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2017/11/06
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<issue_start>username_0: This is a follow on to [Are citations in abstracts considered bad style?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/4971/are-citations-in-abstracts-considered-bad-style) It is unclear to me how to format the citation. Are citations in the abstract covered by any style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, AMS, etc) and how do they depend on if a numeric system is being used versus an author-year type system?<issue_comment>username_1: I checked my copy of the *Chicago Manual of Style*, 16th edition, but I couldn't find any reference to this problem (I might overlooked it, though).
We had once to cite a paper in an abstract, because the results given there were central for our paper. The publisher put the reference inline, within parentheses, with the same format of the other references. That particular journal has a particularly short form for the references, and the inline citation read as:
>
> (Author A, *<NAME>.*, **Vol.** (Year) Start page)
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I was not able to find any mention of references in the abstracts in APA, MLA, Chicago, ASA (both statistics and sociology). There is no indication of if they are allowed and if so, if new formatting is required. I have found a few style guides that do describe references in the abstract.
[APS style](http://www.apsstylemanual.org/formattingAPSJournalArticles/titlePage/abstract.htm) says:
>
> References cited in the abstract must also be found in the Reference List, where the complete information for the reference is provided. However, in the abstract, these references are not cited by their reference number alone. Instead, the following form of citation is used: the entire author list with initials (in roman); the journal name (in italics); and the volume, page numbers, and year (in roman). The article title is omitted for the sake of brevity.
>
>
>
which is pretty thin in regards to a citation style
[IEEE style](https://www.ieee.org/documents/style_manual.pdf) says:
>
> Numbered reference citations are not allowed.
>
>
>
which might imply full text citations are allowed like APS, but it goes on to say
>
> The abstract must be self-contained, without abbreviations, footnotes, or references. It should be a microcosm of the full article.
>
>
>
[AMS style](http://www.ams.org/publications/authors/AMS-StyleGuide-print.pdf) seems to be the most complete:
>
> The abstract needs to be edited to
> remove
> or
> rewrite
> reference citations.
> Rewrite reference citations by placing the following information within
> brackets at the callout point. For journal article references, insert (in
> all lightface roman text) the journal abbreviation, volume, year, and
> page numbers, but not the article title. For book references, insert the
> title, publisher, location of publisher, and year. Only
> book titles
> appear
> in italics
>
>
>
it then gives three examples (article, book, and what looks like a book chapter).
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2017/11/06
| 1,500
| 6,370
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<issue_start>username_0: I derived a minor result on my own, as part of a paper that I'm working on. I recently discovered that this result already exists in the literature.
If I cite the original work it will seem like I simply took it from there, but if I don't it might seem that I omitted a due citation. Is it more appropriate to
1. cite the original work
2. not cite it
3. either of the above with a comment (if so how can I phrase an appropriate comment?)<issue_comment>username_1: You should certainly cite the original work.
And since the new derivation is probably not central to the paper you are writing, I would put it in an appendix.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Citation has multiple purposes, as described by several answers on this site (e.g. [1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/68995/236), [2](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/68980/236)). Broadly speaking, those purposes mostly fall into three classes: giving a trustworthy source, giving credit, or suggesting further reading. Any individual citation might serve several of these purposes, or only one of them. So when you cite a paper, that doesn't necessarily make it seem like you took the result from there; you might simply be giving credit to the first person(s) to publish the result, or referencing an external source to back up what you're saying.
What this means for your case is that you should definitely cite the other paper. The exact wording you use to do so depends on several factors, including whether you think an explicit statement of the result, and/or your derivation of it, are still worth including in your paper - for example, if you think your derivation is more clear, or relaxes some assumptions of the original, or so on. Here are some possibilities along the lines of what I've used or read:
* "This result was originally derived in reference [1]." (possibly in a footnote)
* "For a more detailed derivation, see reference [1]."
* "Here I present an alternate derivation of the result in reference [1]."
* "(statement of result) [1]. In brief, this can be derived as follows: ..."
* "This uses the result that (brief statement of result) [1]." (probably in a footnote)
and so on. Or you can just cite it without comment, and unless the conventions of your field are otherwise, people won't necessarily assume that you took the result from the other paper. (Nor will they even care, in most cases.)
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I will write from the perspective of mathematics. This sort of issue comes up often and can often be tricky. One thing is clear: you **must** cite the prior work. Now you write:
>
> If I cite the original work it will seem like I simply took it from there,
>
>
>
I don't follow. First of all, you can say "I proved X independently, before I became aware of the work of [CITE]." Whether you will get any *credit* for this is another matter, but you can certainly say it.
But moreover, assuming the literature you found is old enough so that your work really was done afterwards and not at roughly the same time [in mathematics this is usually the case with published literature, since the publication process is rather slow], the only point of mentioning the result is if your take on it is not completely subsumed by the original. If there is some novelty in your approach to the result, it is fine to include result...**and your new derivation of it**. (Comment on [@username_1's answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/98488/72245): in mathematics, appendices rarely contain omitted proofs from the body of the article.)
Let me reiterate that it often happens that after you've written a math paper you find out that there's *some* amount of overlap with past work. You don't necessarily have to scrap the whole thing or even excise all parts of your paper that overlap with past work -- in some cases, doing this would make your paper less readable with no other benefit. However, you should make a **strong effort** to do justice to the previous work. (It does not feel good to have a finished paper in hand and learn that X% of it is not new. If I'm being really honest, I often do feel a momentary temptation not to include an "obscure" citation that could lower the perceived value of my work. I've never given into it though, and at this point I recognize it as pure ephemeral evil and it passes through me quickly.) The right way to look at it is this: if no one cares about this part of your article, then no one cares and you have nothing to gain by omitting the citation. If they do care, then the readers who care / know the most will know about the other work -- either immediately or eventually -- and you place yourself in a much better situation by calling attention to the overlap yourself.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: **The purpose of publishing a paper is** not to massage your ego, nor to gain credit for your work - although these are useful side benefits - it is **to contribute to the global body of knowledge about whatever subject you are publishing on**. You should consider this in deciding whether to include the derivation.
If there is nothing novel or original about your derivation then you serve your subject and your audience better by omitting it entirely and simply using the result and referring them to the paper you have now discovered for the derivation.
If there is something about your new derivation worth mentioning, then you should include it but also cite the earlier paper and indicate what it is about your new derivation that makes it worth mentioning.
Either way you should cite the earlier paper. How you came up with the idea is largely irrelevant.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: You should cite the work, no questions there. But I have another proposal for your extra work, **depending on your field and specifics of the papers**. If the derivation is not well detailed in the original paper or not rigorous, you can include your own derivation and denote that you have performed this derivation on your own and testify that the original derivation is indeed correct.
With so many efforts failing to duplicate the results of already published papers, this will both credit your effort and exemplify the work of the original author. However, as I said earlier, this depends on the context.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/07
| 529
| 2,215
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<issue_start>username_0: Many universities require that your native language be English or you will have to submit proof of language proficiency.
Usually if you lie and say English is your native language while all other evidence shows otherwise (e.g. country of birth, country of citizenship, university degree language, etc.), universities will likely suspect that you are lying.
However, suppose my native language is not English but I can read, write, listen, speak as fluently as a native speaker. If I satisfy one or more conditions below, do universities have any reason to suspect that English is not my native language?
1. I am a citizen of a country where English is the official language (though I may not be born / living there)
2. I graduated from a university where English is the official language<issue_comment>username_1: Actually, there are no universal requirements for waiving testing. For instance, at [MIT](http://gradadmissions.mit.edu/applications/international-applicants/), you establish eligibility for a language waiver by attending *primary and secondary schools* that have English as the language of instruction or by attending an *American* university for your undergraduate education. At [Yale](https://gsas.yale.edu/admissions/required-examinations), you must have attended an English-language university for at least three years to establish eligibility. [Ohio State](https://gpadmissions.osu.edu/intl/english-proficiency.html) only grants exemptions for students graduating from universities in Australia, Belize, the British Caribbean and British West Indies, Canada (except Québec), England, Guyana, Ireland, Liberia, New Zealand, Scotland, the United States and Wales.
So this unfortunately becomes an example of "every school is different, and you need to check the rules for each school."
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I knew someone who studied at an Irish university where the language of instruction was Gaelic. There must be at least a few Irish people who do not speak English at all.
Designation by country is silly. Some European universities use English, sometimes mostly and sometimes as one of three acceptable languages.
Upvotes: -1
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2017/11/07
| 704
| 2,985
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<issue_start>username_0: I need a point of view of users here regarding doing postdoc in small lab or big lab. I am currently looking for a postdoc position. During my PhD years, I worked in a small lab with inexperienced supervisor as principal investigator. She was a very nice supervisor who is concerned a lot regarding my PhD study. However, she has a weakness of not publishing a lot papers into journal and she is also not a risk taker when it comes to researching high impact research that will result in novel and interesting findings. As a result, I did not manage to publish a lot during PhD study but somehow I did manage to have a smooth PhD study without too many problems because my previous supervisor helped a lot.
Now, I am researching/ looking for a lab to do postdoc study. While I already received an offer from my previous PhD supervisor to do postdoc with her, I am contemplating to accept that offer due to the fact I mentioned before that her lab is small and she doesn't focus much on publication. I want to keep my options open to the big lab that might have more experts in my field and more publication opportunity. On the other hand, my previous supervisor is a very nice supervisor who is a great leader and boss. And the grass is not always greener at the other side so who knows I might not like new lab.
So the question is, big lab or small lab is better for postdoc research?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> So the question is, big lab or small lab is better for postdoc research?
>
>
>
There is not inherently an answer to this question, but rather plusses and minuses. For example:
Big Labs:
* Lots of people around mean it's likely easier not to feel isolated
* May have more secure funding
* Presumably put out more papers
* Professors are more likely to be dealing with keeping that lab funded, so if you were hoping to learn directly from them, this might not be as easy
* It's also easy to get lost in a big group and be incorporated into "Professor So-and-So's Group" without establishing an identity
Small Labs:
* A larger % of the lab's productivity rests on each person, so there may be more pressure
* Might be dependent on a single grant
* Likely more personal attention from the PI
* More likely to end up as the first author on most of your papers
My suggestion, having been part of labs of all sizes at various stages of my career is to get experience with both, so that you can find what style works best for you and try to pick and choose what you liked from both.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Generally it is good to diversify. But most importantly the post-doc is a time to focus on **expanding your publication list**. Which facility and advisor are better situated to help you with that goal is a more important consideration than the size of the lab. In a large lab you *might* get lost in the crowd and not get the support you need. So the size isn't necessarily the determining characteristic.
Upvotes: 1
|
2017/11/07
| 1,140
| 4,711
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm wondering how a proctor of a closed-book exam should approach the case where a student has a tattoo that would double as a cheat sheet. [Maybe they think the math looks cool](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/19596), or they got a nice calligraphy of a textbook passage, or they are just that desperate to cheat.
Now, on one hand, that tattoo is pretty much a permanent fixture. On the other hand, that is a cheat sheet written on your forearm. In fact, it might be a particularly brazen attempt at cheating. And on the gripping hand, the fact that a resource is available for easy reference whenever needed doesn't carry much weight in the context of a closed-book exam.
At least in my university, the general rule for exams is "No written material unless expressly permitted", and most of the exams that permit bringing a "cheat sheet" have had a restriction on the sheet size (e.g. one-sided hand-written A4 paper). Therefore, a situation may well arise that a student shows up for an exam with the maximum-sized cheat sheet, and some related math (purportedly) tattooed on their forearm. If I find myself proctoring an exam and this happens, how should I approach the situation?
This is an entirely hypothetical question so far, so I'm unable to provide details of a real-life example.<issue_comment>username_1: If it is a tattoo, then the proctor may ask that it is covered : plaster, bandage etc. If the student refuses then they may not be allowed to sit the exam.
However, it does depend on the institution and the institution’s regulations and any specific conditions for that exam...
If it is simply written then the student can wash their hands...
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: "Cover it up" seems the only realistic solution if it appears to be a tattoo.
However, since we're discussing this in the hypothetical, writing a theorem on your arm may serve as a nice reminder of a basis from which to work on problems, but it can't really answer something useful for you. Just as younger students tend to look at their fingers when counting, they still have to put in the work of translating an abstract numerical problem to their fingers, then "read" the information from their hand, and finally write their answer down. We don't restrict their fingers as counting tools. Advanced students make more elaborate associations between concepts they're learning and something concrete -- this is usually encouraged by instructors when we explain things in plain language or metaphors. So, your question makes me think about what questions I'm asking my students. If it's just "Write down this definition from memory", then maybe I'm not going deep enough in the topic. Suppose instead that I said something like "Here's a definition of a key term you can look up anywhere, or tattoo it on your arm if you really like it! Now, which of the following things matches this description?"
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: The purpose of learning is to have that knowledge and understanding with you your entire life. Assuming a tattoo is at least as permanent as your memories, wouldn't it stand to reason that it be allowed on the test? A closed-book test is intended to simulate a scenario where one cannot rely on outside sources of information to solve a problem. "You might not have your textbook with you in the field, so you shouldn't have to rely on it," but you will never be without your tattoo any more than you would be without the things you learned in class.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: If I suspected that a student had got a tattoo in order to help them in an exam, I would not be treating that as misconduct. I'd be treating it as *prima facie* evidence of a mental health crisis.
It's not a practical way to cheat. Tattoos are painful, they take weeks to heal, professional tattoos are expensive, amateur tattoos are dangerous, visible tattoos are stigmatised in many circles, and it's not a tactic you can reuse more than a couple of times because there's only so much skin on your arms. It's less trouble just to memorise the damn thing. If a student is actually trying this, there's something seriously wrong in their life and they need help.
OTOH, if a student got a tattoo for some other reason - like they really love Euler's identity and want to carry it around with them forever - then I wouldn't sweat it. If they love it that much, they probably had it memorised before they ever got the tattoo. If not, they probably will have after a couple of weeks of looking at it every day. Maybe ask them to cover it up to avoid complaints from other students, but it's not likely to make a difference.
Upvotes: 3
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2017/11/07
| 719
| 3,157
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm working in software development and plan to start a part-time masters degree.
I've read in some places that a thesis shouldn't have much code and should use pseudo-code instead. Then on other sites I see thesis that seem to center around a newly developed code base. Then other example thesis relating to mechanizations seem to include code, schematics, and 3d designs.
Are some of these examples I'm seeing project streams or can a thesis still include these?<issue_comment>username_1: For someone who's already enrolled, this is prime ‘ask your supervisor’ territory, since thesis requirements and expectations vary enormously between countries, universities, departments, and research groups.
If you’re not enrolled yet and want to gauge the code requirements at a particular department before deciding to do a Master’s there, you have a few options:
1. Many universities have a publicly accessible, online research repository where theses are deposited. Download some recent Master’s theses from your department of interest and see what they do.
2. If your department of interest is not too hard for you to reach physically, you can go to their library and peruse hard-copies of theses.
3. Just about every university should have a written handbook for theses, and these are often publicly available for download. You may find some guidance for code inclusion here.
4. Contact a professor at the department, or an alumnus of the department, to ask your question. It can be hard to get a reply to an out-of-the-blue email to an academic, but if you are seriously considering study there, and make this clear in your enquiry, your chances should improve :).
Visiting the department, looking at past theses, and making contact with professors are of course things you'll want to do anyway if you’re thinking of applying to that department, so checking the amount of code needed in a thesis is really just another item to add to your checklist when you’re finding out about the institution.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: As always: Ask your supervisor, always.
Generally speaking (for personal experience) one doesn't see a lot of code in the thesis themselves. The main logic behind this is that if whatever you are showing is just code, then just link GitHub! The document is meant to be an addition to the code, text explaining why/what/how of the code.
If someone wanted to just look at the code, why would they do it in a PDF instead of in their IDE? Additionally, very often code has a lot of redundant/obvious parts that are completely unuseful to anyone reading it, and would only take space on paper (e.g. input parsing, file reading, output preparing code). However, providing only partial code for a function is generally unuseful also, as its hard to read others code even when its complete. Thus, most people tend to use pseudocode as what you want is to explain what the code does, not show the exact syntax.
All in all, this is partially my experience and partially my opinion, and regardless of what anyone says around here, listening to your supervisors is likely the best option.
Upvotes: 3
|
2017/11/07
| 699
| 2,951
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<issue_start>username_0: I have published an original research paper in what was claimed by Beall's list to be a predatory journal. Considering the way they reviewed my paper, the corrections they gave me, and the many citations from typical research papers, I don't believe that it is predatory, especially since I don't think that the journal conforms with the criteria of Beall's list of predatory journals.
Nevertheless, I want to know what negative impact publishing in a predatory journal has on admissions chances.<issue_comment>username_1: Despite the downvotes, I actually feel that this is a relevant question that should be answered. I have some experience with something similar - I've published in a journal that appeared on beall's list as well, unknowingly. After my own investigation I feel that the journal doesn't really fit the definition of "predatory" - it was open access/pay to publish, but I was rejected the first time and made a second contribution that was accepted. If I hadn't been rejected, I certainly would have been more concerned once I found out the journal was on Beall's list.
That being said, I feel that the answer to the question lies in two things:
a) What else have you done/published? If this is your only publication, then I'd be very careful trying to convince people that it is high quality.
b) How are you presenting it? For instance, I present the papers I had accepted by that journal as part of my list of publications, but I certainly don't overly emphasize them. In fact, I emphasize my top-tier journal articles far more, for obvious reasons.
Ultimately, I don't think that you're going to get rejected for having it on your resume, but if it's the only thing on your resume it certainly won't make your application stand out.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Beall's List sometimes overshoots, though it's a good starting point.
I wouldn't say publication there will automatically hurt your admission chances, as especially if you're very junior I'd actually assume you had been naive. What it likely *won't* do is help all that much - predatory or not, it's doubtful it's a particularly well regarded journal in the field.
I'd also be careful how I presented it. In your cover letter, if you mention your work being published in "such notable publications as the *International Journal of Obviously a Scam*..." then it's likely I'll convert my impression of you from naive to oblivious. And while I've never seen this done with a predatory journal, I've definitely seen some people tout papers in pretty low-ranked journals as if they were at the top of the field, and that's always a bad sign.
It's not a death sentence, but you should be aware of what that paper is, and isn't. And I'd be prepared to talk about your experience, and how they did provide useful feedback, etc. Journals can be sincerely trying to get *out* of the predatory pool (or sliding into it...).
Upvotes: 4
|
2017/11/07
| 524
| 2,230
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<issue_start>username_0: I am going to give a course at my company and I'm looking online for images that I can use in my education material.
Since many of the most interesting images suitable for this education exist in papers published on arXiv, how do I know which of the images found in arXiv papers I can use and which I can't? How do I know how these images are licenced?
I often see images published in arXiv papers that are later used in presentations given by other people and/or republished in other's research papers, sometimes without any credit given to the creators of the images and almost always without a link to any license (in fact I can't remember ever seeing such a link, but maybe I have just not paid attention). Under what circumstances is that okay?
A related question is, how does fair use come into all of this since we're talking about education material?<issue_comment>username_1: You should check the licence under which the paper is posted on arXiv. It requires that papers are posted under creative commons licences which means you will always be able to use the content, but whether you are obliged to attribute the source depends on the flavour of license. More information here
<https://arxiv.org/help/license>
Personally, I would always be inclined to attribute figures where I take them from others, under the idea of 'treat others as you would like to be treated'.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Contrary to the other answer, arXiv does not require that papers are posted under CC licences. The minimal (and normal) licence required is given [here](https://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/license.html), and merely grants arXiv perpetual right to distribute the article. IANAL but I very much doubt this gives you any right to use individual figures.
You can find a (small) link to the licence for a particular preprint on the right-hand side of the abstract page in arXiv. You should see something like
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Cj8ds.png)
If there is a CC licence you can use the image but probably need to attribute. Otherwise, I would contact the authors to ask for permission.
Upvotes: 3
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2017/11/07
| 687
| 2,840
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<issue_start>username_0: The inflation rate of tuition in the US has been higher than the general economy's inflation rate for some time, sometimes it is twice as high What can the faculty do to stop/slow this down?<issue_comment>username_1: There are a number of things you can do as an individual faculty member to limit the growth of tuition:
1. Limit your electricity usage. Don't turn on the lights in your office. Instead, purchase flashlights and batteries or candles at your own expense. Don't use a computer (or use a laptop, purchased at your own expense, that you charge at home).
2. Volunteer to share your office with as many of your like-minded colleagues as you can pack in. Space and facilities are a huge expense for universities.
3. Volunteer to teach more classes than you are required to do. Staffing is another major expense.
4. Donate as much of your salary as you can (after your housing, flashlight, and laptop charging expenses) back to your employer. Note that in the US, this will generally be a tax-deductible donation, so take this into account and donate more.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In general, you might try bringing your concerns to the attention of higher administration.
For example, your university might have Faculty Senate meetings where all faculty members have the opportunity to speak (and where administrators are often present). You could show up, take the microphone, and say something like: "I know that tuition went up 7% this year, and my students have complained to me that they are having great difficulty meeting ends meet. Can I ask what the university is doing to make tuition as affordable as possible?"
You might not get a response, let alone a commitment, from anyone in charge -- but at least it's a way to let the right people know that you believe this is a priority. You might have still more influence if you sought out administrative roles yourself.
But, realistically, you probably can't do very much.
An alternative thing you might do instead is to bring textbook costs down for your students. Many faculty members assign expensive books ($200+) without thinking too much about the costs, when free or inexpensive options exist. One way in which you can directly save your students money is to avail yourself of such options. And even if you choose to use an expensive book, you can often [arrange for a discount](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/42401/11565).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Use [OER](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources)s instead of a commercial textbook! This wouldn't affect tuition, but it means students have more money to eat, pay rent, etc.
If you have any say about which texts/materials are used in your classes, then you can be directly responsible for saving students a lot of money.
Upvotes: 4
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2017/11/08
| 2,688
| 10,848
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<issue_start>username_0: As a former student athlete at the high school level who played football, the academic requirements asked of me were no different than that of my fellow classmates. I never asked for any special treatment and I rarely if ever discussed my athletic activities with my teachers. I would also suspect that if I had asked, no special consideration would have been given. I had to make decisions that affected my academics as well as limited my ability to pursue other extracurricular activities.
In college, I focused on research, work experience, and academics.
Now that I am in the process of applying to graduate schools where I presume I will be a TA.
* How should I approach the situation?
* Would I hold student athletes to the same standards in terms of deadlines and grading, or should I take into consideration the [**added-value**](https://www.forbes.com/sites/briangoff/2014/03/31/the-market-value-of-ncaa-athletes-in-the-millions/#23af32ca7948) and [**extraordinary circumstances**](http://www.businessinsider.com/college-student-athletes-spend-40-hours-a-week-practicing-2015-1) that student athletes face at a university setting?
* If I am asked to give special considerations, would I have the right to refuse such requests or would it be strictly the decision of the instructor?
* If I am asked to overlook the actions of a student, whether [**suspected**](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40791/what-should-i-do-as-a-teaching-assistant-when-i-find-cheating-behavior-from-actu) or [**flagrant**](https://www.ranker.com/list/college-sports-cheating-scandals/swiperight?var=8&utm_expid=16418821-324.2rKKjRK2SiiDbzpdgYwgeg.3&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F), is 'rocking the boat' an action considered worth pursuing given the cost in terms of time and attention?
* As an undergraduate, my professors had a 'catch-all' offering a case-by-case review of such requests but without explicit determinations, would this be the best course of action as a TA?
I approach the question namely to conceptualize different scenarios in case I find myself in similar waters, balancing the time and effort cost of pursuing such a case as a TA with the responsibilities as a graduate student completing my degree.<issue_comment>username_1: I think it is a mistake to make rules for yourself ahead of time. When/if such a situation comes up, ask your colleagues at that institution how to handle it. (If you are a TA, then of course ask your immediate supervisor in the course: in that case you are perhaps not even authorized to act on your own.)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: The following is specific to my university, the University of Michigan, but I would guess that the situation is similar at many other universities.
As far as I know, I am not allowed to apply different grading standards to different students in the same class, except that, if a class has both graduate and undergraduate students, then the graduate students may be held to a higher standard. (I've never used different standards for grad and undergrad students, but I believe it is permitted.)
Despite the general rule, there are oft-repeated stories about a particular professor (not in my department but in my college) who allegedly applied easier grading standards to athletes, over a decades-long career, and apparently got away with it. I don't know whether a tenured faculty member could get away with it nowadays, but I certainly wouldn't advise a TA to try it.
Apart from grading, though, athletes in major sports have one advantage, which may compensate for the time demands of their sports. The athletic department provides tutoring for student-athletes and tries to keep an eye on their academic progress (partly so that they don't become academically ineligible to play, partly to keep up a respectable graduation rate, and partly for the genuine benefit of the students). I once had two varsity hockey players in my class, and an assistant coach phoned me (this was long before email) to check on their progress and to ask me to let him know if they had difficulties in my class.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: There's one general rule that you'll find works well for *all* special cases, whether you're a TA or teaching:
>
> If the student is making a legitimate effort to learn the material, you should be accommodating. If they aren't putting in the time, don't bother with yours.
>
>
>
For example, an athlete turns in homework late because of a game, but is otherwise to the standard of the rest of the class. Maybe they asked for permission in advance. I would tend to overlook the lateness and perhaps grade a little easier.
In contrast, if they submit junk but on time, I'd give them a poor grade.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: The main difference between my athlete students and my non-athlete students is that I have to provide more regular feedback for the athletes, and provide accommodations for them to make up work when they have to miss something because of a scheduled athletic event.
I have been fortunate that my athlete students have been very good, conscientious students who were eager to ensure that they stayed on top of things.
Personally, I agree with the posters above in holding athletes to the same standards as everyone else. In the long run, it's best for everyone involved.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: I'm a former D1 athlete so I'll offer a bit of a different perspective here. During competition season I was often out for multiple days a week for travel and meets. I always got deadline extensions when I was going to be out but I don't think was ever graded on a different scale then other students. I think your ability to refuse to make accommodations depends on your university. I was always told that if a professor wasn't making reasonable accommodations; to let the support staff at the athletic department know. All of my professors were always reasonable so it never came up, but I got the sense there would be some pressure applied to the professor to be flexible on deadlines around school sponsored events.
I think the answers to a lot of your questions will depend partially on what department you're in. I was an engineering major in undergrad. A lot of the professors there didn't have a ton of athletes and therefore didn't have a ton of experience in dealing with the somewhat unique circumstances. I needed to spend more time with them communicating and negotiating reasonable deadline extensions than professors in some of my electives which had more athletes in them.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: I don't really understand this question to be quite honest.
As a TA I don't even know or care who the athletes are. I go to a room that has students in it, answer homework questions, give a quiz rinse and repeat. Occasionally I get an email from some university department telling me to do something for some student and I do it.
As a TA you basically just do what you're told. If your superiors tell you to do something you find unethical then you can deal with it then. But this is not at all common. I have never experienced this.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: I played football in college (Full disclosure, Division III so not a money making system for the university and no one's going to the NFL, but still 20-30 hours a week in season between practice/film/travel, maybe more).
We never got nor expected any special treatment from our professors. At most, professors were willing to work out a schedule with us. I even recall coaches proctoring tests in hotels if we were traveling on exam day. Personally, I had to do Transport homework problems on the bus on more than one occasion. And there are support systems. We had study groups on the team. There's the study groups from the university. For those who really aren't there for the education, there's counselors who will help plot the path of least resistance with regard to course loads.
By and large, student athletes know what they're getting themselves into by committing to athletics. It's a huge time-commitment and you learn how to manage it. It's hard work and that's a big part of the appeal. Frankly, most of them know that they're in school for the education. Very few expect to make a living in their sport.
Do not do a disservice to the vast majority of athletes who want to earn their degree honestly and ethically and take great pride in doing so.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: As a TA, you don't have much power. Stick to the policies of the class.
As a professor, you have more power, although you might (or might not) be beholden to the department or university for some of your course policies.
However, there is usually a way to hold athletes to the same standard as everyone else while understanding their special needs. Just have a generous policy toward assignment extensions and make-up exams. Athletes shouldn't really be treated differently from people who are traveling for the school debate team, or who have special assignments for their work-study jobs, or who need to take care of sick family members. If you want to, you can also give assignments and grades so students with many other commitments can still do well in the course. That way, athletes would be at less of a disadvantage without being treated "unfairly" well.
And no, you shouldn't be more lenient on athletes when they're found to violate the honor code. But you can probably decide what does and doesn't constitute cheating, e.g. you should be able to let students bring a piece of paper with the formulas when they take an exam.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_9: As a graduate student employee, you'll have a supervisor. If you're a grader, it will be the professor or instructor of the course. If you're an instructor, there will be an administrator who will oversee your work. When you're not sure about something like this, you should get in the habit of asking your supervisor. This is very important.
You can certainly read up on university policy, but checking with your supervisor is the most important thing.
Your title looks inside out. "Professors, and by extension their teaching assistants" would make a lot more sense.
*Side note*: as a graduate student instructor I had two members of the university tennis team in my class one semester. They were conscientious and well organized. They knew the dates they would miss and were proactive about requesting work ahead of their absences. I think the only type of student-athlete you might be pressured to ease up your expectations for would be in the money-making sports, in some universities where academic rigor is less important than bringing in the bucks for certain high profile men's sports such as football.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/08
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<issue_start>username_0: Okay I'm pretty desperate here.
I'm a PhD student. I had a cosupervisor (Prof Y) that my supervisor (and head of center, Prof X) removed (without consulting me) from my project and assigned (again without consulting me) another cosupervisor (Prof Z). The assigning of cosupervisors to a PhD project at my university happens with a form that both the new cosupervisor and the student need to sign, which I did not, and thus my supervisor (Prof X) thinks he's (Prof Z) my cosupervisor, but formally he isn't.
I have a publication ready that he (Prof X) needs to approve before I submit. His major issue with the paper is the fact that as a coauthor I have added my ex-cosupervisor (Prof Y), who indeed has scientific contribution. I received an email telling me that he has not been informed that I was working with my ex-cosupervisor (Prof Y), that this is not normal practice and that he (Prof X) won't approve the submission because of this.
Does he have the right to do this? Where is the academic freedom in policing who I collaborate with to such an extreme extent?
Please let me know your thoughts. I feel like I'm losing it.
UPDATE: I've contacted the vice-dean. He's going to look into the situation as I forwarded everything to him and tell me his opinions. He was shocked that my supervisor/HoC needs to also approve submissions.
UPDATE 2: Vice-dean has encouraged change of supervisors. He will support me throughout the process and will handle all economic issues himself. I'm arming myself with all the legal matters now. I'm making a meeting with prof X to politely explain that this is happening.
UPDATE 3: I changed supervisors. I lived. I'm so much happier. Thanks for the encouragement.<issue_comment>username_1: Since your [supervisor is a co-author](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/98572/supervisor-not-approving-submission-because-of-coauthor-he-didnt-approve-of#comment255174_98572), you cannot submit without their permission.
**Seeking a strong ally to help find a resolution**. In the first instance, I recommend seeking the support of your ex-cosupervisor. They might well be unable or unwilling to help, given that your supervisor is head of center. In that case, I recommend seeking a powerful member of the center. E.g., anyone with a high academic rank or any long-standing, well-respected member of the center. Such a powerful person is interested in the success of the center (rather than what sounds like a quarrel between your supervisor and ex-cosupervisor). That success is determined in part by your success and the success of your fellow PhD students. Hence, powerful people should be willing to help. (Even when [they aren't a co-author](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/98572/supervisor-not-approving-submission-because-of-coauthor-he-didnt-approve-of#comment255181_98572).)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: To learn at submission stage who else is coauthor on a paper is unusual, indeed. So to some extent, your supervisor being annoyed is understandable. To block the submission of the paper is a rather extreme reaction though. Could there be some history between supervisor and ex-cosupervisor that you are unaware of? (e.g. your supervisor suspecting the ex-cosupervisor of data manipulation, etc.)
My suggestion would be to apologize to your supervisor for the lapse in communication, and to ask about his reason for blocking the publication. Provided that this is indeed the case, it could help pointing out that the contribution of your ex-cosupervisor happened prior to him being removed as your cosupervisor.
If this approach fails, then the right moment to speak to the vice-dean has arrived.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Unfortunately, narcissistic, power seeking people are also present in academia.
My wife had a similar supervisor during her PhD, who could mostly offer scathing criticism, but not much help. He didn't let her publish articles or her thesis in a timely manner, because he was unsatisfied with her academic writing, but wouldn't help her much in learning that.
The solution was, as @username_1 suggested, to seek powerful allies. They kind of forced her supervisor (who was the head of department) to sign her PhD thesis.
I posted an answer instead of a reply, because reputation counts here apparently, just as in academia :)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> I had a cosupervisor (Prof Y) that my supervisor (and head of center, Prof X) removed (without consulting me) from my project and assigned (again without consulting me) another cosupervisor (Prof Z)
>
>
>
I would tell X that he is the reason for the confusion because he removed Y without consulting you. Such behavior can always cause such unpredictable consequences and indicates personal problems.
Otherwise, what is the contribution of your supervisor? Maybe you can delete his part and swap the supervisor. I don't know him, but for me it looks like, I would not continue to work with such a person. The reason I would try to remove the part of the supervisor is that he is the blocking element.
**Edit (after it is clear that X has no contribution):**
Just tell Y that X removed him without your approval, and (if possible) that you want to change supervisor because X abused his position. If Y agrees to be supervisor, *tell Y to set X in CC or to inform him*, so it is not behind his back (which is the most important step). Then delete X from publication. Additionally, if X makes trouble tell him to make a list of his contribution which allow him authorship.
I was working for some time as PostDoc and in my opinion it is a complete waste of time to spend more then the absolute minimum in discussions with such people.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for faculty positions in multiple countries. For all of the UK positions, it was necessary to fill out an online form, which always asks for my current salary, and often asks for my "expected salary". All the UK job calls I have seen *did state a salary range*.
I find it very uncomfortable to tell them an "expected salary" and I worry that they will try to use this to exploit me.
Also, my current position was extended with a lower salary than what I was getting before (due to funding constraints). It was worth accepting this lower salary for a limited time, but I would not have accepted it long term. For this reason, I would prefer not to state my current salary either.
The application system requires me to fill out these fields, but of course I could always write something like "negotiable" which amounts to a refusal to tell. I don't know if this is a good idea though.
*In a UK context*, what is the best way to proceed? Just put in the average of their stated salary range? Is it legal for them to require me to give this information? What would be the consequences if I refuse? Is this information used to choose one candidate over another?
I have seen "[What should I state for "expected salary" in a tenure-track job application?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/29326)" and I read the answers. I feel that they don't apply here, as the country and context make a difference.<issue_comment>username_1: In my experience applying for, being hired for, and hiring for jobs in the UK the stated salary box matters a lot less than you're thinking. It isn't something that you are bound by at all, rather it gives them a sense of if you are serious about the position and are working within their possible range. They want to make sure they make an initial offer to you that you will consider, they aren't trying to bind you to a low ball figure.
Answer honestly for both what you make now and what you'd accept: expected salary should be what they would have to give you for you to say yes to the job. That number is negotiable later e.g. what if your current employer makes a counter offer to keep you and they want to counter that counter offer.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: (This does not really answer the question of whether one can refuse to answer "expected salary": rather it is a suggestion to help answer that question in a reasonable way, if you choose to do so.)
Something that may be useful to be aware of is the "Higher Education Pay Spine" which most (many? some?) UK institutions adhere to:
<https://www.ucu.org.uk/he_singlepayspine>
In my (admittedly limited) experience, Lecturers are typically appointed at a point somewhere around 36 on this scale. Others may have different information: please say if you do!
(For particular universities, a bit of internet searching will often show that they use a different scale, but the one linked above gives the general idea.)
Depending on your level of experience, you may wish to adjust what you ask for, but at least this gives you some context to help calibrate your response.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: If, as you say, they state a salary range on the job advert. Simply put that in the 'expected salary' box. Better yet, put the top-end of their stated salary in the box.
[This site recommends the same approach](http://salarytutor.com/2011/09/boxed-in-how-to-bypass-the-desired-salary-field-on-online-job-applications/)
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am writing my masters thesis on an econometrics topic. It is very closely related to another paper by NW. Since our papers are very closely related, I am using their notation in order to draw comparisons (which I state before introducing my model).
NW motivate their model using known findings from their field. They demonstrate that the standard model does not behave well under their assumptions by (mathematically) decomposing the standard model's objective function. This approach is very common, however, every author formats their arguments to fit their purpose. In my paper, I want to build on NWs argument. I.e. I want to make the same point and extend it. **Do I need to cite their equation (the decomposition of the objective function) in any special way?**
---
To paraphrase what I currently have:
>
> ... NW illustrate this by deconstructing the expectation of the objective
> function into a signal term and a noise term
>
>
> $$E[Q(\beta)] = Eg(\beta)'Wg(\beta) + tr(W Omega(\beta))$$
>
>
> ...
>
>
>
(I copy their notation exactly.)
The reason I am unsure is that NWs argumentation is *not unique* to their paper but how they frame it is.<issue_comment>username_1: You can **use your paraphrase as-is**. In addition, since *NWs argumentation is not unique*, you might like to **add further context and mention other works**. E.g., precede your paraphrase with an introduction to the wider literature in the area.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: You seem to have a very mechanistic view of citation, as if there were a set of rules that tell you how to write a citation in every possible (or, at least, common) situation. That's not how it works. Think about what the purposes of citation are, and cite material in a way that is appropriate to those purposes.
Here, there are two intellectual contributions you might wish to cite: the underlying equation and the notation you've used to express it. If the equation is common knowledge, do you need a citation for it at all? Or would a "see, e.g., [textbook]" or "as introduced by [original source]" citation be more appropriate? Given that you're using the notation throughout your paper, isn't it enough to say once that you use the notation of NW? That gives appropriate credit and informs the reader where they can find more information.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I constantly receive emails from editors asking me to submit papers for their journals.
However, only a handful of them originate from a trustworthy source. The vast majority are just scams — journals with no reputation at all, willing to publish an(y) article for a fee.
My biggest problem with that is that I lost one or two real good opportunities to publish because I dismissed the email, thinking it was a scam.
Is there a list that I can use to easily check the reputation of a journal, in order to avoid this to happen?<issue_comment>username_1: There used to be one, called *Beall's list*, which listed predatory journals. The author however took it offline, apparently partly because of legal threats. If you search online you will be able to find archived copies of the list, but as far as I know these are not updated any more. You can read about it [here](http://web.archive.org/web/20170817162210/http://retractionwatch.com/2017/01/17/bealls-list-potential-predatory-publishers-go-dark/) for example.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There are at least a couple of lists. You'd have to judge for yourself how much you trust them since apparently none of them is affiliated with a University or some other "reputable" curator:
* [List of Predatory Journals](https://predatoryjournals.com/journals/)
>
> This is a list of possibly predatory journals. The kernel for this list was extracted from the archive of Beall’s list at web.archive.org. It will be updated as new information or suggested edits are submitted or found by the maintainers of this site.
>
>
>
* [BEALL'S LIST OF PREDATORY JOURNALS AND PUBLISHERS](http://beallslist.weebly.com/) (Last updated December 31, 2016)
>
> This is a list of questionable, scholarly open-access publishers. We recommend that scholars read the available reviews, assessments and descriptions provided here, and then decide for themselves whether they want to submit articles, serve as editors or on editorial boards. In a few cases, non-open access publishers whose practices match those of predatory publishers have been added to the list as well.
>
>
>
The Wikipedia entry [Predatory open access publishing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_open_access_publishing) has some good information also.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: While it does not specifically list journals as being predatory, "[SCImago Journal Rank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCImago_Journal_Rank)" is a good indicator of the reputation of a given journal. Their extensive listings can be found here:
<http://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php>
It is a free alternative to the older "[Impact Factor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_factor)" rating system. The "SJR indicator" like "Impact Factor" uses the number of citations to articles in a given journal to rank the journal's importance. The difference is that in the SJR system a more prestigious journal citing another journal carries more weight in ranking that journal. Also only more recent citations are included in the ranking system. This is similar technology to Google's "[PageRank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank)" system.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/08
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<issue_start>username_0: What is a good way to prevent students from writing an answer after you hand back a graded assignment (exam/homework) and claiming that you did not see their answer?
It is clear to me that this particular student even used a different pen for their answer, and I am 100% sure that the answer was not there. I would have seen it, and I even remember double checking to see whether the answer was there.
This is the second time this has happened to me in this semester (different students), and both times I am sure that they wrote the answer afterwards and are trying to gain more points.<issue_comment>username_1: Return a copy and hold on to the original (or vice versa, though holding on to the original prevents the student from accusing you of editing the copy).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I scan my student's assignments. There is a big printer with scanning function in our department where you can just put in the papers and it scans all of them at once.
Moreover, I do warn them beforehand that I will scan the papers and check if one makes a complaint. This has the advantage that the students will not cheat (in this way) and saves me the time from finding the student's scan in a huge pdf file and comparing the two versions.
Of course, to make scanning practical, you should tell the students not to staple their assignments (and only staple them afterwards), so as to be able to feed an entire pile of papers into the xerox.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_3: Use placeholders
----------------
You can use
* a sign or an indication that you would never use in any other circumstances (red cross, three question marks, etc.),
* a short sentence ("*No Answer Given*", "*I'm sure you knew it!*", "*You should have tried!*"),
* a sign that occupy the whole space (as suggested by [Elizabeth Henning](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/77539/elizabeth-henning) in the first place): slashes, X, Z,...
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RSR2z.png)
Don't try to catch the students that came back to you (supposedly) cheating, you just learned a lesson, and won't be caught again.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_4: Consider using electronic submission for weekly assignments. I have had success with asking my students to submit scanned PDFs of their handwritten homework assignments, via my college's course-management website. (We use Moodle, but I assume that Blackboard & other equivalent software have similar functionality.) Assignments are then graded directly on the PDF and uploaded as "feedback files". Any change to the uploaded file is not allowed after the official due date, so it isn't possible for the student to add additional information after the graded assignment is returned. In some sense, this is similar to the method advocated by [username_2](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/98598/35514) above, but with the tedious work of scanning offloaded to the students.
The students have not generally had a problem scanning & uploading their files. My institution has many "multi-function devices" scattered around campus that allow students to scan papers to e-mail (as PDFs) for free. Many students also just take pictures of their assignment papers with their phones and upload those (though such submissions are admittedly harder for me to read, so I try to discourage that.)
This method might not be appropriate for a test, though, since it does require that the students be able to access the web to submit their assignment.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: Building off of username_2's suggestion to scan the tests (because I don't have enough rep here to comment):
In my department we have the TAs use a paper cutter to slice off the corner with the staples (addressing the key bottleneck in scanning), then batch scan them into a single PDF using an auto-feed scanner.
We then use [Gradescope](http://gradescope.com) to separate the PDF pages back into individual tests, manage the marking process, and electronically return the tests. Gradescope (with which I am not affiliated) saves us enough time on the marking process to justify the scanning time, and as a side benefit we get a record of what was actually turned in.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: Make a large red thick line through the empty space where the answer should have been. Do the same when students use only part of the space available. If a student adds/extends his answer afterwards, he/she would write over your line - proving that your line was there first, and thus, the answer was added afterwards.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_7: Scanning is a good thing, but super tedious. For the class I TAd recently, we never given exams back to students. If you don't like your grade posted online, come to office hours and discuss the paper while I hold it in my hands.
Some off-campus students get their work scanned, of course.
One of the reasons we were not giving away work, is that in the past we saw students copy from senior students.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: Publish the grades somewhere beforehand, e.g., online or on some message board (often this will have to be done anyways). Announce a time when the papers will be returned (e.g., at the end of a class). During that session, students can review their paper or check some detail of the grade with you **but only while the paper has not left your supervision**. Make sure that the students understand that once they leave your supervision with their paper, they accept their grade. If there's something they wish to contest, either it is resolved there and then while the paper has not left anybody's sight, or you take the paper to review or make copies of as needed.
---
This is probably more suitable for exams since it requires setting aside some time to review papers, but is quite general (e.g., doesn't assume blank spaces that can be crossed out if the students use their own paper, doesn't require some sort of futuristic photocopier that your university could only dream of owning, etc.). Also in my experiences few students wish to contest grades and most just wander off with their papers; all grade contests have been resolved there and then in person. Also works well with TAs of course and they can escalate to you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: In my university professors often publish the solution right after the exam.
Then, they establish a "review day" in which only one-two students at a time are allowed to enter the professor's office to see the corrected exams **in front of him/her**.
In this way students can ask some questions but not allowed to leave with the orginal sheets.
The clear drawback is the time consuming management of the "review day" but for sure you will not have that problem anymore and (from my personal point of view as student) students are more encouraged to ask questions about errors.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: When I worked as a teaching assistant for a large course, the course coordinator used to include the following notice on the cover page of the exams:
>
> A random number of test papers will photocopied and kept in order to prevent cheating.
>
>
>
Just like warnings about security cameras or guard dogs, the notice provides the deterrent regardless of how many test papers are actually photocopied. I once asked him whether it was possible that the "random number" is zero, and I don't think he gave me a clear answer.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_11: Some of my professors have a policy of not reviewing exams after they have left their office. This requires that students come into office hours to pick exams up, but also allows for a conversation over the material before it is reviewed.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_12: Besides all the technical solutions mentioned above (that I do use), the marks in one question in one assignment aren't usually that significant on the overall grade; so, I usually let it go. But if I have the slightest suspicion that the student changed something, she/he will stay in my radar for the rest of the semester.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_13: I mark papers for several classes. Many are permitted an opportunity to correct minor mistakes. This allows a student whose mastery and knowledge are on the borderline between two grades, to demonstrate whether they are above or below that boundary.
This is not an opportunity to edit and improve the submission by a significant margin, or to answer parts of the assignment/test/exam they avoidedd the first time through.
Indicating the complete absence of a response in any page is done with a full diagonal line across the page, sometimes with a symbol personal to the marker, like a W or S or X or #.
Indicating the end of an answer is done with a horizontal line immediately beneath the end of the answer, followed by the same diagonal line in the remaining space, if any exists.
Where an answer takes up a small portion of the page, it may be boxed and the remaining space again slashed out.
Diagrams, charts and key statements may be circled, then ticked right or marked wrong, to prevent later alterations and improvements in that particular area.
Any text crossed out by the student is circled and annotated as such, to avoid claims of a marker having ignored it. Crossed-out responses that are correct and legible may be considered valid and marked like any other; this avoids the claim that the answer was legible and "someone else" changed it before marking.
Finally, marked papers are kept under supervision at all times when the student is fixing the minor errors. Any paper leaving the controlled space is no longer available to resubmit. Some papers are kept secure and only a copy is given, and only when requested, and only with the intent of deciding whether to appeal a grade.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_14: You don't have to actually scan or photocopy their works. Just tell your students that because of the problems mentionned, from now on you will scan their work to be able to check them afterwards. No need to actually do it, they will stop trying to cheat that way (at least 99% of students would).
In case somehow the problem still happens (unlikely), then be honest and tell them you were expecting that this announcement alone would be sufficient to stop this kind of issues, and then really start scanning them.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_15: There are a few ways to be creative about your teaching and grading methods that might give you some cover and allow you to continue engaging your students in the learning process.
* If you have multiple sections / TAs, consider adopting a policy of team grading: each TA takes a single question or section and grades it across all classes, diminishing the chance that something is overlooked by any grader. It also helps manage the grade distribution across sections if that's a concern.
* Consider adopting policies that don't penalize cheating on specific or low-value assignments but would instead diminish the utility of cheating in general. For example, if a student fails the final exam, she fails the course no matter what grades she achieved prior to the exam. Cheating on a homework to improve your grade won't prepare you adequately for the final. For high-value assignments, one of the methods recommended in other comments may also help.
* Consider moving to low-value high-frequency in-class quizzes (in the U.S. we call them pop quizzes) that give you a good idea of how well your students understand the material you're teaching. Modify your material and methods as needed to ensure that they grasp the material effectively and review in the following class. Assign an overall course weight to the quizzes (e.g., 5-10%) that you have some freedom to distribute, like a participation grade, so that individual quizzes don't dramatically affect grades.
* Ensure that questions on the exams differentiate students adequately. This is *difficult* and could be a little controversial. For example, you might consider asking questions that require a good understanding of material but that were not exampled in class. I took an astronomy course where the professor asked us a completely novel question that we had never seen before; while we had all of the tools to solve it, it required some inventive thinking to answer. Generally a student isn't going to be able to talk his way through this--more likely he'll complain that the test isn't fair (but of course everyone took the same test).
Students really need to understand two things:
1. Information is not the same as knowledge; knowledge is not the same as understanding; understanding is not the same as wisdom.
2. If you don't know what questions to ask, you don't understand the material.
In my experience, grades are an assessment, at best, of knowledge. Reward students who can ask penetrating questions that go beyond the surface level of the material. It's exciting for students and teachers alike when the lights go on and they begin to understand and grow beyond the course content. This, more than anything, tends to diminish cheating.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_16: >
> What is a good way to prevent students from writing an answer after you hand back a graded assignment(exam/homework) and claiming that you did not see their answer?
>
>
>
I think it helps to place the burden on the student for presenting a coherent, well-organized set of solutions to an assignment.
In the syllabi for my courses, I am very explicit about what student solutions to assignments should look like in order to receive any credit, partial or otherwise:
* numerical answers must be placed in a box or underlined;
* solutions to problems must be placed in numerical order;
* solutions must be neat and easy to follow, etc.
The key takeaway here is that students are responsible for putting their solutions into a format which is conducive to accurate grading.
When I grade student submissions that are missing answers, I place a red X in the most logical place that one would expect to find an answer to let the student know why the credit points were not awarded; however, students who do not adhere to the above expectations on neatness and organization risk getting zero credit for either that particular problem or, in the case of a totally incomprehensible train wreck of a submission, zero credit for the entire assignment.
Although rare, **students who claim that I did not see their answer don't have a leg to stand on:** I simply point to my syllabus and tell them that their solutions weren't organized well enough. **That's it. End of discussion.**
**TL;DR:** You can scan student submissions until you are blue in the face, or you can take control of the classroom and let the students know that you aren't playing around. I leave it to the reader to decide which course of action is best suited to their needs.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_17: On the front page, require the students to enter how many questions they have answered and how many pages they handed in.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_18: Another option could be to ask students by their-selves to cross-out unused spaces on the answer sheet. This will make spaces crossed out by the same pen/ink that student was using, making the argument null that "teacher forgot to assess it (it as already crossed out by student)" as well as eliminating the option of overwriting that crossed space.
This has been a practice in my country where invigilators present in the classroom makes sure that extra pages / spaces on the answer sheet has been crossed out by student himself. However if not done, original copies are never returned to students but are available for review upon request eliminating such claims.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_19: You can laminate assignments before returning them. That way, a student can no longer write on the laminated assignment. Theoretically, a student can open, add an answer and relaminate, but he or she would probably destroy the page in the process.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_20: From a professor’s perspective, I highly recommend keeping exams but allowing students to come to your office to review them in your presence (in line with other answers above.)
From the student’s perspective, this practice helps keep the playing field even. There are always students who manage to obtain previous versions of a professor’s exams, putting honest students at a disadvantage as far as knowing what to expect and what to study for.
The reality is, if we hand back exams (either paper exams or electronic files), they will be handed on to other students. I believe all students deserve the same opportunity to learn and earn their grades.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_21: This is a nonsensical, non-problem. If the student comes back and claims you didn't see the answer, you simply say "no, all unanswered questions are double-checked" and that is the end of it.
There is no argument. The student is not a peer so does not have the option if discussing or arguing about it.
If the teacher does not have authority over the class, then the teacher's personality is not suited for the profession. It is never the burden to persuade.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_22: Is there any live option for tests to be given via website, perhaps via Moodle?
I don't know that you personally are a computer programmer, but writing a test that students can answer via an (X)HTML TEXTAREA, could easily preserve original answers, plus any feedback / comments / grades you have. A good programmer using just CGI should be able to knock out something like this in scantly more than a day, if even that.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_23: This answer is in support of username_2's answer that, "I scan my student's assignments. There is a big printer with scanning function in our department where you can just put in the papers and it scans all of them at once." I have also done this for several years.
Previously there was some skepticism as to whether this was physically feasible or not, so I wanted to add some research data. Today I scanned the last cycle of tests in my courses this semester, and timed how long it took. I had 4 sections of math courses with a total of 69 tests; with answer sheets, this was **74 sheets** (double-sided), for a total of 148 impressions. The scanning and processing on the bulk copier took **4 minutes and 21 seconds**. This was done on a Canon ImageRunner Advance 6265, produced circa 2012, which has been the standard copier in all the offices at my community college for several years.
I highly recommend this method for documenting tests. In addition to clarifying any questions afterward, there have been numerous times when I wanted to extract statistics from old tests that I couldn't have done otherwise.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: Create a new strain of virus that turns into a global pandemic, forcing educational institutions worldwide to conduct exams remotely, so that students must submit a scanned version of their exam/homework solutions rather than a physical copy. Once the scanned copy has been received, there is no opportunity for the student to alter it.
In all seriousness... while the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the education system in many ways, this is one problem it seems to have solved.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/11/08
| 2,140
| 9,693
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a midway PhD candidate, I have finished all of the coursework and the qualifying exam. This my fifth semester (i.e. I'm starting my 3rd year now). Now I feel that, the topic I've selected to work on is not the right one for me. As both my adviser and myself are not experts in that area.
I initially thought things will go fine and progress gradually but it hesn't gone as I expected. So far I have managed to write a manuscript for review paper (almost ready for submission) but I have only got very simple preliminary results. I'm really not feeling comfortable to continue in this topic because I am not getting the guidance that I need. I know that as a PhD candidate, I have a responsibility to do almost research and learn new techniques on my own but definitely help is needed to become an independent researcher, otherwise, we wouldn't have an adviser at all.
I have tried to contact someone in the field from another school but my advisor is not helping me in that regard (which I feel is discouraging). I don't know how am I going to make a meaningful contribution to the field, if I'm struggling to reproduce some results from the literature (that might look basic for the people in the field).
Last week I told my adviser I'm thinking of changing my topic;
>
> he told me either I have to continue on the same (current) topic or I need to find a new adviser, he also mentioned that he might leave the school soon so know if I should change to a new topic since this could may take time and delay my progress further.
>
>
>
I'm concerned that changing my adviser at this stage might look negative in the department. I've worked diligently to be allowed to work with my current adviser so I'm trying to avoid that option unless absolutely necessary.
**Now, is it expected that I will continue working this topic even if I'm not comfortable with it and my adviser may not help me on it or should I change my adviser regardless of the consequences.**
*I'm looking for any suggestions on how to convince my adviser to change my topic and work on something that is in our field.*<issue_comment>username_1: It is normal to not make as much progress as you expected in the early stages of a PhD. Most of us look back on the beginning of our PhD as too ambitious, we set high goals and were not able to meet them. If I understand the system you are in (that has coursework during the PhD), you are still at the early stages of a research project. You are still learning the techniques involved in the field, you will produce more results later in your PhD once you master these techniques.
It takes a long time to learn new techniques and how to conduct research on your own. Your advisor should be giving you guidance but you are expected to perform research techniques and learn from the literature on your own. You should still seek help from your advisor or other members of your research group if you are having performing the research techniques, especially if it is replicating existing results which you should be able to reproduce (and troubleshoot). However, a lack of progress or results at the early stages is not something to be concerned about necessarily. Many PhD candidates make up for lost time once they optimise the techniques that they are working with.
Changing research field is challenging. Every project has unique challenges but interdisciplinary projects or those in a new field can be part particularly difficult as there is a lot of background information and techniques to learn. However, you should not be disadvantaged because of this. Every PhD is about developing expertise in a sub-discipline. You are not expected to be an expert in this specific area before you start, you will be learning this during your candidature. By the end of your PhD, you should be more of an expert in the specific topic of your thesis than your advisor, you are exploring a novel topic and devoting more time to it than them.
You should still be able to get guidance from experts in the field but it is your responsibility to take ownership of the topic. Since you chose this topic, I assume that you are still interested in pursuing it if you are able to get the resources and assistance that you need. I think this takes precedence over how it will affect your degree. You can change topic or advisor if the project or environment is not right for you, there are systems in place with most institutions to do this if needed. It will delay your progress but it is an option. However, it may not be necessary in this case. If you want to pursue a career in this field with the experience that you will develop working on your current topic, you can still do that. In the end, only you can decide if you can still work in your current research environment. You should seek the advice of your institution administrators to know what your options are if you are considering changing topic or advisor.
What I think is the fundamental misunderstanding here is that your advisor does not take your concerns seriously. Most PhD candidates in the early stages of their research projects feel that they have not got as much results as they'd planned. It is *normal* for a project to be challenging but if you genuinely feel that you are out of your depth with this topic or not receiving the guidance that you need, you should make that absolutely clear.
I think the best option in this case is to get a *co-supervisor* on board with the necessary expertise. This is a very common arrangement, especially when on advisor is an expert or the applications and the other is giving you guidance on the methodology or techniques that you are using. It is a lot easier to involve a co-supervisor as a collaborator at another institution (as an external collaborator) than to change to their research group. Changing institutions is a long process as you need to make sure you meet the requirements of their course and get (partial) credit for what you've done already. It's a lot of paperwork and will delay your progress. It also possible to do an exchange or placement in your collaborator or cosupervisors research group to learn their techniques and gain experience with them. Many institutions have the funds to support such as short-term placement.
It is your personal choice whether to change **topic**, change **advisor**, or enter a **co-supervisor** arrangement. You can bring up any of these with your supervisor or university administrators. Whichever you choose, you must be *proactive* and *transparent*. It is your responsibility to ensure that you set goals for your project and that you met them. It is your supervisors to get you the resources and guidance that you need to do that. If they cannot do so themselves they should help to arrange it as they agreed to host you for the project and knew they scope of it beforehand. If you know which researchers would be able to offer you the guidance and techniques that you do not currently have, you should contact them yourself and explain (politely) what the situation is and why you would like them to assist with your project.
Still you do not want to burn bridges or tarnish your relationship with your current advisor, you should voice your concerns clearly and tell them what you considering to do (rather than doing it behind their back without their knowledge). You should show that you are willing to explore your options and find a new topic or (co)supervisor, they should be willing to help you get the help that you need *if* you can explain clearly why you need it and what you are willing to do to get it. For example, if you need to perform a particular technique with expertise or equipment that your laboratory does not have so you need to work with a collaborator who does this kind of research.
Supervisors are busy and should be supportive of you seeking assistance elsewhere and would rather they remain involved (to some degree) in the project that they've invested time and resources into already. Anything that you can do to get what you need yourself or from a collaborator should be appreciated. This is part of being a proactive researcher in your own capacity and reduces their workload if they are only needed to assist you in their field of expertise. While every student-supervisor relationship is different, most should encourage you to seek help from other places.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: The project you are tied to wants you to conduct research which reasonably can be put in the subject area for the grant money the project received. If you work outside of that area it can look like your advisor uses the promised money for stuff other than it was supposed to / assigned for.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: What you need is a *realistic* option. According to what you write, your advisor may leave soon and your advisor doesn't want to work with you on a different topic. Consider those as given. You aren't going to "wear the advisor down" or impose your own will on the advisor. That seldom happens and even more seldom successfully.
If your advisor is satisfied with your current progress and expects completion before he leaves then one viable option is to keep on with what you are doing.
If you really must abandon the topic, then a different advisor is probably a viable option as well.
I don't see other possibilities here that have much likelihood of success. Either of those two options has implications on time to completion, of course, as well as on how you act and feel in the short term. But either can be leveraged into a career. Keep your eye on *that* prize. Not the short term.
Upvotes: 3
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2017/11/08
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<issue_start>username_0: A similar question exists [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2945/choice-of-personal-pronoun-in-single-author-papers) however I don't feel that answers my specific question. Other questions on this topic seem to explain why "we" is primarily used in academic writing, which I understand.
However, one part of my thesis is reviewing work I studied during the first half of my master's year, not the research I did. In this context I feel I should use "I did this..." or "I read..." etc. Not we, like I use in the research part.
So should I be using "I" when reviewing the subjects/topics I studied? As opposed to introducing the research I did in which case I use "We"<issue_comment>username_1: It's typically frowned upon in manuscripts to use "I", regardless the circumstance. I've found that when asking why, people will often come up with wildly different reasons, but the end result is still the same.
In the situation that you specified, you don't have to use "we". I believe that the best alternative would be to say "the author" or "the researcher" (e.g. "the researcher studied different topics on the subject matter" or "the author identified 3 variables related to the model"). This way you get to keep away from the awkwardness of the passive voice while also avoiding using "I".
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: The answer is to ask your supervisor. Theirs is the only opinion that matters. It is unlikely that anyone except your supervisor and maybe your committee members will read your thesis.
I prefer "I" but that's irrelevant. I'm not your adviser.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/08
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergraduate student currently working in a co-op position at a company in my field. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be the lead author on a paper based on the research I performed here, and I have a couple of questions regarding what I can do with this information.
I would like to publish it while also making it as visible as possible (partly because I consider myself a proponent of open sharing of information, but also because I'd like to refer future potential employers to it and it would be easier if it were not behind a paywall). I understand that some journals have open access options, but these tend to be quite expensive. What options do I have for publishing in an open way without expensive costs (ideally no cost, since my company has made it clear that they will not financially support publication)?
I understand that one solution to this could be putting it on ArXiv. However, since ArXiv is not a journal, would it be considered incorrect or misleading to call my paper a publication if I were to post it there?
My last question is with regards to contact information in papers. Since I will be leaving the company in a few months, I would like to be able to put an email address in the contact information for the paper that will still be active for a long time. Is it frowned upon or does it look bad if I use my personal Gmail account for contact information?
Thank you for all your help!<issue_comment>username_1: In many cases when you publish a paper in a journal, you may still freely use and publish your preprinted version of the paper under some conditions. You should read [this](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7/does-publishing-a-paper-on-arxiv-prevent-me-from-submitting-it-to-a-non-open-acc).
You should also know that arXiv is not your only option. You can also use ResearchGate which is very popular nowadays.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> What options do I have for publishing in an open way without expensive costs?
>
>
>
This is highly field-dependent, but there may possibly exist journals out there which will publish open-access for free. In my field it's common for papers to be embargoed for 6 months or a year, and then made open access, but again this varies from journal to journal and from field to field.
>
> However, since ArXiv is not a journal, would it be considered incorrect or misleading to call my paper a publication if I were to post it there?
>
>
>
Yes. The correct term for a paper that has been posted on the arXiv is "pre-print". This is not the same thing as a publication. To call your paper a publication it needs to have been published in a (reputable) journal i.e. to have gone through the peer review process.
>
> Is it frowned upon or does it look bad if I use my personal Gmail account for contact information?
>
>
>
This would be pretty unusual, and as a reader I would think twice about the legitimacy of the work if a personal email address was attached-- in fact (I may be wrong on this) but I believe you need an academic email address e.g. <EMAIL> or <EMAIL> to submit to arXiv in the first place.
My advice: talk to your line manager at the company and make a case for publishing the work. It seems strange to me that they have had you write this paper but won't support publishing it.
I think it's also a good idea to talk to a member of academic staff in your university department if you can-- all the better if their area of expertise is related to your paper. Ask their advice about publication in your field. It may even be worth asking if they have time to read over the manuscript draft and provide some feedback.
Upvotes: 1
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2017/11/09
| 1,899
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<issue_start>username_0: So I'm a few months into my PhD. It's built on top of previous work that has not been published. My supervisors, collaborators, and myself are working on to get this published. Now here's where things get a bit weird for me.
I found some problem with the previous work. Discussed the problem with my supervisors and have fixed them. For the publication, I'll need to redo the experiment.
So far I'm not getting a satisfactory result as it's tricky to get right. Not gonna go into why, it's just tricky.
My collaborator has been impatient with the result I'm getting. So now he has decided to rerun the experiment himself and double checking that he's getting the result I'm getting. Turns out it's quite similar. So now he's trying his own idea he has only briefly disclosed to me and one of my supervisor. When asked indirectly why he's doing this, he said he's just trying to understand the experiment better.
I found this disturbing. Why are you repeating my experiment yourself only to come and tell me you found exactly the same problem and result?
What's everyone take on this? I would like others opinions first before I discuss the issue with my supervisors.<issue_comment>username_1: I don't find that behavior strange at all. If I want to understand problems with algorithms (I don't do experiments with anything other than algorithms) I need to run them by myself and sometimes even implement the method from scratch. It's not that I do not trust other people's code, but if I want to understand all the mechanisms well, it's much easier to get a grip on it when I've done it myself.
The other way round, I do not have any objections if a coauthor of mine re-implements a method I already provided just to see how it works. On the contrary: Usually I benefit from this in one way or another, e.g. by learning new tricks or getting rid of bad programming style…
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I don't see any problem with your collaborators wanting to be sure of things. I also don't work in the experimental sciences but any time one of my collaborators emails me a page of mathematics, the first thing I do is check it line by line to make sure it's really true, and the second thing I do is try to improve it.
It sounds like there's a bit of a communication problem between you and your collaborator. Also, if your collaborator is an established researcher, they *might* be being a little impatient with you and forgetting that, as a brand new PhD student, it's going to take you a little longer to get things sorted out.
Talk to your advisor, as always. If you're upset by what your collaborator has done, tell your advisor about it. They'll either explain that things are OK, or agree with you and talk to your collaborator about it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I would consider it unusual in many circumstances, you generally should trust your collaborators enough that you don't need to redo their experiments. It can be very useful to perform independent experiments to get higher confidence in the results, but that would be something that you discuss prior to doing the experiments.
In your case there is an important aspect that changes this. Your experiments aren't working correctly yet. Curiosity about this particular problem with the experiments is a plausible explanation for trying to reproduce your results. And from what I read, they're trying to find a way to fix this issue, and reproducing your results would be the logical first step for that.
You should consider this as useful information, as an independent reproduction also excludes a lot of sources for errors as your equipment, material and people are likely different. So this could help you to find the issue with your experiment quicker.
There is a communication issue here, and as already said in another answer, you should involve your supervisor to resolve that.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: When I was a graduate student, I was working together with another student who implemented a rather complicated numerical simulation. To understand it better, and to do some additional experiments with this model, I decided to re-implement it myself. I was not able to get the same results as the other student. After a thorough review of my code, I found a minor mistake, and corrected it, but I still wasn't able to reproduce the other student's results.
In the end it turned out that the other student also had multiple mistakes. We fixed them, and finally everything matched up.
We had two *independent* implementations of the model we were studying, and finally they were giving the same result. Only at this point was I fully confident that our results were correct.
Double-checking makes a lot of sense. Mistakes happen, quite frequently. I would never trust a single result, either mine or someone else's, nearly as much as an independently verified experiment.
---
I have also worked in an environment where it was frowned upon to double check a coworker's work, claiming that "it is a waste of time". In reality, people were afraid that their work would be overtaken or stolen, and they were withholding data in order to *prevent* others from checking their result. In the end, it turned out that some results I was relying on were plainly wrong, which resulted in even more waste of time in the end. My advice is to try to avoid creating a toxic environment full of jealousy, like the one I experienced. Double checking is always a good thing.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: You want as many people as possible tackling this problem: you, your collaborator, your advisor. If there's a potential problem with the result/experiment/paper you want to know all about it and fix it before you publish and have folks either correct you or rely on something that turns out not quite right years later.
You want those people working together (to help each other) and separately (so group-think doesn't shut out ideas(.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: I am glad that your collaborator is coming up with the same results.
Are you concerned that your collaborator is attempting to take your ideas and add his own ideas in order to create a new derivative work? In the setting you describe this sounds like it might be difficult for him to accomplish.
On the other hand, many of the people that I have worked with are too lazy to run experiments independently. I might be a little bit concerned in your position.
My advice is to make sure that everyone you are working with are aware of his work, try to keep everything in the open so that it is harder to work against you, and to get published as quickly as you can, without sacrificing quality of course.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: >
> Is it normal for collaborator to rerun experiments himself?
>
>
>
Not only is it **normal**, I'd say it is **highly recommended** if you are able to do so. If not, either be extremely careful about verifying the vailidity of your coauthor's experimental procedure or qualify the experimental results' validity.
I'd also recommend that you endeavour to make your own experiments easily reproducible, so that your coauthors (and paper audience) can repeat them.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: Well, scientific experiments are always subject to being repeated and cross-checked by others, so that in itself is not a problem. That's how science works. As for the etiquette of a "collaborator" re-running and double-checking your results, I guess that that all depends on the details. You didn't give much information on this collaborator. Who is he or she and does he or she have a legitimate and valid interest in seeing the experiment properly completed in a timely manner? If, for example, he or she is to be a co-author on a paper based on the experiment, perhaps that person has a legitimate interest in seeing the experimental problem resolved quickly. If that's the case, then I don't see any black-or-white answer to the problem. May be something that you, the person, and a supervisor will all have to iron out. Finally, if the person is pitching in to investigate the experimental problem, it may be a bit damaging to your ego but you should also realize that that person may be able to help in identifying the problem so that you can go on and graduate.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/09
| 3,072
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<issue_start>username_0: I am relatively new to teaching University undergraduate classes in mathematics. One of the harder things I've had to do is to say 'no'. To somehow respectfully deny a student what they're asking for.
For example, very recently, a student has been demanding too many appointments outside of office hours and during these appointments, the student asks me to solve various questions for them and also almost entirely help them on their homework. As their instructor, I am certain that the student isn't actually understanding anything, but is rather making me do their homework.
My question is, how do I tell them that their homework is not meant for me? Another question I have is, I feel like making compromises on my research time and family life to spend doing a student's homework doesn't seem like the best use of my time. So am I required to meet them outside of office hours? Or is it frowned upon if an instructor says no to meet outside of office hours?<issue_comment>username_1: I don't know why you can't just say
>
> No, I am sorry but I am generally unavailable outside of OH, I would
> be more than happy to schedule an appointment with you but my time is
> limited.
>
>
>
And then you state the times you are available outside of OH in the week and ask that you meet only a number of times to your discretion.
As for homework, although it is your job to help, it is not your job to do for your students. The policy that my professors as an undergrad was that students at least have attempted to solve the problem before they approached the professor during office hours.
>
> I'd be more than happy to help you with your homework, however part of
> learning is struggling. I would like for you to try a couple of times
> before coming to me for help. I won't give you the answer, but I will
> certainly try to direct you down a path where you can find the tools
> you need to solve the problem.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I would limit the amount of time you dedicate to a single student to a maximum of 20 minutes a week. This is a reasonable amount of time to discuss the main problems a student has. This does not mean that you cannot make exceptions, but it is good to have a general rule.
As a side remark: You will not make everybody happy. If somebody wants an appointment and you say "no", and he insists, you can still say "no" and walk away.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: You mentioned that you feel like you are solving there homework for them. This is indeed something you should not encourage. In fact you should try to never answer questions about current exercises directly. Students will of course always try, but it is entirely fair to just tell them no, or to come back next week, after they handed them in and then you can discuss their solution.
If you do not want to cut things as short, for example during the actual office hours, what you can always do is try to deflect the question. When I am asked about some specific exercise problem, I usually try to explain the general underlying concept instead. I may even discuss an older different but related problem, but I will never give more than just a small hint.
In general, if you want to be helpful to your student, it is always good to remember that your job is not to get them good grades or to help them pass the exam, but to help them learn something instead.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: **Change your mindset**
Students are supposed to learn on their own (for sure, you see that 99% of the students need a little to no help at all). If someone is not able to do that, he/she most probably does not belong at this place.
What you can/should do: Answers for exercises are usually for the exercise class. If there is once in a while a group of students (see the group? usually, if students do not understand something, they ask each other. If they don't/don't get answer from their colleges, that should tell you a lot already), sure, take your time to explain it to them. But if someone comes *regularly* to fully use up the time you give him, things are wrong.
Rather give him a small hint and let him go again (after the 2-3 occurrence) and tell him to figure out things on his own.
Remember: Not providing the assistance means you help him to better *find his way*. "Helping" someone in this situation is like taking pain pills instead of visiting a doctor: It *somehow* feels good at the moment for both parties, but in the long term: a) he won't graduate most probably b) you will have used up a lot of your time.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: >
> One of the harder things I've had to do is to say 'no'.
>
>
> [...]
>
>
> how do I tell them that their homework is not meant for me?
>
>
>
It seems that you are struggling with a far more general problem than the specific one you asked about (which other answers have given good responses to), so I will address the more general problem: by your own description, you are a person who finds it very difficult to say "no" to requests from others. *This is not good*, and is the heart of your problem; the issue with office hours is only a particular manifestation of it.
It's therefore important to emphasize that **saying no is a very, very important life and career skill**, and I strongly recommend that you take steps to master it as early as possible. If you do, you will be handsomely rewarded in increased quality of life and professional and personal success.
Here are some recommendations for things you can do to get better at saying no:
1. Spend some time reflecting on why you find it so difficult to say no. It may go back to something in your culture or upbringing, an insecurity you have that causes you to have an extreme reluctance to displease others, or something else. If you understand the causes, you may have better success fighting this tendency.
2. Spend some time thinking of all the times when this trait has caused you to do things you didn't want to do, or to not do things you did want to do, and to think how much better off you would be if you didn't have this problem. That should help with motivation to work on fixing the problem.
3. Practice saying no by doing role-playing thought experiments in your head (or in front of the mirror, or with a friend) in which you imagine situations where someone asks you to do something you don't want and you say no. Imagine their negative reaction, and practice doing it even knowing that the reaction will be negative.
4. Practice saying no in the real world. You can start with the office hours situation, but I'm sure plenty more opportunities will come along soon enough. Over time, it will become much easier.
These are my own ideas. [This article](https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-couch/201601/why-is-it-hard-say-no-and-how-can-you-get-better-it) has several more suggestions and an analysis of why some people find it hard to say "no". Good luck!
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: This question is not tremendously dissimilar from [one](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/57042/students-staying-hours-past-end-of-office-hours) I asked in the past. As I am now a first year faculty member (also in mathematics) at a small liberal arts college, I can certainly relate to your question. While I have my limits, I am suspicious that I am more accommodating than the average instructor, so my answer can serve as an alternative.
Note: At my school, we are expected to be *somewhat* available and responsive to student requests for our time, and straight-up refusing to meet with students outside of my office hours could have minor repercussions. Expectations are highly dependent upon the culture of your institution, so I suggest you ask around to see what your administrators/department/students expect.
Regarding "too many appointments": If I have a student that I'm concerned is becoming too demanding of my time outside of office hours, I significantly limit the time I offer to meet with them. In practice, this tends to look something like this:
1. Demanding student asks me for an appointment outside of office hours. I tell them to email me their request and I'll send them a list of available times.
2. Once they've emailed me, I'll send them a response with just a few times that may or may not be convenient for them. For example, I'll often include "7:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.," which is the time before my first class starts. The best part about that particular time: I know they can't have anything scheduled that early, so they can't tell me that none of my times fit their schedule.
3. If they say can't meet at any of those times, too bad. That's my only availability right now. I also remind them that they're always welcome to make an appointment at our school's STEM tutoring center.
4. In the event that they show up to my office without an appointment, I either tell them that "I'm currently dealing with other obligations and don't have time to meet right now" or "I can meet with you for five minutes, but that's it." The latter allows me to give them something without flat-out shutting them down, and only five minutes of my time for them walking across campus and climbing up to the fourth floor of my building doesn't provide much incentive for them to do it again.
5. If they start emailing you questions, take a long enough time to reply so that it's not convenient for them, and give answers that only contain hints or pointers (see below).
Regarding "doing the student's homework":
1. Make them work for your answers. Offer them hints, point them to other resources, do similar problems, but avoid working on the exact problem if at all possible.
2. Refuse to help them with problems that they haven't seriously attempted. If they tell you that they're stuck and don't know how to start, go back to my first point.
3. If your problems are from a textbook that has answers provided to odd-numbered exercises (or something similar), refuse to look over any of their work until they've cross-checked their answer. Even if they have, encourage them to think about it for a little while before asking you a question.
4. Give them concrete "threshold" that they must get past before they ask you another question. This has the dual function of not giving them too much and also prevents them from overburdening your time. An example exchange:
Student: "I'm stuck on #5."
Professor: "Ok, here's a hint on #5. I want you to go think about that for a little while. Once you've spent at least X minutes/hours thinking about that, you may ask a follow-up question if you're still stuck."
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: Since you were very generous with the time until now, you may want to consider scaling it down gradually. So, you say sometimes yes, sometimes no and increase the proportion of 'no's with those of the yes. This will avoid looking like you drastically moving the goalposts on which students rely.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: 1. To make it easier to say no, say when you're next "available" instead, and also specify how long you're available for. Specify a time the next week instead of the next day.
2. If the student complains that they still need more help, refer them to the tutoring department or student learning center. That's what it's there for. You're in no way ethically obligated to do anything outside of office hours.
3. I used to tutor a lot, and sometimes had students who would try to get me to do the work for them. The solution is to use the crap out of the Socratic method. When they ask a question, ask them a leading question. Stick to your question mark guns. They may try to make you frustrated enough to just give them the answer at first. Don't let that happen. Use it to teach them how to find answers on their own.
them: "How do I multiply two four digit numbers?"
you: "How might you divide the task into smaller parts?"
them: "I don't know. Just tell me."
you: "What might you *try* doing if you had to guess?"
them: "But I don't have any guesses!"
you: "What does your book/handout say? What does google say? What did the TA in the learning center say?"
4. It's not at all rude to look at the clock and tell them that's all the time you have "for now" and that you have to work on other things. If they whine "but I still have questions" see number my point 1.
5. Meeting outside office hours is only potentially required if it's necessary for ADA compliance. Even then you can usually come up with reasonable alternatives.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a fresh PhD and I have job offer of Postdoctoral researcher in world leading university (QS rank 6) and assistant professorship in an average university (QS rank 339).
What is good for long term academic career?<issue_comment>username_1: Well, probably about the "long term carreer" it depends on the laws of the country you are working in. Moreover it is related to the type of studies in which you are involved in the "world leading university" compared to the "average university".
In my humble opinion you should decide first of all with the feeling that you have with your future working group. In fact the rank of the university is just an index but you should love the research you are involved and give everything to be one of the best in your field.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm also a newly graduated Ph.D. and personally, I'd prefer a postdoc position.
I think, that would be completely because I'd aim for getting more experience on the research topic I'm interested in and also couple other things, such as writing grants, proposals, or other important stuff that would lead to learning the basics of taking care of the whole lab.
It might be harder to get a grant the moment you accept the other position. On the other hand, it would give you the chance to work on your own projects.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/11/09
| 691
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<issue_start>username_0: A paper of mine just got accepted to a computer science conference. Due to personal reasons I cannot fly to that conference. I was suggested to ask a friend who flies there to present the paper for me, but I think it may not be a good idea since the friend might be unable to answer questions. So I thought of a different solution: I can rent a room with special video-conferencing equipment and present from there.
Is this solution common? What should be taken into account to implement it?<issue_comment>username_1: I have never seen this done, and only heard of it being done to accommodate very famous people who have difficulties with travel (e.g., <NAME>, <NAME>). So I suspect extremely uncommon and that no one will make a special effort to make this possible for you. However, it never hurts to ask; why don’t you email the conference organizers to ask them? Maybe you’ll get lucky and they are open-minded (or ecologically-minded - it’s worth stressing the savings in carbon emissions from the avoided travel) and happen to have the necessary equipment in the venue they are renting.
By the way, when you contact the organizers to ask about this, I also suggest apologizing for asking the question only after your paper was accepted. When you submit the paper to a conference you are implicitly promising to come and present the paper if it is accepted, so it would have been more responsible to ask the question before deciding to submit the paper, and to have a definite plan of what alternative arrangements you would have in place in case the answer was negative.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You could ask a friend to help you present a recorded or live presentation through his/her mobile phone/laptop.
You may wish to record a short video of your presentation/demonstration (slides + audio) and upload it to YouTube; include a short URL and a large QR code on the last slide.
You will need:
* Permission from the organizers and/or session chairs (be optimistic!)
* A colleague/friend who wants to help and can help (e.g., free during your session)
* Reliable internet connection (Wi-Fi) in the conference room
If the connection fails, your friend could at least present your recorded video presentation.
For engagement by the audience, **it is the quality of your work that matters most**: your excellent remote/recorded presetation is likely to be more engaging and better received than an average one presented in-person.
I tried a slightly modified version of this myself with the help of a colleague, and it was - unexpectedly - successful and well-received, and several people watched the online video shortly later.
P.S: When a computer science conference in 2017/2018 works as in 1980, I believe a cultural change is needed. Teleconferencing is smarter and greener solution than requiring physical presence for everyone, and allows wider participation.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2017/11/09
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| 6,779
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<issue_start>username_0: How should I address an email to a professor who hates being called "Professor \_\_\_" or "Dr. \_\_\_\_?" He has made it very clear to students that he prefers to be referred to by his first name in person, but I have been told time and time again that one should be more formal when writing emails. Is this always true, or should I simply follow how he prefers to be addressed in person?<issue_comment>username_1: **If the professor explicitly says not to call him by his last name, then don't.** It would actually be more impolite to ignore his request in order to conform to some abstract "formality" rules.
However, even if you are addressing your professor by his first name, you can still preserve some degree of formality. Some common norms include:
* do not use slang
* avoid excessive contractions (e.g. use *have not* instead of *haven't)*
* use your full name in the signature
* be polite
In general, the rule of thumb is to be respectful and professional in your communications. Sometimes that includes addressing the person as "Professor X" or "Dr. X", but it does not have to. Just make sure you sound polite!
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I would suggest that you use the name/term/concept that the professor signs his initial reply to you with as the introduction to follow up e-mails. This approach ensures that you are always **correct** and **formal** in your **initial contact** and can be **informal** in the **subsequent contacts** if the reply username_7wed you to do so. See the following e-mail headers/footers as an example:
Original Contact
```
Dear Prof. FancyPants,
...
Kind Regards,
Hopeful Grad Student
```
First Reply
```
Dear Hopeful Grad Student,
...
Cheers,
John
```
Your Reply
```
Hi John,
...
Cheers,
Andy
```
I hope that the above illustrates how I would treat your situation.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: If you are very worried about it, in your first email you can use the polite and very English "If I may".
So for example:
>
> Dear Sarah (if I may), I am writing to you to ask about...
>
>
>
It signals your commitment to formality, but also takes your Prof's preference into account. If they sign their response with their full name or say something like "of course you may!", you're set.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> **who hates being called "Professor \_\_\_" or "Dr. \_\_\_\_?" He has made it very clear to students that he prefers to be referred to by his first name**
>
>
>
It seems he did not make it clear enough to all of the students. If he **hates** it and makes it **very clear**, it sounds even desperate! Please, do him the favor and address him as he prefers:
"Hi John" or "Hello John" or "Dear John"
That's what *he* explicitly prefers. And btw. as soon as you are around researchers (grad student and higher), you will address most people you meet at conferences etc as "hi FirstName".
Professors are humans as well. General rules are nice but do not hold every time. Here is one of the exceptions.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Rules exist to serve people, not people to serve rules. The default is formality, because if you don't know how someone wants to be called, then formality shows respect. If you do know how someone wants to be called, them calling them that shows respect. Don't confuse the means for the end. Formality is the means, respect is the end.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: There are possibly two issues here. The first is accommodation of the professor's wishes. As a default, address him however he wants. It is better to be respectful than formal, as all the other answers point out.
The other (possible) issue (pointed out anecdotally in @RadishQueen's answer), is that students may feel very uncomfortable addressing a professor like that. If this is indeed part of the motivation for the question, the solution is never to disrespect the professor, but you can always mention to him that it makes you very uncomfortable to address him so informally. He may decide to ignore your feelings on the matter or come up with a reasonable compromise. In either case, respect the professor's wishes.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: In general: Do not be scared and do not think too much about it.
Professors are people as well and often they are way more interested in the content of your mail than in formalities. Especially when they have a lot of work, they do not even have the time to judge how you begin your e-mails ;).
Here is a cartoon how much time professors need for e-mails and how much time students need:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/aTbop.gif)
<http://phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1047>
You're on the right side and overthinking the formalities. Your professor is on the left side and just reading the important parts of your e-mail (so make sure that you do not hide your question in too much text) before replying.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: As a programmer, the vast majority of most of emails I send in a professional context are of the following format :
```
Hi Tom,
...
Kind regards,
username_8
```
At least in my sector, pretty much everyone uses this format these days, whether communicating with clients, with subcontractors, with our boss, etc. At least in the IT sector, formal emails are the exception rather than the standard.
As a student, I'd inclined to be a bit more formal when contacting a professor in at least my initial email, but not in your case. Considering he explicitly expressed his desired to be referred to by his first name in real life, I would not be any more formal in my emails to your professor than I am in my corporate emails.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_9: I'd likely just use his name, as in
>
> Tom,
>
>
> I'd like to ...
>
>
> Regards,
> <NAME>
>
>
>
The option of writing
>
> Regards,
> Paul
>
>
>
and putting your full name into signature/From line seems not as much informal as familiar to me. Probably not the best idea.
Also, your informality should only extend to the degree the professor has specified as desired, so don't start with
>
> Yo teach,
>
>
> ...
>
>
>
Either way, make sure that the From/To lines contain the full name of yourself and the professor. If there is a formally required title for your professor, it should be added there. This is the "mail envelope". While you won't likely enfuriate a secretary by being less than formal on the envelope of an *Email*, I think it is a good strategy to show respect in the *content* by using the amount of informality desired, and in the *envelope* by using the amount of formality due.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/11/09
| 344
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<issue_start>username_0: In the medical domain, it frequently happens that papers are written by a pharma company or it's contractors and then given to an academic to publish.
The word "ghostwriter" seems to be appropriate for the person who actually wrote the paper. What's the best word to describe the person who is officially the first author of such a paper but who had little input in it's writing? I'm searching for a specific word to categories the behavior.<issue_comment>username_1: Phrases like "guest author", "honorary author", or "courtesy author" have been used to describe this practice.
References:
* See use of "guest author" here: [Legal Remedies for Medical Ghostwriting: Imposing Fraud Liability on Guest Authors of Ghostwritten Articles](http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001070)
* "honorary author" [Challenging Medical Ghostwriting in US Courts](http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001163)
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: "Dummy author", by analogy with [dummy corporations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dummy_corporation), comes to mind. Other expressions could be "straw author", or "front author".
Upvotes: 3
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| 955
| 4,248
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<issue_start>username_0: [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/LGQh2.png)
Forgive the MS paint.
But as someone who often straddles two different domains of research and knowledge, how does one translate the jargon that is commonly found in one field and effectively communicate it to someone in another without coming off as a jerk?
Note: the intent was to use generally understood words within the field to communicate, not to come off as a jerk.
The example where my attempts to communicate between members of two different worlds and I received an earful was when I was tasked to develop a website with an existing member of a team who had extensive experience with the dept. but not with the technical details of developing a website.
Words like scrum, development cycles, production and development, were foreign to the individual. When I utilized them, I was called well... less than polite words.
After conferring with trusted confidants, I regrouped and re-approached the topic and design specifications while giving plenty of time to explain concepts that I perceived (through verbal, facial and vocal cues) that the individual did not understand. This resulted in a far better working relationship and the project was completed on time.
Now that I reexamine the subject, I can foresee that as a graduate student, inter-disciplinary collaboration with people from widely different academic backgrounds would be necessary, with differing depths of knowledge of necessary skills to complete a given research objective.
It is one thing to take the time to explain, which I don't mind if the person is willing to listen and learn. But at what point do I decide that the cost/benefit of additional units of effort expended results in diminishing returns? To put it more bluntly "you should know this already, I don't have the time to explain it to you".<issue_comment>username_1: It feels like this depends on who the "person" is. If it is a student who is doing a three-week internship, you might just not care (as in: it's not worth it). Same for a PhD student who is not going to play a role in your project.
However, you will have to make sure that the important people in both disciplines understand what the other part is doing and talking about. But none of them, as far as I understand your situation, "should know this" - they do come from a different field, don't they?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Whenever you are talking to someone from field B about a topic in field A, you are essentially engaging in science communication. If you get the chance to take a science communication or science journalism class, that can teach you how to talk effectively to people who don't have any background in the topic. But you will practice this every time you talk to someone anyway: After 7 years as a grad student, I've had to explain my research to enough people from various backgrounds that I can generally gauge where they come from in 1-2 questions and pitch the level of my explanation to match it - although I've mortally offended some people along the way too, e.g. by assuming a web developer would know what an ARM processor is...
The quintessential science communication advice is "avoid jargon" - you can generally explain a topic without using any field-specific vocabulary, even if that gives only a vague understanding. Whether to explain the words or just not use them in the first place will be a case-by-case decision, based on first and foremost whether the person will need an operational knowledge in the thing: If you are developing a website together, and expect them to have input on the timeline, you probably have to explain "development cycle" to them. If they just have to give you content or feedback by specific dates and you are fully in charge of the schedule, you can probably do without introducing the word "scrum" and just tell them "let's check in briefly every morning on where we are".
Of course, if you have time and they seem interested/able to pick up new vocabulary easily, you can introduce people more deeply into the topic even when it's not strictly necessary. Many scientists love learning new things!
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
|
2017/11/10
| 633
| 2,713
|
<issue_start>username_0: My field is primarily connected with computer networks. Sometime in 2016, I discovered a vulnerability which at that time was not known (I searched a lot to make sure). I experimented with it and got exciting results. However, I couldn't publish it immediately due to some-other work my prof gave me.
When I was looking for good conferences on this subject I came across a GitHub repository exhibiting the same concept but it was created just months back. The work has not appeared in any conferences/journals.
I was wondering, since I thought of it and implemented it first, can I send it to a conference or would that count as plagiarism?<issue_comment>username_1: Plagiarism is the explicit use of someone's work without attribution or permission, usually with the intent of passing it off as your own.
In the present case, the mere existence of the same work elsewhere does **not** make your work plagiarism. If you used their work and did not give them credit, *that* would be plagiarism.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: My understanding of coding Plagiarism would be trying to pass off another person's work as your own. In this case, two people identified a security vulnerability independently and at different times.
Given the 'niche' nature of the exploit, it will be up to you to demonstrate original research on the topic matter. In your paper, I don't see why not you can't reference the work of the other person and postulate that their conclusions weren't the same as yours.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Note that A) they may have worked on this prior to uploading code to github, and B) could have their results 'under review' somewhere already. Worst case, they submit to the same conference as you.
Since you worked independently it by definition is *not* plagiarism.
It may nevertheless be good to acknowledge their work as *independent* related work. You have seen it, you have noticed the overlap, and you *claim* that your solution existed before you found theirs.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: I had a similar situation with my undergrad dissertation. As daft as it sounds I had been researching hashing functions and had never heard of a pseudo hash which my new invention equated to. I did a lot of research into the area and how my method was unique and it wasn't until I had submitted it that I found out about the pseudo hash, I passed but with a lesser mark than expecting.
Bottom line is that what you have on your hands isn't plagiarism, just the unfortunate circumstance that what you thought was unique isn't, however if you've done your research and referenced it which I suspect you have then you will be fine.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/11/10
| 356
| 1,540
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<issue_start>username_0: I teach a course in Computer Science in which research is evolving so rapidly. This is an undergrad course. It is difficult to have a comprehensive set of lecture notes prepared every time during the semester. I teach through blackboard only (and I feel students like that thing about me).
However, students do require some lecture notes. I have the following questions in mind.
1. Can I provide research article(s) as lecture notes?
2. If Yes to (1), then am I violating copyright? -- I don't think so, as it is only for an unsharable academic purpose only.<issue_comment>username_1: Technically, research articles are not the same as lecture notes, as they often are not written in a pedagocically suitable manner. Research articles may include lacunae and gaps that are obvious for an informed reader, but not for a student. So while journal articles can be used as *reading material*, they are usually not suitable replacement for a good set of lecture notes.
If you do choose to provide research papers, it’s fairly easy to include links rather than providing the papers themselves, since they may be subject to copyright.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It is best to ask your librarian - they are usually well trained in copyright issues and will be able to advise you how to avoid copyright infringement.
On a side note - unless your students are very good in CS already, I am not sure if using research papers as the only teaching materials for the course is necessarily a good idea.
Upvotes: 3
|
2017/11/10
| 1,861
| 7,330
|
<issue_start>username_0: A lecturer for a course I am attending was late for a class, and as they had sent an e-mail a few days before mentioning a different classroom, the class was confused about whether we should go to this classroom or not. I decided to send the lecturer an e-mail to clarify whether the class location had changed.
In the end, the lecturer appeared about ten minutes late. That could've been the end of the story, but the lecturer sent an e-mail today (to me only) stating that I "was the only one confused [about the matter]!". I find this rude and inappropriate - they could have just let it slide, or at least apologised for being late.
I realise that I caused some minor noise in their inbox through my e-mail - but it is not enough, in my opinion, to respond rudely.
My University is running a campaign on respect among students and teachers. I would like to respond in a way that clarifies that I think they were rude, while keeping in mind that I will have the class for the rest of the semester with this lecturer.
Should I respond - in that case, how? - , or should I simply ignore it?<issue_comment>username_1: Sincerely? Let it go. The tone is also not "low-key insulting" (that means a personal disparaging attack on you), it is dismissive/snotty/irritated (do not bother me with this stuff).
The thing is that you are reading a lot (IMHO too much) into this. I'm not saying that you are wrong, but it sounds that you are in danger of spending precious lifetime for collecting perceived slights. You have already used approx. 1 hour of your lifetime to ask this question, and probably several hours of suppressed anger pondering his answer.
Really, the easiest way is to think "Perhaps he has eaten something bad today/has relationship problems", or whatever. Remember: once is chance, twice is coincidence, thrice is a pattern. If it happens three times, then it is time to act.
Upvotes: 8 <issue_comment>username_2: I concur that you're wound too tightly.
But if you cannot rest or sleep without responding, then use self-deprecating humor, e.g. "I was so confused [about the matter] that I cannot remember it today! :-)"
A note like this essentially forgives the lecturer for being late, and communicates that you hold no grudge. It also communicates that you are not a powder-keg ready to explode at the slightest offense... any other kind of response would do the opposite.
The smiley face is important to communicate that you are not taking this seriously. (Even though you are.) Several years ago the NY Times recommeded using emoticons in email to communicate tone, because that can be otherwise hard to do in a short note.
Bottom line: if you transform the incident to something mildly humorous, the lecturer will think of you in a positive light. You don't have to suck up, but in life one has to pick one's battles. When battle is not joined, it's best to leave the other person in a good frame of mind.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I would not bother with arguing with lecturer since it can probably hurt you more than you can him. And if he is so unprofessional to send you mail like that chances of him apologizing are slim.
What I would do is when this professor is mentioned in peer group tell everybody how "great" he is so my friends know who they should avoid(it is a weak signal but if this lecturer is as nice to everybody as he is to you it will accumulate into enough useful information for your friends).
That being said beware of a sampling error, you should not claim this lecturer is the worst person ever, you can only testify for this brief interaction.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: It sounds like maybe you are reading into this too much. If you send a polite email back saying something kind and let him/her know that you enjoy his/her course, I think things will go much better between you and them.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I wouldn't respond back, because that sounds like a PS, or a tag. So, like, instead of saying "kind regards", he said that as he left the conversation. The guy or girl is probably busy and wrote that on a half a thought. I wouldn't be a dick about it. Yes, I think there's a chance that you're the dick here by trying to rub it in and not just going for the fact that he messed up when he confused everybody by the classroom change, but that he also messed up his communique with yourself.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: It sounds like the instructor was about 10 minutes late to class, leading to the entire class being confused about whether or not to go into the classroom?
That's somewhat embarrassing for the instructor. By being late and forcing a bunch of students to wait, in addition to apparently having some confusion about location, they dropped the ball. And especially if they're worried about getting tenure, they may've been concerned about coming off as unprofessional in the eyes of the students who'll be writing their teacher evaluation at the end of the semester.
In short, their response sounds mostly defensive to my ear. They were basically trying to say,
>
> I was just 10 minutes late, and I don't think that there should've been confusion about the classroom location. Please don't dock me on the evaluation later!
>
>
>
The appropriate response might be to be supportive.
* Directly emailing them back would probably be the wrong way to go, as it'd seem to make the issue larger. Rather, what's needed is for everyone to move on.
* If they're a more secure type, then basically not bringing it up again's probably enough, since they're over it.
* If they're a less secure type, then a nice-but-subtle gesture can clarify the issue. This might mean asking a good question in class that they'd enjoy answering (on an interesting point; not a gotcha-question, but also not trivializing), followed by a quick-but-sincere "*thank you*" after they answer.
And, that basically covers their side of it. Then there's your side of it.
The way I see it, you've got two approaches:
1. [@ThorstenS.'s approach](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/98736/38709), for the reasons they'd stated.
2. [Emperor Palpatine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palpatine) would recommend dwelling on it and internalizing such injustices into an inner ball of fury, if you'd like to transition to the [Dark Side](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Force_(Star_Wars)).
Now @ThorstenS.'s position has its advantages. Stuff like having a happy life and healthy mind set can be enjoyable. But then again, anger leads to hate, hate leads to... something... and, in the end, [there's cookies](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/come-to-the-dark-side) and possibly lightning hands. So, ya know, personal preference there.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_7: A common problem with emails (or written form in general) for such small topics is that they can be over-interpretated. Another email would make things even more complicated.
Tip: at the end of next course, go *talk* to him/her briefly and say *"Sorry for bothering with my last email about ..., it's just that ..."*, this is in fact not a real "sorry" to apologize, but just a way to introduce the topic. Then he/she'll probably answer in a nice way, and both you and he/she will be happy at the end.
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<issue_start>username_0: In my university, after passing a viva voce examination, it will take more than 3 months before the university issues an official letter/transcript/certificate to certify that one is officially a PhD holder. Of course, after PhD viva, it will take some time to perform correction as stipulated by examiners. It can be major/minor correction. After a PhD candidate passes viva exam, is she/he unofficially a PhD holder? Considering that one has yet to successfully correct one's thesis as instructed by examiners during viva exam.<issue_comment>username_1: Unofficially, YES. Officially, NO.
It is country and university specific. In my university (and in the country where I am working now), it works like this.
The Ph.D. student submits his thesis, checked by his own supervisor(s). This is then checked by the Academic Research Dean.
Once, it passes the above step, it goes to at least two/three external reviewers: one/two examiner(s) in the same country, another examiner in a different country.
The examiners usually get 3-6 months to review the dissertation. Time depends on field and department.
The outcome of the review is one of the following, which is decided by academic research dean and few other Ph.D. quality members:
* Accept as it is
* Accept with minor revision (comments from examiners)
* Accept with major revision (it goes again to the examiners, but less time for review is provided)
* Reject (usually unlikely; based on history)
Once the thesis is accepted (either of the first three of the above), the examiner(s) comes to the students' university for viva-voice. This process is called the `defense'.
Mostly, since the dissertation has been formally accepted if the student defends the thesis in front of the examiners and the Ph.D. panel, he is congratulated at the end. From this, he can assume himself to be graduated.
The official transcript and degree take some time to be conferred on him. Until the official transcript is received, one should not assume to be "officially" graduated.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Nobody is going to quibble with you calling yourself a PhD after you've passed your defense, assuming everything went well. For legal purposes such as employment you are not technically a PhD until your university says you are, but in between those times you can honestly say "I've met all the requirements for a PhD and I'm waiting for graduation in the Spring".
It is not uncommon to be asked to make changes to the dissertation, or even do some extra experiments/investigation. Usually committee members consider these to be minor changes that do not require another defense, though they might withhold final approval signatures until they're satisfied. The point is that the committee members themselves do not expect the requested changes to be major endeavors- more of a refinement than substantially new work.
If your committee fails your defense then obviously you're still not a PhD in anybody's view.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: At my American university, the process of officially getting a PhD was tiered. It went something like this:
1. No claim to being a PhD until after successfully defending.
2. Some informal claim to being a PhD after successfully defending. The committee members would usually make this explicit by congratulating the successful defendee with "Dr.".
3. A weird quasi-official claim when the university's official degree-completion tracking system formally acknowledged that the student has officially met all degree requirements and is scheduled to receive their degree at graduation.
4. Official claim upon graduation (whether or not attended).
5. Verifiable official claim once you have the piece of paper, which may be several weeks after graduation if not attended.
Folks I knew were reluctant to claim PhD-status until graduation, but I think that hiring managers in academia and industry tend to find the caveat of not having been through the ceremony to be fairly trivial. Family and friends are especially unlikely to care about that caveat, except as an excuse to talk about how exciting graduation'll be.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: There seems to be a bias, particularly among more established researchers, to only include posters that they presented. There seems to be a trend towards not including (or including as *abstract accepted*) posters where they **are** listed as an author, but someone else presented.
My question is the reverse of that: If you were not involved in the project (thus no authorship), but presented the poster at a conference, would you include that on your CV?
Example: I attended a conference this year; my PI was supposed to present two of their posters, but couldn’t make it at the last minute. We’re currently working on extensions of that research, so I was familiar with the topic, but I wasn’t involved in those particular projects. I was also presenting at that conference, and so I presented my PI’s posters as well.
Is it acceptable to include those on my CV, with a note about “presented by [self] at [event]”?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, it is acceptable. However, I would not list it in my "publication section", rather in a separate section called "Paper/Poster Presentations".
If you received any certificate (or letter) after the presentation, then that is a plus.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I say No. You take credit for your own research product, and don't take credit for other people's research. Giving a poster presentation on somebody else's research is a favor, not a CV element.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Technically you can list whatever you want on your CV as long as it is accurate and not presented in a misleading manner. The main question is whether this is really an important asset and does not leave the reader asking “so what?”.
The only thing that you presenting that poster testifies is that you were once challenged and trusted with presenting somebody else’s work (and hopefully gained some experience). Whether you did a good job with this is impossible to tell for the reader. Presenting your own work at the conference is arguably a dozen times more valuable than this.
As you probably get a recommendation letter from PI as well, it may be more wise to have them mention this event in a positive manner, e.g., if they got feedback on your performance or can state why they trusted you with this task.
Finally, be sure that you do not list this event in a manner that may make somebody who just skims your CV think that you managed to present more posters about your own work than you actually did. Even if your CV is technically accurate, they may feel deceived.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: A few weeks ago, I had an exam. Some of the questions were to be solved by computer and the results printed out and handed in. I didn't do well on the exam: I didn't solve some of the questions and I didn't do the part where I was supposed to print out the results, so I expected to get an F or D but I got a really good grade! Then i went to the professor's office to check my exam i was shocked to see that the papers that I was supposed to print out were "included" and solved correctly!
I was so shocked and nervous I didn't even say a word and left the office! I'm still shocked. I don't know what to do: I don't know if he really helped me or the papers weren't mine and by mistake got included with my papers! And now, when I see him around, I feel awkward. What am I supposed to do?
Shall i go back to his office and tell him i just want to check my grade and leave? Or that i need someone to explain what happened?<issue_comment>username_1: You should go to your professor, explain what happened and your confusion with your score, and ask to retake the test if indeed this was in error.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Do go and see the professor, as pointed out someone else may be hurting. It may well be that the prof could turn around and sort the other person's grade to its correct value - if that is the case, and then say, well for your honesty, yours won't change...
However, do be prepared to retake it, or your grade to change...
It also depends on how many assessments there are in the course: if there are only a few it may be corrected, but if there are many - then it won't make a huge difference...
Be known for your attitude...
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<issue_start>username_0: I teach in a university. I want to ask whether it is allowed to use slides or tutorials that I downloaded from the internet in my class. I don't make any modifications to the slide, which I want to show in the class room and distribute to my students. If the slides have the author's name on it, I will leave it there.
Should I ask for permission for using it and distributing it to my students?<issue_comment>username_1: *Note: I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. Seek a lawyer's opinion if you need a definitive answer.*
**Merely finding something on the internet doesn't prove you have the right to use it.**
* It might be provided free for certain uses, but with restrictions.
* It could even be completely illegal (such as stolen content).
* Quite commonly, material will be posted without a clear statement of how you can legally use it. And under most copyright laws, it is presumed that you do *not* have the right to copy and redistribute material unless that is explicitly granted.
**Check the license, if there is one.** Some material might be provided with an explicit copyright license, such as one of the [Creative Commons licenses](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/). If so, you can simply check if reusing the material for academic use is allowed.
If there is no official license, but the website has an informal statement allowing the material to be reused, that's a gray area. Technically, this probably isn't sufficient to grant you a legal basis to use the material. However, I would probably be happy to proceed on this basis for a low-risk activity like handing out material to students.
**If there is no license, seek permission.** Contact the author and get permission in writing.
**In either case, clearly attribute the material.** If the author of the material isn't clear, add a statement. A copyright license, such as Creative Commons licenses mentioned above, may also have specific requirements for attribution, which you should follow.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I see this happening often. Professor's use visuals (sometimes a lot more, I know people who literally link other course webpages and their notes as part of the class material) for given subjects from courses taught at other universities all the time.
Think about it, not *everything* can be handmade by you. Yes maybe all your written material is yours, but not the visuals.
But **do seek permission**. Maybe the author's are cool with you not using their name at all. Maybe they want a name in the references at the end of the lecture notes. Maybe just a scant mention during the lecture:
>
> **"So the university at X has done this M and this is interesting because K"**
>
>
>
I guess it's okay as long as you dont pretend the work represented by the visual was done by you, for eg. if you use a visual representing a project done at a specific university, but then you fail to mention who did it and talk about it as if your own work, then I guess there could be problems if someone finds out.
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<issue_start>username_0: (*I am from an engineering background and know very little about liberal arts
and humanity programs, so I apologize in advance if my question sounds condescending or ignorant.*)
I am often puzzled as to how academicians in the humanities (<- corrected) such as philosophy or religious study or in other branches of liberal arts, apply or integrate what we usually think of as "hard sciences" such as mathematics or physics into their studies. This is partially motivated by the plethora of questions on academia stackexchange asking about the feasibility of switching between from one to the other and vice versa, such as,
[Teaching philosophy with a PhD in math](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/98645/teaching-philosophy-with-a-phd-in-math?rq=1)
[Changing field from Computer Science to Philosophy](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/42179/changing-field-from-computer-science-to-philosophy?rq=1)
**I have two main questions:**
* I am not certain as to the difference between, for
example, a computer scientist like <NAME>, versus a philosopher
of computer science (there is certainly no shortage of philosophizing computer science, see
<https://www.scottaaronson.com/papers/philos.pdf>). In particular,
could your average researcher or a student studying the philosophy of computer science feasibly come up
with new results in computer science or theorems on complexity theory?
* Are there well-publicized research performed by religious
scholars or philosophers that actually inform or advances or guides
the development of mainstream theory in say astrophysics, biology,
medicine, mathematics, etc.?
While I am aware that these titles are not mutually exclusive, i.e.,
a student of philosophy may well have a background in mathematics and vice versa, ultimately I am not certain about how subjects such as mathematics and physics can be made relevant to philosophy (or other areas). This has kept me wondering about the hypothetical questions: what would Kant say about string theory? What would Spinoza say about ZFC?
What would Kierkegaard say about neural networks? Or the other way around, in what ways can quantum computing inform phenomenology?<issue_comment>username_1: As to your second question,
>
> Are there well-publicized research performed by religious scholars or
> philosophers that actually inform or advances or guides the
> development of mainstream theory in say astrophysics, biology,
> medicine, mathematics, etc.?
>
>
>
I can think of two examples.
**Ethics** is a branch of philosophy, and it certainly informs and guides the development of theory in science. It furnishes some first principles about how to do science, that are relevant across disciplines. It is also additionally relevant in specific fields like medicine and biology.
Besides influencing *how* research is conducted, it also is important for determining *what* is studied and *why*. For example, if medical research has the goal of saving lives, where did that goal come from? It has a moral/ethical basis.
I'm sure you will find plenty of philosophical and religious research that informs science in this regard (though I'm not an expert and can't easily provide some examples).
It might not be quite what you had in mind, but I do think it satisfies your statement "inform[s] or advances or guides the development of mainstream theory".
Also **religion and medicine have some overlap** in that they both (often) share a goal of caring for people. Religious thought has some influence in medicine for this reason. For example, chaplains usually have an official role in hospitals, even hospitals that have no religious affiliation.
Religious thought similarly influences some branches of medical research for this reason. There is a healthcare research area in providing "holistic patient care" (meaning caring for all of a patient's needs, not just medical--not to be confused with "holistic medicine" which is typically a term for quackery). Religious thought has some influence in this area.
Again, I'm not an expert, but [here is one example](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749069004000655) of an article on the influence of religion in palliative (end of life) care. Note that it's published in a medical journal, and its authors include a doctor and two religious leaders.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: First, a historical note: The idea that philosophy and mathematics are separate fields is a recent invention. A few hundred years ago, they were spoken of as one and the same. If you go back even further to the 16th century, physics becomes part of that same field, and **even further back the term “philosophy” referred to any systemic investigation whose result was knowledge**. For example, Newton’s great work was titled *Principles of username_3ural Philosophy* (in Latin) and while Aristotle more famously wrote on ethics and metaphysics, he also wrote on zoology, logic, physics, and biological taxonomy amongst other topics. Herodotus (primarily a historian by modern standards) and Hippocrates (a primarily a physician) were both considered philosophers. Herodotus wrote important religious theory in his history books and Hippocrates wrote important ethical ideas in his medical works (ask any western doctor about the “Hippocratic Oath”). These didn’t seem like digressions and interludes to contemporary readers. These were all works addressing topics of philosophy.
>
> 1. What is the difference between the Philosophy of Computer Science and Computer Science?
>
>
>
Roughly, science studies X and the philosophy of science studies people who study X, ideas about X, and the connection between X and other philosophical questions. Topics in the philosophy of X (for every science) include questions that define the scope and nature of the field, as well as its epistemic standards such as research methods and standards of evidence.
Three examples of questions along these lines are:
1. In physics, there is generally a preference for a theory that possesses “mathematical elegance” over one that appears to be more ad hoc, even when the two theories have identical observed evidence. Is having this preference legitimate? If so, can it be justified based on the practice of physics alone or does it require appeal to other principles (maybe ontological principles, or epistemic ones)?
2. In computer science, one studies computers and computation. Given an object, how do you tell if it’s a computer? What does it mean to solve something “via a computation” or “via an algorithm” as opposed to via other means?
3. In physics, one studies the physical properties of objects. Someone might be tempted to say that mathematics analogously studies the mathematical properties of objects. However, we are used to thinking of physical properties as being those embodied by physical objects that exists in physical space (that is, mass is a property of this ball that exists in the world). Is there an analogous sense in which mathematical properties are embodied by mathematical objects that exist in mathematical space?
Over the course of the investigation of these topics, topic-specific questions tend to crop up. Contemporary philosophy of mathematics is extremely concerned with ontological and epistemological questions, while contemporary philosophy of medicine is primarily concerned with ethical issues and the philosophy of biology involves questions about the precise nature of life and the implications of extraterrestrial life.
It’s quite possible that someone could be an expert in subjects like this and not be able to do cutting edge mathematics and physics, though answering these questions certainly requires a substantial knowledge of the fields of science you are analyzing.
>
> 2. Are there well-publicized research performed by religious scholars or philosophers that actually inform or advances or guides the development of mainstream theory in say astrophysics, biology, medicine, mathematics, etc.?
>
>
>
The answer historically is yes, even setting aside the historical note I opened with. Thales, Aristotle, Alhazen, <NAME>, and <NAME> are all famous people who would be considered philosophers by today’s standards who made substantial contributions to physics, astronomy, biology, medicine, mathematics, and other fields of science. If you’re looking for more recent contributions it’s more difficult.
There seems to be a historical bias in categorizing people as scientists when they did both science and philosophy (by modern standards). Although he’s far more famous for his work on calculus, Leibniz was also a very influential philosopher, and probably more influential as a philosopher in his time than as a mathematician. You’ve probably heard of his theory that we live in the “best of all possible worlds,” because an all powerful and all good god wouldn’t let us live in anything else. These ideas were so influential in his day that Voltaire became famous in part for attacking Leibniz’s philosophy, such as in his book *Candide*. Einstein, Minkowski, Turing, and Nash all did philosophy, but that aspect of their work is less well-known to the general public.
There are some people who are widely classified as philosophers who made substantial scientific advances in recent times. The work of the logician <NAME> (1848 - 1925) was ignored in mathematics for a while, but the mathematicians <NAME> and <NAME> would revolutionize mathematics by introducing axiomatic systems of logic and arithmetic grounded in Frege’s work. Linguistics is an example of a science that recently grew out of a field of philosophy, and so many recent philosophers have had substantial impacts on linguistics, such as <NAME> (1889 - 1951) and <NAME> (1940 - Present). The philosopher of mind and philosopher of language <NAME> (1966 - Present) is hugely influential in the development of fields of computer science such as artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction. Chalmers is one of those people whose ideas are used to benchmark and understand developments in AI, as he has written extensively on the concept of intelligence and coined the term “the hard problem of consciousness.”
<NAME> (1711 - 1776) wrote a book called *an Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding* which is undoubtedly one of the 10 most influential philosophical works ever written in the West. Although it’s impact is most prominent in philosophy (Kant famously claimed that it woke him from his “dogmatic slumber”), it also was highly relevant to scientists and the sciences. Einstein had the following to say about it in a letter to <NAME>, 14 December 1915
>
> You have also correctly seen that this trend of thought [positivism] was of great influence on my efforts, and specifically <NAME> and still much more Hume, whose treatise on understanding I studied with fervor and admiration shortly before the discovery of the theory of relativity. It is very well possible that without these philosophical studies I would not have arrived at the solution.
>
>
>
This wasn’t one of your main points, but I also wanted to address this:
>
> ultimately I am not certain about how subjects such as mathematics and physics can be made relevant to philosophy (or other areas).
>
>
>
They don’t need to be “made relevant to philosophy.” Anything that increases ones understanding of the world is something that is relevant to philosophy. However, one could wonder to what extent the technical details of scientific theories or scientific methods affect philosophy. Like any question about the interdisciplinary use of techniques developed in one field but applied to others, the answer to highly depends on the field of philosophy and the skill of the philosopher, but virtually every scientific advance gets used by some philosophers for something. There are ontologists whose arguments about the philosophy of time that revolve around technical details of Einstein’s theories of relativity, epistemologists who use category theory, philosophers of mind who use results from cutting edge neuroscience research, and ethicists and metaethicists who read and make extensive use of results from social sciences such as economics, behavioral psychology, and decision theory.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: >
> How do academics in fields like philosophy apply mathematics or physics in their discipline?
>
>
>
**They usually don't.**
Typically, being a "philosopher" is taken to disclaim one's ability to perform technical work. Anyone who can do both Physics and Philosophy:
* ***is*** a physicist;
* ***is not*** a philosopher;
in mainstream terminology. For example, <NAME> is a "*physicist*"; calling him a "*philosopher*" would sound strange to many, despite his powerful mastery of Philosophy and the fact that this mastery led to his greatest scientific achievements.
The thing is that you need to study the technical aspect of a field to be competitive in it. The philosophical side is something that you do in your own time.
For example, Einstein studied "Physics" in school. Through his personal studies, he acquired a deeper understanding of it than many of his peers; in some sense, he was a true physicist while many of his peers were more like technicians who worked the abstract machinery others had made for them. But, since he got his PhD in Physics, that's how folks saw him.
Though I used Physics as a specific example above, the same applies to most technical fields, including math, computer science, etc.. In general, if you excel at a technical field, you're identified in terms of that technical field.
[@StellaBiderman's answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/98798/38709) covers a lot of great points, so I won't repeat them here.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> Are there well-publicized research performed by religious scholars or philosophers that actually inform or advances or guides the development of mainstream theory in say astrophysics, **biology**, **medicine**, mathematics, etc.?
>
>
>
Philosophers, and religious scholars, have had a tremendous impact on these fields in a number of ways. The most obvious is bioethics - especially in medicine and related fields (public health, veterinary medicine, etc.) the advancement of science is accompanied by potential interventions on populations and individuals. These are inherently ethical and philosophical questions, and do not take place in a purely philosophical vacuum.
Whether a study is ethical, whether an *intervention* is ethical, and even questions like what is the cost of an intervention are often discussions that involve the humanities. As are things like understanding why people do what they do - I'd argue that medicine and public health have suffered from not paying attention to the social sciences and the humanities more.
Consider this quote from <NAME>:
>
> In school, rarely do we learn skepticism, and how political winds can
> influence it, morphing skepticism into obstinance.
>
>
>
It would be fairly straightforward to argue that this is precisely what the humanities teaches.
I'd also note that a year or so ago at a major conference in my field (infectious diseases), I noticed that every keynote speaker said *something* in their talk that betrayed a grounding in the liberal arts had influenced their work.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: A physicist focuses on physical objects, but a philosopher is not limited to that which is observable as an object. Mathematical knowledge is necessary for mechanical reproduction of a non physical concept. Theoretical mathematics is helpful in understanding something that is already physically manifest or in attempting to create something physical from a concept.
A philosopher can contemplate without the use of mathematics relationships that are not easily measured e.g. those that exist within and between the human species. Although, the more resources we expend to understanding and developing the human species the more likely we will begin to apply mathematics to human behavior. However, we currently expend more resources developing machines to the point of creating machines that mimic human behavior. Why, because we know that the creative capabilities of the human species far exceeds anything else physically that we have general access to.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I have had it with my advisor's unethical behavior, demanding people to be removed from papers, removing my cosupervisor without telling me and insinuating that he has "appointed a new one".
What is the best way to break up with him? The PhD school already has a procedure in place, but do you advise I speak with him before I start this process?
Do I tell him the very truth for why I don't want him anymore or simply state some other reasons and stroke his ego anyway?
UPDATE: He wouldn't meet with me, so I didn't even have a chance to be hesitant about speaking with him. He suggested a third supervisor other than the one I had chosen, and I respectfully declined.<issue_comment>username_1: Despite your disgust with your advisor, you have to ask yourself - do you really want to burn bridges? Your advisor is most probably much more renowned figure in your department and in your discipline. I would advice to make the breakup as civil as possible, as to not backfire on your future career.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If you are having trouble with your advisor, I think you should talk to your department's director of graduate studies (or the equivalent). At most universities (at least all the ones I have been at), there is someone whose job it is to handle paperwork and the such. They are also there to act as a kind of ombudsman, helping students handle disagreements with advisors.
I've had this role before, and I view myself as squarely on the side of the student. I can fight advisors on their behalf. I've done all of the things you are asking for: navigating committee changes, telling an advisor they are no longer a students' advisor, etc.
I think it is important to document such behavior on the part of the advisor. Even if your breakup with the advisor goes poorly, an official record of such behavior might make the department think twice about allowing such a pattern to continue.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: While I have no sympathy for your advisor, you need to learn how the procedures go in your deparment/faculty/university.
I know of a case where the procedure to change supervisor required the signature of the previous supervisor, and due to the strained relation the supervisor didn't want to sign. I don't know how hard the student fought, but the fact is that he never finished his Ph.D.
Bottom line is, you need to get people on your side (graduate coordinator, department head, etc.) if you plan to "burn bridges" and you want to make it work.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I recommend that you break your problem into two parts. First, how do you obtain a new PhD advisor? And second, should you complain formally, or informally, about the behavior of your current advisor? If possible, completely decouple these problems. Solve the first one first. And then decide how you would like to address the second.
Follow the rules of your university to obtain a new PhD advisor. Even if those rules require you to explain your actions, they cannot force you to fully disclose all your reasons. I would not disclose any reasons that your current advisor might perceive as personal attacks during this process. You will feel better about your situation at your university after you have a new advisor. And you can take your time to address the second problem.
The second problem is much trickier. I recommend that you start by documenting your experience of his bad behavior in considerable detail. Include all facts that support your negative experience, especially hard evidence like emails, conversations you had with third parties, etc. Write and think like a lawyer. In your mind, evaluate the strength of your documentation from the perspective of an impartial Dean at your school.
I encourage you to NOT think of complaining as an opportunity for you to vent about how badly you've been treated. Rather, think about whether you can help the university.
There are probably multiple ways you could complain about his unethical behavior. You could talk to him privately. I would only do this if you think he would be receptive to your feedback, which would be unusual. Other ways you could complain likely include a subset of these: file a formal complaint with your institution's ombudsperson; talk informally with your department's chair; file a complaint through the graduate school, either a PhD student affairs department or a Dean. Your institution may have other mechanisms. I'll use the term 'go public' to include any of these that are not limited to the advisor himself.
Note that you can talk to university administrators in the abstract to evaluate your options. That is, you can meet with them and say you've observed certain disturbing behavior in a faculty person, and ask how they recommend that you proceed, without disclosing the identity of the faculty person.
With regard about whether to proceed, weigh the plusses and minuses. It's likely that your advisor has behaved similarly in multiple situations. The situation might be analogous to recent public disclosures of inappropriate sexual behavior in entertainment and other industries.
The positive outcome that you might achieve is to protect other students from similar behavior in the future. You might also help validate negative experiences of your advisor's other advisees. The negative outcome is that you will be seen as an outlier, and the school's power structure will coalesce around your advisor.
Before you complain publicly, whether formally, informally or both, I recommend that you assess these tradeoffs by talking privately and face to face (or by phone) with people who are or have been closely associated with your advisor. Are they familiar with similar previous behavior? Did the student complain? What happened? Are there people of integrity and power who would support you? Are there other students ready to go public concurrently with you or who you think might quickly follow you?
Morally, I encourage you to go public. But practically, I would encourage you to go public only if you think the benefits outweigh the risks. It might be a difficult choice.
Finally, remember that you're under no time pressure to go public.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I have found an error in a published article. The error lies within the method section.
I would like then to write a correspondence to let people know about this issue and to explain what could have been done correctly.
I tried to look into the journal webpage but it seems they do not publish correspondences. Where can I then submit my ‘correction’?
My field is applied physical science.
Thanks<issue_comment>username_1: If the error is simply a typo, or two, or a wrong sub-result which does not fully invalidate the findings, don't bother: the chances of publishing are almost zero. (E.g., in mathematics, around 80% of results are expected to be wrong in the strict sense of the word, e.g., not checking whether your claim "for all n≥0 ..." really includes the case n=0. I don't know about the applied physics, though.)
Thus, let's now assume you have found a serious error. A typical procedure is submitting a corrigendum. Corrigenda get seldom published, though. Read the submission guidelines of the journal in question, and, if it doesn't help, ask the editor.
Usually, the chances of getting such a corrigendum published oneself are slim unless one collaborates with the original authors ‒ otherwise, they would be asked to evaluate the corrigendum.
An aside: If *methods* mean *methodology* (rather than, say, *algorithms*), my personal approach to refereeing the paper would be checking whether the new authors
* justify why the published part is wrong as it is,
* improve the wrong part,
* and re-do it **completely**, i.e., improve the methodology **and apply it**.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Some high-profile journals such as *Nature* and *Science* accept and publish comments and critiques of their published articles. That's understandable since many of the articles published in such journals are of frontier-level research and, hence, often controversial. But I don't believe that most journals have a mechanism for publishing comments and critiques of published articles. If you want to be helpful, you could just look up the email address of the first author or corresponding author of the article that you have a problem with (oftentimes the email address of the corresponding author is listed on the article itself), and then write a diplomatic email to him or her asking for clarification about the point which you believe is in error. There's nothing wrong with asking for clarification about a point. Also, keep in mind that there's always a possibility that you may be the one who is wrong, and that they may have a good explanation for the point which you believe to be an error.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: How do you overcome advisers constantly moving the football / changing their minds?
I write papers after recommendations from my advisers and every time I end up redoing the entire analysis or asking an entirely different question. I feel like <NAME> and Lucy keeps moving the football. Here are three examples:
1. I spent the entire third year of my PhD working on a paper with my committee chair using a specific type of model he specializes in to answer my research question. After completing the paper and submitting it to my department for review, my adviser comes back and says to scrap it. I pushed back a bit and asked what should be changed, but nothing could change his mind. He wanted a two-page outlining the new research question and modeling strategy. So I scrapped it and now the paper sits in a folder in my Dropbox.
2. I spent my summer working on another paper with my committee chair as part of my dissertation. I finalize my results and draft a paper for my proposal defense. My committee approves my proposal, but in a meeting afterwards my chair suggests I redo the research question and thus incorporate a new modeling strategy. The paper has gone through several revisions, is complete, and ready to be sent out for peer review. However, here I am again reworking the analysis with a completely different modeling strategy and question.
3. And finally, another paper I have been working on has had results for over a year, but is now undergoing a major revision to rework the modeling strategy, again. I am now on the 4th major revision of this paper having redone the entire analysis each time. I was literally writing up the results/discussion section of the paper when I received an email suggesting we rework the model.
On top of these three examples, I have two working papers that need minor revisions and are at a point where they could be sent out for peer review. I have published several papers as lead author and constantly review papers for other academic journals in my field, so while my experience is limited I know my research can be published.
I feel like my advisers keep moving the football and I can't get my dissertation completed. I was on track to graduate in the spring, but none of the papers for my dissertation are complete and it appears I will need another year. But my experience thus far has lead me to believe Lucy will continue to move the football, so I'm considering dropping out and finishing ABD.
How can I deal with this constant momentum shift of my papers with advisers?<issue_comment>username_1: I experienced a bit of what you're describing near the end of my PhD. I got a lot of good advice from colleagues that had completed their doctorates. Here's how I dealt with it.
Remember that it's *your* PhD, and you are (mostly) in charge. At this point, you should have a pretty good idea of what's really required for a PhD. (If not, skim more dissertations from similar research projects.)
There will always be more that could be done to further the research. There's always another technique you could try, another analysis to do. Your goal should be to do what's required to finish the PhD, no more. (Of course, you want to do quality work, but if you've made it this far, I doubt you'd settle for less.) You can always continue the research as a postdoc, or let someone else continue it. That's what the "future directions" section is for in your thesis.
Your advisors are focussed on the research itself, and the logical next steps, rather than on wrapping up your PhD. That doesn't mean they're bad people, or deliberately trying to frustrate you. They're just human.
Sit down and figure out what *you* think needs to be done before you are ready to finish the experiments, finalise your thesis, and defend it. Then meet with your advisors and get their feedback. If they suggest doing more experiments or analysis, beyond what you think is necessary, you might say something like "I agree that's a good future direction, but I think that could be done post-PhD." Your goal is not to convince them that X doesn't need to be done, it's to discuss whether X needs to be done before the PhD can be awarded. Negotiate things from that point-of-view, and I think you'll find it easier to reach agreement.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: One of my colleagues went through a similar problem when he was in graduate school: his primary advisor kept moving the goalposts on him as he was trying to finish all his papers and graduate.
There are no easy solutions here. The best thing I would do is use the fact that you have all of this work done waiting and ready to go out. It sounds like you already have enough material for a dissertation. Therefore, I would suggest that you compile everything you have done so far, and present it to your committee. Let them know that "this is what I have done that's waiting for peer review," and ask if everyone can come to the agreement that it's ready to go out. If not, then ask, as username_1 suggests, *exactly* what needs to be done. Then stick to it. (It seems your advisor has a severe case of "perfectionitis"—good for him in the long term, bad for you in the here and now.)
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I would like to ask this community for help in finding good strategies for avoiding an aspect of my mindset that I don't much like, which I get when I've been working on a given project for a while - I begin to lose track of how novel and nontrivial the work is, sometimes leading to full-on crises of confidence in my work and, in bad cases, in my capabilities.
This happens to me once I'm rather deep into the project, around the stages of writing it up, defending it in correspondence with referees, and preparing presentations on the subject. (To anchor things a bit, I am a theoretical physicist working on analytical approaches in quantum mechanics.) In the initial stages of the project, and particularly at the times I have significant breakthroughs of either a technical or a conceptual nature, the elation and thrill of discovery will carry me a long way, and I end up building quite elaborate conceptual and mathematical structures that I am quite pleased with.
However, as a result of the familiarity that comes with using those initial breakthroughs over and over again, after some time they begin to 'flatten' in my mind as just regular features of my work, and the nontriviality of the tools I've built begins to wash out as the pains I felt when building them begin to fade into the distance. This is a version of 'familiarity breeds contempt', though maybe contempt is a bit too strong - it's just the over-familiarity that's the problem.
Now, this isn't really [burnout](https://academia.stackexchange.com/search?q=burnout), as this doesn't impact my day-to-day motivation to work or the energy I have to do it, and I continue to have interesting questions to work on and interesting answers for them. However, when I'm building a case for my work, particularly in writing, I find it hard to muster enthusiasm about the initial building blocks (usually the key advances in the work, particularly as perceived by an outsider) and to see them as anything other than well-trodden ground and everyday sort of fare. I know that it's because that's the ground *I* tread on every day, and that no one else does thus far, but it still impacts how I write about those tools and it makes it harder for me to present them with their full impact on the field.
I know that to some extent this sense of 'flattening' comes from the fact that as time goes on, I often find simpler routes to the results and tools of interest, and I know at an intellectual level that the existence of those simpler routes does not negate the effort it took to find the first one. That is, a result X that took months to understand can also be seen by spending a modest amount of effort building Y and then you "just add Z", but that still doesn't mean that the result is obvious to outsiders, and I know that the wholesale replacement of complex machinery for simpler tooling is also an achievement by itself. However, at a gut level, I still struggle seeing the result X in its full nontriviality, and it keeps flattening into just a trivial consequence of Z.
Moreover, I also have a good deal of objective evidence that the results are new and nontrivial, particularly in the fact that if I meet someone and walk them through the work, then the sheer amount of time it takes to go from baseline through the problem and tooling and up to the main results tells me that the material is indeed nontrivial, even after the simplifications. Similarly, the positive feedback I get in those situations tells me the work is worth its salt. However, that often lodges at an intellectual level but fails to register too much at a gut level of emotional handling.
I hope I've been able to describe this mindset sufficiently well. If nothing else, I would like the reassurance of knowing that I'm not the only one that faces this, but more importantly, I would like to know how folks with more punches under their belt handle this kind of situation, and what strategies I can try to regain an outsider's view of how novel and nontrivial my results are.<issue_comment>username_1: You are not the only researcher who experiences this. Certainly I personally also do.
It sounds to me like your question is whether these feelings of overexposure to your own work are:
1. pathological--the result of some psychological process which makes you feel disenchanted with your old papers, regardless of their actual merit--or:
2. simply *accurate*--that is, as time passes, you come to have a more accurate appraisal of your own papers.
You already have suspicions about which of these two possibilities is actually correct. Personally, I try not to second-guess my own negative feelings about myself, so here is a strategy which I have found totally avoids the need to decide between possibilities #1 and #2: by working on a massive, multi-year, very ambitious project which requires many, many papers to develop, explain, and "make good on", I find that my feelings of overexposure about my own old papers, my own looking-at-my-old-papers-and-immediately-seeing-everything-I-could-have-done-better, those feelings are overcome by my excitement for the future of this broader long-term project and the small piece of that project that each of those imperfect papers puts into place. Being able to say to myself "I wish I would have written that old paper more elegantly, or proven this stronger result," or whatever, these feelings are washed away by the feeling of "That paper, no matter how wretched and ugly, still allows me to carry out the next step in the broader project," and then I can live with having written it. Maybe this approach can work for you too.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: When you write papers or prepare presentations, keep in mind a reasonable audience.
If possible, I prefer to have in mind a specific person whom I've worked with, but I've also written for an imaginary generic grad student of someone I've worked with or tried to construct a composite person from several people (but then I have to be careful that this imaginary person doesn't know everything any of the individuals actually know).
If you don't have an audience in mind, it's easy to default to writing for yourself, which is ridiculous, since you already know everything you're writing. Having an audience in mind makes you explain ideas at the right level of detail, which will naturally lead you to explain what's new about your work.
Unfortunately, this advice isn't very useful to grad students who don't know any experts in their field other than their advisor, and in particular don't know what other experts don't know already.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I find that giving conference presentations helps. The people listening haven't been immersed in that exact topic for years, and are likely to find it newer and more interesting than you do, and their questions can help to remind you of this.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am about to submit a manuscript in which I point to some methodological errors that I found in some literature. The error may significantly change part of the results and conclusions if those papers.
I thought I should first contact the authors of those papers to discuss the issue with them. Especially, to check if they actually made that mistake or if their methods were not detailed enough.
However, most of the authors that I tried to contact did not answer back (I checked their actual email address) or did not remember the details of their analysis.
What should I do? Am I "allowed" to point to some papers that I repute wrong only on the base of the details given in their method section?<issue_comment>username_1: Of course you can publish it if you think someone is wrong. This is the entire point of science. Always do so in a nice way though: it is very well possible that everything appeared to be correct with the knowledge at the time the paper was published. Or that it is you who misinterpreted the methods (possibly because the paper was a little vague), as you suggest in your question.
Even if it was really a mistake: everybody makes mistakes from time to time and that is nothing to be ashamed about. You did the right thing by contacting the authors first. Not only is it the correct thing to do, but I have also seen this lead to new collaborations that resulted in multiple papers.
If both the paper and the errors were important, it is your *responsibility* as a scientist to correct the errors. But if the errors are minor, the result is "unimportant", or you are not 100% sure that there actually is a mistake, you could also decide to simply ignore the paper. There are plenty of bad and/or unimportant papers out there and frankly, they do not deserve the attention even if it is to correct mistakes.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: In reference to "Especially, to check if they actually made that mistake or if their methods were not detailed enough." and "did not remember the details of their analysis."
Be very careful when you write your manuscript, and *do not assume that authors made this mistake*. It is perfectly fine to say something like, "There are two ways to do this procedure, and it isn't obvious in the literature which is the right way. In fact, many authors do not specify whether they do A or B. We show that only B is correct." It is also fine to say, "If the authors did A, it would bias their analysis by [...]" - and to point out whether or not there are signs of this effect.
This is both polite (by providing the benefit of the doubt) and also allows you to make a more conservative, but confident claim. This also helps you! If you write your paper assuming other people did their analysis wrong, a referee could say, "No, we didn't do A, we did B, everyone who isn't an idiot knows to do B" - and that doesn't bode well. But if you say, "Given the methods commonly described, it's impossible to tell if these results are accurate," this is both true and much more difficult to dispute!
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: So I have noticed that there are exact solutions to the exact question I found on an assignment sheet for a unit/class that I am currently doing (the source is from another college's publication on their own assignment). My question is that: is my professor allowed to use this particular question (which is identical in every way, even the wording) in an assignment given to us? Does this not count as being academically dishonest on the professor's part? I know that if I use these solutions it is plagiarism, but isn't using this question in an assignment given to us without any citations or references to the original source, counted as plagiarism on the professor's part?<issue_comment>username_1: No. Unlike for students (who have to demonstrate their understanding) and for research (which has to demonstrate an improvement to the state of the art in the field) there is no expectation of originality in homework questions, and there is no ethical problem with having multiple classes work through the same problem set. There are even arguments to be made that it is a good thing for students to be judged on a uniform basis.
It would only be a problem if your prof represented these questions as his own work e.g. when highlighting his teaching contributions in his evaluation or in candidatures for a new position. As a student, you wouldn't be in a position to know about this.
There might also be a copyright issue if your professor did not ask for permission to use these questions. But there is no reason to assume that he didn't.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Wikipedia defines plagiarism as:
>
> the "wrongful appropriation" and "stealing and publication" of another
> author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions" and the
> representation of them as one's own original work.
>
>
>
It is most likely not plagiarism:
* You do not know if the professor "wrongfully appropriated" (stole) the work. Maybe the other professor gave him the questions or they worked together?
* A question sheet may or may not be a "publication" (depending on local law).
* The professor is not *required* to make his own questions, so he is not "representing them as his own work".
You should also consider the following:
* Maybe they both got their questions from a third source, for example the teaching-version of a textbook (that allows questions to be copied)
* Copying a question is not cheating. Copying an answer (as a student) is.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes if he claims that his/her work. If not, that is not plagiarism.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: In a conference with an author rebuttal phase, I received a review from a reviewer (who gave a strong reject) asking to compare my work to a paper which is not even on the same problem as my paper. I firmly believe that this review is biased and the reviewer is either the author of the paper, which he/she is asking me to compare or was planning to putting a similar paper.
Is it okay to email the chairs to look into my paper and reviews?<issue_comment>username_1: No. Unlike for students (who have to demonstrate their understanding) and for research (which has to demonstrate an improvement to the state of the art in the field) there is no expectation of originality in homework questions, and there is no ethical problem with having multiple classes work through the same problem set. There are even arguments to be made that it is a good thing for students to be judged on a uniform basis.
It would only be a problem if your prof represented these questions as his own work e.g. when highlighting his teaching contributions in his evaluation or in candidatures for a new position. As a student, you wouldn't be in a position to know about this.
There might also be a copyright issue if your professor did not ask for permission to use these questions. But there is no reason to assume that he didn't.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Wikipedia defines plagiarism as:
>
> the "wrongful appropriation" and "stealing and publication" of another
> author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions" and the
> representation of them as one's own original work.
>
>
>
It is most likely not plagiarism:
* You do not know if the professor "wrongfully appropriated" (stole) the work. Maybe the other professor gave him the questions or they worked together?
* A question sheet may or may not be a "publication" (depending on local law).
* The professor is not *required* to make his own questions, so he is not "representing them as his own work".
You should also consider the following:
* Maybe they both got their questions from a third source, for example the teaching-version of a textbook (that allows questions to be copied)
* Copying a question is not cheating. Copying an answer (as a student) is.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes if he claims that his/her work. If not, that is not plagiarism.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: For the first time (I am a relatively junior professor), a student has asked me to write a letter of recommendation for him for graduate school application in the US. I was glad to do so, as he is an excellent student who has performed research with me - we have authored a paper together.
On going through my letter now, it seems a bit ... unnatural. I have used the same adjective on multiple occasions - I only know so many ways to say that a student is 'good' at something. I am also sure that some of my word-choices will be noted as peculiar to the native speaker - most of my English writing experience is in academic contexts. While comparing to random examples that I have found on the internet, my letter seems boring and dull. I am also sure that my letter will have grammar errors of some form or another.
I wanted to know how admissions committees avoid having biases towards letters written by more talented writers, or by native speakers. If you were to put two letters having similar contents in front of me - one written by me and one written by a British or American or any other native English speaking professor, I would say that theirs is definitely superior, and I would feel more positively to their student.<issue_comment>username_1: I think your question falsely equates being a "talented writer" with things like knowing correct English grammar and spelling and knowing many synonyms for "good", which native English speakers are better at than non-native ones. Those things may indeed be correlated, but they are far from the same, and there are many native English speakers who are crappy writers, and plenty of non-native ones who are "talented writers" who can write a very compelling letter of recommendation, whether grammatically correct or not.
To me, a talented writer is someone who has a good ability to communicate complex ideas effectively in writing. In the context of a letter of recommendation, the grammar and spelling may be poor and the choice of words can be clunky in certain places but the letter can still tell a good story about why the student is worth admitting and be more persuasive than a dry, boring but grammatically flawless letter written by a less talented writer. So, to the extent that students whose letters are written by talented writers enjoy an advantage in admissions decisions, that advantage is not what I would call an *unfair* advantage or a *bias*; at least, it's no more unfair than many other merit parameters that applications are judged upon, many of which are unfair to some extent. (In particular, with letters of recommendation there is certainly some unfairness that is intrinsic to the whole system of LORs that academia is built on, since how effective the letters are depends on many random factors, including how talented the writers happen to be).
To summarize, as a general rule I don't think there is any particular "native speaker bias" that needs to be avoided. Admissions committee should read the letters and be impressed by each letter precisely to the extent that it makes a compelling case for admission.\*
---
\*The only possible exception to this conclusion is in the case of letters coming from countries where many academics really can't speak or write English very well. Those letters in some cases can be extremely difficult to extract any useful information from, and an applicant with such letters is probably not going to fare too well, perhaps unfairly. However, I don't see what can be done about that -- that is essentially one of the flaws intrinsic to the entire LOR system, as I mentioned above. The system may be flawed, but as far as I know no one has yet found a system that works better.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I was in charge of graduate admissions in my department (mathematics) for several years, and my impression is that there can be a problem with letters of recommendation from certain foreign countries, but that the problem is a matter of culture, not language. I can decipher quite badly written sentences, but I need to see relevant information after deciphering. I don't need to know that the student comes from a highly respected family. I need to know that (s)he can learn and do mathematics and is enthusiastic about mathematics, and I want to see evidence for those things, not just assertions. So go ahead and write your letter, with whatever useful information you have, and don't worry too much about grammar, spelling, and literary style. (Although I've written a lot about myself here, I think the most admissions officers feel the same way.)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> I wanted to know how admissions committees avoid having biases towards letters written by more talented writers, or by native speakers.
>
>
>
They can't completely eliminate biases, though usually reviewers intend to focus on objective analysis. They want to select the ideal applicants rather than to critique the writing style of the applicants' recommendation writers.
It's difficult to make broad statements about how your writing style might affect the outcome because it's very subjective. The problem is that biases are fundamentally unavoidable in this context; so, while reviewers will tend to try to compensate for perceived personal biases, compensation is rarely perfect.
Sometimes they'll over-correct, and others they'll under-correct. Trying to game that is unlikely to be a particularly productive endeavor.
However, you can attempt to minimize the bias issue by focusing on objectivity and avoiding softer modes of communication. You might want to:
1. Focus on providing objective information.
* If a reviewer can pick out objective facts, then their mind is more likely to focus on those facts and not how they were conveyed.
* Hard facts translate relatively well.
2. Avoid soft claims.
* Many writers like to provide opinions about those that they recommend, but opinions are difficult for reviewers to interpret. It's even harder when a language barrier further confuses things.
3. Avoid references, cliches, idioms, etc. that don't translate to the target culture well.
4. Consider the target culture's value system.
* Cultures can have different values on issues like work ethic, creativity, particular evaluation metrics, etc.. It can help to learn about the target culture's value system and speak to it.
* For example, between the US and China, I tend to perceive Americans as having a relatively high value on creativity with Chinese having a relatively high value on work ethic. If writing a recommendation letter to the US/China, I'd try to ensure that I portion the focus correctly (but not over-correct, either).
5. Ask someone else who speaks the language well to review your letter and provide feedback.
* For privacy reasons, you may want to redact the student's name or personal details before providing the letter to a reviewer. However, I'd generally assume that a recommendation letter shouldn't contain too much sensitive information as it's meant to be furnished to third parties anyway.
* It can help if you know a native member of the target culture. They can help provide feedback on not just the language, but also the cultural aspects.
In the end, there's only so much that you can do, as there's a lot of noise in this particular mode of communication. So I wouldn't recommend fretting about it too much.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Can I add an author after the journal accepted my article but has not yet published it? I’m considering to add a friend later, but I am not sure about it now.<issue_comment>username_1: It's journal dependent, and for a respectable journal, you would probably need to present a good case for it.
In any case: Ask the editor! And chances will only be worse the longer you wait.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Essentially, no, you can't reasonably add an author to an accepted paper to your manuscript after it's been accepted. Doing so generally implies, as several commenters have already suggested, that you neglected to acknowledge someone's vital contribution to the paper (which is unethical), the person didn't want to be acknowledged for some reason (very rare), or you've done something else unethical to add the author (a "quid pro quo"-like arrangement?).
The only way it would be really acceptable to add an author is if you realize there is a significant problem in the manuscript which you correct or modify with the help of the new author. Note that this means further review is probably required.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: You got yourself into an awkward spot:
* If the friend of yours did significant work on the paper, then she should have been an author of the paper all along. By omitting the friend's name from the list of authors, you were academically dishonest.
* If the friend of yours did *not* do significant work on the paper, then she should not be an author. If you add her as an author, you are being academically dishonest.
The first of these is a situation you can rectify by adding her before publication. The second situation will be with you forever if you do something unethical. Either way, a good editor will want to hear a good explanation for how you got yourself into this situation.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergraduate student, and recently I was introduced a PhD student in my university's math department.
In a brief interaction with him, he mentioned that he was doing work in Differential Topology, an area which I happen to be self-studying at the moment. I asked him about his research problem, and mentioned what I was self-studying, and he offered me an opportunity to work with his PhD advisor (a former professor of mine), and himself, and stated that they were looking to publish a paper in mid 2018, and I could possibly be listed as a co-author.
He has yet to run the idea past my former professor, but he has stated that my former professor would be all on board with the idea. My former professor likely does not know or remember me, we only had one brief interaction during a class on Discrete Mathematics (coincidentally the interaction was about Differential Topology and some other Differential Geometric stuff, because he saw me reading a book on it before class commenced).
However, my university has no official undergraduate research program, so everything (i.e. any research conducted) will likely be done on an informal basis. My main question is this, how can I protect the work that I do on a project like this? What measures can I take to ensure that whatever work I do is credited, if the paper containing my work is published?
Firstly it should be noted, that regardless of whether or not my work will be recognized on the paper (if any contributions to the paper are made by my part) I still intend to take this opportunity and work with the PhD student and my former professor, mainly as it will be a good learning experience for me on how to properly do research, the possibility of being listed as a co-author is just an added bonus.
Also I'm well aware, that it's probable that I may not make any contribution at all, however I am asking this question in the event that I do contribute some work towards the paper.
If it's of any importance, I have a good relationship, and am somewhat well known by other faculty members (Topologists) in my universities' math department, as they have previously allowed me attend lectures for their courses which are only reserved for students in years above me.<issue_comment>username_1: The best thing you can do to ensure your work is recognized and credited is to have honest, open communications with the other people you’re working with. So long as everybody’s clear on who is doing what, and everybody is acting ethically, you shouldn’t run into problems.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: You should be listed as a co-author, it is as simple as "you worked, then you should be on the list".
This is a much nicer question than those that start " I did all this work and they refuse to put me on as co-author" or "My work is being published by my supervisor without my name"...
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> However, my university has no official undergraduate research program, so everything (i.e. any research conducted) will likely be done on an informal basis.
>
>
>
Except for very large projects, essentially all research collaboration is done "on an informal basis". You've seen that being on a formal undergraduate research programme and being a PhD student both give some sort of formal basis to a research collaboration and you've incorrectly generalized. For example, if two professors in your department are chatting over coffee and decide to collaborate on something, there is no formal programme that either one is a part of.
Authorship of research papers isn't decided by looking at the staff list of some formal collaboration: it is decided who contributed intellectually to the work. If you, the PhD student and the professor work together on something and that work leads to a paper, you should all be co-authors of that paper. The reason that PhD students' advisors are very often co-authors of papers is that the advisor very often contributes intellectually to their student's work, and not because of the existence of the formal student–advisor relationship.
>
> My main question is this, how can I protect the work that I do on a project like this? What measures can I take to ensure that whatever work I do is credited, if the paper containing my work is published?
>
>
>
In the normal run of events, you shouldn't need to protect anything or do anything to ensure you receive credit (i.e., co-authorship).
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> What measures can I take to ensure that whatever work I do is credited, if the paper containing my work is published?
>
>
>
Unlike other answers, I'll mention that it is not unheard of for higher-ups to fail to credit more junior collaborators. So while you have no reason to believe this will happen in your case, some relatively-benign protective measure may be in order.
I would suggest one (or more) of the following:
* Using some relevant on-line collaboration tool - such as a git/mercurial repository for paper drafts, or a Dropbox/Box.com/OwnCloud shared folder through which you exchange files - preferably one which they cannot delete on their own.
* A bit of "wordsmithing" in some of your email exchanges with them so that whoever reads the email exchange understands that either some of the work is assigned to you, or some of the results were obtained by you. Things like doing a bit of planning or roadmapping over email typically achieve this effect without sounding off.
* Engineering one or more occasions in which you and one of the other two are discussing your joint work in the presence of a third party with closer/better relations to you than to them.
The first two you could probably do regardless of wanting to protect yourself; the third one involves at most a bit of bragging, which is understandable for an undergrad and can be minimized.
Each of these reduces the degree of plausible deniability in a theoretical argument about credit, and even more importantly, discourages the very inclination your senior collaborators may have to ignore your contribution.
---
A side-note: There could be three scenarios here regarding the extent of your contribution to such work.
1. Sufficient to merit co-authorship
2. Sufficient to merit a "crediting mention" ("The authors wish to thank Ms. <NAME> for useful comments regarding frobnicating the bar").
3. Less sufficient
... and with you being an undergrad it will be hard for you to tell the difference between these three. So if you feel you're being under-credited, consult other people first, discreetly, for their opinion on this.
Good luck and I hope you don't need any of this advice!
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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2017/11/13
| 1,770
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<issue_start>username_0: I am in a math PhD program, and I feel that my long interest in a particular area of mathematics is discouraged here.
I have an interest in an area of mathematics, but the leading person doing the research at the institution which I am going for PhD is not very approachable. I went to office hours for one of the classes I am taking and this person (to me) seemed very stand-offish and was ready to let me go out the door for a simple question regarding the class material. The professor was also very critical of my background and where I got my previous degrees/experiences at after a brief conversation. Thus, the experiences with said individual lead me to feel discouraged and potentially lead me away from my interest in said specialization within math, as they are the leading faculty in this institution doing the type of research I am interested in.
What should I do in this case? Should I just accept things how they are and try a different approach, or is it even worthwhile to try to transfer somewhere else?<issue_comment>username_1: Sounds pretty similar to a friend who was is nearly finished with his PhD in mathematics. His relationship with his professor eventually became unmanageable, but I believe there are steps you can take to improve your relationship. Try to prove yourself by asking the professor if there is something he needs help working on. Even offering to do a small thing, may go a long way.
Either way don't get discouraged, I've heard this story quite a few times, and as long as you don't get too discouraged, you should be fine.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I recognize that this response is late, and that I absolutely cannot speak to experiences that are PhD specific, however I am interested as to how OP ultimately handled this, and in the event that the situation is still unresolved or someone else looks to this question for an answer I may be of some assistance.
First of all, is it at all reasonable to abandon your chosen field of study or completely upend your life because someone is "unapproachable?" I hope that anyone who is pursuing a terminal degree would say no. My approach has always been that professors are available to me whether they like it or not, and I have yet to have this belief invalidated. A major commitment associated with a position in academia is teaching and interacting with students, and while it may not always appear this way, this commitment is likely what drew the professor to academia in the first place. One of the most enriching academic relationships I have developed is with a professor who is absolutely the most unnapproachable and stand offish professor within the college. He regularly tells students that the world needs t-shirt salesmen, destroys incorrectly formatted homework in front of the class, and unilaterally refuses to answer any questions related to problem sets to give only a handful of very real reasons he has earned this reputation. However, I have found that well formulated questions can be utterly irresistible to his teaching sensibilities. Additionally, he is absolutely one of the staunchest advocates for student rights that I have encountered. He labors intensively to foster the environment he believes is most beneficial to the students who will actually carry through with their study in the field, whether it is because of him or in spite of him. I can guarantee you that any student who would transfer or quit because of their interactions with him are not the students who he spends time benefiting.
Often times people are not hard to approach because they want to be that way, humans are social creatures. That being said, be selective in the manner that you do approach some people. Some professors are receptive to a student establishing a dialogue through a "simple question" while other professors, like the one in my example and I am inclined the one in your question, believe that a student has more to gain by investigating simple questions on their own, especially considering that you are pursuing a PhD in mathematics. My advice would be not to approach the professor with simple questions, you will gain far more from answering simple questions on your own, after all a very valid problem solving technique is breaking down a complicated question into easier component questions, and recognize that if you absolutely cannot answer a simple question on your own it is because it is really a complicated question that the professor may be more willing to address when posed as such.
Most importantly, I really hope that you **DO NOT** leave or abandon your chosen field simply because you see someone else as an obstacle. It will never pay off to hurt yourself in an attempt to hurt someone else. If you have a well formulated question ask it and if the professor doesn't like it then fuck him (new to the community I will edit this if the f-word is frowned upon) be persistent enough that he realizes that it will be easier to help you than to belittle you, but recognize that you are being held to a standard which requires you to answer questions on your own if it is in your power to do so, and realize that if you demonstrate to him that you see the value of his time and only make use of it when necessary that he will likely be far more receptive to you requesting his time. Ultimately, there will be people in your life who **ARE INTERESTED** in making your life worse and actively work to do so. My experience has been that these people do not have PhD's and have not spent their lives making far less money than they could elsewhere educating the next generation, but even if that is not the case, it is past time for you to decide whether or not you will allow them.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: My only suggestion might be to first study up on the professor's publications if you haven't already. Then think about where your interests overlap with the professor's. Do you have ideas for extending the professor's research, by chance? Talk with the professor about what projects they are currently working on, and see if there is any chance you can voluntarily help out with them, even just attending meetings to listen in and learn more.
It can backfire. I did what I just suggested at the very beginning of graduate school and my advisor was taken aback, I guess, not thinking that a first year grad student is ready to even start talking about research ideas yet. It ended up delaying my masters because I had to just sit on my hands and wait for an opportunity, but the next year, the department changed their thinking and started encouraging first year grad students to get involved in research projects sooner rather than later.
One other big difference in my case, is that the professor picked me (admitted me), I didn't pick the professor.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: Another late answer.
In undergrad, there is a maxim that you should "choose your professors as carefully as your classes." I think in hindsight, most graduates agree with this -- we've all had random classes taught by great professors that were meaningful, while great subjects taught by lousy professors were worthless.
How much more crucial, then, is the choice of your PhD advisor! An advisor in the right area but with the wrong personality is a terrible choice. An advisor in a merely acceptable subfield but the right personality is a much better choice.
Ideally, you will (a) find someone at your current school who will make a good advisor even if their research area isn't obviously aligned with your current interests, or (b) find that the professor in question is actually reasonable once you get to know him/her. But, I think transferring out would be preferable to working for an unreasonable person -- I've known multiple people who stayed in grad school for 10+ years, and the common problem was an unreasonable advisor.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/13
| 557
| 2,256
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<issue_start>username_0: I was studying the website of the Harvard [Graduate School of Arts and Sciences](https://gsas.harvard.edu) ...
Obviously an impressive institution with a broad scope. But I wonder who is in charge of the operation. For example, on the [ABOUT](http://gsas.harvard.edu/about/deans-welcome) page, I see that there is an interim Dean of the GSAS. Does this individual manage at the highest level or is there someone between her and the professors, e.g. a kind of middle management (for lack of a better term)?
Id like to learn how US universities structure their institutions, scientifically and bureaucratically. Obviously there are differences between universities, but I’m curious what you know about your university or a university with which you are familiar<issue_comment>username_1: The United States is a diverse country that comprises of many different universities; it is not correct to say that there is a single, standard way of managing *every* US university scientifically and bureaucratically. Judging from your past questions and answers, you are somewhere in Europe. Just as we don't generalize European universities, we also don't do that here in America.
Having said that, the Dean is often a very high position at a US university. And yes, there is something of a 'middle management' - but your question is too broad. Perhaps you can edit your question to be more specific.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: There is no single governing board for all US universities. Every university is different.
In very broad strokes, as your question is quite broad here's how it breaks down.
Board: The Board of Trustees or University Board functions in much the same way a company board does. They meet regularly and make large decisions on spending, hiring, etc.
Chancellor: In some schools, this is the President. Think of them as the CEO that advises the Board and executes the vision.
Provost: Usually the ultimate head of academics in a university.
Deans: Usually lead various colleges. For instance a Dean of the Law School or Dean of Undergraduate Admissions
There are various various administrative staff within all of these. And again, all schools vary in terms of nomenclature.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2017/11/13
| 698
| 2,551
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<issue_start>username_0: For example,
>
> A [1] is a dataset for training the model.
>
>
>
I have cited once in this sentence.
Then in the second sentence somewhere in my paper,
>
> I would like to use A [1] as my experimental dataset.
>
>
>
Should I cite it again?<issue_comment>username_1: There may be field-to-field differences, but generally I think it depends on how far away "somewhere in my paper" is. If it is a just a few sentences away, in the same paragraph, then I don't think you need to cite again. In this context, it is probably clear that you are still talking about the first dataset.
However, if you are referencing it later in the paper, even in the next paragraph possibly, then I think you should err on the side of caution consider citing it again. I don't think that over-citation is as large a problem as some would say.
Lastly, there may be the case where it's clear that you will be using the same dataset throughout a paper. In that case, you could just make it clear that you anywhere you refer to "the dataset," it is clear what you are referring to. For example, "Throughout this paper we use the MNIST Handwritten Digit database [ref], and any reference to 'the dataset' or 'the data', will refer to this dataset." There is probably a less clunky way to phrase this.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I usually follow the rule that I only omit a duplicate citation if there has not been an intervening citation since the last time I cited it. Moreover, if it’s been a “long time” since the previous citation, I will repeat it, even if no other citation has occurred in between.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I try and teach students to use a " ( ) -> " rule: Make it clear where some text or idea from someone else starts, where it ends, and where you found it. If you are quoting, the parentheses are a quotation mark and the arrow is the reference:
>
> "Blah fasel" (X, 2017, p. 13)
>
>
>
If you are paraphrasing, it works like this, using the references as combined begin or end markers and a reference. :
>
> X has stated (2017, p. 13) that <NAME> did this and that. X emphasized (p. 42) that the falling down was part of a conspiracy. But X does make clear that the reason way because he was using a mobile phone (p. 117). It was later determined by .....
>
>
>
This way you are making it very easy for your READERS to find the point at which they can verify the things that you are stating. Write for your readers, not to save yourself some keystrokes.
Upvotes: 1
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2017/11/13
| 611
| 2,622
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<issue_start>username_0: I had been working on a project for my masters thesis under a doctoral student, which is eligible for a paper publication. But after finishing more than half of the project, my supervisor suddenly ordered me to start over a new project and told me to stop working on the former work, stating that a masters thesis work cannot be used in a doctoral student's dissertation even if I am given authorship in that paper.
I would sincerely like to know if what my supervisor said is true or if I am being cheated out of my masters project and thus my masters degree. Either way, can the answer please be supported by proper evidence(s) to support it? It will help me talk to my supervisor, if necessary with solid proof and even escalate it up the hierarchy if required.
I come from a Central University in India.<issue_comment>username_1: For both a masters' thesis and a PhD dissertation, there needs to be a core piece of work that is primarily the student's work. Collaboration can certainly be fine, but there needs to be a core idea that is "yours" in order to get a degree out of it.
It's at least conceivable that you and the PhD student were collaborating on something that had only one degree-worthy idea in it, and therefore a tough decision had to be made.
It's also possible that this is being used as an excuse for something unethical like cheating you out of your masters' project.
Whether this was legitimate, or not, we can't really tell from the information given.
It does sound that the situation was, at least, not handled very well. The supervisor has oversight of both your projects and should have prevented your projects from overlapping too much, before you wasted lots of work on something. Also, if you contributed significantly to the eventual PhD project, at a minimum you should still get credit for this (e.g. with paper authorship).
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You are not working"under" this student, and he is not your supervisor. You have a common supervisor, and that is your professor. Explain him the situation and let him decide.
It sounds very much like one of these usual "get off my turf" things in the lab which happen when PhD students need to secure some results as their own. Having master students helping set up experiments and then doing the experiment yourself (if the setup works) with as little as possible participation of the student is unethical at best, but not totally uncommon to be attempted by PhD students. In my experience most professors act appropriate when confronted with such a situation.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/11/13
| 692
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm finishing my master's degree in theoretical physics (probably with distinction) and have published a paper.
I'm searching for a Ph.D. position in theoretical physic in Europe, but I can't find any position which I'm passionate about. I think, there will be more opening in 6 month. On the other hand, I will be then 30!
Would you suggest me to wait for a position which I really love? Or should I apply to for a position which is interesting but not that much? The problem is that I'm not sure about future!<issue_comment>username_1: If you "wish to be a researcher and maybe a professor" then probably aiming to get a PhD promptly is the best course of action. I'm not familiar with theoretical physics, but assuming these PhD positions are competitive, holding out for the perfect opportunity may be shooting yourself in the foot.
Also, it may be quite hard to judge at this time what topic is going to lead to interesting and gratifying PhD work. Something you are passionate about now may not stay exciting for several years of work. Something you aren't so excited about may be more interesting than you realize once you get into it. And the people you work with may influence how good the experience is as much as the topic.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: There is always a compromise, Immanuel. It all depends on your intentions, as dan1111 said.
>
> From my experience, I wouldn't care that much about the topic. If I
> were you, I would make sure as good as I could, that you are in an
> environment that can support you.
>
>
>
That means, finding a supervisor, that works in a similar way as you; a facility that can provide you with good opportunities, like fast computers clusters, as an example. And so on..
In this way, you can leave out passion a bit aside and focus on the real world, on something more objective. Passion is anyway overrated in m opinion. Good luck!
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I'm not sure where in Europe you are looking, but in my experience not all positions are advertised. I would suggest to use your network (especially your MSc advisor) to contact the labs you are interested in and inquire about opportunities.
In both European countries I am familiar with (Germany and France) there are government PhD funds that are allocated on individual application from the student. So often, you can get professors who are willing to work with you if you apply for your own funding, even if they don't currently have funding for an open position and therefore aren't advertising anything. There are usually yearly or twice-yearly deadlines for this.
Whether openings are continuously advertised or clustered around certain dates will depend on your country's habits. What makes you think that better positions will open in 6 months? Are there some big grants being awarded at that point?
Upvotes: 3
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2017/11/13
| 458
| 2,112
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently working in industry with a pharmaceutical company on a one year contract (front-line sales role). Following this contract, I was hoping to complete my masters of Science in population and public health. If I am no longer affiliated with the company by the time I begin courses, and will not finish a masters thesis for 2 years (where the research is not related to my previous employment), is this a conflict of interest, and how is this managed?<issue_comment>username_1: Specific requirements for conflict of interest vary by publication. I think the situation you describe would be considered a conflict according to some but not all medical journal requirements, for those that give detailed requirements of what to report. Others give less guidance; in which case you should typically err on the side of caution and report it (all this assumes your employment was at least somewhat relevant to the area in which you are conducting research).
In any case, this is typically not a big deal. You won't have to do anything beyond reporting the conflict of interest, and it's unlikely to cause much concern. With pharma companies extensively involved in research, this sort of thing happens all the time.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: You should check your contract for any details in terms of disclosure of products / process etc.
It may be that it could be limited to 6 months, 1 year or perpetual : you need to know...
If necessary ask HR and find out : may be worth just having several questions of which conflict of interest is only one...
The conditions for front-line sales are probably different to a lab-tech with detailed tech knowledge...
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: If your previous employment is in no way related to your current research, and you are not in a position to favor your previous employer (through research purchases, etc.), then there is no conflict of interest.
The only potential pitfall could be if your tuition were paid for by your previous employer, but even then potential conflicts could be mitigated.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/11/14
| 467
| 1,788
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<issue_start>username_0: For example, I am conducting research in "human attention".
Two papers both use the terminology "attention maps". However, actually one paper refer "attention maps" as "gaze maps" and the other refer "attention maps" as "importance maps". They are both right as "gaze maps" and "importance maps" are just the sub-classes of "attention maps". The terms "gaze maps" and "importance maps" are just made up by me to clarify the two concepts.
Normally, when I cite other people's work, I just use their terminology directly. But now I have to cite them both with the same name. How to deal with this situation？ Is there a conventional way?<issue_comment>username_1: I think the way you do this will depend on how the referenced material fits into the text. Probably indirect quoting will be better than direct. If the difference is too insignificant to bother with then skip over it. But if the difference is important to your point, explain the situation.
e.g.
>
> [Ref1] and [Ref2] both studied attention maps, focusing on different types of attention map. Looking at 'gaze maps', [Ref1] found that (stuff), whereas in the context of 'importance maps' [Ref2] concluded (other stuff).
>
>
>
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I'd suggest:
1. Introducing *attention maps*;
2. Discussing the specifics of sub-classes *gaze maps* and *importance maps*,
without reference to their names; and
3. Mention that subclasses are known as *attention maps* by <> [X] and *gaze maps* [Y].
Depending on whether *gaze maps* and *importance maps* are the same sub-class, distinct sub-classes, or intersecting sub-classes determines some of the specifics of how I'd handle the final point. As written, I've assumed they are the same-sub-class.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2017/11/14
| 962
| 4,000
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<issue_start>username_0: The journal *Immunity* says on this [webpage](http://www.cell.com/immunity/authors)
"As a matter of publishing ethics, we cannot consider any paper that contains data that have been published or submitted for publication elsewhere."
Why not? What if the two papers analyze rich sources of data that overlap only partially? What if they have completely different ambitions? Is the only meritorious activity in science the act of gathering data, and to hell with the analysis? And what does this have to do with ethics?<issue_comment>username_1: I think you're reading a little bit more into the policy than is actually there - many papers in this type of journal essentially contains data - gels, lab results, etc. That's what they're talking about. What they're *not* talking about is the corpus of data generated from a whole study.
>
> Why not?
>
>
>
Because the goal is not to allow researchers to publish repeated analyses of the same dataset.
>
> What if the two papers analyze rich sources of data that overlap only
> partially?
>
>
>
It's likely not what they're talking about - a rich source of data likely means that the data *hasn't* been published recently. What they don't want is "The same data as last time, now with a marginally different story".
>
> What if they have completely different ambitions?
>
>
>
I'd be impressed if you managed to get two completely distinct analyses out of the same data - and indeed, the stance of the journal would likely be that they'd be willing to accept a decrease in salami slicing of papers at the cost of the occasional genuinely novel analysis that's built entirely off previously published data.
>
> Is the only meritorious activity in science the act of gathering data,
> and to hell with the analysis?
>
>
>
That's reading *way* too far into the policy - the paper should *also* contain that analysis. What they don't want you doing is writing four papers on the same single assay or whatever.
>
> And what does this have to do with ethics?
>
>
>
The idea that a paper should represent a single, stand-alone contribution to science, and that ever more esoteric spins on the same data is a net negative is an ethics in science stance. One you may disagree with, but it is one.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: This is a guess but:
The sentence in question comes at the end of the paragraph entitled 'Related Manuscripts', which says they need to see any similar papers you have. This suggests to me that the primary point is that you can't publish the 'same' paper twice, even if you change the wording.
Another potentially relevant point, which I haven't seen mentioned yet, is that you have to be very careful when reusing a dataset - the more questions you ask about some data, the more likely you are to get a positive answer by chance, so that has to be taken into consideration in the analysis. If you present a single result from the data, it's therefore important to know what other questions have been asked.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: You must only write one paper in which you explain completely *how* you acquired the data and *why exactly* you did it the way you did.
The full story. A later paper which reveals that there were some additional motives, not to say parameters, turns the original one into a piece of scientific malpractice, eligible for retraction.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: I think the keyword here is "contains". The paper should not present any data, that has already been presented elsewhere, because that would be considered double publication of the data.
I'm pretty sure that this is not meant as a restriction on using previously published dataset in your papers. For example, I don't think *Immunity* would want to restrict papers from using data from the *Human Genome Project* or public census data.
(Am not sure how this is supposed to work with significant extensions of previous datasets though.)
Upvotes: 1
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2017/11/15
| 862
| 3,716
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<issue_start>username_0: Who decides what books a department (say, of mathematics, at a public university in the US) shall order for its library? Is there usually a formal process?
I am somewhat surprised that I have found essentially no answer to this on the internet, nor on my library's website.<issue_comment>username_1: My department shares a "library representative" with several other departments in my university. If you want a book purchased, you tell the library representative. Occasionally, there will be an allocation of funds to purchase new resources, and the library representative will send all faculty a note to submit requests by such-and-such date.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think this is different for every library/university.
So this is not a "full answer", it just covers some points that I got to know at my university in Germany:
* The library sends an e-mail every semester to students, staff and Professors asking for literature requests for the following semester. You can send them a list of what books you want and how many. I don´t know how they prioritise this if the budget is not big enough. Maybe they do a majority vote, maybe they rank Prof>staff>student, maybe they pick randomly or first come first serve. As you don´t need to provide a project/budget, i guess these are bought with the regular library budget.
* If a professor needs books for a lecture (meaning many copies to supply every student) he is free to request them any time. He has to use either his university budget he gets each semester or some project budget / grants he has available.
* If the university gets books as a donation they are also registered at (and mosten often put into the) library.
* If you buy books for yourself / your lab from whatever budget you have, you are expected to order it through the library, not directly. This way all literature available is registered at the library. You can also choose if you want to keep these books in your lab/office or at the library.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I think there are two things you could mean by a department library:
1. a library run entirely by the department with little-to-no relation with the university library system
2. a library housed in the department (or nearby but specifically for the department) but managed under the university library system.
In my (mid-size public US) university, we used to have 2, but it got absorbed into the main university library. As far as I can tell, this mainly only had the effect of where the books were housed and not how it was run, so I think what I can tell you about how things are done now is still relevant. We also now have a small private library as in 1.
For 2, the university has a math/science librarian who is responsible for deciding what books to purchase. She would regularly go through lists of new publications and decide what she thought would be of interest/use to our faculty. There are many standard series (e.g., Springer GTMs) which we buy automatically. For books not in these series, I think purchasing history is the largest factor she uses to decide what to buy, but we can give her more input if we want. In any case, faculty input is requested to buy books we want that the librarian missed. (Occasionally emails are sent about this, but typically we just fill out an online form when we come across such a book.)
For 1, our unfunded department's "private library" started with donations from retiring faculty or just books people no longer want. Occasionally the main library will also offer us things they don't need. (If this were funded, probably our library committee would decide what to purchase.)
Upvotes: 1
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2017/11/15
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<issue_start>username_0: Academia is highly liberal - which is fine. I don't mind liberals in general. However I voted for Trump.
I had a weird experience recently. I was chatting with some people at a conference at dinner and one older, well established, professor started talking about Trump supporters. He talked about how awful Trump supporters are and started naming names. He said that such and such person at such and such university was a Trump supporter. As a Trump supporter this made me nervous. I try to hide my support for Trump but of course some people know.
Given that there are a lot of people who think Trump supporters are evil, and given that people have no problem naming names, and given that people know I support Trump, how do I best control the damage? Should I "repent" so to speak? Should I just keep my mouth shut and hope for the best?<issue_comment>username_1: Indeed, answers in comments get deleted. :lol: My first reaction was to post "How about comments in answers?" as an answer, but since the OP is really in distress, I'll just repost my full comment here.
If it makes you happy, I also preferred Trump to Clinton. As to people, just listen to what they say, and if you decide to pick up an argument, argue about issues, not about personalities. Above all, remember that you are *free* to make your opinions and to choose your political affiliations regardless of all the -ist words the liberals (or conservatives) may throw at you and that this freedom we should firmly uphold.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I have political views, too, but I learned not to communicate them too much.
No matter what is your view and what you vote for or believe in, there will always be someone having a different opinion. Now we might of course think that in an academic environment, such opinions can be calmly and objectively discussed, but that is often not the case.
There are, in my eyes, two ways to deal with it:
1) You voice your opinion and stand behind it, support it with arguments and stand your point; all the while respecting other view points and staying calm of course.
2) You keep quiet about your views and if you get stuck in a political discussion, you try to take the position of a neutral, outside observer, discussing the current politics like you would discuss the pro and cons of political choices in history.
The first option will make it easy to make friends, but will also make you enemies. The second option is harder, as you have to cover your opinion, but it makes it easier to get along with everyone, as you don't openly oppose their believes.
I personally chose the second option for myself and it is really interesting to look at current political developments like a historian would do; seeing how both sides influence the people and witnessing so many fail to see things critically (even, as in your case, highly educated people).
It is up to you how you deal with these things, but you should be aware that both speaking up and staying quiet has its pros and cons.
PS: These two choices do not only apply to "Trump vs. Clinton", but to almost every topic where people have different opinions and where the "others" are evil for believing "the wrong thing"...
Upvotes: 3
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2017/11/15
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| 4,098
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<issue_start>username_0: The professor I do research with often puts me down for making mistakes and frequently calls me an idiot. I don't know the appropriate way to respond. I cannot just *leave*, since I still want to go to grad school. But this is severely affecting my mental health, and I have been suicidal recently as a result. I put a lot of effort into trying to be positive and friendly around him, but I'm not sure this has been particularly effective.
The research I do with him is good in a technical sense; we have some solid results and have published at very good conferences together. He has agreed to write me a good letter of recommendation (but actually hasn't written it yet) and I believe him if only because he seems to care strongly about his reputation among his peers and writing me a poor letter would reflect badly on him. I do not know what to do.<issue_comment>username_1: How close are you to graduation? You have basically three paths here:
1. *Stop working with your advisor.* Depending on how bad it has gotten, escalating levels of this solution could be trying to get another member of your advisor's group to take over working with you so you have to see him less, to find a new advisor to continue your current work, to take a semester of mental health leave and start over on a new project afterwards, or even to drop out.
2. *Try to make your advisor behave better.* You know your advisor best and can better judge what he would be likely to respond to. Maybe if you just told him "Please don't call me an idiot," he would stop. Maybe if you could get the ear of a sympathetic member of your faculty, they could take your advisor aside and tell them to be more gentle. If your university offers counseling, maybe a counselor could help you raise the subject with him and negotiate some rules for how to work together. Maybe you can raise a formal complaint somewhere (dean, ombudsman?). (The last one will probably torpedo your chances of good recommendation letters, but might let you graduate without having to take more abuse.)
3. *Tough it out.* If it's only a few more weeks, maybe deciding that you choose to take it just a little bit longer because you think that the rewards (graduation, recommendation letters) are worth it helps you get through it. This also needs a good support network. Talking things through with a therapist or counselor can help distance yourself emotionally from your advisor's comments. Let your friends console you. Seek affirmation from other places: are there any other activities where you are doing well? Classes that you are excelling at? A hobby that produces things you can be proud of?
No matter which option you ultimately choose, I encourage you to at least informally talk to a university counselor and whoever handles complaints to be aware of all your options. For each of the options, what process exists? What are the upsides/downsides? Make a list, and then make a deliberate decision. Sometimes, even just knowing that you *could* leave and do something else but are actively choosing to stay in your current situation for now because you feel the recommendation letters are worth it makes all the difference.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If you're in the U.S., get a letter from a doctor or mental health professional and take it to (a) the Students with Disabilities office on campus, and (b) an administrator in your department. The letter should state your diagnosis (diagnoses), mention the suicide attempt and/or ideation, and briefly explain the connection between disrespectful treatment and your stability. Bring along a list of specific changes you need to support your mental health.
Switch advisors as soon as you can. Ask a department administrator for help with this.
Find a supportive therapist or therapy group or support group.
Later on in your life, when you are more stable, you may wish to try to improve a troubled working relationship. For now, though -- distance yourself from this guy, and focus on learning as much as you can from the supportive folks.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/15
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<issue_start>username_0: I invited a coworker with shared expertise to collaborate on/coauthor a paper (both postdocs). The result was ultimately much better due to this input. He also had an idea for an alternative approach to 'my problem', and published a second paper with me as coauthor. While this is beneficial in the sense that it increases the quality and volume of both our output, I find the situation highly stressful. I am not aggressively competitive by nature and feel that his behaviour is arrogant and offensive. I understand that once you have published a result, any generalization thereof it is ‘up for grabs’. However, people with access to your unpublished work have an ‘unfair’ head start. Is there an unwritten understanding with respect to crossing the borders between the territory of your coworkers? How can I avoid this type of conflict/coworker in the future? Am I being overly sensitive and need to develop thicker skin/not cut out for this type of business?<issue_comment>username_1: It is rather common for a problem or question to be generalized, that does not mean that the original problem becomes void. Furthermore, the very reason to publish a paper should be to interest others in the topic and not to just increase your paper count. He also included you as a co-author in his paper that, given your formulation, he wrote almost by himself based on your work together, so I'd think that he is more than willing to give you credit for your work.
I would suggest to communicate with the coworker and discuss future work on this field. There are three choices here:
1) You both want to continue to work together on the topic. No problem then, just do it; you only need to decide who is first author, if that is an issue in your discipline.
2) You both want to continue to work on the topic, but not together. That might cause some problems and I would suggest to agree on different aspects for you to work on if possible, otherwise you might happen to publish similar results at around the same time.
3) One of you doesn't want to work on the topic any more. Then the other is free to do as he pleases, of course giving due credit to the other author by citing your joint papers.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Science is a collective endeavour to build and spread knowledge, improving our understanding of nature. Collaborating and building on each other's expertise with proper recognition is a must.
You collaborated with a colleague of yours, and not only did this joint effort produce a better result, but it also produced a further result, unforeseen at the beginning (and which, for you, came almost for free).
Celebrate the successful moment, hope that all your future collaboration will work out smoothly and productive as this one, and if necessary rethink carefully at your motivation in doing science, to avoid being stressed by something that should be the normality (and that too frequently, alas, is not). That is, be competitive against *yourself* to improve yours and everyone's knowledge and not against someone else.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2017/11/15
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<issue_start>username_0: I am developing some open source software for use in research.
I intend to publish a paper about it.
(It is marginally novel, and there is a venue I have in mind that accepts such.)
One piece of existing code I would like to derive from to make my tool,
is released under a problematic [crayon license](https://opensource.stackexchange.com/questions/1445/how-can-a-crayon-license-be-a-problem).
It basically boils down to the code is either public domain, GPL, or all rights reserved. (and I can't determine which, and nor can Open Source stack exchange).
So it seems like maybe interpretting the license is a job for an actual lawyer.
I know my university has a team of them on retainer.
(and I know they do process some documents for students. I had an undergrad unit that required working with a business and we were instructed to forward any NDAs to the lecturer who would get them checked by the university lawyers.)
Making this code is not the primary goal in my research, but it is a stepping stone, and it does furfill some of the stated objectives of one of my supervisor's grants that has been funding me. but it is not a primary part of either.
I can't directly request anything from legal myself, but I could get my supervisor to do so.
But I don't know if it is a waste of everybody's time.<issue_comment>username_1: Your work is important for your supervisors grant.
Your supervisor is employed at said university and thus his grant is important to the university.
The universities legal team deals with legal issues that are important for the university.
Sounds rather clear to me. Furthermore, asking your supervisor or even sending a short "can you help me with such an issue" mail to the legal team takes only a few minutes of their time.
Of course you should clarify who to ask first and not start off with 10 pages of legal "bla" in your first email.
PS: On the other hand, you might get yourself and the legal team in a lot of trouble if you publish something, under the universities name and with your supervisor employed there, without taking care of such issues first.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Keep in mind that when you just want to use the software and just publish its output then you might actually not need a license which gives you more permission than simply running the program. It only gets complicated if you want to publish your modified version of the software. However, you should do that in order to make it possible to properly peer-review your methodology and reproduce your research (you don't want to publish results which are just the results of a bug in your software).
Just ask the legal team through your supervisor. The worst thing they can say is that it's not their job. But that's unlikely. When you publish something through your university, then that university is also in the line of fire for any copyright infringement lawsuits.
Another solution could be to contact the author of the software and convince them to release it to you under a proper license. This might in fact be the path of least resistance. One anecdote: The software JSLint was released under a crayon license which was the MIT license with the additional phrase:
>
> The Software shall be used for Good, not Evil
>
>
>
IBM's lawyer refused to accept that term and told their developers to not use that software. So the author made - free of charge - the following proclamation:
>
> I give permission for IBM, its customers, partners, and minions, to use JSLint for evil.
>
>
>
And IBM's legal department greenlit the software.
Upvotes: 1
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| 964
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<issue_start>username_0: Well, I sent a message to a professor asking for an opportunity in its research group aiming to start my Ph.D. (in a major university, top 25 in the world). I sent as attached files my résumé, my research papers as usual on this kind of messages (but I sent the mail with no hope to be answered). Nonetheless, in four hours (in a Saturday if this information helps to the analysis), I have received a response stimulating me to apply (and saying that they are always looking for good students to do research there) and copying this answer to de Ph.D. coordinator program. However, as I sent this message just to know about my chances (before, I have read his papers and résumé of course) I was planning to apply to the Ph.D. only at the end of 2018 (but that answer really surprised me). So the questions are:
1) Is that answer usual? I mean, answering me and "ccing" the Ph.D. coordinator is a good sign or not? Or is this a polite way to answer me? Usually, if your résumé is really good, the professors schedule a call by phone or skype (or is this not a standard?)
2) How to inform them that I would like to apply to de Ph.D. only at the end of next year (because I don't have all the documents and the deadline to apply is December 15th), without prejudice about our conversations?
3) What are the next steps? (any suggestion will be kindly appreciated). I confess I'm quite lost how to proceed.<issue_comment>username_1: You can tell them
>
> I would like to apply to de Ph.D. only at the end of next year. I don't have all the documents and the deadline to apply is December 15th.
>
>
> What are the next steps?
>
>
>
The way you said it in your question to us was adequately polite :)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> 1) Is that answer usual? I mean, answering me and "ccing" the Ph.D.
> coordinator is a good sign or not? Or is this a polite way to answer
> me? Usually, if your résumé is really good, the professors schedule a
> call by phone or skype (or is this not a standard?)
>
>
>
yes, very good sign.
>
> 2) How to inform them that I would like to apply to de Ph.D. only at
> the end of next year (because I don't have all the documents and the
> deadline to apply is December 15th), without prejudice about our
> conversations?
>
>
>
well you should start with big thank you and explain the problem with date.
>
> 3) What are the next steps? (any suggestion will be kindly
> appreciated). I confess I'm quite lost how to proceed.
>
>
>
reply as fast as you can, thank them and send all required document for preliminary assessment by the program head.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: If the university is in the US, their reply was likely just a polite way to say "apply but don't get your hopes up." Forwarding to the coordinator tells that they are your point of contact for further questions, which is an usual policy. It also helps the department keep track of interested students.
In many, if not most, departments in the US, individual professors are not responsible for admissions, and generally won't go out of their way to admit you unless they are *really* interested in working with you (as in you are either spectacular in some way or someone they trust has very, very strongly recommended you). Even if that is the case, you are likely to have to submit a formal application and go through some form of departmental scrutiny.
Reply by thanking them and asking if they plan to take students next year, and that you would be interested in working with them if you are admitted.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/11/15
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<issue_start>username_0: I've had a little corollary sitting around a while now. It is closely related to a major theorem in my area. Its statement is easy to understand (and rather interesting/amusing on the surface of it) and it's proof can be written in a couple of paragraphs.
I thought it had potential to be the beginnings of a nice paper, but I've struggled to find good "related stuff" to add to it.
Should I just submit this little 1.5 page paper, or would I be wasting everyone's time? Do any good journals regularly accept these kinds of "notes"?<issue_comment>username_1: If other people share your enthusiasm for the observation and the proof, then it's of interest to journals. I would just contact one of the editors and see what they suggest. It's their job to be in charge of these questions.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: It can't hurt to write it up. Even if your first journal of choice doesn't accept it (due to their editorial policies) some other journal will (if it is indeed as interesting as you think it is). Also, some journals publish brief "notes" in addition to full-fledged articles. Look at recent issues of specific journals in your field to see if they have something along those lines. Do they contain brief papers which feature proofs of interesting but not ground-breaking results? If so -- send your paper there. If not -- send it somewhere else.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: It is hard to know what you mean by "amusing" without seeing the paper. If you mean it literally -- i.e., the main purpose of the result is to entertain the reader -- then a strong research journal will probably not want to publish the result, as they are not in the entertainment business. A journal that publishes many short amusing pieces is *The American Mathematical Monthly* -- which is not to be scoffed at, as it has one of the highest readerships of any mathematical journal. However, this journal is for papers that are readable by a quite broad mathematical audience (although, to be fair, the breadth of the target audience varies quite a bit from article to article). If it is closely related to a major *recent* theorem in your subfield, it may be too specialized for the *Monthly*.
But let me take a step back and address the question of publishing a very short paper. It is my understanding that many journals are quite happy to do this. I don't know any journal that would reject out of hand a very short paper (with obvious exceptions like *Transactions of the AMS*, which is the AMS publication for papers too long for the *Proceedings of the AMS*), but there are some strong journals that specialize in short papers -- e.g. *Mathematics Research Letters* -- or very short papers: *Comptes Rendus* has a six page limit.
My impression (though I am not a journal editor) is that editors like short papers just fine. On the other hand, it is demonstrably true that the average length of math papers has increased over the years, though there is also variation from subfield to subfield (my impression is that e.g. in some parts of combinatorics it is common to write many short papers). I just looked back at my own work, and I have one three page note (published in the *Monthly*) and everything else is at least six pages. This despite the fact that I often *started* with a manuscript that was four pages or less. I think it is as you say: if you have something, it is natural to build on it. In *most* branches of mathematics it would look much more reasonable to publish one 30 page paper on a subject than a length ten sequence of three page papers on the subject. So if you end up with a three page paper, then it is likely that it does something [quite remarkable](https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.05492) or it cannot be evidently expanded into something more.
(Or maybe not. I am currently editing a paper written with my PhD student. At the moment it looks like the final product will be about three pages. In this case the result that we get is more than amusing and less than remarkable, but pushing it further is meant to be part of my student's thesis work rather than a collaboration between us.)
Anyway, one of the benefits of a short paper is that...well, it's short. So I would say that you don't have to figure it all out in advance. How long should a referee spend on a 1.5 page paper with a statement that's easy to understand and a two paragraph proof? Adding four more months, you can be reasonably confident of receiving a report in *roughly four months*, shorter if you're fortunate (and, sadly, longer if you're unfortunate). So submit it somewhere and see what happens. You may as well try a very good journal first -- really good math journals have made a point of getting "preliminary reports" and (often) quickly bouncing back papers that are not up to snuff.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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2017/11/16
| 988
| 4,358
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<issue_start>username_0: I am not sure that Academia is the right place to post this, as it would probably be better suited for Law.se.
I am a student in Italy. My university requires unrestricted access to my personal computer for an afternoon to install a certain software. I obviously have security concerns, so I have contacted the responsible for my course to know if I could be given the key to install such software personally. He has explicitly stated that there are no alternatives to the standard process of giving in my computer to the tech department for one afternoon.
On one side am reluctant to give unrestricted access to my computer for security reasons, as I have personal files stored on my machine; on the other side I need to have access to such software because it is required for a course in the future.
Is such a request even legal or a common request in academia? How can I avoid giving unrestricted access to my personal machine while still obtaining this software?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> My university requires unrestricted access to my personal computer for an afternoon to install a certain software.
>
>
>
Your university has messed up. Are you really sure that it's the university requiring this? Maybe it's the isolated action of your professor, in agreement with their department IT (not the university one).
>
> He has explicitly stated that there are no alternatives to the standard process of giving in my computer to the tech department for one afternoon.
>
>
>
I've never, ever seen an academic software licence requiring such a procedure.
>
> On one side am reluctant to give unrestricted access to my computer for security reasons
>
>
>
You're rightly reluctant.
>
> How can I avoid giving unrestricted access to my personal machine while still obtaining this software?
>
>
>
First, contact your course mates to start a collective action. I suggest you to write an email, signed by all students, to the dean supervising the courses of your field, the head of the department to which your professor belongs to, and, if there is one, the head of the IT university service. Copy the email to the rector too. Express clearly your concerns and state that is totally unacceptable to require students to give access to their personal computers. If your university insists on this position, ask them a copy of the licence agreement.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: You'll have to look elsewhere for legal advice, but from an academic point of view this is extremely unusual.
Most academic software licenses make a distinction between software that is allowed to be installed on student's personal machines and software that is only allowed to be installed on university-owned machines. For student software the software distributor always has some mechanism in place to allow students to achieve that installation on their own.
As to why your university has instituted this policy we cannot guess.
1) *Politely* inform your technology department that you are not comfortable handing over your personal property and ask that you be allowed to perform the installation yourself. This is a reasonable request that should be accommodated. If they refuse, ask them to be specific as to why.
2) If nothing else, *politely* insist that you schedule a time so they can conduct the installation with you present. Most software installations take just a few minutes but at worst take an hour or two. Again, this is a reasonable request. If they refuse, ask them to be specific as to why.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: This is indeed very odd. If you are sufficiently tech-savvy to do this, one option may be to set up a virtual machine that they can install the software onto. They can have root access to that, without needing permissions to browse your computer.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: If your concern is personal files that are currently on your machine, then moving them onto an external hard drive and back should address that. If the concern is whether the software will have access to personal files in the future, an option would be buying a computer just for this software. And as username_3 says, a vitual machine is another option, but if you're really paranoid, that's not as secure, as they will still have physical access to the entire machine.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/11/16
| 1,113
| 4,742
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm preparing my thesis presentation and I'm trying to address a situation in which the general case has no known solution and is an open, very hard to solve, problem. It involves non-isolated singularities, so, if you're a mathematician, you could have an idea regarding this kind of difficulty.
How can I spell this out in a more appropriate way? I don't want to say "one should notice that solving this problem in the non-isolated singularities case is very hard". It seems out of place and subjective (I mean, what do I mean by "very hard"? That the case I solved in my thesis was easy?).<issue_comment>username_1: So, perhaps explain that the general case is unsolved, but, with the following assumptions, the following solution is relevant for this particular case or cases...
But your question might well receive better answers in the Mathematics stack...
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I am assuming you're talking about a presentation to be given at the defence of a PhD thesis.
Let me address a few points you raise.
* It is perfectly appropriate to include subjective judgements about the difficulty or significance of certain results in a mathematical thesis (or paper). Mathematicians make these judgements all the time in deciding what to work on and in evaluating other people's work. What matters is that you have a solid rationale for the judgements you make. In your situation, the rationale for considering the general case "very hard" is that it involves non-isolated singularities. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.
* If you're worried about presenting subjective judgements as if they were statements of fact, there are various standard forms of wording you could try. Instead of writing "solving this problem... *is* very hard" you could write "solving this problem... *appears to be* very hard" or "solving this problem...*is generally considered to be* very hard" (assuming the latter is true). If there are published works affirming that the general case is hard, you can cite them in support of your point.
* Finally, asserting that the general case of a problem is very hard does not imply (in any sense of that word) that a special case is easy, only that it is *easier*. But that is completely fine: experienced mathematicians are well used to people restricting themselves to more tractable special cases. I don't have any examples to hand, but I have read many papers in which the author does exactly this. This is not interpreted as an "admission" that the special case is "too easy". (In fact, often when someone does prove something that really is too easy, their rhetoric is the opposite: they try to puff it up to make it sound more difficult than it really is.)
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I don't think you have anything to worry about. Presumably you and your advisor have agreed that the problem you did solve is hard enough to justify a thesis, else you would not be at the presentation stage. That's what your audience will judge. A small improvement in understanding the zeroes of the zeta function could make a fine thesis; no need to apologize for not settling the Riemann Hypothesis. Just put your work in context. Keep the audience interested in what you have done.
Finally, almost all the time the formal thesis defense is just a formality. You want to do it well, but need not fear failure.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: In Mathematics, a problem is hard because people can't solve it, or can only solve it with long and technical proofs. It has happened many time that a problem was thought to be hard until someone solves it easily. See for example [Quick proofs of hard theorems](https://mathoverflow.net/questions/24913/quick-proofs-of-hard-theorems) (which should really be called “quick proof of previously-thought-to-be-hard theorems”).
What is bullet proof is to say, or write, “**I** could not solve the problem in presence of non-isolated singularities“. And you can explain why what you proposed for isolated singularities does not extend to non-isolated ones. Each one of the obstacles that you encountered will support the hardness of the problem, but let the reader have its own opinion.
So in my opinion, don't say that a problem is “very hard” unless it is a well-studied open problem. In particular, at the PhD level, I would advise not to judge yourself a problem you tackled as “very hard”:
* either you solved the problem and it lacks humility
* either you did not, and it sounds like you exclude the possibility that you missed something simple.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Can you say something along the lines of "The general case is a long-standing open problem..."
Upvotes: 3
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| 590
| 2,596
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<issue_start>username_0: I am reviewing a paper for a top-ranked journal in robotics. The main results of the paper are about control and not specifically robotics. I am aware that robotics is a multidisciplinary subject which has also a ton of control in it but the problem here is the following. The paper is, mathematically, really hard to follow. The mathematical details would require maybe more than 2 weeks for me to review and to go through the equations.
What would you do in this case? I was thinking to suggest to submit to another journal, more control-oriented.
What do you think?
Thanks for your opinions.<issue_comment>username_1: **Decision based on maths.** If an overhaul of the mathematics would significantly reduce the time required for an expert to understand them, then you should state that in your review and that might well be a reason to require major revisions. On the other hand, if such an overhaul would only help non-experts, then that might well merit a mention in your review, but I don't think such an overhaul is necessary for acceptance.
**Reviewing.** Two weeks is ~4% of the year. Committing that amount of time to a single review (as would be required for you to study the details of the mathematics) seems unreasonable to me. Perhaps you can raise this with the editor. They might well suggest that you disregard the details and focus on other aspects of the manuscript, they can always ask another reviewer to check the details.
**Scope.** To determine whether the manuscript is in scope, you could compare the volume of material on *control* with articles published by the journal. If you think it is out of scope, then perhaps raise this with the editor.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If you feel qualified to comment on some aspects of the paper, but not all, you can do just that. You should simply be very clear on what you comment on, what you did not checked, and so on. The editor will decide whether to ask another complementary opinion (which means, in case you do not plan to deliver your review soon, that you should inform her or him early that e.g. you will not assert the mathematical correctness).
Mentioning that the paper is mathematically heavy is certainly something you should include in your review, of course, to help the editor judge if the paper is suitable in this journal.
In my book, referees do not accept or refuse papers. Editors do, and referees inform editors decision as much and, more importantly, as precisely as reasonably possible. This includes a wide variety of opinions and comments.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a 28 year old Ph.D. student in CS (databases), in my first year of study - I have completed a research-based Master's program and published a couple of papers as well.
I love research, and my current school + supervisor. However, I'm under severe financial pressures, and the stipend isn't cutting it (I'm unable to take up part-time work, since I'm on a visa). I have standing offers from great companies. The logical step is for me to take up a job at one of these places, since my plan was to work in industry after a Ph.D. anyway.
However, I wish to return to academia (as a professor) at some point, perhaps in my 40s. My choices are:
1. Continue in my current program (very stressful personally)
2. Re-apply (after I'm financially settled) to a Ph.D. program, in my mid-late thirties.
3. Try and publish from industry (collaborate with my current advisor) and apply for a position in academia later on (as a researcher/tenure-track professor).
Questions for you guys:
* General advice on any other options I don't know about?
* Is (2) worthwhile, will I get into a good program (mainly concerned by the age factor)
* Is (3) even possible? If so, how rare is it that academic positions are offered to non-Ph.D.'s? My field is closely tied to industry, so there will be chances for me to work and publish research, but I'm not sure how pedantic academia is as far as requiring the terminal Ph.D. degree.<issue_comment>username_1: In deciding between Options 1 and 2, be sure to think about what your personal situation might be like ten years from now. In particular, do you want to get married? Do you want to have children? If you have a supportive spouse who makes a large income and no children at that time, quitting your job and restarting your Ph.D. will probably be relatively easy. If you're the sole breadwinner for a household of five, and your spouse's income prospects are limited, it may be nearly impossible for you to do this; you're probably better off toughing it out now.
---
Concerning Option 3: as a general rule, one has to be truly exceptional to get hired as a full-time professor without a Ph.D. in the USA. This is because of two factors:
* Universities are judged on what fraction of their faculty have "terminal degrees". This is one of the metrics used in the U.S. News & World Report rankings, for example.
* In almost every field, the number of Ph.D.s granted each year is far greater than the number of full-time academic jobs that become available. This means that every academic job vacancy in the US could be filled several times over and still leave many Ph.D.s without employment in academia.
All of this means that if you apply for such a job without a Ph.D., and all other things being equal, it is unlikely that a hiring committee will seriously consider your application over the dozens/hundreds of candidates with a doctorate. The situation may not be as bad in CS as it is in other fields, since CS Ph.D.s can (presumably) more easily find employment outside of academia; but it's still a factor that's working against you. Neither of these factors is likely to lessen over the next decade or so; if anything, universities have been steadily moving away from employing full-time professors and towards employing adjunct professors, so the latter point is likely to get worse.
This is not to say that you can't teach at the college/university level without a Ph.D. However, your options will probably be limited to two types of jobs. One is two-year colleges, where it is expected that teaching will take up all of your time and so the research experience & credentials conferred by a Ph.D. are of minimal importance. However, you mention that you want to be a "researcher" at a university, so this is probably not the sort of job you want.
The other is adjunct professorships: piecemeal employment which is not full-time. If teaching one course per semester at the local college/university as a "side hustle" while holding down a full-time job in industry appeals to you, then this might be a viable option; the above-mentioned growth of adjunct faculty positions could even work in your favor here. Some people try to cobble together multiple adjunct positions into full-time employment, but honestly, this is a recipe for stress and heartbreak and I cannot recommend it as a career plan.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: * (2) is totally possible, in particular when you are in CS. System skills and industrial experience are highly valuable. Many research labs want to develop industrial-strength tools. I know plenty of examples.
* (3) is also very common. Search for positions such as "Research Engineer" in industrial research labs. You can still publish papers, even as lead author. Check some websites of research groups at NASA Ames, you will find many people without a PhD.
Another option is to do PhD part-time and work in industry at the same time. In Switzerland (and perhaps Germany), it is called external Phd students. You do PhD part-time, the company pays for your tuition fee, but often requires you to work for them for a number of year after PhD. Note that there is no difference between part-time PhD and full-time PhD in the degree.
NASA Ames has this policy. Many universities have campus inside Ames, e.g. CMU, UCSC,... and many of their employees are doing part-time PhD in these campus. In particular, I know a Moroccan guy who is working at Ames, and doing PhD remotely in France. The reason is that his supervisor is a collaborator in a project at Ames.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I just started a 3-4 year Post-Doc position in Department A, to work on a topic on the border between two fields on which they also work in Department B.
In some European countries the usual situation is to do a Habilitation in A.
However, theoretically it is also possible to get payed by department A, and working on projects for A, but doing a second PhD department B as an external PhD candidate (as if i where in an external research institute), in stead of doing a Habilitation in A. Doing a "external" PhD, at an other place than the supervising Professor is quite common in Germany, Italy and a few other EU countries. But only if the other place is a research institute or company, doing that in another university group, or university is very uncommon/rare, especially when it is about doing a second PhD.
I am not easily persuaded by uncommon/rare by itself, so i would like to know the pros and cons of taking this unusual path?
Honestly only see more advantages (more collaborators, shared expertise) especially for topics that are on the border between two fields. A Habilitation can easily be waved if you have enough publications. It seems to me that a second PhD in B will later make it easier to change fields to B, beyond only the topics on the border between A and B. On the other hand i do not know any people who did something like this. And i can not really predict the consequences or reaction of such a unconventional route. And i also do not want to freak out my new boss by mentioning this idea, if the majority of you would consider it as very inappropriate.
What are the pros and cons of extending your research field by doing a second PhD in another direction stead of deepening while doing a Habilitation in the same field?
EDIT: The current Position is in Germany. Although i would be interested in staying in Germany, i would also like to hear about perspectives on this for other countries. That also makes the value of the question more general.<issue_comment>username_1: In Italy for example, if you have a scolarship for a PhD you can't do a second PhD with another scolarship. So you will work other 3 years without any refund.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: As has been covered in other questions e.g. [Is doing two PhDs a good path?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17232/is-doing-two-phds-a-good-path) or [After PhD in Aerospace Engineering, could I be admitted into a top university for a second PhD in Computer Science?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/14276/after-phd-in-aerospace-engineering-could-i-be-admitted-into-a-top-university-fo), there is rarely a need to pursue a second PhD to change fields. Once you have acquired the basic research competence, you can shift fields at any point in your career (as indeed you are already doing by publishing in a CS field).
Moreover, the volume of research required for a PhD thesis and a Habilitation is quite similar. Rather than going back and doing a second PhD, would it be possible to start pursuing more collaborations with the CS department and publishing CS research, so as to eventually obtain your habilitation in CS? Or interdisciplinarily with research from both fields, if you would like to keep your options open?
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I've heard many times that it's getting harder and harder each year to find a place in academia for scientists. Now I'm on the hunt of a post-doc and the "what about the future?" question arises.
So, by looking at mathjobs.org, I really get the impression there are lots of jobs! But after further inspection, I notice most of them are non-permanent positions, which begs the question: Are there people in a constant nomadic life? meaning that they are switching from non-permanent positions to another in their entire lives.
I would like to restrict the answers to applied mathematicians because I think we are a lucky group that has a higher possibility to shift to industry jobs if academy fails. I like to believe that because of it, there are fewer people fighting for academy positions.
Maybe another related question is, at which point one is too old to switch from academy to industry?<issue_comment>username_1: I'm a pure mathematician, so take what I say with a grain of salt. My sense is that "constant nomadic life" is not a particularly accurate view of things. I think it is true that the number of years of postdoc people often do is slowly increasing (or maybe more accurately, the sort of research track-record that's required is increasing, and it takes most people more years of postdoc to achieve that record), but I mean that taking 4 or 5 years after Ph.D. to get a permanent job is quite common, rather than 2 or 3. Those 4 or 5 years might mean two multi-year postdocs, or a 3 year postdoc and a year or two at institutes like Max Planck or MSRI; after that time, it will get hard to get temporary jobs. I think a fair number of people get through 1 or 2 postdocs and then decide to get a non-academic job, but I suspect most do not have reasonable options for continuing in academia in temporary positions (sometimes they have permanent options they decide are not worth it).
If you look at the job listings on mathjobs, there are currently about 500 TT jobs, 170 postdocs (which will generally not want to hire someone after more than 1 postdoc), and 120 "non-tenure-track" positions which is a big grab bag of things, mostly an equal mix of mislabeled postdocs and teaching positions (many of which are continuing). If you figure TT jobs are hiring for 20-30 years, and the postdocs generally for 1-3, the disparity isn't THAT bad.
As an editorial note, I will mention that I think too much funding has gone into postdocs at the expense of TT jobs in the past few years. I know it sounds really good to help the next generation of scientists train, etc. it would also help them a lot if they could just settle down and stop moving. However, I think things have not gotten quite as dystopian as you suggest.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: "at which point one is too old to switch from academy to industry?" Long before you become too old in any absolute sense you might become too old in a temperamental sense. After 10 - 20 years of living on an academic schedule in an academic setting, something which is more of a 9-5 job under an active manager becomes almost impossible to imagine. I periodically wonder if I should try to get a job in industry as a programmer, but realize that at this stage in my life (I have been teaching at the university level for 25 years) any such change would be too extreme.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: What's the right format for in-prep publication on CV? I saw on another post that the format should be something like
[My name], & Author, ([year]). [Title of article].
But the problem is that the paper has a few dozen co-authors and my name will come somewhere closer to the end of the list. Also, there are two incredibly well-known scholars that are co-authors of the paper, so I prefer to somehow include their names! :-D But is there any way I can turn the format below into something acceptable?
[first author], ..., [my name], ..., [Prof. 1], ..., [Prof. 2] ..., ([year]). [Title of article].
* The paper is in a sense "sequel" to a highly-cited previous paper published in Nature, so there is a chance this will be accepted by Nature too. Is there any way I could mention that? (It's not technically exactly "sequel" to that work, so using that word would be somewhat misleading and wrong.)<issue_comment>username_1: There's not really an elegant way to include some names that are scattered throughout.
If you cite it as Bigdeal, J. *et al.* then it's implied that your in that list somewhere, but you can't really pick and choose just to highlight the fancy people scattered through the authorship list.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: **On formatting**.
You should list publications/drafts as they would appear in a bibliography. The reader will assume that you (co-)authored every document listed. (Personally, I would assume your honesty and I would never think to check that you truly are the author.) The reader is interested in the titles of your publications/drafts and the venues at which you published. I'd suggest using italics for titles, so that they stand out, and for published works, I'd suggest that the venue follows immediately after the title, since it can then be found easily, e.g., <NAME>, <NAME> & <NAME> (2017) *Mathematics: Criticizing Nervous Essentialism and Xenon*. In ALB'17: 17th ALpha Bravo conference, pp317-495, publisher.
**On name-dropping**. You can name-drop in the body of your CV. But, I'm unsure whether name-dropping should be encouraged. I think it would be better to say what you've done. You could perhaps achieve both, e.g., in collaboration with [name-drop], I extended their earlier results (Nature'XX) to A, B, and C.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I have submitted my paper in one of the Elsevier journals. It was under review, and now it is decision pending for more than 15 days. Does it mean that the paper will be rejected?<issue_comment>username_1: "Decision pending" means that the decision... is pending. They haven't decided yet.
There isn't any secret code to deciphering the submission tracker. Things just always take much longer than we think they would.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Since you (nor I) know how your paper's status is changed in the journal's website, you shouldn't jump to conclusions.
It is likely that the change "under review" -> "decision pending" means that referee(s) report(s) were received, and now the editor has to make the decision. In many journals the decision does not fall solely on the editor, but papers are discussed to some extent by the editorial board. Those things often take time.
It could be that the editor is pondering the decision. It could be that the editor only works on editorial decisions every couple weeks. It could be other things.
The way I try to see it, is that things seem to be a lot better than they used to be when there were no online submission and tracking systems. There was a time when we actually submitted the papers by postal mail.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: There has been a lot of press about how the new tax proposals currently being considered by Congress could hurt grad students because one of the plans would treat remitted tuition as taxable income.
I understand why this would be bad -- grad students who receive tuition remission would have to pay a lot more in tax.
But if this became the new law, couldn't universities simply change the way they handle tuition for funded graduate students? In most top Ph.D. programs no grad students pay tuition because it is always remitted. Instead of remitting it, couldn't the universities just not charge tuition at all, or pay it through a grant rather than through remission?
I'm asking because I'm wondering why grad students are so worried about the new tax plan. I understand why it would be bad if universities didn't change the way they handle tuition and students had to pay tax on all that extra "income." But as it is, tuition for many Ph.D. students is just a shell game because it is always remitted. If the goal is to allow students not to have to pay tuition, it would seem that there are other ways to do that that would get around changes in the tax code. And I can't think of any reasons why giving students remitted tuition is more beneficial to the university than just not charging them tuition in the first place.
Am I misunderstanding something about the way tuition remission works, or the new tax proposal?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Instead of remitting it, couldn't the universities just not charge
> tuition at all, or pay it through a grant rather than through
> remission?
>
>
>
It may not be possible to not charge admission. Things like that are sometimes controlled by the state legislature, which is not always a friendly body. Beyond that, the difference between remission and "No tuition" is that *someone* is paying for the remission (or has been allocated a set number) whereas no tuition is just...no tuition. And often that someone *is* a grant.
>
> But as it is, tuition for many Ph.D. students is just a shell game
> because it is always remitted.
>
>
>
Accounting shell games come about for reasons. For example, the university might have a fixed cost of credits for graduate students (keep in mind Masters, Law, Medicine, Vet, Dental, etc. students are also grad students), and you may need a certain number of credits to be considered a "full-time student".
Which in turn can impact things like your insurance, loan repayment schemes, visas, etc.
>
> If the goal is to allow students not to have to pay tuition, it would
> seem that there are other ways to do that that would get around
> changes in the tax code.
>
>
>
They may not be possible, and they may not be possible by the time your taxes are due.
>
> And I can't think of any reasons why giving students remitted tuition
> is more beneficial to the university than just not charging them
> tuition in the first place.
>
>
>
The CDC pays my institution many thousands of dollars for my graduate students' tuition. Zero tuition would mean they pay zero dollars. That's bad for a university with very little financial wiggle-room right now.
It can also impact university finances. As I mentioned, there are other types of graduate students, and right now one of the major sources of revenue for my college is agreements we have with several states to take their students (we're the nearest vet school). Setting that to zero would be a financial disaster.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: This is a great question! I decided to write an answer to test my own understanding of the (rather convoluted) forces and interests at play. Assuming my answer makes sense, I hope it will help further the debate on this new proposed taxation rule.
>
> Why can't universities work around the proposed reclassification of tuition remission as taxable income, by not charging tuition?
>
>
>
We don't know that they can't -- I guess we will find out if this proposed new rule becomes law. But with that said, I think working around the rule would require a lot more than just relabeling "tuition" as something else or some similar cosmetic change. The reason is that there is something pretty honest and logical about the current arrangement, which makes me think that changing it would lead to an illogical, dishonest situation, which would be problematic from multiple points of view and create all kinds of undesirable distortions.
My understanding of the current system is as follows. There are four parties involved in the exchange of funds and services when a student goes to graduate school:
1. The university.
2. The student.
3. A funding entity (e.g. a public or private funding agency or an internal university grant).
4. The government, acting on behalf of the interests of the rest of society (yeah yeah, I know how naive that sounds).
Each of those parties has its own interests and has something to gain from the transaction, and provides some benefits to the other parties in return:
1. The university provides the student with an education and professional training, a costly good to provide (requiring physical infrastructure and lots of human capital). In return, it gets the tuition money (from the funding entity, or in some cases from the student him/herself) and the benefit of the research and other intellectual output of the student.
2. The student gets an education and valuable professional training that is likely to translate to a happier, more fulfilled life with improved employment opportunities. In return, he/she does research and other intellectually taxing work that benefits the university and the rest of society.
3. The funding entity provides funding to the university to offset (part or all of) its costs of educating the student. In return, it gets nothing, except the knowledge that it has fulfilled its mission of facilitating this process. (After all, funding agencies are set up precisely to be the entities in charge of giving away money to fund research.) This knowledge is used by it to justify its continued existence to the higher-level entities that are the source of its funds.
4. The government and society get the benefit of the student's research and other intellectual output, and the multiple benefits associated with a more educated populace. In return it gives a tax exemption to the student from paying taxes on the tuition money, which is after all a material benefit provided to the student by the funding entity (except for those rare students paying their own tuitions). This tax exemption is in effect a subsidy or incentive for people attending graduate schools. Of course, as readers of this site are well aware, going to grad school in the US is quite an expensive proposition (in both real costs and opportunity costs) already, to an extent that even deters some people -- probably a lot of people -- from pursuing a graduate degree. Going to grad school still makes economic sense for lots of people, but certainly not for everyone, and requires a lot of sacrifice and patience even from people who do end up benefiting.
Now imagine what happens if the tax exemption in item 4 is eliminated through a unilateral decision by the government, which is only one of the four parties. This will result in a net flow of huge sums of money back to the government. The whole set of incentives of the other parties will be drastically impacted. It is very hard to predict the exact consequences, but likely there will be an equally huge drop in the number of people wanting to go to grad school. Universities will have to go begging for more money from the funding agencies to offset that and restore equilibrium to the system, but the funding agencies don't have more money to give, or they would be giving it already. So: a big, big problem for everybody.
Now, you are proposing that universities simply eliminate tuition to forestall this flow of money back to the government. But then how will they offset the high cost of the education and training they are giving to the students? Charge money from the funding agencies, you say, but just don't call it tuition. Well, the funding agencies have to agree to this. How would the money be charged? By what logical name would you call this transfer of funds (it is after all a subsidy by an external entity of the student's education, which is a benefit to the student and therefore taxable as income under the new rules, at least if it is called "tuition"); and how will you prevent the government's taxation agencies from coming and saying -- quite logically in my opinion -- that this is effectively a form of tuition subsidy whether you call it that or something else, and that the applicable tuition taxes are therefore due? These are all tricky questions. As I said, I don't know if the universities will be able to find a work-around, but it is far from obvious to me that another equally viable arrangement can be found under the proposed new taxation regime.
Finally, I should add that the current arrangement works well not just because each of the four parties gets something in return for what they give, but because each of them gets back *much more* than what they give. There is a very large net gain of utility to society from the existence of higher education (and graduate schools in particular). That is why it is a resource that is subsidized, in one form or another, in all advanced countries.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: To address specifically:
>
> But as it is, tuition for many Ph.D. students is just a shell game because it is always remitted.
>
>
>
At my institution (which guarantees tuition support for all its graduate students), many PhD students are covered by internal university grants, and the "charging" of tuition in these cases seem to be little more than accounting.
However, many students are funded from external grants or fellowships, and in these cases the tuition charged to the student is funded by the grant and fellowship and represents real income for the university.
If my institution were to drop tuition to $0, it wouldn't be missing out on "income" from internal grants, it would just have to figure out a different accounting method (I don't know what this might look like, not an accountant), however, it would be missing out on real incoming money for those students on external grants and fellowships.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: If business gives away free goods or services, the recipient will not in general be required to pay on tax on them. If, however, a business gives free or excessively-discounted goods or services to someone in exchange for work performed, the IRS will often regard that as a "barter" transaction, requiring the worker to pay income taxes taxes on the value of free goods or services, or the amount of discount, received. It isn't always necessary for the worker to pay taxes on the full retail value of the goods or services, but discounts must be justifiable as something other than a reward for the work performed. If, for example, a bakery allows workers to take home unsold bread, a 100% discount could be justified on the basis that the bread would be unsaleable the next day.
While there may be some opportunities to game the system slightly, the IRS is apt to be skeptical of a business that charges an employee far less than retail for goods and services *that could otherwise have been sold, at a higher price, to someone else*. Tax-law treatment of barter transactions is sufficiently hostile that it's generally best to avoid anything that the IRS might view as one.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Currently some sciences receive tuition in proportion to graduate student salaries that covers some fraction of nominal tuition. If government were persuaded to give block grants to universities to run graduate programs in specified fields, no individual student would be tagged with the taxable income. Fields without subsidies (Law, Medicine [at least in many cases], too many humanities) could continue to charge tuition. The distortions, potential subterfuges, and potential for loophole exploitation are mind-boggling.
Nevertheless, there may be a simple, if expensive, work-around. Suppose a current graduate student gets $20k in salary and a $50k tuition waiver. Tax on $20k isn't much (and depends on number of dependents and other variables). Tax on $70k is a lot. So if the salary is boosted so that ($20k + increment - tax on the waiver and the salary increment to cover the extra tax) = ($20k - old tax), the student is whole. This transfers the problem from the students to the funding agencies. It still cuts the number of graduate students. It discourages foreign students from attending US universities because they too pay tax and, in many cases, tuition even when the US students get waivers. To cover the higher costs of teaching assistants, undergraduate tuition would increase. By making education more expensive, we can be sure we'll get less of it. There's a lot not to like in the House bill, but this particular taxing of the not-yet-wealthy or offspring-of-people-of-various-wealth-levels is about as destructive as one can imagine.
There's a part of me that says, "let's snap back ALL tax laws to where they were 1/1/99, when we were headed into a year of balanced budget and start over." That would raise a LOT of taxes. But it would sure help the deficit!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: One (but not the only one) of the reasons is that **graduate employees (= researchers and teachers) are not unionized** and therefore cannot exert collective pressure on their universities to address this issue.
In fact, the problem is not only the tax itself, but also the fact that this hit by the federal government is borne by the graduate employees exclusively, rather than in part by the universities as employers. Suppose a university has a grad employee union which is infinitely strong, and that it has no other concerns or interests but to avoid the reduction in their effective income. In that case they could have forced the hand of the university to give them a raise amounting to the exact amount of the levied tax - and thus transferred the burden of paying the extra tax to the university.
Now, of course these assumptions don't hold, so a grad employee union might not be able to repulse much of the burden; or if it's stronger, it would probably reach some agreement with university management and split the bill, so to speak. But even beyond that - graduate employee salaries, or salaries-disguised-as-stipends (/fellowships/scholarships/whatever you call them) - are extremely low in the US. Any half-decent such union would have already increased these salaries to a level where the extra tax might have hurt, but would not have been nearly as painful.
Now - unionization is always difficult; and university managements are typically quite ruthless; and an inherently-precarious workforce with employment lifetimes of 3-6 years in most cases makes it even harder. But it is certainly critical to set up in order to face challenges such as this one, collectively.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: One thing that I have not seen mentioned is that not all grad students (or people who take graduate-level courses) are from the simple "being a grad student is really a research job" cookie-cutter. For instance, I did most of my grad work part-time, while employed in much more remunerative industry jobs. One fellow student was a multi-millionare, another a retired gent in his 60s. Dropping tuition to help the full-time RA-type students would mean we would all be getting our grad school for free.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a physics PhD student in Germany. During my PhD I got two children, and as a mother, I had to give major part of my time to my children. I started in April 2012, and I will finish in spring 2018. Is this too long time to get a postdoc position afterwards?<issue_comment>username_1: In Germany you can be employed by the University, i.e., your salary comes from the federal government, up to six years. If you have external funding such as, scholarships or projects, by external companies there is no limit.
Moreover, for each child the contract can be extended one year.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: The typical times for a PhD in Germany vary mostly between three and six years, depending on the specific field you're in.
Legally, the university is allowed to give you fixed-term contracts for a total maximum of six years while you're working towards your PhD. However, there are extensions of this limit for childcare, so you would be well below this limit.
For a postdoc position, I don't think the time taken for your PhD would be a major factor in evaluating your application.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I was a resarcher fellow in Fraunhofer institute in Erlangen for a few years (7). I was surprised by the time take by PhD Candidate to defend a thesis.
I think that the average is 6-7 years. In comparison to French system it's really long, 3-3.5 years here.
To get a post-doc position, I think age of candidate is not a problem. For me only the quality of the guy (or girl) is important!
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I approached my internship advisor for an LOR while applying to Masters. She said she would not be able to provide a strong one but a good one based on an internship that lasted for two months. I approached her because she holds a PhD from a good university in the USA and she's published papers in top-tier conferences and journals. Will it adversely affect my application? Will it hold as much weight as a strong one because it's **she** who's recommending it?<issue_comment>username_1: This is probably subjective because it will depend on the person reading the letter, and whether he/she knows the person who wrote the letter personally.
The way I see it: if the letter does not clearly state or imply anything negative it will just be seen as a good recommendation. If however the letter mentions (or implies!) negative points you may be better off with a good or excellent letter from a less well-known scientist.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Will it adversely affect my application?
>
>
>
No, but it probably won’t help it much either.
>
> Will it hold as much weight as a strong one because it's **she** who's recommending it?
>
>
>
Absolutely not.
Keep in mind what “strong recommendation” actually means. It’s not about the forcefulness of the language; it’s about the quality of **evidence** that the letter provides for your success in the graduate program. The writer’s reputation/credibility is definitely part of that, but that informs how credible I should find the evidence they write about, not just how credible I should find their unjustified opinion.
Compelling evidence from someone relatively unknown has more weight than a bare thumps-up from a superstar.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2017/11/17
| 399
| 1,555
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<issue_start>username_0: When asking for an opportunity to do a PhD with a professor at a US university, he replied:
>
> Excellent background. Unfortunately, I do not have funding to support
> new students. Good luck!
>
>
>
Now I want to tell him:
>
> Thank you for your time and consideration. Please keep me in mind if a funded position opens up in the future.
>
>
>
and **I want to add that if there is any other professors that he can introduce to me in order to ask them for a PhD position**.
What should I say?<issue_comment>username_1: Don't ask the professor for contacts to other professors where you could apply - there's a risk that he will perceive it as annoying, and in principle it is work that you could easily do on your own.
Instead, you could add something like the following to your response:
>
> Please feel free to forward my documents to any colleagues who could be interested in working with me.
>
>
>
This will put the professor more in a mindset of helping some colleagues to find a (hopefully) good student, which he might be more willing to consider instead of helping a random applicant to find another job opportunity.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I would interpret that answer as a polite way of saying "I don't want to help." Both because it is brief, and appears intended to communicate finality.
There is no problem with including a statement like username_1 suggested, but I wouldn't expect it to amount to much of anything. I would focus your energy elsewhere.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/17
| 414
| 1,677
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<issue_start>username_0: Abstract was selected for 'oral abstracts' competition, in a shortlist of 5 presenters. I was announced winner at the end of the competition. Following the event I have been emailed to pass on my bank details as the beneficiary of the £1500 prize. My co-authors are all seniors/co-supervisors. What should I do? Should I email them all to discuss splitting up the share? Or should I not raise the matter at all, to avoid embarrassment. From reading responses to a similar post before, I get the impression that since the award is for best Oral Presentation, and I am the only 'student' it should probably just go to me. At the same time, I don't want to just keep it without mentioning it to anybody.<issue_comment>username_1: Congratulations! It will not hurt to let your co-authors know about the prize, and you can certainly offer to share the amount as well. As a student and presumably the only presenter, you are the primary recipient of this award, but your supervisors will likely be glad to know you received a substantial award.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: **You should absolutely inform your co-authors**
These people care about your career. They will be your recommenders, they will help you find jobs. People will ask them about your work. "Hey, I just won a big prize" is something I'd want to know if it was one of my students or postdocs - because I'd proceed to cheerfully show off the awesome work people in my lab are doing.
You can broach the subject of splitting the prize with them, but personally you did the presentation, and you won the award. If I was on the paper, I'd settle for a warm fuzzy feeling.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/17
| 577
| 2,495
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<issue_start>username_0: About 3 years ago, when I was finishing my Master's, I applied for a PhD position in a Canadian university. Everything went well and the professor provided a letter of reference to the members of admission committee indicating his acceptance to be my supervisor and fully fund my research (he sent me the letter to submit along my documents).
But unfortunately due to some personal circumstances I couldn't continue my studies and attend the PhD position.
Now, I am again considering applying for PhD (in some other universities) and was wondering: **Can I use this letter of reference as a kind-of letter of recommendation? If so, should I ask his permission?**<issue_comment>username_1: Three things:
1) It's polite to ask someone before putting their name forward as a reference. It's a huge turnoff to have someone get in touch with you unexpectedly saying that you're a reference for someone you didn't think you were a reference for.
2) It's smart to ask someone before putting them forward as a reference, because it gives them a chance to respond to you. It's possible that this person may not be able to give you a good reference at this point in time, and nothing will destroy your chances faster than if the admissions committee follows up with a reference who then says they would not recommend you.
3) In this case it sounds like the letter of reference might be highly specific to that institution: "I have the funding to work with this student and want them to do a PhD with me." That's a nice thing to say about someone, but it's not really a general purpose reference. Ideally, applying to a PhD program, you want a letter to explain why you're a great asset to a research program.
If you still want to use this letter, then be sure to ask the reference before you do so.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: You *may* be able to use the letter of reference, but I would absolutely ask their permission, and give them the copy to see if they want to update it.
A couple reasons for this:
1. It's polite. Essentially, you are asking to speak on their behalf about you. You should ask before you do that.
2. Not doing so risks them being blindsided. What if the people reviewing your letter call him for a followup? Being taken by surprise is not going to leave anyone with a favorable impression of you.
3. It allows them to re-tailor the letter - touching on more recent accomplishments, targeting it to where you're going now, etc.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/18
| 1,777
| 7,241
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<issue_start>username_0: I read many papers and try to present some of them at a reading group of some sort in my department (these are all quite informal). Both my most recent talks were what I consider quite bad, and I really want suggestions to get better.
I only choose to present papers that I understand reasonably well, but when I start talking about them, I often fumble, fluster, and feel the need to constantly look at my notes, even though I know the math (I am in Theoretical Computer Science). I often start saying a sentence, then pause and start afresh since I forget to add a "modifier" like, "given an epsilon > 0" or something like that.
I really don't know how to get better. Due to classes and research, I didn't get time to rehearse my talks before. I also recently gave a formal talk as part of my Qualifying Exam, which went *very well* (as the committee told me, but also, I felt it too!), but I'd rehearsed it six or seven times before the final talk.
I can't spend so much time for every talk. So I want to know if there are any suggestions to get better at talking. I know stage fright isn't an issue as I'm quite an outgoing person.
EDIT: These are all whiteboard talks.<issue_comment>username_1: The generic answer to this is probably "practice", but in the interest of giving you something more concrete to work with, I'll share what works for me personally:
When I make slides, I will usually formulate out what I say along with a given slide in my head or even under my breath. It helps me figure out when the slide isn't quite jogging my memory correctly, or when the organization doesn't follow my natural train of thought. I'll also usually notice if there's something I keep forgetting, and I can do something about it - practice that slide a bit more, add a reminder on it.
That way, I can easily get in 6-7 "rehearsals" of my slides just during the drafting process. Of course it's not as good as a real rehearsal, but if you don't have the time it's at least something. What it doesn't do as well is transitions between the slides, and I'll occasionally forget what order I have them in. I re-read my slides just before the presentation and also try to have my laptop screen show me a miniature of the next slide if possible to help with that.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Honestly there is no better means than to practice: but setting and audience matters as well, here are some pointers:
* **Location Counts:** Practice at the venue if you can, or a similar location. Practicing at home is different than on-stage.
* **Know your audience:** Practice with subject experts and laypeople. The information you give will need to be customized to the audience. If they are experts then you can skip 'basics', if they are not then you need to be aware that what's easy for you may not be easy for them.
* **Content:** Slides are great for visuals, not really for text. When you present, you are telling a story. Having the audience read the story does not make for a compelling storytelling presentation.
* **There is no script:** Trying to adhere to a script means that you will often hesitate and wonder if you are on-script or off-script. Instead, concentrate on talking points that you need to cover. Your expertise and experience on the research will fill in the actual wording for each bullet point.
* **Dress the Part:** Your clothes will give you confidence. Although it may be psychological, the idea here is that formal wear will allow you to psyche yourself into thinking that you will do well.
* **Umms and Like:** These verbal fillers detract from the message and are a sign of nervousness. The audience can't tell if you are nervous or not if you take your time and speak slowly.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: The other answers, in my opinion, give advice for how to get better at giving *formal* presentations, which is not really what your question is about.
To get better at giving more informal talks (or chats, as I like to refer to them as), I suggest to get more practice at doing that. Typically, the way we as academics do that is to teach -- you need to get more teaching experience.
So, if you really want to get better, ask to sign up as a TA for a course over the summer. I know, I know, you're busy ... I get it; however, through teaching I've found that it really does help to acquire the much needed practice for formulating the necessary material and approach for an informal chat to help the audience understand what you are on about.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: One important thing, for both casual talks and more formal talks, is your notes. Too many details and you can't use them without interrupting the flow of the talk, too little and you can get lost.
After some time, I converged to the following solution. I usually prepare one or two pages of main notes, not too densely written, with the main items I want to speak about and large signs for important things to mention at some point. Beyond two pages, I just end up caught in the moment and diverge from the planned path and improvise too much.
Usually there are some points where I could need a complicated formula, a precise statement, or a question might occur that needs one of these in order to be answered; then I simply make a mark (circled capital letters of color) where they might be needed, and write down the details along with the same mark on a second set of more detailed notes. Then I can refer to these when needed.
Another, general advice: be careful of what you do not like in other's talks, think about why, and be sure not to do that. The flaws of talks are often broadly shared, and this can only happen because we do not realize we do exactly what we blame others for.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_5: Here few main points from my [Medium Post "A Hitchhiker’s Guide to giving a Mini-talk in Maths (or another technical subject)"](https://medium.com/@dmitri145/a-hitchhikers-guide-to-giving-a-mini-talk-in-maths-or-another-technical-subject-a18bd3654740):
**Give mini-talks**
They are a great source of practice in a low pressure environment.
There are fewer things to focus on. Less material to prepare. Fewer expectations. You learn quicker. Fewer things can go wrong.
**Choose topic you find interesting and exciting**
Exciting your audience is the easiest if you are excited yourself. Avoid any topic you don’t really care about or find boring. Pick something you know or like to learn more about. Try to read and learn as much as possible before your talk. That will give your more confidence, among other benefits, and confidence is always a good thing when giving a talk.
**Focus on one single point and make it dead clear**
This is perhaps the best advice I can give. No one expects to learn a complete new theory in your mini-talk. But people like to learn something new. And learning one thing well is better than 5 things “half” or vaguely.
**Break down your talk into parts**
For mini-talks, I suggest 3 parts:
* Motivation: Start here and intrigue your audience.
* Precise content: Come to your main point and make it precise.
* Examples: Support your point with examples and non-examples.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/11/18
| 898
| 3,911
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<issue_start>username_0: It is often asked whether students should be encouraged to address their instructors by their first or last name. My question is the opposite.
I teach at a large US university but I have not grown up here. Most students address me by my last name or by 'Professor', which seems to be the traditional way to do it.
**Questions:**
It turn, would I traditionally address students by their first name or their last name? Or just "student"? Is the communication symmetrical or asymmetrical? Is there a difference in email and personal interaction?<issue_comment>username_1: First name, at every university I've been. Both for in person communication and email. There are a few charmingly old fashioned professors who use Mr/Miss Lastname, but they're seen as oddities. So yes, the communication is generally asymmetrical.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Your own personality is a big factor in your decision.
Should you be an easy-going person for whom informality is part of your way of teaching and interacting, first names are acceptable *but not required.*
If there is no restriction at your University about such usage, mention your preference for informality during interactions in the first meeting with your students. "Good Morning! Welcome to Theories of General Relativity and Subatomic Particles, section IX, My name is Dr. <NAME>, but you can call me Mason."
When you are teaching students who may come from other areas of the US, or from other countries in the world for that matter, standards of instructor <> student interactions will be different. Some US students will be unable to be so informal with you in a classroom situation, or in private consultation for that matter because their schooling demanded it.
When some of your students call you Professor or Dr. Ambicion, there's no need to remind them of your preference. You can try to subtly change their perspective over time by addressing them back in the same formal manner they present to you, while remaining informal with the other students.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: As a student in New England, my teachers almost always address me by my first name. I think it's the same with most teachers, and additionally many teachers ask on the first day if students want to be called by a nickname before calling attendance. It's unusual for a student to be called by their last name, but slightly more common in athletics. Gym teachers like their last names.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: In most schools, students are called by their first name, unless there are two students with the same name in a class, or the student prefers their last name. Often, when a student is called by their last name, it means they are in trouble: "Mr. Brown, what do you have to say for yourself?"
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I probably would ask other members of the same faculty what they do if I wasn't sure. Almost certainly they use the students' first names: I haven't been in an institution that requires formal modes of address between students and teachers (exclusive private schools may differ, of course.)
If you're not sure about how to address a student and you don't want to appear to be playing favourites, you can often resort to circumlocutions that avoid the need for exact names (i.e. "the previous speaker", or simply omitting names altogether), or request that students give their name when they ask their question. Many classes that I have attended are lecture-style, so the need for names is usually not very high, and it's unfair for the lecturer to be expected to know how to address each person (even knowing the correct pronoun to use nowadays is a difficult conundrum!)
I know some professors who can remember everyone's preferred forms of address, but they tend to teach higher-level courses with smaller numbers of students.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/11/18
| 1,473
| 6,352
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<issue_start>username_0: In computer science, a large portion of people develop algorithms, and demonstrate their effectiveness by running experiments to compare with other existing approaches in their research papers. In these experiments, as far as I know, there are two possible ways to purposely hide data:
* Ashley has developed algorithm X and decided to experimentally compare it with algorithm Y. She compared them on benchmark set A, B and C. She found that on benchmark C, algorithm Y outperformed X, so she decided to not report on C. In the paper, she also only claims algorithm X outperformed on A and B.
* Bill has developed algorithm P. He compared P with other algorithms Q, R and S on some benchmark instances. He found that P outperformed Q and R, but not S on these benchmark instances. He decided to not report the comparison between P and S. In the paper, he also only claims algorithm P outperformed Q and R.
Are Ashley and Bill’s actions considered research misconduct?<issue_comment>username_1: If the results are reported correctly , then reasons for the varied performance can be evaluated and more progress may be made.
If only selected results are shown then this can cause others to waste time re-evaluating what they think are “curious” results...
IMHO show all the results, as one particular dataset could have a particular variation ie a higher proportion of “odd” numbers which skews the results...
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Depends on what you want present in the paper and what the methods are.
First, let me divide these comparisons in two groups:
* **Curiosity**: There are several "ready to use" methods around, that you spend 5 minutes to fix it to run in your data and see what happens. Sometimes these tests are not even really related to your objective, but they are easy to do, so why not? You don't necessarily need to report everything.
* **Relevant tests**: For each problem, in this scenario, there are state of the art solutions (you can't compare your solution if it is the only one). So you *need* to compare with the state of the art, there is no way around it.
If a paper "skips" on a state of the art mandatory comparison it is not going to get published in a good venue. Any serious reviewer will notice it, raise that question and give it a bad review. Major bad impression...
Personally, I reject papers that only say "we achieve 98% accuracy" without mentioning failing cases and properly explaining why, when, and how the method fails. Which everyone who will consider using the method needs to know... I even have a pre-formatted paragraph saying just that, I use it on almost every review I do... Research is not marketing!
More to the point: IMHO, it is perfectly reasonable to only include the relevant comparisons, *regardless* of the performance.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: ***tl;dr*-** In general, suppressing negative results harms objective analysis but can make the research appear more significant. How people feel about this practice depends on their stake in it.
* Pure consumers are the most likely to feel that it's misconduct.
* Pure investees are the most likely to feel that it's acceptable/appropriate.
* Others in the field likely have mixed feelings since they benefit from the practice as investees but are harmed by it as consumers.
Looking forward, there's a growing understanding that these practices pollute the literature and will need to be weeded out. However, we're not quite there yet.
### Pure consumers are likely to consider it misconduct
At one extreme, readers who have no affiliation with the research are the most likely to object. Such readers might be trying to select an algorithm for their own research or business application; they want to know the good and the bad equally, so having the bad omitted is purely detrimental to them.
For example:
>
> Ashley has developed algorithm X and decided to experimentally compare it with algorithm Y. She compared them on benchmark set A, B and C. She found that on benchmark C, algorithm Y outperformed X, so she decided to not report on C. In the paper, she also only claims algorithm X outperformed on A and B.
>
>
>
If a reader is trying to select which algorithm to use, then they'd likely want all relevant benchmarks. Doubly so if *Benchmark C* is more closely related to their application.
### Pure investees are most likely to consider it acceptable/appropriate
At the other extreme, those invested in the research effort itself are most likely to want to see it presented in a positive light. Investees include the researcher themself; their supervisor(s); their institution; and any media services that report on their work (e.g., journals).
Pure investees are those who aren't also consumers. For example, a university's promotional news team is a pretty pure investee, as they basically want to make the research shine.
For example:
>
> Ashley has developed algorithm X and decided to experimentally compare it with algorithm Y. She compared them on benchmark set A, B and C. She found that on benchmark C, algorithm Y outperformed X, so she decided to not report on C. In the paper, she also only claims algorithm X outperformed on A and B.
>
>
>
If Ashley's supervisor feels strongly about the result, they may go into full-promotional-mode, including contacting the university's promotional team and others to advertise the work. Ashley's supervisor and related promoters might wench at any criticism or negative analysis that might detract from their efforts, so they're more likely to appreciate the comparison using *Benchmark C* not being reported.
### Fellow practitioners may have mixed feelings
Other computer scientists may have mixed feelings since they're consumers, but likely engaging in the same behaviors.
In practice, I've seen researchers acknowledge that they understand such behaviors to be detrimental, but still argue that not downplaying/omitting criticism would make their work appear unduly weak compared to other researchers'.
Overall, practitioners seem to generally understand that it's sort-of misconduct in the sense that it shouldn't be done, but that it's acceptable in the sense that authors often feel like they must do it to play on a level playing field with others who do.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2017/11/18
| 2,687
| 11,078
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently working in education but also looking for job prospects in more technical/mathematical fields. I signed up to a STEM job site and I am not sure how to give a good response to the question "Could you tell me about the circumstances behind you exiting your PhD?"
Basically, I quit a PhD 8 months after starting for the following reasons:
1. I hadn't fully developed the soft skills needed to be able to tackle one (e.g. time management, organisation, resilience) which resulted in slow progress.
2. I was struggling to manage myself in a lot of ways (e.g. money, food, mental health)
3. The area ended up being quite a bit out of my comfort zone (i.e. more pure mathematics compared to an applied mathematical background) and was chosen more based on fanciful ideologies rather than what I was traditionally good at, and it took me a long time to do things that my supervisor thought were straightforward.
4. I didn't have a break before starting my PhD and felt consistently burned out/depressed having gone straight into it after my Master's degree - not the best decision to make in hindsight.
I know the reasons in my head for dropping out of the PhD are sound, but I am struggling to come up with a way that explains what happened without potentially giving off an impression that I made a bad decision. I want to make a transition out of high school equivalent teaching (having been doing it for 2-3 years) into something more technical but would appreciate some guidance on how to answer the question I've mentioned above.
Furthermore, suppose I did find a niche of an area I was truly passionate about, or found a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) which I felt could truly advance my career in some way (say, being able to access some very technical and well-paid STEM role). How would I explain to potential PhD supervisors that I already quit a PhD without them thinking of it as being too much of a red flag?<issue_comment>username_1: ***tl;dr*-** Sounds like something went wrong in your past. Prospective employers would likely be interested in understanding this prior event to inform their consideration about whether or not you'd be suitable for a new role.
Personally, I'd guess that the best way through this is to help prospective employers to understand what happened and how this information should inform their evaluation of whether or not you're the appropriate candidate for the job.
Most of the following's written in the first-person. This is meant to reinforce the point that I can't really speak for hiring managers in general as there're many diverse viewpoints and philosophies. So, the following should be understood as my own thoughts and perceptions. Also disclaiming that none of this is legal advice; for example, there may be relevant laws/regulations/etc. involved in interviewing interactions and disclosures that aren't considered below.
---
>
> I know the reasons in my head for dropping out of the PhD are sound, but I am struggling to come up with a way that explains what happened without potentially giving off an impression that I made a bad decision.
>
>
>
Sounds like you *did* make a bad decision at some point. Still, unless you're trying to convince someone that you're infallible, that's not the worst thing in the world. Then on the plus side, you avoided making the [sunk cost fallacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost#Loss_aversion_and_the_sunk_cost_fallacy): the decision to stick with a path that's no longer optimal merely because resources have already been spent on it.
Personally, if I were considering hiring you, I'd want to know the following:
1. What mistake(s) did you make?
* I'd be *extremely* interested in this question, so you'd probably want to help me figure out the answer. If I couldn't figure it out, I'd likely perceive there to be an unqualified risk, and probably opt to avoid that risk by not hiring you.
2. What do those mistakes say about you at the time you made them?
3. What do those mistakes say about you now?
* What, if anything, have you done to correct for their causation?
4. How concerned should I be about any potential problem areas that they may reflect on?
5. How should I evaluate your response to these various problems?
* While causing problems may reflect negatively on you, fixing them can still reflect positively. You can earn points here.
It sounds like you've already given these some thought. However, you might want to give it a bit more thought. For example:
>
> I hadn't fully developed the soft skills needed to be able to tackle one (e.g. time management, organisation, resilience) which resulted in slow progress.
>
>
>
That sounds pretty bad. And while I'd give you kudos for recognizing it, I'd still want to feel confident that this problem is resolved, or at least manageable.
A major point here is that, if I hire you, I want to feel confident that I made the right decision. So I need to understand exactly what happened and why, despite those facts, you're still the right person for the job.
---
### Thoughts
So, here're a few of my first thoughts on seeing your points. I'm speaking in the first-person here because my perceptions are my own; I can't generally speak for any hiring manager who might be considering you, though I hope that these may be helpful.
>
> 1. I hadn't fully developed the soft skills needed to be able to tackle one (e.g. time management, organisation, resilience) which resulted in slow progress.
>
>
>
Apparently you had trouble managing your time and working at the expected pace. That's a pretty big problem in most positions in which you'd need to manage your own work flow.
* Have you done anything to fix these problems?
* Are they still problems?
* If I hired you, how should I expect them to complicate things in the future?
>
> 2. I was struggling to manage myself in a lot of ways (e.g. money, food, mental health)
>
>
>
If you were a PhD student struggling with money or food, that's not so unusual or hard to understand. If you're applying to be a PhD student again, it'd be a big point to address because it seems like you might have the exact same problems this time around, too. But if you're applying for a higher-paid position, it'd seem less relevant (though you might still comment on if it'll be a problem, and if it won't, why not).
As for issues with "*mental health*", that's alarming. Poor mental health can truly wreck people, and there's often very little an employer could reasonably do to help fix it. No employer wants to be in that position, so you may want to:
1. Think about all the ways in which your mental health might adversely affect your employer.
2. Try to figure out how you might correct for any of those problems before going into any interviews.
3. Explain these to the interviewer.
***Note:** There may be various laws/regulations/etc. surrounding mental health disclosure, discussion, hiring consideration, etc.. I'm not a lawyer and I'm not offering legal advice. I am not asserting that anything here or in this answer is compliant with any given legality's rules or regulations.*
>
> 3. The area ended up being quite a bit out of my comfort zone (i.e. more pure mathematics compared to an applied mathematical background) and was chosen more based on fanciful ideologies rather than what I was traditionally good at, and it took me a long time to do things that my supervisor thought were straightforward.
>
>
>
* Is this a concern for whatever you'll be doing in the new position that you're being considered for?
* Does this reflect on any sort of inflexibility that might result in an unwillingness to perform some future job function?
>
> 4. I didn't have a break before starting my PhD and felt consistently burned out/depressed having gone straight into it after my Master's degree - not the best decision to make in hindsight.
>
>
>
* Could this be a problem now?
* Are you prone to burning out, such that it might be a problem a few years down-the-line?
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I wouldn't go into a lot of detail. The person asking you this wants one single answer, and **it should be something that puts you in a good light for the new opportunity and doesn't provoke hard follow-up questions**.
* If you want to go into the workplace, I would say "My previous program focused too much on theory without useful application and I really wanted something more applied. I like to work on projects that have useful application in the real world."
* Alternatively, if you want to be in industry, you can say that you realized you actually don't want to work in academia and your previous program was interested in keeping you in that realm, rather than preparing you for the workplace.
* If you are pursuing more education, you may focus on differences between the field you quit and your new one. Something like: "I realized I'm really much more passionate about computer science than I am about pure mathematics."
* You should do nothing to mention the issue in anything that you give to everyone. That's information to be conveyed in an interview, if at all.
It's a given that there were probably other things going on and your interviewer will assume there is more to it, but they are not your therapist and do not need to understand the whole situation. Only give them what is sufficient and positive.
I was kicked out of a Ph.D. program at a very late stage because I simply was not performing well. The main reason for my poor work was personal issues that are embarrassing and were my fault but were not directly related to my studies. Later I re-applied to a program in the same field. When they asked why I dropped out I said that my advisor was travelling my whole last year and unable to supervise me well and that I had a compelling offer in industry. Both of those are true and were significant factors in my outcome. I didn't tell them I was also having personal problems at the time that negatively impacted my ability to focus on my work.
I got into the program and finished my Ph.D. On the job market people again asked me why I did a few years at one school before finishing at another. I said various things similar to the above but was never in a position where I really had to explain it. I did some studies at one school, went into industry for a while, and then went back and finished at a different school. That's as much as people know. To this day my colleagues don't know what the deal was and have never had enough interest to find out. That's the way it should be---professional conversations should be kept professional and private information rarely has a place in them.
I have seen people play the "I was young and immature" card and seen it work out, but it's a big risk. My advice is to **be honest with people, but don't undermine your future by dredging up potentially harmful issues from your past. Instead say things that are true, put you in a good light, and will satisfy the asker.**
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2017/11/19
| 892
| 3,895
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<issue_start>username_0: I assume this is nearly impossible in a university with separate math and computer-science departments, due to the way funding works (correct me if I'm wrong). However, I've heard that some small universities have joint mathematics and computer-science departments. In such a case, is it possible to get a professorship with the opportunity to teach both? Would I need degrees in both to qualify for such a position?<issue_comment>username_1: I don't know how common this is now, but about 15 years ago I was a visiting assistant professor in mathematics at a small liberal arts college in the U.S., a position that became available because, in trying to fill a tenure-track computer science position, no suitable candidates were found by late March or early April, and so the search was ended and a new search was started for a visiting math position, with one of the math faculty members helping out by teaching a couple of beginning computer science courses and one or two of the computer science professors teaching an extra class. In fact, I had consecutive visiting positions at TWO different colleges/universities back then for this same reason (no suitable computer science candidates were found for a tenure track position), and in each case the reason the visiting position was for math and not for computer science was due to the overwhelming greater number of experienced (in teaching) candidates that a math search would generate this late in the hiring season.
The same department tried again the next year, with the same result (I believe the other place I had a visiting position at was successful the second time), and the same math faculty member pitched in again, this time I believe teaching only computer science. Over a period of several years this faculty member transitioned to computer science, and has since written two textbooks in computer science. For what it's worth, I do not think this faculty member originally had much of a background in computer science (maybe a couple of courses as an undergraduate), but I believe this person had started being interested in computer science at least a couple of years before I was there.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In my university, math and computer science are not only separate departments, they're in different colleges. (Math is in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; computer science is in the College of Engineering.) Nevertheless, it is possible for a faculty member to have a joint appointment and teach classes in both departments.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes, my university has a joint department of "Mathematics and Computer Science". Freshman year, my *Computer Programming II* professor taught a *Discrete Math* course because another professor in the department was on sabbatical.
So, yes, in my experience, it is possible for a professor to teach both Math and Computer Science. Note that my university's Math and Computer Science department is very small (4 prof, 1 adjunct).
[Here's](https://www.ashland.edu/cas/departments/mathematics-and-computer-science) a link to the university's site (some of the information might be a little outdated, but here's an idea of this university's department).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: You asked if this is possible. Absolutely! As evidence, I will point to my own department - a combined department of mathematics and computer science in a mid-sized private university in the US.
As a very specific exemplar, I'll point to my colleague [Dr. <NAME>](http://www.marquette.edu/mscs/facstaff-slattery.shtml) who teaches both programming languages as well as algebra. His research lies in the relatively rare of field of computational algebra.
In fact, our department encourages cross-over teaching and no, you do not need a degree in both mathematics and computer science.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/19
| 453
| 2,216
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<issue_start>username_0: Most journals during second revision try to send the articles to reviewers who had reviewed the article before. But, if in case one such reviewer responds with a message that he cannot review the article this time, usually a new reviewer is requested to review the article.
My question is will this new reviewer also get the reviewer comments from earlier reviewer along with the manuscript?<issue_comment>username_1: All publishers I reviewed a revision for so far did this, so I would expect this to be default.
In general, the information in the previous reviews might prove useful without the editor being able to predict this (otherwise, they could review the paper themselves).
Thus it would be unwise to withhold that information, unless there is a good reason for this (like a reviewer accidentally revealing confidential information).
Some specific examples where having the previous reviews is useful:
* One purpose of reviewing a revision, if not the main one, is to evaluate whether the previous round of review was properly addressed and no new problems arose from the new material. A new reviewer may miss a problem the previous reviewers found, but they may be capable of telling whether it was properly addressed. (If all reviewers were perfect, why use more than one reviewer at all?)
* Sometimes authors make weird changes in response to a review. It is much easier to properly evaluate these changes if you know what happened before. In particular, a reviewer can avoid or directly address the problem of making a suggestion that is in conflict with another reviewer’s suggestions.
Also note that often the authors’ response to a review contains the entire review as quotes anyway (and disentangling the two would be quite tedious for the journal).
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: For the manuscripts I've reviewed for the first time in a revision, I generally do not get to see the original reviews as submitted by the reviewers themselves. However, I do get to see the response submitted by the authors, which normally includes a point-by-point response to the original reviews, and thus essentially provides the same information.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/20
| 862
| 3,391
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<issue_start>username_0: I just started my PhD a few months back after completing a MSc. I've been asked for a CV but I don't know what to put in it, and various templates are hard to use because:
* I don't have any papers nor have I reviewed anything
* I haven't been to any conferences
* I haven't received any competitive awards or research grants
* I haven't been on academic visits
In other words, I'm in the early stages of my academic career, I've done well enough to get where I am, but I haven't yet done anything that I can drop into a standard format academic CV (except for my education).
How can I write my academic CV when a standard format for those with a more advanced career looks, well, skeletal?
What would be expected on an academic CV for someone just starting a PhD? Is literally just handful of lines acceptable?<issue_comment>username_1: **Write your CV as-if you hadn't started your PhD**. As such, list the educational institutes you've attended, e.g.,
* 2015 -- 2017 Distinction, Master of science, University II
* 2010 -- 2015 Grade, Bachelor of science, University I
* 2002 -- 2010 High School qualification, School
And list what subjects you studied underneath at least the first two. (It's probably no longer relevant what you studied at school.)
**Mention your current position too**. E.g.,
* 2017 -- present Doctor of philosophy, University III
And give a compressed summary of your research objectives underneath. (It should appear above the other institutes.)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: First, here's a [useful guide as to the order and contents of an academic CV.](https://theprofessorisin.com/2016/08/19/dr-karens-rules-of-the-academic-cv/)
For someone new to doctoral study:
I would say start with education and list both your current program and your previous one - include GPA from the previous program if above, say, a 3.0.
You can be pretty liberal in terms of what you include under awards - any merit based grants or fellowships you were awarded in this program, any merit based awards you got in undergrad (you can remove the undergrad ones once you're further along, but for now you can leave them in). Don't include need-based awards unless there was a merit component.
You can include any research experience you had in undergrad - you might remove this later - but for now I would put this in - research internships, working in a lab, that sort of thing.
You can include professional skills if they are a requirement for your field - like being familiar with a statistics package or other software that folks need to know. You'll probably remove these later, but for now this would be good since professors looking for a TA or research assistant will look at your CV and want to know that you know how to do what they will need you to do.
Languages - if you know a language other than the one expected for your program, include this here.
And then professional affiliations - I would join an organization or two in your field and then list your membership on there. Maybe talk to a professor and ask for a suggestion as to what they would recommend joining.
It also really is okay if you have a short CV when you're just starting a doctorate. They obviously chose you based on your aptitude for the program, but most people come in with fairly short CVs, and that's totally expected.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2017/11/20
| 504
| 2,101
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<issue_start>username_0: [This is a clarification question on whether I should do this or not]
Should I add Dr., Engg. like salutation in front of my name in my resume. For example, if <NAME> passed BSc in Mechanical Engineering, should he write Engineer <NAME> in his resume or he should write only <NAME>?<issue_comment>username_1: This is probably highly culture-specific, but I (Austria) would do so: The headline with my name would contain all my titles.
(Here, I assumed you asked about including titles - I don't understand what you mean by "Engg.". I also would not write "Engineer <NAME>" but "<NAME>, BSc" unlesss Engineer is the title <NAME> is legally allowed to wear.)
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: There are two different types of "titles" you could add to your name, and it is not quite clear which you mean.
1. **The degree you achieved.** Heading your resume with "<NAME>, PhD" or "Dr. <NAME>" is something people do in places where degrees are valued, like Germany. (And also of course on academic CVs.) It might come across poorly in other areas, e.g. I get the impression that US people think it looks "stuck up" or "full of yourself". For a Bachelor's degree, it would be odd to use "<NAME>, BSc" simply because so many people have one, so there's nothing special about it.
2. **The profession.** Some professions are regulated, like in your example "Engineer". In many countries it is illegal to call yourself an Engineer unless you are registered with a professional association that regulates the exercise of your profession. (Acquiring the degree is not always enough.) In those cases, if you are in fact a registered Engineer, writing whatever your local equivalent of "Ir <NAME>" is on your resume can be a quick signal that you fulfil this requirement for a job that you are applying for. If your profession is not regulated, there is probably no good reason to put it in your name - your job is whatever the person you are trying to get to hire you says it is, and it's probably best not to contradict them ;)
Upvotes: 1
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2017/11/20
| 236
| 1,090
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for an assisstant professor position, and asked to provide a CV, as well as a separate list of publications. Should I still keep a "publications" section in the CV, or refer to the separate list by writing something like "see enclosed list of publications"?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, I would say so. A CV always should list publications.
It may be that for some reason to do with their search process, they find it convenient to have a separate document that only lists publications, rather than digging through the CV to find it. But that doesn't mean you should remove this list from the CV.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I think this depends on whether they put page limits on the documents. If they do, I would not waste pages on duplicating the publications but only list them in the separate publication document.
A reasonable compromise could be to list a short selection of your most recent or most important publications in the CV and then provide the full publication list in the separate document.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/11/21
| 582
| 2,285
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<issue_start>username_0: A paper that I need to refer to reasonably often has in its arXiv version the authors listed alphabetically by surname (as is the custom in mathematics). The published version lists the authors in a different order, having moved the last author to second place. The last author in the published version is recently told me he doesn't understand why people keep insisting on using the published author order (or to put it bluntly: why they keep listing him last).
What would be the correct way to refer to the joint work, given that the arXiv version is no less prominent than the published version? (Other than in the bibliography, where I would stick to the published order) I'm not sure whether it is more accurate to talk about the work/results of ABCD or of ADBC.<issue_comment>username_1: I would defer to the order in the version that shows up in your bibliography, presuming that one of those made it in. If not, or if you're somehow citing both, I personally would use the peer-reviewed ordering, but I doubt anyone would quibble either way.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: As username_1's answer states, if you use the full author list in the text, it should match the author list in the bibliography. However, with four authors, you're usually in a position where you can just say
>
> A *et al.*
>
>
>
in the text rather than
>
> A, B, C, and D
>
>
>
or
>
> A, D, B, C
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I have spoken with D, who was placed in second position in the author listing for the published version without their knowledge. They've said they don't mind me referring to the paper placing them last, as in the arXiv version. I'm not going to hack BibTeX to fiddle with author order in the citation keys, but if I use the authors in a sentence I will use "A, B, C and D".
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: This is probably an error on the part of the journal. This happened to us once on a four author paper, because the journal got confused because they typeset 4-author papers in a 2-by-2 grid and then messed up the bibliographic information when they read it off the grid. We’ve tried to get it fixed, but it’s essentially impossible. Go with the version that the authors have control over.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/21
| 518
| 2,101
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<issue_start>username_0: My roomie has recently been applying for PhD programmes. He's particularly interested in the one led by prof X, so the other day he sent an email presenting his research experiences and showing his interest in prof X's research. He got a very positive reply from prof X today:
>
> Hi XXX, Yes I am planning to accept PhD students this year. I strongly encourage you to apply... please indicate theory as your interest and/or mention my name as faculty of interest in your application.
>
>
>
This sounds like great news. So my roomie decides to reply and tell X he's *really* enthusiastic about applying to this programme. But neither of us has any idea what would be an appropriate way to do this. Would simply writing like "thanks for your help prof X I will definitely apply!" be too short and not show enough enthusiasm? Could anybody give some advice?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Thank you for your reply, Professor X. I am happy to hear that you're interested in taking on a PhD student for next year, I will definitely be putting in an application for the position. I look forward to hearing more about the project in the future. Regards, me.
>
>
>
You don't need to throw them a parade, but take a little more time to email them something other than just,
>
> Thanks a bunch!
>
>
>
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I tend to agree with username_1. Keep it professional.
I suppose there's a fine line between being confident and being flatter. Only you can decide where that is.
Assuming you have heard this person lecture, read their work, and inquired with others as to what it's like to work with Prof X, you could simply write back:
"Thank you for the instruction to submit my application. I am enthusiastic about an opportunity to work with you because...., and I trust you will find my application competitive with the other applicants."
I imagine that Prof X will have the final say on who she or he selects and a professional and courteous email is always welcome.
Best of luck with your application!
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/21
| 1,099
| 4,752
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. I try to be an active peer-reviewer but on average it takes a few hours to review a manuscript (reading, some searches in the literature, checking some relevant reference, and finally writing the report).
I review 2-3 papers per month and I need to spend some time outside my working hours. In various blogs, articles, websites like publons.com, I see it is not uncommon to review 10-20 papers per month.
Then, I came to the conclusion that I am doing something wrong. Because by my calculations, it is impossible to peer-review many papers along with various tasks of an academic.<issue_comment>username_1: I don't think people who review 10–20 papers per month are likely to be doing a good job. They are probably just reading a paper once and writing a couple paragraphs (at most) based on superficial impressions. I've certainly gotten reports on my own papers that seemed to be produced that way; and they were both frustrating and not very useful.
I personally review about 3–6 papers each month, and that is by far the most of anyone in my department; I have also received outstanding referee rewards from multiple journals, mostly just recognizing my high levels of work. (This also represents a big part of the professional service work that is expected of me as a faculty member.) It would certainly be possible for me to referee five times as many papers (although I would have to contact a lot of editors to volunteer my services), but that would turn refereeing into a the largest component portion of my total workload. It would not be possible to do those reports properly and still be a productive researcher.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: Not all reviews are created equal. A review that is based on a careful reading of the whole manuscript, and gives specific, actionable recommendations about how the paper should be changed, with clear justification, is far better than a review like a movie review that simply throws derogatory language at the paper (some highlights from reviews of my own papers: "shallow", "weak", "very, very bad") or rubber-stamps the paper despite serious problems. I think it's often worthwhile to spend time checking calculations and checking that cited papers really say what the authors claim they say, although such things are beyond the call of duty in most cases.
But, there's little incentive for writing good reviews or punishment for writing bad ones. All reviewers get out of reviewing is getting to list in their CV what journals they've reviewed for. So, inevitably, careerists write a lot of sloppy reviews. Also, as mentioned in a comment, unscrupulous professors may take the credit for a review written by a graduate student.
What I would recommend is, don't worry about how many reviews you're completing. Spend the time you think is necessary to write good reviews, and if that only gives you time to write a few, then good on you for putting in all the effort to help those papers achieve their potential.
For what it's worth, I'm a postdoc in public health and psychology and I review maybe 1 paper a month tops. Each takes me at least a day of dedicated work.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I know that it is common practise in some institutes that PhD students ghostwrite the reports. In this way it is easy to produce a large number of reports per month (in the same way that people produce a ridiculous amount of papers, grant proposals etc.)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Sometimes people who are part of the technical program committee of a conference are attached to several papers as "primary" reviewers. For example, in this conference, where I am in the TPC I am being asked to review 10+ papers due to an unprecedented number of submissions. The concession is that on some we will be allowed to just write a meta-review.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: In my opinion the peer review process is deeply broken. The quaility of the reviews I got so far is concerning. In most journals just one out of three was able to find a real flaw. Sometimes the other 2/3 criticise even positive aspects because they did not read the paper or lack complete understanding. Then you have to write a boring response letter back until the stuff gets submitted. In my opinion an exhausting process which often ends up with the fact that another group working on a similar process gets your data and submits urgently. I am pro non-anonymous reviewing. I guess the review quality would increase greatly and the reviewers would be also more polite sometimes.
I guess **you have to choose a speed which fits to you**. If you feel not confident to review 20 papers then do not do so.
Upvotes: -1
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2017/11/21
| 1,323
| 5,289
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<issue_start>username_0: Specifically, in a scholarly paper on philosophy of math I want to mention Mo Yan’s novel *Red Sorghum Clan*. It is just as an example of literature, not quoted and not used for any specific purpose.
Suppose I were to say:
>
> Think of any famous play, say Shakespeare’s *Macbeth*.
>
>
>
would I need a citation to some edition of that play?
Of course if I wanted to refer to a particular edition of any novel or play I would have to cite it. And if I were offering a statistical analysis of language in the novel I would have to cite a particular edition. But I am not doing those things.
When I look at the text, saying “Mo Yan’s *Red Sorghum Clan* (1986)” looks ridiculously stuffy to me. This is no journal article or even an academic book. And as far as the practical issue of readers who want to find it, the title by itself will be far more helpful than any reference to a particular edition which the reader might or might not have any way of finding.
Or am I being ridiculous? Should I just make the citation?<issue_comment>username_1: When I published a paper on statistical analysis of various texts, which included really famous works, I gave full references. Why I think they are deserved:
* what you consider a famous work may be in fact unknown to a reader and she may become genuinely interested in the work - in that case the more bibliographical data, the better (e.g. call me simple-minded, but I have never heard of *Red Sorghum Clan*);
* you may be implicitly referring to a passage that was present in particular edition, but was not present in others;
* where do you draw a line between a scientific work and a work of art that does not require a citation?
* in your example you are not citing an original work (which, according to wikipedia is titled *红高粱家族*), but a certain derivative work, a translation, done by a certain translator, who - *inter alia* - came with the English version of the title. I think one should then give precise pointers to this translation.
Also, check whether your manual of style says anything on the matter.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: If I refer to a specific work, I would cite it.
However, in some fields is common to read articles that name work without citing the original paper. For example, recent hydraulics papers will refer to "Saint-Venant equations" or "Manning formula" without citing the original publication, because those are very well-known and over a century old.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: To the revised and clarified question, I think the answer is clearly no. We give citations so that readers can, in principle, compare what we saying about a text to what's actually written there, or to send them somewhere for more information. In the kind of situation you describe, the mentioned text plays a fundamentally different role. It's more closely analogous to saying, "Think of any famous building, say the cathedral of Notre Dame." You wouldn't give a citation to the building.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: To improve the chances that your reader will be able to know exactly what you're talking about, I would include as much information as possible: the name of the creator and the year of a creation at a minimum, and a full citation if reading the work is crucial to understanding your argument. It's hard to predict how well an artistic work will be known over time, how easy it will be to find in a different country, or how accurately the name will be translated.
An example of this might be a well-known comic book such as *The Dark Knight* or *The Watchman*, both of which would have been unambiguous in comic book circles before movies based on them were created. The same might be true of *Red Sorghum* -- are you referring to the 1986 novel by Mo Yan, the (much more famous!) 1987 movie by <NAME>, or the 1993 English translation (which I love) by <NAME>? Even just saying "*Red Sorghum* (1986)" can help disambiguate this.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: If you make a fleeting reference to something, you generally don't need to cite it unless you actually quote from it, or reference an obscure part of it.
In Spanish literature, for instance, we can reference the *Quijote* without including a bibliographic citation *unless* we are actually quoting the text or if we reference a particular less well known scene. That is, a fleeting reference or to the the windmill scene need not a citation, but one where <NAME> calls a given book crap might.
A common occurrence of this might be when we talk about books that an author has written. To continue with my Cervantes example, if I'm studying the *Quijote* then I'll cite the book beginning generally with my first quotation, but not necessarily the first reference to the book. But if I mentioned that his first novel was a pastoral work called *La Galatea*, but otherwise didn't cite or talk about the book, I wouldn't expect there to be a citation provided. If I also said that he expected *<NAME>* to be his masterpiece, I would cite an article to that fact (maybe, since that's well known amongst Cervantistas), but I'd definitely not cite the book itself (again, unless I actually quoted the book).
Upvotes: 0
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2017/11/21
| 727
| 3,072
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<issue_start>username_0: I failed my written PhD qualifying exam twice in Computer Science from a middle-ranked university. Instead of kicking me out, I can get a terminal master's degree. Please note that this will be my second master's degree.
Now I am planning to re-apply to PhD programs at other Universities. My questions are:
1. Since I am getting a master's degree, is it okay not to mention about failing in the PhD qualifying exam in statement of purpose (SOP)? Please note that the Graduate committee informed that it will not be reflected in the transcript.
2. If the answer is yes for the previous question, then my advisor is ready to give a strong recommendation, so can I ask him not to mention about failing in the PhD qualifying exam in his recommendation letter?
Please note that the written qualifying exam is about getting good grades in 4 subject areas of Computer Science, it has nothing to do with research. This is one of the main reasons I do not want to mention in SOP, I wanted to highlight my research potential saying that I submitted a 10-page research paper in a top tier conference in one year. I have industry experience of more than 5 years.
Please help, since my goal is to get into academics, help students and do independent research. I want to pursue my dream irrespective of this setback.<issue_comment>username_1: I would argue that this would not be the right content for the statement of purpose. This is where you write about what you will research and your academic interests. What you will do as a Ph. D student and how you will contribute to the greater body of knowledge.
Instead, and if the application allows for it, discuss this in your personal statement. What has happened and most importantly, why it happened. Just like a [**background check**](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/50785/how-to-tell-a-company-i-wont-do-a-background-check/50788#50788), you have the opportunity to explain past setbacks and what you will do to not repeat those mistakes.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: The issue is that schools know about other programs in their field. If you are applying to another school while you are still enrolled, the obvious assumption is that something has gone wrong at your current school. This will act as a potentially big problem—particularly if the other school is known not to have a separate master's program, but instead admits directly to a PhD program.
I would recommend **not** hiding this from schools to which you apply; doing so would be sufficient grounds to revoke your admission, if it were to come to light, since you are lying by omission in your application.
Moreover, if you have done good research, and your advisor is willing to testify to that, and your only significant issue is that you struggled with the qualifying exam, then you should be able to find a new department. (Perhaps you should look for departments where you won't have to take a qualifying exam—there may be some in your discipline, and more and more schools are dropping them.)
Upvotes: 1
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2017/11/22
| 1,489
| 6,069
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<issue_start>username_0: My abstracts starts with three specific questions that my proposed research will answer. But when my friend saw this, he said: "I will never start an abstract with questions, and I will never read this paper if it starts with questions."
Is it wrong to start your abstract with a question sentence?
Edit:
My friend and I are in the field of Information and CS (broadly speaking). He added that only some very prominent scholar dare to write such abstract.<issue_comment>username_1: >
> "I will never start an abstract with questions, and I will never read this paper if it starts with questions."
>
>
>
These are your friend's personal opinions regarding abstracts.
If you take a moment to read a cursory sample of published research abstracts, how many of them have a question? Isn't the purpose of research to answer questions?
As for your friend, politely agree to disagree. You decide what will be published.
Focus on whether or not your abstract effectively summarizes your body of research and its greater importance to the field. This is the purpose of the abstract, whether or not you choose to use a question or not is a matter of style and the input from your co-authors, editors, and confidants.
Remember that this is your work, not theirs.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: As an author, you can choose different styles for abstracts. As far as I know, the most interesting and shortest abstract ever was written in this paper, [Can apparent superluminal neutrino speeds be explained as a quantum weak measurement?](http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1751-8113/44/49/492001/meta) by <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME> and <NAME>.
>
> ### Abstract
>
>
> Probably not.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: As others said, this is a matter of style of convention and taste.
Compare these two abstracts:
>
> Does every compact Hausdorff space admit a compatible metric? In this work we show that the answer is positive exactly in the case where the space is second-countable.
>
>
>
And
>
> We show that a compact Hausdorff space admits a compatible metric if and only if it is second-countable.
>
>
>
Both have the same content, but only one of them feels like it actually invites you to read the paper. It starts by asking you a question, which to some extent is intriguing, and then provides you with a complete answer.
Papers should be something that is read by people. As such, the writing style should not be dry. I'm not saying that you should go overboard with elaborate writing and storytelling devices, but sprucing up your writing a little bit using questions or explanations is a good thing; it can help to make your paper much more palatable.
As for your friend's comment? Well, if he can judge the content of a paper by the first sentence of the abstract, I'm sure that he can skip the abstract altogether and just judge a paper by the title. I mean, why waste time reading *two* sentences?
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: Just some strayed thoughts:
Be cautious with reviewers who give overly dogmatic "rules of thumb" about writing. A few of those rules are reasonable and legitimate, the majority are either learned practices and unsupported or outdated conventions.
To me (hint: opinion), starting a paragraph with a question is cliche. 1) I can understand the use of it in other literature, but it's overly stylized in scientific writing. 2) People usually start reading the abstract because they are attracted by your title. There isn't really a strong need to use another bait. 3) The first part of the abstract is usually used to set the stage by presenting some background or key information to bring the readers up to speed. Starting with a question can throw some experienced readers off. 4) Most of the time, the follow up "answer" to that question tend to use very similar words, ending up wasting word count. 5) I work in biomedical field and the general style is to state the research question at the end of the background. Starting the same paragraph with a similar question would be, like the point above, wasteful.
For these reasons, I'd suggest try two versions with different starting style and all else equal, do another poll with some friends and colleagues and see how that goes.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Hmm interesting... I think there is two layers to this question, one technical and one personal:
**Direct Answer**: you write a paper to be a source/voice for a very specific topic. If I'm reading your paper, I generally want to see a good topic, problem statement, solution/conclusion and future work. I want your paper to "knock me out" with the latest research findings for a very specific topic. The last thing I want to see is your thought process along the way. Hope you see the point here.
**Researchers Dilemma (I dare you to....)**: As a researcher, you have a personal trait, which is think out of the box. Just because someone suggested something, it doesn't mean that, "I will prove him/her wrong". This will waste your time, and energy. Then the question becomes when to follow/break the rules, well thats "the dilemma"; and you need to know the logic behind these rules/styles/approaches before you want to break them.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: A question often summarizes the whole thing in a very short and precise way. Some books even are titled with a question. So why not? The only drawback is, that because of its shortness, simply throwing a question in is sometimes perceived as somewhat rude. Depending on your theme and audience that may be intentional, or maybe better avoided. I personally prefere precision and shortness over lengthy explanations.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: I wouldn't say it's wrong, it just sets out the tone in a more informal manner than a clear statement of intention would make.
You could always just reword it and put forth that there is a question out there that you are setting out to answer (or attempt to).
Upvotes: 1
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2017/11/22
| 724
| 3,029
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<issue_start>username_0: At my school, I can request an official transcript to be emailed to me, and it comes addressed to me at the top, with a COPY watermark all over it. Since this doesn't go directly to the graduate school, would this count as an unofficial transcript? It contains the classes taken, my grades and so on.
One thing though, is that at my institution, first year grades don't 'count' per se, so they don't appear on the official transcript. Instead, these are all listed as SC [Satisfactorily Completed]. Would seeing this on the official transcript be odd to a grad school admissions committee?<issue_comment>username_1: Most universities allow an online version of the transcript that is 'unofficial' meaning that it doesn't have the necessary anti-tampering technologies (watermarks, raised insignia, etc) that can determine that the information (your grades and classes) contained are genuine.
As far as applications go, if you have to pay for a copy chances are, it is an 'official' transcript, if you can print it online from your university, it is 'unofficial'.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: You can send them the online printout as you describe but ensure that it's **easily legible**. Some institutions have other basic requirements such as showing your name and the institution's name, which are good to have if only to ease processing.
What will happen is that if you accept a position, only then the school will require that you send them an official transcript. This will be compared to detect fraud, and the final award of your degree verified. This means you will (ideally) only have to pay for one official transcript. Also, it minimizes clerical problems correlating transcripts otherwise sent directly.
To answer the second part of your question, special first year grading is not odd. Some well-known institutions, like [MIT](http://web.mit.edu/registrar/reg/grades/freshmangrading.html) and [JHU](http://www.jhunewsletter.com/2016/05/06/university-to-end-covered-grades-in-fall-2017/) have similar policies. The transcript you send should match what is shown on an official transcript.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: An "unofficial" transcript is generally considered anything that doesn't bear the "sign and seal" (or equivalent) of the issuing institution, as well as any reproduction of the official transcript (scan, photo, copy, etc.). So your "copy" would be sufficient as an unofficial transcript.
The question about "satisfactory completion" of first-year courses is not really a big deal. Different schools know that different universities have their own systems in deciding what does and does not get graded (some schools are pass/fail for a semester, others for a full year, others allow different courses across the four years to be graded that way). So long as you're not doing that with your major courses, there's probably little harm. Moreover, freshman year is the year where little stigma will be attached if letter grades aren't reported.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/22
| 1,341
| 5,630
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a young undergraduate student currently finishing my next-to-last year as a math bachelor. I plan to apply for a Masters as soon as I finish, and I look forward to a job as an academic researcher.
I'm also deeply involved with the culture of body modification, hosting myself a few tattoos, piercings and one scarification (as of today, all of which could be covered by wearing a dress shirt and pants). I also look forward to further modify my body, including face/hand tattoos, scarifications and piercings.
I know that, in general, this means that I will find barriers to land a job given my future undeniable ``strange" appearance. Now, in the context of academic jobs, how is this culture viewed upon? I've never seen a member of our faculty with any form of extreme body mod, just one or another mild, easily hidden tattoo.
I would like to add that both body modification and mathematics had (and still have) a huge impact in my life, both are my driving force and my passion for them will make me purse my dreams of being a (heavily modified) mathematician, no matter what. I would just like to know what type of obstacles I should be ready to face, when the time comes. Though I repeat to myself everyday that "if I'm good enough at my job, people will need to accept my looks", I would also appreciate a less faith-dependent advice. You know, for the hard days.
---
To further clarify how is this different from other related questions on tattoos, I'm talking about extreme body modification, while the question linked states: "Of course, if I did get one, it would be discrete and innocent." These images show what sort of looks I aim to achieve: [photo 1](https://i.stack.imgur.com/3CaoM.jpg), [photo 2](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RoZE5.jpg).<issue_comment>username_1: You will likely be judged differently in any situation, where you have to be present in person - that is, all kind of interviews (actually even via skype and similar).
Your skills become more important later in your academic life, but the documented skills of say a master student who applies for a PhD position are very limited - personal judgement plays the major role here.
Therefore, you might want to wait until you do a PhD, or even after that. By that time your publications and achievements may speak for themselves and all you need to do is to find a PI that is okay with your looks.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The kind and degree of "body modification" matters, and what is considered acceptable varies with time. Twenty years ago, you would not have seen any piercings other than earrings at the main professional society meetings I attended. Nowadays, lip, nose, and eye piercings can be seen and are tolerated so long as they're not excessive or flagrant.
However, tattoos are a different issue—facial and hand tattoos are difficult for "professional" employers to deal with, since they are essentially impossible to hide and are considered unprofessional.
That said, you have the right to modify your body as you see fit; however, you should take the likely response of future employers into account before you proceed. (To borrow from username_1's answer, I'd lean with "even after that.")
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> Though I repeat to myself everyday that "if I'm good enough at my job, people will need to accept my looks", I would also appreciate a less faith-dependent advice. You know, for the hard days.
>
>
>
I think you need to consider very carefully what it means to be "good enough at your job" in the context of academia. For doing research in pure mathematics, that mostly\* means doing and publishing good research. However, work in academia almost always involves teaching. Teachers lecture to classrooms of students who expect to get an education in an environment that they feel is supportive, safe, free of distractions, and compatible with cultural norms of behavior and personal appearance. Someone who deviates from these norms, especially to an extent that is likely to cause discomfort among a non-negligible proportion of students, is in my opinion unlikely to be hired to teach at a university in (for example) the United States.
Good luck pursuing your dreams.
**Edit:** following up on your comment, you should also consider that careers in academia are international by nature, and your experiences in Brazil (which sound pretty positive so far) may not be representative of how people will relate to your physical appearance elsewhere. To reach any meaningful level of success you will likely need to do one or more postdocs overseas and be prepared to travel regularly to conferences in other countries. You should also be prepared for the possibility that you might end up settling down in another country due to any number of eventualities that happen quite frequently to academics (meeting someone, difficulty of getting a job in your home country, or just deciding that you like it better somewhere else with better opportunities). Your body modification plans are likely to have a complicated interaction with the already complicated realities of careers in academia, and possibly create some additional challenges. Something to consider. Anyway, good luck.
---
\*I say "mostly" because the paths to doing good research typically involve forming collaborations, which does depend on things like social skills and maintaining a professional appearance, and the paths to getting people to *think* that you've done good research involve giving talks about your work, which also depends on those things.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/22
| 830
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<issue_start>username_0: I’ve just read a paper in which a previous paper of mine has been cited. The line in which the citation happens is something like:
>
> It has been shown that technique X is successful in this problem [citation for my paper].
>
>
>
However, in my paper, I never mention technique X.
Should I do anything? The paper that cites mine is otherwise fine and really doesn’t need a reference for their use of technique X, since they spend a lot of time developing it anyway.<issue_comment>username_1: There really isn't any action worth pursuing here. You could write the editors and ask them to issue a corrigendum stating that the reference was incorrect, but you'll probably waste a lot of time and effort for what is likely a very minor issue.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Since you never mention their technique, it is quite likely it's a "typo" (they accidentally cited a different paper than they meant, which, at least, in my field happens more than 0% of the time), or they just misunderstood your paper (or you misunderstood your paper). I agree with @username_1 that there's nothing you need to do, but if you want to get to the bottom of this, you could contact the authors, saying something like:
*I noticed you cited my paper in ... about X. However, that paper didn't consider X. Did you mean to refer to another paper? If so, I'd be interested in knowing which paper.*
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_3: You have a number of options. Beginning with writing the editor, author, or publisher. If they refuse to redact or recall or issue or public correction, what you can do is come out publicly to scorn the misuse of your work. This is especially true for scientific works that are being deliberately misrepresented, or maliciously used to advance some agenda. You have a duty to call out false reasoning in all contexts, but even more so when your own work is being used to do it. At worst, your work will advance bad science or social ideologies, depending on the work. At best, if it goes unchecked and unnoticed, it could tarnish your own reputation because people may not verify what your work actually says.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: ### Yes, you should write the authors.
I disagree with both @username_1 and @username_2, in that I believe it *is* important to address the incorrect reference, and you should go to at least some effort to do it. Since it's not a critical reference in the paper OP mentioned, I would not do *much*, but we should be striving for published research to be absolutely correct on the facts (as opposed to opinions/perspectives/etc) so as not to confuse future readers.
So, a minimum of something like this (the wording is just a suggestion of course):
>
> I've recently read your paper `Their paper`. `Some nice words about their paper so as not to appear too hostile`. I've also noticed the paper quotes own my work in `Your paper` regarding technique X. However, that paper of mine does not actually discuss technique X nor use it. Did you intend to refer to another paper (e.g. `Some other paper which might be more appropriate`)? Regardless, I'd like to ask you to consider taking some action to address this issue (perhaps by contacting `The Journal`), to ensure readers are not confused by the reference.
>
>
>
would be in order. Be respectful in addressing them.
Upvotes: 4
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2017/11/23
| 723
| 2,883
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<issue_start>username_0: This may be a sensitive subject given the subject matter.
But I have currently experiencing [**significant writers’ block**](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7656/resources-on-how-to-overcome-writers-block-especially-for-non-native-english-s) when it comes to writing my statement of purpose and personal statement for graduate school applications. As part of my research (procrastination) on how to resolve this issue, I came across some material that suggested that a minor intake of alcohol would allow the process to flow more freely.
Not enough to inhibit writing, but enough such that the usual inhibitions are removed.
I wanted to confer the advice and wisdom from the academia community on this subject matter, the pros and cons, the potential ramifications of such an action.
What are the effects/results of drinking and writing?<issue_comment>username_1: Massimo's comment reminded me of the old adage, "drink when you want to, not when you need to", and I think those are useful words to remember.
However, I also agree with what rnrstopstraffic said, and if you have no general problem with consuming alcohol, try it and see what happens.
I *don't* suggest going out with your friends, drinking 6 pints of beer and 3 shots of tequila before stumbling home at 2am and scribbling nonsense, however. One glass of wine or beer with dinner would, I expect, be enough to get the creative juices flowing (*if* alcohol is going to get them flowing at all). I also recommend that you wait until the following day to edit and submit.
I've personally never written academic work after drinking alcohol, but I have written fiction after doing so. For me, it definitely doesn't improve the quality of my writing, but it does help me put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and just write. As Inkblot says, it's a lot easier to rewrite and edit when you have something on the page, even if it is total garbage.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: In computer programing there exists the Term "Balmers Peak" which describes the positive effects of moderate alcohol consumption on your coding skills as these requiere a certain degree of creativity. If this effect is real and what "moderate" means is disscussed here
<https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/2795>
which Im just going to link as I could not write it out in such detail by myself.
Wether this effect also applies to academic writing is not disscussed there but I can imagine so as both acitivities seem very similar. They both requiere creative thinking and logical thinking (thats why you should stay at very moderate levels of alcohol consumption as your logical capabilities will suffer otherwise).
Also alcohol will help with just "getting it out" which you mention as one of your problems. Just dont forget to edit it later while sober.
Upvotes: 1
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2017/11/23
| 832
| 3,506
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm writing my first paper for a conference about an issue enquired just by think tank, investigative journalism, ONG and United Nation Agencies but not directly from academic research.
So, is it correct to present that paper with only collateral academic writing?<issue_comment>username_1: If your research concerns a specific subject for which all presently published material comes from think-tanks and news articles, then it is perfectly legitimate to cite those sources as your main source of literature. However, while this may be true of the *specific issue* you are investigating, it would be *extremely* unusual for that issue to be so unique that it cannot be put into any broader scholarly context in any field of academic inquiry.
For example, suppose you take some extremely specific topic -- e.g., you want to investigate the effect of fluctuating prices of bananas on the eating habits of rural families in Peru. Perhaps there is not yet any academic literature on that topic, but there might be news articles from time to time that talk about farmers when banana prices go up or down. Even so, if you were writing about that topic, you would probably discuss the specifics within a broader academic context with some economic theory, social science, etc. So you might augment your discussion of the specific topic by noting that shortages of bananas in other parts of the world cause consumer prices to increase, and this increases profits to banana growers, which gives them more disposable income, etc. There would be plenty of general academic literature (e.g., general economics literature) on those phenomena that are not specific to banana-growing in Peru. By citing literature on these general phenomena you would augment your specific topic by placing it in a broader context.
If you are unable to find any scholarly literature that could put your issue into an academic context, you are implicitly telling your reader that your issue falls outside the scope of all historic scientific and academic inquiry, and there is no avenue of academic research that could shed any light on your topic. Are you sure that is the case?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: It it okay? My answer is **"Yes, but..."**
**Yes**: The purpose of citations is to point the the information you used in creating your own work, to source your ideas and link your work with the larger body of thought on a topic. For example, it's entirely possible that your paper will primarily/exclusively have citations to non-academic literature. To use one of my papers as an example, in it's 11 citations it has:
* One Blog
* One National Public Radio transcript
* Two popular press articles
* One fan-maintained Wiki
* One fan-maintained data scraping website
* One software documentation document
* One semi-popular press book
* Three academic citations, three of which appear at the end of the document
Clearly that's not exclusively non-academic citations, but there's a lot there that's not a conventional citation, and that's okay.
**But...** : It *is* highly unusual for there to be *nothing* that touches on your topic, even in the broadest form - a review, a paper that suggests this as a way forward, a paper identifying a gap that might be filled with your work, etc.
I would take a long, hard look at your paper and topic and make sure you haven't missed anything. But if the answer, after that self-examination, is "No, this is it" then that is what it is.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/23
| 509
| 2,140
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<issue_start>username_0: I have written an email to a professor asking him for a letter of recommendation. It's been almost a week and he didn't answer back.
I have already seen questions on this topic here, saying that when a professor doesn't answer is probably because he forgot or he overlooked it. However my question is: what is the best thing to do next? Send him another email? Or try and see him in person?<issue_comment>username_1: Just encountered the same issue. Sometimes it’s better to have any answer than be waiting. Try a follow up email: they may have been too busy to answer, especially they’re trying to think of a polite way to decline. Reply to your previous email to remind them of the request and make it clear that you understand if they cannot give a recommendation. For example, if they have not known you very long or do not have the relevant experience. Hopefully it is not such a desperate situation that you don’t have other referees. You need to make it clear that they are not obliged to recommend you. Otherwise, it may be easier for them not to reply or delay it longer. Obviously don’t pester them too often but I think after waiting for a week is reasonable if you chase it up politely.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: What it means depends a lot on the proximity of your application deadline. If the deadline is looming, say, within ten days to two weeks, it means you should probably ask someone else. If the deadline is a month or more away, it means the professor is busy. (And, if you didn't tell the professor when the deadline is, it means *you* didn't provide enough information.)
Send a polite email that *tells when the deadline is* and asks whether the professor could write a recommendation *by that time.* That should get some kind of response, even if it's, "Sorry... I'm really busy right now and cannot do it."
Here is my general advice to students about recommendations: <http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/faculty/rbrow211/recommendations/> It will likely help you to read it all, although the bit about communicating deadlines is the first item on the list, in bold type.
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/23
| 523
| 2,100
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<issue_start>username_0: Sometimes a paper consists of lots of math equations which are too long so that they will look terrible in a two-column format. I was wondering:
>
> Is is possible or even reasonable to ask the editor of a two-column journal to publish the **whole** paper in one column format due to containing lots of long equations?
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: Yes, you can ask, but you will almost certainly be turned down for such a request, because journals do not normally keep separate templates for single-column layouts. Moreover, at the type used by journals, a two-column format is essential because long lines of text are difficult to process. (Readability studies show that about 65 to 70 characters per line works best.)
That said, many journals *do* have to deal with long equations, and in such cases they will have equations that cut across both columns, and indicate how the text "flows" around the equation. As <NAME>'s comments indicate, if there are enough such equations in a row, the page in question may be set in a single-column format, before reverting back to two-column format after the "run" of equations is broken up.
As an example of how this looks, here's a page from a paper published in *Physical Review D*:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/FFZZK.jpg)
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Some do, some don't. It depends on the journal in question. For example, *Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society* state [in their instructions](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/pages/General_Instructions):
>
> 6.1 Layout
>
>
> Papers should be formatted with two columns (except the abstract) and single line spaced. **A single column layout may be used only if necessary for the display of numerous very long equations.** The journal is printed on A4-sized paper.
>
>
>
One should always refer to the author instructions/guidelines and can usually contact the editor to ask for further information if something is not stated or is unclear.
Upvotes: 3
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2017/11/24
| 918
| 3,969
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<issue_start>username_0: By bottom-line answers, I literally mean the answers on the bottom line of a solution.
So if the question requires two pages of math with the final answer that x=5, all I'm interested in is the x=5 part.
In other words, I just want to know whether I've got the correct numerical answer. I'm not asking for a marking rubric or 'model answer', just a verification.
1. I completely appreciate the arguments against releasing worked solutions. Students can easily be robbed of learning if solutions are readily available to look at. "Oh yeah I'd have done that".
2. I don't think the arguments about re-using past questions quite apply here - a numerical answer isn't much help and numbers can be changed to screw people who memorise numerical answers.
Are there any other good reasons for not releasing bottom-line answers? It just seems strange to not be able to verify your own work.
EDIT re <NAME>'s comment: My issue here is just one of feedback. If you told me that I'd receive feedback from a lecturer or tutor (or in the real world, client or boss), I'd agree answers are moot. But the reality in university is that a lot of the learning is independent (some lecturers just say "no time" to any request), and answers are a useful feedback mechanism for students to independently spot and diagnose their own flaws.<issue_comment>username_1: One, it's extra work, as pointed out by @NoName.
Two, the answer may not be as helpful as you think. Just a month ago, I was grading a stats and probability exam and for one of the questions students who made two very common errors (out of 200 exams, about 40 students made those mistakes) in their work got the right answer, because the errors 'cancelled'. If bottom line answers to that exam were released for the students next year, those making those two mistakes would mistakenly think they knew the correct solution.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In my experience, it can definitely put the focus on the wrong aspect of learning, and encourage bad revision habits, when it comes to exams. **Such as trying to think backwards from the answer** (because even if it's on a separate sheet... I don't know about you, I can't help but look at spoilers).
As I think you alluded to, the method and working part of an answer is generally the most important part - it encourages clear communication, logical steps and actually thinking about the problem. Particularly when you consider that - both in exams and in the real world - the eventual answer could be wildly different because of transcription errors, incorrect initial information, as examples. If you've gone through the right steps to find a solution, you're also in a better place to sanity-check the final solution.
Certainly I've found that chasing that final answer can be confusing and really takes the emphasis away from just trying to understand the reasoning behind the solution. I can understand why an instructor would choose not to release them for this, and the other reasons suggested.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I’ll focus on one aspect of your argument, namely
>
> It just seems strange to not be able to verify your own work.
>
>
>
No, it’s not strange. **This is how real life works.** Once you get out of school and into industry or any other kind of workplace, you will find yourself in a setting where “bottom line answers” to the “questions” you are assigned are *never* given. At that point, your mild obsession with wanting to cross-reference your “solution” against the “official” one will be counterproductive and will distract you from focusing on just completing the tasks you are working on.
Thus, one argument against releasing bottom line answers is that it helps you develop healthy problem-solving habits that are more applicable to real life situations rather than being tailored to the simulated problem-solving situations of a university course setting.
Upvotes: 3
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2017/11/24
| 438
| 1,904
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<issue_start>username_0: We (professors + TAs) are reporting a few students for cheating on their midterms to the head of undergraduate studies. We had been monitoring their activities pretty closely, since we noticed they had been cheating throughout the semester on their weekly quizzes but felt that evidence was not compelling enough (e.g., 15 minutes, few questions). But with their recent cheating activity on an hour-long exam, we are confident in what we are reporting to the University.
In the event that they are allowed back into lectures for the remainder of this semester, how do we interact with these cheating students? Should we ignore them? I expect there to be some friction between them and us, and I wish to not be too distracted from teaching the rest of the class of students that have been working diligently and honestly.<issue_comment>username_1: Just treat them the same as all the others during lectures.
If they want to meet you outside lectures to discuss the issue then you have two options : one: say that the issue is with the Head and the result / decision will be communicated to them, or have a discussion but I would not do this as it could affect the decision process.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: At most universities, instructors are expected to report ***all*** suspected incidents of academic misconduct. But they do not decide the matter. If the student contacts you, that is what you say: You were expected to make the report so you did, but you don't decide the matter. That is all you say.
If there's a finding of misconduct you will be notified. The usual penalty for a first offense is they get a zero on the assignment. And that's the end of your involvement. You do not alter your behavior toward the student in any other way and you do not discuss the situation with other faculty except possibly any co-instructors or your chair.
Upvotes: 1
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2017/11/24
| 804
| 2,934
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a hyphenated surname, namely *Kinara-Williams.* I intend to be published in the future when I graduate and during/after my PhD.
But Kinara-Williams seems like a mouthful to cite. After reading other threads, it appears pseudonyms are frowned upon in the scientific/academic community; so what do people usually do?
Just go with the preferred one?<issue_comment>username_1: As other have commented, the length of your hyphenated surname is not problematic at all: keep it and don't worry.
Fun fact. Uh, well, it took me years to discover that [Lennard-Jones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennard-Jones_potential) was actually just one person and not two, and that the [Hanbury-Brown-Twiss](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanbury_Brown_and_Twiss_effect) experiment was devised by two people and not three, Hanbury Brown (no hyphen) and Twiss. For [Jaynes-Cummings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaynes%E2%80%93Cummings_model), instead, I tought they were two and they were actually two - amazing! But I would count this as a minor inconvenience, which actually taught me not to make assumptions on surnames (and, as suggested by E.P., [this popular page](http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/) discusses other false assumptions).
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: In Spain, Portugal and Iberoamerican countries this happens often, since two surnames are used (one for the father, one for the mother). A long name is not a problem. My reference manager is full of Sánchez-Martínez, Prats-Rodríguez, Jiménez-Muñoz, Gómez-Rodríguez and the like.
The main advice in this situation is **be consistent** in the usage of your name to avoid confusions and that your publications are considered as made by two different authors (e.g. Kinara and Kinara-Williams).
Then you have two options:
* Use your complete name. This decreases the probability of being confounded with another researcher.
* Use one of your names. In this case it may be preferable to use the less common, again to decrease the probability of confusion with another author.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Side comment:
If the hyphenated name is due to marriage, it is common to use the premarital name, especially if papers have been published before the name change. This has nothing to do with a name being too long, but rather to preserve an academic identity that has been established before the marriage.
Assuming you don't have a pre-hyphen identity you wish to hang on to, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I also have a hyphenated name and as far as I can tell, the only difference it makes is that my name is more likely to be abbreviated on posters, slides or SO usernames.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Like others said, be consistent. Both myself and my wife's names (which are different) are longer than yours and hyphenated and it's not a problem.
Upvotes: 0
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2017/11/24
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<issue_start>username_0: I research the aerodynamics of an air vehicle. I use commercial fluid-dynamics software (we have a commercial license). However, I noticed that most papers dealing similar research use homemade software and write about it in the methods section of their papers.
Should I describe how I operate the commercial software in the methods section of my paper? If not, how should I organize this part of my paper? What aspects should I cover in my paper?<issue_comment>username_1: The point of the methods section is to give enough detail so that someone else could reproduce what you did. You should seek to meet that goal within the context of using commercial software (which is not a problem by the way).
Don't describe how *to* use it (information that could be found in the manual) but how *you* used it.
Tell all about what analyses you did, what parameters you used, the environment, the version of the software, etc.
Lots of software used in science allows you to enter commands as a script, output a log of actions taken, or both. If this is true if the software you are using, including such files as supplementary material will also help clarify the methods, and give a level of detail not possible in the paper itself.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Since my background is also CFD, maybe I can help.
It is really important to mention what type of scheme you are using and what is the commercial software. Is it based on the finite volume method or finite element method? Is it a cell-centered or vertex-centered scheme? What is the order of convergence of the method you are using, are they first, second or third order in space? Which transient time-stepping scheme are you using? What is the order of convergence of that scheme? Is it implicit, explicit? Etc.
In the end, the commercial software is just the implementation of a numerical scheme that you are using to solve the Navier-Stokes equation. It is important that you highlight the equations you are solving, the type of turbulence modeling you might be using and also the properties and details of the underlying numerical scheme. Then, even if you are using a commercial software package, people will have sufficient details to understand the context of your numerical resolution.
Also, please do not forget to carry out grid-independence studies!
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2017/11/24
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<issue_start>username_0: I am in the final stages of my PhD and have been applying for postdocs for the last six months. Recently, I heard back from the job I applied for, we had a phone interview and he was very happy with my experience and skills. In fact he was looking for a new postdoc with the same experience what I did in my PhD. We communicated through emails in a very friendly way and he invited me to visit his lab. We scheduled the visit but he wanted to talk to my references before that. He sent an email to my present PhD supervisor and asked him what would be a good time to talk over the phone. My supervisor didn't reply to him for at least a couple of weeks. I know this because every week, I used to get an email from him to remind my PhD supervisor to reply to his email. Finally, my PhD supervisor replied and they talked over the phone. The potential postdoc mentor suddenly took a U-turn after that. He said i may not be a good fit and he will stop this right here.
I am really freaking out in this situation. I initially had problems with my PhD advisor because he is very aggressive and loves to make racist jokes. But I managed to handle his sense of humor and aggression. But I feel like he is racially prejudiced to me and will spoil my whole career.<issue_comment>username_1: I will share some information with you, based on two things you mentioned:
>
> a) You said your advisor is very aggressive and loves to make racist jokes
>
>
> b) You suspect your advisor soured your postdoc application through negative remarks to your prospective employer
>
>
>
This sounds like a situation which *might* be investigatable by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), if your PhD institution receives any federal funds.
If you decide you would like this investigated by OCR, you would need to file a complaint within 6 months of becoming aware of alleged discrimination. A complaint of this kind can be filed by an individual working alone without a lawyer.
You might be able to find a lawyer would would help you with the complaint pro bono (free) or with a reduced cost.
It would be helpful to cite as much specific information about (a) as possible. However, you can send the complaint letter quickly and then submit more specific information subsequently. It can be helpful to file these complaints quickly rather than not quickly, because some regional OCR offices are extremely backed up.
If OCR feels that your complaint letter fits with their purview, and meets some other basic requirements, but your letter doesn't include specific information such as dates of incidents and descriptions of incidents, then you will be asked to provide specifics.
If you want to learn more about this: <https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/howto.html>
The part I feel most unsure about is the employment aspect. However, the How-To page I linked to mentions
>
> Some of the civil rights laws enforced by OCR also extend to employment.
>
>
>
Each university has an office that addresses discrimination issues, so you could in principle bring the issue to them. However, many people have found it more effective to either go ahead and file with OCR, or draft an OCR complaint and share the draft with the institution (as a draft).
Alternatively, you could instead try an **informal approach**: make an appointment with a department administrator and share your concern. The response you get could help you decide about next steps. Here's a relatively gentle way of starting such a conversation:
>
> I had a job interview that seemed to be going great --until suddenly it wasn't going great any more. I'd like to get some constructive feedback so that I can do better in subsequent interviews. But it would be awkward for me to ask my advisor directly for feedback. (Answer truthfully but with a very neutral tone if you're asked why.) Can you help facilitate me getting some constructive feedback from Prof. So-and-So (your advisor)?
>
>
>
If you're part of a graduate student union, it might be helpful to bring the problem to them to see if they can provide support.
---
\*\*11/25 additional notes 11/25:
1. Your university may have an all-purpose grievance procedure that can be used in general situations, even when there's no alleged racial discrimination.
2. In the answer I wrote yesterday I was only providing information. Now I'll provide a couple of strategy notes. If I were in your shoes I would probably start with the informal approach I outlined yesterday, and try to keep it in the department. I'd avoid using any language that might alarm the department administration, and keep the tone very calm and neutral. But at the same time, I'd be working quietly on collecting evidence and witnesses, and starting to draft a complaint. Putting the facts down on paper can be an extremely useful exercise.
3. I recommend that you avoid escalating your concern beyond your department. But if your university chooses to do so, I'd recommend you do one of the following, pretty quickly:
(a) find an ally or a lawyer
(b) submit a complaint to OCR
(c) submit a draft OCR complaint to your university
Reason: some universities play hard ball. It would be safest to protect yourself in case your university turns out to be one of those.
If I had strong evidence for the racism allegations, and did not have an ally or a lawyer, I would likely go with (c). A draft complaint could give you some useful leverage. When OCR investigates, it requires that the university submit a lot of documentary evidence (both about your particular situation, and also about its policies and procedures), and it conducts interviews. Institutions generally find this onerous and often would prefer to resolve the potential complainant's concerns pretty quickly, in order to prevent an OCR complaint from being filed.
Note that filing an OCR complaint provides protection against retaliation.
Note also that it can be a frustratingly slow process. Therefore it would be good to try to get your goals clear before you talk to anyone. I imagine your goals at this point are
1. Graduate
2. Get a post-doc
I hope you find a good administrator in your department.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> I am really freaking out in this situation. I initially had problems with my PhD advisor because he is very aggressive and loves to make racist jokes. But I managed to handle his sense of humor and aggression. But I feel like he is racially prejudiced to me and will spoil my whole career.
>
>
>
A resource you should consider before escalating (such as aprante001's recommendation to file a complaint with OCR) is to approach your university's office of the ombudsmen/ombudswomen. This office serves as an unofficial conflict resolution agent within an institution and advocates impartially and anonymously.
Think of it like a PI (Private Investigator) working for you to gather the details and try to resolve the problem before you call in the Cavalry (Office of Civil Rights). Because once you escalate, there is often no means to de-escalate. After all, are you 100% certain that the result is your adviser badmouthing you? Even if you are 100% certain, is there evidence to support it with a p-value of <= 0.05?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I think you had a narrow escape from a similar situation. The professor who requires the references is very unprofessional.
1. If you require some references, you do it before the invitation. Because the person might have rejected other interviews/visits. This is very disrespectful to the potential postdoc.
2. The references might be in several forms. The most popular is written and signed form. However, if one requires an alternative form of discussing, this is **their** responsibility, not yours. The professor should have asked your supervisor himself before you agree for a research visit. Using you as an interface is, again, disrespectful.
3. Assuming that you did not do something that can give you serious trouble, one should always keep in mind that every PhD student might have some conflicts with their supervisors. Thus, if he cancels the visit based on a negative comment, then he will do more when he's your employer. What if you have a conflict with someone during your research visit? Any negative comment has a high potential to damage your job.
I think your best course is to move on and find a more professional supervisor to work with.
As for handling the interviewer; now that you have experienced a terrible incident, best is to prove your abilities yourself, preferrably with a research visit. If another potential employer asks for an interview, you can briefly tell the incident, and tell them that you want to make a research visit regardless of their decision.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: First of all, everybody is free to write whatever he wants in his recommendation letters and to tell people whatever opinion he has about you and you cannot influence that. So, you need a really solid reason to accuse your PhD advisor of any "racial prejudice" against you (perhaps you have one, I don't know). If he just says that you have no talent and are hopeless and you can bring up only that, no matter how much the legal action will damage him, you'll lose your reputation forever. So play this card in a smart way if you choose to play it at all.
Second, try to get recommendation letters from people who know your work and can explain its value to your potential employer in a clear and convincing way. A bad letter from a PhD advisor is a big minus but it can be remedied if you have a substantial evidence that you are a good professional doing valuable things. Proving that your PhD advisor is an asshole (if he is) adds absolutely nothing in this respect.
Unfortunately, the best advice would be to change your adviser a few years ago, but nobody has a time machine. So good luck, stay smart, and remember that your main objective is to prove *your* value to a potential employer and to get a position. The revenge (if you are thinking of one) can wait until you are standing firmly enough to pick up fights and deliver the blows (though, most likely, by that time you'll not care about it anymore).
Upvotes: 2
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2017/11/25
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently applying to grad school to do a PhD in physics in the United States. I would really like to mention in the personal history statement/diversity statement essays: 1) the work I did in my undergrad to create a safe, informal community for other LGBTQ students in my department and 2) how it's a future goal of mine to be an openly gay professor (having an out-and-proud academic role model would have been very valuable to me, even though that may sound ridiculous\*).
Is it prudent to mention my orientation in these essays? Or am I just asking for trouble?
My identity is very important to me as is the work I have done/plan to do to make academia a more accepting environment, but at the same time, I am scared that I will be risking my chances of getting into grad school by mentioning what's still considered a very 'controversial' issue by many people. Hope this question is appropriate for this forum, and thank you in advance!
---
(Edit 11/25) Note these statements are *not the statement of purpose* (which is entirely academic) but rather extra essays requested in addition to the statement of purpose. UC Irvine gave advice [here](https://www.physics.uci.edu/~kevork/GraduateSchoolHandbook-UCIphysics.pdf) about these essays as:
>
> Write about your contribution to diversity in your Personal History Statement or Diversity Statement of the graduate application, if there is one. If there is no Personal Statement or Diversity Statement, then include a paragraph about your contribution to diversity and diversity activity in your Statement of Purpose.
> If appropriate, **briefly explain what obstacles you have had to overcome and how
> that shapes what you aspire to do in your future career**. This has been found to be an accurate measure of future success, dubbed grit.
> **Describe any contributions to increasing diversity in the Personal History
> Statement or Diversity Statement**. Discuss specific things you may have done
> (mentoring, tutoring, Physics or Astronomy Club president, etc.) that have acted to broaden the participation of women, minorities or other underrepresented groups.You could also discuss what you would do at the institution you are applying to improve equity and inclusion there; for example, start a graduate women in physics group or lead outreach events. Be sure to read up on what programs already exist at that institution.
>
>
>
---
\*To explain just one example of why it would be useful to have an out instructor, I was subjected to explicitly homophobic criticism by one instructor at my undergraduate institution. I did not complain because I did not know whom I could trust, but if there had been an instructor who was out/even out as an LGBT-supporter/ally, I would have felt comfortable complaining about the harassment.<issue_comment>username_1: **Edit (in response to revised question):**
In light of the revised question, this sounds like exactly the sort of thing they are asking for, so yes feel free to talk about L, G, B, T, Q and X. However, my guess is that whatever you write here won't make too much of a difference (as long as you don't make yourself sound crazy or anything), for the same reasons I indicated in my original answer.
**Original Answer Below (where it sounded like this was about a personal statement):**
Unless they are asking specifically for you to address diversity issues, I don't think it matters much what you say about LGBTQ issues in your personal statement, as it has nothing to do with physics. Note: depending on the department and admissions committee, the statement of purpose may be important or not important (e.g., [Why do admissions committees consider the Statement of Purpose to be important?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/23242/19607) and [How important is the statement of purpose in a PhD application for admission to a top school in the US?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/30984/19607)).
What I look for in a statement of purpose (in math, which I imagine is similar to physics) is basically what I look for in the rest of the application: your preparation for grad school, your talent and work ethic, your interests/fit with our program. Though it also helps to get a sense of your personality (so it's not good, e.g., if you sound like a crackpot).
I don't think the issues mentioned in your question reflect too much on these things. On the other hand, I don't think it will hurt your application if you want to briefly mention at least (1) and possibly (2) if you can weave them in naturally, but these things shouldn't be the focus of your personal statement, as they say nothing about why you want to go to grad school. (Certainly your CV is a suitable place for (1), so it can make it onto your application there.) Academia is relatively LGBTQ friendly in my experience. However, we don't want to know your whole life story on your application, just the part of your story related to (in your case) Physics.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Sexual orientation should be your personal issue. Let's be professional. Your personal identity should not be an exception from the current positions. And furthermore, how being an openly gay professor is related to what is most important - being qualified academic with teaching skills? And honestly, I think that you only want to claim your potential future rejection to be subject of your openly declared sexual orientation.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> I am scared that I will be risking my chances of getting into grad school by mentioning what's still considered a very 'controversial' issue by many people.
>
>
>
There's never any need to hide a personal commitment to diversity in an application in the U.S. In other words, it would always be appropriate to list your specifics in sections on volunteer or leadership activities. Also, if you received recognition or an award in connection with diversity advocacy or activism, definitely list it. The admissions committee might include someone with a strong personal commitment to diversity, and if your application contains a clear hint that would make the diversity bell in that person's mind go "ding ding ding!", s/he can then push to get you on the short list.
However, I do understand your feeling of uncertainty about putting your commitment front and center. Researching each specific university you're applying to will help you tailor the application to the position.
For some applications, you can write exactly what you wrote in your question (including the relevant details, within the space constraints, of course). If a university specifically requests a diversity statement, that is a helpful clue that they may be looking for someone who will provide the kind of leadership you are hoping to provide. Some universities are desperately trying to find people who will be an asset academically, while also strongly supporting diversity so they can increase their diversity graduation statistics.
At the other end of the spectrum, let's say there are no indications on the website of a strong commitment to diversity. Maybe it's a small school with low diversity in its student body. In this case you might choose to leave this aspect of yourself more in the background. Quietly discernable.
*Bonus feedback*: If I were on the admissions committee, reading what you've written here, I'd say it's a great start for a diversity statement. But I'd also be looking for someone who can generalize from his or her specific experiences. Can you expand your statement a bit, building on your own experience, to arrive at a supportive stance towards other types of diversity as well? For example, if you've ever been involved in allying with other types of campus diversity organizations, that would be helpful to include in your essay.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: I can speak from personal experience in this arena.
I was out in my Diversity Statement to UC schools and any other school that asked about, but not in any Statement of Purpose or Personal History. I suggest just reading everything *very carefully*. Oftentimes, the groups that they state as ones that they do not discriminate will be different from the ones they count as diversity. There's a stock term of "visible minority" that is used to discount LGBT people as diversity. I don't suggest pushing against this. If they do that, then the university administration is not ready. Even if the department want to do something with this, they cannot. If they say something relative to LGBTQ stuff, then have at it (it's my impression that most if not all of the UC system is happy with work for LGBTQ folk counting). If they do not specify, go for it.
My understanding is that, typically, the diversity statement will only factor in after they already know they want to accept you for purely scientific reasons. For example, I think UCSD can use this to find new fellowships through the administration.
An important thing to note is that (for the UC system) often they want to see that you have done something with respect to underrepresented groups, not just are a part of one. If being a part of one helps the author understand your motivation, then feel free to throw that into the diversity statement.
If accepted, you should be ready to walk into that department with *everyone* knowing. I declined going to a university after being accepted where I was out on my grad school application. At prospective weekend, the grad chair was very keen and quick with correct pronouns for my partner. YMMV. Also, people do not forget. I then met a faculty member again five years later after the prospective weekend and remembered what I had said in my diversity statement.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: >
> Is it prudent to mention my orientation in these essays? Or am I just asking for trouble?
>
>
>
Both of the points you have listed fall within the scope of the requested statement, so there is no inherent problem with either point. The instruction to "explain what obstacles you have had to overcome" is a veiled invitation to mention any identity-based characteristics you wish, including being gay. Moreover, my anecdotal observation is that the kinds of academics/administrators who focus most closely on diversity statements tend to be *highly positively disposed* to the kinds of groups targeted for special representation measures. (If anything, telling them that you are a straight white male might be asking for trouble.)
One critique I would make of your proposed response is that you should think more deeply about what you mean when you say you want to be an "openly gay" physics professor, or an "out and proud" physics professor. What does that entail exactly? Specifically, what does it mean to be "open" or "out" in the context of teaching or researching physics? Is it merely that you would like it to be generally known that you are gay, so that gay students can identify you as a potential support person, or do you intend to proselytise your sexuality in some way in the classroom? (I doubt it is the latter, but that is the danger of being vague about what you mean; at worst someone might draw an inference that you do not intend.) Your footnote explaining your own experience as a student could be helpful here, and could help clarify what you mean when describing the kind of professor you want to be.
(Finally, as a slight aside to bear in mind, it is potentially a somewhat humorous linguistic ambiguity to say that your "future goal is to be an openly gay professor"; it brings to mind a straight professor whose future goal is to become openly gay.)
Upvotes: 0
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