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2017/08/06
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<issue_start>username_0: **MLA formatting question:**
I'm writing a paper on <NAME>'s *A Gathering of Old Men*. This is the only work I am citing. When using in-text citations, do I need to restate the author in every paragraph, or is a page number sufficient? For example:
>
> Tucker said, "<NAME>" (Gaines 1). This is my interpretation of this quote.
>
>
> Later in the novel, Tucker said, "<NAME>" (**(Gaines)** 2). Here is my interpretation of this quote.
>
>
>
Is the second "Gaines" necessary?<issue_comment>username_1: The golden rule for citing, imho, is:
>
> The provenance of each idea/concept should be clear to the reader.
>
>
>
When I'm doing section of methodology, in which I explain one particular mathematical theory, for instance, I say that all definitions in this section came from this book, at the start, then I don't cite it again in that section. If I use it again, in other section, then I'll cite again.
In your case, as long as you don't give the impression that it is your original content, it should be clear which is the corresponding citation. This can be a bit tricky, but it is *very* important, because otherwise it would be plagiarism and that's a whole can of worms...
Of course, this might be different for your field!
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: You do not need to include the author's name in every citation, as long as you make it clear that you're only using one source. I say this based on the MLA guidelines found [here](https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/2/).
Specifically, you should look under the section "**In-text citations: Author-page style**", which states that the author's name doesn't need to be cited in the parentheses as long as he/she is mentioned in the text.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: It is common to use 'ibid' to refer back to the previous citation, and you can include also the new page number.
[ibid](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibid.)
Upvotes: 0
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2017/08/07
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<issue_start>username_0: When one is hired by industry to research (or something of innovative nature), he or she may want (or need) to access online journal articles.
But I suppose normal industrial jobs (e.g. software engineer in Amazon) don't grant online subscriptions to journals (like, access to a network IP with a subscription, just like many university accounts).
So, do industrial researchers purchase subscriptions themselves (this seems to be close to impossible)? Or do they apply for subscriptions through their company?
I have not worked in the industry, but I am curious.<issue_comment>username_1: >
> But I suppose normal industrial jobs (e.g. software engineer in Amazon) don't grant online subscription to journal (like, access to a network IP with subscription, just like many university accounts).
>
>
>
Some industry research labs do subscribe to digital libraries, though in my experience, not as many as a university. For example, in the industry research lab where I'm currently spending my summer, I can access the ACM digital library, but not Elsevier journals.
To access papers that are not available by subscription, researchers in industry usually try one of the methods described in the answers to these questions:
* [What do you do when you find yourselves with an unreadable/inaccessible paper?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7797/what-do-you-do-when-you-find-yourselves-with-an-unreadable-inaccessible-paper)
* [Access to journals for individuals outside of an institution?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12334/access-to-journals-for-individuals-outside-of-an-institution)
* [Ways to get free and legal access to research papers as a researcher](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/51923/ways-to-get-free-and-legal-access-to-research-papers-as-a-researcher)
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It is often possible to get a library card from your university library. Someone will have to pay for it - presumably your employer - but I can't imagine that if access is essential to your work lack of access would be a longer term issue.
(Some schools also allow some form of access for alumni, usually at a discount over regular paying non-university members.)
Upvotes: 2
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2017/08/07
| 949
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<issue_start>username_0: In my university, tutorial sessions in physics usually consists in the teaching assistant solving three to six problems in front of the class (less than 30 students per class). Some TAs try to encourage student participation by asking what the next step in solving the problem should be, etc... but the results are usually poor. As a student, I mostly thought that this format for tutorial sessions was a waste of time, especially since most TAs gave the corrected exercises after the tutorial session (as I think they should be doing). I usually stopped attending after a few weeks.
I now find myself in the situation of being a TA for the first time and I don't want to repeat the same mistake as my peers. I want to convince the teacher to let me try a more stimulating format for the tutorial sessions.
I initially wanted to use clickers and ask short multiple choice questions to students, but I may have to abandon that idea since 1) it might be too much of a change for the teacher to accept, 2) take too much time for me to prepare and 3) the university might even not have clickers.
Another idea I had was to go through a single difficult exercise with the students as an example and to leave them the rest of the hour to work in teams on their weekly homework while being available for questions.
What do you think about it? What are some good ways to maximize the usefulness of tutorial sessions and to make them stimulating for students?<issue_comment>username_1: You could take a jigsaw approach to teaching this.
1. Put students in groups.
2. Each group solves their problem
3. You work with each group to be sure it's correct.
4. Remix the groups so that each new group has at least one member from the original question group.
5. In the new group each person teaches the other members how to solve their question that they completed in the original group.
Everyone is engaged and you provide support as necessary. Each group should probably be no bigger than 4-5 members otherwise people start to get bored
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I will discuss your ideas first. In my country, oftentimes, students are not too engaged in tutorial session, hence doing the clicker quiz will not work.
Regarding the extreme problem set in a team, I found only some students work on the question, the other halves are only waiting for the smart student finish thinking. This approach might work at MIT, I heard the rumor, CMIIW. My school was not MIT though.
Back to your question: "What do you think about it? What are some good ways to maximize the usefulness of tutorial sessions and to make them stimulating for students?"
I found that my approach works in my university, a top engineering school in a developing country with a lot of lazy students. So, the students are smart, but lazy, and usually unable to collaborate with others.
I made a flash quiz, with high difficulty and should be finished in a short time. They will be unprepared for the quiz, thus I allow them to open the text book. I told them that the score will be counted toward the final grade. I have negotiated with the professor and all the scores from the flash quizzes can contribute until 5% of the final grade. It is small though, and I didn't tell the students how much the quiz contributions. Nevertheless they take the quiz seriously.
Usually, most of the students get frustrated by the quiz and that is the point I want to make. They should know that they do not know about the materials, even after they read the book. After waiting for 30 minutes looking at them finishing the quiz, I stop them then we scores the quiz. Then I do the tutorial by discussing the questions in the quiz. 90% of the students usually pay attention to me. Sometimes, they even voluntarily want to solve the problem in front of the class so they know how to deal with the problem with firsthand feedback.
I believe that there are many unorthodox approach in conducting the tutorial session. I provide you with this one example. You may want to refer to the link in the comment which is relevant with your concern as TA.
Enjoy your TA-ing!
Upvotes: 1
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2017/08/07
| 859
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a tenured professor planning about seven years past the Ph.D. Over the past few years, I've applied to a handful of jobs (I haven't been looking aggressively — just applied to the good opportunities that came up, along with 500 other people).
My references usually come from:
1. My Ph.D. advisor (who has moved to a new institution since I finished my Ph.D.).
2. Another professor who taught me in graduate school.
3. A mid-career professor from another institution who has read some of my publications. He's not a super-star academic that anyone from any field in my discipline will know, but he is established and well known within my particular field.
4. (For jobs requiring four reference letters) another professor from my graduate institution.
This is basically the same set of letters I have used since I was on the market as an ABD student seven years ago. They worked back then for finding a tenure-track job, but I'm wondering now if I should shake things up – perhaps get away from having any letters from people at my graduate institution other than my Ph.D. advisor, for example. I worry that the letters from professors who only knew me in graduate school will seem stale (and frankly, I haven't had much contact with these people since I graduated, so they probably can't comment in detail on what I have been up to since I was a student).
If I don't continue to rely largely on letters from professors at my graduate institution, whose letters should I replace them with? People who I think were anonymous reviewers for my books and articles? People who I think wrote letters for my tenure review? People in my current department whom I trust (this is tricky, of course, since I don't want to advertise too loudly within the department that I am applying for new jobs)?
I'm in the humanities, for what that's worth.<issue_comment>username_1: At 7 years post PhD, your letters are getting *stale*, in that your PhD advisor, probably is no longer the person most familiar with your work. The person who taught you in grad school is definitely not going to be the most familiar with your work. It sounds like you did not provide a list of names when you went up for T&P. If you did, you should reconsider those names.
Some possible ideas of letter writers:
* Find someone who is teaching from your book(s)
* The person you most like having a beverage with when at a conference
* The person who has, or that you would ask, to write a blurb for your book jacket
* Someone who has invited you to give a research seminar or be on their conference panel
* A trusted colleague in your department or at your university
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I went on the job market after getting tenure at my first institution and know that references can be tricky.
Your original sources would be appropriate to attest at your potential success as a junior candidate, but not as much for positions at your level. Also, search committees may question why you couldn't or didn't have newer references (for instance, they may question if you are difficult to work with).
I selected for my letters: a co-author on several of my papers (who could attest to my scholarship and work style), a prior co-worker who left our department the year before (hence, avoiding the word of my job search getting out), and my mentor i was paired with for a national fellowship (who could attest to my potential/abilities as an independent investigator). I also had a trusted colleague in my department who provided me with a reference and kept my search confidential.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 3
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2017/08/07
| 4,501
| 17,934
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<issue_start>username_0: I've got an upcoming work in which I quote a couple sentences from a scholar's book. There's an unambiguous typo in it; the author just switched a few words around.
Do I really have to quote him verbatim, adding "sic" to point out the error? Or can I just "quote" him, with the typo fixed?<issue_comment>username_1: Academics are old-fashioned people who care about things like truth, facts, and accuracy. By making sure that everything you write between quotation marks is what the person you quote *actually wrote* (with "[sic]" inserted as appropriate), you will contribute your small share to perpetuating these values, which, although temporarily out of fashion these days in some parts, have served humanity well and will continue to do so in the future.
It may seem silly to resist the urge to make a correction when it's just a typo, but it's a good way to get yourself and others into the habit of speaking truthfully and accurately. So please write "sic" rather than correct the quote. Silly as it may be, in a small way it makes the world a better place.
Upvotes: 8 <issue_comment>username_2: I agree with username_1's suggestion to preserve the exactness of the original quote in some form and would advise against just rewriting the quote to what you think it should be, regardless of how obvious the author's intent seems to you.
However, I would advise caution when using a single quote supplemented with [sic] because it is often used in a derisive way. Some writers choose to use [sic] to make explicitly obvious that the person being quoted is incompetent and incapable of properly expressing their argument (say, for example, news articles expressing dissatisfaction with certain tweets from certain presidents...), and that doesn't seem to be your intention here.
In addition, if this is the only direct quote from the book, you might be falsely representing the work by only providing one snippet that's loaded with typos if the rest of the work is written well. Maybe you could find another direct quote from the same work that expresses the same idea?
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: A dissenting view from the other answers: **Yes, it is fine to silently correct obvious typos that do not affect the subject matter.** But only when you are 100% confident that they really are just trivial typos, e.g. correcting *theroem* to *theorem*; see below for more on this point.
In non-academic contexts, this is pretty much universal practice. The Chicago Manual of Style, for instance, says:
>
> Obvious typographic errors may be corrected silently (without comment or sic) unless the passage quoted is from an older work or a manuscript source where idiosyncrasies of spelling are generally preserved.
>
>
>
and I do not know any major style guide that differs from this.
In an academic setting, **you should certainly be extremely cautious in judging what’s really a typo**, as comments on the question point out. However, you should usually be well-qualified to judge this, as an academic in a field closely related to that of the writers you’re quoting.
So I see no positive reason to treat the academic case differently from the non-academic. Scientific accuracy and clarity is paramount; literal typographical fidelity is no more important in academia than in most other fields.
Meanwhile, all the negatives of replicating the typo still apply. Leaving it in without a “[sic]” is distracting to the reader, and also makes it unclear whether the typo is due to you or the original authors. Adding a “[sic]” is even more distracting to the reader, is a bit harsh towards the original authors (drawing attention to a trivial mistake they made), and may be read as intentionally disrespectful to them.
**What is an obvious typo?** General-purpose style guides give guidelines like something which you are absolutely confident the author would have corrected, had they noticed it; and which can’t be read in any other way than the corrected way. This principle still seems completely appropriate in academic settings, with the caveats that academic writing is particularly likely to include unusual terminology or deliberately-chosen subtleties of wording, and (again) of erring on the side of caution, since accuracy is critical.
A few examples and suggestions how to handle them:
* >
> <NAME>’ famous profo of Fermat’s last theorem…
>
>
>
Check that *profo* is not a technical or facetious term that the author is using elsewhere in the text, or that appears in other literature. Having ascertained that, correct *profo → proof.*
* >
> <NAME>’ famous proof of Fermat’s last theorem…
>
>
>
Check that there is not some mathematician called *<NAME>* who gave another proof of FLT. Having ascertained that, correct *Andrerw → Andrew.*
* >
> <NAME>’ famous proof of Fermats last theorem…
>
>
>
Check that the author is not deliberately using non-standard punctuation elsewhere in the text. Having ascertained that, correct *Fermats → Fermat’s.*
* >
> <NAME>’ famous proof of Fermat’s little theorem…
>
>
>
Do not correct. This is almost certainly a typo — “Fermat’s little theorem” does exist, but Wiles’ famous proof is of the last not the little — but it affects the subject matter non-trivially, in that the incorrect reading still makes sense.
* >
> <NAME>’ proof famous of Fermat’s last theorem…
>
>
>
Do not correct. This is most likely either an editing typo or a simple non-native speaker mistake; but it is conceivable that an author chose this wording deliberately.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: It is not particularly helpful to reproduce an obvious typo in a quote, but equally you should not deliberately mislead the reader about the original source. One solution to this is to correct the typo, but put the corrected word in square brackets to indicate that it doesn't appear exactly as in the source. This is standard practice when making a minor change to quoted material for other reasons.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_5: A quote isn't a quote if you change it. Everyone knows what sic means or can easily find out.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: You don't have to [sic], but you do have to indicate where your quote deviates from the original. The normal way to do this is with square brackets, e.g. "He walk[ed] from the bedroom to the shore", so that the reader knows that you have changed the original.
Changing a quote without indicating that you have done so is misrepresentation of the original.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_7: The word sic means 'it is really so', or 'just like that', or 'precisely'. It does not mean 'This is a typo' and it should not be used to point out typos.
It should be used to indicate that you really mean it exactly/literally as you wrote it. This is useful when there is a risk that the reader mistakenly believes that there is a typo or misprint. For instance, if a doctor prescribes a medicine in a way that it is not normally used, or a dosage that is unusually large. Then the doctor would add 'sic', so that the pharmacist will understand that the prescription is really as intended.
In conclusion, sic is (should be) used to point out something that is CORRECT, not to point out an error!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: I absolutely agree with using [sic] as you do not want to convey to your own readers that you are making mistakes. Your credibility is at stake, and there needs to be a way to insulate you from the mistakes of others. Your job, therefore, is to report - not correct or interpret.
In my case, I often write in journalistic format, and have to report on technical products, many of which have catchy names for marketing purposes, even though the name of the product is a misspelling. This has repercussions, because people familiar with the material know the products, but my readers are generally not familiar with the names. I would be crucified by my audience had I not conveyed a deliberate misspelling which is not, in fact, a misspelling.
Here is interesting reading:
[Understanding the terrible spelling and punctuation in corporate names](http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_good_word/2014/03/chick_fil_a_spelling_why_so_many_brand_names_have_spelling_and_punctuation.html)
If a journalist tries to make corrections, and that journalist is not familiar with the subject, making a "correction" can actually create a misspelling.
Having said that, there are times you do not want to use [sic]. If you are a reporter, and you are quoting someone who does not have good command of the language, you are in a position of having to interpret what was said or what was meant. News reporters get this all the time, and have to make choices to report or interpret, and, that can change the context.
For example, someone actually says "I seen him running from the car over yonder". How are you going to report this? You could interpret and write "I saw him running from the car over there", or you could write "I seen [sic] him running from the car over yonder [sic]"
I think neither method is best, but you have to report something. If you report exactly what was said, no [sic], then the reader probably knows it's not you. If you interpret, you are changing the apparent intelligence of the person you're quoting - and that changes the news. If you stick in all the [sic] markers, you'll have a mess no one can figure out.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: >
> There were trhee others.
>
>
>
You could write:
>
> Prof. Shakespeare expressed the opinion that "there were [three] others".
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: I am missing the reasons so far why academia use [sic],[!] and correct quotation, so I point them out in detail. It has nothing to do with "old-fashioned" values or that scientists are anal-retentive for useless details. I expand it so it should be understandable even for laypersons.
*So, yesterday I invented a perpetuum mobile, physics is done. Oh, you do not believe me? How insulting!*
What are we making of this claim? If it is ridiculous, *why* it is ridiculous? The thing is that we need the ability to **check** a claim. It must be
* **verifiable**: We must have the ability to either look it up or reproduce it. In the latter case it must be
* **traceable**: We must have enough information to retrace the route which has given us the information. For exactly this case scientists have a laboratory journal which painstakingly notes the steps which have given the published result.
* **trustworthy**: The source of the information must not have falsified evidence or tampered with evidence. If errors occur, it must be clear that it is really a honest mistake. This is the reason scientific fraud is a death sentence for the career of a scientist; they cannot be trusted anymore.
So why do we need quotes? Has a specific person said something important about the work, provided an important argument or necessary data about the subject we are examining? No? *Then it does not belong in your text*.
Yes? Then we need to make it *verifiable*, *traceable* and we must show the reader that *we can be trusted*. Traceability is guaranteed by providing the exact reference where we found the quote. Information which is based on goodwill can be paraphrased, but it must be clear that it is *our understanding what we believe the text contains*, **not** the actual text.
*But you have completely misunderstood what I was saying. I did not say that what you are claiming*.
If the exact meaning of the quote is paramount, we must provide **verifiable evidence** that what we claim is the 1:1, "exactly what it says on the tin" content. Once those magical quote chars appears, *we must do our outmost to reproduce the exact content* of the quote and this includes any misspellings and errors of the quote.
* **Veracity and trustworthiness:** The problem is that any printed content may deviate because there are misprints, reprints and revisions which may alter the content. By providing the exact reference you are providing evidence that *you really looked it up exactly there*. [Errors are even built in on purpose](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictitious_entry) [to check if content is identical](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street). By modifying content your trustworthiness is gone because you cannot prove anymore that you really used the specified reference!
* **Source of errors:** user2357112 already pointed it out: "iff" is not a typo, but a mathematical abbreviation. The meaning of words changes with diacritics, *Stuck* is not *Stück*. There are specific characters like ℮ which is not e or ℓ which does not mean l. Germans do not use ¶, but §, the 1 is written differently in handwriting, not as |, but more like 1. In former times people could argue that their typewriter does not support specific characters, this excuse is not longer valid. There are really countless traps that will change the meaning even if completely unintended.
* **The format of the content is itself used for scientific purposes and veracity**: Language changes, specific words and spellings occur, disappear and change their appearance. This can provide evidence if the veracity of a text is in question. to-day is at the beginning of the 20th century **not** a typo, it is evidence that a quote which is claiming to come from this time is not falsified. Many forgeries have been detected by this method, so by *altering content you are destroying evidence*.
* **Content itself gives us information about the past, especially objectionable (racism, sexism) and embarassing content (e.g. dyslexia)**: Let's imagine that old books will be gradually replaced by books which are rewritten that they do not contain objectionable content anymore and *the old books are destroyed*. Fast forward 100 years later. The scientists which have only the new books must come to the conclusion that the late 20th/ early 21th must have suffered a mass delusion of epic proportions because there were big movements claiming unfair, derogatory and discriminatory treatment, but every book says that all people were really nice to each other and treat everyone with utmost respect!
Another thing is the problem of correcting embarassing content. The question is: Why do you even think that you have the right to modify content because **it is your opinion** that it is not appropiate? You are essentially painting a big red sign on your torso: *I will modify things if I do not find it appropiate, so my sources are biased and cannot be trusted*.
* **Small details matter**. This [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXXmhxbQ-hk) explains the Xerox Maximum Credible Accident when copied numbers are replaced completely inconspicously by other numbers. This is also interesting because the "Birthers" pointed out (correctly!) that the numbers in the copy of Obamas birth certificate are conspicously equal (right) and therefore the birth certificate must be photoshopped (wrong, it was the Xerox machine). I cannot find a better way to demonstrate how catastrophic supposedly small and rare changes can be and how it can undetermine trust.
Why is this important? If you prepare for a honest discussion, you must prepare for that what is *actually* claimed, not for that [*what you believe is claimed*](http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/quotes/mine/part2.html).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_11: In addition to other answers about using *sic* or putting content in square brackets, sometimes you can avoid awkwardness by quoting less or breaking up the quote.
If the original quote is (misspelling the word *carefully*):
>
> Take the wrapped potato and after inspecting it for any punctures caerfully lower it into the firepit.
>
>
>
You could avoid the issue entirely by quoting it like, say, this:
>
> The camp leader said: "Take the wrapped potato" and carefully "lower it into the firepit".
>
>
>
Now you have faithfully represented the original, but also avoided making *any change whatsoever* to quoted text—the best of both worlds.
The objection could be raised that this makes the quote look more dodgy, as though you're concatenating two unrelated quotes to misrepresent what was said. I suppose that's possible, but I think it's a spurious concern, because if the reader doesn't trust you, there's no reason for him to believe you're quoting accurately in the first place. Would any of the following versions actually inspire confidence in such a reader who was suspicious of your commitment to faithful representation?
>
> The camp leader said: "Take the wrapped potato ... and caerfully [sic] lower it into the firepit".
>
>
>
Or
>
> The camp leader said: "Take the wrapped potato ... and [carefully] lower it into the firepit".
>
>
>
Or even quoting the whole phrase in its entirety? A suspicious reader will have to check no matter what.
In a trusted publication or in the right context, there is no issue with breaking up a quote. Accuracy is easily checked and you will be called out if you misquote.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_12: There are people who say ( or write) exactly what they want to say. I'm one of them. So, when quoting them, it's important to quote exactly. If the words/phrases used are not exactly what are expected, then 'sic' is exactly what is needed. It portrays that the new quoter doesn't necessarily believe that's exactly what the original quote meant, but that's exactly what was quoted, verbatim, and the reader should be aware of that.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_13: You have to use [sic], or not change anything. That way everyone reading your paper knows exactly who wrote what.
My personal favorite example in this vein was the writer who [sic]ced "orient" and then explained that the writer they were quoting had meant "orientate".
Upvotes: -1
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2017/08/08
| 523
| 1,765
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<issue_start>username_0: I was trying to find the latex template for IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, but I am only able to find the .`doc` template. Do we have any .`tex` template for this journal?
<http://ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/create-your-ieee-article/use-authoring-tools-and-ieee-article-templates/ieee-article-templates/templates-for-ieee-journal-of-translational-engineering-in-health-and-medicine/>
Usually there should be latex template as well.<issue_comment>username_1: It seems JTEHM does not provide any template for LaTeX documents. The standard IEEE template is available with `\usepackage{ieeetran}` but it does not seems to be coherent with the word document provided (e.g. abstract), so it might need adaptation.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: You could play with `IEEEtran` to generate the similar looking document template. This is what I could get.
```
\documentclass{IEEEtran}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\title{Here goes my JTEHM Title}
\author{Author1, Author2, Author3 \\ Institute1, Address1\\ Institute2, Address2}
\begin{document}
\twocolumn[
\begin{@twocolumnfalse}
\maketitle
\end{@twocolumnfalse}
\begin{abstract}
~{\lipsum[1-1]}
\index{keyword1, keyword2, keyword3}
\end{abstract}
\bigskip]
\section{Introduction}
\lipsum[1-7]
\section{Conclusion}
\lipsum[1-1]
\end{document}
```
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YjHLi.jpg)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I contacted their office and looks like they don't have latex template. But they provided me with IEEE JERM tex template which is almost identical.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iopdX.png)
Upvotes: 0
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2017/08/08
| 326
| 1,275
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<issue_start>username_0: I’m an MSc student and write my thesis about academy retention.
So far the only model I know is that a student enrolls to a certain faculty and begins his studies there.
I’m trying to find models in which the students start their studies in a global semester or year and only after finishing it, choose their desired faculty.
Are there universities or colleges with such a model?
Also, is there a formal name to such a “global semester/year”? I haven’t been able to find anything on the net.<issue_comment>username_1: In Germany, there exists something called ***[Studium Generale](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studium_generale)***¹, which is essentially what you describe.
Its specifics vary between universities, but in most cases you can freely attend introductory courses from all faculties and take exams if you like.
---
¹ I can only link to the German Wikipedia for this. As of now, the English page does not contain this aspect at all.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: In the U.S., it is common to start at a university as an "undeclared major". This gives students an opportunity to take courses in a variety of areas to figure out what interests them. Typically, after a year they must choose a major.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently a graduate student and a member of an organization in my field. In my organization, there is this Early-career group composed of young scientists who already earned their Ph.D.'s, taking post-docs, and running their own research groups. In the case of graduate students, does early-career or the term applicable? and what is the difference between the terms early-career scientist, a budding scientist, young-scientist?<issue_comment>username_1: "Early-career" can mean any number of things, depending on who you ask and in what context (from just PhD students, to everybody except tenured professors). Usually, it is just a label and hence matters little.
Where it actually can and does matter is in the context of grant applications, as many funding agencies have special calls for early-career researchers. However, in these cases, the agency will specify exactly what the boundaries of eligibility are. For instance, the Swedish Research Council (VR) has a [Startup Grant](https://www.vr.se/inenglish/researchfunding/applyforgrants/callforproposals/closedgrants/startinggrantnaturalandengineeringsciences.5.6b078ee51581835cea275390.html) that is available between 2 years and 7 years after getting a PhD.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Exactly what any particular organization means by "early-career" is determined by the organization. The main point is that the term "young" is condescending and ageist. If you get a PhD at 50, are you a "young" scientist?
Upvotes: 3
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2017/08/08
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a paper submitted and accepted in a journal (Biology and Environmental Sciences) and it has a supplementary file which is a short video coverage, however, the journal does not support this but I have uploaded the video to Vimeo. Do you have any suggestions where I can store the video and generate a DOI (like other journals) then attach it to my paper?<issue_comment>username_1: Videos [are among the file types](https://support.figshare.com/support/solutions/articles/6000166622-what-data-can-i-upload-and-how-) accepted by [Figshare](https://figshare.com/), which is an online digital repository operated by Macmillan Publishers. You can create an account for free, and you will get a DOI when uploading files which you can then cite in your paper.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Also have a look at [Zenodo](https://zenodo.org "Zenodo"), a research data (including movies) and text repository operated by [CERN](http://home.cern "CERN") and [OpenAIRE](https://www.openaire.eu "OpenAIRE").
Like Figshare, Zenodo will generate a DOI for your publication.
Unlike Figshare, Zenodo is not owned by a big corporation.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I had a look at the [publons webpage](https://publons.com/), a website for tracking academics such as peer review, editorial contributions etc. They claim that it could be used for promotions and funding.
Being a Ph.D. student, is it worth getting an account with publons?<issue_comment>username_1: I think it is particularly useful as an early-career researcher with all your reviewing ahead of you. I've also noticed assessors really appreciating that Publons can now verify all of your reviewing and editorial work, which can set you apart from others who just say they review for some journals.
If you want to be considered for more reviewing assignments, then it's a nice way to get your name in front of journal editors as a potential reviewer too.
Can't see the harm if it's free and easy to maintain...
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: This is ultimately a subjective question, but one can ask: what is the value added of publons? Or better, what is unique in publons that is not found elsewhere?
In my understanding, the answer to the latter is **none**. As a PhD student and early career researcher, you should at some point have your own personal website. Furthermore, you should have an account with Google Scholar. And, something that is quickly emerging and soon to become the standard in academia, you should have an [ORCID](https://orcid.org/) account. The latter is your unique ID as a researcher, with links to all your research. ORCID is a system developed by a non-profit, academic oriented organisation, and ultimately, it is an open source, community base project. Importantly, they also allow you to add [peer reviewing activities](https://support.orcid.org/hc/en-us/articles/360006971333-Peer-Review), something which was unique to Publons (but not anymore). I can testify that in my academic institution, an ORCID is required, as it is used for departmental evaluation.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I tend to disagree a bit -- though I agree this is contentious. For someone like me, at least (an early career researcher) who has a LOT of balls in the air, publons offers, if nothing else, a convenient way to keep track of the reviewing I've done. At the end of the year, at the time of Annual Reviews for my institution, it is an easy cut and paste job to let them know the level of my 'academic service' for the year.
Many of the 'extras' on publons (like rankings, and 'excellent' reviews) I have not yet found to have any value. As an ad hoc editor, I could imagine that it might provide me with ideas for reviewers... but I haven't used it in this way yet.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Publons has been around for a while now, and I think we can conclude that while it is very popular with publishers (they constantly email me about it), very few academics are using it. So no, it is not worthwhile.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: At this point, no. They have a very young, unsupervised WFH cohort in New Zealand, untenured in research, set loose amongst profiles, with editing capability. They are making a lot of mistakes. Adult supervision is needed and sorely lacking.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/08/08
| 1,076
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a PhD student in experimental biology in the UK. My funding grants me a monthly stipend for 3.5 years (including money for consumables/conferences etc).
In my group, the standard practice is for people to work for 3.5 years and *then* write up (though actually different people have different funding, and the funding that the department provides directly does last 4 years).
When I started, I was quite happy to stay for 4 years (the stipend is sufficiently generous that I've saved enough to cover me), but, relationships with my PI have deteriorated significantly. \* At this stage, I've said that I wish to write up at the end of 3 years, and be ready to viva by 3.5. This is something that she refuses to grant.
>
> What should I do in this situation? I don't feel that anyone can be expected to work for free (theres no expectation that I should have saved money), and therefore feel that (1) she should either give me her blessing to write up, and all the support that goes with it, or (2) she should find additional funding for the final 0.5 years in order to force me to write up in the department.
>
>
>
Note: the UK has a different funding model to the US, and I'd prefer to just hear answers relating to the UK funding situation (i'm well aware that students in the US have a *far* tougher time of things, both in terms of money, but also in terms of the very very long PhD's that some people must endure).
---
\*: We've had a difficult relationship from the start, truthfully. She is fairly old and established at this stage, and has very little interest in discussing things, but rather dictates her wishes via emails from her secretary and then comes to the lab to complain when things don't work. This has slowed my work appreciably as we're constantly jumping around to keep her happy.<issue_comment>username_1: You can most definitely leave with out a PhD. Further, every UK PhD program I am familiar with will allow students to defend at nearly any point. Most programs have max durations (usually 4 or 5 years) after which they will not let you defend. Some programs also require students to progress from an MPhil to a PhD after the first year. The standard route may ask for your supervisor to sign off on scheduling the viva (and schedule the viva). In the case of an unhelpful supervisor, students can approach other faculty or the director of graduate studies. If you push hard enough, you should be given a viva.
Your supervisor should have no contact, especially in difficult cases, with the examiners during the viva. That said, I would be wary about doing a viva without your supervisor on board.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Unless UK universities differ significantly between each other, your supervisor will not have any role in assessing your final thesis - this will be done by the internal and external examiner.
Your supervisor will normally propose these based on personal experience - and I suspect in most cases the university will go along with those suggestions (at least that was my experience).
So a malicious supervisor can give you an examiner who will give you a hard time - while a friendly supervisor will suggest a friendly examiner.
So where am I going:
If the relationship with your supervisor has deteriorated to the level where you feel you would just quit - but are nevertheless motivated to complete your work, it would be highly advisable to seek some advice within the university (and possibly also if you aren't motivated to make sure you don't make a mistake). There should be a person responsible for dealing with such situations - I forgot what they are called...
Ideally, you could be given an administrative supervisor and submit the thesis under their "guidance" - they won't need to be an expert in the field, but should understand your work.
The key question in this case is whether the work is sufficient to be considered for a PhD, but only you or your supervisor (be it old or new) can determine that.
A side note on funding:
The university as an institution is unlikely to continue your funding, unless you are employed doing some work, say on a part time basis to carry on with your work. Where people are paid beyond the standard grant duration, this is done by the department - potentially the sponsor if there is an industry sponsor. I believe it is up to the department ow they organise this - i.e. whether they pay you to write up or whether they pay you to continue/complete your work before/after writing up but before defending the thesis.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: A week before submitting to a peer reviewed publication, me and an acquaintance exchanged drafts for comments. My acquaintance described my work as preliminary, listing many ways in which the work could improve. The tone was slightly harsh, but the comments were constructive. They seemed to be relatively confident about their paper.
My paper was accepted, but I heard that their paper was not. Should I thank my acquaintance? On the one hand it is courteous to do so, since they read a draft and helped me to improve. On the other hand, it could come across as schadenfreude if they are a bit on the sensitive side.<issue_comment>username_1: Hint: a polite, discrete form of honesty is invariably the best first approximation for a prescription of behavior. Especially, thanking those who've genuinely and specifically helped you is (at least to several orders of approximation) a good thing. The "glory" of having a paper accepted is not truly so great, although it may seem otherwise at the beginning. After some point, receiving thanks for helping can be more professionally gratifying than the traditional notion of publishing per se, since *publications* do not necessarily help anyone other than the author.
Even though some things are unavoidably competitive, in many cases that aspect is not truly the central feature of the thing. My advice is to try to separate "the game" from "the science" (etc.), as difficult as that may be when one is in the throes of the thing. But, in any case, thinking too much about "the game" seriously corrupts one's clarity.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> My paper was accepted, but I heard that their paper was not. Should I thank my acquaintance? On the one hand it is courteous to do so, since they read a draft and helped me to improve. On the other hand, it could come across as schadenfreude if they are a bit on the sensitive side.
>
>
>
Yes, please thank them. That your paper got accepted and theirs was not may or may not sting a bit, but that will be true independently of whether you thank them or not.
That being said, the protocol in such cases seems to be that they will approach you and congratulate you on your accepted paper, and this is a great time to heartfully thank them for their help and express that you are sorry about their paper being rejected.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2017/08/09
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<issue_start>username_0: I was wondering if it is ok to present the same paper (may be already published in journals or unpublished) in different conferences? Assuring that the conference will not publish the whole research work but only abstracts in the proceedings.<issue_comment>username_1: I think it depends on the field. For example my supervisor (in computer science) tends to give the presentations on our software project using the same theoretical core, but each time this core is supported by different evaluation benchmarks. In my opinion I do not see anything wrong in presenting the same ideas on different conferences, especially if it is not published and one does not try to present it as completely novel work. Diversity of presentation venues facilities better work dissemination after all.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: It depends on the rules of the conference, but it is usually OK. You could get different input from different audiences.
Beware of publishing rights if there are published proceedings and you expect the paper to be published in a Journal that expects original and never before published before material.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am corresponding a paper and the status of the paper is under review after first revision.
Recently, I realized that one of my coauthors had done some bad acts against the project (related to the paper) in the past and now I want to delete his name from the author list.
Meanwhile it should be noted that his contribution to the study had never been scientific and I wrote with negligence his name. However, my big concern is now that removing his name might be unethical.
How can I deal with this important issue?<issue_comment>username_1: I think it depends on the field. For example my supervisor (in computer science) tends to give the presentations on our software project using the same theoretical core, but each time this core is supported by different evaluation benchmarks. In my opinion I do not see anything wrong in presenting the same ideas on different conferences, especially if it is not published and one does not try to present it as completely novel work. Diversity of presentation venues facilities better work dissemination after all.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: It depends on the rules of the conference, but it is usually OK. You could get different input from different audiences.
Beware of publishing rights if there are published proceedings and you expect the paper to be published in a Journal that expects original and never before published before material.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I have completed my undergraduate degree and do not have any universities nearby where I can find research work. I have been working in machine learning and want to write a research paper in this field.
I read quite a few research papers as a part of job description but am unable to come up with a new idea for a research paper. How do I go about finding an idea? Generally, if I find something, it is way too broad. For example, I read about hypergraph decompositions or HTMs and got really psyched about them. I couldn't get to a point though which would be a concentrated topic that could lead to a reproducible research.
How do I go about finding ideas for writing a paper considering I don't have anyone to work with me or guide me in the process?<issue_comment>username_1: First point - *don't force it*. Getting ideas for academic papers comes over time and has to be a natural process. The more you try to get good ideas for papers, the more unnatural the process can become and the less likely you will be to come out with something worthwhile.
The best way to get a good topic is just to carry on reading around in your field as you normally would. At some point you may well come across a topic or a research gap that needs to be filled and one which excites you and stimulates you at the same time. That is the point where you can start planning your research.
Bear in mind that a good research article topic can take time to discover. It can be weeks - or months - before you come across something worthwhile and that you feel you can turn into something research-worthy. You don't necessarily need anyone else to do this with, but you do need natural drive, enthusiasm and acumen in your area. If you have these, you will come across a topic and be able to write about it and conduct research effectively. But don't search too hard: writing academic papers should be a natural process and you'll find that something will present itself soon enough.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There are lots of different types of academic papers, including review articles, novel ideas, etc. While the types of papers varies across a wide range of topics, many academic papers comes from finding something where you can legitimately say one of the following things:
* I figured out something interesting that is not yet known/published;
* I can do things (slightly) better than they are presently done;
* I applied this broad method to this special case and came up with this interesting result;
* I abstracted from this special case to this broader theory/method.
It is great that you are getting excited by reading these research papers, but if you want to publish your own work then you need to be on the lookout for interesting ideas, questions, etc., that are extensions of what are in those papers. For example, if a paper raises an interesting question that is not in the literature, maybe you can ask that question and figure it out. Similarly, if you see some aspect of a method that might be done differently (and you think that might be better) then have a go at it and see if you can do something slightly better than it is done in the literature. You can write an paper where you show how a general theory/method reduces down in a special case, or you can write a paper where you extend a theory/method to greater generality than it is presently applied.
When we read papers we are often trying to teach ourselves an area of practice. An inquisitive researcher usually starts playing around with the problems they are reading about to try to learn about them. Many academic papers come about because the researcher is playing around with existing methods and procedures and they start asking questions that are not answered in the papers they are reading. For every five or ten cases where you play around with a problem you may find that one particular idea/case emerges that you pursue further and it leads to a publishable paper.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/08/09
| 678
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<issue_start>username_0: I am joining in few days a computer science conference where I will have to present a poster, based on a paper accepted to the conference.
My poster is a standard A0 3 columns poster, and presenting it takes me around 5 minutes; I have no idea if 5 minutes is the right amount of time, as this is my first poster presentation.
I am afraid that it may be too long: the full poster session takes 30 minutes, with about 10 posters exposed.
Any experience on this? Should I try to shorten my presentation?<issue_comment>username_1: In general, depends on the conference's poster presentation format. Check the guidelines for a given timespan. If there is none, then it is probably no presentation, but a normal poster session where you are presenting your poster in parallel with a lot of other people in a room. People will come by and you can explain your work to them.
In such a scenario, I would not assume to do a fully linear presentation. Rather I'd prepare a very short topic introduction (at most a minute, better 30 seconds). Then check back with your visitor if they seem interested or are asking questions already.
Then based on interaction with your visitor, try to find out which aspects of your work are interesting to them and drill deeper in the respective direction.
Poster sessions are very much about direct interaction, so don't try to shower everyone with a whole bucket of water as soon as they arrive, give them small sips and see if they like your wine. If they do, you may end up empyting whole bottles with one or two of them and drunkenly end up in a bar in the evening to plan your collaboration. Most people will just nod and smile to your short intro and be happy to go on.
P.S. If you can present all your content in about 5 minutes that's however a good indication that you've chosen about the right level of abstraction - I'd just cut it in smaller pieces that you can dish out individually/as layers.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Check first how much time you have been allocated but if you are worried your presentation is too long then stick to the highlights so people will visit you later for additional details, where time will not be an issue : tell the audience why they should come to visit you at the poster session, rather than tell them about the contents.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: For me, when I've presented a poster at a conference I haven't produced a full spiel to work through. There are a lot of posters at these sessions and people want to go round, take away some key points and move on.
My best advice is to make sure you know the information on the poster inside and out so if and when you do get questions you're able to rattle off an answer or stimulate a discussion with them.
Maybe its the nature of my research but I find most people read for 30 seconds, look at me, nod and move on so don't be offended!
Upvotes: 1
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2017/08/10
| 1,686
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<issue_start>username_0: After a paper is rejected several times by several journals it begins to become clear that the research was off the mark no matter how much editing, fixing, and revisions are done. Therefore,
What do scholars do with unpublishable papers?
Do they stick them in a file drawer and pretend it never happened? Perhaps they burn them? Or do they try to pull something from the ashes for another paper. It's somewhat depressing to spend months on a project to watch it murdered during the review process. Surely there is some sort of afterlife for a rejected article?<issue_comment>username_1: I think that in general, researchers submit and resubmit their work until it's published. If an article is really troublesome, it will die in the file drawer, hence the "file drawer problem" experienced in meta-analyses.
A better practice could be to post the manuscript on a preprint server. The research would then be accessible to everyone.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I do not see many solution as to what to do with a 'failed' article. I multiple rewrite of it has not been accepted, it might underline some fundamental flaw in its content.
The problem is not what do to with the article, rather understanding why it's not accepted. Is the research methods wrong? Is is superficial? Subjective? Is it adding something to the field, a new method, new point of view (is it original and relevant).
If your research method is correct and the data interesting, it's surely worth salvaging.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: There's always room to publish any paper, even a computer-generated one that doesn't make sense. You just need to target the "appropriate" publication/venue.
Being more serious now, I have rarely seen any rejected work that "just died". For good or bad, the paper or parts of it were always later reused / resubmitted and eventually accepted.
I am not saying that's a good thing, because some papers/ideas/research topics are really terrible and absurd, but too many researchers are usually too stubborn / invested to accept it. Many of them, in fact, have made a career out of this (like republishing the same absurd/non-working idea for decades) and everyone seems to be okay with it.
These days there's really room for everything: publishing is a huge business. Again, it all depends on your standards.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> What do scholars do with unpublishable papers?
>
>
>
The answer depends a lot on the researchers involved. <NAME> has gone on record saying that he ["rarely sends rejected papers elsewhere"](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/buridans-principle/), but I would guess most academics nowadays can hardly afford such a strong stance.
In informal discussions you will sometimes hear the term "dump venue" being thrown around. What exactly constitutes such a dump venue is up for discussion, as all rankings, but for most academics these dump venues are conferences and journals that are not good enough that one would usually write a paper explicitly for it, but not bad enough that one would be embarrassed about one's work appearing there.
And at least in Computer Science, there absolutely are venues in *all* quality tiers. It is rare that research work that we do turns out so bad that there isn't *any* conference or workshop where we could put it, without having to resort to spam journals (which is a no-go for me and my colleagues). In the rare case where work turns out to literally be close to unpublishable, the sane decision is to cut your losses, and let it die. However, this has happened to me at most 3 times so far.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: These days you always have the arXiv, or other preprint servers. This way, the manuscript is available and can be found through many (but not all) searches. Indeed, citations show up on Google Scholar, HEP spires etc.
In my field, we submit to the arXiv first, so papers we have trouble with are already available. For this reason, many people don't bother with difficult to publish articles, and leave them as arXiv-only papers.
I am aware of many completely correct, well cited, arXiv-only papers. Indeed, I would be curious to know what the most highly cited arXiv-only paper is.
Some years ago I used to think that peer review provided so little extra value that journals would simply die, and arXiv-only would become the norm. This has not happened, but it still might some time in the future.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: Since the question asks for examples, I'll contribute mine. In my long and (I think) reasonably successful scholarly career two or three short papers were rejected by just one appropriate journal, for good reason. Essentially, they just weren't interesting enough or new enough, despite what I thought when I wrote them. I didn't think the reviewers were murdering my work.
I still learned a lot and enjoyed the research that went into them. Some of the ideas resurfaced in later work. I think if I wrote them now I'd post them to the arXiv so someone might stumble on them and enjoy them.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: Depending on what you mean by "unpublishable", online mega-journals can be a good place to publish work. They're unlikely to attract many readers there, but will be citable etc. [PLOS ONE](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/) was founded with the ethos that:
>
> All work that reaches rigorous technical and ethical standards is published and freely and immediately available to everyone.
>
>
>
In other words, they don't select papers based on 'novelty' or other tricky criteria that make it hard for decent, but relatively dull work (e.g. replications) to be published, although I'm not sure if this applies in your situation.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: <NAME> tracked the fate of papers rejected by the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology in his editorial [The resilience of rejected manuscripts](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/asi.22794/full).
Out of 180 rejected manuscripts, 74 could be tracked:
* 2 of them were successfully resubmitted to the same journal
* 59 were published in another journal
* 2 were included in PhD theses
* 1 was transformed into a technical report
* 6 were found in repositories
* the rest were published as conference papers or posters
And of course, some would rest in the bottom of the drawer (I have one of them myself waiting for better times).
So, in answer to your question, it seems unpublishable papers are put aside (it's not worth your time or you have something else to do) or made available through some less restrictive venues (at least, you've made something with it).
Upvotes: 4
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2017/08/10
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<issue_start>username_0: When supervising a research student with ADD or a similar problem, I can help the student be more *productive* by adjusting the way I give instructions:
* Propose one task at a time: Instead of saying "Let's do X, Y, and Z" I will just say "Let's do X", schedule a time for follow-up when X is done, and only talk about Y then.
* Repeat "general" instructions every time they are relevant: Instead of saying "When you take notes on a bunch of papers, make sure to cite which paper each idea comes from" and then expecting the student to do this moving forward, I will give the instruction again each time that the student is reading papers: "Look through and take notes on these papers. In your notes, make sure to cite which paper each idea comes from..."
* Have the student repeat back a summary of the instructions, with ALL of the important details, after hearing them.
* Review the student's plans regarding what to work on at what time, together with the student (to help with planning and make sure we are prioritizing important tasks).
With these and similar modifications, a student with attention problems can be about as *productive* as one without attention problems. (Without these modifications, the student keeps doing the wrong thing, and isn't productive at all.) But that kind of supervision is not really consistent with the goal of having my students become capable of *independent* research. For example, it's very hard for them to see the "big picture", identify next steps on their own, think about where the research is going and what intermediate steps are needed to achieve the end goals...
Obviously my primary role is as a research supervisor, not an ADD coach. So I'm not looking for generic ideas for helping an adult with ADD, or for suggestions to pass along to the student - **I am looking for ideas specific to my role as a supervisor in an academic research environment**.
As a research supervisor, what - if anything - can I do, to help students with attention problems be both productive AND independent?<issue_comment>username_1: OK. First of all, you are to be commended for having the awareness and sensitivity to take the initiative on this. LD/ADHD students tend to be treated rather badly in higher ed, so it's reassuring to see someone reach out for help.
I think the zeroth thing you should do is bring up your observations to the student for the following extremely important reason: If the student does have a disability, either the student already has a diagnosis and is worried about being judged negatively (or overestimates how well they're managing without accommodation), or the student has been struggling for years wondering what's wrong. It's impossible to address a problem correctly if you don't know what's causing it. With that in mind, I can only comment on ADHD, which is *not* difficulty paying attention, it's difficulty *regulating* attention.
Another preliminary observation is that if the student is ADHD, it's possible that they never developed good learning skills either as a direct result of the ADHD or as a result of the kind of spoon-feeding you are (correctly!) identifying as problematic. This kind of "accommodation" is often recommended for ADHD, but it's ultimately self-defeating. So you might be in a situation where the student is on the steep side of the learning curve for learning how to learn. It's tempting to just spoon-feed so that the student "makes progress," but this is bad advising, just as it would be bad parenting. So set the project scope and your expectations accordingly if this is the case. And the student might need an ADHD coach, academic tutor, or therapist to help with the logistics of just putting quality time in, which can be formidable for ADHDers.
In terms of practical day-to-day suggestions:
* Audio-recording meetings, or important parts of meetings, might be helpful. ADHDers often tune in and out without even being aware of it, so they don't know that they've missed something.
* Work on the "big picture" first. This might seem counterintuitive, but the student might find it easier to recognize what to focus on once they have a clear idea of how the pieces fit together.
* Ask the student to come up with their own suggestions about how to approach the project. Be open-minded about what the student comes back with.
* Provide regular, structured, nonjudgmental feedback about your expectations and what is and isn't working.
* Let the student know you're on their side and that you have confidence in their abilities. Anyone with a disability can tell you that the worst part isn't managing the disability, it's dealing with the low expectations and lack of inclusiveness from everyone else.
The main takeaway is that ADHD adults often do much better in more self-directed activities than they do when given close supervision. A common incorrect assumption is that because an ADHD student has trouble following instructions, then it must be the case that the student is incapable of working more independently. Which is not to say that the student should be left to their own devices, but rather that the support provided by the supervisor needs to be more student-centered to be effective (and efficient).
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I'm not sure how I would adress the issues of doing the wrong thing, being unable to identify next steps, or not seeing the big picture. I'm not sure those are specifically related to ADHD in the first place. Obviously, my experience isn't necessarily representative of everyone, but my diagnosis has never affected my ability in regards to those things.
That being said, general productivity is something you can have a significant effect on.
What has worked best for me is to setup short meetings with my advisor on a fixed (preferrably weekly) schedule. I present what I've done during the week, what I *haven't* done, and what I plan on doing the following week. I also ask minor questions I have. These meetings don't have to be long or very detailed. Most of the time, they last 10-15 minutes at most. If I have major questions or blockers, we schedule a bit more time to adress them.
Having ADHD in academia can be hard to deal with since there are long periods of relative calm between deadlines where we can't rely on external pressure to maintain focus. Our perception of time is affected and sometimes it feels like there exists exactly two times: "NOW!" or "eventually...". In a sense, if it's not due NOW!, then it's due at some unspecified point later and isn't pressing, no matter how rationally aware we are of the amount of work required. This is not too big of a deal when the tasks and deadlines are short, but when a task is long enough that it has to be started before NOW! kicks in... That's when issues crop up.
Regular meetings help bring a bit of NOW! into the schedule. Even if there's no requirement or deadline, having an outside party check-in adds enough pressure to stay focused and moving forward. The work rhythm this creates is much healthier than alternating between (usually involuntary) procrastination and panic-induced last minute rushing.
This might not work for every student obviously, but if you can fit it in your schedule, it's definitively worth a shot.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/08/10
| 1,361
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<issue_start>username_0: When I was admitted to my graduate course, I was guaranteed funding for six years.
Essentially, I have been doing research on a different school of thought, so I am not well liked by some of the senior professors (who have badmouthed me to department administrators), some of whom refuse to talk to me.
I completed five years and had a verbal conversation with a department administrator. They mentioned "you are not entitled to funding in your sixth year. We spoke previously. I asked whether you needed funding this year and you shook your head."
I am writing to the department administrator and will subsequently escalate this to the department head and deputy if things are unresolved. However, I don't know what tone to use. On the one hand, I need to convey the seriousness of this matter. On the other, they are my superiors.
I'm thinking of the following: "I refer to our conversation on date X. You mentioned that I would not be entitled to funding for the upcoming year because (repeat conversation). I would like to know if I heard you correctly. As this is an important matter, I appreciate your reply by date Y. If you do not respond, I will assume that there are no inaccuracies in my recollection. Finally, I reiterate that I made no indication that said I did not need funding."
Is there a better way of phrasing this?<issue_comment>username_1: You've got the facts right but maybe soften the "I/you" tone. A lot. You should sound as if you're being kind, and use words like please. It's up to them whether or not to grant this request so anything you can do to convince them they should is only going to help your case and further guarantee your success.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I think it is too soon to make any demands of the supervisor to answer by a certain date or anything like that, nor is there a need to ask him to explain whether you heard him correctly, or to confirm or deny anything. All you need to do at this point is to lay out your understanding of events - if the supervisor wants to contest that understanding, he/she is at liberty to try to do so. A key principle for this sort of email is that you should **be very clear and factual and maintain a neutral and polite tone**. Something like the following:
>
> Dear [*name of supervisor*],
>
>
> I am writing in connection with our recent meeting on [*insert date*] to discuss my status and funding in the program. As you know, my acceptance letter to the program, dated [*insert date of acceptance letter (you have a copy right? maybe attach it to the email)*], states that I am entitled to six years of funding. No conditions were attached to this promise other than my maintaining my status as a PhD student in good standing in the program, which has been and remains the case. [*obviously, only write all of that if those are true statements...*]
>
>
> During the meeting, you stated however that I am not entitled to a sixth year of funding, based on your assertion that "We spoke previously. I asked whether you needed funding this year and you shook your head." [*Note: if you put their words in quotes, [make sure it is an accurate quote](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/94288/40589).*] I would like to clarify that I never indicated that I did not need funding for a sixth year, either by a shake of the head or in any other way. I do in fact need and want funding, and was and still am expecting to receive it based on the department's promise, signed by [*insert title: Graduate Program Chair/Department Chair, etc*] [*insert name of signatory to the letter*] in the acceptance letter I mentioned above.
>
>
> I would appreciate if you reply to this email at your earliest convenience to acknowledge that you received it. Thank you for your continued support and for your assistance in correcting any misunderstanding that may have occurred.
>
>
> Yours etc,
>
>
> [*your name*]
>
>
>
Once the supervisor replies, if they explicitly confirm that you will get the funding, great; if they do not explicitly confirm that but don't contest your understanding, you have now put yourself in a good position to go to the department head; and if they try to contest your description (like claiming that you did shake your head), I think they will appear rather foolish for relying on such signals rather than statements documented in writing or even a verbal statement, so again you are in a good position to go argue your case with the department head.
Note also that I added a polite request for an acknowledgement and nothing more. The supervisor is free to ignore that, but again doing that will make them look bad, and in any case if you don't get a reply within a few days, you can and should proceed to the next stage of the plan.
One other option I can think is to copy the department head on the email. That is a bit of a "nuclear option" and is likely to be interpreted as an aggressive and antagonistic move (nobody likes to be made to look bad in front of their supervisor), so probably it's too soon for that level of response. But it's something to consider in the event that you want to dial up the level of forcefulness of your response.
Hope this helps, and good luck!
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: "When I was admitted to my graduate course, I was guaranteed funding for six years." that would have been supported by an offer letter, contract, or writing of some sort.
In your shoes, I would juxtapose that with the recent statements of "no funding" for next year.
Don't set any deadline dates or a request for reply or anything of that sort. The situation is serious enough without any additional pressure.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/08/10
| 711
| 3,184
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<issue_start>username_0: My paper was published at a good conference (in the field of theoretical computer science). The proceedings mention that some papers will be selected for publication in a special issue of journals X and Y.
How will I know if my paper is one of them? If it is not, I would simply submit it to some other journal later on. In general, will the conference organizers let me know of a timeline? Basically, I wonder if I should just wait for (say) a few months, and if I hear nothing, then assume my paper was not selected.<issue_comment>username_1: Usually, after further review and rounds of discussions among the program committee members, a final list of the articles are prepared. The authors are then notified about the same. I guess the process takes some time (at least 1-3 months), as there are other logistics to take care post the conference.
If your case is so late, then there is no harm in writing a gentle email to the program chair asking the same. Probably, you could ask indirectly when would the list of extendible papers would be put up on the conference website.
In the present phase, you could continue working on its possible extension. Please note that it is not necessary that you have to submit your paper to the suggested journal by the conference. It is absolutely your choice where you want to be published.
The review process is no different expect the fact that a minor version of the report has already been accepted at the conference.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: **If you haven't received an invitation a month after the conference, it's safe to assume that your paper won't be invited to the special issue.**
Special-issue papers for theoretical computer science conferences are normally selected by the program committee chair (or a small subcommittee), based on nominations and discussion from the program committee. The two natural times to solicit those nominations are (1) at the end of the review cycle, months before the conference, when all the papers and reviews are fresh in the PC members' minds, and (2) immediately after the conference, when all the *talks* are fresh in everyone's minds, and the PC chair's work is otherwise finished.
Once the PC chair selects the papers, there's not much else to do. Under normal circumstances, the guest editors (usually the PC chair, but sometimes other members of the PC) email invitations to the selected authors shortly after the conference. Occasionally the invitations go out even *before* the conference, but that's rare.
That said, sometimes additional papers are invited later, especially if some invited authors decline, and some PC chairs are just less organized than others.
**If** you have good reason to believe that the PC thought your paper was especially strong (for example, unanimously strongly positive reviews, or PC members telling you at the conference how much they liked your paper), it can't hurt to send a polite note to the PC chair or a close colleague on the PC asking *whether the special issue papers have been selected*. (Asking whether *your* paper will be invited is a bit presumptuous. Just don't.)
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2017/08/11
| 1,182
| 5,063
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<issue_start>username_0: I looked up the website of a journal where someone I know had published research. They listed their Scopus impact factor as a number that is much higher than when I searched the website of Scopus.
I am not exactly familiar with academia, all I know is the number I read on the Scopus website (assuming I read the correct one, don't know), seems much lower than the one listed on the journal's website, in other words, the impact factor on the official journal site may be fake and the actual factor might be lower.
What should be done now? I don't wish to accuse the journal of anything malicious before I understand what's going on and what exactly an impact factor is or signifies.<issue_comment>username_1: **Short answer:** Scopus have their own database of publications calcuating citations per year, which is different to the trademarked "impact factor". There are also variations between years and between citescore and 2-year values.
**Note on predatory publishers**: It is common for predatory publishers to fabricate an impact factor, or come up with some variant of an official impact factor (e.g., "google impact factor"), when they do not have an official impact factor.
However, your case is different. The journal does have an official impact factor (or scopus citescore) which suggests that it probably passes some basic quality threshold. The website is simply listing a different impact factor than what you have found.
While it could be a typo, or even fraud, the most likely answer is that there are many different "impact factors".
**Official impact factor:** First, I believe impact factor is a trademark traditionally of ISI. But the main point is that "impact factor" in this sense refers to 2-year impact factor using a particular bibliometric database (the Web of Science, I think).
Even here, the impact factor is updated each year and there is a 2-year and a 5-year impact factor that is commonly reported (although without clarification, it should be the 2-year impact factor). So, occasionally, a journal website might be showing a slightly out of date impact factor.
**Impact factor more broadly:** There is a boarder concept of impact factor that relates to the general formula of dividing citations by publications over a given period. There are subtle ways that this formula can be tweaked based on what counts as a publication. In particular, the choice of database dramatically influences what publications contribute towards citation counts. The more inclusive the database, the more citations a given publication will receive, and the higher the "impact factor" will be.
The scopus metric is typically called citescore. I think the scopus metrics focus on a three year period and uses a different database (i.e.,Scopus rather than web of science) for generating citation counts. <https://journalmetrics.scopus.com/> . Also see <http://www.scimagojr.com/> for another set of rankings also based on Scopus.
In general, the original ISI impact factor has a certain influence in the market. Various reasons include quality control of their database of citations and the fact that they were the first big player in this space. They have also trademarked the term "impact factor", which is interesting given that the concept of dividing citations by publications is a pretty straightforward idea.
Nonetheless, the meaning of an index of citations per year is often based on benchmarks within a field. For example, researchers in a field get to know the impact factors of the journals in a given field and they form rules of thumb about what is poor, good, and great. In this sense, if you change the index, then the rules of thumb may change. For example, if you used Google Scholar to calculate impact factors, then impact factors would probably increase massively (e.g., by a factor of 2, 3, or more more), because Google Scholar is highly inclusive. So for example, a bunch of journals that had an ISI impact factor or 2, now has a GS impact factor of 6 or 7. So some care is required when using a new index to ensure that relative benchmarks are recalibrated.
Check out this review of the mapping of scopus [citescores with ISI impact factors](http://eigenfactor.org/projects/posts/citescore.php).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I'll answer the question "What should I do?" and not "Why is that so?". Also I understand the question "What should I do?" as "What should I do to judge the quality/reputation of that journal?".
To find out if a journal is the right outlet for your work you should:
* Check out the aims and scope of the journal.
* Check out other paper published in the journal. Do you think your work is comparable in focus and quality?
* Check out the editorial board. If you haven't heard of anybody on the board (e.g. as author of a paper you read), that's probably not your journal.
* Ask experienced colleagues (e.g. your advisor). Reputation is not measurable by any number and is actually more something that is vaguely agreed upon by a community.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/08/11
| 971
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<issue_start>username_0: I am writing a paper that I want to submit to a journal in Education. By looking at the formatting requirements I discovered that most of the journals in this area set require to format submissions by following the [APA manual](http://www.apastyle.org/) standards. Some state:
>
> Prepare manuscripts according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). More information is available at www.apastyle.org/. Any manuscript not in this style will automatically be returned to the author.
> [[\*](http://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=hlns20&page=instructions)]
>
>
>
Now, the required document is for sale only in printed copies at prices ranging
from \$29.95 (Softcover) to \$39.95 (Hardcover). Then one has to add shipping fees, I presume.
It is very easy to find scanned copies of this manual on the internet and these show how vague and superficial the instructions about figures, tables, and other technical details are (I think because it is primarily for social scientists). I can think of better free web sites for that, so I wouldn't use it other than to format papers for a journal requiring that style.
Frankly, I think it is unethical to ask an author to buy a document just to know the formats required to submit a paper (or they should refund the money if the paper is not accepted). If I were paranoid (or realistic?) I would suspect that publishers who request to consult the commercial manual get a cut from the APA?
I know most of people will answer: "publish somewhere else or use the illegal copy -which you already downloaded-" but that means not being able to publish in the top rated journals or being forced to break the law because of a simple formatting problem.
Can anybody suggest a way around this money wringing?
ps. I should also add that most of these journals accept only Microsoft Word documents which is also a commercial product (which I find a most improper application for academic writing.)<issue_comment>username_1: You can almost certainly obtain the book from your university library. I just checked my institution's catalog - we have 6 copies available for checkout and a further 5 non-circulating "reference" copies that are always available to read inside the library. Our librarians clearly know that this is a frequently-needed resource - I bet your librarians know it too.
This is the standard way for academics to refer to "commercial" texts without having to pay for them out of pocket.
(Even if you are not affiliated with a university, you'll almost certainly have to get access to a university library in order to be able to read the literature you need to do publishable research - so might as well figure it out now. But even so, I also found out that my town's free public library has several copies of this book as well.)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Compare to the following situation: You submit a paper and a referee replies that you should discuss some other work, may it be a paper or a book, which is also "commercial". So, to publish the paper you need access to this "commercial" source (either to discuss it, or to argue why you shouldn't). Your institution either has access to this source or, if not, **use your funds to purchase a copy** or use **interlibrary loan**. The same applies to sources like style guides. Actually, I would guess that **workgroup**s that publish in outlets that use a certain style guide **had purchased a copy already** for their own bookshelves.
So, what your facing is, in my opinion, not an issue. To work, you need things and most things cost money (computers, offices, internet access, books,…). If you want to discuss whether a style guide should cost money or not, that's another question.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Use a software package for your references. Free software such as BibLaTeX/Biber, Zotero, and others use [CSL](https://citationstyles.org/) and can output APA-styled (and many other) references at the push of a button.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/08/11
| 1,352
| 5,650
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<issue_start>username_0: It is common in Economics to have introductory courses based on one-sided ideological textbooks (e.g. the most famous being [this one](https://scholar.harvard.edu/mankiw/publications/principles-economics-5th-edition), ToC [here](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oRgQ2goeFzwC&pg=PR5&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false)). The problem of course is not the particular ideological orientation they have, but that most of these textbooks explicitly omit alternative ideological readings or understandings of the science. For example, the aforementioned book covers mainly neoclassical economics, and a bit of Keynesianism, amid a wide range of alternative [schools of thought](https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/15688/which-are-the-different-schools-of-economic-thought). The lack of acknowledgement of this wider picture nudge students to think that the science itself is defined on what the textbook presents. "This is Economics and nothing else".
Naturally, that is a deeply misleading view of a very diverse field, and particularly damaging (in my view) for those just starting to learn the subject.
Given this context, **which are the best methods to foster pluralism in teaching, particularly introductory courses?**<issue_comment>username_1: How refreshing to see someone who recognizes a spectrum of ideas and wants to teach it!
Science in general and economics in particular could be said to revolve around observation of phenomena, theorizing about causes, and research to verify or falsify the theory.
Try addressing topics in this framework: Here's the phenomenon, here are some of the theories to explain it, and here is some research on it which supports / refutes particular theories. This will provide a model for your students to learn the subject without descending into rote recitation of the professor's favorite dogma.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: University Bayreuth offers a Bachelor-Master program in Philosophy & Economics. Their approach to economics is plural by choice. I haven't found any teaching material on their website, but most professors will be glad to share their experience when asked by a colleague. A list of staff can be found here: <http://www.pe.uni-bayreuth.de/de/pe_team/index.html> .
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Ok, took a look at the preview. The key problem is, of course, that you cannot teach everything in one semester. The book starts in an absolutely correct way stating clearly what assumptions they make and what viewpoint they will explore in some reasonable depth. It is inevitable for any one-semester presentation even in such "uncontroversial" subjects as mathematics to be lopsided: you decide what highest points you want to achieve and essentially just combine the shortest routes to there allowing yourself some leeway for improvising occasional funny deviations when you feel like it. It is just the words "This is what the economics is about" instead of "this is the point of view that we will accept throughout this course to keep the exposition uniform and the conclusions consistent" that irritate one (especially if repeated more than once).
So, what I would suggest is to start with finding the depth-width compromise you want to make, to select sufficiently many points of views that you can explore in sufficient depth. Then, once you figured that out, choose the topics you want to present from these points of views and run some comparisons. That is a *huge* headache if you want to do it right and the goal is to give a clear picture of several approaches and their comparisons and interplay instead of just totally confusing the students so that the only thing they have in their head in the end is "everything is relative and you can come to any conclusion from any assumptions if you accept a convenient point of view" (I cannot really create such mess in mathematics, but I can easily make it if I ever give lectures on problem solving techniques, so I suspect your case is somewhere in between).
From what you said, it also looks like there will not be any single textbook you'll be able to use, so my advice would be just to lay all books aside and to plan the whole course without consulting any (I occasionally do it for graduate courses and for terminal undergraduate courses like "history of math" where I'm not bound by some particular curriculum requirements). Then you have two options.
The first one is just to declare a "no textbook course". The students usually squeak rather loudly when you do it (in the USA, at least; in Europe it is a more widespread practice) but if you have tenure, it shouldn't bother you too much. If you do it and you really care, you'll have to make at least some handouts emphasizing the main points, keep longer office hours, etc. I've done it several times with undergrads (I'm teaching math) and it worked more often than not, but it is again a headache.
The second one is to search for 2/3 textbooks and to assign all of them clearly stating in the syllabus what will be covered in each one and in what order. I have never done it (I hate to force the students to pay 3 times the usual price and I cannot legally just tell them to download everything from you-know-where) but it is still an option.
In any case, the point is that fostering pluralism in one course by one person comes at an enormous cost. If you are willing to pay it, by all means go ahead, but remember that the more traditional way of fostering it by spreading various points of view over different courses taught by different people works not too bad either ;-)
Upvotes: 2
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2017/08/11
| 650
| 2,833
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<issue_start>username_0: I had applied for an academic internship after my undergraduate studies. The professor has accepted me for the internship. But since then he has not properly replied to my emails. I need his letter for VISA purposes. How should I write an email to him asking for the same? I had sent an email to him regarding this but he has not replied to the email. The problem is that I can't write a proper email and also he is the director of the institute and is probably very busy.
Could you please help me with writing such an email. Also I am taking a year gap for this internship, so this is extremely important to me. I also want to convey him that this internship is extremely important to me.<issue_comment>username_1: Can you explain by what you mean when you say you can't write a proper e-mail?
I get the impression you're not in the same country as the academic at your chosen institution at the moment so the best you can do is to write a polite e-mail to them making it clear that you need them to provide details for your visa application just as you've outlined in your question. You could try even flagging the e-mail as high importance so it catches their eye in their inbox. If this doesn't work, then you may want to consider even phoning their office.
At this time of year, people are on holiday or are busy with other projects so do your best to be patient waiting for a reply as frustrating as it can be.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think **the problem is not with the content of the email itself**, but rather with the fact that the professor is busy -> doesn't respond to emails consistently. Therefore, you should somehow try to attract his attention/the attention of others if he is unavailable. Possible options include:
* Having a clear email subject (e.g. a reply to the thread where you discussed your acceptance; mentioning that your request is related to the visa application, etc.)
* Trying to call/email the department to establish ties with them. They may be able to assist you with the process & in some cases even write the letter for you.
* Trying to reach other people in the lab. They can tell you whether the professor is away and whether there is a better way to reach him. Some of the other lab members may be international as well and, therefore, can provide you with additional information regarding the visa & your life post arrival.
Finally, it is likely that the professor is currently conferencing/vacationing. If none of the above helps, your best bet might be waiting and emailing again toward the end of the summer. It's no fun but delaying the start of your internship is better than not having one at all. In all of your communications, be polite and patient. That's the key to getting someone to help you. Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2017/08/11
| 686
| 3,050
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently an incoming freshman, starting a physics/math double major at UMass Boston in the fall. Over the summer, I started an internship at the Harvard Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology that I really love and intend to continue doing throughout the school year.
I'm actively contributing to the research being done and I want to continue working there as long as I can. I understand that doing some level of research during undergrad is basically required to get into grad school, but it is necessary that it be at the same school that I am attending?
Should I be focusing more on opportunities at UMass Boston? Or does it not matter where I do the research, as long as I do some sort of research for undergrad?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!<issue_comment>username_1: In short, the answer is no, it doesn't matter where your research experience is.
If anything, I would say that it is more beneficial to have experience outside your undergraduate institution than inside, as this gives you the opportunity to meet many more potential collaborators, exposes you to new ideas and different research cultures and will hopefully give you a wider knowledge of your subject and academia in general.
However, if you're intending to continue at your current institution as a postgraduate student, then it would be wise to try and do some kind of research project (your course may require a final year dissertation, thesis, project or similar) with a current member of staff. This means you get to know them and more importantly, they get to know you and will remember your name when your application for postgraduate studies lands on their desk.
If a professor already knows you as a hardworking, reliable undergraduate from that summer project you did with them, they're much more likely to take you on in the expectation you will also be a hardworking, reliable postgraduate (in comparison to the stranger's application next to yours on their desk). Even if you don't intend to apply at the same institution for postgraduate studies, having a supervisor who can write you a strong reference is always a bonus.
Make the most of any research opportunity you get, and good luck with your studies (cosmology is a good choice!).
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The answer from @astronat tells you what you need to know. I can add a little, since I taught mathematics and computer science at UMB for many years before recently retiring. For cosmology you want to get to differential geometry and partial differential equations as soon as you're ready. For particle physics you'll need group theory, then Lie groups. I recommend Professor Zara as a math advisor. I don't know who would best advise you in physics - be sure to ask soon when you get to school next month.
You probably won't be doing your graduate work at UMB, so of course keep up the Harvard research group. But you may find research opportunities at UMass too.
Have a good time learning!
Upvotes: 2
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2017/08/11
| 2,530
| 10,912
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<issue_start>username_0: I just got done teaching my first course, and my grades are heavily skewed:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZluGb.png)
I consider my assessments to be fair and have had them vetted by more experienced faculty. Also, the course averages are usually high in this course (mine was 83.5 or so). However, it seems like I have a strange distribution of grades. What might have caused it?<issue_comment>username_1: The distribution doesn't have to be of bell-shape. In very large scale open exams it may be reasonable to assume a bell curve. In many other situations, the distributions can be affected by the class size, mix of the students, objectives of the course, validity of the exam questions, and difficulty of the exam questions, etc.
Class size: The smaller the class, the harder to observe any discernible distributions, such as a bell-shape normal distribution.
Mix of students: If you're teaching a quantitative class and there are two streams of students from i) art programs and ii) engineer programs, you may see some other distribution like a double bell-shape bimodal distribution.
Objectives of the course: Some courses can be designed based on a fixed and stringent set of standards. For instance, if you teach anesthesiology and the passing grade for the students to take the board exam is 90%, the end distribution is unlikely to be bell-shape.
Validity and difficulty of the exam: Invalid questions may lower the accuracy which prohibits you to see the true distribution; overly easy or hard exam can move the curve towards high- and low-boundary, causing truncated bell-shape distributions.
If I have to give an assessment I'd first suggest removing the 0% as it's a special case and yet tilting the impression of the curve quite badly. For the rest, I'd say if you're teaching an introductory course in which students are expected to gain a good foundation, this is not a bad distribution. If you're teaching a very advanced course, with nearly 20% getting close to full mark then the assessment may benefit from a re-tuning.
Generally, I'd advise:
* Analyze the grades and your course objectives in tandem. Just grade distribution itself does not tell if you're doing a good job.
* Accumulate more data across cohorts of students. I find that after 3-4 times teaching the same course the patterns would start to emerge.
* Compare to historic grade distribution (just a few years before you picked this course up) to make sure you are not way off. Consult the appropriate dean if they are.
* If so inclined, try to analyze your exam items. There are special statistics to check if your exam questions are "good" questions. Most academic institutes should have an education affair office that can help you.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This looks to me like the sort of distribution you would expect from an exam that is simply too easy, and fails to distinguish at the top end.
You probably do have a roughly bell-shaped distribution of student abilities, but since in your exam the middle of the bell is at 85% or so, all of the high-ability tail inevitably get lumped together in the 95-100% bar.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Remember that your primary task is not to accurately tell better students from worse, but to make sure they learn what they are supposed to. This is also the role of the test: for students passing a test is supposed to be a fixed, specific goal to achieve, not a competition.
Therefore, the proper question here is: do you actually believe all of your students except for those unlucky few deserve passing your class? Do they learned what they were supposed to learn? If so, this is fine. The scores do reflect good on you that you taught your students well. This might also be a sign that it's not the test that requires adjustments, but the curriculum—you could probably teach more material in that class, and it will also indirectly lead to the exam being more difficult.
If not, then you should definitely adjust the test.
Some time ago I [collected graphs](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zFeoO.png) from some documents from Polish Ministry of Education on the high-school exam. This is a huge sample (around 300k yearly), and you can see that scores do not always take a bell shape. Some useful discussion on interpretation of these graphs is in a [reddit thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1bqf9r/unusual_distributions_of_scores_on_final/), especially explanation on the peak around 30% (the passing point) of the language exam.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: Generally grading distributions are analyzed like this:
1. If too many students get above the bell curve, that means tests are too easy. The tests are not separating "outstanding" students from "average" students.
2. If too many students get below the bell curve, that means the tests are too hard.
However, I am not sure that looking at a grade distribution is the best way to get a feel for how students are reacting to the coursework. If you just look at the grades you are only really looking at the sum of all of the results, and it may be hard for you to identify the best thing you can do to improve your couse.
As an instructor remember that there are more resources available to you than just an overall grade on a test (or an overall class grade). I recommend breaking down an exam or class by topic and evaluating how well students did with each topic.
1. If a large percentage of students answered questions on a certain topic correctly, that is great! Your choice of textbook combined with your presentation is making it so that they can absorb the information very well. If you are in this scenario, *and you have already covered the requirements of the course* you may want to consider going into more detail on the material or bringing up additional related topics that you think would help the students. You have a huge opportunity to go beyond the basics, if you have the time. If you can't go into more details, you could also go into a more practical direction and talk about how to *apply* these concepts.
2. If a large percentage of students seem to be struggling with a topic, if it's not a crucial topic you may want to consider dropping it. If it is a crucial topic consider reviewing it again in class (possibly using a different approach), putting it on the next exam, or assigning a paper on the topic. You may also want to consider revising the slides on the topic for future classes or watching presentations by other people on the topic to give you ideas for other ways you can present it.
Some answers and comments have mentioned the competitive aspect of grades that is sometimes present. I would like to mention this in my answer as well.
* First, I am not convinced that every class needs to be competitive, carefully consider whether it will be useful for your students to add some *healthy and constructive* competition to the classroom experience before jumping into that.
* If you want to seek out and reward the outstanding students, I recommend doing so by assigning projects and research papers. Challenging students to do research on their own and present their work will naturally bring out the best in talented students, and it could be very valuable practice for their careers (and grad school too).
* Encourage students to publish their work if their work is at that level. This may also be a great way to find grad students if you are looking for them. At worst it will introduce students to what a career in research would be like.
* Please don't assume that students are not interested in research, there was one professor I had who assigned "realistic" research papers (intended to resemble the requirements of publishing in a journal as closely as possible). It was a great experience, and based on that I ended up doing a thesis instead of a pure "class based" master's degree.
NOTE: My experience is primarily in STEM fields.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Senior faculty here...
Ask yourself if you are grading your students against each other, against the material, or a combination of both. If you are grading against the material then the shape of distribution is not relevant. For example, if the first exam is to write the "Hello World" program and everyone aces it, then you would have a very skewed distribution but you have the optimal result for the class as a whole.
If your learning outcomes are well-defined, as they should be, and your curriculum addresses those outcomes, then you are doing your job when everyone earns an 'A'. When I teach programming I am careful to grade students against the material, not against each other. I have a set of outcomes and I teach to those outcomes. On the first day I tell students "I hope you all earn an 'A.' I am not pitting them against each other, grade-wise. There are other ways to reward high-achieving students than imposing a bell curve or any other distribution on a class.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: If you class size is large enough and you test isn't too easy or too difficult (with respect to the capabilities of your students), you should get an approximate bell curve.
Your distribution is bimodal. Either the students cheated(they had the questions before the exam) or the paper was too easy.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_7: The **theory** is, *given a random sample* of students who have met the course pre-requisites, you should see something resembling a bell curve in your grade results.
In **practice**, there are a number of things that skew this. Sample size is a big one. For smaller classes, the sample size of any one course is just too small. Self-selection is another. At the higher-ed level, students have self-selected for courses in their major, such that they take more courses to match their interest and (supposedly) ability. Additionally, the entire college admissions process should pre-select for students who have at least some academic ability. This is part of why many colleges and universities in the US have a graduation requirement that mandates students maintain a B average for courses within their major (or some variation of this).
Another flaw in the bell curve is that it only looks at final outcomes. The full bell curve should include a so-called "long tail" to the left for lower grades, indicating students that withdraw before completion of the course.
There are many other human elements that can also distort a "pure" bell curve. Teaching ability can be one of these. As a new instructor, you may need to develop some experience for how to better grade and measure the performance of your students. But with only one class under your belt, it's just too soon to say if this is the big factor for that specific set of data.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I did my Phd in mathematics in Europe and am at the end of my second year of postdoc in Europe too. I plan to apply for jobs in the US in the fall (ideally tenure track, but I wouldn't mind too much doing a second postdoc, as I finished my phd early). I think it's the best place for me, as most of the researchers in my field are in the US. But I'm not familiar with the american system at all, so I would be happy if you could help me answer a few questions:
* I know most applications go through mathjobs.org and that there are hundreds of applications for a every position. What is the best technique for an application not to be overlooked? Is it common in the US to email a professor at the university which offers the job and let them know that you applied/tell them that you would like to work with them? If yes, is it even ok to email a professor that I don't know personnaly but who I think knows my work or would be interested in it? In Europe it is very common and even necessary, at least in the countries I know, but I wouldn't want to do something that is weird or unethical in the US.
* Someone told me that US universities tend to favor people who are already working in the US, especially for tenure-track positions (something about not wanting to pay a flight from overseas for the interviews). Is that true? Is it the same for postdocs?
* Is it weird to apply for both a tenure-track position and a postdoc position at the same university? If I did so, would they automatically think that they'd rather give me the postdoc as I'm ok with both, and give the tenure-track to someone who applied only to tenure-track?
* Are the chances of getting hired in an university where no one works on the same things as I do very low? Of course I would prefer to be in an university with nice collaboration opportunities, but just in case I was thinking of applying to others too.
Thank you very much in advance for your replies!<issue_comment>username_1: Answers to your questions (the numbering is the order you asked them):
1. You should definitely email people at the university who might be interested in and familiar with your work. But for tenure track positions it is weird to say you want to work with them. Instead, I would just send a low-key email just letting them know that you applied to their position and would be very interested in coming there. The goal is to be informative but not pushy.
2. It is true that it is both more expensive and more difficult logistically to interview someone who is coming from overseas, but it certainly does happen. They just have to want you enough. For postdocs, there generally isn't an interview, so it isn't an issue. However, some kinds of postdocs are funded by sources like the NSF that only want to support US citizens or permanent residents, so foreign applicants won't be considered for them.
3. It's not weird at all. Doing so will not affect your chances at getting a tenure-track position. Everyone knows that the job market is tight.
4. There has to be someone at the university who advocates for hiring you, which means at least they appreciate the kinds of math you do. But certainly there does not have to be someone who works in precisely the same part of mathematics (and in fact often the "needs of the department" involve hiring in fields that are not well-represented there).
My background: I've served on a large number of search committees in pure mathematics at a couple of different private research universities.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I've participated in many searches over the years, and chaired search committees in each of the last two years. My institution is a smaller
research intensive university that specializes only in the STEM disciplines. Our mathematics department specializes in applied areas of mathematics. The situation can be somewhat different at other kinds of institutions, but many aspects of this are related to federal employment law and are fairly standardized.
1. You can contact the search committee if you want to. However, expressing interest in the position, flattering the committee members, etc. will have very little effect on your chances of getting an interview. The committee will have to justify its selections based only on what is in the official application files. If you have a specific question about the position, then it is appropriate to ask that question. The best way to get your application noticed is to submit a complete and clear application that shows that you are well qualified in terms of whatever it is that the committee is looking for. The hard part can be figuring out what the committee really cares about- advertisements are often worded vaguely.
2. Hiring for a tenure track position almost always involves an on-campus interview. Since travel from outside of the US is expensive, this can be a factor in deciding who to bring to campus for interviews. Some institutions have special rules about paying for international travel. For example, our institution won't pay for international travel for faculty applicants. If you're planning on being in the US for some other reason (attending a conference), then you should mention this in your application cover letter. At another level, there's often a reluctance to hire applicants who must be sponsored for a visa, although many of the applicants on the market are not permanent residents of the US.
3. This is very common. There's a box to check on the application form. It's not unusual for a search to fail (the top candidates turn down offers.) In that case, the search committee might be asked to go back into the applications and interview candidates for a visiting assitant professor/postdoc position instead.
4. Most larger departments want to hire assistant professors to join existing research groups. However, at smaller less research focused institutions there's often a desire to diversify the areas of mathematics in the department. The job ad should make it clear what the department wants.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Some further thoughts, as a supplment to the two excellent answers to your bulleted questions. (I've served on multiple hiring committees for a math department in a mid-tier American research university.)
In the US, it is quite typical to submit a job application without: contacting any faculty members there; writing more than a perfunctory cover letter; trying to ascertain how likely you are to be hired by a particular university. This is especially true if you are just finishing a postdoc, as there is no need to explain why you are applying for a different job than the one you have. That said, in your case I'd recommend addressing your specific desire to move to the US in your cover letter.
Indeed, this is what most of the candidates we interviewed did.
By all means, e-mail people or go into more details in your cover letter if you have anything particular to say. It might help you if you can make the case that you are an especially good fit for a particular university. But if you can't think of anything natural to say, then it is okay not to say anything.
You ask how not to be overlooked. One way in which you might help your cause is to try to attend (and, if possible, speak at) as many US conferences as you can. The Joint Mathematics Meetings in January is very popular, especially among job seekers. More specialized conferences are also a great way to get the attention of people who might have the ability to hire you.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: **Background**
I'm an American who will be starting a pure math PhD at a relatively prestigious US public university later this month (I realize that it might seem pointless ask a question about a program I haven't yet begun; however, I think that my question is basically independent of these concerns.)
Moving to Europe is one of my goals in life (just to clarify, it has been since before 2016), and while applying to grad schools I seriously contemplated studying in Germany. However, friends and former professors, as well as professors from my current PhD program, with whom I spoke while visiting, advised me that it would likely be much easier to find a research job if I completed a PhD from an American university. Based on this advice, I accepted the offer from my current program.
It seems to me now, however, that this advice is likely false—while I have heard that German academia is considered to be quite closed to outsiders, it seems that there are quite a few mathematicians with PhDs from German universities who have acquired desirable research positions outside of Germany, and my impression is that a PhD from a well-regarded German university is quite competitive on the international and the European job market. Moreover, it seems questionable to me that a PhD from a moderately/relatively prestigious American university would give one an edge in the academic job market outside the US (perhaps I'm wrong, here, though).
Given this situation, I am considering applying to a Master's program at a certain German university which is quite strong in my area of interest, and
which also seems to have some connections with my current program (in terms of research collaboration), with the intention of completing a PhD at the same university afterward. In terms of personal preference, I would (based on prior experience) much prefer to be residing in Germany, so continuing on at my current program doesn't seem appealing if it's not likely to be more advantageous in terms of finding a job in Europe after finishing my PhD.
**Questions**
* Is it likely that leaving my PhD program for a Master's in Germany after a year would damage my career prospects?
* In this or a similar set of circumstances, is it possible to leave one's PhD program without burning bridges completely?<issue_comment>username_1: At least in Europe PhD students quit/ change their plans reasonably often, so it is something professors are used to to some extent. If you explain it, I doubt there would be serious ill feelings. However, it probably hurts your chances for positions in that department in the near future/mid-term.
At least in Europe, PhDs from nations with respected education systems are largely looked at as similar by many employers with a bonus for it being from internationally known universities (sometimes even if the particular subject is not the university's strength). A PhD from a known US university would certainly give you options for coming to Germany later (depending on your language skills at large multinational companies that operate in English or smaller companies that may work predominantly in German). In case out matters to you: German mathematics departments have a reputation as quite theoretical, even for more applied flavours of mathematics (e.g. statistics). Many course will be solely in German, so check that, if it matters for you.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: >
> * Is it likely that leaving my PhD program for a Master's in Germany after a year would damage my career prospects?
>
>
>
Yes: A Master's degree in Germany is considered by many people
(and pretty much everyone over 50 or so) to be baseline education: In other words, it's the bare minimum you can have and expect to get a job in a relevant field. Yes, the times, they are a-changin', especially in e.g. software development, but "only" having a Bachelor's is still something of an anomaly: [The Bologna Process](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_Process) has changed the structure of German university education [but has not (yet) changed German culture and expectations](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Academic_degree&oldid=791943244#Germany).
Therefore, you'd be going from a culture with relatively lower educational expectations (the US, where a Master's degree hold a lot of weight and a PhD even more so) to a country with higher expectations **and** you're going down one educational level.
Likewise, it's possible that a well-known PhD program will be acknowledged in Germany in relevant field(s), but there are fewer German universities that are so amazingly well-known that they're acknowledged in the US. After all, the US is about the size of all of Europe, so it makes a bit of sense that the US is more insular than Germany is.
>
> * In this or a similar set of circumstances, is it possible to leave one's PhD program without burning bridges completely?
>
>
>
It isn't exactly the same as leaving to get a Master's somewhere else, but it is possible that you could work on building a relationship and rapport with groups in Germany which do work similar to what you do and then ask them if you could spend some time there as a visiting researcher. This way you'd not burn bridges at your current department while still allowing you to experience how it is to live and do research in Germany. Also, you'd end up with a PhD in the end rather than just a Master's, which would make it much easier to move to Germany after the program should you wish to do so.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently entering my third year of undergraduate. When I entered college I was torn between physics and computer science and ultimately chose computer science. I like cs, but I'd like to apply it towards physics applications. I've spent the past two summers working at software companies as an intern, so I have no research experience as of now. I need to start applying for research positions soon if I am to get into graduate school I've heard.
I am wondering if it is possible to get into a masters program for physics with my undergraduate in cs? My school offers a minor program for physics which covers mechanics, E & M, light/waves/heat, and quantum which I am currently working towards as well. For the research, is it even worth applying to physics labs if my major is computer science or should I stick to applying to cs labs? In a physics lab maybe I could aid in preparing apparatus that involve programming or electronics?<issue_comment>username_1: I would say you would absolutely be able to get in to a physics masters program as long as you have taken the pre-requisites for the specific program. Most programs have a list of courses that must be taken to be considered for admission.
I got my undergraduate degree in Geology and Geophysics, but I became more interested in engineering towards the later part of my undergraduate. So I was sure to take all of the requisite engineering courses that I needed to get into an engineering masters program. Now I'm actually working on a PhD in Civil Engineering.
Moral of the story... It is absolutely possible, but be sure to check out the program requirements for the physics programs you are interested in applying.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> is possible to get into a masters program for physics with my
> undergraduate in cs?
>
>
>
In principle yes, but it will depend on the University and program. Also, you might be obliged to take some additional classes to catch up with the basics in physics. The best way is to directly ask their respective program administrator attaching your undergrad syllabus.
>
> For the research, is it even worth applying to physics labs if my
> major is computer science or should I stick to applying to cs labs?
>
>
>
For research it should not matter very much at all which degree you have as long as you manage to convince the person in charge of the research group (group leader / professor) that you will be of value for his research. From my point of view this will certainly be the case with CS (e.g. I did my undergrad in CS and then worked at a medical university for many years including doing a PhD there and eventually becoming assistant professor there as well).
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: A few years ago I hired a post-doc with a non-traditional background. They had gone to one of the 'great books' colleges and did well, but eventually decided they wanted to go into physics. That is pretty hard to do at a great books institute in a fashion amenable to grad school applications. So, after graduation he went to a physics masters program (I won't name it since that would be a shopping question) specifically aimed at being a bridge from not-physics-enough undergraduate degrees to a PhD program. Clearly, since I hired them as a post-doc they succeeded.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> I am wondering if it is possible to get into a masters program for physics with my undergraduate in cs?
>
>
>
Absolutely! Especially if it's for quantum computing, computational physics, or physics of information.
>
> My school offers a minor program for physics which covers mechanics, E & M, light/waves/heat, and quantum which I am currently working towards as well.
>
>
>
Good idea. This will not hurt!
>
> For the research, is it even worth applying to physics labs if my major is computer science or should I stick to applying to cs labs?
>
>
>
Yes it is absolutely worth it! You may wish to contact some professors in the physics department where you're applying (especially ones who you might wish to work with as a research student), to get a feel for the situation, because while I say it's in general absolutely worth it to apply, specific universities/departments can have their own unique quirks.
>
> In a physics lab maybe I could aid in preparing apparatus that involve programming or electronics?
>
>
>
That is completely true, especially if you're going into computational physics, theoretical physics, or mathematical physics (which tend to involve a lot of programming), or experimental physics involving a lot of electronics (assuming you took some electronics or hardware courses in your CS degree).
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: As a session chair recently, I was to introduce a talk where the title of the talk was ungrammatical (in both the abstract and talk slides), likely due to the presenter not being a native English speaker. Two words should have been in plural when they were not, which became clear after reading the abstract.
I faced a dilemma:
1. read the corrected title, and possibly embarrass the speaker (possibly putting them off their talk), or
2. deliberately read the ungrammatical title.
I attempted a compromise: I acted casual, as if I wasn't reading the title word for word.
**Question**: How should the session chair introduce presentation titles which are ungrammatical?
I'm just wondering what's the best solution in this situation (or perhaps what I did "on the fly" was the best).<issue_comment>username_1: I would not know any reason that forces chairs to read the title of the talk.
On the contrary, even with grammatically correct titles, it feels rather lazy and unnatural to me.
Also there is a certain kind of speaker who will read their title, no matter what you do.
This is a little bit less awkward, if you haven’t read the title already.
Hence, if I am sufficiently comfortable with the subject (which I think I should be when chairing), I would always attempt to paraphrase the title.
For example, suppose your title is:
>
> How should the session chair introduce presentation title which ungrammatical?
>
>
>
Then I could introduce you with:
>
> The first speaker is <NAME>, who investigated ungrammatical presentation titles and will talk about how chairs should introduce them.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: As session chair shouldn't you have access to the presentations / titles before the actual date. That may be the right time to fix these things, right?
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: When applying for a job in academia, shall people specify in the CV if they have got visible tattoos?<issue_comment>username_1: No. A CV should consist only of personal data, accomplishments and other things relevant to prospective employers.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Well, consider the possible cases:
1. Your potential employer considers your tattoo an asset or has a positive bias for tattooed persons.
This is the only case where mentioning your tattoo could increase your chances of getting the job, but even then you should ask yourself whether you actually want to be hired because of this.
2. Your potential employer is indifferent about your tattoo.
3. Your potential employer has a conscious or subconscious bias against tattoos, but it’s not so strong that they will automatically reject you.
In this case, you do not want to inform them about the tattoo early on as it will ruin your first impression.
If you make a first impression, you are more likely to overcome the bias and may even sway your employer’s opinion on this matter.
4. Your potential employer will never hire anybody with a tattoo.
In this case, noting the tattoo spares you from wasting your effort on this application.
However, it also deprives you of the valuable experience of going through the interview process and possibly a free journey.
You have to judge yourself how likely these cases are in the respective country, but I think it’s safe to say that case 1 is rather unlikely almost everywhere.
Also consider that noting something on your CV that really doesn’t belong there leaves a bad impression, even if your employer is biased towards this aspect.
I am confident that tattoos don’t belong there in most countries – as they are considered something that should be irrelevant to the hiring decision¹.
And even in countries that have a strong cultural bias against tattoos (such as [Japan](http://kotaku.com/japans-problem-with-tattoos-1767685623)), I wouldn’t expect listing (visible) tattoos on your CV to be the norm given that such norms only arise in frequently relevant cases – which this isn’t, in particular in a country with such a bias.
---
¹ at least for academic jobs. If you want to work in a tattoo studio, things may be different of course.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: A PhD student of my advisor (I am a master student), having been enrolled the doctorate program for less than a year, is now unsure about whether or not to finish it.
One of his concerns is that if he continues, but eventually quits the doctorate program, and applies for a normal job, the future interviewer, during interview, may suspect his lack of ability due to the record of an unfinished PhD program.
However, if he does not write on his CV about the years during PhD program, the interviewer may further question about the absent years.
**So, does a record of an unfinished PhD program makes employers doubt a person's ability? Or are there other negative consequences in it** (besides, of course, the opportunity cost of the time interval)?
In addition to helping me reassure him, such information also helps me to decide whether to get a PhD in the future.
(Not being anglophone, if I misused some terms in English please correct me.)
---
Edit: Wow, to my surprise, this is probably the most popular question among SE questions I have asked (in all sites). I appreciate every answer and have read all of them, but chose Mr Romik for being the earliest among all good answers.<issue_comment>username_1: There are many reasons that people do not finish doctoral programs other than incompetence or lack of motivation. For instance, one may become disenchanted with the soft deadlines of academia and would like to work in a non-academic setting, where deadlines and tasks may be completed in a more timely manner. Also, one may like the income security that a non-academic salary may provide, rather than having to chase after grants for summer pay. Yet another example is that one may like fixed hours in their employment, rather than spend evenings, weekends and sometimes holidays working on manuscripts or grading papers. So, it would be advisable to include the doctoral studies to demonstrate graduate training (especially if it is in the area of the non-academic jobs one would apply for) and give a reasonable and respectable explanation for leaving academia. I often suggest to non-academic job candidates in this position to write their reasons for leaving academia in their cover letter so that there aren't any unanswered questions that may damage their ability to even getting to the interview.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> does a record of an unfinished PhD program makes employers doubt a person's ability?
>
>
>
I very much wish it were not so, but the honest answer is **yes**. Employers, within the restricted context of reviewing job applications, are forced to rely on very partial and superficial information given to them in CVs and job applications. Moreover, they are given huge numbers of applications to select from under time pressure. They respond to this in a way that I think is completely rational, but nonetheless extremely frustrating (to them as well as to the candidates), which is to assign a highly inflated significance to each piece of information given to them: positive things appear much more positive than they should, and negative things appear much more negative than they should.
In particular, both an unfinished PhD and a long period of seeming inactivity in one's CV are likely to be perceived at least somewhat negatively, certainly if they are unaccompanied by an explanation, and possibly (to a smaller extent) even when an explanation is provided. It wouldn't kill someone's chances of getting a job, and can be overcome by many other positive things one has to say about themselves, but I'm pretty sure it will have at least a small negative effect.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: It may also be a question of timing: if he applies for the job while still being enrolled (and within the traditional time of doing a PhD in your country) then it is not (or at least is not likely to be) an issue.
I did this myself, joining a company (there was a fantastic opportunity) when I did not have my PhD yet. The company was fine with me finishing it later, but would not have cared if I did not finish it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I would say the longer the time spent without success, the more damaging.
In particular if one has three or more years but no degree to show for it, then that has to be read as a problem to be explained.
Quitting early is read much less harshly, perhaps especially by those who got their PhD but then left academia for industry. They understand how one can get into a PhD program, perhaps precisely because of natural talent, and discover that it is not fulfilling.
Two of my most effective staff started PhDs and dropped out after just over a year. I didn't read it as a negative and nor has it proven to be.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: For an industry job, I don't think it is a big problem (unless it is a research position where PhD is required).
It is very likely that the candidate found out that he/she does not like to do research, and it might have taken them a while, like it took me.
Of course, I have no idea of what kind of opportunities I would have had if "PhD" in my resume did not have "abd" next to it, but from questions that I had about it and amount of time interviewers spend on those question (if they asked at all) it seemed like a fairly minor point. My previous experience and technical skills get much, much more attention.
And just to be clear I started my first job, while I was still in the PhD program.
I do believe that it is a negative, but a small one, so if your friend does not have passion for research, they should get out, ideally get a job first and then get out.
Also, they should put PhD experience on the resume, being part of PhD program is a plus, this is a lot better than having unexplained gap.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: As an employer I would be more worried of hiring people who might have gotten their degree but got burned out as well. Or who passed the requirements, know lots in a very narrow field but acquired almost no new skills broadly applicable in work. Any wise employer would also know the mechanics of **pressure to finish** can be a double edged sword. Anyone in too long could be more worn out than one careful enough to hop off before that happens. After all (work) life is a *marathon*, not just a sprint or a leap or you know..
The research aim in a PhD is often thin as a needle (rather specialized). But there is a fair chance that the skills acquired during the time of the studies are useful in many other areas and contexts. Even if the work did not pass the requirements to graduate the candidate might have learned many valuable skills as well as a systematic approach to perform work and have gotten valuable ideas and visions.
Look for skills, ambitions, visions and experience (save).
---
*Forget about your silly whim*
*It doesn't fit the plan*
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: As a person who hires people, I tell you that *it depends*. I'm in software engineering, and I've hired any number of ex-Physicists who decided that writing code was more rewarding that smashing particles or whatever.
The idea that hiring managers are drowning in resumes is very context-dependent. If you are in a field where supply of people far exceeds demand, the resume-level exclusion described in other answers makes sense. But if you are aiming to work in a field where that isn't true, sensible hiring managers will have questions for you in interviews, but won't be tossing your resume into the recycle pile.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_8: I spent 5 years working toward a PhD in physics. Around year 4.5 I decided I couldn't cut it in the department I was in (a combination of department politics, my advisor being farrrr too busy to give me the attention I needed, and my wife wanting to start our lives outside of school), so I got an MS and got out. I just got a real job, slightly unrelated to the field I was studying, but it's close. During my job search I told them directly that I decided the PhD wasn't for me, so while they were hiring a guy with an MS physics, they were getting someone closer to a PhD physics or a PhD physicist on a budget.
Don't hide that you have time spent toward a PhD, an understanding hiring manager will realize that spending time learning what you don't want to do will put you a couple steps closer to knowing what you DO want to do.
I think for anyone who understands what a PhD actually is, they will understand that ability is rarely the deciding factor of making it through a full 4-10 year program, it's motivation. Or more specifically, people lacking in ability will usually be weeded out in the first year, while people lacking the dedication to finish will last far longer.
Interesting side note, when I started grad school there was a guy in at least his fourth year, when I graduated he was still there (9+ years), and I just checked, he is still there (11+). The point of this is that you shouldn't feel bad about getting out early and doing something else.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an international student in a interdisciplinary PhD in the social sciences.
1. My supervisor has about 60 students and does not do any advising beyond a few personal favorites.
2. My second supervisor considers me a student of the first, resents the fact that he is the expert on the subject, and as a result won't read my thesis either. This has gone on for seven years and now I must submit. I speak four European languages and my thesis is in an area which is very relevant. Right now I can t see any future for myself as there are no jobs back home.
1.What do I do about my supervisors as the PhD is graded here?
2.Can I apply for post docs/tenure track (community college is more than fine) in North America with a PhD from Germany, or do they prefer N.American PhDs? How do I go about it? I have publications.
I'd be grateful for any advice/career suggestions etc. I don't mind leaving academia but I cannot return home as there are no jobs there.<issue_comment>username_1: It is not uncommon that a German professor does not give advise to their PhD students. Neither is it uncommon that the 2nd referee does not want to read your thesis. In Germany, whether your dissertation is good enough or not is mainly decided by the first advisor. If they say it's ok, then it's ok. Your advisor theirself is the chairman of the exam committee, the other members would not say "no" to him.
That is, there is no need to worry about your situation.
If I were you, I would just write up my dissertation, give it to my advisor, and ask them for advice. Then, from what I know, the advisor would find some time to read it, and tell you something to improve (they have to pretend as if they understood your thesis). Then you could do the improvements, mail the thesis to the 2nd referee. Again this guy would also tell you something to improve, you do it, and that's it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Did your first supervisor ever say to you that he/she won't read your thesis? Why don't you try to finish writing the first draft of your thesis first and let your first supervisor to read and comment? My supervisor also is a type that doesn't do much supervising and only let me do whatever I want. But she took time to read my thesis and I finally managed to submit mine. I am not sure whether it is possible for you to apply for postdoc without PhD degree. Correct me if I am wrong. The fact that you already have publications means you will have a good time writing your thesis.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I have had problems that are similar to yours.
I would say that you need to finish your PhD. The strongest thing you can have in your CV besides your publications is your degree.
Apply for Postdoc in other countries within the EU. There are many opportunities and you may get lucky. America is having difficulties with funding for Science and Humanities, but of course, you can still try there.
The situation with your advisors is terrible, but you can always ask for other people to read your dissertation, like your senior colleagues and professors. Ask for their opinion and suggestion. Make your dissertation as well written and coherent as you possibly can in this situation. It can indeed bring you some job opportunity.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: The airline forced me to check my poster and now it's gone lost. The session I was supposed to participate in is today, so there's little chance of finding a printer in town in a few hours†; What do I do?
---
† In Germany, no businesses may operate on Sunday except with explicit exemptions, and a German printer would rather go out of business than work on a Sunday anyway. Also, this is a small town in the middle of nowhere; when I write "little chance" I really mean "no chance".<issue_comment>username_1: Try to contact the conference organizers and explain your situation to them. At the very least it's probable they have access to a printer.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Unfortunately my answer comes too late for the OP specifically.
First, you should contact the session organizers to explain your situation. This is important because you do not want to be regarded as a no-show by the organizers. Depending on the conference, it may have a negative impact being able to present at the same conference in the future.
Second, you would want to avoid wasting your opportunity to present at a poster session. As others have suggested, try to print a full size or even a partial size poster, or even just your major figures. Ultimately the point is for attendees to see your research, results, affiliation and to network, and any kind of information is better than no information. As long as its enough for someone to come up and talk to you, I'm sure you can fill out the rest of the details by your memory.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: Is it common or something usual for students to sometimes go home for the summer?<issue_comment>username_1: International students do visit their home country. I have seen several Ph.D. students spend their entire summer in their home country. However, it completely depends on the student. From my perspective, I think it is a bad idea to waste your three months by going back to your home country. Either you should do an internship or you should continue your research with your adviser. I explained the reasons in the following paragraph:
1) If you choose to do an internship at the industry, it will help you in various ways. The experience in the industry will help you to finalize your career goal. You will get the chance to experience the industry work culture, you will get a chance to work with some industry leaders and it will be a valuable experience for you during your degree. The experience eventually helps students to get a job after your degree in the industry. If the student performs well, they even get a return offer. I have seen multiple cases where the student landed a job after their internship. If the student decides to go to academia, even then the industry experience is valuable. Moreover, the internship helps a student significantly monetarily. Generally, the companies pay the same salaries of a full-time employee to an intern and the amount is pretty high for a graduate student.
2) If you are a PhD student and do not want to go to an internship, then it is better to work on your research with your adviser. Eventually, you have to finish your thesis, so it is better to utilize your time. Generally, the advisers have funds to support their students in summer. So, if you get paid then it is better to work on your research during summer. If you do not get paid, still it is better to research then going back home.
3) If you are a masters student and do not get an internship, then it is better to find some positions in research labs and work with a professor. Sometimes, professors look for masters students and hire them for small research. Any academic work can be added to your resume and eventually help you to get a job later.
If you are a masters student and do not get an internship/works to do in summer, then you can go back home to save some money.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I have seen a wide variety of decisions about the use of the summer break from classes, both in the case of students from the US and those from abroad. It really runs the gamut. Examples:
* One friend couldn't afford the air fare to visit his home town, during his entire PhD. This was very stressful for him.
* One friend made his good-byes in May and came back in late August married, with his wife accompanying him.
* Some students visit family for part of the summer.
* Me: when I needed the money I worked as a secretary in a temp agency over the summer. Otherwise I enjoyed the break from TA'ing, which allowed me to immerse myself in my exam prep or my project.
It's a very individual decision. I don't think one should decide about summer plans based on what other people do.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: It would be very unusual for an international PhD student to leave for more than a month to visit family, at least within the sciences. Students are paid during the summer. Leaving for the whole summer would likely entail giving up the pay, which many students cannot afford.
Some international students do not leave at all for financial reasons, or for fear they will not be able to re-enter the United States.
This is totally different from undergraduates, who usually leave the university during the summer.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: I am a Canadian working on my PhD in the US. I was able to get a job in a clinic at home that does very similar research to my lab in the US and was therefore able to go home for June - mid August. I would say if you can do something like this where you stay productive over the summer, then yes it it okay to go home for the summer. But grad students do not typically get the summer off like in undergrad... grad school is a year-round job.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: There are some mathematicians who are active online and who blog about their work at various stages, including when they upload a paper to the arXiv. I like this aspect as it gives a chance for the author to give a more informal explanation as to how the results were arrived at or how to interpret them. However, I've seen a few times they they say, on their blog or in the arXiv comments, that the paper is submitted for publication (which is perfectly fine), but additionally specify exactly which journal it has gone to.
As these mathematicians are in fact well-respected and solid in their career I do not wish to impugn their decision, but it smacks of me of being rather confident that the journal will accept the paper, after some small revisions. Since the refereeing process in mathematics takes months, at a minimum, and up to a couple of years in more involved cases, the statement that the submission is to a particular journal will stand for a long time before we know either way as to the result.
As a early career researcher I wouldn't presume to proclaim the journal I think my work should be published in. But am I selling myself short? Let us say I am reasonably confident the paper I am submitting is a good fit for the chosen journal, should I also stake my claim during the preprint phase, to signal at least how "good" I think my paper is? (which judgement people can then assess based on their own experience)
Edit: I see the answers at the previous similar question, while acknowledging the practice to be field-dependent generally warn against this behaviour. However I am observing a career-stage-dependent behaviour in my field contrary to those good suggestions, weighted towards those who already have some advantage (to borrow from <NAME>'s example, imagine Bob could always carry through on his promise, never overstepping the bound on what had actually been done).<issue_comment>username_1: In mathematics, the most usual convention seems not to specify which journal the preprint has been submitted to.
It is not necessarily over confident to state this precision, as claiming a paper is submitted is not stating it will be accepted, but it is difficult to know how it would be interpreted by others. If you have few papers, it is unlikely that stating you submitted to a top journal would carry any weigth in assessing the paper. I would thus advise an early-career researcher to follow the usual convention to stay silent on the matter, as departing from it can raise some eyebrows. Do not hesitate though to explain in a blog post why your papers are interesting, without overselling or bragging.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: There is no consensus on this. I, for one, do not add the journal to which I submitted, but others do, and I am not sure if your observation, that more senior people do add this more often, is correct (I can't judge this from the arxiv-link you gave in the comment).
Here are the factor that you should take into account:
* If you add the information to which journal you submitted the paper, then you add information that other may find helpful in the future such as: It gives a hint on turnorver times for this journal. If the paper is finally rejected, it may help to judge how high the bar is for this journal.
* Adding this information is in the spirit of "open submission" with "open reviews".
* If you are indeed a bigshot, adding the information may put a slight pressure of the journal to accept the submission - of course, it shouldn't, but it might.
To the question if this is bad form: Not in my eyes. For me it's perfectly fine with or without the information…
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: No, do not specify the journal that you have submitted to.
* Anyone can submit a bad paper to a prestigious journal. The sole fact of submitting your paper to journal XY can not be used to signal or suggest a certain quality of the paper or the author.
* If your paper is rejected by journal XY you are forced to update your publication list and are in fact publicly admitting and documenting that your paper has been rejected by journal XY.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: White supremacist groups have been marching down in Charlottesville, Virginia, at the University of Virginia ([article](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/13/opinion/university-virginia-uva-protests-charlottesville.html)).
Does this also in some ways reflect on the university itself for *allowing* the march to happen (see the disturbing photos in the linked NY Times article) and for all the subsequent violence to occur?<issue_comment>username_1: There are many things to consider:
1. If the university is a place where free speech is a right, then it must have been an unpredictable confusion between 'what is free speech' and what is not, and I think violence and hate are just the opposite of freedom.
2. You need to check if the university 'permitted' what happened, or if what happened was something they were not aware of, i.e., they did not give permission. However, they need to address the issue and take the stand against such things, otherwise, it indicates that they support such and such behaviors.
3. You can email the press department at the university or any particular institute asking what are their official position about the issue if you cannot find it on their page first.
4. I think it is unlikely that a university would defend such demonstration of hate, but there may be someone with power over there that thinks differently, what is another matter.
5. Lastly, you need to make sure the university will support you and the students, regardless of their background. Any other attitude from the university's side would only indicate to you that you should pursue your scholarly dreams elsewhere.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The march, and even more so the violence, were strongly condemned by UVA. [Here](https://www.news.virginia.edu/content/president-sullivan-condemns-demonstration-violence) are some statements from the President of the university to that effect.
The mayor of Charlottesville condemned the march in even stronger terms, calling it “a cowardly parade of hatred, bigotry, racism, and intolerance.” Note that the protestors came from out of town; they chose Charlottesville because it was in the process of removing and renaming monuments to the city's white supremacist past.
The US has a very strong tradition of free speech; generally speaking, if some people want to march, it is difficult or impossible to stop them, even if you oppose the cause for which they stand.
In my opinion the violence reflects badly on the US as a whole, but not on Charlottesville or UVA in particular. Whether or not things get worse, no one can say. I certainly hope not.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: My answer may come out to be unpopular, but it might help the person asking the question so I'll throw it out there. Then I'll add a story at the end.
You can look at it from two perspectives, a noble one and a rewarding one.
The noble perspective is to believe that university has nothing to do with it. Apply, join, fight for the right thing, maybe change the people out there, maybe they will change you, maybe get beaten up in the process. At the end you will get to say that at least you tried and did the "right thing".
The rewarding perspective is to cross that place out and apply to universities in areas without such problems. Avoid the problem, minimize risk, stay safe, and focus on studies. That's very rewarding for you but that's not very noble because if everyone else does that, then University of Virginia will quickly become a dismal place.
---
TLDR;
Now if you feel like reading a bit, here is my story. A few years ago I was working on my PhD and worked at a university in southeastern Ukraine. It was the year 2014. Unfortunately for me that is when Russia decided to spark a civil war in eastern Ukraine. I found myself working in a pro-Ukrainian, pro-European, pro-democracy (all the good things) university, which was located in marginally pro-Russian town. The work environment became unbearable quickly. Most students and faculty were 'on the good side'. But many, who were local, shared political views of general population in that area. They had a different idea of what 'the good side' is. Conversations about political topics became taboo because they would end in confrontations. Everyone quickly caught on who is on which side and avoided conversations with each other altogether. Stink eye became a routine greeting. There were no riots and no one got killed, but it was pretty grim. Eventually, people started giving up and just leaving. Luckily, that's when I got my PhD and had no reason to stay either. I chose the rewarding path and don't regret it for a moment. Sometimes I check the Facebook of my colleagues who stayed there to fight for 'the right thing'. They don't look too happy.
This week marked 70th anniversary of India-Pakistan partition which segregated Muslims and Hindus of the former British colony into two countries. I read with horror about what happened to those who stayed and tried to work it out in spite of segregation that was happening. Historically, choosing the rewarding path is selfish, but the best decision from an individualistic perspective. Yet, for some, being a hero is priceless. Make sure you think it through.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I know almost nothing about academia but as someone who is familiar with the area, I think we need to set a few things straight. There are some implications in the question that suggest basic misunderstanding of the situation.
The white supremacists were, from all accounts I have seen, primarily or wholly from outside the area. The gathering was [declared unlawful](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fights-in-advance-of-saturday-protest-in-charlottesville/2017/08/12/155fb636-7f13-11e7-83c7-5bd5460f0d7e_story.html) by local police in [accordance with State law](http://www.redstate.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Emergency-Declaration.jpg) during the event. The governor and the local government have no qualms about condemning the 'unite the right' protesters and white supremacists in general. Charlottesville is considered a progressive town. Something like 80% of the votes went for <NAME> in 2016. Charlottesville is less 200km from the nation's capital. Describing it as 'down south' seems odd to me. UVA is located in Charlottesville but the protests had nothing to do with UVA directly. You could argue that the liberal influence of the university and it's dominance over the city lead to decision to remove the Lee statue and rename Lee park.
In particular, I think it's important to note that the man charged with murder and potentially federal civil rights charges is from Ohio. It's not clear whether you are from the US but let's be quite clear, Ohio is not the south. The reason this happened there is not because the town condones this. It's quite the opposite. It was chosen as a place for white nationalists to push back against liberalism because the city is moving forward with a plan to remove symbols of bigotry from a public park.
One of the things that caught my eye/ear about this incident is that the 'unite the right' crowd had been harassing church-goers. It's a pretty clear sign that they were not local. Messing with people going to church, regardless of the person's color, is inconceivable in small-town Virginia. It's this kind of thing that led to the decline of the KKK in the south many decades ago.
Will these people return to Charlottesville again? I guess it's possible but I think it's more likely they will want to make their presence known in other locations. Another key point here is that this is not the middle of the 20th century. There has been a very significant migration of people to the 'sun belt' over the last 5 decades or so. The US is fairly homogenized on a national level. North-South doesn't matter that much anymore. It's rural vs. urban and Charlottesville, like many college towns in the US, is like an urban colony.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: >
> White supremacists marching at the University of Virginia – does this reflect the university’s attitude?
>
>
>
***No***, absolutely not. Here's [the President of UVA's statement](https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-president-issues-statement-regarding-planned-kkk-rally) from before the earlier rally (there were two) as published on the university's official website:
>
> *University of Virginia President <NAME> on Tuesday issued the following message to the University community regarding a scheduled Ku Klux Klan rally on July 8 in Charlottesville:*
>
>
> To the University community:
>
>
> Members of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, based in North Carolina, plan to hold a rally in Charlottesville on July 8. The stated purpose of their rally is to protest the removal of the <NAME> statue in Emancipation Park, formerly Lee Park.
>
>
> The KKK represents ideologies of hatred and exclusion that run directly counter to the principles of mutual respect, diversity, and inclusion that we espouse and uphold at our University. The KKK has a long history of racial violence and murder. As a unified community, we condemn the detestable beliefs of the KKK as well as the group’s message of intolerance and hate.
>
>
> We also support the First Amendment and the principle of free speech, and we know that the members of this group have the right to assemble and speak. We abhor their beliefs, yet we recognize their right to express those beliefs in a public forum, and the City of Charlottesville plans to protect their right to do so.
>
>
> I urge UVA community members to avoid the rally and avoid confrontation on July 8. To listen and respond to these outsiders would only call more attention to their viewpoint and create the publicity that they crave. Instead, I encourage you to support the alternative events that Charlottesville leaders are planning. These tentatively include a program at the Jefferson School African-American Center and a community picnic at Ix Art Park. Details are available [here](https://www.unitycville.com/event-schedule/). The Albemarle-Charlottesville chapter of the NAACP and other organizations are planning additional events for the community.
>
>
> There is irony in the timing of the KKK rally, which falls only four days after Independence Day, when we celebrate our nation’s hard-won freedom and our founding belief that all people are created equal and entitled to unalienable human rights. As a community, let’s remain confident that the voice of justice and equality will drown out the voice of hatred in the end.
>
>
> <NAME>
> President
>
>
> -["UVA President Issues Statement Regarding Planned KKK Rally"](https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-president-issues-statement-regarding-planned-kkk-rally), UVAToday (2017-06-27)
>
>
>
To summarize that, they allowed the rally on free speech grounds, but explicitly condemned its message. They're a public university in a country where free speech is a central right, so it seems unlikely that they could've blocked it.
For a more recent posting, here's a Q&A with the President of UVA in the aftermath of the second rally, issued yesterday: ["In Aftermath of Violence, Sullivan Reflects on Challenging Weekend"](https://news.virginia.edu/content/aftermath-violence-sullivan-reflects-challenging-weekend), UVAToday (2017-08-13). It's too long to quote in full here, but:
>
> **Q. Traumatic and emotional events have occurred in the last 48 hours. People have been killed and many in our University community remain frightened, angry, confused, frustrated. What is on your mind right now?**
>
>
> A. The first thing I have to say is how indescribably sad it is that three lives were cut short. There were 35 or more people who were injured. And that was needless. The University is about freedom of speech, but free speech is not the same as violence. We strongly condemn this kind of abhorrent and intimidating behavior whose purpose is only to create fear and cause divisions in the community.
>
>
> [...]
>
>
> **Q. You often talk about how the messages of the alt-right and others who were affiliated with this rally and demonstrations do not reflect the values that the University embraces. Simply, what are those core values?**
>
>
> A. I’ve just spoken at length on diversity. And another way we talk about that is inclusion. For a lot of the University’s history, there were specific demographic groups who were excluded. Well, we’re not about that. We’re seeking to include them. We believe in mutual respect. And that means that you can discuss a variety of issues with one another, including with disagreements, but you still respect the other person. Disagreement is not the same as saying, ‘I disagree with you, so, therefore, you must die.’ That’s some of what we were hearing yesterday. That’s a really objectionable message.
>
>
> -["In Aftermath of Violence, Sullivan Reflects on Challenging Weekend"](https://news.virginia.edu/content/aftermath-violence-sullivan-reflects-challenging-weekend), UVAToday (2017-08-13)
>
>
>
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: As a thank you to my thesis supervisor, I would like to write some sort of letter expressing my gratitude for the work he has done for me.
I was wondering if students ever write letters in such a way that they can be used by professors as a sort of "reference" letter when applying for jobs or teaching grants. For reference, my supervisor is a Senior Lecturer at a university in the Australian system. Would a letter like this be appreciated? What should it look like?<issue_comment>username_1: I don't know about the Australian system; in the US, it's quite normal for applications for promotion and teaching awards to require letters from students (though I think usually students from classes, rather than doctoral students). However, I wouldn't pre-emptively write one; my recommendation is that you write a letter or email, in which you could offer if they ever need such a letter. The other thing you could reasonably do is write a short email to their head of department, just saying in a few sentences wy you felt that they were successful as a supervisor. That's probably the best way to help their career.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In North America the website LinkedIn is very popular. My present supervisor has several recommendations from past graduate students on his profile. This essentially consists of a short paragraph relaying the supervisor's strengths and professional abilities. It is publicly available, so this will help to make his profile/work stand out for potential future students and collaborators. I would recommend something along these lines.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently several different, unrelated publishers suggested on their websites to join [Publons](https://publons.com/about/company/), which is meant to acknowledge referees for peer-reviewing submitted manuscripts.
Publons even suggests to forward them emails to add all your past review work:
>
> We've set up a process to make populating your review record as easy as possible:
> Search your inbox for "thank you review manuscript"
> Forward those emails to <EMAIL>
> We'll verify and add your reviews to your profile (without showing their content or the title of the manuscripts)
>
>
>
This all sounds very iffy and hence my questions:
1. Given their suggestion to forward [confidential] emailexchanges between journal and reviewer, is Publons a scientifically **ethically sound** initiative?
2. Not **a hoax**?
3. If it's ethically OK and not a hoax, **what will it yield scientists in the long run**, other than a verified referee record? Isn't reviewing *expected* from every researcher?
Related question on academia SE: [Is it worth creating a profile with Publons?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/94309/is-it-worth-creating-a-profile-with-publons?noredirect=1&lq=1)<issue_comment>username_1: Some quick poking around uncovered [this writeup in Science](http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2016/02/getting-credit-peer-review) about the company, and Springer [has a page](https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/editors/publons) where they describe their commitment to a trial run with the program. Those two alone are enough to make me think that this is likely a Real Thing™ and is likely safe.
Is it ethical? All it's doing is helping people call out their reviewing work. Not sure that ethics has a significant play here. Whether it's *useful*—which is how I'm interpreting your third question—isn't immediately apparent to me. I guess some people want to have their "volunteer" work called out, so this is their way of doing it. I don't see much value, personally. Maybe someone else will have a better answer here.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: [Here](https://publons.com/home/) is their current web page, which in contrast to the Google+ page you linked to appears to be up-to-date.
Although this is the first time I've seen this site, my impression is that it's ethically okay and not a hoax. That said, it also seems quite unnecessary to me, and I would not bother to use it.
>
> What will it yield scientists in the long run?
>
>
>
-- I would estimate:
1. With about 2% probability, the website will catch on and become popular. Probably this would be at the insistence of university administrators, who are often looking for new ways to measure and evaluate the performance of faculty.
The website will yield another hoop for researchers to jump through, and possibly (as the website claims) to increased recognition of researchers who do an unusually good job of peer review.
2. With about 98% probability, the website will largely be ignored, and the net effect on the scientific community will be nil.
In general, I would advocate ignoring advice originating from commercial publishers; personally, I would only consider using this site if I were urged to do so by scientists in my field or by administrators at my university.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Here's an article from one of the co-founders. Seem to have a mission in mind: <https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-future-of-peer-review/>
I also recently wrote a response to a similar question the other day: [Is it worth creating a profile with Publons?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/94309/is-it-worth-creating-a-profile-with-publons/94312#comment241619_94312)
Roughly, the summary says:
>
> Basically peer review is critical to efficient and trustworthy research. But lack of recognition means there's inadequate incentives and support, such as consideration by tenure panels or training for early-career researchers. By helping the community document their reviewing efforts, we'll raise the status of peer review and make sure people contributing are rewarded for it and the system helps bolster it to improve scholarly communication.
>
>
>
As for the ethical stuff, journals set their own editorial policies on Publons to make sure whatever reviews you add to your profile comply with the journal's policies. More here: publons.freshdesk.com/support
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: The other answers already give several interesting angles; I want to add one here. Publons simply counts the **number** of peer reviews, not their quality. Hence it promotes pumping this number at the expense of their quality. This is a direction that has become increasingly more popular in evaluating researchers, but if you think about it it's the exact opposite of where we'd probably want academia to go.
Calling it "unethical" is probably too much, but it's definitely not a line of thought that I wish to support.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: It is probably legit, as it is owned by the behemoth company Clarivate, which does data analytics on all things science, engineering, and biotech. While it does not seem "unethical", it does seem like a business strategy to get peer review data and do analytics on it for profit.
I added one of my recent reviews, using the publisher's link, to test the site. Unfortunately, it shows the name of the paper that I reviewed in my profile. Although I could delete it, seems like you have to be very mindful about what you post and how you manage it, which equals adding more work to an already overworked schedule.
Peer review is a community service that we perform for the betterment of research. While it is one of the criteria used for academic promotion, it is not the most important, and therefore I do not think is worth the effort of using the site.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_6: **Yes**, Publons is a serious & stable initiative to add value to the work of reviewers.
Concerning your specific questions:
1. There is a lot of discussion around this. In principle the website is collecting information submitted by users regarding peer review. As you can see from other answers and provided links, this information is made available to other (major) interconnected platforms. As a crude example, my ORCID is automatically aware of some of the reviews I submitted to Publons and has transferred this info to my Mendeley profile. I *cannot control* this flow of information. Whether the website will *publish* such information (e.g. review contents) depends on journal's official approval. This last bit sounds nice, but in practice this may be a major concern to individual authors/editors worried about the privacy of peer review communication, and apparently the platform takes *the freedom to publish contents about any journals that **have not** officially communicated any restrictions*. This last is a debatable practice.
2. As said above, not a hoax.
3. Actually two questions here. (3a) We cannot say for sure, though Publons is pushing some trends. By communicating other platforms and adding scores & stats, official Publons stats could endorse a contributing reviewer's performance CV. I have heard of peers submitting their Publons scores alongside grant applications. (3b) This question is rather broad. Peer reviewing (at any stage) of research is required to validate scientific literature, and it must be done by fellow researchers. In practice, **some form** of reviewing is inevitable to anyone writing a useful piece of literature. Formal, *pre-publication peer review* is provided under request, and nobody I know is officially obliged to participate. But most academics will tell you one is ethically bound to provide written peer reviews to editors every now and then... which doesn't mean truly they're doing it. As said, this is a denser discussion, and would probably fit in a discussion separate from Publons.
Personally, I support and use Publons. I value transparency regarding peer review, and I think this platform is offering exactly that. I however recommend caution in using the platform as you will bump into numerous conflicts of interests with your peers, most of which are implied.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: In my experience, Publons mostly seems to work as promised.
I do note however that it uses third party cookies and trackers.
Furthermore, one has to assume the Clarivate firm is commercially motivated, and will eventually seek to monetize the data it collects via Publons. There have over the years been many instances of firms that initially offered a benign service to gain members, and then later switched into a more commercially aggressive mode of operation. It will be interesting to see how they develop their business model, and whether that is compatible with expectations from reviewers themselves.
One also has to assume that any database will eventually be shared, sold or hacked, and the results aggregated with other data to build a bigger picture.
Personally I am happy to use Publons at this stage, but I am cautious about what information I release.
Upvotes: 3
|
2017/08/14
| 397
| 1,800
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<issue_start>username_0: I am enrolled in a doctoral school in which we have to submit a research proposal by the first year and it has to be accepted by a board. My advisor gave me the complete proposal and told me to submit it. However, on the website of the university it says that I should develop it with the collaboration of my advisor. I was wondering if it is normal that I am not involved in writing it? (The research topic was already clear in the position advertisement, i.e. the proposal was almost a copy of the ad description and it got accepted.)
(I study in Europe.)<issue_comment>username_1: Yes this is quite normal (meaning: it happens all the time). Although it is probably not needed, you are free to propose changes to your supervisor before submitting. So in a way you are involved because you should read (and possibly correct) the proposal before submitting.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: This is a regional practice more than a field-specific practice in my experience. It seemed to me that countries like France that are very strict on the 3-year limit for PhD students tend to have the advisor work out the research topic in advance so as not to waste valuable research time, whereas in countries like the US or Germany, where there are only practical/financial limits on the time you are allowed to be a PhD student, the advisor will more often let the candidate look around a bit at the beginning and formulate the topic themselves.
Another aspect is grant money: if your position is part of a specific project (especially if funded on one of the big EU grants), you are bound to work on a specific question anyway, so there is not really a point in letting you paraphrase a topic that was already fixed well in advance of looking for a candidate.
Upvotes: 3
|
2017/08/14
| 846
| 3,240
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<issue_start>username_0: [This](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9438/why-is-howard-university-still-predominantly-black) question asks about the history of why Howard University in Washington, DC, USA has remained a school whose student and faculty bodies are predominantly African-American.
Do "historically [minority ethnic group]" universities exist *in a meaningful sense* outside the USA? For example, are there universities in Spain which are historically known for targeting or serving the ethnic Basque community? Are there "Historically Italian" universities in Argentina? Do the Ainu of Japan tend to predominate at a specific Japanese university?
This question is not about whether specialized minority-serving academic institutions *should* exist, or what their social, political, or economic ramifications are, if any.
This question involves something other than a request to churn and process statistical data - it is a question about social realities and social perceptions in academia. For example, if a census of a particular university in the UK happens to reveal that 65% of the faculty and students are Scottish Highlanders, but there is no significant social perception of the school as a "Highlander School" and no particular adherence to Highlander culture, then it would not count under this question. If, however, there is a UK university whose charter specifically says that it was established "for the education of Highlanders", or which inspires mentions of "oh, that Highlander school!" when mentioned casually in pubs, it counts, even if the actual number of Highlanders on campus as of 2018 is 15%.<issue_comment>username_1: As universities in England were originally based on training religious folk for the priesthood, they did not accept other religions or non-religious persons, so alternative learning places evolved, which are now full universities, but the female/male divide was strong in learning establishments until recently. Imperial College, London was specifically created to allow Empire students of a non-UK-religious background get a university education in UK. They might be non-Christian, Non-Believers or even 'pagans' or even "Scots Protestants" but Imperial College was open to them while the older English religious founded establishments were not.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Trinity College Dublin could be considered an example. Consider, from Wikipedia:
>
> Originally it was established outside the city walls of Dublin in the
> buildings of the dissolved Augustinian Priory of All Hallows. Trinity
> College was set up in part to consolidate the rule of the Tudor
> monarchy in Ireland, and it was seen as the university of the
> Protestant Ascendancy for much of its history. Although Catholics and
> Dissenters had been permitted to enter as early as 1793, certain
> restrictions on their membership of the college remained until 1873
> (professorships, fellowships and scholarships were reserved for
> Protestants). From 1871 to 1970, the Catholic Church in Ireland
> forbade its adherents from attending Trinity College without
> permission. Women were first admitted to the college as full members
> in January 1904.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2
|
2017/08/14
| 297
| 1,192
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<issue_start>username_0: I get google scholar alerts at all times of the day. This irritates me because it comes up as an email, I dont have time to read it, and then I forget about it.
My only reading time is Friday morning so it would be great to get my alerts at 8.00am on Friday morning as that would be consistent with my workflow.
The question is therefore can I get my alerts delivered on Friday 08.00 and not before then- a kind of weekly digest?<issue_comment>username_1: There is no option to change the frequency of the Google Scholar alerts that you have subscribed to. It is better to ask the Google Scholar support team directly. You can only change the number of results that you want to see a list in your email.
I understand that it is sometimes annoying looking at 3-4 emails daily on various topics. If you are really not reading the list and not following the work, it is better to unsubscribe (or 'Cancel') the alert by logging into your account.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: [Create a filter](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579?hl=en) to add a label to the emails.
Then every Friday you can read all the emails marked with that label!
Upvotes: 3
|
2017/08/14
| 2,594
| 10,638
|
<issue_start>username_0: My doctoral supervisor is very helpful and I really enjoy working with him on various problems. I have officially entered my second year of doctoral research this month. During discussions, I get few basic (probably, 'technically silly' as I would put it) questions that occur to me at times. But, I don't ask these question to him as he might think I am 'dumb' and I lack technical fundamentals. Then, I suffer a lot on the topic by crawling in the books, internet; sometimes I find answers to my questions, sometimes I don't. I get annoyed with myself sometimes.
There are many supervisors and Ph.D. students out here in academia.SE. Could you please suggest me on the following questions:
* Should I ask such questions at all during a discussion with him?
* How would a supervisor feel about a doctoral student asking such dumb questions? *(This part might be opinion-based. I would like to see some experience to interpret my situation.)*
*Note:* The questions are related to the research he has pioneered in. It is not always true that I would find the answers to my so called 'silly' questions by Googling. Many research papers don't even bother to contain such internal details on the topic. The only possibility is either I figure out myself or ask my supervisor.
Some (un)related questions (in different situations and contexts):
* [How to ask dumb questions](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/51631/how-to-ask-dumb-questions)
* ["You are paid to answer my questions!" - how to handle silly questions?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/16265/you-are-paid-to-answer-my-questions-how-to-handle-silly-questions)<issue_comment>username_1: **Every** PhD student "lacks technical fundamentals" in some respect. That is why you are a PhD student and not a senior researcher (though they probably lack more "technical fundamentals" than you would guess, also). You aren't going to trick your supervisor into thinking you know everything by never asking questions that might be "silly".
But learning to find answers on your own is an essential skill, so it's good that you are practicing doing this. I don't know why you say it is "suffering".
I think a good compromise is to spend a reasonable amount of time trying to find the answer yourself. If you can't, then ask your supervisor, and mention what you tried or what sources you consulted. A reasonable PhD supervisor should not "think less of you" for this, and in any case, it's almost certainly better for your supervisor to have an *accurate* view of what you know.
If you are in the middle of a meeting and you need to know the answer now in order to proceed with a meaningful discussion, then it is reasonable to ask the question on the spot. Again, it is better to be honest about what you do and don't know, than to potentially waste everyone's time by proceeding with a discussion you don't understand.
If you find yourself spending too much time chasing down answers to random questions, then *prioritize* them. It's okay to say to yourself: "This is an interesting question, but I don't need to know the answer right now; let me set it aside and come back to it in the future when I have more time."
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This is a good question, and probably more subtle than many grad students imagine. (And perhaps subtler than some faculty would like to acknowledge, having some expert-blindness, as well as wishful thinking, and false memories/ideas of how "good" grad students can/do/should operate.)
First, I don't see how a novice can really know whether a question is "silly" or not.
Second, right, many things are either not readily google-able, if only because a novice does not know the key-words. Worse, naive or archaic versions of (e.g., mathematics) tend to swamp sophisticated (and perhaps more likely correct) versions, as though by a popularity contest. This also tends to be the case in Wiki, still. (Don't get me wrong, I strongly support Wiki, and send them money, and they're much, much better than 15 years ago, but, still, due to the nature of the situation, they're prey to enthusiastic-but-naive/misguided people...)
Third, yes, one can rightly feel that there is some sort of both moral and professional virtue for "finding out things for oneself". On the other hand, it is easy to go too far with this, and slide down a slippery slope into extreme inefficiency (i.e., not using a presumed expert who has offered their consultative services to you!)
So, e.g., I tell my students to ask me all the "silly" questions they want, since, if they're truly silly, I presumably can answer them instantly, and/or tell them that the questions are *not* silly, where to read about it (e.g., my own notes of various sorts), or that it's not documented anywhere (despite possibly mythology otherwise).
Still, collectively, yes, students are reticent about talking to faculty. Some of this is visibly due to the drift of conversational styles and related things over years, but, in any case, I claim it's an unfortunate waste of resources.
(Sure, some faculty simply don't want to engage in activities like "talking to students", which may be uncomfortable to everyone involved. Sure, some students want to "be independent", even if this means they'll be out of touch with state-of-the-art. Such things.)
So, obviously, it depends on the personalities of everyone involved... Oop, no good answer. :)
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I have actually directly said to my supervisor that I think some of my questions might be silly, but I must ask because I am lost. He says always to me that my questions are not silly and he'd rather I asked than wasted time or made a mistake. From talking to other colleagues I learned that everybody at some point felt like they did silly things or asked silly questions. I think it's normal to wonder if to ask or not, given that supervisors are busy etc. My algorithm: google and if no answer - ask other phd students and if no answer - ask professor. Then my conscience is clear and I can honestly say I've done all I could before going to supervisor. Hope that helps.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> I have officially entered my second year of doctoral research this month.
>
>
>
I'll offer my anecdotal experience by focusing on this statement, maybe not in the way you expect.
How your personality meshes with your advisor's personality can play a large role in how you communicate. I know some students who simply present their boss with results, maybe ask what to do next, and get told what to do. Or, if things are going especially well for them, and not a lot of direction is necessary, the interaction is even more one-sided. So they may be more afraid of asking "silly" questions, or such a thing just doesn't even exist in their minds.
On the other hand, meetings with my advisor are less structured; we chat about what he's been working on, what I've been working on, I ask him questions about our field that he has more experience with, he asks me questions about our field that I have more experience with. Certainly some of these might fall under the silly category, but we want to spend more time individually working through problems we're interested in, and gain other information by just asking. I don't have time to work through everything, and I'm more interested in some discussion resulting from it anyway.
It also took several years to get to this point, in terms of reaching some level of both research and communication maturity. Not all advisors are this easy to talk to.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: To consider questions "stupid" or "silly" is a mark of insecurity that you may inherit from others. What exactly is a stupid question, anyway? Unless it's rhetorical, a question itself presupposes lack of knowledge - which many typically call "stupid". In that sense, *all* questions are stupid (i.e. marks of ignorance).
Toss that thinking aside, and ask away - unless it becomes prohibitively disruptive, etc.
Many meetings are filled with people who all have the same questions and objections...and keep quiet. Knowledge and discourse dies that way.
Don't let it die. Ask away. And if someone is too snobbish to deal with your basic questions, try to ditch him and find a more decent human being.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: I will answer the implicit question here:
>
> How can I get unstuck without bothering my advisor with relatively trivial questions?
>
>
>
Populate your support system with more than just your thesis advisor. Consider the following characters in the graduate student's food web:
* The peer mentor (I'll use gender in an arbitrary way so the writing flows easier): This person is more advanced than you, but it's okay to ask him some silly questions because he's lower on the totem pole than your advisor. *Be sensitive to this person's own deadlines, etc.*
* The study partner: This person is familiar with your field but perhaps not with your particular thesis topic. He may be able to answer a question right off the bat; he may be able to give you some ideas about getting unstuck. He can rein you in when he sees you spending too much time on something that can be postponed or ignored. This person may help you narrow down which resources are most helpful, and how to use them efficiently. You can reciprocate.
* The listserv, forum or Q&A site. This works well for anonymous, non-embarrassing posting. Even if you don't get an answer, it's often helpful just to articulate the question in a clear way -- including what you've tried so far.
* The support crew or cheerleader. This person knows little or nothing about your topic and maybe even your field of endeavor. But at the very least you can use him for rubber-ducking your problem. He might surprise you with a helpful insight or suggestion, but his main purpose is to listen with apparent interest as you walk the problem through, explaining what you've tried and what you propose to try. Sometimes the solution or next step has jumped out at you by the time you've finished laying things out.
* Last but not least: the less advanced student. You will advance your karma by helping others who are not as far along as you; you will consolidate what you already know, and find out more about how people learn and how to teach, tutor and mentor, by helping others. If you have a good balance between asking some people for help, and providing help to others, you will feel more comfortable about asking for help when you are spinning your wheels.
Upvotes: 2
|
2017/08/15
| 703
| 2,768
|
<issue_start>username_0: I have an adjunct position teaching at an HBCU ([Historically black colleges and universities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historically_black_colleges_and_universities)).
I was wondering **what is the best way to emphasize teaching at a minority institution on my CV?**
Where do I stress that the school is an HBCU? - teaching experience, mentorship, other? ...
I want to emphasize that I have experience teaching at an HBCU, but I almost feel like it's too forced to mention it in the teaching experience area of my CV.
Suggestions for how to best "sell" myself with this experience?<issue_comment>username_1: Usually, academic CVs aren't really the place to "sell" anything. Unlike professional CVs, academic ones are usually fairly comprehensive, but ultimately boring, listings of everything you did and achieved. Think of them as the phone book to your entire academic persona - it's a good place to check up on specific things a committee might be interested in (how many papers has this person published, and in which journals? how much money has he brought in? etc.), but not much more than that. That means that you would definitely **add the information to your CV, but should probably not attempt to sell your experience through it.**
The place(s) where you as a candidate would frame how you want to be perceived, and what of your activities you want to emphasize, are the cover letter, and your research and teaching statements. In that sense, you would want to emphasize your teaching experience in your **teaching statement** if, and only if, you think this is something central to your teaching philosophy, or if you think that this is going to be a big plus to the place you are applying to. If you *really* want to emphasize it you can also add one or two sentences to this end to the cover letter, but I would probably only go that far if the place you applied to is also an HBCU or has made clear that such experience is of particular interest to them (a standard blurb at the end of the job announcement does not count).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: There is no reason you can't create a new section with its own heading. Ideally you would pad this out with a couple of other, related things. Example:
>
> **Support for Diversity in Education**
>
>
> (time period) Taught at HBCU, (name of HBCU)
>
>
> Minor in Ethnic Studies (years, name of institution)
>
>
> Served as Secretary of the \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Club, (description)
>
>
>
Each of these can have a concise description if you like.
You may also bring this to the forefront in a cover letter or philosophy of teaching, where you might analyze the role your experiences in the HBCU have played in your pedagogical development.
Upvotes: 1
|
2017/08/15
| 452
| 1,845
|
<issue_start>username_0: Maybe I am overthinking this. But which person should I use in the fellowship application? There are sections about the actual science, about the applicant, and about the exchange with the host institution. Is it ok to switch person according to the section? Or should I refer to myself as the "Researcher" as the templates use?<issue_comment>username_1: Optimally, you would check this with people in your field, in the best case somebody who has already written a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship proposal. In my area, the usage of "I" has become fairly standard for personal grant applications, to the extent that using "they" would be considered somewhat unusual. Using "we" for such grants is not recommended, as apparently some people want to see this as a sign of lacking independence. (I completely disagree with this assessment, but why take the risk?).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In a successful Marie Curie IEF, I used both *"we"* and my name, e.g., "<NAME> will ..." This was in CS/HCI.
But, as a native speaker of a romance language, I'm quite fond of the *pluralis majestatis* (the *Royal We*), so I didn't think twice about it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: An option that was suggest to me when I wrote my (successful) MSC application was to make use of the chosen project acronym (which you have to choose anyway). Use sentences like:
* ACRONYM will solve (world hunger).
* ACRONYM will overcome (major problem) by using (fancy sounding technique).
In my experience allows you avoid most cases were you would otherwise want to use "I" or "We" during the scientific proposal part (often simply to allow for the flow of the text). You will be left with cases that specifically refer to the applicant, who you can refer to as you deem appropriate (see other answers).
Upvotes: 0
|
2017/08/16
| 619
| 2,699
|
<issue_start>username_0: If a postdoc requests a private office when negotiating an employment contract, is there a possibility the request would be granted?<issue_comment>username_1: The big issue in having a private office is available space.
Most departments have a limited amount of space available, and what is given to any particular research group is correspondingly restricted. There may not be a private office available to the group, in which case it wouldn't be possible to accommodate such a request. In addition, if there's a more senior person, then usually such an individual would have a "higher claim," so you might not get one.
Of course, if you never ask, you'll never know.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Sure there is a possibility. I have seen PhD students have private offices in some places. In others, even Assistant Professors had to share. And my current employer famously had a (short-lived) initiative where they wanted to implement a hot-seat scheme for everybody except top administrators (it did not go over well with faculty).
However, in practice you may not so much negotiate but ask for it. If they have the room they will be happy to oblige (since it costs them little), and if they don't have the room they will hardly be able to change this to accommodate your request. Further, note that room situations change, sometimes quite quickly - you may have a comfy single office when you start, and a few successful grant applications later you need to share the same space with two others. It is unlikely that your PI will guarantee you in writing that you will have and retain a single office at all times.
One of the comments also asks whether there will be "friction" if you have a single office and others on your level need to share. This is of course possible, and it depends a bit on your personality whether you would mind this (I personally wouldn't). However, there's usually advantages and disadvantages to all rooms. Your single office will likely be of the "small dark room in the corner" variety, while their three-person office is surely larger, and often nicer - so it's not a straight up "you got a much better deal than others". Further, if you always worry that others might be envious of whatever you manage to negotiate on top of the standard package, then why bother negotiating at all?
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: If a private office is important to you, there's no better time to ask than at recruitment / when you have an offer letter in hand and have not yet accepted. On the other hand, be prepared to accept a "no" answer.
On the gripping hand, the answer is always "no" to a question you haven't asked.
Upvotes: 2
|
2017/08/16
| 2,111
| 8,479
|
<issue_start>username_0: I had a discussion with a colleague about paying to become a member out of our own pockets. His argument is that we have to support a society if we care about it.
I don't understand the argument. The best way I can explain it is if we compare it to industry. **You would not be asked to pay out of your own pocket to do the job you were hired for.** Instead, your employer would have to pay it.
However, with respect to memberships in academia we are supposed to pay to do the job we were hired for (by the way, in my contract it says "give presentations in academic meetings"). It might be my experience in industry that makes me think this way, but again, I do not find it appropriate at all that we have to pay to do our jobs.
**Why is there this discrepancy between academia and industry?**
PS. I know in some cases one can use certain funds to pay for membership, I am not asking about that. I am asking that if you have the options of (1) not being a member or (2) pay it yourself, you are expected to pay it yourself.
Extra information: **I asked around in my office and all (but me) frown upon academics that are not members of any society.** In practice, this means (as far as I know, told this in confidence) that colleagues in my department do not consider you a committed professional and can use this as an excuse to minimize your achievements and maximize your weaknesses. One of the comments was similar to one of the answers here "if someone is not committed, then he/she should change careers, they have no place in academia"<issue_comment>username_1: First of all, I believe the premise of your question is largely incorrect (and I know from your disclaimer that you are "not asking about that" but will take the liberty of addressing that anyway). At my university, researchers can use their research funds to pay for membership in academic societies, and my perception is that this is the norm in the United States. So, to the extent that it's not the case at your institution, my feeling is that that is out of line with the norm, so perhaps there is indeed no good reason for it and you should lobby to get this rule changed.
Second, even if it *is* the case that you cannot charge this expense to your research funds, the assertion that "academics are expected to pay out of their pockets for memberships in academic societies" still sounds highly questionable to me. What does "expected" here mean? I was not a member of any academic society until last year, and nonetheless managed to become a full professor and department chair at a respected university. So I maintain that no harm will come to your career if you ignore this so-called "expectation". Sure, it might be nice to be a member of a society and can come with various small benefits, but if you don't feel like paying for it, you'll be fine.
Third, even if it is the case that becoming a member of an academic society in your discipline is somehow a professional necessity, and that the only way to do that is to pay for it out of your personal money, I don't think that's necessarily unreasonable (nor is it entirely true that things aren't like that in industry - lawyers have to pay annual bar fees, for example, not all of which are covered by their employers). Your interpretation that this means "we are supposed to pay to do the job we were hired for" seems to me like a very narrow-minded view of what life in academia is about. Sure, it is a job and we are paid a salary for it; at the same time, being a researcher is *much more* than a job - it is a vocation, and that is why researchers are notoriously bad at separating their personal lives and their professional lives: most normal "workers" don't work late nights and weekends (not to mention holidays and family vacations) and don't spend a large proportion of their lives traveling for work, including moving repeatedly across large geographical distances before landing their first permanent job.
In fact, to be honest, as an academic, I feel like I can't draw a precise line separating my "job" from my "personal life". When I read a math book or article at the beach or swimming pool, am I "working"? When I think about a research problem while driving or talk about math with a friend over dinner, am I "working"? I honestly don't know. And **that's a good thing**. It means that I am doing something that makes me happy. How many other "workers" can say that? Too few, sadly. So let the industry people have their employers pay for them to do the "duties" that are "written in their contract", is what I say. If you are passionate about your work and being a member of a society is something that interests you enough, you would not find it burdensome having to pay a small amount for it. And if not, well, either switch careers, or just forego the society membership, and all will be well.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In my field, it is not required to be a member of any society. So it is not expected that one would pay for that. Personally, I do not pay for any memberships. But, If wanted to, I would use my research funding (permitted in many universities). And otherwise, if I would not have enough funding, I would just pay it with my own money, and it would not be much of a problem. In my field, membership are cheap for students (about 50 $ USD). And for professors, we typically have a high enough salary that paying a membership is not much of a problem even if we would pay from our own pocket. If you really like research, you may not mind paying a little bit from your own pocket, especially if you don't have enough funding and you think it could help you.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: A few perspectives on this question, from someone who has had one society membership paid for by their university, and several not:
>
> You would not be asked to pay out of your own pocket to do the job you
> were hired for. Instead, your employer would have to pay it.
>
>
>
First, I know a number of people in industry who end up paying out of pocket (especially if we consider the time value of money) for learning things important to their job.
Second, rare is the society membership that is *required* to do your job. I have only published in a single journal that required *an* author on the publication to be a member of the society, and generally speaking, I also haven't had to be a member to attend meetings, present work, etc. - though it's often cheaper than registering as a non-member.
>
> However, with respect to memberships in academia we are supposed to
> pay to do the job we were hired for (by the way, in my contract it
> says "give presentations in academic meetings").
>
>
>
As noted above, society memberships are neither necessary nor sufficient for you to fulfill this clause in your contact.
>
> PS. I know in some cases one can use certain funds to pay for
> membership, I am not asking about that. I am asking that if you have
> the options of (1) not being a member or (2) pay it yourself, you are
> expected to pay it yourself.
>
>
>
You made a general argument, but don't want to hear about the counters to your general argument?
I've used both startup and grant funding to pay for society memberships.
There are other reasons that I can come up with off the top of my head for why this isn't done (often):
1. For many faculty, even those with unallocated money, society memberships may fall in that category of "annoying, but not worth spending my limited grant funding on."
2. It is very hard to link society membership to a particular tangible work product, save for rare cases. My membership in SIAM, for example, has done exactly nothing for my career, and is tied to no products, yet I still find it reasonably valuable. That's hard to put into a grant, and hard for a university to justify spending.
3. There's no cap on it. There are *always* societies to join. If you come to a university and say "I need a PCR machine to do my work" you buy the machine (and perhaps a service agreement) and you're done. "I need to join some number of societies" isn't capped. Is that number one? Three? Fifteen? Fifty?
4. Society memberships follow people, not positions. For three months, I was between jobs - yet I was still a member of the Society for Epidemiological Research. If I quit my job tomorrow, I will still be a member of one of their committees. The same is true if I switched jobs.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/08/16
| 825
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm starting a doctorate focusing on artificial intelligence and network security, and have all of my technical classes paid for and organized. The schedule is currently forecasted at 60-ish hours a week of classes, grading, research, and other required activities. I feel this is reasonable.
However, I'd also like to take advantage of the expertise on campus and take piano lessons offered as credited classes by my school. These classes would be taught by the institute as graded classes but would not contribute in any way to my doctorate requirements or employment. They would be fully paid for by my scholarships, along with any other classes I'm taking.
On the plus side, I feel like learning something outside of my doctorate will make me a better rounded student, and music has always given me a safe, healthy outlet for stress and anxiety. And it seems like such a waste to pass up on free lessons from a professional when I'd be paying upwards of $1000 for lessons from a non-professional anyway.
However, I'm worried about attempting this for a couple reasons:
First, I'm worried that my adviser would see these extra hours as a signal that I'm not working to my maximum potential on his project. It's one thing to have hobbies and outlets, it's another to take extraneous classes that could be replaced with required ones.
Secondly, this could be an easy official scapegoat if anything goes wrong with my research. If I get a B in my required classes, it would be easy to say that the five hours a week in this class could have been used to study.
Finally, while the scholarship contract specifically says "all classes" are paid for, I'm worried it would be seen as unethical to ask the computer science department to pay for a class that has nothing to do with my doctorate.<issue_comment>username_1: Lots of people do this, especially if their funding allows them to take out-of-program courses. But you should
* Check first that your advisor is OK with it. Tell them that music has always given you a safe, healthy outlet for stress and anxiety. Skip the well-rounded student part.
* If you don't yet have an advisor, check with the graduate director. In fact, you might want to check with the graduate director anyway if you have any reason to doubt that your advisor's say-so will cover your bases.
* Take the outside course pass-fail or undergrad level if possible. Tell your advisor/grad director that that's what you're doing.
Some programs might have the kind of issues you describe about "focusing on your studies," but most won't. A few might have issues about paying for an out-of-program course. But in any event they're going to find out about it anyway, so you should approach them about it first.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Absolutely. I took every PE course offered in my university during my doctoral program since I wasn't taking a real course but was still receiving a tuition waiver after my second year.
I gained a lot of useful life skills and certifications as a result and became a more well rounded individual. In addition, I made friends outside of my department - which is a necessity for having a healthy social life in graduate school.
Contrary to the previous poster, I never checked in with my adviser or director of graduate studies - he didn't care as long as I did my work well and on time. These were all pass-fail courses and were quite popular among many of my graduate student friends.
Upvotes: 1
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2017/08/16
| 875
| 3,520
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a [DACA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_Action_for_Childhood_Arrivals) student in the US in my last year of my PhD program, and that means that I will be applying for postdoc and professor positions. However, DACA status means that I am ineligible to apply for federal research grants and I am limited to only applying for private grants that have no restrictions on legal status.
There's also a lot of uncertainty surrounding the fate of DACA as the Trump administration has previously stressed that they would work to rescind the program (which may result in deportation of people like me).
My advisers said that applying for lecturer positions should not pose a problem, but I'm concerned about my chances to apply for *professor* positions when I am not able to secure any federal grants issued by the government, in addition to the fact that my stay in the US is not 100% guaranteed in the long run. I love teaching but would also like to continue doing research as well, in a university setting...
Any insights on the matter, especially by those that have worked in hiring committees, would be much appreciated!<issue_comment>username_1: Setting aside all of the questions around DACA, let's focus on the question of how necessary federal grants are to obtaining (and keeping) a position as a professor.
Professorships at research-intensive universities are indeed generally strongly dependent on the perceived ability to bring in funding. Among other things, without funding it is difficult to support graduate students. Without graduate students, one's research typically progresses much more slowly (excepting perhaps in certain theoretical areas). Moreover, at some universities successful graduation of Ph.D. students is part of making tenure. You may be able to do this with private, state, or international funds, of course, in which case you would want to try to demonstrate why this plan is feasible to a hiring committee.
Professorships at teaching-focused universities, on the other hand, are typically much less tightly linked to the ability to get federal funding. While you may face other obstacles there, your primary job would in any case be teaching rather than research, and small amounts of funding from non-federal sources may be much more plausible as an approach.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: As the OP is interested in applying for professorship, I would assume (s)he has many papers with many citations.
If so, perhaps it is better to get rid of this DACA status first. As I understand, all one needs to do is to [leave the US, then re-enter legally with a different status](https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/if-i-leave-return-the-us-daca-can-i-adjust-status.html).
This sounds crazy for normal people, but it is not difficult for postdoc positions (which of course, much less competitive than professorship). So, instead of apply professorship directly, how about doing a postdoc 3 - 6 month in EU first?
You can also self-petition your green card while on J-1 visa, either EB1 or EB2-NIW. [According to this data](https://www.eb2niw.com/credentials-cases/average-approved-niw-case-basic-credentials/), 60 citations is the median to obtain EB2-NIW.
I had my green card after 2 years living in the US. I applied for EB1, my citations were around 150 at that time.
Note that, since J-1 is not dual intention, it is better to change to O-1 before applying for green card to avoid the risk if the application fails.
Upvotes: -1
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2017/08/17
| 512
| 1,934
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<issue_start>username_0: A few days ago I posted a question on specific paper on RG. Another researcher says this is insulated paper that really shocked me because it is central to my research.
After I saw this comment I contact this person to get more explanation that may guide me but he didn't respond.
The paper name is "Multimodal Registration of Remotely Sensed Images Based on Jeffrey’s Divergence, 2016" and my interest is multimodal image registration, below you will find a screenshot for the discussion.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fLrBT.png)
I post this question to get some advice from senior researchers that may pass through a situation.
*Update: How can Q1 journal accept to publish insulated work?*
Thanks<issue_comment>username_1: "Insulated" is a strange word to use there, but that reads for all the world like "This was a one-off project for me I don't really work on anymore".
Many academics end up having those. It doesn't mean anything about *your* research, and definitely isn't "shocking".
To respond to your edit, one-off or isolated projects aren't inherently better or worse science than any other project, so there's no reason a top tier journal wouldn't publish someone's side study. Indeed one of *my* best publications is from a one-off project.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I suggest the reading 'isolated' --- he probably meant a one-off effort.
*Isola* is the Italian for island (from Latin *insula*). *Isolare* means *to isolate* and *to insulate* at the same time. The Italian writer may have had his/her wires crossed at that moment.
I ignore if there is an etymological connection between the notion of island and that of solitude/seclusion/isolation. As a matter of fact, small islands are sanctuaries for solitude, and Napoleon was confined to St Helena to stay in isolation.
Upvotes: 4
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2017/08/17
| 1,988
| 7,837
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a postdoc applying for a research-level tenure-track assistant-professor position in 1st-world English-speaking or German-speaking countries. The area is Computer Science. The Web is full of recommendations on how to write an *good* job application of this type. Now, I'm spending about a week on a single application. I have my templates, which I adapt to the institution in question, but the adaptation process and the submission process takes really long, since the processes of the institutions differ. It ranges from different web sites for submission and ends with different names of documents (e.g., Reseach Plan vs. Reseach Statement vs. Research Objectives, ...) and their lengths. Sometimes, the references letters should satisfy particular requirements (such as on letterhead, signed, and scanned), and this should be properly communicated, too. You know how bad it can get, even if the types of all institutions are the same (e.g., CS departments at R1 universities). I'm not the strongest person in my subfield, so, I have to apply a lot (200+ applications) and widely to get a chance of, say, 50%. Therefore, I'd like to reduce the time from 1 week to, say, 1 hour.
* What strategy could you propose to reduce the time while maintaining the quality?
* If you have gone through this process already, what was your personal way of reducing the application effort?
Partial answers specifying, e.g., the time you take for different stages of the process, are also accepted:
* adapting the cover letter,
* adapting the CV,
* adapting the teaching statement,
* adapting the research statement,
* adapting the publication list,
* filling the forms on the Web page of the prospective employer,
* getting informed about the prospective employer,
* asking questions via e-mail or phone and receiving answers regarding the advertised position,
* requesting reference letters,
* ...<issue_comment>username_1: For context, let me first answer a question raised by RoboKaren in one of the comments:
>
> Once you have three or four applications filed at different types of schools (research university vs. small liberal arts college; different types of departments) I am unclear why it would continue to take more than 3-4 hours per application to tailor.
>
>
>
This is probably true in the US, but in Europe, where OP is apparently also applying, universities often have [weird standard CV layouts to use](http://demesos.blogspot.se/2016/09/call-for-full-professor-of-distributed.html) (see bottom of the page) or [specific templates for all application material](https://www.kth.se/en/om/work-at-kth/cv-mall-for-anstallning-och-befordran-av-larare-1.471907).
The rest of my answer really only relates to applying in Europe. I think for the US, you should be able to just send your standard package anyway.
>
> What strategy could you propose to reduce the time while maintaining the quality?
> If you have gone through this process already, what was your personal way of reducing the application effort?
>
>
>
I have gone through the process, and I don't think there is a silver bullet. In reality, I have, for every application, made a conscious decision of whether my predicted chances or my preferences for this position warrant spending however time I expected to need. That is, if they university used a sane, standard application process, I would apply to everything where I saw a sliver of hope or which I thought I might like even a little bit. Conversely, in the few cases where I thought I would need to basically re-write the material from ground up, I generally decided not just to apply.
That being said, a full week absolutely seems excessive just for adapting your material. The most I was ever willing to spend was one or two days per application for reformatting / rewriting (not taking into account when I originally put together my application package). Obviously, we can't remotely tell what you are doing wrong, but maybe you are focusing on the wrong things here? My basic principle has always been that these formatting requirements usually come from administrators who are not deeply involved in the actual decision making process, so as long as you are not obviously violating explicit rules (e.g., if they ask for a 5-page CV, don't send them 18 pages), I have always taken a lot of liberty in interpreting the rules so that it fitted my standard package as closely as possible.
As for how long different stages took:
>
> adapting the cover letter,
>
>
>
About 1 hour. The cover letter was usually fairly geared towards the university, but it needs to be short anyway. And in reality, after a few applications, I had a number of standard phrases that I mixed and matched as suitable.
>
> adapting the CV,
>
>
>
Between 0 and 1 day.
>
> adapting the teaching statement
>
>
>
About 2 hours. My general teaching statement remained the same, but I usually looked through their current curricula to figure out how to best position my teaching.
>
> adapting the research statement,
>
>
>
About 2 hours. My general research statement remained the same as well, but I tried to familiarize myself with the relevant faculty at the institution and I had a dedicated section that explained potential for collaboration that I sw.
>
> adapting the publication list,
>
>
>
Was part of my CV, nothing to adapt.
>
> filling the forms on the Web page of the prospective employer,
>
>
>
Very much depends on the position, but even in the worst cases this should not be more than an hour or two.
>
> getting informed about the prospective employer,
>
>
>
This really is the most time-consuming part, as [university web pages are often horrific](https://xkcd.com/773/), and this part I think actually matters to some people on the hiring committees.
>
> asking questions via e-mail or phone and receiving answers regarding the advertised position,
>
>
>
0 hours. I know some people are big on getting in touch with the committee in advance, but I never did it and my personal impression from observing people who do it regularly is that it gives you little new information and no competitive advantage. The story is different if you know a person in the committee well personally, but I am assuming this is not what you mean here.
>
> requesting reference letters,
>
>
>
0 hours. I told my references I am on the job market and they should not be surprised if requests come in. For the positions that require you to upload the letters yourself (yes, those exist in Europe), I had generic versions of the letters available.
>
> I have to apply a lot (200+ applications) and widely to get a chance of, say, 50%.
>
>
>
If you do the math, you will learn that it is unlikely that you will actually be applying to 200+ positions. Frankly, if your scope is Germany, Austria, Switzerland, UK, Canada, and the US, you are not going to *find* 200 suitable positions to apply to. I am all for not putting too many eggs into one basket, but you probably need to be realistic here. Your field may be small and competitive, but other fields are also competitive, and if you are currently working in a different field *and* you yourself judge yourself to be a somewhat middling candidate *and* you are unwilling to spend any time on your application package, your chances are so low that you should evaluate alternatives.
I would propose that you write serious applications for the, say, 30 to 50 most suitable positions you can find, and then figure out what to do if none of them pans out.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: According to the project management triangle, if you want a project done well quickly, you need to pay someone a lot of money to help you do it. Otherwise, you must sacrifice quality or time.
Upvotes: 2
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| 1,760
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a postdoc, applying for tenure track jobs in mathematics.
I did my bachelor degree as a kid (was 14 when started).
I wonder if I should/could mention this in my academic CV?<issue_comment>username_1: In my academic CV, I have included all my university education, which naturally includes my undergraduate degree.
I don't think it makes any difference that you started when you were 14. You came out with the same piece of paper as everyone else in the end up.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I was in a very similar situation: Started my BSc with 13, got it with 16 and was looking for a faculty level position in Math or CS [plenty of other things happened in between].
My CV does mention this. It never came up during an interview, or informal feedback, neither in a positive or negative way. I got a position.
Of course, this is just a single data point, but maybe it helps.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: It possibly depends on *where* you are sending the CV. For a research position, it clearly indicates intelligence and thus probably would help or at least not hurt (as long as you don't overplay it). For more of a teaching job (e.g. at a 4-year college) I could see how it might *potentially* hurt: if you didn't have the typical high school math background you might have difficulty teaching students who have just come from that (with all of the gaps and weaknesses such a background so often entails).
Perhaps you can prepare two different versions of your CV, one that contains the parenthetical (started at age 14) and one that doesn't. For each job you apply to, make a judgment call about which one to send, taking into account both the job description and the nature of the school.
Upvotes: 1
|
2017/08/17
| 1,479
| 5,975
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<issue_start>username_0: I have been following the review process of a [replication journal](https://rescience.github.io/)
In particular, it has an open review which can be seen.
On a particular submission they are having a debate about [whether copying equations and their explanation in a paper counts as copyright infringement](https://github.com/ReScience/ReScience-submission/pull/33#issuecomment-322991110).
I would like to ask this question here, since the answer seems non-obvious.
Equations, by themselves, since they are ideas, should be free from copyright infringement. But to have equations, explanations, replica of figures, and discussion, would basically be a copy of the paper, and I imagine that would be copyright infringement. Where exactly can a line be drawn?
Note: There are questions on stack exchange which ask similar questions, but often in context of building up on previous research. Since the point of such a journal is just to replicate, it would seems that the aim is to build a freely available copy of the existing (perhaps paywalled, copyrighted) material, that can be freely accessed, and this is different intent than regular articles.
Also, answers regarding plagiarism aren't much help in this case as the point is to do "explicit plagiarism" with proper attribution.
[Crossposted to law.SE](https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/22037/what-exactly-would-count-as-copyright-infringement-in-a-replication-paper)<issue_comment>username_1: From what I have learned about copyright law (IANAL), the answer is non-obvious to the point that even a lawyer could only guess. Leaving aside the issue of how jurisdiction would be determined for the moment, and assuming that the US copyright law (and in particular Fair Use) applies: The problem is that the way copyright law is structured, copying the explanation of the equations would constitute copyright infringement on its face. Fair Use is merely a defense that may be applicable, and it depends on the balancing of multiple factors (the [four factor test](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#U.S._fair_use_factors "four factor test")) which is by necessity somewhat subjective. The *only* way to truly definitively determine whether a specific act of copying is exempt by fair use or not is to have a court render judgement on this specific use.
It may be that in practice, this specific case is clear-cut enough that a lawyer could with confidence predict based on precedent if this case would be covered by fair use or not, but for that you would have to ask law.SE (in fact, you should probably ask there to make sure there aren't any errors in the above as well).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Great question. Firstly, **I am not a lawyer** and for anything approaching a formal legal answer you'd need this to be migrated to Law.SE. With that caveat, I'll have a go.
**Original content is covered automatically by copyright**. Under [the 1886 Berne Convention](http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/text.jsp?file_id=283698#P109_16834) which first established the recognition of copyrights among sovereign nations, copyrights do not have to be asserted or declared, as they are automatically in force at creation: an author need not "register" or "apply for" a copyright in countries adhering to the Berne Convention.
**Certain categories of work cannot be copyrighted**. For example, a list of the materials required for a protocol cannot be copyrighted, at least under US copyright law ([reference](https://copyright.gov/circs/circ34.pdf)). However, the protocol itself can be.
**Usage of copyrighted material is permitted under certain conditions**, such as fair use. I'll probably expand on this later, but basically while fair use is not clearly defined it could fall within the usage described here.
**If you did that, you should make it clear what part of the M&M in your paper is quoted from the source (and clearly attribute it).**
For categories of work that are covered by copyright, unless covered by e.g. fair use reroduction of a substantial portion of the work is prohibited by the laws of copyright without a special license.
A free license or open license is a license agreement which contains conditions permitted to the user from the holder on a specific list of uses for his work. As originally defined (and thus with respect to software, which was the original target of these licenses) [a license is free if it gives users the following freedoms](http://opendefinition.org/od/2.1/en/):
* Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program for any purpose.
* Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish.
* Freedom 2: The freedom to redistribute and make copies so you can help your neighbor.
* Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits.
(Freedom 2 is the most relevant for our purposes.)
Licenses meeting these criteria and commonly in use by academic publishers include Creative Commons licenses such as [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) (which is [used by all PLOS journals](http://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/s/licenses-and-copyright)).
**TL;DR**: the only way to guarantee you won't get sued for copyright infringement is to target studies published under open licenses, or get explicit permission from the copyright holder.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: After asking permission to Elsevier (I'm editor in chief for ReScience), they confirmed (in this specific case) that equations can be re-used without asking permission to Elsevier:
>
> Our Global Rights group has confirmed that these equations are not
> copyrighted; therefore, you can merely acknowledge the 2012 Journal
> of Theoretical Biology as the source of the equations but do not
> require written permission from Elsevier.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2017/08/17
| 999
| 4,127
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently in the process of waiting for PhD verdict. I have submitted the thesis last 2 weeks for examination and I am thinking while waiting for PhD verdict, I want to write a review paper on my subject. The reason is because I have ran out results from my PhD study for publication and I reckon why not try on reviewing the subject I am studying. My area of research is biological science. My question is whether it is possible to write a review to journal without being invited to do so.<issue_comment>username_1: You should check with the journal you plan to submit to. Many do not accept unsolicited review articles, so it would be a waste of time to write something that won't get considered.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Firstly let me tell you that review papers are always more or less invited. They are written by the experts in the field. Basically it serves as an excellent reference to anyone who wants to learn from the masters. It also generally covers a wide area of the subject. So I would suggest that review paper would not be a good idea for you at this stage. There are no. Of reasons. 1. You are not invited! 2. A PhD degree is not always enough to know adequately about the subject unless you are a top shot. Therefore a PhD candidate can never fall under the category of an "expert". 3. A PhD student may not know the entire length and breadth of the area.
So I would suggest that a review paper is not a good idea now. You can certainly do it one day when you are a master yourself but not presently. Besides, it would also be a great idea to ask your advisor.
Cheers.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: I would like to offer a different opinion, and support writing a review on your PhD area of expertise.
First, it could be a useful learning opportunity for OP, as it gives an incentive to do a literature review by setting a plausible goal for an otherwise tedious task. I also oftentimes find that committing something to writing can be beneficial to the uptake of information.
Second, in many fields a review paper is indeed often co-written with an advisor; in some cases the student may even do the bulk of the initial writing. In this context, I would suggest either speaking to your supervisor before writing to gauge his interest in co-authoring a review paper with you, or speaking to him after an initial draft is completed to allow him to have a judgement on the work.
Third, there can certainly be journals where reviews are not invite-only. As long as your supervisor is willing, it would not hurt to send it and see what comes of it. As there are so many journals out there today, I don't think it is impossible to find one with an editor interested in the manuscript.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: **Yes**, it is absolutely possible to write a review paper without being invited to do so.
How do I know this?
I've done it, several times, in the biological sciences.
The key is to recognize that the review needs to be invited *at some point*, but that point need not be "before you've written anything down\*. If you have a target journal, and you think it is a decent fit for the review paper, I would suggest that you find the email for the appropriate section editor (or the Editor-in-Chief if there is none) and write them a polite email inquiring as to whether or not they would be interested in inviting a review on X topic, a draft of which is attached. Articulate why you think this is useful and interesting to their readership, and hope for the best.
And before we get on the "A PhD isn't enough clout to write a review", my first review was published with an *undergraduate* as the primary author.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: Personally I did write a review paper just after getting my PhD. The paper was, to be precise, invited. But it is not the point here.
In my case, I reviewed a niche or subset topic of a new and "trendy" field. I was really sure to be, if not the more conpetent, at least the more up to date person in that specific subject. Otherwise, I wouldn't have done that.
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a young graduate student in the physical sciences. As far as I can tell, the purpose of graduate school is to learn to become an independent researcher. This means becoming a good writer, solving novel problems, publishing good papers and becoming an expert in your field.
The trouble is that these goals are horribly vague. I have no clear idea how to get from my current skill level to that of an "independent researcher". There is some mix of learning from a textbook, reading papers, attending classes and coming up with new ideas. But I find it hard to break it down into subtasks and be deliberate with my time. Instead I find myself wandering from textbook to textbook, learning this and that, solving this small problem and that small problem, wondering if I am really spending my time on the right things.
In many other domains, it's easy to tell if you are getting better on a short-term basis. For example, in bowling you can practice and see if your score goes up. In chess, if your rating goes up. In music, if you're hitting the notes. But in research there is no such metric. This leads me to feel discouraged and unsure of my progress and myself.
**What are general, realistic research goals that I can set on a daily, weekly and monthly basis?**
Some of my ideas are setting a target for: number of papers read, number of practice problems solved from a textbook, number of hours spent writing about a technical topic, number of hours worked in a state of deep concentration.
The most relevant question I could find is here: [Is it possible to measure/evaluate one's progress or development in quantitative terms?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7611/)<issue_comment>username_1: You should check with the journal you plan to submit to. Many do not accept unsolicited review articles, so it would be a waste of time to write something that won't get considered.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Firstly let me tell you that review papers are always more or less invited. They are written by the experts in the field. Basically it serves as an excellent reference to anyone who wants to learn from the masters. It also generally covers a wide area of the subject. So I would suggest that review paper would not be a good idea for you at this stage. There are no. Of reasons. 1. You are not invited! 2. A PhD degree is not always enough to know adequately about the subject unless you are a top shot. Therefore a PhD candidate can never fall under the category of an "expert". 3. A PhD student may not know the entire length and breadth of the area.
So I would suggest that a review paper is not a good idea now. You can certainly do it one day when you are a master yourself but not presently. Besides, it would also be a great idea to ask your advisor.
Cheers.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: I would like to offer a different opinion, and support writing a review on your PhD area of expertise.
First, it could be a useful learning opportunity for OP, as it gives an incentive to do a literature review by setting a plausible goal for an otherwise tedious task. I also oftentimes find that committing something to writing can be beneficial to the uptake of information.
Second, in many fields a review paper is indeed often co-written with an advisor; in some cases the student may even do the bulk of the initial writing. In this context, I would suggest either speaking to your supervisor before writing to gauge his interest in co-authoring a review paper with you, or speaking to him after an initial draft is completed to allow him to have a judgement on the work.
Third, there can certainly be journals where reviews are not invite-only. As long as your supervisor is willing, it would not hurt to send it and see what comes of it. As there are so many journals out there today, I don't think it is impossible to find one with an editor interested in the manuscript.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: **Yes**, it is absolutely possible to write a review paper without being invited to do so.
How do I know this?
I've done it, several times, in the biological sciences.
The key is to recognize that the review needs to be invited *at some point*, but that point need not be "before you've written anything down\*. If you have a target journal, and you think it is a decent fit for the review paper, I would suggest that you find the email for the appropriate section editor (or the Editor-in-Chief if there is none) and write them a polite email inquiring as to whether or not they would be interested in inviting a review on X topic, a draft of which is attached. Articulate why you think this is useful and interesting to their readership, and hope for the best.
And before we get on the "A PhD isn't enough clout to write a review", my first review was published with an *undergraduate* as the primary author.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: Personally I did write a review paper just after getting my PhD. The paper was, to be precise, invited. But it is not the point here.
In my case, I reviewed a niche or subset topic of a new and "trendy" field. I was really sure to be, if not the more conpetent, at least the more up to date person in that specific subject. Otherwise, I wouldn't have done that.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: When referring to a journal paper in an email, I'm not sure whether to italicize the name of the paper or to put it in quotation marks. The paper is 30 pages long.
Since it's an email, are there no real hard rules to follow and so I can leave the title of the paper not italicized or put in quotation marks?
Thanks,<issue_comment>username_1: In questions like this, always think, what is important for your reader.
* Unlike journal papers, which are read and re-read by many people, email is usually read by one person one time only. Therefore, the primary goal is to pass the information through smoothly and reliably. Compared to a journal paper, **typographical style matters less** in email. Also, advanced typography is usually based on html, which can be cut down to basic plaintext by many email readers.
* There are **no expectations** for email presentation style. The best you can do it to be consistent within a document. If you cite many papers in your email, it is worth unifying the style for all references. If you cite just one paper, you can choose any citation style which suits you. You can match an existing style (with italics), or you can use your own (with quotes) if you like it better.
* Many readers even don't want to read the paper title; they actually need a **unique reference** to where the content can be found. In many journals, the titles are omitted in bibliography styles, and only author names and years of publication are kept. In email, you can be even more creative and replace it with doi references if you think that is what your reader needs.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Trivia like whether you italicize the name doesn't matter. What *does* matter is that you include a link to either the paper itself or a page presenting it (e.g. ACM digital library, IEEE express page etc.)
That you can do either with a proper link of the paper's name if you're writing HTML email, or if you write plain text email - which a civilized person should do IMO - use a markdown-like link, i.e.:
```
Hello Professor X,
I am learning a lot from reading "On the frobincation of bars"[1]. Thank you
for recommending it to me.
Sincerely,
user78644
[1]: http://some.place.here.ac/page/for/the/paper.html
```
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student in one of the social sciences going on the market. A large organization funded part of my dissertation research, as part of a research partnership. I wrote a report for them with some of the data in return. The total funding was a couple hundred thousand dollars, which is a lot in my field.
I was hoping to list the funder and the amount in my CV and cover letter to demonstrate my record of linking my research with funding.
The organization however insists that specific funding figures are confidential and I cannot use the precise number of the total funding.
Without the ability to put the specific number, what is a tasteful way to indicate in my job application that I received this large amount of research support?<issue_comment>username_1: The (main) reason you can't just blurt that out in your CV is that it's not necessarily relevant:
>
> Company X partnered with my university in a Billion-dollar-funded research project and I'm one of the Ph.D. candidates in it.
>
>
>
Suppose I said that. Well, so what if it was a Billion-dollar collaboration? Did I broker the deal? Did I propose the project? Was I in charge of coordination? If not then it really doesn't matter.
In your case, if you actually had a contribution to the collaboration other than being selected to do a Ph.D. - write a few sentences about what *you* actually did. Those sentences could at the same time illustrate the large scale (inn terms of people, organizational commitment, impact, time etc.) of the project and why you deserve some credit for it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Presumably, the money went directly to you, as opposed to being managed through a University account through the University. If that was the case, and if your University is a public institution, the funding amount can be subject to a FOIA.
Listing the exact funding amount on a CV is expected in the social sciences, at least it would be in R-1 universities (in the United States). However, if you have an agreement with the funding agency that the amount is confidential, then it has to be honored. You cannot signal that it was very large. If you want to signal this information, I suggest you get written permission from the funding agency.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: **Background:**
I am in an administrative staff position, in a research compliance role, and frequently have to "cold" email professors I have never met or otherwise previously interacted with. In my institution almost all professors have MD degrees, so I typically address them as "Dr. X." However there are a small number of professors with master's degrees in areas of specialty that don't offer doctorate-level degrees, and I am uncertain how to appropriately address these individuals.
My gut reaction is to address these individuals by their first name (as our institution's culture considers first name acceptable for staff above you in the reporting chain), but to me this feels disrespectful when applied to faculty, especially considering the content of my messages are often directing them to do things (or stop doing things) they'd rather not. Conversely, calling them "professor" seems unusual to me since I am not enrolled at the institution. Finally, my school is very progressive, and I worry about (mis-)using gendered pronouns.
**Question:**
Am I worried about this unnecessarily? How should I address these professors when I can't open by asking how they would like to be addressed?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> as our institution's culture considers first name acceptable for staff above you in the reporting chain
>
>
>
First name it is then. Or you could go first and last name without a title. Or you can drop the name completely and just get on with telling them what they have to do. It sounds like you know they are all professors/faculty, which would mean using professor is not incorrect, although it is more formal than just the first name and the same as calling someone doctor.
I would steer away from Mr/Ms/Mrs for a couple of reasons. First, it introduces the gender issue you raise. Second, Professor is a higher honorific than Ms/Mr. Finally, working in a medical field where half the clinicians have a terminal masters and half have a terminal doctorate, I find it mildly insulting to use different titles for two people who have terminal degrees.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You mention that the persons in question have a master's degree.
In Mexico and I guess other Hispano-American countries, someone with a master's degree will be called *Maestro*/*Maestra*.
Likewise, the formal way to address a person holding a bachelor's degree will be either *Licenciado*/*Licenciada*, or *Ingeniero*/*Ingeniera* if he/she is an engineer.
Anyone with a teaching load at a university is considered a *profesor* and could be addressed that way. But the title from the degree is usually more formal.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: All depends on the academic structure of merits in the country and in the branch of science. In some countries there are scientific degrees, and faculty positions. Typically an equivalent of Ph.D is required to get elected into a faculty position, but this is not a rule carved in stone, it might depend on particular personal achievements and/or recognition in the area of science or technology. But if a person holds a position of Professor, he/she IS a Professor, regardless if he/she holds any official qualification degree or not. So you should address them as "Professor".
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<issue_start>username_0: We are writing a paper about an algorithm that takes a group of solutions and sorts them by their likelihood of being equal to the one and only 'good solution'.
Internally, we refer to this 'good solution' as **meromero**, which is a Mexican street slang for 'the most important' or the precisely for 'the one and only'.
I like the word because it allows naming an important concept with a funky and short sound. Also, it forces you to draw your eyes towards it, creating some kind of highlight about the ideas related to this 'one and only good solution'.
However, I'm not sure of using it, precisely because it is a slang word and I don't remember ever reading a paper using slang words.
Therefore, my question is:
**Is using a slang word to name a concept bad taste in a scientific paper?**
Notice that this is merely a personal curiosity, we have already choosen not to use the word.<issue_comment>username_1: Honestly, I don't think I'd do it in a scientific paper. There are lots of "internal" name for things in my own lab that I'd never put in a scientific paper. This is especially true if there's not an obvious meaning for it - which is usually true for slang.
The one place people do seem to get away with it is clever acronyms.
I don't know that I'd call it "bad taste", given said slang term isn't *offensive*. I'd just call it "weird word choice".
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Your goal in writing scientific papers is for the language to be as intelligible as possible. That is, you want to use language which won't hinder people who are trying to read your paper.
The disadvantage of slang is that it is often not intelligible to many people (especially non-native speakers), and may be idiosyncratic to specific groups. Therefore, if your goal is for the paper to be as intelligible as possible, you would want to avoid using slang.
In addition, scientific writing tends to be relatively formal, which is why slang will often look inappropriate and out of place.
Some papers which mention that you should avoid using slang:
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1443950600900817>
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/micr.20960/full>
It's possible that conventions will be different in your field. When in doubt, look at other publications and use them to guide you.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Don't use it, unless - with very good reason - you describe something new that needs a word. Readers won't understand what you are talking about, and it seems that, in this case, our common language is already sufficient to describe what you mean.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Mathematicians frequently come up with questionable names drawn from a variety of questionable sources. And then at some point there will be the inevitable MathOverflow thread about why such-and-such is named what it is. I personally rather like "meromero," but in the context you're describing, I don't see how it's an improvement over saying "unique 'good' solution," where you define what exactly you mean by "good."
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: I will be a slightly contrarian voice here. I think naming your algorithm something memorable is a good idea and if there is a story to go with why you named it that way, all the better. Would [CRISPR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR) be all the rage (in the media) right now if it had some sort of [daft unpronounceable acronym](http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g7092)? Of course it doesn't hurt that it is revolutionary but the name being memorable is important for larger recognition.
Does it really matter what 'wiki' meant when they used it to name Wikipedia? It now means Wikipedia.
I took a class from [<NAME>](http://incompleteideas.net/sutton/) and he mentioned how important the name of [SARSA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-Action-Reward-State-Action) was in having the algorithm gain popularity. If it is a word that is pronounceable in most languages, memorable and even fun to say, go for it.
Other algorithms like [NEAT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroevolution_of_augmenting_topologies) and [HyperNEAT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperNEAT) have benefited from being pronounceable and memorable.
You will be fighting for academic funding for the rest of your life, you might as well realize now that science like most things in life operates by the principles of marketing. For what it's worth I like the name meromero but you might want to do some Googling to make sure it doesn't mean some offensive thing somewhere in the world before you assign it to your baby.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: >
> Is using a slang word to name a concept bad taste in a scientific paper?
>
>
>
Not in being slang. You do need to make sure that:
* your slang-named term is **clearly defined** without no slang in the definition.
* you **aren't assuming people are aware of the term's connotations** (they might not even today, and in several years it may go out of use completely).
* using that term **serves a valid purpose**, like memorability.
* the term is **not offensive** to the readers (or a social group of people etc).
Other than that I think you're fine.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: Computer science has a tradition, when a new name is needed for a concept, of coining a whimsical term in preference to the approach in the traditional sciences of choosing something that sounds vaguely Latin, Greek, or pompous. Sometimes people invent a completely new term, such as byte or trie or arity, sometimes they adopt an English word and give it a specialised meaning, such as widget, closure, bag, or web, others prefer acronyms or descriptive names ("red-black tree"). Basically, anything is allowed, and perfectly respectable.
You should consider first whether a new term is really needed, taking into account that your readers will probably have to refer back frequently to the place where you introduced it; and secondly whether the term is memorable. A term is more likely to be memorable if it isn't completely arbitrary. A term from English slang might make you seem less-than-serious to some readers, but slang in an obscure language is unlikely to suffer that drawback.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I have finished 5 years of my PhD, and I have 5 publications in top tier (A\* computer science) conferences based on work done during PhD. However, most of the publications are in unrelated areas. I am finding it almost impossible to compile a thesis from all my publications.
All my publications have me as first author and my advisor as second author. My advisor hasn't read any of the publications, and he is incapable of judging them even if he reads them. I know that the work I've done can't be compiled into a thesis. Due to the completion of PhD duration, I have stopped receiving scholarship from my Institute.
Even without my PhD degree, I can easily get a high paying job. My other option is to compile my work in the form of a thesis and hope that the thesis reviewers accept it.
What should I choose?
**Update**
I have got several brilliant answers and I wanted to accept many of them. I have decided to complete my PhD without antagonizing my advisor. He has agreed to grant me permission for submitting my PhD thesis, if my two papers, that I submitted recently, get published. If they indeed get published, I will have 4 related papers, and hence, I will be able to compile a thesis. I won't be able to add my other papers, which doesn't really matter. I told him that I care about my PhD and not the best thesis award, but he is hell bent upon it. He has agreed to provide me a project assistantship salary as long as I am pursuing PhD.
Despite what @einpoklum said, it doesn't seem fair to leave without a PhD after working for so many years. Thanks everyone for the help.<issue_comment>username_1: If it is impossible to compile a thesis from all your publications, I suggest focusing on lesser publications in the thesis and if it is possible to expand your work, focusing only in one direction. Since your work is already published, there is no reason why it wouldn't be accepted by the reviewers. The content of the thesis counts less in applying to post-doctoral jobs, what is important is your papers. Of course, the thesis must be well written, rigorously, etc. There are many people who receive PhD diploma with few publications, or even no publications at all.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Talk to the dean of graduate studies or other appropriate department administrator. The main problem here is an advisor with rigid expectations who won't read your work. This is not a good match for a student who's been doing interdisciplinary work that doesn't fit the mold.
One possible desirable outcome of this conversation: you get paired up with a different advisor who reads the work you've done so far, and brainstorms WITH YOU to find a common thread running throughout the bulk of your work. Together, hopefully you can come up with ways of packaging your work and an outline for what remains to be done to tie the parts together in a finished whole.
If you can't find someone capable of functioning as your official advisor, at least try to find someone to mentor you informally to accomplish what I described.
---
Note inspired by the helpful answer written by username_7, who I believe is an administrator in a CS department.
You may be asked by department administration to try to stick it out with your advisor and work through your difficulties. It might be tempting to say, "It's impossible, I've already tried all the things you've suggested," but I suggest that you do your best to cooperate, no matter how pessimistic you might feel, and agree to try again, *but with a specific time frame defined*. For example, you and the administrator might agree to meet again in three weeks. During that period, try your best to move forward with your advisor, with a positive attitude, letting bygones be bygones.
If there are still insurmountable problems, go back to the administrator after the specified interval and report back, calmly and accurately.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: No don’t quit, five A\* papers is more than most theses ever achieve already, good work!
Sounds like you just need to come up with a vaguely convincing story to knit them all together; then find some friendly examiners. There must be some bizarre application area that would combine most topics somehow... say you have published on category theory, the social science of Hadoop uptake, and tractor design; then you just need to invent some niche application about farmers needing a more robust language and system to handle their agricultural data, write 20 pages of waffle about it as an intro chapter, staple that on the front of the papers, and you should be good to go.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Show your ability to be a "PhD" by writing the dissertation based on the work you have done over the past 5 years. Be creative. Tie it all together: you alone know how this fabric can be stitched up. Defend it to the faculty at a public invited forum. Finish.
Based on your post, I am certain you can do it!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: I really have to disagree with everyone here telling you "don't quit" as though it would somehow be a failure, and a Ph.D. is the thing to have, etc. I would say:
### 1. It depends on why you've gotten to this state of affairs
Having invested time and effort in 5 different and barely-related directions over 5 years means something is seriously wrong. Probably not wrong with your capabilities though - since you have been able to obtain useful novel results. There's some kind of issue with one or more of the following:
* Your motivation: How come you haven't chosen to pursue any of these subjects further and more deeply.
* The relation with your advisor: How come your advisor was essentially completely uninvolved in those papers? Do you even have any sort of interaction with him?
* Your advisor's motivation: How come your advisor did not want you, or you and him together, to focus any any of the 5 subjects? Or on another one? Hasn't he solicited you, advised you or told you to do certain work that he would be familiar with?
* The research proposal / plan which you presented your candidacy with: Did you originally decide to just jot something down you don't really care about or your advisor doesn't know about? If so, why was it accepted? If not, why didn't you sticking to the plan? Or - after 2 or 3 years, why didn't you sit down and devise a new plan?
* Potential collaborators: Why are you working alone? It seems the community, or several ones, are interested in your work enough to have it in conferences. So, have you found nobody else to work with? Have you looked?
I can really not give you a serious answer without some or most of this information. But I will say that for some of the possible answers to this question, you should definitely consider:
* Taking an official leave from your Ph.D., to figure out what you want or would be passionate about.
* Adding a co-advisor, or even switching advisors, to someone who would be able to help you finish by focusing on a subject you've already started work in.
* Quitting amicably, if there isn't clear direction or subject you want to focus on and get more results, and if what you'd really like to do is go work in industry somewhere.
### 2. That's not the right question
Getting a Ph.D. is a side-effect of performing a body of significant research on a focused subject. Do you want to do that, still, and (do you believe you) are capable of doing it? ... Answer this question, in light of what I've said above, and your own question resolves itself. Again, I can't venture an answer, since you've not provided enough information.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: Is it your career goal to enter into academia? If so, finish the Ph.D by hook or by crook. You will not be able to roll the dice into an academic position without one. Others in this thread have better advice on how to do this.
Is your career goal to enter into the private sector? Take into account that every year you spend trying to finish your thesis is $XXX,XXX dollars. If I told you I'd give you [insert what your starting salary could be] to quit and get a job, get some benefits and being piping some of that sweet, sweet software lucre into your bank account, would you take the deal?
Will the job you are shooting for absolutely require a Ph.D? The industry is notorious for hiring drop outs of all levels, but there are still some jobs that will require the letters.
Lastly, if you could put yourself in your own shoes ten years later, would you regret not finishing it. Is that regret is worth $XXX,XXX?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: What's confusing about your question is that **having 5 papers in top-tier CS conferences is a bigger achievement than a PhD** (in fact *much* bigger, in my opinion). So the idea that you should quit your PhD because you did something much more impressive sounds rather strange, and suggests some kind of potentially serious problem with your advisor and/or your thesis committee or department.
In particular, you say your adviser only wants students to graduate with best student thesis awards, but that as a result only 2 out of 9 graduated?! That sounds like an extremely counterproductive and self-sabotaging (and sadly, also sabotaging to other people's careers) philosophy to have.
I will keep it relatively short since I think analyzing in detail what has gone wrong and how to fix it is beyond the scope of this question (but feel free to ask a new one adding some details, there is certainly room for more discussion about this). The short answer to your question is: definitely **don't quit your PhD** because your papers are on unrelated topics, let alone because you "can't come up with a suitable title". You have achieved something much greater that is worth *more* than a PhD, and, assuming the issues with your adviser are resolved successfully, should be well on track to finishing what sounds like it will be a pretty stellar thesis with only a short amount of additional work. Good luck!
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: There is already an accepted answer, but I'd still like to analyze an issue presented by the OP.
You wrote:
>
> The problem is, I can't think of how to extend ideas. I get ideas while reading lots of papers in many different fields. Most of the ideas don't work. Some of them work, and I publish papers out of them. However, I can never figure out how to extend them. [...] I am good at coming up with publishable ideas, but not at focussing on a particular topic. [...]
>
>
> [M]ost of the publications are in unrelated areas. I am finding it almost impossible to compile a thesis from all my publications.
>
>
>
At least in my area and in my experience, most researchers who work on several diverse problems have a toolbag (smaller than one may think) of techniques and ideas that they suitably modify and apply even to seemingly different issues.
To sum up, usually one does not make good papers or publishable ideas out of thin air or use wildly different methods to attack wildly different problems (especially at the beginning of one's career).
To put your papers together, *think about the common techniques and tricks that you use in your work.*
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Currently I am writing a Statement of Purpose for a PhD application, and they asked me this question:
>
> What you hope to achieve during your studies at the XX university?
>
>
>
How I can answer this question, I need some ideas.<issue_comment>username_1: At this point, you can't really say what you will achieve or accomplish, exactly. I mean, if you knew all that already, you kind of wouldn't need to go there to study, would you?
What I did was I described my fantasies, of what I wanted to study, which I hoped I would find there. At the time, I was working as a COBOL programmer. It was tedious. Once in a while there was a fun logical challenge, but mostly I was pulling data from the student database at a community college, and writing tedious code to format the results in a nice report for a college administrator.
One fantasy was that I would write a program that would generate the tedious COBOL code.
That's not what I ended up doing once I was in the grad program.
But that was okay.
I don't remember what my other fantasy was, but I think it was something that I imagined as a result of programming a spline fit for a numerical methods class I took as an undergrad. That was a really fun project and I wanted to do more of that kind of programming.
Just write about what sorts of things you'd like to learn more about when you are in a grad program.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> How I can answer this question, I need some ideas.
>
>
>
You can *answer the question*. What do you hope to achieve? Why are you doing this? Why this university? What direction do you see yourself heading in?
Critically, if you do not at least have an inkling of what your answer to this question is already, it's time for some genuine self-reflection as to whether or not pursuing a PhD at this point is a good idea.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I have submitted my research paper inot a journal IJSER.org . But I don't know whether they are fake or not. Have any idea about this Journal?<issue_comment>username_1: It calls itself the *International Journal of **Scientific and Engineering** Research* (emphasis mine), and it published the following paper:
<NAME>. "Origin." International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 8, Issue 7, July-2017, p. 1163. [PDF](http://www.ijser.org/onlineResearchPaperViewer.aspx?Origin-07-2017.pdf).
I quote here the abstract and an excerpt:
>
> Abstract— In this paper the application of Soul Sets in Theology is introduced. Based on reference of various Holy Scriptures, a link among
> some religions is derived.Using that relation, the generalized concept of God is discovered.
>
>
>
>
> ---
>
>
> **Theorem 1**: Origin O intersects with A.
>
>
> **Proof**: To prove that Origin intersects with A, It is
> enough to show that there exist a soul object
> x € O ∩ A.Consider a name of God “wadud”, The
> stem of meaning of which is Love (say x) having
> full judgment. Then x € A.It is obvious that Love
> is a soul object. Since it has full judgment,
> x € O.Hence x € O∩A .
>
>
> **APPLICATION IN THEOLOGY**
>
>
> * Theorem 1 helps a Devotee to identify the soul
> objects in A and try to implement in life.
> * [...]
>
>
>
I rest my case.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: The Impact factor doesn't look like legit and as stated by others it's not on the TR list of journals. In personal experience, this journal is kept on spamming my email inviting me to submit a paper. So, for an advice find other journals with good track record (i.e. studies, authors, etc.). :)
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2017/08/19
| 678
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<issue_start>username_0: I got my math PhD degree more than 10 years ago, and my major is algebra. I have published some papers in some journals such as Adv. Math.. I really love math, but I am still thinking I haven't got a good and complete math education, and do not have a good picture of math. Someone may argue that I can teach math to myself. The problem is that I am a teather in a university now; I have to teach a lot of classes and have other duties. Now I have an idea which sounds crazy: I want to do another math PhD. But the problem is I am almost 40 years old. So I am wondering if this is possible. Does someone have experience of such a second PhD?<issue_comment>username_1: I don't have any experience of exactly this, but my two cents are that it's not a crazy idea if that's what you really want to do. You can be the master of your own destiny (unless there are family issues involved, in which case it should be a joint decision).
Somewhat related, I was once contacted by a professor of surgery at my institution who wanted to do an independent study of advanced calculus. His story was basically that he had become a doctor because his family wanted him to, but he now realized that math was his true passion. Needless to say, he was surprised to discover how much he had to learn even to get to an undergraduate math degree, but he persevered. He's now a professor of finance at a well-known university.
Do you know what area you would do the second Ph.D. in? I have often fantasized about studying subjects far from my expertise, but when I get to the nitty gritty it usually ends up in me realizing that I wasn't really that interested in them after all. Maybe another idea is to find a program you might apply to, look at their course offerings, and gauge how excited you would be to take some of those classes.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: The question is really strange. As a university professor you can attend other professor's courses, in addition to self-education. If the time and duties is the main problem, you can take an unpayed leave, or buy out some courses. There are many ways of reducing your duties and obtaining some extra time for self-study,
by sacrificing some of your salary. Given the ratio of professor's salary to the graduate student support (at least in the US) you will be still better off than by switching to a graduate school. Let me add that in most US departments graduate students have the same teaching load as professors, sometimes more.
Speaking of the age, this is not a obstacle: I have at least one friend who enrolled to PhD after 40 (having a master degree before and working as a high school teacher), and he publishes first-class results.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]
|
2017/08/20
| 688
| 2,754
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm in trouble with long section titles in my thesis. For example:
I have defined the following abbreviations in a special section **before the table of content**, i.e., all abbreviations have been already defined before their usage in the table of content:
* CRS: Centralized Reconfiguration Supervisor
* DRS: Decentralized Reconfiguration Supervisor
* FP: Forcible Path
A section's title is supposed to be something like:
`expanded form`: Functional commutativity of centralized reconfiguration supervisor, decentralized reconfiguration supervisor, and forcible path
`abbreviated form`: Functional commutativity of CRS, DRS, and FP
Obviously, the `expanded form` is so clumsy, however, these abbreviations are not frequently used in the text as @aeismail noted [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23781/is-it-reasonable-to-use-full-word-and-abbreviation-in-parenthesis-in-a-chapter-t):
>
> In general, the only abbreviations that should be used in "headlines" and titles are "standard" ones that are normally (or at least very frequently) written in their abbreviated form.
>
>
>
Put differently, these abbreviations are parts of my contribution, with which research community are not familiar.
**Which option is the best practice?**<issue_comment>username_1: As the author of the comment you cited, let me offer the following distinction: a thesis generally has a much smaller "reach" than a journal. I would let a graduate student get away with some things in a thesis that I wouldn't normally do in a journal article.
If you need to use the abbreviations to prevent things from getting unwieldy (many multiple-line section titles *is* getting unwieldy, in my opinion), then I would go ahead and do so. If any of the reviewers of your thesis has a philosophical objection to such a practice, you'll be sure to hear about it.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If you have a choice, my advice would be to use the whole title and don't abbreviate. A typical reader would have to look it up anyway since they are likely to see it for the first time in the title. Even if they know what it means, they would probably want to make sure it means what they think it means. This adds extra work for the reader. It would probably take the reader 10 seconds to do so. Maybe even longer if it is not on the same page and they have to look for it. That is still 10 seconds of their productive time. 10 seconds of their life that you can save, even if only one reader reads your work. Generally, I have more respect for any reader who actually reads the content of my work than bureaucrats who want it to look tidy (from their perspective) and conform to their specifications.
Upvotes: 2
|
2017/08/20
| 1,018
| 4,190
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<issue_start>username_0: I have been suffering from a chronic, progressive disease the last few years, but during this past spring semester, it advanced much more rapidly, leading to massive declines in both my physical and emotional health. My teaching evaluations suffered, since I was just not in a place to spend much time working on prepping for lectures, and the changes I had hoped to incorporate didn't work as planned.
What's the best way to go about making sure this information is properly documented, so it has as minimal an impact as possible on my promotion and tenure cases? We do an annual review, and I have already been in communication with my chair and dean, who are aware of my situation.<issue_comment>username_1: My advice is that you decide exactly what you feel would be an appropriate accommodation and then check with whatever office handles disability issues for faculty about how to document that accommodation. Unfortunately, many US universities are still behind the curve in accommodating faculty with disabilities, so you may need to be persistent.
Do **not** "negotiate" with the dean or the chair about this because compromising about your accommodations can be used against you later. I'm not saying that you should be adversarial about it, but any power you have here is now, while they are being cooperative. As Buzz's comment above shows, if you don't get this written in stone now, it will be too late after review.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: (I'm very sorry for your troubles...)
To supplement other comments and answers:
In my experience (at R1 places in the U.S.), while mostly undergrads' and grad students' (broadly speaking) "disability issues" have a roughly appropriate procedure in place, just as an illustrative and ominous example, this does not seem to extend to grad students who've (e.g.) had their leg broken in a car accident through no fault of their own. That is, one of my students had this happen, could not do TA (teaching assistant) duties, and had to petition for "leave of absence" and was supposedly not allowed to be on campus, use the library, etc., but *was* allowed to (!) petition to return. This policy was beyond the power of my department to alter. I was told that the university is "more caring" about faculty in similar situations... presumably because they've invested more in them. But, my point is, I would be very suspicious and untrusting.
E.g., it might happen (given my observations) that dept head and lower-level deans are sympathetic, supportive, and quasi-promise that they'll accommodate... but then eventually discover that "university policy" prevents them from doing what they promised they'd do. E.g., even a signed document from them may easily (!) be countermanded by higher-ups, claiming that they did not have the authority to make the promises they made.
Yes, talk to the disabilities office. The "Americans with Disabilities Act" has not yet been scrapped (fingers crossed), and U.S. (especially public, in the U.S. as opposed to U.K. sense) have considerable power to set accommodations. Yes, they attempt to "negotiate" with relevant work-place authorities, but the rough idea is that you cannot be fired or marginalized for (new or old) disabilities. Having things in place with the Disabilities Office may be your best "insurance" against higher-ups' disavowing your departments' agreements with you, since they cannot so effortlessly over-ride them. I'd absolutely do this.
And, above all, no "accommodation" should include your losing your health insurance just because you have some periods when you can't teach classes!!! Obviously, in the U.S., anything like that is very, very dangerous for people who are not Magically/Luckily Healthy. The reason I mention such a thing is that my student, mentioned above, *did* lose health insurance exactly due to the broken leg that made him unable to TA... Luckily, I believe his partner's employment covered him. A bit too unfunny, non-recreational Kafka-esque for my taste.
(Again, very sorry about your increasing troubles, and best hopes for no additional troubles due to bad bureaucracy...)
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2017/08/20
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm attending a humanities conference in Italy in early September. Since the weather is supposed to be good and the venue is close to a beach, some coworkers are already planing to go for a swim together. We generally have a very friendly working atmosphere, a good rapport with each other and hang out together in private, like having a beer from time to time.
I have basically no problems with going to the beach with my colleagues but would indeed find it kind of inappropriate if, for instance, my supervisor would join (I'm female, 28 years old, in case this is relevant). I'm quite insecure how to behave and would like to know:
1. Is it *generally* inappropriate to go for a swim with coworkers (as well as other PhD students)?
2. What to do if a person (like i.e. your supervisor) you wouldn't want to come, joins the group after you already agreed to go the beach?
**[EDIT]** Since questions came up why I could feel uncomfortable about the situation: I think it is always hard to find a good balance between having a friendly and a professional relationship (with my supervisor, but also with other people who are above me in hierarchy). I also regard the relationship between a PhD student and his/her supervisor as a special one, because it is based on asymmetric dependencies but they also work closely together. While I think having a beer or going out together is completely fine and helpful for a working relationship I consider the beach situation as a tightrope walk since people are (obviously) not fully dressed. It might sound a bit prude but I don't regard is as an uncommon thought. Thanks for your answers so far!
**[EDIT]** ~~Even though I think some answers are really good and helpful I can’t name one that fully answered the problem and I think the discussion shows that this seems to be nearly impossible.~~ Since many comments did not include answers to my question but concerns about my attitude I want to address some points I have noticed and consider as crucial aspects in this discussion:
Firstly, I was surprised that the initial reactions can be classified into two different categories: Either it was said something like “don’t mind, it’s completely natural” or “there must be some vibes between your supervisor and you”.
I think the existence of both parties shows that the situation is a little bit more nuanced than that: The fact that some commenters instantly assumed sexual attraction illustrates that the situation might not be as normal and natural as others state.
I think it's fair to say that sexual objectification of women is also present in academia (like anywhere else), and for me it's hard to comprehend that some claim partial nudity in a professional relationship would not play any role at all (obviously, it affects everyone in a different manner and even though I believe that there might be some men/woman who truly don’t care at all about anyone showing whatever, I’d assume it’s a minority).
This might be linked to the idea that – as one of you complained – women “think so low of men” and I indeed understand that this might cause discomfort for some men. Unfortunately, this fear doesn’t come out of thin air and is surely based on the fact that most women made unpleasant experiences in this regard.
However, I think it is interesting that this issue came up even though I didn’t directly address it. The motivation why I asked was a feeling of unease because we could be confronted with a situation of which both of us (or anyone else in the group) could feel weird about simply because we show parts of our body (I’m talking about common swimwear) that usually belong to a private and not to a professional sphere. I consider this part of privacy as even more precarious than, for instance, being tipsy with each other, which might happen after having some beers at an evening event.
I assume most commenters to be male and some might feel offended which requires some steps of interpretations of the situation I didn’t mentioned in my question (which does not mean that I didn’t have some of it in mind, see above). I also think this indicates the complexity of the situation and that it is probably not as easy and harmless as some might want it to be.<issue_comment>username_1: It happens all the time, and I see no problem whatsoever. I can understand that you might feel uneasy with your supervisor joining, but nevertheless, I do not think it is inappropriate in any way (we are talking about a normal beach where also families would go, right?).
Besides, a beach is a public place, so even if you somehow wanted to prevent your supervisor from going, you cannot really forbid them to go to the same public place.
Therefore, to address the second part of the question, I think the only option for you would be to refrain from going with the group.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: 1. The usual trick is *not* to plan such things as a group activity (which might create some peer pressure to attend), but as an informal and optional gathering. Maybe there is a starting time for those who want to meet, but there should be no schedule, and certainly no discussion of any official business (to keep attendance optional). *Under this conditions* I'd guess it would be perfectly appropriate to attend, if you would like to do so.
2. After all, the beach *is* a public place. However, it it's an appointed meeting (as opposed to a random encounter), e.g. a garden party, supervisors are expected by tradition to *leave early* \*. This is to ensure the others can relax and have fun. In a pinch, if a person you wouldn't want to come appears or forgets to leave early, you are always allowed to walk away. Please just do it in a polite and unobtrusive way ("...wow, look at the time!").
\*It is a common courtesy for supervisors to leave early in cultures with high [power distance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_distance). There, where a subordinate must strictly obey their supervisor, they can never relax in their presence. It is common for supervisors to leave early in countries like [China or India](http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-cultural-dimensions/power-distance-index/) and other countries that are reddish on power distance scale. You would never have to worry about it in Northern Europe or Anglo American cultures. Even though there are social groups in the West with high power distance where this tradition exists, like military.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Are you in any way attracted to your supervisor? Or do you feel that he may be attracted to you? The fact you explicitly say the problem is the fact that you are less dressed, and not the fact you are socialising, would seem to imply that.
Otherwise, this is just a standard way to socialise, like drinking a glass of wine together.
But if there is from either side (or both) some interest, then that is the real issue you need to address.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: I have to go with the 3rd answerer here, seems to me that your problem is specific to your *emotional* relationship with your super. I see it's been downvoted, which seems an odd, possibly even an *emotional*, response...
You write that at the beach you're not going to be fully clothed. I guess that means that you'll only have half of your two piece on? Oh, wait - you probably meant that you're not going to have your burqa on...or maybe your winter coat, hood, leggings, boots, mittens, and goggles. Ok. I've beaten that dead horse. My point, and it should have eventually become obvious, I hope!, is that what's "fully clothed" is context sensitive. If you go into the water -and that's not a sure thing, especially on Italian beaches - then I'd say the standard is different than what you might wear literally *on the beach* (where short sleeved shirt and shorts and sandals would be appropriate - just as appropriate as a swim suit. Of course there are swim suits and swim suits, and I don't want to get into body shaming, but the fact still remains (and in fact, I suspect your post proves it) that people react on an emotional level to others' appearances, and as a very politically incorrect piece of advice, you don't want either to induce disgust nor lust in people you need to work with (and yet maintain a purely professional relationship). My two cents: "fully clothed" for swimming is a non-cleavage displaying (although really this is more fashion than culture,imho) non-buttocks baring one or two piece. If you're uncomfortable with being on the *beach* so dressed, wear your suit under shorts and a short sleeved shirt (or a wrap-around). OTOH, I never counsel anyone to avoid their gut, (meaning their intuition). If your gut is telling you there may be a problem, there may be a problem. There's no way for us to parse that for you. That is, there's no way for anyone but you to figure out if the problem is you or (I assume) him...or both.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: What an interesting question, and when I first read it I had a totally different angle to it. Actually, when I am at a conference I try to get the most out of it scientifically because it is so expensive to send me there. Thus, in most cases, there would not be much time for a swim in the sense of a social event or some other private activity. I personally would not have wanted my supervisor to think that I use a conference for doing something other than, well, going to the conference. Of course, there might be time in the morning for a jog/swimming round, but then it would be "sports" and not a social event. I can just say that I - as a supervisor - appreciate it if my students do the same and also use free time around the conference to make contact to other scientists, search for a post-doc position, read an interesting article to be well prepared for a discussion with the authors on the next day, or just rest to be alert during the talks. A student who decides to have an afternoon on the beach while the conference is ongoing or goes to a party until late in the night, would have to talk to me afterwards.
If they want, they are free and I will be happy to support them if they just add another private holiday day to the conference journey to enjoy the surroundings.
So, my suggestion is to separate private holiday activities and business on conferences and to squeeze out everything of the conference itself. I wish you a great time in Italy in any case!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: *I am very surprised to read that this question even has a `gender` tag, and I am very sad to understand that sometimes women think so low of men.*
There are different angles to see this, but I will cut it very short and write that there should be no problem if you enjoy an evening at the beach (especially being dressed up formally the whole time, therefore probably sweating like a fountain - in September it's still hot in Italy). It's supposed to be fun, nothing else.
I do get the point of peole talking about going topless or not, but I don't think that anyone wrote the following very clearly: *not every men will stare/giggle/comment at you when you are "less dressed"*. Please notice that you are not the only one having to follow an ethical code, and that **most people tend to behave correctly**, even in front of a topless person.
This is even more true for people who work in a friendly environment and spend time together sometimes (*source: I used to work in Italy and from time to time, in summer, we'd finish our work, get into the car, drive to the beach and have a swim + beer + guitar song there - no one ever had any problems and/or found that awkward*).
Besides, **some men can be shy as well to show their bodies**. I had more than a couple of times to choose between "heck, the co-worker from accounting will see my hairy chest and my fatty abdomen" and running for the water because "the last who gets in the water buys everyone a beer" (I didn't buy any beer that evening).
If you don't *want* to go it's another matter completely, and you can say it plain and simple (you may want to review the conference material, or have a stroll in the city, or whatever), and I don't think that anyone will even raise an eyebrow.
About your supervisor being there, remember that he (apparently he is a "he") is a person like any other, and you may be surprised how much people can have fun / be themselves without trespassing ethical boundaries when they have some "free-time" and be professional during their work. If anyone should be careful about not dropping the authority-facade at all, it should be him.
EDIT:
>
> Firstly, I was surprised that the initial reactions can be classified
> into two different categories: Either it was said something like
> “don’t mind, it’s completely natural” or “there must be some vibes
> between your supervisor and you”.
>
>
>
Maybe because it **is** normal to simply go to the beach and have fun. What it's not normal is that you assume it isn't. People ask if there is vibes, because **in that very case** it would be unethical to spend time together.
>
> The fact that some commenters instantly assumed sexual attraction
> illustrates that the situation might not be as normal and natural as
> others state.
>
>
>
This fact illustrates that, since people normally spend time together "almost-naked", if you ask, something must be different than the "normality".
>
> It's no secret that sexual objectification of women is also present in
> academia (like anywhere else), and for me it sounds a bit naïve to
> neglect that partial nudity in a professional relationship would not
> play any role at all (obviously, it affects everyone in a different manner > and even though I believe that there might be some men/woman who truly > don’t care at all about anyone showing whatever, I’d assume it’s a minority).
>
>
>
Pardon me, but I find this polarized in so many levels. You want to be a free woman, go out there and be a free woman. Nobody is stopping you. You get a glance you don't like? Speak up. If you don't go to the beach *to have fun* with people you enjoy, you are already losing as a woman and gaining nothing as a professional. Let me stress it again: if you don't want to, that's another story.
>
> This might be linked to the idea that – as one of you complained –
> women “think so low of men” and I indeed understand that this might
> cause discomfort for some men. Unfortunately, this fear doesn’t come
> out of thin air and is surely based on the fact that most women made
> unpleasant experiences in this regard.
>
>
>
~~This should not be a question on `gender`, so for the sake of `ethics` let me refrain from answering.~~ I decided not to answer to any general gender related comment, I'd rather stick to `ethics`.
>
> However, I think it is interesting that this issue came up even though
> I didn’t directly address it. The motivation why I asked was a feeling
> of unease because we could be confronted with a situation of which
> both of us (or anyone else in the group) could feel weird about simply
> because we show parts of our body (I’m talking about common swimwear)
> that usually belong to a private and not to a professional sphere. I
> consider this part of privacy as even more precarious than, for
> instance, being tipsy with each other, which might happen after having
> some beers at an evening event.
>
>
>
This is the part that actually makes sense. Being tipsy with each other, in order to avoid problems, you should not get intoxicated. It's as easy as making eye contact with a woman in bikini :)
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_7: While I generally think it can be OK to go swimming/beach with co-workers and I have myself experiences with that in the past with no issues I do see potential for being awkward and I am sure it is not trouble free in all constelations:
It is a **personal thing**, it might depend on the organization culture and also depends on the actual persons involved (and **co-workers not involved**!).
There is no clear yes/no as those factors are not known.
You stated it would be fine culture wise, however the fact that you have asked here and think hard about it might be a warning sign. There can be a thing you cant directly point to but **you have doubts** (the reasons are only important to you). This should guide your decision.
Just two more thoughts:
* In an academic setting it is less of an issue if you dont expect to work together for a long time (i.e. only till graduation or whatever).
* The comments here do show that it is not a cool topic as implied (why else would the answers directly go in direction of romance, "want to sexually attract", topless, bikinis and so on). So it can be expected there might as well be equally insensitive co-workers (maybe jealous "at home") - which can use it for gossipping and similar.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: In my mind the answer to your first question is pretty simple. Yes, of course it is okay to go on a swim with your colleagues. Our colleagues are often our friends and we are allowed to socialize with them. While some universities have rules about dating/sex between faculty/students, there isn't any western university that would prohibit going to the beach.
The answer to your second question is what to do if someone you do not want to show up, shows up. If you think about it in general terms, this can happen at the beach, the bar, or even lunch. A swim at the beach is is in some ways easier to deal with, compared to a bar or lunch, in that it is clearly a social activity and one in which it is likely someone might behave in a non-professional manner (in this case clothing choices).
I suggest you talk to the colleagues you want to go to the beach with and suggest it be post doc only, or whatever rules apply (e.g., student only, non faculty, or assistant professor only) that keeps out the people you want. This has the advantage of not singling anyone out and realistically, there may be a whole "class" of people you would not want to swim with. As long as your rules are not overly discriminatory (e.g., let's keep the blacks out), I doubt you will have much resistance. In fact, my guess is you are not the only one to be concerned. If you do get resistance, then you should assume that it will be a group that you will be uncomfortable with. If you do set rules and someone breaks them, you should call them out even if you are not uncomfortable since someone else in the group might be.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_9: I want to try and be practical rather than judgemental.
>
> Is it generally inappropriate to go for a swim with coworkers (as well as other PhD students)?
>
>
>
***Generally* it isn't inappropriate**, although it depends on which country you're in (more traditionalist or more liberal). In (almost?) all of Europe and in the US I'd say it's inappropriate.
But it's the specific circumstances rather than the general question that is the more delicate issue here.
>
> What to do if a person (like i.e. your supervisor) you wouldn't want to come, joins the group after you already agreed to go the beach?
>
>
>
If I were in your position, I would say **this depends to the women-to-men ratio in your group** (for simplicity I'll ignore issues like group members' age range and transsexual/gender-queer members).
If you're **the only woman** - frankly, in your position, I would probably either not go at all (perhaps make arrangements with other people at the conference - a great excuse), or maybe I would join, but just dress in a shirt + beach shorts. That is, unless I wanted to attract some sexual attention.
Now, it's perfectly legitimate in my opinion for a woman to want to attract the attention of men in an out-of-the-office setting, and still expect to be treated professionally in the office; and as a male I would feel better if a female member of my group feels safe enough to do that; but - there is a minor risk of "spill-over" of sexualized perception back into the workplace. And you did mention you're worried about how this would affect your relations with your advisor. So it depends.
If there is a **small minority** of women - I suggest you coordinate with them. Share your concern with one or two of them, and maybe they can share previous experience and assuage your fear, or verify it. Alternatively, you could come with a bathing suit underneath shorts and a shirt, then evaluate the dynamic on the beach, and if you feel comfortable/safe enough, dress down to your bathing suit. Remember nobody has to know you have that as an option, and you could still make some excuse regarding why you don't even have one.
If there is a **large fraction** of women, things are easier: If some of them don't go, you can skip it too and not feel awkward about it. And if most of them go, then you'll only be one of a larger contigent of women.And You can basically avoid your supervisor and stick with other women, so you're never in a more intimate one-on-one situation with him. There should be enough people (and enough women particularly) for this to be possible.
Plus, you could still do the "bathing suit under shorts+shirt" combination and delay the final decision until you're actually there.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: >
> I'm quite insecure how to behave
>
>
>
I'll skip right past the issue about whether it is appropriate to go to the beach with your colleagues or your supervisor. Obviously some people deem it to be appropriate, and we probably will find other people who would suggest it to be inappropriate.
Your issue is that you are feeling uncomfortable about (aspects of) it, for whatever reasons, which are completely irrelevant. It is for nobody else to judge whether your *feelings* are appropriate or not, they are what they are.
The proper approach then, is clear:
1. Don't go swimming to the beach.
2. Do *not*, under any circumstance, feel bad about it. Not everybody has to do everything. Not everybody has to like everything. You do not need to be a herd animal.
3. Do not fall into the trap of explaining to anybody why you don't go. Just don't go. Don't talk it through with your colleagues.
This advice has one specific reasoning: by deciding on one particular action, and sticking with it, *you remove your own insecurity*. You now can act with confidence.
It does not matter whatsoever that there may be naked skin involved here. I would give the exact same advice if it were about doing a mountain hike (with you being afraid of heights) or a trip to the bowling alley (with you just having no fun whatsoever at bowling), or a Dungeons&Dragons roleplaying session, or whatever else.
It is also a good exercise; it helps to get into the habit of deciding your own likes and dislikes and sticking to them.
Oh, and if you need some objective reasoning of why it may be appropriate to stay away: there *always* is the concept of separating work and private life. You *never* need to be ashamed if you want to keep this separation up. Different people have different scales of where that separation has to be. You pick yours, and stick to them. You can still laugh with your colleagues and wish them fun at the beach.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_11: Just another point, to exemplify how this can vary from field/country.
I'm Brazilian, and here, going to the beach with everyone from the lab would be pretty commonplace. Even a barbecue with a pool, for instance. But then again, swimwear is almost formal wear (but weirdly enough, topless/nudity is considered offensive/sexual - big no no).
However, in the lab (computer science), we would generally avoid any revealing clothing or physical contact. Rather commonplace for STEM, similar to my experience in France and the US, although the definition of "revealing" is slightly different.
But then I did a stint as a postdoc in a physical education college. The "common" work clothes were actually gym clothes (short shorts, tank tops, team jerseys - if they won the last match), with the exception of a few of the professors. Pants? only if it was really cold, so a week per year tops...
My work there involved motion capture, which was done with markers, precisely placed in anatomically predetermined positions (so you can infer the skeleton from it). Which would mean getting "groped" by the trained lab-mates to position the markers, since we couldn't use athletes to test/debug the system...
Then, I started working with swimming sports. Which would mean a bunch of people from the lab actually working in swimwear, because we had to place the equipment in the pool, then getting the markers in place, and swimming while filming. At every take, the markers would have to be checked/replaced, because the water would move them.
In the analysis part, we would stare in those movies frame by frame, several times, until the reconstruction was just right.
In this context, getting "groped" by lab-mates (undergrads to professors, male and female), while barely clothed and being recorded by several cameras, was totally normal and done on an almost daily basis, without anything inappropriate going on.
>
> **tldr**:
> I understand your concern, but it would depend more on the people involved than on the clothing itself.
>
>
>
On the practical side, what I would do: be flexible. The advice of going with "removable" clothing is fantastic, because it gives you freedom/flexibility to adapt to the current situation. I do that when I'm unsure of what to wear, from going to work in a suit and tie to having my trunks under my shorts on the beach/pool.
One more personal opinion: go with an open mind. I'm not saying "let anything happen", far from it, but rather give people the benefit of the doubt, until proven otherwise. Or you might risk turning a fun situation awkward.
The "buddy system" is helpful in this context as well, when you have someone you trust and you watch each other's backs... "If I tug my left ear, it means *get me out of here now*" kind-of trust :)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_12: While doing my PhD in Australia, more than once went for a group (mostly) naked swim with a group of colleagues, some postdocs, sysadmins, some PhD students, some local, some visiting, female, male. We looked at it as a normal activity after a night out (sic!).
Ah, these good old days, almost 25 years ago...
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_13: >
> 1. Is it generally inappropriate to go for a swim with coworkers (as well as other PhD students)?
>
>
>
This really depends on the culture both of your hosts and that of your lab. In a country like Japan it's not usual for colleagues to go to an onsen (温泉) together, although groups tend to be gender segregated unless modest dress is provided. My understanding is the same tends to be the case for sanua in Scandinavian countries as well. So in those cases you would need to decide if you want to adapt to the host culture for the duration, or continue to operate based upon your home culture. If your home culture tends to dictate a separation between supervisors and subordinates in "relaxed" environments then you are within your rights to want to maintain that as well.
>
> 2. What to do if a person (like i.e. your supervisor) you wouldn't want to come, joins the group after you already agreed to go the
> beach?
>
>
>
Let's look at this another way. How would you feel if you ran into your supervisor while swimming laps at the pool on campus? Assuming your supervisor is not acting inappropriately, it wouldn't be appropriate to ask them to leave since the pool is a public space and a lot of people enjoy swimming for exercise. The same reasoning tends to apply to public spaces like beaches as well. Explicitly asking your supervisor not to use a public space could cause some friction since you are asking them to restrict their actives. Furthermore, given the size of the beach it might also be a non-issue since there may be enough space for everyone to go without encountering each other.
As such, this question might be one of those that is best resolved if and when the situation actually occurs. There are a lot of ways that this could play out (e.g., your supervisor doesn't intend to go to the beach, they are going a different day, etc.) where you would never encounter your supervisor in the first place. Even if they do show up, they may not bother the group and be on a different part of the beach. In short, I wouldn't put too much effort into worrying about this scenario unless your supervisor states beforehand they want to join the group.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_14: >
> for me it's hard to comprehend that some claim partial nudity in a professional relationship would not play any role at all
>
>
>
Simple solution to eliminate the concerns about the role that partial nudity would play in a professional relationship: eliminate the partial nudity.
Since you're so concerned about being uncomfortable due to being conscientious about how much skin is shown, why not just show less skin?
[Example #1: Dolfin Aquashape Aquatard Unitard Swimsuit](https://www.swimoutlet.com/p/dolfin-aquashape-aquatard-color-block-unitard-swimsuit-8119825/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google-shopping&color=44391&size=9859&gclid=Cj0KCQjwierMBRCHARIsAHl9i4Fja5pztb-Fb0AaceHcAhqg3TGX9d1KpRhu52q8eQ3wPMDPEeYf_F0aAk7ZEALw_wcB)
(Check it that picture, and then decide whether that completely takes care of the "partial nudity" concern for you. It would in my culture.)
That was the number one hit on Google images when I searched for "full swimsuit". There are other swimsuits available too. Many of the more "complete" pieces are what I would call a "wetsuit". So, that's another item you could search for.
(Sure, if you look at [Google Image Search for wetsuit](https://www.google.com/search?safe=on&biw=1030&bih=551&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=wetsuit&oq=wetsuit) then some of the images are rather form-fitting/revealing, but scroll down to see more pictures and you'll see lots of suits that aren't.)
>
> I consider this part of privacy as even more precarious than, for instance, being tipsy with each other
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>
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And I don't. (I don't view such privacy as being more deserving of concern than tipsiness.)
I don't say that to judge your values, but simply to point out that mine differ. Different people have different attitudes. Some people would say that you should stick up to your values and not bow down to societal pressure about what a woman should be required to wear. However, I say, let those impassioned people win that fight themselves if they like. (Again, I say: Different people have different attitudes.)
Your usage of the word "precarious" demonstrates a bit about your thoughts on this topic. That, and the fact that you created this question, clearly shows that this is an issue that you find (at least a bit) concerning. If you're worried about doing something wrong, or quite concerned of the potential social consequences that could come due to mishandling, then do what will make you comfortable. If a purchase of an article of clothing will put your mind at ease, I think that is money wisely spent. I'm not saying that every woman should wear an outfit just like this. I am saying that this style of swimwear may be a very good option because it may work out quite nicely for you, specifically. (This is based on the very little bit that I've observed from you so far).
>
> Is it generally inappropriate to go for a swim with coworkers (as well as other PhD students)?
>
>
>
No. (Appropriate. Not inappropriate.)
Where I live, it might be a bit of an odd activity to suggest. Swimming isn't frequently super popular here. (There's usually 3 days a year, or less, where the temperature would make that activity generally tolerable.) So if someone asked me about swimming, I'd find that activity a bit of an unusual choice to be inviting people to.
But if I went to a place where there is a nice beach, then such an invitation would be entirely sensible. It's called taking advantage of the opportunity to utilizing the environment where you are. If you're visiting a warm place near water, then enjoy the experience.
>
> What to do if a person (like i.e. your supervisor) you wouldn't want to come, joins the group after you already agreed to go the beach?
>
>
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Separate, endure, or flee (a.k.a. change your plans). Really, there's nothing beach-specific about that question.
>
> I think it is always hard to find a good balance between having a friendly and a professional relationship (with my supervisor, but also with other people who are above me in hierarchy).
>
>
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This is unfortunate. Consider the few people who are at the top of the hierarchy. If everyone exhibited such attitudes, those people would be doomed to being lonely. When I've been a supervisor at work (or in a classroom), I've endeavored to have rank gets tossed out the window after hours (or off-site).
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm an engineering student from Korea, but I'm going to apply to graduate school in pure mathematics (to US, UK, and other European schools). I took several classes in math and I'd like to know what other courses I should take for my application to be considered "good enough". I took and got A from the following courses:
Undergraduate: Calculus, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Number Theory, Algebraic Curves
Graduate: Algebra I, Commutative Algebra, Differentiable Manifolds, Riemannian Geometry, Algebraic Topology
1. What other math courses should I take for my application to be considered seriously?
2. Can I take graduate courses instead to demonstrate proficiency in the courses in Question 1?
For example, if I am advised to take undergraduate Topology class, does taking graduate Algebraic Topology class count as taking the undergraduate Topology class?
3. Is it bad if I took all the courses in Question 1, but didn't meet the requirements for obtaining B.Sc in Mathematics in my school?
For example, my school requires that I take Statistics as part of the B.Sc requirement, but other schools may not.
Thanks a lot in advance..!
**Edit:** I added where I'm studying at and where I'll be applying to.<issue_comment>username_1: You have a far more than adequate preparation in the area of algebra, but your lack of basic analysis and topology courses could be a problem. On the other hand, you have taken several more advanced courses in topology and geometry.
Depending upon how it is taught, an algebraic topology class may have very little to do with general point-set topology. So there might or might not be a significant gap in your knowledge. Similarly, you have taken graduate courses in differential geometry, which generally require some knowledge of analysis and topology, but it is difficult to know exactly how much you might be missing.
Some graduate programs in pure mathematics may dismiss your application out of hand, for lack of basic analysis classes. However, most admissions committees will take a more holistic view of your application. For example, algebra is your strongest area, and if your stated intention is to work in algebra, that will probably help you.
Most importantly, though, will be how your letters of recommendation read. Your will probably need at least two letters of recommendation from mathematics faculty, and these letters may be able to explain away your lack of certain courses. If the professor you had for differential geometry can write a strong letter, which specifically attests to your understanding of the important elements of analysis, then you should be in a very strong position. I would suggest that you talk specifically with your letter writers about these issues; point out to them that you are missing certain courses that would normally be taken by pure math majors, and ask whether they can highlight your knowledge of the relevant subject matter. If you can get strong letters that tell the admissions committee that you have the relevant knowledge, your chances of admission should be pretty good.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Your Question 1: Pick a couple of target schools and analyze their sequence of classes. Work your way back through the prerequisites step by step. That will help you discover any gaps in your training. These gaps might not prevent you from gaining admission, but they might slow you down once you start your new program.
Your Question 2: That would be fine, as long as the course is a good match for you. This is something for you and the instructor to decide. You can decide tentatively prior to the start of the course, and you can check in again a couple of weeks into the course.
Your Question 3: In principle it's okay if your coursework doesn't exactly match the requirements of a particular undergraduate math degree program. But you need to think carefully about where you want to end up eventually in your research and in your career, which might include teaching. If you have the time, it would be good if you could give yourself more breadth, even beyond the courses that you end up choosing by following the procedure I outlined in Question 1.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: You don't say where in the world you are or where in the world you want to be. Giving this information would allow for a more targeted response, as the mathematical background of students entering a graduate program varies quite significantly by location: in particular, most European undergraduates take *exclusively* courses in mathematics and closely associated fields, whereas for most American undergraduates mathematics occupies less than half of all the undergraduate courses they take. I will answer with respect to an **American PhD program in mathematics**, since that is what I am more familiar with.
With that in mind: your overall math background seems *quite strong* to me. It is more than enough so that admissions committees will overlook the fact that your undergraduate major was not mathematics. That you took and excelled in five graduate courses is *better* preparation than the average incoming math PhD student at most American PhD programs and is similar to the average background of beginning students at, say, programs ranked 11-25 or so. [Give or take: I have been affiliated with programs ranked both above and below 11-25 so can make an educated guess, but my direct experience is more limited.]
>
> What other math courses should I take for my application to be considered seriously?
>
>
>
The one noticeable omission is in analysis. Both differentiable manifolds and Riemannian geometry use *some* analysis topics, but far from all. Your application will be taken seriously already, but your chances would be better if you had courses like: real analysis (undergrad or graduate level), metric spaces / general topology and complex analysis. In the US system, undergraduate real analysis -- taught out of Rudin's *Principles of Mathematical Analysis* or a more recent equivalent -- is taken by most "serious" undergraduate math majors and is perhaps the number one course that admissions committees want to see an applicant take and excel in.
>
> Can I take graduate courses instead to demonstrate proficiency in the courses in Question 1? For example, if I am advised to take undergraduate Topology class, does taking graduate Algebraic Topology class count as taking the undergraduate Topology class?
>
>
>
The answer is that it depends on a lot of factors. In the example that you give, undergraduate topology is desirable but not required. Taking graduate topology looks great...but it doesn't entirely cover undergraduate topology, depending upon what that means. In the US, unless otherwise specified, undergraduate topology is primarily *general topology*, which you are not going to learn much about in an graduate algebraic topology course.
Another consideration is that -- at least at the American institutions I'm familiar with -- grading in graduate courses is often different and more lax than in undergraduate courses. For instance, in more than half of the graduate courses I've ever taught, every student has received an A grade. For almost every undergraduate course I've ever taught, 25% or less of the class received an A. (It is a strange coincidence that the notable exception was...general topology, in which almost half of the small number of students taking the course got an A.) On the other hand, this is not always true. If you have recommendation letters from the faculty who taught these courses explaining convincingly why you were one of the best students in the course, you'll probably get "full credit" for your grades.
>
> Is it bad if I took all the courses in Question 1, but didn't meet the requirements for obtaining B.Sc in Mathematics in my school? For example, my school requires that I take Statistics as part of the B.Sc requirement, but other schools may not.
>
>
>
Not really. Most math admissions committees care about what you know and they find that out in large part by looking at your coursework. We tend not to care so much about meeting other requirements.
On the other hand, now that I look over your story I admit to being a bit curious / confused about why your major is in engineering rather than mathematics. According to your SE profiles, you have been studying and also taking **graduate** level mathematics courses for the last three years. In a recent comment, you say will receive an undergraduate engineering degree in 1-2 years. It doesn't quite add up to me -- with the math courses you've taken, how could you possibly be any further than 1-2 years away from a math degree? You might want to address this point in your personal statement.
**Added**: I am currently the Graduate Coordinator of the mathematics department at the University of Georgia (and thus the chair of the committee that does graduate admissions).
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: In the academic world, how is work generally handled that has not been finished when an official contract ends? This is, I imagine, more the rule than the exception, for example when papers were submitted shortly before the end of the contract.
Is it common practice to "bill" (i.e. work within the work hours of) the new employer? That seemed ridiculous to me until I thought that the same situation of unfinished work will likely arise with the current employer also. Quite a number of academics, including me, are on short term contracts (< 1 year). Recently I had to sink about 1 week of work time into such a former unfinished work which of course delays my current project.
Is it expected that I work on it in my free time as a commitment to my former employer and see it as a personal mission to finish this work? Should I request a compensation for it?<issue_comment>username_1: Whatever you do, keep the new employer satisfied. I.e., do your full task at the new institution. Only if you feel you can succeed in that, do something else in parallel. Otherwise, consider your previous tasks wasted.
(Earlier, I did my old tasks only after 6 p.m., but I was alone then and could afford that until I really discovered I need to do sports from time to time after 6 p.m., better daily. You can also take holidays for finishing your old tasks, but when do you recover from sitting activity?)
Honestly, this approach is unfortunate and discouraging. It is temping to do it differently, postponing your current task. However, given one of the Murphy-law conclusions that **everything takes longer than you think**, this approach pays off in the long run. Try to organize your work in such a way that you are completely done with what you wanted to personally accomplish by the time your contract ends.
In some cases your new and old tasks overlap or, more generally, you could sell your old tasks as contributing to the new ones. I some cases, you could involve your employer into your old tasks and make him/her profit from it. In some cases, you could make your new employer live with the fact you have some work to finish after discussing the matter with your new boss. However, these are all not general cases.
Now, regarding paper writing, it is difficult. Your new employer need not finance your conference travel regarding your old paper, for example. Personally, I would consider not being the lead author of any paper for which you are on short-term money. Let someone else with a longer contract take care about such papers.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: This is maybe handled differently in different fields, but in any case **you should inform you new advisor that you have to finish work from your previous position and discuss how this should be handled**. Here are some models that I know:
* Often it is expected, that postdoc do some independent work, so using this time to finish work with another workgroup is totally fine is this case.
* In case your new position does not allocate time to do such work, you should inform your previous advisor. You may offer to work in your free (i.e. "non-work") time and ask for compensation (e.g. using a special contract - in German this could be a "Werkvertrag" but I don't know an English translation).
* Your new advisor may get "on board" of your started project, so that your work on the project also falls under your new contract.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student and I'll be giving my first talks at an international conference soon.
In the past I have had tough questions from the audience that I did not know the answer to, or did, but it didn't come to mind until after the talk.
I have also had occassions where I hadn't heard the questioner twice, after repeating, and I couldn't ask for a third time (I am a bit deaf). As a result, I responded with an answer to a question that might have been asked, which was sort of a gamble.
I am curious, how do people best deal with these situations during talks? are there any 'formulas' of how to deal with this? what methods do people use to relax during question time?<issue_comment>username_1: Maybe it depends on the discipline, but I have usually found the conference audiences supportive, especially toward young researchers. In the case of tough question I would explain that the question is indeed tough and answer those aspects I understand and point out that the problems posed by the asker should pose an interesting venue of future research. Just learn from this experience, as conference attendees are generally smart people and probability of faking out a plausibly sounding answer is low when one just doesn't know.
As for the second problem I don't think gambling is a good solution. It'd better to explain hearing problems and ask to repeat the question. After all you want to address the issues pointed out by audience and maybe learn something from it. In grave situation maybe you can ask a colleague to write the question summary down for you? Informing session chair of your hearing problems beforehand won't hurt as well. After all that's nothing one should be ashamed of (as already pointed out by others).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: First, ask your advisor to organise a full rehearsal of the presentation, inviting people from your group and, possibly, also people not familiar with your work, telling them to ask you as many questions as possible -- easy and tough ones. Discuss together your answers.
Then, at the conference, explain to the chairman that you are a bit deaf (there's nothing to be ashamed of) and ask them to kindly relay any question. This can also give you some more time to come up with a proper answer.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Ok, the hearing thing being addressed in comment, I'll focused on the main topic here.
In an audience (unless you're in a really specific conference on the specific subject), you will usually have many kind of persons. Many of them aren't expert in the specific details of your work. So, you should be able to give details on a lot of things, without getting in the very specific and technical stuff.
When someone ask a specific question that would require a lot of technical aspects to be mentioned, you always have the possibility to give a short answer which explains the gist of the answer and/or explain this is too technical for this particular talk, and offer to meet with the person afterwards for a more detailed talk.
In the same idea, when you are put in front of the question you don't have an idea about, you can either ask for a few seconds, think about it and give your input on it, and/or just admit this is a perspective you haven't thought about yet, possibly try to give it a shot. It is OK to not know everything, it is also OK to not know all the methods that exists, if you did your state of the art correctly and they are referring to something that is not within the scope of your work. Just be honest about it, and propose to discuss it after the talk, just don't close the door or try to bluff it.
Obviously you should have done your homework and know about the reference papers in your field, why they apply or don't apply to your work. Also, what are the obvious questions that will be asked about your presentation (this can be prepared in rehearsal session, and even driven by how you present things).
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: If there is a gap in my CV, or perhaps an anomaly due to some personal struggle, is it worth explaining the situation? Or just not saying anything in the SOP?
If one was perhaps wrongfully accused or terrorism/murder or suffered depression? which forced them to take a year out.
On one hand it can demonstrate resilience on the other hand it might be negative.<issue_comment>username_1: I think you could hint at it, but I believe it would be misguided (hurt your application) to include (too many) details. It is irrelevant information and only distracts; your SOP should focus on reasons why to take you, and not on reasons why one shouldn't take you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think a quick examination of human psychology suggests that being specific about this stuff is a terrible idea. Even people who want to be neutral would associate you with murder (unfairly, of course). Better to never put the idea in their head.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: In some areas (e.g. CS) it [seems acceptable](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/2673/7994) for conference articles to be extended and published as journal articles. In such cases, what is the etiquette for choosing the journal article title? Can it be named the same (hence potentially leading to misunderstandings on which is which)? What are common practices for this?<issue_comment>username_1: First of all, I do not think there is any etiquette here. The only rule to follow are the instructions of the journal guest editors. If they do not mention anything about the title, then you can change it.
Now, if you ask about *common* practices, I can tell you that, in my experience, it is common to change the title, for a number of reasons:
1. It *is* a different publication, not a republication of the same paper. You have mentioned that it is an *extended* version, and I guess that you are suggested to include a percentage of new material, so a new title is in order.
2. As you point out, it avoids misunderstanding. For instance, when including both publications in your CV, you do want the evaluators of projects or posts to distinguish them.
3. Note that, even if you use the same title, you could be suggested a change by the journal referees (I assume that the paper is subject to the journal reviewing procedure).
I often have read the explicit instructions "you can change the title and/or coauthors..." but, in case of doubt, there is no harm in asking the guest editors.
Personal note: I once used the same title for the journal special issue and I regret it, for the reason 2 mentioned above.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It's just opinion here but I would think that if you use a significantly different title you will want to be sure that there is more content than the original. A new title could imply, well, new.
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: Is solving all of the exercises in a textbook a good idea? I'm particularly concerned with textbooks on mathematics. I have this obsession that I should solve all of the problems that a textbook has. It takes a lot of time and energy but usually I'm satisfied with the end result being me having a better understanding of that particular subject.
Any similar experience of this sort? How's this going to work in the long-run?<issue_comment>username_1: There is no right answer here, although you need to think about the time commitment involved. For instance, I doubt you need to solve every problem in an introductory calculus book. However, in a textbook where the number of problems per section or chapter is limited, it may be instructive to you to solve the problems that aren't assigned.
However, ultimately, this is a function of how you as an individual learn best. For some people, additional repetition of skills can help; for others, they can pick it up much more quickly, in which case the additional problems may not yield many benefits.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: It depends enormously on your personal objectives, apart from your personal predilections. For example, if a significant goal is to advance your understanding of mathematics, then obsessing over exercises (many of which are contrived busywork in undergrad textbooks, and sometimes in grad-level textbooks in the U.S.) is a dubious investment of your personal resources.
For one thing, apart from the articiality of some of the exercises, many of them will be semi-incomprehensible if you've just read the chapter they appear after... but obvious after you've read further! A significant reason for this is that mathematics has developed with various goals in mind, so that the most important enduring concepts and facts refer to important phenomena... not just to some artificial choice of linear logical development as is the common style in textbooks.
On another hand, if you do not aim to be a professional mathematician, or if somehow you have a lot of spare time, sure, why not do whatever you want? Indeed, another common trap of studying mathematics is being too obedient about following some syllabus or textbook, as opposed to following one's own curiosity and interests. It is subtler to parse the situation that your impulse is to do all the exercises... :)
Another practical point is that, at some point, probably soon, unless you severely restrict what books you look at, there's no way you'll have time to do all the exercises in detail, even if you are a whiz-kid. There are too many, and sometimes they are prankish. For example, the "exercises" in Atiyah-MacDonald's "Commutative Algebra" (a misleadingly slim volume) are mostly "theorems" one would find in other books on the same topic.
And, then, there's the point that novices' "solutions" to difficult exercises are often severely suboptimal, even if "successful". Sure, it's good to think about issues, but, at the same time, you'll be able to approach those questions far more wisely *later* (if you still care, and the things haven't become completely obvious anyway!).
But certainly no one is "required" to do all the exercises, despite some propaganda on the internet. For that matter, it is probably not optimal for most peoples' circumstances and goals. Still, taking an extreme stance, maybe the world will end tomorrow, and if you want to spend the evening doing exercises that you find enchanting, I'd be the last one to try to discourage you. :)
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: **No**, it's not. All questions are not equally good exercises. You'd be better served to purchase **2** books on the subject (ideally that take different approaches to the subject matter) and solve 1/2 the questions (picking out the better ones) in each text. This is of course contingent on wanting to learn a particular subject very thoroughly, and that solving questions helps you a lot. In many cases, it'd be a better use of your time to look at other related subject rather than spend so much time on one in particular, but I leave that to you.
Frankly, I can imagine few exceptions to this. The one that I can think of is that a text is very sparse in the questions is has and all the questions are good, but even then, you should evaluate a question's usefulness independently of others. A blanket policy like just doing all the problems in a text is very likely to to have a lot of redundancy in the problems you're solving. Textbooks aren't cheap, but there's a lot of material online nowadays as well if cost is an issue. If you're studying a field that's so small that there simply aren't many textbooks on the subject, chances are you'd be well served to read papers rather than textbooks.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: As a student of mathematics, I like to state that none can learn mathematics without solving mathematical problems in hand. Exercises in textbooks are a collection of mathematical problems. A good book contains beautiful problems. When you are learning a branch of mathematics you must select a good book to solve its exercises as much as you can. Solving problems is more important than reading the text.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: For your grades: doing as many exercises as you can is always a good idea, especially in math / physics / computer science.
For your mental health: obsessions are dangerous sometimes. Once you've done all the exercises in a book, pick another text and solve only a few problems ;-)
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: There is a paper on my field that I like very much(machine vision). I have implemented the solution it proposes and it works well (not flawless obviously).
However this paper was published in 1991.
Is there a way that I can search relevant and more recent papers *that use this paper as its basis*?? -I mean it is rather easy to the opposite, just check the references, but how about the other way?)
(Talking more specialized jargon, this papers deals with one (of many) ways to implement a machine vision operation. I like this method rather than others, and I would like to find papers that propose improvements to this method-rather than go to other direction)<issue_comment>username_1: Fortunately, you can use Google Scholar to search for an article and all subsequent articles **which cite it.** You only need to click the blue link which says "Cited by XXX" to find the list from the search results of your Google Scholar query.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Google Scholar is a possibility. Another possibility is Web of Science (WoS), if you have access to it. It allows you to access a list of all papers citing the one you are interested in via '**Times Cited**' (click on the number). Of course only WoS-indexed sources will be included. On the resulting list you can perform all refinement and sorting actions that WoS allows.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Some areas that come to mind:
* theory of partial differential equations (analysis and pdes, not numerical PDE)
* number theory
* algebra
Should I pick a trendy topic so that it is "easier" to write a thesis?
I've heard from senior PhD students not to try and write a thesis on analysis of PDEs because so much has already been done in this field and so it's very hard to do something new.<issue_comment>username_1: All of the areas you mention are extremely broad areas and extremely popular. For instance, it doesn't make sense to call number theory a trendy topic or not, except in the sense that there are many trends that come and go *within* number theory. Moreover, being "trendy" is essentially independent of being "relatively easy." Two topics that are sort of trendy in number theory close to me now are p-adic Langlands and beyond endoscopy, both of which are incredibly technical and require a huge amount of background to get into, whereas some other trendy parts of number theory like Apollonian circle packings and Ramanujan graphs are much easier to get into.
Just because a certain subject is more established doesn't mean it's harder to work in. It just means it's richer and has more subareas to specialize in.
What you should do your thesis is an area that (1) you would be happy working in, and (2) you can find a suitable advisor for. In any case, easy should not be a reason for doing a PhD (most people will tell you it is not easy---mine turned out to be, but I got lucky).
Note: there are certain areas that have fallen out of favor, and it can be harder to get an academic research position if you work in one of these areas, unless you can connect it to things people are interested in nowadays. However, there's a big difference between not being trendy and being comatose.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: No, because whatever you do is based on your interest. While doing PhD on the subject you are interested in you need to think before that whether you have passion towards it or not. Unless you show some passion towards your theises or the field you select to move on Even the latest researches are also useless.
My best suggestion to you is that dont ask someone while declaring your research field since you are some passion towards your field you need to think only one thing that how to develop your research in your field. Now go on thinking with a small paper in your hand and let your heart talk to your brain.
And have a good look over all the fields that you are loving and choose something as the best one.
**Unless you decide on your own about something you cant succed Since when you start hating it you will blame someone but if you select it on your own YOU CAN EVEN MAKE GOLD OUT OF COAL**..
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: No topic is "easy" if you do proper research. Coming up with something new will be hard regardless how popular or trendy is the field you'll be working on.
That being said, you should pick a topic in a field that you find interesting. Suppose you are interested in topology, you should start talking with professors who work in that field. They will tell you what they find interesting and you, after reading some of their work and discussing it with them, could decide whether you'd like to be their student. Once you have an adviser, it's easier to look for a thesis topic in the field of your interest. The adviser will help you pick something that hasn't been done and is a worthy thesis topic.
There is no guarantee that your topic that is fashionable today will still be in fashion in 5 years. As an experienced researcher, you might develop an intuition on where your field of mathematics is going, but, as a student, it's really hard.
What will make you employable as a mathematician, above all, is the quality and quantity of your research output. If you write a few excellent papers during your PhD, it won't matter so much if your field wasn't fashionable. The other thing that might matter for your employability outside academia would be if your thesis topic has direct practical applications. Numerical analysis, statistics, are some fields where you could go.
When trying to decide on topics for a PhD, the advise of older students should be taken with a grain of salt. They aren't necessary experienced researchers, and they don't have the full picture. Talking to postdocs and faculty, attending talks, might help you more. If you are in US, you don't have to make your decision right away, so take your time before you jump.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: If you pick an overly-trendy area there is a chance that it will be easier to get a Ph.D. in that area but that many mathematicians will be less than impressed by the resulting degree. For example, "fuzzy" is (or has been?) a trendy concept. There is almost a template for getting a Ph.D. in it (albeit one which is getting harder to apply by sheer competition): pick some topic in pure mathematics for which there doesn't yet exist a fuzzy version (for an example the exact phrase "fuzzy symmetry group" has only 4 Google hits). Learn the classical theory. Fuzzify it: whenever you see the word "set" replace it with "fuzzy set". Prove *something* -- which with lack of competition shouldn't be all that hard. Anticipating the question as to why anyone should care, hand-wave about potential applications to artificial intelligence. Voila! You have a dissertation (I am exaggerating a bit, this is of course easier said than done, and a successful fuzzification will involve more than simply replacing sets by fuzzy sets).
Now I don't deny that the core concepts of fuzzy logic and fuzzy set theory have a great deal of mathematical depth, and that much of the fuzzification of classical pure mathematics has been well-motivated. Still, it seems likely that much of it has been done just because it was low-hanging fruit for somebody who wanted to write a dissertation or paper. I am instinctually skeptical of the value of a paper when it contains the word "fuzzy" in the title. I won't dogmatically reject it, but I will need some convincing as to its value. If your dissertation has a trendy buzz-word but otherwise seems unmotivated, you might meet with similar skepticism.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_5: A few thoughts:
Pick a topic you care about. The sort of thing you'd pursue as a hobby because you want to know. You'll need the motivation.
Received wisdom is always worth revisiting, especially as new data and new tools for analysis and simulation come in
What about doing something 'meta' - if so much has been done with these analyses, do methods fall into categories that themselves are worthy of study?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: I'm going to say some stuff based on my own Physics PhD. **Disclaimer: These are just my opinions and are undoubtedly affected by my cynicism.**
**PhDs are not all created equal**
I'm of the belief that PhDs are **not** equally difficult. Additionally, PhDs are not equally *valuable*. In fact, value does not necessarily correlate with difficulty. I knew students who were given projects that turned out to be gifts - a simple idea with simple execution that produced papers like a gold mine. ***Some PhD projects are absolutely easier than others so don't let anyone persuade you otherwise.***
Myself, I got landed with something that was borderline impossible (professors from other labs expressed their sympathies when I described my work) and, though I eventually succeeded, trying to get scientific value out of it was like trying to get blood out of a stone.
Here's my advice:
1. Comprise a list of all the current 'sexy' on-trend topics in your field
2. Choose the one that most genuinely interests you
That's it. My justification is as follows:
* **Point 1 increases your ceiling for success** (incremental improvements to old methods won't skyrocket your career), **point 2 increases your chances for success** (because you'll remain enthusiastic and see it through when the going gets tough)
* On-trend subjects get a lot of attention at conferences. Attention leads to corporate and government interest, which in turn leads to grants. I've got to tell you that, however much you enjoy your PhD project, you'll enjoy it a lot more with increased funding.
* On-trend subjects produce material that'll make your posters and presentations attract other academics like bees to honey. Networking is absolutely vital in academia and choosing a on-trend subject will net you a lot of powerful friends.
* You *might* have an easier time getting published if your research field is truly cutting edge. I published several papers detailing improvements to existing scientific methods, but I don't mind telling you that it was an uphill struggle to sell the idea to the reviewers.
* I don't see the problem in choosing an on-trend subject to make your life a significantly easier, providing that you're actually interested in that subject
* **If your field actually takes off, your name will be among those few who pioneered the research. You don't need me to tell you how valuable and fulfilling that would be.**
Hope that helps.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: It is not always that you can just "pick an area". The research has to fit with the project that your supervisor has gotten grants for. (S)He can't just ignore what he has promised the financers to research. Given that you are employed by him and tied to a project ( not always the case ), then you better do stuff related to the project or it may look bad for the supervisor for using the money allocated for something to do something else.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: **If your motivation is "to get a Ph.D." rather than "to research XYZ" - you should probably not start a Ph.D. program**
One of the most common reasons for the stress, depression and feelings of failure that I've encountered as a graduate student union official is people who start a Ph.D. without clear motivations - or with the wrong motivation.
If you're so uncommitted to anything that you're thinking "Oh, I might pick this field, or that field, etc." - then it's not your time to start. And - getting a Ph.D. should not be a goal unto itself, but rather just a byproduct of doing useful research work.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_9: Lot of great answers. But I just want to add one thing that my supervisor told me long ago.
*No field is old enough that you cannot do research on it. You just
need to dig deeper, ask the right set of questions.*
As you know that we do not know everything about anything. So just dump this idea that I should pick a trendy topic. Choose whatever you like (and you can find a supervisor for it), as long as you are asking right questions, every field is worth researching.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_10: You are listing *areas* of work, not topics. You do research *within* an area, not *about* an area, so your question title is somewhat misleading. In many ways, your question is analogous to a neuroscience Ph.D. student choosing to do Ph.D. research on "the brain" as opposed to "the spinal cord". To someone in the field you're studying, your question sounds just as naive. People have been doing research on the brain since ancient Egypt, and this will continue for centuries to come.
For all the areas you've mentioned, there are many questions that remain to be answered. In conjuction with your mentors, you will pick a topic within the broad area.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: Of course number theory and algebra are old areas - both of them date back at least to the Babylonians (hence are at least 3000 years old). Just because something is old it doesn't mean that it is bad. It could also mean that those areas are worthwhile. They were already old 100 years ago. You should look at how number theory was done 100 years ago and how it is done now. Some questions are the similar, but many new ones emerged (for instance in connection with algebraic geometry), and the new ones are as exciting as the old ones.
I think it is wiser for a PhD student to focus on the new ones. This is because the old ones are most likely very hard (if they are interesting, a lot of intelligent people have thought about them and failed). Also, it likely that more people will study the new problems (for the reasons I just mentioned), which means that there are more people for you to talk to (more collaborators) and which might be able to inspire you.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_12: Think about your core idea(s) and do some research into the current state of play, what has been done in the field, and when.
Something/someone that springs to mind is that (Dr.) <NAME> was awarded his PhD in 2007 after starting it in 1971. A lot of research can be done in 36 years, but in his case the topic hadn't been explored in the interim.
In the end it is you who will be spending the next 3-4 years on it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_13: Your question alludes to the interesting notion that research in pure math is analogous to investing in stocks (or other financial assets), whereby choosing your research area is akin to choosing which stock to invest in. The idea is that a savvy researcher will cleverly choose the research areas with the highest expected "return on investment" to invest their time in: some research areas are supposedly old and dead, with all the exciting results having been discovered a long time ago so that it is difficult to make any meaningful contributions; while other more recently founded areas are so new and exciting that many "golden" results are metaphorically lying in the streets, just waiting to be picked up by anyone walking by without requiring great talent to uncover. Your question reflects your desire to "pick a winner" and achieve greater success than others who are not so careful to optimize their picks of research area.
Now, how accurate is this analogy? Can one really improve one's odds of success in pure math through such strategizing in the same way that this is possible (though far from easy) to do in the stock market? Well, one school of thought would say that the [efficient market hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient-market_hypothesis) guarantees that the job market for academic math positions, like the stock market, is efficient, with all the other "players" having already made choices that guarantee that any field one enters is as difficult to produce good work in as any other: new and exciting fields will quickly become so crowded and competitive that one might as well find some less trendy niche research area where you can work by yourself and the lack of competition compensates for the decreased fruitfulness of the subject.
I would argue differently however. I think it's obvious to any experienced mathematician that the "math research market" is *not* an efficient market (neither is the stock market, incidentally, which is why some investors are consistently successful in making more money than everyone else there) and that it *is* possible to "pick winners". In fact, the ability to pick winners and invest one's time and effort in fruitful research directions is precisely one of the things that separates successful mathematicians from less successful ones; this ability is part of what we call "talent" (the other part of talent is the talent required to actually solve research problems once you have decided which topic to think about, of course).
After this somewhat abstract discussion, let's get back to your question. I don't think it's unreasonable of you to try to optimize your choice of research area for career success -- as I said, all good mathematicians do this -- but your question does reflect a certain naivete regarding the scale at which this optimization takes place. Each of the areas "number theory", "algebra" and "PDE" that you mention represents such a huge part of mathematics that it is meaningless to ask whether the area is a wise one to do one's research in. This makes no more sense than asking "is it unwise for me to do my PhD in math rather than computer science because math is an old field of research?" As others have said, your actual research topic will be much more specialized than "math" or "computer science" or "number theory" or "algebra". Some research subfields of any of these fields are indeed no longer very productive or trendy, while others are thriving (as a small example, in the "old" area of number theory there has been some incredibly exciting progress recently towards the twin prime conjecture thanks to the work of [Yitang Zhang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitang_Zhang) and the follow-up [Polymath8 project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath_Project#Polymath8)). The way the optimization *actually* happens is at a much smaller scale: within very particular research subfields, some researchers are consistently good at asking the right questions, or identifying connections between two seemingly unrelated subfields and making a clever choice to invest their time in thinking hard about both subfields to dig deep into that connection.
Another way in which I see your question as being naive is that you are not taking your natural skills and talents into account. Doing successful research in different areas of math requires hugely different skills. Indeed, I think it's quite rare for anyone to simultaneously consider specializing in either algebra or PDEs, since those are very different areas which require different abilities and tendencies (I find the notion that you are entertaining both simultaneously to be rather amusing). What *would* be unwise is for you to pick a research area without having any feeling that your particular problem solving skills and other talents are in some way adapted to the area you are picking -- some sense that you are drawn to the field, that you have a good intuitive feeling for it, are good at solving problems in it, and -- ideally -- find it especially interesting, are passionate about it, etc.
To summarize, I think the general idea of considering carefully which research subjects you want to work on in order to maximize your chances of success is a sound one; but it's not really helpful to do this according to broad, simplistic measures of old versus new or trendy versus stale. The best approach is to combine getting advice from multiple experienced people with listening to your own voice regarding which areas you are drawn to and think your talents are suited for, and which problems your intuition tells you are exciting and good research directions to go in. Good luck!
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_14: This question does not define its terms (what exactly is "trendy"?, for instance), leading me to suspect it is an unserious query that is close to trolling.
Even so, I'll say that the point of entering a Ph.D. program is to learn how to conduct research and to convey your findings to different audiences, not simply to earn a degree.
If "getting the Ph.D." is your motivation, get out now and do something else that makes you reasonably happy--whether that's coding or running a coffeehouse or needlepoint.
Trust me, there are easier ways to make a living despite the many benefits that accrue to you once you earn the doctorate.
The point of a doctoral dissertation is to conduct a sustained research project that, among the many other arguments that it must make, must demonstrate the significance of its chosen topic(s) and your project's approach(es) to said topic(s).
Otherwise, what's the point? Why go to the trouble?
Finding a topic about which you are passionate and that can meaningfully occupy 2-4 years of your attention is necessary. Trends are just that: trends that ebb and flow. What's "hot" when you begin may be out of fashion by the time you complete the final draft.
You can always survey what's being published and taught in your field(s) of study to determine what's popular at the moment, but a good project makes its own space within its field(s) and subfield(s), so chasing after trends may simply lead to misery rather than enlightenment (or even entertainment).
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: What is the best way to find out a researcher's current affiliation? Let's say I know a name and a field, but not much more.
A google search seems like the most obvious approach, but unfortunately university personnel or research group pages often seem to be quite poorly maintained, and it is not uncommon that someone is listed even if they left more than a year ago.
Early-career researchers are particularly difficult to track down since they often have less of a "presence" on institution webpages and are likely to be moving relatively frequently.<issue_comment>username_1: This is the best solution that I came up with, but hoping that someone can suggest something more effective:
1. Look up the researcher's profile on Google Scholar
2. Sort publication list by year
3. Look up the most recent paper in the list
4. Obtain affiliation listed in that paper
This seems reasonably reliable, but depending on how prolific the author, it might miss a move in the last 6 months to 1 year, or even more. And it relies on the person having a Scholar profile.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: If contact details of a specific student/postdoc are hard to find, contact details of the supervisor or group leader are likely much easier to find, and you can always politely ask him or her as to the whereabouts of the student/postdoc.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: After submitting a paper to a conference, my advisor told me that he was going to change the authorship order (putting him as first author, me as last) because he contributed more to the final manuscript, even though I conducted all the experiments. He proceeded to change the order without my consent.
Is this common in academia? I'm a new master's student and I'm not sure if I should just get used to it or change advisors.<issue_comment>username_1: You agreed on something, worked together and he then changed the conditions without your consent. That is not ok in all, neither in academia nor in any business.
However, both in academia and everywhere else, it happens. The question now is: What can you do? Ultimately, you have to decide for yourself. To help you with that, here are some ideas:
* He might actually be right that you contributed less than anticipated. Still, changing the order in the last second without giving you the chance to earn first author is not a nice move.
* You can simply accept it and be happy to have a (maybe even the first?) publication, even if not at first author. On the other hand, this might mean that he will try the same thing next time.
* You can confront your advisor about it. Depending on how he answers, you might decide how to proceed.
* You can contact and notify the conference about it. This might mean that you loose the publication and get on your advisors bad side, though.
* You can ask others at the institute what they think about it. Maybe they already know the tricks your advisor plays? This might also backfire if you badmouth him to much.
As you see, all options also have drawbacks. Personally, I would try to get a detailed explanation out of him. Don't blame him, rather try to make clear that you want to know your mistakes, want to know how you could have contributed more, to work better on your next paper. If you are lucky, he will point out your weak points, you will agree that you could have done better and everything gets resolved.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Changing authorship order without consent is not common in academia, and this should not have happened. However, rather than asking yourself “what can you do”, as @username_1 Liebhold pointed out, I would ask “what do I want”. Are you going to keep on working with your advisor for a long time or are you leaving immediately after? Is he/she reasonable? If you do not plan on publishing with him, do you really care about pointing out his misconduct?
Keep in mind that last author is not so bad: first author carried out the experiment, but last author is the one who designed or had the idea for it, and possibly the one who found the money to fund it.
In my opinion it is not very important if you are first or last~~, given that this is only a conference paper~~ , but you should make it clear **who is actually going to the conference**! Also, if a paper is going to follow on this work, decide the author list in advance with him.
---
Edit: In some fields (such as computer science), conference papers are peer-reviewed and are at least as important as journal articles, and last authorship carries no prestige.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: The APA style indicates that personal communication should be cited in the format "<NAME> (personal communication, M dd, yyyy)" in-text, without a bibliographic entry. I was wondering what the best solution to citing such an item repeatedly is?
Example:
>
> <NAME> (personal communication, August 21, 2017) proposes that concept
> X is inherently meaningless without mechanism Y.
>
>
> [...]
>
>
> Doe (2012, 2015, 2016) presents mechanism Y in terms a, b, c. We could therefore
> assume that this predicts concept X to exist independently of Y,
> nothwithstanding <NAME>'s (personal communication, August 21, 2017)
> objection that doing so would lead to undesired behaviour Z---it is
> what strictly follows from the system proposed in Doe (2012, 2015,
> 2016).
>
>
>
Is there a better way to refer to the same personal communication the second time? Options like <NAME> (op. cit.), <NAME> (ibid.) etc. seem to not really work semantically (given what kind of object op. cit. and ibid. refer to) and be potentially ambiguous with Doe (2012, 2015, 2016), although I suppose the initial of the first name here may disambiguate.
Are there any established ways of dealing with this elegantly?
[Edit:] I should add that I have to refer to a different instance of personal communication with Doe elsewhere, so simply citing "Doe (p.c.)" later on would be potentially ambiguous, unless it somehow only referred to the most recently cited instance of personal communication.
[Edit 2:] To provide some context, we're talking here about a situation where the papers by Doe (2012, 2015, 2016) outline a particular theory but leave some aspect of it poorly defined or ambiguous. The private communication entails asking Doe for clarification as to how he intended that ambiguous aspect of the theory to be understood/implemented. So this is not really about relying on data or sources that are unavailable, it is about giving fair shrift to Doe's theory, and making clear as a starting point both for my own work and others how the original point was intended. If this is not taken into account there's a real danger of just attacking a self-made straw man here, and neither Doe nor I nor others in the field would probably be happy with that. It seems inevitable to me that full disclosure here entails citing the personal communication on more than one occasion, namely whenever Doe's disambiguating communication comes into play.<issue_comment>username_1: You agreed on something, worked together and he then changed the conditions without your consent. That is not ok in all, neither in academia nor in any business.
However, both in academia and everywhere else, it happens. The question now is: What can you do? Ultimately, you have to decide for yourself. To help you with that, here are some ideas:
* He might actually be right that you contributed less than anticipated. Still, changing the order in the last second without giving you the chance to earn first author is not a nice move.
* You can simply accept it and be happy to have a (maybe even the first?) publication, even if not at first author. On the other hand, this might mean that he will try the same thing next time.
* You can confront your advisor about it. Depending on how he answers, you might decide how to proceed.
* You can contact and notify the conference about it. This might mean that you loose the publication and get on your advisors bad side, though.
* You can ask others at the institute what they think about it. Maybe they already know the tricks your advisor plays? This might also backfire if you badmouth him to much.
As you see, all options also have drawbacks. Personally, I would try to get a detailed explanation out of him. Don't blame him, rather try to make clear that you want to know your mistakes, want to know how you could have contributed more, to work better on your next paper. If you are lucky, he will point out your weak points, you will agree that you could have done better and everything gets resolved.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Changing authorship order without consent is not common in academia, and this should not have happened. However, rather than asking yourself “what can you do”, as @username_1 Liebhold pointed out, I would ask “what do I want”. Are you going to keep on working with your advisor for a long time or are you leaving immediately after? Is he/she reasonable? If you do not plan on publishing with him, do you really care about pointing out his misconduct?
Keep in mind that last author is not so bad: first author carried out the experiment, but last author is the one who designed or had the idea for it, and possibly the one who found the money to fund it.
In my opinion it is not very important if you are first or last~~, given that this is only a conference paper~~ , but you should make it clear **who is actually going to the conference**! Also, if a paper is going to follow on this work, decide the author list in advance with him.
---
Edit: In some fields (such as computer science), conference papers are peer-reviewed and are at least as important as journal articles, and last authorship carries no prestige.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergraduate who is line for a first author publication in a field I absolutely love, and want to continue my research in the same department. At my school there is a program, I have heard of, that would allow me to get my masters as an undergraduate, and the paperwork requires a signature from the department head. I don't want to appear as sycophantic a-hole, I come from a very economically disadvantaged background. I am paying for my school, want to continue my research, and eventually obtain a PhD. Basically, I need to know any good suggestions of how to establish a relationship with the department head. I know email is an option to contact the department head, but she doesn't know me. I have emailed another professor, I said hello to and know his childhood friend, who has been in the same department for 15 years to see if we could get coffee and talk with him about this matter to see if he could introduce me to the department head. Any suggestions of knowing how to connect/establish a relationship with the department head?
Best<issue_comment>username_1: It's possible that you are misunderstanding what the signature of a department head implies or requires. In general, signatures are used to ensure that policies and procedures have been appropriately followed. Save for unfortunate cases where resources are solely allocated due to rather extreme corruption (beyond anything I've personally encountered), you don't have to have some sort of deep personal history or relationship just to take part in an existing publicly advertised academic program.
The most common way this comes up is a form that requires two signatures - one from your advisor (or other faculty member relevant to the request), and one from the head of the department. The advisor/faculty member is usually the one responsible for making sure you meet all the program requirements, and believes you should have the request indicated by the form authorized. Then the signature from the head of the department is generally just a bureaucratic formality, and the department head's job (often delegated to an assistant) is to ensure you qualify, etc (making sure the faculty member did their job correctly), maybe ask a few questions or require supporting paper work if applicable (if it's routine they won't even do that), and then sign. And off you go!
To see what is truly required to get into your school's program, you'll need to look up further information about it on the website - if one exists (it may not have useful info), and talk with whoever administers the program. You might also just go to your department office and ask the assistant for more information about the program. You can just say, "I read about the program where you can work towards a masters while you are an undergrad - how can I find out more about this program?"
You can then find out if the program is a competitive application process, are there certain qualifications you need before applying to the program (such as completing a certain number of courses, having a certain GPA, meeting with a graduate advisor, etc), and all the other details you might want to know about to decide if the program is right for you and how you can join. It could be as simple as ask to join, give your transcript to the assistant and they will have the chair sign, and you are in (so long as you pay the bills, which might increase to be a part of that program). But you won't know until you talk directly to the appropriate staff members - no need for scheming just yet!
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> I am an undergraduate who is line for a first author publication in a field I absolutely love, and want to continue my research in the same department. At my school there is a program, I have heard of, that would allow me to get my masters as an undergraduate, and the paperwork requires a signature from the department head. I don't want to appear as sycophantic a-hole, I come from a very economically disadvantaged background. I am paying for my school, want to continue my research, and eventually obtain a PhD.
>
>
>
Make some minor adjustments to this paragraph and email it to the department head! Of course, neglect the "psychopathic a-hole" part, but just tell the department head what you want to do. As @username_1all pointed out, you may only need their signature for the program, but I don't see how having a professional relationship with the department head could be bad. In fact, s/he may have some important suggestions for you on how to meet your goals. If a student came to me with what you just said, I'd do anything I could to help them succeed.
Before applying for PhD programs, I emailed the department head at many universities to see if there was anyone in their department interested in my research proposal. One of these was the department head of Geography at University of Tennessee. I ended up interviewing for a different program at UT-Knoxville but decided to visit the Geography department head because I had some free time and really appreciated his response to my email. We talked for a while, and he was a genuinely nice guy. Now he's the president of our flagship professional organization, and I'm really glad I had the chance to meet him in person! Networking with professors can be beneficial in more ways than what are immediately apparent, so take a chance and go meet with him.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> the paperwork requires a signature from the department head. I ... I need to know ... how to establish a relationship with the department head.
>
>
>
**No you don't.** Don't try to establish a relationship with her; trying to do so will likely hurt your chances of being accepted to anything.
However, if there's some program or award you think you might be considered for, and the department head has some discretion about awarding it, you could **write her a letter** (not an email - a letter; and not a short note - a letter) describing your background, your achievements so far, your interests and your plans, and requesting whatever you're asking for - even if you're not nominally eligible.
---
As a side note,
>
> At my school there is a program, I have heard of, that would allow me to get my masters as an undergraduate
>
>
>
I might not be in academia in the same country as you, but - this might not be a good idea. I can't be certain with more information but my default assumption would be that either this is a scam, or it doesn't mean what it supposedly means.
Upvotes: -1
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2017/08/22
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently submitted a manuscript to a journal that focuses on short papers about software packages. One reviewer gave a very detailed (and helpful) critique of my software/paper with one major objection: another package already exists that has similar functionality. S/he mandated that I clarify what my package offers that the other package does not.
Unfortunately, I was not aware of the other software package when I started my project (which I'm pretty embarrassed about). On further inspection, I realize that this other package is far superior to my own in terms of functionality and performance. I've come to the conclusion that my project is not salvageable. This is disappointing but not soul crushing as it was a side project that is only tangential to my dissertation work. Frankly, I don't have time to improve my software to point of being a significant contribution, and I'd only do so for the sake of "getting a publication," which does not seem fruitful. Improvements wouldn't be immediately useful to me. and thus I don't have the motivation to submit a revision.
That said, I'd really like to submit a genuine word of thanks to the anonymous reviewer for their detailed critique of my paper/software. Through their comments and working through a revision I learned a lot (how to use Docker, sharing and recording terminal sessions through
asciinema/asciicast, general improvements to my writing, etc.) **Do editors allow authors to respond to reviewers even if their manuscript is essentially rejected?** It seems as though editors would generally disallow this since authors responding to a rejection may often want to say something nasty. Would it be best to email the editor directly with my request or respond through the submission system?<issue_comment>username_1: The most likely scenario is that the authors can respond to the editor, and the editor will decide (at their discretion) whether or not to pass back the message to the referees.
After all, there are valid reasons to message the referees afterwards (for example if the main argument for rejection is based on a misunderstanding). For a simple thank you, it will depend on the editor's preference, but it definitely doesn't hurt to try.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It is unlikely that the editor will allow you to contact the referee directly but it would not be inappropriate for you to contact the editor by email, repeating the essence of your post, and asking the editor to transmit these comments to the referee in question.
Even if the editor chooses not to pass your comments along, you will have acknowledged the constructive work of a referee, something that is quite useful for an editor and she or he might very well ask this referee's opinion again.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: If your situation is anything like what I'm familiar with, then this happened:
1. The reviewer wrote the critical review, and the editor decided on 'revise'.
2. The revise letter said something similar to "your revision is due in 60 days".
3. Since your project is not salvageable, you are not intending to revise your paper. Accordingly, **you should notify the editor that you are withdrawing your paper**. You don't *have* to, but it's a courtesy, since if you don't you also clog up their editorial management system. You might e.g. trigger automated reminders to the editor/publisher/yourself that your revision is late.
Since you have to write to the editor anyway, that's the time to tell him what you wrote in the question. If you write something positive, the editor is likely to pass it on. Harsh criticisms of the referees - that might get censored by the editor.
As for whether to use normal email or the editorial management system, both will reach the editor but the latter is preferable. Emails sent by the editorial management system will usually include a line with "click on this link to access the submission" and, as you might expect, that is very convenient.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: If you were to write to the editor with your words of thanks to the reviewer, I would be surprised if the editor did not pass it on. A message of thanks to a reviewer is a nice thing to receive, especially one with details of the skills you learned from their review. Reviewers work *gratis* for journals, so a good editor is unlikely to pass up the opportunity to pass on a nice happy message to the reviewer from a satisfied customer.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/08/22
| 2,359
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a friend who is trying hard to establish a connection with a well-known professor at a generally top 5 school for STEM in the U.S. This professor is frequently at some good seminars around the area.
My question is: is it appropriate for my friend to ask out this professor for coffee? She has tried several times - trying to meet him one on one before the start of seminars, some other scheduled times, etc. This may be relevant, so I will note that she is female, and the professor is male.
He has turned my friend down with reasons such as "I'll be traveling and can't meet for coffee", or "sorry, but I won't be able to make it today."
Otherwise, the professor answers all of her questions and gives great advice to her, in terms of how to advance in the field. Based on what she tells me, he is very polite and helpful.
Personally, I would never ask a professor out for coffee - let alone try repeatedly, after he or she has said "no" several times. I would email to start some dialogue and perhaps meet in his / her office. So I just want to know whether perhaps I should hint to my friend to stop trying to get him out to coffee and that maybe he's not so into the idea of letting students schmooze with him one on one.
I wonder if this is sort of specific to the STEM field academia culture, too; e.g. if we were in film school or business school, I think it'd be much more "normal" to ask a professor out to coffee to try and build a relationship.<issue_comment>username_1: I don't think that this is special to any type of professional environment. The professor is polite and responsive. However, they repeatedly tactfully refused an informal meeting, which indicates that they are uncomfortable with it (indeed, they may be coincidentally busy at the given time, but often this would be reflected in the suggestion for rescheduling, which I don't see). In my opinion, your friend should take the hint and reevaluate their approach, e.g. schedule an office meeting.
As to whether it is appropriate to ask, as long as the tone is professional, I see no problem in asking, just as I see no problem getting 'no' for an answer. This, however, may in some cases be culture specific.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: It is not appropriate to waste other people's time. As a general life principle, anyone wanting to talk to me without being able to articulate a reason beyond wanting to "establish a connection" or "build a relationship" with me quite clearly is doing it to advance their own self-interest without having anything meaningful to say to me, and without really being interested in my work or in me as a person. Professors are human beings and don't like to be manipulated or used as pawns by students looking to advance their careers by networking with them. I would bet that the professor's refusal to go have coffee with your friend has something to do with him getting the sort of ick factor that I'm getting when I hear that someone wants to "establish a connection" with me.
The professor may also be concerned, justifiably or not, that going out for coffee with a young female student who is asking to chat with him for vague reasons may be asking for trouble beyond the waste of time that such an outing would entail.
To summarize, she has asked him several times, and he has repeatedly said no. It may have been more or less appropriate the first time, and clueless the second time, but asking more than twice would be quite inappropriate in my opinion, and likely to leave a pretty poor impression.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: If he keeps brushing her off, it might be time to move along. I think it's important that she be clear about the intention of the meeting since coffee sounds a lot like a date.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: **Is it appropriate?**
It depends on the culture. I assume you're asking for Europe and United States, in which case the answer is that some would consider this appropriate to *ask*. That does not mean it's appropriate that the professor would do so for multiple reasons:
* Some might see this as trying to get around merit by becoming a favorite or knowing someone on the inside. Some people think it's highly unethical to hire or favor on the basis of "who you know" not "what you know" but this depends on the culture and environment.
* The request is incredibly time-consuming with little benefit for the professor. Not everyone likes coffee and a drink is not worth an hour or thirty minutes of a person's time, especially if they're at a top 5 school anywhere. They probably have huge responsibilities.
* Since a top teacher's time is limited, what would happen if 10% of prospective students did this? It wouldn't be possible for his/her time.
* Some people may feel uncomfortable seeing students or prospective students in a casual environment that could be misconstrued by others. Also, some cultures have experienced legal implications of accusations, which true or not, have made some higher-ups consider whether a meeting with anyone is appropriate. Unfortunately, people "higher up" tend to be targets in these accusations.
So while in most cases, there's no harm in asking, I can't think of a single case where a top 5 professor in any field would grant this request.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: 1. OP's friend is not their student, nor even (apparently) a student anywhere in their school. They are just one of tens of thousands of prospective students applying. American academics can be quite formal and strict about this; this **comes across as trying to ignore, shortcircuit or unduly influence the admissions process**.
* And as OP points out, he's already said 'No' at least twice, and a polite 'No' is still a 'No'. OP's friend not listening and persisting is at best annoying and at worst potentially fatal to her application.
2. Also, since academic careers can be stalled or killed by even one false allegation of sexual harassment, and in some colleges male academic staff (even down to TAs) are advised not to even have a closed-door meeting on their own with a female student to mitigate that risk, let alone an offcampus 'coffee' with someone who isn't even an enrolled student in their dept let alone college, you can see why the professor might well be declining the meeting - even if he's a helpful guy and believes she's a very good applicant.
3. So at best she comes across as pushy, persistent, not listening and disrespectful of his time. Consider that if a male prospective student repeatedly pestered a female professor to 'have a coffee' alone, it might be construed as stalking, or worse
4. Even if we totally set all that massive context aside, she's **not even remotely communicating effectively**: instead of repeatedly asking him to have a 'coffee meeting' with undisclosed purpose, which he is clearly not prepared to do, it would be better for her to have stated a clearer request by email "How can I apply to dept X?" or "How can I make my application to dept X look better?", which again brings us back to strongly coming across as trying to ignore, shortcircuit or unduly influence the admissions process. Also, busy professors (of whatever gender) have no obligation to answer any such emails, of which they receive a very high volume daily (if they're in a top-5 US school), in which case she should have demonstrated both courtesy and initiative by not pestering him further, and instead tried to find a graduate student, postdoc, recent graduate, recent applicant etc. who actually ***was*** willing to speak with her (voluntarily, at a setting, time and place of their choosing, not hers) and give her advice. But she didn't do that.
5. Let's allow that she's well-qualified and has a shot at the graduate position, and it's her lifelong dream. Remember with (say) a 1% accept rate there might be 99+ other similar applicants for the same position. Let us assume for the sake of the professor's sanity they are not all behaving similarly. Ultimately, she's competing with those other 99, so if she continues to pressure or annoy the professor, the chances one of the other 99 gets picked go up.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: >
> Otherwise, the professor answers all of her questions and gives great advice to her, in terms of how to advance in the field.
>
>
>
I would say that she has successfully *already established a connection with this professor*. Lucky her: you can find many variations on the question "How do I get professors to answer my e-mails?" -- both on this site and elsewhere on the internet.
My experience as a math professor is that, generally, we appreciate direct requests. (Especially if they are made in such a way as to not presume the answer will be yes.) For example, your friend should feel free to ask the professor directly if she: wants a letter of recommendation; wants a suggestion for a research project; has a technical question about one of his papers; would like feedback on a research idea; etc.
Indeed, I have made and received all sorts of invitations out of the blue, to and from people I did not know at all well: to travel out-of-state to give lectures, to collaborate on research projects, etc. This is perfectly normal in math culture. It is of course perfectly polite (and common) to decline, but sometimes such invitations will be accepted, and indeed a couple of my research collaborations have started this way.
Usually one would "establish a connection" if one wanted either: (1) to pursue a friendship or romantic relationship for its own sake, or (2) to smooth the way to make career-motivated requests in the future. I wouldn't recommend (1), especially after he has repeatedly declined coffee invitations. As for (2), I would recommend not worrying about first "establishing a connection" and instead simply make her requests directly.
Upvotes: 4
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2017/08/22
| 1,262
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<issue_start>username_0: Here is the situation:
I am currently writing a thesis which uses a behavioral experiment to answer the main research question. Its main aim is to test how a certain welfare scheme would affect taxpayer behaviour, and thus relates to a very broad strain of literature on taxpayer behaviour. I have found a paper which uses (in my opinion) a very clever experimental procedure to test how behaviour is affected by the way taxes are used. Therefore I decided to use this experimental procedure and adapt it to the specific welfare scheme I am interested in so I can use it to answer my research question.
Currently I am in the progress of writing my thesis and was wondering where the line ends from building on previous work and plagiarism. Because the experimental procedure is similar in it's structure, the model used for the formulation of my hypothesis is also an adapted version of the model in the original paper. Consequently, the data I have also takes a similar form, which will result in taking similar steps for a correct analysis of this data.
So, would it be considered plagiarism if I have adapted an already existing experimental procedure, adapted the (mathematical) model previously used to formulate hypothesis, and use a similar structure of hypothesis testing (that is: first using statistical test A, then B, then C, etc on my own data)?
I have obviously referenced a great deal to this original paper, and even explained *why* I think the experimental procedure is so good and fitting for answering my question. Obviously, I am using my own wording and data, but was wondering if something like this can be seen as 'structure plagiarism' or is something desirable as it can be used for direct comparison of the papers.<issue_comment>username_1: You are only building [on the shoulders of giants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_on_the_shoulders_of_giants), there is nothing wrong with that, as long as you cite the sources. Your hypothesis and your data are original, you are only applying a method that has the advantage of having been validated in the literature.
This might make your work less original, but what is the point of developing a new statistical analysis if a perfectly fitting one already exists?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: There are only so many ways to design behavioral experiments and so many ways to analyze them. If you consider experiments at any level of abstraction you will find that most of experiments in cognitive and social psychology can be reduced to a limited number of patterns. Consequently, the statistical analysis that follows is also basically the same from paper to paper. What novel research introduces is the creation of experimental materials, and more rarely, insightful experimental manipulation and control of important variables.
Successful applications of these sort become paradigmatic, and other papers re-use the procedure by adding more variables to rule out spurious effects or extend the scope of the explanatory adequacy of the approach. (For example <NAME>'s and <NAME>'s experimental procedures have been reused and modified in a plethora of other studies.) Even direct replication of a study can be published, especially if the result is surprising and counterintuitive. (For example this finding <https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13596-male-monkeys-prefer-boys-toys/> about human-like gender differences in toy choice of chimps, was replicated by another lab.)
Plagiarism per se refers strictly to the reproduction of the material expression of a concept (e.g. written prose, or the experimental stimuli) which results from the intellectual labor of an individual. It cannot refer to abstract ideas. If you construct your own material, following the methodology of the original paper, it is your original intellectual labor. You can ask the permission of the original author to use the exact material, which, in case it is granted, will result in the studies being comparable.
Finally, with respect to updating the mathematical model by adding more variables, it is common place to do so in analysis of behavioral experiments with general linear models and their variations (including all type of analyses of variance for example), and it is also desirable because adding variables to these models can control their effect to the main variables of interest and provide a better overall fit to the data. I guess the same holds for other type of mathematical models, if the new model provides a better account of the observations and a deeper understanding of the effect you are studying.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: You are confounding two issues here:
* Is it plagiarism? Not if you cite this source for everything you take out of it.
* Will it be enough to do only that? It depends.
For a master thesis and even more so for a bachelor thesis, it would probably be enough to replicate a known experiment in another context and see if it holds up.
For a doctoral thesis, this is not always the case, but it still might. If the original work made a strong conclusion that has had large implications and you can rigorously show that it doesn't replicate, this can be very interesting. If all you find out is "It worked in America. There were no reasons to think it wouldn't work in Europe and indeed it does work in Europe", then this is probably not a very substantial contribution.
That brings me your extension of the model. Be very specific about the reasons behind this extension. If you can motivate them well, the extensions will be the original contribution of your work. If you can't, the reviewer might assume you just wanted to add on something so that it looks like you were busy.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/08/22
| 1,226
| 4,960
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm applying for PhD programs and I'm thinking about what I'll do afterward. Specifically, I did my undergraduate in a well-respected US university and am applying to similar tier universities for a PhD in a STEM field.
From my undergraduate experience I know I like teaching and research- so I'm thinking of trying to go into Academia and be a professor. Turns out this is [really competitive](http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2017/07/another-tenure-track-scientist-bites-dust). It also turns out you don't get a lot of [flexibility about where you live](https://chroniclevitae.com/news/1438-so-you-think-you-want-a-tenure-track-job), which is quite important to me.
So I had a thought: what about trying to be a Professor in a developing country? I spent most of my childhood in a developing country and helping to improve education/opportunities in developing countries is something I've cared about for a while. Also, I'm not a US citizen, and I've spent little time living in the EU country I am a citizen of, so have fewer ties to the Western world than some.
So question 1: How easy is it to become a Professor in a developing country having a STEM PhD from a US university?
And since that question is quite broad, I'll say regions I'm interested in: Sub-Saharan Africa, China (if that's still considered a developing country), Indonesia.
Question 2: After getting in, what issues is one likely to have? (Academic culture, still being able to work competitively in interesting/cutting edge research, funding, etc). Especially if people have experiences of going from the US/EU to be professors in STEM fields in the aforementioned regions I'd be interested to hear about them.
Note: I am aware of [this similar question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/46346/us-phd-to-developing-country-professorship) but it seems to be more about short-term programs rather than becoming a longer-term professor.<issue_comment>username_1: There are two distinct circumstances that occur in regard to your question. Either A) the developing country is your home country (or a country that you once lived in) or B) it is a country you have not been extensively to. This will, I believe, affect the outcome. I'll try to answer for the two cases in my experience (and from what I have seen / heard from friends who went back to North Africa/Middle East/China)
Q1 : STEM Ph.D. from the US, especially if they arise from a good university or research group, are generally well seen outside of the US and, more specifically, in developing country or in China. As such, if there are position available in that country, when applying your candidacy has high chances to be considered. However, for that, there has to be positions available. Some countries are really low on budget for academia and as such do not hire as many professors in research/teaching position, but mostly solely on teaching positions. **If a position is available, you have good chance if you know the custom (language, culture, etc.) of the country where you would like to work. However, position opportunities might be more rare.**
Q2: I can only speak from experience of friends. However, what I have seen is that in some developing countries, professors at university have a much higher teaching workload than in the US, they have less funds and they have less opportunities to hire/pay international Ph.D. students. Therefore, it can greatly affect your capacity to do research because A) you have less time/money to dedicate to it and B) it's harder to find students.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: My first suggestion would be this: you are still to embark on your PhD in a STEM field. A PhD is a long term affair and your career goals can change over time. So it might be good to think about these issues a couple of years into your PhD. During your PhD itself, you will face many issues---are you in the right department? Are you happy with your advisor/group? Do you like your research problem, etc.
Coming to moving to a developing country, I think it is best to attend conferences in your country of choice to first get a good idea of what the academic culture is like in that particular country. There are two issues here: (a) The culture of the country and (b) academic culture in that country.
You will need to familiarise yourself with both of these.
Also, just because you have a PhD from a good university in the US, does not automatically make you a sought after candidate. Often, hiring institutions in developing countries will look at your familiarity with the local language and culture. They might prefer to hire someone from their own country who has gone abroad to get a PhD and wishes to return. Or they may often hire someone from their own institutions.
Overall, I would suggest focussing on your PhD, publishing enough so that you are competitive, and keeping yourself well informed about your goals.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/08/22
| 822
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student working for a professor as a research assistant and being paid with stipends. One of my friends in the same department asks me if I can collaborate on a project branched off his PhD research. That project is a completely different field than my current research, despite of that some of the background ideas can be used in my part.
He has done all of the theory work, and just needs someone to implement using computer programs. To me the task is not really hard at all, since he has streamlined the theories. I expect to finish the programming part without spending too much of my effort, and there is no (hard) time limit.
Now he has generously offered me a chance to be in the authors list (I believe only us two, and he's the first), as the credit of my work. I understand that working for somebody else while getting paid for my own job is not good, but the publication is really luring to me. I talked to him about the chance of my name being included only in the acknowledgement, but what a bad idea of that.
My question is what should I do? Should I ever talk to my professor? My friend is like hard to refuse since the work isn't really a burden to me.
While I wish to keep anonymous, I truly thank you all for any idea, suggestion, or criticism.
---
EDIT: As I mentioned before, our work isn't really very related. But it happens that at present I need to improve my own research methodology, and the techniques to be used in his project exactly fit my need. (I think this is a good lesson to me; never be "too" focused in my own research, and learn from other fields) Is it okay to talk to my advisor in this way, that while I'm helping him, I also make my own stuff better?<issue_comment>username_1: Ask your professor if it is okay with him.
During my PhD it was never a problem to work with other PhD's, it was actually well received and encouraged. Even collaborations that go beyond the professor's own group. Of course your own work should have priority, but spending some of your time on other projects has not been problematic.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You are a PhD student, and your main goals is to further your knowledge and advance science, in general. It's of secondary importance that the project you talk about is far from the topic of your PhD research; as long as it won't harm your PhD research, doing other projects is great. I don't think you need a permission of your adviser (unless you have something very urgent to finish for him, or something like this); you might want to inform him/her about this side project, but I really don't see how a (sane) adviser would have anything against it, if it's not a huge project that would take all your time for months...
During my own PhD I worked with a number of people in other universities, and PhD students I advised (3 so far) worked with whoever they saw fit.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: You should definitely talk about it with your professor. There is also a good chance that your current contract has a clause stating something along the lines of "any published work will be cleared by prof. X". When your name will appear on the paper, you will have an institutional affiliation so you need your professor's OK.
If your professor is worried about the time you take away from your own project, you always have the option of working on your own time and only asking him to use the affiliation.
Upvotes: -1
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2017/08/22
| 431
| 1,655
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<issue_start>username_0: For an applicant to a high ranking U.S. graduate program in mathematics, how much more beneficial would it be to have a (coauthored) article published rather than accepted for publication?
(If more details are relevant, without possibly breeching anonymity, there are a few student authors and one faculty author. The article is on a recreational mathematics topic in an expository journal.)<issue_comment>username_1: I don't think published versus accepted for publication matters a lot for a PhD position (or indeed any position). The date of publication is determined by the editors (I think) and not by you. If your article is accepted for publication then it is already in final form (as far as the content - which for most mathematicians is the important thing - is concerned). The difference between published and accepted for publication is, in a sense, a mere formality.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: As an item on your CV, it **does not matter at all.**
In fact, whether you have a research paper at all (particularly a recreational one), will likely [make very little difference for admission to a good PhD program.](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/67732/19607) (It may help more for less competitive schools.)
That said, having a *research experience* can make a difference, mainly in how it affects: (1) your letters of recommendation, (2) your academic background, and (3) your personal statement.
(See, e.g., [Path to a good grad school in math during undergrad?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/10334/19607) and <https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/44092/19607>)
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2017/08/23
| 4,747
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a Ph.D. student currently doing research at a top engineering school in North America.
I am becoming more and more jaded at the fact that a sizable portion of the research conducted at my university as well as publications to engineering conferences seem to have very limited practical relevance, and with no attempts to address implementation concerns. Many of these papers seem to be published just for the sake of it.
* One glaring example is power engineering. The methodologies
proposed by recent graduates from power engineering are so extremely far-fetched from practical implementation, it raises the question as to why any such
research should be continued.
Power is a very safety critical field: people can die after going for too long without power ([case in point](http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/11/us/puerto-rico-maria-crisis/index.html)), and the industry itself is highly government regulated. The algorithms that have been proposed from my
research department as well as many like it completely ignore things
like safety guarantees. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that
government employees in the power industry would rely on some biology
motivated or learning based algorithm to arrange the power supply to millions of actual
people. There are decades old well-regulated power markets for that!
* But power is just one example out of many. I have read many papers on
signal processing and control theory. Most of the papers are completely
math and proof based; their proposed methods are so mathematical, with extremely limited robustness or safety guarantees, etc. These researchers are more concerned with *epsilons and deltas* than how their proposed methods can be realistically
implemented in people's cars or mobile phones.
An "implementation"
nowadays is just a MATLAB simulation, a few equations, and a graph. Even during undergraduate
engineering training, we have seen how difficult it is to go from
simulation to actual software/hardware that people can use. I can easily show you highly technical papers from these fields published by people who do not even care about the readability of their notation, let alone practical implementation.
* So it is a legitimate question as to why anyone would ever use these
highly-theoretical, and assumption laden research results. It is
unclear what "the small-gain signal must belong to a Hilbert space on
the extended half-line" actually means in real life cache design. Furthermore, many
papers are completely without any mention of practical implementation of
the algorithms, so it is completely unknown if anyone would actually
be able to use these research results.
---
Engineering research is ultimately used to create new technologies that promise to improve the lives of people. However, it is unknown to me at this point how a "bat-echolocation based meta-heuristic algorithm for nuclear generator dispatch" could benefit anyone.
So my question boils down to how we as researchers should attempt to bridge the gap between the highly mathematical, highly theoretical modern engineering research and the practical implementation of research results. What good is engineering research with no practical relevance?<issue_comment>username_1: Things with "no practical relevance" are not necessarily useless. They may just be "waiting for their time."
For instance, the phenomenon of [ionic liquids](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionic_liquid) was first discovered in the early 1900's, but they didn't catch on economically or industrially until the early 2000's when they were "rediscovered" and brought to prominence as "green solvents."
So it's probably unfair to say something has no possible practical relevance. It just might not be obvious yet where they could be used in the future.
Another point to consider is the possibility that someone is engineering but not really doing what is considered "engineering." This may have been a hiring decision, or someone finding a home for where they teach rather than trying to find the right home for their research. (That is the situation for me: I am an engineer by training, but my research could just as easily fit into a chemistry or materials science department.)
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Research which shows new methods does not have to demonstrate the practicality of the new methods to be useful. An example from something that can be very applied is research in numerical solvers for ODEs. The vast majority of methods which have been created are not used in production-quality ODE solvers. They just aren't efficient. But having a comprehensive literature to pull from can be really helping when trying to learn about the possibilities. Someone outlining a method which isn't very efficient might've contributed new ideas for how to adapt to a certain case that in the future someone else can use to create something that is actually practical. And having a publication which implicitly highlights "look, this thing really only works in special cases because of X" helps someone else in the future when they have that idea (it's much quicker and easier to read a paper and go "okay, that doesn't work as well as I'd hoped" instead of building it yourself).
This also relates back to publication bias. Publishing that something doesn't work is just as valuable as publishing that something does work. Of course, modern publication practices require "significance" so generally researcher have to be sly about how they write the abstract ("we find that in conditions X, Y, Z that this method may be more efficient than current standard choices"), but it's pretty clear from the paper what it actually means in practical terms.
In the end there's a wave of information that moves forward and almost accidentally stumbles upon ideas which work, and these stick and become used in industry. Meanwhile, research continues onward to see what else it can find.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: The short answer to your question is that you are vastly overestimating your, and other engineer's, ability to judge what techniques will ever have practical relevance.
I think it was [<NAME>](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Stonebraker), a Turing award winning computer scientist with no lack of practical impact, who said that the sweet spot for academic applied research are techniques that are about 10 years away from being widely implementable. If you limit yourself to things that you can already do today, you will fail to propose the kind of radically new developments that should, at least in theory, distinguish academic research from other drivers of innovation, such as startup companies or industrial R&D. Incidentally, if the lack of impact your work has right now is distressing you, you should ponder the question whether you would not achieve higher job satisfaction in a startup or industrial lab.
I find your example of self-learning power grids particularly unconvincing. If we rewind time a few years and relate your arguments to research into automated driving, I am sure you will find plenty of people who found this research to be a waste of time. Driving surely is a safety critical field, and automotive is highly regulated. Algorithms for automated driving assistance completely failed to, and to some extent still fail to, address the practical concerns of many stakeholders as well as governmental safety guarantees. [And yet here we are](https://www.tesla.com/autopilot). I am not sure if the same will happen to power grids, but it is *absolutely* plausible that it will.
You may also be interested in reading into [TRLs](https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/support/faqs/faq-2890.html) (technology readiness levels), as used for instance by the European Union's framework programmes as well as NASA. [Image](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NLpgr.jpg)
>
> Technology Readiness Levels
>
>
> * **TRL 0: Idea.** Unproven concept, no testing has been performed.
> * **TRL 1: Basic research.** Principles postulated and observed but no experimental proof available.
> * **TRL 2: Technology formulation.** Concept and application have been formulated.
> * **TRL 3: Applied research.** First laboratory tests completed; proof of concept.
> * **TRL 4: Small scale prototype** built in a laboratory environment ("ugly" prototype).
> * **TRL 5: Large scale prototype** tested in intended environment.
> * **TRL 6: Prototype system** tested in intended environment close to expected performance.
> * **TRL 7: Demonstration system** operating in operational environment at pre-commercial scale.
> * **TRL 8: First of a kind commercial system.** Manufacturing issues solved.
> * **TRL 9: Full commercial application,** technology available for consumers.
>
>
>
The basic concept here is that academic research is usually best suited to bring ideas from TRL 0 or 1 to 3 or 4. The "Matlab implementations" you complain about may very well just be the laboratory tests that are meant on TRL 3. This is very much in line with the position in the grander scheme of the progress of technology that many large organizations envision for academic research labs.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_4: Pseudo-applied science is often a waste of resources. This does not mean that fundamental or basis research is pointless, but there is a difference: Having an abstract model for something "out of reach" can be fruitful - one can study it, and add more obstructions in the future.
But there are seemingly applied models which draw an unnecessarily amount of attention. They are either too simplified and already well-understood so that you should move on to more realistic models or they make totally unrealistic assumptions which allow you to apply a method that would otherwise be infeasible. In both cases the models "survive" in the community because the number of scientists is large enough to form a "peer review group" so that papers get published.
Summarized: Fundamental research is helpful, but beware of constructing "applied models" that do not have applications.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_5: I think the other answers look at the question in one way, but I'm going to answer it from a more 'human' perspective.
Because it's interesting.
Most people do research because what they're researching interests them. They're not trying to make millions (quite the opposite usually - they're often not well paid); they're not trying to change the world (even if they do so later); they're just really interested in if XYZ is possible.
The fact that sometimes you get something really ground breaking from research that changes how the world works means that companies are willing to invest in the research; but on a personal level, if you're not interested in doing the research, then there's not much point in doing it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: The fact that it has no application, or proper implementation right now does not mean it will never have one. Who ever used those theoretical things called Riemann manifolds in actual real life? Good thing they were there already by the time Einstein worked on his general relativity.
Theoretical research is there, so that at one day someone else can pick it up and use it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: REASON 1 :
Research is a vast domain where expectation of solution to any particular challenge or inventing a new methodology doesn't come over night. A fully fledged commercial product available is not one scholar's Research Paper published . It's an integrated study , Work of many scholars for decades. The best any knowledged person can do, is to present his contribution on his domain in any medium . With his/her contribution can make a remarkable resource not only in the same domain, sometimes in others too.
Sometimes a technical paper can be an inception of new revolutionary technology or ground breaking benefaction for the existing technology.
Here the contribution is important than the requirement.
REASON 2 :
Technology is a result of unexpected revolution. There shouldn't be scarcity of resources. Hence abundance of research is going on across the globe in multiple domain as the key for future or present innovation . Everyone's knowledge is precious and valuable. This knowledge cannot be shared through mouth , but only through technical papers for the present and future generations.
When any new break through happens , the resources should be ready to serve the purpose.
>
> *Research is a lengthy journey and concluding the final result is twice as long and Implementing is thrice as long*
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: A lot of research is currently impractical and theoretical. But that's why lots of it is university research rather than commercial R&D. And sometimes it becomes very useful, eventually.
When semiconductors were discovered back in 1821 no one in their wildest dreams would have realised what an impact they would have.
And Lasers. A great idea to shine a coherent single wavelength light at something: but why would you bother? And they required expensive materials which ruled out every day use. Then semiconductor lasers were discovered. And then fibre optics, which need a coherent single wavelength of light to make a data signal go far. So now all the internet runs over fibre-optic cables fed by tiny cheap lasers, totally revolutionising everything, due to pure research which sounded very unlikely to yield anything useful about 70 years before.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: Why does anybody study drugs on animals? We don't care about healing lab rats. But we hope that helps us study drugs on humans.
Similarly, the goal of solving problems in oversimplified settings (lab rats) is often to help solving those problems in more realistic settings.
Lots of research is not targeted at direct application, but at other researchers. This is a feature, not a bug, because researchers need to build on something. The path from a paper to its application does not need to take a single step. Also, not all of the theoretical papers need be applied. Some of those theoretical results aren't good enough to be applied, and you can tell from the paper itself—more theoretical work is needed before they're worth applying.
Sometimes, even when you know where you want to get, but you have no idea of the path, going in somewhat random directions at the beginning is more effective than targeting the destination directly. (Saw a keynote about a formal study of this in optimization problem).
In a neuroscience class, we discussed how models help understanding the brain. A researcher taught us compellingly that the virtue of a model is not (only) in what it includes, but in what it leaves out. We can't understand a full model of the brain; but we can study oversimplified models to see how they behave, then check if what we learn applies on more realistic models. It also turned out that oversimplified models of the brain are useful as artificial neural networks.
Some of the papers you have seen start from unrealistic assumptions. Likely, that's to simplify their study, especially if it is a mathematical study.
Papers in slightly more realistic conditions come afterwards.
While I don't study engineering myself, I study computer science (programming languages), and we also have many papers which consider simplified scenarios—many of those papers are still indirectly relevant, though it can take decades before theory becomes usable in practice.
EDIT: since you ask/question relevance/applicability: I'm thinking of mathematical papers which are motivated (implicitly or explicitly) by the goal of making programs less buggy. Lots of progress relies on doing more math of extremely abstract sorts, but going from math to more math to prototypes takes few stages.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: How far is it from flying a kite in a thunderstorm to building a lightning rod that can protect a barn? <NAME> did both.
How far is it from <NAME>'s paper on digital encoding of signals to the now familiar audio CD?
It seems to me that basic research has to ask questions, even when it's not clear how the answer will be of benefit. Sometimes, the research turns out to be science research instead of engineering research, as in the kite example above. But you get the idea.
Perhaps applied research is more down your alley than basic research.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_6: The construction of normal bases of a finite field extension is "far-fetched from practical implementation". It has "very limited practical relevance, and with no attempts to address implementation concerns". Moreover, it is "so mathematical". "It is a legitimate question as to why anyone would ever use these highly-theoretical, and assumption laden research results."
This all is very true. Or, better to say, was very true. In the past.
Until you suddenly had the Massey-Omura cryptosystem.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_11: You never know when research with no practical relevance will suddenly become relevant.
A recent example in my field (astrophysics): The [BICEP2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BICEP_and_Keck_Array#BICEP2) results that initially stated they had detected a signal attributable to rapid inflation of the early universe. If this signal proved true, these people would likely have won a Nobel Prize, just to give an idea of how big of a deal this was. However, others recognized that the cosmological "signal" likely could be completely attributed entirely to interstellar dust floating around in the Milky Way. Almost overnight, astrophysicists who specialized in interstellar dust became the world-experts of cosmology. Their research (which I will admit was important and applicable in its own right, so not an exact parallel to the OP's question) all of a sudden became incredibly relevant and important.
Another example is Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Although an incredibly amazing theory in its own right, and extremely useful for understanding the universe, its applications to more "real life"-type situations were for many decades basically non-existent. That is, until GPS was developed. Without accounting for General Relativity effects in GPS measurements and calculations, GPS measurements of positions would quickly become very incorrect. ["Errors in global positions would would continue to accumulate at a rate of about 10 kilometers each day!"](http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/Unit5/gps.html) So decades after a theory was developed, technology finally advanced to a point where the theory became practically relevant in first the military and then our daily lives.
These examples aren't perfect parallels of the situation the OP describes, but still serve to illustrate my original point: you never know when research with no practical relevance will suddenly become relevant.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_12: "Usefulness" is about perspective and perception. In my own little office cubicle maybe it is difficult to see where exactly my research results fit in. Just try and find confidence in that there exist (more or less visible) visionaries "high up" in different aspects who see where it will fit in. The bad thing about religion being so bashed and marginalized these days is that the concept of *faith* in things larger than us loses significance while in practice it is more relevant than ever. Maybe not in an almighty *God*, but in the existence of people making plans outside of ones' own perspective.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_13: PhD research is almost by definition part of the education process, rather than part of a product development process, thus the work will appear to have little direct practical relevance.
A similar aspect can happen in industry itself where some of the applied research is directed at the latest buzword aspects, often without a clear understanding as to whether the research will bear fruit (i.e. directly, this year). More usually the work will fall away and become part of the researchers education (just like the 9 out of 10 start-up entrepreneurs).
Knowing if the work will have relevance is hard, but the learning will be useful. I have current work based on 'failed' AR work from 10 years ago..
Remember, feedback control was an invention (H.S.Black) which no-one believed, so some ideas do have their day. Boole was long dead before his (silly) ideas in logic came into fashion.
That all said, it is still wise to be sceptical and think about what will really happen to the ideas, and to what other element is missing from the fanciful studies [Most of the green energy studies will work once an effective industrial battery is developed that can be located near the point of generation, but until then....]
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Several well-established journals nowadays allow self-archiving or sharing of articles through an institutional repository. For instance, [Elsevier](https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/sharing) allows immediate sharing of the accepted manuscript via the author’s non-commercial homepage and, after an embargo, through their institutional repository. Springer has [similar rules](https://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/authors-rights/self-archiving-policy/2124). More in general you can check on [Sherpa/Romeo](http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo) for any journal’s policies.
So I am wondering: is it worth it paying for the open access option, when we can just choose our publisher wisely, and then prepare a nicely formatted version of our accepted articles to share them online?<issue_comment>username_1: What you're describing *is* open access. It's simply a different form of it to the one Springer want you to pay for...
There are effectively two-and-a-half routes to open access, with a lot of subtle variants between journals -
* **Gold** - the article is available immediately, freely, and in perpetuity, via the journal's website, probably with a permissive copyright license. The big open access journals (*PLOS One, Scientific Reports*, etc) are generally all-gold. It is usually paid for, but not always - many journals are gold but don't charge.
+ **Hybrid gold** - a special case of the above *but* for a single article in an otherwise subscription-access journal, rather than an all-gold-OA title. Usually costs more than an all-gold journal and almost always paid for.
* **Green** - a version of the article (usually but not always the accepted manuscript) is available through a repository (or personal website, etc), often after a delay of around a year, and usually without a permissive copyright license. Usually no charge (other than standard publication costs if relevant).
Almost all mainstream journals allow green open access, though the rules are complicated, and they often refer to it as something like "permitted distribution" rather than "open access". Most journals from the big commercial publishers offer hybrid open access, though exactly how common it is for people to take this option is still a bit of an open question. (Finally, most all-gold journals also permit green open access, but obviously it's less important in that case!)
So, the question becomes - assuming my journal allows green OA, as almost all Springer and Elsevier titles do, what is the point of paying for hybrid? (This is a question I answer a lot for people looking at OA option forms, and most of them decide not to...)
Possible reasons to take gold over green, assuming you've already decided on committing to that journal, might be -
* **Audience**. If you expect the title to be of wide public interest (= lots of non-academics want to read it) or valuable to particular audiences in regions without great journal subscriptions (Africa, South America, etc) then hybrid gold may make sense.
* **Timeframes**. If you know it is likely to be of particular interest *now*, and making it publicly available a year or two down the line would be much less valuable, for whatever reason, then hybrid gold is more useful.
* **Distribution**. If you know you'll want to make a lot of copies of your paper and distribute them widely and publicly, having a permissive copyright license through hybrid gold may help do this.
* **Discoverability**. Hybrid OA papers are marginally more discoverable than green OA ones, as you can find them through the journal website, the DOI points to them, etc. A repository or personal website may not always be as easy to find.
* **Policy requirements**. In some cases, funder or institutional policy will require that a hybrid OA option be taken if available. This is rarer now, and most of them are starting to pedal back on hybrid spending, but it may apply.
In practice, most people don't take the option. And if you want those specific benefits, you can get most of them from using an all-gold OA journal in the first place...
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There are several strands to the question, that I will try to answer separately. But I want first to stress that **one should not make the confusion between *Open Access* and *Paying author charges*.** These are distinct notions, the first being about who can read the paper, the second about the business model. There are several way to make one's article open access without paying any charge (let me take this opportunity to advertise the [Fair OA Principles](https://fairoa.org/)) and there are journals that have authors pay charges without making their papers open access (e.g. color figure, excess pages charges, front cover seem to be commonly paid for in chemistry; one of the top economy journal needs all authors to be paying members of a learned society to publish a paper).
1. The opposition you frame between **Open Access** and **self-archiving** is misleading: there are several ways toward open access, and self-archiving is one (called "green OA"). So, in the most common terms, when you put your paper in a public repository, you are actively engaging in Open Access.
2. Many institutions have their own repository, and several fields have world-wide field-specific repositories, but this **does not cover everyone's research**. For those who have no good repository available (good meaning in particular not owned by a legacy publisher who can shut it down any moment if it threatens its revenues), putting papers on one's web page is nice but not sufficient for many purposes (such papers go dead often, e.g. when the author changes institutions or retires). In such case, publishing Open Access with the publisher (sometimes called "gold OA", but here the precise meaning may vary) can be a plus.
3. In most cases (including Springer's and Elsevier's policy in the matter), **subscription journals only allow the postprint** (author-formated version of the paper, after peer-review) to be shared in repositories and web pages. This may be an issue (e.g. Theorem numbers may not match between the published version and the postprint, which can be an issue). It would be preferable to have a clear, unique version of record, properly identified (with a DOI) and available to all to read. Thus having journal publish OA is a benefit.
4. Once we look at the problem not author-side, but **reader-side**, then **OA policies matter a lot**, because much fewer papers are actually deposited in repositories than could be. So access still is an issue, even in fields that are assumed to use repositories a lot such as maths (to the best of my knowledge, high-energy physics is probably the sole field where nearly 100% of papers are actually available OA).
That said, to answer the question in your text (rather than the title question), I would not advise paying OA fees (often named APC for "Article Processing Charges") unless maybe if you are in a field where this is common and in a position where this is easy (e.g. you have access to specific founds); I would strongly advise against paying OA fees in hybrid journals (journals that mostly run on subscriptions but make individual papers OA for a fee), since the revenue from OA articles seems not to be really offset from
subscription prices, and I would strongly advise against paying high fees (high usually start at more $500 or more than $1500 depending on who sensible you ask - note that Nature would say that $30,000 is not that high). Be wary that predatory OA publishers usually charge moderate fees (a few hundred dollars), which are nonetheless extortionate given they do no work and no peer-review, so publish only in journal for which you can establish they have a serious reputation (this is also important for non-OA journals).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Don't pay them for refraining from restricting access - which is like paying them for not beating you up. And do make your papers available online - in a place that's robust and visible to search engines (e.g. ArXiv, or your institute's repository of online publications).
We are in a state of transition - with copyable work in general - between the age of copy restrictions and the age of free dissemination and sharing.
The previous age has its roots in the church in the middle ages with monks transcribing forbidden texts while the masses can't even read; or with English printers getting the crown to forbid independent printing. Publishers like Elsevier and Springer have these behaviors and this mindsets as their heritage.
In the new era, we only hide private information (or rather: we only let the NSA and the other state agencies who spy on us see our private data); but anything else - like scientific and artistic creations - are publicly accessible, to be copied and used for whatever cause people might have.
As more and more people expect to see the latter in the world rather than the former, the publishers are trying to have sort of a compromise which people would be willing to stomach. Let's put more pressure on them.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm writing an Msc dissertation on planning space projects and I would like to add interesting bits of information on the opening page of each chapter. Though the image and the accompanying information are not directly linked to the central thesis, they add some interest around the main arguments.
Will this be looked upon unfavorably? As an academic reading this work, will this bother you or make you feel distracted / think this is unnecessary?
For example, I have this on the introduction page:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/CS9j4.png)<issue_comment>username_1: In the end this is somewhat a matter of opinion. I personally do appreciate a nice and professionally looking layout. I am not sure however if adding images that are unrelated to the thesis itself are that helpful. If you want to start each chapter with a quote or image (which can be a nice touch), I would recommend to at least try to find someting that is related to the content of the chapter.
Most important in the end however is of course the scientific content of the thesis. If the content itself is under par, no amount of beautification is going to help you. The last thing you would want to do is to give others the impression that you spent more time on the appearance of your thesis than on the scientific content.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: In Dutch universities it is customary to have dissertations (well, doctoral ones at least) printed in nice booklets with creative graphics on the front cover which may only be tangentially related to your actual thesis - abstract art, photos of natural phenomena etc. *Everyone* does this.
Now, inside your dissertation is not that common, but as long as you don't go over the top it should be ok.
Specifically, in your example, you wrote:
>
> the image and the accompanying information are not directly linked to the central thesis, they add some interest around the main arguments.
>
>
>
That's very vague. So, you put an image before the introduction; I'd say you should be able to actually *reference* that image in the introduction as an illustration of some point you're making, or of the relevant background, or of the scenario about which you've developed the thesis.
Thus if your thesis is about craters, or orbital vehicles, or exo-geology, or image processing where you use such images as inputs - then you're good; but if your thesis is about, oh, I don't know, something in topology, you might want to give this up.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: The fact that you are asking on ASE suggests that you know that this is not a common practice in your field/department. I think it's a lovely idea, but examiners have a way of being extremely judgmental about anything that deviates from standard practice.
In some sense, your thesis isn't "yours," but a product of the department. If it's something you can take to a publisher, save the design ideas for your book.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: From my experience and friends/acquintances I have an impression that in arts they usually adhere quite strictly to the standards and set a required number of letters and/or pages for the thesis. In the exact sciences the situation is the opposite. The examiners either ignore the looks or value aesthetics instead of standards. And your thesis would really be valued.
There are three persons that could give you a precise answer on this, please consult them if possible:
* Dean. This is the person overlooking everything in the faculty and setting the tone. This person has probably decided if adhering to the standards or
* Director of programme... or something like that. For every study programme there is a person that organizes everything - plans courses, finds the examiners etc. This is a person that actually tells the examiners "please check thoroughly if they adhere to this standard". Or maybe the director ignores the standards and only tells examiners "please focus on the content unless the formatting is blatantly ugly".
* Faculty secretary or whoever you hand the thesis to. This person will know in which cases the theses are handed back to students. However, they tend to exaggerate. Either because the students twist the truth ("rejected for formatting? oh boy, you really have to have everything inch by inch as written here..." when actually the font changes both the size and typeface from section to section) or they simply want to put you as far as possible from the rejectably bad formatting.
When I had to write my first thesis, the dean made a gathering and told everyone something like "please understand that the university standard is written so they could reject terribly formatted theses, take those guidelines with a grain of salt". He told us that the default LaTeX style will be better than the guidelines and we can surely ignore the Times New Roman requirement.
At the end of the day, it's unlikely that the thesis will be rejected for technical reasons. If it is, the secretary will usually be the one to reject it on the spot by saying "please re-print these pages, I can't accept it". If it goes to the examiners, an enjoyable look will most likely ... be enjoyed.
Don't know how it happens at your place, but I had a comission to whom I had to tell the contents of the thesis. Then one examiner who had to read the entire thesis, told his evaluation on the written work. The comission then decided their thing while handing each other the thesis for brief looks. I think that good pictures would be the only thing they could notice and evaluate at that point. At either point it is unlikely the decision would be skewed either ways because of pictures. Would you yourself think worse of someone for that? But you wouldn't rate a bad work higher either if it had nice pictures.
Unlike most others I suggest - **surely do it**! You will have a copy of your thesis for the rest of your life to enjoy. If you can get it through with the pictures, go for it! I really didn't understand my mates saving few bucks for cheaper cover, thinner paper and grayscale printing. **If you like your thesis beautiful, you will not regret making it beautiful when you look back 10 years later.**
P.S. I hope the picture is grayscale because of the original. Because I surely suggest you to use colour and to print the thesis in colour.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Like others I'd strongly suggest you check with the powers that be in your institute, but in the absence of a definitive answer from them, keep it minimalist.
>
> I'm writing an Msc dissertation on planning space projects and I would like to add interesting bits of information on the opening page of each chapter.
>
>
>
The words "summary" and "abstract" leap to mind.
Rather than an interesting picture or text, summarize the content of the chapter in bullet points.
This will be helpful to the reader and not be distracting from your thesis.
>
> Though the image and the accompanying information are not directly linked to the central thesis, they add some interest around the main arguments.
>
>
>
Material not relevant to your thesis should be avoided, IMO. It might be seen as distracting and some reviewers may see it as a deliberate attempt to cover a lack of content (even if there is plenty of content - people get odd ideas into their heads and they're hard to dislodge).
So I'd suggest keeping it as plain and neutral as possible in terms of presentation.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: As others say, it's just a matter of opinion. However, since this is a scientific work, its validity should be constituted by the content, not the design. You may want to consider whether the design will affect the judgement on the validity or not.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: Don't do it. Examiners are busy people, and only want to read what is crucial to the thesis topic. While they can ignore these pointless pieces of information, *how are they supposed to know that?* They will be forced to read *everything* you put in there.
You could alternatively say in the preface that these pictures do not need to be read, but that would make you look as silly as you are: "*This stuff is pointless, so you don't have to bother reading it, but I am putting it in anyway, hoping to score some cheap bonus points".*
Upvotes: 1
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2017/08/23
| 2,223
| 9,111
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<issue_start>username_0: Why do many universities require strict format on theses, when the most important thing in them is the content? A beautiful design will make a good thesis better, and a bad one worse. The work can be creative and practical at the same time, and as long as the latter is guaranteed, why restrict the former? If academia is a place for creativity and logicality, then where are the creativity and logicality in strict designs?
Note, it is *practical* to have a nice design.
Related: [Is beautifying a dissertation looked upon unfavourably by the examiners?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/94941/14341)<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Why do many universities require strict format on theses,
>
>
>
Actually, sometimes the requirement is not as strict as you would think, and they do accept some variety. Also, if they provide a template for you to use, that's not the same as not accepting anything that diverges from it.
>
> when the most important thing in them is the content?
>
>
>
That's the most important thing to you, or to academics interested in the content. It's not the most important thing for, say, the librarians, or the secretaries who have to process the theses.
>
> A beautiful design will make a good thesis better, and a bad one worse. As long as the content is guaranteed by the writer, why restrict their desire to make their work, at the very least, clearer?
>
>
>
Your question comes off as being rather self-centered. The university is (or may be) trying to make a *collection* of theses beautiful, not a single one. Don't publishers have series of books or journals with uniform design? Don't streets have rows of buildings with uniform or uniformly-changing design? ... and those streets in which every person built their own house, according to their own means, with different architects who have no sense of context and are wrapped up in their own ego (or with no architect and just some construction company just putting up whatever is currently cheap and fashionable) - are these the beautiful streets? Rarely.
>
> If academia is a place for creativity and logicality
>
>
>
Logicality? Ok, my friend, you are clearly not ready to graduate if that's your view of academia. You need to "bake" in there for a while longer and lose some of this naivete of yours...
>
> where are the creativity and logicality in strict designs?
>
>
>
I think I've suggested a reasonable argument as to why a university might want a uniform design. Well, it's either that or some administrator deciding on that arbitrarily, the same way the government has a bunch of standard forms. Which is it? Who knows.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Indeed, the most important thing in a thesis is the content. But not everybody who has to write a thesis is skilled in graphic design, formatting or typesetting and therefore, if given free rein, the final formatting might well be pretty awful.
Furthermore, uniformity in theses undoubtedly helps those marking them, by ensuring all the content is in the same place in every thesis (for example, there is a title page with all the student's information, an abstract, table of contents etc). This is particularly important for things like bachelor's theses where one person will probably be marking more than one submission.
Finally, what constitutes a beautiful design may well be interpreted as ugly by someone else, so by having uniform formatting, the chance of unconscious (or conscious) bias against the work due to its appearance is reduced.
In short: we shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I will quote from my answer in the linked question:
>
> When I had to write my first thesis, the dean made a gathering and
> told everyone something like "please understand that the university
> standard is written so they could reject terribly formatted theses,
> take those guidelines with a grain of salt". He told us that the
> default LaTeX style will be better than the guidelines and we can
> surely ignore the Times New Roman requirement.
>
>
>
Our university has guidelines that I think is bad. They seem to be written with zero thought put into. Like the default settings from MS Word typed down as guidelines. I later went to another faculty to learn more stuff. On this faculty it was known that the rules are loved and everything is strict, every thesis has to adhere to every rule. I ignored the rules about margins, fonts, figures and other stuff that I found to be wrong. I just handed it in with the thought "if they reject it, I already have another MSc anyways". It went through without a single comment on formatting.
Your mileage may vary.
The secretary who receives the theses has limited time to check the formatting in all the theses. The examiner is asked to read the thesis because they are an expert in the field. I don't think they are burdened with even knowing the guidelines.
I've seen a handful of different commissions evaluating theses. There was only a two cases where the reviewer commented on the formatting.
The first case had the following formatting flaws outlined by the reviewer:
* There was large amount of unnumbered pictures in the appendix.
* There were empty tables in the appendix.
* There were directions to "see the results in the appendix" but the appendix consists of 40 pages of tables and images without numbering and it was nearly impossible to understand what should be looked at in the appendix.
* It had plenty of grammar errors.
* References contained unopenable URLs and wrong page numbers in the books.
I don't have exact recording of the other case but I recall that the reviewer went something sarcasstic like
>
> This work is really thick, it has more than a hundred pages. It includes whole three title pages, two of those thrown somewhere in the middle. It also contains two tables of contents, yet none of them is at the start where they should be.
>
>
>
I saw this work myself and it was atrocious. The chosen font had characters missing and those were replaced by a fallback font that made those characters visibly bigger and thinner. There were endless sequences of uncommented figures (tables, images, formulas) that had their purpose hidden from the reader. I'd probably throw it in the bin if it was given to me for a review. This is a work that should've been refused simply because of formatting...
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: My university in Australia is strict about exactly one thing when it comes the thesis format
and the reason for that one thing is well known.
The only thing they require are the margins to follow their rules.
If the margins do not follow the rule, in particular the inner-margin being too small, then it may not be possible to have it bound at the facilities the university uses for printing.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: When part of your job is to be a reading *a lot* of some particular media (which could be books, journal articles, web sites, or theses), it really helps to have a fixed format that you can depend on. If I know where the summary, conclusions, methods, contacts, etc. are, it saves a lot of time that would otherwise be spent trying to decode the format for each individual paper. I can prioritize, determine what parts to focus on, where to start, what to skim, where to flip if I have questions midstream, etc. Trying to read an article in a wildly nonstandard format may take twice as long or longer.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: We didn't have strict format requirements at my university... in fact, we didn't have *any* format requirements, so I ended up downloading a LaTeX template I personally liked from some famous place (Harvard/Stanford/Princeton/Something like that).
And then every f-k on the pre-screening committee suddenly had their very important opinion on some font sizing or line spacing.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/r5Bac.png)
And then some bureaucrats at the office started requiring this and that all of a sudden (yes, only then, even though I had tried getting the formatting requirements out of them before, to no avail). Change the first page according to this... completely replace the second page according to that... the table of content should be like whatever... etc. etc. "Why didn't you tell me there are such requirements if there *are* such requirements?? - Well, they are not requirements, just common sense and logic, of course you have to do this and that!"
Some changes (like font changes) were trivial to make, others not so much - in any case, had to abandon whatever I was doing and spend time hacking at the LaTeX template. Occasionally after the changes were made I had to print out several copies of that 100+ pages monstrosity of mine and distribute among the committee (yes, again, yes, for the n-th time, yes, for stylistic reasons only).
Does the above really look more appealing than having strict requirements in advance?
Upvotes: -1
|
2017/08/23
| 431
| 1,856
|
<issue_start>username_0: I applied for study abroad program and so far, now it has been a week after the expected decision date. Whether I get admitted or not also affects my class schedule for Fall semester which will start in the coming week, so I need to get the decision by this Friday. I sent an email to study abroad office, which is the only contact information available, on Monday to ask for an update but did not get any reply. So, my question is: If I choose to send another email, how to make it sound not rude (since my first email was sent just two days ago)?<issue_comment>username_1: The important question is the interval between the time you applied and the time you expect an answer.
If you applied on the day before the decision were announced it is quite possible there was not time to assess your file and sending another email will not help.
If on the other hand your documents were received months ago then another email or better yet a phone call if possible is not inappropriate.
Be mindful that applicants are often optimistic to expect academic decisions to be made within a few days of reception of documents. Admissions officers may have to deal with 100s of files each containing multiple documents to be scanned so the information can be properly stored and distributed to appropriate faculty for later evaluation, and every link in the chain takes time.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> If I choose to send another email, how to make it sound not rude (since my first email was sent just two days ago)?
>
>
>
I usually wait a week before sending a follow-up e-mail. I would forward the original e-mail and preface it with
"[name of recipient], I am resending the e-mail below in case you were not able to receive it. Thank you for your time, and I will be waiting for your reply. [your name]".
Upvotes: 1
|
2017/08/24
| 352
| 1,381
|
<issue_start>username_0: Is there a program or online service to automatically check if there is a retracted paper in the bibliography of a pdf file?<issue_comment>username_1: As of today, nothing for free, and definitely nothing for PDF files. The best approach to developing such a program would be writing a front-end to the database of an organization such as <NAME> or DBLP. However, you are unlikely to get free access to the interface of the database.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm not sure a tool for this exists at the moment, but the open [database of retracted papers](http://retractiondatabase.org/RetractionSearch.aspx?) from [Retraction Watch](https://retractionwatch.com/) is a great place to search for retracted papers--AFAIK it's the major database of retractions anywhere, and it's free to use.
If anyone is interested in developing tools for interfacing with the database, I bet they would be amenable (I am not affiliated with Retraction Watch, just appreciate the work they do).
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: If you import the bibliography into Zotero it will automatically do so for any document with a DOI or PMID: <https://www.zotero.org/blog/retracted-item-notifications/>
as an example:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/LGURz.png)
Upvotes: 2
|
2017/08/24
| 1,805
| 7,784
|
<issue_start>username_0: When I compare myself to my advisor, I don’t compare our level of expertise, as I don’t think that’s so meaningful; he’s obviously years ahead of me in the field, and so any time I talk about research with him, I accept that I know less than him and am prepared to feel ignorant / make mistakes / ask silly questions.
But I do compare myself to him regarding things such as efficiency, organization, motivation, curiosity ... some other things perhaps.
And I would say it is the efficiency that stands out the most – and where he completely leaves me in the dust.
Does this mean that the writing is on the wall, and that I should drop out of the race for academia now? Is it more of an innate skill that is so significant that it separates the best researchers from the rest? Or, is that extremely high level of efficiency something that is learned throughout many years of training?<issue_comment>username_1: Efficiency tends to rise with demand - the more demand for a resource exceeds supply, the more efficient with it you quickly learn to be. Time in the lab/office tends to follow a similar process. When you have 10 hours to write that abstract, it often takes 10 hours. When it's gotta get done in the next 45 minutes because that's the only time you have, you just write it in 45 minutes and be done with it.
The other main issue is experience - having done this thing before - completely changes how long it takes to get something done. When you are doing something the first few times, everything is new and requires a lot of cognitive load. Nothing is automatic yet - everything is not only deliberate, but you may need to take time thinking out all the options, then going through each of a dozen possibilities trying to explore what you should try next, then wondering what you will do if that doesn't work out quite right, are you really sure that's going to work, etc. Hours (or days, or weeks, or months) of wondering and exploring can be cut down into minutes of doing. But you kind of need learn how to do it in the first place to move on to that point.
It's valuable to look up to highly effective, proficient, efficient people and try to learn from them, but there is the constant danger of discouragement if you compare where they are now - after possibly a decade or more of experience, hundreds of papers, and who knows how many collaborators and mentors they've learned from in this time - to where you are now, comparatively just starting off. And when they were just starting out, they were not so efficient as they are now (don't believe all the legends that tend to grow with time on their own, either).
I don't know how efficient you can become, and the funny thing about human growth and development is you don't really know either. No one really knows the future, or the extent of any individual's potential. It's up to you to decide if you want to find out how efficient you can become, if you can improve your organization skills, if you can cultivate greater creativity - then you can give it you all in finding out what you can accomplish, as a sort of experiment, or you can decide if you'd really rather do something else instead. But you haven't indicated anything that signifies you are doomed from the start, so long as you are willing to accept that it takes much time and sustained effort to achieve such growth in anything that you choose to do.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't have any scientific evidence to back this up, but in my opinion, much of what you call efficiency is learned gradually over many years in which successful people (in STEM, and more generally academia, and more generally everywhere) calibrate their work and personal life habits in response to inputs from their environment. There is a very interesting feedback loop in which success begets more success and efficiency begets more efficiency: e.g., an initial wave of success can boost one's motivation and increase one's desire to succeed even more and prompt one to become more and more passionate about working hard and being efficient, and so on. Ride this wave for a while, and before you know it, you are a workaholic who spends all day working and then has enough energy left over at night to do other fun and productive things, like post answers on Academia Stack Exchange. :-)
But seriously, I think this feedback loop is much more powerful than most people realize and accounts for how a lot of very successful people reach their high levels of productivity. I am reminded of the saying "[if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it](https://www.google.com/search?q=if%20you%20want%20to%20get%20something%20done%20ask%20a%20busy%20person&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us)", which I think nicely encapsulates part of this notion.
At the same time, I think it's also very plausible that a component of the phenomena you observe has to do with certain innate tendencies and personality traits. Nonetheless, it's not always possible to tell early on if you have those traits or not, and I think it happens quite a lot that people discover hidden strengths and abilities they didn't even know they had quite late into their working lives. It is certainly much too soon for you to write yourself off because of what you see as an unflattering comparison with your advisor. Instead, why not draw inspiration from him and seek to learn how to emulate his habits so you can reach the same level of success?
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I think it's worth saying that things improved for me significantly after I started asking myself a similar question. What made my supervisor so much better researcher than me? Not only he seemed way better, but it appeared that everything he did was done effortlessly and stress free.
As it turns out, it is a very complicated question with a simple answer: self-training. But, I thought, and I wasn't the only one in the group, that it must have been some sort of unusual ability he was most likely born with.
For instance, he would write a paper in a few days and it would always seem beautifully crafted and my calculations seemed to fit just right in the context. At the same time, I used to agonize months over just the introduction.
But, as I got more experienced, I realized that as far as calculations went, I was just as good as he was, if not a little better in some ways. Originally, I though that's my only strength and I played it the best I could. Because of that, I started asking myself why I'm still so far from him in terms of academic prowess.
But, after finishing my last postdoc, I became fully independent and had to come up with research themes, write grants, lead research projects and train people. With each new type of task, I had to enlarge somehow my capacity. Things that my supervisor did to approach these tasks formed the starting point for my own approach. In some ways, I've become a lot more efficient than I ever was, because I had to. For example, now I can put together a decent grant application in three weeks, while it took me over a year as a postdoc not to come up with anything that would remotely look like a research proposal.
So, I think your question is a great question. You should not get discouraged if your adviser seems so much better. At this moment, it would be hard for you to comprehend what makes him so much better, because you haven't have the time to even try all the things he needs to do on a daily basis as an independent researcher. But, as you grow yourself into one, you should keep asking yourself what makes other people better at the type of task you are trying to do, and I'll assure you, some of the answers will help you to improve yourself significantly.
Upvotes: 2
|
2017/08/24
| 3,034
| 12,692
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<issue_start>username_0: This is the third installment of the series: [What can I do if my advisor wants me to keep working, even while I'm on medical leave for severe depression?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/81526/what-can-i-do-if-my-advisor-wants-me-to-keep-working-even-while-im-on-medical)
So, many months were gone and I'm still clinically depressed. Medication helps just a little bit, but I don't know how could I live without it. I had a very bad day at the lab a couple of weeks ago, and I posted on my personal profile in a social media that "life sucks, I can't take this anymore, my life is a failure, I wish I were dead".... that stuff. I was on my personal profile, and I wrote something like this before when I got really stressed. Nothing out of this world.
However, some of my lab mates and grad colleagues saw my post and went to the Head of the Program (faculty and staff too) "worried about a suicidal student".
It didn't end well. The HoP called my adviser and asked her about "a troubling student" that she may be dealing with. My advisor tried to save my back saying positive things about me. But the HoP said if I continue causing trouble, my adviser should send me to her and "she will take care of this mess".
This is not a good thing. I heard rumours that the department thinks about getting reasons to kick me out of the program, because if I leave - and never come back - the program itself would be penalized with less government funding. That wouldn't happen if I get expelled. Apparently, they don't want to take that risk.
But I want to stay. So, how to deal with this kind of environment? My professor got my back (after all problems that we had, so I happy for that), but the "Witch Hunters" are lighting up their torches. How to deal with a department that wants your head??
**Even if I stay, how to deal with the stigma about depression and suicidal thoughts in academia? Everyone here thinks I'm about to star the second season of the Netflix's series *13 Reasons Why*. I am now the "crazy psycho guy."**<issue_comment>username_1: When I was still depressed, I lost my postdoc job over it. I decided not to fight it, but I felt it was wrong to be fired over that. Actually, my boss said he was firing me over poor performance.
My point is you aren't in the shape to fight. You should find someone to champion your cause. I would ask a close friend or family member to talk to the adviser -- if you have someone who understands what you are going through and is able to discuss this in an appropriate manner.
For the head of the program, you could try to get a letter from your psychiatrist explaining to them that you are going through clinical depression and containing recommendations on how to help you deal with it. This letter might be useful later, in court, if they decide to fire you. But, I doubt they will.
You should not antagonize your adviser, since she got your back this time. But, she should also read your letter from the psychiatrist. She needs to understand that you will not be able to do meaningful work until your depression goes away. And it can't go away if she keeps stressing you.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm having some trouble with the way you're mixing the words *trouble, troubled and troubling*.
If a student shows some red flags for possible suicidal thoughts, it's a good thing when the people around him alert the department, in order for support to be offered.
On the other hand, targeting the troubled student and painting him as a troublemaker would not be good.
As you are currently not in as good shape, mental health-wise, as you would like, it's difficult for me to know how objectively you are able to be, currently, in your perceptions and interpretations. That is, I'm not sure whether your colleagues are actually targeting you for possible removal from your academic program.
However, I will go ahead and do my best to answer. I'm not sure what country you're in, or what the laws and regulations are where you are, so I'll write the answer I would give to someone facing the problems you described in the U.S.
**People fear what they don't understand. The key to acceptance of a mental health disability is education -- both of staff and peers.**
In the U.S., I would ask NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or a local disability rights group, or a county mental health association, to send a trained expert to give a mental health awareness presentation to the students, and a separate training session for staff.
Here is an example of a presentation that a college student gave about her neurological disability, Tourette Syndrome, to her classmates, with the help of a staff ally: <https://youtu.be/zVY6B3ezY3k>
I get the feeling from your post that you might not be in the right place at this time to give a presentation of this type yourself. That's okay. There are people who have experience giving presentations on behalf of a student.
Here is a nice website with suggestions for how to seek reasonable accommodations for a disability in the workplace (in the U.S.) -- I think this may give you some good ideas, and in general instill you with more of a belief that you are entitled to accommodations! -- [Job Accommodation Network](https://askjan.org/).
It would be great if you could participate in a peer to peer support group. In the U.S., in order to find such a group, one can try to find such a group with the following techniques:
* google
* ask a mental health professional, since these providers often have an email discussion group through which they can query each other about such opportunities
* ask a government information service (one reaches it by dialing 211)
* ask a psychiatric ward at a local hospital
* the campus counseling center may have organized some groups of this type
* ask the county mental health association
* ask NAMI
* if necessary, take the initiative and form such a group
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: You should not be fired for depression, but if starts to interfere severely with your work, the university can fire you due to poor performance. I know people who battled depression (not as my coworkers though), and a very realistic advice would be as follows:
1. Get your own issues in order. Your medication is NOT WORKING. This has nothing to do with the University, but psychiatric therapy is way more "hit and miss" than other fields of medicine. So, go to your psychiatrist, explain to him/her that your depression interferes with your work to the point where you may get fired for it. Explain EVERYTHING that you explained here.
2. I am sure your psychiatrist will change/adjust your medication and possibly, suggest that he/she writes a letter to the head of the department to at least buy more time for your medication to start working.
3. Unfortunately, if your illness do not get any better and you still are unable to do your work, then I am afraid, yo will not be able to continue this job. Top research is psychologically very demanding, even if one is completely healthy. Consider changing your job.
Perhaps you did not want to hear this, but as I said, this is perhaps the only realistic advice I can give.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Most universities in the UK (and imagine this would be similar in the US and most other countries?) have both support centres provided by the university, and students' union advisors. Support centres may be split in different branches, but there's usually some port of call for disability-related issues. Perhaps you could try and make an appointment with someone at your university's disability centre? In many places they can draw up what is known here as a "support plan", which actually mandates how your department should handle the issue, and they take care of informing relevant people on a strictly need-to-know basis and can intervene if anything untoward should happen. They are usually very experienced with dealing with all sorts of problems and prejudices, too. This sounds like the kind of support you may need to deal with the situation in your department. If they can't help or things go sour and your department starts to actively try and get rid of you or something, then I would try and speak to someone at your students' union (or graduate union, or postgrad association; whatever body is representing you on campus). They will have resources and intimate knowledge of regulations etc. and can intervene--that's a big part of what they are there for.
The overall message here is: This is a tricky situation and has issues very specific to your environment, so your best available resource might be that which is system-internal and knows all the specifics and actually has a managerial and/or legal mandate to do something to help you in your type of case.
A lot of what other people have suggested here (getting outside people in and trying to force reeducation on your department) might not help, but rather make you appear confrontational and make the situation more difficult. And, if they actually have real negative attitudes toward the situation, I doubt they'd agree to such external intervention anyhow and you cannot make them. Those things are real bombs, and I think it would be wise to try to handle things internally first and minimise the number of potentially burned bridges.
Just as a side note, and this will really depend on your jurisdiction and university regulations, but in many places, academic institutions have different rules for students regarding 'leave' vs. 'suspensions'. If this were in the UK, and I'd hear your description of the status quo, I'd think you're in the wrong category and would be better served by fully suspending your status for a half year or year, meaning you'd be completely out of the system and everything would be put on hold. But as I said, these things depend so much on the place you're at that it is impossible to say much about it without knowing where you're based.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: The best thing that happened in the midst of all this is you got the support from your boss. When I had depression (still recovering) it's the one thing that I was most thankful for. Not every one will have this kind of support.
Like someone else said in their answer, when you are depressed you are more likely to experience exaggerated feelings that other people are trying to sabotage you. It happened to me. But regardless, you need to know you cannot change how people think and talk about you. And worrying about it would wear you out even more. When you are well again all those rumors would just go away on their own.
You need to be clear about what's making you depressed. From your previous posts I assume most of the stress comes from work. If it's relationship with others in the lab, learn to ignore them and accept that evil people exist and they are there to make you stronger. If it's work performance related, talk to your boss and let him know that your energy and motivation levels are low because mental problems do affect people physically. Ask him to give you time to slowly pick things up and restart again. As for yourself, just do the simple tasks first to regain confidence then move on to the more challenging ones. Don't worry about results too much as you can always repeat when you feel better.
I find that taking a break from work doesn't necessarily work for everyone. It's more like a general piece of advice that psychiatrists offer to anyone. If you truly want to have a career in academia you need to accept the fact that this job would only get tougher and tougher, and you need to be prepared to face all kinds of problems and crises. Then you would perhaps feel a bit easier to face the problems. Changing lifestyles worked for me in some ways as well.
Keep your chin up! Talk to your peers, professors, people who have similar experience as you. You would probably find that a lot of them are going through the same things and you are all trying to survive in the same environment...
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: As indirectly mentioned in other answers: In the U.S., you can get a health care professional to provide documentation for an accommodation. This is a reasonable accommodation for the "Americans with Disabilities Act" (ADA). I recommend getting one ASAP. See other answers about talking to psychiatrist for change of medications, etc. It's important to treat everyone else well so that nothing true can be said of you that would be a cause for discharge. Also, try to use 'work as therapy' -- the more you get done, the better you may feel about yourself.
Upvotes: 1
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2017/08/24
| 649
| 2,424
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<issue_start>username_0: Is it acceptable to use references as a subject in a sentence (in the context of academic writing, preferably in computer science)?
For example:
>
> An extensive research has been done on eye capture by [Bérard
> et al. 2014].
>
>
>
Versus:
>
> An extensive research has been done on eye capture by Bérard
> et al. [Bérard et al. 2014].
>
>
>
I feel like it removes tautology and makes the text easier on eyes. Moreover, I have seen published papers where authors write like this (although not many). However, it is considered to be bad style by a couple of people who I have asked. Their reasoning is that a reference should be an additional information and if you remove all references from the text, the text should still be complete and make sense. I understand this reason, but I feel like there are no real cases when this can be needed.<issue_comment>username_1: >
> An extensive research has been done on eye capture. [Bérard et al. 2014]
>
>
>
would seem to be a good compromise, which, though perhaps technically ambiguous, would likely be read in the spirit intended by any reasonable reader.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't know about computer science, but we would do
>
> An extensive research has been done on eye capture by Berard et al. (2014).
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Is there any document that regulates your citation style? For well-established citation styles, like Chicago or APA, there are extensive manuals that cover all corner cases of usage. Maybe try consulting this kind of document first?
As far as personal taste and experiences go, when editing papers in computer science according to IEEE requirements, I tend to use forms like:
>
> Blah was done by Smith [1]
>
>
>
or
>
> Blah was described in [2]
>
>
>
The first one is similar in idea to your second example, but use of numeric reference removes aesthetically unpleasant repetition. In your case I like your first example more, but whether it is acceptable should really depend on your citation style guidelines (for example, some allow for the form `this was done by Smith (2014)`). Nevertheless I don't subscribe to argument that text should be readable without references. After all, they are integral part of your paper and you wouldn't want anyone to remove them, thus reducing the credidibility of your work.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
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2017/08/24
| 577
| 2,561
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<issue_start>username_0: When I was a maths undergrad, I did some mock papers. However the lecturers did not provide the marking scheme for us to learn from model answers. The reason given at the time was a mumbled 'university policy'.
My question is, why would a university have a policy of not providing the marking scheme/model answers for a mock paper?<issue_comment>username_1: The materials provided to students should benefit their learning. It is not clear, how the marking scheme would help student to understand the actual material. Knowing the marking scheme can help a student to prepare to a particular exam without learning all the curriculum (e.g. by focusing on what is assessed). This is known as [surface learning](http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/celt/pgcerttlt/how/how5a.htm), and is often considered as bad practice.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: All material has a cost/benefit ratio.
Writing a marking scheme suitable for distributing to students can take quite a while (normally mark schemes are designed for lecturers, so some parts can be quite brief). Students will query cases where they feel they were one or two marks too low, even though the exam was only a mock paper so the result is not really important.
So then the question is, what is the benefit?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In addition to the other excellent answers, there will always be some students who will assume that the marking scheme for the final exam is similar to the one for the mock exam no matter how often you told them that this is not the case.
But since the questions in the final exam will obviously be different, the marking scheme there will most likely be different, as different errors can be made by the students and must be taken into account in the scheme. Also, some parts of some questions may be trivial in the final exam, and you may want to assign a fewer fraction of the points for those.
**So you will have to convince some students who will try to argue that they should get more points using *old* marking scheme and claiming that it would be unfair if the marking schemes differ substantially.**
As a lecturer, you don't want to spend you time with such discussions.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: My university also does not provide marking schemes. They give one main reason.
They expect students to discuss their answers collaboratively and come to a consensus on what can be considered a correct answer. This is a much better learning experience than working from a marking scheme.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/08/24
| 3,669
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<issue_start>username_0: I was browsing PhD position offers in Europe on different websites and I was quite surprised to find that several offers contained sentences such as
>
> University of X value equality and diversity. We strongly encourage women and BAME applicants for this position.
>
>
>
where BAME stands for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnicities; or
>
> The research group aims to increase the number of women in scientific positions. Female candidates are therefore encouraged to apply.
>
>
>
Is it considered normal in the academic environment to discriminate between candidates according to their race and/or gender for "egalitarian" reasons?
How is the choice of a candidate based on their gender and/or race considered "egalitarian"?<issue_comment>username_1: These statements, in many variations are quite common. But they are not discriminatory, as you suggest (universities do not "discriminate against white males"). All the statement is saying -- and that is true in actual practice in the discussions of hiring committees -- is that women and other minorities are specifically *encouraged* to apply. This does not imply that they get *special treatment or preference*. It is simply a reaction to the fact (statistically proven by research) that women rarely apply for jobs that they do not perceive as a "perfect fit" whereas men do. So if a committee has a bunch of applicants where none is a perfect fit, more often than not a man is hired because there simply are not enough women in the pool.
See: [Why Women Don’t Apply for Jobs Unless They’re 100% Qualified](https://hbr.org/2014/08/why-women-dont-apply-for-jobs-unless-theyre-100-qualified).
---
I do want to also comment on one of your comments while we're here. You state
>
> I think job offers should only focus on the candidate's skills regardless of his background and gender.
>
>
>
That is true, but how do you define "skills"? Let's use "qualification" instead. If you're, say, a typical math department where 50% of undergraduates are women, 35% of graduate students are women, but only 20% of tenure-track faculty are women, wouldn't part of the qualifications you are looking for in an applicant be that that person is a good mentor to many of the students in your department? Does it not diminish the quality of the department in its ability to teach and mentor if *every single faculty was a white male*? It is important to recognize that the role of the faculty extends beyond just writing papers in obscure journals; "qualification" is a term that ought to be understood much more broadly than you may think.
(I think it's important to say that the role of women in math departments is not to be there as mentors. All I want to say is that I want diversity to be part of the many considerations when deciding who is "best qualified" for a job.)
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: The answer is - it depends :)
There are actually some countries were you are more likely to get the position (job, phd spot, etc...) if you are a man and less likely if you are a woman.
Despite this sounding like something you might expect from some undeveloped societies, the problem is actually in the big old western countries like France and Germany (see sources at the end). I've also heard this is a problem in the US despite them being loudest screamers in the diversity megaphone.
In such countries it is quite appropriate to give the disclaimer "we will not discriminate you because of gender or race" and the sentences you quoted are a bit cringy way to say it. Of course the aim of a research group should be the research not to increase diversity, it seems they just are trying to be polite a bit too much.
On the other hand, I live in a country were women has no such disadvantages getting PhD or scientific positions (see the sources if in doubt). And thus I find it inappropriate when someone hears from the West that this diversity thing is a huge problem and starts to scream "we need to give women more chances". In that way I am personally as annoyed as you are by these texts.
Sources:
<https://ec.europa.eu/research/swafs/pdf/pub_gender_equality/she_figures_2015-final.pdf>
See page 63 to see how bad (diversity-wise) is Germany and France (and how good Latvia is).
<http://www.csb.gov.lv/sites/default/files/nr_13_sievietes_un_viriesi_latvija_2016_16_00_lv_en_0.pdf>
See page 18 that shows women having no problems getting the PhD positions here - 2.6% of relevant-age women enrol in PhD studies vs 1.6% of men.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: You have asked three very distinct questions (one in the title of the question and two in the body). I have done my best to answer them in the most factual and literal way possible.
**Disclaimer: I am commenting about your questions regarding whether certain things are "normal". None of what I write below should be interpreted as an expression of opinion about whether such activities are moral or immoral, ethical or unethical, good or bad for society, etc.**
>
> 1. Is it considered normal to publish job offers inviting candidates to apply based on their gender and / or race in academia?
>
>
>
Yes, in the US this is fairly normal these days. For example, the University of California, one of the largest (if not the largest) public university systems in the US, has a policy document titled [University of California Affirmative Action Guidelines for Recruitment and Retention of Faculty](http://ucop.edu/faculty-diversity/policies-guidelines/affirmative.pdf). In the section titled "Best Practices for Faculty Recruitment" (pages 4-5) one finds the statement:
>
> *[...] It also is consistent with University policy and obligations as a Federal contractor for advertisements to state that “all qualified applicants are encouraged to apply, including minorities and women.”*
>
>
>
In my personal experience, such statements in job advertisements, at the University of California and elsewhere, are fairly common in the US these days.
See also [this webpage](http://ucop.edu/faculty-diversity/index.html) for more details and context on related University of California policies.
>
> 2. Is it considered normal in the academic environment to discriminate candidates according to their race and / or gender for "egalitarian" reasons?
>
>
>
No, discrimination of candidates based on race and gender is not considered normal. It is also illegal in the US as far as I know, so even to the extent that such discrimination is practiced (which I am not aware is the case), you are unlikely to find anyone who will openly admit to it being normal.
I should note that your question is formulated as a loaded question, making it difficult to answer in a straightforward manner. In the title you are asking about the practice of inserting a statement encouraging women and underrepresented minorities to apply in a job advertisement; the followup question in the body of the post asks about "discriminat[ing] candidates", creating the impression that the practice described in the title of the question is the discrimination you are referring to. However, as far as I know such statements in job advertisements are not legally considered to be "discrimination", despite your insinuation that that's what they are.
>
> 3. How is the choice of a candidate based on his or her gender and / or race considered "egalitarian"?
>
>
>
Again, this is a loaded question based on the (almost entirely incorrect, as far as I know) premise that candidates are being selected based on their gender and/or race and that this practice is justified by the people making the selection on the grounds that it is "egalitarian". This premise is quite far from what is actually happening. At the very least, as I said, since the practice would be illegal, anyone engaging in it would not be as open about their behavior as your question seems to be suggesting; rather, in the scenario where actual discrimination was occurring, the discriminators would simply pretend that the less qualified female candidate they selected is more qualified than the male candidate they passed over even though she wasn't, and not be talking very much about egalitarianism. And that is even assuming that this sort of discrimination is actually taking place, which as I said I have no evidence is the case.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: Adding a data point, this sort of language is also fairly common for positions in Australian academia and public service. As other commenters have noted, "Group X are encouraged to apply" is *not* the same thing as discriminating against non-X people who do apply.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: I think you're making the mistake of reading job ads too literally. They are written with an eye toward legal requirements and under serious supervision from legal and HR departments. Thus they don't necessarily reflect the private thoughts of the people actually making the decision about the jobs in any particularly serious way. I mean, in many cases (including mine) they actually do, but even if a department were full of misogynists who had no interest in hiring women, their jobs ads would probably still have a sentence like this.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: It is legal, possibly considered normal but ultimately plays against these "positively discriminated" groups.
The data point I can provide are two large international organizations which initiated diversity programs and advertised it heavily. A female close friend of mine who was brilliant got a job in one of them and was then routinely perceived as "having got in thanks to the diversity program".
It was truly heart breaking to see how many women (these were the '00 so the diversity programs were more targeted towards women) were now labelled as "it was easier for her to get there than for us". It was sometimes labelled as the new third promotion ladder (use to be managerial, technical and bed, now also "diversity").
My friend finally left the organization to join a small company.
I am a man in tech and see this way of thinking all the time. Maybe less now that our culture (western Europe) becomes less patriarchal but still. Stressing in job openings that women are preferred to men (as mentioned in another answer) is doing them a huge disfavour.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: The practice of particularly encouraging candidates from under-represented groups to apply is common in physics. I have also seen jobs advertised that are available to only female applicants, see e.g., [this opening in Australia](http://inspirehep.net/record/1610057). This practice, however, isn't that common internationally (and may require special exemptions/measures), and I haven't seen it applied to other minority groups.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: Sentences like these are usual in public service job offers. As most PhD openings follow the rules of public service, these sentences occur there, too. It is a formal "must write" that is there for political reasons.
It has nothing to do with discrimination as the application will usually be reviewed by research professionals who look for bright colleagues, not for their minority or gender status. It's still the scientific output that contributes to the reputation of their institution, not the skin colour or the genitals of staff members. In fact, the European Court of Justice has forbidden German laws from the 90s that said "equally qualified women will be preferred to men if women are underrepresented" (see [here](http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:61993CJ0450&from=EN "original European Court of Justice decision") for further reading).
In fact, these sentences say nothing about the chances of success for any of such group. So while the political intention may have been to rise the statistical share of population group X among staff by summoning more applicants of group X --which is considered politically good--, the effect may be as well to rise the statistical chance of applicants from group X to be rejected --which may politically feel like discrimination again.
However, **as you don't send a PhD application representative for your ethnic etc. group but for *your own*, you just don't have to bother about such sentences.**
(There is only one exception: Sometimes it is announced that among equally qualified applicants the handicapped ones would be preferred. Then think about how many people are actually equally qualified for a specific PhD position ...)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: The most upvoted answers discuss this question quite extensively already. While I want to add one point to here which might not be necessarily true but perhaps make sense to some discussion above. The statement cited by OP is a possible way to compensate for implicit bias women are often faced with. Such a statement is normally followed by a sentence like that - *women are preferred when candidates are equally qualified for the position if women are underrepresented*. Literally, there are two conditions on this preference to be actualized: 1. equally qualified; 2. women are underrepresented in the department. When someone perceives it as discriminating against males, they're probably thinking in no case candidates would be 100% equally qualified, that means if, as a male, I was evaluated a little bit slightly higher than another female candidate - for example, 0.1 points higher in a total of 20 points of an assessment - as this point gap is too little to contribute to the decision, another female candidate will be selected because of this statement. Let's look at two links below. *Just as an example of the implicit bias I'm going to talk.*
[Best Way for Professors to Get Good Student Evaluations? Be Male.](https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/12/gender-bias-in-student-evaluations-professors-of-online-courses-who-present-as-male-get-better-marks.html)
[Student evaluations of teaching are probably biased. Does it matter?](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2013/10/02/student-evaluations-of-teaching-are-probably-biased-does-it-matter/?arc404=true)
100% equally qualified is almost no way to happen. But slight deviation are always existing because we're human beings. In interviews, we cannot 100% avoid any subjectivity in judging the candidates. Women tend to be more often under-evaluated and underconfident and **this is probably particularly true in a field/department where women are heavily underrepresented**. Consequently, when you receive the same score as do a female candidate in the case of the existence of subjectivity, she is likely to be actually a little bit better than you. This statement is not a discriminatory behavior under the guise of egalitarianism that you're trying to insinuate but is one of the best ways to remove the statement per se in the future.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/08/25
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently a final year Master's student and have been asked to review for a very pretigious journal in my field, possibly the most prestigious one apart from Nature/Science. I have a fairly good research portfolio and have published a handful of papers in good journals as first author, but I've never been a reviewer.
While I have already accepted the request, I would like to know if I should have declined the request given that I am still a Master's student or if I should contact the editor to let him know that I am a Master's student.
If the fact that I am a Master's student is not an issue, I will be applying to a Ph.D. program soon (USA/Europe). How can/should I mention that I have reviewed for this specific journal and will it be viewed positively if I do?
P.S.: I do think I can offer an informed review to the authors of the manuscript I've been asked to review.<issue_comment>username_1: Being asked for a review means that you are trusted. My approach would be to raise my status further along the following lines: "Look, as an MSc student I'm not completely independent. Ask my advisor Prof. Smith, and, if he/she decides to redirect the request to me, I'd be overly glad to review the paper!"
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't think your status should play any role here. You've published a few papers yourself, and have a reputation of your own based on your work. It is off of that reputation that you've been asked to peer review, the same as most other peer reviewers. So, I wouldn't even mention it unless asked, in which case be truthful but don't show doubt. Editors are also usually pretty aware that you are junior, and often they select a mixture of reviewers, eg. one junior and one senior.
If the situation makes you feel a little insecure as to whether you're able to deliver as good a review as someone more senior, then you can also ask others for input, but this mustn't reveal the paper you are reviewing to outside parties. For instance you could ask your advisor "I'm reviewing a paper for journal X, the author wrote that ...., do you think it is appropriate for me to say that they should do this and that?" (it can be delicate to try not to reveal too much here, but it depends a little on how much trust there is between your advisor and you). It's also perfectly fine to query the editor in charge: when I reviewed my first paper I was unsure whether it was OK to bring up a specific issue and how to bring it up without sounding like I'm overly negative, so I emailed the editor and he gave me some good advice. Good thing is in that case you don't have to try and keep the paper under review a mystery. You can also ask the editor to have a look over your final draft of the review before handing it in, maybe mentioning that it was one of the first reviews you've done and if he thinks it could be improved before handing in the final thing.
In your PhD application this should go on your CV, under the Service heading. This can be task oriented, eg a sub point like this :
>
> **Service**
>
>
> *Peer review:* Journal X, Journal Y, JZ
>
>
> *Committees:* ...
> ...
>
>
>
Or it could be chronological:
>
> **Service**
>
>
> 2017 - Reviewer for Journal X
>
>
> 2016 - YZ Committee member
> ...
>
>
>
The point of these kinds of entries is twofold: they work as esteem indicators (they show that other people respect you enough to ask you to do certain things that require trust/ability), and they show that you're willing to pull your weight in the academic machine (something commonly known as "collecting cookie points" or "brownie points").
Upvotes: 3
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2017/08/25
| 724
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<issue_start>username_0: I am writing a paper with a group of people, and we would like to cite preliminary results from another work, which one of the coauthors is involved along with yet other people. The preliminary results have not been published or even written up. Should we cite this as "Personal communication" and put the names of all members of the other group (which overlaps with the current group), or are there better ways to do it?<issue_comment>username_1: I hate to disappoint you, but you would be referencing the material which is impossible to get. The reviewers do see it similary and complain, and they are right in doing so. Personally, if there is any way whatsoever to convince the other group to write up the preliminary results and put them on a web page in time, do it. See point 7 in [most harmful heristic](http://mathoverflow.net/questions/2358/most-harmful-heuristic/252620#252620). Probably, the best you could do *now* is saying "to be published in [SB]" where the reference is a half-hearted entry along the following lines:
>
> [SB] <NAME> and <NAME>, *The Importance of Being Published*, 2017, in preparation.
>
>
>
Adapt the title, of course.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: My experience with "Personal communication" citations has been that editors require you to present something from the person you're citing saying that yes, they really did communicate that to you. I've only done this a couple of times, so I can't give a wide range of conditions, but we've only done this when we really have to. For example, in one case we cited a paper that had an important typo that the author was in the process of correcting, but it was slow and going to be well after our paper was out; the author told us this at a conference, we noted the correct information as (Personal communication), and included an email from the author explaining the issue.
I would be reluctant to include anything more substantive than that as "Personal communication". I've occasionally reviewed papers that offer some major part of their story as "Personal communication", and rejected the papers specifically for that reason; if the supporting evidence hasn't been and can't be peer reviewed, then the whole paper is unsupported and needs to wait until the other paper is at least accepted.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: As [username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/56935/leon-meier) [notes](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/95076/22768), "if there is any way whatsoever to convince the other group to write up the preliminary results and put them on a web page in time, do it." During review you also have an alternative: they could make their results available only to reviewers, e.g., by submitting along with your manuscript (if this is supported) or by uploading to Google Docs, Drop Box, or similar, and removing after reviewing is complete.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/08/26
| 1,110
| 4,801
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<issue_start>username_0: Are interdisciplinary STEM PhDs qualified to become professors? Or are they viewed more as “in-betweeners” and better suited for industry work. For example, someone who has a broad (but not deep) math background and only relevant (but neither deep nor broad) domain knowledge in, say, biology or physics, to write their papers? In other words, such a PhD candidate will be trained neither as a traditional mathematician nor as a biologist or physicist, etc.
Then what typically happens after their PhD? Do they not have deep enough knowledge to join academia as professors in any department?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, interdisciplinary Ph.D.'s are qualified to end up in academia. In fact, I think hiring interdisciplinary faculty is a quite a popular idea with university administrations, and so my feeling is that there has been a bit of a burst of interdisciplinary positions created. If you do really excellent interdisciplinary research, I think you should have a very good chance of getting an academic job.
I think you do correctly note some disadvantages that come along with it: hiring and tenure decisions tend to be made within departments, and interdisciplinary work can sometimes look not especially deep from the perspective of either of the disciplines, or simply be difficult to see the importance of if you don't see both perspectives. But if people really do come to see the connection, then it will be highly valued.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I've head an opinion that interdisciplinary work is harmful for the career. However consider a committee that looks at IF and that your second field is larger (and thus has larger IFs!).
I would say, it all depends on the current case and there are no universal answers.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: To speak to the question raised in the comments of if top universities have interdisciplinary professors, I graduated from the University of Chicago which has many professors with multiple/cross-disciplinary appointments.
In fact, we have entire programs that are interdisciplinary, such as the undergraduate Computational and Applied Mathematics (mathematics, computer science, and statistics) and the graduate Committee on Social Thought (philosophy, politics, and sociology). There are professors who are specifically appointed to these programs / departments.
We also have professors with postings in multiple departments. We have at least four professors who have appointments in both mathematics and computer science. A number of our computational linguists have linguistics/CS appointments. Our philosophy faculty have overlap with our Divinity school. I believe we have a professor who does quantum mechanics research who is appointed to both chemistry and physics. These professors hold such titles seperate my. For example: <NAME>, PhD. Professor of Mathematics. Professor of Computer Science.
Yes there can be reservations about the depth of knowledge of people with interdisciplinary degrees, but if you're interested in doing interdisciplinary work then an interdisciplinary degree is a great thing to have.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: Your example just described a great many mathematical biologists - many of whom have successful academic careers.
Whether this is possible or not is largely a function of departments, and how they feel about interdisciplinary research. For example, if the department is very hostile to the notion, and wants deep subject matter specialists, an interdisciplinary candidate will *always* lose to a specialist.
On the other hand, I recently sat on a search committee that was expressly looking for interdisciplinary candidates who would have a "home" department, but would be expected to contribute heavily to another department as well. People who hadn't made an interdisciplinary approach to their work were not considered particularly competitive in that search. My own position, additionally, is expressly interdisciplinary.
So the answer is "It depends, it can be hard, but it's certainly possible."
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: I have been on a hiring committee in an interdisciplinary department. Our graduates absolutely get hired for assistant professor jobs, and we absolutely hire those with interdisciplinary PhDs for our positions.
What might be harder is to get a job in one of the traditional disciplines. However, we do have faculty who are trained in those disciplines and hold joint appointments in more traditional disciplines. To me this strongly suggests that being affiliated with an interdisciplinary dept./unit has not precluded appreciation for their work in more traditional disciplines.
Like everything it depends on your field, the market, your specific work, etc.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/08/26
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<issue_start>username_0: So I have heard that professors doing applied work in math research have like no chance to win the big prizes in their fields, and that only the theorists win the big math prizes.
Is this true?
You might be asking "big, compared to what?"
So let's consider, for example, the Abel prize and the Fields Medal, ... or some prize of similar prestige and similar monetary award.<issue_comment>username_1: At least for the Nobel in Chemistry and Physiology this is not true and some are very applied, e.g. 2008 Chemistry Nobel for GFP and 2014 for super resolution microscopy. There are also examples in physics, as mentioned by Magicsowon.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: For the sake of brevity, I'll limit myself in answering to a few examples, but generally speaking it is not true.
The Nobel Prize has an official website, [which lists all laureates](https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/lists/all/):
You may choose just to look at the physics laureates during the last years:
>
> The Nobel Prize in Physics 2015 was awarded jointly to <NAME> and <NAME> "for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass"
>
>
> The Nobel Prize in Physics 2014 was awarded jointly to <NAME>, <NAME> and <NAME> "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources".
>
>
> The Nobel Prize in Physics 2012 was awarded jointly to <NAME> and <NAME> "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems"
>
>
>
As already stated by Magicsowon
>
> The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 was awarded jointly to <NAME> and <NAME> "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene"
>
>
>
Although it might be true, that in some fields prestigous prizes are more likely to be awarded to theorists, the couple of examples I provided shows that at least the Nobel Prize is not just awarded to theorists.
If you take the Abel Prize: In 2005 it was awarded to <NAME>
>
> "for his groundbreaking contributions to the theory and application of partial differential equations and to the computation of their solutions." [(link)](http://www.abelprize.no/c53864/seksjon/vis.html?tid=53872)
>
>
>
At least I would consider the work of Lax at least in parts as "applied work" as you put it in your question.
In my first year maths lecture I learned, that to falsify a (mathematical) statement you need only find one example which contradicts the statement, which I hereby did. If anyone has some statistics on the distribution of awarded Nobel Prizes among experimentalists and theorists, I'm very interested.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/08/26
| 1,257
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<issue_start>username_0: I am going to graduate in mid-October from my M.Sc. in Economics and I am starting to think seriously to apply for a Ph.D. However, since I am still completing the writing of my thesis, I have not yet started to get informed in any way about the available programs and I did not fill any requirement in terms of GRE, language certifications and so on. Therefore, my idea would be to do some research work and to send my applications in fall 2018 (thus actually starting Ph.D. in September 2019).
Do you think this is meaningful? In my mind, trying to write a better thesis and get some other experience in research could be useful for the purpose of the application. But I am also worried that I am kind of losing one year with respect to my cohort of graduates, thus this could be seen as a symptom of uncertainty.
How an evaluation committee would consider this timing choice?<issue_comment>username_1: It depends what you do instead of school. But I would not worry about falling behind your cohorts.
A lifetime is a very long time, enough time to do and get good a lot of things.
My rule of thumb is that it takes about 4 or 5 years to good at something new, meet an important new life goal, get bored, want something new, then start over. And you get to keep doing these rinse and repeat cycles as many times as you like. Figure you have a working life of about 45 to 50 years, meaning you get to have at least 9 or 10 important phases in your career. That's a lot.
If you think of it in that context, I can't really imagine anything much less important than worrying that taking a year off in between your MS and PhD to go do something else might place you behind your cohorts. After a few years, no one really has meaningful class of cohorts anyway because everyone follows a different path.
Your actual life outcomes will depend more on what you do instead with that year off. Could you go find an interesting job with your freshly-minted master's or find something else you'd like to do?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: How a "gap year" is viewed by an admissions committee depends entirely on how you use it.
A gap year spent fiddling around doing nothing will, of course, be viewed negatively. However, if the year is spent doing active (documentable!) research, or on other professional or personal activities of merit (a traveling fellowship, or volunteer service, for instance), little or no opprobrium will arise.
Your suggestion does not seem too egregious--but you could always check with schools to which you'd like to apply to be sure.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> I have not yet started to get informed in any way about the available programs and I did not fill any requirement in terms of GRE, language certifications and so on.
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I think you should allow yourself plenty of time in order to decide which schools you want to apply to & how to prepare your application. If that means applying a year later and not rushing through your thesis and the applications all at the same time, so be it.
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> But I am also worried that I am kind of losing one year with respect to my cohort of graduates, thus this could be seen as a symptom of uncertainty.
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Uncertainty is fine. Many people need time to figure out whether the PhD path is right for them or not, and if you spend an extra year to determine the best way to proceed, that can be seen as a sign of maturity instead (if you present it this way).
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> How an evaluation committee would consider this timing choice?
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As mentioned by others, as long as you don't waste this gap year and can say, "I worked at place X doing Y while preparing my application", it shouldn't be an issue.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I think this is quite a common query among master's students who are nearing the end of their dissertation/thesis writing. The temptation is to get the ball rolling asap so that the PhD application process proper can start and little time will be lost.
The main thing here is to realise that a] there is no rush and b] you will not be falling behind anyone. Do not do too many things at once. Concentrating on your thesis and finishing your master's should be your sole and overriding priority. You should complete it to the very best of your ability and not worry about PhD topic research until you have hit that 'submit' button and your thesis is winging its way to your department.
PhD topic research is a little tricky. It can take a long time to come up with a title. Concentrating on a PhD topic/research whilst completing your thesis will only risk the quality of your work. The sensible thing to do is to finish your piece, be measured, then take a year which you can split by researching your PhD and applying, then reading up on your area. Get on some mailings lists. Maybe think about going to some conferences, or better still, some paper ideas if you are so fortunate. It will not be time wasted it you do things this way, but you may compromise your thesis quality by rushing PhD applications now.
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