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<issue_start>username_0: It has been 4.5 years since I joined as a PhD student.
* My supervisor asks me to draft almost all of his important emails. He will begin by briefing me the issue, and ask me to draft the email in a document and sent to him. He would ask me to do this even when I am busy doing experiments. Many times I have to leave the experiment in the middle to draft his emails.
* He has asked me to correct PhD thesis of three of my seniors. I was asked to correct the thesis for language and technical content. These assignments put me months behind my planned schedule. I guess correcting a thesis for one of the senior would have given me a learning opportunity on how to write a good thesis, editing, formatting, etc. Three theses are, in my opinion, too much. I don't know why he never assigns such works to other students in the research group.
* One day he shared some experimental results of another PhD student (who is a junior to me) and asked me to perform statistical analysis on the results and draft a research manuscript. It took me days to complete the analysis and write the manuscript from the scratch. When it was finally ready for submission, I requested him to keep the author sequence as: my junior (first author), me (second author), supervisor (third author). On hearing this he became extremely furious (he keeps himself as the second author in all the research papers), and indirectly warned me that he won't be taking interest in supervising my research. Fearing that my work progress could go haywire, I apologized profusely and I had to literally 'beg' him to forgive me. I made the request for the author sequence because I have seen that professors usually keep the names of students earlier in the author sequence before their own.
* I have been devoting 1.5 hours every weekday (Mon to Fri) to tutor his daughter in high-school Mathematics. That takes a precious amount of my time which I'd have instead spent on my research. I politely expressed that this work takes a lot of my time, but he still asked me to continue. I had no choice but to continue.
What I would like to ask here is am I being exploited/abused, or is this what a PhD student is 'normally' expected to do? How is the PhD student and supervisor relationship ideally supposed to be? Since the PhD degree is extremely important for my career, I have been doing everything he has asked. But I don't really want to be a supervisor like him in the future when I will be supervising students working with me. Please share some advice.
Update: The region is South-East Asia.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes you are.
Point 4 is downright abuse of power. You are not in any way obliged to provide free tuition to your advisor’s child! If your institution has reasonable management, you reporting this would result in *severe* disciplinary action (I think I would have my tenure clock pushed and have something on my record for something like this). Even if you were paid to do it I’d feel weird about having my students tutoring my kids. Depending on where you are on the planet, not getting paid for tutoring is illegal. Your advisor would be in serious legal trouble if you are in, say, the US or Europe.
Drafting emails seems like an odd practice. It’s abusing power to some extent but if the emails are relevant to your work it might be construed as acceptable by some department heads. That said, you’re a student, not a personal assistant, seems like a waste of your time.
You should not be reading and correcting others' work with no credit, this is the advisor’s job. I would be upset if I were the one of the students who didn’t get their advisor’s feedback!
Being an ass about authorship is another bad sign, though in itself may not be too bad. Disagreements about authorship do occur, though the response you describe seems wildly disproportionate. Getting students to the point where they have to 'beg' for your forgiveness is never okay. His job as an advisor is to educate, teach and advise - you are not his pawn or slave.
Taken together, what you’re describing is a toxic and abusive relationship.
What you can do depends on where you are in the world and your department. Most reasonable universities have ombudspersons or student support centers whose job is to help people in your situation. If no such thing exists you can try to approach your department head or dean.
You need to have clear-cut evidence. Emails, records of your visits to tutor the advisor’s kids, written proof that you corrected the thesis of others (say, an email exchange, files sent to you with request for correction, or any other acknowledgement) etc.
I’m sorry you’re in this situation, hope you get things settled. The tone of your post does not make it sound like you are in severe emotional distress, but of course it's impossible to tell. Make sure you get emotional support through what is undoubtedly a rough experience. You do not deserve this, and you should not feel like this is normal.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, definitely he is using you. Let's break it down one by one.
Point 1: Drafting professors' email is a thing that many Ph.D. students do occasionally. But requiring the student to stop doing the experiment in favor of drafting a personal email is not something a good supervisor does.
Point 2: Can be a legit point. Although doing it all the time is tiresome and time-consuming, the professor can get some benefit of doubt there.
Point 3: It's saddening to even hear that. If you help write a scientific paper (even partially), your name should be in it. Let alone professionalism, this is common courtesy. Your professor is not doing that, and is instead getting furious with you which is much worse than being unprofessional.
Point 4: It's not your job at all. He is abusing you. If you do it happily in your spare time, that's another matter.
And yes, by any yardstick, he is using you.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Depending on where you are and who is your supervisor, his behaviour may or may not be acceptable. In most of modern Asia, it is probably OK. In EU and US, it will be considered abuse in any relation between dependent parties, not only in academia.
Regarding the tuition to your advisor’s child: see, for example, Hippocratic Oath. How exactly this arrangement appeared in your case?
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: Obviously, as other answers indicate, yes, your supervisor is exploiting you - plain and simple. But here's a suggestion regarding *what you should do* about it:
1. Collect evidence on how you've been exploited/abused:
* Emails
* Letters
* Written documents indicating what you are required to do, but also what you're doing (e.g. if your supervisor's daughter writes you some note)
* Screenshots of text message exchanges in which you're given instructions / requests to perform these activities or which otherwise acknowledge them.
* Maybe some audio recordings - if you're discreet about it and if that is legal in the state you're in - of your supervisor making inappropriate demands/requests.The idea is not to have lots and lots of these, but enough to be able to establish it is actually happening in case he denies it; also, a few choice pieces of evidence you can use to illustrate to people how serious this is when you're talking to them, if it's necessary. Recordings are "just in case", not-use-unless-absolutely-necessary type of evidence though.
2. I don't know what the organizational situation is in SE Asian universities, but consult - discreetly initially - with:
* Your junior researchers' union representative - if you're unionized.
* Your graduate student union - if you at least have a union as students rather than employees.
* Colleagues you can trust and who can attest to your supervisor's behavior
* (more risky) members of faculty you can trust; they may be biased against you acting against a Professor, but on the other hand may have effective suggestions for you.Avoid discussing this matter with people you think would just rat you out to your supervisor.
3. Based on the advice you got, do one or more of the following:
* Lodge a disciplinary complaint against him, or have your union do so in your stead.
* (If you're not yet close to concluding your research,) Demand a change of supervisors (better if you have an alternative one lined up) due to abuse.
* Have your union threaten your supervisor with action against him if he doesn't change his attitude towards you - disciplinary, legal, public-relations, or other collective disruption.
* Get a story in the press (in-university or out-of-university).
* Talk to the head of the department/faculty about the situation - preferably not alone but accompanied by supporting-witness colleagues and/or your union representative.
Note: Some of these actions are potentially dangerous, especially if you don't have some colleagues who would speak in your favor, and if your supervisor can get other grad students to deny your claims. So - I'm not recommending anything specific; it depends on the circumstances, the advice you get and the support you have. That being said you *should* do something, because just laying low and getting your doctoral work done with will mean that your supervisor will find some other poor PhD candidate to lord over.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]
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2019/11/30
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<issue_start>username_0: We were working as a team to gather some data in the medical field and our research was concluded in the summer. I was the only member of the team that was interested in presenting the data so I contacted our senior who supervised the whole research about doing so. He sent me the data and I began writing my abstract for a conference next year. He then told me that he has already sent an abstract to a conference this year for the same data and it has been accepted for oral presentation. Our abstracts are obviously not the same and I am submitting to a different conference entirely but we are using the same data and trying to answer the same question. I am aware that it is forbidden to present data that has been published or presented before as I have submitted abstracts in the past and I have seen it in the rules section. However for the conference I want to send my abstract to, they don't mention anywhere that the results cannot have been published previously. I don't want to do something that is against the rules as I understand these conferences rely on publishing novel data. But its a conference on a totally different topic, a completely different abstract and they do not mention that the data cant have been published before. What should I do in this case?<issue_comment>username_1: Don't mix up publishing in a journal to everybody and presenting results on a conference to a limited audience, you have to spread your results on conferences as far as possible. That's in your and the public interest. And on conferences you might easily get more interdisciplinary attention from other scientific branches than in a very specific field-oriented journal.
I have the impression in branches like CS and physics this is also very differently handled, while in CS conference publications are the status quo, for physiscs, medicine, biology, chemistry this is not so common at all and most important results go through a normal journal review process. Conference papers are often updates or slight variations of results published in a journal. The publishing culture can be very different in different branches. I submitted in the past variations of my results (always different abstract text) with slight updates to several physics conferences, as I knew the audience would be very different. Of course, I myself have the lowest interest to travel to several conferences to show the same results to the same people, would be awkward and non-productive waste of my money and time.
A conference organizer will scrutinize your submission mainly for novelty/plagiarism among the conferences he is organizing (e.g. IEEE conferences) than conferences in related fields. But when your colleague and you are thinking about a conference paper publication based on the same data/graphs/evaluation, then you create a problem for yourselves and the publisher.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: As mentioned in the answer of [username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/140886/75368), this can depend on field.
But beyond that, ask yourself why you want to do this and how valuable it will be to those attending the conference or reading the proceedings.
If the data is proprietary or needs to be protected (human research), then you don't gain much from presenting it multiple places. However, if the data can be made available to others for their own research purposes then there is scientific value in presenting it widely and explaining its significance.
So, is the presentation just a "brag" or is it a "gift" to the community.
And, of course, you need to be honest about provenance and the fact that the data is being presented and discussed in several venues.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: In most experimental fields (to which I would definitely slot medicine), it's rather common to present results more than once at conferences. The obvious reasons for doing this are that different conferences hit different audiences. Also, that the researcher may be going to the conference to hear other talks, or even enjoy some travel (do not bind the mouths of the oxen!), not ONLY to publish his/her results.
Also I strongly advise to publish your results in a "real journal", widely circulated, not a conference proceedings, only. [In most fields, CS/Math excluded.] The conference(s) may have some boilerplate about "original research" or "peer reviewed conference proceedings" (the latter often a very poorly distributed set of volumes).
You have to learn to play the game with that sort of thing (conference proceedings in experimental fields). Your interests AND the interests of the field are much better served by eventually publishing in JAMA or some lesser but similar "real journal". Give the conference enough so that it looks good, but not your whole case. Maybe enough of the problem to flash the motivation (is of interest) and then a subsection of the results. This is probably enough so that you can still publish the entire study in a real article (or set of them), in real, well-circulated and well-reviewed magazines. Of course, cite the earlier conference proceedings (gives you as self cite also...woot!), so that you are not covering up doing the earlier publication. But don't feel bashful about repeating the content from the earlier, page-limited conference proceedings, within your longer "real articles".
Upvotes: 2
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2019/11/30
| 1,139
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<issue_start>username_0: I will be submitting a manuscript I have, but I am having a hard time deciding between two journals that are both suitable for my paper's topic.
Journal A has an impact factor of 5.6 but is a field-specific journal in a field I am not a part of. Researchers from my field publish in Journal A rarely. Journal B, on the other hand, has an impact factor of 1.6, is a general journal in my discipline and has a section that publishes papers from my field exclusively. Researchers from my field publish in Journal B more frequently. However, Journal B is still not a standard/well-known journal in my field. Which one would be more impactful in my CV (for graduate school applications) given that I am an undergraduate student.
I know this is hard to answer without knowing my field, but this question essentially boils down to whether a higher IF journal from another field is better than a lower IF journal that is more relevant.<issue_comment>username_1: Don't mix up publishing in a journal to everybody and presenting results on a conference to a limited audience, you have to spread your results on conferences as far as possible. That's in your and the public interest. And on conferences you might easily get more interdisciplinary attention from other scientific branches than in a very specific field-oriented journal.
I have the impression in branches like CS and physics this is also very differently handled, while in CS conference publications are the status quo, for physiscs, medicine, biology, chemistry this is not so common at all and most important results go through a normal journal review process. Conference papers are often updates or slight variations of results published in a journal. The publishing culture can be very different in different branches. I submitted in the past variations of my results (always different abstract text) with slight updates to several physics conferences, as I knew the audience would be very different. Of course, I myself have the lowest interest to travel to several conferences to show the same results to the same people, would be awkward and non-productive waste of my money and time.
A conference organizer will scrutinize your submission mainly for novelty/plagiarism among the conferences he is organizing (e.g. IEEE conferences) than conferences in related fields. But when your colleague and you are thinking about a conference paper publication based on the same data/graphs/evaluation, then you create a problem for yourselves and the publisher.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: As mentioned in the answer of [username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/140886/75368), this can depend on field.
But beyond that, ask yourself why you want to do this and how valuable it will be to those attending the conference or reading the proceedings.
If the data is proprietary or needs to be protected (human research), then you don't gain much from presenting it multiple places. However, if the data can be made available to others for their own research purposes then there is scientific value in presenting it widely and explaining its significance.
So, is the presentation just a "brag" or is it a "gift" to the community.
And, of course, you need to be honest about provenance and the fact that the data is being presented and discussed in several venues.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: In most experimental fields (to which I would definitely slot medicine), it's rather common to present results more than once at conferences. The obvious reasons for doing this are that different conferences hit different audiences. Also, that the researcher may be going to the conference to hear other talks, or even enjoy some travel (do not bind the mouths of the oxen!), not ONLY to publish his/her results.
Also I strongly advise to publish your results in a "real journal", widely circulated, not a conference proceedings, only. [In most fields, CS/Math excluded.] The conference(s) may have some boilerplate about "original research" or "peer reviewed conference proceedings" (the latter often a very poorly distributed set of volumes).
You have to learn to play the game with that sort of thing (conference proceedings in experimental fields). Your interests AND the interests of the field are much better served by eventually publishing in JAMA or some lesser but similar "real journal". Give the conference enough so that it looks good, but not your whole case. Maybe enough of the problem to flash the motivation (is of interest) and then a subsection of the results. This is probably enough so that you can still publish the entire study in a real article (or set of them), in real, well-circulated and well-reviewed magazines. Of course, cite the earlier conference proceedings (gives you as self cite also...woot!), so that you are not covering up doing the earlier publication. But don't feel bashful about repeating the content from the earlier, page-limited conference proceedings, within your longer "real articles".
Upvotes: 2
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2019/11/30
| 578
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<issue_start>username_0: Which one is better? Taking an Exam with no preparation done beforehand or Skipping it altogether?
I have done the former (i.e take tests unprepared) a lot many times than the latter - so much that I have gotten sort of *used to* to it. I have observed that if I have insufficient time for preparing for an exam, I don't study as hard for it as I would have before adopting this practice.
My mentors are of the view that one shouldn't ever skip a test. That I'll learn more than just *something* at the cost of sitting through those hours of the exam.
Is this worth my current subconscious habit?Is it good to continue this if I find that the frequency of me taking half-prepared exams is increasing ?
PPS: I am talking about a Multiple Choice based exam with Negative marking present in it.These are sort of Practice tests for the main exam.
**PS: This is NOT a debate or discussion. I *Genuinely* want to know which is better for *improvement* in academics.**<issue_comment>username_1: Students usually decide this based on the consequences of each option. At some universities, you can retake failed exams but you cannot retake passed exams to improve your grade. In this case, it might be worth skipping the exam instead of taking it and "risking" obtaining a low passing grade that you cannot get rid of.
It might also be that you the rules give you only a couple of chances to pass this exam, so you do not want to miss this chance. Or that you do not care about the grade as long as you pass, so you might as well have a try. Or that past exams are not made available to students, so it might be worth for you to go and learn how exams in this subject look like.
If *none* of the above applies (i.e., if you know you will fail anyway and are only asking whether the time spent at the exam will be worth it in terms of how much you learn), I would say that those hours would be much better spent learning the subject or doing practice exercises on your own. Surely you will learn more by doing exercises in a comfortable environment (at home or at the library) than by doing the same exercises in exam conditions.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Can you not take a year off college, so to catch up studying what you have missed? I consider that to be the best option. On your year off, you can take external classes, if you wish.
Upvotes: 1
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2019/11/30
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<issue_start>username_0: When using "Fortunately" in a technical paper, the appending statement can appear subjective; and hence shouldn't be used in an academic context (?). When used to highlight, for instance, the solution to a potential problem:
*"Thing X must be able to do difficult task Y. **Fortunately**, many existing solutions are available that can do task Y"*
It seems to me than the subjectivity of 'fortunately' actually depends on context. If task Y is something controversial, such as drone strikes against military hospitals (to take a very extreme example), then the statement following 'Fortunately' can seem perverse to many: It comes across as if the author is in moral agreement of performing task Y.
Now imagine if task Y is something harmless, such as "the envisioned calculator must be able to store user preferences between power cycles.". In this case, 'Fortunately' is a very applicable adverb to use: "Fortunately, many cheap forms of solid state storage are commercially available in the target form factor."
Can I/Is it safe to use 'Fortunately' in an academic paper?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, but in the interest of brevity, I suggest leaving it out. There's no clear benefit to using the word.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If you, yourself, question the usage, then you should probably avoid it.
I think that in the present case, if you need a bridging word, then "However" works just as well.
In general it is probably a bad idea to ban any given word, not knowing all possible contexts in which it might be used.
That said, I find no problem with using "Fortunately" in this context. It is, indeed, fortunate that the times and the work of others have come together to provide us with ways to a solution of the problem at hand. In other times it might not have been possible, for example.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2019/11/30
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<issue_start>username_0: My kid showed me [this New York Times article](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/25/health/medical-school-cost-diversity.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab). Why don't Canada and US offer medicine as undergrad?
[Australia does.](https://www.crimsoneducation.org/ca/blog/how-to-get-into-medicine)
>
> If you want to go to medical school in Australia, you need to sit the UCAT in your final year of high school.
>
>
>
[UK](https://www.hotcoursesabroad.com/study-in-the-uk/subject-guides/why-studying-medicine-in-the-uk-is-different-to-canada/) does.
>
> In the UK, it can take either 5 or 6 years for the undergraduate degree, then enrol on a 2 year foundation programme, during which they must complete work placements according to their specialisation, before applying to Medical Specialty Training. In total, then, medical studies in the UK can take up to 8 years.
>
>
> In Canada, medical study is only available at graduate level, so you must take 4 years of a pre-med undergraduate degree (although some institutions will accept only 2 years of this or offer a fast-track option), with the graduate medical studies taking another 4 years. After this, you must complete a residency training programme, which can take between 3 and 8 years, depending on your specialisation. Medical studies in Canada, then, take a minimum of 11 years.
>
>
> This is because the UK undergraduate qualification is equivalent to the combination of undergraduate and graduate degrees in Canada.
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: In Canada medicine is offered as an undergraduate degree, but graduates cannot practice until they have completed additional requirements (usually a residency, that can last between 2 to 6 years). There is no BSc or HBSc in medicine that I know of.
Although it is often touted as a doctoral degree and the graduates can use the title *Doctor*, the full title is *Doctor of Medicine* or MD and it is not a doctoral degree in the sense of a PhD (or similar) in other disciplines. Several other health-related professions can also use the title of Doctor (optometrists, veterinarians), although again they do not necessarily hold PhDs (some do).
In Canada education is a provincial jurisdiction so requirements for admissions vary from one province to the next. The common factor to all programs is the huge demand: there is often 10 or more applicants for every admission slot.
In Quebec you can apply straight out of usual 2-year pre-university (CEGEP) studies required for admission to most university undergraduate programs. In Ontario your odds of getting in are next to none unless you have completed 3 full years of an undergraduate university degree, often in a cognate field: this is a simple way of cutting down on the number of applications. It may well be that some schools *require* an undergraduate degree for application but that would only be for weeding purposes.
These days, given the extremely high demand in some provinces, an increasing number of candidates are accepted after an advanced MSc degree: even an outstanding full undergraduate degree is no longer a guarantee of getting in.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In the US there are accelerated BA/MD programs that combine a BA degree with medical school and that give a graduating high school senior admission (conditional on surviving the accelerated BA program) into medical school. In some of these programs, the preparatory BA phase is as short as two years.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In the UK, students specialise much earlier than in the US. For example, I studied no history or geography beyond the age of 14, and only studied physics, maths and music from 16 to 18. My undergraduate degree was in physics, and only contained physics courses.
In contrast, in the USA, you can take courses outside your subject even as a graduate student. This difference in specialisation time is what enables UK students to study medicine as undergraduates, as they will have likely been studying only sciences for at least the previous two years.
Upvotes: 2
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2019/12/01
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<issue_start>username_0: I have 30 years of professional experience as a software engineer and I'm at the point in my career where I can volunteer lots of time. I have helped with several childhood cancer organizations over the years but mostly was pulled into raising money.
At this point in my life, I would like to help with a closer connection to the research aspect in either finding a cure, better medicines/trials, or similar. I do not have experience in the sciences, bioinformatics, etc. but I am willing to learn. Where do I best find researchers in the field of childhood cancer (which I know very well is many different cancers) who might be looking for the help of a software developer?<issue_comment>username_1: Recently there's been a trend to involve non-experts in [Citizen Science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_science) projects. The idea is to allow people to participate in research projects in various ways, for instance by helping collect or annotate data. You might find such a project directly by searching for citizen science projects about the topic, or at least find academic contacts from past projects who might give you suggestions. A quick search for "citizen science cancer research" can give a few directions, for instance:
* <https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/get-involved/citizen-science>
* <https://citizensciencegames.com/cancer-research-uk-hosts-hackathon-build-smartphone-research-game/>
* <http://www.citizensciencecenter.com/reverse-odds-cancer/>
There are also a good few generic "Citizen Science" platforms where one may find projects they like, for instance [Zooniverse](https://www.zooniverse.org/).
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I work in a biomedical field and most of us are awful programmers. We tend to be more interested in getting the underlying back-end algorithm to work than worrying about the front-end, comments, documentation, version control, unit tests, etc.
My suggestion, would be to look through the web pages at a nearby university and see if you can identify someone doing something you think is interesting, preferably something computational. Then email the PI explaining your skills and experience and that you would like to volunteer to help people with their programming and that you could help people move to the next level of using tools like version control and work with them on documentation and the front end.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: Depending on how much you need your volunteering to be recognised (in order to get dedicated days from your workplace for example), you could look into optimizing existing biomedical software. A lot of research software projects are open source, but their software quality varies wildly. Optimizations could make future research significantly faster.
Unfortunately, I don't have any concrete suggestions, but searching [Github](https://github.com/search?q=cancer) for Cancer gives 12k results, so there are bound to be a few programs that get used a lot but haven't have many computer scientists focus on their performance and usability. It appears that neural networks and Python are quite popular, but some of the more popular results aren't packaged as modules. Packaging improvements and the addition of automated CI could improve these projects velocity and make it easier for other researchers to use.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I suppose I should clarify what I wrote in a brief comment:
>
> Not to sound rude, but do not volunteer to work in research for free, it devalues the contribution of people in the field, and academia already not well-paying and fraught with free labor extracted from students.
>
>
>
What I was imagining from your post was finding a research group at your local university, and spending 10-15 hours a week, every week, working solely with them. **That is what I suggest is wrong.** If that's what you want to do (a) my points stand; and (b) you should be compensated for your labor in that case anyway.
While what Dan wrote (see below) is somewhat true, I would point out that perhaps someone with less experience, but not the ability to provide their labor for free, would lose out on an opportunity to work with a group that you would be volunteering for. But this is all hypothetical anyway, and not worth arguing over hypothetical details.
>
> The skills that you have as a software engineer with many years’ experience are practically nonexistent in academia, and the number of people like you who are volunteering these sorts of skills is effectively zero. So the devaluing effect AzorAhai is referring to is not something to worry about in this specific situation.
>
>
>
I'm also not convinced every research group *needs* a software engineer, but like I said, I don't work in cancer research.
What I meant by:
>
> I would suggest hiring yourself out as a contractor or looking for a position with a large organization where your skills can be used
>
>
>
was that doubtless some labs (or companies) *are* working on software that needs someone of your ability. You could apply to work for them, or, like [another answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/140928/37441) suggests, **to work on open source repositories** (as obviously that is the whole point). **In fact, I think that's the best suggestion in this thread.**
**Departments often hold guest lectures, you could reach out and volunteer** to talk about things like good development practices, open source, revision control, etc. You might try looking up "Lunch & Learns."
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I was recently reading a magazine on Popular Science in Artificial Intelligent. With machine learning, AI, is now able to better detect breast cancer than a human doctor would with image analysis.
I think AI is the new front-line when it comes to bio-medicine. My recommendation would be to contribute on existing research and make your contribution through there.
Cheers,
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: You might consider **earning to give**. That is, using your software engineering skills in a highly lucrative field, so that you may then fund either research itself, or support younger researchers who require funding to complete e.g. PhD programmes.
This could be a good idea if you live in a city / country where software engineers earn several times a researcher salary or PhD stipend. In that scenario, you might find it's actually more "cost effective" for you to work your free hours and give the proceeds to an (effective) charity than to do "ancillary" software engineering work by yourself.
If you go down this route, however, be sure to validate that you're funding the right foundation, run effectively and with a competent governance structure. Also see if your state allows some form of "gift aid" where any income taxes on your earnings can essentially be forwarded to your charity recipients.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: I see many comments and answers saying that AI performs well on cancer diagnosis etc... and something that is often lacking when trying to scale academic research up into real-world production is a clean data pipeline.
From a cursory search of the internet, I find that cancer research appears to lack a solid infrastructure for its data. This is due to a variety of reasons.
In the first place, it doesn't seem to have a widely accepted ontological framework (though there are attempts to create such a thing, e.g. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6069766/> -- notice how recent this is!) contrast this with genetic research, which has an ontological framework that allows for relatively painless integration of separate databases which allows for better metastudies, a crucial (and underappreciated) element of academic research. So one avenue is to help develop a consistent, international ontology for cancer research.
Secondly, academic researchers are not database specialists. They often learn only the bare-minimum required to complete their research. They either need a dedicated database-specialist to maintain their database, or somebody to educate them on database programming best-practices.
As other answers have mentioned, academic code often lacks programming best-practices, including lack of version control, separation of concerns etc etc... this means that it's quite possible to enter any cancer research team as a sort-of project manager who can transform the researchers from being people that write "code that works" to being researches that write quality code that is maintainable and readable in the long-term, and also reusable by others.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: I suggest that you look at the recent CZI initiative for [Essential Open Source Software for Science](https://chanzuckerberg.com/rfa/essential-open-source-software-for-science/), which is mostly focused on life sciences (from what I can tell).
It's based on excellent background studies, wide community involvement and sound reasoning. They only completed the first round, so there's a lot more software to be discovered, but it's a start.
Among all those projects, find one that suits the programming languages and/or interests you have, and start contributing some small patch. See where you fit best/where you have most fun and continue contributing there.
If you're looking for a more structured work, you can also look at the [GSoC participants in the science/medicine field](https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/archive/2019/organizations/?category=science_and_medicine) and offer to work as a mentor for new software developers in these projects, either within GSoC or [Outreachy](https://www.outreachy.org/).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: There are tons of research-software tools that are used in some way or another to do cancer research. From biomedical models, numerical simulations, image reconstruction, image processing and other techniques that are generally
1. Free and open source
2. Coded by researchers (meaning, bad code, bad software development approach)
3. highly beneficial to medical communities if they were properly programmed.
I suggest finding research toolboxes that would benefit from an experienced software developer and help scientist do the non-science part of software development, so its easier to use by non-scientist!
I can think of *several* toolboxes that would require a software developer to be better!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: I can't speak specifically to cancer in children but drug design is a highly computer-oriented field. Drugs are designed, tested and analysed using computational chemistry before they are produced in a lab. The tools for this work are largely written by academics who produce great underlying theory but don't usually have the training in CS to write great code.
You could dive into the ecosystems of some of these programs and submit pull requests but realistically the authors are looking for new features not architectural changes. They are often open-source with active slack channels so it may be worth popping in. PSI4, OpenForceField, RDKit all spring to mind as large, open-source, growing codebases in computational chemistry/bioinformatics.
If you want to get heavily involved, in the UK we have the [RSE](https://rse.ac.uk/who/) (research software engineers). There may be similar posts wherever you're based.
Upvotes: 2
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2019/12/01
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently discovered, to my delighted surprise, that my bachelor thesis had been cited in another bachelor thesis - however...
* my bachelor thesis has been entered in the reference list as an PhD thesis, which it clearly isn't, and
* I have been attributed a conclusion that I didn't draw, that is indeed counter-indicated by the data I've collected.
Should I care about this? Is there a course of action I should take?<issue_comment>username_1: A bachelor's thesis is only a bachelor's thesis - it may be used as a source by other researchers (or students, as you discovered), but it is commonly agreed on that they are certainly not error-free. At least some universities do not even have a process for allowing the student to submit a corrected version for archival after the review by the examiners. Hence, such errors would still be in the thesis even if found by the reviewers.
The misattribution of your thesis as a PhD thesis should be ignored, as it is likely a simple error. Also, it the author used BibTeX, the author of the other thesis may have had the problem that there is no Bachelor's thesis entry type - and rather than doing the right thing (using entry type "misc"), the author went to use the entry type "PhD thesis".
Misrepresenting your conclusion is a bit more problematic, but may very easily be again a simple error. Either you let it slip, or you write the thesis author an e-mail clarifying your conclusions. Either way, don't accuse, just inform - the misinterpretation is often just accidental, which is *not* misconduct, but just sloppiness. There is also the possibility that some of the text in your thesis invites misunderstanding it, which led to the present problem. Again, this would not be a case of academic misconduct.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: As the song says, let it go.
If you're going to stay in academia, get used to it. This happens at all levels of academia. Count it as a citation and move on. It's not worth your time to worry about it.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Related: [Miscited in a bachelor thesis](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/140919/58912)
In the above question, the OP mentions that,
>
> ...my bachelor thesis had been cited....I have been attributed a conclusion that I haven't drawn, and is indeed counter-indicated by the data I've collected.
>
>
>
Most people are familiar with ordinary plagiarism, where a writer will fail to cite a source for something that actually came from that source. What kind of a violation occurs if a researcher cites a source that *says something other than what they claim it does*, especially if done inadvertently? For example, suppose Smith (2003) found that "By applying Woot's Theorem to the equation above, we see that the area under the curve is bounded by n to the x where p>3". I, in a rush to get my paper out, mistakenly say, "Smith (2003) found that the area under the curve is always bounded.", not realizing that it had been qualified with the "p>3" condition and that the area might not be bounded in cases where p<=3.
*Is this research misconduct or simply sloppy scholarship?* That is, if a researcher is "caught" doing this, is the maximum penalty generally article rejection and/or a lowered course grade, or is this a grave mark against the researcher's future career in the same way a founded accusation of plagiarism or falsifying data would be?
My instinct tells me that intent must play a big part in this, and that inadvertent mistakes are simply poor scholarship while an *intentional* mis-cite ("I'm too lazy to find a real source for this, so I'll just claim that <NAME> said it.") constitutes some type of plagiarism, but most definitions of plagiarism that I have encountered emphasize that *intent is not an element*, i.e. "Oops, I forgot to cite that" is as much plagiarism as intentionally printing out a copy of a Wikipedia article and submitting it as your thesis.
If this is misconduct, but not plagiarism, what specific kind of misconduct is it? Falsification of data would also seem to not apply, since a citation is not data, and a reader can more easily verify the correctness of a citation than they can verify that the data you claim to have collected in the field was actually collected by you under the conditions that you claim.<issue_comment>username_1: A bachelor's thesis is only a bachelor's thesis - it may be used as a source by other researchers (or students, as you discovered), but it is commonly agreed on that they are certainly not error-free. At least some universities do not even have a process for allowing the student to submit a corrected version for archival after the review by the examiners. Hence, such errors would still be in the thesis even if found by the reviewers.
The misattribution of your thesis as a PhD thesis should be ignored, as it is likely a simple error. Also, it the author used BibTeX, the author of the other thesis may have had the problem that there is no Bachelor's thesis entry type - and rather than doing the right thing (using entry type "misc"), the author went to use the entry type "PhD thesis".
Misrepresenting your conclusion is a bit more problematic, but may very easily be again a simple error. Either you let it slip, or you write the thesis author an e-mail clarifying your conclusions. Either way, don't accuse, just inform - the misinterpretation is often just accidental, which is *not* misconduct, but just sloppiness. There is also the possibility that some of the text in your thesis invites misunderstanding it, which led to the present problem. Again, this would not be a case of academic misconduct.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: As the song says, let it go.
If you're going to stay in academia, get used to it. This happens at all levels of academia. Count it as a citation and move on. It's not worth your time to worry about it.
Upvotes: 2
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2019/12/02
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<issue_start>username_0: Two of my students interns have applied for graduate school and are now asking me for references. Both did well, but one did *really* well. The weaker student is still excellent, and will do well in grad school I’m sure, but my reference for him will not be as strong.
They are applying to some of the same programs.
How do I reflect their ranking in the letters without completely killing the weaker candidate’s chances?
How honest do I get with the weaker candidate? I think it may be better that they apply to more (and different) programs, but don’t want them to get the impression they are not good enough.
More context:
1. The interns worked on one project together where the weaker student was the lead (culminated in a submission to a top venue). The stronger intern had a separate project that he successfully completed, in addition to two more projects that are currently in the works.
2. Both are applying to top US schools.<issue_comment>username_1: One thing that can help is having concrete reference points. For example, you might say what caliber of graduate school you think is appropriate for the student. If you say one student should go to a top 5 school and the other a top 10, then it's clear which one you're more enthusiastic about, but you also won't have destroyed the chances of the comparatively weaker student at schools that know they're not in the top 5.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You can check this: [Writing a letter of recommendation for a mediocre student](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/137305/writing-a-letter-of-recommendation-for-a-mediocre-student/137461#137461)
But I would advise to merely write a simple letter describing how average the student is. That is not a bad thing. Average does not mean mediocre. Mention first that he took 2 classes with you and:
* Attended as per reglament/regulations
* Presented his work/homework as requested each time.
* Got along with other students and never got into
a fight.
* Was respectful to his superiors and equals.
* Kept himself orderly in class
A person does not need to stand out or be exceptional. A recommendation letter can recommend how average good is someone. Grades are not important if he did pass the course, which was the objective, and in some regards or countries, the capacity to get along with others (AKA dont get in trouble) is even more important. Some institutions will prefer a candidate that can work along people and follow orders than one that always tries to show off.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: Let me suggest a few things you might consider. The one thing you don't want to do, of course, is to explicitly compare them. Depend on the fact that an application is multi faceted and while letters are very important, so are other things.
I suggest that you first think about what would happen if it were turned around and you were receiving the letters. What would you want to know about each of them. What positive traits, especially, are you looking for and would want some assurance about. You might make a list, separately, for each candidate.
Next, I would write the two letters on different days, giving yourself a bit of time to let the first one settle out so that it isn't the freshest thing on your mind when you write the other.
Finally, I would write the letter for the "weaker", but still strong, student first. Say what you need to say about that student to best support the application. Be honest, of course, and stick to facts. What has this student done to make them a good candidate? How strongly do you feel about their future success? You don't need to send the letter yet, but set it aside.
Then after, a day (or so), think about the other student and write that letter. Don't refer to the first letter, but use the same criteria.
Ideally, the letters should be independent, but it is probably impossible to assure that completely. But give it a try. Use some technique in which you can think about each of them independently of the other. And if you would surely accept one or the other of the students, or both, into your own program, say that, but separately for each. That is the most important part of any recommendation, perhaps.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Keep in mind that if the committee were only looking for a one-dimensional ranking on a strong-weak scale, they would not ask for a letter but a numerical score. Of course, an overall assessment is part of the recommendation, but it is more informative if you can evaluate different aspects of the candidates' qualifications too. This should also make it easier to communicate who is the stronger candidate without writing too negatively about the other.
You can highlight the respective strengths of A and B, but make it clear which is stronger through (1) the degree of praise may be higher for A, and (2) the skills of A that you choose to highlight may indicate higher chance of immediate success, while the skills of B are more relevant to learning potential and longer-term development.
For instance, many committees can tell the difference between: "A is one of the most capable, independent problem-solvers that I have ever mentored. For instance, she was able to devise a solution to a research problem with minimal assistance and the results will soon be published in a first-author paper." versus "B is a promising researcher and has progressed a lot in terms of knowledge and technical skills during his time in my lab. B is an excellent team player and, if matched with a good mentor, has the potential to be very successful in graduate school."
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am working at a university in Europe. We have a great number of exchange students (one semester, year, of multiple years). I am having difficulties reaching some of these exchange students, especially, it seems, but not limited to those from non-Western cultures (e.g. China and India). Treating them in the same way that I would treat native Western students is proving ineffective. I am looking for ways to improve my teaching strategies to better serve these exchange students, and especially those from Asian cultures.
Here are some of the things that I would like help with:
* I am having trouble getting them to attend class. Sometimes it seems that presence at classes and labs causes them some tremendous pain.
* They have complaints about the too high difficulty of the courses.
* They often prefer to communicate via email. It is very difficult to elicit interaction from them during class or lab.
* Communication is sometimes difficult, and when I ask *them* how I might best help them, some invisible barrier prevents me from discovering a solution.
*Note: Although some of these problems are endemic to exchange students (such as a focus on things besides class), the alignment of this, cultural barriers and language barriers are causing me an especially difficult time reaching out to students from Asian cultures.*
Thus, I am especially interested in strategies for improving the following metrics for my Asian exchange students:
* class attendance
* class engagement
* engagement with me outside of class
* engagement in person, rather than via email.
* class performance (grades)
My sample size ~100 of those students in two years. It is not a big sample at all (including my cognitive biases as well). However, it seems that my poor results at improving the outcomes for my exchange students are not unique to me, as my colleagues report a similar experience.
**My questions:**
* What are some strategies to improve my teaching impact for Indian and Chinese exchange students? This includes improving class attendance, engagement with class and with me, and class performance.
* In what ways are their educational systems and culture at home significantly different from those in Europe?
*Note: I know that "Asia" is an extremely large place with a lot of strongly different countries, so feel free to limit your answer on India and/or China.*
**Update**
As I state before, there are common problems in the population of exchange students in general. It seems that they are coming for different reasons than study (finding new friends, experimenting with new drugs, investigate different culture ...). However, I am capable of recognizing and dealing with the popular strategies of Western exchange students: finding ways to abuse rules for their profit, etc.
Unfortunately, my strategies for improving outcomes with Western exchange students are proving ineffective for my Indian and Chinese students. I do not really understand their behavior. My questions are mainly about how to gain a greater understanding of their behavior so that I can make all-around improvements to our teacher-student relationship.
**Day after edit**
According to the excessive number of comments (all of them interesting I have to say), I need to make this clear. I am not saying they are not good students at their universities or in general. I am just unable to work with them in the same effective way as with the local students. So I would like to know the origins of this ineffectively and I would like to utilize different approaches of education to reach their potential (for their benefits).
*Stating that they are "awesome students" (at their home) and I am "an ignorant teacher" does not help. I already know this.*<issue_comment>username_1: I teach at a university in Asia and I could say the *exact same thing* about our European/American exchange students.
Quite simply, exchange students have very different incentives from regular students. They often convert their grades to a simple pass/fail on their transcripts so they just need to pass the class (we get students from very reputable institutions in the US Canada and Europe, I was surprised to hear about that practice at first). In addition for many of them it’s their first time in a new and exotic location. They want to party and travel. With all due respect, lectures are the last thing on their mind.
Some of the exchange students are hard working, but I would say that they are a minority.
To conclude I think your question has a bit of a cultural bias to it. European students can be equally annoying in an exchange program.
**Edit:** the question is biased because it seems to attribute this behavior to the students’ “Asian-ness” rather to them being in an exciting foreign country, away from their parents, dealing with a new language and academic practices, and all that within a few weeks. All of the bad practices the question describes can be easily observed in European/American students who come on exchange to my Asian university. Also, lumping together all students from Asia (or even just India/China) is completely inaccurate, and an over generalization of a group of people constituting the majority of humankind. I would suggest that the OP revisit their own beliefs and consider the circumstances under which they observe this group.
By the way, we also get exchange students from China and India. **Surprise!** they do fine in general, because to them our university/location is not particularly exciting or different! It’s like if an American student had a semester in the UK. Sure it’s different, but a lot of things are the same. Have you considered that option?
**Edit 2:** (reflecting OP's edit and discussion below)
There are, of course, cultural differences between Students from different cultural backgrounds. By and large, students from China tend to be quieter and ask less questions (this is especially true for female Chinese students in my experience). There are several great suggestions in the comments and in other answers: listen to them, do not be confrontational, try to schedule office hours where these students might feel more free to interact with you.
**With all this out of the way:** I think that the solutions offered above are not *quintessentially unique* to handling *Asian* students. They are excellent approaches to handling *any* reserved student, regardless of their background.
Moreover, exchange students (American, European, Asian or African) tend to be more difficult than regular students (as I describe above). This is a *far more* important factor in this equation than the cultural parameter from my own limited experience.
I think it's great that the OP is looking to improve their teaching, I just don't think that the difficulties have so much to do with cultural differences as they do with the universal difficulties that arise with foreign exchange students.
As an aside, there are some comments in the threads that are very close to sounding like "I'm not racist, but...". In my opinion, that is unfortunate.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: I hate to answer by stereotyping, so I'll do my best to avoid it. That said, there are differences between people in different parts of the world. Some are easy to see and anticipate, once you know to look for them, and others are much harder.
Some people, for example, have cultural mores about open criticism. They may take great offense as being called out as less than perfect in public, but in the privacy of your office, it's fine. People coming from societies like this may never reply to "Do you understand?" in the context of a class, but need to be asked the same question in private, or encouraged to privately contact you if they need to.
As for sitting through class, I don't know of any social issues that might interfere, but I can certainly sympathize with people who have a language barrier that makes class less useful than trying to catch up later, from, say, a book.
It's a big world out there, and learning to work with wonderful people with different social norms that make them seem a bit odd to others is challenging, but worth pursuing.
I suggest asking colleagues from different parts of the world, who have been living where you live for some years, for advice on how to best communicate with people from these parts of the world, and ask if there are any social aspects that you don't know about that might help you understand your students.
As an addition, [this](https://www.quora.com/In-what-ways-is-it-impolite-to-say-no-in-Japan) is pretty close to my stereotyping concern, but knowing about it before I (and the student I was trying to work with) was frustrated by it would have been nice!
Such issues are one reason WHY study abroad and other international experiences are so important.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I do think your first point is a little strange as in my experience (American university, CS), the Asian students always attended and were often the ones that stayed after during the additional review time. I have much more experience with Chinese students so I will tailor my answer to them.
* Avoiding doing work/learning - This can be attributed to many factors some of which could also be exhibited by local students. The most generic could be course material; if a course is basic, not part of their core curriculum, or vocabulary focused, students may not work as hard to learn the material. The vocabulary focused part is extremely pertinent for foreign exchange students as it can be extremely frustrating for them to have to relearn terminology for a course they already took in their country (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, etc).
* Not asking questions - This is very common and a definite cultural difference between Asian countries, or more specifically East Asian countries (China, Korea, Japan), and the west. In Asian schools, test scores are often posted publicly for all students to see and poorly performing students are often ridiculed. This also applies to asking questions in front of the class. This can be seen in younger children in the west but teachers often encourage them to ask questions and try to eliminate the perceived shame of the students lack of knowledge at a young age. You will more commonly see western students shamed because of their lack of athletic abilities since school sports are much more of a thing in the west than in the east.
* Not talking directly to you in person is very strange. From what I have seen, the Asian students in my class often approached the professor in droves after class and were often the only ones to utilize the professors' office hours. Even the most intimidating and tough professors received plenty of questions from students so I would even hesitate to attribute it to that if this applies to you.
As a start, it would probably be a good idea to advertise your office hours more if you have them and attempt to get your students to utilize them more. An example would be if a student emails you a question, specific or general, to ask them to come to your office so you could better understand the question and explain it to them. If this fails, you may have to do some thinking yourself since I don't think there is enough information here, from a recent students' perspective, to give a more accurate answer.
Here are some points that I think are important to think through:
* Is your course a core class? As a university student, I was not particularly interested in my science courses because I was getting a CS degree and would not be using the knowledge from those classes. This is mainly because they were a lot of work, had required labs that had to be attended in person, and I felt they were sucking up too much time that could be used for my core courses.
* Is your course vocabulary heavy or highly theoretical? Learning terminology or theory in another language would be quite difficult. It may be the reason some of your students asked questions that didn't seem like they had a subject. Often times they will go to their upperclassmen for help with classes like these and the help from student to student is not always constructive for learning the subject matter. In this situation, I am not explicitly accusing them of cheating, but rather finding shortcuts, online resources, or tips on how to get a good grade on the exam(s).
In addition to this more clarification on Chinese/Asian/general Foreign Exchange students:
* Foreign exchange students often form close-knit communities to help ease them into the new culture. Although this may defeat the purpose of studying abroad, people of all cultures would likely do this in a study abroad situation. This usually leads to students getting help from their upperclassman rather than the professor since it is easier to communicate and the results are usually more instant.
* Students study abroad for very different reasons. You already listed some of the more cynical reasons in your edit and some of those could apply to your students. Another reason that you did not list but is a popular reason for Asians to come to Western universities is that the opportunities afforded are better than what they could get in their home country. This could be a better educational opportunity at the university itself or better opportunities after obtaining their degree. A lot of Chinese students go abroad because they did not get into one of the top universities in their country. Even a mediocre foreign university looks better on a resume there than a non top x university in China (x used to not spread misinformation).
* Chinese students may be looking for a break. High school is very very rigorous in Asian countries and their college is more of a breeze. This is very different to the United States and perhaps Europe. They are probably a bit burnt out from high school and if they are coming with any university experience in their home country, they may have already gotten a taste of that more lax university life. The difficulty and time required to get a degree in the west may be burning them out.
It is also reasonable to think that there will be culture shock. If the course you teach is a first or second year course, they may still be going through that or it may have worsened in the time since they got there. They also could be homesick or missing their families. Morning courses in Europe are close to the time their family/friends would be going to sleep and evening courses are when they would wake up so they may be calling their friends or family instead of going to class.
I hope this post at least gave you some points to think on since I do think it is a little hard to answer the question at hand objectively and accurately since we do not know the students personally.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: First, you need to understand the cultural differences. Teachers in Asian countries are generally regarded as an authority and someone you would not question. Having said that, language also plays a vital role in foreign student's progress. If students have problems with language (including accent, pronunciation, grammar and fear of judgment if they have to participate in any discussion).
I think the proper way to enroll any foreign students is through interviews and language test. It takes time to overcome cultural barriers, and Asian students are somewhat shy and introverted compared to students in Western countries. My suggestion is that you give them more assignments (perhaps group assignments) that require interaction with domestic students. Have them sit next to domestic students and let them counter-argue domestic students views in any in-class discussions.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Play the "parents" card
=======================
I lived in Taiwan 11 years and have seen many sides of this. Yes, part of the challenge is about foreign students regardless of the country they are from or in. They tend to be from families with enough money to pay the higher cost. That leads to some "affluenza".
In Taiwan, high school is the hard part and university is a breeze. I have known a number Taiwanese students attending schools in Taiwan who were failed in classes because the prof decided they took too many absent days, even though there is not a set number for maximum absences. Attendance and hard work is expected to be not expected so much, at least in Taiwan.
Family is a big deal and holds greater weight in the Eastern cultures. Mom and dad, maybe grandparents, are footing the bills. If/when the parents discover that their money went toward failed classes they will be irate! Your students probably know this.
I have watched for 11 years, parents watch closely and many Taiwanese students seek a university out of town to escape the shadow of mom and dad. Once they are away, they can make terrible decisions. I know one student who emptied $3,000 USD in value from a bank account for some "friends" because dad wasn't there to stop him.
Also, I know of one local professor who has trouble with similar behavior of a student who won't attend class because the parents pressure the school and actually win, so the student gets a passing grade that should be failed. Perhaps your students expect something like this, so you need to remove that as an option for their consideration.
Somehow, you need to make things seem as if mom and dad are present, somehow. I don't know your powers at the university, but for the sake of the students, you can get permission from your dean to issue warnings, notices, and use creative words that speak the language of their particular cultures.
Here is your equation to keep in mind:
```
failure = angry parents = very bad
```
Yes, communication is often indirect and they like emails and text messgaging. Try a modified and/or augmented version of something like this:
>
> I am not aware of how much money your parents have budgeted for you to retake failed classes, nor food and living expenses for an extra semester than they planned. However, it is my duty to inform you that if you miss XX more days of class and do not earn XX% minimum on all remaining assignments, you will fail without any way to retake the class. I will not discuss this further in email except to set an appointment to meet in person where we can see if you can earn extra credit to increase your chances of passing.
>
>
>
If you succeed, these could be some of your best, most proud graduates of your career. If you must fail them, then perhaps it was more important for them to learn a valuable lesson they learned nowhere else. This way, at least you will have helped along the way.
Good luck!
---
Afterthought: Thanks for the background info. I do not find the cultural context biased, there is nothing pejorative in what you wrote. We all have problems and strengths, but we are all different. And, where we grew up affects the glasses through which we see the world. Knowing culture *should* inform us how to be fair to all people, mainly because it shows us how "fairness" may need to be different for different people. For those who genuinely want to help all people, knowing our different backgrounds illuminates the path forward, removing excuses for bias and prejudice. Thanks for the relevant background!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Depending on what you teach, following may be helpful for more student engagement.
* **Interactive engagement** - Having group discussions for about 10 minutes with random groups in each sessions. Student interaction may improve as groups will be random every time. Everyone would get to know the class & may be engaging more with each other.
* **Iterative Learning** - Dividing the class into random groups & assigning an iterative project related to your coursework. This project should have a larger goal & can be accomplished through lessons learned from class. The project needs to be graded in the same manner (iteratively); I recommend 25% of the grade for the group project.
* **Interactive Teaching** - Video & interactive sessions viz. Fun Quizzes or Trivia as part of the class. Some minor weightage in grades for this (viz. 5%).
I recommended the above to my Professor during graduation; applied the same when teaching voluntarily in India. I personally do not believe language or authority are barriers. Usually education in Asian countries may be less interactive; so more interaction would be interesting & new to students.
Upvotes: 2
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| 4,019
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student at a UK university and the project is a collaboration between the University and an industrial partner. My question is when the laptop is bought using the extra money allocated for training etc., who owns the laptop?<issue_comment>username_1: If it isn't specified in the collaboration contract, ask the funding agency for clarification - this may be determined on a case-to-case basis.
---
Single data point: I had funding as PhD student via a sholarship that also had an expenses budget.
* When I bought stuff that was in between consumables and small instruments (to be precise, VUV-quality CaF2 slides). At reimbursement, the funding agency stipulated that they should become property of the institute.
* In contrast, there was no such stipulation for some books I bought from the same budget.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't think there's a global rule for this. Institutions could have their standard rules for this, but then enter in an agreement with a particular industrial partner to do it differently for that project, for example. Likewise, it could be different for small and large sums of money, or for items very specific to the project that would be hard to re-purpose, or generic things like a laptop.
So whenever a nontrivial amount of money or work is involved, **always get agreements in writing**. That way everyone knows what to expect.
If you already have the laptop but don't have in writing what happens to it, make sure you *get* it in writing. Don't count on keeping the laptop until you do.
It's entirely possible you get to keep the laptop, if it's a long-running project. It's probably not the same standard model the company uses, so if they took it back, supporting it would be more work. Also, companies write off laptops after some years. As a piece of equipment that's exposed to travel wear and tear, it ages faster than a desktop machine. After a certain amount of years, the hardware will be dated and prone to defects so keeping it is not economical. The same business logic applies to the university, although they may be more used to supporting a diverse array of research laptops.
**Given these reasons** you should not be too shy to suggest that you get to keep the laptop and make it "your problem".
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: As other answers suggest, the identity of the owner may vary. However, I will venture a common-sense guess for the benefit of future readers:
* If the laptop was not provided with the industrial partner, not bought by it for you, then it's probably not intended to be owned-by-them.
* From my limited experience (not in the UK), Ph.D. candidates don't get to keep laptops they are bought for use during their Ph.D; they hand them in what they leave the university/research institute.
so with no additional information I would assume it is the university's.
But really, in your specific case - just ask whoever gave you the laptop.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: With UK universities, the most common rule would be that it belonged to the University. Research costs on a UKRI studentship are paid to the university to cover the costs of your research. This money to supposed to be spent on enabling you to complete your research and training, but it is the university's money, not yours. Laptops are an interesting one, because in theory, unless you have special requirements, UKRI research funds are not supposed to be used to buy ordinary computers.
Now that's what happens with UKRI. Things might be a little different for a research contract with a industrial partner, but my expectation is that the industrial partner will have a contract with the university to provide the research - once again, note that the contract is between the funder and the university, not the student.
That said, many universities have schemes that allow you to buy computing off them when you leave if they are over a certain number of years old at a nominal cost.
Upvotes: 0
|
2019/12/02
| 1,297
| 5,541
|
<issue_start>username_0: Consider this situation.
A research plan is formulated for a masters student (M) collectively by a professor (P) and a PhD student (G). M runs the experiments but has no idea how to extract knowledge from his experiments (he is not motivated enough to make the effort). P asks G to 'look into it'. G analyzes the data, studies the subject background, identifies some erroneous numbers and re-runs some experiments. G then drafts a research manuscript for submission to a journal.
Even though the 'raw' data was acquired by M, it was G who made efforts to discuss the results and transform the data into a manuscript. M argues that since the research plan was a part of his masters dissertation, he should be the first author. To resolve the dispute, P keeps himself the first author, G the second, and M the third.
Who should be the first author in this case? (The first authorship matters in the field in question.)<issue_comment>username_1: There is a fair option available. The professor could have insisted that both M and G could be first author. I have seen in research follows like this:
**M\*, G\*, P** or **G\*, M\*, P**
\* Both the authors contributed equally to this work.
Your present authorship order: P, G, M is really unfair for both of you (G and M).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> P asks G to 'look into it'. G analyzes the data, studies the subject background, identifies some erroneous numbers and re-runs some experiments. G then drafts a research manuscript for submission to a journal.
>
>
>
It's hard to tell from your short description, but it seems like you jumped the gun a bit here. As you advance in rank, it will be more and more important to help less-capable people on their projects, rather than just doing everything yourself. This is not an easy transition.
In this case, this was M's project, and the professor said "look into it," not "fix it." From this, I would have expected you to take a few hours to assess the situation, give the student some advice, and give the professor your assessment. If the professor then asked you continue supervising the work, or to take over, you should have negotiated authorship **before** agreeing to make this time commitment.
Since you didn't do this, there is a dispute:
* From M's perspective, this is *their* project; they never asked for your help, and certainly didn't expect you to do more than give advice.
* From your perspective, you did all the work and salvaged the project single-handedly
That said, you are where you are, and now a decision has to be made. username_1's solution of joint first authorship does seem like a better solution than listing P as the first author.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: The order of authors is often a poor way of describing authors' relative contributions. Despite being the established norm in some areas (e.g. Physics, Chemistry, Engineering), it is not universal. For example in my area of Mathematics, it is more usual to put authors in alphabetic order and assume equal contributions.
In your situation, contributions are clearly not equal, but also it is not clear how to compare them, and different people may have different opinions on what is relatively more important: experiment, analysis, or general supervision. Since you three can't reach the agreement, it would be appropriate to put author alphabetically and state their exact contributions in a footnote or a special section:
>
> The order of authors is alphabetical. The contributions are as follows: M set up experiment and collected the data; G performed analysis and discussed the results; P evaluates the results and provided general supervision. All authors contributed to writing and editing the manuscript.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: The first author will be associated with the work and should be responsible for and capable of defending its contents. From the little information we have it seems to me G should be first.
*However*... there might be various reasons to place M first. Maybe M will have improved chances at a scholarship if he or she is first author. Maybe G already has several first-author paper and another one will make a marginal impact in her or his transcript. I’m sure there are variations on these too many to count.
I tend to agree with others that P first is unnecessary, although I can see how P might just want the bickering to end because neither M nor G are being reasonable.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: Several thoughts
1. Authorship order, responsibilities, and expectations should be a conversation had BEFORE the work begins.
2. The first author is commonly the person who wrote the paper, which generally implies the person most well versed and familiar with the study design and data.
3. In the case there are two (or more) people with equal contributions, they should share first authorship with asterisk note, which is fairly common and widely appreciated.
4. This may differ by field but at least in the biological sciences it is odd to see a PI take first author with students 2nd, 3rd outside of some book chapter or review.
My take on your predicament: G takes first author by virtue of significant theoretical and practical contributions. M is second, PI third
Incidentally, if your narrative is accurate, collecting the data is NOT sufficient grounds for first authorship or even authorship at all by APA guidelines. Contributions must be material outside of pure labor
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
|
2019/12/02
| 890
| 4,093
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm applying for grad schools (in the US) for next fall, and am currently a graduate student elsewhere (again in the US). This semester I was on a leave (with a research position at a third place), and the original plan was to take courses again in the spring semester, so I registered for those courses. Now, it seems more likely that I'll stay longer in my current research position and continue to work on my projects here. So, it seems like there is a high chance that I'll end up extending the leave and dropping my spring semester courses, but I'm not yet certain about that, and that probably won't be finalized before I submit my applications (also it probably won't be finalized before the deadlines either).
So, I am submitting a transcript with the next semester courses ("in progress") on it, because that was my original plan (and arranged with my department), and right now, that's my official transcript. But I think there is a considerable (and increasing) chance that by the time I (hopefully) get the offer and am required to send the updated transcript, my transcript would be different and won't have those courses.
**Here is my question:**
When I fill in the application forms, in the end, I need to confirm that there is no "false or misleading information" in my application and that I understand that giving such information can result in revoking my admission offer. I was wondering, is my current transcript considered "misleading information"?
++ I did not mention that I attend or don't attend the spring courses anywhere in my application, or whether I'll continue staying in my current position or not (because that's still unclear). Perhaps the only piece of information in my entire application that could relate to that is the "valid to" date on my mailing address, which is the date I was supposed to leave my current position according to the initial plan. Could that be misleading? Should I change that to the most likely date (which I actually don't quite know when it would be to be honest)?
+++ In case it matters, chances are I might continue working on my projects in my current position until the end of the academic year, and never go back to my current department (if I get into a Ph.D. program this year). I don't think that has anything to do with my question, but I said it just in case someone thinks it does.<issue_comment>username_1: It is pretty unlikely that anyone would consider it improper. Things change. If your information is accurate when you submit it that is all you can do. It is what it is.
But you might get questions on why you dropped the course(s). Be sure you have an honest and accurate answer for that.
And if things change while you have an open application, just update the institution when you know the new situation.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I think it's very very unlikely that enrollment in these courses will be meaningful to your application, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's also very unlikely that your enrollment in certain courses, rather than evidence of your performance in those courses, would affect your admission.
The two exceptions I can think of are prerequisites and work towards a degree you would complete. If you said you were going to finish a degree (like a masters degree), and did not actually finish your degree, it would be possible that your admission would be rejected: it would appear as a failure as such. Similarly, if these courses are prerequisites for admission and you don't complete them, your admission could be rejected. In both cases, the issue is not completing the work rather than changing plans.
In your case, the programs you are applying to almost certainly have their own course requirements and unless you fall into the exceptions I mention I can't see any likely issue. If anything, it might be better to emphasize the research work you expect to do between now and matriculation, but I wouldn't worry if your current transcript shows courses for the next semester that you may not actually attend.
Upvotes: 0
|
2019/12/02
| 1,253
| 4,968
|
<issue_start>username_0: The Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (IF) has the following eligibility requirement:
"Researchers must be experienced researchers (ER), i.e. at the date of the call deadline (for IF) ... be in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience." (page 80 of the PDF [Work Programme 2018-2020: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions](https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2018-2020/main/h2020-wp1820-msca_en.pdf)).
By my calculations, this means that that a student spending 4 or fewer years in graduate school must have a lag time of 6-12 months after obtaining the PhD before they could begin to recieve funding. Why is this desirable? Are there any other EU-wide fellowships for STEM which could fill the gap?
(I am aware of other postdoc funding opportunities but none that are as prestigious.)
EDIT: To clarify, why are PhD students not eligible to apply in the fall of their final year, unless they already have "four years of full-time equivalent research experience" at that point? (i.e. a student graduating in May 2021 and applying in September 2020)<issue_comment>username_1: Funders are allowed to make their own rules. Typically they try to be as fair as possible, but there will always be some 'edge effects' where the rules have unintended consequences.
In the case of Marie Curie grants, there is an explicit intention to draw in people from across the entire EU (and beyond). As such, the rules need to accommodate the wide variety of different systems, norms and expectations found in different countries. The clearest point of synchronisation is the date of award of the doctoral degree, and this is what has been chosen in the rules.
Some additional advantages:
* If applications were allowed *before* the doctoral degree was awarded, there would inevitably be cases where someone didn't complete the degree before their fellowship was supposed to start.
* All applicants should have a concrete body of work that can be used to assess their suitability for a fellowship.
Finally, while I don't know the statistics for <NAME> specifically, in general success rates are skewed towards more experienced applicants. It may well be that the people impacted by this rule are generally not competitive for the fellowships.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: You can try to argue that the last year of your undergraduate counts, if you did something like research experiences for undergraduates.
I was a MC fellow in 2002-2004 and at the time of applying was in the last of 5 years of graduate school, having spent 4 years in a combination of research, taking courses, and working as a teaching assistant. So hardly "full time research" in a narrow sense.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: This is simply a question of target audience. Marie-Curie grants are designed so that some applicants will choose the grant over a mediocre tenure track position (with the hope to get a better permanent position afterwards). The grant comes with funding and salary to match that experience level. Trying to apply for a Marie-Curie directly after your PhD is hopeless in most cases (I don't know anything about your specific skills), that is simply not what this fellowship is designed for.
If you either are German or plan to go to Germany there are DFG grants that are targetted at young researchers, that is directly after the PhD. Presumably there a similar programs in other EU countries. There may be EU programs for young researchers as well.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: You're misunderstanding its requirements.
=========================================
For Experienced Researchers, it says they need to "be in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience". Notice the "or": you either need a doctoral degree, or you need to have four years of full-time equivalent research experience. If you have a doctoral degree that you accomplished in three years, then you meet the requirements.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: I'll leave the "why are the MSC requirements like this" question to the other answers, and focus on the
>
> "Are there any other EU-wide fellowships for STEM which could fill the
> gap?"
>
>
>
I'm not aware of any EU-wide programs, but you don't needed an EU wide program, you need one that is EU-wide, you just need one in the country of your intended host institution. Many EU countries have post-doc grants for incoming international post-docs, many of which are considered quite prestigious. Some examples include:
* The [Newton International Fellowship](https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/grants/newton-international/) in the UK
* The [Humboldt Research Fellowship](https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/humboldt-fellowship-postdoc.html) in Germany
You will find many similar programs in other EU countries.
Upvotes: 1
|
2019/12/03
| 7,071
| 29,399
|
<issue_start>username_0: In Computer Science is it preferable to describe algorithms using pseudo code rather than real code? If so, why?
I've talked to a few academics who think so but I can't understand why. Some of the arguments I've heard:
1. *"Pseudo code is shorter."* Given a modern language like Clojure or Python, the real code is often not much longer. Even if it is, (electronic) paper is cheap.
2. *"Not everyone can code in Python."* True, but well-written Python code isn't harder to read than pseudo code. Plus, Python is standardized - someone's personal pseudo code isn't.
3. *"In CS, we focus on algorithms - not implementations."* True, but also showing implementations doesn't take away from that focus.
4. *"It's favoring one language over another."* True, but that is a right I as an author have, isn't it?
5. *"It looks amateurish."* That's subjective.
The main advantage with real code is that you can run it and see for yourself if it works or not. You don't have to wonder whether you have made a mistake in implementing the pseudo code.
So what are the arguments for pseudo code?
To make it clear what I mean by *real* and *runnable code*, see the code in the following articles:
* [An Effective Implementation of the Lin-Kernighan Traveling Salesman Heuristic](http://akira.ruc.dk/~keld/research/LKH/LKH-2.0/DOC/LKH_REPORT.pdf)
* [Fast Minimum Storage Ray/Triangle Intersection](https://cadxfem.org/inf/Fast%20MinimumStorage%20RayTriangle%20Intersection.pdf)
* [Watertight Ray/Triangle Intersection](http://jcgt.org/published/0002/01/05/)
The first and second contains C code. Helsgaun claims it is "c-style pseudocode" but it is to my eyes almost indistinguishable from real C code. The difference I can see is that it uses α, β and ∞ as variable names. The third contains C++ code.<issue_comment>username_1: The arguments that you have heard are all possibly correct. I have been a reviewer and author of many computer science articles, I would like to answer this question in my way and the way I feel.
>
> Pseudo code is shorter. Given a modern language like Clojure or Python, the real code is often not much longer. Even if it is, (electronic) paper is cheap.
>
>
>
The pseudo-code is short and clearly understandable. Pseudo-code helps in decoding the idea very clearly as compared to a whole code. I am not going to spend a few hours of my time understanding your code. For example, to sort a CSV file based on third column, you may have written 3 lines, which I don't really care about. I just need to understand that the file has to be sorted. Second, what if I don't like the language in which the code is written. There could be a huge bias in such review and interest.
>
> Not everyone can code in Python. True, but well-written Python code isn't harder to read than pseudocode. Plus, Python is standardized - someone's personal pseudo code isn't.
>
>
>
This is just a claim that Python community is for everybody. This is true for many other languages as well: Matlab scripts, R scripts, Java scripts; some people (e.g. myself) love UNIX Shell scripts as well.
>
> In CS, we focus on algorithms - not implementations. True, but also showing implementations doesn't take away from that focus.
>
>
>
I agree to this. But, looking at the whole code does not make sense. Read the first point.
>
> It's favoring one language over another. True, but that is a right I as an author have, isn't it?
>
>
>
You should understand that you are writing the paper for "the world except yourself". So, you are nowhere in the intended readers' group. You should write something which the readers will read not to get annoyed with.
>
> It looks amateurish. That's subjective.
>
>
>
Indeed.
***Verdict:*** You can always give full code in your paper (as in the Appendix or in Supplementary material). But, you must give an algorithm/pseudocode in the main paper.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: In my experience as both an author and a reader it is highly preferable to use real code rather than pseudocode whenever possible. I have *never* had a reviewer complain when I used real code rather than pseudocode.
Moreover, real code is advantageous not only because the reader can run it themselves but also because the *author* can run it and make sure they haven't got bugs in their presentation.
However, making real executable code good for presentation as an algorithm is often still quite difficult:
* Correctly executable code is not necessarily intelligible. It needs to be carefully cleaned, commented, and arranged.
* If the paper includes analysis, the code variables need to match the analysis variables, which can be problematic with more complex mathematical notations ("x\_hat\_sub\_i\_prime")
* Line lengths often need to be much shorter to fit in a paper column, which adds additional reformatting and often ugliness.
* There are often "uninteresting" but necessary parts of code, like packing and unpacking information from data structures.
* Code often gets entangled with dependencies, environment, and context.
* Some languages just seem to be inherently "wordy" and difficult to make compact listings with.
Given all this, I think many authors may just find it easier to bang together some iffy pseudocode rather than try to get real code to be both presentable and correct.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: In my research, I often write algorithms, which may contains statements like:
* Find a dominant subspace of a given hermitian matrix *A* with relative accuracy *Ɛ*.
* Find a nonnegative solution of this system of equations / inequalities.
* Sort these eigenvalues from large to small in modulus, discard small ones and reshuffle the eigenvectors accordingly.
These instructions are perfectly simple and clear to anyone doing Numerical Linear Algebra, regardless of their favourite programming language. I see no reason to use a particular programming language in the paper and risk capping my readership. I believe that the natural language is faster to read and understand. Particularly, it username_9ws me to talk clearly about what is the purpose of each step, rather than about how to achieve it. There are often more than one way to, e.g. "solve a linear system", and the use of pseudo-code username_9ws me to distinguish between "solve it somehow" and "solve it using this particular algorithm". Hence, I use pseudo-code which username_9ws me to better express nuances like this.
I always provide actual code alongside the paper in an open repository, which readers can clone and explore, saving them a bother of retyping the code from the pdf / printed version of the paper.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: Pseudo code lets you focus on the important bits of the algorithm and summarize the rest.
Real code often starts with load some libraries, read in some data, then format/ rearrange it the way you need, no need for that in pseudo code.
Your algorithm might consist of multiple separate steps, some of which are standard, well-understood and boring, others are the key innovation in your paper. In pseudo code, the boring bits are just one-liners that describe what needs to happen. The juicy bits are as detailed as they need to be. In real code some of the standard details will be longer than the actually important pieces.
So in summary, in pseudo code the reader can easily see where the important bits in your code are, with real code this is much harder (not impossible, just harder).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: There are cases where real code is preferable, and cases where pseudocode is preferable. You shouldn't rely on a simple iron rule, but rather on judgement of what is appropriate to the situation.
Some things to consider:
**Programming languages come and go.** In the 60s, Fortran was considered a really nice and readable programming language, much easier to read than Assembly. But if you'd written an article using Fortran code samples instead of peudocode, it would be harder to read for us now. Right now, Python looks pretty good to us, but will it still look that good in the future? If I handed you a piece of Python code with the following code in it:
```
a = 3 / 2
```
What is the value of `a`? Is it 1 or 1.5? Because Python 2 and 3 handle integer division differently. Now, I've gone more or less native programming in Python 3, so I actually had to look up which of the division operations in Python 2 and 3 are different and which aren't. Just to show you, using real code in a paper may reduce the shelf life of your paper.
**Pseudocode lets you abstract stuff away** In pseudocode you can just state something like:
```
WHILE stopping criterion not reached DO
(stuff)
```
And then later on in your paper you can argue about different possible stopping criteria for your algorithm. You could do that with actual Python code too, but the result would be basically that you're twisting your Python code to do what pseudocode does by nature.
**You can be pretty standardized in pseudocode** Just use the various algorithm typesetting options for LaTeX.
**You can use mathematical notation in pseudocode** Using mathematical set notation is a lot more universal than relying on all of your readers understanding Python set operations. Consider:
```
a = set([1, 2, 3])
b = set([1, 2])
c = 1 if b.issubset(a) else 0
```
versus
```
A ← {1, 2, 3}
B ← {1, 2}
C = 1 if B ⊆ A
0 otherwise
```
Someone not familiar with Python looking at the first example will be wondering: is [1, 2, 3] a ... maybe a list? Well the list [1, 2, 3] isn't the same as the list [1, 2], so the set A and the set B contain different elements so B can't be a subset of A.
**Algorithms vs. implementations** Suppose in 2019 you write an interesting algorithm in Python 3 using some state of the art libraries. In 2025 I come up with an alternative algorithm for the same problem in Go and want to compare performance to prove that yours is better. To get a fair comparison, I'm going to have to implement my algorithm in Go or yours in Python. Suppose by then nobody uses Python for high performance stuff anymore because Go does it better. (It might, I dunno.) Now I have to go research the seven year old libraries you used to find out exactly what functions you used and which Go functions are equivalent to them. That's very hard. So quite likely, the Go implementation I make of your algorithm won't be all that good. And big surprise! My algorithm benchmarks better than yours!
Now instead if you'd used an implementation-independent description of your algorithm, things might turn out better for your publication.
---
So the two big disadvantages of using real code are: it limits the shelf life of your publication, and you reach a smaller audience.
So when *should* you use real code?
* When the topic of your paper is not the algorithm, but the implementation or the programming language. Maybe you're trying to show that Python is a really good language in which to solve problem X because with libraries Y and Z you get an easy and efficient implementation.
* It's absolutely encouraged to *also* publish your real code as an appendix or, better yet, in a repository where people can download your code and suggest improvements. A nontrivial algorithm is probably too big to copy by typing by hand or even copy-pasting out of a paper anyway. As soon as you start getting into something like a new Deep Learning algorithm, you're probably looking at multiple files or even nested packages.
Upvotes: 8 <issue_comment>username_6: **Pseudo-code is forever; real languages change all the time.**
If you'd published a paper with an algorithm in Python in the Python 2 days there is a significant possibility that the "executable" code that you wrote then will no longer operate correctly if people run it under the latest release, even in less dramatic cases the advance of new libraries and algorithms is likely to leave readers confused as to your archaic choices. Imagine if papers from 40 years ago had used the languages of the day; would you understand the subtleties of some Fortran or Pascal code? Programmers then made the same claims for understandability you make about Python.
So pseudo-code is better because will clearly express the key ideas just as well in a hundred years.
**Pseudo-code expresses the intent of code better than real languages**
In order to write working code I must, nearly always, carry out a number of steps in order to get the program to work that are not required in order to set things up, format things or whatever, these steps can be ignored or simplified in pseudo-code in order to communicate the important information.
What's more, in real languages I must make decisions about how data is stored, which algorithm is adopted for sorting, etc. that are incidental to the algorithm discussed in the paper. By including these incidental choices in your description of the algorithm you guide implementers towards making choices that may not be optimal, either because better choices are now available or because the choices you made are unsuited for their target environment.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: I would say this is more convention, as this seems really quite field-dependent. In "combinatorial" discrete algorithms papers, I almost never see real code. Well, a notable exception is Don Knuth's TAoCP, but not everyone is Don Knuth, right?
However, in a field I work in (functional programming), presenting real, runnable code is the *norm*. Much of the research is really language dependent, so not surprising, but even the language-agnostic work (e.g., purely functional data structures) are typically presented using a real functional programming language like Standard ML or Haskell. Sometimes this do create some confusion, but since functional programming as a field (although arguably still mostly part of TCS) is quite implementation- and programming-oriented, most people actually *want* to see real programs.
So IMO this is really more convention than anything, and it really depends on the field. Most combinatorialists care about the algorithm itself on a high-level as well as its complexity, but functional programmers (or perhaps "logicians") care a lot about whether the algorithm can be implemented correctly and elegantly, hence the discrepancy.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: There was a time when pseudocode was the clear choice, since programming languages were so crude. The 60's and 70's, but later than that -- it takes time to safely assume a language is in general use, and at the time, not using pseudocode just felt weird. I remember pseudocode including such pie-in-the-sky constructs as: "foreach", for-loops, loops at all (as opposed to an IF with a backwards GOTO), 2D arrays, if's with else's, functions with parameters, variable names longer than 2 letters, a working string library. Essentially, pseudocode was a better, superior language.
Some academics don't code all that much, and probably have the same memories as I do, where "turn this pseudocode into a FORTRAN program" was a non-trivial assignment. For my part, I remember writing out pseudocode around 2010 (old habits), realizing it was 99% working C++ and that pseudocode isn't a thing anymore. You're just thinking and writing in your favorite programming language, with a few shortcuts here and there.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: There does not have to be a clear distinction.
The most important part of pseudo code is, that it should be clear to read. So you do not want to deal with constructs that are not part of the actual algorithm and you do not want to deal with syntax constructs, that are useful in a programming language, but not easy to understand when you do not know the programming language.
Is this pseudo code or real code?
```
if a == b:
a = a % b
```
This is valid python code. But it is also some readable pseudo code.
What about this one?
```
for i in range(10):
print(i)
```
I would say this is no (good) pseudo code, as the `for` construct is not obvious.
You may be able to get the `for i in` part, but what does `range(10)` do? Even `range(0, 10)` is not really clear, because it is not obvious that `10` is not part of the range.
In addition, you need to keep in mind, that math and computer science often differ in starting the indices with 0 or 1.
so I would say this is much clearer, but no valid code:
```
for i = 0 .. 9:
print(i)
```
There are other ways to express the intent of the for loop, that are similar clear and easy to read. Here you could try to use the C syntax `for(int i=0; i < 10; i++)`, or maybe even omitting the `int`.
What belongs to good pseudo code is a clear human readble listing of the input and output. So don't
```
int i = 0;
i := i+1
return i;
```
But rather use
```
// input:
// i: an integer number that should be incremented
// Algorithm:
o := i + 1
// output:
// o: the integer number incremented by 1
```
Note that I avoided re-using `i` to store the result, but used a variable `o` that is only used to store the output. This username_9ws for omitting the `return` statement as well, so the reader does not need to think about what return does and where does it return to is not relevant to the algorithm.
In contrast to the example at the beginning, I used `:=` for assignment, to make more obvious that it is an assigment operation and no mathematical equation.
Of course your personal style contains a lot of your opinion about clean pseudo code. If you are unsure, you may want to stick close to the different pseudo code packages in LaTeX and use them similar to the examples in their documentation.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: I like the current three top answers right now (by @username_5 and @DmitrySavostyanov and @JackAidley). But I feel like there is one option that is not being represented.
### You can provide both the pseudo-code and the real-code.
* Most likely the real-code is too long to be provided in-line in your paper.
* So you would provide the pseudo-code in the paper.
* Then the real-code as an addendum or supplementary-download or URL.
### Providing both gives you all the benefits of both AND more.
* You have all the benefits of pseudo-code.
* You have all the benefits of real-code.
* So your readers can more easily understand your paper by reading the pseudo code and understanding the intent and then if they are super serious they can then go to the real code and start using it.
* The code is easier to understand because they already have the pseudocode which explains the low-level implementation.
### Lastly providing both ensures long-term understanding (pseudo-code does not go obsolete) AND short/medium term your research gets more adoption, more usage, easier to reproduce your results.
* More short-term adoption/usage/reproducing means longer-term more impact on others and more long-term usage.
### Example #1
<https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/140990/349> is a great example where the pseudo-code is much more readable/understandable/intent-is-obvious ... implementing this in code would take lots of lines of code and could get ugly quickly and take up too much space in a paper... so you would definitely want the pseudo-code... but if you were serious and wanted to use the paper... having the real-code would save me many hours... in some cases many hours/weeks/days/months of recreating the pseudo-code.
### Example #2
Here's another example. <http://www.fftw.org/fftw-paper-ieee.pdf> The FFTW algorithm is for computing the Fourier Transform. The paper talks about algorithms but the implementation is also very important. So the paper provides mostly pseudo-code and a tiny bit of code. And if you want the source you can get that as a supplementary download.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_11: >
> Is publishing runnable code instead of pseudo code shunned?
>
>
>
Not that I know of, but this probably depends on the specific subculture of the respective field.
>
> In Computer Science is it preferable to describe algorithms using pseudo code rather than real code?
>
>
>
It was (see [Owen's answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/141046/53376)) and sometimes still can be (see considerations below).
>
> If so, why?
>
>
> [...]
>
>
> So what are the arguments for pseudo code?
>
>
>
As many of the other answers already state: Other than naive runnable code, pseudo code aims to be easily read **and** understood without bothering the reader with unimportant (for the presented aspect) details. **And** it usually succeeds at these goals.
As you yourself state, runnable code also has its benefits. So let me side-step the issue by claiming that
with some effort you can get the benefit of both
------------------------------------------------
(and without actually providing both, pseudo code and *separate* runnable code, as [username_10 suggests](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/141046/53376).)
Ideal code in papers (and, if feasible, elsewhere) is *pseudo*-pseudo code: Code that has all the positive properties of pseudo code, but happens to be runnable (and to actually do what it seemed it would).
It is my firm believe that **all sufficiently well-written runnable code is indistinguishable from pseudo code**: If anyone can tell that certain (actually runnable) code isn't pseudo code because it isn't as readable and as easily comprehensible as pseudo code, that runnable code isn't structured well enough, yet, and should be refactored.
How to get pseudo pseudo code
-----------------------------
How do you achieve runnable code that is as easy to read as pseudo code?
There are several aspects to consider and fulfilling all of them may not always be easy or feasible, or sometimes not even possible. (This can be a valid reason to use actual non-runnable pseudo code instead of runnable pseudo-pseudo code.)
### Choose the right language
What language is best suited depends on several things:
* The problem domain
* Your solution approach
* Your audience
* The possibilities the language offers for (re)structuring your code
Note that for *some* combinations of these, **no** programming language may (yet or sometimes even ever) exist that username_9ws you to write sufficiently well-written code. For obvious practical reasons, you'll also have to factor in your command of the respective language (how skilled you are in applying it).
### Make your code extremely clean: Refactor, refactor, refactor
If there are implementation details that obfuscate the core idea of the algorithm you're describing, extract them (e.g. to constants, variables, methods or functions), so that you can replace their "how" (their implementation) by their "what" (the name of the newly extracted code-thing). If appropriate, choose not to show the extracted implementation or assignment in the in-paper code excerpts. Take extreme care in naming the extracted things, so that their purpose (not necessarily their implementation) is extremely clear and obvious from their name and call signature.
On the other hand, if an algorithm is too scattered between different parts of the code to be readily understood, you may have to selectively inline code instead.
In all of that, aim for a [single level of abstraction per code unit (e.g. function)](http://www.principles-wiki.net/principles:single_level_of_abstraction) or, at least, the right levels of abstraction to best show and explain the algorithm. Though apply the somewhat related [single-responsibility principle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_responsibility_principle) only with care: Over-applying it (or interpreting "single responsibility" too narrow) can scatter and thereby obfuscate your algorithm. Note that in that regard, the right balance for code to present in a paper will most probably be different from the right balance for code in a (to-be-)maintained software product.
With any sufficiently optimizing compiler or interpreter, none of these refactorings should too adversely affect performance. But when the focus is on presenting an algorithm rather than implementing it in a production system, this shouldn't be of too much concern, anyway.
### Make your code obvious to interpret
The correct interpretation of your pseudo pseudo code shouldn't rely on knowing your chosen programming language, or its version, variant or dialect. Thus be wary of what language features you use.
Each language feature that is common to many programming languages (known to the audience) and that in the chosen language has a similar syntax to many other programming languages could just as well be also a feature of a pseudo code dialect and can thus be used in pseudo pseudo code, unless the chosen programming language has an unusual and non-obvious semantic for it. Even a not-so-common or language-specific feature, or one with a not-so-common syntax, can be used without problem, if its semantics are sufficiently self-evident from its syntax and keywords and their relation to natural language.
Non-obvious language features are best omitted, but can be used when combined with explanations in code comments or in the paper's prose. (Just as it would apply to non-obvious features of a chosen pseudo code dialect.)
The same goes for language specific idioms: Avoid or explain them, if you have to expect them not to be obvious to your audience.
### Alternative: Make pseudo-code runnable
The above two sections assume that you start from working runnable code. Of course you can also start from pseudo code and modify it to actually be runnable (and hopefully to do what it seems to do) in a suitable programming language. Note though, that you can end up with very non-idiomatic code for the target language that way, which may not be what you want. Of course, refactoring can usually fix that.
### Explain your code
Just like you would have to explain (in prose, code comments or cusername_9uts) certain aspects of your code if it was presented in pseudo code, you have to do that if it's written in pseudo pseudo code.
The advantages of pseudo pseudo code
------------------------------------
* As readable and comprehensible as pseudo code
* If the used language (incl. version, variant or dialect, if applicable) is specified:
+ it is runnable and usable
+ it is testable both manually and by automated tests
+ it is profilable
Some of these advantages benefit you as the author, as you can for example make sure(r) the algorithm as presented is actually correct. Others benefit your audience who might want to assess your algorithm.
Whether these benefits are worth the significant work that is required to achieve pseudo pseudo code vs. just pseudo code or on the other hand not sufficiently well-written runnable code, is up to you to decide.
Oh, and let's not forget the moral benefit: Whether "it looks amateurish" or not, you can be confident that it isn't, due to all the skill and hard work it requires.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_12: For a time in the late sixties, CACM required that algorithms in articles should be written in Algol. They dropped the requirement when it turned out that people were submitting algorithms developed in other languages, and not tested in Algol (because they happened not to have an Algol compiler installed at their sites.) A consequence of this behavior was that almost none of the published algorithms were compilable, and many contained substantive errors caused by authors' misunderstanding of Algol semantics.
I think CACM editors were aware of the compiler situation when they set the requirement, but hoped that the existence of a clear standard would result in unambiguous pseudo-code.
At any rate, this example shows:
\* Even with a big standards document describing it, pseudo-code is hard to write
\* Quality control is easier with executable code.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_13: I say this without meaning to disrespect anyone, but many academics are not keen programmers - they don't *enjoy* programming or care about details. Programming isn't what they signed up for, or isn't the main focus of their work. They may see code as a "necessary evil", rather than as the contribution or appreciate its design. The code is perceived as being unimportant and low-level. This is all subjective of course: I may be in the extreme minority but I personally find Java code easier to understand than UML diagrams.
In my view, the entire discussion is about syntax. There's a reason why you can copy-paste Python code and nobody will bat an eyelid (hint: it's widely known even by amateurs), whereas you can't with languages that have a steeper learning curve and more nuances. It just so happens that when people see code they don't like (or, more likely, can't understand, perhaps in part due to unfamiliarity with the syntax), they may miss a large part of the contribution.
Pseudo-code is inherently designed for procedural algorithms requiring simple constructs IMO. It can sometimes be a lot more expressive to write executable code depending on what you're demonstrating. Also, it means you won't have to invent your own syntax, since most pseudocode "standards" only have basic imperative constructs.
Upvotes: 1
|
2019/12/03
| 2,563
| 11,334
|
<issue_start>username_0: I have met a strange situation with one of my 2nd-year PhD students. During the past year, their progress was minimum. They implement and retest existing literature material but haven't been able to develop new contributions based on their research plan (although the ideas are there). I set up a monitoring scheme with biweekly written updates and feedback, sent multiple (written) warnings and talked to the student many times (in the presence of other faculty).
At the annual review, the student was warned that they are endangering to fail their PhD. The student then complained that they believe I have "unrealistic requirements" from them, that I should judge them based on the "minimum requirements" for a PhD. They provided an example of other students from different groups (not my group) that are doing worse than the student.
The minimum requirements of the university are "a thesis with evidence of original work and independent critical ability considered suitable for publication". So, the student claims that my requests for submitting conference/journal publications during the PhD are unrealistic.
* Have you ever met this situation before? How do you deal with this?
* I have no control over the student's funding stream (external). The only thing I can do is to make a suggestion at the School level. But this will become a "what about" discussion.<issue_comment>username_1: There should be some university rules which state what the student has to do in order to obtain the phd. Treat them as a contract -- do they state exactly some minimum requirements to obtain the phd? Then, a student satisfying thoss requirements should obtain the phd. If (what is more likely) they say something about you being able to state more requirements, then you can give more requirements (maybe after writing them down formally). (Or maybe the rules allow you to remove the student? If yes, you might want to think if you want and can do this.)
Please be also aware that you may be requesting too much. Some instructors were always the best in research and may be biased when supervising.
If the student meets the minimum requirements, they should of course be granted the phd. Not doing more might or might not be a problem for the student's future. You should warn them that (e.g.) an academic career might be a problem afterwards, but, depending on the student's goals, receiving a "minimum phd" might be not at all a problem.
Many people in the world do only the minimum required for their job/studies. If the mimimum is defined well, this should not be a problem.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> The minimum requirements of the university are "a thesis with evidence of original work and independent critical ability considered suitable for publication". So, the student claims that my requests for submitting conference/journal publications during the PhD are unrealistic.
>
>
>
First, this statement must not (and indeed cannot) be enforced on any side as a contract (i.e. between the university and the student). A contract would be written thus: We (the university) guarantee to *give* you (the student) this (a PhD) degree after you give us this (a thesis with ...). The statement is a performance metric. The university has established that students will **not** EARN a PhD unless they fulfill at least this requirement.
Here are ways to enforce this view to all concerned:
* Ask the student to produce a document that has been signed by both the university and the student that explicitly states that he/she is guaranteed to be given a PhD when he/she submits the minimum requirement. This will be impossible.
* Ask the student to research and write a treatise on the fundamental differences between the language in legally binding contracts versus that used in performance metric standards.
Secondly, this is a minimum metric at the university level. This leaves open the option that colleges, departments, and faculty set their own performance metrics to reach this minimum. By example, in a Biology Department in a liberal arts college, the metric may be determined to be met when the student develops a new analysis method for confocal microscopy whereas in a Physics Department in a Tier 1 university, the metric may be determined to be met only when the student has designed, built, calibrated, and proven the fundamental operation of an entirely new type of confocal microscope.
The above option carries down to the individual faculty in any given department. What you demand as an assurance toward the minimum performance metric can be entirely different from what your colleague demands.
In this regard and with respect to the opening statement of contracts versus metrics, *you, as the primary faculty advisor, have the right and certainly also the obligation to set the terms of the contract that you demand between you and the student to work in your team*.
You can formalize the distinction between contracts and performance metrics in various ways.
* Establish a requirement that students must pass a Dissertation Proposal within an established time period.
* Establish a requirement that students must complete all of their required coursework with at least a minimum grade to start working in your group.
* Establish a requirement that students must present their research work to at least one (regional, national, or international) conference as a poster within an established time period after starting their work.
The above are a combination of contracts and metrics. To be respected, they should be established in the sense of saying "when you (the student) do not complete this, you cannot continue on this".
>
> Have you ever met this situation before? How do you deal with this?
>
>
>
I have. Students want to believe that a graduate degree is a process akin to buying a rug at an Indian bazaar or filling their plate at an open buffet. They believe that they can negotiate the terms or they can pick and choose their options.
I deal with it as above. I have refused to take students who have yet to complete a minimum of the required coursework first. I require the defense of a thesis or dissertation proposal before a committee (even though the former is not a department requirement). I demand presentations and publications from PhD students *before* the dissertation can be written. And I establish (and within bounds maintain) standards for time periods to accomplish the requirements. All of this, and I would bet that my university has only a comparable statement as does yours as to what constitutes the metrics for a PhD.
>
> I have no control over the student's funding stream (external). The only thing I can do is to make a suggestion at the School level. But this will become a "what about" discussion.
>
>
>
Pardon me but ... Why the heck is this even an issue? Either you have your standards, set them, and move forward; or you do not. When you are paying the bill for the student, you may believe that you have more leverage. This belief is however a false hope. It also does a serious injustice to your role as mentor and eventual colleague to the student concerned. You are not to be advising students with a financial bat at your side to knock them back into place when you think such a step is needed. You are to be advising students on the terms that you believe must be met to earn a PhD.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: While I agree with the sentiment of the [answer of username_2](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/141068/75368), I think there is a simpler solution.
The student needs to demonstrate the criteria in the university's rules to someone's satisfaction. This means to *your* satisfaction, primarily, if you are being called on to approve of granting a degree.
The student, it seems, is trying to capitalize a bit (or more) on your reputation without meeting your standards. So, I'd put it back on them:
>
> Stand And Deliver. Either produce enough in properly refereed journals or conferences to meet the standard or produce enough that I can independently affirm is of the required quality. Failing that, you, the student, should find another advisor.
>
>
>
But, if the student can write enough papers vetted by reviewers and accepted for publication, then they have met the criteria. Not every one needs to publish before graduation (in some fields), so, in those cases where it isn't required, the judgement is up to the advisor and the committee.
It doesn't meet the criteria just because the student claims it does. It requires external validation in all cases. If a student wants to work with an advisor with high expectations they should, themselves, be prepared to meet those expectations.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> The minimum requirements of the university are "a thesis with evidence of original work and independent critical ability considered suitable for publication"
>
>
>
Try having them use this as an argument with the department head for not meeting the department's course requirements.
In other words, that's only the requirement expected at the university level. The department then has the right to impose additional requirements in terms of things like course requirements, teaching requirements, presenting requirements. For example, every PhD student in my department is required to acquire a certain level of teaching experience and give an exit seminar prior to graduating. These are not university level requirements, and as such, may not be required in other departments.
Then, in addition to university and department requirements, you have the right to impose your own requirements, as long as they don't conflict the department's or university's rules and requirements, and are otherwise not unethical or unrealistic. This includes taking specific classes, doing specific research tasks, doing lab chores, giving lab presentations, assisting fellow lab members, etc. Ideally you want to be as upfront as possible about these requirements. By asking to work with you, a student is agreeing to these terms. If doesn't matter what other students are doing in other labs; if they don't like your requirements, then they can switch advisors.
>
> I have no control over the student's funding stream (external)
>
>
>
Congratulations, they should have no problem finding another advisor, and you don't have to feel bad about making them unemployed.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: My reaction to this attitude would be to ask *what are the minimum requirements for me, the PhD student's advisor?*
I would tell the student that my time is valuable and if they don't put in effort, I will stop meeting with them beyond the minimum required of me. If they are able to produce the minimum requirements for a PhD on their own, then they will be granted a PhD. But they are unlikely to be able to meet even the minimum requirements without help. If they want my help, I expect them to put in effort.
In most places, the requirements for the advisor are pretty minimal. You should discuss this situation with your department head or whoever is in charge of the PhD program. They can tell you what you should do and also what is required of you if you don't want to continue working with the student.
Upvotes: 2
|
2019/12/03
| 2,504
| 10,841
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am doing my bachelor's thesis (4th-year 1st semester) in one of the top 5 research group in my field in the world (but not a renowned university). I want to do direct PhD (also called Masters track PhD) after this and my supervisor is extremely impressed by my work and wants to convince me to do it in his group.
He also offered me one more funded semester (4th-year 2nd semester) of research internship which I have accepted.
But, I have friends in some other labs and also, I want to explore some other options like doing a PhD in the top research group as well as a renowned university. Hence, I have decided to apply for direct PhD to some other labs too (top 5 and also university wise top 5 universities). Is it okay to ask my bachelor's thesis supervisor to write a recommendation letter for me? How can I ask him to write a strong letter without disappointing him?<issue_comment>username_1: There should be some university rules which state what the student has to do in order to obtain the phd. Treat them as a contract -- do they state exactly some minimum requirements to obtain the phd? Then, a student satisfying thoss requirements should obtain the phd. If (what is more likely) they say something about you being able to state more requirements, then you can give more requirements (maybe after writing them down formally). (Or maybe the rules allow you to remove the student? If yes, you might want to think if you want and can do this.)
Please be also aware that you may be requesting too much. Some instructors were always the best in research and may be biased when supervising.
If the student meets the minimum requirements, they should of course be granted the phd. Not doing more might or might not be a problem for the student's future. You should warn them that (e.g.) an academic career might be a problem afterwards, but, depending on the student's goals, receiving a "minimum phd" might be not at all a problem.
Many people in the world do only the minimum required for their job/studies. If the mimimum is defined well, this should not be a problem.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> The minimum requirements of the university are "a thesis with evidence of original work and independent critical ability considered suitable for publication". So, the student claims that my requests for submitting conference/journal publications during the PhD are unrealistic.
>
>
>
First, this statement must not (and indeed cannot) be enforced on any side as a contract (i.e. between the university and the student). A contract would be written thus: We (the university) guarantee to *give* you (the student) this (a PhD) degree after you give us this (a thesis with ...). The statement is a performance metric. The university has established that students will **not** EARN a PhD unless they fulfill at least this requirement.
Here are ways to enforce this view to all concerned:
* Ask the student to produce a document that has been signed by both the university and the student that explicitly states that he/she is guaranteed to be given a PhD when he/she submits the minimum requirement. This will be impossible.
* Ask the student to research and write a treatise on the fundamental differences between the language in legally binding contracts versus that used in performance metric standards.
Secondly, this is a minimum metric at the university level. This leaves open the option that colleges, departments, and faculty set their own performance metrics to reach this minimum. By example, in a Biology Department in a liberal arts college, the metric may be determined to be met when the student develops a new analysis method for confocal microscopy whereas in a Physics Department in a Tier 1 university, the metric may be determined to be met only when the student has designed, built, calibrated, and proven the fundamental operation of an entirely new type of confocal microscope.
The above option carries down to the individual faculty in any given department. What you demand as an assurance toward the minimum performance metric can be entirely different from what your colleague demands.
In this regard and with respect to the opening statement of contracts versus metrics, *you, as the primary faculty advisor, have the right and certainly also the obligation to set the terms of the contract that you demand between you and the student to work in your team*.
You can formalize the distinction between contracts and performance metrics in various ways.
* Establish a requirement that students must pass a Dissertation Proposal within an established time period.
* Establish a requirement that students must complete all of their required coursework with at least a minimum grade to start working in your group.
* Establish a requirement that students must present their research work to at least one (regional, national, or international) conference as a poster within an established time period after starting their work.
The above are a combination of contracts and metrics. To be respected, they should be established in the sense of saying "when you (the student) do not complete this, you cannot continue on this".
>
> Have you ever met this situation before? How do you deal with this?
>
>
>
I have. Students want to believe that a graduate degree is a process akin to buying a rug at an Indian bazaar or filling their plate at an open buffet. They believe that they can negotiate the terms or they can pick and choose their options.
I deal with it as above. I have refused to take students who have yet to complete a minimum of the required coursework first. I require the defense of a thesis or dissertation proposal before a committee (even though the former is not a department requirement). I demand presentations and publications from PhD students *before* the dissertation can be written. And I establish (and within bounds maintain) standards for time periods to accomplish the requirements. All of this, and I would bet that my university has only a comparable statement as does yours as to what constitutes the metrics for a PhD.
>
> I have no control over the student's funding stream (external). The only thing I can do is to make a suggestion at the School level. But this will become a "what about" discussion.
>
>
>
Pardon me but ... Why the heck is this even an issue? Either you have your standards, set them, and move forward; or you do not. When you are paying the bill for the student, you may believe that you have more leverage. This belief is however a false hope. It also does a serious injustice to your role as mentor and eventual colleague to the student concerned. You are not to be advising students with a financial bat at your side to knock them back into place when you think such a step is needed. You are to be advising students on the terms that you believe must be met to earn a PhD.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: While I agree with the sentiment of the [answer of username_2](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/141068/75368), I think there is a simpler solution.
The student needs to demonstrate the criteria in the university's rules to someone's satisfaction. This means to *your* satisfaction, primarily, if you are being called on to approve of granting a degree.
The student, it seems, is trying to capitalize a bit (or more) on your reputation without meeting your standards. So, I'd put it back on them:
>
> Stand And Deliver. Either produce enough in properly refereed journals or conferences to meet the standard or produce enough that I can independently affirm is of the required quality. Failing that, you, the student, should find another advisor.
>
>
>
But, if the student can write enough papers vetted by reviewers and accepted for publication, then they have met the criteria. Not every one needs to publish before graduation (in some fields), so, in those cases where it isn't required, the judgement is up to the advisor and the committee.
It doesn't meet the criteria just because the student claims it does. It requires external validation in all cases. If a student wants to work with an advisor with high expectations they should, themselves, be prepared to meet those expectations.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> The minimum requirements of the university are "a thesis with evidence of original work and independent critical ability considered suitable for publication"
>
>
>
Try having them use this as an argument with the department head for not meeting the department's course requirements.
In other words, that's only the requirement expected at the university level. The department then has the right to impose additional requirements in terms of things like course requirements, teaching requirements, presenting requirements. For example, every PhD student in my department is required to acquire a certain level of teaching experience and give an exit seminar prior to graduating. These are not university level requirements, and as such, may not be required in other departments.
Then, in addition to university and department requirements, you have the right to impose your own requirements, as long as they don't conflict the department's or university's rules and requirements, and are otherwise not unethical or unrealistic. This includes taking specific classes, doing specific research tasks, doing lab chores, giving lab presentations, assisting fellow lab members, etc. Ideally you want to be as upfront as possible about these requirements. By asking to work with you, a student is agreeing to these terms. If doesn't matter what other students are doing in other labs; if they don't like your requirements, then they can switch advisors.
>
> I have no control over the student's funding stream (external)
>
>
>
Congratulations, they should have no problem finding another advisor, and you don't have to feel bad about making them unemployed.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: My reaction to this attitude would be to ask *what are the minimum requirements for me, the PhD student's advisor?*
I would tell the student that my time is valuable and if they don't put in effort, I will stop meeting with them beyond the minimum required of me. If they are able to produce the minimum requirements for a PhD on their own, then they will be granted a PhD. But they are unlikely to be able to meet even the minimum requirements without help. If they want my help, I expect them to put in effort.
In most places, the requirements for the advisor are pretty minimal. You should discuss this situation with your department head or whoever is in charge of the PhD program. They can tell you what you should do and also what is required of you if you don't want to continue working with the student.
Upvotes: 2
|
2019/12/03
| 764
| 3,269
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<issue_start>username_0: I will present work of mine in form of a poster on a national convention/congress/conference in my broader (STEM-related) field.
A manuscript has already been submitted by me, in english. Manuscripts will be available online for members of the society organizing the conference, and to everybody with internet access after some years. This is why I chose the manuscript to be in english
Last year I have also attended the conference, but presented in form of an (english) talk. In my session, this was the only english talk, but someone approached me afterwards in english. My impression is that only a small majority of the attendees were non-native speakers of my language, though.
I am fluent in both english and my native language.
On the convention/congress website it says (roughly):
>
> "The conference language is `native language`, but english
> contributions are welcome as well.
>
>
>
My question is:
* Should I write the poster in english to make sure everybody will understand it, or rather chose my native language in order to make it easier for the majority to understand and talk about?
(Also be informed that I would like to have a reasonable change of being considered for the events' poster award)<issue_comment>username_1: Many conferences specifically state that *The Language of the Conference is X* for some suitable choice of X. If so, then use that language. Here, they state that the native language is preferred, so use that.
But, if this conference is in Germany you can be pretty much assured that every academic, and many other people, will understand English. This is true for most of Europe and for many other places.
If it is a physical poster, you could provide an online version in whichever language you don't choose if you have any doubts. So, probably make it in the local language (German?) and then provide an English version online. Or, possibly a handout in English.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> "The conference language is `native language`, but english
> contributions are welcome as well.
>
>
>
The conference organizers have made it clear that both *native language* and English are acceptable and welcome for your conference materials.
That means it’s entirely up to you. If you have strong feelings about supporting your local language, you can feel completely free to use that language for your poster. I am sure many of the native speakers present would find that an agreeable decision and would be somewhat grateful. On the other hand, there will likely be some foreign participants who would find your poster unaccessible and will miss out on learning about your work. Perhaps some of those people are academics you will be interacting with further down the road of your career (e.g., if you end up applying for postdocs overseas).
If you just want your work to reach the largest number of people and don’t care about anything else, I’m guessing English is the way to go (assuming you are in a country such as Germany with a very high proportion of English speakers).
It is a choice to make; neither option is any more right or wrong that the other.
And if you really can’t decide, how about preparing a bilingual poster?
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2019/12/03
| 1,035
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<issue_start>username_0: Often, college students do not always know what kinds of notes they should be taking.
**How can I encourage students to take notes more efficiently and more effectively?**
In one of my lecture-style courses, I have lots of organized information on my lecture slides for reference purposes. This allows me to introduce more material and work through more examples than I would otherwise be able to do. The lecture slides use [signposting](https://cte-blog.uwaterloo.ca/?p=3315) in order to give structure and to help students organize their notes logically. I post the slides to our course web page before class so students can use them in class to aid their note-taking. I have discussed with my students that I do not intend for them to copy my slides into their notes and that the slides are meant to used as reference. I've mentioned that I want them to be more strategic with their note-taking: they should be taking notes on major themes, key ideas, and processes, as well as on things that we discuss that are not in the slides. This works for some students, but I want to do better for all. The current semester is almost over, and I'd like to specifically address this for next semester.
Note that I am *not* asking how to take better notes, as others have asked here ([example](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/83/good-practices-for-organizing-notes)), but rather how *I as the instructor* can address this in the classroom to improve *students'* note-taking skills.<issue_comment>username_1: I have a few suggestions.
First, suggest to your students that they print out your slides, perhaps 4-up, and write their class notes directly on them. This implies paper (see below).
Second, suggest to your students that they should summarize their notes, rather than just depending on the first impressions they wrote. When the summarize, suggest that they capture the (say) three most important ideas in the lecture. Copy these ideas elsewhere. I suggest note cards (see below). Suggest that they do this daily. They can write out a few note cards (one idea per card) during the lecture itself.
Third, at the end of class, call on someone for a one sentence summary of one of the big ideas. Repeat once or twice and make brief comments if necessary. Calling on them, rather than asking for volunteers is key.
Fourth, repeat three at the start of the next lecture. What is a big idea from the previous lecture. This sets the stage for the next round of information.
For more on note cards and their value, see [this answer](https://cseducators.stackexchange.com/posts/1168/edit) to a possibly related question on a different site. A few of the note cards can easily be carried for quick review while waiting in what would otherwise be an unproductive situation.
And note that my suggestions here is that they work with pen/pencil on paper, not on a computer. Actual writing (not typing) engages the mind in a more fundamental way. Summarizing gives the required reinforcement of what they have seen. Your brief comments give some feedback. And it is your daily asking for a review of big ideas that provides the encouragement.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: This answer assumes that the course you are teaching is not about note-taking itself.
Make sure there really is a problem to address
----------------------------------------------
Are the students who you think take bad notes also performing badly in the course? Different students have different ways of taking notes, or even different purposes (for example, I used to write down as much as I could because that would help me learn the content afterwards through "muscle memory").
There is not an unique "correct" way of taking notes. If you know exactly what notes the students are supposed to take, then probably they do not know, so why not provide those notes to them? That would help them much more, and the goal of your course is to transfer knowledge about a specific topic.
If, after considering this, you still want to get the students to learn these note-taking skills, you will probably have to dedicate some lecture time to explain how they should be taking notes. Having them submit some of their notes as an assignment will also help. After all, if it is not part of the course, many students will not be motivated to do it. Keep in mind that students have developed their own learning methods for many years, and changing to a new note-taking method might actually make some students perform worse while they get used to it.
Upvotes: 2
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2019/12/03
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<issue_start>username_0: So I went to a University in Canada to speak with Graduate studies coordinator to learn more about the program. While visiting, I bumped into the Chair of the department who is one of the Supervisors that I would love to work with. When he realized I was there for a visit, he invited me to his office to discuss this further. I told him about my future plans and about me wanting to go into academia, and he suggested I skip Masters and roll into PhD instead (because I had 4 years of wet lab experience). He also mentioned that he is recruiting students for fall, and that he isnt guaranteeing anything now but does think I would be an excellent candidate. He asked about my GPA and when I told him he said it sounds good. Bottom line, he asked me to send him my CV and Transcript so he can check if I can fast track into PHD and insisted he would get back to me soon to advice me further. I emailed him on Thursday, (he checked my linkedin profile two hours after I emailed him). Today is Tuesday and he hasn't responded.
I know they can be very busy and I completely understand, but how should I follow up without sounding too annoying|? Should I do it through phone or email? And does him offering such on our initial non planned meeting sound promising? Would love to hear your feedbacks!<issue_comment>username_1: I assume you sent the CV as asked. He needs time to do some checking as you say. He is also busy with ordinary work. If you don't hear in a week, send him a note and ask what your next steps should be.
Academia can move pretty slowly and if he is involved in research as well as department head, then he is probably tied up. But after a week, a short note of interest should be fine.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: This is end of term, with classes to finish, assignments to return, exams to prepare, and if this person is the Chair all the non-sense that comes with the end of term: students complaining, special accommodation, *etc*.
If you have not heard in *one month*, start to worry.
Upvotes: 2
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2019/12/04
| 811
| 3,491
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<issue_start>username_0: Can a 'bad' SOP keep you out of a program? Can a 'good' SOP help you? Can the SOP only hurt you?<issue_comment>username_1: All of the above. Of course the Statement of Purpose is important, or the university would not ask you to write one. It costs time for an evaluation committee to read through every application, and if there were a better way to judge the quality of a candidate, we would use it.
So yes, a bad SOP can totally sink an application. A good SOP can definitely help; it can also explain other issues that a reader might find in your application, such as poor grades or gap years.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: [I have been on the faculty committee for Mathematics Graduate Admissions at the University of Georgia for seven admissions cycles, three times as the head of the committee.]
I view the statement of purpose as one of the least important parts of the application. It is certainly a part that has very little correlation with acceptance. In other words, if we look only at, say, the GRE scores or GPA of an application and see that they are extremely high (respectively, extremely low), we can significantly raise (respectively, significantly lower) the chance that that application will be accepted compared to the mean acceptance rate, but a really excellent or really awful personal statement does not change the probability appreciably unless further conditions are met.
Why is this? The main reason is that, for a PhD student of (most likely theoretical, in our department) mathematics, good or bad statements of purpose correlate too weakly with the qualities for which we are trying to select. Good writing skills are important, but because a "statement of purpose" is a genre with which most applicants are completely unfamiliar, how they write *in this genre* doesn't tell us that much about their general writing skills. (Imagine that we asked them to contribute a haiku or sonnet instead. That sounds ridiculous...but actually does give some idea of the situation.)
The majority of statements of purpose we get mostly try to convey the student's ardor for mathematics, beginning with an anecdote about how it was kindled at an early age. They go on to say something about what kind of mathematics they want to study...and in most cases they will show that they don't really know. As far as our reactions to this: (1) well, we want students who love mathematics, but that is shown better through *anything other* than how eloquently they write an essay about this love and (2) it is actually okay that most students of (again, mostly theoretical) mathematics have quite vague ideas about what they want to study. My thesis for instance was on abelian surfaces with quaternionic multiplication. This is a topic in arithmetic geometry, which is a subfield of number theory. I believe that in my statement of purpose I said I wanted to do number theory. Good guess!
I will come back later and say more about (1) Why most departments require a statement of purpose anyway and (2) What are some situations in which a statement of purpose becomes more important. I wanted to leave an answer before the question got closed. (It is a good question.)
**Added**: As <NAME> points out in the comments, I have already answered a [similar question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/81486/what-should-one-look-for-in-a-statement-of-purpose-from-the-admissions-side-in) on this site.
Upvotes: 4
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2019/12/04
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently a third year undergraduate student in university. A year ago I decided to study pure math because I liked its rigorousness. As time moves on, frustration accumulates because I don't know what I can do with all the things I've learnt. Maybe it's partly because I haven't learnt enough, but you know what I mean. Since I am already in the third year and it's impossible for me to change my major in my undergraduate study, I am hoping to change to another major when applying for the graduate school. Not that I don't like math anymore, but I want to be able to do something with it.
The following fields are of my consideration:
* applied math
* computer science
* electronic engineering
* artificial intelligence, machine learning, image processing
* physics
These are the difficulties I believe am facing:
* My GPA is okay, but not great. If converted to US standards, I have a GPA of 3.5+, ranking approximately 20%~30%. My university is world top 50 (maybe even top 20, but different ranking systems do differ a lot).
* Lack of research experience. Honestly, there's just not much research to do for an undergraduate pure math students. We spend most of our time studying existing theories, and there's not much experiment to do for pure math.
* Most courses I have taken are centered at pure math. I may lack sufficient knowledge of the fields mentioned above. For example, a CS major student studies data structure in his/her undergraduate years, but I don't. This certainly weakens my competitiveness if our applications appear together on the desk of the admission office.
On the other hand, based on what I've heard and my understanding of my own capabilities, I do think there are some advantages.
* A professor who taught a CS course actually said to us that other departments (engineering, CS, etc.) are actually very fond of math students and that we are very welcome to join them.
* Ever since I've gotten used to pure math and have built a solid foundation, I find it considerably easier to read literatures from other fields. Sometimes my friends would ask me (nontrivial) questions in their own majors (physics, chemistry, economics, etc.) and after a little research, I would be able to provide answers.
* I have taken some graduate courses. And I am studying a graduate-level (maybe even research-level) topic under the guidance of a professor.
That's basically my situation. And I would like to know:
1. How possible is it for me to change my major when applying for graduate school? What kind of school can I hope to get into (preferably in North America or Europe)?
2. Is it true that other departments welcome pure math students, as is said by the professor mentioned above? Would an admission officer focus more on my advantages or disadvantages?
3. What other fields can you suggest?
p.s. It would be helpful if in your answer, you can tell me whether you have experience being on an admission committee.<issue_comment>username_1: >
> How possible is it for me to change my major when applying for graduate school? What kind of school can I hope to get into (preferably in North America or Europe)?
>
>
>
This isn't all that uncommon. In the CS Msc programme at my university (Leiden) for example, we get a lot of people coming in from Statistics. The emerging field of Data Science has caused Statistics and CS to become much more closely related fields.
Exact requirements will probably vary by university, but at least in the EU the system is set up to make it possible for people to combine pieces of education from multiple universities. A BSc in mathematics together with some catch-up CS classes will probably get you in the door in a CS master.
That's not the of the story though. Individual courses often have their own requirements; a masters' course on advanced data mining might require prior basic data mining knowledge. But that doesn't mean you have to have taken the data mining class offered at that university. Our CS master attracts a lot of students from other universities. The requirement just means that if you don't know anything about data mining yet, you're going to get thrown into the deep end.
Since these requirements are mostly "you should already have a foundation in", not "you must strictly have this particular class", you could also fill in those blanks with online courses or reading relevant handbooks.
>
> Is it true that other departments welcome pure math students, as is said by the professor mentioned above? Would an admission officer focus more on my advantages or disadvantages?
>
>
>
What the admissions officer focuses on will differ from institution to institution. However, you should not be too discouraged by lists for formal requirements. People move from all kinds of places to all kinds of places, so partial matches are extremely common. Often you should be able to come to an agreement along the lines of "You already match ABC, but you need to pick up XYZ as well before you can enter".
Me for example, I wanted to switch from History to CS. For CS I needed a particular flavor of high school math as an entry requirement, but the remedial course they usually used was already fully booked. I found a remedial course at a different university and proposed that one, and they accepted that.
So approach the advantage/disadvantage discussion as a discussion where you look for a mutually acceptable solution. Be imaginative and constructive.
Right now, about halfway in the current academic year, is actually a good time to do this. If you can come to an agreement with regards to requirements, there is still a whole semester to take some remedial courses in a university or an online course that the admissions officer considers acceptable.
>
> What other fields can you suggest?
>
>
>
As a CS student I'm a bit biased of course, but if you want to apply math, I'd definitely consider a CS Master. Machine learning and data science tends to be a significant part of that, and a strong math background is quite useful there.
Apart from the hip neural network side of things (which is much more about matrices than you'd expect), I would also recommend optimization/decision support as an area of study. This has a big mathematical component to it, which "native" CS students aren't always as strong in. In the field of natural computing in particular, there are a lot of people doing projects based on interesting proof of concepts, but lacking theoretical/mathematical analyis. That's something that a math background could help you with.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I don't think it should be too much of a problem if you want to go into AI, Applied Math, or CS — even the top schools in the U.S. are willing to take pure math majors in these fields if they've taken a relevant introductory course or two in their desired field of study (and you have enough time to do that before you apply to grad schools). I don't know what EE will think of this situation. Physics would be harder because physics departments expect incoming graduate students to have a much deeper background.
You should email Applied Math/CS/EE/Physics graduate admissions at some of the places you're interested in, and ask them about your situation, and how much background they require. Graduate admissions departments usually try to help potential applicants and will answer questions like this.
I suppose if you're at some school where they won't let you take courses outside your field of study, or where they don't have computer science courses (say), you could be in a much more difficult situation. Are you?
Upvotes: 1
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2019/12/04
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a professor at a Community College. My department has adopted policies through a majority vote . The two policies I have questions about are:
1. An instructor must use the approved textbook for any particular course.
2. An instructor may not use multiple-choice tests for assessments in class.
The majority of the instructors in my department would like a certain textbook that we have used for decades so that students that fail the course don't have to buy a different book if they take someone else. This is a great point, however, I would argue that the textbook proposed is outdated and far inferior to what's available now.
It seems that 51% of the department can and is stifling innovation. This is a self reinforcing problem as once a teacher uses a book for awhile they are less likely to change as it requires more work. For example, if I am forced to use a certain textbook for half my career than I probably wouldn't want to switch in the latter half and would then force newbies to use my outdated textbook if I was forced into choosing one book for everyone... the cycle continues.
In regards to multiple-choice exams, I find that my students can be served better in some situations by assessing their ability to express answers in different forms. Surprisingly they often don't know how to do this. Below is a just one basic example of how I might use a multiple choice question to aid in students learning:
1. 1/2+1/3 is equivalent to
a. 3/4
b. 4/6
c. 20/24
Students are usually taught to get 5/6, but often don't realize that 20/24 is equivalent because they are simply following a pattern and do not always understand that their answer has equivalent forms. I believe using multiple-choice in some scenarios like this is worthwhile.
It is my understanding that as a tenured instructor, I am able to teach a class in the pedagogical manner I believe is best for my class while satisfying all other requirements. Does this include what textbook I use and the types of assessments I sometimes use?
Maybe I am wrong. Thank you.<issue_comment>username_1: The rights/privileges of tenure are highly varied, but rarely if ever does this permit carte Blanche to conduct your classroom in any way you see fit. Even at the most prestigious research institutions tenured professors are subject to departmental rules and regulations. Especially if those rules are democratically realized, it is not advisable that you go rogue.
My advice is to respect your democratic process and lobby for changes or even a trial run using the appropriate forum.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> It is my understanding that as a tenured instructor, I am able to teach the class in the pedagogical manner I believe is best for my class. Wouldn't this include what textbook I use and the types of assessments I use?
>
>
>
At least one of your questions is discussed on the [American Association of University Professors’ website](https://www.aaup.org/i-need-help/workplace-issues/contours-username_5-freedom):
>
> *I have been asked to teach several sections of an introductory course, but I do not want to use the textbook used by faculty colleagues in the other sections. I believe it is poorly written and replete with errors. Do I have the right to assign a different textbook?*
>
>
> In a course for which you are the only instructor, you have the right, under principles of username_5 freedom, to determine the texts (and other materials) the students will be required to read. Your right in this regard is not absolute, however. The texts should be related to the subject of the course and practical concerns about availability and cost should be considered. Still, the principle is clear that the faculty member who is solely responsible for the course has the freedom to select readings for it.
>
>
>
Regarding assessments, I don’t have an authoritative source, but I suspect you are correct that it’s up to you to decide on your methods of assessment, assuming they are within the norm of what’s broadly considered acceptable in higher education. [This AAUP web page](https://www.aaup.org/our-programs/username_5-freedom/resources-username_5-freedom) has additional resources where you might be able to find some relevant guidance.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: **Regarding the textbook**: username_5s have a freedom which textbook to choose for a class, but the freedoms of individual username_5 may have to be steered or controlled by the Department. The simplest example is when a professor publishes their own textbook and recommends it to students for an exorbitant fee. Students feel obligated to purchase the textbook not only for username_5 reasons but also to please their professor and improve their chance for a better grade. This is a typical (textbook) case of conflict of interests, and such recommendations have to be carefully assessed by Department.
Individual username_5 freedoms can not change the laws of physics, neither they can serve as a universal solution to any problem. If you want to set up a very expensive or dangerous experiment, you are free to do so, but you still need to find external funding and/or obtain health and safety and ethical approvals. Similarly, if textbooks are too expensive for students and/or for the University/College library, username_5 freedoms will not buy those books, unless you want to donate enough copies to the library.
**Regarding the multiple-choice questions**: They may be perfectly fine in the area of mathematics that you teach. However, if one lecturer uses such quizes, and students find them easy, this may form an expectation on their side that all lecturers have to do the same. The username_5 expectations is a part of username_5 culture which is shared by everyone in your University/College. It is quite important to maintain a consistent and fair approach throughout the whole curriculum. You are still free to suggest your model of assessment, but since your teaching style affects the expectations of students and hence the way they engage with other lecturers and subjects, it is appropriate for your colleagues to have a say about it. If you share the benefits of your approach with them, perhaps, they all will be happy to adopt your method.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: As a current undergraduate student who recently attended a username_7 College I personally agree with at least requiring all professors to use the same textbook. It means that students from different sections are able to study together more easily than if the books and overall approach to course are different as I'm seeing in some courses at my current University. At least some username_7 Colleges allow you to change courses up to at least one week into the course with no extra fees, which means that if you find a professor doesn't suit your learning style you can change to another professor, but if you need to buy another text book that would become significantly more difficult for those students. This is especially important in a multi-course series like Calculus where its possible that you could purchase the textbook for the entire series for a fraction of the cost of purchasing the book for each course individually.
I know I'm probably in the minority regarding Ebooks as a large number of my fellow students in the time I spent at a username_7 College preferred them, but I always preferred a physical book as most Ebooks come with a subscription of some kind which requires renewal every semester for a significant portion of the cost of the book.
And as a final point regarding selection of teaching material, it seems that your department only requires you to use the textbook they decide is best and you are able to supplement your teaching materials with animations and MatLab objects as you see fit. This was a very successful scheme for my Calculus 3 professor as they were able to quickly show us what the concepts looked like as 3D objects in a way they would have been unable to on a blackboard.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: My own thoughts:
It is very common for departments to adopt a single calculus book. This has disadvantages, as you pointed out. But it also has a number of advantages. For example, there is consistency if students need to switch from one section to another, and there is consistency between Calc I and Calc II. Also, as you pointed out, it can save students money.
If you want to persuade your department to change, here are some suggestions:
1. Take the financial concerns seriously; for some students, a $200 book might mean an extra 25 hours at a part-time job.
2. Find ways to incorporate animations and/or technology into your class, with the existing book. If your teaching is particularly effective, they might be willing to listen to your calls for change.
3. Don't complain that the current book is "antiquated"; just because a methodology is new, doesn't mean that it's better. Instead, look for studies or evidence showing the merits of your approach.
On the multiple choice exams, you might have a lot more leeway. The policy is probably there to prevent faculty from writing exams which are *all* multiple choice (and which would take very little effort to grade).
If you want to include a couple of multiple choice questions on an exam with mostly free response questions, your chair might be supportive. You described a sound pedagogical reason for wanting to do so; if you haven't done so already, I'd recommend proposing this to your chair.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: I have in the past been both the (junior) instructor wanting to innovate amongst dinosaurs, as well as the coordinator of a multi-section course where there weren't clear policies on this matter, and I was trying to navigate student and individual faculty member expectations.
To the other answers, I'd add there can be real benefits to consistency in textbook choice between sections, especially if the course material in any way underpins material taught in follow-on courses. You can say not only "remember X?" but also "...it's covered in section 3.4 in [...]" without whines of "but my prof used a different book and we didn't cover this" (even if it was covered, just differently). And students will tend to "shop around" which section of the course to register anyway, and you don't want to add textbook choice and test format as another one for them to overindex on.
As others have said, your username_5 freedom isn't absolute and you should respect the policies of your department in this, and work from within to change them if it's important.
However, you also don't need to slavishly adhere to a poor textbook. Enrich the class presentation with animations if you want. Find (free) web resources to point the students to as extra reading. Do your multiple choice quizzes as ungraded self-assessments (or something like that). And if your pedagogical choices generate better learning outcomes, use that to build the case for change at the department policy level.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: **Textbook selection**
The AAUP's 1940 and 1970 statements are referenced in your contract, but the AAUP doesn't go around fomenting revolution. Mostly it documents the best practices used at relatively enlightened institutions. They know they can't make a pronouncement that is completely at odds with common practice, because then they would just be perceived as irrelevant. Even their [web page](https://www.aaup.org/i-need-help/workplace-issues/contours-username_5-freedom), which *isn't* referenced by your contract, only goes so far as to say:
>
> Still, the principle is clear that the faculty member who is solely responsible for the course has the freedom to select readings for it.
>
>
>
So the reality in terms of pure legality is that you don't have a leg to stand on, if you're only one of many faculty teaching this course.
If you chose an OER text, then you would have both the moral high ground and practical options. Your practical option would be to say to your students something like this: *I don't like the text that the department has chosen for this course. I don't recommend that you buy it. It's the official text for this course only by department policy. I recommend that you instead use OpenStax Calculus [or whatever OER text you think is best]. The homework problems will all be problems from OpenStax Calculus [or from a PDF file you distribute, or whatever].*
Problem solved.
What you actually say you want to do is something different. You don't like the less expensive text chosen by your department (which you complain "prioritizes cost over quality"). Instead, you want a commercial text that contains animations. I have to say that I'm entirely on your colleagues' side here. The animations are probably worthless frippery. You're free to disagree with me, and with your colleagues, but that freedom doesn't extend to forcing your students to pay an extra $50 or $100.
**Multiple-choice exams**
Your colleagues sound awesome. I would love it if my department had this policy against multiple-choice exams. The purpose of this policy is clear. They want students to receive meaningful human feedback on their work. They don't want instructors to take the easy way out and avoid ever picking up a red pen.
Your educational justification for multiple-choice exams rings pretty hollow. If you want your students to reduce all fractions to simplest form, just tell them that, and grade accordingly. This is what I do. I don't feel that I even need to announce it. If a student writes the answer to their problem as y=3xy/(3/(1/x)), then I simply write on the exam with a red pen, "simplify," and take off some points.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: >
> It is my understanding that as a tenured instructor, I am able to teach the class in the pedagogical manner I believe is best for my class.
>
>
>
In principle, I agree with this, and I believe that you should be able to run the course based on your considered professional opinion of what is best. But keep in mind that this is a two-edged sword! As I see it, username_5 freedom isn't unlimited license to do what you want; it's the freedom to **try** what you want, **and be judged based on the results**. (The same applies to username_5 freedom in research: nobody will stop you from working on the problems you find interesting today, but in the long run, they had better lead to publications.)
I don't know what the tenure system is like at your institution, but commonly there is some form of ongoing evaluation of a professor's effectiveness in teaching, with potential consequences if it is poor. And if you're pursuing these methods against the advice of your colleagues, some of your peers may be looking for evidence that it's not working (or may see your choice as *ipso facto* evidence of poor teaching).
So if you go this route, it would be wise to try to **measure** to what extent it is successful, in some way that your colleagues will find convincing: exam scores, evaluations, grades in this and subsequent courses, common assessments, etc. If it goes well, you'll be able to show that your methods are effective. And if it doesn't, you'll know that you need to change course quickly (and your responsiveness to evidence can itself be a point in your favor).
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_9: I'll speak in regards to the textbook situation for a colleague in the Math Department where I work and also for myself. The Math department at my institution has 1 textbook for all of Calculus. The advantage as they see it is the students only need to make 1 $150 payment for up to 3 classes. Cheaper if they rent it for 1 semester. Faculty are not allowed to use other textbooks. However, they are allowed to teach their course without a book! I took Calc 2 with them and used no book. He wrote all his material (keeping it somewhat short, but to the point) and made videos of him explaining things and working through example problems that we could use a reference outside of class to assist our learning. This is a lot of setup, but once you have your material set, it won't change a lot, and you can adapt if needed. I don't suspect much will change with Calculus.
For myself, I teach a Intro to Kinesiology course that has only 1 book as well. I ditched that as soon as I read a little of it though and made my own course content. This allows me to adapt much more quickly to the changing field of Kinesiology. I can also focus on certain aspects beyond the book that I like or think is useful for the students.
I'm not sure if you're able to ditch the book, but I would suggest that; if you have time to devote to making your own material.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_10: This article will be of interest, it describes a grievance case on this topic.
<https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/11/09/cal-state-fullerton-upholds-reprimand-professor-who-wouldnt-assign-180-textbook>
For multi-section courses you need to do exactly what you said which is "convince my department." A faculty is a body of colleagues and you need to make your best argument just like you would about anything else. Gather evidence, organize it solidly, put it into language that makes sense. You could consider instead asking the department to open discussion of the whole issue and join a group in reviewing and evaluating many options including OER, the book you want and other materials. One thing that you might learn if you open a discussion is that your colleagues have already thought pretty hard about these policies. You could apply for a small grant to run an experimental section and you could also engage with your local teaching and learning center to come up with a way to measure whether your book is more effective. You could also scan the literature for evidence.
In terms of multiple choice questions, again, I suggest you do a literature review on this issue -- the literature on teaching calculus in particular is huge and NSF has funding many studies on this. Present the evidence and share your bibliography.
Also think about the stakeholders in calculus, which in many cases are primarily the chemistry, biology, physics and computer science departments (and sometimes others such as if you have engineering) and not mainly the math department. What do they need students to be able to do? For example, they need to be able to have students use calculus in the context of solving a chemistry problem or in biostatistics. Maybe open ended questions prepare students better for this, I have no idea, but you should consider it.
Building a coherent and effective curriculum is a collaborative and complex process. Here you are not building a whole curriculum, just modify one course.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: Not an instructor, but I once took a course with an instructor that was in a similar situation. We were required to use the existing "standard" textbook in spite of its issues. My professor wasn't shy about his feelings for that particular text, or from letting us know we were only using it because the department required it. He gave out his own unofficial errata for the book. If you stopped by his office for help, he'd frequently re-teach something by using diagrams or examples from his personal copy of the book that he preferred. When the textbook was lacking something, he'd pass out supplementary material that he had created. All of these things were usually accompanied by a comically over-dramatic sigh of exasperation at the quality of the current textbook.
We didn't think much about any of this at the time, but there were two long-term consequences. First, the students that went through his class frequently complained to the department about the textbook. Some even explicitly asked why we weren't using the professor's preferred book since it seemed to be better. Second, students that took the course under another instructor frequently complained to the department that their friends' course was easier because they got all these extra materials and weren't limited to what's in the current textbook. After a couple of semesters, the department "decided" to go with a different textbook.
Never underestimate the power of the bully pulpit. Your department leadership might not listen to your single voice, but it's another thing entirely when complaints are coming in from many different people.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: All other answers are probably fantastic. But since you want to **convince your department**, I propose using other objective tests as examples of how MCQ based tests excel. It would undoubtedly reaffirm your statement (\*\* I believe using multiple-choice in these scenarios is worthwhile sometimes.\*\*)
Typical exam would be the JEE ADVANCED examination (an incredibly tough engineering examination in India for admission into IIT'S). It outright **destroys** MCQ'S with multi-correct answers, negative marking, partial marking, matrix/option-match questions, paragraph based conceptual questions, and in some places uses tougher tricks( similar to the one you mentioned) which strengthen the difficulty of the already relatively tough examination.
You could pick a few other papers as well( which I'd highly recommend since MCQ'S are associated with the motion of being *easy*)
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a Japanese undergraduate junior student who is thinking of applying to graduate programs in Mathematics in the U.S. and the biggest problem for me is the Letter of Recommendation. I am planning to ask a teacher of my English class for one of my LOR because my senior who went for a grad school(Engineering) in the U.S. did so.
My intention is that she can prove that I have sufficient English skills to study in the U.S.
However, from what I have seen on the Internet, no one seemed to do so and all of LORs have to be from people in relevant fields. Is getting a LOR from an English teacher for Math Ph.D. program good or bad?<issue_comment>username_1: Knowledge of the English language is often a hit-or-miss requirement, i.e., either you have a recognized English qualification (TOEFL, IELTS...) and you can study there, or you do not have it and you cannot study there. In many institutions, this is checked by administrative personnel, independently of the selection committee.
Having better English knowledge than other applicants who also have the qualification will in most cases *not give you any advantage* over them. The selection committee (or the prospective PhD professor, depending on the location) will almost exclusively consider your qualifications in your research field when deciding whether to admit you.
I would recommend trying to obtain recommendation letters from people that can say good things about your skills in your field.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Ask the professors who know you very well and can speak of your ability to succeed in the program.
P.S. I got into the grad program I wanted. I had 2 LoR from the field and 1 from non-field. The strongest letter would come from my non-field professor who knows very well about my work ethic and passion, and what I can bring into the program.
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: I overheard a student who said that they would use a project done in another course that semester as the final project in an entirely different course. (Let's call the original course Course 0 and the second course Course 2.)
I know it's bad practice to submit work to a class which had been submitted in previous semesters, but I've never heard of anyone turning in the same work to two different classes concurrently before. (Perhaps because opportunities to do so are rare?)
In any event, my initial feeling is that this is dishonesty, but I can't put the reason why into words.
*So, is submitting the same project to course 0 and course 2 concurrently dishonest?*
For the record: the project involves coding in a certain software (not for the sake of coding, it's just a means to an end), I do not know the name of the student who expressed their intent to do this, but I do know the professors of both courses. I'll edit this section with more pertinent information should anyone want it.
**EDIT For the Comments:**
The code really is a means to an end, and I furthermore would not describe either course as a programming course. The idea is to perform data analysis on a dataset of the student's choosing.<issue_comment>username_1: Whether it is or not, the professors in the courses will have the last say. If either of them considers it dishonest or otherwise improper, for any reason, you will wind up in a bad place.
But there is an easy way out. Just ask both of them for permission to do this. They might say yes, or no, but then you have a clear answer. They might also give permission provided that you go a bit beyond the bare essentials to demonstrate sufficient work (and seriousness) to cover both.
But doing it without notice or permission seems dangerous, no matter the ethics.
And, you can even come off looking good on this if you actually make an offer to do more than the minimum and submit the result to both. It might mean a bit less work for you overall, and might also teach you some things you wouldn't otherwise have learned. Even for a previously submitted project, offering to extend the old work can be a plus.
FWIW, I would probably be inclined to permit it, with the proviso of some added requirements.
And, I actually did this in secondary school because I changed schools. I asked an instructor at the new place if I could submit a report that I'd previously worked on, but wasn't actually graded for (since I left). I was given permission and it saved me a bit of work.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Yes [if without explicit permission], and it is against many (most?) Student Conduct Guidelines
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For example, at Montana State University, this is covered under "Multiple Submission" under Policies and Procedures (under [Academic Honesty](https://www.montana.edu/policy/student_conduct/#academichonesty)):
>
> F. Multiple submission - submitting the same paper or oral report for
> credit in two University courses without the instructor's permission;
> making minor revisions in a paper or report for which credit has
> already been received and submitting it again as a new piece of work.
>
>
>
Every University I've worked at has had similar policy wording, and I can't think of any others where I've reviewed related sections of their policies where similar wording wasn't present, but I certainly haven't done an exhaustive search on this specifically.
The key provision here, of course, is "without the instructor's permission". If it has been discussed and approved, it is likely fine at most institutions (check the specific policies and procedures for your University or College, **do not assume on this**). It becomes academic dishonesty when it is not approved.
Work that is submitted for a course is expected to have been done *for that course*, not simply the student taking other work previously (or even concurrently) done and submitting it, *even if they were in fact the one who did the work*. Failing to discuss submitting the same work to multiple courses is an act of academic dishonesty, in the ethical sense at the least, as the student is not meeting the expectations of their actions in regards to the coursework for each individual course.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I love this question. I’m a former professor and also had to answer to this exact question when I was in undergrad.
I think there’s an ethical part and a practical part.
Ethically, if you find yourself rationalizing and jumping through hoops to double submit, you’re probably doing something wrong.
Practically, if the work without major edit does indeed fulfill the requirements for two classes, I say go with it. After all, why would you not? Even if the institution had a rule against it, I might elect to fight, as there is no logical reason one should arbitrarily do two separate works if one truly satisfies all requirements. What would **YOU** the student, get out of such an exercise?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: This was actually encouraged in the university I attended. The lecturers were of the opinion that the goal is to learn, not to make projects. If one project can teach you the skills required for two courses, why do two projects?
An example of a project I used for multiple courses was a bit of software I developed as a volunteer activity. I used this for the course in which we had to learn to gather requirements, in the course in which we learned how to develop complex software and in the course that worked on the soft skill of communicating with a client.
I don't think it's dishonest in and of itself, but it is not okay if there are rules against it, obviously.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: My personal view on it would be that the acceptability of this depends on how much overlap there is between the projects, and how deliberate you were at the outset in making things a single project.
If you have one class which is asking for a project which does A and another which is asking for one which does B, and you come up with a project which does both A and B, then that's likely okay. However, if they're both asking for slightly different variants of A, then it's less likely that a single project which does just A will be accepted.
For example, say you're in a Computer Science class which asks you to write a non-trivial program using multithreading and in a Biology class which is asking you to do a project on DNA sequence alignment. I think that most professors will think it actually a bit clever and pedagogically useful for you to write a computer program which does DNA sequence alignment in a multithreaded fashion to satisfy both projects. Similarly, even if it's two CS classes it can work if the courses are different enough (e.g. a compiler course and a GUI course).
A large part of this is how much "reuse" between the different project requirements there is. For example, in the multithreaded DNA alignment case, the part of the project the CS professor is interested in (multithreading) is disjoint from the part the biology professor is (DNA alignment). You're not really being "double graded", as even though project is the same, the core part being graded is different. -- It's less that you have one single project that you're submitting twice, and more that you are fusing the two distinct projects into one cohesive whole.
The other aspect is the deliberateness of combining. The point of projects isn't make work, it's to provide a demonstration that you have learned and are able to apply the course materials. There's thus an implicit requirement that the project should reflect and incorporate the course materials. To do so effectively, you need to have the class materials in mind while doing the project. This is one reason why reusing projects from previous semesters is frowned upon - you couldn't have consciously incorporated materials from the course in a project made before you took the course. That also potentially applies to projects made in the same semester. Did you deliberately set out to fulfill that specific project's requirements (incorporating and keeping in mind the course materials), or did you just happen to notice after-the-fact that the project for course 0 could be made to work for course 2?
That said, there can be a big difference in opinion between different professors. You definitely don't want to attempt to "slip one by" them. You should be upfront about the fact that you're combining projects. In certain cases, an attempt to deceive (even via omission) can be more ethically dishonest than the project combining itself.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: If it is the students own work then what difference makes it if it meets the guidelines for both classes. Same student. Their own work. Meets the criteria. Shouldn't be an issue.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: There's a key point in here the other answers are overlooking. You mention it's a portion of code. As a software engineer code re-use is imperative. Not doing so is like a slap in the face to the men and women that worked so hard over the last several decades to provide us these easy to use development environments, frameworks, and platforms. If these are for computer science or related courses, I would be shocked if the professors wouldn't accept it.
But as the current top answer states very clearly: in the end it is entirely up to the professors whether it is acceptable/ethical or not
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: At any university I am familiar with, submitting a project in a class that you have submitted in another class without permission and without citation is considered **self-plagiarism** and, if discovered, will subject you to academic discipline. Check your student handbook. It's in there somewhere.
For example: [[Washington University in St.Louis]](https://wustl.edu/about/compliance-policies/academic-policies/undergraduate-student-academic-integrity-policy/)
5. Other Forms of Deceit, Dishonesty or Inappropriate Conduct
Under no circumstances is it acceptable for a student to:
Submit the same work, or essentially the same work, for more than one course without explicitly obtaining permission from all instructors. A student must disclose when a paper or project builds on work completed earlier in his/her academic career.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: I can give my opinion from the side of guy who codes a lot in the field of data analysis: if somebody created software that can do some computations which are easily transformed for needs of two separate tasks or projects, it is actually fantastic.
You can of course do copypasting things from your own code to make another look or even be different, but I doubt it adds anything to your skill as programmer, like is honest just being inspired by your code and do it very similar mor another course? ofc yes.
If in the university there are some very specific rules about it, then it is not great but on contrary one of the main aspect of programming is trying to stick to one style and one set of tricks(untill they are good) as much as possible and reusability of code is highly appretiated in software development in general.
In general if you have good reusable code and in the university there are indeed some strict rules about submitting same project I would recommend you just to use different datasets for your analysis, I bet where you found your dataset there are lots of others, so just make same approach to different data and it will never be your fault, but your achievement.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: I study Information Engineering in Romania at UPB and we have subjects that have many things in common. Usually we have one project per subject each semester.
Sometime, not only that the professors know that we use the same project for two subjects, but they also RECOMMEND it! No ones sees this as a hack or cheating, but it is just efficient and powerful. It is more fun to use several concepts in the same project or software than splitting them in 123 boxes.
At the end of the day, if your skills got better and you acquired more knowledge, that's all what matters.
This was my opinion and experience. If the school / assistant / professor has something against this, then we can no longer be subjective.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: Speaking only from my own experience, this would be fine. In the Computer Science department I graduated from the three key rules were:
* Originality (did you copy it?)
* Authenticity (did you do it yourself?)
* Exclusivity (is it publicly available for others?)\*
Since you wrote the software, you didn't copy it from anywhere, and (assuming) you aren't going to post your code in a publicly viewable location, the project would be perfectly acceptable as long as it fulfills all the stated requirements, for any number of assignments.
In practice the opportunities for the same project to fulfill the requirements of more than 1 assignment is so low that if you *can* find a way to exploit it, good for you.
\*The logic goes: you are welcome to post your project anywhere you want. But if someone else can see it and copy it, you'll be given a 0. If you want your project to be graded, make sure no one else can also submit it.
Upvotes: 2
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| 12,700
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<issue_start>username_0: I want to apply for a PhD in computer science. My end goal is to become a professor and teach at a university. I have interests in data structures, algorithms, networks and programming languages. I would love to apply for a PhD in algorithms but cannot figure out a research topic.
Can some one please suggest how should I go about it? I don't mind if I get into a PhD program in a field other than algorithms as the final goal is to teach.
Thanks a ton!<issue_comment>username_1: Whether it is or not, the professors in the courses will have the last say. If either of them considers it dishonest or otherwise improper, for any reason, you will wind up in a bad place.
But there is an easy way out. Just ask both of them for permission to do this. They might say yes, or no, but then you have a clear answer. They might also give permission provided that you go a bit beyond the bare essentials to demonstrate sufficient work (and seriousness) to cover both.
But doing it without notice or permission seems dangerous, no matter the ethics.
And, you can even come off looking good on this if you actually make an offer to do more than the minimum and submit the result to both. It might mean a bit less work for you overall, and might also teach you some things you wouldn't otherwise have learned. Even for a previously submitted project, offering to extend the old work can be a plus.
FWIW, I would probably be inclined to permit it, with the proviso of some added requirements.
And, I actually did this in secondary school because I changed schools. I asked an instructor at the new place if I could submit a report that I'd previously worked on, but wasn't actually graded for (since I left). I was given permission and it saved me a bit of work.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Yes [if without explicit permission], and it is against many (most?) Student Conduct Guidelines
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For example, at Montana State University, this is covered under "Multiple Submission" under Policies and Procedures (under [Academic Honesty](https://www.montana.edu/policy/student_conduct/#academichonesty)):
>
> F. Multiple submission - submitting the same paper or oral report for
> credit in two University courses without the instructor's permission;
> making minor revisions in a paper or report for which credit has
> already been received and submitting it again as a new piece of work.
>
>
>
Every University I've worked at has had similar policy wording, and I can't think of any others where I've reviewed related sections of their policies where similar wording wasn't present, but I certainly haven't done an exhaustive search on this specifically.
The key provision here, of course, is "without the instructor's permission". If it has been discussed and approved, it is likely fine at most institutions (check the specific policies and procedures for your University or College, **do not assume on this**). It becomes academic dishonesty when it is not approved.
Work that is submitted for a course is expected to have been done *for that course*, not simply the student taking other work previously (or even concurrently) done and submitting it, *even if they were in fact the one who did the work*. Failing to discuss submitting the same work to multiple courses is an act of academic dishonesty, in the ethical sense at the least, as the student is not meeting the expectations of their actions in regards to the coursework for each individual course.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I love this question. I’m a former professor and also had to answer to this exact question when I was in undergrad.
I think there’s an ethical part and a practical part.
Ethically, if you find yourself rationalizing and jumping through hoops to double submit, you’re probably doing something wrong.
Practically, if the work without major edit does indeed fulfill the requirements for two classes, I say go with it. After all, why would you not? Even if the institution had a rule against it, I might elect to fight, as there is no logical reason one should arbitrarily do two separate works if one truly satisfies all requirements. What would **YOU** the student, get out of such an exercise?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: This was actually encouraged in the university I attended. The lecturers were of the opinion that the goal is to learn, not to make projects. If one project can teach you the skills required for two courses, why do two projects?
An example of a project I used for multiple courses was a bit of software I developed as a volunteer activity. I used this for the course in which we had to learn to gather requirements, in the course in which we learned how to develop complex software and in the course that worked on the soft skill of communicating with a client.
I don't think it's dishonest in and of itself, but it is not okay if there are rules against it, obviously.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: My personal view on it would be that the acceptability of this depends on how much overlap there is between the projects, and how deliberate you were at the outset in making things a single project.
If you have one class which is asking for a project which does A and another which is asking for one which does B, and you come up with a project which does both A and B, then that's likely okay. However, if they're both asking for slightly different variants of A, then it's less likely that a single project which does just A will be accepted.
For example, say you're in a Computer Science class which asks you to write a non-trivial program using multithreading and in a Biology class which is asking you to do a project on DNA sequence alignment. I think that most professors will think it actually a bit clever and pedagogically useful for you to write a computer program which does DNA sequence alignment in a multithreaded fashion to satisfy both projects. Similarly, even if it's two CS classes it can work if the courses are different enough (e.g. a compiler course and a GUI course).
A large part of this is how much "reuse" between the different project requirements there is. For example, in the multithreaded DNA alignment case, the part of the project the CS professor is interested in (multithreading) is disjoint from the part the biology professor is (DNA alignment). You're not really being "double graded", as even though project is the same, the core part being graded is different. -- It's less that you have one single project that you're submitting twice, and more that you are fusing the two distinct projects into one cohesive whole.
The other aspect is the deliberateness of combining. The point of projects isn't make work, it's to provide a demonstration that you have learned and are able to apply the course materials. There's thus an implicit requirement that the project should reflect and incorporate the course materials. To do so effectively, you need to have the class materials in mind while doing the project. This is one reason why reusing projects from previous semesters is frowned upon - you couldn't have consciously incorporated materials from the course in a project made before you took the course. That also potentially applies to projects made in the same semester. Did you deliberately set out to fulfill that specific project's requirements (incorporating and keeping in mind the course materials), or did you just happen to notice after-the-fact that the project for course 0 could be made to work for course 2?
That said, there can be a big difference in opinion between different professors. You definitely don't want to attempt to "slip one by" them. You should be upfront about the fact that you're combining projects. In certain cases, an attempt to deceive (even via omission) can be more ethically dishonest than the project combining itself.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: If it is the students own work then what difference makes it if it meets the guidelines for both classes. Same student. Their own work. Meets the criteria. Shouldn't be an issue.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: There's a key point in here the other answers are overlooking. You mention it's a portion of code. As a software engineer code re-use is imperative. Not doing so is like a slap in the face to the men and women that worked so hard over the last several decades to provide us these easy to use development environments, frameworks, and platforms. If these are for computer science or related courses, I would be shocked if the professors wouldn't accept it.
But as the current top answer states very clearly: in the end it is entirely up to the professors whether it is acceptable/ethical or not
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: At any university I am familiar with, submitting a project in a class that you have submitted in another class without permission and without citation is considered **self-plagiarism** and, if discovered, will subject you to academic discipline. Check your student handbook. It's in there somewhere.
For example: [[Washington University in St.Louis]](https://wustl.edu/about/compliance-policies/academic-policies/undergraduate-student-academic-integrity-policy/)
5. Other Forms of Deceit, Dishonesty or Inappropriate Conduct
Under no circumstances is it acceptable for a student to:
Submit the same work, or essentially the same work, for more than one course without explicitly obtaining permission from all instructors. A student must disclose when a paper or project builds on work completed earlier in his/her academic career.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: I can give my opinion from the side of guy who codes a lot in the field of data analysis: if somebody created software that can do some computations which are easily transformed for needs of two separate tasks or projects, it is actually fantastic.
You can of course do copypasting things from your own code to make another look or even be different, but I doubt it adds anything to your skill as programmer, like is honest just being inspired by your code and do it very similar mor another course? ofc yes.
If in the university there are some very specific rules about it, then it is not great but on contrary one of the main aspect of programming is trying to stick to one style and one set of tricks(untill they are good) as much as possible and reusability of code is highly appretiated in software development in general.
In general if you have good reusable code and in the university there are indeed some strict rules about submitting same project I would recommend you just to use different datasets for your analysis, I bet where you found your dataset there are lots of others, so just make same approach to different data and it will never be your fault, but your achievement.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: I study Information Engineering in Romania at UPB and we have subjects that have many things in common. Usually we have one project per subject each semester.
Sometime, not only that the professors know that we use the same project for two subjects, but they also RECOMMEND it! No ones sees this as a hack or cheating, but it is just efficient and powerful. It is more fun to use several concepts in the same project or software than splitting them in 123 boxes.
At the end of the day, if your skills got better and you acquired more knowledge, that's all what matters.
This was my opinion and experience. If the school / assistant / professor has something against this, then we can no longer be subjective.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: Speaking only from my own experience, this would be fine. In the Computer Science department I graduated from the three key rules were:
* Originality (did you copy it?)
* Authenticity (did you do it yourself?)
* Exclusivity (is it publicly available for others?)\*
Since you wrote the software, you didn't copy it from anywhere, and (assuming) you aren't going to post your code in a publicly viewable location, the project would be perfectly acceptable as long as it fulfills all the stated requirements, for any number of assignments.
In practice the opportunities for the same project to fulfill the requirements of more than 1 assignment is so low that if you *can* find a way to exploit it, good for you.
\*The logic goes: you are welcome to post your project anywhere you want. But if someone else can see it and copy it, you'll be given a 0. If you want your project to be graded, make sure no one else can also submit it.
Upvotes: 2
|
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| 966
| 4,266
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for faculty positions this year and have asked four senior academics to write me reference letters.
Most of the applications had a deadline around December 1st, which I assume should be for the letter writers as well.
Three of my writers have submitted their letters, but the fourth said that there is a grant deadline soon and the letter will be ready towards the end of the month.
Given that
1. Most ads ask for three or more papers (and three are already in).
2. The missing letter is from my postdoc host.
---
>
> **How likely is the delay in the last letter to affect my chances?**
>
>
>
I am wondering if asking a fifth recommender (that is less familiar with my works, although we published a paper together) for a letter would help, and how much I should pressure my host to finish the letter?.<issue_comment>username_1: If the first three letters are supportive and consistent, then I doubt that there is any issue. You might send a note that the fourth will be delayed, and the readers will understand "grant deadline" perfectly well.
No guarantees, of course, but most people will be less interested in bean (ie letter) counting than in getting an accurate picture of a candidate.
Preparing a back up probably isn't necessary, and pressuring people will probably make it worse.
A creative solution would be to offer to help your host finish the grant application. *Quid pro quo*, to use a phrase with some currency.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: It will take the search committee a while to complete the first round of review, and often they don't start immediately after the deadline. So a delay of a few days is normally not a problem.
However, a month is really excessive. If that's how long it takes, I think there's a very good chance that they will finish their first round of review before receiving the letter, which effectively means the letter won't be considered with your application.
And it's a serious concern that this letter is from your postdoc supervisor (if I correctly understand what you mean by "host"). It's generally very important to have a letter from your supervisor in your current position if at all possible, and the absence of such a letter may be interpreted as meaning that your work is so poor that your supervisor refuses to recommend you. Typically, if there is some good reason why you don't have a letter (e.g. your supervisor is incapacitated, or has taken a dislike to you through no fault of your own) then the committee would expect it to be explained in your application and by your other writers. So unfortunately, I think that such a long delay could in fact affect your job prospects.
Unless the professor has some really extraordinary circumstances, this delay on their part seems quite inexcusable. Yes, grant applications are important, but writing letters is part of their job too. It's hard to believe they really can't spare an hour or two, over the course of a month, for something with such a significant impact on another person's career.
So I do think it is worth pressing this person to submit the letter promptly. You could, as username_1 suggests, offer to help them with the application or other work, to help free up their time. I generally dislike the notion that you should have to "bribe" someone to write you a letter, but in this case it might be justified. If you have another trusted mentor in this department, you could also talk to that person, who might have some ideas based on their knowledge of your host, or be willing to approach them on your behalf.
In the meantime, I would also suggest contacting the departments where you have applied (at least those in which you are the most interested), to let them know that a letter from your supervisor will be coming. And if you really can't get your host to hurry up, you might ask one or more of your other writers to draft a supplemental letter to the committees, saying that your host is being slow for no good reason and that your work is fine as far as they know.
I don't think getting a letter from Recommender #5 will accomplish much. This is not so much about the total number of letters, but about specifically having one from your supervisor.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently applying for a Ph.D. in Physics in the US. One of my recommenders has already submitted a letter to the schools I'm applying to, but I was advised by another faculty member that I should have gotten a letter from a different professor I worked with since the submitted one wouldn't be as strong. The latter professor would most likely write a stronger recommendation.
All of the programs I'm applying for require three letters, and most allow for four; would simply adding the extra recommender be sufficient or should I contact the school to remove the weaker letter entirely if possible? In other words, would having it there bring down my application if there is a stronger one I could replace it with or would it reasonable to assume that reviewers would consider all four and think of the weaker one as extraneous (since I cannot define a ranked order)?<issue_comment>username_1: You can't "retract" a letter. This isn't done, and I think it would look weird and somewhat suspicious. The committee might be inclined to read that letter *more* closely in case it contains something damaging that you were trying to conceal. At the very least, it seems distasteful to be "gaming" your professors' supposedly well-considered evaluations in this way.
You certainly can have this other professor submit their letter in addition to the others. For those schools that specify three letters, it will be up to the committee whether they read all four, or choose three in some arbitrary way. I suspect that if three letters suggest you're a viable candidate, the committee will be willing to look at the fourth.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: No don’t do that. No better way to get everyone to read that exact letter out of curiosity. Plus you have no evidence it is any better or worse than any others.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: The writer of a letter should be able to retract if they discover something about you they don’t like.
You should be able to retract a letter if you discover that the author has credited you with accomplishments you know are not true.
But I say “should” for both because many things could interfere.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: There is an option if you have not submitted your application yet and most of your LOR writers have not submitted their letters: delete your existing application, make a new one and ask for letters of recommendation again. This time, do not ask for the LOR from the professor in question.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: You can always ask if you can replace a reference letter or add a fourth reference letter. As long as it does not seem from your request that you are trying to hide something or cheat the process, you should be fine. Everybody knows that applicants generally try to submit strong reference letters if they can, so there is nothing wrong if you want to replace a weaker reference letter with a stronger one.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: Can a PI decide to submit to a journal a previously agreed manuscript, uploaded to a pre-print server, and swap the first author with someone else after introducing some changes in the writing? Would the first author (student) have some way of defending himself against this?
EDIT: It is a field where author order matters.<issue_comment>username_1: You can't "retract" a letter. This isn't done, and I think it would look weird and somewhat suspicious. The committee might be inclined to read that letter *more* closely in case it contains something damaging that you were trying to conceal. At the very least, it seems distasteful to be "gaming" your professors' supposedly well-considered evaluations in this way.
You certainly can have this other professor submit their letter in addition to the others. For those schools that specify three letters, it will be up to the committee whether they read all four, or choose three in some arbitrary way. I suspect that if three letters suggest you're a viable candidate, the committee will be willing to look at the fourth.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: No don’t do that. No better way to get everyone to read that exact letter out of curiosity. Plus you have no evidence it is any better or worse than any others.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: The writer of a letter should be able to retract if they discover something about you they don’t like.
You should be able to retract a letter if you discover that the author has credited you with accomplishments you know are not true.
But I say “should” for both because many things could interfere.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: There is an option if you have not submitted your application yet and most of your LOR writers have not submitted their letters: delete your existing application, make a new one and ask for letters of recommendation again. This time, do not ask for the LOR from the professor in question.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: You can always ask if you can replace a reference letter or add a fourth reference letter. As long as it does not seem from your request that you are trying to hide something or cheat the process, you should be fine. Everybody knows that applicants generally try to submit strong reference letters if they can, so there is nothing wrong if you want to replace a weaker reference letter with a stronger one.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I want to be admitted to a European program that would mean so much to my future carreer. Particularly important documents to be sent with the application are reccomendation letters from professors. I already asked my Bachelor advisor and he told me he will write the letter for me, and that's great. But in the call for this program it is specified that up to 3 letters may be sent, and of course I want to exploit this possibility. I'd like to ask the letter to one of my professors of this semester (I'm attending the Master degree). He taught me two subjects; I've already taken a midterm of one of the subjects and got the maximum grade. I always attend lectures and I guess the professor noticed my interest in his subjects since I often ask questions or reply to the questions he poses to us during the lectures. Is it inappropriate to ask him a reccomendation letter if he's only known me this semester and we don't have a particular relationship (e.g. student-advisor)? He is very well known internationally and I think this letter could boost up my application to the program I want to participate to.<issue_comment>username_1: If you have had enough interactions that he can judge your potential, then he will probably be willing to write a letter - time permitting. But you can also ask him if he has enough confidence in you to write a letter. I strongly recommend that if you ask, you do so in person, rather than by email. He will probably need to know a bit more about you to be comfortable after only knowing you for a short time.
But nothing you say indicates he would be a poor choice.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I have written recommendation letters for students who had previously only interacted with me through following my courses. A politely written or spoken request is not inappropriate at all, in these circumstances.
Any extra information that you could provide to the professor would be helpful: transcripts, more background on the program and why you apply for this program specifically, etcetera. I personally prefer to receive such information and such request by email rather than by office invasion, but as username_1's answer shows, this varies wildly between professors. But these are all details that do not change my main answer: it is not inappropriate at all.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD in computational materials science, and I have been offered a stop gap postdoc position (at the moment for 6 months) by my PhD supervisor which I will be starting a month after my defense. Now, I have many manuscripts pending for submission and getting them out will be the highest priority for the next couple of months. But apart from that and searching for new opportunities, what should be my prime focus during this duration? My advisor is a handsoff person and will give me full freedom to pursue my interests. I want to stay in academia.
**My plan:**
I want to upgrade my python programming skills and experience (I will be actively participating in kaggle competitions), and also want to work in incorporating machine learning in my field of research (something that is being done in my field). I also have to work on my technical knowledge and improve my experience with the numerical method I have used in my PhD research.
Keeping all this in mind,
**Summarizing:**
>
> Will it be a good move for my academic career to explore new topics
> during this short postdoc position, try to publish something in an
> area I would like to work in the near future? Focus on get my pending
> papers out and learn new skills along the way?
>
>
>
I am really serious about this and I am confident that I can put my 100% effort in the work. My question is, as an experienced academic, what is your opinion on my plan?<issue_comment>username_1: Your career isn't going to depend on Python. I love the language but it would be poor use of your time. The [answer of username_2](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/141116/75368) is the core of it, but I would also suggest that you spend time building a circle of collaborators and professional contacts. Use your advisor's base to develop your own. Reach out to people with similar interests. Attend any conferences that are available so you can meet people.
But, yes, make sure the papers get attention, build a notebook of research ideas to follow up on. Think about how to strengthen what you will say in applications, both in the CV and the SoP.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Your #1 goal is to find a real post-doc position, so think of why that hasn't happened yet if you have been out trying for a while.
Next is finishing up those papers, since that may help with the #1 goal. Further, once you do get another position where you want to chase after new things, you will find that time slips away.
Anything else is gravy. Do not let anything new (much less competitions for goodness sake) get in the way of those. Don't think of it as 6 months, think of it as week-to-week until you have accepted a job offer.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: During writing my academic paper, I need to cite accuracy values of cited research paper.
I have been advised that if you will cite a paper, you need to read that paper entirely. But in this case, Do i need to validate results that they achieved.<issue_comment>username_1: This depends on the situation. In some cases it is impossible to do so, not having access to all the necessary materials. If you can do so with *reasonable* effort, however, it is good to do this, just to satisfy yourself.
But, another consideration is the quality of the source/journal. If the journal is of high quality with a good reputation, then you can probably depend on the journals review and editorial process to give assurance to the results of the paper. It isn't a perfect process, of course, but it adds some evidence of validity at least.
But, it is poor practice to cite things without reading them, as you say. It is also poor practice to cite things that you either don't understand or believe to be incorrect. The first requires more work, and the latter may require more research and a correction.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Reading yes. It is important to avoid extraction of sentences or results which can be less general than as they appear at the first glance.
Validating not at all, unless you feel you must do it because something is suspicious or you think to deal with a particular or new case.
You can't validate each statement for every cited reference, and you can't do so for several reasons.
Also a referee does not. Papers exists to be used. That is an implicit form of validation.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: The idea of peer review is to remove this element of research. If you had to validate all previous work you are building upon you would need to start science from scratch each time...
If the work is published in a reputable journal - then validation is absolutely not necessary. However, you should always read the work you are citing!
If the paper is not published in a reputable journal and you are dubious about the results, then either find a higher quality citation or try to replicate the results (if possible).
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: You should do enough work to convince yourself that the paper you cite is valid (or that it's invalid, if you're citing them to critique them). So that means:
* Reading enough of the paper that you are sure you understand the part of it that you're referring to when you cite it. If you're using paragraph 4.2, make sure you know what section 4 as a whole is about for example. You don't want to be surprised if someone points out that paragraph 4.4 contains some limits on what 4.2 does.
It's probably safest to read the whole paper, but you don't have to read equally "deep" in the parts that aren't really related to what you're doing. But make sure you read the introduction, look through the related work, and the conclusions.
* To convince yourself that the paper is valid, you look at several different things that can show you that there are problems or that can show that it's high quality:
+ Is the paper written clearly, with the normal structure you would expect for a paper in your academic field?
+ Are experiments clearly described? Does the methodology seem reasonable?
+ Are the results properly described?
+ Do the conclusions the paper draws make sense, given the results?
+ Is the paper written by someone with a good reputation, someone with experience in that field? What was their academic title when they wrote it?
+ Is the paper published in a journal with a good reputation/peer reviewed?
+ Is the paper cited by others? What do people citing the paper (in Related Work sections for example) have to say about it?
+ Look at the References section of the paper; who does it cite? A possible sign of a bad paper is that it doesn't refer to the normal literature for that topic. That could mean it's a crackpot working on crazy theories and disregarding normal science in the field.
Doing these things, you can get a good impression of whether a paper could be valid or not, without having to re-do all their experiments.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I was planning to do a reading project with a professor in my institute and had asked him in the last semester whether it would be possible for me to do it under his guidance. However he had politely denied the request saying that he was a bit busy at that time and maybe we could try it at a later time. Since the semester had ended, I was wondering whether it would be appropriate for me to approach him again with the same request especially as he had told me that he was busy at *that* time. However, I was wondering whether it would be considered as bad manners as I might be forcing him to reject this for a second time even though he had hinted to me before. Does someone have any experience with this kind of experience and if so could you please help about what is my best course of action?<issue_comment>username_1: I had two experiences during undergrad where a professor told me they were too busy to supervise a project of mine. In one case I ended up doing a project with that professor later; in the other case I never did.
Since he explicitly said that maybe he could supervise you at a later date, I think it's perfectly appropriate for you to ask again. Just be prepared that he may still be busy.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, it is fine to ask.
However, if you want to increase your chances that he will agree, make it a formal and specific proposal with stated goals. In other words, make it easy for him to say yes and to create criteria for your evaluation. Say what things you will deliver at the end.
That way, even if he is busy, he might just decide that you won't add enough to his work to cause issues elsewhere.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a recent transfer from academic to industry research. I am submitting to a conference in my new company's field, and I am disclosing COI -- organization (my company), relationship ("employment"), relationship ("salary from employment"). Then they want "dollar amount". Regrettably they are not more specific than that. Is it customary to put:
* one year's base salary?
* total income from my employer for one year?
* all they have ever paid me?
* something else?<issue_comment>username_1: I suspect that the form was intended for academic researchers who are funded in the form of industry grants. In that case, the size of the grant would be the right number. In your case, I would leave it open -- nobody needs to know your salary.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If you are forced to enter a number, then I'd suggest entering the largest number that could possibly represent the conflict of interest.
If you can enter text, I would suggest "My company sells X, which is useful for Y." This makes clear what the conflict actually is.
Do not leave it blank, in case a pedantic person considers that dishonest. There is no need to disclose your salary.
Upvotes: 0
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2019/12/06
| 2,682
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a friend who has been working on a PhD dissertation for over 3 years and he is supposed to be wrapping it up. Unfortunately, his thesis involves a complex model and populating the model with hard-to-obtain data. After having finally gathered all the data and plugged it into the model, he is finding that the theory is more or less non-predictive and does not work. In other words, he had an interesting theory, having been tested against the data it turns out the theory is wrong.
So, in this situation what would you do? Just write a dissertation that says, "well four years of research shows that this theory is wrong"?<issue_comment>username_1: Research isn't about taking a statement and *proving that it is true*. That would assume that it is, in fact, true without the research being done. Research is about determining if something is true or not.
But there are two possibilities here. One, which occurs in statistical studies, is a result that shows *insufficient evidence* that the theory is true. Another, that can occur there or in, say mathematics, is a result that shows that the theory is clearly wrong.
The first of those is a failed experiment. It may say little about the model. But the latter is a definite result. "We thought this might be true and learned that it isn't".
Note that in statistical testing, some fraction of the samples used will give false results. If the study is well designed, then you can predict what that fraction is, say .01.
But showing that a model or a theory is clearly wrong results in a good thesis and yes, you say "This theory is wrong!!!"
A failed statistical theory may, however, require more work, or the advisor and committee may accept it, provided that the design was good and everything else done carefully and in good faith.
Knowledge is knowledge and it is good, whether positive or negative.
In fact, many published studies are later proved false because the investigators started out with a preconceived notion of the truth and did what they could to "make it so." That isn't research. Research is stepping into the unknown to try to make it known.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: If you knew the answer before beginning, it wouldn't really be research.
There've been plenty of theories that turned out to be wrong. A recent example is [supersymmetry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersymmetry). This particle physics idea was really attractive for many reasons, and many physicists spent their careers working on the theory. Still, the LHC hasn't detected supersymmetric particles, which is [proving to be a major problem](https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/02/12/why-supersymmetry-may-be-the-greatest-failed-prediction-in-particle-physics-history/#7e6078d569e6).
Your friend should talk to their advisor about the issue, but should not be too concerned about turning in a thesis that says "well four years of research shows that this theory is wrong". He'd be in good company.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: You talk to your advisor about it, then write a paper explaining your methodology and results.
==============================================================================================
Obviously, the first step is to talk to your supervisor about it, to make sure that everyone is on the same page, and to ascertain the requirements for a PhD thesis in your particular department. In some cases, you might have several peer-reviewed papers already published that you can use to compile together to create your PhD thesis; in other cases, this might not be allowed, or it might not be possible if you've yet to publish anything. Regardless of the situation, though, they should understand the requirements your department places on you to successfully complete your PhD.
However you go about structuring your thesis paper, though, you'd probably wind up explaining the methodologies you've used to produce the model, gather the data, and then analyze the results of the model using the data to make the conclusion that there's insufficient support to conclude that your hypothesis was true. Depending on the norms of your department, you might or might not publish the code you used to produce your model open-source.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: **Why was the theory wrong?** "It didn't work" is not the end -- the end is knowing why it didn't work. There are at least two possible answers:
* There is some fundamental, obvious mistake at the core of the model that should have been caught a long time ago. In this case, it may be a matter of starting over. It's difficult to produce a paper/thesis if the story is "I made a stupid model and it didn't work."
* There is some previously-unknown reason why the model didn't work despite smart people thinking it would. This is likely an interesting, publishable result. In fact, it could be even more interesting than a paper that just says "we used a model and it worked as expected."
**It sounds like the data is valuable as well.** Even if it is a matter of starting over again, this dataset sounds like it could lead to a publication or be an ingredient in the new thesis.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_5: Your question illustrates that publication bias starts in graduate school (or even earlier). To quote the [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publication_bias):
>
> Publication bias is a type of bias that occurs in published academic
> research. It occurs when the outcome of an experiment or research
> study influences the decision whether to publish or otherwise
> distribute it. Publishing only results that show a significant finding
> disturbs the balance of findings, and inserts bias in favor of
> positive results.
>
>
>
If this research is based upon a famous preexisting model, perhaps that model has only survived for as long as it has because publication bias has shielded it from refutation. Not only is research which goes against a model adequate for a Ph.D., it could be subtly harmful to the wider research community to bury it. I obviously don't know the particulars of the case, but based on what you have said, this sounds like a good dissertation to be proud of, rather than something to be apologetic for.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: IMHO. First thing to do is advise the thesis advisor immediately. There is an integrity question that must always be in the forefront -- the advisor must never have an excuse to question your friend's veracity. This is important for the 2nd step. If the advisor personally supports the discovery of something that is not true, he will talk to his peers and feel out support for a formal defense. If he has support from his peers, he'll let the defense go ahead (with a rewrite, of course). After all, isn't this the purpose of a thesis -- to discover something that wasn't known before? Remember, the advisor also has "skin in the game". If he let's a defense proceed and it's shot down -- he loses "face". If he believes in your friend, he/she have a good shot.
The people, their relationships and the organizational aspects of the process are usually more important than the final output, but there is no fundamental reason why a negative result isn't still discovering something worth reporting. After all, the drug Sildenafil failed its clinical trials until somebody read a interdepartmental memo and looked at the negative-results differently.
OBTW. I spent 20 years at a Fortune 500 company, a chunk of that time as a manager. I don't have a PhD, but I do know people and processes. Your friend's problem is no different. Tell your friend that he has this and congratulations are in order for finishing the research! Encourage him not to be a ABD -- your friend is so close!!!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: My advisor have told at the beginning of the workshops, that the thesis that turned to be wrong characterize usually the best dissertations.
The explanation is simple: if your thesis proves to be correct, than you've actually, in most cases, proves something that is believed to be correct to be correct. In most cases, it doesn't move anything forward. On the other hand, if your thesis was proved to be wrong, that's much more interesting. You've surely discussed your initial thesis with your adivisor, it also matches your initial state of knowledge you've got from books. But then you've found something that doesn't match that state of knowledge. If you can find out why your original thesis was wrong, it has a big potential to bring something new to the science.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: Working with what you have:
* Hard to obtain data
* A theory that you now know for sure is wrong
Wrong in what way? "Can't show statistical significance" or "can show the opposite is true"? If you can say something definite such as that the opposite is true, then you can formulate a new model that's better than your old one (because it agrees with the evidence).
If all you have is "no significance" then that's less juicy, but you may still be able to write a paper on "model X fails in circumstance Y, and here are my arguments why I think Z is the cause".
The hard to obtain data are an interesting prospect. If it took years to get this data, then publishing it so that someone else doesn't also need years to collect those data can be scientifically valuable. If it took years to get this data, presumably other people haven't had much chance to study and analyze the data, and you can also write about that.
Altogether, you have stuff to write about that took a smart person three years of serious work to gather. And you've learned about the ups and downs of research. Work with your supervisor to figure out a new direction for the thesis. But you should be able to write a strong thesis that demonstrates that you've learned how to do research, and presents outcomes of research that weren't already available to the scientific community (this hard to obtain data and knowledge about which modeling approach surprisingly doesn't work).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: I would structure a document entitled "On the non sustainability of the hypothesis that ...".
This document could be a research report, a journal article, a thesis chapter, anything. While writing, the logic of the thoughts will unfold itself; perhaps you can even find that it is not true that all is wrong. All other reactions given in this thread contribute to providing motivation and sensible ways forward.
In terms of self-reflection, beside a bunch of [frequently occurring biases of judgement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases), please mind the [impostor's bias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome) as well: there is even a [playlist of TED talks](https://www.ted.com/playlists/503/fighting_impostor_syndrome) to choose the more suited variant from.
Finally, for inspiration, it could be interesting to look at the editorial lines of journals that publish 'studies of failures' as different from 'failed studies'. One in the medical community that I heard of is the [Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine](https://jnrbm.biomedcentral.com/). **I imagine it is important to gather up the vocabulary appropriate to explaining 'studies of failures'**, and borrowing from any reputable source can be useful.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I received review comments on a manuscript submitted about 6 months back. One of the reviewers suggested performing a few new experiments. But the same experiments were performed recently and the results have already been communicated elsewhere for possible consideration. How should I address the comment?<issue_comment>username_1: I think you should ask the editor. They may decide to go ahead and publish your paper, or want to wait for the results of the new experiments to appear. In either case you should revise the paper to discuss the new experiments.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think @EthanBolker's suggestion is spot on: ask the editor. Additionally, if your field is permissive of preprints, you may be able to submit and cite a preprint of the work you've already submitted for review - check the policies of the journal you've already submitted to. Depending on the delays for review on each paper you may be able to update the citation before publishing or it may remain with the preprint, either is fine.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student in the field of education and I enjoy reading SE questions to stimulate my mind when I need a break. I find academia to be one of my most frequently visited sites.
When reading questions, answers, and comments to questions of teaching practices I often see content I consider problematic given what is “known” (a word I will use loosely here) from research in educational psychology.
**How do professors and lecturers learn to teach?**
I do not mean this flippantly as I often see high-quality contributions on SE as well.
I suspect teaching courses as doctoral students is a consistent practice across fields, but I am curious to know what *accompanies* this in fields outside of education. What other resources are provided besides having professors and lecturers learn on the fly and make their own conceptions of what good teaching practices are?
I understand this may be largely field and institution dependent. I also am asking from a U.S. context, but I would be interested to know if the structure is noticeably different between countries.<issue_comment>username_1: Some copy what they saw from their lecturers - hopefully only the best bits of course.
Styles of delivery - spacing of materials, topics etc
Types of assessments and combinations of continuous assessments with exam(s)...
Some do a teacher training course - some places offer a level for schools, others a level for higher and further education. And I can still lay my hands on my reference number for my teaching qualification.
Met some who make excellent teachers without training and others that should not be allowed near a classroom even after training...
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: In the UK, there are pedagogical courses which all permanent staff with teaching duties are encouraged to complete (often as a formal requirement of their appointment).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I agree with username_1.
I taught some courses while being a phd student. Those courses were related to some other courses which were taught by a professor. Whenever I asked him something related to teaching, he said "That's your decision." I then went afterwards to a university teaching job -- I never formally learned teaching, it was all on the fly and copying what worked for me. (I agree that I have the same weakness many non-educated teachers have -- we do not know how to teach non-interested/not-good students.)
(Western Europe)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: This answer is based on my experience in Germany, and in an engineering field.
* For interested teachers, universities usually have a central department that offers training, workshops, brochures, and plenty of information about how to teach. For example, [here](https://www.prolehre.tum.de/home/), [here](https://exact.rwth-aachen.de/), and [here](https://www.hda.tu-darmstadt.de/angebote_fuer_lehrende_1/hochschuldidaktische_weiterbildung/hda_weiterbildung_index.de.jsp).
* Many lecturers do not take advantage of these possibilities and still learn on the fly. Doctoral students often have recently attended master courses and observed how teaching was done there. In many cases, the professor gives the lectures and the doctoral student teaches the corresponding *tutorial*, which consists of doing practice exercises on the board. This is easier to do than teaching concepts, and provides an opportunity for the doctoral student to become confident in teaching.
* Evaluation by the students also plays a role. The students are asked to give anonymous feedback on the lectures and tutorials approximately at the middle of the semester. The teacher can then learn what they can improve in their method of teaching.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: Speaking as an adjunct professor in the US: We don't really get any additional training. In graduate school, I recall being required to attend a "TA Orientation", in which we were taught a little about how to teach. After that, the only training came from observing the instructors I worked with, talking with my fellow TAs, and the occasional one-day optional seminar. At institutions I've worked at since then, I've been required to complete pedagogical trainings - but on the scale of a few hours over the course of an entire academic year.
The most helpful has been direct feedback. Every institution I've worked at has had a student evaluation system, in which students provide feedback about the instructor's teaching; unfortunately, this has been demonstrated to be unreliable, as students tend to evaluate based on how easy they found the course. Unrelatedly, but more concerningly, it has been shown that students tend to give lower scores to instructors who are [female](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10755-014-9313-4) and/or [people of color](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0209749) than to their white male counterparts who perform similarly. On the other hand, I've on some occasions had more experienced instructors sit in on my classes and offer feedback; that's been almost uniformly helpful (though compromised by the fact that they often haven't had any more formal training than I have).
Apart from that, it's entirely experience; over time, if you're paying attention, you learn what works and what doesn't. I like to think I've picked up a bit more than average by teaching in a wide variety of contexts, and by having a close working relationship with several colleagues who actually do have degrees in education, but there's still a long way to go.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: There are occasional courses about how to teach - they teach things like inclusiveness, whether certain groups need more attention, and so on.
That said, I imagine most people "learn" by watching their teachers teach. For example if I'm struggling to understand some concept, and then eventually understand it, I could very well look back at my learning experience and think "My professor wasn't able to explain the concept very well, but I know how to explain this so that I'd have been able to understand it!" This kind of thought eventually becomes the foundation of what I do when I teach it myself.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: I am assuming professors and lecturers have PhD.
A part of the experience comes from their teaching assistantship during PhD.
Further, when they join a university as an academician, the department conducts teaching-learning workshops where experienced professors discuss new pedagogical skills and feedbacks.
*Teaching is a process that needs to keep improving everytime we take a lecture. And, this is a beautiful thing.*
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_8: [US/R1-specific] Although faculty usually have recourse to some sort of university teaching resource center that can provide videotaping, training, professional evaluation, etc., it is rarely the case that either research or instructional faculty are *required* to engage in teaching development activities. My impression is that those who become genuinely good teachers are (1) talented and (2) take the initiative to educate themselves about the research. But this seems to be a rather small minority--most faculty apparently come up with their own pedagogical beliefs and practices based on their personal experience.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_9: When I was in grad school in a U.S. university, a while ago, the section of the university I was in had a series of workshops taught by professors in various departments. These were optional, and met only for a short time in each case (one class session or a few class sessions). I found all of the workshops that I attended to be useful to one degree or another, but they varied a lot in content. In one instance the university brought in someone from outside to teach a special workshop on her methods. I think the university had a commitment to keep offering these workshops, but the content probably depended on the professors tapped to teach them or on the people coordinating the program that year. My department never offered any training of its own. There are few things that stuck with me, one of which I make use of constantly, remark on to students occasionally (I did today), and that has even played a role in one of my publications.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: Ideally we would like there to be a way to train every future professor to teach well. A number of real-world factors make this more or less impossible.
1. Disciplines are different, as are different subjects within disciplines, e.g., a first-semester French language course is different from a graduate course in the 18th century French novel. So if there is valid professional expertise about how to teach, it's going to be highly specific.
2. Another type of problem is exemplified by my own field, physics. There is a great deal of evidence that traditional lecturing is a horrible method of teaching freshman physics. A survey paper on this topic is Von Korff 2016. There are other methods (referred to in the Von Korff paper as interactive engagement methods, or IE) that have been consistently shown to be superior. However, only a pretty small minority of people teaching freshman physics use anything other than traditional lecturing. I think this is due to a variety of social forces, not the least of which is that students tend to resist IE, and new teachers are afraid of getting bad student evaluations of teaching.
3. If people are learning how to teach when they're TA's in grad school, there is no reason to think that what they're learning is correct and applicable. For reason #1 above, it may be correct but inapplicable to their future teaching. For reason #2, it may just be incorrect -- they learn traditional techniques, which are bad techniques.
4. Often good teaching is more work for the teacher. For example, students in most subjects should be getting frequent, detailed feedback from a human on their work. At community colleges, there are no TA's, and many teachers don't want to grade stacks of papers, so they find ways of not doing it.
There are certainly some general, basic teaching skills that are widely applicable and can be straightforwardly taught and applied. When a new teacher starts work at my school, we visit their classroom and evaluate them, and we give them written feedback on this sort of thing. Some of the comments I find myself making more frequently are:
* Don't ask questions and then ignore students' attempt to answer them.
* Learn to write on the board without blocking the board with your body and turning your back to your students.
* Minimize distractions by setting up the classroom situation properly and clearly expressing your expectations. For example, if a student is walking in and out of class to take phone calls, and crossing the front of the room in order to do so, I would suggest that they require students to come in and out through a back door, and/or call out the behavior briefly rather than allowing it to continue.
*Reference*
<NAME> et al., 2016, "Secondary Analysis of Teaching Methods in Introductory Physics: a 50k-Student Study," <https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.00516>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: I'd like to expand a bit on [@username_4's answer about the situation in Germany](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/141164/725) (chemistry in my case).
In general I agree that university teaching could be improved if the university would educate their lecturers in how to lecture. Just as academic research could be improved if the universities taught their PIs/group leaders/professors how to manage a group.
Nevertheless, the learning-by-doing approach is IMHO not as bad as it is sometimes made to sound.
* The typical teaching career as I've seen it doesn't mean "swim or drown" with someone suddenly being thrown into doing a full semester long series of lectures. Before that, there are *tons* of opportunities to learn step by step various skills that are needed for lecturing:
+ The usual start is with 1 : 1 or 1 : few teaching situations: a PhD student teaching in a labwork practicum (in my case: the same few experiments over and over again) or research students. This provides lots of situations where one can hone ones explanation skills and where one gets immediate feedback on whether the explanation is understandable or not.
(In parallel, one also learns how to examine/grade.)
+ One will give seminar and conference presentations. The seminar presentations may include the express task for the audience to also comment on how presentation skills may be improved. I've met this explicitly in seminars that were trial-runs of important presentations (thesis defense, first international conference talk, ...), but more experienced group members may also approach a speaker with particular suggestions after the normal state of project report seminar (in private, afterwards).
+ One may teach "excercise class", i.e. a class where solutions to questions that accompany the proper lecture are calculated and students ask questions about the lecture. Again, this often starts by being responsible not for a whole semester-long series but only for a few instances - leaving time to properly prepare these classes.
+ At some point one is asked to provide workshops that teach ones group particular techniques. Here we're very close to lecture settings, but the audience is still small & friendly.
+ At some point, one starts to occasionally act as substitute for a lecturer who cannot deliver one of their lectures. Again, this usually doesn't happen to random persons, but someone is asked whom the lecturer trusts can deliver the lecture in appropriate quality.This also means that inexperienced and thus bad teaching is restricted in its impact, and higher impact "formats" are entered step by step as experience improves.
* One point (bad exception) that I have to mention is: if someone decides they want to become professor and do their habilitation (or take a junior professorship), they *have to* teach lectures. But there are two "motivations" for becoming a professor: research and teaching. So there's a certain population that never wanted to teach but is forced to do so because they want to have a research career. This of course is not promising for lecture quality.
* It is no secret who is a good lecturer and who isn't. So looking how others teach is not picking up random techniques from random lecturers, but there's the possibility to look what the *good* lecturers do (and ask them for advise).
* It is true that not all good lecturers can explain what they do why - and that teaching knowledge may be transfered faster in other ways.
Still this way of learning is closely related to how I acquire knowledge as experimental researcher, I'm quite proficient in this way of learning.
* We're talking about fully qualified professionals.
If I as a chemist start working in a research project that involves, say, biology I'm expected to get myself to a sufficient level of biological knowledge that allows me to efficiently work on that project - and without anyone telling me what lectures I should attend. I'm expected to be able to find out myself what resources I need.
IMHO the same applies to teaching: as fully qualified professional it is *my responsibility* to acquire those skills.
+ There's nothing that hinders someone to prepare for their teaching by reading up theory on teaching.
+ Nor is it forbidden to ask the audience for explicit feedback on the teaching.
I give university lectures only very occasionally, but more often I teach in industry settings, and I also teach with the [carpentries](https://www.carpentries.org). When I run my courses, I often have a student helper who keeps the logistics going smoothly and has the additional task to make notes on suggested improvements, ambiguities, problems. If I'd become a university teacher now, I'd ask e.g. a PhD student from "my" (or a related) group who'd profit from the lecture to attend and give such feedback.
+ I may say, though, that I found it rather difficult to find good resources on the didactics I need(ed) - much easier to find a biology textbook on genetics. Things seem to have improved in the last years, though (see links in username_4's answer).
Actually, the greater difficulty in teaching for me was(is) not teaching my actual profession, but to teach programming basics because in contrast to my profession I don't remember how my "mind set" was before I knew about programming (I started programming at age 12 autodidactically)
This difficulty/deep disconnect with my audience got me involved with the carpentries, and that that's where I attended some lecture about how to teach.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm writing my PhD thesis. I used a number of statistical tests to test my hypothesis. Only one test was able to answer my question while the rest (3 tests) couldn't.
If I report the results of the tests which failed to answer my research question, it becomes a large number of tables and graphs. My query is whether I should report all the tables and graphs of those statistical tests which could not answer my research question or should I report only the ones which could answer my research question.<issue_comment>username_1: The comments are correct when they say that it is absolutely wrong to try statistical tests until you find one that you like and then report just that one.
That said, there's a little ambiguity in your phrasing
>
> Only one test was able to answer my question while the rest (3 tests)
> couldn't.
>
>
>
If they couldn't answer for some reason you can explain that's not simply "I didn't like the result" then you could discuss those tests, explain why they were unsatisfactory, and perhaps provide the tables and graphs in some kind of supplement.
Whatever you do, you cannot just ignore them. You tried them and you must say so.
For all of this - talk to your advisor.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If I understand the situation, there are a few options I would suggest:
1. Inconclusive tests/results should be briefly mentioned, but maybe not shown. If they provide no information, then they're basically clutter text. Here I'm including info that provides no insight on the result you want to show, that is, they neither support nor refute your claim. They are just useless info that someone might wonder whether you did try to obtain, hence why the brief mention.
2. Controversial test/results are a different matter. Here I'm considering info that disputes, refutes or weakens your thesis. Those are better shown and explained. They provide concessions to your claim that you'll rather make yourself than to let anyone else point out and jump to the conclusion that your whole thesis is wrong.
3. Redundant test/results would be those that support your claim, but if you've already found other means to prove your point and pass the message through, those can be placed in an appendix if they provide marginally new info, but mostly adding redundant information implies just writing redundant text, it is unnecessary and should likely be avoided.
Also remember the value of conciseness, most people who might read your thesis, which include researchers that could cite your work or the committee for your defense, will likely check the number of pages before reading it, and often complain if they find a big number. If necessary to write an extensive work, then so be it, but if possible, prefer to be more concise, avoiding cluttering and redundancy.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm in mathematics, and have recently gotten an opportunity to do applied/industrial research for a strong research institute in my country. As of now I have two MSc degrees in math and engineering respectively, and I also legally qualify as an Engineer. I have a passion for math, but also physics, computer science, and engineering. Thus I have very wide interests and want to continue to do research and interconnect these topics.
I fear that if I choose to go into research (my country's rough equivalent to the latter part of a PhD) I will not have the opportunity to conduct research in different topics, but rather have to specialize myself in a subarea of a math field.
At a research institute I will not be able to do pure math, but I'll have a very good pay and I'll at least get to do some applied/industrial math and publish in those areas. I will also be able to get a doctorate (latter part of PhD) via the research institute, but again it will be in applied math.
Right now I'm thinking of trying it out, and switch back if I don't like it as much, relying on my publications and teaching experience to get in somewhere.
Going fully into academia doesn't seem a good idea if I want to have varying research areas, but at least I'll get to choose my specialization. Going into industrial research I will have a varying job, good pay, but not as much intellectual stimulus and I can't choose my projects. How can one approach this, and **what can I do** to make either of these a better choice?<issue_comment>username_1: My best advice, though it might not suit everyone, is to pick something, anything, that you are willing to work very hard at for a decade or so and become an expert in that field as an academic (my choice). At that point you can probably get tenure and with tenure you can set your own research agenda, more or less. But your ideal academic job may or may not be in your current country of choice.
In some academic jobs you can set the research agenda completely yourself, though you may need to convince people that you are contributing to the mission of the institution. But if you are a mathematician who made the grade in, say, topology, no-one will be likely to tell you that you need to keep doing topology, and few will tell you that you can't branch out into applied fields, or even quite different fields for at least part of the time.
And, in fact, many academics do change their interests over time, even if they stay fairly close to the core field they started in.
But an industrial job, now-a-days, comes with many restrictions on what you can do and many requirements on what you must do. The days of old in, for example, Sun Microsystems or Bell Labs, are over. People in the successors of those places generally can't just think deep thoughts and try to build something interesting. But even in those old style labs, the people permitted to do that were few and had already risen through hard work in the lesser jobs for some decades that left them at the top of the heap. There are surely exceptions, but I think very rare.
But the bottom line, is that if you want to be a polymath, then you need to work very hard to build a reputation that lets you have the freedom to do what you want. It is just more accessible in academia, I think.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: IF you have any bent for business or just "seeing how things work in the real world" (can be interesting, to have to define problems, run interviews, etc.), you might consider *industrial engineering*. It can be very consultative.
There is some math in terms of queuing theory (OR) and statistics. Some physics in terms of whatever you are looking at (root cause analysis).
IF that works for you, depends on how much you still want really high powered math/physics. Because IE is not. But the actual problems and problem solving are pretty interesting and non-trivial.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: 1. Do not get a PhD if you do not want to specialize. A PhD is a specialist's degree.
2. Your specialty could be a methodology. If that methodology is applicable to many areas, you can have wide research interests but a focused expertise in that methodology.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: At my university there are weekly seminars where faculty or students can do presentations for the department.
I had done several of these during my time as a graduate student, although admittedly they were seldomly composed of original work. They were often taking a recently published paper and presenting the findings, sketching the proofs, and illustrating how it applies to research you are interested in and/or doing.
I started to list these on my CV as a more generic "Department Seminar Presentations" of a given paper/topic, but as I thought about it more I began to wonder if this is actually improper to do?
This is in mathematics.<issue_comment>username_1: I would think it is fine, provided that you think the talks would be interesting to others outside your department. The heading you suggest is appropriate, showing that they were local. And, if you are interested in a career as an educator, primarily, rather than a researcher, they might be especially valuable.
If you are able, in these talks, to focus on insights and not just details, they would probably be especially useful as talks to students - even undergraduates.
I doubt that they would add a lot, and if your CV needs to be short they could be omitted or reduced to a single line (Several departmental talks...).
But, I can't see how it is improper in any way. Not everything in a CV has the same impact, of course and different people will look for different things.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't think it's *improper* per se, but I would not include them.
These sorts of presentations are more akin to assignments for a class: they can improve your skills in terms of public speaking and also getting deeper into the material.
However, you wouldn't put your course assignments on a CV, and I wouldn't put these presentations on a CV either.
I wouldn't even include them if they were based on original work, unless they are in a format that indicates some level of acceptance or prestige: conference presentations, invited talks at other institutions, etc. Instead, you reference that original work where it appears in public: in publications, for example.
They *might* be appropriate in a more generic form in a non-academic CV, when the point is to emphasize your experience presenting these sorts of things to a public audience, rather than your academic credentials.
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an ecology post-doc and considering switching from Windows to Linux for my main work computer (I am not a mathematical modeller). I have used Linux before and I am aware that, with effort, one can accomplish most any task in Linux that one can in Windows but I have not tried to convert my whole work computer over. And sometimes making a specific type tool/application work or share files with colleagues' tools (likely Windows based) can take a lot of effort/time or be error prone. As academics we all have limited time to troubleshoot issues that might appear optional.
**So, my question here is for people who have made this switch or seriously considered it: what are the specific main challenges you encountered (which types of applications/tools or other issues) in making this switch?**
I'm especially interested in word processing, spreadsheets, databases, statistical software, plotting and presentation software, reference management, communication, and any other applications that allow you to fulfill key responsibilities as biology faculty. I know there are various ways to port/emulate/etc Windows applications into Linux (e.g., Wine), but I'm interested in approaches that don't simply use that for every application I'm used to in Windows. And I'm asking about what challenges you had transitioning (or why you choose not to) rather than just asking for a list of Linux applications that fulfill these needs (that said, do mention specific applications if you think they are less well known).
(I'm trying to keep this narrow and not about the benefits of either OS over the other - no need for a Linux/Windows flame war. I've also tried to prevent this from being an opinion oriented question by asking for specific problems, but please let me know if I should modify to improve further).<issue_comment>username_1: This question might well be closed as off-topic, but here is my experience as a mathematics professor who has used Linux on his primary desktop machine at work (and on my computer at home and on my personal laptop) for 20 years. Before that I ran Solaris on Sun workstations. Before my academic career, I worked as a Unix system administrator in the 1980s, so I had a lot of background.
1. Your IT department might be unwilling to allow you to run Linux on a university-owned computer and might be unwilling to allow you to connect your personally-owned Linux machine to the campus network.
2. You may be required to purchase university-owned computers from a particular vendor whose hardware might not work well with Linux.
3. Your institution might require you to use specific software that only runs on Windows. For example, earlier versions of the widely used Banner ERP system couldn't be used in Linux. I used to have to authorize purchases that were made with my department's purchasing cards using a Windows only software package (actually a web app that required Internet Explorer 6 and wouldn't work with Firefox or Chrome.)
4. You may have trouble interchanging MS Word Documents or Excel spreadsheets with Windows users (Libreoffice is pretty good but still not perfect.)
5. You may not be able to use licensed software (such as SAS, MATLAB, etc.) that the university has site licensed for Windows.
6. Your students and colleagues will probably be using Windows machines and you won't have an environment that perfectly duplicates their setup. This can make it difficult to reproduce problems that they have, even with free software. For example, I recently had an issue using Octave (an open-source MATLAB like language.) My code ran fine in Octave under Linux but failed in Octave under Windows when a colleague used it. This turned out to be due to a bug in the math library that was used on the Windows build of Octave.
7. Your IT department will almost certainly not provide any support for problems that you might have with your Linux system- you'll be on your own to resolve any issues that come up.
I've always made sure to maintain access to a Windows machine for this few times when I really need it, but in recent years that's been extremely rare. I've got a university-owned Windows laptop that I haven't powered up since July, and I don't miss it. Despite dealing with many of the issues above, I've had a very good experience using Linux and wouldn't consider switching back.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If your course requires the use of computer software, you need to be familiar with the Windows version since that is what your students will probably be using.
===============================================================================================================================================================
Put simply, if the assessment tasks require the use of certain pieces of software, unless you’re teaching a course on the use of Linux and Linux machines are easily available for the students to use through the university, most of the work your students will be doing will be on Windows computers.
If your answer to “how do I do this thing you want us to do for our assignment on Windows” is “I don’t know because I use Linux,” prepare for a number of very frustrated students to give you poor reviews in their teaching feedback forms at the end of semester.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I struggled with low self confidence throughout my bachelors, masters and PhD in chemical engineering. After spending two years in Masters and six years in getting a PhD degree, I am lost at what I can do with my life.
Initially, my plan was to be in academia. Though I love doing research, I don't see that as a possibility anymore.
I did not do well in my PhD. I have only two first-author journal publications in ~2.5 impact factor journals. I did not acquire significant skills. I am bad at programming, and I have a 3.7 GPA. I did not learn to drive or learn any foreign language. I did not improve my health or developed a new hobby. I even did not spend time on having a relationship. In short, I have done nothing over the past six years.
My PhD supervisor has given me a postdoc position. And I feel extremely inadequate. I feel that I won't be able to do anything after my postdoc year, and I will just be a burden and disappointment to my parents.
I am an international student living in the US.
I don't know what I should do. What should I do?<issue_comment>username_1: It looks to me like you did not do so badly as you think. Two publications and 3.7 GPA are not so bad. It might depend on the field, it might not be the best ever, but I have seen much worse. If your supervisor offered you a postdoc position after having you for 6 years as a PhD student, it means that they consider your work useful.
You might be suffering from [impostor syndrome](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/11765/112007). Do read the question and the answers in that link and see if you identify.
If you are not sure now, you have plenty of time during your postdoc year to decide whether you want to continue in academia or get a job in industry. The pros and cons of both options have been discussed extensively, as a quick Google search for "industry vs academia" shows. I personally agree with [this source](https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/working-in-industry-vs-academia/).
And, in most cases, the answer to "I have wasted X years of my life because I did not do Y and Z" is "do not look at the past and do Y and Z now". Especially when, as in your case, Y and Z can be done at any stage in your career life, such as learning languages, programming or driving.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: To be honest, I'm tempted to agree with Buffy. It sounds like the biggest issue you have might actually be the one you identified at the start of your post - low self-confidence. Studying for a PhD, and working in academia in general, has a tendency to have that effect on people - you're far from alone.
If I were you, I'd be tempted to take stock of my overall life situation at this point, perhaps with some input from the people around me, and try to get an objective view of how things really are - they may not actually be as bad as you think.
For example, here are some plus points:
* You finished a PhD. That's already a huge deal - lots of people don't even start a PhD, and of those who do, a proportion never finish. Of those who finish, lots of people feel like they didn't change the world with their PhD, and that's fine - most people don't, and that's not required. You've got the rest of your life to worry about that, if you want to, and it's not required even then. It's ok to just live and be happy sometimes.
* You've got a postdoc position lined up, if you want to stay in academia. Your supervisor wants you to stay, which means you probably did something right during your PhD. Maybe your PhD didn't actually go as badly as you think.
* If you've just finished your PhD, it's quite likely (in the absence of other evidence to the contrary, which I don't have) that you're still relatively young. That means you've got time on your side - there's still a whole lot of life ahead of you in which to do all the things you want to do (learning to drive, learning a foreign language, improving your health, developing your hobbies, having a relationship, ...). It sounds like you're unhappy that you haven't been doing those things, which means you'd probably be happier if you started doing them. Pick one and go start on it right now - hopefully you'll feel better (it's generally worked for me, when I've been feeling down). Starting on one of them sounds like much more fun than carrying on feeling fed up about not doing them, at any rate.
Best of luck!
p.s. For what it's worth, the fact that you've got a list of things you wish you'd been doing, and are unhappy that you haven't been doing them, is a good sign - there's an easy fix for that, which is go do some of them. That's much better than not having a list of things, and sitting there having existential angst and wondering whether life is pointless :)
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: You need to talk to someone – be that a counsellor (as @Buffy has suggested in the comments), a family member, a friend, or even (depending on your relationship) your supervisor. It does sound like a good part (if not most!) of the problem you describe may stem from impostor syndrome, and if that's the case, then it will be crucial to have others as a sounding board, to help put things into perspective. I have never known anyone in academia who didn't struggle at some point, somehow. Academia is tough, research is hard and failures are inevitable.
You mention you love doing research. Considering that you have also successfully turned that research into publications, it rather sounds like you *do* have what it takes to succeed. (Again, to put things into perspective, in my field it is normal for PhD students to graduate with 0–1 publications, and the impact factor of what's considered the leading journal is about 2.3. Different fields are different, yes. But you have definitely not failed.)
The other things you mention seem more minor to me. You say you are bad at programming. But you can always improve – programming, if anything, is one of those things where practice makes perfect. You mention you have neglected your health, hobbies and interpersonal relationships. But this is not uncommon: these things happen to many people who pursue a PhD, in various ways, and it is not too late to do something about them now. You say you have done nothing over the past 6 years. This cannot be literally true (you have earned a PhD, an enormous undertaking), but even if it were, the thing to do now would be to start doing those things you have neglected in the past.
But please do consider talking to someone. Having to verbalize your own thoughts and feelings is an excellent way of beginning to understand your thoughts and feelings, and of starting to see a solution.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: You have:
* the highest possible academic degree that one can achieve
* a job in the field
* a life in a developed country
You're faring really well.
This is not to say that what you're feeling isn't real. It is real, and there is a problem. It's just that the problem is not what you have, but who you are. What you have is a highly successful life, at the same time, you are depressed and miserable.
You don't need more things, you have it all. No Nature publication will take you out of your dark place. You need to learn to enjoy life and accept yourself.
I know the last sentence is useless in itself, because it only tells you what you need, but not how to do it. Unfortunately, that's about as far as a stranger on the internet can get you. Speak to friends, speak to a psychologist, speak to anyone willing to listen, speak to yourself and try to figure out where does this need for accomplishments comes from, so you can move on.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: Get your frame of reference right.
Achieving a PhD puts you in the 5% highest educated part of the population. That's quite significant. But you're comparing yourself to the smartest people in your direct environment - an environment set up try to get together all the smartest people.
If you don't manage to be in the top 1%, surely being in the top 5% is still something to feel pretty happy with?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: They are marathon runners on arrival.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSZlSaPJAdQ>
Do they look well? Can you imagine, how bad feeling could it be, being there, after 42km of running?
But believe me: **it is uncomparably better to be there, than for us, watching them on the youtube**.
**Don't do any irrecoverable mistake now!** Wait, at least some months, more ideally some years! Take some longer leave, if you can (probably you can), and do nothing! Only think.
For example, *now* you can learn to drive. Ask anybody having a driving license, but no Phd, would they switch to the other.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: I know what it's like to feel like you "haven't been living" for years. Six years of my life disappeared by my being extremely sick.
I have 5 years of unemployment in my résumé, an unfinished PhD, a tiny professional network, and ongoing health problems which make many things impossible. But I'm living again.
Some people have been in prison for 10 years. Some have escaped war-torn countries. Some have recovered from drugs or alcoholism. It's **very** hard when you suddenly awaken from a world of constraints into a world of choices, seemingly at a huge disadvantage from others within it. (I am not saying you've got it easier than they do. I'm saying you have this in common.)
Some of them go on to do amazing things. They have a moment that will define their life, and they work and work and work and work to a level that others can't imagine, and do something great for the benefit of their fellow man.
Others are just happy to be alive, happy to have gotten away from a bad place. Nothing wrong with that.
The most important thing in life is not success or respect or glory. It is to make choices that keep you out of misery. Anything more is a bonus.
But asking the question you're asking proves you are ready to change your life.
Maybe you could go to your home country or a country in poverty, where your skills and knowledge could make a bigger difference. Remember you don't need to use your degree at all; you could enter a completely different field. It's better to do it by choice than by necessity. Doing a variety of menial jobs of different sorts can be really enriching, since you see life from so many angles.
Doing a PhD doesn't just teach you about your topic; it teaches you about being thorough, exploring the state of the art, problem-solving, organisational skills, and so on. These make you very valuable if you use them well.
I know what I want to create. And I know what's stopping me is not my 6 missing years; it's my unwillingness to confront my weaknesses (like networking and time management.) Now I'm confronting these things, and I'm surprised at my success.
Go get 'em.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: Two first-authored papers is not bad, I seen a lot of people getting phd for way less and still being full of themselves. You are doing good.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: You don't think you did well during your PhD, but you stuck with it anyways. That sounds like a lot of PhD students. But, it also sounds like students that stuck with something, b/c their parents were back-seat driving their futures.
As others have said, your self-esteem issues stem from something. Something makes you feel inadequate all the time, and makes you compare yourself to others all the time.
Usually, that starts from overbearing parents constantly comparing you to other kids, chastising you for not being as good as some top-tier, stellar performer in your same grade or field, etc.
My dad did that to me my whole life. I was expected to get good grades. When I got them, I didn't get a "good job!" or anything. But, if I got bad grades, I got punished. As I got older, my dad would constantly compare me and my siblings against each other and to other kids his coworkers had. "So-n-so's kid is doing XYZ." (to insinuate it's better then what I was planning on doing, or was doing).
Even when I was an adult, my dad was trying to back-seat drive my career with "advice" that wasn't so much him trying to do what was best for me, but what was best for my career. He never took me, as a person, into consideration when giving advice.
What I realized over time (chatting with my dad extensively) was that he made decisions in his career... he gave up moving up the ladder or managerial positions, because he decided to start a family. He took a back-seat position at his job where he kept his head down and kept his mouth shut so he could keep earning an income and not rock the boat while supporting his family. He made one major career shift up the ladder to get more money, and in retrospect it was an awful decision that uprooted the family and set in motion events that pretty much tore the family apart.
What I realized as I got older was that he was trying to coach me to have the career he wished he could have; he was trying to guide his dream job vicariously through me.
He would push it in ways by either telling me exactly things he thought I should do, or package it as "I was chatting with kids at the gym and giving them advice, and this one kids doing XYZ" (again, to insinuate this "one kid" was doing something better then I was).
I got sick of it.
So, I stopped chatting with him about work, school, etc. When he'd ask or press, I simply told him that I was only going to speak with him like a member of the family, not someone I was seeking career counseling from.
I eventually had a blow-up with him, because I was tired of him trying to back-seat drive my life while I was watching his life implode around him with issues he wasn't staying on top of during a situation that basically forced me to take control of his responsibilities when he ended up in the hospital.
What I learned was ... just ignore him.
In 20 years time, my dad won't be around any more. But, god-willing.. I will.
In 20 years time, will I be happy if I had followed my dad's advice and done this and that? No. I'd be miserable, because he was pushing me to go in directions that were making me miserable.
So, why bother listening to him? Why bother trying to please him?
In 20 years time I can follow his advice and be miserable while he's dead, or I can ignore it and be happy while he's also dead.
Ultimately, I have to figure out what makes me happy, though.
But, when you have someone constantly telling you that you're not doing good enough, you need to do better, you're not doing as well as so-n-so over there, you should be heading in a certain direction, you need to do it all before a certain BS time limit... you know what, you eventually turn into a hot mess that thinks very little of yourself b/c you constantly have a devil on your shoulder that never thinks what you're doing is good enough.
Tell that person (or those people) to go screw off.
Since you're international.. and you're in a STEM field.. and you went through a PhD even though it sounds like you didn't really want to .. I'm going to assume you're Indian.
You need to have a moment of clarity where you decide to be your own person and stop having your family tell you what you need to do and where you need to go in life.
That can be hard if your family is paying the bills.
But, I may be making assumptions, but your story sounds almost identical to a ton of other folks I rubbed elbows with in college... all of them Indian. They were taking STEM when really they wanted to do liberal arts or whatever they were passionate about. Their family pushed them into an "lucrative career", b/c it's all about the money and status with them.
I had a couple of Indian folks tell me they had a massive weight lifted off their shoulders when they told their family to stuff themselves. They were dating people locally, and one was wanting to marry the girl he was dating. One guy dropped his STEM and went into art which is what he really wanted to do (and he was an AMAZING artist).
Ultimately, you have to figure out what makes you happy, and stop listening to folks constantly running you down and telling you you're not good enough.
I rented a room from a gay couple, and one of the guys had a degree in aeronautic engineering. You know what he did for a living? He was the director of a high school band. His parents pushed him to do engineering, b/c he was in the closet and just kept his nose down and did what they said. When he finally got older, he got tired of them, and came out of the closet and pursued what really made him happy: music.
People have to have that moment.
So, you're asking how you'll survive over here? I think you really need to ask yourself what will make you happy. And, you need to start ignoring folks that are running you down.
With a PhD in Chemistry, you don't have to be a great programmer. There are companies that will hire you to figure out some chemistry, and team you up with Comp Sci or Info Sys folks that will do all the coding and stuff for reports, data science, etc.
If you don't like what you have a PhD in, then go figure out what you do like. Maybe you like working on motorcycles or scuba diving or whatever.. find a way to make a career out of it.
It's better to live a modest life that makes you happy, even at the expense of others, then to be rich and f'ing miserable b/c you decided to make everyone else happy.. usually folks that won't be alive in 20 years time.. which just leaves you miserable while they're dead.
Upvotes: -1
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2019/12/07
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a first year undergraduate student (direct entry engineering) and today something happened that I have dreaded for a long time.
I received an email from my professor saying that he lost all marks from his computer, the midterm exam marks could be recovered but the assignments could not. Normally this would not be an issue, I keep all assignments in a filing cabinet plus I input all grades into a spreadsheet. But in an effort to clean up for an upcoming move, I seem to have misplaced the folder of math assignments I had.
The assignments are worth 5 percent each and I misplaced two of them. This wouldn't be the biggest deal typically as I get fairly high marks, but I had done well on these assignments and my midterm mark wasn't as high as I wanted. With a 0 on both these assignments I would need close to a perfect score on my final to get an A. I would like to keep a 4.0 GPA as I want to get into electrical engineering which is quite competitive.
With all that being said, I have already emailed the professor briefly explaining the situation along with the third assignment I still had. Technically, I don't need to keep assignments and the professor's computer problems are completely out of my control. So if he concludes that I should get a 0 on both assignments, can I appeal? I know my assignment marks so under my university's honesty declaration I must be honest about my grades, so anything I report to the professor must be true.
What should my course of action be in the event of him giving me two 0's on the assignments?<issue_comment>username_1: You shouldn’t be penalised for mistakes the professor makes.
============================================================
If I was in the professor’s shoes, and the marks were truly irrecoverable, I would either give everyone 5/5 on the assignments, or I would null the assignments’ marks and mark the course out of 90 instead of 100, effectively adjusting the weighting of everything else upward. Which one I would select would depend on the policies of the university.
What I definitely wouldn’t do is penalise the students for my mistake by marking them 0/5. If he does, I would recommend complaining to the university; most universities would have some sort of formal appeals process for situations like this.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: What *you* should do, in the unlikely event he does that is just go see him and work it out. There are easy ways to compensate, but your next step should not be an escalation or claim unfairness. Just go to the office and have a talk.
The easiest way to compensate is just to assume that those grades are about the same as the typical grades you get otherwise in the course and compute averages or totals or whatever on that basis. If that satisfies both of you, then there is no issue.
But if either expects something different, you just need to discuss it. Perhaps he asked a few questions about what you did on the assignment.
Or, in case that you have the recorded grades, but not the assignments, just take the printed spreadsheet to show how you record things. He will accept it or not. And if you remember anything from feedback written on the assignment, say what it was, to refresh his memory.
But if all the grades, not just yours, are lost, then he needs a general solution that isn't punitive.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2019/12/08
| 1,051
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<issue_start>username_0: I am doing my PhD in the Britain and I've got a lovely supervisor which is like a friend for me. I want to ask her to give me direct feedback and tell me directly if I am doing bullshit or about any other thing that she thinks I am not good and need to improve (forexample if the way I send email is not very natural in the sense of language and ...). I want to say:
I would like to ask you to give me direct feedback on anything that you think I may need to improve. I won't be offended because I know your intention and I know you want me to be the best. I would be very happy to receive comment because I know that's what makes me improve.
Is it good or not? Is there as better way of saying that?<issue_comment>username_1: It seems that you are overthinking this. You say she is like a friend. Neither a friend, nor an advisor, has any incentive to lead you into traps. Accept it if she praises your work. Perhaps you are on the right track after all.
But we can all improve at the margins, at least. If you have specific doubts about particular things that you do, or write, ask about just those things and listen to the answers. Perhaps there are suggestions for improvement in there that aren't criticisms, but just pointers to better ways to do or say things.
But, your note almost sounds like you are soliciting negative feedback.
I'm pretty sure that if a friend and advisor saw you going down the wrong road you would be told that. Otherwise she is wasting her own time as well as yours. That doesn't seem like a reasonable action for an advisor.
After all, if you finish and go on to a brilliant career it reflects well on her also. Relax.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Many people are not good in giving feedback. Often, academica have never learned management skills like giving feedback. Some people think they are "mean" if they give negative things, some people feel they are being "picky" if they list small things (even if the other person would be interested in small things also).
From dealing with students (giving feedback on each other's talks), my feeling is that more specific questions like "List 3 things that could be improved" are more often answered then "What could be improved?". Also, there tend to be more and better responses when the feedback is written.
So, I would look in the Internet for a good feeback sheet which applies to your situation. Or create one yourself. Ask the supervisor if they would fill it out since it would help you (some academics hate it when they have to fill out yet another sheet of paper). Ask specifically for comments (not only for "grades" which do not tell much about how you could improve). Try to include only important questions as you do not want to annoy her.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I'm not sure I would make a blanket request for feedback on everything. It sounds not only like an invitation for negative feedback, as username_1 mentioned, but also an invitation to change the dynamics of your relationship, to a more critical one. I think it would also be hard for an advisor to know how to address such a general request - like how much feedback is this student looking for, where does the feedback stop?
My own suggestion is that if you wish to receive more candid feedback from her, maybe make that request when it comes to specific things. For example, if you have a manuscript draft or want to do a mock job interview or a dry run of a presentation - these would be good things to get feedback on and would be appropriate to ask her to not hold back regarding her critiques. For smaller things though, I think it might be a bit much for her and is heading into babysitting territory, as there are some things you just need to learn and figure out yourself through trial and error.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: I agree with the other answers that asking for "negative feedback on anything at all, please, hit me" isn't the way to go.
But what you can do is say "hey, I have to submit this essay and I'm nervous about it, I'm afraid I'll overlook something big. Could you have a look at it and see if you can shoot any holes in it that I can fix before submitting?"
Also, read about [Impostor Syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome). It's very common in academia, take a look at yourself and consider if any of this might apply to you?
Upvotes: 1
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2019/12/08
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<issue_start>username_0: So what I’m wondering about is how research positions in government run research labs with organisations like Australia’s CSIRO or America’s FFRDC labs compare with equivalent positions in academia and industry.
What are their pay and conditions like, relatively speaking? How much job security do you have? How much control do you get over your topic of research?<issue_comment>username_1: Conditions, pay, research autonomy are all highly dependent not only on whether you are in an FFRDC or academia, but where within those institutions you work. Given this, it isn't possible to give an all encompassing answer to your question.
What I can tell you for sure is that whether you work in an FFRDC or academia, funding tends to dictate the type of work you do. This is especially true if the academic research is funded by an agency with a clear deliverable. Although the exact topic may not be as flexible, working in FFRDCs and academia tend to allow for more autonomy in how you approach the problems presented to you. To work on a topic you care about, you'll have to either maneuver within those organizations onto a project that interests you or go to different organizations.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> So what I’m wondering about is how research positions in government run research labs with organisations like Australia’s CSIRO or America’s FFRDC labs compare with equivalent positions in academia and industry.
>
>
>
I work for a US Government Research Agency, so here is an answer based upon my experience (i.e., n = 1):
>
> What are their pay and conditions like, relatively speaking?
>
>
>
In this US, some labs are run by contractors (e.g., some DOE labs like Sandia). Others are run by the federal government (e.g., other DOE labs). I am an employee of the US federal government. OPM describes our benefits (link [here](https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pandemic-information/benefits/)) and the GS pay scale is [here for 2019](https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/2019/general-schedule/). Most research scientists are between a GS-11 and G-15, which a post doc starting as a GS-11 or 12 depending upon the agency. Some federal scientist become Senior Positions (ST), which are above the GS pay scale (OPM page [here](https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/scientific-senior-level-positions/)).
Most research positions in the US Government are "Research Grade Evaluation" (link [here](https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/classifying-general-schedule-positions/functional-guides/gsresch.pdf), which means we have a review ever 4 years (similar to tenure), where the panel of our peers can recommend our we say in the same pay grade, be promoted, or demoted a level. Some agencies like NOAA and DOD have switched to [pay bands](https://www.federalpay.org/articles/pay-bands) rather than the GS pay scale.
>
> How much job security do you have?
>
>
>
Probably similar to a US public academia setting. But, rather than be subject to the whims of state-level politics (US public universities), we are subject to federal politics.
>
> How much control do you get over your topic of research?
>
>
>
This depends upon the position. I am free to study anything falling within the mission area of my agency and my local center, as long as I obtain funding for it through internal or external funding mechanisms. This is less than an academic in theory, but in practice, if you like the applied science of your agency, this is enough freedom for many people including me. Plus, I like directly working with managers to see my research applied.
[Here is a link to an obligatory PhD Comic on Intellectual Freedom](http://phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1436).
Last, as another answer noted, your questions are largely specific to a given organization. I suggest researching different agencies you might like to work for and reaching out to researchers at those agencies to conduct information interviews. During those interviews, ask similar questions to the ones you posed here.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2019/12/08
| 2,163
| 9,682
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<issue_start>username_0: Respected teachers, I have this question for quite some time and I need your ideas.
When we teach physics we can have a lot of brainstorming sessions and adopt the "scientific method" ( Observation, Hypothesis, Experiments, Conclusion ). I do this regularly in my physics class. Recently I was asked to take a course in elementary biology. I find that most biology books are filled with facts instead of stimulating questions, observations and experiment opportunities which I find in good physics books. In biology, we find less opportunity for real demonstration and conducting experiments- e.g. how to do an experiment on the digestive system as clear as we do to demonstrate and understand Newton's laws in physics. You might suggest using models but all models are inaccurate. On the other hand Netwon's laws can be directly observed without aid or model ( though that is also possible).
So my question is
1- Fundamentally how the two teachings differ, and what could be the most appropriate and meaningful strategy for teaching biology that keeps the students motivated and curious to know living beings?
2- Can we still use scientific methods as we do in physics? (But I see a narrow opportunity for observation, hypothesis, experiment, and conclusion.)
I think someone who is experienced in the teaching of biology, as well as physics, might explain how he/she shifts strategy when moving from one to another.
Thank you very much for your valuable suggestions.
Edit:
By 'fact' I mean rote learning. You just remember what is Newton's third law without bothering to know how Newton discovered it and how in general scientists discover and invent things. I am talking about the lowest level in Bloom's taxonomy. If that is the best learning experience in science, we could not have come where we are today. In my class, I prefer Questioning, inquiry and challenging the set notions instead of accepting and forcing things as Gospel truth. In my opinion, all famous scientists work like this. Galileo did this and was punished by Church but was ultimately proved right.<issue_comment>username_1: See <NAME>'s introductory biology OCW course lecture [videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Ry4rRdDbk) for a refreshing take on biology from someone who was trained as a mathematician. The way Prof. Lander (and likely many others) teaches biology is similar to the 'hard sciences' (chemistry and physics), but the history of the science takes a larger role than it usually does in (say traditional introductory) physics and math courses.
Maybe a reason for this is that the ways that important biological processes take place are way too complicated for us to easily derive them from Newton's laws and some calculus, and so to bring people to speed in basic cell biology, one really needs to rely on a large amount of collected observations on non-intuitive, less widely observed phenomena than one does in classical physics to begin doing meaningful studies. One way to do this, is to just say such-and-such is the way things happen, now memorize it. Another approach however, is to explain how the existing models came to be. The second takes (**much**) more work.
At the most basic level, in either case one tests whether the conclusions/predictions that come from the models are consistent with what is observed, so the distinguishing of intro biology and intro physics on this point seems artificial. A real fundamental difference between the two again is that the type of things which are discussed in the intro biology course are much more complicated than those covered in a basic physics course, and so one must rely on more 'hand-waving' or historical references at certain points. To quote the famous mathematician <NAME>ann, '**If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is.**'
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Biology and physics are more diverse subjects than you give them credit. Biology is more diverse than physics in a way that there is "soft" knowledge like the names of plants and such, knowing their environments and more behaviour. There is also physics in the way of biomechanical anatomy, there is chemistry in the form microbiology. Physics is closer to math and there are not many soft things.
What makes them teaching vice most distinct is the desired learning outcomes. The society considers knowing the names of the native plants important. I think the best thing is trying to give them also the big picture and make them think for themselves a bit. As an example: take three pieces of liver, one just a chunk, another one bit grinded or sliced, and the last one absolutely pulverized with the help of sand. Put hydrogen peroxide on them and ask what happened and why.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Neither physics nor biology is my field of study so I can't help you with books. But I can suggest a bit of perspective.
There are facts about both that every educated person should learn, no matter what they choose for a career. Early schooling is intended to cover quite a lot of that at appropriate age levels. So, a book could focus more on those general knowledge facts than on the scientific method appropriate for each field. That is probably fine for much of general education, but not for the education of a future scientist.
Moreover, in some fields, accessible experimentation is subject to more ethical constraints than others. You can drop solid and hollow balls without ethical considerations, but you can't boil live frogs. And, in some fields, and some parts of fields experimentation is extremely difficult. Biological experimentation often depends on statistics which may not be a skill the students have at the time. But astronomical experimentation is very difficult also.
However, if you want to train people in the scientific method appropriate to a field, you can find a way to do that. But you don't need to apply that method to everything the student learns, provided that the tools and techniques are similar. Let me give an example, from ecology.
Some quite young students have carried out a long term longitudinal study of the health of the ecosystem of a stream (sorry, no citation). Students visit the stream periodically and count things and make note of changes. They count frogs and salamanders and various aquatic plant life and such. They can track temperature and humidity and such also. They make graphs and do some simple statistics to track how things change from season to season and from year to year. This is pretty simple but you can, as a teacher, frame this around the scientific method: observation, hypothesis, [(natural) experimentation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_experiment), and conclusion. Some of these studies have gone on for a number of years with each new student group adding to what was learned from previous iterations.
You can also teach scientific ethics around such things. We don't boil the frogs and we don't interfere with the stream flow just to see what happens.
And if the scientific method can be taught in such simple ways then thought experiments alone can inform students about many, though not all, related aspects of the field.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: All the science methods courses I have been a part of have had future science teachers of all science fields. This is because more or less the research-based best practices are applicable across domains. I will generalize some of the most important ones that specifically fit things mentioned in your question.
Spend the time necessary to identify *fundamental* content knowledge. Ensure students have the necessary prerequisite knowledge and consider where you want students to go. Use this to guide how you prioritize content.
Begin with concrete experiences, decontextualized if possible, and scaffold students students to abstract understanding. Experiences come first, then concept development, then application and readings. (See: Karplus & Butts 1977)
Teaching through and as inquiry is a great method for science education. You point out how you enjoy questioning and inquiry. This is good.
Specifically addressing digestion: I have been part of an activity where students come to class hungry (very hungry) and food has been brought/delivered. Before eating, ask the students questions to identify salivary glands and other bodily signals (stomach can be turning, knees can be weak, etc.). If students are hungry enough, they’ll be quick to point out the correct areas and symptoms. As they finally eat, ask them to count the number of times they chew, which teeth they’re using for what kinds of foods, the role of the tongue, lips, cheeks, and other questions. Again, students are quick to identify these things when asked the right questions under the right conditions (created by you the teacher). ... this goes on and on, but what I want to draw your attention to is now when the “rote memorization” and vocabulary terms are introduced, students have experiences to connect the readings to. Just because you can not necessarily do structured empirical studies does not mean you can’t teach through inquiry.
That’s semi-contextualized, but still begins with the concrete. A better starting point may even be an assembly-line design process. An M&M hunting example is a popular decontextualized activity to begin a natural selection unit with. Creating a city can be transitioned into cell structure and function. Lessons like that separate effective teaching from the too common rote memorization when teaching concepts.
Upvotes: 0
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2019/12/08
| 491
| 2,112
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<issue_start>username_0: What are good choices to create figures in computer science research papers? Not talking about graphs here, just block diagrams and simple illustrations. For example, what is the tool that can be used to produce this figure?
<issue_comment>username_1: Personally, I am a fan of the TeX-Package TikZ. It is easy to draw simple diagrams, include small pictures or create structures by using loops and conditionals.
It also supports relative positioning, which makes everything a lot easier than manual placement.
Since all of the input is plain text, it works great in combination with source control (e.g., git) and prior versions can easily be reverted back to.
I have to mention it takes some time to get used to the syntax, but the folks over at the TeX Stackexchange are usually very helpful. They have a great showcase of scientifc pictures, too! <https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/158668/nice-scientific-pictures-show-off>
When images from other documents are to be included, I usually crop them out as vector graphics from pdfs by using Libreoffice Draw. With both tools in combination, I often get satisfying results since everything remains vector graphics for the entire diagram if i wish to.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: My combination:
* Excel
* PowerPoint
With those, you have smart art which allows you to get things done really fast but larger graphs get painful. For those I use:
* draw.io
draw.io has good diagram capabilities and it is fast to learn. Sometimes there are some things that cannot be done with those. If everything else fails:
* Latex equation editors
* Snipping tool
* Paint
With the snipping tool, I bring elements to paint from example latex equation editor or some graphs or whatever the visualization needs. I think some real professional software might be better than Paint but it is hard to justify those expensive licenses for a few pictures a year. You can probably replace the Office programs with free ones but these are the programs I use.
Upvotes: 0
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2019/12/08
| 770
| 3,339
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm going to apply for a doctorate position in mathematics soon, and I'm wondering if my breadth can be of any disadvantage. I have two MSc degrees, in mathematics and engineering respectively. The past years I've coauthored papers in different field on the side, all of which had novel content. My work has ranged from pure math, nanotechnology, to high performance computing and numerical analysis.
I'm wondering if this can be held against me when applying for a more "pure" math doctorate. As a side note, in my country a doctorate is the latter part of an American PhD, after you're done with the coursework and you mainly do research. So, the main focus will, of course, be on my research aptitude. I have demonstrated this through my work, and also by participating in competitions/conferences.
By the time they decide I will also have had some applied/industrial math experience, working for a research institute, and I have teaching experience with undergraduate courses.
Would I seem a much less interesting applicant than someone who has only focused on pure math, but doesn't have the same research experience (which is often the case)?<issue_comment>username_1: As long as you have the required background and the commitment to study deeply in a field you should do fine. I doubt that anyone would hold other experiences against you. But you will need to be clear in your SoP for study in mathematics that you are serious about mathematics and have the desire to go deep into some relatively small area to do the required research for a dissertation. If you say you want to study all of these things equally in the future you might not be taken seriously.
But the only way to know for sure is to make application and show that you are a good candidate for success. In Europe (I assume UK or EU) you might need to convince an advisor of your seriousness to achieve admission. You seem to understand that doctoral study is narrow and deep, so I'd guess you can make it work.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: You could say something like:
"I've done a pretty wide range of different things, trying to find out where my true passion lies. Getting multiple masters degrees shows that I'm not a dilettante, I get stuff done. And it's been an enriching experience, letting me see the connections between different fields. But after long consideration I've decided pure math is what I want to settle down on."
And it has the virtue of being true (from what I read in your question).
---
Consider what a professor might think, while reviewing two candidates, one pure math straight up, and you who's tried several different things *and finished them*.
* The pure math student might have a lead on you in pure math.
* You've demonstrated persistence and an ability to get things done. Likely, you will also get a PhD done.
* You've shown that you're mentally flexible enough to master multiple different subject fields.
* The math student might at some point decide he's not seen enough of the rest of the world and worry if staying cocooned in pure math is really what he wants. You on the other hand have tasted the various forbidden fruits and decided *this* is really the one you want.
Just on the surface like that, you look like a candidate worth interviewing.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2019/12/09
| 780
| 3,313
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<issue_start>username_0: I will be graduating from my undergraduate with a B.S. in Computer Science & Applied Mathematics with a ~3.25-3.30 in less than 2 weeks from now. I'm taking at least gap year and a half after I graduate and am planning on applying to PhD programs in CS in the near future. I have a semesters worth at my institution as well as an REU from this past summer, though I wouldn't say they are terribly related to what I may want to study towards grad school. Aside this, though, I've looked at a couple other professors more towards my area of interest that I was considering trying to do research with (NLP/ML/Performance Analysis), but didn't, partly due to me taking three graduate-level courses this semester while finishing up my studies.
I have debated working in industry vs. trying to bolster my application profile for when I apply, and want to be able to do research in the time between undergrad and graduate school. I've seen this is common in fields like Bio/Neuro, but haven't seen too much for CS aside from a couple of positions in national laboratories, has anyone gone through getting post-bacc research in CS?<issue_comment>username_1: As long as you have the required background and the commitment to study deeply in a field you should do fine. I doubt that anyone would hold other experiences against you. But you will need to be clear in your SoP for study in mathematics that you are serious about mathematics and have the desire to go deep into some relatively small area to do the required research for a dissertation. If you say you want to study all of these things equally in the future you might not be taken seriously.
But the only way to know for sure is to make application and show that you are a good candidate for success. In Europe (I assume UK or EU) you might need to convince an advisor of your seriousness to achieve admission. You seem to understand that doctoral study is narrow and deep, so I'd guess you can make it work.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: You could say something like:
"I've done a pretty wide range of different things, trying to find out where my true passion lies. Getting multiple masters degrees shows that I'm not a dilettante, I get stuff done. And it's been an enriching experience, letting me see the connections between different fields. But after long consideration I've decided pure math is what I want to settle down on."
And it has the virtue of being true (from what I read in your question).
---
Consider what a professor might think, while reviewing two candidates, one pure math straight up, and you who's tried several different things *and finished them*.
* The pure math student might have a lead on you in pure math.
* You've demonstrated persistence and an ability to get things done. Likely, you will also get a PhD done.
* You've shown that you're mentally flexible enough to master multiple different subject fields.
* The math student might at some point decide he's not seen enough of the rest of the world and worry if staying cocooned in pure math is really what he wants. You on the other hand have tasted the various forbidden fruits and decided *this* is really the one you want.
Just on the surface like that, you look like a candidate worth interviewing.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2019/12/09
| 752
| 3,216
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<issue_start>username_0: As an undergrad, I was a double-major in neuroscience and music. Now, I'm working on putting together a CV for applications to master's programs in neuroscience. But, my thesis work was done in the music department and unrelated to neuroscience whatsoever. Should I include this on my CV, or would it be seen as irrelevant "padding" of my CV? (I'm not really concerned about shoring up my experience, as I've had several years of directly relevant work experience since I finished my bachelor's degree.)<issue_comment>username_1: If your undergraduate program requires a Bachelor's Thesis, graduate school admissions committees might expect to see it on your CV. Completely omitting your thesis in your CV might raise questions.
Your ability to do independent work is also important, even in another field. If your thesis work is not related to your graduate school field, I would mention it but not focus on it. (i.e., include the title and one sentence summarizing what you did). If your Bachelor's Thesis is publicly accessible (and it is a good thesis), citing it in your CV cannot hurt.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Put it in for clarity, it's not padding. The point of a CV is not just to claim a set of knowledge, but to provide evidence of skills like research, analysis, self-motivation.
Also, you never know where you are going to end up, some time in the future you may do research at the intersection of these interests (such as how the brain interprets music).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: There are two key elements of such applications, normally called the CV and the SoP (Statement of Purpose). Your CV details your *past accomplishments* and should probably be complete. Your SoP is directed at your *future goals* with some care given as to how the past enables the future.
So, my recommendation is to include everything in the CV. This avoids any possible future problem of anyone thinking that there are gaps and wondering why you are not giving a complete picture. But in the SoP, or equivalent, only mention music if it is somehow relevant to your plans in neuroscience.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: As a past admissions committee member for graduate studies (in a different discipline), one of our biggest concerns were which applicants had the independence, stick-with-it-ness, and structuring and writing ability to finish a degree. A thesis in any discipline is solid evidence of that and will likely be looked on favorably.
From another angle, it is worth noting that academia favours CVs - which stands for curriculum vitae, the course of one's life. These tend to be multipage documents including all accomplishments concievably of relevance to the reader. Of course, a CV should be tailored to the audience, but basically you include everything and the bar for calling something "padding" is pretty high (low?). This is very much in contrast with industry-favored résumés, highly selective summaries chosen to be most directly applicable to the position being sought. That's why résumés tend to be 1-2 pages even for an accomplished experienced professional, while even a pretty junior CV is likely to be much longer.
Upvotes: 2
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2019/12/09
| 4,088
| 17,120
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<issue_start>username_0: I attend a small liberal arts college in the US. Through the cross-registration program, we are permitted to take classes at a large state university at no extra cost to us. However, we are only allowed to enroll in one course at a time; the system will not allow us to take two during the same semester.
Next semester, I am interested in taking two courses at the university. The will both be very small; certainly under 15 students each. Both professors have told me I cannot attend their class without being officially enrolled (I asked both individually). I have been considering attending both classes and asking both professors to fill out the cross-registration form that would allow me to enroll in their class, but only turning in one professor's form. From my previous experience at this university, the registration takes 4-6 weeks to come through, but professors, of course, let you attend class before that happens, so they may forget about awaiting the registration during that time. Even if they ended up finding out that I never turned it in, I would still have received a month of instruction before that happens, which I find valuable.
I am curious about the ethical concerns about this from the standpoint of the professors. Obviously by being there I am giving them more work, but they are not paid according to the number of students attending their classes. On the other hand, I know that class enrollment is really important to directors of departments and higher-ups in the university, so they are doing the work of teaching me without getting the benefit of one more student in their enrollment numbers. And from a personal standpoint, I would feel absolutely terrible about developing a good relationship with a professor and having them find out I lied to them.
I am not asking to be told what to do (it's probably not a very good idea), I would just like to know if there are any other concerns with lying to get into this course that I am not considering.
**edit/update**: Wow, I was not expecting to get so many responses. I'm not going to respond to comments and answers individually but I appreciate all your feedback, even though a few of you are a bit rude. I definitely will not be attempting to take both courses. Unfortunately, the program doesn't allow audits, so I am going to choose one of the two courses and stick with it. Thanks again for sharing all of your perspectives.<issue_comment>username_1: If I found out I was intentionally deceived by a student after telling them they could not take my class, I would alert my dean (I would go beyond the department chair) that said student was violating the rules and spirit of the exchange program. At a minimum I would expect that student to no longer be able to take advantage of the exchange and have their grade withheld from the other class. I would hope the home university would also punish this student for academic misconduct.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: Easy answer: it's clearly unethical. Moreover it violates school policy and can lead to disciplinary action when discovered.
You might try politely to arrange an exception to the policy. Check with the professors to make sure that would be acceptable to them. (It will be if what they are doing, correctly, is following the rules. It might not be if they think for some reason that you should not be taking both courses.) With the professors' willingness in hand, talk to your academic advisor, or someone in student services who might know how to ask for a waiver.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Another point to consider is that cross-registration programs like this exist only by mutual agreement between the two institutions. If the large university starts to feel that the program is being abused by tricks like yours, or is otherwise more trouble than it's worth, they could pull out. This would deprive your fellow Small College students of this educational benefit, and it would be (at least partly) your fault.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: If the class is limited to 15 students then there are going to be 15 chairs in the room that is alloted for the class. If you don't turn in your form you are going to show up for class and make someone have to stand. It is going to be known that you are a cheat.
Edit:
For as many down votes as I am getting some people should explain their reasoning.
The universities and colleges I have been at are broke down into schools and then into majors/departments.
Each school has control over a certain number of buildings that they then allot to each department.
Each building is not the soul use of the department. There are common areas, janitorial, maintenance, etc. Of what is left over, about 1/4 is usually dedicated to the specific department in the form of class labs, and upper level course classes seating ~25 students. 1/4 are larger classes that seat ~35-50 student. This 1/4 has to be shared with all other departments across all the schools as needed. 1/2 of the space is dedicated to each of the professors labs.
There is a certain amount of space set aside by each school for the base classes that everyone has to take. These are rooms that can hold 75 to +100. Think Cal1, Physics 1,
All of the classes that ares 50 or less seats have a cap set at the seat count level. I have never seen the cap set at a seat count level less than the seats available. Rarely are we able to move a class to a larger place. At most, if we see demand, we can add classes to be held in the smaller rooms at times they are not being used. It is cheap to have salaried professors teach another class, grad students teach, or add Grad/Undergrad TAs.
I have had many times when seat have to be brought into a class when there is a special speaker during a class and there is demand that we allow more students in for that one time.
Again, for those commenting and down voting. It would be nice for a more factual elaboration.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: Do you want to take it **for credit**, or just **audit** (no credit, and possibly no transcript)? [Is it appropriate to attend a class one is not registered for?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/37233/is-it-appropriate-to-attend-a-class-one-is-not-registered-for) - depends on the country and whether the univ is public or private. Based on what I've been told about US public universities, members of the general public have the right to audit a class (at a *public* university; as long as they're not disruptive and know the prerequisites, e.g. linear algebra). So please restate your question and delete all the references to 'lying' - which would suggest lying about your credentials for admission, or transcript, or nationality or visa status, which would indeed be a much more serious thing.
Based on what you wrote, **you're merely asking to audit one extra course, not take it for-credit**. *"Both professors have told me I cannot attend their class without being officially enrolled"* So? Possibly they misunderstood and thought you meant *"take it for-credit"*; because in the US, *"take a course"* generally means *"take for-credit"* vs *"audit a course"* means *"audit"*. Maybe the professors have never had an audit student before and are unfamiliar. Maybe the whole college has never had an audit student. So: do your homework, ask around.
**Go check the regulations about auditing, whether it's allowed, find out how to apply** (there may or may not be a form and a deadline, or maybe email permssion is enough; also whether it appears on your transcript (showing 'Audit')), and henceforth use the word *"audit"* instead of *"take"*. You may well need to check with the dept secretary, also the dean of external students, the student union. All this sidebar about 'deception' and 'misconduct' is a red herring. Your title needs restating.
**EDIT:** after I wrote my answer, OP subsequently posted that they are simply trying to attend the course without paying at all, that that the course doesn't allow audits, and yes intentionally lying about having registered. Kindly don't beat up on me for the sake of the OP. This answer is still a useful resource for people who do want to follow the rules.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: Enroll in the state college and take whatever classes you want. (Kinda joking)
It’s your education: if you think both classes will help achieve your goal, then do whatever is in your best interest.
I’ll give an example from my time in school. I wanted to go into the cyber security field, but the college I lived around didn’t offer that degree - only computer science. I took most of the intro computer science classes till I was far enough along to start taking elective classes. I took all the classes I could think of that would pertain to cyber security. After I had a lot of knowledge under my belt from taking the elective classes I started applying for cyber security jobs. Once I got a job I dropped out of school altogether and only finishing about half of the computer science degree. I worked at that job for about a year then I started taking online classes to finish my computer science degree (at a different school, I might add). I finished my BS in Computer Science while I’m still working in the cyber field. So I now have almost 3 years experience and a BS in computer science vs most people that come out of school only taking the classes they were told to take with no experience in any field and only a degree which everyone else has also.
The point is that the school doesn’t have you in mind, they have your money in mind. If you know what you want to do when you get out of school, then hack the system to your benefit and don’t worry about the school. It’s your time and money; always have your self in mind first.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_7: Larger institution will support Masters and PhD students by offering part-time employment (known as Tutors or Teaching Assistants) to assist the Professors who deliver the lectures. These students are likely to grade assignments and mark exams. By lying to get into a course you are increasing the workload of these students without compensation. They will have less time for their own studies. As your actions can penalise other students lying would be unethical.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_8: >
> Obviously by being there I am giving them more work, but they are not paid according to the number of students attending their classes. On the other hand, I know that class enrollment is really important to directors of departments and higher-ups in the university, so they are doing the work of teaching me without getting the benefit of one more student in their enrollment numbers.
>
>
>
They are not paid according to the number of students attending their classes, but they are also paid to grade work ONLY by enrolled students. It would be wrong for you to turn in any work for a professor to grade if you are not enrolled (often professors are explicitly barred by contract from grading un-enrolled work).
While you may "get away" (for a bit) with sitting in the lectures, you would not be able to have your work assessed and therefore would not really be getting the benefits of the course. There's no really good reason to do this, especially considering...
>
> And from a personal standpoint, I would feel absolutely terrible about developing a good relationship with a professor and having them find out I lied to them.
>
>
>
There's no "even if" here. The professor *will* find out, and they *will* know something fishy is going on. The outcome of that will depend on the dispositions of that person, but don't hold the illusion that they won't find out about it and that they won't realize you put them in a difficult position.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_9: I strongly recommend that you write back to both professors and explain your situation and that you are **really interested to learn** from them and ask whether there is a way for you to sit in for their classes, even if you don't get any grades or feedback on homework. All it takes is for one of those professors to agree, and you have a legal, ethical and officially approved solution! In the unlikely case that both professors refuse to help you, you can still write into your university administration and ask for special permission to officially audit one of the courses (so you do not violate the one-course-per-semester rule).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: Because this is a program that lets you take ONE class at no extra cost, it is possible this could be considered fraud. If various authorities in the various institutions wanted to push it, you could find yourself charged with fraud in the amount of the tuition for the class you falsely entered. That could, again if they wanted to push it hard enough, lead to a criminal conviction. The penalties for that would depend on the amount of the tuition.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_11: Institutions, departments, and individual lecturers differ on their attitudes towards people attending lectures without having enrolled at the institution and/or for the specific lecture-course. In general, there are three categories of person:
1. students enrolled at the institution **and** enrolled on the specific lecture-course;
2. students enrolled at the institution but **not** on the specific lecture-course; and
3. other.
(whether the OP counts as §2 or §3 is a matter for debate, but I am assuming that §3 would apply)
For seminars and highly interactive teaching, attendance may be restricted to §1.
For lectures (as opposed to seminars or highly interactive teaching), many institutions have a policy of allowing §1 and §2 as a matter of entitlement. As for §3, it varies enormously: some institutions explicitly permit anyone (including the general public) to attend lectures (whether the lecturer likes it or not), whilst others may be more restrictive.
Where institutions do **not** provide entitlement to §3 to attend lectures, it may still be possible. Many lecturers are actually quite permissive, even if institutional policies may oblige them to **say** that §3 are not permitted (because university managements want to protect their enrolment income). So, if you are in §3, go to the lectures, but ensure you:
* sit at the back;
* do not draw attention to yourself (e.g.: by asking off-topic questions);
* do not record the lecture (because it would be copyright infringement and a violation of privacy -- students should feel comfortable asking questions, and lecturers should feel able to speak candidly, without worrying that a comment may be taken out of context and published all over the www); and
* do not expect any individual feedback from the lecturer.
Some lecturers would expect you to obtain permission in advance, but many lecturers would not be bothered at all (when I give lectures, I do not even bother checking whether everyone in the room is in §1 or §2; to be honest, I am flattered when there are people wanting to come to my lectures just out of interest in the subject, rather than because they want "credits").
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_12: ### Dulce et decorum est pro educatione mentiri.
>
> Both professors have told me I cannot attend their class without being officially enrolled (I asked both individually)... I am curious about the ethical concerns about this from the standpoint of the professors.
>
>
>
Your concern is well-placed: It is quite unethical for the Professors to refuse to let you sit their class if you're not enrolled, when you are not actually preventing any other students from doing the same.
Teaching the public is a duty of the academic - and registration, enrollment or payment are wholly secondary considerations. To deny someone schooling is unacceptable. Shame on them. They would certainly have no moral standing to impeach your ethics in this situation. (Of course, that's not to say that they wouldn't).
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_13: (I'll leave aside the obvious ethics concerns of lying and possibly fraud, and the consequences as others have explained that already)
>
> Next semester, I am interested in taking two courses at the university.
>
>
> we are only allowed to enroll in one course at a time
>
>
>
Is at least one of those courses run regularly? I.e. could you take it a semester or a year later? => that would be the obvious, ethical and otherwise correct solution.
If this is not possible, e.g.
* because the courses are one-off offers, or
* you already know that your schedule at your "home college" later on will not permit you to attend the course
I'd talk to administration (of the exchange program) whether under these specific circumstances you may be allowed you to enroll for both courses now, and in turn not enroll in any course via the exchange program in the next semester.
In my experience (which is not in the US academic system, though), being friendly, open and honest often gets one a very long way.
Upvotes: 0
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2019/12/09
| 3,994
| 16,617
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<issue_start>username_0: After finishing my studies, I worked as a researcher for a few months in the field of my master thesis, but was not quite satisfied with the field.
So, I tried to transition to industry. In my first job I was working in R&D as junior engineer and I quite liked it. Later on, I moved to pure software engineering and I hated it. Even though I was receiving a good salary for my experience. I couldn't stand the lack of innovation, I wasn't even good enough in my job (this is my personal opinion), I was always bored and after a while the dissatisfaction from my job made me unhappy for my life as a whole. I couldn't imagine myself doing this for the next 40 years. I quit my job and this is my last week, after that I have nothing scheduled regarding my career.
I am really very confused about my next steps and I have been thinking about finally doing a PhD. The reasons behind this is that I want to feel that I can really make contributions, bring my ideas, solve problems and not just write code lines. I would prefer intellectual and time flexibility, as I believe that I am functioning better this way. I had never thought of following an academic career before, now it may not be my ultimate goal, but I could consider it. I know that becoming a professor is very hard, and I am not targeting such a position, but I really want to do research and not just software engineering. I would be mostly interested in doing an R&D job later, either at a company or at a research center.
I have been reading here that a PhD can be a waste of time for people that do not seek a purely academic position. I have already applied a couple of times for research positions in companies and research centers without success. Thus, I thought that a PhD could make the difference here. What is your opinion regarding my case? Is it a good idea to go for a PhD or can it be a burnout after some bad career decisions until now?<issue_comment>username_1: If I found out I was intentionally deceived by a student after telling them they could not take my class, I would alert my dean (I would go beyond the department chair) that said student was violating the rules and spirit of the exchange program. At a minimum I would expect that student to no longer be able to take advantage of the exchange and have their grade withheld from the other class. I would hope the home university would also punish this student for academic misconduct.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: Easy answer: it's clearly unethical. Moreover it violates school policy and can lead to disciplinary action when discovered.
You might try politely to arrange an exception to the policy. Check with the professors to make sure that would be acceptable to them. (It will be if what they are doing, correctly, is following the rules. It might not be if they think for some reason that you should not be taking both courses.) With the professors' willingness in hand, talk to your academic advisor, or someone in student services who might know how to ask for a waiver.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Another point to consider is that cross-registration programs like this exist only by mutual agreement between the two institutions. If the large university starts to feel that the program is being abused by tricks like yours, or is otherwise more trouble than it's worth, they could pull out. This would deprive your fellow Small College students of this educational benefit, and it would be (at least partly) your fault.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: If the class is limited to 15 students then there are going to be 15 chairs in the room that is alloted for the class. If you don't turn in your form you are going to show up for class and make someone have to stand. It is going to be known that you are a cheat.
Edit:
For as many down votes as I am getting some people should explain their reasoning.
The universities and colleges I have been at are broke down into schools and then into majors/departments.
Each school has control over a certain number of buildings that they then allot to each department.
Each building is not the soul use of the department. There are common areas, janitorial, maintenance, etc. Of what is left over, about 1/4 is usually dedicated to the specific department in the form of class labs, and upper level course classes seating ~25 students. 1/4 are larger classes that seat ~35-50 student. This 1/4 has to be shared with all other departments across all the schools as needed. 1/2 of the space is dedicated to each of the professors labs.
There is a certain amount of space set aside by each school for the base classes that everyone has to take. These are rooms that can hold 75 to +100. Think Cal1, Physics 1,
All of the classes that ares 50 or less seats have a cap set at the seat count level. I have never seen the cap set at a seat count level less than the seats available. Rarely are we able to move a class to a larger place. At most, if we see demand, we can add classes to be held in the smaller rooms at times they are not being used. It is cheap to have salaried professors teach another class, grad students teach, or add Grad/Undergrad TAs.
I have had many times when seat have to be brought into a class when there is a special speaker during a class and there is demand that we allow more students in for that one time.
Again, for those commenting and down voting. It would be nice for a more factual elaboration.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: Do you want to take it **for credit**, or just **audit** (no credit, and possibly no transcript)? [Is it appropriate to attend a class one is not registered for?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/37233/is-it-appropriate-to-attend-a-class-one-is-not-registered-for) - depends on the country and whether the univ is public or private. Based on what I've been told about US public universities, members of the general public have the right to audit a class (at a *public* university; as long as they're not disruptive and know the prerequisites, e.g. linear algebra). So please restate your question and delete all the references to 'lying' - which would suggest lying about your credentials for admission, or transcript, or nationality or visa status, which would indeed be a much more serious thing.
Based on what you wrote, **you're merely asking to audit one extra course, not take it for-credit**. *"Both professors have told me I cannot attend their class without being officially enrolled"* So? Possibly they misunderstood and thought you meant *"take it for-credit"*; because in the US, *"take a course"* generally means *"take for-credit"* vs *"audit a course"* means *"audit"*. Maybe the professors have never had an audit student before and are unfamiliar. Maybe the whole college has never had an audit student. So: do your homework, ask around.
**Go check the regulations about auditing, whether it's allowed, find out how to apply** (there may or may not be a form and a deadline, or maybe email permssion is enough; also whether it appears on your transcript (showing 'Audit')), and henceforth use the word *"audit"* instead of *"take"*. You may well need to check with the dept secretary, also the dean of external students, the student union. All this sidebar about 'deception' and 'misconduct' is a red herring. Your title needs restating.
**EDIT:** after I wrote my answer, OP subsequently posted that they are simply trying to attend the course without paying at all, that that the course doesn't allow audits, and yes intentionally lying about having registered. Kindly don't beat up on me for the sake of the OP. This answer is still a useful resource for people who do want to follow the rules.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: Enroll in the state college and take whatever classes you want. (Kinda joking)
It’s your education: if you think both classes will help achieve your goal, then do whatever is in your best interest.
I’ll give an example from my time in school. I wanted to go into the cyber security field, but the college I lived around didn’t offer that degree - only computer science. I took most of the intro computer science classes till I was far enough along to start taking elective classes. I took all the classes I could think of that would pertain to cyber security. After I had a lot of knowledge under my belt from taking the elective classes I started applying for cyber security jobs. Once I got a job I dropped out of school altogether and only finishing about half of the computer science degree. I worked at that job for about a year then I started taking online classes to finish my computer science degree (at a different school, I might add). I finished my BS in Computer Science while I’m still working in the cyber field. So I now have almost 3 years experience and a BS in computer science vs most people that come out of school only taking the classes they were told to take with no experience in any field and only a degree which everyone else has also.
The point is that the school doesn’t have you in mind, they have your money in mind. If you know what you want to do when you get out of school, then hack the system to your benefit and don’t worry about the school. It’s your time and money; always have your self in mind first.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_7: Larger institution will support Masters and PhD students by offering part-time employment (known as Tutors or Teaching Assistants) to assist the Professors who deliver the lectures. These students are likely to grade assignments and mark exams. By lying to get into a course you are increasing the workload of these students without compensation. They will have less time for their own studies. As your actions can penalise other students lying would be unethical.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_8: >
> Obviously by being there I am giving them more work, but they are not paid according to the number of students attending their classes. On the other hand, I know that class enrollment is really important to directors of departments and higher-ups in the university, so they are doing the work of teaching me without getting the benefit of one more student in their enrollment numbers.
>
>
>
They are not paid according to the number of students attending their classes, but they are also paid to grade work ONLY by enrolled students. It would be wrong for you to turn in any work for a professor to grade if you are not enrolled (often professors are explicitly barred by contract from grading un-enrolled work).
While you may "get away" (for a bit) with sitting in the lectures, you would not be able to have your work assessed and therefore would not really be getting the benefits of the course. There's no really good reason to do this, especially considering...
>
> And from a personal standpoint, I would feel absolutely terrible about developing a good relationship with a professor and having them find out I lied to them.
>
>
>
There's no "even if" here. The professor *will* find out, and they *will* know something fishy is going on. The outcome of that will depend on the dispositions of that person, but don't hold the illusion that they won't find out about it and that they won't realize you put them in a difficult position.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_9: I strongly recommend that you write back to both professors and explain your situation and that you are **really interested to learn** from them and ask whether there is a way for you to sit in for their classes, even if you don't get any grades or feedback on homework. All it takes is for one of those professors to agree, and you have a legal, ethical and officially approved solution! In the unlikely case that both professors refuse to help you, you can still write into your university administration and ask for special permission to officially audit one of the courses (so you do not violate the one-course-per-semester rule).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: Because this is a program that lets you take ONE class at no extra cost, it is possible this could be considered fraud. If various authorities in the various institutions wanted to push it, you could find yourself charged with fraud in the amount of the tuition for the class you falsely entered. That could, again if they wanted to push it hard enough, lead to a criminal conviction. The penalties for that would depend on the amount of the tuition.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_11: Institutions, departments, and individual lecturers differ on their attitudes towards people attending lectures without having enrolled at the institution and/or for the specific lecture-course. In general, there are three categories of person:
1. students enrolled at the institution **and** enrolled on the specific lecture-course;
2. students enrolled at the institution but **not** on the specific lecture-course; and
3. other.
(whether the OP counts as §2 or §3 is a matter for debate, but I am assuming that §3 would apply)
For seminars and highly interactive teaching, attendance may be restricted to §1.
For lectures (as opposed to seminars or highly interactive teaching), many institutions have a policy of allowing §1 and §2 as a matter of entitlement. As for §3, it varies enormously: some institutions explicitly permit anyone (including the general public) to attend lectures (whether the lecturer likes it or not), whilst others may be more restrictive.
Where institutions do **not** provide entitlement to §3 to attend lectures, it may still be possible. Many lecturers are actually quite permissive, even if institutional policies may oblige them to **say** that §3 are not permitted (because university managements want to protect their enrolment income). So, if you are in §3, go to the lectures, but ensure you:
* sit at the back;
* do not draw attention to yourself (e.g.: by asking off-topic questions);
* do not record the lecture (because it would be copyright infringement and a violation of privacy -- students should feel comfortable asking questions, and lecturers should feel able to speak candidly, without worrying that a comment may be taken out of context and published all over the www); and
* do not expect any individual feedback from the lecturer.
Some lecturers would expect you to obtain permission in advance, but many lecturers would not be bothered at all (when I give lectures, I do not even bother checking whether everyone in the room is in §1 or §2; to be honest, I am flattered when there are people wanting to come to my lectures just out of interest in the subject, rather than because they want "credits").
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_12: ### Dulce et decorum est pro educatione mentiri.
>
> Both professors have told me I cannot attend their class without being officially enrolled (I asked both individually)... I am curious about the ethical concerns about this from the standpoint of the professors.
>
>
>
Your concern is well-placed: It is quite unethical for the Professors to refuse to let you sit their class if you're not enrolled, when you are not actually preventing any other students from doing the same.
Teaching the public is a duty of the academic - and registration, enrollment or payment are wholly secondary considerations. To deny someone schooling is unacceptable. Shame on them. They would certainly have no moral standing to impeach your ethics in this situation. (Of course, that's not to say that they wouldn't).
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_13: (I'll leave aside the obvious ethics concerns of lying and possibly fraud, and the consequences as others have explained that already)
>
> Next semester, I am interested in taking two courses at the university.
>
>
> we are only allowed to enroll in one course at a time
>
>
>
Is at least one of those courses run regularly? I.e. could you take it a semester or a year later? => that would be the obvious, ethical and otherwise correct solution.
If this is not possible, e.g.
* because the courses are one-off offers, or
* you already know that your schedule at your "home college" later on will not permit you to attend the course
I'd talk to administration (of the exchange program) whether under these specific circumstances you may be allowed you to enroll for both courses now, and in turn not enroll in any course via the exchange program in the next semester.
In my experience (which is not in the US academic system, though), being friendly, open and honest often gets one a very long way.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: A few months ago a published a paper in a highly reputed journal. There were last-minute corrections. Finally, I received a link to share the article. The version obtained through the link was ok and I own a PDF copy of it. The link does not work anymore.
Now I see that the current online version of the manuscript on the website does not include those corrections.
I desire that the error be fixed. I wish to know what can be done to solve the problem.
Clearly, I plan to write to the Journal for this issue. But I do not know in detail the scientific publication system, so I do not know what to expect or exactly what to ask for. What should I do?
---
Additional info:
If it matters, the mistake does not change any aspect of the science of the paper. It is related to the description of an equation and the mistake (and the correct description) should be obvious for the readers.<issue_comment>username_1: For online publication, just contact the editor and let them know of the problem, including that you were sent a correct version. It is probably easy to fix as long as they know of the problem, but they might not if you don't tell them.
Emphasize that these aren't *new* changes you request, but just that they seem to have put up the wrong version.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Sounds like a minor administrative hiccup from the publisher's side where they had two versions of the manuscript and uploaded the older one by mistake.
I would point this out to the production staff (the people who sent you the proofs) and expect that they'll be able to handle it. Notifying the editorial board is likely not necessary, since it's got nothing to do with peer review.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a GRE score on hand but it is too low for the universities I am applying to and the deadlines are very near.
I am thinking of sending the application now with the current low score and I booked a slot to retake the GRE. Can I send an email to the university again to consider my new scores?<issue_comment>username_1: This is entirely dependent on the program you are applying to.
Some programs are flexible with deadlines, particularly so if applicants are domestic students. Others, [as pointed out](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/141317/gre-application-intake#comment375445_141317) are very strict. There may be some of both types of programs within the same university or even college.
You can always try and the worst that can happen is you're told no. For example, a few options:
1. Call or Email the admissions staff or the director of graduate programs and let them know you're taking the exam on DD-MM-YYYY. Ask if they will consider you for a provisional admission that's conditional on you obtaining a competitive score.
2. Just apply anyway with what you have. Incomplete applications rarely move into the decision process. Execute #1 as well.
Again, this is very program and personality-dependent so your chances of success will vary greatly depending on the situation.\* Some programs consider your best GRE score. Some super score (take best from each category).
\* And how far "off the mark" your GRE scores are currently.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Your record is what it is. Hopefully it has some very strong elements. When you make application stress that both your background and your personal elements make you a strong candidate for success. Few people have a perfect record.
Some universities will do cut-off at certain scores. You can't overcome that most likely. But others treat it as just one element among many. Still others ignore GRE altogether. But highly competitive programs need some way to do a quick separation into those likely to succeed and those with shakier prospects. Make the first cut and you have a chance.
But your application has to give a complete and positive picture of your preparation and your prospects. GRE scores are probably one of the least predictive measures.
On the other hand, you can ask to have the old scores replaced by newer ones. The request may be honored or not. But ask. And make sure all the other positive elements are there. If the GRE score is a clear anomaly, then you have a better chance.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: **Tl;dr:** Defended my PhD two weeks ago. However, right from the time of the defense and up until the present moment, I am experiencing a huge lack of motivation and sense of purpose to do anything related to research or search for future positions. How to address this?
**Other details\*\*\*\*:** I had applied for other positions before my defense and was not successful in securing a suitable position. I have an offer from my PhD advisor about a postdoc position which I am expected to start early next year.
Leaving every other concern aside, I am very appalled by my lack of motivation and the constant feeling of lethargy to start with the pending research work and/or resume with the dedicated job search.
I have no idea how to address this feeling. I have taken two hiking trips during the last two weekends. However it feels empty and unproductive inside. I have so much to do before I start with a postdoc position. But all am I doing is wasting time.<issue_comment>username_1: Give yourself some time
-----------------------
You just finished an important step in your career, which has presumably taken you between 3 and 7 years. Congratulations! For a while, it is normal to feel like celebrating your achievement instead of going on with everyday research and making important decisions. It is even more normal to have doubts about the next step.
Try to find out why you are not motivated
-----------------------------------------
The good news is that you have an offer for a postdoc position, so (assuming you do not have to give an amswer now) you have some time to reflect on why you are not motivated. Is it just a temporary feeling? Do you really want to continue in academia? Do you want to do research at all? The answers to these questions should become clearer after a while.
Talk to people
--------------
Your advisor might have some suggestions about other options you might have after your PhD that motivate you more. You can also ask other colleagues/people in the field that you trust. Maybe they have had a similar experience and can tell you how they overcame it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: What you are feeling is very normal. Similarly, when a marathon runner completes a successful race they just collapse for a bit. The need for intensity has ended and the body and/or mind want a break.
I'd suggest that you don't worry to much about the *feeling*, as it is very likely to pass in time.
But, you have things you need to do to continue with your career. *Make a list of things that you need to do now and would happily do if you felt better.*
Then, just do those things. Forget how you feel. Ignore it. Just do what your list says is required of you.
Make a list of job opportunities. Follow up on them. Write good applications. Get good letters of recommendation arranged. Go back thorough your research experience and mine it for possible future work, keeping a notebook of ideas that might be pursued.
But don't wait for the feeling to pass and for inspiration to hit. Make a list of what you *should* do now. Then start on that. Throughout your career there will be periods of low productivity. Try to make momentum carry you through them. Your current sense isn't permanent unless you give up.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I find I am frequently uninterested in the weekly seminars in my faculty, which consists of applied mathematics, fluid dynamics, and computer science. My niche is a small sliver between applied maths and CS.
I know it's valuable to hear talks on things completely unrelated to what you do-- you never know what you'll learn-- but mostly what happens is that I see the first few slides, get bored and/or overwhelmed by too many foreign ideas, and then tune out and work on my own research. In theory, I know that asking questions helps with engagement, but when a topic is too foreign, I would need to ask questions every slide to properly follow, and that would just be disruptive. I then wonder why I bother attending at all, but the church-like culture surrounding the weekly seminars (i.e., "you have to go because someone with more power strongly suggests it") keep me there.
How can I get more out of these seminars that I'm obligated to attend? (Note that responses like "Suck it up" or "Get over it, we all go through this" are not welcome-- I've found that this kind of approach just leads to acrimony.)<issue_comment>username_1: During graduate school we had weekly, compulsory seminars. I also struggled with boredom. Often I found the presenter was presenting a set of slides designed for an academic conference rather a weekly seminar primarily to graduates. My solution was not to go to all (no one bothered despite the compulsory nature) of them but just go to the ones directly relevant to me, that sounded particularly interesting or I knew the speaker was good. If you can get away with it may be worth a try; you can't be expected to find everything useful.
Another tip I employed was never to take my laptop, just a pen and paper. Don't give yourself a chance to be distracted by e-mails / work and it will help in a small way.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I sympathise with your predicament, and I certainly would not suggest that you need to "suck it up". In fact, I would probably go even further --- your persistence to the contrary notwithstanding, the vast majority of math presentations at university ---particularly those delivered by students--- are barely watchable, and they are quite often a waste of their audience's valuable time.\* If you find that you are bored and/or overwhelmed in the first few slides, this suggests to me that *the presenter* is doing a bad job motivating interest in their topic, and keeping audience context in mind. That is entirely consistent with my experience viewing mathematical presentations in university seminars; by and large, the quality of these presentations is abysmally low, and fundamental presentation problems are ubiquitous.
One of the most common problems I have observed with mathematical presentations is that they often tend to cram in too much material, and then overwhelm the audience by going too fast through specialist material that is unfamiliar to the audience. It is common to observe "flashers" who put up walls of definitions, equations, derivations, etc., and then rush over them to try to make their talk fit into the allocated time. Often the presenter makes no effort to motivate interest in their topic, and just assumes that the mere presence of an audience vitiates any obligation to be interesting. In these cases, the audience gets lost after the first few slides, or bored, and then simply tunes out. That is not the fault of the audience member --- it happens because the presentation is a steaming pile of shit. If you attended a rock concert, or a comedy night, the presenters would know that it is their job to make you interested, and make sure the audience can follow along with the material. Mathematics presenters often have not learned this lesson.
So, my advice: if you are compelled to go and see crappy presentations that fail to motivate your interest, and lose you within the first few slides, use that boredom as motivation to *improve your own presentations*, and make sure you are not subjecting others to the same boredom and bewilderment that you are being forced to endure. Scrutinise each presentation with a critical eye and note the things that the presenter is doing wrong. (Here is a related answer with some suggestions for [how to give a good presentation](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/105179/105190#105190).) Did the presenter motivate your interest in the topic? Is he/she enthusiastic about the material? Has the presenter provided a "hook" that caught your interest? Did the presenter explain the material to you nice and slowly so that you could follow along? Did the presenter limit their definitions and notation to what you can reasonable remember as you follow along, or did they overwhelm you with definitions and notation? Did the presenter rush through something you didn't understand? Did the presenter flash up a "wall of algebra" for a microsecond and then move on to the next slide?
One final note on this issue is your mention of the fact that your own specialty area is quite narrow, and you have trouble following along with presentations on foreign areas. That is very common, and again, it is generally the fault of the presenter. For that reason, when you come to give your own presentation, make sure you put yourself in the shoes of someone who has no knowledge of your specialty topic, and no interest in it. Realise that it is *your job* to motivate their interest in what you are saying --- start strongly and make them (internally) say "wow!" and make sure your presentation gets them paying attention. Simplify your problem and obey the crow epistemology (people can remember three things). Take your audience on a nice slow journey through your topic, that is interesting, and so simple that they think your work is trivial. Good luck!
---
...except to the extent that they are practice for the students. Often we hold seminars of student presentations to give students practice delivering presentations, and asking questions of speakers. We expect them to be bad at it, which is why they are students.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: On a test on a course that isn't math, but uses it, such as physics or engineering, would using a CAS to reduce the handiwork I have to do be considered cheating?
For example, what if I used the equation solver to solve equations, rather than do it by hand? Or what if I let the calculator do integrals and differentiations for me?
This is assuming the professor never said anything about what kind of calculators were allowed, nor about what we do with them. (Using them as a cheat sheet would definitely be cheating, but this is not what I am asking about.)<issue_comment>username_1: In our university exams: The question papers, as well as the exam regulation sheets, mention that "Programmable Calculators are NOT allowed."
The CAS calculator that you are talking about is not programmable (to the best of my knowledge). So, you are free to use equation solvers, integration solves, etc.
This will not be considered cheating (at least at my university).
However, you must enquire about this with your instruction division of the university or the course head. In fact, you should show her a demo of the things that you can do with the calculator.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Why not just ask your professor?
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: Suppose I receive a personal, written invite to a conference. I would like to attend, and the procedure still requires me to submit an abstract and pay for the conference, would that count as an invited talk?
On one hand, it's not different procedurally from someone submitting an abstract that gets accepted. But on the other hand, I have technically been given what seems to be an invite.<issue_comment>username_1: Invited presentations, where you're only formally invited, became quite usual these days. Being invited then merely means that you get more time to present your stuff. Sometimes the conference fee is waived when you ask for it. Often the organizers rely on the registration fees to break even.
Independent of paying the fee or not, it is usual to ask invited speakers for an abstract. As an organizer, you want something for the booklet (or USB stick nowadays). The submission deadline is treated more loose since an invited speaker does not need to be rated by the program committee. Though of course there is the deadline for the printed version of the booklet (which not all invited speakers manage to meet - or violate on purpose).
Such presentations are considered as invited talks without doubt.
I'm not talking about the spam conferences, as mentioned by @captainemacs, although these of course also exist. Though personally I don't know anybody, who ever attended one.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes. It does count. For example, many meetings have special topic sessions (e.g., [SETAC](https://toronto.setac.org/scientific-program/session-submission/)). When people organized these sessions, they are often required to have a number of committed speakers.
That being said, here are some caveats:
* Beware of predator conferences.
* The value of being invited to a special session is different than being invited as a plenary speaker. Be careful to not overplay this on your CV. For the life sciences, invited talks are nice, but not as import as fields where conference proceedings are highly valued.
* The custom related to being an invited talks vary across academic disciplines. Also, some meetings wave registration for all speakers (e.g., [ODSC](https://odsc.com/boston/)). Most, however, do not.
Upvotes: 4
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2019/12/10
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<issue_start>username_0: Context:
I am a researcher in a Western European university.
As part of a masters courses in my uni, students have a rather long project to do (each student has its own project). This project is divided in two parts: an analysis part (short, they need to understand their project and state how they want to achieve it) and an experimentation part (the main part of the project, they need to achieve as much as they can). Each part is evaluated with a report and a small defence.
In this context, I have a student working on a project I submitted. The first part of the project has now ended and I have the following problems:
* the student lied to me on the submission date for the report
* they did not submit anything
* they did not come to their defence
What I did as an advisor:
* during the project: took several hours to explain the project and provided help to prepare the experiments (they are not done right now)
* offered my help for writing the report (asked for the student to send drafts regularly and to ask about anything unclear, never received any draft)
* I was present at the defence to help them if they could not answer questions
What happened then:
* they scored the worst marked for the first part of the project
* I did not received any explanation nor excuses
* I can decide whether I accept that they continue the project or not
So my question is: what do you advise in such context?
Here I listed a few options:
* let them do the rest of the project and help them with the experimentations (note that at this point I do not expect any workable result anymore, but maybe they will work better than on the first part)
* forbid the student to finish the project (it is likely that they won't be able to validate the project anyway due to their mark at the first evaluation, and I will have more time for my research, perhaps doing their project by myself)
* ask the student to submit the report before deciding (we will loose some time on the rest of the project, but it was explicitly asked to submit this report and I could make sure that they understood what they need to do).
Any help / advice will be greatly appreciated!<issue_comment>username_1: Not sure what you expect here, given they have submitted nothing then they will have nothing to experiment on.
So, basically they have failed this assignment and will need to replace it if possible. That will depend on the regulations in force at your institution.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Failing a student should always be the last option, but in this case it definitely sounds like a valid option. You should communicate with whoever is responsible for the master's degree or those projects for the details, but in general I would report the grade for the whole project as failed. Continuing will not only be a waste of time and money but depending on the experiments might actually be a danger to the student and others.
If what you say about the students behaviour is true and they deliberately lied to you, it might also be a valid point to not accept the student for any of your future projects (I assume you are not the only one offering them) as you may not be able to grade them impartially after what happened.
On the converse though, whatever you do, be careful in how you do it and how you present it to the student. Right now you know only part of the story. The student might simply be lazy and lying about it, but there might equally be some urgent private or psychological reasons for it. And failing such an important class and possibly their whole degree might be what convinces a clinically depressive student to do something irreversible. It's not your job to deal with this, but if you suspect something, your university might offer some psychological student counseling you could involve as well.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I submitted a paper and got it back with a major revision recommendation. There were many revision comments, and to answer some of them, I added appendices. Now I got the paper back with a second major revision (with many other comments). When I look at the paper as a whole, I see that it has now grown very long. Moreover, some of the results I put in appendices are stand-alone results that can potentially be published separately. I would like to remove these appendices from the paper and make them stand-alone technical reports (e.g. put them on arXiv). This has several advantages: shortening the original paper, increasing the visibility of the side-results, and maybe allowing me to expand them and publish them as a separate paper.
My question is: is it common for an author to do such a thing during the revision process? I understand that I can ask for the editor's opinion, but I would like to know how common is it to ask for such a thing?<issue_comment>username_1: Not sure what you expect here, given they have submitted nothing then they will have nothing to experiment on.
So, basically they have failed this assignment and will need to replace it if possible. That will depend on the regulations in force at your institution.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Failing a student should always be the last option, but in this case it definitely sounds like a valid option. You should communicate with whoever is responsible for the master's degree or those projects for the details, but in general I would report the grade for the whole project as failed. Continuing will not only be a waste of time and money but depending on the experiments might actually be a danger to the student and others.
If what you say about the students behaviour is true and they deliberately lied to you, it might also be a valid point to not accept the student for any of your future projects (I assume you are not the only one offering them) as you may not be able to grade them impartially after what happened.
On the converse though, whatever you do, be careful in how you do it and how you present it to the student. Right now you know only part of the story. The student might simply be lazy and lying about it, but there might equally be some urgent private or psychological reasons for it. And failing such an important class and possibly their whole degree might be what convinces a clinically depressive student to do something irreversible. It's not your job to deal with this, but if you suspect something, your university might offer some psychological student counseling you could involve as well.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2019/12/10
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a paper that is accepted and published in a journal. After it was accepted I realized that some of the errors were calculated in a wrong manner and hence they appeared around 1.5 times smaller in the paper (this was due to a wrong advice that my advisor gave me). I was busy at the moment however later, when the paper was published, I managed to recalculate the errors and realize their difference. I told my supervisor about it and sent the new results to him. Although he seems to admit that his advice was wrong he is opposing my idea to send an erratum to the journal. Here is his argument:
* The differences are minimal and do not change the conclusion or the main point of the paper. (Although the actual errors are 1.5 times the reported ones, they are still small because the reported ones are small too)
* We have to change many parts of the paper and not only one place.
* It will put us and the journal in a bad situation.
* I am neither the first person nor the last person who has done a mistake in his paper.
* Our code and dataset are public.
I have had serious arguments with my supervisor in the past. The last time it got to the point that he [ordered me](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/108956/74315) to do as he says. This makes me worried if I push him harder I will ruin my relationship with him.
What are your thoughts about this situation? What is the right thing to do in your opinion?<issue_comment>username_1: Don't argue with your supervisor. It's not worth it.
* Your supervisor is likely a much more experienced academic than you, so his judgment of the situation is more likely to be accurate than yours.
* As mentioned, the differences are minimal.
* A good relationship with your supervisor will be very, very helpful in graduating.
Given that you have little to gain, there's no reason to hurt your relationship even more.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You said the error is small. Therefore the need for an erratum is small as well. Ideally you would publish the erratum, but if you have more important things to do, that is understandable.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm about to publish my work in a journal,
I'm searching for those having an impact factor, indexed and non-paying.
I used [Elsevier finder](https://journalfinder.elsevier.com/), [Springer suggester](https://journalsuggester.springer.com/), DBLP,...tp pick up a list of journals in my research area then, I send it to my supervisor, who shocked me with another criterion which is 'open access', he said that a journal having an open access option is a paying journal and I'm not allowed to publish in it.
Could you please tell me what is this open access option?
how to find the right journal with the criteria that my supervisor and I want?<issue_comment>username_1: Don't argue with your supervisor. It's not worth it.
* Your supervisor is likely a much more experienced academic than you, so his judgment of the situation is more likely to be accurate than yours.
* As mentioned, the differences are minimal.
* A good relationship with your supervisor will be very, very helpful in graduating.
Given that you have little to gain, there's no reason to hurt your relationship even more.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You said the error is small. Therefore the need for an erratum is small as well. Ideally you would publish the erratum, but if you have more important things to do, that is understandable.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: A professor pitched his project that needs research assistants at an event in my department on Monday. I talked to him after the event about 5 five mins, telling him my background and that I am really interested. I sent him my CV after the event on Monday evening. Now that Tuesday has passed. I still didn't get any reply from the professor. What should I do now? Email him again or go to his office directly (now it is the exam period so he probably doesn't have office hours anymore)?<issue_comment>username_1: A day is no time at all during busy academic periods. But trying to find him is probably a good bet. Some things are best done face to face. He probably won't have made any decisions yet and a visit might help him decide.
But an immediate email probably won't get you anywhere.
Perhaps someone in the department office can set you up with an appointment.
But if a week passes and you haven't made contact, then email should be fine.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: **Wait.** As username_1 said, a day is virtually no time at all. The professor may be trying to give others a chance to respond, or may just be busy with other things. While your zeal is admirable, overdoing it will raise red flags. If he invited applications on Monday, I would wait at least until Friday before following up. Depending on the local culture, dropping by his office in person on Friday (or the following week) may be a good idea; otherwise, I would (again on/after Friday) just send a *brief* e-mail saying that you are still interested and that you hope to discuss the position with him soon.
Upvotes: 2
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2019/12/10
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<issue_start>username_0: I am in a small electricity and magnetism class, and I have recently become aware of other students using an online solution sheet (on slader.com). On the most recent homework, I (who didn't use the online solution sheet) got a significantly worse grade than I expected. When I read the TAs posted solutions, I realized that he had made all of the same mistakes (the primary one being assuming that the parallel impedance formula is 1/(Z\_1)+1/(Z\_2) when it is actually 1/(1/(Z\_1)+1/(Z\_2))) and all of the exact same approximations as the online solution sheet. It is clear that he basically copied from the online solutions. What's worse, he marked many of my solutions wrong: both the ones where I had different (more accurate) approximations and the ones that were correct, but different from his incorrect solutions (the professor confirmed that my solutions are correct).
I'm guessing it isn't against the rules for a TA to use an online solution sheet, but the fact that he has been using the same one that many of the students are using means that this entire semester I have been at a significant disadvantage. I have done well, but the class is curved so there's that also.
What do I do about this?<issue_comment>username_1: If the online sheet is incorrect and you suffered because of it, and if you have proof that the TA used that sheet, then you should point out to the professor of the course what has happened.
But, ask for a a comparison between your answers and those that the TA suggests. This will make it clear. The other students may suffer or not, but that is up to others. You have a right to a correct evaluation of your work and the professor should be made aware of online solutions - especially if they are incorrect and misleading students.
One set of students getting credit when they've broken rules and other students suffering when they have done the correct thing is the worst outcome possible.
You don't need to accuse anyone. Point out the online sheet. Point out the (matching) solution rubric. Show your own work and ask for a fair evaluation.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The first thing to do would be to convince the TA that indeed, he's made a mistake in grading. This includes all the examples you gave: that he has been using the wrong parallel inductance formula, that your approximations were better, etc. I would try to arrange a face-to-face meeting for this, since it's much easier to communicate your points then (especially since it sounds like you'll need to write formulae out).
If you manage to convince the TA I expect that he will sort out the rest, either by adjusting your grade up or adjusting everyone else's grade down.
As for the online solution sheet, there's a good chance the TA (and the professor) will be interested in knowing it exists, especially if it's being used by students & if it is incorrect. I would mention this too, but if he elects not to do anything about it it's not something to fight over. Your priority is to learn, and you're doing that; it's much less your concern if the other students aren't learning.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: First and foremost, the issue here is that your correct answers were marked as incorrect, a manifest injustice. That must be rectified. Of course, the reasons why it was marked as incorrect are relevant, but do not let their legitimacy or otherwise distract from that basic fact. People marking work do sometimes make mistakes, even if competent. But that does not change the fact that you are entitled to have your work marked properly.
In your case, it sounds like the person marking your work got it badly and objectively wrong. You should use whatever appeal mechanism exists to have the work re-marked by someone else. If that does not rectify the unjustly low mark (and the unjustly high marks of others), you should complain higher up.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: There is an underlying problem that in the era of chegg and slader, it's ridiculous to assign problem sets as high-stakes work, as your professor is apparently doing. People's grades should be based on tests, not homework. In my physics classes, I've recently reduced problem sets from 10% of my students' grades to 1%, because otherwise I either had to ignore the cheating or spend all my time being a cop and calling people on it when they all turned in the same solutions copied from chegg. (I teach at a community college, so there is no TA.)
Actually, you could count yourself as lucky that you're at a school where undergrads do get human feedback on their problem sets in lower-division classes. For most lower-division STEM classes these days, people just use online systems like MasteringPhysics or MyMathLab, and no human ever looks at the students' papers. When used in conjunction with high-stakes grading (like making problem sets 20% of the students' grades), this type of system is basically a perfect storm of conditions for creating and encouraging cheating.
A lot of my colleagues persist with this type of setup because they see it as an arms race. They're afraid that if they don't give homework a lot of weight, students will concentrate their efforts on problem sets for other classes.
So IMO the person who's really messing up here is the prof who set up the structure of the class. Even with a more conscientious TA, the structure is just a perfect setup for creating and rewarding academic dishonesty. I would suggest dealing with this by (of course) complaining to the prof about the TA, but also complaining to the prof about the structure of the course, and commenting on this on the prof's evaluation of teaching, if one is administered to your class this semester.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I'm not sure about your local rules, but where I'm living and teaching, the assessments should go through a pre-marking moderation review. A part of this moderation is to check the source and accuracy of assessments. The institute will lose its credit if they don't follow that. The auditor is responsible for reviewing these and can raise the alarm if he/she notices such mistakes. If the institute doesn't pass these auditions, they are not going to be accredited.
What the TA is doing is not ethical, and based on the integrity rules, he (along with the unit coordinator and program/course coordinator) should be held responsible.
For the students who are copying answers from those (dodgy) resources, they should acknowledge the source; otherwise, it is a case of plagiarism.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: Is recommendation letter (faculty position) a completely professional thing ? I mean I completed PhD one year ago, I had good relation with my Phd advisor when I was his student. After that I left my country for postdoc and obviously the relation is not like earlier. Does keeping good relation influences recommendation letter or it is completely professional thing ?<issue_comment>username_1: If you did well during your PhD (and did not have a fight with your supervisor afterwards), your supervisor should write a good recommendation letter. Recommendation letters are professional and you do not need to keep a good personal relation. It happens often that people have to ask for recommendation letters some time after moving on to somewhere else.
The only advantage of being still there could be that it would make it easier to remind your supervisor if he takes too long to write the letter.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I would like to a highlight something without disagreeing Wimi. Some PHD programs require recommendation letters to mention your social skills. Even if they don't, it is beneficial for you if your recommender thinks you have good interpersonal skills, able to communicate well etc. Depending on what you mean by "good relationship" this might be quite relevant. However, if you have had a decent interpersonal relationship, you should be okay. From what I have seen people seem to understand how distances effect relationships quite well. I do not think there will be resentment just because there had been some physical distance between you.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Actually, it isn't an either/or thing. It can and should be both.
You should try to keep in touch with your advisor, keeping them up to date on what you are doing. But the reason is that you want them to remember you when it comes time for recommendations and not have to search their memory for something good to say about you.
You don't have to socialize with them. An occasional email is enough. Papers you have submitted, children born, anything. The thread can be pretty thin, but if you maintain it you will get a better letter in most cases. If you live in approximately the same place, an occasional visit is worth doing.
And maybe they will also respond generally and do things that might otherwise boost your career. Introducing you to others with similar interests, perhaps.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I submitted my Ph.D. application to a University in December 2019. The following is the last email I received from a professor at this university (in June 2019):
>
> "Thanks for writing and for the great ideas -- I see a lot of energy and promise in your thoughts, and I encourage you to try to pursue some of these questions -- most, in fact, are exciting and open research areas. I also encourage you to apply for PhD at YYY University.
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
> Professor X
>
>
>
Now that I have submitted my application, I want to send a simple email to this Professor reminding her about my interest to join her group and the discussion we had 4 months back (through emails).
Can anyone suggest a draft of the email that I can send to this Professor?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Can anyone suggest a draft of the email that I can send to this Professor?
>
>
>
Reply to the Professor's original email, so that your response appears in the same thread; perhaps include the original snippet, i.e.,
>
> Thanks for writing and for the great ideas -- I see a lot of energy and promise in your thoughts, and I encourage you to try to pursue some of these questions -- most, in fact, are exciting and open research areas. I also encourage you to apply for PhD at YYY University.
>
>
>
and write something along the lines of:
*Further to your positive encouragement, I have submitted my PhD application to YYY University.*
Thereafter, it depends on your agenda. E.g., you might want to reopen discussion of joining her group, for which you could use:
*Given the seeming alignment between our research interests, I would like to join your group. Can we discuss that possibility, perhaps by telephone?*
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If Professor X doesn't work at YYY university, this may be a soft dismissal. Maybe X doesn't have room for another PhD, or isn't entirely sold on you personally as a candidate. Or maybe YYY is actually more specialized in your ideas. Basically, it's hard to know what exactly is going on.
Maybe write something like:
*"I'm happy that you like my ideas, I'm currently looking at several directions in which to take them. Thank you for bringing YYY to my attention, I'm looking at them now as well.*
*I'd like your advice on a good approach to take, could we have a chat over coffee sometime?"*
That doesn't commit Professor X to too much, so a better chance they're willing to take you up. And you can try to get some clarity.
If it seems like joining X's group isn't in the cards, but X actually approves of you, then maybe you can get a recommendation from X to someone at YYY, or more specific advice on how to approach YYY yourself.
Upvotes: 0
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2019/12/11
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<issue_start>username_0: Regarding a post-doc position, I recently wrote to a professor in the US by starting my mail "Dear Professor X" where X is the surname and she replied to me "Hello Y" where Y is my first name.
I am hesitating if I should start always with "Dear Professor Y1" where Y1 is her first name.
I did not find any satisfactory answer by searching here. Personally, I would choose the second option, starting by her first name but I am not sure if there is any social norm for that? What is the best appropriate way?<issue_comment>username_1: Continue to use the surname until explicitly given permission to do otherwise. One way for her to give that permission, actually, would be to sign a mail with only her first name.
There is a power imbalance between you. She is probably not being entirely correct in assuming she can use your first name, but it is common for people in authority to take some liberties.
But I'd recommend keeping it a bit formal until that obviously no longer works. And my full name is "<NAME>" then I'd never be Professor Bobby. It would either be Professor username_1 or just Bobby. (For the record, though, I'm not Bobby.)
---
Note that this answer may not apply everywhere. It has a US perspective.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Stick with Professor X until you get a blindingly obvious cue. It will not cause offence even if you missed a hidden cue that just Y1 would be appropriate.
As a male, white former academic married to a (woman) professor, there is another unfortunate dynamic to be aware of. Unless Professor X has been extraordinarily lucky, she will have doubtless experienced at some point in her career being taken less seriously by *someone* due to her gender, and this may well have translated into that person addressing her informally by first name, uninvited, while continuing to address her male peers formally. While this has nothing to do with your situation, a too-early uninvited transition to informality may -- not necessarily, but more likely -- set off niggles of concern than in someone else who is less likely to have had to ever deal with this unfortunate dynamic.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: If she "signed" the Email, see *how* she signed it. People usually sign letters and emails (if at all), the way they'd like to be addressed by the recipient.
* If she signed with *only* (one of) her given name(s) (`Y1`), feel free to address her using that/those name(s) (the same she used), without any title, i.e.
>
> Dear Y1
>
>
>
+ The same applies in the unlikely case that she signed with a nickname (`Z`): In your reply, address her as
>
> Dear Z
>
>
>
* If she signed with *anything including* her last name / family name (`X`), be it
+ only her last name (`X`)
+ her given name(s) and her last name (`Y1 X`)
+ (some of) her academic title(s) and her last name (`Prof. X`)
+ all of the above (`Prof. Y1 X`), then continue to address her with title(s) and last name / family name, i.e.
>
> Dear Prof. X
>
>
>
* If she didn't sign the email, or just with a greeting but without any part of her name, also stick to
>
> Dear Prof. X
>
>
>
unless there is another compelling reason to believe she wants to be addressed differently. (E.g., she explicitly mentioned it in the body of the email.)
As [buffy mentioned](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/141390/53376), academic titles and given names without the family name don't go together. So if she were to sign her first email to me with
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> Prof. Y1
>
>
>
I'd be rather baffled and wouldn't be sure how to address her in a reply.
This rule of thumb applies outside of academia, too. (In absence of academic or other titles, use "Mr." or "Ms." as appropriate with last names.)
---
While my experience stems from Switzerland, I believe it can (regarding this) be applied to all of the "western world", thus to the US as well. While even western countries and cultures (and sometimes, individuals) can be very different in when what person allows what other person to be on (uni- or bilateral) first-name basis with them, the way of signalling this in signatures is, to my understanding, much more universal.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: From my experience I think that it should be fine to reply address them with their first name. (Given the fact that the professor was raised or long term living in the US.)
Where I live (Belgium), the general trend is to address someone using a formal greeting, most likely with a last name. Especially when addressing someone with a higher status. (Could be age, seniority or rank.) People will often explicitly invite you to use their first name, and even specify in what contexts it would be fine to do so.
In the UK however I experienced quite the opposite, there professors would feel uncomfortable if a senior student or PhD student would address them with anything but their first name. Germany again on the other end of the spectrum. So very depending on culture.
We also had a few professors from the US living in Belgium teaching us. They would also invite us to address them by their first name. Well realizing that to some it could feel uncomfortable, they did not insist! And I also had an American housemate that was very surprised by our formal distance.
In short:
If the professor is originally from the US or has been living there for a long time, I think it should be totally fine to use their first name. If their is evidence of the contrary, I'd try to find out about their local culture.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: In Germany, I would write "Dear Ms. X" as a less formal way, because Prof. X really sounds a bit too formal if they call you by your first name but in the USA they seem to be less formal. We had a Professor from there teaching programming for a while and he told us we can just call him by his first name so we did that (was computer science though, don't know if that is true for all fields).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: I have noted that Asian students tend to go with Dear Dr Firstname or Dear Prof Firstname. They mean nothing bad by it and I let it slide.
If a student signs off with their full name, and I were to use their last name in my reply, it would come across as standoffish or an implied rebuttal. (This is UK culture.) So I respond with Dear Firstname; this is not seen as taking liberties. I will then sign with my firstname, and fully intend this as an invitation or permission for them to use that name.
Nicknames present a special dilemma. Example: a Tiffany who goes by Tiff since she very obviously detests the empty-headed girlishness suggested by her given name. I feel Tiff is to cosy but that Tiffany can be construed as some underhanded male dominance display on my part.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am working on my masters thesis which is the first time that I have ever really taken part in research activities. Throughout the experience I have learned a lot and I think that I would like to pursue a PhD in the field that I am currently working in right now. However, I feel that when all is said and done with my masters thesis, the end product will not be that great. There are a number of factors that I think contribute to this - the first being that it's my first time doing original research and second I am the first student of my supervisor, so we are experiencing the student-supervisor relationship both for the first time. But given that, I think it is primarily a function of my introduction to research. A similar analogy would be a first year undergraduate student that doesn't do well, but finds their groove in the last couple years of the program.
My concern, however, is that if I produce a low quality thesis that I might actually be disadvantaged compared to a recently graduated undergraduate student. For example, my undergrad/grad GPA's were (3.5/3.8) and assume that the undergraduate also had a GPA of 3.5-3.8, but I can foresee that a committee might view my weak thesis as an inability to do research in contrast to the undergraduate does not have any published research either, but doesn't show signs of being a "weak researcher" by nature of not having done any.
So the question really becomes whether or not somebodies MSc experience is a good predictor of how they would fair out as a PhD student, and whether somebody applying to a program with an MSc can actually be disadvantaged.
Edit: Perhaps mentioning my perspective on the MSc experience in my SOP might be of benefit? Unless, all of this might be moot if entrance committees might not even read your MSc thesis.<issue_comment>username_1: Your Master's thesis is mostly irrelevant as the only thing that matters is they you did your master and depending on the university, your overall grade (around the world, most countries require you have a master to be able to do a PHD).
What will matter is your research for the PHD (and the PHD thesis if that is your graduation requirement) and any other pre-requisite the university with the PHD demands.
Keep in mind that you dont have a weak master thesis. You merely have a thesis. It's binary, you have it or you dont, and having it approved and published means it has enough quality to have been deemed appropriately.
A thesis is not graded like homework, it's a work of knowledge and/or an effort(for title requirements different than a thesis) evaluated by the scientific/academic community as a valid contribution to the field, and backed up by a country's government as legally real. Therefore if it is accepted, it's good enough to award a professional title. So remember that you dont have a good,weak, strong or bad thesis, you have a thesis and it being 'good' is not an assessment you make.
Also the experience on a master is no indication for a PHD in general because it can vary wildly, but at the very least it already gave you a test for writing stuff down. Remember that it doesnt matter if you have the cure for all types of cancer, if you dont write it down under a proper paradigm , a big useless theoretical frame, and many references in APA/CHICAGO style, it will be themed useless by academia.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: First, you may be judging your own work more harshly than is warranted. It may not be as weak as you think. It is fairly common for problem to appear easier after it is solved than before you began.
Second, no one is likely to read your master's thesis as part of a doctoral application. They will take note of it, and any grade you got, and the general field. At most a few people will read the abstract. They are too busy to read it, frankly.
Third, an application for doctoral study is normally judged on a wide range of criteria with different candidates scoring higher or lower on the various elements. But the overall picture is what is important. "Does this candidate have the necessary background?" "Does this candidate have a good chance of success now and hereafter?" And since most programs are competitive, "How does this candidate compare with others in the pool?".
But, if you are accepted then you still have two hurdles. The first is passing comprehensive qualifying exams. Some advanced coursework may still be needed to get you to that point. The other is writing an acceptable thesis under the direction of an advisor, along with whatever research enables that.
In the US a lot of doctoral students enter the program with no research experience at all. You already have an advantage there, no matter how your recent thesis turned out. And, even at the doctoral level, not every dissertation has the same impact. It represents early work, not the person's best career work.
Make sure your CV is solid with your background accomplishments. Don't negatively characterize your thesis. Make sure your SoP explains your goals, short and long term, along with how your background supports that.
And, though you name a specific school, don't cast a narrow net for a doctoral program. Give yourself more than one chance.
Upvotes: 2
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2019/12/11
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently received back an exam, and noticed after reviewing it a few days later a serious grading discrepancy. I sent my professor an email to confirm that he would be available in his next office hour, but received no reply. I then stopped by his office at the beginning of office hours but found that he was not in his office and remained absent for the entirety of the office hour.
After several days of no reply, I sent another email, which has also received no reply after several more days. I am unsure how to proceed, as the semester is nearly over and grades will be finalized within about a week. I am wondering if I need to escalate this in order to have my score corrected as the error could seriously impact my final grade in the course. Is there someone that I should contact to discuss this? If so, who should I contact? Otherwise, what is the best course of action to take? Thank you for any advice.<issue_comment>username_1: If you are feeling desperate, go to the department office and tell them you need to contact the professor over a grading issue that you are afraid will slip through the cracks at end of term. Ask to have them have the professor contact you, leaving contact information. You could even write a note for the office to pass to the professor detailing your concerns. The office is likely to see the professor before you do.
The prof may still not respond, but you have left a marker that establishes your timely concern.
Don't be overly concerned about lack of response at end of term. There may be a lot on the professor's plate also. There are also ways to work things out that don't require immediate action, as long as you leave a trail of effort to contact and resolve the issue.
But don't increase the "noise" going directly to the professor. It probably won't help and might hurt.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: You seem to be doing the right thing.
I won't claim this is true *everywhere*, but most Universities have procedures to revise an error in grades including after the course is over, if indeed an error was made. So don't *add* to your stress by feeling all is lost if you can't sort it out right now; though of course it of course there *is* additional stress from uncertainty and feeling under the gun.
Based on what you say, it is bad form for your professor to not reply and not show up. What are other vehicles to "get help" in the course prior to the exam? TAs? Review sessions? If there are none and the prof is nonresponsive, that in my mind is actually a bigger issue than a single grade.
Practically, two suggestions:
1. Have you adequately (but briefly) described what is the issue -- and the urgency -- in your email? An email of "Dear Prof X. Will you be at office hours next ...., I have a question?" may well be ignored as "don't ask silly questions" (and when they unexpectedly can't make that office hour there being no recollection of it to follow up with you). A more effective email would be "Dear Prof X. I came to your office hours on ... but you seems you weren't able to make it. I've discovered a rather serious grading discrepancy that it would be very helpful to sort out before the exam and end of course. When could I come see you?" It's more difficult to ignore -- and also lays a more compelling paper trail if you do need to appeal your grade after the course.
2. Have you tried other communication channels? Again, the prof should be responsive. But too often we double down on what should work but doesn't. Try phoning and leaving a voicemail. Leave a paper note under their door AND at their department office reception. Talk to the TA, if any.
Finally, as a former lecturer, it's worth noting: it's crazy how many students want last minute help, often are confrontational due to their own stress, and can't formulate a reasonable question without it being clear they were paying no attention during the course until the last minute. I see no reason to assume you're part of this crowd, but think through your communications how to ensure you're not *coming across* that way. You have an important, concrete issue to discuss. Make sure you communicate that even if your email arrives sandwiched between 3 other student emails saying "can I ask you some questions, not sure what yet, during office hour?", "can you tell us more what's on the final exam", and "can I hand in my assignment 2 months late?". Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I've started my graduate school applications for the next year. When I try to provide my university information I fill in a form with my grades. Since I am doing an Msc course this year I have not yet received any grades. I can't follow through the application without them though. Should I just insert 0 and explain that later?<issue_comment>username_1: You should definitely explain your situation in your personal letter/CV that you are currently taking a master's course, and provide some details on what classes you're taking. This helps giving some insight into what you're doing even though you don't have any grades yet. Sometimes universities can ask for preliminary grades, so it is best to contact the graduate admissions officer and ask for details, especially since it can vary between universities.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: The best way to do this would be to insert "n/a" into the field for your grades, or simply write "not available yet" as CaptainEmacs suggested. In the event that you cannot write a non-numerical answer (as was the case when I applied to grad school), a "0" should suffice that it is not your actual grade. Your application will likely require preliminary transcripts (and eventually official transcripts), so I would not worry about not being able to report your official grade, especially since this is a common problem.
I would avoid writing this issue into your statement of purpose, since your SoP should be relatively short and to the point, focusing on your research and other accomplishments. While I would definitely include your MSc course in your statement, I would not mention anything relating to the application itself. Often universities have a graduate coordinator for any given department, so I suggest reaching out to them if you have questions about your application.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I think the safest and most reasonable thing that you could do is to make a phone call to the department that you are applying to as soon as possible and inform them of your situation. They will tend to have an answer because of the volume of applications they have taken in over the years, odds are, they've come across "you" more than a handful of times.
Upvotes: 0
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2019/12/11
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<issue_start>username_0: Usually, conferences give you between 1-2 hours to present your poster. My dilemma is that sometimes I am interested in learning about other posters during that time period. But I also have to keep next to my poster in case a referee or a potential collaborator of the conference comes and wants to learn about my topic.
So my question is what should I do? Should I stay next to my poster and try to talk to the other poster attendees afterward or should I visit their poster and risk missing out on potential important visitors to my poster?<issue_comment>username_1: It depends on the venue. In a small room, you can easily wander around and get back to your poster quickly if you spot someone interested. In a huge conference hall, if you abandon your poster you may never know who visited it and when.
So, if you have a large venue, ask yourself, what is your priority: to get your work out and have a chance of presenting yourself, or to check out what others are doing. Both are valid options, and both are important. It's your call how to balance them.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Someone should probably stay by your poster throughout. If there is no one there it won't generate much of any interest. Posters are seldom so self explanatory that people will gain much without a bit of help. Perhaps a colleague or even your professor would be willing to help you out for a portion of the time required.
But it should be someone who can answer questions and someone who can quickly find you. Make sure that if you have to leave it, that you have something by which people can contact you. A hand-out is good, or even a business card.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Bring some post-its and a pen. Stay at your poster for half an hour. If you have people to talk to, continue talking to those people. If time frees itself up, write on a postit that you will be browsing other posters for half an hour, and you will be back for discussion at X o'clock. Other interested people can still look at your poster, and return at that time to talk to you if they want to. Repeat this scheme periodically, as long as time permits.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: *For the following I assume a conference with at most a few hundred participants that is well organised, i.e., early poster session(s), and posters can stay on display for the entire conference.*
In my experience, there are basically two kinds of “customers” you can attract with a poster, with little middle ground in between:
* People for whom skimming your poster suffices that they want to talk to you about it. These people will usually make an effort to contact you even if you are not present at your poster or if you are busy at the moment they are visiting.
* People who get lured into a guided tour of your poster by you talking them into it or by joining a running guided tour. Importantly there are some people who are much more likely to join a guided tour than to ask for one if you are alone at your poster.
The last point leads to a positive feedback loop (customers beget customers), which in extreme cases can lead to such situations as I once experienced: I hardly got any customers during the first half of the poster round (partially due to my poster being in a unfavourable location) and afterwards I was overrun and busy until long after the official end of the session.
With this in mind, I suggest:
* In the beginning, stay at your poster and shamelessly try to talk people into guided tours. When everything else fails, explain your poster to the author of the poster next to you (and vice versa). If everything goes well, you will be busy for the entire session.
* Only leave your poster if it becomes clear that the majority of the audience has stopped browsing posters, so you do not get any customers of the second kind anymore. Be patient; if you are amongst the first poster presenters to do so, you are almost certainly doing it to early.
* Make it very easy for customers of the first kind to contact you: Put your e-mail address and a portrait of you on the poster.
* Find out early which other posters you want to see. Most conferences facilitate this by either publishing abstracts of posters, having a poster flash, or allowing posters to be displayed before the session. This way you can solicit guided tours of those posters from their owners outside of the poster session. Ideally briefly inform the owners of your interest before or during the poster session – this way both sides can work towards it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Split the time allocated to the poster session 50/50. If your poster designation is odd be at your poster for the first half of the session. If it’s even, then the second half. Use the other half to look at other posters.
If the conference organizers are really on top of things, they may already have some system like this setup, in which case follow their system. If they don’t, use the conference feedback forms to suggest it and get as many fellow attendees as possible to do so. With any luck the organizers will implement the idea in the future. Be prepared for a several year effort though and to keep reinforcing the message once you get it. Back when I was in graduate school, a campaign like this was mounted at AAPT and it was only in my last couple of years that the policy finally got implemented. However, after being away from the conference for a while, I didn’t notice it happening at the most recent, so it might have lapsed due to insufficient positive reinforcement (though I didn’t present a poster this time, so I might have missed the memo).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: Break the rules, and don't do it during the poster session!
Before the poster session starts you quickly put up your poster (there is usually a time-slot for that with large margin) and then you look around to find if any of the other posters are interesting.
Be prepared that the other poster presenters are busy and/or missing from their poster, but at least you know which ones to contact and don't have to leave your posters to find the interesting ones.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: It is probably OK, but don't just walk off and abandon your poster if the other posters are in another room. In some conferences the posters are split throughout several rooms, so I think it's fine to look at the other posters in your room but not to go to the others.
For example, they might want to take a photo of you with the poster and then just take a photo of the poster by itself if you aren't there. Essentially, if have lost sight of your poster for more than twenty seconds, that's not ideal.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: The most important things were said:
* if you want to leave your poster and browse other contributions, then find a good replacement of yours (colleague, who is aware of your research, co-author, even your professor would be a good option)
* if you don't have this persone, then be sure that you have your contacts written on your poster, print small A4 versions of the poster and place them on a visible location below or above the poster itself.
* Inform an audience, when did you leave and when you will be back
* Small portrait photo is a benefit to have near the title, so some interested people can even find you during the coffee-breaks.
Good luck with the poster session, anyway! Stay relaxed and enjoy!
Upvotes: 0
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2019/12/12
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<issue_start>username_0: As someone who has a relative deficit in quantitive reasoning (63%ile) vs. verbal (97%ile), but a strong interest in applied math, is it possible to be successful and competitive at the PhD level?
I am committed to putting in the effort, and I want to believe that this is possible - but it is very daunting.
EDIT1:
To flesh out the q:
I’ve taken Calc 1, Calc 2, Calc 3, Stat/ w Calc & Discrete Math. I got a B+ in the first 2, A in the third and 4th, and B in the 4th. Taking Linear Algebra/Real Analysis and expecting an A or a B. Calc 1&2 and Discrete math were taught at the liberal arts college I went to where I received a BA in the humanities. After my BA in the humanities I pursued ad-hoc post-bac in math so that I’d be able to apply to grad school. Calc III and Stats with Calc were taken at Columbia and LA/RA At Harvard.
I will say, I have improved dramatically since I first began taking math (w/ Calc I & II).
The test I took was WAIS-III full scale IQ test, designed to be taken with no preparation and administered at a world renown neuropsych facility.
Regarding the GRE, I expect I’d be able to score in a percentile on par with other prospective applicants.
My plan is to apply to a terminal masters, ace that, and the go one to apply to PhD programs.
Lastly, I have significant adhd for which I was unmedicated in undergrad and may but may not account for relative split in grades before and after.
EDIT2:
I'm specifically interested in applied math. I want to pursue it because I find it challenging and interesting and immensely rewarding when I grasp a concept -- and I want to go into a field that helps people.<issue_comment>username_1: To know whether you can do an applied math PhD, the question to ask is: did you succeed in difficult math, science, and computer science courses in undergrad, and do you have professors in relevant fields willing to write you a strong recommendation? General aptitude tests are dramatically less informative. This is not to say that, if you’re correct that you have average quantitative reasoning ability, a math PhD might not be the wrong choice for you. It’s just that you have other, much more refined and relevant, information available to judge by.
**EDIT:** Based on your edits, I’d say an A in Calc III at Columbia is more informative than the IQ test. That said, you have few advanced courses-only one, once you finish real analysis. So there’s not much evidence yet of your prospects. You’re in a plausible position to apply to master’s programs, and if you get into a good one, you’ll a get a much clearer idea of yourself there.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Looking at [example questions](https://gre.graduateshotline.com/quantitative_reasoning_test.html) in the quantitative reasoning section of the GRE, the questions are genuinely easy, and I would expect good high school students to be able to do well. A math PhD student scoring in the 63rd percentile is therefore very strange.
I've never worked in math PhD admissions, but my reactions would be 1) why did you do so poorly? (63rd percentile is not poor in general, but for a math PhD student it appears to be very poor), and 2) are you sure you have the background to study math at PhD level? Surely a math PhD student should have no problems solving the linear equation 3x-2 = 2x+5 for x - in fact, I'd expect a math PhD student to be able to solve quadratic equations easily. If the score genuinely reflects your ability, I would double check your transcript to see how much math you've done.
This doesn't mean that you cannot do a math PhD, but I'd make doubly sure that you do indeed have the basic skills needed to attempt it.
**Edit**: the question makes clear now that the scores weren't the GRE quantitative & verbal tests, but rather some kind of general IQ test. In that case it's a much, much weaker sign (if it is a sign at all) of inability to succeed at PhD level. If IQ implied mathematical ability, then it'd show up in your transcript, but it's the transcript that matters more than your IQ. If you score very well in your undergraduate courses, then what your IQ is is unimportant ... conversely, if your IQ is very high but you don't score well in your undergraduate courses, it would still be a red flag.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I certainly wouldn't give up hope. The reason is that "number" per se is a very small part of mathematics. Quantitative reasoning helps in many things, of course, but there are lots of areas where it is less important than, say logical reasoning and a geometric sense (among other things).
Mathematics is largely about abstraction and relationships, much more so than about "quantity". Most people get their feet wet in quantitative studies and Real Analysis is grounded in numeracy. But even Complex Analysis has many important results that are non-intuitive to a novice.
So, just assume that there are still large segments of both pure and applied math that you may be well suited for. I suggest you explore rather than give up.
---
Note: I have a doctorate in Mathematics. Real Analysis specialty but a strong interest and some accomplishment in Topology. Computer Science, which most of my career was involved with draws on the same ability of abstraction and composition. They aren't exactly the same, but intersect in many ways.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I just want to point out one example, it is a somewhat of a common story but I couldn't find any decent sources. [<NAME>](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov) is a titan of chess. He is one of the very bests if not the best. He had been the world champion for many years. Apperantly people used to estimate his IQ was between 180 and 190. He allegedly took an IQ test in the 80s and scored 135. Now, 135 is quite low considering his extreme success. Above 130 IQ seem to be estimated to be 2% of world population. Which might still sound high but there are billions of people.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: First of all, I don't think anyone knows if "quantitative reasoning" WAIS subscores are indicative of talent in higher mathematics. It's possible that you would make a lousy accountant but a good mathematician. You probably already know whether you're "good with numbers," and you surely already know that what you do in advanced mathematics doesn't have a lot to do with what you're asked to do on a WAIS. It's unfortunate that even people who should know better tend to conflate quantitative or computational fluency with mathematical talent.
Speaking from my own experience, I reliably score around the 30th percentile for "arithmetic fluency," although there is nothing wrong with my ability to reason mathematically. But I'm not the person you should ask to do your taxes.
Secondly, ADHD often shows up as irregular profiles in skills and aptitude testing. Whatever the WAIS-III is worth, it needs to be interpreted carefully and in context. You can't really conclude much from a single subscore.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: >
> As someone who has a relative deficit in quantitive reasoning vs. verbal, but a strong interest in applied math, is it possible to be successful and competitive at the PhD level?
>
>
>
You could succeed in fields like [topological algebra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topological_algebra) or [mathematical logic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_logic).
>
> I'm specifically interested in applied math.
>
>
>
Consider also [computer science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science). You should view it as some applied mathematics. Look into [π-calculus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A0-calculus) for a good example. And the job opportunities could be better (e.g. around [artificial intelligence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence), [semantics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics_(computer_science)), [static program analysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_program_analysis), [machine learning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_learning), [cybersecurity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_security), etc...). See [these slides on *the future of mathematics*](http://wwwf.imperial.ac.uk/~buzzard/one_off_lectures/msr.pdf).
Consider also [computer programming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programming) and [software development](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_development). It is [tightly](http://bootstrappingartificialintelligence.fr/WordPress3/) related to math, and I tend to believe you'll need some of it during your math PhD. I know several persons ([<NAME>](http://www.dicosmo.org/), [<NAME>](https://xavierleroy.org/), or [<NAME>](http://www.cs.unipr.it/~bagnara/), or the late [<NAME>](http://bootstrappingartificialintelligence.fr/WordPress3/), or [<NAME>](http://www.lix.polytechnique.fr/Labo/Emmanuel.Haucourt/publications--preacutesentations.html) to name a few) who had an exceptional academic career while being expert in both math and programming.
Look also into [economics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics), [bioinformatics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioinformatics), [computational chemistry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_chemistry), and [theoretical physics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theoretical_physics) (as science with a lot of math, so much that you might view them as applied math).
PS. [I got](http://starynkevitch.net/Basile/cv-Basile-Starynkevitch.pdf) a PhD in 1990 but not in math, just in AI. I am French, so your GRE things make no sense at all for me. In France, some equivalent could be the [baccalauréat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baccalaur%C3%A9at). I graduated from [ENS Cachan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_normale_sup%C3%A9rieure_Paris-Saclay) which probably has no real US equivalent.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: I would say with quite strong confidence that the score on a test is insufficient to determine your ability in such a vast field as maths.
Consider the following:
* All tests are imperfect. Some very intelligent people score badly and some very "average" people score highly
* A single sub-test bares little resemblance to most you will be doing in a PhD. E.g. reading papers, communicating with colleagues, writing eloquently, researching questions, doing formal maths, programming, etc. I would particularly stress some underappreciated skills such as communicating with colleagues
I did a PhD in Applied Maths and spend most of my time in a laboratory doing fluid dynamics experiments, setting up cameras, writing code to do image analysis, build experimental apparatuses etc.
Finally, I have done quite a bit of maths at University and I found that maths doesn't come easily. In my first semester as a under-grad I was studying for my first exam and read all the lecture notes, attempted all the examples and understood zero. At that point I was a little bit panicking. Next day, I came back and tried it all again. Again, I felt I understood nothing. Not knowing what else to do, seriously worried, I came back on the third day. Finally I understood a little bit. On the fourth day, suddenly everything fell into place in a couple of hours. I've repeated this experience for every lecture course. A period of incomphresnshion that eventually gives way to understand by repeatatly reading the same notes an examples.
This is of course a personal story and your experience will vary but I think determination can go a long way, particularly in a field like math.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Most of the time, when I am invited to review a paper, I am only provided with the title and abstract. The full manuscript becomes available only after I have agreed to review the paper. As per [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/101421/112007), this seems not to be common in all fields, but it does seem to be the norm in the journals I usually review for.
I assume this is a way to minimize the number of people that get access to the content of the paper before publication, and only provide that "privilege" to those who actually give something back in the form of a review.
However, it might hypothetically happen that I agree to review a paper based on the abstract, but then I see the full manuscript and find that I do not have the required level of expertise to review the methods used in the paper.
If I now decline the review, then I am going back on my word, and the community will see me as less reliable. Furthermore, I have unfairly gained access to unpublished content without giving anything back.
If I do the review, I will not be able to accurately evaluate the contributions of the paper, and might (probably) recommend acceptance of something that might not warrant it.
What is the best course of action in this case?<issue_comment>username_1: The best course is to just inform the editor that you are unable to perform/complete the review as it is outside your area of expertise. The title led you to think otherwise. You are sorry, but others are better qualified to judge and give advice.
I don't see that as anything strange at all, and no one is likely to think less of you.
What would be wrong is to give a review of something you don't comprehend completely. No one benefits from that.
Just be honest with the editor. No one knows everything.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: >
> What is the best course of action in this case?
>
>
>
Ask for the full manuscript before agreeing to review. I don't believe such access is unfair (you needn't look too deep when deciding whether to agree), I do believe you've given something back (your consideration).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Having very briefly -- and foolishly -- been an editor, I wish all reviewers shared your concern of "going back on my word". Far too many not only don't deliver promised reviews, but do so passively-aggressively by just not saying or doing anything, leaving editors to chase them down.
I also wish reviewers who discover they are not qualified, or for any other reason not able, to do a review would politely back out and give information as to their reason so that the editors can redirect the paper more effectively to someone who can do a good job. Crappy, unqualified or cluelessly superficial reviews are a real problem.
With all of this in mind, I would think more rather than less of any reviewer who backs out for reasons such as you describe, thoughtfully and in a timely fashion.
As to the "access" issue, indeed authors reasonably expect their unpublished work not to be blasted out to an unknown selection of colleagues/competitors in their field. All reviewers should not let unpublished work received in confidence influence their own work. Of course, there is an unavoidable "what has been seen cannot be unseen" element, but I'd expect this be less of an issue when you have decided the paper is outside your ability to engage with in detail, and when the expectation is you should stop reading it, I'd say delete it once your refusal is a done deal, and try to forget what you have seen.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: I fully agree with @username_1's answer, but would like to a add two "middle-ground" possibilities.
I as well as some colleagues have been in a similar situation in the sense that an important part of the paper turned out to be outside our respective expertise, while the reviewer was fine with reviewing most of the paper (as they concluded from title and abstract).
In such cases, the reviewer has been telling the editor that they are fine reviewing most of the paper, but it turned out that a substantial part is about *topic outside expertise* and they suggest/ask permission to consult *named colleague* who's an expert on that topic (example: expert on the application area consults expert on statistical data analysis).
My experience is that the editors were happy with that suggestion.
I suspect that it is sometimes very hard work for editors to find particular combinations of expertise in one person (consider particular application area + particular measurement technique + data analysis/statistics all of them at a sufficient level of expertise to judge whether the authors have been working correctly).
(I've been in the position of asking to consult a colleague as well as in the position of being the colleague who was asked to provide further expertise.)
---
In case my level of expertise is "almost fine" for the critical topic, i.e. I only need additional expertise confirming/refuting my conclusions but I'm confident that I can extract all relevant information from the manuscript, I've been abstracting (like a minimal working example) the situation and discussed my questions with colleagues without revealing the paper. As this is like reading up the topic in literature or a textbook, the permission of the editor is not needed.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Having already read the paper, you might as well write a quick review on those points you can judge, and send it in along with a note to the editor saying you strongly recommend appointing another reviewer.
As you are surely at least *close to* the subject at hand, you likely know a few names to propose to the editor as additional reviewers.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I was recently speaking to a university lecturer about studying at undergraduate and PhD level. He spoke about how many successful undergraduate students ended up doing poorly at research level, as the skills needed to succeed at undergraduate and research level differ. Is this true? I'm just curious, how do the skills required to succeed at research level differ from those to succeed at undergraduate level?
I've always considered myself a book smart person (I'm good at understanding difficult concepts from textbooks and I'm good at solving problems when I know what steps I need to undertake), but I don't consider myself to be creative, so I'm curious as to whether he was implying that those types of people won't succeed at PhD level.<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Is this true?
>
>
>
**Yes**
>
> how do the skills required to succeed at research level differ from
> those to succeed at undergraduate level?
>
>
>
I'm not sure the skills differ, *per se*. The vast majority of PhD students were exceptional undergraduates; PhD students overwhelmingly have the skills necessary for undergraduate success. But, a successful PhD student needs much more.
>
> I've always considered myself a book smart person, so I'm curious as to whether he was implying that those types of people won't succeed at PhD level.
>
>
>
I don't believe such an implication holds. (Albeit, I'm not entirely sure what *book smart* means.) You need many skills to succeed as a PhD student, including, but not limited to, the ability to study hard.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm not a big believer in "types" of people. But yes, some succeed in an undergraduate program but don't in a doctoral program. The difference, I think, is largely determined by the nature of the programs, not the people.
As an undergraduate you are mostly exploring what is already known and the connections that are already known between them. Too often the method of evaluation is poor. Poorly designed multiple choice questions, for example, test memory primarily. Memory is a useful skill, but more is needed to complete a PhD. An undergraduate degree, even when focused on a particular field, as in UK, is still pretty broad.
A doctoral program, on the other hand, is an exploration of the unknown. You can't plan for success in research, only work effectively so that you can find it eventually. But it is much more frustrating for many people than is the exploration of the known. You are trying, among other things, to make connections that others have not yet made. It is a different *kind* of thing. The boundary between the two isn't smooth.
So, the undergraduate degree is only a partial preparation for what needs to happen in a doctoral program. Being successful in the one doesn't guarantee success in the other. It gives a basis on which to work, but that is all. Some people learn, too late, that they just don't *like* researching the unknown, even though they *love* what they did as undergraduates.
In mathematics, for example, if you are studying things already known and come to a hard part, you can find someone, or a book, say, to explain it to you. You can find exercises to deepen your knowledge. But as a mathematician researching some area, there are no such resources. You are a creator, not a consumer. There is no guarantee that you will *ever* succeed in answering some particular question.
So, I attribute the effect you see more to the different nature of the two levels of learning than to the "types" of students who succeed or fail.
---
However, as an afterthought, I think that most people will start out in their education finding things fairly easy to do. The things are fairly simple, of course. But usually people reach a point where it isn't easy anymore and they have to work to continue. I think that the people who don't reach this point early in an undergraduate program, or at least by its completion, will have a hard time in a doctoral program. If you've never had to work hard to advance, research can be a shocking awakening. I was lucky enough to learn my limits in secondary school and so learned to work hard at learning. Others, who far surpassed me early on, didn't advance as far. I doubt that this is a universal, but think it is pretty common.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I'll say this from the perspective of an undergraduate student where in my first two years my gpa was 2.7 and my last two were 3.5 which allowed me to get into graduate school and finish my courses with a 3.8. I am an MSc student, but after about 8 months in research I have had time to think about this question.
Undergraduate studies are tricky to think about, because what is the point of them, really? The institution needs to consider that a small fraction of people will pursue PhDs and so course work needs to be tailored to many more people. So the question becomes, how should you approach your studies if you want to be a researcher as opposed to how to be "successful".
Looking at it from the lens of undergraduate studies being preparation for a PhD, you are essentially learning a lot of different tools and techniques. Consider any sport, when you're training at the lower levels you are trying to grasp onto basics and principles, but what separates young (undergraduate) and elite (PhD) athletes is how the elite athletes use those basic skills and principles to pull off incredible highlights. Elite athletes don't think about how to dribble the ball or move in a certain way, instead, those basic principles are ingrained into them so they don't have to think about them at all. As the undergraduate, it is your job to gain mastery over basics so that when you try to break into your PhD you're able to use those fundamentals in new and creative ways. As the undergraduate you answer homework problems you've never seen before, now you're job as a PhD is, in a way, to be the one to write those new problems. When I started to see a boost in my GPA it was not because I suddenly "got it", but because instead of just studying the material, I would create my own tests and try to think of all the different ways I could play with the material. I begun to take those basics and create "new" things with them. By doing this, you are essentially expressing concepts you're familiar with but in new ways. For example, I would write down my own integration problems and try to solve them with the techniques that I had - sometimes what I wrote was analytically solvable, sometimes it was not.
As a PhD you're now primarily focused on finding new problems in the literature, and this is really challenging and a skill that I believe can be developed and nurtured. Because I believe that problem finding is a skill that can be developed, the notion of creativity instead becomes how well you can connect the dots that are in front of you (for most of us). But again, how can you connect the dots if you lack the skills to be able to draw the line between them?
As a PhD you are flexing brain muscles that you never really had to before, so it's frustrating at first but I believe over time it gets easier as you adapt to that type of new thinking. Research, like homework, is practice and the only way that you will get better at being a researcher is to practice doing it. So don't let yourself give up before you've had the chance to start.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I think the key difference is the openness in a phd versus undergrad. If you receive say a homework problem as an undergrad you can savely assume (in most cases) that this is a problem that can be solved in a reasonable amount of time with the knowledge of the course and its prerequisites. If you study a problem as a phd it might happen that
* the problem is still decades away from being solvable
* this problem was solved under a different name somewhere else
* once you properly understand it, it is actually trivial
* the problem doesn't have a good solution in any reasonable way
Finding problems that look interesting is not that hard but knowing which ones actually lead to a fruitful phd is hard and a problem that doesn't really occur as a undergrad. Your advisor will help but this is difficult for him/her as well.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: To answer the OP's headline question:
>
> How do successful undergraduate and PhD students differ?
>
>
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One will be a hardworking productive member of society and the other will be twiddling their thumbs for 3 to 10 years.
(I studied and started working in Electronics Engineering, we don't see many PhDs and there is a general joke about academics being the unemployable ones)
---
Now that joke is out of the way we can discuss the important points behind it.
Firstly, academics are employable and productive members of society they just contribute indirectly to the industrial complex. We do need them to advance our knowledge and explore the current possibilities, especially those that do not presently have obvious commercial use as industry or business will not look hard there. To do this they will need to be driven by some thirst for knowledge, not capital gain or direct and immediate impact on society. If I make a cool thing and it takes off I see customers using it in 2~5 years. If someone's research shows promise they are likely going to have to imagine any tangible benefit for much longer or perhaps never live to see it.
To pass undergraduate studies you have to learn what is known. You can parrot with little deeper understanding and pass. If you can apply what you know, you can get a job and do well on what you can recall. To come up with new ideas, new problems and new questions relating to what you know you must have a deeper understanding. Sure if you go to industry you may do better with this deeper knowledge but it may not be essential. To work as a PhD you will likely need to have a deep enough understanding to work new things out from scratch (OK some PhDs are a bit of handle turning exorcise based on someone else's idea but you can see the concept).
In many of the PhDs I know and those who chose to not do a PhD there are several differences:
1. The Jobs you get with a PhD are different. If you do not want the job type, you do not get the PhD.
2. You have an interest in academic work with PhD study. You must enjoy reading papers. You are going to have to be OK writing papers. You are going to have to play the game of getting your name on papers and having other peoples names on your papers.
3. You have to be able to operate in isolation to do the PhD. You may get little to no guidance and support compared to when you were an Undergraduate. In industry, if you got for a graduate role or similar they will likely train and mentor you further to take you from someone used to learning to someone used to doing the job. In PhD study you maybe get a few questions a month but are largely left to sort yourself out.
Going from someone being educated on a program, with regular goals and checks and validation to someone who sits alone thinking for years on end is a big change. I realise I am exaggerating that but it makes the point. Can you cope with not knowing if you are doing an OK job or having any way to gauge your achievements? Can you go from quite a lot of provided and enforced structure to very little at all?
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: >
> I've always considered myself a book smart person (I'm good at understanding difficult concepts from textbooks and I'm good at solving problems when I know what steps I need to undertake), but I don't consider myself to be creative, so I'm curious as to whether he was implying that those types of people won't succeed at PhD level.
>
>
>
You may find some interesting perspective and context in [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A0pMX2r2LE) clip, from a University of Toronto lecture regarding to being "book smart" and "creative". For context let me point out that measurements talked here are from the [big five model](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits). Unlike random internet tests, this theory of "types of people" seem to be backed by empirical results although there are critiques of it as well.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: The difference is that between a traveler and an explorer. The explorer ventures into unfamiliar territory, hoping to find interesting and useful locations. The boundary between the unknown and the known is breached with certain expectations and aspirations. Likewise the researcher is fully aware of the boundaries of knowledge, and strives to form new pathways for the thought processes that can be profitably followed by all. The enticement for the explorer is the same -- the possibility of discovering something spectacularly valuable!
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: During a rebuttal period, with reviews that show a strong indication of overall reject, can I submit the paper to another venue (without violating concurrent submission rules)? The submission deadline in the other venue is before the final response of the current venue.<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Can I submit my paper somewhere else during rebuttal period?
>
>
>
No: Your paper is under review, submitting elsewhere would be a parallel submission. You could withdraw your paper and then submit elsewhere. Albeit, withdrawal seems unethical at this late stage.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If you want to submit elsewhere, the proper course is to formally withdraw your paper. Send a note to the editor. Then you are free to submit elsewhere. Don't make assumptions.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I know this may seem a duplicate question, but I haven't find an answer to my question and I am scared to ask my supervisor.
I am doing my literature review in sociolinguistics and I have different reputable sources: articles and books.
Most of the authors quote the same famous works while describing that they made a contribution to the discipline.
Many of these works are well known and not easy to find (old).
So, is it ok if I write "[...] These themes were examinated by other scholars (e.g. Smith 1970, Doe 1977)", without having read those two books by Smith and Doe, but having read reviews and studies that explain them?
I have just read a dissertation which was written in less than 1 year after fieldwork and it has hundreds or references: I can't imagine the author actually read it. It seems common to me.
Can somebody clarify?<issue_comment>username_1: The short answer to your question is ***no***, you cannot cite works without having read them. But there is a solution:
The fact that you are reading multiple works that explain what Smith and Doe did in their research will work well enough for your literature review. If Source X and Source Y say that Smith and Doe did work on certain themes, then say "These themes were examined by Smith and Doe, as later scholars argue that they did Z" (Source X, Source Y), where Z is whatever Sources X and Y say.
While it is certainly better to read the original source material, a literature review can still be effective if you explain how you came to know what is in the original source material. Additionally, it is possible that Sources X and Y misrepresent what is in the original source material; if you cite the original with someone else's interpretation, there is a potential for many problems (both with scholarly knowledge and another with academic dishonesty).
---
Barring limitations like the destruction of sources, the inability to find "old" sources is usually not an acceptable excuse for not including them in a paper. There are many avenues to obtain hard to find sources, like InterLibrary Loan, for example, which should be a service you can use for free at your university. Ask a librarian if you need help.
>
> I have just read a dissertation which was written in less than 1 year after fieldwork and it has hundreds or references: I can't imagine the author actually read it.
>
>
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It is important to keep academic work honest. You would be surprised how much extra reading one does when they are passionate enough about a subject to write a dissertation on it, and besides, this is not a viable excuse for cutting corners.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: There are two answers that are not logically exclusive:
1. When you cite something, you should be reasonably certain that the source pertains to the situation and that you are representing its information accurately.
2. Many scholars cite materials they have not read closely, have read in parts, or that they have read through another source.
Usually, you need to read or at least consult a source in order to verify that your understanding of the source is correct.
For example, in my field (English), I read most texts I cite, since many texts are primary or archival sources that I interpret closely, or secondary sources that I engage with directly. I need a high level of understanding to respond to other scholars directly. However, there are some secondary sources that provide minor support to what I write. I skim, reading enough to understand the argument or to find the chapter or section I needed. I've never cited a source without at least looking at it.
In many STEM fields, the tendency is to *cite more* and with infrequent quotation. Especially in introductions or literature reviews, providing a representation of available knowledge is more important than responding to an individual author or argument. For many of these sources, the texts may have been read or skimmed, in whole or in part. For an article, they may only read the abstract and the results. How close they read those sources often depends on the level of specificity in their reference. Is it one of several works on a rat behavior, or are you indicating a specific result? At a minimum, I'd expect such authors to look at the source, even if they don't read in full.
In whatever field you're in, the presumption is that the cited fact or argument is *accurate*. So you are responsible for certifying that the information is accurate. If you use the source extensively, you should read it. If you use the source quickly, you should at least *look at it* and double-check its credibility, even if you don't read it in full. Don't rely on secondary summary alone. The Office of Research Integrity (a unit of HHS) has this advice in an article titled "[Citing Sources that Were Not Read or Thoroughly Understood](https://ori.hhs.gov/citing-sources-were-not-read-or-thoroughly-understood)":
>
> The reader should note, however, that there might be instances in which the practice of citing sources that were not read may be acceptable. For example, an author may simply wish to point out a well-known discovery or theory and provide the reader with the original citation. **When this is done without misleading the reader into believing that the author read the paper detailing the discovery and is thoroughly acquainted with its contents, then no real harm is done**. For example, in a paper on intelligence testing I may want to refer the reader to the psychometric properties of the X test and write: “for a review of validity of reliability of X test see reference Y”. Although I am clearly aware that reference Y reviews validity and reliability for various intelligence tests, including test X, my citation of this work does not imply that I have read and processed its contents. I am merely aware that relevant material may be found in that reference and point the reader to it. **However, if in a different paper I were to write that “Smith (1879) studied the effects of X on Y and concluded that X is as important as Z and both are critical causal variables in the incidence of Y” such a statement strongly suggests that my summary of the study is, in fact, based on my reading of that paper**.
>
>
>
ORI rightly points out that whether and how closely you need to read it relates directly to whether I'm claiming an author addresses a general topic or whether I am specifying a result. If I'm doing the latter, I had better ensure *with my own eyes* that I've seen and understood that result. That is why they provide this general guideline:
>
> GUIDELINE 18: Generally, when describing others’ work, **do not cite an original paper if you are only relying on a secondary summary of that paper**. Doing so is a deceptive practice, reflects poor scholarly standards, and can lead to a flawed description of the work described.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: **You need to be able to stand behind the claims you are making, with reasonable certainty.**
To what extent reading a source before citing it is necessary for this will vary, as will how detailed any such reading needs to be. What *reasonable* means will also depend on the context.
Examples:
* If all you are claiming is that a particular source covers a particular topic, it takes very little effort to verify this. Checking the abstract would usually suffice. The risk in getting it wrong is small, so trusting other people on this doesn't seem too dangerous.
* If the precise conditions of a mathematical theorem matters for whether or not it is applicable in your setting, you better double-check that the actual theorem says what you need it to say, rather than relying on an abstract, etc.
* If you are weighing in on a philosophical debate, I would not trust a critic of a particular work to accurately depict the original authors views - reading the original (carefully) seems unavoidable here.
**Citations typically serve three distinct purposes.**
A citation can be there to substantiate your points, and to provide evidence for whatever you are saying. A mistake here can bring down an entire paper, and relying (purely) on an indirect source seems very risky here.
Citations are also the scientific currency. This means that citing a secondary source in place of a hard-to-verify original one is problematic, because it does not give proper credit. Here is where citing completely inaccessible works will show up occassionally.
Finally, (as in the example in the question) citations can be there to provide broader context. For these, a balance between taking effort to verify them, taking the literature consensus for granted, and simply not mentining them will be the way to go.
**If in doubt, state that according to source X, in source Y the following happens.**
There is no reason here not to have Y in your bibliography. Omitting it only makes it harder for your readers to track down Y, and it can deprive the authors of Y of a deserved citation.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: Is it considered ethical or appropriate for a researcher to hire a freelance contractor to perform or assist in some secondary tasks related to the preparation of a research papers? To make some concrete examples, what about (1) drawing illustrations, (2) transcribing manuscript notes into Latex, (3) preparing numerical simulations, (4) proofreading, and so on?
The field is mathematics. And the assistant would not be a professional researcher, just someone with some scientific background and relevant skills in Latex, Matlab, or whatever appropriate tools.<issue_comment>username_1: I see no problem with any of that provided that the funding is appropriate. There may be provision in grants for such aid, for example. Research and publication should be about ideas extending knowledge, not about the manual preparation of documents.
And RAs often do some of that.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think it depends on the conditions of your source of funding. If it's a grant or money from your university or whatever, just have a glance at the terms or contract or whatever, to see if there are conditions on what you are allowed to spend it on.
You should probably also have a look at such things as confidentiality, proprietary
information, and such like things. If the research assistant is going to be looking at information that is supposed to be anonymous (such as medical records, for example) you need to make sure it really is anonymous before the assistant gets to look at it.
But generally speaking, that sort of work is expected to be done by some such hired assistant. And, it's a frequent way to get some support to graduate students. So unless your funding source puts limits on it, it would seem quite reasonable.
Also: Kudos on being interested in the ethics of the situation. Some people would just charge ahead and spend the money on whatever they felt like. Well done you.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently submitted my completed Bachelors Thesis. In the guidelines we were given for the thesis, it was stipulated that the thesis should not be more than a certain amount of pages long. My thesis due to the nature of the topic it deals with ended up being quite a bit longer than that.
I spoke to my supervisor about this issue and he said that it would not be a problem, and that the guidelines were there mainly to give an idea and that they shouldn't be restrictive based on length. Upon submission of my thesis to our program coordinator, however, the program coordinator complained about the length of the thesis to me and phoned my supervisor.
The program coordinator informed my supervisor and myself that I was in a violation of the rules of my bachelor's thesis and I would be penalized as a result (in terms of the mark I would receive for my thesis). I've since received my marks for the thesis and I've discussed the issue with my supervisor and a former head of department, they agree I was unfairly penalized and are writing to the program coordinator to help resolve this issue.
Furthermore my supervisor and former head of department made it known to me that those guidelines I quoted above were only internal (departmental) guidelines, they are not strict guidelines that our university enforces, and it doesn't stipulate anywhere in our official university handbook regarding these matters that our Bachelors theses need to be maximum of x pages. Also, it seems that the program coordinator has enforced the penalization without any external consultation.
As a result of this unfair penalization of my thesis, I will miss out on receiving *summa cum laude* with my degree which is the highest honors attainable. This may affect my future Masters applications.
---
**Here is my take on the situation:** Objectively I do think I was in a violation of the thesis guidelines rules, but it essentially feels like I am being punished for doing too much work.
**What can I do (or what should I do) in this situation?**
At the moment it seems that I cannot do much, especially regarding the issue that my applications to other universities will contain an unfairly lowered mark and degree status. I don't think I can mention to the universities I'm applying to of my situation in any case as I doubt anyone will care if one of the many applicants to these universities has had some problem like this, plus it may just seem downright odd.
---
Let me mention that I do not want to put my supervisor in an awkward position as I am grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to do my thesis on my chosen topic and he has been a great mentor to me and I do not want to sour our relationship by bickering over marks. The same goes for the former head of department, who is a former lecturer of mine and who has provided me with numerous opportunities, I do not wish to wish to sour my relationship with her over an issue such as this.<issue_comment>username_1: I think that your assessment that there is not much that *you* can do at the moment is correct. Your supervisor (and the other faculty member) should be the ones to address this issue at the faculty level. You should however check the University's regulations regarding the possibility of appealing grades and decisions about "summa cum laude" status. In particular, check if there are any deadlines for doing so. (If there is no tight deadline, you might want to give your supervisor some time to try to sort things out internally before filing any official appeals etc.)
As far as this issue affecting grad school applications. Again your assessment that you should not mention this in your application is probably accurate. Doing so may come off as "whiney" or you trying to avoid responsibility by blaming others. However, if your supervisor is providing a reference letter for your applications, it would be good if they could address the issue in their letter.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I think you have largely done what you can do in this stage - you have argued your grade and escalated the issue to your supervisor and other senior academics in your department. At this stage, it may be best to hold your horses and see what your allies can do for you.
If this does not resolve the issue to your satisfaction, you can of course consider formally appealing your grade, but quite frankly this would not be a straight-forward appeal (at least not in my university). The fact that it's not under discussion that you were in fact in violation of the communicated rules may be enough to sink your case. These rules may not be very well thought-out or pedagogically useful, but appeals councils typically do not take the "usefulness" of rules and exam regulations into account - if there is a grading rubric, and your thesis has been graded according to this rubric, an appeal has a high chance of failing. This is because in many universities, the designated examiner of a course or project has a lot of legal protection to design the grading in any way they see fit (even in a way that the department disagrees with) - the only thing an appeals council can really complain about is if these rules are not communicated, or not applied equally to everybody.
Hence, the only two angles that I see that could possibly work is to argue that you misunderstood the rules since your advisor communicated the matter differently to you, or that you find previous thesis projects of comparable length which were not penalized.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Let me add to the [answer of mmeent](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/141503/75368) and the [answer of username_2](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/141519/75368) the following.
If you are intending to apply to graduate school and it proves impossible to work this out satisfactorily, that you get letters of recommendation from at least one of your supporters and they mention the issue specifically. "The student was penalized, improperly, for doing much more than required in the thesis."
I hope (and suspect) that this can be resolved, but if not, it won't necessarily affect your future chances if you handle it properly. Eventually future successes will overwhelm any negative effect here.
But as the other writers have suggested, let your advocates fight the fight on your behalf as long as that has any chance of success.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I defended my PhD recently. I don't have a good CV to start with. In 5 years of my PhD, I managed to publish just 2 (first author) decent papers (I.F ~2.5 & 3.1). I applied for several postdoc positions this year, but did not get any positive response from the PIs.
Now, I am going to join my PhD advisor as a postdoc. She offered me a short-term postdoc position (~6 months) with a possibility of extending it to a year starting February next year.
I have couple of manuscripts ready to submit. I am hoping to submit them by mid-January.
**I would like some advice regarding when should I start applying for postdoc positions again?** 6 months will go by in a flash. I just want to secure a position where I can expand my knowledge and publish more papers.
I will start to apply for tenure track positions after 1.5 years. I am 30 years old now, so, I would be still eligible for positions with 35 years old limit for assistant professor position.<issue_comment>username_1: Actually, I'd recommend that you start now. And also that you apply for tenure track positions in parallel. There is no reason to wait for either.
Make sure that when any position in your field gets opened, that you know about it. Don't focus your search too narrowly.
And so some things that give you visibility in addition to submitting papers. Attend conferences, as a presenter if possible, or as a workshop participant. But anything that introduces yourself to others in the field.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Generally, failing to get a tenure track position by age 30 can seriously hamper your ability to succeed in my field. I don't know if we work in the same general area, but I would be seriously concerned with graduating so late with such a small number of publications.
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently a master student in computer science. I study at a school where we have only one take for the exam. I study really hard, yet I am never able to feel confident enough when the exams approach. I am nervous that somehow things will go bad and it only makes me perform worse. I tried studying weeks in advance and really going over all of the materials to feel sure that I know it, but it does not help me. I feel I have no power over what happens in an exam and I feel that I only have one chance that could lead to an ugly mark on my resume. How do I reduce the stress and the nervousness?<issue_comment>username_1: Nervousness in the face of uncertainty is normal. Ask any astronaut sitting on the launch pad. What you experience is pretty common. Overconfidence can also be a hinderance.
You seem to have good study habits ("weeks in advance"). But note that cramming the night before an exam is counterproductive for nearly everyone. If you are tired, so is your mind. And it will be focused only on what you studied last, rather than having a more general and nuanced sense.
One "trick" is to do something active in the last couple of hours before a big exam. Anything to get your blood flowing and let your mind rest. Even deep breathing as a calming exercise has benefits.
I also have a bit of a mantra that I use at the start of an important activity, such as an exam. "Some things are beyond my control. I can only do my best."
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I can only tell you what works for me. My degrees were all in physics, nothing in any sort of mental health or self help. So take this for what it's worth.
Visualize yourself doing well on the exam. Think about sitting at the desk and blocking out all manner of distraction and disturbance. You can even build yourself little fantasies about the student in the desk next to you being fidgety and making a lot of noise, or some door somewhere is slamming constantly, or there is a thunderstorm. But your concentration bubble deflects it all. Practice this calmness in your mind before the exam. Then in the exam it's going to kick in automatically.
If you are allowed, go look at the exam room in advance. If not, then go look at a similar room. In your mind, picture yourself sitting in this room and being calm. Do it "movie special effects" style and add feature by feature. In your mind, add some other students. Add the prof or the TA's patrolling the space between the desk. Add the sound of the clock. Even go sit at the desk and imagine you are already taking the test. Imagine that there is a furious amount of distraction around you, but it bounces off your Teflon and you are all untouched and untroubled.
After that it all comes down to practice and confidence at the subject matter. You should definitely set yourself some problems to do against the clock. Get yourself used to doing problems under stressful situations. Try going to the cafeteria (or the Starbucks or whatever) where there is noise and distraction and maybe even people bumping your table or chair. Do your timed problems under these conditions. If you can stay calm and finish your timed problem while some barista is shouting "half calf latte with extra foam for Fred!" then you should not get nervous in the exam. But also try doing them in the library where everybody is supposed to be quiet.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Reducing Stress and Nervousness
-------------------------------
1. Begin to look at the exam as a game. It is a quiz and you like quizzes.
2. Try to answer as many questions from the previous exam papers. This will add to your confidence.
3. Pray for a calm and clear mind. Never underestimate the power of prayer.
4. Focus on an imagined object for a short time when you start to feel stressed. This will help you relax.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently a freshman and I'm thinking of taking 3 upper division math courses next semester: Linear Algebra, Abstract Algebra 2, and Topology. However, I think that 3 math courses for credit would overwhelm me. I still would like to learn all 3 of them.
I was considering auditing Topology instead. I do plan to take the course again in my sophomore or Junior year for credit. Will this hurt my graduation school admissions?<issue_comment>username_1: It is impossible to say with certainty, but I doubt it. When I was a math student (half a century ago) there was a rumor going around that at some elite college(s), no student would dare to take an advanced course without first auditing it. It wasn't so much that the students were grade-happy, but that those courses were very challenging.
In fact, I think that auditing a course before taking it shows a certain amount of seriousness, provided that you do well overall.
Some universities will only show a course once on a transcript, so it is possible that the audit won't even appear.
There is actually a pedagogical effect that seeing something (a first look) before you delve deeply into it is a good thing for learning. If you are questioned about this you can bring up the "Spiral Pedagogical Pattern".
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I thought auditing was just sitting in on a class that you aren't taking? It's not on your transcript. So how the heck can anyone tell, that you audited before taking something?
Source: I audited classes and took classes for credit. Audits not on my records. Go check yours to be sure.
P.s. I personally don't see the point. If you are going to take a course (audit or paid), you should do best effort in it and take it once, unless you fail. If you know you're not doing it right, than don't audit. If you do it right, than no need to take it for credit--you mastered it, previously when auditing. So move on to the next battle.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: What is officially defined as "auditing" at your university? At mine, you could just sit in the classes and pay attention, and that was seen as auditing. If you actually wanted access to class resources, depending on the class and instructor, you could do so as well.
But auditing doesn't appear on your transcript, so I wouldn't worry about it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Sometimes an "audit" is just an informal agreement between the professor and a student to sit in the classroom during lectures and take notes and ask questions but not take quizzes or exams nor do any homework or projects or get any marks or feedback. I certainly audited several classes during my undergrad in the mid to late 90s this way. I also stopped showing up to those lectures as soon as it became too time consuming or the prep work was too much to keep up with.
Some universities may allow for a paid audit where less tuition is charged and everything is normal but no credit is given in the end. The upside for the student being that there's no pressure to pass and no ultimate grade assigned in the end on the transcript just an "audit" mark or nothing. I don't think I've ever seen one of these transcripts, but I don't review very many undergrad transcripts, ever.
I just found the official audit form for my undergrad university, and it didn't even allow for a transcript record and required full tuition for the course, so YMMV. So in the end, no, I agree with others, unless your university is weird or you go off the books and audit the course without telling your university registrar or paying (and don't get caught!!), your grad school application won't be affected. If you can, it's probably best to do the honest thing and pay for an official audit, but you have to choose your own ethics and settle that with the professor who is teaching. They will notice if there's an extra, unaccounted for student in the lectures!
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: If there is a formal audit process for your university, then the course shows up on you transcript with AU where the grade should be.
This is my personal opinion, but I feel like it shows initiative and planning ahead to audit a more complex course that you plan to take another year.
I'm actually also trying to audit Topology my first semester of sophomore year! The course that made me look up this question was Intro to Real Analysis.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I had my finals for mg chemistry lecture. When I was starting my examination my professor went to my side and picked up a piece of paper then I realized it was the formula card that one of my classmate created.
Then after the exam my professor talked to me. First he was saying that I keep on looking at my seatmate but I defended that I it was just a glance because of the noise created by my seatmate and that because it distracted me. After that he show the card hand asked me to explain about it. I told him that I didn't see it and that it is not mine but he kept on saying that it would be impossible for me to not see it. I called for my classmate, who is the owner of the card, and she was asked if it was hers. She said that I must've fallen of her bag. But my professor keep on insisting that I tried to cheat with the use of that card.
I am so frustrated because if you would try to look at it on my view you cannot see the formula card. I swear that I really did not see it and I didn't even thought of cheating. I don't know what would I do to prove my innocence especially that I'm just a student and the staffs of our college would not believe me. Can you give an advice? And also it would not be the end of my studying right? I would be able to continue my studies even though of what happened?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> what would I do to prove my innocence
>
>
>
What is your schools procedures? You should read the entire rule book right now. Common sense dictates they should use "innocent unless proven guilty". Normally I would say the acusing party should be worried about proving anything.
With that said, depending on the school or disciplinary commitee you might actually be required to prove your innocence. Your best bet I would say is to take a written statement of your classmate (if they can join the hearing it is better) and prepare your statement in line with what I have discussed with the proctor. It is quite hard to prove you are innocent even if you are. I think your best bet is to reflect what has happened clearly, without hessitation to the deciding party and hope decide there is not sufficent evidence to imply you have cheated.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: You're in trouble. Based on the description the evidence against you is strong. Just about the only thing you can do is cast doubt on the evidence.
>
> First he was saying that I keep on looking at my seatmate but I defended that I it was just a glance because of the noise created by my seatmate and that because it distracted me.
>
>
>
You could conceivably find others seated nearby who were also distracted. However, this isn't a good defense in any case: if it's distracting you could've told the invigilator. Repeatedly looking at other students during an exam is inexcusable.
>
> After that he show the card hand asked me to explain about it. I told him that I didn't see it and that it is not mine but he kept on saying that it would be impossible for me to not see it.
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>
>
You need to prove it: given the location of the card and your seating posture, you could not have seen it. Offer to re-enact the exam, sit at the same seat, and place the card where the professor picked it up. Warning, this can go the other way; it can easily prove that it is indeed impossible for you not to see it.
>
> I called for my classmate, who is the owner of the card, and she was asked if it was hers. She said that I must've fallen of her bag.
>
>
>
Again you need to prove it: prove by re-enacting it that it's possible for the card to fall out of the bag. Again, fair warning, this can go the other way; it can easily prove that unless the card was literally not stored, it cannot have fallen out of the bag.
Because the evidence against you is strong, weak defenses (such as "I don't remember where I sat" or plain denials) is not likely to work. If you can refute the last two points then you could apologize for the first and argue it's not enough to prove you're guilty.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I found an engineering-related academic paper from a number of years ago that was published in an obscure journal, likely not peer-reviewed. The English writing is very bad, like it went through three languages in google translate, and many key parts are nearly incomprehensible with awful grammar and incorrect word usage all over. Organizationally it's rather a mess too. While it took me quite a long time to decipher it all, I recognized the value and importance in it, and I think should be more widely seen, as there is really nothing else published on this specific topic.
I was interested in potentially redoing the paper to better present and explain the ideas in it. I would want to add my own ideas of interpretation and application too. I wrote to the original author and they responded, and I think they'd be ok with the project? I couldn't discern a clear answer from them yet.
In the sense of academic standards, what is appropriate in this situation? Is it acceptable in the first place to redo and republish someone else's full work? Do I become a new co-author, or simply an "editor", or new main author while at the start somehow noting it's a rewrite? Or where is the threshold between plagiarism and a newly written paper if I redo it from scratch, but following and using all the original author's ideas and data, and then add my own thoughts? I really can't maintain any of the original written content as-is, because it's just so badly done.<issue_comment>username_1: I think this would be pretty hard to do ethically unless you can form a collaboration with the author. I wonder, though, if the paper also exists in an original language, in which case you could probably do a translation, but listing yourself only as translator, not author. But, again, getting authorization would be appropriate if possible.
So, keep after the author, and suggest a collaboration. Especially if you have ideas that extend the original. You can work on it, of course, but publishing without permission might raise issues.
If you are having trouble communicating with the author because of language difficulties, try to find a native (or fluent) speaker who also speaks English to act as an intermediary.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Improving the exposition of good ideas in a poorly-written paper is valuable.
As long as you clearly give credit, you should be OK.
Plagiarism means presenting the contribution of someone else as your own. As long as you are clear that the ideas come from the previous paper and you are just giving an exposition, you are not plagiarizing.
However, you also need to be diplomatic because your implicit criticism of the original exposition could be taken the wrong way.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: A very simple, dumbed down definition of plagiarism is: claiming someone else's work as if *you* did it. So rewriting with yourself as sole author is just right out.
When considering "who should be (co-)author of a paper", there is no simple rule. The simplest you could get would be: anyone who contributed significantly gets to be listed as author. But that leaves a lot of possible situations:
* The person who did the original research. Clearly the paper couldn't exist without this person.
* Someone you had a discussion with who came up with a key idea that was used later in on the paper. Without them the paper wouldn't be like this, so this person has a claim to be an author.
* Someone who did significant editing and writing on the paper, making it much better and possibly making the difference between success and failure (in publication/impact).
* Someone who made a lab available, supplied key datasets, used their academic influence to secure funding - but maybe never actually did anything in the lab themselves? But without this person perhaps the research wouldn't have been possible in the first place. Some academic institutions reserve the last author listed spot for these people. In other institutions they might just get a spot in the acknowledgements. There's no one rule here that's used across the whole world.
So there's no simple rule that clearly says who should be author. When someone begins to make a big contribution to a publication, you should quickly have a discussion to agree on expectations. In any case, and also this particular case, the original researcher certainly should be one of the authors.
The ethical thing to do would be to have an open discussion, along the lines of "I think your ideas are good, I think I can contribute with my writing skill. Let's collaborate to together publish a more impactful paper."
---
An alternative would be to do original research of your own, inspired by the original author; and then cite the original author in your (better) publication. Science after all is about building on others' work (but giving due credit).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: In general, with appropriate attribution and care in the writing process, you should be able to rewrite a paper without violating academic norms. This becomes even easier if the original author is involved in the process. That said, getting the rewritten manuscript published in a more visible and respected journal will be difficult, if not impossible. The key to me is:
>
> While it took me quite a long time to decipher it all, I recognized the value and importance in it, and I think should be more widely seen, as there is really nothing else published on this specific topic.
>
>
>
If you see value and importance in the previous research, you should be able to build on that and do something that could not be done, or done as well or efficiently, without the previous work. Once you have built on the previous work, you should be able to publish the new work with an extended introduction that recreates the original work in a more accessible manner. Again proper attribution and care is needed to not violate academic norms, but this should not be a problem. The ratio of new to old will depend on the journal, how bad/inaccessible the old work is, and how important the work is (either the old work or the new extension).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Depending on the context of the paper and a new contribution you can make, I would say that you have options
- like <NAME> wrote - write the whole new paper by yourself and have this paper as a building stone and inspiration reference
- find the way to collaborate with these authors, so you could create a review paper, where all concepts and ideas of them, yours and from literature can be nicely organized, described and discussed. Maybe now they are able to add something brand-new as well.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_6: Personally, I would be very happy to read an abstract along the lines of
>
> ABC is an important problem because of XYZ. A solution to this problem was presented already by UWV et al., but is not widely known, partly because of the technical nature of their presentation. Here we give a readable presentation of UVW et al.'s ideas, showing that they can be interpreted in terms of PQR, and we give applications in the field of JKL.
>
>
>
If the paper is mostly a reinterpretation of existing work it might not get into a top journal, but if the problem is important and the solution is a good one, your paper will be a valuable contribution and is likely to be widely cited anyway, since most people implementing it will be working from your paper and will cite it along with the original.
There is no danger of it being seen as plagiarism if you are presenting their ideas in your own words, and state at the start that this is your goal. The other authors will likely be happy as well, because their work will become more widely known as a result of yours. There is no need to involve them directly at all, although of course this is possible as well.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_7: >
> I would want to add my own ideas of interpretation and application too. I wrote to the original author and they responded, and I think they'd be ok with the project? I couldn't discern a clear answer from them yet.
>
>
>
To me this suggests that you plan to write an elaboration of a previous paper in **collaboration** with the authors of the previous paper.
As a reviewer I would have no objection to such a research plan: **incremental research** is perfectly fine, so please give the appropriate slant to your manuscript.
As a reviewer I would also feel obliged at a minimum to browse the literature you cite -- is it workable to add a link to the obscure source? I would then soon realize that your work is all the more valuable to the community.
The [Vancouver recommendations](http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf), primarily intended for biomedical publications but easily to generalize to any field based on common sense, suggest that
>
> authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:
>
>
> 1. Substantial contributions to the conception or de-sign of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
> 2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
> 3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
> 4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
>
>
> In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he or she has done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.
>
>
> All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged -- see Section II.A.3below. These authorship criteria are intended to reserve the status of authorship for those who deserve credit and can take responsibility for the work. The criteria are not in-tended for use as a means to disqualify colleagues from authorship who otherwise meet authorship criteria by denying them the opportunity to meet criterion #2 or 3.Therefore, all individuals who meet the first criterion should have the opportunity to participate in the review,drafting, and final approval of the manuscript.
>
>
> ...
>
>
>
So, if the potential coworkers are not clear-cut in the intention of **co-authoring this work** (that is, doing something), you may resort to simply citing their previous work.
A note of practical wisdom: if the obscurity in writing reflects obscurity in thinking rather than merely poor command of language, you should consider whether your effort will be mutually collaborative.
It would be unethical on their part doing nothing and exploit your good intentions.
In the perspective of an editor/reviewer I am interested that there are no ghost/ guest/gift authors -- please have a look at this decision chart of [Publicationethics.org](https://www.elsevier.com/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/65037/Ghost_0.pdf) and its references.
Last but not least: **ask for an opinion to the editor of a/the journal you intend to publish in**. You may do it at two different times: before getting started, speculatively; when you approach the near-final state, for you might find other interesting corollaries along the ways. In the second case, I imagine, you will afford being more assertive about the cutting edge in your manuscript.
Good research hinges around merit and credit. From your words I feel you are doing well.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: Other answers have focused on authorship, claiming and giving credit and further angles. So that's covered.
*What about novelty?*
In a comment to another answer, the question was posed, whether a journal would reject a re-written paper due to it being already published.
Well, some journals might do, however, if you are convinced that the scientific community will benefit from the re-written paper, then you might consider publishing in some open-access publication, arXiv comes to mind.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm asking this here as opposed to a more technical stack exchange as I'm looking for a ... well... less technical type of answer.
I'm fed up with being passed from pillar to post by my institution's A/V department when the microphone equipment in a lab breaks, and a fix that takes weeks to complete will affect my lectures (as it has done in the past). I'm consequently looking for a more permanent solution for this type of situation, one where I can take charge of my own lecturing environment and and provide some sort of recourse that doesn't involve shouting at the top of my lungs for a number of weeks.
Most of the traditional microphone systems are a complicated array of boxes and receivers. This strikes me as something straight out of the 80s and really antiquated (when we go around with small computers in our pockets, and bluetooth is a thing). It's also deeply impractical to set up, on the fly, multiple boxes that need careful calibration and separate power sources.
When I look up "bluetooth microhones" I get a whole heap of karaoke type devices. I don't know if these would work (it would be odd to receive a lecture on astrophysics that turned out to be autotuned), but even the karaoke mics that aren't covered in glitter don't look great for an academic environment.
What sort of route should I be going down? I'm in no way a technophobe, but I feel all at sea with talk about 3-Pin TQG connectors, bandwidths, stereo lines, SPL , etc.<issue_comment>username_1: I've experienced some similar problems at my uni, and what cleared it up for me was learning more about the systems. I sat down with each piece of equipment and figured out how it worked and connected with the other pieces of equipment, so that I could diagnose it myself if it was something simple like a dead battery or the receiver and transmitter being on different channels.
I have the benefit of requesting my courses all be taught in the same building, where all of the rooms have the same audio equipment, and I'm not at risk of it changing in a year and everything changing. It does take precious time away from other activities, but in my experience it has saved me more time and voice power that it costed me.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I had the same problem. To make me quit complaining, the department chair bought a RevoLabs USB wireless microphone. I kept it in my office, plugged in to a USB charger wall wart, and took it to classes with me.
I'm still teaching a bit, even though I've retired, but the RevoLabs mic somehow "became lost" after I turned it in. A new one is too pricey for me to buy at over $200, so I bought a "Fifine" USB wireless mic from Amazon. It's neither as high quality nor as unobtrusive as the RevoLabs mic, but it's also $40 and works fine.
My use case is recording my lectures with PowerPoint; I then post a "narrated slides" video for students who missed the lecture.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a last year PhD math student in an university in USA-Canada.
The university I work in offers graduate students the option to teach first year calculus courses as a special kind of TA. The demand for this is high and not everyone gets a position for a given term. However, the department's policy is that everyone who passes a one-term course on teaching and wishes to teach can do it at least once before graduating.
So far so good.
The problem arises when it comes to wanting to teach a second time. It seems like whatever metric is being used to decide who gets the job heavily favours a specific ethnic group. This is, the vast majority of students who get to teach a second time are from a specific ethnic group, while people from other less represented groups seldom seem to get a second chance.
Clearly the department's argument for this is that these people get better teaching evaluations, but in part this is an echo chamber resulting in the exclusion of members of other less represented ethnic groups in the student body.
The two immediate problems that come to mind are:
* Reducing the diversity of teachers for a very diverse base of students.
* When it comes to job applications teaching experience can be a valuable asset. Access to it shouldn't depend on our ethnic background.
My (perhaps naive/biased/egotistical) conclusion is that the department's criteria is flawed and it should be modified in some way to reflect this in the future. My questions are:
* Who should I talk about this first? I think the best idea is to talk with the person in charge of assigning the positions, who inherited the criteria from the previous person in the position.
* How should I approach this person? I think this can be treated as a potential opportunity to improve the department, but I feel like I need to be careful on my approach so that no one feels threatened or accused of anything.
* What should I expect? Let me be clear: I don't expect to get a teaching position since I'll be graduating soon, but I'd like this issue to stop and I'm willing to make some noise and bother some people if necessary.<issue_comment>username_1: It's an interesting problem, and wanting a fairer representation is a noble goal. But the goal of fair representation does need to be balanced against another goal: giving students a good education. The first goal of having TAs is to help educate students, not to provide people a career stepping stone to the TAs.
>
> The problem arises when it comes to wanting to teach a second time. It **seems** like **whatever metric** is being used to decide who gets the job heavily favours a specific ethnic group. This is, the vast majority of students who get to teach a second time are from a specific ethnic group, while people from other less represented groups seldom **seem** to get a second chance.
>
>
>
There's a lot of uncertainty here. If you want to successfully challenge your institution on the facts, you need more facts.
If you go to them and say "you seem to hire a lot of X", they can just say "well it may seem like that to you but we don't recognize ourselves in that feeling". If you come and say "group X is represented as 20% of first term TAs and 70% of second term TAs", it's a lot harder to turn you away at the doorstep.
But make sure you get your ethnic classifications right. For example, a pale ginger guy from Argentina with Spanish as a first language, would you classify him as Caucasian or Latino?
The other thing you need to know is what metric they actually use. If you try to argue that their decision-making process is flawed without knowing how they actually make their decisions, you're not going to achieve much.
How *are* TAs evaluated? Professors are typically evaluated at least partially on feedback forms. But I don't often see specific TA feedback forms. Do other departments/universities do it differently (and do they have a different/fairer ethnic spread)? Can you point to a best practice that your institition could adopt?
The article linked by @PatriciaShanahan points out the value of blind auditions. Once feedback from students has been acquired, how is it processed? To find that out you're going to have to talk to some insiders in your institution. I would recommend finding some progressive-minded professors and asking them if they can explain to you how the internal process actually works. Not accusing them: just asking to explain.
>
> Clearly the department's argument for this is that these people get better teaching evaluations,
>
>
>
Sure.
>
> but in part this is an echo chamber resulting in the exclusion of members of other less represented ethnic groups in the student body.
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>
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Well, maybe. What if this ethnic group really has a property that gives them an edge in teaching? For example, they speak the local language better than other ethnic groups (such as foreign exchange students). If, as a student, I have to rate two TAs and one is easier to understand, and therefore I learn more from that TA than from the other one, is it really unfair that the first one gets a better evaluation?
>
> My (perhaps naive/biased/egotistical) conclusion is that the department's criteria is flawed and it should be modified in some way to reflect this in the future.
>
>
>
I think your conclusion is logically flawed. You don't like the outcome of the process, therefore you assume the process must be bad. But what if the process is okay, and the favored ethnic group really did have some advantage that makes them better TAs?
Are students better served by having the best TAs, or the fairest ethnic spread of TAs?
So yeah, your reasoning is noble, but naive. That said, a system which seems to produce ethnically biased outcomes should be viewed with suspicion. So you need to dig deeper into the causes, before you try to convince people to change it.
>
> Who should I talk about this first? I think the best idea is to talk with the person in charge of assigning the positions, who inherited the criteria from the previous person in the position.
>
>
>
Asking them is a possibility. But I think I'd start with a progressive-minded professor who'd been there for a couple of years already. The professor would have some idea of what happens behind the scenes, but not be as directly challenged, and might become interested themselves. Could result in you gaining an ally for your cause.
>
> How should I approach this person? I think this can be treated as a potential opportunity to improve the department, but I feel like I need to be careful on my approach so that no one feels threatened or accused of anything.
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>
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In the beginning I would focus on gaining information, not on insisting on change. You don't have strong enough evidence (yet). Ask how evaluations are done. Is there any broader analysis of evaluation results, that give you a picture of the ideal TA? For example, if students mention "good English" as an important criterion, you can look at your non-favored TAs and ask if there's a noticeable difference in their English.
Another question to ask is whether TAs receive any kind of training to prepare them for the job. Does the training match the evaluation criteria? Maybe the training doesn't contain something that already comes naturally to the favored ethnic group. So by evaluation time, they do fine on that criterion, but others struggle because nobody taught them.
>
> What should I expect? Let me be clear: I don't expect to get a teaching position since I'll be graduating soon, but I'd like this issue to stop and I'm willing to make some noise and bother some people if necessary.
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>
>
That's going to depend on a number of factors, such as how progressive your institution is/wants to be, and what the reasons are that this ethnic group seems to be doing better than the rest, and on how diplomatic you are/whether you manage to find the right allies.
---
TL;DR -
* You need more facts about ethnic representation. Numbers.
* You need to know more about how the evaluation is done, what is it testing and how.
* You need to find out why other ethnic groups are being evaluated worse. Look for causes, don't just complain about bad people with biases.
* You need allies on the inside.
* Remember that the institution can always say "our primary goal is to give our students the best education, so we prioritize having the best TAs over having the most diverse TAs". And they're not entirely wrong. You need to find out why more ethnically diverse TAs are being rated as "not the best".
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In my view, the [answer of username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/141563/75368) gives a good analysis and reaches a proper conclusion. The key point there, I think, was that the balance between *goods* needs to be properly defined. Providing the best education for students is one good. Providing a teaching experience for graduate students is also good.
But I think there is a deeper issue that requires an orthogonal approach. One of the reasons that, for example, "white male students" seem to favor "white male teachers" in evaluation is (leaving sexism aside), partly due to the fact that there is likely to be a close match in language and idiom and pronunciation, etc, between the student an the instructor. It isn't perfect, of course. One of my very worst course experiences was taught by a Swedish visiting professor (even whiter than I am) who spoke English only *very* poorly. The course was basically lecture-exam based and there were too many students for any effective communication. I shared a cultural/racial/gender background with the prof, but not language, or at least not accent.
So, my orthogonal suggestion is that you ask about the entire system of course delivery in a diverse environment. Is it appropriate or does it, at base, make assumptions about learning in that environment that may be invalid. In particular, people seem to have a hard time understanding those who have a different accent, even if they come from the same country (Brooklyn, vs Georgia). So, if I can't understand a lecture, how do I evaluate the lecturer? They may be wonderful in what and how they present, but I just can't grok the words.
But, this is primarily, I think, a case of *lecture* being overused in education. And especially situations in which a course is lecture combined with high risk exams and little continuous feedback to students is bad for everyone. Even small difficulties get magnified.
So, my advice is to try to start a conversation within the department about what constitutes effective education so that more people can do it effectively, both as a student and as an educator. It may have little to do with ethnic difference, and a lot to do with ineffective methodology in a diverse world.
And don't lose track of the fact that all beginners are pretty terrible at most everything. This is no different for educators than for olympics-aspiring swimmers. Find ways for the novice teachers to be effective while they learn to do better.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: **Don’t just analyze the problem - offer a solution.**
Pointing fingers and telling people “you’re doing it wrong” is likely to be a lot more grating and put the people you’re talking to much more on the defensive (probably leading them to deny that there is any problem that even needs to be addressed) than if you were to frame your approach as a positive, constructive one where you make concrete, actionable suggestions for what kind of TA evaluation system will result in fairer outcomes. In fact, you don’t necessarily need to even say there is currently a problem with the system at all; a positively-focused approach where you say “I have some ideas for how to make the process *better*” may end up being the most effective one.
Speaking of making the process better, I really think you need to give this some significant thought before you try talking to anyone in authority. Even assuming that your premise is true (and I am agnostic about whether that’s the case or not), it’s a real head-scratcher to come up with good ways to measure teaching effectiveness, particularly ones that eliminate the sort of biases you and other people here have mentioned - this is a notorious problem that basically no one knows how to solve, which is why teaching evaluations are used as much as they are: even though they are a pretty noisy signal, they have the advantage of being something that can actually be measured. So I wonder, and I’m sure the people you’ll be talking to will be wondering: what would you use instead?
It’s also worth keeping in mind that some solutions to this problem of hidden biases that people come up with, notably affirmative action-type solutions that simply impose an artificial racial diversity that plays down the role of merit (or a best attempt at measuring it) are highly controversial, possibly illegal, and are seen by many people as being no less problematic than the original problem they are trying to address. So again, when you approach decision-makers at your department to discuss this issue, you would do well to show that you have given substantial thought to this issue, done some appropriate research, and come up with actionable, reasonable suggestions — preferably ones that stay away from any highly controversial, politicized approaches. That would be my advice at least. Anyway, good luck.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I understand that honesty is the best policy, but is it a good idea to say "I have no clue" when the SOP [explicitly asks](https://icme.stanford.edu/admissions/application#SOP) me to describe my "intentions relative to graduate study and life beyond the University"?
Basically, I don't have any ten-year plan. The main reason I'm going to apply for the program at the university is that the degree can give me great resources and offer me better choices after graduation. (Other reasons include I have friends in that area and I love the weather in California, but I guess those don't count?) I haven't really considered my life beyond the university, though: life is just too dynamic for me to answer questions like whether to stay in academia or to enter the industry at this point, and I don't want to eliminate any possibility as early as now.
On the other hand, I do have some long-term goals, but I don't have a detailed plan on how to realize them. I just keep them in mind when making decisions. However, these goals are probably too ambitious, bold, and maybe stupid to be used as an intention: *I'm going to develop a framework to unify statistics and machine learning, turning all current work into "miscellaneous earlier efforts" like Newton did!*
To clarify, I'm applying to both Masters and Ph.D. programs, because I don't really know what I'm after, so I'm just exploring different options and will take the best offered.<issue_comment>username_1: "I have no clue" is not going to get you far. The committee will probably interpret that you will not be very motivated, and motivation plays a big role in succeeding in study programs, especially if they include research.
You are also not expected to know exactly what you want to do the following ten years. From your question, you seem to know as much or as little about your future plans as the average applicant to graduate study, maybe even above average.
You are interested in the topic, and want to study further to learn more about it and have a better chance to make valuable contributions, either in academia or in industry. Say that.
You are not sure yet whether you want to continue in industry or academia, but you want to experience research in academia and be able to make a better informed decision afterwards. Say that **if it is true**.
You can mention your long-term goal, but make sure not to make it sound too ambitious/impossible to do. For example, *I am interested in analyzing Machine Learning from a statistical point of view, with the aim to hopefully provide the community with a better understanding of why artificial intelligence is so powerful*. Suit this to your own needs.
The fact that you have friends there and like the weather is in my opinion also worth mentioning, but without focusing on it. Mention it last, and only in one short sentence. Although this does not say anything about your ability to do research, it adds to your motivation to go there.
And just in case, do not copy-paste any of my sentences, but use them as a guide to come up with your own. This is about your motivation (not mine), and answers on StackExchange are public and easy to find.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: >
> I'm applying to both Masters and Ph.D. programs, because I don't really know what I'm after
>
>
>
Figure out what you want first, *then* apply for graduate school if necessary. The question clearly shows you are not ready for graduate school yet. Do something that pays well while you figure out your goals.
>
> However, these goals are probably too ambitious, bold, and maybe stupid to be used as an intention: I'm going to develop a framework to unify Statistics and Machine Learning, turning all current work into "miscellaneous earlier efforts" like Newton did!
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>
>
That's not too bold, just don't say you will do it next week. You might achieve that over the course of a career. It could be phrased better.
>
> What are acceptable purposes in Statement of Purpose?
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>
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For a PhD, there is only one purpose: to conduct research in some specialized topic.
Upvotes: -1
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2019/12/14
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm writing an essay in English, but much of my source material is in Spanish (my first language). I know how to reference my sources in the bibliography, but how do I quote within the text? Do I translate it myself and still use quotation marks?<issue_comment>username_1: "I have no clue" is not going to get you far. The committee will probably interpret that you will not be very motivated, and motivation plays a big role in succeeding in study programs, especially if they include research.
You are also not expected to know exactly what you want to do the following ten years. From your question, you seem to know as much or as little about your future plans as the average applicant to graduate study, maybe even above average.
You are interested in the topic, and want to study further to learn more about it and have a better chance to make valuable contributions, either in academia or in industry. Say that.
You are not sure yet whether you want to continue in industry or academia, but you want to experience research in academia and be able to make a better informed decision afterwards. Say that **if it is true**.
You can mention your long-term goal, but make sure not to make it sound too ambitious/impossible to do. For example, *I am interested in analyzing Machine Learning from a statistical point of view, with the aim to hopefully provide the community with a better understanding of why artificial intelligence is so powerful*. Suit this to your own needs.
The fact that you have friends there and like the weather is in my opinion also worth mentioning, but without focusing on it. Mention it last, and only in one short sentence. Although this does not say anything about your ability to do research, it adds to your motivation to go there.
And just in case, do not copy-paste any of my sentences, but use them as a guide to come up with your own. This is about your motivation (not mine), and answers on StackExchange are public and easy to find.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: >
> I'm applying to both Masters and Ph.D. programs, because I don't really know what I'm after
>
>
>
Figure out what you want first, *then* apply for graduate school if necessary. The question clearly shows you are not ready for graduate school yet. Do something that pays well while you figure out your goals.
>
> However, these goals are probably too ambitious, bold, and maybe stupid to be used as an intention: I'm going to develop a framework to unify Statistics and Machine Learning, turning all current work into "miscellaneous earlier efforts" like Newton did!
>
>
>
That's not too bold, just don't say you will do it next week. You might achieve that over the course of a career. It could be phrased better.
>
> What are acceptable purposes in Statement of Purpose?
>
>
>
For a PhD, there is only one purpose: to conduct research in some specialized topic.
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: I’m new to the culture of research and my professor suggested that I try to submit an abstract to a conference. The only problem is, I have no idea how you figure out what type of conferences there are. I’m wondering if there’s some type of conference portal that lists them all in different fields...?
There’s so many conferences out there and I’m just curious how one could go about finding conferences to submit to. I should say, I’m not asking what conferences I should submit to, but how you figure out which conferences even exist in the first place.<issue_comment>username_1: Conference Monkey is exactly a "Conference Portal", as you are looking for: at <https://conferencemonkey.org/>
Beyond it, It's actually one of the main roles of professors in universities and scientific researches to guide students to where and how to submit papers. Thus, actually the most common process is that the professors suggest specific events, journals, etc to their students.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Another thing that you should do, and it will help with this issue is to join a professional organization in your field. I'll guess that most fields have one or more such organizations, and I'll also guess that most of those have a special rate structure for students. This is true in Mathematics and Computer Science, for example (each of which as two or more such). The ACM (in CS) also has Special Interest Groups (SIGS) for subfields that you can join.
And then, the problem will go away as your email inbox will be full of announcements. Likewise, the "journal" that is distributed to all members will also be full of announcements of conferences, even those not formally sponsored by the organization. The SIGS will also send you lots of enticing ads.
But, you should probably join for a lot of reasons, not just the email "enhancements".
And, of course, those same societies normally have web sites, and their conferences are usually promoted there. They are likely to be some of the top conferences in that field.
Upvotes: 2
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2019/12/14
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently working in a computational research lab where my supervisor just hands tasks to me to do that will help him with his papers but I don't get any input in the creative process whatsoever. For example, he's asked me to transfer data and create data tables but I'm never given any context for the project scope or involved in the planning or exploratory/research process, just in the execution. When a postdoc or somebody from another research group asks for his help with a random tech-related task, like debugging some computer issue, he hands it to me instead. I've been in this lab for half a year now and have nothing meaningful to show for it, besides scattered pieces of code written here and there and essentially serving as tech support for people.
I asked for the chance to lead a project and he assigned me one, but he said that he'll be assigning me the tasks which will eventually converge to a paper. I'm not given any context or "big picture" questions or allowed to take my own approach to answer them. He essentially has a list of pipelines he wants me to run and just output the results for. I feel like I'm just getting assigned busy work and not allowed to contribute my unique background/skills.
When I've been done with all my work, I've tried taking simple tasks and making them into a larger-scale project/applying more CS concepts to them but he disapproves and says it isn't priority and hands me more random tasks instead.
He has given me tasks to do late in the evening to have done by the next morning. I asked him to give me more advanced notice going forward to which he essentially responded "People in academia love their research so much that they don't mind putting in extra hours. If you're not willing to work after hours then maybe you're not cut out for academia."
I am totally used to and enjoy working long hours on research projects, and have done so without hesitation in past research experiences during undergrad because I had a sense of ownership over my work and freedom to be creative with it, but here I'm just working for my boss to help make his name bigger. I'm not getting authorship for my work or allowed to pursue long-term meaningful projects. I could be working as a software eng. making muuchhh more than what I'm earning (turned down lucrative job offer) but I chose this because I enjoyed the freedom and creativity involved in my past research much more than being handed random dev. tasks to make money for some for-profit corporation. But this doesn't feel very different from that aside from the huge paycut and having to take work home.
He also doesn't allow me to attend workshops/conferences at the institution I'm at. Every time I've asked to attend something that interests me he says "this other task is a bigger priority" or "that's irrelevant for the task you're working on" even though I'm really interested in exploring what other people are working on and networking.
So overall I feel a bit more like a secretary and less like a valuable member of a research team. Is this what all research is like in academia? If so, I'm concerned this may in fact be the wrong path for me. Any input/advice is very much appreciated.
**Update** I ended up switching to another lab and my experience is significantly better here. Some of the other researchers in my previous lab that I wrote about opened up to me about their experience there and it seems like the culture in general was pretty toxic (most of us have since moved on to new labs). Thanks everyone for all of your input-- it really helped me reach this decision!<issue_comment>username_1: I got the same experience just like you. Remind that the research should be observed then discussed comprehensively. Therefore, we have to consider whole factores and knowledges which should be included inside the research we purposed. Thinking positively, it will improve our knowledge and skill better on the research field we concerned. However, it needs more works to do all of that. Having consult with your supervisor and experts on it help you for more, at least you seems more active and progressive on your work. Good luck for that.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> I'm not a doctoral student, I'm a research associate at a research lab affiliated with a university in the US
>
>
>
So if I'm reading that right, you are not a student. You have completed your BS degree and you are an employee (if that is not correct, please clarify the question). The PI in the lab is not your advisor, he is your boss. So your boss is treating you like an employee, and not like a student. You should not be surprised by this. You *are* an employee and a fairly junior one at that. If there is any mundane task to be done, it's going to come to you. You will find that the experience of being a graduate student is very different than your current position. You will have considerably more ownership / freedom on the direction of your research (not total control, but much more), and you will definitely get authorship credit for your work.
Having said that, there is also considerable variation from lab to lab and from professor to professor in their style of working. Some professors will try to give even undergraduates a meaningful research experience, but others might treat even experienced doctoral students in the manner you have described. You may have just ended up in a bad lab. When you are applying to graduate school, when you go to visit the campus, the most important question to ask the professors is: "Who are your graduate students and where can I find them?" Then go ask those graduate students what it is like to work in that lab with that professor. If you don't like their answers, then you know not to work in that lab.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: Is someone completes a Ph.D. from a former Warsaw-pact country, would her Ph.D. be recognized in North America as in the same status as a North Americal Ph.D. in case of academia related career?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, of course. Go into any American mathematics department's webpage and odds are that you will find an academic with a PhD from the USSR.
Edit: with regards to "status", it really depends what do you mean by it. Do they have same legal status? Yes. Are they valued the same? Most likely not depending on who makes the evaluation. American public (and surprisingly good portion of academics) seem to value "university rankings" a lot more than other people do. Non-American schools seem to fair much worse on these metrics compared with the American schools. As an example, current times higher education world ranking ranks.
* 104th University of Arizona
* 105th University of Bonn
* 125th University of Göttingen
* 189th Lomonosov Moscow State University
Now, I have seen much stronger mathematicians with PhDs from the last three compared to the first. I personally would value higher either one of the last three than the first.
P.S: Indian IITs don't make it to first 300. However, they seem to have incredible students. Perhaps because they admit incredible ones. Even than why would, say Harvard, be any different.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Recognized for what?
For hiring as an academic, the main things considered are the publications; so even with a Ph.D. from an unknown university, someone with great research can be hired easily.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: The Warsaw pact was dissolved almost 30 years ago. It had nothing to do with higher education and research (only collective defense). Its relevance to modern-day academia is close to zero.
The Warsaw pact included countries/regions as different as East Germany, Albania, or Azerbaidjan. There is absolutely no reason to believe that diplomas from these places would be treated uniformly, and indeed, they are not.
Upvotes: 2
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2019/12/15
| 525
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<issue_start>username_0: Does it reflect worse on a student to skip class or not go to any office hours? My professors so far think it's better for one to never show up to ask questions but go to classes but I disagree because classes aren't always useful. Sometimes my professors read right out of the book for the entire lecture and I don't need someone to read for me.<issue_comment>username_1: I would try to look at it from the other side of the desk. Your professor probably:
* Does not think the lectures are useless, and
* Feels that most of your questions were answered in class.
I am sure you disagree, but that's how your professor will see it.
So in terms of how skipping class and attending office hours reflects on you -- well, I am sure they find it obnoxious. By the way, if you skip both class and office hours, then they won't know you at all, which is only marginally better than being actively disliked.
At any rate, if you are the only student attending office hours, then it would be difficult to justify refusing to help you (assuming you are respectful, etc.). If there is a crowd at office hours, however, it would be reasonable to favor those students who attended the lecture.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If you don't attend class or go to office hours, you're effectively saying you don't need the professor to teach you. If this is indeed true for you, then more power to you. The professor might at most be mildly annoyed by how you're not coming to class if you continue to ace the exams.
Two caveats:
1. If you never come to class, the professor will have no impression of you beyond what you write in the homework & exams. You can't really ask them for a recommendation letter because they won't have much to write about.
2. More importantly, most of the time, students who don't come to class do worse - much worse. In fact I'm pretty sure there's a strong correlation between how often a student comes to class and how well they do.
Feel free to not go to class if you're confident, but if you start having trouble with the homework / mid-terms, it's time to attend.
Upvotes: 2
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2019/12/15
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm going to apply to graduate programs in both Statistics and Data Science. To me, Statistics, Data Science, and Machine Learning essentially refers to the same subject, but some universities are offering different programs. Still, it's rare for a program in Statistics to not mention DS/ML at all, and vice versa.
My undergraduate major is in Statistics, but my research experiences is mostly concerned with Machine Learning. When writing my Statement of Purpose, I'm struggle to justify why I'm applying to STAT programs with a background in DS/ML. Yeah, they are closely related, but wouldn't it be weird to say "Through my research experience in DS/ML, I developed an interest in STAT, so I'm applying to your STAT program"? The reason I'm applying to a STAT program instead of that in DS when both are offered is that the former is generally more academic, theoretical, and in-depth. (AFAIK there are no Ph.D. programs in DS, but it's hard to find a STAT Ph.D. whose research interest is not related to DS/ML.) I cannot say for now whether I'm going to work in academic or in industry, but I believe a sound theoretical background would be helpful in either case.
I don't think claiming STAT, DS, and ML are the same in the SOP would be a good idea either, as the Committee probably won't agree with me. How do I address the issue of terminologies, then?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> wouldn't it be weird to say "Through my research experience in DS/ML, I developed an interest in STAT, so I'm applying to your STAT program"?
>
>
>
I don't think so, especially if you modify it a bit:
>
> "My experience as a STAT major, combined with my research experiences in DS/ML, have inspired me to further study STAT."
>
>
>
I think you can, and should, blend the two together. As you noted, they are related, and the committees know this. Use that to your advantage.
If you are applying to a school with both and you feel like you must justify your choice of STAT over another program, then I think you've already got your justification: you are drawn to the theoretical and rigorous nature of the program. I think your major is more than enough to prevent you from seeming like an outsider.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I'd say there isn't a clear distinction between stats and machine learning - ML tends (when it is done right) to be the computational end of statistics, but it is still statistics/probability. Data science on the other hand implies a wider (but possibly shallower) set of skills including database skills etc for handling large amounts of data that you don't see that often in stats/ML. You could say you wanted to increase the depth of your understanding of the stats part of DS.
Upvotes: 0
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2019/12/15
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<issue_start>username_0: <https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/fellowship#categories>
Apparently these fellowships are popular in the UK? What sorts of universities care about them? And why?<issue_comment>username_1: (Nearly) all UK universities want to signal that they take teaching seriously, both for student recruitment and for the [TEF](https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/teaching/what-is-the-tef/), for the obvious financial reasons.
For this reason new faculty are typically required to undergo training to reach a qualification that either leads to an HEA fellowship or is equivalent to it. Thus HEA fellowships are the national standard for teaching. Typically new faculty are exempt from these training courses if they have an HEA fellowship.
Anecdotally various people within my own institution have said that the push to get more faculty accredited with HEA fellowships was important for an improvement in our TEF ranking. There continues to be a big push to get more *existing* faculty to do the paperwork for HEA fellowship, although I do not believe it is a requirement (or even mentioned as desirable) for job applications for the majority of posts.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: From my very limited experience, I would say universities that participate in TEF would care about having academic staff with HEA fellowships (and there are many levels of fellowship). In my view, getting one will only work in your advantage. For what it is worth, I have been asked about having/willing to get the accreditation during job interviews, so I assume the universities (Russel Group) definitely care. I've also been told that having/on track to getting one will look good for annual review (it counts toward part of your personal development). Finally, getting a fellowship (above the Associate Fellow level) entitles you to add FHEA after your name. I personally find the process very rewarding, as it really forces you to reflect critically on how you teach (not just what you teach). As most PhD programmes don't teach you how to teach, going through the trouble of getting a fellowship provides that opportunity to be trained.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: At Plymouth University, attaining FHEA is a condition of passing probation for all teaching personnel on a contract of 50% full-time equivalent or more; and attaining AFHEA is a condition of passing probation for all personnel on a contract less than 50% full-time equivalent, but who have at least 15 hours per year of student contact time. Policy [here](https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj50u-IopfwAhWMfMAKHQhPAw4QFjAAegQIAxAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.plymouth.ac.uk%2Fuploads%2Fproduction%2Fdocument%2Fpath%2F12%2F12329%2FTeaching_Qualifications_and_Recognition_Policy_SEPT_2018.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1eNIQ93x5KP25GX5gK908c). Incidentally, this policy was already in place before TEF was introduced.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: Most universities in the UK get the majority of their income from undergraduate and postgraduate taught students. Even in a research intensive university most research and teaching (R&T) staff spend more time on teaching than on research. It therefore pays to be able to signal that you value teaching. One way to do that is to say that all/x% of your staff are qualified up to a certain level. As others have pointed out such statistics may affect a university's TEF score, but universities were trying to get everyone qualified well before TEF.
If you are applying for a R&T job at a research intensive university, already having AFHEA, FHEA or SFHEA is unlikely to be the decisive factor in hiring, although it can't hurt. As @DanielHatton pointed out, almost all universities will require R&T staff to gain FHEA or equivalent within the first 3 years on the job as a condition of passing probation.
However, if you are applying for a teaching focused position at a research intensive university, OR any position at a teaching focused university, being qualified might well improve your chances of getting the job significantly.
I guess even non-UK universities might care about it as a signifier of a serious commitment to teaching if you were applying for a primarily teaching focused position.
Upvotes: 1
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2019/12/15
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<issue_start>username_0: I am PhD student finishing my first year in Computer Vision. While I take my research seriously, I was wondering what I could (or should?) do that is not research. I can think of very different things:
* Studying related subjects that do not directly benefit my PhD as Natural Language Processing;
* Studying completely different subjects that interest me: Finance, Chinese, Management, etc;
* Go to the gym;
* Sleep more;
* Play PC games;
* Watch movies;
* Travel;
* Look for jobs for after my PhD;
* ...
So far, I have been focusing on research during the week, and if I'm tired of it during the evenings or the week-end (which is usually the case), I just rest or read a book.
Not sure if this is being lazy or having a good life-work balance, but at least I am still very motivated and things are going not too badly (I am quite close to completing the key experiences of my first paper).
**So, what should I do?**<issue_comment>username_1: As the comments say, **do what you want**.
It is your free time. There is no meed to sacrifice it to your PhD. Otherwise you might later end up feeling that you have "wasted" time, as in [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/141199/112007). Your research work seems to be going well, so there is also no pressure to put in more hours.
There is no need to optimize every aspect of your life. Try out those things you have mentioned, see what works out for you/what you enjoy more. We cannot make that choice for you.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I see "go to the gym" as one of your options. I would definitely try to fit in that, or some sort of vigorous exercise program. Personally I'd go for running or brisk walking outside, as it gives one some time to think about random stuff without a lot of noise and distraction.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: First, take care of your health. Get enough sleep and exercise. Aerobic exercise is especially good. Eat properly.
Next see to your relationships, both personal and professional. For professional relationships try to build a circle of people who might be willing to collaborate with you in the future. Conferences are good for this, but some of it can be local in a large university. Exploit your advisor's circle if possible.
Upvotes: 2
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2019/12/15
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a PhD and whenever I apply for a librarian job I am told that I am overqualified for this position. How can I overcome this barrier?<issue_comment>username_1: Some ideas are:
Apply to better libraries. I doubt that the Bodleian Library has a problem with PhDs.
Apply for other jobs that are a good match for your qualifications. Some libraries hire *Researchers*, and an advanced degree might be a help there. Such people help others find obscure resources. And, of course, academic jobs are made for you. Perhaps there are high level, busy, academics who would hire you as a researcher. This could be a pathway for an academic position of your own.
Finally, I was once in a similar situation (I assume) in which jobs were very scarce at my level and was advised by a professional employment advisor to prepare a CV that mentioned my MA degree, but not my PhD. Some employers would be more comfortable hiring someone with lesser qualifications than more. Sad, but true.
I hope this is only necessary as a fill in while you work out a career that does, in fact, match your qualifications. Good luck.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: When they say you are overqualified, it probably means:
* They are afraid that someone with a Ph. D. will demand a higher salary than they can afford to pay;
* They are afraid that you will get bored with the job and quit after a few months because the work won't be challenging / intellectually stimulating for someone with a Ph. D.
So, in your cover letter, you have to tell a good story that addresses the above two items (i.e., tell them why you know you will love this job and not get bored with it). If you search around on google, you can find many articles / blog posts giving more detail.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_3: I've seen this a few times where hiring panels have given the response of 'overqualified for the position' as a slightly dishonest cop-out answer to avoid giving more accurate feedback. In these cases, what is actually meant is 'we don't think your academic experience is valuable in this workplace environment, and may actually be detrimental'.
Note that I'm coming from an engineering/computer science perspective, and experiences may be different in other fields, but often there is a stark difference between academic and commercial practices in the same industry. Someone who has advanced to the point of achieving a PhD may be seen as being too ingrained in the academic world to adapt to the commercial environment. This could be the balance between doing their work perfectly and doing their work quickly, for example.
The other case is sometimes that a person is very qualified in an academic sense, but has very little workplace experience, even outside of the industry they're qualified in. Some academics have *never* worked outside of a university, and there is a good chance that someone who has never worked at *any* job will take quite some adjusting to a working environment. This is a risk employers can avoid by hiring someone less academically qualified (if the qualifications are unnecessary) but with more working experience.
It sounds like in your case, you're applying for a role where your PhD isn't valued, so you may need to explore what else is on your resume. Would your resume impress a prospective employer even if your PhD wasn't mentioned at all? Have you included things that will be valued - such as working experience, even if not in the industry you're applying for? This could be part-time work done while you were studying, particularly any internships or secondments.
Lastly, it could be helpful to demonstrate (either through an application letter or in an interview) that you understand what the daily duties are of the role you're applying for, and importantly how they are different from your experiences in academia.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: You could simply leave the fact that you have a Ph.D. off of your résumé:
* If your Ph.D. was 100% inside a university, you could mention it as work/internship (it that matches the contract you had).
* If your Ph.D. was done in cooperation with a company, you can simply mention your experience at the company.
* For someone applying for a librarian job a gap in the CV doesn't seem inadmissible either.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Well, the resume should be tailored to each individual job you apply for anyways, because you are trying to use it to show yourself in the best light with relevance to each individual position.
So the question is, is your PhD *relevant* to the librarian position? If it is, I'd leave it on there and see how you could leverage the skills to stand out among other candidates for the librarian position. But most likely it isn't, so you'd be better off leaving it off the resume, especially if you could easily replace it with something that is (much) more relevant to the librarian position that you are applying for.
Upvotes: 0
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2019/12/15
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<issue_start>username_0: Three months ago, a professor has offered to me a research position at his university with high salary, and I rejected it because I wanted to join a master's program. Unfortunately, I made a bad decision and now I changed my mind and became very interested to the exciting position he offered to me.
Do you think is it a good idea that I send him an email and ask if the offer is still available? So even that I rejected the offer 3 months ago, is it possible that I ask the professor about that offer again?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, it is a good idea to ask. But explain that you now think you made a mistake in rejecting the offer. You might also want to mention your longer term goals, which I assume include further education. He can help you with that if he has a good sense of your needs. If your work for him is good enough, he might also have some incentive to help you along. One hopes for such an outcome, anyway.
But yes, ask. Silence gains you nothing, nor him, either.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If you already know that you are interested in the position only for 9 months from your side (until Aug 2020), and he is looking for a more long-term assistant, be aware that he may not want to hire you.
Hiring a RA is in many places quite a bit of bureaucratic work, and unless you are absolutely outstanding, I can imagine the prof not being interested in a very temporary candidate for whom (repeatedly) another line, namely an MSc, is of higher priority. Of course, that all depends on the professor, but I could imagine them to go for a candidate with a longer-term perspective.
Of course, asking never hurts, as long as your request is polite and makes clear you will accept any decision the prof makes. Be also prepared that perhaps they have also already hired someone.
Upvotes: 1
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2019/12/15
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<issue_start>username_0: A fellow researcher shared with me his notes where he attempts to solve an open problem in maths/computer science. Both he and his student have been trying to solve it for over a year, and by now they are not actively working on it anymore.
Shortly after he shared with me his notes, I found a trick to solve a crucial step they were struggling with, leading to a resolution of the open problem.
Who qualifies for first authorship in this situation if this leads to a journal/conference article (where the authors are not listed in alphabetic order)?<issue_comment>username_1: My advice is to use alphabetical listing and detail the history of the solution in an acknowledgements paragraph. This may be overly generous, but will likely lead to a better relationship with everyone in the future. This can pay more dividends than the momentary rush of being first author.
I especially recommend this if you and your colleague are a bit established and this won't be a first paper for anyone but, perhaps, the student.
Collaborative relationships are an asset and they should be carefully managed.
Where I have deviated from alphabetical listings is in closely collaborative relationships where one of us (not myself) was clearly the leader/driver throughout. But it was obvious to all of us that he should be listed first. (Computer Science, where alphabetical listing is pretty common).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: My gut feeling (I don't work in CS or TCS but I talk a little with people in adjacent areas) is that 1st authorship should go to the person who shared their notes with you; you say yourself that you solved "**a step** that he was struggling with", which indicates that he and his student had already done significant work to attack the problem. Of course it may be the case that your contribution is somehow the decisive one.
All this said, if you have a diplomatic way of asking this person "who did you think should be first author" I would do so: he may offer 1st authorship to you, or he may not. It is hard to say more at this level of generality.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> Who qualifies for first authorship in this situation if this leads to a journal/conference article (where the authors are not listed in alphabetic order)?
>
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First of all, from the conditional phrasing of your question I will take a wild guess and speculate that this scenario is entirely hypothetical (more so than you may realize) and will never actually happen. In all of math, and essentially all the parts of computer science where “solving an open problem” is a thing, the convention is that authors are listed alphabetically. Thus the easy answer for you would be to follow the norms of the discipline you are publishing in and likewise list the authors alphabetically. The question of who contributed “more” in a situation like you are describing will never have to be answered, and indeed most people (myself included) consider it nonsensical and would never even think to wonder about such a thing.
In the unlikely event that you will need to specify an ordering to the contributions of the different authors, a simple solution would be to include the statement “all authors contributed equally” in a footnote somewhere. Again, this seems to me to be the closest approximation to the truth. Of course, from a practical standpoint you and your coauthors will need to have a discussion about this and come to an agreement, and hypothetically speaking this could be a source of some contention. But given that you’re working in the context of the (fairly healthy) publishing culture of math and CS, I see a good likelihood that this won’t happen.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> I found a trick to solve a step
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To me, that doesn't sound like first-authorship-level contribution.
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> ...journal/conference where the authors are not listed in alphabetic order...
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Other answers claim that maybe you're being hypothetical here. I'll assume that is actually the case - but suggest that you change it! If you three are all in accordance, I suggest you list the names alphabetically *despite* the accepted norm, and add a small (foot)note to that effect. Maybe others will take your example too and we'll get rid of author ordering in another venue.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: It is hard to assess who actually deserves first authorship, as much depends on how big that one step is, what else was done etc. However, you clarified in a comment that you want to know if there is a standard way to deal with such situations.
There is:
**Standard solution - TALK with each other**
1. Find out who of the involved parties wants to write a paper on this - the original question statement and a solution involving your trick for that step.
2. Once that's clear discuss with all involved parties what each party contributes and how the authorship order should be.
3. If there is disagreement, you can shift around some of the remaining work, either to shift someone's opinion towards yours or to make the remaining work fit the majority authorship order. For instance, if the others agree one of them should be first author, not you, you might want to leave all or most of the write-up to them. If it hangs in the balance between you and someone else, you might offer to write several parts, like introduction, state of the art overview etc. in addition to describing your little trick to shift the amount of contribution in your favour (make sure the others agree this will also affect the author ordering).
(Aside from that a not recommneded ultimate step that will burn bridges is always to disagree and withhold your consent to write that paper).
4. Write the paper.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Obviously the one who puts in the work to write it all together gets to be first author.
Who that is, you have to decide together. *Collaboratively.*
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: At my college, authorship is done in order of contribution (if evident) or alphabetically. Generally, to prevent conflicts, its done alphabetically, but that's not the case here.
In that case, then you would only be considered an author if your actually wrote any of the paper. It's difficult to tell if you actually wrote part of the paper, or if you just solved the problem and they wrote the paper, but either way they did more work on the paper. You could be listed as a *contributor*, but not as an author. [This article](https://www.enago.com/academy/difference-contributor-and-co-author/) explains the difference.
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> New researchers who aspire to official authorship status may see the title of “contributor” as a relegation or demotion in rank, but for other, more experienced researchers, it may simply be a pragmatic recognition of the fact that you may have provided valuable resources but didn’t actually contribute to the writing or editing of the research paper.
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Basically, you made a *contribution*, but you did not *author* all or part of the paper. That would put you as the last in-order at most, or a footnote at the least. So, we go like this:
[Name, Student], [Er, Research], [U, Yo], [<NAME>]
Upvotes: 0
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2019/12/15
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<issue_start>username_0: I am now living in a state (in the US) where marijuana is legal (for recreational use) and I'd like to be able to try it. However, I am concerned that doing so might effect my job or grant prospects as a current graduate student. In my field, students can intern for the DoD or NSA and my understanding is that smoking marijuana is a disqualifier for those kinds of positions.
Am I correct in this?
Are there any other grants or jobs for which this would be disqualifying?<issue_comment>username_1: Honestly, I would just not disclose that type of information and instead tell them that you don't use those substances. The fact is that public policy is extremely out of touch with substance use and it really shouldn't matter what you do in your personal life if you are qualified to be doing the job. Just like your sexual orientation, you really should not be disqualified from something you're qualified for because you decide to make a personal decision about what goes into your body. As long as you're not the type to be abusing substances to the point that it would impact your performance on the job then I truly cannot see any reason why you can't be doing both. However, with all of this being said, if they do drug testing then you're facing a very different set of risks. Many top performing professionals in their fields have used and do use substances, so live your life while also getting that position.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: This is not an expert answer, and hopefully someone will provide a better one, but here is what I could gather.
My impression is that: past use of marijuana is unlikely to impact your employment prospects at federal agencies. The greater concern would be with ongoing use. I have no solid information on the frequency of drug testing during federal unemployment, but it is in principle a possibility; more significantly, it seems that a drug test is a rather common component of hiring, especially for employees requiring a security clearance, which is common for scientific positions in national security.
To provide one piece of data, it seems that the Department of Energy, one of the largest federal employers of scientists, *requires* a drug test during the security clearance process. This [reference](https://news.clearancejobs.com/2018/11/19/will-i-receive-a-drug-test-as-a-part-of-my-security-clearance/) asserts that cleared employees in general should expect a drug test when changing jobs, though not necessarily during employment.
In short, I can find no evidence that trying marijuana while not in the federal hiring process has any associated employment risks, and I have very strong priors against the idea that it would. However developing a regular marijuana *habit* would likely make it quite difficult to get hired at these organizations.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Regardless of current policy, your career may be affected by policies 30 years in the future. Although the trend seems to be towards increased tolerance of marijuana, it is not possible to predict how things will be throughout your career. When I was a teenager US federal policy seemed to be moving in the direction of eliminating poverty and racial injustice as important objectives - see the "Great Society" programs.
You seem to be in a field that may lead to US government employment, or needing a US security clearance, or both. That makes you very vulnerable to changes in policy. The consequences of not being able to truthfully deny ever using illegal drugs could change in either direction.
You will have to make your own trade-off, but remember that you need to consider what could happen over several decades, not just what is happening now.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> In my field, students can intern for the DoD or NSA and my understanding is that smoking marijuana is a dis-qualifier for those kinds of positions.
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I would clarify a few points:
* Many grants are sponsored by the DoD, and it is common for academics (in universities and industry R&D) to receive these grants. You do not need a clearance to get a grant unless the grant requires classified work. This often leads to a first-mover problem: you need a classified contract to get a clearance, and you need an active clearance to be competitive for many classified contracts.
* Getting a clearance takes a months, and can take years in extreme cases. So, I would not most expect a summer internship to require a clearance. There could be exceptions, but they would have to hire you and start your SF-86 several months in advance.
* It is true that recent or ongoing marijuana use would certainly prevent you from maintaining a clearance. Historical marijuana use is unlikely to be a problem if you are honest about it. I am not aware of any hard cutoff between "recent" and "historic," but anecdotally I have heard 1-4 years.
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> Are there any other grants or jobs for which this would be disqualifying?
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I am not aware of any grants, at the DoD or otherwise, that would ask about your drug use. On the other hand, random drug testing is mandatory for all/most federal employees as well as many large companies (though even the companies that do drug test may or may not care about marijuana).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I work for the DoD and have colleagues who have been arrested related to marijuana. I am not aware of any grants that require additional drug testing or more than a provisional security clearance. All of our positions, even internships, require the individual to complete an [SF86](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Form_86) and be granted provisional clearance. Past drug use, and even convictions, does not disqualify you from gaining provisional clearance. Not all positions require a pre-employment drug test and not all positions are testing designate.
I would (do not) worry about recreational use of marijuana and its effects on future employability. The key, like everything on the SF86, is to be honest. If you have used in the past, or have a conviction, you need to declare it. Things get messy and from my understanding, it is not clear if you need to declare drug usage that is illegal in the US if it was used someplace that it is legal.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: I've gone through the process, so here is my experience.
Marijuana use won't be disqualifying in itself but it will be considered a negative factor for getting a security clearance.
Usually if it occurred well in the past and doesn't establish a pattern of questionable behavior (for example you used marijuana, had a DUI, had other misdemeanors in the same period ), it will be OK.
It's a much bigger problem if the use is ongoing or fairly recent and can not be chalked up as youthful indiscretion.
If you are planning to apply for any jobs / internships that require security clearance, I suggest not using marijuana. And yes, there are internships that require security clearance.
You might even be disqualified from some jobs that don't require security clearance. I worked on a NOAA contract that required "public trust" - basically a background check - which actually uses the same process used for getting a security clearance. While the bar for getting that is much lower, they still ask for drug use and expect you to disclose it.
Just recently HR sent a company wide email forwarding guidance from the federal government that despite states making marijuana use legal, it (the federal government) still considers it illicit drug.
So long story short - if you are planning a career that has anything to do with the federal government do not use marijuana.
Upvotes: 2
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2019/12/16
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<issue_start>username_0: We had a group project that involved 4 people. 3 of us worked really hard. Personally, I feel I did about 1/2 the work. We had a Viva at the end of the project. I got nervous and did quite badly. When the grades were out I got a B, same as the guy who didn't really do much. I'm wondering if it's a good idea to ask the professor to consider re-evaluating my grade.<issue_comment>username_1: Sounds like you probably got a good grade for the project work and your poor presentation performance dragged your final result down.
Your colleague may have a poor project grade but the presentation grade pulled him up...
Without the detail of exactly what was required, the marking scheme and the precise results, not much more can be said.
You can choose to chase this, or not, but I don’t think you have a big problem here.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It is a good idea to ask. But you probably won't get a change in grade.
The "ask", however, should be about *why* the grade is lower than you thought it should be. Learn, if you don't already know, what the grading criteria was and how much each element contributed. The professor should be able and willing to answer these sorts of questions.
But it should also have been clear before the project started what the grading criteria should be and how important would be the evaluation of each part. It is possible that half the grade was assigned on the presentation.
Learning what happened gives you the chance to work on those things in which you were judged lower than the others. That is the real reason for asking.
If you really want the grade changed then get your teammates to advocate for it based on your contribution to the other part. But that will have to come from them, not just your claim of doing "half".
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: One aspect of group projects that students sometime overlook, is that work is sometime set as a group activity so that students can experience group activity and team working and also be assessed on how they perform as a group.
Many employment (and research) tasks take place in groups and learning to work in and then being judged as a group is something that needs working on as part of the educational process. It is often something that employers and professional bodies expect degree courses to include.
Going through the stages of group development often has to be experienced. [(Tuckman, 1965)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuckman%27s_stages_of_group_development)
So how team members interact and perform in total is often as important as what an individual contributes. I try to explain to my students that when one feels strongly that their personal contribution has been overlooked that this is an indication that they have not fully embraced the teamworking dynamic and should be focussing on the final deliverable and not their individual fraction. This might be the feedback you get if you asked for a re-grade. Asking for a re-grade could just be confirmation that you were not fully cognizant of the grading criteria.
Without knowing about the details of the assessment scheme we cannot know what factors were taken into account to form an individual's grade, but I suspect it is more than just an individual's labour.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: The thing with group projects in a classroom setting is that nobody is particularly glad to be in them. Group projects are just something that need to be done sometimes to grow as a person. However, the best advice I have heard about working as a group is that you need to take responsibility for the outcome of your group. If your group does bad, so do you. If a teammate is lagging, so do you. If everyone is performing at their best, so do you. While you might have gotten a lower grade, you just need to reflect on what you could have done to be better and how you could have brought your team along with you. Groups will always have weak members, but if you’re part of the group then you share in both the fruits and spoils of the group.
Upvotes: 0
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