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2018/05/22
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student with a very difficult colleague - someone I thought was just socially inept, and rude. I was always friendly, giving her the benefit of the doubt, even though she offended me and others on a constant basis with her privileged, superiority complex. On paper, she looks brilliant - she has had many educational opportunities that my parents couldn't afford - something that has made her unbelievably unaware of experiences not her own.
After many derogatory and humiliating comments, I eventually started ignoring her quite a bit - she would never respond to my hellos, would interrupt me in class, laugh when I didn't know a scholar she brought up, etc. It was taking energy to be kind and outgoing to her. Her demeaning behavior was obvious to many, but because she is my classmate, I see her the most. After seeking guidance from mental health professionals, I decided to no longer be upset by her, but also not entertain her behavior. I blocked her out as much as I could, while trying to maintain professionalism.
Granted, there may have been a few times when I questioned her in class - asking for clarification or further explanations into her method of thinking. As PhD students, I am under the impression that we should be able to defend our research, and my professors never said anything to me about the questions I asked.
However, very recently a few professors approached me about "tension" between us. They informed me that this girl has complained about me to them. She apparently has discussed me often, even going as far to say that I "trigger" her. I am shocked. I have never said anything to my professors about her, even though she has offended me several times. I am friends with almost everyone in the program, while she has isolated herself.
I now am feeling extremely insecure, and painted in a very negative light. Professors are suggesting that I meet with her, and show her my "softer" side - I'm from the East coast, we can get a bit...intense. They are encouraging me to reach out to her and comfort her. However, I have been kind to her from the beginning, only recently trying to ignore her toxic attitude. I'm not sure what to do, or how to go about this.
Suggestions?<issue_comment>username_1: A campus is a complex social environment that not everyone can adapt to, which is why most campuses have a free, confidential consultation office regarding harassment and personal issues. I'd recommend discussing this with that office before trying to engage with this troublesome student directly.
It sounds like you have gone out of your way to avoid confronting this student, and you don't want professors to know about your negative feelings towards her. When you consult a third party, there is no need to cover up such details. Let the campus staff specifically know that
1. This person was making you feel uncomfortable.
2. You tried your best to avoid conflict by disengaging with her.
3. She is now complaining about you to professors, even though you are no longer communicating with her.
The professors apparently don't understand the full story with this student. It is wrong for them to ask you to confront her directly.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In graduate school, there are a bunch of unreasonable and entitled people. This is not uncommon. However, as far as politics and the person who is expected to go to bat for you: talk to your advisor.
Your advisor will be the one representing you at faculty meetings, and has likely spent a long time navigating the politics of the department and college at large. His/her expertise in this is exactly what you need to tap into for appropriate direction.
That said, I would say ignore her completely and totally. Word gets around in graduate school, and if you are nonconfrontational and she is witnessed consistently doing the opposite, people will see the emperor's clothes.
As far as formally complaining, I would treat that delicately. If she is sound academically and her parents have a lot of resources it can end up being a headache for your department. Even if every professor sides with you, they still don't want to fill out paperwork on you two or be a character witness to the college itself. I'm not saying don't do it, I'm saying speak to your advisor candidly.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: A student who has trained hard for my exam got a just-passing grade. They are dissatisfied with it, and have mailed me to ask to have a look at my corrections. Naturally, I agreed to this. In the mail, they are already calling into question my corrections and the exam content. Is there anything in particular I can do at this point to minimize the chances of a dragged-out discussion or procedure with the exam committee?
Crucial info:
1. The course I gave was extracurricular, and planned to be pass/fail based on participation. I only added the exam after this student asked for it, because they needed a grade for some administrative reason. The exam was taken by a very small number of other students (inadequate comparison material).
2. At that point, I asked the student if they aimed for a particular grade, and the answer was 'no'.
3. The student got all knowledge-based questions right, and flunked almost all applied knowledge questions.
4. As the course was extracurricular and covered an advanced topic, I made sure to cover the basics, but on top of that I covered a lot of content quickly, allowing advanced students to learn additional things if they wanted to.
5. I suspect this student simply missed the bulk of that information, partly due to a language barrier.
6. During correction, I already scrapped one question from the exam that no-one got right and that strongly seemed like I had mentioned it too passingly during the course.
7. After calculating the grade based on a linear transformation of the point score, I felt that the best grade (which was moderate) did not give credit to that person's understanding; besides, the student discussed here would have received a fail grade. I added two point-increments to the final grade, fixing both of these issues.<issue_comment>username_1: By asking for an exam, the student asked you for a fair, honest, informed evaluation of their mastery of the course material.
If you believe that the exam grade fairly and accurately reflects the student’s mastery of the course material, say that, and explain why. Be respectful and honest. Stick to your guns.
In particular, you should have some record of your announcements of both the contents of the exam (“How was I supposed to know this?”) and your expectations for certain grades (“Why did I get this grade?”)—the course syllabus, or a handout, or email to the students. You should have sources/proofs for the correct answer for each question (“Why is this wrong?”), rubrics for awarding partial credit for partially correct or suboptimal answers (“Why did I get so few points?”), and well-reasoned rules for converting raw exam scores to reported grades.
If you do *not* believe that the exam grade fairly and accurately reflects the student’s mastery of the material, then you need to reevaluate the exam for *all* students. You’ve already done this by throwing out one question and curving the scores.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If you don't want any discussion then don't allow one. It is simple as that, and here is how this works:
Tell the student that any complaint they have about the corrections or awarded points they have **to write down on a piece of paper**. Any questions on the content ("How to solve...?", "Why is this not right...?") can be asked in person. If they start with a question of the latter class and they try to get you into a discussion about the grading, remind them or simply point to the piece of paper and the pen.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: It can be helpful to have a policy for how to submit regrade requests. Here are some elements that can be helpful to include in that policy:
* **Specify the format for regrade requests.** It helps to specify that regrade requests must be submitted in writing, and must identify which problem(s) they believe was incorrectly graded and provide a justification for each problem they believe was incorrectly graded. Similarly, you should provide a response to their request in writing. It helps to provide an explanation or justification with my response.
* **Specify the deadline for regrade requests.** You should set a deadline. You might require that regrade requests be submitted within one week after the material was returned to them (or some other reasonable amount of time). This is important so you don't get people at the end of the semester submitting a pile of regrade requests for assignments they got back months ago, as a last-ditch effort to improve their course grade.
* **Set expectations for how regrade requests will be evaluated.** It may help to clarify up front that you will only regrade problems when our grading rubric was incorrectly applied; it's important to be consistent across students, so you can't accept requests to change the rubric or arguments that the rubric was unfair. On the other hand, if they found a correct solution that the course staff didn't anticipate on the rubric, and they didn't get full credit, please submit a regrade request so they can receive credit (but I recommend only following this in case of fully correct answers, not for partial credit for answers you didn't anticipate). It may also be helpful to state that in borderline judgement cases you will go with the original grade unless it was clearly wrong. Make your rubric and sample solutions visible to students.
* **Encourage students to check sample solutions before filing a regrade request.** It's helpful to make sample solutions to the exam available to students. Include comments about common errors/misconceptions here and there in the solutions, to help them learn. When announcing the regrade policy, encourage students to read the sample solutions before filing a regrade request, as their approach might be discussed there.
* **Encourage regrade requests.** I suggest you tell students that you're human and you make mistakes, and you want students to get credit for their work so if they suspect an error they should let you know so you can correct it. I suggest you tell them, please don't hesitate to submit a regrade request if you think the course staff made a mistake and we'll be glad to look into it. I don't like policies that try to penalize or discourage regrade requests (e.g., by a vague threat to regrade to their entire exam).
I also encourage you to set a policy with your teaching assistants and course staff, to tell them not to evaluate regrade requests in person, even informally. The scenario you want to avoid is where a student goes to a teaching assistant, shows them their answer, and the TA says "looks right to me, you should submit a regrade requests", and then the student submits a regrade request and it turns out they don't deserve credit. Then the student feels screwed, since they're getting mixed messages -- one TA said they deserve credit, but you aren't giving them credit. There are a number of reasons to discourage course staff from giving in-person off-the-cuff assessment like that. First, there isn't always time in person to check the details. Second, if the TA wasn't the one who graded that problem on the exam, they might not be familiar with all the weird corner cases or the policy used by the person who graded it. Third, we absolutely want to avoid cases where the off-the-cuff evaluation said "you deserve credit" but we actually can't grant their regrade request.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: As someone who has had a few discussions about grades in exams, ranging from
me leaving the room after five minutes because they gave me more points than I would have given myself to
sitting there for over an hour and going from 59/80 to 70/80 (no typo) with one of the correctors joking he must have been drunk when correcting that exam when I called him the third or forth time for something he obviously missed (wrong multiple choice corrections, correct calculations marked wrong, calculations not seen and marked as not done).
There are two things a student (well, me anyways back then) wants. A sheet with solutions (and the rubric telling which parts of the answers gave which points) to compare theirs with (or you explaining every damn thing in depth, because how else am I supposed to judge that correction in a few minutes time?) and factually correct arguments. **If you're wrong, admit it, and if the student is wrong, tell him/her why.** I've had people telling me they can't give me those points because they didn't give them to others. That's no argument ... Don't do that. The answer (or partial answer) is right or wrong. It isn't “right, but ...“
You'll get students that don't care about that and just want points. Firmly tell them they aren't on a bazar. I'm sorry for those. But don't treat all students like that. I once had to ask three times for an explanation why my answer was wrong because the answer was “sorry, I can't give you points for that.“ Well yes. That wasn't the question.
It boils down to one thing. **Be as fair and respectful as you want to be treated until treated otherwise.** Like one should be always.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: In addition to the other answers here:
Your point 3): If somebody flunks nearly all applied knowledge Questions, it is perfectly in the range of expected outcomes to "just pass", and it certainly does not point out an unfair priority on your behalf.
Your point 5): Your evaluation should not take that into account. The student agreed to taking this course in this language. And if somebody later hires him or takes him into an academic project, this is not going to matter.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: Two points:
1. Find out whether they actually need a higher grade for some reason. If they do, can you change the grade back to pass/fail or let them retake the class to solve the issue? If not, is there someone else (e.g. someone in charge of the scholarship office if their scholarship is in threat, some sort of academic advisor if their program standing is in threat) who you can point them to instead?
2. It sounds a lot like your student *doesn't understand the importance of applied knowledge* or *doesn't understand how to apply knowledge*. You say that they studied hard, that they did great on the knowledge questions but terrible on the applied questions, and that they are from a different linguistic background. It's likely that their cultural or individual educational background caused them to study *wrong* so they didn't learn how to apply their knowledge. Probably the best thing you could do for them as a teacher is talk to them about that so they understand the problem and help them brainstorm ideas to improve their ability on applied problems in general. Doing so will likely get them off your back if they don't actually *need* a higher grade in that class, since you'll be empowering them to turn the poor grade into a positive learning experience.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/05/22
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<issue_start>username_0: **TL;DR**
We cannot reproduce very good simulation results of our paper and the person who was responsible for writing the code and running the simulations does not have the code anymore and cannot explain how the results were obtained. How should we deal with potential data falsification?
**Long version**
I co-authored a paper that included some Monte Carlo simulations. One of the coauthors was responsible for the simulations, allegedly wrote the code and gave us the results of the simulations. Later on, I wanted to reuse the code for another project. He reluctantly sent me the code after a long delay. However, the code did not generate the results that we reported in the paper. He said that he lost the code that he used to generate the results of the paper. The code that he sent me is some code that he used at some point of writing the code for the paper, but might not be the final one. He could not explain how the results of the paper were obtained.
We were also working on another project with the same person. He was also responsible for simulations of that project. He again lost the code and could not explain how the results were obtained. The paper of the second project was rejected by the journal and we are going to be able to rerun the simulations and report the correct results.
I suspect that this person just falsified the results.
We are thinking about removing this person from the project and removing this person from the list of authors when we resubmit that paper. Even though the person cannot explain how the results were obtain, there is still a chance that he somehow made some mistake that led to very good results. However, I think it is unlikely. Removing this person from the list of the authors would probably affect his career in a bad way so I would not want to do that without enough evidence. However, I do not think that we can continue working with this person because he lost our trust.
What should we do? How should we deal with this potential data falsification by a coauthor?<issue_comment>username_1: This is a fairly tricky issue, so let us start with the most straightforward aspects and then move into the complications.
(1) Reproducibility is key, no two ways about it. With any experiement or model, within reasonable error bounds, your results should be reproducible. If there is a co-author who does the simulation, (s)he must be made aware of this as a precondition to submission. If there is scatter in the results, (s)he should be able to explain it. If not, don't use those results. Either way, it's your responsibility as lead author (I'm assuming you're it) to check this aspect. How you check it depends on interpersonal factors- how trustworthy this person is, can you insist on seeing results live, etc.
I would not recommend asking for the code and running it yourself- however simple the code, the writer has put effort into it, so giving it away may seem unfair. Even if you are co-authors here, you may not be later, and you could use this for work without this person.
(2) Code foibles: Code should be clean, easy to understand and have good documentation. Sadly, as is frequently discussed here, most research code does not have these qualities. So there is a chance that the original writer of the code knows some shortcomings and the solutions to those, which may not be clear to you. (S)he may apply these corrections to the results subsequently. This is all not ideal, but happens frequently if people aren't experienced programmers.
(3) Point (2) opens up the possibility of falsification. But only if this co-author knows the expected outcome and details of experiment. We practice keeping everything insulated while generating data/results- person using instrument A knows only what's essential for A, and likewise for the other experiments and models. Once all the results are obtained, we sit together and see what to make of it. It's a simple bias blocker, and it may not always be possible in this form. But the principle is worth following.
At present, you can implement only (1) and (2), while (3) is for the future.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: In science, a lack of reproducibility leaves you all on the hook. But, I would probably recommend getting a third expert in Monte Carlo to review the code. I'll assume this is you.
First, it can be the case that a small change in code makes big differences, permutation testing for instance can do this. But, you can run the simulation lots of times, look at the results, and find what quintile the original results are in. This corresponds to a p value for falsification, or as I will call it: a possible mistake.
Nonetheless, Monte Carlo is not very complicated, and in the paper regardless you will have to explain how the answers were obtained. If you cannot do this, you cannot push paper into community. So, inspect, conclude, rework.
For their sake, I hope falsification is not the case. That's a very very ugly way to go about research, and it will crop up.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/05/22
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<issue_start>username_0: As an undergraduate student, I find it hard to understand research papers on any particular subject.
Why don't researchers use simple language for their reports, so that everyone would understand?
Update: I will leave this post as a general discussion on this topic. Feel free to edit question.<issue_comment>username_1: The intended audience of a research paper is not 'everyone'; it is other researchers in the same field.
As a comparison, consider things like car manuals, or legal documents. It would be *possible* to write these in more accessible language, but that would detract from the primary purpose of the document.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: In addition to the comment of username_1, there are even some "method" articles which don't even have a general introduction and directly report technical knowledge. The target audience of paper is crucial. However, after reading 10-20 papers you will start to see general outline so you will not find that difficult.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: In short, because it is difficult to express something **concisely**, and **precisely** in language that any undergraduate can understand.
Conciseness is required not just because without it every report would be inconveniently long to write and to read, but because it would be harder to understand.
It would be harder to understand because the jargon neatly encapsulates a bundle of concepts (e.g. its definition and related properties) into a single concept.
And we can only be thinking about so many concepts at a time.
Consider the statement about the Stone–Weierstrass theorem:
A mathematician might say:
>
> Polynomial functions are dense in C[a,b] ⊂ (ℝ→ℝ)
>
>
>
To expand out the math, so that one does not have to know the notations on gets:
>
> Polynomial functions are dense in the space of continuous real-valued functions defined on a closed interval.
>
>
>
But still perhaps the word ***dense*** is beyond the understanding of an undergrad.
So let's expand it to not use that:
>
> For every continuous real-valued function defined an interval; then for any positive real constant one might care to define, a polynomial can be found such that for every point on that interval the absolute difference between the value of that polynomial and the value of the real function at the point is smaller than the constant.
>
>
>
So that is how much most space it took and how many more ideas one has to keep track of for that fairly simple use of jargon.
When thinking about such a problem rarely is the mathematician thinking about what is going on with the distance of points in a hypothetical polynomial.
They are just thinking "it is dense".
Now imagine expanding all the terms in the generalized version of the above:
>
> Stone–Weierstrass Theorem (real numbers). Suppose X is a compact Hausdorff space and A is a subalgebra of C(X, R) which contains a non-zero constant function. Then A is dense in C(X, R) if and only if it separates points.
>
>
>
(This last is a direct quote from the Wikipedia page on the [Stone–Weierstrass theorem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone%E2%80%93Weierstrass_theorem), the preceding quotes are not, though are to some extent paraphrases.)
Then to go the other point on **preciseness**,
There is a really high chance someone is going to comment on this answer saying that actually my statement is not quite correct, that I've not fully captured the definitions in my explanation
While, yes, every paper could repeat some introductory information,
then that would inconvenience any reader who is looking to find the core idea,
since it would be drowned in a sea of background material.
And you might say that *"this answer is hard to understand, in the expanded form, you did a poor job at making it understandable to an undergraduate."*,
and I'ld say *"Fair enough; I'm not great at making things easily understandable."*
And that statement holds for most other researchers too.
Not what most are good at -- it is why there are specialists in scientific communication.
Upvotes: 8 <issue_comment>username_4: I don't think anyone can answer this for sure, but here's a personal guess.
Researchers don't actively attempt to write in an arcane manner. Making one's research accessible is a good thing! However, a genuine concern when writing is that one might be making too many "obvious" statements. Nobody wants to be making obvious statements since it both makes the author look junior + makes the work done seem simple (c.f. [imposter syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome)). This gets more drastic the more experienced a researcher is, since more statements appear obvious to them. Of course what's obvious to an experienced researcher is probably not obvious to undergraduates, who are the unfortunate casualties of this.
I also get the feeling that authors want to make it seem like they have processed what was previously written (or simply want to avoid plagiarism), so when they write a paper using an equation in a previous paper, they commonly write the same equation in slightly different notation, e.g. by using different but equivalent expressions for the same factor. Again, experienced researchers have no trouble but undergraduates are unfortunate casualties.
Here are a couple more articles about this: [an article in The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/complex-academic-writing/412255/) and another in [Nature](https://www.nature.com/news/it-s-not-just-you-science-papers-are-getting-harder-to-read-1.21751). Googling for "why are academic papers so hard to read" finds a lot more results.
If you find this ridiculous, then when you write papers in the future, try to make it accessible to a wide audience!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Be more precise: are you talking about unnecessarily complex language, or are you confused/irritated by specific terminology?
Some scientists do tend to use overly complex language to differentiate themselves from others "of lesser intellect" as they think. That does happen and is often just a sign of bad style or even bad knowledge as it suggests a level of expertise that might just not be there.
If you have issues with all scientific papers you might need to improve on your language skills. In science you need to be very precise, and stick to certain terminology. And since science papers are intended to be read by other scientists in the same field of research, authors expect readers to be familiar with terminology in that field and will not explain fundamental things. That's up to you.
However, a good paper should at least be easy to follow even though a reader might stumble upon a few expressions he or she is not familiar with.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Researchers generally use complicated language because their research covers complex topics. Thus they use words that will be familiar and precise to people who understand the topics. And precisely because these words are familiar to other experts, there is no point trying to explain them in a paper because someone else (probably several someones) will have already explained them better somewhere else. Thus if you are reading a paper as a non-expert (that is, a non-expert in the topic at hand; this applies equally well to experts in other fields) and come across terminology that you don't understand, this is a useful pointer that you should first go and read about it elsewhere. The real danger for non-experts reading scientific papers is that they might read something without realising they didn't understand it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: In short, because undergraduate students are not the target audience of research papers' authors.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_8: There are different possible reasons for a paper being "hard to understand".
One of the reasons was already elaborated in the other answers. It basically boils down to the presuppositions and assumptions that are made in technical terms. The writers *expect* the readers to have some familiarity with the subject. Special jargon or notations are used simply because they allow a certain brevity and precision. When a term has a specific meaning, the meaning is assumed to be known, and in doubt, can be looked up elsewhere. The details of this problem may also depend on the subject: In a mathematical paper, the main hurdle may be understanding certain notations. In a social sciences paper, the main difficulty may be in understanding the precise meaning of certain terms.
But there is another reason. It was also mentioned in the comments, and discussed in [other questions](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/85286/why-do-researchers-sometimes-use-extremely-complicated-english-sentences-to-conv). The reason is that *the text itself* may simply be written in a form that is hard to understand.
Going one level deeper, the obvious next question is: *Why* is the *text* written in this form?
I think, broadly speaking, there are two possible answers to this:
* The text is deliberately written in an elaborated language to generate a linguistically challenging experience for the addressee (meaning: "The author uses complicated words to make it difficult to understand")
* The author is not able to write it in a simpler form. There is a famous quote: *"If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter."* (attributed in different forms to different people). Writing an easily comprehensible text is difficult (particularly when the author is not a native English speaker). But improving the text by organizing and rephrasing it so that it concisely and precisely conveys the intended message is *time consuming* - and people are often (not willing or) not able to invest the required amount of time.
---
Interestingly, English is the only language for which a dedicated Wikipedia version exists, namely the [Simple English Wikipedia](https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) - although this is only indirectly related to *academic* writing, it shows that similar problems exist in other areas.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_9: It is difficult to write scientific papers so that everyone can understand. The reasons have been nicely covered in other answers.
I want to point out that the authors would normally include their emails or addresses in their papers so that anyone can write to them and ask questions about their reports.
If you need to do research and read papers from other fields, you can always contact the authors about their papers. If you indicate your purpose and background, they can usually help. Just don't expect them to teach you the whole subject. I would say using the same etiquette for asking questions on stackexchange.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: I think there is a false premise to this question. Namely, the idea that researchers could write the same paper using mostly different words just does not make any sense (to me)!
Using different words makes a different piece of writing.
This is not a phenomenon that is unique to reaearch papers. I don't read books by Faulkner\* to my toddler, and I would never complain that Faulkner should have written his books so that they would make sense to a 2-year-old.
Research papers are still pieces of writing. I agonize over words and phrases all the time, and when I'm done writing, there are lots of phrases that illustrate ideas and explain concepts exactly as I want. Outside of changes required/requested for journal editorial purposes, I would be quite unhappy to change these words and phrases. And yes, as others have said, this is affected by who my audience is. But all writing has an intended audience. There is no such thing as a piece of writing intended *literally* for *everybody*.
So at least from a personal stand point: I don't use different words mostly because they would be different from the ones I wanted to use :)
\*<NAME> is an American author who has a reputation for some of his writing being difficult to understand/interpret (I would say).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_11: In addition to the good answers above: One additional reason is that the intersection of extraordinary science, literary talent and the will to exercise both is extremely small; the number is probably in the single digits. They all are famous. Russell, Feynman, Hawking, Dawkins come to mind. More?
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_12: A lot of research papers are arguably written in a deliberately convoluted style to enhance the prestige of the authors: see <https://www.plainenglish.co.uk/news/1212-unreadable-academic-writing.html>
I rather like this quote: “In academia, it seems that when we have nothing much to say we attempt to distract attention from that sad fact by saying it as pretentiously and at as much length as possible.”
My research supervisor, Maurice Wilkes, had a disarming way of writing that made complex ideas seem very simple, and I have always tried to follow his example. The danger if you do that is that people might not appreciate the value of what you are saying, and many academics don't want to take this risk.
In reviewing papers for conferences I have generally found that when you take time to cut through the jargon, the ideas in difficult-to-read papers are no more profound or precise than the ideas expressed in papers that are much easier to read.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_13: Research papers are not generally intended to teach; rather, they are designed to inform. However, that does not mean that an undergraduate cannot use them as a resource. Take the following example sentence from a research paper:
"Theory predicts, and some evidence demonstrates that in lakes, the depth of the thermocline can have a large structural influence on the spatial distribution, and strongly influences the composition of plankton communities."
This one sentence could take an entire chapter of an undergraduate limnology textbook to fully explain. However, there are dictionaries, encyclopedias, and, oh yeah, this thing called Google, that can make short work of gleaning its meaning. Terms like "thermocline" and "spatial distribution" and "plankton communities" can all be Googled and within a few minutes the meaning of the sentence will become clear, even to the most uninitiated.
In summary, if one simply accepts that most high-level research papers simply do not stand alone but in general contain terminology that requires additional research to properly understand, they can become very valuable sources of information.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_14: There is another pair of reasons that many articles are not easily understood but undergrads.
1. Most authors are ESL
I once heard a prominent scholar joke "The language of Physics is broken English". This funny thought stems from the fact that while most articles are published in English, the scholars who write them generally know *English as second language*.
As a native English speaker, and a graduate student, I have found it difficult to write a paper. Why? Because I had to learn the language as it is used in my field of research. For most papers[1], the primary audience is for other scholars within the same field. Thus the language of the research field becomes a sort of dialect that others must conform too.
2. Published research must be unambiguous
A good sentence in an article should have one, and only one, interpretation. If a sentence has more than one meaning, it does not properly convey the ideas to the reader. This is critical for a big reason. Each sentence makes a claim, and each claim should be provable by research.
Making sentences with only one meaning is sorta hard; it tends to make them technical, long, and ugly.
In contrast, fiction and journalism tend to give you room to imaging things as you want. Much easier to create beautiful flowing sentences if they can be ambiguous.
3. Writing by committee, edited by a grad student
So from what I've seen, most first drafts are written by a grad student who don't write very well (me). It then gets emailed around, and everyone makes changes here and there, and the text of the document becomes incoherent. Then the grad student edits it some more, and is told to submit it. Imagine eating a dinner cooked in this manner!
[1] The exceptions are review papers, which are longer and use much more general language. Easier to read, too
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_15: Quite a lot of answers here being quite defensive of writing in papers. While it is true that jargon is not necessarily bad, that papers aren't aimed at undergraduates and some concepts are just difficult to get across, many papers are more difficult to read than is necessary.
There are several things in the culture of science writing that tend to lead to complex sentence structures and difficult to read prose. This becomes worst when students read academic texts and immitate the style in their own writing because they believe that is the way we must write.
* The use of the passive voice. This is where the author removes themselves from the text: "The liquid was added to the flask" rather than "We/I added the liquid to the flask". There is no reason for this other than tradition. In my view it almost always makes things harder to read and should be stamped out.
* Space requirements in journals. Some journals even have character limits. This leads authors to try and find "clever" ways to try and word things in as few characters as possible.
* Use of unneccesarily formal *sounding* words "utilized" rather than "used" for example.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: When submitting to (computer science) conferences, you usually have full control over the layout and are able to submit a camera-ready version that will be published as submitted.
For journals, however, you usually have to submit a manuscript that will be reformatted before publication. In my experience, this includes rearranging and scaling of the figures, reformatting the equations etc.
Of course, it made sense before researchers were able to typeset camera-ready papers, but now it seems to be unnecessary and just generates additional costs and [errors](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/81625/elsevier-production-team-messed-up-my-paper-what-should-i-do). Why do publishers still prefer this way instead of letting the authors do the layout? I would expect that the journal style can easily be enforced by providing an appropriate LaTeX template and some additional rules.
I thought it might be due to copyright issues (maybe if the publisher does not do any modifications, it has no right to have a copyright on it), but it also happens for open-access journals where this should be no issue.<issue_comment>username_1: I can think of a few different reasons:
* Not all authors are [able or willing](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/36677/17254) to conform to the formatting style. After all, academics are supposed to be experts in their field of research, which usually isn't typesetting. The journal provides formatting as a service to these (and other) authors, and to ensure a consistent style.
* Copy-editing can also fix a number of typos - it doesn't always just introduce errors...
* Even if the authors manage to nail the formatting and spelling, chances are that the journal has an extensive style guide that goes way beyond "some additional rules". If you submit papers to more than a single journal, will you really be able to remember which journals insist on capitalizing words like "ansatz" in English?
* Additionally, journals may use headers/footers they don't want to make available in public templates, or even unusual page sizes that may require the text to be reflowed.
* Publishers may accept manuscripts in several formats, and have to convert at least one of them into their own format of choice.
* I don't know how common it is, but the format of choice need not be one of the accepted formats at all. E.g. APS accepts LaTeX and MS Word submissions, but [converts both into an XML format](https://cdn.journals.aps.org/files/revtex/apsguide4-1.pdf). This allows them to generate both PDF and web versions of the papers, and additional versions in the future. There is even work underway on using the XML format to make papers [fully available to the blind](https://viewplus.com/publishing-scholarly-journals-in-universal-format-physicists-take-the-lead/).
Finally, as long as the author signs over some or all of their copyright, such issues should not be a reason for this. Also note that formatting/editing does not necessarily [cost that much](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/52007/17254), especially compared to carefully checking a submission.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: To add to the previous answer: So that journals have an excuse to ask for ridiculously high prices. Indeed, I had to sign agreements that allow me to put my final submission on my homepage but not the final edited journal version "with the value added by the journal." So apparently, some journals think that is what their contributions.
There are possible alternatives, such as [overlay journals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overlay_journal).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: To supplement the excellent answer by @username_1:
* It might be not desired for third party to produce something in *exactly* the journal look. From what I have seen, even the "non-review" modes of journal styles often look different enough from the actual publisher-made final version. Basically, an officially-looking copy should originate only from official source.
* One further reason might be the fonts. Proper fonts are a big deal, they might cost a lot, and they would typically not be available for the normal user.
* It could be that final processing happens with something different, as mentioned in the above answer. One possibility is that they reformat the columns with InDesign or similar that is believed to achieve a better journal look than LaTeX. End users would obviously not have unlimited access to such software.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: If all authors were able to produce camera-ready manuscripts, publishers would not need to reformat submissions. The problem is, most authors are not able to do so (including those that think they are).
If you've ever reviewed articles before you'll probably have seen what un-typeset articles journals deal with. They can look fine, but they can also have figures separate from the article proper, text overruns, broken references, and misrendered equations. I've seen papers submitted using another journal's style files, which is still fine as long as there are typesetters who can reformat the manuscript. I've also seen papers which had missing paragraphs, but on checking the source files the paragraphs are there, they just did not compile right.
TeX makes things easier but still isn't foolproof. I remember one author sending me an angry email saying "I've sent you the files, why can't you just press print? Doesn't LaTeX do all the relevant typesetting?" and I showed him a page where LaTeX put the figure on one page and the caption on the next.
Don't get me wrong: if you prepare your manuscript well, the typesetters have less work to do. You're right that sometimes reformatting introduces errors, but the number of errors removed is significantly higher than the number of errors introduced. Reformatting manuscripts is significantly more expensive than handing CRC manuscripts. But even CRC manuscripts have to be checked.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: username_1 gives an excellent summary of why it makes sense for commercial journals to have their own copy-editors who are responsible for formatting for publication. However, you will find that even non-commercial journals that put the responsibility of making the accepted version publication-ready on the authors do not expect this to be done at submission, but only after acceptance. This makes a lot of sense, as means less work for the authors in the event that a paper is rejected from one or more journals before being accepted - no-one wants to have to go to the trouble of preparing several versions in different house styles.
So the question for me is not "Why do journals do this?" but "Why do conferences expect that you submit a camera-ready version?". I think there are two likely reasons for this.
* Page limits. If it matters at the peer-review stage how long a paper is, it needs to be already be in the required format as reformatting usually significantly changes the number of pages.
* Time constraints. For conference publications there is generally a very tight turnaround between the peer-review stage and needing a final version, so it's better to ask for a camera-ready version straight off. This might mean extra work for the author if the paper is not accepted, but overall it means less time-critical work.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: When reading [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/110143/why-do-journals-reformat-your-submissions) it seems the theoretical answer is that LaTeX is not perfect and manual/human intervention is required. In the [*TeX Book*](https://ctan.org/pkg/texbook?lang=en) Knuth says:
>
> But the problem of page make-up is considerably more difficult than
> the problem of line breaking that we considered in the previous
> chapter, because pages often have much less flexibility than lines do.
> If the vertical glue on a page has little or no ability to stretch or
> to shrink, TeX usually has no choice about where to start a new
> page; conversely, if there is too much variability in the glue, the
> result will look bad because different pages will be too irregular.
> Therefore if you are fussy about the appearance of pages, you can
> expect to do some rewriting of the manuscript until you achieve an
> appropriate balance, or you might need to fiddle with the
> looseness as described in Chapter 14; no automated system will be
> able to do this as well as you.
>
>
>
In the *LaTeX Companion* Mittelbach writes:
>
> For this and other reasons, getting the final layout of the book was fairly labor intensive and even required minor rewriting (on maybe 10% of the pages) in order to avoid bad line breaks or page breaks.
>
>
>
Ignoring the fact that LaTeX is not the only [software that publishers use](https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/99123/what-software-do-publishers-use), I am curious if the theoretical answer is actually the practical answer. Specifically, I am interested in:
1. How often do journals make manual tweaks to their templates/layouts
when typesetting articles?
2. How often wording of the text is changed to increase the visual
appeal of the article?<issue_comment>username_1: Since some journals provided me not only the final typesetted result but also additional documents that captured the editing (for example a scanned document with the remarks or the copy editor or even a diff of the "source code" (actually a mix of text and source code for the formula)) I can say, based on this sample size of about a dozen: **Always**.
To be more precise: The text has been changed always, but I can't really tell if this was for better visual appearance or because of the text. Also the figures have been shifted around in all cases (and I guess that this was for the visual appearance). I can't say whether the journal tweaked their template (because I don't care too much about the templates in the first place).
Maybe I should add that I have been more or less always pleased with the editing. In most cases I did not notice the changes from the typesetted version, but only after a closer look at the diff. At a few places the editing introduce a wrong wording (most cases there was a note to check this passage) and in some cases the typesetting of the formula was worse.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: A partial answer because I'm not a typesetter (i.e. I can only base off my memory of the un-typeset article vs. the completed one), and it's been a while since I personally handled production of journal articles.
The answer to question 1 is **very often, perhaps always**. Completed articles always looked different from the original; however I also handled a lot of non-CRC articles so it's expected that the completed one looks different. Still even with CRC papers they look different. Figures move, referencing style changes, a license is added to the first page. I also remember a typesetter telling me they run checks. I didn't ask for details, but I know that one result is that if there's a referencing error (e.g. "see Ref. (??)" which is moderately common) it's caught and fixed.
The answer to question 2 however is **almost never**. It's dangerous to heavily modify the text without the author's approval, plus my experience is that typesetters are almost always able to fix issues without changing the text. How they do it I'm not sure, but I'm regularly able to say things like "hey, the left-most word of these three lines are the same, improve it" and they'll manage without changing any word. I also remember two relevant incidents, both for books not journals:
1. One was an equation overrun. The text nearby was already too tight and the only way to fix it was to add a new line, which would however move every later page. If we'd noticed this earlier in the production process it would've been fixable; as it is the book went to print with the flaw (damn).
2. The other was a case where the author wanted to typeset the entire book himself. I remember I spotted a serious issue in the completed PDF (don't remember exactly what - could've been a figure caption that split across two pages) and the author rewrote the text to eliminate the issue. We eventually persuaded him to give us the source files, and the typesetters fixed the issue without rewriting. I don't know how they did it.
You might also be interested in the production timeline. If I gave a normal-sized manuscript (up to 20+ pages) to the typesetters, they'd usually give it back in 3-4 working days. If I said it was urgent, they'd usually return it in one day. This is imperfect data however: it's possible they pushed down the time taken by e.g. having two typesetters to the manuscript. Not having worked in the typesetting department, I don't know the internals.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: My colleague presented two separate posters, one at a domestic conference and another at an international conference, based on the work both of us have been collaborating for past 1.5 years.
Before submitting the abstract or the poster, they did not seek my approval. In fact, I was not aware of this until recently.
In the poster, they put themselves first in the author list and me as second. Apart from the fact that poster submission was not disclosed, the authorship order was not explicitly discussed.
In the poster, they included an elaborate set of their contact information, even (non-traditional in academic publishing) details such as tweet handle and other auxiliary information, when clearly there was space to include the rest of the authors information.
I am offended by this. I am not sure what the universally accepted academic code of conduct in such instances is?<issue_comment>username_1: I am not aware of a "universally accepted academic code of conduct". Based on your description, your coauthor's behavior was unethical (by my standards), but they did not break any laws (I am not a lawyer, just guessing).
The first point I would check is your coauthor's institution's Academic Code of Conduct or similar document. If they violated their employer's guidelines, you can notify their employer if you wish.
You can also check the conference submission guidelines for requirements on author order and contact details. Again, if they violated these, you may let the conference organizers know. Other than that, I do not think you have formal ways to punish the coauthor.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Ultimately there isn't a single valid approach here. The appropriate level of response depends on several factors, including the field in which the work is being performed, the nature of the conference, the status of the work relative to publishing practices in the field, and so on.
For instance, if you're in a field where posters are peer-reviewed before a conference, then it's a much more significant issue than presenting a poster at, for instance, a Gordon Research Conference where posters are explicitly considered to be "for discussion only" and are not intended to be used for publication. As for the author order, some societies (for instance, the APS) expect that the poster (or talk) be given by the first author as listed at submission—whether or not this is fundamentally the way it would be listed in a paper.
Looking at the ethical issue—has the work been published already somewhere or otherwise public? If so, your co-author may have thought it was OK to present a poster on the material; after all, you've already consented to publishing it elsewhere. On the other hand, if this is the first time the work has been presented, then it absolutely is ethically wrong to present the work without your consent.
The level of your response, though, should be scaled according to both the level of the offense and your desire to continue the collaboration. If you're angry that it was done but still want to work together, a somewhat measured response (the "sternly worded letter" approach) is probably best. If this has poisoned your relationship to the point where you can't see continuing to work together—and you want to have your colleague punished for the transgression—then you should make that clear. But I would hope the opening salvo here should be open and forthright dialogue with your colleague rather than a report to an ethics committee.
(Also, this advice can't really be generalized to large-scale collaborations where it simply is not possible to obtain informed consent from every participant on every paper produced as part of the collaboration.)
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I will mention the other side of the issue than ethics.
Assume that no contact information was there other than your e-mail and you were the sole author of the poster, but only your colleague presented it. Still you will get almost no benefit from it. If you did the considerable part of the work, s/he would be unable to present it in an attractive way and simply no one would show any interest. If s/he did a considerable part and willing to present, then she (un/)intentionally steal your audience.
I had a poster presentation overseas, and neither I nor other author and our advisor were able to go there, but another Ph. D. student of the group presented it. And no one cared. In short, the aim of the poster presentation is to sell your work to your prospective advisors/colleagues, if you are not yourself there, nothing worth to feel sad.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student. I was working on some problem from last 5-6 months and some days I was able to solve it. I discuss with my research team including my research supervisor. I told them my idea and approach and then they discuss for 40-50 minute and asked me few questions and I gave them answers. They ask me to combine it with my previous smaller result and told me that it is a complete research paper. but here is a problem, I have seen some of the research papers written by some senior colleagues in my research field and with respect those people my research problem and its solution seems less significant. I am not comparing myself with them but with respect to these top researchers my work seems small. Some time I feel that I have done something non-trivial and some time I feel like my research work in trivial.
>
> Question : How to come to know that you have done some thing non-trivial in the research? One way is to read the research papers of others. What are other ways?
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: In a recent project I felt that I had somewhat trivial results, and that I needed to add more to it before writing the paper. The new steps turned out to be so non-trivial, and take so long time, that I decided to write up what I had in the meantime. By putting the work so far in the form of a proper paper - you know, with an introduction that attempts to convince others that the work is interesting and worthwhile - I ended up convincing myself that the results were non-trivial and made for a good paper already.
In hindsight I had worked on related stuff long enough that my results seemed less novel to me than they would to another person. So, my advice is to write it up, and trust your supervisor.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: It's not surprising that the work of a Ph.D. student "seems less significant" than that of "top researchers". That seems an unreasonable comparison. The reason those guys are top researchers is exactly that their work is (usually) better than what the rest of us produce. That's not a reason for all of us non-top researchers to stop publishing. If your adviser says you've got something worth publishing, then write it up and publish it.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Judging a work is inherently subjective, and if its your own work, its easy to be positively biased or negatively biased towards it. (In my field there is a popular saying - when you do an experiment, everybody believes it except you; when you run a model, nobody believes it except you).
Naturally, the less subjective the judgement becomes, the more validity it gains. Staying up to date with recent research is very good, but its still individualistic and subjective - you are seeing other's research through your own lens of affinities and biases. This can be tackled by actively discussing themes with your colleagues/fellow students. Do this even with people in related but non-identical fields. Establish networks with peers in other universities/labs- this will really help you stay up to date, expose you to different perspectives and build friendships that will be invaluable in the long run. Be active on discussion fora/stacks related to your field. Imagine how easy we have it today (in this aspect) compared to the days of pen-and-paper correspondence.
Finally, IMO the most important way to judge the quality of your work is by writing and submitting it. Obviously, submission is (with reasonable exceptions) the ultimate yardstick of quality (from multiple perspectives- co-authors/reviewers/editor). Notwithstanding this, the writing stage is crucial - a lot of bias and ambiguity vanishes when you put it on paper and structure it into a report/manuscript.Write, read, edit, read, edit. This process will force you to examine your work with the right degree of critical review.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: In my opinion, there are two key points to non-trivial research.
1. **Novelity**. If no one has done this before, it's new. To find this out, you do literature research. Well, you surely *did* literature research before going all-out and trying to obtain this result yourself?
2. **Impact**. How important is this result for the field. This is a tricky part, as you *might* try to answer this yourself (and *should*, really, in the why-does-this-matter part of the introduction of prospective paper), the real answer to this is the acceptance by the community. First stop is peer review, second stop is citation metric.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Two points worth making:
Firstly, that there is a huge range of published papers out there. Some are ground-breaking, while most are incremental. The incremental are still worthwhile.
Secondly, that when you have been working on a problem for months or years, it's easy to lose perspective. Because you've been absorbed in it, it starts to seem trivial or obvious, but to people who aren't intimately familiar it may still be new and interesting. The best way to regain this perspective is probably to talk to your colleagues, but you could also consider presenting at a conference (being careful not to prejudice future journal publication).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: 'Trivial' is a very subjective term. A work can be trivial in the colloquial sense in that it is not a current hot topic or active area of research, or it can be trivial if your conclusions are not substantiated by the data available, or trivial in that it solves only a very esoteric problem. In the best case, you conduct a work in a hot area, address a foundational assumption, and obliterate it with tight experimental design and clear data. If your data is strong, results substantiated, and the topic important to you, it is certainly non trivial in your arena.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: Out of my own experience, and that of my colleagues, PhD students almost inevitably hit that point (usually by the end of their PhD) where they come to believe that their work is insignificant.
I believe that this feeling of lack of achievement boils down to the fact that the researcher is so much into their research that it seems trivial to them, regardless of its real value.
You know your domain too well to correctly value it.
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<issue_start>username_0: Publishers such as Elsevier and SAGE provide LaTeX templates for manuscripts to be submitted to their journals. Can one post that version of the paper in our websites if the paper has been accepted to such journals? I am referring to a manuscript that only I have modified and has not been modified by the journal.<issue_comment>username_1: If a journal allows authors to post their pre-prints, the general rule—although it is by no means absolute—is that you may use the manuscript in the form in which it was submitted to the journal, but you cannot use the version created by the journal's production staff.
However, you should consult the specific policies of the journal to see exactly what is or is not allowed, as not all journals allow preprints.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Regarding the general question of preprints for submitted and accepted papers, I direct you to username_1's answer. Regarding the minutiae of journal style class files, all the ones I am used to include the basic details of the licence they are supplied under in the text of the `.cls` file itself. In particular Elevier's `elsarticle.cls` appears to be issued under the terms of the [LaTeX Project Public License](https://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt), and which is fairly clear that there isn't any great land grab being made in terms of the final product.
This doesn't apply to names or images, both of which might cause copyright issues, unless the journal's instructions clearly state otherwise.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/05/23
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently investigating some generalized properties in my mathematical research with my professor. We are basically now working together to produce new paper to publish.
My professor is very well experienced and he seems to know what he is doing very fast compared to me. I feel like I do not do anything worth the contribution for this project.
Is it normal for a first year master student to feel this way when he or she tries to write a paper together with a professor? How come can a person generate possible ideas to solve so fast? Is it because I am still inexperienced or am I doing something wrong?
I usually read some papers trying to get some ideas which might be useful but I still dont get anything really 'valuable' for the progress of my current project.
I am hoping for some advises coming from well experienced mathematicians / researchers. Thank you very much!<issue_comment>username_1: It seems to me that you are looking more for reassurance than advice. There's absolutely nothing wrong in seeking that on an online forum, but you must first speak to your professor and senior students working in the group. The internet is comfortable in anonymity, but you must not develop an aversion to asking people for help in person. That may be far more harmful than being stuck on a research project.
Now, remember you are at the very beginning of a research career. Your professor has spent years and years. Isn't it unreasonable to expect yourself to generate ideas at the same pace? To answer your question, there is certainly an inexperience component. Whether you are doing something wrong can only be ascertained by your professor. Most likely, you are worrying needlessly. There is, however, always a chance that this line may not be ideal for you- you will have a better idea of that by time your program ends. Your professor will be invaluable here too, but you need to take the first step and open up to him.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Your post makes me think of the woman who always does the laundry because, as she puts it, "It would be so much trouble to teach my spouse how to use the washing machine, I might as well just do the laundry myself."
Ideally, an advisor will distinguish between a paper that needs to get out the door quickly, and a paper that is a suitable project for a Master's student, who may progress more slowly than the professor working alone would.
You might want to try gently asserting yourself with your advisor, e.g.
>
> I feel frustrated when all I do is watch you do the work, without making any contributions myself. I feel like I need to work on a project that you don't need completed super quick, so that you'll have time to give me suggestions of directions to go, and then be able to sit back and patiently allow me to see how far I can get at each step, before you jump in and just show me that step, already worked out.
>
>
>
A side thing that might help you would be to form a study group with some fellow students. Working out problems together, and discussing a particular journal article after everyone has read it, may help you develop your skills, and increase your self-confidence and self esteem.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am not sure if this is generalizable to all subjects. What I have noticed in some of the sciences, for example biology, ecology, and environmental sciences, is that the authors of the most used textbooks are not very highly cited scientists. Perhaps they have a book which is well cited but not used as a primary textbook, however it is not always the case, as it depends on the level of the book. Of course, books written for undergraduates are not necessarily cited in research papers. Regardless of the writing skills, which are of course important, I would prefer a textbook to be written by the most expert of a field and not just by the best educator or writer, who might lack in depth knowledge. Of course, a combination of both would be ideal.
I would expect that the maximum experts of a topic would also write a book which is heavily used in class or in research, but it does not seem to be the case.
Is it because researchers with a lot of citations (i.e. experts) are mostly dedicated to writing papers rather than books? Or is it because they work at the edge of knowledge and are not interested or capable of writing books for rookies?<issue_comment>username_1: You have already mentioned most of the things that are going on.
* Someone who is good at doing research is not necessarily someone who is good at writing textbooks. These are different skills.
* There are only 24 hours in a day, and an hour spent on writing textbook is an hour not spent on research. A person becomes a top-researcher by being strategic in the way (s)he manages her or his time. That often means not writing textbooks (see point below).
* The "value" of a book differs a lot from (sub-(sub-))discipline to (sub-(sub-))discipline. Some value books (but even those not necessarily textbooks), and in some writing a book is basically a waste of time.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: From a mathematical (US based) perspective I would say it depends on the level of the textbook. Any proper undergrad textbooks will usually be written by people who are much more interested in being teachers than researchers and thank god for that. Undergrad texts are extremely basic and the amount of depth required or even possible, is essentially nil.
Any person with basic knowledge of the subject should be proficient enough in the mathematics to write the book without errors and with all the depth required. The important part of writing an undergrad textbook is being a good educator and teacher and being able to explain and impart the knowledge to undergraduate students. This is a skill many (if not most) high profile research mathematicians thoroughly lack.
On the other hand at the graduate and even advanced undergraduate level textbooks at least in my field of interest (set theory and foundations) were written by incredibly high profile research scientists that were probably in the top 10 in the world in their respective fields. Just to mention a few, Kunen Set Theory An Introduction to Independence Proofs, Juhász Cardinal invariants of the continuum, Chang & Kiesler Model theory. There is also the handbook of set theoretic topology which while not exactly a textbook and not by a single author, is almost an textbook and the contributors were all extremely good research scientists.
From a different field I know CGEL (Cambridge grammar of the english language) and A student's introduction to the English language, from the field of linguistics are both from Huddlestone and Pullum who as far as I can tell (I'm certainly no linguistics expert) are both extremely well thought of in their research community.
To summarize I think that the early and mid undergraduate textbooks are often written by educators, both since they would probably be quite boring for a research scientist to write (though Rudin is a household name and you certainly can't accuse him of not being a research scientist) and the educational aspect of the work is extremely important (though again Set theory by Kunen is certainly a great textbook both in terms of depth and educational values).
On the other hand late undergrad and graduate textbooks are often written by stars of the research community.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Just to complement the excellent answer from @username_1:
In my experience, the authors of the best textbooks **at the senior undergraduate or graduate level** are typically some of the top researchers in their field. In applied math, for instance, <NAME> is certainly one of the leaders of the field and also the author of several extremely popular texts. Virtually all of my favorite graduate-level texts in numerical analysis and hyperbolic PDEs are written by leading researchers.
The same cannot be said for texts at the introductory undergraduate level. Top-notch mathematicians don't write calculus texts, though perhaps one of them ought to.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Well, in undergrad, at many of the more expensive schools especially: the professors create a book from their curriculum put it in the bookstore and then make it required.
For the researchers that have spent long years and gotten tenure and gotten to the head of their fields, a few among these detail their expertise in books. These books are far better and comprehensive and also they are more readily found in graduate school.
The point of graduate school is to teach you to read cutting edge things and learn them yourself, this is generally the reason for this.
Also, books written by the greats tend to be very tricky even for people with PhDs, and so it is inappropriate for the majority of people to familiarize themselves with a subject this way initially.
It is a breadth or depth question, books rarely have both, and the best books usually cater to the second.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: While the other answers have explained why most textbooks at the service course level are written by people whose main focus is education as opposed to research, I want to point out that this isn't always the case. Off the top of my head, I'm aware of calculus books by <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, and <NAME> (all of whom are or were active research mathematicians). I'm sure I'm forgetting some other names as well. Among younger research mathematicians, I am aware of textbooks for service courses by <NAME> and <NAME> (see <https://textbooks.math.gatech.edu/ila/>) and by <NAME> (see <http://www.math.utah.edu/~wortman/advprec/>), and these are just examples from people in my immediate mathematical social circle. It is true that neither of the previous two books I mentioned were published in a traditional manner, but that is just a function of the authors' personalities.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: One factor I'mmnot seeing in the other answers, but which seems relevant to me: Text books often don't contain original research. They (hopefully) provide a good summary and (hopefully) cite their source.
For further research this can be an entry, but the underlying research typically has the citable information.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: Both doing research and writing books take a lot of time and effort and many academics don't have enough lifespan to greatly succeed at both.
A lot of stars need to align for a successful researcher to write a successful textbook.
Economics of writing a textbook is pretty rough. First, you have to teach that subject for several years, sometimes decades, to get a feel of how new students acquire knowledge of that subject, their difficulties, what works, what doesn't, what is too easy, too hard, relevant/irrelevant to their future careers.
Then you create the first version of the book, get it edited, proofread, tested on students, revise it at least once.
Then you have to sell it. There is competition, the market is not very efficient so if you book is better than the competition, faculties around the world will not automatically switch to it. You have to promote it. The cost of publication is high, the price is not so high so you have to sell a lot to break even. Most textbooks are barely profitable.
If you actually manage to write a good book and sell it, you have to keep it up to date, revising it every year of few and still keep promoting.
So becoming a famous scientist + writing a great textbook is a heroic task. Huge respect to those who manage both.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I was studying journalism in my country, but I realised it's not for me at all. I kind of had to apply there because there aren't really any good schools in things I was interested in. I was thinking of applying to a Physics school in the USA or UK, but all the universities I looked up say I won't be eligible because I already hold a Bachelor's degree, so what do I do? Has anyone of you done that before? Which schools allow this, since top schools won't?
1. And please, don't suggest I go and get a master's in journalism instead, that is not happening.
2. And yes, I can do physics and am really good at maths so none of that *"are you sure you want it, physics is hard..."*
3. No, money is not an issue for me if I won't be eligible for any type of scholarship.<issue_comment>username_1: There are many schools that do not have odd requirements that they only teach those whose virtue has not been smeared by another degree.
Apply to programs that accept candidates regardless of what degrees they currently posses.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I am surprised to hear schools are telling you your previous degree is an impediment. I currently have a Bachelors of Arts in political science and am entering my third year of electrical engineering at a different university (both in Canada). I never encountered any issues when applying for my second degree as a result of having completed by first. While I can't speak for schools in the US or UK, I feel that you could easily apply to Canadian universities to study physics (or engineering :)).
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: If you can afford to cover the tuition yourself, perhaps you could take the courses you're interested in as a non-degree-seeking (non-matriculated) student.
With this method, you would not "apply for admission."
But I'm not sure how this would affect your immigration status.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I am writing a biology research paper. My topic is related to organs transplantation (current issues, ethical problems etc). I have written a draft and showed it to my professor. She was satisfied with the content and research, but she told that I need to work on my writing. According to her, I didn't follow the structure, but I have no idea how am I supposed to build my research paper. Can somebody give me suggestions or recommend me articles about research paper writing?<issue_comment>username_1: You went to your professor for at least a reason.
If you want to follow her advice,
go read her own published papers and emulate their structure.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Each writer has their own style and many of the things that pass for good writing for some, are bad writing for some others. But, if you are in a certain research field, the scientific papers always follow some kind of template.
For example, I'm a physicist. The typical paper structure (e.g. Phys. Rev. B) is:
1. **Introduction**
Formulate hypothesis in the context of current research.
2. **Method/Formalism**
Describe your methods.
3. **Results and Discussion**
Show your results and explain them.
4. **Conclusions**
State your most important results and discuss their value in the context of current research in the field.
The way I see my ideal paper is like a mathematical proof. In the introduction I discuss what others have done and what method they used to get the results directly relevant to mine, and explain why obtaining my new result is useful for the development of my subfield of physics. In other words, this is where I formulate the problem and refer to the tools (models, methods) I'm going to use to solve it.
In the second section I briefly introduce my model and method, but I only explain in detail stuff I have done beyond the current state of the art to solve my problem. Very technical things go into the appendices or supplementary information. Stuff that is known and explained well elsewhere is cited.
The third section is where the results are reported and explained. I would probably write "I measured this and got that", but not without explaining how is that agrees or contradicts previous results. I would also highlight the novelty of the result if it's new. This section is hard to write because one often has many interesting graphs and formulas, but needs to keep only the most relevant to the conclusions that are drawn. Again, interesting stuff that further supports your hypothesis, but it's technical, or you don't have space for it here, can go in the supplementary material or appendix.
The conclusion section is the most important because you explain there how is your result new, relevant and important, how it advances the field, and what future work you suggest (without giving away more than you need to).
Most papers follow this kind of model, but each publishing venue has its own, most of the time annoying, templates and standards. If you write a paper in PhyS. Rev., you have to have in mind their template, if your paper is written for Science, you better prepare a draft using their template.
This is my answer, and I hope you get better ones. But, if you don't, check some links you can find with google:
[Elsevier article](https://www.elsevier.com/connect/11-steps-to-structuring-a-science-paper-editors-will-take-seriously), [Nature article](https://www.nature.com/scitable/ebooks/english-communication-for-scientists-14053993/writing-scientific-papers-14239285), [this paper](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3474301/).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: **Structure**
For a research paper in the biological sciences, you’ll often have the following structure:
* Abstract
* Introduction
* Methods
* Results
* Discussion
Some journals, especially the wet lab heavy ones, will have the following format:
* Abstract
* Introduction
* Results
* Discussion
* Methods
A reason for this is that the methods can be very long, technical, and detract from the big ideas that came from the research.
For a literature review, the format is more flexible, but here’s a fairly common one:
* Abstract
* Introduction
* Interstitials
* Discussion
For a meta analysis, the following structure is also common:
* Abstract
* Introduction
* Methods
* Results or Interstitials
* Discussion
Interstitials are essentially topic dependent headers that are central and specific to the paper and area of research it explores.
**Section Headers**
***Abstract***
A brief account of the research, methods used, results, and maybe a sentence on impact. For a literature review, a description of ‘why now?’ For example, has it been a long time since the last literature review in the field, have new tools or experimental results provided added context to historical results? This is generally around 200 words.
***Introduction***
For an experimental paper, introduce your topic, follow it with a brief literature review of prior publications that have influenced or led you to develop your research question, then state your research question. Depending on the journal format, this can sometimes also include a brief account of the methods and core results. For a literature review, introduce your topic and provide a more thorough account of why you’re writing the literature review now.
***Interstitials***
For a literature review, following the introduction you can usually dive into the research you reviewed. These ‘interstitials’ will be multiple sections titled in a way that explains core ideas from the research or hints at individual stages of development in the line of inquiry your covering.
***Methods***
Generally, you can write this with the following audience in mind: a researcher who has picked up your paper and is contemplating reproducing your experiments. If you conducted any experiments, this is where you give an exhaustive, detailed account of the techniques, tools, and approach - generally without discussing rationale. If you’re writing a literature review or meta analysis you may discuss how you searched, selected, and honed in on the papers you decided to include. For example, what framework did you use for finding, selecting, and analyzing publications? That said, literature reviews often omit the methods section altogether.
***Results***
This can be a simple account of the results you got or, if the experiments were run iteratively and sought to hone in on a very specific mechanism, an account of the logic and rationale between each experiment and the results. For a literature review this section is generally omitted, but omission is less common for a meta analysis.
**Discussion**
For a literature review, this is where you’ll summarize, enumerate the gaps you’ve identified, and discuss future research directions. For a research paper or meta analysis, this is where you’ll discuss your results, their implications, the limitations, and propose relevant follow-up experiments.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am supervising a master student for his thesis in a technology field. His English is so-so and it takes quite a bit of work to correct it. I feel that correcting English is not my job, but to correct the technical aspects of the manuscript. Back when I was a student, I knew of students whose English wasn't that great and who would ask friends to correct their grammar, spelling, and wording. Can I ask my student to have his text corrected in this way—of course not the technical content! I would not consider it "somebody else's work," since it would also not count as [contribution in the sense of authorship](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/83788/41788). However, I am also not sure whether it is rude to have him ask somebody else to proof-read. At my university we even have an official proofreading service (but only for PhD candidates), so I would expect it to be okay.
**Edit:** Good answers! Thanks. Just to clarify: The English (which is none of our's mother tongue) could be a lot worse and I had worse. With my last two students I did the mistake of correcting *everything*, which was a lot of work. Now I thought back and asked myself whether this is really my job. According to the answers - it actually isn't. Thanks!<issue_comment>username_1: As a supervisor it is not your job to proofread your student's work, but it is your job to help them produce good-quality work. Good communication skills are critical in research, therefore you should take some sort of action to improve your student's writing. When you communicate this to your student, make sure to present it in a constructive way, rather than as a criticism.
As to how you should proceed, you have a few options. One option is to ask another student in your department that has stronger English skills to help your student proofread their work. That only works if both you and your student know another student that you're both comfortable working with, and if that student has time to help. A second option is to ask your university's proofreading service if they can help your student. A third option, which may be the best bet if your student's writing needs a lot of work, is to suggest they enroll in a technical writing course to develop their skills.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Can I ask my student to have his text corrected in this way - of course not of content / contribution!
>
>
>
It is not your job to assign a mandatory proofreader. Nor is it your job to proofread it yourself. Especially as a graduate student, part of his job is to ensure he is proficient in English (or whatever language the thesis is written in).
Next time he turns in written work that is not proofed to your standard, you need to have a conversation where you explicitly tell the student he must address is poor writing skills.
I would say something like
>
> This paper is filled with grammatical and spelling errors. Currently, I'm spending the majority of my time on these errors instead of evaluating the technical contribution of the work. Please proof-read this document and I'll read it once the grammar and spelling issues are addressed.
>
>
>
I'm guessing there is a writing center on campus for undergraduates. Look this up and tell the student about it. Something like
>
> The writing center in the student lobby will help you with grammar and spelling issues, and is open from 10AM-6PM every weekday.
>
>
>
Once the student has re-submitted, and the content is reasonably free of grammar and spelling issues, be sure to tell the student this is the quality of work he must hand in from now on.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I would start by first communicating the problem and making it clear that you will not review his manuscript unless these errors are corrected. It is likely that he will be able to solve this on his own. He may not even be aware of how bad it really is. This will be a good opportunity for him to grow!
If the problem persists then I would escalate to proposing a solution yourself. After all, if you are supervising him, his success is your success.
I would try to lean on your university's proofreading service. ~~I'm guessing that as his supervisor you are also an author on the paper. I suspect it would be reasonable for you to submit it to the service. If not,~~ simply having a candid conversation with someone over there could probably provide some quality advice on how to handle this situation.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: It's not unethical for the student to get assistance with proofreading, copyediting, or developmental editing (that is more substantial than copyediting, which is in turn more substantial than proofreading).
I suggest you institute a policy for this and future students, that before a first draft is submitted to you, the draft must be vetted by an editor. You may be nice about it -- and I hope you will. At any rate, **be firm**. (Firm is not necessarily the same as unpleasant.) Ideally, this expectation would be given to students well in advance of the first draft being submitted.
However, with this student, even though you missed the boat on the advance notice, you can certainly still institute this policy.
Optionally, you may wish to collect a list of resources, some free and some paid, to give to students when you explain your policy.
You owe this to your students, so that they graduate with the right sort of work habits, and you owe this to yourself. If you get bogged down in drudge work, you won't have the time and energy to do the important things you need to do.
(The approach I outlined -- be nice but be firm -- is inspired by a programming TA who worked in the computing room when I was learning to program as an undergraduate. Whenever you brought her a print-out of a program that wasn't working as you expected, she first, *always*, asked if the code print-out was the most recent version that had produced the output you were showing her. If you said, "Well, actually it's the previous version, but I only changed one line, so I think this will be good enough," she would firmly but pleasantly send you back to the printer so you could bring her matching code and output.)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: There are different types of errors and potentially different responses to these errors. If the errors are spelling and similar, where something like Microsoft Word actually picks up the error (and suggests a fix) then you can certainly require that those errors are corrected before you even look at the paper. If the problem is more about expression, with clumsy wording, disorganised ideas etc, then you probably need to recommend a writing skills course.
The problem with asking the student to send it to another student first is that there may not be anyone who can actually help. I did my PhD after working in policy jobs for 15 years where I not only did a lot of writing, I also supervised other people who were doing a lot of writing. I was also the only native English speaker in the group of students so during my PhD, I did a lot of chapter/article reading and my supervisor often asked students to ask me to help them. I was fine with this, it was reasonably easy for me to help. It was also time consuming, but the other students helped me with other aspects of my PhD (such as programming) so the time wasn't too much of an issue.
But it seems to me that this was a very unusual set of circumstances. In most cases, other students and friends are unlikely to be much better than the student you are having the problem with. Even if they have access to a native English speaker, that won't really help the student improve.
There's other things you can do too. Do your students do mock presentations to each other of their work? Do your students write (or present) analyses of key papers to circulate to other students? If not, try creating such a process. Go to the lecturer of the first year philosophy course and ask for some of their student exercises. The English abilities of all the students will improve if they are forced to practice presenting structured arguments in English. Even the students with native English can probably benefit from such exercises.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: >
> I know this board isn't meant to answer deep personal questions, so I try to keep this rather general as it is kind of related to [this](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23150/who-should-pursue-a-ph-d-degree) and [this](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/73503/is-it-worth-finishing-your-phd-if-your-advisor-thinks-you-are-not-cut-out-for-re).
>
>
>
I pursued the goal of getting a PhD / doing research for a long time. Mostly for personal (/*ego*) reasons.
Now, as I am about to finish my master's degree, it becomes more and more clear, that I am probably not qualified for a doctorate. I prolonged the time on both of my degrees. My grades are average at best and I rarely enjoyed sitting in lectures. I am particularly bad at writing anything scientifically like my thesis, papers or even emails (which leads to massive procrastination and delay on this tasks). Researching on theoretical topics is often difficult for me as I tend to skim most of the papers. And, to be honest, I enjoy practical tasks like creating, implementing or improving algorithms, the most.
Soon I have to decide if I find myself an industry job or a PhD program. But should I even pursue a PhD with this kind of flaws?<issue_comment>username_1: Nothing has said that you're not *qualified* to be a researcher—getting good grades and being a good researcher are not entirely correlated, and having the skills for one is not necessarily a guarantee of success for the other.
What your comments suggest, though, is that you would likely not enjoy the process of getting a PhD. Given how long it takes to get a PhD, that's an awfully long time to spend being miserable.
So ask yourself:
>
> What is it that I enjoy about research? Is it enough to justify all the drawbacks it would bring?
>
>
>
If you can't justify getting a PhD to yourself, don't make yourself miserable by forcing yourself to do something you don't want.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Whether or not to enroll in a PhD program is a decision only you can make. You can lay it at our feet, and some people may even feel tempted to point out that this or that thing you've written appears to point, logically, toward one or the other choice. But let's suppose some respected stranger, or even someone you respect *and are personally acquainted with*, provides a bit of steering in one direction or another. Are you ready to give up your free will to another person, and abdicate your ability to decide?
What we can do is mention some possible avenues you could use to collect more information to help you in your decision making process. For example:
* It is possible to do "career exploration" in both industry jobs and in academia. You arrange a shadow for a day, in which you follow someone around as they go about their typical activities.
* It is often possible to try out working in industry over the summer, or by taking a semester off school. This would allow you to get your feet wet and find out more about what working in industry is like, in practice.
* It's also possible to study one or two semesters of a PhD program and then reevaluate. In other words, you wouldn't be signing a contract that would obligate you to keep going if you're no longer interested.
You like writing programs, it sounds like. Well, there are PhDs that use the student's coding skills to great advantage. Perhaps you like working on applications. This can become a thesis if you immerse yourself in the field of application.
Note that the first step to working on improving one's study skills is to realize where one's weak areas lie. Regardless of which direction you decide to go -- the realization you came to, and wrote about here, can spur you toward making progress with those shortcomings. Becoming a better technical reader and writer would stand you in good stead in both environments.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I wanted to write a comment - but it just becomes too long, so I'll use an answer instead.
I think there are an awful lot of cultural ifs and buts in this, so adding your location would help. I can look at it from a UK/EU angle and this might be quite different for other regions on this planet.
When I was in the UK, we had people come "back" to university at a later date for their PhD. One guy worked at a company doing programming/numerical modelling, another was in some way involved with railways I think.
This was in an engineering department at the university.
The term would be "mature student", which exists also for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and is not particularly uncommon in the UK.
In fact, the classical route for many people in the UK is BSc (first or 2.1) and then a PhD IF they carry on to obtain a PhD.
The Masters is something people either get later in life or people from outside the UK obtain within the UK before continuing with a PhD.
Part of the reason being, that you'd have to self-fund a masters in the UK...
(Incidentally, a UK Masters is 1 year, while in the rest of the EU it is 2 ...)
On the other hand, I think it is rarer for people in the rest of the European Union to return to academia later and the Masters before a PhD/Doctorat is pretty much standard. There are people who return to academia post retirement as they find they now have the money and time to pursue their interests and some people do return to academia later, to, in a way, "make up for previous mistakes" (e.g. not caring enough about school, etc.).
So it does happen, though I don't think normally at the PhD level.
If you are in the UK or a country where it is not uncommon to return to academia later, it may be an idea to go into a "research & development" group at a company after your Masters degree. While the work there is very different from academic work and generally more applied, it will give you an idea whether you enjoy "this kind" of work.
If you do, you can consider returning to academia - maybe even with the support of you employer - and possibly work on an industry funded PhD which is generally more applied than the research council funded fundamental work.
Some countries/universities also allow "staple theses" (the UK does not I think), which basically require you to only add an introduction and effectively bind a number of papers together. (Whether this is good or bad is a different discussion...)
Implementing and improving algorithms is are "tasks" that can definitely be appreciated in research.
If you are good at doing this, then I'm sure groups that work on algorithms will appreciate the work - as will companies with in house code development.
Short of trying, you will never know whether you can obtain and whether you enjoy obtaining a PhD.
The type of supervisor will incidentally be also very important in this respect.
And be warned that your area of expertise may very well change during the PhD (at least in the UK). The guy who was programming? He ended up doing some experimental combustion work... - And I somehow arrived in chemistry and programming despite coming from (applied) mathematics...
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I have recently read many questions about doing a second PhD and (to my surprise) most people consider it a bad move. Also - it looks like some universities (for example Berkeley) even have formal policies against it.
I am now finishing two master degrees in Computer Science. My university is #1 in Poland, however in rankings such as QS or THE it's only around the 500-600 range (very low compared to my target).
I planned to apply for a PhD to a top 100 university in the world, and if I failed, then I would first do a PhD in my university and then - empowered with experience, a degree and papers - apply again for another PhD in a top 100 school. If I failed again, then I would do more papers and try again and again and again until success. This way I could "upgrade" my PhD.
This was before I found that there is formal policy against it (in USA, because in Poland no one seems to have any problem with it).
Now I am wondering what my options are. What can I do to maximize my chances of getting into a top 100 university from my position?
One may ask why I would even want to "upgrade" my PhD - I assume that getting a PhD from a widely recognized university will considerably improve my possibilities for working with the best people in the field.<issue_comment>username_1: To make a good PhD degree, you do not have to be in the top 100 universities in the world. The high tier journals accepts papers and acknowledges valuable research contributions from all over the world.
Develop the skills you have acquired in your masters, get a highly motivated and experienced supervisor who is interested in your area/you are interested in his, seek good opportunities and move on. You may be surprised to receive invitations for research collaboration from top academics when the quality of your work is unparalleled.
As regards having more than one PhD degree, how many professors with the highest h-index in their fields, have more than one PhD? And there are many 'scholars' who did not finish from the top 100. Besides, there would also be other aspects of life that would require your time after the PhD. So it is essential think and decide well.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't know that the top 100 is that impenetrable first of all, at least to the point that you'd need publications to even get in even near the end of the list. Things like test scores and recommendations will counter your prior school ranking. Work on getting those in place.
A much better option (than a "first doctorate" which I'd also advise against) would be work experience. You can get a job as a research assistant at a university (doing essentially the same research as a grad student). Given that you have a Master's degree in the subject (er two of them) you would presumably be able to work fairly independently as well, if you found the right fit. And now you have star recommendation #1 when you move to the next step. I know multiple people who followed this path.
In computer science you can also go directly into industry. The lines of such applied fields are quite blurred these days between industry and research. You could find a job doing cutting-edge work in the area of your research interest, and even present at conferences. If it's a large company they may fund your studies.
Generally in technical areas, (a few years of) industry experience is viewed highly in grad school admissions. While a prior doctorate would look strange. Imagine a job where the requirement is only an undergraduate degree, yet you have a person with a PhD applying. It looks like the person is discounting all their additional training and skills.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: If you want to get into a better PhD program, the usual thing to do is to do a masters or work in a research lab and try to publish some papers. Doing multiple PhDs is not a reasonable approach.
Ultimately, you need to figure out what aspect of your application needs improvement and then work on that. Do you need more coursework to build the right background? Do you need research experience? Do you need better recommendation letters?
I would also emphasize that university rankings should be viewed with healthy skepticism. It matters more what you do and who your advisor/supervisor is. You should be able to judge the quality of a PhD without resorting to crude measures like the University's ranking.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I considered the second PhD after I graduated with one from Ukraine. Boy am I glad I didn't "upgrade" it!
The problem with the second PhD is that most of it will teach you the things you already know and, given its length, it is most certainly a waste of time. By the time you graduate with the first PhD, you will be about 30. By the time you get your second PhD, you will be about 35. Your employment prospects at 35 without work experience will be questionable no matter how many PhDs you have. Not to mention family considerations.
Another problem is that even top PhDs programs are highly bureaucratic and not very economically efficient compared to post-docs and other employment opportunities so your stipend, if you get any, will be shoe money in a top-100 university town.
By the time you are done even with your first PhD, the expectations of you will be much higher than now. "Getting into top..." will not be good enough anymore. More likely you will be expected to "create the top", or even tougher "create the only" to get a high salary, recognition, or profit.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: You shouldn't focus too much on university ranking, but focus more on the quality of your advisor.
In the end, your publications are what really matters. If you have great publications at A and A\* conferences, nobody cares about the ranking of your university. Has the advisor published at high-quality conferences and can teach you how to write a paper that gets accepted there? Does he have the travel budget to send you there if you get a paper accepted? Will you have enough time to work on your research or will you be busy teaching all the time?
Even in the top 100, don't expect that all departments are great. Most universities have some professors, that are doing great work and are well respected within their community.
At the same time: If you have very good general computer science knowledge, even without any papers, I don't think you will have problems finding a PhD position at a Top100 in western Europe. (UK, Germany, Sweden, France, Norway, etc.)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: My PhD is from a 600-700 school, and my postdoc and first research scientist positions were both in top-10 institutions. I work alongside many people from lesser-known schools, but alongside none with two PhDs.
**My point here: another degree is not the only, or the most common, way to climb.**
Buuuut... My time in these institutions has really tempered my belief the "the best work" is done here. The reward structure at "the top" encourages flashy work, and discourages both acknowledging mistakes and collaborating with the most qualified people. Some good work is done, certainly, but is it not as big a difference as I had hoped.
I am now considering a couple TT positions, and finding one with strong colleagues in a 500-600 school more appealing than one with a weaker group at a top 50 school.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: Your advisor and their contributions to your field of work is much more important than the ranking of your school. Having a good advisor and a good relationship with them is key to being successful at the graduate level (which you probably already know). When potential employers or future collaborators investigate you prior to hiring/collaborating, they will look for the quality of your work, quality of your advisor's work, and the advisor's standing in the field. A good/great researcher can work at a good/ok school.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_8: I have done 2 PhDs, and had very good reasons for that. But lets say it was very intense, as I had spend about 3 years for each for very reasons listed in answers above - to still be young enough in the end to get good employment chances. The second time around was extremely hard in the end, when you have to deal with bureaucratic hell, exams, job hunting and finalizing thesis all over again... the second time.
So its possible and doable, but I personally recommend thinking very hard how necessary is it for your career. And also how would you answer question on why did you need two PhDs, as it will be the first one you would receive in every single job interview.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: Famously <NAME>'s (known for the Simplex algorithm) mathematics PhD was even in the "wrong" discipline (statistical theory) since he had mistaken a list of currently unsolved problems at the blackboard with homework when arriving late at class, handed in only two of the three after the imagined deadline while hoping he'd at least get partial credit, getting a PhD instead.
It did not actually harm his career even though the PhD was not even in the direction he was actively pursuing.
A PhD is a milestone. It's much more important to your career what you do active research in. A double PhD in the same area would be a sign that you are not even interested in active research.
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: I think it's fairly common practice to isolate some parts of a thesis, *if* interesting enough, and publish them as a paper after properly changing structure and style.
Is the opposite possible, if the paper has been submitted to a journal and is under review? And what if it actually gets published before the dissertation?<issue_comment>username_1: If the student did the work, then I see no problem at all. While its never happened for me with an undergrad dissertation (mostly because UGs get about 3 weeks to write their dissertation after the research period has finished, and a paper takes at least 6 months to go through review), this is a pretty normal thing to happen for a PhD.
Write up the paper first and submit it for publication. Use this as a good starting point for the thesis. If the stars align, the paper will be back from review with corrections at about the time the thesis is submitted, and the corrections to the paper can be done while the student is waiting for their viva.
This is all on the proviso of course that the student actually writes the dissertation themselves and doesn't just paraphrase an article written by their supervisor.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I have done that in my theses. It went just fine on all levels. Just make sure to site properly (even work under revision) and request the right to use images if needed.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: A PhD student "Alex" has a few years to impress their research lab advisor and then their dissertation committee. During these years, I imagine that Alex will come up with some great ideas that can be modeled, simulated, and perhaps validated with physical experiments, etc. It might feel that all of Alex's work "belongs" to the lab, and namely, to their lab director / advisor. Then after several years of working at such a high-energy pace, does Alex have to worry about running out of ideas, and that they gave all their ideas away to their advisor? Or does Alex have so much more to gain from sharing all of their best ideas and then receiving crucial feedback in return, and that the benefits far outweigh the 'costs'?<issue_comment>username_1: **Research ideas tend to grow exponentially.**
* At the beginning, Alex is a student who doesn't know what's already been done -- no ideas (though maybe some interests)
* As an undergraduate, Alex will start to have ideas based on what he reads and his experiences. Many of these will be off-topic, already done, or impossible.
* Then Alex will spend time doing research "at the cutting edge" -- usually on someone else ideas (i.e., his advisor's). He'll now start to understand where the gaps are and what ideas could be developed, adapted, or applied to plug these gaps. Some of these ideas could be valuable.
* As Alex continues to read the journals and perform his own research, he'll identify more and more ideas. The limiting factor is *time*: having ideas may be fast, but taking an idea from conception to publication always takes a long time, so Alex normally has a long list of ideas in the back of his mind.
So yes, Alex will gain by discussing his ideas with his advisor. In most cases though, students start by work on *their advisor's* ideas, which they gradually make their own and begin to supplement with their own ideas as they mature.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: >
> research
>
>
>
A PhD research is (in my mind) not like working for a company. You are doing *research*, science. At least in the past, science was a shared effort amongst all of humanity.
My suggestion (and I do think you are asking more for a "mindset", not law and regulations) would be this:
* If Alex is in it for the long term, i.e. teaching and science, then he better get used to the idea of sharing more or less everything immediately. The question goes away then.
* If Alex, instead gets the PhD simply to get a better post in the industry, later, then he doesn't need to worry anyways, because what he did during the PhD wouldn't matter that much, or at all, anyways (except for building up a network of possible company contacts to apply at).
That said, a smaller part of your question seems to be about burnout. That, indeed, is something which not only Alex, but everybody working in a "brain-related" area needs to worry about a lot, these days. He most definitely wants to pace himself such that he stays ahead of the stress curve. This has little to do with the other parts of the question though, i.e., it does not matter for this whether his ideas "belong" to someone else.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Ideas are cheap -- usually free. (Or even cheaper than free, having negative values - in many areas creators of ideas have to pay people to attend to them, like paying agents to plug their music and books.) Most people already have far too many of their own ideas that they don't have time to do anything with. It's unlikely they would get any benefit from stealing any more from anyone else. Actually doing stuff is hard and involves money, time, effort and reward.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I suppose a good ol' cost-benefit analysis couldn't hurt. "Alex" should ask himself the following questions:
* Could he have graduated anyway without sharing his idea? He might already be working on a promising thesis project and should focus his attention.
* Could he have pursued his ideas without the infrastructure, funding, and support of the lab?
* Does the lab in fact deserve most of the credits solely because of the infrastructure it provides? If he has followed through a research from ideation to funding proposals, to equipment purchase, to hiring and training support staff, to experimentation, to failed experimentation, to multiple failed experimentation, to data analysis, to conference events, to publication, he might agree that having an idea is perhaps the easiest part.
* Without sharing/sacrificing his idea, could he have achieved the academic standing necessary to find funding to support researching his own ideas afterwards?
* Without sharing his idea and pursuing it now, would the idea be discovered independently by other researchers easily?
* Are the odds of discovering newer and better ideas as a result of pursuing this idea now worth more than losing some credits to his adviser?
* Is there a way to timestamp an idea in his field? It is typical to keep an audited research logbook in postgraduate. Sharing his idea, by exchanging emails with his peers, can also serve as a means of attribution. Or by publishing a letter to a journal instead of an full-blown article. He might even burn some bitcoin to lock his discovery in the blockchain forever. If the work is important enough that historians will look back to the original research notes, losing attribution now may not have mattered.
* Could he have framed this idea as a side project collaboration with another trusted P.I., such that at least his own lab cannot claim all credits?
* Did he receive any peer feedback from within his own research area that his idea is indeed novel and practical and of academic interest and not done or proven false before?
* As @username_1 accurately mentioned, he will have more ideas than he has time to pursue them.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I am now at my 5th year as post-doc, and I do have much more ideas than time now. I share them with PhD students and coworkers, and try to make joint papers, as it is beneficial for both of us.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: Yes, sharing your ideas is the way to go in research. Your advisor is not your enemy, but a future colleague. People that keep ideas to themselves miss the point : get other people to adopt your ideas, and spread them.
It's a measure of your own success when people get to the point of saying your ideas as if they occurred naturally.
As for running out of ideas, don't worry, it's a kind of have or don't have situation. Some people have the creativity to do good research, and for others it's hard to find a semi original contribution. Experience helps, but people that have good ideas don't run out of them.
It's ok for many exchanges in research to be a bit asymmetric, let one partner be the wall against which you bounce ideas. A good wall (a good advisor) brings precious feedback, don't underestimate it, even just by bouncing the ball (your own idea) back with an unexpected spin. Finding a research colleague interested in what you do and collaborating with you is not a given in all contexts, enjoy it through your thesis. You'll get to write papers alone (mostly after your phd:D), but it's not usually all that much fun to do stuff alone.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: Depends, maybe Alex has to work with PostDocs which give no ideas or input back. Instead they notice everything whenever he tells something during a presentation and later take these ideas or even the preliminary results to publish without Alex. Maybe some PostDocs also fake results or struggle and run to the institute leader to delay Alex own papers. Later when Alex runs out of time they just finish what he has in the pipline. Or maybe, the supervisor is a micro manager and his students have to follow his projects even if they know it will not work out, instead to do something useful.
I think, there is sometimes really the possibility that someone runs out of ideas which can be followed in some institutes.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_8: I had various ideas for my PhD which I was sharing around, including with people who could make use of them.
One day, one of my fellow PhD students came to me mentioning that he read about neural networks (a very, very niche and theoretical area at that time) and that, maybe, this could be an idea I could think about.
I ended up with a PhD 70% around the use of neural networks, as an innovative way to approach some problems. I would not have done it if people around were not aware of my thoughts and did not come back with some feedback (for which I profusely thanked her in my thesis, she was I think right after my advisor and before the girlfriend, friends, parents and dog)
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a rising senior studying Psychology, and will be applying to PhD and Master's programs in the Fall. I have already shortlisted the advisors from the schools I would like to work with and whose research I find fascinating.
Would sending them a quick email now (late May) asking whether they are taking graduate students and expressing an interest in being a part of their lab in 2019 be too early? Should I wait until the term starts in September/October to reach out to them?<issue_comment>username_1: Assuming you’re talking about the US, the summer would be a good time to start contacting faculty about your interest, although the exact amount of funding and the availability of open positions more than a year ahead of time is murky at best. So you’re not likely to get a commitment at this time, but you will make yourself known to the research group, which could be of benefit in getting an admissions offer.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: In my experience, it's never too early to at least make yourself known to potential supervisors (or even potential research collaborators). Bear in mind, though, that different supervisors approach contact from potential students quite differently. For example, some are responsive, others won't respond until they have more information about whether taking students will be feasible, and some actively choose not to respond to potential students so as to ensure all applicants have a fair go.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 0
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2018/05/24
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<issue_start>username_0: I study in the USA.
Can a professor ask me to waive my right to privacy so he can talk to my doctor about my medical condition? He says he needs that in order to allow me to take a make-up midterm for an exam that I missed, even though a medical note certifying my illness is provided.
Also, the doctor that gave the note is usually a nurse practitioner (NP), but he instead wants a note from a doctor of medicine (MD).<issue_comment>username_1: That sounds like a big no to me, but that comes from Germany with very strict rules on privacy. Your medical condition is your thing, and yours alone. If you have a document that certifies your illnesss, that should be enough.
Check your university policies, what you need to provide in case off illness HAS to be written down somewhere. If it states there that a written thing is enough, it is enough. Point your professor to that document, if that does not help talk to faculty cousellors. They should be able to help you.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: As with any privacy matter, the one ultimately making a decision is **you**.
A professor is allowed to ask for you to waive your rights to privacy so your medical discussion can be discussed with the doctor, but you have the choice to agree or say no.
So, a professor can most definitely ask if it would ease communication with the doctor and evaluation of a re-take exam. Nothing wrong with that request and the comments I've read so far on this question are a little on the strong side. No need to jump on the professor's case just for asking.
Where the line is drawn here is if your refusal to waive your right to privacy has a direct impact on your exam or result from it. In *that* case, taking this to HR or the uni board would be a good thing, because that would not be proper.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I am not sure if it is relevant to your situation since you haven't mentioned a country (I am in the UK), however I have personally been asked a similar thing when the professor wanted to check that the medical note provided was indeed from my doctor and relevant to the allowances being made for me.
The privacy I was giving up by letting him talk about my condition was not for them to fully discuss the details of my illness, but instead to merely check that the note was real, that my illness did indeed prevent me from being able to take an exam. This was standard uni procedure, so should be documented for you to check if its something similar.
If you have data protection laws similar to the UK in your country then the doctor cannot even confirm that you exist to a 3rd party until you give them permission to discuss with that specific 3rd party, and if that is the case then it is perfectly reasonable for the university to request you give the doctors office permission to disclose that you are a patient, and that the letter is genuine.
Equally it is perfectly acceptable for you to only give the doctor's permission to give that specific information (and withhold any additional information) as it is your data, and they would be bound by the permissions you give them.
On the other hand if the university are asking for complete access that is a no go, but I think if you communicate more with the lecturer about what they actually want, it won't be as bad as giving them full access and details.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: It is highly unethical for the professor to make this request. The professor is asking for the student to waive their right to medical privacy and in exchange all the professor will do is their job.
The professor has the right to contact the student's NP to confirm the information on the note and discuss whether student had a bona fide reason to miss the midterm. (I have done this.) However the nature of that reason is none of their business.
Whether and NP is good enough or an MD is required should be set out in the university's policies. If the university doesn't have a policy, then the department may. If the department doesn't, the policy should be on the information provided by the instructor. If there is no policy, then an NP should be as good as an MD, since making this sort of assessment is within the normal scope of practice for NPs (in most jurisdictions).
That said, the best advice for the student is to find out what their university's policies are on medical notes.
(I'm working in Canada. This would be the situation in Canada and I expect also in the U.S. and Europe. Other places could have other norms.)
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: At my university (a well-off private university in the USA), there is an Office of Disability Services who, in situations like this, acts as the middle-man between doctors and professors to determine test accommodations. You fill out an accommodation application, your doctor fills out a form that this office supplies, you submit both to the office, then they meet with you and determine reasonable accommodation. The professor is then informed by this office what the accommodations are and is required to abide by them.
I bring this up so that you can check whether your university has a similar office or service. It's good in that the revelation of private medical information is contained only to a single office specifically designed to handle such information appropriately, and professors and other university members need not know the information, just the required accommodations.
If your university does not have such a service, then I don't know what to do, but I'd imagine (as others have pointed out) that there must exists some policy of what is an appropriate level of proof of necessity of medical accommodation, and if what your professor is asking exceeds that, then point them to the policy.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: The answer will greatly depends on your region.
Some things to consider would be to **look at your local laws** and your **University's guidelines**, too.
A note from and MD rather than an NP may be a valid request depending on your University's guidelines. Many universities require a note specifically from an MD for such occasions.
As for his asking to talk to your doctor, it would be useful to know what he is trying to achieve that a note couldn't do. Ask him why exactly he needs to speak to your doctor.
If he doubts that you have/had an illness then it should be completely unnecessary to ask for more than a note from an MD. If that's all he wants to do and doesn't back down after getting a note, look at your local laws and University's guidelines and contact HR if he oversteps any of those.
But you didn't mention what your illness was, perhaps he may not be doubting that you have the illness but rather wants to assess whether or not it was a good reason to defer an exam. If his questions are about the illness in general and why it would be a valid reason to miss an exam, **suggest consulting any doctor about it.**
Lastly, and perhaps the least popular suggestion, ask yourself exactly what you'll lose by letting your professor know about your illness. Perhaps the easiest solution, albeit least favorable, is to just let him speak to your doctor about it. His demands may be out of line, but if you were honest about your illness there's no *real harm* to you for allowing him to speak to your doctor about it.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_7: As someone who has both been an undergraduate student and, oddly, served as Instructor of Record for a college-level undergraduate course, in the US:
* it is completely reasonable for him to ask you for a doctor's note, and it is not too unreasonable to stipulate that the note come from a professional physician (MD, DO, DDS, etc.) and/or bear the letterhead of the clinic, etc. Use your judgement.
* By [HIPAA](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals/guidance-materials-for-consumers/index.html), your healthcare provider can't discuss anything about your treatment with others without your consent (barring a few exceptional cases). By FERPA, your professor can't discuss anything related to your education with others without your consent. So, neither of them can contact each other about you without your consent; a conversation between them would be even more off limits.
* Give him a note signed by a MD and w/ the clinic's letterhead. This should be authoritative enough for every reasonable person. If he insists, say NO immediately.
* Again, if he insists, he is treating you unfairly. Escalate the issue immediately. Especially, contact the following people, as you see fit:
1. the department chair;
2. your academic advisor (if this position exists at your school);
3. your advising dean (if this office exists at your school);
4. the Dean of Student Affairs (or equivalent), and/or his associates;
5. your school's associate dean for undergraduate education, and, if the situation gets really bad, your school's dean.
I would not contact HR, though, as it is not their issue. This is an academic/instructional issue involving the mistreatment of a student by an instructor.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: Since this sounds like a disability, talk to your college/university's disability office. Get an accommodation letter that allows you to make up classes and exams. In every college I have attended, this letter is sufficient for establishing that you have a disability and the professor would be violating university policies if he were to require more information on the medical condition.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_9: One thing the professor can do, without violating medical privacy laws, is to simply contact the medical practice to ask if they can speak to Doctor Such-And-Such (in other words, verify that the doctor is, actually, doctor), and then to ask Doctor Such-And-Such to verify that he/she was indeed the author of the note. After all, the doctor sent the note. So you could say to the doctor "While I do not wish you to talk to my doctor about my medical condition, feel free to talk to my doctor to verify that the note is valid".
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: You ask about what's *allowed*, which may not be the same as what's *right* or *ethical*. In the absence of some course and/or university policy (and/or state law) stating otherwise, the decision of whether or not to allow a student to retake a missed exam is entirely at the professor's discretion.
As a first step, you should check to see whether any such policy exists at your school or for your course. If one does, then you're in luck. Refer your professor to it. If they still don't come around, involve an advisor, department head, or similar third-party to resolve the duspute.
If there is no such policy, you'll need to shift your perspective a bit.
The default scenario at this point is that you've failed the midterm. That's the outcome you have if the professor simply sits there and does nothing.
So while it's true that the professor cannot legally require or otherwise compel you to waive doctor-patient confidentiality, it may also be true (barring any university policies in your favor) that you cannot require or compel the professor to let you retake the midterm. They can deny your request for any reason, or for none at all.
You've got a stalemate; the professor is almost certainly allowed to *ask* you to waive doctor-patient confidentiality, and you're certainly allowed to refuse. In which case the stalemate continues, and you're stuck with the default outcome of a failed midterm.
In essence, nobody is requiring anything. You missed an exam, and you want to be allowed to retake it. You may have a completely valid and reasonable excuse for missing the exam, but in the absence of any policy to the contrary whether or not you get to an exam is at the professor's sole discretion. *You're asking the professor for a favor, and they're asking one back*.
None of which means that the professor has been reasonable or fair or ethical if they've not accepted a genuine medical excuse at face value, or that the incident couldn't have negative repercussions for the professor if the details get out, or that you wouldn't find support if you took the matter higher up in the university food-chain.
But your question is about what the professor can do. And they *can* ask you to let them speak to your doctor, yes. They can't force you to, but they *can* sit on their hands and do nothing if you refuse. They *shouldn't* do that sort of thing, but without a university policy stating otherwise they almost certainly can.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: When looking at adverts for postdoc positions, I often see examples from the US that say something like "the position is for one year, with the possibility of extension for another 1-2 years".
Literally, and contractually, the meaning of this is obvious, but I am interested in guidance as to whether it consistently means anything *in practice*.
For example, I can imagine that it could mean "I only have funding for one year, and I'm hoping the successful applicant will find themselves funding to stay longer". But I can equally imagine that it is "I have funding for three years of a postdoc, but I want to see if I like them before committing".
Is there a "usual" subtext? Or is it not possible to read anything into this?
When considering an intercontinental relocation, it would be helpful to have some idea of how likely the longer duration is!
It's in a scientific field, in case that's relevant.<issue_comment>username_1: I'd probably read it this way:
>
> I have funding for one year for sure, and hopefully for additional years, but it might depend on the success of future grant proposals, so I can't make any promises. But assuming that my funding is successful, and the postdoc is continuing to do a good job, I'd be happy to keep them for 2-3 years.
>
>
>
In some cases, postdocs might be funded by "hard money" coming from within the university; this is common in math, and such positions often have names like "Famous Person Assistant Professor". In this case, funding can be assumed to continue (barring a financial catastrophe for the university) and it means more like "2-3 years assuming you do a good job".
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: In my experience in the U.S., postdocs are *exclusively for limited contracts*, usually 1 year. Any departure from that or a longer initial period would be unusual, and would likely occur only in cases where the postdoc is bringing their own funding.
Therefore, you can't take much out of this information: in fact, the more meaningful part is probably "with the possibility of extension for another 1-2 years" - this indicates that if things go well for both you and the lab, there is a possibility of extension. However, it says nothing about whether the funding for those subsequent years is secure or not secure.
The alternative would be for a position to explicitly say that it is limited to 1 year with no extension.
I think @NateEldredge's answer is a suitable reading, but I disagree that the wording implies that funding is currently only secure for 1 year. It's simply that post doc positions are only offered for 1 year at a time.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I personally feel that one-year contracts are terrible both for postdocs and for the PI. Both have to invest a lot of time and effort in getting the project started: relocation, learning the rules of the new lab and where the coffee machine is, getting up to speed with the subject and methodology. Yet, the duration of one-year contract is not sufficient to get a published paper by the end of it, so no-one has an evidence to demonstrate success to support their next grant / job application.
Unfortunately, with the decline of research funding and increased competitiveness of academia, one-year contracts become a norm; even less-than-a-year contracts are not unusual, allowing universities to charge the same overheads but save the costs of annual leave. So, I would read the statement about an extension as:
>
> I know one-year contracts are terrible; I wish I had funds for 2-3 years; I personally would not want to be in a position when I have to apply for such short-term job. To sweeten the pill I will mention a possible extension here --- this makes my ad to look a bit better and does not cost me anything.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I have published postdoc offers with wording like that and in practice, they meant "I have the funding for more than one year and as long as you do a decent job, the contract will be extended". The reason for making the initial duration one year was just to avoid the possibility of getting stuck with a bad hire.
I wouldn't personally word the offer like that if I only had funding for one year. If you depend on getting a new grant to offer more years, then in my view that would be a new contract, not an extension.
I suppose this can vary a lot per country, university or even individual PI making the offer, though. So my advice would be to just ask. I got asked about this issue by several candidates and at least in my view it's a perfectly normal question to ask.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Many Computer Science conferences offer a rebuttal phase, and it often does not require the authors to upload an updated version. Instead, the authors clarify things and many also make promises. What are reviewers supposed to do with these promises? Should the reviewer trust it or ignore it? The promises may not be fulfilled at all eventually.<issue_comment>username_1: I'd probably read it this way:
>
> I have funding for one year for sure, and hopefully for additional years, but it might depend on the success of future grant proposals, so I can't make any promises. But assuming that my funding is successful, and the postdoc is continuing to do a good job, I'd be happy to keep them for 2-3 years.
>
>
>
In some cases, postdocs might be funded by "hard money" coming from within the university; this is common in math, and such positions often have names like "Famous Person Assistant Professor". In this case, funding can be assumed to continue (barring a financial catastrophe for the university) and it means more like "2-3 years assuming you do a good job".
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: In my experience in the U.S., postdocs are *exclusively for limited contracts*, usually 1 year. Any departure from that or a longer initial period would be unusual, and would likely occur only in cases where the postdoc is bringing their own funding.
Therefore, you can't take much out of this information: in fact, the more meaningful part is probably "with the possibility of extension for another 1-2 years" - this indicates that if things go well for both you and the lab, there is a possibility of extension. However, it says nothing about whether the funding for those subsequent years is secure or not secure.
The alternative would be for a position to explicitly say that it is limited to 1 year with no extension.
I think @NateEldredge's answer is a suitable reading, but I disagree that the wording implies that funding is currently only secure for 1 year. It's simply that post doc positions are only offered for 1 year at a time.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I personally feel that one-year contracts are terrible both for postdocs and for the PI. Both have to invest a lot of time and effort in getting the project started: relocation, learning the rules of the new lab and where the coffee machine is, getting up to speed with the subject and methodology. Yet, the duration of one-year contract is not sufficient to get a published paper by the end of it, so no-one has an evidence to demonstrate success to support their next grant / job application.
Unfortunately, with the decline of research funding and increased competitiveness of academia, one-year contracts become a norm; even less-than-a-year contracts are not unusual, allowing universities to charge the same overheads but save the costs of annual leave. So, I would read the statement about an extension as:
>
> I know one-year contracts are terrible; I wish I had funds for 2-3 years; I personally would not want to be in a position when I have to apply for such short-term job. To sweeten the pill I will mention a possible extension here --- this makes my ad to look a bit better and does not cost me anything.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I have published postdoc offers with wording like that and in practice, they meant "I have the funding for more than one year and as long as you do a decent job, the contract will be extended". The reason for making the initial duration one year was just to avoid the possibility of getting stuck with a bad hire.
I wouldn't personally word the offer like that if I only had funding for one year. If you depend on getting a new grant to offer more years, then in my view that would be a new contract, not an extension.
I suppose this can vary a lot per country, university or even individual PI making the offer, though. So my advice would be to just ask. I got asked about this issue by several candidates and at least in my view it's a perfectly normal question to ask.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/05/24
| 493
| 2,102
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<issue_start>username_0: How many days does it normally take to receive an admission letter after applying to a university in China?
I am a student from Bangladesh.<issue_comment>username_1: It depends on the programme of studies, the director that will see your application, plus whether there are additional requirements for your discipline, for example a portfolio. You might get lucky if you can email admissions again to ask which state your application is in, and how many stages you have before they conclude the process. Normally in a Chinese uni though they will ignore you until it is time to inform you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: At Nankai, international students apply for a PhD or Master's program through the [International Student Service System](https://nankai.17gz.org/). Applications are due around March, and the student starts in September (if accepted), so the answer to the question...
>
> How many days does it normally take to receive an admission letter after applying to a university in China?
>
>
>
...is "it depends on what time of the year you apply". There's also three possible sub-questions:
* *How long does it take to get a letter of acceptance from your supervisor?* As long as it takes them to decide they want that student, and for them to actually write it.
* *How long does it take for the university to accept/reject the student after they officially apply?* Maybe a few months (assuming all the documents are in order). Admin needs to decide who to recommend for government scholarships.
* *How long does it take the government (and hence the university) to respond to a student's scholarship application?* Maybe 4 or 5 months. It's a fairly long process.
The last two items don't apply (to the same extent) if the student is self funded. I'm not sure about the circumstances for undergraduate applications, but I expect self-funded students are likely to be quickly accepted, and for those applications seeking scholarships to take months.
I'm not sure how typical this process is in China, but I guess it's standard practice.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/05/24
| 974
| 4,299
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<issue_start>username_0: the question title above is deliberately provocative.
I am in the UK. A few days ago I have explained my situation - many problems with a Department that was not able to support me adequately.
Generally, both my supervisor, co-supervisor (the co-supervisor has just become a lecturer, so he is probably just inexperienced) and head of department (who was the arbitrator during my viva, after I raised all my problems) have constantly avoided to discuss with me the reports from my examiners, just recommending (almost demanding) that I do follow those. They have constantly denied that I can appeal to a "revise and resubmit". However I have recently contacted the student service of the University, and there I was told that not only I can appeal for further opportunity to submit, but that I can also submit a complaint to dispute tuition fees liability.
Now, I can understand the latter option was avoided - nobody is happy with money, but why was the former option (appeal) completely denied rather than discussed? Do academics get some reputation issues if students submit an appeal against a "revise and resubmit"?<issue_comment>username_1: I don't know your institution, but it's fairly likely that the right of appeal is limited to a subset of things like:
* administrative irregularities and errors (e.g. you should have passed, but the examiners ticked the wrong box).
* Immediate mitigating circumstances (e.g. your parent died the night before so you couldn't present a coherent defence of your thesis)
* Inherent bias (e.g. you turned up in your favourite Everton shirt and know the the examiner failed you because he's a Liverpool fan)
The precise topics should be documented (properly, on paper) in regulations available from your registry (or however your individual institution labels that service).
In particular, it almost never covers academic decisions, or problems arising from previous poor supervision advice, which is typically meant to be dealt with far earlier in the process when it first arose.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I have read both of your questions. I will give a more general answer to both because I think your questions do not deserve an direct answer. What brothers me is how you interpret your problems with your supervisors as unwillingness and selfishness on their side and yet you are not able or willing to reinterpret what your thesis may contain in a constructive way - but rather in a pure sense of "removing what is right" way from your thesis. You define your relationship to your supervisor in terms of a complaint about communication and interpret not knowing as "hiding". You interpret somebody probably just trying to get a permanent job as "career focused".
If I may recommend you something: before making any decisions on how to proceed with the thesis, take another semester. Try to discuss your work with other scholars, potentially in other fields, but most importantly your own. Take in their feedback and look what you can improve in the thesis. Try to also reflect on your own behavior, potentially try coaching. And btw: inter-disciplinarity doesn't prevent to summarize in one sentence.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: In addition to other great answers, a couple of notes:
1. Academics are hired to support your learning. They have knowledge about the subject. Managers, secretaries and support staff are here to make sure rules are followed, paperwork is processed and students are supported in administrative matters. Academics do not necessarily know each and every aspect of the rules and they are not there to support your administrative relations with the University. In my University, academic staff involved in marking the viva should submit a written report and is explicitly forbidden to provide feedback or discuss the outcome with candidate directly.
2. Academics follow the rules set for them by the University. They are hired by the University and they have the responsibilities to follow the rules set for them. If the University discourages them to discuss administrative matters with students (because it's not their role), they would not do it. Instead, they will refer a student to the proper process supported by other staff memebers.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/05/24
| 714
| 2,995
|
<issue_start>username_0: I just got the grade for a problem sheet that we had to hand in. The grading of the TA seems really ... odd, to put it nicely (for example, 1 exercise consisted of 3 basic computations - I got the correct values on 2 of them, but on the third even though I plugged the good numbers in I just typed a wrong number for the final result for some reason and this "mistake" got me only half the marks for that entire exercise).
However, the following thing really baffled me, I have never encountered anything like this in my education so far: one of the problems had a maximum grade of 0 points (which I got). Furthermore, for making a mistake you would have ended up with negative marks. To me, this seems very unfair (basically taking points away from other questions which were solved correctly) and highly not pedagogical as I don't believe that students should be punished for making mistakes.
I was planning on bringing this up to the professor tomorrow, but I thought it would be good to get some opinions on this matter. Is this kind of behavior common? The field is Astronomy/Physics and the country is Netherlands.<issue_comment>username_1: I've seen such grading used for true-false and multiple-choice questions in an exam, where a right answer gained you points and a wrong answer cost you points, but I've never heard of a problem worth "nothing" that cost you points if you got it wrong.
Personally, I dislike such systems—I'd rather give credit than subtract for mistakes—but instructors often have broad latitude in the design and scoring of exams. Some schools do have rules with regards to specific situations (if I remember, there were some weird regulations regarding all multiple-choice exams at my old institution), but in the absence of those, professors are free to set grading criteria as they choose, so long as they are applied consistently.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Having done a bachelor, master and PhD in the Netherlands, I have never come across a scoring tactic like this. It is definitely odd and I understand your annoyance.
However, as one of the comments correctly points out, the negative points are mathematically equivalent to only giving credit as of a certain amount correct (which I have seen more often, and done myself in the past).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RJh3T.jpg)
So although that is arguably a harsh way of grading (depending very much on how "basic" the knowledge is that does not count towards a score yet), what seems to get to you is mainly the negative point value. That is a matter of reference point (see [Prospect Theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_theory "Prospect Theory"), especially on loss aversion) and thus very subjective.
That said, your TA's scoring does sound a bit harsh. If you genuinely feel unjustly treated I would certainly advise you to discuss it with the professor as you plan.
Upvotes: 1
|
2018/05/24
| 682
| 2,420
|
<issue_start>username_0: I had obtained my bachelor degree with first class of honor then I pursued my master studies in France. During the first year of my master (M1), I had pretty bad performance. I failed a course but I passed the semester since my average grade is higher than 10/20. Also, there was a project which I barely passed. I applied to another school for M2, I passed it with good grades (in french standards).
***If I apply for a PhD, is deliberately hiding my M1 grades a violation?*** Given that M2 GPA is independent of M1, I could've been admitted directly into M2, and M2 courses are more geared towards research topics while M1 consists, mostly, of general courses.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, 'hiding' any grades you are asked to supply to support an application is an ethical violation.
It seems like missing M1 grades are going to be a pretty obvious omission, and their dubious absence is likely to hurt you much more than their unappealing presence.
---
There are several existing answers here covering how to deal with and explain sub-par grades, or whether anything needs to be done at all.
[How does the admissions process work for Ph.D. programs in the US, particularly for weak or borderline students?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38237/how-does-the-admissions-process-work-for-ph-d-programs-in-the-us-particularly)
[How do I make a bad semester not look bad during my scholarship application?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18590/how-do-i-make-a-bad-semester-not-look-bad-during-my-scholarship-application)
[How much will a poor first semester affect my grad school chances?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/34123/how-much-will-a-poor-first-semester-affect-my-grad-school-chances)
[Should I explain a single bad grade in my personal statement?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/96264/should-i-explain-a-single-bad-grade-in-my-personal-statement)
[Thoughts on Student with Bad Grades in Easy Courses and Better Grades in hard courses](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/34396/thoughts-on-student-with-bad-grades-in-easy-courses-and-better-grades-in-hard-co)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Use your personal statement to demonstrate that you have changed and developed, and are substantially distinct from the person who got those grades, and that there will be no repeat of that experience.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/05/24
| 535
| 2,279
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<issue_start>username_0: I define top university as Harvard, Berkeley, MIT, Stanford, Oxford, Caltech, Yale and similar.
If relevant, I am talking about computer science field.
I am interested in all levels - bachelor, master, phd, post-doc.
Should anything beside: GPA, published papers, supervisor, commercial experience, teaching experience or alma mater ranking be relevant?
How does average profile of person that got accepted into top university look like? What does one need to have to feel reasonably secure about being accepted into top universities?<issue_comment>username_1: You need recommendations that imply that you are the smartest person the recommender has ever known and sufficient outside evidence to make the recommenders' statements credible. Generally speaking, unless your recommenders are in positions where they see lots of very smart people, this means you actually have to be very clearly the smartest person your recommenders have ever known.
(This answer isn't true for undergraduate admissions at Berkeley, because it admits so many undergraduates that it cannot actually read individual recommendations carefully.)
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> How does average profile of person that got accepted into top university look like?
>
>
>
For reasons mentioned in the comments, I will just briefly address grad school: It's typical to have taken a number of advanced classes (possibly including graduate classes) in your discipline from a good school, and to have done well in them. You should have strong letters of recommendation. In some fields (not in math, and I don't think in CS) it's typical to have done some research. It's pretty common to be international, and straight out of another (bachelors or master's) program. But I don't know that an "average profile" is the right thing to look at.
>
> What does one need to have to feel reasonably secure about being accepted into top universities?
>
>
>
You're not in a good position to judge yourself, so talk to your professors. What kind of schools do they think you should apply to? What kinds of schools do they think you can get into? After all, they'll be writing letters for you, which are one of the primary factors in deciding your admissions.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/05/25
| 1,255
| 5,277
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<issue_start>username_0: This question involves only wary use of ≤ 3 readable colours (e.g. an author used 3 colours: black for text, green for quotations, and blue for headings). One benefit is immediate distinction of an author's, from others', writing.
### Drawbacks
The use of multiple colours by many textbooks substantiates both drawbacks as conquerable.
1. Colour printing costs feel paltry and immaterial, as readability ought be prioritized. A reader of a PDF can always choose to print in black and white.
2. [The visually impaired who are harmed by colour](https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/q/4195/53259), can again print in or convert to BW.<issue_comment>username_1: People who are good at doing research aren't necessarily the best graphic designers. In fact most are pretty awful graphic designers. For good reason: learning to be a good graphic designer takes a lot of time and practice. So most good researchers do not have time to also become a good designers.
So if I see a researcher trying to be fancy in his design (e.g. use colors) I will automatically assume the design is going to be awful and most of the time that assumption will be correct. So I don't have a aversion to colors in academic writing *per se*, but it is an extremely reliable warning sign for me that some bad design is coming.
So my general advise to students is to focus on the content and keep the design as minimal as possible.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: From the design aspect an academic paper holds intense information and the reader will spend considerable time reading it. You do not want to have too many colors on anything that the user will spend long hours interacting with it. It is tiresome for the user(reader in this case).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Most journals and book publishers follow a consistent house style, which authors have to implement. This leaves authors very little discretion over design choices (probably for the better).
When it comes to colored figures, which are usually allowed, each additional color costs money. With xerox printing, this is now less than ten years ago, when for each primary color, the page had to run through an additional stage of the offset printer, but it still adds considerable costs. Of course, this only applies if the text is printed at all.
Some textbooks use colors and other graphic design elements. If well done, this can help to convey information rather than distract from it. But in order for it to be well done, it needs to be taken care of by a professional designer.
With respect to individual manuscripts, you can of course do whatever you want. But unless you have a talent for design, it's easier and more efficient to use a standard template and to follow "[less is more](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weniger_ist_mehr)" as a rule of thumb. It is also safer, because aesthetic judgement is quite subjective, and because more [people overestimate their design talent](http://justcreative.com/2007/12/06/bad-graphic-design/) than underestimate it.
Moreover, academics are a conservative bunch when it comes to scientific conventions; and they tend to suspect that "eccentric" form only serves to cover up weak substance.
Finally, one remark about color blindness. Colorblind people can see colored objects quite well, they just can't tell the difference between certain colors (mostly red vs green). Therefore, colored text doesn't hurt them (unless you use red type against green background), nor does it help them to print a colored document in black and white.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: * A researcher SELDOM has time for proper graphic design. The one who tried to do this in my environment ran out of time during his PhD.
* Certain publication venues ask that publications remain intelligible when printed in black-and-white.
* Certain publishers charge (or charge more) for every colored page. The employers (universities, research institutions) might not wish to support this in addition. At home, a researcher doesn't necessarily get support for such a kind of spending.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: The real question is rather: do you have actually any real evidence that your use of color improves readability in any way? It seems to be your main argument, but I don't believe it holds any water.
How does writing quotes in green improve readability? I don't see how. Quotes do not need to stand out from the text, otherwise we would already write them in italics, for example. Similarly, headings already stand out from the text: they are usually in a bigger font, in bold, and/or separated from the rest of the text by white space. Does writing them in blue achieve anything at all?
You also say that your goal is to stand out from other authors. You say this as if it were a good thing. My gut feeling is that most people will rather think: "Why does this author want to stand out by coloring their paper like a children's book? Is their research so weak that they need to stand out in another way?"
It is also rather inconsiderate to say "color blind people can just print the paper in black and white". You are requiring extra effort from people who already face some struggle in their daily life, for barely any reason.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/05/25
| 549
| 2,226
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a TT offer which includes removing 2.5 years from my tenure clock, the amount of time I have spent in my first postdoc. The papers and grants from the postdoc would be considered by my tenure committee at the new institution.
My teaching and service commitments will go up after tenure, and I have observed and read here about why faculty often are unhappy after gaining tenure.
So , is this really a benefit?<issue_comment>username_1: Getting tenure is (technically and in actuality) a promotion and comes with at least one benefit (not easily getting fired) and usually there is a (modest) pay jump. Whether you consider these benefits against the additional responsibilities that tenured faculty have (especially in terms of administrative/service work) is up to you.
A shortened tenure clock *could* be a good thing as it gets you that promotion sooner. It could also be stressful if you're at a place where the tenure hurdle is clear and you don't think you'll make it (e.g. 7 peer reviewed articles when you have only 2 in the bag and will only get 3 more done by tenure-time)
The best would be to have the *option* of coming up early -- but also the ability to delay your tenure bid and return to normative time -- but also retaining the ability to count all of your materials from your postdoc period in your tenure bid. There may be resistance to this, though, as it might be seen as having your cake and eating it too.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: What field/country are you in? If you're in an area where early-career grants are important, a shorter tenure-clock can limit your access to those.
For the US:
The NSF CAREER grants, have a restriction that you can't submit to the annual summer call if you are due to be tenured before the following October.
Department of Defense Young Investigator grants are a mixed bag, but with less emphasis on tenure status: DARPA allows fall applications into the third year of tenure, Army and Air Force allow applications up to 5 years after PhD (counting post-doc time), and Navy allows applications up to 5 years into your position (with no consideration of where you are in the tenure process).
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/05/25
| 657
| 2,832
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am about to defend my PhD thesis in computer science and so far I have being asked to subreview 5 or 6 papers of different conferences.
At the beginning, it was exiting because it was a new experience in my career. However, at this moment I am a little bit snowed under work and I have being assigned with 2 subreviews from the same conference.
I do not want to turn down the opportunity of expanding my knowledge and experience, nevertheless, this situation has brought to me serious doubts about the usefulness of subreviewing.
Apart from the acquisition of knowledge and experience,
* Which are (or could be in a future) the benefits of subreviewing?
* Is there a moment in your career that it is not worth it anymore?
Thank you.<issue_comment>username_1: (a) Benefits: You mentioned the biggest one, i.e. knowledge, exposure and an updated idea of trends in the field. Besides this, the major factor is generating/maintaining goodwill with the person who sent it to you for subreview. This is an intangible benefit which could multiply in ways that are hard to predict.
(b) When is it not worth it: Probably once you have defended your PhD. You may prefer to review directly. Definitely once you're in a faculty position, unless you do it as a favour to someone.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: My answers to each of your questions:
* **"Which are (or could be in a future) the benefits of subreviewing?"**: I see at least two main benefits:
1. Exposing yourself to the main reviewers and conference chairs. By visibly doing high-quality work for them, you establish positive reputation as you build your professional network.
2. I believe that all active researchers have a moral responsibility to actively peer-review the work of other researchers. A rule of thumb is that for every article we submit for peer-review, we should peer-review at least two articles when requested. (Of course, we can choose which two articles we want based on our quality level and interest, but we should make time to fulfill this professional responsibility.) It's a simple matter of treating people the way we would like them to treat us: if we want our articles to be peer-reviewed, we should peer-review others' articles.
* **"Is there a moment in your career that it is not worth it anymore?"**: Although you said, "Apart from the acquisition of knowledge and experience,"this is a huge point and actually answers this point: insomuch as you would always want to keep on gaining knowledge and experience throughout your career, you certainly always should continue subreviewing articles, as long as you remain an active, learning researcher. Moreover, concerning the first question, as long as you are an active researcher, you would still have an obligation to peer-review for others.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/05/25
| 770
| 3,231
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<issue_start>username_0: I studied three years as a History major, and I received many bad grades. So I transferred out to a different school in its computer science program.
I have completed up to third year (and a little bit more) of my CS degree in the last two years. I recently looked up the available course listing from my previous school and, once again, they are not offering the course that I received an F in.
It is a third year elective course in philosophy and they haven't offered it in the last two years. The school does not offer any course that is similar, and no one (including many advisers I spoke to at both schools) can really say that there is an alternative course that is equivalent to that course.
Basically, I can't fix it. I've retaken some courses that I did poorly in from my previous school, and gotten back positive results. My current GPA (exclusively from my current school) is close to 3.9.
But that F is really freaking me out. I'm not even hopeful that I can get into a top graduate school, but I would at least like to get into a decent one.
What can I do about this?<issue_comment>username_1: Quit worrying about your GPA and pay attention to the GRE. That's what matters for graduate school. Why would the admissions committee care about a course you took 5 years ago in a different major?
If you are deeply concerned (and you seem to be), trying seeing if the department/professor will arrange a way in which you can re-take the class as a independent study/special seminar. It's unlikely, but possible. Changing the actual grade is very unlikley unless you experienced a personal tragedy such as the loss of a family member, or a major injury or chronic illness.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: **Computer science professors don't care what grades you got in philosophy.** Even more so because this was an advanced philosophy class, not an entry-level course. And even more so because this was 3+ years ago before you started computer science, so it doesn't show an inability to reason or communicate or manage your time.
**Better yet, you have a very clear narrative.** When your application isn't perfect, it's nice to have a simple, clean, verifiable reason for the imperfection. In your case, it's very simple: you were terrible at philosophy, you're great at computer science. This is a great narrative, and the F only adds to it.
**You should focus on computer science.** Here's what's going to happen: the committee will look at your transcript and very quickly figure out that you were terrible at philosophy and good at computer science. Then they're going to want to know *how* good at computer science you are -- merely average? Or amazing? This is where your research, publications, letters of recommendation, advanced coursework, etc. comes in. Further, you should be very careful when writing your statement of purpose -- you'll need to address your previous major, but there's no need to make excuses for it, just say that it wasn't a good fit and then focus on your current work.
**Even if you could retake that class and get rid of the F, you shouldn't bother.** It just doesn't gain you anything, and there are better uses for your time.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/05/25
| 1,319
| 6,023
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently I have reviewed a project from a female proponent. Among the scientific content there was a section about the under-representation of women in a specific field - saying that, on top of all the scientific justifications for the project, it should also be approved to support women in that field.
I know that in some countries, *e.g.* Germany, gender is often considered a tiebreaker as affirmative action in order to support women in science. However, in this case there is no such policy in the call guidelines.
Is this kind of argument appropriate in a grant proposal? Should it be a criterion to be taken into consideration?<issue_comment>username_1: The answer invariably lies in the instructions the funding institution provides. If instructions have not been provided, and you don't know how to appropriately review -- as with any other review issue, contact the program officer, or whoever is managing the review process, and ask.
I haven't seen processes that use this information for general science grants, but such issues surrounding diversity efforts are often fair criteria in things like training grants (e.g., the NSF GRFP review process: <https://www.nsfgrfp.org/applicants/application_components/merit_review_criteria>), so it wouldn't surprise me if there were situations where such considerations are important.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: That may depend on the grant proposal regulations and the nature of the project.
If the project is specifically about something that needs funding to support women in the field, such a statement might be considered auxiliary to the scientific background.
If the regulations, as stated in question, do not mention anything related to gender or affirmative action, such statement should carry no weight beyond that which is already provided through the scientific background.
Professionally speaking, providing such arguments in a grant proposal can be a slippery rope. Provided that neither of the above is the case, she is basically asking you to favor her proposal based on a criterion that is not stated in the relevant procedure and that other applicants, consequently, don't have, thus treating them unfairly. Also, depending on regulations, if such a grant proposal was refused, she might be able to challenge on the grounds of sexual discrimination and if it was accepted, some other party might also challenge the decision on the same ground.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: This does not feel like something you as an external grant reviewer should really care about. The gender of the applicant may or may not be a tie breaker (or even a major factor) for the jury, but they will know which it is. If gender is a factor in the evaluation, they will also be acutely aware that the applicant is female, because either the system or an administrative person will have flagged the application as coming from a female applicant. No need to tell the jury that this is indeed a female applicant.
In consequence, I think you should simply ignore this part of the application. Keep in mind that as a reviewer, you are not deciding on the application - you are merely laying down the facts (e.g., related to the scientific quality of the proposal and applicant) so that the jury can decide based on their own strategy, criteria and availability of funding.
*Side remark:* note that even should you disagree with the notion that the gender of the applicant should play a role, you should resist "mentally subtracting some points" because the applicant even brought it up. It's not your place to decide if gender should or should not be part of the evaluation. If you would decide to judge the proposal more harshly to counteract a perceived undue advantage, you yourself quickly become part of the problem. Nothing good can come out of that.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: I think there are situations where this information is relevant.
First, as you stated, there could be explicit notes in the call which signal that one of the goals of the funding is to increase the diversity of the field.
Second, you might be asked to evaluate the "promise" of the applicant, or the potential of the applicant to significantly impact the field. This might be common in a "young investigator" program. In this case, I think information about an applicant's individual characteristics and their ability to impact the field as a member of a diverse group might be relevant (in addition to the project's impact on the field of course).
Third, the evaluation guidelines might include some criteria looking for the impact of the proposal on a broader set of institutional goals. For instance, we have a faculty research fund at my school, and one of the criteria is "impact of the project on the university." In this case, if one of the university goals is better representation, then funding this project would advance that. I basically think of this as a PR criteria.
In other situations, where you are only asked to evaluate the intellectual merits of the project itself, this information would not be relevant.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: (Thanks for the clarification.)
It is entirely inappropriate for a candidate to try to use their gender this way in their formal application. If she happens to be the best candidate, she has created a context where she can be seen by others as only having been selected for her gender. And if she isn't selected, she's created a context where she can claim sexual discrimination. This is completely unprofessional.
As experts in the field, selecting who goes forward, *you* can choose to bias your decisions in favour of women or other under-represented groups. This could be formally stated, or it could be by informal agreement amongst yourselves. The candidate could even mention this jokingly during an interview.
Putting this in their application though - just no. You don't put the people assessing you in that position.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/05/26
| 1,003
| 4,278
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm an undergraduate student studying psychology using English language in a non-English speaking country. I'm graduating soon, and I'm applying for master programs. We mostly use McGraw Hill publications for our undergraduate curriculum.
My concern is this: Our instructors teach us through slides, and books are secondary learning sources—that is if they are used at all. These abbreviated slides use the same chapters of the book, yet not all chapters are covered, in fact some courses cover as little as half of the relevant book's chapters.
Is this normal across the world?
A friend of mine told me that academic books are made to accompany both bachelor-level topics, and master-level topics, and this is why some parts were excluded for undergraduate programs. Is this correct?
I'm asking this because I don't want to get shocked when doing my masters and discover that I'm under-prepared or under-trained.<issue_comment>username_1: Not covering the entirety of a textbook is true in absolutely ever course I've ever taken, and is true of every institution I'm familiar with. However, I would not say that it is true that any given subset of sections of any given book are the ones that every professor covers; in fact, at least in the US, each professor has a wide latitude in choosing what parts of the book they want to cover, and to what extent their lectures and/or tests cover the same material as the book at all. Some professors, in some classes, prefer only to cover whats more-or-less written in the book, and some intentionally lecture on topics that are not in the book and rely on reading the book to cover other topics. Some professors even have a book only as optional reading and you don't need to read any of it.
All of the above is true at the undergraduate level, and even more true - in my experience - at the graduate level, as professors deviate even further from any available textbook.
As to some books being designed for both undergraduate and graduate levels, this varies by book. Some books are almost never used at the graduate level, and some are almost never used at the undergraduate level, and some are used in both but to different extents.
But to answer your core question: yes, it is very common not to cover the whole book, and no you shouldn't worry about it. Its always good to lightly skim through the material that isn't required, so you get an idea of what you are skipping, but generally most professors make it a point to select out the material they believe is most important and relevant and skip what they don't deem necessary. Few professors ever follow the order of the book, either, and prefer to select their own ordering - and rarely do two professors agree on what that order would best be.
And don't worry - if you end up doing anything challenging, you will always feel tremendously under-prepared and under-trained, no matter how many textbooks you've read. That just comes with the territory :)
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Yes, it is common to teach a course using only parts of an associated textbook.
In particular, read the "Preface" (or "Foreword", or "To the Instructor") part of your textbook(s); it usually specifies one or more suggested course sequences, which sections are optional, which sections more strongly depend on other sections, etc.
If you're really concerned about being under-prepared, then there's nothing stopping you from just reading the other sections on your own. This itself will be a skill broadly expected in graduate school, so it's not bad to practice itself at this time.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Most textbooks simply have far too much content for a one-semester undergraduate course. So I would say, yes, this is the norm.
In some cases, instructors might cover only a rather small section of a textbook. *Introduction to Algorithms* (CLRS) and *Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools* ("Dragon book") are two good examples: while they can and are often used as undergraduate texts, the books themselves are more like handbooks and can be a valuable reference even for senior researchers. It is certainly impossible to cover much of the book in an undergraduate course in this case.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/05/26
| 1,011
| 4,198
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<issue_start>username_0: There are 3 PhD positions advertised on university's website and I am interested in two of them. University welcomes to give more than one choices for which candidate should be considered. For both positions requirements are similar. I know the names of professors who will supervise these PhDs but I am not sure if they are the only ones who will judge the applications. Moreover, it is written to upload cover letter in university's application system not to sent to Professors directly.
I am confused how should I address Cover Letter to be considered for both positions. Currently, I have the following
>
> PhD Candidate Search Committee
>
>
> {Department name}
>
>
> {University name}
>
>
> {City, Country}
>
>
> {postcode}
>
>
> Dear Members of the Search Committee,
>
>
>
Is it a good way to address in cover letter?<issue_comment>username_1: Not covering the entirety of a textbook is true in absolutely ever course I've ever taken, and is true of every institution I'm familiar with. However, I would not say that it is true that any given subset of sections of any given book are the ones that every professor covers; in fact, at least in the US, each professor has a wide latitude in choosing what parts of the book they want to cover, and to what extent their lectures and/or tests cover the same material as the book at all. Some professors, in some classes, prefer only to cover whats more-or-less written in the book, and some intentionally lecture on topics that are not in the book and rely on reading the book to cover other topics. Some professors even have a book only as optional reading and you don't need to read any of it.
All of the above is true at the undergraduate level, and even more true - in my experience - at the graduate level, as professors deviate even further from any available textbook.
As to some books being designed for both undergraduate and graduate levels, this varies by book. Some books are almost never used at the graduate level, and some are almost never used at the undergraduate level, and some are used in both but to different extents.
But to answer your core question: yes, it is very common not to cover the whole book, and no you shouldn't worry about it. Its always good to lightly skim through the material that isn't required, so you get an idea of what you are skipping, but generally most professors make it a point to select out the material they believe is most important and relevant and skip what they don't deem necessary. Few professors ever follow the order of the book, either, and prefer to select their own ordering - and rarely do two professors agree on what that order would best be.
And don't worry - if you end up doing anything challenging, you will always feel tremendously under-prepared and under-trained, no matter how many textbooks you've read. That just comes with the territory :)
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Yes, it is common to teach a course using only parts of an associated textbook.
In particular, read the "Preface" (or "Foreword", or "To the Instructor") part of your textbook(s); it usually specifies one or more suggested course sequences, which sections are optional, which sections more strongly depend on other sections, etc.
If you're really concerned about being under-prepared, then there's nothing stopping you from just reading the other sections on your own. This itself will be a skill broadly expected in graduate school, so it's not bad to practice itself at this time.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Most textbooks simply have far too much content for a one-semester undergraduate course. So I would say, yes, this is the norm.
In some cases, instructors might cover only a rather small section of a textbook. *Introduction to Algorithms* (CLRS) and *Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools* ("Dragon book") are two good examples: while they can and are often used as undergraduate texts, the books themselves are more like handbooks and can be a valuable reference even for senior researchers. It is certainly impossible to cover much of the book in an undergraduate course in this case.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/05/27
| 1,310
| 5,447
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<issue_start>username_0: We have a few questions on offering to give a talk at a university.
And the general response is that is pretty acceptable.
It is basically asking to be invited as a speaker.
**What I am wondering about is:**
I am asking to be invited to speak and to be given a working space.
**Details:**
My university has a spare office or two in every department for "visiting academics". Is this typical of universities?
I believe they are intended for professors on sabbatical. But perhaps not exclusively so, last year an engineer with a well-known company's research group invited himself to use one such space in our university.
We also have a few spare spaces in the lab, I've never seen our space used by a visiting student, but friends in other labs tell me they fairly regularly have visiting student's in their labs.
I am going to a conference about a month before my PhD thesis is due.
It is in a city where I have a few contacts.
I've heard about some of the work their groups are doing, and I'd like to be able to meet with them.
I'ld also like to have a place to sit and work on my thesis when I am not.
I thought I might talk to my contacts and see if I could arrange to be invited to give a talk about my thesis work, and also be given some space to work.
(Whether a desk in a lab, or in an office, is of little consequence.)
I thought perhaps a week before the conference would give me plenty of time to meet with people and have deep discussions etc.
Asking for an invitation is of-course a favour, but I'm not sure how big a favor I'd be asking.
* Is asking to be invited to visit a lab for a week a big favor?
* Is asking for space to work on top of that a greater favor? (or is that implied?)<issue_comment>username_1: It's unlikely that a *department* would extend such a courtesy to a visiting graduate student—normally, priority is given to faculty (or equivalent). It might be possible that the research group that would be hosting you might have a free desk in their shared lab or office space, but I would think anything more than that is potentially a "big ask," as it depends on space constraints. It doesn't hurt to ask, but I would definitely ask "Do you have a workspace for visitors?" rather than "invite yourself" to an office space.
As for the issue of a weeklong stay, it's quite unusual for a grad student to stay that long, in my experience. It does happen, but usually there's an existing collaboration or connection between the host group and the guest's group. You'd probably need a good reason to justify a stay that long otherwise that goes beyond just giving a seminar.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Unless you know someone fairly well, asking for anything other than a meeting is a big ask. While you seem to see some value is spending a week there, what’s in it for your host?
My experience is that faculty are often coy towards strangers about their current work and lab setup. Why would these people let you visit their lab? In some sense you are a competitor (since you work in a closely related topic), so why do you expect these people will show you the stuff that they are working on right now?
It seems you’re assuming people there will have time or make time for you. This is far from given. You might be given a chance to give a group seminar (or something similar) but again: why would a professor spend valuable time with you rather than with his students or with immediate collaborators?
Getting workspace comes with another obvious issue: what kind of access do you expect? Do you need/want off-hour access? Do you need a key to access the office? If not, who will let you in? Who is liable if something goes missing, or there is some accident or whatever? In other words, do you know your “host” sufficiently well so that she/he can vouch for you if something happens?
The situation of course is clear if you are invited for a week. Likely your host would see some value in your stay, and would know you or your thesis advisor sufficiently well to “trust” you with office access.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I disagree with the existing answers. I don't see this as a "big ask" at all, as long as your expectations are reasonable. You should not expect to get a nice individual office, but if I know you at all I would definitely be able to find you a space somewhere in my or my division's labs. My students have also done similar visits in the past, sometimes in labs that we did not have extensive connections to, so I guess other people also don't see this as a huge deal.
Of course you should have some idea what you and the host will get out of the visit - people may not be thrilled to host you if this is really just a cover-up for a private visit. Conversely, for a week-long visit, you should also not expect to be "entertained" for the entire week. People will not be able to cancel everything for an entire week.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: If you already know somebody (staff, not student) in that department, I think it's a perfectly reasonable question to ask. Make it clear that they are free to say "no".
Since your main objective seems to be to have somewhere to work from while you are in a different city, then another route you could explore is to ask your university library whether there is an arrangement to let you use the other university's library facilities, and work there.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/05/27
| 1,028
| 4,424
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<issue_start>username_0: Many authors, especially in manufacturing, use data from real manufacturing companies (not from a lab experiment) for their research. They are asked to report only the results from their analysis on those datasets in journal papers without publishing the underlying data due to confidentiality agreements with the companies. However, I see that the journals are increasingly asking the authors to deposit the raw data so that the research is reproducible. On the other hand, the companies are not ready to make their internal data go public but they are ok with publishing the summary statistics on the datasets. As a result, authors face difficulty in publishing their research results in journal papers.
Any strategies to handle this situation effectively and convince editors about the non-availability of the datasets to other researchers?<issue_comment>username_1: I am going to question the premise:
You ask: **Any strategies to handle this situation effectively and convince editors about the non-availability of the datasets to other researchers?**
I'm going to say: **You can't and you shouldn't**.
It isn't that the journal editors don't believe you when you say *"This data is not able to be released for other researchers."*
They don't really care why it isn't available,
but they do believe that without that data, it is not the kind of article they want to publish.
Some options which may be valid depending on circumanstances:
* Find a journal that is Ok publishing without data. (For understandable reasons these might not be as good as the more stringent ones)
* Create a new synthetic dataset, that has similar properties to your real data, and present your primary results on that. (And mention as a secondary point your results on the real data)
* Work out what it would take to make the company happy to release the data:
+ Perhaps removing identifiers (E.g. for personal identifying data k-anonymity is a common technique)
See also the related question:
[Can you publish studies based on confidential customer data that comes from private companies?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/77414/can-you-publish-studies-based-on-confidential-customer-data-that-comes-from-priv)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: @Lyndon White makes a good point about the journal reserving the right to decide what kind of articles they would like to publish. Though I'm in agreement, I would like to raise one point of caution.
Publishing is a commercial enterprise, and is driven by [economic considerations](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/80472/why-are-most-scientific-articles-locked-behind-a-paywall/80492#80492) and [profit margins](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31605/what-are-the-profit-margins-of-academic-publishers/31613#31613) more than increasing reproducibility. The fact that these aspects are actively discussed on ASE is a sign that gradually researchers are becoming aware of how skewed the market is.
In this scenario, a journal could demand data on the grounds of scientific reproducibility, and make this data available to subscribers only. This feature could increase subcriptions from rival industries as well as research labs. In effect, the journal would then be selling data from one source to another. The authors would be willing to turn a blind eye because the journal is prestigious, while the source of data (eg. industry) would grow increasingly distrustful of this journal, widening the industry-academia gap. I find it difficult to see this as a good sign.
The only solution that comes to mind is the erection of mutual non-disclosure agreements between the journal and the author, that permit the author to decide (atleast in part) who gets to see/use the data. This has its own flaws, but it could be a start.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: The recommendation I always give is to clearly state where the data was obtained from and what strategy was used to select it. If it’s data owned by a commercial partner who is not willing to allow open sharing of the data, you’re unlikely to get them to change their mind, but for the end goal of supporting the reproducibility of the research, clearly stating your sources is a good second best. That will give other researchers the opportunity to approach the company directly and sign their own NDA to get access to the data.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
|
2018/05/28
| 749
| 3,015
|
<issue_start>username_0: I took the general GRE two years ago and received V167/Q161/W5.0 or V98%/Q78%/W93%.
I am applying for PhD programs in applied mathematics this fall and plan on taking the GRE mathematics subject test.
My question is, should I focus on doing well on the subject test or also study and retake the general exam?
If my general exam scores are "good enough" then I suppose I would like to simply focus on the subject test. On the other hand, I am slightly worried about my 78th percentile score in quantitative reasoning.<issue_comment>username_1: Neither.
Good PhD programs have concluded that the general GRE serves as a poor predictor of success.
Some programs do use the topical GRE to screen the first round of applications but after that, it’s the trifecta of: grades, statement, and letters.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: username_1 is correct that GRE scores are not much use in graduate admissions. However, you should put substantial effort in to the subject test because you want to get bast the first round of screening.
If you have your other admissions tasks taken care of, then sure, you could retake the general GRE. Just be sure you are better prepared.
While the GRE is dubiously useful for determining how good someone is at graduate research, it does provide a simplistic test of planning ability. A good score indicates sufficient planning ability to sign up for the test in advance and study for it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Other commentators have suggested that little notice is taken of GRE in graduate admissions, but I am a bit more uncertain about this. I think some faculty will give little weight to it, but others will use it as an estimation of your abilities (in conjunction with other evidence such as your undergraduate grades) In any case, if you are going to submit these results as evidence of your abilities, you should make sure they put you above other applicants, instead of below them.
With that in mind, **you are right to worry about your quant score - it is a bad score (relative to the program you are applying for)**. The distributions of GRE general scores by intended major can be found [here](https://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_table4_extended.pdf), and as you can see, for students intending to pursue "Applied Mathematics", the average GRE Quantitative score is 164 (SD 6). Your score puts you above 78% of general test-takers, but it puts you in the bottom half of those applying for postgraduate maths. Students who make it into postgraduate maths generally have *very high* levels of quantitative ability. Around 20% of them get a perfect quant score in this test.
Based on this, I would suggest you retake the general test and try to at least beat the average Quantitative level for postgraduate maths applicants (GRE Quant 164+). Your verbal and written work is well above the mean, so just try to hold your scores here, but really, you need to improve your Quantitative score.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
|
2018/05/28
| 713
| 2,990
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<issue_start>username_0: I have received a referee request for a paper that I refereed and rejected a few months ago. I would like to decline the request because although the recent journal's rank is lower than the previous one, I will reject the paper again for the same reasons I gave last time. Hence it would be better to decline the request to referee. What should I write to the editor in this situation?
A friend suggested I write to the editor.<issue_comment>username_1: **I recommend against declining**. You've already refereed the paper once, which means you can referee the paper again much quicker than a fresh set of eyes can.
Instead, send your original comments back. If the authors have updated the paper, send an explanation of why it's still not publishable as well. Then write in the "confidential comments to editor" box that you've reviewed the paper before, you still recommend rejection, and your original comments are attached. The editors will know what to do.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: You are not obliged to explain to the editors why you decline (as they are not obliged to explain why they chose you out of all people to send the request for refereeing to). So, if you have decided that you prefer to decline the job, you always have an option of just saying "Sorry, I cannot accept this request at this time", signing "Sincerely, /your name/", clicking the "send" button in your e-mail tool, and forgetting about it.
This is, of course, called "washing your hands" and there are some moral reservations about this choice in this particular situation, but if you really want to be over with it, that would be one of the quickest routes.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Your friend is right. You should email the editor (or whoever asked you to review the paper) and explain the situation. The editor can then decide what to do.
Here's an example of what you can write (assuming it is accurate):
>
> I thought I should let you know that I already reviewed this manuscript in a different context. I recommended against publication. My concerns appear not to have been addressed in the current manuscript. Would you still like for me to review this paper (in which case I would repeat my prior comments) or would you like to find a fresh reviewer?
>
>
>
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: I'd think it would be fair to give the authors a chance to "get a second opinion". Thus, decline, and do not tell the editor that you'd recommended rejection for any other journal.
For that matter, I hope you do realize that the "tiers" of journals are significantly about "status", so that an otherwise-correct write-up that is insufficiently high-status for one venue might be fine for a lesser-status venue.
You didn't say your reasons for recommending rejection. If they were anything other than blatant falsity or nonsense, it would be reasonable to give them a chance to meet the status-threshhold of a lesser journal, etc.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/05/28
| 1,099
| 4,513
|
<issue_start>username_0: This is my First question, so correct me if I am going off topic.
I am an Indian male. My age is 20. I am pursuing my B.Tech Mechanical Engineering from India's premier institute. I am currently moving to my final year. After that, I wish to apply for Masters abroad. I have a good GPA of 9.12/10, and I would rank top 5 in my class.
I have been suffering from Crohn's disease for the last three years. Due to this illness, my energy is very much limited and I cannot afford to play sports or do any extra curricular activities or join any clubs. As I was filling up my application I have become aware of it. So the question is: "Is it okay if I justify that due to the above illness I could not do any other activities or will it have any negative impact on my application?"
I am aiming for top 10 Universities.
For those of you who don't know what Crohn's disease is, Please read in the following links. <https://www.medicinenet.com/crohns_disease/article.htm#crohns_disease_definition_and_facts>
<https://www.everydayhealth.com/crohns-disease/living-with/staying-energized-with-crohns-disease/><issue_comment>username_1: For US universities, extra-curricular activities are considered important for *undergraduate* admissions. But this is not the case for graduate admissions - decisions are made primarily based on your academic record, letters of recommendation, research accomplishments if any, and to a lesser extent, GRE scores. Extra-curricular activities are not a factor, unless they are academically related (e.g. engineering clubs and competitions, outside projects, etc). So there's no need to mention those you have done, nor to make excuses for those you haven't.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Clubs and extra-curricular activities can become white elephants on your application, because they are not directly a matter of concern to the admissions unit. By listing those, you run the risk of wasting space that may be gainfully used to highlight more 'curricular' achievements and interests. Additionally, it may give the impression that you are trying to gloss over a lack of academic prowess by mentioning a lot of extra-curricular activities.
In fact, these factors need to be very skillfully woven into your statement of purpose to carry any real weight. For instance, if you experimented with astronomy, robotics and MEMS (considering your mechanical engineering background), but didn't make much progress with any, you could possibly spin that as being open and curious, and trying different things to find your real interest. You could connect these attempts to the way you finally chose the course you are applying for.
As you undoubtedly see by now, extra-curricular activities can be a double-edged sword on your application, so don't bother if you don't have many. I would advise against mentioning your illness as a cause- this may again be misinterpreted.
That said, I would like to point out two types of extra-curricular activities that can be useful, and which some candidates get confused with:
(1) Research projects and internships outside college : For all practical purposes, these are 'curricular'. If you've interned at an industry or research lab, don't shy away from mentioning them (unless they are absolutely unconnected to the rest of your application). Do ensure that you have some evidence of these activities though.
(2) Writing activities: Being in a writing club, editorial board of college/departmental newsletter etc. indicates some proficiency with written English, and this may be particularly useful for a candidate whose first language isn't English.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I agree with the above posters and think furthermore that you should declare a medical problem only with great caution. Even if you're protected by disability laws, you can't control people's negative reaction to anything that's perceived as a flaw. That's a liability in a very competitive admissions process. I would declare a medical condition only if you will require accommodations during your academic program. Even then it's debatable whether a disability should be declared before or after admission to the program. You've already proven that you are capable of doing the work in spite of your condition, so there is no need to disclose it.
Basis of my opinion: editor working with academics with disabilities and on books about coping with chronic medical problems by experts in the field.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2018/05/28
| 1,117
| 4,153
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<issue_start>username_0: I am 29. I've had informative, goal-driven, well written SOP, I'm guessing good recommendations. I have a masters in the related field (Computer Vision) with tier 2 publications. I'm in a research engineer job which can not add publications to my profile. I have been rejected by 13 US universities (all not Stanford, Berkeley). I had contacted the professors. Many did not respond though.
1. How do I ask for recommendations again if I try next year?
2. What can I add to my profile in this scenario?
3. Are younger students preferred?
4. Will there be sufficient opportunity if I complete my PhD after 35?<issue_comment>username_1: Age is not a discrimination in your age range, there will be opportunities when you complete your PhD but you should ask yourself what kind of opportunities are you seeking by completing a PhD.
If you stay at the same job your LOR will likely be the same in one year, so you have to change something else. I would suggest you reach out to 1-2 professors whose work is closely related to your job and see if you can be involved in one of their projects, and see if this can also benefit your company. I am afraid if you don't build a more direct connection with academia/research your chances will stay low. Otherwise you have to aim lower, less prestigious schools, but then we go back at WHY you want to do a PhD.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Don't do it. If 13 institutions have rejected you, there is likely a consensus that you are not suited/fit for getting a PhD. And even if you make it in, it may be difficult/impossible to finish the PhD. The GRE is an awkwardly good predictor of grad school success. If your GRE is bad, nothing else matters.
Can't speak for computer stuff, but my program has (previously) admitted people over 60. Different fields vary on ages, as they vary by both admissions age and time to completion. (Average for a history PhD is now 10 years...).
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: Einstein once said that it was stupid to repeat the same thing and expected different outcomes. Try to think clearly what was possible problem in your applications before applying again.
* Age is definitely not a problem.
* Tier 2 publications: overqualified for many universities. You did not submit to the top 5, but maybe you still aimed too high? The strategy is: some schools in top 10, some in top 20, some in top 30, .... Submit all your applications to, e.g., top 20 universities might not be a good idea.
* Well-written SOP? Did you use the same SOP for all universities, and only change the names?
In order to have a better chance to get response from professors, you need to do some homework. Consider:
* "*Dear prof X, I'm very interested in your awesome research*", and
* "*Dear prof X, I'm very interested in your paper on learning kernel
for support vector machines*"
You can guess which one has higher chance to be replied.
Finally, all places I know, e.g. NASA, SRI etc, research engineers are included in research papers. Maybe you need to challenge your boss about this.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> How do I ask for recommendations again if I try next year?
>
>
>
By asking. This may be awkward, but it's perfectly straightforward: "Dear Professor, Sadly, I was not accepted last year. Would you be willing to resubmit your letter to some additional schools this year?"
>
> What can I add to my profile in this scenario?
>
>
>
How would we know? All you've told us is that SoP and LoRs were likely good.
**What do you think the weak point was, and how will you fix it?** Clearly 0/13 is not a fluke, so you need to either improve your application or apply to worse schools. Showing your application materials to a trusted professor may help.
>
> Are younger students preferred?
>
>
>
No. In the US, this would be illegal. Beyond that, plenty of older students are admitted each year.
>
> Will there be sufficient opportunity if I complete my PhD after 35?
>
>
>
Sufficient opportunity for what? In any case, most new PhD holders are 27-30, so 35 is only a few years older.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/05/28
| 250
| 959
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a fresh graduate from a B.S. in mathematics program and am looking to go to graduate school. I have a strong cumulative GPA of 3.7 and have secured 3 letters of recommendation for the future. Despite this however, a mandatory 1 year military service program prevents me taking any GRE exams before most application deadlines. I was planning to apply during my service and start the following fall (2019). But I'm afraid that not having GRE scores will significantly hurt my chances. Should I just take all my GRE exams during my service and apply for the fall 2020 term?<issue_comment>username_1: GRE is more or less compulsory for graduate admission in the US. You will need better reason than 1-year military service for not taking it in your application.
Please take the exams and apply for the fall 2020 term.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Take the GRE now. Scores are valid for 3-5 years after taking it.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/05/28
| 504
| 2,039
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<issue_start>username_0: What is a neat way to include "ongoing research projects" in a mathematician's academic CV?
By this, I mean something that is narrower than a generic "research interest", but not quite as defined as a "paper in preparation".
One colleague of mine uses the following notation:
>
> **Cubic Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation**
>
>
> *main objectives:* study of such and such properties;
>
>
> in collaboration with Dr. X and Dr. Y
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: You can list these as "projects/studies in data collection phase" or "current research projects" but as Nate said above, it's a risky move and is probably best left off your CV until you're at least preparing a manuscript for submission.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: It's not a standard practice to list "ongoing research projects" (from which you don't yet have any papers) on your CV. I wouldn't even say it's standard to list papers that are "in preparation" (some people do, some don't; I personally am not a fan of this).
The point of a CV is to give a summary of your academic history, accomplishments and experience. It's not a place for people to get to know your hopes and dreams. And I think it will look strange on an academic CV, so I would recommend against including listing ongoing projects.
If you're asking about this in the context of job applications/promotion/etc, the place to write about this is in a research statement (and possibly a cover letter if you think it's really relevant). If you're asking about this in the context of grants, the place to discuss this, if it's relevant, is in your proposal.
Two things you can do, if you really want to, is have a line about "research interests" and have a section listing collaborators. (On a related note, some people also group papers by research topic, making research interests clear, though I personally don't like this in most contexts.) These aren't typical, but they won't look so strange to make people think you are weird for including them.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a graduate student at a US university. One of the papers I need for my research is a Ph.D. thesis, owned by the University of Birmingham, U.K. (but this question is for a more general case). That thesis has never been published and is not available on the web. When searching for that paper on the University of Birmingham library website, they only have the hard copy of that paper in their library. Is there a way that I can obtain that paper?<issue_comment>username_1: If the thesis is recent enough that it would have been written electronically, you can try to locate the author and ask if they would be able to send you an electronic copy. This is a reasonable request.
Otherwise, talk to a librarian at your university library. They almost certainly have some sort of inter-library loan that can get you a copy, or access to the original. Requests like this are part of their job and this is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask them to help with.
Related:
[Requesting a copy of the PhD thesis from an author?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11135/requesting-a-copy-of-the-phd-thesis-from-an-author)
[Is it okay to ask someone for an (electronic) copy of their PhD thesis if it is not available online?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/102867/is-it-okay-to-ask-someone-for-an-electronic-copy-of-their-phd-thesis-if-it-is)
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I think the British Library can provide any PhD thesis from a UK university, even if no electronic copy has been stored in a library. See
<http://ethos.bl.uk/>
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a professor who has published his lecture notes in the form of a book. The only way to get access to his lecture notes is to purchase them from an off-campus bookstore. To me, this seems like a highly unethical, if not illegal, practice. Shouldn't students have access to lecture notes as part of the tuition fees that they have paid?
A common question seems to be whether we are actually *required* to purchase the notes. To clarify, he routinely skips teaching chapters in class and asks them to read them from the notes on our own. So yes, we *have* to buy the notes if we want to be taught the entire syllabus.
Edit: The notes are different from the textbook. The textbook is not really needed, while the notes are fully needed. I'm seeing people confusing the two and claiming that many professors prescribe their own textbooks for the courses. My question is to whether access to notes should be free and universal for every student in the lecture.<issue_comment>username_1: (This answer is based on US university practices. I don't know if it is directly applicable to Canada, but the two systems generally tend to be similar.)
It's hard to be sure, but this might be a practice that's old-fashioned but not unethical.
First of all:
>
> Shouldn't students have access to lecture notes as part of the tuition fees that they have paid?
>
>
>
Not necessarily. If the course requires materials that have a non-negligible cost, then typically students will be required to pay for them separately. This includes textbooks, lab supplies, and, as in this case, custom-printed "course packets" of notes or other reading material.
Now, normally the university has its own service for printing course packets and selling them "at cost" through the university bookstore. However, it sometimes happens that professors decide that some other bookstore or print shop can produce the packets better or cheaper, and so they have them made and sold there. This may or may not be technically allowed by university rules, but it may be tolerated, especially if it's actually saving money for the students. Note that in such cases, the professor normally doesn't receive any of the price of the packet; it all goes to the print shop.
So this isn't a completely unheard-of system for distributing *printed* material.
You could certainly ask the professor why they've chosen to do it this way. My guess is you'll get a response like "I used to use the university bookstore, but the packets were always late / fell apart at the binding / ran out of stock / cost twice as much." So you could try and complain about the use of an unofficial distributor, but be careful what you wish for.
It raises the question of why the notes have to be distributed in printed form at all, instead of electronically (in which case there should be no costs at all). I can imagine this happening if the professor is very old-fashioned and hasn't ever realized that this would be better, or if the notes don't exist in electronic form (e.g. they are handwritten or typed on a typewriter), or just "has always done it this way". But it would be reasonable to suggest, either directly to the professor or in a course evaluation, that they consider electronic distribution.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: The university and/or the teacher must, in my opinion, do both of the following:
* Make a copy available as a file (e.g. PDF).
* Have multiple printed copies available at the university libraries.
Doing just one of these is insufficient, but not terrible. Doing none is basically a shake-down for extra tuition, which I believe students (and junior faculty!) should not tolerate.
However, as @Wetlabstudent has pointed out - perhaps you should first give the Professor the benefit of the doubt, for, shall we say, having been remiss in his duty, or not having taken notice of how problematic this is. If that's the case, then just asking him to make the notes otherwise available could work. I'm skeptical of course.
Assuming it's been made clear that the Professor will not allow access to his notes except by purchase at the store, I suggest you do the following:
1. Talk to fellow students in your class about this.
2. Approach, together, the course teacher, demanding that at least one of the above forms of availability be realized.
3. If he refuses, confront him, jointly, in class, demanding that this be addressed and trying not to let him get away with it. **Caveat: This may theoretically get you into disciplinary trouble, although that's unlikely. I would still do it though.**
4. get your student union reps to intervene and pressure him and/or the department - if they exist, are willing and are able.
5. If your student union reps don't act, pool some money together and by a copy which you could define as "owned jointly by the students taking the class". Scan the printed lecture notes and distribute the file everyone who contributed or to every student in class who asks, depending on your generosity. **Caveat: This may theoretically get you into disciplinary/legal trouble, you have been warned. I would still do it though.**
6. Make sure that if anybody asks, this be described as a collective class project rather than something you did, so that you don't get singled out.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: It's a scam, but you are stuck with it. Historically, the cost of the pamphlet covered the printing costs. With PDF technology, that's bunk. If you are truly broke, the University Library should have a copy. If not, ask that they purchase a copy as it is a required book for a course (they may already have done so).
Also for that reason, books are not 'required course material' and so are not covered by tuition. While a joke, the lecture notes are effectively a 'book' that the library should have a copy of.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: You might be interested to know that U. of Kentucky has just initiated moves to fire a tenured professor who did exactly this. <https://www.chronicle.com/article/U-of-Kentucky-Moves-to-Fire/243509>
However, the professor in this case had also used the university's funds to print the book, so its possible this is what they were upset about.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/05/29
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an international master's student at a top US institution and I am graduating from my program in September. I do not have a PhD lined up yet, I am planning on applying in this fall. Towards the end of my master's studies, I came up with an idea for a project and already did the ground work (separate from the project that my PI was funding me for). However, because I am an international student, I cannot write a grant / fellowship for this project idea myself. I've pitched this idea to my PI and she is interested in applying for a grant for this project together, provided I do all the work to write the grant. I am OK with writing the grant and submitting it under my PI's name but my question is: what happens if we get the funding for this project from a federal agency (e.g., NSF) and I end up starting my PhD in a different institution next year? Does the grant money stay with the PI? If so, can that money still be used towards funding my research on the same project in a different university (in a lab where I can do similar research)?
More info upon questions below:
I am worried that I will get the grant with my PI, but won't be accepted for a PhD position in my current institution (I will be applying to a different department -BE- than the department I'm completing my master's in -EE-). The reason for this assumption is that I already applied to BE and was rejected. My PI did write me a recommendation letter but she is not in the admissions committee and she told me that she has no leverage in who is admitted to BE. I'll still apply again this year, but I may be rejected again. So, I'm just trying to see whether it is worth putting the effort in writing the grant if the only way to benefit from that grant is to be a PhD student in my current institution. I'm wondering whether some sort of agreement may be made between my current PI and the future PI in wherever I'll be admitted (still in the US) such that I can still use that grant to work towards my project? There are many labs in other US institutions with overlapping interests as my current lab, so finding a relevant place won't be hard. I'm just curious if anyone had / heard of a similar experience?<issue_comment>username_1: If your name does not explicitly appear in the proposal as an investigator, then the funding, if the grant is awarded, is not committed to you in any way, shape, or form. The PI could in principle take your ideas and use it to fund another student to work on your project!
Unfortunately, most universities will not let grad students serve as PI’s, with the exception of some programs that are specifically aimed at graduate students, such as the [Kirschstein Fellowship at the NIH](https://researchtraining.nih.gov/programs/fellowships). So you are definitely running the risk of writing your idea up as a proposal and ending up with absolutely nothing to show for it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Your PI keeps the grant. You get nothing but thanks. Graduate/doctoral students should not apply for grants--they should apply for fellowships.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/05/29
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<issue_start>username_0: So the conference that I am going to present a paper is going to publish a book of abstracts. Is this considered the proceedings of the conference? Or can I still grab my paper and send to a peer reviewed publication?
My field is management / social sciences.<issue_comment>username_1: Someone from your specific field should confirm this, but in general, submitting to a journal should not be a problem.
However, do not use the same title, so that indexing/search issues don't crop up later. Similarly, you may like to modify the abstract a bit so that the two are not identical (which they shouldn't be anyway, the journal paper would typically be an extended/more detailed study).
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: You can still send it to a peer reviewed publication, and should. Conferences in my field (planning) are often used as a mechanism to obtain feedback on a draft paper. I'm aware of no example where 'conference proceedings' count against re-publication. My whole department submits papers for presentation to the Transportation Research Board (TRB), which then creates a compedium of the whole paper, and distributes it by CD. This is not considered publication, and most/many of the papers submitted to TRB are then revamped and published elsewhere. (TRB does cream off a limited number of papers to be published, formally, in the Transportation Research Record).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: If you read the rules of the journals, you will see that there is actually a generally accepted rule. That rule is:
**Your submitted journal paper should include at least 25% new material from the conference paper**
So, you should not simply republish the same paper, rather you should add something to it.
The logic goes like this: You have a well thought out idea. You write it up and present it at a conference. During the conference, you get a discussion going about your paper and workout some details that you might not have considered originally. Then you go back, add (or clarify) a little bit (25%) and then publish it as a journal article.
This is extremely common in business management.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: Social Scientist here.
Presenting at a Social Sciences conference rarely counts as publishing a paper, and when it does, you'll know, as you'll have gone through peer review at that point. This usually happens after the conference and results in an edited volume (so, a book) or a journal special issue. "Conference proceedings" are rare in Social Sciences.
The conference book of abstracts is NOT the conference proceedings, it is just a guide for people who are attending the conference. Your paper is unpublished and you can submit it for publication wherever you like.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/05/29
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently searching for a master and then a PhD in Finance/Quantitative Finance. Since I have a certificate in German Language, I could choose German-speaking countries (Switzerland, Germany, and Austria) since their master programms have low fees and PhD students get paied in contrast with other countries as UK,etc.
My question is about pursuing a PhD and whether I could enhance my income by providing teaching assistance in the University. In these countries, are classes based explicitly on German or English?
Moreover, do these countries offer a salary for a PhD student, or is the cost of living prohibitive?<issue_comment>username_1: In my (German) department you are typically either part time employed on a certain project, and in your free time you are expected to write your dissertation. In that you typically don't teach. It is efficient if you write your dissertation on a similar topic as the project. Alternatively some professors have positions available for "generic" PhD students (also part-time). Those are typically required to teach, but have less project work to worry about.
The PhD students typically cannot supplement their income by teaching courses.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Here in Austria in the STEM fields you are usually employed with a full time salary of ~2600€ (40 h/week, 14 times a year, ~25 000 after tax) but depending on your department or position you might only be employed for 20-40h. Very common are 25 or 30 h per week which comes down to > 18 000€ a year after tax, usually enough to cover cost of living. There's also no tuition fee for PhD studies, not sure why you mention Masters here.
You usually don't get paid extra for teaching (there are some contracts where you would but those are rather special cases). You need to teach if you got a university position (Universitätsassistent), for project positions (Projektassistent) you are allowed to teach a certain amount.
Depending on your university and studies you might need to etach in german but in some cases knowing only english is fine too.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I can only speak for Germany:
Teaching is done by professors. Sometimes they delegate certain courses to assistants (not TAs, usually PhD candidates or post-docs), but this is still counted as "teaching" by the professor (there are legal issues involved which I don't want to adress here, but this is the common practice). As a consequence, the assistant gains teaching experience (which is good and might help in further career steps!), but there is no additional financial compensation.
Usually, PhD candidates are hired for certain research projects or they are assigned to graduate schools, in both cases there is a salary / scholarship financing your work. In my discipline (computer science), this is less then a job in industry, but it's not bad ([you might want to look up TVL-13 here](http://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/c/t/rechner/tv-l/west?id=tv-l-2018)). It depends on the culture of your discipline if you are getting a full salary or just 50% (in biology I heard there are people getting even only 25%).
In addition, universities might hire external visiting lecturers who are recieving up to 55€/hour, but at my university we were forced to lower the rate to 35€/hour (teaching hour = 45 min.). But usually those people have to be external, you can not be employed by the university and get this salary on top.
But in short: If you are getting a position in a funded project, funding your costs of living is not an issue.
BTW: Teaching can be done in German or English, depending on your University and course level.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: What is a proper reply to questions like "Describe your operational knowledge about (some course, i.e. quantum physics)?"
I have taken few courses about quantum physics but it's not a big deal for an M.Sc. physics graduate. Everybody knows that it's essential to take quantum physics courses during B.Sc. and M.Sc. physics.
Should the answer be about the stuff that I learned in that course?<issue_comment>username_1: Not a big deal? Along with general relativity, quantum mechanics is one of the main pillars of modern physics!
You are right that everyone who has done a BSc in physics will have learnt a bit of QM-- the problem is, not everyone will have done the same amount, or to the same level. They probably ask you this question so they can gauge exactly how much you have learnt and so where you stand in relation to your potential classmates.
A good way to answer the question would be to describe the QM you have learnt, and reference what textbooks you used, especially if they are the standard, well-known literature.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Certainly everyone will have done courses in these subjects, but their level of knowledge and understanding of the topics will differ vastly. Questions like this are generally designed to elicit a summary of the core principles of the subject, and see if you can explain the subject *intuitively* in a short period of time. When they ask about your "operational knowledge" they are presumably asking about how to apply the principles you learned in the course to problems. They certainly do not want to hear about the "stuff" you learned in the course, and I disagree with the view that you should describe your courses and textbooks. Instead, I would suggest that you demonstrate that this "stuff" you learned has led you to a clear structured understanding of the subject, that you can explain intuitively in a logically coherent order, and that you can apply to problems.
To prepare for these questions, I would suggest that you practice articulating the principles of these subjects to non-experts, and see if you can explain the subject succinctly and clearly to someone with minimal background knowledge. So, for example, what *is* quantum physics, in one sentence? What does it add to classical physics, and how does it change the principles of classical physics? Can you give one or two practical applications of the topic and how you would apply this topic to those practical applications (i.e., how to "operationalize" the material)? Be ready to reel this information off succinctly and coherently, and take questions on more detailed specifics.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2018/05/29
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<issue_start>username_0: In December I will finish a Computational Sciences M.S. degree and plan to pursue a PhD in Applied and Computational mathematics afterwards. I have a B.Sc. in Applied and Computational Mathematics so have some exposure to the field but my Masters degree has largely been focused on Data Science and Machine Learning.
I would like to reach out to potential advisors over the summer whose research interests align with mine but I'm having trouble doing so in a meaningful way. Based on my coursework I would like to study math modeling/stochastic processes, numerical methods and efficient implementation of numerical methods, and/or PDEs, as these are the topics I found most interesting during my B.S. and M.S. degrees.
Most answers to this question indicate I should have a research question in mind before reaching out but beyond stating my interests as I've done in the previous paragraph I don't really have anything to go off. I've brought this up to a mathematics professor (who served as an advisor for my undergraduate math research) in the department of my current university and they agreed that mathematics papers are very difficult and time consuming to read unless you're up-to-date in that particular field and probably in that niche area of the field due to their density.
My question is how can I come even close to a research question prior to applying to PhD programs when it would take me an incredible amount of time to muscle through even a small fraction of the work by a single professor, let alone many professors from many universities? Do I need to fully understand the mathematics in their papers before I can completely determine the advisor is right for me? Is it OK to reach out with less information than an exact research question?
This is in the US, if that information is pertinent.<issue_comment>username_1: You definitely don't need super specific research topics to reach out to potential advisors to gauge their interest in working with you. When I first applied to PhD programs, I also got in touch with potential advisors beforehand to introduce myself and tell them about my research interests just to see if they would be responsive/be interested in working with me should I be admitted. At the time, I had a couple of ideas about what I wanted to do for my dissertation, but they weren't fully formed at all. Still, I did get some positive responses from several professors which encouraged me to apply to their programs.
At the end of the day, they know that most students don't join PhD programs with well-developed research agendas, that research interests change, and even that the person you wanted to work with originally might not be the person you end up working with in the end (the last scenario happened to me in some very ugly turn of events). Point being, I wouldn't worry too much about presenting developed research questions in the initial emails to faculty. If anything it's just a good way to get an idea of professors' availability and responsiveness, and to narrow down your list of schools to which you're applying.
And actually, given the above reference to my own negative experiences post-admission, I would add that it doesn't hurt to look for programs that have at least a couple of potential advisors to choose from.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In the UK, where you go straight into focusing on research, it is very normal for a potential mathematics PhD student to not have much idea what they want to research (arts subjects can be very different). When I was applying I was only required to say which research group I wanted to be a part of. Indeed, in maths the specific question generally comes from your supervisor, and having a very definite idea would potentially make it harder to find someone who wanted to work with you. Within the supervisor's interests, the topic should be matched to the interests and strengths of the students (unless other factors, eg funding, restrict the choice).
In the US you usually don't start the research portion of the programme immediately, and you don't always (usually?) need to have a specific supervisor agreed at the point of starting the programme, so there is even more space for flexibility.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/05/29
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<issue_start>username_0: I submitted a review paper to a well-regarded A\* journal 9 months ago. After about 6 weeks, I received a request for revisions. The email contained general comments from 3 reviewers and an attached sheet of detailed comments from one of them.
Unfortunately, two of the reviews clearly referred to one or more different papers; none of the comments were relevant to my article. This included very specific comments, such as spelling mistakes on a particular page, that made it clear the reviewer was reading another article. The third reviewer's comments were so general that, honestly, they could apply to almost any article, with comments such as "The paper needs editing for language and grammar" and "the references can be updated and expanded". I don't *think* the third reviewer's comments referred to my paper either (it was written and edited by 3 native English speakers and the language and grammar are pretty good) but cannot be 100% certain.
I emailed the editor to point out the mistake. I emailed the journal and received a reply to say my email had been passed to the editor. Time passed. I emailed again. And again. All my communications were extremely polite, thanking the editor for considering my article, explaining the confusion and requesting the correct reviewers' comments. There was no reply.
I contacted a colleague who is on the editorial board of the journal. He wrote 3 emails to the editor and received no response.
In desperation, I revised the paper, updating some statistics and adding a few more recent references. As much as was possible, I responded to the reviewers' comments as if they applied to the paper. I wrote a detailed response to the comments, explaining where they didn't apply and outlining the revisions. I resubmitted the paper.
It is too early to have receieved a response yet. However, I have 2 questions:
1) If I get no response now, what other action is available to me? I think the behaviour of the journal has been pretty bad. What recourse do I have? The nature of the article means there is no obvious alternative journal to submit to.
2) If the revised manuscript is accepted, it will be published as a peer-reviewed article without having been peer reviewed. What are the ethics of this and doesn't it make a mockery of the peer-review process?<issue_comment>username_1: As a longtime academic editor, I find that your experience is all too common and very, very frustrating. It may be related to the fact that reviewers aren't paid for their work or that journal editors are just too busy to oversee each submission.
Are you sure there is no other possible journal for you to submit to? That would be my first recommendation, given your shabby treatment.
Regarding your second question, I advise letting go of your ethical concern. Yes, the peer-review process for both articles and books is a mockery. It's much worse for books, given their greater length and what's involved in revising them to please sloppy reviewers. You can't do much about that mess. Since you didn't create it, you have no personal ethical responsibility here.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: This sounds like an incredible botch-up, to the degree that it has me seriously questioning whether the journal you submitted to is the one that you believe it is.
Most reputable journals now use paper-handling and review systems that are highly automated, such that it would be extremely difficult to get a paper attached to the wrong reviews (like, beyond incompetence and into active interference with the systems). One reviewer sending in the wrong review I can see---two that are clearly referring to the same wrong paper is unlikely to happen unless something much deeper has gone wrong.
At this point, the appropriate course of action is not dealing with this handling editor any more, but escalating to the editor(s) in chief (EIC). They should be responsive and able to sort this out quickly.
If you do not get a satisfactory response out of the journal leadership within a week, I would start to wonder whether you are really dealing with the journal that you think that you are. The behavior that you are describing sounds more like that of a predatory publisher: sometimes [journal websites are hijacked](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijacked_journal) or reasonable people (like your colleague, assuming you trust them) are tricked into supporting predatory enterprises with names designed to sound almost identical to reputable ones. It is also the case that journals, like any other organization, sometimes collapse and fail, and it is possible that you might be witnessing the last stand of a formerly respectable institution.
In any case, if you don't get a satisfactory response from the EIC within a week, I would suggest withdrawing your paper and sending it to a different and more trustworthy publication venue. But first, if your field allows it, publish a preprint somewhere like arXiv as a precaution against possible plagiarism or refusal to accept your withdrawal.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/05/29
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<issue_start>username_0: **Background**
I am a Permanent Resident living in the USA (CO) and studying part-time at a Christian distance-learning institution which is accredited in the USA and based in Missouri. The course is a BA in Bible & Theology. I read widely in law, history, and theology. I have physical and cognitive disabilities which severely affect my ability to perform well in timed exams, but am bright academically and consistently top-grade at coursework.
**The Textbooks**
Each class/module has its own textbook written by the faculty member. I have signed up for two of these classes, got the two books, and both are consistently ignorant, partisan, and unprofessional. They do not cite any references within their text yet are happy to frequently contradict well-established scholarship - even *other books set by the university*! This question would be far too long if I gave detailed examples, so please just trust me when I say that these textbooks are *bad*.
**The Exams**
A huge chunk of the class's grade comes from a multiple-choice test at the end of each module. These are meant to be just like the practice tests in the textbooks - which are awful. Many answers are extremely subjective, often the correct answer is the author's opinion. Sometimes none of them are really correct. Many times I have got a practice question "wrong", even though I have good scholarship on my side (again, including *other books set by the university*). It's all extremely unprofessional. Fact-checking the textbook constantly is also exhausting.
In other words, to pass the course, I will have to memorize and regurgitate answers that I know are disputable or even demonstrably wrong. I will have to un-learn the good scholarship I have read in my spare time (a *lot*), and replace it with junk from the textbooks I can parrot. In the exams, I will be trying to remember, "wait, is that the right answer? Or is that what the textbook said?"
The bottom line is: I do not wish to take multiple-choice exams based on these awful textbooks.
**So, what are my options?**
I see the possibilities as follows:
1. Ask the university to completely re-write their dozens of textbooks and exams according to proper scholarship. (Unlikely to happen, I think...)
2. Ask the university to allow me to write additional coursework essays instead of taking a multiple-choice exam. (This would be appropriate for my medical needs anyway. Perhaps I could try this without mentioning their bad textbooks?)
3. Attempt the exams, writing a note explaining whenever question/answer premise is wrong, (e.g. "*None of the above are correct answers. Markan chronology is based on Mark's splitting the book in half between Galilee and Judea, whereas the other gospels explicitly describe a multitude of travels between these locations. See 'Jesus The Messiah' by <NAME>*"). However, I am sure this will be ignored; I think the marking is done by computers anyway; and that means I'll take too long and may not finish the paper. Not good.
4. Attempt the exams, keeping a copy of my answer sheet (this is allowed). If I get a bad grade, ask to see the mark scheme (not sure if this is allowed), and dispute any answers which contradict good scholarship, demanding those questions are removed from my mark and the percentage recalculated, and that the mark scheme is rewritten to remove the bad questions for future students. I think this would only happen with a 100% demonstrable case where there is no dispute outside of the textbook's divergent opinion. (There are some of these, but mostly it's just 90% demonstrable)...
5. Report the university to their relevant accreditation authority and hope they force (1) or (2).
6. Leave the university demanding a refund due to the bad scholarship in the textbooks. (Partial refunds are available in the early parts of a course, but I'm past those dates now). If no refund, go to the accreditation and see if they'll force them to give refund. (It's only triple figures, but that's substantial in my financial situation).
I would like feedback on the feasibility of options 1-5. Has anyone had a similar experience? I think #2 is my best bet, probably - has anyone been granted this concession at degree level? (Is there even a legal precedent I can cite?) (I have, in lower education, in the UK). If it comes down to #6, what are my legal rights to a refund if the quality of the education is demonstrably bad?<issue_comment>username_1: I have an MA in religious studies, so maybe I can offer a bit of humanities insight here.
The main question you should be asking yourself is, **what will I be doing with this degree?** If you are hoping to be recognized as an expert within your Christian denomination, and if this Missouri institution is recognized in your faith community as a prestigious one, and you want to be associated with the institution, then your best option is to talk to them before the exams (your option 2) and try to complete the exams based on their advice. But if you want to gain in knowledge for your own purposes, you should also consider quitting the program entirely (your option 6). Let me explain my reasoning.
Regardless of your educational goals, for your degree to be valuable, it should show that you have mastered something more than just the ability to supply the "right" answer to multiple choice questions. Your instinct to respond to complex questions by giving supplementary explanations and showing your sources and your work is a good one. The top universities in America would welcome such a complex response.
A denominational seminary may be more interested in ensuring that the students know the answers that correspond with their specific teachings about the Bible. If that's the program you are in and that's the sort of degree you want, then you should go with your option 2: write the university a polite letter asking for further information about contradictions and unclear questions on the test.
However, if this degree is not one that would provide you with prestige or respect in Colorado, then the value of the program is more dubious. Ask yourself, what am I trying to get from this degree? Consider that they are preventing you from giving them correct answers on the tests they assign you, and that they do not provide detailed justifications of their own "correct" answers. Because of that, if the university does not give you assistance when you ask politely (option 2), it could be better to go with your option 6 and look for a more rigorous distance program that includes question-and-answer sessions and one-on-one counseling.
Usually you will not be able to get a refund, although it doesn't hurt to ask. If you have a student loan and you can demonstrate that the classes you took were worthless, you may be able to get the loan canceled by filing a [false certification/ability to benefit form](http://www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org/loan-cancellation/school-related/false-certification/ability-to-benefit-atb/) with the US Department of Education. But there is no guarantee they will cancel the loan.
Options 1, 3, 4, and 5 would probably not be helpful for you to achieve your educational goals. In my opinion a program such as this doesn't want to deal with disputes about exam questions after the fact.
I am not familiar with Christian distance education. I know enough to know that there are many good programs that I am unfamiliar with, and that finding the right program for you depends heavily on your view of the Bible and of Christian tradition and the Church Fathers.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I doubt there's a wholly satisfying solution here.
Of the options you've listed, #4 is probably the one that is most likely to be viable, but the problem there is that everybody's grades would need to be adjusted if a question is eliminated because it's wrong. However, it will be very difficult to convince the instructor—who presumably set the exam in the first place—to recognize that their answer is objectively "wrong."
However, it should be mentioned that if you have diagnosed impairments that affect your ability to take timed exams, this is something that the school should make reasonable arrangements for you to work around the problem. (Note that if the school is operated by a religious institution, the formal protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act may not apply.) You should contact the appropriate office at the institution with the appropriate documentation outlining your needs and what arrangements are recommended (e.g., extended testing times). This might allow you to use option #2. (Although it would be a tougher argument to ask for essays instead—one could ask "Why can't <NAME> just take the same test with more time instead of doing something else?")
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Remember that the primary purpose of higher education is *to learn*, not merely maximise grades for the purposes of a credential. If you are able to get through your courses, and you have additional knowledge of broader scholarship, to the extent that you can reasonably dispute answers in exams, that sounds like an excellent learning outcome to me. This should stand you in good stead for the future of your field. If this particular institution is not meeting with your expectations then you should consider looking elsewhere. If you are at the level of knowledge that allows you to argue against textbooks in the field, you might also consider trying to write some scholarly papers on these topics and publish these. (That is unusual for an undergraduate and would be considered highly.)
Having said this, my spidey-senses tingle whenever I hear an undergraduate student say that the teachers in their university are all wrong and don't know that they're doing. Ninety-nine percent of the time when this occurs, it is the student that is misunderstanding the material. So bear in mind that people like me are going to be skeptical of your claims, and it is going to be a lot of work for you to provide compelling evidence.
Your suggestion #3 sounds quite reasonable, since it is certainly open to you to write additional information on your exam if you think it is relevant. If you are able to show a broader knowledge of the scholarship that renders the available answers subjective/dubious, then you might receive some additional marks, but that will be at the discretion of the examiner. Your other suggestions generally involve attempts to challenge the practices of the university; you are not well-placed to do this. (The notion that a report to an accreditation body from a single undergraduate would yield any immediate change is ---frankly--- a delusion of grandeur.)
Whatever you decide to do, remember that a good outcome is any outcome where you learn a lot about your field. If you get a lower grade than you deserve in the process, then *que sera, sera*.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/05/29
| 642
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<issue_start>username_0: Journal articles are packed with in-text citations of other works to validate points and situate the work in the context of past works. What about undergraduate textbooks with multiple chapter authors? Each chapter author is likely to be an expert in the field. Are citations necessary in this case as for any other academic work? Or do citations interrupt the smooth reading of the text for undergraduates? Or are they less necessary (or less numerous) because the authors are experts?
I'm editing a textbook and want to have some uniformity among the chapters regarding the need for citations and the number of citations. Each chapter will have a reference list.<issue_comment>username_1: Given the topics that you mention, I think citations would be particularly important. When I copyedit an undergrad textbook, I query the author if he or she has not provided a citation for data or a direct quote. But I also query the author if the claims made are not backed up. If there are insufficient citations, the text comes across like a blog instead of a textbook--just a lot of pontificating without any evidence and support.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: My view is that in-text citations to relevant, pedagogical references are very useful. Introduction to Electrodynamics by <NAME> is an excellent example.
>
> Are citations necessary in this case as for any other academic work?
>
>
>
Yes. They are still an ethical obligation, but they might not be in-text.
>
> Or do citations interrupt the smooth reading of the text for undergraduates?
>
>
>
Obviously yes, but in my opinion that is unimportant.
>
> Or are they less necessary (or less numerous) because the authors are experts?
>
>
>
The identity of the author is irrelevant to the ethical obligation to cite prior work.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Including the citations can be very helpful, but also distracting for students. One possible compromise is to write the body of the text without citations (or just the few that are most important), and have a section of "Notes" at the end of each chapter providing references and extra information.
So, for instance, the main text could say:
>
> The percentage of women in field X increased substantially during the 1990s...
>
>
>
and the Notes section could have
>
> Women in field X increased from 43% in 1993 to 72% in 1998 (Gonzalez 2004).
>
>
>
Upvotes: 0
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2018/05/29
| 703
| 2,793
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<issue_start>username_0: I wrote [this article](https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTr80vk75hd-wq-nFAGVSNvTzVGxiJpRTdtgZD53wbsK2WYqIRwGCkMgGccEgWmxrwXfqC49STBmlF2/pub) with a radically new idea what is the function of the sense of humor.
I sent my article to one journal. They said they won't publish because they publish only experimentally verifiable results.
In my article I propose several brain experiments, but they may provide only circumstantial evidence for my theory.
Also my cites list may be outdated.
I am not a psychology professional. Can this article nevertheless be published in a reputable psychology journal?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> I am not a psychology professional. Can this article nevertheless be published in a reputable psychology journal?
>
>
>
In principle yes, anyone with scientifically valid results may publish them. Many reviews are "double-blind" for exactly this reason.
In practice, the learning curve is steep, and it is rare that someone outside the community can even judge the merit of scientific work, let alone produce publishable work.
>
> They said they won't publish because they publish only experimentally verifiable results.
>
>
>
Though some very well-reasoned ideas may be accepted by simply being verifiable, for a *radical new idea*, you really need some proof. I doubt anyone will publish your work unless you run one of those experiments and get proof for your theory.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There is one piece of "meta-advice" I have for everyone whose goal is to publish in some journal: read it, a lot. You will learn for yourself what they will publish. For example, what the readers and reviewers of that journal expect in terms of result validation, what kind of jargon they use, and everything else that will help you understand where your work fits in. Then you can answer your own question about whether your manuscript is appropriate and developed enough to be published there (and know how to build from there to make it publishable).
This is really the main impediment in my view for "outsiders" who want to publish in a journal. Read and know the field as covered in that journal, and you cease to be an outsider. There will always be (unfair and wrong) biases of course, because this is a system of humans, but they are limited as the journal quality suffers from them.
I realize this seems like a lot of work, but look at it from their perspective. Publishing (and even reading) your manuscript will take precious time that might have been devoted to some other manuscript. You may perform this research and reading/writing as a fun past-time, but they do it as a job in which they probably never have enough time to do everything they want to.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/05/30
| 815
| 3,472
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<issue_start>username_0: I had an interview for an administrative (IT) position at a very prestigious US university. I had a second phone interview with an HR representative who asked for my salary expectation. I gave my range, and the HR person gave me their range, whose maximum is 20% lower than my minimum. She asked me if I was interested in continuing the hiring process within their range, and I asked to give me a day to think over it.
This is an extremely interesting position for me, but the modest salary increase would make the move to another state hard.
I counted all, salary, benefits, relocation package, but still it seems a tight fit. The HR person said that they are kind of locked into that range, which I have a hard time believing.
I come from the nonprofit world but I am not used to negotiation tactics in academia. Is this just a negotiation trick? How should I respond to avoid down-selling me without stalling the process?
Thanks.
**Update:**
I found some salary grades from this institution from a couple of years ago, and indeed the range I was given was the midpoint of the published salary grade, which includes mostly positions lower than the one I am apply for.
Without sharing details with my HR interlocutor, I replied that from my research, given the responsibilities, I expected a different range, and she replied that the range is non-negotiable because it's a nonprofit. Which I know is not true, because I myself work at a nonprofit.
So I could just walk out of the deal and see if they come back, but it would be a bummer to let it fall through without even a chance to get to a real offer. Or I could suck it up and go with their rate, and work toward a raise within the following year or two, but it would be a tough start.<issue_comment>username_1: Not sure what your question is. You could respond yes I am interested in continuing the process and see where it leads. Maybe they have some benefits you don't know about. Maybe the job is even cooler than you think. In other words maybe something happens and you are willing to take the job for less money. Then again, maybe things pan out how you expect and you tell them know that you have seen the complete offer and understand the job more, you cannot take it for less than X (whatever that number is, plus some wiggle room).
You could also respond *no*, because do you really want to put up with crap like that.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I would just take their statement at face value. In my (admittedly somewhat limited) experience with academic hiring, stating a salary range is done simply for the obvious reason: so that if the candidate is unwilling to work for that salary, they can drop out immediately, thus saving the university (and themselves) the time and expense of further interviews.
If you are willing to consider working for a salary in that range, then go to the interview. If not, then withdraw and look elsewhere.
As far as "take the job and hope for a raise", note that academic institutions are not generally known for being able to offer large raises to reward or retain valuable employees. I wouldn't count on that.
It's obviously not true that nonprofits are inherently unable to negotiate on salary, and I don't think that's what your HR contact meant. I just take it as "we're a nonprofit and our budgets are tighter than they might be in industry, so our salaries are therefore lower".
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2018/05/30
| 292
| 976
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<issue_start>username_0: I have already submitted my Ph.D. thesis to my committee and plan to defend my thesis. I want to prepare an updated CV.
In my situation, what should I write in the CV:
>
> **Ph.D. candidate**
>
>
>
or just
>
> **Ph.D**
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: Typically, one writes **Ph.D., 2018 (expected)**.
If you have a short description (e.g., bullet points) after this heading, you can also put the expected graduation/defense month or something to the effect of "thesis submitted 25 May 2018" in this area.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If you haven't defended yet, I would list (expected).
If you have defended and committee passed and thesis turned in and ruler lady passed and all done, done but are just waiting for the 6 month wheels to churn and send you a sheepskin, I would keep it simple and just list the Ph.D. as done. If you stop using months on your CV and move to years, this helps you.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/05/30
| 469
| 1,946
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<issue_start>username_0: I hope this is the right SE site for this question. To be clear, **I am not asking anything about the contents of the paper**, but on the practice of omitting certain information that I thought should be included for completeness and clarity.
I have been reading a paper titled: "[Spatial and temporal occurrence of pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs in the aqueous environment and during wastewater treatment: New developments](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969713003367?via%3Dihub#f0005)", which deals with measurements of drugs' concentrations in river water in the UK.
I was surprised to see no mention of the name of the river anywhere in the paper or the supplementary material. This seems on purpose, since the authors describe the river's properties that are relevant for the study, but neglect to mention which river was it.
Could it be related to some academic practice I am not aware of, or perhaps is it a safety measure to prevent mass panic among the residents of the area?<issue_comment>username_1: I can't speak directly for environmental science, but that sort of thing is common practice in education papers. Institutions and individuals are given anonymous identifiers, eg student A.
One reason for this is ethical considerations. An ethics approval form will ask about all potential harm that could arise as a result of the study. Reputational harm is one form of harm.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I can think of a few reasons for which it might be sensible for names to be withheld, usually relating to not attracting large numbers of the public to a place. For example, a rare bird's nesting site, an endangered seal's haul-out area, or other places of delicate ecology.
However, it would seem reasonable for the authors to make the location known to other researchers on request, as otherwise there is no way to verify or reproduce their findings.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/05/30
| 429
| 1,914
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<issue_start>username_0: I sent an e-mail to a professor along with my CV explaining my research background and expressing an interest in joining his research group as he has asked to send CVs if anyone is interested in joining his group. After a few hours, I got a reply from him saying that my research background is quite relevant to his. He has also encouraged me to apply to the college and take the English tests.
When I checked the college website, it seems that the interview date for the possible candidates has already passed and they have stopped taking further applications.
I haven't yet taken the English exams as well. What should I do? Shall I send an application anyway? Is there a chance for me to get the scholarship?<issue_comment>username_1: If someone has told you they are interested and to do it, where is the doubt? I say do it.
You can always send the professor an email saying that you have seen that the application deadline is over, and ask if they think you should still apply.
A lot of PhD offers have no academic deadline other than the funding deadline, very often you can just start whenever.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Don't apply blindly, because there's a good chance that an administrator will filter it out as "past the closing date" and delete it.
But it's reasonable to respond to the professor explaining that it's closed, and asking if you should apply anyway. As others have said in comments, don't overthink this - professors are normal people, and you can interact with them in normal professional language!
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: In the United States, the closing date for applications is generally set at the level of the university, not by the department. If you missed the deadline, you will have to wait until next year to apply. I'm not aware of any exceptions being made to an application deadline.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/05/30
| 1,567
| 6,123
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<issue_start>username_0: Assuming that the cited work will not be less identifiable:
When including a paper in the body and bibliography of one’s work, is it okay to **omit the author’s middle name(s)** and just give the first and last name in the bibliography?
---
The main reason why I consider doing that is as follows:
I often cite different works by the same author, but one work lists the middle name, the other doesn’t.
Usually, when two works of the same author are listed in the bibliography, and the names are consistent, they will appear one below the other, and the second entry will not list the author, but a line of dashes:
```
<NAME>. Work 1, 1999.
-----. Work 2, 2003.
```
But if the author is not exactly the same in the bibliography database (in LaTeX, for instance), it will be listed as such:
```
<NAME>. Work 1, 1999.
<NAME>. Work 2, 2003.
```
This in itself is just cosmetic: it may be bad style, but the bibliography is still correct.
Now imagine there are three works, and only the one that was published between the two others states the middle name of the author.
It would look like this:
```
<NAME>. Work 1, 1999.
<NAME>. Work 3, 2007.
Doe, <NAME>. Work 2, 2003.
```
This is because the bibliographic system doesn’t recognize them as the same author.
This is a problem because the works don’t appear in order of their publishing date.<issue_comment>username_1: Bibliography entries should be faithful to the works to which they correspond: you should conform to the constraints of the style used by the journal, but you should not remove or add middle names or initials. The rationale for this is that doing otherwise makes it harder for readers to follow the citations back to the original literature if the names in the article are reported differently from the way they're indexed.
If the same author represented themselves differently in multiple works, that should be reflected in the bibliography entries, even if it makes things awkward for the author citing the works. If you feel you need to indicate that the authors are in fact the same individual, you may do so with a parenthetical comment.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: For [APA style](http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2017/05/whats-in-a-name-inconsistent-formats-and-name-changes.html%20) you gnerally want the name to match how it is listed on the source:
>
> Sometimes names are presented inconsistently across publications. If the author has used different forms of the same name on different works, then your reference list entries should match the form of the name on the work being cited for reasons of retrievability. For example, sometimes the author may use a middle initial and sometimes not (e.g., perhaps <NAME> sometimes publishes as <NAME>).
>
>
> Because both names refer to the same person and the differences between names are minor (namely, a missing initial), it is not necessary to adjust the order of the works in the reference list to account for the missing initial or to put the author’s initials in the text citations to distinguish the references. (Read more about the order of works in the reference list and see examples.)
>
>
>
There are some nuances regarding the sort order in the bibliography and how to disambuate in text citations for APA style, and you should probably refer to your specific style guide.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In addition to the other answers that correctly state you should always replicate the citation exactly, I would also note that **it is rude to modify how someone has chosen to represent their name without asking them.**
As someone with an unusually structured name, many people chose to abbreviate it the way I don't want it done. For that reason, I am very deliberate and picky when putting my name on things. Some people with "regular" names might not ever have thought about it, but you should always respect how someone has chosen to write their name when using it in another place.
This goes double for names from cultures you aren't familiar with, simply because you may not know the rules for removing parts of their names.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: It depends on the style manual you're following. I'll let someone else address APA.
**CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE, 17TH EDITION**
CMS Ch 14: Notes and Bibliography
CMS 14.73: Form of author’s name
"Authors’ names are normally given **as they appear with the source itself**—that is, on the title page of a book or other stand-alone work or at the head of a journal article or the like. Certain adjustments, however, may be made to assist correct identification (but see 15.12). First names may be given in full in place of initials (but see 14.74). **If an author uses his or her given name in one cited work and initials in another (e.g., “<NAME>” versus “<NAME>”), the same form, preferably the fuller one, should be used in references to that author for both works.** To help differentiate similar names, middle initials may be given where known. Degrees and affiliations following names on a title page are omitted."
CMS Ch 15: Author-Date References
15.12: Authors’ names in reference list entries
"In a reference list as in a bibliography, **record the authors’ names as they appear on the title page or at the head of an article or chapter**, with the exceptions noted in 14.72–84. Some publications, especially in the natural sciences, use initials rather than full given names (see 15.33). Where this practice is followed, an exception should be made where two authors share the same initials and last name."
**MLA STYLE**
(Quoted from an old 2nd edition, confirmed by the current Perdue OWL)
"Give the author's name as it appears on the title page. Never abbreviate a name given in full. . . . Use initials [only] if the title page does."
**FOREIGN NAMES**
The Chicago Manual of Style has good introductory guidance on how to treat foreign names. The topic is complicated and sometimes you need to do some internet sleuthing to find more information.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/05/30
| 2,106
| 8,662
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<issue_start>username_0: When I was accepted to become a Master's student, I had *virtually no experience* in the topics that my supervisor wanted to work in. Lately I've been catching up on background knowledge (I've been in the program for about a month), but I still haven't developed that ever-elusive passion that I probably should have by now.
*So why did I choose to work with this supervisor?* I chose a supervisor based on personality, and I decided to take a risk with a brand new topic because I was feeling jaded about what I had studied in undergrad.
I'm **not** asking "how do I find my subject?". I want to know if this lack of an all-consuming obsession with a particular subject is a real cause for concern. What should I do, and what do you suppose my supervisor would want me to do?<issue_comment>username_1: **Passion is not necessary for a master’s degree.**
You’re still at the stage of your career where you’re getting your feet wet with research. The important thing right now is to separate your feelings about research in general from your feelings about the specific research topic you’re exploring. You can always move to another topic for your PhD, and nowadays, you’ll almost certainly have to change focus areas multiple times in your career.
At this point in your career, being able to determine that:
* You love research and your focus area;
* You love research but not your focus area;
* You love your focus area, but not doing research in it; or even
* You don’t love research
are all perfectly valid outcomes because they will help you to decide on a long-term path.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I will probably get shot for this, but here is what I think: there is no way to have "passion" for anything until you master it at some level.
I wanted to do physics because my school teacher was someone pushy who liked to drive people to succeed. As I was studying, I got quite good at it, so I ended up liking the subject. But, as an undergraduate, I didn't know what I would like, so I ended up doing what others told me, which eventually didn't turn out quite right.
As a PhD student I didn't have any all consuming obsession with anything. I merely had lots of work to do, and as I was solving increasingly complex problems, I got a feeling for my subject and liked some of the stuff I was really good at.
But, as I started to find my own research problems, I began to like things enough not to change career. At this moment, I wouldn't say I'm passionate about any subject, but I very happy to be doing some of my research -- the parts that don't involve bureaucracy. And I'm very curious how my research will turn out.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> I want to know if this lack of an all-consuming obsession with a particular subject is a real cause for concern.
>
>
>
Yes, but not reason to give up your Masters' program. What I suggest is:
* Try to maneuver the rest of your Masters' in directions which you feel might stir your passions, or just such that are significantly different than what you've done so far. Not at the expense of failing to pursue your approved subject, if you have one - but to sort of probe around for something to get passionately into later on.
* Don't dare start a PhD without feeling very enthused and passionate about digging into a specific subject - certainly not when it's the subject you muddled through an uninspiring Master's about.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Yes you should be passionate! You are paying a big price to be there! A masters degree is a lifetime investment. Many years will be spent completing your degree, a lack of passion will result in a lack of satisfaction upon completion.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: Passion certainly helps. When you have passion for what you are doing, it feels much less like work and more like self-fulfillment. But when you lack passion for what you need to be doing to advance your life planning, you can substitute it with:
* Having rigorous self discipline and clinging to the hope that one day the drudge will be over.
* Alotting a bit of your time for something else which provides you with self-fulfillment. Pursuing an art or craft, doing sports, a low-intensity personal research project or spending time with people you hold dear can provide you with the mental energy necessary to withstand the boredom of doing the stuff which needs to be done without losing your sanity.
I know people who ended up detesting the subject of their master thesis, but they pulled through because they knew that they had to succeed in order to progress with their life plan. Many of them did eventually succeeded.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: Passion helps, but this is a precious resource and it can (and often does) run out, particularly on the course of several years required for MSc or PhD program.
To a certain extent, passion (generally called motivation) is normally expected of candidates in academia, so even if you do not have it, you have to show it at some point in your motivation letter and/or in your interview.
In addition to other brilliant answers, please note that MSc/PhD program is a two-side investment: student invests time and often money, but also the supervisers invest time, passion and sometimes are expected go above and beyond their contractual obligations to help students succeed. This is a rewarding process if (and only if) both parties are engaged and the result proves efforts worthy.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: **No**
Passion is not necessary for a masters degree. Merely intelligence and resilience.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: I teach on an MSc programme and I would say:
Passion is absolutely necessary for an "academic" Masters, i.e. getting a distinction, publishing a paper, building a serious research relationship with a supervisor, then using all of the above to go on to PhD and maybe academic career. Especially for a masters by research rather than taught. If you are not passionate about your subject then you should not be pursuing such careers in the first place as they will make you utterly miserable for your whole life. (Real passion here means: you love this stuff so much that you are willing to devote the next 10-20 years of your life constantly relocating to random countries where the work is, getting paid nothing, and working on insecure 1-3 year contracts, probably away from your partner and family for much of it, who are trying to pay a mortgage somewhere else, all for about a 1 in 10 chance of getting a permanent academic post somewhere, also in a random country. Not recommended for most people at all.)
Passion is not necessary for a "professional" masters. The vast bulk of masters students are in this category and use it as training to get a better, higher-paid (non academic) job, and are often successful in doing so. In some professions (eg. chartered engineering) a masters is a necessary box to tick as part of gaining professional status. You probably still won't do very well if you really don't like your subject, but "passion" is an overused and unnecessary word for "yeah this subject's OK and its a nice/stable/well-paid career" which is a great goal to pursue for most students.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: You did not mention a country, but at least in Europe the Master's degree is the marker of the end of your studies. And usually nothing more.
If you finish your studies without a master (but having passed all the exams), they are essentially lost - you are technically "something" (what depends on the country), but not the normal guy who ended correctly his studies.
This is to say that the Master is usually the end of scientific studies for people in Europe and a compulsory purgatory before going on.
The quality of the average master thesis is low to say the least because those who were writing it had other more important things on their minds (looking for a job, party hard like it was the end of youth, etc.).
So do not worry if you do not have the passion. It is more worrisome if you plan to continue in science - not because of the subject (you can change that) but rather the mindset.
Again, this may depend on the country.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_10: I think it really depends on individuals. I did my Master degree in the U.K., which usually lasts 12 months.
I think most people could survive a year without "passion" for the sake of just doing a degree. But it is less likely to do a PhD without passion, which last about 3 to 4 years in the U.K. typically.
Just my honest opinion.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/05/30
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<issue_start>username_0: I've been made an offer for a position that I will likely accept. I've been given a week more time than planned (at my request) to make a decision, which makes it possible to attend a campus interview (already scheduled) for another position, although it probably won't be as good as the already-offered one.
Knowing this, should I just accept offer A? I feel bad taking the full extended time to make a decision that I've pretty much already made privately, although I feel that I can't cancel the campus interview since they already booked the travel accommodations (on the same day I received offer A no less). (And I suppose it could actually be a better offer).
Will it hurt me to take all the time they've given me? I would literally be letting them know maybe 1 or 2 days ahead of the full bracket. I don't want to look like I'm dragging my feet and they've made it clear that they're trying to close it out quickly. My assumption is that they've given me time, so I should use it- but I just don't want to hurt my chances.
The alternative however would be, I suppose, to accept offer A and then attend the campus interview, which sounds worse. Thoughts? Thanks.<issue_comment>username_1: Not at all. You should go to the interview, see the competing offer, if you get it, and then decide. Note that you will likely not have time to have either school make a counter offer. Therefore, I would recommend that at the interview you let the school know you have an existing offer and deadline and that they will have to move quickly and at least match the other offer (or whatever it will take to get you there).
If the school that has made the offer asks, just tell them you are waiting to hear from one last place. You could send a preemptive email telling them that, but there really is no need.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: Taking the time and considering the other place is certainly a good plan, and it isn't rude. However, you're considering the wrong alternative option. It's not ok to accept the job and hide it from the other school, but it is totally reasonable to accept the job offer that you're excited about now and *withdraw from the other search*. Going to an interview if you know you're not going to take the job is a waste of everyone's time, and it's not rude to withdraw if you have an offer you prefer. You can say that you're still happy to give a talk or cancel the visit as they prefer, but they won't need to have half-a-dozen people meet with you including a dean when it's all a wasted effort. (See [<NAME>'s answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/7635/25).)
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: If there is any chance that offer A will be filled before you accept, than you should accept it and never look back. If you believe that they will keep it open for you (despite them wanting to fill it quickly), then take all the time available to you. If in doubt, accept offer A.
People might say its unlikely (and so unprofessional!) that they will fill the job if they offered it to you, but its happened to me.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/05/30
| 357
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<issue_start>username_0: My paper is about a software I created which uses part of another software licensed under the MIT license. It is available on Github and includes a copy of the MIT license correctly. Additionally the paper cites the repository.
I want to to include a code snippet of the other software in my paper, but the code is licensed on Github with the MIT License.
Currently I include the code and cite the source for it, is there anything more I need to do?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Currently I include the code and cite the source for it, is there anything more I need to do?
>
>
>
In my opinion, No. You are basically citing some code that you used in your research, but did not write. Link to the source code on GitHub. You are effectively telling people you did not write this code and are 'giving credit' to the original author.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The [MIT License](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_License) is very permissive. You can certainly do what you suggest.
Quoting:
>
> Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2018/05/30
| 588
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<issue_start>username_0: I was wondering how editors evaluate manuscripts. They certainly do not have time to read the paper thoroughly. What are the key points to look for when evaluating a manuscript as an editor?<issue_comment>username_1: You find reviewers who look at the paper for you, and whose judgment you trust.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Different editors treat this differently. Some of the things I looked at:
* Does it look like a serious research paper? If not, desk reject.
* Does the paper pass plagiarism detection? If not, desk reject.
* Is it plausible? The methods used should conceivably lead to the results. If it's not plausible, unless the authors provide a convincing explanation, desk reject.
* Is the paper review-ready? A paper that has lots of typographical errors, has figures without axis labels, is written in incomprehensible English to the point where I cannot in good faith ask reviewers to wrack their heads deciphering the paper, etc - reject and resubmit.
* Is it within the journal's scope? If not, desk reject.
* Does the paper have anything interesting to say? Chances are I won't be able to judge the significance of the paper myself, but the authors ought to have written something in the introduction about why their research matters. Something like "this material is important because of [reasons]. Nobody has ever done [calculations] for this crucial property. We do it in this paper and suggest [methods] to make an even better material." would be helpful. If the authors don't give a reason for why their research matters, a desk rejection is more likely.
* What tests did the authors conduct? How do the authors know their results really are reliable? If no error analysis is performed, desk reject. The same goes for any standard tests, e.g. before one can claim that a new drug is effective, I'd want to know if there was a control group, if the results are statistically significant, etc. If the authors do not discuss these standard things - desk reject.
Beyond this it depends on what the reviewers say. Reviewer reports can be very varied so it's hard to make statements about them, but the idea is the same: I read what they say and come to my own conclusions. It is possible that I don't understand what the reviewers or the authors are saying, in which case things can really seem like a coin flip. Peer review isn't a scientific process. As a personal guideline, when in doubt, I accept the manuscript. Another person might lean towards rejecting.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/05/30
| 2,492
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm graduating from my master's degree at MIT this summer and I have a chance to stay for another year as an employee in my current lab while I apply for PhD programs. I'd love to do that because I love the current grant I am working on, I love the topic, the people and the PI.
My only hesitation is that there seems to be very limited titles in academia for one who is not a graduate student and does not have a PhD. The truth is, I do not want to be a "lab tech." I want to start becoming autonomous in the field I did my master's and becoming a lab tech is the exact opposite of being an independent researcher (based on my understanding).
I feel like if I start my year-long employment with the agreement with my PI that I'll continue work on my current research but with the "lab tech" title, the post-doc who supervises my work will treat me like a lab tech!
Therefore, I'd like to be a "research scientist" for the next year, but do I have to have a PhD for that? Or, what other titles are there besides a lab tech for people who wants to do research without a PhD in academia?<issue_comment>username_1: I could not find a description for MIT specifically, and I'm sure this varies by university and country, but no, a PhD is not a universal requirement for the title "Research Scientist."
At the University of Washington, the only requirement is a bachelor's degree to be a [Research Scientist I](https://hr.uw.edu/files/comp/researchsciengr/1492.php). In fact, it's not until [Research Scientist IV](https://hr.uw.edu/files/comp/researchsciengr/1495.php) that a PhD is a minimum qualification, and even then, "Bachelor's degree candidates with exceptional qualifications may be considered."
A PhD is required to be a [Senior Research Scientist](https://hr.uw.edu/files/comp/researchsciengr/1496.php), however.
On the flip side, [at Harvard](https://cdn1.sph.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2017/07/nonfacresearchgrid11-12-2015.pdf), a PhD is required to be any level of a "Research Scientist."
So, in short, this will depend on the policies at your institution, and you should look them up before you bring up with your PI about her hiring you on as a "Research Scientist" and not whatever the official title for a "lab tech" is.
Personally, I wouldn't be as dismissive as Najib is in the comments. Having a conversation about your role/responsibilities is a good thing to have, and if you don't want the role of a lab tech, then you'll know you should look elsewhere.
In terms of other titles, you may also look for a "Research Analyst" or "Research Technologist."
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: **Titles depend on institution.** In industry, you can be a "research scientist" with no particular degree. In a university, a "research scientist" may be a catch-all term for scientific employees, or it may be a parallel track with similar prestige to a professorship (with similarly high standards). I do not know what MIT's system is.
**Your job responsibilities will depend on your boss (advisor) far more than your title.** If your advisor is on board with you continuing your current research, then great; this will be true regardless of your title. If they are doing you a favor allowing you to remain employed while you apply for PhD programs, then they may expect you to do "lab tech" type work.
**It's certainly a good idea to discuss your title, responsibilities and goals with your advisor before accepting the position.** But I wouldn't be too concerned about the title. If this were a permanent position for you, I might agree that "lab tech" would be an unfortunate title, and might have unfortunate implications about your ability to participate in original research (especially since you would have to consider your position if your supervisor moves on). But since this is just a temporary stop-gap until grad school, I would focus this conversation on your responsibilities and goals.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: The other tittle is "research assistant" Yes, people with master's degrees do get hired as research assistants. I know one person who was hired by the Oklahoma Geological survey as research assistant while he was working on his M.S. in geology and he remained employed as a research assistant. "Research assistant" is his job title, or was.
How you are treated by someone else often depends on how you treat them, if you have no personal respect for the post-doc who is directing your research, why should that post-doc respect you. The post-doc has more life experience in academia than you do.
You don't HAVE to stay in academia. y\ou CAN go to work for the federal government I am assuming you are in the United States) or industry or businesses with master's degree. I talked to someone within the last month whose daughter got two bachelor's degrees and master's degree and her mother says she LOVES her job.
I have THREE bachelor's degree AND an M.S. in geology. Yes, i wanted to get Ph.D 18 and 15 years ago. but I would have had to apply and to another university's Ph.D. program AND be admitted and then i would have to MOVE to another state... I've come to accept the fact that i no longer have the physical stamina to get a Ph.D. and now my knowledge is OUTDATED because i haven't really kept up with academic literature. Even second master's degree may not be worth the investment of another 3 years of TIME, especially since i might end up in assisted living before i could graduate., and that master's degree program REQUIRES at LEAST 2 internships. In August, 2003 i was told by an assistant graduate college dean that if i wa NOT admitted into college degree program, the university did not need ow want me because Everyone was going back to school. that was !5 YEARS ago. That is still true TODAY.
You HAVE a job. Do you want to keep that job, even if you are doing SOMEONE ELSE'S research, or not just because you think you will be treated and not get the respect YOU think you deserve/ Respect is EARNED, not granted. You CANNOT DEMAND respect and kindness form someone else. I've had that happen TO ME, and it was the MOST INSULTING thing that I've EVER had happen to me.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: The short answer is no. You only need someone willing to hire you for the role to have it. I know people with only a BS who transitioned from technician in an academic lab to research scientist there (and got a big pay increase in the process). Conversely you don't need a different title to be given independence. I know of technicians (who went on to grad school) who were relied on to make major decisions and suggest new projects.
A longer answer is that you will always be at a disadvantage in the research world without those letters, and constantly feeling like you must prove you are deserving of independence before you get it. A PhD is commonly described as training to be an independent researcher. Some of the smartest people I know never advanced beyond the BS and as a result were beset by headaches such as your concern about the postdoc. In academia such pecking orders tend to get taken to the extreme, too.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Job titles and the associated requirements will vary from university to university (and possibly within schools of the same university). For MIT those policies are given at <https://policies-procedures.mit.edu/>. For your type of position, the relevant sections are [5.2.2 Research Scientist, Research Engineer, Research Associate](https://policies-procedures.mit.edu/node/45/#sub2) and [5.2.3 Research Specialist, Technical Associate, Technical Assistant](https://policies-procedures.mit.edu/node/45/#sub3). The wording of sections is very similar, with the key difference being Research Scientists
>
> contribute significantly to the design and execution of experiments in research projects. They work in collaboration with the principal investigator.
>
>
>
and Research Specialists
>
> provide professional, technical, or other support service to a research project or program under the direction of a principal investigator.
>
>
>
For the position you are describing, while a PI may informally say you are a collaborator, when push comes to shove it is an unequal relationship and you are working under the direction of the PI.
That said, what you do is generally more important than the title you hold. Your treatment within the group will not depend so much on your title as on the roles and responsibilities your PI assigns you (possibly through the post doc). If the PI expects you to do your own thing, then you will be independent, regardless of the title. If the PI expects you to turn the crank while observed by the post doc, then you will be a monkey regardless of the title. You need to discuss your roles and responsibilities prior to taking the job.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: Nope. Being a scientist requires no formal degree. It is a systematic approach to data analysis and interpolation. While a degree could help teach you how to think, it’s very apathetic to what is needed. Based on most research today, I’d argue many who hold the title are not even science driven. If you are able to objectively look at data with no bias and draw a conclusion based on the data, technically you are a scientist.
People value too much what other people choose as your title. That is all just people, and true science does not need validation, to create a theory. Validation comes from the repeatable of the scientific process and deduced conclusions. Everyone here is talking about clout and validation though a governed body that almost certainly has bias built in.
Ask yourself, what formal training did all of the most revered scientists have? None, they went against the grain and let the data guide them. I hate people think universities have a monopoly on science. They are not the gatekeepers. They should be informed by science, not police it and decide what is right based on the current accepted principles. That is a flawed way to think.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/05/31
| 987
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergraduate student in a private Indian university. Last semester I worked on a research project with another undergrad student and under the mentorship of a PhD scholar.
We have submitted a paper to an Elsevier journal which charges a mandatory open-access fee of $500 on acceptance of the paper. In such cases, does the university typically cover these costs or are they borne by the authors of the paper?
Which department of the university should I contact to ask for funding for the same?<issue_comment>username_1: **Talk to your professor** who will know better than us. It's possible your professor has a grant that also has an open access component, in which case that's where the money will come from. It's also possible your university's library has set aside some funds for open access. Here's an example page from the [University of Hull](https://libguides.hull.ac.uk/openaccess/hull). If your university has something similar, you might be able to get funding from there.
If you find you don't have funding, you can pay the OA fee out of your own pocket (probably not a good idea even if you are wealthy), decline OA (if it's a hybrid journal which publishes both OA and non-OA papers), ask for a waiver (Elsevier might grant this since you are from India, which is a developing country), and finally withdraw and submit elsewhere. If you take the last option, do so quickly so as not to waste the journal's time.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> does the university typically cover these costs or are they borne by the authors of the paper?
>
>
>
This seems to be a false dichotomy — usually it is not an "either-or" (unless you submitted to an open access journal with a mandatory Open Access fee).
It might be possible that your university does not cover the Open Access fees of this journal. However, that doesn't mean you as authors *have to* or should pay. Many universities subscribe to journals in order to make sure their researchers and students have access to papers which are *not Open Access*.
In other words, even if you don't pay the Open Access fee, many if not most researchers will still have access to your work. (Looking at the journal page on Elsevier you can look at the list of Open Access papers in that journal — often it's a minority.)
In fact, you are probably allowed to "self-archive", i.e. upload a preprint to the arxiv, for example. That way your article is available to everyone freely (open access). Again, you are probably even allowed to update the content of the preprint to match the content of the published version.
Check with your journal for their policy on self-archiving — the database <http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/search.php> is also a useful resource.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: **No** the university is not generally expected to cover publication fees just automatically. There are, commonly, a couple different mechanisms that are used to cover OA fees:
1. Lab resources. Many labs, including my own, budget for some OA publication fees in grants, startup packages, intentions for unallocated funding, etc. This would be my first stop in your case - ask your professor.
2. University resources. Sometimes the university has a pool of money set aside to pay OA fees where lab support is unavailable - usually for student projects and the like. This is often but not always done through the library, and is typically something you have to apply for (though the application might be fairly easy) and is not guaranteed
3. University-Publisher partnerships. There are some journals that allow universities to pay a chunk of money and then have their researchers get either free or much reduced publication in a journal or bundle of journals.
4. Waivers. If you *genuinely* don't have any other funding sources, you can ask the journal to waive the publication fees for an unfunded project. But generally, this needs to be genuinely unfunded, and not just "I forgot to budget for this".
Which one of these - or others - that are available to you will vary based on your particular institution.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/05/31
| 337
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<issue_start>username_0: In December I applied for a post doctoral position. After 4 months I had my job interview and now one month later they are ready to make a decision.
Is a long interviewing process a red flag? I am concerned that this shows that the department has a bad organizational structure and decisions are slow to be made.<issue_comment>username_1: That is pretty normal. That does not mean it is good, but it is not worse than your average university. Two things play a role here:
First, universities are just large organizations with all the bureaucracy and inefficiency that comes with that.
Second, universities are often self organizing, that is, the professors take a large part of the management duties. That is a good thing, in the sense that decisions are made by people who know what they are talking about. But it also means that a large part of those tasks are performed by people who are not primarily managers and have competing priorities (research, teaching).
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It could indicate that you were not the first candidate for the role following the interview. However, the first candidate (and second and (n-1)st) dropped out because of *reasons*, and the offer now comes to you. Just read the offer and decide whether you want take it or leave it, based on the face value. The delays you experienced are normal for academia and are not a red flag.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/05/31
| 1,585
| 6,670
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student in the best-ranked university in my country (not America or the UK) and pursuing my research in a field that I am (was?) passionate about. All was fine for a couple of years - I loved my work, did fruitful experiments and presented a paper at the best conference in my field. I also successfully defended my PhD candidacy and got good comments from my panel which boosted up my morale significantly.
Things started going downhill from this point.
I had enough data to publish in a journal just three months after I had presented my conference paper. So, I prepared the manuscript and sent it to my advisors (I have two). Without even bothering to read the manuscript, they wanted me to aim for a journal with a higher impact factor rather than the one I was targeting and so, they asked me to pursue a few more experiments. After four more unsuccessful months, I get the news that a similar work to mine (same experimental design, same goals) was just published by a group from another university.
Now, my advisors turn into PANIC mode. They accused me of being too slow and not making enough effort. In fact, they didn't even remember that I had sent them the draft manuscript four months ago.
My relationship with my advisors turned sour after this. They did not respond to my emails calling for meetings, failed to go through important presentations and never responded positively to my ideas. In the midst of all this, I lost my grandmother and they didn't even offer a word of condolence (perhaps I'm expecting too much?).
Furthermore, I was working on another side project which also gave promising results and was accepted to a prestigious conference. My advisors did not have a look at the draft manuscript for this conference paper, hardly offered any comments or suggestions and did not respond to my email asking them to have a look at my presentation. I travelled alone to the conference (to another country) and presented my paper without any feedback from my advisors. After returning back, they did not even ask how my presentation went.
As a result of this and more, I have gone into a depressive state, lost my motivation for the field I once loved, become a social recluse and lost out on my mental health. It has led me to ask myself "Why did I join this place?" every single day. I have even sought professional help from a therapist but that seems to be of no help.
Apologies for the long post but any advice will be helpful. Criticism is welcome. Thanks for reading.<issue_comment>username_1: Non-responsive/bad advisors seem to be the rule rather than the exception in acadamia.
Switching programs will probably only result in switching to other bad advisors and cost you enormous amounts of time for little effect on the results. Dropping out because a handful of people aren't as helpful as they once were would be foolish as well.
Finish your PhD and move on.
Lastly: **Keep working with mental health professionals.** You said you're depressed and seeking treatment. I'm glad you're getting that medical condition checked out. Sometimes that treatment can take time to take effect and get some relief from it. You might also want to interview some other professionals to see if they might have a better diagnosis or treatment plan for you.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, all this sounds quite bad and depressing. And I would guess that your advisors might be genuinely let down by that rival publication. But are the things really this bad or is it your perception?
You mentioned a recent loss (my condolences!) and an onsetting depression. Could it be that you *see* things getting this bad? Slower response times happen in academia (for reasons completely unrelated), less comments may mean you gained on experience and do everything right, so no need for lengthy corrections, etc.
So, one thing of importance is your well-being, so please continue seeing a therapist.
The other crucial question you should ask yourself is: even if all this mishap is not merely a *perceived* one, how would it hinder you in getting a PhD? You seem to be able to produce research results. Please continue doing so, put them together in a thesis, and defend it. Even if your advisors really "don't like" you, what can they do, if you submit a correct, well-founded, solid thesis for your degree?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: **These "advisors" of yours are parasitising you, not helping you.** Thus, they are *not* advisors.
Carefully digest this situation, and adjust accordingly. You were deeply affected by the shock of being left alone by the ones you expected help from. But clearly these people are not interested in you, or your career goals. They just want you to either add to their CVs, or else sod off.
As others said in this thread, this is unfortunately common in modern Academia. It is also my opinion that parasitic "bosses" are far more frequent in some institutions and cultures than others.
My main advice is that you focus on yourself, and judge how much freedom of action you actually have. From your description, your advisors are pretending you're invisible, probably expecting you to just disappear. If this is the case I believe this is an invaluable opportunity.
Take as much time as you can in investing in your skills and personal goals, and while trying your best to remain invisible. The most important aspect of your PhD is how you made use of your time, funds, equipment, resources, i.e. **not the degree certificate**. Your acquired skills, achievements, contacts, knowledge, will move you through your career. Work on those.
I have recently had a similar situation where some postdoc supervisors in China started completely ignoring me as I would not accept 50% payment nor handing off authorships & data for free. I was passive-aggressively left alone helpless in a room, and I can't deal with their language. What did I do? **I started working, networking, studying like crazy.** I was putting way more effort than any of them, and I acted as if they didn't exist. I have learnt R programming from scratch, and pushed many delayed projects. I have submitted papers of my own, and started exciting collaborations abroad. I have used local structure to do a number of pilot tests on hypotheses of my own, digitalised their most useful & rare references. The pseudo-supervisors surely expected me to freak out and leave. I felt like doing it, but I would just work harder, for myself. They did not stop me. I finished all official procedures with the minimum necessary.
**I suggest you do likewise**. Good luck!
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2018/05/31
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<issue_start>username_0: As the title says, I received an email yesterday, presumably I am in Cc of the email that my professor wrote to the university I am applying to. In my understanding there is always some mystery about the letters. But what exactly is the norm here? Does anyone care?<issue_comment>username_1: I would say NO, it does not reduce your chances.
Why would you think it would?
A letter of recommendation is no secret.
Even though it seems from the comments you were in BCC (so nobody can know).
Maybe think about it this way: You have certain qualities or capabilities. You professor obviously thinks that these qualify you for what ever he is recommending you. So there are no secrets anyway. You and your professor knew your capabilities and now the receiving party knows as well. It should not be a surprise to anyone, that you know why you are recommended.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: It is becoming more widely accepted that people have the right to be aware which information is kept on them by various organisations, to request access to this information and in some cases to request this information to be deleted (see e.g. [FOI](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-freedom-of-information/what-is-the-foi-act/) for UK, [GDPR](https://www.eugdpr.org/) for EU). So by cc'ing you in, you professor acknowledged your right to access the same information about yourself that (s)he is sharing with the third party.
No, it does not reduce your chances — it is perfectly reasonable for professor to show the recommendation letter to the candidate, if they wanted to, and in some places it is even required.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Your comment clarifies that you were blind-copied (BCCed), not open-copied (CCed). That means that the college you are applying to would have just received a regular letter-of-recommendation with no apparent CC in the list of recipients (i.e., the do not know that this professor copied you into the message). As to whether this is normal, there is no standard here; it is a matter of discretion. Professors sometimes give a private letter-of-recommendation without disclosing to the student what they wrote, and sometimes they copy the student into the letter, so he/she can see what they wrote. When copying the student into the letter, some professors do this via blind-copy, so that the college does not make a negative inference about the candour of the letter.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/05/31
| 1,223
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a bit of a dilemma. I am writing a master thesis about a topic that I originally thought was original. It turns out that someone else has done the exact same thing, which forced me to take another perspective on the same topic. Their code and research are old, over 10 years. What I ended up doing is migrating their code to the newest version of the framework used and then evaluating the method in a real-world environment.
Now I am in a situation where I have to start writing the method section of the thesis report where I describe the method and how the original problem was solved, but I have no real theoretical background/models except for the ones that the authors of the previous articles wrote. How should I reference these things? I still want to show the logical evidence and models that they use without plagiarizing their work. Can I use the same/similar pictures/models/evidences in this section of my report and just refer these things to the original authors and their report? Should I mention it in the beginning of the section that all of the models are from the original authors?<issue_comment>username_1: If I understand your question correctly, your problem is that you want to write a section of your thesis and indicate that the entire section paraphrases someone else's article. I would simply add a sentence near the beginning of that section that says something like "The following discussion is taken from <NAME> Crick (2016)".
Generally speaking, *plagiarism* not an issue if you clearly cite the other person's work. *Copyright* is not an issue if you only use a small bit of their text and you clearly indicate that it's a direct quotation (i.e., using quotation marks or block indentation) and cite the source.
Finally, you might need to worry about whether or not you've done enough *new* work to merit approval of your thesis, or to merit publication. Your advisor can tell you if you've done enough new work for your thesis. The editor of the journal you want to publish in, or the organiser of the conference you want to present at, will ultimately decide if you've made a contribution worth publication in that particular venue.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If I understand correctly, your thesis will be an application to domain A of a method that other authors had proposed for domain B. This sounds like a perfectly OK topic for research. You should of course make amply clear that the method comes originally from these other authors. If you use unpublished material (perhaps they have provided you with code in personal communication) be sure to reference that too.
Another issue is whether the translation of a method to a different domain is substantial enough to meet the requisites of your Master's program. Sometimes this kind of exercise can be very substantial, sometimes less so. This is something that you need to discuss with your supervisor.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I am currently writing a paper in which I use an existing methodology for a new problem. My solution is effectively the following:
>
> ### Methods
>
>
> We apply the method of `[cite original paper]` to `[problem I am addressing]`.
>
>
>
I then spend the rest of the Methods section explaining the methodology I cited.
In your case, you could then proceed with something like this:
>
> We re-implement this methodology using `[whatever new frameworks etc.]`. We make design decisions `{A, B, C, ...}` in this new implementation because `[some reasons]`.
>
>
>
Later, in `Results` or maybe `Discussion`, you could discuss any performance gains your new implementation has over the original.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: [The answer by @username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/110609/1277) is excellent, but to elaborate on one of its key point: the wording of the attribution note at the start of the section should be clear and explicit about how closely you have made use of their material.
Something like “This section/discussion is taken from XYZ” gives the impression it’s close to a direct copy, in which case it’s probably best to make those portions *actual* direct quotes, and indicate this unmistakably by formatting them as quotes in the text. (That way, the attribution can’t be missed by someone skimming your thesis or reading a few pages out of context.)
If you’re following their general organisation and content but have rewritten it in your own words, then something like “This section is closely follows XYZ”, “…is heavily based on…”, or similar is appropriate (along with, for any direct quotes or figures you re-use, an explicit attribution in the text at the point of use).
If you’re giving your own exposition/organisation of the discussion rather than following theirs, but essentially following them in content because their paper is the main/only source you learned the method from, then something a little weaker like “…is greatly indebted to…”, “…has been heavily informed by…” or similar makes sense (again plus specific attribution in the text for any more directly re-used material).
And, of course, in any case: check with your advisor or other experienced colleagues that whatever you write fits with conventions/expectations in your field.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/05/31
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<issue_start>username_0: According to the (US-centric) "The Professor Is In." Facebook live [podcast](https://www.facebook.com/TheProfessorIsIn/videos/1790722777640928/) it is illegal/problematic to ask a candidate in a job interview about family - specifically, it is a problem to ask about how a spouse would react to your appointment or what a spouse would do for work if you are hired. Nevertheless, I have often been asked these types of questions!
How should I respond to these questions as an early stage career academic? Are, they, in fact, illegal?
I am interested mainly in the US context, but I would also like to know if my reaction should differ if I were interviewing in other countries. Is there an answer that is safe in all contexts?
The webinar I watched indicates that candidates should know these questions are illegal but should not complain if they want to have the best shot possible of getting the job.<issue_comment>username_1: I could be wrong, but I don't believe any question is illegal to ask at an interview (at least in the US and UK), rather it is illegal to discriminate based on certain characteristics. If you ask a question about a protected characteristic, then in the case of a discrimination law suit, the university will be forced to prove that that information was not used. Hence most employers say don't ask about anything that is not relevant. What your family thinks about your job appointment is not relevant to the hiring process and protected characteristics like marital status, plans for children, sexual orientation, and age may be revealed during such questions.
The problem in academia is that we often mix our professional and social lives. Someone on the search main drive you around the neighborhood (e.g., on the way to dinner) and mention schools and nurseries. This is generally a no-no, but the search committee is trying to sell the school and determine if you would be a good colleague.
So to answer your question about how to respond, make sure you demonstrate you will be a good colleague, but be careful about revealing sensitive information (e.g., strong religious and political beliefs, maternity/paternity leave plans, etc). You should assume that potential colleagues are asking in good faith (e.g., if you are planning on having kids you probably want to know about the university nursery or if you are Jewish you may want to know about local temples). I would not suggest reacting to a sensitive question with anything like "you cannot ask me that", as no one wants to work with someone like that.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: According to the [UK .Gov website](https://www.gov.uk/employer-preventing-discrimination/recruitment), in the UK they must not even ask *whether* you have a husband.
There are many advise articles available with suggestions for how to deal with such questions if they do arise. Most of these are along the lines of
>
> I don't see that that is relevant to my ability to do this job.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Since you mentioned that you're also interested in Australia: strictly speaking, it isn't necessarily *illegal* to ask such questions here, but in general it's highly inadvisable. Discriminating on the basis of marital status *is* illegal, so why ask for information which you cannot legally use in the recruitment process?
[Ask A Manager](http://www.askamanager.org/2008/07/illegal-interview-questions.html) has some good advice on how to respond in this situation:
>
> So how do you handle it if an interviewer asks you one of these
> questions? Educating the interviewer on employment law probably isn’t
> going to endear you to them. Instead, figure out what the question is
> getting at, and answer that instead. If you think an interviewer is
> concerned that you’ll leave the job when your husband gets
> transferred, speak directly to that: “I can commit to the job for at
> least several years.” If you think they’re concerned that parenthood
> will get in the way of your job performance: “There’s nothing that
> would interfere with my ability to work the hours needed and get the
> job done.”
>
>
>
In this case, that might translate to something like "I don't have any restrictions that would prevent me from moving for this job."
There may be legitimate reasons to ask about family status later in the process - e.g. an enlightened university may have programs to help with the impact of relocation on spouses and family. But that should be left until *after* the decision is made on who to hire.
Edit to add:
Personally, I think there's a strong argument that applicants *should* have the right to lie when asked questions with no legitimate purpose in the hiring process. At least one country legally recognises this principle: in Germany, if the employer *does* ask an inadmissible question in a job interview, the applicant is legally permitted to lie (*Recht zur Lüge*) and the employer cannot use this lie as grounds for a claim against them.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Other answers have addressed the legality issue, but there’s still the question of
>
> How should I respond to these questions as an early stage career academic?
>
>
>
I’ll throw out one suggestion that, while obvious, doesn’t seem to have been offered by anyone, which is to answer the question honestly. Depending on what the honest answer is, this may well be the optimal way to handle the situation. For example:
>
> “How would your spouse react if you received an offer from us?”
>
>
> “[He/she] would be delighted, like me! We are both excited about the possibility of moving to [name of city].”
>
>
>
And to be clear, I’m not making light of the fact that questions of this sort are highly problematic and something an interviewer shouldn’t ask, that creates an opportunity for abuse/discrimination, and that could land them in legal hot water. Ideally we would have the luxury of being able to stand up and resist any unethical behavior we encounter. But in an interview setting, if answering the question honestly actually would not be detrimental to your application, this may not be the best time or place to start fighting these sorts of injustices. The world will not necessarily become a better place if you make a martyr of yourself and sacrifice a good professional opportunity to teach someone a lesson about employment law.
Anyway, offering a straightforward answer may or may not be the best strategy in any given situation, but it’s certainly one option that’s worth considering.
Good luck with your interviews!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: I have thought a lot about this topic. I am a married woman with a kid who had attended the big professional conference while 7 1/2 months pregnant. Most of my interviewers knew this information about me, so was often asked these questions on the job market. [1] I also mistakenly revealed the information a couple of times because I wanted to know about workplace culture. In the end, I got 0% of the jobs where the department knew I had a kid and 100% where they didn't. (Not statistically significant because of low sample size, but still...) Ever since that experience, I have paid special attention to articles on this topic.
I would abide by a few principles:
1) **Provide as little information as possible.** Anything you reveal may be held against you. If at all possible, provide a deflective, non-answer answer (including a joke). Frankly, any member of the search committee who is aware of the laws/cares about the discrimination will probably be grateful to you for avoiding this complication to the hiring process. Finally, even if you have a "good answer" like "my spouse would be happy to move," the committee may still decide not to believe you and penalize you for a two-body problem.[2]
2) **Be collegial.** A great deal of weight is placed on collegiality once you have made it to the stage of a flyout. This is why you should not just say "That's illegal." or respond in a way that might be confrontational (especially if you are a woman or person of color). In my case, I found that people who asked these illegal questions were using them as a lead in to sell you on aspects of the university such as great child care, fun couples activities in town, etc. When the asker (possibly incorrectly) thinks they are helping you, they take umbrage at a confrontational response.
3) **If the information is already out there, give them the answer they want to hear.** First, assume anything that they can Google is "out there." This includes wedding announcements, gift registries for babies, etc. After you account for the information that is part of the "public record", I think you are under no obligation to be actually honest about details. You should spin your situation to your heart's desire. They should not be using this information, so it should not matter, right?
4) **Pivot back to job-relevant topics as fast as possible.** Any time you spend discussing personal matters like this could probably be better spent positioning yourself as the most qualified applicant who would be the biggest asset to the department. So move back to these topics as fast as possible.
Some examples:
"Do you have children?" "Some days I feel I have 60 children! I can't tell if my undergrads are 19 are 9 most days. I often find that they don't listen well to directions... [here is one way I have handled that in my teaching]"
"How is your new baby sleeping through the night?" is "Great! They are such a good sleeper and I am back to full-time productive research!" (HA!)
"Are you married? What would your spouse do if you moved here? The university career services office is happy to help with spousal relocation." "It is great that the university is able to offer that type of support for new faculty. Are the students in the department also able to take advantage of career services? What are the placement rates like for new graduates from the department?"
[1] It was clearly something that the committees discussed about me. I had a prep call with a faculty member in advance of my first flyout. The conversation started with the person asking me what my daughter was going to be for Halloween. I had never met her and she did totally different work so did not attend the professional conference where I had been pregnant.
[2] Important study related to this topic (paywalled): journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003122417739294 This finds that hiring committees often use information about marital status to make problematic assumptions about female candidates and illegally use that info in their decision making. The examples (the researcher was allowed to sit in on real hiring meetings at an R1 university) were incredibly egregious, including not offering the job to a top candidate because, even though she insisted her husband was happy to move, they didn't believe her.
Upvotes: 4
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2018/05/31
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<issue_start>username_0: *professorship: tenure-track position, or "good" assistant professorship. Basically, a position that upgrades the postdoc status, and gives a much higher chance of a future permanent position.*
I'm currently going to start a postdoc in applied mathematics and I wish to land a permanent position at some point in my life. Naturally, the situation seems dire, and albeit I'm highly confident of my skills, one never knows.
So, my plan is to fix a deadline time to do my best, and if I don't get a professorship by that time, I should start, without a question, to seek for a job at the industry.
The natural question arises, which is this optimal stopping time? According to my advisor, I should land a professorship in 3 years, but I'm not sure if this is true.
So my question to academia.stackexchange: **What is, in your experience, the postdoctoral length of a freshly hired professor at your institutions?**
For sure my question is highly dependent on country and research area, I would appreciate answers for my specific case (Germanic world, Applied mathematics), but I think the presented answers could be meaningful for a lot of other fellow postdocs.
For what is worth, I would love some sort of database on newly hired professors, as it would also make possible to compare "strengths". But I've briefly scanned the internet with no positive results.<issue_comment>username_1: Speaking for Germany: in former times, a "Habilitation" war required for a full professorship - which you usually wrote during your post-doc phase. It usually took about 6 years (of course with strong variations). Now, you can qualify for a full professorship by being a "Junior Professor" - which takes 6 years with an interim evaluation after three years. In some cases, junior-professorships can be transformed to full professorships after six years, but if this really happens depends strongly on your university and faculty (in fact politics says it should be the norm, but in fact universities are having much more junior professorships than full professorships).
So the general norm in Germany is 6years+, since you usually won't get a position right after your PhD.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: As the poster mentioned that answer for other fields and regions might be useful:
In the English speaking biology/biomedical world, a really good researcher will do one 3 year postdoc, followed by a 3-5 year independent or semi-independent fellowship before beginning to look for permanent positions.
Also normal would be to have worked in a 1-3 postdocs totaling around 10 years in total. After 3 postdocs or more than 10 years people will start to ask questions.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: The range of scenarios I have seen (mostly in the US) for “postdoctoral length before landing a professorship job” is 0-8 years, with anywhere between 3 and 5 years being fairly typical. This should be understood with the following caveats:
* Some people actually *enjoy* doing several postdocs, or preferred prolonging their postdoc to get a really good professorship (or to achieve some other goal) when they had an option of taking a less good one earlier. You should not assume that someone taking 6 or 8 years means something terrible (but you should also not assume that it means something wonderful; basically you just shouldn’t make assumptions about what it means).
* Some people do longer postdocs because they switched fields part way through their postdocs.
* Not all jobs fall neatly on the postdoc/professorship spectrum. E.g., there are research labs (both government and industry) or other jobs from which a postdoc might transition to, and from which one might realistically transition to a professorship at some point.
The bottom line is that both statistics and anecdotal data can be very misleading. Each case tells a unique story which may, or quite possibly may not, have any relevance to your own situation.
Another thought about what you wrote:
>
> So, my plan is to fix a deadline time to do my best, and if I don't get a professorship by that time, I should start, without a question, to seek for a job at the industry.
>
>
> The natural question arises, which is this optimal stopping time? According to my advisor, I should land a professorship in 3 years, but I'm not sure if this is true.
>
>
>
While it’s certainly good to make plans, no offense but I think fixing a deadline in advance is not a good plan. The true “optimal stopping strategy” would include being open to adjusting your plan dynamically to fit circumstances. E.g., if you are doing great work and for random reasons just didn’t manage to get a tenure track position by year X, or if some really cool opportunity came up to go to some prestigious place for a year, it might make sense to do another year as a postdoc even if you hadn’t originally planned to. By contrast, if after 1-2 years you have not produced any research (I’m sure that won’t happen, it’s just a hypothetical scenario), it might be better to leave early rather than wait out the allotted 3-year postdoc period.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 2
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2018/05/31
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<issue_start>username_0: ### Summary
I was assigned to write an autobiography for a course and copied some sentences from a personal statement for an application.
Those sentences in turn included material by somebody else, which I referenced in the application, but I failed to reference in the autobiography.
Due to this I was accused of plagiarism by my professor, who I feel is making a mountain out of a molehill.
### What happened
I am a mathematics PhD student. I am taking a course outside of the math department in the education department. For the first week of class we have to submit an assignment essentially showing that we're in the class for financial aid purposes and what not, creating the impression that the assignment is not necessarily for credit. My professor wanted us to write a short autobiography for this assignment. It was about 1% of the total grade.
I had previously done an intense personal statement for NSF-GRFP, a prestigious fellowship.
I took one paragraph from that personal statement for this autobiography assignment and **forgot a reference that I had included in the NSF-GRFP personal statement**.
Unfortunately, the plagiarized portion was not in quotations and just merely had a footnote in my original NSF-GRFP proposal that I mistakenly overlooked.
Thus, two sentences (out of the five paragraphs) came up flagged as plagiarism and my professor indicated that they were going to submit this to the student-conduct office. Now needless to say I'm freaking out. I understand what plagiarism is, and I understand it does not matter whether it is intentional or not, and I do not what kind of sanctions will be placed on me for this oversight. This all happened today and I'm meeting with my graduate adviser tomorrow to discuss what actions need to be taken.
### What the professor and the rules say
I went to explain my situation to the professor. Before I could even finish explaining I was interrupted and told that I committed self-plagiarism as well by taking material from my NSF-GRFP personal statement. This professor is now completely unwilling to hear me out and told that I will be assigned an "F" for their course in addition to whatever penalties the university places on me.
Upon reviewing my institution's self-plagiarism statement, it says that the assignment/paper must be submitted for academic credit. Clearly an NSF-GRFP grant proposal is not for academic credit. So the self-plagiarism issue should be resolved rather quickly, I hope. I emailed my professor and she said that she will still be reporting me to student conduct for plagiarism and that she would give me a 0% on this assignment and take 30% off of my final course grade, i.e. if I get a 100% on every assignment for the entire term I can pull off a 70% "C" passing grade. I'm confident in my abilities but I'm sure I would end up losing a point or two along the way and end up with a "D" or worse. So that much has been retracted.
### What my graduate advisor says
I met with my graduate program adviser, and he indicated that there is nothing that he personally can do about the matter as the instructor of record has the right to submit any form of plagiarism to student conduct at their own free will if they have any form of evidence. He indicated that there is nothing the department can really do about the matter and that I need "roll with the punches." I found this quite discouraging.
On the other hand, he mentioned that I will not lose my position (graduate teaching assistant) in the department due to this, and that as far as he is aware, the grade I receive in the course won't impact my graduation or progression through the department. However, he fears that if the university places severe sanctions on me (i.e. semester probation, expulsion) that there is nothing that can be done.
All in all, his advice was to simply go through the procedure and do not fight it.
This conflicts with advice I have received from some other professors that I am in good terms with in the department, they said at worst I should receive a failing grade for that assignment and nothing more. However, it all boiled down to their mere opinion of the matter. I still have not heard from the student-conduct board, but I anticipate to receive that email on Monday if not sooner.
If I choose to appeal I have seven business days to put in a formal appeal plea. I guess my new crossroad is whether to: **appeal or not?** If the accusation is self-plagiarism, I will certainly appeal it because I have a strong case for that. However, if it is merely plagiarism I don't know... I guess it comes back to the title of this question: where's the line between plagiarism and missing a reference? The student handbook at my university defines plagiarism as:
>
> whereby another’s work is used or appropriated without any indication of the source, thereby attempting to convey the impression that such work is the student’s own.
>
>
>
Taking away all the circumstances of this event, I have done that. Considering how this actually happened, it was more of a clerical error. I will update again after I receive the official email from the student conduct board.
### Question
I do not know what to do or what I even can do right now.
I actually have aspirations to one day become faculty at a university. Moreover, I am on an assistantship through my university teaching courses and I fear that I could lose that position and thus my stipend money.<issue_comment>username_1: While you are technically guilty of plagiarism for forgetting the reference, you are not guilty of self-plagiarism—the work you have plagiarized is not published anywhere, nor is there an expectation that material submitted for a grant proposal cannot be recycled for later use.
Therefore, the professor's response is overblown and is not likely to survive a review process. As <NAME> mentioned in his comment, you need to see your institution's appeal process for academic violations and pursue that. You should expect to get zero credit for the assignment, and there may be a penalty against the remainder of your grade beyond the zero, but an automatic F for the course is clearly, as you said, making a mountain out of a molehill.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: To offer some thoughts that go in a different direction than @username_1’s excellent answer, I am somewhat taken aback by your description of the assignment:
>
> For the first week of class we have to submit an assignment essentially showing that we're in the class for financial aid purposes and what not
>
>
>
You haven’t said what kind of class this is, and I don’t know what institution you’re in (or what you mean exactly by “what not”), but I think you may have a legitimate claim that the mere act of assigning you a task that is completely unrelated to the topic of the course (if the impression I’m getting is correct) constitutes an abuse of the professor’s authority. Financial aid may be very important and all, but I don’t think it’s within a professor’s authority to force students to take any action to apply for such aid or to help their department or university claim aid on their behalf. There are all sorts of legal and ethical concerns that this raises. Admittedly, I’m not a lawyer and cannot say anything authoritative about whether this is okay or not, but I’d advise you to look into the matter by consulting the university ombuds office, your student union representative, other friendly parties, or even a lawyer.
If my intuition about this is correct and the professor has abused their authority, you may well have a strong counterargument to help you in your defense. While this wouldn’t necessarily invalidate the claim of plagiarism (since two wrongs don’t make a right as we all know), pointing out that the professor should not even be allowed to base your course grade on irrelevant and illegitimate assignments would certainly complement your other defense arguments (which also sound pretty reasonable) nicely and increase your chances of success. Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In my opinion, "self-plagiarism" is an oxymoron invented by crooks and publishing houses. To hear that a professor makes such a fuss about it is quite sad. Besides, it is *teaching*, not *Final Judgement*. Unless you had a history of plagiarism, not including a reference should be at worst viewed as a mistake more or less equivalent to making an arithmetic error in a long computation, IMHO. A few points off, a gentle rebuke, and a clear explanation of what is expected is all it really merits.
Alas, this opinion is easy for me to say but hard for you to use. Looks like you'll have to go through some formal appeal procedure. Just go the the department chair office, explain that you got into a conflict with your teacher, state the situation in a matter-of-fact way without emotions, accusations, or attempts to defend yourself, and ask for advice and formal appeal rules and procedures. You should definitely be given the information on the latter but if you behave nicely and the chair is not in a terribly bad mood, you may get a former too.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: I don't have personal experience with this, but if it were me I would go to my faculty ombudsperson and explain the situation just like you did to us here, and ask him(/her) for advice.
Most likely he'll suggestions on what you should do. If he seems *particularly* sympathetic, and you get slapped with a harsh punishment (in my eyes, a zero is too harsh if (a) the assignment is worth a lot, (b) you only forgot one citation out of many, and (c) your work otherwise didn't have major problems) then you may hint if there's a chance he could informally chat to the professor and see if he could impose a lighter penalty (e.g. maybe X% off and letting you redo the assignment with original content?) so that it doesn't affect your grade so disproportionately.
Barring sympathetic faculty members to talk to privately, I would just try to stay calm and go through the process. For a first offense I just don't see a humane punishment for an unintentional oversight like this that goes beyond that assignment, and frankly your professor will likely make himself look bad if he can even manage to push for harsher punishments on this.
Whomever you talk to (including but not limited to the professor), ask them if there's a chance this could make it into your permanent academic record. I have no idea what the consequences are, but I know if it were me I would *plead* them to help me avoid that when I was clearly doing my best and not anything wrong. But see what they say.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Severity of the "crime" matters, and it can be debated on logical grounds. So if you are to defend yourself in front of a committee, make sure that you can show to them to the best of your ability that "it was a clerical error" indeed, as you write, and nothing more. Was it? How central/critical to your assignment were these two sentences? What would you stand to gain by plagiarizing these specific two sentences?
Some punishment towards creating an alertness reflex for the future may come down on you, but the principle "punishment must fit the crime" is almost universally accepted, and it warrants a "quantification" of the crime.
Also, the extend of the crime matters. If these two sentences were not that critical to the work, well, they are only two sentences after all. This is a second way to quantify the crime.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: *For the purpose of this answer I assume that the original reference in your application was flawless – which is you have to ascertain yourself.*
If we ignore the existence of your application for a minute, the professor would have a strong case against you for committing plagiarism. Yes, you can say that you forgot a reference due to a clerical error, but that’s an easy claim to make in hindsight and is usually not considered a valid defence. This would be your typical case of plagiarism that is usually severely punished for a good reason. The only thing in your favour is that this is only about two sentences in a minor assignment.
Now, thanks to your application (which is probably on record somewhere), you are in the fortunate situation that you can actually prove that you only committed a clerical error: You copied some context which includes the offending two sentences; you lost the reference in the process. While this opens the door for accusations of self-plagiarism, this is a lesser offence and can be easily dismissed for reasons you already noted.
This is how I would build my defence: Acknowledge that you can understand where the accusations are coming from and that this is brought before the student-conduct board. However, state that the alleged plagiarism did not happen out of malice but merely was a clerical error – which you can prove.
As already mentioned by others, it might be wise to seek for support from the student union or similar for the conduct board’s inquiry.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: Wait, let me get this straight: This Professor wants to bring you up on formal disciplinary charges for a mock autobiographical text which is a homework assignment in some class, because you had a few sentences in there that you didn't write yourself? And you're a Mathematician (i.e. not training to become a biographer)?
That's patently absurd. The most ridiculous thing I've heard since, well, <NAME>'s last tweet I guess.
Here are some hopefully practical suggestions. They are quite assertive and confrontational - but we're not dealing with reasonable action towards you, so some boldness is called for:
* Find friends, colleagues and class-mates who support your position.
* Talk to your graduate student union / graduate employee union. They should want not merely to protect you, but to prevent the very dangerous precedent of frivolous disciplinary procedures being countenanced by senior faculty (or later on, disciplinary authorities). It is also something that should be politically easy to do, since no funds or employment condition changes are involved.
* Your graduate program advisor was brushing you off when he "indicated that there is nothing that he personally can do". What he *should* have said that this is an abuse of the course teacher's position, a distortion of the regulations, and that the regulations regarding plagiarism are intended for academically meaningful cases. He could and he should talk to that course teacher, demanding that this case *not* be reported, telling the teacher he would protest, formally and in writing, such a report; testify in your favor at any procedure; and initiate an administrative procedure against said teacher.
* In fact, you should check how you yourself may be able to "counter-sue". It's better if a member of the senior faculty supports this/sponsors this/co-signs this; and it's better yet if it's the graduate student union.
* One of the things the union should do for you is assign a lawyer, or an experienced defender in disciplinary procedures, to help you form your defense (and possibly a counter-suit). Other answers suggest what certain defense lines might be, and of course it depends on the specifics of your university bylaws and state law.
* If you have enough classmates annoyed about this happening, they could disrupt the course classes until the Professor promises to not report / rescind the report of the incident. Union support can help this happen, including possibly by gathering more people to support such an effort.
* If you have enough people supporting you overall, get them all to write letters of protest both to the course teacher and to your graduate program supervisor. If you have been reported, these could also be letters to whoever is running the disciplinary procedure, demanding that it not be conducted.
* If you have enough people supporting you overall and/or union support, and there's a disciplinary hearing, then in addition to mounting a defense - you want to have a noisy crowd in and outside the room/hall where a hearing is held, protesting it.
* If you have enough people supporting you overall and/or union support, the union or one of your supporters could first threaten, then carry out the threat, of involving news media (both inside and outside campus). But don't do that, nor be too threatening, before the incident has been reported.
I could write more but you catch my drift.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_8: I'm assuming you are in the US and had a US undergraduate education given your NSF application.
First, you should stop minimizing the offense and rationalizing your violation of academic standards with comments like "mountain out of a molehill" or calling it a "clerical error." If you were an undergraduate at any reasonable US institution you would be subject to sanctions for what you did in your NSF essay if you had turned it in since you failed to use quotation marks. This is something that you should know at high school graduation and certainly at the end of your first semester or year in college. Undergraduates get 0s for just a few words without quotation marks not to mention several sentences.
As a graduate student you should hold yourself and be held to even a higher standard; care in writing should be second nature. For example any college graduate should be assumed to be familiar with and able to apply in their writing definitions such as that [given here](https://www.indiana.edu/~istd/definition.html). Just search the web for others. As a potential faculty member you are actually charged with implementing this in practice.
So the first thing you need to do is to admit that you did the wrong thing and apologize to the professor, and accept the appropriate punishment. Not a fake apology, a real one. Of course if you really don't understand or agree with your university's policies on academic integrity by all means, make a stand, but know that those documents and procedures represent years of faculty and legal discussion and consensus building. This is reflected in the way your advisor says that this is up to the other faculty member. Faculty are absolutely going to support their peers' right to handle these matters even if they would handle them differently.
However, you have compounded the issue by being dismissive of the importance of the assignment, which is a standard first week kind of task for a discussion based class especially where students are from a mix of departments and backgrounds. These assignments are helpful for the professor to understand the class. I'm also guessing that since you said the class was in education that the professor is modeling a way that you as a future possible professor (or TA) might gather information about who the students in the class are and any concerns they might have. This has nothing to do with financial aid; it is insulting to the professor for you to characterize her assignment as some kind of busy work.
The bigger issue is that you are acting as though the faculty member in the class is not in charge of determining what is important or not important, and that is very insulting to the faculty member. This is not helping your case at all, beyond being rude and obnoxious. You don't want to be in the class? Guess what, the undergraduates don't want to be in your college algebra or calculus recitation. You are still in charge if you are the instructor, and it is not okay for them to be rude to you.
You need to apologize to the instructor for not taking her assignment seriously. I hate to say this but you are living up to stereotypes of mathematicians who think that they are much smarter than people in every other discipline, in your case even as a first year student encountering a faculty member. If you are male and (as indicated by the pronouns in your question) she is female you should also be aware that she is probably assuming that the patronizing way you are treating her and her course is not just because it is not a mathematics course but also potentially because of sexism on your part. You have made numerous bad mistakes in your interactions, and you will have to work very hard to recover. When you go into that classroom you need to be positive, take the work seriously, and be willing to learn and not be a passive aggressive presence.
My feeling is you should even now just say to her that you accept the punishment and say that you hope that by being a positive and constructive contributor to the class over the rest of the semester you will make up for your mistake.
In terms of appeal or not, you probably should consult with the designated person about this. There should be someone who serves in the role of advisor to you. If there isn't go talk to someone in Student Affairs. If you do appeal, obviously the facts are against you, the only thing would be to appeal the severity of the sanction. If you appeal you can throw yourself on the mercy of the board by expressing remorse and asking for a chance to finish the course with the possibility of a passing grade (and you can point out that 30% punishment means that this leaves no room for error).
tl;dr
Stop insulting the Professor.
Throw yourself on the mercy of the instructor and also when you get whatever you get from the conduct board you should also apologize profusely. Work very hard all semester and be a positive contributor to the course.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: It's hard to tell exactly what the facts are, but if they are what it sounds like, I'm not sure you fully appreciate the seriousness of the situation yet.
Let's set aside the self-plagiarism as that's now moot. Instead, I am going to focus on those 2 sentences. It sounds like when writing the GRFP, you copied two sentences from someone else, word-for-word, without using quotation marks, but you did add a citation. If that is indeed what you did, that is plagiarism. It's not enough to include a citation. You must also indicate that the material is a quotation and was written by someone else. When you don't include any indication that those sentences were written by someone else, you are giving the impression that you wrote those sentences.
Then, when writing the essay for class, it sounds like you copied those 2 sentences again, this time without the citation. If that's what happened, that's plagiarism, both times. You should be realizing that it violates academic integrity policies. In particular, when you copy material written by someone else without indicating that it is a quotation, you are "convey[ing] the impression that such work is your own", and that directly violates academic policies. This is true even if you had put a citation at the end: to indicate that it is someone else's work, you must both mark it as a quotation, and also credit the source (e.g., with a citation).
If these facts are correct, the problem is not that you forgot the citation; or it's not just that you forgot the citation. The problem is that you copied material written by someone else, without indicating that it was copied -- and you did it twice.
What should you do now? If I've understood the facts correctly, you should stop minimizing the situation. Stop trying to minimize it by calling it "unintentional", "a clerical error", "merely two sentences out of five paragraphs", or saying that the professor is "making a mountain out of a molehill". This *is* a mountain. Universities take academic integrity policies very seriously, for good reason, so it's not likely to help your case to suggest that violations of it are unimportant.
Instead, I recommend that you take this seriously. Recognize that you screwed up. We are all human; we all make mistakes. It happens. Arguably, what matters most is how we deal with it when it happens. Rather than minimizing, learn from this situation. Learn about academic integrity policies, what they require, and why many in academia care about them so strongly. Apologize sincerely to the professor. Tell her that you are sorry and you realize you screwed up; and make no excuses. You'll have to work hard over the semester to recover from the mistake, but I suspect you'll find that you can put this behind you.
I agree that you might want to appeal any self-plagiarism finding. But while it might feel harsh, 0% on this assignment and 30% off the course grade doesn't sound like an outlandish penalty for the plagiarism (those two sentences), and it might be within the realm of what discretion is afforded to the instructor. In many places, I suspect the policies allow for penalties up to giving you an F for the course or suspending or expelling you from the graduate program if you violate the academic integrity policy. So, I am not sure I would recommend appealing the plagiarism violation. A poor grade on this one course won't end your life and won't sink your career chances. Take this as an opportunity to learn and show good character for the future. If you learn the lesson and demonstrate that you work hard and take your studies seriously, then I would imagine that there's a good chance you can put this behind you and reach your career goals.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: >
> copied ... included material by somebody else ... failed to reference
>
>
>
For a "brief autobiography"? That's enough. At 1% of the grade, the instructor was not expecting perfection or a great deal of work, but it was the start of a new course, and you were supposed to write at least a little something *original* about yourself for the course. The copypasta just doesn't make the grade.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/01
| 777
| 3,590
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<issue_start>username_0: I have decided to apply to a few faculty jobs, and all of my faculty references have agreed some time ago to support me (my masters and PhD advisors who I talked to a year ago).
I have submitted 5 applications so far and plan on submitting another 5 this season. But I am not sure when I should contact and ask my references to submit their reference letter.
Does the application system request their reference letter as soon as I apply? I have no idea if they've been notified of my applications. Is it okay to just apply first and then ask them for specific letters once the application gets reviewed (I'm sure that not all my applications will make it past the review stage)?
Does every application requires a reference letter, or do my references only get asked by the system if the application seems promising? Or should I email each of my references directly after I apply to request their recommendation letter, and if so, where do I tell them to send it?<issue_comment>username_1: It depends on each institution.
In some searches, the online application system submits a reference request immediately after you apply for the job.
In other cases, the search committee will ask for recommendations only if you are short listed.
In other cases, you have to submit the letters with your application.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You should contact your potential references **now**. You need their permission to list them as references *before* you submit any applications.
>
> Does the application system request their reference letter as soon as I apply?
>
>
>
**Every department is different.** Some do, some don't.
>
> Does every application requires a reference letter, or do my references only get asked by the system if the application seems promising?
>
>
>
**Every department is different.** Some ask for letters for every candidate; some only request letters for candidates that satisfy minimal qualifications (like having a PhD); some only request letters for candidates that pass a more rigorous initial screening; some may even wait until after interviews. My department automatically asks for letters for all minimally-qualified untenured candidates, but we only request letters for tenured applicants when we decide we want to interview them.
>
> Or should I email each of my references directly after I apply to request their recommendation letter, and if so, where do I tell them to send it?
>
>
>
**Every department is different.** Some will tell you to ask your references to send letters when you apply. Most departments will ask for contact information and request letters directly from your references.
In any case, each department will provide their own instructions. Follow them.
I've recommended the following protocol to my students for several years. When you decide to apply, you create a shared spreadsheet (on Google Docs, for example) with one row for each application target, and columns listing the university, department, a link to the ad, instructions for submitting letters (as supplied by the department), submission deadlines, and each of your references. Ask each of your references to indicate in their column of the spreadsheet (1) when anyone asks them for a letter, and (2) when they have actually submitted a letter. That way, you can keep track of the status of your applications and letters, your references have a unified record of where and when they need to send letters, and your references can be properly (but not *too* publicly) embarrassed if miss a deadline.
Upvotes: 3
|
2018/06/01
| 1,874
| 8,646
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently finishing the last year of my undergrad degree, and plan on applying to grad school in about 7 years. I'm taking a year off to work, then completing a 1 year graduate certificate followed by a 2 year diploma program and 3 more years of work experience before applying for a masters program, which requires 2 reference letters from relevant profs. I know I can ask instructors from the grad certificate and diploma programs instead of relying on professors from my undergrad courses, but that's still a 3 year gap between my last course and application. Do I need to wait until I apply for my masters to ask for references? Or can I ask in advance before graduating my grad/diploma programs, after explaining my plan to apply for a masters in 3 years? My concern is my profs might not remember me...<issue_comment>username_1: No, you do not need to wait, you can certainly ask in advance. There is no rule against it. However, if the readers of the recommendation letter notice that it is from several years ago, then they may react negatively. On the other hand, they might not. Admission committees typically process many applications, so do not read any particular letter that carefully. It is unlikely they will check the date.
The concern that professors will not remember you when you ask for a letter years from now is very reasonable.
After doing other things for several years, you may ask people who know about those things to write letters for you. This would give a more up-to-date picture about your qualifications. However, you can both ask for letters now and after completing the years of other activity.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: It is quite normal for students to ask their undergraduate professors for letters of recommendation, years after leaving the institution; this is especially the case for students like you who plan to work prior to graduate school. Many programs encourage some time off after undergraduate education because of the possibility of "burning out" (amongst other reasons), and thus many professors are used to the process of writing a letter for their student, years after the student has left the institution. Though 7 years might be a rather large gap in time (and some of these professors might retire or change institutions by then), what is important is that they are made aware as early on as possible that you will eventually want this letter from them.
Prior to leaving your institution/graduating, establish extensive rapport with those you are interested in receiving a letter of recommendation from and inform them of your future graduate school interests. Gauge the extent to which they are on board with writing you a letter, and ask if you can meet with them to discuss this letter at a later date, after you have been able to assess some sort of scope regarding what your application for graduate school will look like. Though this depends on the discipline, many professors do not want to merely be asked for a letter, but wish for you to present them with an early form of your statement of purpose and/or research interests first prior to asking for a letter.
After a professor agrees to write your letter, maintain email communication with them with updates, when relevant. There is no need for an inundation of emails with every little update, but it is helpful to check in with the professors. Keep a copy of your transcript on hand; this will be useful come recommendation time, because you are reminding the professor of the classes you took (with them and in relevant courses that they can speak on).
Though beginning the process for a letter of recommendation is subjective and you could ask the graduate coordinator of program(s) you plan to apply to about their personal stance on getting letters x amount of years ahead of time, to be safe, continue maintaining that contact with the knowledge of what each of your 2 letters of recommendation are asking for. Does professor X want a copy of your statement of purpose and your CV? Does professor Y instead only care about any updates after your certificate program? Each might have their own way that they like to go about the letter process.
Finally, when application time arrives, I would drill in the letter dates. Visiting the professors in years closer to the application cycle might be helpful, for meeting in person allows them to put a face to the name and CV; this part is completely up to you but does not hurt.
In sum, there are many ways to approach this, but approach those important professors early on while you are still fresh in their minds, check in with them as appropriate, and (if applicable) inform them of professional/academic updates that could affect their letter to you. 7 years is enough of a gap that your academic, research, and/or work goals may change in a manner that has you shift interests or consider changing who you want as your letter. Many changes are very possible of happening, so I would not stress about it too much.. just ensure that if someone agrees to write your letter, that they know that it comes with the asterisk of being a few years down the line, and hold them to it. There may be times that professors are far too busy with their own work to answer your check-in emails, but that does not mean you should not be adamant in keeping somewhat of a connection with them over the years through which you are no longer their student. The last thing you want is to have great people offer to be your recommenders, only for them to forget (since 7 years is a while away); of course, as mentioned earlier, many professors are used to writing letters years after their student has left an institution, but that continued communication will likely provide a stronger letter in the end, since you have been diligent in keeping yourself somewhat fresh in their mind.
Best of luck!
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I think if you're seven years out, the reference letters won't be as relevant. I would check with the master's program, but sometimes if you've worked for a certain amount of time you can provide one academic reference and one work related reference. I would try to keep a relationship with at least one professor - keep them updated, visit for coffee, etc. but wouldn't use a letter from seven years ago to apply for a Masters program. Maybe through your diplomas which will be more recent, you will find a more recent reference.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: Your concerns about not being fully remembered are quite valid. If you know (or even strongly suspect) that you will be requesting a letter of recommendation in several years, then I would encourage you to make the request now rather than wait several years as others have suggested. Talk to the professor and let them know what you are planning and explain the timeline. If she is willing to write you a letter of recommendation, then she will likely appreciate the opportunity to collect her thoughts while you are still fresh in her memory. If you wait until 7 years out, then I would expect that the chances of them saying "no" or writing a weaker letter would be much greater.
I was just recently asked to write a letter of recommendation for a Masters program for a student that graduated 10 years ago. They asked me because the program they applied to specifically requested a letter (or letters) from an academic setting and the former student has been working in industry in the meantime. While I distinctly remember the student, I couldn't tell you what classes we had together, what their grades were, or what departmental activities they were most active in. Had I known this request was coming, I could have either written a letter back then or at least jotted down some key facts that I would use in such a letter in the future.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: For undergraduate work **it is reasonable to ask for a letter as soon as you complete the work**, and it makes sense to do this while the memory is still fresh. A diligent professor will even keep the letter on file, in case a hiring committee requires that the letter be sent directly.
As you acquire experience it will become less likely that you would use the letter, since usually you will have more recent and more pertinent recommandations to provide.
As a rule of thumb, the longer you work with the professor, the further in the future the recommendation is pertinent. I still write background recommendations for my former doctoral students, a decade after they have defended. Obviously I am not the only one providing a letter.
Upvotes: 0
|
2018/06/01
| 1,985
| 9,034
|
<issue_start>username_0: I will soon be graduating, and I have been working mostly remote with a company as an application developer for about 4 years since my freshman year of college, doing enterprise-level development while pursuing my degree.
I have always been interested in business management/administration since my freshman year in college but never got the chance to pursue anything, and I would also like to eventually take my side projects to the next level and begin my own company.
I am wondering if it would be worth my time and money to pursue an MBA once I graduate while I work full time at my current job? The money will not be an issue, granted spending $90,000 will be no easy feat. Are my chances going to be good to get into an MBA program even though I do not have that much post-undergrad work experience?
The SMU, Cox School of Business (my ideal choice) offers a [Professional MBA](https://www.smu.edu/Cox/ProfessionalMBA) program for working professionals but it says the **average** work experience is 6 years, and I will only have 4 years by the time I graduate, so I am unsure if this will make it hard for me to get in.
EDIT:
I would hopefully be applying almost as soon as I graduate.<issue_comment>username_1: No, you do not need to wait, you can certainly ask in advance. There is no rule against it. However, if the readers of the recommendation letter notice that it is from several years ago, then they may react negatively. On the other hand, they might not. Admission committees typically process many applications, so do not read any particular letter that carefully. It is unlikely they will check the date.
The concern that professors will not remember you when you ask for a letter years from now is very reasonable.
After doing other things for several years, you may ask people who know about those things to write letters for you. This would give a more up-to-date picture about your qualifications. However, you can both ask for letters now and after completing the years of other activity.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: It is quite normal for students to ask their undergraduate professors for letters of recommendation, years after leaving the institution; this is especially the case for students like you who plan to work prior to graduate school. Many programs encourage some time off after undergraduate education because of the possibility of "burning out" (amongst other reasons), and thus many professors are used to the process of writing a letter for their student, years after the student has left the institution. Though 7 years might be a rather large gap in time (and some of these professors might retire or change institutions by then), what is important is that they are made aware as early on as possible that you will eventually want this letter from them.
Prior to leaving your institution/graduating, establish extensive rapport with those you are interested in receiving a letter of recommendation from and inform them of your future graduate school interests. Gauge the extent to which they are on board with writing you a letter, and ask if you can meet with them to discuss this letter at a later date, after you have been able to assess some sort of scope regarding what your application for graduate school will look like. Though this depends on the discipline, many professors do not want to merely be asked for a letter, but wish for you to present them with an early form of your statement of purpose and/or research interests first prior to asking for a letter.
After a professor agrees to write your letter, maintain email communication with them with updates, when relevant. There is no need for an inundation of emails with every little update, but it is helpful to check in with the professors. Keep a copy of your transcript on hand; this will be useful come recommendation time, because you are reminding the professor of the classes you took (with them and in relevant courses that they can speak on).
Though beginning the process for a letter of recommendation is subjective and you could ask the graduate coordinator of program(s) you plan to apply to about their personal stance on getting letters x amount of years ahead of time, to be safe, continue maintaining that contact with the knowledge of what each of your 2 letters of recommendation are asking for. Does professor X want a copy of your statement of purpose and your CV? Does professor Y instead only care about any updates after your certificate program? Each might have their own way that they like to go about the letter process.
Finally, when application time arrives, I would drill in the letter dates. Visiting the professors in years closer to the application cycle might be helpful, for meeting in person allows them to put a face to the name and CV; this part is completely up to you but does not hurt.
In sum, there are many ways to approach this, but approach those important professors early on while you are still fresh in their minds, check in with them as appropriate, and (if applicable) inform them of professional/academic updates that could affect their letter to you. 7 years is enough of a gap that your academic, research, and/or work goals may change in a manner that has you shift interests or consider changing who you want as your letter. Many changes are very possible of happening, so I would not stress about it too much.. just ensure that if someone agrees to write your letter, that they know that it comes with the asterisk of being a few years down the line, and hold them to it. There may be times that professors are far too busy with their own work to answer your check-in emails, but that does not mean you should not be adamant in keeping somewhat of a connection with them over the years through which you are no longer their student. The last thing you want is to have great people offer to be your recommenders, only for them to forget (since 7 years is a while away); of course, as mentioned earlier, many professors are used to writing letters years after their student has left an institution, but that continued communication will likely provide a stronger letter in the end, since you have been diligent in keeping yourself somewhat fresh in their mind.
Best of luck!
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I think if you're seven years out, the reference letters won't be as relevant. I would check with the master's program, but sometimes if you've worked for a certain amount of time you can provide one academic reference and one work related reference. I would try to keep a relationship with at least one professor - keep them updated, visit for coffee, etc. but wouldn't use a letter from seven years ago to apply for a Masters program. Maybe through your diplomas which will be more recent, you will find a more recent reference.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: Your concerns about not being fully remembered are quite valid. If you know (or even strongly suspect) that you will be requesting a letter of recommendation in several years, then I would encourage you to make the request now rather than wait several years as others have suggested. Talk to the professor and let them know what you are planning and explain the timeline. If she is willing to write you a letter of recommendation, then she will likely appreciate the opportunity to collect her thoughts while you are still fresh in her memory. If you wait until 7 years out, then I would expect that the chances of them saying "no" or writing a weaker letter would be much greater.
I was just recently asked to write a letter of recommendation for a Masters program for a student that graduated 10 years ago. They asked me because the program they applied to specifically requested a letter (or letters) from an academic setting and the former student has been working in industry in the meantime. While I distinctly remember the student, I couldn't tell you what classes we had together, what their grades were, or what departmental activities they were most active in. Had I known this request was coming, I could have either written a letter back then or at least jotted down some key facts that I would use in such a letter in the future.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: For undergraduate work **it is reasonable to ask for a letter as soon as you complete the work**, and it makes sense to do this while the memory is still fresh. A diligent professor will even keep the letter on file, in case a hiring committee requires that the letter be sent directly.
As you acquire experience it will become less likely that you would use the letter, since usually you will have more recent and more pertinent recommandations to provide.
As a rule of thumb, the longer you work with the professor, the further in the future the recommendation is pertinent. I still write background recommendations for my former doctoral students, a decade after they have defended. Obviously I am not the only one providing a letter.
Upvotes: 0
|
2018/06/01
| 500
| 1,667
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<issue_start>username_0: [ArXiv.org does not assign DOIs](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/62480/9425) to its preprints, but [ResearchGate does](https://explore.researchgate.net/display/support/ResearchGate+DOIs). Are there other preprint repositories that assign DOIs for free?<issue_comment>username_1: Although meant for data, the [Zenodo repository assigns free DOIs](https://blog.zenodo.org/2017/05/30/doi-versioning-launched/). Nothing hinders one from uploading PDFs there.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: [Biorxiv](https://www.biorxiv.org) (the main life sciences preprint server) gives DOIs.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: No preprint server should be charging authors any fees for DOIs? I would also +1 for BioRxiv or the [Open Science Foundation](https://osf.io/preprints/) has 18 different subject-based preprint repositories that might fit yours.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: There is a community-curated [list of preprint servers](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17RgfuQcGJHKSsSJwZZn0oiXAnimZu2sZsWp8Z6ZaYYo/edit#gid=0), and it takes note of which identifier is assigned to content - you can filter those by DOI.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: [Zenodo](https://zenodo.org/) is a repository that assigns DOIs for free. You can access it via your GitHub account or ORCID ID.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: [arXiv](https://arxiv.org/) assigns doi automatically since January 2022. And, all earlier articles have been assigned dois.
[New arXiv articles are now automatically assigned DOIs](https://blog.arxiv.org/2022/02/17/new-arxiv-articles-are-now-automatically-assigned-dois/)
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/06/01
| 572
| 2,046
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<issue_start>username_0: I am writing a paper which expounds on a portion of a previous paper that I got published.
If I did not even mention the previous paper in my new one, I'm fairly certain this would be seen as trying to pass off old work as new (unethical).
However, in the introduction of the new paper, the beginning of the relevant section, and throughout the relevant section, I am very up-front about the similarities to the old paper, with many citations. Also, there is no copy/paste from the old paper. Some phrasing may be similar in places, but only because I happened to write both papers.
Am I safe submitting the new paper to a journal?<issue_comment>username_1: Although meant for data, the [Zenodo repository assigns free DOIs](https://blog.zenodo.org/2017/05/30/doi-versioning-launched/). Nothing hinders one from uploading PDFs there.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: [Biorxiv](https://www.biorxiv.org) (the main life sciences preprint server) gives DOIs.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: No preprint server should be charging authors any fees for DOIs? I would also +1 for BioRxiv or the [Open Science Foundation](https://osf.io/preprints/) has 18 different subject-based preprint repositories that might fit yours.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: There is a community-curated [list of preprint servers](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17RgfuQcGJHKSsSJwZZn0oiXAnimZu2sZsWp8Z6ZaYYo/edit#gid=0), and it takes note of which identifier is assigned to content - you can filter those by DOI.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: [Zenodo](https://zenodo.org/) is a repository that assigns DOIs for free. You can access it via your GitHub account or ORCID ID.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: [arXiv](https://arxiv.org/) assigns doi automatically since January 2022. And, all earlier articles have been assigned dois.
[New arXiv articles are now automatically assigned DOIs](https://blog.arxiv.org/2022/02/17/new-arxiv-articles-are-now-automatically-assigned-dois/)
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/06/01
| 502
| 2,130
|
<issue_start>username_0: How can I find conferences in mathematics which accept guest articles/notes *without the guest physically visiting the conference*?
I have two problems which prevent me to physically visit conferences: 1. no money to pay for air tickets; 2. bad spoken English.
Can I nevertheless contribute to proceedings of a conference?
I found one such conference, but my article was judged not on-topic and rejected. It was the only conference I ever seen without the requirement to physically travel there to participate as an author.
Again: My question is *how* to find a conferences. Maybe you can suggest a specific Internet site(s) listing such conferences?<issue_comment>username_1: Mathematics research is mostly published in journals, sometimes books. Not conferences. Submit your papers to journals instead. You do not need to travel or speak to do that.
Conferences in mathematics are pretty much exclusively an affair of presenting your own research live in front of a mostly captive audience, and talking to the other participants between the presentations. A "virtual conference" (an online list of notes?) fills none of the missions, so I do not expect many to exist.
Even things called "proceedings" work much more like journals than conferences, to my knowledge. Most conferences have no proceedings — at best a list of abstracts online, perhaps even a copy of the slides if any.
(I have heard of (one) conference happening in two cities with live retransmission of talks from city A to city B and vice-versa, but that does not seem to be what you are looking for.)
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There is a slightly similar thing called double conferences (i.e. the conference is conducted at two different physical locations and are connected by a video stream). This is not exactly what you are searching for but essentially a virtual conference is a conference that is held at *N* different physical locations (where *N* is the number of participants) so it is not that different from a double conference. An example: <https://www.mpim-bonn.mpg.de/HAMP>.
Upvotes: 1
|
2018/06/02
| 292
| 1,352
|
<issue_start>username_0: This question might seem silly at first read. But in my research, first I have done mathematical analysis and simulation and provided the results in section I. Later, in section II, based on Sec. I, I did simulation in which nodes are distributed over 2D plane and some parameter is calculated over the mobile-nodes (parameter is "transmission rate" to be precise).
Now, since every run of simulation will distribute node on a different location (as in a real-world environment where mobile-users can be located anywhere), hence I will get a different result in each simulation run.
How can I present this result in my paper now?<issue_comment>username_1: 1. It is important to run multiple indepemdent replications and statistically analyze the results rather than simply running the simulation once and reporting that result.
2. It is also important to save the random number seeds that were used so that the simulation results can be replicated.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Why not take the average of a number of runs. In my opinion, if you use the seed value and the result cannot be replicated except by it, please mention the seed value and preferably justify why. Another option is to make your source code available with a proper documentation of how your results were gotten.
Upvotes: 1
|
2018/06/02
| 368
| 1,510
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm editing an interview transcript. One of the speakers mentions a concept popularized in an academic paper. Would I add the citation within the interview transcript?<issue_comment>username_1: I recommend against adding an in-text citation, but you could use a footnote if you think it's important. But it may not be. For example, if you were interviewing someone about current theories on some topic, and the person referred to 8 different theorists in one paragraph, it would disrupt the reading of the text to add all those citations. An interview is what it is---less formal spoken language unburdened by the necessity of validating statements with citations. You can add bracketed changes to a transcript when something is really unclear, but you shouldn't amplify someone's speech because you think it's missing something. Take it as it is and do any amplifying in the following text.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Personally i would an in text citation, but that's me. i despise footnotes. I do end-notes in addition to references. but that is me and i found putting footnote into Microsoft word extremely frustrating. but that 20 YEARS ago. I wrote half my master's thesis LONGHAND while i was snowbound for three days. Classes were cancelled. Then I had to transcribe that
This web page Gives good reasons for WHY and how to reference interview transcripts for dissertations:
<https://weloty.com/how-to-transcribe-an-interview-for-dissertation-part-1/>
Upvotes: 0
|
2018/06/02
| 1,081
| 4,470
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm doing a masters. My thesis supervisor made our relationship a bit more personal and friendly: added me on Facebook, invited me for couple of dinners and we used to hangout sometimes and talk on articles at bars. Now he's for some reason avoiding me, answers emails/messages after couple of days (he used to do it in less than a day tops) and very cold and short. A very big problem is that I'm taking a lot of credits with him this semester (individual research work) and not only I have this fear that he might give me bad grades (he can do that simply by calling my work low quality; there's no objective criteria for the kind of individual course that I'm taking), he might end up not writing me a reference letter for my PhD, which is bad because first, a lot of credits under the name of individual work will remain unexplained, and second, I suppose it's awful that the one that I have worked with a my supervisor doesn't write me a letter.
What should I do?
PS: He's not physically accessible until the end of summer, except that for a 2 days conference that we'll be meeting in a week.
=======================
**UPDATE:**
I messaged him just like @aparente001 had advised me, but shorter (with the question that @cag51 suggested to ask face-to-face). He answered me in a minute a sat up a meeting time for that day's tomorrow (we were supposed to have a meeting before, which didn't happen). Then I realized that he has been only super busy and there's nothing else that plays any role (at least that's what he said). So, asking him worked even before a face-to-face talk. Thank you for your help!<issue_comment>username_1: **You should talk to him face-to-face when possible.** I would say something like:
>
> I might be overanalyzing this, but I noticed you've been a little distant lately. Have I done anything wrong?
>
>
>
**If he says no, you need to leave it at that.** He might just have a personal situation (e.g., parent dying), he might be concerned that *he* was acting too familiar and is now trying to reestablish boundaries, or it might just be nothing. I seriously doubt he would change your grades or fail to recommend you if he tells you flat-out that everything is fine.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Professors are not always the people who would win a prize at interpersonal relationships.
Professors often have significant stressors in their lives.
So please don't assume this is about you. For example, perhaps the professor will be up for tenure next year and is trying to crank out as much work as humanly possible, despite feeling almost crippling anxiety, and has decided that it's necessary to minimize non-productive interactions so as to maximize the hours in the day available for research.
If you yourself are feeling anxious, unsure whether you are cutting the mustard, then ask. If it's difficult to ask this question in person, then you could send a preview of your question via email, a few days prior to your meeting, to give time to prepare. Here is one way such a question could be broached:
>
> Dear Prof. X,
>
> I am enjoying working hard on my project! But I would also like to find out how I am doing, objectively. Could we check in briefly about this when we meet next week? I am interested to know: What do you think is going well, what areas do you feel I need to improve in, do you have any suggestions for me, to get the most out of my time working with you, are there things you would rather I handle differently? This is the sort of feedback I'm hoping to get when we meet. I think that periodic constructive feedback will help me become an asset to your group.
>
>
>
Be prepared to take notes. Don't argue or defend yourself. Thank the professor for the feedback. Don't get too frustrated if your professor doesn't know how to do this sort of feedback session smoothly. Remember, the main purpose in asking this is so you won't have to rely entirely on your overactive imagination.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: It feels to me (without any evidence or proof, so I can certainly be wrong) like your supervisor might now regret establishing a relationship that's too personal on the spectrum between personal and professional, and is now trying to establish a relationship in a zone that he feels is more appropriate.
If this is the case, I don't think you have anything to worry about with respect to your grades.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/06/02
| 476
| 1,950
|
<issue_start>username_0: I took a test today morning and I saw that the person sitting next to me used her phone repeatedly, I believe it was to check the power point slides for answers. The fact that this student also asked me for the answer to a question before I left also raises my suspicious slightly.
I don't know this person. I decided not to report it this morning because I don't feel quite alright accusing anyone, at least not in person. I am tempted to send an anonymous email and explain what happened, although I don't think it will make any difference. I'm not happy at all with the incident, because the test wasn't exactly trivial and some of us might fail, while other people could pass simply copying the answers from their phone.
What should I do?<issue_comment>username_1: A good question!
There is not much you can do now. You cannot prove anything and can not even name the cheating person. If you think that explaining the situation can help the invilgator to make cheating less likely the next time, you should write them an anonymous email.
I've heard that there are some universities with so-called "honor codes" that tell you to report this - if this is the case for you, do absolutely report it (anonymously).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> The fact that this student also asked me for the answer to a question before I left also raises my suspicious slightly.
>
>
>
*Slightly?!*
>
> I decided not to report it this morning because I don't feel quite alright accusing anyone, at least not in person.
>
>
>
Why not?
You can also do this via email or phone call.
Imagine yourself in the position of the instructor, or the proctor, or the department administrator, ten years from now. Wouldn't you want the student who saw irregularities to let you know? You can't revamp your exam proctoring procedures unless you're aware that there are opportunities to cheat in the current set-up.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/06/02
| 1,740
| 6,899
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am currently teaching calculus and I thought it would be a good idea to do some kind of limit (and later derivative/integral) calculation tournament. The thing is... The students only seem to give their best if the activity is an actual assessment so I was wondering how can I prepare a tournament as a fair assessment.
The main issue is that as an assessment I want every student to be able to get the maximum score (otherwise it wouldn’t be fair), however since it is a tournament only one student can get the first place...
So I was wondering how one can organize a tournament in a way that is fair for all students? There are some remarks to take in consideration:
1. There should be a prize/incentive for attaining a better place in the tournament compared to the other students.
2. Everybody should be able to get the maximum score.
3. There should be some kind of rule which determines whether a student is out the tournament or not.
4. Every student needs to participate.
5. The whole tournament shouldn’t take longer than two hours; I can’t spend too much class time on that.
So with those remarks in mind how would you guys organize a tournament? I'd like to compile some suggestions before planning it.<issue_comment>username_1: Here is a suggestion. It has its advantages and disadvantages and I haven't tried to implement it myself, but you asked, so here are my 2 cents.
*There should be a prize/incentive for attaining a better place in the tournament compared to the other students.*
Apparently you are not willing to give out extra points or anything
else that might influence the grade. Then just make a few nice drawings,
write "The first (second, etc.) place in the calculus tournament" with
the date and your signature over them, laminate, and attach some silly
little prizes (a box of pencils, a figurine, a notebook, etc.) to each.
It'll cost you 40-60 bucks and a few hours of drawing, but it'll work.
*Everybody should be able to get the maximum score.*
If you have 10 students, prepare 30 tasks and hand them out one by one. For every task the first one to complete it gets 10 points for the task (counted towards the grading score) and 31 minus the number of the task (from 30 to 1) to determine his rank (the first problem is worth 30, the second 29, etc.; the rank is the sum of values of solved problems). Once a student solves three problems, he is not participating any more. You run the tournament until either everyone is out, or nobody can solve the current problem, or the time is out.
*There should be some kind of rule which determines whether a student is out the tournament or not.*
Addressed above.
*Every student needs to participate.*
Well, with this scheme at some point he'll be the only eligible competitor if everybody else is done, but if he just cannot do the task anyway, it is his problem. I think it is fair enough.
*The whole tournament shouldn’t take longer than two hours; I can’t spend too much class time on that.*
That depends on how many and how good the students are and on the difficulty of the problems assigned. Also, do you want just answers or explanations? You can replace the factor 3 by 2 in this scheme, but with more than 20 students it becomes somewhat problematic to implement in under 2 hours. What I expect is a fierce competition with quick answers in the beginning, followed by a slower run once the top students are out, followed by a bunch of dropouts staring mindlessly at the problem (or at the ceiling) forever (unless you impose a time limit on each problem). One partial remedy for this unevenness would be to present hard problems first and to decrease the difficulty along the way.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: [Eager et al.](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23737867.2014.11414476) describe how they use flipped classrooms to teach a mathematical biology course. As part of their course, they use "competitions" to motivate students. They discuss some of your concerns in a method paper:
>
> One of the difficulties in teaching a class via the flipped classroom is how to properly assess and examine student learning [3]. Because the class is very modeling focused, and modeling is a time-consuming process, traditional exams are very difficult to administer in a course like MTH 265. The authors’ solution to this problem is to do away with traditional
> exams in favor of both individual quizzes and group mathematical modeling competitions.
> The individual quizzes involve the students choosing two small modeling questions from a
> group of three questions and solving them with help from their class notes, homeworks,
> past computer programs and video lectures. These quizzes are given over a 55-minute time
> period. The questions in these quizzes are structured in such a way so that, after the student
> chooses which two problems to work on, he or she can solve both questions in a combined
> 40 minutes—meaning that some (but not all) of the modeling process is given to them. These
> exams provide the students with an incentive to learn the material on their own (which is
> nontrivial in a flipped course with a large group component), as well as the motivation
> to become proficient in using some of the elementary skills a mathematical or quantitative
> biologists would need to possess (e.g. diagram building, script writing/amending, elementary
> algebra and calculus, scientific writing).
>
>
> The mathematical modeling competitions stemmed from the successful 24-hour Wisconsin
> Mathematical Modeling Challenge at UW-L, as well as the success of similar activities in
> other mathematical biology courses [8]. These competitions complement the individual, inclass
> quizzes by providing students with more open-ended modeling problems and a longer
> timespan to produce their solutions. These modeling problems can ofen be introduced with
> only a few paragraphs of text—with few or no equations. The students, in groups, then
> have 24 hours to come up with an appropriate model for this system, as well as answer
> the biological question posed. The group of students with the best solution is rewarded
> with perfect homework scores until the next modeling competition. The class has either
> an individual quiz or a modeling competition at the end of every other week for a total of three individual quizzes and three modeling competitions during the semester worth roughly
> 30 percent of each student’s final grade.
>
>
>
Full citation (in case link breaks): <NAME>, <NAME> & <NAME> (2014) Math Bio or Biomath? Flipping the mathematical biology classroom, Letters in Biomathematics, 1:2, 139-155, DOI:
10.1080/23737867.2014.11414476
As a disclosure, I have collaborated with Eager and gave guest lectures in his Bio Math course about my own research.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/06/03
| 1,394
| 6,210
|
<issue_start>username_0: I began a PhD program last year and found the program to have been misrepresented, whether intentionally or not. I am a behavioral student, and my department has two tracks they admit students to: behavioral and non-behavioral (I'm trying to keep details vague), where the non-behavioral track draws from completely different fields and research questions than the behavioral track and are therefore different fields "umbrella-ed" under a single department. Before joining this program, I reviewed the curriculum for my track that is posted on the website, asked a lot of questions about expectations, courses, etc., and felt it was a good fit. However, during my first year the program changed a bit (I was not told this would happen) and there are no more behavioral courses being offered because of politics in the department and the departure of two behavioral faculty members.
I have thus been receiving training in the non-behavioral track. Needless to say, I feel like I've been duped; I am not getting the coursework/foundational training or research experience necessary to succeed and publish in my desired field. The department head is aware of the issues and unwilling to discuss. Her attitude is, "that's just how it is, deal with it."
How would you handle a situation such as this? I cannot simply leave and go to another program. I don't have the funds to relocate again unless I work for a few more years to save up more money. I'm not so young, so I don't want to push off a PhD much longer. I'm also not sure I should stay either, because I've essentially been forced to get my PhD in a different field and I'm not sure if I will be able to cross back over after getting my degree. Am I missing other potential options for handling this situation, aside from leaving and just not getting my PhD?<issue_comment>username_1: Sounds like there was a conflict between the two behavioral researchers that left and the rest of the department about the direction of the department. The behavioral researchers lost. Such conflicts can be very nasty. The fact that the conflict was "resolved" by the departure of two faculty, points in that direction. In that case all remaining faculty will be very relieved that that is over, and the department is not going to start that all over again to accommodate a PhD student. In that case, you can either become a non behavioral researcher or switch to another department/university. It is unfair, but if my description of the situation is correct then those are the only realistic options.
You can ask the researchers that left if they know a department that fits your interests. Switching departments for this reason is perfectly acceptable, this is not your fault.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I think the solution for you is to have a clear vision for your PhD program and your career and do whatever it takes to achieve those, without being drawn down any side paths that don't lead where you want to go. I would never remain in the wrong program in hopes that after years of work I'll somehow get back on the right track. That doesn't seem entirely rational.
The program you signed up for is no longer being offered and your department chair is not giving you any hope that this will change. This doesn't bode well for your future at this institution unless you can establish better communication with your chair and enlist that person's support for your goals.
I suggest approaching this coldly analytically rather than emotionally by evaluating **ALL of your possible options, whether you like them or not**. Brainstorm solutions for obstacles. Identify any deal breakers, but (and this is key for you in your specific personal situation), examine those with an open mind.
Also, focus on long-term goals rather than short-term. Thirty years from now you don't want to say, "If only I had left that university and gone somewhere with the program I really wanted." Things like financial sacrifices and having to move feel more important today than they will be in the future.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: That's an unfortunate situation to be put in, but I'm wondering if - on balance - you can make do with the resources you have and pursue your field of interest.
1- You've said there are still some behavioral faculty left - enough that you can form a dissertation committee out of them? Even if they're not offering courses that directly relate to your field, it would still be good to take whatever classes they are teaching if you want to work with them eventually. Plus, doing so might open doors to work with said professors on those projects that are keeping them so busy. Depending on your relationships with these professors and the nature of their research projects, it might even be worth approaching them, explaining the issue of lack of course offerings, and asking if you could work with them on one of their projects (as an RA, or a second author?) to get more relevant experience.
2- What is your department's/university's policy re: outside resources? Examples: taking relevant courses outside your department (if there are any), or getting committee members from other departments/universities?
3-It's also important to keep in mind that at the PhD level, much of a scholar's expertise is self-taught, especially as you advance through your program (case in point, one of my phd exams and a major aspect of my dissertation has to do with an area in which I never took any coursework). So ask yourself - given the resources you currently have and the goals you've set forth for yourself, what would you have to tackle on your own, and is that something you can do?
At the end of the day, PhD programs don't always end up being the perfect fit we had expected (definitely the case for me). That said, I'm not advocating that you stick it out and try to get through a program that lacks the resources you need. Given the investment you made, I think it's important to get a little creative and see if you can find a way to make it work. If you can, great. If not, then you don't want to waste your time in a program that isn't setting you on the career path you want.
Upvotes: 0
|
2018/06/03
| 657
| 2,575
|
<issue_start>username_0: There is a research Paper Y which presents some experimental result. The author has cited Paper X to justify and explain the reason of that result. I am writing a review paper and included the result of Paper Y.
Can I cite Paper X in the review paper to give the justification of the result by Paper Y as already done by the Paper Y itself? Or will it be somehow called mindless copying from Paper Y? And should I cite Paper Y also (along with X) while including the correlation between result (Y) and the reason (X) as the author of Y was the first to correlate the two?<issue_comment>username_1: You can write: "In paper [y], [x] was cited to justify their results [optionally: by the following line of arguments: ...]". If you want to elaborate more on the content of [x], you should do that in your own words.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I will use 'Johnson (2016)' and 'Smith (2015)' rather than 'Y' and 'X' in my examples:
* Explicitly corroborating Smith's (2015) hypothesis that mice love cheese, Johnson (2016) demonstrated that mice ate cheese rather than carrots, when offered both.
* Smith (2015) argued that mice love cheese. Johnson (2016), citing Smith, experimentally verified this hypothesis.
* Johnson (2016) interpreted her experimental results using Smith's (2015) conjecture that mice love cheese.
If you want to be critical rather than 'mindless' about Johnson's interpretation of the result, just offer alternative interpretations (with additional citations). However, if the original interpretation is plausible, and if the issue is not the focus of your paper, it's okay just to follow Johnson (and thereby Smith).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: If you restate the ideas from Y about X without making it clear that is what you are doing, then it is not mindless copying but plagiarism. If you need the ideas, make it clear where they come from.
A short explanation of the relationship between X and Y will not be a problem, and indeed is possibly necessary.
If you want to add a longer discussion of what X says about Y, you should make sure this plays an integral part in the 'story' in your review, and you should give enough details for your work to be basically stand-alone. If you just reproduce ideas that could otherwise be left out, that might reasonably be considered mindless copying, and you should instead direct the reader to Y instead.
In any case, make sure you check X to see if Y is reporting on it accurately. It is not unheard of for one paper to incorrectly use another.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/06/03
| 617
| 2,617
|
<issue_start>username_0: This year I have been pursuing my second Master's degree in pure mathematics. It is a one-year program in which the final score is determined 100% by the final exams. I have excellent scores at my previous degrees, but this year I faced a health issue which resulted in me making very little progress, to the point that I'm pretty certain I will fail my upcoming exams. Assuming that I will be able to overcome my health issue and apply for a PhD\* in the future:
* Would it look better in a PhD application if I pulled out of my upcoming exams completely or if I took them and failed them?
* What would I write in my CV in each case?
The second scenario sounds a bit worse to me because there will be a transcript with extremely poor grades which I will have to attach to any future PhD application. But maybe I'm missing something. Any advice is welcome.
\*: I haven't decided whether I will be pursuing a PhD or not, so I'm posting the [analogous question](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/113340/is-it-better-to-pull-out-of-exams-or-fail-them) at workplace.SE as well. I don't think this is cross-posting since the option that is best for pursuing a PhD might not be best for job hunting (for example I'm not sure whether you are supposed to attach your academic transcripts in a job application).<issue_comment>username_1: I think you should obtain written confirmation of your illness from your doctor, meet with your dean to explain the situation, and ask to delay your exams without penalty. You will be asked why you didn't report this problem earlier, so be ready with an answer.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: You should go and speak to your course lecturers *as soon as possible*, and put in a request for special consideration on the basis of illness. Your university should have a policy of how to apply for special consideration, and the criteria for granting consideration. This differs from place to place, but most universities are accommodating of problems caused by illness (assuming you can give evidence of this via medical certificates, etc.). Given your position, I would suggest you request for them to allow you to defer assessment in your courses until you have had time to recover from your illness and study for the exams. If this is too much for them, then as a fall-back position, ask them to allow you to withdraw from the courses without failure. Whatever you do, **don't** just make a unilateral decision on what to do without speaking to your lecturers --- discuss your circumstances with them and find out their position.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/06/03
| 596
| 2,428
|
<issue_start>username_0: 1. Authors A, B and C published paper [1] in journal X.
2. Author B created a figure for paper [1]. *The figure is not essential and does not contain any important data. It is just a geometric ilustration.*
3. Authors C and B are writing a new paper [2] for journal Y.
**Can the same figure be used in paper [2] without any mention to paper [1]? Is it ethical? Does it violate copyrights of X? Is it considered plagiarism by Y? How about the situation X=Y?**
(Authors A, B and C are friends, so there is no problem for author A.)<issue_comment>username_1: Unfortunately there's no easy general answer to the copyright question, since it depends on the terms of the copyright assignment the authors signed with journal X, as well as the complexity and originality of the figure (you can't easily copyright an image of a triangle, you might have more difficultly with an image showing e.g. multiple stages of an algorithm). If the image was created programatically, then one possible solution might be to redraw it with slightly different data and new labelling.
It's also important to note that just citing the original source doesn't automatically make the copyright legal issues vanish. While the journal's home jurisdiction (or the authors') might grant you fair use rights/a fair trading defence, these each have their own restrictions, based on how much of the original the figure formed. Many academic publishers have a web portal allowing authors to request permissions to republish. These frequently (but not always) give reductions/waivers on fees to the original authors, or to articles submitted to their own journals.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: **Can the same figure be used in paper [2] without any mention to paper [1]?**
Yes. Relax, it is only an illustration.
**Is it ethical?**
Yes of course. Who would you harm by reproducing the figure? Why would you have to do a different figure to make the same point? If something is unethical here, it is wasting time on this issue.
**Does it violate copyrights of X?**
Never mind. Academic journals may sometimes be evil but they won't sue you for this.
**Is it considered plagiarism by Y?**
Possibly a harmless, tolerated form of plagiarism. About as serious as exceeding a speed limit by 1 kph.
**How about the situation X=Y?**
Might legally make some difference. But ethically and practically irrelevant.
Upvotes: -1
|
2018/06/03
| 1,297
| 5,063
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm teacher in a French university (I don't know if the right english term is 'tenured', I mean I'm hired permanently in this university, not temporarily), but I don't have any research role and I'm not connected to any research lab.
Still, I continue to do research during my free time (mostly continuing what I did during my PhD, not connected to the local labs research fields), and I would like to submit a paper to a journal.
**Question: as I'm not hired by my university to do research, but only teaching, can I submit a paper like this:**
>
> On the cohomology of finite infinite categories
>
> <NAME>
>
>
> University of Cityname
>
> 283, rue de Paris - 12345 CITY
>
> <EMAIL>
>
>
>
or should I submit it this way, without any university name:
>
> On the cohomology of finite infinite categories
>
> <NAME>
>
> <EMAIL>
>
>
>
What could be the potential problems if I use my university name / edu-email address, whereas I'm not hired as researcher?<issue_comment>username_1: You should give your **affiliation**, that's basically it.
Usually, only universities, research institutions, and research labs are given as affiliation and people not affiliated with any of these just give no affiliation and a private email. So, if you are not affiliated with your alma mater any more, you not pretend you are. I do not see any problem with using your university email, though (if you still use is as alumnus).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The fact that this research isn't part of your job shouldn't prevent you from giving your employer as your affiliation. A paper by <NAME> about certain weak forms of the axiom of choice in set theory (J. Symbolic Logic 67 (1997) 438-456) lists his affiliations as "Department of Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cambridge City Hospital". I can assure you that none of these anesthesiology departments paid David to prove theorems in set theory; he did this work in his free time.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: I don't know about France specifically, but since you work at the university it seems to be it would be appropriate to mention it, maybe even preferred.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: I'm going to propose a different answer to everyone else: ask your university. I presume you teach in the same area as your research? If so, just ask a friendly senior researcher if it's OK to include the affiliation.
Certainly in the UK and in America, they would be *delighted* to have you declare your affiliation (because it increases their "published papers" count, and may increase their "citations" count too). However, French Universities may have a different set of incentives, and may prefer you not to declare an affiliation.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: As I see it, it depends on several factors:
* Is the university willing to be your affiliate for this publication? (Almost always Yes)
* Do you want to emphasize the fact that this is independent research on the side (and perhaps the fact that the university is not paying you to do it, which maybe it should...)? Or - do you want to be more strongly associated with the university by listing them as the affiliate?
* Has the university supported your researcher other than by employment, e.g. have you made use of its facilities, discussed your work with faculty etc.? (Note that if it has, but only to a minor extent, you can mention this in an acknowledgement rather than via an affiliation.)
* Has the university in any way sanctioned, initiated or triggered this research?
Weigh these different factors together to reach a decision.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: It depends. I once assumed that of course I should give my affiliation, until my employer complained and told me to give my name without an affiliation. After that I asked.
Given that you work at a university, I would expect the department to be unhappy if you didn't give your affiliation, unless they told you not to; However, the safest course of action is to ask your department head.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: Just to add to previous answer, here is a possible incentive for you to state your affiliation to your university: it may be easier to get your paper published if you have a connection to a university.
This is certainly not a good thing, but I think that most editors and/or referees will tend to be more suspicious of a paper submitted by someone who does not have a research position. Giving your affiliation might alleviate such doubts.
On the other hand, I do not see any possible benefit for you to not cite your university.
That being said, it is probably best to ask confirmation/authorization from the lab director. From the information you gave, my guess is that you are a PRAG; you may want to ask them if you could get the status of "chercheur associé". This shouldn't change anything in practice (you don't get paid) but it gives a formal status to the situation.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/03
| 2,400
| 10,221
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<issue_start>username_0: This is a real life scenario, but I'll refer to the people involved as A and B.
A and B are both retired. A is doing a part-time PhD (humanities), but for at least a year\* B has been working nearly 9-5 every day helping A. The help seems to involve research (finding and reading papers/sources), discussion and input, proof-reading and re-touching the thesis, but I don't know about actually writing large chunks although I wouldn't be surprised.
As far as I know Masters and PhD theses usually need a declaration saying something like "this work is all my own except where explicitly marked". To me it seems as if the declaration would be false, and anyway, even if person A declared they'd received significant help presumably joint PhDs aren't granted, and B isn't enrolled on a course of any kind.
What's my best course of action? Ethically, I feel as if the university should know about this, although presumably the fact that a lot of work has been done (by whomever) shouldn't go to waste.
(\*The help has been going on for years, but I only know the specifics of the time invested for the past year or so.)<issue_comment>username_1: Getting help is in and of itself not a problem. Proof reading is perfectly fine. Discussing research with others is very much a part of doing research, so having a sparring partner is a good thing. Even finding and reading papers is not a problem if person B is just interested in the research and the discussions. So a lot of the things you mentioned are not necessarily problems.
If B wrote large portions of the text and A fails to clearly mention that, then that is a problem. But you will need proof before you can take action.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: Without knowing more of the reasons *why* person B is helping person A, it's not easy to say what's going on. Perhaps person A has physical or learning disabilities that requires the assistance of person B, or there may be other issues going on. Or it could be something more nefarious. But without knowing the intent of the assistance, it's hard to conclude if anything untoward is going on.
Some of the help—polishing and editing the text of the thesis, for instance—is also clearly not outside the realm of "allowed" help, so this would not form the basis of a complaint of lack of independence. Neither would discussions of the material, or even bringing materials to someone else's attention.
So, what you're left with is the scope of the help, and again, there may be valid reasons.
If you wish to pursue this, then the way to go about it is to ask person A and person B what is going on, rather than trying to report it without knowing the facts.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Thank you for asking before you proceed with this and perhaps cause some real harm. Follow the advice of most of the comments and answers and just let this be. What you describe (if it's the whole accurate story) does sound odd and unethical. I can imagine a story like this where unreported provable fraud might lead to bad consequences later. This does not seem to me to be such.
Go with [no harm no foul](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/no_harm,_no_foul).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: As others pointed out, there are no strict ethical guidelines for the level of help a PhD student is allowed to receive. So I think the only course of action you could take, assuming you truly believe that A should not be considered the sole author of their work, is to rely on the formal evaluation process of a PhD.
There are differences depending on the country, but in general a PhD is evaluated through at least one external review based on the manuscript and through the defense; this is how the PhD candidate is formally evaluated by their peers. During the defense in particular, the committee is supposed to assess the level of the candidate by asking questions, and the final decision should depend on the ability of the candidate to defend their work. In some cases the defense is public and even peers present in the room are invited to ask questions as well, so if you hold a PhD yourself you might be able to ask your own questions.
In the same idea but not part of the formal PhD process, if A presents their work at some conference you could attempt to expose their level of knowledge (or lack thereof).
Needless to say, this is an imperfect system, like many aspects in the evaluation of research.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: You're framing this mainly as an ethical problem for A and B. It's also a typical moral and ethical dilemma for YOU. Some questions that can help resolve such a dilemma: What is my duty to report violations? What are the benefits of reporting this? What harm could come from it? Is the possible harm greater than the benefit? What harm will result if you don't report it? Are there other ways you could fulfill your impulse to make things better? What are your underlying reasons for wanting to report this? How will it make you feel?
Ultimately, the world is a very imperfect place and figuring out how to best use your energy to make it better is a lifelong quest that involves letting go of a great many things that we have an urge to protest.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: In my research lab, I collaborate with undergraduates, master students, other PhD students who are all working 9 to 5 on related research, and even salaried researchers. They provide me with ideas and help me proofread my work. Admittedly, they are usually not doing exactly the same work that I am, but their work supports and inspires mine. As long as I also work on research and make a significant contribution, do you believe that I shouldn't get a PhD because we collaborate on the same problems?
It's true that B is not in the PhD program with A and is not being compensated for their work (either financially or with a degree), but if you consider their involvement in research as a hobby where they collaborate with A, I see no difference to any other collaboration based on your description.
However, it is important for B to receive acknowledgement for their research contributions. My graduate school provides the following rules:
>
> Every thesis or dissertation must comply with all requirements regarding research integrity. Plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, and other forms of research misconduct will be investigated by the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct[[1]](https://www.colorado.edu/graduateschool/thesis-and-dissertation-specifications#Thesis_Organization)
>
>
>
The Standing Committee on Research Misconduct defines plagiarism as
>
> portraying another person's intellectual property as one's own.(...) More subtle forms may involve appropriating ideas, concepts, or data without credit and then changing the actual language so as to give the impression that the ideas are one's own" [[2]](https://www.colorado.edu/researchinnovation/rcr/research-misconduct)
>
>
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Therefore A must acknowledge any ideas and creative content provided by B. However, collaborating on research is not research misconduct in itself.
If A accurately acknowledges B's contributions, A's committee will evaluate whether A's contributions merit a PhD. B's contributions are independent of A's PhD success. There is no need for a "joint PhD" to be awarded.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: Sidestepping the question about whether this is cheating, I think it's important to consider why cheating in unethical in an academic setting and whether that applies here.
If individuals attending an educational program *solely to educate themselves*, there's really nothing terribly unethical about one student cheating. Everyone who didn't cheat will still learn the material just as well, so the cheating is of little consequence and probably just leads to the cheater coming off with a weaker understanding. I'm sure you've heard "you're only cheating yourself".
On the other hand, if part of the motivation is to receive some scarce benefit from the program (i.e., scholarships, awards, etc.), suddenly cheating has a lot of consequences for the other students and is of much higher concern.
So circling back to the question at hand, as others have stated it's not 100% clear that cheating is going on. Supposing that what is happening does give an unfair advantage to A compared with other students (which may well be possible), the real question is whether this is harming the other students. If A and B are two retired individuals who are excited about doing humanities research together now that they are retired, that alone doesn't hurt the other students. On the other hand, if department resources are being disproportionally allocated toward A, perhaps because professors are amazed by A's super human output, then it might make sense to inform professors A is not working alone.
Given the information I've read so far, it sounds like the first case to me. That is, although A is enrolled in the PhD program, A and B enjoy working together but that doesn't cause other students to be set back. Personally, I would doubt that the department over allocate resources toward an individual already retired so don't worry about whether this is cheating or not and just let them have their fun.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: I understand your concern and the issue at hand. While others have alluded that you may be jealous or have an ulterior motive, I will put that aside and consider the task at hand. Yes it is possible that person B could be helping person A in a more than reasonable acceptable manner but how can you prove it? It's acceptable to have discussion about points and have some proof-reading your thesis as I am sure you already know; but what is the tipping point? Unless you can prove that Person B wrote Person A thesis for them then I would leave it alone. I guess one could consider Person B, a research assistant, in that case. I guess another question is if Person B feels exploited in some sense.
As you mentioned you can wait to see how the person is acknowledged in the manuscript but in my mind it would have been at the end of the road in any case.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/05/31
| 1,065
| 4,949
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<issue_start>username_0: I have discovered a mistaken assumption that was made three centuries ago and has somehow been overlooked since then. It is a principle that was initially and remains to this day "proven" by a perceptual error. If we put the demonstrations and examples to the test of measurement, it is clear that the principle is mistaken. It has deep rooted effects on almost every aspect of science.
It is actually a very simple problem which makes my task more difficult because I face the argument that the theoretical physics papers I have produced are too short to be of importance. This is nonsense. Bear in mind that there is no restriction on the minimum length of a physics paper and I have discovered that the more material that is available to a person who is determined not to accept something, the more hooks there are available for a confirmation bias to manifest. I have discovered through my attempts that brevity is key to overcoming confirmation bias. There is good reason that there is no restriction on the minimum length of a physics paper. Unfortunately, I have not yet discovered the key to overcoming the cognitive dissonance that confirmation bias quickly evolves into.
My papers have been rejected without peer review more than a hundred times despite having had them professionally edited to ensure that they are properly formatted and error free.
I am censored on every science forum upon which I have tried to post anything related to this in most cases before any discussion has taken place. This post itself is being marked as a duplicate with nonsensical reasoning.
It is bad science to reject a submission without even addressing the presented argument. It is bad science to reject a logical proof without showing that the premisses are false or the deduction flawed. It is bad science to base your beliefs on tradition and ignore and censor any information which might conflict with them. It is bad science to immediately accuse someone of crackpotism the moment they say something which threatens your beliefs. It is bad science to drown someone out with ad-hominem, ridicule and mockery in order to prevent that anyone else might hear what he has to say lest they be open to correct thinking.
This is a very important issue and I am not prepared to give up on it because people would prefer not to hear it.
Once the denial is overcome, this will resolve many of the anomalies that are floating around in the world of physics. Not only that, but many of the worlds greatest minds are wasting time on problems that are a result of this mistaken assumption and once they realise that, their attention can be applied to issues that are realistic instead and this might result in progress the likes of which we have not seen in many years.
It is extremely important.
How do I get my arguments properly addressed?<issue_comment>username_1: I do understand where you are coming from and can provide some pointers:
**(1)** Are you talking to the right people/submitting to the right journals? It might not be effective to try to demonstrate some premises are wrong in a journal which publishes primarily in a sub-field where said premises are taken for granted. Evidently, the work that has been built on top of said premises is effective and likely shown useful in real-world scenarios. Therefore, it is very likely questioning said premises could be be considered 'out of scope' in such journals, which can result in desk rejects.
**(2)** It is easy to argue other people have committed a certain fallacy in their reasoning. However, try to be open to the fact that you might be doing the same. Possibly there are some underlying assumptions you are making to disprove this 'mistaken assumption' which you are not communicating clearly, and which might even be widely accepted/proven to be erroneous. Listen to the reviews you do receive, and use them to better tailor your argument to a specific audience. Elaborate where needed by reading up on related work where previous people have originally proven this 'mistaken assumption'.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: How does one get a scientist to listen to what the scientist doesn't want to hear? By providing overwhelming evidence.
In the case of physics, overwhelming evidence will be experimental data. Design an experiment where your claim can be tested, carry out the experiment and report the results.
Carefully identify possible sources of errors and uncertainties. As your claim goes against what is traditionally predicted, you should check whether the data is consistent with the predictions of textbook physics, your work, or perhaps both or neither.
Notice that even if everything else goes well, a single experiment with unexpected results will not be enough to cause a paradigm shift. The experiment must be repeated by different research groups and the results must agree before something like that is possible.
Upvotes: 4
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2018/06/04
| 899
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<issue_start>username_0: I've conducted a survey for my masters thesis and would like to show the results as a [box plot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_plot):
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NnAbo.png)
(The x-axis lists different skill / familarity levels, ranging from "none" to "expert")
Should I mention that this graph is a box plot (in the caption or the surrounding text) so that people unfamiliar with it can look up how to interpret this type of diagram, or is it unnecessary information and I can assume everybody will understand the type of graph just by looking at it?
Context is a computer science masters thesis in German at a German university.<issue_comment>username_1: You probably don't need to mention the word 'Boxplot' in the image caption itself (because it is obvious to the reader; I would assume that most readers will recognize this even if they are not directly familiar with the interpretation of a boxplot).
However if you intend to give a completely unaware reader some hint that what they see is a boxplot, you could also mention the word just once in the paragraph where you refer to the figure (e.g. "compare the boxplot in Fig. 3.2"). I imagine that I would do it this way, but at the same time I don't think that your decision whether or not to mention it would influence the outcome (e.g. grading) in any way.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In general, yes.
Most potential readers will understand simple graphs (such as box plots).
However, many visualization techniques have variants that produce visually similar graphs but may have slightly different interpretation.
Therefore, it is a better practice of research presentation to clarify what exactly the figure shows and, if needed, how it visualize the study methods or findings.
In your case, for example, in the caption I recommend to mention at least it is a box plot. It is also better to clarify whether the box width is proportional to the group size, in which case the three groups appear to have (almost) the same sizes.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: You should use your caption to explain **what the graph is supposed to be indicating**. i.e. "Boxplot of survey data showing generally higher level of experience with SVN than competing technologies". This achieves both, and further supports the text of your thesis, rather than explaining to the reader something that should be completely obvious (e.g. "This is a boxplot of the survey data"). If you include the type of chart in the caption then it will help if someone is unfamiliar with that type of chart and won't take up much more room than typing "Chart of survey data showing..."
That said (and slightly off-topic), a boxplot doesn't seem to be the correct graph to use to convey this information. A boxplot should be used for *continuous* data. Here you have discrete (categorical/ordinal) data. Perhaps a barchart (with the different categories shown in different colours might work better)? I'm struggling to understand what the "lower quartile" between "Keine" and "Grundkenntnisse" *means* for google docs. Is that 25% of respondents had Keine experience of google docs? Very confusing! It seems like you've decided you want to use a boxplot and are trying to find a way to use one.
Let's say I want to know how many people have expert understanding of SVN, how do I determine that from your graph?
However with a bar chart... it's clear that (for example) 5 people who responded were experts[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sPvEU.png)
Upvotes: 4
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2018/06/04
| 2,490
| 10,244
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<issue_start>username_0: After having presented a paper of mine at a conference last summer, I received an email from someone claiming to be part of an editorial team of a journal, to whom my paper was recommended. I sent my work to them, and received an unconditional acceptance after four weeks. But there have been some things that made me doubtful on whether it is actually a good idea to go on and publish there.
I received no comments from reviewers. The journal claims on the website that it is "peer-reviewed" (says nothing on the blindness). When I inquired about comments, the assistant to the editor told me that the editor's comments could be forwarded to me, but that that would take some time. I am currently waiting for this (for about three weeks).
The contact I have with them, exclusively with the editor's assistant, has been interesting. I receive emails at times when people in the US (it is an American journal) are unlikely to work. The person has an Indian-sounding name, and the hours of activity are more likely to be Indian working hours than American.
I could not find anything on the assistant to the editor online. She has referred to me multiple times as "Dr.", even though I am not yet, never used that prefix, and wrote to her after the first time that that is the wrong title. In general, the mails are unresponsive, and only answer one question out of three I asked them, etc.
On the journal website, they cite their h-index for the year 2010, and compare it to those of other journals in 2010. The journal does not appear in the ranking at <https://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=JOURNAL+NAME>. In turn, I do not know how reputable that website is, but it looks quite complete.
I can not find a list of articles that appeared in this journal on their website. I would like such a list to compare my article to others, and to see who the other authors are, how often their articles were subsequently cited, etc. As the journal's name is consisting of quite generic words, it is difficult to find articles from it on Google scholar - or they are not even indexed on Google scholar, although they claim to be on their website.
I also sent emails to academics that are listed on the Journals website as editors. They were not listed with institutional affiliations, but I googled their names, found academics with the same name and active in overall the same academic field, and wrote them emails, asking about their affiliation with the journal and whether it is legit. I received no replies.
In case of acceptance, I have to pay 320$ to publish, this includes the subscription to the journal for one year.
I am now wondering whether, given all of the above, it is a good journal to publish in, or whether there even is such a thing as a scam in this area of academia that I need to be aware of. Other journals also require a publication fee or even a submission fee, but in their cases, it is more clear to the authors what they gain in return. If it is not a financial scam, could it be a sort of academic scam - an attempt to steal results? But what good are stolen results with no data?
**Should I mention the publisher and the journal name in this question?**<issue_comment>username_1: Definitely a scam. I get these invitations every couple of months, from an organisation whose acronym quite appropriately rhymes with "diarrhea".
>
> After having presented a paper of mine at a conference last summer,
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I will guess that this conference published a list of presenters online, and that this list included your email address and your topic...
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> I received an email from someone claiming to be part of an editorial team of a journal, to whom my paper was recommended.
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If it's legit, I would expect them to mention *who* recommended your work. But unless you've produced something world-shattering, it's *very* unlikely that a legitimate journal would be cold-calling you to invite you to submit.
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> I sent my work to them, and received an unconditional acceptance after four weeks... I received no comments from reviewers
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Yeah, the quick turn-around plus lack of comments is a pretty good sign that their "peer review" is non-existent. I've never known a peer reviewer who couldn't find *something* to say, even if it was just "you should cite these eight papers by the very eminent Prof. <NAME>".
>
> The contact I have with them, exclusively with the editor's assistant, has been interesting. I receive emails at times when people in the US (it is an American journal) are unlikely to work. The person has an Indian-sounding name, and the hours of activity are more likely to be Indian working hours than American.
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An Indian-sounding name doesn't mean anything on its own; there are plenty of eminent academics of Indian origin all over the world. But the rest of this is definitely suspicious.
The ones who spam me also have a poor grasp of English grammar; while that's not unusual for academics (even the native English speakers, cough cough), it's very suspicious for a publisher. The fact that you can't find information about other articles they've published is also a strong sign of a scam.
It's very unlikely that these people are trying to steal your results. More likely, they're just trying to get a $320 fee out of you for significantly less than $320 worth of work on their part. They may publish your work but it's not going to be worth anything to you, and may even count against you if you list this journal on your CV. It's also quite possible that if you *do* pay the $320, they'll hit you up for more.
Your advisor should be able to give you some advice on more reputable journals in your field. In the meantime, keep your money, and be on the lookout for more scam attempts - once a scammer gets a response from somebody, they're very likely to target that person for future scams, or sell them on to another scammer.
Edited 8/6 in response to further information with examples of the reviews:
I don't think informal tone or minor spelling/grammar issues from a reviewer are suspicious in themselves. Reviews don't have to be as formal as a published article, and many reviewers aren't perfect English speakers.
What I do notice is that the writing style is quite similar between these two reviews. I can't be sure from the few paragraphs provided, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they were both written by the same person.
One error that *did* raise my eyebrow was Reviewer 1's repeated "et. Al" which should be "*et al.*, short for Latin "et alia". This is such a common part of academic English that I'm surprised any serious academic wouldn't know it.
More suspicious IMHO is the point that @NajibIdrissi noted: these reviews are very generic. Without any previous experience in your field, I daresay I could write something like this after five minutes of skimming your paper and five more of googling for references that match your keywords, and I could recycle 90% of it for the next review I needed to produce.
There are always more papers that *could* be included in the lit review, there's always more room to discuss further applications, and every author wants to be told that their model is valid and their methods are sound.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The information you provide points toward a predatory journal, here to take your money with little benefits for you. **Do not pay the publishing fees**.
In the future, here is a few things you could verify before sending a manuscript to an unknown journal (not an exhaustive list):
1. On their website, can you see an editorial board with clear affiliations? If yes, try to verify if the editors listed are really members of these organism. Many universities have a list of faculty member.
2. Look at the published articles of the journal. Can you find them in your usual search engine or even in the search engine the journal boast they are in?
3. As a general check, how does the website looks? Is is boasting an impact factor on the homepage? Does it have detailed information about the peer review process?
If the journal is Open Access, you could verify if it is listed in [DOAJ](https://doaj.org/). I am a DOAJ editor and we do verify the legitimacy of journals. If you do not like DOAJ (I know some people here don't), there exist list of predatory journals you could verify.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: As the suggestions have been very clear, I have withdrawn my submission, while not being encouraged to name the journal or publisher here. Instead, you said I should focus on describing their practices to keep the question general.
As such, what now happened is that, after having waited a few weeks for revierw's comments, and hearing nothing, I wrote the assistant to the editor that I would withdraw my submission. Immediately, they sent the following document.
I marked those phrases that put me off in particular, because they were sloppy, too general, or should have been substantiated more. These reviews seem like a hastily compiled document by someone with no academic backgroup, who tries to appear academic.
In the first review, the word "his" might just be a typo from "this", but it just adds further questions on the blindness of the review process.
The second paper they refer to, I could not find. The first, I could find, but at first glance it does not look too relevant. However, I will look at it in more detail. The argument that "as any author knows, at some point you have to limit what is included" seems, however, closer to student's wishful thinking than to appropriate rigor.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BAMop.png)
---
The second reviewer states that the previously employed methods are subjective and highly questionable, but that they are impressed with my methods. However, my methods are just combinations and extensions of previous methods. I can also not understand why they would *like* changes to be made, but not *require* them to be made.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/de9lt.png)
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/04
| 804
| 3,282
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<issue_start>username_0: Today I defended by Bachelor's thesis and I did well. The thesis is handed in. However the process of developing it was a real nightmare, I had many panic attacks, etc. and it was just awful. But now I realized that I have mentioned in my thesis that there is room for more research in this field when there barely is any and if someone decides to continue my research with my results they are going to have a really bad time. I just really don't want anyone to suffer the way I did or even more.
Should I be stressed about it and is there any action I can take?<issue_comment>username_1: Congratulations on the successful defence of your thesis. If at all possible, take some time to relax.
I understand your concern, but you have no real reason to worry. In general, there is always room for more research on any given topic. Now, anyone who wishes to advance your work will either be more senior than yourself or working for someone more senior than yourself. It will be *their* responsibility to decide if they want to invest their time and energy in the project.
If you are ever contacted about your thesis, then you can explain why you are less optimistic today, than you were in the past. It is very likely that the other person has some fresh ideas and together you may move forward.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Should I be stressed about it?
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Well, like everyone else is probably telling you, no; but try to think about it this way: Suppose you find some book in the library about some subject; and you notice that book indicates further research could be possible. Would you blame the author if it turned out the experience of doing that research was not pleasant? Of course not.
Also, people's experience doing research is much more the result of their personality, their life situation, and the kind of environment they're in; it's almost not at all the result of the subject itself inducing stress.
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> and is there any action I can take?
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Well, I suppose. You could talk to your thesis advisor(s), and let them know how you felt. You can indicate that the subject is "treacherously alluring" and caution them that future students might find it harder and perhaps more stressful than it may appear on first sight.
Of course you can't know for sure that future work will go through the same advisor; nor that s/he will take your advice seriously, but it's *something*, right?
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Don't worry about it. Most of the work in academia is fakework for grants and dead-end prestige games. The unlucky sap continuing your work will not be in a worse situation than if you were able to prevent your work from being used.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: Congratulations on getting through your thesis defence. Since it is only a bachelor-level thesis, you will find that professional researchers will be more than capable of making their own assessment of the topic and its potential for future research. Extending your thesis might be a [cruel and unusual](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruel_and_unusual_punishment) punishment for some, but it is the kind of masochism that academic researchers sign up for. Relax and enjoy being pulled off the torture-rack.
Upvotes: 3
|
2018/06/04
| 403
| 1,770
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<issue_start>username_0: I have been lucky enough to have been offered different professor positions in different universities. Both departments have made a lot of efforts to try and convince me to choose theirs (who gets offered what job is public here).
It was not easy, but I have finally chosen one. Should I try to explain why to the people from the other department, the one I am not going to? This is not obvious, because while there are arguments I could make, my decision relies in large part on extra-academic concerns, and some gut feeling. However, such an explanation may be expected, and I do not want to burn any bridges.<issue_comment>username_1: **No. You do not need to explain your decision.**
Assuming it's actually true, it would be *appropriate* to tell the department you're turning down that their offer was attractive, and that it was a difficult decision, and that the choice came down to non-academic factors that were out of their control. But even this is more than you *need* to tell them.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: **You don't *need* to tell them, but it is a nice thing to do:** Since your decision came down to non-academic considerations, it would be a nice gesture to thank them for the offer and explain that you preferred the other university for reasons that are not within their control. Just as job applicants like to get useful feedback on an unsuccessful application, and a guy who gets turned down for a date wants to know why (is it something wrong with me?!), employers generally benefit from knowing why they were unable to recruit the candidate they wanted. I would leave out the bit about the 'gut feeling', but it is worth mentioning the other factors that led to your decision.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/06/04
| 350
| 1,150
|
<issue_start>username_0: My school gives me my GPA as a percentage out of 100. If I have 91.55% overall, websites like [this](https://pages.collegeboard.org/how-to-convert-gpa-4.0-scale) and [this](https://blog.prepscholar.com/gpa-chart-conversion-to-4-0-scale) claim that this is equivalent to a 3.7 GPA. Is it then valid to write on my resume that I have a 3.7 GPA, or would this in some way be misleading or disadvantageous?
Furthermore, if I am able to raise this percentage to 93%, would it be valid to then report that I have a 4.0 GPA?<issue_comment>username_1: To raise a 93% to a 4.0 is being slightly dishonest especially if you have a more specific metric. You can always list your GPA out of 100 -
```
GPA: 91.55/100
```
Most employers/colleges understand that not all schools have a grading system out of 4.0
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You should list your GPA EXACTLY as it is shown on the certificate / record as provided from the school.
If they don't understand or want confirmation they will contact you or the school and they can then do the conversion on their own terms if necessary.
Upvotes: 1
|
2018/06/04
| 1,590
| 6,698
|
<issue_start>username_0: Last year one of the recommendation letter writers wrote incorrect information about my character and this was the reason I was rejected when I applied to graduate school.
After hearing about the rejection the professor realized his mistake and told me about it. Basically, he wrote I had serious mental health issues, but this was about another student.
I will apply again this year, what should I do about this error? Can the professor simply mention this on his new recommendation? How will the committee view an error as serious as this?<issue_comment>username_1: Mixing up two students in a letter of recommendation is a serious mistake. Erroneously suggesting that a student has serious mental health issues when in fact (1) they don't and (2) you don't think they do, is an even bigger mistake. Apart from choosing a new letter writer (one who will be more careful attending to details), there is nothing you can do. If you ask him to write letters again, I would remind him of his past mistake (be gentle) and let him know which schools are repeat applications. Only he knows what he said and he will be capable of figuring out the best way to handle it (e.g., a disclaimer in the new letter, a phone call, a blood offering).
This type of mistake is probably extremely rare. Sending the wrong letter probably happens, although I have never had the name in the letter not match the application. mixing up two students while sending a bad letter seems crazy. Most people don't write bad reference letters. When writing even a luke warm reference letter, I am very aware of the student I am writing it for. I cannot imagine mixing up two students in that way.
In terms of fixing it, if decisions have been made, there is probably no fixing it this year. As for next year, the admissions committee may not remember you. If the letter was so memorably bad that they do remember you, if the new letter explains what happened, all will probably be fine (i.e., the old letter will not hurt you).
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I am **flabbergasted** that the Professor here would not take the initiative to correct his own mistake. Writing a letter of recommendation for the wrong student ---and making negative remarks that do not apply, that cost the student a graduate position--- is a huge stuff-up. Any decent marginally-competent person would be mortified at making this mistake and would *immediately* take action to correct it, without having to be asked. (It might be too late for the admissions process that occurred, but the least the Professor could do is to write to the affected universities and correct the record, so that it doesn't negatively affect you in future applications.) It is good that he told you about the error, but that is really insufficient without him taking some further action to correct the error.
If this Professor has not already taken it upon himself to correct his error by writing back to those universities, to at least correct the record, then he is a *total deadbeat*. You should consider putting in a formal complaint to your university. This could also be legally actionable as negligence, breach of contract, defamation, etc., and it reflects terribly on the university that the *student* would be the one to have to take the initiative here.
If you are more forbearing than me then you should take [Strongbad](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/strongbad)'s excellent and sensible advice of approaching the matter gently, to get a good reference for next time. However, if you are as pissed-off about this situation as I am reading about it, and you decide you want to go full scorched-Earth, here is an alternative course of action: Speak to a lawyer and get him to write a letter to the university putting them on notice that their negligence/defamation has caused actionable damage to you, and that you expect them to take action to "mitigate that damage". (They will know what this means.) Make an appointment with a senior administrator at the university (e.g., their legal counsel, vice-chancellor's office, etc.), and turn up with a senior support-person (e.g., a lawyer, or if this is too expensive, at least a middle-aged person who knows how to handle these situations). Reiterate that the university has been negligent and has defamed you to other institutions, and this has caused actionable damage to you. Ask them for suggestions of how they intend to go about mitigating the damage to you, and make sure these are accompanied by guarantees. Advise them that if the damage to you is not mitigated by a successful application in the next round of grad-school entry, you will be left with no choice but to make a formal complaint to the relevant university Ombudsman and take legal action to recover damages.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: I feel some answers here are pretty unhelpful. This is why I would like to clearify some things.
>
> In terms of fixing it, if decisions have been made, there is probably no fixing it this year.
>
>
>
In some countries like Germany there is. It is evident that the selection process is invalid in this case, because the selection was performed based on wrong assumptions. If you call the comitee and clearify that the letter was for another person and they still do not reconsider you, there is a fair chance that after suing them, you may get the position.
>
> As for next year, the admissions committee may not remember you.
>
>
>
This is one of the worst tips I ever read somewhere. Seems like, some people like playing bingo with their life and risk life time defamation.
>
> Not a lawyer, but maybe worth investigating some legal compensation for a whole year wasted.
>
>
>
I do not know in which third world countries this would be possible, but it sounds unbearable if you can get a compensation for a *hypothetical* loss. How to measure the amount of this compensation? Maybe the comitee wouldn't have considered you even if the letter would be awesome. E.g. in germany a legal compensation in this case would be close to impossible according to (§ 253 Abs. 1 BGB). Nevertheless, in some countries like the USA everything seems possible.
Maybe there is a way to get the compensation if the comitee prepares a letter that you would have gotten the offer if the letter did not screw up everything. With this letter, Op can sue the professor, but even then Op has to prove that the professor was doing it with bad intention. I am not sure how it is in the USA, there maybe any flaw is enough to pay some thousand dollars. Nevertheless, I guess chances are bad there too in such a case.
Upvotes: 1
|
2018/06/04
| 600
| 2,455
|
<issue_start>username_0: Following suggestions for my post here "[Should results of a journal paper always be reproducible?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/110678/should-results-of-a-journal-paper-always-be-reproducible)", I have done the simulation using a particular seed in the first part of my result section. Now the issues are, how to mention that particular seed in the paper. I have not come across any particular paper doing so. For this reason, I am uncertain about mentioning it.
Any reference of how people do this would be highly appreciable.
Meanwhile, following is what I am writing
>
> In practice, nodes can be distributed in a large number of topologies.
> However, the results in Fig. 2,3, and
> 4 follow a fixed topology generated by pseudo-random
> seed (1010) to validate the scheme. Later, a more comprehensive
> analysis is shown in Fig. 5 and Table
> I.
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: A seed for a pseudo-random number generator is a sufficiently well-known concept in numerical simulations that the seed, on its own, probably does not require a citation—you can simply state which seed you used. The pseudo-random number generator algorithm, however, may need to be cited, particularly if it's not a well-known algorithm.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If you are aiming for your results to be completely reproducible, you will need the random-generator seed, however you will also need the source code (unless you use only one predefined method in a very clear way) and sometimes even other information such as the version of employed software, operating system, and hardware specs. The random seed is of no use to the reader on its own, and hence there is no point in mentioning it here.
In most contexts, I would only state in the main text which realisations are identical.
That you control this with seeds (instead of say saving and loading them) is a technical detail that should have no relevance to your results.
I would put the seeds together with the source code and other relevant details in a supplement (or similar).
At most I would mention the specific seed when referencing this supplement in a way that makes clear to the reader that this information only makes sense together with the supplement:
>
> The results in Fig. 2, 3, and 4 were obtained for the same realisation of the topology (Supplement A, seed 1010) to validate the scheme.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3
|
2018/06/05
| 1,860
| 7,774
|
<issue_start>username_0: My question is similar to this one
[I am an editor for a lousy paper and I found a better algorithm than theirs. Must I share it with them?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/99487/i-am-an-editor-for-a-lousy-paper-and-i-found-a-better-algorithm-than-theirs-mus)
although there are some small distinctions that (I think) make for a different question, which I write below:
I was a referee for a paper submitted to a high-caliber journal. For two cycles, I had recommended "major revision" because I felt like the problem was a useful one, but the writing was a mess and the methodology was needlessly complicated. After the third revision, I recommended "reject" because I worked through some analysis on my own, over the course of a couple of months, that the methodology was actually fatally flawed in a way that made the manuscript unpublishable for this particular journal. I shared this finding with the authors and they were understandably upset (and quite contentious about it), but they did not identify any flaws in my reasoning. The editor wrote me a note to thank me for an "extremely thorough and helpful" review.
In the time that has passed since then (just under a year), I have continued refining the analysis that I did, to the point where I now have a result of my own that is probably publishable in a lower-tier journal. The authors of the original paper have not made their manuscript available online, with the exception that the contents of the original paper are one of the chapters of the student co-author's dissertation, which is publicly available on the university's website.
Is it ethical for me to submit my paper to a journal, citing the dissertation and giving it credit for introducing the problem? On the one hand, the material that inspired me to study this problem has been made public, but on the other hand, I feel guilty for the amount of time that the authors spent on revisions that were ultimately fruitless, and this could lead to the original paper having a much more difficult path to eventual publication (somewhere).<issue_comment>username_1: **You should have recused yourself from reviewing the paper once you started working on the same topic if you had an intent to publish.**
To not have done so represents a conflict of interest. How would you like it if someone did the same to you? Probably you would be outraged, particularly if the opposing paper appeared first and "scooped" yours. The publication of the thesis may make it "look" better, but not if the submission of the manuscript follows closely on its heels.
If you had done the work only to show that the existing manuscript was flawed—with no attempt of publishing your own work later on—that wouldn't have been a problem.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: This is a tricky question, partly because there are so many different factors involved. At the crux of the matter, you are concerned with ethics. So you may ignore the fortituous fact that part of this is published in an open thesis. Your work was done before you knew of the thesis, so you may not use it as justification on ethical grounds.
Given the facts of the case as you present them, your first mistake is that you did a shoddy initial review. If you had the capability and time to do your own analysis, you should have done so in the first review itself (or if the writing was really bad, in the second review certainly).
---
EDIT: I do not mean to suggest, as some commentors interpret, that you should always do your own analysis for verification. But if you could do it in the third round, you could have done it earlier as well
---
By waiting until the third round, you didn't do justice to your role as reviewer, a role you voluntarily assumed. The resulting wastage of time and potential frustration for the authors could have been avoided.
The second ethical mistake would be publishing this analysis. Remember, you would not have had access to this idea had you not been entrusted with the review. (This is where it's important to ignore the later finding of thesis). The fact that you consider it 'probably' worthy of a lower tier journal should indicate to you that your contribution is not very significant; after all, you got the seed of the idea elsewhere, and you still didn't make it good enough to be published in the original target journal. Certainly you have made a contribution- but do you believe it is adequate to be published?
Remember, review is an honorary contribution. The 'thank you' from editor ought to be an adequate extra reward.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I'd reach out to the original authors, explain the situation and offer them a co-authorship. Once you have the manuscript ready to submit, that is.
Your post leaves unclear whether you would've thought of this problem and solution if you had not reviewed the paper initially. I think you would not have (otherwise I don't really see whether the ethical problem is, and you would have also recused yourself from reviewing the article), so it makes sense to give credit where credit is due. This holds for your method of solving as well - would you have come up with this if you had not read their solution first?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> Is it ethical for me to submit my paper to a journal, citing the dissertation and giving it credit for introducing the problem?
>
>
>
Yes.
>
> On the one hand, the material that inspired me to study this problem has been made public,
>
>
>
Yep, that sounds like a winning argument to me. If it’s public, then anyone may use it as inspiration for new research. Credit must be given to the source of course, as you yourself say you intend to do. The fact that you came to learn of the ideas through your work as a reviewer a year ago is irrelevant and I see no good argument in favor of disclosing it. The ideas are now public, period.
>
> but on the other hand, I feel guilty for the amount of time that the authors spent on revisions that were ultimately fruitless,
>
>
>
Guilt is sometimes a worthy emotion, but I don’t see what role it has to play here. As the reviewer, you did your best to shepherd the paper along on its route to publication in the hope that it will reach the threshold of publishability, selflessly investing time and energy with no expectation of getting anything in return. Sadly, things didn’t work out that way, but it sounds like everyone involved acted in good faith and no one is to blame, least of all you. It would have been very different if you had developed the follow-up research while you were reviewing the paper and intentionally sabotaged its publication in order to publish your work first, but that’s clearly not what happened.
>
> and this could lead to the original paper having a much more difficult path to eventual publication (somewhere)
>
>
>
That is too bad, but that is life. For you to voluntarily refrain from publishing a good scientific idea just to leave elbow room to other people who may or may not ever want/need/make use of it, would be damaging to yourself and (presumably) to the scientific community.
As for the idea of offering coauthorship to the authors of the original paper, that sounds like a reasonable option to me, but based on your account I don’t see that you have any ethical obligation to do so. In fact, depending on whether you feel they really deserve that type of credit, that may itself border on the unethical practice of gift authorship. Whatever you end up deciding, in my opinion coauthorship should not be offered as an act of charity or for irrelevant (even if true) reasons like “PhD students need to eat” as someone mentioned in a comment.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
|
2018/06/05
| 610
| 2,278
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently looking for some advise concerning the correct way of mentioning people (i.e. inventors or scientists) in a (PhD) thesis. To clarify, I'm looking for a good way of phrasing "Method X was invented by Y". Which of the following sentences - if any - would be the best way?
* Method X was invented by Doe
* Method X was invented by <NAME>
* Method X was invented by <NAME> (12 March 1899 - 22 April 1956)
* Method X was invented by the Russian mathmatician and writer <NAME> (12 March 1899 - 22 April 1956)
Personally, I think that it's appropriate to give some background (i.e. birth and death dates) for each newly introduced person. However, this might maybe be considered a bit too elaborated for a technical thesis.<issue_comment>username_1: Generally you should ask your advisor on that. It strongly depends on the discipline and probably the requirements of your parent institution. For example in my case the correct method was *Method X was invented by Doe*, but I have written a few works where the citation style was customarily *Method X was invented by <NAME>* as well as *Method X was invented by <NAME>*.
On the other hand I can't remember any paper where an author would introduce biographical data of the people whose names are referred. You are generally not writing about those people but their ideas. Moreover, sometimes you may be unable to find the birth and death dates - what would you do in that case? Omit the data in case of few people where you were unable to find it?
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I think in non-STEM fields some biographical data can be accepted more likely than in STEM fields. However, if one writes that ***Doe invented method X***, there's usually a publication to be cited, e.g. ***Method X, invented by Doe (1950)***, or ***Method X (Doe 1950)***, so this deals with explicitly mentioning the name of the inventor. On the other hand, if a numeric citation system (which I personally dislike) is used, than in many papers I've seen sentences like ***Doe [1] invented method X***. An excerpt from my own paper:
>
> ***The quantity H, introduced by <NAME> in 1951 to model statistically the cycle of Nile floods [22,23], is...***
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/06/05
| 1,047
| 4,386
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am finishing my first postdoc in computer science, and I have to make a decision about what I want to do next.
I have basically two options:
* Try to get a new position as a **senior postdoc or junior researcher**. In this case, I will have limited scientific freedom, and there will be a principal investigator supervising my work. This means having to adapt myself to the scientific strategy of the research group, but also not having big responsibilities, and having the possibility to learn a lot (and get help) from the principal investigator.
* Try to get a new position as a **team leader or junior principal investigator**. In this case, I will have a lot of scientific freedom, and I will be able to decide the scientific strategy of my research group. But I will also have more responsibilities (that is, I'll be fully responsible of my group mistakes), and I won't have anyone directly from which to learn new stuff, or to help me.
My long-time goal is to become a team leader for sure, but I just don't know if now is the right time for the "jump".
**How to make the right decision? How to understand what I would prefer most?
How can I understand if I'm ready to become a team leader?**<issue_comment>username_1: As someone has noted, much of this is down to your personal preference, but there are a few notes I would make on your question, your thinking behind it, and what it entails:
**Postdoc**
Your characterization of a postdoc isn't *necessarily* accurate - especially the parts about scientific freedom and adapting yourself to the scientific strategy of the lab. In my lab, I deliberately recruit postdocs with strengths that are not my own, and rely on their expertise to help guide strategy. Similarly, when I was a postdoc, my interests in several different approaches to a problem were something the lab indulged, even if they were decently far afield from their "mainline" work.
**Junior PI/Team Leader**
It's not clear here what you mean by "Junior PI" - if you merely mean that you'll be new, and not senior faculty. But when it comes down to it, you're a PI, or you're not (and note depending on the project you might not be - for example, I have some full professors who are on a project with me who are adapting themselves to my scientific strategy, because in this case I'm the PI).
But the advice I give my students and postdocs is this: You should be ready to tell your own story. Not an extension or adaptation of mine. You're ready when you can string together what you've done into a coherent whole, and be able to point to a spot on the scientific horizon supported by that story and say "I'm going to head that way." But it needs to be past "I used X method", "Y question was asked and here's the answer...", etc.
Note, some people don't care to get there, and live long, fruitful, and scientifically interesting lives.
And the flippant, slightly bitter answer: When you're tired of doing research and want to spend your time in meetings and answering email. ;)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: There are several ways to think about this. In some fields there is a window of opportunity for becoming a PI, and once you've been a postdoc for too long, people might starting thinking your past it, and if you were any good you'd have made PI already. I think this is a toxic attitude, but it does exist. In biomedical science, this starts after around 10 years of postdoc, but it might be different in your field.
What you really need to become a PI is vision and a desire to dedicate your time to helping others achieve goals rather than achieving them yourself (whter the goal come from them or you depends to an extent on the sort of PI you'll be). Note that most PIs spend very little time doing science and a lot of time teaching, applying for funding, juggling money, going to administrative meetings and supervising others. Personally I'd be a Postdoc as long as you can without damaging your career. In biomed there are positions called junior fellows where your are nominally mentored by someone else, but are free to conduct your own research program.
My old boss always said that its time to start thinking about running your own group when you have more science that you can't bare to not do than can be done by one person, then its time to start thinking about your own group.
Upvotes: 1
|
2018/06/06
| 225
| 997
|
<issue_start>username_0: Where to check my paper grammars for free of charge?
Do you have some suggestions?<issue_comment>username_1: Unless they are your friends in real life, it's very unlikely anyone will help you check your grammar for free. It takes time and effort, and could easily take several hours especially if the reader is also going for comprehension. There's a reason why professional proofreading services are not cheap.
If you're not willing/able to pay for this kind of service, then the best you can do is use a free grammar checking program such as [Grammarly](https://www.grammarly.com/). It'll not be nearly as good as a human proofreader, but it's better than nothing.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Some universities have writing services that can be free (for instance, are free for PhD students). While they might not want to check all your paper's grammar, they will definitely give you resources to improve your writing and grammar.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
|