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<issue_start>username_0: How do academics (faculty members, PhD students, etc.) balance their work and life?
I am a PhD student and I find myself spending at least 10-11 hours working everyday.
Sometimes even 10 hours is not enough for the day, I need to burn midnight oil.
However, everyone (mostly my parents and friends, who are non-academics and do not have PhD degree) is telling me that I am working too much and that I shouldn't burn out myself by doing so much work. When I hear these comments, I can't help myself but thinking 'Yeah, but that's only because you are not working in academia...you don't really understand my situation'.
**For those who are working in academia, do you think I am working too much as a PhD student? How much time do you typically spend a day working? If you think that I am working too much, how can I possibly strike the balance between my academic work and my personal life?**
I am genuinely asking because I really do not know "how to take care of myself properly" while I am constantly facing a huge workload. I do think that this will hurt me in a long run, especially if I am to pursue a career in academia.
Thank you,<issue_comment>username_1: Disclaimer: Feom your question, I assume that you feel you work to much or have to little time for outside activities. If you are happy with your working hours and feel well, all is great. If however, you have the feeling you don't have enough time for life, have to work in order to get better positions in academia, to make your professor happy or because there is so much work to do, keep reading.
My advice is simple: Work fewer hours.
Make yourself a schedule and leave after eight hours. (Of course, I don't mean to "never stay a second longer than eight hours", but "after arouns eight hours, finish your train of thought and then go home".)
There can be exeptions (like a deadline). If they occur only once in a while, that's okay - work longer and take that time the next time off. Or maybe at some point, you think you want to do this a dditional work because the problem is so exciting. Then it's okay to do it (at least for you, probably not for society as a whole). But don't negligate your friednds, family, hobbies, partner, time for yourself,..
Maybe this doesn't work out because your prof doesn't like it or because you don't have enough results then - but do you really want to work in a system where you have to work constantly so much that you are burnt out? (By the comments of your family and friends, there are jobs where this is not the case in your region.) Wouldn't it be good to leave the system when it doesn't turn out?
One more advice: In your free time, find out about industry. What kind of work do your peers with similar qualification? What do they do exactly? Do you have the industry skills you need? Goal of this shouls be to find out you have a safety net - if Academia treats you like a slave, you can just go and do something else. (Many students believe Academia is good and Industry is evil or that they are too bad for Industry or whatever - you should get rid of those thoughts so you can really say you are working in Academia because you like it and leave when you don't like it and not that you are in Academia because Industry is bad.)
My last advice: "There is too much work to do" is not only in Academia, it's in every job and every non-job. The difference is how people react to this - in your case it is"I have to work more", in other jobs it is "well, it's not my problem, I work my hours, if the boss is not happy, he has to hire additional personel". My point is: don't discard your family's and friends's opinions just because they are in Industry. Many academics work in healthy ways - yet you ask in an Academia forun. And if you look in the Internet for advice on working schedules and "I have too much work": don't discard any industry advice because you are in Academia. In amount of work, there is no difference at all between Industry and Academia.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Firstly I'd say around 50 hours a week is not unusual for academia (whether that's 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, or 8 hours a day 6 days a week). Its about what I work in an average week i'd say. That doesn't quite answer your question, because rates of burn out are also high in academia. I will however add that all my friends that work in any of "the professions" - doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, management consultants, financiers, all work more than the standard 40 hours a week.
You should also qualify if you mean "working" 10-11 hours a day, or *working* 10-11 hours a day. A 9-7 work day might not be unusual for me, but that would include 30 minutes for lunch, and perhaps grabbing coffee with a colleague at some point.
Its almost impossible to say how many hours you "should" be working. You should ask yourself whether it is working for you or not. I know some super organized people who can mostly work 9-5 and still become very successful. I am not one of those people. But I do also maintain some hobbies, and try very hard not to let work interfere with those. If I am teaching a dance class, I leave work whatever I'm doing at the time. I rarely decline social engagements because of work. But I don't watch a lot of TV, read a lot of books, or play many computer games these days (or I didn't till lockdown killed my other engagements). These are my choices and they work for me (most of the time). People with children of course have no choice. Once you've decided what is important, then you can fit work in with that, and if its enough its enough. And if its not, its not.
A wise man once described to me something like a Laffer curve for work. If you work 0 hours a day you'll achieve nothing. If you work 24 hours a day you'll also achieve nothing (because you'll be dead). Somewhere in between there is a peak of maximum sustainable productivity. You'll never find the peak, but you want to make sure you are to the left of it, not the right.
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm having a postdoc interview coming up, which is not in my doctoral topic or not so closely related to my previous postdoc research. While applying for it, I thought I'd not called for an interview, but luckily enough, I did. The reason I didn't think I'd get called for an interview, as I can see that I'd need learn quite a few things that'd take me easily a minimum of three months to get the hang of.
So will it be rude to ask my interviewer her/his motivation to interview me or what (s)he thinks I can do for her/him, or if not, then what's the best way to formulate my question, without sounding like I'm trying to hear some good words about myself from the interviewer? I guess one of the option might be "What part of my backgrounds can be useful to your project?" but I'm looking for a sincere, honest and a genuine reformulation of this. I'm interested in the project but my concern is it might take me at least 3 months to get myself up to speed to start to solve the problems.<issue_comment>username_1: I found that in my professional life being honest, clear, and direct have served me very well. So once all the probing is over, I would say:
>
> I have an additional question: Even though I am very interested in this position, I was doubtful I would be invited for an interview since my background doesn't seem to match perfectly. Would you mind telling me why you think I would make a good candidate for this position?
>
>
>
Of course adjust the wording to your style and take the details with a grain of salt as I am a non-native English speaker.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I'd bring it up as wanting to optimally contribute your skills to the project and understanding the vision/goals of the project. "I know you are an expert on X. I'm good at Y which isn't exactly the same thing. What were your goals for using Y to accomplish X?"
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: In academia we do a lot of presentations, it is the way we show our work to colleages. (I am a PhD in physics.) This is usually done with the help of slides (PDF, PowerPoint, etc). A slides presentation is basically a collection of images. Sometimes there are fancy animations (like the case of [Prezi](https://prezi.com/tkqnb5plvpv3/prezzi/) or its open source version [Sozi](https://sozi.baierouge.fr/), or even with PowerPoint) but in the end the concept of a slide is tied to an image. After the animation has passed, you end up in a static image to show to the audience and explain your stuff. And this, in fact, goes against a continuum and natural presentation, you are obliged to split your talk in slides which are discrete. (Maybe this is why slides have not replaced the even more old-school blackboard.)
I feel that this is an archaic way of presenting our work based on what our ancestors did on the past century using projectors, for example, because technology allowed to do that. Nowadays our slides are made and projected 99.99999 % of the times in a computer and, instead of exploiting all they can do, we are replicating an old fashioned way of presenting stuff using slides.
So, consider for example [this plot](https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://github.com/SengerM/html-github-hosting/blob/main/201120%2037th%20RD50%20Workshop/Signal%2001191-A.html) which is interactive, you can zoom in, pan, see the values on hover the mouse, show/hide traces, etc. You cannot embed this plot in a typical slides presentation in PDF format. If you go to PowerPoint or something like this, you may have a chance (I doubt) but the result is barely portable between different platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, etc). Even if you make it, all these solutions still have the concept of a slide as a building block which, as I said, breaks the continuity and introduces a complication.
Furthermore, try to see slides on a cell phone, it is a pain!
So my question is: **What is out there to replace the old-school slides?**
I think that something with the format of a website that is self contained in a single HTML file would be the perfect next step, because it is super cross platform and as far as I know you can embed almost whatever you want (text, equations, images, videos, audios, interactive stuff, etc), you can open it with any browser in any device, you can put it online, etc. The plot in [this link](https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://github.com/SengerM/html-github-hosting/blob/main/201120%2037th%20RD50%20Workshop/Signal%2001191-A.html) is an example of what I say, it is a single HTML file that you can open with any (modern) browser, and can be easily embedded in websites. And the size adapts to the screen so you can see it nicely on your cellphone too.
My inspiration for this question came after seeing [this presentation](http://ealaiporpi.byethost7.com/home-page/2020/11/20/beta-timing-setup-and-data-processing-at-uzh/) by a guy which made a website instead of slides. As you can see, the plots are all interactive, for example. The pros: It can do all I want, the cons: It is not a single HTML file that you can download and save/share, you need hosting, etc. Is there an easy way to build something like this and end up with a single and self-contained HTML file?<issue_comment>username_1: <NAME>, the man behind the popular 3blue1brown math videos, wrote his own open source [Python library](https://github.com/3b1b/manim) to produce mathematical animations. You may be interested in that.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The best replacement for "old-school slides," I've found, is the more old-school approach of writing things by hand, either with markers on paper captured with a document camera, or writing with a stylus on a screen. (I prefer the former.) Even in formal seminars, I've taken to writing more in "real time," which many people have commented positively on. We're not machines; we react with remarkable sympathy to the cadence of human-delivered speech and spontaneous writing that appears at the speed of human processing.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: It seems to me you want to overload your presentation with information, and distract the attendees rather than use your presentation time to convey a simple message.
There’s a reason why “old school slides” are still in use: they work (at least the good ones do).
There are ways of making presentations more interactive: like writing on the slides in real time, or asking questions on the slides.
Of course, some of the better speakers actually do not use slides at all: check out [this wonderful video](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Unzc731iCUY) of <NAME> on how to speak to a large audience. Admittedly public speaking is a gift that not everybody has, but it is amazing what this guys does without much technology.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Consider asking yourself a question: **why do you need sides?**
Instead of trying to find a technical solution (what to replace them with), ask a more conceptual questions first.
1. Can your message be communicated without any slides, as a simple story?
2. Can you read a lecture by simply talking about your subject for an hour, and complete it with lecture notes or handouts provided for the audience?
3. And when you are using the slides, what role do they play?
* Do they hold *information*, essential for your audience to see during your talk?
* Do they summarise the main points you made to keep the *structure*?
* Or perhaps they provide *emotional* dimension for your narrative, by showing pictures and illustrations related to your main message?
Depending on the answers, you will then find a specific solution for your needs. Many of them are already listed in other answers.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: Replacement taken not so literally might just mean altering the way you use preexisting tools rather than using completely different ones.
This [TED talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwpi1Lm6dFo) was pretty influential on me.
The premise is most presentations fall flat because the slides people write split the attention of the audience. People will put slide counts. (This guy is boring, but at least we are on slide 15/20...) And add too many words and plots per slide. All of this takes away from the effectiveness of the presentation.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I will be completing high school at the end of this academic year. I have a strong love for Maths, and I am considering becoming a pure mathematician or pure mathematics researcher when I'm older. I have a few questions about the academic world of Maths in general:
1. I have discovered some formulae, or theorems if you prefer, about a quite specific topic in maths with apparently limited, if any, applications to any other areas of maths. I would like to write a paper about it and try to publish it in a journal, but I'm unsure if it's been discovered before, as it hasn't come up on any Internet searches I've conducted. I've also searched arXiv for it. My question is, is there some sort of archive or database that I could use to quickly check if something I'm investigating has been discovered before?
2. What exactly do research mathematicians do? Do they simply think all day and write/type their thoughts and results and progress as their job?
3. If I don't discover anything new as a maths researcher, would I still be employed or would I no longer be payed, ie is it a safe and steady job?
4. I would really enjoy being a pure mathematician/pure mathematics researcher, but is it a good job in terms of salary? I don't think job satisfaction would be an issue.
5. To be a research mathematician do I need to very good at maths or be spectacular at it?
Thank you for your advice, it is really appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: Let me try to give you some perspective on mathematics and mathematicians.
First, there are lots of kinds of mathematics. Algebra and Geometry were studied early in human history and other fields split off from them. At first glance these two seem quite different, but now there is Algebraic Geometry, a field of its own. There is also Analysis which studies certain kinds of relationships and Abstract Algebra which studies certain kinds of operations on things. No, there is more to it than that, but it gives you an idea. Topology is something like Analysis in some ways and something like Geometry in others. So there are some overlaps.
But the differences between mathematical fields are big enough that it is possible, even likely, that you can have true insight into only one or two of the many fields. And it is insight that is required for mathematics.
Mathematicians study problems. Applied mathematicians study "real world" problems and apply mathematics to their solution. Pure mathematicians study problems in mathematics itself. They study what has been shown to be true over time, but try to imagine what *might be true* and then set out to explore whether it is true or not. This is where insight is required.
It is unlikely, but not impossible, that you have discovered something new. It is less likely, but still not impossible that what you have discovered is significant. It may have been noticed in the past and not explored deeply, for example, seeming obvious to someone who has studied it deeply.
But, one thing that mathematicians do a lot of is work with others and share ideas. They bounce "new" ideas off of colleagues and get feedback. So, for someone in your situation, teachers and professors are the people most likely to be helpful at this stage.
If you want to be a mathematics *researcher* then put yourself on a path to eventually earning a PhD from a good school. Most pure mathematicians are also academics, though there are exceptions. Even an amateur can be a researcher, but will probably need to build up a circle of contacts and collaborators over time in order to be effective.
In a certain sense mathematicians work literally all the time. There are no breaks. But you don't sit at a desk for most of it. Your mind will work whether it feels like "work" at all. I often go to sleep thinking about some sticky problem and wake up with the solution. The insight comes sometimes when you let your brain *relax*, rather than trying to force it through some complex logical argument. The crux just falls into place.
Working with professors, especially on a doctorate, will give you a sense about what problems are important as well as ideas about how to attack them. But it is the "imagining what *might* be true" that makes a mathematician. The proofs are hard work and require training and practice, but it is that insight that makes the difference.
Only a few of us are "exceptional" as the word implies, or spectacular. But we all work toward excellence. Do that and you should be fine.
---
As a young person, I suggest you study widely (and not just mathematics). There is plenty of time to specialize later. And if you want to do serious work in any field, get in the habit of carrying a notebook (or equivalent) so that you can quickly jot down any insights or ideas that pop into your head while you are doing other things.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: To answer part of your question about financial concerns - If you are passionate about mathematics and likewise good at it, you should not ever have a problem finding employment, although it need not be a strictly math field. The knowledge one gets when learning higher level mathematics is applicable in nearly all technical fields, however it is more than that. It's not just about the knowledge you get, but rather, the intuition you end up developing about the world and logic in general.
Mathematics at its most basic level is abstracted from the study of logical structure and axioms. While most people are "logical", a mathematician inevitably develops the skill of automatically thinking about the subtle differences of objects and their properties, at a far more rigorous level than a person in any other field. A mathematician learns concepts that nobody in any other technical field ever gets exposed to; concepts which are universally applicable to pretty much everything in existence.
One thing I came to learn that nobody really talks about is that learning mathematics to a high/abstract level inevitably makes it far easier to learn pretty much any other technical field. Not only will the mathematical concepts in less technical fields be far easier to comprehend, but the mathematician will be able to recognize abstract features of topics in those fields that someone who specializes in the field may have never even thought about.
In short, while mathematics can be challenging, it is by far the most rewarding and universally applicable field a person can really study in my opinion, although this usually isn't obvious to people when first introduced to things like algebra and calculus. Another way to think about this is to consider that much of higher level mathematics involves the study of very abstract concepts and structures - and then ask yourself: What is the point of "abstracting" anything? The entire philosophy of abstraction is about making things easier, simpler, better, and so on. Such philosophy of abstraction is what we owe our entire civilization to.
But again, I wouldn't suggest someone jumping into pure mathematics if it is not something they are truly passionate about. However you define "passion" in that regard is up to you - people are passionate about different topics for different personal reasons.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: The other answers are focusing on "should I go into mathematics as a career?", but no-one has answered your first question, about what to do with your research results. There are related questions (with answers) on this site:
* [Is it possible for a high school student with no academic qualifications to publish a research paper?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18184/is-it-possible-for-a-high-school-student-with-no-academic-qualifications-to-publ)
* [What to do with research results while being in high school?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40649/what-to-do-with-research-results-while-being-in-high-school)
Your particular question about "how do I know if my work is novel {without established connections to university-level mathematicians)?" has *not* previously been answered, as far as I can tell.
* in addition to ArXiv, you should search for *published* papers (ArXiv is only for preprints, and only a subset of papers are posted as preprints before publication).
+ [mathscinet](https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet/) is probably the best index for math papers, but most access is through universities; I don't see an easy way to get access as a high school student (you could check into the [London Mathematical Society](https://www.lms.ac.uk/membership/membership-categories), but membership ordinarily starts with undergraduates and isn't cheap).
+ Google Scholar is second-best, but has the distinct advantage of being free (it will find papers published in journals as well as on preprint servers like ArXiv: if you have trouble getting access to the text of papers you find, you could take a look at [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/87688/what-are-the-consequences-of-using-sci-hub) ...
+ someone suggested [MathOverflow](https://mathoverflow.net/); I don't know whether that site (or [Mathematics Stack Exchange](https://math.stackexchange.com/)) is an appropriate venue for this kind of question, but you can browse the questions & answers and read the information on those sites about what kinds of questions are appropriate. (If you find answers there you might not need the rest of my answer below ...)
* if you find papers that contain exactly your results, you're done (for now), although you can and should [pat yourself on the back for discovering a non-trivial mathematical result](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/159333/i-found-that-a-method-i-was-hoping-to-publish-is-already-known-what-would-be-a#comment4265)
* if you don't find your result already published, look for papers that are **closely related** to your topic, and note their authors/e-mails (a contact e-mail is always listed in a published paper; it's also typically easy to find academics' e-mail addresses via web search).
Provided that your maths teachers have looked over your work and think it's good, I would say it would then be OK to write a polite letter to one or two academic mathematical researchers who you have identified as likely having the expertise to evaluate your results and ask them what they think. (Do be polite (proper salutation etc.), and keep your e-mail short; state your results *briefly* and attach a slightly longer description that they can read if they want.)
It is probably a good idea to write your idea up as completely as you can, in a format as close to a publication as possible (e.g. in LaTeX); this will make it easier for researchers to read (and they're more likely to take it seriously in the first place), and is the first step toward publication (and good practice!) anyway.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Some addition to the other answers, related to your questions although maybe going a bit off track as I think this may be of interest to you:
(1) There are probably more jobs in which there is some math research besides other things, particularly in academia, like professors, university assistents etc. These involve math teaching, examining, and also administrative tasks. Even people whose job is to be a math researcher in the first place will have to do administrative tasks, apply for research money, write project suggestions and sit on the occasional committee. Also some companies employ researchers who then often work on projects, in groups, that are defined by the companies. Very often this is interdisciplinary and the mathematician collaborates (and actually competes for the positions) with people from, for example, computer science or biostatistics.
(2) Studying mathematics opens many possible career paths for you, and it can't hurt to have an open minded attitude to possible opportunities. There is much work to be done in physics and engineering, artificial intelligence, statistics that requires mathematical competence and often also mathematical research. Quite a bit of the research can be connected to computer simulation. If you focus on being a "pure mathematics researcher", there may not be that broad an offering of positions later (many pure researcher positions are fixed term and people are expected to use them to qualify for a professorship or another position that comes with some additional duties), however the overall spectrum of jobs in which mathematics research is done is very wide, and you may even find out that you love some of the other options as much as pure mathematics research. (I love teaching and statistics for example, so I became a statistics professor - I do a lot of things other than doing proper mathematical research, but at times I do that as well.)
(3) One can easily say you need to be very good, as in pretty much every job that is sophisticated enough. However you have to find out for yourself whether you are up for it and studying and doing a PhD in math is a good way of doing that. The positive thing is that at the point at which you may decide that a pure mathematics researcher career is not for you for whatever reason, chances are that you have lots of other options, many of them related.
(4) Regarding the third question, the "pressure to discover something new" looks very different from "outside the system" than from being in it, at, say PhD stage or higher. At some point when you have a good overview of a field, you will usually see a number of things that can be done with pretty low risk, i.e., you can address certain question of which you know that you have the necessary tools to solve them and chances are that they are not done yet. There may be competition, but very often different people can get a slightly different spin on things so that what looks pretty similar to something else can still be sold as "new". Obviously this is not what most people imagine to be exciting research, and at a sufficiently high level things certainly don't work like this, however there are many researchers who do research that is useful and to some extent new, and can even be some fun, without saying that they discover big new things.
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a manuscript under review at Nature Scientific Reports. The editorial system shows eleven reviewers invited but only one has accepted. Is this a problem? Is it normal?<issue_comment>username_1: I think it really depends on the field. Having published a lot of work in Systems Biology intersect biology, comp sci, math, modelling, ... I found it really hard to get reviewers for our papers. And once you have reviewers they often evaluate the paper very one sided (e.g. the math is trivial, no new concept in comp bio, limited biological novelty, ...). So yes, it is a problem, but you are asking the wrong question: I think you want to know what is the cause of it and can it be fixed?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, it indicates a problem:
* It could be that your paper is uninteresting, such that most people don't really want to spend the time to review it.
* Or it could mean that the editor is "missing" and identifying people who aren't in the same field as your manuscript.
There's nothing to do except wait, though.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I would add to the other answers here that during COVID, journals – and tenure review committees as well as other bodies that rely on 'voluntary' service - have struggled with peer reviewers beyond the norm. Many academics are feeling a bit overwhelmed with remote teaching, the virus, and other disruptions, and speaking both as a journal editor and somebody who holds mid-level administrative positions, this is pretty widespread at least in North America right now.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I just learned from this question [My professor skipped me on Christmas bonus payment](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/159891/my-professor-skipped-me-on-christmas-bonus-payment) that in some cultures/degree-programs, PhD students get bonuses.
I had never heard of this. However, I'm most familiar only with natural science PhD programs in the US.
What countries/cultures and programs are bonuses common?
How big do these bonuses tend to be compared to salary? (if there's a rule of thumb, or commonly the result of a collective bargaining agreement as stated in one of the comments to the above question)<issue_comment>username_1: I do not know how common it is but I remember Germany Ph.D students get Christmas bonus. See this [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/3ordjn/do_phd_student_with_contract_receive_christmas/).
When I was doing my doctorate in USA, I remember my colleague from Germany asking my research advisor for a Christmas bonus. He laughed, then figured out it was customary in Germany and then gave him a tie.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In the Czech Republic you do not get bonuses to your scholarship (stipend). It is for everyone and increases with you getting some exams or getting to the second year.
However, if the PhD student is actually employed (in a regular type of contract, not a one-off task), they can receive any bonus that other employees get. It is quite common. I would not expect some of the employees to be skipped just because they happen to be students.
This is a real bonus – it is only available if the department has the money. It does not come automatically and there is no entitlement to it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: In Belgium, there is the concept of a "[13th month](https://www.jobat.be/nl/art/heb-ik-recht-op-een-eindejaarspremie)", also called the "end of year bonus". It is not a performance bonus, but simply a standard part of the remuneration agreement between employer and employee, typically determined by collective labor agreements (negotiated by unions, employer representatives and the government).
In my experience, PhD students also benefitted from this arrangement. It typically is about a month's worth of salary.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: In Spain, the most common way of getting paid in a job (unrelated to PhD/Academia) is in 14 yearly salaries. People get double paid in June/July (as traditionally people go on holidays the full August, so they like the extra money to pay for the holidays) and in December (for Christmas present/food/prep).
This is not a bonus really, your yearly salary is divided by 14 instead of 12 to compute the monthly one.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: In the Netherlands, PhD are university employees and receive an end-of-year bonus (8,3% in December) + an extra holiday allowance (8% in May), so effectively 14 yearly salaries, as per the [collective labour agreement for Dutch universities](https://vsnu.nl/files/documenten/CAO/2020/VSNU-CAO%20Nederlandse%20Universiteiten%202020%20(ENG).pdf).
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: A student (let's call them A) in my class that I just finished teaching asked me to write them a recommendation letter. I said yes, and the first deadline is Dec 15, as they often are (FYI, I'm writing this post on the very early morning of Dec 14).
Unfortunately for the student, as I was grading the final exam, I noticed that A and another student (call them B) seem to have exactly the same wrong answers (their wrong answer was pretty unusual, and in my class of 100, they were the only ones to have these wrong answers).
I've actually been suspicious of B for a while, as B kept coming up with the correct answers without actually being able to justify their steps, and in fact, their work was often wrong up until the final answer.
Upon comparing A and B's exam papers, A's solutions were more or less clear, and I'm sure that A worked it out themselves. B, on the other hand, has solutions that are more or less like A's solutions, but there are so many critical typos and mistakes in notation (showing that B has no idea what is going on in the course) that it should be impossible for B to arrive at the correct answer. I think the errors were introduced because B was sneakily trying to change some letters and such to a different letter, and changing a sentence structure here and there, etc.
So, I suspect that A is actually a decent student, but for whatever reason, A let B copy their answers for the exams in the course (there were 3, all 3 exams were strikingly similar).
I'm planning to submit this case for an investigation, but this takes a while, possibly longer than a semester. My questions are:
* Should I still write the recommendation letter? On one hand, if A turns out to be innocent (not possible in my heart, but innocent until proven guilty) then I'm screwing them over by declining to write a letter so close to the deadline. On the other hand, if A cheated, then since I was aware of this before writing this letter, I don't want to not mention it.
* How would you confront the student?<issue_comment>username_1: You agreed to write this letter, and it is due tomorrow (!). Reneging on your promise would effectively torpedo the student's applications, as they are very unlikely to find another recommender on one day's notice. Given that you haven't even confronted them yet (much less convicted them), this would be altogether unjust. (Clearly, your dilemma would be very different if this incident had come to light a month ago.)
Given this timescale, I suggest the following:
1. Write the letter without any mention of your unproven suspicions.
2. Confront the student.
3. If the student confesses or is convicted, you could then consider contacting the programs to withdraw or amend your letter. This is a natural, just, and foreseeable consequence of A's decision to cheat in a class taught by their recommender.
One other thought: consider doing #2 ASAP -- you could ask the student if they are available for an urgent, important call regarding your letter of recommendation (that should get their attention). You can then confront them and also explain how this will (not) affect your letter. This conversation has a few possible outcomes:
* You proceed as above. Indeed, I recommend writing the letter before having this conversation precisely so that your letter is not (even unconsciously) affected (as even innocent students may react poorly to serious accusations).
* They withdraw their request for a letter. You certainly shouldn't pressure the student to go this route -- I wouldn't even bring it up. But it's possible the student will say that they prefer not to use your letter given the accusation; in this case, you should respect this.
* They confess to cheating, at which point you can either rescind your offer to write the letter, or you can agree to write a letter that reflects this incident.
Note, if you do confront the student ASAP, you must be careful not to pre-empt the judicial process, nor to create an abusive, blackmail-like situation. Assure them that you have written a positive letter that does not mention your suspicions, and that you will not rescind or amend your letter until/unless they are formally convicted. Despite your best efforts, A will doubtless still be stressed; accusations of cheating are always stressful. But being transparent and giving A as much agency as possible is the best one can reasonably do under the circumstances.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: Given the time frame and the fact that you made a commitment you should write the letter in spite of suspicions of cheating.
When students ask me if I'll write a letter of recommendation for them, I usually ask them to come meet me in my office. This helps a lot for tailoring the letter to the specific program or job they are applying for. I also try to give them pointers on their resumes. It's a win-win. The student's own part of the application is better. And the more cohesive a letter I can write for their application package.
As much as I like to write personalized letters of recommendation, there comes a point where it's not feasible. You develop generic boiler plate for when students aren't the easiest to write for to begin with. Given a situation like this, I'd just use the boiler plate and move on.
Per dealing with the specific situation outside of the letter. It's hard for me to give advice without knowing the temperament of students A & B. And what their relationship is like. Perhaps A feels they are being taken advantage of and it's a teachable moment about standing up for yourself. They just needed to be coached on it a bit.
In situations where I suspect cheating I try to approach students honestly, but without accusing them of anything or being confrontational. Something along the lines of "I'm not sure how to grade this for partial credit because it doesn't make sense to me. Can you explain it to me?" Depending on your poker game and how guilty the student feels in the first place a lot of times they will just confess.
P.S. When you suspect cheating, document everything and make a file. It comes in handy if for instance you had the file before you were asked for the letter. Or at the very least it's good water cooler talk for "you wouldn't believe what these kids thought they could get away with"
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I am going to speak as one who was the student in a sort-of-similar situation. I was a 2nd-time-around undergrad in a linear algebra class. I had written up some proofs for a homework assignment. A guy I knew in class asked for help, and it being late at night and me being tired (I am not in my 20s anymore and can't handle this as I once did) I emailed him what I had typed up (my handwriting is pretty atrocious) and said "Here's what I did, and lord knows if you find mistakes tell me, I am going to bed."
Well, this guy passed in my work as his, without even bothering to copy it onto another sheet of paper. (I was the only student who tended to type up responses). The prof (a grad student) calls us over and says this was pretty dishonest, I was a little shocked myself. I even asked the other dude "what the hell were you thinking?" Instructor said it was trivial, ultimately, and didn't go I-will-report-you on us.
I am sure as hell glad that didn't happen to be an exam or something like it. And I would say to you that an online exam can be collaborated on in many ways, I assign take-home work that I **want** my [high school] students to work together on. (I try to make it unique enough that the usual internet searches will do little good - but working together will!)
All this is to say that your student may well be the one who was taken advantage of, or didn't know, or whatever. Often I find in copying situations among my own students the copier is more dishonest than the one being copied from.
To address the OP specifically and now that the deadline has clearly passed, it seems... I hope you chose write the letter, **send it** and treat student A as innocent in this, and then confront them later. In fact I would first go to the student B who you know copied stuff and say to them, "hey could you explain this bit..." and see what happens then.
My two cents as a relatively inexperienced high school teacher but with long experience as a reporter who had to separate truth from lies on a regular basis.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: How do you even know for sure that A was even aware that his work was being copied?
In the past, where two students have had the same answers, and it was clear that there was copying going on, I have on occasion emailed both students and told them that if they would both email me in agreement an explanation about whose work it actually was, I would give that student 50% credit. The other would get zero. This has stopped copying in courses every time I used it, and in every case there was an admission and apology by both students for their part. But we should also recognize the distinction between students' academic and industrial realms.
The student may not be well as well suited for academia as he is for industry. This sort of "helping" others may be what an employer wants, by getting the job done and not worrying about who does it. But in academia the student needs to be accountable for each person doing their own work. They are very different environments. In industry the employee would be commended for helping his colleagues by providing information to them, and if that is a basic character trait of his, limit his punishment to the academic realm.
I'd go ahead and write a positive letter, maybe even hinting that he seems to like to help his colleagues even when it might cost him personally. But follow through with the investigation and handle it separately. Who knows? Even if he drops out of school for troubles with academic dishonesty, he may find success in the business world where sharing work with colleagues can be a very good thing. There are many successful dropouts (founders of Microsoft, Google, etc.), and if that's where he's headed, help him find success there.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: Talk to the student, and ask how and why the copying happened. It's important to identify the motivations behind plagiarism - research has shown that some students view plagiarism as morally acceptable, and quoting an unattributed author's words can even be viewed as an act of respect. This is, of course, not shared by the traditional academic viewpoint, and hence can be a source of conflict.
[Examples](https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.210.6903&rep=rep1&type=pdf):
* "The student did not think it was correct to rewrite an author‘s words
since the author was well known and respected. Hence he/she included
it in his/her text. This reverence for authority clearly comes from a
cultural worldview where respect for betters and elders is paramount."
* "he/she felt that his/her English was not sufficiently proficient to explain the point clearly enough. He/she felt that the original author‘s English was better."
* "His/her interpretation was that copying from textbook was wrong, but that copying from the Internet was acceptable."
* "what he/she had written was apparently acceptable in other academic circles."
* "he was shocked as he had written as he would have done in his home institution. In (his) academic culture plagiarism is not considered wrong, but is widely accepted."
[And](https://www.cambridgenetwork.com/blog/school-blog/understanding-causes-and-cultural-differences-in-plagiarism-for-international-students/):
* "Students may believe that knowledge belongs to society as a whole, not
to the individual. In other words, international students are taught
that there is a right answer, and nobody owns it.
Ownership, or rather non-ownership of ideas, also have philosophical
foundations in the teachings of Confucius. Students may think that it
is disrespectful to their teachers or readers if they cite their
sources, as this may imply that they did not already know the source."
* "it may be frequently regarded as acceptable in their home
countries. Students in most cases are not attempting to deceive their
teachers but may not understand what they are supposed to do or why
plagiarism is considered wrong."
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: You need to confront A.
Do not threaten 'recommendation removal', but do point out that you would actively withdraw this recommendation on investigation being negative.
If on confronting A is convincingly unaware, then I would ignore it. B is the real issue here. Either not doing the work, or trying to coast through on someone elses.
Upvotes: -1
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2020/12/14
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<issue_start>username_0: As a postdoc, my research is funded from a grant that's 70% government and 30% aerospace industry.
I work in collaboration with experimental groups and these groups have the collaboration with industry. The part of the industrial funding was acquired by the experimentalist PI working on the project. My PI who works on only modeling/theoretical research, doesn't have direct industrial contacts.
**How do I know if my research skills is valuable in industry if majority funding is from government and the industrial funding is predominantly acquired by the experimentalist group?**
I like what I do. My research and predictions is commended by experimentalist and since it's very applied, it gets published in experimental focused manufacturing related journals.
But I don't see my skills directly being used or sought after in industry. This would be a problem if I plan to move to industry in the future or in a tenure track position apply for my own individual research grant.<issue_comment>username_1: While I am no expert in material science, I know that a lot of people leave academia and very few of them do exactly what they have done before.
So I would not worry too much, especially as you are already on the applied side.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Even in industry, significant funding can come from a government source. Especially if your industry happens to align with areas of defense technology. I currently work outside of academia. About 90% of my funding is somehow sourced from the federal government.
Even companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon have funding sources that are government backed. (See for example the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure [JEDI] contract in the U.S.)
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes, if your work is on the applied side (as previously mentioned) it should not be an issue to move over to industry. Also, my impression was always the PhD is about gaining skillsets (i.e. technical basis and how to perform research) not necessarily something in a very specific research area. This may not be true for material science but I know most of my friends in computational science who went into industry work with different data than they did in their PhD. It is expected you learn new skills/gain new knowledge and the familiarity with the specific area is just considered a plus.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: If this makes you feel better, I'm yet to see an engineering Postdoc or PhD (myself included) of the many I know currently in the industry that were hired to do what they did in their research, instead of something loosely correlated with it. You can be sure that your skills are broader and more valuable than you think. That said, here are a few suggestions that worked for me during my PhD to make sure I didn't spend too much time on completely pointless topics:
1. Attend talks in conferences given by people from the industry. Also be sure to talk to them about your work after their talk and ask them about the usefulness of your work. At the end of the conversation, get the person's card and be sure to send them an e-mail every six months or so to remind them of your existence.
2. Attend talks in your school given by people from the the industry and follow the same approach as above.
3. The best option but maybe the hardest one to find: find a lecturer in your school with 20+ years of experience in the industry **not necessarily in exact your field** to be your mentor. **Higher-ups in the industry know where to fit all sorts of talent, including yours**. I got a PhD in civil engineering working with water infrastructure and found a lecturer in the school of public administration who made a career working with transportation engineer. This guy saved my in various ways: giving me career advice, introducing me to people from areas connected to my industry, reviewing the e-mails I sent to these people, teaching me how to talk to higher-ups in the industry, and offering me his guest apartment after I graduated and had no stipend to pay rent.
In the end it all boils down to one or more mentors in the industry. The higher their position, the better. Given that most students and postdocs are too shy/awkward to go out and just talk to them, **by just saying hi you'll be doing a lot better than everyone else.**.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Is it a good idea to keep my comments in the chapter draft to be sent to my supervisor?
Sometimes when writing, I comment on the text, like personal notes.
I am feeling that it may sound like incomplete work. But there mostly notes for possible future investigations.<issue_comment>username_1: While I am no expert in material science, I know that a lot of people leave academia and very few of them do exactly what they have done before.
So I would not worry too much, especially as you are already on the applied side.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Even in industry, significant funding can come from a government source. Especially if your industry happens to align with areas of defense technology. I currently work outside of academia. About 90% of my funding is somehow sourced from the federal government.
Even companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon have funding sources that are government backed. (See for example the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure [JEDI] contract in the U.S.)
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes, if your work is on the applied side (as previously mentioned) it should not be an issue to move over to industry. Also, my impression was always the PhD is about gaining skillsets (i.e. technical basis and how to perform research) not necessarily something in a very specific research area. This may not be true for material science but I know most of my friends in computational science who went into industry work with different data than they did in their PhD. It is expected you learn new skills/gain new knowledge and the familiarity with the specific area is just considered a plus.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: If this makes you feel better, I'm yet to see an engineering Postdoc or PhD (myself included) of the many I know currently in the industry that were hired to do what they did in their research, instead of something loosely correlated with it. You can be sure that your skills are broader and more valuable than you think. That said, here are a few suggestions that worked for me during my PhD to make sure I didn't spend too much time on completely pointless topics:
1. Attend talks in conferences given by people from the industry. Also be sure to talk to them about your work after their talk and ask them about the usefulness of your work. At the end of the conversation, get the person's card and be sure to send them an e-mail every six months or so to remind them of your existence.
2. Attend talks in your school given by people from the the industry and follow the same approach as above.
3. The best option but maybe the hardest one to find: find a lecturer in your school with 20+ years of experience in the industry **not necessarily in exact your field** to be your mentor. **Higher-ups in the industry know where to fit all sorts of talent, including yours**. I got a PhD in civil engineering working with water infrastructure and found a lecturer in the school of public administration who made a career working with transportation engineer. This guy saved my in various ways: giving me career advice, introducing me to people from areas connected to my industry, reviewing the e-mails I sent to these people, teaching me how to talk to higher-ups in the industry, and offering me his guest apartment after I graduated and had no stipend to pay rent.
In the end it all boils down to one or more mentors in the industry. The higher their position, the better. Given that most students and postdocs are too shy/awkward to go out and just talk to them, **by just saying hi you'll be doing a lot better than everyone else.**.
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/14
| 707
| 2,944
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<issue_start>username_0: I submitted a paper and received reviewers' comments on it. Would using an exact sentence (just a single sentence) that one reviewer used in their comments be considered plagiarism? The sentence is so beautifully put that I can't say it any better.
The comment is:
>
> The problem is X. Maybe you can try Y.
>
>
>
I did Y, and to motivate why I did Y in the text, I added a paragraph, and I want to use "The problem is X" in that paragraph. I'm afraid that I would alter the meaning by changing the wording.<issue_comment>username_1: If you use something you need to cite it. And quote it in the current situation. You may want to get permission to do so to keep it clean, but you can cite it as a comment from a reviewer in a "private communication" if nothing else is open to you.
But make sure that you don't leave the impression that the words/ideas are yours.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: In many cases, the answer will be that it is perfectly natural and fine to use the same formulation as a referee. If a referee comments "In the second paragraph, you may want to point out that all Flimflams are green."; then adding "All Flimflams are green." to that paragraph is not plagiarism. The reason is that stating a fact is not plagiarism, and here the manner of stating it has no intellectual value in itself.
However, your case is different. Rather than copying a completely mundane sentence, you are tempted by a particularly beautiful sentence. There clearly is intellectual value in the formulation. Thus, you should put it in as a quote attributed to the anonymous referee.
As comments by a referee are meant to improve the article, and their name wouldnt be attached to the quote anyway, I don't see any need to ask for permission unless there is something potentially contentious about the quote.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Reviewers know very well that their suggestions and comments may end up in the final publication. This is the point of reviewing, and no reviewer would (or should) consider it plagiarism if sentences are copied verbatim. Having said that, it is always best to err on the side of caution, so the best course of action would be to let the editor know exactly what you did. You will contact the editor anyway with the revisions, and it is only natural to state that you used the reviewer's quote.
If you want, you can acknowledge the "anonymous reviewer" or ask the editor, and thereby indirectly the reviewer, whether they wish to be acknowledged by name (they will probably decline, but they would be happy at being offered the choice).
Personally, I once was acknowledged as "anonymous reviewer" for a model proposed based on the data in the paper (they used an entire figure I sent them). I fully expected the authors to use my image and model (why else would I have sent it?), but the acknowledgement came as a surprise and made me happy.
Upvotes: 5
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| 751
| 3,132
|
<issue_start>username_0: Here is an example:
```
Theorem 1 (Important Theorem). Consider f(x). If something, then
1. The function has property A:
f(x) = g(x).
2. The function has property B:
f(x) = h(x).
```
**My question is the following:**
1. **do I capitalize the first letter of the bullet points?**
2. **do I include punctuation after the equation?**
I typically aim to ensure mathematical expression follow the rules of grammar, but I am stuck here. If I don't capitalize the first letters, then I am not sure how to punctuate the equations.<issue_comment>username_1: I'm no academic or mathematician but punctuation in the equation seems like it could only go wrong. Besides, I never do it when writing stuff and have never seen it done. It never even occurred to me someone would try doing that until I saw this question.
Put another way, what's the point of giving the equation its own dedicated line for clarity if you're just going to throw punctuation into it?
Yes, capitalize. There's no rule that says you must or must not capitalize bulleted items, but this isn't just a bulleted item; It's a phrase or sentence and will look very strange without capitalization.
<https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/colons.asp>
If you're hung up on the rules, generally, the answer is to do what looks good to your eye.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I agree with you that mathematical formulas are usually sentences or parts of sentences and should be punctuated accordingly. This makes your example rather difficult if you don't want to change the words. I'd capitalize neither of the two bullet items, I'd put a comma after the first equation, and I'd put a period after the second equation. That doesn't look very good, and besides it would really need "and" between the two bullet items. So I suggest trying an alternative wording. Here's the first that occurs to me.
Assuming that the equations are intended to define (or summarize) properties A and B, a better solution would be to change the introductory "If something, then" to "If something, then the function has the following properties." Then, instead of numbering the bullet items as 1 and 2, label them as A and B. (Even if A and B are words or phrases, you can use them as labels in LaTeX's "description" environment.) And put periods after both equations, since they're now stand-alone sentences rather than clauses in the "If something ..." sentence.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: **This is a matter of taste.** I would:
* Put a colon after "then".
* Capitalize the first letter of the bullet points.
* Put a period at the end of each bullet point, just like in this list.
The main principle at play here is that **you may break any of the rules of formal writing for the purpose of clarity.** The subordinate clauses in the bulleted list are themselves complete sentences, so when you're reading them you expect capitalization and punctuation. It doesn't matter that they're formally also part of one long sentence; as the reader, you've forgotten that by the time you're there.
Upvotes: 2
|
2020/12/15
| 915
| 4,106
|
<issue_start>username_0: In the projects of one of my courses, I have asked the students to provide peer assessments of the presentations (recorded as videos) of other groups. Peer evaluations is something I have introduced recently: with classes online I wanted to find a way to encourage students to watch the presentations of other groups. Groups have 4–5 members. The evaluations are anonymous and are shared with the evaluated group in full. In general the system has worked well, with perhaps one exception ...
As part of the peer assessment, a number of categories were provided. One of these related to the quality of the presentation. I've noted that in a number of cases, the students have commented about the lack of confidence of a specific speaker affecting the overall presentation quality. In certain cases there are several comments about the lack of confidence of a particular speaker affecting the quality of the presentation; in some cases the comment clearly indicates which speaker is referred to.
As the professor of the course, I personally would not comment on such issues as I also have (had) my own demons regarding public speaking, and I think such a comment might be counterproductive in terms of knocking a student's confidence; in general I would try to be positive in such situations based on the personal experience that generous comments helped my own confidence.
I'm wondering if I should edit these peer assessments to "censor" such comments about students who are nervous when speaking. On the one hand, it feels a bit harsh to criticise someone for something they find difficult to control, and I worry about a student being troubled by such comments. On the other hand, I dislike the idea of censoring honest feedback; the categories are associated with grades, and removing such comments might make the grade seem unfair; also perhaps I also misjudge the situation and such feedback can be constructive in a way?
My question is about whether or not such comments are constructive, and if not, would it be justifiable and/or wise to remove or censor them in the peer assessments?
(I have also thought about changing the comment so that it is not clear which speaker is being spoken about, but with such small groups I think it will be clear in any case.)<issue_comment>username_1: I do not see any reason why a comment like "the speaker was nervous" or "the speaker lacke confidence" should be censored, so I would not censor it.
>
> it feels a bit harsh to criticise someone for something
>
>
>
This is not technically criticism; it also is not really useful, or harmful.
>
> something they find difficult to control
>
>
>
Speaking with the appearance of confidence is something that is achieved with practice. So for most people, they can control it by practicing.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Don't confuse peer *assessment*, which affect grades, with peer *feedback*, which needn't. The comments are useful as feedback and, since your students are probably inexperienced at such presentations need a lot more practice to become skilled at it. "You seem nervous" is useful to hear, but nervousness shouldn't affect grading. In fact, being effective in spite of it is a good thing.
I once had a student who stuttered so badly that he was difficult to understand. One of the requirements in the course was that each team member had to be part of the project presentation. He did what was necessary.
And, I think that peer assessment should be filtered through the professor rather than applied in a mechanical way. If a grading related assessment is unfair, the professor needs to moderate it. And students should also get feedback on their feedback so that they learn how to do it better. Your students are probably inexperienced in presentations, but they are also probably inexperienced in giving constructive feedback.
And when possible, feedback as well needs to be filtered as necessary. Some happens outside the professor's view of course, but the feedback needs to support learning both for the giver and the receiver.
Upvotes: 4
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2020/12/15
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm new here and am not sure whether this is the right place to post such a question or not so rather than downvoting just tell me I'll move the question (as I don't want to be banned for having low rep).
I'm currently in my 3rd semester of university majoring in Computer Science and this question is related to a course I'm taking - 'Data Structures and Algorithms'.
A little bit about the teacher -> graduated from the same university in which I'm currently studying last year and was hired to work here
So, the situation is that we have to submit a project (GUI based application made with Java and JavaFX) by 2nd January. Now, here are the problems:
The teacher **demands** we
* we implement every data structure we use from scratch (I have heard this is standard for this course).
* only use data structures he **hasn't** taught us and that all our projects should have unique data structures. Basically, no two groups/individuals can use the same data structure and as you can imagine this will lead to some people being stuck with highly obscure data structure whose implementation or ways of implementation either might not be available or not clear for the person to understand.
* use as many data structures as possible. I researched online on a few websites and found out that data structures are important but they are only a small part of the project there are a lot of other things.
As if that wasn't enough of a problem, he rarely responds to our queries on discord or through emails and the upper management doesn't listen to us.
I have also proposed a few project ideas but they were all rejected because there weren't enough data structures used or he didn't want us to use that data structure or some other reason. A few of these were:
* Text Editor (not enough data structures).
* Sudoku Solver (overused).
* Any project that used `stacks` to implement `history` and `backwards` and `forwards` navigation (don't use `stacks`).
* Todolist (too small project).
Now, I ask is it justified for a teacher to do such things just for getting a truly ***unique*** project?
We have barely 3 weeks left to start and finish our projects as not even one of use has gotten their projects approved yet.
**EDIT:**
Something happened last night, the students that were doing projects in groups collectively decided to not bother getting their projects approved anymore and are now going to go with whatever they want to, they will still use data structures but they are no longer going to strive to meet any of his criteria. They were extremely frustrated and being on the end of their rope they have decided on this and are saying that they will deal with it on the day of the evaluation.<issue_comment>username_1: It sounds like the standards are pretty high. It sounds like the instructor doesn't want you to be mediocre. It sounds like they are demanding some creativity.
Those are good things, actually.
It is hard to judge whether the standards are unreasonable or not but you would benefit by meeting them.
Are you permitted to brainstorm with other students? Do that if allowed. Have you asked for ideas from the instructor? Have you tried to take any of your original ideas and modified them to come closer to the standard? Alternatively, have you taken any really hard problems and tried to whittle them down to something that is doable and meets the standard?
It's good that you aren't being singled out, also. The farther you go, the higher the standards you will be expected to meet.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Your question asks if the instructor is justified in enforcing these requirements. Perhaps, perhaps not. I have an opinion, but that's not what I want to answer with.
You might consider attacking this assignment starting from the requirements rather than from the project. Look at a some data structures not covered in the class that you find interesting and think you could implement. Then design a project that calls for those data structures.
Note: three weeks is not a long time for an assignment like this. Try to be just ambitious enough in your data structure selection to satisfy the requirements.
Upvotes: 1
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2020/12/15
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<issue_start>username_0: I went through 2 rounds of interviews with a public university in the United States, was given a verbal offer 10 business days ago. The professor who spoke with me said that I should get a written offer the following week (last week) but so far - silence. I reached out to my contact person last week and they said the Provost (who needs to sign off on the tenure track line) was out last week. I waited to check in again with my contact person yesterday and they said that they will check, but still silence.
This is my only offer so far, but I do have interviews lined up beginning and mid-January and February with other schools. This public university is my 1st choice and the verbal offer was excellent.
Is this a bad sign? What is the customary timeframe to expect a written offer following a verbal offer? 2 weeks? Can the university change its mind? What is the best action on my part?<issue_comment>username_1: **Edit** after reading @DanRomik 's answer. I think he's right. I misread the question, equating "verbal" with "informal" which I misinterpreted as email from someone with authority. Without at least that I'd be concerned.
Academic mills grind slowly, particularly in December. Particularly at state schools. Particularly now in covid times. I don't think there's cause to worry (yet). I think the chance that they will change their mind is negligible.
Soon you will want to tell the other schools you're not coming (or zooming) for an interview. The sooner they know that the happier they will be. You could tell your contact at this school you need to know your status in order to cancel elsewhere.
Congratulations on hearing first about your first choice.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: **A “verbal offer” is not an offer.** in the US, any self-respecting institution would at the very least document their desire to extend you an offer in an email sent in very close proximity (same day, or next day) to the “verbal offer”. The actual offer including a precise salary anount and other hiring package information might take a couple of weeks after that, and official, final approval (typically by a university provost or other high-ranking official) might even take a few months, although that part is usually considered a rubber stamp that’s certain enough to happen that people will move across the country and even buy a house before it happens. But *do not let anyone mislead you into thinking you have any sort of offer until something is, at the very least, documented in writing.*
It is encouraging that someone says they want to hire you. I hope all will end well and that this is nothing more than an example of a mildly incompetent bureaucracy. But yes, they can change their mind (I have seen it happen), and yes, it is a red flag of sorts, or at least a yellow one. I advise you not to assume anything and to proceed with all other interviews as scheduled until your offer is extended in writing, with precise salary information. Good luck!
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: As others have said, an overburdened, COVID-disrupted, and not very competent bureaucracy seems the most likely explanation, and you probably just need to be patient. That being said, there are high profile examples of major snafus in such a situation (google University of Toronto Valentina Azarova for an ongoing one right now) and lower-profile examples of surprise budget cuts and unexpected hiring freezes. So you can't count your chickens before they hatch.
I'd normally suggest giving your contact 48 hours to answer your most recent followup, though due to essentially everything shutting down at end of this week, you might need to accelerate that a bit. Then try to have a phone or Zoom chat with them, not to pressure them (they're doubtless trying!) but to understand the situation. Has the authorized decisionmaker informally said yes, just not signed the letter yet? Has the budget and terms of the offer been syndicated? Be upfront that you're trying to understand how much stock you can place in the verbal offer made. If you clearly make the conversation about "what can you tell me to reassure me" rather than "I'm going to yell at you for not having been successful yet in sorting this out", you'll get a better read of the situation. Ask open ended questions rather than closed, investigative ones, and try to have a chat, not an email exchange. You want to understand the situation, not have your contact fire off yet another email internally and continue to tell you nothing.
Finally, while you do want to let other institutions know you're off the market, and doubtless you and your family want to celebrate and start planning your move over the holidays, you do need to proceed cautiously and not burn any bridges yet. You are very close to having a confirmed position at your first choice institution, but you need to proceed as if that is not yet 100% confirmed. Even though it seems extremely likely it will be.
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/15
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<issue_start>username_0: The major at my school was cut and I am first to go in the department.
What do I do different when applying for new AP (in US) now compared to when I was coming off a post doc?
Do I address the reasons for being let go in my cover letter?
What other tips are there for coming up with a good application under my unfortunate circumstances.<issue_comment>username_1: I think it's important that either you, or a reference letter writer (if they are accepted in the first round) provide some context about why you're leaving your previous university. This is especially important for a move to either a "lower-ranked" or peer institution, where assessors might wonder if there's a back story here.
I wouldn't dwell on it, and you want to stay positive – it's an opportunity to bring your expertise that you've developed at your current institution to bring to this new one.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: You are being let go for a reason that apparently has nothing whatsoever to do with your individual performance; your program was cut, and you as the (most?) junior person, are being let go first. That should not be interpreted as a reflection on you personally, or the quality of your work. Everyone in academia knows that things can be unusually difficult right now, and people are losing jobs that would have been totally secure under normal conditions. Of course, you will need to explain why your position has gone away in your application package, and your recommenders can explain it was well.
Actually, the kind of recommenders you have available in this situation could potentially give you a significant advantage, relative to other applicants for the same positions. You already have experience working as a full-time (possibly tenure-track) faculty member, and you should get a senior person in your department (the department chair being the most natural choice) to write a letter on your behalf that talks not just about the quality of your research, but also addresses your capability as a teacher in a full-time faculty position and your service work. A chair's detailed recommendation that says that they are extremely unhappy about losing you, due to budgeting changes completely beyond your control, could be very compelling to hiring committees.
All this being said, given the current economic situation, you are probably going to be in for a rough ride. In fields where whole majors are being cut, there are likely to be few new jobs opening up, so competition is likely to be extremely fierce, even for people who already have faculty experience.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently a mathematics lecturer at a state university in the US. I still do research and put a lot of effort into publications, although it is not required for my position. My question is: Will my publications (in good journals) be seen as a positive by the math department and/or university overall? Do they gain any benefits from my research? Is there some baseline for number of publications that they need to meet for funding, etc?<issue_comment>username_1: The publications of faculty add to the reputation of a university, more specifically, to a department. But there is no direct effect. In funding for a particular project it will help if they can show productive activity in that area and your papers might be cited. Likewise having research seminars in a topic is helpful. But there aren't cutoffs or similar.
Regular faculty are in a good position for getting salary increases and/or reduced teaching loads, but this is probably less available to a lecturer. But it might give you an edge in a number of ways. It might not be possible to bypass regular procedures to hire you for a TT position, but people will look favorably upon an application. Likewise, if you work collaboratively with the tenured faculty you will be in a good position to get good letters when it is time to move on.
So, benefits: yes. Formulas: no.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: One positive side-effect of your publications pertain to world university rankings.
All such higher education rankings I know of take into account the number of scholarly publications (and citations to these publications). They do so in two ways:
First, as inclusion criteria for institutes to be listed in a ranking (e.g. the *THE World University Ranking* demands more than 150 publications in a single year [[p. 6]](https://www.timeshighereducation.com/sites/default/files/breaking_news_files/the_2021_world_university_rankings_methodology_24082020final.pdf); or the *CWTS Leiden Ranking* ranks universities only if they have at least 800 publications in 2015-8 [[see here]](https://www.leidenranking.com/information/universities)).
And secondly, publications (and citations) serve as as core performance indicators. For instance, publications weigh 20% of a journal's score in the *Shanghai Ranking* (according to their [Ranking Methodology](http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU-Methodology-2020.html)).
And these university rankings, in turn, have their real-life impact - [as many studies show](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=impact%20of%20world%20university%20rankings).
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: (Although OP is in the US, the question doesn't have a "united-states" tag, so...)
In England and Wales, there's a pot of government money called ["QR funding"](https://re.ukri.org/funding/quality-related-research-funding/), which is allocated to universities in proportion to the quality and quantity of their faculty members' research publications, as measured in an episodic exercise called ["REF"](https://www.ref.ac.uk/).
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Posting this to academia stackexchange, but if this may fit better in other place please let me know.
My girlfriend is a new PhD student in a male dominated field, and is supervised by a postdoc in a research group led by a professor. For the last few months, her postdoc supervisor was constantly giving her small presents, and trying to meet with her outside of work hours such as in a restaurant on weekends, for a reason of discussing the current work. This makes my girlfriend uncomfortable, but she is too shy to say no to those things, and the behavior of the postdoc supervisor up to this point was borderline, I even accompanied her for one such meeting on a weekend. Yesterday however her postdoc supervisor surprised her where he took off her glasses from her head without her asking or warning her (because her glasses were a bit dirty); My girlfriend was startled, and pulled the glasses from his hands, and put them back on. At this point he further unannounced tried to touch and fix her hair, as she put her glasses in a rush which messed her hair. The overall situation stressed my girlfriend considerably, and she ended up in tears in the evening when she was telling me this. There have been some other similar situations (albeit with no / less physical contact) which makes my girlfriend distracted and nervous when she communicates with her supervisor, which impacts her ability to do her work.
My view on this is that we should let her supervisor know clearly that this behavior is not acceptable asap and escalate to the professor, in order to prevent such situations from happening again. The issue right now however is that her scientific work is depending on her supervisor, so she does not want to escalate or bring up this situation for discussion until the paper deadline that she works on. I am inclined to go and talk with the professor and postdoc myself, but I also do not want to do anything that my girlfriend did not ask for. Do you have any advice for me of what I can do to help? Do you have any suggestions or comment in general what to do in this situation?
Edit 1: As pointed in the answers / comments, I **will not** attempt any talking with prof or with postdoc on my own or other similar actions.
Edit 2: Unfortunately some 1:1 situations cannot be avoided, as my gf needs to take measurements together with her postdoc who knows how to operate the machinery.<issue_comment>username_1: This might be more of a [Interpersonal Skills](https://interpersonal.stackexchange.com/) question, but:
* **don't** take any action on your own
* **do** support your GF in any way she asks, including (1) being supportive and helping her deal with the stress (2) being present as a third party at meetings or (3) in conversation as a reminder that she's unavailable or (4) as an excuse ("oh, sorry, I have plans with my **boyfriend** (cough) so it'll be inconvenient to meet in person this weekend, but we could communicate via Zoom/Slack/e-mail ...") — not that it's OK that any of these are necessary in the situation.
* after the submission deadline passes, it's a judgement call (depending on personalities, relationships, etc.) whether it's best for her to try to work things out with the postdoc supervisor or go immediately to the professor
@Buffy correctly points out in a comment (I should have included this) that the highest priority is for your GF to **stay safe** by making sure never to be in a private/one-on-one meeting with the postdoc: if you're not available or she doesn't want you there and she can't set the meeting for a public professional space, ask her to ask a friend or colleague (especially female) to be there (mentioning this advice to your GF would be the one possible exception to "don't give her any help she doesn't want"). If your GF and the postdoc need to work together to take measurements on some equipment, do whatever you have/she has to to make sure there's a third person present.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I can understand your concern which is completely natural but I think it is up to your girlfriend to handle this situation by herself. The most appropriate thing you can do is to be supportive of your girlfriend and give her advice but not to take any action by yourself. From the outside, this could be probably seen as "threatening" by other people.
I do not really agree with the idea to wait for a deadline or something. If by keeping quiet and resisting somebody's harassment just for a project for a long time, your girlfriend's psychology could be affected, then you should not wait for it.
Maybe the question to be asked by your girlfriend may be: *what would I **feel** in 3 months, 6 months, 2 years after the deadline if I do not say anything or take any action about this issue?* At that point, I think there is another trade-off to be taken into account.
If I understood well, the postdoc is aware of the hierarchy and abuses of his position. The OP did not specify the location of the institution in question but note also that many universities and research institutes in Europe and in the US are very very sensitive to the issues of sexual harassment.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: ### Look up the university's sexual harassment complaint process.
What you're describing is sexual harassment, and it's both unacceptable and illegal in almost every developed nation, as well as most developing nations. I would strongly recommend that formal action should be taken against the post-doc in question.
You don't state location, but almost every reputable university should have a process for handling complaints of sexual harassment. In the US, this should fall under Title 9, and would likely be handled by the Title 9 office at the university, but other countries would have different names for things, and every university has its own internal policies and procedures. As a result, I would encourage you to read up on what the policies and procedures of this particular university's sexual harassment process are.
You may be able to make a complaint on your girlfriends' behalf, either as her boyfriend or anonymously, and there would likely be anti-retaliation processes that would protect her from retaliation by the post-doc for making the complaint, and which would prevent her studies from being harmed while the resolution of the complaint was in-process.
Finally, you may want to look up laws regarding conversation recording and one-party consent in your location. In some places, it's totally legal for one person to record a conversation that they're a party to; in other places, it's illegal unless everyone involved consents to the recording. If it is legal where you live, you might want to consider buying a recording device or phone app that your girlfriend could use to record her encounters with this post-doc, as evidence for any sexual harassment complaints that might be made.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: sorry your girlfriend has to go through this.
Step zero is to document everything. This includes taking screenshots, etc and storing all evidence of him asking her out in a non-university controlled environment (e.g. gmail docs). Keep it like a running diary. You never know when documentation comes in handy. She will also need documentation to prove what is happening to her.
Next, try to respond to everything he does in email / text so there is a paper trail (preferably a non-institution controlled mode of communication - if she has to email using an institutional email, she can forward emails to an external email, e.g. gmail).
Finally she needs to map out what other alternatives there are. Can another postdoc or team member teach her? Is there another project she can work on without this guy? Is there a policy which defines harassment at her institution etc? If so ,read it - even if she doesn't complain, it's good to know her rights.
Once these factors are known, she should decide her course of action, any communication should be over a non-institution controlled medium (like her gmail) as much as possible (this is so she retains control over the information).
Some ideas:
1. If there's a trusted female friend, or woman in the field maybe they could support her in talking to her professor?
2. Work with him only during work hours.
3. If she feels weirded out in his presence, she should override any feelings of being polite and just leave. No explanation, no nothing. She should GTFO and always trust her gut. She can say any bullshit after the fact, like "I felt ill" etc.
4. Are there student advocates or unions on her campus? Could she get support and advice from a student organisation?
5. She should be mentally prepared for the academy and professor to not support her - this may not be the case, but I'm just saying this does happen to people.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I have noticed while reading CVs of professors in STEM fields that universities only hire up. First-tier and second-tier universities seem to only recruit professors from first-tier PhD programs, third tier universities only hire from top and second tier PhD programs, and so on. It seems like it is very unlikely for anyone graduating from a university that's not first-tier to have an academic career. I can think of a few explanations:
1. Maybe everyone wants to hire the first-tier "brand." Hiring committees could be too busy to evaluate the relative merits of their candidates, choosing to trust in brand names instead.
2. There could be something wrong with second-tier PhD programs and below that cause them to produce candidates unsuitable for tenure track. Maybe there is something that certain universities instill in everyone who goes there that causes both increased output when they are there, and a long and successful career afterwards.
3. Perhaps most students bright enough to produce an impressive amount of research in grad school are bright enough to produce an impressive amount of research in undergrad. In that case, most of the good researchers get admitted to top-tier programs, making it unsurprising that virtually every tenured professor came from one. In this theory, research potential is an innate characteristic that universities have little effect on.
If the first dominates, then I should not bother getting a PhD unless I can go to a top-tier university, or unless I think it will boost an industrial career. If the second dominates, I would still want to go to the best school possible, but it would not be completely pointless to go to a second-tier institution; maybe hard work could close the gap. If the third explanation is true, the university's prestigiousness hardly matters at all, and I should choose based on factors like how interested I am in the research being conducted there.
So, in the light of these guesses, do you think it is possible for someone to distinguish themselves at a second-tier institution through hard work, high research output, and maybe a really good thesis - or is the second-to-first tier gap impossible to jump?<issue_comment>username_1: First, I think it is important to recognize that the definitions of "1st tier", "2nd tier", etc. are not so universally defined. World or national rankings of universities are substantially based on the opinions of department heads. The differences between the #1 school and the #20 school may not be that large.
Professors also move from "2nd tier" to "1st tier" schools all the time based on demonstrated research output. Therefore, it is possible to improve your value to hiring committees with more productivity.
Now to analyze your 3 options (which I think are fairly comprehensive): I think all 3 have some impact.
1. Departments often hire faculty with new expertise, meaning that no one at the department is an expert in that subfield. If they are not expert enough to evaluate individual papers directly, they may use as a proxy the quality of the journals which papers are published in, or the ranking of a school at which the student graduated from. However, I think this has the least impact because the quality of an individuals' research publications can usually be assessed separately from the ranking of their alma mater.
2. "1st tier" universities often hire the most productive faculty and have the highest expectations for promotion and tenure. Faculty at "1st tier" schools may have the best research abilities, skills, or ideas and share these ideas or skills with their students resulting in their students also becoming more successful researchers.
3. "1st tier" universities can pick the most promising new graduate students, which includes students who had the best combination of ability, skills, and motivation in undergrad and going into grad school. These students are likely to continue to perform at the top.
To answer your question directly, I believe that a student at a "2nd tier" school could certainly distinguish themselves sufficiently to be hired at a "1st tier" school. It happens infrequently because the students at "1st tier" schools have the advantages of being advised by top researchers and being top students when entering grad school.
Nevertheless, distinguishing yourself for a faculty job is hard at any school. I know many PhD alumni of "1st tier" schools who left academia.
Finally, not every school can be "1st tier", and professors at "2nd tier" schools can still do good work in research and teaching. You may want to consider whether you prefer being a professor at a "2nd tier" school to an industry job.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This is very field specific. In my field, neuroscience, where you do your *PhD* is probably less important that where you do your *postdoc*. So, if you do good work for someone who is well respected at a "2nd" or "3rd" tier school, your PhD advisor can probably help you get a postdoc at a 1st tier school. If you are then productive in your postdoc, you may have a chance at getting a faculty position.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes, it is possible, because the "tier" of your grad school is [not something people care about anyway](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/90/university-rank-stature-how-much-does-it-affect-ones-career-post-ph-d):
>
> Nobody in theoretical computer science cares where you got your degree. Really. We. Do. Not. Care. We only care about the quality and visibility of your results. Publish strong papers and give brilliant talks at top conferences. Convince well-known active researchers to write letters raving about your work. Make a good product and get superstars to sell it for you. Do all that, and we'll definitely want to hire you, no matter where you got your degree. On the other hand, without a strong and visible research record, independent from your advisor, you are much less likely to get a good academic job, no matter where you got your degree.
>
>
>
Caveats apply, also given by JeffE in that answer:
>
> And. In my experience, where you get your degree is strongly correlated with successful research. I got my Master's degree at UC Irvine in 1992 and my PhD at UC Berkeley in 1996. The biggest difference I saw between the two departments was the graduate-student research culture. Every theory student at Berkeley regularly produced good results and published them at top conferences. When the FOCS deadline rolled around each year, the question I heard in the hallways from other students was not "You know the deadline is coming up?" or "Are you submitting anything?" but "What are you submitting?", because "nothing" was the least likely answer. Everyone simply assumed that if you were there, you were ready and able to do publishable research. Publishing a paper wasn't exceptional, it was just what you did. That cloud of free-floating confidence/arrogance had a huge impact on my own development as a researcher. I've seen similar research cultures at a few other top CS departments, especially MIT, Stanford, and CMU. (Caveat: This is an incomplete list, and there are many departments that I've never visited.)
>
>
>
In this sense, universities "hire up" because graduates from top schools are much more likely to *be* great researchers in the first place.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: If your main motivation is to become a well-paid and respected professor, then I would say that you're better off playing the lottery. If you think getting a PhD will mean that you'll have better career prospects, then there's some merit in that, depending on the field you're in.
There's also a difference between research groups and universities. If you're getting into research, you're interested in the former. There's no point in being affiliated with a first tier university if it doesn't have strong collaborative connections with other groups around the world. You're going to have to move around alot and collaborate if you want to move up anyway.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: After writing to a potential postdoc advisor in the US, I got replied like;
```
"... will follow up soon.
....................
...new project is matching with your profile.
....................
Again, I’ll be in touch soon. "
```
I genuinely like this research group's work. This is one of my best choices among those that I still have a chance for.
Just for the cultural differences and curiosity, I would like to know,
How to politely follow up?
Because waiting longer makes my other chances fade away. So I want to make sure if I am In or OUT.<issue_comment>username_1: First, I think it is important to recognize that the definitions of "1st tier", "2nd tier", etc. are not so universally defined. World or national rankings of universities are substantially based on the opinions of department heads. The differences between the #1 school and the #20 school may not be that large.
Professors also move from "2nd tier" to "1st tier" schools all the time based on demonstrated research output. Therefore, it is possible to improve your value to hiring committees with more productivity.
Now to analyze your 3 options (which I think are fairly comprehensive): I think all 3 have some impact.
1. Departments often hire faculty with new expertise, meaning that no one at the department is an expert in that subfield. If they are not expert enough to evaluate individual papers directly, they may use as a proxy the quality of the journals which papers are published in, or the ranking of a school at which the student graduated from. However, I think this has the least impact because the quality of an individuals' research publications can usually be assessed separately from the ranking of their alma mater.
2. "1st tier" universities often hire the most productive faculty and have the highest expectations for promotion and tenure. Faculty at "1st tier" schools may have the best research abilities, skills, or ideas and share these ideas or skills with their students resulting in their students also becoming more successful researchers.
3. "1st tier" universities can pick the most promising new graduate students, which includes students who had the best combination of ability, skills, and motivation in undergrad and going into grad school. These students are likely to continue to perform at the top.
To answer your question directly, I believe that a student at a "2nd tier" school could certainly distinguish themselves sufficiently to be hired at a "1st tier" school. It happens infrequently because the students at "1st tier" schools have the advantages of being advised by top researchers and being top students when entering grad school.
Nevertheless, distinguishing yourself for a faculty job is hard at any school. I know many PhD alumni of "1st tier" schools who left academia.
Finally, not every school can be "1st tier", and professors at "2nd tier" schools can still do good work in research and teaching. You may want to consider whether you prefer being a professor at a "2nd tier" school to an industry job.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This is very field specific. In my field, neuroscience, where you do your *PhD* is probably less important that where you do your *postdoc*. So, if you do good work for someone who is well respected at a "2nd" or "3rd" tier school, your PhD advisor can probably help you get a postdoc at a 1st tier school. If you are then productive in your postdoc, you may have a chance at getting a faculty position.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes, it is possible, because the "tier" of your grad school is [not something people care about anyway](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/90/university-rank-stature-how-much-does-it-affect-ones-career-post-ph-d):
>
> Nobody in theoretical computer science cares where you got your degree. Really. We. Do. Not. Care. We only care about the quality and visibility of your results. Publish strong papers and give brilliant talks at top conferences. Convince well-known active researchers to write letters raving about your work. Make a good product and get superstars to sell it for you. Do all that, and we'll definitely want to hire you, no matter where you got your degree. On the other hand, without a strong and visible research record, independent from your advisor, you are much less likely to get a good academic job, no matter where you got your degree.
>
>
>
Caveats apply, also given by JeffE in that answer:
>
> And. In my experience, where you get your degree is strongly correlated with successful research. I got my Master's degree at UC Irvine in 1992 and my PhD at UC Berkeley in 1996. The biggest difference I saw between the two departments was the graduate-student research culture. Every theory student at Berkeley regularly produced good results and published them at top conferences. When the FOCS deadline rolled around each year, the question I heard in the hallways from other students was not "You know the deadline is coming up?" or "Are you submitting anything?" but "What are you submitting?", because "nothing" was the least likely answer. Everyone simply assumed that if you were there, you were ready and able to do publishable research. Publishing a paper wasn't exceptional, it was just what you did. That cloud of free-floating confidence/arrogance had a huge impact on my own development as a researcher. I've seen similar research cultures at a few other top CS departments, especially MIT, Stanford, and CMU. (Caveat: This is an incomplete list, and there are many departments that I've never visited.)
>
>
>
In this sense, universities "hire up" because graduates from top schools are much more likely to *be* great researchers in the first place.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: If your main motivation is to become a well-paid and respected professor, then I would say that you're better off playing the lottery. If you think getting a PhD will mean that you'll have better career prospects, then there's some merit in that, depending on the field you're in.
There's also a difference between research groups and universities. If you're getting into research, you're interested in the former. There's no point in being affiliated with a first tier university if it doesn't have strong collaborative connections with other groups around the world. You're going to have to move around alot and collaborate if you want to move up anyway.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for college in the state, one of the question in the application is "Will you have graduated from high school, earned a GED, or received and international equivalent prior to enrolling at the University of Oregon?".
My question is
1. What is "international equivalent" refer to? For example, is my high school diploma in Taiwan count as an international equivalent?
2. I'm confusing about the or list, whether the question is asking
A. (have graduated from high school and earned a GED) or (international equivalent)
B. have graduated from high school or earned a GED or international equivalent
Thanks.<issue_comment>username_1: The wording is there to account for the fact that things that are approximately the same have different names in different countries and cultures. A HS diploma from Taiwan is probably very similar to a HS diploma from the US in that you have studied fundamental things at an appropriate level for someone about 17 years old, give or take a bit.
A list of "equivalents" would be long indeed.
When you apply, someone will look at your transcripts and target any missing pieces, though I doubt they will find any. Good luck.
---
A [GED](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Educational_Development) in the US is a "diploma" given to students who have taken some non standard path to achieve what most students learn in secondary school. One can, for example, earn a GED through a set of tests. But that isn't likely to apply to you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> What does "international equivalent" to high school refer to?
>
>
>
The typical American university is not going to know if your local school is "good enough" to be equivalent to US high school. If you have completed whatever schooling is customary before enrolling in a university in your country, then if you claim it is equivalent to US high school you will very likely be believed. Do plan to provide a document showing you completed whatever schooling, translated as necessary, in case someone asks for it.
While the vast majority of US university students have graduated from high school, plenty of people get university degrees without graduating from high school. So this is not a question that needs careful thought.
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<issue_start>username_0: Suppose I am working on a book that is a broad expansion of a survey article I wrote with a collaborator, Dr. Y, who passed away recently.
I sent Y extremely early drafts of some chapters and invited Y to be a coauthor.
Y gave a lot suggestions in the structure, content, and style of the book, yet Y remained vague about coauthorship (probably because he had doubts if he will live long enough). Y never said yes or no.
Y never participated in the actual writing.
But Y's suggestions became the high level blueprint that guided the development of the book.
This draft is only about 60% done, but I'm wondering: in this case, should Y be a coauthor?<issue_comment>username_1: There may be laws that govern this, though laws vary from place to place. Normally he would have to give permission and that "right" may legally have passed to his heirs. You would do well to contact someone responsible for his estate and take up the question with them.
But since he never gave permission, you don't have permission, yet, to include him. You have an obligation to acknowledge his contribution and probably cite some of the specifics as well, even though they haven't been published.
Dedicating the book to his memory would be a nice touch also.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: In addition to @username_1's good answer, I would note that an important part of this decision will be based on the degree to which material from the prior survey article is included, since the person is already established as a co-author of the prior article.
* If significant portions of the prior article are effectively incorporated in this work, then the default position is for all prior authors to be co-authors, since they are co-authors of a subset of the work. In this case, the person should be a co-author.
* If the new work does not include significant portions of the prior work, then the default position is for authorship to be determined independently. In this case, it is your judgement call whether their contributions rise to the level of authorship or should be an acknowledgement.
In both cases, the person can no longer consent so, as @username_1 points out, consent will pass to their heirs. Usually, though, this won't be a hard decision for the heirs, as a good scientific publication is a lasting mark on the world that honors the memory of the deceased. I have experience with this myself (though I wasn't the one who negotiated with the heirs), and family of the deceased not only happily supported the publication, but went on to establish a standing scholarship in the area in the person's name.
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<issue_start>username_0: I've recently taken a new position within a math department at a large university. The department has an official policy that in most lower-level undergraduate classes (let's say anything in the calculus sequence and below), roughly half of the students should receive A's and B's, and the other half should receive C's and below.
I tend to disagree with this policy, but being new to the department and rather inexperienced with the student population, I'd like to honor the policy for the time being. So for the first time in my teaching career, I plan to curve my class to achieve a desired distribution.
One tenet of my teaching philosophy is that I try to be as transparent with students as possible about how they will be assessed, and how their performance will translate into a letter grade. This means that if I am to institute a curve next semester, I want to be able to tell students exactly how the curve will work. Of course, I'm very worried that telling them only half of them can get A's and B's will create a very competitive environment, so students will not want to study with and help each other, so learning will suffer (in fact, I'm almost certain this will happen). This leads to my question:
>
> How can I simultaneously
>
>
> 1. tell the students how I will assign grades,
> 2. achieve the distribution desired by the department, and
> 3. still get students to buy into working together?
>
>
>
Seems impossible to me - maybe it is...
One quasi-solution (which potentially strays a bit from condition 2) is to have guaranteed grade cutoffs. For example, if a student achieves an 80% in the class, she is guaranteed at least a B-, even if 75% of the class scored higher. In this scenario, the perceived effect of any curve is that it "can only help and not harm." This could give students at least some sense of being in control of their own destiny and that they are not only being assessed in comparison to their peers.
The problem with this solution is that determining those grade cutoffs can be tricky at the outset. If I make them too high, then at some point in the semester it will become clear that the curve will supersede the cutoffs, and competition is likely to creep back in. If the cutoffs are too low, then I could be locked into awarding an overly generous distribution that would be frowned upon by my department.
What can I do?<issue_comment>username_1: I think you're onto the right approach with the idea of a curve that only helps.
Based on your description, it sounds like you are in the United States. If so, the simplest way to do this would be to compute twice:
1. Use the standard US metric of A=90%-100%, B=80-89%, C=70-79%, D=60-69%, F<60%.
2. Apply the curve.
3. Give the student the maximum of the two grades.
If you put together examinations that are far too difficult, then you may still have a problem. No matter what, however, a curve can only do so much to save you from this mistake, however, since overly difficult exams will also tend to increase the arbitrariness of assessment.
One other thing that may help in setting the curve is a trick I learned from the professor that I TAed for while in graduate school. When determining the curve, he also included all of the students who dropped the course. In a big undergraduate course, there were always a decent number of these, and they would generally be doing worse than the students who at least stuck it out to the end. The dropping student thus generally absorbed the failing grades at the bottom of the scale (except for a few deserving cases) and took the sting out of the curve for the students working hard but struggling in the class.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If a policy like this works to the detriment of an individual student, giving them a grade lower than what they fairly earned, then it is immoral. Such policies should be changed and the faculty should get together and come up with better policies.
However, interpreted in a certain way, there shouldn't be a problem, though, again, it takes buy in from faculty and administration. If the "half good - half bad" policy is interpreted as a goal to be achieved over time then it can be benign. If a course is offered in a term and the grades are "off" then the difficulty of the course should be adjusted for future offerings, with the already-earned grades standing as assigned.
Let me give two extreme cases. Suppose you wind up in a given term with a bunch of brilliant students. They are all overachievers and get near perfect marks on all graded work. How do you proceed? Flip coins?
The other extreme case, which I've actually seen happen, is that a group of students think they are overworked and "go on strike" and refuse to turn in any work at all. Again, how do you make this "curve" work? I was once the new faculty member who faced this situation when I worked a bunch of MS students harder than they were used to. I had to tell them that it was possible for everyone to fail in order to get them going again. I needed a discussion with the Dean to justify this, but she agreed and it worked out. The students got to work and raised their standards.
The grading scheme needs to be fair on its face to every individual. They should have a good idea along the way how they will likely come out at the end and what they still need to do to achieve their personal goal in the course. If the grading scheme doesn't do that then it is immoral and needs to be fixed. Student life shouldn't be a battle against unfair odds.
I find your instincts here to be good and appropriate.
However, if your class grades deviate from the norm, be prepared to answer why. You need to justify your actions, of course, and you may need to adjust the student tasks to make a desired overall outcome more likely. But a rigid scheme will eventually be unfair to someone.
"Fix" the policy, not the (individual) grades. Adjust the difficulty of the course over time to match expectations.
---
Let me add a couple of notes for balance.
A department wide grading scheme that leaves all courses of "approximately" the same difficulty can actually serve students well. If the standards are high, then students, when they join a course, know how hard they are expected to work and that it will be pretty hard. It also prevents some "gaming" by students who seek an easy path by choosing courses or professors. There is no problem with this until it is misapplied to a single section/course/professor.
When it is applied to the course of a new professor, without thought or understanding, it is also unfair to that person who may need some time to become adjusted to the students and their expectations.
Finally, I'll note that it sometimes becomes necessary to provide a "gate" to a major as the university may not have the resources to handle a too-large number of advanced students. CS sometimes has to deal with this when the field becomes "hot" for some external reason, driving too many students to want to major in it. These gates can take many forms, such as not being able to declare the major until the end of the second year and requiring certain grades in foundation courses to do so. This is necessary, if unfortunate. But the system still needs to be fair to individuals and not contain hidden traps.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Quite obviously, the mutual satisfaction of those criteria is impossible. Adjusting student marks to a curve puts students into competition ---i.e., a higher mark by one student lowers the marks of the other students and *vice versa*. That is a mathematical corollary of scaling.
May I suggest an alternative way of looking at this. Since you are new, one of the things you use your first iteration of the course for is to calibrate the difficulty level of the material and assessments adequately. Scaling of marks can actually help here because it allows you to adjust misjudgment of this level --- if you made the course too hard you scale up and if you made it too easy you scale down. Once you have taught the course once, and you can see the raw marks on your assessments, you will then be able to recalibrate the difficulty level of the course so that it accords roughly with the desired mark outcome in the department policy. At this point, you ought to be able to proceed without further scaling in future semesters, allowing some deviations from the desired outcomes from time to time. There may be some oscillation in the quality of the students from time to time, and so some departure from the desired outcome is to be expected.
It sounds like the official policy of your department allows some wiggle-room here, and the department does not expect that all courses will exhibit the desired pattern of marks. I recommend that you impose scaling the first time you teach the course, and then in future iterations you should try to calibrate the difficulty level of the assessment to get outcomes that are roughly where your department is aiming. At that point you will be in a strong position to argue against strict application of the policy to your course, in view of the efforts already made to calibrate the difficulty level of the assessment to the desired outcome.
Lastly, in regard to the desire to blunt the competitive instincts of your students, one major thing to try to get across to them is that *their learning and knowledge matter more than their grades*. If students behave in a way that enhances their learning process (e.g., by working together, helping each other, etc.) at the expense of a couple of marks due to scaling, this will stand them in a better position for their future success. If they believe that then they will be more likely to focus on the learning process and act in a cooperative manner.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: This situation is likely not as bad as you think, especially if you have a large class (I strongly question the wisdom of applying a curve in a sparsely enrolled class, but even then the situation may not be as bad as you or the students expect).
Let me demonstrate by way of an example. Let us assume 100 students, with the top quartile receiving A's, the second quartile receiving B's, the third quartile receiving C's, and the lowest quartile D's and F's.
First, note that any two students in the same "grade level" can study together with impunity. If <NAME> beats out <NAME>, who cares? They both get A's.
But what about students in different grade levels? What if <NAME>. might want to study with <NAME>., but is afraid that raising Charlie's grade might hurt Billy? What is the likelihood that, if Billy and Charlie work together, Billy gets "bumped down" a grade for his assistance?
Almost none, as it turns out. First, note that no matter how much Charlie might improve his score, Billy can only ever be hurt by Charlie if Charlie actually does better than him. This is already fairly unlikely, at least in my experience, as very often students who study together are rarely so close in skill and understanding that the less prepared student will outperform the better.
It could happen, though. Suppose that against all odds, Charlie actually outperforms Billy. Will Billy be hurt?
Probably not. Note that Billy is only "bumped down" by Charlie if Billy was already in last place among all B-grade students. That is, Billy can only be hurt by Charlie both if Charlie outperforms him *and* Billy is already in last place among the B-students. Otherwise both Billy and Charlie will receive B's in the class.
Only four students in the entire class, the students at the very bottom of the A, B, C, and D grade levels, can possibly be hurt by partnering with a lower-level student who subsequently outperforms them. What about those four students, though? Should they avoid partnering with somebody for fear of a later upset?
Again, probably not. Finally, note that tutoring is rarely simply a one-way street. Although Charlie might learn more by working with Billy, chances are that Billy will also learn at least a little from studying with Charlie. If this translates into even just one extra question correct for Billy on his exam, he's probably better off than he would have been otherwise. Billy only has to beat one other B-grade student no matter what score Charlie gets. If Billy can beat Bottom-Barrel Bob, it doesn't matter what score Charlie gets -- Billy is still getting a B. And who knows, maybe by studying with Charlie, Billy might be able to beat out Amusingly Average Andrew. That would be a good situation for both Billy and Charlie.
**tl;dr:** A small number of students working together are not actually competitors in a large class. They are competing against *other* students in the class who are not part of their study group.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: ### Achieve the grade targets through iterations of the class across multiple semesters, not by curving the marks.
Simply put, your goal is to produce a particular shape to the marks without treating students unfairly. So, simply teach the course, and assess it at a level of difficulty you think is appropriate.
Then, if you're off your desired grade distribution after the semester's over, you know how to adjust it the next time you're teaching. If too many students get high grades, you can increase the difficulty of the assessment next semester. If too many students get low marks, you can decrease the difficulty next semester.
This process can be repeated until your grade distribution is at about the level desired by the university. If one of the other professors criticizes you for being off the desired mark threshold, simply tell them that you're new and you're still in the process of calibrating the difficulty of the course. It's an iterative process, and you're probably not going to get it right the first time.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: ### Achieve a grade distribution by having easy, intermediate and hard questions
Suppose you had an exam with ten questions, all worth equal points:
* 1 very easy question
* 2 easy questions
* 4 intermediate questions - stuff you should be able to answer if you understood the course "well enough"
* 2 tough questions
* 1 very hard question
**For a class of typical students, you would expect the results to be bell-shaped. So this setup allows you to claim that you satisfy departmental policy.** But it's also more fair and objective than the post-test shifting that you feel like you're being pushed into.
This setup requires a somewhat rare piece of knowledge: what exactly is easy, intermediate and hard? This is obviously relative to the skill of "typical" students. Because an individual class can just happen to be quite good or bad, you need to iterate over several classes to settle on a good understanding of what a typical class is capable of.
Practically, in your first term, you don't want to be wildly off the mark with estimating where the middle of the class is on a difficulty scale, because that will undermine your standing in the department when negotiating the setup for next term. So you need early data to help tune your final exam. But any early test you do is probably going to skew to the left of the right. So the prudent thing to do is to make the early test relatively low-stakes, don't let it count for a large percentage of the overall grade.
Also, practice a poker face. If the results of the early test are bad, tell the students this was the "wakeup call" and that they need to step up. But you might yourself decide to scale down the difficulty on the final exam a bit. Conversely, if the results of the early test are very good, tell them this was just a getting to know you test and that the final exam will be harder. Making this early test low stakes is what allows you to do this trial.
Of course, you can also use the knowledge of the people around you for testing.
* Ask other lecturers to rate the difficulty of your questions, based on what they know about the questions
* Have your TAs playtest the exams. Assuming TAs need to have done well on a course in order to be allowed to TA it, this gives you an idea of the upper bound of what you can expect from students. If even the TAs have trouble with your test, it's probably too hard.
* Getting lower end of the curve testers can be harder, because these are probably less motivated to just out of the blue re-take a test they didn't do well the first time. However, if you have any students who are re-taking the course after failing it before, having a discussion with them about what they found hard and need help with, can give you some of this insight.
### Iterate to get the difficulty right
After your first time teaching this course, you can iterate. Any intermediate questions that *everyone* got right should probably be considered easy, and intermediate questions that less than about two-thirds got right should probably be reclassified as harder (or, you change your lectures to focus more on those topics).
Unlike typical "competitive" bell curve grading, this system doesn't punish students in a class for doing well together. If you have an exceptional group of students, they can all get good grades. But, depending on how many years you look at when tuning your test for next year, the next year's students are going to face a tougher test. So the competition element moves away from students in the same year, to students in successive years.
Now, you get an interesting situation. If this is year Y, and next year is Y+1, then the students in this year have nothing to gain by "going on strike"; class Y might make things easier for class Y+1, but that's cold comfort to class Y. Students in class Y-1 have nothing to lose from sharing useful materials with class Y, since they already have their results. Even students from Y-1 retaking the class have nothing to lose. Only students expecting to fail the class of Y and retake it in Y+1 have a reason not to help, but they probably don't have much ability to. Likewise, the upcoming class Y+1 doesn't have any real leverage to hinder class Y to make their own test easier next year.
Overall, the system has a mild bias upwards.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: At every university I've seen a "curve" is when the highest performing student is taken as the new 100% point and everyone else graded based on their score relative to that.
I have never seen any legitimate institution use the term to describe arbitrarily robbing students of a legitimately earned academic standing. As stated by others this is a deeply unethical policy, and one which I'm surprised hasn't been sued out of existence in any developed country.
Either your students followed your directions and got the answers to your assignments and tests correct or they do not. If they got the answer correct and followed your instructions properly then they deserve full credit.
Period.
Anything else is completely unethical and frankly a *staggering* liability for both you and your department. What happens when you're left with multiple people equally qualified for a given standing and have to pick who loses out? How do you do that? Do you flip a coin?
What's going to happen to you when the student who was artificially given a lower grade than they objectively earned alleges racism, sexism, or some other prejudice was involved in the decision?
The only ethically and legally responsible thing to do is to refuse and grade your students honestly and fairly on their academic performance. Tell your department that if they are going to demand students be arbitrarily and capriciously penalized for *literally no reason whatsoever* then they can have the guts do it themselves, and to take the responsibility for that decision when someone files under Title IX and starts a sit-in in the dean's office.
If there isn't enough room in the department for everyone to progress the only legitimate course of action, assuming growth isn't an option, is being honest about that and setting up either an actual legitimate and fair selection process or a waitlist.
Also as a side note to the suggestion of "hacking" this result by tuning the difficulty of the course: When one of my undergraduates failed a test that student was at fault. When half of them failed or got poor marks that was my fault for failing to properly teach them the material.
The idea that large numbers of students failing classes is somehow a good thing needs to be left in the dark ages where it belongs along with deliberately depriving medical residents of sleep.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: There are already good answers here but let me tackle this from a different perspective. Notes: this answer pertains mainly to big multisection courses that are required for many different majors. I also assume the course is not purposefully designed as a weed out course.
You're might be overthinking this!
----------------------------------
Preface:
For several years I taught the lab section of a intro level math class that most students in the university need in order to graduate. Thousands of students took the class each semester, and I taught 10 or so sections with roughly 35 students over that time.
The imagined situation:
If I heard of the policy you described while teaching my first class, I would have been very concerned as well. I think everyone who hears it imagines the same scenario: what if everyone does really well? Do I have to give bad grades simply because the quota says so?
The reality:
Individuals are unpredictable but group outcomes tend to be consistent. My grade distribution from class to class and year to year had very little variance. The overall grades over all sections were also very consistent year to year, which in my opinion is a desirable outcome. Big discrepancies from year to year are much more likely to be the fault of the instructor, instructional material, or differences in exam difficulty / grading than they are to be differences accountable to the students.
Essentially, as class size increases the variations in your outcomes should tend to decrease. This is going to be especially true for intro level math classes: these classes are taken by a wide range of students whose demographics (age, major, etc) are also going to be stable year to year. In other words, the freshman class in year x is going to look a lot like the freshman class of x+1. Additionally, the material in these classes tends to be highly standardized at this point. Nearly all calc 1 classes cover the same things regardless of where or when you take it. The evaluation material, particularly tests, also tends to be similar in difficulty year to year (or at least it should!). The material is also highly objective in nature, so variances in grading 'harshness' will be small (compared to, for example, grading essays).
Looking back, every class I taught shook out similarly, there were 2 or 3 students who got nearly perfect scores, 2 or 3 that failed completely, a handful of D's, lots of B's and C's, and a handful of A's. About half being A/B and half C/D/F sounds about right.
On a final note, sizable deviations away from previous distributions were how we determined something was off -- perhaps a bad test question or cheating took place. Consistency in grade distribution from semester to semester is a desirable outcome as it indicates that the course's difficulty is also consistent. This is most likely what the policy is getting at: if your grades significantly deviate from the distribution empirically derived from previous classes, something is probably wrong and it's probably not that you have class of all geniuses or dunces.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: ### Preamble
There's been, so far, a lot of answers and comments here containing variations on three themes:
* Calibrate your preset grading so it matches "the curve" after several iterations.
* Only apply "the curve" to help, not harm, students' grades.
* "Curving" grades is somehow immoral/unethical, so don't do it.
Does any of that answer really your question? Maybe, maybe not. (You've not yet "accepted" any.)
---
My Answer
---------
First, talk to your departmental colleagues -- the "grading committee" (if such a thing exists) and your fellow teachers.
Find out how strictly is this "curving" policy enforced?
Ask how they deal with the dilemma.
You might just get some good advice.
Perhaps it is a written policy that is rarely enforced. If so, go ahead and follow the other advice given (in other answers and comments).
If, however, it is well-established practice in your department to "curve" the grades then
* It will be easy for you to do too, and you'll be doing your job.
* The students will already be very aware of it, and presumably, have come to live with it.
If it is strict departmental practice and you choose not to follow suit, and inflate your students' grades, your colleagues will likely notice and may take action. So too will the students in general notice that yours are "easy" courses. Maybe students will flock to your courses. Maybe that will increase your workload.
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<issue_start>username_0: For example, I see a "book" on Springer published in 2017 that is identical to a conference article presented in 2011. What is happening here?
In my opinion, duplicate publications are not good for the research community. I am annoyed because if I cite the Springer version in my paper, then the reader will see e.g., 2017 and think that the work was proposed in 2017 when actually it was proposed in e.g., 2011. Furthermore, if I come across a paper published in 20XX in Springer, I have to play detective to make sure there isn't a version 5 years old that is identical...
Edit1: I must point out that the "book" versions of the papers I am referring are not extended versions but instead are identical.
Edit2: So, the specific case I am thinking of is a paper presented at a conference. The publisher of the book and conference are both Springer, but I am confused as to why conference proceeding are being published 5 or more years after the conference.<issue_comment>username_1: Let me suggest that this is benign. A conference will often make arrangements with a publisher to publish all accepted papers. The original date of the paper is the conference date and there may be some distribution of "proceedings" to attendees and, perhaps, to members of the sponsoring organization. ACM SIGPLAN, for example.
But conferences are on a frequent and tight schedule. Book publishing, on the other hand may take a while to organize, so the promised general publication, available to the public has a later copyright date. Publishers prefer a late copyright date so that expiration comes later than otherwise. And publishing in a book gives things a wider audience, since conference proceedings are extremely unlikely to ever be reprinted.
I will guess that the book references the conference and includes the date on which it was held. If you found the paper in the book, then you can reference the conference year as the original publication year.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't know what book you're looking at, but it could be a reprint volume. These are, as their name indicates, collections of reprinted works. They are usually reprinted works of some famous person ([example](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0821805614)), or they might be works which the editor of the volume has decided are worth including ([example](https://www.springer.com/series/11104)).
These books will usually make it quite clear the works contained are reprints though, so there should be no confusion over the date the original work was published.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Springer (and other commercial publishers) publish things because they expect to make a profit. They only act in the interests of the research community if those interests are aligned with Springer's profit.
Springer is able to profit because most of their sales are bulk sales. Since Springer has a monopoly on certain essential content, they can force their library customers to buy nonessential content.
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: There are algorithms/prescriptions for treating some diseases. There are also personal trainers who can guide people to fitness goals. Is there anything like this for achieving academic goals?<issue_comment>username_1: This is touched on by JeffE in [this answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/154/).
>
> Nobody in theoretical computer science cares where you got your degree. Really. We. Do. Not. Care. We only care about the quality and visibility of your results. **Publish strong papers and give brilliant talks at top conferences. Convince well-known active researchers to write letters raving about your work. Make a good product and get superstars to sell it for you.** Do all that, and we'll definitely want to hire you, no matter where you got your degree. On the other hand, without a strong and visible research record, independent from your advisor, you are much less likely to get a good academic job, no matter where you got your degree.
>
>
>
Relevant parts highlighted.
One more thing to add is to have a track record of getting lots of funding.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Academia is a highly competitive discipline. One might compare it to professional sports, with landing a permanent position at a research university comparing to getting a contract with a team in the top league. Is there an algorithm that anyone can follow to become better at football? Yes; in fact there are many such algorithms that work reasonably well. Will everyone following one of these algorithms become a Premier League player? Hahahaha.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> There are algorithms/prescriptions for treating some diseases. There
> are also personal trainers who can guide people to fitness goals. Is
> there anything like this for achieving academic goals?
>
>
>
Yes there is. Don't do anything yourself like all academic leaders. Get someone else to do it, add your name when they are done. You submit the paper. As soon as it's accepted, you tell everybody on about your great research. Travel around the world giving presentations about your works.
Repeat the same strategy to as many papers as you can. Very soon, you'll build up a strong academic record. Everybody will know you. You don't need to know the topics. You just need to add yourself as the senior author, do the submission, telling everybody it's all about you.
They do the works you get the trophy.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: There's no such thing as "success" in academia. Are you successful if you reach a certain title in a faculty? When you get X quoted citations of your best paper? When you're well respected in your field?
You can define goals and cater your life around them. If you meet those goals, you can say that you're successful. Personally I would say that if you get awarded a PhD, you're already a success. From what I've seen and experienced, it usually turns into mostly politics and career fluff after that anyways. So, you can apply whatever algorithm for political success after that point.
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: What is the transaction being made by paying tuition at most US colleges/universities? Are you paying for the time spent teaching, the price of education/intellectual property, or the diploma itself?
More specifically: Assuming it is not being repurposed for profit etc, is the IP covered under fair use? If so, could a person auditing a class simply for the sake of learning legally take classes without having to pay tuition?<issue_comment>username_1: There are two kinds of universities in the US: public and private. The public institutions are tax supported, though not completely. The private universities see to their own funding. Public universities are governed by rules defined by the individual States with some regulations at the national level and some left to the university. Private institutions have some regulations, but largely make their own decisions.
A university is an expensive place to operate. Even public institutions get only partial tax funding. Tuition is designed for two purposes. One is to have the students contribute financially to the costs, but the other is to provide an incentive for students not to waste their time and, by their presence, deny opportunities to others.
There are other concerns besides money. Your presence might not be welcome on a campus if you are not affiliated with it simply for security reasons. Trying to sit in on courses without permission might well result in a court order keeping you off campus. This is rare, but it happens. Your presence would then have legal implications.
As to the IP question here, there is nothing special about being a student vs a non-student with respect to IP rights. Students as well as non students have the same fair use rights. But note that such rights are limited by (varying) laws.
No one would be likely to get upset of a registered student shared their notes with you. You could use them to educate yourself. But neither you, nor the student could, for example, republish them.
Most universities have rules about auditing. They may permit it at lower cost than a "matriculated" student, since there is less paper work, hence lower costs. You get an education, prodded you do the work, but you don't have a record of it. But it isn't "free" in any sense. Space in a classroom costs money, both directly, and indirectly since a seat occupied by one person isn't available to another.
Even in COVID times, when physical space isn't a factor, the ability for a professor and other course staff to handle students effectively is limited.
To be explicit about another of your questions, what you are really "buying" with your tuition is *opportunity*. Opportunity to learn under the guidance of experts who have the perspective to know what is important in their fields. Some students pay tuition and don't really take advantage. Sadly. But freeloading off of the system will deny opportunity to others who might benefit and be more willing to participate fully in the system.
Let me give a bit of other perspective. I'm a Tai Chi student and instructor. The art, as a martial art, is about 800 years old, though the principles are much older. We have a tradition that we don't teach for "free". We believe that we are giving something valuable to our students and so require something valuable in return. In China, in the old days, it might be a dozen eggs, or service on the family farm, but something. Again, this is for two reasons. One is to support the instructor, but, more importantly, to incentivize the student to think of the instruction as being valuable.
Another thought. There is currently a move underway to make university education, up to some level, free of cost to the individual in the US. That doesn't make it free, as tax monies would be required to take over a much larger share of the burden. I support those efforts, but the question about student incentives under such a system is something that should be considered. The current system, however, is blatantly unfair since the distribution of wealth in the US is so unbalanced. Hopefully we can work this out.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Frequently, material from courses is available to all for free. For example, you can take [<NAME>'s course](http://m.dev.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative/abstract-algebra) on abstract algebra, [<NAME>'s course](https://online-learning.harvard.edu/course/justice?delta=2) on justice, or [<NAME>'s course](https://hefferon.net/linearalgebra/) on linear algebra. All have reputations as outstanding instructors, and these are just three of many examples.
*Auditing* a course means entering into a formal relationship with the university -- i.e., paying them. If you do this, and perhaps if you only unofficially "sit in" -- then the professor might be willing to give you feedback on homework, and/or to answer your questions. This will probably be at the discretion of the individual professor.
This is very worthwhile -- but there may be appealing options available for self-study if you can't or don't want to pay.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a published journal article and a book chapter (both are single-authored). I am in the process of getting permission from the publishers respectively to make the most of them for my PhD dissertation.
Well, my question is about what actions are okay as 're-use.' I asked these questions to a publisher once, but I have heard only very abstract answer (like, [...] a journal gives permission to 'reuse' and 'reproduce' to [...]).
1. Is it normal and okay to use only a certain part of the published article/book chapter?
(For example, exclude introduction and use only the analysis results).
2. Considering the overall flow of the PhD dissertation, I have theoretical discussion (Chapter 2) and analytical results (Chapter 6) far apart from each other.
In the published paper, as you can imagine, one come right after the other.
In this case, is it okay to split the published paper and put the parts in Chapter 2 and Chapter 6 separately?<issue_comment>username_1: You have three concerns here.
First is what the university and your advisor will permit as valid for a dissertation. Your advisor is a good source for this.
Second is copyright. I suspect that you no longer own all of the rights to your work if it is published. One normally yields most rights to the publisher. What you can reuse is up to them, but many will be generous in this regard. But you probably need something in writing.
Third, and maybe most important, is the danger of self-plagiarism. This is governed by custom, not by laws, but your reputation depends on getting it right. The normal way to avoid self plagiarism is to treat your own early published work the same way you would treat the work of any other researcher. Quote from the early work and give proper citations. Just copying (without quoting) is what gets you in trouble here.
The reason for avoiding self plagiarism is a bit different from ordinary plagiarism. When someone reads a scientific or other scholarly work, it is often necessary to put the work in context. Researchers want the *complete* context of a work including whatever references and citations and background the earlier work implies. If you just copy without citation, then the context is denied unless, as in the case of a "stapled dissertation", the new work is just a collection of earlier papers.
There is one benefit here in your situation. You will probably, with the consent of your publisher and your advisor, be able to quote more extensively from your own work than would be permitted if you were quoting the work of another. Then it becomes a matter of presentation and formatting, making it clear what is old and what is new.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If these published papers were part of your dissertation research, I don't see how there would be an issue. For example, at my University we were expected to submit and publish three papers for our dissertation. We then wrapped those papers into a single document, added an introduction chapter and conclusion chapter. My dissertation document was then published on the university website.
In my case I made sure that I did not use the publisher formatted final version of the papers. With the publishers I used, permission was not required for including in a thesis or dissertation. For example, I published some of my papers in IEEE journals. IEEE has a button on their site for each paper that you can click to get copyright permissions. It has a drop down that says "thesis/dissertation". All that they require if you are the first author is to include a copyright message to IEEE in your dissertation. Of course, the practice may be different in other journals, as the licenses will vary too.
I also made the choice to only publish my dissertation in the university's open access library repository as required by the university, and not in proquest's subscription repository of dissertations as that could result in monetization of another publisher's work.
In this example I gave, self-plagiarism does not apply because 1) you would be sure to acknowledge at each chapter's beginning that this is an already-published work, 2) the dissertation is a university requirement for graduation. Nowadays, many people are publishing their chapters separately and you are required to collate them into a single document for graduation. It wouldn't make sense to me to have to write an entirely new document to report the same findings in a more wordier manner. That would be a waste of time.
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/17
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD candidate in computer engineering. I've just finished my 2nd year. I finished all courses and passed the comprehensive exam. Currently working in a nice research project in collaboration with a big company but I haven't published yet.
I applied and got accepted into a one-year-long internship at the same company (20 hours a week) in the very same topic. I see it as a great opportunity because I want to work in the industry after my PhD and the internship fits perfectly with my research and thesis. But my supervisor disagrees with me and doesn't want me to take it. He thinks that it will compromise my PhD and told me if I take it, that will be at my own risk.
What should I consider when making this decision? How should I weigh this opportunity against my supervisor's advice?<issue_comment>username_1: Make a decision. Do you want a PhD or not. If you do, then make that the priority. Such opportunities as the internship will probably come along later. The doctorate would probably be harder to restart if you stumble.
Your advisor is giving good advice provided that the PhD is what you want.
Slowing down your research may get you scooped before you complete it, requiring at least a partial restart. Why take a chance.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: In general, doing an internship around a 3rd year into the program is close to ideal [as many people agree](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/762/56594). But doing any internship in graduate school might not be ideal in the first place, thus you have to carefully think this decision through.
In the comments, [you mentioned](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/160140/i-am-a-phd-candidate-and-i-have-been-offered-a-one-year-long-internship-should#comment429111_160140) the details of the conversation with the advisor, which I summarized in two points:
>
> * ...based on his [advisor's] previous experience, he [advisor] had 2 students who did an internship and got a job offer at the end of it and then they made their PhD part-time
> * ...I [the OP, the PhD student] will be given so many tasks and I won't be able to progress in my research
>
>
>
Neither of that "compromises your PhD" **directly**. Both part-time PhD and temporarily (within the internship duration) slowing down the progress to your research — is not the end of the world.
However, it is a matter of priorities:
* Will the internship contribute to your experience and\or PhD thesis?
* Do you have a goal of finishing PhD in a specific time frame?
* Do you want to risk potentially not completing the degree due to many unmentioned but probable issues?
Also, consider if you are currently involved in other research projects (individual or group) within your university and have any responsibilities, deadlines, funding issues. For some of them, you might not be directly and legally responsible, but your advisor might be. This also has to be taken into consideration.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: It's tough to pass on opportunities, but I have to second what your advisor said (or third, given username_1's answer saying the same). The situation you describe is very common in my field (economics), and both I and a lot of my classmates got offered very good jobs as soon as we were ABD.
The PhD-completion rate of classmates of mine who took jobs is far, far lower than those who buckled down and finished their dissertations without taking a job. Of course this is certainly not an unbiased sample, which makes username_1's comment about deciding your priorities even more pertinent.
Just don't underestimate how much harder you'll make it on yourself to finish if you end up with other commitments, especially if those commitments end up being lucrative. I personally both took a job at ABD and finished my dissertation, but I'm in the minority and it added probably two years to the dissertation process. Other classmates ended up with very good positions, chief data scientists and researchers and such, but every single one of them I've spoken with wishes they had finished their PhD too. It's very hard to work a full day and then come home and work some more, especially when both require a lot of similar brain power.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: It comes down to whether you want a PhD or not. If yes, then as username_1 & username_3 have already written, you should decline the internship because it will distract you from your thesis. 20 hours/week is a substantial demand on your time, so you will undoubtedly take longer to finish.
However, and especially since you've said you are looking for an industry job afterwards, there's a real chance the answer could be no, you don't want a PhD. That's because one of the biggest reasons to get a PhD is as an enabler for a job - it provides you with the skills/qualifications to do something you wouldn't otherwise have been able to do. If you've already been offered what you consider as an ideal job then that's a big reason why you might not need a PhD. I certainly know many people with PhDs in industry who think doing their PhD was a mistake because of the opportunity cost.
Ultimately it's a decision you will have to make for yourself. One thing you could try is postpone the decision - see if you can negotiate the internship for a shorter time, say 3 months, and at the end of those three months decide if you want to convert to full-time.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Other answers haven't directly addressed the **duration** of the internship or the **relevance** to your dissertation. In for example Computer Science, it's totally fine and encouraged for students to take shorter, summer research internships (**3 months**) where the goal is to produce **publishable** work related to their thesis topic. That's a win-win.
Here, the first problem is that one year is a really long time, and it's not clear if a nominal 20 hours/week will really leave you plenty of time and brainpower to do other PhD stuff. You could consider reaching out to your contacts at the company to see if a shorter internship is available, like summer-only at 40 hours/week. Your advisor might be happier with that.
The second problem is whether the work would be helping you toward graduating or publishing. I'm a bit confused about this because you said you're currently doing publishable research in collaboration with the company. But your advisor is skeptical that the work you'd do there would help you toward getting your PhD. Maybe it would be proprietary? So figure out whether the internship would contribute to your PhD objectives or not. But again, even if so, one year is a long time.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: You have already invested the years to get your doctorate. Don't throw that away, because you'll need it.
While actually doing things in industry you will run into obstructive people. When managers don't know enough to make an informed decision they cover their butts by siding with the most formally qualified opinion. Being right won't help you when the referee doesn't understand the argument.
I took the other path a long time ago and learnt this the hard way.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: During my PhD, in the third year (out of 4-5 planned), I got the opportunity to be hired by an large international high tech company for a great position. I took the opportunity and agreed with my supervisor that the thesis would take longer.
Like you, I wanted to go to industry after my PhD so I could not pass on that opportunity, I would rather resign from the PhD (with much, much sorrow).
**The difference is that it was a job**, a long term full-time position.
If it was an internship then I would have passed and followed-up on my PhD. Internships are great, but they are just this: internships. You do something loosely related to the announcement and then maybe you get an offer to be hired, or maybe not. There are plenty of internships.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: Taking a long year Internship, depends on many conditions. For example, currently an experience is offered to you while many people are spending money for COVID-19 situation.
Other conditions are the relations with your current situation (the country (or place) that the offer has emerged, the relation of the career with your university, etc).
Are these conditions i line with your current situation? For decision making you can vote each of these conditions in a list.
Here the experience of others is more important than a spectral specification. Speeding in gathering information about the career is more important than every comment without experience from that career.
However, having a way step by step is better than doing some special steps together at once, without quality.
About decision making, if you are in PhD state, it seems you want to be in relation with universities than industry. Hence at first finishing the PhD step, then do other works.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: I did an internship as a PhD student and it was very beneficial for me. I was able to earn more as a student, I got great experience working on a problem relevant to the company I interned for, and I got a great job offer after graduating. One thing that was key to all this working out is that my department was supportive of it. I had to get a second co-advisor to do the internship, because it was in a different area of study than my first advisor was working in, but she was supportive of still working with me to finish the project that we had started, and both co-advisors were supportive to continue on as a co-advisors until I defended my mixed thesis. The department chair was also very understanding and willing to sign off on an unconventional path towards graduation. They saw it as an opportunity to fund another student (since I no longer needed/qualified for support through a teaching assistantship), and as a way to secure good placement for one of their graduates. The nature of the work I was asked to do by the company was also legitimately research that led to a couple publications.
I mainly decided to write this to offer a contrary view to most of the answers here. It can be a very good thing to do an internship during a PhD program. I've known several others that have had similar experiences to mine at the company I work and at other research focused companies in industries related to mine.
The advice that I would give is that if the work that you would be doing for the internship could result in publishable research, then it might be worth the effort to talk to somebody more than just your advisor. See if the department chair would be supportive, if they are then see if your advisor might reconsider, or it might be worth talking to other professors to see if they would be willing to support such a project. If on the other hand the internship would be work that would be distracting from your PhD, then I totally agree that you should probably not do the internship if you are serious about completing the PhD.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: Do not assume that you have to choose between the two options.
First explore the ideal scenario, and only if that fails, consider choices.
Communicate with the company (not the HR, but with the employee who interviewed you / was interested in you / your research), and explain to them, that while you really want to do the internship and the position is exactly what you're looking for, it would be ideal if they could wait for X months for you to start it. Work with your professor to find some arguments about why it would be risky to your PhD to undertake the internship.
Best case scenario they will tell you that you can finish the PhD (or be close to it), and then get the internship.
Another possibility is that they will not be able to guarantee you the position after a X months (3-6 is a commonly accepted waiting time for a new employee joining), but still this does not mean that you will not be able to get the internship.
Depending on your field, it may be time critical to start as soon as possible, or it can not matter too much (they can wait a year). In addition keep in mind that internships are effectively free labor for the company, meaning that it's unlikely that they would not extend the same offer in the future (unless the team/department gets disbanded for some reason). Finally, when getting new employees or potential employees, what matters most is mindset/personality fit with the team, if you have that, it's likely they can wait.
---
If it turns out that you cannot get an extension to the offer, you can think of the following:
1. How easy is it to get similar internships? Try to apply to some, or at least discuss it with other companies in the field. If the field is extremely niche, then it might be hard because there are too few companies, or easy because there are too few candidates. This will help you evaluate the opportunity cost.
2. What is your end goal? If it's academia, focus on the PhD. If it's research/knowledge and working in the industry is a happy opportunity to do that, then you have options.
3. Taking the internship and not completing the PhD, is this an acceptable outcome?
4. How easy is it to find a **job** in the field? Try to actually do a job search, contact people working in the industry (or use the network of your professor) or at the very least have a talk with a recruiter. If there is demand for people with your expertise, losing the internship is not a big deal, as a job is incomparably better than an internship.
---
Good luck, don't stress about it too much, but try to gather as much data as possible to make an educated decision, hindsight is 20-20.
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/17
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<issue_start>username_0: There were two open positions at one research institution. I already applied for one because of the deadline. The second position has deadline in January. They are in different departments, the number of employees is above 100. I think I would prefer the second position because it is more senior and it is for three years while the first one is more like a postdoc and for one year. But both state they can be extended thereafter.
How should proceed now? Should I submit the second applications as soon as possible? Or should I wait if they contact me from the first one? I am not in touch with anybody from that institution, nor is my supervisor. I'v met some of them on a conference.<issue_comment>username_1: I'd suggest that you apply now for the first one and wait a bit. You will probably have some feedback by the deadline for the second one.
There is probably no real value in applying long before a deadline, provided that you can actually meet it with all requirements.
It is also unlikely that you would get a decision/offer before the second deadline, but more information can't hurt and might help..
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Do not wait until you are contacted, because there is as substantial chance that will never happen.
So long as you apply before the deadline, the timing does not matter. It is very likely that the two applications are evaluated completely separately, and even if they were not, timing is unlikely to be important.
Most universities have very little hiring activity in December. Applications submitted in December or January are unlikely to result in job offers before February.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
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2020/12/17
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<issue_start>username_0: I see a lot of people use Google Scholar and ResearchGate alerts, but I find those alert systems too overwhelming to the point I get inundated and treat them like spam. Perhaps I'm not using them effectively, though (e.g., too many AND operators in my searches). Any tips to improve my experience? Any alternatives that you might suggest? I'm intrigued by ReadCube Papers for its capabilities to integrate searches for papers, citations, and annotations (which is something I've also struggled to do, having used three different pieces of software for those functions), but I'd prefer something that doesn't have a subscription payment structure, at the very least.<issue_comment>username_1: Some options, most of which are actually not software:
* Subscribe to alerts for new papers published in your favorite journals via email or rss feed. (Be selective enough to not become inundated.)
* Try a recommendation engine (and pay with your privacy) like Mendeley.
* Subscribe to newsletters of relevant research associations and networks.
* Ask colleagues what they've found interesting recently, or more specifically what literature they recommend on a given topic.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: One tool that often goes overlooked is the **RSS feed**. Most journals have RSS feeds that allow you to subscribe to all the new mailings of the journal or just specific topics and headings. [Here's an example from the Physical Review journals](https://journals.aps.org/feeds). You can load these URLs into your favourite RSS feed reader software and then, if you like, further filter them by keyword in your reader for an added level of customization and filtration.
Personally my field is one where new papers are posted to the arXiv. I prefer to subscribe to the [arXiv mailings via RSS](https://arxiv.org/help/rss) instead of to the journals themselves. You can also set up separate feeds that filter using different keywords, authors, etc. using the arXiv search API. Here's an example of an RSS feed URL that filters this way:
```
http://export.arxiv.org/api/query?search_query=((all:boson+AND+(all:stars+OR+all:star))+AND+(cat:hep-th+OR+cat:gr-qc+OR+cat:hep-ph))&sortBy=lastUpdatedDate&sortOrder=descending&max_results=100
```
As an added bonus, you can also keep up with your favourite StackExchange posts [via RSS](https://academia.stackexchange.com/feeds/week)!
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/17
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<issue_start>username_0: Two students decided to consult each other about term paper formatting, because the teacher didn't provide guidance on the format. They used the same format, but different topics and totally different content on the subject matter. Is deciding to use the same format plagiarism?<issue_comment>username_1: **No.**
If using the same format were plagiarism, then almost every article published in a journal is plagiarizing, since they all have the same format. Plagiarism happens when some kind of intellectual idea is involved, and the format used is not an intellectual idea.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: This is absolutely not plagiarism, unless the topic of the class was design related. The template used to format a paper is irrelevant to the evaluation of the paper's actual content. Students share format templates and download such templates from the internet all the time. Microsoft Word itself comes with numerous templates for various kinds of documents. None of these are problematic.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: I don't see how the formatting could be subject to plagiarism if formatting/design itself is not a topic of a paper.
**Note 1:** However, I can see how similar/same formatting can be used as an additional consideration when deciding on an actual academic misconduct case.
**Note 2:** Consider explicit instructions of the teacher:
>
> This is an individual project. Do not consult each other on any subject regarding this paper.
>
>
>
And two students use a very distinct template and [for easiness of this post] admit discussion the choice of the template with each other. Even in this case, it **is not plagiarism**; however, the students slightly violated the "letter of the law" (whether the "law" is lawful and reasonable is outside of the scope) regarding the project. But I believe the "spirit of the law" is to not penalize the students for this at all.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: ### Are they being graded on their report template?
If constructing a template forms part of the coursework, and the template structure (have you nested styles? used appropriate "keep with next" on headers? and so on) is submitted and forms part of the marking scheme, then yes this would be plagiarism.
If they're being graded on the ***content*** of their report, and the most that happens with the template is that they might be docked some marks if it prevents the report being understood, then of course it isn't plagiarism. Plagiarism involves copying graded/evaluated content. Unless this is a course on how to use Word, the template isn't part of that.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Could they have worked together on a previous project? It is very rare to create new templates, and if they worked together last academic year, they might just both have kept the same template?
Even if they haven't: it is a very strict interpretation of plagarism for "sharing Word template" without any actual content to be plagarism.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_6: Short answer, no. Longer answer, I took a class last semester in which I had to write several papers or several paragraph essay style answers. I don’t think the professor ever required a specific format, but he always insisted that the papers have things such as indented paragraphs and a reference page so, formatting was the student’s choice. I always wrote my papers in Google Docs and used the MLA template provided and I know that others in my class did as well. The vast majority of the papers we did write were run through Turnitin - which checks for plagiarism - never set off any alarm bells for plagiarism either using the MLA or APA formatted templates.
Now, I am also certified in my state here in the US to teach Emergency Medical Technician courses and, as such, could end up encountering situations where plagiarism could be an issue. I would not consider using an identical format any type of plagiarism, particularly if it were one of the “big” paper writing formats like APA or MLA. Perhaps if I had specified to each and every student that they must, independently create their own format, then I’d raise an eyebrow at students with identical formats.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: Ask yourself *why* plagiarism is forbidden. It is usually for a few main reasons:
* falsely amplifying a supposed "fact" without having done any work yourself is evil on epistemological grounds, because it leads others to think there is more evidence in favour of something than actually exists;
* pretending to have more intellectual ability than in fact you have is epistemologically evil again, because it leads people to believe that your other output is better-grounded than it really is;
* humans are social animals who do not take kindly to being deprived of the credit for their work (and indeed the incentives of our societal systems may become even more misaligned than they already are, when work is routinely uncredited).
Merely copying someone's formatting only violates one of those reasons if the formatting itself is a key subject of the work.
Upvotes: 1
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2020/12/18
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<issue_start>username_0: I am nearly finished with a paper, as well as some accompanying open-source software. We are planning on submitting this to a prominent statistics journal. One of the more promising methods that we discuss in the paper deals with the [normal-inverse Gaussian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal-inverse_Gaussian_distribution) distribution, commonly referred to as the NIG distribution. This is usually pronounced “en-eye-gee”, but it’s understandable that some people say it phonetically (it’s a relatively obscure distribution).
In case it is not yet clear, my concern is that NIG is somewhat reminiscent of the “N word”. I had some reservations about writing NIG so many times in the paper and in the software (by convention, there would be many functions with NIG pre-fixes, e.g. `nig_foo()`). I thought maybe I was overthinking things, but I’ve had a few people (including a co-author) comment about the potentially inappropriate nature of this name.
Thus I feel like it might be worthwhile to refer to this distribution by a different name. It is not uncommon for distributions in statistics to have multiple names (e.g., normal vs. Gaussian), and we would make it clear that it is the same distribution. The problem is, I feel very unqualified to just change the name of distribution that has been around for 40 years.
If we do change the name, here’s a short list of some of the things I’ve considered.
1. The Normal-Wald Distribution (*Wald is another name for inverse-Gaussian*)
2. The Gauss-Wald Distribution (*Same idea*)
3. The Barndorff-Nielsen distribution (*[Ole Barndorff-Nielsen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_Barndorff-Nielsen) was one of the first researchers looking into this distribution*)
4. The Barndorff distribution (*Less wordy, but I don’t want to remove a surname without asking him*)
Questions
---------
Is it a bad idea to change the name? I’m slightly uncomfortable with it, but I might be overthinking it.
If I do change the name, what’s the most reasonable choice? (I realize this is very subjective, but feedback is welcome)
*I don't think that the name of the distribution is intentionally or overtly "racist". The main point is that (i) this distribution is relatively obscure and (ii) many distributions have multiple names so it might make sense to have an alternative that has no chance of being problematic.*<issue_comment>username_1: Actually changing the name because *someone* might be offended by a sound that comes from a completely different domain and is completely separate from the history of racism would be condescending, in my view.
And, as you say, the term is in common use. Changing it would also confuse some people.
Leave it be.
There was no intention to do harm and the acronym is natural. The language police are unlikely to chase you down. It would be different of course if the acronym were chosen for racist purpose, but that is clearly not the case here.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> my concern is that NIG is too reminiscent of the “N word”.
>
>
>
It is not. This is in no way comparable to the "whitelist/blacklist" terminology that is currently widely criticised.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Change the name if you like. Point it out prominently in your paper and code, possibly more than once (e.g. first mention in the main text and in the methods / supplement, of course also in the function documentation, etc.). The names of even common objects are changed for a variety of reasons. It happens, and people should be aware that names are usually pretty arbitrary.
Example: I once read a book where the [discrete-time Fourier transform (DTFT)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrete-time_Fourier_transform) (by all means the standard name) was called DSFT (Fourier transform in discrete spaces), because, technically, it can be computed over other domains than time. It was weird for a moment, and then I got used to it, and know I'm kind of glad that the authors stressed this point because it made me think about something important.
Conventions exist until someone begins to challenge them. *I'm scared of the language police* (see another answer here) doesn't even need to be part of the justification. It can just be that another name sounds better to you. Of course, standard names shouldn't be changed on a whim, but they can be (and are).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: *Niggardly*, *niggling*, and *Niger* are a few "obviously inoffensive" words that people have found offensive ([source](https://listverse.com/2019/10/22/9-inoffensive-words-you-cant-say-because-of-the-n-word/)). The Mandarin word 那个 has also been found offensive; offensive enough that the teacher using it was removed from the class where it was used ([source](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-05/usc-business-professor-controversy-chinese-word-english-slur)). I suggest that you use an acronym other than NIG.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: You could always abbreviate Distribution as D and call it the NIGD. This is different enough from that other word that I think it should be acceptable.
(Now we need to do something about SMB, that inter-computer connection tool in Linux.)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: I would like to add a different perspective to your question. Fortunately (or unfortunately, it depends) for the Americans, English become the most widely used language in science and business. That means, that it is used by many people who are not Americans and who are not really troubled by some secondary/offensive meanings of some words or some cultural concepts typical for the US.
NIG is an abbreviation of a name of a distribution; it is understandable. It would be confusing to many people, why you would want to change it, just because it resembles a word which in your cultural context is not appropriate to use. I think your concerns might be valid when writing a novel, in English, for an English-speaking audience, where someone could start looking for hidden meanings. Since we are talking about a scientific paper read by non-American readers as well, I don't think your concerns are relevant. Use what is standard and don't worry.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: One possibility that doesn't seem to have been addressed yet is the following:
**Ask members of the group most likely to be offended by the term---in this case Black people---what they think.**
Obviously you probably don't have the resources to do a full, representative survey of Black people, and obviously there are going to be differences in opinion between members of any group. But if you ask a few people and they say they find it very offensive, it would likely be a good idea to try and use something different. Likewise, if every Black person you ask says that they think it is fine this is an indication (though not a guarantee) that the term does not need to be changed.
Language is complex, and while there is no intention to cause harm by using the acronym, perhaps the potential to cause harm outweighs the benefits of familiarity for your readers. You won't get a definitive answer because there is none, but in my view the people whose opinion should carry the most weight on this are the people who are most likely to be harmed in the first place.
It is also worth noting that Black people are underrepresented in academia, and therefore likely to be underrepresented on academia.stackexchange, which will affect the answers you get here.
Edit: I guess its important to note as well that it may not be well recieved to ask any Black person what they think. The people you ask should be those who have previously indicated that they are happy to discuss such topics, either in person or online.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: This is a really interesting question, especially since some other terminology (e.g., [master/slave replication](https://www.eetimes.com/its-time-for-ieee-to-retire-master-slave/#)) has somewhat recently come under heavy criticism despite not being seen as controversial for quite some time.
Ultimately, it's your choice to make as an author (or as a group of authors). Using alternative terminology is not generally seen as a reason to reject a manuscript as long as you make sufficiently clear what you mean with your terms (even if the reviewer does not agree with your reasoning for not using a more standard term). On the other hand, there is neither a practical nor (at least in my opinion) moral obligation to preemptively stop using a term despite there currently not being any substantial debate about this specific piece of terminology. That said, if one person in the author group feels strongly about this I would be tempted to go with their wishes on this one.
---
Unlike some other answers, I do not want to prescribe how you should decide on this matter. Personally I do not see the term as problematic, but I'm neither an English native speaker nor of African descend. However, I do want to point that (a) a term not being "meant" racist and (b) a term having being used so far are both not sufficient arguments that further usage is appropriate (as the master/slave example above nicely demonstrates). Times change, and ultimately it's the affected group (people of African descend, in that case) that need to decide whether the term is appropriate or not.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: If you are at all unsure about causing offense, you could always use the full name in your paper "Normal-Inverse-Gaussian distribution". It won't be any less readable for that.
In your code pick a different prefix that still clearly identifies the distribution, e.g. `ninvg_foo()`.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_10: As suggested in some other comments and answers, it might be a good thing to spell it out more fully (easy enough to do with modern word-processors).
I think there's no motivation to pretend to determine whether anyone would be "justified" in being offended by the old acronym. The fact is that some might easily be, *AND* it's easy to avoid this.
(Telling people in traditionally-abused groups that they "shouldn't be offended" by things that sound like references to their traditional abuse is really not supportable...)
Yes, it's kinda too bad that scientific acronyms and terminology seem to have a bit of an obligation to acknowledge ambient social things. :) But, yeah, they do, I think.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_11: I want to add one thing that's not been said explicitly in other answers: since, as you've said, it's relatively obscure, you *absolutely can* change it. People use different names for the same thing all the time. The name of a thing is the name that people use, and in this case, that's you. Changing it will not confuse anyone at all, not even slightly.
The fact that you are uncomfortable with the acronym is a good enough reason by itself, and a desire to make your field more welcoming to minorities is a very good reason for this kind of thing. It's a positive thing to do and you shouldn't feel any hesitation.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_12: I am French and I used for sometime a data analysis library that was full of `anal_in()`, `anal_deep()` and similar functions.
Someone added in the code
```
# For fuck's sake, stop using anal as a variable or in a name!!
```
And that was pretty much it. Some were probably offended but nobody bothered changing the names.
It is your code so if you feel that `nig` is offensive, just know that `eel` is offensive to me, and that Mike will find `god` horrendous as a variable name.
If you called your variables/functions **deliberately insulting** then it would be bad taste, or douchery, or something like that. I would not bother in your case but if that raised the need to ask the question then for your own good (as in "so that you do not think too much abou that") just change it to NOINGA and be done.
Upvotes: 3
|
2020/12/18
| 2,689
| 10,992
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am an Asst Prof. I started during COVID so I know things aren't normal. I love my colleagues but I have been having problems with my chair. This week after a reasonable request regarding my career, the chair escalated to using disrespectful and abusive language (mainly because I asked if we could discuss the situation instead of just saying yes and thank you). This has been a pattern with him and there is no reason to think things will get better. I wish I could but I'm not someone who works well when I don't like my boss (in terms of productivity and mental health). So far I have not been in love with the job. I love some parts (research and working with PhD students) but not others. I enjoy service (as I did a ton in my PhD and UG), but at my current institution it is often useless and poorly run (i.e. more performative than focusing on real viable solutions). Also the teaching load is higher than average (with lots of pushback to buy-out if you're not part of a preferred group).
I did well on the market last yr and have some places I could call to move to, but will probably move to a research institituion/org. I am not sure if I should give the job more time before leaving. Again, I do like my colleagues/collaborators and the resources of the university. However, I have also heard that being at the whim of your dept chair is a systemic issue.<issue_comment>username_1: Actually changing the name because *someone* might be offended by a sound that comes from a completely different domain and is completely separate from the history of racism would be condescending, in my view.
And, as you say, the term is in common use. Changing it would also confuse some people.
Leave it be.
There was no intention to do harm and the acronym is natural. The language police are unlikely to chase you down. It would be different of course if the acronym were chosen for racist purpose, but that is clearly not the case here.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> my concern is that NIG is too reminiscent of the “N word”.
>
>
>
It is not. This is in no way comparable to the "whitelist/blacklist" terminology that is currently widely criticised.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Change the name if you like. Point it out prominently in your paper and code, possibly more than once (e.g. first mention in the main text and in the methods / supplement, of course also in the function documentation, etc.). The names of even common objects are changed for a variety of reasons. It happens, and people should be aware that names are usually pretty arbitrary.
Example: I once read a book where the [discrete-time Fourier transform (DTFT)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrete-time_Fourier_transform) (by all means the standard name) was called DSFT (Fourier transform in discrete spaces), because, technically, it can be computed over other domains than time. It was weird for a moment, and then I got used to it, and know I'm kind of glad that the authors stressed this point because it made me think about something important.
Conventions exist until someone begins to challenge them. *I'm scared of the language police* (see another answer here) doesn't even need to be part of the justification. It can just be that another name sounds better to you. Of course, standard names shouldn't be changed on a whim, but they can be (and are).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: *Niggardly*, *niggling*, and *Niger* are a few "obviously inoffensive" words that people have found offensive ([source](https://listverse.com/2019/10/22/9-inoffensive-words-you-cant-say-because-of-the-n-word/)). The Mandarin word 那个 has also been found offensive; offensive enough that the teacher using it was removed from the class where it was used ([source](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-05/usc-business-professor-controversy-chinese-word-english-slur)). I suggest that you use an acronym other than NIG.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: You could always abbreviate Distribution as D and call it the NIGD. This is different enough from that other word that I think it should be acceptable.
(Now we need to do something about SMB, that inter-computer connection tool in Linux.)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: I would like to add a different perspective to your question. Fortunately (or unfortunately, it depends) for the Americans, English become the most widely used language in science and business. That means, that it is used by many people who are not Americans and who are not really troubled by some secondary/offensive meanings of some words or some cultural concepts typical for the US.
NIG is an abbreviation of a name of a distribution; it is understandable. It would be confusing to many people, why you would want to change it, just because it resembles a word which in your cultural context is not appropriate to use. I think your concerns might be valid when writing a novel, in English, for an English-speaking audience, where someone could start looking for hidden meanings. Since we are talking about a scientific paper read by non-American readers as well, I don't think your concerns are relevant. Use what is standard and don't worry.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: One possibility that doesn't seem to have been addressed yet is the following:
**Ask members of the group most likely to be offended by the term---in this case Black people---what they think.**
Obviously you probably don't have the resources to do a full, representative survey of Black people, and obviously there are going to be differences in opinion between members of any group. But if you ask a few people and they say they find it very offensive, it would likely be a good idea to try and use something different. Likewise, if every Black person you ask says that they think it is fine this is an indication (though not a guarantee) that the term does not need to be changed.
Language is complex, and while there is no intention to cause harm by using the acronym, perhaps the potential to cause harm outweighs the benefits of familiarity for your readers. You won't get a definitive answer because there is none, but in my view the people whose opinion should carry the most weight on this are the people who are most likely to be harmed in the first place.
It is also worth noting that Black people are underrepresented in academia, and therefore likely to be underrepresented on academia.stackexchange, which will affect the answers you get here.
Edit: I guess its important to note as well that it may not be well recieved to ask any Black person what they think. The people you ask should be those who have previously indicated that they are happy to discuss such topics, either in person or online.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: This is a really interesting question, especially since some other terminology (e.g., [master/slave replication](https://www.eetimes.com/its-time-for-ieee-to-retire-master-slave/#)) has somewhat recently come under heavy criticism despite not being seen as controversial for quite some time.
Ultimately, it's your choice to make as an author (or as a group of authors). Using alternative terminology is not generally seen as a reason to reject a manuscript as long as you make sufficiently clear what you mean with your terms (even if the reviewer does not agree with your reasoning for not using a more standard term). On the other hand, there is neither a practical nor (at least in my opinion) moral obligation to preemptively stop using a term despite there currently not being any substantial debate about this specific piece of terminology. That said, if one person in the author group feels strongly about this I would be tempted to go with their wishes on this one.
---
Unlike some other answers, I do not want to prescribe how you should decide on this matter. Personally I do not see the term as problematic, but I'm neither an English native speaker nor of African descend. However, I do want to point that (a) a term not being "meant" racist and (b) a term having being used so far are both not sufficient arguments that further usage is appropriate (as the master/slave example above nicely demonstrates). Times change, and ultimately it's the affected group (people of African descend, in that case) that need to decide whether the term is appropriate or not.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: If you are at all unsure about causing offense, you could always use the full name in your paper "Normal-Inverse-Gaussian distribution". It won't be any less readable for that.
In your code pick a different prefix that still clearly identifies the distribution, e.g. `ninvg_foo()`.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_10: As suggested in some other comments and answers, it might be a good thing to spell it out more fully (easy enough to do with modern word-processors).
I think there's no motivation to pretend to determine whether anyone would be "justified" in being offended by the old acronym. The fact is that some might easily be, *AND* it's easy to avoid this.
(Telling people in traditionally-abused groups that they "shouldn't be offended" by things that sound like references to their traditional abuse is really not supportable...)
Yes, it's kinda too bad that scientific acronyms and terminology seem to have a bit of an obligation to acknowledge ambient social things. :) But, yeah, they do, I think.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_11: I want to add one thing that's not been said explicitly in other answers: since, as you've said, it's relatively obscure, you *absolutely can* change it. People use different names for the same thing all the time. The name of a thing is the name that people use, and in this case, that's you. Changing it will not confuse anyone at all, not even slightly.
The fact that you are uncomfortable with the acronym is a good enough reason by itself, and a desire to make your field more welcoming to minorities is a very good reason for this kind of thing. It's a positive thing to do and you shouldn't feel any hesitation.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_12: I am French and I used for sometime a data analysis library that was full of `anal_in()`, `anal_deep()` and similar functions.
Someone added in the code
```
# For fuck's sake, stop using anal as a variable or in a name!!
```
And that was pretty much it. Some were probably offended but nobody bothered changing the names.
It is your code so if you feel that `nig` is offensive, just know that `eel` is offensive to me, and that Mike will find `god` horrendous as a variable name.
If you called your variables/functions **deliberately insulting** then it would be bad taste, or douchery, or something like that. I would not bother in your case but if that raised the need to ask the question then for your own good (as in "so that you do not think too much abou that") just change it to NOINGA and be done.
Upvotes: 3
|
2020/12/18
| 983
| 4,165
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergraduate student (not in maths) looking for a topic and supervisor for my thesis.
What criteria should I use to judge whether a project/supervisor combination will make for a good thesis and productive experience? I don't plan on going into academia (although this may change) and thus would like to get something tangible if possible (ie. a paper) out of the experience (although preferably not at significant cost to learning)
Conversely, what are red flags/pitfalls I should look out for and how do I avoid them?
*This question is extremely similar to [this one](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/66766), although is more general than just math. I'm hoping for some general advice, but if really needed, I'm double majoring in Computer Science and Economics*<issue_comment>username_1: I would recommend you to take to things into consideration:
First, find a topic that you are interested in and motivated to work on. And then, try to find profs in your department that work on topics similar to what you plan to work on.
Second, try to figure out how you would like to work (and this is very important).
If you feel confident working more independently, the supervisor won't play a significant role there. If you feel that you need closer guidance, try to find a supervisor that is willing to do that.
Now, it is important to note that you will likely have to compromise some of your needs. It is possible that there won't be many professors willing to supervise you on a topic you want rather than what they want and will recommend you to join his projects/topics. On the other hand, you may find someone willing to supervise you on the topic you choose but won't provide you with close support.
Back in my undergrad thesis, I had a topic I really wanted to work with and only had one prof on the field to supervise me. I had very minimal supervision.
Was it the way I wished? No. I could've gone farther if we had worked closely and if I had had someone to discuss with or to push me.
Was it worthwhile? Definitely! This has brought me independence, which prepared me for many of the challenges I had throughout my masters and Ph.D.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: From my experience, important things to look for in a supervisor are:
* They're interested in your topic. Imagine being supervised by someone who isn't interested in your thesis topic! Conversely, it's very stimulating if your supervisor is eager to read your results. My CS theses are more fun because the research is a small shard of the supervisors' broader projects, and they are genuinely curious what the outcome will be.
* The topic falls within the supervisor's main experience. I did a thesis on early medieval history with a supervisor whose specialty was late medieval history, and he wasn't really able to help as much as I'd hoped for.
* They help you bound your topic both upwards and downwards. This is one of the things you need a supervisor with knowledge of the field for. They have to know when your ambitions are big enough to satisfy the thesis requirements, but also when they're becoming too big and a hazard to you actually finishing. Good research has a reasonable scope, for your abilities and requirements. But doing good scoping at the outset requires a knowledge of what's in the field that you as a student won't have, that's why you're supervised by an expert.
* They have enough time. The top professors in your department also tend to have the biggest demands placed on their time. They also have the most power and their name on your thesis or paper can give it a boost. This is a paradox. In my case the solution turned out to be the second supervisor (having two is mandatory in my institution). My second supervisor is less influential, but also not as hemmed in by external obligations so has more time/is more reliably able to make it to meetings. Having regular meetings is important.
* You get along with them as a person. You need to be able to open up to them about any problems that are holding you back.
* They're as strict as you need them to be. Sometimes you need a push.
Upvotes: 0
|
2020/12/18
| 355
| 1,579
|
<issue_start>username_0: I submitted the major revision and one reviewer's comment was to improve the overall writing. I'm trying to improve the flow and writing, but some grammatical errors and typos are still left.
Will they reject it directly or give me another chance?<issue_comment>username_1: First: If you know your paper has grammatical or spelling errors, you must fix them before you submit the paper. Otherwise, you risk wasting the editor and peer reviewers' time, which would be unethical. Remember they are volunteers with other responsibilities.
If you did submit a paper that was perfect except for spelling and minor grammar errors, it usually would not be rejected. Most journals make their decisions based on research content, not cosmetics. Most journals employ a copyeditor to fix cosmetic errors the authors cannot fix.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If you *know* these grammatical errors & typos exist, you should fix them before resubmitting. Submitting something with known flaws just waste other's time and effort.
That said, if you receive a review comment asking you to improve the writing, it often means that the writing is pretty bad, so you will need substantial corrections. If you make these substantial corrections then the reviewer will probably not be angry, since you did after all attempt to fix the issue. Maybe the fix isn't perfect, but at least you tried.
Reviewers can and often do get annoyed if you make only superficial attempts to incorporate their suggestions. That is when you might get a "reject" review.
Upvotes: 2
|
2020/12/18
| 990
| 4,115
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am 30 years old now and I graduated with a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering when I was 26. I have worked in the industry after I graduated, in 2 companies for one year each and then in 1 company for the remaining 2 years. In the last company I worked mainly in Machine Learning. Now, I am motivated to pursue research in this field.
Will my age and the fact that I have a gap in research after my Masters affect my chances of getting into a PhD program ?<issue_comment>username_1: At least in the United States, discriminating based off your age would be illegal, so hopefully that would not affect your chances. I started my PhD program at 25 without a masters after working for a year in an industry that was only tangentially related to my program.
I would also not expect the 4 year gap in education to make an impact. I've known multiple people who have done this after working for a number of years. If anything I would expect most programs to see it as a positive. Many people coming into a PhD program directly after an undergraduate degree would have little to no experience in the area, and as such would have a higher risk of deciding that the field is not for them and not completing the program. Somebody leaving a full time job to pursue research in the field is clearly making a deliberate decision to do so because of their interest in the work. See also responses to this very similar question
[Will a 5 year gap between Undergrad and PhD hurt my chances?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/86586/will-a-5-year-gap-between-undergrad-and-phd-hurt-my-chances?rq=1)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In my opinion, it depends. I started my PhD around your age and I found some schools/advisors appreciated more mature students b/c they are more professional and focused (b/c they know why they are there as compared to the UG who may have just rolled into grad school b/c they could). However, I know some programs had unwritten rules of if you were more than 4 yrs out of school they preferred not to take you. So much of applying to PhD programs is department and professor dependent. But don't worry, for the overwhelming majority of schools I think is completely a non-issue.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I myself did not go straight from my MA to my PhD (sort of). In my case, I graduated with an MA at 24 and then was admitted into my PhD program at 32. In addition to that, I had already been through another PhD program (which I had started immediately after my MA) and had dropped out because it wasn't a good fit, and in that sense I felt like I had even more working against me.
In the end, I was never under the impression that the gap period, lack of research, or even a prior PhD experience hurt me. I mean, maybe it did with the programs that rejected my application, but I still got into a few good programs. I would also add that when it came to actually going through the PhD program, I strongly believe that my age and life/work experiences made me a far more mature and ambitious graduate student compared to others in my cohort, which is not only something that all of my professors recognized, but it also allowed me to progress through the program very quickly.
With that in mind, I think you can leverage your work experience to your advantage. After all, the pursuit of a higher degree is not just about graduate student life and producing research, and faculty (should) know that. I think they're also looking for applicants who they can envision actually getting through the PhD program in one piece and in a timely manner, with a degree and job offer in hand at the end of it. I think having prior (related) work experience is a good indicator that you have the potential to accomplish all of that if you can connect those experiences to being demonstrably productive, as well as to your research interests. Basically, if you can think of your gap period as an advantage rather than an impediment, it shouldn't be too hard to write a convincing narrative in your application that argues just that.
Upvotes: 2
|
2020/12/18
| 857
| 3,509
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am writing a response to reviewers. One reviewer's comments included typos and other incorrect English phrasing, but the intent of the reviewer's points was clear.
When I reproduce or quote the reviewer in my formal response, should I correct these minor errors? I don't want the editor or other reviewers to think that I made the mistakes.
And if I do correct the errors, should I say anything about how the quoted portions included minor edits? I don't want to "correct" the reviewer (and it's really not necessary), but I also don't want to be seen as changing what the reviewer said.<issue_comment>username_1: **Edit** in response to comment from @username_3
I think that's right. I will leave this answer up so future visitors can see what might have been their first thoughts.
---
You are addressing the editor, not the reviewer. The reviewer may never see what you say.
I suggest that you write your responses to the reviewer's comments by paraphrasing those comments, then what you have done with them (make changes, disagree, ...). That bypasses the problem of "correcting the reviewer".
If you do need a direct quote, don't correct it. The editor can see and ignore the typos as well as you can.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I would suggest not making corrections, but quoting the review as necessary. If the reviewer report is understandable, then no corrections are necessary, as it won't be published.
You probably have more important concerns and more important uses for your time.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Put yourself in the editor’s perspective:
They want to go through the reviewer’s points one by one and see whether you addressed them, having the reviewer’s comments available for comparison. They cannot rely on your interpretation of the reviewer’s comments but need to refer to the original. Suppose you misunderstood the reviewer’s intentions at some point. If you distort the quote, this is causing a lot of confusion. At worst, you evoke the appearance of cheating yourself through peer review by tricking the editor into thinking that the reviewer wrote something more benign than they actually did. Even if you make clear that you changed the quotes, this causes extra work as the editor has to refer to the original report when in doubt. (Or they just return it immediately and request that you quote accurately.)
Something similar holds for the reviewer’s perspective. If they get to see your response to them, any misquote may cause confusion or worse. They will probably also not be happy about you nitpicking their language.
The general paradigm of never distorting quotes without marking this applies here as well. And if your quotes of the reviewer are riddled with square brackets, this will arise suspicions.
The only reason where I would change a quote (with a mark) is if the reviewer made an obvious mistake in a reference or quoting your manuscript, where the exactness is crucial to understanding what happened and it would be overkill to write an extra sentence like: “We presume the reviewer meant …”. For example, I once received a minor comment along the lines of this:
>
> Change “stochasticity” to “stochasticity” in line 42.
>
>
>
Taken as it is, this doesn’t make much sense. However, in line 42, I had written “stochast**s**icity”. Thus my reply went:
>
>
> >
> > Change “stochast[s]icity” to “stochasticity” in line 42.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> Fixed.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
|
2020/12/19
| 938
| 4,009
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am going to apply for a faculty position via online system. In the announcement of the position they have just asked for cover letter, contact info of references and C.V. But in the online process of application I noticed that there exists some taps related to uploading transcripts of B.Sc, M.Sc and Ph.D. I do not know whether they need transcripts or not? Can a bad transcript have bad effect on applying for a a faculty position?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> I do not know whether they need transcripts or not?
>
>
>
There are two slightly orthogonal aspects when you apply to faculty positions:
1. What the panel will use to determine if they will offer an interview,
2. What the administration requires for your application to be complete.
The announcement will focus on 1., but when actually applying, you may realize that 2. is a bit different.
If the application platform *requires* your transcripts, upload them, and don't think too much about them: they may or may not be reviewed by the panel, but **what you did during your PhD and your cover letter will have a greater weight than those transcripts.**
If the application platform *does not require* the transcripts, then I guess it's up to you. You can probably just upload them later on if the panel would like to have a look at it, but as <NAME> noted in the comment, that is probably not a good idea to give the panel a possible reason to filter out your application before even looking at it.
>
> Can a bad transcript have bad effect on applying for a a faculty position?
>
>
>
As I wrote, they *can*, but whether they *will* depends on multiple factors that are hard to assess. I believe it is reasonably safe to say that your PhD, cover letter, and possibly letter(s) of recommendation will have a greater weight, but that does not necessarily imply that your transcript will have a zero weight.
Good luck, I hope your application will receive favorable reviews!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Sorry that I'm a bit late for an answer, but there are some things you should consider. The [answer of username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/160233/75368) provides the basic guidance, but, since this is a teaching institution, rather than a research one, it may be that undergraduate performance is more relevant to a decision than otherwise. Normally, the things you have done long in your past are treated as less relevant to how you will perform now, but teaching institutions have a need to know how you will deal with students and their myriad problems.
If you have a poor undergraduate record, then the reasons might worth examining. Let me give two scenarios.
First, it is possible that you were just less engaged with your education as an undergraduate and only learned later the importance of hard work.
Second, it is also possible that you just struggled as a student for whatever reason, but pushed through but with a less than stellar record.
You might be asked by such an institution why you have a poor record and it would be good to have thought it out in advance. Neither of the above scenarios is damning, and either can give you some insight into students and how to teach them effectively. But think about how you were able to improve things later and what it took: internal fortitude, helpful advisors, ... , whatever.
Let me also describe the alternate scenario of someone who always did well and has a near perfect record. It might well be that such a person has no idea whatever about how students struggle and how to help them. Everything to them was easy and they expect it to be easy for others. It will take that person a long while to become an effective teacher; one who is not overly judgmental.
Teaching is much, much, more than the flawless presentation of material.
These are extreme cases, I realize. But think about your own situation and how you came to succeed and how that might make you a better teacher.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2020/12/19
| 1,120
| 4,818
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<issue_start>username_0: I am theoretical computer scientist. I am currently working in a local university in south asian country. I have tried my best in the past to publish the research in good venue but have been failed. Now I am okay or fine with publishing in low tier conferences.
I have one doubt about my approach. I read top conference papers like STOC,FOCS,SODA and understand them if they seems interesting to me. Then I try to rephrase a research mentioned in the paper. After working on that question results in a paper.
The problem with approach is it takes quite a time to read and understand papers from top conferences as they are lengthy and nontrivial. This some time takes 4-5 months and total time for one paper is around 6-7 months. Many times it seems after reading these papers that there is no scope of improvement. In that case to me it appears that I should have read a paper of a conference which is not top tier. Lets say paper X is published in tier 2 conference then in most of the cases the reason it has been published in tier 2 is incomplete solution (partial solution to a problem).
Now the question is How to research if my goal is to publish and not to bother about ranking of the conference in efficient manner (time and energy)<issue_comment>username_1: >
> I do not know whether they need transcripts or not?
>
>
>
There are two slightly orthogonal aspects when you apply to faculty positions:
1. What the panel will use to determine if they will offer an interview,
2. What the administration requires for your application to be complete.
The announcement will focus on 1., but when actually applying, you may realize that 2. is a bit different.
If the application platform *requires* your transcripts, upload them, and don't think too much about them: they may or may not be reviewed by the panel, but **what you did during your PhD and your cover letter will have a greater weight than those transcripts.**
If the application platform *does not require* the transcripts, then I guess it's up to you. You can probably just upload them later on if the panel would like to have a look at it, but as <NAME> noted in the comment, that is probably not a good idea to give the panel a possible reason to filter out your application before even looking at it.
>
> Can a bad transcript have bad effect on applying for a a faculty position?
>
>
>
As I wrote, they *can*, but whether they *will* depends on multiple factors that are hard to assess. I believe it is reasonably safe to say that your PhD, cover letter, and possibly letter(s) of recommendation will have a greater weight, but that does not necessarily imply that your transcript will have a zero weight.
Good luck, I hope your application will receive favorable reviews!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Sorry that I'm a bit late for an answer, but there are some things you should consider. The [answer of username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/160233/75368) provides the basic guidance, but, since this is a teaching institution, rather than a research one, it may be that undergraduate performance is more relevant to a decision than otherwise. Normally, the things you have done long in your past are treated as less relevant to how you will perform now, but teaching institutions have a need to know how you will deal with students and their myriad problems.
If you have a poor undergraduate record, then the reasons might worth examining. Let me give two scenarios.
First, it is possible that you were just less engaged with your education as an undergraduate and only learned later the importance of hard work.
Second, it is also possible that you just struggled as a student for whatever reason, but pushed through but with a less than stellar record.
You might be asked by such an institution why you have a poor record and it would be good to have thought it out in advance. Neither of the above scenarios is damning, and either can give you some insight into students and how to teach them effectively. But think about how you were able to improve things later and what it took: internal fortitude, helpful advisors, ... , whatever.
Let me also describe the alternate scenario of someone who always did well and has a near perfect record. It might well be that such a person has no idea whatever about how students struggle and how to help them. Everything to them was easy and they expect it to be easy for others. It will take that person a long while to become an effective teacher; one who is not overly judgmental.
Teaching is much, much, more than the flawless presentation of material.
These are extreme cases, I realize. But think about your own situation and how you came to succeed and how that might make you a better teacher.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
|
2020/12/19
| 887
| 3,811
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently, I have a paper only accepted as an extended abstract by a AI conference. Is it still possible to submit this paper to other conferences like KR (International Conference on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning)?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> I do not know whether they need transcripts or not?
>
>
>
There are two slightly orthogonal aspects when you apply to faculty positions:
1. What the panel will use to determine if they will offer an interview,
2. What the administration requires for your application to be complete.
The announcement will focus on 1., but when actually applying, you may realize that 2. is a bit different.
If the application platform *requires* your transcripts, upload them, and don't think too much about them: they may or may not be reviewed by the panel, but **what you did during your PhD and your cover letter will have a greater weight than those transcripts.**
If the application platform *does not require* the transcripts, then I guess it's up to you. You can probably just upload them later on if the panel would like to have a look at it, but as <NAME> noted in the comment, that is probably not a good idea to give the panel a possible reason to filter out your application before even looking at it.
>
> Can a bad transcript have bad effect on applying for a a faculty position?
>
>
>
As I wrote, they *can*, but whether they *will* depends on multiple factors that are hard to assess. I believe it is reasonably safe to say that your PhD, cover letter, and possibly letter(s) of recommendation will have a greater weight, but that does not necessarily imply that your transcript will have a zero weight.
Good luck, I hope your application will receive favorable reviews!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Sorry that I'm a bit late for an answer, but there are some things you should consider. The [answer of username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/160233/75368) provides the basic guidance, but, since this is a teaching institution, rather than a research one, it may be that undergraduate performance is more relevant to a decision than otherwise. Normally, the things you have done long in your past are treated as less relevant to how you will perform now, but teaching institutions have a need to know how you will deal with students and their myriad problems.
If you have a poor undergraduate record, then the reasons might worth examining. Let me give two scenarios.
First, it is possible that you were just less engaged with your education as an undergraduate and only learned later the importance of hard work.
Second, it is also possible that you just struggled as a student for whatever reason, but pushed through but with a less than stellar record.
You might be asked by such an institution why you have a poor record and it would be good to have thought it out in advance. Neither of the above scenarios is damning, and either can give you some insight into students and how to teach them effectively. But think about how you were able to improve things later and what it took: internal fortitude, helpful advisors, ... , whatever.
Let me also describe the alternate scenario of someone who always did well and has a near perfect record. It might well be that such a person has no idea whatever about how students struggle and how to help them. Everything to them was easy and they expect it to be easy for others. It will take that person a long while to become an effective teacher; one who is not overly judgmental.
Teaching is much, much, more than the flawless presentation of material.
These are extreme cases, I realize. But think about your own situation and how you came to succeed and how that might make you a better teacher.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
|
2020/12/19
| 1,206
| 5,107
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm a second-year graduate student in a large and well-known American physics department. For a variety of reasons, I've decided to "jump" sub-fields -- into biophysics, though I hadn't really started a project in the field I was initially interested in due to covid -- and am reaching out to faculty in the biology and biological engineering departments at my institution. One of these professors has asked me for a CV before we meet over Zoom.
This caught me off guard, because that question isn't usually posed in my department -- our presence here, and the mere fact of our inquiry, is taken to provide a presumption of competence and interest. We graduate students are encouraged to experiment in different groups if we are not yet sure about what we want to study. That, and the fact that I haven't done research in an academic setting for more than eight years now, when I was in high school, means that I haven't written a CV, and have very little to actually put on it.
I'm not asking about how to make one. There's plenty of pertinent advice both here and elsewhere on the internet. This professor has a relatively tight window of availability, though -- just today and tomorrow -- and I wonder whether I would make myself look ridiculous to admit that I don't have one prepared, and to ask to speak with him anyway.<issue_comment>username_1: The professor probably doesn't want to see your CV in order to determine your competence, but to see your previous research experience, to provide some structure for your conversation.
I'm a bit surprised you don't have a CV from your application to grad school, but regardless, it shouldn't take you more than a few hours to make one, and you'll probably need it in future anyway.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: If I were the professor I might have a chuckle over this, but wouldn't treat it as something that makes you "look ridiculous". You are new at the game and can admit that, explaining just as you do here.
I would say that "this is the first time I've been asked for one and don't have one ready". But offer to work something up quickly, though it won't be very formal.
I would accept that explanation. Others might not, of course.
But as [username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/160255/75368) suggests, you should get busy.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: ### Ask what he means by "CV".
In some places, a CV (curriculum vitae) is simply another word for a standard resume, containing things like your previous employment history, the broad strokes of your education, and similar things; I believe that this usage is primarily found in the British English dialect. In other places, in academia, a CV specifically refers to a document that goes into great detail, including things like every scientific paper you've ever written.
If you don't have the latter written, but you do have the former, I would recommend that you ask for clarification of what they meant: did they just want an ordinary resume, or did they want an in-depth explanation of your research history?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: ***tl;dr*–** They probably just want some idea of who you are so they know what they're working with. Probably a good idea to give them something, though not necessarily a standard CV.
---
Before contacting this potential supervisor, didn't you check out their group's homepage? Browse through some of their papers, check out some of their projects, and just generally get a feeling for what they're all about?
They probably just want to do the same thing to you. This is, they probably just want to get a feel for who you are, where you're at, and stuff like that so they have a feel for who they may be working with.
Seems like a good, constructive request on their part, and probably something to honor. Though not necessarily with a standard CV – some document roughly like a resume or CV might be suitable.
Thoughts:
1. **Probably avoid labeling the document "*resume*" or "*CV*".**
If you're not confident about the document representing you as a resume or CV, then probably best to avoid labeling it as such. Instead, you might call it "*Personal info*", "*Background & Education*", etc..
2. **Focus on constructive bases.**
Give the reader something to work with. For example, if your primary assets are from coursework, then probably focus on what coursework you've done. If you have any special skills that might help – e.g. you're good with programming, writing papers, or building things – perhaps mention it. In other words, help the reader understand what you can do so they know how you can participate.
3. **Don't sweat weaknesses too much.**
Often weaknesses can be worked-around. For example, if you're great at writing papers, but you have a pathological inability to save a document, then perhaps you could work with someone else who'd hit Save for you.
In short, it's probably best to give them some sort of idea about who you are in something like a traditional resume or CV, even if not exactly in a standard format.
Upvotes: 2
|
2020/12/19
| 1,377
| 5,705
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<issue_start>username_0: One of the professors for my MSc in Computer Science told me that students should not read textbooks that have more than (around) 250 pages during the 4-month semesters of coursework. The reason is, according to him, that a 4-month semester is a limited time to study and successfully pass all the courses. Trying to read big/heavy textbooks is nothing but a waste of time, and it reduces the chance of getting good grades.
Have you ever heard about this theory before? Is this theory very popular at your university?<issue_comment>username_1: I haven't heard of such a thing, but can understand where it comes from. But my advice would be that *doing* teaches you much more than *reading*. In CS we often build things to reinforce learning. Textbooks can provide useful exercises. And one learns, primarily, through repetition (reinforcement) and feedback. Only a few people have a "photographic memory" and even then, being able to recall some text doesn't mean that you have gained insight from it.
Seek insight. Reinforcement and feedback. Hopefully the professor provides feedback, but programs (when they fail) can also do that.
I don't think the professor means to ignore textbooks, however. Use them "just enough" to gain insight.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: That's ridiculous advice. Believe it or not, lots of thick assigned textbooks contain useful information that's not covered in lecture.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I would generally agree that reading textbooks has limited uses and poor returns on investment of time. The only cases where I have found this not to be true is when a) the text book is short and focused or b) the textbook is the basis for exams. But other than that, it is very rarely the case that all the knowledge contained in a long textbook is useful and that reading it front-to-back is the best way of acquiring that knowledge.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: As a blanket recommendation, this is fairly obviously silly.
For one thing, "textbook" is very ambiguous. Some are full of make-work crap. Some have lots of useful information. Some are badly written (making it difficult to glean information), some are well-written, making it easy to see the point of the discussion.
There are popular slogans about "just doing exercises" and so on... I'd certainly agree that it is essential to *engage*, but, also, it would be pathetic to fail to learn from all the smart people who've already thought about things. Some of their conclusions and solutions are exactly what are in texts. And should we be confident that all of those good ideas fit into a little pamphlet, rather than a 250-page book?
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: You shouldn't base your learning style on what **one** professor said **once** in a lecture.
There is a variety of reasons he could have said that:
* He is not against textbook as a means of studying per se, but wants to direct his students towards the shorter and more efficient textbooks rather than the long and inefficient ones (most likely)
* It's personal: The professor himself once read a long textbook on the topic, but realized that he's wasted his time (doesn't mean this will apply to you!)
* There is a notorious book specific to your field that students typically pick up. Unfortunately, it is not a good one.
* He's had a bad day and made a thoughtless remark (professors are humans too)
By the way, you don't need to read a textbook cover to cover. Even if it has >1000 pages, pick out the things relevant to your studies. However, it is unwise to claim that textbooks are not a good way to learn.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: I agree with most of the answers that this is silly advice, and have not heard it before, but one key point not explicitly mentioned so far is:
*Most textbooks are not written to covered in their entirety in one semester.*
Some are meant for a 2-semester course and some intentionally have more information so instructors can pick and choose what they want for their course. Also some instructors move faster than others.
I remember thinking my Algorithms book (Cormen-Leiserson-Rivest, still on my shelf 20+ years later) was very well-written and useful. It's about 1000 pages and of course we didn't cover everything in 1 semester, but I certainly learned quite a bit from reading the parts we did cover, and possibly other sections I was interested in that we didn't get to.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: It comes down to whether you want to learn more things or to pass the course (note they are not synonymous).
* If the first, then no, it's not counter-productive. You will learn more by reading the textbook, almost by definition.
* If it's the second however, then yes, it's counter-productive. It's the material covered in the course that will actually end up on the exam. Accordingly you want to study that material and that material only. Any time spent on things that aren't in the lectures is time wasted, and chances are when you read these supplemental textbooks, much (or even most) of the material will not be covered.
Unless you spend significantly more time on the course, viewed another way, these two choices basically come down to "do you want to know more things" vs. "do you want to master a few things". It's not obvious which is better.
Finally, do note that although the first option might sound better, in practice it's usually the 2nd that matters - in a job interview or PhD application, the grades on your transcript are important, and if those are poor you will often not get the chance to demonstrate that you know more than the grades indicate.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
|
2020/12/20
| 612
| 2,643
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<issue_start>username_0: I came across a website specific to my country (EU/Hungary) that offers to commit academic fraud. Basically, they offer to solve assignments, homework, even online tests, for money. The student sends them the assignment and the money, and he gets back the written solutions. No coaching or live discussion involved.
This website is actively advertised in sponsored posts on a Facebook page that is very popular among the student in my country - more than 50.000 followers - so I'm sure a lot of them this. I feel like something must be done against a service offering services that are "academically illegal", even if they probably made up some half-sound legal ground.
I'm worried about the existence and widespread advertisement of this "service". I don't like that it enables unfair advantage of rich students, who can pay them for every assignment they have. Also, maybe some desperate students use their service and gets in big trouble. Even it's very existence degrades the common belief in academic integrity.
Should I take some actions, or let it go? What are the best actions I, a student, could take against this website?<issue_comment>username_1: This is called contract cheating. It is an old and very well known problem.
Students cannot do anything about advertisements for contract cheating. Since the sellers are usually unaffiliated with universities, universities cannot punish them either.
If you have evidence that someone is purchasing contract cheating services, turn that evidence in to the person responsible for academic integrity at your university.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Several countries have legislated to criminalize the offering of this kind of service. AFAICT, Hungary is not yet among them. So one thing you could do is lobby your local member of the National Assembly to support such legislation.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Those services provide assistance with homework assignments, which reveals a critical flaw of such assessments: the school can't be sure that the student really did the assessment themself.
Hell, even without such online pay-to-do-my-homework services, a student could ask their parent, friend, or another classmate to do the assessment for them.
The way the school can balance this is by putting more weight on in-person examinations, where they can be sure the student is the one doing the assessment (by checking ID etc).
As a student, you can bring such issues to their attention, and if your school only does homework-type assessments, you can persuade them to also do in-person examinations.
Upvotes: 2
|
2020/12/20
| 725
| 3,029
|
<issue_start>username_0: Last spring, I did a research project where I tried to develop code, modelling a physical system using a method developed by a researcher and presented as his PhD. thesis.
Now I have completed my work and am required to present documentation of the theory used and the performance of code. Now, while I was explaining that paper, I did detailed derivations of all the steps taken which had been omitted from papers for brevity. These derivations I have put in the manual as well so that any other undergraduate trying to work with same paper can quickly get started.
However, is it plagiarism to upload such a manual on my homepage and GitHub repository where someone else did the hard work of deriving concepts in the thesis and I just present proof of intermediate steps?
I am unsure if this is a right practice even if I state that I am only explaining his derivation.
What else can be done to mitigate the copyright infringement? One option, I think, is to submit the report to my supervisor and he will personally distribute it to students in his research group who he thinks will benefit from it.<issue_comment>username_1: If you give the original creator credit with a citation, and direct quotes are indicated with quotation marks, it is not plagiarism.
If you are unsure, ask your supervisor.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Properly credited, posting a piece that fills in all the details of a published paper (or thesis) should be fine. Indicate clearly that the ideas are not your own - that you are just hoping to help others read the original work.
You should probably write the person who did the original research, thanking them for their theorems and telling them what you hope to do with your work filling in details. They will probably be delighted that someone has read their thesis.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: It's certainly allowed, in fact full papers have been published in this way. [Example](https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0612069), as the abstract itself makes clear:
>
> In this paper, we provide an essentially self-contained and detailed account of the fundamental works of Hamilton and the recent breakthrough of Perelman on the Ricci flow and their application to the geometrization of three-manifolds. In particular, we give a detailed exposition of a complete proof of the Poincaré conjecture due to Hamilton and Perelman.
>
>
>
You should make clear what exactly your contribution is, however - this particular paper was [criticized](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poincar%C3%A9_conjecture#Hamilton%27s_program_and_Perelman%27s_solution) because the original wording of the abstract made it sound like the authors were claiming that they are the ones to actually prove the conjecture.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: It really depends. I take here a different point of view then the other answers. If it is basically an (extensively) annotated copy of the original work then you need to have permission of the copyright holder.
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/20
| 539
| 2,102
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a Korean with my first (given) name comes last and my last (family) name comes first, just like many other east asians. So, I write my name as "Aaa Bbb Ccc", where "Aaa" is my family name and "Bbb Ccc" is my given name. There are literally several millions of other Koreans who also have "Aaa" as their family name, and many of them spell it in English in the same way. Imagine citing a paper written by a Korean with family name Aaa. How can people possibly distinguish hundreds of Korean researchers with the same name working in same field? For this reason, I want to use my given name (which is still quite common, but far less common than my family name) instead of my family name. For example, I want to be cited as [Bbb Ccc, 2020] instead of [Aaa, 2020]. Is this possible to do? I don't mind to be called as "Dr Bbb Ccc", and actually I prefer that way; imagine being called as "Dr Aaa", where there are 8 other "Dr Aaa"s in the same department! Of course I have to deal with other problems, like being called as "Bbb" or "Ccc" which is just like "von" and "Neumann" instead of "von Neumann"; but I think that is less annoying than being one of those "Aaa"s. Is it possible?<issue_comment>username_1: Use a digital identifier such as ORCID - <https://orcid.org>
It would be impossible to address all the different naming conventions so you can distinguish yourself in every subgroup. But with ORCID, it would be easier to track your publications and work compared to sifting through your duplicates on google or a database.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In my field (computer science) there is absolutely no restriction on the name you publish under. At no point in the publication process have I had to prove I am the person I am publishing as (perhaps some T&Cs contained such terms, but I suspect that's to address fraud etc). A well known professor publishes using his middle name, and I suspect most people don't even realise that's not his first name. As long as you are consistent with the name you use, you shouldn't run into any issues.
Upvotes: 1
|
2020/12/20
| 641
| 2,778
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<issue_start>username_0: With TA/RA stipends continuing to decrease relative to CoL, I'm wondering if there is any ongoing work to open up more PhDs with a continuing education model? I know some companies basically do this(Raytheon is one of them) where a relevant industry problem is being worked on and selected for PhD which the companies fund(and the person gets payed their standard salary for working on).
Some professors I have talked to resist this idea because they want academic purity but I suspect in the coming years that purity isn't going to be funded any longer.<issue_comment>username_1: I know some programs that do part-time PhDs in this specific scenario. I don't know if schools with deeper pockets would do this anytime soon though. Normally, profs will just get contract work to also fund their PhD students and the students will intern there in the summer (and still be able to work on their research project at higher pay). Also, there are programs like ORISE that you can get paid like a regular gov't employee and get to do research at the same time. But yes I agree, I think there will need to be more creative ways to help students get liveable wages.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: (This answer is of course exaggerated, but it does contain a grain of truth.)
If you think carefully about the dynamics from the professors' point of view, then the answer is obvious.
Professors almost always make less money and generally have less research support than people working in industry. This means, if someone becomes a professor, they are not interested in applied research and don't care that much about money.
Why would a professor agree to advise a student doing applied research? They don't care about the research, and they don't care enough about the money for that to be an inducement.
From the other side, why would someone doing applied research even bother getting a PhD? They can do their research without the degree, and if you've proven you can do the research, the diploma isn't really worth anything.
Conclusion: People become monks or starving artists for reasons of their own, and doing a PhD or becoming a professor is no different. If society doesn't want to fund pure research or general education, then the natural dynamics will push universities towards becoming quasi-monastic institutions. Remember that, in all the oldest European universities, their first professors were monks who were bound by vows of poverty.
(Note: Adjusted for inflation, my salary as a tenured professor is less than what I made before grad school in technology consulting. My backup plan had I not gotten a professor job was peace activist, and most definitely not going back into tech. Obviously I'm not in it for the money.)
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/20
| 962
| 4,106
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently researching where I would like to do my PhD. I have always been drawn to Israel (this has nothing to do with religion or politics or anything similar but rather with warm weather and hummus) so I also included it in a list of potential destinations. However, I am very surprised that I virtually never come across
* advertisements for PhD positions in Israel
* Israeli institutes being involved in research projects or international programs
* someone who has studied/worked at an Israeli university
...
Also, a few years ago, I contacted multiple Israeli universities about the possibility of conducting my thesis there and got very limited response.
When I compare this to countries with somewhat similar "level of development", such as Canada, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, etc., it feels completely different. From all these countries I get a feeling that they expect and encourage foreign students/researchers to come and that they work to attract them (both at a national level and at a level of individual universities)
**Question:** Are there any reasons for Israel seemingly not being (a) involved much in international research collaborations and (b) interested in foreign students/researchers?
My field is geoinformatics and remote sensing.<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Are there any reasons for Israel seemingly not being (a) involved much in international research collaborations and (b) interested in foreign students/researchers?
>
>
>
Your assumption (a) is completely incorrect — it’s hard for me to think of a statement that’s further than the truth.
Assumption (b) is correct in the context of foreign *students*, and this has a simple explanation. It’s mostly a language issue: PhD programs in Israel are offered in Hebrew, and it’s extremely rare for foreign students looking for a place to do their PhD to be willing to invest several years to learn the language at the level they’d need to know it to be successful in doing a PhD. The ones who would entertain that possibility are small enough in numbers, and highly motivated enough, that there’s no need for graduate programs to do special outreach targeted at them. Any postings for PhD programs or positions will be in Hebrew, and if you are not a Hebrew speaker you will not be able to find and read them.
There are a few exceptions to this. The Weizmann Institute of Science has English as its official language and does attract a reasonable number of foreign students. Tel Aviv University has an English speaking medical school program and, I vaguely recall, a business master’s program. There might be other isolated programs for which the language barrier wouldn’t be an issue.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Israel has about the same population as Austria, and in my experience the research opportunities in both countries are about equal. They both have high levels of international engagement for their size.
The other countries have more population that Israel. Some of them have a lot more. Those countries have more opportunities, if you do not adjust for population.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: The assumption that Israeli universities have few international research cooperations contradicts my experience with Israeli universities. I also have the impression that the number of international students is not particularly low compared to European universities (again just anecdotal evidence).
In addition to the points mentioned in other answers, I think that one reason for few announcements of positions could be that (at least) some Israeli universities typically fund the PhD students (and even the PostDocs) via scholarships.
As an engineering related example, you can find a lot of information on the website of the Technion's gradute school: <https://graduate.technion.ac.il/en/prospective-students/graduate_degree_studies_at_technion>
It also looks like in practice many of these programmes are actually taught in English and in my experience most people in Israel have a rather good level of English.
Upvotes: 1
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2020/12/21
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<issue_start>username_0: I don't know much more about the transition - only that the professor is becoming the new head effective [date], and that they have the support of the department.
Do I send congratulations (because it's a promotion) or condolences (because apparently some professors don't actually want the promotion, and only become the head of department [reluctantly](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/93457))?
**Edit**: what about the outgoing head of department? I clearly shouldn't send condolences in that case, but should I send congratulations?<issue_comment>username_1: If they didn't want the appointment, they almost certainly could have turned it down and it would gone to someone else. So, I would offer congratulations.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: That would depend on how well I knew the person. If they were a very close friend of long standing, I'd probably offer condolences, just as a joke. But that would take a special relationship.
In the general case, only congratulations are in order.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: In these days, especially, although also forever, being a dept chair has tooooo many impossible responsibilities. Sure, there is some "power", but unless one reeeeally highly values power and is not disturbed by responsibility... it is a negative trade. Yes, in my experience, in math in the U.S., a significant number of people willing/hoping to be dept heads are not really competent, either in terms of appraising the mathematical work of the faculty, or in dealing with people.
A very few people have been willing to "do good"... but very often have been completely obstructed (and vilified) by "good-ol' boy network" kind of action.
So: a few people do take up chairperson jobs in a positive way... but often not so positive, but greedy... and, even when motivated in the best possible way, will be completely blocked (and insulted) by people who have their own agendas.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Send a message expressing your enthusiasm for their upcoming chairpersonship, your trust that they will steer the department well, and your willingness to support them as needed to achieve their goals for the department.
At base, "condolences" and "congratulations" are saying "a bad/good thing just happened", information that the recipient was already in possession of. The important part is what you say *after* the condolence/congratulation.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: If you have to ask this question of us, then don't send "Condolences".
It really is that simple.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_6: If you suspect that the person is taking on the job reluctantly, it is presumably for the good of the department that they have agreed to do so, and the appropriate sentiment to offer is not condolences but thanks.
A benefit of this approach is that it is also appropriate if the new chair was not reluctant to take the job. And it works for the outgoing chair, too.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: Allure, why are you sending *any* wishes to them in the first place ?
If you are part of that department, then your views/thoughts have already made themselves apparent expressly or otherwise. It's easy for anyone to know who is in favor or against them regardless of words said. So there's no need to formalise it. It's also better not to accord too much importance to our honoring of selected people: it makes us look like people trying to achieve importance through association - rather like universities awarding honorary degrees.
The real test of your relationship with the new head will come soon enough. Save your powder till then.
If you are a member of another department and have occasional formal or informal meetings with the new head then just say nothing.
If you are just a personal friend, then you have to call it as you feel it.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: I would consider that offering condolences is appropriate *if you know the professor well enough to be confident that they will understand that it is a joke and not be offended by it*. Otherwise, congratulations is the safe thing to offer.
As others have commented/answered, being department chair is often treated as a duty more than a prize. That doesn't mean anyone is forced to take the position or that it is a bad thing. It's just a reflection of the fact that most professors enjoy research and teaching more than administrative duties. (Of course, some professors do *want* to move to a career in university administration.) The joke is a succinct way of acknowledging that the position comes with heavy responsibilities that will leave less time for research, teaching, and family.
I want to add that department chairs are not meant to dictate what the other faculty do and a good chair will wield their power in consultation with their colleagues. Treating the position as a duty rather than a privilege is a way of emphasizing that.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: Department chair has almost double the salary and the position is rotated at my university.
There is no reason to be sad someone is getting an extra 100k.
Upvotes: -1
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2020/12/21
| 569
| 2,446
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently applying for postdoctoral positions in Mathematics in a field rather different from mine (computational complexity/algebraic combinatorics). It's a broad question, which I am sure some have asked before, but what questions should I expect, given that I am likely to have different expertise from them? I'm not sure what to show... apart from enthusiasm.
I know this is a vague question, but I'll accept any educated advice from the community.<issue_comment>username_1: I would recommend being prepared, to the extent possible, **to give a clear explanation of your own work on demand.** What did you do, and why is it interesting? Do you remember how the proofs go? When you cite others' work, do you remember how the proofs in their work go?
Keep in mind that they might show the most interest in parts of your work that seemed peripheral to you.
If you have a friend willing to help you (someone in your graduate program, perhaps), I'd recommend asking them to look at your research statement and then ask questions (in person or over Zoom, etc.) about anything that they find interesting or don't understand. Don't try to steer the conversation; rather, insofar as you can, allow them to.
Good luck.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: What they will want to know, even if they don't make it explicit, is how your work and interests will complement theirs. In a truly good place they will also want to know how their work can help yours.
Along with this is the question of how flexible you might be and how open to collaborative work.
If there is someone at this place that you actually want to work with you might have an opportunity to mention that.
But the questions actually asked might be along the lines of "why do you want to come here?". Also there will likely be questions about your long term goals.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: It's very much like a job interview, as in that in can vary widely depending on the situation! The important thing is that you know what you want out of this, believe in that goal and let others know this.
You did your PhD in your dedicated field so you're an expert in that. Don't try to convince other people that you know what they know. Your fellow colleagues want to see that you're passionate and that you like what you do. Prepare what you can and convince yourself how you can excel in this new field by using your background.
Upvotes: 0
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2020/12/21
| 455
| 1,978
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<issue_start>username_0: I have recently been awarded an individual postdoctoral fellowship (independent external funding for my own project) to join a research group at institution A. At the same time, I was applying for other postdoc positions, and finally I was offered a position by a professor at institution B. The group at B is more well-known and a slightly better fit for my research overall, but other than that the conditions (including salary and the institutions themselves) are similar. I cannot take the independent funding to institution B, so I have to choose between accepting the fellowship at A or a standard postdoc position at B.
Is having individual postdoctoral funding important enough to outweigh the disadvantage of being in a slightly worse group? I feel like having been awarded the fellowship is enough and I should choose the group that's a better fit for me, but people obsess over these named "prestigious" fellowships nowadays so I'm a bit worried that it'd be stupid to decline one and take a "regular" postdoc instead.<issue_comment>username_1: Regardless of which choice you make, it's in your best interest to keep good relations with research groups in your field of expertise. It's a very small world after all.
If money and career is a factor in your decision, you need to do some soul searching. Nobody can give you any advice here. It sounds like you really want to go to institution B due to higher research quality but you're afraid of a missed monetary opportunity from institution A. So, what matters to you more and what do you expect to do to maximize your potential once you make a decision?
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Opinion only, of course.
Since the finances are a wash, at
this stage of your career I would choose the job that I thought would best allow me to do the research that most interested me.
I would not let "prestige" weigh my decision.
Congratulations on having two good possibilities.
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/22
| 2,150
| 8,863
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a first year PhD student in science. I have a good advisor, the kind that will spend time with you (he is busy not emeritus), read what you send him, reply emails, give good advice for future, good project management. I've googled for what are traits of good advisors and what to avoid in bad advisors (e.g. [here](https://theprofessorisin.com/2014/02/23/the-5-top-traits-of-the-worst-advisors/)) and he fits all of good advisors and none of bad advisors.
However the problem is I feel that he has micromanagement style. He is very detail oriented and tries to understand every step you do. I meet him twice a week, and it is basically a do this, show me this next time. He will tell me exactly what to do.
Granted however I am not a very strong student who is capable of independent research right away, but I still like to be able to do explore my own ideas, or at least be able to do things independently, as I think that is the point of the PhD. Hence my question is whether it is normal for advisors to micromanage early PhD students, and whether I should be concerned, because I definitely do not want to spend my whole PhD working like that. Maybe he will turn into a hands off advisor later?<issue_comment>username_1: Some PhD students need micromanagement. Some are harmed by it.
Some supervisors know how to customise things to the needs of the student. Some supervisors do not know how to micromanage. Some some do not know how to *not* micromanage.
Tell your supervisor what you want. Listen to your supervisor's feedback - what you want might not be possible. If you have tried this several times and the relationship is failing spectacularly, get a new supervisor.
What you are experiencing is within the range of "normal." There's no way for us to know if it is "good."
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: As a first-year graduate student, your focus, besides classes, is on building your research skills. I would be elated to have an advisor who is obviously involved in your education, responsive to your questions, and interested in the details of your experiments, not just the production of data. Consider this a confidence-building and expectation-setting phase. I, as the PI, would want to make sure that the experiments are well planned, with the proper controls, and that the data are reproducible, with limited variables. Once I have confidence that my first-year graduate student does things properly, I can let go a little bit and go from biweekly meetings to weekly meetings, then on a normal lab meeting rotation schedule.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: A useful view on this is offered by the [situational leadership model](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_leadership_theory) (<NAME> and <NAME>). The idea to match one's leadership style to the needs of the supervised person. People generally start out with low competence and high commitment levels (D1 in figure below) and, therefore, benefit the most from a directing leadership style, which could be perceived as micromanagement. As the competence and commitment levels change, the leadership style is adapted.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/q3guR.png)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: A lot of this is going to depend on what your field and your time limit is. I'm a molecular biologist/bioinformatician in the UK. Students who come to me have 3.5 year to finish collecting data and another 6 months to submit their thesis. This means there is not a lot of time to lose, especially if you want to publish in that time as well. In my field an experiment can easily cost thousands of dollars, and every experiment a student does is an experiment that someone else in the can't do.
In these circumstances it is normal for a supervisor to micro-manage at the start. In the ideal world students are given more freedom and responsibility as they learn, and prove themselves trust-worthy. In practice only the best students reach full autonomy in 3.5 years, and some need micro-managing right till the end.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: My own personal philosophy is this: if your advisor suggests that you should do something, you should probably do it. But if your advisor suggests that you shouldn't bother... consider doing it anyway.
>
> He is very detail oriented and tries to understand every step you do. I meet him twice a week, and it is basically a do this, show me this next time.
>
>
>
This sounds good to me -- I would recommend explaining yourself to your advisor, and following his advice.
>
> I still like to be able to do explore my own ideas
>
>
>
Great! **Do it!** As long as you're not using up laboratory resources, or something similar, then you don't need his permission.
Next meeting with your advisor, you should make some progress on what he's asked, as usual. But why not also bring in your own suggestions -- which you spent some time and energy exploring since the last meeting?
Odds are, you will end up exploring dead ends this way. This is fine -- it will give you a greater understanding of your subject as a whole. And who knows, you might figure out something your advisor overlooked.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: One other thing to consider: Does your advisor have tenure? If he's coming up for tenure in a few years, it would be massively beneficial for him to manage you in the most optimum way possible to ramp up productivity.
What you perceive as "micromanagement" might be him putting you on a path that is very well planned and thought out to get quick and tangible results. I think at the very least, as a first year student, you need to curb your desire for independence and try to get on the same wavelength as your advisor. After you've objectively demonstrated competence, you can have a candid conversation about having more of a say in the projects you want to do.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: It depends
==========
There is no single right answer to the question of how 'hands-on' a PhD supervisor should be.
In principle, it should be determined by the nature of the project, your existing skills/expertise, and the extent to which the supervisor's skills/expertise are actually conducive to 'micromanagement' (in my discipline, it is rare for any one supervisor to possess all the specialist knowledge needed to manage every aspect of a PhD project in detail; for that reason, a research student often works under 2 or even 3 supervisors, and he/she is expected to acquire a variety of skills/expertise independently, through a combination of reading, doing, and 'hands-on' guidance/training).
In practice, it is often determined by the personality of the supervisor, his/her other commitments, and his/her past experience. What you need to ascertain is **why** your supervisor is 'micromanaging' your work. Possible reasons may include:
* the supervisor is imparting a skill/specialism that requires intensive instruction and oversight (you should start by assuming this reason);
* the supervisor, when he/she did his/her PhD, may have lacked support from his/her own supervisor, and is 'overcompensating' by going to the opposite extreme in his/her own approach;
* the supervisor may have a history of PhD students failing to complete projects, and is trying to ensure that you succeed;
* the supervisor may think you lack motivation or capability; or
* the supervisor may be a control freak.
It can be a delicate matter asking about this. You could start by asking your supervisor about how he/she thinks you are progressing. Then, you could ask him/her what he/she expects of you in the next few years, and what you need to do to fulfil those expectations. Ask your supervisor to comment on your weaknesses (everyone has weaknesses), and what you could do to improve. If, after asking about these issues, your supervisor does not bring up the issue of 'independence', you should then raise the point -- you could phrase it something like:
>
> I understand that, to get a PhD, I have to make an independent and substantial contribution to knowledge; obviously, I appreciate that this does not happen overnight, but could you tell me what I need to be doing in the next few years to reach that threshold, as a researcher specialising in *[insert name of field/discipline/specialism]*?
>
>
>
The www is awash with lots of generic advice about this, some of which may be very useful. But keep in mind that the answer will be unique to the individual and the field in which he/she is specialising. In many arts and humanities disciplines, it is often expected that a PhD student should present at conferences and even publish as a sole presenter/author. In the natural sciences, conversely, multi-authored papers are more common.
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/22
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<issue_start>username_0: I am from a reputed university in **India** and despite informing the department professors and higher authorities of the rampant cheating in the online exams, they haven't taken any steps to curb it (they use Google Meet/Zoom proctoring which is basically useless because students can still text and make excuses). They don't even reply to the emails that raise these concerns. They made no effort to change their examination mode for the online semester - by increasing the weightage of take-home/research assignment components in the syllabus.
This has taken a toll on the mental health of students like me who did not use unfair means but are now suffering because the university follows relative grading and the skyrocketing averages of the exams have made it next to impossible for us to get grades proportional to our efforts.
What should a student do in such a situation? Should he/she start cheating too?
Edit:
Switching the institute is not possible because this is India — students have to go through a gruesome procedure to get admitted into these reputed institutes in the first place.
Secondly, the jobs and higher education somewhat depend on the grades of the student so this unfair disadvantage for 2 semesters straight without cheating would be hell for any honest person.<issue_comment>username_1: Given the comments, you have eliminated the two most obvious responses: Exit (leave for somewhere better) and Voice (complain to the administration for improvements). There may still be more available to you than you think. [A good resource is *Exit, Voice and Loyalty* by <NAME>](https://www.amazon.ca/Exit-Voice-Loyalty-Responses-Organizations/dp/0674276604).
Because marking is relative, you are dealing with a *tragedy of the commons* problem. The total available high marks are made scarce because your professor has a particular mean and distribution in mind. There are more people who want high marks than are marks available. If everyone cheats, all the allotted marks are worthless as a measure of coding or other talent. Everyone has an incentive to cheat because not cheating does not prevent the cheaters from being rewarded.
In a commons problem, you will not be able to resolve the ethics on your own. The problem is social-structural, therefore the solution also needs to be social-structural. Your options are as follows:
* Brainstorm ways to associate a cost with cheating. For example, you could launch a honeypot for an assignment with an answer that is wrong in a specified way. Then you can take the students to task for stealing your intellectual property.
* Work with administrators via the institutions available to you (Student unions, associations, political movements etc.) to punish cheaters more harshly.
* Establish a network of students who recognize the same problem and seek to establish norms across your colleagues against cheating. For example, raise some money to establish an award for merit for students who succeed while following the rules. <NAME>, the nobel economist, is the expert on this kind of solution. I would read her work, [but summaries of her ideas do exist](https://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/elinor-ostroms-8-principles-managing-commmons).
The ethics of cheating, even where you are disadvantaged are pretty straight-forward. Contributing to the cheating makes for a worse society from utilitarian (everyone loses from coders who do not know how to solve problems), deontological (a world where everyone cheats on everything is not a world I would want to live in) and a virtue (people will not improve if they always cheat) ethics perspective.
Assuming that your institution is indeed not interested in fixing this problem, it is corrupt. [The World Bank has a list of actions to deal with corrupt institutions](https://blogs.worldbank.org/governance/here-are-10-ways-fight-corruption). There may be something there to help you.
Beyond that, you should know that blowing the whistle on an issue almost never benefits the whistleblower. Take a look at where your favorite whistleblower is now, and you will see I am correct. You will need to evaluate for yourself the degree to which you can fight this problem. I do recommend fighting from the inside first, assuming that everyone is interested in resolving this problem. You should go all the way to the top, explaining your understanding of the problem as succinctly as possible. You should also offer to be part of the solution as much as possible.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: The student should do what ever is needed to be successful. Inability to adapt means you're kind of useless. Companies don't care if you cheated or not, they care if you can be successful. If cheating is the most productive use of your time then cheat.
Upvotes: -1
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2020/12/22
| 379
| 1,547
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<issue_start>username_0: I am from India and am preparing for the JEE exam for admission to engineering colleges in India.
I am very much interested in physics, chemistry, biology, and maths. I am not interested much in computer science. But my family says you can only get a job with BTech in computer science but will not get from BSc in basic sciences. I have done C++ and Java as well before. I just don’t find them as interesting as basic sciences. How should I choose my career in engineering and need to get a job after BTech?
I am very much interested in behaviour of light, cells, electricity, and time.
They also say that from electrical engineering, you can’t get a good job after BTech.
Also, if I understand a concept clearly, I am very good at relating it to real-life examples.<issue_comment>username_1: The situation in India may vary from my experiences, and the situation in times of a pandemic may vary from my experiences. Therefore, it is unclear how definitive any answer to your questions can be. But these are my two cents:
You should not go for any major that you're not interested in.
A degree from any of the fundamental sciences sets you up for many interesting jobs. From my math class, every one who graduated and wanted to find a good job, did find a good job.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: You shouldn't do a course you're not interested in. You might find it difficult to fully commit to but if you do something you enjoy you'll do well at it and have greater satisfaction with your life.
Upvotes: 1
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2020/12/22
| 402
| 1,620
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergrad student in a certain field. However, I am also interested in another, very different one in which I would like to submit a research paper to a journal.
Which affiliation should I put? That of my university even if the education I receive there is not related to the article?
At the moment I have indicated "Student in [irrelevant field] at the university [my university]".<issue_comment>username_1: For an undergraduate student, the affiliation is usually the same as the affiliation of your supervisor. If you are unsure, ask them.
If you are writing the paper independently, typically the affiliation is in the format:
>
> Department, University Name, Address
>
>
>
At some universities, undergraduates do not have a department, in which case that might be omitted.
It is perfectly fine if your affiliation is unrelated to your paper topic.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: This is an alternate answer to that of [username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/160353/75368), with which I also agree. Especially their last paragraph.
But, since affiliation is mostly to help people find the author and to aid disambiguation of people with the same name, the university is enough for your affiliation, without need to list the department.
So "University of the Inner Solar System (student)" should be fine.
But if you need to list the department for some reason, just be honest. People will understand.
But the most important point is that the paper will/must stand on its own independent of who wrote it or their affiliation.
Upvotes: 1 [selected_answer]
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2020/12/22
| 1,038
| 4,376
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<issue_start>username_0: I have written a few reference letters to students for US universities in this recruiting season, and just got an email from a colleague in a university a student of mine was applying to, asking why am I not as enthusiastic about that student.
Here's the thing - I really was enthusiastic about them. I wrote what I thought was a very supportive letter, but I guess that my academic upbringing encouraged less overt use of superlatives. For context, my PhD advisor is an East European mathematician, so she's perhaps not the best role model in terms of showing enthusiasm (as an example, she referred to my first paper submission as a "50% chance of rejection"; that paper got a best paper award).
I realize that my reference letters are not as enthusiastic as my North American counterparts', and that's a cause for concern - this is a potential disservice to my perfectly good candidates.
My question is - what language would you use to describe outstanding students?<issue_comment>username_1: Sometimes overly enthusiastic words seem phony and they can be easy to dismiss. But what the readers want to know is your assessment of the likely success of the student in the next program and thereafter.
For a truly outstanding student I say something like "I would accept this student as an advisee of mine on any compatible project with no reservation whatever."
But words like creative, hard-working, persistent, inquisitive, careful, future-focused, well-prepared, and the like are useful things to say if they can be said honestly.
One way to think of a reference letter is to focus it on the future as much as you can, rather than the past. The same should be true of the student's SoP (statement of purpose). Assure the reader that they won't be disappointed if they accept this person.
And in the current individual case, you might write back to explain yourself better, including your own background.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: It's once again LOR season and I've been writing a bunch as well. I don't think it's so much a question of finding the right language as it is how you present your case for recommending the student.
I'm not sure if you'll find this directly responsive, but here's how I think about it. I expect the reader has no idea who I am or what my standards are. I need to give as much objective information about my relationship with the student and their performance as I can so the reader can understand the basis for my judgement and can decide for themselves whether they agree. That starts with the classes they took with me or the semesters I hired them as staff and their duties.
Sometimes, I don't know much about the student except their grade in my class (which the reader will already know from a transcript.) An example would be a sophomore who was in my section in one of our 1000+ student intro computer science courses. So, I'll describe the class, the assignments, how grading was done, emphasize the difficulty, give the student's final rank and add any additional information information I have, e.g., they were a top participant in our Piazza forum, or at least, that I've discussed the student's plans with them and support them.
Once I give that objective information, *then* I attest to their knowledge, skills and abilities, suitability for teaching and research, etc., inserting a few superlatives, and give *my highest recommendation* (assuming I can; if I can't, I try to politely decline) and invite them to contact me if they have questions.
For me, an LOR is usually about one to one and a half pages, including room at the top for the letterhead and inside address, and signature at the bottom. (Yes, I think it's worth using a letterhead template; it communicates that you cared enough to put some time into it. I also think it's worth a signature, but that's just another .jpg in my template.)
By now, it's pretty formulaic for me and I'm usually able to bang out a new LOR in an hour or two.
The really hard LORs to write are the ones where I've known the student for several years, they've been in one of my smaller classes, I then hired them to help me teach it, they've been in my office a ton, they're smart as all get-out, and now I really care about them. Had one of those a couple weeks ago; I struggled for days how to write the letter he deserved.
Upvotes: 4
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2020/12/22
| 1,376
| 5,721
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<issue_start>username_0: I teach psychology to undergraduate students while I am studying in my PhD. The module's assignment is a research report on a subject of the students' choice (the report has to be written in English). Before the data collection the students had to send me their research proposal and their ethics form for approval. I have given approval to all the students and they have already started to collect their data.
However, yesterday I was searching some studies about my PhD and Ι found out that a student had copied and pasted whole parts of a Greek thesis in her research proposal (actually she has "stolen" the subject and research questions as well as many parts of the introduction) and translated them verbatim in English.
I am very confused on what to do. I am pretty sure that her report will constitute a complete copy of the other students' thesis. However, due to the fact that the text will be translated, the Turnitin score will possibly come out low. Should I inform the university's principal or wait to see what will happen?
**Update**: Thank you all for your answers. You helped me a lot! Just to explain why I asked about how to deal with plagiarism: I am quite new in this job (lecturing)and additionally the college I am working for belongs to the private sector in Greece (i.e. students pay to study in the specific college smth that is not the prevailing way of studying here. All the universities are free of charge). So far, I have noticed (due to my experience as a second marker) that there is a silent policy of not failing students unless they are completely incompetent to study in the college. As you can understand, the students' level is quite low. So, I am afraid that if I report a translated plagiarism (smth that cannot be indicated by turnitin score meaning that I deliberately searched for it) I will "accused" of discrimination towards the student. Additionally, despite their low level the students (as well as their parents who pay for their studies) react aggressively when they receive a low grade. So, I am afraid that I will have to deal with this, too. That is why I am very concerned about what to do.<issue_comment>username_1: You should follow whatever your university policies say should be done when plagiarism is detected. Typically reporting is the very first thing that must be done. What will happen after that depends on your institution's policies.
In the US, many institutions have a discipline process that is progressive in the sense that the penalty for a first offense is small, but later offenses are penalized much more severely.
In my own experience with this, if you catch plagiarism in an early draft, you can penalize the student's grade on the draft, and then the student has a chance to produce a final product that is free of plagiarism. If the final paper still has plagiarism then you can give the student a failing grade or expel them from the degree program.
This requires checking for plagiarism at the draft stage in addition to checking the final paper. However, if you don't do this additional checking then the student may get away with only a warning or a small grade penalty for plagiarism in a term paper.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: While I agree with [Brian's answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/160373/3965), sometimes University procedures are more onerous and are, quite frankly, not worth your time.
The approach I take is to zero out the grade for any piece of assessment that plagiarized work, showing my evidence of plagiarism to the student when doing so.
If they complain, then the usual procedure can be followed. If not, they take a hit on their grades, but it wastes less of your time on the legal procedures that many universities require.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Don't rely on Turnitin or other text-matching software scores! They should not be the only way to prove plagiarism. I would proceed with your university proceedures as soon as you discover the plagiarism, first preparing a synopsis with the students work (in English) on the left, the Greek thesis on the right. Anyone who can read Greek and English should be able to see that this is a translation.
Your university procedure may require you to speak with the student first, or it may require that an investigation board be informed. Check with your colleagues to find out where the regulations are documented.
And have the courage to go on with this, even if it is a lot of work. We have to nip plagiarism in the bud. People who are successful with plagiarism tend to be repeat offenders.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> *However, due to the fact that the text will be translated, the
> Turnitin score will possibly come out low.*
>
>
>
If it walks like a duck and it swims like a duck, it doesn't matter if it quacks like a foreign duck. It is still a duck.
Don't "wait to see what happens". It is better to prevent a murder than catch the murderer after the fact. Give the wannabee plagiarists the chance to abandon the plot, either by communicating directly with them, or at least by a general announcement to the class that some research proposals are already flagged for plagiarism (explain/remind/stress that plagiarism applies to research proposals also).
The ideal for me would be a combination: namely a general announcement with no names and a confidential communication with the student, but your exact actions may depend on the specific circumstances, university policies and culture, relations with the class, etc.
But in any case, don't let this unfold without trying to stop it before it happens. Teachers are first and foremost guides, not judges.
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/23
| 2,502
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<issue_start>username_0: Why do universities check for plagiarism for their internal assignments? The goal of these assignments should be to study and do research from the internet about topics and enhance one's knowledge. Not everybody comes to the university with an intention to do research.
Should the university not reward the student who works hard and did thorough research on the topic instead of deducting grades for 5-10% plagiarism?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Should the university not reward the student who works hard and did thorough research on the topic [...]?
>
>
>
Of course. But copy-pasting text from the Internet is not "working hard and doing thorough research". You can copy-paste something from the Internet without even reading it, let alone understanding/learning it.
On the contrary, if you work hard and do thorough research, you will typically read several sources, compare them, and write your conclusions on them. If you write things in your own words, it means that you understood them, and so you deserve a good grade.
In addition, passing other people's work as your own (which is the definition of plagiarism) is not ethical, both inside and outside academia. Of course it is more strictly monitored in research, but it does not mean that it cannot get you in trouble if you do it somewhere else.
So university is not exclusively educating you for research: it is teaching you both technical content and conduct guidelines that will be useful to you in your professional life.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Your assumption is that a student who did plagiarism worked hard. How hard is it really to press cntrl-c and cntrl-v, compared to students who wrote their own text? Based on your own arguments, who should get the better grade?
Moreover, a grade is not a reward for hard work. If you work hard but do it wrong, you should fail the test. So if the test is to produce an original text, and you plagiarize, then you should fail the test, regardless of how much time and effort you put into it.
The point of a university education is that you move beyond just being able to repeat what others have done. You are supposed to learn to build your own arguments, to be your own person. That is important in research, but also outside research. Do you think employers really hire university graduate because of the knowledge they learned? That knowledge is often outdated so quickly.
This is why plagiarism is such a big deal in universities. It is *not* because its link to research, but it violates the central goal of a university education. You are lucky to just get a lower grade. In my university I would have to report you, and that would probably have led to you failing the entire course, and if you are a repeat offender you could have been kicked out of university...
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: There are at least two researchers who have published extensive literature on this subject which contains more explanations than could be put into a concise Stack Exchange answer, but I refer you to the publications [<NAME> of Birmingham City University](https://bcu.academia.edu/RobertClarke), and [username_6 of HTW Berlin](https://people.f4.htw-berlin.de/%7Eweberwu/).
You have overlooked one particular aspect plagiarism that universities are concerned about which is known as "Contract Plagiarism". Contract Plagiarism is where a student pays an another party to do their work for them. This is where the student has done no work whatsoever. The student would not have done internet searches on the topic and copied fragments, nor had discussions with class mates and shared some material.
Internet tools are an important weapon in the war on this form of cheating, which is basically degree for money. The activity debases and devalues the degrees which we all hold and worked so hard for. If it is not tackled head on every qualification would come under question.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I did my undergrad and graduate degrees in the 90s, and it's worthwhile comparing to the situation then. The internet did exist (email, usenet, and -- gasp -- browsers!) but indexing and search were poor.
In more technical subjects, we got assignments we were supposed to figure out on our own, to test and expand our knowledge of the material. Yes, sometimes someone **found a worked solution to the question, and saved some time copying it** versus figuring it out on their own. But hunting through sources in the library was educational on its own, and **by hand-copying out the solution you couldn't but help internalize it, learn from it, and generally write it in your own words** a bit. So educational objective realized, if perhaps suboptimally.
In less technical subjects, when we wrote papers the expectation was to research, and then articulate in our own words. Once again, absent the shortcut of Google search-Copy-Paste, mindless copying was less of an issue. Did students sometimes plagiarize? Of course, but the extent of it, and the impact of it on their understanding, was much less.
"Cheating" did happen, of course, on assignments, and sometimes even by "buying" papers. But professors who found that an issue modified their assignments over time so it became less attractive and easier to detect.
While the situation of course varies from case to case, today's frequent student plagiarism comes from a **pernicious assumption that Search is an alternative to actually thinking about a problem**, rather than actually engaging with it. By and large, correctly detected plagiarism (and there can be errors!) does not penalize students who "thoroughly researched" the topic; it **catches those who searched-copied-pasted in lieu of researching** -- and often haven't yet realized that research goes beyond search!
Finally, to your point about "not everyone wants to do research". That is true, and I've since also managed teams doing **applied R&D in industry** so I'll bring that perspective as well. When a team member says, "I've found this interesting approach to our problem on the internet, and here is why it's relevant, here is how it's different, and therefore here's what we should think about before using or adapting it", that is super valuable. However, "Here, I've solved our problem! [And it looks like I did something impressive, but I actually just found something on the internet and hit Copy-Paste]" is not, primarily since it's much likelier that person cut corners assessing if it applied well, thinking through complexities that might be missed -- as well as might have swept under the carpet IP (intellectual property) issues that might be significant.
"Plagiarism" on school assignments is more like the latter than the former.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Other answers and comments have pointed out the flaws in the assumption that our hypothetical plagiarist has in fact done significant work in copy-pasting their assignment. But this is only part of the story. It's not worth very much if you can find facts but can't understand them. By requiring original work, we (try to) ensure that the student actually learns something from the facts they find.
In fact, I'd argue (and I don't think I'd be alone in this) that the task of putting content into your own words is **how** one gains an understanding of that content. So this isn't just work the student is doing to convince the teacher of their understanding, but rather an important part of building that understanding itself.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: (Thanks for the reference, <NAME>!)
In order to demonstrate the research you did, it is important to carefully reference your sources. Not only do you note down where you found the information, but you mark exactly (with quotation marks) when you are using the exact words of the source. If you are paraphrasing, you have to make sure that you make the beginning and the end of the bit you are summarizing clear to your reader.
Why bother, you may ask? Well, you want to build a convincing argument! I had a student the other day try to convince me in her thesis (without reference) that Internet Explorer was the most-used browser. I asked for her source in the oral exam, she replied that "everyone in the office I work in uses it". That's a pretty poor excuse for research! And it will lead you to producing bad products.
And even when you are programming, you can insert references to the code you are basing your work on (or the Stack Exchange post) by putting the URL and additional information into your code in comments. Your future self will thank you for that.
Plagiarism software is often misused as a diagnostic tool. It can find some plagiarism, but it both misses a lot and marks correctly referenced material as plagiarism. So it is only a tool to be used by instructors, not as a judge of your work.
As others have said, you come to university to learn to do research (much needed in industry, who wants to re-invent the wheel constantly?), to think complex matters through, and to communicate your thoughts and arguments to others orally and in writing (and also in foreign languages and programming languages). So yes, we check for plagiarism from the start. And if you are caught, there will be severe sanctions. Science is built on trust. If you violate that trust and pretend to do work that you didn't, then you deserve the sanction meted out.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: Plagiarism is very bad. In the outside world it can you get fired and cost your company millions. Newspapers which publish plagiarized stories take years to live that down, even if it was entirely 1 reporter's fault. Software with "borrowed" code gets sued to death. Likewise engineering projects. <NAME> was mercilessly mocked for plagiarizing a few sentences in a speech.
A school doesn't want its grads to keep getting fired and blacklisted. At the very least, it's bad for the school's reputation.
In a practical sense, it's each instructor's decision. No one tells us specifically what to spend more or less time on. but we generally put writing up blatant plagiarism pretty high on the list.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: In addition to the other answers, this:
You're supposed to use the undergrad assignments to learn how to properly cite sources. It's not trivial - different fields and different journals have different citation styles. Also, different sources need to be cited in different ways.
You need practice to learn to do this correctly. Quite aside from forcing you to be basically honest, the anti-plagiarism rules also force you to put in this practice.
Upvotes: 1
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2020/12/23
| 3,156
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<issue_start>username_0: This question is from a young person who feels a bit lost and who would like some career advice—and possibly some encouragement, too. I will try to be as concise as possible and get straight to the point, but I still I may not be as brief as I would like to. After all, I am to sum up a few years of my life.
**My story:** I am a 22-year-old girl from Italy. I have recently graduated from an International Politics course at a university in my home-country and just started a Master's degree there, at one of the world's top 20 universities for Econ and Econometrics (this is an info I put here not to brag about anything--as I am quite ashamed about and dissatisfied with my path indeed--but it is something that will turn out useful in a minute).
The issue is that I have grown increasingly miserable and dissatisfied with my university path, and I have felt so in a long time. I had actually realized that I was in the wrong place in the *very first months* of my undergraduate degree (which lasts 3 years in Italy), but I could not drop out and enrol in another course because I had financial support tied to any course I enrolled in first. That is, once I changed my course, I could not have applied for a scholarship in another course or university. And as money has been (still is) a problem, I had to bite the bullet and get through it. Fast-forward to 3 years, I got my degree in Politics with a decent grade and I have just started a Master’s degree in economics, so still in the social sciences, but a somewhat different field.
I will now go through the reasons for the choice of my bachelor’s degree, what was my experience during it, the reasons for my master’s choice, and future hope and need for advice.
**Bachelor's degree choice:** I had decided on doing a bachelor’s degree in politics because of quite a few reasons. You may find a lot of them rather stupid, but I was only 17 at the time. First, I was hooked (and still am) on languages and politics. I would read a lot of them in their native language. Then, the university I was interested in (from which I eventually got my bachelor, and I am now attending my master’s at) is quite famous in Italy, and somewhat in Europe too, and in that period I had a rather unstable situation at home (also financially wise), so I really felt like I needed some source stability and guarantee. Then—and this is something I realized only growing up and knowing myself a little better—I realized that I was, and again partially am, very insecure about myself and my skills. In reality nothing in my academic experience, and what not, could have objectively pointed out to a lack of ability or desire to challenge myself, but I really did not even think I could have pursued a degree in a scientific field. Little did matter the fact that I got a 97% final grade from a STEM-oriented high-school. That is how insecure I was! Finally, I am a first-generation college student in my family, so I really did not have anybody to turn to for advice or support. Again, all this may sound very naïve to you, but these were the explicit and more implicit reasons that led to me making that undergrad choice.
**Undergrad experience:** Alright, so I am in the first few months of my degree. And I am already so dissatisfied with it! I was feeling very out of place with the subjects—always waiting for that one that I could find intellectually stimulating...That moment never came up. Everything was somewhat interesting, but I was feeling like I was wasting my best years. Always struggling to study and procrastinating to the very last days before the exam; skipping classes very often. I was feeling very out of place with the students, too. I am a rather contemplative person, I like intellectual challenges, I am curious, and I like to read a lot. My classmates where more of business-like people who would unlikely read a book outside of class. Moving out from a poor region and to one of the best (or rather, more prestigious—at this point quite different concepts) universities of my country, I thought I would have finally found stimulating people around me. Not that case. Moreover, they were often quite well-off people who would not know what struggling to make hands meet meant. Overall, I felt a complete disconnection from both my course subject and environment. I have never reached for psychological help because I just could not afford it, but I think it is fair to say that I was at least somewhat depressed and, for sure, *very* anxious and sad. Yet somehow, I managed to graduate a few months ago with a good mark (96%), and here I am at the same university, this time a Master’s in Econ.
**Current situation:** Why then did I go on with the social sciences, again at my uni? Well, with a bachelor’s in Politics there is only so much you can do (i.e., nothing). So, my thought process was the following: I enrol in this somewhat prestigious master’s that is rather quantitative, and from here I might have more opportunities to steer things into the direction I want. So, the aim would be that to learn some more maths and at the same time exploiting the somewhat good name of my university.
Which finally begs for the question: what do I want? Well, 3 years into hell and I for sure know that I cannot bring any contribution whatsoever to the field of Political Science or even Economics (in general, the social sciences). First, I find it very little exciting, or fun, or intellectually stimulating or challenging. Secondly, I cannot bring myself to share the philosophical (meaning, gnoseological) tenets that underpin this field. My final thesis was basically about the limits of the social sciences versus the hard ones—a cry for help. I am now studying for my Mathematics exam, and I am half loving studying it (so fun! So challenging!) and half hating myself for not having studied something with (much) more Maths in it.
**Future path and advice:** I would love to do a PhD (the length of this text might show some aptitude for that hehe). I love studying, I love thinking deep about things, I love challenging myself. There’s a lot of romanticization involved, but I know I might be apt for it. My boyfriend is a grad student at Stanford, and I would so like to apply to grad school there; and many students who did my master’s ended up there. But what to do when I find my field of little interest?
I know a friend who did Engineering and Maths and is now getting into Cryptography and Artificial Intelligence. And while I am incredibly happy for her, I cannot but feel like I would have found that much more interesting. I have not studied it formally; I only happen to lurk around the net watching videos on the subject and read some wiki articles—which I know is far from being a solid basis for anything. But boy, this sounds so interesting. But let’s say I wanted to enter this field: how could I go on about this? What is the role of formal qualifications? How should I make my moves? Should I just study on my own and…? Or should I start from scratch a Bachelor's degree at 23 (when I will be done with my master's)? I really do not know what to do.
I am trying to better manage my feelings about my choice and try to forgive myself for having made this mistake. Although it is hard, as I have spent the best years of my life in a very negative place. Even if I realized quite early on it was quite the opposite of what I wanted, again, I could not revert it because of important financial constraints. Yet I feel so excited about things, so curious, so hard-working, that I cannot simply accept to do something that I hate, or dislike, or only mildly like. Life is too short for this! But again, I do not know who to ask for help, so I am turning to you.
I am terribly sorry for having been so verbose and having robbed you of time so insolently. Yet I think I had to be clear about my motivations, my constraints, and my overall experience—in order to get more tailored answers. Still, please keep in mind that many useful info may have been omitted.
Thank you so much if you have been patient enough to get till here!
**TL;DR:** I am very dissatisfied with my path in the social sciences. I would like to switch to something more quantitative, and with more of a problem-solving nature. In order to steer thing in this direction, I have started a master's in Econ at a good school. Still, I do not know how a path change could work: should I start it all from scratch? Collect some job experience and then apply for a PhD and hope for the best?<issue_comment>username_1: In the US, students usually apply for a doctoral program having just a bachelors degree. In Europe it is more common to require a masters, I think.
For a US student changing fields (within reason) is normally not a problem since the bachelors is a generalist degree with only a bit of specialization. So, someone in political science, for example, will also take some mathematics and statistics as well as history, writing, literature, a bit of science, etc. So everyone has at least an introduction to a lot of fields if they have a BS/BA.
But doctoral programs might also have specific requirements. Changing from political science to pure mathematics would be hard as the student is missing a lot of essentials. But even then, the beginning of a PhD in the US is normally coursework heavy and takes a while to finish.
Since your undergrad degree is from Italy and was "only" three years, you probably don't have many of the requirements for some programs. But you probably do have statistics and such. Changing to CS might be possible if you have a programming background, even though you are missing a lot of prerequisites.
So, for a US student, changing fields may be less of a challenge than for an international student, but you only find out if you apply.
But another issue will be that some of the "desirable" doctoral programs (Stanford, ...) are very competitive with many (many) more applicants than positions. That is an issue for everyone, of course.
So, no, I don't suggest applying in political science, but rather in something more quant based. But there may be programs that do both and it might be a good choice. You probably have some economics, for example, which can be quantitative or not.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I think you are too focused on what you want to study and not focused enough on what job or career you want to achieve. You talk quite a bit about the intellectual stimulation of various topics and feeling that nothing is “enough”. You get excited about what friends are studying and thing perhaps the grass is greener (it is probably not). In my experience, people who do this fail to understand that degrees are means to an end, rather than ends in and of themselves. Look outside of the university. Do informational interviews and talk with people in the field. Then finish your degree (economics and econometrics has plenty of math (and machine learning and computer science etc etc) if you look for it), get a PhD if it is useful for your goals (not because of a romantic idea about the life of the mind), and build a career.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: No one should spend an entire career doing something they don't like. And if you decide you've made a mistake, I find it's generally best to admit it right then and there and figure out to how to fix it, even if that means starting over on a new plan.
I want you to watch a video of [<NAME>'s commencement address](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc&t=14s) at Stanford. The part he really gets right is that to do great work, you must find something you love. And if you haven't found it, you must keep looking. Don't settle. Every minute you spend on something you don't love is a minute you might have spent on something you do love.
I can tell you've struggled with self-doubt. It's called imposter syndrome and causes smart people to doubt themselves, think they don't belong. We all experience it but it's especially hard for women and minorities when they look around a room in a STEM class and don't see a face anywhere that looks like theirs. I think it's helpful to realize that all smart people experience this from time-to-time and that there are some things you can do, starting with finding supportive friends, perhaps joining a women's student group if there is one, maybe finding a mentor.
I think it's quite possible you might enjoy a career in computer science. But it's also possible you might not. The only way to know is to explore it. But given the lack of relevant undergraduate preparation, you may find that the only workable plan would be to start over on a new bachelor's degree. (You'll likely be able to transfer and thus reuse some number of credits from your current degree to satisfy requirements for the new one, so it will go quicker.) That probably sounds like, oh, my, what about the wasted years to start over? Please don't think of it that way. You can only waste the future, not the past.
Upvotes: -1
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2020/12/23
| 310
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<issue_start>username_0: I received a letter of completion for my degree (PhD) from my University in the United States.
"He should be granted all privileges of this degree"
Can I use the degree by now in Europe for applications / official use? Or do I need to wait for the official date when I receive my diploma / transcript?<issue_comment>username_1: It is best to assume that you don't have it until it is officially awarded, just in case anyone checks.
But you can be honest in any application and say that all requirements were successfully completed and that you have a letter from (whoever) that it will be awarded (on date). Or similar.
Since the starting date of any position is still in the future, I assume it will be after the official award date. It should be fine in all but the most extreme cases.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Perhaps you can apply for jobs already (explaining that you already finished your PhD). You could even receive a job offer, and start working on the immigration procedure.
However, many official applications (to the goverment, etc.) require you to submit a copy of your Diploma registered with Apostille. This is also true for many attractive immigration programs.
Don't forget to get this Apostille before departing from the US.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2020/12/23
| 150
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<issue_start>username_0: "I am taking your course in Spring 2021. Is it possible for you to send the syllabus if there is one ready?"
Is the wording okay?<issue_comment>username_1: LGTM. I think it's very fair to ask a professor if you can see the syllabus for their class before you sign up. How else would decide if it's something you'd like to do?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Typically an email with the phrasing you had is enough. Most professors recognize that it’s a common thing for students to be curious about what they will be learning.
Upvotes: 1
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2020/12/24
| 702
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<issue_start>username_0: I took courses named A, B, and C during my master. They are all strongly related to the field I want to apply in, and I got top grades in them.
Due to administrative reasons, my transcript shows course names D, E, and F instead. They are all either slightly or not at all related to my field.
Names D, E, F are the names of courses that were replaced by A, B, C that year. I don't really understand why they were not changed in the official transcript, and I may not be able to get a transcript with the correct names.
**How can I make sure that this does not hurt my chances when I apply to PhD programs in the field of A, B, C?**
I am thinking of sending a version with the correct names, and attaching the official one, with a note that explains the issue. But I don't know how that will be seen by admission committees (they may wonder why I didn't just get a fixed version from my school).
Edit: I want to apply to machine learning programs. The A, B, C courses are about machine learning, deep learning and artificial intelligence. D, E, F are “3D engineering”, “image processing” and “image analysis”, which seem irrelevant in comparison. This seems to me like a blow to my applications.<issue_comment>username_1: Do not alter a document issued by anyone else.
You haven't provided enough information for anyone to judge whether A, B and C will seem all that different from D, E and F to anyone reading your transcript. Either way, there's simply no possible good reason nor any possible good outcome associated with telling anyone other than your registrar that you think there's an error on your transcript. Until and unless you can get it changed, it is what it is.
What you might do if you think it's that important, is sneak a clarification into one of your essays, explaining that not only did you do well in these courses, but that the content was even more relevant than the course names would suggest.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Have your letters of recommendation address the issue.
You are getting a letter from the professor who taught one of these courses, right? In their letter of recommendation, they'll write "I first met Hey when he was a student in Course A, which I taught. Note this was mislabeled in his transcript as D."
You can also mention it in your statement of purpose when you write about your experience.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: If at all possible you should get the issuing university to correct your transcript. Failing that, you should get a letter, signed by an authority, that explains the situation. The letter should come from some official. In the US, the person would normally be called the Registrar, but I doubt that is universal. Whoever is responsible for transcripts.
The answer of [username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/160434/75368) is correct in that you shouldn't try to alter any official document.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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2020/12/25
| 406
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm about to send a paper about performance optimization in the field of Cloud computing. My target conference has a limit of 10-pages for the main section with unlimited pages for appendixes/references. My question is whether it's a good idea to move small details of my evaluation results to the Appendixes (to save some pages for other stuff), or it's better to somehow fit them in the main section?
My current plan is to keep key important evaluation results in the main section (maybe only 1 or 2 graphs) and move every other messy stuff to the appendix, including comparison graphs, evaluation parameters, extracted latency/throughput data, and most importantly, details of scenarios that I considered for the evaluation.
Is this a good idea?
P.S: My adviser (who is far more experienced) is against this idea. He says: "you should only put things into Appendixes that if a reader misses them, they can still exactly understand what you did in your paper (e.g., proofs of theorems). Evaluation results are not in this category, and they need to be put in the main section." Of course, I agree with this argument, but my question is specifically about whether small details of evaluation experiments fit in this category or not.<issue_comment>username_1: Between the two of you, I'd go with whoever has more experience.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I think your advisor gives good advice.
But if you are sole author, you can probably write it as you like and wait for the response of reviewers of the conference papers. But if you are too far off the "standard" you risk a quick reject rather than a suggestion to change it.
If you are only a co-author you need to negotiate it, of cours.e
Upvotes: 1
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2020/12/26
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm just writing my bachelors thesis and I need to reference to a book for an in-depth derivation of something.
The concluding sentence in this work is just perfectly formulated, there is no way of making it shorter or more precise. I wonder whether I should write something like
>
> As [4] points out, **it can be shown that
> the enhancement in the second-harmonic power is given [...]**
>
>
>
With the bold text being the quote from the book or reformulate the sentence, making it somewhat less precise? Is this even enough attribution when copying the sentence verbatim or do I need to put quotation marks?<issue_comment>username_1: Between the two of you, I'd go with whoever has more experience.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I think your advisor gives good advice.
But if you are sole author, you can probably write it as you like and wait for the response of reviewers of the conference papers. But if you are too far off the "standard" you risk a quick reject rather than a suggestion to change it.
If you are only a co-author you need to negotiate it, of cours.e
Upvotes: 1
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2020/12/26
| 654
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently a colleague hired a postdoc from a pool of several candidates who applied. This candidate had the most suitable skills for the job but failed to acquire some other relevant skills, and the project is going nowhere fast. I think these stories are not rare at all.
Given the specificity of skills needed to complete certain projects, the importance of delivering results and the scarcity of funds, I wonder whether some faculty actively seek the right people instead of waiting for them to apply.
To make it clear, I don't mean universities hunting superstar faculty.<issue_comment>username_1: I think that in many places, though I don't know if it's *most* places, that might be illegal. Normally university hiring needs to come after an open search, though it would depend on how the status of a post-doc is treated. Clerical staff may not be covered, but "faculty" probably is. Some low level "adjunct" instructors might also be exempt.
The rules avoid all sorts of issues, including nepotism and other varieties of favoritism based on things other than job requirements.
On the other hand, one can encourage an individual to apply for an open position and might even have a hand in the final selection. But I know of at least one case in which a description was written to favor a particular individual and some other applicant was at least as good as the "favored" one.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: In comparing my experience at several places, and my wife's (in a different field), I think there are two radically different models.
1. Department has X postdoc (or equivalent, under a different name) positions. Open search to fill based on generic criteria, some degree of importance to "this person will have good research fit here". Faculty encouragement limited to encouraging promising new researchers in one's network to apply, speaking up that they are a good fit, and then making the new hire feel "welcome".
As @username_1 wrote, making potential applicants aware, encouraging them to apply is fine, but nothing can be promised, and there is no obligation of the hire to work on any project in particular.
2. Research lab (Centre, Unit, one professor...) hires postdocs funded by own research funds. While there are generally obligations to evaluate all applicants for the position equitably, a lot more flexibility and expectation for the lab/group to source suitable applicants, and the position criteria may well end up much more targeted to a specific applicant.
By the way, the postdoc transition is -- arguably -- even more of a difficult one that completing a Ph.D., since it is during that period that a researcher becomes truly independent. So the situation that a postdoc has some of the crucial skills for success and not others, and may or may not succeed in developing them, is pretty typical.
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/26
| 370
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<issue_start>username_0: I am going to prepare a research statement for a tenure-track position. How is the structure of a research statement for a tenure-track position? Must the sections be separated into "Past Experiences" and "Future Plans"? Or it is possible to describe future plans within the text of past experiences?<issue_comment>username_1: Discuss your past experience only to demonstrate that you are the correct person to carry out the ambitious program of research which you are proposing. Your CV, letters of recommendation and sample publications will already speak highly of your prior work, so your research statement should be almost entirely forward looking. Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: In my research statement, I organized it by sections.
* *Section 1:* two paragraphs on my research at a high-level with important aspects bolded.
Given that I focused on two areas I did
* *Section 2:* Focused on areas of interest 1 and jumped right into
+ *Section 2.1:* abstract of project 1 under area 1
+ *Section 2.2:* abstract of project 2 under areas 1 etc
* *Section 3:* same format as section 2 just about area of interest 2
* *Section 4:* future interest areas with some additional details on my plans (with subsections explaining this).
I do not know if this is the best structure but it is the one I did. It was intro, details on past work, and then details on future work. With the sections clearly broken up, it was easy for the reviewer to identify a project of interest and read about that.
Upvotes: 0
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2020/12/26
| 914
| 3,726
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<issue_start>username_0: Some time ago, I gave a 60 minutes Zoom presentation in a department seminar.
I usually ask simple questions during my talks, in order to keep the audience awake.
This time, about 15 minutes into the talk, I asked some simple questions and no one replied (I waited for about 30 seconds). I guess they were just not listening; in Zoom it is hard to tell.
Is there anything I can do in this situation in order to "rescue" my presentation?
Or should I just keep talking to "no one" and learn the lesson for the next presentation?<issue_comment>username_1: In a live department seminar there are often people who are not paying strict attention. Sometimes that's because the talk is not well suited to the audience, but even good talks don't grab everyone.
The kinds of questions you know how to ask in the live presentations you're used to may not work over zoom. In a roomful of people some may be embarrassed by total silence, and speak up. Then dozers may be jolted awake. In a virtual room audience members don't notice each other. It's easier for them to be distracted, and harder for you to monitor.
If you have one or two colleagues with whom you talk about your work you might practice your talk with them, or ask them to be sure to respond when they attend virtually.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: This is, I think, a symptom of the fact that the pandemic has ruined a lot of things and trying to use older methods when teaching remotely are almost certain to fail. But like most things, students need to be taught how to learn. If you want an interactive classroom you have to work to achieve it, not assume that it will occur and certainly not to assume it will be like face-to-face instruction.
Let me tell a story, which may be apocryphal.
There once was a law professor who walked into class the first day and gave out a reading assignment. He asked if there were any questions. There being none, he left immediately.
The next day he returned, gave out a reading assignment, asked if there were any questions. No questions, so he left.
The third day, exactly the same. Readings. Questions? None! Exit.
By the fourth day the student picked up that they had to ask questions if they wanted anything from the professor.
Part of this story depends on the fact that the class was in law, and lawyers never get anywhere if they don't ask questions. But other students are also in the same situation.
That is, of course, a brutal (and not recommended) way to approach it, no matter how effective. But, you need to do *something* to guarantee that questions will be asked. What you do depends on a lot of things, but you need to find a way. Award points? Require questions for attendance? Something. Don't assume students know what is expected of them, or how they can best learn.
One way to approach it is to ask individuals questions when the silences occur. Do this frequently enough and the silences won't occur any more, since many students would rather ask a question than be required to answer one.
*Something*. Up to you.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: Here is what I found works best in Zoom
1. Use the chat. People have a much easier time writing questions in the chat, especially if you do as well. So if you write “2+2= ?” in the chat you’re far likelier to get answers than by asking out loud.
2. Zoom has polls that are great for yes/no/categorical questions. A dolphin is a reptile/fish/mammal in a poll will get much more engagement than asking it out loud.
3. Write questions on the presentation itself. Similar to (2) but for more nuanced stuff.
It requires you to adapt your style but I think will offer better results.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2020/12/27
| 958
| 4,078
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<issue_start>username_0: I am wondering if some peer reviewers may nitpick about the choice of variables in a math-heavy paper, namely whether they follow alphabetical order throughout the succession of the presentation of concepts. For example, variable ***N*** may be defined, variable ***K*** may be subsequently defined in a way that depends on ***N***, and finally variable ***A*** may represent a final result based on an operation. Could a very particular peer reviewer suggest a revision or rejection simply based on the naming of variables in this way? has anyone ever experienced this or similar?<issue_comment>username_1: Such rejection **is very unlikely to happen** and [if happens] would certainly be due to **field-specific** established conventions and **not** particularly **because of the [non]alphabetic order**.
To avoid that, try using the common variable conventions for the field. For example: *i* vs *j* for complex unity (square root of `-1`), or use `i, j, k` primarily for indices in programming-related fields, or use *calligraphic* *R* and *C* for the field of real and complex numbers, respectively, etc. Reading well-received papers from your field and asking for feedback from your advisor and\or more mature co-authors would allow learning about such conventions.
With all that said, a common reviewer's argument for revision\rejection that "the paper uses **unnecessarily unusual, unjustified, uncommon, and cumbersome notation**" is a totally valid one. Again, the case of a simply non-alphabetical order does not apply here. Therefore, this **potential** review response is not applicable to the situation **as it is described** in the question.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Let ***a*** be the number of math-heavy papers I have read that use an alphabetical order to introduce all their variables. Let ***b*** be the total number of math-heavy papers I have read. Let ***c*** = ***b*** - ***a*** be the number of math-heavy papers I have read that did not use said ordering. Then ***c*** = ***b***.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: It is certainly not that a reviewer will suggest a revision based on the non-alphabetical order of introduced variables. However, if you have a long list of dependencies between your variables and no particular naming scheme that allows the reader to see that there are no vicious cycles in the definitions, it may become extremely hard to check the proof and the reviewer may indicate it together with a suggestion to introduce *some* explicit logic in naming that would guarantee that we do not define $A$ in terms of $B$, $B$ in terms of $C$,..., $Z$ in terms of $A$.
There is also another way to convince the reader that everything is OK even if you have piled up the inequalities between the randomly named parameters in some crazy order in various technical lemmas. It is to make an *explicit* assignment in the end (say, as functions of a single large parameter $L$: $A=L^{10}$, $B=L^{-3}\log^2L$, etc.) and leave it to the reader to check that all the conditions are met for this choice (it should be a trivial exercise; otherwise you need to do it yourself). I personally prefer it whenever possible. Otherwise I try to introduce some naming convention or just list the order of dependencies in the beginning explicitly so that the reader can easily refer to it any time.
The general principle is that "everything that simplifies the work and spares the time of the reader is good even if it increases the time and complicates the work of the author" (because the hope is that your paper will be read by more than one person; otherwise what's the point of going public with it?).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Let a force *a* act on a particle of mass *b*, giving rise to an acceleration *c*. These are related by Newton's second law, *a* = *bc*. By special relativity, the particle's rest mass is associated with an energy *d*, a relation involving the speed of light *e*. This relation is given by Einstein's famous formula *d* = *be*2. Etc.
Accept or reject?
Upvotes: 1
|
2020/12/27
| 916
| 3,829
|
<issue_start>username_0: For students, some textbooks publicize no solutions, some just half (either odd or even numbered exercises), and some all. How's this decided? Does the author have the final say? Can publishers override an author? A debate between both?
I'm not asking about instructors' solution manual that divulges solutions just to instructors.<issue_comment>username_1: Such rejection **is very unlikely to happen** and [if happens] would certainly be due to **field-specific** established conventions and **not** particularly **because of the [non]alphabetic order**.
To avoid that, try using the common variable conventions for the field. For example: *i* vs *j* for complex unity (square root of `-1`), or use `i, j, k` primarily for indices in programming-related fields, or use *calligraphic* *R* and *C* for the field of real and complex numbers, respectively, etc. Reading well-received papers from your field and asking for feedback from your advisor and\or more mature co-authors would allow learning about such conventions.
With all that said, a common reviewer's argument for revision\rejection that "the paper uses **unnecessarily unusual, unjustified, uncommon, and cumbersome notation**" is a totally valid one. Again, the case of a simply non-alphabetical order does not apply here. Therefore, this **potential** review response is not applicable to the situation **as it is described** in the question.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Let ***a*** be the number of math-heavy papers I have read that use an alphabetical order to introduce all their variables. Let ***b*** be the total number of math-heavy papers I have read. Let ***c*** = ***b*** - ***a*** be the number of math-heavy papers I have read that did not use said ordering. Then ***c*** = ***b***.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: It is certainly not that a reviewer will suggest a revision based on the non-alphabetical order of introduced variables. However, if you have a long list of dependencies between your variables and no particular naming scheme that allows the reader to see that there are no vicious cycles in the definitions, it may become extremely hard to check the proof and the reviewer may indicate it together with a suggestion to introduce *some* explicit logic in naming that would guarantee that we do not define $A$ in terms of $B$, $B$ in terms of $C$,..., $Z$ in terms of $A$.
There is also another way to convince the reader that everything is OK even if you have piled up the inequalities between the randomly named parameters in some crazy order in various technical lemmas. It is to make an *explicit* assignment in the end (say, as functions of a single large parameter $L$: $A=L^{10}$, $B=L^{-3}\log^2L$, etc.) and leave it to the reader to check that all the conditions are met for this choice (it should be a trivial exercise; otherwise you need to do it yourself). I personally prefer it whenever possible. Otherwise I try to introduce some naming convention or just list the order of dependencies in the beginning explicitly so that the reader can easily refer to it any time.
The general principle is that "everything that simplifies the work and spares the time of the reader is good even if it increases the time and complicates the work of the author" (because the hope is that your paper will be read by more than one person; otherwise what's the point of going public with it?).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Let a force *a* act on a particle of mass *b*, giving rise to an acceleration *c*. These are related by Newton's second law, *a* = *bc*. By special relativity, the particle's rest mass is associated with an energy *d*, a relation involving the speed of light *e*. This relation is given by Einstein's famous formula *d* = *be*2. Etc.
Accept or reject?
Upvotes: 1
|
2020/12/27
| 799
| 3,407
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<issue_start>username_0: So I'm writing my undergraduate thesis and I have written around 80% of it. My project was to develop a device to use in the lab, but my first prototype doesn't work at all and I don't know if I should just write that it didn't work. I don't have time to make another one. I have to finish this as soon as possible because I'm starting grad school at a really good university :(. I haven't told about it to my supervisor. My question is how bad is it to present a failed attempt at something like the development of a device.
I hope someone can help me.<issue_comment>username_1: "It didn't work" is not a thesis.
However, "this is what I made, this is how I tested it, these are the results of those tests, this is how I attempted to fix/would attempt to fix in the future", etc, can be just fine, even if the ultimate conclusion is that your device isn't currently functional.
Undergraduate theses are typically fairly short-term projects, so you may not be able to follow up with all the avenues you would have for a longer project.
Most importantly, though, **talk to your supervisor**. Their role as a supervisor is for exactly the situation you're in: applying their experience and expertise as a researcher to help guide you in what to do. If everything worked out perfectly without any kinks or setbacks a supervisor would hardly be necessary.
Also most importantly (I'm running out of superlatives here), as a student, the success/failure of the endeavor should be primarily judged on what you as the student have learned along the way rather than the overall outcome (the proverbial "it's the journey not the destination"). Your device may not be working, but if you've learned something along the way I would not say the project is a "failure".
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: As previously mentioned, as long as you update your supervisor with the situation and be diligent about actually explaining what you did and what went wrong you should be fine. Again as previously mentioned, sometimes a nonfunctional project is a guide for others on how to improve and what to avoid.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: ### What have you told your supervisor? And when?
If you've kept them posted on progress, and they know what you've been doing all along, then the fact that some part of this failed (perhaps you didn't allow for enough strength in a 3D print, say) is not the end of the world. You may still have proved the concept.
If you have actively lied to them about your progress though, you can rightly expect your final grade to be extremely bad.
And if you haven't been in contact with them at all for the entire year, that is a major fail from them. The purpose of having a supervisor is to guide you in the right direction with regular expert feedback. If your project has failed because of a lack of supervision, you may need to talk to your head of department about considering mitigating factors in your grade.
### Do you know why it failed, and can you say what you would have done to improve it if you'd had more time?
That's the crux of this. The point of undergraduate projects is to practise your skills in real life, before you start using them in a real job. In a real job, things often go wrong and you need to work out how to fix them. If you can show you're picking up those skills, you should still get decent grades.
Upvotes: 4
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2020/12/27
| 263
| 1,156
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<issue_start>username_0: If making use of standard statistical notions such as arithmetic mean, do peer reviewers still expect to see a formal definition such as μ = ( Σ Xi ) / N, or is the notion so common that it'd be redundant to define it this way?<issue_comment>username_1: You do not need to define common "notions" such as the mean.
You do need to define common symbols, such as "μ", because they are common symbols for more than one thing.
These are just broad guidelines. Each research community has its own practices. If unsure, avoid ambiguity.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Statistical journals (and other journals that commonly use statistical results) would not usually require you to define the arithmetic mean of the sample values (called the "sample mean"). However, mu is **not** the standard symbol for the sample mean. The standard symbol for the mean of data values labelled with x is an x with a bar over it (and possibly a subscript N if you need to keep track of sample size). The Greek letter mu is usually used for the mean *parameter* for the underlying probability distribution, which is a different thing.
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/27
| 4,072
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<issue_start>username_0: In the field I specialize in (I'm currently a moderator of [crypto-SE](https://crypto.stackexchange.com/)), I see many obviously pointless papers published, often in publications where that costs money. I imagine that's the same in many fields. **Why are such papers published, or worse, studied?**
Example: there are [tens of thousand papers on *image encryption*](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22image%20encryption%22), including [thousands](https://google.com/search?q=%22image%20encryption%22%20site%3Amdpi.com) at [MDPI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDPI), which has [Article Processing Charges](https://www.mdpi.com/apc). Yet, the subject is almost¹ enough to tell the work is pointless: once digitized, and especially after it's compressed (as almost all images are today), image is data that can be encrypted just like anything else. The International Association on Cryptographic Research correspondingly publishes no paper on image encryption in its peer-reviewed [publications](https://iacr.org/publications/); many of the papers about image encryption it [references](https://google.com/search?q=image%20encryption%20site%3Aiacr.org) are refutations, and they do not go further than its non-reviewed preprint server.
Worse, I regularly see evidence that students at least think they have no choice but study a pointless paper riddled with errors. In this [recent example](https://crypto.stackexchange.com/q/87012/555), the [paper](https://doi.org/10.3390/sym12101687) attempts to apply an (unstated) Elliptic Curve signature scheme to inter-vehicles communications, but examination shows that the authors failed to find parameters for a usable Elliptic Curve. The paper cites 36 references on the same vein, many comparably poor. The OP ended up [writing](https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/56528858#56528858) (in chat) "unfortunately I have no other choice but to study this paper", and I could not determine for sure if it was designated to them as a reference, or was just a poor choice.
---
Addition: what about the hypothesis that some subfields like digitized image encryption are abandoned as obviously not worth attention by actual reviewers, and flourish precisely for that reason? This particular subfield is remarkable in that it has developed standard patterns for the many articles, and some bogus measures of the efficiency of the encryption. To see what I mean, sample the papers [this query](https://google.com/search?q=%22image%20encryption%22%20site%3Amdpi.com) returns (at least these all are officially free to read, if not to publish).
---
¹ I admit we must check that the image is encrypted and decrypted by a computer, and that the sole objective is encryption (rather than e.g. hiding data into an image, that is [steganography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography), or [Thumbnail-Preserving Encryption](https://photoencryption.org/)). Examination shows that most articles returned by that [query](https://google.com/search?q=%22image%20encryption%22%20site%3Amdpi.com) are only about encrypting a digitized image, and many of the others are seriously defective.<issue_comment>username_1: * Some poorly-run institutions pay people to publish papers. The pay is not based on the quality of the papers, only the number and possibly other useless information like the indexing of the paper.
* Some poorly-run institutions require students to publish papers to get degrees, but the quality of the papers is not adequately assessed.
* Some people do not realise their papers are pointless.
* Some of the papers that are pointless in your opinion are not pointless to other people.
There are also many good papers.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I used to laugh about a pair of pointless papers. The authors had (independently) proved that Polish notation not only makes formulas of propositional logic unambiguous without needing parentheses but continues to do so if the formulas are written in a circle, so that one can't immediately see where the beginning and end of the formula are. Later, I learned that this result provides a key step in some combinatorial arguments, including a proof of the Lagrange inversion theorem for formal power series. (The people who provided that proof of the inversion theorem were apparently unaware of the connection with logic.) The moral of the story is that I should not have judged pointlessness by the original purpose of the work but should have taken into account possibly unexpected applications elsewhere.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: In my view, there are three main reasons:
1. Academia is an economic institution where money flows in and papers flow out. Just in the US, the annual budget of NSF, NIH, DARPA, DOE and many others exceed the GDP of a mid-sized country. The pace of breakthroughs cannot keep up with the amount of resources we allocate for research but researchers need to produce papers as deliverables of their funding. Remember the old joke of getting 9 women to deliver a baby in a month.
2. "Pointless" papers are needed "as fronts" to enable researchers to continue working in a field for many years. They may also enable high quality work in serendipitous ways. I do not think there can be a model where all papers are high quality without substantial changes. You may not agree with the boundary conditions of such a model either: Imagine arguing science takes time and try democratizing research funds by taking the competitive process out.
3. There is usually no incentive for researchers to optimize the quality or the individual contributions of a single paper: As long as grants come in, especially from government-funds like NSF, there is little control on the quality of the output.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: Let me propose two counterpoints to your question.
First, what one finds silly someone else doesn't. I'm amazed that my most cited paper is basically aspirational and does not contain any strong result; on the other hand my best work is not cited very much at all. In fact there is usually an inverse correlation between my ranking of my own work and the number of citations. Hence what I find sillier others do not.
Second, I realized some years ago that some papers are just "silly" because they are - in some sense - practice. I (or a collaborator or a student) had to publish papers under tight timelines, or under some pressure for a grant or something other deadline. As a result, these are compromise. I used to worry quite a bit about this until I visited the Musée d'Orsay in Paris: there you will find that, before making their "big work", the masters practiced on "études", a series of smaller tableaux where only some small elements are different. It all looks very incremental. There is one series in Orsay where three "études" show the same haystack with different hay colors, different backgrounds etc.
Now... I don't want to defend people who constantly and only publish "silly" papers, but I will add the following anecdotal evidence: a lot of the more incremental stuff is just to keep you going to a better, more properly formed, final non-silly paper. I see this quite a bit of that as a referee for journals or grants: there are 3 or 4 papers in a series, and they eventually open the way to something more substantive and unexpected.
Sometimes not... you realize that the small "silly" papers already comprise all there is to say; the better researchers will move on.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: This is similar to other answers, albeit framed in a different way.
1. 'Publish or Perish': At least in Europe, an academic's career is intimately tied with publications and you're expected to regularly churn out papers. To an external observer, the quality of the paper is usually tied to the journal ranking rather than the actual content itself. If your paper doesn't get published by a reputable journal, you can still get it out through other means (I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about here). Hence we flood the internet with lower quality publications, making it exceedingly laborious trying to find the relevant gems.
2. 'Journal publication as a business': The existence of high quality peer-review is integral in furthering science. However this viewpoint doesn't appear to be shared by all and hence we end up with publication houses that try to muscle in to get a piece of that pie.
3. 'Information overload': The internet is rife with noise and this is also reflected in academic publications. Too much information is akin to white noise that drowns out the truly relevant information. You can see how #1 and #2 affects research in this regard. It's a vicious feedback loop.
I agree with the answer from username_4 in that it's best to look at it as a refinement process and consider the lower quality publications as incomplete works.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: I'd add one point to the existing answers:
**Training**
Somehow you need to train your bachelor, master and PhD students to write technically good papers. Often they will get some toy topic, that could show good results but might also be just a bit crunch work or a "silly" approach that helps them get into the topic and learn to do proper research (including scientific writing). Obviously someone higher up the chain will assist them and thus also be on the paper. And then you want to publish it, so if you know it is low level impact, a bit weird or "pointless" (e.g. very much expected results, albeit not done *exactly* like this), you look for a low-level journal and place it there. That can be just a low reputation journal that takes all that is not fake. In that case it's not about getting a good publication to brag about or to have a large scientific impact. It is just (mainly) so your students go through the process of refining and handing in the paper once. It also helps them to bolster their ego, and again to do the ground research in that area, that hopefully enables them to pick more specific more interesting problems and more reasonable approaches etc.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: One obvious reason is the "information asymmetry".
People indirectly paying for papers (or giving jobs to people with 123 published papers) do not understand enough about the field to properly rate them.
So if you have no morals, the best way to increase your income/status is to pump out garbage papers... remember to put IoT, crypto, and deep learning in the title!
You can see this not just in academia, but also in companies where poorly run companies hire people based on their CVs (e.g. bunch of useless certificates or membership in some fancy organization)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: In addition to the excellent answers above, let me add another reason: project requirements.
When we submit a research grant proposal, we often have to indicate how many papers the project is going to produce if funded. This is in particular a typical requirement for nationally funded projects in some countries, less so for EU or Western academia funded projects, which do tend to offer more flexibility to researchers. Similarly, publishing in Open Access journals in particular is a mandatory requirement in some projects.
When such a project ends, the project's team is responsible for having delivered at least the promised number of papers. Not only the reputation of the institution is at stake, there might be "financial corrections" - i.e. the funding institution may ask to pay back some of the grant money, if the project has failed to deliver all that it has promised.
These results are evaluated by administrators, who are not actually reading the papers, but just checking whether they have actually been published. Furthermore, the evaluators often do not care if there were extenuating circumstances such as a researcher taking a parental leave during the project, a researcher moving to the industry, or (I imagine) even a researcher actually dying.
This leads to heavy pressure from ones institution to publish some minimum amount of papers every year.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: Just a footnote rather than an answer. I have worked in crypto-related fields and from what I have seen there is a lot of 'security by obscurity.' People implement algorithms, write about them, study them and generally make a lot of pointless noise. Getting to some real info in amongst this low signal to noise ratio is hard. I don't know if it's part of the game, or if it's just the crypto-currency industry with its obsession with 'decentralisation' causing a lot of disorganised redundancy. Probably a bit of both.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: Publishing peer-reviewed papers has replaced answering research questions as the main goal of the research enterprise, and scientists are pressured to publish even when they don't have anything interesting to say. Most research projects start and are brought to conclusion under the assumption that they will result in multiple peer-reviewed publications, regardless of whether the study is successful in answering the research question or not. This is because of the ubiquitous pressure for publishing in large quantities institutionalised by the "publish or perish" culture in academia.
Quantity over quality is the name of the game in many circles, mainly because of incentive structures created by funding allocation and hiring practices. Bureaucrats working at university and funding organisations, as well as researchers in multidisciplinary review panels , lack the field-specific and topic-specific knowledges to judge the quality of one's work, so they need to rely on a proxy. In most academic settings, publication in peer-reviewed, indexed outlets is what is used as that proxy. Because there are enough indexed peer-reviewed journals that virtually any paper can get published somewhere given enough persistence, it becomes a numbers game. People in those funding and hiring committees don't have time, resources, and skills to read through all papers in someone's list of publications, so they just resort to counting them. Sometimes journal and conference prestige is taken into account, but more often than not it is just the publication count that matters.
Given the above, researchers operate under an incentive structure that leads them to taking any opportunity to get stuff published and to never let a project go without publishing (regardless of how unsuccessful or unimportant the study is). If it can be counted as a publication on somebody's CV, it will be written up and published.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_11: Publication worthiness is a condition of most funded academic research work. This results in a lot of papers each year on every field. There is nothing wrong with that. But maybe we need to categorize our journals better as regards the **seminality** of the work presented. This is not to say that papers particularizing or generalizing existing findings, those showing anomalies to a general trend or simply modelling/remodelling a well-understood phenomenon should not have a place in journals. Clearly they should. But probably not in the *same* journals as seminal work.
One might consider other categorizations also, e.g. on applicability of research work.
On your point about specious or doubtful papers, this reflects on editorship and more pointedly on readers control over editors. Maybe it would be healthy to have subscribers vote each fall to retain or dismiss existing editors. Better still, there might be a maximum term for each editor and due care to ensure new editors are not simply proxies of the old ones, e.g. ex-students, ex-colleagues. I accept that for specialist journals that were founded by a small number of dominant researchers and which has a limited number of subscribers this would not be easily done.
The futile study of pointless papers is often due to many references to them in review papers or textbooks. It may be ameliorated through a rating system. The internet allows users of any product or service to rate it. Likewise serious critics (credentials provided, of course) of a paper might be allowed to rate and re-rate it in terms of content validity and current relevance. Anyone preparing a review paper would then be wise to have regard to its rating before referencing it.
**Finally, I think all stakeholders in research (and not just active researchers) should speak up more on occasions like those mentioned above.** Usually we content ourself with shooting off to a sympathetic colleague in the privacy of our office - then neglect to do anything more about it. This results in the next crop of researchers falling into the same frustrating hole as we did.
Professionalism includes a duty to challenge the competence of our colleagues (as well as that of ourselves) when it is lacking.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_12: The other answers here are excellent, and I won't bother repeating them.
One more obscure possibility is that some of these are "defensive publications." A company can develop a proprietary technique and not consider it worth patenting, but are concerned that a competitor may patent it and deny it to them. If disclosed in a publicly available paper, it is now in the public domain and any subsequent patent can be invalidated legally.
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/27
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<issue_start>username_0: Is the word "iff", meaning "if and only if", recognized outside of logic?
In particular, is it appropriate for a physics text? Or is this kind of abbreviation frowned upon?<issue_comment>username_1: The abbreviation *iff* is generally understood in several fields outside logic, and in my experience it is well understood by physicists, but the golden rule is to define every abbreviation at its first use and/or provide a list of abbreviations. In this way, even those not familiar with an abbreviation will be able to understand the text.
However, in general, abbreviations may make a text less readable and therefore should be used judiciously. Thus, ask yourself if you will have to use the expression *if and only if* so frequently to warrant an abbreviation, sparing you just a bunch of characters, and think whether to limit its use to e.g. theorem statements.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The use of *iff* outside of formal logic is shorthand, and so is only appropriate in contexts where shorthand is appropriate.
For example, it's probably fine in a piece of maths homework, may or may not be a good choice in lecture notes (depending on their style), and not suitable for a research paper (at least in pure maths).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: You can sort this sort of thing out by looking at papers in journals. Google speeds this along. I searched as follows:
>
> "iff" journal die reine und angewandte mathematik
>
>
>
and
>
> "iff" "Physical review"
>
>
>
to confirm that there are plenty of papers in physics and math that use "iff" without explanation. The one paper I saw that defined this was in Physical Review Letters. You might want to search similarly in one of your target journals.
However: Do think about your target audience. An experimental physicist might be confused by this abbreviation.
A nice trick is to write things with nice large figures and few abbreviations and see how long the paper is. If you are over the page limits for a journal by just a little, you start shrinking images, tightening the prose, and using the more common abbreviations. Many physics papers have way too many abbreviations so do try to not use every abbreviation possible.
Another reason to use an abbreviation or a symbol (like `\Leftrightarrow`) is to make a multiline-equation a single-line equation, or to make a two-column equation fit in one column. This can greatly improve the look and readability of a paper.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Same as for sine: "sine" in prose and "sin" in formulas. Of course, for formulas, you may be better served by "⇔". Depending on your intended audience, you may want to define whichever version you use before the first use.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: What type of physics text? A research paper? An introductory textbook? I'd say in general "iff" is fine to use in an educated setting *iff* material equivalence needs to be emphasized. Personally, I'd leave it out if not.
Upvotes: 0
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2020/12/27
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<issue_start>username_0: As the title suggests, I would like to know if it is correct to use 'herein' to refer back. For instance, I have used the phrase 'in this paper' several times in a document and I wish to use another term to avoid repetition. Instead of saying 'In this paper we presented' I would like to say 'Herein we presented' is this correct?<issue_comment>username_1: It is fine as long as the reference is clear. Use the language to express your ideas as best you can. But if there is any doubt, make it explicit. A friendly reader might give you some advice on clarity.
You can also use "therein" for a more remote reference.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I think you can also just say "Here we presented...", rather than "herein".
Similarly "therein" can almost always be just "there".
Or, unless you are referring to another source due to you, "We presented" would be clear.
Upvotes: 1 [selected_answer]
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2020/12/27
| 921
| 3,983
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<issue_start>username_0: Last year I submitted a paper to a IEEE conference that was going to be held in the US. I got funding from my university and registered to attend the conference. Unfortunately, my visa was rejected, which was unexpected for me because I had been in the US before for another conference.
Since conference presentation was mandatory for publication of my paper in the proceedings, I contacted the organizers to let them know about this issue and if there was something I could do like sending a video presentation. I didn't get any response and assumed that they were going to publish it anyways. However, a couple of months later I found that they didn't do so.
I tried to contact the organizers again to see if I could get a refund, but was ignored again.
Is this common? Is there something I could do to get the money back?<issue_comment>username_1: Your only recourse is to contact the conference chairs. If you had a paper accepted to the proceedings (as opposed to an abstract/poster) then this sounds like a case where most reasonable conference chairs would either include your paper or refund you.
However, the conference does have terms for registration and inclusion in the proceedings, and it sounds like by not attending you may have violated them. Try to get your institution’s higher ups involved, but there may be little they can do to help.
Finally, though hindsight is always 2020 (pun intended), dealing with this matter immediately would have saved you a lot of trouble. Now the conference is over, the chairs have stepped down, and have much less incentive to deal with you.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: All you an do is ask. It may be possible or not. But the more important thing to resolve is your copyright on the paper. If you signed it over and they didn't publish it, I'd see a problem that should be resolved.
If IEEE sponsored the conference, you may want to discuss all issues with them.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> Is this common?
>
>
>
Not getting a visa to enter the country where a conference is held, is quite common. It is not common for someone to ask for their money back months after a conference though: while people do occasionally get delayed in asking for their money back, usually this is done immediately after finding out that you won't be able to attend the conference. Not months after the conference is over.
I've highlighted two words in what you wrote:
>
> Since conference presentation was **mandatory** for publication of my paper in the proceedings, I contacted the organizers to let them know about this issue and if there was something I could do like sending a video presentation. I didn't get any response and **assumed** that they were going to publish it anyways.
>
>
>
If doing X is "mandatory" to get Y, I would recommend not to "assume" you will get Y without doing X. If this happens again in the future, I would perhaps send a polite reminder about my inquiry for presenting the work through video conference (not just one email and then "assume" that the paper will be published even though they never replied to your email), and perhaps make it clear that you would like your money back if there is no way to get the paper published. You might also consider getting a colleague or friend to present the work for you, if you know anyone else going to the conference who you trust with that type of thing (I have had people present my work for me at conferences before, and I've even seen *invited speakers* gets their post-docs to present their talk for them if they are too busy to attend).
>
> Is there something I could do to get the money back?
>
>
>
You can ask again politely and include a summary of the timeline of events, perhaps with copies underneath of your old email inquiries which were ignored, but I do not recommend to have very high expectations here.
A friend of mine has this motto: "Low expectations, High hopes"
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/28
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<issue_start>username_0: I️ applied to 3 programs within the same school (2 of which are joint with another institution). All of the programs are related to my research interests, and the main professors I️ would want to work with are affiliated with all 3 programs.
I️ ended up getting interviews at all 3 programs which brings me to my question - for the interviews I️ have to provide a ranked list of the faculty I️ want to interview with. Would it be strange to interview with the same faculty multiple times? For example, a specific PI (that is the PI I most want to work with), actually encouraged me to also apply to one of the programs after I️ talked to him and mentioned I️ was applying to the other two programs - I'm unsure whether I️ should interview with him at the interview sessions for each of the 3 programs (since I️ wrote about his work in my statement of purpose so it may be weird to the admissions committee if I️ didn't). It also seems weird, however, interviewing with the same person 3 times.
Thank you!!!<issue_comment>username_1: I doubt that you would have repeat interviews with the same person unless it is a group interview (group of professors). If they know of your interest in the various positions they will ask whatever questions need to be asked when they meet you.
List the professors you want to work with and ignore the overlap. Let them work out the details.
Of course, someone may want to sit in on more than one interview if the positions are different enough. But they are likely pretty busy. I they come back for more, I'd take it as a sign of high interest.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: When I was a graduate student, current students helped prospective incoming students navigate campus and get to their various meetings with professors, etc.
It occurred a couple times during these visiting weekends that the program had scheduled meetings with students who already met professors they were scheduled to meet with, either because they had already interviewed with another program, or in a couple cases because they were already acquainted from previous research interactions (some even employees in their lab!). It was pretty much up to the combination of student and professor whether the meeting actually happened, and either way it was not a problem or "big deal".
I would mention the specific faculty you want to work with, even if the same person is listed once. However, I would also communicate to all these programs that you've been invited to interview elsewhere at the institution and also that a particular PI is a part of multiple programs. The people doing scheduling might not talk to each other very much, as the admissions committees and office staff are not likely to overlap, even if some of the faculty do! You may need/want to work out other details in your interviews, especially if they are in-person (they could be on three different weekends! are you going to travel to the same place all three times?).
Upvotes: 0
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2020/12/28
| 465
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<issue_start>username_0: I hope to apply graduate math department for MS/PhD in math. My area of interest are discrete math, combinatorics, graph theory... etc.Now I have few questions :
1. Which are the prerequisites for these courses ? and Which grade of my undergraduate are more important ?
2. I am also a bit confused that whether I will apply for a pure or applied dept ?<issue_comment>username_1: This is a US centric answer. If you are applying to a mathematics doctoral program in the US and have a mathematics undergraduate degree then the specialty you want to pursue isn't especially important. First, a broad based undergraduate degree has what you need to get started in a US doctoral program. If your undergraduate degree is other than math, you have a more complicated situation, but admission is still possible if you have, in general, "enough" math.
But one reason that this is the case is that such programs start out heavy in coursework, so if you need more combinatorics, for example, you will be able to get it before starting research.
The prerequisites you need for research are probably at the discretion of the advisor you will (later) choose to guide you. They may have some specific suggestions.
The one thing you might need to consider, however, is whether the pure and applied math specialties are contained within a single department or split between departments. Some splitting is common, as having statistics (different example, I know) separate from math. If pure an applied are in a single department, then you don't need to make a selection before applying, and you may be able to delay that decision for a year or two while you take some courses and learn more about possible advisors.
In other countries the situation might be drastically different, of course, with more expected on entry but a shorter time-frame for getting the degree.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Be aware that in some universities, discrete mathematics might happen in the computer science departments, e g at ETH Zürich.
Upvotes: 0
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2020/12/28
| 359
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm co-organizing a workshop in conjunction of a leading conference. Since the topic is quite close to my work I'm considering to submit my own paper to the workshop.
Given the fact that I'm serving as one of the workshop chairs (and the review process is single-blind)- Is it ok to submit my own paper there?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, you can submit, but if you are concerned about fairness, as seems obviously true since you are asking, then you may need to leave all reviewing to others.
You might, however, also consult the wider conference committee to see if they have any reservations or suggestions.
But such workshops are intended for a relatively small group of very interested people, of whom you are one. And it is hard, in such groups, to guarantee that no reviewer knows the author.
If you are, however, a very senior academic, you might also consider not submitting and leaving the floor open to the less experienced.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: It's OK in the sense that you won't get into trouble for this.
But from the perspective of an uninvolved observer, people might be slightly confused how the paper ended up being accepted, specifically, if it was indeed assessed with the same standards as other papers at the workshop. As one might say in certain parts of Germany, the situation has a [Geschmäckle](https://educalingo.com/en/dic-de/geschmackle) (a "weird taste", hinting at something potentially fishy going on).
Upvotes: 3
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2020/12/28
| 1,048
| 4,509
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<issue_start>username_0: Earlier this year, I contacted this Professor (Applied Math) from a top Canadian university and we talked twice this year. He earned his PhD from an Ivy League school and must be around 60 years old. He seems to be a really nice guy, happy to have me as his student, and the university is in a city that I like a lot. However, there is something that concerns me.
He has only had four students over more than 20 years. Three of them stayed in academia in American universities, but only one of them (the youngest) is actively engaged in research in a tier 3 university (the other two are lecturers in tier 2 universities). His other student got a post-doc in a top university in the US, but returned to his home country afterwards (a developing one).
Are my concerns justified?<issue_comment>username_1: There is probably no issue here and the careers of his students are determined primarily by their actions, not his. It might be a function of the popularity of the subfield in which they work.
But if the professor is listed in the [Mathematics Genealogy Project](https://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu) you can find the titles of the dissertations of the students and check for yourself whether their work was significant as students. You can also find out whether they "produced" any mathematical heirs.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The best way to identify a good advisor before applying for a PhD position is to examine the professor's publication record. You can examine a lot of professors' publication records quickly. Detailed investigation of how that professor relates to their students can wait until you have an offer. It's a more labor intensive process where you should contact previous students and ask them for advice.
You should be very concerned if a professor with a long career has only placed one student into industry employment. This might indicate a professor who does not understand the realities of the job market. The vast majority of PhD students will not work in academia, and those that work outside academia will be paid more.
If you are seeking a career in academia, then a 75% placement rate into low ranked academic jobs is a very good record.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I do not know whether the low number of former PhD students per se is a good sign or bad. A high number of dropouts and former students consistently ending up at very mediocre jobs in academia would definitely be a ground for concern. In what follows, I address a slightly broader question.
You might find it helpful to change your perspective from the good/bad dimension to something like suitable/unsuitable for you personally.
Looking at your potential advisor's CV, you may ask yourself if they seem to be successful due to their original high-quality research or thanks to their soft skills and social initiative? Do they hold posts of authority within the university or as editors and conference organisers? Do they appear to follow their own research strategy or do they tend to jump on the bandwagon from time to time? Do they apply one method to many problems or work on one problem using many methods? Do they take a student to start working on a new challenging problem together or do all their students travel essentially the same path (presumably being spoon-fed in the process)?
By looking at their recent or current students' CVs, you can see what sort of opportunities they were able to take advantage of. Publications, conference presentations - how many and how good? Summer school attendance, teaching (in what capacity: TA or tutor), helping to organise events and public outreach - chores for some, but joy for others - do you want this? Did the student get a chance to visit other groups/labs during their PhD? Did they co-author with various people from other places? Did they publish a couple of papers as the first and corresponding author or did they exchange their technical skills (i.e., coding) for a few middle-author publications?
One can often find the first-hand account of the PhD life in the Acknowledgement section of a thesis/dissertation. Some people share a lot of personal information there. It is worth checking out, especially if you are considering politely contacting a former student, as someone suggested.
While the above guesses and extrapolations can be unreliable and even unwarranted, I find them more useful than merely checking how many of former PhD students got employed and where.
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/28
| 925
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for a second masters degree at the same institution I am currently at.
I have requested my current course teacher to write me an LoR (letter of reference). However, I am facing the problem that he may not know me that well. I didn't have many interactions with him during the online lectures or seminars this year because of the covid situation. The only way he learnt about me was through a mock exam which I got a score slightly above distinction (I am in the UK). So I think he may only be able to write a very general letter.
I also asked teachers from my bachelor's degree. I built a very strong relationship with them and did extremely well in their courses. So I am pretty sure that their letters will be filled with details.
I previously thought that my current teacher would not be willing to provide me with a letter because he didn't get back to me for more than two weeks. But now I am in a dilemma. On one hand, his endorsement would be more reliable and powerful in the sense that he is in the same institution. On the other, his letter will be quite general. So should I still ask him?
Thanks in advance for any solid advice!<issue_comment>username_1: Generally speaking, the LOR that recites a lot of detail and describes a long relationship is more helpful. When I write an LOR, I assume the reader has no idea who I am or what my standards are. So, that's why I try to give a lot of objective information about my relationship with the student, so the reader can decide for themselves whether they agree the evidence supports my recommendation. I'm sometimes asked for LORs from students I don't know very well. Perhaps they're sophomore and they were in my section of a large intro CS class. I try my best but realistically those LORs will never be as helpful as the ones I write about a student I've known for several years, was in a small class where I really got to know their work, has been in my office a lot, worked for me as instructional aide for a class I taught, etc.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If they have both already written the letter, submit both. It will not hurt and it may help.
Explanation: academics in the UK system believe that anything bad in a LoR can engender legal jeopardy for the letter writer. They are wrong: obviously one can be sued slander and libel, but one is asked to render a professional opinion on X's suitability, and as long as one refrains from using 4-letter words, one is in the clear. If anything, omitting something that could be construed as an early warning sign for a later crime can result in legal claims (example: X was disciplined for plagiarism; X does this again in his new job; they go after you for nondisclosure). Fortunately I have never had to write a LoR for a student wanting to join a bank or MI6 of whom I knew of serious moral failings.
(Also, schools always wanted to know if my former tutee was perhaps a perverted pedophile. I always wondered how they imagined I could have possibly discovered even if this were the case!)
Anyway: since academics are mortally afraid of saying anything negative at all in an LoR, these letters all tend to look alike. The red flags are only there by omission. The admissions tutor will quickly scan the letters for any such hidden clues and then toss them aside... pardon me, file them.
If your grades or extracurriculars or whatever sheds light on your suitability are good, then you stand a good chance of an offer. But if the admissions tutor still does not quite know what to make of you, they may have an informal chat with one or both of your LoR writers. These chats tend to be frank, informative, and completely off the record. In your case, it sounds like both of them think well of you, so no reason not to submit both.
Upvotes: 0
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2020/12/28
| 3,700
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<issue_start>username_0: In a course, students were required to sign a consent form to share their final course project. There were two options that they could choose from: either anonymous sharing or sharing with attribution/credit. There was no option to opt-out. But the scope of the sharing was not limited in any way:
>
> I permit the instructor(s) to publicly post this work electronically or physically, and to digitally or physically handle the delivery, cross-posting, deposit, or other distribution of this work...
>
>
>
Is this ethical? Or would this violate any University policy in the US? I know that different universities have different policies but here, it seems, that students are being softly coerced to give consent since they need the final-project grade and it seems reasonable to assume most students would be somewhat fearful of asking to opt-out.<issue_comment>username_1: I don't know what my university's policy is (if any), but it seems clear to me that students should never be coerced (subtly or otherwise) into giving permission for their work to be shared. My students do some spectacular work, and I request their explicit permission to archive and share it - but I set it up so that they are free to decline, and so that I do not know who has given or declined permission until after I have submitted their final grades.
I can imagine a reasonable exception if the work/project were explicitly performed as a service to, or collaboration with, some outside organization that needed ongoing access to the work, but in that case the conditions should be explicit at the outset.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: **Edit:** The OP has just now stated that the requirement was not known to students at the beginning of the course, but only added later. That is unethical: changing the rules in the middle of the course after some effort has been expended and possibly not being possible to drop without penalty.
Had that not been the case, I'd still stand by what follows here. Namely, the requirement itself is ethical, if not ideal, as long as it is part of the original course requirement.
---
Yes, it is probably ethical if you look at the bigger picture. On the one hand, I doubt that it is even legal for someone to *require* another person to sign something. But on the other hand, if you don't follow the requirements there is probably no reason they need to grant you the degree. You probably have agreed, implicitly at least, to follow all university policies when you became a student there. There is also a likely expectation that those policies will change over time.
So, you could opt out, by not returning the form. No problem. Where it goes from there is up to the university.
However, knowing that your project will be shared, prior to completing it, you have options about what you include so that nothing that is published will be an issue for you in the future. There might even be a valid *educational* reason for the policy. It might be intended as a *goad* to elicit your best work.
This is, however, a different question from asking whether it is a *good* policy. If you think otherwise, fight the policy itself. But try to do so in a way that isn't self defeating.
The question is a bit dicier, however, if the course is something like a *required* capstone course. But there, I think that an appeal to authority above the professor's might provide at least an exception. But you may need a reason other than that you don't want it published.
And, if you are working under the direction and guidance of someone else, either in a job or a university, the question arises about who is the owner of any IP.
---
I've assumed that this policy was made clear at this beginning of the course. Changing the rules late in the game raises a different ethical concern, of course.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: The red flag here is that the instructor is requiring students to sign away a legal right they have. What gives them the right? A university may reasonably make such a requirement as a matter of university policy in a few situations where that makes sense (e.g., as someone mentioned, it is standard that PhD theses are made public). But the instructor’s mistake and clear point where they are overstepping their authority here is their assumption that they can set arbitrary rules that have nothing to do with the educational goals of the course, and that students must follow as a condition of getting their grade.
[We have](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/135845/40589)
[seen](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/111505/40589)
[this](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/102964/40589)
[before](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/134008/40589) unfortunately.
US universities simply don’t endow their instructors with such absolute-ruler powers. In fact, as someone who was a department chair and experienced the administrative side of running a university, I can confidently say it would be very undesirable from the university’s point of view to give individual instructors the authority to make students sign legal statements whenever the instructor thought it was a good idea. To put it mildly, some instructors are less sensible than others and probably should not be trusted with these sorts of powers. Nor is this a recipe for consistent policy-making.
To be clear, an instructor can set rules on where a student sits during an exam, or impose deadlines for homework submission etc, since such rules are necessary to accomplish the goal of teaching and testing the students. But at the end of the day the instructor is *required* by the university to assess the students’ performance and assign grades, and may not hold the students’ grades hostage to arbitrary conditions that make the instructor’s life easier or help them teach future classes, showcase their teaching achievements, or otherwise achieve other goals tied to the instructor’s self-interest.
To summarize: yes it’s unethical, and violates the “don’t be a jerk” policy, and probably other ones.
**Edit:** I was asked to spell out the specific ways in which the instructor’s behavior is unethical. They are:
1. Coercion: the instructor is coercing students to agree to give up their legal and moral rights to control what happens to their project work, where this does not provide them any legitimate educational benefit tied to the course.
2. Abuse of power: the instructor is using their power over grades, a technical power they are given by the university but that’s supposed to be used only for the specific purpose or assessing the students’ work, to coerce them to behave in such a way. This seems pretty clearly done for the instructor’s personal benefit.
3. Violation of employer’s trust: the instructor is violating the trust their university puts in them to use the authority the institution is giving them only for specific purposes and in specific ways.
Note that versions of these sorts of behaviors are illegal in many countries. For example using the power of your office to benefit yourself has been the reason for many holders of political office to be sent to prison in the US, and for a president to be impeached. In this particular case the behavior is probably not serious enough for these laws to apply, but the principle is the same.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: This is somewhat more of a comment than an answer. I think there are a lot of pedagogically valuable assignments that involve student work being shared with people other than the instructor, and it would be a shame not to be allowed to assign them.
**Things I have assigned**
* for the whole class to create a collaboratively edited document of notes on the class.
* for the class to collaboratively produce notes to be reused for future versions of the class, and to edit the previous's classes notes.
* to produce a final talk/presentation for their classmates.
* to produce a final poster presentation, for display at a poster fair in a public lobby.
**Things I have heard of other instructors assigning and want to try someday**
* to contribute to a relevant Wikipedia page.
* to contribute to a relevant open source project.
All of these things require the students to sign away some of their intellectual rights to the material they produce. But (1) they allow students to learn from each other and (2) by having the students produce for an audience who honestly doesn't know the material, I think these lead to much better exposition than having me pretend not to have seen a dozen papers on the same subject.
What I try to do is to be clear in the syllabus from day one about these requirements, and to take the minimal rights I need. Here is language I've sometimes used; I'd be glad to hear improvements:
>
> Note that these [assignments] will be posted publicly online ... with your name attached to them, and that I may edit them ... You give me permission to do this, but otherwise retain copyright to your [work].
>
>
>
I'm not trying to abuse students, but I don't see how I can give assignments like this without making students sign over some rights.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: This document likely only affirms what is already the rule (which you probably already signed when you enrolled). It serves more to make you aware that you are expected to share your work, than to actually establish a new legal obligation.
And in any case, work that you perform at the university, using the professor's time, university lab space, and university resources, very likely legally belongs to the university rather than to you personally.
Although there are exception (classified research projects, for instance), generally the whole point of doing work at a university is to share it publicly.
For classroom work, that's likely not all that big a deal (nobody would be too interest in your calculus test that is essentially indistinguishable from the work of hundreds of other students).
But when you are creating something unique, such as a capstone project, that may well contribute to the overall body of knowledge that universities create.
So, don't be offended that somebody wants to take what you perceive as yours. Take pride that somebody may consider your work worth sharing the same way established scientists share.
**Update**: The original poster mentioned that the document in question actually asked for release from FERPA provisions (for non-US readers, FERPA is a US privacy law that prevents publishing of certain student information), rather than a general publishing release. That changes the context substantially.
Let's say that a student participates in some research projects (which is common in research universities). FERPA may prevent publishing anything the student contributed, or at least it could be interpreted that way.
It appears that the purpose of the document isn't to allow publishing of the student's work (that's already covered by the student enrolling in such a class), but rather to resolve exactly this conflict.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: This opens up a huge can of worms regarding who actually holds the IP for the work.
Simply put, though, if you were given this directive before you started the project, I don't see a real problem with it. You had the opportunity to limit your contribution to items you would have no trouble disclosing.
FWIW, chances are your education on the process is most likely far more valuable than the value of the work itself, in terms of intellectual property, if that's one of your concerns.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: The OP asks "Is it ethical". I wish it was asked "Is it lawful". Then we could definitely say "NO"!
But I believe that acting in violation of the law to deprive someone of their rights is definitely not "ethical".
People under most jurisdictions retain the copyright to works that they create - except for specific exceptions, for example "works for hire". Though sometimes made to feel otherwise, students are not any less people than anyone else.
Here is a good article on the subject: [Who owns student-produced content?](https://jeasprc.org/who-owns-student-produced-content/)
Here is an excerpt:
>
> One thing for certain, <NAME>, former executive director of the
> Student Press Law Center and current Knight Chair in Scholastic
> Journalism at Kent State University, said it is almost impossible for
> a school to claim copyright in the works students create.
>
>
> “Absent a written assignment of rights signed by both student and
> parent (if the student is a minor),” Goodman said, “students retain
> the copyright to works they create.”
>
>
> That’s not because public schools can’t own copyright, he said, it’s
> because students are not employees and the works they create are not
> “works for hire.” The fact they may be getting credit for a class does
> not change that.
>
>
>
The requirement for a PhD thesis to be published has always been argued to be part of the scholarly preparation of a student. This is from [The Scholarly Kitchen:](https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2019/04/08/guest-post-the-dissertation-publication-requirement-its-time-for-reexamination/)
>
> From the inception of the modern doctorate in the early 19th century,
> a central purpose of doctoral education has been to prepare students
> to make significant scholarly contributions to knowledge. The
> dissertation is submitted as public evidence of your scholarly
> accomplishment meriting the conferral of the doctoral degree.
>
>
>
But it never was, nor is, been maintained that a student does not still own the IP rights to their work.
The professor in the OP's case goes way beyond just requiring that the student's work be published. He/she insists that the student abdicate all of their rights regarding how and where and in what form that their work may be distributed:
>
> I permit the instructor(s) to publicly post this work electronically
> or physically, and to digitally or physically handle the delivery,
> cross-posting, deposit, or other distribution of this work...
>
>
>
Also click on this question/answer in the World Intellectual Property Organization FAQ: [Who owns IP generated by students?](https://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/universities_research/ip_policies/faqs/#accordion__collapse__18)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_8: I usually set master projects related to my current research. So, I need to be able to use or build upon the work of the student, even if they decide they cannot be bothered after they finish the course.
When I announce my projects, I put a requirement that the code developed should be under an open license (usually MIT). The students know this in advance and it's their option to take the project or not. Once they decide to take the project, they sign a project description with the requirements. Also, our university obliges the students to submit their report to an open repository. They retain copyright, but it's open to the whole word to read or scrutinise.
Coming to your question, if the course is mandatory (meaning you have no alternative) and this requirement was not clear from the beginning, then I find it unethical and potentially illegal. When I worked in the UK, his would be a big issue if the student reported it. Where I work now, not so much because it's a public university and students don't pay any fees. Or, to be more clear, their fees are paid by the government through everyone's taxes. So, there is an expectation for "open" work.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I learned a math course in a Russian university many years ago. For silly discrimination and other silly reasons I didn't finish it and didn't receive any diploma.
Recently (2020 Oct 27) I have confirmed my education by the US standards: 100.50 semester hours of undergraduate credit, grade Point Average is 3.54 based on a 4-point scale with A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0.
I want to receive the US Bachelor in mathematics. What can I do? Can I do it without passing any additional courses/exams? How much may it cost?
Note that despite of having no funding and no access to libraries and scientific databases I did a very advanced math research (some of which is peer reviewed and published). Essentially, I am a PhD with lost diploma.<issue_comment>username_1: No real US university will award a degree to a student who has not taken any courses at that university. What you want is not possible.
To award a degree, you must earn credits from the university. Typically, this is at least half the total credits required for the degree.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: >
> Recently (2020 Oct 27) I have confirmed my education by the US standards: 100.50 semester hours of undergraduate credit
>
>
>
A typical diploma in the US is 120 semester hours. So, you're a bit short.
Be aware, however, that each school will make its own determination as to which classes can be transferred. Typically, they will look at the syllabus and determine which classes are comparable (this may be difficult in your case). So it is not at all guaranteed that a given school will count all 100 hours.
Further, virtually all schools have a "residence requirement." Even if they agree that all 100 hours are equivalent, they may not allow you to transfer more than, say, 90 hours. The thinking is that if you are going to earn a degree from University X, you should take a significant number of classes at University X. Otherwise, students could do all their coursework at school X and get the degree from school Y.
Finally, note that there are usually "distribution requirements" -- despite your plans to major in math, you will have to take classes in many subjects to earn a degree. I do not know whether this is also true in the Russian system.
>
> How much may it cost?
>
>
>
Thirty credits would probably cost about $10,000. This will vary hugely depending on the school you attend and the financial aid you qualify for.
>
> Note that despite of having no funding and no access to libraries and scientific databases I did a very advanced math research (some of which is peer reviewed and published).
>
>
>
Understood, but unfortunately it is difficult to convert non-University work into a degree. On the other hand, some employers might (wisely) overlook the lack of a degree.
>
> What can I do?
>
>
>
If finishing the degree at the Russian institution is still possible, that would probably be fastest and cheapest. Failing that, I would look for a reputable, local university with a generous policy on transfer credits. Other answers have also suggested some accredited online schools; this may be a good option as well.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: While the accepted answer to the question is *almost* universally true, [Excelsior College](https://www.excelsior.edu/) is a non-profit, regionally-accredited institution whose primary mission is to help students complete their degrees. They don't offer a degree in mathematics, but *may* allow you to obtain a degree that would permit you to enter a U.S. graduate program. If you are able to get an official transcript from your former institution, Excelsior College might be able to help.
Upvotes: 1
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| 934
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<issue_start>username_0: **My Background**
I graduated with a master's in CS from Rutgers in 2017. I was a part-time lecturer for an intro to CS course for two semesters and I barely focused on the master's course work. I got a 3.33/4 GPA. I have an 8.04/10 in undergrad from an unknown college in India. No research experience or papers. My goal in those two years was to get a high paying job and get out. To that end, I have been working as a Software engineer at Bloomberg for about 3.5 years till now.
**What I want**
Half of the industry research jobs in machine learning, natural language processing either require a Ph.D. degree or 2 to 3 papers in a top conference. I badly want those jobs. Not because of the money, not because of my vanity or anything. I frequently attend tech talks, lightning talks about the ML projects that research scientists in my company are working on. I read the code they produce on Github. I Can say with confidence that is this something I find immensely interesting. I really badly want a job as a research scientist.
Also, people say that there are not many research scientist jobs and all. I think about 80% of the people I know at Rutgers who were getting their Ph.D. are working as research scientists today or as an assistant professor somewhere. So I pretty much made up my mind. I want a part-time Ph.D. admits. This is my goal. I am 29 years old and I want to start my Ph.D. program as soon as possible.
**What I have done**
There are about three professors at Rutgers. I searched for all the papers they published up until 2016. I read 5 to 6 papers per professor in detail. I read the abstract of all the papers. Suffice to say, I am moderately familiar with their research. I have a rough idea of the problems that they are trying to solve.
**What should I do?**
Given that I have defined my situation, my goal, the things that I have done so far, what should be my game plan to get a part-time CS Ph.D. Admit. Even if it is not funded, I don't mind. If push comes to shove, I am more than willing to foot my own bill.
Who should I talk to? How should I approach a potential professor whose research group I am interested in joining. What are the chances that they will indulge me and invite me over to talk in person. Is there even the remotest chance that I can get a part-time CS Ph.D. Admit or am I just wasting my time?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Who should I talk to?
>
>
>
You should start applying to PhD programs. You probably missed the deadline for many programs if you’re thinking of starting in the fall though.
>
> How should I approach a potential professor whose research group I am interested in joining?
>
>
>
A short email letting them know your situation and your interests should be sufficient. Be prepared to be ignored though, or getting short, curt answers.
>
> What are the chances that they will indulge me and invite me over to talk in person. Is there even the remotest chance that I can get a part-time CS Ph.D. Admit or am I just wasting my time?
>
>
>
It’s hard to say, that really depends on your CV, your capability to convey your interest in a compelling and succinct manner and many factors beyond your control. I’d say that a masters from Rutgers is a pretty good step in the right direction, though a low GPA is not a good signal.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Since your CS MS is done you should try to find a program without much course requirements, preferably your same institution.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: When advisors edit our thesis work, what kind of changes can they make? Is there a limit to what they can do? There's proofreading and also editing for style and clarity. Is asking students to paraphrase what they wrote something that occurs commonly? If it's not, what can I do?
Does anyone know any resources where I can read more about this?
Thank you.<issue_comment>username_1: It's your advisor's job to prepare you for a professional career. That should include helping you learn to write in the style and up to the standards of your discipline.
Your thesis is a good place to learn to write better - even though it is "just a thesis". It is still yours.
Your advisor's writing critique improves this piece of work and future work of yours.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: When I edit a student's thesis, my intention is to make suggestions, not demands, even when the editing was done by writing my comments in red all over a printed copy of the student's draft. Of course, some of my comments are corrections, which a student would obviously accept, but some are matters of judgment, and a student might well disagree. I'd discuss the disagreement with the student, and until now (28 Ph.D. students so far) we've always reached an agreement. In at least one case, the final version of the thesis contained a proof which, though correct, was so far from optimal (in my opinion) that I wrote down a better proof for my own records.
In principle, there could be a real problem if the student absolutely insists on doing things one way (because it is, after all, the student's thesis) while the adviser absolutely insists on another way (and won't approve the thesis if it's done the student's way). Fortunately, I've never heard of such a situation in real life.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Do know that there are a lot of moving parts in this dynamic: your and your advisor's personality, interaction, language proficiency, etc. factor in as well.
In term of convention on how much and advisor edit the student's work, there is none. Some like to be more hands on, treating it as a collaboration; some like to be more hands off, treating it as a consultation. Some may render more help (justified or not) if the thesis language is not the student's primary language.
Instead of "how can I change the advisor," I'd suggest focusing on how to "get the most learning out of this situation." Not all good researchers are good language teachers, they could be writing well and yet unable to explain why they wrote that way. So, some active deciphering would be needed.
First, put all emotion aside (I know, having your writing mutilated does not feel good, but still put that aside) and try to figure out the motive of each edit. Usually, they fall into a few major categories:
1. Grammatical: tenses, plural/singular, etc.
2. Clarity: unaccounted pronouns, run-on sentences that detach the subject and the action, etc.
3. Contextual: the language was right, but the concept was wrong. Maybe due to misinterpretation of some results, derailing the discussion.
4. Stylistic: the work makes sense overall, but not on par with professional convention. For example, using future/present tense in Methods rather than past tense. Using APA format instead of Vancouver, etc.
5. Idiosyncratic: these are more like individual preferences that are either "my mentor's mentor's mentor did it that way, so I do it the same way," pet peeves, or habit stemming from misinformed grammatical rules.
Based on the prevalence of each type, you can decide what improvements may be called for. Grammar, clarity, and style are often well-documented in textbook and professional manuals.
For idiosyncratic types, I usually let those stay as I believe there are more than one way to say the right thing, just some people prefer their "righter" way. But of course, if the changes are harmful, feel free to discuss or edit it to avoid that issue.
If you found most of them are contextual. Then it may be better to change the writing submission protocol. For example, before sending in the full text, generate a writing outline. The outline should include bullets of your interpretation in short sentences, and the bullets should be grouped by paragraph. This would help the advisor spot any misunderstanding earlier, and the list would also prime the advisor about your layout. This could temper their surprise when they see the full text not laid out as how they envisioned.
If this analysis gets too difficult, prepare an original version and a clean edited version from your advisor, and consult a professional editor who is experienced in your field. Basically, ask for an analysis on the two piece and how can your version be improved.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I know about the calculation for the "Entgeltgruppe" and the following "stufe". My question is: if someone had a contract for, let's say, 3 years then this person needs 2 more years (non paid) to finish the PhD, this 2 extra years can be counted as working experience for the "stufe" calculation?<issue_comment>username_1: It's your advisor's job to prepare you for a professional career. That should include helping you learn to write in the style and up to the standards of your discipline.
Your thesis is a good place to learn to write better - even though it is "just a thesis". It is still yours.
Your advisor's writing critique improves this piece of work and future work of yours.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: When I edit a student's thesis, my intention is to make suggestions, not demands, even when the editing was done by writing my comments in red all over a printed copy of the student's draft. Of course, some of my comments are corrections, which a student would obviously accept, but some are matters of judgment, and a student might well disagree. I'd discuss the disagreement with the student, and until now (28 Ph.D. students so far) we've always reached an agreement. In at least one case, the final version of the thesis contained a proof which, though correct, was so far from optimal (in my opinion) that I wrote down a better proof for my own records.
In principle, there could be a real problem if the student absolutely insists on doing things one way (because it is, after all, the student's thesis) while the adviser absolutely insists on another way (and won't approve the thesis if it's done the student's way). Fortunately, I've never heard of such a situation in real life.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Do know that there are a lot of moving parts in this dynamic: your and your advisor's personality, interaction, language proficiency, etc. factor in as well.
In term of convention on how much and advisor edit the student's work, there is none. Some like to be more hands on, treating it as a collaboration; some like to be more hands off, treating it as a consultation. Some may render more help (justified or not) if the thesis language is not the student's primary language.
Instead of "how can I change the advisor," I'd suggest focusing on how to "get the most learning out of this situation." Not all good researchers are good language teachers, they could be writing well and yet unable to explain why they wrote that way. So, some active deciphering would be needed.
First, put all emotion aside (I know, having your writing mutilated does not feel good, but still put that aside) and try to figure out the motive of each edit. Usually, they fall into a few major categories:
1. Grammatical: tenses, plural/singular, etc.
2. Clarity: unaccounted pronouns, run-on sentences that detach the subject and the action, etc.
3. Contextual: the language was right, but the concept was wrong. Maybe due to misinterpretation of some results, derailing the discussion.
4. Stylistic: the work makes sense overall, but not on par with professional convention. For example, using future/present tense in Methods rather than past tense. Using APA format instead of Vancouver, etc.
5. Idiosyncratic: these are more like individual preferences that are either "my mentor's mentor's mentor did it that way, so I do it the same way," pet peeves, or habit stemming from misinformed grammatical rules.
Based on the prevalence of each type, you can decide what improvements may be called for. Grammar, clarity, and style are often well-documented in textbook and professional manuals.
For idiosyncratic types, I usually let those stay as I believe there are more than one way to say the right thing, just some people prefer their "righter" way. But of course, if the changes are harmful, feel free to discuss or edit it to avoid that issue.
If you found most of them are contextual. Then it may be better to change the writing submission protocol. For example, before sending in the full text, generate a writing outline. The outline should include bullets of your interpretation in short sentences, and the bullets should be grouped by paragraph. This would help the advisor spot any misunderstanding earlier, and the list would also prime the advisor about your layout. This could temper their surprise when they see the full text not laid out as how they envisioned.
If this analysis gets too difficult, prepare an original version and a clean edited version from your advisor, and consult a professional editor who is experienced in your field. Basically, ask for an analysis on the two piece and how can your version be improved.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
|
2020/12/30
| 869
| 3,563
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<issue_start>username_0: I have one incident of academic misconduct on my record from my sophomore year (I was guilty), and I received a grade sanction and disciplinary probation. This does not appear on my transcript and I am no longer on disciplinary probation.
I am now applying for PhD programs and some applications ask about conduct. **On one application, I'm not sure whether I have to disclose my academic misconduct because of the wording of the question.**
It asks if I have ever been **"disciplined for academic performance"** and gives examples like **"academic probation, dismissal, suspension, disqualification, etc."** For the same question, it also says: **"Academic Infraction: Indicate whether you have ever been disciplined or placed on academic probation while attending an academic institution."**
At least at my university, academic probation is something you receive for poor grades (like having a dangerously low GPA), whereas disciplinary probation is something you receive for misconduct (anything from underage drinking to academic misconduct). So I'm thinking I can answer "no" to this question, since I was disciplined for **misconduct** not **academic performance**, and it was **disciplinary** probation, not **academic** probation. It seems that "academic infraction" would be discipline for poor grades. But that "etc." makes me nervous and I wanted others' opinions.
I don't want to answer "yes" and put myself at a disadvantage when I don't have to, but I also don't want to mistakenly answer "no" and then be caught and have my application disqualified (or worse, get accepted, have someone find out about my academic misconduct halfway through my PhD, and be dismissed). I want to make sure I'm being truthful, but only as truthful as I have to be. For obvious reasons, I don't want to disclose this unless directly asked/required. Do you think I should answer "yes" or "no" to this question?
**Edit:** To be clear, I am not intending to deceive by being so particular about the word choice. I have disclosed my misconduct on other applications where it was clear that my answer should be "yes". I think it's understandable that I want to be absolutely certain that I am required to disclose it before I do. I am trying to be honest and accurate.<issue_comment>username_1: >
> It seems that "academic infraction" would be discipline for poor grades.
>
>
>
That is wrong. Misconduct is a type of infraction. You were disciplined for an infraction. Disclose it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> I received a grade sanction and disciplinary probation.
>
>
>
Receiving an adverse penalty or outcome for your conduct means that you have been "disciplined" for that conduct, so this falls within the scope of those questions. Attempting to split hairs using a distinction between "academic performance" versus misconduct seems willfuly evasive to me. The correct answer for both questions is yes.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: How likely are your LoR going to mention it? If they won't I would probably ignore the question if it's not on your transcript.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: Rather than try to parse the words and not disclose, I would actually directly address the whole episode in the letter or statement included in the application. Write openly what happened, why it happened, and how you think about it now. I believe that such openness—especially if it shows that you learned from your past—would turn a possible negative into a positive part of your application.
Upvotes: 2
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| 746
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<issue_start>username_0: I use Mendeley reference manager and sometimes import articles from browser to my Mendeley Library using browser extension. Import is totally fine but I am having two confusions after importing:
1. Some conference papers are published in **Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS)** and many other related Lecture Notes series of Springer. When I add it to Mendeley, it categorizes that paper as **"Book"** although it was originally published in a conference. So should I cite this paper as
* an article in a book titled **LNCS** or
* **Conference in which it was published** or
* **Conference proceedings in which it was published**?
Please refer to following image as an example of this. First screenshot is from Springer site and second is from Mendeley Desktop paper details section.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fPGXL.png)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/w7Oh9.png)
2. If I have to cite it as a Conference proceeding, then what should be name of the Conference Proceeding,
* the name written as **"Proceedings of International Conference on XYZ"** or
* the actual title of proceeding as "**XYZ"**?
Taking the above picture as an example: Here, the title of conference is **"International Conference on Human Centered Computing"** and Proceeding name is **"Human Center Computing"**. Should I refer title as "Proceedings of International Conference on Human Centered Computing" or just "Human Centered Computing"?
3. If that paper is Workshop paper of that conference, in this case, what would be citation style, workshop title, Conference title or proceedings title?
Please help me understand this. Thanks in anticipation.
PS Pardon me if all three of the above should be posted as separate questions but I think these all all related to one another like an IF/ELSE condition and may help in reaching a conclusion.<issue_comment>username_1: If you are writing a journal article, follow the journal's instructions. If there are no instructions, imitate papers they have recently published.
If you are doing homework or writing a thesis, ask your professor. Do not be surprised if they do not care.
So long as the paper is easy to find from the citation, any of these approaches is reasonable.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: People in the field will recognize the article for what it is, so there is no real danger of confusion. Depending on the discipline, there is a hierarchy, where, for example, book chapters are considered to be less prestigious than a conference. In this case, you would use the citation style appropriate for the highest element in the hierarchy. In your case, this would be the HCC17 conference, e.g. Proceedings of International Conference on Human Centered Computing, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10757, Springer, 2018. Here, Proceedings and LCNS vol 10757 are at the same level.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for PhD programs in the USA, one of the schools requested a PhD research interest. The problem is I do not know how to write it, and I didn't done any research in my masters degree, are there any solution?<issue_comment>username_1: You need, at least, to name a subfield of your major field. Not mathematics, say, but functional analysis or something. Narrow is good, but not so narrow that it would be hard to find an advisor. Hopefully you have given this some thought.
If you have any ideas about specific problems in that area it will be a plus, but not everyone has those on entry and needs to discuss with (potential) advisors before getting started.
For someone with just a bachelors degree, less would be required. Having a masters they will expect a bit more. But not a detailed research plan.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: For the abstract just state you did a masters without a thesis. Universities are used to the fact that not all applicant followed a standard model for their prior studies.
As for research interest I’m unclear what the challenge is? I would pick a topic that is not too general (cell biology) so that the interest is hard to elaborate on or too specific (Actin-related protein 2/3 complex subunit 1B) as to suggest hyper-specialization. Make sure you pick a topic that can be studied in the program you are applying to and explain why it is interesting to you.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: A potential masters thesis advisor became pretty famous (in his field) for the development of a certain theory in behavioral economics. However, I find that his theory is relatively unexplainable, and I feel that I have come up with an alternative theory that would explain the exact same phenomena, but in a more justifiable way.
Knowing very little about how thesis advisors view their students' work or the dominance of their own theories, I see two possibilities:
First, my theory might not be very good and my professor will either point out the flaw, or encourage me to continue developing the flawed theory because it's better than nothing.
Second, my theory may actually be pretty good and my professor may view it with hostility, consciously or subconsciously. Is it unreasonable for me to consider this a possibility? Is it a possibility? How likely is it?<issue_comment>username_1: There is no predicting personality without close study, but if the person is a true scholar they will welcome an advance, even if it refutes something they did earlier.
No, hostility isn't an unreasonable possibility. But whether it is likely depends on the person. Impossible to say how likely. You are in a better position to judge, knowing them. Are they insecure? Do they welcome a challenge? Are they fair and honest?
But it would probably be better to approach them with a questioning attitude rather than one making bold claims. After all, you might be wrong, as you say. And you should be sure of the wider literature. Has the theory been validated by others? Accepted as fact?
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The danger lies in the collateral damage that your refutation (and better, probably simpler hypothesis) does: Your prof might have other projects running which rely on his original theory.
Check if that's the case, and discuss with the people who are working on it.
Your prof and the others will either stubbornly defend their original approach (because their work&paychecks are threatened), or they see that it's dangerous to go on with a bad approach, which might end in rejected papers, failed theses, and loss of followup projects, and are glad you found out and want you to help fix it. (All assuming you're right with your analysis.)
If there is not much money riding on it currently, the prof might just be delighted to advise you on a thesis. If the old theory was widely know and used, this will mean he (+you) can write a lot of new papers which will surely get highly cited.
Or of course he might tell you to brush off with your stupid ideas and find another advisor. Well, at least then you know about that.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: My answer doesn't speak directly to the situation with your potential advisor: I think that depends on your presentation of your approach, and the advisor's personality (I agreed that it does have the *potential* to backfire). I want to discuss the challenges you are likely to experience with this situation
>
> his theory is relatively unexplainable ... [my] alternative theory ... would **explain the exact same phenomena**, but in a more justifiable way
>
>
>
If the two frameworks explain *the exact same phenomena*, then which version you (or your potential advisor) prefer is a matter of taste, or style. "More justifiable" is a value judgement. As an example, this issue is IMO) largely what drove the [loud arguments in the evolutionary biology community](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/03/researchers-challenge-e-o-wilson-over-evolutionary-theory) over Nowak, Tarnita and Wilson (2010)'s theoretical reframing of the evolution of eusociality (species with extreme cooperation where only a small number of individuals in the group reproduce). Nowak et al. say their method
>
> represents a simpler and superior approach, allows the evaluation of multiple competing hypotheses, and provides an exact framework for interpreting empirical observations
>
>
>
... but they do **not** say "explains previously unexplained phenomena" or "makes different empirically testable predictions". Their approach may indeed be "better" on some aesthetic grounds (mathematical rigor, simplicity, explainability [at least for some subset of potential users]), but if there is no **concrete** advantage over the previous approach, then many researchers will resist giving up the old way (and not without some justification).
Disclaimers:
* I have **not** read the Nowak/Tarnita/Wilson work, or the rebuttals, carefully enough to form my own opinion about which I prefer. However, I think my characterization of the political/philosophical issues here is reasonably accurate
* reframings that give a different perspective on the same set of empirical observations can be interesting and valuable, and *may* lead to deeper/novel insights; it's just hard to argue for them *a priori*
---
Nowak, <NAME>., <NAME>, and <NAME>. “The Evolution of Eusociality.” Nature 466, no. 7310 (August 2010): 1057–62. <https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09205>.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Given that the [replication crisis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis) is a real thing I would not overthink this. As long as you provide sound (statistical) evidence that supports your theory I would not hold back.
I have encountered the same situation when writing my master's thesis. My advisor was not very well versed in statistics, disregarded basics assumptions of statistical tests like normal distribution of residuals, and disregarded adjustment for multiple comparisons and other things that are unacceptable.
So it basically boils down to this question: are you writing your thesis *to please your advisor* or *for real science*. I would suggest to go for the latter because there is already enough junk science out there.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: **Be humble.** It’s very possible and exciting that you might have found a weakness in his theory. But, beyond finding an error in a theorem and thus establishing them as incorrect on their own terms, theories in fields like behavioural economics are not ‘refutable’ per se. They are all wrong. Rather they often seek to explain important features of behaviour with minimal parameters. Obviously, we don’t know what the theory is or what your posited replacement is, but If your theory adds complexity it will perhaps explain more; but perhaps not enough more to be worth the additional complication. Such an exercise seems like a great masters dissertation, and unlikely ruffle your advisor’s feathers. But, presenting it as an alternative to be investigated rather than a rebuttal will be more likely to receive a positive response. Remember your advisor, and many others, have thought hard about this for a long time, and while you may have had an important insight, it’s also possible to recognise that your idea is on the long list of things that could be reasonably done but has never made it to the top of anyone’s to-do list. Or indeed, that there is some conceptual mistake. Whichever is true, you have everything to gain from presenting it as one of the latter two rather than as a “rebuttal” or “refutation”.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I received a comment from a colleague that starting a sentence with "let" is not good practice. I know that starting a sentence with "let" is grammatically correct, so that is not the question. My question is if starting a sentence with "let" is good practice and acceptable in technical writing.
Here are a couple examples:
>
> * Let scalars be denoted by lower case letters.
> * Let x be a real number greater than zero.
> * Let the set of real numbers be denoted by R.
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: Obviously a matter of opinion. LGTM.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: These sentences will appear normal to anyone educated in mathematics in the English language.
They could, perhaps, be made more concise if written without "Let" but I would not think too hard about it.
For such trivial issues, it is often wise to give your colleague what they want.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: These are all acceptable. My personal preference would be to reserve "let" for statements that are (essentially) assignments, like the second one in the question. The other two establish notation conventions. I might say something like
>
> We use lower case letters for scalar variables.
>
>
>
or
>
> Lower case letters represent scalar variables.
>
>
>
and
>
> We write R for the set of real numbers.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: Yes, this is common in math writing. It is hard to imagine a book or long paper that doesn't use the convention to some extent.
But, I would only add that too much repetition of a phrase become tedious and even annoying to your readers. So while
>
> Let x denote a real number.
>
>
>
is perfectly fine,
>
> Assume x is a real number.
>
>
>
is an alternative.
Make the writing lively if possible. But clarity in math is the more important thing.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: In your first example I would actually agree that the "let" construction is not such great style. I wasn't sure why at first. But as Kimball pointed out in his comment, "let" is for definitions. You aren't really saying "let a, ..., z be 26 scalars", since you'll use those letters to stand for different scalars in different places. Besides you could just say "lower case letters denote scalars" or something like that.
The other two examples are certainly typical mathematical English.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: The immediate, facile answer is that "yes, it's fine, since so many people have done it already"... and, also, since your audience will certainly understand the content.
A secondary point is that quite often a more effective-and-efficient sentence structure is available, as exampled in other answers and comments. In some ways, these secondary things don't truly matter, but they can distract the reader, as well as allowing a critical reader to wonder about what you think is happening... which is probably not good.
An exaggerated case is "Let the real numbers be complete." What? Well, yes, they are, but what is the point of saying this? Or "Assume $x$ is a real number." Wait, what? What if it's not? Does one mean "here let $x$ be a real number..."? Probably. And, yes, experienced readers can decrypt the weird syntax, but there's no point in making them do so.
Alternatives to "Let $x$ be a real number..." are, for example, "For real numbers $x$, ..." and such.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: I see no problem with saying, for example, "*Let* x be a real number", but I often say "*Choose* a real number x", as well as "*Take*" or "*Consider*".
I don't really have a reason for saying it one way versus another way, but I like to mimic the language that my math professors use when going over proofs during class. They know better than me.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_8: One of the most lauded writers in mathematics in Jean-<NAME>. The first sentence of his book *A Course in Arithmetic* is "Let *K* be a field". The first sentence of <NAME>'s book *Basic Number Theory* begins "Let *F* be a finite field..." The first sentence of Section 1 of Chapter 1 of Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem is "Let *p* be an odd prime."
Conclusion: it is perfectly fine to start a sentence with "Let" when you are talking about fields or odd prime numbers. Maybe you can generalize this observation.
Upvotes: 2
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2020/12/31
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<issue_start>username_0: I submitted a conference paper to an IEEE conference via edas system. **I included the details of co-author in the uploaded document but missed to add in the system**. I noticed it when I received the acceptance notification. When i read the Commsoc policies, it says "it is not possible to add further co-author to a an submitted document". Is this means, I cannot add the co-author name? What will be worst case?
Thank you<issue_comment>username_1: The worst case is that you are accused by someone of plagiarism. And that is pretty bad. But you don't ask for solutions, though user Younes provides one in a comment.
Contact the organizers, explaining the situation, apologizing and asking for a correction. The organizers, if they have any experience, will have dealt with submission problems in the past and so expect them to happen.
However, if I read it correctly, the paper itself contains the correct author information in its header. The effect, then, of not having entered the co-author into the system is just some confusion on the part of readers who notice it. Conference advertising and such may include less than complete information for example. So, it may be that the "worst case" is an inconsistency in what appears in conference documentation and in the paper itself.
If the paper is correct there will be less of an impact, except for people searching for papers by your co-author and not finding this one since the conference docs are incorrect. If the organizers understand this, they should have an incentive to make it right.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Contact with the ***IEEE conference*** mail and the ***edas system*** as soon as possible.
* The edas mail is: **<EMAIL>**
* The IEEE conference you should search in its website. At ***contact*** section probably.
If there's an incongruence between the document and the system they would detect it, but there's no guarantee. So, notify them there was an erratum before the publication is done.
Despite it could have author's incongruence, the document might be published with or without the forgotten author in the systems.
* In the best case, it will be accepted, added the author at the systems and published the documennt including the author.
* In the worst case your document will be rejected.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently I have submitted my paper to IEEE Access Journal which has a binary peer review process, and I got rejected. Still, they allow me to answer the reviewers' concerns and resubmit again.
One of the reviewers asked: "For the consideration of reproducibility, the code of the proposed method is suggested to be provided.
I want to know how I should respond to that concern politely as the author? I plan to provide all datasets and some part of the program, which is related to an example that I described in my paper. This simple example shows how my algorithm works and will help reproducibility (It shows the final result of applying the proposed method by considering one of the algorithms that I have used in my paper on a smaller dataset).
I want to know how to answer the reviewer politely and convincingly while explaining that I am providing some part of my programs, not all of it.
Thanks.<issue_comment>username_1: Let me try to capture the thoughts in the comments and add a bit, though I can't be specific, not knowing your work.
The reviewer has asked for your code. It might be appropriate or not to release it, depending on too many things to list here. But if you don't want to release it since future work depends on it and you prefer to keep it private for now, it might be an acceptable reason to an editor, or not. I can't predict that. If knowing it is essential to evaluating the correctness of your work, then the editor has a right to object.
But, the original was rejected and, if you want to resubmit to that journal, then you need to do a fairly extensive rewrite in any case. Evaluate for yourself how essential it is for you to not (yet) reveal things and if it isn't essential, try, within page limits etc, to comply with the request. It might make the paper better and it might send it off into inessential areas resulting in cruft. But the decision is yours to make how to write up your work. And the editor's job is to judge its acceptance for the journal.
But the bottom line is that you don't need to reply to every concern or accede to every demand. The work is your own. But your readers, including the reviewers and editors will make judgments about it as to whether you make the case for any conclusions you hope to draw. Make sure that the proper connections are made.
---
I have a guess that you are worried about getting scooped on future work if you reveal too much. That may be a valid concern. If so, releasing a more complete version of the current paper close in time to the follow up might be a solution, so that there is less opportunity for others to jump on your methodology and break in line ahead of you.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There are no models for this. I think you have answered your own question here:
>
> answer the reviewer politely and convincingly while explaining that I
> am providing some part of my programs, not all of it.
>
>
>
You suggest several reasons why not all the code is called for. Some is extraneous. Some is working but not fit for public consumption (all too often true). Some you may want to keep private for future use. Those reasons might satisfy the editor.
What you do provide might be in a web accessible repository - not necessarily written up as part of the paper. It's becoming more common for journals (and editors and reviewers) to require at least that much public exposure of data and code.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: You cannot answer “convincingly”, because your assumption that it is okay not to provide the code is incorrect, and the reviewer is correct to ask for it. And the fact that it’s time-consuming to prepare the code for release is neither here nor there: it’s also time-consuming to write a good paper and polish it over and over to make it into something people can read and understand; but that’s what good researchers do, because they understand it’s important and that this is the way to do good science.
For a related discussion, see [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/88651/40589).
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm writing a paper which explores a new forecasting method. I compare the results with those of an existing algorithm as a baseline. Plenty of literature already exists on the existing algorithm, and the definitions for the new forecasting method already make the paper very math-heavy. Being in-depth mathematical definitions of the existing algorithm can easily be found, is it necessary to define it mathematically in the paper? Would it suffice to clearly describe what it does in English? Adding math for the existing algorithm on top of the math for the new one adds significant complexity for the reader. On the other hand, readers who want the full definition may have to research elsewhere which could lessen the appeal of the paper to peer reviewers. Any thoughts?<issue_comment>username_1: You need to cite the earlier method, making it easy for readers to find the details if needed. But you also need to satisfy reviewers and editors before your paper can be published. Or, for course work, satisfy the professor that your work is complete.
But other than that, the structure and content of your work is up to you. Make a decision about how you think it *should* be written and then do that. If complaints follow (reviewers...) make the needed changes to satisfy their concerns.
But, for the headline question, no it *probably* isn't necessary to completely define the earlier work unless yours can't be understood without it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: In my experience, most of the times, when someone tries to "clearly describe in English" what an algorithm does avoiding mathematical notation, the result is not as clear as intended. Ask yourself if that is the case also for your description.
Math exists precisely because it makes it clear and unambiguous to speak about combinatorial concepts.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: If you are comparing to published results of an existing method, then you are fine to cite the paper and provide a brief description.
However, if you are producing the results yourself, then you need to describe the *exact* algorithm you ran. This is because you will probably claim better results than that method (else why would you be publishing?), and I in my role as the reviewer will be skeptical of your claim. My first question will be why you did not compare directly against published results and instead ran the algorithm yourself. I will assume that since you didn't describe the algorithm you ran, you likely don't understand it fully yourselves and have misimplemented it. Finally, as you said "Being in-depth mathematical definitions of the existing algorithm can easily be found" --- multiple definitions of many algorithms can be found, typically not all equivalent. Reviewing, I will assume that you'll have picked the one variation that performs most poorly on the example you are presenting.
And, frankly, if the algorithm description isn't even in the appendix of the document, and I do have to look up another paper to understand your baseline, you'll have annoyed me and I'll be less likely to give you a favourable review.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: At least in my discipline (economics-econometrics) the solution is called "On-line Supplementary material".
It is submitted together with the paper, as a separate file and not part of the page count of the paper, but subject to peer-review.
If the paper is accepted for publication, this "Supplementary material" is posted on-line only, on the journal's website. It won't appear in the printed version (apart from an alert that "additional on-line material exists for this article").
It usually includes long mathematical derivations (i.e things for a Technical Appendix that are too long to attach to the main text of the paper), but also the details of some subsection of the paper that it is only summarized in the main text. For example a bag of simulations whose detailed tables are included in the Supplement, and only the main conclusion is reported in the main text.
So you can include all this additional math of the competing algorithm to such a file.
You may want to check with the journal that they do this.
Upvotes: 1
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2021/01/01
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<issue_start>username_0: From what I heard, in German universities there is a push against foreign cloud applications such as Microsoft Office 365, Google [G Suite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Workspace), [Github](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GitHub), and even [Doodle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doodle_(website)). The [DFN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsches_Forschungsnetz) offers some alternatives, encouraging (or forcing?) university staff to switch to them.
Could someone inside the German system describe the state of things in more detail? Are there web applications that one should steer clear from when working in a German university? Are those just recommendations? What platforms are affected? What are the alternatives suggested? Are they all self-hosted open source applications?
I tried googling, but I found little information about it around.<issue_comment>username_1: I am not aware of any official guideline to avoid using foreign cloud applications at German universities. However, I only know what is correct for my university. The federal system in Germany makes it unlikely that any such general guideline will exist.
What is true however is that most universities offer a lot of locally maintained services as alternatives to external solutions. There may be a file hosting system, a git server etc. in fact making the external stuff obsolete. But you are still allowed to use them most of the time. At my university, the service description often reads like: "...is meant as an alternative to XYZ" (with XYZ as some external cloud service), but the use of other services is explicitly not excluded. However, university staff automatically has access to the local tools and they can usually be used when cooperating with external people, so I see a widespread use of the local tools.
The external services often are of foreign origin. And yes, this is not totally irrelevant. "Data sovereignty" is the term used at my university. Local support is another aspect quite helpful when problems arise.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: It's mostly about DSGVO (the Datenschutz-Grundverordnung). I don't know too much about it, but, if I understood correctly, it forbids that university staff stores data which affects their students on any service that is not under control of the university. As a consequence, many universities host their own services or buy services with special conditions such that they are "DSGVO konform". My university, for example, hosts a cloud storage and groupware and we are encouraged to use DFN services.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: It not surprising that there is little good information on this issue available.
As has already been written, this is all about the European data protection directive [GDPR ("DSGVO" in German)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation). It contains a number of measures that should enable users to protect their personal data.
The law defines some guidelines that include the right of users to only have their *necessary* data processed. As a relatively trivial example, it would be problematic to require students to submit their date of birth with their exercise sheet solutions. The law also defines minimum requirements for offloading data processing tasks to subcontractors and the right of all users whose data is being processed to demand to know what data of them is stored. Also, data needs to be protected according to the state of the art. In case of violations, fines can be issued by federal(?) authorities.
Now while these rules seem useful, they are highly problematic when *requiring* students to use certain services: There is normally no contract between the university and doodle.com about data protection in place, so asking the students to use doodle.com is probably problematic....but I'm not aware of any court ruling on this. Then, the Safe Harbor agreement between the EU and the US is not currently seen as sufficient to guarantee that the European rules are met. Oh, and is data protected according to the state of the art? That's pretty hard to tell.
All in all, the situation is complex enough such that universities try to insource as much as possible, at least to DFN level (German research network - essentially the network service provider of the universities). However, when other options proved to be infeasible, some universities decided to use Zoom and the like anyway, which bears a certain risk. The Microsoft Cloud may be unproblematic, depending on what level of data protection Microsoft guarantees.
In a less-than-100% legally clear situation when there is a lot at stake (Corona led to a *need* for teleconferencing/lectures), some may decide to take some risks when the alternatives do not seem to work. And this leads to a very fragmented landscape.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: A bit more background:
Teaching
--------
There is a parallel discussion happening about schools and their teaching tools during lockdown/school closures. (Both schools and universities in Germany are owned by the [Länder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A4nder).)
One example that made it into the media quite prominently was a school in Berlin that got an official "Warning" by the Datenschutzbeauftragte (privacy protection office) who explained that they received a complaint and had no choice although they'd have liked to actually help the school to arrive at a working and privacy protection law compliant solution. The same would happen to any university if a student complains and the privacy protection office then finds that the "legal homework" was not done on the side of the university. Which is of course a possibility that scares administration.
There are lists available (the ones I've seen are all in German, though) with cloud services where the data protection offices wrote down their take on whether the particular service is compliant with German law (and in turn EU GDPR), can be made compliant (by adequate service contracts) or whether and which fundamental concerns they have.
Maybe not too astonishing, the cloud service providers who most easily meet the German legal requirements tend to be Germany-based - I don't think it can be a surprise that companies tend to know the legislation in their home market very well.
The other legally easy option is for the universities to run these services themselves, this saves them from needing to put in place appropriate contractual agreements for 3rd party data with the service provider. And since universities have computation centers that are anyways in place to run IT services as infrastructure for the university and they are organized in the DFN which has R&D projects on such infrastructure, this is an obvious way for them to go.
In general, German legislation is very picky about abuse of power, and this reaches out here where students cannot refuse to use certain services the university (or school) prescribes. Universities are run as a public service, and they are held to the standards any governmental office must meet. "Agree to this tool's service terms or leave university" is not regarded as a fair choice.
All this applies mostly to teaching.
---
Research
--------
In research, one may presume more liberty in a group of collaborators agreeing on which service they use. Which I think in turn allows more leeway in the choice of tools and services. Of course, your collaborators may prefer to not need yet another tool or service an addition to what is prescribed (or approved) by their university for their teaching duties.
A separate topic is the research institute's policy about their own data. I don't know whether German institutes tend to be more protective than others (and my experience could at best be anecdata anyway), but I've met increasing concerns about this, including restrictive policies which I'd have expected in industrial R&D rather than in public research.
* The increase in concern may be spurious in the sense that the underlying concerns about when to share with whom may have been constant all the time and just haven't been relevant (and therefore not expressed) before sharing became so easy with free public cloud services.
* On the other hand, [IP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property) protection and patents, licensing and generating spin-off companies have become more important for academia and public research also in Germany, so increasing concerns about uncontrolled sharing may reflect this development.
* Germany has very hierarchical structures in academia, so these policies may be very much a matter of the personal opinion of the respective professor or institute director (whose power does include a whole lot of decisions to not share).
* ... and due to the complex legal situation, said professor or director may have decided that the most economic way of dealing with all this is to err on the safe side and be very restrictive for everything but what is offered by their university IT services - which is implicitly safe because the blame would go to the university rather than to them.
---
What recommendations are out there
----------------------------------
* The official recommendation to use a privacy friendly meeting organization tool (such as the DFN one or the [TU Dresden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden_University_of_Technology) one) rather than doodle has been around for many (IIRC 10+) years.
* Also orders to not to use [Skype](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype), [Dropbox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropbox_%28service%29), [Google Drive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Drive), whatnot have been a regular part of the data protection lectures/readings I've been required to attended at various German research institutions for many years (mostly not universities, but public research institutes).
* Many universities have lists with more or less general/detailed recommendations out by now, the [BSI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Office_for_Information_Security) (federal office for information security) as usual has general guidelines.
*However, almost all the documents I've seen in this context are in German.*
As an example, the [university Duisburg-Essen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Duisburg-Essen) (random find on the Internet, I have nothing to do with them) has an [internal document with a table listing some popular but critical services and alternatives](https://www.uni-due.de/imperia/md/content/zentralverwaltung/verkuendungsblatt_2019/vbl_2019_68.pdf)
* GDPR/German data protection law compliant solutions exist, and sometimes the solution could also be saying "those who (and whose institution) are OK with using Doodle, go ahead. Everyone else, please email me your preferences"
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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2021/01/01
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a postdoc in mathematics. I read a paper of another mathematician some time ago and I found out that I could extend it. Therefore, I dropped an email to him, and then he told me if I could do it, it would be an interesting result. He also told me "I would be happy to know if you have anything to share with me," I thought that meant he would like to work with me. So, I wrote an email to him that contains all of my ideas. Now, I found out that my ideas work and everything correct.
My problem is he hasn't replied to my email after two weeks and I might be pessimistic but I am scared he steals my ideas and whatever I explained to him.
Even though I am a postdoc, he is a well-known mathematician. Moreover, we both use university emails to contact each other. What should I do now? Thanks in advance.
I have been writing it, but what can I do if he publishes it before me?<issue_comment>username_1: Just go ahead and publish. The other mathematician has not contributed to your work in any way other than saying that your results would be interesting. In fact, in my eyes it would be entirely inappropriate for this person to be your coauthor.
I would suggest though to also discuss this with your PI to make sure she/he agrees.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Since you said the senior is a big-named professor, one might speculate that he is too busy to work with you. He is more likely to be too busy to respond and very unlikely that he is trying to steal your work.
Since he is already tenured, the cost of stealing is very very high, and the reward for him will be ultra-low. Any rational mathematician won't steal you ideas as you have emails on hand as proofs.
It is also highly probable that your email is stacked in the huge of piles of email and he missed it, because a senior professor receives tons of emails each day.
Furthermore, seniors are far more likely to respond to a result that is highly polished and well-written with detailed proofs and no grammar mistakes, while most preliminary drafts contain some (minor) mistakes.
So I would send one additional email include a polished version of that paper and if he does not respond again, I will just submit the paper.
Of course, consult your PI (if you have one) before submission.
Upvotes: 2
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2021/01/01
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<issue_start>username_0: I am starting my PhD and have two equivalent supervisors at different universities in different cities. I am going to city A first and then later to B and so on.
What is the etiquette regarding emails? Is it impolite to address emails to just one supervisor even if it's not an important subject like informing that I arrived in city A? Should I always send emails to both of them?<issue_comment>username_1: Actually, you should ask them directly. Different people will have different preferences. Alternatively you could start out copying both and then stop if either of them suggests it.
But, it is probably best to keep them *equally* informed about your progress and current activities.
Questions that are more in the purview of one of them than the other might be directed at the more appropriate person, I suppose.
---
The [answer here of username_2](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/160739/75368) reminds me that I was only thinking of technical communications, not personal ones.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think that asking won’t hurt. But that said, just because two PIs are jointly advising a student on a degree does not entitle one to be privy to all exchanges with the other. Or put another way: just because you have two advisors doesn’t mean you lose all rights of privacy when communicating with either one of them. Of course sometimes information concerns both, so an email addressed to both is appropriate.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2021/01/01
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<issue_start>username_0: This happened in my group. One of the master students in our group had a manuscript derived from her thesis, and the manuscript was planned to publish with she and her advisor (who is the PI of our group) to be the authors. However, she put the manuscript on the internet some time ago without the advisor's consent (I learned that she put it on research-gate publicly). The PI got furious about this and said that what the student did was disrespectful to him as a co-author, and he would no longer co-author this work (this happened in our group meeting from which I heard of the event).
Here are some facts about this event that comments request me to tell to make things clear.
1. The manuscript is almost finished but still under some revision by the time she put it on the internet.
2. The student exposed the PI as the co-author in the unfinished the manuscript on the internet, and she did it without the PI's consent.
3. Consensus on co-authorship was reached before this event happened, so I assume the PI deserves the authorship.
4. The PI said to the student that he would from then on have no relation with the work, but he hoped she could revise the work as best as she can.
5. The paper fortunately was read by no one on research-gate.
Although I know making a manuscript accessible to the public without consent from all co-authors is illegal , but the action my PI choose to deal with it, i.e., no longer co-author the work is still surprising to me. What's his point of doing so? Is this so serious an issue that he has to do so? Why he don't even give the student a chance to right her wrongs? I newly learned that the paper was withdrawn, but attitude of the PI remains unchanged. Is the student still unforgivable even after she withdrew the manuscript?
I also have further questions:
What should the student do with the almost finished work? Simply bury it in history or try to publish herself? At least in my point of view, neither is a good solution. Since our PI was soooo angry, I don't even dare ask the PI why he took such an extreme action. So I am asking here.<issue_comment>username_1: I think that the action was a serious breach of trust, but I think there are better ways for the PI to deal with it. If the student didn’t mean malice but published because of inexperience, there should be a way to correct the action and move on.
Concerning a student, I think the best choice is for the student to contact another member of the faculty committee and obtain guidance in how to deal with the PI. I’m suggesting this because the question, while superficially only addressing a paper, cuts much deeper: If your PI advisor is so angry with you as to not coauthor a paper, the relationship may be fractured to the point that efficient mentor ship and guidance has become impossible and the student might be best advised to consider changing advisors.
The answer to the question about the continued membership in the lab will then determine the best path forward for the manuscript as well.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Let me clear up one point not addressed in the [answer of username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/160735/75368), which is otherwise great advice. If the PI is validly an author of the paper in question, then it cannot be published without their permission.
It wasn't clear from the comments whether that permission has been given, nor in what form. So the other author(s) need to obtain that permission, and most likely even the permission to acknowledge that PI.
This can get a little weird, since you also have to avoid writing in such a way that plagiarism occurs, using their ideas without acknowledgement.
I hope the author(s) can work this out, perhaps with the help of "higher authorities". But "no longer caring about it" isn't actually permission. Some papers have to just be buried for such things, even though it is both unfair and a disservice to scholarship itself.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> student ... put ***her*** work on the internet ... without the advisor's ... consent. The PI got furious.
>
>
>
I will assume this information is exactly correct and nothing else has happened.
Sure, the student should have asked permission first, but posting *your own work* on the internet is not major misconduct. The PI's response should be to ask the student to get permission next time.
>
> Is it unforgivable?
>
>
>
This is not only forgivable, it is a trivial matter.
I think the PI is actually angry about something else you did not mention.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: It is not illegal to unilaterally publish an article without the consent of co-authors; you and your PI clearly know nothing about copyright law. See generally the law of "tenants in common" with regard to copyright law. Also, there is a legal definition for authorship, and I seriously doubt the PI met that legal definition. It sounds like the legal rights of the student may have been violated; they should talk to a copyright attorney.
Upvotes: 2
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2021/01/01
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<issue_start>username_0: I have recently conducted a set of qualitative interviews with a particular group. Their interviews yielded interesting info about a certain phenomenon. However, based on the information gathered from the first group of interviewees, it led me to a different type group whom I also conducted interviews with in order to explain/expand the first group's perspectives.
So it was a sequential process that I couldn't have planned beforehand without coming across the info gathered from the first group.
When parsing this information in a research manuscript (under methodology section), is it perfectly okay to explain the process of how I did or is there a set of framework out there that explains what I just did?<issue_comment>username_1: In general you do not have to disclose the exact order or reason for data collection. Most papers are ‘narratives’ written with the available totality of data at this point. Constructs such as ‘because we found xyz we then tested if abc...’ don’t necessarily describe the actual order of events.
The only times where this is truly relevant is when you run statistical tests. For example, if you collected data from the first group and analysis made you collect a larger dataset that now jointly gets analyzed, this has to be stated and included in the statistical analysis.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: As @MarioNiepel says, it's not necessary. But it might be interesting for your readers to see a little bit of the the serendipity that sometimes goes into research. It helps to know that the formal structure of a manuscript does not reflect the process that led to a successful conclusion.
Upvotes: 1
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2021/01/02
| 326
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a master's student applying to PhD programs this round, and a few schools will be bringing in new professors in my field of interest starting from 2021. When I sent in my applications and checked off faculty of interest, I chose "Other" and wrote their names down.
I'm just curious if these professors have any say in the admissions process? Does the school grant access to the information for those professors even if they're not yet officially affiliated with the institution?<issue_comment>username_1: In general you do not have to disclose the exact order or reason for data collection. Most papers are ‘narratives’ written with the available totality of data at this point. Constructs such as ‘because we found xyz we then tested if abc...’ don’t necessarily describe the actual order of events.
The only times where this is truly relevant is when you run statistical tests. For example, if you collected data from the first group and analysis made you collect a larger dataset that now jointly gets analyzed, this has to be stated and included in the statistical analysis.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: As @MarioNiepel says, it's not necessary. But it might be interesting for your readers to see a little bit of the the serendipity that sometimes goes into research. It helps to know that the formal structure of a manuscript does not reflect the process that led to a successful conclusion.
Upvotes: 1
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2021/01/02
| 784
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<issue_start>username_0: I am in the fourth year of a part-time PhD. Lately I have found it very difficult to stay focused. I was really motivated at the start of this academic year, but my supervisor wanted me to do things in a slightly different way to how I was doing them: I wanted to collect field data from all over my territory sporadically - this would have made things fresh and interesting and I would have weaved things together at the end - whereas they wanted me to focus on one thing over a period of time.
Since I had this discussion with my supervisor things have fallen really flat. I have no motivation, I'm continually procrastinating and I keep making excuses at tutorials (a lot of which are true, but they haven't affected things quite to the extent that I have made out).
Should I be honest with my supervisor and tell them the way they suggested I do things doesn't work for me? Or should I just force myself to continue in the way they suggested? I often think that if I did things 'my way' I would have more success in collecting field data but if I do things 'their way' I just end up more bored. This is not to say my supervisor hasn't made good suggestions - she has in many cases - but this is not one that makes me more productive.
I am not thinking of quitting, but something in the methodology has to change.<issue_comment>username_1: I would think that framing it as "being bored" isn't going to be helpful, even if it is true. But you can certainly have a new conversation, suggesting that you think you would make more progress with a different strategy.
And burn-out is pretty common at your stage of things, so maybe it is that. I don't know whether telling the PI that you are starting to feel burned out and need something to refresh you would be helpful or not, but likely better than "bored". But it is a question of knowing the supervisor well enough to judge their likely reaction.
And be sure to telegraph that you aren't at the point of quitting.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I think your plan of a goon should include the goal you would like to accomplish. As a fourth year PhD I would guess you are reasonably close to graduating. What are your plans for after graduation? How will the current research impact those plans? Is it worth trying to accelerate the path to graduation or is it better to work on a methodology/project that sets you up for your next steps?
I think answers to those questions should drive your decisions. Of course though to echo others: Sating you are bored is very unlikely to accomplish anything useful.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: The answer to this is 2 parts. Part 1: If the suggestion from your Professor was to ensure a solid study design for the research project. I would chalk this up to the tedium of research. I often mention to potential students that the PhD teaches you the tedium of research. Research isn't always interesting all the time. Sometimes to get the work done you have to some repetitive and uninteresting tasks. Part 2: If the quality of the study design isn't affected and you'd prefer to do it another way that is just more interesting to you. I think it is fine to bring up to your advisor that this other way "excites" you more. And ask if there is a way you can do that instead or in the very least incorporate it into the project.
Upvotes: 2
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2021/01/02
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<issue_start>username_0: I see a few questions about open peer review (OPR), as more publishers move towards open access and open review.
As an early career scientist I wondering if publishing my name as a reviewer is a risky business as I am usually very thorough in my reviews but also try to be as fair and friendly as possible.
So I know that being a reviewer doesn't really count that much, it seems that publishing my name has potentially more pitfalls than advantages. I don't like to make "enemies 'among my peers as I respect their work, so I am afraid that **my comments might be taken the wrong way and create potential conflicts. This for me would be the only reason not to participate in OPR.** In my field people are mostly open and friendly, but of course there is competition.
The only possible advantage I see is that when I am being reviewed I might receive a more fair treatment similarly to the one I have given, but this seems less likely as the pool of potential reviewers is large.
Are there more advantages or disadvantages when participating in OPR?<issue_comment>username_1: My opinion:
I don't see your reasons either for and against as compelling. I suspect it's neither risky nor significantly advantageous.
You should take this on if you think it a good way to contribute to progress in your discipline. You might learn something too.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: One advantage that you haven't mentioned is visibility/networking/reputation; by providing a thoughtful, thorough open review, you will make yourself known (favourably) to the authors — and to anyone who reads your review, in cases such as [Wellcome Open Reviews](https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/) where the reviews are published alongside the paper.
OPR might also incentivize you to work harder to frame your reviews as constructively as possible, knowing that your name will be publicly associated with them (although this might not matter much given that you say you are already a fair & friendly reviewer).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: In the majority of cases, the net outcome for you is probably positive, assuming that your reviews are indeed fair, and most people have the necessary judgment to recognize that.
The tricky part is the minority of cases in which you might have to write a fair but negative review, and (some of) the authors have a personality that cannot deal with criticism. This definitely applies to a certain percentage of people. The ugly part is that such authors might have a tendency towards retaliation behavior, and dealing with that you might want to avoid, at least until you have tenure.
In the best case, the reviewing system allows you to reveal your identity in the case of good news, and conceal it in the case of bad news for the authors.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Best case scenario: influential members of your research community see your review, and conclude (1) you are a good community citizen and do your fair share of paper reviewing; (2) you are a conscientious and thoughtful reviewer. These impressions result in a small positive boost to your overall reputation.
Worst case scenario: an influential author of the paper reads your review and takes the criticism poorly. They engage in a campaign of retaliation, attacking you whenever the opportunity arises (hiring decisions, tenure, grant and papers reviews) and spread negative gossip about you to other senior researchers.
I think the cost-benefit calculus is clear. Note that I do think there are good reasons to favor open reviewing and that there are many opportunities to improve the peer review process in general, but I would save experimentation in these directions for after you have tenure (or are otherwise confident and secure in your position in your community).
Upvotes: 2
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2021/01/02
| 1,180
| 5,074
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<issue_start>username_0: I was given a paper to peer review. A result of that paper has been obtained with some extrapolation trick and so they present it as highly plausible conjecture.
It turns out that me and another collaborator computed the exact same thing (for other reasons) in a work that is still unpublished and we used a method that is rigorous. Our results match so in principle I could prove their conjecture.
Now there are a few things I could do, and I'd like some opinions from you:
1. Don't say anything. When our paper comes out I will cite them and say that we prove their conjecture. This is ok, but it itches me a bit to recommend the publication of a result claimed as merely a conjecture when I know it to be true.
2. Say in the report "hey, by the way, you could prove your result by doing this. Please do it." However it is a hard computation to set up and I would just make them waste time. Also, I would need to ask my collaborator's permission on this.
3. Say in the report "hey, by the way, I have unpublished work that proves your conjecture, so great news." But I don't know what that would accomplish.
I'm obviously leaning towards 1. but maybe some of you have even better ideas.<issue_comment>username_1: Go for option 1, but in addition (when sending the report) tell the editor that you have a proof of the conjecture in an upcoming work of yours. (Or inform the editor immediately, if you will still take some time to prepare the report, in case you want to avoid the impression you only started working on this once you received the paper.)
Of course, if you feel comfortable revealing your identity you can also email the authors once you have finished the review. (However, note that this might be problematic if you get the paper again in a second round of refereeing since then you are no longer anonymous, which might bias the way in which you write the report.) And if you feel uncomfortable with the situation, withdraw from the refereeing.
Finally, if in doubt, you can always check with the editor. It's their job.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I was once in a very similar situation, proving a conjecture from a paper that I was refereeing. (But, unlike you, I hadn't worked on it before, and I didn't have a coauthor.) I essentially left the situation up to the editor. I sent her my proof along with my report on the paper. With my permission, she shared this information with the authors. It turned out that, in the meantime, someone else had also proved the conjecture, by a quite different method. He and I ended up publishing a joint paper that combined and extended both of our methods.
One warning, based on this experience: Don't get so excited about this that you overlook an error elsewhere in the paper you're refereeing.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: In the best of all possible scientific worlds I think the proper outcome might be a joint paper. That would make it easier for people to find out the latest news on the topic in a single place.
Whether that's appropriate or possible in this instance requires much more information about the technical details and the people involved than you can provide here.
I agree with the consensus from other comments and answers that you begin figuring out what to do by contacting the editor.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Honestly, I do not see a problem here. My advice is to focus on your duties as a referee, *i.e.* check if the manuscript deals with the hypotheses appropriately, if the methods are suited for their purpose etc. If the authors properly build upon the currently publicly available knowledge, you have no reason to critisize this aspect of the paper. As you describe it, the authors obtained a correct result and used it in their reasoning. They may have used another method than you, but that is totally okay. So primarily judge the manuscript in itself without thinking too much about your own, unpublished work. This way, you also reduce the conflict of interest issue.
Conflicts of interest to some degree are inherent to the peer review process. You have to be an expert in the field to assess the work, so it is not unlikely that you have some own more or less related work. This in itself is nothing to worry about. If you feel unsure whether in your case the overlap is too big and you cannot guarantee that you assess the manuscript on a neutral basis, explain to the editor and let her/him decide.
About contacting the authors (via the editor!) and a possible cooperation: Ask yourself what you want. In my opinion, you are not obliged to do anything into this direction (although you could, as pointed out in the other answers). As a referee, you should remain as neutral in the process as sensible. Just imagine what would be the situation if somebody else had got the manuscript for review. You would then build upon the work in question in your own future paper, like you obviously should. That you got the manuscript for review should not necessarily make any difference.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]
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