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<issue_start>username_0: My preprint is on a topic that is based on high-school math and yet contains a fundamental discovery, but it is getting desk rejected from journal to journal because it does not fit the mould of articles that they usually recieve - mine is just 2 pages of which 50% is figures because I rely on a geometric proof.
P.S. I have tried Nature, Linear Algebra and its Applications, Applied Mathematical Letters, and Information Sciences so far.<issue_comment>username_1: If your main concern is the shortness of the article, there are journals accepting also quite short papers, as Comptes Rendus Mathématiques or PAMS (Proceedings of the American Mathematical society), but they are quite selective, and what in your opinion is "a fundamental discovery" could be considered something obvious/unimportant/wrong by the mathematical community.
I have to be honest and say that, based on what you say, this seems most likely. However, it could well be that you found something relevant. There are a bunch of such cases in the history of math. So the right thing to do is to let your paper acquire visibility, while making it clear that it is your original work.
Luckily enough, there are resources for that. For instance, did you put your article on ArXiv or something like that?
This can let it have some visibility and, perhaps more importantly, can bring you some feedback.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I think you have to find a professional mathematician to take a quick look at your work. The busy editor of a prestigious journal won't do that for you. I suggest you start with a teacher (if you're in high school) or a professor (if you're in college).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Without examining the premise of this question, here are a few reputable journal that welcome very short notes (some already mentioned in other answers):
* The ***[Comptes Rendus - Mathématique](https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/mathematique/)*** are a peer-reviewed, open-access diamond electronic journal that publishes original research articles, journal articles, and texts reflecting the activity of the Academy des sciences in the field of mathematics. They publish short articles, announcements of significant new results, but also updates, conference proceedings and thematic issues.
* The **[Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society](https://www.lms.ac.uk/publications/blms)** has been publishing leading research in a broad range of mathematical subject areas since 1969. Research articles accepted by the *Bulletin* are of high quality and well-written, with a maximum length of 20 pages. The *Bulletin* also publishes authoritative survey articles (of any length) and [obituaries](https://www.lms.ac.uk/publications/obituaries) of distinguished mathematicians. The *Bulletin* welcomes short papers on subjects of general interest that represent a significant advance in mathematical knowledge, as well as submissions that are deemed to stimulate new interest and research activity.
* **[Bulletin of the Australian Mathematical Society](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bulletin-of-the-australian-mathematical-society)** aims at quick publication of original research in all branches of mathematics. Papers are accepted only after peer review but editorial decisions on acceptance or otherwise are taken quickly, normally within a month of receipt of the paper. The *Bulletin* concentrates on presenting new and interesting results in a clear and attractive way.
* **[Proceddings of the American Mathematical Society](https://www.ams.org/publications/journals/journalsframework/aboutproc)** This journal is devoted to shorter research articles **(not to exceed 15 printed pages)** in all areas of pure and applied mathematics. To be published in the Proceedings, a paper must be correct, new, and significant. Further, it must be well written and of interest to a substantial number of mathematicians. Piecemeal results, such as an inconclusive step toward an unproved major theorem or a minor variation on a known result, are in general not acceptable for publication. Longer papers may be submitted to the Transactions of the American Mathematical Society. Published pages are the same size as those generated in the style files provided for AMS-LaTeX.
* **[Archiv der Mathematik (AdM)](https://www.springer.com/journal/13/)** publishes short high quality research papers in every area of mathematics which are addressed to a broad readership and not overly technical in nature. Articles should **typically not exceed 10 pages**.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: There are great math journals that regularly publish short papers. The American Mathematical Monthly is one such.
However, you’re asking the wrong question, which is based on the premise that good journals will refuse to publish a paper containing a “fundamental discovery” because its editors are not “champions of publishing short mathematical discoveries” or because your particular paper does not “fit the mould of articles they usually receive”. **This premise is completely false.**
Before you go any further with trying to publish your paper, it is crucial that you ascertain that it indeed “contains a fundamental discovery”. Otherwise you are just wasting your own time and credibility. You must obtain *objective* evidence that there are other active math researchers out there who share your view about the paper’s importance. Find some mathematicians willing to look at your paper and get their opinions. Then, and only then, consider your next steps.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently teaching an **elective** course
for undergraduate students in the College of Business,
at a university located in Hong Kong.
Students who choose to take the course
can use the course as one of the elective courses
to fulfill their graduation requirements,
but there are many other elective courses which they can select instead.
A few weeks before the end of the semester,
a student in the course, let's call them *Tardy*,
asked if they could drop my course:
>
> I was hoping you would allow me to late drop this class... I know it's very late into the semester but I have taken too many courses this semester and it is quite overwhelming for me alongside certain other things I am dealing with. I have been trying to get better but my mental health is still taking a toll on my ability to work. I am stressed out about my workload and my grandmother passed away so that has been hard to deal with.
>
>
>
(In my university,
students are allowed to add and drop courses freely in the first 2 weeks.
If students wish to drop the course after that point,
it is possible but the process is administratively more complex:
"requests for late drop of courses will only be approved under exceptional circumstances, and such late requests must be submitted via email no later than the end of the teaching period for the relevant semester/term for approval by the Head of the course-offering academic unit.")
I told *Tardy* that I would support their application to drop the course.
At that point,
they then stopped attending classes and submitting course assignments.
Unfortunately, *Tardy* tarried on the task of going through the process of dropping the course,
and it seems that they missed the deadline to drop the course!
At that point, they realized that they had missed multiple course assignments,
and this would have a significant effect on their course grade.
In fact, since I have to give them a score of zero for those missed assignments,
they have definitely failed for the course.
Realizing this, they sent me an email begging me to give them a chance
to complete extra credit assignments to make up for the missed assignments.
**Questions:**
* Should I give an extra credit assignment to a student who missed multiple course assignments,
due to their fault in not dropping the course on time?
* As a teacher, is it within my discretion to do this?
* Is it a good idea for me to give them a chance to make up for them mistake?
Or perhaps it is a good chance for them to learn a painful (but ultimately not that serious) lesson?
*Clarification: What happens if the student fails the course*
The student will receive a D or F grade,
which will negatively affect their GPA.
If the course is offered in the future,
the student could retake the course,
which will overwrite the previous failing grade.
Since the course is an *elective* and not a *required* course for graduation,
and the student is not in their final year,
failing the course should not delay the student's graduation plans.
*Clarification: What is the difference
between dropping a course and failing a course?*
* If a student drops a course late, it shows up as an X on their transcript,
which indicates a late drop,
but does not affect their GPA.
* Whereas if a student fails a course, the student gets a D or F on the transcript,
which will negatively affect their GPA
as the GPA is a a weighted average of all of their course grades.<issue_comment>username_1: I suggest that you go along and give her the extra work. The "painful lesson", unfortunately, could have lasting consequences on her future that she might be unable to compensate for if not now.
The important thing is that she learn enough to pass the course and be able to demonstrate it to you adequately. Taking a different path than the one you set out is within your power to permit. I suggest you do that.
My teaching philosophy, not universal I realize, is that my job is to teach students and enable success, not to "grade" them.
You can, of course, make the assignment difficult enough that it will be a challenge, though not an impossible one.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Should I give an extra credit assignment to a student who missed multiple course assignments, due to her fault in not dropping the course on time?
>
>
>
It seems like this could be seen as unfair to other students who did not miss their assignments. Any make up assignment should keep in mind the goals of the course (does the assignment show that the student has met the learning goals of the course, or encourage them to learn the assigned material?).
>
> As a teacher, is it within my discretion to do this?
>
>
>
This depends on any specific policies at your university. Instructors can have a lot of leeway in how they decide to assess their students, though some places standardize things a lot more and may even limit assessment to broadly administered exams at the end of semester. I am guessing if you were in this type of institution you would already be aware of that, though. Surely you can check with a mentor you have at your institution if you are unsure, but otherwise you really need to be aware of policies like this at your own institution if you are going to be teaching there.
>
> Is it a good idea for me to give her a chance to make up for her mistake? Or perhaps it is a good chance for her to learn a painful (but ultimately not that serious) lesson?
>
>
>
I don't think this is answerable objectively. It's possible the student is dealing with something that is taking up all their attention (mental/physical health; grief/loss, etc.), and there isn't need for any "lesson" but rather for care. Also, especially if this is an early course, the initial transition to the individual responsibilities of college life are often a struggle for students.
---
**Suggested approaches:**
1. At institutions I've attended/worked at, there have been policies in place for "incomplete" grades to be assigned at the end of a semester. An example is here: <https://onestop.umn.edu/academics/grading-policies> Resolving an incomplete grade is a matter of creating an individualized contract with a student to complete work after the course deadline to convert the grade into a standard grade. Presumably this work would be equivalent to the work the student would have done as a normal part of the course, not "extra credit" or a side assignment. If the contract is not upheld, the grade becomes a failing grade. I would recommend you check whether there is a similar policy at your institution (again, talking to a faculty mentor of yours would be a good idea). My expectation, though, is that such a policy is highly up to your discretion as an instructor. There is no imposed requirement on you to allow a student this avenue to revise their grade.
2. Alternatively, I would check whether it is possible in your institution's administration to override the missed drop deadline and retroactively register the course as a drop. Clearly the student had an intention to drop the course prior to the drop deadline, and stopped their involvement in the course at that time. The existence of a deadline like this is administratively imposed, so it can in theory be administratively ignored. It's possible, though, through stubbornness or strict adherence to policy this request will be denied. However, based on the language you've added on the drop policy, I would, in consultation with the student, write to the administration that this is an exceptional circumstance where a student facing substantial challenges outside their coursework a) intended to drop the course early and consulted with you about dropping, b) stopped attending and participating in the course after that point, c) will certainly fail the course if they are not permitted to drop due to the missed assignments, and that d) as the instructor you would ask that they approve a late drop given the circumstances. I would also discuss personally with the "head of the course-offering academic unit" and ask them directly that they approve this request (presumably this person is effectively your 'boss' for matters of teaching and I'd expect they are someone you are at least somewhat familiar with). Do this as soon as possible to not miss any further deadlines.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: A notable fact here is that the student already asked for and was given grace regarding their circumstances and desire to drop the class. After this the student made a secondary lapse in their opportunity to take advantage of the grace you extended. Now, the student requests not only grace but also special treatment including the creation of special assignments.
If you are feeling generous, the individual course extension (eg. Incomplete) is better than creating extra credit assignments. This way the student will simply have extra time to complete and be graded on the same material other students were given.
That being said, sometimes students fail courses. Often it is the result of such negligent behavior on the part of a student, but with improvement thereafter can be explained away if the student continues in academia. Students often over inflate the significance of their GPA, but that doesn't mean their professors have to do the same. You don't "owe" this student a passing grade.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Essentially the same as Bryan's answer, but I would perhaps emphasize a few points differently.
>
> Should I give an extra credit assignment to a student who missed multiple course assignments, due to her fault in not dropping the course on time?
>
>
>
As phrased, **absolutely not.** Three reasons:
1. It is patently unfair to create "extra credit" assignments based on the needs of one student and to make these assignments available to only one student. In most cases, giving lifeboats to students who miss your deadlines is unfair to those students who reluctantly cut corners to meet your deadlines (possible exception if you are well known for giving extensions to anyone who asks for it).
2. It is not a good use of your time to be essentially creating a second version of your class for an individual student.
3. Expecting a student to "cram" your class in half the time or less is not reasonable. This student already claims to be overloaded and suffering with mental health issues, so allowing or forcing them to do all this "extra credit" work will make things much worse. If you do grant this opportunity as the student requests, I seriously doubt the student will complete all the work on time -- my experience is that in most cases, they will either (a) start doing the extra work, give up, and then gracefully accept a poor grade, or (b) ask you for yet more leniency.
>
> Is it a good idea for me to give her a chance to make up for her mistake?
>
>
>
Yes, giving someone an F because they messed up the paperwork is a bit unfortunate. If it's within your power to find a different administrative solution (and it might not be), I would recommend trying to do so.
* See what your options are for a late drop. The policy you quoted says that these can be granted "until the end of the teaching period" -- is it really so late already? (If so, the "extra credit" solution seems even more far-fetched). In any case, late drop requests coming from instructors may be treated differently than those coming from students.
* Look into what happens when a student retakes a course. At some universities, the initial grade is completely gone, "like it never happened."
* Giving an incomplete grade may also be an option. Again, I would advise against creating a second version of the course just for this one student. But if you can give an incomplete grade now and let her "finish" the missing assignments the next time the course is offered, that would work well.
* You could also look into retroactively changing the grading option from letter grade to P/F or P/NC. Failing such a course may be "better" than failing a letter grade course; alternatively, in some institutions, you may be able to set a threshold for "P" that is lower than the threshold for a "C" (but in deciding whether this is fair, consider whether any of your other students might have switched to P/F if this option had been available to them).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: There are two reasons here that operate against the proposal for extra-credit work. The first problem is that it cuts against the basic problem the student has that she is overwhelmed and unable to handle her existing workload. The second problem is that it raises issues of fairness for other students. To justify the extra-credit assignments Tardy would need to get some formal "special consideration" in your course, which would require you to follow the usual rules for assessing special consideration. (To answer your other question: yes, as a university lecturer you have the authority to depart from the formal assessment structure; however, you need to follow the special-consideration policy at your university when you do this.)
I agree with your decision to support Tardy's application for late withdrawal from your course. The fact that she is overwhelmed by work is not an exceptional circumstance, but the loss of her grandmother is; bereavement is a valid "exceptional circumstance" in these cases in my view. Unfortunately this is one of those instances where there is a bit of a Catch-22 --- the administrative process for the withdrawal can actually be a barrier to the type of student who is suffering the exceptional circumstances that warrant the application. I would recommend that you contact the university administration to see if you can push through a late-late withdrawal after the administrative deadline, with minimal/no further input from Tardy. Let then know that Tardy was in the process of completing the application and see if they will withdraw her based on your authority. They might not let you do this, but it is worth a try. (There might be an option for "withdrawal with failure" if it is after the deadline.) If you're unable to have her withdrawn then she is probably going to fail and this is largely beyond your control; there might be some options for giving an "incomplete failure" in this case, without specifying a numerical grade. In this case you can look at the administrative lesson as a silver-lining in an unfortunate situation.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: As username_3 mentioned as a small part of their answer, if your institution allows it, assigning a grade of *Incomplete* is a really good option here. Don't give the student who didn't actually take the course an opportunity to pass it without meeting the same standards other students did, but instead give them time to actually take it. This is the option I would have given long ago when I was a TA with some of my own courses I had the power to do that in.
If the course if offered every semester, I would recommend they attend/audit it the next semester and participate, hand in homework, take exams, etc. at the same time the new round of students does. Otherwise it would be on them to do the whole thing as self-study and just hand in assignments. If there are closed-book/proctored exams and no opportunity to take them as the same time new students are doing so, they'll probably have to miss out on the opportunity to take those unless you're feeling really generous, but if you have time you'll be in your office anyway you could let them sit and take those in your presence while you do something else productive.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: What is the general practice for universities in USA in deciding if there any conflict between receiving 2 month salary funded by an NSF grant (the maximum) and teaching a Summer course (which produces additional salary)?
It is possible very short Summer course may be an exception. I’m mainly interested in longer Summer courses that will definitely overlap with the 2 month research that we generally have to claim 100% effort.<issue_comment>username_1: While I doubt that this is possible, the way to be certain is to ask at the grants/funding office at the university or the NSF program office.
Don't attempt it without notifying everyone involved of the entire situation.
The compressed schedule of a summer course implies significant attention be paid. The research (I assume) that the NSF is sponsoring likewise. It would be hard to do a decent job of both.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: In my observation, in the U.S., in math, at big state univs, your own research office and other admins would not allow this.
This does not entirely make sense, indeed, in the traditional context that academic salaries are "nine-month" salaries (though may be paid out in 12), and the NSF (traditionally, anyway) would pay at most two months' summer salary (so 2/9 of one's salary), leaving a month in which one was not officially being paid for any particular obligation.
However, it seems that both NSF and many univ admins do not allow anything further after that 9-months + 2-months.
... not to mention, as @username_1 commented, that the double-time summer school teaching takes a lot of energy...
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: US granting agencies operate salary splits on an "% effort" basis. See for example <https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/caar/time.jsp> which stipulates that your effort must:
>
> Reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensating across all grant-related and non-grant related activities (100% effort)
>
>
>
>
> Support the distribution of employee salary across multiple activities or cost objectives (for example, effort spent on multiple federal awards, spent on general/or administrative activities, vacation, sick leave, leave without pay, etc.)
>
>
>
...etc.
You can't be paid twice for the same time, the government doesn't recognize 'overtime' (the same is true for most salaried positions in the private sector), so while you could potentially work part time on a NSF (or other federal) grant and part time teaching, you can't have over 100% effort (post-game sports interviews notwithstanding).
I'm not as familiar with summer NSF grants as others are here, since my field is mostly NIH-funded and year-round, but my understanding that these are typically meant to fund someone full-time over the duration of the grant, so you would be expected to put 100% of your effort towards the work that grant funds during that time. You would not be able to teach while certifying that you've put 100% effort towards the grant paying your salary.
Ask your administration, though, if there is any way to manage things differently.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I have published two papers, say A and B. The core of A and B is totally different but they have a similar background.
The similarity of A and B is <1% using iThenticate.
However, I accidentally found that A and B share two sequential almost identical sentences in the introduction of background (totally 40 words). B also cites A but **in other place**. Is it self-plagiarism?<issue_comment>username_1: If one paper cites the other then it is almost certainly fine. Relax. Any reader finding B will also be able to find A making the complete context available.
Without a citation it would depend on what the sentences say. Plagiarism is about ideas and it would probably be hard to capture a complete idea in a couple of sentences in a way that resulted in plagiarism, but it is possible.
Let me emphasize that plagiarism is about the ideas, not the specific words to express them. It is possible to commit plagiarism, including self plagiarism, using none of the original words. For a scholarly paper, self plagiarism occurs when you include ideas that you have published previously without citation, giving the impression that they are new in this paper. It has the effect of cutting off a reader of the current paper from the complete context of the ideas and how they arose.
Also note that most people, when writing about similar things, are likely to use similar phrasing. We tend to fall into patters of language. I'll guess that is all that is happening here.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: This happens quite often, especially with more general, uncontroversial statements, where you simply run out of possible ways to say the same but with different words. I think a good way of looking at it is that if that sentence says something that someone else might possibly cite you for, then you should also cite yourself. But if it is something trivial, then it is not plagiarism, even if the sentences are almost completely alike. What is the real problem with self-plagiarism? It is not that you repeat yourself now and then. It is that you get double credit for the same work. If the two papers are on completely different topics, this will not happen.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a query to ask about a postdoctoral extension. I got the position for 1 year. During the interview, I was told that it can be extended. Now at the same time another person was also recruited (we are both from the same country, not the US). This other person got the postdoc position for 3 years. My PI has a few grants that are ending next year. So on what conditions can my position be extend? Because I do not think 1 year is enough to get a fruitful result in any postdoctoral project. And I feel like it was not a honest treatment towards me regarding postdoctoral contract. (As a 3 year contract was offered to the other person).<issue_comment>username_1: >
> what conditions my position can be extend??
>
>
>
This depends on your contract, there is no one-size-fits all answer. But the general rule of thumb is: it is up to your advisor.
>
> My PI have few grant that has been ending to next year.
>
>
>
Yes, if your PI's grants are expiring, they may not be able to afford you even if they wanted to. It's probably best to ask them: if you need to start a job search, it's better to know now rather than waiting until the last minute.
>
> because I do not think 1 year is enough to get a fruitful result in any postdoctoral project. And I feel like it was not a fair treatment towards me regarding postdoctoral contract.(As 3 yr contract offered to other person).
>
>
>
I would be careful how you formulate these concerns.
* You may be right that fruitful research takes more than one year, but it sounds very opportunistic to take a 1-year position, not get any good results, and then say "well, of course, such things take longer than a year...." In any case, the key point is that you should be able to provide some basis of confidence that fruitful results are imminent, and that you have spent your year well.
* It is not inherently unfair to hire two people with different terms. Moreover, you accepted the contract under these terms. Perhaps you could have gotten better terms a year ago if you had negotiated more, but maybe you made the right decision -- if you had tried to negotiate, you might not have been hired at all. In any case, trying to renegotiate a signed contract is fruitless; all you can do is think about what to do with your next contract.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I think that trying to "force" your PI into extending your contract with quasi-legal arguments is going to be unsuccessful. You weren't forced into your current situation.
Instead, you can ask them for an extension and explore with them the possibilities. If they have funds and are satisfied with your progress then you have a chance of success. Your reasons for wanting an extension are obvious. But you have to try to make a case that an extension is in everyone's interest, not just yourself.
But you should also be exploring other options and making applications elsewhere as necessary and possible.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: "Fair" is not of relevance here. Honesty may be.
If could be that your PI actually at that point did not have funding for more than one year and obtained the funding for the other person later. It could also be that there are circumstances of the financing which do not allow him to give you the permanent funding. It could be a different source, a different project and a different type. It could be that your PI plainly could not promise you - based on your field of research and previous experiences a longer position, but that they honestly hoped or found it plausible that your research develops into something where they can apply for more or another funding. It could be that there are agreements with the other postdoc in place which you don't know about.
We don't know any of this, and it's pointless to speculate. You need to talk to the PI at a suitable time about the future funding.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a student of linguistics who works on Marathi. A lot of literature on this topic is available in Marathi language which uses [the Devanagari script](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagari), but in the academic literature, I have seen many researchers transliterating the original title, author name in the Latin script (with English conventions) e.g.,
>
> Damle, Μ. K. 1970 Shastriya Marathi VyaakraN [A scientific grammar of Marathi]. K. S. Arjunwadkar. Pune, India: Deshmukh & Company.
>
>
>
for
>
> दामले, मो. के 1970 शास्त्रीय मराठी व्याकरण [A scientific grammar of Marathi]. कृ. श्री. अर्जुनवाडकर. Pune, India: Deshmukh & Company.
>
>
>
I personally don't like this practice. Here's why.
1. It's not about the pronunciation at all. If it really was, people would have got uncomfortable with Jean, a French name too as it should have been John as per the English conventions. I always used to mispronounce it as *jeen* from jeans without the s ([ʤiːn] in IPA). This clearly means that people are just not happy to see a script other than Latin in academic writing which I feel is very unjust in a multicultural and multilingual world.
2. If I am citing a work in a language other than English anyways the reader will have to read it in that language. If they don't know the language, they will probably need a translator for accessing the work. So anyways just transliterating the title is not going to help them in *any* ways.
3. If a reader knows that particular language, then it is even annoying for them because there is no "universal" transliteration scheme available. Different researchers follow different conventions without even giving the rules for parsing them. It obstructs the reading of the person who is actually able to read it without any aid and comprehend the language in which the source is written on the cost of the so called "comfort/convenience" of a person who is not able to (or probably going to) read the actual source.
Can we just start getting comfortable with scripts other than Latin in the bibliography?<issue_comment>username_1: Unless there is a compelling reason to the contrary, academic work is written based on *the language of the journal and its readers*. So for an academic journal that is written in English, we would not usually presume that the reader has knowledge of another language. In certain countries where the general population is bilingual there may be journals that accomodate two languages, allowing some wiggle-room. Similarly in cases where the subject of the journal is linguistics, or some similar field, you might find that the average reader is multilingual and in some cases it may be reasonable to assume knowledge of a secondary language. While this is possible in some contexts, it is relatively unusual, particularly in English-language journals.
Now, suppose we are dealing with an English-language journal where it is not reasonable to expect the reader to speak any secondary language. In this common case, while an English translation/ transliteration (hereafter just "translation" for brevity) is often imperfect, it will generally impart more information than the untranslated language to a reader who knows only English. For a reader who only knows English, the character string शास्त्रीय मराठी व्याकरण is essentially just gobbledegook, whereas its English translation (however imperfect) at least gives some understanding of the words in question.
You are correct to note that if you are citing a work that is only available in Devanagari then an English-speaking reader would need a translation anyway, in order to read the cited paper. While this is true, you are still giving that reader less information about the paper than if you translate the bibliographic information into English, even if this translation is imperfect. You are also correct that the translated version might be annoying to a person who speaks the language of the paper at issue. While that is also true, such readers may be quite rare (depending on the journal, the subject matter, country, etc.). Writers usually try to ensure an adequate read for the majority of their readers, rather than imposing a language barrier that caters to a small minority. If you have reason to believe that a substantial number of readers of this paper would speak Devanagari then you might make the decision to include both citations --- e.g., use the original citation in Devanagari but then add a translation below.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't agree.
1. French is completely different. If the article is in English, then all readers can more or less read and approximately pronounce the French words. If it is in a non Latin script, many of them can't. Nobody minds seeing non Latin scripts, but they do want to be able to read the information in some form, so transliterations or translations are necessary.
2. Transliterating the title gives readers an exact or approximate version of the title in the original language. You do need to tell readers the basic information about the publication, including the author and title, in a way that they can understand, as far as possible. They might not be able to read the publication itself, but they need to have some understanding of what it actually is, and be able to refer to or cite it themselves (citing things without reading them is not good practice, but sometimes it is necessary).
3. See answer to 2. For people who can read the original language and find transliterations annoying, you can include the information in the original language as well. And some languages do have almost universal transliteration schemes.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: The example of Jean and John is not the same as transcribing a name into another alpahbet, is is a translation of the name, and might therefore make the author harder to find. You would not write a German *Frank Müller* as *Frank Miller* but rather as *Frank Muller* following your reasoning.
Using non-latin characters makes a paper less accessible and thus less inclusive. Think of blind people using screen readers. While it might please a minority of readers able to read that script, it will be burdensome to most others.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: You’re right, it’s *not* about pronunciation at all. It’s about the reader being able to actually do things with the citation, such as remember or copy the name so that they can look it up later. I can’t type or write using devanagari (so my only option to copy your citation would be to copy and paste it), I can’t *remember* things written using devanagari (so even if I could type devanagari characters, I wouldn’t be able to copy down the citation later). In other words, even though I would need to find a translation of the paper to read it, I would have to take extra steps just to copy down the reference in many cases, which makes it even less likely I’ll actually benefit from it. Adding to this though, *recognition* is important. I can remember the transliterated name of the author well enough to be able to easily recognize other works in the citations by the same author, but the devanagari would require me double checking a couple of times to confirm that they are the same name.
Put differently, consider this from the perspective of scripts *you* cannot read. For example, who is <NAME>? Or Ἀριστοτέλης? Or محمد بن موسی خوارزمی? Or 孫子? Of those, I had to copy all of them but Ἀριστοτέλης (and that one I can type only coincidentally, I don’t actually speak or really read Greek, either ancient or modern). All are major names in their respective fields of study, but I’d be willing to bet you have to look up three out of the four just to see who they actually are. In contrast, listing the names as <NAME>, Aristotle, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, and Sun Tzu makes them readily recognizable (well, three out of four, not all of them are exactly household names in all parts of the world.).
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: If the paper is written in the Latin alphabet, then that is an indication that the reader will be comfortable with the Latin alphabet, but may not be able to read text in the Devanagari script. The purpose of giving a reference is to specify a source and allow the reader to locate it, so giving the reference in the Latin script makes it easily available for the whole audience. Giving the Devanagari reference would make it more difficult for part of the audience that could not parse that script. Note that automatic translation (e.g. Google translate means that a Devanagari text may be understood to some extent by readers unfamiliar with Marathi)
If the paper were written in Devanagari script, it would make more sense not to transliterate the title as doing so could only obfuscate the source rather than identifying it for the reader.
The key point is that the purpose of academic writing is to communicate information, which requires respect for the needs of *both* the author *and* the reader and this may require compromise. Sometimes there is no perfect solution to a problem, and I think this is an example.
Of course if the source has an ISBN or a DOI or a URL etc. that makes things much easier.
The other consideration is making the reference accessible for automatic indexing systems (it would be better if the indexing systems were able to perform that transliteration). Also academics get recognition by their field via citation of their work. If I see a reference to an work and I can associate that citation with the author then that has enhanced the authors visibility. If the reference is in Devanagari script then I will not make that immediate association, which is to the author's disadvantage.
FWIW I would have no objection to my name being transliterated using Devanagari script in a paper written in that script.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: The first consideration is always going to be the requirements of the journal you publish in. But given you're asking this question, I will assume the journal's style guide is silent on that point.
Reading the other answers, it occured to me that even when the reference is in English, it's often true that neither the author names, not the title is very helpful in finding the reference. If I'm looking for a paper called "Search for the Decay K+→π+νν¯¯¯" by "<NAME>.", I'd really prefer to have an arxiv ID or DOI. There are too many "J.Smith" authors, and the title contains lots of characters that will be rendered variably by different software. Even pasting it in here is enough to mess it up (I know I could write it in LaTeX, but I'm making a point about variable rendering).
I think the provided 3 conditions are satisfied, the reference is fine without transliteration.
1. The original wasn't transliterated. If the original paper/book (or it's author list) was transliterated, then you will make it harder even for a reader fluent in both languages if you refuse to follow suite. So in that case, the same transliteration as the original would be required. This would be unchanged even if different references used different transliteration schemes.
2. The inline reference contains only characters native/comprehensible in the the language of the paper. For example in physics an inline reference is a number in square brackets, the third reference would be [3]. This matters becuase if the reader struggles to parse the inline reference, they will struggle to find the full reference in the reference section. This also allows the reader to make a verbal statement about the reference when discussing the paper without needing both languages. People often read papers in groups, so that's important.
3. Your reference section must contain a DOI, URL or other widely recognised unique ID for every reference. This is by far the easiest way to find a referenced publication even if you can read the whole long reference. Author name and year is tedious, most authors publish many things in one year. Sometimes a title and author name is ok, but in your case the title likely contains characters that were written with LaTeX macros (or just are not ascii), and so are ommited, or rendered variably in many databases. This is a problem with maths in paper titles too. So even without another language involved, a DOI or url is normally the fastest way to get the right reference. These things are language agnostic, so you sidestep the question of transliteration.
If someone retrieves a reference and is really confused as to its relevance, then they can (with a little difficulty) make a visual comparison of the title you gave and the reference title. Sometimes we mess up when copying a URL, so that check can be needed. But it's unusual, so I wouldn't see that as too onerous.
Edit; @DikranMarsupial raises the point in the comments that an authors name after transliteration is more memorable to those who only know Latin scripts. As such, transliteration may increase the reputation of the author, and in turn improve understanding of the academic strength of their culture. The drawback being that some people don't want their name transliterated. At least for living authors, we should probably follow their example (as in point 1.). For dead authors, it's difficult to guess what they would opt for if they knew the culture of today, and I'm not sure there is a right answer to this dilemma.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_7: Being "fair" is not at issue. Being accessible to the audience of that publication is the issue.
As a professional technical writer and editor, my advice is: Do not make your writing needlessly complicated for the expected readers. If you make it less accessible for the readers, they will be less likely to read your publications. If they don't read them, they won't cite them, and your academic career will languish.
If I am reading a journal where the masthead is in Spanish and the publications are in Spanish, I expect the bibliographies to be in Spanish or at least in Latin alphabet. If I'm reading a journal in Korean, I expect Korean with bits of Latin alphabet.
In some journals I have seen the equivalent of this when the source was not in the journal's main language, sometimes with a link to an online version of the source or the publisher's listing:
>
> Damle, Μ. K. 1970 A scientific grammar of Marathi. K. S. Arjunwadkar.
> Pune, India: Deshmukh & Company. *(source in Marathi)*
>
>
>
That is convenient because it lets me know what language I will encounter if/when I take the link. Although I don't read Marathi, I might decide to scavenge that work's bibliography to trace back an idea to its origin. I can search for a translation of the work and for others who have cited it (what did X say about it, versus Y?) i.n a language I can read.
With this form, on the other hand, even if I search for "a scientific grammar of Marathi" the first three pages of Google results have a whole lot of things about Marathi and Marathi Grammar, but no links to this book. I'm having a hard time finding your source.
>
> दामले, मो. के 1970 शास्त्रीय मराठी व्याकरण [A scientific grammar of
> Marathi]. कृ. श्री. अर्जुनवाडकर. Pune, India: Deshmukh & Company.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: You should give bibliographic information in a way that makes it easy to find in standard search engines. In math at least this means including a transliteration with Roman lettering. If you look up say papers written in Russian in zbMath or mathscinet they will have Roman transliterations that allow you to find all the other papers by the same author.
This has literally nothing to do with pronunciation, and in fact if the standard transliteration used by librarians is “wrong” from a pronunciation viewpoint you should use the standard one and not correct it.
People need to be able to easily locate the author and the author’s other works.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: Fundamentally the most important consideration is the journal's rules/expectations on citations and referencing.
If there is vaguity, the best approach would be to focus on providing transliterated options as Latin script is the most prominent script-form in academia and makes it easier to search for the citation. Whilst the consideration of respect and not making a butchering of someone's name in a transliteration is well and good, having just the non-Latin script name and title can make the reader's life hard if your paper is not in Marathi language and Devanagari script (i.e. the target audience is English speaking or another Latin script language).
For example, the source I am referencing is in a hypothetical language that uses Wingdings to show you how it feels to an audience that cannot read something that isn't transliterated into a script they understand:
```
☠︎♓︎❒︎♋︎■︎♋︎■︎ (2022)︎ ❄︎♓︎⧫︎●︎♏︎ □︎♐︎ ♋︎♍︎♋︎♎︎♏︎❍︎♓︎♍︎ ◻︎♋︎◻︎♏︎❒︎
```
See how that means nothing to you and how it would complicate the reader's ability to figure out what article in your bibliography you're referring to?
Whereas a transliteration into the target audience's script (e.g. Latin) makes it easier to understand what you are referring to:
```
Niranjan (2022). Title of academic paper
```
If you so wish (and the journal allows double listings in this situation), you could list the transliteration of articles as the primary way of mentioning it and then provide both the transliteration and also the original-language script version of it underneath in the bibliography:
```
Niranjan (2022). Title of academic paper
[☠︎♓︎❒︎♋︎■︎♋︎■︎ (2022)︎ ❄︎♓︎⧫︎●︎♏︎ □︎♐︎ ♋︎♍︎♋︎♎︎♏︎❍︎♓︎♍︎ ◻︎♋︎◻︎♏︎❒︎]
```
Hope this helps!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: Having just looked through a few East Asia-themed books at home, the norm indeed seems to be that the author's name is transliterated and then the title of the work is also transliterated. Sometimes, there is a *translation* of the title after the transliteration. I could have sworn I have seen works where the titles of sources were given in the original script, but that must have been in a library or so. I have found one Russian book that has cyrillic transliterations for Chinese and Japanese titles and no transliterations for titles in Latin letters.
Being somewhat able to read a few languages with non-latin characters, I tend to agree that transliterations of article titles are often of very questionable value. If you do not speak the language, they do not give a lot of information anyway. And if you speak the language somewhat, they make mapping the citation to the actual title of the work harder (similar to your point 3). I believe this is not so much of a problem in cyrillic scripts but it quite definitely is for Chinese.
On the other hand I feel quite strongly about transliterating the names of the authors (so readers can recognize them, as pointed out in other answers) and I am a big fan of translating the titles of such works.
Upvotes: 3
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2022/04/23
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<issue_start>username_0: A few days ago I received an email from the journal Computational and Applied Mathematics
>
> Please be informed you have been registered by our editorial team as a user on the Editorial Manager site for Computational and Applied Mathematics. Information about Computational and Applied Mathematics can be found on the journal website, or by selecting Journal Overview from the top navigation bar at <https://www.editorialmanager.com/coam/>.
>
>
> Editorial Manager is the manuscript submission and peer-review tracking system through which individuals are invited to review, to write articles for the journal, or to process submissions.
>
>
>
And this was followed by another email where they requested me to review a paper of someone I personally know!
Now, I've a PhD in math but I've been outside academia for a while now (but actively trying to get back to mainstream research, while having a teaching position at an engineering college), so I've nothing against reviewing the paper - indeed it falls within my area of expertise. But I still found the whole thing a bit strange - I mean my registration in the editorial team without any prior discussion and then requesting me to review a paper. Also the work email they sent it to has never really been used much, so I wonder how they accessed that in the first place. It certainly doesn't look scammy, the paper is legit, and it came from this email: <EMAIL>, which also seems legit.
Any thoughts on this? Once again, I'd be happy to review the paper, but the whole thing just strikes me as strange.<issue_comment>username_1: You (almost certainly) haven't been added as a member of the editorial team. You have simply been added to their database as a potential reviewer - an email like this is sent automatically when this happens. "Editorial Manager" is the name of the software product used by the journal.
An editor has decided that you would be a good reviewer for a paper (possibly on the recommendation of someone else). They have found you are not registered in the journal database, and so they have created a minimal record for you. Once this is done, they can link you to the paper as a potential reviewer and generate the invitation you have received.
So, nothing to worry about here - feel free to accept or reject the review invitation as you see fit.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: As far as I understand, you have not been registered as an editor:
>
> [...] you have been registered by our editorial team as a user on the Editorial Manager site [...]
>
>
>
They wanted to send a paper to you with a review request and had to have you as a "user" in their system to be able to do so. And following this user registration, they sent an automated e-mail to let you know. It would be worse if they did this secretly, would it not?
It can be assumed that your contact data were provided by one of the authors of the paper. It is customary to suggest suitable reviewers to the editor during the submission process. If you do not want the journal to keep this information about you in their system, let them know and they probably will delete the record.
---
As I do not know the journal, I will leave it to you to assess if it is a reputable journal.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I want to echo what username_1 said but also emphasize that, in my experience in a different academic area, this is *very normal*. I would estimate I get an email like this one preceding a review request in 1/3 of review requests from journals I haven't reviewed for in the past (and sometimes I get them from journals I've reviewed for because they somehow fail to connect my identity to the existing account).
I suspect many of the decisionmakers are not expert in the software they are using and may not realize the way these messages appear to their prospective reviewers. On the other hand, they may just not care because many are habituated to such messages. You can find [examples](https://twitter.com/decustecu/status/1501568508429103105) [[2](https://twitter.com/EricMerkley/status/1460987426847997965)] of academics joking about this very thing: the ambiguous account creation email that precedes a quasi-obligation. (Of course, not everyone feels negatively about reviewing...it probably depends on how often you are asked to do it.)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Nobody seems to point to the automation logic behind this procedure.
Suppose that you were not registered as a potential reviewer in the system. The editor sends you an invitation to review. Say you accept. Then the editor, assuming that they keep good track of their e-mail correspondence, should go into the system and insert manually the fact that you are now a reviewer for the specific paper. Then they should send you some password to gain access to the submission. Etc
By registering you in their database, they can then send you an e-mail with an acceptance link, which if you hit, you are automatically linked to the paper and have access to the submission.
There is a net gain (reduction) in time spent, mistakes made, correspondence overlooked.
In the future, if another editor searches for you for some other paper, they will find you in the database, along side a track record of you, which is again automatically created: yours truly has been sent 10 invitations and refused all of them. Or yours truly B has accepted all 3 invitations and submitted the review on time. And so forth.
Upvotes: 1
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2022/04/23
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm planning to publish my first paper, and while choosing a journal, I noticed that the journals can be open access or not.
As far as I understand it, open-access journals can be read for free (i.e. without paying subscription fees) by anyone.
Does it imply that I can be published in such a journal for free? Can free-for-authors journals be non-open access?<issue_comment>username_1: Most journals require some fees for authors. For most open access journals the fees can be quite high. Journals have expenses and the author generally shares those. But open access journals don't give the publisher a revenue stream after publication, though the expenses may not be reduced. Thus more of the burden falls on the author.
Some open access publishers have an alternate revenue stream (sponsors, advertising,...) so that authors don't need to "contribute" to the cost of publishing and maintaining web sites and such.
But, in reality, most established academics, realizing this, will find a way so that the charges don't fall on them personally. Including publication charges in a grant is typical. Some universities will absorb fees for faculty, perhaps.
I don't know how receptive open access publishers are to claims of poverty, but ordinary publishers will often forgive page charges in an author indicates they would need to pay them personally.
But, each publication has its own rules. In fact, for some publications sponsored by professional organizations, the general membership fees partly cover some of the expenses.
But, in general, expect some fees for publication - especially in open access publications. As a student, you could ask your university to cover fees. If they refuse, then ask the journal to forgive the fees. If you worked with a professor or in an established research group, they may have funds to cover publication expenses.
Forgiveness of fees is more likely to be successful for non-open-access, I'd guess.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The usual pattern is that authors pay for open access publication. The money comes from their institution's funds. If it's not open access, you should not be paying.
["Green" and "Diamond"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access) open access are usually free. "Green" open access does not provide ready access to the article. "Diamond" is rarely available, in my experience.
Upvotes: -1
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2022/04/23
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<issue_start>username_0: I have marked several writing assignments for this course and the grade grubbing from this cohort was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced as a TA.
The primary instructor and I were given a heads up from the previous semesters instructors and therefore we established some ground rules between us.
1. students wishing to discuss grades were to email me since I do all the marking.
2. I would review the requests for regrading and unless an egregious error occurred I wouldn’t change the grade.
3. all requests beyond that are to go to the faculty for a formal remark and that grade is final.
On the third and final paper. A student emailed the primary prof and not me to complain about their grade. They argued every other grade unsuccessfully this semester. The primary prof. Cc: me and asked the student to reach out to me which they never did. Today as I was finalizing. I noted that the grade had been changed by primary prof and added 10% even though their policy was no grade change and by the rubric they had earned their other grade.
I feel really undermined especially since the agreement between us was to talk to me. It only makes it worse that this student was atrocious to me in office hours and didn’t even want help improving their papers. Just to yell at me for their grade.
I’m not really sure how to talk to the prof about this when these were their own rules she broke.
Update: spoke with prof. Turns out the student responded to just them after that cc. And that I told them to “speak with prof” — all of which did not happen. So the student lied and grade grubbed the primary prof.
The grades have now been submitted and the primary prof has decided it’s not a fight they want to take up about the lying.<issue_comment>username_1: I suggest that you ignore the issue and move on. The professor is the authority figure here. There may be reasons, even stupid ones, that the professor has.
But, once the decision is made, rightly or not, changing it will cause problems that will reflect badly on you.
Not everything is right in academia, but this seems not to be the hill to die on. Stuff happens. Sit back and have a culturally appropriate beverage.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: I concur with @username_1 .
Your post suggests that this occurred just once, for one student on the last assignment, and that there were many times when it might have but didn't. That suggests that on the whole the division of labor worked pretty well in a situation you both knew in advance might often be difficult.
If you are on general good terms with her you might ask when you next see her why she changed this grade. Don't be accusatory nor suggest that you feel "undermined". Just curious. Be sure to indicate that there might well be private reasons you're not entitled to know.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I recommend you just resolve not to work for this professor again. That is poor educational practice and it obviously incentivises "grade-grubbing", which is highly undesirable. If you particularly want to give feedback to this professor you should feel free to do so; just make sure it is calm, clear and constructive. After that, do TA work for other professors instead.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: Don't do anything till you have all the facts, which in this case means ask the professor why she changed the grade. Be diplomatic; it could be a mistake. You could also say it surprised you, since you were expecting to be cc'ed. After she tells you the reason, then you can decide what you want to do next.
If the professor stands her ground on changing the grade (should be reasonably obvious from her explanation), then it's not advisable to argue, since she's the ultimate authority responsible for the course. But you could decide not to work with her anymore.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: I mostly agree with @username_1, but would add:
>
> I would review the requests for regrading and unless an egregious
> error occurred I wouldn’t change the grade.
>
>
>
Personally I would fix non-egregious errors if they would justify *any* change in the grade/mark. The most important thing is that the student gets good feedback so that they can learn from their mistakes (and getting things right). However the next most important thing is getting the grading right, so if you didn't get it quite right the first time round, then fix it. Being professional means taking quality control seriously. It is unprofessional to think you don't make mistakes or being reluctant to admit or correct them.
>
> "Just to yell at me for their grade."
>
>
>
If that happens, report them to the member of faculty for inappropriate/unprofessional behaviour, and do it in writing (email). It is best for the TA that did the marking to deal with questions about the marks and feedback in the first instance, but they are not being paid to deal with unreasonable behaviour, so I make sure they know that I will step in when that happens.
If the lecturer changes their mark, then that is their responsibility not yours so it is their error if it was not correct. Ultimately they have final responsibility for all marks, so they do have a right to amend the mark if they think that is the correct thing to do.
Upvotes: 2
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2022/04/24
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<issue_start>username_0: So, basically the paper was written and submitted as student. But PhD is over, so not anymore a student. Is there any way to still attend it as a student. The fee for a regular is several times that of a student.<issue_comment>username_1: I do not see it as a problem. You were invited as a student, you can attend as such. If you are in serious doubt, ask the organizers.This situation should happen quite often: students submit their papers close to the end of their PhD.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You don't "attend it as a student" --- you just attend it because you were already invited and then you can give your audience an introduction where you update them on what you're doing now. As to the fee, you should seek clarification from the conference organisers. If you now have a professional academic position then it is likely the conference organisers will want to charge the full fee, and your university ought to be able to pay it for you. If not, you might be able to haggle over what fee you need to pay to go.
Upvotes: 0
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2022/04/24
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergraduate of Animal and Environmental Biology. I don't have much research experience, but I have taken some courses on research writing and have assisted some senior students in their research projects. I want to write a review paper, but I am not sure how far I can go. Is it really possible for me to write a good review without much research experience in the field?
I would also appreciate working with a senior author, an experienced person in the field of Entomology.<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Is it really possible for me to write a good review without much research experience in the field?
>
>
>
I would say "only in exceptional cases", a fundamental component of writing a review is evaluating the material, which isn't really feasible without experience.
I have noticed that quite often students reference review papers written by other students that have been published, and quite often they are not very good review papers (they miss papers than more experienced researchers may be aware of and the reviews are often uncritical). Unfortunately the students are not in a position to judge whether it is a *good* systematic review, which rather defeats the object of having a review. I think students write reviews because they and their supervisors want to get additional value from the work the student must do in learning their field, but in general reviews are best written by people who really know the field.
Perhaps the question is to ask how much the readers would gain from the review paper. How could you be sure it was relatively complete, fair and accurate in it's evaluation?
There are exceptions, I can think of some very good reviews written by students and early-career researchers, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
The problem is that experienced researchers probably have little to gain by writing review papers...
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I think if you were able to find an interested supervisor with sufficient experience in the field and with the review question you are interested in pursuing, then I think conducting specifically a systematic or systematized review can be both a valuable way to contribute your time and energy in answering a pressing question in your field as well as to gain a LOT more knowledge and understanding of the literature in your chosen topic.
Systematic (or to a lesser extent systematized) reviews are meant to be conducted in a scientifically rigorous way that removes some of the biases that might be associated with people who are highly opinionated about a particular topic as well review papers where the citations that get chosen are only reliant on that person's expertise and experience. Both traditional literature reviews and systematic reviews and meta-analyses have value, but as you are a newer reseracher who doesn't have the necessary expertise to be relied on to have an authoritative viewpoint on your topic nor the experience to know what literature to include, then by conducting a systematic review with sufficient and documented methodology, you can create the trust necessary to publish a review paper on a topic that people can respect.
I myself conducted a systematized review in a field that I was very new to and, because it fulfilled a great need in my field and had a sufficiently rigorous methodology that could be validated by others, then it has been well-received by even senior researchers in my field. Because I had to read so much of the literature on my chosen topic, I also gained a lot of knowledge and a publication in my chosen field, which I am now further backing up with other empirical and experimental research projects. The process of undergoing a systematized review has therefore been incredibly valuable to me personally while also helping my field progress in a meaningful way.
That being said, even a systematic review should not be taken on without consulting a whole host of people, including researchers familiar with your topic of interest, researchers with experience working on systematic reviews and the host of protocols they require, and with librarians with expertise in literature searches and databases. I imagine if you were to contact a senior researcher in your department, if you both have similar interests, then they could help guide you throughout the process and contribute the expertise and experience that you might be lacking.
I will warn you, however, as you are considering your options, that systematic reviews can take as much or even more time to do well than a lab experiment or field sampling or other research approach might take from the time of planning to publication, so I would also only recommend undertaking a review if you have certain limitations that prevent other methods of pursuing your particular question or if you feel fairly sure of your interest and motivation to accomplish the task (i.e., looking through hundreds or usually thousands of papers in the case of a systematic review).
This all comes from my own personal experience as an early-career researcher, and some of the other comments and answers you receive might disagree with me, but I hope that my point of view and my own experience with a very similar situation to yours can be helpful in contributing to your descision-making. I wish you all the best in whatever you ultimately decide to undertake!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: ### Go for it!
Trust and follow your interests, *especially* whenever it involves both reading and thinking.
>
> Can I write a systematic review as an undergraduate...
>
>
>
Sure! Yes! Go for it!
You should follow anything that inspires and interests you, and ignore [any comments to the contrary](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/184565/can-i-write-a-systematic-review-as-an-undergraduate-and-get-it-published-in-a-jo#comment496678_184565). Trust your judgement; there's no better way to learn about a field than to sample a wide variety of different authors' perspectives, techniques and results.
Most researcher groups can not avoid imparting at least a degree of tunnel vision since they are sort-of by definition mission-driven to publish their own unique results and perspectives.
I had an initially maddening experience with an [undergraduate independent project](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/49179/7982); it was for credit and approved, and I sought out the department expert on the subject. They gave me no helpful information and a single very old reference from 20 years earlier and told me to "muddle through".
At first I was taken aback, but as soon as I hit the journals I had the time of my life! This is back when "hitting the journals" meant carting a new 50 pounds of bound volumes to your desk in the library every hour or two, lots of little ripped pieces of paper marking pages to be photocopied or read, and pages of scribbled lists of what to go look for next.
It was incredibly educational! I saw the drama of reported discoveries, corrections, alternative interpretations, theories, new theories, unfold before my eyes in a way that is almost impossible to see any other way (except for a few cases that make it to TV etc.)
>
> ...and get it published in a journal?
>
>
>
Why not!?
Yes as other answers point out, the probability is low that you can just do it yourself for say a semester, then fire it off to a journal and get an acceptance notification the first time.
But if the *process* interests you, then even a rejection might be an interesting step!
And now that you have this large body of information, you might consider revisiting it again in a year or two, or "marketing" it to potential co-authors who may have excellent ideas how to improve and expand upon it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I think you are asking two slightly different questions (though you seem to think that they are the same thing):
* "Can I write a systematic review as an undergraduate and get it published in a journal?"
* "Is it really possible for me to write a good review without much research experience in the field?"
For the first question, yes, an undergraduate student can generally follow a systematic review method and then publish the results in a journal somewhere. This is because there are journals that accept all ranges of quality of work, ranging from v[ery stringent journals with less than 10% acceptance rate](https://www.nature.com/nature/for-authors/editorial-criteria-and-processes) to journals that publish almost anything submitted to them (as long as the authors pay the publication fee).
Your second question asks if you can actually produce a "good" review. Obviously, "good" is very subjective. A review that is "good" for student readers might not be "good" for highly experienced researchers, though it might be "good" for the majority of moderately experienced researchers who would like to learn more about the topic. I would suggest that the practical way to write a meaningfully "good" review is to identify a specific researcher whom you consider credibly expert on the topic and then ask them for a friendly review of your completed paper, and then recommend a journal whose selectiveness standards match the quality of the article. If this expert would be your supervisor or even coauthor for your writing of the paper, then that would greatly enhance the chance that it would be of higher quality.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: It is standard practice in my lab to start your PhD by writing a review on your subject. I was very critical about this at first, but it is an excellent way to boost, organize and integrate your literature search, gather material to populate your thesis later on, work on your writing skills, and deal with the editing process.
As others have pointed, the quality varies widely, and it would be better if actual experts would write reviews, but as they don't, a motivated PhD student is the best second choice, and they sometimes do a good job...
Upvotes: 0
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2022/04/24
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<issue_start>username_0: So the mistake is not a major bug, the contributions of the paper remain the same, but still, I feel it was a silly statistical error. Can I correct it, even if the reviewers missed catching it?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, you should if you can. Presumably the reviewers are not the last people who will be reading the text.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: While the [answer by username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/184573/135841) already tells you the right course of action, I think the following addendum is important:
The phrase "*even if the reviewers missed catching it*" indicates that you might have an inaccurate impression of the peer review process and should maybe change your perspective on it:
* As an important part of scientific quality ensurance, peer review serves several purposes. One purpose is to **decrease the probability** that a published paper contains errors. It is **not a guarantee** that a published paper does not contain any errors.
* It is **not** among the purposes of peer review to partially relieve the authors of their responsibility for the correctness of their results. If your readers find a mistake in your paper, they will blame you for it, not the reviewers.
Given these two points, it is clear that you should take all necessary measures to make your paper as correct as you possibly can, also if the reviewers overlooked a mistake.
**Important note.** If you make non-trivial changes after the completion of the peer review process, I strongly recommend to inform the handling editor of these changes - the editor then has the opportunity to approve (or, sometimes maybe, disapprove) the changes; and if they think that the changes are also in need of peer review, they then also have the opportunity to send the revised file to the reviewers once again. (EDIT: As pointed out by Danica in a comment, in some fields and for some publication venues this last paragraph does not apply.)
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: It is *your* responsibility to ensure that the text is correct.
It is not the responsibility of the reviewers. The reviewers only act as gatekeepers to offer an expert opinion and state that the paper looks to be correct and interesting. They will not check every detail (necessarily) and will likely not see small mistakes and errors.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: The Question isn't really clear but if, from another perspective, you're Asking whether the fact that there are reviewers absolves you of responsibility for accuracy then no; of course it never could.
When I worked in publishing everyone, at every level, knew that if anyone - specifically including the telephone sanitisers - questioned anything, the correct procedure was to amend the wording of that thing.
Of course right there and then, I could give the sanitiser an explanation, and so what?
What explanation could I give to 50-100,000 readers, after publication?
Upvotes: -1
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2022/04/24
| 328
| 1,194
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<issue_start>username_0: I want to cite from [this](https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-05328-7) book. It has explicitly marked different authors for the chapters, but there are no editors given on the front pages. Is this then regarded as a monography rather than a miscellany/anthology or do I use all authors as editors?<issue_comment>username_1: I would say something like
>
> <NAME>, *title of appropriate chapter* , in
> *Decoherence and the Appearance of a Classical World in Quantum Theory* , Springer, etc, Chapter zz pp. xx-yy.
>
>
>
in whatever format best matches the bibliography style of the journal.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: @username_1 gives the right answer, and the only thing that one should add is to remind you of the purpose of a citation: It isn't an elaborate exercise in testing whether you can follow a specific syntax (this is for all of you APA folks out there! :-) ), but it is a way to help your readers find related literature. If you provide the citation in a way that makes it easy for readers to find what you are pointing to, then you've succeeded, and the example by username_1 achieves this.
Upvotes: 1
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2022/04/24
| 582
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an international grad student in a middle-tier mathematics PhD program in the USA. I am still in my first year. Soon after joining the program I realized there is no active faculty who works close to my interest. Also I don't like the city, and one of the reasons is there is repeated incidents of crime nearby
Now I know it does not make a good impression to change PhD programs but I don't want to stay in this place for obvious safety reasons. So I want to apply to other PhD programs in the next cycle. I have good relationships with my professors and I don't want to make the impression that I am taking advantage of the program.
As I need recommendation from my current program to reapply, can anyone suggest what should I do in the meantime to make my profile stronger? Also should I tell my letter writers now that I intend to leave?<issue_comment>username_1: There is no need to agonise over the strategy to do this --- just be candid with your supervisors and seek a recommendation based on your existing work. If you are not enjoying yourself in the city, cannot find an appropriate faculty member to supervise your topic of interest, and are anxious over crime problems, these are perfectly good reasons to move to another program in another city. Your present supervisors (or the graduate program director if you don't yet have supervisors) should be able to give you some kind of basic reference based on your work in the program so far (e.g., have you been doing required things, completing milestones, etc.).
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: You may want to do some research before you choose another program. Many US University campuses are in unsafe places, unfortunately (there are several reasons for that). And do not go to the University if there is nobody to work with. Your explanation of the desire to change is quite valid.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I agree with the others about doing your research before applying and being candid with your advisors. If you want to go somewhere else, you have to tell them and hopefully, they will be kind and supportive. The best way to ensure their kindness is by giving them a warning and having open communication. If you are not you will know you have made the right decision.
Personally, my advisor has told me that if I end up hating it at my current institution I could leave after my master's (I am in a masters-PhD combined program) and his kindness is honestly what made me choose him as a professor in the first place.
Upvotes: 0
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2022/04/25
| 403
| 1,924
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<issue_start>username_0: We had a paper rejected where I was the first author. The second author and I almost had the same level of contribution to the paper.
Now we are resubmitting the paper to another journal. However, due to my personal business, I cannot work on this paper and its future revisions full-time, hence, we would like the second author to take most of the responsibilities. Consequently, the second author would have more contributions than myself and would take the first author position.
I would like to ask if this authorship change breaks the academic honesty/morality?<issue_comment>username_1: There is nothing wrong with changing the order of the authors in a *resubmission* of the paper if additional (intellectual) work is invested to get the paper to a publishable state, *especially* if the change is needed to reflect the changed authors' contributions.
What is seen as problematic is a change of the author list during a reviewing process or after submission -- this makes it look like that either the original or the new author list do not reflect the actual contributions of the authors, which is problematic in any case. As a consequence, during revisions of a reviewing process of a single paper, changing author order may look fishy. In certain circumstances, such as major revisions with substantially added content, they can still be done by explaining the change to the editor (and the reviewers), though.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There is nothing wrong with updating the authorship of a paper (or changing the order of authors) when revisions are undertaken where new authors add to the paper or existing authors make a larger contribution to the paper. Since you are submitting to a new journal you can make this change without any explanation; if you were submitting back to the same journal then I would recommend explaining the change.
Upvotes: 2
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2022/04/25
| 556
| 2,273
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<issue_start>username_0: I applied for some faculty position in September 2021, and four days ago, I received an email mentioning that
>
> We have now started with the recruitment process and are pleased to
> inform you that your application has been shortlisted.
>
>
> Please let us know if you are still interested in order for us to
> arrange an interview for you scheduled on XX-XX-XXXX [five days later].
>
>
>
I replied confirming that I still interested and will be available for the interview as scheduled.
However, no specific details were given for me regarding the interview, like how long it will last or whether I'm supposed to give a talk or not.
My interview is scheduled online.
**Should I ask for the above details or just prepare for either case?**
Is it also going to make a negative impression on my side if I ask such questions?<issue_comment>username_1: Since you originally said that the interview is "tomorrow", it is probably too late to get any useful information, but I suspect that if they wanted a talk, other than a general chat about your research, then they would have made that clear. "Surprise" isn't a useful evaluation tool for potential faculty.
Given a longer time frame, say a week or so, it would be appropriate to ask if anything in particular is expected.
But, a discussion of research and teaching philosophy will likely occur. They will probably be looking at how you present yourself. They might even want you to meet a student (or a few).
But a formal talk would have been mentioned, so that they could, for example, advertise it locally.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think it is ok to ask what format it will take - just don't send multiple nagging emails. The best prep you can do is revisit all the info you have on the department/ institute, look at the student focused pages (what do they promise, who do they aim to attract) and look at some sample interview questions (best to get a friend to ask them for practice).
Be prepared for:
* Tell us about your career to date (positive, achievement focused, not
too long)
Why are you interested in coming to X? How could you add to
our curriculum? What is your teaching philosophy ? How does your
research compliment what we do here at X?
Upvotes: 2
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2022/04/25
| 1,095
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a paper submission that now is going through the second round of revisions.
Reviewer #1 suggested publishing after some minor changes, while **reviewer #2** has been more critical of the piece. Anyway, I submitted the revised paper and reviewer #2 now requested some minor changes, which editors agree with and asked me to address.
The reviewer wrote:
>
> If the author can addresses these comments then the paper would be suitable for publication. (sic)
>
>
>
Is such a tone normal/usual for reviewers to use? I mean it is the editor who decides whether a paper is suitable for publication or not; what reviewers are expected to share their comments on the paper.
I have sensed a kind of gatekeeper attitude with that tone. **Am I being too sensitive or has the reviewer indeed gone a bit too far?**<issue_comment>username_1: Yep, this strikes me as perfectly normal. They delivered their opinion in a clear way that also suggests what their recommendation would be on the next revision. Frankly, I don't even see what you would take issue with. It is indeed a reviewer's job to gate-keep.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, you are being too sensitive.
It's perfectly normal for a reviewer to give their recommendation; the editor may even ask them explicitly for this. It doesn't matter if the editor ultimately decides.
You can interpret:
>
> If the author can addresses these comments then the paper would be suitable for publication.
>
>
>
as:
>
> If the author can addresses these comments then I think the paper would be suitable for publication.
>
>
>
I cannot see how this is inappropriate at all, it is entirely in a reviewer's role to make this recommendation.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_3: They are not trying to be a gatekeeper. They are actually being helpful to you. They are saying that if you deal with these comments, they won't make any more comments - they will just tell the editor that they recommend the paper for publication.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: If the changes don't castrate the substance of your paper or unduly break up its natural reading flow then make them - and then wait to see if #2 hatches up a fresh batch of "edits".
If he does, call the paper ashore and send it elsewhere.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: The goal of the referee is to decide whether the paper is suitable for publication in a specific journal. So the phrase of the referee is normal except the name of the journal is missing. It could be Editor's error of not explaining the requirements of the specific journal.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: I have both had this language used by reviewers on my papers, and used this language myself on papers I've reviewed. It's completely acceptable. And it is the job of the reviewer to assess suitability of your paper for publication. While it is the editor's prerogative whether to accept that assessment, editors tend to go with their reviewer's judgements far more often than not.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: #### You Are Accurately Sensitive: The Reviewer is Gatekeeping. But You Are Also Inaccurately Sensitive: The Gatekeeping is Legitimate.
The comments do reflect the reviewer's sense of gatekeeping. Meanwhile, your own tone suggests that you think that reviewers do not–or *should* not–act as gatekeepers. However, gatekeeping is, in essence, the singular purpose of the reviewer: gatekeeping, in the context of review, is *quality-assurance*. The entire point of a journal's peer-review is quality-assurance. So peer-review, itself, is precisely gatekeeping.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: Many journals specifically instruct referees to *not* communicate any opinions regarding suitability for publication in anything the authors can see. The decision about publication, of course, is not the referees' to make -- that responsibility lies with (usually) the section editor, and it can get awkward if the messages from the editor and the referees do not match.
Because some journals specifically instruct this way, my personal policy is to not mention suitability for publication in anything the authors can see. There's *always* a way to clearly say what I mean without using such language.
However, barring instructions to the contrary, it's not that big a deal to use such language (though if you tick off an editor, you may get dumped from the potential referee list). Even if the instructions are to not use such language, I believe it's less important for a revision, where the editor has already made a determination that it's possible the paper can become publishable.
Upvotes: 0
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2022/04/26
| 755
| 3,059
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<issue_start>username_0: 2 weeks ago I just started a phd abroad (Germany) and I am Brazilian. Previously I was in job that bored me to death and I chose to leave it and come to Germany to live my dream and do a PhD. However, I am feeling that I made a wrong choice. Even if in my field is not so hard to get tenured in Brazil (usually 20 people compete for a position, but only 5 are real competition), I am feeling that I will never be able to achieve my goal. Rationally, I know that I can. But emotionally, I feel incapable. These negatives feelings about my future are making me want to call my former boss back begging for a job. Even if I know that if I choose to back to this job I will be miserable forever.
All these thoughts are keeping my motivations low, because I feel that I am just wasting my time in foreign cold country. How can focus in the present and enjoy? I am already doing therapy. Another thing that bothers me, is that I feel old. I am 29, and because of some personal choices and also because the undergrad plus masters in Brazil take 7 years, I feel very old compared to my europeans colleagues.<issue_comment>username_1: You are not that old - I started a PhD at 40, and then the pandemic hit, so I do understand to some extent the feeling of isolation and being in a slightly different stage of life to others.
Germany will get warmer over the next few months. I personally joined every training session available for PhDs when I started out, so that I could meet people - this energised me, but I know not all people are like that.
I also had small short-term goals to work on, e.g. implement a particular method from an academic paper myself so that I could understand how it worked better. However, I was already excited to be doing a PhD, to have the freedom to set my own goals and "reading list".
I really hope you find some other folks to chat with - perhaps your uni has a good international students community; there will no doubt be other people also feeling the cold, metaphorically as well as physically, with whom you can at least share your story and encourage each other.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: In regards to age, it's not uncommon to see people at the age of 30+ doing their bachelors. So even if you feel a bit out of place, I promise you nobody thinks of you as a old man doing his phd.
As for motivation, the country can feel very lonely on the outside. But once you know where to look, things can be very different. Where I live, there are meeting places for foreigners to meet up and make friends. If you join clubs (tennis, bouldering, football, ...) you will also have a very easy time meeting people as everyone tends to be very welcoming there. Socialization is a important part of mental health so consider going out and about doing things.
Your motivation and focus should improve alongside your mood.
Edit: I know I mostly suggested physical activities but there are plenty of others as well if you aren't into that. Poetry slams, gaming communities, art clubs, etc.
Upvotes: 2
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2022/04/26
| 1,831
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<issue_start>username_0: I live in an Asian country and completed my master's in Math in June 2020. I want to do a PhD in Europe, but I have had some difficulties in finding a suitable position. I do not believe doing a PhD in my country is a good option due to racism and corruption and related issues.
I have been thinking of writing to professors in Europe whose interests align with mine to discuss the possibility of an internship. This would help me get my foot in the door, and hopefully strengthen my PhD application. However, I don't have funding.
My thought was to send an e-mail that explained my situation (including past hardships, issues in my country, etc.) and providing my CV and master's thesis.
Is this the best way to approach professors in Europe about the possibility of an internship? Is this likely to work out (assuming I am qualified, etc.)?<issue_comment>username_1: While there is no particular problem with asking for an internship position, you probably shouldn't use pity for your situation as a reason. Instead, focus on the positive, especially your qualifications, but including your desire to study in Europe. Even if people feel sorry for your position they still want qualified people.
I can't predict that you will be successful at this because funding is probably a limiting issue. If you have sufficient funds yourself, then an informal arrangement might be possible, allowing you to get some experience.
If you contact anyone blindly, make the initial mail very brief, without flooding the reader with information. Say what you want, indicate your experience, and say that you can provide additional information. I possible, end with a question that might induce some to respond.
But, if you can manage it, an introduction to someone elsewhere by one of your trusted professors is preferable to a blind email from yourself. If a professor asks for help for one of their good students it is harder to ignore the mail. And another person can say things about your situation that don't make it sound like pity.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Sadly academics receive many emails from students in similar positions to you. If you go this route (and I agree with previous comments that the response rate will be low since most will not have funding to support you), make sure to personalize your email and make sure it is appropriate for the academic you are emailling.
One particular problem with such emails is that they are often formulaic in nature and have shown very little effort on the writer's part to look into the work that is done within my group. For example, the email will lean on the student's work in the laboratory, whilst they send it to a theoretical group where such experience is less relevant. Alternatively, they will say they are highly passionate in some field e.g. "thermodynamics", but that field is incredible broad and could apply to 100 different groups. Together this tells the academic that the student is mass emailing and thus the level of interest and passion in their work is minimal. The motivation of the student is thus one about "getting out of their home country" as opposed to genuine interest in the work. An academic will likely always pick someone that is interested in the research than isn't.
A personal connection/recommendation from one of your professors would however be better received.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: There is no good way to approach a professor in Europe about the possibility of such an internship because most professors in Europe do not spend their budget or don't have funding for these type of "positions". In most places in Europe, funding for research work is only available for PhD students and higher levels. If you are not yet qualified to start a PhD there are no funded positions, because on that level the norm is that students self-fund or get support from a national funding / stipend program. There are some research / teaching assistant type of jobs aiming at levels before PhD (undergraduate and master students), but to be eligible for these you typically need to be registered at the university as an undergraduate / master student already. "External" applicants cannot be considered for these.
Because in general there is no funding for these type of internships allocated by individual professors, the chance of success with this approach is extremely small; practically I would say it's zero.
A more realistic option I see in your case is to apply for a master study program or exchange program in Europe. If you have good academic qualifications it should not be too difficult to get admitted at a reasonably good university in Europe, and many have English language master programs which take a year or two. Of course you would need to self-fund, but study fees are mostly none to moderate, so you would mostly need to cover your living costs. For that you can then also take one of the student jobs I mentioned above, and a student visa should also allow you to take a side job with a limited number of hours which can offset some living cost.
Once you are in a European study program and you keep up a good academic performance there, chances to get a PhD student position will be much higher.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: To second @a3nm answer, in France if you are doing an internship longer than 2 months you will be paid. Depending on the partners, the duration of the internship, you can have more or less but in any case you will have a minimal salary. If you are at ease with French, you can read this [article](https://www.futura-sciences.com/sciences/questions-reponses/stages-partir-stage-remunere-15408/).
In my opinion, the best approach to do an internship (at least in France but most of other unis have a tab where they post internship/PhD offers) will be to go on the websites of the labs/institutes/unis and look for their opportunities. They usually post internship offers on them, you will have to check if you can apply and then just apply to the specific offers. There are other sites that gather internship or PhD offers such as [ABG](https://www.abg.asso.fr/en/candidatOffres) and most of the time PhD posted there are already funded.
I agree with all the other answers: emails targeting the specific offers, ask about the visas, recommendations, ...
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: As other answers have already pointed out: In general you don't. There is really very little formal room for such an appointment in the European system, and from the profs point of view, any resouces (money and/or time) would most likely be wasted on such an endeavour. Sorry that this is not the answer you were looking for, but this is the truth.
However, there are other options. And while I don't know the best options for math, I suspect that some amount of past experience can carry over. What you need to keep in mind is this: You are coming in with a level of competence equivalent to a Masters student (roughly). When I, and most others I think, take on Masters students, it is not because we expect a large amount of research output from them, but rather because it is a part of our teaching obligations. This means that you need another selling point, which in my case has been things like this:
* Summer student programmes. I have mentored summer students from Google summer of code, and various more local summer student programmes. Here funding is provided by the programme, and any output is thus "bonus". Try to apply for some of those.
* Find volounteer projects that you can work on, and thus get in contact with professional academics, and work with them. There are many math software packages around, that needs competent contributors with time on their hands. Find something that suits your interests.
* Apply for those PhDs anyway. Any application you don't send, is a job you certainly will not get. Not only top students get into PhD programmes, especially if you are not extremely selective.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
|
2022/04/26
| 733
| 3,151
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<issue_start>username_0: I also tried contacting both schools, but they fail to give me a clear answer concerning the status of my application. Also tried looking on the application page on the site of both universities, but no result there as well. Can I consider myself rejected at this point or is there still any hope?
Both universities are in the US and abide to the 15th April resolution according to <https://cgsnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/CGS_April15_Resolution_Apr22.pdf> which makes all offers of graduate school financial aid valid until April 15th. The applications were due in mid-December for programs beginning in Fall 2022.<issue_comment>username_1: If you are rejected you will most likely get a clear statement of it. I'd guess that they are still processing applications and only starting to make offers. Lack of a clear answer is probably a positive sign. Giving a clear statement helps them avoid answering unfruitful queries. But not all universities have optimal policies.
OTOH, it is possible that they are making offers and that you aren't at the top of the list. But the crystal ball is cloudy.
It is a mistake to make assumptions about things, but also good to keep other options open.
If you only applied to two schools, however, you have sub-optimized, especially if they are similar.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I sympathize with you that getting a canned response "to read their FAQ regarding response time" on April 12th is incredibly frustrating, though it's likely your message did not go to someone with knowledge of your specific application if you sent your mail to a general graduate school office. Admissions decisions in the US are typically made by individual programs: contact the program to see if you've missed a message. Unfortunately, even if they did intend to accept you, it may be too late now.
Ordinarily, application decisions in the US are given out by the beginning of April at the *latest*, to give students a chance to consider their options before the April 15 deadline. If you are waitlisted, then it is possible to hear a spot has opened up *after* April 15th, when students who have accepted other offers would notify schools by, but you should have been informed you are on a waitlist already.
For the second program, it is similarly frustrating that they did not respond to you earlier, but it does seem you've gotten a clear response from them: it is unlikely (effectively zero probability, this is just a friendly way to say it) that you will get an offer from them.
I would consider both of these to be rejections at this point; when I was applying to grad schools in the US it was typical to get both a physical mail and emailed response, and I also received a personal phone call from accepting programs. I assume these standards are more or less the same today, though some programs may only communicate rejections one way. If they failed to send one, it's their fault; if you failed to receive it, it may be your fault, but neither really changes the admissions situation for you. I hope you've accepted your other offer if it was suitable to you.
Upvotes: 3
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2022/04/26
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<issue_start>username_0: Researchers in Russia may face a blackout on the internet and may only surf on national websites ([ref](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/07/technology/russia-ukraine-internet-isolation.html)). Then they could not submit any paper to non-Russian journals anymore.
I was wondering whether some journals have thought about this and organized something to help them. In particular, would it be possible for them to submit a manuscript via post mail?
For the papers submitted before a potential black-out, do the journals plan to correspond with authors by post mail?<issue_comment>username_1: The NY Times paper is behind paywall so I could not read it. However, I maintain contact with friends and relatives in Russia and as of 26 Apr 2022 there are no issues with email, general web browsing or videoconferencing.
>
> Researchers in Russia face a blackout on the internet
>
>
>
There is no ongoing internet blackout, although the Russian government attempted several partial or complete blackouts in the last years during important events, such as elections. At the moment the Russian government is mostly concerned about blocking political speech and news on the Russian invasion into Ukraine. Many international news-making websites are blocked, and some social networks are blocked too — e.g. Twitter was blocked in Russia for a few past days, but today it seems to be working again, though no official announcement was made as to why.
>
> Then they cannot submit any paper to non-Russian journals anymore.
>
>
>
Academic journals and their web submission portals are not blocked in Russia. Whoever told you that Russian researchers are blocked from submitting to non-Russian journals is not telling the truth. Having said that, Russian academics may face the following difficulties:
1. Some Russian banks are blocked from using the SWIFT bank transfer system due to sanctions. International bank cards such as Visa or MasterCard are also restricted. If a Russian academic wants or needs to pay article processing or publication fees for their paper to be published, it may prove to be difficult.
2. The Russian government is notoriously unpredictable at the moment and the laws/regulations change almost on a daily basis. In the last years a few Russian academics were imprisoned on a charge of "sharing state secrets" for sharing previously published information (academic papers and preprints) with their colleagues abroad. This "witch-hunt" is likely to continue, as the Russian government moves further towards punitive reaction and self-isolation.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Disregarding the premise of the question, most journals in the disciplines I am familiar with do not consider any submissions that do not pass through their submission system. Accepting submissions through some other process will cost some money, so it's not likely to happen.
Upvotes: -1
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2022/04/26
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a graduate student pursuing a master's degree in Information Systems, and I have never published a paper before.
I am planning to submit a paper to a conference, and the conference specifically asks if those submitting papers are willing to also act as reviewers.
I am willing to review, but I'm not clear if it would be appropriate for me to volunteer, given the stage of my academic journey.
In the general case, are these kinds of voluntary review opportunities typically appropriate for students? Or are these limited to those who already possess advanced degrees?<issue_comment>username_1: You are a bit early in the journey, but if you have research experience in a topic and let the editor of the journal know your background then you could ask. Likewise for the conference. Send a note to the conference or program chair about your interest.
Doctoral students toward the end of their studies are more likely candidates, along with those with doctorates, but you could make the offer and see what happens.
However, don't stray from what you really know and don't spend so much effort at it that you lose track of your own studies. That is, by far, the more important task.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I think you should be fine. The volume of submissions in many conferences overwhelmed the peer review capacity and it's now not unusual for organizers to ask all paper authors to review for the conference.
It may be intimidating to write your first paper review, but it's okay, trust your guts. The success of peer review system relies on every reviewer trying their best to judge a work independently. No one should tell you that you're not qualified, as long as you feel so. A good source to learn how to write peer reviews is <https://openreview.net> (especially the ICLR conference). Also here is the CVPR reviewer's guideline if it helps <https://cvpr2022.thecvf.com/reviewer-guidelines>.
Upvotes: 1
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2022/04/26
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<issue_start>username_0: When I submitted my paper to a journal in November 2021, I saw that it was indexed by SCOPUS, but in 2022 I noticed that it is no longer indexed by SCOPUS. Therefore, I want to withdraw my published paper from that journal. Does writing an email to Editor in Chief work for my case?<issue_comment>username_1: If it's already published, you can't.
-------------------------------------
Typically when you publish a paper, you sign some rights over to the publisher: you give them permission to put your work into their compilation. This comes either as assigning them copyright or granting some exclusive license to your work that says you will not license it to anyone else similarly.
Typically you also retain some rights that allow you to continue to present parts of the work, share copies among your close colleagues, etc. There also may be explicit terms that state when the work can be reproduced by another (for example, if you or someone else wants to reuse a particular figure in their work).
I am not aware of these terms including a clause that allows you to "withdraw" that publication: you've signed away those rights. "Withdrawing" a submitted manuscript is only an option available to you pre-publication.
You can "retract" a paper, but this is done when you as an author have done something wrong, and wish to inform others (or are compelled to do so) that they should not rely on it. Retracting a paper does not give you an option to re-publish it anywhere else, and isn't used because you want to punish your publisher.
I suspect the reason you care about this is because you work at an institution that requires "X papers published in SCOPUS-indexed journals" for graduation or promotion or whatever. This issue is something you'll have to take up with them, to see if they can "count" a publication based on it being previously SCOPUS-indexed, or whatever. In my opinion, these are really foolish rules but they aren't the fault of the publisher.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: username_1 already gives the right answer, namely "what you want to do is not possible". To explain why, you should not consider a journal as a collection of websites that can come and go, but as an actual collection of paper pages that are archived in libraries and other institutions that guarantee permanent storage of information.
If that's what a journal is, it becomes clear why "withdrawing a paper" cannot work: You certainly can't expect the publisher to send a note to hundreds of archival institutions that says "please take a pair of scissors and remove pages 101-129 of issue 2, volume 13 of our journal". All one can possibly do is publish another note that says that the publisher can no longer stand by an article because, for example, it contains fraudulently obtained data. Such a note would then appear in a later issue/volume. But the original article remains "published". That is generally true even for the websites: Publishers will add a note to the page, but the page with the article remains available -- because it can be retracted, but not unpublished.
Upvotes: 5
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2022/04/27
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<issue_start>username_0: I grew up in an abusive family wherein some family members continuously manipulated and exploited me. And around 10+ years ago I engaged with some violent resistance.
Later I reflected on this experience, engaged with the issue academically, and wrote on some non-academic (but intellectual) magazine to discuss deeper issues of family relationships in modern society and knowledge production.
I would like to mention this experience and the writing about it, to show my capability to engage with personal issues academically, disseminate the reflected knowledge to wider public and to grow up from it.
Will this draw bad impression among the admission committee?
(Background information: I am applying to a social sciences programme)<issue_comment>username_1: You mention yourself that your past is *controversial*. The answer to your question is in the definition of that word:
>
> **controversial**: giving rise or likely to give rise to controversy or public disagreement.
>
>
>
This means that different people (including prospective employers) will have different opinions about it: some may see your past as an experience beneficial to your research, but others could be afraid that it might have negative effects on your work.
The answer is therefore: It depends on the employer. So what should you do? I have some advice, but not everybody may share this *opinion*:
Although your past may serve you as an inspiration to your research, I do not believe that your personal experience is, or should be, relevant to your ability to produce sound scientific results.
You can demonstrate your (writing) experience by referring to the articles, but I see no benefit in mentioning your "controversial past" anywhere in the application: it is not relevant to the application but it *is* relevant to the articles you have written in the past, so keep it there. During a job interview you can discuss your articles or your past in more detail if it becomes relevant.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I will warn you that it could, not every admissions committee is as open-minded as they should be.
For example, I disclosed my health issues and that was fairly questioned by the admissions committee but luckily my advisor was supporting my application was there and shut them down.
So if this is an important part of you, that you feel you need to be open about then go for it, but just know it could hurt your chances of getting in.
(Making people aware of my health issues before going somewhere was important to me which is why I took the risk of putting it in, I did not want to get stuck somewhere where people would look down on me for them).
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I would not.
The reason is that the personal involvement will not make you a better researcher - if there is any impact at all it may cloud your vision and the perception on the scientific merit of your efforts. Such a statement is IMHO going to increase the fear of bias in your work.
The second point is that being subjected to abuse as a child may be perceived to be more unstable and more prone to having psychological problems, associated with all the prejudices which society may have.
Upvotes: 2
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2022/04/27
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<issue_start>username_0: I sometimes find potential errors in slides/notes that professors provide us as studying material. These are often some distraction or algebraic errors, other times lack of formalism that might generate misunderstanding.
As a PhD student, should I let them know, so that they can correct themselves in the case that my intuition was correct?
Sometimes I am not 100% sure of my claim and I would find it interesting just to know how right/wrong I am. Others I would like to appear kind, if they were interested in polishing their notes. However, I am afraid that professors might take it as a challenge, and therefore I would like to know to which extent this is appropriate.<issue_comment>username_1: If professors take it as a challenge if you notify them of an error in their teaching material depends on their personality. However, generally it is in the interest of the professors to have correct material. So I would usually advise to let them know of possible mistakes. It happens occasionally to me, and I am always grateful. Keep in mind to be polite, not accusatory. Thus, you also have a good chance to get a helpful reply in case you misunderstood something.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Tell them one or two of the most significant errors. Then if they say "thank you, please tell me any more" in a pleasant way, you can tell them some more, still in a nice and helpful way. If they just say "OK" in a gruff way, you can leave it there, as they probably don't want to be told about any more.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I think it's a great idea to let professors know if they have made a mistake in their slides and presentations. As a PhD student it's excellent to develop a confident and comfortable relationship with your supervisor and acting as a kind of second set of eyes and peer reviewer will likely be appreciated. Professors are often very busy and having to create learning resources very quickly for class, talks, etc... If you are able to assist them and pick out small errors that make them look better and more professional I think they'll really appreciate it in the long run. The only thing I would avoid is acting pleased or condescending when you do find errors. Make sure that you are pointing out mistakes from a place of support and teamwork rather than as a "gotcha" moment where you're proving that you're smarter than they are. If you can act as a helpful colleague in this situation I think it will be beneficial to your supervisor/student relationship overall.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: To reiterate other answers, with perhaps some slightly different perspective/emphasis:
Yes, conscientious lecturers do not want to make mistakes, not even typos, and would appreciate *polite* in-the-moment corrections, to not have to worry about later corrections.
"Of course", an interruption of the form "You're an idiot: look at what you wrote" is not helpful to anyone. Sure, people commit ridiculous typos all the time, no matter how careful the proofreading. So, instead of declaring the speaker an idiot, say something like "pardon me, an obvious typo, I think, or maybe I'm misunderstanding something".
If there is a disagreement more substantial than about typos or notation, it probably won't be resolved in-the-moment, so don't push it. Hopefully the speaker has enough sense to accommodate substantial question about some part of the presentation...
Upvotes: 2
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2022/04/27
| 1,144
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a first semester student in a PhD programme on a bioinformatics related topic. Before being accepted, I spent around 7 months in learning about the topic of my project. I have a BC degree in Biology, so I'm not exactly well informed in bioinformatics.
I have been losing motivation to continue due to being constantly sent to ask my senior labmates for advice in technical issues regarding code by my advisor.
I have asked for my senior labmates' advice and my advisor is aware of that. It's just that in the long run, I can't see how this will be sustainable. I confronted my advisor regarding my thoughts and was told that I shouldn't expect "technical" issues to be resolved by my advisor due to not having time for that (and sometimes not knowing about troubleshooting them).
So... Am I asking for something I shouldn't be asking? Is this standard in a PhD programme? Am I wrong to expect my advisor to help me solve technical issues about something I am not fully aware/accquantanced with (that being coding, not the biological part in which I have a background)?<issue_comment>username_1: Advisor-student relationships can vary widely depending on both the advisor and the student's needs, the project, the field of research, all sorts of things, that it can be difficult to pinpoint a standard or best way to go about it. I am not in a bioinformatics field, but what you described still felt similar to a lot of the advisor-student relationships I've come across in my more fieldwork-based field, so I thought I would use it as a comparison to possibly help.
With marine fieldwork like my lab focuses on, a single student might spend 30 days spread out over the course of months on the boat conducting sampling, or they might even need to travel outside the country for several months to their field site to conduct work. Many students, even in a field-focused field, might not know how to drive a boat and need to learn or may need a lot of field hands to get their project done. Advisors usually don't have the kind of time needed to offer that much field help or take the time to teach their students how to drive a boat, as an example. For these purposes, my labmates share a lot of the effort with each other and teach each other as we work. I personally had to get a lot of help from a more experienced grad student to learn everything from how grad school worked, to species identification, to trailering a boat.
Many advisors also may not have a complete knowledge of how to accomplish their student's project. I frequently explore different statistical analysis options or coding languages for my data that my advisors might not be familar with, so my labmates are actually sometimes better resources for working through a problem. My subtopic of research was also something my advisors had no experience in conducting sampling for, so I've had to ask many other researchers even outside my university for help to make sure I'm doing everything properly.
If any of your concern is coming from taking up your labmates' time, then you can try to focus on either finding ways to help them with their own work in return or just expect to pay it forward once you have more knowledge and other new students enter your lab.
So from my own experience, I think it is fairly normal to not use your advisor to solve more technical issues related to coding like what you're describing, due to either a lack of time or a lack of knowledge, and where you may actually be better served by your labmates. Some grad students I've met have said they have had a couple long how-to-code or how-to-write-a-paper sessions with their advisors, so circling back to the variety in these sorts of relationships, it is possible to have that as well, but even in those situations, they also had to do a lot of the learning and extra work on their own or with others.
I hope my response has been helpful in giving you some outside perspective and examples, but what might be even more helpful is to talk to other students in your lab or department about their experiences. They'll know your advisor's particular style and could maybe help in telling you how they've worked with them and navigated possibly similar issues or concerns.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think it really depends on your program as to whether they will help you or not.
For example, in my program, I study bioacoustics where programming comes into play quite a bit, and the same with my lab mates who have another advisor. It is definitely quite common for them to send us to ask others, but at the end of the day if no one can help us/if we are still stuck they do engage with us and try to solve the problems. Either through an additional meeting or through our personal one-on-one meetings with them.
So no I do not think it is wrong of you to ask, especially since you seem to be using your resources before going to them. Like the person said above every relationship is different, but I hope you get the support you need soon!
Upvotes: 1
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2022/04/27
| 880
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<issue_start>username_0: I have applied for a PhD position at a university in UK at the end of January (in time before the deadline, which was also at the end of January). Shortly after, I was invited to an interview, which (in my opinion) went quite well. However, since then I haven't heard anything. So, it is now approximately 12-13 week since I submitted my application and approimately 9-10 weeks since I had my interview. There is also a online system where one can check the application status, but it hasn't changes since I firstly signed up.
This is my first PhD-application, so I have no idea how long it usually takes and I also have no idea about the university system in UK. However, on the homepage of the university they wrote that it usually takes a "few weeks", so I am beginning to worry a little bit.
After how much time is it not too impolite to write an email to the admission comitee? At their homepage, they wrote that one should not ask questions like "How long does it take?" or "Do you have already a decision?", which I of course totally understand, but at some point I think I should ask in order to check if nothing went wrong with my application...<issue_comment>username_1: There has been plenty of time, actually, assuming the deadlines for application has passed.
It is appropriate now to ask for an update on your application. You can also ask if there is anything more you need to provide.
But you might also consider waiting unless there is a reason for wanting an answer beyond anxiety. If there are other offers you need to consider or planning for attendance, then you have a need to know.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think it would be very appropriate to send a follow up email directly to your potential advisor at the University after this amount of time. In my experience Professors and admission committees are often extremely busy and it is not unusual for these admission decisions and processes to take multiple months before being finalized. In my experience a politely worded follow up email has never been poorly received and often serves as a good reminder to the admission committee that you are an eager and interested applicant. I would avoid being pushy or frustrated about how long the decision process has been taking and instead use the follow up email as an opportunity to remind the committee of your interests and skills and update them on any new accomplishments, projects, publications, or courses you have been part of since you applied.
I recommend sending a polite inquiry to the primary professor you are hoping to be working with. I would keep the follow up email fairly short. Reiterate your interest in the position, ask if they need any additional information from you, and attach any updates you have like new publications or revised versions of your CV that might be relevant.
I have always found that consistent and polite communication with potential advisors is an important part of the process of finding a good fit between yourself and a supervisor. If you do find that your follow up email is poorly received or if you don't hear back from your potential supervisor it's probably a good sign that this wouldn't be a good fit for you in the long run. When selecting a PhD position it's important that you enjoy working with your advisors and feel comfortable communicating with them or it will make your PhD experience very long and uncomfortable overall.
Additionally, I think a follow up email restating your interests is advisable even if they have already filled the position as you never know when another unexpected opportunity might pop up. Often times you will not be selected for a position you originally apply on but a Professor may recommend you contact someone else in the department who has an interesting project or opportunity that is a better fit.
Overall, I think a follow up email is an excellent idea at this point, you never know what might come of it! Good luck!
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
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2022/04/27
| 3,997
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm doing my PhD in mathematics (Germany) for four years, and I have agreed with my supervisor that I should finish within the next half a year.
I am not very confident that this is a realistic perspective. I have worked on various things in the past four years but have hardly been successful in any of these endeavours. Apart from actually developing results, it was already hard to *find* good questions to work on. My supervisor has made it clear that it's not his role to help me find good problems to work on.
Anyway, I have been working on a particular project for three years. I have some results, but I would them deem quite disappointing for the time I invested. The project involved some algorithmic developments, which ate most of the time; but certainly, no one will award me any degree for having developed and implemented some algorithm that's neither particular efficient, nor particularly interesting, nor about which any theoretical properties I can prove. To summarize, my results are very, very weak (I'd say much less in mathematics than what I did in my Master's).
Thus, I'm constantly asking myself: "what could I write my thesis about then?"
When I approach my supervisor and tell him that I don't estimate my results by any means sufficient for graduation, he tells me to stay confident and to continue working on my project. I have started suspecting that telling me to stay confident is just the way of least resistance for him, which allows him to avoid an uncomfortable discussion.
I already noticed that my sleep quality, ability to concentrate, to enjoy pleasant moments or to optimistically look into the future have drastically deteriorated, and I am asking myself almost every day: "what could life look like when I actually have failed?"
How could I deal with the situation?<issue_comment>username_1: I felt the same way although I was in physics, not maths. So I think it is relatively normal and part of the process. A PhD is training in research after all. Since you seem at odds with your supervisor's opinion I think seeking the advice of a trusted 3rd party might help. Here 'trusted' would look like: someone who understands the field, who you trust the opinion of and someone who knows you at least a little.
I would also perhaps look for some guidance from your institutions welfare section - all counselling / well being people would say it is better to chat early. It can be so helpful to chat things through with someone *not* academic
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Health issues, including burnout, should be handled by a health professional. Most larger universities (I hope) have an office where you can connect.
But, for pure math, there is a skill that you need to develop. I assume you are working on real and serious problems or you wouldn't be getting stalled. True research *results* can't be scheduled. You can schedule work time, but not a finish point. You are working with the unknown and it remains unknown until you have some breakthrough, often just serendipitous, when insight finally (possibly after decades) finally strikes.
Doctoral research exhibits a three bears aspect. Some problems are too hard to do in the limited time. Some problems are too easy and have no significance. Others are "just right" and you can come to some significant results and finish.
I worked on all three types. The first was too easy and I was able to develop proved theorems every day. I gave it up after a couple of weeks after talking to my advisor. It was fun, but had no real significance.
The next problem was too hard and I couldn't begin to crack the titanium-like shell around it. Very frustrating. No insight. Gave that one up also, luckily.
The third problem was "just right" and I developed some very nice results over about a year. Process was steady, but not easy. Insight came. The dissertation was quite impressive (so some other faculty members said).
The trick is to know when to give up a problem. Put the hardest ones in the "future work" folder and maybe return to them when you have a secure position and no limited time scale.
Math is just like that. Some other fields likewise. But the unknown is, by its nature, unknown, perhaps in surprising ways.
I think Einstein worked for about ten years to come up with the insights leading to special relativity.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I am a pure mathematician, and I have to say that I am perplexed about your supervisor's attitude to finding problems to work on -- **I would have said that suggesting good projects is one of the *primary functions* of a PhD supervisor.** As a PhD student in pure maths, it is challenging to judge what an interesting problem even *is*.
At the very least, your supervisor should constructively discuss your own project ideas in terms of how interesting/useful they are to the wider maths community. They need to critique and engage with your work -- just telling you "keep going, eventually you'll get something" without actual advice sounds like they're not doing their job at all.
In my view, that is not OK! (Doesn't mean it's not still quite common, unfortunately.)
If your supervisor is unwilling to have an honest discussion about the state of your work, and not willing to help you, I would suggest talking to some other faculty member you trust. Does the department have an ombuds person to approach? Usually there should be a specific person that you're meant to talk to in order to discuss problems with your PhD progress in general and your supervisor in particular. If there is not, is there anyone you would trust with this discussion?
Hopefully such a discussion would open a way forward; this could for example entail:
* Writing up all the separate projects you've worked on so far, tying up some loose ends, leading to a satisfactory thesis,
* (If you have a bit more time:) Becoming a visiting student with a different professor (at a different institution) and doing a better-supervised project there to round out your PhD work,
* or, if it comes to the worst, cutting your losses and jumping ship (I think this should be the last resort, unless you're desperately unhappy and sick of everything).
Which of these are reasonable or feasible is difficult to judge without knowing the details.
(I found myself in a somewhat similar unmoored position after 2 years of PhD in the UK -- I had one smallish publishable project at that point -- and got my PhD to a satisfactory conclusion by going abroad for 7 months to visit someone who was working on what interested me most. He ended up being an amazing unofficial supervisor; so far the mentor I've learned most from in my career.)
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: From my comments on the question, at @cag51's suggestion:
Unfortunately, we outsiders cannot really assess whether you are dealing with imposter syndrome or are actually not accomplishing things. The person best equipped to make that assessment is your supervisor. An honest conversation with them about your doubts as to whether you have gotten ~85% of the way through a PhD-worthy project is in order. In general PhD students have a tendency to overestimate how profound a thesis really needs to be, but that's not an absolute truth.
To give you some context about the person saying this, I dropped out of a (US) math PhD program after a total of 9.5 years (counting leaves of absence) this year. I heard comments to the effect of "you're just dealing with imposter syndrome" many times along the way to this outcome, and I deeply resent that.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: I think it's clear from the OP that the supervisor is one of these people who feel uncomfortable having to actively supervise and just ducks out of all serious discussions on it.
There is no point in speculating here on why this is so - we have to advise you on what to do. The programme has been ongoing for 4 years now and you estimate that you has no more than the equivalent of a weak M.Sc. right now.
There is no more time for risking. I think you must go to his Head of Department and discuss a change to a more active and engaging supervisor as soon as possible.
**EDIT**
I note from some of your previous questions on this forum going back to 2019 that you have had a problem with this supervisor almost from the start. It should not have come to this - I mean you should not have left it go so far. I say this as someone who was in a similar situation. But better late than never - you have to rid yourself of this supervisor. Finding a fruitful topic can only get easier after doing this, I feel, since this guy is psycho-emotionally toxic to you.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: In my opinion, changing supervisor will work definitely. You can prepare a report on what you have done up to now, and negotiate with other professors preferably outside of "Germany".
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_7: A PhD advisor has several functions, but the most important is setting standards for the candidate (and hence also for himself). It's his responsibility to decide whether the results are sufficient for a PhD. My advice is: don't barricade behind a mistake, i.e. wrap up what you've done and let your advisor take responsibility and decide whether your work is enough. After you've got your certificate, you can use it as toilet paper if you wish, but in any case it will be a closed chapter and you'll be free to move on with your life.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: Given what I know about German math PhD programs, your PhD advisor is probably supporting you financially as a PhD student (correct me if I am mistaken here). If so, most likely, you will have to finish within half a year from now if they say so. Given that it takes substantial time just to write results of a dissertation, you simply do not have time for new substantial results. Unless you already have done so, my suggestion is:
Ask your advisor for a meeting during which you explain what you have done in your projects and ask directly if they (your advisor) think that this is enough for a PhD thesis (in their opinion). If "yes," then start writing no matter how unhappy you are with the results. If "no," ask how far are these results from a PhD thesis and what else needs to be accomplished. If the gap is small and you feel that you can bridge it within the next half a year, then work on both: Writing your current results and working on bridging the gap. If what they describe is enormous, then ask how you can possibly finish the work in the next 6 months.
A bit more specifically, since the main outcome of your work appears to be an algorithm, then much of your thesis will be a detailed description of the algorithm and explanation why it works, plus some theoretical background. Additionally, if there are competing algorithms, then discuss these and explain the difference, including advantages and disadvantages of the one that you came up with. The rest will be a computer code and maybe some examples of applications. (I saw such PhD dissertations, about 100 pages long, in my area of math.)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: I have watched several very successful (at the end) PhD graduate students both in my and other places over the last 24 years. Each of them worked on one project up to the last few months, produced very little (their afvisos knew it and complained to me) and then suddenly got great result. So this dynamics is not uncommon. Perhaps your advisor's suggestion is not that bad?
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_10: Someone much brighter once taught me (by example) that finding the right problem to solve is more important than finding the right solution.
30 years ago, I started a Phd that I dropped out of 4 years later because I was in a similar position to yourself. Strangely, I saw some people who I wouldn't trust to tie their own shoelaces get PhDs faster than those brighter than me, leading me to suspect there is a good amount of luck involved (or the department just wanted to be rid of them).
After I left, I got a job in my field, made new friends, and otherwise got on with my life. It turns out that I didn't need a few extra letters after my name to have a meaningful existence.
If you decide to quit the PhD program, its not the end of your story, its just the start of a new chapter taking place in a much bigger world.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_11: Somewhat lateral input maybe but hopefully useful (from someone who had a similar, but seemingly smaller-scale struggle with his own doctorate thirty years ago).
1. This is the advice I now give anyone doing research: "write the conclusions you think you want first". You can then decide with everything you're doing whether it (a) supports one of your draft conclusions; (b) refutes one of your draft conclusions (which is also interesting, and you can just add the word "not" ); (c) neither supports nor refutes any of your draft conclusions (in which case, stop doing it- it's a waste of time, or, if interesting, something you can put in a section about suggestions for further research in the area). The point is, this will help you focus, which is absolutely essential to finish in a finite time.
2. Use a large piece of paper, whiteboard, post-it notes, mind map or whatever, to assemble everything you think you have researched and found. It's quite possible that you will, from a few feet back, spot a jewel you hadn't noticed. (In any case the exercise will help with drawing up the conclusion list.)
3. Be encouraged by the fact that even if you're not finding anything earth-shattering, if you have done sufficient diligent research, you are making a contribution by researching and documenting something that doesn't work. That is in itself valuable to other workers in the field!
4. In the end, it's down to you, both whether you decide to pursue it (in which case, do so whole-heartedly) or abandon it (in which case you must reconcile yourself to that decision, to avoid future regrets). One of my friends and colleagues rightly described a doctorate as "a licence to drive" - which partly entails suggesting new areas of research yourself (rather than being dependent on a supervisor).
5. Assuming you do decide to finish (maybe in spite of your supervisor), and sort your draft conclusions out to achieve, then to get finished in a finite time, you could do what the same friend did: made a deal with himself that if he wrote a page of his thesis in a day, he could go boozing that evening. There wasn't a single day he didn't get drunk :-)
Good luck
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_12: You don't need interesting results to receive a PhD, just novel.
I think you are creating an unrealistic picture of a PhD in your head. Your PhD work does not need to be impressive in relevance, importance, interesting-ness, cool-ness, or anything like that. It just has to be:
* Novel, if only a tiny bit (you can't **only** reproduce an existing study and leave it at that)
* Follow the scientific method (for applicable disciplines)
* Described in the dissertation (says nothing about papers)
* Presented in a defense (says nothing about conferences)
Now obviously doing your PhD work in one area may end up being more useful than another, *after finishing the PhD*. For graduating per se, it is irrelevant. Or rather, at early stages (like qualifying exams) schools block research areas that are not suitable for graduation. So if you've been approved to work on that topic, you can rest assured that your school considers it acceptable for graduation.
The big question here is, how do you know that your work is sufficient for graduating? This would be a tough question, had your advisor not already told you (by saying you should graduate) that it **is** sufficient.
There is a separate matter of how you will get a job after your PhD, or what else you will do. But that's outside the scope of this question. However, in some sense, your advisor is not obligated to sustain you indefinitely as a student until you find the perfect job.
You should go to your advisor and tell him you'd like to start a thesis. Ask him for help with the outline. What should the major chapters be? Should all of your results be described in one part, or should there be multiple parts (each with its own intro/method/result/discussion sections)? Which one should come first? What are some past dissertations he can suggest to you as an example?
That will probably give you a good idea. Then try to start writing something - anything. Even just a table of contents or final concluding page of the thesis. If all else fails, you can start writing up the methods sections for things you've already done. Show this to your advisor and ask what to add next. Rinse and repeat.
Upvotes: 1
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2022/04/27
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<issue_start>username_0: If a University change its name after graduation, should graduates use the original or the new name of the school in their CV? Sometimes even countries change their names, again should graduates refer to the original or new names in their CV if that takes place after their graduation?<issue_comment>username_1: For a CV it is easy enough to list both names. This happened to me. Name the degree (MA, or whatever): University of the South, now named University of the Universe. Give the date of the name change if you like, but I never do. It lets people find you as needed in old records and is completely honest.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think a good rule of thumb for this situation is to list both names for the sake of clarity. I would use the new name first and then list the previous name. For example on your CV you could write:
BSc Biology - 2018-2022
University of Unicorns (*previously Unicorn's University*)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: On a CV I would always put both.
Also in terms of filling out digital CVs where the school auto-populates I would always ask if they prefer I put whatever name they have listed (new or old) or if I should fill in "school not listed" instead. Sometimes I get told to put the school they have, sometimes I get told to put that it is not listed.
(I have had an issue where my college's school name from many many many years ago still auto populates for some reason).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: This happened to me, and my CV contains the university's original name. I suppose I could add the new name and the reason for the change. (The University of Detroit merged with Mercy College and became the University of Detroit Mercy.) But the current form of the CV, with only the original name, has worked without problems for many years, so I don't see any urgent need to change it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Your CV is a promotional document, aimed to sell you as an employee, therefore **you should use whichever name is best known or most prestigious**. If you are unsure listing both is a perfectly reasonable option, but it is probably unnecessary since a google search for the old name will find the new.
Really the only situation where it might cause difficulties for you is if they ask to see your certificates as proof of qualification and the names differ between CV and certificate. However, it seems extremely unlikely that any employer is going to change their decision on whether to hire you or not if you tell them the university changed name and you used the new one when you hand them the certificate.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: In my case the institution upgraded status and name. I believe that all graduates were offered a new degree parchment with the new name shown on it. But many of us didn't bother.
In today's digital world where changes of name to an institution become known instantly and many job candidates have their CVs informally verified via e.g. LinkedIn, I would advise you to apply the new name lest someone find no link to that institution on social media and deem you an imposter.
Naturally, keep possession of the old parchment as you worked so hard to get it.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: Often in class, professors will ask questions to the class. Usually, I'll at least think I know the answer to the question, so naturally I want to answer it.
The problem is that my hand shouldn't constantly be up throughout the class. I need to make sure all of the students have a chance to think through the material and try to formulate their own answers rather than providing one for them every time.
On the other hand, I worry that if I don't raise my hand, my professors will think that I don't know the answer, I haven't read the material, or I haven't thought through a line of reasoning.
How should I as a student balance answering questions, showing that I understand the course material being presented, and not looking like a know-it-all?
This is similar to [this answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/103234/how-to-deal-with-class-partner-who-always-wants-to-answer-professors-question), but from the other side.
I try to present that I know the material in tests and papers, but even then I don't always do well, as I'm much better at understanding a concept than doing assignments on them.
Possible duplicates, only found after posting:
* [How to balance lecture participation and not being considered a show-off?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/55800/how-to-balance-lecture-participation-and-not-being-considered-a-show-off?rq=1)
* [How not to come off as boasting or arrogant, if you are one of the few active students in a class?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30736/how-not-to-come-off-as-boasting-or-arrogant-if-you-are-one-of-the-few-active-st?rq=1)<issue_comment>username_1: I think a great way to balance always answering questions and wanting to show you are trying/engaged is to keep being conscious of answering all the questions and try to go to office hours! It is truly a win-win situation because you can ask for help with the topics you need help with to get a higher grade on those tests/papers, can show the knowledge you do know, and you get to know your professor better (which is great for when you need letters of recommendation).
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: It is the professor's responsibility to manage the class including who they call on to answer. There really isn't an issue about trying too hard. I answered a lot of questions, but I also asked a lot of them and pointed out to a lecturer when I didn't understand something (in math) and wondered if it were correctly stated. My peers assumed I was smarter than I was because I asked and answered questions.
But another issue you raise is that you are "much better at understanding a concept than doing assignments on them". I think that is probably incorrect. Having an immediate grasp of something isn't necessarily insight, but it can "feel like" insight. Until you can apply the knowledge you don't really "understand" it. Otherwise you just carry around a bunch of "facts". Work for a deeper understanding by doing exercises and applying the knowledge. Work to be able to do more than the minimum required.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I just wanted to address one point:
>
> On the other hand, I worry that if I don't raise my hand, my professors will think that I don't know the answer, I haven't read the material, or I haven't thought through a line of reasoning.
>
>
>
This is not why the professor is asking - or at least, not specifically about *you*. Typically, an instructor will ask questions to:
* Gauge if "the class" is following - obviously that will vary between people, but if everyone looks baffled and glassy-eyed at the question, it's a useful sign that they might be lost, and the instructor should give them a chance to catch up before moving on to more advanced material.
* Create a more interactive learning experience. Many modern teaching methods posit that the traditional one-directional info-dump method of lecturing results in poor retention, superficial learning and limited engagement. Whether this assessment is valid and whether random classroom questions are the best way to go about it are questions beyond the scope of this answer, but many instructors use questions to address these concerns, or at least jolt students off their phones.
* Manufacture a learning moment - for example, ask a question where the intuitive answer is non-trivially wrong, or it's common for a (general) population to give a variety of answers, then follow up with an analysis. This can be more engaging that just saying "x% of people choose to reroute the trolley", or something like that, although it can put the answerer on the spot a bit.
Now, there's nothing more frustrating than asking a question to be answered by stony silence, so thank you for being willing to answer, but classroom questions are not exams and you shouldn't feel that you need to prove your knowledge. In some cases, some *wrong* answers can be more useful from a didactic perspective - they can stimulate a dialogue, engage people's curiosity, make them feel more invested in the dicussion. So hold back a little - this will not reflect badly on you.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: **Edit:** I missed the comment in OP's question, "I'm much better at understanding a concept than doing assignments on them." when I first read the question. If you can't do the assignments and get the majority of the questions right consistently then you don't truly understand the material and just have an illusion of knowledge/understanding (e.g. <https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220812-the-illusion-of-knowledge-that-makes-people-overconfident> ). Illusions of knowledge and recognising when you have an illusion of knowledge is a very useful skill to have, and prevents you from not furthering your education because you believe you perfectly understand everything.
---
Coming from being one of those students who could answer all the questions during lectures during my undergrad days (to the point that in one of my higher level course the lecturer asked a question and when no-one answered he turned to me because he knew I knew the answer and got me to answer), I can recognise what you are talking about. So in addition to the good answers from others, here would be my suggestions:
* Don't immediately answer a question unless you think there is a reasonable possibility you may be wrong, this means you are only answering questions that you have a chance to learn from and can confirm your thinking
* The exception being if no-one answers or puts their hand up for a while, then you can answer, the goal here is to let people think about the question but to answer it if no one else is sure.
* If you hear something that sounds wrong/you think the lecturer had a typo/you think something was explained in a way that would not be clear to others in the class, ask for clarity as a question. This allows other students to see the ways you've been processing the information and so may be an indirect way of helping them but also you may predict what may not be clear to others and are guiding the lecturer (who probably forgets what its like to learn this material the first time) to explain the key points clearer then they would otherwise.
If you are also concerned about yourself or other students looking good in-front of the lecturer I'll point out the following:
* There is a concept in psychology called counter-signalling where if you are particularly skilled in something, you can send a stronger signal of your competence by not indicating your skill. The basic idea is that if you are either weak(W), moderate (M), or strong(S) and someone just listening to you can tell you are either in W/M or in M/S then by not signalling you are showing the confidence that you will always be detected as M/S and so are probably S, while if you in M you want to make sure you aren't confused to be W, so you signal to make sure you always go in the M/S classification.
* If you answer all the hardest questions it will become easy to see that you are a strong student, but it leaves the easier questions for other classmates to demonstrate their competencies if that is important to you. Alternatively it will give all the other students a chance to think about the lecture which means the lecturer may not have to repeat the material.
* If you ask questions you are both creating more opportunists to demonstrate skill, showing that you are able to follow the material in real time and understand it, as well as helping other students during the lecture.
While it sounds like I put a lot of thought into it back when I was a student, really these points came from an analysis of what I did back then. At the time it was probably really related to me being bored or unable to see a benefit to me answering the questions except in the cases I described.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I’m preparing a journal article on a novel method. There are several related methods publicly described on preprint servers such as arXiv or bioRxiv.
Is it permitted to cite works that have not been peer reviewed and is it appropriate to acknowledge them? I wish to discuss and critique them as they are critical to the novelty of our work.<issue_comment>username_1: This may depend on the journal you're submitting to, or even on individual editors. I have seen journals in which preprints on such servers were cited, but I also once had a request by an editor to remove such a citation. The first thing to do is to see whether the policy of the journal has anything on the matter. If not, personally I'd include these works in my submission because the worst that can happen is that the editor asks to remove them. I cannot imagine that anyone would reject a paper because of this. (Note that in my field papers are hardly ever accepted as they are in the first go, so a request like this wouldn't lose you time; this may be different in some fields/journals.)
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: That's an interesting question.
It certainly is not forbidden, but as others have said, journal rules may apply. On the one hand, the contribution should be given, but on the other hand, there is no peer review and thus no independent evaluation. On numerous occasions, I had to remove such preprint citations because the work I cited was fundamentally flawed.
Thus, I tend to not cite work that is only published in preprint venues unless it has an immediate and obvious connection to my work.
I try to find a version that has been published and more often than not the paper has been submitted to some peer-reviewed workshop (or similar), that has no archival proceedings.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I consider it not only **permitted** to discuss and critique crucial related work in preprints, but **obligatory**. That it hasn't been peer-reviewed should mildly inform how sceptical we are when considering such work (only mildly, because we shouldn't blindly trust that peer-review would find all flaws).
If a journal has policies dictating otherwise, the journal is wrong in having them.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I have been reading some historical papers in the field of computer science, economics and game theory. I have noticed that some of the really old ones such as *Equilibrium points in n-person games* by <NAME> (1949) accessed from [PNAS](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.36.1.48) has minor inconsistencies and flecks in the ink, indicating it could have been typeset with a commercial cold typesetting machine¹ that is appropriate for the era.
I spoke to a friend about this and they mentioned accessing some of Turing's original papers. They claim that the scan of the paper appears more modern and contains less of these historical artifacts within the typography. This leads me to another assumption: some historical papers were not preserved and we are forced to refer to the oldest known reprints.
Logically, this begs the final question: ***who handles storage and archival of original scientific papers and how do they do it?*** The following sub-questions also arise:
* is this process standardised in any way;
* if so, is the degree of standardisation dependent on university, country or is it international?
* Is there any way to verify originality of documents?
* If there are multiple entities performing the archival duty, where does one look for them?
---
¹ My assumption could be wrong here as I am not an expert on the history of scientific writing and its typography. Please be sceptical about this.<issue_comment>username_1: The answer is libraries and librarians
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: A lot of old journals are bound to volumes in the basement of the library. Suprisingly I once retrieved an original paper from 1932 (written in German) at a Singapore varsities scientific library (I expected them to have to order it, but they had it in the basement).
Some libraries switch to microfiche when they need to clear up some storage. Generally there should be one (or two) original copies at the national library in the country where the journal was published. (not every country has a national library though).
For the Nash one, probably any tier 1 university will have an original.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: **Where are historical research papers stored?** Yes, libraries, but there are other archives, including the archives in long-standing large organisations, private archives and libraries, and museums. For example, the Association for Computing Machinery has [opened up its first 50 years of publications](https://www.acm.org/media-center/2022/april/50-years-backfile) in celebration of its 75th anniversary.
**Who handles storage and archival of original scientific papers and how do they do it?** Many large organisations employ specialist archivists or librarians to look after items. They are trained to degree level and beyond and use methods developed over the 100s and 1000s of years libraries and museums have been in existence.
**Is this process standardised in any way?** There are best practices, well-tried methods, and standards used.
**If so, is the degree of standardisation dependent on university, country or is it international?** Librarians are very professional with many national and international organisations and publications. Preservation of human knowledge has always been taken extremely seriously. Plenty of examples in (recent) history of madmen trying to destroy knowledge for their benefit.
**Is there any way to verify the originality of documents?** Go back to the original source. Alternatively, an original copy in an independent library/archive. In the UK there is [Legal Deposit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_deposit). Everything published must be submitted to the British Library.
**If there are multiple entities performing the archival duty, where does one look for them?** Ask a librarian! Most libraries operate in cooperation with national libraries. Libraries can, and often will, borrow from other libraries. In the UK there are [six libraries of legal deposit](https://www.bl.uk/legal-deposit/about-legal-deposit) (The British Library, National Library of Scotland; National Library of Wales; Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford; Cambridge University Library; Library of Trinity College Dublin). Their contents are available to other libraries and visitors.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I have been undertaking a PhD for three months. I have two supervisors, one is easy to get hold of, the other one isn't.
I presumed that when starting this three months ago, a clear initial starting research question would have been devised based on the data available, and that this complete dataset would be readily accessible.
However, upon starting, it seems this is not the case. There is only a partial dataset available, which limits what can be explored. In addition to this, one supervisor is extremely keen on pushing analyses/research topic that is completely different to what was advertised in the PhD project, which align with his interest/expertise and not mine. I would not have applied for a project based on this, and there was no chance this would have arisen given the initial PhD project description and following discussions.
Please could anybody advise or comment if they have had previous experiences. I would like to be able to direct the research and carry out analyses based on my original interests and the PhD project that was advertised, but am uncertain how this will influence my working relationship with this supervisor, if I decline to carry out the analyses they want me to carry out in a different topic.
Thanks<issue_comment>username_1: Your assumption that the data was already available was unusual and incorrect. Having a completely well formed research question is also a bit unusual. "Look at this..." is about as much as many students get.
Most people who are successful in getting a doctorate have interests that align with those of their supervisor(s). There are exceptions, but it depends on a hands-off advisor willing to approve work that has little specific interest for them and a highly skilled and motivated student. This happens, but it isn't the norm.
If you don't align with your supervisors and can't do it all alone, then you need to find other supervisors or even change programs. I think your expectations were unreasonable, but you are lucky to learn of the issues only a few months in.
Maybe you can carry out the original research largely alone. But don't wind up fighting with one of your supervisors as that is likely to have a poor outcome,
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Ask for a formal meeting, ie, scheduled time and an agenda, with both advisors to discuss what you anticipated, what you found, and whether your prior expectations were appropriate.
Plan for this meeting by obtaining any relevant documents covering the project, that is, proposals, approvals from committees such as human subjects or animal subjects, and review and approvals at higher levels, such as a department head or dean. Obtain any approvals from a funding agency.
Review these documents. Projects should do what they promise and plan, within reason.
If your own plans and expectations are consistent with these documents then describe what is in the documents and what you plan to do to both you advisors at the same time.
If your own plans are not consistent with the documentation then you are mistaken and must recognize this. If your advisors' plans are not consistent with the documentation, then they are likely in trouble. If so, one or both will back down.
If none of this works, ask to meet with the department head, graduate program director, or dean with your advisors and lay it all out for that person.
You are entitled to a businesslike approach to your project from everyone. Everyone is required to follow the procedures of your university. The administration knows this well, is aware that if they don't, you can sue them, and, if they don't follow procedures they will lose, you will win, and they will have to patch everything up in your favor. About the time you ask to meet with a dean, you will know either that you are wrong or they will give in.
If none of this works, leave and go somewhere else where you can get something done. It isn't worth suing them. You don't want to be around them.
You might want to find out the name of an appropriate attorney and meet with them for 1-2 hours. Most universities are plagued by attorneys who specialize in suing them.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I want to know whether there is a need for responding to students who ask for points/marks by arguing **that they only answered the question that was asked.**, a.k.a "literalism". So, I am giving a simple hypothetical scenario.
*Note*: This is a simple scenario and the questions can be different.
Consider the following simple question and the three classes of responses by three hundred different students.
---
Question
>
> **Define "finite set." (5 points)**
>
>
>
* Answer #1: (150 students)
>
> A set with a finite number of elements is called a finite set.
>
>
>
* Answer #2: (100 students)
>
> A set with a finite number of elements is called a finite set.
>
>
> Example: {1, 2, 3}
>
>
>
* Answer #3: (50 students)
>
> A set with a finite number of elements is called a finite set. All the finite sets are countable. The sets which are not finite are infinite sets. Any given set is either finite or infinite and neither both nor otherwise.
>
>
> Example: {1, 2, 3}
>
>
> And the set of natural numbers is countable but not finite.
>
>
>
---
As an evaluator, suppose *I decided* to give three points to answer #1, four points to answer #2, and full points (5) to the last answer. **Is it not recommended to do it that way?**
The reason for such awarding is to encourage the students who understood the concept well and are presenting the answers that show their understanding.
But the students who answer with #1 might argue that their answer is worth all five points, and it's unfair to take off points since the question was "Define 'finite set'" and not "Define 'finite set' and 'infinite set' with examples and their relationship with countable sets."
Although I have complete authority in awarding grades, I am not sure how to respond to those students. **Is it recommended to simply ignore them by saying it is a *subjective evaluation* based on the presentation and clarity of the answer? Or should all answers presented here earn all five points?**<issue_comment>username_1: I don't think this is an issue with "literalism", in the sense of students taking some farcical literal interpretation of the question. For example, a prompt to "Write a definition of finite set" and the student responds "a definition of finite set".
Rather, this is a poorly worded question that does not make the expectations clear if your expectations were for a particular level of detail in the definition. If the third answer is the answer the instructor(s) wanted, they need to make this clear in the question as asked.
I question the value of asking this question at all, as I don't see what knowledge it demonstrates beyond an ability to regurgitate something from memory. Something more meaningful might be to ask to distinguish between finite and countable sets.
Since it's too late for this particular exam, I would assign full points for any correct answers, even if they are brief and not as comprehensive as was desired, and change the wording for future versions of the exam.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: Actually, I think you were being overly generous with the first two answers and even the third. The first is simply a tautology, not a definition. Zero points. ("'Finite' is, you know, *man*, FINITE! Know what I mean, bro?"). The second shows a bit of comprehension, maybe 2 points to distinguish it from the first.
Even the third lacks the key element that a finite set can be put into 1-1 correspondence with a bounded subset of the natural numbers. So, maybe 4 points. That answer says that an infinite set is not finite, but that is also a tautology. A finite set is not infinite: not not-finite.
Not to be too harsh, but 3 is quite literally [I can't define it, but I know it when I see it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it).
So, for the complainers, I'd just tell them to go back and study harder and that you were already a bit permissive with the grading. They lack insight that they need to obtain if they are to advance in math.
---
Caveat, I don't know the level of the course, but for any college level course, I'd expect more.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> As an evaluator, suppose I decided to give three points to answer #1, four points to answer #2, and full points (5) to the last answer. **Is it not recommended to do it that way?**
>
>
>
**Absolutely not.** You should give full points to any answer that correctly answers your literal question. In your example, all three answers meet that criterion.
If you want students to give examples of finite sets, you have to ask them to do that. It is incumbent upon us as instructors to give students clear and precise directions about what knowledge we expect them to demonstrate. If you perceive that students are using “literalism” as an excuse to not show some knowledge you want them to show, the solution is simply to make your own instructions more precise and in line with your actual wishes.
**Edit:** I see a lot of discussion here on the question of whether OP’s perception that answer #1 is a technically correct definition of a finite set is actually correct. This seems like a side issue and tangential to OP’s actual question. My answer starts from the premise that this is a course teaching set theory concepts at an intuitive level, such that “a finite set is a set with a finite number of elements” is actually a correct definition in the context of the course.
Some of the other mathematicians here seem to be of the opinion that one should not teach such a naive definition of a finite set. Well, we could have a debate about that, but as I said, I think it misses the point of what sort of advice OP is actually asking for. So I’ll stay out of that particular debate.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_4: In the unlikely event that "finite number of elements" was previously defined and can therefore be used in a definition of "finite set", all three answers deserve full credit.
In any event, answers 2 and 3 should not get more credit than answer 1, because the additional information they contain is not part of a definition. (It doesn't even have the form of a definition.)
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: Consider that you need to know what a full-credit answer looks like ahead of time, since that's how you decide how many total points each Q is worth.
That Q was 5 points. Let's say that's not much, which means you've decided ahead-of-time that a short simple answer is worth full credit.
On the other hand, suppose 5 is a medium or large amount of points. That means you've considered shorter answers and ruled them out. Let's say you decided the answer needs a contrast with finite vs. infinite sets, plus examples for the full 5 points. Obviously, the Q as written doesn't require that -- it will take a "literal" answer. That needs to be fixed, ahead of time (maybe the Q becomes "what are the 2 major cardinalities of sets, give an example of each"). If a Q slips by where you expected a long answer but a simple one works, that's clearly a mistake on your part, and not a call to grade the Q on a curve.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: 3 point answer:
---------------
If you ask a question that's worth 5 points:
* Every single answer that correctly answers what is asked should be graded with 5 points no matter the wording or the length
* Every single answer that partially or not completely answers what is asked should be graded with 1-4 points, depending on how much of the question is answered
5 point answer:
---------------
Grading an exam should always be around what is being asked. If "how the answer is written" is part of the criteria, then it should be stated like that. The way you say you assign points leaves your question open both heavily for interpretation, and for some sort of "unexplainable group-knowledge" i.e. "You'll get full points as long as no other student gives a better answer than yours".
Every student is different, and just because someone has better writing skills doesn't mean they understood better the concept. Not only that; in some cases, beign able to use less words to explain something actually means better understanding of the concept.
Now, if you want to encourage students to use examples and extended explanations, award extra points to those who do so, either by giving 5+1 to them, or by changing the question to 3 for those who "just" answer and 5 for those who answer and give examples; but in both cases you should **clearly** establish that as the rule for grading the question.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: I agree with the other answers that this is not an issue of literalism at all, but a lack of clarity in questioning.
Let's consider another field, and three possible exam questions you might ask:
>
> Define Totalitarianism.
>
>
>
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> Define Totalitarianism and provide at one example each from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
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>
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> Define Totalitarianism, provide at one example each from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, compare and contrast it with Fascism, Stalinism, and Mao Zedong Thought, and then answer the following: Is the current government of Ruritania Totalitarian? Explain your answer and give at least five reasons for or against.
>
>
>
The more detail you can provide as to what characteristics make up a top-notch answer, the more your students will be able to focus on providing just that.
One might argue that a student should just provide everything they know, but [that is problematic too](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/60775/58912) - your students are not going to know what "additional" details you want or how far they ought to go unless you tell them.
Now, this instruction does not necessarily need to be expressed on the test itself if it is otherwise provided in the course. You could make a note in your course syllabus providing,
>
> Exams for this course will include questions asking you to "define" or "explain" some concept. To receive full credit for a "define" question, you must phrase your definition with respect to another concept covered in this course, as well as provide at least three examples of the defined concept. For "explain" questions, you must "define" the concept as well as compare and contrast it with another concept covered in this course. **The following would be an acceptable "define" answer:**
>
>
>
>
> The definition of crancorianism is when pre-reticular osmosis occurs within a transfinite non-orientable matrix with n<3 and m=plus or minus 0.5. Examples of this include Smith's Decomposable Spline, Marvin's Ghostly Gradient in eight-space, and the application of the Wossamotta U Framework of Advanced Best Practices in Pre-K Remedial Pedagogy in the Juvenile Justice Context to NP-hard graph traversals.
>
>
>
Of course, we can also come up with true "literalism" in student responses:
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> Hey, your test said "Choose one of the following", it didn't say "Answer one of the following"! I chose #2, so I should get full credit even though I didn't answer it.
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>
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> The question said "Find x", so I circled "x". What more do you expect? If you wanted me to "compute" it, you should have said so!
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> The instructions said to answer the question, not to answer the question "correctly". How was I supposed to know that you wanted a correct answer and not any answer?
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> Of course I copied my answers off a classmate, there wasn't a "No Copying Answers" warning at the top of the test!
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If one of your students provides one of these comments, you can dismiss them as failure to understand the social context of university study rather than a real issue with your test.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: If answer #1 is a correct answer to your question, then I would argue that answer #3 deserves **fewer** points than answer #1, not more. This is something that I see too often on students' exams: they don't really understand the concept they are asked to define, so they regurgitate every sentence from the course notes that contains the needed words and hope something sticks.
To me, this is analogous to answering, "What is the first sentence of the most famous soliloquy in Hamlet," with the complete works of Shakespeare, rather than "To be or not to be, that is the question." This is not an acceptable answer, and it demonstrates a *worse* knowledge than a student who answers straight to the point.
As for answer #2, I'm on the fence. I always try to explain to students the difference between a definition, an example, a theorem, and a proof. This is, after all, the most basic thing about logical reasoning that you can teach; but you would be surprised at how few get it quickly and how long it takes to settle in most students' minds. (This may be a failure of me as a teacher, though.) Giving full points to someone who answers a query for a definition with an example flies in the face of that. But the answer does contain the definition, and the example is clearly demarcated, so this is perhaps acceptable.
In any case, I would not give points to students who answer a question I haven't asked. All the others would have an outcry for unfairness, and I wouldn't be able to do anything but sympathize.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: Answer #1 **to the question** is correct. Full marks.
Both answers #2 and #3 are not as good as answer #1, if you plan to grade differently, they should get **less** points.
Students must learn to understand a question **and its scope**. The scope was to say what a finite set is, and not what an example of a finite set is, or what an infinite set is, or what is the added value tax in Belgium (usually 21% if anyone is interested).
Answering too much to a question can be catastrophic in some cases.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: This is for a conference application <https://www.hcm.uni-bonn.de/index.php?id=5007>
I'm not sure what a letter of intent is supposed to look like.<issue_comment>username_1: Guessing that this is more of a workshop (tightly focused, everyone contributes) than a conference (more general, many observers), I'd guess that they want you to say something about what you might be able to contribute to the ongoing discussions.
If you are a student, you might mention your own research if it is applicable. In general, your interest and background in the topic. If you are still in "learning" mode on this then you might not be able to talk about much more than interest, I'd suppose. But they are likely looking for the majority of participants to be contributors.
---
Of course, it would be entirely appropriate to ask them.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: This is not a conference but essentially a one week training session. It is well funded by the German government. They want to know what you want to do with the knowledge that you are going to gain by participating. They might have fees and / or expect you to pay your own way, but this type of workshops are heavily subsidized, so they want to spend their money wisely.
Your letter of intent should briefly give your situation ("I am an assistant professor in my first year". or "I am in my third year of Ph.D. studies"), explain why you think that participation is going to be helpful ("I am modeling the growth of coconut trees as an optimization problem based on sentiment analysis of crabs and have therefore been trying to solve the fourth Hilbert problems numerically.")
The more details you give without being wordy, the better for their decision making process. You do not want to get an invitation if you would only be bored because it is over your head or because you already know all this. If you are in the sweet spot, it is a great opportunity and you might actually get some useful contacts out of it. By limiting the letter to one page, they force you to concentrate what you want to say. Usually, the evaluators are academics, who know the field, so there is no need to explain how the wheel works.
(And sorry for getting facetious about the crabs.)
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: 7 years ago, a mouse experiment was performed, and samples are still available for further analysis. This mouse experiment is already published with a certain readout. Now, we publish a whole different story, and one supplemental figure stems from the samples of that old experiment, with a new analysis. The new analysis was not performed by the experimenter of the mouse experiment 7 yrs ago. Still the experimenter is a co-author on the new manuscript. Is that valid? I always thought in such a case the paper should be cited in which that experiment was performed, and then of course the person who did the new analysis on the old samples should get co-authorship. But not the experimenter, since credits for performing that experiment were already gained in the other publication?<issue_comment>username_1: The co-authorship is not milk: there is no expiration date.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: One way to view this issue is to apply the "Vancouver rules" (e.g. as described by the [ICMJE, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors](https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html). These recommendations outline what is required to become a co-author on a scientific manuscript. Note the "AND" in the list of requirements. It is clear that not all agree with these recommendations but it is also clear that authorship is given for the wrong reasons in many cases. In your case the authorship could be considered a "honorary or guest authorship" ([COPE, Council of Scientific Editors](https://www.councilscienceeditors.org/resource-library/editorial-policies/white-paper-on-publication-ethics/2-2-authorship-and-authorship-responsibilities/)) but would be perfectly normal if the person(s) fulfil(s) the expectations of an author, i.e. provides some intellectual input to the work to be published.
So in the end the case may seem clear but not easy to resolve if co-authors do not agree on the rules.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: While I think that authorship is not warranted in this case, you would be wise to submit (meekly) to your supervisor. The [answer of username_2](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/184744/75368) suggests why authorship is unlikely warranted.
But fighting with your supervisor over one paper isn't worth the pain it can cause if it spoils a relationship that you need to get your career started. There will be other, future, papers provided that you don't get sabotaged by a vindictive supervisor who seems to be exploiting students for an external friendship.
Protect your own long term interests. Live to fight another day. Sorry to have to say these things, but students have little recourse to such abuse.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Data reuse is the norm in several fields and encouraged to replicate results and build on findings. Many journals require that data be made publicly available upon publication. It may also be a funding requirement. If all you are doing is reusing data from a previously published work, it would seem surprising that co-authorship could be expected.
[Nature Data](https://www.nature.com/sdata/) is an example of a journal whose sole purpose is the reuse of data. Obviously, co-authorship cannot be demanded from reusing data published here. In addition [this stack academia](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/177153/is-it-appropriate-to-re-use-data-from-previous-publication-for-a-new-study) question asks about co-authorship for data reuse with helpful responses with regards funding and data availability.
Whilst @username_1 answer is both true and incredibly quotable, I would say building on or completing the unpublished work of somebody is not the same as building on their published work. In the first case, co-authorship would seem entirely fair; whilst citation would seem most fair in the second case.
However, I ultimately agree with what various people have said: it isn't worth getting into a fight over. It may be better to just get the PhD and use this as an 'annoying supervisor' story to swap with other academics.
To paraphrase a great expression, 'annoying supervisor' stories are not milk: they have no-expiration date.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: I agree that this is a bit of a gray area. By the strictest definitions, it's quite possible they do not qualify for authorship. However, your supervisor thinks they do, and it really doesn't cost you anything to include them.
I also think you're likely underselling the contributions of the person who performed these experiments. Collecting data is...well, hard. Even when you are using well-reported basic techniques that seem to be used in labs everywhere, there is a lot of effort to bring any technique "in-house".
The person performing the experiments 7 years ago likely shaped how the data was recorded, the specific procedures undertaken, the choice of reagents and other materials. They may have made your entire project much easier than you realize. In a casual survey of other graduate students in biology, most of us agreed that all the data in our theses, collected over typically 5-6 years, probably could have been done in just 6 months if we had known what we were doing from the start. The other 4-5 years was just figuring it out and working out the kinks. All these things can be thought of as intellectual contributions that don't see the immediate link to your current paper, but your supervisor does. Just citing the older paper doesn't entirely capture the weight of these contributions. It's quite different if their work was done in another lab, and you're citing their overall methodology but still needing to do the work to replicate it in a different lab.
Authorship guidelines typically require authors to have some other contributions, though, besides just collecting data. At a minimum, they are expected to review and approve the final manuscript. My overall advice is that you should insist that they do this added step to be included as an author, rather than arguing they should not be an author by not providing them this opportunity.
It's also worth recognizing that in biology, there is no dilution of your work by including other authors. Often, the middle authors on a paper have made very minor contributions to the final work, limited to one figure of the paper, one verification step in the methods, etc, but nonetheless the paper would be incomplete without their addition. Having one more middle author will not reduce the "credit" you get for publishing the paper as first author.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: If you are feeling pressure to include the original author as an author of your paper and you are considering going along with it, one way to handle the ethics is to actually reach out to that author for collaboration. If they provide even a minor *academic* contribution (i.e. other than assistance that is purely clerical or administrative), you may be ethically *obligated* to include them as an author.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: recontextualizing the problem
-----------------------------
Let's say there are three researchers, Alice, Bob and, Carol. Bob and Carol each design experiments about how a treatment affects mice. They are looking at two aspects of the same treatment, so the control and treatment groups are the same. Bob's experiment uses lung tissue, and Carol's uses brain tissue. Alice is an expert in running this treatment protocol, so she deals with the mice and collects all of the tissue samples. She gives the appropriate samples to Bob and Carol and lets them take over from there.
Bob and Carol each do the rest of their experiments totally on their own with no collaboration from anyone (even each other). Then each writes a paper. At this point I think most people would argue that Alice deserves to be a co-author on both papers, due to her direct contribution. It doesn't matter if the samples Alice collected sat in a freezer one night or one week or one year. Alice's work was instrumental to Bob and Carol completing their experiments.
In another scenario Bob doesn't exist. Anything Bob would have done, Alice did. Most people would argue that Alice still gets to be a co-author on Carol's paper, due to her direct contribution. If those samples Alice collected didn't exist, Carol couldn't have gotten started.
---
Different fields have different standards of authorship, and different individuals have different ideas of how one meets those standards. People disagree about these things all the time. In this case I think it helps to look at things from Alice's perspective. In my own work I tend to err on the side of inclusivity, when disagreements arise. In the end it will make no difference to your career if you are first author on a paper with five co-authors or a paper with six.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am writing my STEM thesis, 90% percent of which is about mathematical modeling. However, I am unsure at what level I should write for the introduction.
Should I write it so it is accessible for everyone? Or should I assume a high level of technical expertise?
Does anyone have experience in this matter?<issue_comment>username_1: I think it is an opinion-based question.
In my school (community), we follow a top-down writing approach. We first, start with an outline which should be understandable by any reader and then, we break it into pieces. We follow the same approach with every piece and so on.
This writing approach makes readability easier for all readers. Some of them will understand up the deepest level in the structure and some of them a bit earlier.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Target anyone with an undergraduate degree in your field. Any more advanced and it becomes difficult for others to follow unless they are already specialists in your field. It does cost more space, which could be undesirable for research papers, but yours is a thesis - space is less important, and you could easily have readers who aren't specialists (I believe in many institutions one of the PhD examiners is intentionally chosen to be from another field).
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: My answer to this question is always:
### Write the thesis for your past self!
What I mean is that you should write the thesis (especially the intro) in a way that if you would have read it when you started to work on the topic you would able to understand everything without additional sources.
This advice is close to "write it for a generic undergraduate" but I have the feeling that it helps to have a specific person in mind.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: I am currently (procrastinating about) writing my thesis. As I am almost finished, I speak only from the recent experience of a student on this question.
>
> Should I write it so it is accessible for everyone?
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>
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Definitely do not try to do that. Humans have far too diverse of interests to try to get everyone into it. Even if you covered your subject from absolutely elementary principles, your thesis may also become far too long for even your committee members to read it. Try to remember to respect their time.
And I just hinted to you who the primary target audience is: your supervisor, the external examiner, and the other committee members. While you can aim to write with a little more breadth than this small group of people as your target audience, remember that they are the gatekeepers to completing your thesis. I recommend attempting to get early feedback from your committee members since they can, and in my experience do, share valuable information about what they are looking for.
Writing for your committee members does not mean taking the argument maximum of technical level at every part of the thesis. Among others, I have a mathematician and a biologist on my committee. They do not speak the same language, so where their interests meet (e.g. mathematical modelling of something in biology) I have made the language accessible to both of them. But someone who studies something very different, say 17th century poetry, might not follow the jargon or train of thought if they happened to pick up my thesis.
This advice should hold for most of the thesis, although it may be fine to make a particular point that perhaps only a single committee member will understand if it is going to be important to them. Beyond that, show your models and the story they have to tell.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: It really depends on the culture.
The introduction to my PhD thesis was
* roughly what it would be about,
* and references to books in case the reader did not understand the part above.
It was 1/3 of a page long.
My advisor was not thrilled (but we had a fantastic relationship, he knew that I was a bit "special" and finally was actually curious how this whole circus would unwind), and the reviewers were 50% "great" and 50% not thrilled. But they all conceded that it is a matter of taste and should not influence my thesis which was not about the history of physics either.
Reference: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPUjtzS_zwY>
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: Ask your advisor/supervisor.
It's a good question, but it should be answered really by your advisor/supervisor.
Every other answer here in my humble opinion is in effect speculating as to what the advisor/supervisor would say. Ultimately, mathematics doesn't exist in a vacuum. See [Is a proof still valid if only the writer understands it?](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/806676/is-a-proof-still-valid-if-only-the-writer-understands-it) Any particular mathematical text always has a specific audience in mind. For example textbooks usually say at the start eg 'This is to introduce geometry for maths majors who have 1 course in point set topology but at the same time be not so highfalutin to be accessible to physics majors. This is not meant to be comprehensive or encyclopedic. This textbook introduces mainly only the minimum necessary in order to understand [big theorem X] and [big concept Y].'
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_7: When I want to learn something new, I often turn to PhD theses. Not all theses are equal, but some are very good to start with.
Very often, the introduction is quite naïve, in comparison to what a professor would write. Yet, I don't skip it. Every good thesis has the canonical references in the field cited there.
But, the most important part are the tools (experimental, and theoretical) that the student used for their work. In some theses, I can find a lot of details on how the results were obtained, and those details are often unavailable from other sources. There are also worked out examples, and results I could reproduce, that are described in detail in a PhD thesis.
As others mentioned, the best thing about a good thesis is that is accessible to people from somewhat different background than the author. In other words, a postdoc in Experimental Condensed Matter should be able to kick start his research in a field of Condensed Matter Theory, using a good thesis as a guide. With some more serious additional work and sources, a persistent postdoc should be able to learn a lot from a thesis in Quantum Optics.
In other words, the thesis should be aimed, in my opinion, at active researchers who want a quick and painless introduction to the author's field. The other category a thesis should be aimed at would be researchers who want to learn the methods and techniques used to obtained the results presented in it.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergraduate about to graduate within the next six months. I have a research article as a third author in a journal with an impact factor of 3+ related to machine learning used for Bioinformatics. I have another manuscript that may not get published, since my supervisor suddenly made me compete with a labmate for the same datasets. After showing him the results of my work, his work got published since his results were better than mine, although I had defeated previous research works on 3 out of 5 of the mentioned datasets without my name in the authorship or acknowledgement list. I felt that it was wrong of my supervisor to make me show a labmate the results of my research and make me compete with him for a publication. Correct me if I am wrong.
But now, I want to apply abroad for research assistantships for my master's in machine learning-related studies right after graduation because I'm not financially stable. My question is if my profile is good enough to start applying for funding as an RA. I have one publication as a third author in a journal and an unpublished work as a first author which I will use for undergraduate thesis dissertation. Or should I try to publish another research article before applying? How should I state my unpublished works in my CV?<issue_comment>username_1: IMHO, your record is impressive for an undergraduate, and as far as I can tell few people can match it when starting their Masters' work - which is when one usually first conducts publishable research.
But note that many places don't offer funded Masters' work, regardless of your achievements, or may prioritize graduates of the same institution etc.
Finally, I believe you should not completely slant your choice of institution based on funding. I realize that your financial situation is a constraint, but - diverting years of your life to working and studying some subject, and in some environment, which is not where you'd like to be is a very high price to pay.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: IMO that is great!
I got into graduate school having done a thesis and being a much later author on a paper, but really it is going to depend on what funding is available/who else is applying when you apply to graduate school. Though I do not see why you would not be able to apply and hopefully have some luck.
Also if you create a section in your CV called publications you can mark some as "In progress:" *Insert citation info here*
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I found previous tuition and fees for other school years through reports that my university has published onto it website.
I am using these reports for two of my projects that I am turning into my professors next week that counts as a final exam for two different courses taught by two different professor.
Is it self plagiarism to use the same source such as a report showing tuition and fees from prior school year for two different projects that serve a different purpose and also intended audience?<issue_comment>username_1: No, it is not self plagiarism to use a source more than once. However, it depends on the extent of text and thoughts that come with the reference. If you recycle to much of that, it might become a problem. But there is one safe way to avoid charges of self plagiarism: Cross-referencing and thus making the aspects the two texts have in common transparent. Something along the lines of...
>
> [...] as also discussed in Text B [citation] [...]
>
>
>
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: While the [answer of Snijdefrey](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/184796/75368) is correct, let me add a warning. What is plagiarism or self plagiarism in the real world is often immaterial in the context of coursework.
If two professors discover and decide that you are essentially using the same paper for two different courses without prior permission then you will probably be punished regardless of the wider meanings of things.
You are protected in the real world from charges of self plagiarism if you cite earlier work of your own, but professors might consider some things improper in an educational context even then.
I recommend that you seek permission from both professors and explain what you are doing. If they agree that the "two" papers are sufficiently different then you should be fine.
It isn't however, that you rely on the same source data for the papers, but rather the questions you ask and answer about them and what you say. Just be cautious and protect yourself.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I had an interview at a reputable business school for upcoming MBA intake. The interview was informal and was conducted in the coffee shop on premises.
The first issue happened when the interviewer (Chinese male, early 50s) offered to buy me a beverage. I replied with 'thanks could I please have a bottle of water'. He then said 'no, have something else'. I feel like he was doing it to be hospitable but I was really quite irritated by his response there and then tbf. I ordered a cappuccino and felt it was a real hindrance because there is clearly a difference between sipping water in an interview to clear your throat and having a hot coffee.
There were also issues to do with use of language for example, he asked me to describe my experience when doing my undergraduate. I said it was great, blah blah blah however my only criticism would be that the program needed more structure blah blah blah. He then honed in on the word criticism and said that it was a negative word and that I should not use that. Again I feel quite patronised. I have literally written exam papers where the question has been 'criticise and analyse the following paragraph'. This was after all an interview for a business school not for a social work service.
There is an option to take a particular class on the program in titled "mindfulness and meditation for managers'. The interviewer, perhaps given his ethnic background, was very passionate about it almost to the extent of cult-like. He wanted me to confirm that I would be taking that module as it would make a difference whether I would be given a place. I replied that I had read the program and I was aware of that particular module and what it entailed; and whilst I found it fascinating as a subject it was not my first choice of study and I wouldn't be able to make a commitment now as to whether I would take that particular module. He seemed really very peed off by that and I don't know if I could've responded in any better way than what I had? I also felt a little bit patronised at the end of the interview when he said 'I'm leaving now but stay here and finish your coffee'.
I'm new to the interviewing process and I realise that I have to butter people up and say what the interviewer wants to hear if I want to successfully gain a place. But I found this to be particularly patronising or is it just a case of different communication/culture? How should I respond should situations come up again in a different interview? I think my reticence is is that I am wary of rubbing the interview up the wrong way and so I tend to acquiesce.<issue_comment>username_1: To me, the interviewer seems very insecure, or alternatively very condescending. But there is no response, in either case, that will satisfy them. Take it as a point of experience that not all people act professionally.
It is possible that they have enough influence to deny you a slot. In that case you would probably be better off in a different program where people behave better.
The proper professional response is to be honest about what you want to do in the program, but don't try to counter inappropriate statements. Nod your head a lot and say "thanks" at the end. If they are a minor figure at the institution then it won't be an issue. Otherwise, move on. If it comes up again with another interviewer, definitely move on. You don't want to be at such a place.
Note that being patronized is also a form of baiting: pushing you toward an inappropriate response that confirms the bias of the person. Keep Cool and Carry On.
FWIW, your responses all seem fine and professional.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: How to deal?Just tell them the truth: you are feeling patronized and you do not appreciate it.
Upvotes: -1
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2022/04/30
| 1,402
| 5,861
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<issue_start>username_0: I tried asking this same question here previously but worded it poorly. Please let me know if my muddled style is unclear to anyone alongside myself.
What I'm essentially asking is: all else being equal, does an advanced degree (MS or PhD) in Math and/or Philosophy (phil of math, or logic) provide one with any "smart points" such that it translates to a merit in itself on the job market, particularly in the context of programming jobs, which would be, as of now, the type of non-academic job I'm most interested in? So, e.g., if there were two self-taught coders with identical coding skills, one of whom has no Uni education while the other has a PhD in Math, would the latter be more attractive to potential employers, all else about them being equal? What if each of them had Bachelor's degrees in CS, while only one had the advanced Math degree, would the additional "smart points" of the Math degree then be irrelevant? How much do "smart points" or reasoning ability and critical thinking skills, as conveyed by such a degree, mean to employers in industry?
As you might have guessed, I'm a Math and Phil undergrad. I genuinely enjoy both subjects and would like to study them at an advanced level for their own sake. Yet, I do think about having to buy food and shelter one day. So, is such a degree worth anything on the job market, simply due to being one in a highly abstract and logically rigorous subject, or would the two hypothetical job-seekers described above be considered to have equal merit due to their perfectly equal domain-specific knowledge?
(And I guess that on that note I'll just add: assuming I go on to get a PhD in one of those subjects, should I just bite the bullet and get a Bachelor's in CS as well? How meriting would that be as compared to self-taught programming skills?)
PS
I understand that this is Stack Academia and not Stack Career Experts, and that answering my question scientifically would require empirical data from the world of industry. But I'd be happy to receive intelligent guesses from intelligent people. I think it'd be interesting to explore the collective beliefs of employers a little.<issue_comment>username_1: Mathematics provides a way of thinking about things that is valuable in a lot of things. However, the "prestige" of a doctorate is mostly valuable with your mom. Likewise, philosophy, gives you a certain valuable insight and a way of thinking about things that is valuable in itself.
An advanced degree may enable you to do some things that are harder to do without it, but you won't get hired based on any "wow" factor. Suitability for the position is what is looked for. Some masters degrees are industry focused, of course, and applied math is useful but not for prestige.
In fact, it is a feature/bug of industry that if you seem over qualified for a job ("Wow, a doctorate") you will be less desirable as an employee in the vast majority of positions. People will assume that you can't possibly be satisfied with doing the mundane things required. The exceptions exist, but are relatively few (Google, IBM, Oracle, ...). In most industrial positions you will be valuable only in as much as what you can do for their "bottom line". They don't make money by listing the degrees of their employees.
I finished my doctorate in an impossible academic marketplace so looked around initially for other jobs (caveat: long ago). I was told by an employment counsellor to only list my masters on any application as a doctorate would be disqualifying. Most jobs don't really do serious (non product related) research, which is what a doctorate in math is all about. Too many places don't want you "thinking deep thoughts" but making the next widget run faster.
You mention programming. It is a valuable skill, but an advanced degree isn't needed to write interesting and useful programs. Again, a CS degree isn't focused on programming and certainly advanced degrees are not.
If you want to go to graduate school, do it for what it is; a chance to go deeper into the underlying nature of things and increase your knowledge. Doing it for the "wow" factor is not going to add enough to make up for the time and effort spent.
I'll note, also, that there is an old saying (true in my case) that "You don't choose mathematics. Mathematics chooses you." Lots of people went into math and would accept no compromise because they (we) were driven to it. I caught the bug at the age of about 16 in a not-very-good high school geometry class. It was actually the first positive educational experience I had after kindergarten.
But, yes, a degree (masters, at least) can be valuable, but only for what it enables you to contribute, not for the status. The same is true for a doctorate in academia, of course.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: There are varying sorts of PhD's in math. One stereotype involves huge specialization, to some obscure technical issue of interest to only a few people in the world, ... and broader mathematical competence or scholarship seems not to play a role.
Also, one can take a broader approach to mathematics, while, yes, doing a research project to add some "focus" to the whole enterprise. Oddly (to me), some people (both faculty and students) object to requiring or encouraging breadth, since this is perceived as "obstructing the research program".
But, as a relevant skill-set "out in the world", mathematical breadth would surely serve a person better than narrow specialization (regardless of status-points). It is obviously important to *not* portray one's mathematical work as ostentatiously disconnected from anything real. :)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes, you absolutely get smart points ... scored in awarding an interview.
But that has no value if you can't answer the interview questions.
Upvotes: 0
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2022/05/01
| 1,093
| 4,699
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<issue_start>username_0: When authors submit paper to a journal, the paper will go through the peer review process. When a reviewer accepts to review a paper, the reviewer is then given the power to delay the publication of the paper and the power to reject the paper. From time to time, it has been shown that reviewers abuse the power to commit misconduct. There are many types of misconduct that a reviewer can do, one example is slowing down the review process so that other papers with the same topic have the chance to get published first.
Another example (and considered as the worst misconduct that reviewer can do) is a reviewer plagiarizing the paper that they reviewed and submitting the plagiarized paper to other journal. In 2016, a reviewer from a high-level journal plagiarized and submitted a paper to another journal (read: [[1]](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6310661/) [[2]](https://retractionwatch.com/2016/12/12/dear-peer-reviewer-stole-paper-authors-worst-nightmare/)), which showed that even high-level journals are not immune from this misconduct.
Due to the sheer volume of papers that a journal must process, it is hard for an editor to determine whether the rejected paper is actually a "bad" paper, it is possible that a reviewer intentionally rejected the paper for malicious intent. The same goes for a situation when a reviewer intentionally makes the review process as slow as possible, it is hard to detect whether they intentionally slow down the publication of the paper.
Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves from predatory reviewers?<issue_comment>username_1: I'll reiterate my basic point, already made in a comment so brief I didn't think it would be considered a good answer: put (carefully edited/proofread) preprints on-line, on an arXiv-like preprint server, or on your own web site (if it's well established). Or both, why not?
As in other comments: this will give you priority, with or without "peer review".
Yes, if your paper is full of errors, you squander your credibility. Be careful. On another hand, the refereeing process is not currently aimed so much at "improving/correcting" work, but in a gate-keeper function for status.
The prohibition of plagiarism and so on does not depend on peer review!!!
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Predatory reviewers are so rare there is no need to do anything to protect yourself. It's so easy to get caught plagiarizing a paper you are reviewing that anyone who does it will have quite a short career. The probability that your reviewer has a similar paper near publication is very low.
If a reviewer is malicious, intentionally making the author's life difficult, then it is the editor's responsibility to discard the review. Similarly, if the reviewer requests inappropriate citations, it is the editor's responsibility to decline.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I think the question is based on an irrational fear. Let me explain why, assuming that we are talking about high-quality journals rather than ones run by predatory outfits.
First, reviewers do not actually have the power to do anything. They only *recommend* what the editor should to do, but the power to reject a paper rests with the editor. And editors almost always know the field well and can judge whether a paper should be rejected; in fact, I suspect that in the majority of cases, editors will know whether a paper should be rejected based on their own reading of the manuscript, but expert reviewers are necessary to provide a more complete picture. As a consequence, if one reviewer suggests rejecting a paper, but others suggest accepting or revising it, editors will use their professional judgment to adjudicate the conflicting opinions and will be able to tell who is right and who is not. In practice, this decision-making is helped by the fact that editors often know the reviewers at least casually.
Second, while it is of course true that humans -- including reviewers -- have generally done nearly every ethically unbecoming thing one could imagine, this does not mean that it is common. I've been an editor of journals for more than a decade, and editor-in-chief for four years, but I cannot recall seeing or hearing about reviews that were ethically questionable despite reading hundreds of them. I've seen many reviews that were lazy, but I can't say that I saw any where I thought that a reviewer suggested an outcome that was not backed by at least some kind of objective reasoning.
As a consequence, my suggestion would be to focus on (i) writing good papers, (ii) sending them to good journals, (iii) posting the manuscript on some kind of preprint server.
Upvotes: 5
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2022/05/01
| 2,265
| 10,016
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<issue_start>username_0: I’m a mathematician (after a fashion), working in industry, and I find great value in older books about geometry, written between around 1850 and 1920. I notice that my favorite books are often offered for sale on the internet, and, after I purchase them, I typically find that they came from some academic library, somewhere. I have mixed feelings about this: I love the fact that I can own the books, but it worries me that libraries are ditching them.
Now my question: when academic libraries get rid of books, do they typically scan them, first? Or, is there some systematic effort to convert older (no longer copyrighted) materials into digital form. I can’t stand the thought that this stuff will be lost.<issue_comment>username_1: I saw the dismissals of parts of a couple of academic libraries and they didn't scan the dismissed books. It's just two examples, but I suspect it's the commonest case. The effort to scan lots of books in a short time is huge and the personnel is usually limited (dismissals frequently happen in bulk during reorganisations or restructures).
On the other hand, there are libraries, like the *Biblioteque Nationale de France*, which offer the service of photocopying or scanning rare books at a price that includes the payment of the copyright fees (side note: I actually used that service from another country, and as a memento for those who come here asking how to find rare books, I can say: *learn to use library services around the whole world!*).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: No. As indicated in other answers they do not scan them, and usually they scrap them. When you see ones being sold, this is actually a library being considerate. Some libraries send them for pulping or even landfill in huge quantities.
It is because, often, academic institutions and their librarians see the purpose of the library different to us, and their attitude to the books can be different to ours. This is also why they do not scan the volumes; saving the knowledge is often not seen as the purpose of their library.
I have felt strongly about this in the past and my office contains many tomes I "rescued" from waste skips behind a library!
Many academic libraries do not see themselves as repositories of past knowledge but an information resource for supporting student study. If a book is not "borrowed" by a student or researcher then often they feel it has no place in the library. I have, in the past, pointed out, that students consult many books from the shelves without taking them on loan and there is no record of this ephemeral use of the books. For example, when I set an assignment on the history of a topic students may consult many older books in their search for information but borrow few. However, the librarians feel there should just be a single book called "The History of X" that students can borrow. How that book comes to be created is not their problem!
The librarians problem also stem from not having enough funding to create the archive space needed for storage. This is why serious researchers have to depend on their National repository library, which does act as an archive, but is often not available to the average undergraduate student doing a class paper.
Although having several volumes of six figure mathematical tables, including tables of high entropy random numbers on my shelf, the library could not justify their existence on theirs.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: *When academic libraries get rid of books, do they typically scan them first?* Not typically with commonly available works. If a country operates [Legal Deposit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_deposit) most works have been archived in national repositories. Other libraries can borrow from national libraries and inter-library loans mean library visitors can get access to works no longer present in the library they visit. Since the 1990s there has been a transition from physical access to materials to digital access. The primary benefit for institutions is the savings in manpower (book handling and walking the shelves) and floor space (more study spaces and less shelving).
*Is there some systematic effort to convert older (no longer copyrighted) materials into digital form?* Yes. This is one aim of the [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/), originally established to archive the web, it now digitally archives most media types, including books. It works with many larger libraries to digitise books. People who wish to preserve knowledge contribute to their effort to retain human knowledge.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: **No, it's not typical to scan books before throwing them out - unless the book is important**
I've seen a number of answers saying how unfortunate it is that libraries don't scan them, and this strongly underestimates the work involved in a useful scanning project.
I've spent roughly three years working as a developer on a large digitization project for an institution with roughly 300 years of important archives. Getting a useful scan involved these steps:
**1) Working out copyright/existing agreements:**
This isn't an easy step. Some books can be in the public domain. Others need the copyright holder to be contacted, which may take some considerable detective work, in the case of older works.
**2) Preparation of the source material:**
This is typically done by an archivist, possibly working with a bookbinder. Typically, in the past, you needed to remove the book spine, to turn it into flat sheets - it's a bit less necessary now as there's software that will work out how the page bows and flatten it, but for good quality scans removing the book's spine and restoring it is still the gold standard
**3) Scanning:** To do this at any sort of speed takes a large, highly automated, and expensive setup. Our test system could do 1 page every minute. We were up to 10 by the end of my involvement in the project, and this required 2 full time employees working with the material (admittedly, these were unique items, you could go faster on books going to be thrown out anyway, but you still need to ensure decent image quality
**4) Doing stuff with the scans:** This is where I come in! having a giant server full of book images accessible to the public is fine, but not very useful. We'd typically add metadata to each book scanned, we might do OCR on the documents, which is pretty imperfect still, so needs someone to skim through for mistakes. If any of the books are being released under a licence, you need to put access controls in place.
**5) Keeping funding for the project so all your hard work doesn't just vanish:** surprisingly, the hardest step out of the 5. Academic institutes are normally happy to commit funding for long enough to get a nice news headline, and have a thing to show off at the next benefactors meeting.
Basically, the TL:DR of this is that doing this kind of project, even on a small scale, takes a lot of person hours. Your academic library probably has limited resources to preserve, say, older textbooks - they might reasonably argue that if the material is still covered in modern textbooks, and the book isn't of particular importance, something else should get priority.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Other answers here have mentioned that libraries typically do not scan their holdings, and have described why this is both more expensive and more complicated than you might expect.
It's worth mentioning, in this context, that although the MLA sector (museums, libraries and archives) seems rather homogeneous from outside, those in the business see those three strands as being *very* different from each other.
In particular, the big difference between archives and libraries is when and why they chuck things out. And all three have to be selective about material, for the brutal reason that they have finite amounts of shelf-space (or digital analogue). I once heard someone giving a talk in this area remark that ‘the dirty secret of the library sector is the “deaccession facility” (sc. the large skip) at the back door’.
An *archive* deletes/destroys/discards stuff at accession time. Archives are typically *given* stuff rather than actively seeking it (a [national archive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_archives) might have a very specific obligation to hold on to government materials no longer in active use, and might have elaborate rules concerning what they are obliged to accept and whom they are allowed to show it to afterwards). When material is offered to the archive, the decision is made whether to accept it or not, made on legal grounds perhaps, or bearing in mind the possible interests of future historians. Once it's admitted to the archive, though, the typical plan is that it stays there.
A *librarian*, however, would regard themself as serving current information users, as opposed to historians yet unborn. They are more willing to accession things, and also more willing to deaccession them if they're not earning their keep. Different libraries will obviously have radically different notions of what counts as a book ‘earning its keep’. A [national library](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_library) might well have an obligation to be given and to accept every book published in the country. One library might see its user population as including the scholars who would eventually want to read that 19th century geometry book; another might see that book as simply taking up valuable shelf space that its users would prefer to be filled with a new purchase.
Both are perfectly rational libraries. Libraries also know each others' holdings, so they'll typically try not to throw out the last copy of something: [ILL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlibrary_loan) is your friend *and theirs*.
Museums are a bit of both, but dealing with [miscellaneous lumps of stuff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa) other than books.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2022/05/01
| 1,900
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<issue_start>username_0: I am joining a PhD program in mathematics in a few months. But I am having a hard time explaining what a PhD is to my parents! They ask: Why is it not enough to complete a PhD just for the sake of completing it? How can I come up with something not known to anyone?
My attempts at explaining go in vain and are often met with ridiculous counterexamples (many universities in India grant PhD in around two years for little original work, which is a major source of their counterexamples!)
Could you please suggest ways in which I may properly communicate these things to my parents? It would be great if you could suggest articles that explain what a PhD in science (mathematics) is all about. I can share them with my parents.<issue_comment>username_1: This is something that many of us face: it is hard to explain a PhD to somebody who does not have much or any experience with academia or higher education. Even this year, as I also leave and graduate college to enter a PhD in mathematics in the Fall, I've received a lot of confusion from friends and family regarding the program. I've been asked "how much debt are you going into for this?" (response: none), "what jobs can you get with a PhD?" and "are you going into more schooling because you couldn't get a job in the real world?"
(The following advice assumes that you plan to enter an academic career).
The best counter to any doubts that people have about academia is to talk about a PhD like it's a job. Say, first and foremost, that you are a paid researcher hired by the university, and that although your primary responsibility is research, you will also have to teach, and will probably take a few classes just to get up to speed with some advanced material. Second, explain that a job in academia is both desireable (as in: pays well eventually, is a legitimate career choice, and has many benefits that no office job has, including intellectual freedom) and very hard to get (as in: a lot of people want it and most people fail to get it and ultimately enter industry as a direct result). The latter point is necessary because many people---even those who have gone to college---think that being a professor is easy, perhaps with the old adage in mind: "If you can't do, then teach." Third, just be honest: "my dream is to be an academic; a PhD is the only way to continue to work in research in a university and become a professor; it is hard to become a professor, so realistically, I have X and Y backup options, and the PhD may make me more employable for those options, but that is not its primary purpose."
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Forget your parents for the moment.
The person needing an understanding of what a PhD is (or should be, since so many "PhD" programmes today have corrupted the essence of it) is you yourself.
Below this there is the formal definition but let's just discuss what the essential human endeavour is first as that is what people reference their work to.
A PhD is research project on a topic you choose yourself and pursue essentially unassisted and "your own way" - i.e. using your own motivations, ideas, investigative approaches, evaluations and conclusions. While a supervisor is assigned to your programme, their contribution is more to provide a sounding board to you as you progress, discuss your findings and guard against work unlikely to be productive. While a good supervisor is often regarded as at least 60% of an adequate PhD submission, they will make a smaller contribution to a really good PhD - here the additional merit will come from your own hard work and your good fortune in topic choice and/or treatments applied by you.
The most important word in the above is the word **motivations** - the reasons you do the programme in the first place and hopefully the same reasons you stick with it as disappointments sap your morale.
You ask: **Why not complete a PhD just for the sake of completing it ?**.
If I understand this right, you see a PhD as nothing more than a mental test over 3 years with a qualification to teach or lead research at the end of it. While some PhD candidates do this and usually do a decent job of it, they seldom stay in research as it was never an end in itself. They often get well-enough paid jobs in the same sector or change to other sectors that recruit high academic achievers from all areas, e.g. managers in some industry, government administration, management consultants, MBA, top law schools, etc. If this is the high water mark of your motivation to do a PhD, then I agree with your parents that it is a poor use of time. But I don't think - and certainly hope - that this is why **you** are doing a PhD.
A better motivation would be to use the PhD as a starting point for a career in innovative industry, research and/or teaching in the same subject area. I think that all these types of careers - including research management at a later stage of your career - are all worthy justifications for entering a PhD programme. In fact, you would have little chance of getting a proper research job today without a PhD.
I can't say I can reference any articles that I find convincing. Of course, I know quite a few people whose career worked out as it should after their PhD in industry, government lab research and academia. But these are not people who want to be public poster examples for your parents ! Ask your professors if they know some past PhDs whose careers have gone as they should (or better) and refer to these talking to your folks.
**MORE FORMAL DEFINITION**
A PhD is a supervised research project done by an individual into an as-yet unanswered question in some subject area, viz. mathematics in your case. The research project must be:
* Original and independent work - no "my supervisor suggested", etc although supervisor's constructive criticism and assistance with organization of work is allowed
* Structured effectively - i.e. adequate work done investigating previous work on or around this topic, selection of potential approaches to the questions raised, evaluation of results obtained, conclusions drawn, etc
* Adequately substantial to be regarded as a worthy addition to the field of knowledge on this topic
* Defended in oral examination by an external academic well-versed in this area of research
* Deemed worthy of publication in a peer-reviewed journal for that field of study, e.g. accepted for publication at some future point by he journal in question.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: One way of looking at a Ph.D. is that it is being an apprentice within the field of research. There is a high level of skill to research that you cannot read in books, which is why the best way to learn it is to follow an experienced Master (your advisor) for a number of years, before you are truly ready to enter the field of independent research. Very much the same for medical doctors. They do not start having patients on their own as soon as they are out of medical school. They need to go through a number of years in training jobs, where they are monitored and guided by seniors.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Wait, isn't it a cultural thing that people in some countries respect doctors much more than they probably should? If it's your case, than it simple: **it's a doctor, but in math**.
Another idea is to say that you are getting an advanced university qualification (that makes you more suitable for a research career, by the way), that's basically worth at least the same than the same time spent at a commercial company. So, if the concern is that you won't find a job with that fancy title, ensure your parents that it's not the case and it's the **time well spent**. And since it seems that you are getting a position, it's not some kind of an extremely underpaid practicum. So, you actually **start earning some money with your head**.
A yet another issue about a PhD, coupled with being a better researcher, is that it's the beginning of a track to become a professor.
Upvotes: 0
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2022/05/02
| 717
| 2,976
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<issue_start>username_0: When publishing in the physical sciences the main paper is usually something 2D, you can read it online or print it. Many journals support supplementary data in the form of pdf files and videos.
It is possible to plan a rotation/zoom scenario for a 3D scatter plot, make that into a video and attach it, but in my case I think many readers/viewer may find it helpful to do so interactively.
I use python exclusively. Starting from that, are there any ways that a 3D interactive scatterplot can be officially incorporated into a journal publication via supplementary information?
I understand that one can simply include a link to something external to the journal and find another site to support it or for the reader to download something, but here I'm asking for examples, instances or possibilities of having this as an official part of the publication the same way that supplementary videos are now supported.<issue_comment>username_1: Since you're using python, the easiest solution is probably to create a Jupyter notebook (formerly known as IPython) with the controllable scatterplot and see if you can upload that as supplementary information. Some journals are sticklers for what file formats they support, and might not allow such notebooks, but certainly some do, as in [this example](https://journals.aps.org/prxquantum/supplemental/10.1103/PRXQuantum.3.010340).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: The flow would be as follows:
1. Export the 3D plot to a 3D model file (.step typically)
2. Insert the STEP model into a PDF.
3. View PDF using a 3D-enabled reader.
With models of suitable simplicity, you can insert the 3D model into the primary PDF of the article. A default 2D view will appear in 2D-only PDF readers and when printing. When opened in a 3D-enabled reader, the graph can be rotated, zoomed, etc. Works well in practice, but not too many people know to do it. I've been pleasantly surprised a few times though.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I think username_1's answer (Jupyter notebook) makes a lot of sense for OP's situation. But another option, for those comfortable with HTML and javascript, is to just build it as a single HTML webpage that you include in your SI. An example JS library that should make it easy (the first one I found with a quick search) is [Plotly.js (3d examples)](https://plotly.com/javascript/3d-charts/).
Assuming Jupyter notebook supports exporting interactive figures to HTML (I think it does, but may be wrong), I would consider including both for OP. username_1e can open HTML files, whereas Jupyter notebook might not be as accessible for those that don't use it.
Another option is to just export your plot as a series of slides in a pdf that people can flip through to see it from different angles. This option should be universally acceptable for journals (as long as you keep the size small enough), but may be tricky depending on the complexity of the plot.
Upvotes: 3
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2022/05/02
| 1,492
| 6,516
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently in a very unique situation and in need of advice. For context, I am a first year PhD student in the United States.
Basically, my advisor's wife accepted an academic job offer at another university in another state. There was no position made for my advisor, but he has decided to simply do his job remotely from his wife's new institution (teaching, advising, boring faculty meetings, etc.). He has already moved there and we have transitioned to having weekly meetings solely over Zoom.
Now, it's technically not necessary to have him present since we mainly do computational work, but I can't help but think that I'm receiving a worse PhD experience without my advisor present as compared to his previous students. I will never be able to pop into his office with a question, get to write on the same chalkboard or even attend social events together as my other grad student friends do with their advisors, and I'm beginning to think that my training is being hampered. I'm also worried that my progress has slowed down since we can only communicate by email and it takes much longer to get a response as compared to an in-person interaction.
Unfortunately, finding a new advisor at my current institution is very unlikely since my work is highly mathematical but my department (ecology) has nobody else with any substantial mathematical training besides my current advisor.
Is there anything I can do to help my situation? I've thought about moving institutions but I don't know if that's possible for graduate programs. It's also possible that I'm exaggerating the impact of being remotely advised, and I would really like to know if that's the case.
Thank you!<issue_comment>username_1: First, yes it is possible to change institutions as a doctoral student. It will probably cost you some time and effort, though.
But, in the modern world the remote advising scenario is entirely possible, if a bit different. Other students, co-located with their advisor have frustrations also. Many can't, in fact, just "pop in", thought they wish they could.
Ultimately, the quality of your degree hinges on what *you* do, not what your advisor does. But, if your advisor is still getting paid by your institution he has obligations that include your progress.
You should think about your decision, using your own value structure. "Can I make this work?" If the answer is no, then the next questions are about alternatives. Co-advisors might work for some. Moving to a different institution can work for others.
Even changing the research to a different topic so that you have a local advisor can work for some. You can return to your current research later as opportunity permits. But if you make changes, rather than carrying on as is, there will be some time cost no matter what you do.
You can make it work *somehow*.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I had a "remote advising" situation during my PhD in the 90s, as I followed my husband to a different city where he was offered a job. Although my advisor was a 5-hour drive away, I had much better conversations with him than many of my fellow students in the new city where I had a job at the university, but did my doctorate at a distance. I would write something, send it off by snail mail in order to have a few days rest, and then the fax machine would chugg out reams of paper with comments. My advisor was willing to use all communication available! It is not just a question of sharing a whiteboard (you can do that in Zoom, too, you know), but with the technology at hand after the Corona lockdowns, it should not be a problem.
Be willing to go to his new place on occasion to have a face-to-face chat, but other than that: carry on!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: My advisor left to my PhD institution (on the US West Coast) when I was in my first year of my PhD to take a new position at a different university (on the US East Coast). My situation was somewhat different from yours because he took a new job and I had this option to go with him, but I think some of the situation is similar.
I tried to think carefully about whether or not I could be successful continuing to work with him remotely. I had done my master's with him so I knew how we worked together and could likely continue to do that remotely. I did not want to relocate so ended up staying where I was.
I tried to build my committee to include two local people that could support me for the office pop-in experience even though they didn't do the exact same research but because they understood the basics of the field and the ups and downs of graduate school. My initial advisor kept an affiliation at my university initially, but after two years, when his remaining grants there ended, he was no longer actually allowed to be my sole primary advisor and so the department head very kindly stepped in to ensure I could finish and succeed. Her lab sort of "adopted" me and even though we did completely different research. It was nice to have a lab "home" for social events, to celebrate finishing comprehensive exams, etc., and to have someone local who knows the department rules and requirements and timelines. I would suggest trying to find something similar even if it isn't exactly your research; my fellow graduate student support was so important to surviving grad school! It sounds like both within your ecology department and the math department might be good options, or to have some of each.
My advisor and I did maintain nearly weekly meetings over the years and that was really helpful, even if they sometimes were cancelled or very short. The regular opportunity to touch base was important for me.
In the end it was successful and I'm happy I made the decision I did, but there were some growing pains especially as my advisors new job was the head of a very large research group and so he became much more busy as time went on. Because I had great local support, again even though it wasn't from researchers that did exactly what I did, I was able to finish in a normal amount of time and I think with a solid dissertation :)
I would suggest talking maybe with the graduate advisor in your department or with the graduate school to make sure there are no issues with this set up from your end (e.g., in person exams or committee meetings requirements or getting proper paperwork signed along the way...some universities have these but many changed them in response to COVID).
Upvotes: 2
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2022/05/02
| 1,574
| 6,846
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<issue_start>username_0: So there's a Statistics exam in my Uni (in Germany). It's more of an application to Surveying. The Prof. who teaches this class gives really easy assignments which made me believe the exam would be in a similar pattern. We were even given a mock exam and it's a pre-requisite to sit for the main exam. But even this doesn't correspond what's asked in the exam. I gave two attempts already. And this is a nightmare, because in Germany you'll out of the program if you don't pass 3rd attempt too, and you can be kicked out and can never study the same program anywhere in Germany. The last semester, everyone who passed got just a pass grade. So it's like luck and it's terrifying. I passed all the courses except this, which again is a pre-requisite to start thesis. I feel like I have two options, transfer to another Uni, or just toil and give this semester whatever the outcome might be. How do I approach this? Should I talk to the Prof about the assignments and exam has just 0.4 correlation. :(. Super stressed and not able to sleep properly.<issue_comment>username_1: I have been in your exact situation twice (Hochschule) so maybe I can provide some insight into what your options are. In my situation, the average grade in *math basics for computer science* was about **4.8** with once the **entire class failing to pass**. Due to corona regulations, third attempts were forgiven and I was essentially allowed to try it 5 times and each semester I saw dropping people out left, right and center.
Based on the experiences I had, I can suggest trying to contact the professor responsible for the exam though I doubt that it would lead to anything useful. When arguing grades, many professors become immediately defensive and argumentative. It may not be the case for the professor in question hence it's worth a shot. It didn't lead to anything for my colleagues and I.
What worked for us was to group together and try to build a strong case by gathering whatever information we could get and present it to the dean together. By showing the poor passing grades, the dwindling number of students even attempting the exam held by the prof, our current amount of credit points (Many of us had 140 or 145 out of 150 with the last 5 points being held hostage by the professor) and many more data points, we managed to convice the dean to help us find a solution.
If this leads to no good results either, your only other options remain to either change majors, change university or possibly change your "Prüfungsordnung". A change in "PO" or majors may help you to avoid the Prof. in question while not losing to many Credit Points in the process. For example, changing from economic computer science to applied computer science was not a costly switch for many who didn't want to put up with the situation at hand.
A change of university is unfortunately a questionable solution since you can not know whether or not you change one problematic professor for another but if you do consider it, try to contact other universities early. The process of evaluating how many credit points you can carry over usually takes many weeks.
I assume you would have already done so but if you do consider reattempting the exam, try to sit down with the professor and get a hold of the exam questions somehow. Either memorize and bring them to paper or sneakily record them if the session is held online. Trying to ask the Prof for solving the exercises in front of you during the consultation hour may prove invaluable as well.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: My students told me the same thing and I noticed that their view (maybe mine too when I was a student) was distorted.
**What is the purpose of the assignments?**
The weekly assignments have to cover the same topics as the exam. However, they are not necessarily similar to the exam tasks or have the same difficulty level. It is not to trick the students but the goals are different:
* *The assignments* need to cover as much as possible of a specific topic. The difficulty level does not matter in my opinion because the student has to understand the topic to the best extent. The time needed to solve the assignment is important (according to the ECTS points).
* *The exam* assesses the student and has to be made such that an average student can pass (not the average of that particular class but in general, i.e. the level of the entire class can be higher or lower than this average). Excellent students can pass with very good grades. Consequently, time is also important.
**Do all subjects have the same level of difficulty?**
No, for some topics, the assignments are very similar to the exam because the topic itself is easy and there are no other questions that can be asked. on the side, subjects like Statistics, Probability theories, Math, Data Science, etc are very broad and are actually more challenging. Therefore, the assessment is different and you cannot pass just because you can resolve the same task but with different values. It is important to understand how it works.
**Is the professor trying to intentionally give bad grades by making difficult exams?**
The majority of them **do not** because they care about the performance of their students as much as the students themselves. Remember that the professor is putting a lot of effort and wants to see the fruits of his work (the students succeeding in their careers). However, there is no (or very little) room for social work in academia and the professor's task is that you learn before you pass.
**What is the answer to my question?**
In my institution (Uni in Germany), a student can ask for an oral exam if there is a good reason for not being able to pass a written exam. One of the common reasons: "*I perfectly grasp the subject but am not able to perform well in written exams due to anxiety or a lot of calculations, etc.* The professor is not an enemy and can understand this very well and I think it applies in all (or at least most) German academic institutions.
**Is there anything else?**
Yes, do not prepare for the exam by just resolving the assignments but by understanding the concepts because even if you pass the exam, you won't have a copy of the assignment in the business world. Also, if you want to master any subject, teach it! You can explain it to a friend or ask higher-level questions to the professor, etc.
>
> **Should I talk to the Prof about the assignments and exam has just 0.4 correlation?**
>
>
>
Why not? the professor is a human being and is supposed to improve the lectures, assignments and exams regularly given (1) the performance of the students, (2) the feedback of the students (Note that they are not necessarily helpful and can be considered), (3) the feedback of the peers and (4) the development of the subject.
Upvotes: 2
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2022/05/02
| 990
| 4,199
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently an undergrad without much experience in publishing scientific papers. Due to the pressure of many of my teachers and peers, I felt the need to get something published so I contacted an open access journal to publish a review paper I initially made for a class.
I initially submitted my paper in good faith thinking that it was a legit journal as everything seemed to be in order at first, but after I submitted my paper I started seeing some alarming red flags all over the place. The most alarming one was that the peer-review process lasted only a week and resulted in no major changes to the article other than changing the citation style. They are now asking me to pay a huge sum of money which I cannot and do not want to pay considering that I'm possibly dealing with a predatory journal. I even tried asking for retraction of my article but they are asking me for a withdrawal fee.
So, has anybody been in a similar situation? If so, could you give me some advice into how to proceed? To be honest, I don't care that much if they go ahead and publish my article anyways (which I've heard some journals do) since they got my name kinda wrong in the final version. Also, considering that this journal is US-based and I'm in Asia, is it possible that they'll take any legal action if I don't pay?
P.S. I have not signed any sort of document to transfer the copyright of the article to them.<issue_comment>username_1: I think they can not charge you when you have not signed a contract for publishing. Sometimes when you publish in non-predator journals they charge you for color figures in the printed version. Also for this, they need your signature on the contract for it.
Well, you can say you don not want to work out the revision, so the will not publish your paper. I learned that it is common today, that if the revision you get a lot of people try it at another journal and no consequences were made to them. So I think they try to get a little bit of money out of you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Read the fine prints of the "agreement" you had with them when you first submitted your paper with them.
[This is just my opinion, I am not a lawyer nor I am representing one]
I am quite sure there is no clear sentence about "how long does it takes before the non-reaction from an author is considered a withdrawal of the article". Just stop communicating with them.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: **Drop contact, don't pay, don't make revisions**
NOTE: I'm not a lawyer
Simply stop talking to them. Be sure you've got a copy of you asking them to withdraw the paper. Hopefully if you don't pay they won't publish it. If they don't publish it and you don't sign anything then it shouldn't be an issue to submit to a better journal.
Will they "come after you" - almost certainly not. They don't want a public court case. They want money. They'll move on to the next mark.
**If they publish it, it will cause problems when you submit elsewhere**
One thing that hasn't been address in the other answers is what happens if they publish it. If they publish, it may be disqualified from submissions to other journals, even though it's a predatory one. Best way to avoid them publishing is to drop contact and not pay.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: It is not necessarily unusual for an open access journal to have a publication fee. They don't get paid by subscribers, after all. For a reputable example, see <https://plos.org/publish/fees/> It lists costs from $800 to $5300.
On the other hand, asking for a fee does not necessarily make a journal reputable, either. And as you say, an extremely short peer-review process is a red flag. You could try to get some idea of the journal's reputation by seeing if they're indexed in citation databases like *Scopus* or *Web of Science*, or look up their impact factor.
My main advice would be to ask advice from your professors, or other staff at your university. They'll have a lot more experience with publishing, and will know many journals in the field. Maybe they know this particularly journal. Either way, I expect they know how to handle this situation.
Upvotes: 3
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2022/05/03
| 854
| 3,441
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<issue_start>username_0: **Is there a way to know what the eventual URL of an arXiv paper will be before it is submitted?**
That is, the article exists as a draft in my arXiv.org account and has a 7-digit identifier of the form `submit/1234567`, but I have *not* yet pressed the submit button, so it doesn't yet have a permanent identifier in the form `1234.56789`.
---
Why do I want to do this? I am going to give a poster presentation about the same research at a conference in a few months. The conference has requested a digital copy of my poster by the end of the week. I would like to put a reference to the arXiv paper in my slides. However, I am waiting for a collaborator to sign off on the final draft of the paper before submitting to arXiv. Even if my collaborator signs off and I submit the paper to arXiv today, it may take until next week for the paper to make it through the arXiv referee process.<issue_comment>username_1: Since 2015, the identifier is of the form arXiv:YYMM.NNNNN. The YYMM part is simply the year and month, so it's easy to predict. The NNNNN part is a five digit sequence number within the month, which you won't know ahead of time. This is why arXiv [state](https://arxiv.org/help/availability)
>
> The final [arXiv identifier](https://arxiv.org/help/arxiv_identifier) cannot be assigned until the paper is announced, so please do not ask for it ahead of announcement. It is not possible to make exceptions, nor accelerate the announcement schedule regardless of your circumstance.
>
>
>
If you get the sign-off and submit today, there's a reasonable chance it'll be posted in time. If that doesn't pan out, username_2's advice is good.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If you have a personal web site or domain, then instead of a link to the paper’s arXiv page, you can put in your slides a link to your publications page, or to a URL you can set up that either will serve up the paper’s file (once your coauthor approves the final version), or will serve up a basic HTML file with a redirect tag to another URL you can later customize to the posted preprint’s arXiv page.
(And if you don’t have a personal website, this situation is a good illustration of just one among many benefits of having one.)
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: To answer the actual question:
No, there is no way to know the arxiv identifier before the submission is posted publicly on the arxiv.
That is, under normal circumstances, you will know your arxiv identifier at the next posting after your submission, i.e. earliest 6 hours after you submit.
(If the paper gets held back for any reason, the number will also only be assigned once the paper appears.)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: Another option for @dan-romik's URL redirection answer is to use smarturl.it. You provide the smartURL, and then can later change the redirection destination when the preprint goes up on arXiv.
This approach is also useful for double-blind conference submissions that require anonymous links to code/software at time of submission. You might create a Github repo that's tied to your personal identity, and linked from your website / social media. But you would create a pseudonymous Github account, a new repo (not a fork) that contains a copy of the same code, and then smartURL to this copy. Once your paper is accepted, you change the smartURL to your original Github repo.
Upvotes: -1
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2022/05/03
| 854
| 3,525
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<issue_start>username_0: I messed up in my university even in courses related to my field of interest. The main problem was lack of discipline: I would alternate between high-intensity periods where I only stopped to sleep and low-intensity periods where I would work on random subjects unrelated to my coursework, or not work at all. My combined GPA for B.Sc. + M.Sc. is only 6.3 out of 10 (which is something like a 2.1 GPA in the US) -- slightly lower for undergrad and slightly higher for the master's.
I can't go back to change my grades, but is there anything I can do to significantly improve my chances of getting into a PhD in Europe? I did attend one of the top institutes in India, after clearing the national level entrance exam. Also, I co-authored a publication with a professor from my institute. My MA thesis received a good evaluation and I have a very positive letter of recommendation to show.<issue_comment>username_1: As usual, it is helpful to look at this from the other side of the desk. Imagine that you are a professor in Europe, and you want to hire a student. You get ~100 applications, the majority of which are from students in other countries. Many of these people have great grades, good letters of recommendation, and even a published paper or two. One or two of your peers might even call you to say that they have an excellent student about to graduate, and that student would be a good fit.
Your first step is going to be to make three categories: the awesome candidates that you definitely want to talk to, the unqualified candidates that get a curt "no thanks" e-mail (if that), and the ones in the middle that you'll look at later. Which category do you think you are in? What would it take to change your opinion of yourself?
There is perhaps no singular right answer. You could retake some courses to improve your grades. You could get some nice publications and letters of recommendation. You could get some industry experience. I realize that these paths are themselves difficult, but they should be exponentially easier than trying to get admission to grad school in Europe right now.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Your profile is probably not remarkable, so your application will not stand out because of that.
However, having already one publication published (in a reputable journal) would help put some weight in your application.
So you are facing two hurdles:
* getting the interest of a professor;
* getting the funded position from that professor.
Help your way, help your potential supervisor: **try to get your own fundings**.
It is not easy, it is not a very rewarding job, but it is a needed step.
There are different sources for it, regarding Europe you may check the CERN page, or even the German academic exchange office DAAD ( <https://www.daad.in/en/> ).
Regarding your attitude
>
> My prof gave me the 37/40, and also wrote a very good review about me,
> even though we had a lot of scientific fights
>
>
>
That's the best you could have in science: you had someone taking your contributions seriously enough to challenge them, discussing hard with you, instead of ignoring them, and finally this someone gave you credits and a good review.
>
> During my research period, I was almost all the time working, except
> when I was sleeping.
>
>
>
That is not hard working. That is overstraining yourself, to the point you got so tired that you felt you were lazy and unproductive, but it was a clear sign of beginning burn-out.
Upvotes: 2
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2022/05/03
| 993
| 4,374
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<issue_start>username_0: I want to upload a scanned copy of a research paper that isn't accessible online to demonstrate someone else's significant contribution to a field. Internet was not widely available when the study was released. I intend to upload the paper on Research Gate to make its abstract indexed by Google Scholar.
I want to do this to prevent plagiarism by researchers who know about this paper and make use of the fact that it's not in English and not easily discoverable to write their own research papers without giving credit to the original author.
Therefore, I plan to upload the paper on Research Gate to make abstract indexed by Google Scholar search engine. I do this to make it discoverable and cited. And to be able to prove that the man, whom I am trying to help, is the original author. I also intend to upload the paper on other academic search engines.
The main text of the paper is not in English, while the title and abstracts are in English but are poorly translated. My questions:
1. Is it acceptable to upload to Research Gate the scan of the original paper and attach an English translation of the main text?
2. Is it acceptable to provide a better translation of the title and abstract in the attached translation if the ones in the original paper are poorly translated?
3. Can I enter the improved translation in Research Gate field for the abstract instead of the poor one, so that it is indexed by Google Scholar search engine?
**For those concerned about copyright: I am the copyright owner.**<issue_comment>username_1: What you propose is covered by copyright law, both the uploading and any publishing of a translation. First determine if it is a copyrighted publication. If so, ask the publisher or other copyright holder. If not, then it is fine.
Note that copyright protections still hold on many things done before the internet. Also note that copyright law varies.
If you have no rights or license to the work, then you can reference it and work within fair use as defined in the appropriate copyright law.
Note that a paper doesn't need to be internet accessible to be cited, or even to be found.
---
For your changed question: 1 is almost certainly copyright infringement, provided there is still a valid copyright held by someone else. So, no, not ethically acceptable and unlikely to be legally acceptable. 2 is probably fine under fair use. (*Probably* fine.) 3 is a judgement call, but you don't get to make the judgement. The copyright holder, if any, will judge that. If they disagree with the action they may take an action of their own under applicable laws. But even as much as a paragraph could be considered infringement.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Write a short technical note, or a review paper, or a short contribution to whatever journal relevant and related to the topic publishes them.
This way you defend your bibliographic work (you publish something in your name), you respect the original developer (you cite the pre-internet era paper), you make the link with the current practitioners (you should cite some very recent progress and/or publication) so your work may be picked up (or not, but you must do your best to reduce the effort to do so for everyone).
Otherwise it is just a +1 "fact" circulating in the internet saying "hey, ancient sailormen already knew that the Earth revolves around the Sun" without much backing nor strength and with some issues regarding copyright&intellectual property.
Ps: please note that I am not downplaying the importante of Galileo work, nor I am ignoring the fact that ancient sailormen *knew* the Earth was rotating around the Sun.
Ps nr. 2: when I say
>
> but you must do your best to reduce the effort to do so for everyone
>
>
>
I do not mean that you have to upload your *better* translation and spam its URL to everyone interested, this approach would be the best effort to make everyone ignore you and the original paper.
UPDATE after your comments:
Just write a short technical document, describe briefly why the old paper is relevant, provide translations to the main points of the paper (citing it) and then publish your document on arXiv. Then you are all set, you can step into the future claiming plagiarism for what you wrote in the arXiv submission or hunting citations for the pre-internet era paper.
Upvotes: -1
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2022/05/04
| 1,310
| 5,516
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<issue_start>username_0: One of my professors returned an assignment that was graded by hand. After the semester ended and the final grades were submitted, the professor discovered that the grade was incorrectly entered in the online grade book as 95/100 instead of 73/100. She is now motioning to have the grade changed and has also filed an academic integrity violation complaint for my failure to inform her of this as she is convinced I must have checked my grade and deliberately not made her aware of the error. But I had already seen the grade on the physical copy and did not see why I should check the online grade. Also, I am not responsible for a clerical error on the professor's part.
Do I have a case if this goes before the academic integrity committee or am I responsible?<issue_comment>username_1: It's perfectly reasonable that you didn't cross check your grades against some online portal. I never did that. Often after an exam, I was too focused on extracting myself from the stress to even look at the papers that I got back. It was better for my mental health to assume the marks were reasonable. Not saying this is good practice, but there are reasons besides laziness for not following up on exam marks.
Do you have a student union? If so, this is almost certainly something they would be able to help you with. If there is no student union, perhaps approach a friendly faculty member, and let them know what's happening.
The professor who insists you are being duplicitous is being unreasonable, so hopefully nothing will come of it.
I also agree with <NAME>, that you really mustn't say “I am not responsible for a clerical error on the professor’s part”. Dan is right, that it almost sounds like an admission of having looked at the online portal. Furthermore, despite the professor's poor behaviour, you would be better off not saying anything that could be seen as critical of them, or anyone else in the university. Many people are uncomfortable hearing criticism of their collogues, so it may well not get a good reaction.
Have a quick look in the syllabus and student handbook to see if you were supposed to verify your grades in the online portal.
When you are asked about it, simply explain that you did not compare marks with those in the online portal. If you were supposed to check, apologise for the lapse, otherwise, just say that you are surprised that anyone would expect you to check.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You likely have a case for several torts, one of which is libel.
I would recommend writing a carefully worded letter. Have someone with a bit of experience look it over and edit it for you.
In this letter, lay out all of the facts that are not in dispute. Write it in a chronological fashion. Start from the basics of what class this is, the current semester, when you took the exam, when you received the graded exam, etc. Be as thorough as possible. If you did not check the online grade at all, then mention this. As well, verify that it is not codified anywhere that you are responsible for ensuring that the grades online and on paper align. Mention this. Be entirely truthful throughout the letter.
Make sure to note that knowingly and willfully making false academic integrity complaints is either defamation or defamation per se. As well, making false claims, without verifying them, is negligent. If such claims are made, then you have legal remedies and will pursue for such actions. After all, they are a blight on your otherwise, hopefully, unblemished academic career.
You will need an attorney to tell you if this is defamation per se or not. If it is, and your state recognizes it, then you will not have to prove that you suffered damages.
Once you are done writing this letter, contact a few attorneys in your area that practice civil law. Most will do an initial consultation for free. Some will charge a small fee for this, usually about an hour or two of their hourly rate. If none of them will do it for free, then pay the fee and listen to what they have to say. Email the letter to the attorney after they agree to an initial consult, since it outlines all of the facts in a concise way for them. As well, make sure that you have the email addresses of the professor and her department chair, along with the physical mailing addresses for their offices. Basically, think of everything you can do to make the life of your attorney easy. You can even start doing your own case law studies through a number of sites; casetext, for example, offers free access for most universities.
If you have a case, then most attorneys will be willing to write and send a target letter on your behalf. They'll charge about an hour or two for this. It may be a little more if either they have to or a junior attorney has to do a case law survey.
You could certainly send the letter that you wrote. However, having an attorney send one to both the professor, her department chair, or whomever the attorney recommends is a much stronger response. It shows that you are serious about these false accusations and will take measures to protect yourself against them.
The professor will do one of two things. The first is that she will, foolishly, double down. At that point, everything she says and does will just make your case easier, especially if and when depositions are taken. The second is that she will, rightfully, be embarrassed, realize that she made a mistake, overreacted, and drop the matter.
Upvotes: 1
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2022/05/04
| 864
| 3,567
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<issue_start>username_0: So, I am graduating with my Master's in 3 weeks. The university that I am graduating from is the same one where I did my undergrad. I currently have a bachelor's robe, not a master's one because I figured, the same university, not much difference, and I didn't have the $100+ extra to order another gown. My question is, can I get away with wearing a bachelor's gown for a master's ceremony?<issue_comment>username_1: I would contact your thesis advisor, or the student affairs office, or the inequality office to ask about it. Maybe they will slowly realize how archaic such a ceremony is, or how stressful can be for someone not having the means to be "like the others".
Big thumbs up to you for being brave and stepping out of this nonsense. I am sure there are students getting or using part of their loans to afford the robe.
Even if you could afford it, you would be pushing others that cannot afford it, putting them under pressure of being "like the others" (when the university should teach independent thinking, rather than having degrees as a pass for being accepted in an exclusive club).
I wonder how come that in the modern big push for "inclusivity", wealth inequality is systematically ignored.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: **I don't think most people will care. It will not impact your degree. It will not prevent you from walking across the stage.**
*(answering with a US tilt, from the perspective of someone who attended large public universities in the US midwest; it's possible somewhere else people care about these things more)*
I think your personal comfort is most important here. It's not really anyone else's business, but indeed you'll be in a public place/ceremony. Without knowing your country or institution, I can just say that in a big ceremony at a public US university, no one will care much. As a bit of reassurance from someone who has a bit of social anxiety: *you're just not that important to anyone else*. Everyone there is either graduating, so they are most concerned with their own achievement, or they are supporting someone who is graduating, so they are most concerned with the person they are supporting, not you.
You might stand out a bit, if your robe is highly visibly different from others. It depends entirely on your institution's varieties of robe just how much you will stand out; at some institutions, the master's gear may feature just a small distinction, at other places it may be an entirely different color. Probably, though, you'll all be mostly in black, with some school color highlights someplace.
Some people may look at you and wonder why you're dressed differently. Does that matter to you? If it matters deeply, you might look at other options like renting or try to put out a quick message through social media to see if a past year's graduate might let you purchase or borrow their garb (probably more than a few bought it and have it in their closet and since realized they have no actual use for the thing and would be happy to take your $20 instead).
If someone did happen to question you (they probably won't, but every once in awhile someone is more nosy than they need to be), I think they'd be quickly disarmed by a quip like "Of course I'm wearing my bachelor's gown; I wasn't going to shell out the $100 and I still get to keep my master's degree!" Possibly they'll feel a bit foolish for not thinking of it themselves, but I think you can feel confident in your wise frugality rather than embarrassed by your different appearance.
Upvotes: 2
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2022/05/04
| 731
| 3,196
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<issue_start>username_0: I work for a company in the medical sector that, among other things, conducts literature searches and submits them to regulators for approval prior to product launch. The company currently pays for most articles and I was wondering:
1. If the authors are approached by employees and in turn send over free copies of their paper, can the company get in legal trouble if it uses the free copy for commercial purposes?
2. Does it make a difference if the author need not be directly approached but freely shares their paper on their own website or in sites like ResearchGate?
EDIT: I should point out that I will definitely not take advice here and apply it without legal consult - my objective with asking this question is merely to *rule in* the plausibility of such an approach to acquiring access to scientific literature based on other researchers' shared experiences.<issue_comment>username_1: As a company, you may want to consult a lawyer rather than collect opinions of random people on the internet (and IANAL, btw). Also, I am not sure the language in your question is precise enough. The copies that authors have are not "free", they can be used free of charge for particular purpose(s). Similarly, the copies made available via websites such as RG or personal pages, can be "freely downloaded" (meaning that there is no paywall), but it does not imply they can be freely used for any purpose imaginable. Even if you got a pdf, someone still holds the copyright and other derivative rights, and you need to carefully assess how your purposes agree with these protected rights.
In general, saying that your purposes are "commercial" may not be sufficient to make a judgement --- this is why you may need to consult a lawyer. Regulations differ from country to country and from one area to another. For example, the way how medical regulators work in the US may be completely different from how, say, Engineering patents work in India. You may want to protect yourself and your company against consequences of an ill-informed decision. If you want to save money on article fees, contact a lawyer first to make sure this is safe and won't cost your company a fortune in fines.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> If the authors are approached by employees and in turn send over free copies of their paper, can the company get in legal trouble if it uses the free copy for commercial purposes?
>
>
>
For recent, main stream publications, the agreement between the author and the publisher allows the author to do that. Nobody will get in trouble.
>
> Does it make a difference if the author need not be directly approached but freely shares their paper on their own website?
>
>
>
No. For recent, main stream publications, the author is explicitly permitted to distribute works on their own website. ResearchGate is a nuisance I won't address.
Even if the author has infringed on the publisher's copyright, [simply receiving that infringing material is not a breach of the publisher's copyright.](https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#106) Importing might be a breach.
Do not take legal advice from people on the internet.
Upvotes: -1
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2022/05/04
| 1,791
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<issue_start>username_0: Often in lectures, my professors will ask rhetorical questions. Sometimes, their body language makes it look like they're waiting for a response, and they'll even look intensely at a specific student when asking as if they want that specific student to respond.
I don't want to stare at the professor with a blank stare (especially if they are looking at me), but I'm not sure what the professor wants us to do. Should we just nod/shake our heads, say verbally "yes" or "no", or do something else to show that we're engaged?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Usually, the professors ask, ", right?" or other questions which very clearly seem to be rhetorical. If no one says anything for a few moments, they'll move on with the lecture as if nothing happened.
>
>
>
It's hard to judge without being there, but this sounds to me like the instructor is giving a pause to see if there are any questions on what they've just discussed before they move on.
From a US perspective, if they look right at you and you feel like you're following and understanding things well, feel free to nod, give a thumbs up, whatever feels to you like a comfortable response to affirm that you understand. This isn't to test or evaluate your knowledge, it's a self-evaluation to the instructor to gauge whether they're being clear, whether they're moving too fast, whether they need to restate or rephrase something they've said. As pointed out in the comments, the appropriate gesture can be culturally dependent; I think a head nod is pretty safe, but I can't say for certain. If you have a question, though, it would be a good time to ask it/indicate you have a question to ask by raising your hand or whatever signal is typical in your classroom.
If the professor looks at a specific individual (for example, you), I don't think they are necessarily intending to pick on that person specifically, but they may be looking for a representative response or maybe they noticed that person looked a bit puzzled earlier and they're just checking in. It's part of interacting with an audience that some people are more natural at than others.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This is just me, but I would interpret the "rhetorical" question as an expression of the professor being unsure whether the students understood whatever the professor was explaining. The professor is looking for cues -- more or less consciously -- if the students are following. You could nod, simply ignore the question, or take it as a chance to ask for clarification. As a student, I would find this slightly irritating, and it's probably not the most methodical way to ascertain the level of comprehension. In any case, it's mostly a personal quirk to get used to.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: If a professor wants a particular type of response to particular types of phrasings or non-verbal cues, that professor needs to communicate their expectations clearly.
In other words: it's not your job to figure out what the professor wants, it's their job to tell you what they want. So if you're not sure, choose any response that seems reasonable to you.
(I say this as a professor myself, by the way.)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: If the professor is truly asking a rhetorical question, the only reasonable answer would be: "Yes! Isn't hat what you wanted to hear?"
But maybe the professor is just asking politely: "Are you still awake (with me)?"
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: Questions in lectures may also mean "Could you follow me?" or "Please ask if you hadn't this in other lectures so I can repeat the basics". Professors also need to know if they are going too slow or too fast fast, which isn't always obvious.
And depending on the lecture style, you may do the professor a favor by actually answering the question, because maybe he planned to get a short answer and then build up on that. Personally I always wonder why lecturers do ask questions when often nobody will answer, but most lecturers who do this seem not to have a problem continuing after they got silence instead of an answer.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: Usually, rhetorical questions don't have to be answered. Even my family told me that. When professors ask a rhetorical question - the best that you can do is just nod or smirk (friendly ofc), or agree or disagree. When you're trying to answer on rhetorical question - most often the reaction is rather negative or sarcastic.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_7: If the body language of a professor suggests that they are waiting for a response, and if they are staring intensely at a specific student, that would suggest that perhaps the question is not intended as exclusively rhetorical, so perhaps you are misdiagnosing the nature of the question. A simple response would be to answer the question.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_8: It could also be the case that the professor reads from their own several year old lecture notes in which their younger self omitted the actual argument because *they* found it trivial at *that* time. *Now* they are insecure. So `", right?"` could also be some mixture of
1. asking for help in the hope that *someone* (could be you) in the room sees the argument and explains it to everyone,
2. gaining some time to think this over for themselves, and
3. luring you into nodding so that they are relieved from the duty to provide the proof.
All camouflaged as a witty didactical trick. (This is not necessarily not too bad, because it has the chance to activate the audience.)
Not to mention that distinct frowning (effectively returning the ball to them) may be an as legitimate answer as nodding.
Really, professors are not always as well prepared as you might think. For many professors teaching makes up only a comparatatively small piece of their duties.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: It is awkward for both parties if the professor is waiting for an answer and you are hesitating. It may be relieving for you both if you simply respond, perhaps with a counter-question: "Is that a question? No, I don't think so," ideally with a brief rationale for why that's your answer.
If they meant to ask, you have responded appropriately and defused the situation; if they didn't, they will probably stop doing that maneuver once they understand that some students find it confusing.
Among the professors I've had, the vast majority would prefer a student who spoke up and interacted with them over a silent one every time.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_10: Be a respectful adult. The next time you aren't sure how to respond, clearly ask "Is that a question? Is that directed at me?" Use your hands to gain control of the conversation, create a brief exchange to establish explicitly the expectation. In a lighthearted manner with a coyish smile, nod enthusiastically at whatever his response is.
The prof probably is on some level of autopilot and doesn't realize he's spreading anxiety, he's likely just looking for some acknowledgement you aren't sleeping with your eyes open and will almost certainly correct this behavior, which again he's likely unaware of... Turning the tables on him by putting him on the spot unexpectedly will wake him up quick and you can be sure he will be more careful and explicitly direct in the future.
Caution, you'll be creating more conversation in that room forever moving forward, but that's a good thing in theory.
Upvotes: 0
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2022/05/04
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<issue_start>username_0: I am writing this question on behalf of a friend, Alice. Alice is in a US based university working towards earning her Master's of Science in Nursing. This semester, Alice was enrolled in lecture based class with a corresponding clinical class. That is, she worked 250 clinical hours with a nurse practitioner essentially as an unpaid internship. There are multiple instructors for the course, but the main professor Dr. M, oversees both of the courses. She has various TAs (called advisors, they seem to be a few steps above a TA) who oversee subsets of the students. They are tasked with helping with questions, mostly about the clinical process.
The semester has come and gone, grades were due on Sunday, it is now Tuesday. Alice does not have a grade for the clinical course. Dr. M sends an email to Alice's TA and CC's the students she oversees, the email reads as (I don't have access to the exact text, but it was extremely close to this):
>
> Dear TA, It has come to my attention that you have not submitted
> grades for these students. Grades were due Sunday. You have until the
> close of business today to submit grades. If you do not submit grades,
> these students will receive an Incomplete for the course. Dr. M
>
>
>
My question is, **what should Alice do about this**? It is now Wednesday morning with no response.<issue_comment>username_1: This is an email from the PI to the TA.
A copy was sent to the students for information.
Alice should do nothing, this is between the PI and the TA.
Clearly, the PI is already aware of the consequences for the students if the TA does not do their job. The PI is trying to solve the problem by stressing this urgency in their email to the TA. Sending a copy to all the students further emphasises this urgency and informs the students about what is going on.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Alice should wait.
Does any one of these options communicate any further information to the PI? No. The PI is surely aware that the students are unhappy and stressed out about this.
Is the PI sitting on some hidden piece of information that they are unwilling to share with students? Probably not. The situation is clear, namely that Dr. M has no way to assign grades to students if they do not actually have the grades.
If the PI is sitting on some hidden piece of information that he is unwilling to share with students, will Alice's email induce him to share it with her? Certainly not.
"The first thing to discuss is whether Dr. M used a poor choice of wording here and/or was too short in the explanation." Are you actually interested in discussing Dr. M's choice of words? No, presumably you are interested in making sure that Alice gets her grade.
"There is no perceivable action for students to take to correct this." You are absolutely right, so why are you trying to come up with a perceivable action for Alice to take in order to correct this?
"I would like further explanation as to why we may be receiving and incomplete for the quarter when we completed all clinical hours." What kind of further explanation do you imagine there to be, beyond the fact that as a consequence of the TA not providing the grades (for reasons we can only speculate about), Dr. M does not actually have the grades at hand to enter them into the system?
This does not appear to be an actual request for further explanation, but simply an expression of frustration on Alice's part. Really the only thing to note here is that presumably it's not terribly difficult to fill in the incomplete grades after Dr. M is provided with the list of grades. It's not as if this is a permanent situation. Dr. M could have reminded the students of this, but then the email would have lost some of its urgency for the TA.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> The "darker" side of me, somewhat involved in the situation and really not a big fan of Dr. M. by any means, would like Alice to respond to the email ensuring to CC all students along with the graduate program director to bring it to their attention. Alice would respond along the lines of "I am very nonplussed by this situation. I am unsure why the students have been involved in this administrative issue that we have no control over. Is this situation resolved, and if not, when will it be resolved? I would like further explanation as to why we may be receiving and incomplete for the quarter when we completed all clinical hours."
>
>
>
**DO NOT DO THIS** under any circumstances. This behavior is rude at all levels. When people do this sort of thing in an office setting; everyone in the office will remember this person forever. They won't remember Dr. M, or what the email was about, but they will remember Alice and will want to stay as far away from her as possible. It's an instant reputation builder, in the worst way.
My first advice would be to *be patient*; the people who need to know (TA, professor) already know, Alice was CC'd on this as an update and courtesy. The school isn't going to let this status quo stand indefinitely.
If Alice has some immediate need for this grade to be posted, such as if this is threatening timely graduation, the very most I would do is to email *only the professor*, politely, and ask for an update. If Alice knows she really needs the grade resolved by some future date, include that date. No accusations, no demands, just a polite request that makes sure everyone is aware it's still an issue.
It's worth considering that there are many reasons a TA may go briefly missing and be difficult to contact, and those include things that are far more important than Alice's grade in this course: the TA could be ill or injured, or dealing with an ill or injured family member, for example. These things will definitely get sorted out in time, so there is no need for Alice to get aggressive or blame or escalate.
Upvotes: 2
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2022/05/04
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<issue_start>username_0: I need advice on how to cite sources with the same author or same year when there are too many of them. My citations are Chicago style and I am doing (author, date) format. However, I have about 50 podcasts I analyzed from the same year and I have run out of alphabet letter to use the format (Author, 2020a/2020b etc.)
Does anyone know how to deal with this?<issue_comment>username_1: Typically when using letter identifiers the next step after "z" is to begin with double letters. You could go "aa", "ab", "ac", etc, though if you have about 50, I'd probably prefer "aa", "bb", "cc", wrapping to "aaa" if you need (I don't know if Chicago style has a specific solution for this case).
If you're publishing this in a journal, though, your choice of format may not matter too much, as you'll need to defer to the journal's preferred style.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Not an immediate answer to the question but I doubt that you need to put these podcasts into your reference list at all. It depends on what you mean with "analyzed" and the customs in your field.
To me, "analyzed" indicates that the podcasts are your primary research material rather than something that you want to refer to because you reuse or report specific results, ideas, or concepts from another publication. In that case, it may be more appropriate to describe the details of which podcasts you analyse and where you got them from in the text only, maybe also with a dedicated table that lists the titles / publication dates / links for each episode, but not include them in the reference list.
However, what is customary in that respect differs by discipline, so I would recommend to ask your supervisor whether you should put these as citations in your reference list.
Upvotes: 2
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2022/05/04
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a second-year Math and CS undergraduate in the US. I am beginning to consider my prospects for graduate school, or possibly industry research.
My research experience thus far is from an internship at a private company. I do not participate in client work, only in proprietary/confidential R&D. In terms of demonstrating results, my work is *at best* reported in an internal whitepaper or two. Otherwise it's strictly confidential. The only thing I have to show for my work is a cleaned/approved resume blurb.
Thinking about my application from the perspective of a University, I feel like my research experience really just looks like I'm hand-waving results without anything to point to. I really enjoy the work, but I am worried that its lack of visibility will hurt me in the long run when applications roll around and I have nothing tangible to show for it.
Is this a typical concern? Or is this enough of a reason to request to participate in research presented at conferences or switch to research at my University instead?<issue_comment>username_1: If you apply to graduate programs in the US, little in the way of research will be expected of you as few undergraduates have any serious experience.
You can mention proprietary research in your CV, mentioning the name of the company if possible.
If you want it verified by a reader you have a couple of options. One is to use a researcher at the company as one of your letter writers, they can verify that you have been involved. The other way might be better, actually, since letters from academics are a bit more useful. Ask a researcher at the company for permission to give their name (& email) as a contact to verify your participation. If you get permission, then include that information in the CV.
But a professor who knows of your industry work might also be able to put a line in a letter. It wouldn't need detail.
Note that things that others say about you can have more weight than things you say yourself.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, I think lack of visibility hurts a bit - university researchers mostly value the open disclosure model of university research.
Yes, I think it would add value to your resume to be able to show the research you've done in an academic setting. Really, what grad schools are looking for is your *potential to do academic research*. Nothing can substitute for *evidence of doing good academic research* to speak to that potential. You're early enough in your undergrad career that you have time to do academic research, so if your goal is academic research I'd definitely recommend getting involved on the academic side now. The purpose of this isn't just to build a resume, though, it's also *to find out if you **like** doing academic research*.
However, not all applicants will have academic research experience, and [PhD applications are judged as a comprehensive whole, not a single criterion](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38237/how-are-ph-d-applications-evaluated-in-the-us-particularly-for-weak-or-borderl). I think the best thing you can do with your application is to have *strong letters of recommendation that speak to your aptitude for research*. These letters are best from university professors, but your industry superiors (especially if they have academic credentials, at least a PhD of their own) can also assist you to move your research background from "hand-waving" to "tiral's boss says they're a great researcher and would do well as a PhD student". They need not describe the specifics of a project to speak to your skills.
Of course, some companies may forbid this sort of honest letter-writing, which is very unfortunate for you and I have no solution to that problem.
Upvotes: 1 [selected_answer]
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2022/05/04
| 1,271
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<issue_start>username_0: Due to a bad home life and an un-diagnosed attention disorder, I dropped out of high school in 10th grade. After teaching myself some things about computers, I got a job as a mid-level (L4) engineer at Google when I was 20. I'm 22 now and my high school classmates just completed their undergrad degrees. I sometimes feel that I should try to avoid missing out on the chance to get a high quality education.
Would it be possible for me to get into a master's program at the same time as my friends? Would I be able to use my job experience to demonstrate that I have the competency of someone with a bachelor's degree? Or would I be able to demonstrate this competency by taking exams? I don't want to get a bachelor's degree due to my age (I'd be years older than my classmates), and the fact that it probably wouldn't help my career (I already have my dream job).<issue_comment>username_1: This seems unlikely. Especially at a top school. There is too much competition from top students already and you would be a risky choice. Impossible to say until you try, but ...
I'll guess that there are a lot of things you don't know that a typical (top) undergraduate does. They've taken a lot of courses in a lot of things. Just because you can build stuff for Google doesn't imply that you have that breadth of knowledge needed to begin graduate study.
As an example, you might be a Wiz with Oracle and able to do searches and create databases, but still have little or no knowledge of the underlying theory, say B+ Trees and such.
More likely would be a joint BS-MS program where you can earn both degrees in five years. I don't know which schools offer them, but several do. But doing even that while employed at someplace like Google seems like a reach. Both are full time activities.
You might be able to test out of several courses at the right place, however, shortening your time spent.
Perhaps you should talk to an admissions counsellor at some really good school (Stanford if it is close, say) and explore with them what options you have.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I doubt any university, let alone an Ivy, would do this. The admissions committee would likely discard the application outright for lack of transcripts.
There are likely only two exceptions. The first is if you were already famous, well engaged in research with publications in top venues, and had incredibly strong letters of recommendation from the luminaries in your field. You'd also likely need someone with a lot of pull to talk directly to the department chair of the program and dean of the college. The second
involves making a massive financial donation. You would simultaneously have to foster relationships with several staff at the Office of Development.
Also, your apprehension about getting a Bachelors degree, despite being in your early twenties, is largely unwarranted. When going through my Bachelors program, I had peers who were in their late thirties taking the same classes. Some even were married, had kids, and were taking classes at night. My father finished his Bachelors degree well into his sixties. When going for my Ph.D., I had lab mates who were in their early twenties all the way up to early fifties. In short, age really doesn't matter for education.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: You don't say where you are. This answer assumes the United States.
"Dropped out of high school" is going to be a bigger problem for you than the absence of an undergraduate degree. The very first thing you should do is take (and pass) the General Educational Development (GED) exam. That gives you a recognized credential equivalent to high school graduation.
Unless Google has changed in the last dozen years, the lack of a degree will limit your opportunities for advancement there. You are correct that you need to do something more than keep rockin' along.
username_1 has written about joint BS-MS programs, and those exist. Often they are highly selective. The two that I've looked at today require that a student be admitted as a degree-seeking undergraduate, complete a certain number of credit hours, and maintain a certain GPA, in both cases I checked, a 3.5/4 GPA. In short, you'd likely have to meet the requirements for admission as an undergraduate before you could apply for the joint program.
Once you have that GED, it should be possible for you to attend a community college taking evening classes while you continue to work at Google. Do that and make consistent grades of A.
In your second year at the community college, begin applying to joint BS-MS programs. By that point, you will have a solid academic record that will incline admissions committees to take a chance on you.
Another alternative is two years of community college followed by a remote program such as those at Excelsior College. That will earn a BS degree and position you to apply directly to graduate program. You'll have to keep the grades up all along.
This will seem like a long row to hoe, but if you keep your final goal in mind, you might find it easy even though time-consuming.
PS: As someone who earned a Ph.D. late in life, let me tell you that it doesn't get easier as you grow older, so get on with it! You can do it.
Upvotes: 0
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2022/05/04
| 1,510
| 6,105
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<issue_start>username_0: I work in industry. I applied to a good mid-tier biochemistry PhD program and was accepted. College buddies, who are now grad students at prestigious programs are advising me to break my word/signed acceptance to start with this program in the fall and apply to prestigious programs the next application cycle.
The thought of doing this feels horrible. I enjoyed meeting faculty on a visit, and my acceptance took a spot from a hopeful student on the wait list.
At the same time, I'm feeling "FOMO" at the reality of being a less competitive applicant for career opportunities as a result of not attending a top program. I acknowledge that the faculty I spoke to at this mid-tier program all earned their PhDs from top programs. Lastly, I must admit, I dreamed of being at a top program while working in my undergrad years.
I'm torn, and have only heard advice from current grad students on the matter - who are fairly one-sided on what they think is best.
What would you do, personally, in this position?
Thanks for your time.
Edit - I realized I didn't tell you what my goals are! Sorry! I'd like to do research in a government or industrial setting. I'd like to one day work my way up to running a group. I should add that at the time of applying, I was feeling disillusioned with academia as a result of a poor fitting 4-year long mentorship - so I applied to one program where I felt very comfortable. Thanks again.<issue_comment>username_1: Feeling comfortable and happy through your program will be a key to your success so if you like the university and advisor where you have been accepted, I suspect that will be the best spot for you to succeed.
Additionally, if you are ready to start now, I would suggest sticking with your current program. Rescinding your acceptance and going through the application process again will likely take at least a year.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Reality check:
First, "mid tier" schools by a reasonable definition are very good. And most of them have faculty that are there for reasons other than they can't be at a "top tier" school. Life is more pleasant in some places and you can actually have a life.
Second, you aren't guaranteed a place in a top tier school if you turn down this offer. And you lose a year in trying to get in anyway. Maybe longer.
Third, you aren't guaranteed to do as well at a top tier competitive place as you might at a mid tier school.
I went to a mid tier place (ranked around 50) and we had several (several) world class mathematicians on the faculty. Some of them wrote the definitive (grad level) textbooks in their specialty. The faculty was good. The students were good. The local atmosphere was good.
Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Don't feel bad that you only got the Ferrari when, maybe (maybe) you coulda got the Lambo.
Your future career will depend on a lot of things the ranking of the university at which you earn your doctorate isn't the major one. You can go to Yale and do poorly and squeak by but end up unprepared for the career you want.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: If your goal is not academia focused, pedigree matters very little. As long as your program is accredited and produces publishable research, you will be fine.
I have many contacts in government research and industry. They are men and women of influence in their field. They have PhDs from universities we've heard of (Washington State, U of New Mexico, Nevada-Reno, Central Michigan, etc.). No one cares that they did not go to Harvard or Berkeley. (And they get paid the same as if they had).
When I was deciding on PhD programs, I got into some top tier programs and I got into some mid tier programs. I ended up going to one of the lowest ranked schools I got into because it worked better for my family situation. For a long time it was a bit hard to swallow that I could have gone to a top 20 program and instead went to a program that USNews does not rank highly. Yet, here I am, working alongside (and managing) people who went to much more "prestigious" programs.
Program fit **and your personal happiness** are critical for success in a PhD program.
---
p.s. A USNews Top 50 program is actually pretty good. Those are some good universities.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: [The best students in "mid-tier" programs publish more than the average student in the most prestigious programs.](https://mviz.medium.com/phd-students-should-choose-schools-at-random-50dd32cc2215) There are many factors that help explain this.
1. Happiness - being below average is quite discouraging and we compare ourselves to our peers.
2. Resources - as a top student you will win a larger percentage of internal funding.
3. Professor attention - as a top student professors will want to work with you. You'll often have more attention from your supervisor, but you'll also get more attention from other professors. Nothing makes a professor happier than working with a really good student.
In general, a huge predictor of success and happiness is how well you perform relative to your peers. All else being equal, I'd argue that you want to be in a program where you will be in the top 10% of your graduating class.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: In addition to the other fine answers, you might consider this: if you want to excel as a research group leader, you are going to need people skills -- confidence, rhetoric, leadership -- along with your core competency. You will also need some grounding in business administration subjects, for setting up your department hierarchy, navigating grant applications, etc.
You can gain exposure to these skills in a number of ways. Audit business admin classes. Join student council and get on a committee.
Off-campus, join Toastmasters or a similar self-improvement club. Volunteer for community projects. Coach little league.
You will have more time for these activities in the relaxed atmosphere of a mid-tier university community than if you are pushing yourself to excel in a more intense school.
Upvotes: 0
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2022/05/04
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| 4,879
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm taking my qualifying exam next Friday and I'm wondering what I should do the day before to help reduce my anxiety. Do you recommend last-minute studying or taking the day off to relax and reflect?<issue_comment>username_1: Feeling comfortable and happy through your program will be a key to your success so if you like the university and advisor where you have been accepted, I suspect that will be the best spot for you to succeed.
Additionally, if you are ready to start now, I would suggest sticking with your current program. Rescinding your acceptance and going through the application process again will likely take at least a year.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Reality check:
First, "mid tier" schools by a reasonable definition are very good. And most of them have faculty that are there for reasons other than they can't be at a "top tier" school. Life is more pleasant in some places and you can actually have a life.
Second, you aren't guaranteed a place in a top tier school if you turn down this offer. And you lose a year in trying to get in anyway. Maybe longer.
Third, you aren't guaranteed to do as well at a top tier competitive place as you might at a mid tier school.
I went to a mid tier place (ranked around 50) and we had several (several) world class mathematicians on the faculty. Some of them wrote the definitive (grad level) textbooks in their specialty. The faculty was good. The students were good. The local atmosphere was good.
Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Don't feel bad that you only got the Ferrari when, maybe (maybe) you coulda got the Lambo.
Your future career will depend on a lot of things the ranking of the university at which you earn your doctorate isn't the major one. You can go to Yale and do poorly and squeak by but end up unprepared for the career you want.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: If your goal is not academia focused, pedigree matters very little. As long as your program is accredited and produces publishable research, you will be fine.
I have many contacts in government research and industry. They are men and women of influence in their field. They have PhDs from universities we've heard of (Washington State, U of New Mexico, Nevada-Reno, Central Michigan, etc.). No one cares that they did not go to Harvard or Berkeley. (And they get paid the same as if they had).
When I was deciding on PhD programs, I got into some top tier programs and I got into some mid tier programs. I ended up going to one of the lowest ranked schools I got into because it worked better for my family situation. For a long time it was a bit hard to swallow that I could have gone to a top 20 program and instead went to a program that USNews does not rank highly. Yet, here I am, working alongside (and managing) people who went to much more "prestigious" programs.
Program fit **and your personal happiness** are critical for success in a PhD program.
---
p.s. A USNews Top 50 program is actually pretty good. Those are some good universities.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: [The best students in "mid-tier" programs publish more than the average student in the most prestigious programs.](https://mviz.medium.com/phd-students-should-choose-schools-at-random-50dd32cc2215) There are many factors that help explain this.
1. Happiness - being below average is quite discouraging and we compare ourselves to our peers.
2. Resources - as a top student you will win a larger percentage of internal funding.
3. Professor attention - as a top student professors will want to work with you. You'll often have more attention from your supervisor, but you'll also get more attention from other professors. Nothing makes a professor happier than working with a really good student.
In general, a huge predictor of success and happiness is how well you perform relative to your peers. All else being equal, I'd argue that you want to be in a program where you will be in the top 10% of your graduating class.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: In addition to the other fine answers, you might consider this: if you want to excel as a research group leader, you are going to need people skills -- confidence, rhetoric, leadership -- along with your core competency. You will also need some grounding in business administration subjects, for setting up your department hierarchy, navigating grant applications, etc.
You can gain exposure to these skills in a number of ways. Audit business admin classes. Join student council and get on a committee.
Off-campus, join Toastmasters or a similar self-improvement club. Volunteer for community projects. Coach little league.
You will have more time for these activities in the relaxed atmosphere of a mid-tier university community than if you are pushing yourself to excel in a more intense school.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: Who owns (US) private non-profit universities ? I understand that being non-profit means that no one receives dividends. However does it mean that no one owns a private non-profit university? Can someone decide to sell a private non-profit university ?<issue_comment>username_1: There are a range of possible legal structures that can be used for a non-profit organisation. Some non-profit organisations are non-stock corporations, some are private companies limited by shares, some are other types of incorporated associations, and some are run through trusts. The particular corporate/trust structure can vary, so you would need to look at each non-profit univeristy on a case-by-case basis. The taxation rules for exempt organisations (including non-profits and other types) are set out in Sections 501-530 of the *Internal Revenue Code* (26 US Code, Subchapter F). An exempt organisation can include an organisation "...organized and operated exclusively for ... educational purposes..." (s 501(c)(3)) if it meets the exemption requirements; organisations falling within this section are non-profits. Section 503 of the Code removes the tax-exempt status of the organisation for a period if it engages in a "prohibited transaction", which can include certain sales of securities or property.
Depending on the underlying legal structure, there will be mechanisms by which positions in the organisation can be transferred from one holder to another (e.g., transfer of shares, transfer of other appointments, etc.), and a mechanism to wind the organisation up entirely. However, the non-profit status of the organisation usually requires that its controllers cannot obtain a financial benefit for shares in the organisation, so it would usually not be allowable to "sell" shares in the organisation for consideration. What would usually happen instead is that any sales of property in the organisation would need to be applied to its objective, which is for educational purposes.
This is all quite a complex area of corporate/organisational law, equity/trusts, and taxation law, so take my answer with a grain of salt. To get a specific understanding of the rules for a particular non-profit university you would need to find out its underlying legal structure and the relevant laws that apply to non-profit organisations of that kind in the particular jurisdiction(s) it is in.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Who owns (US) private non-profit universities?
>
>
>
In the United States, [no one "owns" a non-profit](https://charitylawyerblog.com/2022/01/17/who-owns-a-nonprofit-corporation/). Rather, non-profits are administered by a board of directors. It's possible that this board consists only of one person; this is the closest you can come to being the "owner" of a non-profit.
>
> Can someone decide to sell a private non-profit university?
>
>
>
Yes, but what would you with the proceeds? After liabilities are paid, a defunct nonprofit must transfer its assets [to another nonprofit or to the Government](https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/charity-required-provisions-for-organizing-documents). In particular, the board could not pocket the proceeds personally. Thus, a viable nonprofit is more likely to talk of "merging itself" with another nonprofit (i.e., dissolving itself and transferring its assets -- and possibly its leadership / philosophy -- to another nonprofit) rather than being "sold."
The situation is essentially the same for public non-profits, except that many public universities are governed by specific legislation. For example, [Article IX of the Constitution of the State of California](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CONS§ionNum=SEC.%209.&article=IX) states that the University of California will be a "public trust, to be administered by the existing corporation known as 'The Regents of the University of California' with full powers of organization and government." Thus, the University of California could not sell itself entirely (or otherwise dissolve itself) without a constitutional amendment. It could sell one or more of its campuses; however, it would be required by state law to follow a competitive bidding procedure. And again, the board could not personally profit from this sale.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: One referee comment says that "Not sure the colormap shows up well in black and white". Two figures in my manuscript are shown below. Do I have to change the colormap settings? If I do, how do I ensure that the colormap shows well in black and white?
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8IkOy.png)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SRIjY.png)
These figures are drawn from <https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.11964><issue_comment>username_1: Another option to printing in black and white would be testing your figure using a website such as [Coblis —
Color Blindness Simulator](https://www.color-blindness.com/coblis-color-blindness-simulator/).
This way you can upload your figure and see what it would look like in a monochromatic view to see if someone who is colourblind can understand it. If you need to use a different colourblind friendly palette that works well in black and white you can check out a few of these links:
* [Coloring for Colorblindness](https://davidmathlogic.com/colorblind/#%23D81B60-%231E88E5-%23FFC107-%23004D40)
* [Cookbook for R — Colors (ggplot2)](http://www.cookbook-r.com/Graphs/Colors_(ggplot2)/)
Hope this helps!
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If you do not have access to a printer, you can select "Adobe PDF" as your "printer" and then in the printer dialog box change the settings to grayscale or black and white, then save a black and white pdf version of the document and see how it looks.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: [username_1's answer (Coblis)](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/184958/80550) is my usual goto tool, but for those that are interested, [GIMP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP) has an easy-to-use [desaturate](https://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-filter-desaturate.html) tool that gets the job done as well. For those wanting to go a step further and test their image for different types of colorblindness, GIMP also has some [display filters](https://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-display-filter-dialog.html) to check that.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: For scientific visualistion one can use perceptually uniform [scientific colormaps](https://www.fabiocrameri.ch/visualisation/#ws-block-features-with-aside-icons-3-cols-mQE9rwEn)
* color gradients for partial human colour-vision deficiency ( CVD)
* gray gradients for total color blindness ( [it is very rare but exist](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19160-7.epdf?sharing_token=R_K<PASSWORD>%3D))
Matplotlib has [Perceptually Uniform Sequential color maps](https://matplotlib.org/stable/tutorials/colors/colormaps.html), so user has only to choose such map.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: I use a tool called [ColorOracle](https://colororacle.org). It’s a color blindness simulator that, in addition to grey scale, can also simulate the three most common forms of color blindness. It’s great for checking for accessibility when making presentations or designing figures for publications. Very easy to use, too. I highly recommend it.
And the best part — it’s available on Windows, Mac, and Linux!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: I believe these colormaps are already hard to interpret, even with full color perception. Ranges of values are usually represented by colors going from "cold" (blue or green) to "hot" (yellow or red). In the plots you presented, I would intuitively expect that yellow and green curves represent values which are close to each other, but in fact they are opposite!
With black and white printing, you are essentially limited to shades of grey. You usually don't want to use very light shades as your curves will be almost invisible, so the usable range is somewhere between (25% .. 50%) light grey and (near 100%) black.
There are colormaps with monotonous brightness, which map well to black and white. One example is colors going from dark blue via green to yellow. Another intuitive option is to go from black via red to yellow, which is sometimes known as "heat colors":
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xLtQD.png)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: "how do I ensure that the colormap shows well in black and white?"
I am not sure that you can have a reliable transferrable method. You can fix this problem for these specific graphs.
Focus on the story the data is showing (here it looks like there are lines that drift lower towards the bottom right). Emphasize that location, de-emphasize the rest of the panel.
Understand you have a fundamentally 3D (vertical, horizontal, color) plot with several line traces.
Here are options that i can see.
#1. recreate the color map from a visible light/medium grey to black. the lines on the plot that appear important to me are on the 'upper' end of the color spectrum, so that should be the blackest end of the spectrum. that will ensure emphasis on the 'deviant' track lines (both shown lower on the vertical axis). The overlapping lines will be assisted by reducing opacity (i.e. 'alpha'). You will need to tune both the color spectrum and the opacity to fit the needs. All color mappings should be as consistent as possible between different graphs. This option would also require replacing the broken 'global' line with 'x' or 'o' or some other distinguishing marker shape.
#1 continued. This grey/black option might further be assisted by accentuating the log nature of the color spectrum. Currently, it looks like log base 10, you could push that log base in either direction and see how that accentuates the point in the plots you want to emphasize. You will need a bit of expertise to do that effectively. I personally would not worry about the numerical nature of the plot as much as i would the narrative surrounding it, but its not my paper.
OR
#2 abandon color as the representation of the 3rd dimension. Replace color with height using a 3D surface plot with line tracks. This might or might not work well, depending on your comfort level, as it is fundamentally a visual illusion of representing a 3D plot on a 2D piece of virtual paper. This is a viable option here specifically because the highest 'peak' will not meaningfully obscure lower peaks when oriented correctly, meaning the graph could remain static (i.e. simple printed static image).
OR
#2 continued. keep color and use the 3D surface height in combination. The two representations indicate the same data, but its redundant.
OR
#3 leave the color plot as is and add an interactive element... either on this visualization or an additional visualization. For example, Plotly creates .html with hover capabilities. This way, the user can mouse hover over individual points and get a full text breakdown of whatever string you want.
OR
#4 just say no and leave it as is. being perfectly honest, these are not the most beautiful graphs, but its not an art contest, *the data is effectively represented* in its current form, assuming the emphasis is on the lower right deviant tracks. if the emphasis is elsewhere, you need more than a color reimagining.
either/both #1 and #2 are likely your best bets, but both would require some amount of skill, design sense, and expertise to render effectively.
Happy plotting! gl
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_8: I like the cubehelix colour palette
* <https://jiffyclub.github.io/palettable/cubehelix>
* [https://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/~dag/CUBEHELIX](https://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/%7Edag/CUBEHELIX)
which was designed to degrade gracefully to greyscale without losing information. It was created to vary smoothly in both lightness and hue, so that it looks okay in both colour and greyscale.
The cubehelix has parameters that you can tune to change the exact way it transitions between colours.
In Python you can implement this with: `cmap='cubehelix'`. Here is an example:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bJhf7.png)
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an economics undergraduate, and I applied abroad for my master’s. Luckily, I was admitted to two top schools – one in Germany, other in France. I have spoken with students from both schools, their programme directors, my professors and, in general, weighted the pros and cons of living and studying in them.
The result from all this is that I am still very uncertain which programme to choose. There are plenty of differences, but the most important distinguishing factor is that one is a PhD-programme (MSc included) with funding while the other is a MSc and no funding (However, entrance to PhD-programme with funding after first year is guaranteed if grades are good enough. On the flip side of the coin, funding as well as the right to continue PhD studies ceases in the other programme if grades drop below a certain threshold.) For completeness, I should add that I am very interested in doing a PhD but I am not interested in an academic career.
I have decided to visit both schools in person in the near-future and make my decision after that. My question is that is this a good idea and second, are there specific factors or things that I should pay attention to in my visit? I am wondering if there are certain things that I can and should investigate better in-person.<issue_comment>username_1: First, if you want a doctorate (for any reason) then I'd weigh the actual doctoral program quite a bit higher. Language might weigh one way or the other also.
But for the question itself, I'd think the most important thing is that you find a way to speak with some faculty and get an idea about how it would be to work with them. Visit a class if possible to see them in action. Visit the coffee lounge if there is one and listen for interactions. Often grad students are welcome there. If language is a consideration, consider how comfortable you are, especially if you aren't proficient in one or both languages.
Then, talk to some graduate students to get a sense about how they feel about working there. Helpful professors? Any frustrations? Seminars available and useful? Have coffee with a few students. Adequate office space? Private? Shared? Or just a desk in a big room.
It is probably also worth the time to walk around the local community/city and get a sense about what it would be like to live there for a few years.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You wrote in the comments:
>
> For two years the cost differential of choosing B is approximately -30K (including the stipend + tuition fees).
>
>
>
Unless you are already wealthy, this is a huge amount. Especially if you’d have to take out loans to compensate for the lack of funding. So, it is already clear (to me, at least) that you should attend option A unless there is something huge problem that makes success at option A very unlikely.
I see no reason not to go visit as you suggest. Especially if (as is usually the case in Europe) this would allow you to meet your prospective advisor. But I think there is only one real consideration: is A so much worse than B that you’re willing to give up $30k at such an early stage of your career.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm originally from the UK and did my PhD there. After that I left the UK and have over 10 years experience in academia, but my positions have all been research-only. I have never given lectures (aside from a couple of guest lectures at summer schools) and never supervised a student.
Now I desperately want to move back to the UK, and ideally, to get a permanent academic position there. However, it seems that all(?) such positions in the UK have a substantial teaching component. Applying for them is depressing, because although I probably score reasonably well on the research side of the requirements I have absolutely zero experience or qualifications for the teaching side of a UK academic post, and I probably wouldn't be able to carry out the teaching duties without some fairly substantial support.
(This is not to say I'm unwilling to teach - it's actually something I've always wanted to do - I just don't have any experience or knowledge about it.)
So my question is, what can I do about this situation? How does one go about getting into academic teaching, especially in the UK, if one only has research experience? Is it realistic to apply for lecturer positions, and if so, how can I write an effective job application despite my complete lack of experience for a key part of the position?
Or alternatively, are there other kinds of position I could be applying for besides lecturer, which would make use of my research skills while preparing me for a teaching position in the future? If it's necessary I don't mind dropping back an academic rank or two, or even accepting a non-permanent position, but I would imagine most postdoc positions wouldn't be suitable, and because of being outside the UK system for so long I don't have much idea what else is available.
Since this is likely to be field-dependent: I'm pretty interdisciplinary, but I'm aiming mostly at computer science departments.<issue_comment>username_1: Answers to this are going to be very field dependent. In my field (Molecular Biology/Computational Biology), very few people have much in the way of teaching experience when they are appointed to lectureship positions, even though the jobs have a large amount of teaching associated with them.
At research intensive institutions your research record, and how confident the hiring panel is that you have fundable ideas for a research program will be far more important than any teaching experience. Hiring committees tend to assume that because they managed when dumped in front of a class of a 100 undergrads with no experience, then anyone can. Has the risk of ending up with a lot of unhappy undergrads and an academic who spends a lot of there time doing something they have no training in (welcome to having a faculty job - 50% teaching with out teacher training, 50% managing the research of others without any management training). Actually, this isn't quite true. Most instructions will require new hires to do a Post-Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning.
If you want to avoid teaching, then you need to be looking at one of the small number of research institutions that are semi or fully independent of universities. But competition for jobs at these is even more fierce.
In other fields - notably the arts and humanities, I think teaching experience is genuinely required in order to be hired at this level, but I'll let others comment on that.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Most UK permanent lectureships will require teaching.
An option you could consider is applying for an independent research fellowship. These can be very prestigious (and competitive) and are hosted at a UK institution. You don't need to be currently employed at the host institution, but do need to seek their support for your application (it's often in their interest to do so - effectively a free experienced researcher to boost their profile).
Once you hold a fellowship at a UK institution you could potentially gain teaching experience with the aim of applying for a permanent position in the future (unlikely a department will refuse teaching help!). It is very common for holders of such research fellowships to move to a permanent position either at their host institution or another during/after the fellowship tenure. Of course there are no guarantees, but many/most elite universities in the UK are far more interested in your research than teaching experience.
For example (from STEM):
* The [Royal Society Research Professorship](https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/grants/research-professorship/) targets 'world-class' researchers who wish to relocate to the UK.
* The [EPSRC Open Fellowship](https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/epsrc-open-fellowship/) has no residence restrictions (>4 years research experience in your field)
* [Wellcome Trust Career Development Award](https://wellcome.org/grant-funding/schemes/career-development-awards) for mid-career researchers.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am completing my masters in a few months, and going for a job. I want to pursue my doctorate after 3-4 years of working. Is it better to speak with professors now, if they want to be my guide once I come back? Or better to reach them when I finally decide to come back to the university and start preparing for the entrance exam for Ph.D. ? (That is a few years from now).<issue_comment>username_1: Even if you don't want to work with them in the future, or change your mind one way or another, it is good to reach out while you still have an active connection to them. If nothing else, you will want letters of recommendation from them and it is all too easy for a professor to lose track of you over a few years. They have other students they are more actively thinking about after even a couple of years.
If you speak to them (preferable to writing) you can also ask what you might do in the interim to increase your chances of success in a doctoral program.
Note that in some places a professor might have little to say about graduate admissions (US, in particular, where it is a committee decision). But you still want to prepare them for a future ask. A wise professor will keep some notes about you, or even preemptively write a LoR and file it for future use so they don't forget details that might help.
I've been in that situation as a professor and had to ask the student to remind me of a few interactions we had to jog my memory.
No one, of course, will agree now to admit you in 3-4 years as things will likely change. They might not even be around then for various reasons.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: No harm in engaging with your current supervisor about this as you have that connection already. They may also provide advice about things you can keep in mind while working, and what to do when ready to start your PhD. So for that reason, I'd recommend talking with them now than after 3-4 years working without contact.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: As a student, it frustrates me when a professor gives us an assignment with a deadline, but then waits a month (or sometimes more!) before returning the assignment to us.
I realize that professors are busy people and are often teaching many classes, but it feels unfair when I as a student have consequences for not meeting my deadline, but the professor doesn't have any consequences when they don't grade our first test until after we take our second test.
I want to hear the perspectives of professors and other academics: should professors have deadlines for returning graded assignments (beyond just the end of the semester)? If so, what would reasonable deadlines be for different assignments? I'm sure, after all, that papers and tests take longer to grade than pass/fail reflection papers. Do other universities already have systems like this in place?
I realize that waiting to grade assignments does give the professor a chance to show mercy to students who sometimes turn in their assignments late and that I've been a beneficiary of this mercy before, but the fairness of that to students who do put in the time to finish an assignment on time is a whole other issue that I'm sure is covered elsewhere on this site. I just want to hear from others what their perspective on assignments being graded late is.
I also know that some larger universities employ teacher assistants to manage this part of the job, so how does this effect the issue?<issue_comment>username_1: I'm leaving the question if this question is on-topic to others.
Let's consider the question of *why* there are deadlines for students for handing in assignments:
* it introduces a time point at which assignments can be discussed in class
* it helps with making sure that the assignment parts are "done" before the exam (which has to be scheduled to a fixed date by the core concept of an exam)
* it also forces students that are intrinsically motivated to invest time in the course's content early so that they have a better chance of following the lectures
There are surely some more that I've forgotten. Some of these reasons are such that the deadlines are actually required to make the course organization work. Let's now consider the question *why* it would be helpful for the student to have feedback by a certain deadline (or just "early" in general):
* it helps with finding out early if the student is still on the right track to learning
* it provides feedback earlier so that the feedback can be "processed" when the concepts are still a bit fresh in the students' minds.
So in both cases, deadlines have a role. But what would happen if the professors have (more) strict deadlines? Then they would suddenly take priority over other tasks of the professors, which many students are not aware of:
* writing research grants - deadlines for other tasks increase the risk of missing deadlines here
* administration - other things are likely to become late.
* publication deadlines are more likely to be missed
The question here is if the positive impact on the students getting feedback early is worth the downsides of a worse performance on these tasks. And it should be noted that different institutions have different answers to this. Some for instance have a maximum span for exam grading, others don't. And homework grading is likely not seen as a priority in many cases.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: *This question as formulated may be opinion-based. Still, I'll take a whack at it.*
>
> Should professors have deadlines for returning graded assignments (beyond just the end of the semester)?
>
>
>
*Should* is a difficult word. Personally, I've long felt that both instructors and students should try to do things right away when possible. There is never a perfect time to do/grade an assignment, and attempting to do it right away will prevent oneself from becoming inundated by deadlines. Both instructors and students seem to have an irrational desire to postpone doing unavoidable work until "the last minute" (or later), which I've never understood.
As a practical matter, I think a policy requiring this would be very hard to enforce. At a major research university (so-called "R1s"), professors are researchers first and teachers second. They have many deadlines: grant proposal deadlines, proposals and reports related to their grants with hard deadlines, presentations that must be prepared for, lectures that must be prepared for, meetings with collaborators at which one must show results, etc. Trying to set a "strict" policy (e.g., return assignments within one week) would rightfully lead to some pushback. Setting a "soft" policy (e.g., return assignments within a week unless you're busy doing something else) would be meaningless; everyone could up with some excuse for being late, and no one wants to tell their colleagues how to manage their time.
>
> If so, what would reasonable deadlines be for different assignments?
>
>
>
As a rule of thumb, I would say that papers and exams should be returned at least a few days before the next one is submitted. Homework should be returned within a few weeks. But again, I am only proposing this as a guideline.
>
> I realize that waiting to grade assignments does give the professor a chance to show mercy to students who sometimes turn in their assignments late
>
>
>
It may make sense for the professor's grading timetable to be intertwined with the late policy. I've suggested this [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/140227). But in other cases, the schedule / late policy may have been designed with other considerations in mind, and so these two things are completely unrelated. For example, in a foreign language course, it is essential that students learn the current grammar/vocabulary before moving on, and so due dates should be quite strict regardless of how far behind the professor's grading is.
>
> I also know that some larger universities employ teacher assistants to manage this part of the job, so how does this effect the issue?
>
>
>
Yes, the above reasoning doesn't apply so much to teaching assistants, and perhaps also not to faculty whose primary job is instruction (e.g., at teaching colleges or community colleges). Naively, it seems like stricter policies would make more sense for these institutions (though it's quite possible I'm wrong about this; perhaps someone with more experience at such institutions will correct me).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: There **is** such a requirement at my institution - currently coursework marks and feedback has to be returned within 20 working days, and there is pressure for this to be reduced.
However, if you have a large class and a (necessarily) complex coursework then it can be very difficult to turn around the marking in that timespan. I try to avoid doing nothing but marking all day everyday for weeks because it is difficult to maintain the required concentration/fairness when you get tired.
One solution is to have more than one marker, but that introduces variability and the need for second marking/moderation, which has to be done afterwards, and that means parallel marking by N markers is no where near N times faster. The moderation has to be done by one person (for consistency) and the more markers you have, the greater the proportion of the total time must be reserved for moderation.
Another solution is to have purely summative assessment (mark but no feedback - e.g. most formal exams) which can make marking more efficient. Unfortunately there are some topics where this is not the case (e.g. marking code style/structure in programming). It also means that the students don't get feedback that might help them improve, however some students never look at feedback, just the marks (back in the day when feedback was written on paper, but the marks available on-line, a fair fraction of scripts were never collected).
There is also the problem with student having extensions due to "extenuating circumstances" (e.g. health problems). They can't have a submission date that is *after* the coursework and feedback is returned to the students as that potentially gives them an unfair academic advantage. So reducing the time available for returning marks also reduces the scope for accommodating student's extenuating circumstances.
On the other hand, where feedback is given, it needs to be given in time for students to have the opportunity to do something with it (whether they take that opportunity is another matter) and for the coursework to still be reasonably fresh in their minds. For one of my programming courses, the lab session immediately after the first coursework is returned to the students is reserved for them to implement the suggestions in the feedback and get further feedback on the improvments from the teaching assistants. This isn't always feasible, but in this case the lab session is the first of the following semester, so it works quite nicely.
So if students want marks/feedback sooner, it is likely to compromise marking and feedback quality, as a lot of work goes into it already, and it takes time to do well. I should mention that when the deadline for marking was introduced, there was no commensurate reduction in expectations for the other activities, such as research and administration that I also have to do. Often faculty time is treated as infinitely fungible and inexhaustible - but it isn't!
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: <https://www.qualitymatters.org/> The Quality Matters instructional standards handle the issue by requiring a syllabus statement about assignment (and communication) turnaround times. Such a statement is not a hard commitment, but once it is out there it is typically followed (except for obvious exceptions like illness etc). At my institution there are not requirements for turnaround, but there are institutional norms and I have been questioned by the other faculty if I am outside of the norms.
Upvotes: 2
|
2022/05/06
| 804
| 3,140
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm very careful with visual appearance of what I write, and I want to know if there is some convention with the font used in the graphs or diagrams of an article. Normally the articles are written with the defoult LaTex font,
* LaTex font, `Tex`
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NG6Dn.png)
But in the other hand there are a lot of articles in internet that for the graphics use the default font of python matplotlib, that I have seen a lot in sites as [SciPost](https://scipost.org/) for example,
* Python font `sans-serif`
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/5NkBz.png)
Wich one do you think is better or more appropiate for an article?, or if exist some convention that tells the graphics should be in the same font that the article.
What you do in your articles?<issue_comment>username_1: I will cite from a contribution by <NAME> (see reference below):
>
> Sans serif fonts are ideal for graphics because they have a cleaner appearance, enabling your reader to quickly read the text unimpeded as they work through your data. Many people have a strong aversion to Times font in graphics, particularly in chemical structures (e.g., ChemDraw images), and thus a standard Arial or Helvetica font will avoid such an effect.
>
>
>
This is pretty much in line with what I think is aesthetic, but surely it is partly a matter of personal preference. And, as usual, when preparing graphics for publication in a journal, consult the corresponding author guidelines. Often, journals have specific requirements for formatting.
---
**Reference:**
<NAME>, "Which Font Looks Best in a Figure?", *Chem. Mater.* **2016**, *28*, 3, 689–690. <https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b00306>
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: For the most part the choice of font is a matter of taste (on which I am mostly neutral).
There is one exception: When possible mathematical symbols should appear in the same font as they appear in the main text. For mathematical symbols, different typesetting is often used to convey different meanings. Consequently, even when your text does not ascribe a different meaning to x in a serif font vs x in a sans-serif font, having a different symbol appear in your graphics can lead to unnecessary confusion among your readers.
(This effect is amplified for the typesetting of non-latin characters.)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: The best font for scientific diagrams and graphs is the **same font** or fonts that are used in the main text of the paper itself. This consistency is particularly important for mathematics, where the way how each symbol appears may significantly impact what this particular symbol means.
The way to achieve is for example to embed graphs as pdf+LaTeX or TikZ in your main TeX-based document. Alternatively, you may need to set up your graph-drawing software with the fonts used in the style file of your target journal, which may not be easy to find and also may be subject to change.
Upvotes: 3
|
2022/05/06
| 590
| 2,473
|
<issue_start>username_0: I defended my master’s thesis in engineering. My advisor didn't help me much.
Now he wants to publish the thesis as a scientific article. Even if he will write the article, I don't want the project to be published for several reasons:
I didn't like the topic that much and I don't have time, energy and interest anymore. The method has some serious issues and needs more work. I don't feel comfortable with publishing the thesis as it is now because I think it's really bad honestly, but at the same time I really don't want to spend energy explaining what to further work on, cleaning the code etc.
This thesis was really psychologically stressful for me, I felt desperate and alone; and I would like to just say no and close this chapter forever. I don't know if I am obliged to send the codes and data or if I can refuse doing so.
Does someone have any suggestion on how I should proceed?
I am 100% sure I will not work in academia, so I don't even care about publishing in view of a possible PhD.<issue_comment>username_1: You don't say where you are located. In Germany, you are the author of your thesis, so you hold the copyright and can decide what you want to do with the written expression of your research. If you were paid for by the university, you *may* have signed away a right to use the results research, so you will have to check anything you have signed. This is a complex problem, it is usually better to get this sorted out before you begin working, but it crops up usually when the research is over.
If the professor publishes without your permission, you then may want to publish a paper discussing this issues you have identified :)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Publication ethics require the permission of all authors to publish. So no, your supervisor cannot force you. This ethical requirement applies even if your supervisor holds the copyright for some reason.
That said, there is probably no downside for you to allow your supervisor to use their time to publish the paper. If your work is not medical and not on a controversial social issue, it's likely any real or perceived methodological issues will not impact your non-academic career. If the supervisor wastes their time on a rejected submission, that won't impact you.
Refusing permission will hurt your reputation.
>
> I don't know if I am obliged to send the codes and data
>
>
>
Providing them would be a more ethical choice.
Upvotes: 3
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2022/05/06
| 1,180
| 4,670
|
<issue_start>username_0: As a Canadian undergraduate student, I have access to all [Springer](https://link.springer.com/) books on their website, provided that I log in with my institutional account. Springer books can be downloaded as PDF files.
Because I prefer physical copies of academic titles for reading convenience, I want to print the entire PDF file of a Springer book that I'm interested in.
Is it legal to do this?<issue_comment>username_1: [Fair dealing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_dealing_in_Canadian_copyright_law) addresses exceptions to activity that would otherwise be copyright infringement, similar to "fair use" in the US.
I'm not a lawyer, and don't live in Canada, but it seems to me that the exceptions for private study would cover making a physical copy of a work you otherwise have access to. Some other reading:
<https://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/academic-integrity/copyright/fair-dealing>
<https://www.ualberta.ca/faculty-and-staff/copyright/intro-to-copyright-law/fair-dealing/index.html>
<https://uwaterloo.ca/copyright-at-waterloo/faq-1-5>
However, I think it is far more likely that you'd be infringing the terms and conditions of the website that you use to access the digital resources; even if you aren't infringing copyright, you could be violating something you've agreed to by using the site. If it's prohibited by the terms, you'll have to weigh the value of the physical copy against the risk that those terms are enforceable and the publisher chooses to enforce them.
I don't know what terms that apply to you specifically through the access you have through your institution, but on Springer's site I see this at <https://link.springer.com/termsandconditions> ...
>
> 1.2 You may solely for private, educational, personal, scientific, or research purposes access, browse, view, display, search, download **and print** the Content.
>
>
>
So, assuming those are the terms that you use the site under, it seems like they're explicitly giving you permission to print for your own use.
I would also consider that there may be existing physical copies in your vicinity, such as at your institution's physical library or a public library in your city. Using those resources, if the particular book you want is available, would save you the costs of printing and waste produced.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This will differ a bit from the good [answer of username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/185038/75368). I won't repeat what he says. And IANAL, so this is informal advice only.
There is one advantage of a printed copy in that you can easily annotate it by writing in the margins. There are electronic versions of this for PDFs, but I find them inconvenient at best.
Also, some systems make it difficult to read PDFs without actually downloading them to your own system. So, prohibiting downloads seems to be a lost cause.
But, if you are printing only for your own personal use and not for distribution, then, since you have been give access to the content itself, the medium you use to read it is of less (but not zero) concern.
The reason for this answer, however, is to point out a general principle of the law, observed many (most? all?) places and that is that "The Law does not concern itself with trifles."
Your personal use of a printed copy doesn't lessen the value of the material to the publisher, since you already have permission for the material itself.
So, I'd wager that any infraction would be so minuscule that no legal authority would think it worth any effort to stop it. This assumes a single copy for personal use when permission to use the material has already been granted.
Laws differ everywhere, of course, but here is some information specific to Canada.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Ask them.
>
> Is it legal to do this?
>
>
>
Who else would be able to sate definitively (apart from a judge) that this is allowed or not, except the copyright holders?
Now maybe you don't want to draw Springer's attention to yourself, so maybe you could ask the college to ask as a general rule. However, they're probably more likely to say "yes" to a single student than to a college. But one way or another, they are the people to ask. The Internet can't really give you a definitive answer.
**An alternative**
Ask the college library (by email so you have proof) if you can do this. They might be very conservative about this, as they will be keen to avoid crossing Springer (or other copyright holders), but they may also be able to give you a statement of what you can and cannot do according to their agreement with them.
Upvotes: -1
|
2022/05/07
| 2,086
| 8,529
|
<issue_start>username_0: After an undergrad degree in mathematics, I am doing a PhD in theoretical computer science. To satisfy my PhD program’s requirements, I'm taking a very challenging coding class this semester. I know how to code, but this course is more like a systems programming class and not something I'm used to. However, I have been doing all the assignments of the class.
The professor is quite a tough grader, willing to give a 0 in the whole assignment for compilation errors. Although the average of the class is quite low, I have been performing way below the average (typically in the last 15%) in every single assignment and exam. The professor has said that every one of our assignments/exams are graded under a curve, so our absolute grade doesn't matter that much, but only our relative position in the class.
Since I'm performing way below the average (despite putting a lot of effort) I'm worried that I won't be able to get the minimum grade required by my program (B), or even worse maybe I won't even pass the class.
The final and all assignments are all over and I should expect my grade in the next week. How could I talk to the professor and tell him that I put a lot on effort in his class, but due to my lack of programming experience my performance was way below the average of the class?
Update: I just received my grade and it was a B. I wasn't that far from the average as I thought (the final exam also saved me). Grade cutoffs were pretty low. I didn't contact the Professor as suggested.<issue_comment>username_1: [This](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_grading_in_the_United_States#Rank-based_grading) indicates that the top 20% of students get A's, the next 20% get B's, and then C's, then D's, then F's.
Since you're in the bottom 15%, you should expect an F. Sorry.
Edit: in response to your edit, [see this related question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/121572/should-i-e-mail-my-professor-after-completely-blanking-on-my-final-exam). You could tell the professor, but what are you trying to achieve? Your professor can't just change your grade, and it's simply too late for things like remedial classes or tutorials. If you need help from the professor, you really need to let him know once you start struggling, not after you drown.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: The original version of the question asked:
>
> What should I expect about my grade in this situation?
>
>
>
We do not know. I went to a top grad school where all the students were brilliant, and so even the lowest students earned Bs. Conversely, I taught some classes where the lowest 15% got Ds and Fs. Only your professor can tell you what grade you will get.
Your updated question asks:
>
> How could I talk to the professor and tell him that I put a lot on effort in his class, but due to my lack of programming experience my performance was way below the average of the class?
>
>
>
You don't. As the other answer states, it is too late now; you really should have sought their advice much earlier. Moreover, they likely already know how much effort you put in. In my experience, one of these three things is true:
* They feel really bad at you trying so hard but doing so poorly and would love to offer you advice, but decided to wait for you to approach them (which you didn't do), or
* When deciding where to set the line between passing and failing, they look at the assignments of the students on the borderline and take those into account (for better or worse), or
* They are even more hard-hearted than me, and assign grades purely numerically, without taking any emotional factors into consideration.
In all three cases, telling them "I put a lot of effort into your class but didn't have enough programming experience to do well" does not change the outcome. In the first case, they'll feel bad but be unable to do much now that the course has ended. In the second case, they'll already know everything you want to tell them. And in the third case, they won't care at all about these factors, and may be annoyed that you try are trying to get them to give you a grade based on something other than your performance.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: **You are not failing because the professor is grading on a curve. You are failing because you do not understand the material.**
It is likely you will get an F for this course. Can you withdraw from the course with an incomplete? UPDATE: final is already in, it’s unlikely you can take a W.
I would talk to the professor, but to figure out how to withdraw from the class without a grade, or change to a pass/fail.
It’s common to give 0s if something doesn’t compile. If you are in the bottom 15% you will fail the course, which could cause problems with your PhD. Assume every computer course will have this rule moving forward.
**Your focus should be on mitigating the academic fallout from failing the course. I would also consider talking with your current advisor and seeing if they can help you.**
When you talk to the professor, don't talk about how hard you tried. They've heard it before - probably 100+ times. **Their go-to method to handle someone in the bottom 15% of the class begging for a better grade is to explain in detail how they earned an F.**
I've never been in a situation where a grad student made an F. Here are the questions I would ask while talking with them.
1. Why didn't you take an incomplete/W grade when you saw you were doing poorly?
2. Making an F as a grad student is a big deal. You could easily end up on academic probation. Figure out the worst-case scenario and work to avoid it.
3. Why did you wait until the final was in to try and fix it? If you had come to my office before now I feel I would have suggested withdrawing.
4. Where are you in the PhD program? Especially if you are in your first year, the university will almost certain put you on probation, which may affect scholarships and funding.
Making an F in grad school is much different than in undergrad. Find out what will happen if you get a F and prepare as much as possible for it. You need to be proactive. Your future in this program could be in jeopardy.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> How could I talk to the professor and tell him that I put a lot on effort in his class, but due to my lack of programming experience my performance was way below the average of the class?
>
>
>
The professor, and basically all professors, hear this “I put in a lot of effort” argument several times a semester from students who have failed or are close to failing. Over 10-20 years of teaching, you hear this claim dozens or hundreds of time. And yet, what we aim to measure is students’ knowledge, not how hard they worked. It’s safe to assume that your professor has not changed a student’s grade in the recent past based on this logically irrelevant argument, and that he will not change yours either.
I am sorry about your predicament, but grades are earned for demonstrating mastery of the material of the course. Skirting around this basic issue will not get you anywhere with your professor.
---
Edit: I see an interesting discussion in the comments on the more specific question of whether it’s reasonable to give a score of 0 for a programming exercise solution that doesn’t compile. I don’t teach programming so I may not be completely knowledgeable about the technical issues here. But for what it’s worth, I lean on the side of those saying it is reasonable. A solution that doesn’t compile may hypothetically demonstrate some knowledge and deserve some partial credit, but as a practical matter, expecting it to compile seems like a very minimal thing to require of a student attempting to master the art of coding, which is after all a practical rather than a theoretical skill. In the real-world, the primary purpose of a computer program is to get compiled and to actually run.
What seems even more reasonable to me is creating a grading environment that makes it *impossible to submit* a solution that doesn’t compile. This can be done in an automated fashion using various scripts etc. (in the same way that the arXiv won’t accept a LaTeX file that does not compile to a PDF file), and would provide immediate feedback to the student that their solution doesn’t meet even the minimal specifications for the assignment, giving them an opportunity to correct the work and submit again, before any human grading labor is required.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]
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2022/05/07
| 1,733
| 7,249
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<issue_start>username_0: I had two PhD supervisors. Let's call the first one A and second one B. A was the main supervisor who had the authority in signature. B was a young professor trying to gain experience on supervising PhD students.
For some reasons I always preferred discussing my research with B over A. These were the main reasons:
* A is bad at English. He speaks French but my French is beginner's level. B on the other hand is fluent in English.
* A has not updated himself to the cutting edge research in AI. In fact A is mathematician working in CS department. I always wanted to work on the intersection of maths and the cutting edge AI. First, A is bad in English. Second, he has not updated himself to current research. It was hella difficult for me to explain him my research work. Therefore, I preferred B over A.
During the last year of my PhD, my spouse (then my girlfriend) got pregnant and I had to move to a different city to assist her during pregnancy. There were also frequent lockdowns due to COVID, and work from home was becoming more common. After moving to a different location (which was 2hr:00 run from my PhD school), I mostly preferred reporting my research and discussing via video conferences. B was OK with it, but A was not happy with this. He demanded that I must come at least once in a week to the lab and report my research to him in person.
It was difficult for me to follow his request for the following reasons:
* I was supposed to assist my pregnant partner during the pregnancy and after the birth of the newborn (she was alone).
* COVID was still present.
* 4 hours (2+2) of net journey in the Bus.
* I had to catch a bus 6:30 in the morning and it was difficult for me to wake up early (especially when the child came).
Two months before the end of the PhD contract I got an email from the Doctoral school saying that your PhD defense is not possible as you supervisor A thinks that you should not be permitted for it as your research is not good enough (also my request for three months extension was denied). This mail was the indication for me that since I have disrespected A by not coming to the Lab once in a week, hence I will not be allowed to finish my PhD. I was very busy working on the article for a top tier conference (Both A and B were aware of this, before that mail I used to explain my work to B via video conferences). The very next day after that mail I had a meeting with B, and he said to stop working on the article as it will not lead me to a PhD, and he advised me to start looking for a job. Behind the scenes B was arguing for my case with Doctoral school, but A was not. I had faith in my idea and research competency. Therefore, I continued to write the paper and decided to publish as a sole author, anyway I knew that I will not be allowed to defend my thesis. Looking back, I feel that A always used to underestimated my research potential.
With luck and hard work, my paper has been accepted to that conference with spotlight.
I have the following questions to ask:
But before answering, bear the following points:
* I have a spouse and an infant.
* Although I can get a job, but research is my passion.
* B is willing to give me a recommendation letter and willing to be a referee in future.
Questions:
* Considering my good contributions to the opensource on github and given two conference papers, one accepted at a top-tier venue. Could I apply for a new PhD positions ?
* The fact that I have spouse and an infant, would this be a negative point for a future potential supervisor ?
* How will I explain this mess to a future potential supervisor ? For sure she/he would be curious ? What is the most optimal way of letting my potential supervisor know about this when I contact her/him for a for the first time for a PhD ? How do I put this in my resume (those years)?
* Apart from a PhD, are there any other research oriented jobs in academia (in Europe and US) ?<issue_comment>username_1: This will focus only on your questions. Most of the background isn't really relevant.
Yes, you can apply for a doctoral position, though maybe not everywhere. Not a problem in the US. Lots of people change programs for various reasons. I did, and wound up finishing at a slightly more prestigious place. Having a strong advocate will be a big help.
No, being married with kid(s) isn't an issue if you are funded adequately. Lots of doctoral students are like this. When I finished I had two kids and lived in special housing created for married doctoral students (sadly no longer available).
Don't explain most of it. There is no need to explain arguments with one advisor if the other supports you. "Life and COVID intervened and I didn't make sufficient progress. No longer an issue. But I do have a nice paper published, so I'm a candidate for success."
There are other jobs but without a doctorate you probably don't want one. Companies do a lot of "product research" that won't likely seem like "real" research to you. Those who do serious, publishable, research probably want PhDs.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Whether you’ll be eligible for another PhD position depends on where you apply, and how you present yourself. Universities and supervisors need to have successful PhD students who actually finish and get their degrees. This is important for reputation and often financing of departments is directly tied to how many PhDs complete. Researchers applying for grants or for promotion also need to show they have supervised PhD students who have successfully finished. So taking on new PhD students is a risk, and supervisors and universities will always consider whether a candidate is likely to be actually complete their degree.
So if you apply for another program, you need to present yourself in a way that emphasizes your ability to complete projects. Most people will understand that Covid and the birth of a child made things difficult, so mention that and emphasize how you completed the two papers. honestly I don’t think going to the lab once a week was an unreasonable request - and not wanting to get up in time for a 6:30 am bus is definitely not something that will make potential employers confident that you will prioritize your research and collaboration with the lab. Definitely don’t get into details of how you weren’t able to collaborate with A.
Your best bet, if you want to start a new PhD program, is to go to the conference to present your paper and network. Talk to professors and grad students at different labs and universities, look for peoples whose research interests coincide with your own. Make friends. Your pitch could be that you really want to do research in X field, and realized during your previous position that Y university wasn’t the best place for that, and you would love the opportunity to work with a group that really specialises in X.
Would you want to move for a new PhD? Be realistic about how this would work with your family. If you’re not going to be able to be physically present at the new lab you need to be up front about that and find a group that is ok with remote work.
You might also be happy or happier outside of academia, so definitely consider that.
Upvotes: 2
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2022/05/07
| 816
| 3,409
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<issue_start>username_0: This is a broad question. However, I think there's more to it than meets the eye. Yes, I do speak multiple languages fluently due to my studies, but I never thought much about it until now.
In America, it seems academic jobs are very competitive and only the very best PhD students from the top universities can gain a "tenure track" position. For instance, in my field of philosophy, it seems that only the best students went anywhere. It is very competitive to get a postdoctoral fellowship and even harder to get a tenure track position.
Recently, however, I noticed that you don't need to necessarily be a part of the philosophy department to teach philosophy. I knew, for instance, a postdoctoral fellow in the Spanish department who studied philosophy yet he was given a post-doctoral fellowship as a Spanish instructor and I think he continued to become an assistant professor. He studied philosophy in Spanish and gained a PhD in the field. Yet he was still able to teach philosophy in Spanish and publish his books about philosophy in Spanish. Since he taught the 301+ courses most of his students had no issue with the philosophical content of the lessons.
My observation is that sometimes different departments won't talk to others. Like the philosophy department won't talk to the Spanish department. In the Spanish-speaking world, people were familiar with his work and read him. Hence, he did not need to be part of the philosophy department to write and teach philosophy at university.
What do you think?<issue_comment>username_1: While language ability is unlikely to be the major consideration for most jobs in a non language-department environment, it can be a positive factor in some cases. It can matter at the margin if it comes to a coin-toss between qualified applicants.
I think, however, that it is most likely useful at the lower tier of institution, such as community colleges (in the US). This is due to the heterogeneity of student backgrounds at such places.
Many of the countries you name are multi-lingual either formally or just accidentally. Many languages are spoken in the US, for example and not all are European. There are clusters of immigrants in many places, say Somalis in Minnesota. French, of course, is highly valued in Canada.
It isn't that a person needs to be able to teach a course in the non-dominant language, but it is helpful when answering questions of students who are not yet fluent in that language.
Taking a wider view, being multi-lingual also opens the door to an easier time of building collaborative networks across borders.
However, your success will likely depend on your fluency in the "language" of your chosen field; i.e. mathematics, philosophy, physics, ... rather than in a human communication language.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I studied in Germany and Sweden. My impression is that in Europe, it is often not required to speak the national/official language but listed "as an asset". It helps with students but also in academic cooperation. Some of my teachers and professors publish in multiple languages (sometimes the same paper), it opens up a wider network of cooperation.
Some disciplines tend to (still) get published in the respective national language whereas others are almost English-only. So you should check that before for the spectific country you want to go to.
Upvotes: 2
|
2022/05/09
| 2,315
| 8,977
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<issue_start>username_0: Here is a letter of rejection sent by Quarter Journal of Economics, to a big name professor. This letter is publicly available online.
>
> Many thanks for your interesting and provocative paper. I have received a referee report on your piece, and I have read it myself. There are certainly many smart things in the piece, but ultimately, I think it is more appropriate for a more specialized journal. Your points are often well-taken, but really didn't convince me, or the referee, to question the standard interpretation of the data. I could imagine a paper on similarity relations which convincingly made the case for this approach being acceptable to us, but this side of the current paper is not really worked out.
>
>
> Ultimately, this seems like a critique of the current approach which is right in many ways, but criticisms and extensions of existing research are best sent to more specialized outlets.
>
>
>
The editor says the submitted paper is "provocative", a word that seems "provocative" and "intentionally insulting" by itself. The dictionary definition of "provocative" is:
>
> Causing annoyance, anger, or another strong reaction, especially deliberately.
>
>
>
Did I misinterpret that meaning?
Google says,
>
> provocative /prəˈvɒkətɪv/
>
>
> *adjective*
>
>
> * causing anger or another strong reaction, especially deliberately.
>
>
>
> >
> > "a provocative article"
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> Similar:
>
>
>
> ```
> annoying irritating exasperating infuriating provoking maddening
> goading vexing galling affronting insulting offensive inflaming
> rousing arousing agitational inflammatory incendiary controversial
> aggravating in-your-face
>
> ```
> * intended or intending to arouse sexual desire or interest.
>
>
>
> >
> > "a provocative sidelong glance"
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> Similar:
>
>
>
> ```
> sexy sexually arousing sexually exciting alluring seductive tempting
> suggestive inviting tantalizing titillating indecent pornographic
> indelicate immodest shameless erotic sensuous slinky passionate sexual
> piquant racy juicy risqué raunchy steamy coquettish amorous
> flirtatious come-hither kinky tarty
>
> ```
>
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I checked "provocative" in other dictionaries. Some include another meaning like "thought-provoking", but some do not. So I am looking for the true definition of "provocative". Here, does "provocative" mean "though-provoking" by "causing anger"?<issue_comment>username_1: I do not think "provocative" in this context is 'provocative' ;).
I read the rejection letter to mean: You are attacking the current consensus, and this causes me (the editor and the putative reader) to think. But you did not convince me in your approach, so, I am not willing to give you a platform. The paper has merits and should be published, but elsewhere.
Provocative in this circumstances means something like "rocking the boat". As strong claims demand strong evidence, a rejection for this type of paper is more likely. The editor seems to think that the validation is too thin. Some rocking the boat is necessary for progress, but its value should be determined by specialists, who will be able to reassess what the general public in the field is not apt to do.
I do not know the case nor the field, nor the type of journal, but this is not a bad rejection letter. It gives a clear path forward: Make your case to the specialists first or support strong claims with strong evidence.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: As @tschwartz points out, the term "provocative" in this context is not meant to be taken negatively. The editor finds the arguments in the paper to be thought-provoking, intriguing, meritorious, interesting etc. but not substantive enough to warrant publication in a journal with a general scope since they only point out some flaws in existing methods without proposing a different framework. In general, it would be surprising to me to hear of an editor using the term in to express disapproval of a paper in a discussion with the author.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: No, the editor is not implying that the article angered them. In academia, provocative is usually used with a positive connotation (as in: thought-provoking, something that any academic article strives to be). Read the context of the email carefully - the editor found your article to be *"interesting and provocative"*.
Unfortunately, the editor goes on to say that *"criticism of existing approaches are best sent to more specialised outlets"*. This is a bit dubious by itself, but should probably be understood in combination with *"really didn't convince me, or the reviewer"* - as in, the editor felt that your paper made some good arguments, but not sufficiently convincing to warrant acceptance at this (presumably fairly widely read?) general journal.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: **Taking the totality of their comments, the editor would like to communicate that the paper isn't interesting/impactful enough for this journal.**
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> Many thanks for your interesting and provocative paper
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This is standard "praise before you criticize" politeness. As others have said, "provocative" is a positive in this academic context, especially paired with "interesting". You could rewrite this sentence "your paper is interesting and made me think". However, this is just standard praise. It's meant to prepare to let someone down lightly. Do not worry more about the use of this word "provocative", it has nothing to do with why the paper has been rejected.
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> There are certainly many smart things in the piece, but ultimately, I think it is more appropriate for a more specialized journal.
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More standard praise ("many smart things"), followed by the let-down "more appropriate for a more specialized journal"; this means "your paper isn't important/remarkable/impactful enough for this journal".
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> Your points are often well-taken, but really didn't convince me, or the referee, to question the standard interpretation of the data.
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It sounds like the paper is critiquing the standard interpretations/analysis procedures in other papers. The editor feels that while those critiques have merit, they wouldn't impact the conclusions of the standard procedure enough to be paradigm-shifting. I don't think it's that more is needed to convince the editor that the critiques are *correct*, but rather that they aren't convinced the critiques are *impactful*. One might consider the aphorism ["all models are wrong, but some are useful"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_models_are_wrong): it may be that the paper successfully shows that someone else's model is wrong in some way, but if it hasn't shown that their model *isn't useful* or that the alternative approach is *more useful*, then it just isn't that impactful.
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> I could imagine a paper on similarity relations which convincingly made the case for this approach being acceptable to us
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Same as above: the editor is saying that if the paper made a better case for the proposed approach being convincingly better, that paper might be acceptable. As a mere critique of existing work, it isn't.
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> Ultimately, this seems like a critique of the current approach which is right in many ways, but criticisms and extensions of existing research are best sent to more specialized outlets.
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Translation: send this to a specialized journal concerned with the specifics of the methodology in this area. The paper is not being rejected because it's wrong, but because it isn't sufficiently interesting. It's not appropriate to send detailed nit-picky critiques to a journal the principally publishes work that advances the field substantially.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: There are enough good answers here already explaining that the word "provocative" is not negative in this context and, if anything, is positive. To those answers I would just like to add that this editor's use of the word "provocative" is in line with the dictionary definition you quote (emphasis mine):
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> Causing annoyance, anger, **or another strong reaction**, especially deliberately.
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When a paper argues against the status quo of a research field, it is likely to cause strong reactions - not particularly annoyance or anger, but intrigue and intense debate. The paper puts more at stake than a typical paper does, it may imply that a lot of previous research done by other people is flawed in some way, and that may *provoke* those other researchers to defend the value of their work.
Note that while causing annoyance or anger would be negative, causing a "strong reaction" in general need not be. So to directly answer your question, you have misinterpreted the definition of "provocative" by (it seems) assuming that "another strong reaction" means "another strong negative reaction". It doesn't have to, and here it doesn't.
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<issue_start>username_0: My department (of mathematical sciences in a US university) is considering some curriculum changes for our majors and the topic of our "mathematical filter course" came up.
For clarity, I'll define a mathematical filter course as a course that is treated as a pre-requisite for other courses but whose content isn't really necessary for those subsequent courses (though in a general sense does make sense to include in the major). The intention being that such a course would help to filter out weaker students who might be interested in those subsequent courses (and potentially one of our majors), but lack either the drive or skill in mathematical thinking to really do well in those courses (and the major). In the past, we used calculus as such a filter, but for our Applied Data Science major we are considering using an applied linear algebra course instead.
While on the surface, the idea makes sense to me (though I don't have a sense of how common such a "filter" course comes up in other schools/programs/fields of study), the conversation left me wondering:
Do filter courses really do what they set out to do and distill the population of students going on to the next course and the rest of the program (or more specifically, do they distill *enough* to be worthwhile)? or would including such a course in a major's curriculum potentially be a waste of valuable course time that could be better utilized elsewhere in the program?<issue_comment>username_1: I assume you mean "filter" courses in the way that some in the US also use the phrase "weed-out" courses, i.e., an artificially difficult introductory course which is designed to decrease the size of the cohort, by scaring away, or failing out, a certain percentage of students.
Generally speaking, "filter" or "weed-out" courses have some benefits and detriments. The benefits are obvious for the department, as they in some way reduce the enrollment in the department's courses, and ensure that those who remain are in some way capable, given that they have already proved themselves in the past.
The detriments can be less obvious. Particularly in mathematics, "filter" courses can foster a toxic environment, and can force students from less traditional backgrounds out of the major. Realistically, students in this linear algebra class who went to private schools or better-funded public schools in the US may have already taken linear algebra in the past. Is everyone on an even playing field? And will this course impact anybody disproportionately? Will a large course with, say, a strict grading curve, foster a competitive environment in which some students will feel discouraged to collaborate with their friends? Are you really selecting for the most talented people, or for people who thrive in a certain environment?
You seem to suggest that some of these "filter" courses are completely auxiliary for the major as a whole, but your example of linear algebra in a data science major says otherwise. As everyone in the comments was quick to point out, linear algebra sounds more like a vital pre-requisite, which may not be directly necessary for most courses in your department, but which most students *should* know. In my experience, most "filter" courses fulfill a similar role. Generally speaking, if your department forces students to take an artificially difficult class which is entirely useless, then the department should not be surprised when a large amount of students do run away from the major.
Anectodally speaking, my mathematics department in undergrad got rid of an intentional weed-out course a few years before I arrived. The overall enrollment in the department went up, to no one's surprise, but so did the percentages of female students, and those belonging to racial minorities (I do have numbers to back up this claim, but once again, only in the context of my department). You may take that as you will, but personally, I would suggest that this is not because such students were weaker, but rather because something about a competitive weed-out course affected them more than it would affect others.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: As pointed out in the comments, your premise that a course in linear algebra would act primarily as a filter ---as opposed to being something that is substantively important in data science--- seems dubious to me. In any case, there are probably a number of general mathematics courses that could act simultaneously as a valuable substantive course and also a "filter" on progression to later stages of the program.
One of the things you will notice in any university program, and which can easily be confirmed by the empirical data on student grades within the program, is that the grades of each student are highly correlated across different courses in the same program (i.e., a student who does well in one course is more likely to also do well in another course, and *vice versa*). Thus, failure/success in a filter course may indeed be a reasonable predictor of results in later courses. For any university department considering this issue, it ought to be possible to get a historical record of student grades in their courses in order to undertake empirical assessment of the extent to which success in one course is predictive of success in another (or of overall success in the program).
A secondary thing to note here is the "gatekeeping" function is not limited solely to an initial filter course. The entire process of grading students and passing/failing them acts as a filtering function throughout the entire program. When course lecturers are too lenient in their grading for a course, this has the averse effect of allowing weak students to progress to higher-level courses, which in turn causes difficulties and frustrations for the lecturers of those later courses. Consequently, appropriate attention to prerequisites and marking standards is something that should be applied throughout the entire program, not just by setting up a filter course at the start.
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> Do filter courses really do what they set out to do and produce stronger majors at the end of the program? Or would including such a course in a major's curriculum potentially be a waste of valuable course time that could be better utilized elsewhere in the program?
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Since course marks are correlated for by student, any prerequisite course at the start of a program is likely to succeed in filtering out students who are likely to do poorly on later courses. Some students may come into a program as weak students (e.g., ill-prepared, poor aptitude in the subject matter, etc.). Many of these may be able to develop into stronger students if they have additional time in their degree program, which is something that sometimes occurs when a student initially fails a filter course and then repeats the course. I disagree with the other answer here that raises alleged equity problems with this function --- so long as it sets a single objective standard for all students, it is not problematic that some students come into the program less prepared than others, and are therefore less likely to pass through the filter. Indeed, the entire function of the filter course is to ensure that students meet some minimum objective standard in the course before proceeding to the remainder of the program.
Here it is notable that a filter course can also provide remedial education, particularly if you use a general mathematics course as your filter course. Consequently, the course can operate both as a filter and as a means of upskilling students who are insufficiently prepared to pass in the first instance. (In a previous academic role I worked in, we gave incoming students a short mathematics test that tested material from their pre-university schooling courses; students who failed this test were required to take remedial sessions to assist them prior to the start of the regular semester. This was not a "filter" per se, but it had a similar effect in identifying weak students and giving them some preliminary remedial attention.) The Department might wish to allow students to attempt the filter course multiple times, to give poorly-prepared students the opportunity to use it as remedial education and then proceed past the filter once they meet the minimum requirements. Whether or not a filter course of this kind is beneficial enough to warrant the opportunity cost of displacing another course depends on the extent to which the Department is having difficulties with the quality of students in the program.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I have witnessed 4 variations of filter courses in Germany and would like to go into each variation of it from a student's perspective.
The first variation I witnessed was artificial difficulty introduced by intentional obfuscation. The materials used for the course were simply read out by the professor and not really explained. Questions were brushed off and not really explained, which discouraged further questions very quickly. The provided materials were lacking which "encouraged" the student to look into other sources, mainly those listed by the professor at the start of the semester. This bred **tremendous** amounts of ill will towards the subject and professor. Participation rates were low and it did force quite a few students into different majors all in order to circumvent the course. It did indeed filter out weaker students from studying but also prevented quite a few others that simply decided that this is not something worth putting up with.
The second variation I witnessed introduced many assignments to pass as a prerequisite to enter the final exam. This felt like a ton of busy work but overall was not too bad. It was really painful for those that worked a second (or third) job on the side since any time taken for those assignments was time that you could have spent on other subjects. It didn't really filter out much of anyone and only led to some people requiring an extra semester of attendance.
The third variation was a participation requirement. The course was held at 8 am and the materials necessary for passing were not online and only shown/explained for those present. Taking notes and paying attention during the entirety of the course was 100% necessary for passing. It instilled good habits and filtered out those that didn't take things seriously. A lot of the faces in that course vanished over the coming months since many found it difficult to uphold a constant attendance with good levels of concentration.
The fourth was simply a very challenging final exam. It filtered out a lot of students but it also led to the occasional student that simply skipped it for later and had 145 out of 150 credit points with the last 5 held hostage by some basic course held in the first semester.
I did meet and know of many students that have been filtered out by one or the other so it did work but it also always ended up either wasting time or largely inconvenient to other able students.
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<issue_start>username_0: It got me so disappointed because I thought the publication experience was the most crucial part of the application, and, as far as I could tell, not that many students in the universities I applied to got 1st author papers in top conferences before starting their PhDs. The conference where I got my paper had an acceptance rate of less than 17 %, with more than 8k submitted papers, and also among the top 10 in my field for H5-index and top 5 for impact score. **So I wonder if this sort of thing is normal, to get rejected with a strong publication.**
My field is Computer Science, focusing on Artificial Intelligence, which is in notoriously high demand these days. Still, I didn't expect it to be so competitive that I wouldn't get at least another accept offer than the single one I got, which was from my least preferred option.
I applied in the US, and 3 of the universities that rejected me are in the top5-top10 range in the USNews ranking for grad programs in AI (<https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/artificial-intelligence-rankings>), and also the other 2 that rejected me are in the top10-top25 range in this same ranking. The one university that accepted me is not in this ranking.
To be fair, other aspects of my application were a bit weak, I must admit, for instance, low GPA for undergrad (even though I got excellent GPA for my masters), didn't send GRE scores (it was optional for the last application cycle), and my previous universities are outside of the US and somewhat unknown internationally.<issue_comment>username_1: Rather than questioning your application and suitability, have you considered who your competitors are? In my experience of applying for and interviewing for a PhD I found that the position would frequently be offered to people who already knew and had worked with the supervisor(s). Advertising the PhD publicly is a funding requirement in a lot of cases. When I eventually did get accepted to a programme it was a result of contacting my future supervisor directly, then seeking funding. This is the case for many PhD students I have met. So, I do think it is normal to be rejected so often.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: What you find is that admission isn't based on one criterion alone, but it is a holistic process of looking at an applicant's entire file. This includes not just this one paper, but also your grades, prior research experience, the letters of recommendation, which university you have previously been at and how that university is perceived by others, and many other factors. You mention some of these aspects in your last paragraph, and those who have read your application must have considered these relevant in making their decision.
I think that that is also the right approach for making decisions. Your GPA is a cumulative achievement showing how you work over several years. A single paper, with a number of co-authors, is a noteworthy achievement but it only provides a relatively short-term perspective on your ability to work. It is of course a positive aspect of your application, but apparently was not enough to overrule other aspects.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Congratulations on being accepted. No, seriously. If you are about to start a PhD, and you have ambitions to go into academia, you need to come to terms with the fact that a large part of your professional life will now consist of sending applications for positions, grants, equipment, travel, tenure, promotions etc. If you are like most of us, the majority of your applications will be rejected. Most schemes in academia are highly competitive, with acceptance rates below 10%. Getting 1/6 with a less-than-stellar application means that the rest is good. Take the offer, and make the best of it.
To answer your question more directly: While a publication record is important in academia, it tends to be less important before you start your PhD. Whenever I've been on PhD hiring commitees, much more emphasis has been put on grades and recommendation letters than a possible publication record. Thing is: It is not really expected in most places that you have a publication record before starting your PhD, so if you have one, it is mostly just icing on the cake -- if there is no cake to begin with, you will not be hired even if you have several good publications.
And on a more personal note: I have on several occasions seen candidates with poor grades, and a handful of papers. In most cases they have given the impression of a weak candidate when interviewed. I should give the position to a candidate who will make a good PhD student, ie. take the courses and do well, and then do research. If you fail to convince me that you have somehow turned around, and now will start doing well in courses, I will not accept your application, regardless of how many publications you have. Also remember this: I cannot know how much you *really* contributed to that publication. It could just be written by a former supervisor, who I am not hiring.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: Consider treating your Ph.D. application as a job search process - which it is; you would be working as a junior researcher. You've just described to us how you applied to a bunch of universities as generic entities, with no prior contact with the potential employers. It's a bit like sending your CV to arbitrary companies, asking "Would you like to hire me for a junior position?" - Instead of going at it this way, you could have thought about potential subfields you are interested in, found some relevant academics working on that at a decent university, got in touch with them, and if it seems there might be mutual interest - then apply, or rather have them promote an application for your admission/employment.
(This is not to detract from the other valid and useful answers.)
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: It's been mentioned that the process is very competitive and a publication alone doesn't imply a strong overall application.
I would just add that PhD admissions are often about match to potential advisor research. It's not about whose application is most impressive, it's about who they want to do research with.
Your application may not have been read by the professors at those schools who are close to your interests. (Maybe you didn't signal well who you would like to work with.) Or you username_9 you're interested in topic A, but your publication is more about topic B and professors who do A were not excited about your app. Etc.
Even more likely, the professors who share your interests might just not be hiring this year, or they may not exist at those institutions if your interests are niche.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: **It's very normal. Even if you had a stronger undergrad GPA and good GRE scores it would probably still be normal.**
Congratulations on being accepted. A single paper isn't going to do much for the acceptance committee. If you'd like to go to a more prestigious school, then you should take the GRE, do very well, and reapply.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: I applied for MSc in Computer Science this year to 4 universities in Canada and got rejected from 3 of them (no decision yet from the fourth one). My GPA is 17.84 / 20, my last two years' GPA is 19.01 / 20 (sometimes the last two years' GPA is more important for universities in Canada), and I ranked 1st among 73 undergrad students. My IELTS score is 8.0 (less than 2% score 8.0 or higher in academic IELTS), and I have several projects and research in AI, image processing, and NLP (No publication, though).
There are a few problems; I guess because of covid in the past two years, many students decided to wait, and now that everything is going back to normal, they are all applying at the same time. Because one of the universities I applied to username_9 they make all decisions by the end of April, mine didn't come, I emailed them, and they responded that since the number of applications was so much more than they expected (more than 1400) it took them a long time to make all the admission decisions.
Not to mention that the competition for computer science is unbelievable. Another problem is that, at least in Canada, no matter how much the faculty members say we don't make decisions and the admission committee will admit/reject you, they are the ones who make the final decisions. What is the problem with that? Try to contact them, send an email, and explain how much of a perfect match you are for their project/work/lab/research you get no response because when 1400 people pay more than 100$ and fill out a long form to apply, so much more will send an email, and your email will get lost.
When the number of applications is really high, they may automatically ignore a huge proportion of them. For example, the only weakness I see in my application is that I graduated from a 1200+ ranked university. Since they have so many applications, they might not even look at those who graduated from any university with a rank higher than 800. So no matter how much talented you are and how good your resume is, you don't even get a chance. Because let's be realistic, they are not going to review 1400 applications one by one, and this is just the MSc in Computer Science. Think about Ph.D. applications, bachelor's, and other programs in that faculty.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: I'm a professor in ML/AI at a Canadian school that's probably roughly in the same caliber for AI as the #15-25 schools on the US News list. (I got my PhD at the #1 school on that list, but at a time when admissions in this area was *far* easier – I am quite confident I would not get in today with the application I sent in 2011. Even then, I was also rejected from some schools ranked far lower on that list than the one I went to.)
I don't have the numbers in front of me, but admissions rates in AI/ML are actually *far* worse than for CS grad programs in general: in my department, more than half of the applicants currently say they want to do broadly-AI topics, while even judging very generously as to who counts, under 1/5 of the professors are in that area.
It sounds like you have a first-author AAAI paper – congrats! This is definitely a positive signal that makes me pay more attention to an application. Depending on what area of AI you're talking about, though: "core ML" people like me tend to value AAAI papers *significantly* less than those from venues like NeurIPS, ICML, or maybe ICLR/AISTATS/UAI, all of which have higher numerical acceptance rates but whose average ML paper tends to be (in my opinion) of higher quality than the average AAAI ML paper. (This is not the case for other areas of AI, though, where AAAI is the premiere venue.)
But: you say you've already done a master's. Having a paper out of undergrad is definitely a distinction from many applicants who do get in (though [not everyone agrees](https://twitter.com/yoavgo/status/1506377521209688073?s=20&t=wT6_d2IUZjCSUeKrcyc8_Q)), but out of a master's, it's far more typical. (I would expect that most, though certainly not all, admits to top graduate programs who already have a master's will also already have a paper or two.) It's for sure a good thing, but not something that sets you super apart from the competition.
So, this leaves all the *other* factors that everyone is talking about. The middling GPA from not-well-known institutions certainly hurts. Maybe your reference letters weren't as positive as they could be, particularly if they're from people and/or a country that US schools don't know so well. Maybe the topic of the paper and/or what you wrote about in your statement is different enough from potential supervisors' interests that they have a hard time seeing themselves working with you.
Candidates who are "pretty good but not super-outstanding" can tend to have a hard time in admissions, since the strongest-on-paper applicants will tend to get a lot of offers, but advisors are wary of over-offering since then if too many students come they'll have to find a way to pay for them all.
(As you've mentioned elsewhere, it's highly unlikely you're going to get any specific feedback on that from anywhere.)
In any case: it is what it is. You can either go to the school you're not so thrilled about, or decide to do something else with the few years / rest of your life. The quality of the work you do in grad school is more important than where you do it, and though this will make things more challenging versus going to a top place, this is definitely not necessarily the end of your academic career or anything – plenty of excellent researchers went to lesser-known schools.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: You should thank the admission committee for not admitting you to their PhD program. This is the sanest thing to do when no professor is interested in further supporting your advancement in the program after you get in.
I was admitted to a top 50 CS PhD program in the US without a pre-assigned advisor. After one year of futile search for a PhD advisor in the program, I could not find one and had to leave the program at the end of the first year, as department discontinued my funding. I was an international student coming from a poor country and it was impossible for me to afford the tuition and other costs.
During my study in the program, almost all faculty (around 14-15 people) relevant to my intended research field (very broadly AI/ML) did not even consider responding to my emails that inquires for positions in their labs. Note that these emails were sent after I gained admission and was officially a student in the program. I could only get polite rejections after graduate coordinator got involved in the process and asked faculty to reply to my emails. I did not lie or misrepresent my research interests, professors whom I am interested in working with etc. in my graduate school application. So at the first place, I should not have been admitted to that PhD program. From the day one, it was obvious that no relevant faculty was interested in my presence in that program.
In addition, my experiences with other students indicated that lots of communication happened between professors and students long before the admission process. Admittedly, some students were much better than I was in terms of research experience and publications; but some of them had no prior publications or a serious research experience, but had the same nationality with the professor. Probably, school factor, coming from the same culture and alma matter issues heavily influenced decisions of professors. Even during discussions with senior PhD students, some suggested not to even consider applying to (non-American born) Chinese professors' labs because they never admit non-Chinese students. Whether you consider it as a form of discrimination or having a better ability to evaluate students from your own culture, usually professor’s care more about sharing cultural values, nationality etc. Consequently, recommendations from their colleagues in their home country (India, China etc.) might overwrite unknown someone with a good publication record.
I suspect the program heavily needed a large number of cheap teaching assistants to compensate increasing undergraduate enrollment and my PhD admission was a disguise to cover up that demand and to exploit me as a teaching assistant, rather than seeing me as a research student. Otherwise, you do not admit a student that no professor wants to supervise. My firsthand experiences indicate that US PhD programs are no way fully meritocratic, but this is the image they present to the world. That's why you think that your publications should get you in.
I wish professors could openly say "do not apply if you are not from country X, school Y or race Z". This would allow both ends not to waste their times, but discrimination laws in US do not allow that so they had to revolve around it in other ways. It has to be projected as your inadequacy.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_10: I recently helped screen AI/ML applications at one of the top-4. Unfortunately, having a publication is essentially a requirement, not a plus (this isn't necessarily true for non-AI or other universities). We were also told to expect more from masters students than undergraduates. For instance, my job was to narrow it to the top 10% (to be narrowed further by PIs) and I remember feeling very bad about having to reject a masters student with 2 good publications and good application package overall. PIs knowing the letter recommenders also helps a lot.
It's indeed harder for countries that do not encourage research from early on, as the US does and from lesser-known universities.
Having advised many undergrads while in grad school and talking with my PIs about this, some of the main criteria for choosing whether to go to grad school should be:
* Do you want to be a grad student? If this answer depends on going to the top-4 (and not at least top-30), the answer is probably no.
* Do you like AI so much more than other topics? The answer may be no, in which case going to related areas may give you a higher chance at cracking the top-4. Still, if you do not want to go to a non-top grad school I wouldn't do it.
* Do you like an advisor at that university? There are plenty of great advisors outside the very top universities. He/she will be your main academic influence by far. Being at a top university just provides a larger safety net of alternative advisors, as well as more people to get advice/conversations from time to time.
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<issue_start>username_0: Suppose one would like to propose a new way of performing a specific task in academic writing, for example, a different/new way of citing. I realise this example is vague, but the example is not the focus of the question.
How would they go about doing so? Would they publish an article explaining the method in a journal dedicated to academic writing conventions? If such a journal exists, could someone share it here?
Alternatively, what other ways are there to propose new conventions?<issue_comment>username_1: I won't make any assessment of the merits of your idea, but yes, if you want to propose a new convention (e.g., a new way to cite items) then you could publish this as an academic paper. I'm not aware of any academic journal that is tailored exclusively to academic writing conventions (probably too narrow a topic to sustain an entire journal) but there are plenty of academic journals on language and writing in general.
As to the substance of what you would need to do to establish a new convention, publishing an initial paper on the matter will require you to show how your proposed method works, what advantages it has over the existing (conventional) method, and what kind of drawbacks it might have relative to that method. Your paper should give a substantive contribution to the field of writing, and it should anticipate and deal with any obvious critiques of your method. If you are able to make a strong case for your new method then other people might start to adopt it; if it is adopted at a sufficiently large scale then it may become the new *de facto* convention over time.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Convention means "the way it is usually done". As such it is pointless to try to initiate a new convention, it can only become a convention when it reaches sufficient support. So, what you can do is to suggest a new way to perform a certain task and then wait, or argue for its merits, until your idea aggregates sufficient support. This may take some time or if it is a great idea attracting attention, it may be fairly quick. It will simply depend on the merits of your idea and how it is perceived by your peers.
One can perceive the slow reaction of the academic body as both positive and negative. The positive is that ideas will never be accepted until discussed and disseminated to a degree where a majority subscribes to the idea. The negative is of course that also necessary changes takes time. In some cases this balance is on the good side and sometime on the negative side. Which is best is still up for debate and certainly depends on the indivisual question.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Editors in chief are the ultimate gatekeepers of how things are done in journals. If you wanted to suggest, for instance, a different citation format for a journal, or adding video highlights, etc., then your first task is convincing an EiC to make the change in their journal.
The second challenge is for the EiC to convince the journal publisher to implement the change; and there is often a lot of inertia with traditional publishers like Springer or Elsevier.
Unfortunately EiCs are almost always busy people, so the best people to attract their attention are fellow academics that are already in their circle. If you are an outsider with little experience and publishing history it's going to be difficult to make your voice heard. The best people to change something are those who already know how it works, in the end.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> Suppose one would like to propose a new way of performing a specific task in academic writing, for example, a different/new way of citing. I realise this example is vague, but the example is not the focus of the question.
>
>
> How would they go about doing so? Would they publish an article explaining the method in a journal dedicated to academic writing conventions? If such a journal exists, could someone share it here?
>
>
> Alternatively, what other ways are there to propose new conventions?
>
>
>
As noted by others, conventions develop through time.
Furthermore, academic fields such as the history of science and philosophy of science study these trends and why these trends occur.
I would encourage you look into these fields more.
Regarding proposing new scientific norms, work with groups of scientists to establish your proposed methods as norms within your field.
Professional organizations have their own standards and guidelines.
If you can convince your peers that your ideas are good, other will adopt them.
Publishing your proposed methods would be one method to do this.
However, persuasion and consensus that your method is complimentary, or even better than existing methods requires other be aware of your idea and want to use it.
Sharing your results with your peers through meetings and working groups would help to raise awareness.
Examples of professional groups with standards include:
* [The American Chemistry Society](https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsguide.40303)
* [The American Fisheries Scoeity](https://fisheries.org/books-journals/writing-tools/style-guide/)
* [IEEE](https://journals.ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/your-role-in-article-production/ieee-editorial-style-manual/)
These standards are often written by senior members in the field, working group members (often a somewhat thankless volunteer committee work), and editors/editorial board members.
Hence, becoming active as a professional would help to you to raise awareness about your proposed methods, and, maybe even give yourself a chance to change the method!
Lastly, formal groups of groups exist such as the Council of Science Editors ([homepage here](https://www.councilscienceeditors.org/)).
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
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2022/05/10
| 237
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<issue_start>username_0: I presented a poster at a conference last year to gain some feedback on my research. Since then, I have made significant findings and am beginning to write a manuscript. I would like to use some of the text that I wrote for my poster in my manuscript. Since only my abstract for the conference was peer-reviewed, can I use some text from the body of my poster? Or would this be considered duplicate publishing?<issue_comment>username_1: This is totally fine. Similarly there’s no harm in using the same text verbatim in a paper and a talk you give about that paper. As long as it’s all clearly part of the development of the same paper there’s just nothing to worry about.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I agree - this will be absolutely fine, unless the presentations given at the conference are to be published as a collective and you are required to publish in order to attend. This is more common in some than in other fields and would be always good to check before you commit to presenting at a meeting.
Upvotes: 1
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2022/05/10
| 1,744
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<issue_start>username_0: Even the best candidates have weaknesses and areas for development. When writing a (generally positive) letter of recommendation, is it appropriate/helpful to mention these, or will this count against the applicant?
Does the answer change depending on the candidate's career stage (i.e. whether the letter supports an application for a PhD, Postdoc or Faculty position) or by geographic region?<issue_comment>username_1: Your recommendation letter should, above all, provide a truthful picture of the candidate. But you of course also know that other candidates will receive recommendation letters written by people who might shy away from mentioning weaknesses, so you don't want to exaggerate. The difficulty is not whether to include weaknesses or not, but to find the balance.
This means: if you have to write a recommendation letter for a good student, who at some point made a mistake, or have some minor disadvantage, then don't mention it.
On the other hand, if this student never kept a deadline and always had to have things repeated 4 times, it would be silly to write a stellar letter. Also: if you give that student top recommendations, what are you going to write for students who are truly great?
A good exercise (also backed by science, see eg Kahneman: "Noise") is to perform a mental ranking of this student vs other students, and make your letter reflect that raking. Say you rank this student in top 20%, you could write that, give your reasons, and also state what it would take for this student to be top 10%. Then it also does not come across as you "slamming" a particular student.
When I am asked to write a letter for a student I cannot give good recommendation, I usually tell the student this, and recommend them to find someone else who can write them a better one. They usually appreciate the honesty.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Even the best candidates have weaknesses and areas for development. When writing a (generally positive) letter of recommendation, is it appropriate/helpful to mention these, or will this count against the applicant?
>
>
> Does the answer change depending on the candidate's career stage (i.e. whether the letter supports an application for a PhD, Postdoc or Faculty position) or by geographic region?
>
>
>
Rather than listing weakness, describe how the person would grow in the position.
For example, let's say you are writing a letter of recommendation for your recent graduate student, *<NAME>*.
Rather than saying:
>
> *Dr. Doe* lacks experience running large research programs and programming in *Shiny new language*.
>
>
>
Write something like:
>
> *Dr. Doe's* experiences with my research group showed their ability to run experiments and projects. Your project would be a great opportunity for them to expand their skills for managing larger projects. Furthermore, *Dr. Doe* did a great job analyzing data with *old rusty program* and I am confident in their ability to apply similar methods in *Shiny new language* as part of your program.
>
>
>
Or, something along these lines that are true.
Also, this answer is US specific. A US letter would almost never include a negative statement for a positive letter. I have hear that other countries are different.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: **If you don't feel you can write a good letter say no. If you feel you need to mention a weakness say no.**
Your letter should be positive. If you cannot whole heartedly recommend someone because of weakness in an area, then don't recommend them. I very rarely see any negatives in recommendation letters.
When I do, I wonder if the student/applicant knows what one of their references is saying this about them, and could find a better letter writer if they knew. It's as likely to make the reader wonder about you than the candidate.
There is also a difference in a weakness and room to grow. You can phrase room to grow positively. "This person is ready to lead a lab/write more grants/etc." Especially if this is the next logical step in their career, it's a positive they're ready to step up to the plate so to speak.
The is primarily an American based answer.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I have seen several universities that mention you should not talk about your weaknesses in a statement of purpose. I think the same rule applies to recommendation letters. If the weakness you want to write about is critical and you don't feel good recommending someone because of it, then don't write a recommendation letter for that person. Otherwise, if it's not that important and you still want to recommend the person, don't mention the weakness and instead just don't give credit to that person for that weakness. For example, if someone is really talented and hard-working but can't work very well in a group, don't mention their working ability in a group and only talk about their talent, etc.
Everyone has a weakness, and since no one else is writing about others' weaknesses, you writing about that weakness makes the person look bad. In fact, the name of the letter is the recommendation letter; I suppose that means why you recommend this person to us, not why you don't recommend them, so talk about all the good things that make you recommend them and leave the weaknesses.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: TLDR: *Always ask* about geographic-specific format and content expectations in the region you are about to send your recommendation letter to. Careers can depend on it.
What I have heard is that the expectations around reference letters vary heavily by geographic region and that the differing cultures and the unintentional "clashes" between the cultures can significantly impact academic careers. The example that I heard (from a reliable source) was the difference between letters in the US and the UK (in STEM). Apparently, it is traditionally *expected* in the UK that letters include comments about a candidate's weaknesses. Traditionally in the US, however, anything other than a very positive letter is viewed as a red flag. Any comment about a weakness would destroy the chances of obtaining a position and could be perceived by the candidate as back-stabbing them (if they found out about the negative comment).
Thus, there were apparently significant problems at one point about obtaining recommendation letters from professors in the UK for US positions and vice versa. Fortunately, however, there has now been enough cultural exchange happening over the past many years that professors in the UK and the US better understand the cultural expectations and practises in the two geographic regions, such that fewer problems occur (but it is by no means perfect).
Given such a situation between two countries that have a significant cultural connection already, it is important to *always ask* about the geographic-specific expectations regarding reference letters if you are not absolutely sure. I commend you for asking about what to do on this site and further recommend that you reach out to people who know the geographic-specific expectations before you send any letters.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: A recommendation letter should generally be positive and reveal the student's best qualities and lay out where the student can further develop and gain from the new challenge they are applying for. However, you should also always be truthful as you will not help your student if they obatin a position that is above their abilities because of a dishonest application.
If you feel you really cannot write a very positive letter for someone, it might be better to decline the letter rather than hurting the student's chances to make the next step in their career.
Upvotes: 0
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2022/05/10
| 1,051
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<issue_start>username_0: In our discipline we are equal coauthors ordered alphabetically.
We have one most senior coauthor (advisor) who supplied the idea and edited the manuscript, two junior coauthors who have done most of the work, and another "half-senior" coauthor who has been commenting but reluctant to directly contribute to the manuscript.
The "half-senior" coauthor from another institution was invited by another junior coauthor without an explicit and clear agreement of how the work will be separated. It is possible that the other junior coauthor merely asked her to "check the results" when inviting her.
I have been indirectly suggesting that she could "directly write on the manuscript whenever she find suit". However, she is still commenting without directly write on the paper. I am feeling like I have been doing too much work.
As a junior, I don't think I can explicitly make a complaint to others and say that I have been to doing too much work.
My advisor explicitly make complaints to his juniors that the half-senior is not contributing enough, but he does not speak directly to her. So this makes me think that the situation could be better.
How to be polite and diplomatic while fixing the situation?<issue_comment>username_1: This situation does not sound uncommon, and without knowing more I wouldn't even say it's a particularly problematic situation. I have been in all three roles at various points, and there are papers where one feels that the best way one can help is to provide a slightly "outside" perspective without messing up the text directly. I also note that it seems like there are already three people actively, and presumably concurrently, editing the text, which seems more than enough to me.
>
> As a junior, I don't think I can explicitly make a complaint to others and say that I have been to doing too much work.
>
>
>
Well, I am of the opinion that anybody in a collaboration is "allowed" to voice their dissatisfaction with how things are going. That is, if it *really* bothers you, you could seek a direct conversation with your "half-senior" co-author, and ask them if it's possible for them to write their changes directly rather than commenting. I have done this in the past, with mixed success - sometimes they start doing it, sometimes they say they will but never follow through, and sometimes they have a good, or at least reasonable, explanation of why they do not want to or can't.
Of course being polite and professional is key, even (nay, *especially*) if you don't like what the other party is saying. I have *also* been in a collaboration where a junior author started to write fairly aggressively-worded and demanding action items and deadlines to a senior collaborator. Let's just say things did not go well from there.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Not writing on the manuscript but sending comments is a feature, not a bug in this situation. It is hard enough to coordinate between two authors. Also, we all tend to be slightly ego-centric. You are engaged in the difficult work of writing, and you might loose perspective easily. Commenting on written text by a co-author is much preferable to commenting on the written text by reviewers. Having someone really read your text is in itself a valuable contribution.
Your feeling of not enough input by your coauthor is the real problem. It could be based on a wrong understanding of co-authorship or the complex social networks in academia on your part or your advisor's part. If you still feel that there is not enough work done by your co-author, consider strategies that involve your co-author in a non-threatening way. For instance, can you ask her/him to allow you to run some things by him. Or you can ask to discuss a certain aspect that is troubling you. Discussing related work (instead of asking for a write-up) is also valuable. Prefer the spoken to the written work or even consider visiting in person.
If in the worst case your not-so-senior co-author is a parasite, academia has ways of solving the problem. Such a person will just find it harder and harder to collaborate with others. But there is also a certain amount of forgiveness for difficult personal situations as well as well as a tit-for-tat. Most research is based on the works of groups and authorship in group work can be rather indirect. Finally, you did not mention the field. Practices vary greatly between fields and even sub-fields.
Upvotes: 2
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2022/05/11
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<issue_start>username_0: I just got my Ph.D. degree majoring Chemical Engineering this month and I will start my research career. I am a new researcher. I wonder whether I can post my full dissertation (currently only viewable by people in my institution) on a personal website or ResearchGate?
I studied in a private university. For my university, our dissertations are only available to our university community (Faculty, Staff, and Students). In my opinion, I think dissertation should be easy access and free of charge. I know for my research area, nobody would be really interested in reading dissertations, because we all know our dissertations are just a combination of our journal publications, and I have published 4 journal papers already. But I still hope my dissertation could be easy to access by the public.
Therefore, I wonder whether I could publish my dissertation on ResearchGate? Or due to potential copyright concern, should I just leave a comment on my website like: "If you are interested in reading my dissertation, please contact me and I will send you a copy."<issue_comment>username_1: Normally, the candidate retains the copy-right for the dissertation. Thus, feel free to publish it where-ever you want, (after you checked that you did not violate your alma mater's rules and regulations). It is hard for me to imagine a situation where you do not have the copyright for the thesis.
For visibility, the most important aspect is whether your thesis will be found by search engines. Publishing it on ResearchGate is one way, another is to have a website hosted preferably on a site with an edu extension. Having a web-site with your publications and links is important. A thesis in some cultures and languages (e.g. Germany) is already a publication since it is supposed to be freely accessible, even if this means that one has to go to the university library.
Even if you no longer have the copy-right for your journal articles, there are ways to advertise their existence. For example, you can publish the abstracts or your resumen of the article on your website. Getting people to read your papers is as important as writing it in the first place, so you need to make them easy to find and read, within the confines of your agreements with the publisher.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It's important to consider what rights you have to your work after having submitted the bulk of it to journals, rather than to the thesis itself. I don't think it's possible to give a generic answer that will apply to everyone, because it depends on your specific agreements.
While it is common for journals to waive certain exclusive rights they have to allow you to include your work in a "stapler-style" thesis, that doesn't mean they've given up *all* their exclusive rights to that content. They may have given permission for the content to be in a thesis that's available within your institution, but not available publicly, for example.
You already have 4 journal articles; as you say, very few people will be interested in reading your thesis. I'd focus on just those journal articles, and make them as accessible as you can given the terms under which you've licensed them. You'll probably have to check with each individual journal, but it's possible they are already available publicly in some fashion or will be in the near future after some predetermined time has elapsed (if the journals support some level of open access; if not, perhaps this should have been a consideration when you originally submitted the papers). It's also possible they already give you permission to share on a personal web site, and it's possible that they allow for a draft of the manuscript before it went through the journal's process to be posted on a preprint archive like arXiv (or whatever preprint archive is commonly used in your field).
Upvotes: 2
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2022/05/11
| 1,499
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<issue_start>username_0: **Background:**
I am a first year PhD student in Math and I am failing my classes miserably. I believe that I am a hard worker, passionate about math and I am definitely committed to the program. However, I have also came to the realization that having these qualities does not necessarily grant you success. I was given a warning the first semester and was put on probation for the second semester. I was told that if I did well in the second semester, the probation would be lifted and nothing bad would happen. On the other hand, if I still couldn't get my grades up, the committee will potentially consider to recommend me to withdraw from the program. I did all I could have done, but I still did not do well in my coursework. I would not be surprised that this is my last semester in the program and will be asked to withdraw sometime soon.
**A little bit about myself:** I was a double major in Mathematics and Economics back when I was an undergraduate and did relatively well in both fields (Near perfect GPA). I have done a certain amount of research in both disciplines. I have even applied and got accepted to PhD programs for both of them. I eventually chose Math because while I am passionate about both of the fields, doing math felt more rewarding to me than doing Econ as math was more challenging to me (It still feels the same way even after failing my classes). In retrospect, this might not have been the best course of action, but I chose what I chose and I don't regret the decision as I have given it my best try.
**The apparent question now is:** What next? Is it even possible to get a decent job with a disastrous transcript and a record of failing from the PhD program due to coursework failure? I have a good undergraduate record, perhaps that will help with the case? Moreover, if I failed out of my program in math, is it still possible to apply to a PhD in Economics? I am not sure if I could ask for a good recommendation letter from my Professors in graduate school as I failed their classes. I am also not sure if it is good to ask my Econ Professors from my undergrad to write me the letters again, since they know that I went for Math than Econ the last time around. I am very lost right now and don't know what to do. It might sounds over-dramatic, but I feel like I am a failure right now and don't see a way of remedying my situation. Any advice would be appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: Most employers won't ask to see your college transcripts; if you apply to a job that requires a BS in math or econ or similar, you won't need to let them know you've failed your math PhD. You don't have to make an elaborate story for someone in industry about why you've left academia - every single person they employ will have made that decision at some point. Simply be ready to explain you decided academia wasn't for you, and pivot to why you'd be a good employee for them. A resume that got you into a PhD program will be plenty to get you a job - most other entry level applicants would not have been able to be accepted as a PhD student.
For academia, I think your route is a lot more complicated. Typically schools do expect transcripts of all academic progress, including your failed PhD. The estimates that go in to who will be successful in graduate school are very imperfect. However, you've also had trouble in grad school; that seems like a stronger predictor that you won't do well than all the indirect signals that you would do well, and that's what you're up against. Your best bet is a strong advocate who believes the switch to economics will solve everything and bring you around. I think if you want to go that route it's certainly worth the effort of trying it out, but I'd be prepared with a backup plan.
Most people who get a PhD in math or most any discipline will soon find themselves out of academia - that's not their fault, the numbers of positions simply aren't there to support every PhD being a tenured research professor. If in the end you start on that same path a little earlier, you don't need to consider it a terrible outcome.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Being hard worker and passionate about math contradicts the fact that you are failing the introductory PhD courses. These are usually pretty elementary. If they are not easy for you, you made a wrong choice by choosing math Similarly, if you do love running but cannot run 100 m in less than 30 sec. you should not try to become a sprinter.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I have a math Ph.D. degree from a really good American university, and I am doing high-performance computation job, and maybe I can share some of my thoughts about your concern.
First and foremost, your concerns about your GPA and grades are right. I am not sure where you study now, but in the US, it is true that having 'C' on your transcript or GPA < 3.0 is a nightmare for Ph.D. students. In my department, Ph.D. students who get a "C" or GPA < 3.0 would lose Ph.D. support and are recommended to leave. Again, your PhD committee members will question your ability and you may not pass qualify exam.
However, for finding a job, you really don't have to worry at all. Remember this, quit from a PhD program is NORMAL and you don't have to feel shame. PhD is not only about coursework, you also need to do research. Your research has to be 100% original and creative, and you have to publish papers. I can't speak for other university, but for my alma mater, many math PhD students quit or transfered, either because of unsatisfactory GPA or their research ability are not up to PhD level.
You have a perfect undergrad GPA, that's enough for getting a job. Finance, stock market analysis, bank, you name it. In your CV, you can list you attend this PhD program, and say "Unfinish." Nothing to worry this would affect you in a negative way. If your employee really asks why you didn't get your PhD degree, you can just say "I feel I am not cut out for doing a PhD because it is really hard" or "I feel doing PhD is too much for me". Plus Ph.D. is more designed for a research job.
Upvotes: 2
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2022/05/11
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<issue_start>username_0: If someone currently working 100% with employer 1 in a public job. Is it possible to get employed by a university or public organisation (employer 2) with 25% or 35% contract after having a Master's or Doctorate degree?
The dual job includes engagement in some activity within the group.<issue_comment>username_1: No, this is not legally possible in Germany.
By law (see [*Arbeitszeitgesetz*](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/arbzg/BJNR117100994.html)) you are only allowed to work 8 hours per day on average (exceptions exist but are unlikely to be applicable in the case as described). A workweek can include Saturday, i.e., be six days. Your maximum legal hours per week are thus 6 \* 8 = 48 hours.
Assuming your 100 % job is 39 hours per week, that leaves 9 hours if you are working saturdays. 25 % of 39 hours is 9.75 hours. Your total would therefore be 48.75 hours per week, which is just slightly above the legal maximum for a six-day workweek.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm not sure about the specific constellation that you are interested in, but the first point to go to would be the personnel department at employer 1. If this is a public institution (university, research institute, or the like) they should have some guidelines about side jobs (Nebentätigkeit) that you need to follow. The specific regulations may depend on the type of your appointment (TVÖD, Beamter, ...). If this is a larger institution you can probably find the applicable guidelines on their intranet (possibly in German only).
If everything works out with employer 1, you also need to check with employer 2 which regulations apply.
For professors at German universities, side jobs are generally possible (subject to specific rules) and are being used. I know cases where the side job was in industry or other universities abroad. I don't personally know of a case where the second employer was another German public institution, but I think it should also be possible.
Upvotes: 0
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2022/05/12
| 1,858
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<issue_start>username_0: I have found myself in a quite ugly situation: Since around 1,5 years, I am in a situation here during my PhD studies where I cannot set boundaries to damaging/ silent bullying behaviour of some PhD colleagues.
I started around 2 years ago, with 2 fellow colleagues. We spent quite some time together in the beginning, but soon I realized that there was something fishy: one of them was very manipulative- Once they wanted to abuse me financially, and put even pressure on me to pay for their stuff, I refused to and set boundaries. They blamed me for everything and stopped every collaboration, despite me trying to solve this issue with a mature conversation.
Since then, one is passive-aggressive towards me, the other one still tries to make me "help" her with her fieldwork (which means, I had to do almost everything, because she cannot do anything by herself).
Under the bottom-line, they show abusive behaviour. The other colleagues of our lab don't care, I even had to compromise my own PhD because I did not receive sufficient support and was used for my toxic colleague's work (which she never reciprocated).
I told this to my PI and my supervisors, but none of them took this issue seriously - they expected me to deal with this by myself, and did not allow me to set proper boundaries (as I was still forced to work for them). Recently, my toxic colleague's supervisor screamed and yelled at me, because I refused to leave her our shared working space (because I needed it as well). A similar issue happened to another colleague as well, she reported this behavior but our PI did not do anything.
I have the impression that my toxic colleague uses her "power", I saw her several times already making other people do the work for her, and if someone refuses to do so, she makes someone yell at this person, or talks really bad behind this persons back that the whole group dynamic is disturbed.
I don't think the situation becomes better, and I honestly feel quite depressed since a few months, so I wondered if there is a possibility of working remotely, without losing my scholarship (which is a regional one)? Any better suggestion?<issue_comment>username_1: At the very least I think you should
1. Before doing anything for this person, send and email cc'ing your advisor and the PI saying what is being done and who owns the output. Always make sure it's clear who is doing what.
2. Who "owns" the shared workspace. If another yelling match erupts talk to/email them. Frame it as "I cannot finish X on time due to being unable to use the lab." Don't be afraid to get your advisor to go to bat for you here.
3. If someone screams, calmly ask them what the issue is. If they continue to scream, you can set a boundary you will only have a conversation if they can do so without screaming.
4. See if your advisor has any advice to deal with interpersonal issues like this. They may be able to help you.
Finally, look at mental health services provided by your university. They will provide a safe place to vent if nothing else.
**This is not a complete answer, but probably as much as can be said without specifics.**
**EDIT - going over their heads/to HR. You aren't ready - yet.**
You have a few other options. Go over their heads to the Dean of the department or HR. Going to the Dean will likely involve HR. Ombuds are usually paid by the Dean or HR.
The reason I didn't mention this is in most cases HR will side with whoever the most senior person is, or who has a more senior person on their side. From the post, it sounds like that could be the bully.
There is also a decent chance HR will share any grievances with your bully. The bully makes up performance issues on the spot, and HR will tell her what she isn't allowed to say and do - essentially telling her how to legally bully you.
**You aren't ready to go to an ombud/HR yet (in many cases this is the same department).**
Bullies are manipulative. Administrators may side with the bully. After the first few times in the principals office (in the U.S.), the smart ones learn where the lines are and how to manipulate higher-ups. If you're in the PhD program you are dealing with a smart bully.
Start playing smart yourself. **Document everything. Use email to show who did what.** If it comes down to it, the person with more documentation usually wins. If you do go to an ombud or HR, this'll put you in the best position possible.
NOTE from comments: An ombud is a neutral mediator you can use to resolve issues. Going to one now will probably just alert the bully she's gotten to you, which could make her escalate her actions.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I think that you need to talk to someone who takes you seriously about this. Normally the first option should be your PhD supervisor, as you did. If you feel comfortable with it, don't hesitate to *insist* with them, make it clear that this is a serious obstacle to your progress. Depending on your relationship with them, you can also ask them to point you to whom you should talk to about this (btw this might make them realize that there's a real issue to take care of).
If this doesn't work, you need to go to another level. Your institution certainly have some procedures in place: there might be an ombudsman or other person in charge of harassment issues. Another option would be to talk to some student union or student representative, at least they should be able to give you advice.
In parallel, it would certainly be a good idea to seek professional help personally in order to preserve your mental health. Sometimes universities offer some free counseling service, it might be worth checking.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: You need to document and record (audio and/or video) these issues because you may need to escalate beyond your PI. You may even need to go to a lawyer if things get worse. Note that depending on where you are making recordings (audio or video) without the consent of other parties may be illegal. But you need to document things - keep a detailed diary of these issues at the minimum.
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> Once they wanted to abuse me financially, and put even pressure on me to pay for their stuff, I refused to and set boundaries.
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Hard to know what this means, but if they are trying to extort money from you that's a whole other problem, quite possibly criminal. If it's something like wanting you to pay for their equipment from your official budget or something then they can ask and you can say no.
There's no way of any of us knowing the details well enough to advise you properly. We have no idea what proceedures are available to you or what the cultural or legal norms are as you did not give a country. As such any advice would be just general, but as a minimum to escalate this beyond your PI (which may or may not be a practical option) you need evidence and evidence means keeping records, keeping a note of witnesses to events.
There is another option to consider - moving on. Either you try switching to a different PI or even a different institute to complete your PhD or you take the "nuclear" option of just giving up on a PhD. While these may sound drastic, especially the last one, if your mental health is being seriously affected by this (and a PhD is already stressful at best) you need to seriously consider if continuing is really worth the damage being done. You shoudl certainly consult a consellor or physcologist or a GP about depression if that's a serious issue for you - it can overwhelm people and should not be ignored. These things can also distort your own viewpoint as well so it's worth considering your own mental health options here.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: After what George was Georgetown University named? Or was it named that because of where it is located?<issue_comment>username_1: It's named Georgetown because it overlooked a village named that: "[Georgetown University History](https://www.georgetown.edu/who-we-are/our-history/)":
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> <NAME>’s founding of Georgetown College coincides with the birth of our nation. […] In 1789, Carroll secured the deed to 60 acres of land on a hilltop overlooking the village of Georgetown. He was appointed Archbishop of Baltimore in 1808.
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Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Georgetown University is named after the village [Georgetown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_(Washington,_D.C.)) it is in or close to. Georgetown predates the creation of Washington D.C. by a significant margin and one can speculate that, like many other places up and down the East Coast of the United States, it was founded by settlers from Britain who named all sorts of places after British kings, queens, and localities. Other origins for the name are also possible, of course, and the linked to wikipedia article states this:
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> Since Georgetown was founded during the reign of George II of Great Britain, some speculate that the town was named after him. Another theory is that the town was named after its founders, <NAME> and <NAME>.
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Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: From what I can find with a short search, the provenance of the name appears to be disputed. The university is named after Georgetown, but there are some competing theories for the origin of the name of the town. In 1751 when the town was founded, it was common for locations in British colonies to be named after the sovereign at that time (George II), but there are other possibilities in this case.
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> The part of Washington which was formerly Georgetown was laid out pursuant to an act of the provenance of Maryland dated June 8, 1751, passed in response to a petition of several inhabitants of Frederick County, in said State. This act appointed seven commissioners to purchase 60 acres belonging to Messrs. <NAME> and <NAME>, on the Potomac River... The act then adds that upon the completion of said proceedings the locality is "erected into a town, and shall be called by the name of Georgetown." It was never incorporated as a city, but was commonly called the City of Georgetown as a consequence of the casual reference to it by that title in numerous acts of Congress.
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> The general supposition is that the town was named in honor of George II, then the reigning sovereign of Great Britain, but it is also contended that it was named as a compliment to the two Georges from whom the site was obtained.
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> (<NAME>. (1900) *The Establishment and Government of the District of Columbia.* U.S. Senate reports of 1900 (Congressional Edition), Volume 4043, p. 15.)
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Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: My college demands a fee (equivalent to $10) from the students for every LOR that the student asks for. The fee goes to the college authorities and not to the professors themselves.
Is this a malpractice? I already wrote a complaint to principal/dean and he said that this is how it works.
What can I do about it, even my fellow classmates are exhausted paying so many fees since we are all applying to multiple colleges for admissions to future courses?
**EDIT:** I asked my dean based on the suggestion of the answer below (by <NAME>) and the reply stated that this is indeed an act to limit the applications that a student makes, so that the professors aren't burdened to write recommendations for students who apply to various institutions just for the sake of it/ a place where the said student would have no chance but still applies.<issue_comment>username_1: Malpractice has legal meaning that does not seem to apply here. So I will interpret your question as "is this wrong". After all, this is not the place to get legal advice.
Given the information you have given us, this seems to be a policy by the institution, and not one that professor invented themself, nor does that professor benefit from it. So the professor is not doing anything wrong. Professors are powerful, but even they have to bow to university policy.
There are possible justifications for such a fee. The time spent on writing such a letter is time that cannot be spent on other things, so there is a real cost the institution incurs for giving the student that service. However, given the small size of the fee, this sounds more to me like a policy to put up a small barrier to prevent overuse rather than a policy to get some money. Maybe, this was a reaction to too many students asking too many LORs. Maybe something like: lets ask all faculty members to write a LOR, and I will pick the two best ones. If many students do that, then the university needs to react, for example adding a small fee. I don't know if this applies to your university, but there are situations where such a fee may be justified.
That is the real answer I can give you: find out why they have that policy. It is hard to argue against a policy if you don't know why it is there. Maybe, they actually had a good reason, and you don't want to argue against it anymore. That would also be a good outcome.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The policy at face seems perfectly reasonable to prevent some [Tragedy of the Commons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons), though in modern times, professors have been largely free to write or reject per-student (ie. why would they write a letter for a student who they are sure does not understand a subject to work with their peers? or why would they not write a letter for a promising student who added to their class? - surely they *must* be free to write or not write for either case if asked!)
However, without strong controls I believe this leads to some trouble-
The monetary fee is insignificant in comparison to the cost of attendance, but the process provides a novel way for the university to directly track some details of the process surrounding letters of recommendation.
Simply the knowledge that different counts of LOR are sent by professors could affect them personally (are they sending enough? too many?) or worse, financial information and speculative success information about students involved is no business of the university. (ie. is 15 letters too many? cheaper than a US physics text!)
Conversely (perhaps?), whether the payment is accepted shows information to a student whether a professor did write a LOR, while this information may not otherwise be known. (is this desirable? it's a break from the norm, but perhaps not a bad one)
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: 6 months ago I presented a talk describing some research I had been doing and presenting some half finished results. Ive since discovered that one of the attendees took my idea from the talk and decided to pursue the same research project, albeit in a slightly different (but very similar) way. In the end, I uploaded to the arXiv first but we will be submitting to the same conference. One of the authors admitted in writing that they started working on the project after attending my talk. It feels unfair and like my idea has been taken and presented as someone else's, but is this plagiarism?<issue_comment>username_1: It is plagiarism if they present your ideas as their own. If they give you credit in some way then it isn't plagiarism, even if it isn't very courteous. Plagiarism is about the proper attribution of ideas. Citation is the way to avoid it. In this case, not enough is known here to make a real judgement, and, you say, they took them in a different direction.
Perhaps you have an opportunity, however, to work with them on these ideas jointly so that attribution is no longer an issue.
Note that you don't "own" ideas. Plagiarism isn't really about "stealing" what another "owns". It is a concept in scholarship that creators should be recognized.
---
Caveat: Laws vary and I've heard that some forms of plagiarism might be illegal in some places, but that isn't the norm.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: *The whole purpose of conferences and talks is to disseminate ideas and knowledge*. In some sense, if you had published on the topic and someone else picked up the ideas and used them in a different context, you would probably feel pleased to hear about it. You feel differently because you happened to not have written a publication on the topic, but that's not the other person's fault -- they did what the purpose of talks is: They learned from others and are using the knowledge.
I fail to see that that is wrong. How long would you like others to hold on with using the knowledge that you presented to them before they can use it themselves?
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: The National Science Foundation [Research Misconduct regulation](https://oig.nsf.gov/sites/default/files/document/2021-08/45-CFR-689.pdf) defines plagiarism as *the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results or words without giving appropriate credit*. I cite this source as one of many using the same formulation. Here it is clear it is also the idea that is the property of the "inventor", the persons intellectual property. And strictly based on that statement it seems like a clear case of property theft or plagiarism IF the source of the original idea is not given credit.
To take someones idea and develop it further is not in itself a problem, it is how science works. What is a problem is if the origin of an idea is not ones own and is not credited. Then it is intellectual property theft and something a reasearcher should avoid at all cost. What can be done in the individual case becomes a question of what one is willing to endure. An article based on the idea could be questioned by writing to the journal editor and explaining the case. In thge specific case where it seems two papers originating from the same idea will be published, it will depend on how "the other" paper presents the original idea and then something for the proceedings (equiv.) editor(s) to consider.
Plagiarism and intellectual property issues are issues of ethics.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Reach out to them and ask them to cite your paper, as you suspect to be the source of one of their ideas.
As you know their paper exists, you have to cite them as well. Less because it is their idea, more to cover that others are working on this topic, too.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm about to graduate with my BS and begin a PhD program in statistics. However, I have some doubts about my ability to succeed just because everyone says that a PhD is a grueling, long journey and that work ethic is more important than just being smart. I think my motives for doing the degree are fine -- I don't intend on trying to join academia and I want to do the degree because I find the field powerful and because I want access to the research roles in industry that are generally more interesting. I'm young, have no debt, and my program is fully-funded so I think that helps the opportunity cost aspect, although there is always what me and my friends joke about as the "opportunity cost of not becoming a software engineer."
However, throughout college and my education thus far, I feel like I have been extremely lazy. One of the reasons why I enjoyed studying math and statistics on a structural level in terms of college major was that the courses generally had two or three grades; midterm, final, and sometimes graded homework. So pretty much since my grade depended only on those things I would just study like one day in advance of each exam and forget about the course entirely in between. I don't think I've studied for a single exam more than a day in advance in my entire four years. Also, unless a class had mandatory attendance (nearly all of the math/stats classes did not) I would ditch it. I would rather just read out of the textbook myself and I can't listen to people teach math to me because the speed of my thoughts does not match the speed of how people talk. Overall, I think I have a realistic view of my abilities though. I'm not a genius or anything, just lazy, so I calculate exactly how lazy I can be and then I be that lazy. Of course, for something like qualifying exams I recognize I would not be able to do that and would take more time.
I also enjoy smoking weed, and I am a daily smoker. I feel like I have a different view than other people in this field traditionally: I'd rather just chill, hang out with my friends, and enjoy life. However, this is not to say that I have no interest in statistics. I have an enormous appreciation for the elegance of statistical theory and I've done a lot of interdisciplinary research using applications of statistics. I love doing research thus far and always felt motivated to work on projects etc. and in fact we have a paper accepted at a conference and my PI has found funding to pay me this summer to hopefully push out one or two more papers. I go out of my way to participate in research and for the last year I've been working in two different groups at once. I just really am quite lazy with school and I see the point of it but it is simply easier and more efficient for me to read out of the textbook, especially since this field is a mathematical one.
Based on my context, I had two questions:
(1) What happens to lazy statistics PhD students like me?
(2) So far in my undergraduate curriculum we have only been learning theories and concepts that have already been developed, and not developing anything new. Probability theory classes and real analysis were probably the most difficult parts, but it was not doing anything novel. The rest of the stats electives like sampling/experimental design/regression methods at the level of the courses taught were pretty much just trivial plug-and-chug type material. Since PhD students would be creating novel ideas in statistics (maybe like new methods is what stands out to me), how do they make this jump from "plug-and-chug" to doing this type of original work? How well-defined are research problems in statistics (in the sense that there are straightforward paths to approach well-known problems vs. the necessity of having some Einstein idea and needing that fundamental creativity to even generate a research question)? Of course this depends on subfield, but I am asking more generally.
Thank you!<issue_comment>username_1: There is a danger for you, but it isn't necessarily a blocking one.
The first question you want to ask yourself is how excited and driven you are to study and work in your field. The second question is what if it becomes necessary, quite suddenly perhaps, to not be lazy anymore and work hard. Will the excitement still be enough to enable you to power through. If so, then you can teach yourself the work skills needed to succeed.
Some people come to their "natural" level of ability fairly early. Up to then, learning was easy and the material seemed easy to grasp and master. But after that point it takes them work to learn. Lots of repetition, note taking, review, etc. Some people come later to that point. I learned fairly early on that I had to work to learn math. But I was so driven to it that I had no options but to power through. My sister hit her mark much later, but it actually stopped her progress, though she had other interests by then.
It is probably unlikely that you will complete a doctorate before you find the limit and will most likely need to get rapidly and seriously un-lazy. But knowing that such an event horizon might exist for you can have you prepared. Having good people around you in a doctoral program can help also, since you have a source to get your questions asked.
Let me give you two data points. The first is the movie [Good Will Hunting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Will_Hunting) in which <NAME> plays a young person who finds very advanced math almost trivial. But he doesn't really have the heart for what it takes and doesn't develop his skill.
The other point is the book [The Art of Changing the Brain](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/1579220541) by <NAME>. Among other things, it describes how we learn, by rewiring the brain itself physically. This is normally accomplished slowly through repetition, rather than be seeing something once (which only affects short term memory). Deeper learning requires building structures of neurons (etc) that hold long term memory - deep learning.
So, being lazy but still successful may work, but probably not forever. Again, the deeper question is how driven you are.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: While I would certainly counsel against some aspects of how you are undertaking your educational journey (especially the daily weed smoking), I don't see any inherent reason that you cannot continue to succeed educationally with your present approach. If you have sufficient intelligence/aptitude for this field to obtain a funded PhD admission while being "lazy" and indulging in habitual marijuana use, then I see no reasons that the step up to a PhD program would necessarily require substantially more time devoted to study. Admission to a funded PhD place already usually requires a high-level honours degree in the same or a related field, which provides substantial evidence of your ability to be educationally successful while exercising your current habits.
In respect to being "lazy", what you describe might just mean that you find the material you are learning manageable with only a small amount of study (it is evidently relatively easy for you) and you have other interests you would prefer to pursue in your other time. When I was a student I also spent very little time on study relative to other pursuits, and I ended up with a PhD in statistics. If it is a field you find interesting (tick) and you have the intelligence/aptitude for it (tick) and you have a history of academic success in previous degree programs (tick) then you meet all the major indicators for continuing success. Subject to some checks on your previous work and education history, I would be happy to supervise a student like yourself, so long as your interest in the subject manifests in curiosity, perseverance and grit in solving problems in the field. Research problems range in the level of originality they require, though some insight and creativity is a usual prerequisite to do interesting work. It is also necessary to be interested enough in the field that you are willing to read widely and play with problems, without expecting new research to come out of everything you investigate. If your "laziness" were to crowd that out, it would be a problem, but I see no indication from your post that this would necessarily occur.
**Don't kill the goose laying the golden eggs:** Finally, I would be remiss if I did not point out that much of your present success probably hinges on high intelligence and aptitude for technical analysis, which you are presently destroying with habitual pot-smoking. Regular long-term marijuana use is notorious for its adverse effects on cognitive ability, including adverse effects on the ability to plan, organise, solve problems, make decisions, remember, and control emotions.^ This is not something that older adults just made up because we are old fuddy-duddies --- it is a frequently replicated finding of medical studies, and something that most older people have directly observed amongst at least some of the promising younger people they grew up with. I strongly recommend you try to supplant this habit with a coffee addiction, or some other type of recreational activity that will not damage your highly-functioning brain.
---
^ Much of the literature on this topic involves statistical inference based on uncontrolled observation, rather than randomised controlled-trials, so causal inference comes with some caveats. Also, there is substantial variation in sample sizes (with some studies using small samples) and there is variation in the findings for different elements of cognitive decline. Nevertheless, the statistical associations derived from these cases tend to be unidirectional (showing types of cognitive decline from marijuana use) and remain after removal of relevant confounding factors, which is consistent with a causal effect. There are also some mixed results about whether this decline is reversible with a long period of abstinence. For a sample of the literature on this matter, see e.g., [<NAME> (1993)](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02246977), [<NAME> and Yurgelun-Todd (1996)](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/396766), c.f., [Hart *et al* (2001)](https://www.nature.com/articles/1395716), [Hart *et al* (2010)](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0091305710001905), [<NAME> and Mason (2012)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3037578/), [Lisdahl and Price (2012)](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-neuropsychological-society/article/abs/increased-marijuana-use-and-gender-predict-poorer-cognitive-functioning-in-adolescents-and-emerging-adults/549563FAA4B38CCE30F2414C288CC63B), [Winward *et al* (2014)](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-neuropsychological-society/article/abs/heavy-alcohol-use-marijuana-use-and-concomitant-use-by-adolescents-are-associated-with-unique-and-shared-cognitive-decrements/E615AB95F5B3991089D31F1F2531D8C6), [<NAME> and Yaffe (2016)](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2484906) and [Dahlgren *et al* (2016)](https://www.jsad.com/doi/abs/10.15288/jsad.2016.77.298).
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: This answer is more anecdotical than the other ones, but might still be useful.
I'm a very lazy person and I completed my PhD in theoretical physics/computation without any issues. My supervisor was a non-lazy person and so were the other students, but they all seemed to think my work was good (and I've published some peer-reviewed articles if that's worth anything). I'm a very quick learner and efficient worker, so I rarely had to put in more than 10 hours a week. So it's definitely possible to do a PhD and not "hit your limit", depending on how instinctive the field you study is for your brain.
However, I had a hard time finding a good job in academia (maybe if I'd worked more and published more it would have been different, but most of my smart, hard-working friends who completed their PhD's have encountered the same problem...), so I went back to school and did a medical degree, also without needing to study or even attend classes very much. At this point, I'm working in hospitals and I find I'm sometimes at a disadvantage compared to people who are used to hard work and have acquired more endurance for it... But, like everything else, it improves with practice ;)
I can only chip in with the others and recommend being careful with marijuana. I'm working in a psychiatric hospital these days and I've seen plenty of people with drug-induced (or exacerbated) psychosis, many of which don't recover fully.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I am currently a PhD student at a top Uni (global top 10) and I can tell you firsthand, right now after several years in academia and industry, there is no place for laziness or drug-taking. If you are lazy, then consider other options in fields better suited to your personality. Having aptitude and laziness is one thing, but a PhD is a job, like any other, which requires a routine and daily persistence and task workflow. Even if you manage a PhD, which is a longshot in my opinion, don't mind the bluntness, your employer will sack you for laziness anyway.
You should not jump into the frying pan, consider a Masters, see how you get on, and then revisit this, if you still want to read a PhD. Try and see if you if can manage a place at a top Uni (global top 10) to ascertain your apitude.
I have known a few very smart people who got kicked out to their PhD program an dUni altogether in their first year for lack of preparation and laziness.
Harsh words, but it's the truth.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: I'm not attempting to give an exhaustive answer and for sure there are some valuable points made in other answers.
I'd like to add the following things. The question "Can a lazy person complete a Statistics PhD?" seems to imply that laziness is some kind of unchangeable characteristic of a person. It isn't. In fact you are responsible for what you do, and what you don't do. There isn't any general answer to this question because there isn't a well defined group of "lazy persons". The very simple answer is you've got to do enough and you've got to find out how much "enough" is for the specific topic that you have, in the specific place, with the specific examiners. If that means (which it doesn't necessarily do) that you've got to get out of your lazy ways, so be it. That's for you to find out and for you to decide. Any general statement on whether lazy people generally can do it is meaningless for you as a person.
Question (2) is a good one though. In fact, in many undergraduate or MSc programmes there are projects in which the students go beyond what you call "plug-and-chug" and I suspect that if your programme is 100% of this kind, it is not very good. In fact my experience suggests that how students do in a research project (which of course at undergraduate level is somewhat easier and clearer defined than at PhD level) is a much better predictor for PhD success than how they do in courses of the type you mention. If you don't do anything beyond that and have no clue whether you're good at exploring things yourself in a more autonomous way, thesis writing and the like, you are indeed not in a very good position to know whether that's for you. You may try to find out whether there's an opportunity for a research internship somewhere. If you can choose to do a project in your undergraduate/MSc programme, by all means do that if you want to find out more. (Obviously this may conflict with the "laziness" you ascribe to yourself, but no reasonable answer here should take anything away from the fact that this is not a given characteristic but your own responsibility.)
Furthermore, PhD projects come in fairly different shapes. Particularly you may have very different levels of supervision. There are supervisors who largely leave their students on their own and even think it's the student's responsibility to define their own topic, and then there are supervisors who give a student a fairly well defined topic and make much more effort to push the student in what they think is the "right direction". There are pros and cons of both approaches, but in any case it will very likely be very very different from how statistics apparently has felt to you up to now. As somebody who has supervised a good number of PhD students (in Statistics!), I know that there are methods to put many different kinds of students on a track to ultimately achieve their PhD, however the process involves in many cases phases of uncertainty and confusion on the side of the student, and for sure at the end they will have done something based on their own initiative and judgement, and will have done an amount of work in that often is more than they would have expected in advance.
People who fail or give up do exist, so don't take anything for granted. I rather recommend the attitude that it is up to your responsibility, your work, and your ability to adapt whether you will succeed.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: I have always been hardworking (probably not that bright), even with simple things. I did plenty of exercises on a given topic to never be surprised by a test. Ended up with a PhD and left academia.
My son is completely different: he is brilliant and does everything with ease - but just enough to get top marks.
When I look at his way of working, it seems that he has unlimited capacities, but just stops when he has what he needs (again, top marks). When something is harder, he does more work. When something is really hard, he does a lot of work.
This is to say that **you may have never faced something that really pushed you into (and outside) your boundaries**, where you had to do a herculean effort to understand what you were doing.
When you get to this, pay close attention at your reaction. Is it "fuck, this is too complicated, I give up", or "fuck, I will not rest until I understand this shit" (the wording is what I was thinking, verbatim but in French).
Your answer will show whether you have the capacities to do a PhD.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: I found this question interesting; so much so that I actually created a StackExchange account so that I could write an answer. Normally I find it more efficient to simply use the information from other people's questions, and this could be a bit like the laziness you mention :)
As somebody who holds a PhD in a related field and shares certain characteristics that you describe I think my experience could be useful to you.
But first to give some background: In my first try at University (at about your age) I started off pretty much like you describe... do fun things all semester and smoke weed and such, then catch up before the exam... no worries... but didn't get great marks, failed some subjects due to required work not handed in during the semester... then tried to repeat the same trick at 2nd year level and found I was simply too far behind to be able to catch up quickly :( I ended up at 3rd year level with a hodge podge of subjects from different levels and eventually dropped out to become a software developer, so I guess I didn't pay that opportunity cost :)
When I eventually went back to University as a mature age student I was determined to attend all the classes and hand in all required work and did so, but I still got a bit of a rude shock when my "revision" for Mathematics A involved mostly reading through the lecture notes, and I found in the exam that without having practiced all the techniques I could not do it... still passed of course, but after that my revision consisted of mainly doing all the practice problems and practice exams I had available. And this enabled me to get good marks from then on.
Based on my experience, I'm honestly surprised that you're at the point of finishing your statistics degree and can still get by with just brushing up before the exam. I don't consider myself genius material (my talent is mainly in writing code) but I am certainly interested in mathematics and motivated and reasonably good at it. Either you're much more talented in mathematics or the material isn't like I'm used to (I did more pure maths).
I also have something in common with you where I have an enormous appreciation of the elegance and so on, and I got the PhD for similar reasons to what you describe -- I was never that interested in an academic career, although I've flirted with it at different times and have worked for the University in various capacities for short stints before returning to industry... I guess the other main reason I got the PhD was simply to prove to myself and others that I could do it. However, I should say that the opportunity cost of the degree was extremely high (took me 6 years and if you include the undergraduate degree that I did as a mature age student, I was out of the workforce for 10 whole years -- it's an enormous loss in economic terms even though my PhD was also fully funded).
Now with that background out of the way I shall talk a bit about the process of doing the PhD. Basically, you need to put all romantic notions aside and figure out how to work the system to your advantage. The entire goal of your sciencey PhD is to get about 4 high quality papers published and each of these is a chapter for your thesis. You'll have another 1-2 chapters of warm up and another chapter of cool down material (future directions etc).
So if you do not want to be there for 6 years as I was, you need to forget about contributing any really novel ideas and do something kind of incremental... as my first project, that eventually (after many twists and turns) became my first chapter... my supervisor suggested that I simply recreate someone's experiment so as to verify their findings, and report anything else interesting. This is a good approach to start with. And really the rest of your work has to follow the same pattern: Take something that already works and make it slightly better. Keep in mind you can do something really original AFTER your graduate, unless like me you ended up in a postdoc position where the supervisor didn't like new ideas :( I suppose my point is that research really isn't glamorous :( It's mainly about justifying to the sponsor you did something :( And getting it past the censorsXXXreviewers.
So, the question is really whether you can knuckle down, play the system and get the letters after your name. And to be honest from reading what you've written I am not 100% sure that you are ready. I think you're doing a lot better than I was in my first try (before I crashed and burned), but you might just crash and burn later than me. Or possibly you really are a genius and can continue your current way of working into your PhD. You can decide.
Now I also have to make the obligatory noises about the marijuana. Although in this case I'm not actually just repeating the research but I'm speaking from personal experience, as one who smoked weed every day from about age 18 to 30... I can definitely attest that it hurts motivation and although I'm not sure if my brain has been permanently damaged by the marijuana (my whole body has been permanently damaged by being alive for 46 years so it is really hard to judge)... I do feel that my brain took a lengthy period to rebuild itself and reach a more peak condition, and I never want to go back to the weed.
I used to have lengthy sessions where I would smoke weed and write computer code, and although it felt at the time like the weed was absolutely essential to the process and that the code was highly creative, looking back I think I was probably fooling myself to some extent. The words "pipe dream" exist to describe this situation literally -- I would come up with extremely complex algorithms and very detailed approaches while smoking many joints or pipes and staring into space building a complex mental model of what I was planning to do... but how much of the mental model actually transferred to code is a question. I think as a programmer I'm much more productive now than I was then, of course I'm more experienced but I'm also weed-free, something I didn't think was possible then.
So my suggestion would be to give up the weed and then re-evaluate. Giving up the weed was a process that took me many years but each time I quit for longer. So you have to be really persistent. I also suggest that many times you think you need a joint your body may actually just be wanting the nicotine that you smoke WITH the weed. I found the only effective way for me to quit was to stop cigarettes, weed AND alcohol (since I'd often end up smoking again after a big drinking session wound down and inhibitions were lowered)... the alcohol can be added back later but only when the quitting has really stuck.
Feel free to PM me if you want to bounce anything off me on the topic. Also, you might find this book interesting:
[https://www.amazon.com/Curse-High-Iq-Aaron-Clarey/dp/1522813756](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/1522813756)
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: When writing a dissertation for a PhD in computer science, where the research is interdisciplinary, is it OK to define and include in depth explanation for an extraordinarily large amount of terminology in the preliminaries and background?
Currently, in my preliminaries and background section, which follows the introduction, I have 50 definitions but will have more, many of which are trivial or common knowledge to some readers. Each definition comprises a substantially long paragraph. My reasoning and upfront explanation is that I hope to make the dissertation more accessible, friendly to non-English first language readers, and that the interdisciplinary content requires more definitions and explanations than usual to make the dissertation understandable to those in my field.<issue_comment>username_1: Please make your dissertation welcoming to those not in your specialty and to those who do not share your language fully.
I often read dissertations when I am trying to get to know a new subject. I know many people read my dissertation, as it picked up lots of citations over the past few decades. I have no idea why people say only a few people will read your dissertation. That seems insulting. I have read a few undergraduate dissertations to find some formulas spelled out. More commonly, I read masters dissertations, and many more PhD dissertations, mostly those in fields that were not where I got my graduate training.
The exception is if you are in a harsh field where being nice to your readers is seen as a sign of weakness. Even then, you might be brave and buck the trend. Most importantly, do listen to your advisor. Don't spend forever writing this. Often the longer version takes no more time as you need not decide what to cut out, but at some point you need to pick a style and power through. Your committee can tell you to add detail or take out detail.
My advisor taught me that a good mathematician writes a "full-proof" version of every paper that nails down every detail, and then edits that down to make the published version. He wanted my dissertation to be the full-proof version of a few papers. Later, one is to only publish the short and efficient versions, but had the full version on a shelf to pull down if someone questioned you on a point.
If your dissertation is structured correctly, your committee can skip over sections that give background that they know well. Your advisor will get stuck reading it all. One does get paid for this, however.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Generally in order to be reader-friendly, it is more advisable to explain too much than too little. If you explain not enough, some parts of your thesis may be incomprehensible, which devalues them. If you explain too much, people still can understand your stuff, even if they may lose a bit of time. For sure "explaining too much" is not a reason to fail your PhD (unless there is something like a word count limit and an excessive account of basics stops you from explaining you own work properly).
The only problem I see is that there may be the odd expert reader who is annoyed about having to read so much they already know (they may even believe everybody who reads the thesis will know this-or-that, whether that's true or not), and this may give them a certain negative feeling when going on reading. This however should not normally be a problem; the quality of your original work is what it is, and explaining too much doesn't affect the readers' ability to see this quality. This is what you should be assessed on, so I believe it can't hurt, even though personally I'd for sure ask your supervisor and maybe others for feedback about that stuff; even if it won't make your thesis fall, if being nice to your main readers means explaining a bit less, I'd recommend to be nice.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: My former PI (and role model and one of the most incredible people I know) wrote me a letter of recommendation for a scholarship before she passed away. I know her secretary was the one who submitted the letter (so presumably she still has it), so I'm wondering if it's ok for me to ask to see the letter.
I ended up getting the scholarship, so I'd think the letter was quite strong, and it would just mean so much to me to see what my former PI said. (I know I don't have any real reasons I need to see the letter besides sentimental ones, but still...)<issue_comment>username_1: Unless these letters are normally confidential, I can't see how it would be unethical.
Email the person who submitted it, and say you greatly appreciated the letter of recommendation from advisor and that you were successful receiving your scholarship, and would you be able to have a copy of it. You could add that unfortunately you never got the opportunity to thank advisor directly and ask them for a copy.
Either they say yes and send it to you, or for whatever reason do not. Just accept no if that is the answer.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I agree that it is ethical to ask. You could have asked the professor herself when she was alive; asking the next-of-kin (whether familial or academic) now seems equally appropriate.
The converse question is much trickier though: should the next-of-kin agree to your request? On one hand, these letters are normally confidential precisely so the referee can speak candidly. So, if the decision-maker turns out to be the department head (or another academic), there is good chance they will decline. On the other hand, there is no solemn vow of secrecy; referees can and do provide letters to applicants in some cases. Therefore, there is perhaps some flexibility depending on the decedent's personality, their usual practices, the content of the letter, and of course the decision maker's personality.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Unrelated to ethics, there is one reason why you might not want to ask to see that letter:
Suppose, in the future you want another reference letter for some application. Since it is not your fault that your former PI cannot write one, the receiver may accept a letter issued by her professional successor or institute head on the basis of existing recommendation letters (which clearly states the situation). It is not optimal since it is not as personal, cannot be tailored to the specific application, etc., but it may still be your best option.
Now, if it is on record that you have never seen the recommendation letter, whoever issues the new letter can state this (and you might ask them to). This has the following advantages:
* The new recommendation letter is more powerful since you trust your former PI’s judgement without having seen it¹. You cannot be accused of cherry-picking your recommendation letters after seeing them; you can only cherry-pick your recommenders like everybody else.
* While the content of the letter cannot be affected by non-confidentiality anymore, this may convince somebody that formal requirements on confidentiality are fulfilled.
---
¹ Even if your former PI had coordinated the contents of the letters with you, she could still have changed it to include negative aspects in theory.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: If your PI was alive would you ask to see the letter ? You knew them, so would they be reluctant to do so or would you be putting them in an uncomfortable position ? Just because they're dead doesn't mean you should ignore their wishes as you understand them.
>
> I ended up getting the scholarship, so I'd think the letter was quite strong,
>
>
>
That's an assumption, but not necessarily true. They might have been impressed by you *despite* what she said. So there's one reason to not read it - you might be dissappointed.
A second reason might be that maybe she said things that were good, but not true. People do that sometimes if they have a personal bias. If you find out that happened, do you then tell the scholarship people and maybe you lose what you have.
Letters like these are for a formal purpose. Maybe you want to see something that shows a personal warmth, but it was written for a formal purpose and probably isn't going to have that context. It could leave you cold and no more informed about what your PI thought about you outside of a technical and work context. The letter was never written for your eyes or even for the eyes of your PI's friends.
This is a pandora's box situation. My view would be to leave it alone.
>
> and it would just mean so much to me to see what my former PI said. (I know I don't have any real reasons I need to see the letter besides sentimental ones, but still...)
>
>
>
Another expression is "curiosity killed the cat". Just how curious are you ?
>
> My former PI (and role model and one of the most incredible people I know) wrote me a letter of recommendation for a scholarship before she passed away. I know her secretary was the one who submitted the letter (so presumably she still has it), so I'm wondering if it's ok for me to ask to see the letter.
>
>
>
Ask if you wish. It may or may not be allowed depending on jurisdiction and other legal factors. If you ask it may even be something they have to do, but not necessarily something that will make you look good,
You have fond memories of your PI. Keep them. Maybe they're more important to keep intact than satisfying curiosity.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: During the early stage of my research career many years ago, as a graduate student, I met this young and bright but yet very manipulative PhD student. Let's call the person A.
At the beginning A was cordial and told me to work on the same type of research as them. After I decided to carve out my own path, A for some reason either decided that my focus was not as esteemed/prestigious/intellectually challenging as theirs, or that perhaps I am not cut out to be a researcher, so A took every opportunity to mock my research focus in front of other senior students in the lab. I cannot delve into details but at that time I saw all the signs of A being a sociopathic bully or at least an elitist.
* For example, A would probe me and other students to see if we have
some deficiency in our knowledge. Afterwards, A will make a huge deal
out of it.
A also has unrealistic high standard for work that they imposes on
everyone. Anyone who doesn't conform to their schedule would be
openly mocked or even socially ostracized.
A has this very inflexible way of deciding who is worth talking to
and who isn't. A will respect anyone who has a big name and deride
people who are junior to them.
Because A was productive, therefore my then supervisor tolerated A.
I recently found out that A is becoming a professor at another (better ranked) school. Is there anything that anyone can do at this stage to prevent a jerk from becoming a prof?<issue_comment>username_1: I doubt you will succeed in stopping A's appointment at A's university. You would however do considerable harm to yourself. First, for a non-psychologist, non-therapist, non-psychiatrist to make a diagnosis of sociopath is rather presumptive. So, please do not do this. Second, if A is not a socio-path but rather was a "yerk", know that people can and sometimes do change. Third, academia just like politics favors persons with big egos, because big egos are sometimes needed for success. Your intervention would make you in all probability look vindictive and petty-minded.
It is not fun to see someone who mistreated you be successful, but if you hold on to your pain, you will never free yourself from it.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> I recently found out that A is becoming a professor at another (better ranked) school. Is there anything that anyone can do at this stage to prevent a jerk from becoming a prof?
>
>
>
No. Once the contract is signed, it is final.
Trying to harm a colleague's job search is highly unprofessional behavior. Do not do it. Do not spread rumors.
Abusive behavior towards you should be addressed by your supervisor, the perpetrator's supervisor, or where applicable the legal system.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an instructor in a STEM field. I am teaching an upper-division course where I try to interact with the students rather than just lecturing. I am teaching in the students' native language; there do not seem to be any language issues.
I am struggling because the students tend to give wrong answers to simple questions I ask during lectures. These really are simple questions; they should have learned this material during the first few weeks of their first year.
To make matters clear, let me give an example. If we are in the middle of a proof, I might ask "what is the result of log (a \* b)?". The right answer is "log(a) + log(b)", however, they will say "log(a) \* log (b)" as an answer. Then, I did not see any other way and would say "no guys, it is log(a) + log(b)."
Situations like this repeated over the entire semester. Students complained to my boss and in the student evaluation that I was demeaning them and that I was upset when they answered something other than the answer I wanted to.
I will teach some of these students next year in another course and I have a hard time trying to find a way to solve this issue. The only solution I see for this is to just lecture and not encourage participation in class. However, I was wondering if there would be any other wiser solution.
Tips from [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/86852/how-to-deal-with-a-colleague-who-wont-accept-theyre-wrong) are good, but instead of a colleague, I'm dealing with students.
**Edit**: This is actually an upper-division chemistry course. The situation above arises, for example, when I have to explain why pH + pOH = 14. Students should have learned that in general chemistry, but I like to derive it to remind them. When I perform the derivation, I start from the auto-ionization of water and eventually arrive at:
14 = -log ([H3O+][OH-]). Then I ask them how to simplify this in order to complete the proof. But they do not remember the properties of logs.<issue_comment>username_1: If you're asking them about something that they were supposed to learn a long time ago, it's possible that they forgot, or maybe they never learned it when they were supposed to. One thing you could say (if you have enough time) is:
"Before I get to today's topic, I want to review [topic from previous class], because it's essential for understanding today's topic. It's usually taught in [name of class], but I understand that you all have different backgrounds. Some of you may have learned it a long time ago and forgot, and I want to make sure we're all on the same page. You can also read up about it on your own by consulting [references]. [Insert review]"
Edit: Now that I saw your example, it's possible that your students didn't pay much attention to the properties of logarithms. One kind of sneaky way to get more correct responses is to teach something that uses that logarithm property at the beginning of class. Then when you get to the derivation and ask what happens, you're more likely to get correct responses.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: **Ask yes or no questions. Then ask why.**
Instead of asking what shape a drawing is, ask the students if it’s a square. Then ask why it’s a square.
This lets students know what the right answer is. If they have trouble getting to “all sides are the same length and at 90 degree angles” then you know a review session is in order.
As a professor it’s difficult to understand what an easy undergrad question is. You’ve had 5+ years of extra education on top of likely being a good student.
Using yes/no questions at first limits the answer, and the why follow up ensures it wasn’t a lucky guess. If people take more than a minute to completely answer why time for a review session.
**EDIT**
A commenter pointed out that my original answer “all sides are the same length” isn’t enough. They sides also need to be at 90 degree angles.
Answering on the spot is hard. As I’ve shown it’s easy to leave out information that you know. It’s even harder when you’re being ask by an authority figure like a professor.
If a student had said that - follow with something like “that’s part of it, you’re almost there. What other thing has to be true about the lines.”
**EDIT 2**
And even that isn’t technically enough to correctly answer the why. Leaving the question as is to show just how difficult answering can be.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: There are several ways you could nudge your students to the correct domain, for example:
* `a : b <=> c : ?` question formats, which they may be familiar with from some types of testing. This gives them *two* hints - the relationship between a and c, and the relationship between a and b.
E.g. `▲ : triangle <=> ■ : ?`
* [minimal pairs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimal_pair), examples where the *only* difference between two items is the one you are interested in.
E.g. ▮ / ■
* Chains where you start from a concept you know they grasp, perhaps because you've just refreshed it, and then move on by *very small increments* to the concept you want. You can combine this tip with the above - present the chain, then ask your students to identify what feature is introduced at each step.
E.g. plane figure -> polygon -> quadrilateral -> parallelogram -> rectangle -> square
Other replies have comments have mentioned other useful techniques, like multiple choice, yes/no, etc.
However, I'm more worried about the fact that you don't really seem to consider the possibility that your questions may be genuinely hard to answer. I remember many teachers who would go through this process: think of a concept A that they want to assess -> think of a plausible question Q that A is a correct answer to -> get flustered when students answered with one of the many, many other possible answers to Q and *be unable to give more guidance* as to what it is they wanted, other than "try again" or "that's not right". These exams turned into a game of "read the teacher's mind" and were stressful and distracting from the subject.
Your example is obviously hyperbolic, so it's hard to assess this possibility. I'll point out, however, that you use "it is obviously a rectangle" as an example of an *incorrect* answer to "What is the shape of this ■ figure". Surely that figure *is* a rectangle? And a simple polygon and a trapezoid and a number of other correct things that are *not* what you had in mind when you asked the question. So I really suspect that this is what is going on. If you are willing to share a real example, people here will be able to give you pointers to making your questions less confusing and frustrating for you and your students.
Edit
----
The OP’s comments and edits make this answer completely obsolete - there isn’t, in fact, a domain/category problem at all, just “normal” wrong answers that need some teaching skill to be turned into a learning opportunity instead of a put down. [username_8](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/185249/155556), [username_6](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/185246/155556) and [username_10](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/185256/155556) have covered what I would say about this already.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Are you clear about your aim when asking students such questions? I think that asking such questions when being more or less sure that students will give the correct answer is fake interaction, and students will realise this. What's the value of showing a square and students then saying "that's a square"?
Now your students tell you something else. I'd actually like that, because I like that students give me something that I didn't expect. It is information for you that students tell you something else than what you expect; but of course you have to make some sense of that information. The obvious (but not necessarily the only) reason would be that the basic material was not learnt as well as you hoped for, which of course you can take into account in further teaching (maybe there's more repetition required, maybe it is worthwhile to make more references to earlier material in the sense that some later learned things also agree with earlier concepts or provide examples/special cases for them and the like). You may also question your way of teaching the basic material, or you may want to find out (just to given an example for another possible issue) whether the life situation of many students prevents them from learning enough, or learning well enough.
A more positive spin on your communication with the students can be given by thanking them for contributing something to the class, and thanking them for showing to you how these concepts can also be perceived, even if wrong, because it means you've got to do something about their understanding.
Personally I tend to avoid questions of this kind (I may occasionally use them, see below) because I know that it is not nice to be told in front of an audience that you got something wrong. It may produce a bad feeling, at least if this happens in a bad way.
I rather like to ask questions that are meant to give me information about how the students think, generally trying to value what they contribute in other ways than just stating whether it's correct or wrong. I prefer to ask questions about which more than one opinion is possible, or questions that even though they seem simple are connected to some hidden difficulties. Sometimes I want students to get things wrong in order to prepare a next result that shows a concept from a different angle and will likely change their view on what was taught earlier. Sometimes I ask rather hard right/wrong questions and if there are different opinions, I ask the students to try to convince each other. I then also thank all involved for their contributions; those who were on the wrong side of the argument had the effect that more explanation was given which was apparently necessary, so they would have a positive impact on the teaching.
I know that some students are happy to show off their knowledge by answering a simple right/wrong question correctly, or even to test it by guessing an answer that may be wrong. Such questions can serve to make sure everyone operates on the same basis (or rather to push they group at least a bit in that direction), and may serve to bring attention to your teaching again when some students may have lost it. So I'm not saying they shouldn't be used, but my attitude when asking questions is always that I won't expect one particular answer (as then I'd be bored when getting it), but rather that this is, as much communication, a vehicle to find out something also for me, rather than another way to assess the students (for which there are exams).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: 1. First of all, determine whether the students are really dumb or
intelligent.
2. If they are intelligent, are they giving wrong answers because of
lack of basic or per-requisite knowledge.
3. If they are intelligent and have basic knowledge, then do they want
to tease you or they are just careless.
4. Also find out how they are doing in other courses.
All the methods told in other answers need intelligence, per-requisite knowledge and seriousness of the students.
Analyze the students as told in steps above and decide how to pursue.
**EDIT**
Within first week of classes, teacher knows about intelligence and seriousness of each student in his class and the students (even the dumb ones) know intelligence and knowledge level of the teacher. But if you still need to find more, then google the topic. I found some interesting websites.
* <https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-ss-152-1/chapter/learning-and-intelligence/>
* <https://www.verywellfamily.com/understanding-intelligence-testing-for-children-2162161>
* <https://personalityanalysistest.com/highest-iq/iq-test-for-high-school-students-free-guide/>
* <https://www.theedadvocate.org/teachers-know-understanding-measurement-intelligence-student-learning/>
* <https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1098152.pdf>
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: You are asking them to answer a question on the spot. They get flustered, say something stupid, and you don't respond in a very sympathetic way. Then they are upset.
Yes, you are right, log(a\*b) is just not log(a)\*log(b). But it is an understandable way to mess up, particularly with the pressure of answering a question in front of the class, particularly with the pressure of being asked by a professor who has a reputation for shaming people (that professor being you, apparently).
So you need a way to ask the basics, and get them to realise their mistakes, without feeling shame over it. I've seen people achieve that in two ways;
1. Whenever you mistake yourself, highlight it, laugh at yourself, then move on. I was taught by a prof who, after making a sign error, came out with the wonderful line; "maths; it's like sex, good fun, but quite difficult, and you probably shouldn't do it in public", we all found that funny. And when we made a mistake, he would say "ah, no, that's exactly to sort of mistake I'd make too, but actually the answer is ....". You are making it clear that mistakes are normal, and so people don't take it so hard when they get things wrong publicly.
2. If they are making a lot of mistakes, you might need a different approach. Firstly, lets get an anonymous answer from everyone, with a digital voting system. There are lots available, some of them free. You ask the question, then all the students answer.
A. If 95% of the students got the right answer, you can just confirm it and move on.
B. If about 50% of the students got the right answer, ask them to discuss their answer with their neighbour. Don't say which answer was correct, just tell them to try an convince their neighbour of their answer. This is normally very effective, particularly for basic topics, the ones who got it right are quickly able to convince the friend next to them who got it wrong. Or when I try to justify my wrong answer to the person beside me, I'm very likely to notice that it was incorrect. Crucially, nobody is ashamed, as they are just chatting with the student sitting next to them, so they are open about their confusion. Ask them to vote again after 3 mins of discussion, and you can check it worked.
C. If more like 25% of the student got it right, you need a quick review. Go thought it on the board, and then run another poll. Hopefully, you are able to explain well enough that you at least get the majority of the students understanding.
People will react with anger when they are ashamed, that's almost hard-coded into human psyche. People protect their ego more fiercely than just about anything else. So you are more likely to get a constructive reaction if you are careful not to make anyone lose face. But these two suggestions are ways to mitigate the shame associated with being wrong.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: **Don't tell people they are wrong. Tell them when they are right.**
Let's consider your actual "log(a\*b)" question because it's real.
When you ask the question remind them where they would have heard this - say "you probably remember this from your pre-calc class".
* Let's say the first student answers "log(a) \* log (b)". You say "OK, any other ideas?"
* The second student says "multiply a by b and take the log", you say "yes, that's true, but I'm looking different form to state that in?".
* Hopefully somebody eventually says "log(a) + log(b)" and you say "yes, that's right" and move on.
You haven't upset anyone by telling them they are wrong.
If there is pushback, and someone says "what about log(a) times log(b)" ask the class if they think that's right. If there is doubt say "OK, let's try it". Get out a calculator. Calculate log(2), log(3) and log(6) and see if log(6)=log(2) + log(3) or log(6)=log(2) \* log(3). Or if that takes too much time ask them to look up the result in the pre-calc course notes.
The other possibility, since this isn't key information for your class, is to just go ahead and state the result without asking the question. Just say "..since log(a\*b) = log(a)+log(b) we get the result..."
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: Like others here have indicated, you can reframe the questions to avoid this, but there's another aspect to consider.
It can be really hard to foster an environment where people aren't afraid to speak up at the risk of being wrong. It's embarrassing enough to put yourself out there in front of a couple dozen of your peers and friends and be wrong, but if your professor responds negatively, whether it's in body language, vocal tone, and/or word choice, that only makes it worse. On top of that, the expectations that a professor sets up in how in the question is presented can also contribute to this.
Let's take your example:
>
> A real example: If I ask "what is the result of log (a \* b)?". Even
> though I'm expecting "log(a) + log(b)" because we are in the middle of
> solving a problem and need to use the properties of logs, I'd be
> prepared if they say "multiply a and b and take the log", however, I
> will get "log(a) \* log (b)" as an answer. I don't see how I can help
> them with their self-confidence and try to make their wrong answer
> seems "ok". The only thing that I would say is "no, that's wrong".
>
>
>
And try approaching it differently:
>
> *Prof:* Does anybody remember the math identity log(a \* b)? Take a few seconds to think about how we would restructure this.
>
>
>
This does two things: it reminds them that it's something they've probably seen before, but it is also indicates to them that it's something you don't expect them to immediately be able to recall (if at all).
>
> *Prof:* Does anybody want to take a *guess* on how to rewrite it?
>
>
>
Using the word 'guess' helps to lower the stakes and indicate to the students that it's okay to be wrong.
>
> *Student 1:* log(a) \* log(b)
>
>
> *Prof:* That's a reasonable guess, but a very common mistake that comes up every year
>
>
> *Student 2:* Peanut butter
>
>
> *Prof:* Not quite the direction I was looking for; I might not have been as clear as I thought. What I meant was... (clarifications/rephrasing)
>
>
>
Instead of just saying they are wrong, reflect on their answer and why they might have gotten it. Use word choices that acknowledge their mistakes without making them feel like a fool. Even though a blunt "that's incorrect" might technically be a correct word choice, there's a good chance that there's more that could be said about their answer, which will help you come off as more empathetic.
But word choice is only a single part of this. There's body language and vocal tone. If you come off as disappointed or defeated or exasperated, it will negatively impact your word choice and how your students respond to it. It can really help to just maintain positivity and excitement through the whole process, and that will help to encourage students to feel better about taking risks and making mistakes.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_9: Don't ask questions about prerequisites, only ask questions about the ideas you're teaching.
Just assume the prerequisites are a given and puzzled students will just look it up later. In the *unlikely* event that a student asks a question about them, you give the (correct) answer and move on.
Asking questions is good, but you need to be prepared to dedicate some time to them. Questions about the core of your class ensure that if the answer is wrong it will actually be worth the time to revise that material.
There is also the issue that pointing out that the student misses some required knowledge could be taken as a suggestion that they are not good enough to be in your class. This is likely to hurt the student's feelings as well as those of some of the onlookers.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: The question conflates a number of different things.
* "How to deal with category mistakes and other ontological problems when teaching a concept?" (the example about failing to recognize a square as such)
* "How to spare a student's feelings when telling them they are wrong?" (the point about being sensitive)
* "What to do about students who falsely believe they are right?" (the point about insisting the square is peanut butter)
* "How to help students make fewer mistakes when applying techniques they learned?" (the realistic example of incorrect log transformation)
You have of course added information to try and make the question more clear, but I think it's nevertheless confused things a bit, and it's better to answer these separately. Taken on its own, each sub-question has a simple and direct answer, and when individually understood, these answers make the overall issue plainer to see.
Mistakes in applying techniques
-------------------------------
The time-tested solution is practice, practice, practice. If students make mistakes with algebraic operations that they already "know", first thing you want to make sure is that they're getting adequate practice via homework, problem sessions and in-class example problems/solutions. When solving non-trivial problems, one must not only apply techniques correctly, but also be able to select which techniques are appropriate. You can supplement this with trivial problems, such as asking them to rewrite "a=logx" as "x=e^a" and vice versa, or evaluate with certain numeric values of x or a.
It is also useful to teach fall-back techniques when their knowledge of the primary skill fails. For example, even if they don't remember whether the distributive property applies to logs, they can try to prove/disprove it in some quick way (such as: "log2(16\*4)=log2(64)=6" clearly does not equal "log2(16) \* log2(4) = 4\*2 = 8"). Another option when failing to remember a rule is to try and remember its derivation instead.
Sparing a student's feelings
----------------------------
There's a lot to be said here but briefly, you want to create an environment where students feel safe in making mistakes and asking questions, while also having confidence in their ability to learn. You should set up the lesson plan so that everyone is always learning *something*, even if not everything, in that lecture. When explaining concepts and answering questions, try to identify what part of the explanation seems like a "leap" to the student, and break it down into simpler steps. Recall earlier lectures where students were not able to solve a problem which they now can, and point out that what seems intractable now will soon become soluble with some effort and practice.
Keep in mind also that not everyone will be a prodigy in every subject. You want to present the subject as a ladder of knowledge and techniques, where student will see that increasing commitment of effort will yield increasing mastery, and yet there are evenly spaced "exit points" where they can stop investing into the subject and still have some partial mastery to take away from it. This also helps them recognize the proverbial steps by which mountains are climbed.
Dealing with stubborn students
------------------------------
Assuming the student is acting in good faith, the problem here is typically your failure to establish rapport and authority in the class. Ideally, you want to establish and maintain as clear a picture as possible in the students' minds of what they are attempting to learn in a class and what the utility of this is. Even if you are not able to justify to them what good logarithms are in every day life, you can at least emphasize that they are a prerequisite of many other interesting topics. You can also look for examples of real-world problems where they apply (exponential population growth is often a good one).
When the a student claims that you are wrong, you should be prepared to justify your claim with various proofs and examples, as well as refuting the student's claim persuasively. This of course requires a pre-agreed upon standard of truth: Either the student body must implicitly believe certain criteria for accepting an argument as correct, or you must establish them from the first day of class.
Note that students claiming you are wrong are an excellent opportunity to (a) figure out what parts of material you failed to explain adequately and (b) teach students techniques for independently verifying their own work and catching their own mistakes.
Category and other ontological mistakes
---------------------------------------
What I mean by this is things like confusing a square with a rectangle.
This is a broad pedagogical topic but ultimately you want to avoid relying too much on the Socratic method if your rapport with the students is not excellent. Do not draw a square, ask what it is, and then get frustrated when they say "a drawing". Tell them the rule right away:
>
> In this class, we are mainly interested in whether things are squares, triangles and circles. If they have four equal sides we will call them squares. There will not be trick questions about equilateral parallelograms or non-Euclidean planes so don't worry about that.
>
>
>
As the class goes on and students learn your style, you can ramp up the Socratic element, but you should always start out didactically.
You want to pick a closely related set of learning objectives, ideally in the same or similar ontological *categories*, and focus on those. Leave the philosophy to philosophy class. When teaching algebraic techniques, don't distract them with difficult ontological dilemmas. It's okay (and arguably useful) to point out ontological asides, but don't quiz them on these.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_11: Try *rewarding* good answers. One of my professors used to give treats (like mini chocolate bars) to students who ask good questions or answer well to his questions. This way
1. You encourage interactions.
2. You make a clear distinction between good / bad answers, but without making the bad ones looking bad.
He was always getting positive feedback in the student evaluation for this.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_12: One technique that I was taught for cultural contexts in which it's profoundly shameful to have your mistake called out, is to give the correct answer without calling attention to the mistake:
**Teacher:** What's another way to write log (a \* b)?
**Student:** log(a) \* log(b)
**Teacher:** Another way to write log (a \* b) is log(a) + log(b).
The teacher is then reinforcing the correct information. If the student isn't paying attention to what you're saying, he'll miss the correction. But if he is, he'll appreciate not being called out. Students pay more attention to what the teacher says than what a classmate says (at least this is my experience), so they will hear the correct fact and can move forward.
(Of course, you can make a mental note to call students' attention to “an easy mistake to make” later in the lecture. I don't think it's less effective for being outside the context of someone actually making the mistake.)
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_13: >
> The only solution I see for this is to just lecture and not encourage participation in class
>
>
>
You would be doing them a disservice.
Now, what you can do depends on how the feedback they provide impacts your position on a professional level. It also depends on the culture of the country.
If it **does impact your career** then I would do what is best for **me**: get wonderful marks from the pupils. Yes, this is sad but if my ~~company~~ university sees this as a way to rank me then obviously I will comply.
Bad luck for the students.
If it **does not impact your career** then you can do real coaching in addition to teaching. You would be doing them a disservice by letting it go because they are **adults** who as supposed to behave like adults.
People may have all sorts of opinions about how to not bring discomfort to the youth but tomorrow they will be on the job market where they will get a kick in the butt without warning.
I would encourage them to answer, but also to review the basic information they will need for the course. Actually, with your experience, I would provide them what they need to know in math right at the start.
---
Despite not having a feedback system at the end of the year, I usually asked students to give me one. They had the opportunity to tell me who they were if they wanted to help me understand.
I was less interested in the great ones (though it is always nice) and was looking at the medium and bad ones - and trying to understand what went wrong.
So I find feedback a good thing **when it is not a way to rank a teacher** (which is the case in the US if I understand correctly).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_14: In the example you've cited, **it would be more educational to avoid saying "No - wrong answer. It's actually loga + logb."**
All students - old as well as young - detest trip-up teaching. Especially in a class situation where the superficial view of the situation by other students is usually humorous.
Far better to say: "Why do you say that, now ?" in an even tone.
You could then take an example of log(to base 10) of 100 \* 100 where the student's answer just happens to be right.
Then take log(to base 10) of 1000 \* 1000 where the student's answer is incorrect. But don't say he/she is incorrect after you discover it, say "**We** are wrong here".
Then go into deducing the correct expression from particular situations, not algebraically.
After you've got a seemingly right-for-all-cases expression, do a once-over with the formal derivation.
By now the student's involvement - be it right or wrong - is forgotten.
The class is far too engrossed with your - seemingly - bumbling deductions . . .
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_15: One key point to consider here that hasn't been brought up is that your job in the class room, as a professor is to teach the student who are actually in front of you, rather than the student you would like to be in front of you, or think should be in front of you.
Its no good saying that "they should have learned this material during the first few weeks of their first year." - this particular student clearly doesn't know this right at this moment, wheather they "should" or not. What you do with that information depends on whether they are alone in this deficit, or it is indicative of the class as a whole. If a substaintial fraction of the class doesn't remember that log(a\*b) = log a + log b, then you need to teach them.
This circles back to asking why we ask questions in class. Asking questions doesn't, in it self, make teaching better. There are generally two reasons to ask a question:
1. Guide the students to reflect or think about a particular point, that will hopefully lead them to coming to an important incite about the topic themselves. This is reffered to i pedagogy as "co-construction", as you are helping the students to construct the knoewlege for themselves.
2. For a rapid, real time assessment of a students knowledge. This is only useful if you are going to do something with the result - tailor the class to how well the students are coping with the material. Asking about prerequisites can be useful, but only if you are prepared to divert the class to explain a prerequisite that appears to be missing in a significant section of the audience.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_16: I'd like to add a few comments to some of the already excellent answers posted here:
1. Be careful about asking "recall this (potentially basic) fact" type questions. To see an extreme example, think about me posing the question "what is 17+19?" to my Calculus 1 students. They should of course be able to answer, but there is very little reward for answering correctly and considerable shame for answering incorrectly. I used to ask many more questions like this when I first started teaching because I felt they made the class more accessible, but over time I learned that they actually discouraged student engagement and I have tried to cut as many as possible out of my lectures.
2. That said, there *are* certain basic facts that I would like to remind students about in my class. For example, it would be great if my Calculus 1 students all knew off the top of their head that cos(0)=1, but many have forgotten, never learned it well to begin with, etc. Rather than telling them this fact, calling on a particular student, or posing it as a question to the class at large, I have found success doing one of the following two things:
a. Assigning every student a partner (this happens every day in my class) and then having pairs discuss the answer with each other.
b. Posing the question to the class as a poll question and then collecting responses electronically--this forces students to think about it, but doesn't put any negative social pressure on making a mistake.
3. All this considered, I still think that the best questions ask students to think, rather than recall. There are several good answers above discussing this, so I will simply ask any readers of my answer to refer to those.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_17: Try asking the other students for a second opinion. If one student gives a wrong answer, ask the class if anyone else has an idea. You're not directly telling the first student they were wrong (and you can also thank them for volunteering an answer) so they won't feel put down.
Alternatively, there's the "you're nearly there" or "you're on the right lines" response.
If you have time, get them to work out the correct answer as a team. "What's log(3)? (You can use your calculators)". "And what's log(4)? So what's log(12)?" Write the answers on the board, and someone will spot that it's the sum, not the product.
(And just to make it more fun, and more memorable, at the next class you can bring in your ancient slide rule and invite the students to play with it...)
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_18: I see a fair number of purely immediate/tactical answers and not so many structural/architectural ones, so I will try to share some structural things you can do that make this work.
**Assumed:**
* they do not actually know the material that they should
* they do not know that they do not know that material
* they need to understand what they are taught in order to be able to perform acceptably as a professional
* you have to teach them that
**Modelling from [Dr. <NAME> (Jaws\*\*)](https://fullcircle.asu.edu/fulton-schools/dedication-to-education-was-cornerstone-of-engineering-professors-career/):**
One of my professors was a bear. You get into his class and he has a pile of 3x5 cards, one for each student, and instead of asking at random he works through the pile. Everyone knows they will be called equally. He always asks hard/important questions, no fewer than 5 per class. Part of the rules is that if you don't know the answer, you say you do not know it, and he makes the mark, and goes to the next card. Another piece of this is that he forces everyone to sit forward. The center and front get the best value, so he calls the front-row the A-row, the second the B-row, and he forces the students to move to seats as far front as they can. Their convenient cliques are disrupted out the gate, and those cliques are the ones the students are most worried about looking dumb around, not the nebulous "class".
**Anger is a secondary emotion:**
Your brain is required for anger. Expections - Reality := Disappointment (anger). It does not exist without reason. The most important events in a trip, holiday, vacation, or such, the ones that form the kids opinion, and the latter ones in the series. They do not remember the events as a dispassionate objective observer, and this applies to how humans process emotional events like anger or shame over time.
So how do you exploit this background? Don't ask just one, ask a sequence. Make the last one be something you know they know. I like to ask in the sequence: medium-easy-hard-easy and let the brain work it out.
**Finally** I like to give them the tools to teach themselves. There is an old saying that the first job of a teacher is to put themselves out of a job. It is implicit to the current class of students. They do it by giving the students enough of the fundamentals to be capable, and then training the students to be able to teach themselves in the area.
They say that "eternal review is the price of knowledge" or "repetition is the mother of learning". I find things I was an ace at 12 years ago have rusted nearly to dust, but if I keep the nuggets/seeds from which that tree grew, I can re-grow in a hundredth the time that former and formerly rusted capability.
A fund way to do that is "prove it" or asking if someone else can prove or disprove the wrong answer. Knowing the few axioms that you can use to test your answer is useful for re-teaching yourself. It helps them exercise those seeds.
**Best of luck.** Also, academia can be hell, and it pays poorly. "Those who can, do; ..." The market is hungry for capable folks, now more than ever. A capable scientist is an asset. [Bureau of Labor Statistics says](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/chemists-and-materials-scientists.htm) a Bachelors Chemist has a median pay of $80,000 per year, not including benefits, stock, heath, vacation, nice equipment, and such.
\*\* **Jaws**. His class was like fighting a bear. I spent twice or three times the effort to get by in that class than it took to ace higher level classes in the same chain. But like becoming a werewolf you are torn apart and the spirit of the wolf enters you, the spirit of that bear entered me. In latter classes with peers who took the same Course-number from other professors, I had super-powers. I could first-principles derive things they couldn't set up.
Bottom line: Fight the bear. Charge the dragon head-on, because you can't lose. Every single thing that most honest of enemies, that most noble of opponents, called truth, does it makes you more powerful than you could imagine.
Upvotes: 1
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2022/05/15
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<issue_start>username_0: My paper has been accepted at one of the top conferences in my field for oral presentation (very low acceptance rate).
In the past, I have always presented papers for which I was first author myself. However, this time I may be not be able to present myself (the date and location make it harder for me to attend the conference).
I can let the second author present and I am sure he would do a great job, but I am afraid to miss an opportunity to improve my career.
What do you think? Could it make a difference in my career, like getting you in touch with more people? Would it make me more recognizable?
Or is the fact that my paper has been accepted for oral presentation what really matters?
The field is machine learning, if it matters (maybe things are different depending on the field).<issue_comment>username_1: There are a lot of reasons for attending conferences in your field, but personally presenting a paper is probably pretty ephemeral. You might get noticed. Sure. But the more important consideration is the long term effect of the contribution/importance of the paper itself. That will live on, long after the 50 minutes or so of a live presentation.
But this requires a value judgement. How important are the other options that you say make it hard to attend? I found a lot of value in just talking to colleagues at conferences and other meetings whether I presented anything or not. That builds collaboration.
Don't obsess over it. It will be fine.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Congratulations on having your paper accepted! I wouldn't worry too much about presenting the paper yourself. Conferences are a good way to broaden your network, but missing one in one year won't be detrimental to your career.
You could ask your co-author who is presenting for you to add a slide at the end of their presentation which has your contact information/website and to specifically state that people should get in touch with you in case of any questions. In this way, people who are really interested in your research will seek you out after the conference and you can still grow your network and establish collaborations.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: On a few occasions where coauthors of mine gave talks about our joint papers, I heard later from colleagues who were there that my coauthors said extremely positive things about me and how essential my contributions to the paper were. I would never have dared to praise myself in such a way or to even think that I deserved that sort of praise (nor would anyone be inclined to believe these sorts of statements if I were saying them about myself).
These experiences made me realize the importance of acknowledging and praising your collaborators when you talk about joint work, so ever since then I try to praise my coauthors in a similar way (assuming that I actually believe in the praise, which is often enough), knowing that I am free to say positive (and accurate) things about them that they could not get away with saying about themselves.
So, as you can see, a talk by a collaborator has the potential to be *more* useful for your career than a talk you are giving yourself. Of course, that’s not guaranteed (some coauthors will not be so thoughtful and will focus on their own contributions and importance), and there are other effects going in the opposite direction. It’s just something to keep in mind.
Upvotes: 4
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2022/05/15
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm preparing my masters thesis in mathematics ([Stochastic Calculus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stochastic_calculus)).
My first chapter consists of recalling some concepts like
1. [Hölder's inequality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B6lder%27s_inequality).
2. [Clarke's generalized gradient](https://www.ams.org/journals/tran/1975-205-00/S0002-9947-1975-0367131-6/S0002-9947-1975-0367131-6.pdf).
3. [Grönwall's inequality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%B6nwall%27s_inequality)
4. [Convex functions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convex_function).
What is a proper name for this chapter ? I went with **Useful Theorems** but it felt somewhat different than what I'm used to see in books.<issue_comment>username_1: A standard way to go is to write "**Preliminaries**" and give the definitions, notations, theorems, etc. which you use throughout the thesis.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: A somewhat standard structure would be:
1. Introduction - explain what are you trying to accomplish and why it is important
2. Background and related work - briefly explain all key concepts that the reader needs to know to understand your thesis
..followed by methods/proofs/results/analysis/discussion
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: It may be worthwhile to separate to some extent two sorts of "background". One sort is the background and context needed to understand what you've done, and why you'd want to do it, and why it's progress... The other sort (obviously with overlap), is the background to understand the *guts/proofs/...* of your work.
It is often a mistake to combine the two... somehow in the mistaken belief that perfect logical order is necessary... or something.
So one could have "context/background", as well as "technical prerequisites"... Some readers might appreciate your making the distinction.
... and my joke-analogue is that to explain to someone why an automatic transmission may be better than a manual, and what's involved, ... *FIRST* say "ok, so you know about the Carnot cycle?" ...
Upvotes: 2
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2022/05/16
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently applying for several PhD programs (in mathematics) and for many of them, it is required to write a short (approx. 2 pages; no more than 10.000 characters) summary of my Master's thesis. It should contain the motivations of the thesis and research, the methods used as well as the results obtained in my research.
Now, the application commitee is probably less interested in the precise topic of my research or in the project itself, but I guess that the aim of this writing in my application is more for them to examine my ability of writing and explaining my research to others, as the latter is one of the key abilities a scientist should probably have, in my opinion.
**My questions are now the following:**
**(1)** How detailed should such a writing be? In my specific case, I am appliying for a math PhD and many things which I did in my thesis, which lied in the border of math and physics, are very abstract, so it not always easy to explain them in simple, non-technical, terms (and I guess, this applies for most of the projects done in pure mathematics). So, should I aim in writing this text in a more "popular" science way, or should I "confront" them with full technical details (the middle way is, as written above, hardly possible, as the things are kind of abstract).
**(2)** Should I aim in writing this stuff more formally, or more from a personal point of view? So, should I, for example, write about my *personal* reasons for chosing this particular problem, or should I more concentrate on the *scientific* reasons of why this type of questions are interesting?<issue_comment>username_1: Note that your essay will be read by other mathematicians, but most of them won't be in your specialty. An overly detailed presentation, such as you might present to your advisor won't be the best.
You are probably correct that they are looking for a writing sample, so focus on the writing at least as much as the math.
A personal view of "why" you chose this path is probably not the right focus, though a sentence might be fine.
First, though, what is the most important result in your thesis? It might be a theorem, but it might also be an interesting (thought provoking) proof technique. Talk about that result primarily, and situate it within the mathematical literature. Talk about why it is an important result. If possible, talk about what it might lead to, though you may not yet be sophisticated enough to understand that.
If the work gave you any special "insights" into the wider world of your specialty (or math in general) include a few words about that. Is there follow up research that is indicated?
As to the level, think about how you would explain the thesis to a good upper level undergraduate class. I'm guessing that such a level might be the best, of course, but all of your readers (various mathematicians) would be able to understand it.
The details are in the thesis, of course, and the committee will probably have access to that as well, so a higher level (or lower level, if you like) presentation is probably enough.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Make it in 3 parts
1. Synopsis: This is what you have written at the start of your Master's
thesis.
2. Brief description of your work: Describe what (and how) you did in
your Master's project.
3. Results: What new goals you achieved in your work.
The whole language is slightly technical, without many complex formulas and equations.
Upvotes: 2
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2022/05/16
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergraduate engineering student, I recently submitted an abstract for an upcoming conference in about a week. However, I have not produced any results yet and have not gone far in my research. Is it at all acceptable to present what I have done thus far? Or should I just cancel my attendance?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, it is acceptable to present what you've done, even if it doesn't quite reach a finished result. If you've done something, though, I doubt you actually have *no* results. Try to reframe what you've done already and look for the results that you actually have, even if the result is "X doesn't work because Y".
You can also present some of your next plans, and hopefully you'll get some feedback from other attendees on those plans that will help in your next steps.
Your research advisor is a good guide for these things - make sure you're checking in with them regularly, and don't be afraid to ask them questions like this.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It is definitely fine to present what you have worked on thus far. Are you sure that you will have no results at all (even small steps) that you couldn't frame as part of a pilot study for your main research/study? I often see presentations at conferences that present preliminary findings, or even failed experiments, followed by their next steps. As an undergraduate, the experience you will gain from engaging with your peers at this stage will be really valuable and help further guide your research anyway.
Upvotes: 0
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2022/05/17
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently applied for several permanent research positions. The interview were all similar: a talk on your past, present and planned research and some time for questions. I prepared well for the talk and got feedback from several colleagues.
My problem is to prepare for the question part. I think my project is well thought through but when comes the time to anwsering questions, I completely loose my confidence. The type of feedback I got the most was that I'm not able to 'advertise' myself and my project.
So I have two questions:
1. How do you usually prepare for questions ?
2. Do you know any **good** training courses that could help building up my confidence to answer these type of questions in an efficient way ?<issue_comment>username_1: There is no generic answer. Depends on the area, the place, etc. The main thing is to understand what do they want from you. Strong research? Team work? Leadership? Something else? Then search for, say, "how to show that you are a team worker?" . It should give you a clue.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Without context of the position level (e.g., post doc, research support staff, faculty, etc.) my suggestions will be vague.
>
> How do you usually prepare for questions?
>
>
>
Do research on the position, research group, and institution as well as the type of person they are looking for.
Then think about how your research fits into these.
For example, let's say you are a biologist who studies pesticide effects on song bird ecology using field studies and computer modeling. Depending upon the position you might several different angels:
* Ecotoxicology who uses avian case studies for an ecotox department
* Computer modeler who uses ecological examples for a modeling position
* Ornithologist for a biology department looking for a person to teach ornithology
* Field ecologist for a biology department looking for field ecologist
Ideally, you can learn these details ahead of time.
If not, ask them at the start of your interview and ask about the position more.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> The type of feedback I got the most was that I'm not able to 'advertise' myself and my project.
>
>
>
Every interview is a sales pitch. The famous book, studied widely at military academies around the world, The art of war, by <NAME>, states that if you know your enemy and you know yourself, then in a thousand battles you need not lose once.
When applied to sales or job interviews, it requires one to thoroughly investigate who is being pitched to and clearly articulating the value you are proposing in a short period of time.
Therefore, I recommend studying how you can refine your pitch from a well rehearsed academic presentation at great length down to a two minute pitch and even better to an elevator pitch.
By focusing on the most important value proposition your skill in "advertising" yourself and your project will improve.
I hope that answers your first question about how to best prepare for your interviews. I believe that if you start with a good pitch, The questions of the interviewers will then naturally go deeper into the content, instead of the other way around. My guess is that you are providing too many details, The interviewers are getting lost in the details and not seeing the bigger picture value of your work.
To answer question number two regarding training. I would start by familiarizing myself with the work of <NAME>, The creator of NSF Innovation Corps. He has excellent presentations and videos, but this blog post seems to address but I believe is your issue directly. <https://steveblank.com/2010/04/22/turning-on-your-reality-distortion-field/>
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm in th midst of pursuing a PhD and have a few potential papers in the works, but have lots of other analytical work to be done as well. It seems from my discussions with supervisors that there are plenty of opportunities to squeeze papers out of the work I'm doing, but I'm wondering I should balance these ambitions with working on the core part of my project. I'm curious to know how different people here who have done or are doing a PhD balance writing up papers with other work in their project. Thanks!<issue_comment>username_1: This entirely depends on context (country, university, subject field, your year & PhD length, any other expectations, etc). Nobody will be able to give much specific advice in general, but I assume you're just trying to get a sense for what it's like for others?
Personally (UK, Math/Phys PhD), I've published papers when the opportunity has arisen. At those times, writing them up has been the focus. But in my case, that work could feed into (or at least be relevant enough to mention in) my main project.
My advice would be to trust your supervisor, or speak with others in your peer/research group, as they'll have a much better idea of what is manageable and what is expected for you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: What discipline is it? Are you writing an article-based dissertation, or able to convert your current dissertation to that? If you have to write a monograph, can you publish a paper that can also be used as a chapter in your dissertation without too much revision?
I did my PhD in the humanities in Norway a good while ago, before article-based dissertations were possible in the humanities. My approach was to publish papers and rework them into my dissertation. I think this was the right approach - you need experience publishing and that's how people actually learn about and engage with your research and how you'll get a job.
I think this may be different in the USA as I have seen people get tenure-track jobs at elite universities with NO PUBLICATIONS which baffles me and would be entirely impossible in Norway. Perhaps they had extremely good dissertations and a book contract when they were hired? Or perhaps American academia is corrupt? I don't know.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I'm in Statistics. From my point of view "balancing things" is a good attitude. Having the odd paper (say two of them) when you finish and apply for the next stage is certainly good, however, depending on the field and the place you are in or applying to, digging deeper can be appreciated at some point. This means that taking the time to let certain things mature, to question and revisit them before you publish, and in this way making them ready for a higher level journal publication, can pay off. Publishing early is good but takes some extra effort, and if it distracts you from developing things in more depth, it can become a problem. In some places they count publications but in some (often better) places they have a closer look at what you have done, and may find more potential in people who don't feel they need to get out every small thing as a paper for career reasons.
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<issue_start>username_0: From my search on the internet on how a research poster should be designed I got a lot of different opinions on best practices.
The area where opinions seemed particularly diverging were the use of bullet points. Some ([1](https://www.sciencegraphicdesign.com/blog/how-do-you-make-your-first-scientific-poster) [2](https://www.animateyour.science/post/how-to-design-an-award-winning-conference-poster) [3](https://guides.nyu.edu/posters)) suggested to replace any longer paragraphs with bullet points, while others were staunchly opposed to the use of bullet points for any reason ([4](http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/poster.design/) [5](https://betterposters.blogspot.com/2022/05/other-easy-reads-dont-use-bullet-points.html)).
I can see validity in both. However I would be interested if there is a reason to use one over the other to improve readability and engagement.<issue_comment>username_1: I have a strong opinion on this:
**A**: Don't use bullet points they just add visual noise with no gains.
*General comment on*: "suggested to replace any longer paragraphs with bullet points,"
Here the problem with most scientific poster appears: A lot of people want to basically write a paper onto a wall. But a poster is a different format than a text, so you have to think of how to make best out of it.
**Q**: What is the goal of a poster in a poster presentation?
**A**: First, to be a bait to draw attention and kick-start a conversation. Second, to guide the conversation.
And this does not work, when you add a huge amount of text onto a poster. So you would like to have the minimal amount of text on a poster, so it is still comprehensible but also is easy to digest. That's why you should use bullet point-like style instead of a wall of text.
But you should **not** use bullet points. What is the information content of a bullet point? None! So, instead use text of different size, make text bold or italic, or use some color to visually structure the information on your poster without using bullet points. And always **align** things in the correct way.
One of my posters where you can see how we did this is available [here](https://acl.inf.ethz.ch/people/bastians/posterICLR22.pdf).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Bullet points are a tool and like any tool it can be used well and it can be used poorly. Bullet points are great for displaying an unordered list of items. This is not saying that the order in which they are presented does not matter didactically, only that the content of one does not rely on knowledge of the content of another.
Now how does this relate to posters? I can only speak for myself here, but I rarely read a poster from top to bottom. I will skim bits, I will skip sections I deem less important and I will jump around a lot. This works great with the type of information described above. But bullet points do not create this kind of information, they only signal to me that the provided information is of this type.
That is I think, where a lot of the criticism stems from. If you just write some consecutive paragraphs of text and put a bullet point in front of every one of them, you are actively misleading me, because your layout tells me I can skip around, while the content should be read in order. In turn, if things should be read in order, signal that to me by enumerating them or if need be, by putting them as consecutive paragraphs into some block in your layout.
On the flip-side though, if you can, avoid the latter. Long paragraphs don't work well for the type of reading described above. But this does not mean that you should put bullet points in front of them, but that you should think about, if it is possible to restructure the information usefully in such a way that bullet points (or enumerations) are the best way to display this information. If you can, then maybe do so. If this does not work, then use paragraphs.
**tl;dr:** Use the right tool for the job, but don't be afraid of changing the job to suit the tool you want to use.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I fully agree to @username_2: A poster is not a paper on a wall. It's a completely different format.
Maybe the #BetterPoster approach is a good inspiration for what you should focus on...
It uses a magnitude of the poster to just bring attention to your research question and most(!) important result as a conversation starter. More details and some sort of paper-outline can be much smaller and may use bullets or other formatting.
The whole this is to draw the visitors attention to your research. The design is also intended that you as an author are standing close and can answer questions right away. The poster uses only some small proportion of its area for supporting figures, diagramms, tables, ... in small font, as you and the interlocutor are standing close to the poster. All other visitors are still able to see the main takeaway.
<https://astrobites.org/2020/02/28/fixing-academic-posters-the-betterposter-approach/>
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<issue_start>username_0: I am very proud of this achievement and I am thinking about sharing the email to social media. Is it okay to post it as long as I remove confidential information, e.g. manuscript id, title, author?
Also, if it is okay to post it on social media, can I include the journal name and the editor that sent the email?<issue_comment>username_1: Congrats! I wish more people would be excited about being a reviewer.
Personally, I would only say the journal's name (e.g., `TheAwesomeJournal`). For example:
>
> Yay! Just got invited to be a reviewer for the first time @TheAwesomeJournal
>
>
>
I would not name the editor because not all journals have public editors for specific articles.
**Edit:** I would be okay with listing the journal's name because some resources like ORCID and Publons will list journals you have reviewed for.
**Edit number 2:** I would **not** include the email from the editor. Socially, this would be weird for scientists and practically, it makes it likely you might accidentally include identifying information about the review.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: No you should not share the email although it would probably not do too much harm if enough details are removed. It is best not to share the journal name either.
A review is anonymous and should stay that way [\*]. The academic world is smaller than you may think: someone who knows the name of the journal, date and your field of research may be able to deduce who the reviewer is. Note that your field of research is probably publicly known or can be deduced from the journal name. The date of posting to social media, combined with the fact that many of your social media connections are probably scientists does not help either.
I would suggest the following:
* social media: "Whooo! I just got invited to review a paper for the first time!".
* CV (when applying for your next job): "Reviewed paper(s) for journal X".
[\*] Personally, I would prefer *authors* to be anonymous and *require* reviewers to disclose their name, but that is my opinion and not how the review system currently works.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Please do not share the email, that would be unprofessional.
Many journals take great care in deciding what information about their internal operations to make public, and which details to keep private and share only with reviewers and other people involved with decision making. By sharing the email you may inadvertently expose such details.
In general, it seems like a bad habit and in poor taste to take an email that someone sent you as a professional communication, and publicize it on social media, even with details redacted. Perhaps in this situation this will be mostly harmless, but I cannot help but feel that this will be less well-received by your social media followers than you may be imagining.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: A possible way of understanding better whether this is something to tweet about, and in which way you might want to do that, is to try to twitter search function, to see if other people post about this, and if yes, in which way.
With a quick search, I found someone posting that thay got invited to review a paper on field X, and they are proud that they are being considered an expert on X by the editor. But I did not find anyone tweeting either about the journal or even sharing more things about the review request.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: The journal would know better than random people on the internet what they're comfortable being shared. Send them an email saying that you'd like to share this on social media, and ask them what details they consider confidential and what they're comfortable being public knowledge.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: As others have said, do not include anything other than the journal's name.
But if I may offer a - perhaps somewhat controversial - opinion, depending on your field and personality: It's okay and even expected to list this on your resume and platforms like Publons. However, I personally would refrain from posting this on social media. Being a reviewer is a fairly common and standard thing to do as part of your job. Being overly excited about this in public could make you look like a newbie in some people's eyes (which you probably are ;-) ), and you will have to decide whether that hurts your reputation more than it helps. Like a teacher going "Wohoo, look at me, I have just graded my first homework! Aren't I great!" Yes, it is an achievement, but one that is expected in your line of work. I personally appreciate a little humility and understatement in academia, and I ain't no old seasoned academic either. But that's just my five cents...
Also, keep in mind that announcing this around the time you actually do the review, it might telegraph to the authors who you are, especially if this is a smaller, more specialized journal. There are a few people who might retaliate if they don't like your peer review, either by shutting down one of your papers in the future or interfering with your career, especially if they are more established than you. It is not too common, but more common than one might expect among supposedly rational and objective folk.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: If I were the editor and you posted my email, with or without my name, without my permission, that would be the last time I would ever have any kind of professional contact with you. I would be furious!
I would consider you untrustworthy and unprofessional if I found out that you have been sharing an email I sent you with even a limited number of your peers, but if you actually go as far as to announce it to everyone on social media, you would have burned all your bridges with me. I would never, ever want to work with you again under any circumstances.
Now, I may be a bit on the extreme end here, I know. I dislike social media so this feels particularly egregious to me. However, at its core, this is a case where you are taking confidential communication and blithely sharing it with the whole world! I can't imagine anyone would be OK with that. If you're willing to do this, how can I trust you not to share the information from the paper? How can I trust that you will respect the confidentiality of the review process? How can I trust *you*, period?
I get that you're excited to receive your first review invitation, I was too! And I shared the fact that I had been asked to review a paper with my friends. I did not share a confidential email though! So go ahead and share the fact that you have been asked to review. This is an important milestone and you should absolutely be proud of it! But don't ruin it by sharing the email, or anything else that can be used to guess who the reviewer of a paper may have been.
If you share the email, the best case scenario is that you will be perceived as immature and childish, and the worst case scenario is that you will be seen as someone who cannot be trusted.
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