to you - I could tell about situations over all my studies to the end of my postdoc, where something seemed 'unfair' to me - but in average it will be more or less fair.
There are a few thing by which you can live with it and reduce it to a minimum:
* pacta sunt servanda: if somebody does not keep up his end of an agreement, remind him once, then try to stop collaborating at a time when it's good for you
* go for groups where there are a lot of co-authors on the publications. In my observation these groups usually have a good collaboration internally (since people will not be jealous and fighting)
* when looking for a PhD position: look for a supervisor where people consistently stay (master-phd/phd-postdoc).
* save your fights for the relevant times. Complaining in order to be co-author on a Nature paper where you contributed is reasonable, fighting about anything below co-authorship for impact factor smaller than 5 is not.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: More an anecdote than an answer, but possibly helpful.
Many years ago my wife's undergraduate honors thesis on the Fool in King Lear received two evaluations from two readers. One said "<NAME>." The other "non honors" with the (to him) scathing comment that "<NAME>. writes as if the characters in King Lear are real people." (That was long before Ms replaced Miss.)
The third tie-breaking reader agreed with the first.
In the years since my wife has used the second reader's quote to her advantage in talks and essays.
Don't worry too much about your experience.
Upvotes: 1
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2016/12/31
| 1,480
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<issue_start>username_0: As an undergraduate I submitted a paper of mine to a reputable journal. Fearing that I would be desk-rejected for simply being an undergraduate, I stated in my submission bio that I was a PhD candidate. It turns out the paper is going to be published and I am curious if there are any long term repercussions or ethical concerns to be worried about on my end. Is it worth issuing a correction or is it statistically unlikely the EIC will even care at this point? Equally as important: would relaying such information result in the paper not being published?<issue_comment>username_1: It's maybe too easy to offer advice on such matters when one doesn't have to live with the consequences, but for what it's worth: for your own peace of mind, and to minimize the risk of long term consequences (while possibly increasing the short term risk, though not by much I hope), I think you should send a contrite email to the editor explaining what happened and apologizing. Although there is no telling for sure what the editor would do, considering that your bio status is immaterial to the acceptance decision, I doubt that this will cause them to unaccept the paper. In any case, it's the right thing to do. And if you decide to stay silent and keep your deception a secret, you will have to spend the next few years worrying that it will be discovered, with potentially worse consequences for your career. Nip it in the bud is what I suggest. Good luck!
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Scientific conclusions in papers may turn untrue, models or data can be wrong. But at the heart of research, **intellectual honesty** seems to me to be a core value. One should not state something he knows is false. @username_1 gave the sounder advice.
Lies are "a little" like bank accounts. Sometimes they get unnoticed in offshore paradise islands for a whole lifetime. Sometimes they get unveiled with compound interests and the necessary prejudice. A little lie at one time turns into tremendous cheating after a few years.
The only situation that could save a little is: would you be a PhD candidate when the paper is published? I believe as @username_1 that a status should not be an acceptance reason. But then your bio would be factually correct. And for the sake of honesty, a footnote under your name stating that:
>
> "the author was an undergrad student at the time of submission"
>
>
>
would be nice addition. Indeed, papers written by undergraduates can get noticed, because it can mean early orientation toward research.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Dishonesty like this, if discovered, will cast immediate doubt on the quality of your research. If you are prepared to lie about this what else have you concealed or fabricated?
I would tend to agree that your best bet is to come clean immediately and admit that it was an error of judgement which you now regret. Even if this results in the paper not being published it should at least defuse what might otherwise be a ticking time-bomb for your future career and you can at least truthfully say that you acknowledged and corrected your mistake before you gained anything from it.
Having said that it is not a huge deception and not particularly relevant to the content of the paper. As an undergraduate you probably stand a good chance of being forgiven and having it put down to the inexperience and enthusiasm of youth. Especially if you own up before you get caught.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: As a professor who has trained a lot of graduate students (and someone who still recalls what it was like trying to get started in research), I would echo the answers by username_1, username_2, and <NAME>. It might sound like a relatively harmless and justifiable fib, but I *guarantee* you that if discovered later, it will be seen as a serious blot on your reputation, simply because it suggests that you are prepared to lie to secure a publication. You might never contemplate falsifying results, but people cannot know that and suspicion of your integrity can be fatal to your career.
The good news is, that if you own up *before* publication, and admit it was an error of judgement, there's a very good chance the editor would be lenient to someone just getting started. Everyone makes mistakes and odds are good he or she was once an eager undergraduate too!
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: Get it fixed asap. As others have stated just write to the editor. Even if they reject the paper due to the 'error' this will be the end of it and you'll still have an opportunity to publish in a different journal.
But if this is not corrected then it is not only a problem for your career in academia.
You can't go into politics with something like this over your head.
In Germany, as an example of one jurisdiction, it is a serious offence to misrepresent your title or degrees.
And do not forget about visa trouble. You really do not want to try to explain to an immigration officer why you lied about your degrees on a paper 10 or 20 years ago.
If it is not fixed it does not go away. There is a very permanent record of wrongdoing, how small it may seem.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: As a starting point:
>
> Dear Dr. Name-of-Editor,
>
>
> I was thrilled to receive notification that my submission (title of article) has been accepted for publication. However, I must make one very important correction. When filling out my submission bio, I described myself as a PhD candidate. Actually, I am currently a senior [junior] in the Name-of-Field program at Name-of-University, hoping to begin my PhD studies next fall. I sincerely apologize for the untruth. I hope this does not compromise my submission.
>
>
> I have explained the situation to my dean of undergraduate studies, Dr. Name-of-Dean. If you would like to contact him/her, here is his/her contact information: (email) (phone).
>
>
>
Sincerely,
(name)
*Instead of the dean, you could provide the name of a mentoring professor.*
Upvotes: 1
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2017/01/01
| 1,563
| 6,700
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a second year PhD student, and I still don't have an advisor. I chose this school because it has a ton of people working in the sub-field I am interested in (Mathematical Optimization). I tried lab rotations with three of the 'stars' here, but they didn't work out - two were busy during the quarter and didn't give me a problem to work on, the third one, though so far sufficiently satisfied by my work, has almost a year-long 'testing period' before taking on students, which is too long for me (I only got to know this mid-way through the last quarter).
So I relaxed my constraints and talked to professors working in a slightly different field (Control Theory), and they are willing to take me, but this means I might be doing something a bit different than what I had imagined when I came here.
Before coming to school, I was working in the industry for three years, earning a decent amount of money. I already had a Master's before that. I came back to grad school only because I wanted to work on Optimization problems and do algorithm analysis for them. Now I might have to do modeling of problems in Control Theory. The mathematics at the heart of the two fields is quite different, and I already spent a whole year taking hardcore Optimization and Convex Analysis classes (which I now feel will be a waste).
All this is making me depressed. Quitting is absolutely not an option for me.
My question is this - do people do one thing and then end up getting back on track doing what they *really* want to do? Is this even possible? Especially if what you *really* want to do is math-intensive.
EDIT, March 2017 : In case some other PhD student comes in reading this, I can imagine what you are going through with all your 'failed' rotations. Just wanted to say, I tried a rotation with a 'star' in my field of interest (Optimization) one last (fourth) time. And he has now agreed to be my advisor! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) I won't have to compromise after all, and I am so, so, so happy.<issue_comment>username_1: Let's see if your department can get its act together to do right by you. Here's what I would suggest:
1. Write up your specific efforts to start working with a professor on a research project in your area. Keep it all very factual and neutral in tone, and keep it to one page maximum. Then make a cheat sheet (outline) that will help you present your information in a conversation. Make an appointment to speak with some department administrator, maybe you have a dean of graduate studies, for the purposes of asking for advice. Explain your problem, glancing at your cheat sheet as needed, and then leave the long version with him or her to refer to after you leave. Ask the dean when would be a good time to meet again for follow-up.
If s/he gives you specific suggestions, try not to let your frustrations show at the beginning, and even if you know the suggestions are a waste of time, do make a good faith attempt to follow them; then report back.
If, after this, your department doesn't solve the problem, then you'll need to take some initiative.
2. (a) Apply elsewhere. Apply to at least one "stretch" school. Even a school that is not top of the line should handle this better than your current program has been doing. Make sure that the departments you apply to have at least three people who do the right kind of work.
3. (b) Look for a mentor to work with from a distance. Here's how you find one: read some papers, write to an author with a question about a paper you read. When you get a friendly, encouraging response from someone, then you can explain the quandary you are in and hopefully start getting some guidance.
I suggest you send some applications right away just in case. In other words, it would be wise to start with 2a because we're already in January. Then comes 1. While you are waiting for things to percolate, you can start working on #2b.
I studied math programming at UW-Madison (a long time ago). You should not have to switch streams just because your department can't get its act together.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: If you really want to do convex optimization and you are really unsure that control theory is something that would interest you, then I would strongly encourage you to
1. continue in your project with the optimization "star" in the hopes that it will transition into an advisor/advisee relationship,
2. research more into control theory to see if it is acceptable for you, or
3. apply elsewhere.
Having said the above, my answers to your questions are below.
>
> do people do one thing and then end up getting back on track doing what they really want to do?
>
>
>
It depends on how closely related those things happen to be.
In your case, you are really interested in convex optimization (reading over your other posts, I assume you are in EE), you have not had much luck getting anyone in the convex optimization area to take you on, but you have gotten some interest going among some potential advisors in control theory. The question is: how closely related are convex optimization and control theory?
There are two comments above that attempt to make the case that control theory and convex optimization are close enough to make it work: **I happen to disagree**. These two subfields of EE do not overlap in any useful way, except that they both require some mathematical maturity, which is one thing you seem to care about.
So, where do we stand?
In the best-case scenario (according to the two commenters above), your experiences in control theory will help you in your quest to eventually do what you want to do (convex optimization), and, in the worst-case scenario (my view), you will, at the very least, attain some level of much-needed mathematical maturity from control theory to *maybe* do convex optimization research in the future. You certainly have some things to think about going forward.
>
> Is this even possible?
>
>
>
Sure. Here's one way I could see this working out for you:
After you finish your PhD, say, in control theory, you would transition to a postdoc in convex optimization. Again, taking the optimistic view of the two commenters above, you should be able to transition smoothly into a postdoc in your desired area. In my "pessimistic" opinion, I would strongly encourage you to have a side project (or three) in your target area while you are doing your PhD studies in control theory. This way, you will be able to talk with experts in convex optimization, have intelligent conversations and discuss how you can get involved in a project as a postdoc, rather than just hoping they give you a chance.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/01/01
| 954
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<issue_start>username_0: Some journals request that authors follow a specific style manual (e.g., APA or Chicago manuals of style).
One style rule is to avoid starting a sentence with an abbreviation (with some exceptions).
However, I found it unnecessary to spell out abbreviations like ANOVA (analysis of variance) or FMM (finite mixture models) every time I start sentences with them.
Should I strictly follow such rules in academic writing?
**Edit:** My field is biohealth sciences.<issue_comment>username_1: I don't know about your field, but in mine you get a rocket if you deviate too much/too often. So I'd suggest you follow it pretty strictly, except for (as you note) terms such as ANOVA that, *by the readership you're writing for*, are better-known in that form than in the spelt-out form.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Your writing should strive for maximal clarity in conveying your intended meaning to the reader -- that is the ultimate goal that overrides all other considerations. Style manuals are simply sets of rules that people came up with that aid writers to achieve that ultimate goal. To the extent that I would perceive a particular style rule on a particular occasion to be in conflict with the goal of conveying meaning effectively and concisely, I would see myself as free to ignore the rule.
The upshot is that as long as it doesn't happen too frequently, ignoring style rules is fine if you do it not out of laziness but out of a sincere desire to make the writing as clear as possible. If you do find yourself wanting to break the rules very frequently, you may want to consider the possibility that your intuition about what makes for clear writing is not yet sufficiently well-developed for you to make the best judgment calls on such things. In that case I would try to stick with the rules until you gain more experience.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: The first thing to know is that while some journals request that authors follow a specific style guide, it's rather rare that they enforce that rule. So you should be fine even if you insist on starting sentences with "ANOVA". I guess the answer to the question in your title is: to the extent that you find acceptable.
Worst case scenario, the editor will asks you to make some changes to the style.
This being said, I would try to follow the guidelines as much as possible. The rules generally have sound bases in terms of legibility, and at any rate it will not make your writing worse.
For example, I agree that starting sentences with "ANOVA is..." is bad style and I would stumble on every instance (is it a Germanism maybe?). But that doesn't mean you have to spell it out each time, actually you shouldn't do that. Just rephrase adding a determinant or changing the object.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: In general, before violating a rule (or even following it, ideally), understand why it's there. Many rules help good writing. But others don't, but good style guides tend to avoid those—say, "don't start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction, like and, yet or but" (like in this sentence).
<http://www.writingconsultants.com/Guberman%27s%20Grammar%20Myths.pdf>
I don't have my usage book with me and Google doesn't want to help me, but I'd think abbreviations, especially obscure, especially hard-to-pronounce ones (unlike ANOVA) make it harder to even start reading a sentence. Papers are hard enough to read otherwise. Imagine reading, dunno,
>
> C18H21NO3 helps patients to overcome syndroms such as...
>
>
>
I made this example up on the spot so it's not great, but hopefully helps.
Indeed, the Chicago Manual of Style is fine with acronyms like ANOVA.
<http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Abbreviations/faq0032.html>
Upvotes: 0
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2017/01/01
| 2,982
| 11,812
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a math postdoc, currently working on some conjecture. To avoid going into details, let's formulate it as follows: "every runcible doohickey is cromulent". A senior colleague told me last year that if I proved it, it would make for a "really nice paper" (that's her words).
Eight months ago, I found a partial proof: something like
>
> Theorem 1: Every runcible doohickey is cromulent, *unless* it is in one of the families A\_n, D\_{2n+1} or E\_6 (informally, this accounts for "less than half" of all possible families) *and* is larger than some minimum size.
>
>
>
(if you want details, the paper is here: <https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.03833>). I wrote it up and submitted it, to Journal A (a good but not top journal). It is currently still under review.
A few days ago, I finally completed the proof of
>
> Theorem 2: Every runcible doohickey is cromulent.
>
>
>
(the paper is here: <https://arxiv.org/abs/1612.08942>). Following the suggestion of my colleague, I would like to try my chance and send it to Journal B (a top journal).
The problem is that the proof of Theorem 2 is really similar to the proof of Theorem 1; a lot of passages in the former are almost verbatim copies from the latter. (Of course I always disclose when it happens). There are still some significant differences:
* the definition of the central object of the paper had to be changed, adding a significant layer of complexity;
* a lot of intermediate proofs and definitions no longer worked, and had to be either considerably expanded or completely rewritten;
* paper 2 is generally cleaner and better-organized than paper 1 (despite the additional complexity);
* in paper 2, I proved an intermediate result that was not present in paper 1, and that maybe has some value on its own (though a colleague told me that in her opinion, it was just a trivial consequence of some results proved by our PhD advisor).
The issue becomes even more serious if you look at it backwards. Should paper 2 somehow get published *before* paper 1 (which is not completely ruled out given the vagaries of peer review in math), it would make paper 1 totally worthless, as almost every statement from paper 1 can be obtained as a particular case of a corresponding statement from paper 2.
(My feeling is that in an ideal world, paper 1 should have never been published. However I was in a rush to get published in time for job interviews, and I had no idea how long it would take me to get to Theorem 2.)
A few questions:
* Do you think there is any chance that, if the reviewer of paper 1 learns about Theorem 2, they will reject it, saying "this paper is not interesting, as it is just a particular case of Theorem 2"?
* Do you think it is likely that the presence of paper 1 will prevent paper 2 from being accepted by Journal B (which has high standards)?
* Should I go as far as to retract paper 1 before submitting paper 2? (However the reviewers of paper 1 probably wouldn't be too happy about this!)
* I am also considering the following course of action: submit paper 2 to journal B, and suggest that they talk to the editors of journal A and that they assign to paper 2 the same reviewers as for paper 1 (if they are so inclined). Is it acceptable to do such a thing? I see two reasons for doing so:
+ The altruistic reason is to avoid wasting the reviewers' time. Both papers are quite long (73 pages for paper A and 89 pages for paper B), and someone who has already read A would have a MUCH easier time understanding B.
+ The selfish reason is that it could speed up the review process (and help the paper get published in time for job deadlines).
Any other advice about what to do in this situation is welcome! My main preoccupation is to maximize my chances for getting a job; the relevant deadlines for publication acceptance are roughly March 2017 and March 2018. So far I have only two publications, both in medium to good (but not top) journals. I would especially appreciate answers from mathematicians, as I have the impression that standard practices differ significantly from field to field.
---
EDIT: my judgments about journal rankings were initially maybe too harsh (see comments below <NAME>'s answer). I did this mostly out of modesty, as I looked at it from my perspective and from the perspective of my potential employers; however I forgot to consider the perspective of the editors or reviewers of the *journals* themselves. I apologize for this little blunder; I corrected it.<issue_comment>username_1: This is a great question, and one that I (and probably most mathematicians) feel sympathetic to. In most projects I've worked on, there is some tension concerning the issue of when to cut it off and call it a paper. Sometimes there is a lot of tension. (At least your papers are singly authored. When you are dealing with collaborators, most likely *everyone* feels that tension, but the forces imparted on the various coauthors are rarely identical and are sometimes all but antithetical.)
The first thing that I want to say is: take a breath and realize that it shouldn't matter too much in the cosmic scheme of things. This kind of thing is exactly why recommendation letters play such a large role in hiring decisions. You definitely want to get letters from people who will attest that you have proved the "Full Cromulence Theorem" rather than just the "Partial Cromulence Theorem". The more eminent your recommenders, the more trust you will be extended and the less pressure you have to "show your hand" at any point in time. But since you already have complete preprints available, in a purely mathematical sense you're done: you've proved the Full Cromulence Theorem and people will take that into account.
The second thing I want to say is: I strongly recommend that you talk to mentors and/or senior people in your field, including your thesis advisor and postdoctoral supervisor.
Okay, but since you asked: I don't think there's one clearly best way to proceed, and I think that you are choosing between things that everyone would regard as reasonable. You could absolutely withdraw the first paper from Journal A and submit the second paper to Journal B, explaining to both journals why you've done so. Then it's a good shot that they will get in touch with the referees of the first paper. Or you could do the same thing but not withdrawing from Journal A: it is not at all your fault that some months later you proved a better result. Finally, you could ask to replace your older submission to Journal A with your newer submission. But it sounds like by doing so you feel that you would be selling yourself short, which I find very reasonable.
To address your specific questions:
>
> Do you think there is any chance that, if the reviewer of paper 1 learns about Theorem 2, they will reject it, saying "this paper is not interesting, as it is just a particular case of Theorem 2"?
>
>
>
Anything can happen, but that would be a distressingly poor thing for the reviewer to say, given that s/he has already had the first paper for many months. I wouldn't worry about it.
>
> Do you think it is likely that the presence of paper 1 will prevent paper 2 from being accepted by Journal B (which has high standards)?
>
>
>
This is a bit more likely, but I think the fact that paper 1 has not yet appeared works for you here. If paper 1 appears in Journal A, then in the minds of some referees and editors it could "put a lower selling price" on the Full Cromulence Theorem: someone can say that the real breakthrough occurred in the proof of the Partial Cromulence Theorem, and even that was only worthy of publication in Journal A, so the new mathematics added in attaining Full Cromulence is not worthy of Journal B. That sounds bad, and it is bad, but look: excellent journals can reject papers by making rather harsh decisions about their value. They do so all the time, and moreover *they have to do so*. It would be more worth your time to convince the community of the value of the Full Cromulence Theorem than by worrying about what the journals might do.
In fact it could also go the other way: if your community does not know what to make of cromulence theorems for doohickeys, then Journal B, upon receiving an 89 page paper on the topic, could say "The author is working way too hard -- and taking up way too much space -- to prove something of uncertain value. We're not sure that anyone cares about results of this kind." Well, if you publish a *partial* cromulence theorem in a mid-tier journal, then the community is clamoring for cromulence theorems. Just imagine how much more valuable a *full* cromulence theorem could be.
So you can't know. Prove the best theorems you can, promote them as best you can, and try not to lose sleep over whether your promotional campaign was the right one.
>
> Should I go as far as to retract paper 1 before submitting paper 2? (However the reviewers of paper 1 probably wouldn't be too happy about this!)
>
>
>
As I said, you certainly could. If you do, you should explain why, and give the editors a chance to enlist the same reviewers for paper 2. But fundamentally it's your work, and you can do what you want with it, including withdrawing it. (By the way, I think it is not clear that the reviewers wouldn't be too happy about it. It is unfortunately possible that they spent very little of the eight months reading over your 73 page paper, in which case they could be quite relieved to have it off their plate.) I would say though that rather than definitively withdrawing the paper, it seems better to explain the situation to the editor and *suggest* withdrawal. At that point the editor may want to contact the reviewers, and if they are mostly finished the job and like the paper, then that may end up expediting the publication process.
Good luck, and congratulations again on proving that *every* runcible doohickey is cromulent. Full cromulence! I hope you are proud.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: >
> Any other advice about what to do in this situation is welcome!
>
>
>
Well, you are in pretty good company -- the best, in fact -- for proving X soon after proving X minus epsilon. <NAME> [published the main ideas for the special theory of relativity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_special_relativity) in his famous paper *On the electrodynamics of moving bodies* dated June 30, 1905... *except* that the theory was incomplete, since he had not realized its implications for mass-energy equivalence - the famous equation E=mc2, which nowadays everyone agrees is a crucial part of the theory. So he published that part soon afterwards in a second paper, *Does the inertia of a body depend on its energy content?*, dated September 27, 1905.
Oh well, progress in science is just messy I guess. Einstein managed to get a job based on his Annus Mirabilis papers, though I seem to recall that it took him a few years.
As for what to do, <NAME>'s answer is just cromulent.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Is the Partial Cromulence Theorem considerably easier to use and/or understand than the Full Cromulence Theorem? Does it cover a large fraction of the potentially useful applications? (Your "X-plus-epsilon" phrasing implies that this is indeed the case.) If so, then I would argue that both papers have value, just to different audiences.
If I don't need the awesomely frobingent power of the FCT in order to demonstrate that my runcible minacule is both bracticating *and* cromulent, I may well be perfectly delighted to have the PCT available for direct citation, allowing me to use it with far less comment and/or explanation than if I had to invoke the FCT in its entirety.
Upvotes: 3
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2017/01/02
| 1,407
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently thinking about getting a masters degree and many of the schools I look for require 3 reference letters from professors that has taught me.
Unfortunately, I've never really invested in building personal relationships with my professors and though I am quite confident with my ability, my abilities weren't "amazing" to the point where the professor would notice me personally.
Furthermore, I've already graduated and worked for more than a year, hence I don't believe any of my previous professors retain much memory of me.
In such a situation, how would I go about getting 1 (let alone multiple) reference letters from previous professors?
Related: [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/49763/how-can-i-obtain-an-academic-reference-if-i-have-been-out-of-college-for-a-very?rq=1), [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/48714/how-to-get-academic-reference-for-grad-school-admission-if-i-didnt-interact-wit?rq=1), [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/76985/i-was-not-the-best-of-the-students-how-to-ask-for-a-recommendation-letter?rq=1)<issue_comment>username_1: Unfortunately you've left yourself in a tight spot. This is actually one of the biggest pieces of advice I give to undergrads: if you're thinking of grad school, build relationships with professors. Even to the point of skipping a class you would prefer more in order to take another (still-relevant) class with a professor you're trying to build a relationship with.
Now that you're here however, I don't think you're in an impossible-to-salvage situation:
* First off, see if any of your letters of recommendation can come from non-academic sources. In my experience it's not uncommon for schools to want, say, two of three to be professors and would take a third one from your current boss (assuming your job is in any way relevant to what you want to study). That would get you a third of the way there.
* Secondly, begin with any professors you took more than one class with - that sort of thing tends to stand out unless they're huge sections with too many students to notice them all. Seeing your name on papers and grades twice may have cemented you in their mind enough that a gentle reminder will get you there.
* Third, turn to any professors you did particularly well with, or had very small classes with. Did you have a project and presentation that might have made you stand out?
* Fourth, look for professors whose classes are particularly relevant to your desired area of study. It may not help you much with being recognized, but the fact that your program fits their interests so well might inspire them to dig a little deeper.
* And finally, if at all possible, go visit your professors in person to ask. They may be more likely to remember you if they have both your face and name to go with your request. If you have to do it over email, include some details to help them out; tell them exactly what class you took with them and when, maybe include a link to your Linkedin page or webpage so they can go see your picture if they want, etc.
However you end up doing it, simply explain that you weren't originally planning on grad school and have been in industry for a year, but now you really want to further your studies. Most professors will be inclined to help you out as much as they can, or at worst they should be willing to tell you if they don't think they can write you a good letter, giving you a chance to ask someone else.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Professors are there to help. You may not need to stand out in their mind as long as you can remind them of your progress in their courses. Just be sure to focus on your achievements in their course and point out the helpfulness their teachings provided. If possible, show them some old coursework that they gave you good grades on. This would remind them that they were happy with you in the past.
Also, I imagine you were required to do an internship and/or special project at some point. These usually require you to meet one on one with a professor/mentor throughout the project. They would be my first choice for the letter whether I was close or not.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: As has already been stated, you may be able to use a letter from a supervisor at your job (check the application instructions, or ask); and when you contact an instructor, share some work you did in the class.
In addition:
* send an unofficial transcript to the instructor when you reach out.
* if it's difficult for you to get to the person's office, that's okay, a phone conversation can still give you the personal touch. If you think it might help, you could send a photograph.
* Make sure you ask in such a way that you'll be able to pick up on code language in the person's response (e.g. "You'd really be better off asking someone else" is a red flag; if you're not sure how to interpret a response of this type, it's okay to ask if you should be taking that as an indication that the person wouldn't be able to write a very helpful letter).
* The key is to find someone enthusiastic and upbeat, who gives you the vibes s/he wants to support your dream by emphasizing the positive, can make a well-written letter, and will keep to the timeline. Be alert to the instructor possibly wanting you to send an outline of your strengths, to make the letter writing process easier.
* If you have any trouble, try the director of undergraduate studies, and explain to him or her what you explained to us.
* It may be a worthwhile investment for the future to take a class you're interested in, in spring semester, making a point to get to know the instructor.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/01/02
| 723
| 3,202
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<issue_start>username_0: I am about to end PhD within next 5-6 months. The PhD program I am enrolled in is different compare to normal universities PhD programs. During first 2 years I took course work from a regular university as an exchange student and afterword I start working in a research institutes whose prime target is to develop projects for the local and international industries. Luckily or unluckily I am in the section where we deal with various small scale projects; during my 2.5 years of stay I worked on 6 different projects. These projects address totally different issues and topics are independent to each other. Therefore I didn’t get chance to focus on a single topic which can be my PhD thesis.
As a first author I have published 5 SCI articles including two in top notch journals but all of the articles are not related to each other. In the given situation I am unable to write a good dissertation. I have just 4 months left to fine tune my thesis. After PhD I want to get an academics position but I am bit worrying about my profile.
* Is it something positive to have the articles published in different
areas which have no link to each other?
* How much PhD thesis is important for evaluation process?
* As I was working closely with the researchers who mostly focus on standardization and patent activities, none of them has a single SCI publication after graduation even my supervisor had 2 publications around 15 years ago. I am worrying whether the recommendation letter of my supervisor and team leader will be acceptable and effective for the academic position?<issue_comment>username_1: If your first round of applications are not successful, you could build up a more focused publication list through one or more postdocs. You may also want to consider getting your feet wet with teaching by working as an adjunct instructor for a semester or two.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Actually, this is a question for your university, you are enrolled to. If they offer "industrial" PhD program, they should explain the criteria for "good" PhD thesis. It is entirely possible that 5 SCI papers are plenty, given the orientation of the program.
If, on the other hand, you are worried about your future career after PhD, yes, there is reason for concern. You enrolled in a program that fits people who want to get employment in the industry, not in the academia. In my opinion it is not the question of what your CV or PhD thesis says, the question is whether you learned enough of the basic research stuff you will need as an academic scientist (as opposed to the industrial developer).
If I would be faced with a candidate like you, I would be very interested in the content of those 5 SCI papers and would like to know which parts of the research were exactly your responsibility. If you implemented a solution, but someone other did rigorous experimental evaluation on all papers, then I would consider you less qualified than someone who did the experimental evaluation part as well (which is usually the case with first authors on journal papers, written in academia).
The unrelated subjects on the other hand would not be a disadvantage.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/01/02
| 1,409
| 5,949
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a postdoctoral researcher. My professor recently asked me to co-supervise one of her doctoral students, whom she also employed full-time as a research scientist. Since I had no prior experience advising at the doctoral level, I gladly accepted. Unfortunately, the guy turned out to be a phenomenally poor researcher. He was habitually late for work, took absences without leave, lacked subject-matter knowledge that we expect even of undergraduate students, and had extremely poor oral and written communication skills. I worked my best to help him, and we even managed to get a paper published (though I had to completely rewrite his draft, many parts of which were completely nonsensical or even plagiarised). However, his bad work habits continued, and despite my tutelage he remained unwilling or unable to fill the gaps in his knowledge. After about six months of my co-supervision, my professor decided to dismiss him from the doctoral programme and from employment.
I'm currently seeking employment, including tenure-track positions. My question is whether and how I should list this failed student on my CV. On the one hand, I think it would be helpful to show that I have at least some experience advising at the doctoral level. But I don't want it to reflect poorly on me that the only such experience I had was ultimately a failure. Should I list him or not? And if so, what explanation, if any, should I include in the CV as to why the supervision didn't continue past six months?<issue_comment>username_1: This could be a great opportunity to show off your people and managing skills.
You had to balance all kinds of priorities. Your own project, his project, teaching him something, letting him figure things out himself. Then, as he showed to be weak, you had to balance letting him fail and getting a publication out of it despite his incompetence. I assume he wasn't booted from the program without notice, so you can tell that while you were taking steps to get him out you also kept a good working relationship, resulting in a paper. Your guidance resulted in some (good) results from a weak student. It also showed that you can work with people that are obviously not pulling their own weight, and that you are strong enough to fail students when they're not up to par.
I'd say this is probably a really nice starting point to tell a lot of stories in your CV or during an interview. "Guided failing phd student, still got a paper out of it" sounds good to me.
To write this in CV-speak you could do something like (apparently also already suggested in a comment):
"co-supervised a phd student for 6 months resulting in one publication"
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: One thing to keep in mind is that tenure-track faculty generally do not list failed PhD students on their CVs. One might argue that they should actually, since -- unlike a non-academic *resume* -- a CV is supposed to be a factual, comprehensive record of one's academic career, but nevertheless academic culture doesn't cut this way.
The next thing I will say is that in my experience at least, "co-advisor" refers to a member of a group of more than one faculty member -- usually, though not absolutely always, *tenure-track* faculty members -- who jointly share the role of advising. You seem to be using the term as a kind of "lieutenant advisor," but that could be misunderstood. When the student's other advisor is *your* PI, it is likely that your advising duties are less official and more subsidiary. In particular, you write "[M]y professor decided to dismiss him from the doctoral programme and from employment," not *we decided*...Nor did you hire the student, fund him and so forth. However, from the sound of it, you played a large *intellectual* role in supervising the student.
So: I would not recommend you put a line on your cv which says "co-supervised a PhD student." If potential employers are interested in that, they are likely to ask you about it, and when they find out that the student didn't graduate, I think that sounds bad...in particular, it sounds not completely forthcoming. On the other hand, "co-supervised a PhD student who did not finish [or however you want to put it]" also sounds bad, as I mentioned above.
I would suggest instead that you put a line on your CV saying that you **mentored a PhD student** and that mentoring relationship resulted in a joint paper. That's a *successful mentoring relationship*. The student was not ultimately successful in the PhD program, but I claim that you're not on the hook for that: you didn't hire him and you didn't fire him. If they ask for more information about the PhD student, you should of course be completely forthcoming about the fact that he was dismissed after six months, as well as all the help you gave him. If/when this additional information comes to light, it does not undermine what you said before in any way. Since you are not claiming the PhD student as your own, his fate is not your responsibility (which is true!), and so your involvement in the situation looks (and was, based on your description) entirely positive.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: A disadvantage of mentioning it in your CV would be that if you do, chances are good that there would be some amount of follow-up conversation about it in the interview. But who wants to talk about six months of frustration and an unhappy final outcome in an interview? What a downer. Better to focus on the positive in the interview.
The advantages of mentioning it do not seem to me to outweigh the disadvantages, since the paper that came out of it will appear elsewhere in your CV, and since the paper was mostly, or entirely, your work anyway.
*The turtle writes some of her memories on the rocks on the beach, to remember forever. Others, she writes on the sand, for the tide to wash gradually away.* This sounds like one for the sand.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/01/02
| 615
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<issue_start>username_0: What does "Associate Faculty" mean, as used for example in [this job advert](http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/about/careers/positions/faculty-and-associate-faculty-positions?cm_mid=6392519&cm_crmid=30a52430-b325-e211-91d5-005056800012&cm_medium=email) headlined
>
> FACULTY AND ASSOCIATE FACULTY POSITIONS
>
>
>
and [this brochure](http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/sites/perimeter-uat.pi.local/files/page/attachments/research_opportunities_2011_0.pdf) from the Perimeter Institute in Canada:
>
> In just 11 years since the Institute’s inception, PI has grown to
> include:
> - 16 full-time Faculty
> - 15 Associate Faculty
>
>
>
Given the adjective 'full time' above, perhaps 'Associate' just means 'part-time', but I've never heard that usage before.<issue_comment>username_1: This usage of "Associate Faculty" may be fairly unique to the Perimeter Institute. They have a number of faculty with joint appointments at Canadian universities, who typically alternate between semesters with the usual teaching duties at the university and semesters at PI with no responsibilities except for research.
There is a list of such faculty [here](http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/people/associate-faculty); you can see that they all have an additional affiliation outside of PI.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The Perimeter Institute may have its own idiosyncratic usage, but **generically** "Affiliate" and "Associate" faculty refer to faculty who have separate home departments (or universities) where their [FTE](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/82580/what-is-an-fte-and-what-are-its-variations) line resides.
To give an example: many smaller programs such as Ethnic Studies or LGBT studies may have only one or zero FTE lines, and only consist of associate or affiliate faculty. These faculty might have their home departments in English or Sociology. From an institutional perspective, they are effectively volunteering their time into these other programs.
Upvotes: 3
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2017/01/02
| 396
| 1,700
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently applying to graduate school and trying to gather some solid letters of recommendation.
During my undergraduate studies, I worked in a research lab and while I didn't get that close with the professor, I decided to take a shot and ask her for a letter of recommendation. I sent an email two weeks ago and she has not responded. How long should I wait before emailing again? How do I ask again without being pushy? My fear is that she barely remembers me and this is her way of saying no. Should I just ask someone else?<issue_comment>username_1: You can certainly send a reminder. But keep in mind that universities in many countries take a break of several weeks this time of year. Do not be surprised if you don't get a response until after the start of the new term.
It's not likely that the professor is intentionally ignoring your request as a way of refusing it. That would be very unprofessional.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Professors receive many requests for recommendations. Speaking for myself, I appreciate reminders because it lessens the organizational burden of keeping track of everything.
As a rough guideline I would wait 2 weeks between requests (so, go ahead and try again now). Just be polite and re-send the request with a note to the effect that you know she is busy, so you are re-sending your request.
I would also add that if you aren't close with this professor it may be hard for her to remember enough about you to write a strong letter in support of your application. To remedy this, it would be helpful if you also reminded the professor about what you did for her/in her lab when you contact her again.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/01/02
| 1,133
| 4,639
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<issue_start>username_0: Currently working on my master's thesis, I know that I have to consider that I am writing for an appropriate audience, that is, I write for people who have at least a bachelor's degree in my field (mathematics).
However, I need to use standard results that one learns in third year (in my institution, at least). In particular, these results can be found in any "basic" textbook in the field my work is lying in.
I face a particular dilemma: either just citing the name of the theorem when I use it in the main work without giving any reference, or rewriting the theorem in the Appendix for the reader's convenience (with appropriate reference to a "basic" textbook).
Of course, my supervisors will know these results, but my peers may not remember them and a master's thesis is often expected to be self-contained. I don't expect many people to read my work, of course, but still, I want it to be as "perfect" as possible.
[This question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/82380/is-it-acceptable-to-cite-a-textbook-for-basic-background-in-a-masters-thesis) is related but it seems the OP is speaking about a basic theoretical concept they would briefly discuss in the main work. Precisely, it would not belong in the appendix, which makes the question different as I am not discussing these basic results: I just use them.
**Question:** is it acceptable to rewrite classical, basic results in the appendix section of a master's thesis and citing basic reference works about these results for the reader's convenience and/or for the work to be as self-contained as possible?
I shall of course ask this question to my advisor but I wanted to have different advices from professionals on this.<issue_comment>username_1: My answer is very similar to the one I gave to the question I linked to in a comment: There is usually no reason not to include something in a thesis. Your thesis is a place for you to give a coherent account related to your work on a topic. There are (usually) no page restrictions, and it should serve as a reference document for future readers.
Many theses include a lot of review material, beyond just what might be contained in a literature survey. A thesis has to contain new material, of course, but it does not all need to be novel, and there can be a lot of merit in giving detailed explanations of known results, if the readers are not necessarily going to be familiar with them in detail.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: If you're just going to repeat the statement of the theorem for the reader's convenience, then I would just include it in the text at the point where it is used. I wouldn't send the reader to the appendix, unless the statement is exceptionally long (say a page).
If you decide you want to include a *proof* of the theorem, then I would put the proof in the appendix (and repeat the statement of the theorem there as well). This is not too unusual in a master's thesis, if you feel it would be a good exercise for yourself to prove the theorem. But it should be *your* proof; don't just copy a textbook proof verbatim.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: You are looking for a decision between two alternatives - to cite you:
1. just citing the name of the theorem when I use it in the main work without giving any reference, or
2. rewriting the theorem in the Appendix for the reader's convenience (with appropriate reference to a "basic" textbook).
I'd go with alternative number 3:
3. give the theorem, along with a reference that allows the interested reader to follow up - that is, something like "(Foobar, 2016, Theorem 3.14)".
It makes sense to give this information, especially for propositions that non-experts may not know immediately. Conversely, I don't see the point of rewriting a theorem and its proof in an appendix. If you are too literal in copying, you are close to plagiarizing (unless you clarify that you are copying something verbatim - but then, why do this?), and if you reformulate, you run the risk of introducing errors of your own. Better to rely on standard textbooks.
Yes, a thesis should be self-contained, but of course it never is, and if you use a result from a standard textbook, then this should be easily available to any interested reader.
Of course, if you need to refer to more obscure material, possibly in a foreign language, or if you need to discuss the referenced result in some way, perhaps to point out an error in a proof, then it makes sense to devote more space to it. In an appendix, if the discussed material is not really germane to your main topic.
Upvotes: 3
|
2017/01/03
| 663
| 2,679
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<issue_start>username_0: This question is mainly about the perceived prestige of various events at conferences. Is there a hierarchy to it? Asking this in the perspective of being the presenter. Another way of putting it would be is "10 oral papers on my resume better" or "3 oral, 3 posters, 3 workshops, 1 tutorial on my resume better".
1. Oral
2. Posters
3. Workshops
4. Tutorials
5. etc.
A detailed post regarding which is the most prestigious and why would be appreciated.
Example conferences:
1. [Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR)](http://cvpr2017.thecvf.com/)
2. [International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)](http://www.iclr.cc/)
3. [Association of the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)](http://www.aaai.org)
4. [International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)](http://www.icml.cc)<issue_comment>username_1: I am going to give you a partial answer, waiting for a more complete explanation of your question. The highest prestige is in giving an opening or closing speech at a plenary session in a big conference. Then the same kind of talk at a secondary conference. Then a oral presentation at a parallel session in big confernence in your field, followed by oral/parallel/small. Poster in my opinion comes after all of this. Not sure what you mean by workshop, and tutorial. If you are the one leading the workshop, giving the tutorial, it's a big thing. If you are just attending, then it counts as training yourself, not educating others.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: **0. Invited/plenary talk at the main conference**
**1. Paper in the main proceedings with an oral presentation**
**2. Paper in the main proceedings with a poster presentation**
**3. Everything else**
---
Having a paper in the primary conference proceedings is more prestigious than not having a paper in the primary conference proceedings. If I understand how CVPR, ICML, and the like work, that means (oral presentations and posters) are more prestigious than (workshop, tutorial, or other).
Only a small number of CVPR/ICML/etc papers are accepted for oral presentation, so having a paper with an oral presentation is more prestigious than having a paper with a poster presentation.
Workshops and tutorials are apples and oranges. A workshop presentation is more likely to be associated with your own original research (if only in preliminary form). On the other hand, a tutorial presentation is a significant community service, and being invited to give a tutorial is a mark of community standing. I would rank tutorials slightly ahead of workshop papers, but I'm sure not everyone would agree with me.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2017/01/03
| 5,611
| 23,570
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<issue_start>username_0: Oral exams can have [various pedagogical benefits](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/82651/11365) in certain circumstances, but can also make some students feel anxious. After watching several students nervous-sweat their way through such an exam, I'm looking for ways to help them.
How can an instructor help students relax and feel less nervous during an oral exam?<issue_comment>username_1: A few assorted suggestions that come to mind:
* Having a good, supportive relationship with the student prior to the exam will make a huge difference. If the student knows you as someone who will make an effort to listen and understand rather than make snap judgements, they will be encouraged to be more forthcoming.
* Try to hold the examination in a situation that is familiar to the student. E.g. it could be held in the same office where they have attended tutorials or office hours in the past.
* Related to this, a mock exam could be very helpful if it is feasible (though I realise with large numbers of students this could be impractical). Anything that makes the exam seem routine, rather than unusual, will be of benefit.
* Build plenty of slack into your timetable. There's nothing worse than waiting outside an exam room for ages for building up nerves.
* Start with an easy question. This allows the student to build their confidence and gets them talking.
* If you need to make notes during the exam on the student's performance, practice doing this while looking at your notebook as little as possible. It can be distracting for the student if the examiner rarely makes eye contact, and lots of scribbling draws their attention to the fact that they are under close scrutiny. It is very unsettling if the student gives an answer which is met with silence and lots of writing, they are bound to try and second-guess what the examiner is writing about them. Ideally, record the exam and mark it later, though again, this has disadvantages in terms of the time required.
* If you feel it is appropriate, remind the students that they don't have to answer right away. If you ask a tough question and the student looks panicked, it is worth explicitly stating "you can have a minute to think about this if you like".
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: The following assorted suggestions stem from standard procedure at my department, which has a long-lasting experience with oral exams, and positive experiences reported by fellow students suffering from anxiety.
* The exam begins with the student giving a brief elaboration of a topic of their choice (within the subject of the course). They can talk uninterrupted for a while, and then the exam gradually shifts to question-and-answer mode on this subtopic, probing whether the student actually understood what they are talking about. This has several advantages:
+ The student knows how the exam will begin and they can prepare the first few minutes. This avoids anxiety due to uncertainty.
+ The student is not dropped into interactive mode instantly, but gradually.
+ The student knows which topic will be examined first, they can prepare for this, which boosts confidence.
+ Not related to the question, it allows the examiner to estimate how well the student can structure the chosen topic (which usually goes hand in hand with understanding) and put it into the context of the course’s subject.
* Do not ask questions that require long and elaborate answers, but go step-by-step, guiding the student if necessary, but only if necessary (so they have room to shine). For example, do not ask:
>
> Please tell me about [central result of course].
>
>
>
Instead ask a chain of questions, allowing the student to answer each of them, and adapt them depending on mistakes the student makes or similar. For example, the questions could be as follows:
>
> What does [central result of course] state?
>
>
> Why is it so important?
>
>
> Under which conditions does [central result] hold?
>
>
> Why is [some necessary condition] necessary?
>
>
> Why does [some sufficient condition] suffice for [central result]?
>
>
>
In a typical case, these questions are raising in difficulty with the first questions being something that every serious candidate should be able to answer without much thinking. This allows the student to get some confidence and get tuned to the topic before the questions become more difficult. Also, this avoids the impression of time pressure and the student knowing that they have to get to that bit which they are not confident about, even if they can score by explaining a lot of basics before that.
* If you ask questions where the student shall apply their knowledge and which require some thinking time, do this after they succeeded with some simpler tasks and announce that this is a advanced task and that they have some time to think. This avoids fear of failure and gives an extra boost of confidence if they succeed.
* Give positive feedback whenever you can. This does not mean that you should be drowning the student in praise, but rather avoid fuelling their anxieties by forgetting to let them know that they are correct when they are.
* If the student makes a mistake in their elaborations, let the student finish first, assert what was correct and then remark or possibly ask about the mistake. For example, if the student is elaborating on some equation and made a sign flip, do not remark upon it right away, but let the student finish. Then praise what was correct and ask them to elaborate their reasoning for that sign again. This has the following advantages:
+ It doesn’t break the student’s flow by interrupting their elaborations and lowering their confidence due to the mistake.
+ It gives the student an opportunity to detect the mistake themselves, e.g., by detecting it due to a follow-up problem.
* Announce the examination mode beforehand as much as reasonable, to reduce any uncertainty due to an unknown situation as far as possible.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I would like to add to the other excellent answers, by saying that anxiety is often precipitated by a perceived lack of control, therefore if you wish to help calm students' nerves, you need to let them feel that they have some degree of control over the exam.
There are a few ways you can go about this (and no doubt there are more, depending on the specific situation):
* Inform the students of the date and venue of the exam as far in advance as possible, to allow them plenty of time to prepare. If the room is free a few days beforehand, encourage them to use it to practice asking and answering questions with each other, to allow them to get used to the environment.
* If possible, show the students the mark scheme you will be using before the exam.
* Allow the students to choose their own time slot for the exam. Some may prefer to get it over and done with in the morning, others would rather have their slot later in the day. I would suggest using a tool like [Doodle](http://doodle.com/) to make scheduling this kind of thing easier.
* Explain to the students *why* you have chosen to set them an oral exam and why you feel it is beneficial for their learning.
* During the exam itself, sit facing the student if you can, without a desk in between you. This will help them to feel more like they are having a conversation and less like they are being examined.
Finally, related to [what @username_1 says in their penultimate point](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/82591/how-to-help-reduce-students-anxiety-in-an-oral-exam/82595#82595), the student taking the exam will pick up on your body language. If you are closed, serious, unfriendly, etc., it will only increase their nerves. Remember to be friendly; smile, give encouragement and open the conversation with something basic.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Here are my tips (some of them present in other answers already). I divided them into tips that you can apply in advance and which help all students, and tips you can apply during the exam if you notice that the nervousness hinders the performance of the student.
* For **all students**:
1. Use a part of a lecture to **show how an oral exam can look like and feel like**. This is something different from telling how an oral exam goes! Really show what you are going to do in the exam, e.g. put a paper/slide under a projector and write down a question exactly the same way you would write it down in the exam. Then discuss what possible reactions of a student could be, what would be a good answer, what one could do if one does not know the answer (e.g. asking for clarification, asking if one understood the question correctly…). Show how an answer of a student may lead to a follow up question.
2. Announce a fixed **a first question** of a **set of first questions** that you will definitely use. This way you can ensure that proper preparation by the student will lead to a good start of the exam.
3. Start the exam with some **small talk** just to get the student into "talking mode".
4. **Explain what the purpose of the oral exam is**; stress that it is not to judge the students, but to "examine their progress". I sometimes announce something like "The exam is more like a conversation about the topic in which I try to assess how much you learned".
5. May sound silly, but if your university allows: **Allow students to use their own equipments (pens and paper).** In fact some students are more comfortable writing with their own pen.
* For **students with special problems with nervousness**: This is more difficult because people can react differently to different things - what helps for some group may not help for another. So you need to develop a sense for this… But here goes:
1. **Give time to think or calm down**. I had exams where students sat quiet for minutes (I looked at the watch) but then came up with an answer. It is not always helpful to try to rephrase the question when the student does not response. I would say that giving more time at first is usually better than rephrasing the question if you sense that the student is indeed very nervous. Don't forget to say "take your time".
2. In contrast to the previous tip: **Make the question simpler**. If you do so, add that you make the question simpler just to make is easier for the student to say something, and that this does not necessarily implies that the students performance was not good (up to now). Be careful with this because there are many students who will not be calmed by this approach but get *more* nervous (thinking "Oh no, I could not answer th first question and now the examiner thinks I am stupid.").
3. Ask if some the **student understood the question**. Sometimes it is just that…
4. **Acknowledge the nervousness** and try to convex that this is both normal and not necessarily a bad thing. Say "You seem to be very nervous. This is quite normal in your situation." Indeed, some people perform well although they appear very nervous.
5. Ask the student if he or she has **a favorite topic or even a favorite question** and jump to that topic or even ask this very question. This may sound unfair, but it really is a way to get the student back to working mode again - if the student is up and running again, you can go back to the normal exam.
6. **Have a short break.** Say "Let's make a short break so you can take a few deep breaths." Sometimes an announced break of just 30 seconds works like a charm (sometimes don't).
7. Make students aware that there is **professional help** available for extreme cases. My university has something like "psychological counseling" and, whenever it happens that some student tells me they have extreme anxiety for oral exams I mention this possibility, adding that "they are there to help" and that I know of cases where professional counseling worked like a charm.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: >
> Oral exams can have various pedagogical benefits in certain
> circumstances
>
>
>
First, I would make this statement stronger: for many reasons, I consider oral exams an invaluable tool in teaching, and I require them whenever the size of the class is compatible with the time constraints set by the university exam schedule.
>
> but can also make some students feel anxious.
>
>
>
True, but I also think that this anxiety, if sufficiently controlled, can also have a positive effect on the student.
Here, I probably cannot add too much to the several excellent answers already given, but I would like to stress that one can, and possibly should, adapt the different strategies to the exam type and duration. I'll give a couple of examples from my experience. To better understand the context, a few country-specific remarks (I teach in Italy):
* Exams are public, and anyone can attend and listen to the exams. Even in case of scheduled oral exams, many students want to listen to their friends, classmates or simply listen to what kind of questions come up.
* We don't have university guidelines on how to run oral exams, and every professor has its own way: type, duration and evaluation can vary.
* As a student I took most of my oral exams at the blackboard, but nowadays we mostly sit at the desk with the student: it's definitely less stressful for them.
* I'm currently teaching in English to international students and the oral exam is in English, which is a second language for virtually all the students (and me, indeed), and this certainly adds stress.
Depending on the course, I can either divide the exam in a written part and an oral part or just have the oral exam (as I said, I rarely require written-only exams):
* In case of a two-part exam, the oral part has a duration of 20 to 40 minutes, with 2-3 questions, depending on the relative significance of the two parts. The oral exam usually follows the written part by a few days (the time needed to grade the written part), and the students can take the oral part only if the written part reaches a minimum threshold. The results of the two parts can be combined in various way, e.g., weighted average or increment/decrement. Passing the written part is by no means guarantee of passing the exam: the student can be failed at the oral part.
* In the case of an oral-only exam, the duration is usually 1 hour.
For a two-part exam, I usually start the exam in a soft way by discussing with the student the results of the written part: the student can read my comments, ask questions on the solution and can clarify its doubts. I can also use the written part as a starting point for the first question. In my experience, this is a good way to relieve a bit the stress.
For oral-only exams, whenever the course allows, I try to divide the oral exam in two times. In the first half, I ask the students to discuss a paper that they had to choose during the course; they can come with notes and use them during the discussion. It seems to me that students like this type of discussion -- as much as they can like an exam, of course -- and this helps to warm them up for the second half, which is more canonical and specific on the course content.
After warm-up, the exam continues with broad questions. Admittely, here, I don't follow [username_2's advice](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/82599/20058), "do not ask questions that require long and elaborate answers", but I think it's important for the students to learn how to arrange the presentation of longer arguments, with shorter time available with respect to lectures. Many students respond well to this kind of question, and if the student is able to present the argument without hesitation, I let them go on, and I interrupt them only to discuss critical points. If, instead, the student stops, I start suggesting how to divide the topic in smaller portions.
In the few occasions in which a student really panicked, to the point of not being able to speak, I suggest them to have a walk, go to the bar, speak with a friend and then come back to continue the exam if they feel ok. And I recall them [a few points about grades](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/31526/20058).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: Wonderful answers have been contributed.
There is one important aspect that I didn't see covered.
There should be multiple options designed around different people's learning styles. For example, I myself am a visual thinker, and have trouble processing spoken language. If you want to make me really nuts, write down a complex sequence of equations on the board, and then, before I've had a chance to copy them into my notes, stand in front of them while speaking about them.
I think for some people, it's helpful to hear an idea or a question, and seeing it doesn't have as good an effect. Some people are most comfortable talking while writing and drawing on the board. Some people need to set up a salt shaker and a pepper grinder, and move them around on a table while explaining a complex idea. Some people will be most comfortable talking while pacing or strolling around the room, or playing with some silly putty. Some will need to doodle while listening to the question. Some do best with some combination of styles.
It can be helpful to think about not just different modes of understanding, but also different modes of demonstrating what one has learned.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_7: Adding one point to the brilliant existing answers: it might be a good idea to point out to people who are inclined to become nervous during exams that an oral exam is in fact to their advantage. In a written exam it is almost impossible to distinguish nerves from incompetence. In an oral one, you notice how nervous the candidate is, and can help them overcome that. Furthermore, you can decide to attribute all their initial blunders to that nervousness, and not see them as proof of insufficient knowledge of the subject.
During the exam, you can acknowledge their nervousness in order to calm them. “I see you are very nervous, and making silly mistakes due to this. But I think (or even know?) you can do better than this. So stop worrying about the mistakes you made so far, take a calming breath and start from the beginning.” Obviously this should happen early in the exam, after a few minutes, so you don't loose too much time and you can benefit the most from the calmer situation. Just as sufficiently many silly mistakes have been noticed to warrant such a reaction. And “start from the beginning” can really mean that the student should present again all the valid answers they have given so far, in a calm and well-structured fashion and without the silly mistakes interfering. That way they will start by talking about stuff they already tackled, which should be a lot easier and therefore boost their confidence.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: I've done my undergraduate studies at a university where oral exams were the norm. Or rather, at the end of each course, it was first written, then oral.
The thing that helped me most was having questions in advance. As in, some professors would give us an enormous list of questions - essentially covering all the materials - and we knew we'd get a set of three at the exam.
At the exam itself, we would draw our questions while the previous person was still answering theirs, and we'd have time to compose some notes and think about what we want to say.
That is all.
Thinking back to the most stressful exam experiences, it was when the question (which I would get on the spot) contained wording that was different from what was used in the textbooks. And then I didn't know if it's something I missed and don't know at all, or if it's simply a synonym... I didn't know if showing my ignorance would lead to a fail or not. Thinking back, both times this happened it was with professors who were known to pose trick questions, and who failed students easily. So clarity of communication is vital, as is an openness to figuring things out on the spot. (I would start out broadly and watch for subtle cues from the professor and then eventually figure out the right direction, but I still find the memory distinctly unpleasant.)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: Here is a method for extreme cases, that I actually witnessed being used.
At my school, there was one young lady who was absolutely one hundred percent incapable of answering any question in any verbal exam. She would just freeze, and there was nothing she could do about that. Since there was one oral examination that had to be taken as part of the final school exams, nobody had a clue how she was supposed to ever pass. (Apart from this quirk she was absolutely fine and doing quite well at school).
As her exam time approached, she sat outside the exam room waiting for the previous student to finish and to be called in. Some teacher sat down besides her and asked her if she had been preparing well, whether she had looked at this part of the subject, and that part, and they just talked about her preparation and what she had been learning for about 20 minutes. Then he asked her if she was worried about the oral exam, she said yes, very much so, and he told her that there was no need to worry, because she had just passed.
So one method to calm a student's anxiety: Don't tell them they are in an exam.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_10: Some excellent answers already. One thing that I always do when giving oral exams is to explicitly tell the student that it can be fine to say "I don't know".
Before I ask my first question, I tell the student that we are trying to find out how much they know, and the only way to do that is to find out where the limits of their knowledge are, and so we will almost certainly be asking questions they don't know the answers to.
Especially for graduate students, who may be used to being the top student in all their courses, saying "I don't know" can be very stressful, and I feel that reassuring them about it can be helpful.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: Another suggestion:
**Have additional, earlier, oral exams which count less (or not at all)**
Nothing reduces anxiety like controlled exposure. So, if, say, the final exam is an oral one, or part of it is oral - have an oral part of the mid-term exam, which counts for a smaller number of points and is easier. Or have the TAs arrange a mock oral exam after the last recitation session; perhaps even make it mandatory - but so that the grade doesn't count.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_12: When asked:
>
> How to help reduce X’s anxiety in an Y?
>
>
>
the normal answer is:
>
> Get X do to Y more often starting from the first week they are at university.
>
>
>
* So you could give a five-minute oral exam on each item of course work you ask a student to complete.
* You could have your students take turns explaining something to other students in a group.
* You could have an oral exam of a student each year, not just in the final year.
* In the first year, you can say the exam is so you can learn what students are finding hard to understand, so you can improve your teaching.
* You can have a grading system where the oral exam can only increase a student’s grade, and only effects students that are borderline between grades.
* You can use oral exams as a way to calibrate the marking of all written exams, but the oral exam in the first and second year does not directly effects a students grade.
Upvotes: 1
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2017/01/03
| 1,810
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<issue_start>username_0: I am about to teach a class with about 100 students. The class has weekly take-home exams, and multiple in-class exams. I have TA's, but still the task of collecting and returning the students' write-up is non-trivial, and if not done well can take significant time away from the class (including because of people not always coming to class, reportedly missing write-ups, etc).
**What system (electronic or not) is better for collection, grading, and return of take-home homework and in-class exams?**
Specific starter points: I heard some people use Blackboard for electronic submission, grading, and return of homework. Is it good? I also heard of Watson. Is anyone using these?
What about in-class exams? Is there anyone who scans them and returns them electronically?
What about paper-based systems? Do you have a submission box? Do you leave write-ups for the students to pick at each class?<issue_comment>username_1: To my mind, the biggest problem, after actually grading so much work, is the possibility of a student claiming that work was turned in but later lost by you or the TA. You allude to this in your question.
You don't say where you are, but it is likely your university has a "learning management system," such as Blackboard, Brightspace, or Moodle,that can be used to collect take-home work. For multiple-choice assessments, the learning management system can probably grade them, too. The huge advantage of this is that there's no possibility of "lost" work; either the student submits the work or not.
For in-class exams, have a letter tray similar to the "inbox" one might have on a desk. Require each student to deposit his own exam into the letter tray and, at the end of class, put a binder clip on the stack. (For 100 students, you'll probably need four stacks of 25.) Grade the exams on a completely clear desk and there's no possibility of lost work there, either. If a Scantron machine is available and multiple-choice exams will work for you, use that for grading. I have smaller classes, and I take each paper directly from the student's hand and mark the student's name on the class list. Students observe me to do this, and I don't get complaints that I "lost" their work.
Work graded through the learning management system is returned electronically. If you use Scantron forms for in-class testing, it may be possible to get the results electronically and return them via the LMS. Your testing center can probably tell whether that's possible. I have returned in-class paper tests through the LMS by scanning and uploading them. We have a copier that can serve as a scanner, and that work can be performed by a TA or student assistant. If you must return paper exams in class, have them sorted alphabetically and return them at the end of class so that students may leave when they've picked up their graded work.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I'll address the "Blackboard" part of your question, since this is what my university uses. And I must say, I'm quite happy with it!
A short (non-exhaustive) overview of its features with respect to homework and exams:
* Basic assignment features: starting date, deadline, description of the assignment, attaching extra documents...
* Different "shown" deadline and "actual" deadline. When making an electronic assignment or test, you can choose 2 dates: the deadline as shown to students, and the deadline where it becomes impossible to hand in the assignment/test.
This second deadline allows students to hand in their work late, which you may want to allow - if not, just make both deadlines the same. Note that this second deadline is invisible to students.
* There is a *grade center* providing a spreadsheet overview of all students and their assignments, tests, grades, etc. It allows you to grade assignments, to weigh the grades, but also to send mails by selecting students on this spreadsheet.
If students had handed in homework past the deadline, there will be a notification saying "too late" next to the relevant assignments.
* In case of the assignment being a recognised document (e.g. pdf), you can make annotations on the document itself and, if desired, add these to the feedback the student receives.
* Students have a *my grades* menu where they can read their grades, together with any comments and annotations you have added.
* TurnItIn integration: this automatically compares uploaded documents to other documents found online; with the goal of detecting plagiarism.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Re: Blackboard: Yes, it works perfectly fine this purpose. I use it for weekly multiple-choice quizzes in all my classes and find that it benefits my class management a lot. It's automatically and instantaneously graded, provides immediate feedback to students, a 24/7 grade center that students can check on at any time, and copious statistical reporting on the back end which I use to drive future updates in all of my classes. There are lots of options now that you may want to investigate. A few pointers:
One: How you make Blackboard tests in the first place is a bit of a question; I find the web interface a bit slow and inelegant. Personally, I find it more efficient to make my quizzes locally in Pearson TestGen, and then export them to Blackboard as a separate step. TestGen looks like this:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jMYus.png)
Two: While the most familiar use-case is for multiple-choice questions, Blackboard has many other formats of questions you can use. Just one example: For quantitative questions, you can require numerical input that gets scored as correct if it matches a certain number within a certain tolerance ("Calculated Numeric"). You can even include variable questions, so different students have different questions, with a formula under the hood that determines the correct answer ("Calculated Formula"). Limitation: The answer must be a decimal-notation number; fractions and algebraic expressions cannot be constructed/graded automatically in this way. (Also, my Pearson TestGen process doesn't work for more than simple multiple-choice items.) List from the Blackboard interface:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1YpBy.png)
Three: The back-end statistics are so fascinating that I find some amount of risk in being a bit personally addicted to checking them on a daily basis. You can also export all of the individual responses to an item and run statistical tests (in, say, a spreadsheet or SPSS) looking for what important factors correlate with entry diagnostics, final exam scores, etc. Here are some samples of reports from within Blackboard:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Mwo5c.png)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4wQu5.png)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Oj6Yg.png)
Finally, if you don't want automatic grading of tests, then that's supported as well (e.g., for essay, coding, or other subjective questions); tests come in and then the instructor gives grades and feedback via the interface later. Also there are "assignments" in which students can upload documents and then the instructor grades them likewise (including possibly use of a "rubric" which allows grading by selecting from among several radio-button options).
Upvotes: 0
|
2017/01/03
| 2,140
| 8,550
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<issue_start>username_0: Okay, so I am a math student currently on leave from a graduate program in math and computer science.
I have always been good at coursework. I ace examinations and manage good grades. I can understand and explain concepts well. All my professors have liked me because of all this.
But somehow it feels like I have tricked my way up. Everything goes wrong as soon as I take up a project or open problem or any kind of research. I start out beautifully- read and understand all necessary background instantly, get up to date on current results, impress my guides with my clear understanding. But things go down fast after that. I lose motivation, I get lost in digressions and extensive learning. Or I just slack and avoid the project altogether and somehow try to make a dignified exit.
This has happened too many times now. Each time I thought it'll all come together the next time. But nothing has changed. I have tomes and tomes of notes and expository material on all topics remotely related to my research areas. But I don't have a single original piece of research. It got so distressing that I was diagnosed with depression, OCD, etc. and subjected to medication and therapy. But somehow the problem seems beyond all that.
I really want to do research and solve problems. Even an insignificant, but original, result might greatly elevate my confidence.
Are there others who have been through this? Is this just a difficult phase some people go through?
Or am I just an idiot who's reaching beyond his level?<issue_comment>username_1: It is hard to give a good answer here, but it seems to me that you, despite being a good student, haven't learned to do research yet.
When you describe what you are good at, you describe all the things you need to be a good student. These things are all necessary to be good at research, but alas, they are not sufficient. To do research, you need to shift to a different gear.
For example: Do not read a paper thinking "How does this work?" but more "What does that mean? What can I do with it? What could be done differently?". Learn to read articles and books through different lenses, e.g. with a lens that focuses on broad understanding of concepts, a lens that focuses on fine details, a lens that focuses on open problems or possible improvements,…
Also, find a *problem to work on*, not a *topic to learn*. Ask some supervisor to provide a problem to work on at the beginning, but note that later on you should come up with interesting problems on your own.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Notice the language you're using to describe yourself and your behavior. This is most likely the same kind of language you're using to talk to yourself as well.
The highlights **in bold** are mine.
>
> I **have always** been good at coursework. I ace examinations and manage
> good grades. I can understand and explain concepts well. **All my
> professors** have liked me because of all this.
>
>
>
These are absolute claims. "always" and "all" are absolute quantifiers. They're great for things like logic, math, or computer science, but they tend to distort our thoughts when it comes to interpreting our own human behavior.
>
> But somehow it feels like I have tricked my way up. **Everything** goes
> wrong as soon as I take up a project or open problem or **any kind of**
> research.
>
>
> I start out beautifully- read and understand **all necessary**
> background instantly, get up to date on current results, impress my
> guides with my clear understanding.
>
>
> But things go down fast after
> that. I lose motivation, I get lost in digressions and extensive
> learning. Or I just slack and avoid the project altogether and somehow
> try to make a dignified exit.
>
>
>
"things go down after that"
Here, it might be more helpful if you were more specific.
Is it as soon as someone stops overseeing your work that you lose motivation? What kind of structure did your department/advisor provide for you - if any?
>
> This has happened **too many times** now.
>
>
>
How many times did it happen really?
>
> Each time I thought it'll all
> come together the next time. But **nothing** has changed.
>
>
>
Really, nothing has changed? Are you sure about that? Please notice the narrative you're telling yourself. Is this claim even true? Many times, we just don't notice all the growth we've made as a student (until years later).
>
> I have tomes and
> tomes of notes and expository material on all topics remotely related
> to my research areas. But **I don't have a single original piece** of
> research.
>
>
>
"I don't have a single original piece of research." Many graduate students don't either.
Besides, I bet you can find some original ideas in your own work. My bet is that you're just not able to see them right now.
>
> It got so distressing that I was diagnosed with depression,
> OCD, etc. and subjected to medication and therapy. **But somehow the
> problem seems beyond all that.**
>
>
>
For someone who is depressed, this is a perfectly normal feeling to have.
Does your therapy already include a Behavioral Cognitive Therapy component? If not, I'd suggest you take a look at BCT. Also, I'd suggest you listen to audiobooks or videos by <NAME>, which is another take on the same underlying ideas. She has a lot of free materials on youtube and on file-sharing networks.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Other answers give many excellent specific tips, but just to pick up one point that hasn’t been addressed yet,
>
> Are there others who have been through this? Is this just a difficult phase some people go through?
>
>
>
**Yes, it is absolutely a phase that many beginning researchers go through.**
The transition from coursework to research is a difficult one. I remember feeling absolutely the same worries you describe for most of my first couple of years of grad school, and I’ve heard multiple other mathematicians (some very successful) talking about having felt the same way. Finding this a large and difficult step *doesn’t* mean you’re an idiot who isn’t cut out for research. This is a big new kind of skill you need to develop, and different people find it comes more or less quickly or naturally; so don’t be surprised or disheartened if it does take a while for you, just keep working at it, in the ways suggested in other answers.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: One big difference between coursework and research which is worth remembering -- lecturers won't set you coursework problems which aren't possible, but many research problems are (at least where we currently are).
If you try to solve if P=NP (for example), you won't get far. If you are tackling a genuinely hard problem, it can take months to make significant progress. I will often start by nibbling off little sub-problems, and prove some very trivial results, to approach the main problem. Research ideas which are worth publishing are often months of work, of which at least 80% of which was a waste of time (but of course, you don't know in advance which 80%).
In short -- you might just be expecting research to be something where you make progress every day, and in a fairly linear fashion, which in many research areas it isn't.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: Are you too much of a perfectionist?
I wanted to make an album for 10 years. I had all the songs written. I had a band. We played the songs. But we couldn't record anything no matter how we tried. Eventually we broke up.
My standards were too high for someone who never recorded an album.
Years later (when I heard <NAME> was finally releasing his album after 14 years) I said "That's it, I am recording my album with what I have in the room. It will be the output of the next 2 weeks, whatever it comes out as".
Basically, I dropped all expectations and ambitions that made it so hard to record. But I got it done. And then I recorded another one, and another one, and another one. Each one got closer to my original ideal. But I had to come up with a format to get things done, which is a completely different skill altogether.
To write new songs, I would go to a coffee shop and say I'm not going home until I have a song written. I got new songs written after that.
When recording, I would say I have 4 hours to record this. That's 1 hour per instrument. If a part isn't perfect after 1 hour, I move onto the next. I could always go back and tweak it, but at least I had a finished product in 4 hours.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/01/03
| 2,031
| 7,635
|
<issue_start>username_0: What are the best practices for writing a research paper title? I am looking for some general guidelines.
* Does one go with short and sweet?
* Or a bit longer and informative?
* Should one phrase it as a question or rather as a statement?
* Should one use humour and play on words?
* What should one avoid?
* Are titles written different for different areas of research? (i.e. Computer Science, Maths, Neuroscience etc.)<issue_comment>username_1: (**Disclaimer**: Quite subjective point of view, based on my experience more than any kind of reference or "authority". Ph.D student here, Computer Science, ML & NLP)
>
> * Are titles written different for different areas of research? (i.e.
> Computer Science, Maths, Neuroscience etc.)
>
>
>
I've no evidence about it, but I'm pretty sure it will be way different. Thus, my background might influence me a lot.
>
> * Should one phrase it as a question or rather as a statement?
> * Should one use humour and play on words?
>
>
>
I would say without hesitation, to me, humour has to be banned, and you should use a statement. You publish to give answer, not question. Question might be present at the end of your work to introduce what question does your work open, what are the next step. Still, I will be statement like "we may wonder what would...." (no "?" involved, you are wondering, not asking).
>
> * Does one go with short and sweet?
> * Or a bit longer and informative?
>
>
>
Here's the trap: it has to be **short** and **informative**. You have to tease future reader by telling him "I managed (or kind of) to do *this*, *that* way, it rocks right?".
This part will probably be the trickiest as you need to make people feel close to your research by showing what you work on, while not being too specific otherwise they will say "wow what's that?".
As a thumb rule, for a *random* paper (*random* = no *hype* = didn't read about it previously, no one told me to read it, I don't know/notice who wrote it), I will be interested if: the **goal** interests me or if the **method** interests me. Lets say if I'm interested about cars:
**Making faster car** or **Using cars for food delivery**.
Personaly what I see most is:
* [**WHAT I DID**] <**separator** > [**HOW DID I DO IT** ], usually to present a solution to a general problem
+ (1) is the high level goal like "Understanding human voice";
+ (2) is "**using**", "**with**", "**:** ";
+ (3) is the method, "Super Hugely Deep Neural Network" or approach "using semantic representations
* [**WHAT I USED**] [**WHAT FOR**], using well known techniques for a context specific use or something not initially studied
+ (1) Precisely name the technique
+ (2) Describe your context/need.
* [**MY PRODUCT**]: [**DESCRIPTION**], introduce a named product/innovation.
* [**WHAT I DID**], when something is really new. Usually impressive work.
+ e.g. "Efficient way of doing *this*" where the paper explains what *this* is, and how awesome it is.
Hope it helps, do not hesitate to comment, suggest edits etc. I find this discussion interesting and my really new to academic world, give me feedback!
`username_1`
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: **Follow the conventions of your target journal or conference**. The most reliable predictor of how a title will be perceived is if other papers at the same venue have had similar titles.
Specifically, your question *Are titles written different for different areas of research?* can be answered with a clear **yes**. For example, compare the following [programming languages](http://dblp.uni-trier.de/db/conf/ppdp/ppdp2009.html) and [neuro-imaging](http://dblp.uni-trier.de/db/journals/neuroimage/neuroimage55.html) venues.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: As with all communication, the key is to consider your aims and your audience. Your aim, I presume, is to get your paper read. Certain people will read it no matter what the title - mainly, those who work in very similar areas. Your most important audience is therefore people who know a little about your subject area (those in exactly your field will read it no matter what) who are scanning through a list of paper titles (either from a journal or a keyword search). We come across far too many papers to read them all, you want people to pause when they see your title. Think about what might make *you* stop to read further if you were scanning down a list of papers.
On that basis:
* **Be as clear as possible**. Minimise jargon and use simple phrasing. If I can't understand the title at first glance, I'm not going to read it again.
* You should aim to get attention within *the first few words*. That might sound dramatic, but I suspect that lots of people won't even read the whole title if it doesn't look relevant or interesting. So try to put your most important key word/phrase in the first few words.
* Personally I don't see much disadvantage with having a long title per se, but you need to make sure that the first phrase can stand on its own. So quite a few titles follow something along the lines of "[Interesting discovery]: using [method] to address [question]".
* Being creative/humorous/unusual might make people stop and look twice if you can pull it off well. But realistically, drawing people in this way may not be especially constructive: if they wouldn't have read your abstract but for the intriguing title, chances are that they won't end up reading any further than that. If you're going down this route, you certainly need to make sure that you don't sacrifice informativeness.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: A scientific basis for choosing the right title of your paper
=============================================================
>
> For every person who reads the whole of a scientific paper, about 500
> read only the title . One way to improve this statistic
> could be to make the title declarative by including what the paper
> says, not just what it covers.
> *Gust<NAME>. (2008). How to Write and Illustrate Scientific Papers (2nd ed.). Cambridge:
> Cambridge University Press.*
>
>
>
I always been told to use declarative rather then neutral/descriptive title but seems that the following article shows the opposite:
[<NAME>. and <NAME>. (2011). Article title type and its relation with the number of
downloads and citations, Scientometrics, 88 (2):653-661](http://eprints.rclis.org/19669/1/Jamali_title.pdf)
I'll use it to answer to your question with the support of real data.
>
> **Q:** Does one go with short and sweet? Or a bit longer and informative?
>
>
> **A:** Articles with longer titles are downloaded slightly less than the
> articles with shorter titles.
>
>
> **Q:** Should one phrase it as a question or rather as a statement?
>
>
> **A:** There are differences between articles with different types of titles
> in terms of downloads and citations, especially articles with question
> titles tend to be downloaded more but cited less than the others.
>
>
> **Q:** Should one use humour and play on words?
>
>
> **A:** some authors hypothesize that "humorous titles communicate a non-serious subject matter, and as found previously in experimental settings harm the credibility of the paper"Journal of Information Science, 34 (5) 2008, pp. 680–687
>
>
> **Q:** What should one avoid?
>
>
>
In my opinion: one should avoid abbreviations, and to put the keywords at the end of the titles.
>
> **Q:** Are the titles written different for different areas of research?
>
>
>
I think common sense is not specifically related to any discipline.
Upvotes: 4
|
2017/01/03
| 2,008
| 7,580
|
<issue_start>username_0: How do you answer a question in your application for research grant, where it asks you 'Plans for publication'?
I plan to publish the results of my research in one of three optional scientific journals, and maybe present the results on a conference at the end of the year. But how should I answer this, without sounding too unspecific or 'casual' in the application?<issue_comment>username_1: (**Disclaimer**: Quite subjective point of view, based on my experience more than any kind of reference or "authority". Ph.D student here, Computer Science, ML & NLP)
>
> * Are titles written different for different areas of research? (i.e.
> Computer Science, Maths, Neuroscience etc.)
>
>
>
I've no evidence about it, but I'm pretty sure it will be way different. Thus, my background might influence me a lot.
>
> * Should one phrase it as a question or rather as a statement?
> * Should one use humour and play on words?
>
>
>
I would say without hesitation, to me, humour has to be banned, and you should use a statement. You publish to give answer, not question. Question might be present at the end of your work to introduce what question does your work open, what are the next step. Still, I will be statement like "we may wonder what would...." (no "?" involved, you are wondering, not asking).
>
> * Does one go with short and sweet?
> * Or a bit longer and informative?
>
>
>
Here's the trap: it has to be **short** and **informative**. You have to tease future reader by telling him "I managed (or kind of) to do *this*, *that* way, it rocks right?".
This part will probably be the trickiest as you need to make people feel close to your research by showing what you work on, while not being too specific otherwise they will say "wow what's that?".
As a thumb rule, for a *random* paper (*random* = no *hype* = didn't read about it previously, no one told me to read it, I don't know/notice who wrote it), I will be interested if: the **goal** interests me or if the **method** interests me. Lets say if I'm interested about cars:
**Making faster car** or **Using cars for food delivery**.
Personaly what I see most is:
* [**WHAT I DID**] <**separator** > [**HOW DID I DO IT** ], usually to present a solution to a general problem
+ (1) is the high level goal like "Understanding human voice";
+ (2) is "**using**", "**with**", "**:** ";
+ (3) is the method, "Super Hugely Deep Neural Network" or approach "using semantic representations
* [**WHAT I USED**] [**WHAT FOR**], using well known techniques for a context specific use or something not initially studied
+ (1) Precisely name the technique
+ (2) Describe your context/need.
* [**MY PRODUCT**]: [**DESCRIPTION**], introduce a named product/innovation.
* [**WHAT I DID**], when something is really new. Usually impressive work.
+ e.g. "Efficient way of doing *this*" where the paper explains what *this* is, and how awesome it is.
Hope it helps, do not hesitate to comment, suggest edits etc. I find this discussion interesting and my really new to academic world, give me feedback!
`username_1`
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: **Follow the conventions of your target journal or conference**. The most reliable predictor of how a title will be perceived is if other papers at the same venue have had similar titles.
Specifically, your question *Are titles written different for different areas of research?* can be answered with a clear **yes**. For example, compare the following [programming languages](http://dblp.uni-trier.de/db/conf/ppdp/ppdp2009.html) and [neuro-imaging](http://dblp.uni-trier.de/db/journals/neuroimage/neuroimage55.html) venues.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: As with all communication, the key is to consider your aims and your audience. Your aim, I presume, is to get your paper read. Certain people will read it no matter what the title - mainly, those who work in very similar areas. Your most important audience is therefore people who know a little about your subject area (those in exactly your field will read it no matter what) who are scanning through a list of paper titles (either from a journal or a keyword search). We come across far too many papers to read them all, you want people to pause when they see your title. Think about what might make *you* stop to read further if you were scanning down a list of papers.
On that basis:
* **Be as clear as possible**. Minimise jargon and use simple phrasing. If I can't understand the title at first glance, I'm not going to read it again.
* You should aim to get attention within *the first few words*. That might sound dramatic, but I suspect that lots of people won't even read the whole title if it doesn't look relevant or interesting. So try to put your most important key word/phrase in the first few words.
* Personally I don't see much disadvantage with having a long title per se, but you need to make sure that the first phrase can stand on its own. So quite a few titles follow something along the lines of "[Interesting discovery]: using [method] to address [question]".
* Being creative/humorous/unusual might make people stop and look twice if you can pull it off well. But realistically, drawing people in this way may not be especially constructive: if they wouldn't have read your abstract but for the intriguing title, chances are that they won't end up reading any further than that. If you're going down this route, you certainly need to make sure that you don't sacrifice informativeness.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: A scientific basis for choosing the right title of your paper
=============================================================
>
> For every person who reads the whole of a scientific paper, about 500
> read only the title . One way to improve this statistic
> could be to make the title declarative by including what the paper
> says, not just what it covers.
> *<NAME>. (2008). How to Write and Illustrate Scientific Papers (2nd ed.). Cambridge:
> Cambridge University Press.*
>
>
>
I always been told to use declarative rather then neutral/descriptive title but seems that the following article shows the opposite:
[<NAME>. and <NAME>. (2011). Article title type and its relation with the number of
downloads and citations, Scientometrics, 88 (2):653-661](http://eprints.rclis.org/19669/1/Jamali_title.pdf)
I'll use it to answer to your question with the support of real data.
>
> **Q:** Does one go with short and sweet? Or a bit longer and informative?
>
>
> **A:** Articles with longer titles are downloaded slightly less than the
> articles with shorter titles.
>
>
> **Q:** Should one phrase it as a question or rather as a statement?
>
>
> **A:** There are differences between articles with different types of titles
> in terms of downloads and citations, especially articles with question
> titles tend to be downloaded more but cited less than the others.
>
>
> **Q:** Should one use humour and play on words?
>
>
> **A:** some authors hypothesize that "humorous titles communicate a non-serious subject matter, and as found previously in experimental settings harm the credibility of the paper"Journal of Information Science, 34 (5) 2008, pp. 680–687
>
>
> **Q:** What should one avoid?
>
>
>
In my opinion: one should avoid abbreviations, and to put the keywords at the end of the titles.
>
> **Q:** Are the titles written different for different areas of research?
>
>
>
I think common sense is not specifically related to any discipline.
Upvotes: 4
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2017/01/04
| 1,071
| 4,108
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<issue_start>username_0: What are good ways to explore/discover literature visually, e.g. a visual interface for Google Scholar? There are a few tools to **explore the citation graph ("which papers cite which papers")**. Some are described here:
* <http://proto-knowledge.blogspot.de/2015/02/tools-to-visualize-connections-between.html>
There are a few more with a different focus:
* Graph of patents (but not papers) - "PatGraph"
* Only for own local library (not for discovery of new papers) - "Action Science Explorer"
* Old limited version from 2004 (no way to go backwards through citations) - "TouchGraph browser for Google Scholar"
* Limited database size - <https://nlp.fi.muni.cz/projekty/visualbrowser/#sec0403>
Do you know others? Which ones do you recommend?<issue_comment>username_1: I think it really depends on what you want to do.
Proto-Knowledge lists software developed by both Leydesdorff (several choices) and Börner (principally Sci2) that are probably good starting points.
Although not as visual, I've used several Elsevier Pure clients to identify experts for peer review panels - <https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/pure/who-uses-pure/clients>.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I recently found [Citation Gecko](https://citationgecko.azurewebsites.net/) which takes in articles as seeds and shows papers they are connected to by citations (past and future) in an interactive network with a very clean design. Can import seed papers from Medeley, Zotoro, etc. too!
It's open source, the code is available here: <https://github.com/CitationGecko>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Newest and possibly best, with a similarity metric based on shared citations and references: <https://www.connectedpapers.com/>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: scite Visualizations (explained in [this short YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5J9EgAaai4)) shows the citation graph.
The edges in the graph indicate whether the articles support or refute each other's claims.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: Research Rabbit. It not only shows citation graph but also recommends similar papers based on your research library.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: I recently came across a free tool called [PaperMap](https://papermap.xyz). It doesn't have the feature to discover new papers but it's a great tool to use after you finished exploring new papers. Its primary role is to organize and annotate papers you've already found. Think of it as a tool to structure and visualize your literature for research projects.
If you find a paper that fits your project's literature collection, you incorporate it into PaperMap. So when writing the literature review portion of a paper, you can simply refer to this map, trace the reasoning, and use the notes you've jotted down for each paper.
You can add as many papers as you want to your map. The tool will automatically create a citation link between the newly added paper and the existing papers in your map. The map is a transitive reduction of the citation graph, so it stays clean and manageable, even if you add a ton of papers.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: The citation visualisation is getting interesting and AI powered.
I've tried [Litmaps](https://www.litmaps.com) in the last one week. The free version definitely gets one going. Sooner or later, one will need the Litmaps Pro (paid).
I take note that development on [Citation Gecko](https://www.citationgecko.com/) and its developer recommends Litmaps. Citation Gecko 8s still a good starter.
[<NAME> nicely compare](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8oEOa9wStjk):
* [Connected Papers](https://www.connectedpapers.com/)
* [Research rabbit](https://www.researchrabbit.ai/) and
* [Litmaps](https://www.litmaps.com)
Being a Zotero user, I think [Inciteful](https://inciteful.xyz/) provides an interesting integrated and living approach. Inciteful appears more dynamic than Litmaps.
PS: Inciteful is not dependent on Zotero. It can function directly from search strings, DOI, Bibtex and others.
Interesting times ahead.
Upvotes: 0
|
2017/01/04
| 2,334
| 9,937
|
<issue_start>username_0: If there is an option to submit your paper in either Latex or Word, which format should be given preference? Does it affect the chances of acceptance? My paper relates to computer science & engineering, with a few mathematical formula, diagrams, and tables.<issue_comment>username_1: If both are allowed then both will be fine. I would choose the one I am most comfortable with. Using a program you are less familiar with increases the chance of making a silly error. Such errors are much more likely to work against you than the choice between Word or LaTeX.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: The final look and feel of your paper must look like it belongs in that journal, regardless of which software you use to produce it. I will, as a reviewer, subconsciously bias towards a reject if I find that the paper looks amateurish. This means it is an uphill climb to change my recommendation to an accept.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: If you are comfortable using Latex (i.e. it won't slow you down to use it), and it is well-supported by the journal (i.e. they provide a style file), I would recommend it, as it produces a paper that is much easier for the referees to understand. Reducing any barrier to referee understanding is great!
But just because a journal accepts both Latex and Word, doesn't mean there isn't an internal preference. Sometimes you have to dig a little bit to find this. Look at the publishing details: some journals will waive part of the publication fees if you give them a Latex file; others state they will take longer to move from acceptance to publishing with Latex than Word.
Personally, I think that the advantages of Latex in terms of appearance and bibliography-handling are large enough that I put up with its other annoyances, and use it whenever possible.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: This is coming from a more engineering, physics and mathematics point of view. In many sub-area of these fields, LaTeX papers have a more distinct professional feel. This is mostly related to the formatting of the equations and the symbols. Furthermore, numerous authors in mathematics are openly LaTeX advocate. As such, I believe (but this is no hard fact) that you might get a slightly more positive bias using LaTeX than Word. Keep in mind that the most important part is to submit a clear well-written document and that the format is second to this former fact.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: No. Following submission instructions found in "Instructions to Authors", whatever they may say, will pretty much insure that your paper gets reviewed, and not whatever the digital equivalent of "returned unread" is, but reviewers generally see a pdf, and couldn't care less how you wrote the paper. They will care if you gave the manuscript the attention it merits, regardless of the tools you use to prepare it.
As an aside, when you choose to work in Latex, you need to think about how that interacts with any collaborators who will need to edit and mark up your documents. It's certainly not undoable to work with Latex nonusers, but it does require thought and planning.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: **Note:** this answer comes from someone who does not review computer science articles. There seem to be a strong belief in your field that using LaTeX is The Way to go. I would suggest to comply for your career's sake. My answer still applies to other fields.
---
I truly hope it doesn't. It would be extremely unprofessional for reviewers and editors to favor their pet typesetting tool when assessing the content of a paper. Especially knowing that in many cases, the paper will be re-written from scratch by the typesetter and thus it becomes irrelevant.
But possibly, writing papers with LaTeX might reduce your research output, and thus the quality or number of the papers you submit since it's been observed\* that using LaTeX is less efficient than MS Word to write academic papers (with the exception of a small subset of fields).
So, unless your document is made mostly of equations, data suggests you will make fewer errors and spend less time writing your paper using MS Word than LaTeX.
\*See: [<NAME>, <NAME> (2014) *An Efficiency Comparison of Document Preparation Systems Used in Academic Research and Development* PLOSONE](http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115069)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: Let's start by acknowledging that there is a very good reason why LaTeX is the standard system for writing papers across all of math and large parts of computer science, physics, statistics, and other technical areas. No one has yet come up with a system that produces better-looking, more esthetically pleasing, well formatted documents that do as effective a job of communicating complex technical ideas, especially those involving lots of mathematical symbols and formulas. By contrast, documents generated by Microsoft Word are generally... meh (and if they contain math formulas... double meh).
With that said, I believe that the answer to your question is: yes, LaTeX papers and Word papers are far from equivalent in terms of their chances to be accepted to a computer science journal. I see several issues here, some direct and some indirect:
1. One effect is that, as I was opining above, a properly written LaTeX paper will simply do a better job of communicating the content of your ideas to the reader than the same paper written in Word. Thus, the cognitive load on the journal editor and referees that stands between them and understanding what you are trying to say and what the contribution of your paper is will be higher with a Word paper. This will translate to a difference in the chances of acceptance (better chances for the LaTeX version).
2. Another effect involves the fact that if you are writing a technical computer science paper in Word then it is extremely likely that you are a very inexperienced researcher, possibly from outside of academia. That by itself makes it a lot less likely that your paper is well-written (aside from which software it is written in) and that the ideas in the paper are good enough to make it worthy of accepting. And *the editor and referees know that*, and are likely to take the paper less seriously as a result (this is the bias alluded to in other answers, and lamented by some), subconsciously and/or consciously, *even if you are in fact an experienced researcher*. This would again translate to a reduced chance of acceptance for a Word paper. Perhaps this bias is unfair, but there it is.
3. Even without the bias I mentioned above, for the reason explained in item 2 above I still predict a clear *statistical* correlation between the Word/LaTeX typesetting information and the quality of the paper (and therefore the chances of acceptance). This correlation of course does not imply causation; without the bias, it would not be the typesetting system that was used that caused the paper to be rejected, but the overall low quality of the paper. Nonetheless, the fact remains that by writing your paper in Word, you would be choosing to join a group of authors whose papers have a statistically lower rate of acceptance, even if your situation is somehow different than most of them.
As a final caveat, if your area of computer science has papers with very few mathematical formulas, then what I wrote above is probably still correct, but to a lesser extent, i.e., the chances of acceptance would be closer to equal, but I still predict a small advantage for LaTeX.
See [here](http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=304) (including many relevant thoughts in the comments section) and [here](http://math.mit.edu/~cohn/Thoughts/advice.html) for related discussions.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: >
> The area is **computer science & engineering** with few mathematical formula, diagrams, and tables
>
>
>
You need to use Latex. Full stop.
Even when you don't know Latex, you are supposed to learn basic math formula, figures, tables in less than a day. (Tables are pieces of cake with this online tool <http://www.tablesgenerator.com/>)
I never heard of anybody in Computer Science that does not know Latex. Call me a jerk and down vote if you like, but such a person will become a topic of a joke.
If one can't prepare a document in Latex, how can (s)he do any programming? And if they can't do programming, I can't take their Computer Science research very serious.
---
UPDATE:
=======
Everybody is talking about how Latex produces beautiful math equations etc, and forget how it is efficient even on basic tasks. I was once a Word user. In fact, I wrote my undergraduate thesis using Word 2003, and it was a painful experience, even though I didn't have any math equation in my thesis.
* Creating a Reference section, and citing a paper in Word is painful, and time consuming.
* Changing reference format from <NAME> to J. SMITH (ACM style) is also painful, and it can take you days. Changing the citation from (Smith 2003) to [1] is also painful.
* Referring to a figure is also painful.
* Formatting (pseud-do) code is also painful.
* Keeping the format Heading1, Heading2 etc is really painful.
The list does not end here. All of these are pieces of cakes in Latex, and the most important thing is it gives you the feeling of total control of your text.
>
> But possibly, writing papers with LaTeX might reduce your research output, and thus the quality or number of the papers you submit since it's been observed\* that using LaTeX is less efficient than MS Word to write academic papers (with the exception of a small subset of fields)
>
>
>
I don't care if anybody/paper says preparing documents in Word is more efficient. It's like saying typing with two fingers are faster than typing with 10 fingers. It is true for some people, but it will become a joke for many people.
Upvotes: 1
|
2017/01/04
| 2,545
| 10,837
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am currently in a joint teaching/research post-doctoral position at a university that is different than where I obtained my PhD. There may be an opportunity in the future for me to return to my old PhD advisor and be hired on as a post-doc once my tenure is up here. I don't really NEED the job as I have decent job security teaching where I currently am. It will, however, keep the door open for sustaining good research, publishing, and gaining grant-writing skills... the latter being something that my current post-doc advisor has never offered me... And yes, personally I would like to go back and work for them again (for a variety of professional related reasons).
I understand this will be a lateral move at best but **I am trying to gain sufficient understanding on how this will affect future career options in academia.** I've been told that this type of situation can cause people to simply overlook you when applying for faculty positions at higher-ranked schools. I'm not really interested in joining some "Top 50" research university either but I'm not willing to join a pure undergraduate research program just yet either.
Please advise.<issue_comment>username_1: If both are allowed then both will be fine. I would choose the one I am most comfortable with. Using a program you are less familiar with increases the chance of making a silly error. Such errors are much more likely to work against you than the choice between Word or LaTeX.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: The final look and feel of your paper must look like it belongs in that journal, regardless of which software you use to produce it. I will, as a reviewer, subconsciously bias towards a reject if I find that the paper looks amateurish. This means it is an uphill climb to change my recommendation to an accept.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: If you are comfortable using Latex (i.e. it won't slow you down to use it), and it is well-supported by the journal (i.e. they provide a style file), I would recommend it, as it produces a paper that is much easier for the referees to understand. Reducing any barrier to referee understanding is great!
But just because a journal accepts both Latex and Word, doesn't mean there isn't an internal preference. Sometimes you have to dig a little bit to find this. Look at the publishing details: some journals will waive part of the publication fees if you give them a Latex file; others state they will take longer to move from acceptance to publishing with Latex than Word.
Personally, I think that the advantages of Latex in terms of appearance and bibliography-handling are large enough that I put up with its other annoyances, and use it whenever possible.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: This is coming from a more engineering, physics and mathematics point of view. In many sub-area of these fields, LaTeX papers have a more distinct professional feel. This is mostly related to the formatting of the equations and the symbols. Furthermore, numerous authors in mathematics are openly LaTeX advocate. As such, I believe (but this is no hard fact) that you might get a slightly more positive bias using LaTeX than Word. Keep in mind that the most important part is to submit a clear well-written document and that the format is second to this former fact.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: No. Following submission instructions found in "Instructions to Authors", whatever they may say, will pretty much insure that your paper gets reviewed, and not whatever the digital equivalent of "returned unread" is, but reviewers generally see a pdf, and couldn't care less how you wrote the paper. They will care if you gave the manuscript the attention it merits, regardless of the tools you use to prepare it.
As an aside, when you choose to work in Latex, you need to think about how that interacts with any collaborators who will need to edit and mark up your documents. It's certainly not undoable to work with Latex nonusers, but it does require thought and planning.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: **Note:** this answer comes from someone who does not review computer science articles. There seem to be a strong belief in your field that using LaTeX is The Way to go. I would suggest to comply for your career's sake. My answer still applies to other fields.
---
I truly hope it doesn't. It would be extremely unprofessional for reviewers and editors to favor their pet typesetting tool when assessing the content of a paper. Especially knowing that in many cases, the paper will be re-written from scratch by the typesetter and thus it becomes irrelevant.
But possibly, writing papers with LaTeX might reduce your research output, and thus the quality or number of the papers you submit since it's been observed\* that using LaTeX is less efficient than MS Word to write academic papers (with the exception of a small subset of fields).
So, unless your document is made mostly of equations, data suggests you will make fewer errors and spend less time writing your paper using MS Word than LaTeX.
\*See: [<NAME>, <NAME> (2014) *An Efficiency Comparison of Document Preparation Systems Used in Academic Research and Development* PLOSONE](http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115069)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: Let's start by acknowledging that there is a very good reason why LaTeX is the standard system for writing papers across all of math and large parts of computer science, physics, statistics, and other technical areas. No one has yet come up with a system that produces better-looking, more esthetically pleasing, well formatted documents that do as effective a job of communicating complex technical ideas, especially those involving lots of mathematical symbols and formulas. By contrast, documents generated by Microsoft Word are generally... meh (and if they contain math formulas... double meh).
With that said, I believe that the answer to your question is: yes, LaTeX papers and Word papers are far from equivalent in terms of their chances to be accepted to a computer science journal. I see several issues here, some direct and some indirect:
1. One effect is that, as I was opining above, a properly written LaTeX paper will simply do a better job of communicating the content of your ideas to the reader than the same paper written in Word. Thus, the cognitive load on the journal editor and referees that stands between them and understanding what you are trying to say and what the contribution of your paper is will be higher with a Word paper. This will translate to a difference in the chances of acceptance (better chances for the LaTeX version).
2. Another effect involves the fact that if you are writing a technical computer science paper in Word then it is extremely likely that you are a very inexperienced researcher, possibly from outside of academia. That by itself makes it a lot less likely that your paper is well-written (aside from which software it is written in) and that the ideas in the paper are good enough to make it worthy of accepting. And *the editor and referees know that*, and are likely to take the paper less seriously as a result (this is the bias alluded to in other answers, and lamented by some), subconsciously and/or consciously, *even if you are in fact an experienced researcher*. This would again translate to a reduced chance of acceptance for a Word paper. Perhaps this bias is unfair, but there it is.
3. Even without the bias I mentioned above, for the reason explained in item 2 above I still predict a clear *statistical* correlation between the Word/LaTeX typesetting information and the quality of the paper (and therefore the chances of acceptance). This correlation of course does not imply causation; without the bias, it would not be the typesetting system that was used that caused the paper to be rejected, but the overall low quality of the paper. Nonetheless, the fact remains that by writing your paper in Word, you would be choosing to join a group of authors whose papers have a statistically lower rate of acceptance, even if your situation is somehow different than most of them.
As a final caveat, if your area of computer science has papers with very few mathematical formulas, then what I wrote above is probably still correct, but to a lesser extent, i.e., the chances of acceptance would be closer to equal, but I still predict a small advantage for LaTeX.
See [here](http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=304) (including many relevant thoughts in the comments section) and [here](http://math.mit.edu/~cohn/Thoughts/advice.html) for related discussions.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: >
> The area is **computer science & engineering** with few mathematical formula, diagrams, and tables
>
>
>
You need to use Latex. Full stop.
Even when you don't know Latex, you are supposed to learn basic math formula, figures, tables in less than a day. (Tables are pieces of cake with this online tool <http://www.tablesgenerator.com/>)
I never heard of anybody in Computer Science that does not know Latex. Call me a jerk and down vote if you like, but such a person will become a topic of a joke.
If one can't prepare a document in Latex, how can (s)he do any programming? And if they can't do programming, I can't take their Computer Science research very serious.
---
UPDATE:
=======
Everybody is talking about how Latex produces beautiful math equations etc, and forget how it is efficient even on basic tasks. I was once a Word user. In fact, I wrote my undergraduate thesis using Word 2003, and it was a painful experience, even though I didn't have any math equation in my thesis.
* Creating a Reference section, and citing a paper in Word is painful, and time consuming.
* Changing reference format from <NAME> to J. SMITH (ACM style) is also painful, and it can take you days. Changing the citation from (Smith 2003) to [1] is also painful.
* Referring to a figure is also painful.
* Formatting (pseud-do) code is also painful.
* Keeping the format Heading1, Heading2 etc is really painful.
The list does not end here. All of these are pieces of cakes in Latex, and the most important thing is it gives you the feeling of total control of your text.
>
> But possibly, writing papers with LaTeX might reduce your research output, and thus the quality or number of the papers you submit since it's been observed\* that using LaTeX is less efficient than MS Word to write academic papers (with the exception of a small subset of fields)
>
>
>
I don't care if anybody/paper says preparing documents in Word is more efficient. It's like saying typing with two fingers are faster than typing with 10 fingers. It is true for some people, but it will become a joke for many people.
Upvotes: 1
|
2017/01/04
| 6,326
| 26,105
|
<issue_start>username_0: A recent [question about reducing stress in oral examinations](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/82591/how-to-help-calm-students-anxiety-in-an-oral-exam) asserted that
>
> Oral exams can have various pedagogical benefits in certain circumstances
>
>
>
Based on the reputation of the poster I'm inclined to believe this, but what exactly are these benefits? As an engineer who has never had an oral examination in my academic career (excluding thesis and standard presentations), it's not clear to me what the benefits are. The only intuitive benefit I can think of is for courses where the oral aspect is inherent in the subject matter, such as foreign language or debate. Are there benefits that are more general and not directly tied to the subject? Are there subjects for which an oral exam is never appropriate?<issue_comment>username_1: Well, I can think of many reasons to prefer an oral exam instead of a written one.
An oral exam always has the benefit that you directly face your professor or the guy that's examining you, having the effect that grading experiences a subjective influence.
A lot of people, and I assume professor aren't excluded, are willing to help others if they "see" that someone's trying. The examiner is therefore closer connected to the student which eases up the strict grading conventions usually applied to a written exam.
Also, the fact that questions, the student doesn't understand right away, can be formulated differently, increases the chance of given a correct answer or at least, in case of not knowing, gives additional information to the testee which wouldn't be provided in written form.
Hope that helps!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Pedagogical advantages:
* It is much easier to catch misunderstandings early and thus "rescue" an answer. After all, bad exam questions aren't that rare (bad as in: *if* the student has a very good understanding of the subject, they may be able to *guess* what topic the examiner has in mind).
* Misconceptions can be corrected: while a written exam gives a snapshot of what the student understood or not, in an oral exam the examiner can ask the student to think again if the answer is wrong. Or can give a counterexample that takes into account the student's answer
* In the end, an oral exam can be a discourse on a subject, which IMHO allows for better/easier grading.
* Related: the difficulty can be adjusted during the exam according to how much the student knows.
* Many oral exams I had had a "mixed" approach for deciding how deep into each subject to go: often 2 subjects were covered in depth (one by choice of the student, one by choice of the examiner) and a number of other topics touched. Particularly letting the student choose a subject of their liking (usually as the beginning of the exam) is not possible with written exams.
Practical consideration:
* if only few students are to be examined, oral exams take much less time for the examiner.
Disadvantage:
* If the examiner is somewhat off in estimating the difficulty of their questions, a written exam at least has the same questions for every student.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Oral and written exams test largely different skill sets. Of course there is some overlap, but not that much. Some examples:
In oral exams you can test the ability to *explain things* much easier than in a written exam. On the other hand, actual *problem solving* can be tested easier (and more efficient) in a written exams. In an oral exam you can watch the students thinking (given that you asked the right question), and this gives you the possibility to ask very difficult questions or even question where no answer is known - of course in these cases you should not grade on the base of the "correctness" of the answer, but on the grounds of they approaches the student took. So you can somehow examine if the student did mastered the material to the point that it can be applied to new and unknown situations without the risk of "taking the wrong approach, ran out of time, no points" since you, as examiner, can give feedback on the taken approach but also you can see if the techniques are applied in correctly (even if they will not work out in the end).
A specific example of the latter: If you teach integration techniques and ask the student to find an antiderivative of a complicated function, the student chooses some technique (substitution, say). The technique is applied correctly, but then the student realizes that the substitution was not a good one. By contrast, it could also be, that the student know the right substitution, can explain why this has to work, but fails to work out the details. Both situations may also occur in a written exams, but the examiner can usually not infer what has happened.
Another pedagogic advantage is, that there is immediate feedback for the student, not only during the exam, but also at the end. For a written exam student have to wait somewhere between hours and week to get a grade or even pass-or-fail, while for an oral exam the result is announced after a few minutes (at least where I am).
From the examiners point of view, written exams scale better to large groups, as the grading can be parallelized (by hiring people to do it) or also automated to some extend, while oral exams just scale linearly in the number of students but have a smaller "baseline" (meaning that preparing zero oral exams costs basically zero time while preparing a written exam where nobody shows up, costs a few hours). For me, the break even point is about 25 to 35 students (depending on the topic).
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: *Mama always said life was like an oral exam. You never know what question you're gonna get.*
The other excellent answers here highlight how oral and written exams test different student's skills, and how the interaction between student and professor is different. I would like to add that, in my experience, oral exams have also a *training* purpose: they train students on explaining things about topics chosen at random in a broad range. Is this a useful skill to develop? I will make an example, just one, and let you judge.
When I was a student, I used to earn some money by tutoring high school and university students on mathematics, physics, electronics and programming. Thus, I would arrive at the student's home to hear something like:
>
> Could we do maths and programming today? I had those subjects this
> morning and there are a few things I didn't understand.
>
>
>
Yes, of course, we could do that. After all, I was there for that and get some filthy money in reward:
>
> The professor explained the Riemann integral, but I didn't understand it. Could you please explain it to me again?
>
>
>
Isn't this a typical example of oral exam question? With the added difficulties that, at university, you had probably studied the Riemann integral a long time ago, and with more advanced tools than those you can employ to explain the topic to a high-school student. So you have to improvise an explanation, and possibly a *good* explanation for a high-school student, so that you can keep on earning money.
Once the maths part is over, and you start to relax, the student shoots the programming question (real question received from a 16-year old high school student):
>
> This morning we had classwork, and the professor gave us the task to develop an *assembly* program to have a two-way communication between terminals: the top half of the screen should show the text received from remote; the bottom half the text keyed in by the user. We had two hours to develop the program, but I think everyone failed. How could I have done it? The professor really didn't explain how to manage two tasks simultaneously.
>
>
>
And so, for instance, you find yourself improvising a lecture on *coroutines*.
When I was a student, oral exams were the norm, and I've found them an invaluable (almost free) practice to develop my explanatory skills. Skills that, for instance, can be used to earn some money. Of course, if you don't have any background on a topic, you cannot make it up, but once you have a solid background, being used at explaining things helps a lot.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Benefits I see in oral exams:
* It is harder to cheat in an oral exa, because - with usually precautions - an attempt is easier to detect.
* An oral exams makes it pretty obvious if a student is only able to repeat memorized answers or if he really understands a topic, because then he would be able to make new connections and explain the wider context.
Side note: I have a degree comparable to an MSCS and I had to take written exams to pass courses. But at the end of my studies I had to pass an oral exams in each field covering multiple courses over several years. Only the oral exams and my thesis were used to calculate my final grade.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: One of the great advantages of oral exams is that they can be *interactive*. Oral exams allow you to adjust your questions based upon the level of understanding the student has demonstrated as they responded to prior questions.
This allows you to quickly narrow in on how well the student understands a subject. If a student clearly understands a subject well, you can ask more advanced questions; if they are struggling, you can ask more basic questions. (Alternatively, if a student clearly knows one topic very well, you can move on to another topic without wasting time asking further questions about it.) In this way, you can often quickly get a very good sense of the student's depth of understanding.
Also, when a student is struggling, you can often get a good sense for *why* they are stuck, by asking them to talk through their thought process. And, when a student has a misconception or goes awry somewhere, you can ask a follow-up question or probe related concepts to see whether this reflects a deeper issue or just a minor misunderstanding. Or, maybe this student doesn't know how to approach the problem, but once they have an approach they're able to work through the details -- or vice versa. These often become apparent pretty quickly in an oral exam.
In contrast, a written exam must provide a fixed set of questions to all students, with no opportunity to adjust based on answers to past questions.
---
You might notice that job interviews are typically more like an oral exam than a written exam; they're interactive, and with many opportunities for the interview to ask follow-up questions and probe the job candidate's skillset and knowledge and attitudes. That's the benefit of an interactive format.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: According to the theory of multiple intelligences, different people respond better to different senses, leading to one person learning better from written (visual) material, a second learning better from audio material, and maybe a third learning better by using their hands.
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences>
Written exams cater for the writers, but other very smart people can do poorly at them. If you have a mix of written assessment and also other methods such as oral and hands on practical, then you will be able to test each student in a manner to which they are suited.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: One detail I have not seen mentioned in the other excellent answers: oral exams can be especially beneficial in classes where students work on a significant group project. An individual oral exam is a great way to assess
* each student's role in the group (I have found the oral exam to be much more effective than other assessment methods for detecting [freeloaders](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31934/how-do-project-supervisors-address-the-freeloading-problem-in-group-projects) and making sure that their grade accurately reflects what they did or didn't do),
* the depth with which they understand the part of the project they were primarily responsible for,
* the extent to which they understand the rest of the project, and
* how it all relates to the core course material.
This last item is especially important; an oral exam makes it easy to distinguish between students who just managed to hack together something that works, looks good on paper, and sounds good in a prepared presentation, vs. students who understood the material they were supposed to have been learning, and actually applied it to their project work. This is true of individual projects, too, not only group projects.
I also favor some "unusual" kinds of oral exams which have specific additional benefits. For example, I have used:
* A **poster exam**, in which students prepare a poster and present it to peers and faculty in the department at a class poster session. (In this case, the oral exam is conducted during the poster session - the examiner circulates and spends some time at each poster, asking questions.) I like this approach because students get to practice creating a scientific poster, and (as described in [Using Poster Sessions as an Alternative to Written Examination—The Poster Exam](http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed077p1158?journalCode=jceda8))
>
> Students' communication and organizational skills, their depth of knowledge of a particular topic, and their conceptual understanding of the topic are probed by the poster exam. Students report that the poster exam is more enjoyable and a more effective learning tool than traditional exams.
>
>
>
* An **interview exam**, in which students have a mock "job interview" with me. In the interview, I ask them questions about the topic of the course and their project work in the course, similar to the kinds of questions they are likely to get in a job interview. I like this because they tell me later that they were more prepared for real job interviews as a result :)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: I wrote [an answer based on my personal experiences](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/82687/11365), but here is another based entirely on the literature.
From [1], well-designed oral exams can increase student success:
>
> Scores on the oral examinations in advanced inorganic
> chemistry are usually about 15–20% higher compared to
> scores on written examinations over similar material. All students
> who performed at an unsatisfactory level on the first
> quiz in the introductory course earned a satisfactory mark
> after taking the oral quiz. Four probable reasons explain the
> higher scores:
>
>
> 1. The most significant contributor to higher grades is
> the self-correcting nature of the oral format—students
> always arrive at a correct response before moving on
> to the next question. This correct response, even
> though they might have been assisted to reach it, sets
> the stage for them to answer subsequent questions correctly.
> On traditional written examinations, missing the
> first part of a multipart question often results in answering
> all parts of the question incorrectly.
> 2. Requiring students to think aloud during the oral examination
> makes them think more carefully. This extra
> measure of care is often evident as a student will
> start a response, and then, even before they have completed
> their initial thought, will see a better way to
> look at the problem and logically work their way to a
> correct answer from a new starting point.
> 3. The oral examination tests a relatively small body of
> material and students are able to focus their study efforts.
> This focus is surely intensified by the knowledge
> that the testing will be done one-on-one. They do not
> want to do poorly in such a personal situation.
> 4. When testing some concepts, such as crystal packing
> or molarity, the questions are concrete in that students
> have objects to manipulate.
>
>
>
and this is especially true of weaker students:
>
> Struggling students, in particular, appear to benefit from
> the oral examination format. The success of these students
> seems largely to derive from the increase in motivation as a
> result of personalized strategy instruction, an important component
> of the ICML. Personalized strategy instruction leads
> to improved performance and the satisfaction of doing well
> increases their desire to continue doing well. Many of these
> weaker students fear college-level chemistry before entering
> the course. Doing poorly on the first quiz confirms the view
> they hold of themselves as learners of scientific material. The
> personal, early intervention that oral quizzes provide enables
> them to perform better the rest of the semester.
>
>
>
Also, students think that oral exams do a better job of assessing what they know:
>
> Student comments about the oral examinations obtained
> in anonymous course evaluations and personal exit interviews
> at the end of the term have always been consistent and enlightening.
> Most students believe that the oral examination
> provided a fair reflection of their knowledge. They were satisfied
> with their performance and would welcome oral examinations
> in other classes. Most students reported studying
> more for the oral examinations. Surprisingly, about half of
> the students interviewed volunteered that the oral examination
> provided a better reflection of their knowledge compared
> to written examinations because on written exams they could
> write something that was “fairly close” to being correct and
> get by with it. These students thought that the oral exam
> format made them demonstrate their understanding of the
> material.
>
>
>
For further reading, here's a small reference list:
[1] <NAME>., 2007. Using Oral Examination as a technique to assess student understanding and teaching effectiveness. J. Chem. Educ, 84(10), p.1663.
[2] <NAME>., <NAME>., <NAME>., <NAME>., <NAME>. and <NAME>., 2013. Verbal Final Exam in Introductory Biology Yields Gains in Student Content Knowledge and Longitudinal Performance. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 12(3), pp.515-529.
[3] <NAME>., <NAME>., <NAME>. and <NAME>., 2012. Undergraduate oral examinations in a university organic chemistry curriculum. Journal of Chemical Education, 89(12), pp.1506-1510.
[4] <NAME>., <NAME>., <NAME>., <NAME>. and <NAME>., 2000. Using poster sessions as an alternative to written examination—the poster exam. J. Chem. Educ, 77(9), p.1158.
[5] <NAME>. and <NAME>., 2009. Viva voce (oral examination) as an assessment method insights from marketing students. Journal of Marketing Education, 31(2), pp.120-130.
[6] <NAME>., 2014. Oral exams as a tool for teaching and assessment. Teaching Science, 60(2), p.29.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: I don't think this has been touched on but the most obvious answer is an oral exam best prepares the student for a real job. There is really nothing in school that prepares you on how to react to questions or debate during a typical work meeting. An oral exam can allow the student to practice a real world situation. And if the teacher is good at the oral exam they will slightly alter their approach to the different personality types.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: An oral exam provides more information and therefore more insight into how the candidate understood the matter. My view might be somewhat math-centered.
* You can (and imo should) ask students to explain their thoughts, to think out loud. That way you can not only see whether they are able to come up with the correct approach eventually, but also what other concepts they identified as relevant, what made them decide to use or not to use one of them, and so on. You get an idea of how well they have the subject structured in their mind.
* You can detect nervousness, help the student overcome that, and distinguish the resulting mistakes from incompetence. See [this answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/82640/67227) to the post you referenced for details.
* You can notice mistakes early on, and correct them to help with other steps that build on this. In written exams you are left to guess whether the student would have managed step 2 if they hadn't made a mistake at step 1. Or if they would have managed to tackle subsequent independent questions if they hadn't wasted this much time as a consequence of some silly sign error. But even if you think they would, you can't reasonably grade based on that assumption.
* You can concentrate on concepts instead of tedious computations. So for example you could say “suppose you had these things given, how do you compute that thing from them?” and have the student outline the approach without touching a single number. In a written exam, such a question is often problematic because it's very hard to clearly define what constitutes a complete answer and what does not. Which results from the lecture may they use without reproducing the proof, and which proofs should they include? How detailed should they be? I'd feel ashamed as an examiner if I found one exam where a candidate spent a lot of time writing pages of text, just to receive as many points as another did in two sentences. So we tend to let them compute something concrete, and they know they are done when they have a final result. But often having an idea is the interesting part, doing the computation is a waste of time (and often would be done by a computer in real life scenarios).
Note that some people will have problems if the questions become too abstract. So in many cases it might make sense to give them some explicit numbers for the items given in the question, so they can manipulate these if they want to. But make it clear that they don't have to, that it's the idea which counts, not them actually performing the computation.
* You can do multiple-choice questions and ask for a reason for their choice. That way you can distinguish guesswork from knowledge. Again the benefit is that in an interactive setup you can control the amount of explanation given, while in a written exam that amount is very hard to define in an objective fashion. Even if you say “write one sentence”, some people may concentrate on minor aspects of the argument, leaving a major point unjustified, while others will worry how to cram their three distinct ideas into a single coherent sentence.
* You can also build on choices in a way that's not possible in a written exam. A question like “decide if the system of equations has a unique solution; if so, find that solution” will tell students that the answer to the first part of the question is almost certainly “yes”. And if it is not, it will seriously confuse some who expect it to be, so they waste time looking for their mistake or performing the second part even though it's impossible. I've sometimes tried to come up with different but equally complicated tasks based on such a distinction, but that's really hard. In an oral exam you can ask the first question without giving any hint as to the answer, then continue with the second part only after the first has been solved correctly.
* You can adjust the difficulty of the questions to the candidate. That way you judge the amount of knowledge not so much by how many questions the candidate answered correctly, but at what difficulty they started having problems. It might be a good idea to inform candidates of this at the beginning of the exam: “I like to drill deep, till I hit rock bottom. There will be questions in this exam which you cannot answer. Don't let that worry you.” This may give you a more fine-grained idea of their knowledge, as you spend more time mapping out the boundary of their knowledge, instead of wasting time on questions well within or well outside their knowledge.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_11: * It can allow feedback from the audience of the speaker
* It can build confidence on the topic or debate
* It can act as a dry/practice run for future verbal confrontation throughout the students career
* It can reduce grading stress
Here is a link to other helpful hints:
<http://www.speaking.pitt.edu/instructor/oral-benefits.html>
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_12: To elaborate somewhat on the argument that oral exams allow you to assess understanding while written exams do not:
In theoretical physics and mathematics (for non-mathematicians), there are essentially four types of task you can have in a written exam:
* calculating
* proving
* producing a definition
* deciding whether some statement is true or false
The main goal is that the students understand the concepts and formalisms introduced in these courses. Trying to solve these tasks contributes to to this goal if done honestly, and having understood the concepts helps to solve these tasks. However, these tasks also require less relevant skills such as calculating or guessing the approach from the solution or with luck. Moreover, some can be done with blunt memorising – in particular since some of these topics only have a very limited amount tasks suitable to exam conditions.
I know many people who passed these courses by memorising algorithms and standard exercises, blunt calculating and brute-force arithmetics. On the other hand I know many people who had trouble with these exams as they couldn’t (or did not want to) bluntly memorise stuff or are unable to perform correct calculations under pressure.
While the tasks in an oral exam may be superficially similar, you can assure yourself that the student did not just memorise that particular method: Dig deeper by asking them to elaborate certain decisions or ask for the foundations they are using. As you can dig in an arbitrary direction, it is much more difficult to prepare for this by memorising. Also, the impact of such skills as calculating or guessing, buy not letting the student stumble into dead ends or acknowledging the effort.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/01/04
| 841
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a bachelor's degree in chemistry, and feel like I have definitely learned enough to deserve it. However, I have only done laboratory chemistry outside of my courses for a few months my junior year. I have not had any internships or professional chemistry positions. Next year I will be entering pharmacy school, so it might never be employed as a "chemist".
When discussing science online, is it misleading to tell people I am a chemist? Is there a difference between someone trained in chemistry, and a chemist? I.e., is being a chemist more than an occupation, but a lifestyle or state of mind?<issue_comment>username_1: [A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemist) Based on this definition, it is perfectly fine to address yourself as a *chemist* since you have been *trained in the study of chemistry*. It does not matter if it was a long time before or finished yesterday.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If it makes you feel better, if you become a pharmacist and go to the UK you might be best known as a [chemist](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/chemist):
>
> 1 British - A shop where medicinal drugs are dispensed and sold, and in
> which toiletries and other medical goods can be purchased:
> ‘antihistamine tablets are freely available in chemists’
>
>
> 1.1 A person authorized to dispense medicinal drugs.
>
>
> 2 A person engaged in chemical research or experiments: ‘chemists have
> developed catalysts that can turn low-grade fuels into petrol’
>
>
>
As it is, I'd be a bit concerned that simply saying you are a chemist would be misrepresenting yourself, in that being part of a profession generally means you are employed (or have been employed and continue to keep up your affiliation). It is more an in-context, implied matter of what is assumed in natural conversation, rather than a hard and fast rule.
One problem is that in a natural environment if you say you are a chemist, a person would commonly ask something like "where do you work" or "how long have you been a chemist" - to which you would need to back-peddle and explain that your undergraduate degree is in chemistry, but you are not and have not been employed as a chemist.
Such a situation would make it look like you are mostly "blowing smoke" and trying to make yourself to be something you are not. If you simply said, "my undergraduate degree is in chemistry", and optionally, "and I'm studying to be a pharmacist", that makes the situation clear and there can be no mistake about it.
As a comparison, if someone said they were a philosopher and it turns out they just have an undergrad degree in philosophy, I'd squint disapprovingly at them for being full of it. In some professions this would be much worse - for example, I will have a degree in psychology, but in very few situations would it ever be permissible to say that I'm a psychologist, as that happens to be a special title reserved for licensed clinicians.
It's all about clarity - and honesty - in your communication. Saying something that is technically true, but gives a false impression, should be left to slimeball-salesman types and politicians.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2017/01/04
| 850
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD candidate in a nationally prestigious university in a developing country. The university is mainly of engineering departments but also has a rather new economics department. It is my 7th year there and prospects for graduating are unclear. No one has ever graduated from our school (1 in her 10th year, 4 of us in 7th year). The are problems with the program I don't want to discuss that. But in short: asking for international level quality work + 1 paper accepted in an ABS rated journal before PhD thesis defense. There is no funding and we all have to work full-time somewhere else if we want to survive!
I have decided to apply for some public policy PhD programs in US, and resign from my current program if I get an admission.
All of my professional experience are research oriented, half of which I have under direct or indirect supervision of my current PhD thesis adviser. I have written one paper and in the middle of a second one with him in my PhD program. To sum up, he knows me the most, and potentially the most important reference for me.
The question he posed me when I asked for recommendation is this: how could a thesis adviser give you recommendations if you want to leave the program. What is the norm when people resign and reapply? Is it better to have him as my reference or not? And would people in admission committees think that I am low on perseverance? (I am not really, I am not of the type to quit something easily).<issue_comment>username_1: [1]. No funding.
[2]. Work for 7 - 10+ years in PhD.
Combining [1] & [2] gives an unrealistic expectation from the supervisor for you to stay.
I had to assume you are doing your PhD part-time. Getting a reference letter does not immediately require resigning or quitting. Even if you apply now, you will mostly wait till the next academic year before you quit. That is almost another year.
Your work so far may not even be wasted. When you join the US school, you may still collaborate with your local school, and even have more joint publications. With funding, your focus will be higher anyway, as a full time student.
There is nothing that should prevent a fair supervisor from writing such a recommendation letter. You may even convince him that you are not quitting - but, rather halting. Given that you are in your 7th year, it might be just months away for your graduation.
Hope your supervisor will understand and provide you with the letter. I have a friend who got a recommendation letter from his ex-PhD supervisor and successfully joined this another funded program in a foreign country. What you are encountering is not really a rare case.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: He may be feeling envious. He may be kidding around. I don't know.
You might not get into a funded program in the U.S., so it would be best if you didn't burn your bridges in case you end up staying where you are. So try to avoid an actual conflict with your advisor about this.
If you get the feeling your advisor would not give you a strong recommendation, you might want to let him think your interest has fizzled out. Then you could discreetly request a recommendation from someone else.
Hopefully your advisor can set aside his personal feelings and support your applications. Maybe it would help if you emphasized that if you get your PhD from the U.S., you'd be in a better position to help your university form collaborating relationships with folks in the U.S.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/01/05
| 501
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<issue_start>username_0: Is it acceptable to present the same project at two conferences and list them separately on your CV?
The two conferences are for different audiences (one is for educators and faculty members and the other is for a more interdisciplinary population). This being the case, the project itself will not change. However, the analysis of the data and the emphasis on the implications of it are drastically different for the two conferences.
I have seen elsewhere online that the recommended course of action would be to simply cite the more well-known conference and only that one. However, since the analyses of data are different for the two conferences, would it be deemed acceptable to list them as separate entries on my CV?<issue_comment>username_1: When I give the same talk in multiple venues\*, I list the title of the presentation once, then underneath all the places I've presented it. For example:
>
> **On the use of nanofibers in basket weaving**
>
>
> 20th Annual Meeting of the Society for Basket Weavers (July 2016), Department of Basket Weaving Seminar at East South University (August 2016), Workshop on Innovative Use of Nanofibers (October 2016)
>
>
>
If it's a *different* presentation (e.g. different title), even if part of the same project, I'd list separate entries.
---
\* Only at venues which accept work that has already been presented, of course.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: They are two different presentations at all effects. So whether you write it twice on your CV or not, should only depend on how "heavy" is your curriculum. I would use two entries if I had only those two conference talks, or just a bit more, and one single entry if I have >10 conference talks under my belt. To give you an idea, once you have given over 15/20 different talks about different projects at different venues, you would most likely keep on your CV only the most relevant ones.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/01/05
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a postdoc in Europe on a one year contract, where the renewal is not necessarily guaranteed. When I was interviewed, I was told that the his grant was for a year, and whether it'd renew would depend on the results of his next grant application. **After** my mentor hired me and things were confirmed, I noticed at least two other advertisements posted by him looking for postdocs, even with slightly increased salary. When I eventually talked to him about renewal, his response was: "*I'd first like to work with you and see how you do*". When I was hired by him, I was already in my third year of postdoc, and indeed in a top school in the US. Several times he had reminded me that the time is limited-one year, and pushed me to work fast.
Based on the above, I suspect that it's not the case that he doesn't have funding. **Questions: *Is he telling me lies? Is what he's doing a standard thing to do?*** I ask this, because I find this rather sketchy and selfish-the mentor wants to divide the money in more than one postdocs to maximize the publications as quickly as possible, but it really doesn't give the postdoc a stability. As you see, I cannot ask him directly about the follow-up advertisements, because obviously he'd say it's none of my business. I think I understand his view-he doesn't want to take a risk, but given that I was already a senior postdoc at a top 20 US school, was productive, switched to something very related and was the first choice for this postdoc position, I don't find a basis for his hesitation.
I'd very much appreciate your opinion and reflection on this topic. I **bolded** the *questions* so that *there's no confusion of what I want the answer to*.<issue_comment>username_1: I find "I'd first like to work with you and see how you do" perfectly reasonable and that's probably his actual position on this issue. What he said during the interview ("depend on the results of his next grant application") is probably also true, just not the whole truth. He wanted you to accept the position after all. As you know, until a contract is signed you have nothing.
Try setting up regular feedback meetings so that you know "how you do" and can try to improve your performance (and his perception of it) and can adjust your search for the next position accordingly.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: From what you explained, I don't see anything particularly unethical or unusual going on. Let's go over things:
>
> I was told that the his grant was for a year, and whether it'd renew would depend on the results of his next grant application. After my mentor hired me and things were confirmed, I noticed at least two other advertisements posted by him looking for postdocs
>
>
>
I am not sure what your mentor hiring other postdocs has to do with your contractual obligation. Maybe your mentor has multiple projects? Maybe the grant that he uses to pay you also pays for additional postdocs? All of this does not mean that your mentor could have also used the funding to give you a longer contract immediately, even if he wanted to.
That being said, even is he could have given you a longer contract but chose not to, I am not sure why you would be angry about this. It's not that the conditions of the job were not made clear to you when you took the job.
>
> As you see, I cannot ask him directly about the follow-up advertisements, because obviously he'd say it's none of my business.
>
>
>
You are aware that he is completely right about this? It *is* in fact none of your business, and has no bearings on your contractual obligation.
>
> When I eventually talked to him about renewal, his response was: "I'd first like to work with you and see how you do".
> I find this rather sketchy and selfish
>
>
>
Well, I don't. To be frank, *"let's see if I have funding"* is often code for *"let's see if you are worth spending valuable funding on"*. Strictly speaking, your mentor maybe did not tell you the whole truth, but it's not far off, and it seems naive of you to assume that your ongoing employment will *not* also depend on your performance in addition to the availability of funding.
>
> When I was hired by him, I was already in my third year of postdoc, and indeed in a top school in the US.
>
>
>
I am not sure why this would matter to your mentor. If at all, the fact that you are already in your fourth year as a postdoc would mean that your mentor assumes that you don't need a long contract, as you would likely be off to a faculty position soon anyway.
>
> it really doesn't give the postdoc a stability.
>
>
>
As I am also a postdoc, I completely understand this point. However, it is important to recognise that postdoc positions are *not designed to be stable, longterm contracts*. Fundamentally, if you want stability, you will need to find a permanent faculty or scientist position. It is not the fault of your mentor that your expectations are not in line with how the position you applied for is commonly understood.
Somewhat cynically, I am also not sure why you are even worried - you seem extremely confident in your own skills and the availability of funding, to the extent that you are mad at your mentor for not committing to you many years in advance. If that is the case, why do you even worry so much that your contract will not be extended?
>
> **Questions: Is he telling me lies? Is what he's doing a standard thing to do?**
>
>
>
TLDR: He may or may not be telling you the full truth, but I don't consider his behavior unusual or unethical. Again: did you really assume that your contract renewal only depends on the funding situation, and not at all on how well you do in the first year?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> **Is he telling me lies?**
>
>
>
From what you've written, **no**. I could not spot any straight lie. You see that there is more money for post-docs in the group, but that does not imply that this money may be available for your position. Grant money is for specific projects and our boss may have specific plans for the projects. Maybe he already has candidates but he has to post an advertisement by some law (that's how it is for some positions in Germany). Maybe he is looking for somebody with some specific background that you don't have?
Also, he hired you for one specific project, also probably because he thinks that your expertise fits well for this project and he does not want you to work on the other projects. Moreover, pushing you to work fast may be due the fact that the project time is running out and he needs results to prepare a report for the project and he needs results to write a follow-up proposal (both things seem highly likely). Note that there is a difference between "I don't have funding for you." and "A renewal of the contract depends on the outcome of the grant proposal."
>
> **Is what he's doing a standard thing to do?**
>
>
>
Actually, neither you nor me does really know what he is doing. He probably leads a larger group pursuing different lines of research and this is more complex than many people think. Planning ahead is important and not easy with lots of uncertainty about both funding and available manpower. What *is* standard, is that people are hired for projects and that project contracts are limited contracts. What is also standard, is that hiring includes some "probation period" (may it be official by law or by contract or only informally) and renewals are discussed timely but not too early. So keeping employees on limited contracts in suspense for some time is pretty usual.
What you can do, is to ask about an appropriate time when he will discuss opportunities for renewals with you. Note that he also may not offer a renewal right away since he expects that you will move on to another position in the near future.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Similar to other commenters, I saw no direct indication of him lying to you. Whether it is a standard thing to do or not is hard to tell as some additional information needed. For example, how large is his group, i.e. how many postdocs, PhD students? Specifically, if his group is large (2-3+ postdocs, 5-6+ PhD students, etc) then, I say, his behaviour is pretty standard. Parallel advertisements would be then for other projects which are within his group's research directions. He may have one particular research direction well covered (by, say, some grant recently obtained) for next few years and only limited amount of money available for research direction of yours.
Imo, parallel advertisements are of your business. However, your real concern is renewal of your fellowship and this is the real topic on which you should ask to be promptly updated by your mentor. In particular, info on continuation/non-continuation of your contract should come to you at least three months before the current end date.
Upvotes: 1
|
2017/01/05
| 2,091
| 9,126
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<issue_start>username_0: This question is the result of a discussion in [another question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/77461/can-intentionally-omitting-related-work-citations-be-considered-as-misconduct). If I publish an article, solving a problem, or finding relevant data, and subsequently another article gets published, **explicitly stating that the problem is unsolved, or that there are no relevant data**, what should I do?
Should I contact the editor of the journal where the second paper was published, to inform him that the paper is faulty? Would authors take exception to the fact that I didn't bring up the matter with them first? And would the right thing to do be to talk to the authors first, even if they can't find out who brought the matter to the editor's attention? Do I owe it to the editor, or to the academic community as a whole, to try to get the paper changed as quickly as I can by going directly to the editor? And does the answer depend on whether I believe that the authors acted in good faith or not?
---
Anything below this line is not part of my question and just justification for asking it.
Note that this question is about a specific bit of advice given in an answer in the other question, which I find questionable. As such, obviously this question has an answer in the other question. My question is whether that specific bit of advice is correct. Obviously the answer that prompted me to ask this question says so.
However, the point of the the other question is not to find out whether that specific advice is correct, and so there is no mechanism there for
a) showing agreement or disagreement for this bit of advice or any rival advice as to how to proceed (since the question is not about how to proceed in the first place.)
b) posting answers and/or thoughts about the correct way to proceed (since that question is not about how to proceed in the first place.)
So there is no way to extract any useful information from the fact that that answer has X votes: Was it given the votes because of or inspite of that bit of advice? Would people upvote the opposite course of action? Who knows. So I see some value in posting it as a separate question.
Feel free to remove this part once it has been decided whether this question is valid or already answered.
---
Another line: Why this is not a duplicate of [Recently published paper does not cite my very relevant work](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/49208/recently-published-paper-does-not-cite-my-very-relevant-work): That question deals with the issue of plagiarism and asks for specific advice if you suspect this happening. The answers there advise to do nothing. My question is for the case that the authors explicitly and wrongly state that there is no research or data available, and I have (for good or for ill) chosen to take action to get this factually incorrect point to be corrected. My question is not "What should I do if people don't cite me?", my question is "If I already have decided to make it known that the paper is wrong in claiming that it offers the first, or only, solution to a problem, and am trying to get that changed, would the correct way of going about be alerting the authors that the claim they made is wrong, or should I write directly to the editor." I have edited the question a bit to make that clearer, but even with the old question I don't see how people can construe this as the same question (and could consider any answer in the other question to be a valid answer for this question.)<issue_comment>username_1: The right thing to do is always to assume the authors of that paper simply were not aware of your work, thus in good faith. Depending on how many (thousands?) paper get published each year in your field, that may be the most likely explanation. Then, contact the authors kindly pointing out your own paper and explaining shortly your conclusions. If they don't take your work/yourself seriously, then write the editor.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: As far as I'm concerned, this happens all the time and it's completely trivial. When it happens to me, I sigh and shrug. If I were an editor of a journal and someone was to write to complain that their article wasn't cited in an article in the journal, I might consider a "Correction", but I'd quite possibly also flag the writer in my mind as a self-important prig. (Based on other answers, I realize this is going to upset a lot of people, but I'm just giving an honest answer here. And of course, this is almost certainly different in other fields.)
That's not universally true. There are certainly citations that absolutely need to be included, and if they're not included it would be serious carelessness at best, potentially misconduct. I'm not sure how to simply define these critical references, but they do exist, so I'm not saying it's OK to blithely skip any reference you want. (<NAME>'s comment to another question suggests using timing as one factor -- more than 20 years, the field may have moved on; less than a year, no time to include it; a couple years separation, should be cited -- and I like that as one criterion, but it's not the only one.)
But at least in my fields (various branches of molecular biology), it's very common to pick and choose references, and to ignore some, especially the ones that are relatively peripheral to the main theme of the paper.
(It used to be common, and still occasionally happens, that journals have a hard limit on the number of references you can include. This is baffling, especially for on-line only journals, but it is a thing, and could also explain why some references are omitted.)
For example, my PhD work was published almost simultaneously with another group who found the same thing, then was followed up in multiple papers by several other groups as well as by myself, and the articles were then summarized in a series of reviews. Thus, someone publishing in the field might, reasonably enough, cite my work, our competition, a followup, a review, or any combination of them; and whatever they chose I wouldn't consider it a big deal, even though (of course) in my opinion my paper was the clearest and most important.
Another example: My group recently published a nice but not groundbreaking study in a moderate-impact open-access journal. I know several other people in the field were completely unaware of this paper, and they went ahead and published overlapping studies without citing us. I've mentioned it to a couple of them at conferences, and they were startled, embarrassed, and apologetic, but it never occurred to me that I should do any more than that. The only reason I mentioned it to them was to save them the time and trouble of repeating work that's already been done.
So my answer is that I try not to skip any relevant citations myself, but when it happens to me I don't write to the editor or authors, and I don't consider it more than a really minor concern.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: My answer is in between the previous two. First, in the words of the good Lord: "let him who is without sin cast the first stone". If forgetting a reference has not happened to you yet it is probably because you are still young.
Oversights happen all the time and are *mostly* simple oversights. For *most* research professionals, there are few experiences as disquieting as discovering post-publication that the bibliography did not include proper citation to someone else who had worked on the same or a closely related question, and reached a different conclusion. After all, chances are you personally know or will get to know other people in the field, and purposely ignoring the work of others you know and will likely referee your papers, review your grants, etc... that can't be good in the long term.
If a paper has been in the works for a long while, the bibliography may be slightly outdated. Some papers are harder to find than others, especially if they are available behind a paywall. If the paper was written by a more junior member of a research team, it is conceivable that this junior member took his/her bibliographic cues from a more senior member, who may only be aware of the results of long-time competitors or of groups known to her/him.
Contacting an editor about not being cited without significant evidence that such "omissions" are deliberate is being overly sensitive.
The preferred course of action in most cases is to contact the authors who omitted to cite your work, including a copy of your own work, indicating your continued interest in this problem, and asking to be kept informed of future results by that group in this area.
This might result in an occasion to initiate a dialogue with the other research group; they may admit to an oversight, or may reply explaining why the chose not to cite your work, why they think you did not close the topic, etc, all outcomes that are much more constructive than "complaining" to an editor.
Of course it *could* be deliberate, but I would caution about rushing to this verdict.
Upvotes: 3
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2017/01/05
| 1,153
| 4,726
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<issue_start>username_0: About 5 years ago, I completed the 5 year process of completing my EdD at a reputable, large public university. At the time, they did not offer the course of study as a PhD. My faculty were reassuring that the rigor of the degree was on par, just with the Education titling.
Well... with next year's course catalog, they are now offering both a EdD and PhD path. My frustration is that the courses I took and dissertation requirements mostly match the new PhD curriculum.
For the most part, I wouldn't worry too much. Except I work in an industry role, and am constantly explaining the nature of my degree.
Is there any precedent for a university grandfathering in old graduates with a new program definition, or other recourse I might have? Could/Should they allow me to complete any gap requirements and reissue as a PhD? My biggest fear is that people would pull up my schools program, and assume I completed their new EdD curriculum which is lighter than their new PhD curriculum (again, which more closely resembles what I completed).
What are your thoughts? How would you approach this situation?<issue_comment>username_1: Since you asked for thoughts and approaches to the situation, I will sidestep the issues about grandfathering or doing additional work to change your degree to an EdD.
I think it is possible you are misinterpreting a lack of information/knowledge about EdD degrees as a lack of respect for the degree. Surely, there may be circles where EdD degrees are looked down upon vs. PhD in education (for example, in a circle of people with PhDs in education), but I am doubtful that this feeling is dominant in industry.
From my perspective, I can think of several responses to people curious about your degree, depending on the truth of the situation one or more of these may suit you:
"Actually there can be a lot of overlap between EdD and PhD degrees; my program of study was more similar to a PhD though at the time they only offered EdD. Now they offer a choice."
"In theory, EdD is distinguished from PhD in that EdD is more 'practical' and PhD more 'academic', but in reality those distinctions aren't that meaningful, and EdDs in programs like mine do substantial academic work."
"Some ed schools give EdD, some give PhD, and some give both. My school only gave EdD when I was a student. The distinction only really matters at schools that offer both."
In a more professional setting, like a job interview, you could point directly to the work you did as a student: publications, for example, to highlight the rigor and value you produced as a student, regardless of the specific letters indicating your degree.
In summary, three points: 1) It sounds like you might be projecting some insecurities about your degree onto people who are more curious than condescending, 2) It is extremely unlikely that the EdD/PhD distinction will be the deciding element in your job prospects in industry, especially if you already have a job: instead, you will be evaluated based on your experience and productivity as a professional, and 3) You're an educator by training - feel free to educate people a bit, even if they are potential employers!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I would petition the school. The same happened to me when I went through the Ed.D. program, and then right after graduation, they became a Ph.D. program. Because many of my credits were transferred and I did the dissertation through the new school, they originally issued me a Ed.D.; however, my credits and curriculum more closely matched their Ph.D. program. Once I petitioned, they as of this week, converted my Ed.D. to a Ph.D. and reissued me new transcripts and a diploma with the original date of my Ed.D. on it from 2016. I think it's possible, it's just that many people would not go through the rigor to request it. Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I totally understand your feelings, especially with the rigor, focus that entails a PhD., and the "stigma" that goes with Edd's. I strongly think you have a case, all you need is to present it to your school and be ready to go through the hoops and bureaucracy. Go for it and good luck.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: I can think of two precedents that might be relevant, both at the University of Cambridge: the retrospective conversion of pre-1982 LL.B. degrees to LL.M. degrees; and the retrospective award of the M.Math. to holders of the Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics. In both cases, the procedure has a clear basis in the published University Ordinances, so I guess my advice to OP is to get hold of a copy of the equivalent regulatory document from his/her university.
Upvotes: 1
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2017/01/06
| 1,612
| 6,662
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<issue_start>username_0: **I've been made aware of a situation that blatantly violates the honor code at my institution (also every institution). However it does not involve my lab, and the folks in the relevant lab are not keen to address it in any official capacity. What to do?**
The Situation:
* A graduate student proved to be unfit for the lab he worked in. After one year he transferred to a totally different department/school/program at our university--one that is not research intensive.
* Upon leaving, my friend hounded him for the data he collected, which was part of a project she is lead on. He provided her with an excel spreadsheet. The Day 1 observations appear normal, but the subsequent days were simply a formula that changed Day 1's values by a constant and added some variance. *To be clear, he actually left the formulas (which linked to the Day 1 observations) in the cells.* So, clearly it's fraudulent data.
* My friend told her PI and is not using any data collected by this RA in any of her work.
* However, what is problematic, IMO, is that the PI and my friend have no intentions of addressing it further. I believe they are motivated by a desire to avoid the bureaucracy and the awkwardness that comes with making such an accusation. They have also pointed out that the program he is in now is totally different and does not involve real research (but still writing up reports about observed data, I would imagine).
The Question:
* This student is still at our institution and I feel that the lack of ethical integrity he demonstrated should (must) be addressed!
* Am I being a self-righteous, [cotton-headed ninny muggins](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fig956-MuVA&feature=youtu.be)?
* If not, what course of action should I take?
* NB: I am not in any way associated with that lab or PI... it's a different department too. I am a 2nd year PhD student.
Thank you for any insight.
Bonus Details:
* This was intentional fraud. The data are behavioral observations of mice, there should be original video files, and there are for Day 1 but the subsequent files are missing. When asked several times this week it was "oh yeah yeah I'll get those to you... it's just my login isn't working since I'm switching departments..." indicating that he did not actually collect the data. He did not reply "just kidding," "my bad," or "actually I did something stupid." (Sidebar: his inability to realize how obvious he is reminds me of teaching while students not-so-covertly text... I see you!)
* The specific formula was Day1Value\*1.1+(RAND(-2,2))... so while he added variance it was a naive attempt at doing so... even if he hadn't left the formulas in there it would be as clear as day.<issue_comment>username_1: I think the place to start would be to talk to your friend about feeling uncomfortable with the position you are in. It may however be that the situation has in fact been addressed, but without the effect being visible to you.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: The truth is you don't have the evidence, and your friend and its PI are not being co-operative. They should have directly called him out and given him a scolding, and proceed further, using the evidence depending on the students reaction/etc.
Btw, have you seen the fraudulent data yourself?
I must say I find it weird for someone "unfit" for research to bother to 1) fake data for a lab they left, when they can just say leave me alone 2) put the effort to fake it with a minimal level of technical decency (add variance)...
To me, there is something odd about the relationship between these 3 characters. It will be interesting to hear the story from the cheaters side.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I took action... After carefully reading our honor code and the procedure for reporting misconduct I felt more compelled to act. Ultimately, I think falsifying data is one of the worst things you can do as a scientist. I just couldn't stop thinking about the new department he is in, the new advisors he has, and the new cohort he is apart of... all ignorant of this offense. If I was his new advisor, I would want to know about this. So out of respect for them and for my institution I knew I would act. The question was how?
It turns out my university has a protocol for reporting misconduct anonymously, which is great. But rather than go that route, I actually asked the PI if we could meet. PI was taken aback because, although PI knows who I am, we are not at all working together. In our meeting I simply explained that...
"I feel compelled to act in accordance with the honor code given that I am aware of the situation. But once I report the incident, you will likely be the first person they contact. So I wanted to come to you instead, out of respect, and explain how I felt regarding the situation and basically find out if you prefer to take care of it or if you prefer for me to move forward acting in my own good conscious."
PI was surprisingly kind about it, empathetic even. PI was very responsive to me explaining that I mostly felt bad for the new people this person was working with, that they were ignorant to his lack of ethical integrity--something the PI had not considered. We discussed how the PI wrote the RA a letter of rec to get into the new program, and I could see a realization on the part of the PI--specifically, that he had a responsibility to let these folks know that he no longer stands by his characterization of this student. In the end, PI assured me that we were in agreement, that taking official action through our university's research office was the appropriate next step. I apologized profusely for meddling but PI assured me I did the right thing and that I would've been equally right to have reported it as well.
So in answer to my own question, I would say that...
* First, read your honor code carefully to find out what responsibility you have to report incidents you know about. (This is why S.Diaxo's answer is incorrect; not only is there something I can do about it, I am technically required to do something about it).
* Figure out what your options are for reporting misconduct, it may be the case, as at my university, that you can simply report it anonymously and that they will look into it and you do not need to be involved.
* If you feel compelled to report something, but you want to be respectful to the people it might involve, consider talking to those people directly (in a respectful and non confrontational manner). That worked for me, and I'm glad I don't need to be the one to report it.
Thanks everyone for your discussion.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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2017/01/06
| 1,491
| 5,770
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergraduate in the US applying to REUs in mathematics. Every REU I am applying to through MathPrograms has a section where you can choose to fill out your gender/race, along with a message of the form
>
> The U.S. Department of Education requires [university X] to report on the racial or ethnical composition of its student enrollment. Information on individual students is held in strict confidence. Self-identification is entirely voluntary.
>
>
>
It is not a secret that REUs want to encourage higher participation of minority groups, and indeed the web pages of some programs say things like, "Members of underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply."
I am a white male from a suburban area. Clearly this is not going to boost my application, so my question is, could there be much benefit in choosing "decline to answer" on these questions?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> I am an undergraduate in the US applying to REUs in mathematics. [...] I am a white male from a suburban area. Clearly this is not going to boost my application
>
>
>
The personal consequences for you of being labeled on your application as a white male are not something that anyone can predict with any certainty. Even assuming that the data are visible to the people evaluating your application (which is probably not the case), the putative effect would depend on things like the individual attitudes of people evaluating your application. These attitudes would be variable and we have no way of measuring them.
Keep in mind that any pile of applications in mathematics in the US is going to contain vast numbers of white males, so even if there were some very strong bias against you, or some extremely aggressive affirmative action program, the result can't possibly be to exclude all white males.
Since the actual consequences of your disclosing your information or not disclosing it are unknowable and probably negligible on an individual level, your guess about those consequences is not a good criterion on which to base your choice.
You might instead want to base this on your political opinions. Reasonable people can be for or against the idea of having the US federal government classify people into racial categories. An example of a reason for: a horrific national history of slavery and oppression, which we could try to undo to some extent. An example of a reason against: race is a nonsensical and artificial construct, and there is no logical way to apply it to people of mixed race.
If your personal utopia is one that lies on one side or the other of this issue, be the change that you want to make.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: [A 2015 study](http://www.pnas.org/content/112/17/5360) demonstrates that women that men and women faculty members from biology, engineering, and psychology departments prefer female applicants 2:1 over identically qualified males with matching lifestyles:
>
> Men and women faculty members from all four fields preferred female
> applicants 2:1 over identically qualified males with matching
> lifestyles (single, married, divorced), with the exception of male
> economists, who showed no gender preference. Comparing different
> lifestyles revealed that women preferred divorced mothers to married
> fathers and that men preferred mothers who took parental leaves to
> mothers who did not. Our findings, supported by real-world academic
> hiring data, suggest advantages for women launching academic science
> careers.
>
>
>
We also know that [African Americans and Hispanics are typically favored over European Americans and Asian Americans](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-harvard-discrimination/harvard-records-show-discrimination-against-asian-americans-group-idUSKBN1JB1UF) in college admissions:
>
> In court papers, Arlington, Virginia-based Students for Fair
> Admissions said an Asian-American male applicant with a 25 percent
> chance of admission would have a 35 percent chance if he was white, 75
> percent if he were Hispanic and a 95 percent chance if he were black.
>
>
>
Also, there are [numerous campaigns](http://pathwaystoscience.org/women.aspx) worldwide to increase the number of women in STEM, offering scholarships and other opportunities to women that are not offered to men. There are even cases known, where only women are allowed to apply for a specific academic positions, like [this Assistant Professor Position](https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/251320) for the Vienna University of Technology or [these three senior positions](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/may/19/university-of-melbourne-mathematics-school-advertises-women-only-positions) at the university of Melbourne. [Similar initiatives](http://www.womenintech.com/hirono-unveils-plan-to-increase-stem-opportunities-for-women-minorities/) exist for "minorities" as well.
For these reasons, I would be inclined to not mention race and gender on my applications to REUs in mathematics.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: There’s no advantage whatsoever to not declaring. The NSF REU program does have as an official goal increasing representation of underrepresented groups (see [official language](https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13542/nsf13542.htm) below), but someone who doesn’t mark anything isn’t helping you meet that goal in a way you can put in a report to the NSF. There’s just no difference whatsoever between marking white and not saying anything at all.
>
> NSF is particularly interested in increasing the numbers of women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities in research. REU projects are strongly encouraged to involve students who are members of these groups.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2
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2017/01/06
| 558
| 2,365
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<issue_start>username_0: I applied to several post-grad programs at Australian Universities. I got an offer from one (University A) very quickly, conditional on completion of my undergraduate degree. It had a lapse date of January 1. During the Christmas break I emailed University A letting them know that I had completed my undergraduate degree but would not be able to get a transcript to them before January 1. I said "Is there anything I can send in the meantime [while waiting for official transcript] that would be sufficient to prove I have met the conditions of the offer and can accept it?" Since then I got another offer from a different university (University B) that suits me better and I plan to accept this offer.
Today (January 6) I finally got a reply from University A saying "I can confirm you have successfully accepted your offer...". I realize I may have implied that I was going to accept the offer in my email, but the situation changed and I no longer want to accept the offer from University A, since University B is a much better option for me for various reasons.
How can I professionally and politely decline the offer to University A?<issue_comment>username_1: As always, honesty is the better solution here. Just write to them a polite e-mail explaining that you did not explicitly want to accept the offer. Then you can say that for personal reasons, you have accepted an offer from another university.
A polite e-mail explaining your situation is always a quick and professional way to settle such situations. In most cases, the person reading your e-mail will most likely be in an administrative position and will not really care about the reasons why you wish to decline the offer. Do not worry too much about declining, it occurs all the time.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Dear [name],
>
>
> Thank you for your reply to my email of December [xx]. Please note that in that email I asked what documentation I need to send in the event that I decide to accept the offer to join your graduate program, but did not yet indicate a definite wish to accept the offer. In the meantime, I have considered the matter some more and decided to pursue other opportunities elsewhere. Thank you again for the generous offer, for which I am grateful.
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> [your name]
>
>
>
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2017/01/06
| 443
| 1,975
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently in the process of writing an application for a PhD scholarship at a British university. The school's system requires a CV (resumé) with attached cover letter, along with a few other documents.
My intended supervisor is someone I've already worked with for my MSc thesis, and he has said that he's willing to proof read and suggest changes for my cover letter, using his knowledge of the university's system and what the interview panels are generally looking for to help word it in such a way to tick the boxes that he anticipates the selection panel will be looking for.
He hasn't shown my cover letter to anyone who will actually be involved in the selection process, and he himself will not be involved in the process in any way, but a part of me is still concerned that such help might be giving me an unfair advantage over other applicants who don't have the same kind of relationship with their prospective supervisor. Is receiving this kind of help OK or not?<issue_comment>username_1: **It is totally normal that somebody helps with applications.**
This is true, for example, for applications for scholarships (where potential supervisors help) but also for applications for grants (where, e.g., many universities have specialized units to help applicants to formulate their proposals).
Regarding fairness: I do not think that this is the right question. **Unless the rules for the scholarship do not state otherwise**, you can use any help to prepare your application you can get (of course, cheating is not allowed - e.g. accepting help for an online language assessment by a native speaker would not be okay).
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: No, don't feel this way. In an ideal world, every applicant would have a good relationship with a former supervisor and could enjoy this "advantage." Of course, some don't, and sometimes that's their fault, and sometimes not - but that is life.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/01/06
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<issue_start>username_0: Did you ever get a paper accepted by a journal without any comment at all? It has happened to me twice; both times with a very high-standing journal in my field.
I was initially confused, did not know whether to be pleased, or horrified. I then settled for the latter. In my opinion, this is a terrible consequence of the current publishing model where editors are not necessarily qualified to review papers, and referees do not have either financial or prestige incentives to do a good job.
Is this common? What did you think of this phenomenon?
EDIT: after all your nice answers and comments, and talking to people working in the editorial side of peer-review process, I came to the conclusion that the lack of replies was due to the fact that both papers were - somewhat - interdisciplinary. I understand it is way harder for editors to understand interdisciplinary papers (they are expert in a subject, not necessarily in multiple subjects) and thus judge for themselves and to find appropriate reviewers. If this was true, it would be particularly scary as the most groundbreaking papers are typically multidisciplinary and thus most likely be accepted with little criticism (if the author is already renowned) or dismissed without further ado (if the author is relatively unknown, at least in that area).<issue_comment>username_1: This has happened to me twice. The first occurrence was for a paper that was accepted in a decent computational fluid mechanics journal with a single reviewer. The comments were purely aesthetics ( Color change to some figures, etc.). The second time was in a chemical engineering journal (also a pretty good one), and there were absolutely zero comments from the single reviewer that reviewed the paper.
Initially, I found these occurrence quite alarming because the papers had been accepted after significant delay (2-3 months at least), but had been reviewed by a single reviewer. With time, I think this is just a proof that the review process is by itself flawed, but there is little we can do as researcher except carry our own reviews with as much care as possible.
However, from a career point of view, no one knows how many reviewers actually reviewed your paper once it is published (except for some very specific journals). What I did, and maybe I can suggest you do the same, is to take extra care when you do the proof reading of the paper and the corrections. I would even ask some colleagues or at least your co-authors to help you as much during the proof reading.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I would be suspicious in that case. You may be a very good scientist, but I still think that no two readers would have exactly the same opinion about the paper (let alone two reviewers *and* the author). I am deeply dissatisfied with the review process as it is, since I get sometimes unreadable papers to review even from good journals. It is pure waste of my time. So I honestly cannot believe that two people would 1) read the paper 2) understand the paper 3) have an opinion about the paper and would have really *nothing* to add. It never happened to me as an author, and only once as reviewer, and in that case I wrote the positive aspects of the paper in the review (including "I have rarely a pleasure to review a paper which needs basically no revision"). So ... I would be suspicious, yes.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: It happens with one of my earliest papers, which was very technical in establishing a close-form derivation of a statistical error, hence could not be much improved or modified. I took it in a positive mode! I would say it all depends on the paper and on the journal: some electronic journals aim at quick acceptance or rejection and ask referees to refrain from suggesting aesthetic modifications.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: One of your comments clarifies your question as being about inaccurate findings slipping through the review process (“It is about what if I was wrong? I am afraid nobody would have realized.”) I don't share this view of what the peer review process is about and I think it's totally the wrong thing to be concerned about.
Depending on the venue, peer review is about ensuring the research is minimally competent (the researchers are aware of what's going on in their fields, standard methodology, etc.), internally coherent (the data and argument presented support the conclusions), described properly (with enough details and clarity) and relevant. It's not and cannot be about the results being true. Maybe mathematics or computer science can occasionally be different but that's certainly the way it works in empirical fields.
So what if you are wrong? If the result is important enough, other people will hopefully notice, publish their own results and correct the record.
That said, I would still be a bit concerned about receiving no feedback at all. The reason for that is that, in my field at least, reviewers always find something to say. It can be wrong, it can be nitpicking, but it's very unusual to get empty reviews. Personally, if I get to review a paper that's good enough to publish as is and I really don't have any suggestion to improve it, I would usually at least write a paragraph restating what I think are the authors' main contribution and praising them for it. Not writing anything does suggest the paper might have been reviewed very superficially.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: It's certainly not common, but can happen. Example: [Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_Structure_of_Nucleic_Acids:_A_Structure_for_Deoxyribose_Nucleic_Acid), the first paper to describe the structure of DNA, was accepted without review. *Nature*'s editor, <NAME>, later had this to say about it:
>
> ... the Watson and Crick paper was not peer-reviewed by *Nature* ... the paper could not have been refereed: its correctness is self-evident. No referee working in the field ... could have kept his mouth shut once he saw the structure.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: There are two variables, your work product and the actions by journal. If you think the journal is lax, just see if they accept things from other authors without revision. (I would think this is a basic scientific problem solving idea.)
In all likelihood if it is a good journal, it is not common that they accept without revision. For various reasons. Papers aren't that great. Reviewers are fussy. (Most journals you can see on the papers the dates of submission and revision so it is obvious what the practice is. Otherwise talk to people to get the skinny.)
So your papers were the variable. Given there were two of them you can't even figure it as luck. Probably you write well. Not just clear English but clear science logic (e.g. some authors play games with dancing around limitations rather than just being candid about them).
Finally, I would see yourself as the overcontrolling Hollywood director of your first author paper. That is your baby. Sure, if someone can give advice that helps it, take it. But don't TRY for a committee process. And when you submit papers make them as ready as you can. You should always have the attitude that the thing is as perfect as you could get it, before next person went to review. So if it hits the street (after typesetting), fine.
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I had similar thing happen with my papers. I am very far from an English major. But I did try to do my best with them (writing clearly and honestly and following the notice to authors for the magazines).
Funny thing was my advisor didn't think the my first paper would be accepted because I was not bragging enough and making the work seem too simple. I just told him to send it in as is and see how it went. It ended up being accepted without revision (good ACS journal, no page charges). We never even saw the reviewer sheets but I learned afterwards who 2 of the 3 were.
My prof was in shock. Said he had over 100 papers and had never had one accepted like that. We just got the letter back and he came and asked me what "accepted" meant as editor response. He even said as a subeditor he had done 500 papers and never seen it. Prof didn't fuss at me after that. And I ended up having the next 4 first author papers after, all that I was FA, accepted without revision.
And I did not discover DNA. While I am a native English speaker, I'm not some trained writer either. I really think if you just do solid, honest science and tell it straight that the papers can/should move through smoothly.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_7: One of my articles was published "as is" in J. Math. Phys. The two referees just mentioned that the result was correct. The article was relatively short, the result was good (even if I say that myself) and relatively easy to check, so I am not sure any profound conclusion can be made based on this outcome of my submission.
Upvotes: 1
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