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2020/10/28	878	4,095	<issue_start>username_0: I have written and submitted a manuscript to a journal owned by Oxford University Press. This manuscript describes the associated source code, which is stored in a public GitHub repository. The journal has sent this manuscript to reviewers, and they have responded with some suggestions on how to improve the code. I would like to implement these suggestions in my code. To what extent can I refer to these suggestions in my public task management workflow (ie GitHub)? I'm not even sure who owns the IP to the peer reviews themselves, but I assume that, since it's a closed review system, I am not allowed to reproduce the comments. In that case, can I paraphrase these suggestions when I write my GitHub issues? Each GitHub issue is a public thread for tracking information about tasks, their scope and their progress. If yes, can I explicitly tag these issues as being derived from peer review? Or will this leak too much of associated IP? More broadly, how can I balance my desire for open and transparent software development, with a closed review process?<issue_comment>username_1: I'm going to speak loosely here, but the copyright in these reviews probably gets assigned to the journal. Check OUP's website for instructions for reviewers and see if they have a page on it. But, every reviewer generally signs some sort of agreement before they do their first review, or with their submission. It may depend on country to some extent or entirely. I couldn't find anything immediately, so you may have to contact an editor now to find out. My guess is that OUP has the copyright on the suggested code or the reviewer retains it. Either way, you need someone else's permission to adopt it into your project, which, in the US, would probably require a written copyright transfer to you or whoever owns the copyright on your GitHub project (which might not be you even if you think it is). This written transfer agreement would break the anonymity/single-blindness of the review process, so you'd have to go through the editor anyway, so there's no harm in just starting there. Edited to add: you should be asking the editor to clarify and to get you permission from the reviewer in question to use the code, gratis. For them to donate the code to the editor or you in a way that complies with most copyright laws and contributes it to your project in a way that you or the actual copyright holder can take ownership and check it in to the repo with no repercussions. All while maintaining the integrity of the review process. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I think the other answer and comments focus too much on the legal aspects involved. There is also a community moral aspect to it. There is a good discussion in the Publons article [Who owns the review](https://publons.com/blog/who-owns-the-review/). The comments that the reviewer makes are meant to be only for the author(s) and editor. For the editor to help make a decision on acceptance of the paper and for the author(s) to either explain this decision or help improve the paper. Quoting this comments elsewhere isn't really part of the traditional process. However, the issues raised by the reviewer need addressing in the code and you are following code practice by tracking issues using an appropriate (open) tool. I think its important that you remember that the reviewers recommendations are just recommendations that you need to interpret in any case before you make any changes. I would recommend to make issues/tasks using your interpretations of what needs to be done. You should be able to state clearly both what needs to be done and why without quoting the reviewer at all. This way you avoid any problems relating to copyright at all - publishing interpretations is fine. The recommendations are there to be acted on so there's no need to bother a probably already over-worked editor. More importantly this approach makes you think about what the changes are and why they are needed. This will help your understanding of the issues and how to fix them better. Upvotes: 2
2020/10/28	440	1,905	<issue_start>username_0: I was thinking about whether it would be possible to create a 3/4 year bachelors programme which goal is to teach the student to be able to read any/most scientific article? If so, do you think this programme would be valuable? What would you think the prime courses should be? I myself would believe high level mathematics would definetly be a must.<issue_comment>username_1: There are several impediments here. In the US such a program would be outside the very philosophy of a bachelor's program. Elsewhere the program may be more technical. But, since it takes a doctoral student several years after earning other degrees to be able to read "all" of the papers in some small specialized subfield of a larger field. But even if you just consider the bulk of the problem note that it would probably take several years just to read definitions of all of the technical jargon of all of the world's research fields just one, never mind learning it so that it actually hangs together. Can you read and understand all of the technical articles across fields just in Wikipedia? A bachelors degree whether specialized as in UK or general as in US is enough to get you to the point where you can "begin" to understand the papers in a given field. But even then, a recent paper is probably based on several other earlier papers that also need to be understood to some extent so that the current one makes any sense at all. This is partly why there are popularizers of many scientific fields such as <NAME> and <NAME>, so that people can "get a sense" of a deep topic while not completely understanding it. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: It would not be a real bachelors program. A bachelors program should not be focused on a single skill (reading) and it should not be focused on solely on consumption skills to the neglect of creation skills. Upvotes: 2
2020/10/29	571	2,340	<issue_start>username_0: Last month, I saw a job offer and applied for it. I did not hear back from them, but it is not uncommon to wait for 1-2 months before hearing back (especially with the COVID-19 situation). The deadline for applications closed on 17 Sept (offer was only open 1 week). Today, I just saw the exact same job (same reference number, job description, location, etc.) advertised again. I assume that they did not consider any of the initial applicants suitable. My question is, should I apply again? I have read advice elsewhere (e.g. [here](https://www.resume-now.com/job-resources/jobs/how-to-apply-for-the-same-job-twice-without-looking-desperate)) to apply again, maybe after modifying your CV and cover letter. Please note that I am well qualified for the position (qualifications and academia experience) and did not receive any rejection letter from the first offer (otherwise I wouldn't bother re-applying). The fact they are re-advertising suggests they are (more) desperate to find someone to fulfil that role, and might be more receptive. Note there are some similar questions on this site (e.g. [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/98216/applying-twice-for-the-same-position)) but not quite the same situation. This question is specifically about seeing a job offer that has closed, and the same job being re-advertised.<issue_comment>username_1: Give them a call. Only they know if/why they rejected you the first time or simply didn't get to your application. It might be good to consider the channels through which you've seen the application both times. If the first time was through the institute's official website, and the second time through a third party source, it may be that the third party didn't know the job ad was filled. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Yes, it's appropriate to apply again. Possibly they re-advertised it because they didn't get enough qualified applications the first time. They might have a policy, for example, that they re-advertise if they don't get at least three applications good enough to be invited for interview. It's possible they considered yours good enough, but that too few others applied. Just send it again. The worst that can reasonably happen is that they will again not consider your application. Upvotes: 2
2020/10/29	762	3,446	<issue_start>username_0: How common is it to mention that a discovery was made by accident and if it is acceptable to say that in a paper? We often hear historical accounts on how discoveries were made by accident, however, I never saw it mentioned in a paper. I wonder if here would be a good place to ask for examples. I am asking that because I recently made a discovery and the specific conditions I used were simply by mistake. These conditions were not used before and it was not my intent to use them, I just used the buffer of a different experiment. Usually, there is an explanation of why a specific condition was chosen, but if there is no reason beforehand, is it better to come up with an explanation or to state it was by trial?<issue_comment>username_1: The paper is not the place to give a step by step account of everything that happened. You should have a research log, or lab log, or some other form of documentation that does that, but that is separate from the paper. The paper is there to present your finding in a clear and concise way. Based on the paper you should be able to replicate the results, but, depending on the kind of research you do, is not necessarily the same as a complete list of every step taken. I think of the paper as the summary for the research log and code. I can imagine accidents where it is worthwhile to mention that in the paper, others where it can be entertaining and other accidents where it is not appropriate in the sense that it wastes the readers time. It depends on the accident and the style of paper you are writing, where the latter in a large part depends on the journal you intend to sent it to. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If there was no rational motivation for the discovery, I would write "We serendipitously discovered..." Some people might just give no reason. Most people (except maybe clickbait writers) will not care if the discovery was an accident. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I think you should briefly describe the fortunate accident that led to the discovery. Those few words will add to the human dimension of science at no cost to the reader and perhaps some benefit: they won't waste time wondering "how in the world did they think to try that?!" I wonder if Fleming's paper on his discovery of penicillin discussed the accidentally exposed petri dish. A haven't found the paper on the web (after not too long a search). Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: There is absolutely nothing remarkable about being able to have some random lab mishap. The actual accomplishment lies in following up, namely noticing the unexpected nature of the results and tracing their causes instead of just dumping the failed experiment and starting over. So the main point of relating the details of the mishap would be if there were some expectation that variation along related lines could lead to similarly relevant discoveries, basically indicating a class of phenomena that your discovery could possibly be part of. For example, if you have a paper about the microbial properties of a substance, it would make sense to specify just where in nature you encountered this or a functionally similar substance that may have evolved as an organic defense. That opens up a lot more "hot" research venues rather than if you present the substance in isolation, without giving out the details of the origin of your research. Upvotes: 1
2020/10/29	881	3,780	<issue_start>username_0: As I don't like looking up the internet and read all the materials or references and all that when doing assignment, thus I try to pay full attention during lectures and/or tutorials. Therefore, my assignments are often long and with minimal to no plagiarism detection rate as all the contents are written by myself from my own knowledge - not paraphrasing. Perhaps I'm not until the stage where I need to often look around for more materials I guess? I'm currently still a year 2 undergraduate. There's sometime where I have to lookup on the internet so adding references is unavoidable in this case. But in general, I ended up having my assignment to contain only a small amount of references, maybe 3 to 5. My plagiarism detection result is usually just around 0% to 1%. Or even in most cases, I just refer to my lecture notes and that's it. But recently as I enter year 2, this started to give me problems. I just ended my first semester and was given lower than usual marks for my assignment, with the lecturer commented that the amount of references and/or citation is insufficient, although the plagiarism checker finds no match. Hence, marks are being deducted. Therefore, my question is: 1. Should the amount of references/citation be taken into account when grading? 2. Let's say, this idea or knowledge is on my mind, or maybe I learned it from lecture, and it is sufficient for me to complete my assignment, without the need to actually refer back or anything. Should I take the extra effort to find out the related sources and reference or cite them? 3. Or, is my way of doing assignments actually wrong and improper? Should finding external sources of information as references when doing assignment is actually a must? I also need to clarify that all my assignments are getting reasonably good grades. Please do correct me if I got any idea and/or concept wrong.<issue_comment>username_1: It's not clear what field these assignments are in, but as a second-year undergraduate, learning how to cite properly is a reasonable educational goal. I would advise you to review the syllabus and/or assignment guidelines to see if an expectation for citations was written out. For example, I have had assignments where it was OK to cite things as "(lecture, 10/29)." If the expectations aren't clearly set, I would ask your professor in your next class session what the citation expectations are. And stop worrying about the plagiarism checker. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Plagiarism is not about whether your work passes some % threshold on software that detects plagiarism. Plagiarism is the representation of words and knowledge/ideas as your own. When you learn from a source, you need to cite that source when you write about it. Over time, some knowledge becomes so commonly known that it doesn't need to be cited any more in most cases; for example, Newton's laws. Lecture content might sometimes fall into this category and sometimes not, you can ask your instructor for guidance on their expectations. However, most of the content in a paper you write at a college level will come from a source you need to cite, unless it's work you've physically done or your own unsupported opinion. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: An undergraduate should be learning how to teach themselves. This includes following the process of: 1. Identifying what you do not know. 2. Identifying information sources that can help you learn. 3. Absorbing that information. Including extensive references in your writing is one way to show that you have completed those three steps. This is why you are (sometimes) graded based on references. If you plagiarize, your grade should not be reduced; it should be zero. Upvotes: 0
2020/10/29	1,416	5,994	<issue_start>username_0: A colleague of mine, who I regard scientifically, just invited me to submit an article to a special issue of a journal which I consider predatory. I consider this journal predatory because its publisher released several journals that are considered predatory in my scientific community (bioinformatics), and also for some details like the super-fast review and acceptance process. The last article this journal published, for example, has the following review and acceptance times listed: > > Submission: 12th September 2020 > > > Revision: 23th October 2020 > > > Acceptance: 28th October 2020 > > > Publication online: 29th October 2020 > > > This aspect is very suspicious to me. What should I do now? Should I tell him that I think the journal is predatory? In this case, he might get offended, and this situation might compromise our future relationship. Like, he might not want to collaborate with me anymore in the future. But if I say nothing, the scam could go on...<issue_comment>username_1: First, you need to have very solid reasons for considering the journal to be "predatory". I bring this up because the only concrete reason you gave in your question is a rather poor one: rapid peer review cycle is not necessarily evidence of being a predatory journal, even if it might be unusual in your field (as it is in mine). My point is not to dispute your assessment (I have no idea of what journal you are even talking about); my point is that if you would consider discussing it with your colleague, then you should certainly focus on explicitly disreputable behaviour. In particular, the publisher's journals should clearly be listed on at least one website that tracks disreputable journals. That way, it is not just your assessment; you would have others who would support your concerns. That said, a publisher with some disreputable journals might have some very genuine journals in its portfolio. This is a very important point: you cannot automatically denigrate one journal just because of other journals from the same publisher. And I repeat, a rapid review cycle is rather weak evidence. Stronger evidence would be actual access to review reports that you can examine and judge to be of unusually poor quality. So, this brings me to your direct question of whether you should share your concern with your colleague. If you are afraid that she might get offended, then it seems that your relationship with her is not sufficiently close that she would trust that your concerns are personal concern for her. In that case, it would be especially important that you have strong evidence of disreputable behaviour before accusing the journal she is involved with of being predatory. If you do not have such strong evidence, then it is best not to mention anything but to politely decline the invitation with a truthful but evasive answer (e.g. "I am unable to commit the time to such a submission"--this would be truthful since you are unable to waste your effort and time on predatory journals). But then, even if you do have sufficiently strong evidence to accuse the journal of being predatory, you would need to determine how comfortable you are with this colleague. Only you know that, so ultimately it would be up to you to decide whether she might be offended by your presentation of evidence. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Two problems with doing so: First, the rapid publication you mention isn't especially unusual. Note it took 6 weeks between submission and revision. That's completely conceivable if you look at the [typical editorial workflow](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/55665/what-does-the-typical-workflow-of-a-journal-look-like). In fact if everyone involved does their bit quickly, it could easily be even faster. The time between revision and acceptance is also fast but not extremely so; if the requested revisions were minor (e.g. just some typo fixes) then it could easily be immediate. The most "suspicious" thing about that timeline is the one (!) day between acceptance and publication online - but many journals these days are putting accepted articles online as quickly as possible and leaving the bulk of the production process (copyediting, typesetting, etc) to later, see e.g. [this](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241076/). Second, your colleague probably has a clearer idea than you of whether the editor is predatory. For example, they will know if they've never been invited to handle a paper, or if reject recommendations are ignored. If you do choose to raise this with your colleague, be sure to word it as "I'm concerned the journal is predatory" instead of "this journal is predatory, why are you the editor?". Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: If you knew with certainty that the journal was predatory, the case for saying something would be a lot stronger. But you don’t, and as others said in the comments, the evidence that you cite for this claim is fairly weak. Given that there isn’t even a generally accepted definition of what constitutes as “predatory”, your colleague may reasonably take offense at the implication if you bring it up. I suggest letting your actions do the talking. If you don’t want to be associated with the journal or think enterprises of this type should not be encouraged by your community, don’t submit there. Politely tell your colleague that you are declining their invitation and leave it at that, or, if their email was addressed to several people and not targeted specifically at you, just don’t reply. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: If you care of your colleague you can certainly discuss this in a sort of question style. I mean, if you care of him/her reputation, there should also be a friendship relation between you. If not, I don't see the point as for keeping the same feeling you should be equally concerned with all editors of supposedly predatory journals, at least in your field. Upvotes: 0
2020/10/30	1,186	5,314	<issue_start>username_0: I was recently given a green light by my former supervisor to conduct an analysis on individual patient data from their recently published trial for a stats class assignment (Msc). The idea was we could flip the assignment into a research letter/full manuscript if the results are interesting. I didn't describe the full analysis since I knew it would be enough to just give them the overall jist. I later called my former colleague, the clinical trial coordinator, to describe the data I needed, the analysis I was going to do (more detailed), and discuss data security since it was a group project. I mentioned if my members could not have access to the data, I could do the analysis myself since I had already signed confidentially etc in the past. The coordinator then told me the question/hypothesis I was asking was something s/he wanted to see done but did not have the statistical expertise to do. I want to emphasize here that the coordinator does not have a methodology background and was not familiar with the analyses/methods that I described but just thought what I wanted to do is like what they had imagined. However, a few hours later, I receive an email from my former supervisor that is clearly written by the coordinator saying that on further consideration, the analysis I was going to do probably belongs in a secondary paper that '[they] want to do'. Complete 180 and phrased 'we' exclusive since I am no longer part of the team. Now, its common for my old supervisor to delegate decision making / email writing to his staff as s/he is a busy clinician so there isn't any uncertainty around the email. They have also offered me an alternative data set for my class but I cant help but feel robbed. What do I do?<issue_comment>username_1: Ah, the wonderful world of "coopetition" where at first you are collaborators, but actually one party was secretly treating it as a zero-sum game. However, in multi-institution collaborations, it's not uncommon for investigators to stake out turf, and all the better you know of this now rather than after you invested time beyond the developing a hypothesis and analysis plan. This does sound like an error on the part of the trial coordinator, since ideas are cheap, whereas the time, expertise and discipline to carry them to publication is much more scarce. Are you sure that the clinical trial coordinator intends to exclude you from this project? Maybe another phone call is in order to clarify what their intent is. As far as what you might do, unless you manage to have a phone call to clarify otherwise, personally, I'd cut bait, and switch to the alternate data set. Given that the you are at different institutions, and that at a minimum communication is poor and perhaps trust is too, I wouldn't chance throwing good effort after bad when they hold the cards with control over the data set. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: While I sympathize with your situation, I believe that you are vastly overestimating the severity of the wrong-doing by the coordinator and your former supervisor, labeling the question with tags such as plagiarism, and calling it intellectual theft in the title. It is hardly either. As I understand the situation, neither you nor your former supervisor has any ownership over the data. They belong to another group, and when prompted, they said that they would rather do the study themselves. From your description it seems like the study was a rather obvious one, so there is really little intellectual ownership as far as the method goes. The coordinator was even nice, and offered you another data set. These things happen all the time, and you have not sunk too many resources into the project yet. Cut your minimal losses, write back with a "thanks for the alternative data set", and if you feel like it, you can even add that the coordinator may pass your contact information, in case the group is looking for a collaborator with your expertise. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: This does not sound anything like intellectual theft to me. It seems just as likely that your contact (the trial coordinator) did not know someone else had already planned to do the analysis you proposed (or something similar). They had a conversation with others in the group, found this is too close to something they're already doing, and have informed you of this. The input you've given at this point is very minimal. This does not sound like a special idea you "own", it sounds more like the level of conversation that academics constantly have informally with each other when discussing their data: "Have you tried (xyz approach to your data)?" Sometimes, this type of input will result in an acknowledgement, in other cases there might be an offer to collaborate especially if the person with the suggestion has more expertise with the method. Other times it's just that, a suggestion. As a side point, > > we could flip the assignment into a research letter/full manuscript if the results are interesting > > > is terrible statistical methodology. Intent to publish only if results are interesting leads to bias in published papers and is a form of data dredging. If you follow this methodology it's likely you will [publish junk](https://xkcd.com/882/). Upvotes: 2
2020/10/30	2,815	11,956	<issue_start>username_0: My instructor for an undergraduate math course (a professor) has been interacting with me over WhatsApp lately, and I feel that that is very unprofessional (and uncomfortable), since I (and everyone) use instant-messaging apps for personal communication only. Moreover, from what I know, it is common practice in academia to communicate over email. Am I overthinking it, or is it really unacceptable? I find this unprofessional because WhatsApp relies on one's private phone number. I think this professor got it when I called their office phone recently.<issue_comment>username_1: Instant messaging is not inherently more unprofessional than other common forms of communication. It could be used in exactly the same way as email. Instant messaging has been getting more popular in workplaces. Specific messages could be unprofessional, but they would also be unprofessional if sent by email. If you prefer to receive email, you can ask to get email instead. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I cannot see your specific concern here since you mentioned there is nothing inappropriate from their side in your chats. I guess You are thinking that the mere fact of using messenger apps violates your boundaries as it is naturally unprofessional. Based on my experience, not all professors think the same way although the ones who tend to message you on the messenger apps are far and few. Also, some messaging apps are better than others. Messaging someone on their Gmail messenger tends to be more common compared to messaging them on their Facebook for example. Anyhow, if you are uncomfortable with it for any reason, you are entitled to your opinion. I think you can politely ask them to use email for messaging you "since you do not check your messenger often" or "since you are afraid the information gets lost in the chats" or something like that. My only advice is to not make them feel like they are some sort of creeps for messaging a student on a messenger app. People come from different cultures and backgrounds and they have different views on things. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: If you use IMing only personally, you can discourage this behavior by being more responsive to email and less responsive to IM. You can say something like, "for something urgent, send me an email! Sometimes I snooze my IM alerts during the day to focus on work, but I check my email regularly." Then don't answer IMs during the day as frequently. OTOH I know many professors who are completely unresponsive on every platform, so if one works for them, I just accommodate as much as possible to get things done. Having too many messages from a professor naively sounds like a good thing on balance in my experience. If the IMs are crossing lines or distracting because they are off-topic or unprofessional (or something worse) then by all means, discourage the behavior. Being less responsive should help if you really commit to it. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: I don't think there is anything especially unprofessional about communicating via instant messaging. Email is a naturally asynchronous communication platform, and sometimes you need a synchronous method to contact people. In my research group, we use a specific professional instant messaging application - Slack. I did this because I feel it's important to keep work and private life separate, but still need a way of communication synchronously with my team. Students/postdocs may exit/silence the app when they feel they are not on "work time". Your institution may also have such a system - Microsoft Teams, Google for Education's Chat and Facebook Workplace all offer similar functionality depending on which your university runs its IT systems on. I should also point out that the opposite problem is also true. My students definitely think it's a bit weird that I refuse to be on their WhatsApp group. That said, if instant messaging makes you uncomfortable, you should tell your supervisor this. There is no reason to lie about the reason - you shouldn't even need to offer a reason. You can just say "I'd rather be contacted by email unless it's a real emergency, if that's okay.". --- EDIT: This answer was written before it was clear that the OP was an undergraduate in a class, not a post-graduate communicating with their supervisor. I do think it is a bit weird for a professor to be communicating, one on one with undergraduates in their classes via IM. There are situations where some sort of chat system might still be a good way to communicate with students (I use slack in a large, long-term, practically based course I teach), but I do think personal IM is best avoided with undergradutes. I don't think this changes the course of action, which would be to contact the prof and say you'd rather the contacted via a different means (see @username_5's answer). Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_5: Are you overthinking this? Perhaps. As the range of answers suggests, customs with regard to instant messaging are currently changing. E-Mail is still the main channel for professional communication, unless you are working closely together. But IM is catching up in this setting as well. As customs don't offer clear guidance, what really matters is your preference and hence your other question: How should you request a professor to restrict communication to email? "[Polite, direct and succinct](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/90725/how-should-i-phrase-an-important-question-that-i-need-to-ask-a-professor)". It could go something like this: > > Thank you for your message. By the way, I prefer e-mail to IM when it comes to university matters, and I would appreciate it if we could use e-mail going forward. Thanks! > > > This could surely be phrased more elegantly, but the point is to just state your preference and ask clearly for what you would like the instructor to do - neither getting defensive ("Sorry, but I often mute my messenger app") nor assigning blame ("I don't want to be stalked over a private channel"). Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: I'm going to go a bit against the stream here, and say yes, this is unprofessional behaviour, given the circumstances a) that this is a professor teaching an undergraduate course, where there are surely more official channels available, and b) it was the professor and not you who initiated this communication. There are two main reasons for me to say that this is unprofessional. The first one is, that the power balance in this relationship is very uneven. In the situation as presented, the student can very easily feel pressured to keep a conversation going in order not to disappoint the other end, and most IM systems allows people to see when a message have been read. For IM systems as such, this is a nice feature, but it also lends the system to more informal conversations than normal email, and in this case it seems that the student has no way of expressing that they are not interested in informal conversation without the possibility of a negative back-reaction. (with email you can much easier stop answering) The second reason is, that since this is likely an external service, the university can not keep records of the correspondence. The requirement of record-keeping is becoming more of a rule, in fact at my university we are required to keep correspondence to work email only. This rule is for sure something which is often broken in contact with colleagues or PhD students, but if I was caught messaging an undergraduate student over facebook/sms/skype/whatsapp/..., I would for sure be reprimanded and told to use either email or the university supplied system for course messages. I have to add: This may not be of ill intent. This could simply be the case of a good teacher, who is not following all the latest fads, but in a misguided way is trying his/her best to meet young people where they are. This might not be taken out of thin air, I have in several cases had students contact me on IM services, or even on my personal phone number, where they should have used email. In such cases I have had luck with simply asking them to please use email. In cases of IM services I have often added that I simply don't check this service often enough for contact to make sense. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: > > My instructor for an undergraduate math course (a professor) has been > interacting with me over an instant-messaging service > > > The word I notice here is "me". If the prof contacts everyone this way then there is less to be worried about. If they contact just you then it's a concern. --- EDIT If this is directed at you alone, and you have all the necessary information from emails, then simply delay answering and keep answers short, e.g. "Okay", "Thanks", etc. If it continues you can simply answer their insta-messages by email. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: There are two major considerations that I'm kind of surprised aren't being mentioned by most of the other answers: 1. You didn't give your consent to be contacted that way. 2. You are uncomfortable with it. Personally, I do think it's inappropriate to use someone's private IM/social media accounts for work/university purposes without consent. Since the messages themselves are on topic for the course, I'd guess it's an innocent mistake on the part of the instructor - they probably just don't realise it's making you feel pressured. But you should tell them, otherwise it will continue. Since it's an instant messaging service, the next time it happens I'd suggest being straightforward and concise - something along the lines of > > Hi, sorry, this is my private WhatsApp account - could we discuss this by email? > > > Hopefully that should end the issue there and then. If it doesn't, just reply to future messages with something along the lines of > > I'd really appreciate it if we could discuss this by email instead. > > > If it continues after that then there might be a bigger problem, but I would expect something like this to quickly resolve it. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: The title of the question asks one thing, then the body asks a completely different thing. > > How should I request a professor to restrict communication to email? > > > Send an email, and say, "Thanks for texting me about my answer to #7 on last week's problem set. It was helpful to get more explanation about why I can't infer whichness of foo based on whatness of bar. In the future, though, I would prefer to communicate by email or by my initiating a voice phone call to your office, rather than texting." > > Am I overthinking it, or is it really unacceptable? > > > You're overthinking it. Not everybody interprets and implements professional/personal boundaries in exactly the same way. I'm in my 50's, and I hear many of my colleagues who are of my generation say that you can't interact with students just through email anymore, because that's no longer the way their students expect to interact. I disagree with them, but I think they're sincere, and there's nothing blameworthy about the sentiment. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: "Am I overthinking it, or is it really unacceptable?" I believe you need an actual assessment here than a theoretical one. Theoretically yes i believe it is not alright without your prior consent to this communication method. The actual assessment is a different approach. It is based on the result of this communication method. Does it actually serves the purpose better? You and the professor have one common goal, complete an educational session; does this communication method help to this goal better than the standard one? If so then you probably would consent anyway, else if it does not help better or blurs communication purposes, then obviously you do not consent anyway. Upvotes: 0
2020/10/30	1,720	7,212	<issue_start>username_0: I am working as a lecturer at a university. My students hate math and stats. Due to that, they hate my class. There is a group of students who are always shouting, yelling, and showing disrespectful behavior. This includes: 1. Dr., I will not let you give us the lesson, till you show us our marks (yelling). 2. Who are you to give us these regulations (yelling)? 3. Waving their hand, showing disrespectful emotional language. 4. Sending shouting, disrespectful, and bad behavior emails. I took my evidence and showed them to my boss. No actions were taken against the students (the students still show disrespectful behavior). I spoke to the dean, but she was very biased against me. She said that these students are still young. Also, these students are very rich and used to have home services at their home, so they look at you like this. I was so angry and told that this is not acceptable at all. later, my boss' secretary, send me an email: > > Tomorrow you will have a meeting with Dr. X and Dr. Y at "time". > > > End of the email. I had no idea about that meeting and was not asked if this time was suitable for me or not. Last semester, Dr. X told me, while shouting and pointing her finger at my face, "You are zero and will be zero forever, in my eyes". Also, "You are bad raising women". No action was taken from my dean or head of the college. I went to the meeting, their emotion was so bad. Sometimes, they used signal emotion with me. Which is disrespectful behavior. At the meeting, without listening to me, or even showing me anything, the dean said: "I have a verbal warning for you". I was so much shocked and asked why. She responded to me that, "Some students complain about your communication with them". I said, could you please show me their complaints? Did you ask me, whether this is true or not? Did you investigate the cases? You present the verbal warning and want me to sign it for no evidence. Then, I said, how about my complaints against these students with my clear evidence? She said, in response to me, hold on, do not shout. I was not shouting at all. I felt unfair behavior from them. Then, I said if you will keep going with this, then I need to show this to the court as this is not the first time. She then said I will remove this verbal warning at all. Now, I would like to write a minute for our meeting and send it back to them. My questions are: 1. Can the dean or the head, show, or process a warning report to any employee without evidence? 2. How can we describe their behavior against me? 3. Is it a good idea to write a minute?<issue_comment>username_1: 1. They cannot do it without any evidence, but complaints and witness reports can serve as evidence 2. Unfair behavior, but it is difficult to prove unless you recorded the conversation. The dean will not sign your minute. 3. Maybe, but may not be very useful at the end I had similar experience with you; though I was a teaching assistant and research assistant (not lecturer). I was not only verbally warned but also substantially punished. Are you also in USA? In a private place with two persons, I made a one sentence short comment on etiquette, something like "your behavior is inappropriate", without mentioning any protected characteristics. Later, that person made a complaint because the person felt offended. Without any investigation, I was given a substantial punishment; I did not even have a chance to speak-up before the decision was somehow made. Later, I even hired a lawyer to speak for me, but not useful in the end. Fighting the Dean is an up-hill battle. We have to admit that unfairness is still there everywhere. There is little we could do, in my opinion. You are probably going to spend too much time and energy on this issue before getting it straight. Since you suffered no monetary loss, there is little you could get back from them. I truly understand time and morale is more valuable than money, and you might want to get compensation because they wasted your time and broke your heart, but mental damage is usually hard to prove in a court. On the other hand, if you strongly feel that you are going to win a discrimination or human-right lawsuit, you should consult a lawyer. You could also file a formal complaint to the right overhead office in your university, for example the Title IX office. I did consider about these options, but later decided that I have more valuable things in my life to pursue with my limited time. Additionally, one of the decision makers actually did me a favor before, so I decided to forgive him for this time. What I learned, in the end, is to never make a comment about anyone or any groups, no matter what my intention was. And never ask any personal questions about anyone, especially colleagues, unless I am 100% sure that we are true friends. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Your question does not specify where in the world you are, but the behaviour you are describing from the students and staff sounds extreme. It also sounds like your boss perceives you to be the cause of the problem and it sounds like they are not treating you well. In such a case, your future at this institution might not be a good one, and it might be a good idea to consider looking for a position elsewhere. Before you get to that point, I will make a couple of suggestions for what you might do here. As a starting point, it might be useful to invite another academic to attend your lectures to observe what is going on. Choose someone you respect as a good lecturer who has a good relationship with you, and ask them if they wouldn't mind coming along to a few of your lectures to observe. This would have three purposes: (1) to see if you are doing anything wrong that would provoke such extreme behaviour; (2) in the event that you are not doing anything wrong, to act as a witness of what is occurring from the students; and (3) to give you advice on how you can improve your class (either by improving your own methods, or improving student discipline, or both). The presence of another lecturer might alter the behaviour being observed, which is unfortunate, but even in that case the observer will be able to give you feedback on what you are doing. Once you have had another lecturer observe your class you will be in a better position to determine whether you are contributing to the problems from your students, or whether these are just unruly students who are behaving badly without provocation. You might also be in a better position to engage with your boss in relation to the problem. (For example, you might now have another lecturer who can come along to meetings and give their observations of your class.) Depending on what country you are in, there may be some rules for unfair disciplinary action or unfair dismissal. Your proposal to write a minute and send it back to your boss might be okay, but only if the minute is written in an objective manner. If the minute is just your characterisation of the way you were treated then it is unlikely that your boss will consider it an accurate statement of the meeting, and it might just further inflame the situation. Upvotes: 3
2020/10/30	3,396	14,027	<issue_start>username_0: I have been doing my PhD in Computer Science for one year and a half now (Europe-based) and I feel my research is not going much far. I choose to do this after my master studies because I actually like to do it: I like reading about new solutions, new problems and try to solve them myself. I also really liked taking university courses. Lately, I started to notice more and more how many of my peers managed to publish in some conferences, while I still have nothing close to submission. Also, I had a talk with my supervisor few months ago, where he hinted that my approach to the PhD was not going to be productive, and that a change was needed. He mentioned the need for more independence on my side, when finding and developing research ideas. To make it (hopefully) more explicit, it may be that I like doing research for my own fulfillment and curiosity, but I cannot spot questions or problems that needs to be addressed or can have a chance during the review process. I don't know how to explain the current situation in another way. In the meantime I also got a bit discouraged, and asked myself if, career-wise, it is worth to pursue a path where I am happy with my day-to-day activities, but ultimately don't get any "public" acknowledgement. I think I learned a lot in this year (also, my level was maybe not so high as my peers'), so I am not unsatisfied with myself, but the issue here is that progress is measured on papers and not self-achievements. Working hard is also okay for me, so I would say motivation is not the issue here. Should I consider quitting my PhD, or moving to a lower-rank institute? I'm fine with my work at the moment, but I'm worried it may not get better -- and I don't like the idea of finding myself at the fourth+ year of PhD, still with no publication. I don't think I want to keep on with research afterwards, and I fear those years will not be meaningful career-wise.<issue_comment>username_1: Your situation hints at a mismatch between your supervisor's supervision style (which is fairly hands-off) and the style you would need to be productive (which requires more guidance and input in the beginning, with the goal of ultimately having you become more independent). My recommendation is: Find a co-advisor with a more hands-on supervision style. That could be somebody in your group who is fairly productive (most likely a postdoc, assistant professor or young associate professor), with a visible publication track record. Most people who are that way have more problems to work on that they can solve on their own. You should have your main advisor on board with this, which might be easy to achieve, since advisors have an active interest in seeing their students graduate. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I don't want to step on the excellent answer of [username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/158275/75368) but an additional idea would be to join or form a discussion group in which a few students, perhaps in a similar situation as yourself, get together to discuss issues and search for open questions. Read a few papers (jointly) and discuss them. What is left unsaid in the papers. The synergy of a group, if like-minded, can be helpful. And a group can transform into a collaboration group over time. This can be valuable in its own right. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: > > I like reading about new solutions, new problems and try to solve them myself. > > > Do you find any flaws in the solutions that you read about? Any space for improvement? Could a different approach be taken? Are the problems you read about framed appropriately? Maybe they are too theoretical, and making more realistic assumptions would yield different results? Maybe the problems are defined in a too specific manner? Could they be generalized for some benefit? Start thinking critically and soon you will find plenty of ideas which are publish-worthy. You can start by nit-picking, finding even small issues in the published works, looking for a hole. Then, you can try a higher level approach, like asking yourself questions why nobody has tried to do something in a specific way, or why some problem has not been tackled in a rigorous manner. Do not treat published material as some form of revealed truth. You need to believe in yourself. Believe that you can do just as good as your peers (not the other students, but the other researchers which publish), or even better. Basically think of yourself as a researcher, not much as a student. Doing PhD is a (hopefully paid) job, not a school! Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: > > Should I consider quitting my PhD, or moving to a lower-rank institute? > > > Why is your situation frustrating to you? Overall, reading between the lines, I see a discouragement at a growing awareness of your limitations versus what you believe about the expectations being put on you. My foremost recommendation is this: You should have a discussion with your current advisor. Your intent should be to determine whether the expectations that you are starting to believe about your lack of performance (no publications) and lack of independence (as per your advisor) are real or simply mis-perceptions. A concrete example is to ask your advisor: Should I really have published by now? A broader example is to ask your advisor what specific actions you can do to demonstrate that you are taking on a greater level of independence. I imagine that, accepting that you must hold this discussion is not easy. The consequences of avoiding it can however be damaging, for example by causing continued stress worrying about what you think your advisor is thinking or worse, discovering that your advisor has essentially given up on you showing sincere interest in learning by pro-activity participating in the advisor-to-student experience. Advisors are not ignorant about the shortfalls of their advisees, nor are they necessarily ignorant of their responsibility to find ways to help when asked. I would have one specific answer to the second, broader question about possible ways to show your independence. Step forward at the discussion with your advisor with your plan to prepare a PROPOSAL for your research to defend to a dissertation committee by a specific, hard-set deadline. A proposal is NOT a defense of work done. It is a defense of work to be done. It states why the work is important in context of current issues. It states your hypotheses or problems. It defines how and why you will go about doing the work needed to valid the hypotheses or solve the problems. This type of approach is one that is common in some PhD institutes. Instead of asking for a qualifying exam on didactic courses to be granted permission to continue with a PhD, the department requires that students prepare and defend a dissertation proposal. They require this even before a student is to have submitted any publications. Indeed, in some cases, they set hard deadlines for this step, with the consequence that the student who does not do it is not allowed to continue further. This action could be one way for you to start to show independence (something that your advisor has already said seems to be lacking). This approach is likely also to result in greater "public acknowledgement", even if only at a local (university) scale to start. Finally, this approach is likely to focus your attention better to prepare a publication on your research topic, indeed even help streamline the writing and acceptance process because you have done the background work for the introduction. Taking this step will also help you to discover other issues that may be behind your frustration. For example, do you have appropriate levels of self-disciplin, skills, and tools to self-administer the timelines that are required to meet concrete milestones for your dissertation? If not, start spending more time to learn how to set concrete, realistic, and relevant milestones; start finding the tools that you need to do the administration on your own (e.g. calendars and task-manager apps and citation management apps); and start setting concrete milestones to complete at hard-set deadlines. I might suggest here that you "work the puzzle backwards". When you do want to graduate? When must you submit your dissertation? When must you give your oral presentation? When must you submit the final draft to your advisor? When must you stop doing research and start writing? And so on. Continuing on the above, the remaining question to ask is whether you have a true, deep-seated motivation to even want carry out your current research. Does your motivation to do a PhD come simply from a nebulous desire to explore things further, or does it come specifically from a burning curiosity about or desire to fix a specific problem in a specific context of a specific research field. As you move from the being in the former situation (nebulous curiosity) to the latter situation (actions driven by the need to meet specific desires), your frustrations will change from "I don't even really know why I am here" to "This is not going to be as easy as I thought (but I will get it done)". Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: You should probably quit. Unlike master/bachelors, getting a PhD is all about doing research and publishing the results. In the formal sense, research implies working on novel problems, at the edge of human understanding. Hence, publishable research has to be novel, in the sense that no one has done it before, and significant, in the sense it answers questions other people actually care about. You should be exposed to a bunch of others research during your PhD, by reading research articles or attending talks (which seem to be important in Comp-Sci). If you watch, you'll notice that almost all research talks end with an 'ideas for further research' or 'limitations to the research'. Doing something that extends previous research, or overcomes the limitations of published research will get the job done. When I asked about what I wanted to research, I gabbled out some plausible sounding stuff. Years later, I learned that academic research is hard, and that you have to work hard at a very small part of a problem to be able to make meaningful progress. Dangerously, you may pick a small problem no one cares about. I seem to recall books/articles/blogs in compsci about how to pick a good problem. (Professors who ask about your 'research topic' are wankers--a researchable problem is a very small sub-area within a topic area). Doing independent research requires preparation, and plenty of professors are happy to have someone just doing scut-work. What you have to realize is that scut-work is training to be able to do it on your own, and what you need to be thinking about is why a professor is telling you to do those things. As for why you aren't/weren't told these things: research is a craft, and academia (surreally) remains much like a medieval craft guild. There is also the awkward fact that many PhD students are second generation academics, with one or more parents capable of advising them on the 'mysteries' of the guild. Some of the rest have been initiated into the norms through a variety of means. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: On your point about how to spot "research questions": spotting unsolved problems is a challenge in itself because usually one approaches a subject from the student point of view. Practical advice: read papers and pay attention to the conclusions. Often there are paragraphs along the lines of "will be explored in future work" or "remains to be shown". This is where your open questions are. Contact the authors and find out what they are up to. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: (This is more an idea about a different approach than an answer. I'm curious to see what folks currently active in academia (ideally in comp sci) think about it. Meant to complement the other strong answers.) Seek collaboration. You have strengths and weaknesses. Make a list of them. I'm guessing you're great at execution, and unusually analytical, based on what you wrote. This is a VERY important skill set, and likely worthy of publication credit as a product intellectual achievement[1](http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html). People who are great at coming up with good ideas are often bad at execution, and have more good ideas than they're able to make use of. Find out about potential collaborators' strengths and weaknesses including your advisor's. (You CAN ask!) Mars noted your likely gender; likely you have superior people skills. Sharing your list would help your advisor help you, or he's lousy. Odds are good you know colleagues with great ideas willing to collaborate. Also, in CS, PhD students are often paid, so find out what sort of timeline he things is acceptable. So consider having a broader conversation with your advisor to, among other things see what he thinks about complementary skills. Maybe he and/or the department or school hew to the publish or perish maxim. [1](http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html):The #1 author criterion: "Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work" [per ICMJE anyway (Medical)](http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html). [More ideas](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?newwindow=1&client=safari&rls=en&sxsrf=ALeKk01IG5FboFpC4EuQyg9sy4NFVUuUFA:1604292791707&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzoECAAQRzoFCCEQoAE6BQghEKsCOgQIIRAKUIipF1iryBdgn8sXaABwAngAgAGiAYgB7g-SAQQwLjE3mAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdpesgBCMABAQ&uact=5&um=1&ie=UTF-8&lr&q=related:JV07VcA1Zce6-M:scholar.google.com/) Upvotes: 0
2020/10/30	2,864	12,205	<issue_start>username_0: Consider an "ambitious" assistant professor (junior, untenured faculty) appointed to a junior lectureship in a medicine, physical science or engineering department with the usual teaching and u/grad supervision obligations. Like all academics, he/she is entirely responsible for developing and maintaining their own personal research interests and most of the funding needed for it. This AP successfully bids for a research council grant (e.g., $500K over three years) and applies it to hire some staff and buy some high-end equipment, which is also sometimes made available to other staff and students on the usual mutual cooperation basis. This assistant professor is soon found to be inadequate at their teaching responsibilities. As he/she is still untenured, their temporary lectureship may theoretically not be renewed after year 1 were their teaching performance to remain inadequate. But given the impact of losing the leader of a research commitment made by the university to a state research council over a 3 year span, and moreover seeing that the assistant professor's release would arouse ill-feeling amongst other staff with whom he/she is popular, the department head understandably is hesitant to make the dismissal. On the other hand the department head realizes that being seen to allow bad professional habits to be tolerated simply because the academic concerned has brought in resources that benefit the whole department is only going to encourage similar maneuvers by other staff members in future. Have universities created any mechanisms to prevent Heads of Departments arriving in this situation ? For example: 1. Not allowing independent research by junior academics till they had achieved tenure after 2-3 years of good performance at teaching, u/grad supervision, laboratory & departmental administration duties and very stisfactory contributions to existing joint research programmes within the department 2. Ensuring a university department head makes all independent research proposals prepared by untenured staff, with the untenured staffmember strictly being only a research lead for such a programme. For this option to be viable the research interest pursued by any untenured staffmember must be formally established as a research group with at least 2 members of the department's faculty. This enables viable continuation of any research programmes under another properly qualified leader were the original lead researcher's lectureship to be terminated for any reason 3. Allow the junior to undertake independent research and seek their own funds. Equipment of general use purchased via the funds could be co-owned by the researcher and the department, project specific equipment remains the property of the junior and its maintenance and insurance being covered by the junior's department. A pre-nup style agreement is made for the division of grant funded equipment in the event of the junior's lectureship not being renewed. In effect, the dismissed junior must take the equipment (bar general use stuff) and staff accumulated during the incomplete programme to his/her next employer. This is no small responsibility, even to a genuinely able and honest academic. I doubt if a selfishly-ambitious type would readily take this option as it would tie them to their duties for years at a time and prevent them migrating to another appointment free-as-a-bird of any obligation to others. In terms of preventing a vigilant head of department being outmaneuvered (or indeed even being socially 'outbraked'!) by an unscrupulously ambitious junior lecturer, I think only no. 1 of the above options is acceptable: it would be very hard for any less than adequate junior to successfully fake it over 2-3 years of serious stress-testing on the job. The drawback with this is that the junior has to put their keenest research interest on ice for a long period. They may also feel that they are really just being Shanghaied into doing donkey-work on other staff's programmes and that full freedom to do their own thing may only be a Shangri-La promise held forever before them. The other 2 options I feel allow the possibility of upset relations amongst staffmembers (moreover in an environment that can only operate on trust) if the junior is dismissed.<issue_comment>username_1: This answer has not been updated in response to the question edit war. The question is confused about several things. * It would be very unusual to get dismissed for inadequate teaching. Grants have nothing to do with it. The penalty for bad teaching is that you do not get a new contract. This is distinct from dismissal. Dismissal is used for major misconduct, such as a felony. * University preferences are very important: + Some universities are quite happy for faculty to get a large grant. They might not require those faculty to teach at all. Or they might teach very rarely. In this case teaching quality will not be important. + Some universities renew contracts based on a combination of teaching and research. Both must be good to get your next contract. + Some universities renew contracts based on teaching quality and perhaps administration, without regard to grants. + Some faculty teach only and are simply ineligible to apply for grants. E.g. adjuncts. + Some universities cannot afford labs, so it is impossible to get a big grant of the sort that only goes to experimental research. Most grants cannot be used to build lab space. If you are hiring a teacher, it is always best to hire someone who wants to teach. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Quite a lot of the context of this question seems quite specific to UK STEM, and in particular biology and medical science departments. So some things to be clear about in terms of UK STEM departments: 1. There is no tenure/untenured distinction in the UK. No academic in the UK is tenured. But all academics that have been in post for more than 2 years in the UK are protected by standard employment laws which mean you can't be dismissed without a legally valid reason. Incompetence is a valid reason, but if you going to use that reason, the individual has to be given an opportunity and support to improve, usually via a performance improvement plan, and sufficient opportunity to implement it. 2. Most universities operate a probation system, where junior academics are reviewed at 3 or 5 years, against a set of criteria, similarly to tenure in a US unversity. Common criteria might be Obtain a grant, publish a paper, get above 5 (on a 1 - 10 scale) on student feedback. However, probation has no standing in law, and "they didn't pass probation" is not a legally valid reason to dismiss someone. The process to dismiss a probationary lecturer is legally the same as to dismiss someone who has been there 20 years. 3. Few UK biology/medicine departments use much in the way of adjunct, temporary or non-permeant staff or grad students to do teaching. 90% of teaching is done by permeant lecture, senior lecturer or professor grade staff (equiv. assistant/associate/full professors in the US). 4. $500k is neither large or small, its bang-on standard size for a UKRI life-sciences grant. It's three years postdoc plus consumables. Its worth noting that the department doesn't only benefit in terms of equipment. Approximately 50% of a grant will be administrative overhead and indirect costs which goes straight to the university. When a university accepts a grant from a research council, it will usually sign an agreement that the PI on the grant will be employed for the duration of the grant. However, legally speaking a grant is always awarded to the university, not the PI, and its the university that has responsibility to ensure the research is delivered. With that out of the way the answer to the question: How do departments " prevent said faculty from using their large grant to outmanoeuvre efforts to dismiss them for teaching inadequacy?" is that they don't. For starters I've never heard of anyone being sacked for inadequate teaching, irrespective of whether they have a grant or not. Perhaps if they flat out refused to do it. Or just didn't turn up for things. If anyone told me they were being dismissed for their "teaching quality", but be pretty sure that there was some other, not legally valid, real reason for the dismissal. University departments have multiple roles, primarily education and research. But even officially, research is as important as education. The standard academic contract is 40:40:20 research:teaching:admin - teaching accounts for less than half of the duties of an academic. Given that, why would a HoD want to dismiss someone who was good and research and admin but poor at teaching? No one can excel at every facet of their job. Really successful researchers may even buy themsevles out of having to do any teaching, but we are talking about a much higher research income than $500k for that, maybe $1.5M - £2M. Frankly speaking, while excellent teachers are rare, teaching sufficiently well that the department doesn't get in trouble is not that rare a skill, while having continuous, good, research funding is something that few people can manage. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Note: the question has been edited a number of times, but now it’s reasonably clear what is being asked so I’ll have a go at answering. Hope it doesn’t get rewritten again.... > > Have universities created any mechanisms to prevent Heads of Departments arriving in this situation ? > > > I think your question contains an interesting and somewhat subtle fallacy about universities (and about large organizations in general) that is quite common. The fallacy is that for any problem that arises, there exists a specific set of policies and mechanisms that could have prevented that problem from arising. It’s easy to believe that, and perhaps in a narrow sense there may be a bit of truth to it. (Certainly one should not discount the possible existence of such mechanisms.) But the problem is that there is such a large number of problems that can arise, that in practice it’s impossible to have an adequate number of mechanisms to deal with each and every highly specific problem, assuming all of those problems can be foreseen before they occur, which in reality they can’t. My point is that well-functioning universities usually take a different, much higher level approach to the problem. The “mechanism” they have is simply “Be a good university.” This means, simply, have good leaders who understand the goals and values of the institution and believe in them, and are capable of making difficult decisions when the need arises. And those good leaders will appoint similar people under them, propagating those good qualities through the organizational hierarchy. Good institutions will be careful about whom they appoint as a department head, and have good programs to train those department heads and professional, competent staff to support them. And good universities will do many more things that make them well-equipped to deal with a crisis of the sort described in your question (like inspiring their faculty to care about teaching and not just about their own selfish interests). At the end of the day, the problem you’re describing, although extremely specific, is just an instance of the generic problem “something has gone badly wrong”. When something has gone badly wrong, a well-run institution will have leaders in place who can handle the situation effectively and put in place solutions, even if that makes them unpopular or makes some people upset. Conversely, a badly run university with leaders who don’t understand what’s at stake and/or don’t have the backbone to make tough decisions, and with faculty who haven’t been motivated by their leaders to also believe in the mission of their university, will not deal well with a problem such as a terribly performing teacher who happens to be popular among their colleagues and controls a large grant. And this is probably true regardless of any specific “mechanisms” that may exist on paper to deal with such a specific problem. Upvotes: 3
2020/10/30	950	4,063	<issue_start>username_0: In my first semester of Ph.D., I took a course about [machine learning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_learning) (ML), because I find it very fancy and interesting (however, my field of research is theoretical physics, far away from ML). The professor who taught ML was an old and super cool guy. He made this course a real fun to learn. Now after one year, as a side project, I wrote a "deepfake" ML algorithm (of course, it had already been done, and I took a lot of help from GitHub), but still, the content that I learned in my ML course was very helpful in all this process. I was about to write an email to the professor who taught the ML course. I wonder if it is okay to send something like, "Professor, I am really very thankful to you for putting all the effort into making the ML course easy and fun. Here is what I have achieved from the content that you taught me [attachments]"?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, it is entirely appropriate and will be appreciated. Let the person know a bit about your current activities - especially successes. Even better, if it weren't for the pandemic, would be to pay them an in-person visit during office hours. Too few people get a chance to thank their important mentors, I'm afraid. Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Yes it is entirely appropriate. Good unsolicited comments from students are always useful when one has to fill out annual reports or other such paperwork. You might care to also include their immediate superiors (Chair or Dean) in the list of recipients to maximize the impact of your email. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I think that a general thank-you email is absolutely okay. Moreover, I think the professor will most probably be really glad to hear a thank you not from fresh graduates who simply liked the course, but from a person who obviously found the course really useful and applicable for whatever they are doing. You may want to include what you have done, why you worked on it, show some results, etc. Also, a good idea will be to link it all to the course (e.g. "I found this and that topics really useful", or "I followed books A and B that you recommended, the former seemed too formal to me, but the latter was very useful", or "You did not mention Foobar transform, but this was what made everything very easy"). After all, this is probably the information that the professor really wants to hear, as such a feedback will allow them to do any adjustments to their course. However, I would suggest you not to include specific details such as a GitHub link or source code attached. I'm not a professor, but I teach programming and algorithms to high school students, and I always find it a bit awkward when my former students send me some of their new code. What do they expect me to do with it? Do they want me to review the code, give some suggestions, etc.? If yes, then most often I would not be able to do such a review, yet alone just read the code. If not, then why include the code? Of course, I can skim the code and just reply something like "Thanks, this looks great", but this seems to be not correct, because I did not really study the code and can not say that it is great. Moreover, in my course I'm rather strict about code quality, and so saying that some code is "great" without thoroughly reviewing it is below my standards... What I am really glad to know is that the students have found my course useful in real life. I'll be glad to know what specific parts of the course were especially useful. I'll be glad to know what are they working on, and even discuss any specific questions they may have. But sending a large code without a specific request puts me in an awkward position. Think of it as of posting that huge code to Stack Overflow... So don't include the code or any other information that may require a great deal of attention from the professor. If the professor will be interested, they would ask for the details they want. This may be cultural, of course. Upvotes: 3
2020/10/31	1,000	4,300	<issue_start>username_0: I am now in a thesis-track Master's program and will be applying to PhD next year. Now I want to do some research projects with some of the professors who have areas of interest that I am also interested in. There are only 2 (or 3 if you count in another one who only publish 2 papers in this area in the past 10 years) of them listed under my program right now as other people retired or moved. I already sent 3 emails (including follow-up emails) to these two professors respectively, and they don't seem to be replying at all. I don't know if I should continue to send more follow-up emails - I want to but I am worried that this might be annoying. I am sure that they are not on sabbatical nor stopped doing researches at the moment, so is there anything that I can do at this moment if not finding advisors in another area? Would attending the same conference with them, pretending that I bumped into them help, and then starting a dialogue be a good idea at all? Also, how does co-advising really work? Is this some request that students actively make with two professors, or is this some request that professors make for students?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, it is entirely appropriate and will be appreciated. Let the person know a bit about your current activities - especially successes. Even better, if it weren't for the pandemic, would be to pay them an in-person visit during office hours. Too few people get a chance to thank their important mentors, I'm afraid. Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Yes it is entirely appropriate. Good unsolicited comments from students are always useful when one has to fill out annual reports or other such paperwork. You might care to also include their immediate superiors (Chair or Dean) in the list of recipients to maximize the impact of your email. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I think that a general thank-you email is absolutely okay. Moreover, I think the professor will most probably be really glad to hear a thank you not from fresh graduates who simply liked the course, but from a person who obviously found the course really useful and applicable for whatever they are doing. You may want to include what you have done, why you worked on it, show some results, etc. Also, a good idea will be to link it all to the course (e.g. "I found this and that topics really useful", or "I followed books A and B that you recommended, the former seemed too formal to me, but the latter was very useful", or "You did not mention Foobar transform, but this was what made everything very easy"). After all, this is probably the information that the professor really wants to hear, as such a feedback will allow them to do any adjustments to their course. However, I would suggest you not to include specific details such as a GitHub link or source code attached. I'm not a professor, but I teach programming and algorithms to high school students, and I always find it a bit awkward when my former students send me some of their new code. What do they expect me to do with it? Do they want me to review the code, give some suggestions, etc.? If yes, then most often I would not be able to do such a review, yet alone just read the code. If not, then why include the code? Of course, I can skim the code and just reply something like "Thanks, this looks great", but this seems to be not correct, because I did not really study the code and can not say that it is great. Moreover, in my course I'm rather strict about code quality, and so saying that some code is "great" without thoroughly reviewing it is below my standards... What I am really glad to know is that the students have found my course useful in real life. I'll be glad to know what specific parts of the course were especially useful. I'll be glad to know what are they working on, and even discuss any specific questions they may have. But sending a large code without a specific request puts me in an awkward position. Think of it as of posting that huge code to Stack Overflow... So don't include the code or any other information that may require a great deal of attention from the professor. If the professor will be interested, they would ask for the details they want. This may be cultural, of course. Upvotes: 3
2020/11/01	877	3,358	<issue_start>username_0: So I am stuck in a very weird situation. I am a prospective PhD student, and I emailed a supervisor that works in a field of research very close to mine, and is very successful. He replied stating that he is interested to have me in his team, and requested my papers. One of my papers is under review. I asked my co-author which is my advisor for a permission, and she said it is okay to send the papers as long as I cc all co-authors in the email. I feel like this is not a nice way of emailing a distinguished professor, especially that I do not understand the point of ccing the co-authors. I might offend the professor, which I do not want to happen. I appreciate the advice.<issue_comment>username_1: > > I asked my co-author which is my advisor for a permission > > > Here a better move would have been that of asking all your coauthors for permission. I'd now: 1. Inform all your coauthors, cc'ing your advisor, asking if they are OK with that. 2. Inform your advisor that you would not feel comfortable in cc'ing the coauthors in the discussion with the prospective supervisor. 3. Write to the prospective supervisor without further copying your coauthors. At most, if your current advisor insists with that, use a blind cc. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, it's fine to CC your coauthors when sharing a draft of your paper. It just informs your coauthors that someone was interested in your work. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: I generally agree with [username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/158341/46265), but does it not work out easier? 1. Write the actual email to the important prospective advisor with a response to everything else. Mention that the paper under review will come with a separate email. 2. Write an email to the same advisor, CC'ing all the authors of the paper under review, as requested. This email states: > > Dear Prof. XXXX, > > > you were interested in my research. Here is my latest work, which is still under review. > > > I CC all the coauthors. If you have questions on it, you are welcome to ask me, but you might want to address the person who did the contribution you are interested in (per author statement `-- you _have_ author statement, don't you?`). > > > Nada, nada. > > > It might come over as a bit of a weird flex, but I would not see it as offensive. The benefit of my approach is that you do not overthink it. You are slashing your strange case into two very regular approaches: an email to a prospective supervisor and a mail, sharing a paper of yours. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: A co-authored paper is automatically a piece of intellectual property collectively owned, and if there is no explicit arrangement otherwise, it is to be handled by unanimous decisions/consensus. It is not yours to do as you please with it, plain and simple. Your supervisor relaxed this by saying to you that you just have to inform the co-authors while actually sending the paper out. I strongly disagree. You do have to take your coauthors' permission/consensus to send the paper out (and if you don't like that, start writing solo papers). So the advise already received is sound: communicate with the co-authors, obtain by e-mail their agreement to send the paper out, send the paper out without cc-ing them. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/01	1,151	4,978	<issue_start>username_0: In any course in university, grades will be reported on an absolute scale, such as A+, A, B+, etc. Why don't these courses also report percentiles to indicate how hard the course was? This is very similar to what the GRE does. For example, I could be in the 95th percentile, which means that I did better than 94% of the students in the class. This would also eliminate the need to adjust grades to fit a particular distribution.<issue_comment>username_1: Actually there are many reasons that contribute to this, though as noted it isn't universal. First, there is no real basis of comparison between courses, even in the same major, since the tests, unlike, say the GRE, aren't standardized, nor do they have enough data points for valid statistical inference. The numbers, if reported, would be essentially meaningless, though people would try to impute meaning to them. Across disciplines the issue is even more extreme, of course. How "hard" is a Calculus class compared to one in Ethics? They can both be very hard, but it is impossible to compare them since the student activities are very different as is the basic pedagogy. Second, and to me, vital, is the fact that introducing percentiles is a form of competitive grading that I find offensive. In my view, a student should be graded based only on their own, individual, performance. The typical A, B, ... grading scheme tries to capture this notion, even if imperfectly. If I get a C it should mean that I, individually, have some deficit, independent of what anyone else achieved or didn't. And note that the grading classifications are inherently broad and inexact as are all of the measures we use to determine grades. One can do poorly on an exam for reasons other than lack of effort and learning. You might just have gotten too little sleep, or there is a family issue that requires your time and attention. Some instructors throw out the "lowest grade" to account for such things. Others have "fuzzy" boundaries between grade levels, giving the students the benefit of the doubt if they just "miss" a cut. And of course, tradition plays a role. People know how to evaluate the general grades they see on transcripts from long practice. Even introducing A+ grades a few years ago caused disruption in this. Percentile grading has too much chance of being interpreted incorrectly. Finally, implied by the above, percentile grades don't really measure "how hard" the course is, but something else. Someone has to be in the lowest percentile even if all students excel. Don't look for completely "objective" ways to measure human performance and expect that it means exactly what the numbers seem to imply. Even [Usain Bolt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usain_Bolt) was sometimes slower than other runners. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I think your question is: Why don't we rank students? Elite universities only accept the top few percent of eligible students. If elite universities ranked their worst students, those students would choose to enroll at a lower ranked university where they could get a better rank. Soon, elite universities would have fewer students. Elite universities don't want that, so they do not rank anyone. Certain elite business schools take this further and keep all student grades secret. Other universities copy the elite universities. There are also no particular benefits to a ranking system. If your question is: Why shouldn't we rank students? Ranking encourages competition over cooperation, which reduces student learning. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Some universities indeed do provide rankings in one or another manner (I know that for instance [WU Vienna](https://www.wu.ac.at/en/) provides statistical information how you are doing grade-wise in comparison to other students in your year and overall). The main reason why many (most?) universities don't is because program managers and education managers tend to think of grades not directly as a device to assess how "good" students are, but as an indicator of how well a student achieved the defined learning objectives of the course (if you barely know the minimum after the course, you get whatever the lowest passing grade is, if you achieve all or almost all of the optional learning objectives as well you get the equivalent of an A+). How well a student achieves the learning outcomes is fundamentally independent of how any other student did - it's possible that nobody excelled in a course, and it's possible that everybody learned all there was to learn. In both of these case, the fix wouldn't be to re-scale the grades, but to adjust the learning objectives of the course. This has the added benefit that grades are more predictable for students, and there isn't inherent competition among students (especially if your university heavily builds on peer instruction, you really don't want any students to withhold knowledge from each other). Upvotes: 1
2020/11/01	480	2,108	<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for a job that in the call mentions that the university supports "job sharing and advancement of dual-career couples". My partner and I are applying both to that position (we have similar qualifications). Should we indicate in our respective application letters that we are interested in the job sharing option in any way? Or is that something that will come up later in the process? What if one of us gets invited for a job interview but not the other? If one of us is a stronger candidate, might it hurt the other if we indicate the job sharing option? (We also have coauthored papers together, so reviewers should find out pretty quickly that we're related in some way.) Any input would be much appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: Difficult question. Here are my thoughts, too long for a comment. The fact that the university explicitly supports job sharing suggests that asking about it in your particular case would make sense. It is possible that the explicit support is just pro forma. Can you find out whether there are any couples presently sharing a job? Do you have any contacts at the school to ask informally? In your response to @Buffy 's comment, you say you'd be OK if just one of you gets the job. Then I'd concur in waiting. Speaking personally from my experience on hiring committees, I would appreciate knowing this information early, particularly the fact that one job would be acceptable even if two were preferable. For me it would strengthen the application(s). Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Negotiating a job for your spouse, or a job sharing arrangement, is very difficult in normal times. Currently, there is a pandemic and layoffs are more common than hiring. As a result, I suggest that you don't try to negotiate or even hint that you will negotiate until you have a binding job offer in hand. And don't expect to succeed. Be prepared to answer questions about what you want at any stage of the interview process. Have answers ready that will lead the hiring committee to believe that hiring you will be easy. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/01	1,075	4,638	<issue_start>username_0: I am trying to reproduce some of the results in a paper from 2018 where the results were included in a graph but no exact values were given. There is no results table to go with the graph. I can't exactly compare what I produce with my guesses as to what the values in the graph are. They also did not specify one of the parameters used to produce the results. I have emailed the authors multiple times and they keep ignoring my question about sharing these values with me and apparently do not have the parameter values as they don't have the logs any longer. I am unsure how to proceed with this. It's a paper published in a high-impact well respected journal. Any help or guidance would be appreciated. I am not being rude or brash about the way I've asked for these results. I just explained I want to compare to them and can't use the graph because I need some level of accuracy.<issue_comment>username_1: Maybe not very nice, but hardly "misconduct". You might need to reproduce more of their "experiment" to get new data. Their data is their own, I think. It may be that the reviewers saw more than the authors are willing to share publicly. And it is possible that they have future plans for the data that would make release at this time unwise. If you want to reproduce the research you will need to do more than re-use their data. In fact, the results you would gain by looking at fresh data would likely be more valid than reusing theirs. You might find, in fact, that their conclusions aren't supported, assuming it is a statistical argument. Or, you might give it additional credence from using different data. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: > > There is no results table to go with the graph. > > > Use Datathief: <https://datathief.org/> Despite the name, in most countries using Datathief is explicity allowed by copyright law. Data cannot be copyrighted. > > They also did not specify one of the parameters used to produce the results. > > > Two possibilities: it does not actually matter or peer review has failed. When it is your turn to peer review, check for this type of mistake. Sorry I cannot not help in this situation. Paper authors can choose not to answer their email if they wish. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Authors are not in any way obligated to comply with random requests for additional information about their paper, nor do they even need to respond at all. If they provide what you ask for, it would be them doing you a favour. Their obligation is to the journal and the reviewers. This obligation mostly ends after they've made the reviewers happy and their paper is approved for publishing. Some egregious problems might cause a paper to get retracted, but some missing data probably doesn't meet the threshold for that. If contacting them has not worked for you, then you're probably out of luck. Contacting them multiple times is likely to only annoy them. This applies in general. Specific journals or jurisdictions may have different policies regarding the above. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Usually research communities are small and you will see each other at the next conference or the conference after that. Than you can ask them in person. Either informally between the sessions or when they present new research based on their paper. It is way more difficult to brush someone away in a room packed with respected peers who will be the referees for their next paper. But act carefully, you don't want to affront them and turn them into an enemy! Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: Check the journal's guidelines and/or contact the editor. Sometimes journals require data and code to be made available (which is obviously the right thing to do) and authors that refuse to do so are breaching the agreement under which they published. If the journal does not, then you are out of luck. Sadly there are many researchers out there who think science is a race and will do everything in their power to be the ones ahead. This is reprehensible but unavoidable. I'd refrain from using their results and actively call them out if you publish anything similar, i.e.: attempts where made to reproduce the results from XXX et al. but the authors refused to share their data/code/methodology. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: So do your own experiment and make your own graph. Compare the graphs. Why do you need the specific data anyway? There will be noise aka experimental errors in all the data so they wont be exactly the same every time which makes needing the original data irrelevant. Upvotes: -1
2020/11/01	1,166	5,068	<issue_start>username_0: This past summer, I started my undergraduate thesis project under two advisors. One of my advisors had done research on a similar topic to what my thesis project is covering and she had the data collected from their experiments. (For context, we are synthesizing anticancer molecules and testing them on cancer cell lines. In her research, they made different derivatives than me but with the same starting materials). Since the two works require similar background knowledge, I was asked to write the paper for their research since I would be looking through articles anyways for my project. I wrote the entire paper and provided all analyses of the data (abstract, intro, results, discussion, experimental section) and my advisor provided comments for edits. I am listed as the sixth author out of seven. Since I'm just an undergrad, I'm not sure how authorship works but I know that the people who contribute more to the project are earlier in the author list. Based on your experiences, should I be earlier in the list or is this position common when someone writes the paper when they didn't contribute to the actual research? Obviously I know I shouldn't be first author but I feel like 6th/7 is pretty low for someone who wrote the whole paper. I'm not sure how to go about discussing this with my advisor.<issue_comment>username_1: Maybe not very nice, but hardly "misconduct". You might need to reproduce more of their "experiment" to get new data. Their data is their own, I think. It may be that the reviewers saw more than the authors are willing to share publicly. And it is possible that they have future plans for the data that would make release at this time unwise. If you want to reproduce the research you will need to do more than re-use their data. In fact, the results you would gain by looking at fresh data would likely be more valid than reusing theirs. You might find, in fact, that their conclusions aren't supported, assuming it is a statistical argument. Or, you might give it additional credence from using different data. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: > > There is no results table to go with the graph. > > > Use Datathief: <https://datathief.org/> Despite the name, in most countries using Datathief is explicity allowed by copyright law. Data cannot be copyrighted. > > They also did not specify one of the parameters used to produce the results. > > > Two possibilities: it does not actually matter or peer review has failed. When it is your turn to peer review, check for this type of mistake. Sorry I cannot not help in this situation. Paper authors can choose not to answer their email if they wish. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Authors are not in any way obligated to comply with random requests for additional information about their paper, nor do they even need to respond at all. If they provide what you ask for, it would be them doing you a favour. Their obligation is to the journal and the reviewers. This obligation mostly ends after they've made the reviewers happy and their paper is approved for publishing. Some egregious problems might cause a paper to get retracted, but some missing data probably doesn't meet the threshold for that. If contacting them has not worked for you, then you're probably out of luck. Contacting them multiple times is likely to only annoy them. This applies in general. Specific journals or jurisdictions may have different policies regarding the above. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Usually research communities are small and you will see each other at the next conference or the conference after that. Than you can ask them in person. Either informally between the sessions or when they present new research based on their paper. It is way more difficult to brush someone away in a room packed with respected peers who will be the referees for their next paper. But act carefully, you don't want to affront them and turn them into an enemy! Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: Check the journal's guidelines and/or contact the editor. Sometimes journals require data and code to be made available (which is obviously the right thing to do) and authors that refuse to do so are breaching the agreement under which they published. If the journal does not, then you are out of luck. Sadly there are many researchers out there who think science is a race and will do everything in their power to be the ones ahead. This is reprehensible but unavoidable. I'd refrain from using their results and actively call them out if you publish anything similar, i.e.: attempts where made to reproduce the results from XXX et al. but the authors refused to share their data/code/methodology. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: So do your own experiment and make your own graph. Compare the graphs. Why do you need the specific data anyway? There will be noise aka experimental errors in all the data so they wont be exactly the same every time which makes needing the original data irrelevant. Upvotes: -1
2020/11/01	2,214	9,277	<issue_start>username_0: I'm a first year PhD student. A student applying for an undergraduate institution in the US has asked me to write him a letter of recommendation. I wonder if a first year graduate student can write recommendation letters to high school graduates applying to US colleges. This is not my main question though. That student has a connection to my family. I discussed physics with him once and I wasn't able to form any idea about his physics ability. What's worse, he wants me to recommend his friend who is also applying to US colleges, although I have never met or spoken with his friend at all. He wrote himself a recommendation (which I have to send as if it's I who had written it) that he had worked with me in the physics laboratory and that he was my strongest student. I wish to know how to proceed. I have two options: 1. refuse to write that letter 2. write that I have never met him. I wonder how common is this.<issue_comment>username_1: You shouldn't write a letter of recommendation for someone you have spoken to once, and you certainly shouldn't write a letter of recommendation for a friend of some you have spoken to once. You should never lie in a letter of recommendation, but it is generally also bad form to write negative things in a letter of recommendation. If you can't in good faith write good things about a candidate, you should refuse to send the letter. EDIT: I'll add an answer to your first (not main) question from the comments: It is very unusual for a first year grad student to be asked to write a letter of recommendation, particularly since he is asking you to say he is your best student, when presumably you have no students. If I were the admissions tutor here, I'd probably disregard such a letter. Unless it was obviously dodgy (claiming things which were clearly untrue), in which case, it would count (heavily) against the candidate. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: > > I wonder if a first year graduate student can write recommendation letters to high school graduates applying to US colleges. > > > I can’t say much about the extent to which such a letter would be helpful to someone’s application, but a letter from a graduate student, assuming it is truthful and written in good faith, is absolutely acceptable. I can imagine situations where it would be pretty helpful actually, others (like your particular situation where you know very little about the applicant’s actual abilities) where it wouldn’t be. > > he wants me to recommend his friend who is also applying to US colleges, although I have never met or spoken with his friend at all. He wrote himself a recommendation (which I have to send as if it's me who had written it) that he had worked with me in the physics laboratory and that he was my strongest student. I wish to know how to proceed. > > > First and most importantly: Do not under any circumstances send a letter of recommendation containing untruthful statements. If you send it you would be committing serious academic misconduct. It is unethical and if the lie were found out you could get in serious trouble. Second, this request reflects quite poorly on your family member/connection. I suggest explaining to him in no uncertain terms that his request is unacceptable and unethical, and that he should not be abetting his “friend” in cheating his way into college. Don’t “decline politely” as some people are suggesting in the comments. I assume if someone were to ask you to rob a bank as a favor you wouldn’t be “declining politely”. This young man is at a point in his life where a tough bit of reality can be immensely helpful in helping him mature and learn how the world works. If you care about him, you’d do well to tell him the truth about the nature of his request even if it’s unpleasant. As for writing a letter where you say you don’t know the friend of your family connection, presumably that would itself be a dishonest act since you would be telling the friend that you’d be sending the fraudulent letter that he wrote, but actually sending a different letter. You would be leading him into trouble, and while arguably he deserves it, it’s more ethical and decent to try to prevent him from getting into trouble in the first place by steering him towards a better path. Edit addressing some of the comments: when I said not to decline politely, my issue is not so much with the “politely” but rather with the neutrality implied by “decline”. So for example, OP should not say > > Please tell your friend that I don’t feel I can help with his request. Sorry! And best regards to <NAME>. > > > This doesn’t send any helpful message about how serious and unacceptable it is to take part in a conspiracy to send fraudulent letters of recommendation. Instead, what I meant was that the reply should be clear and direct about this issue (whether it’s polite or not is beside the point, OP can use whatever mode of address feels natural to them when talking to this person). For example, something along these lines would be much more helpful: > > Hi [name], > > > I can’t help your friend by sending the letter he wrote, and you should know that what he is asking is completely unacceptable and is a form of cheating. I would never lie in a letter of recommendation, your friend shouldn’t ask anyone to do such a thing and you shouldn’t help him if that’s what he insists on doing. It can get him into serious trouble, like being expelled from college or not getting in in the first place. > > > Anyway, I understand you’re just getting started with the whole college application thing, so maybe you didn’t know. That’s okay I guess, but I wanted you to understand how serious this is. College isn’t high school, and cheating is taken extremely seriously there. If you need more advice about how to handle any of the application business, I’d be happy to discuss it, so feel free to reach out. > > > Give my regards to <NAME>! > > > Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Don't lie under any circumstances 1. Never mind academic misconduct, under certain legislations this is straightforward fraud and might get you a huge fine or put you in jail. 2. If something goes wrong and either of these people get into academic or other kind of trouble your name will be dragged into it. 3. You will spend the rest of your life worrying about this, in case something goes wrong. 4. Academia within subjects is a small world. People know people and they know who knows who - especially in research fields. You can easily get caught out if someone asks questions. 5. It is not unknown for institutions to follow up on a letter of recommendation to find out more about a candidate. If you get a telephone call asking for further details, what will you do. 6. Once you give in to this sort of thing, you will be seen as an 'easy-touch' and you will start to get requests from other people. Find a way to refuse Let us know if the culture you are from makes it difficult or impossible to refuse. This will help with formulating an answer. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: The other answers have covered this specific situation, where you should clearly say no. That said, I do want to push back a bit on the idea that graduate students shouldn't write recommendation letters for people applying for undergraduate programs. I have a lot of experience at summer math programs, and it is quite common for students to get a letter from one of their graduate student instructors at the summer program, and our students have excellent placement at top US undergraduate institutions using these letters. This may be in part because the program itself has a strong reputation at top universities, but I think it's also the case that graduate students at top universities often have more experience with top math students than a typical high school teacher does and can make a more credible and accurate identification of the difference between being in the top 10, top 100, or top 1000 math students in the country in their year. (My case is even more unusual, because I was homeschooled before that was very common, but I got a letter from my counselor at the Ross summer program who was at the time I applied a 2nd year math graduate student at Harvard. I got into every university I applied to.) Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Other answers already confirm your concerns that writing a LoR for someone with whom you have discussed physics once has problems. The key point being that you need to be honest in what you write, for both your sakes. However, an alternative approach to your dilemma is to talk to him again, making clear to him that writing anything inaccurate is off the cards. Let him know that you would be able to help him, but would like a video chat to explore what to write. Effectively, you would provide a friendly interview/ mentor and discover strengths that can be touched upon in your LoR. When writing your LoR, you can in turn be up front about this, stating your relationship but then calling out those things you have learned in your conversation. You could potentially even do this for the friend, this approach allowing you to be both supportive and honest. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/02	2,622	10,516	<issue_start>username_0: > > Q: Why are the outer planets of the Solar System so much more massive than the inner planets? > > > A: By the central limit theorem, everything eventually appears to look like a Bell curve. Therefore planet masses increase with distance to the Sun before decreasing, and the planets at the end of the distribution (Mercury & Pluto) have small masses while the planets in the middle (Jupiter) have large masses. > > > One doesn't need to know anything about astronomy or planetary formation to know this answer is nonsense. Furthermore, the student should have known that Pluto isn't a planet (Mars is also less massive than both the Earth and Jupiter, and Neptune is more massive than Uranus as well, breaking the trend). On the other hand, it's funny nonsense. Funny nonsense has gotten immortalized as [internet jokes](http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/%7Ees181/handouts/is_hell_exothermic_or_endothermic.html), and if the joke is to be believed, even led to an 'A' for the student. There's even [a journal for funny research](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annals_of_Improbable_Research). Is it ethical to award a few points for this answer?<issue_comment>username_1: If the awarding of points to such a student doesn't disadvantage other students in any way, then sure, it is fine to do it. The only problems occur if another person suffers in some way because of it. And, assuming that this is a real case and not made up, it is possible that the person awarding the points has some information that the student knows a better answer (I certainly don't) and is just having a bit of fun. Ideally, grading is of individuals, not groups. The grade of an individual student is based entirely on what that student does, not in any way on what the class as a whole (or worse, classes in the past) do. There is no predefined distribution that grades are forced to adhere to. I'm happy if every student gets full marks. If they all get zeros I'm not happy, but I know what must be done, at least. If you keep that principle at the front then lots of such questions become moot. Of course, another issue is whether awarding those points helps that student or hurts them. Giving good grades because of, for example, hair color, would be wrong because it doesn't contribute to the learning process of the student. But I see no such harm here. It is a discrete event. --- Hmmm. Is it because the gas giants sweep out a larger circumference and hence picked up more material from the primordial gas cloud? Just guessing. And the status of [Pluto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto) is just a judgement call. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: > > Is it ethical to award a few points for this answer? > > > No. It does not demonstrate understanding. If I wrote a good-intentioned, but poor answer and got the same amount of points, I'd be peeved. Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I tend to give at least 1 point out of 10 for almost anything that could be construed as being relevant to the question. Compared to the responses I tend to give 1/10 for, this is better in several regards: * It has a logic to it. * The writer obviously knows it is wrong. * The writer demonstrates knowledge of something (in this case normal distributions). * The writer demonstrates some intellectual creativity. It depends somewhat on my standards for partial credit on the problem, but I'll probably give a good coherent joke response 3/10. On occasion it might be 2/10 if I feel like I need to reserve 3/10 for slightly correct responses that are less good than some responses I'm giving 4/10 for. Let's face it - awarding of partial credit isn't perfectly accurate, and any numerical score I give has an error bar of a few percent. (Almost always, the central limit theorem works and the errors mostly cancel out rather than stacking up, leaving still a few percent error.) I think it's fine to put a thumb on the noise here. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: It is possible that the student believes it to be correct (I don't know the student or his/her typical performance). Treating a serious but wrong answer as a joke could be insulting to the student who sees the feedback. Either way, you can give written feedback in addition to a grade. Even if the answer does not deserve points, you can leave comments on it for the student. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: It's fine if the question is already getting undeserved partial credit. Otherwise it doesn't seem very professional. I usually write a very small 0 (a big 0 feels like "how dare you disrespect my test -- you get a ZERO, with extreme prejudice!") Sometimes many other people are getting undeserved partial credit on the same Q with "write anything to try to get some credit" answers. Realistically those are worth 0, but often get 2/10 for the barely relevant parts they threw in by mistake. Esp if TA's are grading. Essentially, the Q has 2 free points. It seems fair to give a joke answer those same 2. If someone calls you on giving 2 points for a joke you can tell them, in nicer words "the joke showed as much understanding as the other answers worth 2". A joke answer is the same thing as "I don't know". It's better than a blank page (you don't have to wonder if the student didn't see it, and might want to make it up since their test was sticky or something). You're not rewarding a joke -- you're appreciating honesty and not wasting your time. But if a student completely skips a Q, doesn't even know how to start it, the rest of their scores are often a mess, too. They know they're not passing the class and it makes no difference what score you give it. Giving them 3/10 is just a nice "I don't hate you for failing my class" gesture. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: It depends on what form of ethics you are following. Virtue ethics? Truth is a virtue; this answer is not true, so to reward it as though it was the truth is dishonest and unethical. Your job is to reward truthful answers, not funny ones, so you would be in dereliction of your duty. Hedonic ethics? What matters is making people happy. Giving the student extra marks will make him happy, but if the students who gave more accurate answers find out, it will make them all unhappy. Allowing that to happen would be unethical. Therefore we must consider whether they are likely to find out... Kantian deontological ethics? What if every examiner always gave points for funny answers? It would create a situation where the ability to tell jokes was more useful for achieving qualifications than studying. This would be bad for society. Therefore, this is unethical. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: My interpretation would be that they didn't know the accepted answer, and so tried to use their physics intuition to invent a theory of solar system formation on the spot. It seems they came up with something similar to Laplace's collapsing rotating dust cloud, and as a hypothesis for why this dust cloud is thicker in the middle and thin at the inner and outer extremes, the random collisions of particles in the cloud resulting in a Normal distribution is at first glance a plausible guess. There are two aspects to this on which you could assign marks. Were they able to recite the memorised textbook answer they were told to learn? Not knowing the answer, were they able to invent a valid physical theory of their own to explain it? The latter is a much more sophisticated question. To judge it, one would need to know how much they knew about the solar system that their theory has to explain. This would seem like a perfect opening to start a conversation about the history of early theories of solar system formation, the features they had to explain, new research on extrasolar planets, and point them towards physical reasoning, not just the rote memorisation of facts. If you put yourself in the place of Descartes or Laplace, how would you develop a physics-based explanation? That's an important skill too, and ethically you can and should judge them on how well they did it. I'd not take off any points for calling Pluto a planet - from the point of view of discussing the physics of solar system formation, the distinction is not material. And minor exceptions to the general trend of masses might be explained by random variation. Small-sample histograms of the Normal distribution are often irregular. Are there stronger objections to their theory that they ought to have known about? Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: Maybe I can give some insight as I am a student who gives such answers quite regular and quite regular earns some points for it. The impact you create usually is quite low. Assuming you, as most people do, only grant a very small, near insignificant amount of points. Most of my exams have 120 points (for 120 mins) and if I earn Points for such answers it is not much. I would say a Median of 1 and a max of 3. Overall exams, I earn maybe an average of 0.2 (0,16%) points per exam maybe less. This also means that my peers usually aren't even interested enough in it to try it themselves. The best it usually does is making a good anecdote. I also would like to compare it to missed points in exams, which I was supposed to get but didn't, I spot an average of ~3 (2,5%) per exam. To finally answer your question. Yes, sure, it can be ethical, but it deepens wich ethic you would consider. The negative impact it usualy has is quite low and therefore the threshold to make it ethical is as well. The last thing, I think, what you should ask yourself as well is: Does it encourage better learning? Which is, I think, a hard to answer question. But for me personally, it did. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: A free form question to be answered by many students ideally has a grading rubric, otherwise it is next to impossible to keep grading consistent across graders and over time, not even within a single batch of tests. The rubric will generally not intersect with the unexpected joke. Supposing I own the rubric alone: the joke will generally not be worth the effort to adapt the rubric to accommodate that kind of answer with a non-zero score (and maybe re-grade previous answers accordingly). The comical effect will wear off before this is accomplished. I'd go with zero points and a smiley, unless I can honestly construe parts of the answer as demonstrating particular items in the rubric I'm applying. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/02	1,715	6,873	<issue_start>username_0: I just read [Ethics of awarding points for hilariously bad answers](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/158370/ethics-of-awarding-points-for-hilariously-bad-answers), and it reminded me of my Senior History exam in high school. I was confident in my knowledge and noticed that I had a lot of time left for the second half of the exam (the part where we were allowed to use our historical atlas), so during this second half, I often included a short joke comment between parentheses after the otherwise correct answer. For example, one of the questions I remember asked something about one of the European invasions of WW2, and after the answer itself, I joked about how it wasn't the first time they were conquered and listed a couple of other times they were conquered, like by the Greek, the Romans and a couple other groups I can't quite remember. I think I gave about half a dozen or a dozen jokes like that after relevant, for no other reason or justification other than because I felt like it. My teacher afterwards told me she found it quite funny to grade my exam, though I cannot really remember anymore whether she adjusted my grades because of them. I don't think she detracted any points and while I can't remember for sure, I think she added a couple percentage points because I showed knowledge of the subject matter beyond what was required. Again, I just did it because I felt like it, though I'm uncertain whether I was influenced by remarks from a substitute teacher that they liked to laugh at absurdly bad exam answers in the teacher's lounge (again, high school, and in a special education school at that). Now, obviously I didn't do this with the intent of getting a better score or something like that. I just did it because I felt like it, autistic brains are weird like that. But I'm wondering: Assuming an answer that's correct as far as you know, could it be a problem as a student to add a relevant joke to an otherwise correct answer? Could it impact the immediate and/or long term evolution of my grades, education and professional/academic life beyond just this exam, whether negatively or positively?<issue_comment>username_1: > > could it be a problem as a student to add a relevant joke to an otherwise correct answer? > > > Yes: The invasion and conquering of a nation isn't funny. Joking about such events won't curry favor with examiners. Although examiners should be impartial, they are human and some impartiality could be lost. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: As I understand, your main question is: Could it impact the immediate and/or long term evolution of my grades, education and professional/academic life beyond just this exam, whether negatively or positively? Immediate grade: Obviously. People might have different rules on how they grade. Graders are usually humans who are impacted conciously and subconsiously by their students' actions (and how they speak, look etc.) One teacher might like you more for making jokes, one might be angry that you wasted their time, one might not find the correct answer because you wrote too much irrelevant things etc. One might not care. In grading, almost everything is possible. Long term evolution of grades, life: Most likely not. If you have one teacher in different courses who likes you or doesn't like you because of jokes, this might play into other exams. However, usually, after a course is over, if at all, people care about the grade you got and not why you got it. It's unlikely that anyone will see the exam after the end of the course. If you get extremly famous, it might be a nice episode about you that you made jokes on exams. Or not. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I think the answer to this question is going to depend heavily on the teacher. Still, some points: * The linked question shouldn't be relevant, because that deals with a situation where the joke answer is clearly incorrect. In your case you know the answer and your response makes it clear you do. * If we believe the top-voted answers to [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/123593/in-a-yes-no-question-a-student-gives-the-right-answer-and-an-unnecessary-but-wr) represent attitudes as a whole, you could have written an incorrect joke and probably still be awarded full marks. * However, there are people who will [grade you down](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/40561) if your joke is incorrect. Most teachers would probably grade you down anyway if the scoring were X/10 (as opposed to full marks/no marks). * Finally, your joke had better be funny, because if it offends the teacher somehow it could backfire badly. This is not always clear-cut, e.g. there could be competing versions of history (e.g. opinions on <NAME> are heavily polarized with some viewing him as a hero and some viewing him as a villain). In other words, this should be OK as long as 1) your joke is technically correct and 2) your joke is legitimately funny. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: The problem with writing extra stuff, like jokes, is it can turn into a bad habit. Clear, enjoyable "just the facts" writing is difficult. There are lots of things to pay attention to, and it's always possible to rewrite to make it better. Thinking about what jokes to add is a distraction you don't need. If you must do something, doodle on the paper (I've seen this on plenty of tests and it's fine). The goal isn't so much to get better at writing test answers. Answering test Q's is practice for writing real essays, or technical articles, and so on. As far as grading, extra jokes are only a minor problem. Grading tests can be a chore and it's easiest when the grader sees a 100% correct answer, with nothing extra and can write 20/20 on top and move on. Beyond that, we don't always know it's a joke. We might take off a point because you think the Spartans fought in WWII. Sure, if you bring the test back in we'll see it was a joke and fix it, but that's a pain. And we don't even laugh at joke answers, or enjoy them. During grading we sometimes share ones that are wrong in a very strange way (but we aren't mean about it, and never, ever say what student wrote it). Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: Overthinking, much? A joke is appreciated as a joke, nothing more nothing less and in my practice it would never affect marks (could not possibly have, for that matter). A joke is a joke. An outburst of anger (an infrequent occurrence) would make me regret on the student's behalf that they did not spend that time improving some other answer. Very frequent were little sorry notes for missing a question, as if I, the instructor, were the one being let down. A final category of student exam paper missives (irrelevant to marking) were declarations of love (go figure, as marking was anonymous!). Upvotes: 2
2020/11/02	542	2,412	<issue_start>username_0: I'm a professional photographer. I have done numerous lectures at colleges and high schools about photography and photo assisting. This has always been for ex-professors or peers that have become professors. I thoroughly enjoy it and looking to branch out beyond my personal contacts to do about 4 of these a year. Do you know if someone exists that is a guest lecture booker or guest lecture PR type person? I imagine this person would contact schools and try and set something up. I guess they wouldn't have to have industry-specific experience but I imagine that someone in academia with previous relationships may be more effective.<issue_comment>username_1: There are certainly professional speakers, who make their money by giving paid seminars, speaking at conferences, and providing bespoke training. That said, their target audience is rarely (though not never) universities, but rather companies or industrial conferences. The problem with making speaking at universities as a career is that, in order to actually live from this, your fee needs to be high, much higher than the regular honorarium given to university speakers (if there is any honorarium at all, oftentimes the university can only cover travel). In my experience most universities will only shill out this kind of money for very targeted kinds of speeches or trainings that fill a specific, concrete need, and where they know there is a lot of interest. For example, when there is a new European funding framework coming up, many European universities will pay for a consultant to come in and hold a half-day seminar what the new rules are and how they will likely be interpreted in practice. Another exception may be very high-profile seminar series, which are often seen as publicity events for the general public. In summary, it can't hurt to keep your eyes open, but before you take this any further you should figure out whether there really is sufficient money in this line of business. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Guest speakers are common place. Their bookers vary between (internal) faculty and administrators. Search for listings of departmental speakers. From there, find a faculty member or administrator responsible for making arrangements and contact them. That's not quite the approach you've considered (external bookers), but I think it is more typical in academia. Upvotes: 0
2020/11/03	774	3,316	<issue_start>username_0: Do Physics (STEM) graduate schools in the US check for disciplinary record if they don't ask for it in the application? The outcome of the violation doesn't appear on my transcript. Only way a graduate school can find out is if they ask my school (in US) for my academic record. I am not going to lie if they ask but some school's application form doesn't ask for disciplinary records. Does that mean they will not check for it?<issue_comment>username_1: Generally speaking, in the US, you can depend to some extent on a "right to privacy" that would make such an inquiry improper and replying to it also improper. But it isn't necessarily assured. The US Constitution is silent on a right to privacy, but many Supreme Court decisions have expanded that right, though not to the extent of the EU's Right to be Forgotten. Also, many US states will have privacy protections in place that make the communication of certain kinds of information improper without the consent of the person involved. However, if some transgression of a student is also law-breaking, then the rules may change and the information may be part of the public record in that case. In addition, most (I think) US colleges and universities would treat disciplinary action against a student as a private matter and some might purge the record upon graduation (or after some time period). Part of the philosophy is that if we are to punish a student for some act then that should be the end of it, though the record might be retained until graduation to guard against recurrences. Overall, I doubt that, given the more or less general, if informal, sense that privacy is a right, that any graduate school would ask and that the likelihood of getting an answer would be very small. Part of the reasoning here is that the grad school would have no particular reason to ask, having no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of an applicant. Of course, it is not outside the realm of possibility that the candidate would be asked directly about certain kinds of misbehavior, and if asked it would be a potential problem if a candidate were to lie (as noted by Anonymous Physicist). Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: In my experience some schools take a very hard line on academic dishonesty and expel students for cheating on exams. This would probably show up on your record. Other schools give students a few strikes by having an internal list of disciplinary action, so that a repeat offender can be identified for expulsion. Otherwise the list stays private and probably won't come to light in future applications. Discipline regarding drinking in dorms and things like that probably won't show up unless it gets so bad that you have a criminal record. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: [In the US disciplinary records are protected by FERPA, so one school can't check another's records without written permission from the applicant](https://nces.ed.gov/pubs97/web/97859.asp). Others here that say that the school you are applying to is free to ask you about why your transcript looks the way it does, are right. If you got kicked out of a school or failed a class for cheating, expect your transcript to reflect that somehow that's legal and to be asked about that in another way that's legal. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/03	877	3,821	<issue_start>username_0: I am forced to write this question as I believe it is unethical and needs to be addressed in my faculty. I suspect a faculty member in my university has the habit of writing his students' masters thesis (for free or for a fee). I believe he does it for a fee. A colleague has mentioned this before, but that colleague isn't a board member so I can't really take his word officially. I noticed that for several theses I examined for the examination board, his students have a very solid thesis but performed questionable during oral presentations. Some colleagues think it's stage fright, but I believe it is more than that. This faculty member always requests that corrections for the thesis be mailed to him to "pass to his student". I think he's just doing the corrections and submitting the final copy. This faculty member taught me in my undergraduate years in the same faculty and I heard some stories of his shady dealings with students then. Question: How can something like this be investigated since there are no mechanisms in place to limit what a supervisor contributes to their students' thesis? It is difficult to get the students to testify as this is what most of them would want by default.<issue_comment>username_1: Just like any other situation where bribery is suspected, a sting operation can be used by law enforcement to get proof. 1. Find someone who could plausibly offer a bribe. 2. Give them immunity to punishment. 3. Have them offer a bribe. 4. If the bribe is accepted, you have proof. You can also investigate financial records, but this is much harder. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Contact the University Thesis Office regarding policies regarding professors making edits. Maybe what he is doing is sanctioned; maybe there is a strict policy against it. The prof. won't tell you, and the college won't shake the boat. University administration offers the only chance of independent administration. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: > > How can something like this be investigated since there are no mechanism in place to limit what a supervisor contributes to his students' thesis? > > > I doubt it is true that there are no mechanisms for this. Academics are generally bound by broad ethics rules in relation to their research and supervision, and this would almost certainly fall within the scope of those rules. Being paid a separate fee to write the entire thesis for the student is something that would obviously fall well beyond what is appropriate help for a student, and it would almost certainly be a breach of research ethics. A complaint of this matter could be raised either with the Head of Department for the faculty the academic is in (or was in at the time of the alleged conduct) or with the university Research Committee or Higher-Degree Committee. As far as the actual investigative aspects are concerned, that is where it gets trickier, but not impossible. The university might interview past students or look through correspondence between the students and the academic. The university has the power to open investigations into the past award of a degree (and withdraw it under appropriate circumstances) and so this can be used as a way of seeking responses from past students. The university also has access to all emails, etc., on their own systems, and there is generally no right of the academic to privacy of these things beyond certain narrow bounds (e.g., personal emails that do not relate to work). In a complaint proceeding, the university would certainly give this academic an opportunity to tell them what he has been doing, and give his own arguments in relation to his practices. He might even admit it, and argue that what he does is okay, in which case evidentiary issues would be moot. Upvotes: 0
2020/11/03	862	3,725	<issue_start>username_0: I am working as a research assistant for a professor and I was hired to write a literature review on a rather broad topic that is well outside of my knowledge domain. I am concerned that i'll most likely create a bad product because I don't have a crystal clear idea as to what it is I am intending to search for, I only have an approximate idea. It seems sort of strange that I would be hired to write a LR on a topic for somebody else and I am wondering if this is a common occurrence? Do professors typically hire students write the literature reviews for them?<issue_comment>username_1: I don't know how common/typical it is, but it seems to be certainly part of a job description for a RA, especially if your implication is that you are a doctoral student. One reason for it is just part of your training and when it comes time to do your own dissertation the practice would help. But additionally, if the professor is exploring some new research direction it would be helpful to them to have help in assuring that they don't miss something important. And anyone starting out in a new research area will have the same dilemma as yourself. It is hard to know where to look initially. You need to review a lot of papers and chase a lot of references. That is the nature of the task. If it were crystal clear it probably wouldn't be necessary. It is good that you are humble at the start. I'd guess that the professor knows that it isn't easy and that the initial product might require refinement. Just be honest along the way about what you have "covered" and any gaps you think might still exist. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I have not done so, but I have asked masters students hired as RAs to do so, for grants. Results have varied between good and useless. (I wound up entirely rewriting one, cursing the whole time at their failure to synthesize the results from findings). Regardless, a lot got done that I didn't have to do, and could build on. The best part produced was the annotated bibliography--abstract, link, and their comments on each book/article/paper. Google Scholar is your ace. Google the topic, google the names of the people involved. Copy-paste the abstracts into a word document, rewrite them in consistent tense and structure so it presents a summary of the articles. Read the conclusion for articles with 'teaser' abstracts and add that to the summary. Make sure each summary includes the research question/hypothesis, the methods used, and the findings. Keep an exact bibliography, and a file with all the articles used. Do this for a page, present the result to the professor, get feedback, continue. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I have hired a master's student to work with me on a literature review in the past on a topic that she initially knew little about. I cannot assume that your professor's situation was the same as mine, but in my case, my purpose was to use her services to do a lot of the legwork in the mechanics of identifying literature and related resources. When it came to the actual reading an meaningful analysis of the articles, I did almost all of that myself. The student saved me a huge amount of time; I could not have produced the eventual reviews in the time I did without her help. On her part, she learnt a lot about new topics and she eventually coauthored on a very highly cited article. So, I believe that intellectually, the experience was very helpful for her as well. (Even now that she has since become a professor, that remains by far her more highly cited work.) So, there is one anecdote at least of how such an experience might be valuable to both the research assistant and the professor. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/03	1,444	6,106	<issue_start>username_0: I'm a student. A professor recently gave me an open question to think about, and after three months of working on it as a hobby, I think I have something good. It is not an exact mathematical theorem or anything, but I have the code and some proofs in special cases. So, I'm writing a paper and thinking about publishing it. Now, the professor isn't active in the research area that this paper would naturally fit in. They did help with the technical details, but have no time to become an expert in this area. But, all papers in this area have an "Introduction" section of almost a page, citing 30+ papers from the past two years. I have read a grand total of four relevant papers. How to proceed? I don't think I am capable of doing this in a reasonable amount of time, as I don't really follow what's going on in this research area. And I have other pressing things to do. I am thinking about writing to some PhD students in my institution which publish in this area, to recruit them as coauthors. Maybe they could even improve the paper. But how to contact them? Is it dumb to say: "hi, nice to meet you, here is my current draft of the paper, do you want in? By the way, you are going to write first section"?<issue_comment>username_1: Your professor will not have time to contribute substantially to the writing. You lack the expertise to write the Introduction section in an appropriate manner. This is a situation that calls for a further co-author. As GoodDeeds wrote in their comment, this is the moment to ask your professor for further help. Even if they have no time for writing themselves, they could quite possibly know just the right PhD student who knows how to write an appropriate Introduction, and would be willing to do so in exchange for a co-authorship. This would be more fruitful than you writing PhD students yourself, since your professor is more likely to know the exact career status of the PhD students. Hence, they should know better which PhD student to approach for this. Write your professor an email outlining exactly this plan: you and they will not have the time or expertise to contribute meaningfully to this, so could they perhaps recommend the right PhD student to fill the gap? Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Introductions are challenging to write. We have knowledge, but we don't also remember where we learned everything. Indeed, stare at a problem long enough, and the reasoning for solving it seems plain. But reviewers and readers want the whole background. And if you are publishing a paper, you practically by definition need to be competent to write the introduction. > > How to proceed? I don't think I am capable of doing this in a reasonable amount of time, as I don't really follow what's going on in this research area. > > > Well, not a lot really proceeds in a reasonable amount of time in academia ... you are not guaranteed to publish your paper rapidly. So if it takes you a few months to work on the introduction, so be it. > > I am thinking about writing to some PhD students in my institution which publish in this area, to recruit them as coauthors. > > > The idea of someone contacting me to write an introduction is, quite frankly, humorous. It's appropriate to contact someone to help develop your paper, but if I was contacted by an undergrad (?) to help with their paper, I would expect that to mean intellectually and editing their text. Perhaps helping with a tricky paragraph or two. But finding 30 papers for them? No. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I suggest that rather than trying to enlist someone else as a co-author, you just do the best job you can with what you know and can learn in a reasonable amount of time. If you only have a few references, rather then 30, then so be it. If it is enough to explain what you are doing then it is probably enough. Use your professor for feedback on what you write. They will probably have some ideas about things you should include. And get advice from them on where and how to submit it for publication. Perhaps a student-oriented publication is best, but you need advice on that. But if another person hasn't contributed to the intellectual advances you have made, then it isn't really proper to include them as authors. If you submit it to a reviewed publication then you will probably get feedback from reviewers if it has any merit at all. The feedback will help you improve it even if they don't end up publishing it. I think that it is unlikely that you have missed anything so important that it would invalidate what you have done. Your professor would probably have caught that already. But a reviewer certainly will. But, write the paper as best you can including what you think is necessary to explain things to a reader. The practice will be good. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Don’t look for a co-author; look for a mentor! Other answers, such as [username_3’s](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/158448/1277), explain well why it’s generally not appropriate to recruit a co-author for this kind of thing. But I’d like to emphasise a good alternative: try to find someone experienced in the general area who can help advise you on writing the introduction. Usually, I would expect the original professor who suggested this question should be qualified to help you write it. Even if they’re not an expert in the specific topic, they should be able to judge what’s an appropriate amount of background to give, and help you find more background reading if necessary. If they’re really not qualified for this (which would surprise me) then I suggest approaching some other experienced academic in your institution to ask for their guidance on this, ideally someone who already knows you a bit, eg from a course. To be clear, you’re asking for a favour which will take time they probably won’t get remunerated for — so make sure to ask politely, and don’t take it personally if they say no. But it’s a favour that many academics, when they can spare the time, would be very happy to give. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/04	974	4,147	<issue_start>username_0: I am a graduate student and I am more than half way through with my thesis. I was diagnosed with epilepsy 3 years ago, and in order to control my seizures I take Depakote. Now my seizures are under control, but the medicine has side effects, which hinders my productivity at times. This hindrance causes delay in my work, hence I have a feeling that my thesis will take longer to complete but he does not fund my thesis. Should I share my medical condition directly with my supervisor or should I first contact the disability center in my college first and let them tell him that? UPDATE So I spoke both with the disability center and my supervisor, and things worked out according to my expectations. Both the disability center and my supervisor were very understanding. Thank you all for your support and suggestions!!!<issue_comment>username_1: It sounds like you have already decided to tell him one way or another, and the question is if you should speak to the disability office first. The disability office might have something helpful to add, so it should not hurt to speak to them first. If there is any chance you might have seizures in the future, you should probably tell people you work with how they should react. Many faculty will call emergency services if they notice someone is having a seizure; if you don't want that to happen, say so. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: ### Contact the disability center first. You haven't listed a location, but most developed nations have laws prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities, and mandating reasonable accommodations for their disabilities. The university disability office will likely have a better understanding of the university's policies and procedures as well as what reasonable accommodations you're entitled to than a random professor will (unless that's their research area or something). Additionally, helping you is literally their job, so you might as well take advantage of their services; it's not going to cost you or your lab/work group anything to do so, after all, and they should keep the contents of your communications with them private. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I would send an email to the disability center with a copy to the supervisor. That way your supervisor knows what is going on but doesn't have to take any action. After the initial email, you don't have to keep the supervisor updated unless (a) they ask, or (b) the disability center reaches a decision that needs action from the supervisor. Your email doesn't have to be complicated. It could be as simple as: --- > > To: Disability Center > > > Copy: John Supervisor > > > Dear Disability Center > > > I currently have to take a prescribed medicine for a medical > condition. This is making my studies difficult and I would > appreciate meeting with you to discuss this. > > > Arthur\_Mogan > > > If you don't mind your supervisor knowing, you could name the medical condition in the email and say, "I currently have to take a prescribed medicine for epilepsy ..." Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: I will go against the other answers which unanimously suggest to talk to the disability centre first, and say that it depends. It strongly depends on where you are, and on your relationship with your supervisor. I don't think anyone here can give you a definitive answer without a good understanding of your unique situation. Your supervisor could be your best ally in navigating the bureaucracy at your institution, and finding a way to extend your funding if necessary. In a well-functioning research group, your supervisor would be your best ally, and could tell you what to do exactly to reach the best outcome. Of course, this is not always the case, which is why I said that it depends. I will just say that if you can expect the disability centre to give you more support than your supervisor, or even support you against your supervisor, that is a very sad state of affairs. It does happen though, which is why you need to make this call yourself. Upvotes: 4
2020/11/04	481	2,129	<issue_start>username_0: Recently I read an article on tips for PhD students to improve their scientific writing skills. There, one suggestion was to find and read the best-paper-award-papers in highly reputed conferences in your discipline and understand the writing style, the way of presenting information, flow, language etc.. I believe it is worthwhile to spend some time on this to improve my writing skills. However, I tried whether there is an option to find such papers in a typical database after filtering information (my discipline is Electrical Engineering, so I tried [IEEE-Xplore](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/home.jsp)) but could not find it over there. So I would really appreciate if someone can suggest me the easiest way to find such papers online? Note: I am interested in finding such papers related to highly reputed IEEE and [IFAC](https://www.ifac-control.org/) conferences.<issue_comment>username_1: Identify the top conferences in your field and look to their websites to see whether best paper awards are present and, if so, which papers received such awards. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Unfortunately, there is a lot of variety in how much effort different conferences invest into making the information on best papers visible and long-term available. * If you're lucky, the website of the conference lists previous best paper winners on their website. Sometimes this only applies to individual editions (years) of the conference. * In a majority of cases, this might not apply. In these cases, you might be able to retrieve individual award winners by googling for search strings like (if the conference name is ICSE), "ICSE Best Paper" and "ICSE Distinguished Paper". Such search strings may lead to tweets and researcher websites of award winners. * Another option is to contact the steering committee of the conference and ask for the list of best papers. This might have the positive effect of raising awareness that there is interest in this information, which might at some point lead to more efforts into making the information available online. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2020/11/04	524	2,246	<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently applying to several PhD programs in the STEM sector in Europe. Some universities invite me to submit my bachelor's thesis as an optional document for my application. I would like to do that because the thesis can give some insight about my background, even if it wasn't about anything new and it wasn't published. Problem is, my thesis was written in a language different from English. Does it make sense if I translate it into English and send both the original and the translation for the application? The thesis is less than 30 pages long and it would be quick to translate. However, I wonder if it is common practice and if it will be considered by a potential committee.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes I would translate it. Some pros: * It helps you demonstrate your capabilities in research; * It may help you demonstrate your knowledge of the subject matter in your field if relevant; * It demonstrates that you are oriented toward communicating the findings of your research, which is a graduate capability they are looking to develop anyway; and * It shows initiative. Some cons: * Its too expensive to translate; * Its too technical to translate; * You think your application would be stronger without it! These are the only cons I can think of...and my guess is based on what you have said that the pros definitely outweigh the cons :-) Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: In some countries and universities, if you want to write your thesis in another language you must submit your proposal (for master and Ph.D.) in that language beforehand, or at least at the time of defense, you must have your thesis written in that language to present it to the referees to check. If you don't have these limitations (if you are not banned by the university), it would be a good idea to translate it. In the worst case, the host university won't accept it! As you mentioned, your thesis is not long. So you won't lose time by doing it. In case you consider your research valuable, there is no negative point when it is allowed by the university. This work can even show your eagerness and your try. But make sure of the correctness and accuracy of the translation. Upvotes: 0
2020/11/05	707	2,906	<issue_start>username_0: I made a post yesterday regarding when I should send a professor a reminder regarding a LoR request. Well, he actually got back to me today and told me that (translated and paraphrased from Korean): "(small talk) I think it would be best for you to ask someone who may know you better. I'm afraid I may not know you well enough to write a detailed and strong recommendation letter. However, if you can't find anyone else I'd be glad to write one. "Since I don't know you that well, it would help if you sent me your CV, SOP, and a one-page document laying out what you want me to specify or emphasize. "Again, I strongly advise you to request a letter from a professor who knows you well, as that would lead to a stronger letter." So yeah, it's not exactly an ideal response, but was expected. The problem I had is that I'm a MSCS student but am not originally from CS. Being busy with my own advisor and lab/projects has somewhat hindered me from becoming "close" with other professors. This particular professor I asked is one of the three who I've had interactions with a little more than the classroom level (I very briefly worked on a project with his lab mates, but it didn't turn into anything). The other two have stated they would write me letters already. There is a postdoc in our lab who I've worked with, but I'd rather not ask a postdoc. How negatively is this going to affect me? I don't think I really have a choice, and I don't believe this professor is someone who would write anything negatively about me, but I guess I would like some perspective from people who have been on both sides. Thanks.<issue_comment>username_1: If someone suggests you find another person to write for you it is advice you should take unless you have no other options. The best letters come from people who know you well enough to speak both positively and enthusiastically about you and your prospects. This professor has some reservations. But in the case that you really have no other options, then try to follow up with them. A mediocre letter might even be worse than no letter at all, but it is hard to say. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This is exactly what I would say to students wanting a LoR (only I did not write it in Korean first, but your translation is eerily close!). Even with the ones I knew well I would always ask which aspects they wanted me to emphasise. Because then I would only have to translate their informal response (to me as their friend) into officialese and hey presto. So: this person means well. The letter will probably do its job which in the main is to reassure the recipient that you are not one a mad troublemaker. However, if there is anything else who is able to provide something stronger, he does not want to get in the way of that. That is all. Proceed as planned and do not worry too much. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/05	2,207	9,656	<issue_start>username_0: I currently have a class in which at the beginning of the semester, our entire class was told it would be okay to obtain a previous version of the textbook which I did because it was significantly cheaper. However, now that we are further on in the semester, the previous version is leaving out information that the new version contains. Each week, we complete a guided inquiry for this class in which we answer questions about the chapters. The guided inquiry now frequently has questions that answers cannot be found for in the previous edition. Our professor, however, only has the new edition of the text and doesn’t know which questions cannot be found in the previous edition. She decided that a good means of dealing with this would be to give us two attempts on the guided inquiry so that after we complete it the first time, we can reach out to our peers and get the information not found in the textbook. I personally don’t think that this is fair to either the people with the new edition or the people with the old edition. The people with the old edition will have to rely on others for them to get a good grade, and the people with the new edition will have to devote time to finding the information that their peer needs and sending it to them. Because college students tend to be very busy, I don’t think that either of these is an ideal situation to be in. However, I am not sure if this is just me being upset over the fact that I now have to spend extra time emailing someone else and waiting and hoping I get the information, or if it is a justifiable argument and I should send her an email to discuss the matter. I also don’t want to seem disrespectful, because I am sure she is just trying to do what she thinks is best as an educator so that we have all the information we need to become successful teachers. I am just not sure how an email from me would be received. Edit to add: This is an online class so in order to get the pages from someone else, I would have to email and ask them to send me either pictures of their text or pictures of their answer. We only have three chapters left, so I was going to ask if maybe she could just scan those chapters for those of us with the old edition and post them on our class site with the other information because she did this for us at the beginning of the school year when everyone was still waiting to receive their textbook. Also, our university library is closed due to COVID and only providing online resources right now. Another reason that I didn't mention prior to this is that the class had issues finding the current edition of the text, and that was the reason a lot of people got the older version. The newer version at the time wasn't available through Amazon or Chegg and our school bookstore sold out pretty quickly. Also, yes this is an educator preparation class.<issue_comment>username_1: You've established that the professor knows about the problem and has found a low quality solution. If you do not have a better solution, I see no point in contacting the professor about it. Is there a copy available in the library or through the library website? If so, use that. If not, ask the librarian if one can be made available. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I've been both in situations where I told my students "I've looked at the 1st edition of the text and it's OK to use it" and "I've looked at the 1st edition of the text and it's not OK to use it". It sounds (unless I misunderstand your story) that your professor never looked at the prior edition and just assumed that it would be OK. I hope that "never assume" will be one of the lessons learned in this class by everyone, including your professor. The professor tried to mitigate their mistake. (Other possible solutions might be to limit the topics of the guided inquiry to the material in the old edition, but that would not be fair to the students who do have the new edition.) Clearly, this creates a huge inconvenience for you (and the other people with the old edition), but also, more importantly, you're missing out on the material that's in the latest edition and is missing in the one you have. My advice to you is twofold: * You're missing out on gaining the knowledge which is the goal of your being in this class and in school. You're not learning as much as the other students who have access to the current edition. Get hold of the current edition of the text book (buy it new, buy it used, rent it, download it for free from pirate sites, borrow from somebody). It may cost you, but the alternative is that you won't learn in this class whatever you've set out to learn. * Do not say anything to the professor. Nothing good is likely come out of it. The professor already knows that students who have the old text are inconvenienced. You have nothing new to say. The professor sounds very unlikely to change anything again, but also sounds like the type who might retaliate and dng your grade for complaining. If your school conducts course evaluations at the end of the semester, explain there clearly what went wrong. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I doubt sending an email is wise. I imagine two cases. First, the instructor is newer and hasn't run into this before. Second, the instructor is experienced. If the instructor is younger/new, I can almost guarantee that they already realize their error and feel badly enough about it. Many younger instructors make the mistake of thinking they're serving their students by being flexible on editions. With good intentions they sought to lower the cost burden of the class, etc. They should be seeing that this ultimately backfires. This professor is learning (hopefully) the hard way to make it a written-in-stone policy that everyone get the same edition. They've cobbled together the best solution they can think of, but it's too late to go back. They won't do it again next semester. You don't need to pile on when they're probably already punishing themselves. If the instructor is experienced, they should already know better. And that probably means they don't care that much. So in this case sending an email won't have any affect anyway. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Your professor has caused a problem and it is a problem that should never occur. I find it especially egregious in a program designed for future educators. The professor is, right now, a terrible role model for how to manage a class. The professor should design a class and provide for sufficient materials and instructions for every student to be successful. This includes text book recommendations. The design shouldn't be changed after the course begins and, most especially, it shouldn't be changed in a way that disadvantages some students over others. That is just wrong. The professor, to behave ethically, needs to either return to the original "agreement" made when students entered the class or provide, in some legal fashion, the necessary additional materials. Anything else is a breach. It shouldn't be on the backs of students to recover from problems caused by the professor. The professor should teach the course so that the original (first edition) is sufficient or supplement it explicitly with other things that they provide directly. I don't know what recourse you have. Ideally, a complaint to the department head or dean would be appropriate, but, with the power imbalance here it might not be wise. If the teacher is so inexperienced or callous as to have let this happen, they might not react well to being called on it. As with many such things, individual action an be dangerous and collective action can, in theory, be more effective. But you have to judge the local situation, including personalities, to decide whether any course of action is feasible. But, you have been wronged. When you get to be a teacher, I hope you consider other people to be your mentor and others to be those you want to emulate. Good luck. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Your professor made a significant mistake. Judging by your question, it sounds as if she was attempting to be helpful and accommodating, that this backfired, and that she has realized this and tried to do what she can. I would complain if (1) you don't think she's realized that this is a serious inconvenience, or (2) you would like to request some alternative form of accommodation. It sounds as if she has realized (1), but if you can think of a practical suggestion for (2) then I would encourage you to suggest it. You also edited your answer to add: > > The newer version at the time wasn't available through Amazon or Chegg and our school bookstore sold out pretty quickly. > > > It is the responsibility of the bookstore to stock the books required by students. At least in my university, they are provided textbook orders and registration counts months in advance, and hence have no excuse for this sort of thing. (It happens anyway.) In my estimation this is an egregious failure on the bookstore's part, and one which is completely beyond the professor's responsibility. In your shoes, I would consider complaining about the bookstore to the university administration. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: Wondering how conversant the prof. is with both editions... The onus is on the prof. to get the library to order 2nd edition copies, and perhaps ensure the bookstore has some in stock. A suggestion to the prof. on this issue should not alienate anyone. Prof. understands blunder, but working from just one edition disadvantages those with the other. Speak to the prof. Upvotes: 0
2020/11/05	2,233	9,172	<issue_start>username_0: I am obliged to hand in an an exposé outlining my PhD project in mathematics, including some kind of working plan. Since it is [answered here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/130253/75016) and since it can be easily found on the internet, I have some understanding about what such a working plan should look like. However, when it comes to fleshing this out, I have large difficulties. But I am sure that I am not the first would-be mathematician writing a working plan in the world, so how do others do it? What I struggle with. For instance, I have no idea of what I want to achieve within the (expected) three years of my studies, and apparently, since we fixed a very broad working title for my thesis, neither has my supervisor. My Master's was in a different field with only minor connections to the one I am about to start my PhD in. Therefore, I expect that I spend the first weeks or months getting used to the field, reading literature, working on small problems of which hopefully one turns out to be interesting and fruitful enough to build a theses on. But I have no idea how to foresee when I will be done with spending most of my time on literature, when I will have solved which problem and finished the proof for what theorem, when I will start compiling my results into a thesis, when to write which chapter of it or when I will hand in a paper with what title to which journal. How I've solved the problem in the past. To my shame, I have to admit that when writing my Master's thesis, I had not made any plan either. I just worked into the day and in the end, there was a thesis. I am aware that this is a very inefficient working style, but apparently, expectations towards my thesis were low enough such that it worked out. I expect that for a PhD, working in such an unstructured fashion does not work out any more; therefore, I am actually motivated to give my work more structure.<issue_comment>username_1: I think the whole concept of planning research is misleading. If you can make a detailed plan, maybe even including the results, then it's craftsmanship and not research. E.g. try to devise a plan for proving the Collatz conjecture. But as your PhD program seems to have a fixed run time of three years, it's good to create a schedule for yourself, how much time you want to spend for literature survey, for pinning down the exact thesis topic, for research, for writing down the thesis, and so on. You can see this schedule as a friendly reminder before you get into trouble for e.g. spending too much time on preliminaries. But don't be too surprised if your progress doesn't match your schedule. After all, doing a PhD means researching something that hasn't been done before. And always keep in contact with your supervisor. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: This may seem like a joke, but it isn't intended as such. I'll give you an algorithm. 1. Find a problem that seems suitable. 2. Work like crazy to try to solve that problem, either establishing a proof of correctness or a counterexample. Spend enough time and effort at this to determine whether it should be successful (either way) in a reasonable amount of time. 3. If you succeed at step 2 determine whether the result is significant (again, either way). If it is not significant, go back to step 1. 4. If you don't succeed in a reasonable amount of time, go back to step 1. 5. You were successful in establishing a significant result, either positive or negative. Write it up. End. Along the way use your advisor as necessary and consult the literature as necessary. This is especially true for step 1. Others can help as well if you have a math seminar available for general discussions on problems and ideas. My own doctorate in math required three passes through step 1. The first pass resulted in a lot of insignificant theorems. The work was abandoned. The second pass was a total block. Nothing could be learned. Back to step 1. The third pass got me to step 5 and my degree. Quite a nice result if I do say so myself. My advisor was helpful in step 1 (each time) and in validating my judgement about the three attempts. And note that step 1 can be the hardest step of all, since you take it at the time you know very little. Things that seem to be one thing turn out to be something different. While I called this an "algorithm" it has some indeterminate parts, especially the time and effort part. No one can schedule "success" in research. It is a dive into the unknown. A voyage where no one has gone before. It might also fail to be an algorithm if you fail at some step, such as 1 or 2. Some people refuse to give up a problem when they should. To make step 2 reasonable, work on some schedule that is fairly intense but includes breaks so that it doesn't negatively impact your mental or physical health. Or your personal relationships. --- At step 4 write up what you think you have learned in a notebook that you can return to later if you get some inspiration. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: If you don’t have at least one research problem, you can’t write a plan. That’s the core of your difficulty (based on your comment in which you explained that you don’t have a research problem). A plan is the articulation of what your objectives are and how you think you might achieve them. But you don’t actually have any concrete objectives. So the idea of writing a plan is unattainable - you’re not even in a position to get started doing this. It is a classic case of putting the cart before the horse. Now, let’s talk about what a research problem actually is in pure mathematics. You mention proving a conjecture, that’s certainly a type of research problem and the most concrete and well-defined one. If someone asks you to come up with a research problem, stating that you want to prove someone’s conjecture is the easiest type of problem to come up with, but on the other hand it’s probably the hardest to actually solve since presumably other people are also trying and have not yet succeeded. So for a PhD project it’s perfectly acceptable (and usually advisable) to be a bit less ambitious and have slightly less concrete goals. Such goals can be along the lines of: * Improve a known result from the literature, by weakening the hypotheses and/or strengthening the conclusion. (E.g., if Jones proved that all infinitely differentiable frombloids are magnabulous and you manage to prove that it’s enough to assume only seven times differentiability, you’ve improved on Jones’ result.) * Prove an analogue of a known result (E.g., “all p-adic frombloids are semi-magnabulous in the Smith topology”, when you are the first to study p-adic frombloids but are guided by Jones’s ideas in the differentiable case.) * Prove a variant of a known result with stronger hypotheses and stronger conclusions, or weaker hypotheses and weaker conclusions, or hypotheses that are neither strictly stronger nor strictly weaker than the original. * Sharpen a numerical constant in a known result (E.g., “the fractal dimension of a magnabulous frombloid is bounded by 17.781”, when Jones proved the bound 27.13) * Prove (or disprove) a converse to a known result * Etc etc. Now, the point here is that research problems exist on a spectrum of vagueness-concreteness. It’s okay to not have a completely accurate idea of what it is that you want to prove when you get started (as someone said, that’s what makes it research). Very experienced researchers even sometimes start thinking about a research area with a completely vague goal of the type “I want to understand [research area/class of objects/etc] better” (I know that I sometimes do this myself). But there’s a strong caveat here: you are a PhD student. A goal that is suitable for an experienced (not to mention tenured) researcher is not necessarily suitable as one that a PhD student should be given to try and solve with the expectation that there will be a reasonably high likelihood of success. And specifically, for a PhD student I think it’s pretty essential that the goal should be fairly concrete. Just “I want to understand X better” is not a recipe for success at your stage, and in fact even for experienced researchers it often leads nowhere. So what should you do? Talk to your advisor. Explain to them that you think the project should be fleshed out some more before you begin writing your exposé and that you need some actual, specific problems. It is their responsibility to help you find problems that are suitable to work on; ideally you should have not just one but at least three or four fairly concrete goals, of a more or less realistic level of difficulty for your level of training when you start out. If your advisor isn’t able to help you come up with some ideas like that and bring you to a point where you can start putting a plan on paper, sadly they are probably not a very good advisor, and you might have more serious things to worry about for the future of your project than just the current difficulties with writing the plan. Anyway, hope this helps and good luck! Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2020/11/05	718	3,047	<issue_start>username_0: When writing a PhD thesis or an academic paper, you tend to be limited in how you can present results by the physical paper size, e.g. A4 for a thesis and often much tighter when targeting journals or conference proceedings. This seems needlessly restrictive in this day and age, but perhaps that's a different discussion about the whole academic publishing machinery and its implications for good research. My question is: how do you approach presenting data in a way that doesn't lose detail and impact, but fits in 15 x 25 cm (if you're lucky)? I'll use an example to illustrate - after one set of experiments I have a plot that looks like this: [![grid of plots with highlighted lines](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bsXRj.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bsXRj.png) This plot could be really useful in drawing out lots of conclusions and further questions. As it is, it only covers a sample of the actual results, but shows important trends and differences. I've had a few ideas about how I might present this. I could: * Make an interactive visualisation available online and refer to it in the printed paper - printing just a small sample there but referring to the full results in the commentary. * Summarise the findings using tabulated numbers and perhaps just present one example (corresponding to one column of the image above). * Just squeeze it in somehow to give a "big picture" and then explain and point to full results elsewhere. I wondered if this is a common problem and what good practice exists out there.<issue_comment>username_1: What do you want your readers to take from your 66 plots? You did alot of work? Great so has everyone else. You say your plots could be used to "be really useful in drawing out lots of conclusions and further questions". Well that is your job as the author to do in the first place. As a reader if i see that in a paper, then that tells me you haven't analyzed your data and are leaving it to me to understand what your data shows. Instead i'd either pick a couple of the most interesting/relevant plots to show, or work out how to combine all the plots in to one bigger plot. I expect a lot of the trends could be presented more concisely simply as text. Are all 66 plots/parameters equally interesting to a reader? Probably not, they might be interesting to someone who is looking to repeat your work in which case i'd just put that data in a table (and put that in the supplementary material). Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Many journals nowadays allow you to create ‘online appendix’ which is usually not subject to page limit. Hence you might want to just put it there if possible. I would recommend you to just report aggregate figures in main body. No matter how many results you have there will usually be some way of aggregating them. Sure some information is lost in such process but if you will include more than 50 pages of graphs you will likely just deter potential readers, so it is often worthwhile trade off. Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
2020/11/05	1,229	5,275	<issue_start>username_0: How do you refuse to work with graduate students when they come to you and explain they want to work with you without necessarily being offered a job (e.g. a project that pays). My advisor was very selective, he had conditions - students would need to take a course, Ace it, be in a percentage, then take a personality test, volunteer etc etc. He had many projects and million dollar fundings so it was just easy for him to have the authority and the department would be okay with this. I am only starting and I have realized that I have been kind of soft about this, especially with international students knocking on my door and saying they want to work with me I accepted to be their supervisor. They have their scholarships too so I suppose that shows they have gone through a selection process, and it could be good for me. However, I noticed that it is actually very slow and time consuming to get them to a point where they start working on their own, and if ever happens, work academically (not just applications). So I decided to be more selective. Then this student comes in and wants to work with me for all the wrong reasons. they have worked in field X for more than 5 years but wants to do their thesis on a new topic just so they will learn it, they didn't bother to take any related courses either. This is a student who deserted their MS some years ago and came back to finish somehow, sees literature review credits as "some checkbox". They signed up for the credits without talking to me (I didn't approve it, but the course is opened without a lecturer on paper, but students are expected to work towards their thesis with their supervisors) When I explained them they don't have the necessary background, and I really don't have the time to start with a student who doesn't have the necessary beackground. They have insisted which would make me reconsider but the way they insist, using an authoritative language which is outright forceful, and it rubs me off the wrong way really, if I am a couple days late on reply, they send me emails (copy paste) repeatedly to my non work related emails as well (I don't know how they got it btw). Nothing shows up about the student btw as they are super secretive using initials only even for the email, basically a bit intimidating. Their motivation is again a combination of wrong reasons imho. I don't want to waste my time and also their time. It is obvious that it isn't the right fit, I don't want to take up more students because I feel responsable for the ones I have, besides there will potentially be personal problems as well, my students are respectful and they are motivated by their topic, but I am not sure how to handle a student who thinks an alpha language is going to change my mind. but how to send this message across?<issue_comment>username_1: Assuming you really do not want to work with them and not even check them out if they are suitable candidates, the response is simply: "I do not currently have available slots for grad students." Not funding, but "slots". It means time, nerves, energy, whatever else could come into their mind. If they have no funding, you say you have no funding for them and you do not accept students without funding. However, if it is simply a case of you not being sure whether you should take them on, then I recommend preparing a few tasks that are relevant to the work you like to do. These should be pieces of homework that are introductory, but relevant to your field and take about 2-4 weeks of time to cover the entry literature and carry out. If they manage to do it, then you may want to reconsider not taking them. You may have a catch on your hand. Alternatively, you can set conditions of your choice. Yes, if they want to work with you, you can set the conditions, no apologies. There is a reason for the classic "reluctant sensei" trope. It is a real technique to deal with this. However, a student that thinks they can bully you is an absolute no-no, no matter how good they are. They are going to be nothing but trouble. So, here the answer is simple. First time: "Unfortunately, I cannot take you on as a student. Thank you for your interest." Don't give reasons. Second time: "As mentioned in my last mail from ..., I cannot take you on." Third time: silence. If they continue bugging you, divert their mails to spam or block them. If you cannot or are not allowed to do that, simply archive their mails without opening. Don't open them or you will be tempted to answer them. You do not need to be outright rude yourself, but if they are, they have deserved the silent treatment. Keep in mind: if you know you will not change your mind, no matter how insistive they are, that will shine through and most of them will desist. If they believe to smell insecurity, they will pounce on it. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: "I only take students with a lot of experience in my field, because I don't have the resources to train them adequately". I don't think there's a reason or need to come up with some excuse that may not hold up to scrutiny, or look bad when students in different situations start comparing notes. In this case, I don't see any real problem with the truth. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/05	1,025	4,294	<issue_start>username_0: I have this class where we have oral exams once in two weeks. I am honestly trying my best. I am preparing for the class and I think I understand all the material. I can do all the assignments (albeit not as good as I want to but still). But I am really nervous during oral exams and class discussions. I don't understand and can't focus on the questions that are asked (when someone's saying something my mind just goes blank and I can't hear(?) what they are saying; like I hear the words and I know each word but I can't make the connection between words at all). I stopped participating in class discussions because I was so anxious during them that I needed to take a rest for a few hours after them. I always feel confident before exams start, but during the actual exam, I get so lost, and sometimes I can't understand the questions that are asked. I don't think I can email prof about it because I honestly don't know what he can do or what I should say. Everyone is in the same situation but they seem to do way better (he said that everyone is getting 9.5/10 all the time but I only got 9.8/10 once and the rest of the grades are not good). The worst part is that it is an open book exam and I am writing little notes for each question that I think can be asked, I always put myself in my prof's shoes and trying to figure out what he can ask but I never get it right. I am so tired of this and I really want to drop this class but it's too late right now AND I have a project with another guy that's taking the class. This is my final year, and the low grade for this class would look so bad in my application especially since I don't really have any other experience UPDATE: I talked to my prof even tho I felt that it wasn't their problem (burden). If you have a similar issue, please talk to your prof/teacher. In the worst-case scenario, they will say that they can't help you but at least they will know that you have a problem. Just want to thank everyone who commented here!<issue_comment>username_1: This answer won't seem very satisfactory, I'm afraid, but the way to improve in such things is just practice (and more practice). There are some other things you can do to make speaking more comfortable. Once very important computer scientist who is also very (very) introverted, learned to become an excellent public speaker by (among other things) joining a theatre group. He plays a role when he speaks so doesn't get emotionally involved it the stress of it. But, again, the theatre group gave him the means to practice. One key to making this a long term goal is to seek out ways to practice, not to avoid them. In the short term, however, it might help with some professors to just tell them of your discomfort and unease in oral exams. They might find ways to reassure you, though you will still be expected to give adequate answers. --- Note that I once suffered from the same "affliction" and it cost me a couple of years in my education. But I eventually learned to overcome it. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm not a mental health professional, but it sounds like your anxiety is interfering with your performance in this class. You may be eligible for some accommodation to immediately triage your grade. If your university has a center for students with disabilities, talk to them and see if there's a process to get you started to talk to a doctor and get a diagnosis about whether your anxiety is serious enough for accommodation. They may have some kind of form you need to bring to the appointment, and can otherwise help you with bureaucracy. I would also talk to your professor. While you are likely meant to get better at public speaking in this class, many profs will work with you to meet you where you're at and find additional ways to assess your comprehension of the material independently of testing your public speaking. Also I agree practice will help in the long run, but that doesn't mean you need to fail the class in the short run! Ask for some help and see if people will work with you. No university class should feel this hopeless. You should be able to get better in the timescale of the class if you put in work. Ask for help if the conditions seem insurmountable. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
2020/11/06	525	2,124	<issue_start>username_0: In science, it is very common to shorten nouns with acronyms (e.g. deoxyribonucleic acid -> DNA). However, I am struggling to think of any examples of sets of adjectives that are written as an acronym. I am writing a scientific document, in which I must describe my data in a specific way. For the sake of this question, let's say it's "high time resolution data". It is important to distinguish the data as high time resolution data, as it is a unique type of data in the field, and the document requires justification of the significance of analysis of this data. I do not think it is appropriate to drop the adjectives and simply describe it as "the data" due to the context of the document. Is it fine/acceptable to refer to it as "HTR data", in order to improve the brevity and readability of the text? I should note that I would prefer to use "HTR data" instead of "HTRD" to allow for interchanging the word "data" for something else, like "measurements", where appropriate.<issue_comment>username_1: In most cases acronyms are unhelpful. It does not matter if they are nouns or verbs. Is it clearer to a non-expert reader as an acronym or written out? Nearly always written out is clearer. The exceptions occur when the acronym is used in popular culture (DNA) or the accepted written out name is so poorly chosen it is just as confusing as the accepted acronym. Acronyms that are new are the least helpful. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I think that in general it would be fine as long as you use it consistently and introduce it properly again in every chapter. For example, in a sentence you could write something like this: > > The High Time Resolution (HTR) data was analyzed using tool ABC. We found that the HTR data has X-property among Y observations. > > > However, this might be cumbersome and become repetitive at some point. If this HTR data is the only type of data in your paper, it would be an option to refer simply to the data since no confusion can occur about the data being High Time Resolution instead of some other type. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
2020/11/06	761	2,969	<issue_start>username_0: I'm part of the editorial committee of a small open access ecology journal that is slowly growing Currently, our journal doesn't have the means to pay for the doi service, but we found [this service](https://www.citefactor.org/page/faqs) which offers a different identifier, the EOI. We asked for additional information and some of the claims the state are: "You will be eligible to get EOI for any number of papers for your publication." "You need to pay one-time membership charges USD $100..." "No charges per EOI." "For DOI you need to pay USD $2 per DOI, which cost really high for journals and membership charges ranges from USD $300 to USD $100000." "Both these objects serve the same purpose, but in EOI we provide more flexibility & tools will be provided periodically for submission, no charges for errors (will be corrected by Citefactor staff)" They also list a sample of journals that use their service, which are not necessarily highly recognized, but then it would be also our case. Is there any other alternative around to have a proper unique identifier for our articles?<issue_comment>username_1: I'm username_1, Executive Director of [Crossref](https://www.crossref.org/). I don't know anything about EOI so can't comment on it. I did want to correct the information you've been provided. Crossref charges annual membership fees from US$275 to US$50,000 but many smaller members join via a [Sponsoring Organization](https://www.crossref.org/community/sponsors/) and pay much less - please contact a sponsor if there is one in your country. We charge US$1 per current journal article and US$0.15 for older content. Fees for preprints, books and grants are different - [full information on membership and fees is available](https://www.crossref.org/membership/). We have over 13,000 members in 139 countries so are very inclusive. It's not just about the identifier - registering content with Crossref means it's discoverable along with over 114 million other content items. Feel free to email <EMAIL> with any questions. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Beware! This is a "predatory PID" (PID = persistent identifier). It is a dishonest institute that mirrors the more-serious, community-owned infrastructure of the DOI (digital object identifier). While DOIs offer open metadata etc., there seems to be not a single EOI yet which resolves properly and that offers openly accessible metadata. Thus, similar to ["fake impact factors"](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/162633/what-is-the-difference-between-all-of-these-impact-factors/162634#162634), the EOI creates a "parallel" (meta-)scientific infrastructure, probably with the goal to monetize it. This is corroborated by the fact that the person(s) or organization behind the EOI are the same as the ones behind the "CiteFactor" (<https://www.citefactor.org>), which is yet another predatory variant of the Impact Factor. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/06	764	2,677	<issue_start>username_0: To provide some background, I'm an MS student (CS - machine learning) looking to apply for PhD programs. I was looking for letter writers, and struggled to find the third. I have the option of asking a postdoc that I've worked with or a professor who has explicitly stated that he "doesn't know me well enough to write me a detailed and strong letter, but if you have no one else I'd be glad to write one." My question is, what does it mean to "co-sign" a letter? Many people have advised me that if a postdoc writes my letter then it would be a good idea to have our advisor co-sign it. As far as I know, universities send out requests to submit letters electronically and writers submit the letters online. My dad is also a professor (albeit not CS) and has said he hasn't heard about this ever since letters went online. What would this mean in today's context? Do some fields still request mail-in letters?<issue_comment>username_1: "Co-signing" a letter has nothing to do with being a physical letter. All it means is that the postdoc writes (at least most) of the letter, and then the professor (in theory) reads it, and also puts their name on it as a way of saying: > > I am a qualified professional, and although I don't know the student personally, I support [postdoc]'s endorsement of them if they do. > > > The postdoc would probably still submit it in the system, and they would show up as the recommender, but if they opened and read the letter, they would see the professor's endorsement. If both parties agree, it would generally improve your application. --- Although I see that in your specific case, the co-signer is your advisor (who presumably already wrote you a letter). In that case, the benefit would seem to be slimmer. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Co-signing something simply means that the co-signer also approves of the letter. For example if I wrote: > > To whomever it may concern, > > > Seankala is a brilliant student. > > > Sincerely, username_2 > > > If someone else were to co-sign it, it would become: > > To whomever it may concern, > > > Seankala is a brilliant student. > > > Sincerely, username_2 & [someone] > > > It means that that someone also thinks Seankala is a brilliant student. Co-signing something doesn't mean one wrote or even helped write it. [Here's an example of a co-signed petition](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8818993/Now-12-000-scientists-medics-sign-anti-lockdown-petition-urging-officials-let-Covid-19-spread.html). The petition itself was obviously not written by 12,000 people, but you can be sure they all approve of it. Upvotes: 3
2020/11/06	1,373	5,351	<issue_start>username_0: I hold a Dr. rer. nat. title from the computer science institute at a German university. I am now writing a job application that I will send to a German organization, but since it has many international employees and the advertisement itself was in English, I decided to write the application in English (assuming that some of the decision makers may not speak German well). My biggest problem in the translation is my title. In the German original, I use Dr. rumtscho in the CV header and a couple of other places. However, all translated versions I considered have drawbacks: * keep it as Dr. rumtscho. This is idiomatic in German, but I think it's totally strange in English and may make people think that I forgot to pay attention to the header when translating. * Style myself as rumstcho, PhD. While I refer to my title as "PhD" in informal conversation in English, I believe it is officially not permissible to "translate" the title. * Style myself as rumtscho, Dr. rer. nat. This looks weird both in English and in German, and for people unfamiliar with the "there is no traditional doctor title for computer scientists, so we just reuse one" attitude of German universities, they may think I come from a biology or chemistry background. Which option is likely to be best received? Is the answer different when preparing English-language official documents to be read by Germans and by native English speakers?<issue_comment>username_1: rumtscho, Dr. rer. nat. (CS) Does that work for you? If you were to move to the US, or some other English speaking countries, Dr. rumtscho would probably be enough. But if you remain in Germany/Austria... then it might be best to keep it formal and as awarded. Especially so if you are writing to a German organization. The English speakers will just have to deal with it. Hmm. Maybe rumtscho, Dr. rer. nat. (Computerwissenschaften) Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Don't overthink it. Both "Dr." and "Dr.rer.nat." would be OK, "PhD" would be inaccurate. The key information is the line in your CV where you point out that you have completed your doctoral degree. (As relevant context: I am a native German speaker and have experiences in Germany both as a selection committee member and as a successful applicant.) Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: ### In English, "Dr." means you completed your PhD. In English, anyone who has completed a PhD is entitled to be called "Doctor", regardless of the subject that they'd completed their degree in. Whether that degree is in IT, Physics, English Literature, or Underwater Basket Weaving, if you've completed a PhD, you're entitled to be called "Doctor". Then, when you list your degree on your resume or CV, you specify what your PhD was in. Judging by the [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._rer._nat.) about the Dr.rer.nat degree, it's basically equivalent to a PhD in science, so the same rule would apply. In spoken language, you'd often be referred to as "Doctor [Surname]" as a formal title, unless you've got a higher-ranking title to be referred to as instead (e.g. "Professor [Surname]", or a title of nobility like "Sir [Given Name]" or "Lord [Surname], Baron of [Place]"). You can also be entitled to be referred to as "Doctor [Surname]" if you've completed a medical degree and become a licensed medical doctor, even though their degrees are "only" equivalent to a Master's Degree, but that wouldn't apply in your case. If there's any confusion whether someone's a medical doctor or a PhD graduate, you can just ask them. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: It is typical to refer to people having some kind of doctorate as "Dr FirstName LastName" in British academia. Note that there is no dot after the "Dr", American usage may wary. For example, look at the staff list of my department here: <https://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/science/compsci/> A Dr rer nat is a perfectly fine doctorate, and in fact, the kind of doctorate several people in the list above have. Writing FirstName LastName, PhD is what one would do to clarify that the doctorate is in fact a PhD; or just if it is a PhD and more convenient to have it after the name (maybe the person is also a Sir and one wants to express both, etc). Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Just to add to username_4's reply: Academic titles are not controlled by law in the UK. It is generally considered that those holding a substantive doctoral degree are entitled to be called Dr, and that non-surgical medical practitioners are called Dr by courtesy, but this is custom, not law. The National Health Service, for example, refuses to accord genuine doctors their title :) Thus, as username_4 says, "Dr rumtscho" is perfectly idiomatic and normal. HOWEVER, it is also, in British academia, customary not to use titles in CV headers - the headline of a CV should just be your name. At some point in your CV, you list your qualifications, and that's where you say "Dr. rer. nat." So you have to decide whether you're doing a British-style application, or a German-style application translated into English:) Having said that, there's a member of staff in my (British) university who insists their students write to them as "Dr. Dr. blah". As you can imagine, this flags them as insecure and pretentious. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/06	969	4,381	<issue_start>username_0: I often see outreach listed in the CVs of professors, which makes me believe that doing outreach is beneficial to advancing a professors career. What I'm wondering though is if this is only import for going from assistant professor to associate professor or if outreach can also be beneficial to securing a tenure-track professor position. I find this is especially important to know since most universities limit the page numbers of a CV submitted during the application process, so I'm not sure if an outreach section is beneficial or detrimental (since it would mean removing another part of the CV). What is the overall thought across different fields (I'm in Physics but curious if the same thoughts are held in Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science, etc.) on the importance of outreach when applying for tenure-track professor position?<issue_comment>username_1: Your application should present the clearest possible brief picture of who you are and why you are a fit for the job you seek. Some schools will value a professor's interest in connecting to a larger community than their professional specialty, both for new hires and for promotion. I suspect few would think it negative. Your question suggests that outreach is a part of how you see yourself professionally, so you should look for jobs where that is welcome, even expected. A line or two in your cv and perhaps a paragraph in your cover letter won't use up a lot of real estate. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Pertinent to academia, I think of outreach as activities that bring academic subject matter and/or expertise to a community audience, often an audience that is under-served. Activities might include lectures or presentations to community audiences presented in laymen’s terms about subjects that are esoteric but interesting; interacting with elementary students to make a topic (like programming) more understandable or to engage them in the scientific process; mentoring high school students doing a science fair project. There are others. The degree to which describing involvement in outreach might help an application for a tenure-track position may depend on factors specific to the institution and its values; the teaching responsibilities of the assistant professor position; and the degree of prior involvement in outreach. For example, a university that has a stated commitment to the community in which it resides might place high value on prior involvement in outreach because outreach aligns with the values of the institution. If the specific department has an outreach program (e.g., it holds regular coding camps or has a formal affiliation with an elementary school) prior involvement in outreach might strengthen the application because it demonstrates experience relevant to the department. Outreach that has involved interactions with students at any level may be more important when the Assistant Professor position will involve teaching undergraduates because it provides some evidence of prior experience in teaching/interacting (hopefully) positively with young people. But the outreach should be clearly and unambiguously meaningful. “I spent 1 week as a counselor at a math camp” probably doesn’t help and may hurt. Finally, in a space-constrained CV, description of outreach should not displace documentation of specific requirements of the position (e.g., education, research experience, involvement in professional societies, publications/presentations.) The goal of the CV should be to “market” yourself for the position. If you’ve documented what needs to be documented and documenting outreach might help your application, include it. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: At most universities, outreach is not part of the formal hiring criteria. Even when it is part of the criteria, it is not one of the important criteria. However, you might be asked during a job interview, "How do you engage with the community?" or "How will you participate in recruiting students?" You should have outreach experience you can use as an example to answer that question. Scientists should do outreach because it benefits the public. Do not expect a reward. > > most universities limit the page numbers of a CV submitted during the application process > > > This is not true for tenure track positions. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/06	936	3,850	<issue_start>username_0: I am struggling with my Post-PhD career. I am still looking for positions and I getting zero response. My advisor is giving me no leads and I don't know if she's even bothered about my career prospects. She has offered me a one year postdoc position in my current lab. Apart from that, there's no further help. I don't know if a PhD advisor even cares for their students. I feel so unsupported and lost. Edit: The problem is I work on a modeling technique and research area that's not in her expertise. I started the entire work and now she has other PhD students working on the topic due to the multiple papers I published. I have already staying around 6 years with her. My PhD went so long due to my own faults. Now I am absolutely lost and disillusioned.<issue_comment>username_1: Your last sentence makes me think that the question you ask in the title may not be the question you're really interested in. If you feel lost, talk to people. Friends, family, professionals, whichever you feel most comfortable with, but get help. How much does the future career of a PhD student matter to the advisor? The subsequent careers of the collective PhD graduates influence the attractiveness of the advisor to future PhD students. So it matters, but if the advisor has many successful PhD graduates on their resume, it is a matter of diminishing returns. Beyond that, a good PhD advisor would feel a moral obligation to ensure their former students land somewhere nice. However, the current Covid situation makes the job market really rather difficult right now, so this is not entirely within the grasp of the advisor. Offering a postdoc is something that the advisor can control, so I can understand why this would seem like a reasonable solution to them. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: It seems that your advisor has not done a great job mentoring you in your post-PhD job search. It's typical for advisors to at least forward on job announcements to students on the hunt, and these tend to be pretty widely circulated. I'm a postdoc and I get emails like this asking me to forward on to good candidates, so even junior professors should have some leads. I'm also concerned that you feel she doesn't seem bothered at all. That's a breakdown in either communication or in actual mentorship. Your advisor should care about you career (even if caring means telling you she doesn't think you should continue in academia). Doing nothing there is in my opinion not doing a good job. She did offer you a postdoc, which is something, but you need some mentorship. I'd try talking to her about this to see if her lack of interest in your job search is intentional or just something she isn't on top of. Sadly, while my opinion is advisors do have this obligation to their students, the academy has very little structure to hold advisors accountable to these standards (and in fact what standards apply to advisors are not talked about often and there is little widespread consensus). There is vague incentive to treat graduate students well in order to attract talent to your group, but this is hardly enough to guarantee advisors will follow through (as many questions on this site demonstrate). Beyond that there's not much to ensure your advisor cares. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Supervisor A always has 20 or more PhD students in their group, and time only for those who deliver stuff that can be published in a top-notch journal. Supervisor B usually has less than 5, a door that is always open, and all the students have at least three manuscripts published in good journals by the time they defend their thesis. -- Which do you think cares more about their students' futures? Bonus question: which do you think prospective students will flock to? (The answer may surprise you.) Upvotes: 1
2020/11/07	359	1,343	<issue_start>username_0: What's the best "bookmine" academic targeted website for PhD students to find references for their studies ? Thanks in advance<issue_comment>username_1: In terms of how frequently it's given me the info I need, I think the champion has to be [Google Books](https://books.google.com/). (A tip: Google Books will let you see more of the content of a book in its "preview" if you let it set cookies in your browser than if you don't.) Honourable runners-up are [Archive.org](https://archive.org/details/books), [Bibliothèque Nationale de France](https://www.bnf.fr/fr), and [Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/). Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If you don't have qualms about downloading from a site that has been [convicted](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_Genesis#Legal_issues) for mass copyright infringement, then Library Genesis is probably the largest one. It is basically Scihub's sister site for books. Their [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_Genesis) contains up-to-date links to access it (which may be blocked by some internet providers). Check the legality of what you download. For instance, where I live you risk a 154€ fine for illicit downloads for personal use, without other aggravating factors. (I think at least -- IANAL.) Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
2020/11/07	730	3,092	<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for PhD in US universities and my CGPA is lower than they ask for. But I believe my research experience is good enough to get a position. When I contacted a professor with my CV, he showed interest. Also, he asked why my CGPA was low, and if there was any specific reason for that. Honestly I don't have any valid reason, I did not pay attention earlier to my academic studies. But I think I can't mention that. What can be some possible reasons that I can tell him?<issue_comment>username_1: Providing that you have done better recently, then the reasons you give here are fine. "I didn't pay attention early in my studies." People look for growth, not just excellence overall. In fact, that growth can be a strength. Just be honest, both about the past and more recent things. And focus on the ways you are prepared to move forward. Honesty works in a case like this if you have grown out of past bad habits. However, if you did badly in essential subjects you will need a plan to fill any holes in your education. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: > > Honestly I don't have any valid reason, I did not pay attention earlier to my academic studies. But I think I can't mention that. What can be some possible reasons that I can tell him? > > > On the contrary, if you think that was the cause, then that's exactly what you should say. Prospective supervisors are interested in a lot of aspects of candidates, and one of the important aspects we are interested in is the capacity for students to objectively review their present deficiencies, or deficiencies in their past work. It is possible to assist a candidate with lower level grades to improve their work, but it is much harder to deal with a student who is not honest about their own work, or unwilling to be honest with their supervisor. Thus, demonstrating the capacity for self-reflection and self-criticism may be viewed positively, even if it involves admitting you slacked off. (Academics are humans too --- we know that there are other fun things in life for young people to do besides studying hard.) Setting aside whether that will assist your application or not, you need to grow some character --- start to make a habit of being candid with people about your actions regardless of whether this will advantage you personally. Deficiencies in your work can be fixed over time, but getting into the habit of searching for false excuses is a deficiency that will damage a lot more than a PhD application. Reframing your question, there is no "valid" reason or "invalid" reason for your lower grades --- there is just the truth, and not the truth. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: There can be confusion over academic standards between the US and Europe. If this is the case, you can send to your prospective advisor, samples of the exam papers you have taken. It is not possible to say whether this might have any effect, but think about it. I am quoting advice given to my son by his British advisor before applying, successfully, to MIT. Upvotes: 0
2020/11/08	2,165	8,319	<issue_start>username_0: All posts here on the "graduation gift" subject are about a gift from the PhD candidate to the professor (after the graduation of course). What about a gift for the student from the professor? My student just graduated, and he really is an exquisite person, he worked more than he probably should have (extra hours, weekends) without me asking, and even with me saying he should not work that much. He was very nice with all the other lab members. I don't know if he will get me something and honestly I don't care. I would like to get him something, for sure a handwritten note to thank him. But I was also thinking to buy him a present, such as a bottle of wine from my country. I am an Assistant Professor in the USA, but I was not born here. Do you think it will be appropriate to buy and attach a gift to the hand-written note?<issue_comment>username_1: I don't see any problem with this. Something from your own country would be appropriate, as would a book that is important in your field. Even a tourist souvenir from your country as something to remember you. But not too expensive or elaborate. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: Many U.S. schools (especially state ones) actually have written policies on gifts. Look for it on your school's intranet, or ask HR if you can't find it. They vary: I know at least one state school where any gifts, even a cup of coffee from a professor to a former student, are forbidden. Some schools have a cap on monetary value, like $100. You're unlikely to get into trouble if you violate a gift policy, but it's good to know what yours is. If a gift is not forbidden, then it's allowed. A bottle of wine is fine (if you know that the student drinks alcohol). Something longer-lasting, like a book, a vase, or a figurine , with your autograph or an engraving, would probably create... a longer-lasting memory. Your student certainly sounds like he deserves something sentimental to remember you by. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: As others have also pointed out, I don't see a problem with it unless there is a policy at your university, however, many ideas are very subjective, as for example if he doesn't use pens that much, he might not use this one at all, and actually make him feel guilty, or, if he doesn't like physical books, etc... Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: A bottle of wine is an excellent gift. You can pick up a decent wine for 30 dollars and attach a nice hand written note to it. Of course you also tell a short story about the wine when making the gift, I myself e.g. picked up a box of very expensive wine in Italy once. I gifted a bottle on two very special occasions. Regardless of what the more nerdy SE community says "a book, a vase, or a figurine" might not be perceived by less nerdy people very well. Action figures are usually reserved for children, and especially making a figurine of yourself (Superhero Prof. Millemila?) would entertain the entire university. That's just ridiculous. Lasting gifts can be great, but are more expensive, I myself made good experiences with a [mont blanc fountain pen](https://www.montblanc.com/de-de/fullfederhalter_cod22527730565448096.html), a good [German](https://www.junghans.de/en/junghans-collection/watches/junghansmeister/junghansmeister-meisterhandaufzug/027-3504-00/model/detail.html) or Swiss watch, a leather wallet, a handmade razor, a shaving foam brush, handmade cocktail glasses, and a fancy lighter. Staying to the classics might seem old-fashioned, but people like this really. Giving out mediocre but lasting gifts is arguably worse than a bad one time use gift: A bad wine will lead to a bad evening at most, a unwanted book might stick around much longer in the dusty corner of the receiver's office. I would be cautious with these expensive gifts in your setting though. A bottle of wine in the medium price range on the contrary is a common gift in business settings, and you don't need to worry about it being inappropriate at all. Make sure to remember that the "thank you" card is probably the biggest gift you can make anyways. Especially if you express, that you are always happy to help your former student in the future. Use a nice fountain pen and thick paper. Use a suitable format, e.g. A5. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Yes, a gift should be ok and I think that the gift should be tailor made for the recipient. I think it would be hard for any of us to say what kind of gift to get your student. That being said, does your student like wine? Do they prefer a specific brand, vintage, or type (e.g., Cab, Merlot, Pinot, etc.)? Are they open to trying a wine from your country? You can put out subtle feelers by bringing it up in conversation. But, a point of caution that I would like to echo from other respondents, and that is to make sure the gift itself is not too austentatious. It needs to be narrowly focused to what they like because it shows thoughtful consideration. Handing out a bunch of money probably wouldn't be the best idea nor would gifting them a Ferrari. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: One of the problems with gifts is that one does not want have liability of insinuation. Giving my Japanese students a gift, which has a cultural weight of something in return, is very different from giving one to an American student. There is not a clear answer to this question. Having said that, I've settled on giving my students the books that they used for the dissertation. I've found that all of my students have a few "go to" books, and I'll often buy them their own copies, and write my well wishes in the front cover. This generally violates a whole bunch unspoken of HR policies as there seems to be some unspoken rule about less than 20 dollars in the USA and it's generally about 300 dollars all-in. The student just worked exceedingly hard for at least 5 years for me with basically a pittance of a stipend. I see it as the least that I can do. I see a bottle of wine as a nice personal gesture and I would stand by the decision even if the HR department freaks out. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: tl;dr: Back pay for overtime work. ---------------------------------- > > My student just graduated, and he really is an exquisite person, he worked more than he probably should have (extra hours, weekends) without me asking > > > What you're describing is the common situation in US academia where Ph.D. candidates - junior researchers - work more than a full-time position without any overtime pay. In most US universities they are [not even recognized as employees! (but this may be changing)](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/80093/7319). The base pay is also typically rather poor in the US, if I recall correctly. Also, surprisingly, many kinds of employees are not eligible for overtime pay even by law... how terrible! Having said that, if the Ph.D.'s salary/stipend had come out of: * your personal research budget - your gift should be pay for the extra time he worked beyond a 40-hour work week. Seeing how you supposedly suggested he not work those hours, I suppose it might be fair to just pay the base hourly rate, not the 1.5x rate the law provides form. * a departmental/university budget - Offer to cover the legal expenses for a lawsuit in which he gets to sue the university for overtime pay owed to him. (If he refuses to sue, get him some chocolate or personal-size confection or something, I don't know.) --- For readers other than OP: I didn't just make a point for a single professor to get a different perspective on his former Ph.D. candidate. I call upon you, personally - if you are a junior researcher (Ph.D. candidate or otherwise), to try and form a union. And if you're senior faculty, and unionized - to become active in your union and try to get it to expand and admit junior researchers. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_8: Yes, it is appropriate in the U.S. to buy and attach a gift to a hand-written note thanking the student. I am aware of this happening in the United States, and it was much appreciated by the student. In fact, the gift was a University hoodie and some University-branded coffee mugs, and although the student has long since left the United States, they still enjoy these objects today. Upvotes: 0
2020/11/08	1,036	4,204	<issue_start>username_0: So a little context. I'm a second year masters student in theoretical physics and last year I almost had a burnout. I mean that I had symptoms of burnout but it was not severe enough to be an actual burnout (luckily). What stressed me out most was the frequent deadlines. The material also got harder compared to my bachelor which contributed as well. After taking it easy for a while now and talking to a psychologist to help cope with stress I'm feeling much better. I would rather not have this experience another time or even worse. So, since a lot of theoretical physicists go into academia my question is how likely are you to be stressed in academia? Or more specifically 1. How likely are you to be stressed in academia? Do you know examples of people who are very stressed/not stressed at all? 2. If it is stressful, is it possible to reduce your workload? Or is it possible to manage this stress?<issue_comment>username_1: 1. A majority of the expectations tend to be self-imposed. While there are some things you're made to do by others, most deadlines etc come from your own choices. Do you agree to referee that paper? Do you want to submit to that conference? Do you agree to give that talk? 2. There is no "having done enough". There is always something more that you could do. There will be almost certainly peers who get much, much more done than you (or at least appear to do). Research is never finished. The academic job market is very tight, so until you have tenure, there is always this question of "could doing this extra thing be the decisive factor in whether or not I get a job"? 3. Deadlines tend to be on a medium time scale. Unless you are eg a postdoc with a micromanaging team lead, you will be rather flexible in the short term. Teaching aside, things are of the "do this this week/month", nor "this day". 4. There does seem to be a widespread culture of celebrating stress. While relaxed academics exist, in my experience most academics tend to convey an aura of constant low-level stress. Of those, many seem to enjoy this. Admitting to be overwhelmed is very much acceptable, but I suspect that the stress can be infectious for some people. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: One particular feature of academe (I'm in math in the U.S.) that seems very unfortunate to me is that there is not a tradition of giving positive feedback to other people. And, in all the university administrations I've observed, there is more consistent effort exerted in "explaining" why there's just no money for raises... Never cost-of-living, and "merit" is 2%?!? When there are economic problems, salaries can get cut, but in economic good times, they'll not get comparable boosts. We are in a situation where "everyone is above average", but somehow we're all still led to feel that we are on the edge of failure, especially with the trend in recent decades of appraisal of much shorter-term pictures of one's work, as opposed to "lifetime achievement", and as opposed to long-term projects. The popularity of "performance appraisal software" in administrations is yet another mechanism that manifestly over-simplifies "good behavior" on the part of faculty. Unless one is able to somehow ignore such stuff, it is at least annoying... and chronic annoyance is stress, and has a cognitive load. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: It is stressful but it comes with rewards. The key thing is to assess if these rewards - they are not necessarily monetary but rather as Feynman stated just “the pleasure of finding things out” - are enough for you to compensate for the long hours and the actual stresses. Personally I find I was well prepared for the challenges of research but not so well prepared to confront the naked stupidity and populism of some people I work with. I deal with this by increasing my workload, giving me an out to avoid interactions with the people I like least. This ability to basically isolate oneself from the local sh!tstorms and work pretty much always with people I like is probably the most important way I manage my stressors (not so easy for students or junior faculty though). Upvotes: 0
2020/11/08	775	2,976	<issue_start>username_0: I have been working on a project with a collaborator for several years. I have never met my collaborator in person but we've been a part of weekly calls and sent hundreds of emails together so I feel like at this point I know this person fairly well. In what seems like hundreds (at least 10's) I have noticed my collaborator always misspells "a lot" as "alot". This person is my senior (he's a graduate student, I'm a pre-doc) and I am wondering if I should let him know in a polite way that he is making a common misspelling. It does not particularly bug me or anything, and I am not a particularly fantastic speller myself, but I just want to help him out in case he doesn't know already. Does it make sense to bring this up with him as a colleague or is this not my place?<issue_comment>username_1: Let it go, while the typo is limited to emails. Emails are frequently written hastily and certain typos can be common or made on purpose to type less, or even for fun (I do sometimes this in my language, to mimic certain dialectal expressions). If, instead, the typo appears in, for instance, a paper or other public document you're jointly writing, then correct it as you would correct any other typo in the paper. Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: At some point you're going to edit a joint paper and correct "alot" into "a lot". It will be a very emotional moment for both of you. "I've been spelling it wrong this whole time and you didn't tell me!!" Tell them now. Tell them the truth, which is that it's starting to become a distraction for you (proof: you wrote this Q). This isn't your great Aunt writing "the dogs were all their" on your yearly birthday card. You're eventually going to have to tell this person about mistakes in proofs, and argue with them over ideas. There should be some comfort level, esp. after years of working together. The one thing to watch for is the special rule that any grad student can have any lesser-rank kicked-out of any program, anywhere in the world, for not showing proper respect. To be serious, in my mind you're both grad students. I had to look up "pre-doc" and read it twice and I'm still not sure how this other person outranks you (you haven't been accepted into a PhD program?) Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I am not a native speaker and I was very happy when a colleague told me about a repeating spelling mistake of mine. If you want to do it discretly,just write him a quote were he mispelled it and say something with a lot about this quote. ``` Dear <NAME>, your wrote "Alot of assumptions went into this study" A lot of work has to been done, to make this work. We need another day in the lab ``` Or simply tell her. > > Dear <NAME>, I agree with the proposed changes in your last email. I > also think I noticed a bug in your spell checker, it always says > "alot" instead of "a lot". > > > Kind regards > Phd Student S. > > > Upvotes: 2
2020/11/09	3,405	15,209	<issue_start>username_0: The author's just referring to US. I don't know if Commonwealth law schools show students complete contracts and/or teach how to draft and interpret. But I'm flabberghast that you can graduate JD without actually reading a complete contract or sampling different types of contracts! 1. How "if you develop the critical thinking skills necessary to understand and interpret contract law, the ability to draft and interpret contract themselves will follow"? I don't understand this theory. At some point, won't new law graduates have to see and self-teach a contract before drafting and interpreting them? 2. If JD graduates have to work with contracts some day, why do law schools delay the inevitable? Even if not a mandatory course, why don't law schools offer an optional 2L or 3L course on perusing, drafting and interpreting complete contracts? > > In class, most likely, you will never actually read a complete contract. You will probably never study typical sections included in most commercial contracts. You will not see a sampling of different types of contracts. Instead, your contracts course will teach you contractual principles of interpretation. The theory is that if you develop the critical thinking skills necessary to understand and interpret contract law, the ability to draft and interpret contract themselves will follow. > > > <NAME>. (Vanderbilt). Law School Labyrinth: The Guide to Making the Most of Your Legal Education (2011) p 83.<issue_comment>username_1: I went to law school in Australia, not the US, but I also had this experience --- that courses on contract law never involved reading any actual legal contracts, and that this latter exercise was almost completely absent from the whole program. Across my LLB and LLM, the only time we ever did anything like this was in a legal skills workshop in LLM (required for registration as a solicitor) where the teacher went through an actual legal contract and the class discussed the drafting of each of the sections, and their good and bad points. This exercise was probably about one hour over the course of about five years in law school. As to why this is done, I can only assume that legal academics believe that it is more valuable to focus time on discrete legal issues, and the theory pertaining to them, rather than spending substantial amounts of time holistically analysing an actual legal contract. Furthermore, I think the law schools regard this kind of exercise as something you learn on-the-job in a legal firm, rather than in university programs. There is some degree of demarcation between legal theory and ideas taught in university (which is more abstract), and the on-the-job knowledge you get from supervising solicitors when starting in a legal firm (which is more concrete). To give some historical background to this, it used to be the case that law schools did not exist at all. You became a lawyer by doing an apprenticeship under an existing solicitor, just as you would have to become a blacksmith, etc. Throughout the middle ages the legal profession was conducted on an apprenticeship model, so students learned skills by performing or observing tasks from an instructing solicitor. The size of the profession was small, and limited to upper-class males, so you might have had a solicitor who agrees to take on one or two apprentices who do clerical work for him while observing his practice. In the 1200s an institution called the "Inns of Court" was established in London to teach young upper-class men legal skills and the broader social graces and skills of becoming a "gentleman". Even then, formal legal training was light, and most of the learning was done on-the-job by apprenticeship under a practicing lawyer. (Incidentally, this institution is still around, and is now a professional association for barristers.) Students were also encouraged to learn by directly attending and observing court proceedings. In more recent times, when the universities began teaching law, they had to demonstrate some value-added in conducting courses through their own institutions; they did this by taking the view that they would teach the kinds of higher-level abstract principles of law, while leaving other skills to remain within the apprenticeship. Gradually the apprenticeship model has waned and disappeared, but there is still some degree to which the universities consider early career at a law firm to be a supplement for this. I partly agree with the Sedburry quote --- it is descriptively accurate about what happens at law school. I disagree with his assumption that academics assume that concrete knowledge of how to draft good contracts follows automatically. To the contrary, I don't think that legal academics think that the ability to draft contracts automatically follows from conceptual understanding, but they do seem to regard this as a skill to be learned during one's early career in a law firm, rather than something to devote time to at university. Personally, I think that is a mistake, and that it would be beneficial for the degree to include many more exercises involving full reading/critique of a whole legal contract, even if this crowds out some of the theory knowledge in the curriculum. Finally, I will just note that you are probably not alone in viewing this as a deficiency in the law school curriculum. This is a situation where you could take the initiative and start your own study group, with the goal of reading and analysing actual commercial contracts. You could treat this like a book-club --- each week you all get a legal contract to read and discuss/critique for the next week. If you can find ten or more other students who are keen on this, you could probably go to some of your lecturers and see if any of them are interested in helping you (e.g., attending a one-hour study session each week to help with discussion). Some academics won't have the time for this, but if you've already done the leg-work of organising the group yourself (and if you meet in a room very near to their office!), you will probably be able to find a willing academic. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: > > Their law firms must have templates or boilerplates > > > As a matter of law, written contracts do not need to follow any templates or boilerplates. In fact, most contracts do not need to be in writing in the first place. Where there is a written form, that is only evidence of the contract, not the contract itself. Not only most existing contract templates/boilerplates are highly specific to certain areas of contracting — they merely just provide one way of putting those contracts in writing out of myriads possible, legally valid ways. What law school graduates are taught is what elements valid contracts must consist of, not how to put them in writing. Knowing what a valid contract is, drafting it becomes just a routine task no different to writing any other text with specific purpose. This is what people are taught at secondary/high school, not at law school. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_1: I'm going to write a second answer here, just to rebut a claim made in the other answers, which is the view that writing a commercial contract is just a trivial or routine matter once you know the underlying rules of contract law. That claim is totally false, and I do not think anyone with actual legal training/experience would believe it. There is a great deal more skill involved in good contractual drafting than merely knowing the underlying rules of contract law. To take an analogy, you could teach a computer-science student the rules of Boolean logic, and teach them all the basic syntax of programming (if-then statements, for-loops, while-loops, etc.). Suppose you then ask the student to go out and create a program that will manage the username and password credentials for some large complex organisation. It would be absurd to imagine that this would be a trivial or routine task for the student, merely because they have been taught the underlying rules of programming. If you said to any experienced programmer that such a task is just a routine extension of knowledge of Boolean logic, they would laugh in your face. They would know that there are hundreds of aspects of good programming practice that need to be learned slowly and painfully from experience, and that there is an art to good programming that goes far beyond merely knowing the underlying "rules". Similarly, drafting a commercial contract requires all sorts of practical knowledge, and experience of "best practice", that goes well beyond having learned the underlying rules of contract law. For example, how do you write a good preamble? Does the contract need a dictionary, and if so, what is the best way to structure the dictionary? What is the best way to order the terms? What are standard ways of phrasing certain parts of the contract, that have held up in court in similar circumstances? When making exclusions of outside representations, what is the best way to do this, and what is going "too far"? What is the best jurisdiction to invoke for a "choice of law" clause? Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Writing or interpreting a contract is an applied skill. It doesn't make sense to approach it in the abstract. When you draft a contract, you're protecting a real client's actual interests. Not coincidentally, you're also bound by professional ethics not to share those interests with anyone outside your law firm — including students of the legal profession. What's more, many relevant and potentially pedagogically useful contracts are under an NDA, and therefore can't be disclosed at all. Drafting a contract without a tangible client would be overly generic and sterile at best and misleading at worst. Law firms — who have specific clients, and even specific client industries they might specialize in — likely prefer to teach new hires with "hands-on" training, rather than have to "unteach" misapplied theory based on overly generic understanding of a fictitious client from an irrelevant industry. The same is true for interpreting a contract. You have to prune your search of the infinite possible ramifications a contract's language could imply, and restrict yourself to consider those areas which practically affect your real client. You can't know in advance all the legal implications of a given contract, when you're reading it, any more than you can predict the weather. There are many laws it could interact with in various scenarios between multiple and compound parties with sophisticated relationships between and within each other. When you don't know who's interests your protecting (i.e. who can sue whom?), how do you interpret how the contract will impact the future? There are infinite possible ways that it could "go down" in court in infinite possible lawsuits against two or more as-yet-unknown legal adversaries. I'm not a lawyer, or even a law student; this is just a "steel-man" argument from extrapolation. So, give me half as many up- and down-votes as you'd planned to. :-) Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: It all comes down to the basic fact that university is not a trade school, regardless of the area of study. The distinction between Computer Science and Software Engineering that others mentioned is but another example. If law school were meant to be a trade school then a graduate should be ready to tackle the bar exam but that is far from the case, even for excellent students. (Although reading about it in many cases the bar exam appears to have little to do with the actual practice of law and is instead just another barrier to entry). Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I'm neither a lawyer nor a law student (which, judging by the score of answers written by people of similar credentials, doesn't bode well), but I'll try to extrapolate from my experience studying engineering because similar questions get asked in that field. From what I've heard, law school curriculums contain a lot of material and the programs are very intensive. They have likely reached the limit of the amount of information that could effectively be taught in that period, and adding to the curriculum would require either making the program longer or cutting other things out. Compromises have to be made. Someone must have had to make the choice of what gets included in the curriculum and what gets cut from it. That person decided that drafting complete contracts is something that can reasonably be taught to students by their employers once they have graduated, and that other material is more important to teach before they leave university. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Another thing to consider is that those law schools would need to get the contracts from somewhere. Where? Unlike many, if not most answerers here, IANAL, but I have just taken on several new mortgages in buying a house and, so, signed several new contracts, which were mostly boilerplate with blanks to narrow them to us (name, new address, SSN, etc.). With most of that boilerplate existing due to regulation and consumer protection law having come from prior lawsuits. I would say that the vast majority of contracts in this world are private and unrecorded. They're between individual humans, person-to-person (probably the smallest category, though there's probably all the elements there in buying a cheeseburger in the drive-through), businesses and humans (maybe the middle category, by process of elimination), and business-to-business (probably the largest category, in my estimation, billions of daily stock transactions, boilerplate and standardized due to historical lessons learned and government regulation and lawsuits). So, if law schools wanted to teach contracts with real contracts, they'd need to get real contracts from real entities, and, I'd think, those that elucidated real issues that showed the mechanics and theory of contract law for the jurisdiction that was relevant to their students. So they'd need permission from the parties or a jurisdiction where all court records are public (?) and a ton of effort to build such a project. You and I can have a private contract that never gets litigated or invoked and never needs to be discussed as a contract after we sign it, and we keep it private, because it has private information in it. I'm not going to share that with a law school as a teaching aid. It's just a ton of effort for a lawprof or law librarian to pull off. That's why I think US JD Contracts courses aren't taught entirely with real contracts to read and examine. It's the same reason that Engineering isn't taught though examination of collapsed bridges and plane crashes. Yeah, there's some of that, but rarely do you have enough data to get into the nitty gritty of what frequency Galloping Gertie galloped at. Sure, you're gonna talk about that bridge and watch the video while talking about aeroelastic flutter in your Aeronautical Structures course in an Aerospace Engineering curricula, but not every element is taught through a practical example. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/09	2,936	12,200	<issue_start>username_0: If a course instructor closely follows a textbook when delivering a lecture (e.g. even listing the subsection they're discussing) could they be in violation of copyright law? What if they upload the lecture to YouTube? I'm particularly interested in the context of the United States.<issue_comment>username_1: I can't imagine an existing legal regime in which teaching from a textbook and "publishing" the lectures would be considered wrong unless the instructor explicitly made images or snippets copied from the book open to view. Likewise reading from the text verbatim would possibly be wrong depending on how much was read (fair use principles are discussed below). For a sentence or two, there are likely no issues. For a section, beware. Referring the students to certain page/section numbers in a text is completely innocuous. Putting up page images is problematic. Paging through a book with the camera pointed at the pages would probably be infringement everywhere, unless the snippets were very small (fair use). But, such paging seems to be blatant misuse in any case. Note, also, that the fair use rules for educational purposes are (normally) a bit relaxed from the general rules, though this has been changing. But the lecture "belongs" to the lecturer, not the author/publisher of the book. In some fields the standard for claiming a violation is much higher. If I copy the definition of the derivative (Calculus) onto a whiteboard, I'm not violating copyright even if my lecture is widely available. But that is because of a (typical) exception that things that can be said only one (or a very few) ways can't be copyrighted in the first place. So the author of Rudin (i.e. Rudin) used this exception in writing the book in the first place. But if I copy an equivalent amount from, say, a philosophy or history book, then there might be a problem. You are much more likely to get a takedown notice at YouTube if you have some music playing in the background as you lecture. But that is because of draconian laws put in place by media publishers, not just copyright. --- One of the (typical) standards for fair use is whether the use reduces the market for the item copied. If it does, then there are issues, otherwise there are not likely to be. If you "teach from" the book in such a way that students don't need access to it, then you should reexamine what you are doing. But even that implies that the "teaching from" is extensive. For supplementary materials, it might not be necessary for students to have other access. But there would be a "quantity" assessment made by anyone wanting to claim infringement and any court judging it. Does your use reduce the market? And note that the laws are different everywhere, hence my use of "typical" etc. in a few places here. Perhaps a king could copyright the alphabet and make all written text subject to rules. See the book [Fahrenheit 451 by <NAME>](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451) for an extreme example. --- I'll also note that, done right, such a course could actually increase the market for a textbook. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Oh hey a copyright hypo in real life :) There are a couple questions that this question turns on. 1. Is the lecture a derivative work of the textbook? Generally, the holder of a copyright also has rights to derivative works. Derivative works are works which are derived from another work. For example, if I sell a t-shirt with a drawing of Mickey Mouse on it, that I made, Mickey Mouse is still under copyright and my drawing of him is a derivative work. It's not obvious to me that a lecture that merely references a textbook would count as a derivative work. You would need to adopt and apply the creative elements from the textbook to the work. 2. Is the material derived from the textbook a fact or a creative element? Generally, facts are not considered to be copyrightable (see e.g. [Feist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications,_Inc.,_v._Rural_Telephone_Service_Co.)). An arrangement or selection of facts may be creative works subject to copyright, but that would also need to be shown. Furthermore, is the arrangement sufficiently distinguishable from other works (e.g. other textbooks)? Most Calculus textbooks start with differentiation and then discuss integration. Similarity between a lecture and a textbook merely on that basis would probably not be enough to establish the fact that the lecture is derivative. 3. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) contains several exemptions for instructors. See for example 17 USC Ch. 1 Section 110, where one is allowed to put on performances of certain copyrighted materials in an instructional context. You can watch a Mickey Mouse cartoon in class without obtaining rights to a public performance even though by any other metric it is a public performance. In this case, you're not performing exactly, but rather making a derivative work. I don't believe the right to derive is something that is ever explicitly contemplated in relation to instructors, but one could argue that in particular it is already implicit. 4. Lastly, to fall back on is fair use. The fair use exemption says that works that meet a weighing of the purpose of the derivative work, the nature of the copyrighted work, amount of copyrighted work used, and effect on the potential market for the copyrighted work will not be considered to infringe upon the copyright of the original work. Fair use falls more on the "standard" side of the rules-standard balance, so it's hard to say whether this claim would be successful. I would tend to say that it would be fairly likely given that the entire purpose of a textbook is to serve an instructional purpose, and presumably someone's buying the book if it's being used as a textbook. But at the same time, it's hard to say. Of course, all of this is pretty much hypothetical. It doesn't address YouTube's copyright policy, nor does it really get around the fact that if a big textbook publisher wants to sue you, and you're just an average person, you probably won't have the resources to mount a legal defense. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I am not a copyright lawyer and I give no representations or warranty as to the accuracy of this legal opinion. If you choose to rely on this legal opinion, you do so entirely at your own risk. Please consult a copyright lawyer in the event that you need proper legal advice on this matter. So far as I can see, the legal questions here come down to whether or not the activities you list fall within an exemption to the usual rules of copyright (e.g., "fair use" or other special exemptions). Copyright law in the US is governed under [Title 17 of the United States Code](https://www.copyright.gov/title17/title17.pdf). There are relevant exemptions in Sections 107 and 110. I am roughly familiar with the statutory framework here, but I am not a copyright specialist, and I am not familiar with the relevant case-law on these sections. Consequently, I can give you a rough idea of the law in this area, but you should consult a copyright lawyer with knowledge of relevant case-law if you want a more reliable answer. --- ### Face-to-face lectures will generally be exempt from copyright Section 110 gives a list of specific exemptions for a "performance or display of work", and subsection (1) includes displays of work for educational use. The full text of the relevant part of the section is shown below. So long as your teaching is occurring at a non-profit educational institution, and so long as you are using a legitimate copy of the textbook (i.e., a purchased copy, not a copy made in breach of copyright), the lectures themselves will fall within the scope of the exemption in §110(1). > > §110 · Limitations on exclusive rights: Exemption of certain performances and displays > > > Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the following are not infringements of copyright: > > > (1) performance or display of a work by instructors or pupils in the course > of face-to-face teaching activities of a nonprofit educational institution, in > a classroom or similar place devoted to instruction, unless, in the case of a > motion picture or other audiovisual work, the performance, or the display > of individual images, is given by means of a copy that was not lawfully made > under this title, and that the person responsible for the performance knew or > had reason to believe was not lawfully made; > > > In the event that you are working for an educational institution that is a profit-based institution (i.e., not registered as a nonprofit) then this exemption will not apply, but you might be able to argue for an analogous exemption based on the general rules for "fair use" in §107. There is a reasonable case for fair use in an educational setting (even for a profit-based educational institution), especially since the textbooks are specifically written for this purpose. Indeed, one could reasonably argue that the textbook writers write these works in direct anticipation that they will be involved in a "display of work" in various educational settings. --- ### Putting lectures on YouTube might be "fair use" There is a general exemption under Section 107 for "fair use" of copyrighted works, which gives a range of factors that determine whether the exemption applies. This section is shown below. > > §107 · Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use > > > Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include— > > > (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; > > > (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; > > > (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and > > > (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. > > > The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if > such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors > > > These factors operate heavily in favour of an exemption in the situation you are proposing. Firstly, putting lectures on YouTube is something done for a nonprofit educational purpose. (If you are a user with a large audience then there may be some revenue from your posted videos on YouTube, but for most academic work that is likely to be miniscule in comparison to the time-cost to create the works. There could be some argument over whether the activity is really "nonprofit", but you will usually be on safe ground on that point.) Secondly, the nature of the copyrighted work is a textbook made for teaching purposes, so the broadcast of video lectures is consistent with this purpose. The amount and substantiality of the portion of the textbook used will depend on your lectures, but usually lectures consist of a substantial amount of supplementary discussion by the lecturer. Finally, to the extent that broadcasting your lecture on YouTube has an effect on the target market for the textbook, it is arguably likely to make that textbook more popular, rather than acting as a substitute good that would diminish sales. My view is that, prima facie, these factors operate heavily in favour of providing an exemption. You would need to read some case-law on similar matters to see how courts view this, but it seems like you could make a good argument for an exemption with these factors. In view of this, my view is that you would probably be on safe ground uploading your lectures to YouTube, even if they closely follow the material in a copyrighted textbook. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/09	1,945	8,420	<issue_start>username_0: I am currently filling out a few PhD applications for computer science, and I have noticed a strong pattern in Statement of Purpose (SOP) guidelines that try to incentivise you to discuss your economic background, and how that shaped your life. To be clear, I am not against this, I understand how overcoming poverty can be a huge part of someone's identity. I grew up in a third world country, where my family was below the poverty line for a few years during the recession. My family's financial situation has since improved tremendously after my father immigrated to another country for work. However, I can't help but be overwhelmed with extreme sadness when I think of that period of my life. I go to a therapist every week and I haven'd even had the ability to talk about that period without having an emotional breakdown. There was simply too many stressful and pitiful memories during that period. So I am left in a dilemma, should I discuss this in my SOP? I've really only discussed this with my long term girlfriend, and no one else knows about it. I feel it can provide a better "context" about my achievements, but to be frank, I believe my application is already competitive given my research and publication background without that context.<issue_comment>username_1: First, only you can decide what you are comfortable with. While you are required to divulge some information (e.g., your academic record), there is no requirement to be so open with your private personal and health information. That said, I suspect including this information might help your application. As you say, it is helpful context for your achievements as well as your struggles. The challenge will be writing it up well. In general the SOP should be a professional document that discusses your academic interests and plans (i.e., the reason you are applying to this program...hence the name). From [our wiki](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38237/how-does-the-admissions-process-work-for-ph-d-programs-in-the-us-particularly): > > Having reviewed certain applications, I would also like to mention one major flaw that shows up in the majority of the SOPs that get rejected. The SOP is not the document where you should get too personal. Don’t waste too many words discussing your childhood, or random thoughts you've had, or your theory of life. It's fine to state interests and hobbies and unrelated accomplishments, but make every word as objective (and verifiable) as you can. This is generally true, but especially so for STEM programs. Academics are impressed by crisp, concise writing. > > > This does not mean that you cannot or should not mention your economic background in your SOP. It does mean that you should be very concise and factual. This is not the time to delve into the "stressful and pitiful memories" you mention; rather, you should just briefly characterize the issue with a few "facts" or examples. Actually, the description you gave above is pretty good -- something along those lines would be fine. By the way, some schools (in the US, at least) request a [diversity statement](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32484/what-do-admission-committees-look-for-in-a-diversity-essay) in addition to the SOP. In this case, you might consider moving this discussion from the SOP to the diversity statement. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: To begin with, I think it is silly that application processes even ask about these things, but that seems to be the way of the world now. If the guidelines recommend that you discuss your economic background (in the case where it is seen as a desirable "diversity" requirement) you could do this in a fairly short and sweet manner, which communicates the basic situation, without becoming too emotive. I think this is likely to be the best way to do it, and it also jibes nicely with your desire to avoid dredging up issues that are upsetting to you. I would think it would be sufficient to give a one or two sentence explanation similar to what you have already given in this post; i.e., that you lived in country X and lived below the poverty line during years Y-Z, but your family has since become better off. This will give the desired context you want, without having to delve into deeply personal territory. If it were me, I would even preface this by noting that the guidelines ask for this information, and then giving the basic information you have given here. You could then follow this up with some simple aspirational statement --- e.g., that you would like to build a successful career to ensure that your own children do not have to endure the financial hardships you experienced growing up. I don't think you need to worry too much about this, since your own desire dovetails nicely with what will work well anyway. Most academics are interested in objective qualities of students more than background issues. Even those academics who are particularly interested in diversity requirements, and positively predisposed to "under-represented" candidates, will tend to expect a light touch here. They are usually going to be more impressed by getting all the relevant information in a way that lets them know there was some hardship/obstacle to overcome, but not laid on too thick. Your goal should be to show that you are strong enough to have achieved high quality outcomes under circumstances where you faced hardship (while being careful not to sound like you are bragging). Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Considering that admissions committees are interested in anticipating/predicting your (professional) future, the more data points the better. Whether or not one believes that "overcoming adversity" is a good thing in itself, achieving this-or-that from a position of relative privilege and security is quite different from achieving the same thing in less convivial circumstances. One simple example is about maintaining a good GPA while not working (due to economic good fortune), versus working full time due to economic need. There is no dishonor in good fortune, but good fortune of early life circumstances is not quite the same as a prediction of future professional success. (Unless, perhaps, we take an aggressive classist viewpoint that attempts to predict one's future success by the success of one's parents, etc.) So, yes, without going on toooo long, give a small description of your circumstances. This will help admissions committees understand your future potential better. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: As the other answers here suggest, this is a subtle issue so I won't give a firm recommendation. However, there are some things you might consider in making a decision. First is that the SoP should be forward, not backward, looking. People evaluating your application will be looking for predictors of success in the future. This mostly involves your academic record including courses and also research. The fact that you overcame difficulties to succeed up to now is less important than that you have succeeded and can be expected to in future. The purpose of the SoP is to give a view of your future plans and goals and how you expect to achieve them. It isn't a general autobiography. Second, is that an SoP might be limited in length or not. If it is, then make sure that what you are able to say in limited space supports future success, not past accomplishments. Of course, and this is where it is subtle, if your trajectory has been better than might be expected in the past, because you overcame obstacles of whatever nature, then you can probably be expected to continue that success. But third, is that even if you don't mention it in the SoP there are other places in your application where you might be able to bring it up naturally. This includes any interviews that might be part of the process. So, think about the entire application process and make sure that all of the important points get covered and, in limited space, don't waste space in things that are covered already. And, different institutions have different requirements on what can and should be included. If they ask, specifically, for such information, then give it, of course. But also consider that you may need to tailor the various elements differently for application to different institutions. Make sure that you show up as a good match. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/09	2,488	10,793	<issue_start>username_0: My former PhD supervisor asked me different times to produce false results, including complete fabrication from scratch of otherwise non-existent results. I always managed to get away from that and I have never published nor submitted anything falsified. However, I still think that this must be reported, partially because he may do that again with other students. Also, the other coauthors (including professors) have never known about this. Unfortunately, I have no written proof of his behavior, not even email, as he has always asked me in person. How can I proceed in such a situation?<issue_comment>username_1: You yourself say you have no proof. Without evidence, this could end up in a nasty slander/libel/ suit. Evidence is required. Evidently, we like to believe you. However, there is a reason proofs are required. If hearsay were acceptable, a vindicative former PhD student (not saying you are one!) could just create endless trouble to their former supervisor just by inventing accusations. Ethics always has two sides. All you can do is to avoid working with him. If you are in a group that wishes to collaborate with him, you might consider going as far as to express your dissatisfaction with his working style. This will cost you political capital, but is better than to outright accuse them of fabrication (and it's clear that you won't work with them no matter what). They are devious and clearly know how not to leave traces, there is very little you can do until they get caught out in some blatant mistake. If it is an important/active topic, this is likely to happen sooner or later. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Proving anything without evidence is very tricky. You can easily find yourself in a difficult situation. However, it is likely that you are not the only person your former supervisor approached with such requests. Your best chance is to find others who can back up your claim with their independent accounts. Find the list of the former PhD students of this supervisor and try to get in touch with them to see if they have something they want to share. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: In some locations, it is legal to record people without their permission or knowledge. In other locations, that is illegal. Recording the professor in the act of requesting falsification would give you proof. If you accuse someone of misconduct and use secret recordings as evidence, you can expect that some people will think you did the wrong thing. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: If a professor wants to falsify data now, the professor probably falsified data in the past. Look through previous publications by that professor for data that is obviously falsified. Plagiarized images are the most commonly detected form of fabrication. Not all image reuse is falsified data, but if two publications present the same image data as if they were recorded separately, this is proof of falsification. People who falsify data are likely to engage in other academic misconduct, such as plagiarism. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: Record him. Hidden Camera, hidden audio recorder... get enough evidence to make it stick. Once you have enough approach other students that you think you might be able to trust and seek out past students. Don't make it so obvious until you can trust them. Then find other advisors that you can trust and so on until you build a network. You can find out if they are trust worthy by "hinting" at the idea of fabricating evidence or ethics, morality, etc and see how they respond. You don't have to mention any names at the start, just see how they respond. You can make up some stuff like "I was reading a news article where some professor was caught making up research articles to get grants....". You have to "fish" and sometimes act a bit unethical. You definitely should pursue this because these sociopaths ruin humanity. There are far too many doing these sorts of things and none are being held accountable. Remember, several were caught. They are no better than corrupt politicians and lawyers or cops... in fact worse since they should be more intelligent. If he is obvious and blatant it should be easy to get him... just make sure to gather enough evidence(think of it was "research"). You can also see who he has worked with in the past because chances are he was corrupted by others. Once you have the evidence then you can figure out how to proceed from there. Note though that if you do this it will cause problems for your career. There are lots of sociopaths out there and if you put yourself out their as the "slayer of sociopaths" it will put a target on your back. Of course you only have 3 options: Join them, ignore them and hope they don't ruin you, or slay them! If you have real evidence of him faking shit on his research papers you can go who ever has granted him $$$ and tell him his data is fake and try to get them to make him pay the money back. Remember, fake research destroys humanity and is anti-science. People make real life changing decisions based on data. Unfortunately it happens so much now that reality has become fantasy(it's hard to trust anything any more... think of "fake news", "deep fakes", etc). This is precisely because people are so greedy and have no morality and no one stops them. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: I'd like to suggest a middle ground between the "get evidence then act" and the "stay back" answers: where I am, universities and research institutes have an ombudsperson for scientific integrity, and we even have a [national Ombuds Committee for scientific integrity](https://ombudsman-fuer-die-wissenschaft.de/?lang=en). You can contact the ombudsperson (local or national) about concerns you have about scientific integrity/misconduct and they deal with this in a strictly confidential manner. Now, while the ombuds system primarily aims at mediation in what is called questionable research practice or remediable misconduct, i.e. lighter cases of misconduct whose effects can be "healed", they can initiate an investigation into the so far only alleged case of serious misconduct ([FAQ #5](https://ombudsman-fuer-die-wissenschaft.de/4174/faq-frequently-asked-questions/?lang=en)). And even if they'd have to conclude that they cannot (yet) initiate such an investigation based only on what you tell them, your case would be on record, and if more people file similar complaints, at some point there will be sufficient indication for the university to properly investigate the case. This procedure will be safer for you than trying yourself to find confederates or trying to obtain proper evidence. Also, I'd suspect that the evidence you can get will likely stay thin in the sense that it likely won't be of a quality that can stand in a court case\* (since we're talking serious scientific misconduct, this most likely would go to court: the professor has too much to lose to take a plea). In contrast, an investigation by the university has a much better chance to turn up the quality of evidence that is needed here. --- I recommend you get away from that group ASAP 1. In order to save your scientific integrity. As sad as it may be, not only you but science as a whole will likely profit more from you having a career as an active scientist rather than from you becoming a martyr for science. I may add from personal experience of a milder nature (no falsification, only bad science): colleagues from other institutes/groups did notice both the lack of quality and me not being happy with that. Later on, I was approached about collaboration by someone who explicitly said that they asked me because of the integrity I showed in handling the "bad science situation". 2. This is a time bomb. If (when!) this is discovered, your career is likely to be seriously affected - whether you actually managed to keep your integrity or not, and even if you have been the one on whose report the investigation started. I think it is advisable to make extra sure that there is a complete track record of everything you've done, proving there has been no misconduct in your research. It may be illegal to take copies of your work data home. But it may be possible to deposit copies with the IT department (assuming your supervisor does not have access there); I'd also think about encrypting and signing these backups. Being able to say that the scientific ombudsoffice has a record of you filing a complaint about scientific misconduct may be another piece to saving what can be saved of your career. --- \*Consider: assume you had an email openly asking you to falsify data. The moment you openly act on this, your professor would fire or at least suspend you (regardless of whether your complaint is perfectly valid or whether there is a complaint by a vindictive student, the professor would have a perfect case for suspending on the basis that evidently the mutual trust in the employer-employee and professor-student relationships is destroyed). With that, you'd immediately lose access to your university email box. So either you'd find yourself without the "proof", or you'd have to forward it beforehand or print it out. But there's nothing really tamper-proof in such a forwarded email or printout. The hypothetical vindictive student could have fabricated such documents. With a bit more technical knowledge they could even place a file into their email system that looks at first glance as if it were sent by the professor. Now, a university investigating serious misconduct by one of their employees (the professor), has far more powerful options. E.g. their IT department may be able to show that such an email was actually sent from the professor's account. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: I'll address the underlying issue rather than the question in the title: you don't need to be able to prove unethical behavior to report it. An email to the department head with details of unethical behavior (what was requested, when, how many times) will at least be noted and likely end up in your advisor's permanent file. Without any evidence for the department to act on this is the most you can request (and for others in your situation who may wish for such communications to remain confidential this is the most that can be done). In the short term, as others have said, your word against your advisors accomplishes very little. In the long term, this professor is likely to continue the misbehavior and when additional complaints or actual evidence of misbehavior arises from other students your original statement becomes a very strong piece of evidence, and shows a pattern of behavior rather than an isolated incident. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/09	2,069	9,158	<issue_start>username_0: I m rounding the corner of my PhD and wanted to have the semblance of a plan for next steps as I close out my degree. I came from industry so I have a grasp of the pros and cons on that front. I also have exposure to the darkside of academia as I had a front row seat to lab startup trials and tribulations. My issue lies with the fact that my curiosity itch has the best chance to be satisfied on the academic side. In a post Covid world university budgets will be extraordinarly tight making an already dire market for tenure track positions worse. Also I can imagine non R1 institutions having less opportunities as well. I was wondering if anyone ever witnessed someone cobble together a patchwork of job roles to make a career out of research blending industry and academia together. Like a part time soft money independent researcher in combination with something else to have a long term career. I know there are industrial post docs but I am looking for a career bit a temp position. Looking forward to hearing responses. UPDATE I am relaxing the condition of working for both industry and academia at the same time as it seems to be a key roadblock in achieving the ultimate goal.<issue_comment>username_1: In my observation, there are some advantages and disadvantages in academia for faculty who come from an industrial background and have research interests relating to industry. The main benefit I have seen is that this often gives useful applied research ideas, and it also often gives scope for some research projects that are of benefit to industry, and therefore gives the opportunity to secure industry funding for research. Attracting "external funding" is one of the most sought after abilities for academics, and if you are able to develop a research project that attracts industry funding then your university will love you and you have a high chance of academic promotion. Moreover, if you can secure industry funding for a project, this may make it easier to secure supplementary funding from traditional grant-funding bodies, since they don't have to fund the whole project. The difficulty you will encounter, highlighted in the comments to your answer, is that there will be a need to negotiate ownership and IP issues in a way that satisfies all funding bodies and the university. Companies and industry bodies will sometimes fund "general" research that they perceive to be of benefit to them, but they may want the research to lead to some new development or product where they can claim IP ownership. Contrarily, public universities and public grant-funding bodies will want research projects that give some "public benefit" and not just a private benefit to a company or industry body claiming IP rights. Consequently, if you want to create a successful research project that spans both these institutions, you will need to negotiate an appropriate compromise that satisfies all parties. Usually this will entail a guarantee by the industry funders that you can publish some or all of your research in academic journals, but possibly with some extra private knowledge that they may lay claim to (e.g., ownership of a particular dataset, etc.). I have not had experience with this, but I have seen some successful academics who manage to produce research projects that span industry. Regardless of whether you can achieve this, I would say that it is often very valuable to have some industry experience coming in to academia. At worst, it will give you some useful research ideas that have arisen from your industrial practice, and networking connections with industry figures to come up with new research ideas and methods. In terms of pursuing a "hybrid" career, this may also be possible. Universities usually allow (or even encourage) their academics to pursue some "service to the profession" that may consist of outside consulting work, or engagement with commercial/industrial projects. As a rule of thumb, most universities allow an academic to spend up to 20% of their time on this, subject to faculty approval. (But it varies, so check the rules at the particular university you are thinking of applying to.) It might also be possible to supplement this with your recreational leave if you don't mind using this for outside work. To have a successful "hybrid" career, you will have to adapt to the imperatives of university environment, in particular the necessity to "publish or perish". Nevertheless, having an industrial background can sometimes help with this, insofar as it assists in creating useful research ideas. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I've been (am?) doing something that may be along the lines you are thinking about. As a PhD student, I decided from the experience of many short fixed term contracts (I started with 3 consecutive contracts covering my first 6 months...) that an economic plan B is needed that can be put into action at short notice whenever needed. That plan was a small side-line freelancing in my profession, which also had an episode of part-time employment in industry. I do like doing academic research, but I did not like the transition into academic management that I always saw with colleagues starting their own groups/becoming professors. Which for me pointed strongly to staying on postdoc positions and not wanting to advance to group leader/PI level. Also, in my country academic freedom is a right only for professors, for everyone below it is up to the professor's discretion (which for me worked out better in some groups and worse in others). At some point, I decided it is time for a change and I started a business in earnest when my contract ran out. The research institute offered me a half-time position to have an easier transition (for both sides), which I took. Since then, I've had a number of shorter and longish part-time postdoc positions at different research institutes. I treat them mostly like any other customer. The scientific/technical staff I work with typically would hire me as company/consultant, but the grant structure over here often means that it is much easier for them to employ me for a project than to get external consulting. The standard employment contracts of course don't work (see @BryanKrause's comments), and that certainly tends to create extra hassle. But I know perfectly well which modifications I need and can explain why this is not a whim but a requirement (otherwise no end of hassle about ownership of IP rights may ensue). You need to be willing to end negotiations immediately they indicate that such accomodation is not possible. OTOH, I've also had very positive interactions, where the contract was handled at the top of the legal department with "of course we need some extra clauses, here's a draft, please see whether they suit your needs." Now a crucial difference here between your proposed solution and what I'm doing is that having two employers means that there's always a third party with legitimate interest in the contract. And that's going to create hassle. (I'd go so far and say this is a flaw in the legal system we have because it envisions only standard work in the form of 100 % positions, and thus has defaults that create serious trouble in many places when someone deviates from that "official vision" of employment) In practice, I've known people on a lower carreer level (PhD students) to have two part time contracts in parallel (university + industry) without anyone caring about the legal nightmare this situation actually creates: as long as the work is sufficiently insignificant, noone cares because there will be no litigation. --- I even like to teach (I do courses), but I'd say you should be carefully checking and negotiating conditions when you consider becoming a freelance academic lecturer. I've managed to get paid decently for a university training/workshop/block course event, but the usual rates the universities list are ridiculous - they clearly indicate that this is for people who want to lecture at university for reasons of vanity (or maybe altruism?), but certainly not for a living. --- Covid has not only effects on acadmic job availability, it has similar effects on many industries, btw. However, you may be able to turn some aspects into your advantage with your potential part-time employers: * With such a hybrid approach, you may be able to take positions that would not be acceptable for a more "normal" carreer. I.e., moving is sensible only if the contract has a certain volume, and at some point in life even researchers with a rather strong nomadic trait are likely to want settling down more permanently. E.g. I enjoy that I have a "permanent base camp" called home now - my nomadic trait gets sufficient attention by traveling to my customers [except right now...] * It is probably much easier right now to convince such potential employers (research institutes/universities) that you'll do a majority of the work from your own [home] office. Thus, you can accept positions that are further away than would be practical for a normal rate of showing up in person. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/10	240	966	<issue_start>username_0: I am trying to publish a publication in the web site of a journal, and when I put my .tex file (also .png files) the website gives an error and says "File will not display in proof". I think it is treated by ScholarOne. Do you have any solution for that or may I have to contact ScholarOne?<issue_comment>username_1: Contact someone at the journal. They decide what system to use for processing your article, so they should help you navigate that system. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: This happens with source files. For the `.tex` file that is OK: in fact, the `.tex` file should not appear in the proof. For the pictures, it probably means that ScholarOne doesn't process `.png` files: convert them to a supported file format, e.g. `.pdf` or `.tiff`. In my experience, the above is usually enough to make the proof work, and if it's OK, submit, even if you still get that message for the `.tex` file. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2020/11/10	1,375	5,794	<issue_start>username_0: I recently received two postdoc offers on the same day. I accepted one (verbally, in saying "I would like to accept this job offer", but I have signed nothing), but then some additional information came to light that I would not be happy in that role and the other was probably a better fit for me after all. It is undoubtedly the case that I failed to adequately understand the pros and cons of each role before accepting one of the roles. I accept this, but it's also my first job, and frankly I have no idea what I am doing. If I had a better idea what I was doing then I would have been able to extract this information before accepting one of the roles. I accept that I have been fairly useless in this decision-making process and I am quite ashamed and horrified by it all (I'm not really sleeping and I've even had nightmares, as ridiculous as that may sound). Frankly, I just want it to end, but I want to make the right decision as it will have a profound impact on my life. And the right decision for me is to decline the offer that I had previously accepted and go forwards with this alternative one. At most as it stands I'll have cost them about 2-3 days of time. It's not as if I've kept them hanging for several weeks or months before finally backing out. I can already tell my would-be supervisor in the role I wish to decline is a very decent and kind person and I want to cause them them the absolute minimum undue difficulties and upset. How unethical is it to decline an offer after accepting it (but without having signed anything)? How can I go ahead with now going back on my decision and let them know in the best possible way? Thanks for your help.<issue_comment>username_1: If you haven't signed anything, or at least been given a written offer, then you may not have an enforceable contract. Changing your mind within a few days will cause only minimal, if any, disruption at the other end. If they believe that you do have a binding contract, then they will let you know immediately and you will have to deal with that. You could ask to be released from it, of course. But speed is essential. Just send them something in writing along with an email declining the offer and offering apologies for your earlier statements. You don't really need to say more than that. They might be unhappy, but would be less happy to have you join them grudgingly. I suppose there are some places where a verbal agreement can hold legal weight, but I doubt that even then, they would think it wise to enforce it. They likely have other options. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Being on the receiving end is very unpleasant, and it will have probably cost them more than just 2-3 days; the bureaucratic arrangement, possibly losing other postdoc candidates, having to go readvertising etc. is a very serious hassle, let's not pretend it isn't. Being there, done that. Nonetheless, you need to take a decision and inform them as quickly as possible. There is no point for you taking a postdoc that you (and ultimately them) will regret. Decide and inform. This is an unpleasantry that is part of life. Yours and theirs. To contain the damage as much as possible, you need to face it upfront. Good luck! Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Honestly admit you changed you mind, and provide some sort of brief explanation for your change. Many years ago, a colleague of mine accepted a postdoc and the next day was offered full time teaching position at much higher pay. He respectfully then backed out of the postdoc offer and explained that the other job offered much higher pay and that was a deciding factor as he had a spouse and children to consider. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Inform the professor immediately of your change of heart. You will have to try to think of some reasoning, to make the conversation easier, dampen any bruising of their ego and to attempt to maintain a cordial relationship, if possible. I am concerned that you are overly worried about the fallout of this, based on your question details. Bizaarely the top-ranked answer right now appears worded to heighten your stress. Ultimately the professor, and you, will be better off as a result of your decision, and changes-of-heart like this are a normal part of real life, and any career. For perspective, the professor whom you will be letting down almost certainly has a much more stable place in academia than you do, and many would consider any very extreme reaction on their part to be an indication of lack of character. Most PIs which I have known have been quite realistic regarding the hiring process, and it is common for top candidates to recieve multiple offers. Decision changes happen. Unless you are in some exceptionally small field with an exceptionally insecure PI at its helm, it is likely everything will be fine for you. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: You have two options: 1. You stay in the job that you accepted. Maybe it will be fine, or maybe (as you suspect) you won't be happy. 2. You tell the people you accepted that you are very sorry to mess them around, but have changed your mind. Maybe this only causes them a minor inconvenience, or maybe it causes them a lot of hassle. Maybe it hurts your relationship in the future for a while, and maybe it doesn't. Then, maybe you are happy in this job and maybe you aren't. There are risks either way. You have to judge which is the greater risk. As others have pointed out, the risk of a bad outcome from option 2 increases with time. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: You should just tell the postdoc director you've changed your mind. And quickly, so he can look for another candidate, or call back a candidate he refused. The sooner the better. Upvotes: -1
2020/11/11	964	4,282	<issue_start>username_0: I am a 2nd year PhD student working on a project which involves control systems and power systems. For the next stage of my work, I have to learn about a control systems technique which I am not familiar with. It involves advanced mathematics and control systems concepts. So I picked the most well-known book in that area and started going through it. However, when I was at the middle and I could not understand a certain concept which the book assumes that the reader is familiar with, I searched for some other references and ended up finding the 'best' references: lecture notes from top universities, video lectures, other books. However, at the end I am struggling to decide upon what to read, what not to read and the references which I am going to pick to learn the content which I need. Simply speaking I am overloaded with reference texts and struggling to make a judgement. Having faced such a problem, in general, what would be the advice you could give to avoid getting 'lost' in trying to follow all the references ? How can I be selective and proceed with a single references and finish learning what is required.<issue_comment>username_1: It sounds like you have two (related) questions, I will try to answer both: * how to not get too distracted by references to other sources? * how to pick the best reference to read? If your goal is to finish a certain book, but you get "distracted" by following references, you have to choose: (1) go back to the book as soon as you learned what is necessary to continue, or (2) decide that your new goal is to "learn about subject X" and that following more references helps you achieve this goal. It is perfectly normal to find, follow and read references while studying (in fact, this is pretty much the definition of studying). If you have no specific learning goal in mind, you should either set such a goal, or just keep reading what interests you most. If you have no good reason to pick any reference over the other: just pick one and start reading. It sounds like you want to pick "the best" reference, but what is "best" depends on your prior knowledge, your goal, and your personal preferences. Of course the "best" reference also depends on its quality, but the problem here is that you need to read it first in order to assess the quality. There are not many people who have read all the text books, and even if you find one their preferences may differ from yours, and the order in which they have read them may affect their judgement: You can ask your supervisor to recommend good reference texts, but do not be afraid to ignore the advice. Finally, it sounds to me as if you are being too perfectionist looking for the "perfect" reference (which does not exist, see above). So just pick one that looks interesting and start reading, but do not be afraid to switch if this reference turns out to be unsuitable (too hard, to easy, badly written, etc.) Also, reading more texts on the same subject will often deepen your understanding, and in addition repetition is known to improve memory. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: When I am digging into a new body of literature or a new concept for the first time, I like to create a list to stay organized. I generally create some sort of reference tracker where I write the title, author(s), reference type, a link to the resource, and some summary. I use a spreadsheet (excel, google sheets, notion) to track all of this. This helps me keep track of all of the references I've come across that I want to read---especially if they come up in multiple places (when that does happen, it helps me identify a resource I think I should be reading, because it's being cited often). When it comes to evaluating the reference to use, that is going to be based on your learning style. In the past, I often just pick something to start with and see if it works. Does this reference or resource answer my question or help me have a better idea of what I'm trying to learn? If it isn't, I move on to the next reference and try again. It's a time consuming process, but it will help you in the future when you have to do this again. You will have learned what types of resources suit you, your needs, and your learning style best. Upvotes: 0
2020/11/11	839	3,510	<issue_start>username_0: I am planning on submitting a paper to a mechanical or materials science journal. I am looking at these two journals [IJMS](https://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-mechanical-sciences) (IF 4.6) and [JMST](https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-materials-science-and-technology) (IF 6.2). First one is published by Elsevier and is an old journal, while second one by The Journal of the Chinese Society for Metals and is a recent one. Considering, my paper fits the scope of both the journals, should a decision of submitting a paper be made solely on the basis of the impact factor? Is the second journal better than the first one?<issue_comment>username_1: I think impact factor should be almost at the bottom of considerations of how to choose a journal. If you want to read more I suggest [this nature article](https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/whats-wrong-with-the-jif-in-five-graphs). The first test should be to make sure you are submitting to a journal of good standing. For example you may want to ask is it a predatory journal. Once that's out of the way then I think the most important thing is your choice depends on who you want your audience to be. You've suggested journals in different fields - this is now your choice. Different journals have different audiences from different communities. In my work, some journals lend themselves to more theoretical work whereas some prefer more practical implementations and applications. There are some other considerations which I think you might consider too: You may also want to bring your work to the attention of one of the editors. This might be someone you want to work with in future for example. You should also think if there is a good fit to your work. Acceptance is not guaranteed for any work. You should have a look at the scope of each journal and see if your work fits. Finally, you may want to consider how fast the journal processes articles - how long is it from when you submit your work to a potential publication. Early in your career this might be an important factor too. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I think username_1's answer is idealistic and doesn't match what I learned when I interviewed several established researchers about why they submit to X journal instead of Y. * Impact factor. Love it or hate it, it still factors in the minds of most people. * Scope. Some journals are simply better than others for certain papers. The two journals you mention are examples. I'm not in your field, but reading their description it seems they have slightly different emphasis. Which one is closer to your field? * Where has related work been published? If for example a paper is closely related to mine and it was published in X journal, then I am more likely to submit to X journal. * Do I know the people on the editorial board? If so I am more likely to submit there (especially if I consider them my friends). * Have I published there before? If so (and I had a good experience) I am more likely to submit there. * Country. For example British researchers are more likely to submit to a British Journal of [Field] than non-British researchers. * Publisher. Some researchers will simply [never submit to journals by certain publishers](http://thecostofknowledge.com/), no matter what. Factors near the bottom are less important than those near the top. In your case, the easiest thing to do is discuss with your advisor, if you have one. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/11	1,485	6,333	<issue_start>username_0: I'm about a year into some exciting research, with some early results that many professors are interested in following the progress of. I have two advisors. I recently learned that my graduate classmate, from a different lab, has been shopping my ideas around, interviewing with other labs at other universities, apparently to try to do something similar, gain a collaborator, etc. He told he did this, which made me uncomfortable. He's also contacted one of my advisors, he says. I believe there is no stopping him at this point. He will likely contact my second, more renowned advisor too, with the goal of working with them, and knowing about all of my recent progress in research, since him and I are very close friends. I feel he's behaving like a leech and acting like a desperate leap-frogger. And I regret talking so much about my progress, which he now uses and shops around, perhaps misrepresenting the ideas and techniques as his own. How should I deal with these feelings? On the one hand, I feel he has complete freedom to contact whomever he wants, and shop whatever unpublished ideas he wants, to build his own career. On the other hand, I feel like I am just supplying and enabling a plagiarist. Should I cut contact with him, or be proud that he is excited about my work and wants to emulate me? I don't contact his advisors or shop his ideas around, for example.<issue_comment>username_1: What you describe sounds very odd. It's hard to know exactly without being party to the conversations (and you don't know exactly what this person is saying to others about your work), but my initial impression is that this is more likely to hurt your friend than you. I also wonder if they're in a good space - it sounds less like someone trying to build a career and more like someone who might be a bit lost and confused about their own directions. That said, it would absolutely be appropriate for you to ask that they stop talking about your work to third parties. It's one thing if it happens to come up in related conversation centered on their own work, it's another thing to shop it around actively, whether giving you credit or not. There are definitely kinder ways to phrase this and harsher ways. I'd probably start with kindness just because they are more likely to react positively. You can thank them for being excited about your research, but share that you'd like to spread your own work and ask that they not discuss it with people besides you. You can also simply stop sharing such detail with them, without cutting them off completely unless you also choose to do that. If they are upset, I think it's reasonable to remind them that when you told them more they told other people, and that you'd rather talk about (any other topic). If they react aggressively, it may then make sense to get other people involved at your institution. I'd also suggest having a conversation with your advisor(s). It doesn't need to be in any depth, and you don't need to set aside a separate meeting. Just mention that you've been talking about your research with a friend and you were surprised that they then conveyed it to third parties, and ask whether they think you should do anything about it. You don't have to accuse them or provide proof of plagiarism - you can just say what has happened and let others judge for themselves. They probably won't suggest there is much you can do, but now they'll be aware in the future. Otherwise, keep moving forward and push towards publishing the things you have, like you would be doing anyways. If you have near-publishable work, consider discussing with your advisor whether it could be released as a pre-print. Whatever you have told this person about your progress so far, you have a huge head start on them, it's your research. Unless you think they'll actually be able to somehow beat you to publishing through their machinations, which doesn't seem likely from your description, they aren't too much of a threat. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: "Loose lips sink ships." They say being copied is the sincerest form of flattery, but it does not pay the bills, doesn't get your name on papers and does not get positions. Be careful what you share and accept that what you share with this person stops being yours. Forget being flattered by being followed - he's not a follower, he is a stalker and profiteer. "Friend" - perhaps for fun indifferent chat, as long as not relevant to your career. Cut him out from your research unless you accept that your successes may be credited to him, with you having to fight an uphill battle to regain your credit. You shared CV with him: I guess you now will find a clone of yours competing with you. Sorry for being so blunt. The biggest problem is now that this guy is fast. So, you will now begin looking like the person copying, because what you do in painstaking elaboration will look like what he already advertised he is doing. The copy will be seen as the original, at least for a while. On the good side: You have only started your career. You can still change your future. Stop sharing what you do not want to have copied. Do not share your plans, your research, your CV with this person for whatever you want yourself take credit for. If you want to help them, be sure to be fine with the fact that what you offer them is not a loan; it is a gift. You won't get something back. There is the advice to directly ask them to stop using and presenting your material as theirs. Only you can judge whether this is a strategy that has a chance of success. If they are really "desperate" or a "leach/leap-frogger" (as you say) it's very unlikely that they will stop, in the first case because they are too panicked to do so, in the second, because they would have to go against their personality. However, if you really believe that they may just do not notice the damage they do and a chat might help, you could try and talk sense into them. However, I believe that you might be better off simply beginning to cut off the trickle of critical information to that person; you can remain pleasant and friendly and kind and, in fact, their "friend" (if you see them as such), just obstinate yourself to not tell them things you do not want them to use. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2020/11/12	929	3,773	<issue_start>username_0: I am an early career researcher from India. I had earned a PhD from a top European University four years ago and then I moved to my home country early this year. I have been working on a century old problem, in the area of dielectrics, almost past five years. I believed that I had finally solved the problem and hence wrote the manuscript and submitted it to the prestigious APS journal, Physical Review Letters (PRL), as a single author. The manuscript has undergone three rounds of review and in the final round, number of reviewers were increased to six. Three of them recommended the manuscript for PRL, other two because of the specialised content of the manuscript recommended it for the journal, Physical Review E (PRE), which is another good journal from the APS family. The sixth reviewer rejected the paper without giving any reason. I was elated to see the reviewers comments and almost majority of them were in my favour. It would have been great for my career if as a single author I had published the manuscript in the PRL. However, the editor said that the manuscript warrants publication but PRL may not be a good venue for it. He recommended Physical Review Research (PRR), a new open access journal from the APS family. I had then resubmitted the paper to PRR, but they rejected the paper claiming that it does not fit into their journal. I then transferred the paper to the PRE and explained the history of the manuscript in my cover letter. However the editors of PRE rejected the paper citing that a manuscript that has been rejected by PRL and PRR, cannot be published in the PRE, though the editor suggested that I could make an appeal against their decision. If I do, an editorial committee will be set up to look into the matter. After I had uploaded the paper on Arxiv, I had received emails from well known researchers of the field praising my work. I am not sure what is wrong? My theory predicts experimental observations quite well. This has been almost heart-breaking for me. Why they do not want to publish it? In the last two weeks, I have received two emails from an Editor of an open access journal, Condensed Matter, MDPI publisher. I had not contacted them at all, I believed someone informed them about my paper, or they themselves found it on Arxiv. The editor has offered me to publish the paper without any publication charges. Normally, they charge around 1500 USD as article processing charge (APC). The journal "Condensed Matter" is indexed by ESCI (since 2017) and Scopus (since 2020). Its a new journal (2016), and has published only 265 papers so far in last 4 years. The editorial board has got Profs from Universities of British Columbia, Oxford, Max Planck, MIT, Rome, Penn State, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Minnesota, Waterloo, Los Alamos. But, they have not released the impact factor yet. So which direction I should go? Please share your opinion.<issue_comment>username_1: Usually appeals are not a good idea, but in this case it might be your best choice. It is very odd for an editor to "suggest" appeal. <https://journals.aps.org/authors/editorial-appeal-procedures> Appeals can only be on the basis of procedure (not science!). The procedure says decisions are based on review by referees. Five of six referees said the paper should be published in a physical review journal. Therefore at least one of the three rejections is in error. If your appeal is not successful, find a good journal elsewhere to try. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: SciPost Physics would be an alternative: good quality, open access, free to publish. However, you might first want to check if your subfield is adequately represented in their editorial college: <https://scipost.org/colleges/physics> Upvotes: 2
2020/11/12	452	1,839	<issue_start>username_0: I have a Google Scholar profile where my conference papers are located. Google automatically added one, while I had to manually add another. See <https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZveOfZYAAAAJ&hl=it> I'm also inventor for a few patents that appear on Google Patent. See <https://patents.google.com/?inventor=alberto+soragna&language=ENGLISH> I wonder why Google does not show the patents automatically in my Scholar profile. I see several users that have both papers and patents there. BTW since a couple of weeks I also have a personal website where I listed the above publications (patents included), as suggested by Google scholar guidelines. Thank you<issue_comment>username_1: Your patents published on 13 August and 3 September 2020, respectively. I suspect Google Scholar will automatically add them soon. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: If a patent or any other publication is missing from your Google scholar profile, go to your profile and click the + icon at the top of your list of publications and select "Add article manually". You'll get a popup with tabs across the top for various kinds of publications. Click "Patent" and fill in the details. If Google lists a publication that's not yours (it happens!), click the checkbox next to it, then Delete. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: "+" and "Add article groups" allowed me to add some of my patents including their citations. Nicole's suggestion ("Add article manually") misses citations, and "Add articles" seems not to find patents. Google's UI is not up to Google's usual standards here. I also changed "Configure article updates" to "Don't automatically update my profile." I am pretty sure the patents I added had been in my profile previously, and most likely Google's "auto update" had deleted them. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/12	1,740	7,446	<issue_start>username_0: I submitted my article earlier this year in January. After 5 months I received a "Major revision". There were 3 different reviewers and they made very relevant comments that I found very useful. I answered all the reviewers and resubmitted the article. Months later I received a "Minor Revision". One of the 3 reviewers asked to add a future research direction section. The other asked to correct the number of a certain section. The corrections were easy and I resubmitted the article. Surprisingly, today I received a "Major Revision", which is quite unlikely. The email contained comments from the editor and #reviewer10 (a new one). The associate editor's email was the following: > > Editor comments: > The comments from the reviewer are quite negative. The editor questions about the quality of the paper. The paper is not well written. The equations are not well edited. Some figures are given in quite low quality. The authors should carefully revise the paper. This maybe the final chance for the revision. > > > > > Reviewer #10: This paper focuses on electric energy forecasting based on artificial intelligence. Energy forecasting is one critical point in energy systems, and there are many research studies on artificial intelligence-based energy forecasting. However, the innovation of this paper is not enough. There are many research studies on artificial intelligence-based energy forecasting. For example, the neural networks, support vector regression, gradient boosting mentioned in this paper are common methods. It seems that the reviewer cannot find anything new. In addition, feature selection in load forecasting is also a common method. In general, the paper uses the common methods to solve a traditional problem. The reviewer suggests that the paper should not be accepted by this journal. > > > The comments from the associate editor are surprising. If there werr some issues with the English in the paper or some figures, this would surely have been dealt with during the 1st revision or the 2nd revision. In the previous emails, the same associate editor didn't mention any issue or comments. But now suddenly there is an issue. The comments from the reviewers demonstrates that the reviewer have not taken the time to read carefully or have not understood the content of the paper. There was 3 reviewers which made positive comments (accepted) the content. Because "reviewer10" is written, I would assume that the paper was reviewed by at least 6 reviewers. None of them made a negative comment. So how am I getting "rejected" because of one bad review out of 10? Even if it is a major revision, the due date is 24 November, which is 13 days ahead, quite bizarre for a "major revision". My question is: Is there anything I could do? Should I raise my concerns to the editor or refuse the revision?<issue_comment>username_1: There are a lot of things you can do, but if you want the paper to be published by this journal, it is almost certainly necessary for you to undertake the major revision. Refusing to revise will almost certainly result in an immediate rejection, based on the editor comments. You can withdraw the paper and submit it elsewhere as always. I'll note that "reviewer10" might not mean the tenth actual review of your paper, but a nominal identifier. There may have been some reviewers invited, but who did not submit reviews, for example. I'll also note that it may be "reviewer10" with the most knowledge of the area, though that isn't necessarily so. In that case, the other reviews were too superficial. And the opposite may also be true, of course, with that reviewer having too little experience. But the editor's comments are not to be ignored. You can do your own analysis about whether the comments of the reviewer have validity or not. If they say it is standard work with little innovation, then that should be possible to check. You could, of course, ask for evidence of those statements if it hasn't been included. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: > > The comments from the associate editor are surprising. If there werr some issues with the English in the paper or some figures, this would surely have been dealt with during the 1st revision or the 2nd revision. In the previous emails, the same associate editor didn't mention any issue or comments. But now suddenly there is an issue. > > > I agree. Are you sure it's the same editor? It is also possible the role changed between revisions. Or maybe you made a mistake and submitted your manuscript as a new submission rather than a revision? > > The comments from the reviewers demonstrates that the reviewer have not taken the time to read carefully or have not understood the content of the paper. There was 3 reviewers which made positive comments (accepted) the content. > > > This is not the right mindset, in my view. The reviewer is always right. If they did not understand the content of the paper, then it means your paper is not written well enough; its key points are not clear from the abstract / conclusions, for instance. If the paper gets published, your next readers will have even less time to look at it, so you'd better fix it and make sure that your contribution is spelled out clearly. Do not put the blame onto the reviewer; try to correct the mis-communication on your end. If the reviewer did not catch the novelty of your approach, you should have highlighted it more. A reviewer is just a random sample of your future readers. > > Because "reviewer10" is written, I would assume that the paper was reviewed by at least 6 reviewers. > > > This is not correct, as pointed out by other people here. > > None of them made a negative comment. So how am I getting "rejected" because of one bad review out of 10? > > > You are being rejected because of one bad review and the editor's judgment based on their own reading. One of the editor's responsibilities is precisely taking a decision in the case the reviews are mixed. > > Even if it is a major revision, the due date is 24 November, which is 13 days ahead, quite bizarre for a "major revision". > > > That does indeed sound bizarre (even if journal timescales are very field-dependent). Maybe this was a mistake. You can surely write to the editor to ask for more time. > > My question is: Is there anything I could do? Should I raise my concerns to the editor or refuse the revision? > > > It is unlikely that the editor will change their mind, if everything is as you state. You are not offering any more data; they already have made a decision based on what they can see, and arguing will not change this. I agree with you that the editor did not do a stellar job, noticing major issues only after the first revision when a new reviewer pointed them out. But ultimately they are the gatekeeper and the person you have to convince. And you need to convince them with your paper. > > refuse the revision > > > Sure you can; you could withdraw the paper and submit somewhere else. If you think the quality of the editorial board is low, you can abandon this journal and search for a better one, for this submission and in future. I would suggest not blaming it on the editor, though, to avoid souring the relationship. This is a case when you have little to gain. The fact that the time for revision is so little offers you a diplomatic way out. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/12	1,040	4,576	<issue_start>username_0: Ok guys, I know this is a weird question. I have found that the opposite has been asked many times, however I could not find opinion in how useful would be to get a master in math after completing a phd in econ. I am at an advanced state in my PhD and I do not want to give up now, because I stil believe I can make it to the end. However, I believe that I will never fully understand some topics without having some intense training in math. So I am considering to successfully complete this path to start a degree in math that could also give me some research ideas for my future career. What would you say of this atypical question? What are good institutions to learn math (better if linked to good economics department) in Europe? Thanks in advance for your consideration.<issue_comment>username_1: It seems like a very strange route to take, and I'm not sure how it would be received since I've not seen anyone take more math after their PhD in econ. Did you have differential equations and real analysis before starting your PhD? If you covered those common bases, you might still gain a few useful things if you go a highly theoretical route, but you've already got most of the math you should need done. If your interests are more empirical, it definitely does not seem like a good use of time to me. If your interests are theoretical and you were able to keep up with PhD-level theory in econometrics, macro, and micro, it's probably still not a great use of your time, especially compared to actually getting to work in an econ field. The best I can say about it is that it probably wouldn't actively hurt anything directly, except for the opportunity cost of publishing economic papers, and it might give you a route into doing more heavy theory. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If what you want is to become an economist, and not some technician that wants to apply mathematics using economic examples and models, then I would heartily applaud this decision: here is a person that is determined to have his economic research written in the most transparent way, namely, by robustly and concretely using math to clearly state assumptions, constraints etc of their models, away from the vagueness of verbal arguments (every economist should know what happened when <NAME> wrote the book he wrote: we spent decades discussing "what Keynes really meant"). Just make sure that the Master you will take deals with the parts of mathematics that economists use, and this should initially guide you in targeting Universities. I suspect something like "Applied" should be in the title of the program. PS: And yes, I almost totally agree with you, <NAME> is probably the best. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I generally agree with Alecos +1 answer, in economics you can never know enough math. However, I would question the usefulness of formally pursuing masters in mathematics. If you are able to complete PhD in economics you should already have some solid foundations in mathematical topics commonly used in economics. If you take masters in mathematics you will likely learn more than you already know but you will also be forced to repeat many topics. At the same time from job market perspective, MS in mathematics in itself won’t matter as much as your job market paper and rank of your university where you get your PhD. So formally taking the masters in mathematics will not give you much benefit besides learning more mathematics. If you care solely about your math skills there are better options in my opinion. Consider sitting the math classes at the MS in mathematics at your university (if your university has math department). Usually professors would allow you to sit their classes even without being enrolled in their class. Many would even share with you course resources. In this way you could pick and choose exactly just advanced classes or classes in areas you think you need for your research. Nowadays there are also quite high quality MOOC math courses often offered by top universities. The only downside that they have is that you don’t have the personal experience but in these times of pandemic you would most likely not get that with masters as well. To sum it up, I think that you can never go wrong with trying to learn more math if you want to do research in economics. You will always feel that you never know enough math. But at the same time I would question whether the decision of getting masters in mathematics would pass cost benefit analysis. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/12	1,068	4,677	<issue_start>username_0: I am writing a resume for a doctoral application. In my current job, I am an Assistant Professor (tenured). However, besides being young, I don't have a doctorate or postdoctoral degree. I am also not a genius or a prodigy. In my country, the way you manage to be a university professor is different from other countries. If you want to work at a federal public university, for example, you take a test with several stages, and in some cases, people with only a master's degree and young people can get the job. I am still starting my career as a professor and researcher; I have no papers published in high impact journals. I don't want to look like something I'm not, but it also shows that I have some merit in having this position. I would like to know my title in an international context, specifically in the USA. My first option was a Full-time Lecturer (permanent appointment).<issue_comment>username_1: It seems like a very strange route to take, and I'm not sure how it would be received since I've not seen anyone take more math after their PhD in econ. Did you have differential equations and real analysis before starting your PhD? If you covered those common bases, you might still gain a few useful things if you go a highly theoretical route, but you've already got most of the math you should need done. If your interests are more empirical, it definitely does not seem like a good use of time to me. If your interests are theoretical and you were able to keep up with PhD-level theory in econometrics, macro, and micro, it's probably still not a great use of your time, especially compared to actually getting to work in an econ field. The best I can say about it is that it probably wouldn't actively hurt anything directly, except for the opportunity cost of publishing economic papers, and it might give you a route into doing more heavy theory. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If what you want is to become an economist, and not some technician that wants to apply mathematics using economic examples and models, then I would heartily applaud this decision: here is a person that is determined to have his economic research written in the most transparent way, namely, by robustly and concretely using math to clearly state assumptions, constraints etc of their models, away from the vagueness of verbal arguments (every economist should know what happened when <NAME> wrote the book he wrote: we spent decades discussing "what Keynes really meant"). Just make sure that the Master you will take deals with the parts of mathematics that economists use, and this should initially guide you in targeting Universities. I suspect something like "Applied" should be in the title of the program. PS: And yes, I almost totally agree with you, <NAME> is probably the best. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I generally agree with Alecos +1 answer, in economics you can never know enough math. However, I would question the usefulness of formally pursuing masters in mathematics. If you are able to complete PhD in economics you should already have some solid foundations in mathematical topics commonly used in economics. If you take masters in mathematics you will likely learn more than you already know but you will also be forced to repeat many topics. At the same time from job market perspective, MS in mathematics in itself won’t matter as much as your job market paper and rank of your university where you get your PhD. So formally taking the masters in mathematics will not give you much benefit besides learning more mathematics. If you care solely about your math skills there are better options in my opinion. Consider sitting the math classes at the MS in mathematics at your university (if your university has math department). Usually professors would allow you to sit their classes even without being enrolled in their class. Many would even share with you course resources. In this way you could pick and choose exactly just advanced classes or classes in areas you think you need for your research. Nowadays there are also quite high quality MOOC math courses often offered by top universities. The only downside that they have is that you don’t have the personal experience but in these times of pandemic you would most likely not get that with masters as well. To sum it up, I think that you can never go wrong with trying to learn more math if you want to do research in economics. You will always feel that you never know enough math. But at the same time I would question whether the decision of getting masters in mathematics would pass cost benefit analysis. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/12	532	2,274	<issue_start>username_0: I am preparing to submit applications to high ranking CS PhD programs in the US. My GRE quant score is not quite what I wanted (162V/163Q). I have strong research experience, good letters from professors I worked with, and a decent GPA (~3.6) from a top 10 undergrad CS school. However, my quant score is only around 80th percentile, whereas many top CS programs have averages in the 90-95 range. I'm not sure if submitting my GRE scores will hinder my chance, or if the opposite case is true. Is it the case that a student without GRE scores will look lazy, or look like their hiding poor scores? All of the institutions that I am applying to have made the GRE optional.<issue_comment>username_1: I would assume, but can't guarantee, that if they have a policy that GRE scores are optional then the policy would preclude assumptions about missing scores. So, in that sense you are probably safe. But, you can hardly control for what an individual committee member might have in the back of their mind. It might even be possible to learn more about the policies used and how interpretations are made in such cases. Since some places now make them optional, some students choose not to take them, I also assume. And in the US, at least, admission is based on a wide variety of things, of which test scores are only one. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: From what I understand, GRE is one of the lesser important factors in whether a department should decide to admit a student or not. Since a PhD is about research, research experience/potential/output is what people care about in this case, not so much numbers like GPA/GRE. If the department requires it regardless, then there's nothing you can do about that. But if it's not required, don't worry about it so much and focus on getting good recommendations and producing good research since that will matter much more. Remember that due to the current pandemic situation, people have had increased difficulty just being able to take the GRE exam. So generally departments are understanding of the situation. But even in normal times, GRE was just really a filtering mechanism, and not really the main point of attention for those responsible for graduate/PhD admissions. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/12	577	2,549	<issue_start>username_0: For example, I would like to take Intermediate Spanish I AND Intermediate Spanish II at the same time. Can colleges, in general, allow that? If my advisor says to me that they think it cannot be done, how can I insist and persuade them (without any illegal activity obviously)? Where do I see these policies? This question is about US Colleges in general. Not about my specific college.<issue_comment>username_1: The policy will be in the prerequisite requirements for a class, in your case, Intermediate Spanish II. In the U.S., you will find prerequisite requirements in the official catalog of the institution, and probably elsewhere. Somewhere in the official catalog there may be a policy about whether prerequisites can be overridden, and if so how. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: This will, of course, depend on the specifics of the class and how your institution allows it. At mine, one set of classes in the applied mathematics department was Multivariable Calculus (also known as Calculus III) and Differential Equations (Calculus IV). Although the former seems to be a prerequisite for the latter, this is actually not the case; I took the latter before the former, and some students have actually taken them concurrently. Now, it should be noted that there is not so much overlap between the two classes they way they are taught at my institution, and it might be different at other institutions. However, some classes are listed as prerequisites before taking other classes because they contain information or material which are a foundation for later classes (where you are expected to know the material taught in the prerequisite class), and even if you were able, you would be doing yourself a disservice to cut corners like this. In the case of language classes like Spanish, it wouldn't be so smart to try and take Spanish II without knowing the material of Spanish I. I would probably take Spanish I for a refresher or see if you can transfer credit in to bypass it, it doesn't seem to make sense to take both of them concurrently. Again, this depends on how your institution sets its policies for prerequisites. First, of course, ask your advisor for advice on this and consult the official course catalog/bulletin, since it should list classes, policies, prerequisites, etc. If you feel you should be able to take Spanish II, consult the professor teaching that class and get input from them as to whether it would be a good move or not. Hope this helps. Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
2020/11/13	682	2,489	<issue_start>username_0: Is this correct to call my self "Doctor of engineering CANDIDATE" on my business card? If it's not improper, what should I use instead of doctorate candidate? Background: I'm a college student in master's course and will graduate this summer, then go on to a doctoral course. So, I'll become the student who has master's degree and also become the student who tries to work toward a doctorate's degree. I will have business cards available after entering the doctorate course. \This is my first time to have business cards available. \I was looking for many same questions, but anything didn't fit my background.<issue_comment>username_1: Before graduating with an MA (and assuming the BE is a requirement for your current program): > > <NAME>. > > > graduate student at University X, program Y > > > After graduating: > > <NAME>. > > > After acceptance into the PhD program: > > <NAME>. > > > PhD student at University X, program Y > > > The exact titles (e.g. M.E. or MA) depend on country and institution. By the way, I've maybe used four business cards in the last ten years, and I probably might as well not have. (It's nice to read your name on a piece of high-quality cardboard, though.) Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I suggest not bothering with business cards, they seem rather antiquated to me. (Unless your culture, or your country of residence's culture, uses them as common practise.) I've observed, and personally experienced, (potential) recipients declining cards in favour of a LinkedIn/Twitter connection, which seems far more valuable. I can't think of a scenario where a PhD student would benefit from business cards over a digital connection. (Post-PhD scenarios may arise.) Nonetheless, if you do decide to have business cards, you can list your highest degree and your job title, e.g., > > Emma, MSc > > > Doctorate candidate, Department, University > > > (Where Doctorate candidate is the title used by your university.) Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: Do not put anything relating to the PhD until you have started studying for it. Do not put anything for the masters until you have been awarded it. Once you have started studying for the PhD you could reasonably put "PhD student" or (in my view, a few disagree) "PhD researcher". "Doctoral candidate" can mean different things in different places, and may imply that you're about to finish. Upvotes: 0
2020/11/13	1,040	3,960	<issue_start>username_0: I'm not familiar with the UK higher education system (I'm from a EU country) and this is confusing me a lot. A friend of mine holds a master's degree in a completely unrelated field. He is now studying in UK, doing a so-called "conversion program" in computer science. It's a 1-year program which results in a MSc degree. This is where I'm really confused. As the program is meant for people not having any knowledge of computer science, the subjects he's getting starts from the real basics (programming: if/else, loops,... databases, SQL: SELECT, WHERE, JOIN,...). Where I'm from, we would call this a "postgraduate" program which results in some kind of postgraduate degree. The concept of what is considered a master's degree here is that it follows up on a bachelors degree (a 3-year study), which is situated on level 7 of the [European Qualifications Framework](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Qualifications_Framework). Currently, I'm taking a 1.5 years course on a bachelor's level in computer science as well (situated level 6), which is way more advanced than the basics he's getting and I will only receive an addendum on the bachelor's degree I currently hold already if I graduate. From what it looks like he's getting the subjects of a first year's bachelor (or undergraduate for the Americans reading this) program, still he'll be receiving an MSc degree at the end of the year. I wonder how this is possible or how the UK education system works in this regard. This is not out of jealousy for my friend (I just hope he will be able to find a job he likes afterwards), however, he did get a little pissed off when I didn't understand how this can result in a MSc degree. I guess the UK education system is more different from ours than I thought. Could someone shine some light on this matter? When I look around online, it seems many of these conversion programs are actually MSc programs. What are the different options for master's programmes in the UK (especially the "conversion" master's), how are they scructured and what value do they have for potential employers?<issue_comment>username_1: Before graduating with an MA (and assuming the BE is a requirement for your current program): > > <NAME>. > > > graduate student at University X, program Y > > > After graduating: > > <NAME>. > > > After acceptance into the PhD program: > > <NAME>. > > > PhD student at University X, program Y > > > The exact titles (e.g. M.E. or MA) depend on country and institution. By the way, I've maybe used four business cards in the last ten years, and I probably might as well not have. (It's nice to read your name on a piece of high-quality cardboard, though.) Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I suggest not bothering with business cards, they seem rather antiquated to me. (Unless your culture, or your country of residence's culture, uses them as common practise.) I've observed, and personally experienced, (potential) recipients declining cards in favour of a LinkedIn/Twitter connection, which seems far more valuable. I can't think of a scenario where a PhD student would benefit from business cards over a digital connection. (Post-PhD scenarios may arise.) Nonetheless, if you do decide to have business cards, you can list your highest degree and your job title, e.g., > > Emma, MSc > > > Doctorate candidate, Department, University > > > (Where Doctorate candidate is the title used by your university.) Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: Do not put anything relating to the PhD until you have started studying for it. Do not put anything for the masters until you have been awarded it. Once you have started studying for the PhD you could reasonably put "PhD student" or (in my view, a few disagree) "PhD researcher". "Doctoral candidate" can mean different things in different places, and may imply that you're about to finish. Upvotes: 0
2020/11/13	1,608	6,615	<issue_start>username_0: I am going to do an oral presentation for my thesis. Normally, when presenting a paper, as the paper is a collaboration work, I always use the pronoun "we". The thesis is written based on the papers. However, when presenting (for example, when talking about the contributions of the thesis), I feel using "we" a bit odd. Should I use "we" or "I"? Many thanks.<issue_comment>username_1: That's a matter of opinion. If it's your official thesis defense presentation, you're representing your work, so it would be fine to use "I". But others may prefer to stick with the common "we". There is no 'correct' answer here. You should do what you feel comfortable with. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: There is no rule you have to pick one exclusively. I would not bat an eye at someone using "we" for the collaborative sections and "I" at their sections. Especially for a thesis presentation, everyone knows you and who your group is. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Use "we" when referring to something you did as a team, and use "I" when referring to something that you did by yourself. That is what these words are for. Using "we" and "I" consistently in this way helps to make clear what your contributions were, and this is often exactly what the jury wants to find out during your presentation. If you choose to not go with the above option you should make it clear in some other way what you did and what others did. Of course, if there is a clear preference in the culture where you are presenting it is best to follow that preference, but you would probably not be asking the question if that were the case. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: I agree with the options the other answers present, and that in the end it is up to you to decide what to do, keeping your audience in mind. However, the other answers do not say much about which of those options to choose, so I'd like to cover that in more detail. Those words you're using, what do they mean? -------------------------------------------- First, let's take a step back and look at what the words mean. "we" refers to a group of more than person including the author/speaker\* (unless you want to be patronizing or [indicate that you're important than your audience](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_we), but I recommend against such arrogance). "I" refers to exactly one person, the author/speaker. With these definitions of the meaning of "we", we(!) can rephrase your question as follows: > > During an oral presentation for my thesis, should I attribute the contributions to myself only, or also to my coauthors? > > > Your options ------------ And that is a good question! I see 3 workable options1 here: 1. Attribute all contributions to the group consisting of you and your coauthors, and use "we" exclusively when talking about contributions. Note that this is about contributions only, never say something like "we thank our wife for her support during the writing of this thesis"2. Additionally, when "the group of you and your coauthors" is only a single person (i.e. you3), you should use "I", of course. This is (usually) the case with your thesis, for example. 2. Attribute all results to yourself and use "I" exclusively when talking about contributions. If you do so, I recommend you at least briefly aknowledge the support of your coauthors at the start of your presentation. They would almost certainly feel ignored otherwise. (and they may still feel so if you only acknowledge them at the start! But that is a risk inherent to this option) 3. Decide in advance which contributions belong to you only, which contributions belong to all of you, and use both "I" and "we" accordingly. As you can see, these options are distinguished in how you choose to assign the attribution of your work in cases where ownership is not obvious for the audience. This means that the difference between the options can be minor in practice, in particular when the ownership of most of your work is very clear. I think there are pros and cons to all of these options. Which one to choose would mostly depend on what your audience expects of your presentation and what your goals are. Pros and cons ------------- The main advantage of options 1 and 2 is that you do not have to decide (or negotiate!) which contributions are really "yours"3. This makes it easier to prepare for your presentation, and harder to make mistakes. Whether you can afford option 1 or 2 would depend on the context. If, for example, your defense is mainly ceremonial (yes, this is possible. [Academia varies more than you think](https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/a/4478/)), then it may not be nessecary to assert your personal contribution during your defense and option 1 would be fine. At the least, your co-authors or friends their should not have to feel they are being ignored this way. I personally would not be comfortable with option 2, but there may be communities or cultures where this is acceptable or even the norm. If you cannot afford or do not like options 1 or 2, then you should go for 3. This is a bit more complicated, as now you will have to decide what your personal contribution is and need to be careful to use the right words during your talk. (while you will probably have to do this sooner or later, a serious defense is likely one of the more confrontational settings to make this assertion) You may need to be careful when your idea of ownership conflicts with the feelings of coauthors present during your defense. Most decent people will not make a big deal about this, but well, not everyone is a decent person. If you suspect that someone might make a big deal about it, it might be a good idea to talk to them about it before your defense. --- 1. A fourth option would be to avoid both "we" and "I", but the author does not consider this a workable option, as one would have to refer to themselves in the third person when talking about their own (joint) contributions. This would be even more awkward for a speaker than it is for an author. Or at least, this author would imagine so. 2. Paraphrased from How to write mathematics by <NAME>, Chapter 13 "The editorial we is not all bad" 3. I mean singular "you" here. This would have been clearer if the English words for 2nd person singular and plural were not homonyms in most forms. (yes, "y'all" exists, but that does not help to indicate the singular, and [its possessive form](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%27all#Possessive_forms) does not appear to be the lesser evil) Upvotes: 2
2020/11/13	1,056	4,028	<issue_start>username_0: I hear that the salaries in US are generally higher with lower taxes compared to Canada. Is this true for postdoc salaries or other academic positions? Sites such as glassdoor give roughly the same salary for postdoc which is 50000 CAD/USD. What a bout taxes, is the tax really lower in US? For an annual salary of 50000 CAD a person pay ~7600 CAD in federal taxes and for 50000 USD a person pays ~5800 USD. This does not include the state taxes. I am a second year postdoc in molecular biology with a background in physics. [My source for Canada federal tax](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/frequently-asked-questions-individuals/canadian-income-tax-rates-individuals-current-previous-years.html) [My source for US federal tax](https://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/tax-brackets.aspx) [Glassdoor US postdoc salary](https://www.glassdoor.nl/Salarissen/us-postdoctoral-research-fellow-salarissen-SRCH_IL.0,2_IN1_KO3,31.htm?countryRedirect=true) [Glassdoor Canada postdoc salary](https://www.glassdoor.nl/Salarissen/canada-postdoctoral-fellow-salarissen-SRCH_IL.0,6_IN3_KO7,26.htm?countryRedirect=true)<issue_comment>username_1: This isn't really an answer, but rather a heads up about how a single average number won't help you decide about taking an offer in one place rather than the other. First, and foremost, however, there are things more important about a career than your salary. If you make a lot of money but hate the job, then your life won't be very satisfying. Next, the economies of the two countries are similar, but not identical, and the similarity and ties between the economies keeps personal income (overall) on a rough parity. Otherwise there would be a lot of pressure for academics to emigrate from one country to the other and that doesn't really happen. So salaries may be nominally higher, but so are prices of nearly everything. Next, as the comments already made make clear, the variability between cities in the two places is probably more important than the variability between the two countries. If you have to live on the US average salary in, say, San Francisco, you will be starving, but in Lansing, MI you will be pretty well off. And whether SF or Lansing is better or worse for you depends a lot on what you like to do with your free time. Likewise Toronto. While taxes may be nominally lower in the US, the higher taxes paid by Canadians (like Europeans) buys a lot of services that don't exist in the US. The big one is health care which is covered by taxes in some countries other than the US. And the US has been postponing infrastructure investment for so long that our roads/bridges are terrible. I don't know if that is the same in "The Great White North" though. Likewise the US spends far too little on elementary and secondary education. Low taxes in the US is why we can't have nice things here unless you are (very) rich. Finally, the postdoc is only a way station, not a career. The salary will be "sufficient" even if not extravagant in most places. Certainly much more than what you earn as a TA. But the goal is to move through a postdoc to obtain a more permanent position. With that in mind, the salary is probably the last thing you should weigh in choosing where to postdoc. You want to go where your opportunities for moving to the next step are best. Think about the life you lead, both the work life and everything else. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Another major difference between job availability. In Canada always difficult to find job both academy or industry. Some point is better in Canada but at the end of the day you need job?. Therefore both countries have mixed benefits. If you want to go academic career then USA is much better choice than Canada. Canada have less resources and weather is another major issue in Canada almost 7 months winter and 3 months summer and 2 months mixed weather. So you can think lot of positive and negative points in both countries. Upvotes: -1
2020/11/13	892	4,054	<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for a PhD program abroad. In my application form there is a section saying "we understand that individual, family or community circumstances may have affected your previous academic record or educational experience, and that the materials you submit with your application may not be a full reflection of your potential for success in graduate school. If your education has been affected by such circumstances and you wish to provide a more detailed explanation about them, please respond below and use the space to share more about your experiences". My previous department environment was not conducive to learning or research. As undergrads, we were encouraged to memorize rather than understanding, developing intuitions or solving problems. Whatever I have learnt, I learnt from the resources available on the internet e.g. OCW, YouTube etc. Only a couple of professors are involved in research. They are not at all helpful or encouraging. They always need to boost their ego, never ready to discuss anything, never ready to accept their mistakes if they made one. The teacher-student relationship is more like, dare I say, a master and slave type of relationship. These events have affected my academics and more importantly, affected me physically and psychologically. I had been suffering from chronic depression, started to fall sick very frequently and even had suicidal thoughts. If I express my thoughts regarding these things would it affect my application? I can understand that if I bad mouth my department then the LORs that I got from the department become less valuable. I would really appreciate some advice.<issue_comment>username_1: Applications are places to write positive things, not negative ones. Negative circumstances can paint you in a good light if you can describe how you have overcome those obstacles. Stated as you have here, the descriptions of your previous environment sounds more like blame, especially this part: > > They are not at all helpful or encouraging. They always need to boost their ego, never ready to discuss anything, never ready to accept their mistakes if they made one. The teacher-student relationship is more like, dare I say, a master and slave type of relationship. > > > Maybe the blame is valid, however, when you talk negatively about someone else, people will reflexively wonder whether your complaints are justified, and they may worry you will describe them the same way. If you say your institution only drove you to memorization, how does this demonstrate you've developed skills related to research? That said, mental health is very important, not for PhD applications but for you. I strongly suggest you seek professional assistance with those concerns - this is much more important than any PhD application. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: If you must comment on how your previous academic experiences were "difficult", then try to couch them in language that is not assigning blame. An approach to try is to document what skills and lessons you did learn, and how those hardships (?) informed your growth, as a person and a prospective academic. These attributes are not reflected in grades, and this is the section to explain what you will be able to contribute to this new institution. The main reason to not speak ill of your previous supervisors is because people at different institutions talk to each other. If you express how your previous supervisors were a bad fit for you, chances are those on the selection committee will contact the previous institution to get "their side". Since the word of a colleague carries more weight than a student, that would not be in your best interests. Lastly -- and most importantly -- if you are having suicidal thoughts, please please please reach out. I am sorry that I don't know how to frame my advice in a compelling way, but I do know where your head is at. Academia can be very unkind. Just remember that support is always available. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
2020/11/13	1,889	7,442	<issue_start>username_0: I am confused about the USA education system. I looked up the [Wikipedia page about K-12](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%E2%80%9312). In particular, the figure on the right of that page. Let's supposed I have just finished high school and I want a MSc in Computer Science. 1. It's pretty clear from the figure that I can apply to a MSc after a "4-year undergraduate program". My question here is: would this program award me a BSc? 2. It is unclear to me how the other path, the "2-year community or junior college" would work out. My questions here are: a. What kind of title would a "2-year community or junior college" would award me? A BSc? b. Can I apply for a MSc after a "2-year community or junior college"? c. As I interpret the figure, I think that, after a "2-year community or junior college", I would still have to obtain a "4-year undergraduate program" before applying for a "Master's degree study". Here is my big question here: if that is the case, why I should apply to a "2-year community or junior college", and having to pursue a "4-year undergraduate program" nonetheless, instead of applying directly to a "4-year undergraduate program" after high school? Stated otherwise, why should a person enroll in a "2-year community or junior college" and then pursue a "4-year undergraduate program", instead of pursuing the "4-year undergraduate program" directly?<issue_comment>username_1: Two-year degrees in the US often award either an "associates degree" or some technical certification/profession-specific degree. These degrees are not typically part of the "bachelors -> masters -> PhD" pipeline or more generic "bachelors -> professional degree". Some students may start taking courses at a 2-year school and then transfer to a 4-year school (with or without actually completing a 2-year degree, and hoping to have as many of their 2-year credits count/transfer towards their 4-year degree), because 2-year schools are both less expensive and less selective. 2-year programs rarely have any sort of on-site housing ("dorms") and limited "student life" opportunities (clubs, social facilities, athletics). Not all 2-year schools are appropriate for this track. Some are specifically designed as technical degrees to get students into a specific career, and do not provide the "general education" credits (basic math, science, social studies courses) that are useful for transferring to a 4-year program. --- If you wanted a MSc in the US, starting from high school you would either: A) Enroll at a 4-year program, and then B) Apply to Masters programs\* or A) Enroll in a 2-year program, B) Transfer to a 4-year program (bringing with you some or all of the credits you already earned), and then C) Apply to Masters programs\* If you plan for the "ABC" pipeline it is definitely worth exploring the requirements of the 4-year institution(s) you plan to attend so that you know which courses you take will transfer (some 4-year schools have explicit relationships with particular 2-year schools to define classes that will count for transfer credit). Most students who would follow this path instead of the "AB" path would be doing so either for financial reasons or because the student does not feel academically prepared for a 4-year school (the quality of high school education varies quite a bit in the US, and even a very good student at a disadvantaged high school might have trouble with the jump to a 4-year school). There is no particular advantage to completing a 2-year degree program before starting a fresh 4-year degree - the only reason to start at a 2-year program if your goal is a MSc would be if you can transfer credits from the 2-year to 4-year program. (\* - it's possible, though not particularly common in the US, that you enroll directly for a combined bachelors+masters program) Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: A community college or junior college in the US offers a program that is roughly equivalent to the first two year of a bachelor's program. The degree awarded on successful completion is normally called an Associates Degree. In most cases it omits the more specialized "upper division" courses that bachelor's degree students take in the last two years. An associates degree would normally not be sufficient to gain access to a masters program. The student would need to complete a bachelors first. The advantage, for many, of an associates degree is that the college might be closer to home and it might have a much lower tuition cost than a bachelors degree program. As implied in the name "community college", many of them are partially funded by community taxes. Some of these colleges are very good, actually. I know people at a few of them and have high respect for what they do. But they aren't involved in any kind of serious research for the most part. Some community colleges also offer non-academic training in various trades such as plumbing and carpentry. I should also note, that since times are difficult in academia at the moment, some quite highly skilled "academics" wind up teaching in community colleges. One can build a career there if you are willing to focus almost everything on teaching. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: The other answers are largely correct. For those with higher-academia goals, community colleges provide Associates Degrees, and opportunities to apply those credits directly to a later 4-year degree. The primary reasons students attend these institutions are (a) lower annual cost than 4-year schools, and/or (b) students who cannot satisfy 4-year college admissions requirements, and hope to establish a track record that allows them to do so later. That said, there are variations in institutions that the other answers don't cover. For example, I work at a community college in the CUNY (City University of New York) system, one of 25 campuses, including both 2-year and 4-year colleges, around the city. The three things I'd highlight at our schools are: * While the 4-year schools have significant admissions requirements, the 2-year schools are [open admissions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_admissions); any student with a high-school diploma or the equivalent is guaranteed placement. * A student who earns an appropriate Associate's Degree at a 2-year school is then guaranteed placement at a 4-year school within the system, with all earned credits transferring over. So the 2-year degree serves as successful completion of the first 2 years of a 4-year degree. (Even if the student could not initially meet the admissions requirement of the 4-year school.) * Faculty throughout the university system (2-year and 4-year) are all held to the same tenure requirements, including the need for published research. Admittedly, this is quite different from most other community colleges, where research is not a requirement. In short, the 2-year school has historically provided an opportunity (maybe a "last chance") for a student to on-ramp to an academic path which will later take them to a Bachelor's, Master's, and perhaps Doctorate degree, and at a reduced cost for the first two years. That said: there are some rumors, in the current economic crisis, and based on perennially low success rates, that this on-ramp opportunity to higher education should be refocused to immediate workforce placement after the 2-year degree. Upvotes: 3
2020/11/14	423	1,869	<issue_start>username_0: Suppose, a BSc in Computer Science student has been doing online freelancing for the last 10 years. The teachers who knew him in his undergrad school are either retired, or dead, or doesn't have any contact with him. Where can he collect recommendation letters if he wants to get enrolled in a graduate school?<issue_comment>username_1: Freelance workers can get reference letters from clients who are repeat customers over many years. Business partners could also write letters. If you are participant in any industry organizations, colleagues in those organizations could write letters. If you do not have any of those relationships, you probably cannot get a letter without forming new relationships. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Whenever an admissions-related question pops up of the kind “The application form has these boxes but I don’t fit into any box” the first recommended step is generally the same. Ask the institution in question. The admissions people - I am speaking here of the administrators rather than the ultimate decision-makers - have seen it all before. They have almost certainly come across cases like yours and they can advise you about what is needed. I don’t mean that they’ll say “Here is how to get a recommendation letter”. That would certainly be your job. But they may well say “The reasons we ask for recommendation letters are X and Y, and in cases like yours, evidence for X and Y can best be obtained as follows:“ Admissions office people love doing this because it gives them a chance to apply their experience and expertise to an interesting problem. Just remember that none of this is addressing “How do I get them to admit me?”. It is addressing “How do I help them to make the right decision about admission?”. That is in everyone’s interest, yours as well as theirs. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/14	1,934	7,791	<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for a PhD in pure maths. Now a lot of places that I am applying to are asking for detailed lists of courses and books that I have followed for anything more advanced than calculus. Now I am not quite sure what they mean here, because in our institute the course that was named calculus was an introduction to differential forms and theorems regarding those. And from there it went on to give us an introduction to manifolds. (This was our third semester undergrad; prior to this we had taken linear algebra, analysis 1, multivariable analysis, topology, and group theory.) I am from India. Now if this is considered to be a basic calculus course then I am not quite sure how to judge exactly what courses are supposed to be more advanced than this. Since some folks have asked regarding the syllabus: > > Axioms of the real number system without construction, applications of the least-upper-bound- property, Archimedean principle, existence of nth roots of positive real numbers, ax for a > 0 and x > 0. > > > Convergence of sequences, monotonic sequences, subsequences, Heine-Borel theorem, lim sup and lim inf Cauchy sequences, completeness of R. Infinite series, absolute convergence, comparison test, root test, ratio test, conditional convergence, complex numbers, power series, radius of convergence of power series. > > > Continuous functions on intervals of R, intermediate value theorem, boundedness of continuous functions on closed and bounded intervals. > > > Differentiation, mean value theorem, Taylor's theorem, application of Taylor's theorem to maxima and minima, L'Hôpital rules to calculate limits. > > > Construction of ez using power series, proof of the periodicity of sin and cos. > > > Riemann Integration: Riemann integrals, Riemann integrablity of continuous functions, fundamental theorem of calculus. > > > This is the analysis 1 syllabus. I suppose this is going to be equivalent to calculus.<issue_comment>username_1: I think your question is: What does calculus mean? Calculus would usually include learning to compute derivatives and integrals. If you are learning to prove the theorems used to compute derivatives and integrals, that would be more advanced than calculus. > > linear algebra analysis 1, multivariable analysis, topology, group theory > > > All of those would usually be considered more advanced than calculus. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: In light of various clarifications, here's the bottom line for your current situation: You should definitely include this course on a list of courses you have taken "more advanced than calculus" for the purposes of US universities. And you should call it "Analysis" (or maybe "Real Analysis"), not "Calculus". More generally, the other answers and <NAME>'s comments have explained well the difference in how those two labels are used in naming undergraduate university courses in the US. It's not always widely appreciated (either in US academia or elsewhere) that the distinction between those words in US course titles may differ from how they are used either to refer to fields of mathematics (independently of naming classes) or to name courses in other countries. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: As far as the US is concerned, "Calculus" is the first introduction to the material. It typically is light on proofs and often geared to the Engineering Curriculum. In Germany (where I grew up) this material was partially high school, partially (in College) classes called ``Higher Mathematics for Engineers''. To get a more detailed idea, [http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~marsden/volume/Calculus/](http://www.cds.caltech.edu/%7Emarsden/volume/Calculus/) are (by now somewhat old, but the material has not changed) Calculus textbooks that would be at the upper (more ambitious) level -- many books are weaker. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: This probably means anything beyond the semi-standarized three introductory Calculus courses. Examples include: * Differential Equations * Linear Algebra * Discrete Mathematics * Probability * Statistics * Ring Theory Or basically topics that might consider Calculus as a prerequisite to performing well in the class. Classes that build a mathematical foundation to take calculus won't apply, like: * Algebra * College Algebra * Pre-Algebra * Any math topic "for some other non-math major" (Statistics for Business majors) To clarify I've attached the University of Houston's [Math department class offerings](https://uh.edu/nsm/math/undergraduate/course_descriptions/). Note that Calculus I, II, and III are 1000 (Freshman) and 2000 (Sophmore) level courses. I would assume any 3000 or 4000 level course would satisfy the requirement, and possibly some of the 2000 level courses. This should help clarify some of the comments about "Algebra" courses. Higher level Algebras that would be post-Calculus include: * Elements of Algebra and Number Theory * Abstract Algebra I hope this provides a little more clarity. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_5: I might call the class you called “Calculus” instead “Calculus on Manifolds,” which is the name of a famous text by Spivak covering that material. Even though it has “calculus” in the title everyone would consider it “more advanced than calculus.” Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: You can get an idea of what constitutes "Calculus" by looking at the [Calculus AP test](https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-calculus-ab-bc-course-and-exam-description-0.pdf?course=ap-calculus-ab). You can get an idea of "pre-calculus" with the [UC admission requirements](https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/admission-requirements/freshman-requirements/subject-requirement-a-g.html#:~:text=C)%20Mathematics-,UC%2Dapproved%20high%20school%20courses,geometry%20content%20must%20be%20completed.): > > Three years of college-preparatory mathematics that include the topics covered in elementary and advanced algebra and two- and three-dimensional geometry. A geometry course or an integrated math course with a sufficient amount of geometry content must be completed. Approved integrated math courses may be used to fulfill part or all of this requirement, as may math courses taken in the seventh and eighth grades if the high school accepts them as equivalent to its own courses; also acceptable are courses that address the previously mentioned content areas and include or integrate probability, statistics or trigonometry. Courses intended for 11th and/or 12th grade levels may satisfy the required third year or recommended fourth year of the subject requirement if approved as an advanced math course. > > > There are a few courses that are "parallel" to Calculus , neither pre-requisites of Calculus, nor having Calculus as a pre-requisite. In the case of Statistics, the subject does rely on Calculus, but there are basic courses that don't require students to actually do Statistics, so they may be considered "before Calculus". Most other parallel courses would probably be considered "after": Abstract Algebra, Number Theory, Complex Algebra, Linear Algebra, Logic, Set Theory, Graph Theory, Topology. My interpretation is that if it's not taught in American high schools, it should be included. If in doubt, it's probably better to put something in that you shouldn't than to leave something else that you should have. They probably put this qualification in to save you time, and assure you that you don't need to put in every single math course you've ever taken. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: Other courses besides those indicated in earlier answers could be: Numerical Analysis, Complex Variables, Mathematical Statistics, and Theory of Functions. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/14	2,052	8,282	<issue_start>username_0: Started PhD in 2014. Mistakes that I have committed: 1. I did my PhD in a topic that was not the area of expertise of my PhD supervisor. 2. I was doing computational work, while the past graduates on the topic were all experimentalists. So, I did not know the career prospects. 3. I did not take relevant courses. My committee did not tell me to take them. I am technically unsound now. 4. I published very late, in 2017 and that too a bad paper (just 3 citation till date) in a decent journal. 5. Finally graduated in 2019. Tried everything to get a postdoc or industry positions. Did not get anything. I have just 4 papers from my PhD. 6. Currently unemployed. Looking for positions since. I am an Indian national. Doing part-time job in call center to make ends meet. 7. My PhD advisor has offered me 2 years postdoc position. Topic will be little bit different and more collaborative with other research groups. Should I accept? I don't know my career prospects after that? Can I still get into academia or research industry after that? I apply to both industry and academia. No responses. I want to be in a research field either in industry or academia. Is every career redeemable?<issue_comment>username_1: You did a PhD in 5 years, published 4 papers and got an offer for a 2-year postdoc position in times where research funding decreases. Keep going, looks fine. Take some courses or workshops on topics where you think you aren't skilled enough, but given that you could publish, I suspect that you underestimate yourself here. > > "Can I still get into academia or research industry after that?" > > > With a postdoc position, you are in academia. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: To answer the explicit question, no, not every career can be salvaged. But yours doesn't seem to fall into that category. You are experiencing a natural emotional letdown, but it is based, I suspect, much more on the state of the academic economy than on any failings on your part. But, since such feelings can be debilitating, it would be good to deal with them explicitly, say by visiting a personal counselor. Most universities have an office open to students for such things, and they might be available to recent graduates and to employees. I suggest that you take the postdoc that is being offered and use the time to advance your prospects. This involves productive research, of course, but it also involves building a circle of potential collaborators and advocates that can aid in your career moves. Your advisor probably already has such a circle and you can, perhaps, get entry to it. But, through conferences and other meetings you can also make productive contacts. I also suggest that you ignore your age as a factor and take heart from the fact that your advisor believes in you. --- I, too, graduated into a terrible academic marketplace and had to do some rather drastic things to stay in academia, though I was highly thought of by my peers and the faculty. This included both changing fields (math to CS) and a multi-year job search. But, forty some years later, my goals were largely met. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: The academic path is harder than many people think. You're doing fine. Some people do better and some don't, but it's not a personal failing, there's a large degree of luck involved too. Do what makes sense to you. If you feel you are missing skills, while being a post-doc take a few extra classes to fill the gaps. If you don't have enough publications, work to release more papers. If you feel you don't have enough citations, change the topic to a hot-ticket item. The world does not have a "correct path" or a "path so bad it can't be redeemed" In fact, most of the world isn't keeping score on you at all; they too are too busy keeping score on themselves (also regretting their failures, also ignoring their successes). In short, set a goal and achieve it, then repeat. Don't look at all the goals you considered but didn't set for yourself, as you'll always fall short of that benchmark (as considered goals are not worked towards, only set ones are). Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I graduated in the recession of 2008 with a bachelors. I couldn't find a job for 3 years. Of course, I was younger not having spent as much time in school because no post-grad degree. The job I did end up getting was in my field, but not my specialty by a long shot and did not use my knowledge base or skills at all. I am on my second job after graduation now and although it is relevant, I never know if that experience will ever help me easily get a new job due to how specific it is. Graduating in recessions hits your sense of security hard like that. When your experience has told you that finding a job takes 3 years, that's the benchmark you use when thinking about future job searches, and it would take a lot of much shorter, easier job searches to unlearn that, but I digress. Your mindset is definitely skewing things. I could be misreading between the lines, but were all those industry positions you applied research positions? If so, why are you neglecting the enormous, well-traveled alternative of non-research industry positions? It is absolutely baffling to me why you would ever consider not taking the post-doc when nothing else is on the table, especially with your concerns of future career prospects. Who cares if the topic is a little bit different? There are people working in entirely different departments in industry. It is as if you think your call-center job is even remotely as relevant as the postdoc position. The post-doc topic could be in English literature and still help you more than that call-center job would. One thing I've observed: People who aren't worried about finding new jobs and seemingly seemingly quit jobs on a whim are like that because they always find new jobs easily, and they seem to be able to do that because they know enough of the right people to help them. On that basis alone, any post-doc topic would help you more than that call-center job. I still lack such a network due to my skills and particular job. But with the post-doc you have an clear-cut way to get your foot in the door. Not only that you say this post-doc position has more collaboration with other research groups which is even better for networking. If this hasn't occurred to you, your emotions are getting the better of you. I wish I had such clear cut networking opportunity where I get paid fall into my lap. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: First some good news, with many things shut down due to the coronavirus, there is no need to feel ashamed or like a failure to the people back in India, nothing to brag about, but no shame either. Explain to them that things are very bad here in the job market. Tell them (probably lie) that all your co-workers in the call center have college degrees. Mention that even after the vaccine gets dispensed to enough people, in May-June 2021, there will be 2 years worth of graduates for 1 year's worth of jobs. Also, don't tell your folks in India about those mistakes you mentioned. All that should lower the expectations that your folks have for you. Now, for your career. First of all, you ARE employed at the call center, so you said. Second, you have gone so far down the acedemic rabbit hole that you might as well accept the postdoc position that was offered to you. Third, as far as industry, are you talented in a mechanical sort of way? Can you twirl a wrench and twist a screwdriver in a way that gives beneficial results? Do you understand the mechanical workings of a car and appliances? Do you dream up mechanical devices to accomplish some sort of task? If the answer is yes to these questions, you have a good shot at industry. If the answer is no to those questions, either you need to stick to academia (those who can't do - teach) or you could go in a different direction. You mentioned how you pursued computations rather than experiments, perhaps you could narrow your focus to doing stress analysis equations or change to calculating risk and cost factors for an insurance company, or computationally heavy accounting work. I hope this gives you some direction. Upvotes: -1
2020/11/14	2,971	12,852	<issue_start>username_0: As a student, I make mistakes all the time, and stealing my idea will not face heavy retaliation. I don't mind if someone comes up with concurrent works, but I do mind if my key idea is leaked. Many graduate students in my field therefore only use pre-print services if their papers are either publicly presented or conditionally accepted. I am looking for a website that can do most of what ArXiv does, with an additional private option or limited visibility, for example an option to make the paper unindexed by search engines. This way, my paper cannot be seen for at least a few months. By doing so, I can at least claim that I am one of the first few researchers who got the idea right. And most importantly, I can privately correct my mistakes, if any. Publishing mistakes is embarrassing and sometimes harms one's career. Many mistakes will be revealed during the peer-review processes and I have a chance to correct them before publicizing. Please kindly think twice before giving ethically and "politically correct" comments like no one will scoop me, everyone will cite me, and the scoopers will be punished. At least in my field, scooping and idea-stealing is commonly observable, and big-names don't care about publicizing pre-prints because they have resources to punish the scoopers. I do understand that keeping my work private might harm the community as the information becomes less transparent. However, it could also be possible that my un-reviewed flawed works misguide the community, and a paper reviewed will benefit the society more. I personally wasted six months because of someone else's mistake in a published work. --- I heard that in molecular biology there is a widely-used service to upload your research data, like protein structure and sequencing, to get a timestamp. The uploaded materials can be set to be private for a period, and fully disclosed later. A lot of people do use this function. This is not exactly what I am looking for but shares some similar ideas. If I remember correctly, there is an interesting paper studying the scooping patterns with the aid of this database. --- Solutions found! [Zenodo](https://zenodo.org/) and some other university-run pre-print services do have an embargo function. Moreover, [SSRN](https://www.ssrn.com/index.cfm/en/) is a widely used repository, that, unlike arxiv, only displays the newest version to the general public, although still keeps a tag on the first submitted date!<issue_comment>username_1: Basically, if I understand you correctly, you want proof of priority without publishing. Well, this problem is well known from middle-ages and renaissance where people wanted to be able to prove they have the earliest solution without revealing what it is (so that if someone finds it, they can prove they were there first). They often used anagrams, today you probably would use some private/public key combination for this (I am not a crypto expert, you would have to read up on this). However, to be honest, this will look weird. The current position in science is: if you have done it, publish it and expose it to criticism, and you may gain priority. If you wish to monetize it, you can create a patent that is public, but protects your rights (in theory), or keep it a trade secret and make money out of it. As for a website that supports timestamps for unrevealed papers, I am not aware of any, but of course if there were, you need to make sure you trust the maintainers. Furthermore, if you had one and if somebody publishes a completed paper somewhere else before your paper goes live, this will not help you. The fact that you had worked provably, say, for multiple years on the topic will at best prevent plagiarism charges when you end up publishing. But this, if it occurs, could be proven otherwise, e.g. lab diary, emails, etc. It will not make you the "first to publish". Don't forget, there are quite a few cases where people who had publications were superseded by later, but more visible publications. So, even open publications may be vulnerable to "post-scooping". So, your question needs to be what one would need such a service for? I therefore doubt that people would set up such a system with obviously limited utility. Of course, this is not a statement that there isn't. I understand that this does not precisely answer your question, but I hope I was able to put things in context and why your question may not have a satisfactory answer. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Focusing just on the mistakes angle. Don't worry about having mistakes in arxiv papers, its a preprint service for a reason people know they are not full reviewed papers so my contain mistakes (not that fully reviewed papers don't also contain mistakes). You can always update the version in the arxiv when you realize a mistake. I usually update my papers after peer review which fixes issues picked up by the referee, but I have also updated papers on arxiv before peer review finished because I made some basic mistakes that made me look bad. But you know what I'm still in academia and i doubt anyone even remembers or has the time to go look at what changed between arxiv versions. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Figshare, for one, has the facility to apply an embargo to an item such that the material (e.g. an attached PDF) itself is not visible to the public, though the content description is. The timestamp is in the History section near the bottom of the item page. It looks like it even allows generating a private link for reviewers to access the material, but I've not tested this with an embargo active. I'm not sure what you gain over saving it locally though - your selected reviewers can steal your ideas whether you send it by private mail or via some pre-print site, and you'll only find out when they publish and thus win the race. Edit: I've reflected on this overnight, and my second paragraph above is a bit too pessimistic: I still don't think your proposed route will help you seek redress after the fact (save for literal plagiarism - wholesale lifting of content) but I can see that having a third party recording timestamps would have a deterrent effect against people stealing the ideas. It also provides them with a specific date when the embargo will end and they can use the ideas legitimately. (Doesn't affect those having the same idea independently, obviously.) Bear in mind though that applying an embargo commits you to publishing that preprint, so if the underlying concepts are totally flawed you will still have to write a modified version admitting so and publish that version. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: The website you are looking for probably doesn't exist and if it does it's moot because no one will check it. Then if another paper comes along with the same ideas, people will read that paper, not yours. Moreover, even if you have proof, i bet few people will actually care that you came first. (And, pardon my harshness, deservedly so, because you purposedly decided not to share your work with the community.) The best way to avoid having mistakes on the Arxiv is: 1. Send the draft to some expert in the field that you trust asking them for an opinion. If they agree, they will certainly spot the most embarassing mistakes. If they decline, they will likely do so in a polite way and they will be happy that you chose to contact them since that means that you value their opinion. As a bonus, they could also serve as an unbiased witness to the fact that you had the idea independently, in case you get scooped at the last minute. 2. Use the "replacement" feature on Arxiv. You can always correct mistakes on your preprints. Sure, the older versions are still visible, but Arxiv by default shows the latest one and who is going to check an older version on purpose? Also, the premise of your question seems a bit off to me: you would like to keep a result unpublished because you don't know that it's correct, but you'd still like to retain priority rights if someone publishes before you. But if you don't know that your ideas are correct, it seems to me that you have no results to claim priority for. If you are worried that point 1. will actually increase your chances to get scooped, well, that's true. But academia thrives on the fact that ideas can be freely exchanged among scholars. The risk of being scooped is a price that I happily pay for a more open community. I have to re-apologize for my harshness, but if you disagree with this mindset, you should reconsider working in academia. (So I hope you agree.) Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: You can have this functionality without even trusting the hypothetical public server with any of your data treasure. Free public timestamp authorities (which follow RFC 3161) allow you to timestamp your article so that it is cryptographically provable that the article existed before a certain date (when you requested a timestamp from that particular public timestamp server). The technique is normally used for purposes of proving that certain data is genuine, i.e., coming from a particular originator. First the data is signed by that originator's private key (in the originator's environment), then a hash is computed and the public timestamp server is asked to "counter-sign" the data (or rather, just the hash plus that server's timestamp). This second signing of a very short byte stream happens using the public timestamp server's key in that server's environment. Software vendors use this technique not primarily for protection of priority or of their intellectual property, but rather in order to provide a permanent cryptographical proof that their private signing act happened before the vendor's own certificate (private key) expired or was revoked, one of which is bound to eventually occur. Note that the public timestamp server does NOT have to store any record of whatever it ever countersigned, and its cooperation is NOT necessary for subsequent verification of authenticity of the data. (I have simplified how this works. There are additional transparency measures that prevent that timestamp server to maliciously backdate anything it wants to backdate. The service is not stateless.) So, you could even build the website you want to use yourself, at your home, with the main external component being the public timestamp server. If you ever get into a serious priority dispute, you will be able to prove your case at a pretty high standard, unless they suspect you of outright hacking of data from a "real" originator. There is however a big hole there. You won't be able to present the corrected version of your article backdated. You will only be able to prove what the article looked like at a certain point in time. A combination of a "flawed priority article" and a "corrected subsequent article" is more likely to be taken as a proof that your "earlier" work was flawed and therefore unfinished (not yet in existence), so in the opposite sense to what you might want to attach to it. Therefore you are better off to follow the normal practice and learn to publish pre-prints whenever you run out of the obvious ideas why your work might be flawed. Initially, your teachers will help you spot such obvious weak points and address them while you don't have a publishable article. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: arXiv will keep every version on the website, so people can always go back and see what version 1 or version 2 looked like, even when the paper is on it's 5th version (for example). These are some places where you can put your pre-prints, and then replace them without a version history being visible to any outsider: * Academia.edu * ResearchGate * Mendeley * FigShare * Zenodo * GitHub (if you delete your version history every time you post a new version) Also a PDF on your own website can often be picked up by Google Scholar: I've seen this happen to my own papers automatically even when I didn't want it to happen. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: If your goal is simply to timestamp the content, then you can create a hash and make that public. That is, you compute a MD5 or SHA hash of your pdf and tweet that, put it on your wikipedia page, or attach it to another arxiv submission. This provides proof that your document existed at that time, without revealing the contents of that document. At a later time you can reveal the document and others can check that the hash matches. If your goal is to make the document "public" without it being indexed or earlier versions being available, then you can put it on a personal website and use robots.txt to tell web crawlers not to index it. That doesn't guarantee it won't be indexed, but it will stop most things. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/15	655	2,855	<issue_start>username_0: I've been out of undergraduate for several years and am applying to graduate school. However, I'm hung up on how to obtain the required letters of recommendation. While I did exceptionally well in undergraduate, I am pretty introverted and I graduated awhile ago. I didn't cultivate deep, long-lasting relationships with any of my professors. Since graduation, I have worked exclusively with individuals who speak minimal English and come from cultures where letters of recommendation do not exist besides, and with people who are living with extreme mental disabilities. In both of these professions, I have been my own supervisor. Frankly, I am feeling very up the creek without a paddle. I don't know where I would be able to get one letter, let alone multiple. Is it possible to apply for graduate school without letters of recommendation? How do you go about compensating for this?<issue_comment>username_1: You might get lucky if you look for them, but most programs will want recommenders who can speak to your abilities, and be able to overshadow shortcomings such as low GPA, etc. Not having recommenders is going to be a serious issue, even if you do find a program that doesn't require these recommendations, especially if you have a low GPA or some extenuating circumstance that would need to be explained. If you are thinking of professors from who you would want letters of recommendation from, why not just ask them to start with? Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: If it is within a few years, you may be able to contact prior professors that you feel may remember you. Otherwise, if you do not think that you can produce letters of recommendations, then I recommend you contact potential graduate schools. In fact, I believe that you should always contact potential graduate schools BEFORE applying (no matter the circumstances.) This helps you understand what they expect, prepare for potential problems, and ask any questions that you may have. In your case, they will be able to talk with you on how to “compensate” (as you called it) for your lack of letters of recommendations. I do not know what country you are applying in, but I know that in my country (America) there are admissions counselors per each school you are applying to (for instance, religious studies admissions counselor for somebody who is majoring in Southeast Asian Religions.) If that is the case with you, then make sure you contact the school rather than the university directly to get the best possible answer. Every school, let alone university, operates differently, and there are some schools where it may be a nonstarter to apply and then there are others that you may be able to get a waiver and/or a probation easily. Honestly and again, your best bet is to contact potential graduate schools directly. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/15	974	4,127	<issue_start>username_0: This question is similar to other questions of affiliation, but I cannot find anything that quite addresses it. Perhaps this is closest: [Adding affiliation due to a 1-month visit during a salary gap](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/120450/adding-affiliation-due-to-a-1-month-visit-during-a-salary-gap?rq=1) I am the PI on a grant in mathematics. On the grant I have a collaborator and postdoc employed at 100% capacity (1 FTE). We are about to have a paper published. In addition to his current affiliation, University A, he wants to list University B at which he did his last postdoc, which I think is fine as much of the work on the paper was carried out there. In addition, he wants to list a third affiliation, University C. He has never had a paid position at University C. It seems that someone at University C said it would be okay to use this affiliation during a period of time when he was unemployed but looking for another postdoc. None of the work of the current paper was done during this time of unemployment. Indeed, he plans to keep using this affiliation in the future. As far as I know, he has no collaborations with any researchers there, nor has he lived in the city where the university is located during this time of unemployment. I cannot find any online reference to his being at that university, other than those references he has created himself (eg. I find papers of his, or his CV or personal website, but nothing from the university itself). Is using this affiliation ethical? I understand that one should generally leave it up to their collaborators to decide their affiliations. However, in this case, he is employed on my grant at 100% capacity and I am worried the granting agency will not be happy that he is also apparently employed at the same time at another university in another country. I have suggested he put University C in the acknowledgments section, but he is not willing to accept this compromise.<issue_comment>username_1: I would suggest that only the current institution be listed as affiliation. If you want to have an acknowledgements section, then University B could be listed as prior affiliation. But I don't see any basis for listing C and I think they might object. An "affiliation" really needs to be acknowledged by both the person and the institution. It ends when you leave their employ, unless it is specifically granted (as for a "professor emeritus"). But, he is no longer affiliated with B and seems never to have been with C. Keep it clean and simple. I might enjoy listing an affiliation with MIT and Charles (Czech Republic), but it would be wrong. I have known people from both places, however. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It’s dishonest (and therefore unethical in almost all normal circumstances) to represent yourself as something you’re not. That’s what your grant employee wants to do by listing his affiliation as a place where he doesn’t hold an official title (and it’s irrelevant whether “someone said it’s okay” unless perhaps that someone is a dean or a similar high-ranking person who has the authority to give people official titles; it’s also not strictly speaking relevant whether he had a “paid position” or not - some official titles are unpaid). As for what to do, I agree with your reasoning that this is your responsibility since he is paid with your grant funds. It’s perfectly appropriate for you to say that he cannot write this dishonest affiliation in any paper that is funded by your grant. If he does not accept this, you should check with your institution what enforcement or disciplinary measures can be taken in connection with this type of employee insubordination. It may also be worth trying to talk to him informally (perhaps in the presence of a “neutral” senior colleague) and see if you can understand the motive for this behavior; possibly it’s based on some misconception on the part of the employee, and you may be able to convince him that there’s nothing to be gained, and much to be lost, from this type of dishonest behavior. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2020/11/15	686	2,996	<issue_start>username_0: I am going to present my thesis in the next week. I am in a confusion what I should present in the final defence (1 hour). How much into detail I should go. I have successfully given my pre-synposis. I am currently thinking about the thesis defence. To me it appears I should focus on my work rather than talking about others work. I have been told that in the defence there will be few members from other discipline. Taking this thing into consideration I think I should first convey the high level idea and then go into the detail. So that everyone in the panel have idea about my work.<issue_comment>username_1: This depends quite a lot on the traditions in your country and your institution. My experience is with a "presentation" of the main results and a defense of how you arrive at those results. In math it would be a theorem statement and proof outline or at least (for a public defense) showing the general path that leads to the main results. Another way to think of it is in terms of the question you originally set out to answer, then the answer, and then the basis on which you reach that answer. If the "other members" will vote on your success then you need to tailor it to their understanding, rather than leaving them in the dark, especially if they are allowed to question you. But, yes, focus on your own work and get to the essence of it. Both what you conclude and why you conclude it. If your work follows closely on earlier work of someone else, you can mention that briefly for context. An excessive level of detail can be omitted, but be prepared for questions that might require that you give the detail. --- But if this answer doesn't seem to ring true, then your traditions might be quite different from those I'm used to. In that case, speak with your advisor about this. They surely know what will work. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Although this answer comes too late for OP, it may help others. If it is permitted at your institution, attend defense presentations of others before you must prepare your own. As others have said in comments or answers, thesis and dissertation defenses are highly variable and depend on the customs of the country, the institution, and even the individual department. Very best is to attend presentations of students whose committees are chaired by your own committee chair. If you aren't able to attend a defense or two, try to talk to one or two people who successfully defended recently. In either case, take notes, plan your defense, then review your plan with your advisor or committee chair. They'll appreciate that much more than an open-ended "What shall I do?" type question. A word of comfort: Your advisor or chair should never let you reach the stage of defending unless you are ready. I know there are exceptions to that general rule, but your advisor wants you to succeed, not only for yourself, but also because an advisor looks bad when students fail. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/15	2,041	8,721	<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for faculty jobs. As you all know, it is a stressful and frustrating experience. Many institutions explicitly state that they will not contact candidates who were not selected for an interview. It is like feeling my way around in the dark: I do not know if I was already rejected, I can only suspect it. If I was rejected, I can never be certain about why this happened, and whether it is because of a reason that I have any control over. Is my application simply weak, and if yes, can it be improved at all? Did they have a particular profile in mind even if they did not state it? Did they already have a preferred candidate? Am I too old, in real or academic years (it matters, regardless of what they say)? Am I being disadvantaged by not having networked enough (which does not come to me naturally)? I have not yet managed to secure any interviews. I am losing hope that I will ever succeed. I have no doubt that this is what I want to do, and I think that I am capable of doing it, but I find it more and more difficult to believe that it will work out for me. This causes a psychological block that makes it difficult to keep going, to keep rewriting applications, to keep working over weekends to get papers out in time to include in applications, etc. Don't get me wrong, I am not consciously giving up, but again and again I find myself having spent a day in front of the computer trying to work but not making much progress. This should not happen, it's been a while since I was a student. Yet writer's block and unintentional procrastination are worse than ever. By the end of the day I loathe my documents and find it hard to trust that they are any good, and just can't make yet another revision. What makes the application experience stressful is that I do not have a very solid basis to judge how realistic my chances are. My supervisor is generally encouraging, but that is not sufficient at this point. To make this question concrete: I am certain that my problem is far from unique. How have you dealt with this, and how did you manage to keep positive and keep pushing forward? How do you decide in a non-emotional way when it's time to stop and give up? I sometimes wonder if the fact that I am affected so badly by the situation, up to some psychosomatic symptoms, is a sign that I am simply not suited for a career in academia. One must have better resilience to stress and a better fighting spirit. A professor is responsible not only for themselves, but also for their students, and must support their students and postdocs through similar crises. If I cannot manage myself, how could I support others? This thought does not help at all.<issue_comment>username_1: Applying for jobs is a stressful job in itself, especially during a time like this. You're certainly not alone in your concerns and anxieties. In terms of the lack of response/feedback from potential employers, it can be frustrating to not know whether or not you should write them off. Unfortunately, it's just the way it is, and not only in academia. In my own experience on the job market (3 years in a row), if I didn't get a response 4-6 weeks after applying for a job, I would assume that they've moved on to other candidates. In terms of figuring out if there are ways you can improve your application materials, I would suggest having someone (like your supervisor) look over your documents. You can also consult resources like The Professor is In. For example: <https://theprofessorisin.com/2017/11/18/your-academic-cover-letter-dont-fall-into-the-cliche-trap-about-teaching/> (though there are a ton of helpful posts about different types of job documents, so spend some time on there searching if you haven't explored her website before) I would say, however, that more often than not, rejections have more to do with fit than qualifications. I've served on a job search committee before, and you get so many applications for a single job, many of which reflect extremely qualified and experienced candidates, but they simply don't match up with what the search committee is looking for, or at least they don't match up nearly as well as other job candidates. So, please don't think that a lack of response necessarily reflects deficiencies on your part. Coming to some of your concrete questions: for me, it was definitely rough-going, but I kept pushing on because I was certain that I wanted a career in academia. However, I was also certain that I didn't want to suffer financially/get stuck in unstable positions for it, so I was also resolved to leave academia if I couldn't find the right job. In my case, it wasn't until my 3rd year on the market that I had made that decision, and it was only because at that point, I finally had my PhD in hand but had a job where my contract wasn't going to be renewed. My mindset was that - as much as I love teaching and research - I wasn't going to be forced into unemployment or into an underpaid, exploitative job just to stay in academia, because I'd rather be able to pay my bills. In my case, I did end up finding a tenure-track job just as I was starting to prep for non-academic job applications, but I was definitely ready to leave. Regarding the question of being able to help students when you're struggling yourself: I understand that, but we're all human. We all struggle, and no one is in the position to pass judgement on that. I'd also add - while you might be struggling now - with time, you'll learn to manage, and you'll come out of all of this a bit wiser and in a better position to support others based on your experiences. If anything, the people who offer the best support or the ones who've actually experienced struggles themselves. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm in a field where some positions get close to 1000 applications. Here are the two pieces of advice I have for everyone on the job market. 1. Probability does work. If you're a slightly above average applicant, the odds of getting any job from your point of view (in other words, not having any insider information) are at most 5%. For most jobs, it's considerably lower. However, if you send out 100 applications, all those 2-3% chances, plus all those 0.5% chances, actually do add up to something approximating a pretty good chance for a job. (In particular, they are actually pretty close to probabilistically independent.) This means you really should not think about any particular job; your chances of that job are tiny. It's the mass of applications that gives you a chance. 2. Before the whole process even starts, you should have some idea what you will do if you don't get an academic job. Having a plan is more reassuring than having no plan. Also, having a plan gives you some baseline to compare any prospective job against, so that you don't end up in an unsuitable job. As a professor at a university with a low-ranked PhD program, I make sure students understand how bad the job market is before agreeing to advise them. I will only agree to advise a student after I've made sure they understand they most likely will not find an academic job after their PhD. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Apply for a position in Norway (or Sweden) ========================================== As a matter of politeness: Please don't apply to positions that are you not interesting in taking if offered. Every time I have applied for a position in Norway I have received the report of an external committee that has given a ranking of the candidates with a more-or-less brief description of every candidate; whether they are qualified or not and how strong they are (perhaps in comparison to the other candidates), with more attention on the top candidates. I have not received such a list consistently in Sweden, or maybe I have forgotten an instance. This list gives you an idea of your strength as an applicatant. If you were lucky enough to have some other people you know apply for the same position, you can get an idea of how they compare to you. Furthermore, you may get an idea about how well you managed to communicate with your application materials. This applies to permanent faculty positions on assistant/associate professor level (førsteamanuensis in Norway), at least. This does not remove all the stress =================================== There is still the matter of being called or not for interview, how did the interview go, and even if they say they would like to offer you a position, there is still a commitee meeting where they usually check that the recruiting process has followed the relevant laws. And the process is not fast. But at least you get some information. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/15	1,714	7,023	<issue_start>username_0: I just started an Astronomy PhD program, which due to COVID has been all-online so far. Research and my computational methods course have been going OK, but I'm being utterly destroyed by my Galactic Dynamics course. It's clear to me that I didn't have the necessary mathematical physics background going in, so I've spent all semester struggling. It's reached the point that I spend more time on the problem sets on this course than on my research and other class combined, and I can still barely do it. I've been working on nothing but the current problem set since Tuesday, without making any significant progress. I've been reaching out to the professor for questions via Slack, but as often as not this leaves me more confused than when I started. I'm starting to doubt my ability to do this, but I can't quit. What do I do?<issue_comment>username_1: Sounds like my Physics II course decades back. The effort on that course was greater than the effort on all other courses combined. Little did I know that I took it from <NAME>, who at the time was a Physics Superstar, and he wasn't going to "just pass anyone". Somehow I managed to get a B. To me that B was worth more than all the A's I obtained combined. Hard material is not a sign of you being a moron. Perhaps you're not ready for the course; but, the entire idea of taking a course is to challenge you with new material. The harder the challenge, the more you will learn. Take it easy on yourself. Try to do as much as possible without over involving your professor, but do use an hour of their "office hours" to go over problems you have difficulty with. Be very well prepared for this hour, showing them what approaches you've tried and failed at, and can they teach you "how to approach the problem" instead of "how to do the work". For support, find others in your class that seem to be bright enough to warrant working with, and form a study group. If the group starts to look like an unbalanced "share the answers" group, get out of it, as it will do nothing to prepare you for the exams. Rearrange your schedule for the reality that you'll be spending six to eight hours a day doing this class's work, until you can gain enough mastery to cut it down to a mere four hours a day. Remember, it won't last forever, you only need to keep up the crazy schedule till you get out of the class; and, should you have to repeat the class (which is common for such classes), you'll not be under as much of a burden due to your gained familiarity with the material. In short, hang in there; but, hang in there smart. Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: @Edwin suggested you "hang in there". And - maybe you can. But if you're still early in the semester, then maybe that's not the right thing to do. You wrote: > > It's clear to me that I didn't have the necessary mathematical physics background going in > > > I'll assume that's true. That means that either the course doesn't list its prerequisites properly, or doesn't enforce them. This can be a disservice to people who actually need to study the prerequisite material (= most people)... > > I'm starting to doubt my ability to do this, > > > Let's assume that you can't do this right now. Maybe you can, but it's not clear that such a gamble helps you; it certainly doesn't help your emotional well-being, which is important to take care of during your Ph.D., much more so than you might think. In other words, assume you do need to take a course in Mathematical Physics before taking Galactic Dynamics, or spend time self-studying Mathematical Physics. > > but I can't quit. > > > Why? That is, why can you not un-register for this course, if you realize early enough that you're missing pre-requisite knowledge? It sounds perfectly reasonable. As a teacher I would tell you that it does not reflect poorly on a student when they say "I've noticed I'm missing some prerequisite knowledge/skill"; on the contrary, it is a sign of a more mature self-awareness. > > What do I do? > > > (again, this is advice only for early in the semester.) * Talk to the course teacher. * Tell them that you believe you lack "the necessary mathematical physics background" * Ask them to transfer the registration to the next semester. Note this approach is more problematic if the course is only given once a year; but even in that case, ask the teacher about another potential arrangement. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I am not in Physics nor can I give you amazing advice, but I am a first year doctoral student in computer science and was struggling with a machine learning course as well. Eventually, I decided to drop it and take a similar course with another professor next semester. My advisor understood that it was messing up the workload, not leaving time for my research, and that I did not have the prereq.s. Maybe your advisor would understand too? I am not saying this is the best move for you, but I know that we are supposed to be spending time on our research and not as much on our courses. Either way, I am really struggling with this program bc maybe I didn't put in the work as much as an undergrad, bc of covid and things being remote, bc my peers are outperforming me by miles, etc etc. Most people who start a phd don't finish it. So hang in there, it is not easy. I hope you figure it out. :) Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: The problem is ubiquitous in academia, no need to feel bad. Some profs at my alma mater simply set up entry exams to their courses to protect against it. Cost everybody a week or two of their free time between semesters to prepare for those, but it was well worth it in retrospective. I recommend you ask some faculty guy you trust and know he's into the subject to give you an informal half hour oral exam. They will then be able to recommend a course of action, and eventually an alternative course to switch to for the rest of the semester. Next year, Galactic Dynamics will be a pushover then. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: What about being frank and telling your instructor? I understand from your comments that all 3 students are struggling. I don't know your university and your department, but chances are that what you describe is a very specialized course, not taught each year, and there are only a few professors who are able to teach it. I don't think there are standard textbooks either (but correct me when wrong). And those professors may have little experience teaching this course. They may just not be aware that you are struggling that much. He or she may just have forgotten how they learned the mathematical methods 10 or 20 years ago, and how much work it was. And they may be happy to adjust if they realize they should do this. So consider trying to slow down the class and signal your progress by questions. Even better, organize a meeting (office hour should do) where all four of you come together and discuss how to proceed. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/15	734	2,870	<issue_start>username_0: I did my Master's in A university and then moved on to B for my Ph.D. Covid outbreak started about the time when I was wrapping up my project, I had most of my manuscript done and was pending for iterative feedbacks from my advisor at A university. Due to COVID, my project got pushed back from priority and now, as a Ph.D. student at B university, I'm re-working my manuscripts to submit to an academic journal. I don't know what to do with my affiliation in this situation. Should I list mine as of B university? Or should it still be A?<issue_comment>username_1: Generally your affiliation is the institution with which you are currently employed or a student. University A is a "prior affiliation", unless you still have some formal relationship with them. Your dissertation/project/manuscript may need to acknowledge A for any support for research leading to a paper, but your affiliation should be B. The acknowledgement can, of course, take the form ... "much of the work was done when I was affiliated with A...". The same would be true if all of the work was done at A. You were affiliated with them. But no longer. --- If people want to find you, they want to start looking at the place you list as your affiliation. Going backwards in time is much easier than going forwards since B may not have an easy way to point people to you at A. But listing prior affiliations as needed helps go in the other direction. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Most of the work was done at affiliation A and your adviser for that project was at affiliation A, and now you are at affiliation B. I disagree with username_1's answer, which is to list your affiliation as B rather than A. The most common approach is to put affiliation A with a footnote that says: "Present address: affiliation B", or to put both affiliation A and B. You might also like to ask your advisers at affiliation A and B whether or not to include those affiliations on your paper, so that neither adviser can get angry at you for doing what they don't want you to do or not doing what they do want you to do. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In my field (physics) we put both affiliations and we do not necessarily specify which is the current one, which I guess is not very smart. This would probably be acceptable > > <NAME>,b > > > aPrevious affiliation, bCurrent affiliation > > > Email: <EMAIL> > > > So they know where to find you and your former institution gets proper credit. Depending on the field it could also be appropriate to just acknowledge your older affiliation in the acknowledgment section in the end, but normally we leave that for grants, conferences or short visits. In any case, you are a PhD student, so the correct answer to your question is: ask your supervisor ;) Upvotes: 2
2020/11/15	1,568	6,083	<issue_start>username_0: Alternative metrics for a paper, include not just the citations in other academic journals, but also all Twitter mentions, citations in Wikipedia, citations across the Stack Exchange network, etc. The company Altmetric is one of the companies that shows the altmetrics for papers, and it has been mentioned in the answer to this Academia.SE question: [Finding all communication related to any research paper](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/55686/93303). It used to be as simple as installing the Altmetric extension for your web browser, which creates a bookmarklet (a tiny icon at the top of the web browser) on which you can click to get all the altmetrics. I used this for many years and find out extremely useful. However what if I'm using a browser at, for example a library computer where a network administrator has blocked me from installing custom extensions? Is there a place where I can just copy and paste the URL for the paper's DOI and get the altmetric data, just like Google Scholar allows you to see which papers have cited your paper without installing any browser extension? It seems that while Altmetric still offers this bookmarklet [for free](https://www.altmetric.com/products/free-tools/bookmarklet/) it's still just a bookmarklet that has to be installed, rather than just a place where you can copy and paste a URL of the paper. Furthermore they now seem to want the user's email address, which I'm sure many people will not be delighted to do, as they would certainly find themselves automatically subscribed to get emails which they may not desire. How can altmetrics for a paper be found without installing anything and without giving away your email address?<issue_comment>username_1: tl;dr the main premise of my answer is wrong (see @username_2's answer). I still think there's some useful information here, so I won't delete it unless it starts attracting more downvotes ... --- It looks like what you want is impossible; that is, I don't think there's any way to do this through Altmetric, and I don't see similar metrics being offered for free by any other provider. Altmetric's [free tools page](https://www.altmetric.com/products/free-tools/) lists a variety of different ways to access their database, but they all require registration of some sort. * you could pretend to be an academic librarian (probably not ethical) and use the "Altmetric explorer" * you could come up with a convincing-sounding research project and email Altmetric "with a detailed description of your project" to get access to their API. update: I was wrong, @username_2's answer points out that the API appears to be registration-free for limited/interactive use: this wasn't clear to me from the description on the "free tools" page My guess would be that the advantage of the bookmarklet over a simple web look-up (other than the fact that it's already implemented, so they don't have to do any extra work to provide an additional interface) is that it might track cookies (I can't find any information on this in the support pages, and haven't tried to install it to see if it pops up an opt-in clause of this sort ...) which would allow them to gather information on usage. It also allows a natural way to request your e-mail/institutional information, get you to sign up for e-mail lists, etc. (The e-mail list checkboxes appear to be "opt-in" rather than "opt-out", FWIW ...) [Altmetric](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altmetric) is supported by Digital Science, [which is owned by the same parent company as Nature](https://www.nature.com/articles/493159a), so I wouldn't expect them to be giving away their information for free. Remember, ["If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold."](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/07/16/product/)1 FWIW it looks like [Wiley provides Altmetric info for "many" journals in its collection](https://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-822263.html), but I doubt they provide a central lookup/API. You could look for altmetrics [other than the ones computed and aggregated by Altmetric](https://www.nature.com/articles/493159a): > > For example, the data repositories Dryad and figshare track download statistics (figshare is supported by Digital Science, which is owned by the same parent company as Nature). Some repositories, such as the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, provide anonymous demographic breakdowns of usage. > > > [This ResearchGate article makes some more suggestions](https://www.researchgate.net/post/Are_there_alternatives_to_the_altmetriccom_API_for_creating_visualizations_of_article-level_social_media_metrics) including PLoS metrics (which are only available for PLoS articles, of course), Mendeley/Scopus (also non-free), ... --- 1 Google Scholar might be a counterexample, but Google can probably afford a few freebies — and academics who add information by filling out their Scholar profiles are adding more information that Google can use (personally I find this a fair trade). Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, you can use Altmetric's API to do that. The URL is `https://api.altmetric.com/v1/doi/` + `DOI`. For example: <https://api.altmetric.com/v1/doi/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102194>. However, the API is designed to be machine-readable (and not primarily human-readable), so you will only see a (possibly confusing) JSON-document which you may want to "beautify" using a [JSON-Beautifier](https://codebeautify.org/jsonviewer). At the bottom of that JSON-document you see the element "`details-url`" which links to the actual page you probably want to see, i.e. <http://www.altmetric.com/details.php?citation_id=93559766>. (For large-scale use of that API, you may need to request a key. See the [Altmetric's API Documentation](https://api.altmetric.com/).) Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I usually search for the title of the paper using the Dimensions website: <https://app.dimensions.ai/discover/publication> Upvotes: 1
2020/11/16	1,465	6,717	<issue_start>username_0: Three years ago, I was an undergrad majoring in Biochemistry in a major US university, and did significant research work in preparation for my thesis. I am currently polishing a personal statement for PhD applications. To help illustrate a point, I started looking into the publication list of my erstwhile advisor for ideas, for the first time in a year. It turns out he published an article on Nature last year, that credited several fellow undergrads in my lab as co-authors, but not myself. I was never notified of the publication, nor mentioned in the acknowledgement section. The article relied on a database that I helped to compile, and mentioned one of the conclusions I made in my senior thesis. Clearly, it's too late to ask for any revisions to that paper. Even if these are not sufficient grounds for including me in the author list, I wonder if I am justified in asking that professor to say in his recommendation letter he "forgot" to add me as a co-author, or include me in the acknowledgement section? I had asked him to prepare a recommendation letter months in advance, but it will be at least another week before he is expected to send any. As for my personal relationship with the professor - his recommendation for me is probably not the most emphatic, but we have generally been on good terms up to this point. Will simply raising this question damage our relationship, or even his recommendations?<issue_comment>username_1: Asking them directly to acknowledge "forgetting" you is a battle that you cannot win, I am afraid. However, if you approach this strategically, you can still probably get a letter that bears the same message as being acknowledged on the paper would. From your description it seems safe to assume that your authorship was omitted accidentally. It is a sad but not entirely unusual reality that contributions of undergraduate students who helped with a large project over time can get forgotten, not out of malice but simply because nobody keeps track of who did what. Reminding the supervisor of your contributions (be as specific as you can) that ultimately led to a high-impact publication should do no harm then. If this was an honest mistake, I can imagine they will want to make it up to you. On the other hand, failing to acknowledge contributions of co-authors is a serious academic misconduct. Admitting it openly and in writing could possibly harm your supervisor's credibility and I don't expect that this is a risk they would be willing to take just to increase your chances to get a position. If you want them to acknowledge something specific in the letter, you need to ask for something they are likely to agree to. Consider the impact of being properly listed as a co-author of the said Nature publication. People assessing your application have a good idea how preparing such large publications work and that the success of it depends primarily on the first author / supervisor developing the original ideas and orchestrating the work. Undergraduate students often do rather the mechanical labor. From this perspective, being listed as a co-author doesn't say more than: "I have an experience from a successful lab and I can do the mechanical labor good enough." The first part of that message is on your CV already. You can ask your supervisor to testify the other part in the recommendation letter. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You should ask the professor to describe your contribution to the database and the relationship between the database and the publication. No matter what the reason is that you are not an author on the publication, there is no benefit to including the reason in your letter of recommendation. A correction to the author list could benefit you, but only someone familiar with the details of your work could determine if that is appropriate. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: It would of course be a tremendous feather in your cap to be a coauthor, even one of zillions, of an article in a prestigious journal. And even if not a coauthor, it is personally satisfying to be acknowledged. However, no one else pays much attention to acknowledgements. What you now need to achieve is fair recognition of your contributions in the letter of reference. The facts, as you present them, support the hypothesis that the PI likely has forgotten the nature or extent of your contributions, was never wholly aware, or confused your contributions with someone else's. That happens. Regardless, every reasonable recommendation letter writer appreciates a "cheat sheet" from the recommendee, so I'd suggest you write something like: > > Dear X, ... This is to request a letter of recommendation from you for ... Since it's been a couple of years, for convenience let me summarize that I worked on your team from ... to ... My principal contributions were .... and ...., which I described in my senior thesis and which was used in the publication [insert citation]. As you can imagine, given my hope for an eventual research career [or whatever], I think to the extent you are able to connect the dots between by work and the publication in particular would be very helpful. > > > Basically, swallow your injured pride (and don't expect any acknowledgement revisions!), but in a respectful fashion make sure the PI has the information to now be able to represent your contributions accurately. Present it factually but impersonally, implicitly assuming forgetfulness or lack of awareness, not trying to prove it with bullet-proof evidence. Finally, I'm writing this all taking at face value the facts as you have presented them. Do be open to the possibility that your picture may not be fully complete either. Could your "database" have needed significant rework or updating, for instance? I'm not trying to challenge you and know nothing more about your situation, but after several decades in applied research, I've encountered various instances where valued but junior contributors accidentally overvalued their contributions as well. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Tell the advisor you were pleased that the work was published and it reminded you of how much you learned from participating in the evaluation of data (or whatever you did). Reminding the advisor that you participated in the research, hopefully, will prompt the advisor to mention this in a letter of reference for you. I think it not wise to force the issue of not including you as a co-author. The advisor should be prompted to provide a correction to Nature based on your correspondence above, but I would not force the issue as it may hurt the letter of recommendation. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/16	975	4,192	<issue_start>username_0: I'm writing a short (say around 7-10 page long) article on theoretical machine learning and I've established the main theoretical result with a complete mathematical proof. I've also written the other parts - the abstract, introduction, acknowledgements and bibliography. However, some computer simulations still need to be added. I'm thinking of uploading the paper onto arXiv for my ongoing academic application purposes, so that potential employers can study the paper. I know an obvious question for it, being a machine learning paper, will be "Where are some illustrations?" So for the moment, if I remark in my paper along the line of "Illustrations are still to be added" and then finally add it to arXiv, will it be academically/professionally harmful for me? The reason I want to add this instead of finishing it all the way is that currently I'm working on a different project and I feel it'd take me a while to go back to the abovementioned one, yet I'd like for the new employer to notice the result therein. Q2: same question where only part of the theory has been established (albeit for a different paper). Thank you!<issue_comment>username_1: I suspect the relative merits of different approaches depends on discipline and maybe geography, but in my area (interdisciplinary with applied mathematics and business most prominent, North America), a preprint, on ArXiV or elsewhere, should be essentially complete within the scope the authors have chosen for it to have. So you could upload a preprint which just doesn't discuss those areas of your research you have not had time to complete, and which does not have all illustrations you might ideally want for the best possible exposition. A preprint may well end up significantly rewritten and expanded as part of a journal's peer review process, and it is only slightly disingenuous if you know fully well you're actually going to do that soon anyway. However, importantly, your preprint should be complete enough you believe in good faith it could be publishable somewhere as-is, even if you are aiming for something better. We're not talking about a missing methododology or results section, or text that references still-nonexistent crucial figures or tables, in a way that can't be edited out without affecting the completeness of the paper. If there are significant gaps which make this approach inappropriate, you have a work-in-progress draft, not a preprint yet. There is nothing precluding you from thoughtfully sharing that with colleagues, by email or even by say posting on your website, with all the pluses or minuses that entails. So if you want potential employers to have access, why not refer to it as work-in-progress or working draft and put a link to it stored on your research website for now? Of course, in this case, you won't get credit for it as a "completed publication". But it is an option if it is unfinished but still interesting. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Such papers can certainly be accepted by the arXiv system (which does include some very minimal "refereeing" by volunteers, but only at the approve/disapprove level if not also for changing the listing for example from "general physics" to "chemical physics"). However it is frowned upon to submit incomplete work on arXiv. It is also terribly inconvenient for people who have printed and read your paper, only to find that it is significantly different from the final version of the paper. Conlusion: You can do it, but it's better to be patient and submit a quality product that you're comfortable keeping up permanently (then make changes only in the hopefully rare event that you later spot a typo or error that needs to be corrected). If you still want the material to be publicly available without the above problem, you can always post it in a GitHub repository, or Academia.edu or Mendeley, or ResearchGate, or elsewhere. This question from just 2 days ago is also related: [Pre-print service like Arxiv but with private option, so I can correct my mistakes without publicly advertising my mistakes?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/158831/93303). Upvotes: 0
2020/11/16	3,813	15,385	<issue_start>username_0: Since the exams this year for college is online, there is a timer. Usually, when I start an exam I click a random answer choice or what I think is right at that moment. Once I finish most of it, I go back to look it over. I got accused of cheating since I answered the questions in 15 mins, and the system recorded that automatically once clicked, instead of recording the time of completing the whole set of questions. When reviewing my answers after the 15 minutes, I realized I guessed correctly and there was no need to pick another answer. But I got accused since I finished so fast and so accurately. We were allowed to use cheat sheets with equations and info, allowing me to finish so fast, so I do not understand why I am being accused. And some of the questions were similar to the homework which helped even more. So how do I prove that I did not cheat. It took me an hour and 9 mins to take the exam. The only information that they kept repeating over and over again was the timing. I clearly stated that I did not look up anything and I had other tests to take the same day. i went over the review powerpoint which had very similar questions to the test once I started taking it. They flagged my test when they were looking for people that posted it on chegg. There was no other allegation made besides the timing and I have all the proof that I did not cheat. The person telling me the allegation did not give me the chance to clearly defend my self. Please help me prove that I am not cheating.<issue_comment>username_1: Unfortunately you can't prove a negative. You have been "caught" by a system that is insufficiently accurate to properly evaluate your actions (and those of many others). All you can really do is insist (and keep insisting) to your professor that you didn't cheat and explain how you actually acted. If you don't get satisfaction then escalate the issue to higher authorities. And keep insisting. People have an obligation to be fair. A recent [article in the Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/12/test-monitoring-student-revolt/) explores how badly online testing systems are performing. While the article focuses on fully automated systems, the problem is much wider, even when human "proctors" are used in conjunction with webcams. In my view the real problem is in trying to apply solutions from a different era into the current pandemic/online situation. Those solutions no longer work and the workarounds are badly failing. They make assumptions that are not valid given the range of normal human actions. Any cheating detection system, automated or not, needs to have the property that it produces zero false positives. The meeting is part of that system and should assure that you aren't accused wrongfully. But it isn't well understood that a system permitting no false positives will almost invariably produce some false negatives. But the consequences of error in a cheating detection system are so asymmetrical that such a rule is required. --- Artificial Intelligence is certainly artificial but it is definitely not intelligent. --- Note that I hesitated to edit this after so many votes had been cast, not wanting to invalidate decisions made already by users. The advice remains the same. Insist that you didn't cheat and stick with it. Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: Following on what username_1 said, AI is only as smart as its designer, really. If the designer makes an AI look at a feature that is ultimately useless, then no matter how well the AI is designed it will still perform poorly. As an additional comment since I think username_1 answered the other parts of your problem sufficiently. I suggest putting the burden of proof on them. If they cannot prove that you WERE academically dishonest, it is unfair of them to enforce you being treated as if you were. You shouldn't be trying to prove that you weren't, as you have no evidence, that being said, you have motive for answering the questions quickly which creates enough ambiguity that they cannot possibly argue that you cheated without more information. To add some more detail to username_1's "bark further up the chain" comment. University Admin ^ School Admin ^ Dept. Head ^ Professor Also, more to the point, your professor should at least understand that this sort of system is likely flawed and will probably at least hear you out. It is worth trying to discuss this with them first without assuming they will be antagonistic towards you. Just calmly explain your situation and see what they have to say. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: When questioning or complaining about a decision, it is best to offer a solution. All correspondence should now be in writing (or at least email) so that you have a record of anything said and any accusations made. People will be cautious of accusing you of anything in writing. If things go badly, you can copy your emails to a senior person and be open about that. Never say anything in anger and never accuse or criticise. Simply state the facts in a dispassionate way. For example You could offer in writing to take a similar test whilst being observed. It is unlikely that you will be taken up on this but the fact that you have offered will make them think twice. If there is any disciplinary action, you can then point out that you were willing to demonstrate your strategy and your ability. Of course you have to make sure that the new test is not made especially hard, so specify "at the same level of difficulty". --- Important Never act in the heat of the moment. Take your time, stay polite but be insistent. Do not give up. --- Example email Dear X With regard to our conversation about possible cheating. I note that the automated timing system may have indicated something unusual. My exam strategy is to hurry through all the questions and then return to check my answers. In this case the initial stage took me about 15 minutes and the checking stage took a further x minutes. I checked thoroughly but did not need to correct any answers. If there is any doubt at all of my skills or ability I will be willing to take a further such test (at the same level) under supervision I am willing to take such a test online or manually with an observer present. Nan Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: A simple solution would be to demonstrate the flaw in the system to the professor by recreating the scenario in which you were accused of cheating. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: Explain to your professor that you did not cheat, and that you think the automated system is measuring something other than 'cheating.' Speed is not cheating after all. If the professor will not consider your arguments and decides to fail you anyway, there is a process you can follow. It is called a grievance. File a grievance with the university, and the Dean or other administrators will have to conduct a fair hearing based on evidence. Hearings like this usually include your academic peers, and there may even be academic attorneys who can be hired to assist you. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: The problem is, from experience, that explanation sounds fake -- what someone caught cheating makes-up. An explanation of the weirdness and an acknowledgement about how weird it is might do some good. Instructors don't always know how on-line tests work, so pointing out the format and problems types and how your process isn't completely crazy might help: * Many on-line tests don't allow you to go back and change. Checking one at random and assuming you can change it later is very, very, very odd. If you've been using this test format for a while and it's well known the system is "change any time, submit when done", that might make it seem less weird. * Guessing an answer and moving onto the next Q is a terrible way to work. So terrible it seems like no one would do it. I mean, you need to do some work to have a decent guess, why not do a little more work right then to get a real answer? Explain the details. Maybe in one Q you picked "B) using Hanson's method" because most titration's use it, and obviously reading the details would take a while and the tests don't have lots of extra time. Or is it a look-up thing? You thought you remembered Whistler was a member of the Surrealists, checked A), then came back and looked it up in your messy notes -- sure enough, Surrealist. * 15 minutes? How many Q's? 30? Explain how a Q can be read in 30 seconds and an educated guess made. Pick out 1 or 2 (again, instructors may be doing their best with pre-set quizes they haven't had a great chance to look over). * Explain what "random or guess" means. Under a "best guess using 2 minutes" process, it makes much more sense to leave it blank if you have no idea. When you come back, it's a reminder. Sure a random guess is standard, but only at the end of the test. What's the reasoning behind random answers right away? * You wrote than you usually do this. If your last quiz was also answered in 15 minutes, but then you changed answers over the next hour, that proves you work this way. If they can't get records of your last quiz, then just how good is this anti-cheat software anyway? Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: Long story short, consider offering to retake the test, to validate your innocence. I've been accused of cheating, by my college environmental chemistry professor. The man literally went page by page, from the book, and used his handwritten overhead projector slides from 1969, for his presentations 20 years later. I like to read, and the class was for non-Chemistry majors, so no in depth topics were put in the tests. Additionally, he had a test "preview" class, and he outlined exactly what he'd be putting on the test, every time. After the first exam, I simply read through the chapters, and I never attended any of his classes afterwards, except the previews and exams. He got quite upset that I kept getting perfect scores on his exams, whilst not attending class. He was so adamant, that he brought in the Dean of Academics into the fray. I calmly explained my process to both, and offered to retake the exam on the spot, saying if I got 90% or better, that my 100% exams would stand. They both agreed. I finished the exam in under 10 minutes, and got another 100%. It also didn't hurt that I am an avid Chemistry person, and got a 99 out of 100 on the New York State Regents back in high school, plus A's in Chem I and Chem II already, so I was fairly prepared for this class anyway. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: In parallel with following one or more other suggestions, please contact your student union, and specifically your faculty/department/semester representatives if you have them, and whoever is in charge of student rights in academic affairs. First, they might offer material or procedural advice. Second, they may intervene on your behalf. It is a very different thing to railroad a single isolated student, and to go against something the student union objects to (and, hopefully, will not stand for). I'm not sure if that capability is as strong as it is usually in these days of Covid, but still. Also, as @username_1 points out, it is not possible to prove a negative - and it's quite likely that some guidelines of rules for disciplinary procedures require that concrete evidence be provided of wrongdoing, rather than merely suspicious circumstances. So you (or your student union rep) might be able to "throw the book" at your professor, so to speak. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: This is a partial answer, to be read in parallel with the other answers. The question says: > > Please help me prove that I am not cheating. > > > That is not the real question. The question is: > > How can I convince the university that I did not cheat? > > > My partial answer is that before you can convince the university that you did not cheat, you should try to convince others that you did not cheat. You need to learn to clearly state the relevant information. Your question suggests that you have trouble with this. For example: > > I clearly stated that I did not look up anything > > > Well, of course you would say that. It doesn’t prove anything. > > and I had other tests to take the same day. > > > It is not clear how this is relevant. > > i went over the review powerpoint which had very similar questions to the test once I started taking it. > > > This sounds like you were looking at the review PowerPoint file during the test. I don’t think that’s what you meant. Other answers have suggested contacting student unions etc; they would probably be best placed to help you with this. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: Exactly how are you accused of cheating? > > I got accused of cheating since I answered the questions in 15 mins > > > As others have already noted, finishing a exam quickly is not cheating. It could be a visible symptom of cheating, but it could caused by something else. You provides one possible explanation: > > I answered the questions in 15 mins, and the system recorded that automatically once clicked, instead of recording the time of completing the whole set of questions. When reviewing my answers after the 15 minutes, I realized I guessed correctly and there was no need to pick another answer. > > > But you also provide one other small detail that has been overlooked by other answers: > > They flagged my test when they were looking for people that posted it on chegg. > > > And later in a comment to [buffy's top rated answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/158910/129614), you reiterate: > > I got flagged at the same time as they were looking for those who posted the entire test online on chegg. > > > This seems to be a major point in the accusation, so I'll focus my answer on it. An alternate explanation the university may believe for why you finished the exam quickly is that you were copying the answers from the chegg post; which would be rightfully considered cheating. Others have noted that you can't prove a negative, but in this instance that may not be the case. Quoting from [Chegg's Honor Code](https://www.chegg.com/tutors/honor-code/): > > Copying solutions or requesting unexplained final answers promotes completion without comprehension, which is something we don't support at Chegg. > > > Furthermore, you should be aware that in the event your institution contacts Chegg as part of an investigation into academic integrity, Chegg is authorized under our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to cooperate fully in that investigation and we commonly do. This can include providing information to your institution about your user profile, account, site usage activity, and interactions with Chegg Tutors. > > > If the university really suspects you of using the answers posted on Chegg to finish the exam quickly, the burden of proof rests with them. If the univeristy is not currently working with Chegg to determine if anyone viewed the answers, it might be beneficial to suggest that course of action instead of continuing to speculate. Being cooperative in the process can only help determine the truth and clear your name more quickly. Upvotes: 0
2020/11/16	2,526	10,886	<issue_start>username_0: I emailed a professor at a school I am applying to, outlining my research interests, two specific projects proposals, and how they align with his research. I let him know that I am applying and I'd be interested in working together and chatting if he's taking students. He said he is taking students and asked if I'd like to set up some time to talk. What do I talk about? Here are the main topics regarding his research I can think of: * How did you come to your line of research? * What topics do you feel are under-explored in our sub-area? * What projects are you most actively working on now? Should I also ask for feedback on my proposals, or would that sound stupid? To clarify, I closed my email with something like: If you are looking for graduate students and feel our interests align, I'd like to discuss opportunities for working together.<issue_comment>username_1: Actually, your questions sounds like you are trying to hire him for a position, whereas he would be the one taking on an obligation to you and your future. I would probably have a chuckle if a student asked me those in a first interview. The first question would be good over coffee after we'd worked together for a while. For the last question you might first find a couple of his recent papers rather than ask. But the more important questions are things like * Can you help me find a topic that interests both of us? Follow up on this question if some suggestions are made. * How independent do I need to be (do you expect me to be) and are you available to help if needed? * How successful have other students of yours have been in completion and in their careers? * Is there a seminar in which you and grad students share ideas? If you already have a topic that you want to work on then: * Do you think ABC is a fruitful line of enquiry and (if so) can you help me explore it? But approach such questions cautiously. Some will take offense. Be prepared to be the answerer of questions, not the asker. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I'd probably ask how he sees himself as a PhD-supervisor, what his philosophy of supervising is, and what he expects of his students. "Should I also ask for feedback on my proposals, or would that sound stupid?" This question makes sense to me. As the professor I wouldn't have problems with the other questions that you have already posted either. Regarding the second one, however, I'd like to clarify to what extent you mean this as a question for potential topics that I may have for you. And for addressing this, I first will have some questions for you (I agree with username_1 that it may well be that the professor does the entertainment by bombarding you with questions rather than the other way round). PS: username_1 writes "some may take offense" regarding certain questions, and that may well be, although I wonder how big the "some" set is. Personally I have very little intuitive understanding for people who take offense facing harmless and actually reasonable questions like these. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Interviews with potential advisors will usually include a portion (often at the end) where they ask you if you have any questions for them. It is not necessary to use your own questioning period to try to impress a potential advisor. By now your CV and the other aspects of the interview will have told the advisor whether you are good enough to get into the program. The part of the meeting where you ask questions is purely for your own convenience, in case there is anything you want to know about the program you are applying to. A PhD candidature is usually four or more years of your life, so it is not unreasonable that you might have some questions about what you will be doing during this time, and what help/resources you will have. For that reason, it would be unusual to use this time to dig into the research interests or career evolution of the professor, and it is also not useful to spend that time on technical questions about the topic (there will be plenty of time for those later!). More useful are questions that tell you what you can expect your life to be like if you are a PhD candidate there --- e.g.: * If I am accepted as a PhD candidate here, what would a normal week look like? * How often do you normally meet with your PhD students? What happens if they need extra help from you? * Do you have any existing research problems that would be suitable for a PhD topic, or do you prefer students to find their own topic? (Only if you don't already have your own topic.) * Do you know if the graduate students here socialise together much? Do they have study groups where they get together to help each other? When asking questions, it is best to take a light touch and don't overwhelm your potential advisor. However, if there are any aspects of the program that you want to know about (and you can't get the information yourself elsewhere) then you should feel free to ask questions to find out what your upcoming four years will be like. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I'm surprised no one suggested this yet: * Read some of the professor's recent papers and ask specific questions about the papers. This can pique their interest in working with you far more than a lot of the other things you're considering to ask. * Furthermore, if you have ideas on how to extend the work in their recent papers, you could bring that up and ask about the feasibility of working on such extensions of their recent work. * If you are very keen you might even read some of the literature surrounding the professor's recent work, and ask questions about that. For example if the professor's most recent work compares their own novel method to some benchmark dataset, and you find that others are also comparing to the same benchmark dataset, you might wonder about the differences between the two (possibly competing!) methods that are capable of doing something similar. PhD supervisors often love it when their student (or potential student) is capable of reading and understanding papers on their own, then drawing their own connections foreseeing their own interesting research avenues. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: In addition to the previous comments, starting from the papers that he published, you should also consider his research group. Generally (at least in the UK), you will have a supervisory team, with at least another advisor. It is very important to know if you can have (and trust) someone else's opinion during the project. I would also ask what kind of support you will receive, starting from the studentship. If the project is computer-based or if you have to do experiments, what kind of facilities you can use and how the access will be managed. You should also have a look at the University website and have a look at what kind of support they offer for post-graduate students. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: One of the questions I asked potential PhD advisors that always provided a lot of insight was "What distinguishes a great grad student from a good one?" It frames things positively and professors will usually tell you exactly what they expect from you. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: Here are a couple more things for you to ponder: 1. How long has this prospective advisor been at that school? I had a young rising star for an advisor, and he left for a lesser university after 3 years (biggest fish in the smaller pond sort of scenario). I started new research with an older, established advisor. It extended my grad school experience considerably. 2. Where does the funding come from? If you are in engineering, for example, and your funding comes from DARPA or NASA, you might see boom/bust cycles, and end up as a teaching assistant instead of a research assistant. If you want to be a professor, this could be good. If not, the time spent teaching is time you're not doing your own research. 3. What is the typical time for this advisor's students to go from start to finish? There is wide variation in some departments, for various reasons, and some are somewhat out of your control. You don't have to grill him on these sorts of topics... a simple, basic question will probably get him talking, and he'll tell you more that you would have thought to ask. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: I had a beyond-wonderful advisor, but I've seen some that have made things horrible for their students. I'm not talking about being demanding of hard work, but regular and seemingly arbitrary "resets" of their projects, bad technical advice that must be followed, treating them as a consumable resource etc. Find wording that is natural to you, and ask a seemingly innocuous question whose answer may flag a basic lack of empathy, or unusual amount of self-importance. These are easily (and often) masked by a charming disposition and skilled use of language, so a direct question like "Do you care about your students personally?" won't work. Perhaps "If I may be so bold, would it be possible to ask what you think your students might say if asked for what they liked most and liked least about you as an advisor?" or if the style of conversation seems informal, just "What would your students say was the best and worst part about working for you? Can I ask that?" Most honest people can probably come up with some reasonable answer, but a narcissist will soar on the first half and either struggle with or cleverly avoid the second half. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: This is an addition to points mentioned in other answers. Among the other questions do ask or try to find out about past PhD students. What is now their future as PhD holders. Are they in Academia? Are they hired in a company that you would like to work? Is it a good company? Did their PhD helped them in their career and was it required? You are about to walk a path that others also walked before you. It makes sense to see where they are now to get some indications on where this path may lead. Some supervisors will even list past students in their websites. The research should be extensive and to the level of the specific lab, professor, supervisor. Even within the same school of a university there can be quite a variation. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: I agree with the prior answers. Since the advisor gets to choose you so he gets to ask you more questions. What you should focus on is how would he evaluate your work during phd, what he expects from you, what skills you need to learn, what kind of area should you focus on. I also feel it is very important that you have a very transparent relationship with him. Meaning, if you plan to take breaks (like I did for the birth of my baby) be upfront about it than hiding. A transparent relationship will really help your career. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/17	720	2,825	<issue_start>username_0: This question is a personal one. I feel like going in circles inside my mind, so I might as well formulate it here for my peace of mind. Apologies if it is not in the right format, or if it does create discussion rather than precise answers. Academia is rife with bullying, and there is little doubt about that. I have been to counseling to deal with the effects of the lowest self esteem that I found myself in, during my previous job. I couldn't be promoted, I was actively avoided by the colleagues in my research group and my (many) requests for collaboration shunted. Counselling helped a lot, and it made me stronger and more resilient. I found a better job, including the promotion I was after, and now I am well respected and have a group that I can call 'home'. I was recently called on a duty by a former colleague (nothing fancy, just reviewing some papers for them), and I was tempted to spill all the beans, an aggressive reply and Close the door to the past. I slept on it, and the morning after I accepted the duty. Now I finally realised that the grand scheme of things was for this same colleague to boot everybody else, and become head of the group there, with only lower ranking colleagues around. So people, what to do... a bloody (well, relatively speaking) revenge that lasts a second but cleanses my soul, or a forgive&forget attitude, swearing not to become the same despicable bully myself?<issue_comment>username_1: If you try to take revenge, you are focusing on them. It is no longer about them: it is about you, your new home, your new success. Do the duty as best and professionally as you can, and show the world what a professional academic looks like. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Regardless of what labels are applied to the situation, it sounds like you left to get away from these people. Continuing to engage with them seems like it will undermine that plan and keep you involved (at least mentally) in a situation that's not doing you any good. I think I'd suggest at least contemplating the idea of cutting the cord. There's no need to choose between taking revenge or forgiving and forgetting. The better option is to just accept that you no longer work with them, and that they're no longer a part of your life, and get back to living for youself. Trying to decide between revenge and forgiveness is (a) just your brain trying to keep you psychologically involved in a situation that ought to no longer concern you, and (b) a waste of valuable time in your new life. TL;DR: In the kindest possible way, try not to let your brain get in the way of your new happiness, and move on. p.s. To be specific, if they ask you to do any further reviews, a polite 'sorry, I don't have time right now' is more than enough. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
2020/11/17	2,702	12,543	<issue_start>username_0: I am in the following situation. I got a class with theory an exercise once a week. The students do the exercises at home and have the opportunity to discuss them at the exercise sessions. In each session, there is a test about the exercises from the previous week (similar, but different questions). I am unsure if I should provide the solutions of the exercises directly after the session, the week before the test. Pros: They could see if they solved the exercises correctly before the test. (They may think they got them correct and don’t ask). Unfortunately, I cannot correct all exercises individually as there are too many students. I have about 130 students and 2 TAs. Cons: There is little motivation to work hard on the exercises, as they see the solution before the test. (Yes, good students know they should do them on their own. The problem are the not-so-good students.) Is there better solution that encourage students to work on exercises on their own?<issue_comment>username_1: The way for a "not so good" student to become better is to work harder and solve more exercises. Reading a solution is not at all like finding a solution. Your test becomes one of memorization rather than skill if you test on exercises for which the students have already seen correct solutions. I would suggest that if you provide solutions, rather than individual help on finding solutions and seeing where the students went wrong, that you post them after the test. And, the key, post those answers with additional exercises for those who did poorly on the test to get some additional practice. If you want to incentivize them to solve those exercises, provide some bonus to the test scores for submitting correct solutions to the follow-up exercises. But you have an additional problem in that your "practice sessions" are probably ineffective if they depend on students knowing that their supposed solutions are wrong and that they need help. Students have misconceptions often enough and need to be pushed past them. If they "solve" exercises but no one checks the solutions, then they are unlikely to see where they made a mistake. The exam only tells them that the are wrong, but may not indicate why and it probably won't help them dispel those misconceptions for the next try. The combination of a bit of stick and a bit of carrot might help. You have the stick (the exam) but you are missing the carrot. Give points not just for success but for hard work, even if it is re-work. I often learned lots of math by doing lots of exercises beyond what was required. It was only through that extra work that I was able to achieve insight. Luckily I was self motivated in those instances, but not everyone is. In another course the professor provided lots of external "motivation" through "pop quizzes" which we hated but knowing they were coming, forced us to be ready every day. Remember "flash cards" from early elementary school? Lots of repetition. Lots of feedback. --- An option that I've never used, but might consider in your situation is to require that students who did below a certain mark on one weekly quiz, submit their work for review in the following week (or two). This might reduce the number of papers you need to give feedback on and also make it feel like a reward for the better students who don't need to submit. Or even, make submission optional to everyone. And comment on the papers you do get. With TAs, have them comment on exercise papers and pass them to you for review. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The underlying concern that you raise seems to be how you can best engage students to become self-motivated in their own learning processes, especially "the not so good students", with the resources that you have at hand. Perhaps you might first reframe this as a question back to the students. What will help you (students) become more self-motivated in your own learning processes? After all, what good will you ultimately do in your quest to give away anything that is either not desired, not understood, or not appreciated for its intent? You may also discover that what you believe about the desire of your students to be self-motivated in their own learning processes is a chimera compared to the desire of your students to just get a good grade in your class. As disappointing as the latter finding is, it can serve as a reality check to recalibrate where you might better spend your time to reach those students who sincerely want to do what is needed to learn and yet still be honest with those students who are just passing through your course for whatever reason. One solution is to provide no solutions to the exercises at any point in time. Instead, give the exams with questions drawn directly from a portion of the exercises. The self-motivation is the commensurate statement "If you do all of these exercises, you will have done at least X% of the upcoming exam questions". Finally, you could address your desire to motivate self-learning by having an open-door policy to students who want to review the answers to their work. Another solution is to provide all solutions to all exercises at some point. Realize that, in this day of internet and with the interactions that occur among students, the minute that you open this door for even one student or one portion of the class, you have essentially opened the door for all students at that moment and for all students in advance for all future offerings of your course. You can in this case address your desire to motivate self-learning by stating that exams will have a (smaller) Y% of the questions from the exercises and a corresponding Z% of questions that stay within the scope of the course but go beyond the exercises. Essentially, exam questions from the exercises would test how well students know the material (even if that is only rote memorization) while exam questions not from the exercises would be designed to test their mastery of (knowledge of, understanding of, and ability to apply) the material. Finally, an intermediate solution is to give only a portion of the answers to the exercises. Again, with reference that students will have these next time around, when you decide this option, you may as well give the selected answers directly along with the exercises. Here, you can also balance how you distribute the questions for the exams. One potential advantage of this approach is that you can reserve some questions from the exercises that you do not give answers so that you can use them on exams. You might also simply give some exam questions that are already answered as exercises just to discover how many students will not even commit to studying what they are given to know it let alone studying to learn it. In summary, each of the above three options has its own balance of resources and outcomes. I think that none of them are inherently wrong or right. I think that your first calibration point to decide which option you will use is first to discover what your students believe about the concepts of self-motivation as applied to learning. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: As an instructor, I can assign readings to students, but I cannot actually force students to read. I can only provide consequences in the form of good/bad grades by, for instance, testing students over the reading. I believe it would help you to similarly identify which actions you have control over with regards to giving practice exercises. Students who attempt the exercises before comparing their answer to the solutions could benefit from formative self-assessment, i.e. identifying where they went wrong and how to correct it, or validating correct approaches. * You could withhold solutions, which would make it difficult for students to self-assess their work, but would also prevent students from only reading the solutions without attempting the exercises. * You can provide the solutions as well as instructions on how students should use them for the best learning. You cannot force students to follow those instructions, but the reward of good grades (assuming your exam assesses the desired learning outcomes) is a motivation you can provide. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: It depends on the subject, but in some of my physics classes for example, solutions were often provided for at least half the homework problems in advanced. However, knowing the final value of a solution isn't the same as providing a walkthrough for how to complete the problem, which is itself more difficult and more important for having a grasp of the topic. Often times, having the solution in hand was more incentive for me to work through the problem, because I would be able to tell if I ended up in the right spot, and if not, I would have to rethink how I approached the problem. Without a solution in hand, I was less likely to reevaluate my work, because I didn't know if I was converging or diverging from the correct solution. tl;dr Providing the solutions can provide good motivation to complete the problems, depending on the subject. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: Generally I think it's good for the students to get some but not all solutions. It is sometimes helpful to see how an exercise is done properly, for orientation, and for learning certain things (including how to write). On the other hand providing too many solutions implicitly communicates that the exercises are not about "exercising" but about knowing the right answers, which in my view they are not. Also it will encourage the idea that studying is about learning what's right rather than about understanding and developing one's own thinking. (I regularly have exercises that don't only have one unique true solution, and I don't want to communicate through an official solution that "this is how you have to do it all the time".) I will only decide afterwards which solutions the students get, sometimes based on student requests (including doing surveys about "for which one of the five exercises do you want to have a fully worked through solution", of course after they have done them). Another thing is that one can make active work on exercises a condition for passing the course in one way or another. Versions of this are "everyone has to present on own solution in class at some point", or giving marks on exercises that count toward the final course mark. I have given marks for "serious attempts to solve exercises" regardless of whether they are right or wrong, then only contributing a small percentage to the overall course mark, such as 10%. Actually your tests do this in a way, but as you correctly state, the problem is then that students may be tempted to solve the test based on the given out solutions rather than their own work... so this approach combined with giving out all solutions is problematic exactly for the reason you state. Keeping the tests I'd probably publish selected solutions in a somewhat unpredictable manner, see above. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: You are doing two things wrong. (1) You have been provided with two TAs, but you are not using them to give students feedback on their exercises. (2) You are not handing out solutions. The result of this is that students are operating in a complete vacuum. On the day they walk into an exam, they have absolutely no information about whether their own work has been correct. You complain that "I cannot correct all exercises individually as there are too many students." No. You have 130 students and 2 TAs. That is a very generous level of support. You may not be able to give detailed feedback to every student on a large number of problems, but you can certainly give detailed feedback on some fraction of the problems, or less detailed feedback on all of them. > > There is little motivation to work hard on the exercises, as they see the solution before the test. (Yes, good students know they should do them on their own. The problem are the not-so-good students.) > > > This is why you have been provided with two TAs. Their job is to grade the exercises in order to provide this motivation for the less mature students. Depending on what this class is, you may also be deluding yourself about whether students already have access to solutions. For lower-division math and physics classes, for example, any student who pays $20/month for a chegg account has access to essentially every homework problem in every popular textbook. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/17	2,785	12,815	<issue_start>username_0: My institution moved all courses online this term. I spent a great amount of efforts: * Pre-recording 3 hours of lectures (accompanied by 2% weekly asynchronous quizzes on Moodle) * Holding two 1.5 hours of live Q&A sessions weekly on Zoom However, the attendance of the Q&A sessions have been embarrassingly low (less than 30 out of 320 students). Although students attempt to follow the weekly lecture videos, the vast majority of them only do so about 1 or 2 days before the weekly quizzes are due. Nonetheless, students simply just complain about the workload in general (not just because of this course, but for the accumulated required screen time from all other courses). The end-or-semester course evaluation will start soon. While I am confident that I have done all I could have creating quality learning materials, I am pessimistic about that the majority of students might just put very negative comments just because they are not happy about all courses moved online, not because of my teaching quality. Is this something I shall expect in this very difficulty time? To me, it is just unfair to receive evaluation from students who mostly do not even engage in the content in the first place. Let me know how you folks think?<issue_comment>username_1: The way for a "not so good" student to become better is to work harder and solve more exercises. Reading a solution is not at all like finding a solution. Your test becomes one of memorization rather than skill if you test on exercises for which the students have already seen correct solutions. I would suggest that if you provide solutions, rather than individual help on finding solutions and seeing where the students went wrong, that you post them after the test. And, the key, post those answers with additional exercises for those who did poorly on the test to get some additional practice. If you want to incentivize them to solve those exercises, provide some bonus to the test scores for submitting correct solutions to the follow-up exercises. But you have an additional problem in that your "practice sessions" are probably ineffective if they depend on students knowing that their supposed solutions are wrong and that they need help. Students have misconceptions often enough and need to be pushed past them. If they "solve" exercises but no one checks the solutions, then they are unlikely to see where they made a mistake. The exam only tells them that the are wrong, but may not indicate why and it probably won't help them dispel those misconceptions for the next try. The combination of a bit of stick and a bit of carrot might help. You have the stick (the exam) but you are missing the carrot. Give points not just for success but for hard work, even if it is re-work. I often learned lots of math by doing lots of exercises beyond what was required. It was only through that extra work that I was able to achieve insight. Luckily I was self motivated in those instances, but not everyone is. In another course the professor provided lots of external "motivation" through "pop quizzes" which we hated but knowing they were coming, forced us to be ready every day. Remember "flash cards" from early elementary school? Lots of repetition. Lots of feedback. --- An option that I've never used, but might consider in your situation is to require that students who did below a certain mark on one weekly quiz, submit their work for review in the following week (or two). This might reduce the number of papers you need to give feedback on and also make it feel like a reward for the better students who don't need to submit. Or even, make submission optional to everyone. And comment on the papers you do get. With TAs, have them comment on exercise papers and pass them to you for review. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The underlying concern that you raise seems to be how you can best engage students to become self-motivated in their own learning processes, especially "the not so good students", with the resources that you have at hand. Perhaps you might first reframe this as a question back to the students. What will help you (students) become more self-motivated in your own learning processes? After all, what good will you ultimately do in your quest to give away anything that is either not desired, not understood, or not appreciated for its intent? You may also discover that what you believe about the desire of your students to be self-motivated in their own learning processes is a chimera compared to the desire of your students to just get a good grade in your class. As disappointing as the latter finding is, it can serve as a reality check to recalibrate where you might better spend your time to reach those students who sincerely want to do what is needed to learn and yet still be honest with those students who are just passing through your course for whatever reason. One solution is to provide no solutions to the exercises at any point in time. Instead, give the exams with questions drawn directly from a portion of the exercises. The self-motivation is the commensurate statement "If you do all of these exercises, you will have done at least X% of the upcoming exam questions". Finally, you could address your desire to motivate self-learning by having an open-door policy to students who want to review the answers to their work. Another solution is to provide all solutions to all exercises at some point. Realize that, in this day of internet and with the interactions that occur among students, the minute that you open this door for even one student or one portion of the class, you have essentially opened the door for all students at that moment and for all students in advance for all future offerings of your course. You can in this case address your desire to motivate self-learning by stating that exams will have a (smaller) Y% of the questions from the exercises and a corresponding Z% of questions that stay within the scope of the course but go beyond the exercises. Essentially, exam questions from the exercises would test how well students know the material (even if that is only rote memorization) while exam questions not from the exercises would be designed to test their mastery of (knowledge of, understanding of, and ability to apply) the material. Finally, an intermediate solution is to give only a portion of the answers to the exercises. Again, with reference that students will have these next time around, when you decide this option, you may as well give the selected answers directly along with the exercises. Here, you can also balance how you distribute the questions for the exams. One potential advantage of this approach is that you can reserve some questions from the exercises that you do not give answers so that you can use them on exams. You might also simply give some exam questions that are already answered as exercises just to discover how many students will not even commit to studying what they are given to know it let alone studying to learn it. In summary, each of the above three options has its own balance of resources and outcomes. I think that none of them are inherently wrong or right. I think that your first calibration point to decide which option you will use is first to discover what your students believe about the concepts of self-motivation as applied to learning. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: As an instructor, I can assign readings to students, but I cannot actually force students to read. I can only provide consequences in the form of good/bad grades by, for instance, testing students over the reading. I believe it would help you to similarly identify which actions you have control over with regards to giving practice exercises. Students who attempt the exercises before comparing their answer to the solutions could benefit from formative self-assessment, i.e. identifying where they went wrong and how to correct it, or validating correct approaches. * You could withhold solutions, which would make it difficult for students to self-assess their work, but would also prevent students from only reading the solutions without attempting the exercises. * You can provide the solutions as well as instructions on how students should use them for the best learning. You cannot force students to follow those instructions, but the reward of good grades (assuming your exam assesses the desired learning outcomes) is a motivation you can provide. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: It depends on the subject, but in some of my physics classes for example, solutions were often provided for at least half the homework problems in advanced. However, knowing the final value of a solution isn't the same as providing a walkthrough for how to complete the problem, which is itself more difficult and more important for having a grasp of the topic. Often times, having the solution in hand was more incentive for me to work through the problem, because I would be able to tell if I ended up in the right spot, and if not, I would have to rethink how I approached the problem. Without a solution in hand, I was less likely to reevaluate my work, because I didn't know if I was converging or diverging from the correct solution. tl;dr Providing the solutions can provide good motivation to complete the problems, depending on the subject. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: Generally I think it's good for the students to get some but not all solutions. It is sometimes helpful to see how an exercise is done properly, for orientation, and for learning certain things (including how to write). On the other hand providing too many solutions implicitly communicates that the exercises are not about "exercising" but about knowing the right answers, which in my view they are not. Also it will encourage the idea that studying is about learning what's right rather than about understanding and developing one's own thinking. (I regularly have exercises that don't only have one unique true solution, and I don't want to communicate through an official solution that "this is how you have to do it all the time".) I will only decide afterwards which solutions the students get, sometimes based on student requests (including doing surveys about "for which one of the five exercises do you want to have a fully worked through solution", of course after they have done them). Another thing is that one can make active work on exercises a condition for passing the course in one way or another. Versions of this are "everyone has to present on own solution in class at some point", or giving marks on exercises that count toward the final course mark. I have given marks for "serious attempts to solve exercises" regardless of whether they are right or wrong, then only contributing a small percentage to the overall course mark, such as 10%. Actually your tests do this in a way, but as you correctly state, the problem is then that students may be tempted to solve the test based on the given out solutions rather than their own work... so this approach combined with giving out all solutions is problematic exactly for the reason you state. Keeping the tests I'd probably publish selected solutions in a somewhat unpredictable manner, see above. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: You are doing two things wrong. (1) You have been provided with two TAs, but you are not using them to give students feedback on their exercises. (2) You are not handing out solutions. The result of this is that students are operating in a complete vacuum. On the day they walk into an exam, they have absolutely no information about whether their own work has been correct. You complain that "I cannot correct all exercises individually as there are too many students." No. You have 130 students and 2 TAs. That is a very generous level of support. You may not be able to give detailed feedback to every student on a large number of problems, but you can certainly give detailed feedback on some fraction of the problems, or less detailed feedback on all of them. > > There is little motivation to work hard on the exercises, as they see the solution before the test. (Yes, good students know they should do them on their own. The problem are the not-so-good students.) > > > This is why you have been provided with two TAs. Their job is to grade the exercises in order to provide this motivation for the less mature students. Depending on what this class is, you may also be deluding yourself about whether students already have access to solutions. For lower-division math and physics classes, for example, any student who pays $20/month for a chegg account has access to essentially every homework problem in every popular textbook. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/18	1,760	7,373	<issue_start>username_0: So the title of the question is quite broad, I've seen a few of questions in the site regarding this particular topic (quite a few actually, so let me know if this is somehow a duplicate). My problem is the following, I am working on my PhD thesis, and so far me and my supervisor have collaborated in a few articles (that somehow constitute the body of my thesis). Right now I am working on a particular article (on which I've made all the work). The fact is that my supervisor, and apparently all the members of my faculty tend to put authors in alphabetic order. The fact is that my last-name starts with a "T" so by using their logic I will almost surely end-up being the second\third author. I don't feel this is actually fair, since after some search online I've seen that in general the order of the authors reflects somehow how much work was done by each one. So it seems strange for me to be like "coauthoring" my own PhD thesis. What should I do? I don't want to appear pretentious, or rude in front of my supervisor, but I don't think it's fair for me either. Do you have some advice on what to do? In case it's relevant my field of research is pure math.<issue_comment>username_1: In fields where alphabetic ordering is the norm, non-alphabetic ordering is sometimes used for indicating that the first author contributed much more. (See for example <https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0510032>). Asking to be first author would seem reasonable in your case. This said, author ordering is a rather coarse way of indicating who did what. Some journals now make "author contribution statements" mandatory, see this Nature editorial: <https://www.nature.com/articles/4581078a> Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: (edit: my take from the Computer Science community) I'll start by saying that every research group has their own conventions. Some allow every member of the group to be coauthors of every paper produced within that group. Others use sophisticated systems like counting the lines of text written to establish what is the highest contributing author, then establish the list. No matter what style your group has, its conventions should be first accepted as valid, since they were probably established a while ago. If they seem implausible, they should be discussed or challenged. From my perspective, it's more important, especially at your stage, to learn the discipline of this job, rather than trying to change its structure. Now coming to your academic production: regarding papers, I'm of the opinion that PhD students work together with their advisor. Advisors should always contribute to their students' work, and a PhD student should always include them in the authors' list. I am actually happy with the grey area of contributions: since you and your advisor discuss about progress, next steps and ideas, even though he/she might not write a single line in your paper, I think that they should be still considered coauthors. Their contribution, even if only reading the paper and asking to change here and there, is indeed a contribution. I know there is a lot of discussion about that on other platforms, but this indeed is my own opinion. I see your point with alphabetical order: my surname is with "V" so I had the same issue in the past. It sucks but I worked my socks off to be considered the first author, but at times I did not succeed. On the other hand, your PhD thesis will be submitted as your own work. I do not know of cases where the final thesis had any another name, apart the candidate's. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: The convention in pure math is to list authors in alphabetical order. Since this is generally known inside pure math, readers will not draw any conclusions from the author order about the relative importance of contributions. In fact, my impression is that most pure mathematicians prefer to avoid discussion of relative importance of contributions altogether, with the exception of occassionally giving more credit to their coauthors in slightly informal settings. [As a side note, Author contribution statements seem to be unfeasible for widespread use in math. While there are collaborations where X proved Theorem 1 and Y proved Theorem 2, it is in my experience far more common that X and Y talked repeatedly over a long period of time, and at some point the proofs materialized.] Admittedly, being listed first will mean being noticed a little bit more. However, in line with the convention about author order, the "X et al"-style is typically avoided. It seems far more common to refer to unwieldly large groups of authors by initials (eg GKSSW proved that...). The place where your advisor is supposed to express how overwhelming your contributions were is in your letters of recommendation. That said, in pure math it is also convention that merely advising a student does not establish authorship. It is even a common sentiment that advisors should be very reluctant in appearing as a coauthor on an advisor/student paper. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: Let me suggest that in pure mathematics the conventions are that a student is usually permitted/encouraged to write sole author papers. And for properly done joint work, the convention is to use alphabetical order for authors. Mathematicians will understand this though people in other fields might not. But, you can also include a short "contributions" section in the paper detailing who did what and how the various people contributed to joint work. My suggestion, though subject to your advisor's approval, is to write this as a sole author paper. But the reason for the advisor's approval is really just political, not ethical. If they oppose it and thereafter make your professional life difficult, then you gain nothing. I studied math, but taught CS for the most part. I had a few doctoral students. I'd have been amazed if any of them thought it would be a good idea for me to be a co-author of their work, though I guided some quite closely. A polite thank you somewhere for any help I gave is enough. I think this is pretty standard in mathematics and in theoretical CS. --- Of course, there may be some places in the world where the conventions, even in math, are different and unknown to me. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: > > "What should I do? I don't want to appear pretentious, or rude in > front of my supervisor, but I don't think it's fair for me either. > > > In case it's relevant my field of research is pure math." > > > My recommendation is to accept that alphabetical authorship is the ubiquitous convention not only in pure math but also in most areas of math and computer science. You did the right thing by asking here instead of complaining to your supervisor. If your concern is that you might in the future want an academic job in physics or engineering or a non-academic job where the recruiters might make the *mistake* of thinking that you were a minor contributor to all those papers, then you can always put something like this in your CV at the top of your publication list (this is taken from [my friend's academic webpage](https://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/%7Edoty/papers/)): [![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oNl8s.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oNl8s.png) Upvotes: 3
2020/11/18	714	3,048	<issue_start>username_0: So I'm in a very strange situation. I got a mail that said that there is a suspicion of cheating in my Python coding exam. It said that I and two other students have very similar answers on the test so I contacted these students and compared our exams. It is very strange because this was an exam for basic Python and the questions are not very hard. The thing is that we had similar answers on a couple of questions but there are not a lot of ways to answer the questions. I don't even know the other two students. We will have a group meeting this week and I have no idea how this will go. How can I prove that I did not cheat?<issue_comment>username_1: Don't panic. If you did nothing wrong, all you need is to explain what you did and everything shall be OK. Based on some similarity metric (computed automatically or spotted by a naked eye), your lecturer or teaching assistant marked your work as a potential case of collusion (working together on individual exams). Now you are invited to a meeting, whose purpose is simply to investigate what happened. As a lecturer, I attend them routinely (from the other side than the one you find yourself in), and I can tell you that 50%+ of cases are dismissed immediately. During the meeting, you will be asked a number of questions. One of them is likely going to be "did you work together with someone"? or "did you share your work with someone"? Answer honestly and provide details when they ask you to. Don't stress out and try to remain calm and polite as much as possible. If you need support, you usually can bring a student union representative or a personal counsel with you. Don't overthink it. You are not accused at this stage, the misconduct is only suspected by the system. This meeting is not a trial, it's more like a routine checkup. There can be similarities between you work and the work of other students, but as you said, if the problems are simple and straightforward, the similarities are quite possible. Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Most often than not, when programmers face a common problem, a common software pattern will emerge. In this case all you need to do is to explain your rationale and defend your choices. If you can explain the rationale behind it, we'll have a better consideration of you and the case will be dismissed right away. Note: This belongs to comment's section. Unfortunately I don't have enough points to comment under @username_1's stellar answer, hence this Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: While common problems have common solutions individual programmers leave individual fingerprints which get copied and can be the hallmarks of cheating. So, for instance: int a ,b; is distinct from int a,b; and int a, b; to a plagiarism program but identical code. Never copy-paste other sources because you will bring these tell-tale fingerprints across. It's likely that these non programmatic tell-tales and style choices are what mark your code as suspiciously similar. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/18	679	2,660	<issue_start>username_0: Usually it is simple: "Dear Prof. Berret...", Dear Dr. Jones...". But this time I have to write a formal letter to a person with a Masters Degree (MSc). I never met the person, can not be sure about their gender (<NAME> could be both man/woman). The person is active in academia, publishing frequently and their job title is "Director". What are my options? Dear Director of... (with no name)? Dear Principal Investigator ...? Dear <NAME>? Dear <NAME>? Anyone?<issue_comment>username_1: Don't overthink it. Try to find out the gender and then use "Mr." or "Mrs." Even many professors don't insist on titles most the time and a person with a master degree is usually just a (former) student, who is one step further than other students. In a second E-Mail you can then use how they call themself in their signature. "Dear Director" may be appropriate, when the job position is relevant to your E-Mail. (It may depend on the country how much people want to be addressed using their academic full title) Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: In these cases, I either sidestep the issue and say "Greetings" or refer to them by their first name, e.g., "Dear Tracy." Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: At least far as I am aware, truly "formal letters" for job application purposes in the US/Canada are pretty much obsolete (I can't say as much about other areas of North America, you haven't been very specific). Maybe in some particular fields where I don't have much exposure that isn't true (law? certain areas of business? politics?). There may be formal communication of contracts and such, but not as much between peers or people who will be in a direct reporting relationship. There's polite address, sure, but politely referring to someone by name is usually sufficient when they don't have a more official title. "Dear Firstname Lastname" is fine for someone without a doctorate, professor role, or government role. Even the "Dear" is a bit quaint these days. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: If you are not sure of the proper title to use because information is missing (in this case gender), then the best way is to use a general salutation, leaning towards a more formal form. 'Dear Sir/Madam,' (capitals depending on locality) or even just 'L.S.' (lectori salutem). I also see no problem with 'Dear director Smith,', but know not everyone might appreciate that. For job applications 'Dear hiring manager,' is also commonly used and acceptable. P.S. I've never heard of Tracy as a male name. Is it just an example or is there really a place where it's common for men to be called that? Upvotes: 1
2020/11/18	785	3,225	<issue_start>username_0: I am currently a TT faculty at a R3 (4 year teaching) school and I would like to go to a more research focussed place. After talking to seniors in my field, I understood that I need strong research program to be able to make the transition from R3 to R2 or R1. However, I feel it's very difficult to continue research while I'm in a R3 school because 1)teaching load is high 2) my school doesn't value research that much so there won't be many opportunities like course buy outs etc 3)I need excellent teaching evaluations because I will be applying for jobs. Is there a better way to plan and execute this transition or is it even possible to go from R3 to R1? Am I chasing something that's not achievable? It would be great to hear success stories and some tips as well. ps: I have other questions about whether or not to disclose to your current department that you are applying for jobs. But I will ask that in a separate post.<issue_comment>username_1: I'd suggest two things. First is that you don't risk not getting tenure. So, keep doing the things that your current institution values and do them well. But to move on into a more research oriented situation, you can get yourself connected to others who do serious research and work with them as a collaborator and eventually a co-author. This can build a reputation for yourself that might be attractive to an R1 or R2 institution. I suspect, from your "handle" here that you are in mathematics. Fortunately that field is easier than many others for collaboration at a distance. You can attend seminars at some nearby R1, perhaps, and introduce yourself. Conferences are another possibility. Your school library may not be adequate, but interlibrary loan will get you anything you need. The plan may take a while to reach fruition, but it can be done. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The bad news is that this is very difficult, that many more people attempt such a move than succeed. And the Covid-19 has made a hash out of university budgets, making future faculty hiring more uncertain. There are two pieces of good news however: 1. One is that, due to the pandemic, a huge amount of username_2 activity has moved online. For example, if you are in math, there are huge lists of [seminars](https://researchseminars.org/) and [conferences](https://mathmeetings.net/), most of which are held online and are open to all. Find some talks to attend, ask questions, and try to chat with the speakers and other participants afterwards. And, if you have research to present, some conferences invite participants to give contributed talks. 2. The way to succeed at moving is to succeed at what you'd be doing at an R1 anyway: be an active researcher. So, to the extent that you have the time and energy, just start doing the work that you want to do: Learn as much as you can; talk to people; find open questions to work on; and get results. As far as moving goes, the odds are probably against you. I myself tried to "move up" and wasn't successful. But doing good research is its own reward, and much less dependent on the vagaries of the job market. And who knows, you might get lucky. Good luck. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/18	426	1,765	<issue_start>username_0: I'm applying to Ph.D. programs in the biomedical field in the US but I have a question regarding reference letters: Can I request a reference letter from a co-worker that has no Ph.D. (instead has been working in a research institute for many years) or a professor from my undergrad university (does not have a Ph.D. but has years of experience) and still be valid? Or should I request a reference letter just to researchers that have a Ph.D.?<issue_comment>username_1: You can, of course, request a reference letter from anyone. However, the point of having a reference letter is to speak to your ability to succeed in a research program. Because a PhD is a marker of having succeeded in the same program they're recommending you for, it is highly recommended that you get a letter from someone with a PhD. If these researchers know you well, then their letters can be valuable, but you should make sure to get a letter from someone with a PhD, if you can. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, if these people can credibly speak about your research ability. Naturally, one is able to talk more credibly about another's research ability if one is also able to conduct research. This isn't dissimilar from how one is only able to comment intelligently on a piece of work is one is also in the same field. Research ability and a PhD aren't an if-and-only-if relation. It's possible to do research without a PhD (basically applies to all PhD students), or get a research job without a PhD. But if one has a PhD then one is basically guaranteed to be able to do research. In the same way, if you ask someone without a PhD to write a reference letter attesting to your research ability, they might not know what to say. Upvotes: 0
2020/11/19	964	3,945	<issue_start>username_0: I have recieved the grades for my PhD, and the defense is yet to be done. I have a magna cum laude for the course work, and a cum laude for my dissertation. Do I have an academic career in Germany if I end up with a cum laude for the PhD? Is there any way I can salvage a magna cum laude? The defense remains. Neither of my supervisors read any of my drafts. They said that I should submit, and then gave me cum laude, which is the second-to-lowest in Germany. (There is rite, cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude.)<issue_comment>username_1: I don't know the specifics of Germany, but in general an academic career doesn't depend that much on the PhD, let alone on the level of honor given to the degree. If you apply for postdoc positions at the international level, people are unlikely to even look at the level of honor because these differ a lot by country so they do not provide a standard objective indication. Traditionally the publication track record is considered more important, and of course how well your profile fits the specifics of the job. If you get a postdoc position and do a good job during the postdoc, nobody will care about the PhD level of honor. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Well, yes, but also no. Permanent academic positions that are not professorships are relatively rare in Germany. Since most researchers want to eventually have a permanent position, it is in the interest of all long-term researchers to eventually become "berufungsfähig" (suitable for becoming a tenured associate or full professor). The vast majority of the universities are public in Germany, and hence the laws of the respective state regulate hiring in the universities. All(?) "Landeshochschulgesetze" (law on higher education) list mandatory requirements for candidates for professor positions. For instance, the respective law of the state of North-Rhine Westfalia (that has the largest population) states as a requirement: > > besondere Befähigung zu wissenschaftlicher Arbeit, die in der Regel durch die Qualität einer Promotion nachgewiesen wird; > > > In English, this means that the candidate must show a substantial/remarkable/special ability to research work, which is normally indicated by the quality of the PhD. Given that PhDs are thesis-only in Germany (while the defense may also include more general questions about the field of work), this means that the PhD thesis should be particularly good and have a corresponding grade. The state of Lower Saxony has in their law that the PhD should be above average, and given that there are four passing grades, "cum laude" is probably below average. Now what does should mean concretely? It means that if a hiring committee wants to hire somebody with a bad PhD thesis, they risk the overall hiring process being delayed or even canceled. There may be objections, candidates not snatching the precious professorship may sue, or the respective ministry of education may intervene or simply refuse to send the offer letter to the successful candidate. There have surely been cases of pea counting as far as the formalities of candidates to be hired are concerned in the past, and this adds to the risk. Hiring committees and universities will probably take the risk if there is a very good and demonstratable reason for why the candidate is excellent despite a bad PhD thesis, depending on their legal interpretation of the should and how much they are willing to risk it. In any case, certainly, those candidates with a good PhD thesis have a substantial head-start, and it's quite hard to catch up for candidates with a grade lower than "Magna Cum Laude". Having said this, there are also other permanent academic positions, such as in Fraunhofer or Max Planck institutes that may or may not have similar requirement. So a Cum Laude may not be a big deal if they want you for a different reason. Upvotes: 3
2020/11/19	543	2,416	<issue_start>username_0: I have been doing teaching work in my field for several years while at the same time conducting and publishing research (I am from a developing country). All of these projects have been collaborative, with two being conducted alongside two different professors. Now, I feel I am ready to apply for a PhD but one of the professors, who is also abroad, is keen on doing a couple of more projects with me. I am concerned and ambivalent about this for two reasons: 1. The first project we did together was relevant to my research interests/expertise and my role/contribution was clear there. But, the new projects are at best tangentially relevant to my interests and future research area. I am worried that conducting research on such topics could mean (to a potential PhD supervisor or graduate admissions committee) that I am somehow intellectually disorganized or still undecided about my main interests. 2. Relatedly, I am concerned that reporting even more collaborations on my CV at this stage may put off potential PhD supervisors who may become suspicious of my commitment to their program or think my attention will be divided. Is there any validity to these concerns? Or, am I just passing up on a good opportunity to expand my research profile?<issue_comment>username_1: It is hard to see how doing research, especially collaborative research, could be a bad thing. If someone (and there may be a few) would mark you down for that then you probably don't want to work with them in any case. However, an advisor would probably want some commitment from you that you will focus on the research you do with them. That is natural. But even then, it is useful for a student to have interests beyond their dissertation in order to give their mind a rest when blocks appear. Changing your focus can be a good thing if it doesn't become overwhelming. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't see any problem with adding additional collaborative projects, but make sure you can finish something and aren't stretching yourself so thin that you make no progress. There's nothing wrong with exploring research interests, if anything, it's a benefit. But you also want to show you have some follow-through. It's completely different to have started 10 different things and finished none of them than if you've completed some projects and also tested the waters on others. Upvotes: 3
2020/11/19	3,232	12,744	<issue_start>username_0: Assumptions: * The typical pure math PhD-bound undergraduate goes into a pure math PhD because they are [insert reasonable prerequisites for pure math PhD, (not the focus of this question)] and they want to end up in academia. * (With some exceptions) A pure math PhD is for people who want to enter academia. Since most pure math PhD students won't end up in academia, we must wonder, given the above assumptions, the following question. Question * Aside from the easy answer (see below), why should the typical pure math PhD-bound undergraduate enter a pure math PhD program if they will (1) probably not achieve their goal of entering academia and (2) probably have a few hard years after their PhD in chaotically bouncing around post-docs (never knowing when the end is in sight) and eventually readjusting their career goals to go into industry? (1), (2) are based on observations one can easily make by browsing this site and talking to professors. This question may be abstracted to * Why should one go on a 5 year journey to achieve something they will probably not achieve, and upon failure, will subsequently face irreversible consequences (i.e., time lost, financial insecurity, etc.)? The easy answer: The typical answer is: "Follow your heart, and do it if you can't imagine yourself doing something else." But this is an emotional answer which is automatically true for every undergraduate who is very serious about a pure math PhD. And just because you think something will make you happy doesn't mean you should always do it. Sure, a PhD is fun, but it seems like a PhD gets really not fun very quickly upon graduation. Overall, it's very easy for naive undergraduates to accept this "follow your heart" answer because us pure math PhD-bound undergraduates tend to think "Others have trouble, but I'm special." That's an extremely naive and unrealistic way to address the fact that most graduates from pure math PhD programs experience employment difficulties. My background: Mathematics undergraduate applying to PhD programs. I like math, I think I'm mentally and academically prepared to enroll in a pure math PhD program, and I have aimed to enter academia for a while. I know that with the right institution I would love a pure math PhD, but I want realistic career goals and not some naive expectation of "grad school -> PhD -> post-doc -> tenure" in going into a pure math PhD. Note: My background is not really a background. It is included to reinforce the fact that I'm your average pure math PhD-bound undergraduate, who would probably do just fine in PhD program, and therefore this question might apply to similar undergraduates who are also not trying to be so naive about their career goals.<issue_comment>username_1: First, a math PhD is meant to give you training to learn how to do research in mathematics, which is different than training you only for academia. There are different reasons to pursue a math PhD, and in my experience a lot of (most?) people who start don't even know what they want to do career-wise after they finish. It's true a math PhD is the best preparation you can have for becoming a math professor, but it can also prepare you for many other jobs that require a high level of mathematical expertise, and often involve some aspects of research. At least in the US, if you look at [the AMS annual survey](https://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/annual-survey), you'll see many people who get PhDs do stay in academia (for research, or teaching, or some combination of both). See also the [AMS career page](https://www.ams.org/profession/career-info/career-index) for some non-academic job options for math PhDs. Second, at the undergraduate level, it's too early to tell whether it will be difficult for you to succeed in academia or not. While it's true that it's not easy to get a job in academia nowadays, it's certainly far from impossible (e.g., see the AMS data), and there are a wide range of jobs in academia from teaching to research. Math PhDs are still very marketable, and going through a program will help you figure out exactly what you want to do (be it research or teaching, academia or industry). So if you want to do a math PhD, my suggestion is to apply and see what happens. After a year or two in the program, you might decide it's not for you and leave with a master's, which is also marketable. If you like, you could also apply for some master's programs and some jobs to see what you options are; sometimes being confronted with decisions helps you figure out what you want. (And taking a job for a couple of years, and then deciding on a math PhD is perfectly fine too.) Finally, most paths in life involve "anxiety, stress, and uncertainty". Your attitude to how you approach your endeavors makes a big difference on how stressful they are. [This blogpost](https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-awesomest-7-year-postdoc-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-tenure-track-faculty-life/) is written a later academic stage, but maybe it will help give you some perspective on how to enjoy your time in academia, however long it lasts. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Unless you are already financially free, ultimately the most important reason for education is to enable get you a job. Note an academic job is also a job. It is something that pays the bills and puts food on the table. In this sense it is no different from working as a cashier at your local supermarket. Why study at all if you can just work at your local supermarket? Because there are some jobs that require technical skills that are imparted only by education. For example if you want to work as an electrical engineer, you will need to be familiar with things like Ohm's law. You need to be able to handle algebra, trigonometry, calculus, statistics, and so on. Humans are not born with the ability to do these things - you learn them via education. In a similar way, a PhD in pure math will equip you with skills to handle certain jobs. One way to see what they are is to check your local jobs portal and search for jobs that require a math PhD degree. Here's an [example](https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=ac8905ce79238d20&tk=1enh9kbe6f7kh800&from=serp&vjs=3). > > Overview > > > SIG is looking for someone with an understanding and interest in sports analytics to join our Quantitative Research team. Quantitative Researchers at SIG use research to better understand markets and to identify, develop and improve strategies for the firm. > > > This is a research, development and modeling role in which you will use your background in mathematics and statistics to seek out reliable, timely sports data to clean, analyze, and transform into algorithms and strategies. This position will likely require intermittent international travel. > > > What we're looking for > > > * Graduate degree in STEM concentration; PHD preferred > * Interest in sports data/analytics with a strong understanding of US Sports-NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL > * Data mining and modeling experience > * Practical programming experience in Python, C++, Matlab, and/or R > > > If you want to do this job, a math PhD degree will be helpful. You ask: > > Why should I go on a 5 year journey to achieve something I am probably not going to achieve, and upon failure, will subsequently face irreversible consequences (i.e., time lost, financial insecurity, etc.)? > > > Because you think the rewards that come with getting the degree outweighs the losses if you fail. This is no different from many other decisions we make in life. Here's a similar decision you might already have made, reworded: > > Why should I go on a lifelong journey with my significant other if it's possible they might cheat on me or fall in love with someone else, and subsequently force me to face irreversible consequences (i.e. time lost, financial insecurity, divorce lawsuits, etc.)? > > > Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: > > why should I enter a pure math PhD program with the goal of entering academia if I will (1) probably not achieve this goal, (2) probably have a few hard years after my math PhD, and (3) probably end up in industry in which case I could have taken a less stressful route and even prepared myself better with a PhD in another field? > > > With the mindset that you are showing by the very loaded way your question is phrased - including several rather misguided beliefs I will address below - consider the possibility that the answer is “you shouldn’t”. What are these beliefs I’m referring to? They are: 1. Something is not worth trying if the probability of success is lower than 50% 2. The definition of “success” in pursuing a pure math PhD is to have a career in academia 3. Any argument for pursuing a pure math PhD is not helpful or worth considering if it is “vague and subjective”. In fact, these beliefs are not true in any universal sense. The decision to pursue a PhD in pure math is a personal and completely subjective one. It’s right for some people, and not right for others, and for each person it’s either right or not right for different reasons: e.g., for some people who do define success as an academic career it’s still the right decision because they are talented enough to defy the average not-so-great statistical odds you are referring to; others simply define success in completely different ways. Likewise, the people for whom the decision does not seem like the right one also differ in the reasons why they reach that conclusion. Some are passionate about math but don’t think the effort, stress and opportunity cost are worth the risk of not achieving the dream of an academic career. Others may be so mathematically talented that they can know with a fairly high degree of certainty that they can have an academic career, and yet nonetheless find other opportunities more alluring. Your question suggests that you want someone to come here and persuade you to do a pure math PhD by giving you some objective, scientific reason to do it. That’s not how it works. You’ll have to do your own thinking and make your own decision based on your own ideas of what matters most in life and what kind of life and career you want. I said at the beginning of the answer that it sounds like a math PhD may not be right for you, but of course I don’t know you and may well be wrong about that impression, so don’t let it prevent you from making the choice that’s right for you. Good luck! Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Look - for a homo economicus, a PhD program in (pure) math is clearly a bad idea. I quit a $60K/yr job back in 1999 to do a math PhD. My current salary as a tenured associate professor is a little more than $70K/yr - less than my salary 20 years ago adjusted for inflation. I'm probably out most of a million dollars in lost earnings. I faced a much friendlier job market (though I still had to be lucky to get a job - it wasn't that friendly) than anyone doing a PhD now will face. But - I really didn't like tech consulting, and in fact when I left I vowed to never work in a position of any responsibility in a for-profit company ever again. A PhD doesn't make your job prospects worse. If you don't get an academic job after a PhD and maybe some postdoc, then you'll be able to get a slightly better version of whatever job you could get now. Would it be worth the lost earnings and lost time if you don't get an academic job? In large part that will depend on how much you enjoy actually doing the PhD. I can't answer that for you. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: People enter pure math PhD programs because they enjoy doing mathematics and will have a stable career afterwards. That career may or may not involve doing mathematics, but who cares? If you can get a programming job now, or after spending five years obtaining a math PhD, which would you rather do? You can leave the PhD at any time if your preferences change. Now if there is another more applied area that you're also passionate about but has better career prospects, then that is a difficult question which would require more personalized advice. This is an important question. I think the other answers are somewhat dismissive of the fact that those from less privileged backgrounds need to care about these things. Getting a CS PhD (with summer internships) and a pure math PhD (without) could be the difference between affording a yearly flight back to see your family and not. My main point is that math is lucrative enough that you'll still be able to make it, and you can change your mind at any time. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/20	2,859	11,281	<issue_start>username_0: For background, I'm currently enrolled in the honors college for both my majors (CS and Econ) in my university. Honors for each major means that I have to take 1-2 courses per major where the only focus is research. While my "main" major is CS (the one I spend the most time on, will use for jobs later), I'm not sure I want to do honors there. I could be taking grad courses that go deeper into topics that interest me and can do research on the side (ie as part of a prof's group) without those credits. For Econ, I'm more concerned. I've heard it's more important for an Econ student to do honors and it would be much more difficult for me to do research without the designated courses. However, I don't plan on going to grad school for Econ as of right now (I'm thinking about doing an MBA/masters in CS if it helps). Furthermore, basically every place I apply to doesn't care whether I've done honors or not. I joined for the learning and experiencing research in undergrad, but it seems difficult to justify when the same time/credit hours can be spent doing something else that would be more applicable to jobs (ex. taking a grad lvl deep learning course). How would I go about evaluating whether the honors is worth it in either major? What value does one derive by doing research as an undergrad?<issue_comment>username_1: First, a math PhD is meant to give you training to learn how to do research in mathematics, which is different than training you only for academia. There are different reasons to pursue a math PhD, and in my experience a lot of (most?) people who start don't even know what they want to do career-wise after they finish. It's true a math PhD is the best preparation you can have for becoming a math professor, but it can also prepare you for many other jobs that require a high level of mathematical expertise, and often involve some aspects of research. At least in the US, if you look at [the AMS annual survey](https://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/annual-survey), you'll see many people who get PhDs do stay in academia (for research, or teaching, or some combination of both). See also the [AMS career page](https://www.ams.org/profession/career-info/career-index) for some non-academic job options for math PhDs. Second, at the undergraduate level, it's too early to tell whether it will be difficult for you to succeed in academia or not. While it's true that it's not easy to get a job in academia nowadays, it's certainly far from impossible (e.g., see the AMS data), and there are a wide range of jobs in academia from teaching to research. Math PhDs are still very marketable, and going through a program will help you figure out exactly what you want to do (be it research or teaching, academia or industry). So if you want to do a math PhD, my suggestion is to apply and see what happens. After a year or two in the program, you might decide it's not for you and leave with a master's, which is also marketable. If you like, you could also apply for some master's programs and some jobs to see what you options are; sometimes being confronted with decisions helps you figure out what you want. (And taking a job for a couple of years, and then deciding on a math PhD is perfectly fine too.) Finally, most paths in life involve "anxiety, stress, and uncertainty". Your attitude to how you approach your endeavors makes a big difference on how stressful they are. [This blogpost](https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-awesomest-7-year-postdoc-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-tenure-track-faculty-life/) is written a later academic stage, but maybe it will help give you some perspective on how to enjoy your time in academia, however long it lasts. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Unless you are already financially free, ultimately the most important reason for education is to enable get you a job. Note an academic job is also a job. It is something that pays the bills and puts food on the table. In this sense it is no different from working as a cashier at your local supermarket. Why study at all if you can just work at your local supermarket? Because there are some jobs that require technical skills that are imparted only by education. For example if you want to work as an electrical engineer, you will need to be familiar with things like Ohm's law. You need to be able to handle algebra, trigonometry, calculus, statistics, and so on. Humans are not born with the ability to do these things - you learn them via education. In a similar way, a PhD in pure math will equip you with skills to handle certain jobs. One way to see what they are is to check your local jobs portal and search for jobs that require a math PhD degree. Here's an [example](https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=ac8905ce79238d20&tk=1enh9kbe6f7kh800&from=serp&vjs=3). > > Overview > > > SIG is looking for someone with an understanding and interest in sports analytics to join our Quantitative Research team. Quantitative Researchers at SIG use research to better understand markets and to identify, develop and improve strategies for the firm. > > > This is a research, development and modeling role in which you will use your background in mathematics and statistics to seek out reliable, timely sports data to clean, analyze, and transform into algorithms and strategies. This position will likely require intermittent international travel. > > > What we're looking for > > > * Graduate degree in STEM concentration; PHD preferred > * Interest in sports data/analytics with a strong understanding of US Sports-NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL > * Data mining and modeling experience > * Practical programming experience in Python, C++, Matlab, and/or R > > > If you want to do this job, a math PhD degree will be helpful. You ask: > > Why should I go on a 5 year journey to achieve something I am probably not going to achieve, and upon failure, will subsequently face irreversible consequences (i.e., time lost, financial insecurity, etc.)? > > > Because you think the rewards that come with getting the degree outweighs the losses if you fail. This is no different from many other decisions we make in life. Here's a similar decision you might already have made, reworded: > > Why should I go on a lifelong journey with my significant other if it's possible they might cheat on me or fall in love with someone else, and subsequently force me to face irreversible consequences (i.e. time lost, financial insecurity, divorce lawsuits, etc.)? > > > Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: > > why should I enter a pure math PhD program with the goal of entering academia if I will (1) probably not achieve this goal, (2) probably have a few hard years after my math PhD, and (3) probably end up in industry in which case I could have taken a less stressful route and even prepared myself better with a PhD in another field? > > > With the mindset that you are showing by the very loaded way your question is phrased - including several rather misguided beliefs I will address below - consider the possibility that the answer is “you shouldn’t”. What are these beliefs I’m referring to? They are: 1. Something is not worth trying if the probability of success is lower than 50% 2. The definition of “success” in pursuing a pure math PhD is to have a career in academia 3. Any argument for pursuing a pure math PhD is not helpful or worth considering if it is “vague and subjective”. In fact, these beliefs are not true in any universal sense. The decision to pursue a PhD in pure math is a personal and completely subjective one. It’s right for some people, and not right for others, and for each person it’s either right or not right for different reasons: e.g., for some people who do define success as an academic career it’s still the right decision because they are talented enough to defy the average not-so-great statistical odds you are referring to; others simply define success in completely different ways. Likewise, the people for whom the decision does not seem like the right one also differ in the reasons why they reach that conclusion. Some are passionate about math but don’t think the effort, stress and opportunity cost are worth the risk of not achieving the dream of an academic career. Others may be so mathematically talented that they can know with a fairly high degree of certainty that they can have an academic career, and yet nonetheless find other opportunities more alluring. Your question suggests that you want someone to come here and persuade you to do a pure math PhD by giving you some objective, scientific reason to do it. That’s not how it works. You’ll have to do your own thinking and make your own decision based on your own ideas of what matters most in life and what kind of life and career you want. I said at the beginning of the answer that it sounds like a math PhD may not be right for you, but of course I don’t know you and may well be wrong about that impression, so don’t let it prevent you from making the choice that’s right for you. Good luck! Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Look - for a homo economicus, a PhD program in (pure) math is clearly a bad idea. I quit a $60K/yr job back in 1999 to do a math PhD. My current salary as a tenured associate professor is a little more than $70K/yr - less than my salary 20 years ago adjusted for inflation. I'm probably out most of a million dollars in lost earnings. I faced a much friendlier job market (though I still had to be lucky to get a job - it wasn't that friendly) than anyone doing a PhD now will face. But - I really didn't like tech consulting, and in fact when I left I vowed to never work in a position of any responsibility in a for-profit company ever again. A PhD doesn't make your job prospects worse. If you don't get an academic job after a PhD and maybe some postdoc, then you'll be able to get a slightly better version of whatever job you could get now. Would it be worth the lost earnings and lost time if you don't get an academic job? In large part that will depend on how much you enjoy actually doing the PhD. I can't answer that for you. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: People enter pure math PhD programs because they enjoy doing mathematics and will have a stable career afterwards. That career may or may not involve doing mathematics, but who cares? If you can get a programming job now, or after spending five years obtaining a math PhD, which would you rather do? You can leave the PhD at any time if your preferences change. Now if there is another more applied area that you're also passionate about but has better career prospects, then that is a difficult question which would require more personalized advice. This is an important question. I think the other answers are somewhat dismissive of the fact that those from less privileged backgrounds need to care about these things. Getting a CS PhD (with summer internships) and a pure math PhD (without) could be the difference between affording a yearly flight back to see your family and not. My main point is that math is lucrative enough that you'll still be able to make it, and you can change your mind at any time. Upvotes: 1
2020/11/20	1,679	6,399	<issue_start>username_0: Consider a famous football school in the U.S., for example [Penn State](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_State_University#Athletics), [Michigan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Michigan#Football), [Nebraska](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Nebraska_Omaha#Athletics), [Wisconsin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wisconsin%E2%80%93Madison#Football), [Auburn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auburn_University#Football), and [Ohio State](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_State_University#Athletics). I am doing a PhD in a STEM field at one of these schools, and on 6 or 7 Saturdays of the semester, there is a home game for the football team, and I'd like to attend the game and be a part of the tradition. It's likely an all-day affair, pre-game, going to the game, and more festivities after the game. My research advisor isn't into sports — at all. And the expectation is that we're doing work on these Saturdays, while our football stadium nearby is filled with 80,000 or so fans cheering on our team. Would it be reasonable to ask my advisor for Saturdays off, so that I can participate in our school's football tradition? How could I go about saying this to him, without upsetting him, or coming off as "unfocused"? Clarification: Plenty of communication takes place on weekends. My advisor is very intense, micromanages almost, but that style suits me well, and I find his dedication really admirable. But I don't want to miss out on football either; I'm not in graduate school for very long.<issue_comment>username_1: It’s a tricky situation and you will want to filter any advice given here (including mine offered below) through your own understanding of the details of the situation and the personalities involved. That being said, my tentative guess as to the best strategy for handling it is to do two things: 1. Don’t mention to your advisor your football game attendance plans. It’s your private business what you do on weekends. Simply go about your private business as a normal person does. (And for heavens’ sake don’t “ask for Saturdays off”. You don’t ask for what is rightfully yours.\) Any work can wait until after game day festivities are over. You’re a grad student not an indentured servant. 2. Work hard and be productive and responsive to your advisor during normal work hours/days (including non-game weekend days if you feel like doing work on those days). If you do the combination of those two things, I suspect (but cannot be certain) you’ll be fine and your advisor will be completely happy with you, perhaps after an initial adjustment period where you might have to deflect some questions from him about why you didn’t answer some email right away on a Saturday. If that happens you can just say you were busy, had an event to go to, or, if sufficient trust has had time to develop between the two of you, simply tell him the truth (but make sure to state this as a statement of fact, not a request for permission or validation, and not stated in an apologetic tone where you volunteer unnecessary details about why you want to attend football games as you sort of did here). \ If this is a problem, I’m sorry to have to tell you but you’re in an abusive relationship and you likely should be expecting much bigger problems in your relationship with your advisor than a conflict over attending football games. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: Having worked at [Penn State](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_State_University) I can assure you that no one in their right mind will be anywhere near downtown on game days. The majority of our graduate students went to at least some of the home games and I don't know of anyone who questioned their commitment. Update Just to clarify for anyone unfamiliar with "big" football schools - on home game days Penn State's stadium becomes the third biggest city in Pennsylvania (after Pittsburgh and Philadelphia). Fans begin arriving in town on Thursday (parking their RVs in the Walmart lot). By Saturday there isn't any easy way to drive into or out of town due to the amount of traffic generated. The local paper includes a special route to the hospital (which is next to the stadium) along back roads that the police keep clear of football traffic. If you are pregnant, you get a special number to call to get a police escort if you go into labour. So home games are a big deal. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Don't. That is, don't ask for time off to attend games--moreover, don't ask for time off on Saturday. Why? Because it's not a work day and your advisor isn't your mom. > > Would it be reasonable to ask my advisor for Saturdays off, so that I can participate in our school's football tradition? > > > No, because as username_1 said, you don't ask for what's rightfully yours. Also, your advisor in a professional capacity doesn't need to know what you do on your time off. > > How could I go about saying this to him, without upsetting him, or coming off as "unfocused"? > > > You don't come off unfocused by taking Saturdays off. On the contrary, you come off as someone who is trying to strike a good work-life balance and refresh yourself. This is very important to learn if you continue in academia (and frankly probably any profession). As long as you do your job during the week, and are meeting the expectations that were laid out when you accepted your job (that is, if you're a laboratory experimentalist maybe you were told some experiments would require some attention on weekends), then you have nothing to worry about. If your advisor is getting upset at you for not coming in every Saturday, that's a separate question and I wouldn't want to work for such a person. Just because it might not be an uncommon problem doesn't mean it's an acceptable thing to do. Source: Recently got my PhD in STEM from a R1 school with a big football program. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: This is up to you, I went to a university which had saturday attendence requirements, so one would have to apply for official leave. Probably this is not the case where you are, but I agree if everybody works on Saturdays, it is not good not to come. Personally I would talk to the supervisor tell him you want to see the games and if it is ok to come in on Sunday instead. Upvotes: -1
2020/11/20	1,480	6,337	<issue_start>username_0: A tenured professor at my university has hand-copied an out of print textbook in his field. His lectures consist of reading his hand-written notes from the text to his students. He does not deviate from his notes. He does not reveal the source of his notes. He often refers in class to "my notes" and "my lectures." His lectures are the same, year after year. Students do not have to go to class if they get good notes from others who took the course in previous years. Is this plagiarism?<issue_comment>username_1: While there are a number of issues with this teaching style, there is no plagiarism because there is no expectation of originality in teaching. He could teach better, probably, but it's not like you can report him for plagiarizing his lecture notes. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: In Germany this is very common in the undergraduate lectures. Usually we were able to go to the library after the first few lectures, look up all the popular books on the subject and find the one that the lecturer was following. You could then sit with it in the lecture and always predict what was said next. Some lecturers told us which books they were following, others had it directly on their desk, some tried to hide it, and some changed mid-term because the next topic was covered better in a different book. Ultimately this practice helps everyone. A professor is supposed to do research and not spend days preparing an original lecture, and the popular literature on the topic will be much better structured and presented then your professor could probably do. Please be also aware that even when not published as a book, lecturers usually have material collections that they pass on when somebody else is giving their lecture in the next term. So I am strongly suggesting that you report nothing as you will be probably laughed of by the department while leaving a bad impression. Edit: There is also a general philosophy of "a lecture is not public", and therefore the usual rules for citations (and also copyright) do not apply. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I have a couple of observations from personal experience. As a grad student, I audited a course in functional analysis. We had a required text for the course. Each day, the professor came into class, opened the book to the appropriate place and started lecturing. In another course, which I actually took, the text was a well-known text on complex projective varieties. After a few days, I realized that what the professor was writing on the board looked awfully familiar, and checked the text (in class) and discovered that he was writing his lecture, verbatim, from the book. In neither case did I have a problem with what was happening. In fact, it made my job easier. As @Terri mentioned in another answer, this allowed me to concentrate on the material, instead of trying to copy it down. I read ahead and knew what was coming. Any useful asides that the prof mentioned were duly noted. Perhaps we were more indulgent of our professors back in the day. In any event, I have been around the block a few times. There are things that are worth getting upset about. I don't think this is one of them. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Plagiarism refers to passing off others' ideas as one's own. If you are writing a research paper (researcher) or an assignment (student), there is an expectation that you are articulating your own ideas, unless you specify otherwise. If you are conversing with friends over coffee, less so. Class lectures are somewhere in between. There may be many good reasons to hew extremely closely to the presentation in a book in lectures, especially in certain fields like math. It takes a lot of work to write a compelling set of notes on one's own, and there may be little to gain versus using something already canonical in the field. Of course, parrotting a random book from years ago may also indicate just laziness. I have definitely at various parts of my academic career lectured "from the [assigned] book", as well as on occasion presented my own material or lectured on part of the material from a different book. I definitely openly mentioned the source, as a natural habit of giving credit where credit is due, and of guiding students where to look (which in the case you mention may be more difficult if the book is out of print, of course). So it does seem weird the professor makes no mention of it, whether it is by design or by accident. On its own, the use of the words "my notes" or "my lectures" could be using the word "my" as demonstrative, not possessive, i.e. merely which notes he is referring to (the ones he is transmitting to you) rather than taking intellectual credit for them. All in all, the most likely interpretation seems to be of a pedagogically lazy dinosaur, rather than a nefarious plagiarist, or conversely a brilliant pedagogue bringing you a carefully selected optimal, but unfortunately out of print, presentation of the material. Finally, putting words in your mouth to be sure, I'm sensing a feeling of injured inequality and hypocrisy here - "how come when we [students] do It it's plagiarism but when a tenured prof does It no-one calls it that". If that's the case, hopefully the distinction regarding assumed level of originality of ideas depending on the context will be helpful to explain it. It's worth also noting that the current level of vigilance about plagiarism on University campuses comes as a direct result of the ease of copying (without attribution) from the internet, with minimal reflection or internalization of the material. Being a bit of an old dinosaur myself, it is just not a theme we thought about as much years ago, when copying something meant manually transcribing it, and so was essentially as much work as rewording it. Still highly relevant for actual research, of course, but less top of mind for lectures, assignments, and the like. So if you pointed out to the professor that you were aware he was presenting "from X", he might well smile warmly at you and say "Oh yes, great that you're aware of X. Such a shame it's no longer in print. In my day, we all learnt [...] by copying out its presentation to understand it" and continue along serenely, with no thought of plagiarism in his mind. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/20	435	1,859	<issue_start>username_0: I am a master (international)student in Germany, I will apply Phd in Canada or US. There will be a gap year between my graduation year and entrance year. Now my plan to get reference letter is as follows: One letter from my thesis supervisor. Another two letters from the professor whom I took a class with and got an A. Now I am not sure if any of the professor will remember me after (at least) one year. Surely I got best grade in their exam(oral), but this does not guarantee the chance. The question is, should I made a impression to them, like directly(politely) ask them if I can get a reference letter from them in the future?Or just wait till the application time and sending emails to ask them? Or any other?<issue_comment>username_1: If you are still in contact with these professors, visit them now and let them know your plans and that you will ask them for letters in a year. This way they know what is happening and can also give you any advice they think relevant. A conversation would be best (not emails) as they get to ask you a few questions if necessary. So, the first option in your last paragraph is best, I think. It is risky to rely on the memory of professors. We are a forgetful lot for many things. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Yes, please do. A recommendation letter based on the class performance only is very superficial, something like: He was in my class... Got such grades... I cannot tell much more. Even a short informal conversation where you discuss your interests and career plans is helpful. Consider also informing the letter writer about other classes you have taken, grades you have received, and what else you may find relevant. Even better if you think strategically and prepare for the letter before taking the class. But this is too late now. Upvotes: 2
2020/11/20	910	4,124	<issue_start>username_0: Background: Neuroscience, India My thesis is based on the use of machine learning for some neuroscience data. Since I do not expect the readers to be aware of machine learning details, I have written a high level summary (a few pages) before the literature review which summarizes the basic principles of machine learning (like introducing what is cross-validation, how to measure accuracy, false positives, etc.). The idea was to let the reader gain some high level understanding before diving into the actual literature review so that the reader would be able to better appreciate the work previously done and the knowledge gap. This part of the thesis is based on my understanding, clubbed with courses on machine learning and generally reading around on the internet. As far as I can see, the ideas are simplified 101 which can be easily found from Wikipedia (such as the page describing confusion matrix) and from online blogs. To summarize, as far as I can see this is borderline common knowledge. My thesis reviewer has raised a concern with this part saying that I have not cited any sources and I should cite academic sources for these concepts. I don't quite see how that is possible as the concepts I have described are very elementary. Most textbooks that describe these ideas do not cite any papers and I don't even know how I am supposed to find citations for concepts like precision and recall! Question: is my understanding of "common knowledge" incorrect? How could I reply to this concern/find sources for these introductory concepts?<issue_comment>username_1: You are being a bit inconsistent here. The reason for the introduction is that readers may not know the background. It would be good for them to see some sources that will fill them in beyond what you say. Mentioning a standard text or similar might be enough. You also have risk with the reviewer if you don't yield to them. They may have a lot of control over what they accept. Again, pointing to some standard material, would probably suffice. If not, they will hopefully tell you to say more. While I think you are probably correct about your interpretation common knowledge and the lack of requirements to cite it, the other factors suggest you should do so in any case. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Cite repeatedly from the Encyclopedia of Machine Learning, available here: <https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-0-387-30164-8> It's a reference work, where many famous people in the field explained core ML concepts in an accessible way. Cite whatever lemma you need for whatever concept you introduce. The confusion matrix is definitely in there. This way, you satisfy your reviewer, you avoid charges of not embedding your work in the relevant literature, but you also clearly show that the concepts are of a fundamental level by referring to an encyclopedia. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Going to frame challenge a bit here...the situation you describe in your question doesn't really fit together with the problem you're experiencing. Either you refer to things "common knowledge" - in that case, really not much need to cite but also no reason to put in your paper as its own section, or you refer to things "not common knowledge" and you provide citations. You'll have to decide whether this review of basic ML concepts is overly pedantic and underestimating of your audience (I tend to think it is based on your description; you should not be defining 'confusion matrix' in a thesis), or if it's advanced enough to require citations throughout. One hybrid approach, and the one I would take in your situation, is to free yourself of the super basic ideas like "cross-validation exists and here is its definition", and instead discuss for your particular implementation the nuances of which variety of cross-validation you are using and why it is important to do so. There are certainly review/primer-style articles in academic journals published recently on this sort of topic, as authors argue for one approach or another. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]