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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently a masters student that is due to finish early next year. I have a scholarship which covers costs and pays me a modest wage up until and including PhD. I would like to do my PhD but I am concerned about the job opportunities that will be available to me after graduating due to my age and skill set. I would be in my mid 30's when graduating and would like to work in a non academic, non laboratory environment after graduating. At some time later in life I would like to return to academia but at least after graduating I would prefer to not do so.
How are somewhat older PhD's perceived by employers outside of academia ? Do they have a harder time being employed ? I have read PhD's are often considered over qualified or to focused in their knowledge making them not as desirable to employers, is this still the case ?<issue_comment>username_1: I assume you're asking about a situation where different members of a group are given different amounts of credit for a report that they all worked on. (For a different assumption, see the next paragraph.) The only way I can see this happening is if the professor has, in addition to the report itself, some information about the individual students' contributions to the report, information that forms the basis of the variation in the grades. In such a case , the students who pass are not doing so on the basis of the work done by the failing students but rather on the basis of what the professor knows about their individual work.
Another possible (though less likely) interpretation of the question is that all the students in the group got the same grade on this report but their other work (other assignments, exams, class participation) were different, so that some passed the course and others failed. In this case the ones who passed didn't benefit any more from the failing students' work than the failing students benefited from the passing students' work. The difference would be only that this work was, for some but not all students, enough to bring their overall grade for the course up to the passing level.
(Contrary to what you might infer from this answer, I'm not a fan of group work, except insofar as it makes grading easier. But my concern about its fairness is not the concern raised in this question.)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I run, with 5 other colleagues, a group project across 6 subjects.
The grading is part written project and part presentation with common parts such as introduction, quality of slides, effectiveness etc and subject specific parts such as referencing, tasks etc. The presentation is graded individually, looking for eye contact, professional language, delivery, enthusiasm, as well as individual questions.
There is also a peer evaluation element to get feedback from the group for each individual.
This works very well, as we have between 120 to 220 students depending on the semester and groups of 5 (we don't do groups of 6 as then the students do 1 student / subject and this does not contribute to all their subjects - they need all 6 subjects).
Some groups that do poorly on the written element, who then do poorly on the presentation as well can be borderline where some pass and some fail. This is influenced by the individual's personal performance in terms of peer, presentation and answering questions. The peer mark (as some will decry peer marking) is only 10% based on 3 contributing parts : the workshop, the hand-in and the presentation.
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently got a tenured (yes, permanent) faculty position in mathematics. During my PhD and postdoc, I collaborated with the same people on some projects, one big and one small, but most of my time was spent on my own, single-authored projects.
This clearly worked, however I now feel like I am missing out. I see all these people at conferences interacting, breaking ground on new knowledge together and having rewarding time working with other people. How do I get to that point?
Not to fall into stereotypes, but I am unfortunately a bit socially awkward, which does not help. I can go out and have fun with other young mathematicians, but walking up to someone and starting talking about a topic of collaboration seems to be out my reach. It never goes further than "I have a question", listening to the answer, and going back to talk with my friend-colleagues.<issue_comment>username_1: The best way to start I know of is to quietly pick some small problem somebody else is stuck with (requires no social skills whatsoever, just being reasonably open-minded, flexible, and being willing to listen more than to talk), solve it, and communicate the solution to that person. That will open him up immediately and more often than not a bigger collaborative project will ensue.
In general, keep in mind that most people are willing to talk about what interests *them* and are quite reluctant to think of what *you* are interested in, so learn to work on whatever comes your way rather than only on what you specialize in and let it be the other person who chooses the topic and the direction of the collaborative research. Just go with the flow and enjoy the ride. Note that every time you think of or collaborate on something you haven't tried before it is you, who benefits most by gaining new tools and ideas, and the entry cost is usually not very high: most of the time people are stuck on something that can be easily explained in "mathematical common" and requires just a fresh pair of eyes to figure out.
In summary, rotate the table: create the situation when *other people* will seek you to ask questions.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Going to mathematics conference talks, there are often two types of open problems that speakers present:
1. *The speaker can't do it.* Avoid these; it's far too much effort to join in and make a worthwhile contribution.
2. *The speaker could do it, but hasn't done it.* This is possibly because of lack of time, or their prioritizing other papers, or possibly they find some particular aspect unappealing (e.g., tedious) to work on. (Sometimes it's because they are not familiar with programming.) Often this type of work is pioneering in nature, and there's lots of room for scope.
The speaker is probably presenting this problem at the conference in the hopes of collaboration; that someone will say "I can do that!".
I recommend keeping an eye out for this second type of talk. Work on the problem they state, and email the speaker after a few weeks to show what progress you've made. Even if it's minor progress, the speaker will likely have the familiarity to proceed from there.
It's not guaranteed, but I feel they'll be thrilled that someone (anyone!) is interested in their research problem.
This is especially the case when you're working on the aspect of the paper the speaker is less excited about (they get to work on the part they like; and you do the rest).
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Inspired by this [question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/90271/postdoc-that-refuses-to-follow-the-terms-of-her-contract), I have a similar but somehow different problem.
I recently assumed a tenure-track position. One of my strategies for a visible start is to have a strong presence in social media. We have a youtube channel in which students regularly explain their achievements. Or sometimes we post short educational materials. We also prepare brief videos for each publication as some publishers promote the videos.
However, one of my PhD students refuse to cooperate. I specifically asked him in the interview (both video chat and email questionnaire) if he is willing and ready to prepare such video materials for the group, and he firmly answered YES. Now, he claims it is not part of the job description for a PhD.
I first preferred to ignore this conflict, but now other students are reluctant to do so. Now it is more a matter of my authority.
Since I am new, I do not want to take the case to the department head or other officials.<issue_comment>username_1: Every time I read "not part of my job description" I translate either
a) "You are here to exploit me and I am protecting myself by exhausting the interpretation of any formal contractual agreements we may have"
or
b) "I am here to exploit you, namely to take as much as I can while offering as little as I can, and I do that by exhausting the interpretation of any formal contractual agreements we may have".
Collaborative efforts in either case are bound to be lukewarm to difficult to non-existent.
I would suggest to first assess objectively which one of the two describes better the situation you're in. Understanding why the student changed course so completely, is critical in deciding how best to deal with the problem the PhD student has created.
Why do I say that he has created the problem? Because, to indulge his approach, reversing course and reneging on an explicit previous agreement without a shred of explanation apart from the "job description" angle, is not part of the "PhD job description" either. In fact it is part of the "Unreliable and Untrustworthy" job description. This is a PhD student we are talking about, not a teenager, so failure twice to raise and argue his (possibly valid) objections to the matter, is not a good sign.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: **Forcing him will not yield desirable results, appeal to his egoistic interests**
I think even if you could force him to comply by insisting on his contractual obligations or threating to sue/fire him the produced result would be of low quality because the type of work (creating Youtube videos) requires a positive attitude, i.e. appearing happy and interested. If he just does the bare minimum (reading a script with a monotone voice) it might yield little to no positive results for the perception of your group.
I suggest:
1. **Find out why he does not want to cooperate**. Maybe he finds the other videos too childish, unprofessional or "below" his qualification ("let some art students do it", "Why does he put me on the same level as some stupid youtube creator that comments on funny videos of cats?"). This will help you identify the exact nature of the problem. For example explaining that vanityis not the reason for you doing this.
Also, personally I find that "social media" carries a negative connotation: fake news, self-portrayal, orchestrated life on Instagram, people of questionable levels of contribution to society with millions of followers, etc. Maybe he has the same attitude.
2. **Present to him reasons on how he will profit from this as well**, e.g. "It is important to be visible in academia even for PhD students." or "Other researchers in your field might stumble up your video and contact you for a chance to give a talk or cooperate with you on further research." and "You will profit from this just as much as I." The latter communicates that you are not exploiting him for you own end.
If he is convinced of the personal benefit for himself, he will probably put much more genuine effort into the production of the videos, increasing their persuasiveness and positive self-portrayal of your group.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> Now it is more a matter of my authority.
>
>
>
Well, yes... I’m sorry if this will come as a surprise to you, but coming across as an unreasonable, coercive boss who wants to force their students to participate in distasteful, privacy-violating activities that have zero relevance or value to their professional training, is in fact something that will greatly undermine your authority as an advisor. Effect, meet cause.
My suggestion is that, for your own good and the good of your students, you cease those authority-destroying activities immediately. Your “authority” is something that is given to you for the sole use of doing research and training and educating your students. Asking them to appear in social media videos so that you can have a “visible start” is no different than asking them to make you coffee or give you a back massage so that you can feel energetic - both of those things are indeed not in any job description of any PhD student anywhere. They are not things you should ask students to do, and they are not things you have any right to be upset at a student for not wanting or agreeing to do.
Finally, the fact that you asked the student in the interview if he would be willing to appear in YouTube videos only means that you declared your abusive intentions in advance. It does not make those intentions any less abusive.
Good luck in your tenure track career.
---
**Edit:** I said I will address some of the comments left below. Rather than try to discuss fine points of logic, which I think will be tedious, I've decided to add a more personal type of note, which I think will do a better job of getting the point across.
I have been asked many times over the years by various people to have lectures I was giving recorded and made publicly available online (on YouTube, etc). I *always* refused. Frankly, I find the thought of making publicly available videos of myself lecturing pretty repugnant. Why? Well, just because; I don't feel like it, and I don't owe anyone any explanations. If some silly people want to think that it's because (to quote a comment someone wrote) "some people are super self-conscious about their voice and/or their looks", fine, go ahead and think that. (Oh, and by the way, on another occasion I did agree, happily, to participate in a YouTube video that now has more than 700,000 views. Go figure... I guess I'm inconsistent! Again, I leave to others to engage in their pointless Freudian analyses of what that means about my personality or whatever.)
One of the lessons I learned from these experiences is that people who don't care about privacy have a really hard time understanding people who do. The people who asked me to make my videos available online were sometimes quite offended at my refusal, as if they could not understand why anyone might refuse such an amazing opportunity, and even (this was really bizarre) subtly pressured/guilt-tripped me, implying that I would be depriving the world of an important resource (trust me, I wasn't).
OP, I am sure you are a good person and a good researcher who means well, but know this: **your student who doesn't want to make YouTube videos really, really, really means it when he says he doesn't want to make YouTube videos**. You might have a hard time understanding why; well, it's not important (or any of your business really) why -- just trust that it's true. And it's quite possible that your other students who haven't been as firm in standing up to you feel exactly the same.
To summarize, you probably don't view yourself as an abusive adviser. You think the student is being unreasonable, but he isn't. Attempting to force the issue will have bad consequences for both of you, and more importantly, is simply wrong. So please let the matter go, and figure out more acceptable ways to market yourself and your group.
Upvotes: 8 <issue_comment>username_4: tl;dr: You need to inspire, you mustn't coerce.
-----------------------------------------------
If you believe it's significant for the group to invest time in social media presence, you need to *convince* incoming junior researchers of this fact. You need to provide *compelling examples* of how doing so helps the group and helps them. It's not sufficient that it helps only other people in the future - remember your Ph.D. candidates will likely not continue as part of your group in their future, nor do they know they'll ever interact with it; and it is also up to the existing group members to *inspire* in them.
So when your PhD candidate says "it's not part of the job description", what he's really telling you is: "You've not demonstrated that this is worthwhile and important, and since I believe it would be at least somewhat detrimental, I'm avoiding it."
>
> I specifically asked him in the interview (both video chat and email questionnaire) if he is willing and ready to prepare such video materials for the group, and he firmly answered YES.
>
>
>
If someone asked me in a job interview whether I'm willing to go buy them lunch, and I really wanted/needed the job, I'd likely say YES but then try to get out of actually doing that.
Luckily for your PhD candidate(s), your inappropriate questionnaire is not reflected in the contract in any way. You could theoretically get that changed if you really expected the questionnaire to be binding; but, well, don't do that.
>
> Now it is more a matter of my authority.
>
>
>
So, what you're saying here is that you want them to...
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/kef4Z.jpg)
right? Well, it's [ridiculous for Cartman from South Park](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbebjUYItKw) and it's inappropriate for you as well.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: I find this question quite important. As there are so many laboratories in my field taking up this 'marketing model' of establishing a *strong online presence*. I understand the potential gains and how it relates with the Impact Factor craze but I shall not linger on this aspect here.
As you said, students agreed in participating during interviews, which is your main argument to be used in pushing them to do it. However you also said that after a while this particular student (i.e. probably the most courageous) started refusing and others soon followed. As mentioned by others in this thread, you ought to find out why student(s) are refusing to participate in videos. Which brings up the point that **no potentially relevant details about such videos are disclosed of in your question**. I think this point is quintessencial to your problem: perhaps the investment in your videos turns out to be more than students anticipated in the interviews? And it took one stronger personality (i.e. potentially your *best* student) to spark a revolt? My point here is: **reconsider what you're asking of your students regarding these videos**. If it takes a few minutes and is a lot of fun, I am sure almost everyone will engage every now and then. On the hand if it takes extra work hours, scalding, unwanted exposure, and surplus tasks (i.e. editing) then soon enough you'll end up only surrounded by minions and likely producing unquestioned (i.e. *bad*) output.
Finally, I do not encourage you to push some authority onto someone refusing to participate in videos, unless your local priorities are not the usual of a scientific research facility. Apart from destroying your reputation in the mid-term, you will (also) end up with very bad videos & results & lab ambiance in the short-term.
**Do** write about the experience on your blog and shoot a vlog about it: I think this problem is more widespread than you expect.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: The requirement to present work is a very reasonable ask, and in fact part of what a PhD student is supposed to learn.
That said, take a step back and think about what you're asking for. Perhaps "produce a video" or "submit to an interview" might not be a fair ask, both for different reasons. Producing a video requires expertise which, arguably, has little to do with what your student is trying to learn. Doing it well takes skill, and it frankly requires some aptitude. Done wrong, it looks bad, and can negatively reflect on a student who does it badly. It can take quite some time to learn, and can be a substantial detractor from what your student should be spending time doing. As for the interview, appearing on-camera can be very stressful for a shy student. For all you know, the student may have skipped bail and doesn't want to attract undue attention!! Of course, that last is ludicrous, but the point stands -- you don't know because you didn't ask.
If you would like to put up a social media presence around this student's work, you should find out what the student's real objections are, and address them. If its "I don't know how to do this", you can teach the student, or make sure the student gets help from the right support staff. If it's "I don't think this is my responsibility" (and the student might have a real point there), you can suggest that presenting data is the responsibility of a student, and you would like the student to work with staff member "X" to generate material sufficient for that staff member to produce a social media article or video. That *is* the student's responsibility.
"You said you would do this and now you won't!" won't get you very far, with students or with colleagues. If you dig in your heels on this, you won't accomplish what you need to, and your authority may take a beating. Worse, the grapevine can carry the message, and your source of valuable students could dry up.
"I'd like to generate an exciting social media presence for our lab, and I think your work would be a great thing to include. I understand that you don't want to make a video, but communicating your work is an extremely important part of being a researcher, and even if you don't feel you can produce a video, you are still responsible for helping your lab keep our social media presence up to date. Can you provide material to go into this template? Can you video your next experiment for us, maybe with your phone, and write a brief description to accompany it? Are there tools or expertise I can match you up with to make this social media post possible? What sort of help do you need?" might be a more productive approach. It might start a conversation that points you to what the real obstacles are. It might help your relationship with this student, instead of killing it.
Your student might not end up doing the entire job on his own (which may really not be what the student needs to do with his time anyway), but you clearly lay out that the student still has substantial responsibility toward helping the lab complete the mission, and he is not off the hook for contributing. You have reasonable expectations, and fulfilling them will advance the student's abilities.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: >
> Since I am new, I do not want to take the case to the department head
> or other officials.
>
>
>
You don't know the laws or rules and regulations of your country and/or college. **The purpose of these people is to make sure your doing the right thing legally and ethically.**
If between the video and the emails are considered legally binding and enforceable your option of last resort is to kick them out of the program and/or group.
However, you definitely need to make this clear at the beginning of the process. If you are serious about this and have the legal authority to demand this you need to have a signed contract.
The contract needs to say exactly what is expect, when it is expected, and the consequences of failure.
If you say I expect youtube videos within a week of request and we plan to expect them at point (or actual date if available. Failure to comply will result in being kicked out of the program (or etc).
In many cases a student can and will go and complain, and the final decision maybe up to a committee. The decision may go in the students favor if you don't properly document everything in minute detail.
Then you need to have your department head and probably others review it to make sure it is legally enforceable, and that you have your department there to back you up.
**Many instructors have gotten in trouble by trying to fix the problem themselves and in doing so did the wrong thing and got in trouble because they didn't consult the department head or other source of authority.**
---
All that being said, you should probably ask detailed questions about why they are refusing before acting. I would definitely prefer to find out if it is a solvable problem like stage fright, the projects not ready, or some other legitimate excuse before acting.
Making sure resources are available to help them. Here's 20 other videos from other students, so they have something to go by. A written template for a script, allowing the student to ad lib so they don't sound fake and scripted (unless there supposed to). We have camera you can use on site to make the videos and etc. Here are other resources for the students .......
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: >
> Since I am new, I do not want to take the case to the department head or other officials.
>
>
>
Many of us here understand the nerves of being a new faculty member, and having uncertainty about how to deal with a difficult situation. But for God's sake, **talk to your department head!** I'm sure your department head would be happy to give you guidance and assistance on a difficult matter, and would probably appreciate being consulted in preference to a group of random people on academia.SE.
New staff at a university can sometimes be nervous about bringing problems to senior faculty, but this is a deficiency in their own work habits. It is far preferable to seek guidance from experienced staff in your faculty than to try to muddle through on your own with the sporadic advice of outsiders. You will be doing your job better if you swallow your nerves and go and talk to your department head, or other senior faculty who run your department. Presumably these are the same people who chose to hire you, so I'm sure they are happy to hear from you!
Personally, I agree with some of the criticism of your practice, and I think it is a stretch to require a PhD student to participate in this activity. (Though I am critical of this practice, I appreciate that you have a *bona fide* belief in its value.) As you can see, some of the academics on here are pretty scathing of this, and you might find that your department head is also critical of this practice. But even if this is the case, it is much better for him/her to hear about it early, and be able to do something about it, than to hear about it later when it becomes a staff complaint and a disciplinary matter for a student.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_9: The student must understand that **outreach is part of academia**. A lot of scientific research, in particular blue-sky science, is tax funded. It is entirely reasonable to expect scientists to reach out to the general public and present what they're doing. As a scientist-in-training, it is very much in the interest of the PhD student to be trained in outreach. Nowadays, social media are a popular way to do outreach (but not the only way).
However, some scientists are unwilling to participate in outreach in general or to outreach via social media in particular. Perhaps they don't want to spend the necessary time, they feel shy, or they for some reason have negative connotations to outreach in general or to a specific medium such as youtube. Talk to the student, and find out where his objections are coming from, then try to address them:
* Does the student believe outreach in general is a waste of time? Try to explain why outreach is important. Later in an academic career, it may very well be part of promotion criteria.
* Does the student fear the produced video may not look professional? Ensure support from the university's outreach/media production department. Surely they're on it already? They should be, for amateurish videos reflect poorly upon both yourself and the university brand.
* Does the student have personal reasons to not have his/her face on a video? That should be respected. Perhaps he/she is willing to instead provide a voice-over, or write a script that someone else will read out, or support the production of video outreach material in another way?
* Does the student have specific reasons to oppose social media in general or youtube in particular? An alternative compromise could be to post the video only on the website of the university. It may be less visible, although I think Google Video search may still find it.
If none of that works, so be it, other answers have pointed out the student cannot be forced. But in any case, explain to the student that saying one thing at the interview but another thing after getting the position is, to say the least, not helpful.
The bottom line: explain to the student that if s/he wishes to stay in academia, s/he may very well experience (strong) pressure to do outreach later in life. Training in outreach is good for his/her CV, and outreach is a moral duty in publicly funded science. Dig into his/her objections, and try to address them where possible.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_10: A research group is much like a workplace. The group takes on the personality of it's leader. Some groups require weekly presentations, some go out to beers together, some are broad, some are very narrow, some have web 1.0 web presences, some present their work on YouTube. If you made it clear that you expect your group to be out there on social media and presenting their ideas to a broader audience than they can reach just through conferences and papers than that is a reasonable expectation. If that student doesn't want to share their knowledge in that way then maybe they should find another group.
This can cut both ways though. If you as a new professor have this policy in place and cannot attract good students because of this expectation then realize it is going to adversely affect your career.
All this bullshit about "privacy" is just that, bullshit. People can want privacy, but need to recognize their are side effects to that (one of which might be not working with you). So many academics feel like they can do everything themselves and come off as extremely arrogant because of it. The nature of the world is that you MUST work with others and you can't expect privacy while working with others. Anyone can choose to limit their exposure but they have to recognize that they are giving something up by doing so.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: Probably the best course of action is to sit down an ask your student: If you don't feel comfortable taking part in YouTube videos, why did you say otherwise when we spoke previously? This will give you a starting point. Maybe something happened in your student's life that changed their mind. Maybe the other requirements of the PhD program are putting too many time-constraints on your student, and spending this extra time engaging in social media would take focus away from their research. Maybe it wasn't clear to them what "social media" involvement meant.
It's also possible that they were just telling you what you wanted to hear because they wanted into the program (If they were being purposefully deceitful, then that may be a case for your department to step in).
These will give you a better understanding of your student, but one thing should be very clear - you should not and cannot *force* your students to perform duties outside of their contractual obligations to the PhD program. I would even question the ethics of admitting students to your lab on the condition that they agree to social media appearances. It could be your other students are now reluctant to create videos because they are now less afraid of saying "no."
As an advisor (particularly a tenured advisor), you have a great deal of power over the future of the students in your lab, and while it's not technically in your job description, it is in your lab's best interest to not abuse that power.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_12: It isn't clear which jurisdiction or discipline you are working in? Is this your first time managing people?
There are several northern European countries where PhD "students" are actually fixed-term employees and the supervisor may not even be included in the line management, with obvious implications. It is not uncommon for people to work in the public or private sector for some time before undertaking a doctorate; in particular, they may have held positions in their previous life which are comparatively more senior than yourself.
The point of saying that is that you appear to be focusing on your authority rather than your responsibility. Your primary concern in relation to your students is to guide them well and look after their professional, and on occasion personal, welfare. If you do that in a competent manner, the rest will fall into place.
The old axiom that the best advertisement for a teacher is a good student applies here: is the student in question performing well otherwise?
Is the YouTube video idea really for your students' benefit or is it because you've got a new position and are perhaps feeling insecure? Is that time really best spent on what I would personally perceive as a somewhat frivolous activity rather than undertaking research and building a robust publication history (which will cement your position)?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_13: >
> he claims it is not part of the job description for a PhD.
>
>
>
But the matter has nothing to do with what he "claims"; either it is a part of his job description or not. If it is not, then you should cease and desist, there is nothing to discuss here.
I'm quite astonished that some answers blame the student for referring to his job description and get upvotes. First, this is a typical way to set boundaries against power abuse. Second, there is a third party - that funds the student - and it is the job description that specifies its intentions. Third, this may be the only way to for him to stand his ground without telling his (perfectly valid) reasons that will put you at cross.
I also don't understand blaming the student for changing his opinion. At the time of the interview, the student (with no experience in academia and possibly from another culture) thinks that what you are asking for is a usual part of the job. Later, he finds out that it is not, students in other groups spend their time more productively, and, moreover, many colleagues find this activity distasteful. What's he to do?
The last remark: if this activity is not a part of the job (as stated in the job description and thus as intended by the funding party), including a question about it in the interview is in itself an abuse of power. This alone makes the answers of the student non-binding.
Upvotes: 5
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<issue_start>username_0: One of our lab directors, on tenure track, has been active in the mainstream, e.g. doing science interviews on radio, tv, newpapers, and another researcher (post-doc, I think) has published in the "trade press" rather than in an academic journal.
Does promoting your work in the mainstream help one's career *in academia*? Will a tenure / promotion committee look favorably at one's popularity in the mainstream?
I'm asking particularly about large research universities in the United States.<issue_comment>username_1: Mainstream media probably is easier to get published in than academic media.
A good public image certainly may help raise your standing with positive repercussions professionally.
Though it is best to seek peer approval and review in scientific media if tenure and career development is ones goal.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: In fact, in the absence of a large body of work published in quality academic journals and attracting loads of grant money, the strategy you mention will probably hurt your chances for tenure in large research universities in the US and probably elsewhere.
Tenure is granted in such places by committees of peers, who are mostly grant funded researchers who also teach. But it isn't your external reputation that will be examined in the meetings of the tenure committee but the quality of your research and the number of times it is cited in scholarly journals.
The above is not a universal and there may be exceptions, but not many. Your reputation outside academia is of little value in tenure discussions. However, once you are tenured (and funded), your visibility might be considered useful when it comes to salary negotiations and some expectations put on you (teaching, committees, ...).
Visibility within the community of scholars *within your field* via presentation of work at scholarly conferences is a bit different, but it is backed by the research, of course.
But if you want to be tenured at any research university, do a lot of research and get it funded outside the institution. The funding helps pay for graduate students who aid in the research, of course, and pay for labs, etc.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2018/06/20
| 1,025
| 4,381
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<issue_start>username_0: Can I do a master's thesis with exploratory work without any results? It's like assume some hypotheses about certain data and testing them. If yes, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Can such a work support me as a good Ph.D. student?
If I didn't publish anything in my master's level, and I graduated with such a thesis, would that support me or pointing a red flag against my research skills? Add to this, working as a research assistant during my master's studies. Would anyone appreciate my failed attempts and hard work yet not productive? I'm really a hard worker and I'm doing non-traditional approaches (because traditional techniques don't advance/"revolutionize" the field) in my research but I don't have any output. My advisor agrees that we need to do non-traditional approaches to advance our field, but he is pointing out that we need results and to do some baby steps based on a published research. Unfortunately, It's too late now to publish anything. I also feel that this RA job is something against me when I want to apply for a phd program (maybe in a much better school). Would a person who read my application make a statement like this; "2 years as an RA with a good advisor and no a single publication? furthermore a bad thesis? your application is in the trash dear..". I also feel that my advisor feels I'm not really a good RA, and if the time came back, he wouldn't have hired me. Which means that he won't give me a good recommendation letter and most importantly, I let him down. He was very generous to me and provided me a full scholarship and this RA job because he thought I'm really good, but now he thinks the opposite. For me personally, I do believe that I'm not productive, however, I'm learning a lot and I'm a hard worker.
What is the effect of such a situation on me when I want to apply for a Ph.D. program in one of the very good schools (one of the top 200 schools in the world maybe?)<issue_comment>username_1: I think the title and body of your post don't exactly match up.
You can have good research that does not produce results. You can have bad research that does produce results of some kind. You should not base the quality of your research, especially masters level, based on how much of an impact you are making on the field and how revolutionary your results are. A lot of master students don't conduct research and some of them still continue on towards a PhD. Many go straight to a PhD after getting their bachelors- none of them have had any research results.
I think the bigger issue here is your idea of productivity. There is no way for saying for certain, but it seems like you believe you are unproductive. Why is this the case? It could be founded on a false idea that you need to be constantly publishing (as a masters student) to be "productive" or to get a good recommendation letter. However this is not always the case.
My recommendation to you is to have a serious talk with your adviser about your thoughts of pursuing a PhD. Ask for advice he might have for you and whether or not he'd recommend you go down that path. You are making a lot of assumptions which are unhealthy- they will only bring your morale further down. PhD environment is much more stressful than a masters environment- my worry for you is that if you are freaking out about research now, it will only get worse in the future. Have a serious conversation with your adviser so you know how you are performing in the eyes of someone else- that should give you the best idea of your chances of getting accepted and then succeeding in a PhD program. Best of luck.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Publications do help, but professors recognize that some students are handed "mature" projects that lead to a publication and some students have to start from scratch.
Even without a publication, your advisor's recommendation letter (or phone call) can give you a good chance. It helps a lot if your advisor knows someone at the university you want to go to (or they know him/her), but if your grades are ok then this is one of the strongest dealmakers/breakers. Usually professors do not say "you should accept this student", but that "I would accept this student" and based on his/her standing in the community the admissions committee/potential PhD advisor will decide what that's worth.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/06/20
| 713
| 3,067
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm very interested in working with a specific professor, who is a full-time full professor in one department, and adjunct faculty in another. In this case he is *not* a part-time adjunct who only teaches. I'm more interested in being a grad student in the second department, for a number of reasons that aren't important to go into.
In the US, would it be typical for such a professor to be able to supervise a grad student in the second department? Or is this likely to vary by school? The department website is unclear.
I know I can ask him, but I thought this would be a valuable question for the community as well.<issue_comment>username_1: I think the title and body of your post don't exactly match up.
You can have good research that does not produce results. You can have bad research that does produce results of some kind. You should not base the quality of your research, especially masters level, based on how much of an impact you are making on the field and how revolutionary your results are. A lot of master students don't conduct research and some of them still continue on towards a PhD. Many go straight to a PhD after getting their bachelors- none of them have had any research results.
I think the bigger issue here is your idea of productivity. There is no way for saying for certain, but it seems like you believe you are unproductive. Why is this the case? It could be founded on a false idea that you need to be constantly publishing (as a masters student) to be "productive" or to get a good recommendation letter. However this is not always the case.
My recommendation to you is to have a serious talk with your adviser about your thoughts of pursuing a PhD. Ask for advice he might have for you and whether or not he'd recommend you go down that path. You are making a lot of assumptions which are unhealthy- they will only bring your morale further down. PhD environment is much more stressful than a masters environment- my worry for you is that if you are freaking out about research now, it will only get worse in the future. Have a serious conversation with your adviser so you know how you are performing in the eyes of someone else- that should give you the best idea of your chances of getting accepted and then succeeding in a PhD program. Best of luck.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Publications do help, but professors recognize that some students are handed "mature" projects that lead to a publication and some students have to start from scratch.
Even without a publication, your advisor's recommendation letter (or phone call) can give you a good chance. It helps a lot if your advisor knows someone at the university you want to go to (or they know him/her), but if your grades are ok then this is one of the strongest dealmakers/breakers. Usually professors do not say "you should accept this student", but that "I would accept this student" and based on his/her standing in the community the admissions committee/potential PhD advisor will decide what that's worth.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/06/21
| 401
| 1,639
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<issue_start>username_0: I have written a letter of recommendation for a student who is applying to study abroad (we are in the USA, she is applying to study in Spain). The institution she is applying to requested that letters be submitted in Spanish; since I do not speak or write Spanish fluently, I asked a close friend (a native speaker of Spanish) to translate the letter for me.
My question is how to indicate this properly on the letter. My current plan is to add, just below my signature, the phrase "Traducido por \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_" and then the translator's name. Is that the right way to handle this, or is there something else I should be doing?<issue_comment>username_1: Since this is merely a letter and not a full-fledged thesis, it is fine to write it the way you have indicated in your question.
If the translator has notable credentials pertaining to Spanish (e.g., a degree in the language or some sort), perhaps you may consider adding that too, after the person's name.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> My current plan is to add, just below my signature, the phrase "Traducido por \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_" and then the translator's name. Is that the right way to handle this, or is there something else I should be doing?
>
>
>
That seems appropriate. You could also add it as a "PS: Traducido..." at the bottom.
Generally, it's not a bad idea to ask the translator. They may have experience with this sort of situation and be able to give more specific advice. Although in your situation, I suppose the translator is not actually a translator per se, and you *are* asking here, so...
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/21
| 1,352
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<issue_start>username_0: I was part of a university project team, and at the end of the semester we decided to submit a review paper related to the topic of our project. Our advisers gave us feedback and made suggestions on our draft. We submitted our draft to a journal and many months later, one of my team members got a notification that our paper needed to be edited to respond to reviewer comments and resubmitted. However, he did not contact us until a few months later, when he said he thought we should not submit because the necessary edits were too demanding. However, when he went to talk to our advisers, some of them decided to continue working and resubmit. The other student did not let any of the other team members know, and told the adviser no one wanted to help him without consulting us.
A month later, we were all notified that they were resubmitting that week and they needed our consent to remove us as co-authors. They have made very significant additions to our paper, adding more sources and detail to our claims and rewording the majority of it. However, the overall idea of the paper is quite similar and there are aspects of the paper that resemble portions we wrote. I feel it is quite ungenerous of them to cut us all out from being co-authors, when we wrote the majority of the initial submission, even if the final draft is quite different. Did they do the right thing?
EDITS
To clarify some points -
The main issue is that they have to resubmit in a few days, so any changes in authorship need to be approved by everyone very soon. I agree that our adviser should be changed to first author, but there's no time to get everyone's consent for that, unless he can get an extension.
The adviser has not been hostile in any way and I don't want to make things too awkward, but I don't quite feel comfortable signing off on cutting us all out.
I guess my real question is should I insist they include us? How much of the initial draft must be modified before you can just remove co-authors.<issue_comment>username_1: No, I don’t think so. If you all feel strongly enough you could contact the editor, explain the issue - do provide thorough evidence and have it corrected. mind you the editor could just stop the publication...
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm going to answer a slightly different question than the one you asked, namely: **My advisor just emailed me for consent to remove us as co-authors on a paper, what should I do?**
I would politely but clearly let him know that you think your contribution to the original article warrants co-authorship, and that therefore you cannot consent to be removed as co-author. In fact, you could use that line almost verbatim in an email to your advisor.
You're writing that there's a pressing time limit for these author changes. That may be true, but it would be incorrect to expect you to give up co-authorship when they could have reached out to you long ago. It's up to the first author and corresponding author to make sure the paper gets submitted in a timely manner, and figuring out questions about authorship is part of the whole submission process and cannot be delayed until the end.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: * It is not ethical to remove you as co-author from a resubmission, if you contributed to the first submission and your contribution is still relevant in the resubmission. In that case, there seems to be a portion of the text in the resubmission that is a revised version of text that you wrote, so your contribution is indeed still relevant to the resubmission.
* Do not agree to being removed from the author list. Don't let yourself be pressured to agree by an impending deadline. In most cases it is no problem to get an extension, even up to multiple weeks, on manuscript resubmission deadlines. Moreover, it should have been the lead author's responsibility to plan everything so that the deadline can be met.
* If the importance of individual contributions has changed by the revision, it may indeed be appropriate to change the author order. That has to be agreed upon by all authors. The editor might also want to have approval from all authors for that change.
* Start collecting evidence to support your claims. In the text from the first submission, mark which portions of the text or data have been contributed by whom. Collect earlier drafts and emails or other communication that further evidence these contributions. If you have the revised version, mark which portions in that are based on contributions you made earlier.
* If the lead author does not resubmit to the same journal with you as co-author, try to keep an eye on other journals in the same area. They may just try to go to another journal with the revised version, where the editor will not be aware that the manuscript may still contain contributions of someone who's not listed as an author. If you see a publication with text based on your earlier contributions, but not listing you as an author, contact the editor with a complaint, and provide the evidence you collected.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I do not think you have been treated fairly. In case you were involved in the earlier steps of a project, any further development should be discussed in front of you. From your account, it seems like you felt excluded. Thus let them all know this, and do not agree with being removed from the list of authors.
A relevant point: (i) "Our advisers gave us feedback and made suggestions on our draft."; (ii) "The other student did not let any of the other team members know, and told the adviser no one wanted to help him without consulting us"; (iii) "I agree that our adviser should be changed to first author". From points (i-iii) it is my understanding that someone made a deal with some 'adviser' by giving this person some 'honorary' first authorship? I believe you should take this pattern into consideration, as this honorary first author is now expected to use his power and influence to scoop you out of this.
Upvotes: -1
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2018/06/21
| 2,007
| 8,944
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<issue_start>username_0: To get my first paper published I carefully followed all reviewers’ instructions as I was convinced that reviewers are experienced researchers and reviewers. After major revision my first paper was smoothly accepted.
However, as I progressed in research I also grew to dislike my first publication. Following the reviewers’ instructions made the paper unbalanced and disrupted the line of reasoning. That is because many reviewers request additional changes reflecting their area of expertise, but not necessarily contribute to the original objective and scope of the paper.
I also learnt that ‘the academic standard’ is a broad interpretation depending on the reviewers’ experiences and preferences. Also reviewers make mistakes in their judgement. As I was quickly asked to review myself, this blog greatly helped me in identifying my own mistakes: <https://sites.umiacs.umd.edu/elm/2016/02/01/mistakes-reviewers-make/>
In following publications, supported by my experienced supervisors, I learned to refute more. Even if I want to compromise, my supervisors will object because it is also a matter of our long-term reputation. The flip-side of the coin is that reviewers get pissed-off because no one likes a rebuttal, no matter how politely and respectfully it is written. It just provokes a response in reviewers to legitimize their views and invites additional scrutiny of my work.
I do however fully agree with my supervisors. It is a balance between short term targets and long term success. It is in essence a matter of personal integrity. But it is also personally stressful and it takes a lot of additional time and effort on the expense of research. I often think, just let us compromise and get the work published smoothly.
How should I deal with this dilemma? Have others had similar experiences?<issue_comment>username_1: You can politely write the editor to replace a reviewer or at least choose an additional reviewer (with better expertise for arbitration) if you are not convinced of the expertise of a reviewer. Then the rebuttal has to be also well written in a manner that will not be directed at their feelings. You must appreciate that good reviewers would also like to put in their best to properly shape your paper.
Another point (and this is worth pondering over) is that most times, good reviewers and good feedback would project to you how the audience (or some of them) would perceive your work (if it is published that way). That may be one of the reasons why it is not surprising to see very good papers in esteemed journals without a citation!
When we write, we do for others to understand. Sometimes there may be a gap between what we wish to pass across and how the reader views it. In ideal cases, this could be well understood from the feedback of the reviewers. Remember it is might be difficult to get feedback from others (especially when they are far away) when the paper gets published.
Also, the 'creativity' of experts chosen by the journal's Editor would add some 'flavour' to your skill and presentation.
Another point is that, when your paper is published so many kinds of people (and researchers) would likely read through your document. The reviewers comments would give you an idea of how effectively your message is conveyed to this wide audience.
So most times (except for instance if the reviewer is technically wrong or he did a bad job), it is mainly a question of the level of your objectivity to the feedback you get.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: When I started writing papers, my supervisors advised me that I should consider the reviewers' comments and suggestions but not be bound by them. When revising papers after reviewer feedback I would write a response letter addressing each point, whether I had incorporated the reviewer feedback or not, and importantly - why (or why not). In most cases I found that the editor considered a justification for not amending (a portion of) the paper to be acceptable.
In one case a reviewer wanted what amounted to a literature review of possible alternative solutions, which we considered to be far beyond the scope of what we were reporting in the paper and we ultimately withdrew the paper and submitted it to a different journal.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I was **never** submissive to reviewer's comments. I do **not** think this has negatively affected my career or publication record. [Disclosure: I have not published in the top journals.]
My first paper was heavily criticised by committee members, and reviewers from 2 different journals. I could immediately perceive the ups and downs of our project, helped by constructive criticism. Also I could see where a reviewer wasn't being fair. From my first Response to Reviews I have been cold, objective, and responsive to every comment according with our impressions. I have refuted the views of reviewers and editors alike, with the help of my supervisor. That paper was heavily modified and rewritten times over from its draft version down to publication [= ca. 1 year]. I am quite happy with the result and it remains one of my most cited and read papers.
I have encountered co-authors who would tell me to be sweeter towards reviewers, horrified at how casually I approach my Response to Reviews. On the other hand I have seen too many authors vilifying anonymous reviewers who had made fair comments and suggestions on their work.
Thus my answer to you is that **you should be willing to make any amount of modification on your manuscripts towards making it easier to understand.** Do *not* get emotionally attached to your papers as a piece of artistic creation. Good reviewers are there to help you produce clear, concise scientific literature, where your style and taste have no taste. And finally, do **not** focus on just getting papers accepted for publication, because this is where you empower bad reviewers and ultimately journal mafias. First try to neutralise a bad reviewer, and if unsuccessful just publish your piece elsewhere.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: The catch with reviewers (if properly chosen) is that they ARE the sample of your audience. If they think that the paper needs changes, the audience will perhaps think your paper is not very good as well (and subsequently the paper will be less read and less cited).
There are of course situations when reviewers totally miss the point of the paper, or even worse, get diametrically opposing ideas and in such cases satisfying the reviewers can be real pain.
But nevertheless, they are still sample of your audience. Maybe your paper was not clear enough (perhaps it is clear to you and your coworkers, but you are perhaps all biased).
So generally, it is not such a bad idea to satisfy reviewers, but, of course there may be cases of incompetent or lazy reviewers as well. But more often than not, it is author's fault.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: As per username_4's answer, reviewer suggestions should be taken very seriously, as the article is written for its audience, not for its authors. When a reviewer do not understand something, it often means that the article is not clear enough.
Still it happens that reviewers conspire with the journal to make a paper worse. (In particular, journals have obnoxious formatting requirements.) **Preprint archives** provide a solution to this problem too: you can have your preferred version on the archive, and do whatever it takes to get the paper published in the journal. Beware of potential reader confusion though: the differences between the versions should be clearly stated somewhere.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: As assistant editor, I need to tell you that finding a reviewer that will accept, reply and evaluate in a timely manner someone's manuscript, extremely hard.
What you should understand, is that peer review is not there for suggestions, it is for critical evaluation. They don't collaborate with you on the work, and you should be able to argumentatively and factually dismiss those claims if you think they are not in the place.
we receive 10 pages of long reply on major revision decision. When articles have 4 or 5 pages.
However, specific culture (now everything is internationalised) understand peer-review as "God-wisdom", not so uncommon, they are discouraged to resubmit even after the final decision for only minor changes (in which referee suggested a repetition of the experiment).
>
> for ex, one reviewer found odd that mouses (lab rats) don't have the 37-degree body, poor Eastern Asia scientist repeated the whole thing again, something that can be explained as seasonal characteristic of some mammals.
>
>
>
Also, peer review is voluntary, free and most of the time anonymous work done by peers, that can be more or less better in the field than you, or in some cases only slightly related.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/06/21
| 1,001
| 4,399
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<issue_start>username_0: Suppose I've written a paper which someone else (who I do not know) has built on. The new work is intimately related to mine; it would not have existed without my paper. I'm now asked to review the paper. Should I:
* Accept because I am an expert on my own work, making me very qualified to review the paper; or
* Decline because of conflict of interest - the paper cites my work so I could be biased towards accepting it since it boosts my citation metrics, plus I'm obviously flattered someone thinks my ideas are interesting enough to work on and I'd hate to discourage them with rejection?<issue_comment>username_1: Review it and when you submit your review to the editor - make sure you make your position clear :
1 Paper is fine, and note it refers to a previous publication of mine
2 Paper needs work, and note it refers to a previous publication of mine
3 rejected for X reasons...
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I advise bringing this to the attention of the editor. Let them know that the paper they have asked you to review cites your own publications and that the potential conflict of interest exists. Whether you ultimately accept or reject the paper there could be the *appearance* that you were not an impartial reviewer - acceptance could be seen as being influenced by the citations and rejection could be seen as being influenced by competition in your field.
It could be that your field is relatively small and the editor has passed the paper to you as a subject matter expert.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: You were probably chosen to be reviewer *because* it is built on your work and therefore have intensive background knowledge on this topic. As long as you have not worked and do not intend to work on something really similar during the review process you do not have a conflict of interest.
You should of course try to be objective. Giving a rejection does not have to discourage the authors if you give constructive feedback and make it clear that you find their direction promising.
If you feel like you might not be able to be unbiased you can talk to the editor about it.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: As others have said, the editor very likely knows the situation. Review the paper -- you are well-suited to do so. If you feel compelled to mention it, do it in the "confidential to editor" area to maintain the anonymity of the review.
That said, if you've never been in this situation before, be very careful to make your review fair. Lose any hidden agenda. Review the work the author is submitting, and not the work you wish the author had done. Limit your context to information that is available in your field, and not bring up stuff that your favorite colleague is about to include in an abstract for next years Big Conference. If the data presented make a previous paper you've published look a bit questionable, that doesn't make the manuscript bad.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Yes, you should review it (assuming you have time) because your expertise makes you an ideal reviewer. You were almost certainly invited to review the paper because of this, and the editor will be aware of your situation.
For venues I've reviewed for, a disqualifying conflict of interest is typically any of:
* you have a family relationship with one of the authors;
* you've worked with one of the authors or been in the same department as them within the last couplefew years;
* you've been in a student–advisor relationship with one of them, in the last several years;
* you're in a competing group.
None of those seems to apply in this case.
You are aware that you have some bias with respect to this paper, and this should be enough to keep it under control. Remember that you won't be the only reviewer of the paper, and the other reviewers will provide balance if, e.g., you think the paper is fascinating because of your close connection to the subject but everyone else thinks it's dull.
If you're still worried, you can always discuss it with the editor who invited you.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: No need to worry about a conflict of interest simply because your work was cited — as noted earlier, it's almost certain that either the author or the editor identified you as a reviewer *because* you had published in the field. That's how we find reviewers!
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/21
| 612
| 2,658
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<issue_start>username_0: I just started my PhD in an interdisciplinary research lab. For the research I wish to pursue, I am missing some methodological skills, particularly in statistics and machine learning. Are there any suggestions APART from taking online courses? How can I fill this knowledge gap whilst doing all the other (European) PhD duties?<issue_comment>username_1: Here is what I did during the beginning of my third year (of 5) in my phd-
1. deleted all statistical software from my computer save my language of choice (for me it was R). Begin to work on mastering this language.
2. Watch videos and lectures, get involved in the online statistics community
3. TAKE CLASSES in advanced stats (though I know this might not be as much of an option in Europe as it was in the US).
4. go to luncheons with phd students in computational fields
5. begin to help people who you can with what you can in stat: nothing helped me learning like taking what I had just watched, practiced, thought about and then applying it to help a lab mate.
6. READ, READ, READ (this cannot be understated).
7. Practice- learning to code can be frustrating but it is necessary.
8. Submit articles using the methods you learned for publication. Getting blind reviewer feedback was extremely helpful for me to see what I was doing wrong.
9. attend more classes, continually watch videos, write code daily, publish (or attempt) papers using your methods, practice coding, and READ, READ, READ!
And when I say read, I mean in the medium that is most effective for you. For me, I gained the most from reading journal articles and reading associated blog posts about those journal articles. In this way, if there was something complicated that I did not grasp, the blog would help shore that up in more laymen terms. I did not gain much from reading textbooks, but others do.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Aside from self-educating from available sources (textbooks, peer-reviewed literature, etc.), I would strongly recommend seeking out input/collaboration from research groups that *are* focused on these areas.
If your doing graduate work on a topic that utilizes these methodologies, chances are you are expected to deliver graduate-level output. This could be challenging when you're outside your element and the resources to do that are not necessarily contained within your own group. This is *the place* where scientific collaboration is truly fruitful. Input from collaborators will also benefit your work greatly because you can avoid pitfalls that you might encounter alone which may not become apparent until much later.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/21
| 716
| 3,064
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<issue_start>username_0: About a year ago, I finished my Master's thesis, which was supervised by one professor from my university, and two people from a different university. One of the two is a professor, but he was not involved much in the daily supervision. When finishing up my thesis and presentation, times were quite hectic, and only now I realised I may have never thanked the professor from the other university as he was not present at my presentation. I did approach him for a reference letter later, and thanked him for that when letting him know I got the job.
Now I feel quite rude, but I am not sure if I should do anything. Mostly, I am afraid of it being awkward if I bring this up after a year. Am I overreacting? What would you recommend?<issue_comment>username_1: Here is what I did during the beginning of my third year (of 5) in my phd-
1. deleted all statistical software from my computer save my language of choice (for me it was R). Begin to work on mastering this language.
2. Watch videos and lectures, get involved in the online statistics community
3. TAKE CLASSES in advanced stats (though I know this might not be as much of an option in Europe as it was in the US).
4. go to luncheons with phd students in computational fields
5. begin to help people who you can with what you can in stat: nothing helped me learning like taking what I had just watched, practiced, thought about and then applying it to help a lab mate.
6. READ, READ, READ (this cannot be understated).
7. Practice- learning to code can be frustrating but it is necessary.
8. Submit articles using the methods you learned for publication. Getting blind reviewer feedback was extremely helpful for me to see what I was doing wrong.
9. attend more classes, continually watch videos, write code daily, publish (or attempt) papers using your methods, practice coding, and READ, READ, READ!
And when I say read, I mean in the medium that is most effective for you. For me, I gained the most from reading journal articles and reading associated blog posts about those journal articles. In this way, if there was something complicated that I did not grasp, the blog would help shore that up in more laymen terms. I did not gain much from reading textbooks, but others do.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Aside from self-educating from available sources (textbooks, peer-reviewed literature, etc.), I would strongly recommend seeking out input/collaboration from research groups that *are* focused on these areas.
If your doing graduate work on a topic that utilizes these methodologies, chances are you are expected to deliver graduate-level output. This could be challenging when you're outside your element and the resources to do that are not necessarily contained within your own group. This is *the place* where scientific collaboration is truly fruitful. Input from collaborators will also benefit your work greatly because you can avoid pitfalls that you might encounter alone which may not become apparent until much later.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/21
| 655
| 2,779
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm planning on applying to PhD programs in November of this year. I originally was purely looking for Cog-Neuro labs studying PTSD, as it became my main interest during some of my graduate-level courses in undergrad.
During my research into different programs however, I've come across several labs (with different focuses) in very good programs that also interest me.
Generally, these other labs that interest me study things such as language and perception. My undergraduate thesis work focused on similar topics.
I've been feeling "guilty" that I don't have this laser-focus on a specific topic that other prospective PhD students seem to have.
Is this more common than it seems?<issue_comment>username_1: 5th-year phd student, soon to be postdoc here.
The perception that anyone in academia has a laser-tight focus is not correct. In my experience, most of the people have rough idea of the field, and then stumble or got assigned a project that interest them well enough. Never feel guilty for not knowing exactly (or not having) specific interest, nobody does.
As a phd student you will have to learn a lot of new stuff, so having different interests is a plus as most of the work is interdisciplinary anyways.
That being said, when you join department, you will be expected to rotate in several labs (usually) in order to find best fit. In that process you might find out that best fitting lab is neither PTSD nor language-processing one, and that's entirely OK. Remember: you will be signing up for 5-7 years of work with a specific PI, not a topic.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: ### In principle, no; in practice, and during your PhD - to some extent.
Almost every curious and able scientist or scholar is fascinated by multiple subjects, questions, challenges - some even very remote from each other. This is very natural and also important for diversifying your research pursuits as an academic, since you won't be studying and publishing about the same thing for your entire career (plus, certain pursuits will go out of fashion and other come into it).
However, and especially as a young researcher, having your interests spread out might make it more difficult for you to focus enough on one of them (or one narrow subset of them) so that it gets you through the PhD and becomes a thesis. It's not uncommon, especially among the more gifted, less experienced and less, well, jaded PhD candidates - to be supposedly working on some issue, than to have some point within it trigger a long detour in thought (and experimentation, or coding and so on) to explore that point more deeply, and then again into another detour, hardly ever returning to the original course of addressing the initial research question.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/21
| 2,451
| 10,339
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD candidate and I have recently received an undergraduate (Bachelor degree student) to work for a short duration. For purpose of discussion, the work is mainly mathematical in this project.
I have chosen this student based on the classes he has taken and works he has done. They were prerequisites for the work that should be done for me. So, he **has** the knowledge required.
However, since he has started working on the project, I see that he makes very "silly" mistakes or takes too long to perform some calculation. I have told him several times to check his math and I am suspecting that he does not put enough effort into the project. My friends have told me that it may be that I expect too much and not all people understand stuff as quickly as I do, given that I have been working in this field for so long. I took their approach and started detailing everything to the student. I gave him small lectures, codes that I have written, and told him to come to me every-time he has a problem. However, I see that my lectures come to deaf ears. When I discuss with him about material covered, he still cannot answer. When confronted about it, he told me two years have passed since he has taken the prerequisite courses (which is true) and that he has hard time to get back on track. Still, the knowledge **is** there and he should be able to use it.
We are almost half-way through the project, so I cannot dismiss him. However, my biggest questions:
Is he just being lazy or is the topic too difficult for his level of skill?
I suspect that he is being lazy and giving up because he may be overwhelmed.
If anyone has any idea on how to encourage the student or make sure that he puts more effort without lowering his motivation. The followings are options I am considering now:
1. Use fear. I will let him know somehow that he got to put more work and I am not impressed with what he has done so far. Hence, anything that he does now will be reflected in my future references for him.
2. I have already told him to send me some works that he has done previously to this project. I told him that I want to see the level of math he is used to.
3. Stop helping him. I will stop supervising his progress and if he needs help he will come to me. Otherwise, it is as if I do not care about the output of his project. When he will come to meet with my supervisor about his progress (we have weekly meetings), my supervisor will be able to see what I am seeing. However, this approach does not suit me as I do not want to involve my superior in this mess.
Any comment is appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: A poor workman blames his tools. You picked him. Did you interview him or just pick the resume? The point is you're the manager here. If you hired someone who couldn't do the job, that's on you, not your employee.
So, step one is to take responsibility. This is your mess.
Step two is to fix it. Students often show up with transcripts that suggest they should know things they don't. Railing against this is unhelpful. The adult response is to decide, okay, you're the teacher, you think they need certain knowledge and skills, so teach them! If you can't do that, perhaps you need to be a better teacher.
Sure, it's possible this student simply isn't capable of the work you want done. Not everyone has the same gifts. So back to step one, take responsibility for your mistake in hiring, try to make the relationship as productive as you can, and learn from your experience.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Is he just being lazy or is the topic too difficult for his level of skill?
>
>
>
There's no way we can answer that question without being the student. What is required is a talk with the student and tell him ths issues you're seeing in his work and then create a plan to resolve the issue.
I wanted to address some of your comments:
>
> ...I have recently received an undergraduate (Bachelor degree student) to work for a short duration.
>
>
>
The situation of how he came to work with you could matter on his motivation. Is he doing this as part of a course requirement? Did he approach your professor and ask to take part in research? If he took the initiative to help, then you can be fairly certain he wants to be there and that his mistakes are likely from lack of experience. If he's required to assist you as part of coursework, he could be not invested in the work and only submitting what's required to receive the grade. Many undergraduates at my school who take part in research fall into those two catagories.
>
> They were prerequisites for the work that should be done for me. So, he **has** the knowledge required.
>
>
>
I would also take into account that passing a course, even with a good grade, does not always translate into a person understanding the material. There are courses where someone can pass by rote memorization of formulas, values, etc without understanding the core concept.
>
> If anyone has any idea on how to encourage the student or make sure that he puts more effort without lowering his motivation.
>
>
>
Again, I encourage you to sit down with this student and talk about what you're seeing in his work. Find the reason he's working with you and come up with a plan together to improve his work.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: So I think I can chime in here. I did research as an undergraduate sophomore while pursuing my Bachelors Degree.
I think something you should realize is that research is very different from academic schoolwork. I was extremely overwhelmed when I started doing research. Instead of finding an answer in a few minutes on stackoverflow or a tutorial on a website: I was working in such a niche field that I could not find any resources online to aid me. Apart from getting help from my grad student (who was very forgiving and understanding and guided me well)- I felt like I was completely alone and the stress definitely got to me.
Chances are the student you got is quite smart- but is not prepared for research. Schoolwork does not really prepare one for research.
>
> Use fear. I will let him know somehow that he got to put more work and I am not impressed with what he has done so far. Hence, anything that he does now will be reflected in my future references for him.
>
>
>
Using fear will most likely result in less progress because you will be stressing out the student. You can hint at wanting more work to be done but by demanding more work and saying that you're literally not impressed: I don't think anything good will come from that.
>
> I have already told him to send me some works that he has done previously to this project. I told him that I want to see the level of math he is used to.
>
>
>
Previous school work does not mean that they will be super capable of applying that knowledge to research. Have they done prior research before? If so you can ask to see that. If not- then they are not used to the research setting which helps explain why they aren't being as competent as you hoped.
>
> Stop helping him. I will stop supervising his progress and if he needs help he will come to me. Otherwise, it is as if I do not care about the output of his project. When he will come to meet with my supervisor about his progress (we have weekly meetings), my supervisor will be able to see what I am seeing. However, this approach does not suit me as I do not want to involve my superior in this mess.
>
>
>
This will not only make the undergraduate student frustrated with you but it may cause them to stop pursuing research if their view of higher level academic research is one of a toxic community where they cannot receive help.
You should not be looking at opportunities to criticize an undergraduate student whenever you can. They are new to research. You should be guiding them on the right path- helping them as needed- giving them that extra push in the right direction. If you are not willing to do this then you should not be in charge of an undergraduate student- learning how to work well with people who have a lower skill set than yourself is a vital skill and I suggest you work on improving that skill rather than blaming the student.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I always err on the side of patience with undergraduates.
I am concerned about your relationship with the student, and its ongoing climate due to your instinct on using fear and assuming the student is lazy. This seems like a very inappropriate use of your authority over a much more junior scholar. I worked with a group of undergraduates on a technical project wherein the background knowledge of the undergraduates extended to only their prereq classes. I think, that as experts in our respective fields, we can forget the periods in our academic careers when things were not so clear. For example, I have forgotten that to someone who has never used R, setting up your WD and reading in a data file can be a daunting endeavor. For me, it is something that is trivial that I do not put thought towards.
My options were, when the undergraduates struggled with basic programming tasks, was to either ignore them, abuse my position of authority (e.g. use fear), or take the time to work with them.
In the end, I found that setting aside some time to assess their abilities and then put them into tasks where they could be successful based on that assessment was a far more productive use of my time and their time throughout the semester.
In summary-
1. you are the senior academic, you hold the power, and thus the responsibility. You can either abuse your position by belittling the student or you can own up to your own shortcomings as a supervisor and work to rectify what seems to be a worsening relationship.
2. assess the students abilities and give them tasks that they can be successful in. In you were "had" and the student is not fit for the tasks you have in mind, then so be it. Gaining a reputation as a phd student who is abusive to undergraduates put in their charge is a quick way to not have the responsibility of overseeing an undergraduate again.
Again, I cannot stress how you need to reflect upon your own actions as a supervisor and the importance of this in being a good supervisor.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/06/21
| 2,157
| 9,076
|
<issue_start>username_0: Every once in a while I come across an article whose quality stands out exceptionally in my field of research. While I don't always have the time to read the full paper (usually tens of pages long), I "mark" it so that I may read it later or refer to it in a future article if needed. Unfortunately my attempts at marking articles have always had several shortcomings:
* Bookmarking it: after a while I will forget what I bookmarked, what the title of the article was, the author, and so forth,
* Saving it on disk: I never recall I had them in the first place,
* Printing it out: tedious, and after a while I am left with hundreds of pages of documents lying around in an unordered fashion.
So I was thinking of collecting my "favorite" articles into a single collection, then having them printed in the form of a book, strictly for personal use of course. Then whenever I am writing on a specific subject, I take the book down from the shelf that corresponds most to my research and have everything nicely laid out in a single place.
Now obviously, this raises all sorts of red flags about printing a large number of people's work, collecting them in a single place, having it bound in a book, ... So I am not sure what I am allowed and not allowed to do in such a context. Legally speaking, can I do this without fear of a backlash?<issue_comment>username_1: A poor workman blames his tools. You picked him. Did you interview him or just pick the resume? The point is you're the manager here. If you hired someone who couldn't do the job, that's on you, not your employee.
So, step one is to take responsibility. This is your mess.
Step two is to fix it. Students often show up with transcripts that suggest they should know things they don't. Railing against this is unhelpful. The adult response is to decide, okay, you're the teacher, you think they need certain knowledge and skills, so teach them! If you can't do that, perhaps you need to be a better teacher.
Sure, it's possible this student simply isn't capable of the work you want done. Not everyone has the same gifts. So back to step one, take responsibility for your mistake in hiring, try to make the relationship as productive as you can, and learn from your experience.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Is he just being lazy or is the topic too difficult for his level of skill?
>
>
>
There's no way we can answer that question without being the student. What is required is a talk with the student and tell him ths issues you're seeing in his work and then create a plan to resolve the issue.
I wanted to address some of your comments:
>
> ...I have recently received an undergraduate (Bachelor degree student) to work for a short duration.
>
>
>
The situation of how he came to work with you could matter on his motivation. Is he doing this as part of a course requirement? Did he approach your professor and ask to take part in research? If he took the initiative to help, then you can be fairly certain he wants to be there and that his mistakes are likely from lack of experience. If he's required to assist you as part of coursework, he could be not invested in the work and only submitting what's required to receive the grade. Many undergraduates at my school who take part in research fall into those two catagories.
>
> They were prerequisites for the work that should be done for me. So, he **has** the knowledge required.
>
>
>
I would also take into account that passing a course, even with a good grade, does not always translate into a person understanding the material. There are courses where someone can pass by rote memorization of formulas, values, etc without understanding the core concept.
>
> If anyone has any idea on how to encourage the student or make sure that he puts more effort without lowering his motivation.
>
>
>
Again, I encourage you to sit down with this student and talk about what you're seeing in his work. Find the reason he's working with you and come up with a plan together to improve his work.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: So I think I can chime in here. I did research as an undergraduate sophomore while pursuing my Bachelors Degree.
I think something you should realize is that research is very different from academic schoolwork. I was extremely overwhelmed when I started doing research. Instead of finding an answer in a few minutes on stackoverflow or a tutorial on a website: I was working in such a niche field that I could not find any resources online to aid me. Apart from getting help from my grad student (who was very forgiving and understanding and guided me well)- I felt like I was completely alone and the stress definitely got to me.
Chances are the student you got is quite smart- but is not prepared for research. Schoolwork does not really prepare one for research.
>
> Use fear. I will let him know somehow that he got to put more work and I am not impressed with what he has done so far. Hence, anything that he does now will be reflected in my future references for him.
>
>
>
Using fear will most likely result in less progress because you will be stressing out the student. You can hint at wanting more work to be done but by demanding more work and saying that you're literally not impressed: I don't think anything good will come from that.
>
> I have already told him to send me some works that he has done previously to this project. I told him that I want to see the level of math he is used to.
>
>
>
Previous school work does not mean that they will be super capable of applying that knowledge to research. Have they done prior research before? If so you can ask to see that. If not- then they are not used to the research setting which helps explain why they aren't being as competent as you hoped.
>
> Stop helping him. I will stop supervising his progress and if he needs help he will come to me. Otherwise, it is as if I do not care about the output of his project. When he will come to meet with my supervisor about his progress (we have weekly meetings), my supervisor will be able to see what I am seeing. However, this approach does not suit me as I do not want to involve my superior in this mess.
>
>
>
This will not only make the undergraduate student frustrated with you but it may cause them to stop pursuing research if their view of higher level academic research is one of a toxic community where they cannot receive help.
You should not be looking at opportunities to criticize an undergraduate student whenever you can. They are new to research. You should be guiding them on the right path- helping them as needed- giving them that extra push in the right direction. If you are not willing to do this then you should not be in charge of an undergraduate student- learning how to work well with people who have a lower skill set than yourself is a vital skill and I suggest you work on improving that skill rather than blaming the student.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I always err on the side of patience with undergraduates.
I am concerned about your relationship with the student, and its ongoing climate due to your instinct on using fear and assuming the student is lazy. This seems like a very inappropriate use of your authority over a much more junior scholar. I worked with a group of undergraduates on a technical project wherein the background knowledge of the undergraduates extended to only their prereq classes. I think, that as experts in our respective fields, we can forget the periods in our academic careers when things were not so clear. For example, I have forgotten that to someone who has never used R, setting up your WD and reading in a data file can be a daunting endeavor. For me, it is something that is trivial that I do not put thought towards.
My options were, when the undergraduates struggled with basic programming tasks, was to either ignore them, abuse my position of authority (e.g. use fear), or take the time to work with them.
In the end, I found that setting aside some time to assess their abilities and then put them into tasks where they could be successful based on that assessment was a far more productive use of my time and their time throughout the semester.
In summary-
1. you are the senior academic, you hold the power, and thus the responsibility. You can either abuse your position by belittling the student or you can own up to your own shortcomings as a supervisor and work to rectify what seems to be a worsening relationship.
2. assess the students abilities and give them tasks that they can be successful in. In you were "had" and the student is not fit for the tasks you have in mind, then so be it. Gaining a reputation as a phd student who is abusive to undergraduates put in their charge is a quick way to not have the responsibility of overseeing an undergraduate again.
Again, I cannot stress how you need to reflect upon your own actions as a supervisor and the importance of this in being a good supervisor.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/06/21
| 5,949
| 25,360
|
<issue_start>username_0: While I was a TA for an undergraduate CS course, I built up a good teaching relationship with a student who was struggling. By the end of the course, she had turned things around and was performing much better.
We hadn't spoken since I was her teacher until she reached out to me about a graduate student TA in a later course who told her that she was so bad that she should just leave the major entirely. His comments seem to have damaged her self-confidence and she chose to talk to me, rather than to the faculty. I'm not at the university anymore, but I remain personal friends with that student's adviser.
Is this generally acceptable conduct for graduate students? Should I let the professor know? I think it isn't really the place of a first-year graduate student to give such unsolicited "advice," especially in such absolute terms at a time when the department has made it a stated goal to be more inclusive to women and underrepresented minorities. For context, the TA is a man.<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Is this generally acceptable conduct for graduate students?
>
>
>
I think you know it's not. To tell someone that they are so bad at a subject that they should quit is definitely rude and out of line for pretty much anyone in a supervisory capacity, especially if their advice was unsolicited. That said, if someone *asked* for a fair evaluation, telling someone they might be more successful in another field isn't *per se* inappropriate.
---
It seems possible the TA was rude to her because of her gender. Anti-women bias in CS is well-known, books have been written on it. Unfortunately, we don't know right now whether this colored his actions. But, it does mean you should encourage her to report his actions in case he has been similarly rude to other students, but especially women.
As for what you should do, I recommend you help her and be supportive if she decides to make a complaint. However, you shouldn't make it *for* her. I say this for a few reasons, in decreasing order of importance:
1. You've stated you didn't witness this exchange, so as it stands, this is an issue between your friend, her TA, and the professor. So all you have to go on is what she said. It sounds like we both believe her that the TA was very rude, but maybe there was a language barrier on either or both parts.
2. You're not a professional advocate. You don't want to do something wrong and sink her case for her.
3. It's my **personal** philosophy that it's not your place to try to take care of someone's grievance like this yourself.
4. Unless she is committed to anonymity, the professor is likely to want to talk to her anyway. You can't answer all his questions as well as she can. But if you are willing, offer to come with her to the meeting with him for support.
5. Gender affects every interaction we have. The possible gender issues only make this case more delicate. I would suggest any man to not try to "handle" this issue for a woman unbidden. (It doesn't sound like you are, but a note for other readers).
I would only go so far as to offer to pass on an anonymous letter that you put your weight behind, if she doesn't want to reveal her name to the professor. I would just stay away from putting **her** complaint into **your** words.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: IMO, graduate TAs are in a difficult position w.r.t. this. If they were an undergraduate TA, they're peers of undergraduate students and this could be understood as a peer's joke. It might not be entirely appropriate, but I doubt the average undergraduate will think too much into that. If they were a faculty member, it might be considered real advice, which might be more problematic; but most undergraduates will at least agree that a professor would be in a position to give them advice.
But graduate TAs pose a problem: they're neither junior enough to be considered peers, nor senior enough to be in a position to give advice. So, I'd say, although none of the three classes of people mentioned above should give such advice, graduate TAs REALLY should not do so.
I would say that the behavior is not appropriate, and the TA should receive some sensitive training. But then it should be the student's issue, and you should encourage them to talk to the instructor and/or the department chair. Tell them about their potential options. But don't escalate this issue yourself; you are not in a position to report this either (just as the TA was not in the position to say what they said). If the student wants to do something they would be grateful to you; if they decide not to do anything, it's up to them.
PS: I have been an undergraduate, TA, and (weirdly enough) a college-level course instructor, but never a grad TA. But nevertheless I'd like to put in my 50 cents.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I think it is very important that you tell the supervisor that this kind of comment was made. You have no idea how many other people may also have on the receiving end or how many were of people who have been traditionally subjected to such comments or assumptions. If no one speaks up, then change will never happen. You can read the stories of many women who have been highly successful in CS and been subjected to this kind of thing.
A TA is not in a position to do academic or career advising either. A TA recommending going to tutoring for that specific course, that is appropriate. Making hurtful personal comments, no. Making aptitude and ability assessments, no. Even without the added issue of potentially being sexist, the comment is out of line and inappropriate and contrary to good pedagogy in CS ([see](https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2017/5/216317-preparing-tomorrows-faculty-to-address-challenges-in-teaching-computer-science/abstract)).
How you tell the supervisor is a somewhat separate question. OP is a former staff member in the department; he may have a relationship with the chair or with a faculty member who could potentially be helpful.
Of course you should not mention the student's name without permission. As suggested by @Azor\_Ahal OP could ask the student to do an anonymous statement if she is not comfortable sharing her name but stating that she is trustworthy. Depending on the department, I would suggest speaking with the immediate supervisor first, then potentially with the department chair especially if the supervisor seems dismissive. Alternatively, if there is someone in the department who you know has been an advocate for people from underrepresented groups OP could ask that person for advice about what to do.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I disagree with the answer provided here by [Elin](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/93511/elin) (though I appreciate her views), so let me offer a contrary view. Exceptional cases aside, a graduate-student is competent to tutor undergraduates in their field, and is competent to offer a view on the ability of a student in the field they are tutoring. It is erroneous to suggest that assessment of a student’s ability during the course of tutoring is merely an “assumption”, or that a TA is not in a position to make assessments of aptitude and ability in a subject. Arguably a TA might even be in a *better* position to assess the abilities of a first-year student than a professor, since the TA is closer to the level of the student, and can better remember the progression through those years of study.
So the issue here is that the feedback was *unsolicited*, and was very negative and discouraging. This can sometimes occur in the context of a TA who is frustrated trying to explain material to a weak student. I can certainly imagine a TA becoming so frustrated trying to explain simple material that this leads to a negative comment on the student’s abilities. Personally, I try to err on the side of being as encouraging as possible, and I wouldn’t put things this way. Depending on the full context, maybe this was bad teaching, and maybe the TA’s assessment was overly harsh (or maybe his assessment is right on the money). At worst it is a bad reaction to teaching, but I don’t consider it scandalous. Students at university are adults, and they should be able to bear exposure to a range of assessments of their competence, from the optimistic and encouraging, to the pessimistic and discouraging.
One thing to consider here is that academic instructors have a duty to their students to give candid assessment of their abilities and their work. That needs to be done relative to expected competence at different year levels, and as an undergraduate, the expectation is low. Students devote significant time and money to their studies, and merely *being* at university is to some extend to solicit feedback on your abilities (even if this hurts sometimes). We do no favours to weak students by misleading them about their abilities and their prospects for success in difficult academic fields. Particularly when dealing with very weak students, there is a fine line between trying to inspire and encourage struggling students, and misleading them about their prospects for future success in a field where they are showing low ability. In this particular case, it is notable that the OP also describes this student as having struggled and required attention to perform better in his course.
Obviously none of the commentators here are in a position to make a judgment on this student’s abilities, other than to acknowledge what the OP has described. We have two TAs who have formed the opinion that this student is at the weak end of the spectrum; one assessment being that she is of such low ability that she should not be in that field. Maybe that assessment is right, and maybe it is wrong. My advice to the student would be to take on board all feedback, but take the opinions of a single outlying individual with a grain of salt (particularly if that opinion was expressed in a context of frustration). She should not be put off studying this field by one negative assessment of her competence, particularly if this is contrary to feedback she is receiving from other instructors. At the same time, she should be realistic, and should treat this TA’s remarks as data, and be aware that she is probably on the low end of competency for her cohort, at this stage. If she continues to struggle, and continues to attract negative assessments of her abilities, from multiple different instructors, she might want to rethink about whether this is really the right field for her.
**The issue of sex/race/minorities, etc.:** As far as I am concerned, it is utterly irrelevant that the TA is male and the student is female. The propriety of his conduct stands or falls on its own merits. The fact that the department wants to be “inclusive to women and underrepresented minorities” does not entail that there is any duty to soften competency assessments for those groups. If this conduct was wrong, then it was wrong regardless of the fact that the student is female.
**An additional point (update):** To those in the comments suggesting that a TA should not make judgments on the ability of a student, a simple question. Do you support the practice of allowing graduate students who are TAs mark assessments for the courses they teach? I have observed this to be an extremely common practice at universities, so clearly, we do in fact recruit TAs to make judgments on the abilities of the students, through their observed work.
**Edit:** I initially wrote that the student here was in her first year; that was based on misreading the OP, who actually said that the TA is in the first year of the graduate degree (and has advised below that the student is in her third year). This means that there is a much narrower gap between the student and TA, which means that the TA's opinion on the student counts for less than if the student was in her first year.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: In my modest opinion, it is irrelevant who is male or female, or what the department's goals of diversity are. The purpose of an university should be to impart knowledge on students. If the TA was a girl saying this to a guy, the problem would be the exact same, as would be my advice.
The TA was out of line in this matter.
I've tutored younger students myself when I was a student. One was capable, and behind. I devoted more time to her than I needed, and she succeeded. After half a year I stopped tutoring her, and by that time she didn't need itanymore.
I've also tutored a guy who just wasn't smart enough for the course. What I did was just try and try again to explain the basics of mathematics that he didn't understood. I never told him he wasn't smart enough - that's the job of his mentor, if the mentor deems it appropriate. When his mentor asked for my opinion though, I was honest. But that's in private, without the student present.
This is, as far as i'm aware, how a TA should behave.
Now what can you do ? To the girl, contest the TA's opinion. Remind her that she was behind before, and with dedication and hard work she caught up with everyone. Even if it's not strictly true, tell her that she almost didn't need you. In any scientific field where experimentation and formula's are important, hard work will always be the most important qualifier, closely followed with being interested in the subject. Talent is 3rd at best.
Aside from providing her positive reinforcement, you can advice her to tell the professor. Perhaps that TA should be reassigned, or get a stern talking to from the higher ups. If he just isn't aware of how potentially damaging it could be what he said, it's a learning opportunity, and otherwise, it's the first step to removing the obstacle that he is for the girl and other students.
You can tell the girl you'll vouch for her when asked, but in the end, she's the one making the complaint. And yes, an official complaint is warranted.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: A colleague of mine has a wonderful saying, which is "The F is the best counseling tool we have." It may sound harsh, but it's actually quite a good philosophy. If I have a student who is working hard but not succeeding, then my attitude is that I'm like the coach of a sports team that has weak players on it and is likely to lose every game that season. My job is not to discourage them, it's to work with them and try to help them succeed as well as possible. If the outcome at the end of the semester is that they fail, then that's a measure of their performance, and it's their privilege to decide whether that piece of data means they should change majors.
People have been drawing distinctions between faculty and TAs. I'm faculty, but I don't see that as directly relevant in this situation. At a school that has TAs, some of the grading may be done by a TA and some by the professor. The TA may actually have more contact with the student than the professor does, and therefore a clearer picture of the student's abilities. The grade at the end of the semester may reflect a combination of the TA's judgment and the professor's. All that really matters is that by the end, the TA and the prof have done their best to help a struggling student, and have also done their best to make sure that the letter on the transcript is an accurate measure of what the student learned.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: Improper response from a TA: "You are bad and should consider another field".
Proper response from a TA. "You seem to be having a lot of problems here. How can I help?"
The TA, I'm sorry, is engaging in a kind of abuse that should not be tolerated. I suspect that in some places it is illegal. There are a lot of power/gender issues that might be involved in this, but *even in their absence*, no TA, and in fact, no Professor, should make statements like that if you have reported it accurately.
A professor might counsel a student by exploring the student's goals in comparison with the performance, but not the "perceived" ability. However, a judgement made and delivered is not the proper role of a *Teaching Assistant*. The person is undermining the work of the professor as well as the student. If a TA has concerns, they should be expressed to the professor in the course, not the student. Of course, lobbying for a student's failure is also improper.
If you are an academic yourself, or want to be, then justice should be one of your first concerns. The student is being abused.
While the above is harsh, intentionally so, the solution need not be.
The TA needs an education into (in this case) his proper role. You may not be able to provide that, but you might be able to initiate some change. You may not need to "rat out" the TA to the professor, but you could, perhaps, indicate to the prof that the student needs more positive reinforcement than (in this case) she is getting. You could give your own assessment as to her history and ability to work hard and get the job done. If you are asked to say more, use your own judgement about what to say. As you indicate you are friends with the advisor, it may give you more freedom to speak to the broader issues.
It may even be that the TA has an improper view of the student due to some unfortunate sequence of events that has resulted in improper generalization. Every student stumbles occasionally (most, anyway), and if that is visible, then an inexperienced viewer may read too much into what they perceive but that may not be generally true. You may need to be sensitive to this and you are likely wise to not think of the TA as a monster.
Another possible issue that may not involve gender or power is that the TA is likely extremely busy with his own education and may also have little training in how to deal with educational issues. That is not to excuse the behavior, but to recognize that the solution to the problem may require more than a quick fix. A good professor should spend time training his/her TAs in the finer points of student interactions, though that, again, may be a pipe dream.
Finally, another complicating factor, is that the TA, is just inexperienced in explaining things, having only one way to understand/explain it himself. The student asks a question. The TA gives an answer. The student says she doesn't understand. The TA gives exactly the same answer in the same or nearly the same words. This isn't helpful as any experienced teacher knows. But this, again, is something that the Professor, guiding TAs needs work on. Too many Assistant Professors, actually, have this same problem. Things are easy *for them*, since they just spent years learning it and are good at it. They don't yet have the experience to know that any explanation, no matter how fine, only reaches a portion of the students who hear/see it. Education isn't transcription and requires repetition as well as looking at things in different ways.
Finally, if you are unable to provide her continuing support and encouragement, you might be able to connect her to a group of other students (or help her form one). Study groups are common in many places and can be confidence builders.
---
Of course, if you believe it to be a form of harassment, not just abuse, you have a responsibility to deal with that, as well.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: Short answers first, explanations follow:
* No, a grad student TA, or any TA, should not be telling a student to leave a major.
* No, it is not, nor should it be, generally acceptable conduct for TAs.
* No, **you** should not let the professor know. (A friendly word to your friend, the adviser, **is** in order.)
---
Clearing the air just a bit, in light of existing answers and comments.
* It is, sadly so, possible that there was a sexist bias involved in the TA's behavior. Addressing that, however, would be assuming *facts not in evidence*, and should be left to the proper personnel, should anything else be done about it. I am not dismissing the existence of such biases, nor discounting that it might have been a factor in the reported incident. I am only stating that *if* that is the case, it should be dealt with by the proper people when, and if, the incident itself is addressed.
* The degree of experience, or time in the position as TA, and the differential between the TA and the student in subject matter, or academics in general, has no relevance. Only that the actor **is** a TA and not a professor or academic adviser has bearing.
* The respective genders, or other "protected class" status does not matter to this answer. Even if it were a cat and a dog, the answer, and recommendations, remain the same, and stand on their own.
---
Exactly what a TA is expected to do, and is in fact "authorized" to do, will vary between institutions, departments, professors, and even individual TAs themselves. The title of the position itself gives a good beginning into delineating the TA's purview. A Teaching Assistant is an *assistant*. The TA is not a substitute for the professor, nor a replacement for mentors, advisers, or any other staff position. They assist the professor they are assigned to, in what ever manner the professor has instructed them. The student's perspective of the TA is as an *agent* of the professor, including the expectation that the TA's statements of progress are valid, and supported by the professor.
It is acceptable for a TA to grade papers. Doing such is a process of evaluating, or assessing, the work - on a single assignment - against the expectations for that assignment. The professor, when assigning such work to a TA, has deemed that TA's ability to make the same assessments on that assignment as they would themselves. There may be other assignments which the professor lacks such confidence, and does not have the TA review, or where the TA's work is reviewed prior to issuing the final grade for that assignment. The TA can be qualified to determine that a word is spelled correctly while not being qualified to determine if the usage of the word is appropriate. If a TA were to begin grading papers which the professor had not assigned to them, the TA would be out of line, even though they do grade other papers.
Commonly a TA will have a deeper relationship with the students than their professor. The TAs work with the students more often, spend more time in one-on-one interactions, and see some of the progress, and difficulties, which the professor may not. In that light, it seems appropriate for a TA to raise concerns they might have about a student with their professor. It is *not* appropriate, however, for the TA to advise the student on course, or major, selection. If the TA and the student have developed a good rapport, and the student asks the TA directly for their opinion on the choice of major, then it is *inappropriate* for the TA to advise the student on course, or major, selection. (Yes, that is redundant. Intentionally so.) Professors, when they think they have enough knowledge about the student, and the student's progress and prior performance *might* offer such advice. That, however, is not the question here. Were I to find myself as a professor with a TA who did offer such advice, I would be looking for a new TA, even if the same TA had been working for me a dozen years.
---
What you can, or should, do with the knowledge you now have is offer to help the student address the incident through the proper channels. There are probably two avenues available: the professor and some "office" at the institution. As you know someone there, and have been there yourself, you should either already know which office to contact, or can find out from your friend who still is there. My preference would be to address the issue with the professor first, and escalate it with the proper office if the professor does not deal with it to the student's satisfaction. Although it is possible that the professor may suggest the alternative as well.
As you already know the student, and she apparently values your input, you should take the time to counter the negative impact of the TA's actions. Whether or not the TA's evaluation is correct doesn't matter in this regard. You can restore her self-confidence to the point where she is willing to talk to faculty about it, and offer to help with introductions, if possible and appropriate to the current institutional setting.
In addition to helping her address the situation, you can also contact your friend who is still working there. Without naming the student you can notify that adviser that the TA is making such statements to students. It may have been said jokingly, or in a moment of intense frustration. Such information might be considered by the faculty addressing the incident. Neither case, however, justifies, or excuses, the TA's statement. Informing your friend is not to help the student, which is why you don't give her name, rather it is to prevent future incidents with that TA's interactions with students, the one you know and the rest that you don't know.
---
See also the excellent [answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/111639/74312) here from [username_7](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/75368/buffy), who has the experience to speak authoritatively to the issue.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/21
| 1,606
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently an undergraduate student in my last year at a Canadian university. Today, I gave a presentation about anti-censorship technology being developed at my institution. We were required to ask questions to the audience at the end of the presentation and one of mine was a multiple choice question that asked where the technology would not work, with answers that included "The People's Republic of China" and "Republic of China" among others.
One of the students in the class who grew up in China asked a leading question about why I had two options, to which I responded: "there are two countries that call themselves China". He became extremely aggressive at that point and stated that I shouldn't be pushing my political beliefs on the class (the class was about technology and business), and yelled a standard Chinese political line about a united China in the middle of class. In the moment, I quickly just apologized that he was offended by it and somehow got the presentation back on track.
I spoke with the professor later in the day and he said the student came to him with a list of demands, which included, among other things, a public apology in class, alteration of my slide deck before posting it to the discussion board, and a meeting between him, the professor, and I.
I believe I am in the right when it comes to this topic and during my discussion with my professor, he agreed that students have a right to freedom of speech. He left it to me to decide what actions on the demands list, if any, I would be willing to do.
I feel some remorse, as I didn't think that the question would be taken so violently by a member of the audience, but the level of intensity in my classmate is extreme. He stared at me consistently for the rest of class and, to be honest, made me somewhat uncomfortable.
**I agreed to the meeting to start, but what else should I do?** Disciplinary actions, like legal trials, tend to not always work out for the person who is in the right - there are many innocent people in jail. I want to stand up for freedom of speech, but don't want to be crucified under a formal review because one of the reviewers may have also been indoctrinated by growing up in China and share the same views. I'm sure just like anything, if you dig hard enough, you can find something to get me on if the administration wanted to.
The irony that I see in this whole presentation is that it was about anti-censorship, and my classmate wants me to censor myself and only accept his version of truth - which is actually a lie.<issue_comment>username_1: You are, it appears, being bullied. You will encounter people with strong, even irrational feelings irrelevant to you and your work with some regularity over your career. Engaging is seldom useful. You are not responsible for his demands, and this issue is not one in which it appears you want to involve yourself. In your coming meeting, engage as little as possible with his narrative. Bring all topics back to how you are being made uncomfortable, and how you wish to be left alone. You are correct in your statement, but don't seek to assert that. Just let this angry individual exit your life without engaging with his angry demands. If he escalates, your department will certainly help you; use that.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Canada is a country where people generally hold free speech in very high regard. Even in the extremely unlikely event that the student will be successful in his efforts to get you disciplined by your university, I find it impossible to imagine that you could not with very little effort (say, a couple of Facebook posts complaining about your mistreatment) turn this into a huge scandal that would get the decision overturned due to overwhelming public pressure. I agree with others’ assessment that you have done nothing wrong and are being bullied into expressing speech you do not agree with and suppressing your own fully legitimate speech and thoughts.
With that said, in my opinion none of us has the moral right to tell you what to do, since you alone will have to bear the consequences of your decision. At the very least, the thought of having someone who disapproves of you so intensely would make anyone uncomfortable, and could be a strong motivating factor in the direction of deciding to try to make amends and cave into their demands, unreasonable though they may be. No one wants to have enemies. So you’ll just have to decide on your own how far you’re willing to go with this.
Finally, I must say I am disappointed with your professor. It would be more appropriate for him to tell the other student very firmly and clearly that he has no business pursuing any action against you, and refuse to discuss the matter further or even communicate to you any of the student’s “demands”. This is not exemplary behavior for an educator.
**To be clear, my answer is based on general principles of free speech and has nothing to do with any particular opinions I may or may not hold regarding China and/or Taiwan.**
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> The irony that I see in this whole presentation is that it was about anti-censorship, and my classmate wants me to censor myself and only accept his version of truth - which is actually a lie.
>
>
>
That's one, but there's also a lot of irony in
>
> He ... stated that I shouldn't be pushing my political beliefs on the class
>
>
>
Since you've agreed to the meeting, you should think through what you aim to get out of it. Specifically: what points do you want to make? What concessions do you want the other party to make, and what concessions are you willing to make? How important to you is reconciliation with the other party?
If you rank reconciliation highly, then unless there are technical reasons why the answer to the question differs for the PRC and the RoC it seems that you might be able to concede the slide modification. You might even choose to concede the apology, *conditional on* the other party also making a public apology.
If you're willing to burn bridges, you could choose to go on the offensive and insist on an apology (in the meeting, not necessarily in public) before you're willing to discuss anything else, with a fallback plan of filing a grievance yourself if you don't receive it. Or you could lay a trap by clarifying that the other party thinks that pushing political beliefs in the lecture theatre requires a public apology, and then when he confirms this asking when he intends to make it - although be warned that your professor might not be amused.
Either way, if you think that a grievance in either direction is likely, it would be worth your while to find what relevant written policies you can, read them carefully, and take a copy to the meeting.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/22
| 588
| 1,909
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<issue_start>username_0: Please advise how I should cite the US Federal Register in Harvard Reference style.
As an example, I have seen [this part of the Federal Register](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2012/04/09/2012-7502/national-forest-system-land-management-planning) referenced as:
>
> 2012 Planning Rule (77 Fed. Reg. 21161)
>
>
>
However that's not in Harvard style. How do I reference this within the text (author, year), and in the reference list?<issue_comment>username_1: My approach would be to give an in-text citation as:
Federal Register (2012)
The end-of-paper reference could be given in one of two ways:
Federal Register (2012) National Forest System Land Management Planning. Federal Register Vol.77 No.68, 21161-21276. Washington D.C.
or....you could cite the online pdf version as follows:
Federal Register (2012) National Forest System Land Management Planning, Federal Register Vol.77 No.68, 21161-21276 [pdf] Washington D.C.: Forest Service. Available at: <https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-04-09/pdf/2012-7502.pdf> [Accessed 27 June 2018].
I think it's important to remember that the purpose of a citation is to help the reader to be able to access the document in question. In my examples above, even if there may be potential disagreement over authorship (is it the Federal Register, US Govt. or Forest Service?) or location of publication, the reader can easily find the document you are referring to (especially the second option, which takes them directly to the online pdf).
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Go to Google Scholar, and type source:(federal register)
Pick any convenient publication from the resulting list. Clicking the quotation mark underneath it will show all the formats.
For example:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/346ll.png)
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/22
| 661
| 3,100
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<issue_start>username_0: **Question:** How can I formulate a hypothesis for an engineering project that I help to develop but probably won't have time to test?
**Explanation:** The project is to develop a system that will train clinicians to write a certain kind of research data. This type of data will be posted into a community where clinicians can discuss and collaborate on it. I am working on this project and it will be the basis for my master thesis. The value of this project for the company is to generate more of the research data and to thus to create a community that actively discusses its products. Thus, my hypothesis could be something like: The new system will help to generate more research data and support discussion about the company's products. However, I can't test this hypothesis because the marketing and acceptance of the system will take too long. Thus, probably when the hypothesis would be testable (i.e. the first people are using it) I must have already delivered my thesis. I can't think of a hypothesis that only includes the setup of such a system.
Can anyone think of something or give me some hints on how I can come up with a hypothesis or handle this situation?<issue_comment>username_1: So you are writing a thesis that does not contain experiments because the time frame is too narrow to test the constructed system. On the other hand, you are not writing a purely theoretical thesis because your aim is to solve a practical problem.
So you definitely need a hypothesis like the one you suggested. If you cannot do experiments yourself, you need to rely on the literature. You need to look up studies and other experiments that support the means and approaches that you suggest in your model. In this way you can have a hypothesis, make it plausible, without really "proving" it by experiment.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: For your specific case:
You could create a basic version of the system in a short time and conduct a study with a small number of clinicians. Have one group of them use it, and one group not use it. Define metrics that capture user variables (ease of use, tangible benefits) and system variables (how much different features are used, how much it adds to any existing discussion on products etc.). Make small changes in the system to change these variables, and map the outputs. By doing this, you already have an alpha-test, which will help you pitch the system when it is actually developed.
For the general case:
Often it is not possible to test the actual system/design/product in a limited time-frame. A good solution is to identify different parts of the system/design/product, compare these with existing systems and isolate parts that are unique and/or critical improvements. Develop just these parts, and test them either physically or through some kind of simulation. If it is a simulation, do some validation testing to increase confidence. Document everything, and generate sensible statistics during testing. Honestly report all the positive outcomes, the flaws and methods to tackle the flaws.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/22
| 609
| 2,609
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a TA who is assigned to help grade papers for an upper level course. In the first assignment, I realized that I do not know how to do one of the assigned problems. The professor has requested that I grade all of the assigned problems. I don't think I will get a grading rubric (showing the answers to the assigned problems). I'm extremely nervous since I don't know how to do all of the problems on my own.
Should I ask professor directly about the problem in his office hours? The alternative would be to look at all of the solutions submitted by the students and analyze which answers are correct.<issue_comment>username_1: You should ask the professor to show you how to work the problem. It is also fine to ask the professor to confirm that all of your solutions are correct.
The professor is responsible for making sure the students' work is scored correctly, and since he wrote the questions, it is his responsibility to either provide you with the solutions or to check your solutions before you assign final grades.
Besides being responsible to the students in the course, the professor also has an obligation to support your development as a TA, which includes helping you work through any gaps or obstacles in your own learning.
Since you have already taken the initiative to work through the assignment on your own, the professor will likely be happy to help you, and you should not feel intimidated or embarrassed to ask.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You should ask the professor (I wouldn't necessarily wait for office hours: those are for the students, and working with a TA is a different matter), and don't be ashamed by the fact that you couldn't solve the problem. In fact, apart from a trivial mistake/misprint/missing condition in the problem statement, there is also a possibility that the professor missed something more conceptual, seriously underestimating the difficulty of the problem (e. g., thought of a solution that does not actually work in that particular case). I've been there in all roles: as a student and as a TA and as a professor :).
If, in fact, you regularly fail to solve problems that some students do solve, then its another issue; you should follow the lectures and read books etc. to be at least at the level of the best students.
Discussing with TAs is understood to be a part of the professor's workload when giving a course. See mister Feynman doing this:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/W6m3C.jpg)
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/22
| 873
| 3,912
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<issue_start>username_0: I accepted an offer to teach a graduate course at the university, as an adjunct professor. This program has a minimum threshold for number of students signed up. In other words if not enough students signed up by the deadline, they won't offer it.
I wonder how do you advertise the courses that you teach? I think the subject and content will be very interesting to many students, so the question is how to disseminate the information about it to potential students outside the graduate program that it is part of?
It's a national university in USA, ranked in top 100, not top 20 or Ivy league type. I believe that this course will be available for students of a regional consortium of universities to which this uni belongs. The course is elective, and a part of a small Masters level program, but will be listed in the catalog and should be available to students outside the program. The course is a STEM subject in STEM certified program, so it should be compatible with similar programs<issue_comment>username_1: First, make up an attractive one-page flyer that details what your course is about and when it's offered, and that it's STEM certified (sounds important, but I've never heard of it).
Then, contact departments at your university and at others in the consortium that may be interested in your course and ask if they would send out your flyer advertising your course to their graduate departmental mailing list.
You might also note there needs to be a minimum enrollment (encourage people on the fence to sign up).
Where I'm at, this would usually be an advisor's job, or maybe a program coordinator, but if you know a sympathetic professor in the department you're contacting, they could also reach out to whoever manages the mailing list.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: What are the prereqs for the course? Most of the courses I've seen who did not have enough people sign up had lots of prerequisite courses which resulted in many potentially interested students to skip over the course as they weren't eligible.
Assuming there should be a decent chance of plenty of students interested in the course, I'd recommend some of the following methods:
* Advertising at a club
Lots of people from a variety of majors and backgrounds attend club activities for areas of interest. For example- my school has a data-science club which has people from CS, Business, Math, and even some liberal arts majors! If, for example, you were teaching a new data science course in an interesting topic- the club would be your best bet for finding interested students
* Advertising Through Professors
If you know of professors teaching related courses you can pass on the word to them about your course and they can try to inform students they teach about the course. I took a digital forensics course in which the professor recommended we take Networking afterwards cause it covers similar material- and in Networking the professor recommended several times throughout the course we take the security course (and also advertised some of his own courses). This seems like a decent option and definitely worked for me
* Advertising Through other students
Definitely a harder option- but if you have formed any close relationships with students you've taught or met then you can ask them to spread the word of your course or ask if they know of anyone who might be interested. Always worth a shot.
Always need to consider the chance that even though you think the material will be interesting to students- not everyone will feel that same level of interest. Another thing I'd consider is looking at the course description posted online- one of the most interesting grad courses I've taken had the worst descriptions that made it sound utterly boring and it definitely scared most people away from the course.
Good luck! Hope you get to teach the course.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/22
| 1,045
| 4,422
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<issue_start>username_0: This question is related to [this](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/111550/is-it-ok-to-review-a-paper-which-builds-on-my-work) one, and is dual to it in some sense.
Assume PIs A and B publish a few key papers in what turns out to be a new mini-area. Their work is well received, and they arrive at similar conclusions using complementary techniques.
Several months later, A notices an in-press paper by C, which claims to significantly improve upon the work of A and B. The paper by C is substandard, however, reflecting an evident lack of understanding.
On alerting B, A discovers that C's paper was not reviewed by either of them.
A and B agree that C's paper makes a strong, unsupported claim, and that they would certainly have flagged it as problematic (as reviewers).
What reasons could a handling editor have for choosing neither A nor B as referees, given the high relevance of their work? Replies from people with editorial experience would be especially helpful.<issue_comment>username_1: Many possible reasons, although there is of course no way of finding out which one applied here (if any at all):
* Editor E believes that, being big animals in the field, neither A nor B will have time to review.
* Variation: E is a junior researcher and doesn't think that he has the stature to ask A or B for a review.
* E is not on good terms with A and B.
* E believes that A and B have some sort of personal problem with the author and doesn't want to put them into a position of a conflict of interest.
* E has recently given both A and B difficult papers to review and doesn't want to overload them.
* The author has asked for neither A nor B to be reviewers.
* E simply has not paid attention to the previous seminal paper and so asked colleagues he knows are well versed in the general field.
* E actually knows the field well herself, and so self-assigned herself the paper, plus a couple of grad students who should learn how to review papers.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: As assistant editor, we usually don't know all works or experts related to that field. Most of the time we rely on recommendations.
However, usually, if the recommended reviewer is a big name, or if the recommended reviewers are cited, we try not to assign those referees.
Generally, your question sound as there are only 3 people in that field. A,B and C. This is a common misconception that authors believe, how no one is specialized enough in that field as they are! It is common, especially in Western-based academia. As internet presence grow, we noticed that most of the time same thing (phenomena, process, method) is called by a different name/term. There is no standardisation sometimes, so maybe there is the problem of field understanding when scientists think it is their own field.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Often reviewers are selected for expertise in the subject matter, such as the application, rather than the techniques used. If new techniques are used in a relatively new field, it can be difficult to find reviewers familiar with them and the field. This is often observed in fields with computational or statistical techniques where expertise in these techniques is overlooked in reviewers in favour of scientists with more domain knowledge in the field. Bear in mind that interdisciplinary researchers (involved in new fields) are busy people and editors do not always get their first choice of reviewers.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Legitimate question. I like the options proposed by <NAME>. Another option might be a high paper/editor ratio. Maybe an editor is just not able to handle all papers in depth and takes quick decisions.
Or, on the other side of the spectrum: the editor knows A & B viewpoints well and wants to have a different point of view to support his/her decision. Also unsupported claims (your view or evidence-based?) may propel the academic discussion forward and make work worth publishing. There also could be other contributions in the work which legitimate publishing. No research paper is perfect.
If you feel that unsupported claims were made, then take your opportunity to submit a new wonderful piece of work, building on your own work and author’s C work. If the work of C clearly cointains factual flaws and should be withdrawn, you could contact the editor directly, I presume
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/22
| 963
| 4,093
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<issue_start>username_0: In my field (computer science), students often get jobs through [referrals](https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/289703), where faculty members pass on the student's resume to someone employed at the company the student wants to work at. In an annual talk and throughout the year, I advise my students to use referrals if at all possible rather than applying online. I accept LinkedIn requests from my students and encourage them to ask me for referrals.
There is currently a student in our small program who has negatively impressed all of the professors he has taken classes from, as well as many of the students. He is not the weakest CS student, but, in my opinion, he is the worst at getting along with others and behaving professionally.
I am wondering what to do when he asks me to refer him to companies (which I expect him to do). In the past, when a weak student has asked for a referral, I have said that I don't think they're ready for the job in question [due to their technical level], recommended that they ask a different professor, or refer them without an explicit recommendation (e.g., "<NAME> asked me to refer her to SlackJaw.") I am hesitant to do the latter for this student because I don't want to hurt my or my school's reputation by putting forward a candidate who behaves inappropriately. I also dread his reaction if I decline to refer him for a job. I expect that he would get angry and allege persecution. (I'm a tenured full professor, so my job wouldn't be in danger if he complained about me, but I'd rather not get in that situation.)
In any event, I don't want to hurt his chances of getting a job. I'm happy to give him job-seeking advice and help him with his resume, but I don't want to recommend him.
What should I do if he asks me for a referral?<issue_comment>username_1: Why do you dread his reaction? You have no responsibility of giving anyone a referral. I doubt "this professor did not write me a referral" would stand as an excuse to allege persecution in any tribunal. Don't get bullied by a student, just plainly refuse to do a referal if you are not up for it.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There are ways of writing a recommendation :
1) this student attended my course on snail migration in semester X.
2) this student attended my course on snail migration in semester X and was always on time , with the homework completed.
3) this student attended my course on snail migration in semester X, was always on time, always came prepared and actively and positively contributed to each session.
One other method is the “omission” method ie if timekeeping is not mentioned at all in the reference - then that says they are often late. Some do not like to put negative comments and just saying “attended” compared to “regularly attended” or “always attended” can speak volumes...
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Have you considered that this student may be oblivious to their problems, not realizing they exist and hence not able to take any action to solve this? I have seen this a number of times, where nobody would like to work together with a certain student, but nobody tells the student in question this, and hence the student is not even aware that people feel this way.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Is there a formalized student feedback mechanism in your program? E.g., an annual progress report where faculty give students a written assessment of the progress and performance so far, ideally with concrete goals. If so, referring to previous feedback the student has gotten might help present the situation as further removed from any conflict he may perceive to exist between the two of you?
If no such mechanism exists, it might not help with the current situation but could aid in similar future circumstances. Even if you think you've communicated your issues with him clearly, the fact that you suspect he will still ask for a referral makes me suspect that it has not been clear to him (even perhaps if it would have been to somebody else).
Upvotes: 0
|
2018/06/22
| 575
| 2,523
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a biology student with major interest in neuroscience and molecular biology. It's my first year at university.
What should I do if I want to be a reliable researcher in biological sciences, especially in neuroscience?<issue_comment>username_1: Why do you dread his reaction? You have no responsibility of giving anyone a referral. I doubt "this professor did not write me a referral" would stand as an excuse to allege persecution in any tribunal. Don't get bullied by a student, just plainly refuse to do a referal if you are not up for it.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There are ways of writing a recommendation :
1) this student attended my course on snail migration in semester X.
2) this student attended my course on snail migration in semester X and was always on time , with the homework completed.
3) this student attended my course on snail migration in semester X, was always on time, always came prepared and actively and positively contributed to each session.
One other method is the “omission” method ie if timekeeping is not mentioned at all in the reference - then that says they are often late. Some do not like to put negative comments and just saying “attended” compared to “regularly attended” or “always attended” can speak volumes...
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Have you considered that this student may be oblivious to their problems, not realizing they exist and hence not able to take any action to solve this? I have seen this a number of times, where nobody would like to work together with a certain student, but nobody tells the student in question this, and hence the student is not even aware that people feel this way.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Is there a formalized student feedback mechanism in your program? E.g., an annual progress report where faculty give students a written assessment of the progress and performance so far, ideally with concrete goals. If so, referring to previous feedback the student has gotten might help present the situation as further removed from any conflict he may perceive to exist between the two of you?
If no such mechanism exists, it might not help with the current situation but could aid in similar future circumstances. Even if you think you've communicated your issues with him clearly, the fact that you suspect he will still ask for a referral makes me suspect that it has not been clear to him (even perhaps if it would have been to somebody else).
Upvotes: 0
|
2018/06/23
| 585
| 2,505
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD Student works in computer science. I am currently in the middle stage of my PhD. I am facing a serious problem right now. It is about reading a research paper at a faster rate. I usually takes 2 weeks to read a paper nowadays, but my supervisor wants me to read a research paper in 4-5 days with greater detail. It involves mathematics and it takes time to get used to it. I have tried to explain him the problem that it is not possible at this time for me to read a paper in 4-5 days but keep pushing me to do so.
**Question :** How to read a research paper at faster rate?<issue_comment>username_1: Reading and understanding research papers in depth takes time! Two weeks sounds perfectly normal to me. I often need more time for indept understanding.
My strategy is that I read the core papers required for my research in great detail and other papers (context related) more generally. However, if I read quickly, I also tend to forget quickly.
Probably your supervisor is refering to his own (past?) experience or compares your speed with other researchers. However, this may not be a fair comparison. Learning and research styles are highly individual.
I notice that each scientist develops a certain strategy for reading papers. Ocassionally, I also see styles that I do not like. For example a scientist supporting a claim with reference to a source (of many pages) which didn’t even mentionned the subject although the title of the source suggested otherwise. The source clearly has not been read.
To conclude, you have to develop your own style. Ask your supervisor why he/she thinks you should be faster and try to solve the underlying sentiments. Maybe your supervisor is under pressure to deliver results.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You said it yourself,
>
> It involves mathematics and it takes time to get used to it.
>
>
>
Thus, the solution is to get used to it. It took me a few months to read the first paper I read. Now I can skim through a few papers for breakfast and read one in a couple of hours. It just takes a lot of practice. Also, the more you learn, the less new things will be in each paper.
Usually, with mathematics in particular, some ideas and details take a sentence to explain and understand, but takes several pages to explain in a rigorous manner. Learning to identifying the ideas and the main theme is what you seek, and then get down to the details only when you need to implement something.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/06/24
| 2,099
| 9,146
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am graduating with my Ph.D. very soon. In addition to my thesis and published journal papers, my supervisor required me to copy all my work—code, figure files, data, etc.—to him before my leaving. However, **all the works during my PhD have been done by myself from scratch, including the ideas and research gap searching**, although he was the co-author of the papers. And my scholarship has been provided by the university. So I feel this requirement is not reasonable.
In fact, my supervisor didn't like my research topic and we had very little communication during my Ph.D. study. He gave me very little help on my work and was also never interested in my work and research field. In this case, could you suggest me on the following two specific questions:
1. Should I share all my works with him? If yes, why and if no, how to negotiate with him?
2. If I can only share partial works with him. What is a good strategy?<issue_comment>username_1: He is most likely interested in handing it to another student to build on. And frankly, unless you have a good reason to keep a monopoly on your research project (i.e. you are continuing with it or starting a company), this is something you probably should support. Just blocking him out of spite does you no good. In fact it hurts you if it costs your paper some citations.
But assuming you have your reasons, if you were not ever an actual employee then the school only owns what you give them plus what he contributed. He is better described as an advisor rather than a supervisor.
The "ideas", such as for patents or whatever, are probably owned by the university by virtue of your adviser's name being on the papers combined with his employment contract. You wouldn't have much of a claim regardless of what really happened, as people would tend to believe a professor over his student regarding who deserves credit for a jointly-published idea.
The text in the papers which have his name on them are legally his work product too. You should give the that to him. Even if he didn't actually contribute, you publicly said he did contribute at least somewhat to the text, when you gave him co-authorship.
If you did the figures yourself in some vector graphics editor or such, just make screenshots of the result and give him that (i.e. what he could get on his own from the published paper anyway). Tell him you made them this way if he asks for more. You presumably transferred the copyright for the final bitmap image to the journal and/or school when you did the publication, but the raw editor format that can be used to produce variations remains yours.
Ownership of programming code is different from ownership of the idea it implements. Code is covered by copyright law and you retain the copyright for any code you produced (again, presuming you weren't working under any contract that says otherwise). Remind him of this. Note that if the school owns the idea they can legally block you from selling the code--if they feel like spending thousands to patent the idea and get this done within the time-limit after publication (one year in the US; in Europe I believe an idea ceases to be patent-able when published). They probably won't care unless you start to make real money immediately. But you still own the code even if you can't sell it to anyone else. You can, for one thing, sell it to them.
If the data was collected using university equipment then you should probably just hand it over. If you processed it in some way, give the raw data.
Even if you used the university's computers to generate the papers, say you used your own computer if asked (presuming you can claim this, and it wasn't some supercomputer you relied on). It doesn't really matter, but sidesteps weak arguments.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: You may indeed have an obligation to share the work because of policies requiring data retention and sharing on the part of financial organizations sponsoring the research.
For instance, NSF requires grant applicants to specify how their work—including analysis tools and data—will be shared and disseminated. While it may be your work product, your advisor and the institution are the ones obligated to retain and share the work.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: I think you **must** give your supervisor all your "code, figure files, data, etc" pertaining all paper you have published together, as your supervisor is a co-author of your publications. Co-authors [should](https://retractionwatch.com/2015/06/18/if-you-think-its-rude-to-ask-to-look-at-your-co-authors-data-youre-not-doing-science-guest-post/) have access to all relevant material behind published research under their responsibility, [**particularly** corresponding authors](http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html).
And preferentially when you do so, share all of that in at least one data repository such as FigShare or Dryad, linking the raw material to their pertaining papers. If you have published research, make it public, so that everyone can benefit from your work. Scientific research equates with reproducible research, which heavily depends on transparency.
I believe you have an issue with having included your supervisor and perhaps some others as honorary/gift authors to work which was solely done by yourself. You should have objected to doing that before. Running away with important background scientific data will **not** send the right message nor mend this flaw.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: I think it is perfectly reasonable for the PhD supervisor to have a copy of all the materials, many grants these days require that the experimental data be retained at the university for five years in case of any problem.
By refusing your supervisor you will be losing one of the most important friends you can have in your academic life. I would advise you to cooperate as much as you can with your supervisor, leave on good terms and then try to make your own way in the academic world if you want a life in the university sector. If you want a life in industry it still is good for you to be on good terms with your supervisor.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: While I cannot know the specifics of the original poster's research/domain/future plans, I can contribute to the community here that I first protested and resisted taking steps outlined by my U.S. University when I followed their requirements for invention disclosure from a post-graduate program supported by grants, as I too did a lot of work on my own, but with university infrastructure, and thought that I was the key person (not my advisor).
What I can talk about, is that the process was worth it, significantly, after three years of plodding along. Recently the university sponsored patent has been awarded (yes!), and it has already been licensed to industry, and all parties are happy. I did have to share a majority of the income stream with the University, but without their buy-in, I wouldn't have been able to do anything major. That is certain, as my previous commercial effort to protect/publish/patent with a sponsoring company, failed as it was too much of a burden to take on after a few years.
I would recommend to the original poster, to seek consultation with the university administration pronto to have a discussion and follow best practices.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: It is highly likely that you have a clause on "inventions" and/or "invention disclosure" which you may have signed during your admission process. If you still have it, refer to it to see what it says. In most cases, the ownership of the IP and any related materials belong to the University and so your supervisor is supposed to have a copy of your work for archival purposes.
If you do not have it, the admissions office of your department/university may have a copy of the official policy which you can refer.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_7: Protect yourself by documenting that you are the originator of all things that you were the originator of. Ask a lawyer how. This is only a matter of documenting origination. Send the electronic files to a secure online repository. Send several sealed copies via FedEx and/or other to yourself and at least one other trusted person and retain receipts.
Then give him everything. This is a battle you can only lose. Breaking even is not an option, nor is winning. In any event, at least when I was a grad student, the contract was very clear - everything belongs to the University. Everything.
Regardless of your advisor's contributions, the university and he/she provided you with a framework and a "home". Without them - you would not have your PhD. I too had an advisor who did not know beans about much and who "forgot" to include me on a few articles that he published without knowing what the heck he sent in (I wrote, he sent). You cannot win here. Protect yourself. Smile. Be polite and go on with your post doc or job and congratulations. It ain't easy, as they say.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/24
| 777
| 3,081
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<issue_start>username_0: How does the ECTS ABCD etc grades compare to the American ones?
Would I in particular be right in saying that the European B is worth more than the American B?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> How does the ECTS ABCD etc grades compare to the American ones?
>
>
>
You cannot compare them. Comparing grades in anything else than standardized tests doesn't make much sense. And sometimes it's even hard to compare results of different runs of a standardized test if the questions change.
You might compare grades given by the same professor on the same subject, but even comparing grades given by different professors on the same subject at the same school often doesn't work.
>
> Would I in particular be right in saying that the European B is worth more than the American B?
>
>
>
I don't have any hard data on this but in general this might actually be the case, at least in my experience. In many european countries on many european universities things like grading on a curve doesn't exist and grade inflation isn't nearly as bad as in the US. For example in the Netherlands getting 8/10 is already very good and you could definitely compare that in most cases to a US A. 9/10 is very rare and 10/10 doesn't happen very often. But keep in mind, even here in Europe there are big differences in different countries.
Also, as deviantfan pointed out in a comment, ECTS are just a measure of how much time a course needs, not how difficult it is.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_1: They don't compare at all.
With ECTS, grades correspond to relative position of the student for a given course. For example, A is for the top 10%, B for the next 25%, and so on. These percentages are out of passing students – even E is a passing grade, by definition. Students who fail get F or FX depending on the severity of failure. This is based on statistical data for that year and previous years, so that if in some year many students perform exceptionally well (or bad), then that should be taken into account, in theory.
(Converting grades is not an easy task. In my understanding the letter grades are not used anymore, rather the administration will actually convert the local grade into a foreign grade. There is an example in [Annex B of the ECTS guide from 2015](http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/repository/education/library/publications/2015/ects-users-guide_en.pdf).)
See this page for more information: <http://ec.europa.eu/education/ects/users-guide/grade-distribution_en.htm>
Grades in the US are completely different. First, the passing grade is often C, not E, therefore the distribution of grades will obviously be different. From what I understand (correct me if I am wrong), anything lower than a B+ is quite bad for undergrad courses.
Moreover grades are not necessarily correlated with the student's standing relative to other students, unless the grading is done on a curve (which an outsider does not know) – it's possible for everyone to get an A, which is by definition impossible with ECTS grading.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/24
| 1,011
| 4,041
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<issue_start>username_0: I see that a TA position requires 20h every week which almost equals 2.5 days workload. Wouldn't that be too heavy for a Ph.D. student? If I don't do the TA, I could save the time to do high-quality research but I will lose 18K AUD stipend, which would make my life difficult at Sydney. Is it worth doing a TA?<issue_comment>username_1: A 20 hour per week teaching assistantship is fairly common in the US. In some departments TAs actually work less than the full 20 hours per week, while in other departments the actual work load really is 20 hours per week (of classroom teaching, preparation for teaching, grading, office hours, etc.) This varies somewhat by discipline and across universities. In mathematics, TAs traditionally have heavy workloads. From what I know, the patterns are fairly similar in Australia, but you would have to determine how things actually work in the department where you will be studying.
Yes, having to work an actual load of 20 hours per week as a TA will slow down your research compared with a Research Assistantship (20 hours per week working on your thesis and closely related projects) or a fellowship (no work requirement.) However, it does pay you, and the experience in teaching can be valuable.
Students working as TAs often take fewer courses per semester than students on fellowships. For example, a TA might take 9 credit hours of courses while a student on fellowship might take 15 credit hours.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: *Caveat lector: I am writing from a pure mathematics perspective. It could very well be different for someone who has to spend three hours or more every day in a laboratory dissecting something.*
---
I don't know what constitutes as "TA'ing" for you. For me it meant teaching frontal classes and revising material from the lecture or solving exercises.
I used to teach between one to three hours (the one hour came with grading homework; the three hours came with two master students to do that). But in addition there were many office hours, extended office hours, answering emails, and so on. So one could perhaps said that I worked more than 20 hours a week.
In my last year I was also assigned to teach a graduate level course. What I did, that year, was as follows:
1. Try to get all your duties into two days, and focus almost only on research for the other three days.
2. If the above is not possible, try to keep at least two hours for research every day. Or one, if you can "almost squeeze" your duties into two days.
3. If you need to prepare exercises, set a weekly time to discuss with your professor what you want to have in those exercises.
4. If you answer a lot of emails, set aside an hour a day to answer emails.
5. In any case, barring grading exams, the weekend is sacred time for you to kick back, watch a movie, or hang out with friends and family. Not doing so is a surefire way of getting burned out and not doing well in both teaching and research. Sure, the occasional email or research thought can find their way into the weekend, but don't force it. Except with grading. Grading sucks.
Good luck.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Keep in mind that things like "20 hours per week" are often convenience thresholds - at my university that's a 0.5 FTE position, which is the most we can pay a graduate student, and it means I don't have to have them do time sheets and the like.
That being said, yes, being a TA is a lot of work. It's time consuming in a way that's non-optional, which can feel like a burden. But there's a couple caveats to this:
1. It gets you experience teaching, and helps you refine your teaching philosophy. This will come in handy in many job applications.
2. Not being able to pay for things is also often quite time consuming
3. It might actually help inform your work - my thoughts on subjects I was working on were rather nicely refined while I was a TA, and I learned how to explain them fairly well - or at least I'd like to think so.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/06/24
| 253
| 1,098
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<issue_start>username_0: I have submitted journal articles that come from my thesis.
When defending the thesis, is it a good idea to give the names of the journals to which those pertaining papers were submitted to?<issue_comment>username_1: From my experience of defending my own master thesis and supervision of some others, I can conclude that it is always a good idea to present the papers that you submitted based on content from your thesis (in the main contributions *slide*), pointing out the details of the conference/journal, even when they are, yet, under review (just point out that in the presentation).
In some case it may be helpful to have a *preprint version* attached to your thesis document or in some repository such as [arXiv](https://arxiv.org/).
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: No, when defending your thesis there is no reason to give the names of the journals to which you have submitted papers based on it. It would not benefit you in any way (since they have not been accepted) and you will be embarrassed if the papers are rejected.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2018/06/25
| 684
| 2,902
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<issue_start>username_0: We've all heard of postpartum depression, though I'm not a woman so I have no idea what it's really like.
I am wondering if there is any medical/psychological evidence to support similar (reported) feelings after the completion of a big research project.
This is my (I'm the sole author each time) fourth time sending a paper to a journal after spending countless hours working to finalize the draft.
This typically involves a frenzy at the end where I work 12 hours a day trying to perfect the paper. This is in addition to the stress incurred while actually creating the research (in my case, mathematics) in the first place.
Each time I finish a paper, including my most recent, I have feelings of emptiness and anxiety. I'm not here for medical advice, I'd just like to know if anyone is aware of some scientific basis for these emotions.<issue_comment>username_1: I don't have a name for it, or a scientific basis, but I experienced exactly what you are describing: a general numbness/boredom that lasted a couple of weeks after seeing a paper published - everything was pretty hectic up until that point.
My guess is that this is due to something called 'lifestyle changes' (also a hypothesised contributor to postpartum depressions) - your life changes almost instantaneously upon submitting a paper. Before that you were totally hyped up, working really long days, getting by on the fear that things wouldn't work out and the adrenaline when it turned out they would after all. And then when you're done you are exhausted and all your previous drivers (that all related to getting your research project done) are gone. You have to recuperate and you have to find something new to live for (next project? family? a little bit of Mozart maybe?).
Good luck!
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Perhaps you could quickly find something else to get involved with, at a more liberal place. The brain is very "hungry" and can cause you to "act out" when it doesn't get what it wants. But some light tasks and a little bit of physical involvement (outdoors, indoors, but not indoors studying) may help.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Post coital tristesse is the correct analogy. I know what you mean about the paper. I experience some after a big project or sports match or even a presentation. You've been all keyed up and then you let down.
One thing I find helps is to always have a couple or more pubs in progress. Just electronic file with major headings and basic intro and a little on expected conclusions. Doesn't matter if the research changes because it is so easy to edit in the non typewriter era. And I go over stuff hard so not worried about errors creeping through. Actually I find that doing some writing in parallel with investigation helps motivate the research or even make me reflect a little when working.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/25
| 1,314
| 5,757
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<issue_start>username_0: I am not prepared to give many details in a public forum - as such this posting will contain intentional generalizations that may be of interest to academia.se's research higher studies community help, in particular senior faculty members, if any.
I would like to ask for help in figuring out if there would be a pathway to return to the pursuit of a terminal degree sometime 2020++ in a field related to my accumulated research work and career credentials with publications and products. At present I have a major blemish in my overall academic record at my last institution based upon an off-campus incident several years ago which ended in a sentence in a felony case. At the time of my projected return as a doctoral candidate, the faculty committee recommended suspension, and the admin decided on termination after it became clear I had failed to report it per student policy. Elsewhere on Stack Exch. I have already described the good that came out of that research, and that chapter of my life is now finished.
Can I ask the community if there is any practical chance of pursuing a doctoral program again? If so, When could I approach that, and at what stage should I broach the subject to a new institution?
Thank you.
Added:
1. This is a US academic industry question, but I would think my research area would be useful for academic institutions of major space faring nations.
2. My felony is for a offense not related to any workplace or academic setting.
3. I was in the middle of my doctoral program when the inquiry began. Over a year I was encouraged to continue by the judge(s) to try to conclude the program as fast as possible. I continued work for the institution throughout (I tried to quit after some discussion but was asked to remain while trial was underway and the outcome not known). A sentence was imposed with reduction of all charges save a single one, based upon the admissions I made and material I surrendered.
4. After completing my sentence, When I attempted to return, I was found to have violated policy for the crime conducted away from campus but while a student, and also that I violated another policy as I had signed a form for a leave of absence using a made up reason to explain my projected absence, the day before I left to begin my short sentence. The ruling was split: faculty recommended suspension and admin recommended expulsion.<issue_comment>username_1: I don't think your goal is impossible, but it will be difficult to achieve. I assume that your past infraction was serious or you wouldn't be in the state you are in. You can do one thing now, and you *must* do another thing later, however.
Now, you can find ways to behave in a way that shows you learned from your experience, have paid for your sins, recognize them for what they are, ameliorate the bad effects they caused, and that it can never happen again. This is harder (even) than it sounds, as some acts might not be repeated, but an underlying attitude might lead a person to do other things, not exactly the same, but also quite bad. Narcissism, for example, can often lead to a lot of bad behavior of various kinds. Also, thing things you do should leave some *visible* record that clearly shows a change. Even better if other people can attest to your good character now and in the future.
The thing you *must* do later is to be completely honest with any institution that you apply to. It won't be enough for you to *promise* to behave better. But the things you have done in the interim should speak for your change without your comment.
Even then, of course, there are many who won't believe in your change. You need to make it real change, both for your future chances and for yourself generally.
Good luck.
---
Note that I mention narcissism as an example only. Lack of empathy is another. But I'm not trying to attribute either to you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The felony itself shouldn't be a big problem. While university will often have rules that basically allow them to kick out students that commit crimes *while in school*, to my knowledge it is not common to ask *incoming* students about crimes they committed *before starting school*. To meaningfully screen for felons the university would need to require a criminal background check as part of the application, which is rarely asked for. Now some sources of financial aid may require that applicants have a clean record, but then again, some might not. In any case, you are asking about studying, not funding. Your former institution specifically might be committed to cut ties with you, so if you re-apply there perhaps they would not accept, but this is hardly an issue when there are hundreds of other universities you can go to.
However, wherever you end up applying, you will probably have to mention your past work. Whether you will be able to get away with only discussing your research work, and simply state that you were forced to abandon the program due to "personal issues", and if forced to elaborate, whether the committee there will be sympathetic to your situation, is impossible to predict. You will just have to try and see.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: The easiest path is to apply as a PhD candidate abroad.
Whilst in the US and a few other countries & institutions there is a special demand for an official offence-free record, this will not be the case with so many others. For most international doctoral-degree programs you may not need even a recommendation letter.
Once you complete your PhD degree skilfully, this past issue will essentially have vanished while you will hold a new network of contacts for a new future ahead. Move on, physically.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/25
| 516
| 2,234
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<issue_start>username_0: I am preparing to write an article. For that, I got an easier proof of the already published result. My result is very simple to prove. Is it ethical to include this result in my
article after citing the other author's work that we are improving their result?
Kindly help. Thanks a lot.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes.
New proofs are always good and of scientific value, and may be of significant use and interest in their own right. In some cases they are even worthy of a paper of their own. As an example, just recently on MathOverflow I saw Zhi-Wei sun mention [that a result of his currently has 6 proofs from 6 different papers and sets of authors (including his own and himself)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun%27s_curious_identity).
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It's better than ok, it's usually a [Good Thing](http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/G/Good-Thing.html) to do, since:
1. It helps readers understand what the more complex result means, or what its significance is, by considering a simpler-to-perceive case.
2. The simpler result is often powerful enough to be used itself - even if not for the specific use the original prover of the complex result had in mind.
3. The simpler result can sometimes be established with a different, simpler *proof*, which may be of independent interest. Alternatively, if the proof is similar, the simpler result's proof helps understand the more complicated proof of the more complex result.
4. Simpler results are often simpler to keep in mind.
Of course there's the question of your submission page limit - devoting space to a simpler results means condensing or removing other parts of the text, but that's something to decide based on the specifics of your article.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I agree with the two previous answers that publishing your simplified proof is good. Simplified proofs often lead to improved results; some of my own papers began with the idea that I can simplify a known proof but then developed into applications of the simplification, yielding new results. You might want to check whether your simplified proof can be easily extended to yield more than the original result.
Upvotes: 2
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| 614
| 2,664
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<issue_start>username_0: I am translating an academic paper to English. However, most of the sources cited at the end, are in other languages (e.g. Russian). Do I need to translate the list of references into English as well?<issue_comment>username_1: The general principle here is to think about your reader. Imagine a person reading the translated article who needs to refer to one of the sources. Would it be beneficial for them if the source is translated to the language they can read?
Yes, it probably would be beneficial, so yes, consider translating / transliterating the references. Also, provide a doi / direct link to the source if possible. If you are also an author of the original paper, consider taking another look on the sources to identify those which are more likely to be accessible for your new wider audience. Consider removing references available exclusively in Russian and replacing them with equivalent references available in English translations. Your main aim at this stage should be to make your paper readable, not to self-promote your past papers.
Also, contact the editor / secretary of your target journal for clarification.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: You need to keep the reference in the original language, so that people can find it if they want to look for it. However, it's also useful for the readers to have the titles translated into English, so they can understand what they mean. Many journals specify exactly how you should cite foreign-language references this in their style guides, and many do say that you should include both translated and original titles.
To take an extreme example, Google translates the book title
>
> *Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays*
>
>
>
into German as
>
> *Gewinnmöglichkeiten für Ihre mathematischen Spiele*
>
>
>
(which, with my limited knowledge of German, I think is a reasonably good translation). Looking these words up in the dictionary might then produce the literal translation back into English of
>
> *Profit Opportunities for your Math Games*,
>
>
>
from which it would be moderately hard to identify the correct source.
Another answer suggests (especially if it your own article you're translating) replacing foreign-language sources with equivalent English ones. I think this is intellectually dishonest, as a source that's cited in the original should also be cited in the translation. However, I don't see anything wrong with adding equivalent English sources, along with a note that they were added in translation. (There isn't any requirement that you do this, of course, but it would be of help to the reader.)
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/25
| 458
| 1,956
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<issue_start>username_0: I have been rejected by a particular university for MS two times now. I really want to get into it to work with a professor. I am thinking of emailing him to ask him what I can do to improve myself to become acceptable. I am trying to improve myself on various fronts that I can think of, so I would like ask him if I am on right path. I am a first generation student and I have no guide to ask, so he is that only one I can think of, to ask these questions. **What would be the proper subject line for this?** Right now I have "Help needed to improve myself" as subject. In the body, I will explain my situation and ask him if he could give me some of his time. **What would be the proper way to proceed in asking for his help?**<issue_comment>username_1: "Help needed to improve myself" sounds weird and spammy. I would suggest something like "MS application help", and make sure the body of the email is concise and to the point.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If you want to work with this professor and hope to receive some help, you need to be familiar with their research. Then you can legitimately write "Prospective student interested in your research" as subject line. What to include in the email:
1. You are interested in their research because of X, Y, and Z
2. You want to apply to the MSc program and you are wondering whether the professor will accept Master's students in the coming year
3. You have already applied twice and, despite what you think is a good CV, you have been rejected. Politely ask whether the professor would be willing to provide feedback on your CV to improve your application.
Note point 2: the professor may not be looking for MSc students! Lab needs fluctuate, professor may go on leave, may be busy with other projects, and so on. There are many reasons that have nothing to do with you why the professor may not be willing to accept you.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2018/06/25
| 941
| 4,107
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<issue_start>username_0: [I am too much afraid to ask this question becuase I think most of you will say that I am too stupid to understand meaning of "Summary of Accomplishments".]
So, I am applying for a PhD position which is asking for "Summary of Accomplishments" letter. What things should be included in it?
Is it about my accomplishments other than my research work or research work itself is an accomplishment? I was teacher assistant in many courses, it is an accomplishment? Should it be written in a list form or in a paragraph form?
In short, what does "accomplishments" mean when PhD hiring committee ask for it?
I am asking this question here becuase I could not find any appropriate answer from Google.<issue_comment>username_1: Accomplishments that most potential employees, guides, student application reviewers, etc are looking for are positions, rewards, recognitions, etc that indicate achievements and are demonstrative of work culture, personal capability of setting and achieving goals, intellectual level, skill development, attitude and knowledge, specialization, tenacity, continuity, etc.
The rough rule of thumb is that 'anything won in a competition is an accomplishment'.
Accomplishment is also attainment of certain position or degree or diploma or certification gained through some labour, study, test or recognition.
Hope this helps.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In making any kind of application, applicants typically know what they want and why, whether the application is for admission to a
program, for research support, or for a job.
However, in making this application (or others later), you should consider
the reasons the program (funding agency, or employer) would want to select
you. Then, within the bounds of reasonable modesty, you must go about the task of
satisfying them as much as possible as to each of those reasons.
Specifically, what reasons might the PhD program to which you are applying
have for accepting an applicant? Here are a few fairly obvious items. You
may have information about your field or the specific program that would
generate more items. But it is crucial for you to think about this application from
*their* point of view.
(1) They want to be sure you have the necessary native ability, background
in the field, and perseverance to do the work to finish your PhD in a reasonable
length of time. Of course, they are allowed hope you will do important publishable research that will enhance the reputation of their program. *So you should mention anything that involves success in your previous studies
or allied intellectual pursuits.* (@JaganMohan has listed some items.)
(2) Possibly they will be guaranteeing you some financial support. This may
involve your being a teaching assistant (eventually possibly lecturer) or a
research assistant. *So you should mention any work you have done reading student
homework or exams, any work helping students (US 'tutoring'), any proficiencies
for literature searches for research projects, experience using relevant lab equipment, and anything that gives evidence of relevant computer or programming skills.*
(3) Work toward a PhD is not for everyone who does reasonably well as a BS or MS
student. Not everyone stays with it. They are limited as to how many people
they can admit, and they'd prefer to admit people who can stand stiff competition, can successfully manage a demanding workload, and who do not
get panicky or discouraged the first time things go wrong. *So, mention of
nonacademic jobs you did to help with expenses, and any long term projects you have finished (even if not exactly in your field).*
It is probably best not to speak directly to their motivations. They know what
they are looking for without your instruction. Simply give them information that will allow them to be satisfied on each point. Just lists of facts, don't exaggerate or psychoanalyze
yourself. If something seems too much like bragging (especially something difficult to document), maybe one of your references can do the bragging for you.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I want to get into MS in Computer science in the US, specifically in data science. I have a Masters in Physics but my GPA is low. I have scored 51% in my undergrad and 62% in my postgrad. I have cleared my postgrad with 10+ back logs. But I have an international conference paper published in radio astronomy. I have also worked as an intern in web team of leading daily as a science writer. I also have 2+ experience in teaching Physics. I have also volunteered in outreach activities by TIFR, Mumbai. In my undergrad, I have also won prizes in working models related to science. I have an 8.0 score in IELTS and gearing up for my GRE.
what are my chances to get into a decent college?
To make my application better, I have enrolled myself into <NAME> Data Science program by Coursera and I am also learning Python. Will it help?
The reason I had for backlogs is financial troubles in my family. I was doing odd part-time jobs which caused so many backlogs.<issue_comment>username_1: Learning Python will definitely help, but you have to also prove your mettle by showing the program you're applying to some projects you've worked on. Believe it or not, academic programs don't simply blanket reject applicants just because of academic factors. Every applicant is considered on a case by case basis. They can only assess what they are provided. If you do nothing more than apply, they can see nothing more than your provided materials.
Recommendations? First, do very well on your GRE, for starters. Prepare heavily. A high score can offset a low GPA. Secondly, find a program that offers *exactly* what you're looking for. If you see a CS program that's more focused on theory and computing, don't go for that. It doesn't have to say "computer science" for it to be a data science degree program. This is a very common mistake. Finally, prove you have something to bring to the table. Look up on Google projects you can do yourself with Python. Make a Github or even a personal blog of your work. Show initiative that makes them believe you want to be a data scientist!
Best of luck
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Without more information from the OP, this answer will be a bit tentative. I'm not sure that a low GPA is your biggest issue, though some schools have rules that they enforce quite rigidly.
I think the biggest obstacle for you now, that you can correct somewhat at least with time and effort, is that your academic background seems to be haphazard rather than focused. Normally a master's is quite focused and depends on the student having certain skills, usually from their undergraduate years. You don't seem to obviously have that.
Learning Python, of itself, will help you very little, actually as it is just a tool. But you may be missing most of the content of the undergraduate education, including, perhaps the vital Algorithms and Data Structures courses, as well as Database and a few others.
Physics (at most levels) is an actual science. That seems to be your background. Computer Science isn't a science at all (in most areas) and hasn't been for half a century. Data science is a bit between, however, as it can be experimental, not just constructive. In CS, we mostly build things, rather than search for the truths provided by the cosmos.
It might be, that if you want to study big data in Physics specifically, that you might find a program somewhere that focuses on that, though it would likely be in a Physics department. If you can find that, your background might be seen as helpful.
But in general, if you want a MS (MSc) degree you should spend some time (not a small amount of time) focusing your studies in one area primarily that will help you be seen as having the needed skills.
While broad interests in life are valued and valuable, academia mostly values specialization. Studying data science online may help you provided you do enough of it and do it well enough, but your broad background may only make it harder. If you can find a way to get some of the background in an actual educational institution (with a mentor) it would (for most people) be better than online courses, which are harder to judge no matter how good they are. There is too much variability in student outcomes to trust them completely. Focus.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I have completed my master's degree year ago and took a gap of 2-3 years before committing to the Ph.D. Right now my financial condition is worse and I don't want to make any decision in any urgency. My peers are getting enrolled for Ph.D. and I am getting worried by watching them. I am 27 right now and planning to collect enough money and build my resume strong to get into a decent Ph.D. program in Europe or Asia. Is my decision wrong? I need some advice from experienced peoples.
Thank you.<issue_comment>username_1: You are never too old, in years, to start a Doctoral program or to otherwise extend your education. However, you need to do a couple of things while you "wait".
Most important is that you don't lose your edge. If you are working in the field of study you should probably be fine and your experience may help. In fact, it may give you some ideas about unsolved issues in the field that might lead to research and a dissertation. But you will also need to try to keep current through readings. You don't say which field you plan to enter, but some move faster than others. New possibilities for research open up as well.
The second thing is that you will need to be prepared to answer questions about the gap in an intelligent and positive way. Getting experience in field is a pretty good answer. Recovering from burn out is not so fine.
However, as you age, you may take on additional responsibilities that you don't now have: family, kids, mortgage, ... Seek life balance of course, but as your responsibilities change, so may your goals. You will also need to deal, increasingly, with the needs of others. But nothing is an absolute block.
Remember that you will age no matter what you do. It is better to spend your life doing something you love than otherwise, even if it takes a while to realize the dream.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Definitely not!
In fact, one of the best researchers in my group started her PhD at the age of 33. She managed to publish papers in high impact journals, got a patent and last year she was hired as a post-doc.
As @username_1 said, it is indeed important for you to have an idea of your project. However, from my experience, don't hold onto it too much. Be adventurous! Good science might come from a previously established good idea, but it can also happen out of chance. You'll never know if you don't try.
And also agreeing with @username_1, do take into consideration your personal side. Living out of PhD salary can be quite tricky if you have others financially relying on you. Another thing is: make sure that, if you have a partner, he/she will be supportive. PhD involves working late hours, sometimes following tight deadlines, dealing with frustration and so on.
Don't compare your age with others'. Everyone has a different time to do things. As long as you know what you are getting into and you are ready to commit, you will be more than fine.
Best of luck in your PhD!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I started my Phd at the age of 35 and I never feel too old to do research. I acyually found that my years experience acquired from work helps me quite a lot in my Phd study.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/25
| 1,035
| 4,401
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<issue_start>username_0: When I am searching for literature on a particular topic, I'd like to see a list of results together with three main pieces of information: citation count, year, and publication venue (i.e., conference or journal name). In my field (Computer Science), most papers are published in conferences. The conference name is an easy way to assess at a glance: (i) the general area the paper falls into (systems, theory, programming languages, etc.) (ii) the quality of the contribution (higher-tier conferences are associated with higher quality research). Citation count also helps to assess (ii), but is less effective for more recent or more obscure papers.
**My question:** Is there a literature search tool (software or website) that can be used to provide **citation count, year, and conference** in a list of results?
**Tools I have tried:** I currently use [Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com) (it provides citations favors highly cited articles when returning search results), but it usually does not provide conference information correctly (this may be because it gets cut off). For example, it lists a paper of mine from "LIPIcs-Leibniz International..." and makes it hard to identify the conference, which is "International Conference on Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP)". In contrast, [DBLP](https://dblp.uni-trier.de/) is designed specifically for Computer Science, so it does a good job of telling me the conference; however, it does not list citation count.
If it is possible to fix the result list with Google Scholar so that it provides the conference information more helpfully, that could be an answer to my question as well.<issue_comment>username_1: You are never too old, in years, to start a Doctoral program or to otherwise extend your education. However, you need to do a couple of things while you "wait".
Most important is that you don't lose your edge. If you are working in the field of study you should probably be fine and your experience may help. In fact, it may give you some ideas about unsolved issues in the field that might lead to research and a dissertation. But you will also need to try to keep current through readings. You don't say which field you plan to enter, but some move faster than others. New possibilities for research open up as well.
The second thing is that you will need to be prepared to answer questions about the gap in an intelligent and positive way. Getting experience in field is a pretty good answer. Recovering from burn out is not so fine.
However, as you age, you may take on additional responsibilities that you don't now have: family, kids, mortgage, ... Seek life balance of course, but as your responsibilities change, so may your goals. You will also need to deal, increasingly, with the needs of others. But nothing is an absolute block.
Remember that you will age no matter what you do. It is better to spend your life doing something you love than otherwise, even if it takes a while to realize the dream.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Definitely not!
In fact, one of the best researchers in my group started her PhD at the age of 33. She managed to publish papers in high impact journals, got a patent and last year she was hired as a post-doc.
As @username_1 said, it is indeed important for you to have an idea of your project. However, from my experience, don't hold onto it too much. Be adventurous! Good science might come from a previously established good idea, but it can also happen out of chance. You'll never know if you don't try.
And also agreeing with @username_1, do take into consideration your personal side. Living out of PhD salary can be quite tricky if you have others financially relying on you. Another thing is: make sure that, if you have a partner, he/she will be supportive. PhD involves working late hours, sometimes following tight deadlines, dealing with frustration and so on.
Don't compare your age with others'. Everyone has a different time to do things. As long as you know what you are getting into and you are ready to commit, you will be more than fine.
Best of luck in your PhD!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I started my Phd at the age of 35 and I never feel too old to do research. I acyually found that my years experience acquired from work helps me quite a lot in my Phd study.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I have an interview later this week and the advertisement goes something like:
>
> Grade 7: £31,604 - £38,833 p.a.
>
>
>
While talking to a postdoc at my own department, she told me that the scale wouldn't actually matter, that I'll always be placed on the lowest possible spine on that grade and it's just to show that every year I can move up a spine. She said even attempting to negotiate would be seen as a major red flag by the interviewers.
I wondered if anyone here can confirm this. It'd be amazing if you've been hiring postdocs in the UK so you definitely experienced this. Is there a way to be placed somewhere else on that scale, let's say on £35K?
Disclaimer: I'm not greedy or material-minded, but life is expensive especially with two kids and being a single parent. This position is also in a pretty expensive area.<issue_comment>username_1: I have not been on a hiring committee in academia, so take my answer with a grain-of-salt. However, I see no particular reason that an applicant could not negotiate their starting-point in a salary scale if the applicant has appropriate qualifications/experience to justify being on the high end of the scale. Universities hire new staff at all sorts of levels, and if they are willing to hire staff across different Grade levels, there is no reason to think that they would be unwilling to hire across different scale levels within a Grade level, particularly if it allows them to attract a good hire. (Bear in mind that there may be budget constraints that constrain what the panel can offer, but if they advertise a particular salary range, they should be able to make offers in that range.)
If you have not previously worked as a postdoc or equivalent, then it is likely that you will not be able to make a strong case for a higher level on the scale. In that case, it is probably not a good idea to seek a higher offer, and it may come off badly for you. However, if you already have substantial experience at this level of appointment (e.g., having done a postdoc or equivalent at another university), and you are close to the requirements of a Grade 8 hire, then you could point out your additional experience and skills, and seek an offer at the higher end of the Grade 7 scale. Basically, if you want to seek an offer at the high end of the scale, you need to be an applicant who is *close to meeting the requirements of a hire at the next grade level*. Be clear about this, and make sure you have judged things correctly, and can back this up.
If this is a situation where you think you might be a good enough candidate to be given an offer at the higher end of that scale, you should obtain a copy of the university's position descriptions of what it expects from a Grade 7 academic and what it expects from a Grade 8 academic. Check with the specific university you are applying for, but here is an example of [grade descriptions from the University of Edinburgh](https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/2450/Edinburgh---all-grade-profiles/pdf/edinburgh_allroleprofiles.pdf). Once you have this information, you now have a basis for determining whether you are near to meeting the requirements for a Grade 8 appointment . If you are close to these requirements (by the university's own description) then that would make a reasonable case for seeking an offer at the high end of Grade 7.
One final piece of advice: if you are considering doing this, *make sure you look at it from the University's point of view*. Don't think about it from the point of view of your needs (single parent, kids, expensive area); think about it from the point of view of the University's needs. What is so great about you that you would be the exception here; the person who comes at the mid-level or high-level on the scale? What sets you apart from the other applicants they will get, that shows that you are much closer to a Grade 8 hire? If you can answer these questions soundly, then you have a reasonable case for seeking a higher offer. If not, it is probably best not to do that.
**My personal experience:** In academia I came in at the bottom of the pay scale. However, I have personally applied for a position (outside of academia) where I made it clear at the interview that I would consider an offer at the top of the available salary scale. This was a case where I was applying for a position for which I had very high qualifications and experience, and I was already working in another job that paid more. I had a nice interview with the hiring panel, and I explained to them that I was interested in their work, but that even at the top of the pay scale they were offering, it would be a small pay-cut for me relative to my existing position. I told them I would be willing to consider an offer at the top of their pay scale, since I liked the sound of the work they were doing. Two days later I got an offer at the top of the pay scale (a small pay cut, but a move I was happy with) and I was working there within a week.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: There is no reason why a post doc cannot be appointed at a higher point on the spine if there is money there, that said, rarely is there money available. The number of people doing multiple post docs in the UK is smaller than in the US, and they usually stay at the same school. That means they often can be appointed to a higher grade. Therefore grants for post docs usually budget for the lowest salary and normal progression. A school or university funded postion would have more flexibility, but the head of school is not going to authorize more money from their budget.
I would not bring up the salary until after an offer is made. Once an offer is made, it cannot really hurt to say "hey, I deserve to be at the top of the scale since ...". They will then laugh and say you are right, but that is all they can offer.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: You don't mention your discipline; my own is the physical sciences, and this may be somewhat subject-specific.
Regardless of how much experience you have and how much you deserve a salary higher than the base rate, the key question is where the money is coming from. Postdocs are almost invariably hired from grants that have already been awarded, hence from a pot of money whose size cannot be changed. (Many funders are strict about the categories in which money can be spent: that is, if I have been awarded £100k for personnel and £100k for consumables, it could be difficult or impossible for me instead to spend £150k on personnel and £50k on consumables.) So *the only way to hire you on a higher salary may be to hire you for a shorter period of time*.
If you want to go down that road, you might be able to argue that your greater experience is such that the project will benefit more from having you for 1.5 years than someone else for 2. (Perhaps you can complete the work faster, or help support more junior members of the group, or even apply for further funding as a named investigator to continue the work beyond the current grant.)
I disagree that trying to negotiate is necessarily a red flag, but you may look a little naive if you don't appear to appreciate budgetary constraints. But I think it would be perfectly acceptable to ask at interview how the post fits into the context of the grant; whether there is the budget to potentially renew it after X years or to hire at a higher grade; and so on.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: In my experience (having had a couple of these positions) the bottom of the range is what you should expect if you're coming straight from a PhD, and then you would normally progress one point on the salary scale each year (the top salary listed is seven points higher than the low end, but some universities don't use all the points on the scale, in which case you can progress faster).
If you're coming from another postdoc, they may well start you at the point which matches the amount of experience you have, i.e. one point higher for every year of experience. I think this tends to happen (or not) as a matter of policy and so I wouldn't anticipate much room for negotiation, although I've never tried to negotiate so I can't be sure how it would be perceived.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: During the selection process you interact with academics. The terms of your contract, including the starting salary, are prepared and signed by the HR department.
The relations between academic administration (e.g. Head of Department) and HR varies from place to place but I have not yet seen a University in the UK where this relation is described as ideal. It is quite usual that the HoD / selection panel is sympathetic to the arguments about the unique experience or particular life situation, but HRs would make a decision based on the specific rules they have.
The rules depend on where the funding is coming from. If the post is created by the Department, HoD / selection panel usually can suggest the salary that will be accepted. If the post is funded by the University, you will be likely offered a salary one spinal point above the final salary of your previous academic employment or the starting rate if it is your first postdoc. If the post is funded externally (e.g. via [UKRI](https://www.ukri.org/)), the same rules apply within the additional restrictions imposed by limited grant budget.
To answer your question, salary negotiation in the UK is limited compared to e.g. US. In most cases, University matches or slightly increases the applicant's current salary.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: *Yes*, you can negotiate your salary …
--------------------------------------
I, and several of my friends, successfully negotiated an increased initial postdoc salary in the UK.
… but it’s hard
---------------
First off, the timing is awkward: It’s altogether common to start your postdoc work without a contract in hand. At this point your chance for negotiation is effectively over (or at least *greatly* diminished). Many postdocs even start without having formally defended their PhD, which makes negotiation even harder (because your previous salary is very low, and you don’t yet have the degree, which determines the salary).
In addition, there isn’t a good time during the interview to bring up the salary. This is also true in industry but it’s even harder in postdoc interviews: depending on the circumstances there might not even *be* a formal interview.1 My advice is to bring it up before you commit, even hypothetically, to starting the postdoc. This may seem obvious but it’s not.
Secondly, you are negotiating with two distinct parties: your prospective group leader, who will also be your line manager, as well as the University’s HR department.
In my experience, your future PI is probably happy to support your demands, if they’re at all interested in hiring you. In fact, if the PI is blocking the salary negotiation I’d count that as a major red flag.
The University HR department, on the other hand, aims to keep cost low. They want you to justify every single increase. I had it easy, I was able to provide a salary statement from my previous “bridging postdoc”, which happened to be outrageously high by UK standards.2 Prepare to provide an extensive record of your work experience prior to, during and after your PhD. This seems to be the single most relevant argument for an increased starting salary scale point.
The easiest way of increasing your starting salary would be to get hired as a senior postdoc. But this effectively requires either extensive previous postdoctoral experience (which you don’t seem to have), or the support of your former PI; and your future line manager will still need to provide compelling reasons to HR.
You *should* negotiate your salary
----------------------------------
Universities don’t really *expect* postdocs to negotiate their salaries. They expect them to accept whatever offer lands on their table. Some institutes3 go to great lengths to avoid having to negotiate, for instance by billing the postdoc as a “postdoctoral trainee”, rather than a full fellowship or research position, or by refusing to acknowledge relevant work experience before the completion of the PhD.4
I find this unacceptable, and strongly recommend pushing back. Prepare to walk away from an offer that refuses to acknowledge your work experience in a salary negotiation, or which pretend that you’re still a “trainee” after ten years5 of University education. This isn’t being “materially minded”, it’s valuing your own worth. Postdoctoral salaries in the UK are low enough as it is, compared to cost of living. Other European countries pay a lot more.
In sum, **I *strongly* advise everybody looking for a postdoc to negotiate their starting salary.**
---
1 For the position that I ended up accepting, I didn’t have a formal interview: I met the PI pre-interview and then scheduled a separate day to present my research to his group, and talk to its members, without the PI present at any point. After that I got a formal offer by letter. Luckily I had already mentioned the salary to the PI beforehand. So when I received the offer which put me into the minimum salary point, I replied to HR (CC’ing the PI) with my demands.
2 I did the bridging postdoc in the UK but working for an international organisation so I was paid a salary that’s competitive internationally, which the UK postdoc salary is decidedly *not* (my bridging postdoc salary was ~ 38k GBP; for comparison, the starting postdoc salary at the University of Cambridge was ~ 29k GBP at the time).
3 E.g. the Francis Crick Institute in London. Shame on them.
4 Even if you have several years’ worth of relevant work experience *pre*-PhD, the Crick Institute’s internal rules ignore this for the purpose of salary calculations.
5 Assuming undergrad, master & PhD.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: On occasions I and my PI managed to roll an extra point on the scale when moving to a new contract. The thing to watch is hitting the top of RA I (possibly called something else now) as unlike lecturer A/B there is no automatic promotion, so you need to start applying for grade II jobs to get a raise after that.
After 14 years I made it to grade III but HR refused to consider a grade IV appointment despite the grade existing.
So my advice is to ask for a raise with each and every reappointment (even if changing institutions) some one has to compensate for the short term nature of your employment.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: My experience is in the US and with a different sort of job, but it may help give you something to think about. First, if you are to get anything beyond the minimum, the institution has to *really* want you. But they have limitations in what is possible, even then.
However, there is more to life than salary. You might be more successful in negotiating other things that will amount to increased pay. You might, depending on your field, need lab space or an allowance for journals or publication fees and the like. In my case, I once asked for a quite high salary and mentioned that the reason for the request was that I have very high standards for cooperative work with colleagues around the world and so have high travel costs, beyond what most places normally pay. They suggested a lower salary but promised to cover a substantial part of my travel. My request was valid and the university followed through on their commitment, so it worked out well. It turned out that the additional travel funds weren't taxable to me also, so another win.
Think about the whole picture, not just salary, but office, etc., maybe even housing.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_9: **Discipline specific advice klaxon: applicable to Bio-molecular science type fields (Mol Biol, biochem, genetics, genomics etc)**
All employees at the vast majority of UK universities are paid on a single, nationally negotiated pay spine (although I recently learned that imperial is an exception to this). Your pay will be at some point on that spine.
The vast majority of postdocs will be funded from a UKRI project grant. When you apply for a grant to have to say, up to a year in advance of actually hiring, what you will pay the postdoc. Most university finance departments will encourage PIs to put point 2 or 3 on the universities Postdoc pay grade and then hire at point 1. The extra points are to cover the fact that there will almost certainly be an uplift in salaries on the national spine between applying for the grant and appointing someone. The money you are given then accounts for the fact the postdoc is expected to advance one salary point per year of employment.
However, once the funding agency gives you the grant you are **not allowed** to spend money earmarked for other things on salary, although you are allowed to spend less.
Now there is no reason when you apply for a grant to only apply for the lowest point on the pay grade. In my last grant we asked for enough money to appoint at point 5 because we were looking for some particularly rare skills. However, if you ask for too much the granting body is liable to reduce what you've asked for, or worst deny you the grant on a value for money basis.
The salary range in the Ad will be referring to the whole of grade 7 (look about the same as grade 7 at my uni). It shows the range of salaries you could conceivably get at the uni if you stayed long enough.
So by all means try to negotiate your salary. But don't be surprised if you just get a flat out no. That may not be because the PI doesn't want to pay more, but simply that their grant won't allow it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: I recently did this.
This was my first post doc after my phd and I have yet to do my viva.
I asked when I was offered the position where I could be in the scale and manged to get a position mid point on the band.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/06/25
| 826
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<issue_start>username_0: I currently work at a research org, and will be applying to PhD programs soon. For my CV, I am a co-author on a few publications that I'll be able to add, but have been recommended to add some in-progress or under review reports.
While "under review" is pretty straightforward, I'm curious what the cutoff should be for a report that is "in progress"? I have some projects that still have a year remaining, but we've written roughly half of the report. For others, we have less time remaining but have only written the introduction, or something like that. I'm guessing people will have very different opinions here, looking forward to seeing what you all think.<issue_comment>username_1: Perhaps - Unless you know that a report/work has been accepted for publication, I would not suggest listing it. However for work in progress that has some sort of verifiable references (grant's, fellowships), consider making a stand-alone section named something like: "Research in Progress", and here I would suggest making a table of Sponsors, and the title of the actual program, followed by the estimated due date. However if you decide to include this information block, it may accidentally confuse your reader if they are considering you for a job, as they may consider you will be overloaded with work. So, an alternative would be to NOT include any in-progress work as you don't want to put your efforts at risk for the goal you are seeking just to pad your resume. Both options are workable. It depends upon the situation. Good luck.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: As an applicant to a PhD program, you want to demonstrate that you have been involved in projects that have lead to publishable results. It is common in my field (let's call it neuroscience today), for junior researchers to list in prep manuscripts. As to what constitutes an in prep manuscript, you should list anything that has a large enoguh scope that you can confidentially discuss the research methods, results, analysis, conclusions and implications. If you can do that, it doesn't matter if you have anything written (although if you are that far along, you should be writing it up).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: For me, it looks bad to list in-progress papers under the same heading as published and submitted papers. It comes across like you want people to skim your CV and think you've completed more papers than you really have. And after all, anyone can say they have tons of great papers in progress. It's not verifiable.
But for an early career researcher, it's understandable to want to advertise your research experiences that haven't led to papers yet. A separate section titled something like "ongoing research projects" with a short description of each, would get the desired information across, and you wouldn't have to worry about where to draw the line, because you wouldn't be implicitly claiming that the projects are almost done.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: **In principle you could list any unfinished manuscript which you can immediately show if requested.**
However, be careful. This is highly dependent on local culture and practice. I have included two manuscripts "in prep" to my online CV prior to applying to a PhD position. I was recommended to do so by a senior friend and colleague. I think overall it was advantageous, though surely there will always be someone who will not see that with good eyes.
So, to make sure, *ask around trusted senior colleagues*. If you believe you have "enough" published papers, I'd recommend not officially listing any under preparation, though you may mention their existence more noncommittally.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/26
| 773
| 3,320
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<issue_start>username_0: I want to apply for two patents.
The first one is based on a journal article (obviously written by me) which is published a few months before.
My first question is: Is it legal/possible to apply for a patent based on an already published journal article? Is it a kind of self-plagiarism?
The second patent application which I am currently writing is based on a manuscript which I am planning to submit to a journal soon.
So, my second question is: Will it be a problem if I submit both the patent application and the manuscript to a journal at the same time? Should I write this to the journal editor?
My third question is: Is it unethical to keep the diagrams in the paper and patent almost the same?<issue_comment>username_1: also, patent laws vary by the country you invented and/or the country you are filing in. there are different patent law jurisdictions: national, PCT etc. The issue of filing for a patent starts with a priority date. Without knowing what country you want to focus on, it would be pretty difficult to give suggestions. But, why not engage a patent attorney in your country at this moment without any further delay?
In the U.S., a provisional patent gives you 12 months of time before a patent application is required, and you can abandon the process before you incur the large expense of the patent application if you think it will not work out. But you also have 12 months of time to claim priority providing some criteria are met.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Self-plagiarism is not the issue. The patent documents an invention. It is not a creative work itself. You could just stick a cover letter on your paper and submit that, in theory (as a provisional patent anyway). In practice, everyone says a patent that is not carefully written by a lawyer will be worthless. Lawyers especially tend to say this. However, different countries have different rules regarding copyright on the images used. So you may not want to reuse them if you transferred the copyright to a journal.
Patents are required to be both non-obvious and novel. Your own publication can count as "prior art" proving your patent is no longer novel. This is also called a public disclosure, which usually means publishing or offering it for sale to others. Different countries have different laws regarding when you can patent something that has been publicly disclosed. The US gives you a year after publication. Many other countries give you no time; the idea can't be patented there after disclosure. Applying and submitting at the same time may work but you're right on the line there, so need to be careful in other countries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_disclosure>
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: This is why you don't write all the clever implementation details you have come up with in the paper you submit. If no new "inventive step" is added in patent then a previous publication describing everything in the patent counts as "prior art" which would reject the application.
---
You would usually not have enough space in a paper (at least not a page-limited conference paper anyway) to describe all the clever implementation details you come up with on the journey. The patent is the right place for those clever details.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/06/26
| 968
| 4,017
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<issue_start>username_0: I have been working for two years after my Master and I am now looking for a PhD. I got a PhD offer from one university, met the person who would supervise me and told them I am very interested, while making it clear that I also applied to other PhD offers and am waiting for answers. They said that that it was not an issue for them.
But now he just sent me an anonymous paper and suggested to me peer-reviewing it to help me "get a foot on the ladder". I am really confused by this proposition since:
* I am still working for my company
* I am still searching for PhD offers to apply, which takes me all my free time,
* I never reviewed a paper before.
So, I am not really in the mood to do this now since I have more urgent concerns. However, I do not want to upset this potential supervisor, nor make them believe that I am not motivated.
**So, should I do this review or not, and if I don't, how can I refuse without upsetting this potential supervisor?**
Let me precise that I am likely to do my PhD there if my other applications don't get accepted.
**EDIT**
The paper in question is anonymous and I am asked to peer review it for a journal publication. The paper subject is in my field of research but not really in the field of my potential supervisor.<issue_comment>username_1: A literature review is an effecient way for you to have general overview about the state-of-the-art development in you research area. Most supervisors require their Phd students to do a literature review before starting the actual research.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I learnt a lot through editing/reviewing the text of papers in progress that my proposed advisor was involved in, while I was awaiting acceptance at the graduate school. I was fortunate to be included as co-author of the later ones as my own program started. Allow me to suggest you be as helpful to your advisor as you can, but then when you are in his program, express an interest that you be on track to produce papers of your own to establish your credentials get his ok to submit abstracts to conferences/journals and so forth. It takes about a year to get on the publication track, and you have about 2 to 3 years before your doctoral qualifiers, so you have time. Your eventual doctoral degree and dissertation will most probably require some publications, or allow your prior program related publications to be used as source material. So get going. Remember: Publish or Perish.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: Maybe it's a matter of question formulation, but I find this to be a very peculiar request and would be equally confused as you seem to be even if I wasn't busy with other stuff.
Specifically, **you're not qualified to review a paper, yet.**
If he's asking your analytical opinion on a paper, kind of like a journal club style dissection of the content, then sure I guess that's no big deal. But if you are given a manuscript, written by someone else and submitted to a journal, I find this request unrealistic and even unethical.
Also, in a way disagreeing with the previous answers here, I don't think it's a reasonable request even if you were given the article in a more relaxed, journal club-like format. Because you are supposed to **learn** to read and understand the scientific literature, it's part of your **training as a PhD student**. To use that during the recruitment process, as a test is a bit unfair in my eyes.
>
> that was my first feeling actually, that he was assigning me some of
> his work while I am still in the application phase. The paper is
> anonymous and I am asked to peer review it for a journal publication.
>
>
>
The above alone, would even deter me from considering to start there. I think it might be worth thinking about *what kind of work environment* you want to get yourself into for the coming 3-X years of your life.
But again, it's possible that I misunderstand something in the OP. Just my two cents...
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2018/06/26
| 478
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<issue_start>username_0: I need to contact the editorial board of a journal I recently submitted an article to [about an issue](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/111770/i-forgot-to-add-preprint-submission-biorxiv-before-the-actual-journal-submissi), and I am having some thoughts as to who would be the appropriate person to contact.
I know that the Editor-in-chief is pretty much in charge of the show, and the associate editors contribute based on their personal areas of expertise.
I have no idea what a managing editor does however. Intuitively I would assume that this job title would encompass more of the administrative and less scientific aspects of the publication process, but I am not certain.
So what does a managing editor do, and what type of questions should be directed to the managing editor?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, the managing editor is more administrative. For example, when a review is overdue, he may send a reminder to the reviewer. After a paper is accepted, he may send to the author the paperwork to complete.
I would say: do not communicate with him directly, except in response to something he sent to you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: **There's no way to tell without more info**. The word 'editor' has a wide range of meanings. I have personally worked with journals whose managing editors were effectively the co-editors-in-chief. I have also seen journals whose managing editors were employees of the publisher with no formal training in the journal's subject.
As a general guideline for who to write to: if the issue involves something that only an academic can understand or fix (e.g., the content of the paper, something to do with the peer review process, etc) then write to the editors of the journal. If it involves something mundane (and I would classify the issue you describe in the linked question as such), write to the publisher. You can also just write to the publisher regardless of the issue. A responsible publisher will direct questions they can't handle to the editorial board.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/26
| 853
| 3,767
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm an external consultant who has been brought to develop a software suite to collect, analyze and reduce data for a project (with oral assurance that I would participate to any paper to come from this project).
Since then, the IT engineer assigned to the project has filed a complaint arguing that hiring me was a waste of lab resources (even if the suite was provided on time with no overcost) which resulted being in not being hired for the follow-up to this project.
Drama aside, I know that a publication resulting from the data processed through the suite I developed is underway. I tried to voice my right to examine, but was denied, again on the IT engineer's (who is participating to the paper) good word: he argues that I have no right to participate as developing software is neither original nor a research task.
From my point of view, this is simply not true: The software I've developed was tailor-made for this project and incorporate elements based on the state of the art in both data collection and analysis.
I know that what qualifies someone to be included in the authors of a paper varies widely among fields of work (my previous experience is a Ph.D. in solid-state physics, I'm talking about medical research here). Am I justified in wanting to be included in the paper?
I can see several reasons why it's important to me:
* I want to validate the interpretation done.
* Getting a paper for this project was for me a mean to prove my proficiency to further clients in this field of study.
* Pride, also ? :)<issue_comment>username_1: Assuming, of course, that all the details are as you report, then yes, you have a valid claim to be included, though it may be difficult or impossible to realize. You are being abused. If you contribute materially to the paper then you should be included or, at a minimum, recognized in the paper. It may well be that there would be no paper without your contribution.
Remedies may be difficult to obtain, however. Was the assurance purely oral, or is there some record of it - email, for example? Can you get support from the person who gave you the assurance?
While you may not be successful here, you should, in future, make sure that you have a complete understanding, in writing, of how your work will be recognized or if you are just a hired-gun to do contract work. Live and learn, perhaps, but guard yourself as best you can against unforeseen circumstances and bad actors.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Based on what you say, I believe ethically you would be listed as an author on the grounds that data analysis in an integral part of research. At least, this is what I would do. I would do this trying to keep things professional even if personally I came to dislike the software developer.
However, in practice, it may depend on the contract you signed. If there was nothing in the contract, things get trickier as the situations seems already deteriorated. Is there anyone in the research group, apart from the IT engineer, that can vouch for your work and argue for your inclusion?
If you did not sign off the copyright to the software, you may have legal grounds for not having the research group use it (again, depends on the contract), although this would be harsh. An alternative would be to publish your own paper on the software, just as a data analysis tool if it is general purpose enough to be of use to others. That would give you even larger credit. Note however that most likely the software would need to be available free of charge to other researchers.
(As a minor point, I do not understand your first bullet point. If you are not on the paper, why is it important to you that the others interpret the results correctly?)
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/26
| 3,371
| 14,349
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<issue_start>username_0: I'll be starting as a tenure-track professor in a few months where I'll be doing research on software developer tools. I have seen that it is *extremely* difficult to recruit good PhD students in this topic area (even at elite schools), since most of them are heavily recruited by industry. Understandably, it is hard to say no to 120k+ USD salary straight out of undergrad.
How should I go about attracting talented grad students in a topic area that has to compete with such high-paying companies? I do have funding for these students but it isn't anything like industry.<issue_comment>username_1: The person who wants to go into industry is a different sort of person than one who wants a PhD. That isn't a universal, as some people want to do one to enable or enhance the other, but it is pretty generally true. You are likely a pretty good example yourself, so look at how you differ from those among your peers who chose as you did or otherwise.
Therefore, think of the possible pool of candidates as bifurcated and try to appeal to those characteristics that are more likely to appeal to those in the desired half (well, less than half, probably).
Future professors are likely more interested in ideas and personal growth and less interested in money. Both may want to do something to improve the world, of course, but in different ways. The potential PhD is more interested in deeper issues and longer term results than the general public. Future professors, especially, are obsessed with ideas and their development.
Another positive aspect of the professorate and the desire for a PhD is the ability, in the large, to control your own schedule. You work all the time, of course, but you get to decide when to work and (mostly) what to work on.
The people you probably are not going to attract are those with heavy life responsibilities already, and who really need that paycheck. On a more positive note, they are also more likely to want to do something *now*, rather than to work toward more distant goals.
If you actually have access to some of the people you want to attract, then introduce them to interesting parts of your research and those of colleagues. Take them to an advanced class that you teach in some esoteric subject - maybe even one for which you are the premier source in the world. That is very cool. If you have research labs and advise advanced students, take them to a lab and ask them to contribute - ideas if nothing else. Introduce them to your advisees and assistants. Show them how wonderful it is to work with other smart people on important problems.
When you speak to groups, emphasize the excitement of developing new ideas and how a new PhD is, at that moment, the world's foremost authority on some (perhaps small) thing.
Finally, convince them that they will *never be bored* and that if they work with you, you will *never waste their time*. Then live up to that promise yourself, of course.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: **A true investigator is moved by knowledge and curiosity.**
This is what you ought to focus on. Unfortunately there are too many PhD candidates facing research as a job, under the wings of professors who see themselves as some kind of entrepreneurs running a start-up venture.
Consider yourself blessed as in your field you are more likely to attract those who are interested in learning and investigation, the true PhD-seekers. Now, if you're truly invested in your field of research surely you can attract other hungry brains to your cause. Never try to buy a student, for you will sell yourself in the process.
UPDATE:
A note to all commenters emphasising on the fact that a PhD student needs money to survive -- this question is not about **not paying** salaries, nor does it imply that the OP is offering a meagre salary. I assume his students are perfectly able to pay for their bills and grab a beer.
It directly discusses the quality of students seeking for the *highest possible* salaries.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I am in the process of getting postdoc job in bioengineering field. Industry jobs are definitely an option here, so I have to consider why exactly I want to work in academia. I can share few reasons, hopefully it will help you understand the process from PhD student's perspective.
**Why PhDs in engineering are willing to work for 5ish years at about 50% of industry wage rate?**
1. Lucrative project that will get them a faculty position. You can't get a "University Professor" title and your own lab in industry (vanity+independence)
2. Good project that will build diverse skillset. In the industry job you will be pigeonholed into limited skillset. In academia you can learn hardware, software, wetware (molecular bio) all on the same project. Some people like that flexibility of learning
3. Interesting project. My postdoc project will be either unique and advanced method (2x-10x current popular method) or another unique bio/translational project. Even if I don't make it in academia and quit, I will be able to say "I worked on this craaazy project" at parties. In software industry you are either prohibited from talking about work or work on some silly boring stuff like new billing system.
4. You can potentially negotiate more independence. In academia work is abundant and good people are rare, hence good student will be able to ask for more independent project.
5. Big name university that will potentially land you higher-paying industry job. Imagine working as software postdoc at Stanford versus NoName Uni. In Palo Alto the density of people is incredible, hence more potential to land very good software job (Google), especially if you as as PI know right people.
6. Some medium-skilled people would probably appreciate laziness of academic job and lack of competition. I am not sure if that is good or bad for you.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: This question is a bit like asking "How can I get a brand new car for $5,000 when they all sell for $20,000?" You can't, unless you get lucky with some special situation with unique circumstances. The market has decided that the sort of qualifications you want are worth far more than the sort of money you're willing to pay. There's nothing you can realistically do to change that.
This simple premise implies that you must do one of the following:
* Pay more
* Let the students work very part time (thus paying more *per hour*)
* Settle for less qualified students
Obviously one is not an option for PhD students because you couldn't offer a meaningfully higher stipend. Second might actually be feasible if you can arrange for some sort of industry partnership where the bulk of the student's work is actual work for a company (perhaps one that develops the tools you research) and the PhD related duties become a secondary priority. But it's probably hard to get away with this in practice.
Third option is the more sensible one. Either you have to reduce your research goals, or take in bright but unqualified students and train them. Of course, at some point after being trained, the student will realize that they now *are* qualified and could quit anytime for a much better job. So you have to be very nice to your students and make sure their frustration does not exceed their intellectual satisfaction.
I did say the first option is not realistic, because PhD stipends don't really vary that much and are often outside your control, and even if you could somehow arrange to pay even double the usual salary to your students, it would probably trigger riots on campus when other students hear about it. But you do have more flexibility with postdoc. If you really need to hire the sort of person that could get six figure salaries in the industry, the obvious answer is to hire such a person as a postdoc, and compensate competitively.
Also, I think the "$120k+ straight out of undergrad" is a myth. Computer science pays well, but not that well. Undergrads will easily work for half that, even the median salary (for experienced workers) is far below it. The only grain of truth in it might be the Bay Area, but cost of living is also very high there.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: As you note, industry pays more, so you just have to focus on the non-monetary benefits of the academic life: time flexibility, the freedom to choose your own research projects, being around bright young people all the time, etc. A PhD could also possibly help their industry career in the long run, but I don't know as much about that as you, not being in CS/software.
There's a sentiment out there that academia is some kind of higher calling, compared to working in industry. I wouldn't bring anything like that up to your students. The pursuit of truth and ideas are not the sole domain of academia, and you risk coming across as smug and out of touch. Keep it about the practical pros and cons.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: Other answers are somehow good, but I think they might miss a practical approach. I try to elaborate a bit.
In most cases, your question has a simple answer: hiring PhD students from overseas, specially third-world countries.
Why? Because most of them have visa limitations and they can't think of a job for the moment. Their options are limited and they *have to* be good to survive. This gives the professors a vantage point to easily take advantage of.
Please don't get me wrong. I am not saying that this a common practice and the only reason for hiring foreign PhD student and I hope nobody gets offended. But as a resident of a third-world country who has seen that many of his highly talented friends are so eager to get an overseas PhD, even from a low-rank university, I think I have some valid points here.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: Remember that **a PhD is intended to be a training position, not a job**. Unfortunately, too many supervisors see PhD students as workers rather than as trainees in education. To get excellent PhD students, you need to convince undergrads that they personally will benefit from the training you will provide (rather than just that they will have the 'opportunity' to do lots of work for you). You cannot compete on money, and it is unlikely you can compete on non-monetary benefits either (what university offers free food, free transport, free gym, high-quality office space...?). But perhaps you can compete on the training you can offer.
In your context, this either means:
* Find bright students who are not computer scientists and offer to train them to be computer scientists. For example, take on a talented biologist, sociologist or physicist who is motivated to learn your field.
* Design a cutting edge project that will push the limits of the field. Such a project will put the student in a position to apply for competitive faculty positions, a higher level entry to a company or to start their own company perhaps.
Of course, this all depends on the amount of effort you are willing to put in yourself. If you just want an assistant or someone who wont get in the way whilst you work on your own things, then you will need to accept a lower standard of student.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_8: My long term goal is to lecture for software engineering, but since it's a practical skill, I am gaining practical experience in the industry (having been a QA, engineer, team lead, contractor), so that I can teach based on real world experience, rather than just having had read the texts before my students.
As a team lead, one of the things I learnt was what motivates people, including myself.
People have their own definition of success, whether they know it or not, and you'll never motivate someone whose motivation is cash to put in the enormous amount of effort required for a PhD where the reward is sating curiosity and building some new knowledge for the future.
@jamesqf's comment:
>
> One option is to recruit people who have already spent some time in industry, have enough money, and are now interested in more challenging work than they might find in industry.
>
>
>
is pretty on the money. The best way to attracting talented grad students in a topic area isn't to compete with high-paying companies with pay, but with more interesting, rewarding work.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: To extend the previous answers, which have already given good points:
Grant your students full Open Source rights, offer similar license rights for the data they collect and produce. That is what kept me a while in science. If they have a well distributed software product in the end, this is good for the CV and gives more job opportunities as well.
A collaborative project with international partners in attractive countries where your students can stay for a few month will be an attractive plus as well.
Promote the freedom and life experience in science. That is the only advance over well paid industry jobs. If you trust your students you can also offer more freedom in form of regular home office opportunities.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: What should you do is to focus on two possible streams from where you can recruit students
a) to do what IT companies already do, outsourcing. But in your case, you should attract people from abroad, focus on international students from Eastern Europe and offer collaboration to universities and departments of interest.
b) to look outside of CS field, and to offer the possibility of career development for people who want to switch fields to IT(CS, software development). Other fields like linguistics, computational sciences, logic etc
There is a big problem with your personality that would need to change in order to adapt with these people from other fields that are coming to software development field. You should not look at them as less talented or prepared, and rather try to offer good condition for development. Unfortunately, if someone wants to become good software developments, that means he/she tried hard to achieve these position and would like to repay their student debt. Think maybe of taking talents from high schools? recruiting them and offering free education with clause of staying 8 years? This is done in my country for Military and Police University.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/26
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<issue_start>username_0: At US universities, how should one address a professor while talking to him or her? In my home country, we usually address the professors as either "sir" or "madam" while talking about our queries in person.
What's the norm at US universities?<issue_comment>username_1: Assume that you should be formal unless invited otherwise. Of course other students at the institution can give you advice, but Professor or <NAME> is normally used. Some what less formal is "doc" or "prof", but only with permission. I was once on first name basis with most of the professors while a grad student, but not with my dissertation advisor. He was European and was always "Professor".
I don't think there is anything like a nationwide norm. At most there might be a departmental norm, not even one for an entire university. But it is best to seek guidance. Assume the formal until you know better.
In my own case I had to convince doctoral students to call me by my given name. They seemed uncomfortable calling me anything but "professor". But we wanted the doctoral students to think of us more like colleagues so we pressed them a bit to use personal names.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: There is no norm across US universities.
I have had lots of professors announce on the first day of class that they dislike being referred to as "Professor" and to simply call them Mr/Ms [lastname]. Some even said they preferred being called by their first name. Had the same experience when conversing with professors outside of class (I was not their student or anything).
Other professors would take offense and lecture you if you do not call them Dr [lastname] or if you don't refer to them as "Professor". This seemed to be a minority of professors.
In the grand scheme of things it does not matter to most professors. I have seen people refer to professors in a vast variety of ways and I don't think most mind unless it can come across as particularly disrespectful (avoid first name unless they say its fine to refer to them that way, don't use casual slang when referring to them like "Yo homedog stevens", etc). I would default to simply "Professor" or if there is more than one professor in the room I might say "Mr./Ms.[lastname]".
There is also no harm in just asking a professor if they prefer to be called Professor Stevens or Mr. Stevens or what have you if you are worried. It's not as if they will take offense at that question.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: "Professor Lastname" is a sensible default, unless and until the professor asks you to call them something else, or you become aware of local customs that are different.
"Sir" and "Madam" are normally *not* used.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: By default, it is always appropriate to call your professor "<NAME>" or "Dr. Roberts".
However, it is usual that the professor will either ask you to call them by the first name, e.g. "Michael" or "Jane"; if this does not happen but you do work with the professor quite closely or are on friendly terms with them, there will be a moment when one goes on to the first-name basis anyway.
I heard that some professors prefer their relations with students to remain formal and to continue to be called Professor or Dr., but I've never experienced this personally.
Note: In some countries like France, an equivalent of Mr./Ms. may be the norm (e.g. Monsieur), but in the U.S., that may be considered as implying that the person is not a Doctor and, therefore, an insult.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I was wondering, as yearly, universities get lots of students per year, how are all of the email accounts created? Are they created one by one?<issue_comment>username_1: Just to have a clear answer here... although, yes, the question invites humorous responses! :)
No, such IT tasks are highly automated, by running "scripts" with super-user privileges to create/initialize accounts, create pseudo-random temporary passwords, and so on. On Unix/Linux underlying systems (which are common in academe) these scripts would often be "shell scripts" ("bash" or "cshell" or "zshell" or others), or Perl scripts.
In my observation, this sort of "scripting task", and the means to accomplish it, are so far removed from most peoples' experience that it is hard to imagine how it works/happens. So the question is in many regards reasonable.
The recent trend of glossy graphical interfaces adds to the difficulty of understanding the essentials of what's really happening. No kitties, puppies, or dancing bears involved! :)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Maybe my case is not exactly what you asked but it worths mentioning.
Working as a system administrator at a K-12 international school in Vietnam for 5 years, I'd created a system that can generate the student user accounts in batch with the following options:
1. Automatically create the accounts if they're marked as enrolled in the Student information system.
2. Only create the student accounts (in batch of-course) when I press a button on the web interface.
3. Use the web interface to create each student account manually.
The system comprises of 2 parts:
1. Backend: a combination of python and shell scripts to generate the AD accounts.
2. Frontend: I used Django for the ease of web implementation.
Hope that will help.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/26
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<issue_start>username_0: I've worked in higher education on the administrative side. I've been able to get a very thorough look at University budgets. From my perspective it's really a travesty that research Universities, with their multi-billion dollar operating budgets seem more inclined to hire largely purposeless administrators than to increase PhD stipends/wages such that a PhD wouldn't be so financially painful for students.
From my own perspective working in administration, it seems to me that the blame can be placed squarely at the feet of the near universal tendency for bureaucracies to naturally increase in size over time if left to their own devices. The discussion of why this is the case is beside the point, but this near universal law seems to be at work here. This limits graduate student stipend size because when faced with the choice of expanding the bureaucracy or paying graduate students more, the administrator - as a bureaucrat - will almost invariably decide to expand the bureaucracy.
That said, there are other dynamics at play in Universities that make me wonder why bureaucracies have been so successful at vacuuming up funds. Elite Universities often compete for top PhD candidates, so why haven't the competitive forces that drive up wages in the face of labor demand also driven up the stipends offered to accepted candidates? Are Universities coordinating to keep stipends artificially low? Or is the bureaucratic tendency to expand overpowering the market dynamics that would otherwise compel Universities to offer higher stipend packages? Or are existing stipend packages already at what we would expect the market level to be?<issue_comment>username_1: For students funded via the NIH and similar mechanisms (CDC and AHRQ come to mind), there are standard rates for what graduate students are paid. This is a fairly extensive treatment on the subject for one university: <https://controller.ucsf.edu/file/4361>
There are some ways to supplement this, but "This is what my grant pays for" is a *very* strong pressure on budgets, and departments often set grad student pay by policy in light of this, to prevent there being clear gradients of funding between students in their department.
Note that going over this by a lot via something like unionization can have extremely unintended consequences, like PIs suddenly becoming *much* more interested in postdocs.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think this is the wrong question to ask. Remember that throughout high school, undergraduate studies and most masters programs, students pay for themselves. Viewed from this perspective being paid to do a PhD is a huge blessing. Imagine if PhD studies not only not pay five figures a year, it *cost* five figures a year. This isn't that far-fetched either, since PhD students consume faculty time, university resources, take courses, and so on. A student who complains about the paltry pay sounds pretty ungrateful to me, not to mention ignorant, since he presumably knew what the stipend was before accepting the offer.
You also write that "Elite Universities often compete for top PhD candidates, so why haven't the competitive forces [driven up stipends]". This is because top PhD candidates are generally not driven by money (if they were, [they usually would not be doing a PhD in the first place](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/111779/how-to-recruit-phd-students-when-industry-pays-so-much-more)). Many top PhD candidates will not think twice about taking a $25k/year position at an elite university instead of a $50k/year position at a lower-ranked university. Hence normal rules for supply and demand don't apply. Further, even with low pay, there's no shortage of PhD students. There's no need to pay more then.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: Do German universities (specifically, Technical Universities) take mid-career professionals from other countries (i.e., the USA) for PhD studies?
I am trying to grasp how that process would work - or if it would work - for someone with family & in their mid-30s.
N.b., I am aware that the system is different, i.e., [Funded PhD position chances for international students in Austria](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17134/funded-phd-position-chances-for-international-students-in-austria).
My field is computer science, if that matters.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes they do if you have a the necessary degree which is normally a Masters or something comparable.
When you talk about "PhD studies" also note that a PhD (in German doing a "Promotion") does not include course work. It´s thesis only while working on a funded project in parallel if you don´t have a stipend. (The only course work there is if you don´t fulfill the requirements of the university fully and they ask you to complete some exams before starting your PhD. Also there are more and more so called "Promotionskollegs" that require you to go to a handful of courses during the time of your "Promotion".)
If you want to do applied research also focus on so called universities of applied sciences (in German "Hochschule", "Fachhochschule"). I guess they also have a higher interest in people from industry. A notable disadvantage here is that they can not award PhDs so you need a partner university for a cooperation. (German "Kooperative Promotion") But usually they have such contacts and partner universities anyway so that is not a show stopper in virtually all cases.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, that is definitely possible (if you have a Masters degree as JayFromA mentioned).
Normally professors have their own funding and 100% control about who gets accepted into the PhD program. This means you directly apply to the chair and not to the university but if the professor is willing to pay you your other background does not matter.
The computer science community in Germany is very international (especially the TUs are very proud of this) and it should be no problem if your German is not that good.
If you do not have stipend your salary is fixed though and there is no room for negotiations (and its not really competitive to industry work). There will also be no relocation funds or anything. Teaching is normally included in your duties so you can not upgrade your pay with that.
The good thing for people with family is that most programs offer "Individualpromotion" which means you do not do course work but research independently (with the help of your supervisor). This is normally more time flexible and useful if you have small children.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2018/06/26
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| 1,850
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<issue_start>username_0: Long story short, I designed a compression algorithm that performs well compared to some other compression algorithms.
I was wondering if it's acceptable to write a scientific paper on this algorithm even though there exist other algorithms which are faster and provide better compression ratios compared to mine.
**Note**: I've never written a scientific paper and am no longer in academia.<issue_comment>username_1: I would say that you are fairly unlikely to find a home for such a paper unless your algorithm has some unique or new characteristics. If it is especially good on some kinds of data sets that are interesting then you stand a better chance. Likewise if the algorithm itself is interesting and can lead to deep thinking on some aspects of the problem. Can you adapt the algorithm to some special use? Does it have interesting characteristics of speed or memory usage or ...
Or even is it especially easy to teach or to validate or ...?
If there is anything unique about your algorithm you have the possibility of publishing a paper about it. Otherwise it is likely interesting only to you and a few others. In that case just try to leverage the learning you needed to develop it into the next great thing.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: **Yes**. You can't tell before performing the research if the algorithm will be better than old ones. Now that you've done it and found the answer is "no", that's still a result. It won't be the most interesting of results so you won't be able to publish it in top journals, but it's still something.
As an example, see the [iterated prisoner's dilemma](http://www.prisoners-dilemma.com/). There's a simple, robust strategy discovered early on: tit-for-tat. However, people continued to study other strategies - a close parallel to your situation.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/06/27
| 466
| 2,052
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<issue_start>username_0: A professor agreed on helping me with applying for a postdoctoral fellowship.
However, after I wrote the application materials and send to him, he stopped replying to me. It is really just several days before the deadline now. And I started to feel frustrated. I don't know what I have possibly done wrong.
Just thinking that I had already ask my professors for writing recommendations and I had devoted much time in proposing and writing the applications. I really don't want to waste them.
Should I make a phone call to ask is there anything wrong?
What would you suggest me to do?
Thanks!!<issue_comment>username_1: I would say that you are fairly unlikely to find a home for such a paper unless your algorithm has some unique or new characteristics. If it is especially good on some kinds of data sets that are interesting then you stand a better chance. Likewise if the algorithm itself is interesting and can lead to deep thinking on some aspects of the problem. Can you adapt the algorithm to some special use? Does it have interesting characteristics of speed or memory usage or ...
Or even is it especially easy to teach or to validate or ...?
If there is anything unique about your algorithm you have the possibility of publishing a paper about it. Otherwise it is likely interesting only to you and a few others. In that case just try to leverage the learning you needed to develop it into the next great thing.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: **Yes**. You can't tell before performing the research if the algorithm will be better than old ones. Now that you've done it and found the answer is "no", that's still a result. It won't be the most interesting of results so you won't be able to publish it in top journals, but it's still something.
As an example, see the [iterated prisoner's dilemma](http://www.prisoners-dilemma.com/). There's a simple, robust strategy discovered early on: tit-for-tat. However, people continued to study other strategies - a close parallel to your situation.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/06/27
| 1,388
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<issue_start>username_0: I spent a postdoctoral period in China, where I faced number of [issues](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/104541/persistent-issues-with-salary-pay-as-a-postdoc-in-china-what-can-i-do) with the administration and supervisor. In short, I felt exploited in many ways, from payment and funding restrictions to being constantly asked to provide unfair “favours” and contributions.
During my stay, I was constantly asked to revise manuscripts for language and suggestions. I am a critical person, and the local culture is refractory to open criticism. Still, whilst my suggestions seemed to be typically ignored and made others uneasy, my lab mates would continuously ask for my opinion on manuscripts under preparation. They usually acknowledged my contributions in the acknowledgments section. Exactly *why* they would ask me for suggestions when they didn’t seem to appreciate them had always puzzled me.
However, since my departure they have published three papers **I have never seen** whilst acknowledging me for suggestions. For example, this is the latest of these papers they wrote:
>
> We thank Dr. [other researcher], United States; and Dr. [Scientist], ZZZ, China, for critical reviews of this manuscript.
>
>
>
Awkwardly enough, these are papers directly within my area of expertise, which were surely under preparation during my presence, and first-authored by close colleagues. (Meaning they certainly **refrained** from mentioning these projects around me, at least in English).
Why would someone acknowledge a nonexistent contribution from a close colleague? Especially on a project that was apparently kept secret? It feels very awkward.<issue_comment>username_1: I see two possible reasons for their behaviour. Others options are possible.
1. They are using your name to reduce the chances of desk-rejection. I have heard that a well-known expert in the acknowledgements can be seen as a positive point for some editors.
2. They copy-paste the acknowledgements of a previous manuscript and forgot to delete you.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Another option I see is that they simply discussed something with you while you were still there, and they got something useful out of it that made its way into the paper. And moreover while his happened they didn't explicitly tell you "our current discussion is related to this specific project, by continuing to discuss with us you agree to have your name in the acknowledgements section of the paper, please sign this affidavit stating that you understand".
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Since we don't know the text of the acknowledgements, I'm assuming it was a general 'for valuable suggestions' type acknowledgement, not 'for suggestions towards making this manuscript more readable', the latter being specifically for language suggestions.
In that case, I speculate that they may want to avoid later contradiction/opposition from you. As you are well-known in the field of the paper, and have had some less-than-great experiences with them, they may be insuring themselves against possible backlash from you. Of course this is not foolproof, but they may hope that you'd turn a blind eye if acknowledged.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: It's worth noting that I've heard many times of companies and schools in China lying and pretending to employ or work with western professionals to make their group look good during tours and advertisements.
Perhaps the motivation was for appearances.
If you add
>
> Dr. XXX, YYY,United States
>
>
>
to the end of the manuscript then I suspect it makes it look more professional/important to other people in China.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: >
> During my stay I was constantly asked for language revisions and suggestions on manuscripts. I am a critical person, and local culture is refractory to open criticism. Still, whilst my suggestions were generally ignored and apparently made others uneasy, lab mates would frequently ask for my opinion on manuscripts under preparation. They usually acknowledged my contributions in the acknowledgments section. Why they would ask for my suggestions when they didn't seem to like them always puzzled me.
>
>
>
Perhaps they found your honest criticism valuable, even if it wasn't culturally appropriate to agree with it. Thanking you in the acknowledgements sounds like a low-key way to show their honestly felt appreciation that they were't comfortable showing in person. Maybe you had a lasting effect on them that continued on into work you didn't directly review.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: A possibility which have not been mentioned: If you are in the acknowledgements section, you will not be asked to review a paper. Especially within narrow sub-fields, this can actually mean something.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_7: I regularly watch this youtube channel of this South African guy who has lived in China for the past 10 years (SerpentZa). One of the phenomenon he has exhibited is Chinese companies and schools like to enhance the prestige of their organization by having Western people pretend to be American experts who have graciously accepted and invitation to speak at a function. I think they are namedropping you for similar reasons.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: *Comment by [Axeman](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53749/axeman) converted to an answer:*
Your colleague may have been told by their supervisor to ask you for feedback or said they were asking you for feedback for some reason.
Then they decided not to ask you, for example because they don’t like getting comments or heard of your critical attitude from others.
Now, to keep up the appearance of having got your feedback, they added you to the acknowledgements.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: Is Harvard referencing style used mostly in Europe? I ask because it seems to be less well known in USA than I had expected. If so, which is the most commonly used style in US academic institutions?<issue_comment>username_1: It's used throughout nearly all universities in UK and would generally be regarding as the default style in UK. I'm not sure about the rest of Europe however, but I also get the impression that it is not widely used in USA.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: The distribution is not so much geographic as field-dependent. For instance, most of the papers I see that use the Harvard style come from the areas of geology, hydrology, and geochemistry, while most of the remainder use various numbered citation styles (RevTeX, AIP, ACS, etc.). This is true regardless of the geographic location of the authors, because the decision regarding citation style is generally made by the publisher, not the author.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/27
| 1,467
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently I came across a conference paper that tried to solve the same problem I solved couple of years ago and published a workshop publication about, but using a different algorithm. In their introduction they mention and cite 6 applications that can benefit from the solution to this specific problem. Out of the 6 examples 4 are exactly the same in my publication word for word with 3 of them using the same exact citations I used. Which made me believe with zero doubt that the one of the conference paper authors read my workshop paper and found those applications and citations useful and decided to reuse them in their publication without giving my work proper citation for finding those references.
I have read through academia stack previous questions and all questions I found were researchers trying to figure out if citing the source without citing the middle resource was okay:
1. [Attributing Second-order Citations](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/99090/attributing-second-order-citations)
2. [I have found theses on a similar subject to my own, and want to use
their references with my own text and a similar flow. Is this
plagiarism?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/79202/i-have-found-theses-on-a-similar-subject-to-my-own-and-want-to-use-their-refere)
3. [Citing a citation from a paper?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/100402/citing-a-citation-from-a-paper)
4. [Is it okay to incorporate a block of citations from a review paper
into my own paper?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/42440/is-it-okay-to-incorporate-a-block-of-citations-from-a-review-paper-into-my-own-p)
5. [Is there a problem with citing the original source instead of the
source where the information was first found?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18143/is-there-a-problem-with-citing-the-original-source-instead-of-the-source-where-t)
6. [If I use most of the references from a thesis but not the exact
same sentences, is it plagiarism?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31973/if-i-use-most-of-the-references-from-a-thesis-but-not-the-exact-same-sentences)
The consensus form the answers of these questions is that the middle resource should be also cited.
Since in my case my work was not cited at all, I contacted the conference committee chair about this issue and showed that the citations I have used have been reused in the paper that was accept in his conference without citing my work. His response was "*this related work discussion does not amount to plagiarism.*" and continued to say that if I am not satisfied with his conclusion that I can contact the journal and ask them for a full investigation of this issue.
So currently I am a little bit conflicted, is this a case of plagiarism? If so how can I proof that it is a clear case plagiarism to avoid a similar response from the journal editors.<issue_comment>username_1: No, this is not plagiarism, unless the authors specifically used the same wording as you. Citing the same sources as another paper is not plagiarism, otherwise anyone who cites an influential paper would be guilty of plagiarism unless they also cited the hundreds of other papers who also cited that influential paper.
In your specific case, you say
>
> Out of the 6 examples 4 are exactly the same in my publication with 3
> of them using the same exact citations I used. Which made me believe
> with zero doubt that the one of the conference paper authors read my
> workshop paper and found those applications and citations useful and
> decided to reuse them in their publication without giving my work
> proper citation for finding those references.
>
>
>
This is speculation, and you can not know that this is indeed what happened. It is also quite likely that the authors did a literature review or simply knew parts of the literature, and found examples of applications that were relevant for their paper. Using the "exact same citations" is what is supposed to happen when you cite the same work.
Unless your paper is relevant and related to the work done in their paper, there is no reason for them to cite your paper, and citing work that is related to both your papers can not be considered plagiarism. At worst, you could argue that the authors should have included your paper in their related work.
Remember, people cite your papers for the work that you describe in that paper, not for the citations you give.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Who cares whether this is technically plagiarism or not? This is obviously a trivial matter and you should not waste your time on it. Do not be overly sensitive on receiving credit for every bit of work you ever did.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Addressing the focal point first:
(1) The editor doesn't believe this is a case of plagiarism. If you want to establish it as one, you will need very strong evidence. Based on the question, I don't think you have that. What you do have is a strong *indication* that someone has read your paper (this comes from the 4/6 applications bit). There is a weaker indication that your paper has directed the author to further work in the field. But your paper is not the only source for this direction, so this remains a weak and unsubstantial argument.
(2) A researcher may read many publications, and may benefit from them directly or indirectly; but not every one of these will be cited. Citations are for when you use someone's work (results, conclusions, methodology, figures, entire sentences), or when you compare your results to someone, and so on. It is certainly good practice to cite papers which direct you to seminal work, since they saved you effort. But this decision is still up to the author. You may disagree with the decision, but you can't enforce anything.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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2018/06/27
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<issue_start>username_0: My master thesis was the greatest sh\*tshow that ever happened in my life. Fortunately I did manage to put it all together and submit it. After that I booked a defense date which is tomorrow.
In the meantime, two days ago I got the reviews for my master thesis from both professors and I barely passed the written thesis with score of 3.7 (1-Excellent and 5-Fail) with a lot of questions about my approach and structure. I don't mind ending with a bad grade as it was not up to the quality.
But, I am now in panic and anxiety for the last few days. I don't know how I will defend my thesis. **Would anybody guide me how to defend a bad graded thesis?** I am based in Germany. What are my chances that I failed the defense despite passing the written thesis?
My mind is blank at the moment due to anxiety as I did not get enough time to digest my results.<issue_comment>username_1: Be prepared with a short overview of your approach and structure. Practice saying out loud to a friend if possible. Ask for feedback, and repeat.
In addition, make a list of each reviewer comment. Then write a short response to each. Practice saying each of these out loud as well.
Finally, breathe. If you find yourself getting flustered during the defense, remember you can take a few breaths or a drink of water before responding. You can also ask for clarification on any question or criticisms you don’t understand to give yourself time to compose a response. The committee wants to pass you, so let them help you!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: While I wish I could be more positive, the fundamental fact that is in the German grading system, a grade of 3,7 on a master's thesis is a **disastrous** grade that is essentially unheard of. Virtually all master's theses receive grades somewhere between 1,0 and 1,7. A grade of 3,7 is very much a "pity" grade that allows you to pass the master's program, but is essentially going to be an albatross around your neck. You will not be able to use the degree to pursue advanced study anywhere in Germany, and gaining employment with that kind of grade will be a lot more difficult.
You will want to check the *Prüfungsordnungen* (examination rules) for your program to determine if you are allowed to resubmit or repeat the master's thesis, rather than take a grade that low on the thesis. In that case, you may find that option preferable to having to deal with the consequences of a D on the thesis.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/06/27
| 3,149
| 12,864
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<issue_start>username_0: Background: In school in USA, US citizen, male 26. Have B.S. in chemistry, and another in applied math & stats (but my main focus was chemistry), from reasonably good public school. After graduating, looked for a job in my field for a solid year with no success before entering a masters program for one semester because I saw no other alternative. Left the masters program after one semester because money was tight but I got into the PhD program (funded) at the same university. I do not, and did not then, have a super solid idea of a career path in mind (but I did want it to be within my major, at least), but I was hoping that graduate school would help me refine my interests, but also I was trapped in the "can't get a job without experience" loop.
I am ending my 3rd year in a chemistry PhD program. In my program, year 1 is only courses and choosing a lab, which all went well. Year 2 semester 1 is starting in the lab part time to learn the background lab skills + another two courses, which also went well. After that from semester 4 onwards, there isn't really a set path anymore.
I have not made very much research progress since semester 4 started. I have started various side projects, but they all got stuck and seem like they would go nowhere. Maybe they could lead to an individual isolated publication (hasn't happened yet, of course) but not lead to a serious actual dissertation topic. My PI is not interested in any of them and I don't get much guidance from him. I was never able to find find a real thesis topic to work on. I don't really know how to do so, and my PI only gives very vague general advice which is not practically useful. He is nice but does not seem at all interested in actually mentoring/advice/guidance/whatever. The area I am in is so niche, that there are almost no other professors to talk to at my university about it. My committee, besides my mentor, don't really know much about it in detail.
This went on for about a year: a steady decrease of hope, enthusiasm, motivation, and money (I am funded for 2 more years, but you know what PhD stipends are like...). An increase in anxiety, worry, thoughts about taking a masters and leave, and a severe and unexpected resurgence of the ADHD disorder I had as an adolescent. However it was a bit of a "boiling the frog" situation where it happened gradually. However quite recently, my PI suggested I join another group, as I'm taking too long and he doesn't have the time to give me the support that he thinks I can't do anything without. I think that's partially true, although not as much as he thinks. But he is also leaving the school, and I'm sure this is his primary motivation. So I have to change regardless.
So here comes my dilemma: change groups to a group that is totally different from my previous one, or leave with an <NAME>? I spoke to a few other professors with funding for me about their groups. I found their research interesting, but frankly I don't think any of them have research interesting enough for me to really want to spend years on it at such a high level of effort. However, when chatting with their grad students, it was suggested to me that I am too anxious and depressed which is going to make the research seem less appealing to me. Maybe that's true. I don't know. However the fact remains that all the profs I talked to expect me to be there for 3 years minimum and most of them said probably closer to 4, due to me essentially starting over (minus coursework). However they seemed optimistic about my prospects of graduating eventually... but I don't think I want to wait for "eventually".
Instead I can leave with an <NAME> after I hit a certain set-in-stone mark in december. I have already done about 80% of the work to do this (since it's part of the PhD program as well, so I've been working on it part time the whole time I've been here), so if I don't join a new group, getting it done by then will be pretty easy. My specific field of research (or rather, the one I will be leaving) is of interest to me, but it's not exactly a "this is exactly what I want to do and it's my dream!" situation. I think that a lot of the coding and data related things and skills I have gotten will make it reasonable to change to data science or programming. I've been reading up on the kind of work these careers entail, and I find it vaguely interesting, in the same way I find the other profs (the ones whose groups I may go into) vaguely interesting.
Now, that was a lot of negativity. You may be thinking "clearly he wants to leave the program, why don't you just make it official?". I sort of agree with you, but I'm very anxious about making that step. Some reasons that are stopping me from puling the trigger and announcing that I'll be leaving with an M. Phil are, from strongest to weakest:
* I do genuinely have an interest in my field. It was never a "this field is my dream!" situation, but I do enjoy casually reading about it, although all this recent anxiety has caused me to avoid it like the plague (that's probably just burnout at the moment, though). Counterpoint: Almost all the things I have enjoyed learning about in the my field are sort of at the 3rd year undergrad level. I have not much enjoyed reading about the super high level research.
* The professors whom I have met with seem more interested in their PhD students than mine was. I also chatted with their students a bit, and most of the groups say they get a good amount of guidance. Counter: all these profs are at different campuses than mine (and different from each other). I am stuck in an iron-clad apartment lease for nearly another year so I would either have to put up with adding about 40 minutes each way onto my commute (which was half an hour/40 mins to begin with), or leave my apartment while still on the lease and probably have to pay rent while not even living there until they find a replacement. I asked the housing company if they expect to find a replacement easily and they said it really varies depending on luck. I don't want to let something like an apartment situation influence a decision like this too much, but on a PhD stipend, I can't ignore this issue. Plus, searching for a new place takes time, so that'll just be another delay in the whole process. Also if I had to move it would certainly end up being a downgrade in the neighborhood situation. Counter2: The research in all the other prof's groups are within the same subfield as my first one's but basically on the other side of it, so besides general coding skills etc, there isn't much useful knowledge that would carry over.
* The weakest reason of all (or is it?): I am scared of ending up in a 9-5 wageslave situation if I leave. The only job like this I've had was a 3 months summer internship before graduating college, which I handled fine but is probably not long enough to really get that dread into your soul. It's not like I've enjoyed my time here that much, but PhD has some perks. Lots of flexibility. People don't count your sick/vacation days. I haven't had to wear a suit at work in 3 years. I'd miss some of that. Counter: one of my biggest sources of unhappiness in my PhD program was the constant pressure (a lot of it coming from myself) to be working, no matter how much you'd worked. Spend 2 hours working and then played video games all day? Spent a normal 7-8 hour day working and go home after? Spent 14 hours frantically looking at experiment results, setting up new ones, forcing yourself to read difficult literature? In all cases, most of the time when I go home, I just feel like I should be doing more, because I have no set hours. I have some friends in data science and software engineering, and they don't seem too stressed like 90% of the PhD students I know, even if they can't just take a day off because they feel like it.
Currently there are 3 other profs whose lab I have considered joining. My current plan is to spend a week in lab A, a week in lab B, etc. Soon after this period however (before fall semester starts) I need to actually make the choice, because I will be forced to de-register if I don't have a mentor (but I can still go for the masters at that point). My expectation is that after spending these weeks with these labs, I will not have any more clarify on this choice as before, but it couldn't hurt to try them out.
So overall, as you can probably tell from this great wall of china of text, I have been basically paralyzed and extremely indecisive by this choice. If you actually read all of that, I apologize for being unable to compress my thoughts, but I would really appreciate any thoughts on the matter.
much needed tl;dr version: Ending 3rd year in Chemistry PhD. Advisor leaving uni. I have no publications and little research progress. Can't decide whether to find a new group and spend a minimum of 3.25 more years in the program and finish the PhD, or take the masters and leave in 6 months to get a job.<issue_comment>username_1: It sounds to me like you are trying to get a degree while stranded on a desert island with no communication with the outside world. Not a good plan. In my view, and my personal experience, you need to find a professor with whom you are more compatible. That was my biggest block in working for my doctorate and was only overcome by changing universities. In my case it was because I wasn't brave enough to demand a different advisor from the department chair. It cost me about three years of work. The first advisor was an Assistant Professor fighting for his own tenure and so not much interested in anything else.
However, the change and the extra time were worth it. I eventually found an advisor who was a fount of ideas so it was easy to find something interesting to work on. He also gave good guidance. I went from being at the back of the pack to one of the big dogs in the department. It also helped, in this case, that the new Professor led the research seminar, rather than being a relatively junior member as with the previous advisor.
I suggest you move soon on this if you really want to stay (as it is pretty obvious you do), so that you don't reach the burn-out phase and simply accept a dreaded fate without a fight. Your advisor now might be good, but he ain't good for you. Find someone who will give you ideas, look at your progress, tell you if it is good or not and give hints about next steps. If the advisor is invested in you, then life will change.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Only you can answer this question because only you know what you want to do with your life. Things to think about:
* PhDs aren't similar to 3rd year undergraduate reading. You need to do more than read. If you find you dislike doing the research work, you'll be suffering a lot through the PhD.
* "Because I'm avoiding the job market" is one of *the* worst possible reasons to go to graduate school. You're just delaying the inevitable (you still have to get a job eventually), plus you're using the best years of your life doing something with minimal pay.
* It is possible you'll work better under a different PhD supervisor. Only you'll know the answer, since only you know what your feelings about doing research are.
* Re: accommodation - if you quit and get a job, you still have to stay in that place, no? So the commute might not be better (80 minutes of commuting each way is fantastic regardless).
* *You will have to find a job someday*. You can't avoid growing up forever. Yes, you might be afraid of becoming a 9-5 waveslave, but you (mostly) can't avoid it. Imagine you choose to stay, it works out, and you complete your PhD. Then what? You either have to leave academia and find a 9-5 job, or stay and do postdocs. Imagine you choose the latter, it works out, and you become a professor. Now you're still in a (mostly) 9-5 job, and have to wear suits too.
* The difference in the two scenarios above is what you actually do at your job, and what you've invested to get there. You might like being a professor much more than other jobs, and are willing to work through years of low pay to complete the rest of your PhD and postdocs. Are you, especially knowing how few PhD graduates become professors? Again it's up to you to figure out.
I suggest checking out the available jobs in your vicinity (use a jobs portal, and your university's career center if they have one) to see what options are available to people with an MPhil in chemistry, as well as what are available to those with a PhD in chemistry. Imagine yourself doing those jobs, see which ones you like the best, and then consider if it's worth investing the years required to get the PhD. You could even simultaneously search for jobs while continuing your PhD, and only quit if you find something you like.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/27
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<issue_start>username_0: First things first. I am not a good person - I have never pretended to be. But I tried to make my parents (more importantly my dad) proud. Today I screwed up. I sat for an exam that I don't understand the work for, despite trying my best. I got desperate (this module is a prerequisite for everything next year), and I cheated. I had all the tutorials on my phone (I study using my phone, not my laptop, I didn't plan to cheat) and I tried to scrape together some answers. I was caught. Whatever happens I will not make credits this year (if I'm not expelled - which I deserve). I am so disgusted with myself. I have already taken full responsibility for my actions. No point in lying. I have struggled with engineering ever since I started (I've already taken 3 years to do 2 years worth of work). My question is, how do I handle myself going forward? What is the point of trying anymore?<issue_comment>username_1: It seems that you already know what to do. You said it yourself, you've struggled with engineering since you started and you had to cheat on an exam that is a pre-req for your future courses. Classes aren't going to get easier and you would be wasting your time and money pursuing this degree. Is there a reason why you're still in engineering? Is there anything personal keeping you in this curriculum? Re-evaluate where you want your life to head.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: You screwed up. That doesn’t make you a bad person! You took responsibility (good!) and now you should move forward. I really like Buffy’s answer: be the person you want to be. It is never too late for that.
It could be that engineering is not your cup of tea. Then your challenge is to find out what really motivates you and change direction. It could also be that you have not learned yet how to study for exams (or how to motivate yourself to study). I would look for a counselor or (study) advisor to help you to get on track.
Just an idea: take some part-time voluntary work if you get stuck in ‘feeling a bad person’. You will see how much you will be appreciated and it puts things into perspective.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I would recommend that you take a real look at yourself and whether you want to be an engineer. This is the most important question you need to assess right now before going forward.
The first thing that your professors should have taught you about engineering is that there's a LOT of failure in it : This means, you fail all of the times you thought you understood something but didn't really get it, all of the times you thought you had a design that worked but didn't and all of the times that your designed was passed over for someone else's. What's more noticeable about engineering vs say the humanities , is that you have quantifiable ways to determine if you failed or not. In addition, with an engineering mind you will always think of ways where your design or system will fail...so this experience with failure helps you anticipate the problems might experience in the real world.
So in your case, you just got hit with one of the many types of failures that plagues many people...cheating to get ahead. Remember that with knowledge, as in design, there are no shortcuts. In addition, you honestly identified your method of studying that is really [counterproductive for the majority of students](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/may/11/students-who-use-digital-devices-in-class-perform-worse-in-exams).
Going forward, if you can accept that engineering is a difficult road because of these challenges but find it enjoyable enough that you aren't afraid of the possibility of failure then you are in the right field. The lagging behind in schoolwork isn't what is that important. Right now, and assuming you are honest in your introduction, the fact that you have in fact completed 2 years of work is nothing to scoff at and you should feel good about that work.
So, if you can answer these motivational questions and you are still interested in the discipline of engineering, your solutions to your academic issues are solvable by first having an honest dialog with your adviser and the school's honor court and explain how this was a very real moment of weakness spawned by pressures to perform and feeling inadequate in your skill level. Next, explain both to yourself (and to the honor court) that you are going to put in hard work to figure out where your weaknesses are, and you will work with tutors , the school's writing center or any other resources given by your university (to help fill in gaps in students' knowledge) to help get you feeling on par with your peers and coursework. You might even want to look at seeing if your university has assistance with identifying learning disabilities. Remember
that there's no shame in any of these things
Third, seek out more resources on how to be a good student and learn about [the lower limit law](https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn) of [10,000 hours](https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10000-hour-rule-wrong-really-master-skill/) for the amount of time it takes to master a subject. Lastly, have a "real" talk with your parents and explain that you are eager to make this change but that your completion of the degree might take longer than you both had anticipated.
There's no shame in taking more time as everyone has completely different backgrounds when it comes to starting an engineering degree. The key aspect to being a good engineer is the same principle that helps you get the engineering degree : work hard at understanding the system and don't be afraid to tinker , play , fail and repeat until you finally succeed.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Since this just happened today, my first piece of advice is not to make any big decisions while you are emotional. You are obviously feeling very down about yourself, and yes, you have done a bad thing. Take some time to remove yourself from the situation and try to relax. Talk to your parents and let time pass; have a cry if you need to. Do not feel compelled to take any drastic actions at the moment, and let the process play out however it will play out. Part of that process is going to be a punishment for your actions in your exam.
At some point when you are over the initial shock of this situation, you are going to have to make some practical decisions about your future, and also some character decisions about the kind of person you want to be, and in particular, how you will respond when you encounter adversity. You will need to decide if engineering is a suitable program for you, or whether you would be better at another field. You will also need to decide whether you are going to *allow yourself to fail at things*, or whether that prospect is so terrifying that you will seek shortcuts and deceptions to give the appearance of success.
It is evident from your post that you are young, so you have plenty of time to forge the kind of character you can be proud of, and learn enough to attain competence in some career field. Any resolution you make on the day of being caught for misbehaviour is going to look self-serving, so the real test is going to be whether you can establish some sense of good character for yourself that will give you the strength to act honestly the next time you encounter a difficult situation.
In answer to your title question: *you do not need to learn to live with being a dishonest cheat*. Rather, you can learn to craft your own character so that you are no longer dishonest, and no longer cheat. Once you make these decisions for yourself, and practice them over time, and automate honesty and good character, you will instead learn to live with being an honest person who does not cheat; and that is much more satisfying. I'll leave you with this [pearl of wisdom](http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/character.html) from a philosopher who wrote about this kind of thing:
>
> Just as man’s physical survival depends on his own effort, so does his psychological survival. Man faces two corollary, interdependent fields of action in which a constant exercise of choice and a constant creative process are demanded of him: the world around him and his own soul (by “soul,” I mean his consciousness). Just as he has to produce the material values he needs to sustain his life, so he has to acquire the values of character that enable him to sustain it and that make his life worth living. He is born without the knowledge of either. He has to discover both—and translate them into reality—and survive by shaping the world and himself in the image of his values.
>
>
> --- <NAME> (1969) *The Romantic Manifesto*, p. 169.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: The top ranked answer to this question is a good one- you already know what to do, etc- but I wanted to add a little more nuance around some language in the question: "I am not a good person..." and "how do I handle myself going forward? What is the point of *even trying* any more?"
I hear a very important issue in that language that I don't see being addressed in either the top answer or the other answers. This is the decision about *even trying*.
In school, one gets points for *even trying.* School is compulsory, curriculum is fixed, students travel in largely uniform cohorts. Even seemingly life-impacting decisions around courses of study in college are still ultimately just very narrow gradations in a very limited landscape.
Life is BIG. Much bigger than school. Life is LONG (one hopes). Life is made up of many PLACES. Your life is uniquely yours and your job in life is to find your PLACE, to tell your story, to find the authentic you.
In life, one gets no points for *even trying.* *Even trying* is lying to oneself. And the most important thing to find in life is how to not lie to oneself. It is harder than it seems.
The lies to oneself lead to lies outside, to others.
The education system- due to no fault of anyone, just the nature of any fixed system applied to a population- teaches some people that the only choice they have is to *even try*. That's a lie.
Do not blame yourself for *even trying*. It is important to you to earn the respect and love and pride of the people you love. That's natural.
But my advice is- set yourself a goal to listen to that voice inside that doesn't want to *even try* anymore. Listen to it and cultivate it, and learn how to share it with others, when the time is right. Work to understand why you have felt you had to choose to *even try* rather than listen to that voice. Understand what about your circumstances, yourself, the people you love, has led you to this PLACE of *even trying*.
Try to work to find a PLACE where you can still have the people and things you love, and you have to work hard, and probably sacrifice, perhaps a great deal, but where you don't have to *even try* any more. The authenticity is worth everything.
So you do know what to do. You are on the path. Find and listen to that voice.
PS- it is also a lie to say "I am not a good person." Many people say this for the same reasons they *even try.* Of course we are all terrible people, awful failures, too often much less than our best selves. Saying "I am not a good person" is a way of finding humility, which is better than cultivating hubris. But there is a way in which it is also a lie.
Try to find a way to be more gentle with yourself- you can be, you are, a good person, who does not have to *even try*. There is a PLACE where you can find and live your truth without having to *even try*.
Good luck to you.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: Nine years ago, I graduated with an undergrad degree in chemical engineering. I am of average intelligence, and to pass I studied my dick loose - 6 to 8 hours a day, easily 5 days a week.
Due to time being a limited resource, I didn't work through college, using student loans to pay my way. The loans racked up, along with their interest.
I graduated a month after the highest unemployment due to the recession. Although I spent months before graduating looking for a job, I didn't find one. And the thought of lenders hounding me for payment, or my parents having to make the payments with their meager income stressed me out.
I tried hard to land a decent paying gig. Eventually, I took a not-great paying job at a university doing neuroscience research. I still work here, granted making more money (though I live in my friend's garage due to living in an expensive city).
(Bear with me)
Neuroscience, while fascinating, is not my passion. Outer space is - and I decided to get a masters in electrical engineering (while working at the university) to help move in that direction. Once again, not the smartest man - it just took a lot of time. Five years working full time and going to school.
I finished and moved to another city. I spent the better part of a year looking for a job in aerospace (and after a while I tried any field). Never found one. Helped my brother through one trip to rock-bottom due to alcoholism (which is quite a ride).
I couldn't find a job in the new city, money dried up, got desperate - went back to neuroscience, sadly. Even worse, I ended up doing the kind of research that I found morally objectionable. Left that job for a year contract doing neuroscience I can stomach.
Now, I intend to leave a career in "engineering" behind. Engineering had never panned out for me. I dunno why. But, honestly, I had to go through all that I did - to learn it wasn't the life for me (or I wasn't the life for it).
The moral of the story is, you'll experience things in life that take you from one point to the next. Realize that you may need to be here. And you may need to learn the lessons that come your way.
Lastly, sometimes the hard way is the only way to learn a lesson.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/27
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<issue_start>username_0: A fellow student and I are part of the same graduate student research group (in applied mathematics), under the same PhD supervisor. The (relatively new) student came to the group with an idea for a thesis, and we helped him come up with a different research idea that more suits our research interests, but still ties to his original goal.
The current formulation of his research problem is mostly due to input from me and our mutual supervisor. As in the model is based on our suggestions across multiple meetings.
Being interested in this student's research problem as well (or at least my formulation of it), some months ago I offered that we collaborate on it. Not much came out of it, mostly, I think, because this student is still very inexperienced, and his mathematical maturity is not so high.
Some time ago I came up with a different partial solution for the aforementioned research problem. As part of our (failed) collaboration I asked him several times to update his simulations to consider this solution, but he seemed to be against the idea, believing that the original formulation is better. Our meetings mostly consisted of arguing about which model is better and me trying to teach him some mathematical concepts he can use to analyze his work.
A few days ago I have (independently of the student or our supervisor) come up with a solution which is better, and completely different from what the student has been trying to analyze. The solution invalidates a lot of the student's work up until now (he has been working on this problem for a few months), since it is simpler and more effective.
I want to write up this solution in a paper and publish it. I already have basically all of the results written down (except one lower bound which I am still working on), and a nearly complete first draft.
Here's the problem. Do I include this student as a co-author? I am conflicted, because this paper really is my own original work. However, it is based on the research problem which our group "handed over" to this student. I do not wish to put him in the unfortunate situation of having months' worth of work invalidated, and everyone in our group views the problem I have solved as "his" problem. However, it is also true that this paper consists entirely of my own research.
Ideally in this case I would approach the student and ask him to collaborate with me on the paper, as in, refine some of the results, or simplify some of the proofs. However, based on many conversations with him, I believe that the student is too inexperienced to do this, and is not familiar with the main mathematical tools I have used to prove the paper's result.
How should I proceed?
Some more details: I should mention that I have no personal qualms about sharing authorship. I am mostly worried about two things:
1. whether it is the most ethical thing to do;
2. I feel that if I include him as a co-author, he will want to make a contribution to the paper. But I want to have complete creative control on the paper, and feel that sharing creative control with him is going to slow me down.<issue_comment>username_1: Welcome to the wonderful world of academia! I appreciate your consideration of your fellow Ph.D. student. I would suggest to invite the student to do some work on the paper, and then have him as second author. Perhaps the student can work on that lower bound? Or write down why the other approach does not work? Or more simulations? You can probably come up with something. If he refuses, you can publish on your own. Either way, if the results are good you get a first author paper, and the other student gets something for his work.
I would run this by your advisor, he might have further advice.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You are, of course, entitled to publish your own work. You need to cite others who gave you assistance, including members of your research group. Assuming you have stated the issue fairly there should be no controversy ethically, though your advisor should be consulted.
However, if this solution came together quite quickly with only a bit of work and a little consultation, it is unlikely that the problem itself has sufficient merit to ground a dissertation. That is to say that even if your colleague had solved it himself it would not be enough for the degree and more would have to be done. At best, it would represent an intermediate result.
Problems are like that. It is a Three Bears issue. Some problems are too hard (Papa Bear) and no one seems to make progress on them. Others are too easy (Mama Bear) and results flow like water. But the good dissertation problems are "just right" (Baby Bear). These take serious work and lead to deep insights. It may be that the problem at hand is just one of the second kind. In my own doctoral studies (mathematics), I worked on problems of each kind. It was fun to get a theorem solved every day (Mama Bear) but not very satisfying at the end. Like potato chips.
You having solved it, however, may give your colleague a better basis for finding the Baby Bear problem he needs to succeed. Understanding your solution may help him advance. It may be an important part of his own development.
It is your advisor who has the responsibility to guide the other student. Working collaboratively on the paper with the other student would be good, and generous, but not, I think, ethically required. But you want to have peace in your research group, so be guided by (private) advice from your advisor.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: You should share authorship. Since you write that the group views the problem as 'his', if you solve it and publish on your own that will reflect poorly on you. As a general rule of workplaces, people do not appreciate that you make them redundant. The ethics of a situtation matters less than perceptions and feelings. Making people dislike you is net loss even if it could be argued to have been 'the right to thing to do'. The second point you make is less important.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: There is a larger issue at hand that you seem to be missing.
Yes, I do believe that you can publish your own work, and probably independently if neither your advisor nor your colleague helped. And I understand that there are some field-dependent conventions in mathematics that would be best to discuss with your advisor.
*That being said*, I believe that, being a senior and more experienced student, you should not have allowed the situation to have reached this point. That is to say you should not have scooped your colleague in the first place. You offered your help to *collaborate* with your colleague and ended up quite literally stealing his project and are now thinking about publishing it because he was not able to work as fast or as efficiently as you (because he is inexperienced, as you said). This is something that should have been discussed with your advisor at a much earlier stage.
You should understand that this will probably not be the last time that you can benefit from collaboration, and you don't want to be known as the person who steals other people's projects. Healthy collaboration is an intrinsic part of academia (and society, in general). You are expected to be trusted to review other people's papers without scooping them, and in the future you will likely advise inexperienced students in their own projects, many of which have been suggested by you, and that you could solve with much less effort. More importantly, you will be partly responsible their success.
Speaking from your advisor's standpoint, I would consider your action harmful to the group's health. While I generally applaud collaboration between students, in my group, projects and milestones are set with the understanding that students can benefit from them, and that they can help them progress in their more ambitious goals (i.e., a dissertation). This is particularly important for inexperienced students. Should there be a major change of directions (such as a student unable to make progress and someone else benefiting from it), I would like it to be run through me (or other senior member of the lab) first so that it can be arranged for nobody to be in a losing situation. In your case, your colleague is in a losing situation, his name going in the paper or not.
The moment you noticed a solution to the problem, you should have informed your colleague (and possibly your advisor) and both of you should have worked on it, *together*.
Upvotes: 8 <issue_comment>username_5: I think he should be a coauthor, even if he did a small fraction of the work. Clearly the paper wouldn't exist without his contribution.
I recall an anecdote told by mathematician <NAME> (it may be in his autobiography). When an editor asked him how much of a joint paper was his, how much the coauthor's he refused to say. He would not distribute credit for joint work.
In my own bibliography there are joint papers in which I have done (almost all)/(almost none) of the work. In mathematics the convention is to alphabetize authors, so there is no first author.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: My contribution to my first paper (which happened to be in applied mathematics) was a 15 minute hallway conversation with the other author. He put me down as a co-author, had me read drafts. I asked him why he put me in. "No one gets penalized for having collaborators, and I found our conversation enormously helpful." I've respected that guy ever since.
Don't sweat it, add him as a co-author, and move on. You received tremendous help from him, reward him with coauthorship. Writing the paper as a solo author, makes you looks selfish and greedy in this situation, for no real gain.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_7: Unless it is a groundbreaking idea (which I doubt from what you said), I would say to share the authorship and move on, even if it means to be second author. Think of yourself after ten years: would this paper make a difference on your resume? If you really want to publish it with sole authorship, you might consider giving your colleague a chance to solve it himself/herself, and publish it only after your colleague gave up on it and moved on to another problem. There are a lot of good research problems, you would not want to make yourself disliked for something unworthy.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: You may not like this but I would like to point something out to you. The student you "helped" is entitled to be an author on the paper, I am not sure if you have noticed that if it was not for their approach to the problem then you would have not made yours. It also appears that they introduced you to the problem.
If I was you I would be very careful and go and talk to someone trustworthy such as your PhD supervisor. If we assume they are not a total unethical monster then they will be troubled by the whole thing. They will want to find a solution which is best for everyone.
One option would be to write a paper in which both students present their proofs, you could write the paper (together with your PhD supervisor) in which you introduce the problem and then show the two different approaches to the problem. I am assuming that both of your solutions are correct.
You should keep in mind that sometimes the solution which is the nicest for a maths person is not a good solution when it comes to trying to write a spreadsheet. I will give you an example, if you consider a radioactive decay chain where you start with A which then decays into B, then C, then D, then E then F etc etc.
Then a mathematically nice way to deal with it is the Bateman equations, but if you read the thesis of Logan Harr (<http://dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a469273.pdf>) you will find that the lovely looking Bateman equations are not so useful afterall under some conditions. I love the Bateman equations but I know that excel and other maths software can not use them sometimes to solve some radioactive decay problems.
I would also like to suggest to you that you think long and hard about what sort of person you want to be known as. The fact you are already thinking about this problem and asking for advice is a good sign. What you did in scooping the other student is something which I think is harmful to the wellbeing of the group as a whole. Now you need to think "what is best for me". Sometimes "what is best for me" is not stamping on other people or stepping over their bodies in the rush to the glittering prize.
Think for a moment, what is good for me is a good workplace with good relationships with the other PhD students.
If you rip off student X, they will tell the others. You will never be trusted again for a long time.
The other student might lodge some complaint against you with the university (possible, I have seen it happen once in my life).
Not only the student you wronged but the others may refuse to cooperate with you.
Your PhD supervisor's view of you may decline, even if they never say anything in the back of their minds they will know what you did. This could affect the reference they write for you in some adverse way.
Outsiders from the group may hear about the story over either beer, coffee or some other liquid they might start to regard you as a bad person.
My advice is go and have a friendly talk to the other student, see if you can work out a solution to the problem which you are both happy with. Do not for goodness sake try to bully or browbeat the other person into submission.
I would also advise you that your opening offer in a negotiation may have a lasting effect on the discussion and your future relationship with a person. One reasonable and good way of starting it is do the following.
Summarise the state that the two of you are in and how things are. Then ask the other person what they want. Asking someone what they want is a very useful thing to do which can limit the size of the problem.
You might want to chat with a postdoc about the problem or your supervisor before having that chat. If the two of you can not settle the matter between you, then go and see your PhD supervisor. The chances are they will be more happy if the students settle their differences in a reasonable way rather than needing to deal with the two of you as if they are dealing with angry children who can not get on with each other. The PhD supervisor is normally a busy person who has lots of things to do which you do not know about and you should be glad that you are not troubled by. I would say that the best days of my life at university were as a PhD student, I sadly did not understand that at the time. I look back at my PhD student days and wish that I had made better use of them.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: Everyone here seems to assume that sharing authorship with the other student would be good for him, but I beg to differ. In some fields one cannot afford to be an author of a paper, and be unable to explain it or give a talk on the subject. For example, if the other student went to a conference and a senior colleague asked him about the paper, he could ruin his reputation and chances of future employment. Or if the main author made mistakes or even commited misconduct (plagiarism, fake results, etc), the other student could be held responsible as an author.
There are good reasons for the rule that only people who make substantial contributions can be authors. If I were the other student, I would be reluctant to accept authorship in this case.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: There is a saying in German which roughly translates to “fruit of the forbidden tree.“
I think this applies here. You're making the argument that you should be allowed to independently publish independent results. And you're right.
But ... had you asked here if you should work an a problem given to a student with the possibility of breaching their trust by invalidating their work, what do you think the answer would have been?
Giving a problem to a student means accepting that they'll work on it differently, slower. That's the compromise you make. You are essentially proposing to take the problem back and provide a solution yourself (which you happen to already have).
That's a severe breach of the mentor-student trust. The student would/should be rightfully outraged.
It might not feel like stealing their work, because the results are independent, but you are. You are stealing their potential work by using your position of power (experience, mentorship).
Don't do this. Do not use the fruit you obtained by cheating someone else.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_11: I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest something different than the other answers: I suggest that you bury this paper. Set it aside, don't submit it, don't mention it again to your advisor or fellow student.
This was supposed to be his research project. If he didn't feel comfortable collaborating on it with you in the way that you wanted, you should have backed off. Now that you have invested in this work you have quite a dilemma: if you publish it, this student now has to find a new research project. Depending on how much he has invested in it, his response could range from being seriously irritated to never wanting to speak to you again. And honestly, you can expect the same range of possible responses from your advisor.
By submitting this, you will get a publication in exchange for burning a lot of bridges and sacrificing a lot of goodwill from people you need in order to succeed in academia. Put the paper aside. If the student changes problems then you can consider publishing.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: In Germany there exists the title *Priv-Doz* before the name of some professors. What does it mean? Do these professors allow to hire postdoctoral applicants?<issue_comment>username_1: Formally it is a title given to a university teacher, translation: private lecturer. It means you are able to teach, but not yet a professor.
In practice it is the required step-up from the PhD degree, to get a permanent position.
Source: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatdozent>
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: A *Privatdozent* (PD) is a university scholar who has a *Habilitation* and is thefore allowed to supervise PhD students, but is not (yet) a professor. They may hire postdocs if they can obtain funding. Unlike professors, their position usually doesn't come with funding for PhD students or postdocs. In fact, the title PD ist just that - a title. It doesn't indicate anything about the position that the PD may or may not have, except that they don't have the position of a professor.
In other words, in Germany and Austria a PhD thesis makes you a doctor, and a subsequent *Habilitation* makes you a PD. Traditionally, you need a *Habilitation* to be hired as professor.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: Today after a paper of mine got accepted I received this from the publisher (Elsevier):
>
> We have received the above article for publication, unfortunately
> figures x1, x2 and x3 are of low resolution and of insufficient quality
> to reproduce well.
>
>
> The minimum resolution requirements are 1200 dpi for black and white
> figures and 300 dpi for colour figures. If you are converting your
> figures to TIFF files, please ensure that the resolution is correct
> before scanning them.
>
>
>
The figures are digital 512×512 gray-scale images in the PNG format. The source of the images is not me. I had converted them to EPS files using Inkscape. The source of some of the images is: <https://github.com/cszn/DnCNN/tree/master/testsets/Set12>.
How do I resolve the issue? Should I just save the same images using 1200 DPI in EPS format and send it to the publisher?<issue_comment>username_1: You can certainly export at 1200 dpi, but the image will become smaller. I notice that these are photographs, where some important details may be small in size. You will need to take a call if the size corresponding to 1200 dpi is large enough for your purpose.
If not, pick an intermediate dpi that is a suitable trade-off, and send that with a note to publisher.
A deeper issue is converting between a rasterised format and a vector format; both are different types and should be used appropriately. I suggest you ask the technical aspects of this question at [Graphical Design SE](https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions), it may help avoid such problems in the future.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: From a technical standpoint it makes no sense. The publisher could do a better job in resampling the image because they know in detail the technical capabilities of their printing machines (if it is a printed journal) and the processing pipeline.
But by enforing a higher resolution, the risk of misprints is given back to the author so you can not complain if something is not visible.
Therefore: Just resample it...
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: The comment you received is aimed at obtaining images of higher quality for publication.
**Processing the files you sent them will not solve this issue.**
If it did, the typesetters would already have done this themselves – this is what “insufficient quality to reproduce well” hints at.
In your specific case, the images seem to be digitalisations of historic photographs.
Thus, the only way to improve the quality is to obtain higher-resolution digitalisations of these photographs.
If you cannot do this, write exactly this to the publisher; they are most likely going to accept this.
Also note that if those images are test cases for some image-processing algorithm or similar, they should be printed exactly as they are, and this is what you should write the publisher.
The entire remark about the resolution probably doesn’t apply to you but was made for illustrations, plots, and similar.
These are almost always best provided in a vector format (which has infinite resolution, if you so wish) and even if using a pixel format, they can be produced at arbitrary resolution.
The resolution requirements are aimed at those researchers who insist on working with pixels in this case.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: In my department, students can be paid quite differently, and accumulate multiple fellowships and assistantships. Departmental fellowships are provided upon acceptance to some top applicants. Students can also be hired as RAs by interested faculty members. RA stipends are also not fixed by the department, and vary quite widely depending on the advisor and on the funding body. On top of departmental fellowships and RA, some students also accumulate external fellowships that they earned independently.
One direct consequence of this approach is that some students are paid market-competitive salaries, whereas many other students end up not being funded at all (especially Master students).
On one hand, faculty who can afford to pay large stipends usually bring a *lot* of money to the department, can attract a large pool of very qualified students, and are very productive.
Most departments, on the other hand, have much more restrictive policies (some universities even set institute-wide stipend rates), and seem to be doing well.
I was recently on a committee that is trying to rethink these policies, disallowing the possibility of a combining an assistantship/external fellowships and a departmental fellowship, which will enable us to fund more students. However, one of our main concerns is that future top students may be more inclined to attend elsewhere (we lose a lot of excellent students to top schools abroad). Faculty who can pay better rates are also not satisfied with a possible change in policy. (My group is one of those that can pay competitive rates, but is willing to discuss.)
My question is: what are some issues to consider when transitioning from our more liberal student funding policy, to a more "egalitarian" policy? Anecdotal evidence is also welcome.<issue_comment>username_1: The more competitive and prestigious the school, the easier it is to be egalitarian, because you can always get students to enroll there. When you have trouble attracting students, incentives that may lead to an unequal playing field may be needed to get better students.
For instance, when I was applying, there was about a 50% spread between my lowest and highest offers. However, some of this was handled not by awarding an RA on top of an external fellowship but a “merit prize” of several thousand dollars as a reward for bringing in the fellowship. That might be a way to offer something substantial for people who have their own money without making things too far out of balance.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Some observations from a single case study from a school that had a fairly "unegalitarian" approach to grad student pay (I was there as a PhD student, and I definitely was on the upper end of pay, so take this with a grain of salt):
* Forcing equal pay is great, if the pay is still reasonable to good for everybody. If you end up giving everybody so little that they won't be able to really live from their salary or stipend you are not really improving the situation. Be especially careful to look at *current* living costs in your city, not what your grad student salary or stipend was many, many years ago. Also take into account that not all students are independently wealthy, and some students may have dependents (spouse, children, etc.) that count on them.
* Consider that oftentimes in practice not all PhD students do the same job. In my school, people who made more money often carried a huge fraction of the teaching load or were involved in the most annoying, side-tracking projects (or both). If you want to give everybody the same pay you need to make very sure that they end up doing the same amount of "not-my-core-research" side tasks. This is very difficult, but not impossible, to juggle.
* You mention being able to hire more students. This honestly does not sound like your goal is to increase fairness, but rather to hire more students with the same money. Be aware that the end result may be that you have more students who are, in total, less happy than before (and potentially less qualified, see below). I honestly suggest not doing that, but looking into ways to distribute the existing money to the existing students more fairly.
* Having outs to pay individual applicants more increases your chances of actually hiring outstanding individuals. Again, not all students are the same. A motivated fresh graduate can maybe be attracted with a small standard stipend, but if you occasionally want to attract people with industry experience (as I like to do in my field of research) you will almost certainly need to meet somewhere in the middle between "grad student stipend" and "industry salary".
* Forcing equal pay may sometimes lead you into problems when you want to fill special roles in a lab. For instance, we sometimes needed to hire software developers for projects. There was no real official job role, so they were officially "research assistants", which put them on the exact same scale as PhD students. However, a PhD student research assistant is implicitly paid with the promise of getting a PhD - a developer in a project not so much. If you can't make up for this with higher pay, you will end up in troubles.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I am beginning to plan for graduate school. I will be applying to many Ph.D programs and a few Masters programs as a backup plan (all pure mathematics).
I am starting to think about how to write my personal statement. I am seeking advice regarding the *process of writing a personal statement* . I am mostly curious about what people usually talk about in these things. I obviously want to convey my interest and potential in mathematics research. But my problem is: I do not have the mathematical background to have an idea what I want to specialize in. I know that this hurts my chances at being competitive. My undergraduate degree has simply not exposed me to enough mathematics.
I appreciate any advice - relevant to my concerns or just advice in general.
Thank you.<issue_comment>username_1: Honestly, it seems like you are worrying more than you should about not having chosen a specialization. I wouldn't worry about that: that's not something which is expected of students finishing a BA in the US. Even if you think you have, changing your mind about it is something which is normal and expected. So, it's very reasonable to worry about having less background than other students, but more in the context of general preparedness, rather than your personal statement.
So what should you write in your personal statement? Generally it's for things that the person considering your application would like to know, but which aren't clear from the other parts of your application. Things like: explaining about something unusual in your career path, like taking time off after finishing your degree; what your ultimate career plans are; how you became interested in mathematics; how your undergraduate research projects went and what you did in them; any work you did outside of courses (which is relevant to math! No one cares about your great success in the marching band). I have to admit, generally these personal statements contain no useful information, and a lot more attention is paid to transcripts and letters. I generally only read them carefully if there's something I'm confused about with the application they should explain.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I'll tell you how my experience went, maybe you'll have some ideas. I'm from Brazil, got a master's degree here, and I'm starting my PhD in the US next month (in a big state university, with a nice scholarship, in my opinion).
From what I saw, it is more about what you have accomplished so far, then what you want to specialize in, since there are programs on which you don't even choose an advisor until the end of your first year. This means you will have the time to get to know people and maybe change your mind along the way. Although, it can't hurt to look up the CVs and publications of professors you might want to work with, before choosing the universities to apply.
Anyway, I structured my SOP in four parts:
* first: I started briefly telling my life history and how did I end up in mathematics. For example, during high school I took a two years technician course in Edifications/Civil Engineering, ended up screwing the entrance exams in the good universities here (because I focused only on the final project, which took 6 months), and was only accepted in a Licenciate course in mathematics (focused *only* in teaching). I ended up disliking working in Engineering, and disliking that math course. I was 18 at the time (I'm 24 now), and I wasn't aware that pure mathematics courses even existed (silly me, right?). But when I found out? Oh boy!
* second: now I'm pursuing my B.Sc. degree. I had a fat scholarship, and I did a very long undergraduate thesis. My supervisor (which became my master's advisor later) suggested that we should revise it all, rewrite some things, add a topic or two, and throw in some exercises. Bottom line? I didn't even start my PhD, and our 560 pages book on introductory Lorentz Geometry (curves and surfaces) was accepted this month for publication with the Brazillian Mathematical Society. Go me! I went and finished my master's thesis in the same time we were finishing the book, ok.
* third: if things were going so well, why did I want to leave? Basically, because the political and economical situation here in Brazil is crap (it definitely went downhill after the coup). I talked a bit about the budget cuts in science and education, and how I'd probably have to give up on mathematics if I stayed here.
* fourth: if I decided to try going to the US, why did I choose to apply to *this* particular university? I concluded the essay with a personalized paragraph for each university.
Of course, what worked for me might not work for you, YMMV. You also have to consider other things in your application. I had a bad result in the GRE, but I got nice letters of recomendation (which were taken in consideration, despite my references not being world-class researchers). Also, even if the book (my main accomplishment so far) looks like a nuke, I only got accepted in one of the five universities I applied to.
I think that what you should take from my answer is the way that each part of the essay is connected with the previous one. That makes the text very fluid and the reading easier. I hope this is helpful and I wish you the best of luck.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: The SciPost seems to be a new publishing platform with rather unusual peer review procedure -- fully open. It means that names of authors/editors/referees are known to the public at any stage. My colleagues expressed an opinion that it cannot be productive. Therefore my question: can SciPost be considered a reliable and serious publisher competing with journals beyond the paywall?<issue_comment>username_1: Only time will tell. It seems like an initiative supported by serious partners. In order for it to become successful, it will need a critical mass of interesting articles, and avoid serous mishaps. Whether that will happen is hard to predict.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In SciPost, the texts of the reviews are publicly available, but the reviewers can stay anonymous, and most of them do, as far as I can tell.
With 153 published articles so far, including by well-known authors such as Cardy, Verlinde, Rychkov, Seiberg, etc, it is clear that the journal has a good reputation among researchers. The challenge is now to become financially sustainable, while remaining free to authors and readers.
Another journal that practices a form of open peer review is [PeerJ](https://peerj.com/).
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently working in the sciences (broadly speaking, the STEM field) in the United States as a researcher.
I have been following quite closely to the social-political trend of the US for the past few years, and I am quite troubled at the direction that the administration, as well as a (seemingly) majority of the society, is taking us. I am troubled at the US administration's policy of travel ban, which has affected dozens of my actual colleagues. I am resentful of the lack of empathy of many Americans when it comes to police abuse and political corruption. Overall, I am not optimistic about the increasingly intolerant atmosphere against many racial minorities in the country. They are my colleagues, mentors, friends, family, and peers.
At the same time, I am also troubled by the use of technology to limit people's privacy and to influence people's opinion for the worse. A recent presentation at my University was on the topic of accelerating content ranking algorithms that can be used to influence social networks. I have read about how this automated algorithms can be used to isolate people into an echo chamber and cause extremist views. The presenter had no qualm about the ethical implications of these engineering decisions.
While there is a strong tendency in the STEM fields to ignore the social and the political, perhaps out of fear that it will distract from our work, I know that these things will not be ignoring us. I have read about the consequence of the rise of fascism in Germany, and its steep cost to academic research. I have read many stories of famed researchers becoming refugees, or being sent to concentration camps, or even committing suicide. I fear that this future may seem as far off from us now as it was to the researchers in the early 20th century.
How can I practically contribute to social justice (and human rights in general) while working in the sciences? Scientific research is very meaningful, but it requires a lot of focus and concentration. I understand that a scientific training has potentially stripped me of being educated on many social issues, and I can make up for it by reading about them. However, it there anything more I can do beyond this? Can I use my skills as a scientist to meaningfully contribute to research that can have a meaningful impact on social justice? Has anyone else found a coping mechanism?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Can I use my skills as a scientist to meaningfully contribute to research that can have a meaningful impact on social justice?
>
>
>
Yes, you can.
In the USA, there is an entire union dedicated to this: the [*Union of Concerned Scientists*](https://www.ucsusa.org/).
Science is essential for the progress of humanity, and social justice is no exception.
* The environmental sciences (including, but not limited to, climate science) have informed what is now a huge worldwide and successful green movement. Where there is pollution or climate change, the poor are hit hardest, as they have least access to adaptive measures. Therefore, action on environmental issues is closely linked to social justice.
* Engineers develop low-cost energy solutions that help bring electricity and education to rural areas of poor countries that previously had no such access. Or cheap ways to filter drinking water.
* Educate members of activist networks. Many networks of progressive action are lacking in access to science or engineering expertise. If your knowledge matters to society, it matters to them. Reach out to those groups. They will welcome you!
As an arbitrary starting point, you could consider the [Craigslist Charitable list](https://www.craigslist.org/about/charitable). Are you a satellite engineer? The [space4peace](http://space4peace.org/) group will welcome you (they will, too, if you are not). Do you work in agricultural or plant sciences? Surely some of the farm-related groups would love for you to come by. Are you a nuclear (weapons) engineer? Work on research on how to safely dismantle nuclear weapons. Do you work in software engineering? There's plenty of charitable programming to do, or to educate members of all kinds of groups how they can protect themselves from being spied upon. Et cetera! If you're into it, there's more direct action alternatives as well; a pipeline blockade may have get more attention if it includes a distinguished professor than if it consists entirely of "college dropouts".
You *can* combine this with an academic career (although depending on where you are and what you do, you may want to limit actions to stay out of jail). Researchers at all levels from PhD students to professors are active in those groups. It will be hard work, but it may well be that the volunteer time you spend with grassroots will motivate you, make your life more fulfilling, and ultimately even make your regular research work more productive.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: In my opinion, the most reliable way to enact social justice as a scientist is through volunteering at your local school districts. The chance of becoming entangled in the political workings of policy while trying to maintain a strong research agenda are minimal. But what you can do is go to your local school district, register to volunteer, submit a background check, and volunteer to coach/assistant coach the local science olympiad, math olympiad, science fair, etc. Even volunteering to read for an hour a week or coming to a classroom to talk about what you do as a scientist can have an influence in a child's life. Or, for example, presenting your research in a way children can understand. You will make science "real" to those children.
Most university towns are large enough to have a title 1 school in the area. This is the school where there will likely be children who need people willing to give of their time.
A second route is to secure a grant to gain funding for a more large scale project.The US house science committee has directed the NIH to set aside grant funding for science education initiatives. Though, this will entail a considerably larger amount of commitment to manage a study/grant.
In short, look locally. It might not be as flashy as other means of social justice, but it will be meaningful. I can tell you that, personally, I find this approach to be exceptionally rewarding and meaningful.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: There are a number of fields that do this - for example, taking a social justice approach to something like social or environmental epidemiology would not be surprising in the slightest, and really wouldn't require stepping outside your normal research as much as it would be framing it in a particular way.
There's also groups you could volunteer for, either locally or nationally.
Finally, there's non-profits that actively combine these two. The first one that comes to mind is the [Human Rights Data Analysis Group](https://hrdag.org) which does some really cool work around data science for social causes.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am doing my PhD in a high prestige UK university.
I am finishing my second year and I have funding for three years in total.
I have already two papers finished (pending to be published) and working on two more.
I like research and I like being pushed to achieve the best I can. What I don't like however is introducing unnecessary stress into my daily life. With this I mean the following:
I think that it is totally acceptable and expected of me to work overtime when nearing a deadline. Usually the month before a deadline I work 12 hours per day, 6-7 days a week. This is totally fine and to some extent I enjoy it.
My supervisor is a brilliant researcher. Young and successful in his field with many publications in high prestige venues. However, he's also the classic stereotype of the super-workaholic academic who works 7 days a week, from early in the morning until late at night.
It's common for him to send messages or emails at 23.00 or during weekends asking for something. This could range from asking to complete a certain task or a simple "What is the status of X?".
I find this **exhausting**. To work hard during the week I need to have a "safe space" where I know that I can relax without worrying about work. Otherwise I feel demotivated to work hard. Due to this behavior I have anxiety issues. Recently, after a very stressful period mostly due to work, my hair started falling. This was identified by my GP as "Telogen effluvium". It can happen after very stressful periods. Thankfully it stopped but it's a clear sign that I've been stressing too much.
Ignoring my emails and messages is not an option for me. The reason is that I know that he genuinely cares about my PhD and many times his messages may be about the changes he has done on **my** paper. Ignoring this makes me feel ungrateful.
My most important problem is that, looking back, 70% of the stress introduced by supervisor could have been totally avoided if he could relax a bit. He's micromanaging me and wants to know everything. And many times we could have taken a month more on a project instead of rushing things.
Moreover, because he's always pressuring me to do as many things as possible as fast as possible, I feel that I cannot do any quality work. I prefer quality for quantity. He's the opposite.
I have tried to convey my feelings to him multiple times already. He does not seem to get it. Or he may back off for 2-3 weeks and then resumes his previous behavior. In a recent confrontation I mentioned the words "unnecessary stress" and he didn't take it very well.
Many colleagues have told me that I should be thankful because he's actively working on my PhD while other supervisors are totally absent. I find this unfair. None of the two should be OK.
Overall I feel burned-out and demotivated. This saddens me because I really like my PhD and research in general.
However, I don't think I can take this for one more year.
**Question:** How to deal with a workaholic supervisor who is introducing unnecessary stress into my daily life?
p.s. It's important to mention that my supervisor probably suffers from anxiety as well. This is somewhat known by his PhD students and he has implied it one or two times.<issue_comment>username_1: You will have to differentiate between the stress put on you by your supervisor and the stress you are accepting. E.g. even noticing that you received an e-mail around midnight is unnecessary. Just switch off your phone (seriously!) or stop message transmission during sleep times. If you feel better, you can offer an "emergency channel" for important tasks (e.g. allow for chat messages in urgent cases), so you can rest assured that the world will still be rotating after you woke up ;-).
It is part of a PhD process o learn about your own working style and preferences, and how to interact with other people who are not doing it the same way you prefer things to be done. I assume your mindset is close to the one of your supervisor, so you don't want to disappoint him, but you still have to draw your borderlines. And you can only draw your borderlines, you can not change your supervisor.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: This answer will be orthogonal to the question and might help or not.
In some ways you have an ideal situation with an advisor invested in you, your work, and your future. He also seems to trust you greatly. Be glad of that. Contrast that with the situation of many others asking questions here who have advisors too busy or disinterested to help them at all.
But stress can kill you.
While this will take time, I suggest that you find some activity that you can do for an hour or less each day that is know to be a stress reducer. Yoga comes to mind. My solution is Tai Chi, which is a mind-body melding exercise. It is very difficult to be stressed when doing Tai Chi.
However, you must, then find a way to compensate for the time spent. But this is not a good way to think about it. Your mind will work without you consciously "pushing" it. Many people wake up from a period of rest knowing the solution to a difficult problem that eluded them before they let it "gestate". An hour of calming exercise can have this effect also.
Far better this, IMO, than trying to change your supervisor, especially if he treats it as criticism and separates from you and your work. You could even get him to join you in Tai Chi. (Pipe dream, I know.)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: It is not unreasonable for a supervisor to write emails in the middle of the night. I do it myself, and frequently at that (sometimes because I am honestly just working late, sometimes because I am in a different time zone). However, it *is* unreasonable to expect immediate response when you do so (more accurately, it is unreasonable to expect immediate response for basically any email, as the medium is fundamentally asynchronous and nobody should expect you to have your email open all the time).
That said, a significant part of the problem also appears to be your own mindset. You can't realistically change when your supervisor sends you work, but you can definitely change when you read it, and when and how you react to it. Just not reading emails in the night is a big start. Many people do it, and you *do not* need to have a bad conscience when you do it as well. A second part of this is also to not interpret every email as implicitly highest-priority. Try to assess what a realistic timeline for any given work task is - if your supervisor does not specify you don't need to assume it needs to be done next thing in the morning.
One problem that you may face is that you have by now trained your supervisor that you read and react to every email at any point in time. Even if it's unreasonable, it is somewhat understandable that this is by now how your supervisor thinks you work. The most pragmatic way is to change things gradually over time, combined with a non-accusory one-on-one talk with your supervisor that you are unable to deal with your current work mode. Don't use the words *"you are stressing me out"* or anything else that puts the token and blame on him. Say that *you* are stressed out and need to change how *you* work. The goal is not to elicit a different behavior from him (although this may also come out of the meeting as a sideeffect), but to communicate to him how *you* plan to address your stress-related issues going forward.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_4: As someone who has had to handle some significant health-related issues, let me begin by saying
>
> **Your health is more important than any project!**
>
>
>
If your health is being impacted negatively by the stress you feel and by other concerns, then this is something that you *have* to deal with, and you need to make it clear to your supervisor that this is starting to become an issue. Phrase it as a health issue, not a stress issue, and you should see a change in behavior.
That said, one of the things that you can do is to make time for yourself to decompress. Even if your boss is a workaholic, that does not obligate you to be one as well. You should schedule time for yourself to do whatever it is that allows you to “unwind”: maybe it’s work out, or do something artistic, or maybe it’s just cooking dinner for yourself. But whatever it is that you do should be added into your schedule, just as if it were a group meeting or a class: it’s time that you don’t let others infringe upon.
Also, you need not answer an email as soon as the professor sends it—indeed, in many ways, there are studies showing that you’re more productive only dealing with email a few times a day rather than all day long because you’ll spend less time on “task switching,” which costs you the focus and attention you need to do well. A few hours’ or a day’s delay in answering an email is perfectly acceptable if it leads to a more thoughtful and fruitful discussion.
But the most important thing is to keep an open line of communication with your advisor. Clearly he’s interested in your work and in your success, and you should try to use that to your advantage. Keep working with him, but do it in a way that doesn’t assign blame to either of you. Make it a collaborative rather than adversarial conversation.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: This sounds like a pretty typical problem in many workplaces. Regardless of when your supervisor sends his emails, the stress is generated by you reading them in the middle of the night or over the weekend. If the supervisor explicitly follows up during office hours to state that he is unhappy with your lack of response then that's something that needs to be addressed with him since it's unreasonable. But to begin with I suggest you stop checking emails outside of office hours. Most email clients can be set to only update during business hours. Failing that just switch it off.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Exactly the same situation with you...
Sometimes I received 10 more emails one day with shouting...
But I survived because I tried to think like he was not trying to destroy me but help me. I hope you can cooperate with this, try to reduce the times reading emails late at night, or simply don't reply to it until next morning.
What can be done tomorrow should be done tomorrow.
Hope you the best.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: To add to the excellent existing answers, you may be able to induce a change in your supervisor's behaviour by being more proactive in your communication. One reason that supervisors may feel the need to micromanage is if they feel out of touch with what you are up to. So, if your supervisor regularly sends you messages asking "What is the status of X?", perhaps this is a sign that you need to be updating him more frequently. If you take the initiative and send the first email, it has several advantages.
* You feel less nagged.
* Your supervisor may start to feel more confident in your ability to manage yourself, as they can clearly see that you are making progress
without the need for constant prodding.
* If you are the one sending the email, you can do it at a time that suits you.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: I don't think the existing answers have sufficiently dealt with HOW you should approach your supervisor about this.
I suggest framing the change in your work habits as a positive for something he cares about - which is (apparently, frustratingly) not your stress level. I would say that you are making a change either because you are trying to work more efficiently or because you are trying to do more high-quality work. Or choose another goal he cares about (more creatively, etc.)
You could frame this as: One of my goals is to work more [efficiently]. I have noticed that when I do work past X pm, it tends to have a lot more errors than work I am doing earlier in the day. Then I have to redo this later. So I am trying a new work pattern where I only do analyses before X.
The goal is to frame the change as being in service of something that the supervisor values so it is not seen as a change in your work ethic. Likely the supervisor views hours worked as an indicator of dedication etc. so you want to make it clear you value these things, too.
You might begin the conversation as a discussion of work strategies, how to be the most efficient, what work habits your supervisor has experimented with, etc. to get him into the mindset that each person needs to find their own best work style. You may also want to drop into the conversation that you admire his work style, and you are hoping you can mesh your two work styles well.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: Set a vacation message that says you will respond at certain times.
Before you do this, tell your advisor you need to normalize your sleep patterns, on the orders of your doctor, in order to work more effectively (you did see the doctor about this, yes?).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: I disagree with your premise that the stress is introduced by the supervisor, let me explain:
There are two types of communication: synchronous and asychronous.
**Syncronous communication** relies on everyone participating at the same, for example a meeting or a telephone call. It is unreasonable to do these outside of normal working hours except in emergencies, that is urgent but very rare occasions.
**Asynchronous communication**, like email, does not rely on everyone participating at the same time, so people understand that **you don't need to answer those immediately but only when you have time**. It is not even productive to do so because getting back to a concentrated state takes a long time. I propose that you **check and answer your email only once a day** at a set time.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: This is not much different from industry.
I have taken the habit to consciously disconnect and make sure I cannot connect.
The "cannot connect" part is important : I leave my laptop at the office and I use a separate app for work emails. When on vacation I even change the password so that it does not fire up by mistake.
This way my brain knows that even if this is the end of the world and président Macron is trying to mail me, he will have to wait until tomorrow or Monday.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I wrote an ugly master's thesis in mathematics. There were errors and I think it is not worth publishing. However, I managed to prove one theorem in a simple way that I have never seen before. I have seen another proof of the theorem and, in my opinion, it is more complicated than my proof.
1. What would be a suitable way to get other mathematicians to know the proof?
2. Is it fine if I post a question to [Mathematics Stack Exchange](https://math.stackexchange.com) and answer my own question?<issue_comment>username_1: I think asking for advice is always good, but I would rather post a question of the form "Is this proof of X new and/or worth publishing?" That would probably attract attention from knowledgeable people. Note, however, that people may not take you seriously if X is "Fermat's last theore", "P = NP", "Collatz conjecture" or other famously hard problem :)
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: It is rare that a masters thesis gets published in a peer-reviewed publication in its entirety. When theses and dissertations get submitted to conferences and journals, it is almost always a pared-down (or broken-up) version of what was presented to the committee.
As such, if you feel you could "clean up" your thesis work into a smaller self-contained article, the next step is to find a venue that would be interested in your new proof. Your advisor or another mentor is a huge resource in this endeavor: they have likely read more literature than you and have a better sense for which conference/journal/publication would be appropriate for your particular result.
If your advisor cannot (or will not) help you find an appropriate outlet for your work, then I would consider posting to math.stackexchange.com.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> What would be a suitable way to get other mathematicians to know the proof?
>
>
>
Publish it! Write the proof by itself in a short, self-contained paper, and submit it to a journal.
There are lots of papers in the literature giving "A new proof of ...". You may not be able to publish it in a very top journal, but if it's really new and significantly simpler than existing proofs, some reasonable journal should accept it.
Additionally, you can post it on <https://arxiv.org>, so that it's permanently available to the community, whether or not it eventually gets published.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: I am taking a course in Computer Science next semester (it is currently a vacation period for my university) and I would like to email my future lecturer and ask them for the set of course notes for this course (and ask if they have any suggestions for further reading on the topic) so that I may read them ahead of time as I'm quite interested at the moment to learn more about the topic.
Would this be viewed in any way as me giving myself an unfair advantage (specifically as I am asking for the course notes which will contain content yet to be taught in the course), or could it be viewed negatively by my future lecturer?<issue_comment>username_1: I see no real downside to asking. I doubt any lecturer would view this negatively, as it shows you're interested and engaged with the course material. It's not objectively unfair, since any other student has the same opportunity to get a head start as you do. Reviewing lecture notes isn't a timed activity - students should ideally have ample time to review as much as they need, so getting started with review early isn't quite the same as getting an extra week to complete a homework assignment, for example. At worst, your request for the notes will be ignored or declined, but that's about it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I suppose there might be exceptions, but I think in general it is fine to ask. But explain your reasons as you have done above. On the other hand, don't expect that you will necessarily get anything back. Many people create the notes on the fly as needed, rather than in advance. That will depend on the course and the lecturer.
In my case I prepared a set of written notes that were printed and bound. Students purchased them for the cost of preparation. But I seldom had them available much before the start of the term as they were updated for each running of the class.
Often the class notes aren't a lot of use without the lectures they accompany, so you might not get as much out of them as you hope. The lecturer will probably not be happy with you if you also ask a long stream of questions about them prior to the course.
I doubt that many would consider it inappropriate or giving yourself an unfair advantage. Most would appreciate your enthusiasm.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: As the others have already said, it is not unreasonable to ask (especially if the instructor is a reasonable person), but there are many reasonable reasons why the instructor could decline your request.
However, there is one issue that worries me: your sentence "giving myself an unfair advantage". Studying is about getting and applying knowledge, it should never ever be seen as a competition. This is just the wrong way to think about it. If you would read a book, would this also be unfair? Should students be banned from reading books? Should students not be username_5wed to ask their instructors questions because then they would know more than the other students? I hope you don't agree.
Thus, I would like to give you the advice to reconsider your image of studying. In the case that your university environment (friends, instructors) are unreasonable enough to also see university as a big competition, I would advise you to, if at all possible, change this environment. Eerything else is very unhealthy in the long term.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I'd take a little bit different approach. Instead of asking for notes; just mention that **you'd like some advice on how to better prepare for this course**. Notes are notes and most of them don't make much sense until you've gone to the class. Same goes for PowerPoint slides; I don't remember ever seeing a set of slides that makes sense by themselves. The effectiveness of pre-reading notes, overall, is low.
Instead, consider asking for more explanatory resources such as a copy of last semester's syllabus (don't ask for the new one, 99% it's not been revised and you'll just stress the lecturer out), list of text books, etc. from which you can actually teach yourself some structures about the course or relevant skills before the class starts. And if the lecturer does make very comprehensive notes and offers to send along, even better.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: Asking is okay, but there is a good chance that there are no good notes, yet.
Often the lecture changes a bit from year to year and the notes are changed like the week before the lecture. And sometimes the lecturer wants to review his notes before the lecture even when they already exist, as they may be incomplete or in parts wrong. This means the lecture will be different than the notes you could get before as well.
Another possible reason against is, that the lecturer wants to avoid you skipping the lecture because you read the notes and feel prepared. And you should be aware that for the exam often the most helpful things are the comments the lecturer makes, which are not in the notes and not on the blackboard.
Another possiblity is, that the lecture is based on a book, either directly or indirectly. When it is based on the book, buy the book, read it and you are (mostly) fine. When it is indirect, you may miss some parts and learn some parts which won't be part of the lecture. The second is no problem if you are willing to learn more than needed, the first one requires the lecturer to tell you what is needed in addition.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: *Of course* it's OK to *ask*!
I trust that you won't write "Hey teach email me those course notes stat" but "Dear Dr. Abidi, I will be participating in your course etc. etc. and I was wondering if I could start preparing for your lecture by studying the course materials, provided that they are already available. More concise yet friendly sentences, thank you and best wishes, Perturbative."
Please don't worry about an "unfair advantage!" This is not a race or a competition, and it's not a zero-sum game. You want to learn, and your institution wants you to learn. I personally love it when students are self-motivated and show interest.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: >
> as me giving myself an unfair advantage
>
>
>
**Taking a course is not a contest.** All students should be taught the subject matter at hand, using whatever reasonable materials and aides can be made available to them. Getting notes for a course is not like getting a cheat sheet for an exam.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I use private git repositories to manage the code I use for projects. After I publish a paper, I like to make the code available by making the repository public. My field is Geography/GIScience, and uploading code is typically not required for article submissions. I mostly refer friends/colleagues to this code and link the repositories from my website.
I also version control my manuscripts (typically an Emacs' .org file, .md, or a .tex file) within the same repository I use for the project. I find that its convenient to have the code and writing in the same repo since I code, write, and jot ideas simultaneously during a project.
Are there any potential negative consequences of exposing my writing in these repositories too? Would it be seen as unprofessional? Are licensing issues with this? Is it a bad idea to include things like reviewers' comments and responses to reviewers in here?
Is there a better approach for this? Would it be a good idea to use a submodule for writing that remains private even after I make the root repository public? I feel that this may be the way to go, but I also feel that submodules introduce some (unnecessary) complexity and I don't understand them well.<issue_comment>username_1: If you're like most people, you probably include comments in your tex files that may not be meant for public consumption: mistakes that you commented out, ideas for future projects that you don't want someone else to do before you, or general remarks that are a little too candid.
Some embarrassing examples are at <https://twitter.com/overheardonaph>, taken from tex source files submitted to arXiv.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: To add to @username_1's answer, my usual work flow is to do everything on a private repo, and then when I publish, move the things I want public over to a separate public repo. Your publisher may or may not have a problem with the sources for the manuscript being part of that repo, as has been mentioned the policy is probably the same as that for achieving the authors accepted version. As public archiving of the author accepted manuscript is a requirement of nearly all my funders and of the government assessment of research output here, I'd never publish in a journal that didn't allow this. More than that, I'm not sure I'd want anything to do with a publisher that didn't allow some version of the manuscript to be public.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently looking for a PhD in computer science for the fall in France, Germany and Switzerland. Although I still find some offers, I think applying in June is quite late.
**What are the common periods to apply for a PhD in those countries and in which month do people usually start their PhD? Is it common to start it at the beginning of the summer semester?**<issue_comment>username_1: In most german institutions (and in Switzerland also I think) the PhD studies are completely independent of the semesters. New openings depend on when funding becomes available and you will mainly be an employee of the university, not a student.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: In France, the most common starting date is September 1st by far. I do not think there is any legal problem with starting on another date. However, 1. you will find that the bureaucracy is very rigid, and it is possible that this adds some complications; 2. it's possible (and in fact almost certain) that the grant you get want requires you to start on September 1st.
But I'm pretty sure I know people who started their PhD on another date. The university allows PhD students to register until mid-December for a given year, usually. I think it is more common if your PhD is funded by a private company.
Also note that there is a weird interaction between the academic year (September to August) and the civilian year (January to December). Usually if you start your PhD in September, then you get 3 years (36 months), *but* you are allowed to extend this (unpaid!) to the end of the civilian year, totaling an extra four months. If you start your PhD on another date, I do not know how that works.
---
As for applying in late June (and note that today is technically June, but next Monday is July already...), it is pretty much a guarantee of failure, unless you are very lucky. My impression is that application season is end of May/middle of June, and results are basically right now (beginning of July). When it comes to such decisions, deadlines are strictly enforced usually.
But even before applying you need to find an advisor and start thinking on a research proposal, etc. I think the usual recommendation is to start looking in January when you want to start in September. If you can do your master's degree thesis with a prospective advisor it's a big plus, at least in math.
Maybe it is possible that you know someone with a big grant (e.g. an ERC grant) who can basically decide to hire a PhD student on the spot with no oversight, but other than that, it's too late for this year's batch of PhD grants.
---
PS: there is no such thing as a "summer semester" in France. There are two semesters (thus the name...), the first from September to December, and the second from mid-January to mid-April. The rest is filled with exams and holidays. But as a PhD "student" you are actually an employee, and you do not take courses. Semesters are irrelevant unless you teach.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Last year, I was helping a colleague with statistical analysis. Originally, I was on the paper but after a personal falling out with this colleague, I removed myself as a co-author. Because I am passionate about open science, I told them that they could use the analysis I did (and the computational script I wrote to do the analysis) for their paper. I did not explicitly ask to be credited.
The paper has been published in a relatively good journal. The authors used my analysis but also used my exact words in the methods section from a write-up of the methods and results. It is around 2 paragraphs of direct copy-and-paste. They have also published the computational script along with the paper and have not changed it in anyway (it still has my settings for setting the working directory path on **my** computer).
I have copies of my original analyses.
On one hand, you could say: what did you think was going to happen? And - you don't have a leg to stand on. However, I am quite irked that they lazily copy and pasted my words into their paper without even attempting to make it their own in any way.
What would you do in this situation? Anything? Suck it up and move on?
EDIT: They also use figures I made in their paper.<issue_comment>username_1: I’m struggling to think of why you think there’s anything wrong here beyond a lack of acknowledgement.
You told them they could use the analysis and script. As you did the analysis your write up is likely to be better than any paraphrase they might come up with.
You should have been credited (can’t tell whether that should have been as an author or just acknowledged - there’s not enough information, but as you removed yourself from authorship I don’t see there’s a lot of grounds for complaint there)
Maybe you should have been more specific on how these people could use your material, but I’m not really seeing any malpractice on the part of the people who published the paper.
Next time be more specific on what permissions you’re giving.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: What they did was likely unethical, but if your work wasn't published anywhere you are unlikely to have any redress. It may be, in fact, that they interpreted your words as a statement that you didn't want your name associated with the work in any way. If that is the case it would have been unethical to ack you. But it is also unrealistic to suggest they abandon the work because you collaborated earlier, but not later.
I'll also guess that if you press it too hard it will put yourself in an unfavorable light. If you need to work with them in the future, it might be worth your smoothing the waters even if that is over generous in this case.
But in future, of course, you need to be clearer about the use of your work.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In such issues, it pays to be ultra-clear about terminology. This is not a case of **plagiarism**, as the authors have (based on your description) not copied any existing published text from you. The term here is **insufficient attribution**.
That said, I see your situation to be in somewhat of a grey area. You *have* explicitly given them permission to use your work. You may have *meant* that they were to rewrite what you wrote and re-plot what you plotted, but it is not difficult for me to see that this may not have been what the authors understood. In all honesty, I would also not have assumed that this is what you expected to happen.
A general problem is that there really are no well-understood rules in academia how an author who has contributed significantly can recuse themselves from a collaboration — strictly speaking, the authors cannot publish without you (as you have contributed and need to be acknowledged), nor can they publish with you (as every author needs to agree to be listed as an author). The cleanest solution would have probably been if you could have written up your part in some sort of report (e.g., a preprint), which the authors could have then cited as usual, but it is evident that this is often not possible.
>
> What would you do in this situation? Anything? Suck it up and move on?
>
>
>
In all honesty, I would suggest seeing this as a learning opportunity and moving on. Your claim seems way too vague and unclear to justify retracting the paper (and, honestly, if you try to get this paper retracted after you explicitly said they can use your work, you'll probably have made enemies for life). There really is not much else that can be done if the paper is already accepted.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: In short: **I think you should not do nor say anything, and move on.**
Recently I have put myself in a similar situation. I have removed myself from a paper where I analysed all the data, generated the figures, and reformulated the whole writing. Later it became clear that the story I wrote was not truly supported by the data, as the PI admitted to a major flaw in the methods which had been brushed over (tested solutions were not prepared as described and were likely >100 more concentrated). To date this specific paper hasn't been published but I am sure it is coming out soon. I suspect they will not change the manuscript significantly from my version, and might use the very same figures. Also an annotated .txt R script with raw data I prepared *might* get published as a supplementary file (they did not see value in doing so, and wouldn't know how to edit the code.)
I have, however, requested being mentioned in the acknowledgments as they'd publish material I produced. I sent the following request to the responsible PI by email.
"Please insert some disclaimer in the Acks section that [username_4]
provided lengthy suggestions and statistical analyses, and
wrote a previous version of this manuscript."
In my understanding you have given them freedom to publish the analyses you "did (and the computational script [...])" any made no further request. They have done exactly that.
In such case I do not think you can formally complain nor accuse them of misconduct even though many bystanders would agree in that your contribution should have been acknowledged.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: >
> However, I am quite irked that they lazily copy and pasted my words
> into their paper without even attempting to make it their own in any
> way.
>
>
>
The way the question is written, makes it look like if they have tweaked the OP's words and if they were not "lazily copying and pasting", the OP would be quite happy by seeing the work published without the OP's name on it. Well, *humani nihil a me alienum*, but I think we have a case of more fundamental combined missteps here:
The author of the paper made an obvious misstep, ***because attribution does not require to be explicitly demanded by the creator, and can be suppressed only by his explicit wish***. If they were in doubt, they should have contacted the OP, icy/non-existent relations or not (if I remember correctly civilization is also about being able to communicate in a non-lethal way with even your greatest enemy).
On the other hand the OP made a "practical" misstep, by not explicitly stating his wish to be (or not) acknowledged as a co-author or in some other way in the paper. The misstep is "practical" in that we should recognize, anticipate and manage flawed behavior by others (because our behavior is also flawed), and not trust that simply because some well-known principle exists (here, related to attribution of intellectual works) people will automatically respect it.
**What to do?**
Assuming that the situation is exactly as the OP describes it, then:
I would avoid accusations or contacting third parties, and I would treat the matter as a simple oversight (*which maybe it is*). I would write to the authors in a detached professional manner asking them to ask from the journal to insert a "correction" in the paper, that acknowledges the work I have done (not as a co-author). I would include in my message the desired acknowledgment text verbatim.
In today's on-line world, such corrections are not costly to the journals, at least for the on-line version of the paper. If the journal is also printed, the correction will likely appear separately in the next volume, and so of not much use related to the scientific work, but the vast majority of readers will access the digital version.
**What does this accomplish?**
Several things: I stand my intellectual ground (and both the authors of the paper and the journal will be aware of this), which is professionally beneficial. Moreover, if I want, in the future I can reference this work of mine as mine (the part of it). And I also gain the high moral ground, exactly because I avoid attacks and accusations, while pointing out their oversight.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I submitted my manuscript to one of the journal of frontiers groups, It has been 3 months now since the submission, in the first round of the peer review process, One reviewer gave me minor revision and the second reviewer asked me to do some extensive revision in my manuscript, I complied with the both reviewers and gave them the best answers i could, to the questions raised by them and resubmitted revised version of my manuscript but after the first round, one reviewer endorsed my manuscript for the publication but the second reviewer withdrew himself from the peer review process and his status shows as an inactive in the interactive review forum.
I mailed the editor and ask him how the editorial staff will handle my manuscript but didn’t get any response him.
Has anyone here suffered with a similar dilemma, what usually happens in situations like these, frontiers guidelines mention that they need endorsement from 2 reviewers in order for editor to make a final decision.
What do editors do in such a situation, do they invite another reviewer?<issue_comment>username_1: The two main possibilities are:
1. Find another reviewer.
2. Make a decision.
If the editor is sufficiently familiar with the field to check your revision himself, then he might go for #2. Otherwise (or if the journal's policies are inflexible) you might be stuck with #1 and have to wait for another round of reviews.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I have experienced this situation once. The editor decided to find a new reviewer resulting in a new first review after a first found of major revision and two satisfied reviewers.
Basically, the process started all over again, out of sight of the two reviewers who were already satisfied. If I would have been one of the reviewers, I would object to new requests for revisions which I haven’t even seen.
This wonders me: why do reviewers deliberately withdraw themselves, after a first found, knowing that this often will slow down and complicate the process?
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/29
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<issue_start>username_0: In our country, the first author gets most of the credit and the other authors practically fall much behind. While, the first author should really get more point as he does maximum work, I find the others contributions are not as minuscule as indicated by the weightage rule. To be clear it is 70 percent of the first author and rest gets 30 percent divided by the number of other authors of the paper.<issue_comment>username_1: This might depend somewhat on the field. There was a time when almost all papers in mathematics were by single authors, but no longer. There are some fields such as biology or chemistry where there are papers for which the list of authors is longer than the paper itself.
Generally speaking, though, collaboration is a good thing. Taking the numbers you cite, if there were no collaboration, then the "secondary" authors would get no credit whatever and it would be nearly impossible for anyone to move into the upper ranks of a field as they would likely be less known to peers.
There are brilliant people, of course, who need no help to formulate and develop an idea without help, but they are rare. If you are lucky enough to work in an collaborative environment, a lab or seminar, you swim in a sea of ideas. Some are better and some are not so good, but collaboration also allows the members to develop the ideas in a timely manner and to build upon one another's work.
Many junior researchers feel honored to have their name associated in public with that of a senior well respected person, though that has been occasionally abused. In the normal case, however, it gives the junior person visibility and opportunities that they wouldn't otherwise have.
And of course, in some fields, extremely expensive equipment is required and so almost all work is collaborative (CERN in particle physics).
It isn't widely known, perhaps, but even poets often work collaboratively using a peer review process to improve the work of all members in a Workshop. Authorship is seldom shared here, but the work is collaborative nonetheless. Some very famous poems have been developed in this way.
BTW, not all papers have author lists in order of "contribution" or "status". Some are listed alphabetically, or even randomly. In lab sciences, the grant holder/chief investigator is might be listed first (or last), but this is another example of junior members gaining recognition for their contributions, whether small or large.
In fact, in mathematics we now honor collaboration and co authorship. My [Erdős Number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s_number) is 4, for example.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: In many fields collaboration is not only advisable but necessary because the expertise of a single individual is not enough to complete the work necessary. The days when one scientist can do everything themselves is long gone. People have specific areas of expertise and the work required to become a competent expert in every domain needed for a particular effort is too great.
For instance, I do modeling in a number of materials applications. There is literally no way I could do the experiments necessary to support all of the work in my research, so I need to rely on collaborators who have the necessary experience who can perform and guide the complementary experiments, as well as provide the experimental equipment!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: This short question conflates multiple difficult issues:
The first is the value of authorship metrics. As Goodhart's Law notes (paraphrased), when a metric becomes a target, it ceases to be useful. When systems use publication count to determine promotion and pay, people will pad their numbers by trading co-authorships, making second-authorships almost useless as a metric (hence they cease to use it). The publication-count metric also leads to more incremental papers for which the research effort is a proportionately smaller part of the paper, and authorship is proportionately more of the work for each paper. I suspect the rise of developing countries and their reliance on publication count is what has led to the explosion in micro-incremental papers all journals have been inundated with in recent years.
The second issue is that of leadership and the need for a "stuckee" or someone who has to be on the hook to be sure the job gets done, who also has the power to see that it does. Humans are just bad at staying in sync with each other, and I can't imagine much getting finished without a lead, particularly given academics' propensity for piling up multiple "top priorities" and leaving many of them on the back burner for extended periods. And unfortunately, the danger in taking on that lead role is that you may find yourself doing disproportionate amounts of the work, as everyone else can just punch the clock and do the minimum to not get booted off the paper/project. All you can do is choose your collaborators wisely.
Finally there is the issue of division of labor and specialization. A group of people bringing expertise is different areas can accomplish far more, quicker, and more efficiently, than one person trying to do it all. This is true in research just as it is in industry. There's no question of the potential value collaboration can have.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/29
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a revised manuscript which I submitted to Nature Communications. The status of the manuscript says 'Reviewers Assigned' for about 24 days. What does it mean? Is it under review by the reviewers? Or reviewers are not responding to the editor after the request to review the revised manuscript by the editor? Just want to clarify, that this question is specific to the editorial process of 'Nature Communications' which is not usual and not related to generalized peer review process. I think I am asking this question especially because Nature Journals have their own editorial workflow which is not as same a typical workflow of many journals.<issue_comment>username_1: It can mean many things, if the status has been same since you resubmitted your manuscript then editor might still be waiting for all the reviewers to send the editors their review reports, in some cases when one reviewer is too much busy and needs more time to finalize his review report, editors waits for him to send his comments then they contact the author and make a decision on the basis of these reports and send you acceptance, rejection or revision based on their reports.
Also if one reviewers has recommended for rejection and one or two reviewers has endorsed the publication then editor weighs the comments of all the reviewers and then make the final decision.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: It means reviewers have been invited, but you can't read anything more than that. Whether or not reviewers have accepted the invitation is usually confidential information available only to journal staff. Depending on the range of statuses the journal uses, this status might even mean that some reviews have been received.
In any case, there's nothing to do except wait and see.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/06/29
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a case where I applied for a tenure-track position in a R1 research institution. A month after the application, all my references were contacted and were asked for a telephone interview, which I got to know from all my references. This was a good sign and I expected the committee to contact me soon (in about a month after the interviews). Now it's been two and a half months since they interviewed my references but no contact yet. I am not sure what is going on and how should I deal with this. Should I email them asking about the status of the application?
**Update**
It's more than 8 months after my first application for this position. Significant changes happened to my CV to bolster my application. I had no hopes, but I dropped an email saying that this is my updated CV, please update in your records in case they are still reviewing.
The programme manager updated my CV in the application replied that the review is still undergoing and they have yet to finalize applicants.
**Any idea** what might be going on?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, it's certainly fine to email them and ask.
However, I'm afraid you probably won't get good news. A common workflow for tenure-track searches is that after one round of review, they only contact the candidates who were selected to move on to the next round. It's likely that this has happened by now, so if you haven't heard from them, it probably means you're not one of the candidates they're actively considering.
You technically haven't been rejected yet, because in principle, if the selected candidates don't work out, they could go back and reconsider the rest. Indeed, official rejection letters often are not sent until after the search is complete and someone has been hired (or they've given up). But this isn't a good sign.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Unfortunately, after 8 months with no interview or any further news, I would assume your application has been unsuccessful.
Hiring practices differ between fields and countries, so you should ask someone (e.g., your advisor) who is familiar with these practices to confirm what is the usual time.
Unfortunately, it is not unusual to simply never hear back from a job application. I applied for tenure-track jobs in the US about a year ago. Some universities got back to me and arranged interviews (within 3 months of applying) and offered me a job (within 5 months of applying). Some sent me rejections (as late as 8 months after applying). But most simply never responded. Alas that's the way it is.
Did the position description you applied to specify a start date? If that start date has passed, I think it's safe to say the search is over.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/06/30
| 1,065
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<issue_start>username_0: I am starting my MSc. this September (UK), and am strongly planning ahead and setting myself goals. Simply, when would be the appropriate time to submit my applications?
My MSc is 12 months long and will go from Sept 2018 to Sept 2019. I was thinking of applying 6-8 months into my MSc.
What do you think? When is the most logical time to submit my applications?<issue_comment>username_1: Funded PhDs in the UK usually follow the academic calendar and start in late September or early October. Accordingly, application deadlines tend to be in February or March (often set by the funding councils and hence will be the same for every university).
The exception to this is if you are planning to self-fund your PhD, in which case you will have more flexibility on starting dates (but check with the universities you are going to apply to if you are planning to do this).
The best time for you to submit your applications is probably as close to the deadline as possible, especially if you want to use your supervisor/ tutor/ other lecturer from your MSc as a reference. The longer you wait to submit the application, the better they will get to know you and hence be able to write a better reference.
However, don't wait until the last minute to ask for a reference! Ask well ahead of time (>1 month) and let them know when the application deadline is so they have time to prepare.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Google up the schools you are interested in and ask them. The people who will know are the support staff of the head of department, head of grad studies, and like that. Their secretary, clerk, assistant, etc. That's who you want to ask.
These are people that you should always try to stay friends with. They know everything. They see everything. And they know what will work and what won't. Always stay friends with the support staff.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: This kind of depends on what sort of PhD you wish to study.
For the most part, you don't get accepted for a PhD position in the UK by applying to a graduate program. Most universities/departments simply do have a formal "program". There are acceptations to this of course. Several of the larger funders run formal programs, look out for the Wellcome Trust PhD 4-year programs for example. Some of the research council's Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) operate on this basis as well. These are rare, and tend to be highly prestigious and often associated with research institutes rather than university departments (the Wellcome trust ones are also very well paid compared to other ways of doing a PhD). They are recruiting earlier and earlier in order to try to grab the best students. For example, the Sanger Institute 4-year program's 2017 deadline with 2nd of December.
For the majority of PhDs in the UK though, the supervisor will apply for funding from a funding body for a particular project. If they are successful they will advertise individually for applicants, interview on their own schedule, and the successful candidate will start at the earliest convenience of the both the supervisor and the candidate. This often ends up being the start of the next academic year as the candidate generally has to finish their Undergrad/Masters degree first. When these positions are advertised/when the closing dates are will depend most of all on the funders grant deadlines. Our DTP (where we get most of our students from) has a dealine just before christmas and we will generally be advertising in Feburary. A good place to look for adverts for studentships like this is [FindAPhD.com](http://www.findaphd.com). Another place to look is [jobs.ac.uk](https://www.jobs.ac.uk/phd). I would have alerts set up on these sites for the whole year, but expect the busiest time to be the first quarter of the year.
Finally, if you will fund your PhD yourself somehow (either though your own funds, or that of a company or from a foriegn government), its generally up to you. The application process may take a couple of months and if you are not native the visa process can take months as well. If you want to aim to start at the beginning of the new academic year (which is not a terrible idea, since you'll be starting with all the RCUK funded students, making things socially easier), I'd probably start this process in the early spring: give you plenty of time, and it you are sorted early, waiting to start is not going to be a problem.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
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2018/06/30
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<issue_start>username_0: **Background**
Few years ago, I have published an article on a peer-reviewed internationally recognized journal. My study went through an extremely sound (blind) peer-review, which allowed me to improve many aspects of the final manuscript. The article has been cited a sizable number of times since then.
**Problem**
I came across an article by a colleague, published in an edited book, in which the author express criticism about some aspects of my study. I am always open to criticism and suggestions when they are constructive, sound, and polite. What I have found particularly upsetting is that, in an attempt to bring to the forefront what s(he) thinks are flaws in my published study, the colleague has actually shown his/her plain misunderstanding of many of the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of my work.
**Question**
I am wondering what could be a viable option in front of the above-described situation.
Shall I do nothing, leaving the scholarly community to judge who is right, or should I try to publish somewhere a polite but firm reply to what I consider an unfair criticism?
If the latter is the case, should I write to the Editor of the journal on which I published my article to ask him/her if the journal would accept a sort of reply "in defence" of my earlier publication?<issue_comment>username_1: I agree with some comments: do nothing.
If that one reader misunderstood the theorethical and methodological underpinnings of the work, maybe other readers did, too. So in future publications, take care to better explain the theorethical and methodological underpinnings.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I have two reasons for *not* ignoring something like this:
(1) Research does not progress in isolation. Results are reinforced when others reproduce them and validate findings. Similarly, if someone has taken the effort to point out shortcomings/flaws (irrespective of how correct they are in their judgement), the original author(s) should take the time to examine and respond. Its your responsibility to defend something that you stand for, or else accept that you were wrong. To not to do smacks either of arrogance (the 'I don't need to explain myself to everyone'/'Its not worth my time' arguments) or lack of confidence in the work ('let's not muddy the waters further, let things settle down quietly by themself').
(2) All readers in the future will potentially see two conflicting opinions on the same topic, and will be forced to examine both opinions and make their own judgements. Verification is indeed essential but one shouldn't be forced to reinvent the wheel. If you are certain that you have been misunderstood, you can save readers' time and effort by providing your clarification. You would be doing the community a service. A more harsh way of looking at this is, if you don't care enough about justifying your work to the community, probably you shouldn't have published it in the first place.
Having said this, you must ensure that:
(1) You are 100% sure of your position.
(2) You provide a justification, not a counter, especially one directed to individuals. 'John [xx] has evidently misunderstood the foundations of XYZ and proceeds to draw incorrect conclusions' - is the latter. 'The conclusions of John [xx] are based on assumption xyz, which we here demonstrate to be untenable' - is an example of the former.
Since it's an edited chapter, redressal in form of an 'authors note' may be difficult. Nevertheless, if the editor is convinced of your position and attests to it, you can communicate the same to the objecting authors and prevent them from misinterpreting further.
EDIT: There appears to be a belief that contesting criticism can cause some sort of damage to the original author. This is most likely a pervasive myth without basis, as [this article in Scientific Reports suggests](https://www.nature.com/articles/srep00815). Papers with these criticisms and rebuttals do, in fact, get more citations than the uncontested papers in the same journal.
To clarify, I am not an author or in any way affiliated to the linked article.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Wait until you have more feedback and then write a Replies To Critics article.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/06/30
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<issue_start>username_0: 14 years ago, I attended med school. After 6 years and chronic depression issue, I decided to withdraw from that program. This means I have an official transcript, but of course did not earn a degree. (In my country, you can start med school right after graduating high school, and I enrolled when I was 17 years old)
I am currently taking a bachelor's degree in Literature, and so far I have gotten straight As, and my GPA is 4.00 (The maximum grade I can get in my country). Since I feel very passionate about my current major, I plan to do a graduate degree (MA&PhD) in Literature/Linguistics in Europe or the US. After seeing the application requirements, I have noticed that most institutions require all college level transcripts to be submitted. That would mean, I have to submit my med school transcript as well.
My poor performance in med school experience and the transcript are haunting me. The med school grades certainly look terrible compared to my Literature grades.
Will this affect my chance to be admitted to good graduate school in Literature/Linguistics? I start to worry that they will see my past failure as inability to work in PhD research.<issue_comment>username_1: Your past career as a medical student was so long ago that it might as well have been someone else. I doubt that a grad school in your current field will still hold you liable for problems you experienced much earlier in life, especially given your accomplishments since then.
If you are concerned enough to mention it as part of your application, then just make sure to comment about why you believe it’s not relevant to who you are today and why schools shouldn’t worry about a repeat episode. Of course, you can point to your current record as proof of the change!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Most language programs that I'm familiar with care little about your performance in non-language courses, so long as the grades aren't awful.
As long as you have decent performance in them they will only care about the difference between an A or a C in, e.g., a math course if they're looking to distinguish between two near candidates.
If you want to pursue a particular subfield then they'd really just be concerned about mediocre grades in related courses (for example consistently getting Bs or Cs in computer science courses if you're looking to study digital humanities, or in statistics classes for linguistics).
The fact that you continued in the medical program for 6 years before dropping out, and currently have a perfect GPA tells me you would little problem being accepted into a program, especially if you explain why you dropped out. In fact, if you were interested in a translation/interpreting program, you'd probably have a solid advantage with the medical background you have.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Of course you can't determine how others would judge you. It may well be that some reviewers will see your past as an indicator. That is true for anyone and for any sort of failure, academic or otherwise.
You can't, and shouldn't, hide your past, and you shouldn't be overly fretful of it either. It is what it is. I wouldn't try to over-explain the past either. A short acknowledgement of your past problems is enough.
However, since the number of applicants to your desired program probably exceeds the number of available slots, you need to give the reviewers something positive - a reason to want *you* in the program. It seems to me like you are doing that now, so the other answers here seem good to me if a bit sanguine on how you might be viewed.
But since this is Literature you want to pursue, do something *interesting* in Literature that you can point to, even if it is in local publications. What can you add to Literature and its analysis that says to a reviewer "This is the candidate we want." The interesting thing you do, however, needs to have some visibility, though, as an undergraduate, not excessively so.
Note that everyone makes mistakes. Most people realize that. Most people also realize that people can change. Most people, in fact, do change over a lifetime.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/06/30
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying to a PhD program. I worked in the past with researcher A from research team T who was my bachelor thesis supervisor. Now, I am applying to a PhD progam within the research team T and also to another universities.
Researcher A would be a perfect candidate to ask for a reference letter, since my internship under his supervision went really well. However, **I am wondering whether or not it would be appropriate to ask him, since I would use it to apply to other universities** (he would know that of course).
Details:
* I already applied at team T and am waiting for news.
* A is not the team director but the team is quite small and A knows I applied there.
* A is not the one who would supervise the PhD I applied to.
I am afraid that asking him for a reference letter could make him think that I am not that much interested in that lab L and that this could have a negative impact on my application at this lab.<issue_comment>username_1: Unless you were very explicit and told your letter writer that you would be applying to his group/department and no others, there is no reason why they could think you don't want to apply elsewhere as well. Even then, it would be perfectly acceptable to ask them to send your letter elsewhere since you have not committed to work with them. It is common to apply to multiple programs and explore your opportunities.
If you are still concerned, explain that there a few other programs that you believe would be a good fit for you, and to which you would like to apply. Ask your letter writer if there are other programs/groups they would recommend.
There is nothing wrong with exploring your options. And if your letter writer thinks that's a bad idea, you might want to reconsider working in their group as this issue may arise later when you need their letter to apply to positions elsewhere.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I understand your hesitation and there may be situations in which your concerns are spot on. That said, people in the position of researcher A exist to support and further the successful outcomes of their students. Outside specific research contributions, this is their legacy. One of the most rewarding aspects of leadership is helping people succeed.
Based on your question, I recommend immediately asking researcher A for a recommendation letter. Discuss any concerns with them directly and save yourself the worrying. You can always draft the letter for them and let them make revisions as they see fit.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: While [username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/112044/75368) is technically correct, it gives a terrible impression about your interest in the position. Hiring decisions are normally made by committee and it would not help you if someone mentions in a meeting that they were asked to support you elsewhere. This would be especially true if they have only a couple of candidates that they are then considering.
On the other hand, once you get an offer, it might be advantageous to you if they knew you had other options. But, prior to an actual offer, I think the negative outweighs the positive. Use caution here.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/07/01
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<issue_start>username_0: So, I have had a year out to work and am now going to do my Master's degree in Computing. I have decided to fully embark on a career in academia.
What can I start doing NOW that will help improve my academic reputation, credentials, CV and career prospects? For example, should I do more writing, set up a technical blog, find research opportunities, what projects should I start, organisations to join etc.?<issue_comment>username_1: Try to find active researchers who are willing to let you do a research project with them (easier said than done, but if you're offering to work for free in your spare time without huge amounts of hand-holding then people will sometimes give you a chance), and then collaborate with them to write a paper. Papers, particularly high-quality papers in good venues, are the primary currency in academia. Writing a technical blog might be fun, but realistically won't affect your academic reputation one way or the other (it's unlikely that many academics will see or read it). Similarly, joining organisations isn't on its own going to have much impact on your academic reputation - people generally don't care if you're a member of e.g. IEEE, they just care if you've done any useful work lately. Helping organise seminars that are popular in the field (if you can find a way to get involved in that) might get you noticed to some extent, but only counts a bit (people hiring researchers don't want to know whether you can organise talks, they want to know if you can produce interesting research).
Basically, the main thing that matters is (good) papers - try to find ways to write them, preferably with other people, but on your own if necessary (the latter is hard and less effective, so try to avoid it if you can). Try not to waste too much time on things that consume your energy but for which you don't get any reward. Enjoying them can count as a reward, incidentally - by all means do fun things just because you like them, just don't expect them to have a huge impact on your reputation.
**Source:** It's Sunday, and I'm writing a paper, so at the very least I believe the advice I'm giving :)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Since you are early in your career, I'd actually advise against pushing too much on specifics of reputation building. That can come later, but you can afford do let it develop naturally.
Instead I'd advise two things. The first is to learn you subject as broadly as you can and to pick one or (preferably) two sub-topics that you are interested in and into which you can delve deeply. This might depend on local resources, of course. Eventually you will need to become the world authority on some (perhaps tiny) area, but getting there depends on knowing a lot of related things.
The second is to find ways to associate yourself with researchers and scholars, whether as a member of a research group (as others here advise) or just finding a mentor or two whom you would like to emulate. Read their papers, ask for ways to delve deeply, etc. See if they will listen to your ideas. Ask them to point you in profitable directions.
But don't neglect your studies.
One way to associate with other professionals is to attend conferences in which the superstars not only present their own work, but are willing to sit around during coffee breaks and discuss ideas in the field. Even if you don't contribute to such discussions, listening will teach you some things, though sometimes they just discuss dogs and pubs (not publications), etc. Even better if you can participate in a conference as a presenter of some kind, even with a poster session.
Learn to swim in a sea of ideas. Get feedback on your own.
Writing is always good. It is especially good to write in a journal in which you date your ideas and get someone else to sign and date your entries. If you have especially good ideas this can establish your priority. Writing for publication is a more difficult skill. It takes practice, and feedback. Reading is just as important, especially for a new comer. You need to know what has been done so that you can build on it.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I wanted to highlight issues that would be helpful especially in the beginning of a career, but somehow went over to the general character traits.
* **Polish up your academic writing.** It's never late, it grows on you with time, but it's never wrong to start early.
* Keep your head up and ears open. You are not yet "married" to a PhD adviser, neither to your current university. **Inform yourself on alternatives.**
* If you are going into academia just because you tried the life out there and it yiked you out, **try doing research early.** A student project, at attempt of writing a paper and pushing it to a low-tier or even a student conference, things like that.
* Try to come up with things you might imagine yourself doing for multiple years straight, but don't swear it. **Anything might change,** depending on open positions or available advisors.
* Research path means in most cases dedication a solid chunk (years!) of your life to research, probably decades, if you manage tenure. Academia, however, is the place where you **need to keep running just to stay on the same spot** (if I am bastardizing <NAME> correctly). **Make sure you and your** current / future / prospective **family is Ok with this**. So, **dedication**, if you want a single word.
* One of the key components of a successful researcher is **stability**. Don't let stresses, life circumstances, failures disturb you. You'd encounter oh so many failures on your way. Don't fret it, everyone does encounter them. But only those, who **don't falter** remain.
And finally, you can just try it. It's fun! Well, mostly. Basically, everything up to (and including) PhD is a free trial phase. From postdoc onward the rocky road starts.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/07/01
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<issue_start>username_0: >
> A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems -- <NAME>
>
>
>
All the universities whose staff lounges I've been to have had coffee machines with free coffee. I've seen groups name their meetings after coffee much more than other beverages (e.g. from Google, "AstroCoffee" exists in [OSU](https://astronomy.osu.edu/Coffee), [IfA Hawaii](http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/astrocoffee/) and [Goethe University](https://astro.uni-frankfurt.de/astrocoffee/); a corresponding search for "AstroTea" turns up nothing). I've also witnessed one academic telling another "I'm stuck, don't know what to do next" and the other say, quite seriously, "have some coffee! If you're still stuck, have even more coffee!"
What is it about coffee that makes it so ubiquitous in academic culture?<issue_comment>username_1: There are at least two possible explanations and neither involves coffee. The first is that when you try to force your brain to work it sometimes rebels and leaves you stuck. Taking a break, any kind of break can undo the knot. There are stories (and I've experienced it myself) of going to bed with a sticky problem and waking up with the answer. Your brain, generally, isn't idle. It can seek pathways more or less unconsciously.
The second reason is that in large departments the coffee is in a common room, usually with a table that a few folks can sit around and an adjacent white/blackboard. So you get a cuppa and you sit down and chat about your work. Someone else says something that strikes a chord and you have the germ of the answer. Actually, sometimes when you chat about someone else's work, the key comes to you almost unbidden.
Those who work in isolation don't get the benefit of the second solution, and I found that to be true myself. The colleagues you chat with don't even need to be deeply involved in your own research, but sometimes a hint from "out in left field" gives you the path to integrating the concepts you've been working on.
On the other hand. Coffee is good. Long unbroken hours of intense work are usually less good. Less tasty anyway.
---
Note that a coffee pot in your own office gives you neither of the above benefits.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Academics sure do drink a lot of coffee---but do they drink any more coffee than other professionals?
[According to Wikipedia, 150 million Americans adults drink coffee daily](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_coffee#Consumption) (out of about 240 million total), a rate of more than 60%. So if most adults drink coffee in America, it's entirely unsurprising that academics are like most other adults and that departments might happily supply this cheap perk---just like many, many other offices do. Similarly high rates of consumption appear to pertain in [most other developed Western countries](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/countries-that-drink-the-most-coffee/), which are also where the majority of high-impact scientific research is still conducted.
In short: many academics appear to drink a lot of coffee simply because they are typical adults in societies where most people drink a lot of coffee.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: There are two components to your question: the actual presence of coffee, and the social aspect of talking about it.
**The Social/Humorous aspect:**
Coffee, and the need for it, is a [memetic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme) joke in Western culture, where the obsession and need for it is humorously exaggerated. This happens in [fiction](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MustHaveCaffeine) but also is a common trope in the working world, especially in desk jobs, which academia primarily is. Jokes like "Don't Talk To Me Until I've Had My Coffee" are resonant enough to have a [McDonalds commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5h2_eIzoYU), and appear on literally millions of mugs.
**The actual usage aspect:**
Coffee is the primary, non-stigmatized stimulant in wide use in Western culture. It's not even close. [90%](https://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18725181.700) of adults in the US consume coffee every day. I think you'd find that it is prevalent in every setting, not just academia. As a software developer, I hear this humor all the time.
Why is it so popular? Well, in a culture that celebrates visible displays of overwork, and in a profession in which both overworking and bragging about it are common (see [this](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/64440/is-it-true-that-phd-students-need-to-work-10-12-hours-a-day-every-day-to-be-prod) question, it's no surprise that it both is widely consumed (to compensate for long hours) and also widely talked about (since consuming lots of stimulants indicates that you're working *really* hard, of course).
tl;r: toxic culture and overwork.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: It is nothing specific to academia. Coffee causes physical dependence. Habitual coffee drinkers feel really bad if they stop drinking it. The stimulant effects only last for 18 days once someone begins drinking coffee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine_dependence>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Well, coca leaves can be distilled to cocaine and that's frowned upon (even the eponymously named Coca-Cola does not contain significant amounts of it anymore), so coca leaves are banned in effigy. It would also involve chewing and be spitting and if that were within the range of etiquette, chewing tobacco would be more common. Cigarettes have worse health consequences. Ritalin requires prescriptions. Caffeine-laced or other soft drinks tend to mess with metabolism. They certainly are popular but correlated with obesity which tends to also affect mental agility for whatever reason.
Also providing soft drinks for free tends to be affordable for academic institutions in contrast to comparatively low-cost coffee.
So coffee is just a culture-compatible cheap stimulant.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: Back here in Portugal we end up drinking more coffee than we should because it is a cheap, quick and a fairly acceptable excuse for socialising or having a not-so-formal meeting.
Coming back to the corporate world, coffee is more an excuse for team building and taking a break, as meetings tend to be more formal.
When I worked in Academia coffee, besides breaks, was more an excuse for building connections, meetings and making informal point of situations with other teams without going through all the formal hoops to book meetings.
So at the end of the day, while doing socialising and impromptu meetings, I ended up drinking more coffees in Academia than in a corporate setting.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/07/02
| 1,715
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<issue_start>username_0: I will soon be in my final PhD year and am about to start my job search. Suppose that for some reason I suspect that I did quite well, research-wise. My main question is:
>
> What is the optimal job search strategy/advice in this case?
>
>
>
Generally, I can think of two options that are "better" than a regular postdoc:
1. A fancy fellowship or a named postdoc position
2. A tenure-track (TT) position
First, do I have to decide between postdoc and tenure track before getting an actual offer? That is, is there anything special I need to do when applying for tenure track besides pressing buttons on mathjobs.org? (Also, is there an option I missed?)
Second, I have questions about each option.
**Option 1:** Is there a comprehensive list of "really good" postdoc fellowships? Or can we combine a list here? I know that there is Clay fellowship, Miller fellowship at Berkeley, Society fellowship at Harvard, Veblen instructorship at IAS. What other well-known similar positions come to your mind? How do they compare between each other, and to a regular postdoc or a tenure track?
**Option 2:** Since this depends on many random factors, it seems like if I apply two times, that is, apply next year and then (if I only get a postdoc) apply after my postdoc ends, the probability of landing a nice TT job increases. On the other hand, the quality of a TT job offer I can get after a postdoc will likely be higher because I will have better publications. So I'm not sure whether it is even worth it to seek a TT position now as opposed to settle for a postdoc right now and just apply for TT in 3 years after it ends. Although I've seen people switch between TT jobs, I don't know how common that is. Also, how much of a blocking factor here will be not having lots of teaching experience? (I have some but not as much as most postdocs.) Finally, I understand that when applying for postdoc, I should prefer schools where my area is represented best, but this seems not too crucial when applying for TT, right?
--
To be specific, the field is pure math, the country is US, and I am not eligible for NSF.
A couple of other disclaimers: I understand that the answer depends on my priorities, so let's say the top priority is landing the "best" possible tenured position I can at some point in the next ~7-10 years (which includes not having to teach too much before getting a TT job offer; money is not too important to me personally at this point). I also understand that it's very hard to tell objectively how good my research is, but for the sake of argument let's assume that it's good enough, comparable to other TT job applicants.<issue_comment>username_1: **You’re overthinking things** (but not by much, and in a way that is both typical and understandable given your current situation and vantage point on the job market for academic math positions).
The main things you need to know are:
1. You don’t need to make any decisions until you get an offer.
2. You don’t need to do anything “special” when applying for jobs other than follow the application instructions, and there isn’t much else you can do to gain an advantage, other than obvious things (like proving a major result, winning a major award, and having strong visibility in giving talks at various places, especially departments where you’ll be applying).
3. Your chances of getting a tenure track offer straight of your PhD at a very good (say, top 50 R1) US university are pretty low, assuming you are an average person who meets your description of yourself in the question.
4. Your chances of getting a tenure track offer at one of the top math departments in the country (like the one you mentioned in the comments) straight out of your PhD are extraordinarily low, again assuming you are an average person who meets your description of yourself, and even assuming you are quite a bit above average. Of course, there is a possibility that you are a person for whom this is a realistic prospect, but if so then I would say you have been rather modest in your description of yourself.
The bottom line is that at the moment your optimal strategy is the obvious one, which is to apply to any place/position where you think you have a realistic chance of getting an offer (and if it doesn’t embarrass you too much, even places where you don’t think you have a realistic chance). Once you get some offers, you may or may not be faced with a minor dilemma of the kind you seem to be worried about. But there’s a good chance that won’t happen (e.g., you’ll get a few postdoc offers and it will be fairly obvious which one is best for you). And even if it does, I think it will become fairly clear in due course what is the right choice. Trying to preemptively make strategic decisions of the kinds you are thinking about long before those decisions are even applicable and when you don’t have all the information is pretty much a waste of your time and mental energy.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: First of all, ranking isn't everything. When metrics are all we see, humans tend to obsess over them. But you may find other factors are far more important in deciding how happy you are in your career. So one valuable part of the application process will be seeing the differences and determining what you prefer. But to answer your question:
A postdoc is a training position; you take it to learn from your postdoctoral advisor(s). Do you feel you need to learn more or do you feel capable of leading your own research projects now? One year is too short to accomplish much in a postdoc. Unless you hit the ground running with your own projects that you know will pay off. And then why are you doing this in someone else's lab again?
A faculty position is an independent research position. If you feel you are ready for it and would be productive, you will have much more support and opportunity to get results and apply for funding in this role versus as a postdoc. Teaching is not a big danger to your time unless you unwisely let it be.
In summary if your only goal is to pad your CV with accomplishments in the next year, you will be far more able to do that in a faculty position. Rather than comparing whether to apply for that highly-ranked job now with no job, versus later with a better CV from a postdoc, you should instead be comparing apply later with a better CV from a faculty position at a lower-ranked school, versus with a better CV from a postdoc.
One important note: once you start applying to TT jobs, you need to produce. For example, suppose you apply to open TT positions this year, don't get the interview. Then you subsequently kind of have a weak year, but do get a bit more done (e.g. take that big name postdoc, but produce no big pubs yet). You are still probably in no position to reapply to the same places. So there is the danger of "starting too soon". For searches that remain unfilled over multiple years (which can be pretty common as the stars get a lot of offers and leave many in the lurch), you will need to make a case that they should reconsider you the next time you apply. That requires results.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/07/02
| 1,172
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<issue_start>username_0: Authors of scientific papers usually use the introduction of the paper to introduce the subject of the paper by reviewing previous work in that field, i.e. the works that serve as the foundation of the current research they have conducted.
Therefore, it is fairly easy to get acquainted with the subject in general, because you get a bunch of relevant references right from the start.
However, it often happens that when searching for papers on a certain topic, the best match for my search is a paper from a few years back. While most scientific knowledge is viable for a decent amount of time (really depends on the field, but as a generalization), sometimes I want to know what progress has been made (if any) in the specific field of research I'm interested in.
So my question is: **Is there a simple and convenient way to find later papers about a certain topic?**
**In detail**
How exactly do I do it? If, for example, I have [this paper](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3768229/) from 2013, how do I find newer papers about the same subject?<issue_comment>username_1: A simple way that I usually follow to find newer papers about the same topic is using google scholar. Google scholar gives you the ability to find papers that cited the paper you are interested in, and those papers are usually published after the paper you are interest in has been published (i.e. more recent work).
[For the example you provided in your comment](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3768229/), google scholar gives me [57 articles/results that cited](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=10860178766289474316&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en) your example
---
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/us65S.png)
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If have some time for a non-simple way, you can datamine arxiv with [this tool](https://github.com/pskryuchkov/ilovescience).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: In addition to Google Scholar, you can also use Web of Science. For the article you gave, some keywords would be "Postpartum psychiatric disorder" and "pregnancy". You can search Web of Science for papers on this topic, i.e. any paper with all four words in the abstract and / or the title.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DFlXe.png)
You can refine the timespan (2013 to 2018 for example), search for the complete phrase (enclose the phrase with inverted commas), search for individual authors, and so on. After performing the search, you'll reach a screen where the left-hand column lets you further refine the results, e.g. by excluding all social science papers. As of time of writing there were 1607 papers matching this search (I clearly used overly general search terms).
Web of Science is more exclusive than Google Scholar - it indexes only journals that have SCI impact factors, while Google Scholar indexes everything. Google Scholar is also free while Web of Science isn't (however if you are affiliated with a university, chances are very good your university library has access). Which to use is up to your requirements.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Check the publication list of the authors of your article. If they continue to work on the topic, they will further publish article and give talks.
You can do the same for authors from papers that cite your paper.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: If your university has a paid subscription to Elsevier, then you also probably have access to <https://www.scopus.com>, which has the "cited by" feature (similarly to Google Scholar) and may return you slightly different results.
Moreover, it has much more powerful search filters.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: This is probably a field-dependent question, but Google Scholar is a good start.
I do cosmology in a physics department, so I'm most familiar with [Inspire](http://inspirehep.net) and [NASA ADS](http://www.adsabs.harvard.edu/). Both of these are indexing tools that attempt to link citations for high-energy physics and astronomy literature respectively.
These can do useful things like give you an RSS feed of citations of a paper (and it's easy to set up alerts whenever there's a new citation).
In my experience these databases get updated more quickly than Google Scholar and have more complete citation links. There might be something similar for your field.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/07/02
| 467
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<issue_start>username_0: I would like to use an supercomputer to run my big data project to test it speed. I google the service & see that only [this](https://www.ais.cmc.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/uncategorized/octobus-installation2/) is available for free but it closed last year? Could anybody with experience in using supercomputer know to get access to this kind of hardware?<issue_comment>username_1: The answer will depend on where you are, who your funding is from, and what you mean by "a supercomputer".
Various countries, research councils, etc., let you apply for computer time if you are eligible. Some universities have their own in-house systems too.
But also, the major cloud providers - Amazon, Microsoft, Google (?) - will let you rent computing resources. This may be suitable for your needs.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: What is your location and funding availability? Typically, one can get some time share on national scientific supercomputers through grants. You might use local clusters of your lab or university for testing and slower, but cheaper and easier available resource.
An alternative are clouds, e.g. the one from Amazon. It is quite cheap in processing time, as compared to commercial offers. It is also readily available. So, if you want a quick test and have money (in contrast to political influence or grants), it might be the faster way.
But generally, there are grids, there are cloud services (that are the same, but somewhat different), and there are the classical supercomputers (still grids, but own hardware, faster interconnections, etc.) While the principles are quite similar, you might need person-months to tune your application to the specific platform. Assuming, you want to squeeze maximal performance, of course.
A possible alternative might be GPU computing. If your task maps well to grid, it *might* map well to CUDA or OpenCL. Again, there are months of development to get it right, but probably lower entrance costs.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/07/02
| 1,905
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<issue_start>username_0: It's been about 2 years since I've left academia, partly because of the kind of deeds that I'm about to describe to give a bit of context to the question.
About a month ago I was CCed in an email exchange involving my former PhD supervisor and one of our collaborator, a Post-doc in Mathematics (from now on referred to as *the Post-doc*). The email said that one of our papers, that we submitted to a journal about 2 years ago (that's right) was finally rejected (better late than never I suppose).
Recently, I have received a letter from the Journal of Functional Analysis that informed me that I have been indicated as a co-author of a publication recently submitted by my former supervisor. It is of course yet another attempt to get the paper published somewhere. Although the fact that the choice of journal is a questionable one (JFA is published by Elsevier, which I would gladly boycott, but this is a whole different matter I won't get into), what startled me was the fact that the Post-doc has been indicated as First Author.
Now, a clarification about the paper is due in order to understand the situation better. Most if not all of the original draft of the paper was written by me, and it pretty much contained most of my research work, which then turned into my PhD thesis together with some later results that I have obtained. There have been times when I got stuck on some points, in which cases a few chats with my supervisor helped overcome the problems. The contributions from the Post-doc towards the final version of the paper are, to say the least, very questionable. One way to summarise them is perhaps with the expression *unintentional sabotage*. The Post-doc kept changing sentences in the paper because he thought we was improving it. I'm not an English native speaker and nor is the Post-doc, but his English was definitely worse than mine and, as a consequence, I had to spend hours reverting his changes, over and over again. Not to mention his competency with the mathematical content of the paper itself. A good part of the time we spent in meetings to discuss the contents at the board, it was basically me (a PhD student in Pure Math with a degree in Physics at that time) recollecting basic school maths facts (literally) for the sake of the Post-doc who didn't seem to remember them (or know them altogether).
Don't get me wrong on this though. I am in no way implying that there is an voluntary attempt at bad deeds here. Knowing my former supervisor, this is what I think it is going on with the paper submission. Given that I am no longer in academia, it benefits nobody if the paper is submitted with me as first author. Hence it would make more sense to indicate the Post-doc as first author since he is still somehow making his way in the academic world.
Whilst I would totally support this decision in general as very sensible, I find it hard to go by it in this particular case, given the scenario I have described above. By allowing the Post-doc to be first author, my former supervisor is (I believe inadvertently) helping someone to be where he's probably not supposed to be, taking the chance away from someone who is more qualified. You wouldn't believe how many successful applications the Post-doc has had, given his actual knowledge on the subject. The only explanation that I could come up with is that, somehow, people are happy to offer the Post-doc a place at their departments to enjoy of his buffoonery (possibly his only positive aspect).
Now, after this long introduction, here comes the question: Should I notify the journal that I am the actual first author?<issue_comment>username_1: You may want to return to Academia in the future so the fact that you are now working otherwise shouldn't carry a lot of weight.
You may not want to burn bridges on this. I'd actually suggest that you contact your PhD supervisor and ask for clarification. You may get an interesting reply that solves the problem or pushes you to seek a solution with the editors. I don't think that a journal will like to adjudicate a conflict and might respond by simply rejecting the paper doing no one any good. Try the most collegial approach at first and see what you learn.
If the core of your dissertation is published elsewhere, your work should stand on its own whether or not this paper is published as is or not. If it isn't yet published, then you should attend to that, of course.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I think you've misunderstood the situation. It appears to me that this is being handled properly by your co-authors, and any action on your part would be inappropriate.
As you've clarified, you and your co-authors are following the usual authorship convention for pure math, which is that authors are listed alphabetically, with the corresponding assumption that all authors contributed equally to the paper. (Of course, this is often a polite fiction, but you're on board with it now and so it doesn't behoove you to denigrate their contributions.) You say the alphabetical order here is Postdoc, RecentStudent (that's you), Supervisor.
From the journal's point of view, "first author" just means literally that: whose name should be printed first on the title page? And since you've decided to use alphabetical order, Postdoc is indeed the "first author" in that sense. So it is absolutely correct that he's identified as "first author" in the journal's paperwork. **Nobody is playing any funny games here.**
Any significance attached to the ordering of the authors, or who comes first, is in the minds of the authors and the readers. The journal doesn't want to get involved in the question of who is the "primary" author, or who did the most work, and they really don't care. They just want all the authors to agree on what should go on the title page, and which name should be printed first, second, third, etc. Any way is fine with them so long as the authors all approve.
If it helps, the submission form for JFA has a section that looks like this:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2SPQO.png)
You click the little arrows to change the order. Note that "First Author" is automatically attached to whoever is first on the list.
You definitely should *not* tell the journal that you're the "actual" first author. They'll interpret this as a sign that you want to be *listed* first, and thus the authors are not in agreement about what should appear on the title page. They'll put the whole submission on hold until they can be assured that the three of you have worked it out. This will greatly annoy your co-authors, especially since it seems to have already been understood that alphabetical order was to be used.
If you really wanted to be listed first (i.e. out of alphabetical order), in principle you could open that discussion with your co-authors, but I think it would reflect poorly on you, especially at this late date. I don't advise that. In any case they'd have to agree. The journal won't settle such disputes for you.
As a side remark, your co-authors really should have asked you before submitting to a new journal. It sounds like it's not worth making a fuss about it now, but you might ask them politely to involve you in the journal selection process in case it needs to be done again (which is not unlikely; JFA is pretty selective). They may have assumed that, since you're no longer in academia, you wouldn't really care and would rather not be bothered - not really a valid assumption, but perhaps understandable. As for the boycott, it's a fine point to bring up in a discussion, but I think most people feel it would be poor form to insist if your co-authors don't feel the same - especially if, as in the Postdoc's case, they're at a career stage where "getting published in the best journal" has to take precedence over idealistic considerations.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: If it is you who obtained the central data and wrote the manuscript, there is no doubt that you should be the first author.
I think before you contact the journal, it is better to first talk with your former supervisor about your concern.
Upvotes: -1
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2018/07/02
| 2,269
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<issue_start>username_0: I have written my thesis on my own (with my limited English skills) and I gave it to my supervisor to check it. He said the work is fine but the writing is a bit bad and I need to proofread it by myself. I know that my English level is just below the normal and needs time to improve. However, I have limited time (a couple of weeks), so my question is how to improve my English writing efficiently during this period that will lead to an improvement of my thesis?
I have heard that there are some phrases and academic vocabulary list that are given by Cambridge University or other universities for use and are not regarded as plagiarism, does anyone know them?<issue_comment>username_1: My best tip for proof reading your own work is to have your computer read it back to you. We often notice how things sound weird when they are spoken compared to when they are written.
Microsoft word includes text-to-speech as part of the Word. I use it all the time. Stand alone text-to-speech software is available if you use something else for your writing.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I suggest to start with the basics:
* Use a spell checker. They are normally included in writing platforms.
* To correct grammatical mistakes, I suggest the use of platforms like
[Grammarly](https://www.grammarly.com).
* Search for synonyms: [Thesaurus](http://www.thesaurus.com/)
* To enrich your writing, lists of academic phrases are also a useful resource and can be easily found with a Google search. For instance: <http://www.kfs.edu.eg/com/pdf/2082015294739.pdf>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: You seem to have a mistaken view of what constitutes plagiarism. The choice of an individual word or trite phrase, such as "as demonstrated in the figure," or "a careful analysis shows that" cannot be plagiarism. The reason for this is because such behavior does not meet the primary criterion of plagiarism, which is the misappropriation of someone else's intellectual work without credit. Even using someone else's term for something is not plagiarism. (For example, it is not plagiarism to use a word like *anomie* or *superego* just because someone else came up with it!) Similarly, grammar checkers such as Grammarly or a built-in word processor feature only offer suggestions for how to fix errors in your writing. Accepting their suggestions is no more plagiarism than working with a professional proofreader.
However, another suggestion for how to handle the proofreading would be to find someone who is a *better* writer and speaker of English than you are to help you with the proofreading, as we often tend to be too close to the writing, particularly if it's something that we are in the middle of working on intensely. Somebody else's judgment will help far more than trying to do it all yourself.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: To improve your writing in general and your copy in particular you can:
* Search for a book like *Writing "your discipline here"* for tips and fixed expressions. For example, *Science Research Writing for Non-Native Speakers* or the freely available [2nd edition of *A Primer of Mathematical Writing*](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1612.04888.pdf) (chapters 1, 3, 4 can be applied to almost any scientific text).
* Use [LanguageTool](https://languagetool.org/) for orthography, grammar and style; it is FOSS and works in LibreOffice and TeXstudio or as a separate application. (I have never used Grammarly, but I think these 2 are similar.)
* Check out *Oxford Advanced Learner's* for synonyms and collocations: e.g. [*hence*](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/hence?q=hence).
If you are interested in technical proofreading and not in the content verification you can:
* Make the process iterative, do not proofread all at once: review a chapter or two, [have a break to do something different](https://staciechoice1010.wordpress.com/2014/08/08/focused-vs-diffused-mode/).
* Read backwards.
* Read it aloud. If you get stuck, then this fragment may be worth rewriting.
* Read it on another medium: paper instead of screen, phone instead of PC, etc.
(These 3 tricks make your brain uncomfortable and it cannot skip familiar text chunks.)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: I suggest you seriously consider contracting the services of a native English speaker who's also either an academic or has some professional writing or editing experience (literary or academic). You don't write degree theses many times in your life - typically once for your Master's, then again for your Ph.D.; so it's worth it, in my opinion, to make this investment. Not only will this make your thesis more pleasent to follow, it may also improve the clarity for your official academic readers / exam committee; and the corrections you receive will serve you well in your future academic authorship.
If you had more time on your hands, I'd suggest working on improving your English writing skills; as @RichardErickson notes, many universities offer such services to graduate courses, sometimes as proper semesterial courses, sometimes on a less formal basis. There are also resources like [Strunk & White's Elements of Style](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style) booklet which, if taken to heart and applied to your thesis, will also be very helpful.
Finally - and perhaps most importantly - I would also consider asking colleagues of yours to have a look at your thesis draft, to make sure they can figure out the contents more than to give you feedback about your English.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_6: My name is username_6, ~~and I am an alcoho...~~ and I also had to write some scientific papers in English, which is not my mother tongue. There are two tricks that I learned in the process:
1. Keep some papers of other authors at hand. Copycat their style *(not the content)*. Want to write something but not sure how to phrase it? Find something structurally similar in those papers and re-use.
2. If in doubt about a particular sentence/idiom/phrase composition - simply google it. The phrase may come out in the search results exactly as you typed (use it, then), slightly different (modify accordingly, then), or it may not be there at all (think of some other phrase, then).
3. Don't expect the result to be that good, just good enough to be acceptable. If you want it to be *that good*, there's no other way but to employ a native speaker. If you want it to be *really good*, that native speaker would also have to be a professional proofreader.
Those are my three suggestions of the Spanish Inquisition. A word about "improving your English writing efficiently during a two weeks period" - *you can't*. Natural language skills don't get sufficiently improved on such short time scale.
And about the advice to "read it aloud to someone/make someone read it aloud to you". For a native speaker, who has a strong "gut feeling" of the language, that may be an excellent way to catch some mistakes they would have otherwise overlooked. For us non-native speakers, I'm afraid it's not going to work, because we are usually better at reading than at listening comprehension. I tried that a couple of times - while reading aloud, it seems my brain mostly struggled with "how do I pronounce this..." rather than with "what may be wrong with this grammatically..." (needless to say, the nuances of pronunciation are irrelevant when it comes to *writing*). Tried recording what I read and listening to it, too, but then I was too busy cringing at my own accent, and everything in the text *sounded wrong*. A computerized reader, or a friend who also doesn't speak that good English wouldn't be much better in that regard. (And I haven't tried, but I suspect that if you make a native speaker read your paper to you, everything would *sound right*.)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: In one of your comments to another answer, you mention referencing an image, and wanting alternate wording to mean the same thing (look at this chart - here's what it is showing you...)
>
> thanks for the tip. according to my advisor, he wants a quality
> written thesis. for example when we use the phrase following: the
> figure above shows, we can rewrite it in another way such as: as
> illustrated in the figure ....I want to improve it so it is better
> than now where it looks very simple
>
>
>
I have that same problem and I'm a native English speaker, well read, kinda educated, and working on a batchelors in a technical field. Fortunately, I have the English department down the hall from my cubicle so editing help is close at hand...
As username_6 suggests in his/her/its answer reading other papers that do the same thing - present charts or tables or diagrams - and pick out 4 or 5 ways of phrasing "hey, look at this thing, here's what it is showing..." and simply randomly pick between them each time you need to reference an image, etc.
What I would really recommend if allowed is to pay some poor English major who has taken Technical Writing and ask them to go over it with you - fix the paper, get some help and learning for the next version.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/07/02
| 962
| 3,656
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<issue_start>username_0: I the United Kingdom there is a very useful website ([jobs.ac.uk](http://jobs.ac.uk)) which allows researchers to search academic jobs, including postdoctoral positions, lecturer's posts, and so forth. I have been looking for similar search engines for other countries, in particular France, without much luck. If anybody with some experience of looking for academic research positions, fellowships and contracts in France could share their experience it would be great.<issue_comment>username_1: Permanent positions ("maître de conférences" and "professeur") **almost** all are listed on the [website called Galaxie](https://www.galaxie.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/ensup/cand_recrutement.htm). The lists are available on [this page](https://www.galaxie.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/ensup/cand_postes_GALAXIE.htm). It's a bit empty because most applications are over for this year, but there is still the big spreadsheet with the (now outdated) info, to give you an idea.
(There are also some permanent positions called "PRAG" and "PRCE" listed there but they are unlikely to concern you – you would know if they did.)
Some special postdoc positions called "ATER" ([attaché temporaire d'enseignement et de recherche](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attach%C3%A9_temporaire_d%27enseignement_et_de_recherche)) are also listed there, however be warned that 1. their salaries are low, even lower than a PhD student, 2. the teaching load is high, as much as a faculty member, 3. they are often "reserved" for PhD students who are on the brink of finishing but need an extra semester or two. You probably have to ask someone from the university to know if it is the case (I know people who got an ATER who were not PhD students just finishing, so it's certainly possible).
Galaxie is not very well organized and it is a bit hard to find information. In some fields, volunteers run some field-specific websites presenting the same information in more readable form, e.g. [Opération Postes](http://postes.smai.emath.fr) in mathematics. Ask your contacts in French universities to tell you if one exists for your field.
I am not aware of any centralized website for postdoc applications. I have personally never searched for a postdoc in France, but in my understanding, you have to subscribe to mailing lists, go to labs' websites, or just know people who are aware of openings, etc. Good luck. Some things to look out for: if something is called a "fondation" (foundation), they probably have some postdoc grants to offer. Similarly if you come across something called a "Labex" (for "laboratory of excellence", yes, it's a bit pompous), it's not an actual lab, it's a five year big grant with many postdoc grants attached.
---
I realized that I said something wrong above. Not *all* permanent positions are listed on Galaxie. Some "Grandes Écoles" ("Great schools"), which are not technically universities, still hire professors who teach and do research. [More info on Wikipedia.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandes_%C3%A9coles) For these positions, I don't think you can do better than going on their websites when it's application season. The procedure is also different from the centralized one, from what I understand.
---
PS: yes, all these websites are in French... You will find that being able to read and write administrative French (or having someone who can on call) is a vital skill.
tl;dr There is no such website, basically.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: you can check this website;
<https://abg.asso.fr/en>
you can find postdoc offers there, some of them are listed in English.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/07/02
| 1,451
| 6,005
|
<issue_start>username_0: I will start in freshman in a fairly good undergrad institution in August 2018. I am planning to major in Mathematics. However this school attracts the most brilliant high schoolers in Math. This includes IMO gold and silver medalists. Participation in IMO guarantees admission to this school. I have already planned to go to graduate school. However seeing the enormous competition I am pretty skeptical of my chances. Usually the best student of our school in a given year has a fair shot at Princeton. Looking at my result I might have barely crept in their freshman batch. I do have 1 month left, shall I start on standard Math textbooks like Rudin, Munkres, Dummit and Foote or are the IMO medalists way ahead of me?<issue_comment>username_1: You are who you are. Don't be overly concerned about others. You will need to work very hard, of course, but the fact that others may be able to pick things up more quickly than you doesn't mean that you can't excel.
The fact that you were admitted suggests that others have faith in you. Have faith in yourself.
You can also try to find a study group with others at the new place so that you get additional exposure. Use good study techniques and never - never fall behind. Start early on assignments. Ask a lot of questions. I was once thought to be very smart because I asked a lot of questions in class. But in reality I just wanted answers that weren't apparent to me.
You might also try as much as possible to limit outside interests until you find your way in a new environment. However, agreeing with a comment by user aeismail, that doesn't mean to give up everything for academics. Spend several hours each week on something that contributes to your health, reduces stress, and engages your mind in a different way. I now use Taichi which does all of these things. As an undergraduate I practiced Judo several hours a week. I didn't get very good at it, but it was a great complement to studying. As a grad student I rode a bicycle with a local club - fast but not competitive. That was physically satisfying, but didn't have a mental element like Taichi does. But don't occupy yourself with trivia.
But yes, studying great books in advance ain't gonna hurt you any. I studied out of Rudin over 50 years ago and still have the book(s).
You might also find that some courses are more challenging than others Analysis v Algebra for example. That is natural as the core thinking processes and insights are just different enough that you can groove on some things and find others a bit more work. Put your best efforts where they do the most good.
Talk to your professors. Ask questions. Listen. Ask more questions. Correlation only matters for groups. You are who you are.
---
Why you ask questions:
Here is a story (real occurrence) from the University of Kansas about 50 or so years ago. A prof, quite well known and respected, was lecturing in Topology. This meant writing proofs on the board. Occasionally a step wouldn't be filled in with the statement "Of course it follows, trivially, that ...". On one such statement, a student didn't see the obvious connection and so asked. The prof looked at the board and the developing proof for a few minutes. Then walked over to the corner of the (chalk) board and started making notes to himself in a tiny script. He went into totally abstract thinking mode, ignoring the class. After a bit of writing and erasing, etc, he wandered out of the room toward his office. The students followed along, gathering outside the office. The prof started pulling books off of his shelf and consulting them - several books - several more minutes.
Then he seemed to find enlightenment and returned to the classroom. When everyone was again seated he announced. "Yes, of course. It's trivial."
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In my own experience, I found that being successful at high school mathematics was detrimental to me. I went to a small rural school where math was a breeze and got to a large state school where I was placed right into advanced an mathematics course after doing well in a combination of the SAT Math and the University's placement test. I failed this course as I was unprepared for the necessary work and discipline needed to succeed. This was a wake up call that got me into gear, thankfully.
What I have found though, as I went through my graduate studies was that often, everyone in the program is good at math and is smart. Some are a bit quicker than others, but everyone is generally pretty bright. For the most part, the successful graduate students are the ones with the work effort and the grit.
If your read any of <NAME>'s (and now Lubinski's and Benbow's) work out of Johns Hopkins on mathematical precociousness you will see that even the most brilliant mathematical minds can fail. Talent gives you a leg up on your competition, but being willing to work hard gets you across the finish line. And then being dedicated to your craft gets you ahead of your peers.
My point is, if you are willing to work, and put in the effort to maximize your abilities, you are already on the right track to being a successful graduate student and scholar in mathematics.
Also, one last bit of advice: If in class, you are not able to follow at first, you are unlikely the only one. Math is hard and complex and requires work to get good at. One of my favorite quotes is "...in mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them." ~<NAME> (i.e., math is hard and requires work).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes, [high school success in math correlates with undergraduate success in math](https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED563105.pdf).
That said, relax. The admission committee isn't a charity organization. Unless (even if) you are from a minority/child of a rich alumni/famous etc, you wouldn't have gotten accepted if they didn't think you were capable of passing their curriculum.
Upvotes: 0
|
2018/07/03
| 1,592
| 6,640
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<issue_start>username_0: **Background**
My life had (and still has) difficult problems (chronic disease and its consequences: social isolation, anxiety, having to take extra measures to take care of my health...). As a disclaimer, I am in psychological therapy right now.
That being said, I managed to finish my bachelor’s degree (mathematics, with a very uneven transcript with both very high and very low grades) and after that I did my master's degree, this time with very high grades. I did my master's thesis and then I was offered Ph.D. admission by the same research group in which I did the master's thesis.
**To the point**
Now, the problem is that I am constantly reevaluating if I should do my Ph.D or 1) either find another program or 2) move outside the academia, and I am unable to make this decision due to the fact that I think personal issues are interfering. I identify several more or less objective *problems*:
1. The Ph.D is in an applied department (biology), which is formed by specialists in the area, I have been told the research group is good in its area by a professor from another department (from the same university) which I trust, but since I am a newbie and have little knowledge about the area, I cannot test it myself. I have been here for 6 months.
2. I did not choose this Ph.D. They chose me. I think ph.D students are actually scarce where I live, and that is a reason why they hired me. I feel I could be in a more satisfying Ph.D program or area.
3. It is likely difficult for me to get funding in other Ph.D programs due to the problem stated above. This Ph.D is the comfort zone, I have funding (this is Spain, where even in private companies salaries, for graduate students with no experience, are not that high).
4. I feel like academia is a good fit because it allows me to work without a fixed schedule and in a non stressing environment. Note that I have not really worked outside academia.
5. My Ph.D supervisor is great, I like her as a person. *But* although she is a mathematician, I sometimes feel like she *left* mathematics and now she is a biologist more than a mathematician. This is leading me to think she not the right person to supervise a mathematician, past Ph.D students are happy with her, but most of them have biology related studies. Also,
6. She chose a Ph.D subject which is now in stagnation. I warned my Ph.D supervisor about this likely outcome several months ago and she told me to trust her, up to a point where we showed we could no longer apply the technique (a particular machine learning technique) we were trying to apply to the topic, leading to now being trying to publish a result so that the time employed is not *lost*. I now feel as if we were trying to desperately find something to publish from a technique that has proven not to be effective. Not to mention that reading through papers in biology is difficult, as I find myself not understanding lots of things.
7. I have enjoyed research, but not most of the time, I fear this has to do with personal problems not letting me concentrate, when I should be reading papers, I end up procrastinating with the phone or forums. I can concentrate when I like what I am doing, but not right now. I also do not feel like I have a strong passion for researching in a particular topic.
8. I am also concerned about overspecializing in a particular topic that leads me to not being hired afterwards.
So the question is, **How can I make sure I want to pursue a ph.D?**, i. e. pretty much what title says, I want to avoid personal issues interfering with the decision.<issue_comment>username_1: The problem is easier than it seems. Your first responsibility is to yourself. What you most need to do is find a way to build a life for yourself that you will enjoy over the long term. This could involve a PhD or not, however, you seem to really be attracted to Academia where a doctorate is required. Earning the degree might actually be the sacrifice you make to achieve your goal. But keep the "good life" rather than the PhD foremost as your goal.
A number of things in what you say indicate that you might profitably look at a different subfield than mathematical biology. You can use your current position, as well as your past education, as a base from which to conduct your search, speaking with other potential supervisors and even institutions. Don't underestimate the value of a good supervisor, of course, and she may be able to help you if you approach her in the right way.
Having been chosen, rather than choosing is possibly a big part of your problem. You "went along" at a point at which it might have been better to "take charge". This led to a number of your other dissatisfactions, I think. But you can take charge without making a clean break at this point until you see something that you really *want* to do.
Also, since you *were* chosen you should have confidence that your skills are not in doubt.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I'd focus on your "topic change" issue. Disclaimer: I am a mathematician, who got his further degrees in CS and is currently intensively collaborating with people from life sciences. It's fun.
Do not fear that it will be to shallow!
=======================================
Yes, you'd be probably working on applications of mathematics to biology, some simulations, formalization, or just convolute data processing.
No, there will be enough depth for research. The more you focus on an area, the more unholy abyss opens there. The *how* and *why exactly* questions are the same as everywhere else.
Now, for soft-skills: they suggested the position to you. This means, they are quite sure, you are capable. Have some trust.
I am deliberately not commenting on your health issues, this is something someone other than strangers on the internet should advice you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: One other point to consider is that while pursuing a PhD degree requires a long-term commitment to complete, accepting a PhD offer does not imply that you must go through the whole process come “hell or high water.” Even (and especially) in countries that issue contracts for PhD students, there is usually a probationary or exploratory period during which either or both sides can decide things aren’t working out for whatever reason and move on with no shame or negative consequences other than the time and resources already spent.
So, unless you’re absolutely against accepting the position or just don’t want to work in the discipline (and even that can change later!) I don’t see much of a reason not to give it a try.
Upvotes: 1
|
2018/07/03
| 950
| 4,268
|
<issue_start>username_0: In cases when the authors would like to make their code available online after it is published, is it recommended for authors to make their code available for review when they submit technical papers for review and possible publication?
Side Note: The author may not necessarily choose to include his code for review because he is "hiding" something. The author may have questions like: (1) Is it the responsibility of the reviewer to review code? (2) What if one of the reviewers proves treacherous with the code? Even if he doesn't replicate the idea, he could add a few things to it and publish it without approving the initial submission for acceptance. For instance it had happened that a reviewer rejected a paper and now wants to publish an extension of such work. The rights of the author has to be respected to the letter especially for example a PhD contribution. The author must be confident that all these are addressed. Also, it is usually assumed that a good research is reproducible even when the code is not made available. Besides, several papers have earned the "respect" of researchers far and wide - and their source codes were not published.<issue_comment>username_1: For computer science conferences recently ACM introduced [Artifact Review and Badging](https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/artifact-review-badging) which incorporates code review in the usual publication review process. As far as I know currently it is not mandatory to submit your code for review but it is recommended and their future direction is to make code review mandatory.
From the ACM website:
>
> ... there remain many circumstances in which such enhanced review will be either infeasible or not possible. As a result, such review processes are encouraged, but remain completely optional for ACM journals and conferences, and when they are made available, it is recommended that participation by authors also be made optional.
>
>
>
If the venue you are interested in publishing at has the option of code review I would highly recommend it. Having your code reviewed by the conference reviewers will give your work more credibility if it passes the review process as your experiments are reproducible. Also the code review will potentially prevent any missed logical errors if any in your code, its always a good idea to have someone revise your work.
From the ACM website:
>
> A variety of recent studies, primarily in the biomedical field, have revealed that an uncomfortably large number of research results found in the literature fail this test, because of sloppy experimental methods, flawed statistical analyses, or in rare cases, fraud.
>
>
>
---
In response to your addendum side note: the best you can do is posting your code to your website or a public code repository such as [GitHub](https://github.com/) which gives you the option of choosing from several copyright licenses you can publicize your code under, the list includes but is not limited to ([GNU v3.0](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html), [MIT](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT), [BSD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_licenses)). These licenses will not prevent someone malicious from stealing your code or work and claiming that it is theirs, but it will give you the bases to claim that someone tried to steal your work. Also a common practice I have seen is adding a summary or a paragraph in each file of your source code saying that the following code is protected by xyz license.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This is in part a field-dependent issue, but if you’re planning to release it anyways, why not make it available for inspection during the review process? There’s no particularly valid argument against releasing the code at that stage, especially if it’s a significant part of your new reported work.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: My view is that all code should be made available at submission. There are no arguments against this that wouldn't also apply to the main manuscript as well.
So should you make code available for review at submission time? Yes.
Will reviewers review the code you submit? Depends, but often they won't.
Will many places require this? No.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/07/03
| 3,081
| 12,922
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm a third-year Ph.D. student. A few months ago, I lost my maternal grandfather and grandmother in quick succession. More recently, I lost my close friend in a bus accident and my paternal grandmother was wheeled into the emergency room. These incidents have affected me personally and I haven't been able to focus on my work as much. I emailed my advisors everytime an incident happened (to take a 2-3 days off) but both of them didn't bother to reply. Even after I met them face to face, they did not ask me how I'm doing or if I need any help?
This has led me to feel that my emotions are not valued and I'm being used just as a tool to get experiments done. Am I wrong to expect a word of condolence from my advisors or do they think that they might cross personal boundaries?<issue_comment>username_1: I received such words of condolences when my father, and later when my grandmother, died. That said, this depends on the people - one would hope that the advisor(s) would be understanding and polite, but this might not always be the case. There is little to do but find someone to talk to elsewhere.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Expressions of emotional concern are a tricky balance for supervisors to find sometimes, and can also have a strong cultural or religious component to it. For example, some faiths have suggested that mourning should be confined to a very particular interval and not extend past that. (I’m aware of this in certain Muslim and Jewish denominations, for instance).
Also, the response of an individual to reminders of grief can be intense and unexpected, and advisors may not want to put you under any additional pressure or stress or cause an episode while you’re meeting that they can’t or don’t feel comfortable handling.
So it just might be that they don’t want to cross any boundaries that feel inappropriate.
All of that said, there does remain a finite possibility that they may view their advisees as labor input rather than complex human beings. Such advisors sadly do exist and are not particularly enjoyable to work for.
If it’s an important enough issue that you feel that it’s making you less interested in your work or the relationship with your advisors, you may want to consider having a discussion with them at the end of a meeting to discuss it.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: Strange question in some ways. Are you really asking if it is OK for you to expect something or if the other person should do something. Or if it is OK for you to not get the work done.
I'm sorry about your folks. That is real life. All that said, your advisor is not your family or even your boss at work (and in the workplace people will differ also). At the end of the day, there is no requirement for your advisor to show you concern. You need to be self sourcing on the emotional front and on the getting work done for your Ph.D.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> Am I wrong to expect a word of condolence from my advisors
>
>
>
Sort of depends what you mean by 'expect'. You're obviously not wrong for hoping that anyone and everyone in your life will be compassionate for your loss. But if you mean 'expect' as in, 'this is an expectation I have and I will complain and/or refuse to work if I don't get it', then probably yes. You mention feeling like your advisors don't care about your emotions and that you're just a tool. What kind of relationship do you expect or currently have with your advisors? You're their student, they're your supervisors. You are in each other's lives because you believe you can help each other's careers. Why would emotions come into it? How much do you care about theirs?
You needed them to know that you would be unavailable to work for a few days. They didn't reply so you can assume they weren't going to object to this. That's all the information that either party needs. Your emotional needs should be met elsewhere.
Edited to clarify: I'm not saying your advisors were right in ignoring your emails or in not offering a brief condolence. Actually I think frankly it was slightly jerk-ish of them both. However, my point is that when you use the word 'expect', you set up the question differently from 'wouldn't it be nice if they did?'. Essentially, your response to this should be to vent to your friends and family, both about your losses and about your advisors, if you feel the need to. But I don't think you have much of a case if you intend to approach your advisors about their lack of interpersonal communication.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Originally posted as a comment but probably works as an answer as well:
Assuming they haven't had any issue with you taking several days off and are treating you as professionally as usual now that you are back, I would take that as a sign of their support. They are keeping the matter professional and have not pressed for details or 'evidence' to back up your unexpected leave. Obviously your milage may vary but I quite like the 'no questions asked' approach to personal matters. If I want to discuss it as friends or personally, I'll bring it up myself.
So I would say you shouldn't 'expect' condolences depending on the culture of your workplace - they are making an effort not to invade your privacy and are allowing you to take the days off you require without prying into your personal affairs.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: (The poster asks, essentially, whether he should expect his advisers to offer condolences for his bereavements.)
It depends on what kind of people your advisers are. But you should have some idea of that already. My very limited experience of academia is that it isn't particularly full of caring and empathic human beings, but I am sure there are some even there. To answer your questions - yes, I think it's entirely reasonable for your advisers to at least write a few sentences in reply to your emails to say they are sorry for your losses, and ignoring you entirely isn't very nice. But unfortunately people (including academics) are often not very nice; it's just something you need to make allowances for. I also think it would be reasonable for them to express some sympathy in person. I'm not sure if it is reasonable to expect them to ask if you needed help - that would depend more on the kind of relationship you had with them.
Disclaimer: this answer reflects my personal biases, because I really dislike being ignored, particularly by email. Unfortunately this is common in a busy and crowded world, where things are increasingly about the bottom line.
You might want to expand your answer to explicitly tell us what reaction they had to you wanting to take a few days off. And did this require any adjustments in your academic schedule? E.g. did you miss any scheduled meetings? And if so, what reactions did you get from your advisers, if any?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: Advisors are people who you have a association with. It is absolutely okay to expect any human in your life to wish you well, and when you've had as bad a year as you clearly have then that goes double.
Caring for your advisees (which is after all the job of an adviser, at least in a professional sense) while keep a professional distance is not difficult. Saying "I'm sorry for your loss" is not going to make someone suddenly think you are their best friend.
Honestly, the idea that we can't expect basic human decency from people in academia either because its "not professional" or because "academia is full of people that have trouble with people" just enables and excuses poor behavior. Sure some people find social interaction difficult, and inappropriate behavior can be somewhat forgiven if an individual is clearly trying but getting some subtleties wrong. But saying "academics are bad at people" just gives an excuse to not even try.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_8: What the advisors did strikes me as extremely rude. If someone tells me about their recent loss, it's a basic norm of politeness to offer condolences in reply, irrespective of whether we are close to each other or complete strangers.
After that's done, whether to ever bring it up again, or whether to bring it up at all if you learned from elsewhere, may indeed depend on you relationships. Also, offering condolences in personal conversation may be an awkward task for some, but this excuse does not apply as the conversation took place over e-mail. Writing a standard sentence shouldn't be difficult for anyone. Even more so since professionally, as a rule you do answer a request for days off.
So, based on your description, I would judge that not only they don't care for you personally, they don't care enough to even make their behaviour look respectful and professional.
All of this has little to do with academia, of course.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: I suspect that local culture has a large effect on this. I'm answering from Germany.
* First some context: Here, the unionized employment contracts (TVL for academia) specifies that on the death of spouse/legal partner, child or parent your employer has to give you 2 extra days off (they can of course give more).
* In any case, you have to ask for the time off. And time off to attend a funeral is a fairly common thing, even in academia - so something that I'd expect to be handled professionally.
If it is not so close a loss (say, a more distant relative), the procedure would be like "I need a day off to attend a funeral next Weekday" "I'm sorry. Of course."
* Ask for time off (for any reason) is something that always requires an answer, either confirming or denying the request. Not answering is so unprofessional that I'd consider it an indication the email was not received.
* I'd say the cultural norm is to have at the very least a brief sentence of condolences in the reply email. If a supervisor does not feel up to typing a personal sentence, they could always use generic fall-back formulations (say, "my condolences" instead of "best regards"). But not including even such a short generic phrase would be considered extremely rude.
* I've never heard of a case where the request for a time off in order to attend a funeral was refused. To give an example, the defense of my Diplom (master) thesis was shifted about 2 days because one of the committee had to attend a funeral. (I was asked and agreed to do the defense 2 days earlier)
Usually the time off will be subtracted from the amount of holidays you have.
All points up to here I'd consider the minimum standard.
---
* On the other hand, I consider it a sad fact of life that some people will behave inappropriately - and in times where you do not have the emotional resources to glance over such incidents that will hurt more.
So while I describe here what I consider the cultural norm, nevertheless you better prepare yourself for the case that those norms are not met.
---
The next points would be not as clear cut and more depending on circumstances
* E.g. depending on how close the loss was, finding a substitute for scheduled appointments (such as teaching duties) would be either on the supervisor for close losses or on you (for more distant losses).
* As to behaviour when next meeting in person: that would be more varied.
+ People are awkward about death, and may not know what to say or do and thus refrain from saying anything. Consider also that you do not know what recent losses your supervisor may have had, even if they would usually be able to handle the situation more gracefully, they may not be just now.
+ Etiquette here is that a supervisor will not tell the group of your loss unless you ask them to. So you colleagues will not automatically know. (Ideally, of course, the supervisor could ask you in their reply to your request for time off whether you wish them to inform the colleagues.)
+ The context of that next meeting also plays into what to expect/from the "ideal" supervisor's point of view what to say/do. E.g. if that meeting is on the hallway or in a room with colleagues who may not know of your loss they may want to be very careful not to trigger emotions that you may not want to display in public.
* Asking whether you need help would be considered a sincere offer to help, not a polite glance-by expression. It is outside what can be expected (depending somewhat on how close the relationship is - but it doesn't seem so close in your case).
I'd say briefly asking "Better now?" when next meeting in person would indicate they acknowledge your loss without wanting to go in details.
"How are you doing?" (like "Do you need help/can I somehow help you?") would be asking for a longish explanation of how you are (and in the context of close losses the one who asks should be prepared to meet emotions). Again, outside the expected for a work relationship.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/07/03
| 2,975
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<issue_start>username_0: CC BY-SA requires that you distribute anything derivative of the work with the same license.
I found a very nice but complex diagram (let's say a CAD model) under this license and I would like to modify it to add the relevant information on top of it for an introduction to a paper. Can I use this image on a scientific paper in any case, or I must make sure that the paper itself is under CC BY-SA?<issue_comment>username_1: I received such words of condolences when my father, and later when my grandmother, died. That said, this depends on the people - one would hope that the advisor(s) would be understanding and polite, but this might not always be the case. There is little to do but find someone to talk to elsewhere.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Expressions of emotional concern are a tricky balance for supervisors to find sometimes, and can also have a strong cultural or religious component to it. For example, some faiths have suggested that mourning should be confined to a very particular interval and not extend past that. (I’m aware of this in certain Muslim and Jewish denominations, for instance).
Also, the response of an individual to reminders of grief can be intense and unexpected, and advisors may not want to put you under any additional pressure or stress or cause an episode while you’re meeting that they can’t or don’t feel comfortable handling.
So it just might be that they don’t want to cross any boundaries that feel inappropriate.
All of that said, there does remain a finite possibility that they may view their advisees as labor input rather than complex human beings. Such advisors sadly do exist and are not particularly enjoyable to work for.
If it’s an important enough issue that you feel that it’s making you less interested in your work or the relationship with your advisors, you may want to consider having a discussion with them at the end of a meeting to discuss it.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: Strange question in some ways. Are you really asking if it is OK for you to expect something or if the other person should do something. Or if it is OK for you to not get the work done.
I'm sorry about your folks. That is real life. All that said, your advisor is not your family or even your boss at work (and in the workplace people will differ also). At the end of the day, there is no requirement for your advisor to show you concern. You need to be self sourcing on the emotional front and on the getting work done for your Ph.D.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> Am I wrong to expect a word of condolence from my advisors
>
>
>
Sort of depends what you mean by 'expect'. You're obviously not wrong for hoping that anyone and everyone in your life will be compassionate for your loss. But if you mean 'expect' as in, 'this is an expectation I have and I will complain and/or refuse to work if I don't get it', then probably yes. You mention feeling like your advisors don't care about your emotions and that you're just a tool. What kind of relationship do you expect or currently have with your advisors? You're their student, they're your supervisors. You are in each other's lives because you believe you can help each other's careers. Why would emotions come into it? How much do you care about theirs?
You needed them to know that you would be unavailable to work for a few days. They didn't reply so you can assume they weren't going to object to this. That's all the information that either party needs. Your emotional needs should be met elsewhere.
Edited to clarify: I'm not saying your advisors were right in ignoring your emails or in not offering a brief condolence. Actually I think frankly it was slightly jerk-ish of them both. However, my point is that when you use the word 'expect', you set up the question differently from 'wouldn't it be nice if they did?'. Essentially, your response to this should be to vent to your friends and family, both about your losses and about your advisors, if you feel the need to. But I don't think you have much of a case if you intend to approach your advisors about their lack of interpersonal communication.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Originally posted as a comment but probably works as an answer as well:
Assuming they haven't had any issue with you taking several days off and are treating you as professionally as usual now that you are back, I would take that as a sign of their support. They are keeping the matter professional and have not pressed for details or 'evidence' to back up your unexpected leave. Obviously your milage may vary but I quite like the 'no questions asked' approach to personal matters. If I want to discuss it as friends or personally, I'll bring it up myself.
So I would say you shouldn't 'expect' condolences depending on the culture of your workplace - they are making an effort not to invade your privacy and are allowing you to take the days off you require without prying into your personal affairs.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: (The poster asks, essentially, whether he should expect his advisers to offer condolences for his bereavements.)
It depends on what kind of people your advisers are. But you should have some idea of that already. My very limited experience of academia is that it isn't particularly full of caring and empathic human beings, but I am sure there are some even there. To answer your questions - yes, I think it's entirely reasonable for your advisers to at least write a few sentences in reply to your emails to say they are sorry for your losses, and ignoring you entirely isn't very nice. But unfortunately people (including academics) are often not very nice; it's just something you need to make allowances for. I also think it would be reasonable for them to express some sympathy in person. I'm not sure if it is reasonable to expect them to ask if you needed help - that would depend more on the kind of relationship you had with them.
Disclaimer: this answer reflects my personal biases, because I really dislike being ignored, particularly by email. Unfortunately this is common in a busy and crowded world, where things are increasingly about the bottom line.
You might want to expand your answer to explicitly tell us what reaction they had to you wanting to take a few days off. And did this require any adjustments in your academic schedule? E.g. did you miss any scheduled meetings? And if so, what reactions did you get from your advisers, if any?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: Advisors are people who you have a association with. It is absolutely okay to expect any human in your life to wish you well, and when you've had as bad a year as you clearly have then that goes double.
Caring for your advisees (which is after all the job of an adviser, at least in a professional sense) while keep a professional distance is not difficult. Saying "I'm sorry for your loss" is not going to make someone suddenly think you are their best friend.
Honestly, the idea that we can't expect basic human decency from people in academia either because its "not professional" or because "academia is full of people that have trouble with people" just enables and excuses poor behavior. Sure some people find social interaction difficult, and inappropriate behavior can be somewhat forgiven if an individual is clearly trying but getting some subtleties wrong. But saying "academics are bad at people" just gives an excuse to not even try.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_8: What the advisors did strikes me as extremely rude. If someone tells me about their recent loss, it's a basic norm of politeness to offer condolences in reply, irrespective of whether we are close to each other or complete strangers.
After that's done, whether to ever bring it up again, or whether to bring it up at all if you learned from elsewhere, may indeed depend on you relationships. Also, offering condolences in personal conversation may be an awkward task for some, but this excuse does not apply as the conversation took place over e-mail. Writing a standard sentence shouldn't be difficult for anyone. Even more so since professionally, as a rule you do answer a request for days off.
So, based on your description, I would judge that not only they don't care for you personally, they don't care enough to even make their behaviour look respectful and professional.
All of this has little to do with academia, of course.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: I suspect that local culture has a large effect on this. I'm answering from Germany.
* First some context: Here, the unionized employment contracts (TVL for academia) specifies that on the death of spouse/legal partner, child or parent your employer has to give you 2 extra days off (they can of course give more).
* In any case, you have to ask for the time off. And time off to attend a funeral is a fairly common thing, even in academia - so something that I'd expect to be handled professionally.
If it is not so close a loss (say, a more distant relative), the procedure would be like "I need a day off to attend a funeral next Weekday" "I'm sorry. Of course."
* Ask for time off (for any reason) is something that always requires an answer, either confirming or denying the request. Not answering is so unprofessional that I'd consider it an indication the email was not received.
* I'd say the cultural norm is to have at the very least a brief sentence of condolences in the reply email. If a supervisor does not feel up to typing a personal sentence, they could always use generic fall-back formulations (say, "my condolences" instead of "best regards"). But not including even such a short generic phrase would be considered extremely rude.
* I've never heard of a case where the request for a time off in order to attend a funeral was refused. To give an example, the defense of my Diplom (master) thesis was shifted about 2 days because one of the committee had to attend a funeral. (I was asked and agreed to do the defense 2 days earlier)
Usually the time off will be subtracted from the amount of holidays you have.
All points up to here I'd consider the minimum standard.
---
* On the other hand, I consider it a sad fact of life that some people will behave inappropriately - and in times where you do not have the emotional resources to glance over such incidents that will hurt more.
So while I describe here what I consider the cultural norm, nevertheless you better prepare yourself for the case that those norms are not met.
---
The next points would be not as clear cut and more depending on circumstances
* E.g. depending on how close the loss was, finding a substitute for scheduled appointments (such as teaching duties) would be either on the supervisor for close losses or on you (for more distant losses).
* As to behaviour when next meeting in person: that would be more varied.
+ People are awkward about death, and may not know what to say or do and thus refrain from saying anything. Consider also that you do not know what recent losses your supervisor may have had, even if they would usually be able to handle the situation more gracefully, they may not be just now.
+ Etiquette here is that a supervisor will not tell the group of your loss unless you ask them to. So you colleagues will not automatically know. (Ideally, of course, the supervisor could ask you in their reply to your request for time off whether you wish them to inform the colleagues.)
+ The context of that next meeting also plays into what to expect/from the "ideal" supervisor's point of view what to say/do. E.g. if that meeting is on the hallway or in a room with colleagues who may not know of your loss they may want to be very careful not to trigger emotions that you may not want to display in public.
* Asking whether you need help would be considered a sincere offer to help, not a polite glance-by expression. It is outside what can be expected (depending somewhat on how close the relationship is - but it doesn't seem so close in your case).
I'd say briefly asking "Better now?" when next meeting in person would indicate they acknowledge your loss without wanting to go in details.
"How are you doing?" (like "Do you need help/can I somehow help you?") would be asking for a longish explanation of how you are (and in the context of close losses the one who asks should be prepared to meet emotions). Again, outside the expected for a work relationship.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/07/03
| 930
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<issue_start>username_0: I'll be applying to math PhD programs at the end of this year. I’m practicing for the math subject test, lining up letters of recommendation, etc. Along those lines, I just took the GRE general test.
What I've learned from math professors at some of my target schools is that the quantitative portion of the general GRE can only hurt potential applicants. No one in a math graduate admissions role will be impressed with a perfect quant score but a low score will absolutely [raise flags](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/110413/94168). What I didn’t ask, and what I’m now curious about, is the effect of an average analytical-writing score on an application.
From what I understand, I wont be the biggest fish in any candidate pool. The upcoming GRE Math Subject test is extremely difficult and weighed heavily for a candidate like myself (not from a traditionally strong undergraduate math program). There will be applicants from better schools and applicants with better subject scores. If I expect to compete, it will be because my application successfully signals a strong candidacy for a teaching assistant role.
To that end, do admissions officers in math graduate programs ever look at analytical-writing scores? What is the difference, hypothetically, between a 4.0 and a 5.0? I’m interested in analyzing the cost/benefit of retaking the GRE exclusively to improve my analytical-writing score.
* I ran out of time and can likely improve (literally cut off mid-sentence, didn’t finish editing/deleting my outlined thoughts)
* $200 is not a trivial cost but I would consider it given the possibility of a tangible benefit.
* I’m not an international student.
* I will have at least one submitted math publication by December.<issue_comment>username_1: I think the entire GRE General carries very little weight overall in admissions nowadays, except for the caveat that extremely poor scores might hurt you, because it betrays a fundamental weakness in the application (usually that language skills aren’t up to par). But language abilities if you’re an international student are usually judged using the IELTS or TOEFL, so it wouldn’t likely matter unless the school imposes a floor on the Analytical Writing score.
In STEM fields in general, including math, I can’t really think of a scenario where a strong writing score will bump a candidate from rejection to acceptance in isolation.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I like to imagine that giving the zeitgeist of science communication and visualization, that a bit more emphasis would be paid towards the writing portion.
That being said, a general note about the GRE:
The issue with the general GRE is that it has a severe ceiling effect. For most computationally focused graduate students, having a 780+ on the GRE math is a norm. Most of these students slam right into the GRE's ceiling. That's why the subject specific test is important for assessing graduate student abilities. There is a much higher ceiling on gre math subject test and so this allows for a better distribution of scores for people in the far right hand side of the ability distribution.
Once you get to grad school in math, its more about hard work that brains. Even the most brilliant students can fail if they are not prepared for the rigor of graduate school and academia.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Math grad schools **do not care** about the GRE analytical writing score. Don't bother retaking the GRE general test to improve it.
Here's my personal anecdote:
Way back when I was applying for grad school, my GRE analytical writing score was 3.5 -- that's pretty bad, it put me in the 23rd percentile. Yet I got accepted into pure math PhD programs at Chicago, and Cornell.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/07/03
| 562
| 2,275
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<issue_start>username_0: I publish under a single name (no last name). As Google Scholar does not recognise me as an author I face several issues with citation counts and wrong bibliographic data being available in Google Scholar. I have reported this issue several times through the contact us form for Scholar but I just get an automated response from them. What can I do?
Example: When you search my name in scholar, my papers appear not because I am an author but because I am a word in the paper. Google does not index me as an author. So, if some one cites my work as Abhishta et. al. Google has no idea who is being cited.
This situation is a different from the questions that are asked before on this forum as the former questions were discussing problems that journals require multiple names for an author but in this case, the publisher is fine with having a single name and the paper is already published. However there are problems with Scholar indexing the data of the paper.
[First author indexed by Google as](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bVObx.png)
[Actual authors of the paper](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4wvw4.png)<issue_comment>username_1: Dirty hack: write your papers under your one name, twice. (<NAME>)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Google scholar is imperfect. It's based on an automatic parser, rather than human curation. I've seen it make all kinds of mistakes.
What can you do? You already have set up a profile that has the correct information. You can try contacting Google, but don't expect much from them. I doubt they have the resources to deal with everyone who contacts them with an issue. However, they are always improving their algorithm and this may get resolved.
The only other thing I think you can do is alter how your name appears on papers to conform to western expectations, as suggested in this question: [I have only one name shown in my ID card. How do I write my name (surname) in research paper or article?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/83593/i-have-only-one-name-shown-in-my-id-card-how-do-i-write-my-name-surname-in-re)
Overall, I wouldn't worry too much about it. It is easy enough to find your publications online and any human reader will understand that you are mononymous.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/07/04
| 1,763
| 7,319
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<issue_start>username_0: My university is using cracked OS and software throughout. The school is very huge at 70 hectares and there are buildings everywhere. All of the computers in the computer labs and offices are full of cracked Windows and software¹. In our computer labs, we use a cracked OS and software to program and design circuits. Also, the school is credited as a Center of Development which is a world-wide acknowledgement.
The cracked software tends to crash and produces a lot of errors leading to lots of data loss. Especially when it crashes without warning, and data sometimes can get corrupted.
My question is: How did the school get away with this, and is there a way to report this to authorities? I don’t even think my country cares about software pirating anyway (Philippines). Is there a way to report this so that the software in every computer in the university can be replaced and upgraded?
---
¹ Everytime we turn on the computers, the first message we see is "Activate Windows Now", and when we open the programs we use, the first thing you see is the splash screen displaying "Cracked by PerTician Cracker".<issue_comment>username_1: Well, transfering the comment to an answer:
You could report this to the companies developing the software tools. If you fear any repression (which is likely), use some anonymous mail or web contact forms which you access e.g. via tor browser.
I strongly encourage you to do this, because usually academic institutions can often get standard software for very reasonable prices (this might vary from country to country).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Your approach to this problem is very objectionable; you appear inclined to create trouble rather than generate a solution.
I am not saying this because the university is doing the 'right' thing – they aren't, but that's a separate question. You don't indicate any efforts to finding out the reasons for piracy within the university, or to raise the issue with your faculty/network administrators/general administration. Instead, you propose to directly report this to outside authorities. This is stirring trouble.
---
Nevertheless, since there is a real problem, an answer is in order:
(1) How the university got away with it is not a concern, because anything in that direction will be speculative, and impossible for you to verify.
(2) If the frequent crashing and data loss, or any other inaccuracy in calculation is strongly correlated to cracked software, that is a real concern. But be aware that poor upkeep, unauthorised use of USB drives, inadequate malware protection - especially if these are public computers - could cause similar issues. Presumably there is a network administrator, or some group of people responsible for maintenance and network security. Bring the issue to their notice, first informally and then formally. Don't imply that cracked OS is the concern, just highlight your problems. If you can document these problems, your case will be much stronger.
Let them take action, allow a reasonable time. See if you notice an improvement. If you do, the problem may not have been with cracked software.
On the other hand, if there is no improvement, consider informally escalating the issue, preferably through your adviser/student relations in charge/equivalent and simultaneously keeping the student body informed.
Frankly, the choice of software is university policy, you are not in a position to criticise it unless it demonstrably detracts from your work. A number of good answers to a [similar question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/79603/lab-colleague-uses-cracked-software-should-i-report-it?rq=1) suggest that there may indeed be such demonstrable problems.
You must recognise that this is a large issue if it is widespread across the university. The larger the issue, the slower is the solution. Don't expect it to be instantly sorted out. If there is a genuine problem due to pirated software, it will affect many students, and you can feel glad about having initiated something that will positively impact many.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: If you suspect pirated software is being used, you can report it either directly to the software publishers themselves, e.g., [to Microsoft](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/howtotell/cfr/Report.aspx), or you can file a confidential report online with one of the various software industry trade groups, e.g., [the BSA Software Alliance](https://reporting.bsa.org/r/report/add.aspx?src=us&ln=en-us) or [The Software & Information Industry Association](https://www.siia.net/piracy/report/report.asp). (SIIA offers [rewards](https://www.siia.net/piracy/report/tos.asp).)
Realistically, it's the [publishers' responsibility](https://www.export.gov/article?id=Protecting-Intellectual-Property)¹ to protect their intellectual property, not yours. So once you've made a report, I'd let the matter drop. The publishers' attorneys will take it from there. They know how to fix blatant cases like the one you describe. Typically what they do is offer a carrot and a stick, the carrot being a very attractive "get well" price to replace all the pirated software with legitimate copies, and the stick being the threat of a lawsuit. The objective isn't always so much about getting paid for software previously pirated as it is about turning pirates into paying customers, changing their practices to ensure they always buy legitimate copies in the future.
---
¹ “It is the responsibility of the rights' holders to register, protect, and enforce their rights.”
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: We had pretty much the same situation in Russia in early 90s, after the dissolution of USSR and economic crisis that followed. On one hand, the country had access to global market and it became possible for small businesses and large institutions like Universities to purchase desktops for their staff/students. On the flip side, there was rarely any funds available/budgeted for software.
For university lecturers this meant a clash between the desire to be ethical (*do not steal*) and the desire to give students best education, using modern software when appropriate. It was quite usual to come across cracked/pirated software in university lab. Heck, it was not unusual for banks and government agencies (including police) to use a pirated copy of MS Win. Fun times indeed.
Twenty years later, software piracy came to a certain demise. Not because it was reported to Russian police, and not because it was reported to SIIA and whatever other agency. It ended mainly for two reasons: (a) generally speaking Russian economy improved and institutions find it possible to budget money for software; (b) underfunded sectors (including education and science) switched predominantly to free/libre software. There is still a visible amount of piracy in game/media sector, but not that much in software one.
Following the queries in comments, let me clarify the suggestion:
* You can talk to your professors about the possibility to use free/libre (open source) software for your projects. For example, use Linux as operating system, libre office and LaTeX for publishing / essays, [Open Circuit Design](http://opencircuitdesign.com/) for circuit design, etc.
Upvotes: 4
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2018/07/04
| 770
| 3,312
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<issue_start>username_0: I am about to run a survey on large number of engineers in a specific field and ask them about a few specific methods they use for in their industry/research.
Like:
* Are you a researcher/engineer/student?
* Which of the following methods have you heard about? A B C D E
* Which of the following methods have you used in your work? A B C D E
* etc ...
I would like to know if such a survey has any academic value for being published in an engineering journal/conference such as IEEE or Elsevier?
Also, do you know examples of such papers?<issue_comment>username_1: Addressing your concerns directly, from the details you have provided so far in the question, I doubt it can published in an *engineering* discipline as a *journal or conference* such as IEEE or Elsevier. That is unless it is a part of a much more relevant topic of interest in the venue to which you wish to publish.
For instance, in a literature survey of methods to solve a certain problem, you can discuss how prominent a method is from the data drawn from your survey. To look at it in another way, you look at the least favored method and try to explain on how it can be harnessed to give better results than the most favored. There are countless claims you can make based on the conclusions drawn from your survey.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I have seen such things but they were published as articles in trade publications (e.g. *OR/MS* or *ISE* magazine) for the relevant engineering & academic societies?
As pointed out, there may be fields where this is publishable in a conference proceeding or journal, but I've not seen it personally outside the trade publications.
Anecdotally though, I've had several well recognized professors tell me that their articles in these trade publications have been very well received and stimulated a lot of interest.
To specifically answer your question, *Phalanx* published a members survey of their analysts in one of their recent issues (quarterly).
If you're interested in doing it, my advice is (1) ask the editor if they're interested or (2) just write it up and send it in.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I note a couple of things. Your paper wouldn't be about Engineering per se. But it might be related to Engineering Education. This would be the case if the paper is exploring gaps in education or ways to improve it.
Note that "education" here doesn't necessarily mean formal education. It could be about how new techniques percolate through the practitioners and how that can be improved (Training, workshops, ...)
I don't believe that IEEE has a SIG (special interest group) dedicated to education, but such SIGs normally have conferences and publish proceedings and maybe journals.
In particular ACM has an education sig (SIGCSE) that is very active, holds several annual conferences in the US and abroad and publishes conference proceedings, though no formal journal (informative newsletters, etc. only). Some education related things show up in Communications of the ACM. However, the ACM is almost entirely software oriented, whereas IEEE, while concerned with both, focuses more on the hardware side.
With no specific Education SIG at IEEE, you may not find a comfortable resting place for your paper there.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/07/04
| 562
| 2,450
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<issue_start>username_0: Normally, we have to include contact details of three referees for PhD/Postdoc position application. So let’s say we apply for an opening postdoc and include three PhD supervisors as reference. Is there any case that PI (of the Postdoc position) will contact the not listed one (e.g. Msc supervisors) for reference?
PS: let’s say the Msc supervisor is famous and included in CV but not as reference.<issue_comment>username_1: This may vary from place to place. In the Universities which I am familiar with, PIs usually rely on supportive administrative staff (e.g. secretaries) to receive the references and attach them to the application pack. The notion of *famous* is somewhat different for non-academics and I would not expect a secretary neither to recognise your famous MSc supervisor, nor to request an extra reference.
In my practice, we would only seek extra references if we suspect that the provided references are faked and/or the contact details of referees are spoofed.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: The fundamental problem with your question is that there is a very, very wide range of PIs. Has one of them, at one time, stepped out of the confines of the reference letter system and asked about someone?
Of course.
I know because I've been asked. And considered asking people.
For a competitive application process, I generally try not to. I don't think it's fair to the applicants who I don't happen to have personal contacts with some people in their own network. If the "extra" recommendation is good, that person has had more opportunities to impress me. If it's bad, they've lost the opportunity to curate their references the way everyone else got to.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: We probably shouldn't since the application process should be confidential, but I have gotten numerous phone calls from friends asking about people and I have called friends about people. These phone calls typically have an unspoken rule that no one says exactly why the conversation is happening and that the conversation is private. That said, when your department is running a search and the person you are calling about is a likely applicant, it is kind of obvious, but you never know.
I would never have such a conversation over email or request a formal letter. During committee meetings discussing the applicant, might reveal some of what I was told but generally not who told me.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/07/05
| 834
| 3,333
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<issue_start>username_0: It sounds stupid, but I came to realize that it's significantly more difficult for me to read scientific papers when they are typeset in two columns than papers in which the text appears in one column. Something about multiple columns feels too "packed" and wearisome to the point that it takes me a lot more time to read than a single-column paper.
Each publisher chooses its own style, obviously (an interesting discussion about it [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18729/why-do-some-elsevier-journals-use-a-single-column-format)), but what I want to know is if there is any way to transform a two-column paper into a one-column paper for an easier read? Are all papers being published with a single typeset according to the publisher's preference, or perhaps there may be different versions in different databases?<issue_comment>username_1: If the paper has a preprint on on <https://arxiv.org/>
you can select to download "Other Formats".
Then you can probably get the LaTeX source (if it was typeset in latex),
and from there you can modify it (likely very simply) and recompile it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: While the comments (and also Lyndon's answer) give you some ideas that you can try, I suspect the most realistic answer will be that converting a 2-column paper into a format that's slightly easier to read for you will not be worth the (considerable) effort on a consistent basis. So, unless you actually have a disability that makes this impractical, I am afraid you will have to get used to reading papers in this way.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: adobe acrobat has read mode, which rearranges columns in papers into just wall of text as you would like.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: If the paper is in arxiv, you can give [Arxiv Vanity](https://www.arxiv-vanity.com/) a shot.
It tries to convert papers into webpages.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: There a few different ways to do this, depending on affordability and convenience. Since LaTeX has been covered in a previous answer, I'll mention some ways that work for (readable) PDFs.
(1) Get Adobe Acrobat Pro- it allows a lot of direct manipulation within the page.
(2) Acrobat Pro also allows you to export to MS Word, where columns can be easily adjusted.
Now for the free, less convenient options:
(1) Open the PDF through a browser (Chrome and Firefox work, don't know about others). Now export as a text file, copy to a word processor and save back to PDF.
(2) Some free PDF readers allow exporting to text files, which you can then process in a word processor and save back to PDF. Most likely, you won't be able to copy pictures/tables- but since readability is the major issue, you can make do with two files open in adjacent windows, one text-only, one with figures/tables.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: Here's what I do if I want to read a paper only viewing one column at a time:
1. Set the display to portrait mode. (I have 2 displays, one is always in portrait mode and the other in landscape mode)
2. Set the zoom factor to about 280%. (The best zoom factor to use varies a bit depending on how the journal typeset the paper and the dimensions & aspect ratio of your display.)
3. Use the horizontal scrollbar to center the column.
4. Read
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: But I don't understand if it is ethical because he was the one who identified the problem. I wouldn't have thought of the answer if he hadn't asked the question. I am an undergraduate and this is my first time in research. I do not understand the process, I think. But is this how research works? What is the proper way to proceed now?<issue_comment>username_1: There is no ethical issue. You should be proud of your accomplishment and publish the paper. It may be, in fact, that the professor saw the problem but not the solution and needed it himself.
In fact, it is fairly common for a dissertation advisor for the doctorate to provide the problems to his/her students that result in their degrees. That isn't universal, but happens regularly in some fields.
On the other hand, in some fields (mathematics, say) the ability to ask the right questions is extremely important - more so than finding the eventual answers in many cases. But to be a complete researcher you need to be able to do both. However, it isn't expected that you get this ability naturally. So, in a way, the professor is "kick starting" you on your way to being a good researcher.
Of course, you can also say in the paper that the problem was proposed by Professor X of University Y. The professor can give you advice about the advisability of that, of course.
Moreover, the question posed by the professor got you thinking. You got to thinking about the solution. But I also guess that it got you thinking about the *next* question that needs to be asked. If so, you are on your way.
---
I should also note, for completeness, that there have been occasions in which someone has posted important unsolved problems as "exercises" in books and elsewhere. This has sometimes been done without comment. The idea is to get the problem out to a wide variety of people who know the topic and might, somehow, have the insight to solve it. Don Knuth, for example, has done this in Computer Science:[The Art of Computer Programming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Computer_Programming).
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: Nice work! There is certainly no ethical issue here, and not really much gray area either because this professor, who is the only other person there would be any measure of shared credit to consider, has advised you to send the work to a conference. Since they did not propose it as a shared submission, it seems like they most likely view you as the sole author of the work.
If you want to completely cover your bases, it would be appropriate to ask that professor for further advice just like you have asked us:
>
> I am new to research and unsure of proper conventions. Since you suggested the problem, do you think I need to acknowledge your contribution in some way? If so, how?
>
>
>
Answering these sorts of questions is exactly what an academic advisor is for.
You may also consider asking them for advice on a proper conference to submit to, since this can be quite tricky for someone inexperienced.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Ask your professor if he would agree to read the introduction for your solution in the upcoming conference. Also investigate if this has not been solved already. Your professor is the one who should guide you and give you advice about everything.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: One of the biggest challenges I face year after year in teaching—and one that seems to affect my teaching evaluations—is that students are convinced that they are doing poorly in my course, no matter how much I reassure them that this isn’t the case.
Part of the problem is that the university provides a standard grading scale, and many of the instructors in my department strictly implement, a grading scale where you need to earn 90% of the available points for an A, 80% for a B, and so on. A fixed, unalterable predetermined scale irks me significantly for a number of reasons:
* Chasing after an arbitrary goal is a bad way to actually learn material. I’d rather students worry about being able to apply what I teach them later than the grade they’re going to get.
* Difficulty must be pre-judged, and gauged accurately, to ensure a fair grade distribution. This means if I screw up the difficulty of a question, I end up “hosing” my students.
* There is little opportunity to recover from one or two mistakes on an exam during the semester, particularly if they are worth a large portion of the grade each. I don’t think one bad day should screw things up for my students.
* I could impose an alternate scale but then I’d be committed to that—same basic result just different checkpoints.
* Because of the nature of the class, it’s easy to make a mistake early on in a problem that means you can’t solve the rest of the problem, and the result must unfortunately be a low score (a student might make an error early and can only get 5 out of 20 points, but a mistake later on might result in a grade of 18 out of 20).
So I use the basic scale, but adjust it **in the students’ favor** at the end of the semester to adjust for what I think makes a fair and equitable grading distribution, and most students do reasonably well, because that’s an accurate reflection of their performance overall. But no matter how much I tell the students in the class that this will take place, no one really seems to believe it. (A typical distribution will typically be 20% A’s, with most of the rest B’s and C’s.)
**Is there a way I can convince my students that even though my grading is strict but fair, even when students don’t get very good scores on individual graded exercises?**
---
There has been some issue about the amount of adjustment going on, so I should probably clarify. Typically, the curve amounts to about two-thirds to a full letter grade: so the borderline for an A would be in the low 80's rather than 90. This curving amount leads to a distribution that is about 20% to 30% of the students receive an A, with about two-thirds B's and C's, and a smattering of D's and F's.
There was also the issue of how much grading is done, and it caused some confusion because I worked in two different positions where the grading is completely different. For the course I'm describing in this question, the students receive grades on every homework assignment, take a series of eight quizzes, and have a project in addition to a final. So students know what the "worst-case scenario" will be if there is no rescaling, so there is plenty of opportunity for feedback and course correction. My issue is absolutely not with grading—it's with grading on a *predetermined scale.*<issue_comment>username_1: Something I've occasionally done after grading tests and preparing a (handwritten) histogram of the grades (5 point increments was usually enough for me), and the grades were a bit low and I also felt the test was a bit hard, was to decide where A, B, C, etc. cutoffs would be and then scale (or add points, or something; just make it explicit and tell the students) the grades accordingly. In your case, just make the adjustment so that the A's are 90 and above, the B's are 80 to 89, etc. I don't recall what I called this (I haven't taught in 13 years), maybe nothing and I just wrote the raw grade down and put the adjusted grade next to it and circled the adjusted grade, but I suppose you could call this an "administrative grade adjustment". Since this gets written on their tests and recorded in your grade book BEFORE the tests are handed back, I would think you're not violating the guidelines you're trying to get around.
Incidentally, the reason I did this when grades were a bit low is that I didn't want, for example, 5 points on test #2 that covers hard stuff being counted equally with 5 points on test #3 that covers easy stuff when computing averages at the end, as this would be unfair to someone who put a lot of effort into preparing for test #2 on hard stuff as compared to someone else who put the same effort into preparing for test #3 on easy stuff, where the former gets less points than the latter for the same amount of work.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I found that being as open and transparent about the grading policy is important. In the past course I taught, students performance improved on testing measures as semester started. The midterm was most students' weakest grade with their final being much higher. I was up front about this on day one and told the students not to worry as the midterm would always be curved to where the average grade was an 85/100 (not counting the bonus question). I learned the benefit of this the hard way after my first semester.
Other tricks that I have learned that make grading less of a pain for students (with minimal effort on my part):
1. Never put gotcha questions on exams. I tell students that there will never be a question on the exam with content not covered in the lecture/slides. Further I provide a review sheet with topics and an example of what is a good response to a short essay question and what is a poor response. What is on that list is on the test. If a topic is not on the review list, its not on the test.
2. I am up front about curves and where students have traditionally done poorly in the course. There is never any surprises in my course. Surprises are for parties and presents, not university courses.
3. I tell students that I have a record of student performance on different test items. If students from a class do poorly on an item that historically students have done well on, I curve that item. For example, if the test average is a 90/100 (above my test curve) but an item on the test had a 2/5 average when the historical average is 4/5, I will curve that item up. And everyone gets the two points. I tell the students that, in that case, the fault is likely mine in that I did not teach that topic particularly well.
In particular, I have found that point 3 is the most popular with students but also the one that comes up the least in grading.
In short, I have found that fairness in grading is largely about student perception rather than any mathematical fairness in the grading.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Dealing with the university "standard" is much easier than it seems, since they don't (can't) determine what a "point" is. So 90% of the available points is meaningless.
There is a form of grading called "cumulative grading" (maybe some other terms apply). Decide that the course as a whole is "worth" 1000 points. Create student exercises/exams/whatever that total to 1000. For example, Project A is "worth" 300 points toward the goal. When a student does an exercise they get a certain number of points up to 300. (See below for refinements.) Every piece of graded work has a value, possibly all different, and they add up to your total.
The list of tasks and their individual point "values" are listed in the syllabus. Students get to see the big picture, up front.
You can penalize for late work as you like.
The students always know exactly where they are. When they earn 700 points they know that they have a C or better - guaranteed. The University is satisfied and the student knows absolutely.
An additional element/benefit of this is that some students have many things to do and my class may not be the most important thing. They might be satisfied with a B if it gave them time to work on other, higher priority, things and they could do so without risk.
### Important Refinements.
I always let students repeat/refine their work for regrading. They couldn't earn full points on regrading, but, say, up to 90% of the points lost at first grading could be returned to them if they improved the work sufficiently. This means, essentially, that if they got 270 points on that project, missing out on 30, that they could earn back 27 points leaving them only 3 points short of full marks.
Re-grading gave two advantages. One is that I never got whiny complaints about points. Second, when I thought a student (or team) really needed to revisit their work, I could give a relatively low score on the initial submission. They thus had more incentive to improve it.
You may not want to do the following, depending on your load and your students, but I didn't limit the number of times a student could re-do a piece of work. I made exceptions only if it got excessive as the down side, for a few students, is that they obsess over some early work, falling behind on the new. So it takes balance.
In computing summary grades, no student ever misses a mark by an insignificant amount. If someone is ten points out of a thousand short at the end of the term their grade is "rounded" up. This is perfectly justifiable as there is likely some (hopefully small) subjective element to any grading of projects and the like. I gave up on "objective" exams a long time ago, since they measure only poorly and can be greatly affected by other things such as student stress, etc.
Finally, at the end of the course, I looked at the grades overall according to the above measures. I asked myself whether this seemed to be a fair measure of what the group as a whole learned. Usually it was fine, but once in a while it turned out that the grading itself was somehow off, and the students were better than the curve suggested. I'd make an adjustment. No one ever questioned this, nor would they have any reason to. Tenure is a great thing, however, when you want/need to do something that the University frowns upon. At the end of the day (term) you need to be reasonable.
Note also that I had a reputation around the University of being very hard/strict/demanding. But the students always had a reason to feel good about themselves and how they did. This is, in some ways, nearly as important at the technical (Computer Science) things I taught them. Actually being more gentle than your reputation is a plus.
Also, note that the philosophy behind this whole scheme is "You aren't here to prove to me that you don't need to be here."
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: To satisfy the students' need to know their current standing in the course and meet the university's requirement for a strict grading scale you need to create a different system. The design of the system needs to be based only on itself, not past methods, and a complete *from the ground up* redesign.
**Caveat**: *This system does not work well in a strictly fact-based subject area, such as History. It is best utilized in an "applied" field.*
The first point in the new system is to test the apprehension of the subject matter as opposed to testing their ability to execute a procedure. An electronic device can do the latter while the former represents what should be the goal of education. Many people experienced elementary mathematics courses where they were instructed to "show your work." Much as students dislike doing so, it allows the instructor to grade the work, not the final answer. It's possible to drop half a point for failing to "carry" the one a single time when grading the "work" while only being possible to add or drop the full 5 points when grading the final answer alone. Meeting this objective requires that you design your examination questions such that the work *can* be shown, and will help demonstrate the grasp, or lack thereof, the student has on the principle involved. You also must explain to the students that their work, which demonstrates their understanding, is the target of your evaluations. A wrong final answer *does* mean dropped points, as wrong is still wrong. Why, and how, the answer is wrong determines the amount of lost points.
With the redesigned exams, and other assignments, developed, the system needs to have "weights" applied to various types of work. Exactly how those are distributed will depend on how the course, as a whole, is designed, and how you have decided to partition the assessments. By way of an example, you could use the following:
* Weekly quizzes (14), scored 0-10 pts: 1% of total (each) [14% in aggregate]
* Lab assignments (4), scored 0-65 pts: 6.5% of total (each) [26% in aggregate]
* Mid-term exam, scored 0-300 pts: 30% of total
* Final exam, scored 0-300 pts: 30% of total
* Final total is up to 1000 pts. Letter grades assigned per institutional/departmental standard percentage scales.
If the course syllabus includes your weighting, or break-down, of the final grade, the students will always know where their work-to-date stands in relation to the final grade. If your institution requires a grade of "C or better" for prerequisite courses, the weight of the final exam can be set such that earning such a grade without the final exam is a statistical anomaly. In the example given, a student would have to earn *every point* available for all work, quizzes, and exams during the term to obtain a 70%, or "C" grade without the final exam. Of course, if rework is allowed, then such a perfect score becomes less unlikely, and the weights would need adjusting.
The final piece of the revamped system is in how the student work is graded, and points assessed. As covered in the beginning, evaluation of the work, rather than the result, is a key element. Other elements are:
* *Not* assigning a point value to each question
* Evaluating the work from all of the students and marking errors without assigning points in an initial round (A "raw" score, not recorded on the paper might be helpful without being a requirement)
* Using the aggregate of the assignment, establish the cutoff for pass/fail and making a curve to cover the remainder
* Assign the points-earned to each paper based on the curve created for that assessment and the student's marks on it (Fractional points are acceptable, or assign a percentage rather than points)
* The assigned points, or percentage, not the raw score, are the scores entered into the course record for the student
If you allow for the reworking of assignments, then the curve will have to accommodate the probability that most students will avail themselves of that option whenever the initial score is below some threshold. The threshold will be personal to each student, of course, while the average grade for the student body is likely to indicate a typical value. Universities with a highly-motivated student body might expect the threshold to be near, or above, 90%, while a nursing college might expect students in computer classes to have a threshold of near, or below, 70%.
The system will meet the institutional guidelines of a strict grading scale and provide transparency in the grading system for students and faculty. As long as it is made clear to the students that their "work" is the basis of your assessment, they will have the knowledge that your grading is fair, even if your evaluation of their work is strict. Always assigning the score to the graded papers, along with the syllabus-listed break-down, allows any student to see their individual progress toward their target grade (hopefully always an "A"). By grading their work you can see where they might be faltering. If the graded papers include your notes, or comments, on their work, they can also see what they don't grasp when they thought they did, and can either restudy that area, or ask you for help with it. Lastly, evaluating the work allows you to avoid the situation where a simple error in the beginning of a problem causes a disproportionately low score. You can also evaluate the students' knowledge rather than their test-taking skills.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: Perhaps one option would be to supply your students with your past grading data showing how much you scaled previous classes. This would need to be anonymised of course, and you might even want to add some controlled contamination to the data to make it impossible for students to identify a past student, but it should still be possible to show them the distribution of the raw marks, and how the distribution of the scaled marks after your adjustment.
If this kind of data were supplied, it would give students an empirical basis to estimate their scaled mark from their present raw marks, or at least get a rough sense of what to expect. The upside of this is that they will have a more realistic sense of how they are doing, perhaps mitigating the problem you are having now. Of course, a corresponding danger is that you might decide to scale less than before in one year, and students might be upset, having expected a higher scaled grade. Still, if your problem is that students don't believe you, perhaps showing them the hard data is best.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: At others have alluded to, you will have trouble assuring students that they will receive a fair grade because the grading scheme you've suggested isn't actually fair. Literally no one knows even what the grades will be until the end when the adjustments are made.
Why do I assert that the grading is unfair? You have missed one of the purposes of grades, which is to help students determine where they need to expend their efforts during a grading term. Even if the final grades end up being a reasonable reflection of the final understandings of your students, the ones who do poorly did not really receive a fair shake, because they were missing a primary indicator that they needed to pay much more attention. The same can actually be said of the students who did well; without clear performance feedback from you, they have little sense of whether they are rising to expectations, and even if you informally assure them that they are headed towards a reasonable grade, that means very different things to different people.
(As a small practical aside, why are you only curving at the end of the term? At the very least, why not curve each assessment as you go?)
While it is true that a question can accidentally be too hard, if the grades are as low as your question seems to indicate, then it sounds like your assessments are systematically too difficult, which means you're probably not thinking hard about what you realistically expect from your students. Remember, all that curving at the end does is to prevent you from having to design real, reasonable, and achievable course expectations. You can keep the work at an unreasonably high level, students can consistently miss the mark, and you can kind of pretend that they're getting it. But this isn't good pedagogy. Something is missing here.
I might sound harsh, but I am not unsympathetic to you. I appreciate the instinct to push grades aside and focus on the topic itself, which is the thing that can change our students into better people, and is ultimately the goal of the instruction, but ignoring grades in this way creates needless anxiety for students who depend on those grades for scholarships, good relations with their families, graduate admissions, or class rank. I would encourage you not to hold your nose and think about grades as some sort of necessary evil. Instead, you can use them as an opportunity to communicate whether your expectations are being met. Grades are an extremely powerful tool that we wield to drive real education, perhaps the most powerful leverage that we ultimately have. Don't let this tool go to waste.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: Today I saw a photograph of an upcoming exam at my university. At first I thought it was last year's exam; so I took a closer look at it as I think it is okay to see last year's exams even if they aren’t officially published.
Anyway, later someone revealed to me that it was the upcoming exam which we’ll take in about three weeks.
It was taken by another student in my course, who took it while the teacher was on a break outside the room.
I feel bad and unethical about seeing it, as it seems to be cheating for me, and even more I’m worried about my further career if this ever comes out.
On one hand I don’t want to harm the other student who took the photo, on the other hand I don’t want to risk my career.
It is a semi difficult exam; I would say you should pass it quite well if you learned for it.
So what should I do? If I tell the university I’d probably have to reveal the identity of the person who took it, which I don’t want to do under any circumstances.
---
There have been some questions on how the pic was made: the prof brought the exam to a lesson to give a rough guideline on what to learn or not. During the break he went outside (as I and many others as well) to get a coffee and that's how the pic was made. I know for sure that it is the upcoming exam as it had a big heading with our course name and year.
For those who say it is also cheating to look at old exams:
I think you agree on that seeing an actual exam before you are going to take it is another dimension than seeing a year-old one.
Also this is very common where I study. It´s not like we are using really illegal copies, it is just that we often see pics of post-exam reviews. It is allowed to make them and there is no NDA on it (at least I never had to sign one), the exams just aren't published officially. I also bet every prof knows that this is going on here and tolerates it (some said so explicitly).
Also some said I should "rat" the guy who took it: I don't know the punishment for taking a photo of an exam, but I doubt it is modest, considering the - in my eyes negligent - prof. Also I don't want to be responsible for "destroying" the career of another, very young, student. Also it would probably come out who "ratted" him out, and I doubt that I would have much fun in the next two years then (I think you can say that in our course it is considered worse to "rat" somebody than to do to reveal something unethical, but I really doubt that this differs anywhere in the world).
Anyways: Today I have created a new Mail-Address and send the Prof a letter, including one question I remember as a proof, where I told him that the exam probably has been leaked. I asked him to keep the matter as private as possible and I also asked him not to write back to me what he decided to do or to ask any person-specific questions as I don't know any thing more than I told him already. For me the matter is therefore hopefully closed.<issue_comment>username_1: You must tell your professor that you've seen the exam, and explain how. Although it is understandable that you don't want to reveal who took the photograph, you are ethically obligated to do so.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In a situation in which you would suffer no matter what you do, you can also work to protect yourself.
An anonymous note to the professor that the exam has been compromised and that there are photographs of it circulating comes close to resolving the issue. The person who took the photo likely deserves punishment, of course, so this solution doesn't resolve that. But at least academic integrity is preserved. The professor will need to provide a new exam, of course.
The professor may also announce to the class that there is a problem and ask that whoever sent the anonymous note inform him of their identity. You may have to deal with that.
Also, you may not be the only student struggling with this.
If you are friends with the person who took the photo, you could also confront him/her with a suggestion that they step forward. If they do this before an accusation is made, I would think any punishment would be less than otherwise.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: In addition to ethics, you should also consider what the implications are if you are found out to have told somebody. What they are, is highly cultural-dependent - if you are unfamiliar with the culture you are in, ask organizations like a student union or add a culture tag. I lived in several countries ("corrupt" ones and countries which were a dictatorship previously involving a Secret Police) where ratting out someone is perceived as much worse than what this student did. (I also know many high school teachers and professors who share the viewpoint that basic solidarity among students dictates not ratting out someone in this situation.) This could make your life bad - in university and also if your future employees would find out about that episode. Unfortunately, ethics and reality are not always the same.
I am not saying you should not tell someone. But find out before what the risks are, how you can protect and be as anonymous as possible.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: Send this negligent prof an anonymous note, with details of the exam so he knows you have indeed seen the actual thing. If you know him well enough and trust him to just admit his own error, tell him personally.
But it's not your job to rat on that guy who yielded the temptation to look, and then thought he was nice and shared it.
There might be one dilemma left for you afterwards: If and how to make sure everybody who has seen the photos knows that the prof knows.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I agree with the advice offered by username_2. Moreover, you write:
>
> I feel bad and unethical about seeing it, **as it seems to be cheating for me**
>
>
>
To emphasize, it doesn't just seem to be cheating, it *is* cheating: it's not just that you are aware of others cheating, but **you yourself have already gained illicit knowledge about questions that will be on the exam**. As such, if you take no further action to inform the professor of the situation and simply go and take the exam, you have not just helped others to cheat, but in fact have directly participated in cheating yourself.
So, as far as ethical dilemmas go, this one is a complete no-brainer; you simply have no ethical choice other than to let the professor know about the existence of the photo ahead of the exam. Do it anonymously if you wish, and the question of whether to let the professor know who took the photo is a less obvious one (with both options being pretty reasonable in my opinion), but it looks like you understand perfectly well that taking the exam after what you saw would be unethical and quite likely to get you into serious trouble. I commend you for having a moral compass and the good sense to realize you cannot just sit by idly and pretend this never happened. Good luck! Do consider adding an update to your question later on to let us know how things worked out.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_6: Since you haven't yet sat the exam, and you didn't know that the photo you were looking was the exam, it is not cheating, nor unethical, for you to merely have seen that photo. The student who took the photo has clearly cheated, but you have not. However, now that you *have* seen a photo of this exam, and know it is the upcoming exam, it certainly would be unethical if you sit the exam anyway, without reporting the issue to the university.
The simplest thing to do here is to inform the professor of what happened, so that he/she knows that there is a copy of the exam being circulated. You could do this anonymously if you want, but I don't think it would be an issue if you reported this without anonymity. In the latter case, it is likely that you will be asked who showed you the photo.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: As username_2 already suggested, write an anonymous note, but with an additional twist.
**Suggest that the professor stays completely silent and informs the class before the (now revised) exam that the exam he "coincidentally left" was a honeytrap.**
Advantages:
* What before could have been interpreted as neglience on the professor's part is now quite fiendish.
* The students will be punished to learn entirely for a honeypot.
* The students are not angry that someone was ratting them out, now they are angry for themselves not learning.
* The students won't try to cheat this way ever again.
Everyone feels fine. You have done your task of informing the professor, the professor is now not an idiot, but a devilish antagonist and the students are punished for cheating.
The nice thing is that some professors **actually are that fiendish**, so even if the students cheating read all the answers here in SE, in contrast to the others they cannot identify that someone told the professor.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_8: 1) some professors "s\*\*t test" their classes by "accidentally" leaving out an exam that students could sneak a peek at. They show up, go over an exam review, and everyone sees that they have an exam in their hand their flipping through. Then prof has to step out for a bit. They might be doing this on purpose. Person steps up, takes a quick pic with smartphone, and is back in seat before prof shows up. Person shares pic with class. Come test day, everyone "studied to the test" .. and blows the test, b/c prof gave a TOTALLY DIFFERENT EXAM.
Prof's do this one of two ways...
a) have a honey pot test that has questions that won't be asked on the real test they'll give you (so folks will study only those honey pot questions, and own't be prepped for the real test)
b) they have wrong answers circled on the honey pot exam, so folks thinking they can just memorize A, B, A, C, D, E for a scantron .. will bomb the test horribly. This lets the prof pretty much ensure they can pick out the cheaters, b/c they will simply compare a student's answers to their fake / wrong test, and if they match up fairly well.. well, it means the student probably cheated some how.
So... just b/c someone got a pic of the test doesn't mean that's the real test, and it could be a honey pot where the professor is testing everyone's academic integrity.
2) My personal feeling about looking up old exams .... we live in an age where knowing how to look up info is just as important as retaining information in your head. If a prof is too lazy to update their test to keep students from just studying a quizlet of their old test and passing with flying colors.. that's the prof's fault.
However, I also feel that asking students that take a test (in the same semester) before you take it is scummy. EG: a prof is teaching back-to-back classes of same kind. Showing up on test day to ask the folks ahead of you what was on the test, and specific answers to the test.. is scummy. A prof not having different tests for same classes in same semester is just lazy, too, though.
3) I have a third notion about cheating after I had to deal with one particular professor in my college career. This prof was giving online quizzes with short timers, but the questions required a lot of time to frame up the math. Basically, you cuold either legitimately answer 1 or 2 of the 5 questions in the time span, or you cuold guess and hope you got more then 1 or 2 right, or .. since the quiz questions were already online .. some folks just started blatantly cheating, b/c that was the only way to successfully get an A or B on the quizzes .. while everyone that was trying to be legit was getting F's.
I confronted the professor about this, b/c a) if my theory about this was true, then he should see an inverse bell curve (high F's, low dip into D/C territory, then rising as cheaters got B/A's). Quizzes are supposed to help people study, so all I wanted him to do was either remove the time limits, or extend them.
What he told me was basically he never even bothered to look at the quizzes. He was using quizzes that someone else setup, but slapped on a short time limit thinking they were just glossary terms / definitions multiple choice, not advanced math.
But, what he felt was the main concern was that people were cheating. I told him that people were cheating, b/c the quizzes forced them to. The quizzes were worth 15% of our grade, so if you bombed the quizzes it was almost guaranteed you'd drop a letter grade. So, folks were cheating to try to even the playing field.
He felt that cheating is still cheating, which I thought was absurd. Cheating to me is when people have a fair advantage and try to stack the deck in their favor. Cheating is NOT cheating to me when it's a last resort measure just to try to get a fair advantage.
I guess my chat with him paid off, b/c he increased the time limits, but sent out an email telling people not to cheat. I felt bad, b/c now I felt like a narc tattling on others cheating, but for good reason (b/c they felt it was their only option).
So, I have a flexible moral constitution. I try not to cheat, b/c the effort you put into tests and school reflects the effort you will put into your career / real life. If a person wants to cheat and skate by, then they will quickly hit glass cielings in the working world as folks realize the person isn't creative, or hard working, and can't do anything without someone's coat tails to ride upon.
But, when the deck is stacked against me, while I myself may not cheat, I will speak up to someone to explain why cheaters are cheating, b/c it's a rebuttal to something being unfair.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: "...later someone revealed to me that it was the upcoming exam which we’ll take in about three weeks."
If true then the Prof. is not serious at all about the potential for cheating. If you believe that the picture compromises the exam, and you think that the Prof. would think that this would be a huge problem, then you also need to re-assess the reliability of the statement about the paper in the picture being the actual exam.
Upvotes: 0
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